Lime Custard & Blueberry Pie

Today was a cooking day – Lime Custard and Blueberry Pie, Kangaroo Chili, and Blueberry and Oatmeal Muffins. (Follow the links to see recipes for the muffins.) I needed a day off from house stuff! The pie was pretty simple and really yum. I modified a recipe from Women's Weekly slightly and simply replaced buttermilk with regular milk, as well as used less lime zest than they suggested and a bit more lime juice and pulpy bits.

Shortbread Pie Pastry for crust
3 eggs
½ cup caster sugar
¼ cup milk
Juice from 1 lime
Zest from 2 limes
2 tablespoons custard powder (vanilla)
1-2 cups blueberries
Icing sugar, to dust

Line pie plate with pastry and bake on 200C/400F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 180 and bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Beat eggs and caster sugar in bowl until thick and pale, then add milk, lime juice and zest, and custard powder. Mix until combined, then pour into pastry shell. Bake for 15 minutes on 180C, then reduce heat to 160C and bake another 20-25 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool, then top with blueberries and icing sugar. Enjoy!

Food Blog Wanderings Part 5

Dips
Chili Con Queso (without Velveeta, for those Yanks abroad)
Salads
Teriyaki Mushroom Salad
Cucumber & Feta Salad
Mains
Lamb Souvlaki
Desserts
Apple Bourbon Bread Pudding
French Silk Pie
Beverages
Honeydew & Banana Soy Milkshake

Chicken Soup

Seems the secret to a good chicken soup is lime and curry powder. My hubs is sick so thought I would cook some up for him as we had some chicken stock. ezpz!

Chicken Stock
Noodles
Carrots & Celery, diced
Onions & Garlic, chopped
1 tsp Curry Powder
Dash of Parsley
1 Lime, squeezed
3 Whole Cloves

Mix it all together, minus the noodles. Throw the lime halves in for about the 1st 10 minutes. After about 25 minutes, put the noodles in. Serve with noodles cooked.

The Perfect Gin & Tonic

When you go to a bar in Chicago and ask for a gin & tonic with olives, the bartender knows what you mean. When you go to a pub in England and ask for the same, you get 2 olives on a napkin, next to your gin & tonic, which still has a lime wedge in it. In Australia or New Zealand, you just get an odd look when you ask for a gin & tonic with olives. Anyway, for a perfect gin & tonic, get a jar of green olives, preferably with pits still in, spoon out about 2 tsp of the olive juice into your glass, add 5-6 olives, then your gin, and some tonic water.

Food Blog Wanderings Part 4

Mains
Snobby Joes (a veggie version of an American classic)
Black Bean Burgers
Breads
Strawberry Sour Cream Bread
Easy Beer Bread
Sides
Baked Sweet Potato Fries (great side for the Snobby Joes)
Desserts
Cranberry Cherry Crumble
Drinkies
Gin, Juice, Plus...

Gourmet Mac 'n 3 Cheese

Macaroni
50g butter
1/4 c all purpose flour
2 1/2 c milk
1/2 c double cream
1/2 c dry white wine
1/4 c swiss/emmenthal cheese
1/4 c fontina cheese
1/4 c blue cheese
1 cup grated parmesan
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook Macaroni. Melt butter in pan. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Add milk a bit at a time, whisking vigourously after each additon, then stir in cream, then white wine. Cook until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Add cheese (only 1/3 cup of parmesan) and stir well to mix, then add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in macaroni and pt mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle remaining parmesan over and bake for 25-30mins on 180C.

Slow Cookers

I need one. Any recommendations (from Australia)? Recipes also welcome;)

Food Blog Wanderings Part 3

Breakfast Foods
Breakfast Casserole w/Asparagus & Mushrooms
Soups
Tomato Soup (with extra veg)
Spicy Cauliflower Soup
Potato Leek Soup
Carrot and Cashew Soup ( a way to get your nuts in)
Cream of Spinach Soup
Sandwiches
Reuben (the King of sandwiches!)
Pirogie Sandwiches (for the slightly lazy or just impatient)
Mains
Chili Verde (because any chili is worth an attempt)
Lemon Pasta
Reuben Casserole (no such thing as too much corned beef)
Crockpot Beef Stew w/Olives & Capers
Sides
Roasted Garlic Hummus (made my 1st batch of roasted garlic yesterday)
Roasted Garlic, Pepper & White Bean dip
Mixed Bean & Goat Cheese dip
Salads
Dijon Potato Salad
Chickpea & Broccoli Salad
Pinto Bean Salad w/Avocado, Tomato & Red Onion
Desserts
Cadbury Creme Egg Muffins (just in time for Easter)
Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins
Banana & Custard Tart

Heavy on the soups this time around, but we are soon to go back to a house in Australia with no heat in the winter, plus it fits in with my 1-2x per week veggie meals.

Kangaroo Salad with Fig, Apple & Feta

Kangaroo fillets
BBQ Sauce
Fresh fig, cut into slices
Apple, cut into slices
Baby spinach
Feta
Oil

Marinate kangaroo in BBQ Sauce. (Do yourself a favour and purchase some American BBQ Sauce from USA Foods. The Australian stuff is not worth injesting.) Mix other ingredients for salad. Add kangaroo, sliced (after you cook it of course, which I would suggest be done by grilling). Mix oil with some BBQ sauce, and use as dressing.

Grandma's Sunshine Cake

I don't actually remember my Grandma making this, but I know she'd love the internet, so I'm going to post a few of her recipes in remembrance. She got a word processor in her 80s and would have had a computer mastered if she was still living. Anyway, Grandma's recipes were fairly basic, and I remember her buying toaster strudel for me everytime I went to visit, but what she did cook was good.

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can madarin oranges w/juice
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
Icing
1 can crushed pineapple
1 container Cool Whip (If anyone knows where I can get this in Australia please advise!)
1 package instant vanilla pudding

Beat all together cake ingredients together until light and fluffy. Bake at 350/180 in 13x9x2in pan for 25 minutes or until brown. Cool before icing. Mix icing ingredients together until well mixed. Ice cake and keep in fridge, especially during the Adelaide heat waves!

Eggplant Stacks

A bit nicer than just mozzarella, tomato and basil salad;)

2 medium eggplants, sliced into 1/2in thick slices
olive oil
cottage cheese
mozzarella, thinly sliced
tomatoes, thickly sliced
prosciutto slices (optional)
fresh basil leaves
salt & fresh ground pepper

Brush eggplant slices with oil and grill 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. Lightly oil large baking dish, then place half eggplant slices in dish. Season cottage cheese with salt & pepper, then top eggplant slices with cottage cheese and place another layer of eggplant on top of cottage cheese. Top with a mozzarella slice, a slice of prosciutto and a tomato slice. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 200C for approx 20 minutes, until golden brown & heated through. Garnish with fresh basil and serve either warm or cold.

Pumpkin Soup

Although the Australian need to roast pumpkin waaay too often is killing my like of pumpkin, this soup is still a winner. It's also very simple.

1 large pumpkin, cut in chunks
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1 can coconut milk or cream (depending on how heart healthy you're feeling, and of course how thick you want your soup)
coriander leaves to taste, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pumpkin chunks in boiling water until soft. Drain and reserve cooking water. Process chilli, garlic, half the coriander, salt & pepper in blender. Put pumpkin in blender with chilli mix and blend. Put mixture back in saucepan, add coconut milk or cream and simmer. If too thick, add some of reserved water. Serve with remaining coriander for garnish.
*Optional: Serve with crusty bread