The Christmas/New Year break whizzed past and it has been an exciting time for us. Not just because of all the seasonal festivities, but we’ve sold a business, bought a caravan (we’re off travelling in about 6 weeks) and are in the throes of buying a new car (we now need a REALLY big one to tow the van). Plus, with school holidays in full swing there has been lots of playing, crafting, movie watching, swimming and visiting going on. It has truly been a great start to the year.

Anyway, on to the Quick Beef Goulash recipe. This is a great speedy recipe that I’ve made many times and is always well received. It has all the traditional goulash flavours but can be made in minutes. Don’t forget the dollop of sour cream to top it off – yum!

Quick Beef Goulash

Recipe from Super Food Ideas

Quick Beef Goulash

Ingredients

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
500g rump steak, cut into strips
1 brown onion, thinly sliced
200g button mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 tablespoon ground paprika
400g can condensed tomato soup
400g can diced tomatoes
Parsley, chopped, to serve
Sour cream, to serve

Method

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in frying pan over high heat. Add half of the rump and cook quickly, stir frying, for 3 minutes or until well browned. Set aside and repeat with remaining meat.

Reduce heat to medium and heat remaining oil. Add onions and mushrooms. Cook until tender – about 5 minutes, and then add paprika. Cook stirring for 1 minute.

Add soup and tomatoes, stir well and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Return beef and juices to the pan. Simmer for 3 minutes or until heated through. Season to taste.

Serve over steamed rice (I used brown rice), sprinkle with parsley and add a dollop of sour cream.

Making a combination of flavours also gives a mix of colours which look great when they are packaged up.  For packaging you can use any gift box (noodle boxes, little cardboard boxes or chocolate boxes are good) or clear bags.  Simply tie a bit of festive ribbon around them and it’s ready to go.  Here’s how we packaged them (featuring my helper Maggie).

The balls can be made ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen so they are ready when you need them.

Choc Cherry Balls

Ingredients

425g Cherry Ripe bars
250g packet plain chocolate biscuits
395g can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup desiccated coconut
Extra desiccated coconut

Method

Chop the chocolate bars.

Chopped Cherry Ripe

Process the biscuits to a fine crumb.

Chocolate Crumbs

Combine chocolate, biscuits, condensed milk and coconut in a bowl and mix well (don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty).

Choc Cherry Ball Mix

Roll a teaspoon of mix into a ball and roll in coconut.

Rolling Choc Cherry Balls

Apricot Balls

Ingredients

400g dried apricots, chopped
250g packet plain sweet biscuits
395g can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup desiccated coconut
Extra desiccated coconut

Method

Process the biscuits to a fine crumb.

Combine apricots, biscuits, condensed milk and coconut in a bowl and mix well (don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty).

Apricot Balls ready to mix

Roll a teaspoon of mix into a ball and roll in coconut.

Apricot Balls ready to roll

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• Cherry Ripe chocolate bars combine cherries, coconut and dark chocolate.  Any similar chocolate bar could be used, or even experiment with different flavours.
• The chocolate bars and apricots are most easily chopped using a food processor.
• I used Arnotts Chocolate Ripple and Marie biscuits.
• The balls can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or frozen for 6 weeks.  So make plenty ahead of time and use as required.

What other flavours could we make for Christmas Balls?  Please let me know below.

So there you have it, cooking the Christmas Pudding in the slow cooker is the answer to all your “pudding making dreams” (well it is for me anyway).  The result is as good as any other method and the benefits are huge – no pot-watching and no hot kitchen (although I know in some parts of the world this isn’t an issue).  Here’s the recipe I use – a lovely blend of citrus and spices really brings this pudding to life.

Christmas Pudding

Christmas Pudding

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups currants
1 ½ cups raisins, chopped
1 ½ cups sultanas
1/3 cup finely chopped mixed peel
¼ cup rum
250g butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
Grated rind 1 orange
Grated rind 1 lemon
4 eggs
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

Method

Combine dried fruit, mixed peel and rum in a large bowl.  Cover and set aside overnight.

Choose a heatproof bowl or pudding basin that will hold about 6 cups and fit in your slow cooker.  Grease the bowl or basin (non stick spray is good) and line with microwave proof plastic wrap.

Cream butter, sugar and rinds together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well between additions.  Stir in soaked fruit.  Fold in sifted flour and baking powder, followed by spices and a pinch of salt.  Finally fold through the breadcrumbs.

Spoon the mixture into prepared bowl, leaving about 1cm from the top, and level with the back of a spoon.  Cover with foil, folding the edges down over the bowl.

Christmas Pudding Into Bowl

Christmas Pudding Covered with Foil

Place into the slow cooker and pour in enough water to come two thirds of the way up the sides of the pudding bowl.  Put on the lid and cook on HIGH for 5-7 hours.

Christmas Pudding into the Slow Cooker

The pudding can be turned out and served immediately or stored for Christmas Day.  To store the pudding, it should be allowed to cool completely, wrapped well and refrigerated for several weeks or frozen (it’s OK to leave the pudding in the bowl).

To reheat the pudding on Christmas Day, thaw (if necessary) and use one of the following methods:

Microwave – Cover the basin with microwave proof plastic film, or if it is a metallic basin, completely remove the pudding and wrap.  Microwave at 55% power (Medium) for around 5 minutes, or until pudding is hot.  It should be moist and steaming.  Alternatively heat single serves at 70% power in 1 minute bursts.

Slow Cooker – Place pudding bowl into slow cooker and pour in water as before (two thirds of the way up the sides).  Reheat on HIGH for 2-3 hours prior to serving, or on LOW for twice this time.

Serve the pudding with custard, whipped cream, brandy butter (my Mum’s favourite) or all three!

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• The fruit can be soaked for longer if you like – no rush.
• Leaving a bit of room at the top of the pudding allows for a little expansion.   However, if some of the mixture bubbles over the side and into the slow cooker don’t worry it won’t affect the end result.
• While the suggested cooking time is 5-7 hours, it doesn’t matter if it’s longer – up to 12 hours it will still be fine.

You might even find this method so easy you decide to make more than one pudding – like I did!

If you have any comments or questions regarding Christmas Pudding in the slow cooker, please leave them below.

To cap the week off, my little boy Stewart turned 4 on Saturday. He invited a small group of friends to celebrate at a local park (which we had all to ourselves) and had a great party. The highlight was his ‘Lightning McQueen’ birthday cake, which I must say is my best cake making effort yet. It took many hours to make, battling the humidity the whole way, but the end result was certainly worth it. Here is a picture:

Lightning McQueen Cake

Here’s the menu plan for this week.

Monday – Steve is cooking (a nice surprise)
Tuesday – Baked Salmon
Wednesday – Spaghetti Bolognaise
Thursday – Butter Chicken
Friday – Homemade Pizza using Easy Pizza Dough
Saturday – Out at a Christmas Party
Sunday – Barbecue
Extras – Fruit Mince Pies, Fruit Cakes (for grandfathers)

Have a great week!

I’d love to know what your planning this week so please feel free to share your menu plans in the comments section below.

This is a new recipe I’ve made several times and several jars of will be given away as Christmas gifts.  However, we have already started to consume a fair bit ourselves.  Not only is the taste fantastic, the colour is such a wonderful vivid red (I hope the photo does it justice) and it brings a bright colourful cheer wherever it is served.

This recipe was inspired by one in Australian Good Food last month where it was called ‘marmalade’.  When served to friends, they felt ‘relish’ was a more appropriate term, so relish it is.  If you have some red capsicums on hand, there is still time to make some for Christmas presents yourself.

Sweet Red Capsicum Relish

Sweet Red Capsicum Relish

Ingredients

2kg red capsicums
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups white sugar
1 ½ cups white vinegar

Method

Deseed capsicums and cut into thin strips.  Place in a colander over the sink and sprinkle with salt.  Stand for 3 hours.  This process draws moisture from the capsicum and softens it.

Transfer capsicum to a heavy based saucepan and add remaining ingredients.  Stir over medium heat to dissolve sugar then bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and allow mixture to simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  The mixture will become thick and syrupy, ensure it doesn’t stick and burn towards the end of the cooking time.

Spoon hot relish into sterilized jars and seal tightly.

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• To sterilize the jars select a suitable number of jars (makes about 3 – 3 1/2 cups).  Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water then rinse well in hot water and drain.  Put the jars into a low oven (100C-120C/210F-250F) for 30 minutes.  Remove the jars a few minutes before use so that they are still warm when bottling the relish.
• This relish is not only great with cheese, it can also be served with cold meats and in sandwiches.

How would you serve this relish?  Please leave your comments and questions below.

I spent a lot of time last week doing Christmas cooking including chutneys, relishes, jams, puddings and sweets (for the teachers).  While there was a lot going on, it was pure heaven for me.  I love to spend time in the kitchen like that with bowls, saucepans, ingredients and basically total chaos all around me.  Usually my favourite music is playing away in the background and time just blends from one recipe to the next.  Here’s a photo of my helper Maggie with the Christmas sweets we made for her teacher (Choc Cherry Balls and Apricot Balls).

The biggest success was doing the Christmas pudding in the slow cooker.  It came out perfectly and the beauty of it was that there is no need to stand over a boiling pot for 3 plus hours and keep topping up water.  Another bonus is the kitchen doesn’t heat up – which in the temperatures we have been experiencing is a good thing.  Some recipes will be coming this week.

Here’s the menu plan this week.  Again pretty simple but I’ll be happy to just get dinner on the table every night with so much going on.  The biggest thing going on this week is my little boy Stewart will turn 4 on Saturday (my baby is growing up).  He has requested a Lightning McQueen cake – my biggest birthday cake challenge yet.  Look out for pictures next week.

Monday – Fish (local snapper), chips and salad
Tuesday –Kumara (sweet potato) pasties
Wednesday – Kangaroo Tacos
Thursday – Sweet Corn Fritters
Friday – Risotto (not sure what sort yet but will include mushrooms)
Saturday – whatever Stewart wants (his birthday, his choice)
Sunday – Barbecue
Extras – Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake (Eek!) and more Christmas cooking.

Have a great week!

I’d love to know what your planning this week so please feel free to share your menu plans in the comments section below.

My favourite part with quiche is always the filling, and playing around with different combinations.  Anything really goes here, so don’t be afraid to mix and match whatever you want.  All the usual combinations are great (ham, cheese, corn, onion etc), but have some fun trying some new ones.  Just make sure you come back and tell me about them!

Mini Quiche

Mini Quiche

Makes 12

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry
½ cup grated cheese
¾ cup (approximately) of prepared fillings
1 egg
1 cup milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180C (360F).  Allow puff pastry to defrost.  Grease 12 hole mini pan. Cut 12 rounds from pastry and press into greased pan.

Mini Quiche Shells

Sprinkle some cheese into the bottom of each pastry then top with selected fillings.

Mini Quiche with filling

Beat together egg and milk, add salt and pepper to taste, then pour over fillings.

Mini Quiche with egg mixture

Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until browned and cooked through.  They can be served immediately or allow to cool and freeze for later.

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• The filling options are endless.  Here are some combinations to get you started:
  Chopped cooked onions, bacon, sundried tomatoes
  Creamed corn, ham or bacon
  Chopped salami, olives and sundried capsicums
  Canned salmon and chives
  Cooked chopped onion, capsicum, corn and ham.
  Cooked onion, feta cheese, capsicum.
• The recipe can easily be scaled up and done in larger batches.  The above ratio of ingredients is for 12 mini quiches so just multiply accordingly.
• Use mini patty pans (as in photo above) or mini muffin pans or both!
• These Mini Quiche can be made up to two weeks ahead and frozen.  Simply defrost and reheat prior to serving.

What other combinations can you suggest?  Please leave them below for all to share.

The beauty of a salad like this is that it is a substantial meal that can be served alone while being quick and easy to prepare.  Taking the effort to make your own chicken schnitzel is worth it if you can but store bought ones will certainly do the job.

Chicken Schnitzel Salad

Chicken Schnitzel Salad

Ingredients

Adapted from Super Food Ideas

Vegetable oil
500g chicken schnitzel
6 rashers shortcut bacon, chopped
4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
Lettuce leaves (as much as you like)
½ cup salad dressing

Method

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and cook the bacon until crisp.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.

Arrange lettuce, egg and  bacon on plates or in serving bowls.

Pour sufficient oil over the bottom of the frying pan to cover it and heat over medium-high heat.  Cook the schnitzels until golden brown and cooked through – 4-5 minutes each side.  Remove from pan and place on a paper towel to drain.  Thinly slice the schnitzel and add to salad.  Pour over dressing.  Serve.

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• Use different salad dressings to make different variations of the salad.  Our favourite is to make it a Caesar salad – use Caesar dressing and sprinkle with shaved parmesan.
• Add other salad ingredients for variety also – tomatoes, grated carrot and cucumber all work well.

If you have any comments or questions about this recipe, please leave them below.

Our Christmas Tree 2009

Christmas cooking is in full swing and going along nicely except for one hiccup.  When cooking the cake last week, I was also cooking some Nectarine Chutney.  Juggling two recipes and 3 little helpers in the kitchen, things got a little crazy and 1kg instead of 1 cup of brown sugar was added to the Christmas cake.  The 1kg was meant for the chutney but the cake did seem to survive, although it is a little ‘sticky’.  We’ll just eat small pieces at a time otherwise the house could become a hive of hyperactivity!

On the weekend I did an Indian Cooking Course where they covered making Indian breads, curries, samosas and pakoras.  It was really interesting to learn that a lot of the curries start with exactly the same base of ingredients.  From this base a plethora of different curries can be made by adding varied ingredients including meats, vegetables and additional herbs, spices and flavours.

The other great thing was that the Indian breads are really easy to make at home with no fancy equipment required.  Keep an eye on the blog for recipes as I work at recreating them all at home.

With plenty of end of year events and celebrations going on, the menu is pretty simple this week.   We also have another market run so am looking forward to more great summer fruits.

Monday – Chicken Schnitzel Caesar Salad
Tuesday –Mini quiches, honey soy chicken legs (Picnic at School Christmas Carols)
Wednesday – Chicken Pasta Bake
Thursday – Lamb Stir Fry
Friday – Pizza using Easy Pizza Dough
Saturday – Barbecue
Sunday – Butter Chicken and Indian Fried Rice
Extras – Christmas cooking

Have a great week!

I’d love to know what your planning this week so please feel free to share your menu plans in the comments section below.

So, out came this Bacon and Egg Fettucine recipe which is really my take on Pasta Carbonara. When you cook a meal like this, the one real plus is that no-one in the family is going to complain. Bacon and eggs in any way, shape or form is always going to be a winner.

Bacon & Egg Fettucine

Bacon & Egg Fettuccini

Ingredients

8 rashers bacon
300ml evaporated milk
Pinch of paprika
3 eggs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
500g packet fettuccini

Method

Start cooking the fettuccini according to the packet instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, remove the rind and excess fat from bacon and cut into thin strips. Cook bacon in a frying pan over low heat until crisp.  Add cream and paprika to frying pan. Stir to combine and heat through gently.

In a bowl lightly beat the eggs. Add parmesan cheese and combine well.

When fettuccini is cooked, drain well and return to pan. Add the bacon mixture, toss until combined. Add egg mixture, toss quickly until combined – the mixture should coat the fettuccini.  Serve with extra parmesan and fresh pepper.

The Klutzy Cook Notes

• I always use shortcut bacon, it has the rind and fat already removed. Pancetta can be substituted for the bacon, but of course then it would be Pancetta and Egg Fettuccini!
• When adding the egg mixture, the heat of the fettuccini will cook the egg as it clings to the pasta. This will happen pretty quickly. You don’t want the egg cooking and congealing in separate lumps.

If you have any comments or questions regarding this recipe, I’d love to hear them.  Please write them below.

Other Bacon & Egg recipes you might like:

Bacon & Egg Breakfast Muffins