Mini meatloaves

In trying to use up some mince beef, I decided to try some mini meatloaves (similar to a recipe I tried a long time ago). But I needed to bulk it out and wanted to find some other uses for our cans of baked beans we have in our food storage. I didn't really measure things out, but I'll guesstimate. They turned out pretty good, and Noah loved them. He doesn't usually like baked beans, but he ate these!


8 ice cubes vegetable stock (~1 cup)
~ 1/2 cups Bulgar wheat
1 tin baked beans (sauce drained off)
1-2 Tbs mustard (I used Dijon) or to taste
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
~1/2 pound beef mince

Preheat oven to 180 Celsius/350 F. Placed vegetable stock in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat, and add Bulgar wheat. Cover with lid, and let stand about 30 minutes or until the wheat has absorbed all the water, and the Bulgar wheat is soft. If there is excess water, place in sieve and squeeze water out. Place soaked Bulgar, drained baked beans, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in a medium bowl, and mix together. Taste mixture to test for desired flavour, then add the egg and beef mince. Mix together using your hands (This ensures it will mix evenly).

Shape mix into mini meatloaves on baking sheet (lined with baking paper or foil if desired). Cooking times will be different depending on the size of your meatloaves, but they should be firm and cooked all the way through.

We served ours with Thai sweet chili sauce on the side. You could glaze the top with chili sauce before baking as well.

Black Currant Crumble II

I had to use up the rest of our black currants in the freezer, but had different ingredients. This one turned out really nice. It was a little runny, so maybe I'll add a little more flour to the fruit mixture next time, but other than that, it was delicious!

I didn't measure exactly, just cut up fruit and placed in the dish until it looked about right, about 5-6 cups fruit in total. You could probably try any combination of fruits if you like.

Fruit mixture:
About 2 cups black currants, one cup diced plums, and 1-2 cups peeled and dessert apples.
Juice and zest of one orange (next time I just do juice of 1/2 orange.)
2 Tbs flour
3/4 cups granulated sugar

Crumble mixture:
1 1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

The recipe instructions are the same as Black Currant and Nectarine Crisp.

Transportation Birthday Cake

Last year my son's first birthday cake was rather impromptu. A carrot cake with a cream cheese icing (meant for it to be a frosting, but the more icing sugar I added, the thinner it got; the cream cheese must be different in England than the states). So this year, I wanted to do something special for his second birthday. I felt like being creative, and came with the idea for his cake a couple of months ago. I had a picture of it in my mind, and at one point I even made a blueprint of it, marking what I would use for each component. This is the first cake I've really decorated, and I don't think it's too bad for my first time. My boy loves trains and cars, so I wanted to incorporate both in the cake. I used toy cars and train because that was easier than trying to make them out of something (I did toy with the idea of shaping cars out of marzipan, and making a train out of mini swiss rolls). As it turned out, that was a good idea, because the kids loved playing with the cars after the cake was cut.

Making the cake was quite an adventure. I prepared the toppings a couple of days in advanced. The road is crushed Oreo cookies (without the cream filling), the dirt under the train is crushed rich tea biscuits (similar to animal cookies they have in the States), the grass is dessicated coconut with green food coloring, and the train track is sliced dates.

After searching for recipes for the cake and frosting, I decided on a zucchini cake. I changed it a bit (1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar; one cup oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice). I baked it in a 9 x 13 pan, and it took longer than 25 minutes. The pan I used was warped, and the cake came out uneven (one corner was half the thickness of the rest of the cake!) It looked pretty funny, so I decided to make another cake, and layer them to even it out. That worked out pretty well, but we ended up with a huge cake. Plenty for everyone, and then some!

The other adventure was with the frosting. I am not a huge fan of the regular butter creme frosting inches thick on top of cakes, so I wanted to try something different. I tried finding a recipe for the kind of frosting they use on the Costco cakes (which I couldn't really find). So I decided to try a Bavarian cream style frosting from Eating Well (great magazine). It uses part whipped cream, and part milk/gelatin mix. After I added the whipped cream to the gelatin mix, I decided it probably wouldn't be enough for my enormous cake, so I added some vanilla yogurt too, hoping that it would still set up. Even after being in the fridge all night, it didn't set. So, the morning of the party, I went with plan B, and made a butter cream frosting using butter, icing sugar, and the cream mixture that didn't set. It actually turned out pretty well, and tasted pretty good. I made it thinner than normal frosting, which was fine, since I covered the cake with other toppings.

The cake was a success. I was pretty excited with the final product, and the cake itself tasted really good.

Here's the recipe for the cake with my changes:

Zucchini Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
1 tsp lemon juice

..DIRECTIONS
1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a 9 x 13 pan with baking paper.
2.In a medium size bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, white sugar, and salt. Mix well.
3.In another bowl beat eggs, vegetable oil, lemon juice and vanilla together. Pour egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the shredded zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4.Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 25 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched, and knife/toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Red Lentil, Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

This soup is very simple to make, but very tasty. You can serve it as a starter, but is substantial enough for a main course served with warm pita bread and a side salad. It may also benefit from some garlic croutons or something crunchy to contrast with the smooth texture of the soup.

1 bulb of garlic
1 large onion, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
2 cups red lentils
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of fresh thyme
2 tsp ground cumin (or more to taste)
1 tsp ground coriander (or more to taste)
1 14 ounce can tomatoes

Wrap the bulb of garlic in foil and roast in a 350 F oven for about 20-30 minutes until garlic is soft. Cut the bottom off, and squeeze the garlic out.

Add all ingredients above in a large pot and cover with water until it's 2 to 3 inches above the vegetables. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Carrots should be soft enough that they can be mashed against the side of the pot with a fork. Remove from heat, and remove ginger, thyme sprig and bay leaves from the soup. Let the soup cool for about 10 minutes.

Using a hand blender, puree the soup directly in the pot until it is a smooth consistency. (You could also blend in a blender in small batches.) If it is too thick, you can add more water. Add juice of 1/2 lemon and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.


juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Black Currant and Nectarine Crisp

We had a bunch of black currants given to us that we needed to use up. I didn't like any of the recipes I found, so I made my own. I only put 1/4 cup of sugar in the fruit mix, and it was still very tart. You'll probably need at least 1/2 cup, but maybe more, depending on how tart/sweet you like it.

Filling:
3 cups Black Currants
3 nectarines, diced
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons plain/all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Crisp:
1 1/4 cups rolled oats (I used porridge oats)
1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 ounces butter, diced

Grease a 2 quart casserole dish, and preheat oven to 180 Celsius/350 F. In casserole dish, mix together all ingredients for the filling. In a medium bowl mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Then add the butter and rub into the mixture with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Spread crisp mix evenly over the filling. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and crisp is nicely browned.

Serve warm with custard or ice cream if desired.

Mediterranean pita pizzas

I had made a large batch of chickpeas, and didn't know what to do with them all. A couple of night ago, I made some hummus, and then came up with this concoction. I was really tasty. It may take some prep time, but everything can be prepared ahead of time and then assembled last minute. The quantities can vary depending on how many pizzas you make, and how much topping you prefer.

3-5 pocket pitas
1-2 cups hummus (see ingredient note below)
2 bell peppers (any colour)
2 onions, thinly sliced
Mozzarella cheese, grated (or thinly sliced if fresh)
1 small courgette/zucchini
2 plum tomatoes

Caramelize the onions by sauteing over high heat with some olive oil and salt to taste, until soft and golden brown. Roast the peppers by placing under the grill/broiler until the skins have blackened and bubble away from the flesh (alternatively you could use roasted bell peppers from a jar).

Assemble pizzas by spreading desired amount of hummus on the top of the pita bread, then top with onions, peppers, cheese, courgette and tomatoes.

Place in a 200 C/400 F preheated oven, and bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, and courgette is cooked through.

Ingredient Note:
You could use store bought hummus, or prepare your own. I don't have a specific recipe, but they are easy to find. I just do it by taste. I didn't have tahini, so I used natural/plain yogurt instead, and it turned out great.
I place a bunch of chickpeas, some olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh lemon juice, yogurt, cumin powder (about 1-2 tsp), and a dash of cayenne pepper into a food processor and blend until smooth. Then add salt and pepper to taste.

About this blog

I really enjoy cooking, which is a good thing since I have to do it nearly every night for my family. I love healthy food, and recipes from around the world. I am all about cooking good food on a budget, and make things with what I have on hand. Since I don't have a lot of cookery books I tend to make up a lot of my own recipes. However I don't write them downs and then I forget what I've done. I need to keep record of what has worked and what hasn't, and that's why I have started this blog. I'll also include any tips that I find useful, and other favorite recipes I've tried.