Saucy!

We think there's nothing worse than running out of tomato sauce when you're making pies, so tonight I quickly made up this tasty substitute.

I don't have any precise measurements because I just chucked bits and pieces in quickly (the pies were already done, so no time to waste!).

Desperado Tomato Sauce

1 can peeled whole tomatoes

cracked black pepper

Worcestershire sauce

onion powder

dried chives

dried parsley

dried mixed herbs

: : : : : : :

Empty can of tomatoes into blender, with a sprinkling and a splash of each of the other ingredients.

Blend on high until combined.

Pour into jar or bottle.

Enjoy with some freshly made savoury mince pies.

(Refrigerate)

The Big Day

Thanks to all the people who sent birthday wishes to Ollie yesterday (and today) - it's lovely that you were all thinking of him :)

He loved his Igglepiggle birthday cake. I decided to just go with the head after seeing Hoppo Bumpo's Elmo cake. Of course, I didn't have any fancy gel colouring to ice it with (on my wish list), so improvised with the watermelon hair and melted chocolate for the eyes and mouth.
He had a fabulous day out at the zoo, catching up with some friends, including a few furry ones...
...and collapsed in bed at the end of a full day!

Pink Ribbon Breakfast

Ollie and I attended a very pink Pink Ribbon Breakfast in St Kilda this morning. So much sickly sweet pink (I could hardly bear to look at it all)! Not much in the way of savoury foods, so I'm feeling the need for some salt to balance out all that sugar. All for a good cause, though.

After much persuading on my part, Ollie finally agreed to go on a pony ride in the park across the road from the breakfast.

I could only get him on the horse after telling him he'd be a cowboy like Woody from Toy Story. He loves that movie.

Yes, Ollie is wearing a pink t-shirt. I had joked about making him a pink hat or something to wear to the Pink Ribbon Breakfast, then went to hang out the wet washing. Most of it was pink :( In my haste to shove everything in the machine, I put a brand new red t-shirt into the wash!

Tomato Relish

I struggle to find gifts that I can make myself to give to men. The one thing I always fall back on is food.

A friend mentioned a few months ago that her husband loves relish and chutney. After coming across a couple of kilos of ripe tomatoes at a great price, I decided to whip some up for the men folk I know. I googled 'tomato relish' and found this easy recipe. I've got 7 good sized jars of it, so that's them sorted!

Have you joined Blogtoberfest? If not, head on over to Big Cat's Emporium.

More jam...

...this time it's strawberry and kiwi fruit jam. Really yummy.

Again, made in the bread machine, so no real skill involved. I think I had about 500 grams of chopped up fruit and 400 grams of jam-setting sugar (has added pectin). I also added a squeeze of lemon juice. The bread machine does all the hard work! I also made some raspberry and strawberry jam, just using some frozen raspberries and the rest of the strawberries. My freezer is chockers full of jam - but at the rate Miss J eats it, it won't last long :)

Oh My...

That strawberry jam I made yesterday is so delicious! Ollie and I have just had strawberry jam on fresh white bread for lunch - so yummy!! The consistency turned out fine - not too runny at all. Personally, I'm usually a raspberry jam girl, or even rhubarb jam, but maybe now I'm a strawberry jam kind of girl too  :)

Look! I couldn't even take a photo of the 4 quarters of the sandwich! One quarter was in my mouth before I'd even finished cutting them all!

A play dough kind of week.

::Dendy Park, Brighton. Saturday.

::Ollie's all-time favourite swing.

Ollie goes through phases with his play - some weeks it's all about the cars, others it's the dress ups. This week is a play dough week. At least three hours today (which I was grateful for, as I was feeling the on-going effects of a sleeping tablet I took last night). Today he rolled about a gazillion balls (and dropped most of them onto the floor!).

Tasty doughnuts

Today I whipped up a batch of delicious doughnuts (using the recipe in Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2). Easy (yet time consuming) to make, but not without it's dangers! I received an oil burn on my arm when I accidently dropped some dough into the oil from a height - OUCH!!! Ollie tried to make it better by giving it a big sticky sugary kiss (which really did nothing except make it sticky!).I couldn't find my round biscuit cutters, so ended up improvising with a little medicine cup I found in the utensil draw! I love buying the cinnamon doughnut holes, so these were the perfect size :)

Miss J served some with melted chocolate for dessert after Ollie went to bed tonight. I still feel slightly queasy 4 hours later - sugar overload!

Winter warmer...

What better way to spend a wintery cold weekend than to crochet in front of the fire?? My rug is really coming along now, with 24 squares completed. 

On a different note, I'd like to thank Fern and the other girls at Craftblog for giving me a plug on their Wednesday Blog Love. It was a real surprise, and I'm so delighted! Thank you!

Brownie Goodness

I found this Donna Hay recipe on the internet about 2-3 years ago, but can no longer find a link to it. 

Chocolate Brownies

375g butter

2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

2 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup cocoa, double sifted

200g dark melted chocolate

3/4 cup milk

~

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Beat eggs and sugar for 8-10 mins. Gradually add eggs.

Add melted chocolate, then stir through dry ingredients and milk.

Spoon into greased/lined 20cm by 30cm slice tray.

Bake for 50 minutes.

This little lady is still waiting for someone to fix the (stuffing) hole in her head, weeks after she was started! A face would be nice, too. I came across the pattern on by the Black Apple here.

Empire Red

:: KitchenAid Mixer

Really, is there any other colour?? This arrived in the post today (have I mentioned how much I love my postie?). I put it straight to good use, making a batch of Donna Hay Chocolate Brownies (I'll post the recipe later, a bit stretched for time at the moment). An absolute delight to use! Much quieter than I thought, too (good for Ollie, who doesn't cope well with loud noises).

Winter warmer

PUMPKIN AND SWEET POTATO SOUP

500g pumpkin

250g yellow sweet potato

1 large potato

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp sugar

2.5 cups vegetable/chicken stock

ground pepper

Peel and dice vegies. Saute onion, garlic and sugar in a little butter in a saucepan for a few minutes before adding all other ingredients. Simmer until tender. Push through sieve, or use blender (or just mash like I did). Return to saucepan to heat. If too thick, add more liquid. Garnish with chopped parsley and chives.

What to do on a wintery day...

It's a very wintery day in Melbourne today - so glad I took advantage of the gorgeous days we had during the week! Today is a day for knitting and cooking. 

Ollie and I made some ham and pickles scrolls, and some cheese and vegemite scrolls from a recipe in my bread machine cook book (the manual that comes with the bread machine). Very easy, and very yummy!

We also made this chocolate slice from sadieandlance. Quick and easy, and very reminiscent of one we used to make as kids. I added crushed peanuts and a handful of choc bits to my dry ingredients, very yum.

Now back to the couch to knit a baby surprise jacket! I'm not much of a knitter, so thought I'd try an easy pattern (not too good at reading patterns). I'll post photos of it when it starts to look like something.

Rhubarb Jam

Ollie and I went to a farmers market yesterday, bright and early. Loved it! I bought a couple of bunches of the most delicious looking rhubarb. I came home and immediately made a big batch of Rhubarb Jam.

My sister sent me a link for the original jam recipes ages ago, I've made it a heap of times since then, with a little variation here and there. I use vanilla essence instead of a vanilla bean, and I also add the zest of a lemon when cooking. So delish! I usually use smaller jars which I then give to people as a thank you (eg thanks for lunch, here's some jam). I think there are lots of people out there who don't know how delicious rhubarb is, and I'm more than happy to spread the rhubarb love :)

Frangipani Pie

I made Ollie some playdough today when he was supposed to be having his nap. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it!

The recipe is as follows (it was taken from the Cream of Tartar lid)

2 cups Plain flour

4 tablespoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup salt

2 cups water

vanilla essence

food colouring

Mix the above ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture congeals.

Allow to cool before kneading. Store in a container so it doesn't dry out.

I also made my all-time favourite dessert (I used to think it was a secret Grandma recipe, but turns out she got the recipe off a can of pineapple!!). Frangipani Pie, in case you didn't catch that from the title of this post :)
I had to cut into it so you could see the layers (but you can't really see them anyway). Yummm! You can find the recipe here. Not hard to make, so so tasty, I highly recommend it!

Baking

What better way to make someone feel better than to drop off some freshly baked goodies!

Gingernut Biscuits

1 cup caster sugar           2 tbs melted butter

1 egg                                 2 tbs golden syrup

2 cups SR flour                3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon   white sugar, extra

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Roll into small balls, then coat in white sugar. Place on greased oven trays and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake at 200 degrees C for 10-12 mins.

I got the cupcake recipe from here. I added the zest of one orange and some fresh orange juice instead of the milk. I also used some fresh orange juice in the icing.

My young son was desperate to eat the biscuits before they were cooked. He totally distracted me by successfully using the potty, then as I was cleaning that up, he raced into the kitchen and jammed 3 uncooked biscuits in his gob! Cheeky monkey!

Anzac Bickets

I get really excited when I have friends coming over - what can I cook for them??? My friends are always an appreciative audience. 

Anzac Biscuits

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup plain (all purpose) flour

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons golden syrup

60g butter

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)

1 tablespoon hot water

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Place oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl.

Melt butter and golden syrup in saucepan over low heat.

Mix the bicarb soda and water together, then add to melted butter mixture. Stir til frothy.

Pour into dry ingredients, mix well.

Place balls of mixture on greased baking trays. Flatten slightly, allowing some room to spread.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.