Pineapple Buttermilk Meringue Pie

I've been eyeing this recipe for a while.

9-in pie crust, prebaked
20-oz can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup pineapple juice (reserved from canned pineapple)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or make your own with milk & vinegar)
3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Meringue
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F. Drain can of crushed pineapple and reserve 1/2 cup of pineapple juice. In a large saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Stir in pineapple, reserved pineapple juice, buttermilk, egg yolks and lemon juice. Stir well, then turn on the stove to medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture just comes to a boil and thickens. Be careful not to burn. It will have a lemon curd type of consistency with slow bubbles when it is done. Cover pan and cool to room temperature.

While filling cools, prepare the meringue. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in vanilla extract.

Pour cooled pie filling into baked pie shell. Top with meringue, spreading it to the edges of the pie crust to cover the filling completely. Smooth top with a spatula. Bake pie at 375F for 10-12 minutes, until meringue is lightly browned. Cool, then refrigerate before serving.

Apricot Pie

Our fruit tree has ripened, so the only thing to do was...

6 cups apricot halves
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp lemon juice, preferably fresh
butter

Mix lemon juice with apricot halves. Whisk dry ingredients together, then gently mix into apricots. Fill pre-baked pie crust. Top with bits of butter. Add 2nd crust to top and cut slits. Bake at 200 for about 30-40 minutes until golden and apricot filling just beginning to bubble through the slits. Sprinkle top of crust with small amount of sugar immediately after taking out of oven. Let cool enough to gobble;)

Spanish Rice

Veggie meal #1 for 101 of 1001

We're having Pork Chili Verde and Black Bean burritos from Chili Mojo (watch the video) for dinner tonight, so I was just going to make some rice and refried beans as a side, but decided to try some Spanish rice instead. I've never been a huge fan of it but that's most likely due to the fact that it's typically not cooked that well at restaurants. I combined suggestions from a few different recipes, including The Homesick Texan's recipe.

1 cup of rice
2 cups of chicken broth (or veggie stock)
butter
olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
ground pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes (with chillies, if you can find them) -or- 1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can kidney beans (optional)
lime juice and cilantro to taste (optional)
avocado and sour cream to top (optional)

Add rice, chicken broth and butter to pot. Bring to a boil on high, stir once and cover. Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes, then remove from heat and keep covered for 5 to 10 minutes longer. In the meantime, cook onions in oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Stir in tomato paste, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, pepper and cumin and cook for approx one minute. Mix in cooked rice, lime juice and cilantro. Serve!

P.S. You could also add some capsicum/pepper to the onion mix, and use as a burrito filler along with some cheese and lettuce (and meat optional if you are a carnivore)

Anzac Biscuits

A Kiwi workmate brought me a couple of these last year and they were so good---nothing better than oats and coconut.

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup coconut
3/4 cup oats
75g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup or corn syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp boiling water

Mix flour, sugar, coconut and oats. Melt butter and syrup. Dissolve baking soda in water and add to butter and syrup. Stir butter mix into dry ingredients. Place level tablespoons of mix onto greased baking trays, then press out with fork. Bake at 180C for about 12-15 minutes or until golden. Makes 15.

*Mine turned out slightly flat because I added a bit too much water but damn they were good anyway!

Simple Mafe

This is a West African lamb stew. The recipe was obtained from The World is a Kitchen. The next time I make it I may add some garlic, diced tomatoes and use chunky peanut butter instead. I substituted macadamia oil instead of peanut oil, as I couldn't find the latter, and used dried thyme. It seemed to work out fine although I may search out the peanut oil next time just to try the difference. I also cut the recipe in half and found it to make 4 serves; below is the full recipe.

2 tbsp peanut or macadamia oil
1 large onion, minced
2 lbs lamb stew meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 cups cold water
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 cups hot water
4 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 springs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat oil in heavy saucepan, add onion and cook over medium heat until translucent. Add meat and lightly brown. In small bowl, mix peanut butter with cold water and pour it over the meat. Dilute tomato paste with hot water, pour liquid over the stew, and stir to mix well. Add remaining ingredients, lower heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or until meat is tender. Remove thyme springs and bay leave. Serve over rice.

Dawn's Potato Pancakes

Have a handwritten recipe for potato pancakes tucked into my recipe book and as I'm at home jobless at the moment thought I'd spend an hour and a half cooking them up last night to have something special with dinner. I forgot that I could have literally shaved off 1/2 an hour by using my food processor instead of the grater for the onions and potatoes, and when we redo the kitchen I will definitely have two burners that I can place a large rectangular griddle over to cook more at a time.

6 small to medium potatoes
1 medium onion
1/2 c swiss or tasty cheese
2 eggs
3-4 tbsp flour

Grate potatoes, onion and cheese, and mix in eggs and flour to bind. Heat oil or shortening in non-stick pan and drop spoonfuls of mixture on to pan, then flatten with spatula. Heat until brown and crispy on each side. Serve immediately, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and with sour cream and applesauce on the side.

Coconut Pie

I got this recipe out of a book titled Sweety Pies: An Uncommon Collection of Womanish Observations, With Pie. It's a book of pie recipes (obviously) from women in the South of the US. I modified this one slightly by using low fat milk instead of whole and lowering the amount used (recipe called for 2 cups whole milk...but I buy low fat and didn't want to use more than I needed to of the weekly milk supply as I hadn't planned my grocery shopping to suit the recipe). I also used less butter (it called for an entire [US] stick but I used about half, which was actually an accident as I wasn't paying close attention). It was fantastic, warm and cold. The coconut rises to the top and forms a slightly crispy top and beneath is a custard consistency. Lovely!

P.S. Just realised it didn't call for a crust and although I used one, I wonder if you could do without.

3 large eggs
1 c sugar
1 1/2 c low fat milk
1/4 c unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Mix eggs, then add sugar, milk, melted butter and flour, and mix until well blended. Add vanilla and coconut, mix well. Pour into pie plate (after pre-baking the crust) and bake until centre feels firm, about 50-55 minutes. Let cool on wire rack before serving.

Aussie Fish Burritos

We had Barrumundi last night and there was so much of it, I only cooked half, so tonight I'm going to make fish burritos, as I have quite a few of the fixings. They won't be like traditional fish tacos, but they'll still be good.

Tortillas
Refried Beans
Barramundi
Shredded Lettuce
Carrots, shaved
Cheese
Lime
Sesame Oil
Cayenne
Cumin
Dill
Salt & Pepper

Heat oil in pan. Dust fish with seasonings. Fry on both sides until cooked through, then break apart into small pieces and squeeze lime over fish. Warm tortillas and refried beans. Spread beans on tortillas, top with fish, shredded lettuce, carrots and cheese. Wrap up and feast on!

Banana Bread

Being in between jobs, I finally have some time to cook decently, and I've even started using my digital camera, so here are some pics finally (and yes that is my very '70s orange kitchen counter...a remodel is a few years in the future). Found this recipe on Taste.com.au and as I had some over-ripe bananas sitting around, thought I might give it a go.

265g (1 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
40g (1/4 cup) plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
140g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
2 eggs, whisked
50g butter, melted, cooled
2 overripe bananas, mashed


Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease an 11 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan. Line the base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang a bit.

Sift the combined flours and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Place the milk, eggs, melted butter and banana in a medium bowl, and stir until well combined. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Food Blog Wanderings Part 6

I have been such an absolute slacker on this blog. Here I thought I would move to Oz and not only have more time to cook but even time to take pics of my creations...NOT. Life has been oh so busy the last 6 months; read all about it on my other blog. In the meantime, here are a few more recipes I add to the list of things I'd like to cook (and eat!) someday.

Breakfast
Oatmeal Pancakes (with mashed bananas!)
Huevos Rancheros (because nothing beats Mexican, even for brekkie)
Salads
Shrimp and Blueberry Salad
Strawberry and Avocado Spinach Salad
Dips
Rosemary-Lemon White Bean dip
Desserts
Strawberry Lemonade bars

Roasted Garlic Hummus

Breakfast today was coffee with cinnamon and roasted garlic hummus on toast. I used my food processor for the 1st time this weekend, to make roasted garlic hummus. I've been wanting to make homemade hummus for a long time, and found a good recipe here. I used more chickpeas (a 13 oz. can rather than 1/2 a 19oz. can), and next time I would leave out the raw garlic, as it was just slightly too garlic-y. Watch out tomorrow workmates;)

1 can chickpeas
1 head roasted garlic
1/2 of a large, juicy lemon (zest and juice)
1 tablespoon tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend to proper consistency. Serve with toast wedges.

Next time I'm going to try with either olives or sun-dried tomatoes, instead of garlic.

Blueberry & Oatmeal Muffins

These are sooooo good; it's the 2nd time I've made them. Another recipe from the Wanderings, found here. I've been using froxen blueberries, but since these are so cheap to make and I have plenty of all ingredients, I may try again with a mixed berry blend.

1 cup flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 egg
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup oil
1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Set aside. Combine the milk and the vinegar and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Put the oats and the milk mixture into the bowl of a food processor and let sit for a few minutes.
3. Process the mix a few times. Add the egg, sugar and oil. Process for 10 seconds.
4. Combine wet and dry without over mixing. Add the blueberries and stir to combine.
5. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for about 18 minutes.

The 1st time I made these I didn't use the food processor, as I didn't yet have one;) And the 2nd time, I forgot to add the egg, sugar & oil before I mixed the milk & oats mixture into the dry ingredients, so I ended up over-mixing when I put the egg, sugar & oil in with everything else. Both times they ended up great, just a different consistency. Hubs liked them the 2nd time around better, so it simply depends on what you like. Next time I may try adding some bran in with the mix, to make it a bit more healthy.