Vacay

Greetings my dears!

I am winging my way to the USA in a matter of hours, and will be indulging my every childhood whim in many of their fair states for the next two weeks.

I may or may not be able to provide you with communiques in that time, so if not... my triumphant return is imminent.

Heaven praise cherry soda,

Amen.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Now you may or may not know I'm not one for cake, nor am I one for fruit.

However.

If it contains almond meal, I become quite the connoisseur, and I am really looking for ways to add more fruit to my diet, given my severe aversion.

This cake is the answer to all my prayers. If I were the praying type.

The Pioneer Woman strikes again! I knew she'd made it so I went straight to Tasty Kitchen, where I found this recipe. And I made it. And I was in love.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

2/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

1 can sliced pineapple, drained

10 glace cherries

1 3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup butter at room temperature

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup sour cream or yogurt. The recipe said yogurt, I didn't have any. Sour cream was great!

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/325F.

2. Line a 10-inch cake tin with baking paper, making sure it comes a fair way up the sides... or you'll have a sticky, toffee-y mess.

3. In a microwave melt 1/2 cup butter. Add brown sugar and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and butter is well incorporated. It should be smooth and thick.

4. Pour into the cake pan and place the pineapple rings on top. Pop your cherries into the holes and in any bare spots.

5. Cream the 1 cup butter with the sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla and yogurt.

6. To the butter, add combined flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt in three batches. Don't overmix.

7. Spoon the cake batter on top of the pineapple, trying to space it out evenly.

8. Bake for one hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

9. Let cake rest for 10 minutes, then place a plate over the top. Invert the two, and take off the cake tin and the baking paper.

10. Serve.... and again, and again.

Spaghetti with tomato and wine cream

Er... yum.

Inspired by a recipe from The Pioneer Woman (when aren't I?) that contained chicken, I decided to see if I could make a pasta sauce with wine and cream, something I *gasp!* have never done before.

What happened next was a miracle. Well it sure tasted like one, anyway.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon each olive oil and butter
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, diced finely
handful of button mushrooms, sliced
1 can crushed tomatoes, drained
1 cup good white wine (don't ever cook with something you wouldn't drink!)
150ml cream
2 tablespoons green olives
1 teaspoon cornflour mixed with one teaspoon water
spaghetti, cooked according to packet instructions.

Method

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a reasonably deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.

2. Add the mushrooms and cook two more minutes.

3. Add the drained tomatoes and wine and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes before adding the cream and olives.

4. You have two choices here - boil until the sauce reduces and becomes slightly thick, or boil 10 minutes and then turn down the heat and add the cornflour mix. I was hungry, so option B it was.

5. Serve with the spaghetti, some parmesan, black pepper and good bread.

Scones

If it can be served at high tea, you can be dadgum sure I will want to eat it, make it, pet it, love it, and call it my own.

Scones fit neatly into that category.

I still remember my first attempt in eighth grade home economics... nasty, hard little pebbles of... well, nastiness.

Since then I've baked scones more times than I care to remember, and thankfully have never recreated those disasters. My tricks are a phenomenally hot oven, as little handling as possible, and an old-school grandma recipe. They always make the best, don't they?

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
30g butter
3/4 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat your oven to astronomical proportions. Ok, 350-400C. I usually take it up to as hot as it will go, but my ovens have all been models from 1872* and don't get very hot.

2. Put flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. (I absolutely hate this bit, as I cannot stand getting my hands dirty. Feel free to sponsor Veggie Mama with a pastry cutter!)

3. Mix in combined milk and water, very carefully. I like to use two knives, pulling away from each other. Turn onto a floured surface and knead very lightly until the flour is all mixed.

3. Pat dough out to about 1inch thick, and cut into rounds. I didn't have any cutters for these scones, so I cut them like a pizza into triangles. It's just not the same!

4. Place quite close together in a greased tray. Brush tops with a little milk and bake 10-15minutes until golden brown, and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

5. Put the kettle on. It's the law.

* I KNOW there were no electric stoves in that time. You may or may not substitute 1965 for 1872...

Fame and other food

I started this blog a little over two months ago to quench a thirst I had to write about food. As someone who loves trying new recipes and recently had to buy a new bookcase to house her ever-out-of-control cookbook collection, I figured I had a lot to say on the matter. To me, food + writing = bliss.

Now, instead of it just being a searchable online collection of recipes and my thoughts about them, with a little vintage kick, it has somehow turned into a site that has been viewed almost 3000 times. By you guys. And I am not only mystified, but super-duper-uber excited! Welcome! I know not how you came here or why, but you've been unfathomably supportive and complimentary and it is the most wonderful bonus a quiet kid with a passion for whisking could ask for.

What makes it even more fun is when y'all try out my recipes and suggestions, and tell me how you did. I absolutely love that a piece of Veggie Mama is found in kitchens all over the world!

Over at Our Park Life, a hilariously wonderful mama blog, Nic and Gill have given themselves a little challenge... Nic provides a family-friendly recipe, which Gill attempts to recreate at home. She blogs honestly about the procedure, the end result and the family's feedback. Fun! Triple fun when it features a Veggie Mama corn chowder.... see for yourself!

I can't thank y'all enough, my dear hungry readers, for everything xxx

iHappy Monday

I love Brenda, and I totally love her new MummyTime meme iHappy. The fun part is, you get to use your iPhone (which I'm addicted to) to take snaps of something that makes you happy.

I fricking love it.

I also love my new shoes, which are what has made me happy this week. Or iHappy, if you will! My old ones had to be thrown out, and new ones installed. Best shoes ever. My Hello Kitty socks also make me iHappy!

I had to take down the earlier post... so if your comments don't show up, I'm sorry! I heart them all, so don't think I deleted them for any reason :)

Easy fried rice

And when I say easy, I mean easy. There is literally nothing to this dish, but some big flavours.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

1/4 red capsicum, diced

1/2 carrot, diced or grated

1/2 cup each of peas and corn

2 eggs

garlic

1 1/2 cups cold cooked rice (I use leftover takeaway rice)

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce


Method:

1. Beat the eggs and pour into a frying pan on medium-high heat. When it looks almost cooked, flip and seal the other side. Remove to a chopping board and cut into small pieces.

2. In the frying pan, saute the onion, capsicum, carrot, peas and corn for a few minutes until almost soft. Add the garlic and saute one minute.

3. Add the rice and mix. Cook for about five minutes until warmed through.

4. Turn the heat down and add soy sauce to taste. I know it seems like there won't be much flavour except soy, but you'd be WRONG! You really don't need to add anything else. Except for a few sliced green onions on top at the end.

Lemon pudding

Now that it's winter, I love a good hot dessert. When I was a kid, I used to make a derivative of this pudding regularly - chocolate, butterscotch, lemon, caramel... you could do almost anything. I think the original recipe was called "light and luscious lemon delicious" or something equally as wordy, but it was all of those things - light, luscious and delicious.

And although it's self-saucing, that doesn't mean you don't need cream!

Ingredients

60g butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

zest of 1 lemon

1 cup Self-raising flour

1/2 cup milk

Sauce:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 cups hot water

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C

1. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest. beat in the egg.

2. Add the flour and the milk and mix until combined.

3. Spoon into a baking dish (a small one with high sides is good), and sprinkle the sugar over.

4. Very carefully pour over the hot water and lemon juice.

5. Bake 30-40 minutes until brown on top and sauce is bubbling at the sides.

Minestrone

Ok so I've been watching the first season of Jersey Shore lately (don't judge! It is outrageous, incomprehensible, and at times, completely hilarious...) and have had a good old-fashioned hankerin' for some authentic Italian food.

So in my completely non-Italian way, I made minestrone. I don't know whether it would pass muster with a proper Italian mama, but I sure like it. And I like the teensy star-shaped soup pasta I get to use even more. Topped with a big dollop of pesto and freshly grated parmesan, it's a darn good soup. And since I don't do chicken noodle, this is my go-to remedy for any illness. It'll cure what ails ya!

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 carrot, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

700g tomato passata

1 litre stock

1/2 teaspoon of basil, oregano and thyme (or the equivalent in mixed herbs)

2 bay leaves

1 zucchini, cut in half lengthways and sliced

handful of green beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup peas

1 can chickpeas

1/2 cup soup pasta

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon brown sugar

pepper

fresh basil


Method

1. In a large stock pot, saute the onion, celery and carrot over medium heat until soft. Add garlic and saute another minute.

2. Add the passata, stock, herbs, bay leaf, vinegar, brown sugar and pasta. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer at least 20 minutes.

3. Five to 10 minutes before serving, throw in the zucchini, beans, peas and chickpeas.

4. Serve topped with plenty of freshly grated parmesan, torn fresh basil, pesto and a grinding of black pepper.


Fist pump!