Mmmmm, Lemon Meringue

Wednesday I had so many things to do and people coming for dinner.  I had planned to make my usual lemon meringue pie, but I just didn't have the energy.  So I hunted around for a quicker option and came across a great, quick, easy recipe that tasted absolutely fantastic!  Highly recommended and no making pastry or lemon curd from scratch.  I will definitely be making this one again!

Creaming butter and sugar

Do you hate reading in recipes "cream butter and sugar"?  I keep my butter in the freezer, and often if you decide to make something at the last minute (this happens to me all the time) then the frozen butter just aint going to cream.

Well I have it on good authority that its okay to soften the butter in the microwave first! And by good authority I mean a long standing, award winning old-school baker. So next time you need to cut a corner, I highly recommend this one.

The only warning is, if it involves eggs, and you are adding them to the melted butter, make sure the butter has cooled or it is beating really fast to avoid getting cooked egg lumps.

Menu plan week 11 and 12

I'm running a little behind this week, haven't yet thought about by menu plan and its grocery day tomorrow.  My last fortnight came in ridiculously over budget at $428 - what a disaster!  The only good thing to come of such a drastic overspend is a well stocked pantry due to the menu bargains I was unable to resist at Aldi.

Wednesday -  Coq au vin, crusty bread plus lemon meringue pie

Thursday – BBQ chicken and avocado pasta

Friday – Meat loaf, lemon risotto, peas and broccoli (for me at least!)

Saturday - Homemade pizza

Sunday – Sausages with potato bake and garden salad plus sticky date self saucing pudding

Monday – Sausage hotpot with rice

Tuesday – Leftovers

Wednesday – Jamie Oliver's Melt in your mouth shin stew

Thursday - Lamb chops with mash and peas

Friday - Slow cooker chicken cacciatore and rice

Saturday – Enchiladas and rice

Sunday – Speedy chicken and mushroom casserole

Monday – Leftovers

Tuesday – Chicken meatball soup

So with that insight into my upcoming culinary adventures, I will say goodnight and leave my shopping list compilation until the morning.

On a separate note can I add that budget busting means we are attempting to survive the winter with no heating in the house, so far so good, although my fingers are numbing as I type. The children are well and truly rugged up and snuggled in their warm beds, and my hot water bottle awaits.

School snacks and sweet treats

How good is weekend baking!  We are heading to a picnic with friends this evening so I am cooking roast beef and potato salad to go with fresh rolls and a garden salad for our feast.  The house smells beautiful!  Lazy days are few and far between so I am doing a bit of baking: home made LCM bars (thanks for the recipe @BrendonWalker) and the most scrumptious biscuit ever, Russian Tea Cookies.

LCM bars

• 8 cups rice bubbles
• 1 tin condensed milk
• small pack of choc chips

1. Grease and line with baking paper a slice tin, put on oven at 160C
2. Mix everything together in a big bowl
3. Spread mixture evenly in tins and smooth down
4. Bake for about 20 mins at 160C (keep your eye on them I expect they are easy to overcook)
5. Let them cool in the tin then slice into bars and store in an air tight container

Note that I probably should have put mine in one tin rather than two as they ended up too thin and really didn't work out well as they were not thick enough to slice (see we all have kitchen failures from time to time!).  Another friend swears by a slightly different recipe for these which you can find here.

Russian tea cookies
Alas this is not my (or a friend's) recipe to publish.  But I can guarantee they are the yummiest biscuit you will ever eat.  Reading is one of my greatest pleasures, and one of my most re-read series of novels of all time is the Paullina Simons Bronze Horseman trilogy.

If you have read these three novels (The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross and The Summer Garden) you will be familiar with the main character, Tatiana's love for food.  In fact such a huge theme that food and cooking plays in these books (and one assumes the author's too), has no doubt resulted in the "companion" Tatiana's Table cook book.  In this little gem of a book you can find the recipe for Russian tea cookies (on page 102).   This recipe alone is worth purchasing this book, or at the very least making a trip to the library. A lovely light, sweet biscuit with a hint of chewiness and

Note that the recipe uses walnuts for coating the biscuits, in my opinion the biscuits are just as yum without the walnuts and it means you can send them to school too.

Nana's potato bake

This is the best potato bake in the world, I'm not joking.  I know many followers of this blog have tasted it and would agree.  It is my 3 year old's favourite dish (a close call with chicken meatballs).  There are a few things you need to know:

• If you are on a low fat/low carb diet this is not for you (although you could swap potato for sweet potato and ditch the bacon) - I always use light cream
• If you don't have a mandolin then don't try making this - it is possible but my guess is if you like this blog you are looking for time saving kitchen shortcuts, thinly slicing 8 potatoes with a knife does not fall into this category
• If you have left it too late in the day to make this, don't despair - you can microwave the potato slices before you put the dish together to save on baking time

1. You need 6-8 medium/large potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly (2mm-3mm) 
2. 300ml - 400ml of cream (if you think you need extra liquid add a little milk)
3. Fry up 200g (ish) of diced bacon - didn't you know that bacon makes everything taste good!
4. Spray a large baking dish with olive oil spray and layer the potatoes, every few layers sprinkle salt and pepper and some of the fried bacon
5. At the end pour over the cream (and milk if you used it)
6. Cover with aluminum foil
7. This dish is best cooked slowly (eg 2-3 hours around 160 C).
8. In the last half hour take off the foil and sprinkle with grated cheese.

The one in this picture was a small potato bake (around half the quantities above) and without the bacon.  I also used the cheat method of microwaving the potato slices and just cooking in the oven for an hour.

Entertaining on a budget

One benefit of this blog is that I have no need to make apologies for a not-so-special dinner party menu.  Last night we had people over and on the menu was, nibbles, sausage hot pot (suggestion from my Facebook page, thanks @Bowhite), rice and Easy apple pie.

Sausage hot pot:

• 8 cooked thin sausages cut into bit size pieces (do yourself a favour, only by sausages from the butcher!)
• 800ml jar passata
• 1 onion diced
• 1/2 cup dried surprise peas
• 1 tin mushrooms (or small fresh button mushys left whole)
• 1/4 teaspoon (or just a sprinkle if your not keen on too much) chilli powder
• 1 clove crushed garlic

Put everything together in the slow cooker and put it on low for about 6 hours.  Serve with rice and grated cheese.

Easy apple pie: (this is an adaptation of this recipe, just a bit simpler and if you work smartly only 1 bowl to wash up plus the pie dish!)

• 1 tin pie apple
• 125g butter melted
• 1 egg
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup raw sugar plus an extra tablespoon

1. Spread the pie apple into a pie dish and sprinkle the tablespoon of raw sugar on top
2. In a large bowl, melt the butter
3. Add the flour, sugar and egg and mix well
4. Spread the mixture evenly over the top of the apple, doesn't matter if there is not enough to cover all the way to the edges, just spread it roughly over the apple as in the picture below
5. Put in a 170C oven until the top turns a lovely golden colour - I usually set the time for 45 minutes then check on it regularly
6. Serve with cream or ice cream

 

In the spirit of not wasting anything

I just popped a pot of pumpkin and sweet potato soup on the stove. When we had roast chicken the other night I threw into a pot all the bones, juice and leftover veg and herbs to make stock. I probably should have planned a bit better but the inspiration hit late tonight and veg soup is (or will be) the result. The lovely smell of simmering soup is already filling the house! Can't wait for lunch tomorrow already.

NB even the dog is happy, she is currently enjoying the fat from the top of the stock.