Creamy, cheesy potato bake with a lower cheese, higher protein twist

All afternoon I had a hankering for potato bake. At work, on the way home. I love the soft potato, the creamy sauce and the crispy cheese on top. Ah yum. I never make it though as I can't bear to cook with that much cream and cheese. I like to eat it but if I bake it I skimp and end up disappointed.

But no more! Tonight I gave into my craving and cooked the best potato bake ever. I skimped again of course but this time it worked. I had to share because this recipe is divine.  I credit the success of this recipe to the strength of my desire. Not to mention my homegrown spuds adding something special, but I'm sure store bought will be just fine.

Of course I made a huge dish so there is potato bake for lunch tomorrow and the day after.


Here's the recipe:

Wash, peel and slice potatoes. Steam them over boiling water until just soft. Be careful not to turn them to mush.

Preheat the oven to 180-200C and lightly oil a baking dish.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce.  Heat 40g butter in a saucepan. When melted, whisk in half a cup of plain flour.  Add 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Add half a packet of silken tofu and whisk like mad over reduced heat to keep the sauce smooth. Add more milk to keep the consistency of cheese sauce. Note there is no cheese needed at this stage.

Layer potatoes in the baking dish, top with shallots or herbs, then a third of the sauce, then more potatoes and herbs. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top and spread evenly.  Top with grated parmesan. Bake until golden and crispy.

I know I've said it again and I'll say it again, if you use tofu like this no one will ever know let alone object. The tofu adds soy protein and thickens the sauce. The mustard gives a cheesy flavour.  But I saved the cheese just as a topping which means I used a lot less.

If you like potato bake I hope you give this version a try. I'm completely thrilled and will continue to make it this way from now on.

Hunting award winning black truffles in Robertson with Yelverton Truffles and FoodPath Culinary Tours

Its freezing today in Robertson. We are only at 740m above sea level but the wind is coming straight off the Australian Alps about 4 hours drive away.  The snow feels closer. The day is an illusion, from inside it looks stunning out, sunny and bright but far from warm. When us Southern Highlanders feel its cold be sure to wear your warmest clothes.

Out we trekked though this morning for an outdoorsy tour with a difference.  Howard didn't actually know where we were going as I arranged it as a surprise. The lovely Jill from FoodPath Culinary Tours with a Difference had arranged a great treat for us, other Highlanders, a few people from Canberra and a small crowd from Sydney. This region is well known for wine, lovely cool climate wines and Jill is working hard to put the area on the foodie map as well. A couple of months ago you might remember I went on a fascinating mushroom tunnel tour with Jill.

If you've been watching the foodie media in the past week you may have read about Australia's largest truffle being unearthed near Robertson.  Ted and Barbara Smith from Yelverton Truffles and their truffle dog, Jet the Wonder dog, dug up the huge 1.172 kilo Perigord black truffle and unleashed a week long media storm, which you can read about online. This tour of their Truffiere was booked in long before this special find so they had an unexpectedly busy week before we arrived but were still the most gracious hosts.
Following a talk about what truffles are and the history of truffle growing in Australia we headed out in the fields.

The trees are a mix of Quercus Ilex and Quercus Robur inoculated as seedlings with truffle spores.

We had to wear booties over our shoes to protect the biosecuirty of the farm and prevent foreign spores or bacteria being walked in.

Robertson naturally had many of the necessary features for truffle growing: friable soil, warm summers and cold winters with frosts.  The one feature that was contrary was our volcanic soil is highly acidic rather than alkaline so 50 tons per hectare of lime was added.

"We don't care to eat toadstools that think they are truffles" Mark Twain 

Hard to believe this black splat is a prized truffle selling for more than $2000 per kilo! Round here there are plenty of wombat poos that look much the same.

Watch Jet the wonder dog go through his truffle hunting paces by clicking on the photo below:
 

After a good look around the Truffiere we were treated to shaved truffle slices on hors d'oeuvres of bread and egg or bread and camembert. Then a lovely bowl of potato soup with truffle infused butter. Warming and tasty.

As this is not my first foodie tour of late you might be wondering why I go along. A couple of reasons, meeting lovely people, seeing new places and learning about food, history and taste in a way you can''t in a supermarket.  We spent a very enjoyable morning on this tour.

And the verdict? Are truffles worth the cost and challenge of growing them? No, not to me. I must either be a philistine or have no palate because I could not taste a thing and in truth neither could anyone else I asked. I still have fun and am very glad to have expanded my knowledge. I recommend you go and find out for yourself. 

A little early but aren't these daffodils beautiful

What can you do on a cold, windy Winter day? Why, bake of course

Sunday dawned cold and blowing a gale. Too cold to go out. Hmm what to do with my day?
Why I baked of course.

Pumpkin and apple muffins for a sweet morning tea treat. There is a surprise inside - a little dollop of cream cheese. Impress everyone with this simple little tip! Mix cream cheese and icing sugar, then place in the fridge. Prepare your muffin batter and fill greased muffin trays to about one third. Put a dollop of cream cheese into each one, then top up with remaining batter. Watch everyone's surprised faces when they bite in. Yum.

The rest of my baking wasn't as exciting, but has helped prepare me for the working week.  Bread with potato and herbs from the garden. Mini frittatas and a dish of roast vegies will provide lunches and dinners in various forms. A big tray of vegetable lasagna has gone into the freezer in individual portions.
Mushroom soup will be tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch.

I've also done a serious cull of my recipe collection. I subscribe to a couple of email recipe alerts and when I see something yummy I print it out. Well I have ended up with a crazy number of recipes I have never tried. So I have culled as part of this year's de-cluttering plan. Believe me I still have plenty left to choose from and have picked a few new things to cook this week like sesame encrusted tofu with orange reduction and spring rolls.

Other than that my day was spent on housework. All essentials to get ready for the week ahead.  What are you eating this week?

Some days gardening is disheartening and I feel like giving up

Last weekend I worked so hard in my vegetable garden, weeding, mulching and nurturing.
I wondered down one morning for a little fix of paradise before rushing off to work.  Everything looked so beautiful.

This morning I rushed down to check nothing had completely dried out as we have had gale force winds since Tuesday. I mulched well but this wind has been strong and persistent. I was devastated to see my magnificent, lush silverbeet had been stripped to the veins. I had plans to eat silverbeet for dinner. Most of the plants will be lucky to survive. I never take more than a few leaves, but this raid left nothing.

But I haven't given up. I stomped around for a bit, added scraps and fallen leaves to the compost. Collected twigs for kindling so we could have a fire to ward off the winter nights.  When I calmed down I set about trying to solving the problem and protect my plants.

I screwed saddle clips on the inside of the highest risk garden beds, slid in some tomato stakes and stretched some bird netting over the top. It is not an easy thing thing to work with, difficult to stretch out and pin down.

The wind has picked up again tonight so I hope it will stay in place. I also hope it deters whoever left this behind.

I have done just a little research into scats, yes, yes I know its a weird thing to research but without an infrared camera set up in the garden how else can I work out what's doing the damage. The pointy ends suggest black rat. I've never seen rat poop anywhere near this size and yes we definately have rats near the chicken coop and in the compost.  Grey ones.  The next best guess is possum. I have seen possums in the past although not often. Not seeing doesn't indicate their absence though. Possums are lovely and native. But the rotters can't eat all my plants.

Let's wait and see if my net works.

Early winter gardening

May was astonishingly warm and sunny. An Indian Summer that we all enjoyed so much we didn't want it to end. But we can't reprogram Mother Nature that easily and June has dawned cold.  The weekend just past was stunning, chilly mornings and evenings but warm, sunny days so what else could I do but get into the garden. All through the busy weeks, the lovely weekend away and the time spent renovating and de-cluttering, my thoughts have been on my garden and the guilt of neglecting it.

I missed the warm May gardening weather so really I would have gardened whatever last weekend turned out. The critical issue was that I had the time and gardening was no longer relegated to the bottom of the priority list.  Its sad but I can't get away from the fact that other chores must take precedent and that gardening can only be done when everything else is sorted. Gardening doesn't get us through the working week with clean clothes.   But Nature smiled on me and gave me exceptionally perfect gardening weather. It was not only clear and unseasonally sunny but only a couple of days later its blowing a gale. So its good I didn't waste that perfect chance. Hopefully all the mulch I spread is doing its job and keeping my vegetable beds moist.

So here's what I did:

I weeded all garden beds and pulled carpet grass out of the open areas.

I emptied a big bin full of fine compost. Hard to believe this used to be food scraps, shredded paper from the chicken coop, manure and grass clippings.  Every bed got two buckets of this garden food.

Next I topped each bed up with this straw and soil that I scraped up from the bottom of the chicken yard.  Chicken droppings are a bit high in ammonia to put straight into the garden but this mix was been out in the rain so I'm confident its all quite dilute.

Harvey came to help me.

Benny too.

The finished garden with all beds mulched with a layer of straw to lock the moisture in. This will break down into the soil adding yet more organic material.

There are lots of 'greens' growing: silverbeet and this red mustard komatsuma.

My last task was to pop my trusty Diggers Club snail traps in the brassica beds and under the passionfruit vine with its lacy leaves shown here on the left. I don't do poisons but hopefully the soapy water in the trap will do the trick. A good weekend's work!

An end to my unplanned blogiday - homespunblissblog is back

I knew it had been a while since I last posted on my blog but until right now, I did not realise just how long. Funny how time gets away. Normally I would say I don't know where it went but for once I know exactly where I have been since May 5. That was the day I stepped into a new, challenging job at work. I posted with obvious intentions to continue regardless of the work challenges ahead of me but looking at that date now, I apparently succumbed and abandoned all routine. Here's the tale of how I got off, and then back on my path.


The first month I worked at least 40 hours each week while I found my feet, mastered the ropes and met the deadlines I had inherited. Looking back I have ticked many many things off my work to do list. Which is good, feels good.  Gradually the long hours have subsided, the routine is slowly coming back and I can look up again. And realise what I have neglected.

I have bought lunch almost every day over the past week so I need to fill up the freezer and start packing home cooked food again. Especially healthy snacks as I have been far too indulgent. Hard work does give one an appetite for breaks and snacks.

I have mostly kept up on cooking dinners but have been shopping every other day. Meed to get back to planing ahead.

I did get to go away to Hobart for a lovely, romantic, relaxing weekend. That was a couple of weeks ago and I think I've only just caught up on the laundry.

And we have done a lot of de-cluttering. Over Easter we ripped up the carpet in two bedrooms and the hallway and replaced it with a floating timber floor. This required completely stripping out both rooms and living amidst boxes and stuff for weeks on end. Howard did a great job of laying the floor so I didn't want to shove all the same stuff back in those rooms. My sewing room, aka spare bedroom, has new furniture and looks fabulous.  Last week we hired a big skip, got rid of the old carpet, and old stuff from in the house and under the house. Ah it feels good to have cleaned up so much, de-cluttered and re-organised.

So really, now that I chronicle it I have not been idle in my time at home, I have just re-prioritised for a while.  Now that I have achieved so much, I'm back to share my journey to homespunbliss.