Old Fashioned Lemon Cordial

If you are looking for something to quench your thirst over summer, then look no further than this delicious, mouth-watering lemon cordial. A little goes a long way, and this makes about three litres of cordial just like Grandma used to make.

2kg sugar
Grated rind and juice of six lemons
1 Tablespoon Tartaric Acid
1 Tablespoon Epsom Salts
2 Tablespoons Citric Acid
6 cups boiling water.

Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, saucepan or basin.

Add the lemon juice and rind. Don't worry too much about pips and pulp, these will all be strained out later.

Pour over boiling water and stir until dissolved.

Strain the cordial and place into clean, sterilised bottles. I use a big soup ladle to scoop the hot syrup (through a sieve) into a jug, to reduce the risk of a hot, sticky mess. The liquid is then easily poured into bottles via a funnel.

The cordial needs to be stored in the refrigerator. Dilute it to taste, with water or soda water to serve. Remember, a little goes a really long way, this is quite a strong cordial so you don't need very much.

For a change, try it with oranges instead of lemons, or combine different citrus fruits for your own yummy cordial flavours.

13. Mac & Cheese

If you ask Liam what he would like for dinner, he will either tell you chips or Mac'n'cheese. It is very popular in this house. Sometimes I mix it up a little, and add some vegies to it, but most of the time I serve it with steamed vegies and chicken kievs. Mmmmm.... The next day, I mix the left-overs with a tin of tuna and we have tuna-bake for lunch. This is a really big serving, probably enough for a side serve for maybe 8-10 people? It fills the bowl and we almost always have left-overs, despite it's popularity.

2 cups macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2½ cups milk
1 tablespoon mustard
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups grated tasty cheese
¼ cup breadcrumbs

Set your oven to 180 degrees and boil the pasta for 15 minutes.

Now, make the cheese sauce.

Melt the butter over a low heat in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until combined. Return to stove and cook over a low heat, stirring for about thirty seconds. Do not allow the mixture to brown.

Add the mustard and then add half a cup of milk, a little at a time, stirring until combined and lump-free. Add the rest of the milk and stir. Return to heat and stir until boiling. Reduce to low and stir for about one minute. Remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Reserve about half a cup of cheese and add the rest to the sauce mixture. By now your pasta should be cooked, if it is, drain it and add to the cheese sauce mixture. If it's not, you'll have to wait!

At this stage you could serve what you have already made, as it is. It's very good, but we will just go one step further and...

Place the mixture into a casserole dish, sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese and then top with breadcrumbs.

Pop it in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.

Now you will be wondering why you ever bothered with that nasty packet stuff.
Yum!

What are your kids favourite meals?

Chocolate Chip Biscuits

This biscuit recipe has been really popular amongst my friends and family over the years. It reminds me of my uni days and a friend who used to help me eat them. Liam had a little friend from kinder over to play this afternoon, so Noah helped me cook these in readiness.


125g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cup self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g (or so) chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla essence. Add the egg, and then the flour and the salt.

Add the chocolate chips, roll into small balls and flatten slightly. Even if it's only enough to stop them from rolling around on the tray. Place them on a tray lined with baking paper. Leave lots of space around them, they spread out a bit. I made 30 biscuits and spread them over two trays.



Bake in a moderate oven for about ten minutes or until golden.

If you've got one of those ovens that burns the bottom of everything, place an extra, empty biscuit tray on one of the lower shelves.

Yoplait Picnic

Product Talk By Nuffang

Today we were blessed with a public holiday co-inciding with a lovely, sunny day. Perfect for a picnic at one of our favourite playgrounds. This picnic is sponsored by Nuffnang and Yoplait.

When we arrived at the picnic, the kids were given some 175g tubs of strawberry yogurt. These tubs are a great size for snacks for little kids. I think they would also be good for morning playlunch at school or kinder. Yoplait is full of calcium, so it's great for growing strong bones, and it doesn't contain any artificial flavours or colours which is a real plus in my book.



The kids were enjoying them so much, they even licked the lids clean. You could say they were lid-lickingly good. Just for fun, Yoplait have printed some great little facts under the lids, like this one:



Happy people live nine years longer. Good thing my kids are happy people, then. I want them to live forever.





For a special treat, I made some Berry Yogurt Slice. The recipe calls for three cups of low fat vanilla yogurt. The 1kg tub of Yoplait Vanilla was perfect. There was even some left over for later. The vanilla flavour is really good, it even contains real vanilla pod.



I had a few problems with this recipe, when I poured the jelly on top, it stirred up the yogurt a bit, so there was yogurt in my jelly and the whole thing was a bit more wobbly and errr.... mooshy than my usual jelly slice, too. We had to use plates and spoons to eat it. I did leave the yogurt part to set overnight, so it wasn't that. I'm thinking next time I might use a little more gelatine? The flavour was really good though, better than the condensed milk version I am used to. One tip though - when pouring the jelly, pour slowly!



I also made some Honeyed Strawberry Dip, this time I used the Yoplait Vanilla from a 1kg tub. The recipe suggests reduced fat "natural" yogurt, but I wasn't able to find any. It was very sweet though, so the honey in my opinion wasn't really necessary. I gave the kids some bananas and strawberries to dip in it, and it was a winner. Not too sweet for them. I'm thinking you could save yourself a heap of trouble though, and just use some of the fruit flavoured yogurt without adding anything to it. It contains real fruit, so it would be just as good.



After our little picnic, Maxx and the kids went off to play in the playground. Amélie has just mastered going up and down slides by herself, so she was really keen to try out the slides at the park. She started out with some of the smaller slides, but was keen to go on the bigger ones.





After a few goes with me, she did it by herself!

Nachos + Guacamole

We used to enjoy nachos all the time, pre-kids, but they are pretty spicy and served in a really hot casserole dish, so it's been a while since I made these. I had a bit of a rough day with the kids the other day, afternoon naps were missed and so the grumpy children were all given an early dinner, bath and sent to bed. So I made nachos, just for us.

The recipe was originally from a packet of corn chips, one of my uni house-mates discovered it, and it's been a favourite recipe of mine ever since.

30g butter
2 large onions
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
400g can diced tomatoes
465g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed.
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon brown sugar
200g packet corn chips
1 1/2 cups grated cheese

Melt butter and sauté onions, garlic and spices for about 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, sugar and beans and cook until thick. I substituted my kidney beans for a can of five-bean mix. It all works the same.

Layer a casserole dish with corn chips, cheese and sauce, finishing with sauce and then cheese on top. Bake in a 200oC oven for 15 minutes or until cheese has melted.

Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

Guacamole
avocado
tomato, seeds removed and diced
half an onion, diced finely
5 drops tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mash the avocado with a fork. Combine with the diced tomato, onion, tabasco sauce and lemon juice. Transfer to serving bowl.

Liz's Quick Currant Cookies

This is my mum's biscuit recipe. I made some this morning. The recipe makes HEAPS of biscuits! I got 120 from this mixture, mum gets about 80, but hers are bigger. You could probably halve the recipe if you wanted, or take half the dough and wrap it in plastic and pop it in the freezer to make later. Or just make the whole batch, because you know they will get eaten anyway.

2¼ Cups Self-Raising Flour
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 Cups Brown Sugar
2 Cups Oats
1½ Cups Currants
250g Butter, melted
2 Eggs, lightly beaten

Pre-heat the oven to moderately hot. Ensure baking trays fit in the oven! Grease baking trays.

Sift the flour, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.

Add sugar, oats and currants.

Make a well in the centre of the bowl and add the butter and eggs. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well combined.

Roll teaspoons of mixture into balls and place onto prepared trays, allowing room for spreading.

Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I bet you can't stop at just one!

Roast Pumpkin and Basil Frittata

I've been wanting to blog this recipe for ages. It's perfect for a picnic or a barbecue, or lunch with a friend.

700g butternut pumpkin, roasted
6 eggs
1 cup cream
1/4 cup basil, torn
1 garlic clove, crushed
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
200g feta, diced
salt and pepper, to taste

Cut pumpkin into 2cm cubes. Place eggs and cream into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Fold through pumpkin and remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 20cm square sandwich pan and bake at 180°C for 45 minutes or until set. When cool turn onto a board and cut into serving sized pieces.

Nut Loaf

I use special nut-loaf tins to make this. If you don't have the proper tins, I have heard that you can use a fruit juice can (eg pineapple juice) and cover the top with foil. This makes two nut loaves, so you will need two tins (or fruit cans).

1 cup chopped dates
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup sultanas
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ tablespoon butter
1 cup boiling water
2 cups plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten

Combine the dates, nuts, sultanas, sugar, baking soda and butter.

Pour over the hot water, mix and then add flour, salt and egg.

Mix only until well blended with a wooden spoon.

Place in two well greased nut loaf tins, replace lids and stand upright in oven at 180C (160C FF) for 50-60 minutes.

Slice and serve with butter (or not).



Liam helped me to make the nut loaf today...



When did he turn into such a big boy?



He helped to grease the tins



He stirred...



When you grease the tins, line the base with baking paper. Use baking paper. I used to think grease-proof paper was baking paper, but baking paper is WAY better.



Ready to go in the oven!

Jelly Slice

I posted this image as part of wordless weekend some time ago. It was a bit of a tease, since I didn't post the recipe at the time (being wordless). Here it is again, this time with the recipe included.

Base
250g packet milk arrowroot biscuits
180g butter, melted

Filling
2 x 400g tins condensed milk
½ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
1½ tablespoons gelatine
½ cup boiling water

Jelly Topping
2 packets red jelly crystals
450ml boiling water

1. Line a lamington tin with baking paper. Alternatively, you may wish to use a plastic slice container, lined with baking paper. The baking paper will help you to retrieve your slice from the container once it is ready. Prepare a level space in your refrigerator.

2. Use a food processor to turn your biscuits into biscuit crumbs, add melted butter and mix well. Press into your prepared tin/container and place in refrigerator.

3. Dissolve the gelatine in the boiling water. In a medium bowl, blend the condensed milk, lemon juice, rind and gelatine mixture. Give it a good whipping with the mixer to get a bit of air in it. Spread the filling mixture over the base mixture, return to refrigerator and allow to set.

4. Combine jelly crystals with boiling water. Stir to ensure that all the crystals have dissolved. Cool to room temperature and pour over the slice.

5. Refrigerate until set. Slice and serve!

Honolulu Meatballs

This is another family favourite. Mum used to cook it when we were kids and now I cook it for my kids.

You can add other vegetables if you like, carrot is nice. I added a tin of baby corn to this lot and we weren't really thrilled with the result, so probably won't do that again. I have also replaced the meatballs (first 6 ingredients) with chicken for something a little different.

500g minced steak
1½ cups cereal*
1 small onion chopped
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon oil
1 450g tin pineapple pieces
1 tablespoon corn flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
⅓ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 green capsicum, sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced

Combine meat, cornflakes, egg, onion, salt and ginger. Form into 20 meatballs about 1 tablespoon in each.

Heat oil and brown the meatballs quickly, then lower heat and simmer until meatballs are cooked, about 15 minutes. Remove from pan and pour away regaining fat.

Drain pineapple and measure syrup, make up to one cup with water.
Combine corn flour and sugar in a bowl, stir in syrup and water until smooth.

Add vinegar and soy sauce.

Pour into frying pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils.

Return the meatballs to the frying pan with pineapple and green pepper. Heat through and serve with rice or noodles.

*The original recipe says to use cornflakes but I actually use crushed wheatbix, because we don't usually have cornflakes, All Bran is another good alternative, and in a pinch I have used Just Right a couple of times -  picked out all the sultanas and stuff the first time I did it, but never bothered again, it was still fine!

Have you entered my giveaway yet? Only a couple of days left, so get in quick! I am also participating in Blogtoberfest.

"Usual Chicken"

In our house we have a bunch of things that I cook regularly. One of them is something we like to call "Usual Chicken". We call it this, because the recipe starts out by saying "Boil chicken in the usual way..." I have no idea what the usual way of boiling chickens is. Cookery the Australian Way suggests boiling for an hour with two peppercorns and a teaspoon of vinegar, so that's what I do. You might like to boil yours in your slow cooker.

Im not sure where this recipe came from, but it was all in ounces and stuff, so I've since converted it. I also changed the bit at the end that suggested frying your breadcrumbs in butter before adding to the top. You can do that if you like, but I don't think the recipe needs any extra butter.



You need:
One whole chicken
60g butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup cream
2 tablespoons parsley
2 sticks celery
1 can corn kernels
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Boil chicken in the usual way (tee-hee) until it breaks apart when lifted with tongs. Reserve 1 cup of stock and set aside chicken to cool.

Melt butter in a large saucepan, add flour and stir over low heat for two minutes.

Remove from heat. Gradually add reserved chicken stock and return to the the heat, bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for two minutes.

Add undiluted soup, cream and parsley. If you want, you can use dry parsley, but only use about 2-3 teaspoons. Mix well.

Chop celery, and drain the corn. Strip the meat from the chicken - I use a knife and fork to do this. Chop the meat roughly and add celery, chicken and corn to the saucepan and stir through to combine.

Pour into an oven proof dish. Top with breadcrumbs and bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve it up to your kids (and significant others) and watch them eat it all and ask for seconds! Yum!

Choc-Chip Banana Muffins

Oops - I missed a day of Blogtoberfest! We had unexpected (but very welcome) guests last night, so to make up for missing a day, I will share the recipe for the muffins I made to share with my visitors.

I'm not sure of the origin of the recipe, I originally found it on-line, sans-choc-chips - they were my idea.

This recipe makes 12 muffins, and uses two largish, or three small bananas. I almost always double the recipe - sometimes triple, because I want my muffins to last longer than it takes me to clean up afterwards, and they go quickly.

2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup mashed banana
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

Pre-heat the oven to 200oC (or 180 if fan-forced). Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.

Place all the dry ingredients (including the chocolate chips) in a large bowl, the bowl needs to be pretty large if you are making a double batch.

Place all the wet ingredients in another bowl - mix well to combine.

Pour the contents of the "wet bowl" into the "dry bowl" and fold through. Try not to over-mix, or you will end up with rubbery muffins. It needs to be just-combined.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin tray.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!