Valentine's Day Breakfast Smoothies

Sup people, so today is VALENTINES DAY!!!!! So you've already got all the dishes ready for your three course meal right? You haven't? Well check out my three previous blog posts for an entree, main and dessert.

To really tops things off I decided that I should also teach you how to make a drink that you can use during the night, so something that you can drink after dessert. Night cap? I don't think that's the right word....but something that you can drink after dinner.

This is going to be something light and fruity, perfect to make you feel healthy after that large Valentines day meal. In fact you can also serve this for breakfast in bed...you can still make it in time as long as you are behind Sydney in time zones, in other words practically the rest of the world.

I'm going to be showing you how to make 2 different fruit smoothies, one that has a refreshing zing, whilst the other is a nice summer one.

The first one will be a cucumber, kiwi and apple smoothie (summer) and the next one is a lime, apple and pineapple smoothie (refreshing)

So I guess it's time to get started:

Ingredients 
Cucumber, kiwi and apple smoothie 
½ small cucumber
1 apple
1 kiwi tiny knob of fresh ginger
few cashews
small glass of apple juice
pinch of salt
dollop of natural yoghurt
extra chopped kiwis (optional)
Lime, apple and pineapple smoothie
½ small lime
1 apple
3 rings of a pineapple (1/2 cup)
1 scoop of vanilla ice cream OR some yogurt
2tbs honey
pineapple rings cut in half (optional)

Method
Cucumber Kiwi and Apple Smoothie
1. Peel the kiwi and ginger, core the apple and roughly chop all three.
2. Chop up the cucumber. 
3. Whiz everything in a blender or juicer until smooth
4. Done, serve with some chopped kiwis on top.
Lime, apple and pineapple smoothie
1. Core and peel the apple and roughly chop it up.
2. Place all ingredients in a blender and squeeze in half the lime, whiz until it is smooth.
3. Serve in a glass with the pineapple on the edge of the glass.

I hope that you will all like these refreshing smoothies because they are really great for your body, packed with vitamins and antioxidants that will make your skin shine. 

Hopefully you will all have a great Valentine's Day, whether you are alone or in a couple, and that you are most important of all happy. I'll be continuing on with the rest of my blog week, and I look forward to posting up more interesting recipes for you all to follow. 

Valentines Day: Crème Brûlée Panna Cotta

Hey, today is the last day before Valentines Day......so it's also time for me to complete my three course meal with a dessert.

The dessert is a classic that isn't as hard as it may seem. The flavours are perfect for topping off this special day, and I'm sure that you will just feel really sweet, even without dessert.

Anyways, I should tell you what the dessert is gonna be. The dessert is going to be crème brûlée panna cotta. Bet you didn't see that twist coming did you? You thought it was going to be crème brûlée, nope it will be the panna cotta version that is slightly more foolproof.

There isn't much to tell you about the dish other than that it is absolutely delicious.

So here is to a perfect day, the perfect dessert:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 1/2 tsp gelatine powder
125g caster sugar
2 tbs water

Method
1. Put the water and 125g of caster sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil, but do not stir. Take the caramel off the heat just before it starts to burn, and pour it into the bottom of your serving glass (ramekin/tumbler,wine glass etc), and let it lightly coat the bottom.
2. Place the cream and milk in a saucepan.
3. Use a small sharp knife to split the vanilla bean lengthways, then scrape the seeds from inside the bean. Add the seeds and bean to the saucepan.
4. Slowly bring to the boil over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
5. Discard bean from cream mixture. Add remaining sugar and return to a low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until sugar dissolves.
6. Place 2 tbs of boiling water in a small heatproof bowl. Sprinkle over gelatine. Bring a small saucepan of water to boil. Remove from heat. Sit the bowl of gelatine in the water and stir until dissolved. Cool slightly, then stir into the cream mixture.
7. Pour the cream mixture on top of your caramel base. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
8. To serve, break the seal by inserting a small knife between the panna cotta and the mould. Turn onto a serving plate and shake to release. Top with cream, berries, nuts anything of you choice.

And there you have it, a simple dessert that has a twist on it to ensure that you have an amazing end to your Valentines Day 3 course meal.

I hope that you have all enjoyed this series of three course meal for Valentine's Day, and I will be back with more recipes throughout the week to complete my blogging week.

So until tomorrow remember to have fun cooking, have lot's of fun with the people you love tomorrow and just remember to not do anything you will regret the next day.

Valentines Day Pesto Kiev with Potato Mash

Sooooo, 2 days out from Valentines Day for everyone and today I'll be posting up the 3rd recipe for the week. The main course for your three course Valentines Day meal :)

I had a bit of a dilemma thinking about what to post as I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted something simple and classic such as pasta or something more adventurous......

I think I'll settle for something that is a classic and foolproof but with a slight twist so that your Valentine will always remember your amazing meal. So everyone knows that stuffed chicken breast is a classic favourite, today I'm not going to go with the classic kiev style stuffing, I'm going to be putting a twist on it.

So I guess I'll just get started with the recipe;

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 rashers of bacon
150g grated cheese
6 tbs pesto
30g butter
2 tbs chopped chives
2 tbs minced garlic
salt and pepper
Mash
750g potatoes
125ml hot milk
Salt and pepper

Method
1. First off make an incision in the side of the chicken breast, along the length of it to create a pocket.
2. Next make your kiev stuffing, combine the butter, chives, garlic and season with salt and pepper.
3. Distribute even quantities of the kiev stuffing into the chicken.
4. Then add 2 tbs of pesto into each chicken breast.
5. Stuff all the stuffing in before adding a handful of cheese to fill out the pocket.
6. Rub the remaining pesto onto of the chicken breast to marinate it.
7. Wrap the rasher of bacon around the chicken to seal the opening of the stuffing and secure with a toothpick.
8. Sprinkle more cheese on top of the bacon.
9. Place the chicken into the oven at 200C for 30 minutes, or until it comes out cooked and slightly golden.
10. Make the mash, whilst the chicken cooks. To make mashed potato, place unpeeled potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high and gently boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until soft.
11. Drain potatoes. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Peel and return to pan. Use a potato masher to mash until smooth. Add half the hot milk and use a wooden spoon to beat until combined. Beat in remaining milk and season with salt and pepper.
12. The chicken will has rested and the mash will be steaming hot and you are ready to serve with a side of salad or pasta.

And there you have it, a unique main course for your Valentines Day meal that puts a twist on a classic favourite with new flavours.

I hope that you guys will like that recipe :)

And I really do want to start filming some of these recipes so I will be trying my best to get at least one recipe up soon, and I really do want to film this one. So possibly some time this weekend you will see this recipe being made into a video,  bit too late for Valentines Day this year, but not too late for next year. 

Don't forget that tomorrow my recipe for Valentines Day dessert will be coming out, so stay tuned for that and I will see you guys tomorrow. 

Valentines Day Warm Tandoori Chicken Salad

Hey guys, so I'm back with day 2 of my Valentines Day weekly lead up. I'm pretty happy with myself for even actually being bothered to blog, I have been really lazy over the last month.

So I have decided that I will continue with the Valentines day theme and today I am going to post up an entree, tomorrow will be a main and then on the 14th I will be posting up a dessert, So that you will have a three course meal at your disposal for use on Valentines day with your SO. Maybe next year I should start this earlier....

Anyways, today I'm going to show you guys how to make a Warm Tandoori Chicken Salad. I had one of these at a formal dinner once (not for Valentines Day though, I haven't had the privileged of being to one of those just yet) and it was absolutely AMAZING.

With Sydney cooling down for the week and the rest of the world caught up in a cold snap, Nemo anyone? I thought that it would be a good idea to have something warm as a starter, just so you aren't shivering until the main meal.

This may seem like a really difficult dish to make but there isn't much to it, it is super simple and I am quite proud of it because it is something that I have made up entirely by myself.

I guess we should get started with the recipe:

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup tandoori curry paste
50g natural greek yogurt
1 T olive oil
Salad
1 cos lettuce
1 red onion
100g spinach leaves
1 cucumber
1 tomato
1/2 carrot
Parmesan Cheese
Dressing
Juice of 1 lime
2 T olive oil
1 T brown sugar
pinch of paprika
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Cut the chicken into strip
2. Marinate the chicken in the tandoori sauce, yogurt and oil for an hour before cooking
3. Whilst the chicken is marinating prepare the salad. Place a couple of leaves of cos lettuce on each plate and top with a bit of the spinach. Cut the onion, tomato and cucumber into slices and arrange those on top too. Grate the carrot and sprinkle on top.
4. Heat up a pan and drizzle with a bit of oil before placing the chicken in and cooking until it is done and slightly crispy.
5. Arrange the chicken on top of the salad whilst still hot.
6. Shave a bit of parmesan on top of the chicken.
7. Quickly mix the dressing ingredients before drizzling on top of everything right before serving,

And there you have it, a warm tandoori chicken salad that is bound to impress as an entree for Valentines Day or any other day of the year for that matter.

I hope that this entree will impress your date for the night, and please to do come back tomorrow because I will be posting up a recipe for the main course. 

Until tomorrow keep on looking for your Valentine because I'm sure they are out there somewhere otherwise search my site for some other comfort food. 

Fruit and Nut Rice Balls 잡과편 Japgwapyon

So it has been a hell of a long time since I have posted a recipe on this blog, and I'm really sorry. But life has been busy, I've had to work, finalise some things for uni and the main reason would be because I was going away for a couple of days and needed to organise all of that. But I'm back now and I'm going to try and post as much as I can.

Maybe I should have a week of blogging like I used to do. Should I do that?

I should probably do it, I'll start with TODAY!!!!

I guess that this blog post will mark my return to food blogging because I honestly think that it has been a month since I have lost blogged, and I hope that no one thinks that I have stopped, I've just been way to lazy.

So today I was thinking of posting a recipe for something sweet, as a lead up to Valentines day. This week might turn out to be a week of desserts......

Anyways, today's recipe is going to be a Korean dessert that is made from glutinous rice flour, fruits and nuts. Japgwapyon or 잡과편 is something small that can be brought out to the table when guests arrive, they look great and taste amazing. And it will be sure to impress your Valentine if it is wrapped up nicely in a box.

And this year it is the perfect time to make these because the Lunar new year and Valentines day are so close together.

I think that the intro has been long enough, let's get started with the recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups glutinous rice flour
2 dried persimmons
10 chestnuts, boiled and peeled
4 dates
4 Tbsp pine nuts, chopped roughly
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt

Method
1. Dice the chestnuts.
2. Cut or scrape the seeds from the dried persimmons and dates.
3. Finely chop the persimmons and dates.
4. Pound the seeds with a pestle (in a mortar).
5. Mix the seeds with the chopped persimmons, dates, chestnuts and pine nuts.
6. In a mixing bowl, add the salt and about 3/4 of a cup of water to the rice flour.
7. Add a few more tablespoons of water if it seems too dry.
8. Knead dough into 1 inch rounds.
9. In a medium pot, boil the rounds and then rinse in cold water. When they float, the rice cakes are done.
10. Dip the rice cakes in honey and roll them in the mixture of fruit and nuts.

And there you have it, a VERY easy and quick dessert that you can use all year around to impress people with.

I wish all my reader a Happy Lunar New Year!!!!

I hope that you all have a prosperous year of the snake and that all your dreams and wishes may be fulfilled. But most important of all remember to stay happy, healthy and safe.

I shall blog again tomorrow but remember, that there is no reason why you cannot cook something awesome everyday of the year.