Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

Y’all know I love my mother-in-law right? Plus, I know she’s reading now, so I have to say that! While they were visitng yesterday I thought (being a couple of days out from The Big Day) that we should clarify what we’re eating. I’ve put myself in charge of a delicious breakfast (even if I do say so - which I will share in a few minutes) and she put herself in charge of lunch.

 When asked yesterday what she needed me to do for lunch, I was told that she had brought a ham, but that’s as far as she got. Now, if there’s one thing y’all know about ME, it’s that I like organisation, and lists. Having worked in supermarket for 5 years, I’m off first thing tomorrow (Monday) morning for my last shop before the 28th at least. It kind of helps that it’s my regular shopping day anyway. I’m still trying to decide whether to do it with or without husband and kids. All that walking is getting a bit tough on me these days.

So it was suggested I focus on the things I do best. Like rum balls, apricot balls, and the like. I still have the makings of shortbread that I haven’t got around to making, so I thought I’d do that as well. And have a couple of salad type things in the wings.

Now, if you’re wondering why I do so well with rum balls and apricot balls, I can tell you that it’s because there’s no cooking required. This is also why I get put in charge of salads so often. And why I love my slow cooker so much. Can’t. Stuff. It. Up.

So far my Menu Plan for the festive days (Christmas Eve & Christmas Day) look like this:

Christmas Eve Dinner

Garlic prawns with rice

Christmas Day Breakfast

Pancakes with Cream Cheese and Cherries
Berry Custard Pastries
Strawberry Champagne

In the spirit of the season, I’m going to share Kins Christmas Chocolate Rum Ball recipe. Truly devine, and I promise, you won’t go back to any other rum ball after these (and not just because you’ll be knocked out on the floor from all the rum!)

Kin’s Christmas Chocolate Rum Balls

Ingredients:
250g plain chocolate biscuits (for Aussies the only one’s I can find are the Scallywags)
1 cup desicated coconut
2 tbsp coco powder
395g tin of sweetened condensed milk*
rum to taste
desicated coconut to coat

1. Crush biscuits finely, and combine with desicated coconut and coco powder
2. Mix in condensed milk and add rum to taste
3. Roll mixture into balls and coat in desicated coconut

Enjoy! And if you haven’t yet, please share your Christmas menu!

I love salads. Pretty muchly all types. Potato, green, noodle, pasta, whatever. What I don’t like is making them. I’m a pretty lazy cook to be honest, and all that peeling and slicing and dicing just makes me want to slit my wrists with the knife. Well, not quite, but you get the idea. Plus I HATE lettuce. Not the fancy kinds, but the regular, iceberg lettuce you get at the supermarket. I always end up wasting it.

Then I discovered those bags of leaves in the supermarket? Sure they’re a little more expensive, sometimes. But the food actually gets used rather than thrown out because I can’t be bothered making a salad or don’t like the lettuce. And while shopping yesterday, I noticed the bag I bought (baby spinach leaves) was half the price of a regular iceberg lettuce. well that had me sold.

The problem comes with adding things to the leaves. I’m great at chucking a couple of leaves on my ham and cheese sandwich, but anything more advanced? Nup. But yesterday I grabbed a punnet of grape tomatoes (incidentally also half the price of cherry tomatoes) and a cucumber.

Of course, when it came to making a salad that night, those were the only appropriate vegetables I had that didn’t require much preparation (I told you I was lazy). Hubby looked skeptical when I said we were having salad with our pork. In a fit of inspiration (and constant nearly 3 year old whinging) I chucked a handful of grapes in. And when I was finished I thought it looked so good I had to take a picture.

Doesn’t that look yummy? Yeah I thought so. I then excelled myself and served up rockmelon, watermelon and grapes for dessert. I was feeling rather healthy last night.

Some things I have learnt over the years about buying meat at a reduced price. These may not be relevant to supermarkets near you, or they might be.

• Check the use by date, it may be today, or yesterday. Double check before you buy.
• Always go for meat as far back in the case as possible. Yes the meat at the back might not be reduced, but always try and get one that’s not been sitting at the front of the case all day
• When you get home, open the packet, sniff the meat There’s nothing worse than freezing meat and defrosting it only to find out it was off when you bought it.
• If it is off, take it back straight away. You should still have your receipt and the packaging which will make getting a refund easier.
• Freeze the meat as soon as possible. If you are not eating it tonight, it goes in the freezer. Freeze it in a container or plastic wrap. Label with what it is, and the date you put it in. I also add the amount which helps when I’m deciding what to do with it.

If you do these things, you’ll have a happy experience with buying reduced meat. Otherwise, well, the smell of chicken soup cooking with off chicken has been enough to put me off chicken soup and off meat for 10 years now.

Tuesday is always fun in our house. It’s the day the girls and I get dirty in the kitchen, mixing up cakes, cookies and assorted other snacks for them and Daddy. Everything from chocolate cake to Pizza Scrolls are fair game on Tuesdays, altho emphasis is on things the kids can at least feel they’re helping with. Athough at the ages of 2.5 and nearly 4, there’s not much more than stirring they can do.

We have our favourite recipes of course, things that can be made from what we keep on hand. Cupcakes, chocolate cake, and muffins. But some of our other favourites that aren’t quite as simple, well, they’re sometimes the tastiest aren’t they?

Sultana Apple Loaf
125g butter
3/4 cup raw or castor sugar
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (I have used rice self-raising flour with excellent results)
2 eggs, beaten
1 lemon rind, finely grated
1 cup sultanas
1 cup apple juice
1 apple, gated

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease & line a loaf pan with baking paper.
2. Melt butter in a smal saucepan over meduim heat (or in the microwave) and transfer to a mixng bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix until well combined
3. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
4. Icing can be made by mixing 1 cup of icing sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon in a microwave safe bowl. Add lemn juice and stir. Heat on high in microwave for 40-50 seconds or until runny. Pour over cake and spread to cover.

We have only once added icing to this cake, and all agree that it’s not necessary. A loaf makes approximately 12 adult sized slices or 24 kid sized slices. It freezes well and is great for lunch boxes. With all that fruit in there you can almost kid yourself it’s healthy. I know it’s a sad commentry on me that this is one of the more complicated cakes we make on a regular basis, but I’m really not much of a cook, and simple is always better in my book. Hubby on the other hand…..

Cinnamon Scrolls
90g butter
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
2/3 cup of milk
Filling
60g butter at room temp
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of dried fruit

1. Rub butter into flour with fingertips until mixture resemles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add most of the milk. Mix lightly with a flat-bladed knife, to forma soft dough (add more milk if required)
2. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead lightly. Roll out into a rectangle about 25 x 40cm, and 5mm thick.
3. Prepare filling. Cream butter, sugar and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Spread over dough. Sprinkle with currants. Roll up fromt he long side. slice into 3cm pieces using a sharp knife.
4. Place rounds close together on a greased baking tray. Bake at 220c for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool
5. Ice scrolls with 1 cup icing sugar combined with 1 tbsp boiling water.

Hubby loves taking these to work, and saves him from spending money at the bakeries and cake shops nearby. Of course I’m not much chop at pastries, so he makes his own.

**Disclaimer - all measurements are Australian metric. 1 cup = 250mL and 1 tbsp is 20mL

An ad tonight during Torchwood (Capt’n Jack - yum yum) raised my hackels a bit. The ad was for Metamucil, a fibre enrichment product. From memory, the gist of the ad seemed to be, if your kids won’t eat veggies, simply add some Metamucil to the bolognaise, and they’ll get all the fibre they need.

Am I the only mother in the world who gets veggies into her kids by grating them up in Spaghetti Bolognaise? Honestly, a couple of carrots, a zucchini, mushrooms, capsicum, celery. They won’t know it’s there, and even if they do, they’ll eat it anyway, because it’s spaghetti bolognaise! Grated veggies cook down to nothing, and while my kids occasionally complain of “crunchy” bits (celery) in the sauce, they eat it!

We’ve gone one better though, we buy “Wiggles” spaghetti (curly fettuchini) which means we can put whatever we want on top of it, and the kids will eat it because it’s “Wiggles” spaghetti.

Honestly, if it’s that hard to get the kids to eat veggies, yeah sneak it in that way, but damnit, try subterfuge with REAL veggies first.

Where do you hide veggies in your kids food?

As you can see, last nights dinner was Apricot Chicken. First a disclaimer. My mother passed away when I was 13 and I was away at boarding school. I went to a rather exclusive private school, were it was assumed we would all have careers and cooks, so there was no such thing as cooking classes or home economics. My father remarried when I was 16, and my step-mother is a career woman. Her idea of cooking is adding a jar of something to chicken and serving it with rice. Or mixing meat, sauce, vegetables and noodles for stir fry.

My DH on the otherhand loves to cook, doesn’t like jars of anything, and has a mother who’s a rather “experimental” cook. Although in the 4 years I’ve been regularly eating at her house she’s only had one dud. Not bad odds.

So it’s really been in the last 4 years I’ve taught myself to cook. I haven’t had many disasters, because I like recipes. I am quite good at substituting (I have quite bland tastes) and adjusting where necessary, but I like to have a recipe in front of me to work from.

This recipe is my favourite. It’s easy, simple, relatively cheap and the kids (and DH) love it. I can get a meal on the table for $6 to serve 4. Considering my target for main meals is $2 per person, it’s a regular on our list.

Apricot Chicken
1kg chicken drumsticks (or 500g chicken thigh or breast, diced)
1pkt French Onion Soup powder mix
1 tin Apricot Nectar (or Apricots)

Preheat oven to 180 - 200.
Place chicken in a casserole dish
Sprinkle French Onion Soup over chicken
Pour Apricot Nectar or Apricots over Chicken and Soup
Bake in the oven for 1 hour for drumsticks or 40 minutes for thigh or breast, turning twice.

Serve with rice and green vegetables (my girls like beans, DH likes broccoli and I like snow peas)