Q is for Quince. Part 2

I fiffled and faffled about making my own quince paste. I mean really, how could you ever beat Maggie Beer's stuff? Then again, hers is a wee bit pricey which makes is a once-in-a-while treat rather than a just-because kind of thing. Then I figured I had so many quinces that it would be almost crime to not have a go.

After much googling I decided on this recipe from taste.com.au, but I reduced the sugar by 150g or so and it's still plenty sweet enough. This is time consuming but not actually difficult and the end result is AMAZING. Totally, totally, totally worth doing yourself!

So, sorry Maggie. I adore you, love your products and very much enjoy experimenting with your recipes but... I'm never gonna buy your quince paste again.

Another Lunchbox Hit

This one was pathetically, ridiculously simple. I'm not even sure it has much in the way of nutritional content but Offspring #1 liked it. Even better, he ate it and his lunchbox came home empty! Which meant that, regardless of the questionable nutrition, he at least had some food in his tummy to power his brain and, hopefully, he learnt something this afternoon.

These twists will last a couple of days in an airtight container so they won't solve a week of lunches but they'll sort out at least a day or two rather nicely.

Cheese Twists

from The AWW Little Party Books: Fairytale

2 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 cup (100g) pizza cheese

1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Line oven trays with baking paper

2. Spread one piece of pastry with tomato sauce; sprinkle with cheese. Top with remaining pastry; press down firmly.

3. Cut pastry into 20 strips. Twist strips, place 2 cm apart on trays. Brush with milk.

4. Bake about 10 minutes or until browned lightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Too Cute To Resist

I went to a quiz night on Saturday with some of the mums from Offspring #1's school. We'd decided that we'd take a plate of nibblies each, figuring that at least we'd have something yummy to eat if the quiz questions were too hard! As usual, I left it till the last minute to decide what to make and was catching up on a few blogs when some gorgeous little morsels caught my eye.

Those of you who read The Pioneer Woman might have seen that she recently had guests to stay at her fabulously remodelled Lodge. Chief amongst the guests was Bakerella who showed the others how to make, among other things, Cake Balls. They looked irresistible but upon further investigation I wasn't entirely sure I'd not put my whole table into a diabetic coma so I made a couple of changes and came up with something sweet and pretty that was made to feel very welcome at Table 21! It wasn't brain surgery - I bought (nope, didn't make it sorry!) a nice moist Madeira cake, crumbled it and then squished it into balls. I popped them into the freezer to firm up and then dipped them in melted chocolate and drizzled white chocolate over for decoration. As you can see I had a go at some white chocolate ones too and they were a big hit with the kids.

Although I was pleased with how these turned out I didn't think they were much of a contribution in the scheme of things so I also whipped up an Olive and Feta Focaccia - I love this more and more each time I make it. For someone who has never been a big fan of olives I'm fast changing my mind.

Not Another Sandwich!

At our school we have kids with a bunch of different allergies and, as a consequence, a number of different foods are banned. The two that most readily spring to mind are peanuts and eggs. The kids are not allowed to take any food containing nuts or nut products and, while food with eggs as an ingredient are okay, they are not to take foods with whole eggs in them, ie egg sandwiches, hard boiled eggs in salads, wedges of bacon and egg pie, etc.

For a mum whose kid would have a peanut butter sandwich every single day if he could this can prove a little difficult. I refuse to send jam sandwiches every day, he no longer likes polony (devon, bologna or whatever it's called in your part of the world) and isn't over keen on other cold meats in his lunch. He will happily eat a salad sandwich (I know, weird but easy!) but some days we don't have salad-left-from-the-night-before and I don't have time to start shredding lettuce, grating carrot and generally ballyhooing around the kitchen. For those times this recipe is fabulous. Savoury muffins make a nice change from sandwiches. They can still be sliced in half and spread with butter, just one fills a little person's tummy very nicely and if you use this recipe you'll still have a bunch in the freezer for next time. Offspring #2 was the only member of our household to not take an immediate liking to these and I think it was the capsicum that did it. If that's likely to be a problem in your house simply substitute something else or, gasp of horror, leave it out altogether.

Pizza Muffins

from The Australian Women's Weekly Little Pies and Cakes

4 rindless bacon rashers, chopped finely

4 green onions, chopped finely

3 slices (120g) bottled roasted red capsicum, finely chopped

3/4 cup pizza cheese

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (ummm... call me chicken but I used parsley instead!)

basic muffin mix

2 cups self-raising flour

80g butter, melted

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a 12-hole, 1/3 cup capacity, muffin tin.

2. Cook bacon in heated medium frypan , stirring until lightly browned. Add onion; cook, stirring until onion softens. Cool.

3. Meanwhile make basic muffin mix.

4. Add capsicum, cheese, chilli and bacon mixture to basic muffin mix; mix gently to combine. Do not overmix; mixture should be lumpy.

5. Divide among holes. Bake, in oven, about 20 minutes. Stand muffins 5 minutes before turning top-side up, onto wire rack. Serve muffins warm (they were great warm but they were also just fine at room-temp.)

basic muffin mix Sift flour into medium bowl; stir in combined butter, egg and buttermilk.

Uuuurrrggg!

Offspring #1 has gastro and we have been up most of the night with him. He has had a raging temp, up to 39.7˚C/103.4˚F, for a couple of days but is cooler today and is slowly starting to feel better. He's even started asking for something to eat - a good sign. Meanwhile Offspring #2 has sprouted another tooth so her inner-monster has been more visible than normal. On the up-side of that though, only one more molar to go and then we're done. Well for a few months anyway! He is on the couch watching videos and she is asleep so I have a bit of time off.

I thought I'd share a couple of recipes from Donna's birthday party. The Olive and Parmesan Palmiers were originally a very interesting recipe that called for you to make your own olive tapenade chock-full of yumminess but since I rarely have enough time for stuff like that, and there was a note at the end of the recipe stating that you could buy ready made tapenade instead, I took the easy way and went with the bought stuff !

Olive and Parmesan Palmiers

Adapted from a recipe for Olive and Almond Palmiers in Family Circle Fabulous Finger Food

They might not look too pretty but they taste fine!

1 tub of ready made olive tapenade

¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

¼ cup milk

Preheat the oven to moderately hot, 200˚C/400˚F. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Spread one sheet of puff pastry with half of the tapenade mix. Sprinkle half the parmesan cheese evenly over. Fold two opposite ends to meet in the centre. Fold the same way again. Brush pastry with milk. Repeat the process with the other pastry sheet and remaining ingredients.

Cut into 1.5cm thick slices. Shape the slices into a V-shape, with the two sides curving out slightly. Place the shapes on baking sheets and bake for 15-50 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Serve warm or at room temperature

Makes 24

Mascarpone Filled Butterfly Cakes

From a few different clippings in the Ugly Binder then put together to make these special little cakes.

Cup Cake Mix

1¾ cups self-raising flour, sifted

1 cup caster (superfine) sugar

125g butter, melted

½ cup milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to moderately hot 200˚C/400˚F. Line patty tins with paper cases. Place flour and sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Combine melted butter, milk eggs and essence. Stir into dry ingredients and beat until just combined.

Spoon batter into each patty cake cup, no more than two-thirds full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly pressed with fingertips. Remove from oven and stand on a wire rack to cool completely.

Mascarpone Filling

250g mascarpone

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

25g golden syrup

10g icing sugar

Spoon the mascarpone into a bowl and beat in the vanilla, then the golden syrup and icing sugar.

To assemble cakes: Using a small sharp knife cut out a shallow cone from each of the cupcakes and cut it in half. Fill the cavity with the vanilla cream. Set the 'wings' into the vanila cream at an agle, tips uppermost. If you wish you can use a dob of strawberry jam as a 'head'. Sprinkle with extra icing sugar. Set aside in a cool place.

We Entertained!

At home we often have friends over for a Sunday lunch, a bbq, drinks and nibbles, an early dinner on a school night, etc, but since moving here we haven't really had much opportunity. It's not helped by the fact that we don't know too many people. Anyway, Offspring #1's teacher, J, is an old 'drinking buddy' from when Hubby and I were up this way last time round - she arrived in Red Dirt Central around the same time as us. Her partner was transferred up here and at the same time an extra teacher was needed in town so it all worked out rather nicely. We were both pleasantly surprised when we met at the school's Information Session for the new class that had been created. Anyway, I had promised to catch up with her over the holidays and of course the holidays finish tomorrow... so I rang Friday morning and asked if she and her partner would like to come over for a drink that night.

We decided that rather than cooking dinner I'd do nibblies but make them reasonably substantial. Have I mentioned that I love cooking? It makes me happy. It relaxes me. And it's even better when I get to make a bunch of little bits and pieces. Sorry, no photos today - we ate it all way to fast to stop and take pics LOL. I made herbed meatballs (which we had with sweet chilli sauce), bacon and leek spirals and a focacia to go with the olive tapenade I had in the fridge. I bought some marinated chicken wings and also did a cheese platter. Those of you who know me well know that I don't really need an excuse for dessert, and it's even better if I can work chocolate into it.Since we were only having nibblies rather than a proper meal I had to give this some serious thought but finally came up with... choclate fondue! I found a new recipe so we tried that and it was an absolute winner - 250g block of chocolate, half a bag of marshmellows, half a cup of thickened cream. It was delicious! To top it off we enjoyed some very nice WA wines too.

The kids were angels and went to bed with no arguments, we enjoyed some 'grown-up' company and I felt like a normal person instead of a tired mummy with no social life. Yay for entertaining.