Comfort Food

There are just some days you need to fall back on the comfort of food from your past.  It nourishes you, and makes you feel that you can face whatever life throws your way.  One of the dishes that I turn to is a dish from my childhood Macaroni Cheese, not any Macaroni Cheese, the one that my Mum used to make.  She used to put lots of interesting bits in, always halved boiled eggs, mixed vegies, ham or salami, tomato, cauliflower or any leftover vegetables.  The top was always crunchy and the sauce very cheesy.

I am very old fashioned and make my cheese sauce the old fashioned way, if you prefer another quicker method do so.  I made enough for 3 to 4 servings.

Cheese Sauce

Ingredients

50 gm butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1-2 cups grated cheese

½ teaspoon mustard powder

1teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Pepper

2 cups of macaroni elbows

Additions of choice – I used sliced biersticks, cauliflower, 1 small leek, 2 boiled eggs , slices of tomato, breadcrumbs.

Method

Melt butter in saucepan.  Add flour and cook for a minute or so till starting to form a ball.  Add mustard.  Gradually add milk stirring to make the sauce smooth with each addition,  Cook till sauce boils, add Worcestershire Sauce and grated cheese, keep some aside to sprinkle on top.  Season.

  

While sauce is cooking cook macaroni and vegies, (I add the cauliflower and leek to the mac water).  Slice the sausage and cut eggs in half.  When cooked put pasta and additions in baking dishes.  Pour the sauce over and put sliced tomato on top with some grated cheese and breadcrumbs.  Cook at 170 Celsius till brown and bubbling usually 20 - 30 minutes.  Serve with a green vegetable.

This was enough for me to have one helping straight away and one the next day and rest I froze for another meal in the future.

As always if I am using the oven I cook something else to save on power.  I decided to keep with food from my childhood.  This cake was for special occasions and it always greeted us when we visited my grandmother during the school holidays.

Gugelhopf kiwi style

This cake is my grandmother’s version of her German mother-in-law's recipe.  My great grandmother originally used yeast and sultanas and currants.  Over the years the fruit varied but a favourite variation was prunes or prunes and dried apricots.  Today, I’ve used my favourite, prunes and apricots.

Ingredients

3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

3/4 cup chopped pitted prunes

cold tea or water

170 grams butter

170 grams sugar

2 large eggs

225 grams flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

125ml runny yoghurt or milk.

Method

Cover the dried fruit with the cold tea or water leave for a few hours. Drain.

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, add eggs and beat till well mixed if it curdles don’t worry. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and yoghurt or milk.  Using yoghurt makes the cake moist.

Finally add the drained fruit.

Sugar Mix -Mix separately 110 grams brown sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and 1tsp cinnamon.  Place a third of the cake mix in greased 25 cm ring tin or Kugelhopf tin, sprinkle with a third of sugar mix and repeat twice.  Bake at 170 C for 45 - 60 mins (I find it takes 60 minutes in my Kugelhopf tin) or until a skewer comes out clean.

This cake can be eaten plain or for special occasions a lemon icing drizzled over it is scrumptious!

Gugelhopf is sometimes called Kugelhopf depends where you are from.  It is originally from the Alsace area but many European countries have a version.  It also can be sweet or savoury. I have made the yeasted version and it is very nice but like a lot of yeast cakes it has to be eaten on the day.  The version above stays moist for quite a while.

The weather is at last showing signings that winter is coming and the trees are starting to loose their leaves, the pavements are covered in leaves and there is nothing so comforting or fun as wading through them an d hearin g the crackle of the leaves.

Even the evening sky is golden!

Have a wonderful week!

Sharon

Sunday Ramblings

Hello all, it is a rainy Sunday here, I am itching to get into the garden  but it is sodden after 2 days of rain and the forecast has it raining till Thursday!  The cats are disgusted and are sitting on the door step waiting for it to clear, a long wait!  At least it is warm and I can keep the door open.

Looking on the bright side I won’t have to water it for a few days!

I haven’t been in the mood for crochet, but have picked up a long term project, some patchwork, long term, because it is being done by hand!  I am not sure what it will be yet, I just enjoy the activity.

There was a break in the rain at lunchtime for all of half an hour, Ambrose (the black cat) decided to wander off and got caught in the next downpour, it was so funny he tore inside when it eased off and mewed at me so plaintively, I had to pick him up in a towel and dry him he was soaked to the skin, poor boy, I sometimes thinks he gets wet purposely so he can be wrapped in a towel and get cuddled

.

It has been one of days where the kitchen is the nicest place to be. 

I have been freezing up punnets of lightly stewed tomatoes, zucchini and peppers ready for winter stews.  I have visitors coming next Tuesday and decided to do some baking for the occasion.  I made 2 slices, Eltham slice (a traditional kiwi bake), and a variation of it. Eltham slice usually has coconut and currants and spice and a coconut icing topping, but for the second one, instead of currants I used chocolate buttons and left the topping off. I will put the proper recipe up in the recipe page (see buttons under the header.)

When I use the oven, I like to fill it up to save on power. So I decided use to some rhubarb I had picked between showers. I was going to make crumble for my dessert.  But I suddenly remembered a cake I had seen on someone’s blog that had spoonful’s of rhubarb and custard in the mix.  I searched for it but just could not remember where I had seen it as I hadn’t bookmarked it.  Then I had a brainwave why not make it as a pie!

I was going to give the rhubarb a blast in the oven but suddenly thought why not the microwave, so I sprinkled sugar on the chopped up rhubarb covered with cling film (used no water) and cooked for 8 minutes at 50 per cent power.  It was a lot quicker than the oven

Next, I made some custard up, but you could use ready made, it needs to be fairly thick.

Then, I made some short crust pastry but quite short so that I could reserve some for the crumble topping.  I baked the pastry blind so it would have a soggy bottom.

Then I put spoonfuls of rhubarb and custard in the crust, I wanted there to be distinct patches of custard and rhubarb. 

 Then I scrunched up the reserved pastry added 2 spoons of brown sugar and I half tsp. ginger to the crumble.  Then I baked it in oven till the crumble was brown, I also used up the rest of the custard and rhubarb and crumble mix in little dishes. (I will probably share these with some elderly souls in our street)

I will write the recipe up properly during the week and put it on my recipe page.  I imagine you could use any stewed fruit.  I tell you it was delicious with a spoonful of plain yoghurt.  

My poor diet has gone for a burton, sigh!  But at least I only had the stewed tomato, zucchini and peppers on toast as my main course.  (Who am I kidding, ha ha) and probably will only have a cup of soup for supper.  

While I am off the diet wagon, I might as well have a proper afternoon tea treat. (Well, I have to try the new variation of Eltham Slice before giving it to guests!)  Also a chance to use one of the tea sets I got from the Hospice Op shop a couple of weeks ago.

I think I have rambled on enough, so I will go and devour my tea and cake.  Hope you all have a lovely Sunday whenever it arrives for you, and yay I do believe the sun is coming out, well trying to!  I am hoping the weather forecasters have got it wrong again!

A bit later, it was delicious and the sun didn't come it it raining again, oh well, at least we are not having the flooding that the Auckland region is.

The 3 "C"s - Cats,Crochet and Cakes

It has been several weeks since I have posted!  I have been under the weather and had to rest up.  I took the opportunity to get stuck into my obsession – crochet.  One project which only took one hour or so and as a result have got hooked on washcloths!  This dish cloth has been in constant use and I will be making more.

When I was in the wool shop buying some cotton, I saw the many wonderful colours that wool comes in these days.  How I resisted I don t know.  Maybe it was the thought of all that wool in my trunk from my tapestry kit making days.  Needless to say I got some of the wool out and within a week had completed this small throw and a cushion cover  to match (Well to be honest I still have the backing of the cushion to crochet).  I draped the throw on the bed and went to get my camera.  Came back and what do I see my lovely cats firmly ensconced.  What is even more remarkable these two never sleep near each other.

Ever since it has been a battle to get them off it, Bro the black one usually spends the day outdoors, but for the last week he has been inside a lot on this little throw.  I have given up, it is theirs!

So, I fished out of my trunk some more wool, big hanks of Paterna wool.  There will be enough to make a proper sized blanket.  I have already made great inroads on it.  Crochet is so easy to do in bed or listening to the radio.  It is very addictive.

I am feeling a lot better now and yesterday was back firing on all of my cylinders.  But it was pouring with rain so I couldn’t get into the garden.  I have always wanted to make a teapot cozy, so trawled the internet for patterns.  I didn’t really want to do any I saw, I want a homey one!  There are some astonishing  tea cozies out there!  So decided to do a plain one and sew flowers on it.  How to do flowers?  Well I found a wonderful blog Attic 24 with instructions .  So I spent the morning doing Lucy’s tutorials with odd scraps of wool.  I feel quite chuffed; all I needed to do was make the cozy!  Completed last night.  Tah Dah!

So feeling pleased with myself this morning, I duck out in the rain to view what could be picked for dinner (I like to have my main meal midday,) and saw a few stalks of Rhubarb appearing.  Not enough to make a bowl full, but enough to make my favourite cakey dessert that my grandmother used to bake a lot.  The fruit can be varied according what you have on hand.  I didn’t really have enough rhubarb so added one apple.  (It is rather special if the fruit has a tang to it.)

Gran’s Fruity Cakey Dessert

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups s/r flour or plain flour with 1 ½ tsp BP

¾ cup sugar

120g melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Topping – fruit of choice

2 tbsp. sugar

Method

Combine flour, sugar, butter vanilla and eggs.  Put in greased pan and top with chopped fruit.  Sprinkle the sugar on top and bake 180 Celsius for up to one hour.  Serve with custard, cream or plain yogurt.  This really freezes well.

All in all a productive few days.

See you again soon.

Time for Roses and a Cuppa

Time to prune the Roses. As usual I left it right to the last minute!  Every year I do that, Despite that I still get a magnificent display.

So, I setting off out into the garden to do my overdue pruning before the predicted storm arrives, I do need to get the pruning done as the buds are starting to burst forth.

I have made a fig and fruit loaf to have with my tea, as I will need something to look forward to as the afternoon is cold and windy.

I love Roses, always have, although I am not so keen on their thorns!  But that is like life isn't it.  Beauty often has a downside.  But then, that is not true all the time, God's Word has a beauty that is pure all the way through. I suppose he gave Roses thorns to remind us to have a care about accepting beauty at face value.

One of the things I like to do with Roses is to make Pot Pourri with the petals.  Nowadays I have to put the mixture into covered containers or into a sachet.  My big boy Ambrose (Cat) is addicted to pot pourri.  I use 

to wonder why every mourning the mixture was spread over the table.  I discovered the reason one day when I came into the lounge and he was sitting on the table beside the bowl looking dazed with rose petals scattered all around him. Then he put his head into the bowl and sneezed and more was scattered over the table.  He’s a pot pourri junkie! 

There is a recipe for my favourite mix below.  There is a upside to Ambrose's addiction I now make pretty sachets to put my mix in!

Well I have pruned the Roses out the back, time for a cuppa well actually a mug as I have built a great thirst.  The mug is my favourite as my

sister gave it to me when she moved to Perth in Western Australia.  I miss her so much, that whenever I drink from it I think that she is here with me having a heart talk.  Not forgetting a slice of loaf. Yum!  I love figs, my Grandmother at Xmas always had dried figs and walnuts as part of her Xmas table, and now whenever I eat dried figs I think of the lovely Xmases we had together.  Think I will have another slice, do you want some?  The recipe is below, do try, it it is really delicious and different.  The tea is Gunpowder tea, a mix that is similar to Irish Breakfast.  You need a strong cuppa when working in the garden on a cold winter's day!

Sigh! Time to get back to the pruning, the front this time about seven more Roses to do.  But then I have got the prize of planting a new Rose 'Peace', the Rose that lead me to become an avid Rose Grower.  When I living in England my garden there had a row of them and an elderly friend gave me a copy of “For the Love of Rose” by Antonia Ridge.  It tells the history of the creation of the Peace rose.  A beautiful story and treasured book.

Now Sharon stop using delaying tactics back to the Roses!

Recipe for Fig and Fruit Loaf

1 cup sultana or raisins or mixed,  ½  cup dried cranberries, ½ cup chopped dried figs, ½ chopped walnuts, ½ cup sugar, 1tablespoon golden syrup or light treacle, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup boiling water, 2 cups of plain flour, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder or use s/r flour.

Put fruit into bowl, with sugar, butter, syrup, and salt in bowl.  Sprinkle Baking soda over and add water.  When the butter has melted sift in flour and baking powder,  Mix quickly and pour into 22cm loaf tin (9inch).

Bake at 180 degrees C for 40 minutes or till loaf springs back when lightly touched.  Leave in tin for 10 minutes and turn out.  Actually tastes better the nest day when you can cut very thin slices and have it with butter.  But I am greedy and like it thick and fresh. Enjoy!

Recipe for English Rose Pot Pourri

4 cups dried rose petals, 2 cups dried lavender flowers, 1 cup dried rose geranium leaves (any scented geranium leaves is good) 1 cinnamon stick broken up, 1 tablespoon allspice berries coarsely crushed, 1 tablespoon cloves bruised, 25 gm (1oz) orris root powder, 3 drops of rose oil essence, 1 drop of rosemary oil, 1 drop of geranium oil, ½ cup tiny dried rosebuds (opt).

Put everything into large bowl except rosebuds and mix together.  Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1 – 2 weeks stir every day.  Put into preferred containers and add rosebuds if using open container, as they are more for show.

Lavener, cats and muffins

Lavender is a fascinating plant, so many uses in the home and garden.  Recently I discovered a new use for the French Lavender above.  One of my cats,  Lucy (below) has allergies to various grasses.  Poor thing gets rashes and she gets very itchy and scratches herself till it bleeds.  For years I have been taking her to the vet for antihistamine injection etc.

 Last year in spring when I was pruning the  French lavender, she started to roll about on the lavender and sat on it all day.  At that time she was due to a visit to the vet for treatment, as her rash was bad.  Within a day the rash subsided and when it started up again I rubbed handfuls of lavender on the affected areas.   Since then she has not had a major occurrence, she still has the allergy but the lavender controls it.  Amazing!  So if your cat or dog has an allergy it is worthwhile trying, it will save you heaps of money spent on vet bills.

One thing I love about summer is the chance to make my favourite muffins – Lavender, Orange and Chocolate.  For these you must use the English lavender (lavandula augustfolia)  I have hidcote growing, it’s getting scrappy as they tend to so I have dug it up and have taken cuttings of some of the better shoots and hopefully they will take..

Lavender, Orange and Chocolate Muffins

1 ½ teaspoons dried or 2 teaspoons fresh lavender seed heads

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons honey

2 eggs

½ cup milk

½ cup orange juice

Grated rind of one orange

2 cups of plain flour

2 teaspoons of Baking Powder

3 tablespoons of chocolate chips

Melt butter and honey.  Beat eggs, milk, orange juice and the butter and honey in a bowl.  Stir in orange rind.  In a new bowl mix sifted flour and Baking Powder, lavender and chocolate chips.  Stir wet ingredients into dry (do not over mix).  Spoon into greased muffin tins (2/3rds fill) Bake at 200degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 minutes.

(Makes 12 muffins)  These keep well and are great hot or cold.

My Week

Crochet

Cooking

Vegetable Harvest

Flower Garden

I am a firm believer just because I am living frugally; it doesn't mean that I can’t have a bit of decadence from time to time.  I don’t often have desserts, but when I do often apples or lemons feature.  One of favourite desserts involving apples is Tarte Tatin.  I had brought 2 Kilos of apples cheap last weekend and was preparing them for a crumble to freeze.  I had planned to have soup for tea last night as I had my main meal of Chili con carne at Midday.  The apples were calling out Apple Tarte Tatin, but I had no puff pastry to hand and did not feel like making pastry.  (I need to watch my fat intake!) Oh well I thought I will do an apple pancake with some of the stewed apples.  But that thought of gooey caramel wouldn't leave me.

I wonder I thought, do the apples the same way for the tart, and pour some pancake batter over.  Success one of the scummiest desserts ever!

Caramel Apple Pancakes

This is a method more than a recipe.  Serves 2.

Slice one apple and fry it in butter gently.

When starting to brown add some raisins and walnuts (opt).  Turn the heat down and add some brown sugar.

While the apples were frying make some batter from 1 cup (4oz or 125gm) s/r flour, 1 egg and enough milk to make a thickish batter.

Pour batter over apples and continue to cook till bubbles appear.  At this pont I had a problem as I tried to turn the pancake over it fell apart.  But I went with it as I thought it looked rustic.

Cook till it is puffed up and golden underneath.  Next time I might put the pancake in the oven to finish off.  But I like the look of it as it looked like real comfort food and it is quicker this way.

I treated myself to a tablespoon of whipped cream and enjoyed.  The rest was great for breakfast this morning.

The weather is disgusting today, spoilt by last week’s balmy spring days.  So, no gardening but a chance to get on with some crochet!  Maybe I should take a leaf out of my cat’s book!  Well it is an excuse not to make the bed!

Bread Day

Hi, goodness me nearly three months since I last posted and only one at that, things were a bit hectic around here but I am back on track now and aim to be a good blogger and post regularly!!!!

Don’t ask me why but Tuesday is Bread baking day for me. I usually bake it in the morning having a pizza from a piece of the dough for lunch.  However, today I didn't fancy pizza as for the last two days I have had tomato based pasta dishes.  And yes I know pizza doesn't have to have tomato sauce.  I really fancied scrambled eggs on toast, but it is sacrilege to toast freshly baked bread.

One of my favourite ways of having scrambled eggs is to stuff it into pita bread.  I had looked at the pita bread in the supermarket last week, but was not going to pay nearly $4.00 (the cheapest) for 5 or 6 breads.  I wonder I thought and got my bread making book out, yes! There was a recipe for pita.  On looking closely I saw that it was practically the same recipe for my standard bread.  That solved I would cut a portion off and make the breads.

As you see by the photo above they puffed up wonderfully, but I didn’t have the oven hot enough and they were rather pale, but they were cooked.  For the next two I raised it to 130 Celsius from 120.  This time I was not careful enough and they went rather brown, but still okay.  So next time, take them out at 5 minutes rather than 6 as the recipe states.  Also I got the shape better second time round.

So all you need to do is cut a piece of your normal bread, have the oven at 120 -130 and cook for 5 – 6 minutes or till puffed up.  When they had cooled (except for the one I had for lunch) I pushed them down and popped into a plastic bag and froze.

The moral of this story is that I saved heaps and it pays sometimes to break out of your normal routine and try something different.  These four cost me 40 cents, they were the same size as the ones in the supermarket which had 5 in.  A massive saving.

By the way the pita was far better than shop brought ones, very yummy!

My basic bread mix is

2 tsp Sure bake yeast ( as I use a bread maker to help with the kneading, I have arthritis and y hands don’t have the strength)

2 cups of strong flour

1 tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

1 tbsp. oil

1 cup of water or a bit more depends on the flour.

Put in bread maker in the order for your particular bread maker and set at basic and dough setting.  Check to see if dough needs more water when it is in its knead cycle.  I find that the dough cycle doesn’t give it long enough for a good rise so I tend to leave it in there for another hour.  Take dough out and shape as required.

For the pita breads I broke off pieces the size of a tennis ball, could be smaller.  Left the dough to settle for 10 minutes, this makes it easier to roll dough out roll it into a round or tear shape.  I used my pizza tone to cook the pitas.  So I heated it up and cook for 5 to 8 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.

See you soon!