hanging up the fingers

I'm still cooking, i've loads of recipes and photos but no time to type them up. So i am bidding my blog goodby. Goodby lovely blog.

ANZAC Biscuits

These happen to be my favorite biscuits. For those who don't know here is a brief history of ANZAC Biscuits. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and just what does that have to do with coconut and oatmeal cookies? Well... During the 2nd World War, or more particularly the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign, mothers, wives, daughters and sweethearts of our boys in uniform used to cook these, using a portion of their war time rations to send as treats to the solders fighting overseas. They also used to sell them to help raise funds for the War effort. We now make them every year on ANZAC day to celebrate our soldiers. But i love them all year round. Mine came out very wonky looking, i'm sure the women who cooked these for our great grandfathers put more love and care into theirs, and they probably managed something much more attractive. But as my kids will scoff these down in less then 10min regardless of how they look, I just cooked them as they where. This is a recipe from my family's cookbook, so i've no idea where it originally came from. But i'd say this recipe is probably the same wherever you got it from. It make about 20 to 30 cookies depending on how big you make them.

I
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons golden syrup or honey
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon bicarb-soda
1 tablespoon hot water
1 pinch of salt

M
1. Pre-heat oven to 150'c and line a tray with baking paper.
2. Mix oats, flour, sugar and coconut together.
3. Melt syrup and butter together.
4. Mix soda with hot water and add to butter.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
6. Place tablespoonfuls of mixture on lined tray, and bake for 20min or till lightly golden.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool and harden on tray before removing.

Scones

My mother used to make these with soured milk and they would be fantastically light. I Just used normal milk and they where very nice, Although next time I would like them a bit bigger. Another recipe from the readers digest Grandma's quick and thrifty cook book. It says it makes 12.

I
3 cups (450g) self-raising flour
80g butter cut into cubes
1&1/4 cups (310ml) milk, plus extra for brushing
Jam (& butter or) whipped cream to serve

M
1. Preheat oven to 200'c. Grease and lightly flour a baking tray (I just used baking paper).
2. Sift flour into a large bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Stir in 1 cup (250ml) of the milk using a flat-bladed knife until dough forms, adding more milk as needed.
3.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead - do not overmix or the scones will be tough. Gently press the dough out into a round about 2cm thick. Using a 5cm round cutter, cut out 12 (or as many as you can) scones. Place on a baking tray, 1cm apart. Brush with a little milk and bake for 20mins, or until lightly golden and well risen. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm, with Jam and cream.

Chicken Soup

We are all still sick, with coughs and runny noses all around. I decided to make my chicken soup. It's basically the same as my beef soup. You can cook this with or without noodles. Serve with Rice or Crusty bread or on it's own. I like to separate the broth from the soup, and put into my Coffee travel cup to drink at work, or hot in the car when I'm stuck in gridlock on the way. If you don't like bones in your soup you can use a thigh fillet. I find the Brest fillets don't have enough fat and the meat becomes dry and flavorless. This recipe serves about 4.

I
1 Tablespoon olive oil
apx 3 Chicken wings per person jointed
2 Large Carrots thinly sliced
4 Sticks of celery sliced
1 Medium Broccoli sliced up stalk and all
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
2 Large onions diced
2 Cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 Chicken stock cube
1 Large pinch of salt
1 teaspoon chili powder or 2 Small dried chili's finely sliced with seeds
1inch chunk of ginger finely diced
1 large pinch of course ground black pepper or 1/2 teaspoon of fine ground pepper

M
1. Heat the oil on a high heat in a deep pot, and lightly brown the onions with the garlic.
2. Boil some water. In a small jug dissolve the stock cube in about 2 cups of water, and add to pot. Add all the rest of the ingredients.
3. Cover all the ingredients with water, stir and replace lid. Turn the heat down real low, and leave to simmer for at least an hour. You don't need to stir it or anything at this point, just make sure that the water isn't boiling.
4. When the meat is cooked through and the soup is a nice shiny golden brown, (if you want noodle soup now is the time to add your noodles and let them cook before you..) ladle into a bowl and eat.

Lite Beef soup

It's soooooooooooooo cold, and half the family have the sniffles, so it's time for SOUP! This is my own recipe, I made it up with allot of trial and error last winter. I've got it down to be practically fool proof. This also works well as a chicken noodle soup, replace beef with Chicken wings, the beef stock with chicken stock, and a few minutes before you want to eat toss in your favorite noodles (I like egg noodles but my husband prefers the 2minute variety). This should serve 4 with a nice crusty bread, I usually make double this and have it again for lunch the next day.

I
1 Tablespoon olive oil
500g Gravy beef or Chunk Steak cut into bite size chunks
1 Large Carrot thinly sliced
2 Sticks of celery sliced
1 Medium Broccoli sliced up stalk and all
1 handful of long beans cut into small pieces
2 Large onions diced
2 Cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1 Beef stock cube
1 Large pinch of salt
1 teaspoon chili powder or 2 Small dried chili's finely sliced with seeds
1inch chunk of ginger finely diced
1 large pinch of course ground black pepper or 1/2 teaspoon of fine ground pepper

M
1. Heat the oil on a high heat in a deep pot, and lightly brown the onions with the garlic.
2. Stir the beef into the onions and leave to simmer on a medium heat with the lid on, stirring occasionally.
3. Boil some water. In a small jug dissolve the stock cube in about 2 cups of water.
4. When the meat is lightly cooked on all sides and all it's lovely juice is simmering nicely, add all the rest of the ingredients. Cover all the ingredients with water, stir and replace lid. Turn the heat down real low, and leave to simmer for at least an hour. You don't need to stir it or anything at this point, just make sure that the water isn't boiling out the sides of the pot. The longer you leave it, the smoother the texture.
5. Ladle into your favorite soup cup and eat!

Potatoes and Onions Indian Style

I got this recipe from Tony Bilson's "Fine Family Cooking". I'm not particularly happy with it. I was expecting some deliciously sticky sweet and spicy potatoes, but it was more like a spicy chunky watery potato soup. The taste wasn't unpleasant, although it looked unappealing and did not go down well with the kids, my husband would eat it again but only served as a side (he'd prefer it beside a large steak). Tony says "This spicy mixture of vegetables is best served with Indian bread, such as chapatti, made from wholemeal (wholewheat) flour." It serves 6 as a main and i think you could get 8 to 10 out of it as a side. I followed these directions to the letter, please let me know if you can work out what i did wrong?

I
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 teaspoons black mustard seeds
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 fresh green chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
4 cups potatoes, boiled and cut into small cubes
3 cups chopped onions
4 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves

M
Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok over a high heat. When oil is very hot, add the mustard seeds and cover the pan as seeds begin to pop. When the seeds stop popping and turn gray, after a minute or two, reduce heat slightly and add ginger and chili. Cook for 2-3 minuets. Add the coriander powder, turmeric and paprika. Stir add the vegetables and saute for 10mins, stirring frequently. Add the water and sprinkle the mixture with salt. Cover and simmer for a further 15 minuets. Stir in the lemon juice and sprinkle with the coriander leaves.

Baked Custard

My grandmother makes this at Christmas time, and i thought I'd give it a go for dessert tonight. It seamed fairly simple, however my baking dish was too deep and the custard cooked faster than it should have, also i was heavy handed with the nutmeg. The kids still finished it off, but the flavor from the nutmeg was overwhelming, and it has lost that nice custardy consistency (it was closer to sweet scrambled eggs by the time I'd served it). Next time i make this I'll monitor the oven more closely, and go much much lighter on the nutmeg. I'll tell you how it goes, as soon as i get some more eggs to try, try again. I got this recipe from "Grandma's quick and thrifty cookbook", by the Readers Digest. Preparation time for this is 5min and 20min in the oven to serve 6. (more like 4)

I
2&1/2 cups (625ml) milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of ground nutmeg

M
1. Preheat oven to 180'c. Lightly oil six 3/4 cup (185ml) ovenproof dishes. (If you'd prefer to make one large custard, use a 5cup/1.25litre baking dish and extend the cooking time to 30min).
2. Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it nearly comes to the boil.
3. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large jug until the sugar has been disolved. Whisking constantly, gradually add the hot milk - don't whisk to vigorously though as you don't want lots of froth on top of the custard. Pour custard into the oiled dishes and sprinkle lightly with nutmeg.
4. Fold a clean tea towel and place it in a large baking dish. Stand the dishes on the tea towel and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the dishes.
5. Bake for 20mins, or untill the custards are just set but still wobbly (the tip of a small sharp knife should come out clean). Carefully lift the dishes out of the baking dish. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.