Healthier Ambrosia Fruit Salad

I loved this stuff as a child! It was my favorite at church fellowships. But I never made it because it was rather unhealthy (have you read the ingredients in cool whip?). Anyway, I found a recipe that tastes the way I remember it... and the only unhealthy bit is the marshmallows! Dave agrees that it is the coconut and the pineapple that gives it its' distinctive flavor. 

I based my recipe on this: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/quick-ambrosia-fruit-salad

Here is my version:

Ingredients

• 1 can (small) mandarins, drained
• 1/2 can  unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 red apple, peeled, diced
• 1 cup seedless grapes (red or green)
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1 medium banana, sliced
• 1 container vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Mix and enjoy! Serves about 6.

Notes:

• you'll find unsweetened coconut with dried fruit/trail mix/ banana chips, etc.
• generally, the healthier the yogurt, the fewer ingredients it has (except for those containing live and active cultures)

Homemade Fruit Juice Jello! 2 ingredients!

I don't know how I had never heard of this!

More jello, mommy!

I don't know where the original recipe came from. Here is what is written on my recipe card:

Homemade Fruit Juice Jello

• 4 pouches unflavored gelatine
• 1 cup cold fruit juice
• 3 cups fruit juice, boiling

1. Sprinkle gelatine over 1 cup cold fruit juice, stir, and let sit (will be applesauce consistency). Meanwhile boil 3 cups fruit juice.
2. Remove boiling juice from stovetop, pour cold juice/gelatine mixture in, and mix until fully dissolved.
3. Pour into 9x13 pan, chill until fully set, at least 3 hours. 

Done!


I have a note on my recipe card that you can add 1 tsp honey to the heated mixture to add sweetness. I haven't done that, and Asher is quite happy without it. You can't tell from the photo, though! He loves the homemade jello!

Also, just for knowledge's sake, 4 cups juice = 1 quart, so you'll use half of a 2 quart bottle of juice.

Layered Mexican Casserole

Layered Mexican Casserole 

(based on this Betty Crocker recipe)

The original recipe called for spanish rice and tortilla chips. I found it rather dry and crunchy. This version came about as I often "hide" vegetables in what I cook and tried that instead of the rice.

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 jar salsa
8 corn tortillas (6 inch)
1 can refried beans
1 1/2 cups cheese 

1 can diced tomatoes
1 grated carrot
1 cup zucchini, grated
1 onion finely chopped
1 bell pepper, diced

Procedure

1 Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 11x7-inch (2-quart) baking dish with cooking spray. In frying pan, sauté vegetables until tender, set aside.

2 In same pan, cook beef over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in salsa; heat about 2 minutes or until hot.

3 Line baking dish with 4 tortillas, overlapping to fit. In medium bowl, stir together refried beans and diced tomatoes; spoon over tortillas, and spread evenly. Top with half of the meat mixture and 3/4 cup of the cheese. Layer 4 more tortillas over cheese. Spoon and spread vegetable mixture over tortillas. Top with remaining meat mixture and cheese.

4 Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until hot in center and bubbling along sides. Serve with sour cream.

Cooking: Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers

Today Asher and I made whole wheat cheddar crackers. They were easy! For Asher, it was like playing with play doh.

Here is the recipe we used, but I edited the recipe (at end of post):
http://weelicious.com/2012/01/10/whole-wheat-cheddar-crackers/

We treated the dough like playdoh and a rolling pin and cookie cutters (we have a box of 100+, so I chose a circle, star and car.

Recipe- Weetbix and Date Slice

Weetbix and Date Slice

Ingredients

90g butter, at room temperature
4 Weet-Bix, crushed
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup caster sugar (I used 1/4 cup of raw sugar)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup boiling water
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup self-raising flour
1 / 2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Grease an 18cm x 28cm rectangular slice pan. Line base and two long sides with baking paper.

2. Cut butter into small cubes. Place in a large bowl with Weet-Bix, dates, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and water. Mix ingredients until thoroughly combined. Allow to cool.

3. Stir in egg, flour and walnuts. Mix well. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Smooth top with a knife.

4. Cook in a moderate oven (180C) for about 30 minutes, or until cooked when tested. Cool slice in pan.

5. Lift slice out of pan. Cut into rectangles. Serve dusted with sifted icing sugar.

My Notes: I doubled the recipe and quartered or eightthed (?) the sugar. So on one quantity I put in one-eighth of a cup of sugar, and on a double batch I use one-fourth.

Bec's Gingerbread House Recipe

Bec's Gingerbread House Recipe

90 grams butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 eggs beaten
5 cups plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Icing
2 egg whites
4 cups pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice

1. Place butter, brown sugar and honey in microwave proof bowl, cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved Check and stir each minute or so. Cool mixture about 10 minutes.

2. Place all other ingredients in a large bowl, add melted mixture and mix well until combined. (Knead a little on floured surface to combine thoroughly).

3. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. (You can roll out the dough first and then chill the rolled out dough).

4. Roll out to 1/2 cm thick on floured surface. Use templates to cut to shape and place on greased oven tray. Bake at 180 C for 10 minutes or until light brown in colour. (Can be frozen after baking).

5. Trim the bottom of the ends and sides where they stand on the board.

6. Makes 5 small houses, 2 medium or 1 large.

Tips
It makes a lot of mixture, you can knead it in two lots!

You can use golden syrup or 1/2 golden syrup and 1/2 honey to make a darker, more spicy gingerbread.

making pfeffernusse with Linda

Pfeffernusse Cookies

(makes about 4 dozen)

Ingredients

1/2 cup molasses/ treacle
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup shortening (softened Copha)
1/4 cup margarine
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons anise extract (no idea what this is, couldn't find it, didn't use it)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (I used fresh ground pepper... because I could)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting (icing sugar)

Directions

Stir together the molasses, honey, shortening, and margarine in a saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir until creamy. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the eggs.

Combine the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, anise, cinnamon, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a large bowl. Add the molasses mixture and stir until thoroughly combines. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll the dough into 1 inch balls. Arrange on baking sheets, spacing at least 1 inch apart.

Bake in preheated oven approximately 10 minutes. Move to a rack to cool. Dust cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar..

Note: Mine didn't get creamy when heated. Still worked. Also, we had to warm ours up a bit to make balls out of it.

Hot Tamales! (Photos)

Meredith talked me into making tamales. Usually I'm the one with the adventerous ideas! You can see the recipe we used here.

Cooking the pork in the slow cooker.

Lightly frying the dried chiles.

Shredding the meat.

Softening the corn husks.

Meredith frying the pork with the chile mixture.

Me making the masa.

See, I can use a mixer!

Meredith rolling a tamale.

Putting the masa on.

and the meat.

Rolling it up. Doesn't she have pretty hands?

In the steamer...

Steaming for a few hours...

Finally done!

Yum!

Cookie on a Stick

It has been ages since I made a cookie bouquet. I had given up on making the right consistency royal icing (that didn't use raw egg white) for the cookies with unfamiliar Australian ingredients. But, I found a recipe I could use... from www.sweetopia.net

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

6 oz (3/4 cup) of warm water

5 Tablespoons Meringue Powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar

*** Note; if your meringue powder has no vanilla flavour (vanillin powder) in it, add a teaspoon of clear vanilla to this recipe.

Directions:

1. In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds.
2. Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.
3. Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.
4. Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.
5. Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.
6. Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.

I used Pavlova Magic for the meringue powder- it was the closest I could get! And I halved the recipe, which was still too much. Aand... when I divided it up to color, I used liquid food colorings, because that is all that is readily available!

Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

~3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

1 c. soft butter

1 c. sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into bowl. In separate large bowl, cream butter and sugar.

2. Beat eggs, then vanilla and lemon into butter mix. Then mix in flour. Refrigerate until firm.

3. On floured surface, roll out dough to ¼ inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Bake 8 minutes or until golden. Decorate with icing.

Icing: Mix sugar and vanilla. Add enough water to make a stiff icing, color. Decorate cookies.

Here's my finished product! I made these for a friend's baby shower.

Cookie Challenge

I've given myself the challenge this year of cooking each of the cookie recipes from my trusty
BHG cookbook, which my Dad gave me before I came to Australia.

There are 86 recipes, and it is already April... and I have only cooked three. However, those three have been fantastic! The first one...

Lemon Bars

Ingredients:

1/3 cup margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs (4 eggs)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (4 tbsp)
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel (4tsp)
3 tablespoons lemon juice (3 tbsp)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder (1/2 tsp)
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat margarine with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat until combined. Beat in the 1 cup of flour until crumbly. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8x2-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes or just until golden.

Meanwhile, combine eggs, the remaining sugar, the 2 tablespoons flour, lemon peel, juice, and baking powder. Beat for 2 minutes or until thoroughly combined. Pour over hot baked layer.

Bake in a 350 degree oven about 20 minutes more or until lightly browned around the edges and center is set. Cool on a wire rack. If desired, sift powdered sugar over top. Cut into bars. Makes 20.

MY NOTES: I doubled the filling- it just didn't seem like enough to me, probably because I was using a larger pan, which is why some of the ingredients are (in parenthesis and bold). Also, I didn't realize the centers would look uncooked- but they are cooked. Just lovely and soft.

I didn't take a picture, so here is one from BHG-

Which is actually very close to what mine looked like! Success!

Today's Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Moorish Crunch Salad

I've stolen Dave's Christmas present for a day- a Jamie Oliver cookbook- because he's had it for weeks and hasn't tried any recipes yet.



http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/salad-recipes/moorish-crunch-salad

Ingredients

• 300g carrots, peeled, cut onto matchsticks
• 150g radishes, sliced thinly
• 2 crunchy eating apples, cored and sliced thinly
• 1 small handful of raisins or sultanas
• 1 handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
• 4 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
• 8 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted in the oven
• optional- roasted chicken

Instructions

1. Mix it all together, except the sesame seeds.

2. Add the sesame seeds and mix them in just before serving.





Yum!