Butterscotch Biscuits

Quick to make and I always double or triple the recipe and freeze the uncooked flattened balls :)
If cooking from frozen allow an extra couple of minutes.

125g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 1/4 cups self- raising flour

Beat butter, vanilla essence, sugar and golden syrup together in a bowl. Stir in sifted flour until all combined. Roll into walnut sized balls. Place about 5cm apart on greased oven trays and flatten with a fork. Bake for 15 mins (soft) or 20 mins (crunchy) at 180c.

* My children prefer them crunchy - to freeze the dough I line a container with freezer wrap or baking paper and the slightly flatten rolled balls onto it. You can do multiple layers you'll just need to flatten the balls first before adding layers between sheets of paper.

100 posts!

100 posts is something I never thought I would reach when I first started writing out my favourite recipes and thoughts here. Where has all that time gone? This is actually my 101st post, cause I missed it entirely in the grand scheme of my life!
My families favourite recipe for this week is apricot squares and also a great recipe to use up all the jars of preserved apricots I have stored from the summer before last! I can see this one becoming a regular item at my house over winter!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dear sweet Dad turned 78 on Sunday. He loves nothing more than spending time with his children and grandchildren. So I organised to go over for afternoon tea. My Mum made some of her beautiful homemade scones, she bought a cake from the local bakery and I made these fantastic peanut butter cookies - I'll confess I ran out of time so I went with the traditional style criss-crossed with the tines of a fork. Sorry! But they were yummy :) I did have enough time to make extra dough and freeze the rolled balls in my freezer, to be baked for my Christmas hampers. I might try to do the chocolate drizzles on the next batch. Here is a picture of them in a jar as presented to him on Sunday.So what else do you get your Dad? A six pack of one of his favourite beers (Grolsch), a jar of home baked cookies (as above) and a CD of some of his favourite German music (thank you Steve for digitising some of Dad's old records!) He was truly chuffed with the whole afternoon and even had a bit of sing-a-long to a few of his favourite songs!
Love you heaps Dad!

Shoestring Sunday

Things don't really seem to have slowed down since my weekend in Melbourne. The shopping was great at the DFO @ Essendon although getting there was a bit of nightmare - the closest public transport was a twenty minute walk away! I must thank Sue & Frank for putting up with me for the 3 nights/4 days and Henrietta for her hospitality and helping me get reacquainted with the Melbourne Tram network. A big thank you to Zoe's mum (Cathy) for taking me with her! It went all too quickly but it was nice to get away.

Now as the school year grows to a close I am madly doing the following:

WRAPPING Christmas presents in newspaper with cute red ribbons (not my original idea saw it under a tree on a Christmas TV special last weekend) - thought it was a nice green alternative as it will all get recycled -plus I couldn't find any recycled wrapping paper this year in the stores.

BAKING various recipes to make sure they are okay in my Christmas hampers. This past week I have made refrigerator biscuits, cookies in a jar mix and some chocolate biscuits that my family have christened "Uncle Ronnie biscuits". (Will post recipe separately).

MENU planning; again something I will post separately.

FREEZING excess cookie dough, already rolled in balls. I read this on someone Else's blog, but sorry to say I can't remember where, but it is a good way to have a nice mix of cookies; by freezing some dough from each batch you make, as well as have some on hand when you need to bake in a hurry.

READING magazines and books from the library. Mainly at this time of year Christmas themed articles. Still haven't finalised the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day menus.

OP-SHOPPING for some baskets to put my Christmas hampers in.

A few links that I thought might help over the holidays when you run out of things or have more time to make it yourself.

Make your own brown sugar by thrifty mummy.


Yummy beetroot relish courtesy of the ABC website. (This will also be going into my Christmas hampers).

Homemade pancake mix - cook breakfast in a flash or whip up a batch when visitors appear on your doorstep from the Family CEO.

Home-made crackers and cheese ball would make a great snack anytime you are entertaining over the holiday season courtesy of the Common room.

What has everyone else been up to the last few weeks? Why not share in the comments (haven't got Mr Linky working tonight) or are there some great holiday idea links you want to share on your blog?
Have a great week
-hugs-
Lis

Refrigerator Biscuits (cookies)

I'm sorry I can't remember when I found this recipe, but it is simple to make and the variations are endless. I have been working through a few different recipes to test drive them prior to putting together my Christmas hampers. (Part of this years Christmas gifts).

1 cup (250g) butter or margarine
1&1/2 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs one at a time, then flour and vanilla. Roll into 3 long snakes. (I ended up making 4 as mine were about the thickness of a 20c piece). Wrap each in alfoil (I prefer to use cling wrap) and then freeze.They will keep in the freezer for about a month.
To use: Still frozen, slice cookies off the snake onto a greased tray; bake till very pale gold @ 200C. Remove from try while still warm. Store in a sealed container when cool.

A few flavourings:
Chocolate: add 2 tbs melted chocolate to the mix.
Orange or lemon: omit the vanilla and add 2 tbs grated lemon or orange zest.
Ginger: add 1 tbs ground ginger
Jam: put a splodge of jam in the centre of each cookie
Nut: add chopped nuts - about 3/4 cup tot eh mix. They must be chopped or the mix will crumble when you are trying to slice it.
Oatmeal: substitute 1 cup rolled oats for 1 cup of flour (ginger with this variation is apparently nice too!)
Choc chip: add 1/2 cup coarsely grated chocolate - must be grated not choc chips as mix will crumble.
Coconut: add 1/2 cup of coconut; this is also good with orange zest or the jam splodge or both instead of the vanilla.

From what I have read about these types of recipes if you only refrigerate, but don't freeze the mix you can add chunkier ingredients. This would also work for the jam drop type ones as you could make the little indents int he top to make then look more like jam drops.

The longer these biscuits are in the oven, the harder they get. I found about 12 minutes was enough in my oven - keep an eye on your first batch and go from there. If you only refrigerate but don't freeze maybe try then at 180C. I'll be interested to read your feedback :)
Back to my regular blogging soon I promise!

My families favourite biscuits (this week)

Double choc chip cookies
Makes about 30

INGREDIENTS
• 125g butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 1½ cups self raising flour
• ½ cup Cadbury Bourneville Cocoa
• ¾ cup Cadbury Dark Chocolate Chips
1. Preheat oven to 160ºC.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in vanilla essence and egg.
4. Stir in flour and Cadbury Bourneville Cocoa.
5. Add Cadbury Dark Chocolate Chips.
6. Place teaspoons of mixture on greased baking tray and bake in moderate oven for 10-15 minutes.

Made these last week - recipe is on the Cadbury website or currently printed on the back of the Cadbury Dark Chocolate chips.
My children couldn't get enough and several people I work with thought they looked like bought ones! Still not sure if that is a good or a bad thing? One workmate also loved the fact they are crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.
Do you have a favourite biscuit/cookie recipe?

Powdered milk and other gems...

Why is it some weeks just fly by and I feel like I am chasing my tail? The past week has been like this and now school holidays have started here it will probably just snowball for a while.
I did manage to shop and menu plan so here it is (I didn't quite manage two weeks as I wasn't feeling creative enough for more than that).

1. Spaghetti Bolognaise
2. Roast Pork & Veggies (in my new-to-me webber kettle bbq)
3. chicken schnitzel & potato bake (family favourite)
4. chicken wraps and salad
5. salmon, prawns and chips
6. homemade hamburgers
7. roast beef (in the slow cooker)
8. fried rice
9. Moroccan chicken with cous cous
10. rissoles and veggies

I have been making the tortilla recipe from A Vision Splendid to use as our home made wraps. Go on you know you want to try them. They are so easy! I find it make 6 good size wraps, which don't fall apart as you are trying to eat them! Plus they are very frugal to make. My short cut tip is: I make up some powdered milk with hot water, measure what I need and refrigerate the rest - this way I don't have to heat the milk to make them.
Powdered milk is something I have been making up regularly. I tend to use it mostly in cooking, although I have been trying to get my son to drink it as well since he seems to have several glasses of milk a day. It is so much cheaper than fresh milk and if you are only using it in cooking you won't notice the difference in taste.
Here are some hints about using powdered milk.
Did you know you could make your own low-fat milk?
Just mix together regular milk with skim milk powder and water. Mixing equal parts of each will give a milk with 2% fat.
If you are using powdered milk in recipes this might help as well -
2 tablespoons powder and 1 cup of water = 1 cup milk
1 cup powder and 1 litre of water = 1 litre of milk
Thought I might finish off with a fast & frugal recipe - using powdered milk - haven't tried this yet but will report back in a few days when I have.

Fast Fruit and Nut Slice
DOUGH
1 cup SR flour
1 cup wholemeal SR flour
1/4 cup skim milk powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 - 1 cup water

Gradually add oil and water to dry ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Spread the dough into a lightly greased lamington tray.

TOPPING
1 cup raisins
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup crushed nuts
grated rind and juice of 1 orange

Combine topping ingredients and spread over dough. Bake in oven at 200c for about 20 minutes. Cut into 24 pieces. Serve while still warm.
Enjoy!
Take care of you.

And now for something with no added sugar!

My boyfriend saw this today on Ellen, I had to see it to believe it!

Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding with Butter Rum Sauce

2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

2 (4.5-ounce) cans fruit cocktail (undrained)

2 eggs, beaten

1 (9-ounce) box raisins

1 pinch salt

1 or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Butter Rum Sauce, recipe follows
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Cube donuts into a large bowl. Pour other ingredients on top of donuts and let soak for a few minutes. Mix all ingredients together until donuts have soaked up the liquid as much as possible.Bake for about 1 hour until center has jelled. Top with Butter Rum Sauce.

Butter Rum Sauce:

1 stick butter

1 pound box confectioners' sugar

Rum, to taste

Melt butter and slowly stir in confectioners' sugar. Add rum and heat until bubbly. Pour over each serving of Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.

Apricot and Ginger Muffins - Feedback

Well in my travesl today a number of people taste tested the muffins. I got good reaction when they were still warm, but once they had cooled they were a bit on the dry side. My verdict is that I will make them again and maybe add some sultanas or other dried fruit. I would also chop the fruit up a little. As I used my home preserved apricots (which are softer than the tinned ones) they did still tend to clump a bit.

Apricot and Ginger Muffins

Thought I would try and make these today - have a couple of people to visit so will make a double batch and take a few on my travels.
Recipe is from the ABC radio (Australia) backyard recipe finder. One of my fave sites for finding quick and easy recipes. Will update tonight and let you know if this one is a keeper! Will use up some of my home preserved apricots instead of the tinned ones.
Here it is

Apricot & Ginger Muffins

Serves Six
Degree of difficulty: Medium
You need:1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/3 cup brown sugar
200gr tinned apricot halves, drained
1 egg
3/4 cup skim milk
2 tbs honey
Method:Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, fold through apricots. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients, don't over mix. Spray muffin tray with a little oil, fill tray and bake for 12-15 mins until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.

Leftovers...

Seems we always have some of these in our house and i would rather use them up than throw them out. Yogurt is always one of those things that I tended to buy in the supermarket when it was marked down, but then it would get to the use by date before we managed to eat it all.
I found this recipe that helps to use up the excess of yoghurt as well as the one or two apples in the fruit bowl that no-one seems to want. I made a double batch of these today to use up said items, including 400ml of easiyo Greek yoghurt. I also added in the remains of a packet of frozen berries as the yoghurt was plain and an extra tablespoon of sugar.

Fruit and Yoghurt Muffins
makes 12 muffins

2 cups SR flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
200g tub flavoured yoghurt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped fruit (pear, apples)
cinnamon sugar (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 12 hole standard muffin tin.
2. Sift flour, cinnamon, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
3. Make a well in the centre. Add yoghurt, egg and oil. Stir until mixture has nearly come together. Add fruit and stir a couple of more times. Mixture should be quite lumpy.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired.

I have even substituted tinned (drained) fruit in these and they still taste great.
Not overly sweet but just right.

As far as the yoghurt goes I have started to make my own and must thank Crazy mumma for her simple instructions.

"In traditional yoghurt making, the milk is heated to just below boiling point to kill off the "bad" bacteria, then cooled to "blood temperature" or around 38-44'C, and the starter culture is added. Keeping the mixture at this temperature for a period of time then forms the yoghurt.

The Easiyo yoghurt maker gets around this by using a powdered milk and starter culture mixture, where the "bad" bacteria has been killed off by heat treatment already. Using UHT milk and a starter, in theory, is the same process, as the UHT process also kills off the "bad" bacteria. So I tried this out last night and ended up with fabulous, thick homemade yoghurt this morning! Success!
My recipe was:
1 litre organic UHT milk
2 dessertspoons powdered milk to thicken
2 dessertspoons biodynamic plain yoghurt.
I mixed the yoghurt and powdered milk together with a small amount of UHT milk until it was smooth and then added it to the rest of the milk in the Easiyo container and mixed well. I then added boiling water to the thermos, sealed and let it sit for 14 hours (overnight). This morning I put it in the fridge and tried it this afternoon after it had cooled - it is a lovely thick yoghurt that is difficult to distinguish from the Jalna yoghurt I bought last night! Very happy :-)"

I didn't have organic so I just used the skim UHT milk I bought on special last week along with skim milk powder I already had. I used some yoghurt from the last batch of Easiyo that I had left. After doing a bit of reading I may well buy some plain bio dynamic yoghurt just to make sure my next batch has a good start in life. In total my litre of yoghurt cost me about $1.05.

All up a productive day.
Off to get my beauty sleep.
Take care of you.

Update

It has been a few days since I wrote anything here, but rest assured I have been a busy little beaver. I did my menu planning for the next fortnight and it goes something like this:
1. spaghetti bolognaise
2. chicken schnitzel
(these two are my children's favourites so they are part of any fortnightly plan)
3. marinated drumsticks with cous cous
4. corned beef
5. burgers
6. roast pork (dry roasted in slow cooker)
7. salmon
8. beef pies
9.home made pizza
10. hearty beef casserole (from last f/nights menu that we didn't get to make for some reason)
11. green chicken curry
12. soup or toasted s/w

Why you ask are there only 12 dinner items when there are 14 meals to be prepared. Saturday night just gone we had a "scrap and salad" at my friend Mandy's house. 6 hours of scrapbooking with a roast lamb, salad and jacket potato to sustain us for the evening :) Also this coming week is my daughters birthday so we have a family dinner that night, which this year is at her Dad's house. I do have to make a cake appear but i am sure I will manage something :)

My back is recovering nicely, although I still need to get better at all the exercises my physio has given me! I did some house work today and then threw together a batch of muffins from the recipe on Rhonda's blog. I was expecting my best friend, her sister and parents over for afternoon tea so I wanted to have something warm and inviting. They were so good that there are none left! So none to photgraph...sorry....Did I say they were good?

Pancakes & more pancakes!

Here by request is my "fluffy" pancakes recipe.
I will freely admit it is a recipe mostly in my head, created with lots of trial and error over the years.
The measurements are all approximate. The vinegar is essential as it helps the pancakes be fluffy!

Lisa's Pancakes

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups SR flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups milk + 1/2 cup extra
2 tsp vinegar
2 eggs

Method
Mix the vinegar into the 1 1/2 cups of milk and leave to sit for a few minutes. Then add all the other ingredients. Add extra milk gradually until the batter is runny but not too thin. You may have some milk remaining. Don't overmix the batter or you will have flat pancakes!

Drop tablespoons into a heated frying pan. Once bubbles stop breaking turn over. Repeat.
Keep warm until all are made. Serve with cream and any other toppings.These are also great cold.


I first made this recipe at my friend Cathy's house - we were all trying to eat low GI at that time. Sorry to say I didn't write down the name of the recipe book.
Everytime I make this I never seem to have the dried fruit, but I have found they are just as yummy without it.

Low-carb oat pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup oats
2 cups (500ml) buttermilk
1/2 cup (75g) dried fruit
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp bicarb
1 egg
2 tsp butter (melted)
low fat milk

Method
Soak first two ingredients for ten minutes.
Add remaining ingredients (excluding milk). Leave sit for up to an hour.
Add milk to thin slightly and then spoon about a tbsp at a time into a heated pan.
Serve warm with favourite pancake toppings. If you omit the dried fruit they are yummy with berries and low-fat yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup!


This is my final recipe that I love, these are really light and fluffy and you can make them with or without the blueberries. This one is from the Dairy Farmers Buttermilk carton.

Buttermilk & Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2tbsp castor sugar
375ml buttermilk
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp melted butter
1 cup blueberries

Method
Sift flour into a bowl. Add sugar, buttermilk, egg and butter. Beat with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth. Add blueberries and orange rind and stir to combine. Pre-heat a non-stick oiled frying pan over medium heat. Cook pancakes for approx 1-2 minutes or until bubbles appear in the uncooked batter. Then turn the pancake over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes or until golden. Enjoy immediately or keep warm in a pre-heated oven. Serve with fresh lemon juice or maple syrup.

Take care of you.

Blondies

No I'm not talking about the 80's rock sensation, or the fact that I do have blonde moments!

This is another in my series of "family favourite" recipes. I can't lay claim to inventing it...it comes from the fedup website. It was one of the first recipes I tried when we went failsafe.

They are called blondies because they are like brownies, but without the cocoa!

BLONDIES

2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of butter (125g)
2 cups of packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp of vanilla (optional)

1/4 tsp sea salt

failsafe carob buttons (optional) final step.
Grease a 13x9x2 inch (35x22x5cm) baking pan. Combine flour, baking powder and sea salt. Melt butter, remove from heat. Stir in sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir till combined. Stir mixed dry ingredients (and carob buttons, if desired) into sugar mixture. Spread in pan. Bake in a 180’C (350’F) oven 20 to 25 minutes. Cut into bars while warm.

My children don't like the carob buttons on them, plain is just as nice! Yes, they will be quite soft in the middle, how soft is up to you. I normally got 25 -30 minutes in my oven. You might need to adjust times to suit your oven.

Today I found the birthday bed, yesterday we found the doona cover and sheets. So it seems the birthday gifts are all organised. Now we just have to organise the celebrations. We will share this one as she is at her Dad's house on her actual birthday, so as it our tradition he will cook her chosen meal. As for her celebration with friends, she want to go out to dinner with a few girlfriends, not sure what else she has in mind, but I am sure we will figure it out...soon I hope!

I now hav ea glut of lemons from my parents who pruned back their tree on the weekend. Tomorrow perhaps I will try and make some lemon cordial.

take care of you.

Traditions

One of the things I enjoy doing with my children is creating family traditions. Special things we do as a family that will hopefully create some lasting memories. Sunday morning is pancakes (or more correctly pikelets) for breakfast. Rarely a Sunday passes where we don't have them. My 11yr old DS even has a go sometimes. This morning he helped to pour and flip, but of course as soon as the plate was filling up he was off to eat.

For such a skinny thing he has a good appetite.

Here is a picture of his breakfast, (which he cooked) and I actually got him to pause long enough to let me take a photo. Yes, that is ice cream on top as we didn't have any cream!

Take care of you.

Amanda's Banana Walnut or Date Cake

This recipe was given to me by my wonderful older sister, Amanda. The recipe card has a few stains on it - I can remember my sister and all her friends putting together a set of recipe cards for one of their girlfriends who was getting married. I was lucky enough to get a photocopy of the cards. I duly cut them up and stuck them on my own cards (a sort of fluro orange). It too is a family favourite an never lasts long at my house.
I hope you like this one too Jo!

Banana Walnut or Date Cake

125g (4oz) butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe small bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts/dates
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

Have butter and eggs at room temperature. Mash bananas finely with a fork (you should have 3/4 cup of mashed bananas). Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add bananas and vanilla, beat on low speed until well combined. Stir in walnuts/dates, then sifted flour and soda in two lots. Mix well. Spread mixture into well greased 20cm (8 in) ring tin, bake in moderate oven for 40mins, or until cooked (when tested). Stand for a few minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

Notes:

I always make it in a loaf tin - cooking time is about the same.
Can't decide which I like better bu the dates definitely lead to a moister cake.
Freezes well...I normally slice before freezing.

Tangy Lemon Cake - photo

Last night I finally had the energy to use up some of the lemons lying around.I made two loaf style versions of the cake as I hate just using the oven to bake one thing! Most times I make at least two different recipes/ batches of whatever I am baking that day and considering how fast the children consume it, it is just as well I do.

So here's the picture of one of the cakes. This is really moist and very lemony! Enjoy :)

Off to work this morning so we'll see how my stomach muscles hold up...still feeling a bit tender.
Take care of you.

Home Front

Four Corners - Home Front - Jonathan Holmes explores practical ways for energy-guzzling Australians to cut their power consumption.

Four Corners has always been in my opinion one of the newsmakers....I wonder what impact this story will have on the average Australian or on our Government policies. Will people start listening, will they look at he energy efficiency of their new flat-screen TV before they purchase it? It needs to be driven by government to make it work, the Californian model was very interesting to see.
Just one quote:
"JONATHAN HOLMES: It's hard to avoid the conclusion that on policing the MEPS system, as in so many other areas of greenhouse policy, the Federal Government reacts - to industry, or media, or public pressure - rather than setting a pro-active policy."

Okay, now that I have that off my chest...what did I get up to today? I cooked, cleaned and washed and even shock horror ironed!! In case you didn't know, I hate ironing. It is one of my least favourite chores. I try to avoid buying clothes that need ironing.

I also had a bit of reality check. I made a phone call to Planning SA to enquire about the costs/processes involved in sub-diving my block. A lot of it seems to be happening in my area and as it stands no-one really uses my back yard. Just the government fees on the transaction are around the $5k mark...that doesn't include your own surveyors fees or the registration fees on the change of title, plus any additions/alterations to your property required by your council + SA waters charges to re-do the plumbing for a second allotment. Looks like I won't be moving on that plan for quite a few more years. So be it.
take care of you.