Recipes as a base

A lot of the recipes you will find here aren't actually "real" in the sense that they were published somewhere - they are generally inspired by a recipe that we noticed.

Half the fun is adapting and experimenting

e.g. the corn bread recipe - you could leave out the fluid in the can that you top up with milk and substitute something like beer or maybe even fruit juice. Yech you might say - but if you don't try it how will you ever know? And you may just discover something that really works. Chocolate with chicken breasts is an example - doesn't sound like it matches but the chocolate results in a really rich, intense sauce. It also confuses guests because they know the taste but don't make the association!

Or substitute something in the menu that you don't have in the pantry with something that you do have in the fridge that you want to use before you have to bin it!

Give it a go - that's how you learn.

Creamed apple pie

Sweet pastry
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup cream
Tin pie apples

Roll the pastry and spread over pie dish. Trim - reserve cut-offs.
Mix sugar, eggs and cream. Add apples and combine. Spread over crust.
Cut reserved pastry into strips and layer over top of mixture in a criss-cross fashion.
Bake at 200 degrees C for around 30 minutes or until set.

Macaroni bake

300g macaroni
Pack of ham
Can tomatoes
Herbs and spices
Frozen vegetables
2 eggs
Cup grated cheese
Cup milk

Cook the macaroni.
Place the frozen vegetables in a jug and pour boiling water over them
Cube the ham.
Drain the vegetables after 5 minutes.
Season and place above ingredients in an oven-proof dish.
Mix together the eggs. cheese and milk and pour over the pasta.
Cook at 180 degrees C for around 35 minutes or until set.

Golden dumplings with syrup

30g butter
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
Pinch salt
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup milk

Sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup syrup
1 1/2 cups water

Sift flour and salt and gently rub in butter.
Combine syrup and milk and mix with dry ingredients.
Simmer sauce ingredients for 5 - 7 minutes. Drop small portions of batter into syrup and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes.
Serve with sauce and cream or ice-cream.

Beef and beans

500g mince
1 onion
1 green pepper
Leeks
Celery
400g can tomatoes
400g can mild chili beans

Topping

2 cups breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon garlic

Brown the onion, pepper, leeks and celery. Add the mince and cook until brown.
Pour over tomatoes and chili beans.
Add herbs and spices. Simmer for around 5 minutes.
Spoon into ovenproof dish.
Mix the breadcrumbs and garlic. Spread over the mince mixture.
Bake at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes.

Corn bread

300 g tin of corn - not creamed
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
Milk

Drain liquid from tin into cup. Fill up with milk.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt.
Make a well and mix in beaten eggs and liquid.
Add corn.
Bake at 180 degrees in a cake tin for around 20 minutes.
Place on rack to cool.

Simple meal

So time was short.

Preheated the oven to 160 degrees C, made a marinade of lime juice and coriander, poured this over some tender lamb chops, cleaned up some potatoes and baked the whole caboodle for an hour. 5 minutes before serving added a tin of whole baby beetroot and warmed them up. Cooked some frozen vegetables in a waterproof pot. Served with a packet of onion gravy.

Delicimondo! So simple but totally delicious.

Baked custard

1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Heat the milk, sugar and vanilla essence until warm. Break the eggs into a separate bowl and slowly whisk the warmed milk in until the eggs are warmed up.

Pour the mixture into an ovenproof bowl and place in a shallow pan of water.

Bake for an hour or until set.