recipe

Chicken Pasta recipe.

Hi friends,

So recently I’ve been posting short daily vlogs over on tiktok & surprisingly people seem to enjoy them. (CLICK HERE to check them out)
Because they are daily sometimes I show what we are eating and a heavily featured meal is a regular go to for us, chicken pasta.

I get asked so often for the recipe and I am hesitant to make a video on it, because recipe content isn’t really my thing.
So I thought I would just write it out for you…

Ingredients:

  • Chicken breast
  • Diced bacon
  • Onion
  • Zucchini
  • Garlic
  • 250ml cream
  • 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 cup of grated cheese of your choice
  • seasoning
  • pasta

Steps:

  1. If you want to use the diced bacon (sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t…) fry it off first and then set it aside to add on top of the pasta when serving.
  2. Start cooking pasta (cook until nearly done)
  3. Dice onion, mince garlic & grate zucchini – sauté in pan.
  4. Dice chicken – add to pan with vegetables and cook until cooked through. (How much chicken I use depends on how many people I am cooking for, if it’s just the kids and I, I use just one breast and then I add on from there…)
  5. Once chicken is cooked, add in 1 cup/250ml of cream, 2 cups of stock (I use 1 tbsp quirky chicken stock paste & 1 tbsp of vegetable stock paste that I make in the thermomix & I combine that with 2cups of water. If you don’t have this stock paste, just use your preferred type of stock)
  6. Stir until combined and then add in the 1 cup of grated cheese – whatever cheese you prefer. Sometimes I use parmesan, other times the pizza grated cheese in the bag – this meal is fairly forgiving.
  7. Drain the pasta
  8. Add pasta to pan and stir to coat pasta.
  9. Season however you like – I usually add cracked pepper & a sprinkle of vegeta stock powder and sometimes I just forget to.
  10. Continue to cook & stir gently over a medium-high heat until the mix is simmering & pasta is cooked through.
  11. At this point I normally turn the heat off and pop a lid on the pan. I find letting it sit for about 20-30minutes helps the sauce to be absorbed a bit by the pasta & it thickens. If you serve it straight away, it’ll just be a bit more liquidy.
  12. When serving I top with diced bacon (from step 1), but sometimes I don’t…
  13. Enjoy.

So that’s it.
The basic part which you need to know is 1 cup of cream, 2 cups of stock & 1 cup of cheese. That makes the sauce, the rest you can customise however you like.
You could add in whatever veggies you like (mushrooms maybe? I am not a huge fan of cooked mushrooms…)
You could use a shredded BBQ chook from woolies if you are short on time & don’t feel like dicing & cooking chicken breast… It really is a very basic & forgiving recipe.
When I make it we always have leftovers for the next night or the freezer. (It does freeze & reheat well)
Everyone I make this meal for always enjoys it & both my kids love it too.
For me it’s comfort food, I like it and I hope you do too.
Please let me know if you make it & any changes you made to it.

TikTok
Facebook.
Instagram.
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.
Snapchat; Bindy_30

Signature

2019 · food · recipe

Grilled salmon with mango salsa & avocado sauce. {Recipe}

Hey friends,

Today I thought I would share with you a meal we’ve been enjoying recently…
No idea what to call it & it’s a bit of a combination of a few recipes I stumbled upon  on good ol’ Pinterest… (I’ll link them below)
It’s grilled salmon with mango salsa and an avocado dressing…
img_0779

Ingredients:

  • Salmon
  • Avocado x2
  • Red onion
  • Capsicum
  • Mango
  • Lime
  • Spinach
  • Basil
  • Garlic
  • Cream
  • Olive oil
  • Salt & pepper

Method:

  1. Work out how you want to cook your salmon, I have no idea how to do this – Trent cooks ours on the bbq on the grill. He coats it lightly with olive oil and seasons with salt & pepper… (He just said he cooks it on a medium heat for roughly 7 minutes on the presentative side or until it releases off the bbq, flip and cook for another 3 minutes)
  2. For the salsa, dice a full avocado, about half a mango, 1/4 of a large capsicum and a few slices of red onion… Pop it all in a bowl and mix gently to combine, squeeze half a lime over it and set aside.
    *Really I eyeball this mix, this amount was good for Trent, LuLu & I and it had about a serving left over. For more people obviously add in more ingredients and if you like less or more of an ingredient – adjust accordingly. If you aren’t a capsicum fan, tomato would also work.
  3. For the avocado dressing I throw a full avocado (peeled & seeded obviously) into a stick blender (or a thermomix), add in just over half a 1/4 cup of basil (I use basil in tube from Coles, THIS one), about a teaspoon of minced garlic (or a clove), same amount of olive oil as the basil, 1/4 cup of cream and season with salt and pepper and blitz it up. Now the first time I followed the recipe below I felt there was way too much basil, which is why I lessened the amounts of basil & oil this time around. The one I made today using those very vague measurements (sorry) was awesome!
  4. To present, place salmon on plate, place spinach down and top with salsa and dollop & smear the avocado dressing. LuLu had the exact same as us, but for Tommy I didn’t make his salad as a salsa, I just gave him some diced up avocado, mango & capsicum separately without the onion & lime and he really enjoys salmon.
  5. Pour yourself a drink (a gin, lime & soda goes perfectly!) and enjoy.

img_0780

Ok, we’ve established I suck at writing recipes – but that gives you a vague idea on how we throw this together and I like to think it’s a fairly healthy meal and it’s totally delicious! It’s so light so it’s perfect for hot days and it’s the kind of meal where you feel full but not gross full!
Also with the leftover avocado dressing I used it over pasta tonight for dinner with some grated cheese & halved cherry tomatoes & the kids loved it. You could also do it over zucchini noodles. (LuLu liked it so much she asked for the “avocado pasta” cold in her lunch box for school tomorrow…)

Anyway friends if you make this I would love to hear your thoughts or how you improved this in anyway!
Thanks for reading,

Facebook.
Instagram.
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.
Snapchat; Bindy_30
Signature
Recipes I used for inspiration can be found HERE & HERE.  

2018 · christmas · recipe

Shortbread recipe.

Hi friends,

I hope you are all having a beautiful December.
Today I did a little Christmas baking (Kringle the elf insisted we do it), so shortbread was made!

img_1571
This is my shortbread recipe, I posted it over on Bella In Bindyland years & years ago, but I thought it was worth sharing here!

bake bread (1)

It’s a simple recipe but always seems to be a winner. I personally don’t eat a lot of shortbread, so it’s not my favourite – but Trent loves it and every time I take a box to a party or get together they always disappear quickly.

Ingredients:

  • 175g or 1 1/2 cups of  plain (all purpose) flour
  • 125g or 3/4 cup of rice flour
  • A pinch of salt.
  • 200g unsalted butter, softentend
  • 4 tablespoons of caster (super fine) sugar
  • Extra caster sugar for sprinkling on the biscuits when they are baked

Directions: 

  1. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees (or 375 degrees F).
  2. Line baking trays with baking paper.
  3. In a separate bowl sift the two kinds of flour together, add a pinch of salt to the bowl.
  4. In your mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together until light & fluffy.
  5. Slowly add flour mix to creamed butter & sugar, gently mix until combined.
  6. Roll out dough into a disc and cover with baking paper or cling wrap. Place in fridge to chill for 1/2 hour.
  7. Now with a cookie cutter cut out shapes!! (If you don’t want to do this, you can make it in a slice tray and just pre-cut little squares into the dough every 3cm).
    I just think stars look pretty!
  8. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 150degrees or 300 degrees F & cook for a further 15-20 minute or until shortbread is a light golden colour.
  9. Remove from oven and sprinkle caster sugar over top while still warm.
  10. Cool on rack and then enjoy!

This recipe made about 60 small stars.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you make it please let me know.

Facebook.
Instagram.
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.

Signature

img_1574

2018 · food · recipe

Chocolate Eclairs Recipe.

Hi friends,

The other day I posted this photo…

chocolate eclairs modernwifelife31

And I was instantly flooded with requests for the recipe for these eclairs…
A dear friend of mine (who now lives in Kansas) her Mumma makes these, I have eaten them many times since knowing these wonderful friends….
So I asked Shar if I could share her recipe & and she thankfully said I could share it with you all… So here it is…

bake bread

“Shaza’s kiwi chocolate eclairs”

Ingredients:

  • 100g butter
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 cup of flour
  • 3 eggs
  • Whipped cream for filling
  • A block (or 2) of cadbury chocolate for topping

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
  2. Place butter and water in saucepan and heat.
  3. Bring to a rolling boil – remove quickly and add flour.
  4. Beat with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan.
  5. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
  6. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg.
  7. Mix until mixture is glossy.
  8. Using 2 spoons distribute mixture onto lined trays. (Or pipe 7cm strips)
  9. Bake for 30 minutes or until eclairs are puffy & golden.
  10. Lower heat to 120 degrees C and bake for another 15 minutes until dry.
  11. Remove from oven and cool completely.
  12. Prepare whipped cream to your liking (I add icing sugar & vanilla)
  13. Melt chocolate using your preferred method. I use my thermomix, but microwave or stovetop also works great. I just use regularly cadbury block chocolate, I used one block for my batch but I feel I should’ve used another 1/2 a block.
  14. Using a sharp knife, cut eclairs in half but leaving top attached.
  15. Fill with whipped cream and then dip top into melted chocolate. (Or spoon melted chocolate over the eclairs)
  16. Set aside for chocolate to set.
  17. Eat & enjoy. (store eclairs in the fridge)

I filmed myself making these for the firs time, in my recent “clean with me” video, you can CLICK HERE to watch that. (They are easy to make, a tiny bit fiddly – but you can see in the video how easy it is!)

If you try this recipe I would love to see/hear how they turn out for you, send me a photo on social media!

Facebook.
Instagram.
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.
Snapchat; Bindy_30

Signature

2017 · cleaning · diy · domestic engineering · housewife · housework · how to · recipe

Homemade Laundry Powder recipe. {Video}

Hi friends,
One of my most highly requested blog posts & videos is to do a “how I make my washing powder”…
So here it is…washing powder1.jpgThe video can be found HERE. 

The recipe I use is by Sister Mixin and you can find it HERE. (I change the recipe slightly by adding in 1 bar of sard soap…)

The reason I make my own laundry powder is simply because –
A) I can. I have the time & desire to do so, you may not & that is fine.
B) I feel it saves us money. 
C) I also believe it is more gentle & more effective product than standard washing powders.
Laundry powder is so expensive & often full of extra fillers & chemicals, so by making my own I know what is in it and it is very cheap. All these ingredients are easily available at Coles or Woolworths & are very affordable, I always have them in my cupboard, as I use them for other uses as well.
I make mine in my Thermomix – you don’t need one to make this recipe, but I feel it would be easiest… If you don’t have a Thermomix, I would suggest you either grate the soap bars or blitz them in a food processor and then combine all the ingredients in a large clear container (a clear container so you can check that all the products are thoroughly mixed together)

I have been making this recipe for over 2 years now and I find it removes stains very well & all of our clothing is clean & soft. I do use white vinegar as a fabric softener occasionally (always with towels) & if I am washing our bedding I often add in some lavender essential oil (or even eucalyptus if we aren’t feeling well)

As mentioned in the video, I do occasionally buy washing powder. I bought one box of OMO sensitive to wash Tommy’s clothes before he was born, but I  have been washing his clothing with this powder for months and he has never had a reaction to it – none of us have. The other product I occasionally buy is Bosisto’s Laundry Powder – I only buy it maybe once a year, if it is on sale… And it is the product I like to have as my “back up” in case I run out of this mixture or I use it if we are all very sick.

I like making my own cleaning products, I currently make my own basic disinfectant spray, occasionally dish washer powder & stone bench cleaner. I have trialled making a few glass cleaners, but I’m struggling to find one I love – so for now I use the Method glass cleaner & also their timber cleaner/polish, I find both of those products to be really good. But if you have a great recipe for either of those I would love to try it out!
Please let me know in the comments below or on my social media any cleaner recipe recommendations you may have, or if you make your own laundry powder – do you use a similar recipe to this? I would love to have a read of yours!
Facebook.
Instagram.
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.
Snapchat; Bindy_30
Have a great weekend!
Signature

2017 · positivity · recipe

Feeling good, catch up & Choc-chip muffin recipe.

It’s a good week, to have a good week.

Hello friends,

I am so glad it is a new week, last week near killed me! I had the man-flu and I was down & out for a few days but thankfully a dose of antibiotics has me back to feeling alive!

I cannot handle being sick, it just knocks me around so bad… I was worried I was being a bit of a sook, but the doctor assured me it’s just I was hit harder with the dreaded cold/flu  that all 4 of us got. Apparently thanks to my frustrating health issue my body is “weaker”/more susceptible to getting knocked around a bit harder from really basic colds… Great. That’s just what you need as a Mum, because as you know Mumma’s ain’t got time to be sick! But it did explain why everyone else was getting better and I was getting worse!
Thankfully I’m much better and I vow never to take my usually fairly good health for granted again… I honestly told Trent to look up funeral homes, I may get a little dramatic – but I thought I was about to die. (Also I just want to say I am so thankful to Trent, for picking up my slack while I was sick, he took time off work and made sure I got rest!)
But thanks to my returning energy & good health my home is back in a neat & tidy state and life feels good again…

This morning LuLu & I whipped up a batch of choc-chip muffins! Nothing like freshly baked deliciousness to start your week off well…

img_0159

If you would like to make these scrumptious muffins this is the recipe I used….
Recipe – choc chip muffins  

It is almost the end of July… I have no clue where this year has gone but I am pretty sure  just last week it was January…
Our little man is now 7 months old!! I am sitting here with a dumbfounded look on my face as I type that, he is closer to 1 than newborn now (I am now almost crying!!)… And LuLu is 4 in October – FOUR! (I am still in melt down mode after celebrating her best little friends 4th birthday the other weekend… FOUR!!!) 

Sorry this blog post has no real rhyme or reason, it’s just a bit of a chat/catch up post… I am aiming lately to have a new blog post up every week on either Monday or Tuesday and a new video up every Friday… So hopefully that pattern continues! Speaking of blogs and videos  – is there anything in particular you would like to see more of or a specific type of post done? Please leave a comment below or contact me on my social media!
Would you prefer our “no tv” update as a blog post or video?
The 2 videos I am currently editing are cleaning & grocery videos…
Any suggestions or questions that you have feel free to let me know!

Facebook.
Instagram.
Twitter.
Pinterest.
YouTube.
Snapchat; Bindy_30

I hope you have a wonderful week, I feel like it’s going to be a great one!
Signature