30 Minute Dinner Rolls

I'm pretty addicted to the bread I mix in my bread maker and then shape and bake in the oven. The only downside is that it takes a 3-4 hours from start to finish.
I came across this recipe that had been pinned by a friend and thought it was worth giving a try.

The result was good. Not the super light bread rolls that you buy from the super market or bakery, more yeasty and heavier - almost scone like.

30 Minute Dinner Rolls

1 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water

1/3 C oil

2 Tbsp yeast

1/4 C sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3 1/2 C bread flour (seems to work better but all purpose flour will also work)

Heat oven to 200 degrees celcis

In your mixer bowl combine the water, oil, yeast and sugar and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.  Using your dough hook, mix in the salt, egg and flour.  Knead with hook until will incorporated and dough is soft and smooth. (Just a few minutes)

Form dough into 12 balls and then place in a greased 9 x 13 pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes.  They will be small enough that they are not touching but when they rise and bake they get bigger.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until golden brown.

Oat Cakes

With an afternoon 'drinks and nibbles' ahead of us I've been thinking about what I could make.
After a busy week, I'm pretty happy to let the super market do most of the 'cooking' for me but remembered this recipe. I've made these before and they are really nice as part of a cheese board. They are simple, cheap and pretty quick too.

The recipe makes about 50. I'm going to freeze some to take away for our Easter weekend away.





Oat Cakes
360g oatmeal (I use rolled oats...not sure if that is the same but it works)
100g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs sugar
130g butter
200 mls milk

Preheat oven to 200degrees C.
Combine all ingredients except milk.
Add milk and mix for several minutes...the food processor is great for this.
Roll out very thin and cut into biscuits.
Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Cherry Tomato and Pesto Tarts

I needed a quick starter for a meal with guests and our garden is producing loads of cherry tomatoes of all colours and shapes. A quick tart seemed like a great simple idea. My only mistake was not pricking the pastry inside the border!
I used frozen pesto  and pre- made and rolled frozen puff pastry.

I cut the pastry sheets into 6 rectangles and folded over the edges of the pastry to form a border.
I then spread the pesto over the inner part of the tart and placed halved cherry tomatoes on top.
I sprinkled with salt and pepper and they were ready to cook.

I baked for about 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees C.

Simple, quick and tasty.

Lemonade Scones - sweet and savoury

I've got my standard cheese scone recipe that we use a lot but my little person wanted sweet scones so I hunted out this recipe that seems to be a bit of a kiwi favourite.
These were for lunch so I halved the recipe and left one lot plain (and slightly sweet) and mixed in capsicum, sundried tomato and a hunk of brie (left over from snacks on a previous day) chopped up.
A great way to meet the tastes of all of the family.
I discovered I didn't have enough self raising flour so hunted out the recipe for a substitute...it's included after the scone recipe.

Lemonade Scones

Ingredients

• 4 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• pinch of salt
• 300 ml cream
• 300 ml lemonade or soda water
• 
  
• Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well. Pour the cream and lemonade or soda water into the dry ingredients and mix together to form a soft dough.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured bench, dust lightly with flour and gently roll out into a rectangle. Cut into approximately 12 pieces and lift each onto the baking tray.
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool inside a clean tea towel to help keep their freshness.

Self Raising Flour Substitute

1. Using a dry measure, measure the desired amount of flour into a separate container.
2. For each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
3. Mix to combine.

Tips:

1. You can use self-rising flour in yeast bread recipes, but you'll need to omit the salt.
2. If you use self-rising flour as a substitute for all-purpose flour in a quick bread, omit salt and baking powder.

Cheesy Cracker Bites - Healthy Lunch Box Options!

Isabella turned 5 mid way through December and had less than a week at school in 2012. She starts again with me in early February.
For most of her 4 years in child care Isabella's food has been provided. When I first went back to work I provided all her food while she was with a "Porse Carer" (in home child care) but as she got older she had food provided by her carers.

Her first carer was a fabulous woman called Minakshi and her family. There Isabella developed an insatiable appetite for Indian Roti.

Most recently at Kindy her food was provided. While I'm not totally convinced about the nutritional value of every thing she ate (she told me recently that she loved tinned fruit salad with condensed milk that they had a Kindy), at least I knew she was eating and that I didn't have to 'magic up' a lunch and snacks each day for her.
So to cut a very long explanation short I am back to preparing snacks and lunch for her each week day for school.
I've managed to find a lunch box system that doesn't need glad wrap or paper which really pleases my 'green' side. It has lots of little compartments and containers that fit together and best of all it came from the Supermarket. We found the original website in Australia and had a few 'extras' sent to my Brother and sister in law in Sydney so we are now all set to go.

What is going to be a challenge is finding a balance between healthy balanced snacks and lunches and quick and easy things to put together.
On my suggestion her Kindy started getting the children who were close to turning 5 to make their own sandwiches some days then eating them for lunch. A great start for Isabella and I as she is now very happy with simple sandwiches...I just have to try to wean her away from white bread.

I've started hunting for ideas and 'pinning' them on Pintrest and today made the first one.
The cheesy crackers had a bit more sugar than I would have liked but I figure that if I can get Bella eating them and liking them I can reduce the sugar next time.
I really liked that these had LSA - Linseed, Sesame and Almond in them as I try to include LSA in baking when I can.
They are made a bit like biscotti - a bit time consuming but really easy.
My plan is to freeze them and put a couple in her lunch box frozen in the morning. That way they should be fine by morning tea or lunchtime.

The end result was great. I'm tempted to put them aside for adult snacks with cheeses and dips!
I'll make a double batch next time. the single batch made about 50 small cracker sized snacks.

Hopefully there will be more healthy lunchbox ideas to come.

Mini Cheese Crackers

1 Cup wholemeal pl flour

3/4 cup white pl flour

1/2 teasp baking powder

2 large eggs

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 Tblsp LSA mix

1 egg white lightly beaten

Sift the flours and baking powder into a bowl. Beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale and doubled in bulk....use electric beaters!!

Using a large metal spoon fold in flours, cheeses and LSA mix. Do not overmix.

Knead gently on a lightly floured surface to bring dough together..add extra water if required.

Divide the mix into thirds and roll into 3 logs. Place logs onto greased trays and brush with egg white.

Bake in moderate oven(180 degrees) for 20 mins, turn over and bake for another 10 minutes or until firm and light brown. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 160 degrees.

Slice each log very thinly into slices. Place the slices back onto lined trays in a single layer and cook for further 20 mins or until crisp and dry.

Cheese and Bacon Puffs

I saw this on the Good Morning Show website. The comment about getting your oven on fast because they are so quick to make really appealed to me!
Of course anything with cheese and bacon is usually pretty good too.
To make it really fast I used my mini blender to grate the cheese. The mixture really was ready before the oven had time to heat up!

The are really just little scones and would make a great snack or addition to a soup meal.
Mine were a little bit. The teaspoon measures need to be quite small.

These delicious little morsels disappeared VERY fast!

June 2012 - I made these again for a function. I sliced them in the middle and added to some a pesto and cream cheese mixture and to the others cream cheese and capsicum. They disappeared quickly and I had lots of very good feedback!

Cheese and Bacon Puffs

Makes about 24

Ingredients 1 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2  cups grated cheese (tasty is best)
1/2 cup chopped bacon
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk

Method Get your oven to 200C first.
This is so fast that it'll barely have time to pre-heat.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg till it goes frothy.
Tip the egg, milk and cheese into the flour and mix well.
Chuck teaspoon sized balls of the mixture on a lined tray

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

Oat Cakes - Recipe

Oat Cakes - top right

Today we had friends for lunch. Our lunch was kind of an end of holidays event for me as I official go back to work at work tomorrow, rather than doing a few little bits and pieces from home. A weekend lunch was also a good opportunity to make something new, along with the tried and true.

We started with a cheese plate with home made Oat Cakes. This is a recipe I have often looked at in one of my Sophie Gray recipe books. The Oat cakes were really nice and screamed out for a really good strong blue cheese.

A Sunday morning visit to my local 'Nosh' provided exactly what I was imagining...after trying a few options of course. They had a Dutch blue on special which provided us a large chunk at a reasonable price. Dried figs were the finishing touch that tied this all together.

Rik and Kim brought our next course Arancini (risotto balls, crumbed and deep fried). They were beetroot and feta flavoured with walnut ground for the crumb coating, served with a delicious thick avocado based sauce.

The next course was rotisserie chickens - on stuffed with fresh herbs and lemon and flavoured with smoked garlic salt, the other stuffed with fresh fennel and flavoured with fennel seeds and salt (a take on a fennel chicken recipe I have made before.
The chicken was served with a quinoa salad, fennel salad and the good old stand by of potato salad.

I decided my home made lemon cordial mixed with gin and soda and lots of ice would be an appropriate palate cleanser...actually I just wanted a chance to have out guests try it...and have one myself.

Our meal was finished with Ambrosia made by Lynn. She had used all fresh berries and had included green grapes which gave an interesting contrast in both colour and texture.

Oat Cakes Recipe
360g oatmeal (I used rolled oats...they seem to be the same thing? or at least similar enough for it to work)
100g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking flour
2 tbsp sugar
130g butter
200 ml milk

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Combine all dry ingredients, add butter then milk and mix for several minutes. This is done easily in a food processor.
Roll out very thin and cut in to biscuits. Bake to 15-20 minutes.

Vanilla Cup Cakes and Savoury Muffins - recipes

With the big 4th birthday party only 2 weekends away, preparation has started to TRY to reduce work and stress on the day.
One of the things I am doing in advance and freezing is cupcakes that will be decorated on the day and savoury muffins that will also be finished on the day.
Both recipes are being made in mini muffin pans...not much more than a mouthful for an adult, but a perfect size for a little person.

The savoury muffins will be split halfway down the centre and then have a dollop of pesto or a slice of brie and halved cherry tomato in them.

The vanilla cupcakes will be decorated with little people in mind - bright icing and sprinkles! We had a practice on some big ones today - it's too hard to cope with baking muffins only to see them go into the freezer when you are 3...or in your 40s!

Savoury Muffins

• 1.5 cups self raising flour (or regular flour and one teaspoon of baking powder)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 200 gm cheese (a little less is ok, you can alter this to a cheddar/blue cheese mix, and fresh parmesan is also recommended).
• Savoury fillings: caramelised onions, chopped up cooked chorizo, spinach, roasted red pepper, roasted pumpkin/kumara, feta cubes. You can add almost anything you like. (I used red and yellow pepper, ham and spring onion)
1. Mix the dry ingredients, this includes the cheese and savoury fillings. Mix carefully to avoid mashing all the ingredients together. You can add a pinch of paprika or black pepper to the mix to taste.
2. Mix the wet ingredients well.
3. Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Don't over mix, it should be a stiff mixture.
4. Spoon into greased muffin tin, garnishing the top. (A slice of tomato and some grated cheese works well, as do pumpkin seeds)
5. Cook at 190 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until muffin coloured.

Basic Vanilla Cup Cakes

Serving Size:

Makes 12 muffin size or 24 small cupcake size
Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ cup (185mL) milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place muffin papers in one 12-hole muffin tray or cupcake papers in two 12-hole cupcake trays. In an electric mixer, beat butter for 2 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition. Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined.

Sift flour and baking powder and add half to butter mixture with half the milk, mix until well combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Fill cupcake papers ¾ full (an icecream scoop is perfect for this). Bake muffin size cupcakes for 20-25 minutes and small cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool completely.

Icing
Cream butter until pale and smooth. Add the milk and half the sifted icing sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture should be a spreadable paste; if it is too dry add some more milk, if too wet add more icing sugar.

When cakes are cold, spread generously with icing and dip into sprinkles or decorate with small lollies.

Silverbeet & Broccoli Tart Recipe

My winter garden has not produced much for us (apart from avocados and herbs) so it is nice to finally start getting a few things from it.
I planted carrot seeds ages ago and very few survived (that might be something to do with the fact that they should have been planted when it was warmer?). Yesterday Isabella got to pull a carrot for the garden and then within 20 minutes eat if for dinner. This is the kind of thing I want her to experience - an understanding about where food comes from and how it is grown.

Today I have made a tart with silver beet and broccoli from our garden. We had loads of half eaten cheese in our fridge that were left over from Rugby World Cup pre match drinks at our house. I couldn't bring myself to just throw them out so used them along with the home grown veges to make this tart. It was so simple to make...I didn't have a recipe, just kind of gave it a go. It really was delicious

Silverbeet Tart Recipe

Cooked Silverbeet (about 10 large leaves)
Cooker Broccoli
Cheese (I used Brie and blue Brie)
3 beaten eggs
Puff pastry (I'm not a great cooker of pastry so its a bit of a case of anything goes for me)
Fresh Thyme
Salt, pepper

Turn oven to about 200 degrees and put oven tray in to warm up.
Cook Broccoli and Silverbeet and squeeze out excess liquid.
Roll out pastry on baking paper and create an edge by folding up edges.
Lay silverbeet and broccoli over the base.
Cut or grate cheese and spread over the base.
Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over thyme leaves.

Slide baking paper on to hot tray from the oven and carry to a flat surface near (or in) the oven.
Carefully pour beaten egg over tart keeping it within the edges.

Bake till golden. Approximately 20 minutes.

Why Do I Always Try Something New When I have Visitors? - Bacon and Egg Pie Recipe

Normal people bring out their tried and true, their guaranteed successes...but me, I try something new when I have visitors coming. In this instance a house guest I have never even met!

With the Rugby World Cup occurring just 5

minutes walk away we seem to have multitudes of visitors for pre game drinks in the hour or two before the game. I have easily thought through pre game snacks (hearty snacks considering the amount of drinking that occurs pre and during games), but when it struck me that I had visitors at lunchtime tomorrow I was at a bit of a loss. Of course there will be home made bread...John suggested peanut butter sandwiches (as if!).

For some reason I have come across Annabel Langbein's Bacon and Egg Pie several times recently.

I've never made bacon and egg pie...it might be something to do with the fact that for years

(a good 20 years actually) I haven't eaten red meat. Bacon has crept back in to my diet over the last few years. The idea fascinates me and after finding the recipe tonight I decided to make it.

Luckily I had pastry in the freezer...I'm not sure it is quite the right sort but surely savoury pastry is

pastry?

So, with fresh herbs from the garden and a spring onion that has slowly grown over winter in my

Green Smart planters, I have had a go at my first Bacon and Egg Pie.

My recipe was a smaller version than the one listed below.

Bacon and Egg Pie

3 sheets (450g) ready-rolled savoury shortcrust pastry

250g streaky bacon, cut into 2cm pieces

2 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked and thinly sliced

3 tbsp soft herbs (eg parsley, basil, chives or spring onion tops), chopped

14 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp salt ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Place a flat baking tray in the oven to heat - the pie will sit on this, and the heat will help it to crisp.

Cut a piece of baking paper to fit a 40 x 30cm (16 x 12 inch) baking dish or roasting pan. It should cover the base and reach about 3-4cm (1ý-1ý inches) up the sides.

Remove the baking paper from the baking dish or roasting pan and lay it flat on your bench.

Dust it with a little flour and lay 2 pastry sheets on top.

Join the pastry sheets by pressing them together firmly with a small overlap. Roll out the pastry to thinly cover the paper.

Lift the paper with the pastry and lay into the baking dish or roasting pan, covering the base and 3-4cm (1 1/4-1 1/2 inches) up the sides.

Sprinkle the bacon over the pastry.

Top with the slices of potato and sprinkle with the herbs.

Break 8 whole eggs over the top. In a mixing bowl, lightly whisk the remaining 6 eggs with the milk, salt and pepper.

Pour this evenly over the whole eggs.

Roll out the remaining sheet of pastry very thinly and cut it into narrow strips. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern on top of the pie, trimming off any excess.

Place the prepared pie on top of the heated baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes until the pastry is starting to puff and turn golden.

Reduce the heat to 180C/350F and bake until the pastry is golden and cooked through on the base (this should take a further 35-40 minutes).

Serve warm or at room temperature with a salad and pickles or chutney.

It will keep in a covered container in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Naan Bread recipe

I adore Naan bread, (...actually any kind of bread), dripping in garlic butter. I've never made it before and ready made offerings from the supermarket are always disappointing.

To accompany our Chickpea Curry and Silverbeet and Potato curry I decided to give making Naan bread a go using the first recipe I found online. It promised the best Naan bread the author had ever eaten outside an Indian restaurant.

I'm amazed the odd time I make any kind of bread and pasta without the aid of my bread maker how strenuous kneading for 10 minutes can be...and I wonder if this might also be a good enforced form of exercise for me...but never follow though of course.

I left out the garlic so that the little person would happily eat them and instead made a very garlic laden garlic butter to drizzle over them.

They were smaller than you get in a restaurant - about half the size but this was good for a family dinner.

I cooked these in my heavy Le Creuset frying pan. I have to wonder if the BBQ might have been a good option. While they didn't look all that authentic, they will be something I will make again.

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.