potato bake.

One of my winter favourites as a side is potato bake. It's a hearty dish that just warms up the soul. I was a bit hesitant in cooking this recently as I'm dating an Irish guy and didn't know whether this would meet his families standards (I always thought the whole Irish and potato thing was a joke...it's not...my boyfriend's dad even showed me how to peel potatoes properly...). Alas, I overcame my anxiety and made it with it being polished off almost immediately. That's got to be a good sign, right?

This recipe makes a pretty big dish, approximately 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 large cream delight potatoes - I like to use these as the skin is white and clean you can keep them on
• 1 small or medium brown onion - depends on how much you like onions...I quite like them so I tend to put more
• 300ml thickened cream
• 50ml milk
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 250g shredded cheese
• Salt & Pepper

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C
2. Cut potato into thin slices, slice onion and dice garlic
3. Mix thickened cream, milk and garlic together
4. Layer potato to cover base of tray
5. Layer a handful of onion over the potatoes
6. Lightly cover potato with garlic cream mixture
7. Crack some salt and pepper over the top before sprinkling a little cheese
8. Repeat until dish is covered, ensuring the top layer is thoroughly covered in cheese
9. Bake for approximately 45mins or until cheese is golden - I slightly overcooked my tray...
10. VOILA! The perfect hearty winter side dish!

facebook | twitter | instagram | bloglovin'

chicken schnitzel.

Although this blog is called Baking with Maggie I also love cooking meals that work beyond the oven, although its not often this happens. One of my favourite meals to cook is chicken schnitzel and my signature pumpkin, feta and rocket & spinach salad. I started cooking this for my best friend who ONLY eats chicken, yes Becky, I'm talking about you. But after a while it just became my go-to chicken dish. It's also great when I accidentally overcook as you can use the chicken schnitzel the next day for lunch in a sandwich or something :)

I use to buy pre-made schnitzel but found that this way I knew what ingredients was being used and sometimes ends up much cheaper.

There's no specific serving quantities this recipe makes as it depends on the size of the chicken breast and how many you buy, but as a guideline one chicken breast can be halved and therefore make two decent sized schnitzel.

INGREDIENTS:

• Chicken breast - one chicken breast, as mentioned before, makes two schnitzels
• Eggs
• Plain flour
• Bread crumbs (I use wholemeal)
• Salt & Pepper

METHOD:

1. Pour out some plain flour and bread crumbs on separate plates
2. Crack two-three eggs (this may vary depending on how many schnitzels you're making) and crack some salt and pepper before a quick whisk
3. Cut chicken breasts into half, sideways...if that makes sense
4. Get some gladwrap and cover the chicken, then use a glass bottle and flatten the chicken until about 2-3mm thick - the thinner it is, the quicker it will cook
5. Once flattened, cover chicken in plain flour, then dip into egg wash before covering in bread crumbs
6. I like to double crumb, so if you want to, just dip the piece of chicken through the egg wash again before crumbing it again
7. Repeat until all of the chicken has been crumbed
8. Now, coat a pan with oil and wait till it's hot before putting the chicken in
9. Cook chicken on either side until golden brown and VOILA! Serve with a side of pumpkin feta salad or some potato bake!

facebook | twitter | instagram | bloglovin'

the cupcake bakery.

I LOVE cupcakes, so much so that my blog's logo is of a cupcake. So when I first heard of The Cupcake Bakery about 5years ago (it was the first of it's kind back then) I was ecstatic, but I was even more ecstatic to find out they were opening up a permenant stall at my local shopping centre, Rhodes. I could finally have my fix of non-crappy cafe cupcakes without needing to bake a whole batch for myself. The best thing about The Cupcake Bakery is that because they're a franchise (ie. the cupcakes come out of one place) you know the quality is going to be consistantly good.

I've tried a few of their flavours over the years, but I can't stray past my favourite the red velvet. They have a few adventureous flavours and a few extravagant looking cupcakes (like the lemon meringue). They're a little pricier than other cupcakes of similar quality, but because I've known of them the longest and have had consistant quality I can't help but go back.

How much for their cupcakes?
A standard flavour like my favourite the red velvet is $3.80 each or $42 for a dozen.
The deluxe flavours like the lemon meringue mentions above is $4.50 each or $51 for a dozen.

Find them:
They have several locations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane - so check out their locations! I'm so glad there's one in Rhodes now, I kind of want a job there but I doubt they'll make any sales while I'm behind the counter - "Oh? You want a dozen red velvet cupcakes? Just let me taste a few of them for you first" *nom nom nom* "oops, sorry I ate them all..."

Image from @lpmmags Instagram

facebook | twitter | instagram | bloglovin'