Tea Time: Herman The German Friendship Cake

Have you ever met Herman? Herman has been living on my kitchen bench for the last couple of weeks. He smells a bit like a brewery, and he has to be fed every few days. But it's been fun having his company.

Herman the German Friendship Cake was a gift from a friend. He is a sourdough cake batter that you prove for 10 days before dividing and baking. It makes a lovely rich, buttery cake, and also a very unusual gift to give to your friends and family.

Here are some happy snaps with Herman:

The Original Herman recipe - with green apple and sultanas

Herman with Banana and Blueberries

I even made some pancakes with Herman. The first batch were a little dense, because in my half-awake state I forgot to add any raising agents. They still tasted delicious, and today's batch with self-raising flour were perfect. Soft, fluffy and with a lovely sourdough taste.

How do I stop at just 4?

Herman is now having a little holiday in the fridge. I need my benchspace back, and there have been complaints about how the kitchen always smells!

If you don't have a friend with Herman, don't worry - the website gives you the instructions for starting your own Herman. And then you can share some sourdough love with your friends too.

Slow Cooking on a Wednesday: Cheaty Cassoulet

Are you bored with sausages and mashed potato? Have you had too many sausage pasta bakes or devilled sausages? Try cassoulet! Vegetables, beans and sausages simmered in tomato sauce, and topped with crunchy breadcrumbs. Tonight's version has leek, carrot, celery and fennel with lots of fresh parsley. Even the small one ate all his dinner with minimal fuss, so I'm counting this one as a win.

Sausages, Beans and Toast!

And the cheaty part? An authentic version uses dried beans slowly cooked in a rich sauce with bacon, sausages or other meats. This is topped with layers of buttered breadcrumbs that are built up by pushing the previous layer into the sauce. Using tinned beans and a single layer of breadcrumbs isn't quite as luxurious, but you can get this onto the table in about 45 minutes, or even less if your sausages are already cooked.

Adventures in Sewing - Viper Cosplay

This year I decided to attend the Sydney Supanova Pop Culture Expo. It's a celebration of all things nerdy and features a range of special guests from TV, movies, animation and comics. Most years I find out about it when it's too late to buy a ticket, but this year I was organised! And just to make it more interesting, I decided to go in costume.

So this is how I made my Viper cosplay.

Inspiration

Now that I've made a couple of them, I can't get enough of wearing 50's style circle skirts. Especially now I can make them for myself! A bit of searching came up with some amazing vintage cosplay outfits from Comic Con, and this amazing Wonder Woman Cosplay.

After a couple of nights researching various female comic book super heroes and villians, I settled on Madame Hydra/Viper. 

• Her look is basic green - easier to work with for a starter costume.
• Being a bad guy is fun!
• Snakes are cool.

Construction

I was very lucky to score a beautiful snakeskin brocade on sale at The Remnant Warehouse, and chose a lovely green poplin for the rest of the dress.

This is the first dress I've made, and while a skirt is easy, a bodice is another matter entirely. I purchased a couple of vintage dress patterns, but unfortunately my current measurements make it hard for me to fit a standard dressmaking pattern. So after a dissapointing mockup using an old sheet, I decided to try another approach.

This Body Coutour Cosplay Tutorial on YouTube was most helpful! If you're not familiar with how to use a bodice sloper, or if you have a tricky figure, this is a pretty good approach for a one-off design (provided you can get a dress form with your measurements. I had to make some..ahem..additions in the bust region).

First I made a paper+tape bodice to fit Dolly

Cutting a practice bodice from muslin.

An acceptable fit!

Cutting the bodice from the brocade and poplin.

The skirt cut and sewn, with pockets!

Back view

Front View

At this point, I still had to add some facing to the bodice, and fix the ugly side zipper.

Back view

Front View

The buttons are to hide the spot where the seams all join.

Results

With some fun accessories off ebay, and a bright green wig, it wasn't exactly what you'd call an authentic cosplay, but it was fun to wear. And the best bit was that it made wandering around a crowded convention centre much more fun. Now to plan next year's effort :)

Heading to Supanova!

Wearing boots to cover up a bandaged ankle.

And best of all, there was a fantastic camera to take a picture of my work!

Tea Time - Muesli Biscuits

Morning and Afternoon Tea are very important in this house. Without them, the small person gets Very Hungry, and that is a troublesome time for everyone involved.

I have to admit, muesli biscuits are one of my favourites to bake. You can "cheat" and use a pre-made muesli, or you can start from scratch with rolled oats and add all your favourite bits. The variations are endless, and the result is a very wholesome little snack, full of filling fibre. They also make a fantastic gift for a mum with a new baby. If you add a couple of tablespoons of Brewer's Yeast and some LSA meal, it turns ordinary muesli biscuits into a super snack to help boost breastmilk production and give a tired mum some lasting energy (especially good for those 3am feeds).

They're also so easy to make that they're a great recipe for getting a small person helping in the kitchen. We didn't even measure the ingredients, we just threw in "enough" of everything. There's apricots, sultanas, puffed wheats, hazelnut meal, coconut, honey and golden syrup.

But if you need a recipe, this one from Taste.com.au fits the bill nicely.

Cheers!

Slow Cooking on Sunday - Fish and Potato Bake

Today was a fun day. There was ferry rides, fish and chips for lunch and while the sun was out, the wind had some ice. A hot dinner was definitely needed!

Tonight was a Fish and Potato Bake. The inspiration came from this recipe at The Organised Housewife, and also a lovely recipe in the current issue of Australian Healthy Food Guide magazine. 

Sauté leek, carrot, fennel and celery in olive oil and butter.

Add mushrooms, peas, dried mixed herbs, sweet paprika,
wholegrain mustard and a splash of lemon juice.

Add some white fish, milk and cornstarch.

Top with sliced potato, spray with olive oil and bake.

All done!

What's on your meal plan for this week? We're having Sausages with Mushy Peas, Macaroni Cheese with Pumpkin, Spanish Omelette with White Beans and Chicken crumbed with Quinoa and Chia.

What have you been cooking?

After my last (and admittedly quite negative) post, I've been taking a break from blogging. The daily grind of family cooking on a budget is not always a source of inspiration. But there have been new discoveries, fun experiments and spectacular failures. Over the last month or so two things have happened that have given me the blogging itch again. A friend has started a new sewing blog - go and visit Strange Stitches and follow Mrs Strange having fun with quilting. I've also been sharing cooking tips and recipes with some younger Twitter acquaintances, and helping them to have their own Kitchen Adventures.

Future posts will include another Pantry Challange, Slow Cook Sunday, and Tea Time.

So what have you been cooking lately? Here's some of my Favourite New Things:

No-Cook Playdough

Bobotie

Porridge made with half rolled and half steel-cut oats

Japanese Hamburger with curry sauce and rice (with bonus fried egg - oh yes!)

Meat and Three Veg (I love a dinner everyone will eat)

Chinese-style corned beef with cinnamon, star anise and szechuan pepper

Rainbow Spaghetti

Five Reasons Why I Won't Be Buying a Thermomix

This week I had the opportunity to attend a Thermomix demonstration. If you've never heard of it, it's a kitchen machine that combines a high-powered grinder with a heating element. It blends, grinds, mixes and cooks. I have a couple of friends who own them and now I've had a chance to see what the machine can do, and even helped use one to cook tonight's dinner.

But...

Here are 5 reasons why I won't be buying a Thermomix (TMX) in the near future.

1. Price.

At just under $2000, this is a top-end machine that will take a long time to earn its keep. If you eat takeaway or restaurant food most nights, then yes, you would save money by cooking at home, but you don't need to spend two grand on a TMX first. Buying simple ingredients and cooking them yourself with cheap, basic kitchen tools will save you a lot of money, and other tricks such as using frozen vegetables or tinned fish (very nutritious), growing your own herbs and vegetables, and eating less meat will make your money go even further. Plus, I have too many other things that I want that $2000 for.

2. Crumbles are Ugly.

The TMX is an oversized, overpowered coffee grinder. Would you make normally make salad in a blender? No? Then don't try and convince me that a TMX can make a salad. To me, a salad needs to look good. Strands of finely grated carrot, soft tangles of shredded cabbage, paper thin slices of radish or sharp diagonals of shallot. Even a salad made using a food processor looks better than what the TMX can do.

3. I don't think it actually Saves Time

The TMX demonstration is a little bit misleading. The demonstrator arrives with a TMX and containers of ingredients that have been already prepared. They gloss over the fact that you still need to peel and chop many vegetables before they can go in the TMX - so where is it saving you time, exactly? It also has a relatively small capacity at around 2L - which prevents you from cooking in large batches. Give me a pressure cooker anyday. It actually reduces cooking time, AND my electric one doesn't require my supervision. You can get one for $100. May I also mention 90 second self-saucing chocolate pudding in the microwave?

4. I'm Sorry, I Can't Hear You

If you have a problem with noisy appliances, this machine is not for you.

5. It can't make Toast

Actually, there's lots of things it can't do. It doesn't bake or roast, it doesn't fry or stir fry. You can't put a whole chicken in it to make stock, or make a perfectly fried egg, sunny side up. It won't bake your muffins and it won't melt the cheese on your pasta bake. It won't do the washing up or the shopping, or help you decide what to cook for dinner.

All of these things won't bother people who already own one, and I'm not saying it's a bad machine, just that I don't feel that I can justify having one in my kitchen at the present time.

And finally...

I found the Thermomix cookbook particularly amusing today. Can anyone explain to me why, if you had a Thermomix at your disposal, you would use tinned apricot nectar to make Apricot Chicken Risotto? Maybe I should write a cookbook...

Vegetables for Lunch

Most weeks, the youngster and I visit my good friend Lon. She has the most amazing vegetable garden, and we are extremely lucky to be able to enjoy the tasty things she grows, and the fresh eggs from her chickens.

Yesterday there was plenty of green things ready for picking, plus lots of eggs. The kids got eggy toast for lunch, while we investigated things to do with a pile of green vegetables. There was rainbow silverbeet (swiss chard), sprouting broccoli, English spinach and green spring onions. There was also some fresh pineapple that the kids had been snacking on. The finished result was two delicious vegetarian main dishes that certainly got us well toward our 2 & 5 a day!

Japanese Braised Silverbeet with Egg and Sesame

This first dish combines the earthy flavour of silverbeet with the sweet and salty flavour of miso paste. I love the rainbow variety of silverbeet with its brilliant red and yellow stalks. Silverbeet is so easy to grow, you can even grow it in a tub in the tiniest garden and be rewarded with masses of fresh crisp leaves.

Japanese Braised Silverbeet with Egg and Sesame

Serves 2-3

1 bunch silverbeet (swiss chard)
2-3 green spring onions
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp miso paste
2 tsp mirin
2 tsp cooking sake
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp sesame oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Remove the stalks from the silver beet and chop into 1cm pieces. Tear the leaves into rough pieces. Slice the green sprin onions into 1cm lengths on a diagonal.

Heat a wok or frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the silverbeet stalks, onions and miso paste. Stir constantly to break up the miso paste and prevent the vegetables from burning. Add a splash of water if necessary. Once the stalks have started to soften, add the silverbeet leaves. Once the leaves have wilted, add sake, mirin, sesame oil and sesame seeds. To finish, pour over the beaten egg and stir through. Remove from the heat when the eggs have just cooked.

Spicy Pineapple and Broccoli Noodles

This second dish bears a similarity to Singapore noodles. Feel free to use a hot curry powder, or add extra chilli.

Spicy Pineapple and Broccoli Noodles

Serves 2-3

100g bean thread noodles (cellophane or glass noodles)
2-3 green spring onions
2 cups chopped fresh pineapple
1 bunch sprouting broccoli (or 1 bunch broccolini), chopped into 5cm lengths
2 handfuls english or baby spinach
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mild curry powder
1 tbsp fresh chopped mint

Soak the noodles in boiling water until they are softened, and drain.

Heat a frying pan or wok over a medium high heat. Add the vegetable oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the onions, broccoli and pineapple and cook for 3-4 minutes until the broccoli stems have started to soften. Add the curry powder and stir through. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the spinach has wilted. Serve immediately.

Adventures in Sewing

Recently, I was lucky to spot an overlocker (serger) in the online classifieds for a very good price. It's inspired me to learn how to sew clothing. I've never really been good at sewing, but seeing some fantastic projects that others are doing on Twitter and Pinterest has inspired me. Not only that, but learning how to sew clothes is a very useful skill - you can adjust ready-made clothes so that they fit better, or upcycle old clothes from the back of the wardrobe, or the thrift shop and give them a new life.

The lack of recipes here lately indicates the other reason why I'm inspired to craft rather than cook - the daily treadmill of toddler-friendly meals is sapping my creativity!

Apple Circle Skirt

So here's a photo of my first piece of clothing made from scratch. It's a 1950s style circle skirt with a stretchy waistband. I'm quite proud of it for a first attempt, and it received a lot of positive comments on its first outing. In particular, I like that I can wear a bunch of different coloured tops with it. I'd *really* like to learn to make a rockabilly style dress, but I think learning how to make and fit a bodice will take a quite a bit more learning!

I used this lovely tutorial from A Vintage Vanity - it was quite helpful, in particular on how to deal with a vertical pattern when cutting a very wide pattern piece.

Pulled Pork with BBQ Sauce

I've recently had to adopt a fairly strict meal planning regime - Sunday night is my night to cook slow and experiment. Tonight is Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce.

We're having American for dinner tonight

BBQ Sauce (from scratch)

I found it very interesting that a lot of recipes for BBQ sauce claim to be made "from scratch" but are just a mixture of ketchup, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar. Here is my attempt. It's spicy and smoky. I like that it has some texture from the pureed vegetables. I've used rum instead of bourbon because that's what was in my booze cupboard. 

THIS RECIPE from A Life From Scratch illustrates all the steps beautifully.

Makes 3 cups

1 red onion

1  diced carrot

1 mild red chilli

1 apple

1 kiwi fruit (because it was there)

1/2 capsicum (red or yellow)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp each minced garlic, ginger and hot chilli paste (sambal oeleck)

1/2 tsp each of dried thyme, oregano and basil

1/4 cup brown sugar

400g tinned tomato

1 tbsp treacle

3 tsp spanish sweet smoked paprika

2 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tsp mustard seed

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

90ml Bundaberg rum

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup (250ml) water

Peel and dice the fruit and vegetables. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Add the salt and gently sweat the fruit and vegetables until soft. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Bring to the boil, and then simmer until reduced by at least half. Remove the bay leaf and blend until smooth, then allow to simmer until thickened. I made this the day before so it had 24 hours to sit in the fridge and further develop the flavours. 

Pulled Pork

1.5kg Pork Neck (scotch fillet)

Spice Rub

• 2 tsp spanish smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp white peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp of cumin seed
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano, basil and thyme
• 1 tsp garlic granules

Grind the spices in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Cut the pork neck into 2-3 large pieces so it will fit into your pot. I am using my pressure cooker. Rub the  meat all over with olive oil and the spice rub. Allow the meat to marinate for 4 hours or longer. Heat the oil in the pan and brown the meat, taking care to avoid burning the spices. Add 1 cup of water, and 1 cup of BBQ sauce. Mix well to coat the meat. Seal the pot and bring to pressure, then reduce the heat and cook for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and allow the pressure to slowly release. Carefully remove the meat from the pan and shred using two forks. It should be very tender.

To serve, cut a roll in half and add a generous portion of pulled pork, caramelised onions, warm bbq sauce and coleslaw. You will need a napkin :)

I made pickles!

Following this lovely recipe from Suburban Tomato:

Now I just need to resist them long enough to develop their flavour.

More Food Trucks Please!

Last night I had the pleasure of having dinner from a Food Truck!

Mobile catering isn't new - ice cream trucks and kebab vans have been around for years. What makes the new generation of Food Trucks exciting is that they're owned and run by restaurants, with the menus cooked by chefs. They stay open long after most restaurants close, in fact many don't start serving until 9pm. It's a real alternative to the usual burgers, pizza or kebabs available to anyone looking for a late dinner in the city. As a general rule, they serve a small menu, and tend to stick to one type of food. Last night the Eat Art Truck was serving mostly Things In a Roll, while the Bite Size Delights truck was selling fresh pastizzi.

So last night, rather than getting some nasty junk food or a terribly overpriced meal from a cafe, I had a fantastic roll with mustardy coleslaw, pulled pork and bourbon bbq sauce from the Eat Art Truck. I devoured it while watching fireworks over Luna Park. Best $15 dinner in ages!

I think 2013 is the year I hunt food trucks!

PS

If you're interested in following Sydney's Food Trucks, there are couple of ways to do it. The first is to go to Twitter and look for @SydneyFoodTrucks - from there you can find out about individual trucks and where they are heading daily.

The City of Sydney Council also has apps for iPhone and Android that show the locations of the trucks. Because the Sydney Festival is currently running, most of them are operating in the CBD, particularly around the Domain.

If you're not in Sydney, then WhereTheTruck.At has maps showing active trucks across Australia.

January Challenge, Day 2

Tonight's dinner was a tasty Asian style beef salad using ramen noodles. I like both the organic dried and instant varieties, and they're just as good served cold as hot. But I don't need to keep too many types of noodles in the cupboard.

Happy New Year! (and starting the January Pantry Challenge)

Happy New Year! I hope 2013 brings with it plenty of love, fun, happiness and good health!

I'm determined to get this year off to a good start. I've definitely been very slack lately and reverting to too many take aways or processed food dinners. So for the first day of the year I'm combining two of my favourite things. Clean eating and the January Pantry Challenge.

Last year I joined the challenge to rid the pantry of half open packets and jars, to make way for fresh food, to reduce clutter, and to focus on home cooking, rather than eating out. It's a good way to repair the budget after Christmas, and hopefully the waistline too.

Tonight's dinner uses dried black beans from the cupboard, cooked with onion and fresh tomatoes, fresh garden silverbeet, and lots of spices. I've read that it's an American tradition (especially among African Americans) to cook a frugal meal of beans and green vegetables on New Year's Day as a way to invite prosperity for the coming year. It also makes sense to start the year with a healthy vegetarian meal after the excesses of the festive season.

Creating a Mini Kitchen (Part Two)

It's Christmas Eve, and the mini kitchen is finished!

The painting is all done, the doors have been reassembled with new fittings, and the stove has the latest in induction technology (otherwise known as sheet acrylic).

Daffodil Yellow

To say I'm pleased with the result is an understatement. It's turned out much better than I hoped, the furniture actually brightens up my dining room, and my little boy is enjoying using his new space for cooking. And playing with trains.

In the end, I spent more on this project than I intended, but I think the result is worth it - a one off set of furniture that is as nice as anything I could have bought, and was a lot more fun to put together. I also have leftover paint for future projects.

Zatar Leaf Green

 I still need to add a handle to the stove door, and add a chain so it doesn't crash onto the floor.

Shiny Cooktop

Bright Delight Orange (and a bucket of toy food)

Happy little mini chef

Merry Christmas!

When Caterpillars Attack!

Sometimes, you can understand why farmers resort to pesticides.

Here is my tub growing mixed radishes:

And this is all that is left of them:

 You can still see some of the culprits:

Egg and Spinach Curry (Andaa Saag)

I've fallen off the Tuesday Night Vego Challenge bandwagon, not that we haven't been eating vegetarian, just nothing worthy of posting (the culinary equivalent of watching star trek reruns). But today the inspiration has arrived thanks to a tub bursting with baby silverbeet leaves, and a dozen freshly laid eggs.

The thought of freshly poached eggs swimming in a vibrant green sauce sounds fantastic today - Saag with Eggs!

I started with a recipe from Lil'Chef's World, using red lentils and a slurry of milk and starch instead of cream (because I don't have any).

I actually made this for lunch, and it was easily done in half an hour. It's also a great way to get some extra green stuff into your day.

Egg and Spinach Curry (serves 1-2)

2 eggs
2 cups leafy greens (or use 3 frozen spinach cubes)
2 tbsp dried red lentils
half a tomato, diced
half an onion, diced
salt and pepper
a pinch of cumin seeds
a pinch of turmeric powder (or some grated fresh)
a pinch of garam masala
2 tbsp milk mixed with 1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp crushed garlic
olive oil
boiling water

Firstly, boil the kettle. If I've learnt anything from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals, it's that waiting for water to boil is a waste of time.

In a frying pan, heat some olive oil over a medium heat, and add the onion and garlic, cumin and turmeric and tomato. Cook for 5 minutes until the spices are fragrant and the onion and tomato are soft. Add the lentils and a cup of boiling water. Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

While the lentils are cooking, place the spinach in a small food processor/blender or mortar and pestle with a couple of tablespoons of boiling water. You can add fresh herbs. I'm adding some thai basil and mint because I have plenty of both at the moment. Pulse to form a rough puree. Add the puree to the saucepan and reduce the heat so that the sauce gently bubbles.

Add the milk, garam masala and season generously with salt and pepper. Finally, crack the eggs into the sauce and allow to poach until done to your liking. Do not stir after you have added the eggs. If you have older eggs, then hard boil them and add them to the sauce before serving.

Serve with rice or flatbreads.

Creating a Mini Kitchen (Part 1)

I love little toy kitchen things! My little boy already likes to pretend he's cooking, and he's not even two. I have no illusions of him becoming a Masterchef, or even a chef, but an ability to cook dinner for himself has to start somewhere!

I've been struggling with two problems in buying a toy kitchen for my little guy. The first is that cheaper plastic kitchens are almost universally pink. The second is that the better quality ones are outrageously expensive. Even the IKEA kitchen, which is made from MDF and plastic, is $200 (before you populate it with utensils). I was lamenting about this with my lovely sister, who suggested that I make one from recycled furniture (and then sent me lots of pictures from Pinterest!).

What a brilliant idea!

This is a pretty good tutorial of how you might go about making a kitchen, featured on Better Homes and Gardens. Let's see if it's as easy as it looks...

Step One: Acquire some pre-loved furniture. I've found a mini buffet and hutch (adorable already), and a bedside cupboard. Both are made from pine and together cost $55. First step is to remove the doors, hinges and handles, ready for sanding. Any big scratches, holes or dents have been filled with wood putty.

Dismantled, ready for sanding

Step Two: Buying the paint. If you need to buy paint, I heartily recommend going to a professional paint shop, and avoid Bunnings at all cost. I went to Hardware & General and not only did I get the right paint (and the right amount), it came with plenty great advice about how to apply it. Plus a toy dog and a kilo of jelly beans! The paint was $93 for a litre of Dulux Primer/Sealer/Undercoat and two litres of Dulux Aquanamel in semi-gloss Vivid White.

Buy Paint, get freebies!

Step Three: Undercoat. The nice thing about using water based acrylic is that is doesn't smell, dries fast, and is easy to paint with if you're a bit crap at painting (which I am). The undercoat should help to smooth out the surfaces, and give the paint a nice surface to stick to. It also seals the wood and prevents stain from leaking through.

Undercoat done!

Good thing it's water based!

to be continued...

More Treats from the USA

Fishies!

eep. Nothing since August!

I blame the sniffles, the toddler, cold weather and a husband who just spent three weeks in the USA.

Here is a photo of some delicious Berry Blast Ice Cream flavour Oreo cookies he brought back. I don't think they contain either berries or cream, but they do smell like ice cream. It's impressive that they survived the flight home without breaking!

Thankfully the warmer weather has finally arrived. My little herb garden is thriving - the chillies have woken up from their winter slumber (only a couple didn't survive the winter neglect).

I've just started a big kitchen related craft project, so watch this space.