Chocolate Chip Cookies

125 gms         Butter (unsalted & softened)

1 ¼ cups         Brown sugar (tightly packed)

1 tsp                Vanilla essence

1                                            Egg, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups         Flour

½ tsp               Baking powder

1 ½ cups         Chocolate bits

A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.  Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy.  Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine.  Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.  Fold through chocolate chips.  Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased and lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading.  Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.  Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further.  

Crunchy Lemon Muffins

2 cups   Self-raising flour

¾ cup    Sugar

75 gms  Butter

1 cup     Milk

1            Egg

Grated rind of 1 large 
or 2 small lemons

¼ cup     Lemon Juice

¼ cup     Sugar              

Mix flour and sugar in a bowl.  Melt the butter, add the milk, egg and lemon rind and beat well with a fork to combine.  Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and combine only until the dry ingredients have been lightly dampened but not thoroughly mixed.

Place mixture into 12 medium-sized muffin tins.  Bake at 200ºC for 10 minutes.

Stir together lemon juice and sugar without dissolving the sugar, and drizzle this over the hot muffins as soon as they are removed from the oven.  Leave to stand in the tins for only a few minutes (otherwise the syrup may harden as it cools and will stick to the tins).

Beef & Pineapple Casserole

750 gms         Steak (can be more)

2                      Onions 

1 cup              Tomato Pulp (or1 tin whole peeled tomatoes)

2 Tb                Flour (to thicken)

1 Tb                Sugar

1 tsp                Mustard powder

1 Tb                Vinegar

2 Tb                Worchestershire sauce

¼ cup             Cold Water

1 small tin      Pineapple chunks

Mix together in Crock pot and boil as a casserole on slow for one day.  Before serving add 1 small can of pineapple pieces (if added too soon the pieces will lose their flavour). 

For variation, you can add chopped kumara, courgette or carrot.        

Alison Holst's Birdseed Bars

1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped roasted peanuts
1 cup coconut or fine rolled oats or crushed cornflakes
1 cup sultanas
100g butter
1/4 c honey
1/2 cup brown sugar

Line the ase and sides of the pan about 18x28cm with baking paper.
One variety at a time, watching carefully to prevent over-browning, lightly toast the sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts, coconut and rolled oats or crushed cornflakes, under a grill or in a large heavy-bottommed frypan on moderate heat. Sitr so that the contents brown evenly and lightly. (Do not mix before heating, since they brown at different rates.) Mix them in a large bowl after they are heated, and stir in the sultanas.

Put the butter, honey and brown sugar into the large pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves, making a toffee-like mixture. Heat until a drop forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water, then tip the toasted ingredients back into the pan. Stir well to combine, then press the mixture into the prepared pan . Leave until lukewarm, then turn out onto a board and, using a sharp serrated knife, cut into bars the size and shape you like.

Variation: Replace peanuts with walnuts or almonds

Store promptly when cold in an air tight container or carefully wrap pieces individually.

Honey Garlic Mayonaise

Jackies favourite mayonaise recipe

1/4 c of runny honey
2 cups of oil
4 cloves garlic
2 eggs
handful parsley
1/4 cup malt vinegar
teaspoon salt
teaspoon mustard powder

Blend salt, egg, mustard, garlic. Pour in the honey, vinegar and blend. Add parlsey. Pour oil in slowly at a fine trickly until thick blending the whole time.
Store up to 2 weeks.

Best Ever Pumpkin Pie

Some people wanted Trina's Pumpkin Pie recipe, so here is - only the best 'pumpkin pie' recipe!

Start with a biscuit base (recipe uses a pastry base but I don’t think as nice, but up to you) (Pastry one does require cooking first though)

Biscuit Base:
Packet of biscuits
50-100g butter (melted)
Mix together and press into a tin

Filling:
1 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup heavy or whipping cream (I can only find double cream here but that will do)
3 large eggs
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ cup brandy
Whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 400’F
2. Measure the pumpkin into a roomy bowl. Add the heavy cream or evaporated milk (I use the cream) and the eggs, and beat thoroughly with a whisk.
3. Combine the sugar with the spices. Toss then together well, and then beat them into the pumpkin mixture. Add the brandy, and mix thoroughly.
4. Put filling on the base
5. Place the pie on the lower shelf of the oven and bake 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350’F and continue to bake until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, another 35-40min.
6. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream I find the times are off, I think it doesn’t cook as quick from the bottom because I use the biscuit base. But you get the general idea, I def don’t eat till next day or day after, keep in fridge and have cold! I am a bit of a lover of fine pumpkin pie, so would definitely recommend trying my way first, but up to you! Enjoy

Spray'n'Wipe - kills ants dead

I like using natural products, it’s no secret, but when the ants started invading my kitchen in force I resorted to the chemicals. It didn’t matter if I left crumbs out or not, they were there… everywhere… the place could be spotless and still they’d come in. The NO ANTS option worked for a while… then I swear they became immune to it. Last summer I had the ceiling sprayed by a pest controller for flies and while he was there he also threw down a barrier around the house - barely a dent. Then I tried Trina’s option… ant sand… but because the chickens still get out and we have a dog and cats and ducks, I didn’t want to throw too much of it around outside. So I put it on the holes in the grout… I swear my walls are full of ant sand. Go figure, I don’t want the animals to eat it but I put it on my bench for us to slowly ingest. Sadly, the only thing that achieved was for the ants to find a new entrance, just a little ways down. Grrr. Now, I’ve been using a vinegar, water, essential oil combination for some time, but that never kept the ants at bay. Recently though, I was given a concentrate recipe for a spray and wipe by an old friend Johanna. Her parents have been using it to kill the little blighters – on contact. At first I thought, well it’s the same ingredients roughly that I’m using plus a few other things, we’ll see… at least I’d get satisfaction from frying their little arses, I thought. So without further ado, here ‘tis (I made up a double batch) Ant-Killing Spray ‘n Wipe 40ml eucalyptus oil 200ml water 2 dessert spoons washing soda (use a funnel - I learned the hard way) dissolve in water add 200 ml white vinegar 200ml Ecostore dishwashing liquid (gonna try a sugar soap solution next) This is concentrated so dilute according to requirements. Roughly 1 part solution to 2 parts water for general use. Use neat for ants. contact only spray. use a bait like raid ant killer for the nest. Can be used on all surfaces, and given all the vinegar and eucalyptus oil would work well on the toilet to boot. The recipe states it is a contact spray only – as in spray them dead. However I have since learned that ants not only are repelled by vinegar (which wasn’t working) but also eucalyptus – and lets face it the washing soda probably doesn’t help them much either. So although the vinegar didn’t seem to be doing the job, the combination is successful. Now, I’m not saying that my problem is gone completely. I still need to attack the nest, but I can see a lot more of my bench now when they do come out. And I hear a sugar/water/borax solution works well for the nest that’s obviously still lurking in my wall... best get googling ;)