KNICKERBOCKER GLORIES

It is almost winter here in Australia, so needed to make something that made me feel all summery today and this is it.

My version of KNICKERBOCKER GLORIES. A childhood favorite.

The pink and red one.

In a tall glass, I put some strawberries and raspberries in a raspberry sauce. Then on top of that a mixed berry mouse. Next layer is a raspberry sorbet with more strawberries and raspberries around it. Topped with whipped cream, a raspberry and a stick of TIMEOUT. (A choc bar muched loved in this country)

Yellow, pink and red is...

Diced pear in a mango jelly, then mixed berry jelly, mixed berry mouse, raspberry sorbet, the whipped cream etc as before.

These are such fun to make and to eat, as my grand-daughter Iesha will tell you.

Beef and root vegie Stew served with dumplings.

Very cold here today so have been rearranging my cook books and cooking this lovely tasty stew. I used Brisket and an assortment of root vegies, broccoli, pumpkin and green beans. But you could use any veg you liked.

Ingreds.

1 kilo diced Brisket.

1 large onion.

Beef stock.

Peeled and sliced Carrot,

Sweet Potato, Turnip,

Swede.

Broccoli and Green Beans.

1 Tomato. (chopped)

Small amount of Pumpkin.

2 Garlic pieces, diced.

Water.

1 tablespoon Sugar. (yes, you will be surprised at the difference it makes)

Method.

I used my pressure cooker to hasten the cooking time here. But you could use a normal large saucepan.

Place beef, onions, garlic, stock and some water into the pan. When this is cooked, add all other ingreds and cook slowly, for around an hour stirring now and then.

When you are happy with the texture

and the taste, make the dumplings and put into the stew.

I cheated here a bit and used a packet mix.

But was ready to serve 20 minutes later.

All served up and ready to eat.

Chicken (Catchya) Cacciatore

Why CATCHYA?

My friends will tell you I am the worlds worst speller. And this name has just stuck for this dish. Thank God for spell check on here.

You will need......

2 skinless Chicken breasts.

1 Onion.

1 tin chopped Tomato's.

2 tblesp Tomato puree.

2 teasp minced Garlic.

1 tblesp mixed Herbs.

1 Capsicum. Deseeded and diced.

1 cup of Water.

Cornflour.

Method.

Cut chicken into smallish pieces, slice onion, and place into a casserole dish along with all other ingreds except cornflour. Now give this a good stir to mix all together. Put lid on casserole dish and put into an oven, 180c for around an hour.

Check to see if chicken is cooked through. If at this stage, it looks a little thin, use the cornflour with a little water to thicken. Place back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.

While this is doing, cook your pasta. I used spaghetti and put Sour Cream and Horseradish sauce through it, once it was cooked.

Place spaghetti in to a dish and put the Chicken Catchya on top. Dress with Parsley.

*Note*

Yes I know Cacciatore normally has olives through it, but we don't like them. Add them if you wish. Enjoy.

COTTAGE PIE.

Heart and belly warming. True comfort food.

1 kl Beef mince.

2 sliced med onions.

2 beef stock cubes.

A little water.

Mixed vegies of your choice.

(I used sweet corn, capsicum, carrots and green beans)

500grs Sweet potato.

2 kls normal white Potato.

Method.

Peel and cut into small pieces, the potato. Cook both separately. Mash with a little butter and keep seperate.

Chop the onion and put into large frypan with beef mince, stock cubes and a little water. Stir and cook.

When the mince is cooked, drain off any juice and put into large casserole dish.

Prepare the vegies and lay on top of the mince.

Then lay the mash potato on top of that. Use one type at a time. I put the white potato around the edges and the sweet in the middle.

Top that bread crumbs, mixed herbs and grated cheese. Or, just leave with the potato's.

Then in the oven to warm. 5 mins before you want to serve, turn the oven up high to get a nice crispy effect on top.

And you will end up with this.

Next time I use two different colours in the potato's, I shall have a go at piping it on, into a better pattern.

But this was done very quickly, as I needed to feed the family NOW.

Wanted to share with you just some of the beautiful fruits that are in season right now, here in Australia.

Wonderfully crisp Granny Smith apples.

Juicy and sweet seedless grapes.

The only orange item I allow in the

house as I dislike the colour.

The Imperial Mandarin.

And I wait all year for these delightfull

apples. PINK LADY'S A really sweet

eating apple that at the moment, I

can't get enough of.

Just love the colours of this picture, it was take in my kitchen this morning

with natural sun light only. (No flash)

Vi's Pantry NO BLOG blog.

Over on Violet's Pantry forum, a certain person who goes under the username Emmcee (Gail) has started a blog. The link to it is down the bottom of this page.
V.P.W.D.H.A.B.B. BLOGSPOT. How funny is that?
Want to have a laugh? Then it is a must see.
But please leave a comment, as she has put a lot of hard work into this. (For our enjoyment)
Thank you, regards Sally.

The little girl in me.

Felt like doing some favorite treats for children today, only they were for ME. First, I made the crackles (as shown below) then added some tiny marshmallows and dressed them with assorted pink sprinkles.

Then, I did another batch, but this time adding two table spoons of instant coffee. Topped them with tiny edible roses.

Chocolate Crackles.

Ingreds.....
4 cups Kellogg's® Rice Bubbles® 1 1/2 cups icing sugar. 1 cup desiccated coconut. 250g copha®. 3 tbsp cocoa.

Method......
In a large bowl, mix the Kellogg's® Rice Bubbles®, icing sugar, cocoa & coconut. Slowly melt the copha® in a saucepan over a low heat. Allow to cool slightly. Add to Rice Bubbles mixture, stirring until well combined. Spoon mixture into paper patty cases and refrigerate until firm. Makes 24 (approximately)

The child in me is happy now, having eaten 6 of them already. The adult in me is saying "Silly little girl, you will be sorry tomorrow"

From my MUM'S kitchen

On a recent visit to my parents house in Sydney, my MUM knocked up these delightfully tasty things, she calls her *TOASTIES*

So simple but oh, so yummy.

Old bread cut into chunks, a garlic butter spread on the top surface, then wafer thin slices of onions, some sliced tomato and strong cheddar cheese. Put into a hot oven until cheese has melted and has become toasted. Must be eaten straight away or one of my brothers would eat the lot.

Mum also made an Apple and Sultana Crumble, which once again was delish. I put warm custard on mine, and could quite happily eat another bowl. But that would have been piggy.

Mum has a lovely kitchen, done in black and white with a few blue pieces thrown in for colour. We are never happy with what we have though are we? She wants my walk-in pantry and I want her oven/stove top.

NICE PEOPLE

I would like to give this award to the following girls, for just being NICE.
You have helped me no end with my blog, and not complained once when I ask silly questions, over and over again. I think I have got the hang of it now. LOL.

VICKY.. www.ahealthyappetite.blogspot.com/

BRENDA.. www.teandwheatenbread.blogspot.com/

GEORGE.. www.culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/

KERRY.. www.kerry-meandmythree.blogspot.com/

MARIA.. www.thegoddesskitchen.blogspot.com/

NICE matters very much to me....... THANK YOU.

Mexican Chilli, corn chips, avocado and sour cream.

Once again, a very simple dish that doesn't take long to prepare, but oh so tasty.

Ingreds.

500gms lean Beef mince.

1 large Onion. (diced small)

1 tin chopped Tomato's.

2 tblsp Tomato paste.

1 med. heat red Chilli. (adjust to own taste)

1 tbsp chilli paste.

Method.

Dry fry the mince and onion together, then add all other ingreds and stir well. Keep on a low heat for around 20 mins. Turn off heat and just let it sit and take in all the flavours.

Reheat when you are ready to serve, (You might have to add a little water if it becomes to dry) place corn chips in a dish (I used cheese and avocado corn chips mixed), place the chilli mince on top of corn chips and serve with sour cream and mashed avocado.

2 more AWARDS

George from culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/ has given me the SCHMOOZE award. Dead chuffed. Thank you George.

Brenda from teandwheatenbread.blogspot.com/ has given me the wonderful flowers. Can almost smell them. Thank you dear friend.

Bubble and Squeak with a double yolker

We keep chickens, not many, 3 to be exact, but that is enough for us. The girls give us 2-3 eggs a day. This was the first double yolker to come from them, which I had on top of my Bubble and Squeak tonight for dinner.

Ingreds.

1/2 a cabbage.

4 large potato's.

1 good sized piece of sweet potato.

1 large onion.

1 tin of corned beef.

Method.

Slice cabbage into small bits and cook in mirowave.

Peel all potato's, boil on stove 'til cooked.

When cooked, mash potato's with a little butter.

Fry sliced onion in a little fat.

When almost cooked, add cabbage, potato's and corn beef, turn and mix, turn and mix, until well combined. Let it get some brown crunchy bits in it.

Fry eggs in seperate pan and serve on top of BUBBLE and SQUEAK.

My first award

This lovely award was given to me by the ever gorgeous Vicky, from

www.ahealthyappetite.blogspot.com/

She gave me the kick up the bum (so to speak) to get started on blogging.

Vicky, your blog is wonderful and THANK YOU so much for the award.

Moist Chocolate Date Cake

This has got to be the nicest of cakes. The aroma, as it is cooking, reminds me of Christmas.

With the use of nutmeg and cinnamon. I used my new bundt tin, and it was very easy to get out of the tin, once it was cooled. I put a drizzle of Chocolate icing on mine and served it with double cream.

Moist Chocolate Date Cake

Ingredients
2 cups coarsely chopped dates 2 cups water 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1/3 cup baking cocoa 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 250g butter 1 1/2 cups Chelsea Dark Cane Sugar 1 vanilla bean pod, sliced in half 4 eggs, lightly beaten 1 1/2 cups plain four1 cup self raising flourMethod
Preheat oven to 180º C conventional or 160ºC. Grease 24cm bundt pan.
Combine dates and water in saucepan; bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes. Take from heat and stir in bicarbonate of soda, cocoa, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes.
Beat butter and dark cane sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape seeds from inside vanilla bean and add to creamed mixture.
Add eggs gradually, beating well between each addition. Sift combined flour twice and fold into mixture with date mixture.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 - 1 hour 10 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Stand cake for 10 minutes in pan then turn onto cooling rack. Slice and enjoy drizzled with Spiced Custard.

Lovely Welcome

What a lovely welcome to the world of blogging.
Thank you to all the girls on Vi's Pantry, that gave me the courage to start this, and for your lovely sweet comments too.
Granny, George, Vicky, Maria, Rita, Sandy, Eleanor, Linda, Heather yes you Hevz and many many more that I can't think of at the moment.
Hopefully in a few hours (I need sleep desperately) I will start to blog about food and my lovely pink kitchen.

Anniversary Roses.

My first post should be about the beautiful roses my darling husband gave me for our wedding anniversary this March, just gone. We have been married for 36 years now and are looking forward to many more years yet, together. I just adore roses. My dear son Charles gave me a bunch of long stemmed, very pale pink roses for Mother's day yesterday. Such a sweet child (he is 32 years old) LOL
I think my all time favorite rose is called Mother's Love, Oh, and I love Blue Moon too.