TWD BWJ - Irish Soda Bread

For some reason I had it in my head that soda bread was made with beer and I was going to hate it. I actually groaned when I read that it was this week's choice. Well I was wrong about the beer and I really loved this recipe!

For starters, talk about easy. Just 4 ingredients mixed, shaped, plopped on a tray and baked. That's it.


So it seems that Irish soda bread is very similar to an Aussie damper with that wonderful crunchy crust and dense, slightly chewy interior. The perfect bread to eat warm with a smear of butter and lots of golden syrup. Heavenly!

My boys weren't so keen on this one, being used to lighter less chewy bread. Hubby never even saw it, as it was baked, eaten and the leftovers wrapped up in the freezer in a matter of hours. I have yet to test the "as hard as the Blarney Stone" prediction.

If you would like to make this yummy bread check out Carla at Chocolate Moosey and Cathleen at My Culinary Mission for the recipe.

Meatless Monday - Tagliatelle with Roasted Garlic, Capsicum and Tomato Sauce

Pasta and sauce is a regular on our weekly menu. It's easy, the kids love it and there's always leftovers for hubby's lunch the next day. After spying some gorgeous red capsicums and Roma tomatoes at the fruit shop on the weekend, this yummy pasta sauce was born!

It's pictured above with some egg tagliatelle with herbs from Aldi of all places. The pasta cooked up beautifully in just a few minutes and was a great partner for this sweet and silky sauce.

Roasted Garlic, Capsicum and Tomato Sauce

1 head garlic
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
750g Roma tomatoes
450g red capsicums
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 ts sugar

Preheat oven to 230 degrees C and have 2 large baking dishes ready.

Slice each tomato in half length ways and place in one of the baking dishes. Place the whole unpeeled head of garlic in the centre and drizzle over 2 tbs of olive oil. Use your hands and toss well to combine. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, pepper and the sugar.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the capsicums and place in the other oven tray.

Place both trays in the oven and roast for about 40 minutes or until the the capsicums are blackened and soft. Remove the capsicums from the oven and place in a heatproof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Check the tomatoes and garlic, they may need another 10-15 minutes. Remove from the oven when the tomatoes are softened, collapsed and beginning to colour.

To prepare the capsicums you need to remove the skins. If they are cooked properly it should come away quite easily. Use a small sharp knife to make a slit and very carefully use your fingers to pull the skins away from the flesh. They will be hot so watch out for burnt fingers! Discard the skin and seeds and chop the flesh coarsely.

Into the bowl of a food processor, add the tomatoes, peeled capsicums and then squeeze out 5 or 6 cloves of the cooked garlic. Garlic cooked like this has a richer, milder flavour than raw garlic so you can go a little crazy here. Add 4 tbs olive oil and blitz to combine. When smooth, return to a pot to keep warm over a low heat. Check for seasoning and add salt, pepper and fresh herbs to taste. (The sauce can be served immediately or refrigerated overnight to allow the flavours to develop. I used a tagliatelle with herbs in it so did not add fresh herbs to my sauce).

Cook your pasta according to packet instructions. Drain and serve with the sauce and plenty of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

I also did a more kid-friendly version with spiral pasta and regular tasty cheese which went down a treat!

This sauce would also be fantastic on a char-grilled pizza with lots of feta or goats' cheese. I have stashed some in the freezer to try later on. Will let you know how it goes.

Meatless Monday - Gnocchi with Roasted Sweet Potato and Garlic Cream Sauce

I've been on a quest recently to get my kids (and my husband!) to eat more veggies. I mean we have some with dinner every night and I'm an expert at hiding them in sauces and stews, but there's always room for more.

So to that end I've been scouring the interwebs for inspiration and have found some fantastic vego, vegan and raw food blogs with some truly mouth-watering recipes. And even better they are recipes I'm sure I can get my boys to eat.

My plan is not only to increase the volume and variety of vegetables we eat but also to cut back on red meat. I'm not a huge meat lover anyway and neither is Charlie. So planning at least one meat free dinner per week is going to work well for us, and that means Meatless Mondays!


In honour of Veggie Mama's Meatless Mondays my first meat-free meal is her gnocchi with roasted sweet potatoes, mushrooms and garlic. Totally impossible to get a good photo of (as you can see above) but absolutely delicious.

Gnocchi with Roasted Sweet Potato and Garlic Cream Sauce
Recipe adapted from Veggie Mama
Serves 6

2 packs gnocchi
1 large sweet potato
2 tbs butter
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
400ml pure cream
pinch salt
black pepper
plenty of grated parmesan

Cut your sweet potato into large diced, toss with a little oil and bake in a hot oven for approx 30 minutes or until cooked through and golden.

Saute the onion, garlic and mushrooms in butter, until mushrooms are soft and beginning to brown and all liquid has evaporated. Add the cream and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the gnocchi in plenty of salted boiling water accoring to packet directions.

Add the cooked sweet potato into the sauce along with a handful of grated parmasan and stir gently to combine. Carefully fold the sauce through the gnocchi and serve with lots of extra parmasan on top.

The taste test ...

All of my boys loved this, as did I! You can't go wrong with mushrooms, cream and garlic. I made a double batch and this made plenty for dinner for the 4 of us plus lunch for hubby and I the next day. Definitely one to make again!

Yeast Waffles

We've decided to make Saturday morning breakfasts a bit special around here. Hubby is out the door by 7 on weekdays, often before the boys get up and then on Sundays we are in a rush to get the kids to their swimming lessons by 8am. Crazy. But on Saturdays we're all here together with nowhere we need to go. So from now on Saturday mornings for us will be a special yummy breakfast and a trip to the park. Yay!

First up today are these yeast waffles I stumbled across on Fake Ginger. Unlike Amanda I am a real ginger and absolutely love fresh ginger, but I heart her blog!

Anyway, hubby and I got a waffle maker as a wedding present but have never used it regularly. Partly because the recipes we have tried all seemed to oily, too heavy or just too annoying. That's why I liked the look of these yeasted waffles which can be prepped the night before.

Yeast Waffles
Recipe from Fake Ginger

375ml milk
90g butter
2 tbs maple syrup
1 ts vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 ts instant yeast

Heat the milk and butter together until very hot and butter is melted. Remove from the heat and stir through the vanilla and salt. Cool the mixture to lukewarm then add the eggs, flour and yeast. Whisk well to combine and remove any lumps of flour. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

You can cook the waffles now or place in the fridge overnight.

Preheat your waffle iron. When ready pour in 1/2 to 2/3 cup of mixture (or whatever amount your instruction book says) into the centre of the waffle maker. Close the lid and cook for about 5 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately or keep warm in a low oven.

We got at least 10 waffles from this mix (we lost count).

We loved ours with sliced banana and maple syrup but the possibilities for toppings are endless.

The taste test ...

Really, really good! And the aroma of yeasty waffly goodness in the house first thing in the morning was fantastic. The boys scoffed theirs in record time, probably just thrilled to have something other than cereal or toast for a change. This recipe is a keeper!

TWD BWJ - Rugelach

This week we have Rugelach! Before making them for TWD a few years ago I had never heard of Rugelach and had no idea how to pronounce it let alone how they were supposed to look or taste. I felt a bit more prepared this time around and had fun with the recipe.

I made just a 1/3 batch (using only 1 stick of butter instead of 3!!!) and used prunes, dark chocolate and walnuts for the filling. Yum!

It seemed like the humidity would be a problem for this pastry so I made it in the food processor using cold butter and cream cheese then chilled it overnight before rolling. It worked like a charm and made some seriously good pastry!

Even with a 1/3 batch I still got 24 little cookies (pastries?). They were amazing straight out of the oven and still good the next day although they had lost their crispy edges.

There's still about a cup of prune levkar left and my boys are loving it spread on their toast or stirred through porridge for breakfast.

Thanks to Margaret and Jessica for a great pick! I'm happy to have conquered Rugelach and will definitely make them again with the apricot filling too. You will find the recipe on their blogs under today's date.