Tart Base

This makes an excellent Milk tart base, but you can use it for jam tarts, apple crumble, or even savoury tarts!


Ingredients:

50g Butter/Margarine
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Egg
200ml Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1 Tbsp Milk
Pinch of Salt

Method:

Cream the butter/margarine and sugar together. Add the egg and beat like a maniac until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients together with the milk to the mixture. Mix until there are no lumps and a soft dough is formed. Grease your tart dish generously. Press the dough out inside the tart dish; making sure every point, edge and surface are covered. Keep smoothing it until you get a smooth even base, you don’t want thick bits when you eat the tart. I like to make the dough form a little edge around the top of the dish so it looks good when serving!

Beef Stew

This must be cooked slowly for about 2 hours to make the meat soft and draw the flavours out. Half that time in a pressure cooker.
Ingredients
500g Stewing beef (you can also use soft shin or goulash)
1 Large Onion chopped roughly
2 Large Carrots (peeled and chopped into rounds)
2 Medium Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
1 Packet instant soup (Hearty Beef or Brown Onion)
1 Beef Stock Cube
Chopped parsley to taste
Pinch of Salt & Pepper
¾ Cup of frozen peas and sweetcorn
½ Cup tomato paste (last bit of tomato sauce in the bottle mixed with hot water works)
3 Tbsp Chutney
1 Cup water
3 Cups boiling water

Method

Fry onion in a large pot until translucent. Brown the beef. Add the packet of soup mixed with 1 cup of water. Add 3 cups of boiling water. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Add Potatoes, carrots and stock cube (crumbled into the pot). ½ hour later add peas, corn, parley, salt and pepper. ½ hour later add tomato paste and chutney. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour stirring occasionally. The meat should be soft and tender before serving.

Serve with rice and enjoy.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

I am typing this as I bake this wonderful cake…simple, quick and moist!


Ingredients:

1 ½ Cups Cake flour
1 Cup white Sugar
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
½ Cup Milk (or water for a lower fat content)
½ Cup Oil
2 Large Eggs

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 2 cake pans. Mix all the above ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Pour into the two cake pans. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. To test for readiness a knife should come out clean when inserted.

Leave in the pans to cool for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely before decorating as you choose.

Cornflake and raisin Cookies,

This is one of those recipes that you can make at the end of the month when you are out of most ingredients. The final leftovers from the box of cornflakes, the last raisins no-one ate….This recipe is so easy you can leave the kids alone to make it, they have great fun dropping them into the cornflakes!

Ingredients:
125g Margarine/Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2/3 Cup raisins
1 Cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 Cups cornflakes (lightly crushed – use the last in the box)

Handy Hint: “Cream margarine/butter” means beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Cream margarine and sugar together. Add the egg and beat again. Add sifted flour, baking powder and raisins and mix with a wooden spoon (an electric mixer will damage the raisins). Place the crushed cornflakes on a large bowl. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and drop them 1 at a time into the cornflakes, coating well. Place each coated spoonful onto a well greased baking tray. Space them well as they tend to spread. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.

Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy!

Savoury Mince

A great light evening meal!

Ingredients:
500g mince
1 Onion (Roughly chopped)
2 Carrots
½ Cup Sweet corn
½ Cup peas
1 Beef Stock cube
½ Packet soup (Beef onion or vegetable)
1 Potato (diced) Optional
2 Cups Water

Method:
Fry onion until pale. Add mince and brown. Add 2 cups of water and the soup while stirring. Once boiling, add the chopped vegetables and the stock cube. Cook until vegetables are soft and sauce has thickened.

You can eat this with rice, pasta or on a slice of toast. Whatever you like!