Pulled Pork

Here's my Pulled Pork recipie, there are many store bought rubs  available, but this is how I make my own rub. It is rich full bodied, and at the end of its cooking time it is covered in a sticky caramelised coating.

Rub ingredients 

1 1/2 cups brown sugar 

1 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoons smokey paprika 

1 tablespoons onion powder

1-2 teaspoons chill or cayenne pepper if you like a bit of spice 

Salt pepper

Apple juice.

Method

I used a deboned shoulder about 2 kg

Take the netting off flatten out the meat and remove the top rind ( you can use this if you want some crackle for presentation,  just put it under the griller and cook)

This is what the the Pork looks like after you have removed the skin.

Ok mix all the rub ingredients together except apple juice, then smear it all over the Pork making sure you massage it into the meat, cover and let it marinate for 4-5 hours but the longer the better, but when I made this one I only rested it for 2 and still was delicious.

Preheat oven to 140c pour apple juice into the bottom of the approx about 2 cups, cover tightly with foil and place in oven. Bake for approx 5 hours depending on your oven,  taking out of the oven every hour to baste with the juices, you will get a lot of liquid in the pan, if you find there is a lot and creeping up just drain a little out and place in a saucepan and reduce this is great to pour over the Pork when cooked. In the last hour of cooking take the foil off and continually baste this is when the coating becomes sticky and caramelised yummy .

When you are happy with your Pork (just test with fork for tenderness) take out of oven and rest for 15mins then grab 2 forks and start pulling the Pork apart 

Omg I can't tell you how good this smells and tastes, it's st this point if you had any reserved sauce you can pour it over the pulled meat to add more flavour and juiceness. I serve it on soft bread rolls topped with coleslaw, it's  absolutely a crowd pleaser and one of my family's favourite and great for large gatherings. 

Below are some of the store brought rub options, but I like making my own as it doesn't have all the additives, but reading the ingredients on the back you could add some of their spice blends.

So that's my Pulled Pork recipe, its so bloody delicious that after writing this blog post I'm going to make it today. I do hope you get a chance to make this for your family because they will love like mine do. 

Enjoy Maz xx 

Lasagna

I thought it was well and truly overdue I shared with you my lasagna recipe with you all,  it a rich full bodyed lasagna, and the sauce is better if you can make and let it simmer for all day.

Ingredients 

4 tablespoons olive oil

1kg beef mince

1 onion diced

1tablespoon minced garlic 

4 tablespoons Italian herb  mix (dried herb mix)

4 tablespoons tomatoe paste

1 tin tomato purée 

1tin crushed tomatoes

1 cup Red wine

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Lasagna sheets ( I like a lot of layers so I don't use heaps of sauce between, maybe 2 1/2 big serving spoon size fulls each layer so I use just 1 1/2 boxes of sheets). 

Bechamel Sauce

60g butter

1/3 cup plain flour 

4 1/2 cups milk 

1 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

Add oil to saucepan and soften onions then add garlic, don't burn then mince and brown, once cooked add tomato paste, dried herbs, brown sugar, (cayenne pepper if you like optional) salt and pepper and combine throughly. Then add tomato purée crushed tomatoes and red wine stir and simmer on a very low heat,  the longer the better for approximately 6 hours, you will have a much richer fuller flavoured sauce. Always taste your food while cooking, so you can adjust your seasonings. (Like my Italian seasonings, I used different brand in this batch, and it didn't have enough oregano for my taste so I just added a little more oregano). 

cheese sauce 

Warm milk in microwave, melt butter in saucepan then add flour, combine until all the flour is taken up, slowly add the milk whisking continually so you don't have any lumps and sauce thickens, add cheese and salt and pepper to taste, you might like to adjust the cheese if you like it really cheesy just add more. Transfer to large jug ( easy way when assembling the lasagna) Always taste you food whilst cooking.

Assembly

In a rectangle baking dish, spoon a little of the sauce on the bottom this just stops the pasta sticking to the bottom. Then place a layer of lasagna sheets, then top with lasagna sauce then pour a thin layer of cheese sauce, repeats the sequence pasta sheets lasagna sauce cheese, making sure you last layer is lasagne sauce cheese sauce then add good handful of grated cheese and sprinkling of dried chives. 

Bake in a moderate oven 160c until golden brown, serve with garden salad and garlic bread. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and hopefully it will become a family favourite in your house as it is in ours 

Enjoy Maz xxx 

Coconut Oil and Turmeric Mask

After such great results with the Coconut Oil and Bi-Carb Soda cleanser, I thought I would try a mask, that I had found that also had great reviews. 

 

Mask ingredients 

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric 

1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil

Mix all ingredients together to form a paste 

 

 

Apply to your face and massage in, avoiding delicate eye area, and leave on your face for 15-20 minuites 

Ha ha my skin looks a similar shade to Donald Trump, also whilst I was trialling this mask I indulged my hair in a treatment of Coconut Oil. Just scoop a tablespoon of coconut oil and massage through your hair and leave on as long as you like all day if your have time.

When the time was up I just hopped in the shower and washed it off with my Coconut Oil Cleanser, (see recipients on blog, ) my skin felt amazing I didn't use a toner just moisturised it. 

 

Ta da and this is after, no makeup just moisturised skin, thumbs up from me. My skin is defiantly softer, smoother,  and lighter and brighter. Will defiantly be combining this with my daily cleansing routine, and I'm loving the fact that it an all natural ingredients and inexpensive to make. I hope you get the chance to whip a batch and you enjoy the results.

Maz xx 

Pumpkin Soup

 

This is my Pumkin Soup recipe, normally you would use potatoe but I use sweet potato instead,  because it's a healthier and a better carb and fibre option. 

Ingredients 

1 whole small pumpkin (I love using the "Jap " variety)

2 large sweet potatoes 

2 large brown onions

3 -4 tablespoons chicken stock powder 

Salt pepper 

Water

1/2 cup cream 

Chop everything like picture above them place in a slow cooker or large pot, ( I find the slow cooker gives the best result as you just put everything in a "set and forget).

 

Fill a jug with 2 cups of water and mix stock powder salt pepper then pour over the ingredients, then top up with water to only half way up, ( as the pumpkin and sweet potato will release a lot of liquid). You can add some spices if you wanted to like, ginger, a little chilli, or as a follower suggested she uses a Moroccan spice mix, it's entirely up to you, I keep it plain as my family are a bit fussy. 

 

I cook it on medium heat for  around 6-7 hours, if cooking on the stove just  low slow simmer. When completely soft and cooked through just blitz with a hand blender, you can add  1/2  cup of cream at this stage just and blend it through. Do a taste test at this point you might want to add some more seasoning.

To serve add a dollop of cream, Greek yogurt, or sour cream whatever your favourite is,  then I always add a sprinkling of chopped chives, gives a nice crunch and freshness. Also its delicious served with a couple of slices of toasted sour dough bread lathered with butter. Ta da there you have it my take on Pumpkin Soup, with winter upon us in Australia it's the perfect easy filling meal for a winters night,  and it mandatory that you must be sitting in a lounge chair with your PJs on watching telly with the fire roaring 😂😂👍

Hope you try this recipe, and would love you comments and feed back 

Maz xx

 

Chicken Fajitas

 

Made these healthy delicious Chicken Frjiatas for lunch today, l had all the family over for lunch and it was such an easy way to entertain a large crowd. 

I never measure anything usually when I cook it's just a squirt of this a shake of that, so just adjust the flavours to your liking. This also makes a huge amount easily enough to feed 8 people.

Ingredients 

Oilive oil

4 chicken breasts sliced in half long ways then sliced thinly 

3 red capsicum thinly sliced 

2 onions thinly sliced

1 tablespoon Smokey paprika 

1 tablespoon Cumin

Salt pepper 

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup Tomato sauce

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

Chilli (if you like it hot) I've got some fussy eaters so I didn't 

Water 

Method

Heat oil in a large pan add capsicum opinion and brown till soft and camamelised you may need to add little water at this stage.

 

Once you have cooked remove from pan add a little more oil and add chicken and cook, then return onion capsicum mixture to the  Chicken and combine all together.

 

Then add smokey paprika, cumin, salt pepper, brown sugar, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce. You may need to add a litte water if you find there's not enough sauce and it's drying out. Stir all your condiments in and simmer and let all the flavours develop, about 1/2 hour, the longer the better but just make sure it doesn't dry out and the heats not too high 

When ready to serve chop some spring onion and scatter on he top it look beautiful if you have a big bowl and people can serve themselves,

 

   

I served mine with smashed avocado cucumber cheese lettuce and sour cream, then wrapped it all up in a warm tortilla, or wrap of your choice ( mine was a chia wrapped in this pic)

Absolutely a stunning simple meal for a crowd, that quick tasty easy and delishious, and looks amazing presented in a large serving bowl. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and  you get the chance to make these amazing little parcels of yummness.

Would love your comment if you liked this recipe and thought it was helpful.

Maz xx

 

  

Coconut Bicarb Soda Facial Cleanser

 

I was fed up the other day with usual store brought cleanser, my skin was dull, dry, enlarged pores, it just looked really tired. So after looking on Pinterest, and a lot of diy beauty sites, I decided to try the Coconut Oil Bicarb-Soda one, due to a lot of good reviews and reports and also the amazing benefits of coconut oil. It's very simple to make and once you have mixed yourself up a batch you can use it daily or every second day like me (I'm a newbie do I'm just taking it slowly just to see how my skin reacts to it). I Also love that it only contains 2 ingredients, and no chemicals. After I used the Cleanser I didn't use a toner, as I don't like the drying effects it has on my skin, I just applied my normal moisturiser . 

How To Make Cleanser 

2 tablespoons Coconut oil

2 tablespoons bicarbonate Soda 

Mix all ingredients together into a paste

Use in shower as you would your normal Cleanser use avoiding your eyes, wash off with water.

 

  

I hope you get the chance to try this as I was very impressed, my skin felt soft, clean, and a lot lighter and brighter. Will defiantly be making a jar for the shower and use it on my body as well, you could add some essentials oils to it as well if you wanted. 

Maz xx 

Banana Blueberry Muffins

 

I made these muffins for a cancer fundraiser today, they were absolutely delicious, and the perfect accompaniment was a drizzle of runny icing and sprinkling  of coconut.

Ingredients 

1 egg

1/3 cup of milk 

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sour cream 

1 cup mashed banana
2tsp vanilla extract 

2 cups S/R flour

1/2 cup sugar 

1Tbsp baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Blueberries 

 

Method

In a bowl lightly beat egg,  add milk, oil, sour cream, mashed banana, and gently stir. 

In a separate bowl combine sifted flour, baking powder,  sugar, and salt. 

Add all at once the liquid to the dry ingredients and gently fold through until until moistened then add blueberries and stir through. 

Fill prepared muffin tins 3/4 full and bake in oven at 160c for 20 to 25 min or until golden brown.

To make icing place 1 cup icing sugar in a bowl add enough water to make a drizzly consistency about a 1 Tbls, then  use a tablespoon full of icing and hold over muffins and let it run freely over  the top, while still wet sprinkle with coconut. 

 

I doubled the recipe, and used 5 bananas and 2 punnets of blueberries and it made 30 muffins.

Ta da there you have it I hope you have the chance to make these muffins as they are absolutely delish. 

Maz xx