Swedish Meatballs

I like wandering around in Ikea. When I had my knee scooter I could scoot around at speed and it was a good work out. The aisles are smooth wide and there is gazoodles of them, I am sure there are people in there that have been looking the exit for days. I find some interesting and colourful homewares and kitchen gadgets and Richo likes the Swedish Meatballs in the cafeteria. He calls 'em IKEA Rissoles and Gravy,  Don't ask me why but he asked me to make some for him. I find the Ikea ones bland tasting and bland looking and because I don't do Bland this is my version. 

They are particularly good, I think my home made stock made all the difference to the sauce and it is so economical it can feed 4 starving adults very easily. We even had them for leftovers and they reheat very well in the microwave. It's a tomato free version on spaghetti and meatballs and the whole family will love the rich creamy sauce with tender juicy meatballs with the al dente pasta or rice noodles of your choice.

http://youtu.be/KrQLyEw_chE

cheekyricho Salmon & Potato Bake

Over Easter we decided to make a One Pot Meal using Fresh Salmon, and a Potato Bake, using very few ingredients this was amazing. Our Local fish market had some lovely fresh salmon so we invented this dish, which is a combination of two of our favourite meals rolled into one. You will not believe how easy it is to make and yummy it is. Perfect for entertaining with a crisp garden salad or a medley of fresh vegetables we do hope you give it a try.

Check out the free video recipe and so much more on our cheekyricho youtube channel. Don't forget to subscribe for many more unusual and traditional recipes.

INGREDIENTS for this little number.

500g salmon

700g potatoes

75g mascarpone cheese

1 grated onion

300g cream

vege salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste,

http://youtu.be/fGE4RKCBNJ0

500g salmon

700g potato

75g mascarpone cheese

1 onion

300g cream

vege salt & cracked pepper

500g salmon

700g potato

75g mascarpone cheese

1 onion

300g cream

vege salt & cracked pepper

Passionfruit, White Chocolate Muffins

The Tradies are back and I made Smoko White Chocolate  and Passionfriut Muffins Glazed with Glossy White Chocolate and Fresh Passionfruit Ganache. A Joy to pop into your Mouth. Moist sweet and delicious, easy to eat and yet another way to use up some of our hundreds of passionfruit. 

 Hot from the oven they are great but when you top them with my accidental discovery of Passionfruit Ganache they are really something.

I thought I had made ample for 4 burley blokes but these almost started a fight. The boss pulled rank and snaffled the last one, being just a tad over room temperature so the creamy sweet topping didn't slide off, those guys were picking crumbs off their shirts and eating them. I began to wish I hadn't eaten the first one for the video, NOT! Portable, pretty and posh these little cuties will really pimp your next picnic.

Check the easy video recipe out on our cheekyricho YouTube channel, it may just be the best few minutes you spend all day. http://youtu.be/P0RCP9eOYFE

Don't forget to subscribe, it's free and fun. If we haven't cooked what you're looking,  for we will soon!

Thanks for stopping by. ;-))

This is why I prefer to eat at home!

I took my Mum to a restaurant the other day and we had missed lunch for a number of reasons so we went to a local restaurant we often frequent. We were very hungry and arrived just as it opened for the evening meal sitting. I ordered a steak with salad. The steak was cold, obviously sous vide then tossed on the grill to get the char marks and flavours on it but not nearly long enough to heat it through. The salad was beyond disgusting, mesclun leaves dry and limp on the the top surface, it was room temperature, must have been sitting out on the bench uncovered since lunchtime but the leaves were slimy, black matted and rotten. I was very disappointed, they had absolutely no right plating it. My mum said it wasn't good enough to feed to chooks. We will be looking for somewhere else in future! The garlic bread side was the saviour as it was bubbly hot, crisp and delicious. 

I politely and quietly showed the waitress, so as not to embarrass her or make a fuss, she was apologetic and took it to the kitchen. The chefs response, get this!  It's been raining hence the state of the salad (mesculan  mix is usually hydroponically grown, so rain is not a factor) limp, dried out on top, warm, stuck to the plate and a snotty rotten mess. No apology,  no offer to replace it! I had already paid for the meal otherwise we would have walked out. Shame Shame, shame on you for inflicting your lazy, haphazard attitude on your patrons. You and your ilk are one of the main reasons I prefer to eat at home. I always know what I am eating, how it has been prepared and how fresh it is!

I am not a chef and do not profess to be one. The person who served this meal is a chef and an utter disgrace to his profession.

Hot Cross Muffins cheekyricho video recipe

For those of you who aren't confident with yeast cookery, don't particularly like Hot Cross Buns, are more partial to a muffin than a bread based morning tea  or simply do not have time to make the labour intensive yeast Hot Cross Bun. Let me introduce you to its cousin The Hot Cross Muffin!

These little beauties are quick, easy, delicately spiced filled with tart sweet dried cranberries the obligatory Easter good quality Dark choc chips and plump Australian   dried fruit. On the table in just over 1/2 an hour from go to woah and smell and taste absolutely amazing. Do make sure you check out our super easy Life Hack on how to make your own home made NON STICK, yes you heard me right, absolutely will not stick to anything Muffin Liners. They are going to be so handy for you in so many ways.

From our Family to Yours we hope you all enjoy a safe, happy, relaxing Easter🐰

Funfetti Mug Cake

Got a visitor popping in unexpectedly, Richo has been trying darnedest to stay away from sweets do I don't have any home cooked treats on hand for probably the first time I can remember.

Time to drag out a few pantry staples and slap together a moist sticky rainbow spangle Funfetti Mugcake, it cooks in less time than it takes to make a cup of coffee and three if us had a tasty little treat for morning tea. It's a great one for the kids to make or even a meal for one. How many times have you fancied a slice of cake and haven't bothered to make a whole cake just for yourself. With this little number you have a funky little sweet treat to satisfy those cake cravings without having to plough through 8 or so slices of the same cake before it goes stale.

Ticks all the boxes. Quick,~easy,~kid friendly,~cheap,~satisfying,~tasty,~colourful~without an oven or mixer~Just the right size for a snack Or two.

We do hope you give it a try along with all our other mug cake recipes.

http:/youtu.be/a7GwQEjWB3I

Lime Icecream

Pictured here above  the Lime Tree which bore the fruit for this amazing taste sensation.

Our Cuisinart Icecream machine has done it again. With a little creative inspiration from me we have delivered my new favourite flavour. It's Lime Icecream, we have wound back the sugar and cream content and boosted the natural organic lime flavouring to produce a very taste bud tingling sherbet like creamy Icecream that had me making 2 batches in one day. Richo reckons we should get a padlock for the freezer. It's not to stop it bring stolen, it's to keep us away from it!! Why doesn't it curdle? Beats me! Why is it so damn fantastic? Don't know that either but it's a show stopper that's for sure. You have to try this and why not check out our cheekyricho YouTube  ice cream and sorbet playlist for dozens of delicious frozen treats, with have the old fashioned favourites and some new weird and interesting ones you probably never thought of making but are oh so delicious.

http://youtu.be/TwYwGe0bddI

Cuisinart compressor Icecream Machine

I have a Cuisinart Icecream Machine and have used it constantly over the summer, it is the type that you have to keep the bowl in the freezer.

The bowl is large, heavy and takes up a great deal Of you freezer room. It needs to be frozen solid for st least 24 hour between batches, makes a decent amount and is easy to clean and use but in Summertime when you need the freezer space there is a huge chunk sacrificed of that precious freezer real estate to keep it frozen. It wouldn't fit in every freezer due to its size.

It does a good job of Icecream in about 20 minutes but freezes onto the inside edge of the bowl making it quite difficult to remove. It makes a good sized batch of any type of Icecream or sorbet you can think of and then it must be refrozen for many hours before you can use it again.

Recently I came across a second hand Compressor Style one on Gumtree for a fair price so I bought it and am thrilled with the results.

The Icecream is smooth creamy, easy to remove and delicious.

This one of our recent inventions Raspberry Marshmallow Icecream is is creamy sweet with tart pockets of Raspberries and spangled throughout with dollops of my latest find Raspberry Marshmallow Fluff, this sticky gooey, girlie pink concoction doesn't freeze hard in the Icecream so it's a real taste sensation when you hit a chewy airy pocket of marshmallow. This stuff is a real party in the mouth and a recent addition to our burgeoning cheekyricho YouTube  Ice cream & Sorbet playlist. If you are into fresh gourmet Ice cre you simply have to check it out. http://youtu.be/MErfahXkTR0

Cream Cheese Cookies

I made these little Cream Cheese Cookies, using only 5 ingredient in the Thermochef in about 2 minutes, then baked them for between 12-15 minutes until They looked like little sand fringed islands. The result was light buttery with a crisp edge and a soft chewy centre. The cream cheese lends an almost imperceptible tartness to the interior of these cookies and they aren't too sweet. 

Perfect for a cuppa but Richo came up with the idea to make Icecream sandwiches out of them with my latest favourite invention Lime Icecream using my Cuisinart Compressor Icecream Machine. Now this is one you have to try.

http://youtu.be/PYLqvAYAtx0 

We're getting plastered

Back from our holiday and it's all go! The plasterer has been, so we got plastered!! He is very fast and incredibly neat. We plastic coated windows, floors, doorways and openings and still there was a very fine film of talc like powder everywhere. Richo was helping and even he ended up with a snowy hue from the residual excess sanded plaster. It is a very large room to paint and we are keen to start using it again.I love little round windows, much more than builders do. I had a big one in our houseboat and when I saw this little one at a garage sale I couldn't resist it, it only cost about $30 a bargain for dark glass. Brand new never been installed. Richo's like "where are you gonna put that?" And as I had no idea I just waved my hand around in circles, paid the man, tucked my find under my arm and happily walked back to the car. That was about 5 years ago! I am very pleased with my round windows new home. It's like a porthole looking up the river. Better than a picture because it changes everyday. It even dresses the wall from outside the room. Everyone is delighted with it and even Richo had to nod his doubting head in agreeance. I call it my 'potential window' because from the moment I spied it I knew it had 'potential'!

That's not a green ceiling, I'm not that trendy! That is all painted with the sun beaming in and reflecting a green tinge from the drop sheet into the fresh ceiling paint. Not long now, the light fittings have been ordered and now to find a wall cupboard to house my growing collection of kitchen appliances. My food cupboards have been displaced and I have enough ingredient varieties to stick a small supermarket. If 50 people turned up for lunch tomorrow, I could easily feed them. I hope they don't though because I want to get this room finished;-))