Sourdough Garlic Bread

Today I was in a bit of a rush and didn't have a lot of time to cook and make a meal like butter chicken this week.  So i went for something easy and quick to make with the left over sourdough bread which i had.

With this i made a basic garlic bread with the 4 or so slices i had left.  With a few ingredients in my fridge and cupboard i made a garlic bread in about 30 minutes.  Although it was quick to make it was also very tasty and a good snack before i headed off to work.

Here are some images of the preparation beforehand and how it came out of the oven.
Hope you enjoy!
- Pat

Pasta Bake

Hi Guys, Krissie here!

A few nights ago, my roommate and I decided to try something different for dinner, rather than the simple, relatively boring meals we usually make. We decided on a pasta bake, since they are easy to make and taste amazing!

We cooked up some pasta and some chicken, and mixed it together with a jar of Dolmio pasta bake sauce. We also had a really good idea to sprinkle some bread crumbs over the top to make it nice and crunchy, and finished it off by adding some mozzarella cheese. It turned out so much better than we expected. It looked brilliant, and was so, incredibly tasty!

We also decided to make it a little healthier by steaming some carrot and broccoli.

The final product!

The best part was that there was plenty of left overs, so our lunches for a few days were all set!

Happy cooking!

- K

RAINBOW MANIA!!! :D

Hey guys!! Emily here, a little late, sorry!!!

Yep that's right, rainbow mania!

My arsenal, mixing colours, in the moulds and finally cooked!

This week I made a super simple packet cupcake mixture (Betty Crocker's Super Moist Vanilla Cupcakes). Packet cakes are a wonderful idea, they're so simple, easy and quick but most important they're really tasty!! I decided to play around with the mixture a bit and make funky rainbow cupcakes.

Before I spooned the mixture in the moulds I split it evenly into 6 bowls and coloured each of them with liquid food dye. Unfortunately the purple (that I mixed myself) wasn't a great colour but that could be solved by buying purple food die or adding more or less of red or blue. I also ran out of orange food die so it was a bit pale, but the colours were still pretty fantastic. I spooned the mixture into the moulds one colour at a time starting with pink, purple, blue, green, yellow and finally orange, a couple of the moulds (the square ones and the 2 middle heart shapes) I slightly "mixed" or marbled with a spoon creating, I think, the best rainbow effect. However, you have to be careful not to marble the colours too much or they become a murky brown colour, yuk!



Inside marble, rainbow crumb and close-up of icing.

As you can see, the moulds I used were not metal, I used silicone moulds. A set of hearts (the joint blue hearts) and some square ones. Previously my family has had some issues with the heart moulds and I had the same problems and they would not come out properly. I ended up ripping the tops off (they were slightly overfilled) and gently running a blunt knife around the edges of the bases. Not using that mound for cupcakes again. The other silicone moulds however were a fantastic success, with no need for buttering or lining they're easy to use. They are a fantastic, no-fuss, easy to clean way to bake, although I caution against using joined moulds (like my hearts).

I added the icing (supplied with the packet) and tried, with my amateur icing hand, to so some nice designs and had a try at some rosettes, most of them I just used a knife to do a nice smooth design that didn't require a steady hand. I was quite happy with the icing and it went better than I thought.

The final result was a fantastic tasting, evidently spectacular array of colour, I couldn't stop grinning everytime I ate one, feeling like a little kid again :D

The finished product, yum!!!

Happy rainbow baking!! -Emily

Butter Chicken is great!

Hey everyone Pat here with my weekly entry.

This week i decided i would have a go at cooking some butter chicken.  This is one of my favourite foods and i am not a great cook so i was scared that i would make plenty of mistakes along the way.

However i actually didn't make any mistakes expect one which was a I dropped the rice everywhere and burnt my foot.  I was very impressed by my efforts and urge everyone to have a go at cooking their own butter chicken. A simple but delicious meal.

That's it for me this week!

Good luck on your cooking endeavors!

Pat 

Food Prep.

 

This was part of my food preparation for this week where I cooked a large dish of brown rice and after this I may a Thai Red Curry with a few beans and sprouts + delicious capsicum.

 

Rice, chicken and vegetables had a good combination of carbohydrates and protein for my desired diet and health.

Mug Meals

Hi Guys, Krissie here!

I’m sure many of you are aware of the ‘mug meals’ trend that was all over the internet a few months ago, but if not, let me update you. Many recipes were devised in which the entire meal could be made in a mug and cooked in the microwave, keeping dirty dishes to a minimum.

The fad started with desserts, the most popular of which were the brownie and the cookie, and it wasn't long until recipes for things like quiches and even meatloaf started popping up online. These meals became extremely popular among university students, as they reduced washing up time, and only required mugs, cutlery and a microwave.

Many of the meals are fairly healthy, and are adaptable to suit personal tastes.  

My Raspberry White Chocolate Cookie in a Mug

Last night, my roommate and I gave the cookie in a mug a go. We searched around for some recipes, and decided on this one, primarily because we already had all of these ingredients in the house. Instead of using choc chips, I decided to use some frozen raspberries, and a few white choc chips. The end results was much more successful than I expected it to be! We also discovered that the cookies are brilliant with some vanilla ice cream (although the ice cream tends to melt through the cookie, but it tastes amazing)!

For more mug meal recipes, you can go here. Enjoy! :)

Until next time,
- K

GROCERY SHOPPING + BULK SHNITTY @ The White Cockatoo

Home-grown fruit and vegies!

Hey everyone, Emily here :)

Unfortunately I have been too busy today to cook, so instead I thought I'd show you some great home-grown food, from my family's garden.



Yummy mandarins!

In our backyard we have a mandarin tree, it came from a parent tree that is about 70 years old, our tree is about 16 or 17 years old. Each year around July or August, the fruit on the tree that has been maturing from flowers for a year finally turns orange. We pick hundreds of mandarins each year. Unfortunately this year, due to we think, weather and perhaps a tiny bit of neglect, the fruit is small and half are still green, but come September we decided we had waited long enough and didn't want the possums eating them. One of the great things about growing our own mandarins, is how amazing they taste, and trust me, no shop bought ones taste this amazing, and this year, despite their size, they are no exception. They are bursting with delicious flavour.



Washing the carrots

I am also currently growing some purple carrots. I planted them about 3 months ago and I harvested 2 of them the other day. Though not quite fully grown, they are still wonderful to eat and taste amazing (again better than shop bought). These purple carrots have a purple outer and an orange inner, and though not quite as sweet as standard orange carrots, they still taste really good. Purple carrots are an unusual vegetable, however they were some of the first carrots to be cultivated centuries ago. Their funky colour makes them an appealing addition to any meal and they can be cooked as any other carrot would be, but beware of the purple as it will stain. The best thing about growing carrots is the interesting, not so standard shapes they grow.

Growing your own food, and eating it, giving it away or serving it to friends and family is always rewarding and you can often find exciting things to grow that you wouldn't find in the supermarket. Growing your own fruit and vegetables is often easier than people think, a little bit of TLC goes a long way. Happy growing!

-Emily :)

Layout and What this blog is about!

Hey everyone,
This our isys100 blog which is called Real Life Food Co.
It is basically a blog about different foods and drinks whether this is a meal we cook or a restaurant we have visited recently.  We will be commenting on these varied meals with a basic review of what we like and dislike about it.
So the way it will work is that on Saturdays Patrick Darling (43273564) will be putting up his review followed by Declan O'Donahue on Sundays. Tuesday will be covered by Emily Ruggero (43268447) and Kristen McCormack (43269265) will be writing on Thursdays.  That is a total of 4 reviews in a week over the next 5 or so weeks.
During this time we will be tweeting when new posts are up on our twitter account (Twitter name: RLfood).  This is also a great way for our viewers to contact us and let us know what they like or dislike about our blog.
This post was an introduction to let everyone know what we are about and also show you guys a rough sketch of what we hope this blog will look like.
I hope everyone enjoys this blog and look forward to hearing from you.
- Patrick