With the kids being on their ‘Pear Diet’ I have been trying new things, pushing my boundaries of comfort in the kitchen. My latest challenge was Marshmallows! This recipe is from the Friendly Food Recipe Book that accompanies the Elimination Diet. It’s Delicious and pretty simple.
Ingredients
50g (1/3 Cup) Powdered Gelatine
250ml (1 cup) Cold Water
880g (4 cups) Sugar – I used Castor Sugar
500ml (2 cups) Boiling Water
125g (1 cup) pure Icing Sugar
60g (1/2 cup) Maize Cornflour
Putting it all together:
Sprinkle the Gelatine over the cold water and set aside.
Put the sugar and boiling water in a large saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the gelatine mixture. Stir Until well combined and dissolved. Boil steadily without a lid for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until lukewarm.
Pour the mixture into the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high speed until white and thick. Pour into two wet 20cm square deep cake tins. Refrigerate overnight.
Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together into a bowl. Cut the marshmallow into squares using a large wet knife. Remove from the tins and toss them in the icing sugar and cornflour mixture until they’re well coated. You can then store them in layers, separating them with baking paper so they don’t stick together.
Enjoy!
Shortbread is something I have always been a little bit scared of making, I’ve made it before (a few years ago) and it was not a success. This year though I figured I would give it another go. I’m so pleased I did, as it is so yummy and worked out just as I remember having as a kid, all buttery goodness. I used a recipe from ‘The Country Table’, but adapted the method a little bit, as I’m lazy like that!
Ingredients:
250 Butter, Softened
1/3 Cup Caster Sugar
1 Tablespoon Water
2 Cups Plain Flour
1/2 Cup Rice Flour
1 Dessert Spoon Icing Sugar
Method:
Throw it all in the Food Processor, whizz it around until it’s all combined. Pull it out, either roll it out on a floured bench or press out with your hands. I used Christmas Shape cutters to make them all Christmasy and cut out the shapes. You can make them thick or thin (just vary your cooking time). Bake in the oven on greased trays for 30-40mins. Cool them on the tray. Dust with Icing Sugar before serving.
They were a big hit at the class party, and made a nice option from chips and lollies that were on offer. The rest of the batch will go in for the Presentation Night Supper, as the leftovers will send me up a dress size.
In between Header stops and starts, when the Barley has been too green or all our storage is full up Muddy Hubby threw some Yabby Nets in one of our Dams. Lo and Behold we caught some yabbies! It’s been a few years since I’ve been yabbying. The Muddy Kids and I helped our British worker (Hello Laura) pull them up and we managed to catch 23 big ones! We put the babies and the teenagers back in the Dam and bought the rest back to the house.
We found a Mummy Yabby who had hundreds of Eggs she was holding in her tail, so we put her back in the Dam to ensure we’ll get some yabbies in the coming years! We have always cooked yabbies by just boiling them in water. This time though we tried something different, Thanks to my lovely neighbour.
We put them in a pot in the freezer to sedate them (there will be some escapees in the freezer, but they’re easy to collect once sedated), we then pulled them out and chopped off their heads before we pulled off their their tails and claws. We rinsed the claws and tails, then popped them in a garlic, butter and parsley marinade before cooking them on the BBQ. YUMMO! They are just like crabs, so when they turn orange they’re cooked. It was a heap of fun and something different for someone from the UK to experience.
Ingredients
500g Pork fillet chopped into bite-size pieces
3 teaspoons soy sauce
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon cornflour
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped (I used tinned)
1 red capsicum, chopped (I used green because that’s what was in the fridge)
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Method:
Place the pork in a non-metallic bowl, add soy sauce and toss through so all the pork pieces are coated, set aside.
In a medium saucepan over low to medium heat, whisk together the sugar, tomato sauce, vinegar and cornflour and allow to simmer.
Meanwhile bring a Wok or large non-stick frying pan to a high heat, then add 2 teaspoons of oil. Swirl the oil around so the bottom is coated. Toss the pineapple, capsicum and onion and stir-fry for about 4 mins until they begin to caramelise. Add the warm sauce and remove from the wok and set aside.
Add another teaspoon of oil to the wok and then the pork and cook until the pork is browned and just cooked through (about 8 mins).
Add the sauce and vegetables, allow to come to a simmer then remove from the heat and serve immediately with rice.
This is a recipe from Kidspot, and they know their stuff as this was a huge hit with the Muddy Kids, barely a spoonful left in their bowls.
A little while ago now I was lucky enough to win Posie Patchwork’s comp where the prize was Louise Fulton Keats latest Recipe/Story Book titled ‘The Best Ever Birthday’. I had been eyeing this off for a while so was VERY excited to be a prize winner. I promised Posie that the first recipe I would make would be the Butter Cake, and it’s taken me a while (thank you to the thermostat in the Oven going) but this week I did it! I used the Basic Butter Cake Recipe to make the cake for the Muddy Puzzler’s Birthday Cake. As promised by Posie, it was delicious, just like my Grandma used to make, all moist and buttery goodness.
I struggle in the kitchen, I tend to get into a rut and stick to what I know Muddy Hubby and the kids will eat. Every so often though I am handed a recipe that I think ‘that will work in our house’ and I give it a go. Mostly it’s my lovely neighbour over the back paddock handing me a recipe she’s already test drove with her two cherubs, and occasionally it’s a find on blogs or the net.
This particular one was handed over the back paddock (Thank You Neighbour). It is super easy and there’s never much left on the plate.
Ingredients:
1.5kg chicken pieces
1 lemon sliced
1 cup black olives*
2 chorizo sausages sliced
4 cloves garlic
1 cup chicken stock
50g unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika**
sea salt and cracked black pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the chicken, lemon, olives, chorizo, garlic, stock and butter in a baking dish and sprinkle with the paprika, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Only photo I have before it went into the oven. By the time it comes out it’s a rush to the table to keep everyone happy! |
I serve it up with rice and steamed greens, my neighbour serves it up with cous cous and steamed greens, whatever takes your fancy!
*I am the only one in my family who eats olives so I left them out rather than have to pick them out of everyone’s meals
**I couldn’t get smoked paprika in town, so substituted paprika, still very tasty
The weather has turned cold, the blustery windy cold, where the sun is still shining but the wind dries out your skin and lips and you have rosy red cheeks and feel chilled to the bone. For me this means comfort food, warm hearty meals that fill you up and warm you from the inside out.
My favourite Pie to make at the moment is Chicken Leek and Bacon Pot Pies. My friend and neighbour gave me this recipe after we had dinner there last winter and it has become a regular in our household, especially in cold weather.
Ingredients:
40g Unsalted Butter
1 tbs Olive Oil
3 Leeks (pale part only), thinly sliced
4 bacon rashers, rind removed, chopped
800g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm pieces
1tbs plain flour
Pinch of nutmeg
200ml chicken stock
300ml light sour cream or creme fraiche
2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbs lemon juice
4 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
The Filling:
Heat the butter and oil in a pan over low heat. Add the leek, bacon and chicken and cook, stirring for 6-8 minutes until the leek is soft and the chicken is almost cooked. Stir in the flour and nutmeg and cook for 1-2 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the stock, increase heat to medium and bring to the boil. Season, then remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream, lemon juice and parsley. Cool completely.
Putting It Together:
Preheat the Oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Cut two 1cm strips from the side of each pastry sheet. Set aside. Cut pie lids from the remaining pastry, 1 cm wider than the top of the 300ml pie dishes or ramekins. Divide chicken mixture among dishes. Press pastry strips around the rim of each dish to make a ‘collar’ and brush with some of the egg. Carefully top with pie lids, press firmly into the collar to seal, then trim edges if necessary. Make 2 cuts in each pie top, then brush with remaining egg. Bake the pies for 20 mins or until puffed and golden.
* I used small ramekins for the kid’s and my pies and used bigger bowls for the men’s pies. When I’ve used them for dinner parties I’ve made them in small ramekins and served them up with green veggies.
* As there is lots of sauce I often throw in veggies like broccoli, peas or corn, before throwing them in the oven.