Creamy Tomato Pasta

We were introduced to this dish years ago by a friend.  It is so easy to make, so delicious to eat, so simple to alter according to what you have in your pantry - it is a regular in our house.

500g pasta

1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup cheese
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp of curry powder or mustard powder
1 tsp salt
300mls of cream (I often do half milk/half cream)

Optional: fresh ground pepper, finely chopped deli meat, finely chopped onion

1. Bring some water to the boil and drop the pasta in.  Cook until just done.  Drain off all the water.
2. Put the butter and the cheese into the hot pasta and stir until both have melted through evenly.  Cover with a lid.
3. If you choose to use deli meat and or onion I lightly fry these in butter or fat.
4. In a small pot put the tomato paste, sugar, curry or mustard, salt, and cream/milk.  Stir until combined and heat on a medium heat until warmed through.
5. Add the meat and onion to the creamy tomato sauce.
6. Tip the sauce over the cheesy pasta and stir.  
7. Serve on its own or as a side dish.

~Lorna

"BLT on T" - Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato on Toast

  "BLT on T".  The first time I had this was when I was 11 years old at my friends house.  Her dad is American and they ate this often.  

My version is bacon, lettuce, tomato on toast with the addition of a fried egg, avocado and cheese.  The secret is frying the egg on a medium heat in animal fat and topping with ranch dressing and cracked pepper.  

~Lorna

Cheesy Meatball Casserole

This is so simple and very delicious.

750 grams mince

750 grams sausage meat

1 onion

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

seasonings - tamari sauce, pepper, garlic

Pasta sauce

Grated cheese

1. Mix the mince and the sausage meat together with the egg, breadcrumbs and seasonings of your choice until combined.
2. Shape into golf ball sized balls and fry them until cooked through.
   (We put water in the frying pan to begin with which prevents the meat from sticking until the fats are released from the meat and then they fry in their own fat.)
3. While the meatballs are cooking, put a layer of pasta sauce onto the bottom of a casserole dish.  When the meatballs are cooked, transfer them to the casserole dish.
4. Pour the remaining pasta sauce over them and top with a generous amount of cheese.
5. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.
6. Serve with rice and green vegetables.

~Lorna

Resurrection Rolls

These are delicious, fun little rolls to make for Easter time. 

Read the resurrection story in the Bible found in Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24 and/or John 19-20. 

To make the bread dough:

1 1/8th cup of warm water

2 tsp dried yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

3 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

Filling ingredients: 

melted butter

marshmallows

cinnamon or other spices

sugar

• Use the dough setting on your bread maker, or hand mix the ingredients together and knead well for 15 minutes, allow to rise in a warm area until doubled in size, knead again for 5 minutes or until the dough is silky.

• Cut the dough into small pieces - about the size that would fit in a 1/4 cup and roll it out flat.
• Fill it with chocolate chips and a marshmallow rolled in melted butter and dipped in a cinnamon/spice/sugar mix.

{The marshmallow represents Jesus.

The melted butter and spices represent the embalming spices applied before burial.

The chocolate just makes it yummier.

The rolled out dough represents the tomb his body was laid in.}

• Fold all the edges carefully around the filling securing them by pinching the dough together.  
• Place on a greased tray. 

• Allow the buns to rise to double their original size.

• Bake at 180°C until golden.

• The inside of the roll will be chocolaty, gooey and hollow.

{The hollow bun represents the empty tomb.  

All that was left was the linen and spices His body was wrapped in. 

Sweet Salvation!}

~Lorna

Cowboy Casserole

I do rather like "one-pot" type meals. This one lends itself easily to changing it around to suit your preferences. It would make for good left-overs, if there happened to be any actually left over!

10 medium sized potatoes
fat for roasting
1 kg mince meat
tamari sauce, curry, beef stock, mustard powder
2 onions
vegetables - I used 1 head of broccoli 
2 cups of corn
2 cups of grated cheese
1 cup of milk
250g sour cream
salt, pepper

1. Scrub the potatoes and cut them into bites sized pieces.  Roast them in animal fat for around 30 minutes or until they are just cooked through.
2. Fry the mince meat until it is no longer pink.  Add onion and vegetables; cook until done but still firm.  Add the corn and the seasonings of your choice.
3. To the frying pan tip in 1 cup of the cheese,  the milk, and the sour cream.  Mix everything together on a low heat.  Season to taste.  
4. When the potatoes are cooked, layer about 2/3 of them on the bottom of an oven dish.
5. Pour the meat mixture over the potatoes, spreading it evenly.
6. Put the remaining potatoes on the top, pressing them gently into the mixture.
7. Cover with the remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until the potatoes are golden and crunchy.
8. Serve with a side of green vegetables or a salad.  

~Lorna

Home-made Vanilla Extract

Because I like things as close to natural as possible, I was keen to try this method of making vanilla extract.  I like to know exactly what is in mine.

I have heard the concern that it is alcohol based.  We very rarely use vanilla extract in food preparation that doesn't require cooking, but a tablespoon in one recipe is a small amount in my opinion.  If we are cooking the recipe the alcohol is evaporated out leaving the flavour behind.

Vodka 37% alcohol
Vanilla beans

1. Take 5 vanilla beans and cut them in half lengthwise.  I also cut those lengths in half so they fit in my jar. 
2. Pour 250 mls of vodka over the beans and seal with a lid. Vodka, because it is flavourless and wont change the taste of the extract.
3. Give it a shake and store it in a cool, dark cupboard.
4. Shake every few days for 4 weeks. By now the vanilla extract will be ready to use.
5. At this point you can pour the vanilla extract into a separate bottle using a sieve to catch the little seeds.
6. The remaining vanilla extract in the jar with the beans will continue to get stronger as it sits.

You can use the seeds in baking and ice cream making.  

This is a website I have used for my information: The Vanilla Company

~Lorna

Blackberry Jam

2.25 kg blackberries
2.25 kg sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Since we picked WILD blackberries we had to soak them to eliminate the wildlife.

1. Cover the berries with water in a large bowl.  
2. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of salt.  This will kill the caterpillars and other bugs hiding in the berries.
3. After allowing the berries to soak for a few hours, carefully scoop out the bugs floating on the top.  Gently stir and scoop out the bugs as they surface.
4. Rinse the berries to wash off the salt water.
5. Drain.

Now we are ready to make the jam.

1. Mix the sugar into the washed berries and allow it to sit for a few hours or over night.  This helps to draw the juices out of the berries.
2. Heat the mixture gently until the berries are soft enough to squash.  
3. I tried to mash them with a potato masher, but gave up and blended them quickly with a stick blender.  Blackberry seeds are very hard and I wanted to remove them before making the jam.
4. Push the blended mixture through a sieve to separate the seeds from the pulp.  Discard the seeds.
5. Put the pulp back in the pot and add the lemon juice.
6. Bring to the boil and test the jam after 15 minutes. 
7. Continue to heat the jam until it reaches the setting point.
8. Pour into sterilized jars and seal the lids.  Makes 5 300 ml jars. 
9. Label and store.

**To test for the setting point of jam take a tsp of jam and drop it onto a cold plate and put the plate into the fridge or freezer.  Wait a few minutes and then draw your finger through the jam.  If it tracks back together it is not ready.  If the track remains open it is ready to bottle.**

~Lorna

Peach And Mango Chutney

1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 small onions chopped
1 capsicum chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 lemon with skin thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 kg peaches chopped
1/2 kg mangoes chopped

1. Combine everything in a large pot except the mangoes and peaches.  Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.  
2. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for about an hour until the mixture thickens.
3. Add the fruit and cook until tender.
4. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

Improves with keeping - up to 1 year.

I used the recipe found *here* and tweaked it a bit.

Persian Couscous Salad

Good for summer dinners - not too hot or heavy, perfect as an accompaniment to your favourite meat and a salad

2 cups of couscous
4 tsp of chicken stock
1 tsp sugar (or other natural sweetener like erythritol/stevia extract)
Grated rind of 1 lemon
4 cups of boiling water
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup pine-nuts
1 cup of dried fruit (currants, cranberries, diced prunes)
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped apricots
Chopped parsley, corriander

1. Mix couscous, stock powder, sugar, and grated lemon rind in a bowl.
2. Add 4 cups of boiling water.  Cover and leave to stand for 3 minutes.
3. Melt the butter in a pan and heat the dried fruit and nuts over a medium heat until the nuts brown lightly and the fruit swells a little.  
4. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and add the nuts and fruit and some chopped herbs.  Stir to mix, and serve with meat and a green salad.

Tips for cooking couscous here

*Couscous is a type of pasta!  If you are interested this link to Wikipedia is really interesting.