recipes

Cottage Pie (Mel)

Ingredients:

500 grams beef mince

1 large onion, chopped

1 big clove garlic, crushed

1/4 - 3/4 cup plain flour

2 tomatoes (sliced)

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 cups (500 mls) beef stock

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1 big squirt of tomato sauce

A little oil to cook onion/garlic in.

**See further down the recipe for topping ingredients**

Method:

Preheat your oven to approximately 190 degrees. 

Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion for about 4/5 mintues and add garlic.  Cook for a further couple of minutes. Remember to stir so that the onion/garlic don't stick and burn. 

Add the mince and cook 7 -10 minutes until the mince is nicely browned.  Stir in 1/4 cup of plain flour - stir this for about a minute and then add stock, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and a nice big whoosh of tomato sauce.  Bring to boil on medium heat and simmer (remember to stir) for 5 or so minutes.  You will need to add some more flour to thicken up the base nicely. Add this gradually and stir through until you are happy with the texture.

Place base in a casserole dish and add a layer of sliced tomato on top. 

Now cook the topping:

Topping:

Cook potatoes and mash with a nice bit of butter and margarine.  Season to taste.  Smooth the mashed potato over the surface of the cooked mince and rough up the potato with a fork.  We like to sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese prior to cooking too.

Bake pie for 30 mintues, until the top is nice and golden brown. 

**If you really want to cheat or are low on time use Deb Potato (packet potato) instead of cooking/mashing your own**

Raspberry Jam Cookies (Mel)

Ingredients:

3 ozs margarine/butter

4 ozs Sugar

5 ozs Self Raising Flour

1 heaped tablespoon raspberry jam

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add self raising flour and raspberry jam.  Mix well with spoon. 

Place heaped teaspoons full of cookie dough onto cooking tray and bake.  Moderate oven (180 degrees) until golden brown.  These will be crunchy to eat :)

Amish Cookies (Mel)

I've been cooking this recipe for a few years now.  It's a big favourite and super easy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 packet of choc chips

1 tablespoon hot water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add egg, water and vanilla.  Beat until fluffy. 

Add plain flour and mix well.  Gently stir through the baking soda and choc chips.

Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees) until golden brown.

Crunchy Caramel Popcorn (Mel)

Very yummy & super easy!

80 grams butter/margarine

1/2 cup of brown sugar.

Popcorn - We pop ours using a popcorn maker (the best appliance I've ever bought).  I've popped a fair amount here - to fill up a large blue Tupperware container.  The original recipe that I've torn out of a newspaper many years ago says 100 grams of popcorn. 

How to: Pop the popcorn and set aside.  Heat the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan to melt nicely.  Then turn up the heat to high - stir constantly until it all bubbles and froths up - once this happens, continue to let it froth (remember to stir so it doesn't stick) for about 20 seconds. 

Now pour it into the popcorn and stir it through. Leave to set for a little while - it will be quite nice and crunchy once set.

Chocolate Brownie Slice (Mel)

A very moist, easy to bake brownie - very yum and a favourite at our house!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

125 grams melted butter

1/2 cup Self Raising flour

5 tablespoons cocoa

1 tablespoon vanilla (to help make it nice and moist)

Icing sugar - to sprinkle on top once cool.

How to:

Beat the eggs, butter and sugar together.

Add the cocoa, flour and vanilla and mix again.

Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees) for about 20-30 minutes.  It should be dense and fudgy.

Sprinkle with icing sugar once cool.

Impossible Pie (mel)

This is really easy!  Impossible to muck up :o)

Ingredients:

3 eggs

3 rashers of bacon (I chop mine up into small pieces)

1 cup grated cheese

1 small onion (chopped into small pieces)

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup Self Raising flour

Tomato - to slice up and use on the top as a decoration

How to:

Mix the eggs, milk and self raising flour together well.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir.

Place in a greased pie/quiche dish and cook in a moderate oven (about 180 degrees) for approximately 30 - 40 minutes (although mine often takes 50 minutes - so just until it is cooked through nicely).

Coffee Cake (Mel)

Ingredients:

120 grams butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of coffee essence (or I make a strong coffee solution to use - 1 tablespoon coffee with 1 tablespoon of boiling water - mix well until all the coffee has melted)

1 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup hot water

walnuts - to chop up a little and sprinkle over the icing.

How to:

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add the remaining ingredients (except for the baking powder) and mix well.  Now lightly mix through the baking powder.

Cook in a moderate oven (180 degrees) until cooked through nicely.

Once cool you can ice the cake.  For the icing I used 1 cup of icing sugar, 1 tablespoon of butter and a splash of vanilla essence.  Then I mixed up 1 tablespoon of coffee in a little boiling water and added to the icing sugar, butter and vanilla essence - stirring through and only adding a little at a time until you get the correct consistency.

Add the chopped walnuts to the icing before it sets.

Kate's yummy chocolate slice

Super quick and easy (the best kind of recipe).

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup coconut

1 1/2 cups SR flour

teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

125 grams melted butter.

plus extra coconut to sprinkle on the icing.

How to:
Mix everything together well with a large spoon.  Cook in a moderate oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Ice when cool and sprinkle with coconut.

3 Minute Cake (Mel)

Recipe from my Grandma Ivy.

1 cup plain flour

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

3 tablespoons Milk

3 tablespoons Butter

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

Moderate Oven, 20 -25 mins approximately

Combine the plain flour, sugar, eggs, milk and butter in a bowl.  Beat for a full 3 minutes.

Using a fork, fold in the baking powder ever so lightly.

Split the cake open once cool and add cream. Ice the top.

Hedgehog slice (Mel) - No Bake recipe

3 ozs/90 grams butter

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 packet of Milk Arrowroot Biscuits.

Crush the packet of milk arrowroot biscuits (in a blender or with a rolling pin)

Melt the butter, sugar, milk, cocoa and vanilla all together in a saucepan then boil until bubbling and frothy.

Then add the crushed biscuits and mix together nicely.  Transfer into a slice tin and pop in the fridge until set.  Ice with chocolate icing.