Potato Skins with Blue Cheese

With the Ashes Test still going, I wonder what will be the best munchies to go with it?

POTATO SKINS!

Here I used both golden delight potato and red delight potato.
Pick golden delight potato if you want to be able to fit more fillings and crunchier skin.
Pick red delight potato if you want more of 'bite-size' potato skins, as they are available mostly in medium size (flatter compared to golden delight potatoes) and they have tender skins (which tends to curl when you bake them).

Red and Golden Delight potatoes

Potato skins is similar to pizza, you can throw anything in the fridge and you are good to go.
This time, I have leftover blue cheese. So, here we go!

What you will need:
- 1kg of potatoes
- Oil Spray
- 150g Chopped bacon
- 50-75g Blue Cheese
- 100g Mozzarella Cheese
- 100g Red Capsicum (or any other colour)
- a handful of chopped onion spring
- Jalapenos and chilli flakes (if you like it spicy)

Step one:

Preheat the oven on 180C

Wash the potatoes and put them in the oven for 45-50 minutes

Bake for 45 minutes

 Usually, while waiting, I will cook the bacon, chop the capsicum, jalapenos, and onion spring.

Cooked bacon

Step two:
Take them out and cut them in half, length wise.
Scoop the inside, leave about 5mm of potato. (Careful! They are hot!)

Scoop them out!

Step three:
Put the scooped potatoes skin-side up on the rack and spray them with the oil.
Put them back into the oven for 10 minutes.
After that, flip the potatoes over (skin side down), spray and pop them into the oven for 10 minutes.

Step four:

Put bacon, capsicum, jalapenos, cheeses on and put them back to the oven for 10 minutes.

Ready to be put into the oven

Step five:
Take them out of the oven and let them cool a bit.
I know you can't wait to eat them up, but believe me, hold your horses.
You can serve them with sour cream and sweet chilli.
But I like them as they are, the blue cheese give that enough saltiness that you don't have to add anymore flavour.

Do not forget to sprinkle the onion spring and they are ready to eat!

DONE!

Beer on your left hand, potato skins on your right, what more can you have..?
Enjoy!

That's it folks!

Until next time,

Tania xx

Doritos Crusted Chicken Breast

People usually go with cornflakes for that extra crunch with their kitchen.

BUT, why don't we use Doritos?
The good thing about this is you can go with your favourite Doritos flavour.

So, lets get to it!

What you need:
2 cups of buttermilk
2 cups of flour (plain or self raising, whatever you have at home)
5 eggs
300g Doritos
900g chicken breast (without skin and bones)
Cayenne Pepper/Chilli Flakes (Optional, Sprinkle on coasted chicken before baking)

Step 1:
Cut the Chicken breast 2.5cm cube or smaller.
Pour the buttermilk into the chicken and keep in the fridge for 2 hours.

Step 2:
While waiting, crush the doritos (you can do it inside the bag).
Tip: For finer texture, you can put them in a food processor.

Step 3:
After 2 hours, take out the chicken from the fridge.
Preheat your oven at 180C.
The routine is to coat the buttermilk-coated chicken with flour, and dip it into the egg and cover it with doritos.
Repeat the routine for all pieces of chicken.
Lay them on baking paper-lined tray.

Step 4 :
Bake the chicken for 15 minutes.
Tip: Do not forget to check the bigger piece of chicken, if they are cooked or not.

Step 5:
Serve while they are still hot with any sauce you like! Tomato, BBQ, mayonnaise, or your own homemade sauce!

ENJOY!

Until next time,


Tania xx

Healthy Homemade Kale Chips

I think it is safe for me to say that NO ONE can stop at only eating one chip when you have the whole packet in front of your eyes.

So lets make your own Kale Chips when you don't have to feel guilty if you can not stop eating them.

What you need:
1 Bunch of Kale
2 tsp of olive oil (Preferred olive oil spray)
Salt and pepper to taste

Steps 1:
Wash Kale leaves with water and dry them with paper towels. Make sure they are dry.
Tips: It is better to wash them while they still intact with the big stem and dry them after you cut the kale leaves into smaller pieces.

Steps 2:
Preheat oven at 170C.
Lay baking paper into a flat tray. Equally scatter the Kale leaves, do not overlay each other.
Spray olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper into desired amount. (not too much!)

Step 3:
Pop them into the oven for 10 minutes. Every oven is different, so, take them out when the edges of the leaves turn into brown but still have green in the middle part.
Take them out and let it cool for a few minutes. Eat them while its hot!
Tip: Store them in airtight container.

DONE!
Now you can nibble on these Kale Chips without having to run miles to work on the calories!

Until next time,


Tania xx

DIY: How to Make Rosewater

Hello there!

Rosewater can be used for variety of uses, from toner for your skin to cooking! The smell is so divine you can use it in your cosmetic or perfume as well.

I will show you my version of how to make your own Rosewater.
Basically, you will need distilled water and roses.
If you do not have any distilled water, this tutorial also shows you how to make your own distilled water. (Start from step one)
However, you can purchase the distilled water from the supermarket. (In that case, just jump to step five)

What you need:
- Medium sized saucepan (filled 1/3 with tap water)
- Bowl that fits perfectly inside the saucepan
- Lid that is bigger than the saucepan you are going to use
- A Lot of ice cubes
- Spoon or kitchen pipette
- 4 stems of Roses (Preferably red roses)
- Patience

So, lets get to it!

Step one:

Set up the water filled saucepan, bowl and lid (upside down) as shown in the picture below. If possible, pick glass lid without a hole.
Bring the water to boil.

Step two:

Place the ice cubes on the lid and wait for it to melt.

Step three:

While waiting for the ice cubes to melt and distilled water in process, peel the rose petals off the stems and wash them. Make sure you get rid of the dirt, bugs or pesticides.
If you have your own roses plant in your back yard, pick them a few hours after the sun rises so there is no morning dew left behind.

Step four:

Go back to your saucepan, use the spoon/kitchen pipette, take the water of the lid and make sure it does not drip into the saucepan (in my case, because I have a hole on my lid, I have to keep an eye on it every several minutes)

Depending on the amount of rosewater you need, keep adding ice cubes on the lid until you have desired amount of distilled water.
The idea of this set up, as the water boils the steam will rise and hits the cold lid (because of the ice cubes), thus it will condense and flow to the centre of the lid and drips to the bowl.

Step five:

Pick up the bowl inside the saucepan and pour the distilled water into another saucepan (smaller).
Put in your washed rose petals.
The distilled water should barely cover the petals.
If you bought the distilled water off the supermarket, you only need 3/4-1 cup of distilled water (for 4 stems of roses).
Put it on simmer for 10-15 minutes with lid until the rose petal lose their colour.

Step six: 

Remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the petals from the water. 

TA DA! You have yourself a homemade rosewater!

I used my rosewater to make strawberry and watermelon cake (here), do not forget to check them out as well. 

Rosewater: Middle

Thats's it folks!

Until next time, 

Tania xx