Ham Savings

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

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.

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

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

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

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

• 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

1. Grease and line the base of a 20 cm cake tin. Set oven temp at moderate 180 deg C.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Guaranteed to to please even the fussiest child and husband !

Ham and Tomato Cheese Scrolls

1. 2 cups self raising flour.
2. 30g butter( melted )
3. 3/4 cup milk
4. 1/2 cup tomato paste
5. 1 cup grated cheese
6. 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

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

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

1. Choose young, tender broccoli and freeze as soon after picking as possible. (Refrigerate if it cannot be frozen soon)
2. Remove tough leaves and woody ends. Cut through stalks lengthwise, leaving heads 2.5 cm in diameter.
3. 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.
4. Blanch for 3 minutes in water or steam blanch for 5 minutes.
   
5. Chill in ice water and drain thoughly.
6. 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.
7. 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.