Menu & Supermarket Adventures

It is that time of the fortnight again. Above is a photo from Flickr Creative Commons (click for all of photostream) of a typical Australian supermarket. My favourite actually, but one very far away from here.

Here are some interesting recipes I came across recently:

Ranch Style Ham & Beans
Sausages with lentils & polenta
sweet plum pork skewers
carrot fritters

I didn't make up a 14 day menu last week, so I have added in the first day.

Wednesday ~ Low fat korma curry
Thursday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise
Friday ~ salmon zucchini and corn
Saturday ~Mushroom & Pancetta Spaghetti
Sunday ~ Lentil & Chickpea Soup with Chorizo
Monday ~ Singapore-styled Sausage Fried Rice
Tuesday ~ Polish Sausage Bigos
Wednesday ~Pork Schnitzel with Sweet Potato Chips
Thursday ~ tuna and mushroom spaghetti
Friday ~ Red Curry Beef & Bok Choy
Saturday ~ Toad in the Hole
Sunday ~ Spicy Sausage & Bean Hotpot or Sausage Casserole
Monday ~ wombuk salad & BBQ chicken
Tuesday ~ Sausage Rolls & Mashed Potatoes
Wednesday ~ Cauliflower & Bacon Macaroni Cheese

Today I found the ingredients for Mandy's Wombuk Salad. I even bought a carvolo nero plant, sound at least be able to taste it for one meal. I stocked up on kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass in a jar. It is not something you have to buy often. Amazingly, after my pantry challenge last fortnight I spent under what I usually do for food. However, I have a small list for my husband to get at the local shop to make up this menu.

BBQ chicken
sandwich meat cheap
stout or guiness 400-600ml
curly pasta
bacon
vintage cheddar 250g
2 cans lentils
2 leeks
2 zucchinis
parmesan

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Sauce

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Sauce

9kg sliced ripe tomatoes
1.5kg onions, chopped fine
115g garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon ground ginger (mix into thin paste)
1.5kg sugar
140g salt
1 bottle Ezy Sauce

Boil together for 3 1/2 hours tomatoes, onions, garlic and ground ginger. Then strain and add about 1.5kg sugar, salt and Ezy Sauce. Simmer until thick enough (1 hour or more) and bottle. For a thicker sauce add 1.5 or 2kg of apples.

My husband has a note that it makes 8.81 litres. (OK the picture is not homemade tomato sauce but you get the idea.)

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Relish

Ezy-Sauce Tomato Relish

8.5kg ripe tomatoes, skinned & sliced
3kg onions, sliced
4 level tablespoons mustard powder
4 level tablespoons curry powder
mix last two with water to a thin paste
3kg sugar
1 bottle Ezy Sauce
115g flour

Put in a dish tomatoes, onions and salt. After 12 hours empty all into pan. When boiling add mustard and curry powder paste. Now add sugar and Ezy Sauce and boil about 2 1/2 hours. Then minutes before end of boiling add flour made into a thin paste with water. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

I like mine on silverside. My mother made it and that is what I think I remember about it.

Kerosene Tins

What a basic thing everyone had once. If we were all poor I guess we wouldn't have one to use. It is the one with the grindstones on it.

I promised to post my recipe for homecuring meat since there are some chemicals available in some supermarkets to do that I think. Not very clearly marked though. But I will buy some next time I see it.

I found I have lots of recipes in my new book. I bet the pickled meat was actually cooked in the tin, any thoughts?

Pickled Meat
(Excellent)

Meat pickled this way keeps like fresh. Take a good half kerosene tin of water, and put in two-pint mugfuls of salt and 1 pint mugful of sugar and boil well. Skim. Now, while boiling, put the meat in, and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Lift off fire, put a weight on the meat to hold it down under the brine, and cook as quickly as possible. Tie cloth over tin, and keep in cool place. This is good for beef or mutton, and it can be cooked any way you like - baked or boiled. - Still Smiling.

To Corn Mutton

2lb salt, put into 2 gallons (be careful gallons may vary by country) water and bring to boil. Put in mutton, and boil for 15 minutes. Take off fire to cool, and when lukewarm add 1/2 teaspoon saltpetre dissolved in a little warm water. Cover over, and keep in a cool place. Tested, and found good. - Still Smiling.

Salt petre may be considered unhealthy, not sure. My husband suggested small amounts, so you wouldn't want to add extra. However, our large knob of luncheon meat that I bought commercially last week or nearly two weeks ago has this ingredient in it.

Simplicity Chocolate Cake ~ Australian Classic

I'm in cake heaven again. Recently I was reading about my favourite cake my Nana made on a blog. In it the cake was adapted to make lemon muffins and I was thrilled. My Nana made variations as well, mostly lamingtons. I found on the net more variations. Today I was even more thrilled to find in a fund raiser book I bought recently, and older one reprinted, more variations. I have been having such fun with this book. I have made Sweet Impossible Pie for one thing.

Muffins
Variations 1
Variations 2

I have written the recipe in a composite of my Nana's recipe and the fundraiser recipe.

Simplicity Chocolate Cake

3 tab or oz butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 level tabs cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 cup Self Raising Flour
2 eggs
1/2 or 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla.

Melt the butter. Pull all other ingredients into a large basin and pour the melted butter on top of them. Beat really hard for 3 (8?) minutes, or low speed beat hard for 2-3 minutes. Pour the mixture into a prepared tin and bake in moderate oven. Be careful not to overcook. Time will depend on size and shape of tin. Loaf tin 350oF or 180oC for approximately 40 minutes.

Ice chocolate cake with chocolate icing and nuts or just dust with icing sugar.

Lamingtons

Make simplicity chocolate cake without using the cocoa.

Lamington Icing:

1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon butter
1 cup hot water

Place in saucepan and bring to boil. Thicken with 1 dessertspoon custard powder (Bird's if you are in the US) and 1 dessertspoon cocoa. Boil 5 minutes.

Cut cake into squares and dip into icing. Sprinkle with coconut.

Cinnamon Cake
1 teaspoon mixed spice and 1 teaspoon cinnamon (instead of cocoa)

Orange Cake
Juice of 1/2 an orange and rind and make up to 1/2 cup of milk (replaces cocoa and milk).

Passionfruit Cake
2 tablespoon of passionfruit and make to 1/2 cup of milk (replaces cocoa and milk).

Pantry Ponderings

Today (the other day now) I have been emptying out the canned food section of my pantry into a box to get a good look in there. I found I have lots of food really, perhaps not many vegetables. I had to start the pickled pork off earlier than the time we usually start tea/dinner. I bought it because there were wonderful specials on at IGA, on the meat and other things, and especially extra strength Dilmah tea which was nice. The pickled pork has been lovely on sandwiches.

Thursday ~ Chow Mein & Rice
Friday ~ Picked pork with stewed apple
Saturday ~ Curried Sausages with Pumpkin
Sunday ~ Moroccan Sweet Potato, Carrot and Chickpea Soup with Turkish bread
Monday ~ sausage casserole
Tuesday ~ Lamb Chops with White Bean Puree & Chips
Wednesday ~ Meatball, Vegetable & Barley Soup with Rosemary Croutons
Thursday ~ Sausages & Potatoes
Friday ~ Oven-baked Sausage and Tomato Risotto
Saturday ~ Family Mince Pie
Sunday ~ Cabbage with Split Peas
Monday ~ Five spice meatballs with plum sauce

We get a small amount of money then and will make up the two day shortfall.

I'm excited for those who haven't experienced the Taste website's budget recipes. They are printing some each month free with the major newspapers. Check it out.

I found an Australian video on how to have cooked sauerkraut. I think it has Maeve O'Meara in it. Yes, I have a large can of sauerkraut in the pantry. I am not German, but cook it sometimes. I am a learner. It is particularly nice on a cold day for a cooked lunch. My Grandparents seemed to have cabbage based recipes on cold days too, I'm sure. I suppose it is much better than drawing blow flies!

Scones Vs Biscuits

For all those outside the States who have read Little House on the Prairie and wondered what biscuits were, I'll let you know what I have learnt on my time on the net. Since blogging, the exchange of information seems to be speeding up. Still I have come across some interesting things in my love of biscuit research lol. I even tried with my limited knowledge at the time to make biscuits and gravy. To an Australian, putting white sauce on scones is... well I won't say. Thankfully these days, the Pioneer Woman has a picture with sausage. I am not sure if we can buy an equivalent in meat here. I used sausage mince, which we use to make sausage rolls. My understanding is now, perhaps sausage is just a flavoured mince? Who knows. Maybe someone who has been to the two countries can shed some light on it.

Pioneer Woman's Biscuits and Gravy

I used the biscuit recipe from Hillybilly Housewife. A very popular site for those trying to save money. I have the gravy recipe I used in a marbig folder (I think that link is the one I used), but with Pioneer Woman it is more a complete unit to use.

What I have noticed for those who say why don't I just use a scone recipe. If you compare them, biscuits has lots more butter in them. For Aussie scones, there is usually only one ounce or 30g of butter from memory.

Therefore in our country we don't have Bisquik in the stores, but we do have a scone mix. I used it to make this great recipe for a pork dinner from Betty Crocker. A great site.

Here is a great post about apple biscuits.

A great biscuit recipe here from an Mennonite cookbook.

My favourite savoury scone, is the ham ones, with very finely chopped ham that I learnt in High School (I actually went to a Tech School). There were herb ones and cheese. Will have to check that out and perhaps post the recipe. I still have my text book.

Scones are a delight to me, same with biscuits (US). Please add your comments or memories.

Show Day

My husband and our three daughters spent the day at the show today, they are nearly finished there. I suppose the Show is like a County Fair. We also have Field Days, like Henty Field Days in Australia.



We didn't do a lot, as mentioned in my previous post. But we did get two second prizes. One for my husband's jam, and one for our puppy. He was well behaved apparently which was good, he is a fairly large dog.



Our daughter helped man a church stall which was nice I thought. They were doing games, I think to encourage others to come to Youth Group.



Apparently our dog will be eligible for the working dog events next year as he is a gun dog.



My little girl got what we call here "fairy floss". My older girl got some jewelery.



I am going to post a picture of some canning or preserving on my other blog. It was quite hot today, and windy. Good for the dunking or rather hit in the face with a wet sponge stall.

Off milk and curing your own meat

This book is a joy to us. We didn't know a book like this existed. We already had a Leader Spare Corner book, I think originally from the Spare Corner of the Leader newspaper. It was where the recipes were published. Then after so many months or years they published the spare corners into a book. We recently bought a better copy of the one we had that had no cover. This one is in a much better format. For example it reads like a normal cooking book.

I found a section for example for eggless puddings. I know this is interesting, because I am eggless and have decided that I am not going to replace them until next shopping day, which is in two weeks. I want to keep our left over money for my husband's trip and the girls day at the show. I don't need a pudding though but it is interesting. I suppose if our meals turn out a bit light I could try one.

Last winter I found a curious bag in the supermarket where I shop. It is a farming district and I assume it is salt petre. My husband says it could be carcenergenic. However, imagine having sheep and being able to pickle some of the meat. I suppose freezers are just as good. I love pickled leg of lamb though, I used to have it for Christmas. Maybe my Nana did it so I would know what it was like. Maybe it is that bit special, it did taste nice. Anyway the book has the recipe. That is special in itself because I was sorry I didn't know how to use this ingredient that was prominently on my supermarket shelf.

I found a recipe for scones that uses up off milk. I thought these days with fewer people in homes that could be useful. We use UHT milk, and it doesn't go off really, you don't have to be as careful with it.

Sour Milk Scones

Never throw away a cup of sour milk, keep it, as it makes the most delightful scones. Into 3/4lb. plain flour mix 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 teaspoon carbonate of soda, and sift all together in order to get rid of the lumps. Mix into a light, but not too moist, dough with the sour milk, shape into a round on a floured board, and then cut into triangles and bake for twenty minutes on a buttered tin in a good top heat. Mrs. A.K.

I assume it is for slightly off milk.

I wonder if these recipes were tested. Lots of them say, for example for plum sauce, that it will keep. The recipes seemed to have practicality in mind.

Agricultural Show

The Agricultural Show is coming up fast. Last night my daughter picked up a booklet which has all the things you can enter. These are photos from last year. So far very quickly we have thought to enter our nearly grown puppy into a puppy competition. The reason being is we don't think we should enter him in the other section as he is not as well behaved as an adult dog. We have done some preserving, so that is an idea, to enter the plum jam. There is a stipulation there has to be clear covers, but looking through the photos we entered one last year (I know I was worried about the covers, I must have forgotten that detail). I did think of entering roses from the other house as I think they are nice, however, I am not sure what a floribunda is, will have to do some research on that one.



My daughters are not as keen as I am about floral saucer decorating. I didn't think I had any small flowers, but I am sure there would be some at my new house. Lots of driving involved and we wanted to renovate this weekend. (Yes it is a petty thing to worry about.)



I would prefer to do not much, but it seems worth it later on. I haven't entered flowers at this particular show before, but do remember doing that with my Nana for flower shows when I was little.



We have entered dolls and sewing here before, but no fresh ideas for that. If we enter the puppy will have to go in the Grand Parade.




Last year my husband and the two girls, got a second prize for something, my husband got two.




I used to love reading books to my littlest daughter a few years ago, Farmyard Tales by Heather Amery. One particular book was about the show, I think it is The Naughty Sheep. Have a look at the illustrations, it is an English story I think. Here are some snippets of what I have written previously about the Show.

"Earlier on in the year we went to the Agricultural Show. In our hometown I hadn't attended very often. I am not sure if this was our first or second visit to this show here, but our daughter won a prize for her toy bear that miraclously appeared during our practise year Christmas. I remember the first Show included a Punch & Judy performance and I was thrilled. The Show included what was in my childhood a Red Cross flower show. The Junior part had been joined to the Agricultural Show and the senior part left as it is. Need I say more?



I was thrilled to get reacquainted with Floral Saucers, though my daughters don't share my enthusiasm. My Nana and I had a lovely time attending flower shows, until the day, well I still enjoyed them; but, Nana put rag curls in my hair and I ended up with an afro."

Today, I am getting ready and going to sign up dh's jam melon pickles and chutney for the fair/show. Also dd5 and dd11 made some pet rocks and we have a melon...



My doll's name is Suzy. She is a 60s doll and I was happy lately that our local Show or Fair had a section for exhibition only where you could display your doll."

Too much plum jam?

Made lots and not sure you can use it all up? Maybe it has set too hard? This recipe is a family favourite that we used to make often with chops not fillets. It is an Ellen Sinclair recipe.

Pork Fillets in Plum Sauce

4 pork fillets
cornflour
60g (2oz) butter
2 onions
1 red pepper or capsicum
2 sticks celery
4 shallots or spring onions
2.5cm (1 in) piece green ginger

Plum Sauce
1/3 cup plum jam
1 chicken stock cube
2 teaspoons cornflour extra
1/2 cup water
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 clove garlic

Remove any fat from pork, coat fillets lightly with cornflour. Peel onion, cut into quarters. Cut red pepper in half, remove seeds and membranes, cut into slices. Slice celery, chop shallots, grate ginger.

Heat butter in pan, add pork, cook until golden and cooked through; remove from pan, keep warm. Add all vegetables to pan, cook 1 minute. Add Sauce, stir until Sauce boils and thickens. Cut pork fillets into thick diagonal slices, arrange on serving plate, spoon vegetables and sauce over.

Plum Sauce: Combine all ingredients, mix well. Serves 4.

Metric cups 250ml US cups 200ml. Tablespoon 20ml, US tablespoon 15ml.