Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 125g melted butter
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup plain or
flavoured yoghurt - 1 packet white choc chips (200g)
- 200g frozen raspberries
- 4 cups
self raising flour (sifted) - 3/4 cup castor sugar (reduce to 1/2 cup if using
flavoured yoghurt )
Method
Melt butter. Heat oven to 180C.
In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients, adding the melted butter last. Whisk in the sugar. Add the choc chips and crushed raspberries.
Very gently, stir in the sifted
Spoon into cup cake patty liners.
Bake moderate oven 20-25 minutes until golden on top and firm to the touch.
Cool on a wire rack. Wrap and freeze for lunchboxes.
Choc Chip Biscuits
It’s a choc chip biscuit kinda day – cool, overcast, time for some comfort food and a cup of tea, good book and a day on the lounge…..or, I could take these to work next week
Ingredients
- 125g
butter, softened - 1/2 cup castor sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1t vanilla essence
- 1. 1/2 cups
self raising flour - 1 cup choc bits (I use white, dark and milk combined)
Method
Preheat oven 180ºc. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg – beat further so that the mix is smooth. Add vanilla essence – beat. Add flour and combine. Add choc chips.
Place small rolled balls of mixture on
This recipe is very similar to the peanut butter biscuits – with this one I did not add any extra flour as I did for the other recipe. As a result, the mixture was stickier and quite wet.
When I cooked them up – they spread further than the peanut butter mixture.
Once out of the oven, they were a much chewier texture – if you like crisp biscuits, I suggest adding more flour to make a drier mixture. You can see comparatively in the images above how they much they spread.
Chicken Noodle Soup
There are days when we need Chicken Noodle Soup to just soothe the soul. It could be for those rainy, cold days or those days when you feel miserable and want some comfort food – or it could be one of those Sunday night “I can’t be bothered cooking” kind of meals. Either way, Chicken Noodle Soup is an easy meal – serve it up with some hot crusty bread and a touch of parmesan cheese – ahhhhh – bliss!
This recipe is part of our “1 Chicken – 4 meals – 3 People” series
Ingredients
- 1 whole large raw chicken carcass- breasts, thighs, legs and wings removed
- half a bunch of celery
- 4 carrots
- 3 onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- angel hair noodles/pasta
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
Grab a large saucepan. Chop up 1 onion, 2 carrots, and about half of the celery (including the head). You don’t need to dice these, you can just cut in half and put into the saucepan – we are making stock at this stage, so all the solid things will be tossed later. Add the chicken carcass, skin, salt, pepper, garlic and any other herbs you have handy which would be ok for the stock. Add water to cover the carcass. Put on the stove on medium to low heat, put the lid on and let it cook for about 2-3 hours – the longer the better – keep the lid on to reduce loss of liquids.
Note – if you wanted to take the last of the vegetables and carcass one step further, you could make another lot of chicken stock from these ingredients before throwing them away. You may need to add more vegetables to get the flavours up. Stock is great to keep in the freezer for other dishes, and since you have made it from scratch it is so much yummier than powdered stock or pre-made – cheaper too!). You can use this stock to make more soup, risotto, sauces, casseroles, curries, etc.
My Ultimate Tips on Storing Mince – You’re Welcome!!
There’s nothing worse than taking mince out of the freezer for a meal you want to start preparing in like 10 minutes, only to find that the
So, what is the best way to store mince? Nobody likes leaving it out on the kitchen bench to defrost, and even when you put it in the fridge to slowly defrost it seems like it takes forever – plus – we all know that
I had a good think about it, and here are my best tips for buying and freezing mince:
- I always buy in bulk and always when its on special.
- Check the use by dates if the mince is pre-packaged
- Divide it up – for 3 adult size meals (man-sized!) we portion it into 250g lots – this is enough for spaghetti, nachos, etc for all of us and there’s usually some left over
- Get a vacuum sealer machine – if you don’t want to go to the expense (it’s worth it!) then there is a trick you can use with an iron (but hey, who enjoys ironing right??). If you want the easiest option – go the zip lock freezer bags.
- Place your mince portions into your storage choice. Using a rolling pin (or large glass) roll the mince out to about 2-3mm thick, spreading the mince into the corners of the bag to eliminate the air.
- Seal the bag.
- Freeze! Make sure that it’s stored flat in the freezer! This will save you space. If you are using just freezer bags, place some paper towel or newspaper between each layer of mince to stop it all sticking together – this only seems to happen with the thinner plastic bags.
- To defrost, either take out a few hours before you need it and defrost in the fridge; or if you are in a hurry, put the frozen mince (still inside the bag) in the sink with some cold (NOT hot) water while you prep the rest of your meal.
As I said earlier, mince is one of those foods where safe food handling is really important. Do NOT refreeze raw mince – for example, don’t freeze your mince, then decide to make sausage rolls and then freeze your uncooked sausage rolls. You can defrost your mince, and then cook it in say spaghetti sauce, and then freeze the sauce again without a problem.
Buy in bulk 
Roll out your portion 
Extract all air 
Ready to freeze
1 Chicken – 4 Meals – 3 People
This little beauty is all about how to get 4 meals for 3 people out of one chicken!
So, the other day I picked up a whole uncooked chicken at the supermarket for $3.50/kg. I picked a fairly large one, I had a few things in mind with what to do with it…
I really have to say, that if you have space in your freezer and the budget to cover it, and the time to prepare it – if you see whole chicken at a fantastic price – don’t just buy one! The most recent time I have purchased whole chicken, I ended up going back and buying another 4 chickens and then broke/cut them down into meal portions and froze them – including the bones for stock when I’m ready.
A couple of days before, I had seen a post on Facebook for Mexican chicken and this was the start of my inspiration. From there, I thought about what else I could get out of a budget chicken – here’s what I came up with – 1 chicken – 4 meals – to feed the 3 of us!
To create these dishes, there was a bit of preparation to do, and a few other ingredients to buy. So, for your shopping list, you will need (if you don’t already have):-
- 1 whole large raw chicken
- half a bunch of celery
- 4 carrots
- 3 onions
- 2 large tomatoes
- 250g Philadelphia cream cheese
- powdered burrito mix (we used Old El Paso)
- tin of corn kernels
- tin of black beans (in the Mexican section at the supermarket)
- 1 small chili (to taste)
- a packet of tortillas (or make your own – they are only flour, water and effort!)
- angel hair noodles/pasta
- extra vegetables for soup
For the recipes – you will need to follow the links above – happy cooking!
Homemade Custard Tart
Remember when you were a kid and grandma would bake a homemade custard tart? Try our easy recipe today!
Ingredients
- 8 egg yolks
- 1C castor sugar
- 1T vanilla essence
- 1/4C custard powder
- 600ml thickened cream
- 1 quantity shortcrust pastry (unsweetened
- nutmeg
Method
Beat the egg yolks until thick and creamy. Add the vanilla essence. Slowly add the sugar, beating while adding. Add thickened cream and beat until a good thick volume is reached. Add custard powder, beat well.
Pour into prepared baking tin. Sprinkle ground nutmeg over the top of the tart. Bake 180 degrees until the custard is just firm. Turn off oven and allow to cool with oven door ajar.
Serve warm or cold with a dollop of fresh cream or ice cream.
Spicy Plum Pork Spare Ribs
Spicy Plum Pork Spare Ribs are delicious! These have been twice cooked – firstly in the pressure cooker/slow cooker and then in the oven to make them golden. Serve them up with some rice or rice noodles and some fresh vegetables.
Ingredients
- Pork spare ribs
- 2 onions
4 star anise- 3 chili
- 4 cloves garlic
- 350ml chicken stock
- 1/2 cup plum sauce
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- Peel of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 orange
- 3T flour
- 4cm ginger, sliced
Method
Coat pork in flour. Brown. Remove from heat. Add onions, Cook down. Add the spices, meat, onions, stock, orange peel
Pressure cooker for one cycle on curry setting. Slow cooker 6 hours on low.
Looks gross at this stage 
Ready for the oven 
Strain off solids 
Keep those liquids!
When pork is cooked, place on tray and crisp up in hot oven while rice cooks. Retain sauce to serve (strained)
Twice Cooked Pork Belly
This twice cooked pork belly is prepared over a couple of days – well worth the effort though – I think – well, put it this way, it takes a while to make but not long to eat! I am really really sorry – the finished product did not get many photos – it was gone in no time (with the cries of “is there any more?”).
Ingredients
- pork belly
- 1 onion
- 8cm ginger
- 3 heaped teaspoons of crushed garlic
- 1 stalk lemongrass – bruised
- 3 red hot chillis
- 2 teaspoons of chili or chili flakes, or crushed chili
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/2 cup plum sauce
- 1/2 cup
ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce) - 1/2 cup malt vinegar
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 cinnamon stick
4 star anise- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Day 1
Place the pork belly into the bottom of the slow cooker or pressure cooker. Combine rest of ingredients and pour over pork – you may need to add water if it doesn’t look like enough liquid. Cook on slow cooker for 6 hours, basting with sauce as you go. If cooking in pressure cooker use the pot roast setting and do 2 cycles.
Remove the pork from the sauce, place in
Into the pressure cooker 
Strain Juices, keep liquid 
Tasty, but not delicious YET
Day 2
Cut the cold cooked pork belly into cubes. Line a baking tray with paper and place the pork on the tray. Baste the meat with the remaining sauce and then place the tray into a hot oven (210 deg C) and cook until golden.
While the pork is cooking in the oven, put on some rice or rice noodles and prepare the vegetables.
Put the leftover sauce into a pan and onto the stove over medium/high heat to thicken and reduce.
Serve with steamed asian vegetables, rice and sauce.
Corned Beef
When I was a kid, this was one food I absolutely hated. I remember once we went on a trip to Cooma and we were billeted out for our accommodation. My girlfriend and I (we were about 17 at that stage) were sent to a shabby old house with cobwebs hanging throughout the kitchen and it was just really grotty.
We were dished up corned beef with white sauce – and from that point on I was scarred for a very long time.
Fast forward 30 years and I find a recipe by chance for corned beef – I had been looking for something unusual and definitely something that was on the cheap side for sandwiches for lunch
Ingredients:
- 1 piece of corned beef (sized to suit your needs)
- 1 sliced onion
4 star anise4 star anise- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 teaspoons of allspice
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons peppercorns
- 8 cloves
- 2
bayleaves - 2 red hot chillies
Method:
Wash the meat!
Place all ingredients in the bottom of the pressure cooker. If you have a trivet that fits into the pressure cooker, place the meat on this. Add extra water to bring liquids up to rack
If using a slow cooker, same as above, no trivet -6-8 hours on low, turning meat regularly so it doesn’t dry out.
Once cooked, into the fridge – slice up and sandwich with pickles and cheese – yum.
Or serve as a main with mashed potatoes, strain juices and thicken to make a sauce.
Cheesecake – Easy No Bake Recipe
We love cheesecake – and there are so many variations to make. My
Of course the trick is to make that first bite worthy! A smooth, creamy filling – not too sweet – and a base that is firm and not soggy. This basic recipe will make you a Cheesecake Master in no time at all.
Ingredients
Base:
- 500g sweet biscuits – plain or
flavoured , depending on what you are creating – make sure they aren’t filled - 200g melted butter – don’t use margarine!
Filling:
- 2 x 250g Philadelphia cream cheese – at room temperature
- 3/4 C castor sugar
- 4 cups cream – not pre-whipped!
- 2 t vanilla extract
- 3 T gelatin powder
Method:
Melt butter in either a small saucepan or microwave. Place the biscuits in a food processor and process until they become crumbs. Lift the lid, and make sure there aren’t any chunky bits left. Replace lid, and while the blade is spinning, slowly add the butter.
Using a tin with a removable base, grease
Using a blender or beaters, beat the cream cheese until smooth, light and fluffy – it’s important that the cheese is at room temperature to achieve this. Add the vanilla and castor sugar – beat well. Reduce the speed of the beaters (unless you want mixture splattered over the kitchen) and slowly add the cream, pouring in a steady stream. Continue to beat until the cream whips up with the cream cheese.
Boil some water, and add the gelatine to the water in a small cup or bowl – mix and dissolve the gelatine.
Pour the gelatine into the cream cheese mixture – make sure that the beaters are running otherwise you will end up with lumps of gelatine in the filling.
Pour the mixture onto your prepared base. Cover and refrigerate until firm – note this will take a few hours to set firmly.
See the variations on this recipe for different cheesecake ideas
Hidden Raspberry Cheesecake 
Lemon Cheesecake 
Vanilla and Strawberry Cheesecake