I came across a bundle of old delicious. magazines at a recent swap meet and snapped them up before anyone else could see them! I scored lots of lovely recipes to try and this was one I thought the kids would like. They liked the chicken well enough but weren’t overly keen on the dipping sauce – they ended up going with good old tomato sauce instead. Hubby and I enjoyed the dipping sauce and the dippers.

Chicken Dippers
From delicious. , October 2003

4 cups corn flakes
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 eggwhites, lightly beaten
500g skinless chicken breast fillet, cut into 3cm cutes
Olive oil spray

Yoghurt dipping sauce
1 ½ cups low-fat yoghurt
½ carrot, grated
1 Lebanese cucumber, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon lemon juice (left it out)

Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Place the corn flakes in a good processor and process until crumbs form. Place corn flake crumbs, flour and eggwhites in separate shallow dishes. Dip each chicken piece in flour to lightly coat, then dip in eggwhite and finally in the cornflake crumbs. Place chicken on a baking tray and spray lightly with oil. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, then turn chicken over and return to oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Meanwhile, to make the yoghurt dipping sauce, place all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Serve chicken dippers with the dipping sauce and a green salad.

Post Number 200!

When I started this blog, about 11 months ago, I couldn't even imagine having 200 posts. So to celebrate, a couple of pictures of the kids. Just because I think they're cute!

#1 in his new shirt from one of Nan and Pop's recent holidays.

#2 being a dork. She might not look anything like me but you can tell she's my kid because of the goofy expession and the overalls.

A Pleasant Surprise

Generally I’m not a big fan of meatloaf. That is, I love Meatloaf the man, but I’m not overly fond of meatloaf the meal! The meatloaves I have eaten and cooked in the past have been solid heavy slabs of meat that were unappetising and, quite frankly, unpleasant. I had a recipe that I followed a couple of times and Hubby and #1 enjoyed it but I ended up pushing to meat to one side and eating the vegies. Having said that, every time I mention meatloaf people tell me how much they love it and what great memories they have of their Mum or Nanna’s meatloaf. I figured that there had to be something behind it and when I came across this recipe I decided to give it another go. I thought that because this recipe was very simple the end result would be reasonable cut and dried – a quick yes, I can live with this or no, I’m never making meatloaf again. To my own surprise, this was a winner. I really enjoyed the end result and everyone else polished theirs off quick smart.

Old Fashioned Meatloaf
From Australian Table magazine, May 2007

Step 1: Mix 1kg beef mince (ground beef), 100g breadcrumbs, 1 chopped onion, ½ cup tomato sauce, 2 beaten eggs, 2 tablespoons each chopped thyme and parsley, and seasoning.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 180˚C. Knead mixture to combine. Pack lightly into a greased 14 x 21cm loaf pan.
Step 3: Cook for 1 hour, until loaf shrinks from sides of pan. Pour of excess juices and reserve for gravy. Set meatloaf aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Step 4: Pour juices into pan, add 2 tablespoons flour and stir on medium heat. Add 1 ½ cups beef stock , simmer for 3 minutes. Serve over meatloaf with vegies.

Just For Show

My normal scone recipe is fine but I was looking around for something different – you know, just to see how other recipes taste. Apparently the Victorian CWA (Country Women’s Association) Ladies have been making scones by this recipe for the Royal Melbourne Show since 1935. I made half the recipe and ended up with about 25. These were lighter than the one I usually make and we really enjoyed them. And no, we didn't eat them all. Most of them are in the freezer.

Show Sones (from CWA Victoria)
From Super Food Ideas magazine, May 2007

Makes 40
8 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
500ml pouring cream
750ml to 800ml milk
Strawberry jam and double cream, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 250˚C. Lightly grease 2 baking trays.
2. Sift flour and salt into a very large bowl. Add cream and 750ml (3 cups) of milk. Using a flat-bladed knife, stir to form a soft dough, adding more milk if necessary. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead gently until dough comes together.
3. Cut dough in half. Press 1 half out to a 2cm thick round. Using a 5.5cm round scone cutter, cut as many scones from dough as possible. Gently press leftover dough pieces together and repeat to make a total of 20 scones. Place on 1 prepared tray, just touching each other. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Bake scones for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and well risen. Serve hot or cold with jam and cream.
TIP: when cooked, brush scone tops and bases with melted butter. This removes any flour and helps keep scones nice and soft
NOTE: Scones are best served on the day they are make (preferable piping hot straight from the oven). You can halve this recipe to make 20 scones.

This Would Make The Top 10

Hubby keeps making comments about whether new dishes would make it into the ‘top 10’ of all time best dishes. The top 10 has become almost mythical and its contents seem to change every time he mentions the list. According to He-Who-Makes-The-List this dish would make it in.

I can tell you that I enjoyed it very much, although I’m not quite sure that it is “Top 10” worthy, but the kids scarfed theirs which is always a sign of a winner in our house so I'm willing to be persuaded! Apologies for the photo - a truly shocking one.



Chicken and Leek Lasagne

from Cheap Eats

60g butter
1 large leek
¼ cup plain flour
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 cups chicken stock, warmed
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
4 fresh lasagne sheets, trimmed to fit baking dish
2/3 cup coarsely grated cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan; cook leek, stirring until soft. Add flour; cook, stirring until mixture thickens and bubbles. Gradually stir in mustard and stock; stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Reserve 2/3 cup of the white sauce; stir chicken into remaining sauce.
3. Oil a shallow 2-litre (8 cup capacity) baking dish. Cover base with lasagne sheet; top with about a quarter of the warm chicken mixture. Repeat layering with remaining lasagne sheets and chicken mixture, finishing with lasagne sheet. Spread remaining quarter of the chicken mixture over lasagne; top with reserved white sauce and the cheese.
4. Bake, covered, in oven, 30 minutes; uncover, bake about 20 minutes or until browned lightly. Stand 5 minutes before serving.

Some New Reading Material

I have added a few blogs to my "blogs I read" links - food and otherwise.

If you haven't come across The Caffeinated Librarian as yesterday's Blog of the Day click on the link and go check her out. Do be careful though - there are Harry Potter spoilers on there!

Another former Blog of the Day is Humble Pie. I found Gilly's blog through Ellie, aka the Kitchen Wench, and love it. Gilly has terrific recipes and truly beautiful photos of her creations. Even if you aren't looking for a new recipe this one is worth a look.

I usually come across new finds through the comments on other blogs. When I have a bit of time to waste I also like to click on the 'next blog' button at the top of the page - be warned though, this can be a bit risky in terms of questionable content!

So, have you got any favourite blogs you read everyday? Any new finds you've recently stumbled across? Why not leave me a comment telling me who you are enjoying reading at the moment? Please???

Greetings From The House of Sickness

I am so sick of sick kids, me coughing, Hubby complaining about his sore back and the emergency department at the local hospital!

We have had a rotten few days. #2 came down with a cold first but also had a horrible sore on her belly, she passed the hacking cough on to me and the sore ear part onto #1 who has ended up at Emergency (three days in a row!) with a severe ear infection and Hubby returned from his fish trip with an extremely sore back after camping overnight on the beach.

As of now, #2's antibiotics appear to be working as her belly (which is what they were aimed at) is looking much better. Her nose has nearly stopped running but her cough continues. After # 1's frequent visits to Emergency he finally seems to be on the mend The doctor there wanted to see him each day and, after triple doses of different antibiotics and placing a wick in #1's ear to allow the eardrops to get in and work properly, he is finally satisfied that #1 is improving. I have some cough medicine that is 'sort of' working and am hoping that it might help me get some sleep tonight and Hubby's back is feeling a little better after some good anti-inflammatory drugs. Geez, you'd never believe that we rarely take medicines would you?

In the middle of all this I did find time to do some baking. Apparently, being sick as dogs didn't phase the kid's appetites! At least that's one less thing to worry about.

Apricot and Coconut Choc Cookies

from Good Taste Magazine (can't remember when)

1 cup plain flour

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup diced dried apricots

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (I used walnuts instead)

125g butter, melted, cooled

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/4 cup choc bits

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl. Add the oats, coconut, apricot and pecans (or walnuts!) and stir until well combined.

2. Whisk together the melted butter, eggs and vanilla in a small bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined.

3. Use your hands to roll heaped tablespoonfuls of the oat mixture into balls. Place the balls 5cm apart, on the prepared trays. Press 3 choc bits into each ball, then flatten slightly.

4. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Finished

The new Harry Potter book, that is. I got it yesterday morning and finished it this morning. It might not be quite as good as some of the others but I laughed out loud at some bits and chuckled at others, recoiled at some bits and bit my nails through others and yes, I had a little cry in a few places too.

I probably wouldn't put it in the 'can't put it down' category but I had to get it read before Hubby returned from his overnight fishing/camping trip and stole it from me!

Yes. It's Another Dessert!

We were out to friends again and I took a slice for dessert. They are a hard family to cook dessert for as, not only do they not have a single sweet tooth amongst them, they don't like sweet foods that are overly sweet, rich or heavy. I searched for a recipe that would fit the bill and finally came across this one. It was a big hit (thank goodness!) and kept everyone happy.

Berry Custard Tart Slice

from Super Food Ideas, January 2006

Base

200g butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

Berry Topping

450g mixed fresh berries

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 3/4 cups thickened cream

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 3cm deep, 24cm x 29.5cm (base) slab pan. Line with baking paper, leaving a 2cm overhang at both long ends.

2 Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar until well combined. Stir in flour and coconut. Mix well.

3 Press pastry evenly over base of prepared pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden. Remove from oven. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.

4 Make berry topping: Spoon berries over pastry base. Whisk eggs, egg yolks and 1/4 cup caster sugar in a large jug. Add cream and milk. Whisk to combine. Strain custard through a sieve (didn't have one so just poured it straight on) over the berries.

5 Bake for 30 minutes or until centre is set. Cool for 1 hour in pan. Combine nutmeg and remaining 1 tablespoon caster sugar. Sprinkle over warm slice. Lift slice out of pan. Cut into pieces and serve warm or cold.

My New Favourite Picture

Here's a quick pic of Hubby from the weekend. I love it, and him!

Worth The Wait

I have had this recipe in the Ugly Binder for nearly a year and kept avoiding it because I thought it would be tricky, time-consuming and more effort than I could cope with. Gee, was I wrong or what! These cinnamon scrolls were really easy to make, really easy to eat and were enjoyed by all who tasted them.

Cinnamon Scrolls
from Super Food Ideas, September 2006

1 quantity basic scroll dough

150g butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon white sugar

Basic Scroll Dough

3 cups self-raising flour

50g butter, chilled, chopped

1 1/4 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Make basic scroll dough: sift flour into a large bowl. Add butter. Using your fingertips, rub flour into butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add milk. Using a knife, mix together to form a soft dough.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead lightly until smooth. Roll out to a 30cm x 40cm rectangle with 1 short end closest to you.

4. Beat 125g butter, brown sugar , vanilla and two teaspoons cinnamon until pale and creamy. Spread over dough, leaving a 2cm border along short end furthest from you.

5. Starting from the short end closest to you, roll up dough like a Swiss roll. Using a sharp knife, trim end then cut rolls into 9 even slices (use a light sawing motion so you don't squish it!). Lay scrolls flat in 3 rows on prepared tray, allowing a 2 cm space between each. Bake for 25 minutes, or until light golden. Stand for 5 minutes on tray.

6. Heat remaining 25g butter in a heatproof, microwave -safe bowl. Stir in white sugar and remaining cinnamon. Brush over scrolls. (I kind of messed this up a bit and threw all the butter into the spread mix and didn't feel that it needed any more! I just sprinkled some white sugar on the scrolls as soon as they came out of the oven and it stuck very nicely.)

More Visitors

We waved Grandma and Grandpa off this morning then welcomed two sets of visitors this afternoon. Friends from Port Hedland arrived for a cuppa this afternoon then when they had wandered off an old school friend of Hubby's arrived, with his family, to stay overnight on their way back home, further up north.

Lots of noise and lots of catching up but not much time to blog. I did make a couple of yummy treats - I'll share them tomorrow.

A Real Bargain

At long last we have bought a dining room table (yes, and chairs!). When we were first living together Hubby and I were in housing supplied by our workplace which came semi-furnished. Basically everything was provided except a bed. For the first few years we had no need to buy furniture then when we bought our first house and moved back 'home' we bought some stuff and gratefully accepted various cast-off and hand-me-down bits from family members. One of the hand-me-downs was hubby's Grandpa's original 1920's art deco dining table and chairs. It wasn't in great condition but it was gorgeous and, more importantly at the time, it meant we had somewhere to eat our meals. When we moved house the table went with us but when we decided to head up here we thought that the table probably wouldn't cope with the heat, humidity and air-con so handed it back to Hubby's parents (aka Grandma and Grandpa). Upon moving to Red Dirt we initially ate all our meals at the kitchen bench - we'd bought the stools from home and they fitted quite nicely but the bench was very small and trying to prepare, serve and eat all in the same tiny space grew a little tiresome (okay, I nearly went stark, raving mad LOL) so we borrowed a table and chairs from Hubby's work and kept our eyes peeled for an affordable suite that we liked, would fit into the relatively small dining area of this house and wouldn't look out of place when we eventually go home. We trawled through garage sales (man, they have some good ones up here!), checked out all the sales and specials at the furniture stores and kept coming up empty. Then... yesterday I lucked out. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Grandma and I ducked out to a couple of garage sales before the 'boys' went crabbing and found this.

This is my new dining suite. It has a few dings and scratches but nothing too obvious. Not a bad buy for $200! Hubby was well impressed with my bargain buy and even better, it fits in the dining area! Yes, the towels are where the kids sit - not particularly classy, I admit, but easy to clean up after a meal.

Last night's dessert was a success. It was light and sweet and everyone enjoyed it. I'll be making this one again. Probably fairly soon! I made a few changes to the original recipe, mainly because I couldn't get it to work. The original filling involved ricotta, honey and the liqueur-ed strawberries but I ended up with a big gloppy mess that was never going to set or stay on the cake so I ended up using cream, thus the name change.

(Not Entirely) Guilt-Free Chocolate Cake

originally from delicious, October 2003

Cooking spray to grease

4 eggs, separated

150g golden caster sugar (I used normal caster sugar)

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

225g almond meal (only had 200g)

1 teaspoon baking powder

300ml carton whipping cream

500g small strawberries

1/4 cup strawberry liqueur

icing sugar, to dust

Hull and chop half the strawberries place in a bowl with strawberry liqueur. Stir through gently and set aside to soak.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Grease three 20cm sandwich (sponge) pans with cooking spray and line the bases with baking paper. Beat the eggwhites until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale. Fold the eggwhites into the yolk mixture, then fold in the cocoa, almond meal and baking powder. Divide between the 3 pans and bake for 15 minutes or until the mixture has just started to shrink away from the sides of the pans. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Whip the cream. Drain strawberries and fold gently through the whipped cream.

Place one cake on a serving platter, spread with half the cream, then place another cake on top. Spread with remaining cream, then finally add the remaining cake. Halve the remaining strawberries and place on top of the cake. Dust generously with icing sugar.

Another New Dessert

We're off to a friends for dinner tonight and, once again, I'm in charge of dessert. Just in case you haven't worked it out yet, I have a sweet tooth. A very sweet tooth. So making desserts is not exactly a difficult task. In fact, it's one of my favourite things to do.

Here's today's effort.

I hope they like it. I'll be back tomorrow with the results and the recipe.

A Simple Dessert

I tried a new dessert tonight. As usual, it was one I'd had my eye on for a while. It had been torn from a magazine and has been living in the ugly binder for some time but it still had the details of the magazine and the date it was published. I think that tells you how long I've been thinking about making this one. It also tells you how much I procrastinate!

Caramelised Apple Clafoutis

from The Australian Women's Weekly, June 2004

6 medium (900g) apples (I used Granny Smith)

50g unsalted butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup plain flour

1/3 cup self raising flour

4 eggs, beaten lightly

2/3 cup milk

2/3 cup cream

80g unsalted butter, melted, extra

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Preheat oven to moderate hot (200 degrees Celsius). Grease a shallow 2.5 litre (10 cup) capacity ovenproof dish.

2. Peel, core and halve apples; cut each half into four wedges

3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan; cook apple, stirring, for about 5 minutes or until browned lightly. Add the brown sugar; cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens slightly. Place the apple mixture into prepared dish; cool for 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, combine caster sugar and flours in a medium bowl; ,make a well in the centre. Gradually whisk in combined remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour batter over apple mixture; bake, uncovered in a moderately hot oven for about 40 minutes. Serve hot with double cream and dust with icing sugar, if desired. (We had it with ice-cream).

What A Great Day

I had such a good day. First off we went to a friends house for morning tea and the kids had a play. My friend, R, had made caramel chocolate slice - one of my absolute fave's from growing up - and I thoroughly enjoyed a slice (or two!) with my cup of tea.

After that I dropped the kids home to hubby and headed down to the shopping centre carpark. The carpark? Yep. The Australian Women's Weekly (a magazine and publisher of many of my favourite cookbooks) "On The Road" promotion was in town today so I trotted along to check it out. The promotion is travelling to regional towns around Australia and will be visiting over 120 towns in 11 months. The 'show' went for a couple of hours and, although there wasn't much of a turn out, it was good. Sadly they didn't have the cooking demonstration that I had been looking forward to but they had other stuff and lots of give-aways. The first 50 to arrive were given a showbag of goodies that included a mini cookbook, coffee mug, Revlon lipstick and various other bits and pieces. There was also the opportunity to purchase another goodie bag with current issues of a couple of different magazines, a full size cookbook and a mini cookbook for just $5. It was valued at closer to $35 and I jumped at the chance. Then, to make a fairly good day even better I won a year's subscription to the Australian Women's Weekly mag. How cool!

With an influx of cookbooks into the house I was in a cooking kind of mood when I got around to thinking about dinner. Yesterday I picked up a huge bag of mushrooms at Coles for $3.30 - they were on the reduced trolley and I grabbed them before anyone else could. Anyway, while I had plenty of mushrooms and some visitors to feed it seemed the perfect opportunity to try a recipe I had been looking at for a while. This was easy, delicious and was on the table in about 30 minutes.

Cheesy Polenta With Mushroom Ragout
from Fast Workday Dinners

50g butter (this seems excessive, I'd cut it back to about 35g)

4 rashers (slices) bacon, rind removed and cut into thin strips

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 small onion, chopped

400g mixed mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, Swiss brown, etc

1 litre (4 cups) vegetable or chicken stock

1 1/2 cups instant polenta

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

300ml cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

shaved Parmesan, to serve

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the bacon and garlic and fry over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook, stirring, over low heat for 8 minutes until the mushrooms and onion are soft.

2. Bring the stock or water to boil in a large pan. Gradually add the polenta, stirring continuously. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened. (If it is too thick add a little extra stock.) Stir in the Cheddar and Parmesan.

3. Add the cream to the mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in the parsley and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spoon the polenta onto a serving plate and top with the mushroom ragout and Parmesan shavings.

Amidst the din of dinner prep and Offspring #2's pre-dinner crankiness Offspring #1 stood straight and tall and, in his biggest voice (without actually yelling), ordered "SCIENCE!"

We're guessing that it was all too noisy for him and he really meant 'silence' but we all got the idea! There was absolute silence for about a heartbeat, then hubby and I cracked up and #2 reverted to grizzling.

I am here really. I haven't been near the computer in a few days and Grandma is keeping me so busy that by the end of the day I'm too exhausted to experiment with new recipes or blog about them. Sorry!

But, I have been cooking. I have even tried a few newies with varying degrees of success.

An Apple Tarte Tartin that tasted great but needs a little fine-tuning with regards to measurements and/or cooking time. I will be trying it again very soon.

A Honey Oat Slice that I won't be making again. It was fairly bland and rock hard by day 2.

An Impossible Quiche that was light, tasty and, as the name suggests, absolutely impossible to stuff up. I can see this one becoming a regular 'easy meal' at our table.

Hubby and I went on a 'date' last night. We thought we'd take advantage of having some babysitters here and headed off to the outdoor movies at the town theatre. There is an enormous screen with a grassy amphitheatre and we took a picnic dinner with lots of yummy nibbles (Maggie Beer's spiced pear paste is divinely delicious!) and a bottle of wine. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (yes, I know it has been out everywhere else forever but we live in the remote desert-lands of Red Dirt!) and had a great time. We are aiming for a lunch-date late next week and are trying to work out if we can fit in a dinner somewhere too.

Impossible Quiche
from Australian Table, July 2007

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups low-fat milk

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 cup grated low-fat tasty cheese

100g lean ham, diced

3 green onion (shallots), finely chopped (didn't have any so I used spring onions)

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a 24cm ovenproof pie dish.

2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and pour into prepared dish. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden and set. Serve with salad. (As you can see we also did potato wedges.)

Happy Birthday Grandpa

It's just birthday city here in Red Dirt! It's Grandpa's birthday today and we are thrilled to be able to share it with him. He took us all our for a lovely meal tonight - I totally forgot to get any photos but the meal was delicious and it was such a treat to not cook or do dishes.

We spent the day at Offspring #1's first ever school sports day. It was so much fun - they had 12 'stations' that were everything from an egg and spoon race to a dress up relay and then a bunch of just-for-fun ones like bubble blowing and stilt walking (on tin cans). The kids were in 'teams' and moved around all of the stations in their team. The kids had an absolute ball (and the parents did too!).

#1 walking on his stilts

Playing in the sandpit

Dress-up relay. I'm so glad to see that the bag and shoes match LOL

At the end of the activities the Principal came and presented 'medals' to all of the kids. They had "I'm a good sport" printed on cardboard with the school and the date and were strung of curling ribbon and each team stood up the front to receive their medal and we all clapped and cheered.

So... a wonderful day, a lovely evening and a happy birthday for Grandpa.