Family Food

Do your family have a peculiar food fancy? Our is pancakes. Now, we all like the big fluffy cake like pancakes... especially buttermilk stacks with maple syrup & banana. But in this house, we have a dark secret. An obsession, a yen, a love...

for crispy edges...

To find this delicious treat is quite easy. I am the owner of a 'secret' family recipe. It's acutally for crepes if truth be told, but they're always called pancakes here. It's just how we roll. (Roll, get it, like you roll crepes?! Ah, I crack myself up...) It's been handed down generation to generation - well since 1963's publication of Step-by-step Cookery for the Australian Women's Weekly in it's bright orange cover. It's been converted from imperial to metric by my Mum and I am going to share it, just in case there is another family gripped by crispy-edge-itis:

1 cup plain flour

pinch salt

1 egg

1 1/4 cup milk

Just sift the flour & salt, put in the egg & whisk in milk until you get a thin batter.

Cook in a pan with butter

They're actually like little flat Yorkshire Puddings - incidentally it's my pudding recipe as well except I bake in muffin trays with 1 tsp of oil in a very hot oven for about 10 mins.

They are delicious rolled up with lemon and sugar, jam, syrup and even fruit. If my family's little secret disgusts you, I apologise - I just feel safe sharing my dirty laundry on my little blog ;0) Perhaps you could share your family's food quirks to make me feel less freaky?

Clean Bathroom, Bake Muffins....

My to-do list today was pretty simple, with wonderful results! I'm going to revisit some of mine & other people's favourite baking recipes each week and post the recipes, photos and reviews here, sound good?

This week is my all time favourite basic muffin recipe from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion. I personally think every person who moves out of home should get one of these. Not only does it go into detail about every imaginable ingredient, how to buy them, when & how to use them, but the recipes are failproof. From old familiy recipes to modern masterpieces for your mouth! I am a pretty experienced cook but I still go back to this lovely for information on a pretty regular basis. Anyway - onto the:

Basic Muffins

Ingredients

Butter

220gm Self Raising Flour

1/2 cup Castor Sugar

3/4 cup Milk or Buttermilk

1 Egg

3/4 cup Vegetable Oil

How To

Preheat oven to 180ºC and grease muffin tins well with butter (I use patty pans/muffin cases for easier clean up).

1. 
   
   Mix sifted flour and castor sugar and any other dry ingredients you intend to use (I used cinnamon).


2. 
   
   Combine milk, egg and oil in a seperate bowl and any other wet ingredients (I used vanilla, two small mashed bananas and a little handful of frozen raspberries).


3. 
   
   Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in liquid and mix lightly.


4. 
   
   Spoon batter into muffins tins/cases until 2/3 full, then bake for 20-25 mins until brown on the top. (I also added a sprinkle of brown sugar & oats to the top & pushed in lightly)


5. 
   
   Remove tins from the oven, cool for a minute then put onto a rack to cool completely.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins, or 6 muffins & approx 12 mini muffins - which is just enough to share :0)

If using this recipe for savoury muffins, simply omit the castor sugar.

I have NEVER had a batch of these go wrong, no matter how many additions I make. Cheese, bacon & zucchini muffins are wonderful!

So now I have a clean bathroom and something to nibble at the computer until school pick-up!

Home Day

Between cups of tea and a little Bloglines, we are cooking trial runs of Christmas Cookies and a little glue & glitter action on pine cones.....

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients
250gms butter (2 sticks), softened
2 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
3 C flour

How To
1. In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Add the sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar, beating until well mixed. Slowly beat in the egg and vanilla until well incorporated. Beat in the flour 1/2 C at a time.

2. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC.

4. In a bowl, combine the *sprinkles* cinnamon and sugar. Take enough dough to shape into 1" balls.This is my kids' favorite part, rolling the dough into balls and then covering them with *sprinkles*.

5. Roll the dough balls around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on a light, un-greased baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes.

6. The cookies will not appear done. Let cool for a minute on the cookie sheet and then move to a wire rack. This will yield a soft, delightfully chewy cookie. For a crisper cookie, cook about 12 minutes. If the cookies become golden, they will be very crisp.

*I am so sorry, I cannot find the blog that I got this recipe from to add - my apologies and thanks to the original author*

I am also cutting out a fabric nativity scene to get ready to sew & stuff for this afternoon's crafting fun.

What are you up to today?

I'd like to thank the Academy....

Well, check it out! I got an award from the gorgeous Karin! I met her through MISS and was so excited to discover she has a blog.

Anyway, talk about make my week! I love to think I have people who read what I dribble about. To celebrate, I will be making a zippered pouch to give away filled with some vintage and new goodness to brighten up a sewing day! If you'd like to leave a comment and I'll pick a number out of the hat on Sunday.

My picks to pass this award on for this week would have to be:

Tsk Tsk - Tiel does the MOST BEAUTIFUL artwork and she is just so lovely to boot!

Cass - What can I say to Cass that hasn't been said already? She is a very generous, kind and wonderfully crafty soul.

Nikki-Shell - Her writing is uplifting and again, her craft is great.

There are so many others I could share, my Bloglines stands at 89 so far and they're all great. But that will suffice for now.

We made some Teacup biscuits for Jaynie to take to school today for her classmates. They were a huge hit and even Poppy could get in on the sticky fun. Although I couldn't buy Tic Toc biscuits or musk lifesavers - what is the World coming to when they stop making staples like those!

Have a great weekend peeps! Much love to you and yours. x*

Shepherds Pie

I love using leftovers to make another completely awesome meal. There's something so satisfying about using every last scrap in a tasty way. It must appeal to the scrooge in me.

Approx 500gms left over roast lamb, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large-ish carrot, diced
400gm tin tomatoes
Approx. 2 cups stock
Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and Pepper
1-2 Tbl Gravy Powder (or left over gravy?)
6-7 potatoes, peeled & cubed
splash of Milk
30gms butter
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 190ºC.

Cut vegetables. Put salted water onto boil. Once boiling add potatoes and boil until soft whilst making the meat part.

Heat a bit of oil in a frypan, add onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Sweat until translucent.

While that's happening, dice your lamb. Add and give it a good stir. Add tin tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, gravy powder and seasonings and then add enough stock to give a nice sauce.

Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes to incorporate all the flavours and thicken.

Mash potatoes with butter, milk and a little pepper until nice and fluffy.

Place meat mixture into a baking dish, top with mashed potato and finally cheese.

Bake in the oven until the cheese is all melted and bubbly (approximately 20 minutes)

I've been known to add some left over roast vegetables to the mix. My kids love it with a crispy salad and crusty bread to soak up the sauce.

ANZAC Day March

We had a great morning at the march. We saw the evidence of so many more of our returned soliders passing away and their family members carrying on the tradition. Lots of music and jeeps, not to mention an F1-11 fly over to keep the kids excited. And hey, how often do you get to sit on the kerb of a usually hectic city street and see history pass by your eyes?

I thought I'd share with you my usually well-kept secret recipe for ANZAC biscuits:

1 cup Plain Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Desicated Coconut
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
125gm Butter
1/4 cup Golden Syrup
1/2 tspn Bi-carb Soda
1 Tbl Boiling Water

Preheat oven to 180ºC, Sift flour into bowl and add rest of dry ingredients; mix.
Melt butter and golden syrup in saucepan on Medium heat.
When melted, add bi-carb to water and mix, add to butter mixture (It will start to froth up immediately)
Add wet ingredients to dry mix, mix with a wooden spoon.
Roll desertspoons full of mix into balls, place on lined tray, flatten slightly.
Cook for approximately 10 minutes, until just browning on edges, longer if you like a crunchy biscuit).
Cool on trays - makes approximately 26.









A bit of Sepia fun! Could of been the first ANZAC day march!

You HAVE to try these!

White Chocolate Chip, Cranberry, Oatmeal Biscuits - from Julesong at RecipeZaar

Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened - or 125gms

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oat (not instant)

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup ounces white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190ºC.
2. In a large bowl using an electric mixer combine the sugar, brown sugar and butter; mix well to cream together.
3. Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
4. Add the cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour and mix well.
5. Fold in the oatmeal, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips- making sure that all ingredients are uniformly distributed.
6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place 3 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes, just until the edges are lightly golden.
7. Remove from oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

I took them out at 10 minutes - they looked totally underdone but upon sitting on their pretty silicon sheet covered tray for a few minutes - they are the PERFECT combination of crispy on the edges and chewy texture in the middle. Truly, promise me you will whip these up, you won't regret it! Even though I'm not the biggest cinnamon fan, I stayed true to the recipe and it is divine. Really, my bum is growing just thinking about them. I might have to try another one, just to make sure they're not poisonous....

Don't you just love the World's biggest recipe book - the www? Have you got any Net recipes that you've gleaned in your travels?

Hark to Recipes of Old

Photo Courtesy of Taste

I was in the mood for comfort food last night so I decided a meal of Corned Silverside was in order. I remember it as a bland tasteless meal smothered in floury white sauce when I was a child but I have found a new recipe and tips from Judie my legendary MIL. It's no longer a meat destined for a week of use on sandwiches with pickles, it's a delicious healthy tempter.

Corned Silverside

1.5 - 2kg Silverside
1 Onion
1 Stick of Celery chopped
2 Carrots peeled and chopped
6 Cloves
2 Bay leaves
1 Tbl Vinegar
2 Tbl Brown Sugar
Water

Place silverside in pot, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, empty water and put meat to one side.

Cut vegetables, peel Onion, stud with cloves. Place vegetables in the pot, along with bay leaves, vinegar and brown sugar. Place silverside back into the pot and barely cover with water.

Bring to the boil then gently simmer with the lid slightly ajar for approximately 40 minutes per 500gms. When a knife inserted slides out easily, remove from water and double wrap in foil to rest for approximately half an hour. I think cooking it in the slow cooker would yield excellent results also.

Keep some of the water aside to place on to moisten the meat upon serving.

I like to serve my silverside sliced as thinly as possible, with steamed carrots, french beans, buttered chat potatoes and some cauliflower cheese if I want to make a real effort. I find an almost 2kg piece is enough for myself, DH & 3 kids' dinners and a round of sandwiches the next day.

I hope to make an actual tutorial with as you go pictures soon, but for a recipe slightly more exciting than Silverside!

Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

The kids and I were looking for something fun to so this morning and I wasn't in the mood for sweet.

We (when I say we, I mean I) looked in the fridge and came to the conclusion that something vegetable based would be a good idea. I pored through my Jamie at Home book and used his Superb squash soup recipe with my own additions:

Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 sticks of Celery, chopped
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of Garlic, peeled and chopped
2kg (roughly) of Pumpkin (I used Kent but Butternut would be preferable)
2 Ltrs of Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper
Slurp of Honey
1 Cup of Soup Mix

Now, if you're anything like me & decide what to cook on a spur of the moment thing, you'll end up doing the quick method of preparing the soup mix. Rinse, bung it in a saucepan, top with water and simmer for an hour and a bit, skimming the gooby bits off the top, adding water if needed.

In a warm pan, add oil, then onion, celery, carrott, garlic, any herbs you desire and salt and pepper. Cook gently for around 10 minutes or until they are softened.

Add pumpkin and chicken stock - simmer for around 45 minutes or until the pumpkin starts to break down. Give it a whizz with your stick blender, or however you puree, or if you want to be really rustic, leave it in bits and pieces.

Add honey to taste if it needs a slight sweetner (I used approximately a dessert spoon). I assume using Butternut would exclude the need for this step. Drain and rinse your soup mix then add to soup. Delish. Guaranteed to even have grumpy children slurping away.

Now, I didn't take a photo as I assume we all know what Pumpkin Soup looks like, yeah? That and I was too lazy. I have both the little ones with a virus, Poppy with tonsilitis and Cameron with a chest infection so it's happy campers at this end! I think this soup is not only tasty but a nice immune boost too.