Monday 16 May 2011

Jamie Oliver's Slow Roasted Lamb

Lyn sent me an email today telling me that she'd made the gravy from Jamie Oliver's Slow Roasted Lamb recipe (which is in the book under Steve's name). 'I love Jamie Oliver's recipes!! I made roast beef tonight, with veges and that amazingly yummy minty/capery/vinegary gravy :)'

Sunday 8 May 2011

Mother's Day High Tea with Allyson Gofton

For Mother's Day, I paid for Mum, Sue and I to have high tea at the Heritage in town. They had a guest speaker which was chef Allyson Gofton. She spoke about her mum and the things her mother cooked, and about the importance of putting good, decent food on the table. 'It doesn't have to be restaurant quality, it doesn't have to look fancy. Most people fondly remember 'Mum's roast chicken' or 'Mum's Irish stew', they don't care what it looked like, they cared that you made it and it tasted good. Let's get back to that time of just putting good decent food on the table.' She spoke about her new book which is a recipe journal and about the importance of recording not just your recipes and your mum's recipes, but also the memories that go with those meals. Afterwards, Allyson was signing copies of her books. Mum bought a copy of her new Recipe Journal and had it signed, and Sue bought a copy of one of her other books and had it signed for Jim. I took along some of my pages from my work on my family recipe book and showed them to her. She was delighted and when I asked if she would write a short foreword for the book, she agreed straight away. I've left her with my address, so will look forward to receiving that. :) We got to take home a goodie bag with one of Allyson's recipes and the ingredients to make them - flour, baking powder, sugar, chocolate melts, vanilla, coffee and even dishwashing liquid.

Friday 25 March 2011

Highland Croquettes

Bonfire Tuatuas

Yorkshire Parkin & Plot Toffee

Welsh Rarebit

Roast Lamb

Gingerbread Biscuits

Fran's Yorkshire Puds

Devils Food Cake

Coconut Ice

Chicken, Vege & Tortellini Soup

Carrot Cake

Thursday 24 March 2011

Betty's Christmas Cake

Beth Theve's Low Calorie Quiche

Battenburg Cake

Australian Shortbread

Apple Crumble Pudding

Apple Crumble Pudding

Mulled Wine

Almond Snaps

Almond Cake

After Sun Lotion

After Dinner Mints

ANZAC Biscuits

Bubble & Squeak Cakes

Sunday 20 March 2011

Gordon Ramsay's Sticky Lemon Chicken

Had a very quiet day at home today while the kids were at school. I made Gordon Ramsay's sticky lemon chicken for dinner which we had with cabbage, leeks and mashed potatoes. A success! Steve and I both enjoyed it. I got photos, so it can go in the recipe book. :)

Saturday 19 March 2011

Chilli Jam & Bonfire Tuatuas

Spent the day at Sue & Jim's today. Jim made chilli jam while we were there, so I took photos for the recipe book. The chilli jam is sort of an alternative to sweet chilli sauce. Very nice. We ended up taking a jar home, as well as having it on our chicken burgers for dinner. Steve made blackberry & apple crumble for dessert using blackberries the kids picked. Sue gave me a recipe for Bonfire Tuatuas for the recipe book. She said it'd be pretty hard to ever make them again due to fire regulations against having bonfires on the beach, but 'they were a part of our family history' and hey, that's what the book is all about. She even gave me photos of Steve from 1980 (a very tiny Steve!) to go with the recipe. Apparently they made these Bonfire Tuatuas while camping at Kennedy Bay in 1980 and the photos are from that camp, although there is no bonfire or tuatuas in the photos - there is a beach though. :)

Thursday 17 March 2011

Banana Bread

Caitie stayed home with me today. Steve and Jayden arrived home from camp earlier than expected, both exhausted. Caitie and I made banana bread (SO DELICIOUS!!) and marshmallow muffins (fail!) for them, which they appreciated. I'm going to add the banana bread recipe to the recipe book. I'll put it under Caitie's name I think, since I have photos of her cooking it, and it's from a kids' recipe book.

Saturday 19 February 2011

Recipes from Mo

I received an email from my dad's cousin yesterday - Mo. She gave me two recipes. One is for Green Sick Cake (aka Zucchini Cake) and the other is for a Choc Mint Cake which was a favourite for birthday cakes in their family. She also gave me some notes about the cheese paste recipe Carla had given me that was Granny Maud's, so I can put her comments with the recipe. Excellent! With so many recipes I'm now starting to doubt the wisdom of scrapping them all. I think maybe I'd have been better off with a basic layout! Might have to think about that... :P

Monday 14 February 2011

My Great-Grandmother's Recipes

Carla (Dad's cousin's daughter) emailed me some recipes tonight. They are my great-grandmother (my dad's paternal grandmother)'s recipes. One is for cheese paste, which apparently came about as a result of her never owning a refrigerator in her entire life, and a selection of homemade wine recipes. She also had her grandmother (my great-aunt)'s recipe book, and a contribution or two from herself and her mum. How cool is that?! And my Aunty Barbara is now in possession of hers and Nanny (my grandmother)'s recipe book, which my late uncle's wife sent her from Canada. They're going to post it to us so we can go through it and scan anything we want before sending it back. We're pretty keen to see what was in Nanny's book. She was pretty well known for her baking, but she died before my sisters and I were born, so it's like a little bit of history coming alive for us. :)

Sunday 13 February 2011

Recipes from Kath

While we were cleaning up today, I came across a letter from Steve's great-aunt Kath that had somehow been 'put somewhere safe' for me. She sent me four recipes - one was her mother's and three were her own. They all had little comments to go with them, which is awesome. Currant & Mint Pasty Raisin Loaf Chocolate Caramel Fudge Apple Crumble Pudding When I emailed her to let her know I received the letter (I had previously told her it never arrived!!) she told me that she'd found a whole bunch of family history stuff that her husband had collated/written and a recipe book dating back to 1746!!!!! I can't wait to go up there! Hopefully next weekend. Will let you know what I find when I do get a chance to visit. How exciting! :)

Monday 7 February 2011

Recipes from Grandma

I got a letter from Grandma today....with more recipes!! Ha ha! I love that everyone is contributing. I really thought I'd have to nag people to get a recipe from each of them, so I love that people are just sending them. It's so great. This book is going to be AWESOME. Chops & Orange Casserole Meatballs in Ginger Raisin Sauce Potato Cake Fruit Pudding Steamed Creamy Mushroom Fettuccine That makes nine recipes from Grandma. :) She also said 'The only time your grandad got in the kitchen was Saturday nights and he would cook a big fry up - bacon, eggs, etc, etc. Not very healthy, but went down nicely thank you!'

Friday 28 January 2011

Recipes from Uncle Ken

I got a letter from Uncle Ken (my great-uncle) last night with two recipes. One was for ‘Ken’s tasty war time treat’ which he made up in WWII when food was in pretty short supply and they used anything they could get to make a tasty snack. It’s basically fried potato, onions and cheese, served on toast. I said to Steve that it was a lot like bubble & squeak – a way of using leftovers to make a new meal. The other recipe was for Wellingborough Hock & Dough which he said his mother taught him. It doesn’t sound particularly appetizing to me (it’s basically sliced ham, sliced onion, sliced potato, surrounded by pastry, baked slowly in the oven), but it's not supposed to be a recipe book of MY favourites, it's supposed to be a recipe book of family favourites and heirloom recipes - and this certainly fits that description!

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Recipes from Aunty Barbara and Greg

When Mum and Andrea caught up with the family in Sydney, they had a bit of a cook-off just to get photos for my recipe book. How cool is that?! I got the photos of Andrea's chicken & vege tortellini soup when she came back, and I already had the recipe. Today I got the photos and recipes for Aunty Barbara’s sausage rolls, and my cousin Greg’s stir fry.

Friday 7 January 2011

Recipes from Aunty Sally

I received five recipes in the mail today from my Aunty Sally. Three of the recipes were cut out of magazines, mostly old ones (they had the dates at the bottom). One was cut off the back of a packet and the other was a hand written recipe for pilaf. Including the two she sent for Andrea’s 30th birthday recipe scrapbook, I now have seven to put under her name in the book. :)

Fran's Yorkshire Puds

Lynda sent me an email today with a recipe for Yorkshire Puddings that she got from her boyfriend's sister Fran. They ate them on Christmas Day and Lynda said they were delicious. Mmm, I love Yorkshire Puddings! I have photos of Lynda and Fran together at Christmas to go with the recipe, as well as a picture of the Yorkshire Puddings themselves.

Thursday 6 January 2011

Mexican Dip

Lynda sent me an email today with a recipe for Mexican Dip. When I first told Lyn about the recipe book, she immediately said she wanted to put this dip recipe in it. Apparently she tried it at a friend’s party and just ended up standing next to it all night, munching away! Actually, it looks delicious. I’m very tempted to try it myself….for research purposes of course. He he he…