Pear & Ginger Upside Down Cake

I have never made an upside-down cake before so I thought it might be fun to give it a try. I found this receipe in the Australian Good Taste Magazine May 2013 edition. It was just an add by Lighthouse flour, but I thought I'd give it a go.

Yum!!! The texture is so moist and tender, and the ginger gives a beautiful gentle heat, just perfect for winter.

ANZAC Biscuits

Recipe By: Grandma Smith

Ingredients:
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
115 g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp. golden syrup
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp. boiling water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180℃. Combine flour, oats, sugar and coconut in the bowl of an electric mixer.

2. Combine butter, golden syrup, bicarb soda and hot water in a small bowl and mix until butter is melted (microwave for 30 seconds if needed).

3. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on low speed until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Drop in ⅓ cup balls onto a non-stick biscuit tray. Flatten slightly before baking for 10-12 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday

Curry Night

One of my favourite ways to share food with friends. Everyone brings a dish to share. On the menu tonight:

• Lamb Samosas
• Yoghurt & Mint Raita
• Cashew Butter Chicken
• Paul's Lamb Kofta in Spicy Tomato Sauce
• Simple Pilau Rice
• Gulab Jamon

Tuesday

 

 Perfect Pasta

Wednesday

Breadmaker Pizza

Thursday

Junior Masterchef Chicken Enchiladas

Friday

{image & recipe credit}

Coconut Curry Fish with Steamed Jasmine Rice

Saturday

Casual (store bought!) Hamburgers on the BBQ

Sunday

Garlic Roast Lamb with mixed roast vegetables
This recipe is from the Donna Hay Autumn 2013 Magazine

Lunchbox

Mini Easter Egg Blondies

Get Ahead Sunday

1.  Lunchbox baking. Allow to cool, cut into individual servings and freeze in a large airtight container.
2. Make the tomato sauce for the Chicken enchiladas on Sunday. When cooled, store in an artight plastic container (or even a large zip-lock bag!). Store for 2-3 days in the fridge or, if you need longer, freeze. Just don't forget to take it out of the freezer the morning you want to have it for dinner!
3. If you want to make your own pasta, do this on Sunday too. Pasta dough does not keep very well though (the fresh eggs start to turn green! Eeewww!). So allow your noodles to dry a little then freeze in a zip-lock bag or airtight container.

Mini Easter Egg Blondies

Recipe By: Pippa

Yield: 16 bars

Summary:
Here's an idea to use up those last few little Easter eggs. You could do something similar with a basic cookie dough, but probably roughly chop the chocolate eggs first. 

Ingredients:
300 g unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup mini easter eggs, aprrox, assorted varieties, unwrapped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 175℃. Butter 23cm x 33cm cake tin; line with parchment paper, allowing 5 cm overhang. Butter parchment.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Put butter and brown sugar into mixer bowl; mix on medium-high until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Add most of the mini chocolate eggs and mix to combine.

3. Spread batter into prepared tin; smooth top. Press the remaining mini eggs into the top in a random pattern. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.  Let cool in tin 40 minutes. Lift out, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Breadmaker Hot Cross Buns

Easter weekend is the perfect time to enjoy a lazy couple of hours in the kitchen. These beautiful fresh hot cross buns contain no preservatives like their supermarket counterparts so they don't keep. But that's not usually a problem as they get snaffled up pretty quickly!

Recipe By: Sunbeam
Serving Size: 12
Yield: 12 Buns

Summary:
Fill your kitchen with the aroma of sweet, spicy bread. Although the recipe takes about 2 and a half hours to complete, really there are only mere minutes of actual work. The hardest part is waiting!

Ingredients:
Dough

• 1 Egg, 60g
• 150 ml Water, warm
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 280 g baker’s flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup mixed dried fruit
• 2 teaspoons dry yeast

Crosses

• 2 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar

Glaze

• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon powdered gelatine

Directions:
1. Beat egg and water together and put into bread pan (the "mixing bowl" of the breadmaker). Add butter

2. Combine flour with brown sugar, salt and Allspice. Stir in dried fruit. Add to bread pan. Make a small pocket in the top and fill with the yeast. Wipe any spills from the outside of the pan.

3. Place the pan in the bread maker and close the lid. Set to "Dough" program and start. In my bread machine this is 1hr and 15min.

4. When the bread maker indicates that the program has finished, remove the dough from the bread pan and knead lightly on a floured surface. Divide the dough into 12 pieces (I like to weigh mine to ensure even sizes) and shape each piece into small buns. Place close together in a lightly greased baking tray (a 26cmx16.5cm lamington tray works well). Cover with lightly oiled cling wrap and then a tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

TIP: Spray a piece of plastic wrap with Olive Oil Spray before covering your dough. This keeps the environment inside nice and moist, but the oil stops the plastic from sticking to the dough when it is removed.

5. CROSSES: Combine plain flour with water and sugar to form a smooth paste. Pipe paste to make crosses on each risen bun. Bake at 200℃ for 25 minutes. Turn the tray about half way through the cooking time to achieve a nice even colour.

 TIP: You don't need a piping bag to make your crosses. Just place the paste into a zip lock bag, push into the corner and snip off the end!

6. GLAZE: Place water, sugar and gelatine in a small bowl and stir until dissolved. Brush over buns whilst hot.

 Enjoy with a slathering of butter and a great coffee while still piping hot.

Muesli Bar Slice

My grandmother used to make this for us by the bucket load.Very moreish and a great budget friendly snack. I much prefer this to store-bought muesli bars as I know exactly what is in it.

Ingredients: 100grams unsalted butter 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup peanut butter* 2 cups rolled oats 1 cup shredded coconut 10 Weetbix, crushed 1/2 cup fruit medley (mixture of dried fruits found in the dried fruit section of your supermarket)

Directions: Melt the butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add this to the remaining ingredients and combine.Press firmly into a lined retangular tin and cut when firm. *If someone in your family has a nut allergy, or your school is nut free, you can substitute the peanut butter for tahini. This is a paste made from sesame seeds and has a similar consistency to peanut butter. Tahini can be found in the health food aisle of most supermarkets.

Recipe Share - Banana Cake

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recipe By: Pippa
Serving Size: 10
Yield: 10 slices

Summary:

This seems to be our family's stand by for using up over-ripe bananas. In fact I suspect that some bananas get left to go bad just so that I have to make this :) The original recipe for the cake comes from Donna Hay Modern Classics 2. The cream cheese frosting is my own addition, and a rework on an old classic. The inclusion of vanilla makes this extra special and irresistible.

Ingredients:

For the Cake
125 g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup roughly mashed banana
For the Frosting
60 g Cream cheese, softened
30 g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar
1-2 teaspoon lemon juice
lemon zest

Directions:

1. For the Cake
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Place the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.

2. Gradually add the eggs and beat well.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture. Add the cinnamon, sour cream and banana and stir to combine.

4. Spoon the mixture into a greased 26cm (10 in) fluted ring tin. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool on a wire rack.


5. For the Frosting
In a small bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth and well combined. Add the vanilla. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating well between additions. Add enough lemon juice to bring the mixture to a smooth, but firm consistency. Spread generously over the cooled cake, sprinkle with lemon zest and just try to resist!