Recipes

Cottage Cheese Loaf.

• 1/2 cup chopped Onion
• 1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
• 1 or 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 1 or 2 teaspoons Promite
• 1 teaspoon mixed herbs
• 2 beaten eggs
• 250g of Cottage Cheese

Fry the onion in a little olive oil until just starting to brown.
Take off heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Quantities are to taste. I use the greater amount listed. Promite is the best in this recipe. Vegemite and Marmite just don't give as good a flavour in the final loaf.
Mix well, and then put mixture into a lined loaf tin.
Cook at 200 C for about 35 to 45 minutes. When cooked it will slightly brown on top, and be firm to touch. When cool, slice and use on sandwiches, or with salids.

Date Loaf.

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup (150g) chopped dates
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup (35g) chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup (115g) brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups (200g) SR flour
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 good teaspoon ground ginger or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to your taste. (I use both)

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Pour 1 cup boiling water over the chopped dates and bicarbonate soda. Let stand 10 minutes.
Add butter, nuts, sugar, spices, beaten egg and flour. Mix well. The batter should not be too stiff, or too runny. I adjust the flour to make it just pourable. (I find that the dates tend to keep adsorbing liquid as they cook.)
Place in greased or lined loaf tin and bake at 180 C for 45 minutes. It should still be a little moist in the centre, but firm to the touch.
Allow to cool. Serve sliced and buttered. It will keep well, but only if no one is around to eat it.

Melting Moments

• 190g Butter
• 60g. Icing Sugar
• 130g Custard powder
• 150g Plain Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Cream butter and sugar well, then add the custard powder, flour and vanilla.
Mix well. Shape into balls. Press flat with fork.
Bake moderate oven 12-15 mins. Loosen biscuits and allow to cool before removing from tray.

Jam Drops

• 125g butter, softened
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 190g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
• 115g (1/3 cup) strawberry or raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar and vanilla essence in a medium bowl until pale and creamy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Sift flour over the butter mixture and stir until combined.
Use lightly floured hands to roll teaspoonfuls of mixture into balls. Place on the prepared trays, about 5cm apart. Use a lightly floured finger to make an indentation in the centre of each ball. Spoon 1/2 tsp of jam into the centre of each biscuit.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, swapping trays halfway through cooking, or until the biscuits are cooked through and light golden. Set aside on trays for 30 minutes to cool completely.

Easy Coffee Cake.

• 125 g butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup self-raising flour
• 1/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease a 28 x 18 cm baking tin.
Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl until creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix the vanilla and coffee in 1 tablespoon warm water, stir until dissolved. Add coffee to butter mixture and beat until combined.

With a large spoon fold in the sifted flours alternately with the sour cream. Stir until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre.
Set aside for 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Gaynor's Magic Salad.

• 1 x 420g can Four Bean Mix
• 1 small can corn kernels
• 2 x tomatoes sliced fine or else use cherry tomatoes
• 1 small continental or lebanese cucumber
• 1/2 finely sliced red capsicum
• 100g feta cheese
• 1 can tuna slices
• Kraft Balsamic Dressing

Drain the beans and corn and put in bowl with the sliced cucumber and tomato. Crumble the feta into the mix. Pour over the balsamic dressing. Blend in the tuna slices.

Options: Replace the corn with corn and peas mixed. Omit the corn altogether.

Roast Veggies.

This is almost too simple to be here, but it is our way of doing tasty roast vegetables.

Simply prepared the vegetables. Usually we use potato, sweet potato, pumpkin and onions. Brush with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with black pepper, dried mixed herbs, and real sea salt, then give a quick spray with olive oil to seal it all in. We usually cook at about 180 C until they are nice and soft inside.

Tomatoes can be cut in half and treated the same. They come out really nice.

The secret is to use only good ingredients, and the sea salt must be real. I use "Sauniers" brand, as most others I have tried just have no taste.

We always cook a lot, because they keep well for the next day too.

Sweet - Sour Lentils.

• 2 cups vegetable stock (or Water)
• 1 crushed bay leaf
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup washed lentils
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• dash of nutmeg or cloves

Heat the stock, bayleaf and salt to boiling.
Add the lentils, lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
Add the oil, vinegar, sugar and spice. Stir and simmer 5 more minutes, or until quite tender.