Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

Spaghetti Bolognaise is a favourite in this house. Actually in most houses I know of that contain anyone who's ever being under 10. Even my girls, who dislike tomato with an intensity only matched by their dislike of, say, going to bed, doing what they're told, or brussel sprouts, love the tomatoey goodness of Spaghetti Bolognaise. Even better, according to M&M, is when I make it with "Wiggly Spaghetti" (known to those NOT under 10 as Curly Fettuccine).

Kin's Spaghetti Bolognaise
Serves 4 (with some for the dog or lunch tomorrow)

1 onion, diced
500g mince
tin condensed tomato soup
tin diced tomato's
2 carrots, grated
1 zucchini, grated
2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
herbs and spices (I usually use: mixed spice, basil, oregano, parsley)

1. Brown the onion in a hot frying pan (I use my big electric one, then I can make a double batch, sometimes triple). Remove from pan
2. Brown the mince in the same pan. Add onion and mix. Add soup and diced tomatos and stir to combine. If necessary add half a tin of water.
3. Add vegetables, herbs and spices to taste. Simmer until sauce thickens.

As with any recipe, if it has 3 or fewer steps I'm a fan. But my favourite part of this recipe is I don't just use it to make spaghetti bolognaise. I use this bas all.e for a lasagne, cottage pie and one time, when I was really desperate, I used it for taco's. The tomato soup definitely adds a creamy flavour to the sauce, without being too naughty.

As promised the recipe for Apple Crumble. This is always a hit, and the ingredients can be kept in the cupboard as a dessert for unexpected guests.

1 x 800g tin of Pie Apples
1/2 cup self-raising flour
4 tbsp margarine
4 tbsp shredded coconut
4 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 190 celcius. Place pie apples in casserole dish.
In a mixing bowl mix flour, margarine, coconut and brown sugar.
Sprinkle over apples and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden and crunchy.

The best part is the crumble can be prepared in advance, and added to the apple as you sit down to the main course and it's ready by the time dessert's needed.

There. I admitted it. I have a habit of collecting recipe magazines. It's a private shame, although one I happily share with my mother-in-law. Our habit is so bad we still must buy 3 magazines a month each, all the same.

What's worse is that I lose them almost immediately to Hubby. Yes, that's right, any cooking magazine or recipe book (a WHOLE other post) that gets brought into this house is comandeered almost immediately by the man of the house.

By the time I get the magazine back, he's already picked out some recipes he wants to try, and I go through and add a couple of easy ones to the menu plan for a few weeks. What's completely rediculous about this system, is that in 2-3 months, EVERY SINGLE RECIPE in these magazines will appear on the most awesome website in the world. Ok, maybe an exaggeration, but it's very cool. Taste.com combines all the recipes from about 7 magazines, and is easy to search and categorises the recipes, of course my favourite search is "budget".

There is a great mix of basic, on the table in 30 minutes recipes, along with more complex dinner party menus that take up to 3 days to prepare. Christmas, Easter and other holidays are not forgotten either, as well as simple recipes for the kids to help with. The print facility is awesome, and the pages I print (even in my recipe/display folder) last even longer than the torn pages from the dozens of magazines still lying about my house.

Breaking this habit is going to be hard, but the $10 a month I save will be worth it. Maybe I could treat myself to another magazine to replace it... it would be cheaper, I would still save money, and satisfy a need somewhere. I think I need to start buying Money Magazine again.

What's your guilty habit? I won't tell, honest. If you haven't noticed you can now email me directly if you don't feel like leaving a comment.

Tuesday is always fun in our house. It's the day the girls and I get dirty in the kitchen, mixing up cakes, cookies and assorted other snacks for them and Daddy. Everything from chocolate cake to Pizza Scrolls are fair game on Tuesdays, altho emphasis is on things the kids can at least feel they're helping with. Athough at the ages of 2.5 and nearly 4, there's not much more than stirring they can do.

We have our favourite recipes of course, things that can be made from what we keep on hand. Cupcakes, chocolate cake, and muffins. But some of our other favourites that aren't quite as simple, well, they're sometimes the tastiest aren't they?

Sultana Apple Loaf
125g butter
3/4 cup raw or castor sugar
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (I have used rice self-raising flour with excellent results)
2 eggs, beaten
1 lemon rind, finely grated
1 cup sultanas
1 cup apple juice
1 apple, gated

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease & line a loaf pan with baking paper.
2. Melt butter in a smal saucepan over meduim heat (or in the microwave) and transfer to a mixng bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix until well combined
3. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.
4. Icing can be made by mixing 1 cup of icing sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon in a microwave safe bowl. Add lemn juice and stir. Heat on high in microwave for 40-50 seconds or until runny. Pour over cake and spread to cover.

We have only once added icing to this cake, and all agree that it's not necessary. A loaf makes approximately 12 adult sized slices or 24 kid sized slices. It freezes well and is great for lunch boxes. With all that fruit in there you can almost kid yourself it's healthy. I know it's a sad commentry on me that this is one of the more complicated cakes we make on a regular basis, but I'm really not much of a cook, and simple is always better in my book. Hubby on the other hand.....

Cinnamon Scrolls
90g butter
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
2/3 cup of milk
Filling
60g butter at room temp
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of dried fruit

1. Rub butter into flour with fingertips until mixture resemles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre. Add most of the milk. Mix lightly with a flat-bladed knife, to forma soft dough (add more milk if required)
2. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead lightly. Roll out into a rectangle about 25 x 40cm, and 5mm thick.
3. Prepare filling. Cream butter, sugar and cinnamon until light and fluffy. Spread over dough. Sprinkle with currants. Roll up fromt he long side. slice into 3cm pieces using a sharp knife.
4. Place rounds close together on a greased baking tray. Bake at 220c for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool
5. Ice scrolls with 1 cup icing sugar combined with 1 tbsp boiling water.

Hubby loves taking these to work, and saves him from spending money at the bakeries and cake shops nearby. Of course I'm not much chop at pastries, so he makes his own.

**Disclaimer - all measurements are Australian metric. 1 cup = 250mL and 1 tbsp is 20mL

As you can see, last nights dinner was Apricot Chicken. First a disclaimer. My mother passed away when I was 13 and I was away at boarding school. I went to a rather exclusive private school, were it was assumed we would all have careers and cooks, so there was no such thing as cooking classes or home economics. My father remarried when I was 16, and my step-mother is a career woman. Her idea of cooking is adding a jar of something to chicken and serving it with rice. Or mixing meat, sauce, vegetables and noodles for stir fry.

My DH on the otherhand loves to cook, doesn't like jars of anything, and has a mother who's a rather "experimental" cook. Although in the 4 years I've been regularly eating at her house she's only had one dud. Not bad odds.

So it's really been in the last 4 years I've taught myself to cook. I haven't had many disasters, because I like recipes. I am quite good at substituting (I have quite bland tastes) and adjusting where necessary, but I like to have a recipe in front of me to work from.

This recipe is my favourite. It's easy, simple, relatively cheap and the kids (and DH) love it. I can get a meal on the table for $6 to serve 4. Considering my target for main meals is $2 per person, it's a regular on our list.

Apricot Chicken
1kg chicken drumsticks (or 500g chicken thigh or breast, diced)
1pkt French Onion Soup powder mix
1 tin Apricot Nectar (or Apricots)

Preheat oven to 180 - 200.
Place chicken in a casserole dish
Sprinkle French Onion Soup over chicken
Pour Apricot Nectar or Apricots over Chicken and Soup
Bake in the oven for 1 hour for drumsticks or 40 minutes for thigh or breast, turning twice.

Serve with rice and green vegetables (my girls like beans, DH likes broccoli and I like snow peas)