Cake made with oil

I often look in the taste site for cakes made with oil. Today I found a standard cake recipe in an odd cookbook we got secondhand a year or two ago. At the moment we are in an unusual position lately and have more butter than oil or we could have made it and showed you a picture. We deliberately got some butter in case the girls wanted to bake. My youngest is making some jam drop at the moment. (They turned out looking like kolaches, but they look delicious.) We are thinking baking helps our very frugal diet at the moment. I have some advice, don't look at the Taste site for cakes unless you are prepared to buy lots of ingredients and are not hungry!

The recipe comes from The Complete Australian Cookbook. Sometimes these types of books come up on ebay.

We have changed the flours from grams to cups, same with the mls for oil and water.

The cake has variations.

Basic Cake with Oil

240g flour or 1 2/3 cup
250g sugar, or 1 1/3 up
3 eggs, separated
125ml or 1/2 cup oil
125ml or 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or other flavouring
3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (just remember Australian cups are bigger, same with tablespoons)

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl.

Beat the egg yolks, oil and water together well in a bowl, then stir in the vanilla essence.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Beat the egg whites in another bowl until stiff but not dry, and fold into the batter.

Turn the batter out into two greased sandwich cake pans, 220mm in diameter, and bake in the oven at 190°C (375°F) for 30 minutes.

Turn out onto a wire cooling rack.

Variations:

Chocolate cake: Sift 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa with the dry ingredients

Spice Cake: Sift 1 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, ground ginger and ground allspice together with the dry ingredients.

Coconut cake: Stir 3 tablespoon desiccated coconut into the batter before adding the egg whites.

Menu Thoughts

Photo Source

Last fortnight I had some pumpkin recipes left over. We had just finished Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce and used up our pumpkin. No specials online on pumpkin. The next day, Tuesday, my husband brought home one, then two more Kent/Butternut cross pumpkins, very pretty. They are rounder on the bottom and have green patterned bits on them.

So on with the pumpkin recipes!

Monday ~ Low-GI Lentil Patties with Roast Tomato Sauce
Tuesday ~ Pumpkin & Capsicum Fajitas
Wednesday ~ Spicy Pumpkin & Coriander Fritters
Thursday ~ Curried Green Pea Soup (decided to use a recipe so similar from Cookery The Australia way, about 2003 version)
Friday ~ Vegetarian Japanese Pancakes
Saturday ~ Gnocchi with Sugo again
Sunday ~ Pasta with Pumpkin, Tomato & Butter Beans
Monday ~ Broccoli & Pasta
Tuesday ~ Creamy Roast Pumpkin Pasta
Wednesday ~ Black-eyed Bean, Mushroom & Silverbeet Balti
Thursday ~ Italian Soup with Cheesy Damper
Friday ~ Creamy Fettucine with Brussels Sprouts
Saturday ~ Vegetarian Japanese Pancakes
Sunday ~ Greek Lentil Soup
Monday ~ Pumpkin & Spinach Cannelloni

Swap recipes:

Adzuki Beans, Pumpkin & Ginger Casserole
Tomato & Rosemary Risotto Cake
Creamy Sweet Potato Pasta

Success from last week:

Vegetarian Japanese Pancakes. You know I love the ones from the taste site, well this recipe despite not having lovely fried pork mince embedded in the top, or nice steak pieces, it substantial, which is always an issue for me feeding a family. I like my meal to fill us up! We didn't have the salmon the recipe said it wasn't necessary. We tried our new Kewpie mayonnaise. It comes out like cream from the bottle. It made the pancakes really. We decided for our tastes, we are going to change the flour rations around. My daughter put on too much mayo, doesn't work.

Interesting recipes:

Black-eyed Pea Salad
Black-eyed Bean & Vegetable Curry
Exotic Spicy Black-eyed Black-eyed Bean Curry
Mince with Black-eyed Beans
Mexican black-eyed bean soup
Carribean Butternut Pumpkin & Sweet Corn Stew

My husband said that soon we are getting a large jar of anchovies! I wonder if there will be anchovy recipes on my blog in a month's time? It took 11 days to make this menu and I am about 4 days early!

I recipe for the Chrisco frozen vegetables:

Vegetable Fritters

Simple Songs

This song about simple living is by Josh Turner called I'll Be There. It gives a new meaning to simple living doesn't it?

Roasted Pumpkin, Boc Choy, Miso & Lentil Soup

Roasted Pumpkin with Bok Choy Lentil Soup


½ small or medium pumpkin (say kent or butternut)
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil for coating pumpkin, plus 2 tablespoons for sautéing
1 cup dried lentils (orange)
2 litres water, 4 teasp stock powder
2 teas miso paste (shiro), some dulce seaweed (1/2 handful chopped with scissors)
1 teas salt,
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8 button mushrooms, chopped
1 pound bok choy, washed and hard ends sliced off (also slice 1/3 lengthways- easier to eat)
1 teaspoon paprika

Wash the rind of the pumpkin. Scoop out the seeds and, wish a sturdy knife; cut the squash into 20 cm slices (angled). Toss the pumpkin in olive oil, salt.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lay the pumpkin slices on a trays lined with baking paper. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, turning the pumpkin over halfway through, until tender (and well roasted).
At 25 minutes before the pumpkin is done, bring 2 litres of water to boil. Add dried lentils, and cook until soft, about 20 minutes. Add miso, salt (1 teasp) seaweed and stock powder.

While lentils are cooking, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet. Add onions, sauté, when nearly transparent and beginning to caramelise add the garlic. After a while add mushrooms, sauté for 5 to 6 minutes. Put into soup mix. Turn heat up on pan and add a bit more oil, add bok choy (keep stirring the greens) and cook until beginning to brown in places and obviously well cooked. Transfer vegetables to soup pot.

Divide soup into individual bowls. Serve with pumpkin slices on the side, can slice pumpkin into bite-sized pieces and add to soup.

This recipe my husband adapted from appetite for China's recipe, Roasted Kaboucha Squash with Bok Choy

Anyone like dates?

I just came back from taking my daughter to gym. She was talking about dates and then muffins and I was intrigued, as I am a date scone lover from way back. Love sticky date pudding as well. Came home and found the recipe on my computer desk. She was talking about people eating them and offering them to the school head and someone asking for butter. Dates, butter, you get the picture. (Date Loaf?)

I found two nearly identical recipes online:

Date Muffins with Caramel Sauce

this one had extra spices and they both had different sauce

Ginger Date Muffins with Caramel Sauce

but this is it!

Ginger Date Muffins with Caramel Sauce

I figure if the kids liked it it must be good.

You guys have probably seen the Australian Woman's Weekly recipe in print?

Very Exciting

Kim at Green Momma has given this blog an award. Wow, that is very exciting. Looking at Green Momma's menus that is a compliment. Thank you Kim. Please go over and check out her blog. I also love her memes that she participates in, will have to check those out further. I started this post on the 14th, sometimes my speed slows down making it hard to choose blogs.



“The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogging world.”

Here are the rules for the Sunshine Award:

Nominate 12 other bloggers

List the award in either a post or on your sidebar

Link your nominees within your post

Let the nominees know you have passed this on to them by commenting on their blog

Now the Hard Part...
I Nominate...

1. Green Ness always something interesting over there, no pressure lol
2. A Tapestry of Life for the layouts, very pretty
3. Ganeida's Knots for the lovely quotes at the beginning of each post
4. Foodie Wanderings, wow lovely, a fun blog

I am going to finish this when I can, but want to acknowledge now the wonderful award I received.

Soup Kitchen ~ Budget Vegetarian Menu

Last fortnight we had two nights of left-overs and a couple of swaps

~ Spicy Chickpea Casserole with Feta
~ Kransky Soup, we shouted ourselves some sausages for this meal as it is a favourite

so some recipes left over:


Monday ~ Roasted Pumpkin with Bok Choy Lentil Soup
Tuesday ~ Tomato & Borlotti Bean Soup
Wednesday ~ Indian Spiced Red Lentil Soup
Thursday ~ Perfect Potato Gnocchi
Friday ~ Curried Lentil & Pumpkin Soup

and so on to recipes made with this:

Saturday: Polenta & Corn Bake
Sunday: Vegetable Spring Rolls
Monday: Vegetarian Japanese Pancakes
Tuesday: Vegetable & Noodle Stir-fry (uses vermicelli noodles, red capsicum for the list, with snow peas, broccoli)

I may leave it there. I am unable to go shopping myself as my husband has to go out that day to go to the dentist, and I have to be home for the kids, as the dentist is over two hours away. So we may top up the food on the Wednesday, if it fits in with my bills. I will make up a list for the essentials and he will do his usual milk, cheese and washing powder run, and I will order bread to be delivered online which I usually do. Turns out I have ingredients for these recipes, just need a small amount of extras like mayonnaise and gerkins etc. I will be able to have the list ready from this menu for Wednesday.

Wednesday ~ Penne with Pumpkin Sauce
Thursday ~ Spaghettini with Smashed Buttery Peas
Friday ~ Country Bean Risotto
Saturday ~ Spicy Beans
Sunday ~ Potato & Egg Salad
Monday ~ Classic Pumpkin Soup


Interesting recipes: Cabbage Vadai Fritters (made with red lentils) I have been paying better attention to the food blogs on Belinda's sidebar. Also Creamy Jerusalem Artichoke Soup a bit like the one we used to make, will have to check mine one day. My husband had the recipe out to show his friend, here it is:

Cream of Artichoke Soup

80g (3oz) butter
2 large onions, sliced
1kg (2lb) Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced
1 1/4 cups water
3 1/2 cups milk
salt, pepper
3 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons extra milk
1 egg
5 tablespoons cream
paprika

Melt butter and fry onion until soft but not brown. Add artichokes, water, milk, salt & pepper. Bring to the boil and cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until artichokes are tender. Put into blender, blend until smooth and return to pan. Mix flour with extra milk and stir into soup. Bring to the boil while stirring, simmer 2 minutes. Beat egg and add cream. Stir this mixture into soup, and reheat but do not boil. Adjust seasoning if necessary and serve immediately. Garnish with paprika.



An interesting preserve recipe if I ever get a cumquat tree. Pickled Cumquats

Simple Songs

I haven't put one up in awhile, have been thinking about them. Dancingonabladeofgrass mentioned this song. Not sure I have heard it before, lovely



Dan fitz had a lovely meaning here for that song... "appreciate what IS with all you have. appreciate every effort a person makes for another; every song a bird sings; nail a carpenter drives, egg a creature lays. dont waste your breath on the irrelevant, on negativity, on ill feelings, on a quest for money. appreciate that which has real value, that which is important, for it is all there really is and needs to be."

Broccoli & Potato Soup

Broccoli and potato soup


Ingredients (serves 6)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1kg broccoli, cut into florets (can chop stalks and use these)
• 1 to 1 ½ Kg potatoes, peeled, chopped
• 1.5 litre vegetable stock (3 teas veg, 2 teas chicken, 1 teas beef powder)
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt

Method
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and
garlic. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until soft.
2. Add broccoli, potato, stock and 2 cups cold water. Cover. Bring to
the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes
or until potato is tender. Remove from heat. Process until smooth.
Return to pan. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through. Season with
pepper. Serve.


An adaptation of a Taste recipe.

Cheap & Vegetarian

What I have really been noticing lately after eating no meat, and with diminishing things in the pantry in the effort to balance the books (hopefully this week things will ease, either that or the books will be in very good shape or we will be outfitted well in clothes for the winter), is that the simple things are more appealing, like bread and butter. I want to get the ingredients to review my new paella pan too! Making things stretch is really not as cut throat with only three kids here most of the time, we had left-overs again recently.

Tuesday ~ Broccoli & Potato Soup
Wednesday ~ Pies, Peas, Chips & Gravy
Thursday ~ Paella
Friday ~ Tuna Casserole
Saturday ~ Middle Eastern-style Lentil & Spinach Soup
Sunday ~ Simple Chickpea & Silverbeet Curry
Monday ~ Italian Vegetable Risotto (needs basil leaves & parmesan cheese)
Tuesday ~ Creamed Brussels Sprout and Chestnut Soup (needs cream)
Wednesday ~ Roasted Pumpkin with Bok Choy Lentil Soup
Thursday ~ Tomato & Borlotti Bean Soup
Friday ~ Indian Spiced Red Lentil Soup
Saturday ~ Perfect Potato Gnocchi
Sunday ~ Curried Lentil & Pumpkin Soup
Monday ~ Indian-style Potato & Pea Curry (needs cauliflower)


Interesting Recipes:

Jerusalem artichoke potato cakes

Wish List:

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Success from last week:

I had to find something else to make with the pumpkin we had, thankfully (and rarely) only two of us were home, so it worked out well. Also we make the muffins with the ingredients we had left to stretch the bread and the Weetbix. The kids liked them.

Pumpkin Noodles
Parmesan Muffins

Challenge for this week:

Finding a vegetarian silverbeet recipe.

Paella Pan Review

A few weeks ago I took delivery of my new paella pan from buyster. It was a blogging thing, in other words free! My husband thought it was well made and he was impressed with the strength and the little dipples in the base as he said the oil would sit in those. We have been waiting until we had the ingredients to make our paella which is a recipe from McCormicks.



Back in January I mentioned that I was getting a paella pan from buyster in this post. Here is where it is advertised.