Garden to Plate

Apricot Jam

2010-12-06T15:54:00.004+10:30

Last year I didn't get to make any apricot jam, we use the last of the 2008 jam a few months back.

This year so far I have turned 8 kilo of apricots from our son's tree into jam. Going back again this Wednesday evening to see if we can score more for jam. James doesn't eat the apricots, so this makes it very easy for me to acquire and convert into jam.

Sure going to miss the tree if James ever moves from his rented house.

Duck Eggs

2010-09-16T12:14:00.003+09:30

Ducks are laying 4 to 5 eggs each day and I have been either selling them or cooking with the eggs.

These eggs are fantastic for cakes. I love cooking cakes with their eggs. I'd rather cook cakes with duck eggs all year round if they laid them all year round.

Sponge cakes are amazing and I never have a failed cake using them.

This sponge cake was taken on Monday to our sewing group. One of the ladies has a wedding this weekend when her son is married. As the wedding is in Perth, we had a cake to celebrate back here in Adelaide.

Dundee cake takes 5 eggs and what a great cake this is. Very yummy and full of dried fruits.

More and more people are returning to keeping poultry of some kind in the backyard. I've not bought eggs for 11 years now and I can't see this changing down the track.

technorati tags: cakes, eggs

Cheaper Mince

2010-07-11T10:27:00.005+09:30

On my blog here not only do I show how to use the harvested foods from my backyard to the best value, I also show how I save money elsewhere in the kitchen.

My latest find (been after one for a while now) is a mincer.

I'm not a big fan on supermarkets and the only red meat I buy is the Coles mince as I find this is the less fattiest I can find for our food budget allowance. I only buy the mince when its on special.

Now that is changing. No more buying meat at the supermarket from now on. I can 100% support a whole sale butcher we go to. While still having mince that is 100% fat free.

Check it out. I wasn't going to pay for an electric mincer, this baby was only $40.00 brand new. As a kid I used to help my mum by mincing the lamb meat on the sheep station. Or mincing vegies for my Nanna & Grampa when they made their yummy pasties.

Now when we buy our whole rump for around $7 a kilo I can mince a large slice for Pat & I, with all the fat removed and less than half the price of the supermarkets and I don't have to wait until the mince is on special.

Chicken patties with vegies for tea that night..........

technorati tags: food savings, mince, chicken

Percy's blog

2010-02-10T18:57:00.001+10:30

Have you ever visited Percy's blog??

He's a little toy pig I made and he's been over seas and around Australia. He's become so popular he has a baby sister to help him with visiting people who want to meet him and show him, where they live.

There is also a poll with 6 names for her and you can vote too. So if your feeling down or just want to have some fun ...please pop over and say hi to Percy and his baby sister.

Beetroot.

2010-01-16T13:31:00.003+10:30

Love beetroot, as a hot vegie or on my plate as a salad.

Been thinking about trying my hand at preserving beetroot for a while and I have finally done this.

These lovely volunteers were picked, scrubbed and in the boiling pot before they knew what hit them. Can't get ant fresher than that.

I have used a new recipe from a dear friend, I'll ask her if I can pop the recipe up here. Easy to make and the chooks will love the left over cooked tops, tails and skins of the beets.

Very pleased with the amount I got into these 3 jars. I am also waiting on my friend to get back to me on how long I need to wait before I can start to eat this yummy vegie.

Its a very easy to preserve beetroot and a lot less messy than jam making.

technorati tags: beetroot, food savings

White Eggs

2009-12-31T12:37:00.002+10:30

Not very often we see white eggs in the shops. People seem to want the brown eggs. I read somewhere it was to do with people thinking, brown eggs are like bread..... better for you. When really there is no difference with the eggs.

I have 3 new white chickens and its been years since I have been able to find and buy them for my backyard.

Called them the "Blonde Bombshells", seems to go well with the red chooks I call the "Blue Rinse Set". They have blue rings on their legs, so I can keep track of their ages.

Anyway this is the "first" big egg one of them has laid. I was getting little white eggs the size of a bantam.

All the best for 2010.....

Harvest Time

2009-10-02T13:06:00.004+09:30

After giving gardening a rest due to a bad leg and ankle over the last 8 months. It feels really great harvesting from the vegie patch again.

French Breakfast radishes, oodles still out in the garden. These were topped (rabbit food) and tailed (worm bucket) and into a Tupperware fridge container. Now we have fresh organic healthy food to snack on through out the day instead of sweet foods.

Also broad beans are cropping madly. Shelled pods into the compost bin as the animal aren't that keen on them, bean peels (from the bigger beans) into the worm bucket for the farms.

Nothing is wasted here at our place.

Bean are frozen and used in casseroles, make a great extra vegie on those cold days.

Apple & Rhubarb.

2009-08-22T19:37:00.003+09:30

Apple with fresh organic rhubarb from my garden patch. I never thought this day would come.

I've waited 10 years for this and it tasted bloody beautiful

To find out why it took 10 years..... you can read that here.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: rhubarb, apple

Postcards From Percy

2009-07-28T12:16:00.002+09:30

Hello everyone. I'm off to Melbourne and then overseas for a month.

If you want to follow my journey and see where I go.... check me out on my very own blog.

Hoping to be able to post about my travels while away.

Focaccia

2009-06-15T18:05:00.006+09:30

I was looking for something different for lunch today. Decided to give the focaccia recipe a run for its money from my bread maker's cook book.

I ended up adding extras like capsicum from my garden along with fresh rosemary from out the back as well. Also home pickled olives from a friend's garden. As well as other goodies from the fridge.

Looks great and smells so good.

Pat & I ate half for lunch and the rest we are eating tonight along with home made chicken vegie soup.

Tomorrow I am thinking I'll try a pizza base and make a ham and pineapple pizza.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: cheese, ham, herbs, pizza, focaccia

Chicken Nuggets

2009-06-02T15:12:00.007+09:30

When James was little he loved chicken nuggets. I used to pop some on his plate with a small salad as a lunch meal on weekends.

I must say I like them too. Well nothing like an reformed cook who is more in touch with what is in food and what isn't.

The stupidmarkets sell the nuggets either in the deli, meat section or the freezer. If your eyesight is good and you know all the words...you know what is in the nugget.

You can go to one of those chicken franchise shops and pay about $10.99 a kilo for some of their chicken nuggets.

Or you can do what I do and save yourself a heap of money and get a great feed of chicken nuggets.

Lets take a look.

First off you need a healthy salad to go with your nuggets. In the colder months you may need to supplement your own garden salads with some from the green grocer. Now this is all done..the chicken nuggets are next.

This is nice and easy.

I buy my chicken breasts from a butcher who sells them for $8.99 a kilo. One small chicken boob will do just nicely.

Cube the chicken breast into bite size pieces and coat them with some of these crumbs.

That is what the chicken franchise shops use and into some oil the crumbed cubes go.

So there you have it....chicken nuggest that are made with pure chicken meat..and a few crumb to coat the meat.

Why don't you try it and see what the kids or yourself think

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: chicken, food savings, salads

Tomatoes Out Of Season

2009-05-19T13:10:00.004+09:30

Back in the summer months I was saving any soft tomatoes from the vegie patch and freezing them.

Now the colder months are here and the tomato season has come to an end. There is no reason why Pat & I still can't enjoy our home grown tomatoes.

Even though the tomatoes defrosted are on the soggy side, add a couple of sliced onions and what ever herbs you want. Cook until tender and thicken with a small amount of corn flour.

A lovely tomato & onion meal with some home made bread toasted makes for a great lunch. Its full of that home grown tomato flavour.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: bread, tomato, food savings

Tomato Surplus

2008-12-29T14:34:00.005+10:30

I had a gut feeling (pardon the pun) that I was going to do so well with this season's tomatoes. Well I have done exactly that.

Today I made 4 kilo of my own organic tomatoes into sauce. Last year was my first time making sauce and this was from home grown tomatoes given to us.

This year.....

Tomatoes, onion, ginger cooking away before the last ingredients are added. Once again I have used the Ezy-sauce recipe on the bottle.

Three smaller bottles are for Deb, Josephine & Amy. Five big bottles are for Pat & myself. More so me as I lurv tomato sauce. I had been saving the last of 2008 sauce for special meals. Now I can be a bit more free with it.

Just need to make labels and once cool, stick them on and pop it away in the pantry.

This is where taking food from the garden to our plate makes all those hours in the garden worth while. I feel a sense of pride when I look at the end product and think..... wow I grew and cooked that.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: tomato, tomato sauce

Meat Savings

2008-12-16T12:30:00.003+10:30

Money is getting tighter and Christmas is next week. How is your freezer looking meat wise??

After going to the shops yesterday, mine is looking a tad bit healthier.

Each fortnight I allow ex amount of $$ for meat and that is it. So I'm always after a bargain and I found this one at our local IGA stupidmarket.

Whole rump going out for $4.99 a kilo, this pack cost us, $24.95 and was cut up into 8 meals for Pat & myself.

This costing us roughly $3.11 per meat meal. I may have got an extra 2 meals if I cut the meat thinner, but hells bells, gotta have rump thick and juicy on the dinner plate with all those yummy organic vegies.

I try and get a feed of meat no dearer than $5.00 per meal for who ever is home for that meal. This time round I scored the jackpot.

Hope you too are scoring some pre Christmas bargains in the meat area to ease the $$$ pain as the silly season gets closer by the day.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: beef, food savings

Zucchinis & Eggs

2008-12-14T11:02:00.005+10:30

Zucchinis out in the garden are just booming along and its time to make zucchini slice. This is very popular in my house. So popular I have to hide it in the freezer, as Amy takes it to work every day until its all gone. Me, I see it as a great side vegie in the winter months.

All those chook eggs are just so fresh and this slice is a great way to use up those excess eggs.

Fresh out the oven and a couple of squares for my tea hot and the rest in the freezer.

Making another 1 today and maybe if time is on my side tomorrow, another one then.

Also I am making a boiled fruit cake today for Pat.

It's busy time here in my kitchen.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: cakes, eggs, links, vegetables, zucchini

My Lunch Today

2008-12-04T12:30:00.001+10:30

Tigerella and Black Russian tomatoes sliced on some cracker biscuits for my lunch. Simple and so enjoyable, savoring the flavours of these home grown tomatoes.

Pretty well.... eating our own tomatoes now into the new year.

technorati tags: tomato

More Food Saving

2008-11-30T11:20:00.004+10:30

On payday Pat found some cheap economy 1 kilo packets bacon for $4.99. These packets are usually the end cut offs and such.

Having a food saver machine at home, I bought a packet as its a cheap way of getting diced bacon. Not much good for bacon & eggs as a lot is cut thick and in chunks.

I'm not looking at using a lot of diced bacon at this time of the year, unless I make fried rice or a spud salad. But the 1 kilo pkt was just too good to leave behind. I've seen diced bacon priced at $9.99 in shops. Why pay for the privilege of having it diced for you.

After dicing the bacon, I made small pouch bags and sealed the meat inside. Suggested time frame for pork in the freezer is 6 months. By using my food saver kit, 2 to 3 years in the freezer. So there is no rush for me to use up the bacon in the next 6 months.

Not everyone has a food saver, but still looking and buying bacon this way and dicing at home, will still save you $$$$$.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food savings

Apricot Jam

2008-11-28T13:16:00.006+10:30

Last weekend when James was visiting, he told us about his fruit trees (plum, apricot & quince) in his backyard, James had been living there for about a week and Con his dog is keeping the birds away from the trees.

The other day I was lucky enough to score just over 7 lbs of apricots off his tree. Today I have turned it into jam.

One thing I like to do is when given bulk food that is made into a jam or sauce, is give that kind person back a jar of the end product. Even though James said not to bother, I'll pop a jar of jam in his fridge as a thank you.

This weekend we are taking around our old fridge for him, so I'll see if I can collect some more apricots as well.

Apricots in the sink having a rinse. Not many bird beak marks on them, Con keeps the birds out of the backyard. I know these aren't a "Moorpark" apricot as that is what we had in our backyard before it died.

Lovely new thick spoon for stirring the fruit. One year I actually snapped my jamming spoon in half. Pain in the bum when that happened. At this stage I had the sugar warming away in the oven.

After the sugar was added, I let it boil (stirring all the time) making sure it doesn't catch or burn.

While this goes on, Pat helps by washing all the jars & lids in water so hot, I can't put my hands in it. Removes any labels and glue. Then into the oven to dry and sterilize them.

All that needs now is to cool down and make & stick labels on them. That big jar is for Debbie, she keeps me in sheep poo through out the year. Red lid jar is for my niece Jo and the little green lidded jar is for James. One of the front jars is for Amy & Benny and the rest if for me & Pat.

Now I'm going to tell you my recipe as people say my jam is sooooooooooooooooo lovely.

This is between you and me okay? No sharing this around with family members....

7 lbs apricots
5.5 lbs sugar warmed
1 cup water

Cut your fruit up and add to heavy pan with the water. Bring to boil slowly and simmer for 20 mins.

While that is going on...warm your sugar up in the oven. (Figured this is done, so when added to the fruit it doesn't cool the mixture down)

Pop a plate in the fridge and get it chilled. Then later on your ready to see if the jam is setting or not, and if ready for popping in jars.

Add the sugar gradually and boil till the jam sets on that plate in the fridge.

I use jars with metal lids. As the jam cools, it tightens the lid and becomes air tight and the jam will last for years. Debbie's jar has a clear preserve cover on it, as I couldn't find the lid.

Okay so you have your apricots be they yours, neighbours, families or bought cheap at the markets....... what are you waiting for ...get some jars and make yourself some beautiful jam.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food savings, fruit, jam

Grubs Up

2008-11-22T19:15:00.003+10:30

My dinner tonight, just finished and was it yummy. There was 7 food items harvested from my vegie patch today.

In the green vegies there was asparagus & broccoli.

Steamed potatoes were harvested this morning, variety is "Nicola". The taste is a clean, crisp full flavour.

In the mushroom sauce I made from scratch (no packet food here) with spring onion from my garden.

In the butter, was my own fresh garlic and chives. The garlic is fresh and when using my garlic press, I could hear the crunch as it was pushed through the press.

You know if I had more land, the steak could have come from my own cow too.........

All that playing out in the garden is paying off and has been for weeks now. Soon I'll be harvesting tomatoes, eggplants, climbing beans plus even more.

I know what has gone into the soil to feed the plants. I'm on a first name basis with what I ate tonight and the best part is...... its organic and freshest as it can be. Unless I move my kitchen out next to my vegie patch.

Have you checked out my main blog? If not have a look as there is a lot happening.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: garlic, herbs, vegetables

Strawberries

2008-10-29T14:59:00.004+10:30

While out shopping today Pat & I came across these strawberries at our local green grocer. Roughly the weight came to 1 kilo, costing $2.50.

I don't want to guts into them, so none are wasted. How do I save the best ones for later on early next week?

After washing them and patting dry with some paper towel (which is then composted) I put the fruit that wasn't bruised or soft into the "food saver" canister.

By removing the air in the canister and refrigerated, these strawberries will keep in this condition for a week.

To open the canister I just have to press the little gray button and once the air stops hissing out, I can open it.

Nothing worse than spending money and food wasting through poor storage. Or too much and not doing something with it.

I want to buy more of these canisters as I can store spinach or lettuce as well, without damaging the food.

Off now to have a feed on strawberries and cream

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food savings, fruit

Drying Herbs

2008-10-26T10:03:00.004+10:30

My parsley is starting to go to seed. With so many healthy leaves still on the plants, I thought I'd take advantage of this and dry some.

Up early before the sun gets onto the plants as this can lower the flavour of the herb. I was enjoying the early morning out the back with my ducks and chooks making noises.

I should get enough jars to see me through those lean days where parsley is scarce in my garden. A jar for my dad too, as he loves the flavour the parsley gives off in his cooking. Dad said its so much nicer than the bought variety.

If you don't have a dehydrator and want to dry herbs, you can use a microwave or your oven on low. I tried the oven way once...... forgot the herbs were in there, boy did that stink the house out . First time I used a dehydrator I borrow one from a friend and that sold me on getting my own.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food savings, herbs, drying food

Almond Chocolate Fingers

2008-10-18T19:59:00.005+10:30

Due to receiving a request for the almond fingers, I have decided to post the biscuit recipes here, over the next few days. They can be found on my main blog

60g (2oz) butter
125g (4oz) ground almonds
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons plain flour

TOPPING

60g (2oz) butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup liquid glucose
125g (4oz) flaked almonds
2 tablespoons water
90g (3oz) dark chocolate
30g (1oz) copha

Base:

Place butter, ground almonds and sugar in small bowl of electric mixer.

Beat until well combined.

Add eggs, mix well.

Add sifted flour and stir through.

Grease a tray (I used a biscuit tray) and line with greaseproof paper and grease lightly again.

Bake in moderately hot oven for 7 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove and spread with topping while still warm.

Return to oven and cook another 5 minutes or until topping turns a pale golden brown..

Cut into fingers while still warm and cool on a wire rack.

Melt the copha and chocolate in a double saucepan simmering over hot water. Pour topping into a bowl and dip biscuits into the chocolate. Placing on an alfoil tray to set. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

This is a very sickly biscuit and so make the finger sizes small rather than big. I also harden the biscuits off once dipped in the chocolate in the freezer, to set them quicker. Also make sure your tray is chilled before placing the dipped biscuits on it.

Note:

I found it a bit fiddly trying to remove the grease paper, so I turned the slice out onto a clean table and peeled the paper away and cut the slice up.

Resource: The big book of beautiful biscuits by the Woman's Weekly.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: biscuits

Whitening Leeks

2008-10-08T14:51:00.004+10:30

Ever wondered how those leeks are made so lovely and white?? People have different ways of blanching them. I thought I'd tell you how I blanch mine.

These leeks were picked last night for the chicken pie I was cooking for tea. I popped a pencil next to the leeks, to give you an idea of their size.

The whiter the stalks the more tender the leeks are and also less waste. I used toilet rolls or kitchen toweling paper rolls cut in half.

By the time the leeks are big enough for harvesting, those leeks have become lovely and white. Perfect for the dinner plate.

All sliced and ready for the chicken pie. Toilet rolls are not wasted either, into the worm farm they go.

If you haven't grown leeks, give them a go. Great flavour and a good fill in for when you run out of onions in the kitchen.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: leeks, food savings

About That Pasta Meal.

2008-08-20T19:46:00.001+09:30

How about that photo?? Doesn't it look yummo??

Well I am very proud to say it was such a hit and the pasta came up beautiful. Very pleased with how the whole meal turned out.

So pasta is taken off the shopping list and I have another food item I can make from my chook eggs.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: eggs, pasta

Eggs Equal Pasta.

2008-08-20T12:11:00.004+09:30

I have found another way to make good use of the chook eggs I collect each day.

Today I made ribbon pasta for the first time. Never even seen it being made or tasted home made pasta. Tonight we will be guinea pigs for my first pasta batch.

It was my birthday on Sunday and Pat bought me the pasta maker. Seeing the pasta dough going from this stage to.....

This stage and thinness, so easy was really interesting and way so cool.

The end result, ribbon pasta for tonights meal with cream chicken & mushroom sauce to go on top.

Even if it's a flop....I'll post a photo tomorrow of the end result of the whole meal.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: chicken, eggs

Are You A Trader?

2008-08-03T18:01:00.004+09:30

Are you a trader?? I am.

I love to swap produce from my backyard for other foods or something to help my garden out.

Last night my nephew called in with these oranges and mandarins from their own trees. For this lovely bounty of citrus, I gave them 3 dozen eggs.

No money was exchanged and we each off loaded a surplus of food and in return we got something we don't have in our own backyards.

What a great way to not have food go to waste.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: eggs, citrus

Tips For A Better Meringue Pie.

2008-07-29T10:52:00.002+09:30

These tips were emailed to me yesterday, hope they help solve some of your problems with your meringues.

Many thanks to who emailed me.

"Troubleshooting Meringue - If you have a problem with meringue, follow one of these suggestions for solving it:

Weeping - When water seeps between the filling and the meringue, the pie is weeping. This is caused by spreading the meringue over a cool filling, which prevents the meringue from baking completely. Solution: Make sure the filling is hot, even boiling, before pouring it into the pie shell. Immediately spread the meringue over the filling. The hot filling will begin to cook the meringue from the bottom, ensuring even cooking throughout.

Beading - This happens when water droplets form tiny beads on the surface of the meringue. It's caused by over-baking the meringue. When egg whites bake too long, they begin to tighten, squeezing out little drops of moisture. Over-baking also produces a tough meringue. Solution: Bake meringues just until they are light brown and dry to the touch. Egg whites need to be cooked to 160 degrees F. but not so long that they are overdone.

Shrinkage - Meringues may shrink during baking, separating from the crust. This is caused by the meringue not clinging to the crust. Solution: Make sure the meringue is spread over the filling and touches the crust around the entire edge; do not leave any openings around the pie.

Limp or soggy - Humidity affects a meringue's texture. Damp, humid days may cause it to be limp and sticky. Solution: Ideally, meringues should be made on dry days. The cornstarch mixture used in these recipes helps them hold up under humid conditions, but to ensure success, plan to bake when it is less humid. "

technorati tags: eggs, lemons, desserts, meringue

Lemon Meringue Pie.

2008-07-27T20:09:00.006+09:30

Lots of lemons can be seen in people's backyards hanging from the trees. Home grown lemons are great for desserts, spreads and anything else you can find in a recipe book or passed down through your family.

My lemon tree is still too young to produce lemons. But I am able to source them out from friends.

Today I made a lemon meringue pie. Thought I'd post the recipe here. With photos of my pie, before it was eaten.

Pastry:

2 cups plain flour
pinch salt
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
185 g (6 oz.) butter/margarine
1 to 2 tablespoons water.

Lemon Filling:

4 tablespoons plain flour
4 tablespoons cornflour
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water
90 g (3 oz.) butter/margarine
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
4 egg-yokes

Meringue:

4 egg-whites
2 tablespoons water
pinch salt
3/4 cup castor sugar (I use normal sugar)

Pastry.

Sift flour, salt & icing sugar into basin, rub butter into dry ingredients. Add lemon juice & sufficient water to combine ingredients. Press dough into a smooth ball, chill 30 mins.

Roll out onto lightly floured surface until large enough to fit 20 cm or 23 cm pie plate. Press firmly down into the plate. Do not stretch the pastry, as this can cause shrinking during baking. Prick base and sides throughly with a fork. This will stop pastry rising during cooking.

Bake in moderately hot oven 10 to 15 min, or until golden brown. Set aside until cold.

Spread cold lemon filling into cold pastry case, top with meringue.

Spread meringue to edge of pastry case to form a complete seal.

Bake in moderate oven 5 to 10 mins, or until lightly brown.

Filling:

Combine sugar and sifted flours in saucepan. Stir in combined lemon juice & water gradually; add lemon rind.
Place over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils & thickens. Its important that the mixture boils. Reduce heat, stir for further 2 mins.

Remove from heat, add butter/margarine and lightly beaten egg-yokes; stir, off heat, until butter is melted, set aside until cool.

Meringue:

Combine egg-white, water & salt in small basin of electric mixer, beat on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beat until sugar is dissolved.

Enjoy

Resource: The Australian Woman's Weekly. Great dessert cookbook.

technorati tags: eggs, lemons, desserts

Fishy Tale

2008-07-04T20:31:00.005+09:30

Tonight for tea, I had a surprise for Pat. Rainbow trout, grilled with a fresh side salad.

Not all of the salad is from our vegie patch. But the fish is true blue Aussie.

Those fish shops at the market give a great range of Aussie caught fish and good prices. This little fella was $13.99 a kilo and it set me back $5.10.

We have also started to buy marinated whole chickens for roasting from a butcher in the markets. Bigger than the stupidmarket ones they sell and only costing $6.00. This will easily feed 4 people or in our case a hot meal and then a cold meal with salads.

Also pork chops are a better price as well. Plus a bigger size than some of scrawny loin chops that are sold in stupidmarkets.

Start looking outside your stupidmarkets for cheaper meats.....its worth the look round.

Someone asked me ....."Why do you call them stupidmarkets"?

I answered with...."What is so super about them"?????

He laughed and said that made a lot of sense and he liked my reasoning.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: chicken, leafy greens, salads, fish

Leafy Greens

2008-06-05T14:13:00.005+09:30

Looks lovely doesn't it

To buy this at the shops, you are looking at about $3.99. Sprayed with goodness knows what and in those plastic bags... to keep the shelf life longer.

I picked this today out of my garden, baby rock and baby lettuce leaves. Organic and fresher than what you'll buy anywhere.

These leafy greens are being grown out in my vegie patch. If you want to grow them yourself and don't have the space in your garden. Why not grow them in a large pot or a broccoli box from your local green grocer's shop. Often these are given away free.

These plants are able to be left in the pots (or soil) for weeks and just pick the leaves every few days. Weeks of picking from the plants with not much needed to care for them.

Can't get any easier than that. So why not give it a try

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food savings, leafy greens

Tagged Again

2008-05-23T17:48:00.004+09:30

Molly tagged me again..with a different one.

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

Each player answers the questions about themselves.

At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

a) What was I doing 10 years ago? Cleaning schools.

b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
1) Woke up this morning and though "thank GOD there was no white chalk mark around my body"
2) walked to the train station.
3) Put a deposit on my new fridge, thanks to the Carers bonus.
4) Bargained at the markets when buying food.
5) Looked at the bloggs I subscribe to and thought.... I so need 2 spare hours to read them all.

c) Snacks I enjoy: Chicken or cheese & onion chips. Skinny coke.

d) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1) Count it first.
2) Buy a ticket for all my gardening buddies and fly them to Luckyland for a garden party.
3) Move to Tassie and buy a hobby farm.
4) Donate half the money to charity..... by starting a foundation.
5) Set the kids up in houses and what sort of work if the want to own a business.
6) Buy a milking cow and some sheep for my hobby farm.
7) Help out pensioners as I know how much we struggle. That could be linked with #4's dream.

e) Places I have lived: Australian outback, Adelaide & Whyalla and a couple of country towns.

Laughing purple goldfish, she is in craft and recycling and has shown me how to recycle wool I have knitted into jumpers.

Lucy as she has a lovely blog.

Orchard 40, she plays so hard in her garden and its a stunning place to visit, vis my laptop.

Well I have thought of 3 people. Hope they enjoy the tag.

Until next time....hoo roo

Beef, Kidneys & Good Food

2008-04-30T19:20:00.006+09:30

Where do you buy your meat if you are a meat eater??? I like to buy some of our meat at our local Vietnamese Supermarket.

Its so much cheaper than the stupidmarkets and also no foam trays wrapped in plastic. Though to make it even better, if I got the meat wrapped in butcher paper, I'd be even happier.

Kilo of tender gravy beef for $6.59........ way cheaper.
The 3 lamb kidneys were $0.76......

At the stupidmarket last time I paid $1.98 for 3 in a pack. Way over priced in my books.

Now the trick is to get the most out of the meat.

Beef curry and rice, two meals for me.

Steak & kidney with vegies, equals two meals for Pat.

Without including the rice and vegies, $7.35 divided into 4 meals ....$1.8375 for each meal. Can't get much cheaper than that.

By looking outside the stupidmarkets in the smaller shops and markets, there is still cheaper food to be bought.

Pat & I are on a disability pension and so we need to account every cent. So where I can help other people by sharing our shopping & kitchen skills, I will.

Also with the vegies soon to be available for harvesting in the weeks to come from our little vegie patch, it'll be even cheaper.

Until next time.... hoo roo

technorati tags: beef, food savings, rice, vegetables

1 Chicken Breast Equals 8 Pies

2008-04-27T13:09:00.005+09:30

With meat getting even dearer time for another food tip from my kitchen. This one is wonderful and so cheap.

All you need is 1 chicken breast and making it into a pie mixture adding any vegies you like. I use the water I cook the chicken breast as chicken stock. Season to your taste.

1 0r 2 sheets of puff pastry.

My pie maker, great for those pies, made in my kitchen. Be savory or sweet.

After the pastry is cut out with the pie cutter, into the heated up pie maker. Pop on the covers and cook until pastry is brown.

That was my lunch today.

I bought 5 chicken breasts for $15.00. So that was 5 chicken boobs for $3.00 each.

By thinking what I can make with1 breast, it was made into 8 pies. As I have a shocking cold and we had 2 pies each for last nights tea. The other 4 pies I cooked for lunch today and we will eat the 2 left over with tonight's meal.

Hope that all makes sense as my head is all mush with this cold.

Until next time....hoo roo

Bum Nuts & Homemade Bread

2008-04-14T10:25:00.005+09:30

For breakfast this morning I had 2 soft boiled eggs and a slice of toast. Nothing is nicer when having soft boiled eggs, than a runny yoke and toast to dunk into that yoke.

Eggs came from my girls and the bread I made myself.

Can't get any simpler than that and what a great way to start off my day

technorati tags: bread,, eggs, food savings

Beating The Supermakets

2008-04-03T12:13:00.003+10:30

For people who know me through the forums I live on, my comments on supermarkets is an on going topic. I even like to call them stupidmarkets. So where I can get out of buying food at the 2 top players in this field and support the little man in this cut throat industry......... I will.

The latest find away from the stupidmarkets is cheese.

Each fortnight Pat & I travel by train into the city and visit The Central Markets to buy the foods we have found cheaper than elsewhere.

So lets take a look at our latest find.

From the label you can see its priced by weight and these weights will vary.

For $2.88 we bought 0.322 grams of cheese at $8.95 per kilo.

Comparing the price & weight to the lines carried in the stupidmarkets to the cheese we bought this week.......

I priced cheese not on special as the cheese we bought wasn't on special.

I didn't pick the dearest cheese either when pricing the brands. So the prices from the stupidmarkets are as follows.

250 grams........ $4.00
500 grams........ $6.50
1 kilo......... $10.50

The cheese we bought is as follows.

250 grams...... $2.24
500 grams..... $4.47
1kilo........ $8.95

So you can see, the cheese we bought is much cheaper than the 250 gm cheese in the stupidmarkets.

The cheese we bought is an almost local cheese as its a Mt Gambier cheese.For people overseas, Mt Gambier is south of Adelaide.

With the other items we buy at the markets and the cost of the train ticket and our time, we are out in front. We are also supporting the small business man and keeping the $$$$ at home in Australia.

I hope this gives you an idea that the stupidmarket isn't the be all to end all place from food shopping.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: cheese, food savings

Garlic Bread

2008-02-23T16:48:00.005+10:30

Using garlic from my garden I made a loaf of garlic bread for the first time today. Boy it sure is yummy and the house smelt of garlic bread cooking away in the bread maker. I won't be buying garlic bread down at the shops anymore.

750 gm loaf cooked on a medium crust. Good size shape when sliced.

Then I just sprayed each side with olive oil and toasted it on my cast iron grill. I just ate as it came off the grill, no butter added.

I'll slice the loaf up in thick slices and freeze. Then when needed it can be grilled.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: bread, garlic

Chinese Beef.

2008-02-20T19:51:00.009+10:30

This is an easy meal, really tasty and a bit on the spicy side.

Pound about a kilo of rump steak thin and cut into bite size pieces. Place in a dish and add the marinade. Let this marinade for minimum 2 hours to overnight in the fridge.

Marinade

2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt & pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons oil

These capsicums are from my garden and these are cut into pieces along with a large onion.

Pop some oil into a wok and when hot start cooking the meat in small batches. Don't over crowd the wok. Drain on kitchen paper.

Remove any left over oil and add the capsicums, onions & sauce. Cook until the sauce has thickened.

Sauce.

1 tablespoon cornflour
1 & 1/2 cups water
1 beef stock cube
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons dry sherry
1/2 teaspoon sugar.

Serve with rice and enjoy.

technorati tags: capsicums, onions, beef, rice

From My Kitchen

2008-02-20T19:46:00.004+10:30

With the temperature dropping from 39 degrees down to 20 it was a great day for the kitchen.

I made a batch of hot cross buns.

Bread rolls to go with our meal tonight. The left overs will be frozen for future meals.

Also a loaf of bread for tomorrow. Nothing like fresh bread toasted for breakfast.

technorati tags: bread

Those Capsicums In Oil

2008-02-13T13:11:00.000+10:30

Well I have tried the capsicums in the oil I did the other day.

God, what a yucky taste it was in my mouth. Also the contents in the jar seems to be brewing....

So either ( more that likely) I did it wrong.

Bugger

Back to the drawing board on this subject.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food savings, capsicums

Hot Cross Buns

2008-02-12T19:50:00.001+10:30

Do you own a bread maker? Have you ever made hot cross buns in your bread maker?

Today is the first time for this Easter season I have made them. Unlike the supermarkets who had them for sale, so close after Christmas. I waited until Lent to start making and eating them.

I can't remember the last time I bought hot cross buns and after eating home made for years, I can't see me starting either.

I haven't worked out the cost of them comparing to the shop ones. There are 16 lovely size buns per mixture when made.

If you haven't tried making your own, give it a try.......

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: sweet buns

Roasting Capsicums.

2008-02-09T18:30:00.001+10:30

With the capsicums starting to turn a red colour, today I thought I'd try my hand at roasting 3 of them as a trial run.

If I like what I have done and the taste is good, I'll do some more with the next flush of red coloured capsicums I pick.

I washed and dried the capsicums and placed them on a tray. They were then placed into a oven with the temp set at 200 degrees.

Once they had started to blacken and the skin bubble off the flesh I removed them from the oven.

I then covered the capsicum with some gladwrap and left it to sweat for 10 minutes.

I then set about peeling the skin from the flesh after I had sliced and removed the top and seeds. Capsicum pieces were then popped into a sterile jar, with extra light olive oil and the lid firmly closed.

End result. Maybe I could have used a smaller jar but it was a trial run and now I have more of an idea of what I will be doing next time round.

Not sure how long to leave the jar before I sample the end result. Here's hoping its as yummy as it looks.

Until next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: food saving, capsicums, vegetables

Tomato Sauce

2008-01-30T14:39:00.000+10:30

I'm kicking myself as I didn't think to take a photo of all 6 kilo of tomatoes I was given yesterday from a friend. The closest I have come to home grown tomatoes this season, my plants are not producing much fruit. To the stage I have given up on them, so when my friend called, I said thank you and yes to the tomatoes right away.

These few left over tomatoes will be not wasted, into the freezer they will go for use in the winter months.

4.5 kilo of tomatoes, 680 grams of apples and onion won't fit into the largest saucepan I had in the house. So to start off I had to use 2 saucepans.

Once the cooking had reduced the volume size into the biggest pot and away went the cooking.

Just about ready for the ezy-sauce, sugar and salt.

All cooked and ready for the stick mixer to blend to a smooth mixture. If you use a stick mixer, just watch the wrist action...... sauce can splash over the wall near the stove. This will result in rude words and extra cleaning up after the sauce is bottled.

All finished and bottled. The jar at the front is for our friend who gave us the tomatoes. She's not a big sauce eater and said only a small jar would be enough for her.

The recipe can be found here.

technorati tags: food savings, tomato, tomato sauce

Fruit Loaf.

2008-01-13T09:35:00.000+10:30

Even though I dedicate this blog to recipes that will use up your garden extras, I also like to show off other food ideas.

I make my own bread with a bread maker and one of the loaves we love is a rich fruit loaf. This loaf was made yesterday afternoon and we are having some for breakfast.

Besides the spices I use, I also add mixed peel, sultanas and glazed cherries. After making our own fruit loaf, bought fruit loaf seems to lack flavour.

Do you own a bread maker? Have you even made your own fruit loaf? A bag of bread flour can make a lot of bread and its a good way of saving money and also you get to pick what goes into that loaf.

technorati tags: bread, food savings

Ham Savings

2007-12-14T12:25:00.000+10:30

Growing vegies and fruit in the garden is a great way to stay healthy. All foods are organic and its cheaper on the purse and a great form of exercise.

But at the same time when out shopping in the supermarkets I like to keep my eye out for reduced items, that we can use.

Remember a special isn't a special....unless you need it.

I thought I'd show you my bargain I scored yesterday and how I am using it to its full potential.

Years ago when I was working I invested in a small meat slicer and it has well and truly paid it's way in my kitchen.

This ham is called "Cameo Boneless Ham" and weighed 1.058 kilo, selling for the weight price of $14.85 a kilo.

Price was $15.75 and reduced to $6.00.

So at a rough guess it's just under $5.95 a kilo and the used by date was the 24th December 07.

So with a saving of $9.75 I was able to turn this Cameo into 30 slices of ham. Having the electric slicer I was able to slice the ham at a thickness we like and not the shaved ham we usually tend to buy.

The ham was layered in a Tupperware freezer container and now labeled and in the freezer to be eaten at our leisure.

Hope this gives food for though on saving $$$$ in your kitchen.

Until Next time....hoo roo

technorati tags: ham,, food+savings

Making That Chicken Go Further

2007-11-14T09:59:00.001+10:30

If your like me, you have noticed prices have continued to go up while wages and pensions aren't. I love to read from people how they make their dollar go further when making meals for the family.

In our house we have 3 adults living at home. So I am always looking at ways to make the meat we buy go easier and on the weekends we usually don't even eat meat.

One of the shopping tips I use is buying meat on clearance or on special. So I don't plan my meals until I get to the meat department be it the supermarket or the butcher or chicken shop.

I tend to find the chicken shop chains in the shopping centres are the cheapest way to buy chicken.

Yesterday I scored a full size chicken and 4 bonus drumsticks included for $6.00 on clearance, weighing 1.854.

Next thing is to decide what I am to do with the chicken..... roast it all and have cold chicken the following day or casserole the pack and freeze the left overs for a meal for 1 person?

By cutting the chicken as follows,:

skin and remove the breast meat into 2 cutlets
cut the wings from the frame
remove the 2 maryland cuts

This then leaves a chicken carcass, which is put into the freezer and will be made into chicken stock.

Chicken breast are frozen in a container and these 2 cuts will feed 2 people for 2 meals. I slice the breasts thinly and coat them in spices and herbs and pan fry them in olive oil. Not as greasey as KFC and a lot cheaper. Served either with vegies or salad from my vegie patch.

We'll eat these on the nights Amy isn't home for a meal.

The rest of the chicken pieces will be used for tonights meal.

Using my crock-pot as today is going to be in the low 30's and not heating up the kitchen later on, by using the oven. I am making apricot chicken with rice as a side dish.

So for $6.00 I got 3 meals and a pot of chicken stock. So meat wise these 3 meals without including the chicken stock, has come to $2.00 per meal.

I hope this has you thinking when you have a bonus chicken and wonder what you want to do with it and how far you want the feed to go.

technorati tags: chicken, casseroles

Spud & Leek Soup.

2007-08-23T16:18:00.000+09:30

Back in 2004 Sweetpea sent me this lovely soup recipe. So thanks Sweetpea as I have shared it with my family and friends and it gets the thumbs up from them all.

4 rashers of bacon (rind removed) dices
2 tblsp olive oil
1 leek trimmed and sliced
750 gm potatoes
4 cups chicken stock.

Cook bacon until crisp.
Add leeks and oil to a saucepan and cook until soft.
Added the peeled and diced spuds and mix the leek mixture over the spuds.
Add chicken stock and bring to boil and simmer for 20 mins until spuds are cooked.
Blend the the consistency you want and then add 1/4 cup cream and crispy bacon.

Note: I cheat.... I use diced bacon. Also I use a stick blender in the saucepan as this saves on dishes. Also I find the soup will blend together better is the soup is still hot.

Also the chicken stock I use either 4 chicken stock cubes and 4 cups of water. Or if I have home made chicken stock in the freezer, I'll use this.

Crisy bread and good company a must.

technorati tags: soup

Cheese Cakes Or Maids Of Honour

2007-08-20T14:31:00.000+09:30

When I was growing up, my mum used to make little "Cheese Cakes" that she said were dated back to WW2. Mum said Grandma used to make these as well, when she was a little girl.

My kids have grown up eating these as well and it's been a couple of years since I have made them. So today I thought, why not and I am sharing this lovely afternoon tea treat with you.

First off you need a clean table and a packet of pastry mix. I use the Vidale as I get 2 sachets per box and that gets me 2 bakes from the 1 box.

Mix the pastry from one pouch and roll out and using a biscuit or scone cutter, cut out the circles for the pastry tart tins.

After they are all cut out and lined in the pastry tins, pop in a small amount of jam onto the pastry. Not too much, just enough to give it some flavour and not have it spilling over the sides while cooking.

Then you need to mix up a vanilla cake mix for the top of the Cheese Cakes. I use a recipe from scratch, not a packet mix.

Then an amount of the cake mix goes onto the top of the pastry and jam. Make sure the mixture touches the edge of the pastry, sealing the jam inside.

Bake at 200 degrees until cake mixture is cooked, this can take about 15 mins.

Then cool on a cake rake. Taking care not to separate the top from the bottom.

Okay, now they are all nice and cool, you can ice them with icing sugar and sprinkle with coconut.

These can be stored in the freezer if you want to have some for another day or just store in a cake tin and enjoy.

If you have seen or eaten these before and know them by another name, I'd really love for you to leave a comment and tell me the name.

technorati tags: cakes

Never Fail Sponge

2007-08-17T13:52:00.000+09:30

This recipe is from a Family Circle recipe book. The reason I am sharing it with you is for the following reasons.

Back in 1982 I tried making a sponge cake for the first time. I hadn't much cooking experience and the whole episode was a disaster.

So now 25 years later I have given it another go. Using my duck eggs, gave me the confidence to try as so many people swear by duck eggs in their sponges.

Oh and am I just so proud of the result I got.

I didn't have a four sifter, so I used my colander to sift the S.R. Flour 3 times .

So here is the cake finished, safe in the fridge for after tea tonight.

3, eggs separated
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup S.R. Flour, sifted
3 tablespoons water
Jam
Cream, whipped
Icing sugar

Preheat oven too 200 degrees.
Place egg whites in clean mixing bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until thick & glossy.
Add egg yokes and beat well. gently fold in flour;then stir in water.
Divide mixture evenly between 2 greased and floured 20 cm sandwich tins. Bake in oven about 20 mins (maybe a bit more) until cake springs back when touched and side shrink away from pan.
Remove from tins. Cool on a cake rack. When cool spread jam and cream and pop top on. Sprinkle icing sugar on top with sifter.

Enjoy.

technorati tags: cakes

Blanching Broccoli

2007-08-04T12:05:00.001+09:30

I have tried blanching some broccoli flowers from the little side shoots that shot after the main flower head was cut off.

I am over run with broccoli and I am not giving it away wily nilly and then have none for us.

Using the instructions I posted last year from a clipping in the Adelaide Advertiser.

Thought the old wire chipper machine basket would give me more control over putting in and pulling out the broccoli.

Blanching for 3 mins. water when cooled down will water a plant outside.

Sink with icy water to stop the cooking process. Drained well and into the freezer. We'll have this trial run Monday night with our tea and see how it goes. If I am happy with the results, I'll blanch some more.

technorati tags: vegetables

Pat's Birthday Cake

2007-07-11T20:17:00.001+09:30

125 g butter
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
500g mixed dried fruit
1/2 tspn nutmeg
1 tspn mixed spice
1/4 cup sherry
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
1 cups SR flour
1 cup plain flour

Grease and line the base of a 20 cm cake tin. Set oven temp at moderate 180 deg C.
Put butter, milk, sugar, fruit & spices into a saucepan, bring to boil and simmer with lid off for 5 mins. Cool slightly, add sherry & bicarbonate of soda.
When cold, add the beaten eggs and mix well. Sift both flours and fold into mixture. Turn into prepared cake tin and bake in a pre-heated oven for 1 1/4 hours or until cooked.
Cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight tin.

Note.

I have a gas oven and I tend to cook it for 60 mins on 200 degrees C.

I also add some slivered almonds to the mixture.

technorati tags: cakes

Lucky's Vegetable Soup

2007-07-02T18:15:00.000+09:30

With winter here, nothing beats a bowl of hot soup and home made is the way to go. This recipe I grew up on and it's a favorite in our house as well.

This is how I make the vegie soup.

I use a piece of lamb meat when making the stock. Usually when I buy a side of lamb those scrap pieces of meat are divided up and frozen.

So firstly the meat is boiled in water with a bit of salt added. When cooked, meat is removed and this is fed to the poultry for protein.

Into the lamb stock goes grated vegies......

potato
swede
parsnip
turnip
carrot

Added as well is

diced onion
diced celery

Bring it to the boil and simmer for 20 mins.

Add a cup off small noodles (or what variety you like).

1 packet of chicken noodle soup. This gives the soup a kick.

Great with crusty bread.

technorati tags: soups

Tomato & Pasta

2007-06-17T18:43:00.001+09:30

Sorry about the meal half eaten. I was enjoying it so much and then thought.... this would be good for my blog here.

It's a mixture of odds & ends from the garden.

In the summer months I like to try and freeze spare tomatoes for the winter, to be used in this manor. All those soft tomatoes aren't wasted in my house.

Use what ever amount of defrosted tomatoes and add the following in the amounts that suit you.

sliced onion
pasta
basil fresh or dried
oregano dried or fresh
parsley fresh or dried
parmesan cheese fresh or dried.
diced eggplant
diced celery

Really anything you want to add or use up, it's up to you. The pasta soaks up any liquid so it doesn't need thickening.

Put all of the food into a saucepan and cook until it's looking nice and soft. I added crushed garlic to my share after I had dished up Pat's serving. As he can't tolerate garlic.

So that's about it. pat had his dished up on toast and mine was with toast on a side plate.

technorati tags: tomato, pasta, herbs

Lucky's Potato Dressing

2007-05-08T14:47:00.000+09:30

I love a good spud salad and often amazed how yummy a home made dressing can be. I have grown tired of the one I have been making for years now and so I experimented the other day and as I did such a good job with it, thought I'd share with you.

Mix in a bowl the following.....

mayonnaise
cream
creamy dijonnaise

I tend to put about 50 - 50 with the cream and mayonnaise and then add the dijannaise to taste.

Then added to the hot diced spud along with some crunchy cook bacon pieces, some mustard seeds and red onion diced.

technorati tags: salads

Eggless Biscuits

2007-03-28T18:27:00.000+09:30

My chooks have started to slow down in the egg laying department. There is also talk of eggs sky rocketing in price with the new regulations coming in for farmers keeping chooks in cages on their egg farms.

So it got me thinking of a recipe my mum gave me. So here it is.

Eggless Biscuits

5 oz butter

4 oz sugar

6 oz custard powder

6 oz S.R. Flour

Beat butter and sugar together

Add custard powder

S.R. flour

Add enough milk to mix to a stiff dough.

Roll out thinly and prick with a fork.

Cut with a biscuit cutter and bake for 10 - 15 mins.

technorati tags: biscuits

Lucky's Tomato Relish

2007-02-25T20:44:00.000+10:30

I'm not for cooking out on a limb and I love to follow a recipe. But finding a relish or an easy Neapolitan Sauce for my crumbed eggplant was not easy to find even using Google.

So with some help from the garden forum I was able to try out a bit of this and a bit of that and see how it came up.

Surprise, surprise I didn't die from food poisoning.

So what did I use to make the sauce. I'm glad you asked:)

Red onion diced
Garlic minced
Tomatoes diced
Zucchini sliced
Capsicum diced
Olive Oil
Fresh basil leaves
Dried oregano leaves
dried chilli (1 was more than enough)
Bit of water to give it some moisture

I just gently cooked the onion & garlic in the oil and then added the rest and cooked it until it was just how I wanted it for the top of my eggplant.

Eggplant was sliced and salted for 30 mins while I did the sauce. The washed the salt off and coated the slices in flour, egg and then dry breadcrumbs.

Happy Potter's Orange Salad Dressing.

2007-02-05T13:57:00.000+10:30

Orange Salad Dressing

Finely grated rind of 2 large oranges
Juice of 2 oranges
1 lemon
2 to 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic , finely chopped
3 teaspoons sweet chilli sauce
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Place orange juice , orange rind and lemon juice into a large bowl.
Whisk in the Dijon mustard , garlic, pepper ,chilli sauce , white wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar.
Whisk well to combine.
Strain the dressing and serve over your favourite salad or simply over rocket leaves.
Store leftovers in the fridge for a week.

Note.

If you desire a milder flavour you can blanch the orange rind before cooling under running water then chopping.
For a sharper flavour add diced red onions.

Different and yum

Geoff D's Spicy Lentil Soup

2007-01-22T17:11:00.000+10:30

Spicy Lentil Soup

Ripe tomatoes - about 450 grams
A medium onion, diced
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon sugar
chopped fresh coriander
1/2 cup red lentils
1 teaspoon sambal jahe (ginger sambal) or sambal oelek (or just some squished fresh red chilis)
water or stock

Soften onion in olive oil, add coriander powder, cumin, and sambal, and fry together. Add chopped tomatoes and cover with water or stock, simmer until tomatoes are starting to look squishy. At this stage, you can hit it with a stick blender to produce you desired smoothness. Add sugar & red lentils, simmer for about 20 minutes (all that is needed to soften the lentils). Garnish with chopped coriander.

In winter, add some tomato paste/tomato sauce/canned tomatoes/sundried tomatoes for a richer tomato taste.

Guaranteed yummy.

Luck's Apricot Jam

2007-01-02T14:27:00.000+10:30

7 lbs apricots halved

1 cup water

5 & 1/2 lbs sugar

Wash fruit & cut in half.

Pour water into heavy based saucepan and add apricots.

Bring to boil slowly and then simmer for 20 mins.

While fruit is cooking warm sugar in a dish in the oven.

Then stir warmed sugar gradually into the fruit.

Boil until the jam sets, when tested on a cold plate in the fridge.

This can take an hour once the sugar is added.

Tips

450 gm = 1lb of fruit.

5 1/2 lbs sugar = 2 & 3/4 kg

My sister told me not to use the clear covers that can be bought for jam. Use the lids that have a pop top as this will seal the jar tight and the jam will last longer.

Orchid40's

2006-11-03T15:16:00.000+10:30

Orange bread and butter pudding.

400g. fresh white bread, crusts removed
150g melted butter
225g orange marmalade
3 oranges, plus 1 extra orange, rind grated
3 eggs
500ml thin cream ( I dilute thick cream)
100g caster sugar
3 tabs demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 180 deg
Butter a 16x32x5cm baking dish
cut bread into rough chunks and place in large bowl
Pour over butter
warm marmalade in a pan over low heat, then pour over bread
Add orange segments and stir carefully.(I cut mine up)
Tip mixture into baking dish
Beat together eggs,rind, cream,and caster sugar then pour over bread.
Sprinkle top with demerara sugar and bake for 30-35 mins.

great hot or cold, with cream or custard

boiled fruit cake

20cm round cake tin
180% for 45mins-1hr
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
21/2 cupsmixed fruit
1/3 cup mixed peel
1 teasp. nutmeg
1 teasp bicarb
125grams butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup SR flour
1 Cup Pl flour

Place butter, sugar,water, fruit, peel, nutmeg, soda, in saucepan and stir until boiling.
Allow to cool for 5 mins. Add eggs.
sift flours, add to other ingredients, mix well and pour into cake tin.

Bluegreen's Beetroot Sheet.

2006-10-27T15:50:00.000+09:30

Pickled Beetroot

5-6 beetroot
salt
water
1 cup malt vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bay leaf 2 whole cloves
4 peppercorns

Cook beetroot in salted water until tender, about 45 minutes.
Combine remaining ingredients in another saucepan, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Cool.
Peel beetroot, leave whole or slice as desired, and pack into hot sterilised jars.
Strain vinegar mixture, pour over beetroot.
Seal.

For Jellied Beetroot, prepare as above, and cut the beetroot into large dice.
Arrange in an oiled bowl or mould, about 3 cup capacity.
Take 1 cup of the pickling liquid, add 1 tablespoon gelatine and stir over low heat until gelatine dissolves.
Pour over beetroot.
Refrigerate until set, then unmould carefully.

Spiced Pickled Beetroot
2kg beetroot
5cm piece fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
12 whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
4 dried bird’s eye chillies
3 cups white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon coarse cooking salt
1 1/2 cups sugar

Choose small or medium-sized beetroot and have them of uniform size if possible.
Leave 2cm stalks on cover with water and add about 2 teaspoons salt.
Cover, bring to the boil and boil gently for 40-50 minutes or until just tender.
Cool, drain and remove skins and top, trim bases.
Leave whole if small, quarter, slice or dice medium-sized beetroot.
Pack into cold sterilized jars.
Wash the ginger, do not peel.
Place on a board and hit with a cleaver or mallet to bruise.
Tie in a piece of muslin.
Tie spices in another piece of muslin.
Put vinegar, salt and sugar into a stainless steel saucepan and stir over heat until sugar is dissolved.
Add flavouring bag, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Remove bags and pour boiling hot vinegar slowly over beetroot to cover completely.
Seal when cold with sterilised lids, preferably plastic.
Store in a cool, dark place and leave for 3-4 days before using.

Pickling Vinegar (this is the recipe I've always used)
1 litre white vinegar
1 cup sugar (or less to taste)
1 teaspoon salt

Mix ingredients together and bring to the boil.
Add any spices, such as peppercorns, cloves, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon mixed spice and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
If you add the spices, let mixture boil for an extra 10 minutes.
Strain and allow to cool before use. (Never use iodised salt for pickling, use plain salt, sea salt or pickling salt.)
Before pickling, vegetables should be left to stand in a brine solution of about 3-5% salt to water. Use jars with plastic or glass lids instead of metal, unless lids are protected from acid reaction with several layers of greaseproof paper.
Vegetables suitable for pickling are: beetroot, cabbage, cucumber, onions, peas, shallots, red cabbage, walnuts, zucchini.

Sweetpea's Ham and Tomato Cheese Scrolls

2006-10-06T20:17:00.000+09:30

Guaranteed to to please even the fussiest child and husband !

Ham and Tomato Cheese Scrolls

2 cups self raising flour.
30g butter( melted )
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 cup grated cheese
100g shaved ham

preheat oven to 200
sift flour into bowl
melt butter and quickly with a fork mix through flour
pour milk into a small 'well 'in flour mix
use a flat edge knife bring the mixture together in a sticky ball
turn out onto a floured area
knead quickly until smoth
roll out roughly with a pin to 24cm x 36cm rectangle (you dont have to be to precise with this ..longer is better )
spread sauce , ham and cheese evenly over the dough
leave a 3cm border free of tomato (so you can seal it when rolled)
roll up firmly (like a swiss cake roll )
cut the log into 12 or so slices .
arrange on tray close together ..give some room to grow (like scones )
make sure the join is turned in(so it doesn't unroll when cooking)
bake 20 minutes ..or until golden and cooked thruough

Fend off all hungry kids and adults until cool enough to eat !!!!!

Ptmummy's Mulberry Jelly

2006-10-04T19:42:00.000+09:30

1/2 bucket mulberries
1 cup sugar
800mls water

6 gelatin leaves
1 cup water

Wash mulberries and place in a huge pot with 800mls water and the sugar.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins.

Place the gelatin leaves in a bowl with 1 cup water for five mins.

Strain the mulberries and reserve 800mls of the liquid.

Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and dissolve into the mulberry liquid.

Leave out to cool to room temp, then place in fridge.

Needs about 10 hours to set.

I added a shot of Cointreau to mine as well for an orange flavour.

It is soooo yummy.

Freezing Broccoli

2006-09-25T15:54:00.000+09:30

One thing I can not master from the garden to plate is freezing broccoli. I tend to find mine is soggy and not pleasant to eat at all. Even tried just freezing it with out blanching it. That nearly blew the back of my head off when I opened the bag weeks later. Not very nice smelling at all.

Anyway reading today's Advertiser here in Adelaide in the "What's Your Problem" part of their paper I came across some information on freezing broccoli. So as broccoli is such a popular vegie plant in the vegie garden, thought I'd pop it up here.

Freezing Broccoli

Choose young, tender broccoli and freeze as soon after picking as possible. (Refrigerate if it cannot be frozen soon)
Remove tough leaves and woody ends. Cut through stalks lengthwise, leaving heads 2.5 cm in diameter.
Soak for 30 minutes in salt brine (1/2 cup of salt to 1 litre of water) to drive out small insects. Rinse and drain.
Blanch for 3 minutes in water or steam blanch for 5 minutes.
Chill in ice water and drain thoughly.
Pack tightly in freezer bags or rigid containers and squeeze as much air as possible from bags before sealing. (Leave 3 cm headspace for expansion in containers.
Label with date and freeze at the lowest possible setting. Make sure it is stored at -17.8 or lower and use within 8 to 12 months for best quality.

Bubba Louie's Berry Cake Dessert

2006-09-09T19:37:00.000+09:30

Just put raw berries in a oven proof dish.

Sprinkle generously with sugar and top with a plain cake mix.

Bake till the cakes cooked.

Note: you can use what ever berry fruit you want.

Yeehah's Pumpkins

2006-08-28T21:29:00.000+09:30

PUMPKIN CHOC-ORANGE CAKE

125g butter/marg, chopped
1 tablesp grated orange rind
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups SR flour
1 teasp bicarb soda
3/4 cup cold cooked mashed pumpkin
1 tablesp golden syrup
1/4 cup orange juic

Grease & flour 14 x 21 cm loaf pan.

Combine all ingredients in bowl of electric mixer, beat on low speed until all ingredients are combined.

Then, beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and changed in colour.

Spoon and spread mixture into prepared pan.

Bake in moderate oven 180oC about 55 mins.

------------------

SAVOURY PUMPKIN PATTIES

This is a "rule of thumb" recipe, practice will make it good!

Use cold mashed potato, mix with approx half that amount of mashed pumpkin. Whisk an egg for every 2 cups of combined cold mash, combine. Add a heaped tablespoon of SR flour, sifted with a bit of salt (my lot like it salty, about 1/2 teaspoon) per 2 cups of mash mix. If it's not coming together to a manageable doughy consistency, gradually add more SR flour. Form into patties, dust with flour.

Preheat a frying pan for a few minutes (more for a thick based pan), cover base with oil, shallow fry patties until golden brown and flour has cooked through. Might have to squash them a bit flatter when you turn them over the first time!

p.s. I have also tried whisked egg + leftover rice + mashed pumpkin + chopped leftover roast meat + SR flour patties. As long as the rice has gone sticky (e.g. what's left in the bottom of the rice cooker - not rinsed!) it works pretty well.

-------------------

CURRIED PUMPKIN MUFFINS

2 cups SR flour
1 cup plain flour
1 teasp bicarb soda
2 teasp sugar
2 teasp ground cumin
2 teasp ground coriander
1/2 teasp salt
1 cup cold cooked mashed pumpkin
2 tablesp hot vindaloo curry paste
1 egg
1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Grease 12 hole muffin pan (I use canola spray).

Combine all ingredients in large bowl, stir with large metal spoon until just combined.

Spoon mix into prepared pan.

Bake Mod Hot oven 200oC about 25mins.

--------------------

PUMPKIN SCONES

Another rule of thumb recipe!

For every 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mashed pumpkin (less if it's runny, more if it's dry) - sift 2 cups SR flour into a bowl, rub in 30g margarine. Mix in mashed pumpkin. Add milk (soy or cow) until reach a good doughy consistency. Turn onto floured surface, roll/press flat till about 4cm thick, cut with round cutter, place on greased tray, brush tops with milk, cook in preheated hot oven 220oC until brown and risen.

Aquarium's Summer Treats

2006-08-26T20:07:00.000+09:30

Iceberg lettuce dressing:

This is sweet with a tang to it. Kids also love it.

1/5 cup (normal teacup) of thick cream, add several splashes of white vinegar and about 2-3 teaspoons of sugar.

Stir with a spoon to dissolve the sugar and pour over a bowl of iceberg lettuce leaves...

Maybe stir with tongs to coat the leaves more.

Squashed strawberries desert:

This is great in summer as a very light and refreshing dinner for a hot day (one punnet of strawberries each + fresh bread rolls)
clean strawberries and remove stems/leaves.

Squash directly in soup plate (not soup bowl) with a fork.

If making large quantity squash in a saucepan with spud masher.

Add a tablespoon of thick cream (a tablespoon or two per punnet strawbs) and 2-3 teaspoons sugar and stir to dissolve.

Do not under any circumstances use a motorized jig on the strawbs and do not add ice.

Ice curdles the cream, and whirrlyjigs totally spoil the texture of strawbs.

Anyway, refrigerate for a few minutes if you want it nice and cold.

2006-08-12T20:31:00.000+09:30

Now the warmer weather and longer days are starting, my chooks have started to lay more eggs. On the average I'm getting just over 6 eggs a day from the chooks and some days 5 from the ducks.

Here are a couple of great egg recipes from my kitchen.

Baked Custard

3 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 & 1/2 cups milk

nutmeg or cinnamon

Beat eggs, sugar & vanilla together lightly, add milk stir to combine.

Pour into ovenproof dish, sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon.

Stand dish in baking dish with enough water to come half way up sides of dish.

Bake in oven at 200 degrees C for 60 minutes.

Note: I check by using in metal spoon to see if the egg is cooked & set.

Egg & Bacon Pie

4 eggs

3/4 cup packet pastry

3/4 cup grated cheese

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup bacon

3/4 cup cream (opt)

spring onions chopped or 1 diced onion

Combined all together in bowl and mix.

Spread into round oven pie dish.

Cook 200 degrees C for about an hour or until cooked and golden brown.

Note: We usually eat it with a garden salad.

Pomolo's Lemon Oil

2006-07-27T20:26:00.000+09:30

LEMON OIL

2 litres water

4 lemons peeled and juiced

1 large brown onion

2 ripe tomatoes

2 teas turmeric

2 dessert spoons peppercorns

3 bay leaves

pinch salt

600ml grape seed oil

Method
Place all ingredients, except water, lemon juice and peel, in stainless steel pan- on low heat.

Warm all ingredients until aromatic. Do not overheat.

Add lemon juice peel and water. Simmer for half hour.

Strain into clear plastic bucket and rest for 4- 6 hours.

Oil will separate from water and rise to the top.

Skim oil and store in container in fridge.

Will last indefinitely.

Lucky's Fig Jam

2006-07-25T19:52:00.000+09:30

3 lbs figs (minced or chopped finely)

3/4 cup water

3 lbs sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Add figs & water and bring to boil slowly.

Add sugar when boiling...... Add lemon juice.

Boil for about 20 mins

Bottle and seal.

Like all jam recipes a bit of the time cooking the mixture can be decided by the quality of fruit you use.

So I tend to use a bit of that gut feeling when cooking jam.

Pomolo's HOLY MOLEY GUACAMOLE

2006-07-19T16:33:00.000+09:30

HOLY MOLEY GUACAMOLE

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 teaspoon sour cream
Finely chopped tomatoes to taste
Finely chopped spring onions to taste
1 teaspoon mayonaise
Chilli powder or fresh chillie
Ground black pepper
Few drops of lemon juice

1. Mash the heck out of the avocado.

2. Add tomato and onion

3. Add everything to taste beginning with sour cream

4. Stir in a small amount of mayonaise.

Lucky's Boiled Fruit Cake.

2006-07-13T20:39:00.000+09:30

Into a good size saucepan put

500 grams dried mixed fruit
125 grams butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Bring to boil and boil for 5 mins.

When its only warm add

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/4 cup of sherry

When cold add

2 eggs
1 cup plan flour
1 cup SR flour

Place in a cake tin, I use a square one .

Cook 1 hour or until cooked at 200 degrees.

I use duck eggs and it gives a great texture and the cake just seems so much yummier.

Lucky's Mushroom sauce

2006-07-13T12:01:00.000+09:30

Slice the amount of mushrooms you want to add to the sauce.

I leave some button mushrooms just cut in half as well.

Slice spring onions. Once again the amount you use is your own choice. Or you can replace spring onions with an onion and cut this into rings.

Cook in a small amount of oil for about 5 mins.

Add the following:

1 chicken stock cube
2 teaspoons plain flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup water
Salt & Pepper to taste

Bring to boil and boil 2 mins

Lower heat and simmer 15 mins.

Just before time is up add fresh or dried parsley.

I tend to make this in the morning as it gives time for the flovours to mix.

Also using older mushrooms will give you more stronger mushroom taste.

Serve with beef or grilled chicken.

Kell's Barramundi Fillets

2006-07-06T14:04:00.000+09:30

Barramundi Fillets

½ Cup of flour
½ Cup dry breadcrumbs
1 Tspn curry powder
1 Tspn Cumin powder
2 Tspn sweet chilli sauce (or to taste)
2 Eggs
salt & pepper

* heat oil in a deep heavy based pan

* mix the dry ingredients

* spread them on a plate

* paper towel dry the fillets

* dip in beaten egg

* coat with flour mix

* shake off excess

* drop the fish in the pan 5 min max

* squeeze half the lemon over while cooking

* chilli sauce and remainder of lemon juice added to the eggs

* fork beat until mixed

Serve fish with the egg sauce and a fresh garden salad

Pomolo's Chilli Jam

2006-07-02T19:10:00.000+09:30

CHILLI JAM

200g chillies
200g onion
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teas salt
2 tabs lemon juice

Slice chillies. (with or without seeds)

Put all the ingredients into a medium saucepan.

Bring slowly to the boil stirring till the sugar dissolves.

Cook uncovered on high heat for approx 10 minutes until thick.

You can cook it longer if you like a thicker consistency. I do.

Basil Recipe's from Culpeper

2006-06-29T19:11:00.000+09:30

Basil Pesto
1 large bunch basil (or use parsley, coriander or chervil)
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup oil

Blend or process all ingredients together to make a thick sauce. Serve over pasta or vegetables or as a dip.

Basil Mint Orange Pesto

1 cup fresh basil leaves, firmly packed
1 cup fresh mint leaves, firmly packed
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil (or more)
salt and pepper to taste

In a processor, blend first 6 ingredients until almost smooth.
With machine running, gradually add olive oil; process until smooth.
If pesto is dry, mix in more oil by spoonfuls.
Season with salt and pepper.

(Can be made ahead. Press plastic wrap onto surface of pesto. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature before using.)

Basil Jelly

1 1/2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 3/4 cups water
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
90g powdered pectin

Place basil in pan, add water, bring to boil, then remove from heat and set aside (covered) for 15 minutes to steep.
Strain liquid into a 2 cup glass measure.
Add water to measure 1 3/4 cup if necessary. Return liquid to saucepan.
Stir in pectin and lemon juice. Bring to the boil over high heat.
Add sugar and bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil for 1 minute.
Pour into hot, sterile jars and seal.

Try using purple basil, anise basil, cinnamon basil or lemon basil.

Culpeper's chilli collection.

2006-06-29T19:08:00.000+09:30

Chilli Biscuits

4 dried jalapeno chillies (or other hot chillies)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup sunflower seed oil
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped cashew nuts
1/2 cup raisins

Chop the chillies and put into a pan with the milk and simmer gently until the milk begins to boil.
Cool and put through a blender.
Add the egg, oil, yoghurt, brown sugar and vanilla and blend for 1 minute.
Set aside.
Combine flour, salt and baking soda and add the wet mixture, stirring well. Mix in the oats, cashews and raisins.
Drop teaspoonfuls onto a greased oven tray and bake at 180C for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Eat one of these biscuits whenever drowsiness overcomes.

Chilli Chutney

Mince or chop finely 1 cup ripe chillies, 1 onion and 1 cup of raisins.
Place in sacepan with 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon salt.
Boil slowly until dark and most of the vinegar is absorbed.

Juelz's chili Cordial

2006-06-29T19:01:00.000+09:30

CHILI CORDIAL

20-24 birdseye chili
1 dsp tartaric acid
2 dsp lemon juice
4 cups sugar
5 cups water

Cut 4 chili in half, place all in pot with sugar and water boil for 10 minutes.

Cool and strain.
Add acid and lemon.
Bottle and seal.
Dilute 1 part to 4.
Try it ........it surprised me

Kell's Chili Sauce

2006-06-28T20:23:00.000+09:30

Hot Chili Sauce

You will need
6-12 jalapenos
2 onions chopped
750g skinned tomatoes stewed
salt to taste
4 tbsp coriander chopped finely

· remove the tops of the jalapenos
· split them in half
· put them in a saucepan with the onions
· just cover with water
· cook on low heat until the onion is tender
· put this mixture in the blender
· add half the tomatoes, coriander and salt
· hit the pulse button until mixed
· do not liquefy – needs to be chunky
· taste – add other spices as you wish
· add the remainder of the tomatoes
· pulse
· taste
· refrigerate

Kell's Chili BBQ Sauce/ Nacho Dip

2006-06-28T20:22:00.000+09:30

Chili BBQ Sauce/ Nacho Dip

You will need
150g tomato paste
50g tomato sauce
2 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
10g sugar
pepper & salt & tabasco to taste
chilies – depends on how hot you want it/ what you have - perhaps 5 birds eye or 2 jalapenos or 5 Hungarian Hot Wax/ Anaheim
garlic - 3-4 cloves chopped finely
1 onion

· mix tomato paste, tomato sauce, white vine vinegar, lemon juice, oil and soy in a bowl
· add sugar, freshly ground black pepper, salt, and a dash of Tabasco
· cut the chilies lengthwise in half and remove the seeds
· if you like it extra spicy use the seeds - but be careful
· dice the chilies finely
· add to the sauce and stir
· mince the garlic and finely dice the onion
· mix well

This sauce can be stored for several days in the fridge

Kell's chili Macaroni Cheese.

2006-06-28T20:16:00.000+09:30

Chili Macaroni Cheese

You will need

2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion chopped
1 green capsicum diced
2 celery stalks chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
300g stewed tomatoes
1 450g can kidney beans, drained
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
2 teaspoons ground cumin
5 or 6 chilies to taste, chopped fine
1 1/2 teaspoons minced oregano
salt to taste if you must
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup elbow macaroni
3/4 cup shredded vintage cheese

· preheat a large, heavy based pot on medium/high heat
· add oil
· saute onion, capsicum, celery and garlic until onion is translucent
· stir in tomatoes, beans, corn, cumin, chilies, oregano, salt and black pepper
· bring to the boil
· reduce heat, put a lid on the pot
· simmer for 15min, stir occasionally
· cook macaroni, drain
· stir cooked macaroni into the pot
· just simmer for 5 min over low heat uncovered
· remove from heat
· fold in cheese
· let stand 5-10 min
· serve
makes 4

MaryMaryQuiteContrary's sweet chilli sauce

2006-06-28T11:37:00.000+09:30

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Ingredients:

2 kg sugar.

1.2 Litres cider vinegar.

300 gms fresh seeded chillies.

100 gms Garlic.

50 to 100 gms fresh ginger.

1 teaspoon salt.

Directions :

1. Puree ginger, garlic and chillies with some vinegar and place in a pot.

2. Add rest of vinegar, sugar and salt.

3. Cook on a slow boil until a syrupy consistency and bottle. Cooking process usually
takes thirty to forty minutes.

Makes six small bottles.

Other Notes :
I use a medium hot chilli. If you want to make it hotter add more chillies or use a hotter chilli variety, such as Jalapeno.

Bubba Louie's Spinach Dip.

2006-06-25T19:22:00.000+09:30

Spinach Dip

300ml sour cream
250ml Miracle Whip mayo
1 onion finely chopped
1 tin water chestnuts, roughly chopped
1 pkt spring vege soup mix
1 pkt frozen spinach thawed and squeezed out.

Mix all together and serve in a hollowed out cob loaf using the inside bread to dip.

You can use that fresh spinach out in your garden.

Prinbo WA's Vegie Bake.

2006-06-24T11:14:00.000+09:30

Prinbo’s Vegie Bake ‘Stench’ ☺

(Stench was the name given to this by number 2 son and it apparently means great, awesome etc)

This is really simple and great for bbq’s

Potatoes

pumpkin

sweet potato

packet of cream chicken or cheese and leek or french onion soup

large tub of thickened cream

The quantity of the vegies required depends on how big your baking dish is. (I use my lasagne dish)

Then all you need to do is just alternate layers of vegies in the baking dish, place packet soup in mixing bowl or glass jug, add cream and mix until all the cream and soup is combined, pour over the vegies making sure they are completely covered, cover with aluminium foil.

Place in oven at about 160c and cook until all vegies are cooked through, which takes approximately 1½ hours, however cooking time does depend on the depth of the dish and amount of vegies used. Take out of oven and remove the foil, sprinkle with grated cheese, replace foil and put back in oven with it turned off and let stand for about 10 minutes or so to allow cream sauce to thicken up.

* Hint: If you find the cream sauce is bubbling too much just reduce the temperature to about 150c. Also be careful removing foil as you can get a bit of a steam burn if you are not careful.

Bubba Louie's plate of goodies.

2006-06-23T20:36:00.000+09:30

Polenta and Corn Muffins.

1 425g tin sweet corn. (Liquid and all, not drained)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups S.R.Flour
1/2 cup polenta
1 cup grated tasty cheese.
Red onion, bacon, capsicum and parsley as much as you like, all finely chopped.

Preheat oven to 200.

Mix all together. This is a very forgiving recipe, you can cut down on the oil and cheese if you wish or vary the vege.

For mini muffins bake approx 20 min.

Chorizo and Bean Stew

700g baby spuds, quartered
oil
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 teasp chilli flakes
400g can butter beans
410g can diced toms
2 fresh bay leaves
150g beef or chick stock
4 tablesp chopped parsley

Boil spuds till just tender.
Heat oil, add chorizo and cook till golden.
Add garlic and chilli. Cook for a few seconds.
Add spuds, beans, toms, bay leaves and simmer 10 minutes.

Sour cherry and Ricotta Cake (Low Fat)

1 680g jar Morello Cherries
1/2 cup light marg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teasp vanilla extract
2 eggs
250g smooth ricotta
3/4 cup S.R.flour
3/4 cup plain wholemeal flour
1/2 teasp bicarb
1 teasp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 160.
Grease a deep 19cm square cake tin, line with paper.
Drain cherries and reserve 1/4 cup of juice.
Beat marg, sugar, vanilla.
Beat eggs in one at a time.
Add ricotta, sifted dry ingredients and reserved juice. Beat on low till combined.
Spread in tin and top with cherries.
Cook for about 1 hour and stand in tin for 5 min before taking out.

Pomolo's Jatz Biscuit Cake

2006-06-23T17:46:00.000+09:30

JATZ BISCUIT CAKE

22 jatz biscuits crushed finely

120g pecan nuts crushed fairly finely

3 egg whites

Pinch salt

1 c caster sugar

2 teas vanilla

Icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Line the base of a 20cm round tin with baking paper.

Then butter and flour the tin.

Mix the biscuits and nuts together and set aside.

Whip egg whites and salt till foamy then slowly shake in sugar, a little at a time, beating all while. Once it's all added continue to beat until the mixture is stiff and glossy. It will take about 5 minutes. With a spatula swirl in the vanilla then very gently fold in the biscuit nut mix till just combined. Scoop carefully into prepared tin and smooth down very gently.

Bake for 40 minutes until top seems crusty and middle seems set. Leave to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before trying to remove from tin. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.

Lucky's Zucchini Slice

2006-06-23T17:17:00.001+09:30

1 cup grated cheese
3 rashers bacon diced
375 grams grated zucchini
1/2 cup oil
1 cup grated carrot
1 onion diced
375gms
1 cup S.R. flour
5 eggs

Mix together and bake in oven 180 degrees until cooked.

I use duck eggs with this recipe and freeze the slice for when the zucchini are no longer cropping.

Sally's Salad Dressing

2006-06-23T17:13:00.000+09:30

2 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons milk
8 tablespoons vinegar
Mustard to taste

Mix together and cook over low heat until it thickens, cool and refridgerate.

I use this as a potato salad dressing.

Lucky's Lemon Spread

2006-06-23T12:29:00.000+09:30

4 eggs
4 oz butter
1 cup sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Rind of 1 lemon

Put into a saucepan, cook gently till it becomes to consistency of honey. Store in fridge.

Welcome

2006-06-23T10:25:00.000+09:30

The idea of this Blogg is to post recipe's sent to me from people who love to garden and share ways of cooking or storing food from their gardens.

Ways of sharing and passing on a treasured recipe and not have it lost with time.