At Miss E's Birthday weekend i gave the girls a round cake and the following instructions to morph it into a butterfly Well done girls...'A' for effort, and the fun factor!11 candles...whoa we're has the time gone?!

Labels: delicious

…because I always need a reminder to do this!
A copy and paste from today’s ‘Sydney Morning Herald’

“…humans do better on food that's as close to its original state as possible
-As for escaping from a diet of highly processed food Michael Pollan (Author of ‘In Defense of food) advice includes:

- Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognise as food

- Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number.

- Avoid food products that make health claims (food products making health claims are in packets and more likely to be processed, he points out)

- Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle - processed foods dominate the center aisles, while fresher food is around the walls.

- Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. Pollan's advice here is to try and shop at farmer's markets whenever you can.”

What about you? How easy is it for you to eat more whole food and less processed food?

Labels: delicious

BP nearly licked the plate clean last night, declaring it the best meal he’s had!
…just the recipe from the back of the mushroom soup can

Ingredients:
Oil
500g beef cut in thin strips
onion-chopped
2 tsp paprika
1 can mushroom soup
2 Tbsp Tomato sauce
150g button mushrooms-sliced
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp fresh parsley

Method
1.Heat oil in pan and cook beef until to brown-remove and set aside. Add onion and cook until soft then add paprika
2.Return beef to pan, add soup, sauces, stir in mushroom and bring to the boil… reduce heat and simmer for 30 or so minutes until meat is tender
3.Stir in sour cream and parsley. Serve with cooked pasta, rice or mashed potatoes…

Labels: delicious

Miss E's entry.......in the cake decorating competition at the school fair today.
Theme-insects

Labels: delicious

125g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (White works too)
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas mashed
1 tsp lemon juice
1 and 1/4 cup self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder

-Grease or line a 20cm square/round tin
-Beat butter, sugar and eggs
-Mix in the bananas and juice
-Sift in the flour and Baking Powder
-Spread evenly into tin and bake for 30-40 minutes
-Ice or simply dust with icing sugar

“Love to your taste buds from Courtney” (Our beautiful 15year old family friend)

This cake doesn’t really rise much but is SO scummy; deliciously moist and good for days to come. One piece is never enough!
BP tucking in...

Labels: delicious

Yummmm the smell wafting through the house and taste sensation of eating hot cinnamon buns fresh from the oven. Delight.

I first began the love affair when devouring these delish buns at a friends Natalie’s place years ago...made using her bread-maker. Have you got one? QUICK: find the manual that accompanies your bread-maker and hopefully find the recipe for these scrumptious buns!

Labels: delicious

Lucky we had our friend and his cousin who’s cooked hangis for Fijian dignitaries here to help!

‘Hangi’…a Maori earth oven, the food cooked underground using red hot rocks and steam

-First we (We’ll technically BP and the guys) dug a hole in our backyard
Made a fire in hole and heated rocks until white hot-Put a wire rack over the HOT rocks, then quickly laid trays of food on top…pork, lamb, chicken, potato, kumara and pumpkin-Food trays were then covered with layers of foil, wet sacks... and lastly dirt-The rocks so hot our food was pulled out only 1 and ½ hours later-cooked to perfection. DELICIOUS!
Reckon (??!) we might be able try a small one on out own next time…

Labels: delicious

Don’t know how I found this site, but our taste-buds are luuvving it; www.exclusivelyfood.com.au ...imm-imm!

So far have made the decadent Chocolate Caramel Slice for Connect Group-a big hit AND the Lemon Meringue Pie when some friends came for dinner.

Drawling over the site now as there’s nothing excitingly sweet in the cupboards, hence feeling the NEED to whip something up to satisfy my incurable (If curable HOW?!!) sweet tooth.

Labels: delicious

Last night Miss E hurried from her room overly eager for me to hear a poem from her school journal...Food For Thought
Why did I listen to my mum?
“You should eat your capsicum,
your carrots, pumpkin and broad beans,
your pickled onions and your greens.”
Encouraged to try them by my mum,
I managed to eat my capsicum,
my carrots, pumpkin and broad beans,
my pickled onions and my greens.
I wish my mum had listened to me.
I wanted egg and chips for tea.
(Trina Meldrum)

You got it...dinner tonight:
Poached eggs
-Half fill a pan with water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar, then bring to the boil
-Break an egg into a saucer and carefully slip into the pan
-Cover and simmer gently until the white is just set
-Flip onto buttered toast…(or in this case served with oven baked wedges)

Labels: delicious

for ANZAC DAY!

The origin of Anzac biscuits comes from World War I, when the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Apparently the biscuits were sent to soldiers in the war by their families.

Edmonds Cookbook’s ANZAC Biscuit Recipe:

100 g butter
1 Tablespoon golden syrup
½ cup sugar
¾ cup of coconut
¾ cup rolled oats
¾ flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon hot water

Melt butter and syrup together in a pot. Cool.
Mix sugar, coconut, oats and flour…and stir into pot
Dissolve soda in water and add in
Place rounded teaspoonful’s on greased oven tray
Bake in moderate oven for 15 minutes

Labels: delicious

Plan on making these for Good Friday...
Fresh from Kidspot who say it is "a simple recipe for delicious, fresh from the oven, go crazy with the butter, yum buns. Enjoy."

Ingredients
450g Bread Flour
285ml Milk, lukewarm
110g Currants
110g Sultanas
110g Sugar
110g Butter
15g Yeast (or equivalent Dried Yeast)
½ tsp Mixed Spice
¼ tsp Salt

Method
Pre-heat oven to 190°C (fan-forced)
Sieve flour, spice and salt into a bowl.
Rub the butter lightly into flour, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add in currants and sultanas and mix thoroughly.
Dissolve the sugar in a little of the milk and use to mix the yeast into a smooth thin paste, then add to the remaining milk.
Place in a warm place for 10 minutes, until bubbles begin to appear.
Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture to create a light dough, mixing thoroughly.
Cover and allow to stand in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or until doubled in volume.
Turn onto lightly floured board.
Punch down and knead briefly, adding the currants and sultanas, ensuring they are evenly distributed.
Divide into 12 portions.
Shape the dough into round balls, flatten slightly and place on to a greased baking tin.
Mark deeply with a cross shape on top.
Leave in a warm place for 20 minutes to allow to rise again.
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 160°C (fan- forced) and cook for a further 5 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown.
Dissolve 2 teaspoons sugar into 2 tablespoons boiling water until dissolved to become a sugar glaze.
Remove from the oven and immediately brush with the sugar glaze.
Allow to cool.
Makes: 12

Labels: delicious

Our home version of McDonalds latest kids meal:
-With Ravioli, pasta sauce and cup of milk!

Grip it










Dip it










Eat it










Sip it

Labels: delicious

Just made these for our car-mad little friend…whose 3rd birthday morning-tea we are going to tomorrow
You could get much more elaborate but for quick and easy:
Simply make some icing and stick biscuits together and wheels (Smarties) on

Labels: delicious

Whole-foods snacks our kids LOVE to eat:

Eggs: Hard-boiled eggs; my boys whine for these in the same voice they would for chocolate! Boil a bunch and they’ll last a far few days…perfect for lunch boxes and when hunger pangs strike

Healthy cereals: Not just for breakfast; my brothers used to come home from school and devour bowlfuls. My 7, nearly 8 year old seems have an insatiable appetite (Arrr he’s not even a teenager yet!) causing him to tuck into the cereal anytime of day too

Cheese: immm a good slice perfect for when little tummies start rumbling approaching dinner time…lots of cheesy options, one being grilling it on wholegrain toast (With vegemite too for us Down-under!)

A banana wrap: simply peel and wrap in bread hotdog style

Yogurt: We make our own using an Easiyo…often with add ins such as fresh/canned fruit or crushed almond and honey

Kumera chips: sliced sweet potato cooked, single layer on an oven tray until crunchy

Crudités platter: cut up veges, (carrots, celery, cucumber, capsicum, snap peas, broccoli, lightly steamed green beans etc) pita triangles, crackers with a flavoursome dip…

Dips: Lots of delicious pure ingredient dips where I shop and at home have given both hummus made from pureed chickpeas and a bean dip a go too

Fruit bowl: Looking gorgeous with a variety of in season fruit proves irresistible

Smoothies: Good tummy filler…We whip up a concoction of banana, milk, a splash of fruit juice and handful of berries for a nutritious shake.

•Dried fruit and nuts: A handful here and there helps hit the spot when the munchies strike

Scroggin(Trail Mix) Jumble together a combo of nuts, dried fruits, pretzels, whole-grain cereal, sunflower seeds, popcorn, banana chips, chocolate bits, in a bag/container for a handy little snack…OR Let kids make their own by setting out such ingredients for kids to mix and scoop

Frosty fruits: As said our kids can’t get enough of frozen chunks of real fruit — especially grapes. Give others a go too; orange, pineapple, peach, banana, to name a few….

Home-baking: In the last couple of years I’ve found baking relaxing…moving on though from TOO many cupcakes this year are trying add a bit more nutrition into the cake tins; baking fruit and whole-grain goodness into yummy muffins, biscuits and cakes-Not that I don’t make the others as well!

Labels: delicious

Lyn’s Blueberry Muffin recipe...perfect for morning tea with friends this morning:

Cream together:
¼ cup of soft butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg

Add:
1 ½ cups of flour
2 t Baking powder
½ cup of milk

Fold in:
1 cup of blueberries

Spoon in muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes
Delish…couldn’t resist a second!

P.S. A couple of weeks later...just used strawberries instead of blueberries, equally yum! Think it's a great basic muffin recipe you could easily chop and change. Might try peach or even chocolate chips next time...

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 1/25/2007 02:01:00 PM

Labels: delicious

A yummy gift idea

Back now in Auckland staying with my parents at there brand spanking new house...
which gets hooked up to the internet sometime today?!

In the meantime...some fudge:
Teared these recipes out of the New Zealand Herald and just made some to give my grandparents for Christmas
Before i lose the recipe/scrunched up bit of paper...

Russian Fudge
650g (We figured that was about 3 cups and it turned out)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tin condensed milk
125g butter
1/4 tsp salt

1. Put the sugar and milk in a pot and bring to the boil. Add condensed milk, butter,salt and golden syrup. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring frequently
2. Take off the heat and beat with electtic beaters until thick (About 5 minutes)the pour into a buttered dish and cut when set

Chocolate fudge
1/2 cup of milk
2 cups of sugar
25g of butter
2 Tbs cocoa
1 tsp vaniila extract
And to make it Christmas fudge 1/4 cup of pistachio nuts finely chopped

1.Put milk, sugar, butter and cocoa into a pot and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes then remove from the heat and add vanilla(and add ins if you want)
2.Beat with electric beater until thick then pour into a buttered dish. Cut into pieces when set

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 12/22/2006 08:34:00 AM

Labels: delicious

Made this Pavlova for our end of the year Connect Group dinner last night
My mum is an expert pavlova maker…her recipe as follows:

-Heat the oven to 210c
-Beat together 6 egg whites until they form a peak...ie Put the beater on and go do something else for a while!
-Gradually add 1 and1/2 cups of sugar
-2 teaspoon of vinegar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

-Dollop it onto greaseproof paper
-And!!! Turn off the oven as you put it in...
Leaving it in there overnight or for a large part of the morning or afternoon

Top with fresh whipped cream immmm and whatever else takes your fancy or you have in stock...the one in the pic sampling fresh berries and a crumbled flake

Anyway gotta fly…we’re off to MissE's dance concert…

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 12/02/2006 05:46:00 PM

Labels: delicious

250g butter
1 cup of icing sugar
1 cup of cornflour
2 cups of flour

1.Mix butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy
2.Add flour and cornflour gradually, until mix is too stiff to work with spoon.
3.Turn onto floured surface and knead well. If the dough is too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons more butter.
4.Roll out dough and cut with your cookie cutters.
5.Place on a greased tray and bake at 150c for 30 minutes until a pale golden

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 11/21/2006 11:08:00 PM

Labels: delicious

immmmm

Today 4 year old burst in the room, with great gusto announcing; “IT’S CUPCAKE DAY!!!” On Tuesday he asked if we could make cupcakes and I had said how about on Thursday when you don’t have preschool…and well kids don’t forget!

There’s probably lots of divine recipes out there (Please share if you know of any)…this is the one I’ve at hand which does the trick:

Edmonds Cupcake Recipe:
125 g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla Essence
½ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
I cup flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
¼ cup milk

Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
Fold sifted flour and baking powder into mixture
Stir in milk
I then put 12 paper patties in muffin tins and spoon in the mixture evenly and
Bake at 190 c for 15 minutes

As we’re on a sweet overload after having a bowlful at the ready for ‘trick or treaters’, we decided to set the table, for a designer afternoon tea when the older two arrived home:

Cupcake creating and creations (The rest down our cake-holes!)And a spider hiding in J’s lunchbox for school tomorrowI have spiders on the brain…
When putting away washing this morning I felt something nip at me and then saw a spider! Arrrrrrrrrrr
I picked it up with a piece of paper and threw it in the garden, then more psychologically than anything felt kinda giddy…
After checking the net i identified the spider as a small huntsman…which is apparently mostly harmless…and I’m fine-phew!

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 11/02/2006 10:27:00 PM

Labels: delicious

Our friend has bought the following salad over on a couple of occasions, and we all go mad over it…and back for seconds and thirds!

Recently nabbed the recipe off her -which is funnily enough found on the back of ‘Changs Oriental Fried Noodle’ packs… and since made it a few times ourselves

Oriental Fried Noodle Salad

1/2 - 1 Chinese or Savoy cabbage shredded finely
6 green onions (Spring onions?!) chopped finely
100g lightly roasted slivered almonds or pinenuts
1 pkt Changs Fried Noodles

Dressing
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 tblspn soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons Sesame oil (Optional)

Combine all the dressing ingredients, stir/shake well until sugar is
dissolved.
Toss the cabbage, onions, almonds in a salad bowl. Add dressing and noodles
just before serving, mix well.

You can also add shredded bbq chicken or pork.

YUM!!!

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 10/18/2006 07:20:00 PM

Labels: delicious

Last night i made some Strawberry puff daddies...super easy and O SO delicious-dare I admit to eating 3 of them for breakfast this morning
And I wonder why I can’t do up my jeans!!!!

You will need:
Puff pastry
Strawberry jam
Icing sugar and a dollop of butter to make icing
Fresh whipped cream (Humming a immm as I type that)
Strawberries

Simple:
Heat the oven to 220 c
Cut the puff pastry into squares, rectangles, whatever you want, and place on a lightly greased tray
Pop into the oven for approx 10 minutes

Once out and cooled abit:
Make icing adding some jam for a pink colour and berry flavour
Then cut each puff through the middle
And lastly spoon in some fresh cream and sliced strawberry

Yum! Enjoy…and if you’re anything like me (A piggy!) you won’t be able to stop at one!

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 9/27/2006 01:55:00 PM

Labels: delicious

I know for all the Kiwis this will be like “Dahhhh!”….but for the rest of the world just had to tell you about the NZ Edmonds Cookbook
Yep NZ’s no. 1 cookbook and the grubbiest in my collection

Speaking of all things Kiwi…here’s one for all you's(!!)guys:
Sent in by Val!

“GROWING UP IN NEW ZEALAND
I'm talking about hide and seek/spotlight in the park. The corner dairy, hopscotch, four square, go carts, cricket in front of the garbage bin and inviting everyone on your street to join in, skipping (double dutch), gutterball, handstands, elastics, bullrush, catch and kiss, footy on the best lawn in the street, the trampoline with water on it (or a sprinkler under it), hula hoops, jumping in puddles with gumboots on, mud pies and building dams in the gutter. The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.

'Big bubbles no troubles' with Hubba Bubba bubble gum. A topsy. Mr Whippy cones on a warm summer night after you've chased him round the
block. 20 cents worth of mixed lollies and pretending to smoke "fags" (the lollies) was really cool!.. A dollars' worth of chips from the corner take-away fed two people (AND the sauce was free!!).

Being upset when you botched putting on the temporary tattoo from the bubblegum packet, but still wearing it proudly. Watching Saturday
morning cartoons: 'The Smurfs', 'AstroBoy', 'He-man', 'Captain Caveman', 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', 'Jem' (trulyoutrageous!!), 'Super d'', and 'Heeeey heeeeey heeeeeeey it's faaaaaaat Albert'. Or staying up late and being amazed when you watched TV right up until the 'Goodnight Kiwi!'

When After School with Jason Gunn & Thingie had a cult following and What Now was on saturday mornings! When around the corner seemed a long way, and going into town seemed like going somewhere. Where running away meant you did laps of the block because you weren't allowed to cross the road?? A million mozzie bites, wasp and bee stings.

Sticky fingers, goodies & baddies, cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, riding bikes til the streetlights came on.

Going down to the school swimming pool when you didn't have a key and your friends letting you in, drawing all over the road and driveway with chalk. Climbing trees and building huts out of every sheet your mum had in the cupboard (and never putting them back folded). Walking to school in bare feet, no matter what the weather.

When writing 'I love....? on your pencil case, really did mean it was true love. "he loves me? he loves me not?" and daisy chains on the front lawn. Stealing other people's flowers from their gardens and then selling them back to them...

Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Pitching the tent in the back/front yard (and never being able to find all the pegs). Jumping on the bed. Singing into your hair brush in front of the mirror, making mix tapes...

Sleep overs and ghosts stories with the next door neighbours.

Pillowfights, spinning round, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for the giggles. The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. Weetbix cards pegged on the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle. Collecting WWF and garbage pail kids cards.

Eating raw jelly and raro, making homemade lemonade and sucking on a Rad, a traffic light popsicle, or a Paddle Pop... blurple, yollange and prink!

You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents!

You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve and tried (and failed) to wait up for the tooth fairy. When nobody owned a pure-bred dog. When 50c was decent pocket money. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for 10c.

When nearly everyone's mum was there when the kids got home from school.

It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at the local Chinese restaurant (or Cobb'n'Co.) with your family.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed her or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.

Remember when decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" or dib dib's-scissors, paper, rock. "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran
the fastest. Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly.

Terrorism was when the older kids were at the end of your street with pea-shooters waiting to ambush you, or the neighbourhood rottie chased
you up a tree!

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was boy/girl germs, and the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.
Where bluelight disco's were the equivalent to a Rave, and asking a boy out meant writing a 'polite' note getting them to tick 'yes' or 'no'.
When there was always that one 'HOT' guy/girl.

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. Your biggest danger at school was accidentally walking through the middle of a heated game of "brandies".

Birthday beats meant you didn't want to go to school on your birthday!

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. Ice cream was considered a basic food group.. Going to the beach and catching a wave was a dream come true. Boogie boarding in the white wash made you the next Kelly Slater. Abilities were discovered because of a "double- dare".

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

Now, didn't that bring back some fond memories??

If you can remember most of these, you're an Kiwi legend!!! ”

Posted by bestlife to delicious at 9/05/2006 11:20:00 AM

Labels: delicious

Earlier on this year at the boy’s rugby camp we hoed into Adrian’s ‘just right’ pancakes for breakfast….

He used to work at ‘Pancake Palace when he was a student so knows a thing or two!

Asking him how it’s done his secret was in the:
-Self-raising flour and
-Leaving the dough just mixed in but STILL lumpy

Yeah I noticed when he was slaving over the oven that his mixture looked really lumpy.
I’ve normally way over-mixed …and consequently produced (Up until meeting Adrian) very flat and rubbery specimens of pancakes!

Taking his advice and transferring it to our existing recipe though my pancakes have improved untold for the better-Whahoo!

I now use self-raising flour
Don’t stir and stir,
Put the mix in the pan and tilt it in every direction to spread it out
And ‘Whalaa’ fantastic pancakes… that my family devour in next to no time!

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 8/26/2006 05:25:00 PM

Labels: delicious

30th July 2006

Chicken soup requests from:
My friend Mesepa”Hey can I get your Chicken soup recipe as wanting to make some in the weekend”,
And sister in law Kathy“Hey Bec put your chicken soup one in with the mixed herbs etc!”

It began as a fluke using ingredients we had in stock…and repeated many times since!

Ingredients:
Basically just lots of veggies: carrots, zucchinis, celery, green peppers etc
Chicken; cooked from scratch or from the chicken shop
Chicken stock; cube or liquid
Mixed herbs, just the dried ones from a packet
And normally a can, or two of mushroom soup depending on the size of the brew
Water
Salt and lots of cracked pepper-YUM!

To disguise some of the veggie content I normally blend half of them up in our milkshake maker and then tip back in…. the kids none the wiser sipping spoonfuls into their mouths

Great on a cold winter’s day with buttered crusty bread…cosy!

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 7/30/2006 08:05:00 PM

Labels: delicious

July 19th 2006

Okay okay I NEED pass these on, over the coming weeks…I’ve nearly cooked these recipes to death!
All three are scrummy, and the recipes recently requested by friends

1) Coconut Chocolate Brownies …
My most baked cake…quicker than a trip to the shop for something for school
lunches or when guests are coming over
2) Chicken and veggie soup… a delish and comforting way of getting a whole lot of goodness
3) Apple/fruit crumble…easy-peasy and one of my winter favourites

TODAY Chocolate Brownies for Debbie –we got chatting about baking last week while our kids swam
Debbie and family were our wonderful neighbours at our last place
BP made a little gate in the fence bordering our houses and the kids would play between yards for hours and hours (Can you come be our neighbours again!)…
Often Deb would send treats through the fence…
And Man we’d JUMP the fence at an invite to one of their yummy BBQ’ Yahoo!

COCONUT CHOCOLATE BROWNIE
From the NZ Edmonds Cookbook (Which I must tell you about another day) and doubled for our house:

250g butter
½ cup of cocoa
4 eggs,
2 cups of sugar
Vanilla Essence
1 cup coconut
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Heat oven to 180 c
Get a pot and melt the butter on a low heat
Add cocoa and stir over low heat for 1-2 minutes
Remove from the heat and stir in sugar,
Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition
Beat in vanilla and coconut
Sift and stir in flour and Baking Powder
Pour in greased, shallow 20x30cm cake tin
Bake for 30-35 minutes (It’s done in 20 in our oven)
You then really really MUST (because it’s now in the instructions!) lick the spoon and scrape the pot…can’t miss out on any of life’s pleasures-
When done and cooled a bit…cut into bars, triangles or squares and sieve icing sugar on top

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 7/19/2006 06:00:00 PM

Labels: delicious

July 2nd 2006

Yum when mum was here last week she made ‘Good old fashioned Casserole’, at my request.
I loved it as a kid with potatoes in their jackets….so warm and cosy
She just emailed through the recipe, thinking it funny I’d want to post up such a simple tasting, old, old favourite…

Beef Casserole:

Cubed/Sliced beef
1 large onion
3 medium carrots
Tablespoon of tomato sauce (chilli sauce if preferred)
Tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 Tbsp flour
1 beef stock (crumbled)
Seasoning

Place meat in casserole dish, add chopped onion and carrots. Shake flour over meat and then add sauces, herbs, stock and seasoning. Add water, only just covering the meat and cook for 2 and ½ hours at 180 degrees.

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 7/02/2006 08:21:00 AM

Labels: delicious

June 10th 2006

Jamin; “How cool, chocolate for dinner!”

Don’t be alarmed we feed them up on veggies for lunch…and then later this afternoon headed to “Max Brenner Chocolate bar” at the recommendation of a friend
Although delicious for the money we forked out it hardly touched the sides of our small tribe (Sammy with us too today)…
So we decided to make a pit stop to supermarket on the way home and reproduce our own chocolate fondue concoction…

Ingredients:
A block of chocolate
Grapes
Dried apricots
Strawberries
And gave the cubed banana bread and marshmallows they also had a miss this time round (Although very yummy too)

We don’t have a fondue set so put the chocolate in a bowl and then sat the bowl in hot water until it melted
Threw out the picnic rug in front of the fire and all gathered around with forks ready to dip inYum!
And all agreed it was just as good, if not better!

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 6/10/2006 08:24:00 PM

Labels: delicious

June 3rd 2006
"Crunchy munchy honey cakes they're great to eat and they're fun to bake,
in your hand or on a plate, crunchy munchy honey cakes!"
Are you singing along?!

My four were hyped to be making 'Crunchy munchy honey cakes';having ALL been fan's of the Wiggles at some time or another.

Found the official recipe here on The wiggles website
Wondered if the mixture looked a bit dry and crumbly...but we rolled them up, flattened them out and they cooked up "Great to eat"...have had a few!

Ingredients:
3 cups muesli flakes
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup coconut
125 grams butter
2 teaspoons honey
3 tablespoons milk

Method:
Combine muesli flakes, sugar, coconut and sifted flour in a bowl and mix well.
Heat butter, honey and milk. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well.
Roll into balls the size of walnuts and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 - 180 degrees C (300 - 350 degrees F)
for 15 - 20 mins or until golden brown.
Cool on trays.

YUM-BPs cooking too...smelling his chicken noodle soup as i write immmm
Later BP and i are off to a Trivia Night at the rugby club which I'm looking forward to

Soups ready
Speak to you soon...

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 6/03/2006 04:59:00 PM

Labels: delicious

May 17th 2006

Had to get the recipe off mum...
I've a definite weakness for winter puddings-Yum!

"Hi Bec
...out of a recipe book by Simon Holst

STICKY DATE PUDDING/S

For 6 individual (or one 23cm square) pudding/s:
1 cup (about 175gm) pitted dates, chopped
1 cup hot water
50g butter
1 cup self raising flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon mixed spice
¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs

Place the roughly chopped dates in a medium sized microwave bowl. Cover with the water then microwave on high power for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the butter, then set aside to cool.

Sift the flour, baking soda and spices into another medium bowl, then stir in the brown sugar. Add the eggs to the date mixture, stir until well combined, then fold this into the dry ingredients.

Divide the mixture between 6 large non stick sprayed or oiled muffin pans, or pour into a prepared 23cm cake tin. Cover muffin tins with foil, then place in a roasting pan containing 2 cm of boiling water. Bake at 180 degrees C (or 170 fan bake) for 25 – 30 minutes until puddings are firm when pressed in the centres. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before removing from pans. (Bake the large pudding uncovered for 30 minutes or until centre is firm when pressed.)

Serve warm topped with the sauce below.

BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE:

1 cup sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons orange liqueur or grated rind of ½ an orange.

Combine all ingredients and heat until sugar dissolves. (For a thicker sauce, simmer, stirring frequently for 5-10 minutes)

There it is – they are so yummy. I make them in the individual muffin pans! Don’t forget to cover them with foil and stand the muffin tray in water – that’s what makes them moist and not like muffins!!

Have fun cooking
Love Mum x"

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 5/17/2006 01:32:00 PM

Labels: delicious

May 8th 2006

Yum! Warm comfort food for a chilly night

Got the main idea for this risotto from the instruction book accompanying our rice cooker…then chopped and changed ingredients depending on the contents of our fridge

Ingredients:
1-2 Tablespoons each of both butter and olive oil
1 onion
200 grams/1 cup-ish of ingredients you have at the ready: mushroom, bacon, chopped up sausages, cooked chicken corn…etc
2 1/2 cups Arborio rice
3 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

What to do?
Place butter and oil in rice cooker bowl and press switch down to cook for a few minutes
Stir in onion and meat/veges, and cook for a bit
Add rice and stock
Then put on the lid and cook until rice cooker switches to “On/warm”
Gently fold in cheese and parsley
Replace the lid and stand for 10 minutes on “warm”

Tonight:
"Quick!" the ‘Strictly Ballroom’ DVD we hired last week is due back tomorrow...
…had wanted to show the kids Paul Mercario; a judge on ‘Dancing with the Stars’in this classic 1992 Australian film...
Seen it?
Remember dowdy Fran transforming and dancing with Scott Hastings in the Pan Pacifics?!

To avoid a late night (School cross country tomorrow) we threw down a rug beside the fire and picnicked on our risotto while watching it

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Posted by bestlife to delicious at 5/08/2006 08:32:00 PM

Labels: delicious