Marshmallow Adventures

 Who doesn't have a photo of a baby covered in food?

And aren't they always the cutest photos.

Heather has been supervising the making of Marshmallow Bunnies.

We both are now suffering from sugar highs.

Well we did have to taste test and clean the bowls.

 I made two batches this morning.

I wanted to test out the moulds.

A bit of a disaster so far but I'm learning a few tricks as I go along.

I used this recipe

 This is the first batch I made.

I let the marshmallow get too thick before putting in the moulds,

they didn't mould very well at all.

A coconut covering is hiding a lot of sins!

 These are my moulds.

I only have 4 and 7 children

Two batches were required to avoid the fights.

 To stop the marshmallow sticking to the moulds.

I sprayed each with oil and brushed it in.

 Then coated the oil with a mix of half and half corn flour and icing sugar.

It worked and none of my creations stuck.

 My problem I think is whipping my marshmallow too much 

and having it too thick when I put it into the moulds.

 I thought I had it thinner in the second batch but still it didn't mould well.

 I did manage to get one bunny to mould well.

But really once you get his fur on (toasted coconut) it's hard to tell.

I think I'm going to be a popular mum when the kids get home from school today.

But I also think I'll regret this when they are bouncing off the wall with the sugar high.

Christmas treats

Rum balls, White Rocky Road and Peanut Butter Balls

There is also some shortbread in the tin, 

but there isn't much left to photograph.

The kids have been busy in the kitchen with me.

I used THIS recipe for the Rum Balls

THIS recipe for the peanut butter balls

And the White Rocky road was posted to the Crafty Mama Forum by Mandy. 

I changed it as I didn't have any pistachios.

My version was:

375g white chocolate melted
1 packet of mini multi-coloured marshmallows

100g dried cranberries
100g almonds

1 cup of shredded coconut

I melted the chocolate in the microwave and mixed everything else in.

Then spooned the mix into a small paper lined baking dish to set in the fridge.

Just go eat worms....

 

Nobody loves me, everybody hates me

Think I'll go and eat worms 

Long ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones 

See how they wriggle and squirm

 

My kids are generally dirty enough to have been eating real worms.

 ABC Radio validated me as a parent by telling me that:

Dirty kids are Healthy kids!

Article HERE

See there was a reason (beside me being lazy) for my kids being grot monsters.

Thanks to The Handmaden for this wonderful dessert.

The kids loved making it as much as eating it.

"Can we have this again???"

Good Morning ..I made breakfast for you...

 Mulberry muffins!

Made with this blueberry muffin recipe, I substituted mulberries.

Sorry you weren't quick enough getting here. 

They're all gone.

They were very nice.

Easy to make round baking tin liner

The older I get the more I know I have a lot to learn.

I was teaching a home Ec class and I went to help a student line his cake pan.

"I already know that," he said and turned his back.

So I went to the next student.

And showed her my little trick for lining a cake pan.

She finished lining her pan quicker than he did.

First you tear a piece of baking paper as wide as the pan.

 Next you fold it into quarters. Taking notice of where the center of the paper is.

 Then fold the two sides next to that center point to meet.

 Then do that again.

 Put the paper on the pan and eyeball the middle. 

Match the middle of the pan with the center point of the paper.

 Use your fingers to mark the outer edge of the pan. 

Then use scissors to snip just in front of your fingers.

Open up the paper and you have the perfect cake pan liner!

A much quicker method than drawing around the pan then cutting,

Especially if you can never find a pen.

The message of my little story:

Sometimes we "think" we know it all.

And we don't!

Even if we think we know, we should listen.

We might actually learn something!

New old Bread tins

I had some fun yesterday.  Wendy came to visit from Adelaide. We went  to explore the op shops between here and Port Pirie.

I've been searching for bread tins for a few weeks and yesterday I found some in an Antique shop in Crystal Brook.

I was so excited I had to scrub them clean and oil them up and make a batch of bread last night. Made for a late night!

But the results were worth it.

I'm using the Lauke Multi-grain bread mix.

I have tried making bread without a bread mix but I've not had a lot of success.

What's a Quesadilla?

 Michael likes his with baked beans

I didn't know until a couple of days ago. 

And from now on they will be seen around here often.

A Quesadilla is:

A quesadilla (Spanish pronunciation: [kesaˈðiʎa], usually anglicized as /ˌkeɪsəˈdiː.ə/) is a Mexican food made primarily of cheese inside a folded corn or wheat tortilla and cooked until the cheese melts. Occasionally a second ingredient is added with the cheese to add variety to the dish.

From Wiki!

Pete and I like ours with rainbow chard cooked with chili, onion, garlic and cream cheese.

In my recent efforts to cut the grocery bill I've been making my own torillas too. The kids prefer wraps to sandwiches in their school lunch. The supermarket wraps are over $4 for a packet of 8! For us that is $12 a week just on wraps. So a little internet search and I came up with a lot of recipes and videos to show me how to make tortillas.

The Recipe I've been using:

Best Recipes Recipe

The video to show me how:

How to Make Tortillas

Tortillas Recipe

I make a batch the night before and the kids make fresh wraps for school in the morning.  I've reduced $12 for wraps down to around $3 for the ingredients! And the bonus of knowing what my kids are eating, no more preservatives.

Rice Bubble slice - seriously nice

My kids go through phases with cereal. One week they love weet-bix and then they won't touch them for ages. Same with Rice bubbles. I've had a pack of rice bubbles sitting in the cupboard for a while and they need to be used up. 

A little web search and I found this post on Realmums.com.au. Looks like a fabulous forum. I've not come across it before. As the poster has no idea where this recipe comes from and it's probably one of those recipes that has been hanging around forever, I'm not going to feel too guilty reposting it here. I'll at least rewrite it for you and acknowledge where I saw it.

Rice Bubble Slice

125gms of butter

2 Tsps of golden syrup

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of coconut

5 cups of rice bubbles

In a large saucepan melt together the butter, syrup and sugar. And cook for a few minutes. Be careful not to burn. You are making a caramel so let it boil without stiring for a couple of minutes so its nice and thick and sticky. 

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the coconut and rice bubbles.

Press into a paper lined dish and put it in the fridge to cool.
(you can sprinkle a little extra coconut on top, if you wish)

Once cool take it out the dish and with a sharp knife cut it into small squares or rectangles.

It will be very crisp and yummy and moorish ......

I think this is going to be a hit with the kids. It's so simple to make. I'm wondering if I can do the same to the half pack of Cheerios and Cronflakes.

Cooking adventures..

This week was my turn for Cupcake duty. 

I was trying to make THESE, but my cakes didn't rise enough so I had to make something up. 

The kids thought these were good enough. 

The horns are banana lollies chopped in half, jaffa eyes and candy teeth. 

I used a butter frosting and dipped each cake into coloured sugar.

These were a winner with Pete and the kids.

Chocolate Cream Biscuits.

(Don't you love all the free recipes on the web?)
I'm planning on baking another batch for The Biggest Morning Tea this Thursday.

These are simply Arnotts Marie Biscuits, iced and decorated with hundreds and thousands and smarties. These are also destined for The Biggest Morning Tea.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea raises money for the fight against cancer.

My dad died of cancer, just over two years ago.

I miss him.

Please support your local morning tea and help to support the fight.

The best Apple crumble..

Rose and I baked some Anzac biscuits this morning. 

It was a case of too many cooks. 

We forgot to add the sugar!

Even with the golden syrup they were awful, to say the least.

Rather than throw them to the chooks I thought I'd try to save them.

I crushed up the biscuits and mixed in some brown sugar and sprinkled the mixture over a jar of pie apples. 

Back in the oven it all went.

The result was the best Apple crumble ever.

We've had a wonderful week here.

The highlight was the school sports day.

Go Red!!

Blue and Red tied for the cup and Yellow scored the spirit cup so every team was a winner!

The weather was perfect, the fans well behaved.

The sportsmanship beyond reproach.

I've not had much time for crafting.

I spent the week cooking, socialising and eating.

These were a big hit with the kids.

I've baked them twice as they disappear quick. 

Michael pushes a chair and steals them off the bench when I'm distracted.

The recipe is from Best Recipes -

Fairy Biscuits.

Another winner were the Rock cakes:

Recipe from Best Recipes:

Mix and Melt Rock Cakes

I believe it's as important to give as to take.

So I make the effort to leave a review and thank the author for putting the time and effort into sharing with me. 

A simple thank you can mean as much as a bunch of flowers.

Passing on memories of childhood treats...

Do you remember these from your childhood?

They were always a favorite at the school fete.

Are they an Aussie tradition or are they a fond memory across the seas too?

School holidays are with us here.

And these little treats will keep the kids sucking for hours!

The recipe is very simple but easy to ruin I've burnt many a pan in the past making these toffees.

Toffees

1 cup of caster sugar 

1 teaspoon of butter or marg

2 tablespoons of vinegar. (I used white)

2 Tablespoons of hot water.

3 or 4 drops of red food colour. (optional)

6 patty cases (cupcake papers)

Hundreds on Thousands to decorate. (optional)

Place all the ingredients in a pan.

Stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Then boil slowly for around 15 mins without stirring.

I use a candy thermometer and boil it until it is 150 degrees C (hard Crack)

Test the toffee by placing a small amount into a cup of water, it should go hard. 

You don't need a thermometer but it is easy to boil it too much and make it go brown and burn. 

Trying to wash burnt toffee off pans is not easy.

Don't ask my mum how I know!

Take the pan off the heat and let the bubbles settle, stir in a few drops of red food colour.

Place around 3 tablespoons of the toffee into each patty case and sprinkle hundreds and thousands on the top and leave to set.

My Friend Gilly is a temptress...

Fancy posting a recipe like this on a forum where a pregnant woman hangs out!

Now the big question is....
how much will be left for the kids lunches tomorrow?

Cold Meat Fritters

Or how to make a roast stretch to a second meal...


This is a favourite of the kids. Very easy and economical to make.



1.5 cups of Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1.5 cups of chopped cooked meat - about 1 cm square pieces. I used roast Pork.
1 cup of Chopped veg - I used frozen mixed veg
1/2 a cup of grated cheese.

Olive oil to fry, because it tastes and smells nice. You can vary this to another oil.

Method:

Put the oven on to warm at a moderate temp. This isn't to cook the fritters just to keep them warm as you cook the whole batch.

Mix flour, eggs and milk together. Until smooth and thick.
Add the meat, vegetables and chesse. Stir to combine.



Drop large spoonfuls of mix into a fry pan on a medium heat.
You don't want it too hot or the outside with cook too quickly and the inside won't.
Cook a few minutes on one side and turn and cook the other side.

Pop them into a warmed pan and place them in the oven as you cook the rest of the batch.
This is handy if the inside hasn't cooked long enough, plus it lets the excess oil drain off.

I served tonight's with baked beans.
A very simple meal.
I'm a simple home cook.
I recently saw an episode of Compass featuring Gay Bilson she talked about how under valued basic home cooking is.
I totally agree with her.

I think we are loosing our cooking heritage. We don't all need to be Master Chefs, or present our food like one to be a good home cook.

Give me good old fashioned, slap it on a plate meals, any day over the culinary delights of the restaurants.

You can try adding lots of different ingredients and spices to the mix.
I don't add salt to my cooking. I think it ruins the taste.
I like to taste my food, not the salt.
Mum never cooked with salt so I'm not used to lots of salt in home cooking.
So if you can't do without salt sprinkle a bit at the end.
I do have a salt shaker, but I can never find it and it's probably caked up or empty.
You can add pepper too. I don't because my kids don't like it.

My kids like to eat these with lashings of tomato sauce, especially mummy's homemade.
I like them with pickles.

I often make these with corned beef and have used left over ham and turkey at xmas.

Homemade LCM bars

The recipe for theses comes from HERE

I varied it.
I used 2 and 1/2 cups of rice bubble. 1 cup of Cocoa pops and 1/2 cup of M&M mini bakes.
I cut the mix into 12 good sized bars.

All up I estimate them to cost $5.50 for 12.

Pinwheel Scones - Easy school lunch

These are a favorite in my kids lunch boxes.
A great alternative to sandwiches
Quick to make, 10 minutes to make and 15 minutes to bake.

Ingredients

2 cups of SR Flour
3 tablespoons of margarine or butter
approximately 3/4 cup of milk
Handful of chopped ham
Handful of grated cheese
Approximately 1/2 a cup of Tomato paste or pasta sauce or pizza sauce.

Method

Put the flour in a bowl and give it a stir with a whisk to add some air.
Rub in the butter/margarine.
Using a spatula cut in the milk, you want a firm dough not sticky at all.
I use my hands to work the dough together and give it a quick knead.
Roll the dough into a long rectangle.
The dough should be about 5mm thick.
Spread the rectangle with the sauce.
Sprinkle on the cheese and ham.
Roll it up and slice it 1.5cms thick.
Place on a baking tray.
Top a little cheese on the scones
Put in a very hot oven for 10-15 mins.

Now you have to resist eating them!

Clever Marketing

Freshly baked 3 dozen Banana and Choc chip muffins.
My recipe is HERE
I varied it and used 1/2 wholemeal flour.

I had no intention on baking these today. When I went to the supermarket they were giving away overripe bananas. Being the frugal person I am (sometimes) I grab a couple of kilo. I then went and bought flour, margarine and choc chips to make the muffins.

The supermarket by giving away the overripe bananas, something they would normally throw out, have increased their sales of baking goods! How clever :D It pays to shop local.

Homemade Tomato Sauce

I spent the morning sewing. I made Fern a blouse to go with her skirt. It's an Enid pattern so I blogged it over on my Enid blog. I spent the afternoon making tomato sauce. Using my tried and true recipe. Last year I had the use of my friend Lisa's Moulin. This year I bought my own.

Peter helped and washed and de-stalked all the tomatoes.
The new stove is a lot bigger and the pots sit without overhanging. I can get 3 large stockpots on the new stove. I struggled to get 2 on my old stove.

A moulin makes it so easy to get the seeds and skins out of the sauce.
I found my Moulin on Ebay on a buy it now. I was so happy as I only paid $16.95 with free postage and the ones on the Auction had been going for over $40!
I prefer these old metal Moulin to the modern plastic ones.

Here's the results. The large jars are 750ml.

Jam Buns

I made these when I was a teenager. I found the recipe again in mum's recipe book. These are a huge success with the kids. It's an old recipe and is in imperial measurements, lucky I have scales that measure imperial. I usually double the recipe and divide the dough into 16.

6 oz flour (170gm)
pinch of salt
2 oz butter (60gms)
2 oz caster sugar (60gms)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
milk as required
About 1 tablespoon Jam

1. Place flour and salt into a bowl. Give it a whisk to add a bit of air.
2. Rub in butter.
3. Stir in the sugar and baking powder.
4. Beat the egg with 2 tablespoons of milk.
5. Add milk and egg mix to the flour mix. ( You may need to add a little more milk) Work the mixture into a stiff dough.
6. Divide into 6 portions, roll into balls.
7. Place on a baking tray and make a hole with your thumb in the center of each bun. Put a little jam in each hole and pinch the bun together to enclose the jam.
8. Brush the buns with a little milk and sprinkle them with sugar.
9. Put in a hot oven 450F for 15 minutes.

They really are very yummy. Not a biscuit and not a cake a bit of a cross between the two.

Yep ... I made 'em!

Chocolate Cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing.
No packet mixes were used in the creation of these cupcake.
Just all the real good stuff - butter, milk, duck eggs, flour, cocoa, sugar, vanilla
These are for the school tuck shop in the morning.
All members of the household have been warned to keep their grubby mitts off!

Nan's Chocolate Cake Recipe

Nan's Chocolate Cake

When I was 10 my Nan came to stay with us for a few months. My Nan lived in Wales and we live in Australia. I have many fond memories of my Nan. She loved to bake and cook for us.

My mum recently gave me her old recipe book. Inside on one of the fly pages Nan had written down her chocolate cake recipe. I baked it for Fern's birthday cake. It turned out beautiful.

Nan's Chocolate Cake

1 cup of SR Flour
1 Cup of Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cocoa
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1/2 cup Milk

Over this pour three tablespoons Melted Butter
Beat for 3 minutes
Bake in a shallow tin at 180c for 50minutes.