Bacon & Cheese Cob

I have always loved a good cob loaf. Never in my life have I made one though, until new year's eve. I was feeling festive, so googled some recipes and found one that took my fancy!
This recipe is not my own - I mainly blog my recipes so I can find them anywhere, anytime. I'm organised with my spontaneity like that. I also like to come back and tweak recipes occasionally, to make them more my own style. Yes, I have my own cooking style. Usually involves insane levels of flavour. I'm all about those spices!

So here's the recipe. I hope you like it as much as myself and Spawn did!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cob loaf
200g bacon, diced
1 small onion, finely diced
250g cream cheese, softened
3 tbspn chives, chopped, plus extra for serving
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup thickened cream
1 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used cheddar - use whichever - the richer, the more decadent the dip will be)
Salt & pepper, to season

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180° (or 160° fanforced). Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Cut 4cm off top of cob loaf to form lid. Scoop bread from centre of loaf, leaving 1.5cm edge. Tear or roughly chop bread pieces.
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bacon. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until bacon is browned and onion has softened. Remove from heat, before adding chives to bacon mix. Stir in creamed cheese and mix until combined. Add cream, sour cream and grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon mixture into loaf. Arrange lid and bread pieces in a single layer around loaf. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly toasted. Sprinkle top of dip with extra chives. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

- L. x

Mozzarella stuffed Meatballs

Oh, my gosh! Three posts in one day! Am I crazy? Bored? Both!?

I made these the other day after seeing the video on Facebook. I tweaked the recipe a little, but only because it's American and they have everything in a can/jar. Australians have to put in a few seconds more work, lol.

So anyway, this recipe makes a massive amount of meatballs! I invited my two giant brothers and mother over to help us eat them, and still had leftovers!

INGREDIENTS:
500g beef mince
500g pork mince
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs (or almond meal for GF)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 tbspn mixed herbs
1/4 tspn ground chilli
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 blob thing of mozzarella, cut into 1cm cubes
500g jar spaghetti sauce (I used five brothers)

METHOD:
Place all ingredients except mozzarella and sauce in a large bowl, and combine thoroughly with your hands. Grab enough meat to cover the cheese and roll into a ball. Repeat until all meat is used.
Tip half of the sauce into the slow cooker.
Heat frying pan over medium heat and cook the balls in batches, just so they're browned on two sides (a couple of minutes each side) and then put in slow cooker. Once all meatballs have been browned, cover the top with the rest of the sauce. I added a drop of water to the jar and shook to get all the sauce out - it didn't quite dress each meatball and I can be particular like that.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 2.5 hours.
Serve with whatever you like! (Pasta is good though!)

Enjoy!

- L. x

Cauliflower Cheese

Oh, my gosh.
So cauliflower is super cheap at the moment and Spawn loves the stuff, so I bought one with the intention of giving him cauliflower cheese for days as it's not my favourite thing. (As a side with other meals, mostly)
Then I started getting everything ready and realised I didn't have enough butter for the roux. Oh no, what can I do?!!! It's too late for a backup plan and Spawn had his heart set on cauliflower cheese. Then I remembered I had garlic butter in the fridge, so substituted that to make up the required butter..... AND I INADVERTENTLY MADE THE BEST CHEESE SAUCE OF MY LIFE!

Also, I felt it necessary to share that Spawn just declared this, in a rather loud voice, "the best meal ever!" I love how easy to please he can be at times.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cauliflower, florets chopped into manageable pieces
35g plain butter
15g garlic butter
45g plain flour
300ml milk
Pinch nutmeg
1 tspn dijon mustard
Salt & pepper, to season
150g (approx) grated cheese - I used pizza blend as it's all I had and it worked well! You could use whatever tickles your fancy.

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 220.
Cook cauliflower in salted boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until just tender. Strain in colander and put into a greased baking dish.
Put flour and butter into the saucepan over medium heat and whisk until butter has melted and the mixture is starting to bubble. Add the milk, nutmeg, mustard, salt & pepper and whisk to combine, then add 100g (approx; I added a giant handful as I suck at measuring things!) grated cheese and whisk to combine. Cook for one minute then pour the sauce over the cauliflower and sprinkle with grated cheese.
Place into the oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly.

You could serve this as a meal on its own, or as a side with, well anything really.

Enjoy!

- L. x