Cooking Bucket List

Savoury Pinwheel Scones (they won't be as good as Nana's but I can try)
A teacher aide at school brought in a batch for us while I was acting principal for a day.  I worked in the staffroom a metre away from the basket of warm scones tempting me with their delicious aroma.  They had chow chow, cream cheese, onion etc on them.

http://www.allysongofton.co.nz/recipe/Relish-and-bacon-pinwheel-scones/?r=3278

http://www.nzwomansweekly.co.nz/food/recipes/savoury-pinwheel-scones/

Cheesecake
Never made one, baked or otherwise.

Fondant iced cake (Mack or Fin will get a special birthday cake one day)

Cooked salmon (tasted some kind of salmon bake in white sauce on a conference,  I was a wee bit dubious but starving and there was no other option so I served myself a hefty portion, sat on the ground outside in the sun- as you do on a conference and was very pleasantly surprised- hunger is the best seasoning.

Preserve something

Wontons from scratch

Cauliflower pizza

Homemade Stock Winter 2014

Piece of cake ={D

French Onion Soup with cheesy bread

I remember making this in 3rd form, haven't had it since.

Chicken Noodle Soup Winter 2014

Nailed this! Made it twice this winter with homemade chicken stock from a rotisserie chicken.  Very happy with the results

Should have written down the recipe because I mashed together what I found on Google and went by feel, I mean taste.  They both had a buttery quality which made them decadent without any butter in sight.  

Halloween Gingerbread Men

We don't celebrate Halloween as a family.... well maybe the consumer in us as been tempted over the years and finally we have given in.

I love that Fin used his dress up book to find a no cost costume...


We had about 15 kids come trick or treating they were all teenagers with masks and stuff bought from the warehouse.

Food in a Minute Ginger Bread Men Recipe

 

I went as far as halloween themed nails.  Daddy went all out and went to work as the joker.

We had Hells Pizza for tea with Eyeballs in Blood (Tropical Fizzy with lychees stuffed with grapes)

Quiches and Date and Walnut Loaf

Grandma's Bottomless Quiche
Beat 4eggs, 2 cups milk, S&P. Add 2cups grated cheese (tasty is tastiest). Stir in 1/2cup bran flakes (baking bran not breakfast cereal) and 3/4cup flour. Weird mix but okay.

Add whatever you got on hand - onion, courgettes, ham, bacon, toms, mushies, leek, salmon, tuna, asparagus, corn, spinach. Bake Mod oven til set and lightly brown on top. About 25mins.

Roast Vege Quiche

Leftover roast veges- I used potatoes, red onion, and capsicum

Feta

Bacon or ham (optional)

Handful of grated tasty cheese

Cherry Tomatoes

6 eggs (depending on the size of dish being used, you only want just enough liqud to come up to veges)

Cream or milk

S&P

Savoury Short ready rolled pastry

I blind baked the pastry first with tinfoil and rice or about 8 minutes.

Then added veges and some fresh thyme sprigs on top.

Whisk together the eggs and cream and S&P

Bake for about 20 minutes on 190C keep an eye on the mixture to see if it is cooked.  Leave to set for about 20 minutes before serving.

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We deserved a cooked lunch after prepping the front garden ready for river stones and plants.  

It's now all finished

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We also had Date and Walnut Loaf which was delicous

2 Cups plain flour and 3tsps BP instead of SR Flour

Tip- leave the date and butter mixture to cool to luke warm before adding flour. 

Sante Biscuits

We decided to make sante biscuits for our afternoon tea during the school holidays.  It had been a foggy day and the sun finally had some warmth to it.  How nice it would be to have a milo and a cookie in the sun on a winter's day.  

This recipe is tricky to follow, the measurements are in ounces which is a bit old fashioned even for me. Look how grubby the recipe is, must be good. 

Here is the Edmonds Book version: Sante Biscuits Recipe

We use choc drops.

Here's Fin shaping balls ready for the baking tray (look at that concentration).  The tray has baking paper on it- no greasing trays with butter, no mess.  And you can use the baking paper more than once.

Fin had an assortment of sizes but that's ok, its a crumbly mixture which is tricky to work with.

Once the biscuits were cool enough we headed outside to relax with our afternoon tea.  Before I had a chance to sit down Mackenzie (2 months old) decided to have a bit of a squawk and Fin knocked my milo over.  Oh well nevermind.  

When I finally got to the cookie, Mmm mmm you did a great job- delicious. 

Nana's Pikelets

First rule of choosing good recipes- The grubbier, the better!

If the page is sticky and brown and covered in ancient food, then it is a well used recipe that has been used many times.

The terrible handwriting in this pic belongs to me when I was maybe about 12.  And yes Pikelets is spelt wrong too.  My Nana was a wonderful cook, and the funny memories she gave my brothers and cousins and I about gravy on every meal (even pizza) and the long barely-holding-together ash on the end of her cigarette when she cooked...  Well, something made her food taste divine.  

dsp: (dessert spoon) - is just a spoon you would eat cereal or ice cream with.
tsp of B. P: a teaspoon of baking powder
I think the knob of butter is meant for the pan (electric frying pan is best)
And as for the giant full stop and squiggly lines, I'm not sure.

The trick is to turn the pikelets when the bubbles are just starting to pop.

Serve straight away with marge and jam- even apricot jam for a change.  Mmm what about whipped cream Oh naughty!
Wrap leftovers in a clean teatowel.