I love melt and mix cakes! I often get the sudden urge to bake and my butter is always in the fridge, so melt and mix recipes usually come to the rescue. I have one baking cookbook that I've made up an additional index for that lists all the recipes that don't need softened butter. It comes in very handy! This recipe has been adapted a fair bit from a recipe on taste.com.au. I ...
Cooking
Capsicum and Tomato Soup
I love this soup and when I'm feeling like something healthy, this is one of the first things I make. The best bit about this soup is that it's awesome hot or cold! Having this soup in your recipe box is great, because you can serve it year round. If serving it cold, add a little extra seasoning at the end to make the flavours really shine.Capsicum and Tomato SoupServes 4 - 6 ...
Oven Baked Apple Chips
These apple chips are so easy to make that they don't really need a recipe. But I'll make your life easy and post one any way. I've seen some recipes around that use sugar, but I don't see the need. The baking, which dehydrates the fruit, intensifies the apple's sweetness and flavour all on its own.Play around with different thicknesses for your slices to see what you're happy ...
Cottage Pancakes
We recently pulled a 2.5kg (5.5lb) cauliflower out of the garden, so when Dara of Coffee and Lilacs suggested this recipe to me, I made it right away. The recipe only uses a little bit of cauliflower, but any little bit helps.These cottage pancakes are lovely, light savoury pancakes and you can change the veggies to suit. I already had some ricotta so I used that instead of the ...
Pineapple Upside-down Cake
When I was a kid I thought this was the coolest cake around. I loved pineapple and glacé cherries (still do) and thought that it looked so fancy when you turned the cake out. I found and old packet of the cherries hiding in the back of the fridge and rather than throw them out went and bought eggs, butter, pineapple and brown sugar to make this cake...that's logical ...
Hungarian Goulash
Many European countries have their own versions of this stew, but what makes Hungarian Goulash unique is paprika...lots of it! The meat, usually beef (or veal) is simmered for hours until it's so tender it falls apart. Aside from the paprika and the meat, you only need a few additional ingredients making this stew simple to put together. And don't let the short ingredient list ...
Vegetable and Noodle Slice
This is a different take on Zucchini Slice and makes a nice change from the norm. With the noodles added, it's a meal in one! Easy to make and great for kids and baby led weaning. The addition of the oyster sauce seems a bit odd, but I think it works. You can use any veggies you have.Vegetable and Noodle Slice2 cups cooked noodles, rice or pasta2 medium zucchini, grated1 ...
Jelly Playdough
I bought the packet of jelly to make this ages ago, but kept forgetting about it. I'm glad I finally got around to making it, because Roman loved it and played with it for about an hour! The jelly is added to colour and fragrance the playdough, but isn't strictly necessary. I used 'Blue Berry' flavour and it does smell pretty yummy! I don't like the gritty feeling of the ...
My attempt at Pierre Herme’s Macarons
I realise that macarons have been done to death, but they are totally delicious and I haven't seen this recipe online anywhere, which is why I had to translate it.If you're lucky enough to have tried one of Pierre Hermé's macarons, then you know what the hype is all about. I first tasted them in Paris nearly 3 years ago and then would occasionally buy a few from Selfridges when ...
Anzac Biscuits
It's cold and stormy today, and the weather has put me in a baking mood. With Anzac Day tomorrow, I thought I'd make up some Anzac biscuits. These biscuits were originally sent by wives to their soldiers during World War I. They had a long shelf life so travelled well. Back then, the recipe didn't use any butter, but over the years it has been added to improve the flavour and ...
Home-brewed Ginger Beer
We all love Ginger Beer and have talked about brewing our own for a while, so one day I just decided to give it a go. I had a look around at a bunch of recipes, which were all pretty similar, but based my batch mainly on this recipe from forgreenies.Ginger Beer is made by starting a 'plant' that is fed for a week. It is then strained and added to sugar syrup and lemon juice. ...
Paskha – Another Russian Easter Treat
Paskha is another traditional Russian food that is made at Easter. It is similar in flavour to cheesecake filling. Typically, it is blessed along with the Kulich and eggs, and then spread on slices of Kulich when it is eaten each morning. Like most traditional foods, every family's recipe is different. I tend to make the same recipe for the Kulich each year, but like to change ...
