Category: Recipes – A to N

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Cat Fights and Lazy Sundays

We woke up yesterday to our female cat distressed with a bleeding ear which we found out later was a cat bite. We realized it was too bad for home treatment as she had basically scratched her ear free of fur so it was off to the vet. $83 later we returned home with a contented drugged cat (until the drugs wore off that is). As a consequence our budget was sort of blown so we gave up food shopping for the weekend to stretch it for a few more days and planned an at home weekend to save money. We’ve ended up doing lots of things we haven’t done in a long time – banana cake with cream cheese frosting* for breakfast (!!), a marathon Sunday movie session of our favourite DVDs, bubble bath with candles, bottle of wine (thanks to visitors a few weeks ago). Best of all we’ve spent nothing at all this weekend ………other than on our beautiful, almost one-eared cat.

*Edmond’s Cook Book Cream Cheese Icing

¼ cup Cream Cheese

2Tbsp soft butter

1C icing sugar

Grated lemon rind

Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy, mix in icing sugar and lemon rind.

 

 

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Entertainment on a budget

A lot of my hubby’s family are in to ‘board’ games – yahtzee, monopoly, tri-ominoes, rummy-o etc. An afternoon can often be happily whiled away playing various games. Last Saturday was our turn for putting on an afternoon – five of us for an afternoon of triominos and monopoly. Visitors bring extra food along which is never organized ahead of time but always seems to turn out just right. We decided to see if the food we provided for the visitors could come from our cupboards – no extra shopping allowed – chicken wings, turkish bread, pizza, anzac biscuits. I baked the anzac biscuits about 45 minutes before the guests arrived so the house had a lovely baking aroma, mother-in-law loved the biscuits so much she has gone off to try the recipe. Our food was created for easily less than $20 (including the non-alcoholic drinks) – not bad for an afternoon of visitors. As an extra plus we ended up with left over food offerings from the visitors including lemons which can now be used (amongst other things) to make more lemon curd (see my recipe section) and Alison Holst’s Crunchy Lemon Muffins Radio New Zealand Content by Genre : Recipes : Afternoons : Crunchy Lemon Muffins

Crunchy Lemon Muffins.

For 12 regular muffins or 24 mini-muffins:
Turn the oven to 200 F with a rack in the middle of the oven

Ingredients

Mix together in a bowl, big enough to hold all the ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar

Measure the next four ingredients into a small bowl, then mix them together.
75g butter, melted (or 50g butter + 2 Tbsp canola oil, or 5 Tbsp oil)
1 cup milk
1 egg, preferably size 7
grated rind of 2 lemons or 1 lemon and 1 other citrus fruit.

Method

Tip the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and fold them together, preferably with a flat bladed stirrer. Mix just until the flour is dampened but NOT until the mixture is smooth. Using two spoons, put spoons of mixture into 12 regular muffin pans or 24 mini-muffin pans coated with non-stick spray or rubbed with soft butter.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. While muffins cook, put about 1/4 cup lemon juice (or lemon and other juice) in a small bowl. Have 1/4 cup of sugar ready to add to the juice after the muffins come out of the oven.

If the muffins do not come out of the tins easily while they are very hot, leave them to stand for a minute of two, then twist gently and lift them out. Dip the top half of each muffin into the juice and sugar mixture, and turn it slightly before lifting it onto a rack. If there is still some juice left, re-dip the muffins or brush the mixture onto the muffins.

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Herb update

I used my home grown parsley in a recipe last weekJ. I tried for the first time growing chives and flat leaf parsley inside the bifold windows this winter as we get bad frosts and so far it’s going pretty successfully. (Apart of course from my first attempt when one of the cats peed on my parsley pot thinking it looked like some sort of litter tray!)

Brie Tart

Pre-prepare a puff pastry case (or any other type of suitable pastry for a savoury tart) – bake blind for 15 minutes at 200oC, then 5 minutes ‘unblind’

Filling:

-125g Brie (watch for it on special. Pak n Save sell Waimata Brie for $2.48 every few weeks when the due by dates get to 1-2 weeks away)

-¼ cup cream

-½ cup milk

-2 eggs

-1 Tbsp chopped parsley

-2tsp grated fresh ginger or 1 tsp dried (can keep fresh ginger in the freezer)

– Good pinch of pepper

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Spoon the filling into the pastry case. Bake at 180oC for 30-35 minutes until filling is cooked.

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Slow cookers

I was given a slow cooker last year as a present but hadn’t got around to using it. I decided last weekend that it was about time it got trialled. I’m not into recipes that take a lot of ingredients so found this one for beer beef stew on the internet. The house smelt amazing all afternoon…..mmm. Hubby doesn’t like any meat stewed, reckons it’s a waste of meat but he kindly donated one of his beers. I used about 650g of stewing steak for about $6 and adjusted the recipe slightly. Tasted yum, then went into the freezer for dinners later on.

Beer Beef Stew

1 tsp salt
2 cups beer
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 onion sliced
1/8 tsp pepper
2 lb Stewing Steak cut in 1 inch cubes

Coat beef cubes with the 1/2 cup flour then brown in melted butter and drain off excess fat. In crock pot combine browned meat with onion, salt, pepper and beer. Cover and cook on low 5 to 7 hours until meat is tender. Turn control to high. Dissolve remaining 1/4 cup flour in small amount of water and stir into meat mixture then cook on high 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with rice.

A good info site for making sure you are using your slow cooker safely in terms of food hygiene Cooking safely with slow cookers and crock pots

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Shop bought vs homemade

Just got home from work and have had a snack of pikelets and lemon curd, mmmmmm. Sunday evening I noticed that the lemons had been there for a while so they needed to be used up. Found a recipe in my recipe scrap book for lemon curd and decided to give it a go. So there I am 8:45pm in the evening making lemon curd for the first time! Have to admit though it beats shop bought hands down and was a lot cheaper, especially seeing as the lemons were free. It also goes in a recycled jar.  

 

Lemon Curd

 

Half a cup of sugar

50g butter

Finely grated rind and juice of 2 lemons

2 eggs, lightly whisked

 

Place sugar, butter, lemon rind and juice in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir, until butter is melted and sugar dissolved, Add the eggs and stir continuously over a low heat, until the mixture thickens. Pour into a sterilized jar – makes about 1 cup.

 

There are lots of lemon curd recipes but I kept this one in my recipe file because it only makes one jar full which is just right for us.

 

Source: Foodtown magazine

 

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Anzac Day

I realized the other day looking at my shopping list records that we haven’t bought a packet of biscuits for over 4 and a half months. That time seems a different life now! Watching Simon and Alison Holst cooking on Anzac Day inspired me to try Anzac biscuits – biscuits I haven’t eaten since my youth. Not only do they taste delicious but they freeze really well, thawing very quickly. They have become a new favourite in our household the last couple of weeks. They are so popular I made smaller biscuits this week to make the same mixture go a little further J

 

Anzac Biscuits
100g butter
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla or almond essence
1 cup sugar  (I use a bit less)
1 cup rolled oats (I use a bit more)
1 cup coconut
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp warm water (I use a bit more)Heat oven to 160degC. (I do mine at about 170- 175). Melt the butter in a fairly large saucepan. Add golden syrup and stir until blended. Take off heat. Add next five ingredients to the saucepan. Stir everything together then add baking soda dissolved in the water.

Using your hands, shape into walnut-sized (or smaller) balls, and place on baking paper on baking trays, leaving room for spreading. Bake for about 15 minutes, until evenly golden brown.

Transfer to a rack after 1-2 minutes. When cold, store in airtight containers

..

 

 

Simon and Alison Holst’s recipes – ANZAC biscuits, corned beef hash – 24 April | GOOD MORNING | TV ONE | tvnz.co.nz

 

Of course there are lots of different recipes, many use a lot less golden syrup or leave out coconut. Hubby and I and visitors love these though because they are so chewy. A good discussion of the history of anzac biscuits can be found on  

Allyson Gofton – eCook – Recipes, Food Ideas and Inspiration for New Zealanders

 

 

 

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Autumn Soup

Well it’s that time again when our thoughts go to warm hearty soup. Last weekend and this weekend I’ve been using up my bag of carrots cooking an old favourite – Curried Carrot and Cashew Soup and a newcomer – Carrot, Apple and  Cashew soup. Hubby doesn’t eat soup (because it’s not a slab of meat) so I’ve been sharing my soup with other family members as well as stocking the freezer. 

Curried Carrot and Cashew Soup – Alison & Simon Holst

500g carrots

2 small onions

1Tbsp butter

1-2Tbsp Curry (my note: play around with this, may not want this much)

3 cups water

3tsp vegetable bouillon powder

1 cup toasted cashews

 

Slice the carrots & chop onions finely. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the curry powder and onions, and sauté until the onions are soft but not brown, Add carrots, water and powdered stock until carrots are tender. In a blender process the toasted cashews to the consistency of ground almonds (can be toasted under a grill with 1/2tsp oil). Drain cooked carrots and onion and put into blender with ground nuts. Process adding stock as required to get the desired consistency. Taste & adjust seasoning. Reheat to serve. Top each serving with a spoonful of yoghurt sauce made with one cup unsweetened plain yoghurt mixed with 1 tablespoon chopped mint and 1 clove finely crushed garlic.  

 

 

Carrot, Apple and Cashew soup from The Cranks Recipe Book

I was given this book as a gift while on my first OE 14 years ago (thanks Sian & Richard) but just tried this recipe today for the first time. Moral of the story – never throw out your recipe books.

 

450g carrots

Large onion

Small potato

Large cooking apple

50g butter

1.2L vegetable stock

50g broken cashew nuts

Salt & pepper to taste

 

Roughly chop the vegetables & apple. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and sauté the prepared vegetables for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are just tender. Allow to cool before blending in a liquidizer. Reheat to serving temperature and adjust seasoning to taste. 

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Easter Sunday Blueberries

We decided to forgo easter eggs this year and instead took a trip to the Akatarawa Blueberry farm to pick our own organic blueberries. It’s getting towards the end of the season but they are still good quality for cooking and freezing. The farm closes at the end of April I think. We delivered some around to mum as her easter egg for something a little different. My freezer is now groaning with stewed apple, stewed blueberries and frozen blueberries. Can’t wait to make blueberry and apple turnovers for dessert. Also thought I might try the berry and apple strudel recipe in this month’s Healthy Food magazine which was the winning baking recipe.

Berry & Apple Strudel  

3 Braeburn or Granny Smith Apples

¼ cup dried apricots, chopped

1 tablespoon custard powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

½ cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

6 sheets filo pastry

1 tablespoon trim milk

Icing sugar

 

Preheat oven to 180oC

Grate apples

Add chopped apricots, custard powder, cinnamon, mixed spice. Stir. Add blueberries, Stir again.

Lay filo in a baking dish. Spread filling down one side. Carefully roll the strudel.

Lightly brush the top of pastry with milk.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. If pastry browns too quickly, lower the heat a little. Remove from oven and dust with icing sugar.

 

   

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Easter Saturday shopping

I worked it out today – I’m not the only one using a shopping list, I’ve just been hanging around with the wrong crowd! When we went grocery shopping this morning we were surrounded by un-familiar looking shoppers who I presume were the Friday lot who couldn’t shop yesterday (or maybe the Sunday lot shopping a day early?). Lots of them have shopping lists!!!! I counted at least 10 lists in my short 3 min survey. Unfortunately every group of shoppers acts in a different way and the Friday/Sunday shoppers were too annoying for me despite their lists. They wandered along slowly, left their carts in the middle of the aisles…………. We have shopping down to a fine art now so I’m glad Easter only comes once a year and next Saturday all will be returned to normal. 

 

Braeburn apples were on special today at $1.57 per kg so our shopping changed from a couple of apples to a couple of kgs of apples. My Sunday baking hour tomorrow will include stewing all that apple for freezing. I’ve set one hour maximum a week for baking as I don’t want to turn the clock back and end up being a wife stuck in the kitchen baking. One hour also allows me to make all the mess at once so it’s only one lot of cleaning, saving on products. I’ll have to look up a few new apple recipes – our favourite at the moment is apple crumble and apple turnovers. If you haven’t tried the Trade Me community recipe site give it a go TradeMe – New Zealand Online Auctions and Classifieds. Just found an interesting carrot cake I may try.

 

“Here it is again.I really recommend this.So easy.Ends up like a GATEAU. In WIZZ,chop 3 medium peeled carrots until finely chopped. ADD:2 cups sugar,1 cup oil,2 teaspoons cinnamon,4 eggs.Wizz again till blended.Then add:2 cups plain flour,2 teaspoons baking powder,1 teaspoon baking soda,1 teaspoon salt.(can add any xtra spices to taste eg nutmeg or mixed spice)Wizz all together till blended.Pour into 26cm large cake tin (lined)& bake @ 150 degrees c for approx 1 hour.When cold ,Ice with Cream Cheese Icing-100grms Cream Cheese,50 grms butter,1 teaspoon Vanilla,2 cups Icing Sugar,Lemon or orange juice & rind. Soften butter & cr cheese.then add other ings -mix till smooth and ice cake.IMPRESS YOUR GUESTS.”

 

 

 

 

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Banana Cake

The banana cake was still lovely after not making if for the last year nine years or so. It came out exactly how I remembered it. It does use up quite large quantities of ingredients but in my opinion it is a lovely cake. The recipe comes from the St. Bernard’s College, Lower Hutt cook book. I think from memory the book was published over 20 years ago. Sometimes fundraising school cookbooks have the best recipes as they are family favourites that have been well and truly tested.

 

 

2 1/2 cups flour

1 2/3 cup sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda dissolved in 2/3 cup milk

¾ cup melted butter

3 mashed bananas

2 eggs

 

Put ingredients together, lastly eggs and melted butter. Beat all 2 minutes. Bake ¾ – 1 hour 180oC.

 

I have always made this in a ring tin (well greased) and it comes out lovely and high and moist with a crunchy top crust. Not sure how it will turn out in other types of tins.