Hedgehog Meatballs

While Liz was down visiting she made 'Hedgehog Meatballs'... I cant say I love meatballs or rissoles... Mum use to make them when we were kids and the were always ...lets say 'well cooked'.... more like 'over cooked' or even 'burnt' ...Mum liked everything 'well done' :) But I must say I enjoyed these Hedgehogs :) ... And they are easy peasy to cook!

So you will need.

1 medium finely chopped up onion

Approximately 600gms Beef mince  

Just over half a cup of uncooked rice

Herbs...  We used basil.

Give it all a good mix together with your hands and then roll into medium sized balls and place in baking dish.

Then pour over one can of Tomato soup

Fill the same can up with water and pour that over the top of your meat balls.

Then just cook them in the oven on about 180 degrees for about 40 minutes... 

The rice will soak up the liquid and you end up with very nice, moist meatballs with a tomato sauce coating! Yummo!!

You could serve these with vegies, on mash potato or on pasta!! Too easy!!

You could also add grated carrot, zukinni or diced mushroom to the mince mixture and add your vegies that way... (so the kids cant see them)

We had such a great time with Liz, Stella, Max and Lacey... they left about 9 on Thursday morning... I was hanging out the washing at about 10... walked into the living room to this...

...Luke totally crashed out on the lounge!! Worn out from the last few days of playing, playing and playing!!

How cheeky are these two!!

They had lots of fun together... and we are missing you all already!

Emma's Potato Salad

What the recipe to the worlds BEST Potato Salad??

Here it is!!

Peel and cut 6-7 averaged sized potatoes.

Boil until soft but firm...Not too soft!

Let them cool!

You will need the ingredients below!

Mix in a bowl

200gms of Light Sour cream

Big teaspoon of Mustard

Big Teaspoon of wholegrain Mustard

Good grind of Salt and Pepper

Good squeeze of Lemon juice (maybe 3 tablespoons)

Dash of Cream

2 big tablespoons of Egg Mayo

and finally chopped chives! 

Add extra of these ingredients to taste!

Boil, peel and cut 5 eggs

Finely slice half a red capsicum

and before serving half an Avacardo.

Mix GENTLY so you don't mash the potato and egg!

This will seriously be the BEST potato salad you have ever tasted!! YUMMO!!

You could also add some fried and cooled bacon!

Whatever you have in the fridge/freezer!

Thanks for the recipe Emma!! Its become a regular at the Davey household!!

Worlds Quickest Quiche

You ready for this...

5 eggs whisked
Dash of milk
Nob of butter
1/2 cup of Self Rasing Flour
1/2 cup of cheese
Herbs
Salt and Pepper

... now any veggies you want!!

Example #1
Pre roasted Pumpkin cubed
Shredded Spinach
Sun Dried Tomato's
Pine nuts
Crumbled Feta on top (once out of the oven)...drool!!!!!!

Example #2
Sml tin of sweet corn kernels (drained)
Grated Carrot
Grated Zikinni
Sliced Tomatos to sit on top

Example #3
Extra 2 eggs
Extra cheese
Finely diced onion
Bacon bites (pre cooked)

YUMMO!!!! (you could also add any cooked meat)

Bake for half hour on 180' or until golden brown and firm!

Super Duper Easy... Perfect as a side dish, main dish, quick lunch with the girls.

Goes perfect with a garden salad and/or marinated chicken wings!!!

Enjoy! xx

Burnt Offerings!

On Thursday (I haven't had a chance to blog until now) Luke and I had a day off... I asked Luke what he would like to do...gave him some options, and he choose cooking... So cooking it was, in our pyjamas! :)

We made a basic biscuit recipe...

125gms Softened Butter

1/2 Cup Castor Sugar

1 cup Plain Flour

1 cup Self Raising Flour

Pinch of Salt

1 tsp of Vanilla Essence

1 Egg

Splash of Milk

Make into dough, roll and cut into desired shapes. 

Bake in 180 degree Oven for 8-10 minutes

Luke ready and excited to mix and bake!

What a good helper! Mixing mixing mixing!

Rolling out the dough!

Concentrating hard with the cookie cutters!

Our cookie decorations!
1. Chocolate Chips
2. Hundreds and Thousands
3.Sultanas
4. Red and black Licorice
5. Slivered Almonds

Decorating Away!

Ready to go into the oven!

The best of the cookies...

Ok so confession time...
               I forgot about the cookies once they were in the oven and totally over cooked burnt them ALL!
Oh NO!!!!!!!!!!!! So these were the best of the bunch...and once cooled they were hard as rocks :(

I gave Luke 2 warm cookies. He ate one...and the rest went in the bin!!!!!! haha...
So not a successful biscuit cooking morning but we had heaps of fun making them!! Luke loved playing with the mixture... I pretty much let him do everything and just guided and helped when needed... He felt like a very 'big' boy! Maybe we will try them again....and I will put the oven timer ON!!!!!!! :) haha...

Butter Cake Mix

There is so much you can do with a basic Butter Cake Mix...

Now you can make a basic Butter Cake with -
185g Butter (soft)
1 Cup Castor Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs
2 Cups of Self Raising Flour
1/4 Cup of Milk

Mix together and bake in a pre heated oven for 45minutes on 180 degrees.

however... sometimes you can pick up a easy packet  butter cake mix for 99c!!!

So here is one of my versions! This is what you will need... (the cheats way with a packet cake)

Mash 2 bananas well in a mixing bowl and add your butter cake mix, stir well together.

 

I made muffins with mine, rather than a cake...
Baked them in the oven until they spring up when you touch them, or if you put a skewer in them and it comes out clean...

Squeeze the juice of one lemon, add icing sugar until the consistency is right. Add butter and milk as you need it! I like my icing thick so I can pipe the icing on!

Wait until you cake or muffins are cool before icing. I also love grating some rind off the lemons to sprinkle on top! Yummo!!

Baby Cupcakes are great for the kids!!

Other things you can add to your basic Butter Cake Mix are
- Chocolate Chips
- Sultanas
- Cut Dates
- Lemon Juice
- Jam
...Obviously not all at once :)

Have a go!! Let me know if you discover other things you can add to your basic butter cake!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This morning Luke had 2 friends coming over to play, Sebastian and Emily. So we decided to make some cookies before they arrived for morning tea. It was a baking morning!

Kids really love cooking! They love being with you and being a 'big boy' or 'big girl'. Sometimes you just don't feel like making a bigger mess or doing the huge clean up, but what an opportunity to fill up the love tank of your child!

Here is my chocolate chip cookie recipe, so you can try it with your kids!

-125g Soft Butter
-1/2 cup Brown Sugar
-1/2 cup Caster Sugar
-1 egg
-1tsp Vanilla Extract
-1 1/4 cups Plain Flour
-1/4 cup Self Raising Flour
-1/2 tsp Bicarb Soda
-180g Chocolate Chips

Beat the Butter, Sugars, Egg and Vanilla together to make a cream. Sift through flour and Bicarb Soda and then add Chocolate Chips, stir through. Roll into small balls and press onto tray. Bake in Moderate Oven for 10 minutes! Leave on tray until cool and then eat!! Yummy!

The cookies were a hit and very yummy too!!

Today I made a double batch because I wanted to do something special with batch #2!!
Check out my project of the week in the next blog!

Happy Cooking :)

Tinned Fruit Danish!

This blog is dedicated to Liz from Bizzy Dayz... 

Now Liz is one busy friend of mine (hence her blogging name) so this recipe is one I know she will LOVE!!

Tinned Fruit Danish!

Tinned Fruit - Plums, Mixed Berries, Peaches, Apricots (anything in your pantry)

125g butter

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of S/R Flour

1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla Essence

Put everything in a mixing bowl except the fruit and give it a really good mix!! Pour it into a spring form tin. throw your fruit evenly on top and cook in a oven for 50mins on 180*.

You can sift some icing sugar over the top if you fancy!

THAT'S IT!!! I know crazy hey!!! But oh so yummy!!!

Give it a go!! xx

Tea with Jam and Bread

Boyd brought me home a box of plums! $10 for the box!! Bargin!... Jamming plums!!

We got a bread maker about 1 month ago and in the recipe book that came with it was recipes for different jams. So we thought ..."Hey! Lets give Plum Jam a go!" So the tedious task of peeling and pitting a box of plums started! By the end of it, my wrists were sore and my skin was stinging from all the juices (well the acids in the juice)

Recipe.

1 kgs of Plums (pitted, peeled and chopped)
3 cups of Sugar
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice.

Chuck it all in the bread maker and press START!...pretty darn easy...
Easy on a pot too... Bring it to the boil and simmer for and hour...

Makes sure you sterilize your jars. Give them a good wash in soapy water, rinse then put jars and lids on a tray and put them in the oven on 150 degrees for 20-25 minutes. It will kill any bugs or bacteria in your jars... them pour HOT jam into a HOT jar! Your Jam should keep for 3 months!!

So if your wondering why the jar isn't FULL... well the recipe said leave 2cm for 'steam'... so i did but it looks a bit silly. The next batch I filled full and they were fine! :)

Always have to add the finishing touches, a label and some material and ribbon to cover the lid! Beautiful!

So cute...don't they just look like what nana use to make!? :)

"Tea with jam and bread, with jam, with jam and BREAD"... ok thats the 'Sound of Music' if you dont know :)

Happy Jamming!! xx

Bite sized Pav and Scones!!!

My 'Bite Sized Pav' was a hit yesterday so I thought I would share just how simple it is to make!!

For the meringue you need

-Egg Whites

- Caster Sugar

- Food Colouring

Its half a cup of sugar to every egg white... I used 3 egg whites and 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar to make the amount I needed, but vary it to how many you would need...

Beat your egg white until they get nice and fluffy then slowly add your sugar as you beat your eggs...

Before the sugar has been added...

It will start getting glossy and stiffen as you add the sugar

Then I added a touch of pink food colouring!

Beat until nice and think and stiff...

See how its stuck to the beaters and bowl...
You should be able to turn your bowl upside down without it moving!

Then scoop your meringue filling into a piping bag/ball.

Pipe them onto a tray covered with baking paper and bake for about half an hour on 150 degrees (or even less degrees for a tad longer)

Let them cool in the oven to avoid cracking...

Mine cracked :( I think the oven was too hot and the cooled too quickly!

But they still tasted DELICIOUS!

Store in an air tight container. They last ages and can be eaten just like this!!

However I piped an dollop of cream on top and then added a quarter of a piece of  strawberry on top!

YUMMO!!!

(you can also just use this meringue mix to make one big Pavalova too but you will need to cook it for 90mins on a low heat if you use 8egg whites and 2 cups of sugar... the smaller the pav, the less time in the oven it needs!!)

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Scones with Strawberry Jam and Cream

This really is the easiest recipe ever!!

3 Cups of Self Raising Flour Sifted

1 cup of cream

1 cup of lemonade

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix until it become a dough.

Sprinkle some self raising on a clean bench and knead until 2cm thick and cut into a scone shapes.

Put on an oven tray covered with baking paper... Put the scones close together so they as they cook they rise and join together, once cooked you can pull them apart.

Put a tea towel over them for 1 minute after you have pulled them out of the oven to keep the soft crust.

Add strawberry jam and cream...ENJOY!