Pancakes!

I've managed to get all the way through to my late 30s without making pancakes. It's been a great combination of hubby being really good at them, and me being lazy. 

The conversations have always gone "Mum, can we have pancakes?"

"Not unless Dad is making them... You know I always burn them!"

But today? I got conned into it. 

I used hubby's recipe. Difference is, I used coconut oil in the pan instead of butter.

Perfect colour, and no burning.

Simple sweet pancakes (makes a double batch)

• 2 cups SR. flour.
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• Sugar to taste
• A pinch of salt

1. Mix eggs and milk together.
2. Pour into flour in a large bowl, slowly incorporating with a whisk. Stir in the salt and sugar. Set aside.
3. 
   
4. Heat a large cast iron pan/skittle. Melt 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in the pan, making sure to cover the entire bottom of the pan.
5. Add the batter in 1 cup (a ladle) at a time.
6. When you see bubbles through the batter, it's time to flip them. (As we've already discussed, I'm lazy. I use a spatula) Cook for a further minute or two in the other side, and serve up.
7. Repeat until all batter is used (coconut oil and batter)

I made 12 pancakes from this. The girls like them with maple syrup. I like them with lemon juice and caster (superfine) sugar.

Just remember to eat them while they're hot!

Cheesey pasta

Have I ever mentioned the favourite food of my three girls? As in, the one food they would eat with every meal. No joke. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Second breakfasts, eleveses, morning tea, luncheon, afternoon tea, supper, pre dinner snacks... Seriously, every meal.

It's my go to dish. 

It's quick, easy, 3 food groups in each serve. What more could a mum ask for?

So, you cook the pasta as you normally would. I'm using penne tonight, mostly because I have it. I've also used spirali, fusili, farfalle, and in a bind, broken up spaghetti. Around one minute before it's cooked, add in a serve each of frozen peas and frozen corn kernels per person. By the time it's boiling again, the pasta should be done. Strain, and stir through enough grated cheese (I'm using tasty cheddar, like usual).

Tonight, it's going with rissoles.

Enjoy, and remember its a quick, easy side dish.

Kitchen gardens

I have what can only be called a kitchen garden.
I have carrots (round), capsicums (peppers for those in the US), chilis, tomatoes (4 different heirloom varieties), beetroot, rainbow beets, lettuces, purple beans, onions etc. I also have an apple tree, a nectarine (white fleshed) tree, a decorative plum tree and an apricot tree in the back yard. I believe there's also a peach tree, but the birds and dogs got to it before I really got to see the fruit. Oh, and we have a mulberry tree and a chestnut tree, and in pots, I also have strawberries, marjoram, sage and horseradish. I did have tarragon, but its been so hot and dry out here that it died :( . Add to that, we have chickens (3 ISA browns and 2 leghorns. Interestingly, the leghorns are better layers - we were informed by a friend at the DPI that ISA browns are better layers), so we're always in supply of fresh eggs (though again, in this heat, they're struggling. They're not eating as much, and they're walking around with their wings out, trying to cool down).
I also happen to know the school has a kitchen garden, though I have no idea what happens to the veg that are grown.
I'm very tempted to ask the school if they want a cooking club after school one afternoon a week, so that some of the food can be used.
Thoughts?

Christmas Spirits of 2013

We (usually) host Christmas dinner. I don't mind. Logistically, its easier for my mother in law, my brother in law and the brother in laws partner to travel out to us than it is for the Infoxicated Man, myself and the three girls to travel in to Sydney for a meal (and the respective faffing around).
Of course, since its the in laws, I require alcohol. It honestly does help to be drunk.
Each year, I search for a new, summer-y cocktail. This year, I found one with watermelon, Cointreau and rose wine (you could also use moscato rosa, a slightly more sparkling wine)
And here it is, and the variation, after the kids scoffed all the watermelon...

• 3 cubes watermelon, frozen
• 20mL (just over half a shot) Cointreau
• rose wine
• champagne flute

1. Place watermelon in the champagne flute
2. pour over the Cointreau
3. top with rose, and serve

Of course, as I said above, the kids ate all the (frozen) watermelon, so I needed to find something else...

And I did.

I have frozen raspberries from Christmas desserts.

They work really well, though they defrost much too quickly

Sponge Cake

There's something strange about how I test an oven. I can tell how an oven cooks by how it cooks a sponge cake. And its always the same sponge cake recipe.
And since we've just moved house, I was required to test the oven.
So, here's the recipe... (adapted from the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union Cookbook - a recipe book that my mother got as a teenager at school)

4 eggs
250g caster sugar
250g self raising flour
1 tablespoon (approximately 20mL) boiling water

Preheat oven to 180C
Lightly grease and line a 20cm round cake tin

Separate eggs, retaining yolks in a small bowl.
Beat egg whites until stiff.
Slowly add caster sugar and continue beating until dissolved.
Mix in egg yolks, one at a time.
Fold in flour and boiling water until just incorporated.

Pour gently into cake tin, and bake for 45 minutes.

Chocolate coconut muffins

I've written before about the muffins I make, so I figured I'd explain about how I ended up making chocolate coconut muffins.
See, I was going to make my normal double choc muffins, until I realised that I didn't have enough vegetable oil, and I had no chocolate chips. I did, however, have butter. And coconut. So here it is.

2 cups self raising flour (or plain flour and a tablespoon of bicarbonate soda)
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup milk
1 egg.

1. Combine all dry ingredients
2. Stir in the melted butter
3. Combine egg and milk, then stir through the flour mixture

Measure out into muffin cases (I usually use cup cake cases and a cupcake tin) and bake in moderate (180C/350F) oven for 25 minutes until just cooked.

Cool in the tin.

I have no idea how long these are meant to last. I made a batch yesterday, and there are only 5 left tonight.

Spaghetti with prawns in a tomato and bacon sauce

Wow. I haven't written anything in a while, but I had to blog tonights dinner.
The Infoxicated Man is at band tonight, Miss K is at school camp, so the only people I had to please were myself, Miss B and Miss M.

So, here goes.


Pasta to serve (I cooked leftovers for Miss B for school tomorrow)
1kg prawns from the freezer
Small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin tomatoes (whole. Dice them yourself. Tins of diced tend to be more fluid filled, and almost slimy)
2 rashers bacon, rind removed (cook it separately to eat yourself later ;) ) and diced.

Cook of the bacon, onion, garlic and a splash of olive oil in a frying pan.
Add the tin of tomatoes that you chopped in the tin with your knife.
Simmer, then throw in the defrosted prawns until they're warm.
Stir the whole lot through the pasta and serve with garlic bread.