Just a bit more......

It’s been sooooo long since i last blogged and im sure i have made some stuff since my last post...surely....

anyways, i have dusted off the book and ticked off two recipes - hurrah!

"Corned Beef page 124 and Mustard Sauce page 187"

I used to watch my nana make this allllll the time, was one of my favourites and a regular meal in winter for Sunday lunch.  It was a bit of hit and miss with the mustard sauce, sometimes it was too hot ( easily fixed ) and sometimes it was perfectly sweet i could of just drank it.

Nanas recipe was actually my great nanas recipe and it differs a bit from the Edmonds book.  Although i stuck to the Edmonds recipe this time, just to see how different it was - not too different.

I used my great nanas trick to boil it for half an hour beforehand and then change the water so it’s not overly salty.  Then in goes the rest of the ingredients with some fresh water and back onto boil for the recommended time of 1.5 hours.

The mustard sauce was made as per Edmonds book using the liquid from the beef pot.  Once done, i adjusted it slightly to 3 tablespoons of sugar and noted that i used level teaspoons of mustard.  This was the perfect balance between mustard tang and lip licking sweet! YUM!

Hubby was impressed, i haven’t made corned beef for him before and he gave me the thumbs up.

Just enough leftovers for corned beef and pickle sammies for lunch tomorrow.

I feel uber motivated to make something else.....uh oh!

I should re name this blog, "dumb shit i do"

The sponge recipe called to pour the miture into two tins....

I didnt allow enough cooking time for it to be in the one tin....the sponge ended up being cooked around the edges but gooey in the middle so i ended up with a sponge ring....the cooked part tasted good though so keen to try this one again....correctly
Dumb shit....

Husband asked me to grab a bag of carrots from the markets for work....he said 2 kilo, i heard 20kilo....my bad.  20 kilos of carrots will last about 6 months..shame the carrots wont last that long...

Carrot Cake anyone?

3 Minute Sponge Page 69

Wanted to make something but didnt know what....so i flicked through the book and poked my finger on a random page...this is what i chose :)

I thought sponge was supposed to be difficult....no sifting, not alot of dishes, 3 mins of beating and pour into a greased lined pan and bake for 15 mins- the lining of the tin was the time consuming bit, and lets be honest, its NOT REALLY that time consuming, is it!?

I have some left over raspberry jam from the belguim biscuits and some runny cream left over from another round of panacakes i made for friends on Sunday, so will whip that up and add it to the sponge with some raspberry jam.

Choice :D  If it all turns out well then i always have a fail safe dessert... 5mins to go...

Banana Loaf - page 26

mmmmmmmm yummmm.....i have to say, warm banana loaf with a blob of butter and a hot pot of coffee is a treat on a wintery Sunday afternoon by the fire....

If you dont do anything else today....MAKE THIS

Yes i know today is NOT sunday, but actually Tuesday...so. LOL

This loaf stays moist for a few days and you can even give it a nice little toast in the toaster.  Actually it doesnt really TOAST but it goes nice and warm and a little bit toasty on the outside, not much..but jsut enough mmmm

OM NOM NOM NOM

I decided to have a bit of a break from baking as the Gingerbread and the Banana Cake were both reasonable in size so didnt want to fill up the baking cupboard anymore. Wastage was not the idea of this exercise...

The cupbaord is almost empty so next on the list is AFGANS, check back tomorrow to see how they turned out!

Last night i had a craving for "Pancakes page 212", at 1.30am! ( i had just finished work ) so out came the bowl and Edmonds book.
All mixed up and ready to go, the pan hot and the butter sizzling....first ladle of mixture in.  I decided to check the first pancake before making all of them, as im used to adding sugar to the mix.  They were perfect for SAVOURY but as i was wanting more of a SWEET kick, without adding the sugar factory to the top top of my pancake, i decided this recipe really did need some sugar, so i mixed in some brown sugar, 1/2 cup to exact and a little more milk to bring the consistancy back to the orginal batch. mmmm much better.

I felt like adding a bit of pineapple to the mix so i sauteed some pineapple in butter and then when lightly golden i added my pancake mix....mmmmm  Even the hubby tried a bit and ordered one for himself.

This recipe just got added ( with the brown sugar ) to my personal recipe book. 

OM NOM NOM NOM

Tuesday 03/05/11 Jumping into the kitchen

I last left off jumping into the kitchen....i didn't just jump into the kitchen, i jumped up and down IN the kitchen.  Once i pulled out my "Gingerbread  page 48" and "Banana Cake, page 44 " out of the oven.

No real dramas to report with the Banana Cake, i have made this recipe many times and enjoyed making it again. Moist, light and full of banana chunks YUM! I'm going to ice the remaining half with a passionfruit icing, that's right only half of the cake remains from my baking adventure on Sunday.

Gingerbread was amazing! I actually set out to make Hokey Pokey Biscuits, but I wasnt paying attention and once I had the butter, sugar and golden syrup  in the bowl I kicked straight into creaming it....WHOOPS.  SO I stopped smartly and flicked through the book until I had found another recipe that had the same ingredients and the steps I had already done, thus coming up with Gingerbread, the only thing I was missing was crystallised ginger.  I replaced this with fresh finely chopped ginger, I'm not sure how much of a difference it made, but my result was awesome!

The only concern with my growing biscuit barrels is my growing ass...so, before doing anymore baking, cooking, or eating, I joined the gym, and today, I killed myself in a box squad class....if I'm hurting now, I hate to think how my body is going to feel in the morning.

I'm having a break from 'edmonds cooking school' tonight and hubby is going to cook up a storm and show me how its done.

Tomorrow is a new day and I'm not sure what page its going to fall on....

Friday 29 April 2011

Falling a bit behind with the ol' blogging, but fear not, there is a still a flurry of baking, cooking and mess-making going on.
Friday saw me working, well that was the plan anyway, an hour before I was due to start hubby rings me up and said,"It's dead quiet tonight and I just worked out why, the Royal Wedding, you might as well stay home.  I'll finish up early too, so rustle something up for dinner". Given I was working on Saturday too and hubby was out Sunday and we were going out for dinner on Monday, all I had in my head for any dinner ideas was Roast Chicken for Tuesday night....so off i went in an excited panic, rummaging though the freezer, looking for something that i could turn into a 5 star gourmet treat, ( HA!)  Apart from learning my freezer needs serious filling I also learned it's not AT ALL organised and requires some major OCD attention...* rubs hands and grins like a crazy woman* ...

Flicking through the Edmonds Cookbook, I chose, "Cheesy Sesame-Coated Chicken" page 135, " Chinese Stir-Fried Veges" page 159  and "Potato skins with with Lemon dressing" page 162

A review of the food.....

The chicken did not take 20 mins, it took more like 40 mins before it was ready, I can only put this down to the size of chicken legs when this recipe was first published.  So def, something to note for timing purposes. The recipe calls to remove skin before coating, but we all like crispy chicken skin, so I did half and half to see if it actually made a difference, and yes it does, remove that skin baby! With the coating, I found the cheese didn't really stick to the chicken as with the sesame seeds, so I am keen to try this recipe again, doing half a batch with dipping the chicken in egg first.  I think sprinkling the Parmesan on after would be better also.  The chicken...was....bland? for lack of a better word and perhaps even a bit boring? but funnily enough, AMAZING cold!  Hubby said "with a bit of tweaking this dish could be quite nice" and commented on the perfectly cooked chicken.  I concur. *beams*

Chinese Veges: Tasted pretty good, I omitted the cauli and celery cos neither of us like it...the sauce IMO was a bit "watery" I kind of expected this marinade type sauce, but given the amount of stock you add, I don't think even reducing it would help, but something to play around with in the future, for now, "by the book" hubby really liked them, lots of flavour he said, so that's interesting.

Potato Skins: These were super yum, the pots could of done with baking a bit longer, I would prob pre- prepare them next time till almost cooked and then finish them off just before you take the chicken out.  The sauce was delicious, basic, but def worth giving it a try, would be nice as a sandwich spread with chicken and salad....

Dinner turned out to be reasonably good...I got a bit distracted with the Royal Wedding but it all turned out well in the end and it was on the table not long after hubby was home.

I'm guessing you might be interested in what happened with the Figgy Pudding ..( "Steamed Sponge Pudding" page 213 )..It was nice! very basic and plain but the jam and the fresh figs in it was just the right amount of flavour for it not to be too over-powering.  The base of this pudding also can be used with golden syrup, if you were to add some dates i can imagine it tasting like a sticky date pudding....I'm keen to give this one another go.  The husband doesn't like figs ( I think I'm learning more about my husbands food likes and dislikes than i am about actual cooking!! ) but he was a good sport and tried a piece and said "its actually not that bad" I don't think he will eat any of whats left, but loves to him for even giving it a try.  I had my piece with "Edmonds Pouring Custard" page 209, a childhood favourite, the memories of plums and custard on a winters night watching Disney movies is definitely worth reminiscing...

As I was working yesterday (Saturday) and I took what was left of the Belgium biscuits to work, the bikkie jar is now empty.  Approving nods and comments of "they're mean Tish" has motivated me to do a spot of baking, so while the hubby is off getting some wood for the fire, I'm going to jump into the kitchen...