Harveys At Home - The Harvey Circus » Food Stuff

Spicing up the bird…

Meegan — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:48:28 +0000

Chicken breast is a staple dinner protein here at the Harvey Circus. But it can get a bit, you know, same old-same old and boring.

Diminishing Lucy has recently posted a whole heap of easy (and flavourful!) marinades for your average chicken breast. Yum ! There are even a few more ideas in the comments section from fellow readers to try as well. Double yum !!

Anyone for breakfast in?

Meegan — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:27:51 +0000

I love going out for breakfast. (I love going out for any meal!) Taking three kids along for a relaxing breaky out? Ummm, I don’t think so!

Saturday night after getting home late-ish from visiting the Ostenfeld’s I bribed Marc. Clean up the kitchen before bed and I’ll cook you breakfast in the morning. And he did, so I had to!

Here’s my breakfast: two poached eggs, bacon, mushrooms, wilted baby spinach and grainy toast. All washed down with orange juice!

Sunday Breakfast

So while the kids had boring old weetbix, Marc and I enjoyed our Sunday breakfast in relative peace, still in our jammies!

How Many Do You Do?

Marc Harvey — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:43:21 +0000

Today Owen finished off 4 Weet Bix for breakfast.

Now taking into account he is about 15kg and an average male is about 80kg, that would be the equivalent of a male adult eating 21 Weet Bix. Somehow he was still hungry enough for morning tea.

Beans!

Meegan — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:46:04 +0000

Marc often has baked beans on toast for breakfast. Yuck, is my response. And they are salt reduced baked beans. Double yuck. Owen has always been intrigued with this little ritual his Dad has with this particular breakfast. Apparently, there is a specific order that you need to do things in otherwise the timing is all wrong and the world will crumble. Apparently. Can’t you just picture me rolling my eyes…

Anyway, Owen decided this morning that today was going to be the day that he had exactly what his Dad was having for breakfast. Yuck. But in the spirit of trying something he have never tried before, I dutifully made him baked beans and toast…

Evidence.

Well, all the toast dissapeared. Some of the baked beans did too. But not a whole lot. I guess he won’t be wanting Dad’s breakfast again anytime soon!

I won something!

Meegan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:59:13 +0000

Nope, not a baby. Sorry :D

I won this Peugeot Electric Salt Grinder!

My apologies for the picture quality, but I was too excited to worry about that, all I wanted to do was open it up and see if it worked!

And it does :)

Pikelets and Baking Powder

Meegan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:09:07 +0000

This morning, in an attempt to maintain the Domestic Goddess flow around here, Owen and I have been making pikelets. Well, OK, I’ve been making pikelets while Owen “helps” by making a mess :o) The recipe stated that it would make 36 but I’m sure we’ve eaten nearly half of them – as soon as they come out of the pan all nice and warm – so there won’t be many left for afternoon tea, let alone tomorrow!

Anyway, the recipe we used today called for 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder. Of course, I didn’t have any so I Googled it and this is what I found out, from the ever reliable Australian Women’s Weekly.

Baking soda, bicarb soda, baking powder – what’s the difference?

Question
What is the difference between baking powder, baking soda and bicarbonate of soda? What are their different applications?

Answer
Baking soda and bicarbonate of soda are different names for the same thing; in Australia, we mostly refer to it as bicarbonate of soda, but overseas, especially in America, it is referred to as baking soda. They aren’t interchangeable, but bicarbonate of soda and baking powder are both leavening agents. When included in a batter, the leavening agent causes air bubbles (produced by stirring, whipping or beating) to expand when cooked – causing it to ‘rise’.

Bicarbonate of soda is a pure leavening agent. It needs to be mixed with moisture and an acidic ingredient for the necessary chemical reaction to take place to make food rise. Because it needs an acid to create the rising quality, it is often used in recipes where there is already an acidic ingredient present, such as lemon juice, chocolate, buttermilk or honey.

Baking powder, which contains bicarbonate of soda, comes pre-mixed with the acidic ingredient for you – so all you need to add is the moisture. The acidic ingredient most often used in baking powder is cream of tartar. You can make your own baking powder: simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part bicarbonate of soda. Baking powder has a neutral taste and is often used in recipes that have other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk.

In Australia, we usually just cook with self-raising flour when a leavening agent is required, unless the specific qualities of bicarbonate of soda are required. Bicarbonate of soda imparts a slightly different quality to that of baking powder when used in cooking. It can have a slightly “tangy” taste and it makes a lovely golden colour. It also makes a very specific texture not achievable with baking powder. It is very important to sift bicarbonate of soda well as it gets lumpy and to use very exact measures as the “tangy” taste can quite easily become bitter or soapy if too much is used.

So I tried the cream or tartar and bicarb soda mix, and the pikelets turned out wonderfully!

Owen wanted three pikelets on his Shrek plate (yup, very specific!) for morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and finally not for dinner. Dinner was reserved for a weetbix with honey request… Unfortunately, his horrible mother and father made him eat vegetables!

Look what the courier brought me!

Meegan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:02:10 +0000

This is the smallest order size – supposed to be for two people for approximately a fortnight…

With the few things we have left over from my last lot of fruit and vege shopping we nearly will last that long too. Although for the next fortnight, I would definitely order the family box, just to get that little bit extra for the three of us. As you can see by the photos, it’s very good quality and they have even included some things that aren’t quite ripe to make the box of goodies last the fortnight.