Corn Chowder

Here's another soup recipe while it's still winter.  This one is very cheap - and easy and tasty too!  This recipe can be served blended, or partially-blended, but we enjoyed it chunky.

Ingredients:
40g butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 leek, trimmed, sliced thinly
2 celery stalks, chopped
800g potatoes, peeled, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 cups frozen or tinned corn kernels
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

Method:
Melt butter in a large saucepan and cook garlic and leek, stirring until soft.  Add celery, potato, stock and water; bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes.

Add corn and cream, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until corn is just tender.  Stir in parsley and serve.

Baked Penne with Sweet Potato and Spinach

Well, I hope you can forgive my absence over the past week - I got kind of busy having a baby.  As you do.  Anyway, I now have a beautiful little boy in my life - but the kitchen hasn't closed down!  I tried to freeze a few meals before the big arrival and this one is perfect for doing so.  Cheap and yummy!  Since I'll have my hands fairly full over the next few weeks, I'd love to share some of YOUR favourite recipes!  If you have a winner, just email it through to me using the links - with a photo would be great!  In the meantime, happy cooking!

Ingredients:
2 medium red onions, cut into wedges
600g sweet potato, sliced thickly
2 tablespoons olive oil
375g penne pasta
250g frozen spinach, thawed, drained
350g ricotta cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup cream
2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 220 degrees/200 fan-forced.

Combine onion and sweet potato with oil in a large baking dish.  Roast, uncovered, stirring once, for about 30 minutes until tender.

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until tender.  Drain.

Combine pasta in a large bowl with spinach, ricotta, garlic, cream and tomatoes.

Spread sweet potato mixture over the base of baking dish evenly.  Top with pasta mixture then sprinkle with nuts and parmesan.  Bake, uncovered for 10-15 minutes until browned lightly.

Curried Sausages

Not much to say about this one - an easy, one-pot weeknight meal that's sure to be a winner!

Ingredients:
800g beef sausages
20g butter
1 brown onion, chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons plain flour
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
500g baby potatoes, chopped
2 cups beef stock
1 cup parsley leaves, chopped

Method:
Cook sausages in a large frying pan until cooked through.  Chop sausages.

Melt butter in same cleaned pan and cook onion until soft.  Add curry powder and flour, cook, stirring for 2 minutes.

Add vegetables and stock; bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Add sausages; simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens slightly.  Stir in parsley.

Prize-winning Carrot Cake

So...after an unsuccessful Carrot Cake entry at the Pine Rivers Show, I knew I needed to step it up a notch for my entry in the Ekka - the big league!  I tried two different recipes for the first competition, but wasn't 100% happy with either.  So my dear mother passed on a recipe from a book called "The Blue Ribbon Cookbook" - Recipes, stories and tips from prizewinning country show cooks.


I whipped up the cake and LOVED the result.  My only disappointment was that I was rushed by a crying toddler just as it was time to line the tin and pour the mixture in, resulting in a couple of baking paper creases in my cake.  I thought about re-making the cake, but decided to enter it as is and if the cake itself was good enough, I'd win a prize.

So I put in the entry and began the long wait.  Meanwhile, hubby sampled the spare cake I'd made and declared it "the best Carrot Cake he'd EVER tasted!"  Quite a big call, but I did have to agree, it was pretty good!

So the news came through, and I won third prize for the Carrot Cake at the Royal Queensland Show.  I am over the moon, considering it's my first ever entry in the big show!  Next year there will be no creases in my baking paper and I'm hopeful of going even better!

So here it is, the prize-winning recipe for delicious Carrot Cake...this recipe makes enough for one standard round cake, or two log tins.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrot
4 eggs
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:
60g cream cheese
125g icing sugar
30g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and line two log tins or an 20cm round cake pan.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together thoroughly with a large metal spoon.  Add the carrot and eggs, continuing to mix well.  Sift the flour, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into the carrot mixture.  Add the vanilla and nuts.

Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 1 hour (if using the log tins) or 2 hours (if using the round pan).  The cake should be golden brown and firm to the touch.  Allow to stand for a few minutes before turning out of the tins to cool.

Icing:
Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, butter and vanilla and spread evenly over the cake.

Low-Fat Creamy Chicken Linguine

This is a very tasty and healthy dish, but does require a few different steps, so it's not the quickest or easiest to make.  I ended up using the whole 500g packet of linguine, then ended up with plenty of leftovers to freeze for when the baby arrives.  I also had some jarred roasted capsicums leftover in the fridge, so I used them instead of the semi-dried tomatoes.  Another winner for the whole family!

Ingredients:
400g dried linguine pasta
100g snow peas, trimmed and sliced
500g chicken breast, cut into 2cm pieces
300g cup mushrooms, sliced
10g butter
40g plain flour
2 cups skim milk
60ml light cream
1/2 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan
100g low-fat semi-dried tomatoes

Optional, to serve:
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
Shaved parmesan
Fresh basil leaves

Method:
Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water, following directions on the packet.  Add the snow peas in the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Drain and return to pan.

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes or until browned.  Transfer to a plate.  Add mushrooms to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until golden.  Return chicken to pan.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and gradually whisk in milk and cream until well combined.  Return to heat and cook for a few minutes, until the mixture boils and thickens.  Stir in the two types of cheese.

Add the pasta mixture, cheese sauce and semi-dried tomatoes to the frying pan.  Stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper and top with pine nuts, parmesan and basil leaves, if desired.

Singapore Noodles

This dish was another request from the husband, and he LOVED the finished result, as did my noodle-loving one-year-old.  There are lots of options in the supermarket for vermicelli noodles - the pre-packaged packet ones, the hard ones that require soaking and the ones that require cooking on the stovetop.  Any of them work!  Very easy, cheap, healthy and delicious!

Ingredients:
400g dried rice vermicelli
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
250g chicken breast, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons oil
2 celery sticks, sliced thinly
1 large carrot, sliced thinly
3 spring onions, sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
65g bean sprouts

Prepare vermicelli according to packet.

Place garlic, ginger, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce and 2 teaspoons soy sauce in a bowl and mix well.  Add the chicken, stir to coat and marinate for 30 minutes, if time allows.

Heat oil in a wok.  Stir-fry the chicken until browned.  Add the celery, carrot and spring onion and cook for about 3 minutes, until slightly softened.  Add the curry powder and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the noodles and mix well.  Stir in the remaining oyster sauce, soy sauce and bean sprouts.  Enjoy!

Vegetarian Lasagne

This is a hearty, tasty lasagne that's packed full with veggies.  I don't really consider lasagne "easy" when all the elements are made from scratch - there's a fair few steps involved (and lots of dishes in the end!!)  But this one was a big hit, and also suitable to freeze and have on hand.

Ingredients:

800g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1cm-thick slices
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium red capsicum, chopped
2 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium eggplant, chopped

400g can corn
200g button mushrooms, chopped
400g can diced tomatoes
30g butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 cups reduced-fat milk
1 cup reduced-fat grated cheese
125g dried lasagne pasta sheets

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees/160 fan-forced.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Arrange pumpkin on tray and drizzle with 2 teaspoons oil.  Bake for 20 minutes or until tender.

Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan or saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, capsicum, zucchini, eggplant, corn and mushroom.  Cook, stirring, to 10 minutes or until eggplant is tender.  Stir in tomato,  Bring to the boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for about a minute.  Remove from heat and gradually add milk, stirring to prevent lumps.  Return to the heat and cook, stirring for 5 minutes, or until sauce boils and thickens.  Take off heat and stir in half the cheese.

Grease a lasagne dish or baking dish.  Spoon half the onion mixture in, then arrange half the pumpkin on top.  Place half the lasagne sheets over the pumpkin.  Repeat layers.  Spoon white sauce on top and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake for 40 minutes or until golden.  Serve.

I wanted to get a photo of the inside of the lasagne - but it was devoured so quickly that this was all that was left!

Show Results (& Marble Cake)

Well, following on from last week's post about show baking, I can say the results are in!  At the Pine Rivers Show, I won 2nd for my Marble Cake, 3rd for the Muffins and nothing for my Carrot Cake :-(

So all in all, pretty pleased with the results - a little disappointed to have slipped from my reigning champion crown in the Marble Cake - but there's always next year!  I made $3 in prize money, and my entries cost $2.40, so I'm 60 cents richer!  Better not spend it all at once :-)

Anyway, back into the show baking this week, with entries for the Ekka due on Tuesday.  Exciting!  So for now, here is the recipe for my prize-winning Marble Cake.  Do people actually make Marble Cake anymore?  It's not really in fashion at the moment - but maybe this is the start of its comeback!

Ingredients
250g butter, at room temperature
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
125g (1/2 cup) sour cream
2-3 drops pink liquid food colouring
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs milk

Icing
125g butter, at room temperature
2 tbs milk
1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm cake pan with baking paper.

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Add the sour cream and remaining flour, in batches, and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter among 3 bowls. Add a few drops of pink food colouring to 1 portion and stir to combine. Combine the cocoa powder and milk in a small bowl and add to another portion of batter. Stir to combine.

Place alternate spoonfuls of the 3 batters into the prepared pan. Use a spoon or skewer to swirl the colours together to create a marble effect. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake for about 1 hour. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, place the butter in a bowl and use electric beaters to beat until very pale. Add the milk and icing sugar and beat until combined.

Ice cake and serve.

Apple and Oat Muffins

I'm very excited to introduce a guest blogger today to share her wonderful recipe!  Anisia is a mum to a toddler and newborn and wanted to share one of her favourites with everyone.  I hope when I have two kids (in a few weeks) I still have time to bake too!  Anyway, here she is...


"I found this recipe on www.taste.com one day when I was searching for a recipe that I could make using a few key ingredients that I had on hand (yoghurt and apple). We love these muffins and make them regularly in our house. They are quick and easy to make, relatively healthy and very tasty - especially straight out of the oven! I like baking these and freezing the muffins in their own individual bags so that I can easily grab one or two and throw them in the nappy bag as I'm heading out the door as a snack for either myself, my husband or my toddler!"


Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats, plus extra for sprinkling on top
1 1/2 cups (375ml) vanilla yoghurt, at room temperature
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100gm butter
1 cup stewed apples, cut into small pieces

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 12 x large muffin pan with cooking spray or line with muffin cases.

Sift flours and baking powder together. Stir in sugar and oats. Whisk yoghurt, eggs and oil together. Add to flour together with stewed apple, mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.

Divide mixture evenly into muffin pans until three-quarters full. Sprinkle with extra rolled oats.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden in colour and cooked when tested. Cool for 5 minutes in pan before transferring to a wire cake rack. They taste yummy served warm!

My 17 month old son loved helping me make these muffins. His crucial role was sprinkling the oats on the muffins closest to him. You can see how proud he was of his efforts!

Show Baking!

This time last year, I ventured into an exciting and unknown world - competition baking.  I put a few entries into the local Pine Rivers Show and had some success, so decided I'll give it another go this year!

I've decided on three categories - Marble Cake (which I won last year!), Carrot Cake (came 3rd last year, with my mum coming in 2nd!) and Muffins.

So I've been hard at work and have the entries ready to drop off this afternoon.  Judging will happen this weekend - fingers crossed I get a prize or two.  At 80 cents an entry, I'm hoping it pays off!!

The local show will be a great warm up for the Ekka (Brisbane show) next week, which I'm entering in two categories for the very first time!  Will keep you posted with results and may just share my prize-winning recipes!

Moroccan Spiced Skewers

A delicious weeknight meal that's easy and healthy.  I've included the Moroccan spice recipe, but you can always buy the ready-made mix from the supermarket.

Ingredients:
1 large red capsicum, cut in 2cm pieces
400g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces
400g lamb or beef steaks, cubed
2 small red onions, cut into thin wedges
Olive oil
400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Moroccan Spice Mix
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon mild paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius/180 degrees fan-forced.  Combine ingredients for spice mix in a bowl.  Place capsicum and pumpkin on a lined baking tray and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon spice mix.  Bake for 20 minutes or until pumpkin is tender.

Place remaining spice mix and meat in a bowl.  Toss to coat.  Thread lamb and onion onto 8 bamboo skewers (soak the skewers before hand to prevent them from burning).  Oil a barbecue plate, chargrill or frying pan and put heat to medium-high.  Cook skewers, turning occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes or until cooked to your liking.

Combine capsicum, pumpkin, chickpeas. parsley and lemon juice in a bowl.  Toss to combine.  Serve skewers on top of capsicum mixture.

Apricot Chicken

When hubby requested Apricot Chicken last week I had to have a look around for a recipe, as it's not something I make often.  I found this one and it was a winner!  I've added the vegetables as my own touch, but they can be left out if you want.  Also, I've put the cooking times that the original recipe listed, but I found it needed about 10 minutes less and also had to add some water as it thickened too much.  I'm sure it depends on your pan and stove top, so see how you go with it.  I should also mention how much I LOVE cous cous.  Anything that takes 5 minutes and requires no actual cooking gets a big tick from me!


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 400g chicken thighs, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, peeled, cut into thin wedges
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon Moroccan seasoning blend
• 400g pumpkin, diced
• 250g sweet potato, diced
• 405ml can apricot nectar
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1 cup couscous
• 1/3 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Method

Combine flour with some salt and pepper and put in a shallow dish.  Lightly coat chicken in the flour.

Heat oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium heat.  Cook chicken for a few minutes or until browned.  Transfer to a plate.  Add onion and garlic to frying pan and cook for 3-4 minutes or until tender.  Add Moroccan seasoning, pumpkin and sweet potato and stir until combined.  

Stir in apricot nectar.  Bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to low and return chicken to the pan.  Cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes.  Add apricots and cook for another 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened.

Meanwhile, place cous cous in a heatproof bowl.  Pour over 1 cup boiling water.  Cover and stand for 5 minutes or until water is absorbed.  Stir with a fork.  Serve cous cous then the chicken and sauce, and sprinkle with parsley.