Cooking again

Hi All,

I know it's been awhile.  But I wanted to post this here so I could find it again. It's my new favourite recipe.

If you have some lemons laying around and want to impress people I suggest you try this.  Everyone who ate it today (I had a Postie Party) asked for the recipe.

I also did my impossible pie recipe (which I've posted before), along with my new favourite soup recipe (Leek, Potato, Corn & White Beans).  All were hits.

All in all a fun day :)

Yummy Food ...

The girls have been doing some cooking lately:

Miss 9 is becoming a master of this recipe:

Brownies (First found on Facebook)

(note, Miss 9 always make double this)

Dry Ingredients

(these can be mixed in advanced and stored in clip lock bags / jars)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup plain (all-purpose) flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

Wet Ingredients

(add these to the dry mixture at cooking time)

2 Eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Mix all ingredients together, place into a lined 8x8 or 9x8 pan.

Bake at 180C (350F) for 20-25 minutes.  Brownies are cooked when a skewer comes out clean.

Miss 11 tried a recipe of DaddyBear's last night.

(As we didn't have the whole wheat flour this is what she did, follow the link above for the original recipe).

Banana Bread Recipe

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2  cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each of cloves, ginger, and nutmeg

Wet ingredients:

1 egg
3 bananas, thoroughly mashed
3/4 cup sugar
scant 1/4 cup of cooking oil.  Less if you add an extra banana
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans, if desired
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Sift all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.  Mix all of the wet ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix well.  Scrape the side of the bowl as necessary.  Once the mixture is even and lump free, pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake in a 180C (350F) oven for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

(She used the same pan that Miss 9 uses for the Brownies - as I didn't know where the loaf pan was - so cooking time was only 20mins).

**************

Both these recipes are easy for kids to do.  I only help Miss 9 with the final mixing as it is pretty stiff and Miss 11 had never mashed bananas before so a bit of guidance was required (cut them before attacking with fork).

Lamingtons - Take 1

Pro-Tip:  When I put "Take #" in the title you know it's probably not good news!

Miss 10 has a class party tomorrow, which we found out about on Friday, and she wanted to make and take in Lamingtons.

So on Saturday we made a lamington sponge recipe (from the Country Women's Association cookbook) to leave for a couple of days and today we were going to ice it.

I had put it in what I thought was an airtight container.  Unfortunately, we have some clever ants in this part of the world and they had found their way inside the container :(

Major disappointment when I had to throw all of the cake out :( ...

Hubby was despatched to locate a sponge cake down at the local shops which could be used instead - however, the best he could do was a jam roll.

So we iced that - after a minor disaster with the icing (we had followed a recipe for that but the quantities were way off) :( ... The second batch of icing was better ... so hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to slice the jam roll and she can take that in instead.

I don't often makes cakes or similar ... and I'm thinking we need more practice!

A quick snack

Yesterday I was looking for ideas for something that I could feed the girls between basketball training and a basketball game.  We had a 20min car trip so I was hoping for something that was nutritious, filling and car-friendly.  My friends on #gbc suggested Calzones and a couple of them emailed me pizza crust recipes.

However, I'm too lazy to wait around for yeast and rising & resting and all that sort of stuff.  So I used this recipe and filled them with a mixture of onion, chicken & tomato paste.  I made sure the chicken mixture was quite finely shredded and dry.

To fill them, make a ball about the size of a golf ball, and then press your thumb into it, then smooth out the sides until you have a thin sided cup.  Place about a teaspoon or so of the mixture in the hollow and press the edges to seal.  They ended up a samosa shape.

I then cooked them at 220C for 8mins (well actually I cooked them for 10mins but that meant they were a bit overdone).  The girls loved them but ate them for afternoon tea rather than for dinner!

(I did take some photos but my camera appears to have eaten them!)

I plan to make more of these as we've got a lot of activities straight after school this coming term and these (with a variety of different fillings) will be just perfect.

What do you do when ...

A new fruit & vegie shop opens up not too far away with potatoes, onions & carrot selling for 29c a kg? You go there, of course, brave 2000000 other people (okay that might be a slight exaggeration), and make soup!

They also had 2 heads of broccoli for 99c; cauliflower heads at 99c each and 500gm of garlic for 99c. The Japanese pumpkin at 1.99/kg also turned out to be DELICIOUS.

When we got back home with our haul all four of us got busy in the kitchen and quickly turned about half the ingredients (and a large handful of home grown parsley) into three soups. Two consisted of the fresh vegetables; with roasted garlic while the third was a roasted vegetable one (roasted cauliflower, pumpkin, onions, garlic, capsicum and carrot).

Tomorrow I'll attack the remaining ingredients and make more soup! Hope there's room in the freezer.

BTW Miss 10 likes roasted cauliflower:

Sweet Impossible Pie with Fruit - Take 1

Regular readers will know that I've been experiementing with "Impossible Pies" and have worked out a recipe for savoury ones that seems to work each time. I've not had the same level of success with sweet ones. The other day I was in the supermarket and spied some blueberries at slightly less than exhorbitant prices so I bought a punnet and went on an internet hunt for an Impossible Pie recipe with fruit.

(Hey who pinched the spellchecker from blogger's toolbar?)

I found this recipe and decided to give it a go.

My version (as I'm totally incapable of actually following a recipe) is below:

Impossible Pie with Fruit
Fills 23 cm pie dish

Ingredients:
80 g butter melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 cups fat-reduced milk
4 eggs (slightly beaten)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup diced fruit of choice - blueberries

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180C.
Place everything other than fruit in a large bowl, whisk until combined.
Pour into a greased pie dish. Add fruit.
Bake at 180C degrees for 30-40mins until the top is golden and crusty.

The finished product:

Now I've said "Take 1" in the title, that's because even before I eat it I'm not happy with it. I mean it looks lovely from the top, but doesn't have the 'body' that I'm looking for in a pie. So there will be a Take 2 (at least).

[Update] The girls and I have just had a piece. Miss 10 reckons it tastes like eating eggs. Miss 8 reckons it needs to be cooked longer at a lower temperature.

I actually agree with both of these opinions. It is a bit low on taste - not sure whether more vanilla essence or lemon juice would be the best option. And yes, the top was brown and crusty but it wasn't cooked enough in the middle. So definitely a Take 2 planned.[/Update]

PS This is my first attempt too at a 'scheduled post' so I hope it actually appears!

Impossible Pies ... again ...

Well I've been cooking and modifying the recipies for a couple of attempts now and I think I've "nailed" the savoury one and almost there with the sweet one.

Savoury Impossible Pie
* 1 cup self raising flour
* 1.5 cups milk
* 3 eggs
* 60gms butter (melted)
* 1 cup grated cheese
* 1 cup (drained) canned peas & corn
* 1 cup (drained) canned tuna
* Black pepper
* Salt
* 1 tbsp chopped Spring Onion
* 1 tbsp chopped Parsley
* Spray oil

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Spray a pie dish lightly with oil.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined.

Pour mixture into greased pie dish and place in oven.

Cook for 30-40mins

NOTE: I use these for making a dozen muffin sized pies (using silicon pie cases) and a dozen mini-muffins. Cook the mini-muffins for about 17mins and the muffin sized ones for about 25-30.

Sweet Impossible Pie
* 2 cups self raising flour
* 1.5 cups milk
* 4 eggs
* 1 cup lemon juice
* 60gms butter (melted)
* 1 cup castor sugar
* 1 cup dessicated coconut
* Spray oil

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Spray a pie dish lightly with oil.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined.

Pour mixture into greased pie dish and place in oven.

Cook for 30-40mins

Not 100% sure that I've finalised the sweet one, we'll see.

Well I'm making that Ricotta again

We had some of the Ricotta that we drained for breakfast today (with a sprinkling of black pepper). I had to restrain Misses 8 & 10 from eating the whole thing.

It's very, very, very creamy and everyone (Hubby, Shooting Buddy & girls) said they preferred the drained version to the fresher version last night. I'm not so sure. I think they were both delicious.

It's a very similar process to the Paneer, but with a bit more care and attention and the leaving of the curds to rest before draining them. This seems to make it more creamy.

Artisan Cheese and other stuff

Thanks to Dr Grumpy I had problems last night with not shouting "bingo" each time the presenter said "Artisan".

Yes I was at a Cheese making demo (with Miss 10) for a company called Mad Millie. As part of the cost of the demo you got an "Italian Cheese Making Kit".

So today Miss 10 and I attempted the Fresh Milk Ricotta. Apart from the fact that it didn't separate initially (we forgot to increase the citric acid in line with the extra milk we used), however we ended up with a very, very, very creamy cheese. We put some in the ricotta basket to drain (which went perfectly with the fresh parsley bread rolls gifted to us by a neighbour), and since that was full, we also drained some in muslin. That's still draining so we'll see how that tastes later.

Apparently there's enough Cheese salt, rennet, citric acid in the kit to make 15 batches of cheese. So we're looking forward to more cheese making in the future.

Additionally, I used this recipe for a quick lunch:

Thai Chicken & Pineapple Fried Rice

1 cup pineapple, canned, cut into pieces
1 cup chicken, boneless, cubed
5 cups cooked rice
4 tbsp oil for stir-frying
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chili
3 tbsp chicken or vegetable stock
3 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder

Start by preparing the rice. Add a little oil to the rice (up to 1 tbsp.) and work through with your fingers. You want to separate the grains of rice, so that they don't stick together.

Preparation
Put 3 tbsp. oil around a wok over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and chili, stir-frying for one minute, or until fragrant. Add chicken and cook until it tender.

Mix together the chicken or vegetable stock, soy sauce and curry powder. Stir well, and then add to wok. Stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Now add the prepared rice to the wok. Stir-fry until all the rice has mixed with the sauce and is a uniform color. Break up any lumps with your utensil or a fork.

Stir-fry Tip: Continually lift/scoop up rice from the bottom of the pan, tossing rather than stirring it.

Add pineapple. Stir-fry to mix in. Continue stir frying until everything is integrated (1-2 more minutes).

I also make this slice (in my never-ending quest to find a nice peanut butter slice/cookie suitable for the girl's lunches);

NO-BAKE OATMEAL FUDGE BARS
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
3 c. quick oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa and boil for 1 minute. Stir in oats, peanut butter, and vanilla. Spread onto greased jelly roll pan. Cool. Cut into squares.

We had a piece each to try it. The general consensus was that it was very rich but a bit dry.

Impossible Pie - Take 2

Recently I blogged about an Impossible Pie that Miss 8 and I tried. Today, while working from home (with a sick daughter) I decided to whip up one for lunch.

I used the savoury recipe from the site that I found the sweet one at.

(We also made another sweet one - well I had lots of eggs that needed to be used and a couple of lemons AND some mini ones for school lunches at the request of Miss 9).

The main issue I have with these pies is that the base is extremely thin to the point of almost not being there. While reading a couple of other Impossible Pie recipes on the web and the associated comments I discovered that some people use Self Raising Flour (rather than Plain) AND butter.

So the recipe I ended up with (for the family to eat for dinner) was:

My Impossible Pie
* 1 cup self raising flour
* 1.5 cups milk
* 3 eggs
* 60gms butter
* 1 cup grated cheese
* 1 cup (drained) canned peas (they were in the fridge)
* 1 cup (drained) canned tuna
* Parsley
* Spray oil

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Spray a pie dish lightly with oil.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined. Don't worry too much if the butter doesn't mix in - it will be okay.

Pour mixture into greased pie dish and place in oven.

Cook for 30-40mins

The base seems much crispier ... here's what it looks like:



[UPDATE]I much preferred the crustiness of this version. I will use this as a base in the future.[/UPDATE]

Cooking with the kids

Earlier today Miss 9 and I cooked some peanut butter cookies. I don't know what it is with Miss 9, me and cookie recipes.

We've tried a few and found that they're either too moist or too dry. This is even when I follow the recipe religiously :( The peanut ones today were too dry. We knew this while mixing the dough, but we decided to "behave" ourselves and "follow the recipe" ... it turned out tasty but crumbly :(

SO does anyone have a fool-proof recipe for cookies. Just simple, plain every-day cookies that you can "add" things to (like choc chips, nuts, dried fruit etc).

Later on, Miss 7 and I made this:

Amber’s Lemon Impossible Pie

Cooking Oil Spray
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1 cup Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 cup Desiccated Coconut
1/2 cup Plain Flour
1 2/3 cup Milk

Preheat your oven to 180C. Lightly spray a pie dish with the cooking oil spray. Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the ingredients

Pour into a prepared dish and bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until set.

It's still in the oven but smells delicious. I'll let you know what it tastes like in about 30mins :)

[Update]
This is what it looks like ...



And tastes great!!!!!!!!
[/UPDATE]

Update

Well on July 20 I promised you an update on what happened the previous day, needless to say I've been a bit slack on getting this written.

However, on that day Miss 9 was one of the contenstants in a coooking competition sponsored by Brownes.

The way it worked was that each contestant had to submit an original recipe along with a photo of the dish and themselves. From these entries 10 kids were chosen to cook-off.

Miss 9 submitted her Pesto Pasta with Cheese Twists recipe and was invited to cook-off against 9 other kids between 8 & 14.

We arrived at the high school that the cook-off was being held at about 15 mins before the starting time. We met up with another mother and child and wandered around a bit until we found someone who knew what was going on. We were directed to the Home Economics area and met the organisers and the other contestants.

There were people everywhere. The show was going to be recorded for showing on tv at a future date. I think there were three tv cameras and a guy with a digital camera. The cooking area was very small especially as Miss 9 had her pasta maker set up.

The advertised format was 1hr preparation time and 1hr cooking time. Miss 9 had practised her recipe using this format a couple of times before the competition and had managed to get everything done in this time, even though it was pretty tight. The reality of the competition was a bit different as a number of contestants had items that needed an hour or so of time in the fridge etc. So they basically blended the prep time and cooking time together.

However, with a bit of assistance by one of the judges (Chef Emmanuel) she managed to get everything done and plated in the timeframe.

During the cooking we (the parents) were barred from the kitchen however we did get to sneak looks around the corner now and then. All the kids were working hard and surprisingly there weren't too many disasters. The team organising / judging were great with the kids and helped out where necessary.

She didn't win - they awarded first and second place and then gave the other kids a runner up certificate and prize money ($200).

Last night the tv show aired. It was interesting to see. The peeks around the corner hadn't really shown me the variety of things that were going on in the kitchen and the range of food cooked.

Today her picture and recipe appeared in the paper (along with all of the other contestants):


We're very proud of her!

A day of cooking

Well decided I needed to do a major cookup this weekend (for freezing).

I cooked:
1. Beef Vindaloo
2. Beef & Pineapple Hotpot
3. Beef, Beans & Vegetable Hotpot
4. Chicken Yellow Curry
5. Chicken, Beans & Vegetable Hotpot

Had the Beef Vindaloo for dinner - it was about as hot as I can stand it. Oh, and delicious. Miss 9 had the Beef & Pineapple and Miss 7 the Beef, Beans & Vegetable Hotpot. Everyone enjoyed their meals.

Hubby then asked what was for desert. I don't normally cook deserts but decided that I would like to try a Sticky Date Pudding. I found this microwave version:
Sticky Date Pudding

Ingredients:
* 250g chopped dates
* 1¼ cups water
* 125gm butter
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* 1 tsp bicarb soda
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1¼ cups SR flour
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
SAUCE
* 1 cup water
* 1 tsp cornflour
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 125gm chopped butter
* 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
* Combine dates, water, butter & ginger in a microwave proof dish and microwave on high for 1 minute, or until butter has melted.
* Stir in soda and cool slightly. Stir in sugar, eggs, sifted flour and mix well. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 1.5 litre capacity pudding basin (microwave proof)
* Cover and cook on high for 14-16 minutes until set in centre. Stand covered for 2 minutes.
* Serve topped with caramel sauce and cream or icecream.
SAUCE
* Blend the cornflour with water in a saucepan then stir in the brown sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir on a low heat until the sugar and butter are melted then increase the heat and continue stirring until it boils and thickens.

Source: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/7476/microwave-sticky-date-pudding

I've bolded the sugar as the original recipe omitted it. We added 1/2 cup, but it does need a bit more.

I didn't make the sauce though. Decided just to have it with vanilla icecream.

Potato Soup

Miss 9 enjoyed cooking my standard Potato and Corn soup the other day, similar to this one.

Today I asked her if she'ld like to help me make another soup. It evolved over the cooking process with her and my input and sorry, no pics.

Vegetable and Bean Soup

Ingredients

200gm Pepperoni (finely chopped)
1 Tbs Oil
2 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 tsp Asfotedia Powder
5 sticks Celery (finely chopped)
2 Carrots (chopped)
1 Head of Broccoli (chopped)
Vegetable stock
2x420 cans of corn kernels (drained and rinsed)
2x420 cans of green peas (drained and rinsed)
420gm can of Bertollini Beans (drained and rinsed)
420gm can of White Beans (drained and rinsed)
420gm can of Lentils (drained and rinsed)
420gm can of Red Kidney Beans (drained and rinsed)
7 medium sized Potatoes (I microwaved these in the skins)

Method
1. Heat oil in a large heavy-based stockpot, add mixed herbs, asfotedia powder, pepperoni and celery. Fry until pepperoni is crisp.

2. Add stock and rest of the ingredients - except potatoes.

3. Bring soup to boil, adding water if necessary.

4. Rice the potatoes and add to the soup.

5. Simmer soup on low until carrots are tender.

6. Serve.

We ate it with toasted turkish bread and it really went well!

Honey and Harissa Glazed Eggplant

I picked half a dozen nice sized eggplants from the garden today. The variety I'm growing is mini-Lebanese so these were all about 12-15cms long and about 3-4 cm in diameter.

Awhile back I had gone searching for eggplant recipes and amongst the hundreds of "interesting" ones found I had located one for Honey and Harissa Glazed Eggplant.

Mum gave me a jar of Jalapeno harissa about a month back so I had been looking forward to trying it in the recipe. Here's the original recipe with my comments in purple.

Honey and Harissa Glazed Eggplant
serves 3-4 as a side dish

Ingredients
750g eggplant (about 2 medium-large), peeled Didn't weigh the eggplants just used what I picked
50ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for frying
3 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tblsp finely chopped fresh ginger Didn't have fresh so used about 1 1/2 tsp dried
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp harissa paste Used 2 generous tsps of the Jalapeno one I had
1/4 cup (60 ml) honey
2 tsp tomato paste Used a bit more of the paste - probably about 3-4 tsps
2 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line a large oven tray with baking paper.
2. Halve each eggplant crosswise then slice each half into 6-8 wedges. Place the wedges into the baking tray and drizzle with 50ml of olive oil. Coat the wedges thoroughly in oil, then spread them out in a single layer. Roast the wedges in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are deep golden, turning them halfway through the cooking time. I used a "turbo cook" to roast them in worked fine. Next time I'll coat them by putting the oil in a plastic bag and shaking them in there rather than the 'drizzling' method.
3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan over low heat. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Then stir in the cumin, cinnamon, harissa, honey, tomato paste, lemon juice and salt. Cook until the mixture starts to boil, then turn off the heat.
4. Remove the eggplant from the oven and carefully place into the honey mixture. Cook in a single layer for 8 minutes, turning once. Be careful, as the honey may start to burn.
5. When the eggplant is cooked, season to taste with extra lemon juice and salt, if needed. Then put them into a shallow serving dish, and spoon over any remaining honey glaze. The eggplant can be served warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a day or so; just reheat in the microwave for 40 seconds (it tastes even better then). I'll be trying the leftovers tomorrow :)

Recipe adapted from delicious (June 2010)

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

I'll certainly be making this again. I think it would work great as a side dish for a roast.

PS Miss 9 and me also made a roast cauliflower soup that Miss 7 devoured (even with a chili in there) and Miss 9 also created her own seasoning for fried eggplant along with a tomato based sauce. Very yummy!

A Quick Eggplant Recipe

In the previous post about the garden I mentioned the eggplant bushes.

I actually read the label on the plants and they're the "Mini Lebanese" variety of eggplants.

So far I have only got one off the bush which was about 15cm long and had a diameter of about 4cm (at the widest part), so not huge but a good size.

Tonight I decided to make a quick Tomato and Eggplant side dish for dinner.

Ingredients
Eggplant
440gm Can of Diced Tomato
Black pepper
Red wine
Basil & parsley (with stock) ice cube (I mince basil & parsley -out of the garden - with a bit of vegetable stock and put into ice block trays).
Olive Oil

Method
Slice eggplant very finely
Poor some olive oil into a griddle pan and place on the heat.
When hot, lay the eggplant in a single layer over the pan.
Turn until both sides are browned.
Remove eggplant and cook more.
While doing this, open the can of tomatoes and place in a small saucepan, along with the black pepper, red wine and the basil & parsley ice cube. Bring to the boil and boil until most of the liquid is reduced. At this point turn down to low.
Once all the eggplant is cooked, mix it into the tomato mixture and keep warm until ready to serve.

I served it with a slice of veal and some mashed potatoes.

Now I just need to wait until another eggplant is ripe (not long away) to do it again! This time I'll try for photos.

It was the night before Christmas ….

I decided this year – as we were at home and not camping like we usually spend Christmas – to revive the family tradition of a “special” Christmas Eve dinner and family presents.

The best thing about this year’s dinner was that I wasn’t cooking it. I was leaving that to my friend, Les, and Miss 9.

The menu:
· Prawn and Mango Salad
· Roast Chicken and Roast Vegetables
· Meringue Nests with Cherries and Chantilly Cream

It was a HOT day, well the official temperature was only around 33degC, but it certainly felt hotter. So I did say to the chefs that they could modify the menu if it was too much. But to my delight we were served the whole delicious meal.

Here are the photos:

The Chefs


Prawn and Mango Salad



The lettuce, herbs and cherry tomatoes were from the garden. This is a very tasty salad and the recipe can be found here.

Roast Chicken and Roast Vegetables





The vegetables included Dill Roast Potatoes, as well as roasted zucchini (from a friend’s garden), garlic, onions, carrots, celery (delicious), pumpkin and cherry tomatoes (totally delicious). These were sprinkled with fresh herbs (again from the garden, as were the cherry tomatoes.

Meringue Nests with Cherries and Chantilly Cream





Due to the humidity the last couple of days, the meringue nests were purchased instead of homemade. They were filled with fresh cherries (from a local orchard) and blueberries and served with a slice of lime, Chantilly cream and a delicious cherry sauce. This sauce utilised some “cherries in cognac” that my mother had given us as a Christmas present last year. The jar contained a variety of fruit in cognac and from what I could make out the Chefs had tasted it all to make sure it was still fit for consumption :)

Over the top of the nests, Miss 9 had sprinkled crumbled peppermint chocolate (and placed a piece on the side). It really set it off nicely.

In between the courses we unwrapped the presents and chatted.



The girls playing with Miss 9's DS


It was a nice, stress free way to do Christmas.

I’m hoping that all my friends around the world have similar enjoyable and stress free Christmas celebrations with their friends and families.

Merry Christmas all – and be safe!

Spicy Bean and Ham Soup Take 2

I decided to try another Spicy Bean and Ham Soup. My first version was nice - but too salty for me. So this time I decided to skip the Pea and Ham canned soup and use a soup mix.



Ingredients

* 250gm Dry Soup Mix (Lentils and Split Peas)
* 1 cup chopped Celery
* 2 diced Potatoes
* Chopped Basil (from garden)
* Chopped Oregano (from garden)
* 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
* 1 tablespoon chopped Jalapeno chili
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2.5 litres cold water

Place these ingredients into slow cooker for 2 hours - on high.

After 1 hour I added:

* 2 teaspoons Beef stock powder

After the 2 hours I roughly blended the mix and added:

* 1kg chopped smoked ham
* 1 can of the each of the following (drained and rinsed)
- Red Kidney Beans
- White Beans
- Butter Beans
- Chick peas
- Borlotti
* 2 cans of Lentils (drained and rinsed)
* 1 teaspoon Mixed Herbs
* 1.5 teaspoons Hot Tabasco
[Update]Forgot to menion adding another litre of water[/UPDATE]

It is now cooking nicely.

Will update with results and any further modifications.

[Update]It's delicious and nowhere near as salty. The ham was a different type - last one was "sweet and smoked" this one was just "smoked". I think I like the "sweet and smoked" one better - so there will be a take 3.[/UPDATE]

Spicy Bean and Ham Soup

Was chatting to GayCynic of Freethinker the other day and he gave me a great recipe for a Spicy Bean and Ham Soup.



Me, being me, changed it a bit based on what I had in the cupboard -



Ingredients
* Two cans of Campbell's condensed Pea and Ham Soup
* 400/440gm cans of the following beans - Red Kidney, White, Butter, Chick peas, Borlotti
* 2x440gm cans of Lentils
* 1kg smoked Ham (thought it was on the bone, turned out it wasn't) - diced
* Oregano (from the garden) - this is a "hot and spicy" type of oregano
* Basil (from the garden)
* 1tsp dried Basil (not enough in garden)
* 1tsp dried Mixed Herbs
* 1/2 tsp Hot Tabasco sauce (never tried this before boy is it HOT and what a stoopid design of bottle, surely a squeeze bottle would work better?!?)
* 2 cloves Garlic
* 1ltr water

I put the whole lot into the slow cooker and it's now slow cooking away. Will update with the verdict (and of course, any process modifications).

Modification 1
An hour into cooking I felt it tasted salty - hubby said it wasn't too bad, but as I had a cooked potato laying around in my fridge, I chopped that up and put it in too!

Modification 2
An hour later I thought it didn't taste spicy enough so stirred in another half teaspoon of the Tabasco.

Modification 3
Miss 7 will only eat hot food if it is pepperoni. Because this had a bit of heat I told her that it had the pepperoni she likes in it. She, after eating a spoonful, told me I didn't put enough pepperoni in. She then got me to slice some into a bowl and serve the soup over the top if it. Miss 9 wanted the same as did hubby. So after doing this I cut up the rest of the stick (500gm total) and put it into the soup as well.

The soup, now being the next day, is yummy (but still a touch salty to me).

Miss 9 cooked again tonight

The girls' principal and his wife came over for dinner tonight. Miss 9 cooked again (with a bit of help). The menu for was:

Main: Moroccan Beef Tagine served with Roast Baby Vegetables and Couscous
Dessert: Strawberries in Meringue Nests served with Chantilly Cream

Our tame chef was away for the weekend so Miss 9 was cooking with me. Luckily he helped her make the meringue nests before he went away:



Last night, Miss 9 chopped the strawberries and add some Castor sugar and put them in the fridge to macerate overnight.

She also cubed the beef nicely and we made up the spice rub and put that in the fridge too. We were using a Jamie Oliver recipe for this. We used Masterfood's Moroccan seasoning in place of the ras el hanout spice mix.

Today she finished off the Beef Tagine, made up a sample batch of the couscous to see how it worked and how long it took and then prepared the baby vegetables - carrots, corn, zucchini, brocollini and shallots for roasting.

She then chopped the strawberries for decorating the dessert and quickly made the Chantilly cream (which we had forgotten about :( ).

We roasted the vegies with some olive oil and mixed herbs for about 15mins at 220degC. She made the couscous (with some vegetable stock) and we served the meal!

Everything came together nicely and it was DELICIOUS! A very tasty and seriously impressive meal. The company was very pleasant as was the bottle of red they brought!

Here's some more photos (we forgot to take photos BEFORE we ate!):




And the dessert: