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.

Cheesey muffins

So, I'm sure I've found the easiest cheese muffin recipe ever.
It took 40 minutes to make, maybe 45 considering the extras I put in, total.

• 2 cups SR flour
• 2 cups full cream milk
• 2 cups grated cheese
• any other flavours you may wish to add (I added 2 cups of diced onions and bacon mix, fried off, and 2 heaped teaspoons mustard powder)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced (200C/390F)
2. Grease and line muffin tins well - this mixture sticks
3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl (I used a fork)
4. Spoon into muffin tins
5. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until golden on top.

Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Chocolate porridge

Have I ever mentioned that I love chocolate? I mean, my kids love it more, but chocolate is one of the 5 essential food groups in my house (along with cheese, pasta, sausages and chicken... I can make an unbelievable amount of foods with cheese, pasta, sausages and chicken, with one or two other ingredients). But this. This is a recipe I threw together one morning because Goose (the 9 year old) decided she didn't like porridge. Apparently, the oats have little to no flavour. So here it is.

• 1 mug instant oats
• 1 heaped tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 heaped tablespoon cocoa powder (as dark as you can get it)
• 2 mugs milk

1. Stir all the ingredients together in a large microwave-able jug.
2. Mix in the milk.
3. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir.
4. Microwave for a further minute, stir.
5. Divide into 4 bowls, serve with cream or milk as preferred.

Snickerdoodles - The Infoxicated Version

The girls school has a strict "no nuts" policy, and that pretty much means no muesli bars, too (just in case), so I end up baking almost every weekend, just to make sure I adhere to the policy (well, that and I like to try new recipes, and I like knowing with the kids are eating). I'm always after a new recipe, and this weeks was snickerdoodles. For the non USAnians among my readers, snickerdoodles are a very sweet, chewy, cinnamon coated cookie (biscuit), similar in mouth feel to a very chewy shortbread. Think of a crispy outside, chewy inside, cinnamon donut flavoured cookie, and you've got it. Today, I went looking for a recipe, and it turns out that The Australian Woman's Weekly BAKE! has the recipe in it. I (of course) don't have the book (though I'm told it's very very good), but some kind soul had copied the recipe out for someone and placed it online. I also didn't have all the right ingredients, so I adapted it slightly... Actually, I used a known substitution. I didn't have brown sugar, but I know I can use 1.5 cups caster sugar per cup brown sugar, so I did the maths, and we've ended up using 3/4 cup caster sugar in place of the 1/2 cup brown sugar. Anyway, here's the recipe :

• 250g softened butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (this is where I used 3/4 cup caster sugar)
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 2 3/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour
• 1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs

• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Beat butter, extract and sugars in a large bowl until creamy. Beat eggs in one at a time.
2. Sift the flours, nutmeg and bicarb soda into a separate bowl, then add slowly to the butter/sugar/egg mixture.
3. Refrigerate covered for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 180C/350F (160C/320F fan forced)
5. Mix extra sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl
6. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls
7. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar and place on ungreased (I lined mine) baking trays, approximately 7cm(2 3/4in) apart
8. Bake for approximately 12 minutes
9. Cool on trays.

I have to admit, I forgot the eggs, and they still turned out wonderfully - more shortbread like in texture. They just weren't as easy to handle when rolling into balls, too "short", to use the bakers term.

Garlic crushed white beans

So for those of you who don't know, I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to lose some weight. This is my alternative to mashed potatoes, and it works!


2 (400g) tins white (butter) beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil


Drain the tins of beans well, and tip into a small saucepan with the oil.
Heat over a medium heat until warm, and then add the garlic.
Mash well until smooth.

Serve in place of mashed potatoes.

Cheats steak dianne

This one is a favourite - quick, easy and fairly cheap. For all my chef and professional cook friends out there, I know it isn't real steak dianne, but when your kids are after steak, and you need *something* to spark it up, this works well, and its similar enough in taste that they generally don't know the difference.

First off, get your frying pan (I'm using my 30cm cast iron pan again) roaring hot. As hot as it gets without melting is good.
While its heating, salt your meat on one side. This helps with dextrinisation of the steak, an essential part for sauce making.
Place the salted side of the steak down, allowing it to colour well. You want some lovely dark brown bits on it. Salt the side that is up while that's happening.
Please note: Do not pepper your steak until after you have cooked it. Pepper burns and bitters very easily.
Flip your steak over. Brown it again on the other side. Place it on a plate so it can rest while you make the sauce

Get a good measure of butter. I use around 1 tablespoon per steak. Throw it into the same frying pan along with a clove of garlic (minced) per steak. Pour in 5 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce per steak. Allow all the floavours to get to know each other. Place the steak back into the sauce and remove from heat.

When the steak has reheated, plate it up, put in another tablespoon of butter per steak, melt it in the hot sauce and pour over the steak.

Salsa di formaggio blu

So, I'm looking through teh fridge to work out what delight I can invent tonight to go with my bowl of fettucine pasta, and I realise I have blue cheese (It's a Tasmanian Heritage blue. Not sure what type of blue, but it's lovely and creamy, very reminiscent of a gorgonzola).
I was already making an alfredo sauce for the girls ravioli, so I think "Hmmm. I may add some chunks of blue cheese to this, and maybe some chives, and I have a great pasta sauce!"

So, here are the basic recipes. Alfredo sauce and blue cheese sauce (though doesn't it sound so much better in Italian? salsa di formaggio blu )


100 g butter
2 large cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 cup fresh cream


Melt the butter over a low heat.
Add the cream and stir well.
Remove from heat and add garlic. (The residual heat cooks out the garlic)
Stir through parmesan to taste




To turn it into a blue cheese sauce, add a decent amount of blue cheese and a teaspoon of finely chopped chives.

Muffins! Fruit muffins!

I've been looking at ways to get the kids to eat more fruit, so when I found a simple fruit muffin recipe, I figured I'd give it a go.
I found the recipe too dry, so I've ended up adding in an extra 1/2 cup milk, and I really do think they benefit from a spice and/or herb.

• 2 1/2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use canola)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fruit

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, leaving a well in the middle.

Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl. 

Combine the wet and dry ingredients until only just mixed.

Fold the fruit in.

Cook in preheated moderate (180C/350F) oven in muffin trays for 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

If you want chocolate muffins, use 1/2 cup cocoa in place of 1/2 cup of self raising flour, and the fruit for choc chips.

A light soup

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of soups, especially in summer. But, today, when the InfoxicatedMan said he wanted chicken for tonights dinner, I cringed. I had to ask a friend, Quentin, what he could suggest. And he suggested something light, with chili and green onions. And from there, I thought "Hmm... I could do with a Thai inspired soup..."
So, here's my take. And please note, the chicken was leftovers from a roast I did, stuffed with 2 lemons and garlic. It doesn't have measurements.

1 chicken (approximately), pre-cooked and still on the bone
Green onions, whole
2 stalks lemon grass (you will need to bash this to help release the flavours)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
2 birds-eye (small red) chilis, seeds removed
3 generous tablespoons fish sauce
water to cover
1 wombok
snow peas

Throw all ingredients into a large saucepan, bring to boil, simmer for at least an hour.
Drain the broth into a large bowl, and strip the chicken off the bone. Place chicken and broth back into the saucepan with 2 cups of good chicken stock.
Add a generous handful of snow peas and some shredded wombok, and stir through well.

And here it is (OMG! A photo!)

A revisit...

A while back, I posted a recipe for Russian Friendship Tea. Since then, I've looked for instant tea, and the only type I can find is instant iced tea (such as Nestea).
I'm thinking I may buy some so I can try it. I'm thinking combining the amount for the instant tea and instant lemonade mix, and using the Nestea stuff.

Salmon cakes

Many years ago, I cooked a family recipe for fish cakes. It had onions, garlic, eggs, bread (cubed and soaked in milk), and ground coriander (spice), then crumbed (flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs) and shallow fried.
As much as I like the simplicity of that recipe, I wanted something different. I wanted something I could eat without needing to crumb and fry, if I had to. So I developed this recipe.

• 1kg potatoes, peeled, cubed and steamed and then mashed
• 400g tinned red salmon
• 3 spring onions, diced finely
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (herb, aka cilantro)
• Bread crumbs

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients, adding a dash of milk if too dry and they won't hold together well
2. Crumb lightly
3. Fry until golden

You can eat this without crumbing and frying, as a simple spread for a sandwich.

I make these salmon cakes and serve them as a fish burger.

A lazy Saturday...

A few weeks back, I put down some limoncello starter. That is, I bought vodka and a few lemons, peeled the lemons and soaked them in the vodka (seriously, a jar filled with peels and vodka just covering it) for 4 or so weeks. Today, I finished making it, as per my mandarincello recipe. And just in time - I'm almost out of cider ;)

But, while I was at it, I figured I may as well make some creamed rice. My friend, Julia sent me the Donna Hay recipe, which I've since adapted slightly. So, here's my version.

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 4 cups full cream milk
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1. Place all ingredients in a large saucepan.
2. Bring to boil
3. Reduce to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally 

Enjoy hot or cold

Chicken "cacciatore"

So, cacciatore apparently means hunter in Italian, so this is Hunter's Chicken. 
Actually, it isn't so much cacciatore, but it is my version of it.
It's what I call a "meat plus wet" recipe - That is, meat, plus liquid (a tin of soup, some wine, some stock or similar) over heat or in the oven for an hour or so makes dinner. Of course, the longer you leave it, the better it tastes.


So, this recipe is for 4 adults, but since its me and the girls at home tonight, I'll still be making the same amount.

• 1 large onion - sliced
• 1 clove of garlic - minced
• 4 chicken marylands
• 2 tins (410 g each) of whole tomatoes
• black olives to season (that's your salt, peoples)

1. Cook down the onions in a large, heavy based saucepan until transparent. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes.
2. Push the onion garlic mixture aside, and brown the chicken.
3. Pour in the tomatoes, and a few olives to season.
4. Simmer for at least 1 hour, or as long as you desire.

Serve with creamy polenta or mashed potatoes.

Anniversary dinner

For those of you who've been living under a rock, it was my wedding anniversary yesterday.
So, last night, I decided to make mustard crusted rack of lamb, hasselback potatoes and roasted asparagus. This is significant for a reason - the dinner at our wedding reception was mustard crusted rack of lamb. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember what the sides for it were, but I do remember the lamb. And last nights was pretty damned close, if slightly over cooked.

Hasselback potatoes

• garlic - 1 clove per person
• butter - 1 tablespoon for 2 people
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 large potato per person

1. Make a garlic butter from softened butter and minced garlic. Season well
2. Peel each potato. Cut in half lengthways. 
3. Place flattened side of the potato on the chopping board. Along the length of the potato, cut into the potato to around 3mm from the base, around 3mm apart.
4. Rub the garlic butter into the top of the potatoes, attempting to get the butter into cuts.
5. Bake for ~45 minutes in a moderate (180C or 350F) oven.

Mustard crusted rack of lamb

• 1 lamb rack - 4 bones for on each - per person
• 1 tablespoon of English mustard per rack
• bread crumbs
• Olive oil for cooking
• Salt and pepper to season

1. For each person, prepare a 4 rib rack of lamb. These should be Frenched. Season well, and brown fat side first in a large oven proof frying pan (I used my trustworthy cast iron frying pan).
2. Remove the racks from the frying pan, rub English mustard over the now browned fat. Pat breadcumbs onto the mustard.
3. Return to pan, and place on the top shelf of the oven.
4. Cook until the potatoes are also done

Baked asparagus

• 4 fresh asparagus spears per person
• oil
• salt to taste

1. Place asparagus into an oven proof dish or frying pan (again, I used my trustworthy cast iron frying pan - this time, the medium sized one)
2. Coat well with olive oil (I used a lemon infused one) and season
3. Place on bottom shelf of oven for the last ten minutes of cooking time