Something New for Dinner

I made bolognese pin wheels, for dinner last night. Very popular, all round.

1kg mince, thoroughly mixed with one jar of tomato pasta bake sauce and 1 cup of rolled oats
Spread to about 1cm thick on a sheet of pastry - to the edges on both sides but leaving about 1.5 inches clear, at the top, and about 2 inches clear at the bottom.
Roll it up, from top to bottom, after wetting the bottom strip with a little egg to help it stick.
Using a VERY sharp knife, and a light hand, cut through the roll with a fast moving saw-like action.
Lay each pinwheel on a baking sheet with a little space in between each. Pinch closed the join in the pastry, to help it to not unravel!
Bake 180C till golden
YUM!

I used 4 sheets of pastry, by the way. And it was enough for 2 meals - Bonus!!

...and these are my sauteed vegies... cooked in tomato passata, a little garlic and a sprinkling of Celtic sea salt. We all love them this way, even though it's a VERY new thing here, still.

Recipe By Request - Muffins

As requested... fab recipe... zucchini/fetta/pinenut variation, is at the bottom.  

Enjoy!!

French Onion Soup Mix

The end result!

We have 2 recipes I love to use dehydrated french onion soup mix in... and I recently read the back of the package and as expected, it's full of nasties. Even just 621 and 635 are enough to make me change something. Do some serious research on what you're putting into your body with these numbers. 635 in particular changes children's behaviour around here, so I'm sure it changes mine too!... and from the diets most kids have these days, it's something many are consuming multiple times a week :-(  It's toxic. It's not legal in some countries yet our  government still allows it here. YOU don't have to allow it though. It's not something God ever meant for us to have in our bodies. Junk in, Junk out.

Sooo.... I made up a HUGE batch of French Onion Soup, with 4kgs of onions. I also used about a table spoon of Celtic Sea Salt in it. I kept the liquid low by using already concentrated beef broth & stock (and thus reducing time needed in the dehydrator), and, at the end of the process I have a 1.3L container filled with home made 'powdered' French Onion Soup mix to use as I normally would the toxic packets. It took about 48hours-ish to dehydrate the 'thick French Onion Soup Slop'

I like to do French Onion Lamb Chops in the slow cooker... 2kg or more of cheap lamb chops with French onion soup mix sprinkled over them. About 2tb for the first 2kg and then 3tsp for each extra kilo of chops. Some like to add in some tomato passata with theirs. I prefer it without. Cook on low for 'about that long' (sorry I can't be more specific - I'd say 8 hours-ish?)

The other main recipe I'll be using this mix for is Apricot Chicken. 1.6-2kg chicken thighs, 2 tins Apricot Nectar, 4tb french onion soup mix, 1/2 cup dried apricots or a 400g-ish tin of pie apricots, and one sliced onion. That's the recipe I start with... now I also add in about 800g-1kg of carrots peeled and sliced, and also 2 cups of green beans. Again, probably about 8 hours on low in the slow cooker?

And yes, I have large slow cookers / crock pots... 6L!

Crunchy on the dehydrator tray

Broken pieces ready to 'powder' in the food processor

BBQ Chicken & Bacon Pizza

 

Our delicious lunch today - Pizza with a crispy spelt and coconut oil base topped with tomato paste, small amount of BBQ sauce, BBQ roasted chicken, mushroom, pineapple, cheese and bacon.

Recipe for the base:

Mix together 2 tsp dry yeast, 1.25c spelt flour, 1tsp sugar, 1/2tsp celtic sea salt, 1.5tb coconut oil

Add 1/3 cup very warm water (just cool enough to hold a finger in for 10 seconds)

Mix well and leave to rise

Roll out to the size of your pizza tray - I just used a large slice tray.

Use extra flour as needed to aid with rolling.

This recipe is very thin!

Allow to rise again on tray OR do as I did and top as is!

I added about 1.5 cups diced chicken, 1/2 cup bacon strips, 4 good sized mushrooms, 2tb tomato paste, 2tsp bbq sauce, 2 rings of pineapple (chopped) and cheese as needed. Next time I might add a sprinkling of herbs.

Chicken down the bottom so as not to dry out and bacon on top so it gets cooked well.

Very popular and fed 1 adult, 2 primary kids, a 4yo and a baby. NO leftovers... so when making for the family I'll double it up!

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Poached eggs

(FYI... life has been super busy and this post has been sitting here for almost a week, 3/4 complete! The family has disappeared for a couple of hours so I am determined to finish it off!!)

I've only ever tried poaching an egg once before this last week, and it didn't go so well. It was more like scramble-poached egg. Not the desired result!
So when a friend on FB showed her perfectly poached eggs, I had to ask HOW??? I did what she said and ...

Ta Daa!!

One perfectly poached egg! (The only things missing are the smoked salmon which is now on the shopping list and some baby spinach leaves, which are now growing in the garden)

What to do?

Bring water to the boil (I found about 3 inches worked well) add a generous splash of vinegar (1-2tb?) Make sure it comes to the boil again, swirl to get a whirlpool effect then crack the egg into the middle of it, quite close to the surface of the water. Wait about 2.5-3 minutes then remove with a slotted spoon, or as I did, with my Tupperware whisk. The yolk remains runny... just try it a couple of times to work out the timing for what YOU would personally call 'a perfect egg texture'. Enjoy!

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Dutch Apple Baby - The Bogwitz Way

Our New Amazing Breakfast Dish - Thanks to Jen for putting me onto this!

Today I made it like this:

3 Medium Royal Gala Apples, peeled and sliced to 5mm (Jen's recipe asked for Granny Smith's which I might use in the future, but Royal Gala's are what I had available today)
2tb Rapadura Sugar (use brown sugar if you don't have this - brown sugar is what Jen's recipe asked for)
1tsp Cinnamon OR Mixed Spice (I used Cinnamon today, will try the other next time)
4Tb Butter
4 Large Eggs
1/2c Plain Wholemeal Spelt Flour (Jen's recipe just asked for 'plain flour')
1 Heaped Tb sour cream (Jen's recipe asked for cream, not sour cream)
1/4c Milk

1. Pre-heat oven to 210 degrees
2. Melt butter in pan with an oven safe handle (I used a cast iron casserole dish)
3. Add sugar, spice and apple slices
4. Saute until the apple slices are nicely softened and the sugar mixture is bubbling
5. While the apple is cooking, Mix in a bowl with a whisk: Eggs, Flour, Cream, Milk - until smooth
6. While the mixture in the pan is still hot, pour the eggy mixture over the top.
7. Place the pan in the oven with plenty of room to the rack above.
8. It will be ready in 15-20minutes and is done when the top can be pressed lightly as you would for testing a cake, then springs back into place

Mine didn't puff up as much as Jen's does, only about 1cm here, but the edges did curl in nicely as it deflated. I imagine if I did my eggy mix in the blender, it would puff up more.

Notes:

• If you mill your own flour, add an extra Tb of flour as your flour is so much more aerated than packaged flour meaning there is less flour in your 1/2 cup than 1/2 cup packaged flour.
• I imagine this would work great with coconut flour or almond flour, making it grain free as needed - I'll try it one day to find out for sure!  

Cooking  the Apples

Whisking up the egg mixture

Poured over and about to go in the oven

Straight out of the oven

A couple of minutes later, deflated with a slight curl at the edges

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Tomato Tango Meatballs "Cook Up" Quantities

These have been very popular each time we've made them - I say 'we' because not much happens in the kitchen without others doing their part. This time it was Melinda (9.5) who made the meatballs, with a little help from Timothy (almost 4). Meatballs are time consuming - especially when doing this many - so not always a meal of choice but again like my pasties, worth doing in bulk.

Melinda made the meatballs with
1.9kg beef mince (ground beef)
5 eggs
2 cups of quick oats (for best preparation, soak and dehydrate rolled oats and then whizz them through the food processor to make them smaller)
A few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Celtic sea salt
2tb dried parsley (3 if fresh)
2tb spelt flour

She first breaks up the mince then tips in the oats, followed by parsley, salt and flour.
Mix together with fork so everything is pretty evenly distributed.
Add in the eggs and Worcestershire sauce. Mix briefly with a fork then mush with your hands. Squeezing it through the fingers. Cold eewey work! LOL
Roll into lots of small balls and fry gently in fry pan with a little butter till nicely browned.
(An electric fry pan is an excellent tool to enable a child to do cooking at dining table level instead of the higher level of the stove. It also keeps the kitchen free for me to be working in.)

Once cooked, all the meatballs weighed in at about 2kg. Once the sauce was added, we were up to a bit over 3kg.

About a third of the meatballs in a pasta bowl

Tomato Tango Sauce - this is what makes the meal so popular!

I used:
2 bottles of tomato passata
Either: 2 cups condensed home made beef broth and 4tb(ish) spelt flour
OR: 4tb(ish) gravy powder
Balsamic Vinegar to taste (a few good tablespoons here)

Tomato Passata and beef broth into the pot and simmer it down till it's a bit thicker than commercial tomato sauce. Turn off the heat.
Add in 1/3 of the meatballs, stir in and then  add in the spelt flour or gravy powder. Stirring in immediately.
Pour in the Balsamic vinegar, stir in and taste, add more as needed. I nice strong tang is what I aim for as it tends to disappear a bit in the rest of the cooking.

Put the rest of the meatballs in the bottom of casserole dish and then pour over the sauce with the meatballs

These have been chilling in the fridge for a couple of days before I got to making the sauce. They're a lot darker when first cooked!

Add a little more balsamic vinegar on top and then bake at 200 till hot all the way through.

Serving suggestions:
With mash & vegies
On cous cous with stir fried vegies
Over diced roasted pumpkin and some greens on the side

Also, 'once upon a time' I made this with fresh tomatoes and not Passata... the difference being that I diced the tomatoes (lots of them) and barely heated them before adding in flavouring, thickening and balsamic vinegar. Still works great and retains some of that beautiful 'garden fresh' tomato taste!

Pasties "Cook Up" Quantities!

Jumbo Pasties

Making pasties is time consuming and a little bit fiddly, so to make the most of it I make them to a couple of 'rules'... a) They must be made in a LARGE quantity... enough for at least 2 meals, preferably 3 (they're great for freezing) and b) I must have other tasks I can do in the kitchen at the same time... passing them through the oven takes a few hours so I either need to be cooking other non time sensitive things, be doing a deep clean in the kitchen or be able to work on the laptop.

I made the equivalent of 20 small pasties on Monday

Ingredients:
10 sheets of butter puff pastry (you may prefer to make your own pastry and you may prefer short crust too)
1.6kg rump steak
3 small/medium potatoes, peeled and diced
800g carrots peeled and diced
2 medium-large onions
Peas - enough to 'look right'. Probably close to 2 cups
Celtic sea salt to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Condensed beef broth (Massel beef stock powder could be used)
Flour as needed, 1-2 dessert spoons
I often put in a table spoon or two of tomato paste too, but forgot this time!

Tips:

• Many hands make light work, so do electric ones!
• Someone small can peel the carrots & potatoes
• Someone bigger can dice them or put them through on a chopping setting in the food processor
• Steak is easier to dice when almost totally frozen, freeze in single layers though as once it's frozen together, it's too hard to separate before defrosted. If you don't want to work with it mostly frozen then a great pair of kitchen scissors can make sort work of it too - my personal favourite are the Tupperware scissors
• Don't try for a typical Pastie shape, just work with the shape of the pastry. I ROLL nothing! Jumbo pasties are one whole sheet of pastry and small pasties are half a sheet. Then I also make mini ones and medium ones from one sheet - 1/3 for the mini leaving 2/3 for the medium!

Recipe Method:
Sautee the onion in butter, in a big pot.
Increase heat then add the finely diced beef and stir while continuing to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
Once most of it is starting to brown, add in the diced carrots and potatoes.
Stir these through and continue to cook, stirring again every couple of minutes.
Once carrots and potatoes would be hot, add in the peas, stirring and adding 'till it looks right'. If adding liquid stock, add with the peas so excess liquid can be cooked off.
Once the peas are cooked, add in seasoning... a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, Celtic sea salt, tomato paste etc. Stir through thoroughly and finally add flour for thickening, a little at a time and then stir. You want NO liquid in the pot as once cooking in the oven, the vegies will produce more liquid)
At this point, everything in your pot is cooked. Stir in tomato paste now, if using.
Turn it off and allow to cool for half an hour... now is a good time to get the first sheets of pastry from the freezer. I can only fit one tray of pasties in my oven at a time so I defrost pastry accordingly.

Ready for cooling

You can start doing the pasties after about 20-30 minutes of cooling. Sooner will 'melt' holes in the bottom of the pastry and they'll fall apart as you move them to baking trays.

Spoon it onto the pastry (which you've already cut to size if needed), fold over the tops and press seal with a fork. Bake at about 180/350 till golden for eating right away or slightly less golden if you want to be able to keep in fridge or freezer for reheating.

2 Jumbo ones about to be sealed

4 small ones (half jumbo) ready for the oven

One jumbo almost gone and thoroughly enjoyed!

Tonight's Dinner

 

My all in one beef crockpot stew :o) Changes a little every time but this is today's version!

1.2kg rump steak, 1 onion, 2-3 cups butternut pumpkin, 200g mushrooms, 1/2 red capsicum, 1kg carrot chunks, 2c chicken broth, 2 cups zucchini, 1/2 jar of tomato passata, 3 potatoes (one diced so it will fall apart and thicken the casserole, 2 in large chunks), 2 tsp Celtic sea salt and 1 beef stock cube (Massel). All in a 6L crockpot for the day. Thinking I might put some more mushrooms in once it cooks down a bit and will probably add a cup or two of green beans about 2 hours before the end of cooking.

Cutting the grocery budget # 2

Another Idea...

Add in a couple of 'dollar meals' each week or even more often... depending on how much you want to save and for how long in balance with health.

Dollar meals for me, come in at about $5 for the meal. For the whole family.
A couple of examples: Tomato Pasta Bake: 2/3 bag of pasta 66c, cooked plus a jar of stir through tomato pasta sauce $1.60, 2/3c shredded cheese on top 80c. Additions to this can be a drained can of tuna in spring water and/or a cup of frozen corn kernels, or some gently fried onion & mushrooms or stir fried literally 'whatever vegies are leftover in your fridge'. How about a Vegie Fried Rice... a couple of cups of rice, steamed, a few eggs diced after being 'ommeletted' (my word LOL) and then some diced vegies - whatever you have in your fridge which for us seems to be capsicum, mushroom, broccoli, carrots along with some onion and frozen peas/corn/beans. A few splashes of worcestershire sauce or whatever you like to use and you're done!

Spend some time brainstorming low cost meals you can make for your family! Baked beans on toast is about $4 for our family - including 2 large cans of baked beans... and if your family won't eat what you feed them, then you've bigger issues on your hands than dollar saving!

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Sausage Stew - A Family Favourite

This recipe is based on one I grew up with... any time we went on a camp with Youth Group, Dad would make up a pot of 'sausage stew' to take and share. Back then we were grossed out by it and it was an 'oh no, not Dad's stew again... so much so that when I mentioned to my sister that I was trying to re-create it, she was horrified LOL  I am thinking, as I think back, that we were grossed out because Dad left the skins on the sausages... which then softened and came off in the stew... which yeah, is pretty gross LOL

So here goes... random measurements okay - you pick depending on what you're cooking it in!

1 Kilo good sausages - boiled, slit the skins after a few minutes in the boiling water which will help you to remove the skins. Once the skins are off, allow the sausages to cool before chopping into 1 inch pieces and leave to the side/in the fridge till potatoes are cooked

Potatoes - I have a 6L crock pot and use enough large chunks of peeled potatoes to cover the bottom of the crock pot, maybe 1.5kg?

Carrots - Peel and chop carrots into chunks... I use about 700-800g (I think LOL)

Onions - 2 large onions sliced

Put all the vegies into the crock pot and pour over a couple of jars of tomato passata, throw in a couple of Massel chicken stock cubes and about 1 tsp of Celtic Sea Salt.

Cook on high for a few hours till the potatoes are soft but firm (not falling apart!!)

Add in the chopped sausages and about 3 cups of frozen chopped beans

Continue cooking till the beans are nicely soft. If it needs thickening, do so with a thick tomato paste - I like Aldi's tomato paste, lovely and thick.

This will serve our family of 5 for 2 meals... I see a day a few years from now when it will just be the one meal!

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Super Yummy Breakfast Muffins

I just made this small batch up as Pete needed some lunch today and baking bread was not an option. I'd say this serves 2 for lunch - we call them breakfast muffins though, as that's the meal they were first made for, a few months back.

This is very 'ish' in terms of measurements

1/3 medium home grown zucchini
4 mushrooms
1/3 capsicum

all whizzed in the hand held food processor and tipped into a mixing bowl

3 large free range eggs from grass scratching hens
2/3cup raw organic milk
2/3cup grated cheese
2/3cup of browned minced beef (grass fed, chemical free)
1/4tsp Celtic sea salt

Mix this all in with the vegies

3/4cup SR Flour

Mix the flour in completely, spoon into greased muffin pans and bake till golden on top at about 160 degrees
(the longer slower cooking is because of the high vegie / lower carb mix)

Multiply for larger batches... I'd like to x it by 4 and do in a cake tin and see how it turns out... It would take longer to cook but would result in less fiddly dishes when feeding more people!

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The meal that won me my husband's heart

or that's how we like to joke about it!

This is the first meal I ever made Pete. Before we were even courting.
He was moving house and I'd been brought up to cook a meal for those that were moving and so I did.
It was rather funny though, as I cooked it the exact way I'd been taught, which was with whole peppercorns and you removed them as you ate vs munching on them.
I forgot to give Pete the warning, nearly called him to tell him and thought better of him 'nah, it's obvious, he'll know...'

Oops, he didn't LOL
I still hear about it today, more than 12 years on!!

He then thought I could handle pretty hot and spicy foods - thankfully that didn't come back to bite me before he found out otherwise.

I've since adjusted it and now use ground pepper instead!

This meal remains one of Pete's favourites - I'm just not sure how much of it is because of memories and how much the flavour... I reckon it tastes pretty good too, so it could be both.

Sorry - no exact quantities... it's a casserole!! I was cooking for 4 adults and 3 children last night.

Chicken legs (I prefer to use organic free range) 1-2 per person. I used 10 in the one I cooked last night.
Carrots - lots, I used 7 large last night. Peeled and cut into thick slices
Celery - about 1/2 a celery, in thick slices, approx 1cm
Mushrooms - sliced or quartered... I used about 2 cups
Onions - 2 large, quartered and sliced
Butternut pumpkin - 1/2 a medium one. About 1/2 of this in 1 inch chunks and the rest, about 1/4 of that size so it will fall apart on cooking which will help to thicken the dish.
2 Zucchini, quartered by length then diced to 1cm 'slices'
2 Massel chicken stock cubes  (msg free, trans fat free etc)
2tb lard or coconut oil
Sprinkling of ground black pepper
3 bay leaves (be sure to remove after cooking)
Boiling water/chicken broth or 50/50
To thicken: gravy powder/white flour

Brown the chicken legs in the lard
Add the onions and cook till translucent
Dump all other vegies over the top and spread out
Add stock, pepper and bay leaves
Pour boiling water/chicken broth over the whole casserole till sitting about 2cm under the top vegies.
Mostly cover (I just put a large cookie tray over the top of my baking pan and cook on about 180 for an hour and then 200 for 45mins.
At the temperature change point, remove from oven, poke and stir a little to make sure any dry vegies on top get submerged for the remainder of the cooking time.
Thicken before serving with 50/50 gravy powder and white flour... judge as you go.

Keep it low carb and eat as is or trigger a fat-storing-insulin-release and serve with rice, potatoes or pasta :o)

We keep it low carb ;o)

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My Most FAVOURITE Savoury Muffins - Zucchini & Fetta

Add to a bowl
1 large grated zucchini

2tb sour cream
1/2c vegetable oil
2 Eggs

Mix together

Add 1c Milk

Mix together

Add 250g diced danish fetta cheese (1/2cm)
and 3tb toasted pine nuts

Mix together again

Add 2.5 cups of self raising flour

Mix for a final time and scoop into well greased muffins pans.... this recipe just made me 12 regular muffins PLUS one tray of 'Tuppermuffins' which is 7 smaller ones

Bake at about 180 degrees C until starting to brown
Turn out onto cooling tray and allow to cool completely before storing.... so tasty while warm though!!

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Easy Smoked Salmon & Pea Risotto - and almost healthy!

 Rice isn't great for you, but if you must have it (and I must, from time to time) then here's a recipe I made up and used today for our family lunch. It served a family of 5 (2 Adults, 2 children and a toddler).
I wouldn't like to serve this for a dinner, even on a carb night as the carb content is a little high for our health preferences - but it would do in a pinch if I had to!

3tbsp Healthy Fat - I used 50/50 Coconut Oil and Butter. You could also use Cold-pressed Sesame Oil or Lard.
1c Diced Onion
1c Arborio Rice
1/2 c White Wine
1 Massel Chicken Stock Cube
1lt Hot Homemade Long-cooked Chicken Bone Broth
200g Smoked Salmon, diced
1c Frozen Peas
1/3c Shredded Parmesan Cheese
For seasoning: Celtic Sea Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Extra Parmesan Cheese

1. Heat the oil
2. Gently fry the onion till translucent
3. Add the rice and heat while stirring, till translucent. From here on, you just keep on stirring most of the time, okay!
4. Add the wine and sizzle it off
5. Add a cup of broth and the stock cube (yes, stir!)
6. As it thickens, add some more stock - say 200ml at a time. Keep doing this till rice is cooked but still has a firmness to it.
7. After the 3rd addition of stock, add the frozen peas
8. Once the rice is cooked, add in the diced salmon and stir in for a minute to allow it to cook
9. Stir in the Parmesan cheese
10. Season with salt and pepper
11. Allow to sit a couple of minutes before serving
12. Serve with a little more Parmesan cheese on top

Enjoy!

'Cooking Salmon' is the cheapest smoked salmon to buy. It's a bunch of end and side pieces and about $10/kg less than the neat slices. Just dice in on the display card and scrape it straight into the risotto

Once A Month Cooking ~ Spaghetti Bolognese

While I may not do all of my cooking 'once a month'... doing some of it 'once a month' is pretty close to magic.

This is my favourite spaghetti bolognese recipe.... I love dishing it up into family serves and popping them into the freezer. So easy as a last minute meal solution to pop one in a pot with a lid on and by the time the pasta is cooked - the sauce is ready too.

Got last minute guests for a meal? ... grab 2 or 3 bags from the freezer and dinner is good to go for all. We keep plenty of frozen garlic bread on hand for this purpose too but if for some reason I am low, I'll whip up my cheesy garlic pull apart - 5 minutes to mix and about 15 to bake (stay tuned for that recipe one day soon)
Faster than take away!!

NOTE: I do this recipe in bulk, usually doing a triple batch, which is what I've photographed. It fed the family dinner, gave me 3 more family size serves for the freezer, another serve for 2 adults and another serve for 1 child.

Loads of vegies

Spaghetti Bolognese ~ serves 6

Ingredients

60g   Butter

1       Onion, large, finely chopped

2tsp  Fresh crushed garlic

2       Celery sticks, finely chopped

2       Carrots, finely diced

600g Lean beef mince

1tsp   Dried Oregano

1c     Red wine - A GOOD one! I like a nice merlot for cooking or a shiraz/merlot... I don't drink wine but it's great for adding an awesome flavour in cooking!

1      Beef stock cube - we use 'Massel' brand without all the additives that you don't need

2      400g tins diced or pureed tomatoes (I use a 700ml jar of the Aldi tomato cooking sauce... well, 3 of them because I make a triple batch)

4tb   Tomato Paste

400g Dried Spaghetti – then cook in a large pot of lightly salted water

3tb   Grated, fresh parmesan cheese

take time to simmer for a couple of hours

til it's nice and thick

Method

1.    Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until starts to soften

2.   Add the garlic, celery and carrot, and cook, stirring over low heat for 5 minutes

3.   Increase the heat to high and add beef and oregano. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until browned

4.   Pour in the wine, reduce the heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes until wine is absorbed

5.   Add the tomatoes and stock cubes, stir well and allow to simmer till thickens

6.   Add tomato paste and any additional seasoning, heat through and serve on bed of pasta, topped with the Parmesan cheese

Put a bag in the container first then load it with the sauce you want to freeze... tie it off and pop it in the freezer

Then Voila! In the morning you have a brick of bolognese sauce and no messy container

PS: Another good reason for doing a bulk batch is the mess! Simmering it down will always cause some tomato splatter... this way I have the splatter to clean up once but it feeds us 4+ times!

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Recipe by Request - Zucchini Slice

You're sure to love this! Stay tuned, a photo will be added before the day is done :o)

NB Be sure to follow the 'advice' through the recipe and I highly recommend following my recipe rule... always follow it 'to the letter' the first time you make it... then you're free to tweak it as you make it again and again - this way you'll actually know what you're tweaking! Much easier to figure out what's not working when you follow this rule.

Okay, the recipe

1tb Butter (not margarine or oil!)
200g sliced Bacon - about 1cm strips cut from REAL bacon OR 100-150g smoked salmon
500g Zucchini - this is after it's been both topped and tailed. I used 3 zucchini to get this - if you're using large zucchini then increase the SRFlour by 1/4c for every zucchini LESS that you're using because of the larger size
Grate zucchini or chop it in chunks then give it a quick wizz or 2 in the food processor
1 large onion, sliced. Cook this in the butter and if using bacon, with the bacon.
1c Frozen Corn Kernels
2c SRFlour
1tsp Baking Powder
1c grated Tasty Cheese
1/2tsp Celtic Sea Salt
10 Free Range eggs (asides from the reduced health benefits of caged eggs, you are responsible & guilty for the awful way the chickens live if you eat eggs from caged birds!!)

Grease baking pans well. I use one rectangle casserole dish and 6 muffin cups. You don't want the wet mix to be more than 2 inches deep in the chosen baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl dump the shredded zucchini.
Add all the eggs, mix till thoroughly combined.
If using smoked salmon, chop it small and mix it in now
Add cheese, mix again
Add corn kernels, mix again
Add salt and baking powder, mix again!!
Add SRflour and mix again :o)
Finally, quickly mix in cooked onion/bacon mix (hot is fine)
Spoon into chosen baking containers and bake at 180 degrees (fan forced) till golden

Delish!!

Great for lunch boxes, breakfast on the go, served in small squares as finger foods... whatever!
We'll use it for the first day's camping meal or take it on long car trips to avoid takeaway. Enjoy :o)

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Recipe by Request - Chocolate Brownie Slice

Next time I bake this, I will take and add a photo for you... in the meantime, Trust Me - it's delicious!

It is quite a moist cake. I bake it in a LARGE square pan. If you don't have one, consider 2 smaller pans to keep it a low flat slice-like cake. It will be a dark chocolate brown and a thin crispy layer will form on top. Always best when left overnight before eating - and dust with icing sugar before serving.

I have had a friend make this a few years ago and looked at me with great expectations as I took a bite - and then asking me most excitedly 'do you recognise it?'.... umm... no? should I?
She then told me it was this recipe, which I had given to her.
I have no idea what she did differently but I tell you... it being brown in colour was the only similarity LOL and it was even the wrong shade of brown.
This recipe when made properly is DIVINE... otherwise, it's just 'cake'...

Do let me know if you make it!

Best Ever Chocolate Brownie Slice Recipe

Ingredients

1¼c Plain flour
½ c Cocoa powder
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Salt
2c Sugar (white, caster or raw)
2tsp Vanilla essence
½ c Oil
½c Water
3lge Eggs
125g Chopped pecans/walnuts (optional)

Method

1. Line 34cm x 23cm tin (or 2 square tins) with baking paper. Preheat oven 180°c

2. Place all ingredients into a large bowl, beat together with a wooden spoon until well mixed

3. Pour into lined tin and bake in moderate oven till springs back in centre - approx 25/30 minutes

4. When cool sprinkle with icing sugar or drinking chocolate & cut into small rectangles

Recipe by Request - Savoury Mince

I cook by taste, sight and smell so recipes from me can be a little odd.

I'm cooking savoury mince at the moment, enough for 15 people on 2-stack pancakes. There will be tasty cheese on top and in between the pancakes.

The recipe for the savoury mince that is currently on the stove is:
(They all turn out pretty much the same but I couldn't tell you quantities for a smaller batch)

1.7kg minced beef - 'hamburger'... the fat left in is better for you!
1 red capsicum (bell pepper) - chopped by hand or food processor
1/2 celery, hand sliced into 3-4mm slices
3 onions - chopped by hand or food processor
1c red wine
750ml tomato cooking sauce
2tb coconut oil
2tb butter
380g mushrooms, hand sliced
1-2tb worcestershire sauce (definitely at least 2 if you don't have homemade tomato sauce on hand)
2 soup ladles of home made tomato sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed

Melt fats, add onion and start cooking, after a minute or two add capsicum and continue to cook for a couple of minutes, then add celery and keep on cooking.
Add garlic, stir in and then add mince - breaking it up, stir it in and keep on cooking.
Once browned, add wine and cook a couple of minutes, add mushrooms and sauces (3)... stir in and keep on cooking. Add any water you need to rinse out the tomato cooking sauce jar.
Simmer slowly for an hour, stirring from time to time. This will reduce the liquid. When heating to serve, add in about 1 cup of tomato paste and season with celtic sea salt to taste. Serve once it's thick enough to sit up to an inch high all over the surface of a pancake!

Enjoy!
(If you cook this I'd love to know how you go and what you think. I came up with it a few years ago, inspired by 'Tabriz' at the Pancake Parlour)

Cooking Tip: Get all ingredients out on the bench before starting the cooking, have them chopped and ready to go!

Baking Bread (again)

Think I need a bigger bowl for when I am doing 2 loaves!

Sooo yummy... just need to tweak the recipe a little to reduce it by about 20%

The bread I baked on Tuesday night was all gone by the end of Wednesday, which is why I have made double this time! it's going to be 32 degrees tomorrow - good weather for baking bread as it will rise well, but not so good for my 'comfort', to be baking in the heat :o)

Here's my 'Tweaked' bread recipe - will make 2 loaves

8-9 cups plain flour
1 cup unprocessed bran
3.5tb Dry Yeast
3.5tb Sugar
1.5tb Celtic Sea Salt
900ml hot water (48-54 degrees)
(If it's hot but I can hold my finger in it for 10 seconds then it's great - and easier than a thermometer)
Coconut oil - about 2tb

Mix together: bran, 7 cups flour, yeast, sugar & salt
Pour in hot water and beat 100 strokes or 3 minutes with a mixer (I don't have a mixer and I can never get to 100 strokes so I knead for longer)
Flour your surface, tip mix out and knead for 8 minutes (10 for me)
Rub coconut oil over entire surface and place dough in bowl with damp tea towel covering. Place this bowl on top of another bowl of hot water to steam (water should not touch dough bowl)
Allow to rise for 15 minutes
Punch down
Divide into 2 and place in loaf tins (grease if needed)
Sit loaf tins on hot water bowl, covered again, till slightly risen again - 5/10 minutes
Place tins on middle shelf of a cold oven
Place a tin of hot water on the lower shelf (I use a round cake tin half filled with boiling water)
Bake at 200 degrees for about 25-35 minutes - keep an eye on it and knock loaves for a hollow sound once they're looking done.

Great served hot with butter or keep over night and slices easily for toast and sandwiches.
A little heavier than shop bread - open sandwiches can work well for this reason.

Melinda (7) loves to just eat it with lots of butter - warm or cold! I love it with a glass of icy cold raw milk - YUMMY!