Apricot Chicken Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1kg skinless chicken pieces or drumsticks,
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large brown onion, peeled, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon cumin Powder
• 2 teaspoon curry Powder
• 405ml can apricots in natural nectar (seperate apricots from nectar)

Method:

1. Place flour and salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Lightly coat chicken pieces in seasoned flour, shaking off excess.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a deep, large, heavy-based pan over medium heat. Cook chicken, in batches, for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining chicken and oil. Cover and set aside.
3. Add onion and garlic to frying pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender. Sprinkle Cumin and Curry powder over onion and stir until well combined.
4. Stir in apricot nectar and chicken stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Return chicken to pan. Cover with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove cover and add apricots, pushing them into the sauce. Cook, uncovered, for a further 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened.
5. Serve with Rice

Mushrooms on Toast

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 thick slices of sourdough bread or similar, grilled, fried or toasted
• 25g unsalted butter
• 2 Cloves Garlic peeled and finely chopped
• 200g mushrooms, of your choice
• 3 tablespoons of white wine
• Flat-leaf parsley washed and roughly chopped
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive Oil
  

Method

1. Heat a large pan and melt the butter into the pan and as soon as it starts to sizzle add the mushrooms and cook over a high heat for about 3-4 minutes until cooked evenly on all sides.
2. Splash in a little white wine and allow it to evaporate and then add the garlic and the parsley.
3. Drizzle a little of your favourite olive oil on the toasted bread and then arrange the mushrooms on top and serve immediately.
   

Hint: If you don't have white wine then balsamic vinegar is a great alternative

Oreo Balls

Ingredients:

• 2 pkt's Oreo biscuits
• 200g Cream Cheese (Philly) room temp
• 200 - 250g Chocolate (White or Milk)

Method:

1. Crush the Oreo's in plastic bag with something hard (a rolling pin works well);
2. Pour crushed Oreo's in large bowl and mix through cream cheese until dough forms,
3. Roll into small balls, placing on bake paper lined tray in the fridge for 10 -15 mins to become firm;
4. Heat chocolate in microwave bowl until warm and stir until melted;
5. Using toothpick to dip biscuits balls into melted chocolate and return to paper lined tray to set.

Hints: Oreo''s are great although most cream filled biscuits will work just as well, use Milk, Dark or White chocolate of your choice or a combination to cover, they taste even better the next day :)

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 125g Butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons Honey
• 185g Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg, beaten
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
• 200g S/R Flour
• 150g Plain Flour (plus a little extra for rolling out the dough)

Method:

1. In bowl combine Butter, Honey, Egg and Sugar,
2.  Stir through Flours, Baking Powder, Salt & Ginger to form a dough,
3. Wrap the dough in plastic and rest in the fridge for 10 -12 mins,
4. Flour counter top and rolling pin then roll the dough out to about 1 cm thickness, using a cookie cutter, cut cookies out and place on bake paper lined tray,
5. Bake at 180* (or 165* fanforced) for 10 – 12 mins until pale golden brown remove and let cool for 5 mins before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Decorate with your favourite icing or just dust with icing sugar.

Let the kids have fun decorating them!

Mini Choocolate Cakes

Ingredients:

100g Butter 165g Caster Sugar 2 eggs 200g S/R flour 125mls milk 1 teaspoon of vanilla 1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder (or whatever flavour you like)

Melthod: Cream butter and sugar together with electric mixer until pale and smooth, Mix in 2 eggs (one at a time), Add the Cocoa to the flour and then fold flour into the mix along with the milk, beat on slow till combined, Divide into 24 mini muffin cases. Bake 160* (fan forced) – 180* oven for 12- 15 mins Cool on wire rack. Hint: Use an electric mixer for best results, flavour can be changed to your own taste, for example remove cocoa and replace with grated apple and a teaspoon cinnamon, add chocolate chips, chopped cherries or just plain vanilla.   Can be made into 12 Cup-Cakes or a whole cake.

MIni Meatballs

Makes 24 – 30 approx

Ingredients:

• 600g Lean Beef Mince
• 1 egg
• ½ cup breadcrumbs (fresh is best)
• 1tablespoon bbq sauce
• 1tablespoon tomato sauce
• 1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
• Salt & Pepper
• ¼ - ½ cup oil for frying (Sunflower, Canola, etc)

Method:

1. In a large bowl thoroughly combine all the ingedients (expect the Oil) and roll into small balls.
2. Rest on a plate in the fridge for about for 20mins to the the meatballs firm up a little.
3. In a frypan add the Oil till it just covers bottom of the frypan and shallow fry (on med – hign heat) the meatballs turning occassionaly, until firm and brown, (do not over crowd the pan of the meatballs will stew and not fry, if need be cook in batches.
4. Serve warm or cold with a good tomato sauce or dipping sauce, for a party of make slightly larger ones and serve over spaghetti with a tomato based pasta sauce.

Hint: you can add ½ grated onion and or grated carrot, finely grated cheese, or spice it up with 1-2 tbsp chilli sauce. Bottom line is play the recipe and you will be surprised how easy it can be to have a great party or dinner hit!!

*if you don't want to use an egg replace it with a piece of bread soaked in milk!

Lemon Curd (Lemon Butter)

Lemon Curd

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
  
• 3 lemons, zested
  
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  

Method:

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth.
   
2. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter.
   
3. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
   
4. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.
   

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff

Serving Size:
4 - 6 people

Ingredients:

• 125g fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 45g butter (we use Olive Oil Spread)
• 680g lean beef thinly sliced
• 25g plain flour
• 355ml beef stock
• 170 g light sour cream
• salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a large pan, sautee mushrooms and onions in 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until soft; remove from pan.
2. Using the same pan, melt remaining butter. Cook sliced beef in melted butter until browned.
3. Mix in flour. Cook for further 1-2 mins, stir in beef stock, and cook until slightly thickened.
4. Return mushroom and onion mixture; stir in sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until sauce is hot, but not boiling.
5. Traditionally served over egg noodles but we prefer rice or mashed potato!

Chopping Boards - which is best?

Plastic vs. Wood Chopping Boards

Ever wondered which out of plastic or wooden chopping boards is better?

Wooden chopping boards have been proven to be more hygienic than plastic chopping boards due to the fact that wooden boards have a natural tannin in them that acts as an anti-bacterial agent, they also draw the bacteria down under the surface where it trapped. They are also less likely to dull your knives. When using plastic chopping boards, the blade of the knife can create tiny cuts and grooves on the surface, and the bacteria can get caught in these crevasses and tiny fibres. Once they are there, there is no way of removing them.

Chopping boards are an essential part of any kitchen, so here are some tips on how to best clean and maintain your chopping boards.

General Chopping Board Tips:

There are some general tips that are useful for cleaning and maintaining chopping boards, no matter what type you choose to use:

• Never put ready to eat food such as salads, breads etc, on a chopping board that has had raw meat on it previously, unless it has first been thoroughly washed.
• Always prepare meat on a separate chopping board where practical. Ideally, chicken, seafood, and red meats will be prepared on different boards.
• A separate chopping board for garlic and onion is a good idea too, as these are strong flavours which may effect the flavour of other foods.
• Colour code your chopping boards – this can be done using coloured string around the grip rather than using different colours of plastic boards.
• Glass and marble chopping boards look fantastic and are very hygienic but they will quickly dull your knives. Best left as heat mats for your hot pans!
• Store chopping boards in a rack. This will allow the air to freely circulate around them.

Maintaining Wooden Chopping Boards

Wooden chopping boards do require special cleaning and maintenance to keep them in top condition. Never put your wooden chopping board in the dishwasher as the water and the heat will cause the glues to deteriorate.

Wooden chopping boards should be scrubbed after use with hot, soapy water, before rinsing them, wiping them off and allowing them to dry completely.

A paste of baking soda and water can clean and deodorise a wooden board, while bicarb soda and lemon juice is a fantastic way to remove stains and disinfect boards. It is enough to physically scrub the board as wood has been proven to be naturally antibacterial.

The board should be oiled monthly using a neutral vegetable oil such as grape seed oil or olive oil. This will keep the board in great condition. Always replace boards that have visible cracks as the cracks retain possible bacteria.

Maintaining plastic chopping boards (if you choose to use one)

Plastic chopping boards if possible are best if they can be placed in the dishwasher, where the hot rinse cycle will kill bacteria. If you don’t have a dishwasher, scrub the board thoroughly with hot, soapy water, before rinsing and allowing to dry.

To clean and deodorise a plastic board, use one teaspoon of bleach to one litre of water. Saturate the surfaces of the board and allow to stand for five minutes before rinsing and drying.

White Button Mushrooms help prevent Breast Cancer

I found this out about this and thought it too important not to share:

For heaps more info go to www.pinkribbon.org

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating a few ounces of mushrooms every day could help prevent breast cancer, a new study suggests.

"You don't need a strong effect to cause cancer prevention. Eating 100 grams or even less of mushrooms per day could have an effect on preventing new breast cancers," Dr. Shiuan Chen of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in Duarte, California, the study's lead author, said in a press release accompanying the study.

Extracts of the fungi interfere with the action of aromatase, an enzyme that helps the body make estrogen, the researchers explain in the medical journal Cancer Research. Most breast tumors require estrogen to grow.

Chen and her colleagues tested seven vegetable extracts for their aromatase-blocking activity, and found that white button mushroom had the strongest effect. The researchers evaluated 10 other types of mushrooms, and found stuffing mushrooms, portobello, crimini, shiitake and baby button mushrooms also inhibited aromatase activity.

Because white button mushrooms are the most commonly eaten type, the researchers tested extracts of the mushrooms in a series of laboratory and animal experiments.

The extract reduced the proliferation of breast cancer cells in a lab dish, while feeding the extract to mice implanted with breast cancer cells suppressed tumor growth, Chen and her team report. Further experiments showed that linoleic acid, a fatty acid usually found in meat and dairy products, was probably responsible for the extract's anti-cancer effects.

Based on the amount of extract used in the experiments in mice, about 100 grams of mushrooms daily would be enough to prevent breast cancer growth, Chen and her team state, adding that it is possible that eating even less every day could be effective.

"Results from this and other laboratories support the hypothesis that white button mushrooms may be an important dietary constituent for reducing the incidence of hormone-dependent breast cancer in women," they write. "Prevention strategies involving mushrooms are readily available, affordable, and acceptable to the general public."

SOURCE: Cancer Research, December 15, 2006

Kids - Play Doh

Play Doh Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup salt

• 1 tablespoon of oil - (any oil will do, even baby oil)

• 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

• 2 -5 drops food colouring

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients into a pan and blend with a whisk.
2. When all ingredients are blended, place the pan on the stove on medium to medium-high heat.
3. You will need to mix continually until the mixture thickens. About 3 to 4 minutes.
4. When the mixture starts to clump and is difficult to mix, take the pan off the stove.
5. Pour the dough on a floured surface and when it is cool enough to handle start kneading (like bread dough).
6. Remove from the floured surface when the dough is no longer sticky. Knead away from the floured surface until all the flour on the dough is absorbed and the dough is smooth and pliable.
7. When totally cool store in plastic wrap or an air tight container.
8. Start playing!!!

Kiwi Squares

Ingredients

• 11/4 cups Flour
• 1/3 cup icing sugar, (¼ cup for mix, rest for top)
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 kiwifruit, peeled and purėed (1 peeled and sliced into 9 for deco, optional)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• ½ teaspoon grated lime peel
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
  

Method:

1. Combine flour and ¼ cup icing sugar; cut butter into flour mixture until mixture looks like cornmeal. Pat into lined 9-inch square pan. Bake at 220°c for 15 mins.
2. Combine sugar, kiwifruit puree, eggs, lime juice, lime peel and baking powder; pour over baked crust.
3. Return to the oven. Bake for 25 more minutes. Cool; sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar.
4. Cut into 16 squares for small bite size pieces of into 9 if you want to top with a slice of kiwifruit.