The Pantry Challenge Menu

I was so focussed on it at the time, but now I have forgotten all the things we made.

~ Zucchini Rigatoni
~ Borlotti Bean Pasta
~ Vegie Burgers & Chips
~ Spinach Korma & Rice
~ Pies and Potatoes

Very Slow Menu

Thursday ~ Kransky Hotpot
Friday ~ Kransky Hotpot left-overs
Saturday ~ Barley Pilaf (I am only going to have barley in soups in future)
Sunday ~ Bolognaise
Monday ~ Tuna Casserole
Tuesday ~ Moroccan Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup
Wednesday ~

I have meals to think up until at least Monday night. We are using what we have on hand buying odd bits and pieces to add to it.

Beans on the Menu

I have a pumpkin similar to that that I tried photographing, maybe I'll put it at the end of the post. We were given it, which is always a big help.

Menu

Thursday ~ Veal Campagnola & Chips
Friday ~ Mexican Mince
Saturday ~ Red Curry Beef & Boc Choy
Sunday ~ Sausage Casserole & Potatoes
Monday ~ Pasta with Pork Sausages & Rosemary
Tuesday ~ Pork Sausages
Wednesday ~ Pea & Ham Soup with Kranskys & Brussels Sprouts
Thursday ~ Tuna Casserole
Friday ~ Pork Mince Stroganoff
Saturday ~ Pork Chow Mein
Sunday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise
Monday ~ Spiced Pumpkin & Canned Lentil Soup
Tuesday ~ Tuna & Mushroom Spaghetti
Wednesday ~ Soy Bean & Vegetable Soup

My Favourite Black (Turtle) Bean Soup

Top black bean soup with lemon and hard cooked egg slices.

INGREDIENTS:

* 3 cups dried black beans
* 1 ham bone or large ham hock
* 3 quarts water
* 2 ounces salt pork, diced or 2 to 3 slices diced bacon
* 1 large clove garlic, minced
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
* 2 cups chopped onion
* 1 medium carrot, diced
* salt and pepper
* sherry
* lemon slices
* hard cooked egg, sliced

PREPARATION:
Soak black beans and ham bone in 3 quarts of water overnight in the refrigerator. Transfer beans and liquid to large kettle of Dutch oven. Add salt pork or bacon, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Bring black beans to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours.

Add chopped onions and diced carrot; simmer 1 hour longer. Remove and discard bay leaf and ham bone. In small batches, process or blend black bean soup mixture until smooth. Return to pot; heat. Add salt and pepper and a little sherry to taste. Serve black bean soup garnished with lemon and egg slices.
Makes 2 quarts of black bean soup.

From here.

Black beans (or Black Turtle Beans) from Asian supermarkets, (not sure which ones) and Kwikshop.

Medlars

I just love medlars, and I hope to buy a tree, though $100 is probably why I haven't bought one yet. I can buy one from a tree farm in Holbrook NSW called The Vintage Tree Nursery.

I had a tree before in our rental property that we lived in in 2003. Bletting the fruit still remains a mystery to me, though I think I did lots of research. I suppose if you are not using the information, you basically have to start again.

I bought some ready made jelly, though I can't say I have done a lot with it. I was thrilled though to see medlars on River Cottage Autumn a couple of days ago. They made medlar and apple chutney.

The girls picked medlars at the time when we had the tree, my husband even collected some sawdust, though it smelled to much like petrol from memory, but the fruit went rotten. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe I actually just bletted them? It would be hard to say since they were thickly together in a bowl.

My joy of medlars comes from my uncle's love of fruit trees, and I remember him visiting a tree in an older lady's garden.

Photo: Flickr Non-commercial Creative Commons: mgjefferies photostream here.

My favourite red grass

I have talked about it on the internet before. It brings me lots of joy.

I came across some while I was photographing a church. It grows in our street, I haven't seen any in other parts of Victoria.

For ages now, well a month or two, I have been looking at a red native grass, that grows at least in a 50 mile radius of here. There is one piece in our nature strip. It grows by the roadside, and during the drought made a stunning display.

Yesterday (May 24, 2007) I drove through bush areas and saw Crimson Rosellas I think, feeding on it by the side of the road. It was a sight I haven't seen before, and special I think. Not only do I love the grass, now in autumn you can see birds on it feeding.

Baking with Coconut Milk

Recently I made the recipe below. The pictures were nice, but I was in a rush, and my raspberries were thawed. That had the effect of coloured batter and wet bits in the cake. I have my freezer away from our usual home. The raspberries pictures were a day old in the fridge, I used those too. However, I thoroughly enjoyed eating the cake. It tasted like raspberries and cream. It was all very exciting. If you are not keen on cakes with butter in them because of heartburn or whatever, try coconut milk. I haven't tried more than one recipe though.

I decided a month or two ago that coconut is one of those tastes Australians appreciate. I noticed today that the cake can be toasted. I didn't try that.

Raspberry & Coconut Loaf

1 3/4 cups desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 2/3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup frozen raspberries
pure icing sugar, to serve

Combine coconut and coconut milk in a large bowl. Cover and stand for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 170°C. Line base and sides of a 7cm-deep, 10.5cm x 20.5cm (base) loaf pan with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang at both long ends.

Using a metal spoon, stir sugar, egg and vanilla into coconut mixture. Sift flour over coconut mixture. Gently stir until combined. Fold in raspberries.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool loaf in pan for 10 minutes. Lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and slice. Serve toasted, if desired.

Here are some more recipes that include coconut milk. They look delicious! Especially since I recently tried a sweet impossible pie from a fund raising book that is old, but still popular.

Coconut & Lemon Self-saucing Pudding
Coconut & Passionfruit Self-saucing Pudding
Pear & Raspberry Coconut Bread
Coconut Pudding with Golden Syrup
Impossible Coconut Pie
Passionfruit Layer Cake

My family like their baking racks in the oven differently to what I would like them, so my cake grew through the rack. It was a bad time of day to be baking. I had to stay home to wait for it to cook too, while the others went somewhere.

Cooking Right Along

I have some meals left over because of the left-overs of pasta my visitors left us, that helped a lot while we were busy during the holidays last week. Back to school again. Not moved in spent some nights on blow up beds and a divan. I did make the coconut loaf which is a couple of posts back. This is my picture, maybe more of the loaf later.

Thursday ~ Fettucine Carbonara
Friday ~ Bacon & Potato Salad
Saturday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise
Sunday ~ Bacon, Zucchini & Lemon Spaghetti
Monday ~ Moroccan Mince & Rice
Tuesday ~ Tuna Casserole
Wednesday ~ Pumpkin & Red Lentil Soup
Thursday ~ Sausage Casserole
Friday ~ Pork Mince with Brussels Sprouts
Saturday ~ Pork Mince Stroganoff
Sunday ~ Pork Chow Mein
Monday ~ Bacon & Mushroom Penne
Tuesday ~ Pork Cassoulet
Wednesday ~ Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Melinda Schneider "Courageous"

I was watching a video by Melinda Schneider this morning on the top 30 on CMC. It wasn't this video, but it is nice too. It was called Still Here.

Loaves & Fishes

In no particular order here is my menu. I swapped some recipes last week, so will repeat the ones we didn't make. I mistake was made with the Asian green identification so we have have that meal again too. I found today that none of the local shops carry canned lentils now. Perhaps the one to the west of me does. It will be too far from my new house, unless I go there occasionally and stock up. That is why perhaps my menu has been fairly unchanged lately the number of ingredients available to me is dwindling. I did notice two shops seem to carry different meat to what they usually have. I will have to investigate that further. It may have just been for Easter, and I didn't look in one shops frozen section. They only get meat once a week, or did, and freeze any over.

Thursday ~ Smoked Cod & Mashed Potatoes
Friday ~ Tomato & Chipolata Hotpot
Saturday ~ Pasta with Sausage, Rosemary and Tomato Sauce
Sunday ~ Chops, Chips & Greek Salad
Monday ~ Spicy Red Lentil & Pumpkin Soup
Tuesday ~ Chilli Con Carne & Rice
Wednesday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise
Thursday ~ Red Curry Beef & Bok Choy
Friday ~ Pea & Ham Soup with Kranskys
Saturday ~ Honey & Ginger Pork
Sunday ~ Tuna Casserole
Monday ~ Curried Brown Rice & Lentil Salad with Chorizo
Tuesday ~ Moroccan Sweet Potato, Carrot and Chickpea Soup
Wednesday ~ Cream of Cauliflower Soup

You may have read on my other blog how I had to change days when my fruit & bread arrived as the company cut the days down from four to two. At my newer house the days are the opposite days and I can have my favourite day back. Well, after Easter.

Using Fresh Raspberries & 5 Cup Cake

Last Saturday my kids picked the raspberries that are growing at our new home. You can read about it here. We got a few more the next day. The first ones were washed and put into the freezer. My daughter wanted to bake something to take to the new house as during the year making lunches that people wanted to eat when we went there for the day got harder. Originally I started to stay home because of a netball commitment.

She baked these on Monday. She used a very nice large wild apple as well, she thinks they taste nice, the apples, and they do.

I remember her calling me from the other house asking for raspberry recipes. I did a search. She then she particularly wanted baking recipes. I found one I want to make too when I get the ingredients. It is similar to the 5 cup cake mentioned on the other Belinda's blog. Belinda's cake is so quick to make it is ready before my oven heats up. I make mine with sultanas as a friend suggested.

Anyway, this new recipe is not exactly in cups like the 5 cup cake. It is also a quick mix, the added extras are an egg and vanilla. The milk is coconut milk instead of fresh milk. I usually have some in the pantry, but haven't at this time.

Raspberry & Coconut Loaf

1 3/4 cups desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 2/3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup frozen raspberries
pure icing sugar, to serve

Combine coconut and coconut milk in a large bowl. Cover and stand for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 170°C. Line base and sides of a 7cm-deep, 10.5cm x 20.5cm (base) loaf pan with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang at both long ends.

Using a metal spoon, stir sugar, egg and vanilla into coconut mixture. Sift flour over coconut mixture. Gently stir until combined. Fold in raspberries.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool loaf in pan for 10 minutes. Lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and slice. Serve toasted, if desired.

My daughter put the other printed recipes together with some wool. Here are the links:

Raspberry & Apple Teacakes
Frozen Yoghurt Lollipops
Chocolate Raspberry Ripple Cake
Baked Berry Custards
Christmas Brownies
Quick Chocolate Cakes
Banana and Raspberry Bread
Berry Yoghurt Bake
Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins
Raspberry Sour Cream Tea Cake
Jam Roll Charlotte
Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

This is a follow up to a previous post. This morning I was lucky enough to have someone add their knowledge of biscuits and gravy to my kitchen experiment of a few years back. I think some of my friends have tried to tell me about the ground pork before. I love what Australians call rissoles, not sure I have had them with ground pork, sounds really nice. Since rissoles are dry, gravy sounds like a great idea.

Because my experiment was made with sausage mince, that Aussies use to make sausage rolls, it would not have been the same. I believe my gravy and biscuits were fine though, as I used American recipes and had the ingredients.



If you think this video is not traditional or doesn't have the right special breakfast sausage ingredients please add your comments. I think probably the turkey is the obvious one. I did find this recipe and the pictures look good. Yum. Here is the matching biscuit recipe.