Creme de Menthe

Lemon Drink

I made some of Mum's lemon drink today.

It made two bottles of concentrate, so I took one round to my mother-in-law's. I prefer mine diluted with water, but my mother-in-law enjoyed it with soda water. To each their own!

Fantail Potatoes, Christmas Pudding Liqueur & Dog Biscuits

I had to take Jayden to the doctors this afternoon to get his plaster cast remove and a fibreglass one put on. While we were sitting in the waiting room I picked up an old copy of the Australian Woman's Weekly. It was a Christmas special with all sorts of delicious recipes. I used my phone to take a copy of the recipes for Fantail Potatoes (they look just like the ones Mum used to make, but with bay leaves and stock), Christmas Pudding Liqueur (similar to the drink Sue made for Christmas day - maybe a new flavour for her to try) and Dog Biscuits (why not?). I'll try them out and see how they go. Might be some new additions to the recipe book!

Stan's Cream Liqueur

Chapter headings

I've been making some good progress on the recipe book project lately, scrapping more of the recipes ready for the book. I decided that I would do a 'title page' for each 'chapter' of the book, with a quote from a family member. Some of the quotes we've got are so good, but don't relate to a particular recipe. Like Poppa Pete's one about his mum's cooking. So I'm working on getting one for each chapter. This is where I'm at so far...

Starters & Snacks

Soups

Main Meals

Side Dishes

Desserts

Baking

Condiments & Sauces
I might see if I can get a quote from Jim about his aioli or hummus for this one.

Preserves

Drinks

Special Occasions

Sundries
I might ask Rhonda to give me a quote for this, so I have a Burland quote. That will help even it all out, so each part of the family is in there. :)

Lemon Drink

Mulled Wine

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. :)

Recipes from Poppa Pete

Today we went over to Poppa Pete's. It was the first time we'd seen him since Christmas. We had a chat and spent a bit of time just catching up, then we asked Poppa Pete if he had any recipes he wanted to contribute. He started off giving us a few of his, then, wonder of wonders, he brought out Granny Rhodes (his mother)'s recipe book and Granny Booth (Nana Rose's mother)'s recipe book. AWESOME!! Nana Rose had written a few down too, so we got some of hers as well. It was so great. SO great. :) Check this out - this is the front page of Granny Rhodes' recipe book:

And, I thought it was funny, we found this 'recipe' for knitted bed socks in there!!

From Poppa Pete: Boiled Fruit Cake Butter Chicken With Yoghurt - 'This is another one that I make that I love.' Caramel or Chocolate Dairy Food Cake Chocolate Truffles Chopped Chicken Livers & Mushrooms Christmas Cake - with a photo of his 2010 version! Coconut & Cinnamon Cake Countryman's Kidneys - 'One of my favourite recipes for kidneys.' Date & Ginger Cake Distinction Pie (from the Speights Southern Man Cookbook!!) Fish a la Mariniere Glazed Salmon with Mustard Dill Sauce Honey Glazed Lamb Iced Biscuits Krunch Moggy Sponge Mushroom & Tomato Scramble on Eggs Mustard Crusted Lamb with Couscous Oat Squares Pancetta Wrapped Chicken Thighs Parkin Pear Pastries - 'This is a beaut dessert. I have tried this, it is a cracker!' Piggy Head Brawn - 'This is a good one. I don't do this anymore as it is a hassle for just one person.' Pineapple & Vanilla Slices Powder Puffs Rolled Oat Shortbread Sauce & Glaze for Spare Ribs Scones Shepherd's Pie (also from the Speights Southern Man Cookbook!) - 'I made that, and it was good.' Treacle & Raisin Sponge Victoria Sandwich Cake Wholemeal Fruit Loaf Yoghurt Recipe (for a cake made by measuring the ingredients out with a yoghurt pottle!) Yorkshire Parkin From Nana Rose: After Dinner Mints Apricot Mould Be-Ro Krunchies Biscuits Blue Band Sponge Sandwich Cake Boiled Choko Bottled Beetroot Carrot Cake Cheese Cakes Chelsea Buns Chicken Pie Chocolate Cake Chocolate Crispies Chutney Elderberry Wine Energy Bar Fruit Punch Ginger Bread Gingerbread Biscuits Herbed Zucchini in Cream (found written on the back of a pantyhose packet!!) Honey Nut Cakes Macaroni Bake Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce My Cheesecake Nutties Pavlova Pickled Gherkins Pikelets Plastic Icing (white icing) Plum Sauce Rhubarb Crumble (found written on the back of a Christmas card!) Rum Butter Russian Fudge Savoury Omlette Schnapper Baked Spice Biscuits Spicy Meatballs with Rice Sweet Delicious From Granny Rhodes: Almond Cake Almond Snaps Apple Snow Apricot & Pineapple Jam Australian Shortbread Banana Cream Belgium Cake Biscuits Blackcurrant Jam Bottled Beans Bottled Peaches Bottled Pears Bottled Tomatoes Brandy Snaps Butter Sponge Cake Cake With Apple Sauce Caramel Toffee Cheap Toffee - 'This was the recipe she used for Plot Toffee for Guy Fawkes. We'd wrap it up in little cones of greaseproof paper and take it to the teacher in the morning. It'd make you chew for hours, good for shutting the kids up. Really stuck your teeth together.' Cheap War Cake Cheese & Tomato Paste for Sandwiches Cheese Custard Cheese Eggs Cheese Pudding Chocolate Biscuits Chocolate Icing Chocolate Jelly Chocolate Sandwich Chocolate Truffles Christmas Cake Christmas or Birthday Cake with Almond Icing Christmas Pudding Chutney Cinnamon Coffee Cake Coconut Cake Cream Cream Cheese Cream Filling Cream Salad Dressing Crunchies Custard Kisses Dainty Pudding Dandelion Wine - 'Dandelion Wine, Elderberry Wine, flippin' Parsnip Wine! She'd make anything in to wine. Some turned out rubbish, some were dynamite.' Delicious Biscuits Egg Biscuits Egg Nog Biscuits Eggless Cake Farmhouse Cake Filling for Chocolate Cake Firelighters Fish Cakes Fish Pie Four Currant Loaves Fruit Fool Ginger Biscuits Ginger Nuts Ginger Wine Grapefruit Marmalade Ground Rice Cheese Cakes Harvo Bread - 'Harvo was a proprietary recipe, made by a company, sold in special little loaves. God knows how she got the recipe.' Honeycomb Ice Box Cookies Iced Biscuits Jelly Jordon Cake Krunch Lemon Cheese Lemon Curd Lemonade Macaroons Marmalade Marzipan Meringues Mincemeat Minties Mock Cream Nice Fish Dish Oat Cakes Orange Cake Pavlova Cake Piccalilli Pound Cake Quaker Oat Biscuits Quaker Oat Cake Queen Cakes Quick Raspberry Jam Quick Strawberry Jam Raised Meat Pie Raisin Scones Rice Cake Rolled Oat Biscuits Salad Cream Sausage Croquettes Scones Scotch Eggs Scotch Pastry Shortbread Shortcake Shrewsbury Biscuits Snap Closure Bottling Sponge Cake Sponge Parkin Sponge Roll Sponge Sandwich Strawberry Jam Stuffed Plaice & Shrimp Sauce Filling Sweets Tea Biscuits Tomato Chutney Tomato Pickle Tomato Sauce Trifle Vegetable Salad Vegetable Soup Very Nice Sweet Cake Walnut Chocolate Drops Walnut Sponge Cake Wartime Butter Wartime Dog Biscuits (these are really dog biscuits, not a funny name for a recipe!) Wartime Lemon Cheese Wartime Salad Cream Wartime Sweet Cake Wedding or Birthday Cake Yeast Cake Yeast Spice Cake Yorkshire Parkin - 'We always had Yorkshire Parkin and Plot Toffee on Guy Fawkes.' From Granny Booth: Apple Crumble Apple Crumble Pudding Apple Surprise Tart Cherry Cake - I have this written in Granny Booth's handwriting, Nana Rose's handwriting, Poppa Pete's handwriting and even Steve's handwriting. Obviously a popular family recipe!!! College Pudding Cream Horns Curd Tarts Date & Walnut Cake Dundee Cake Fish with White Wine & Mushroom Sauce Flakey Pastry Flan Pastry Ginger Biscuits Ginger Bread Ground Rice Tarts Lemon Meringue Pie Oat Biscuits Shortbread Shortcrust Pastry Sponge Flan Walnut Cake And a few that were accredited to others: Betty's Christmas Cake - Betty Stephenson Cherry Cake - Mary Steele (Nana Rose's grandmother!!) Economical Cake Recipe - Kath (not sure if this is Nana Rose's sister Kathleen or Poppa Pete's sister-in-law Kath) Eggless Ginger Cake - Ann Rhodes (this is Poppa Pete's grandmother!!) Ginger Bread - Mary Steele Ginger Pudding - Kath Mary's Chocolate Cake - Mary Welch (Sue's sister & Steve's aunt) Potted Meat - Geoffrey (not sure if this is Uncle Jon's son Geoffrey or just some random unknown man) Sand Cake - Ann Rhodes Susan's Devils Food Cake - Susan Rhodes (have photos of Jim making this for the kids birthday this year!) - 'Is a good recipe. Really good.' Tomato Sauce - Betty Stephenson (Poppa Pete's sister) I was so pleased and excited that when we got home from Poppa Pete's, I went through our recipes and got the ones we'll be contributing. :) Steve: Banana Lemon Cake - with a photo of the one he made me to take to work that says 'Happy Birthday DollyB' on it. Ha ha! Devils Food Cake - an Eves Pantry recipe that unfortunately makes 18 cakes. Not 18 servings but 18 whole cakes. lol That's the problem with commercial baking recipes. But I have a picture of my 21st cake which was made using that recipe to go with it, and it's neat to include as part of Steve's baking history. Apparently they sold it to Starbucks, so if you bought Devils Food Cake in NZ, this was what you were buying... Chocolate Cake - this is his most popular recipes and I have photos of about seven different cakes to go with this one!! Sweetcorn Fritters Pancakes Bacon & Egg Pie Banana Cake Melting Moments Lemon & Yoghurt Cake Sachertorte Biscotti Christmas Fruit Mix Christmas Mince Pies Christmas Cake Elle: Jamie Oliver's Winter Pudding Bombe - we made this and took it to the belated Christmas dinner we had at Sue & Jim's, so I have lots of photos of the kids and I making it. :) Spring Rolls - not sure about putting these in, but I have photos of the kids making them! Sushi - another one I'm not sure about putting in, but I have photos of! Toad In The Hole - this is a Gordon Ramsay book from the book Lynda bought me, and I have photos of it too! Beef Olives

Recipes from Mum and Andrea

Yesterday I went up to Mum's, planning to borrow her rollerblades (Mum and I have the same size feet). Unfortunately when the kids and I got up there, it was bucketing down with rain. So definitely no outdoor activities. I figured that since I was up there, and stuck inside, I'd go through Mum's cookbooks with her and get recipes for my Family Recipe Book project. I got HEAPS!! Some are even from a cookbook of Nanny's...

I got... Stuffed eggplant with pesto - a WW recipe Chicken & sundried tomato snack - WW Veal steaks with lemon & rosemary sauce - WW Chicken Tzatziki - WW Watermelo jelly - WW Potato, leek & bacon soup - WW Apple & Fruit Sponge Pudding - 'A perennial favourite of the Maud family - apples or apples and berries or apples and rhubarb.' Stuffed Marrow - 'I was often given marrows from excess grown by friends. I used to fill them with a bacon, tomato & onion mixture and top with cheese & breadcrumbs. Was another dinner party favourite.' Meat pie - 'Was one of Dick's favourites. I would make the pastry and he would make the meat filling.' Apple pie Christmas mince pies Neenish tarts - 'Another favourite.' Louise cake - 'A favourite of Dick's.' Cheese cakes - 'They don't have any cheese in them! But are delicious little cake filled tarts.' Chilli jam - 'I got this recipe from Maggie. She was making the jam when I visited and gave me a jar of it with the recipes.' White bread Croissants (need to find the photo of Steve making these for Christmas breakfast) Raisin & nut bread Blue Mountain Broccoli - 'Always a hit.' Mixed herb dumplings - 'Dick likes these. :)' Chicken & mushroom casserole Beef cobbler Chocolate orange biscuits Whole oat slices Old fashioned lardy cake - 'One of Pop's favourites from his childhood. His mother used to make it. Lard used to be a commodity in reasonable supply then, though frowned upon these days.' Butterfly or Angel Cakes Ginger Beer - 'My mother used to make ginger beer, and store it in the cupboard in the kitchen. Occasionally a bottle or two would explode, but it was delicious.' Spiced lamb kebabs with coleslaw - WW Athenian mince - 'I used to make this when I first got married.' Pork, noodles & broccoli stirfry - WW Grilled lamb cutlets with red currant jelly sauce - WW Hot cross buns - have a photo of Mum & Callum making these - 'Used to make these on Good Friday every year, often using fresh yeast.' Honey muesli - 'Honey muesli is a great way to start the day!' Christmas Pudding - 'I used to make this every year until we got hold of Granny Hancock's recipe.' Colonial Goose - 'A New Zealand classic. I once made it for catering a Playgroup dinner and had five legs of lamb boned. I served it with stuffed baked potatoes (stuffed with a tomato, bacon and onion mix and topped with cheese).' Milles Fuelles slices - 'We called these Match Sticks. Easy to make and really styly.' Meatloaf Baby pecan pies - 'Was from a Jo Seager TV series. Always useful for taking a plate.' Apricot loaf - 'Easy and delicious.' Lemon loaf - 'A good standby.' Courgette slice - 'This recipe was given to me by Leanne Jackson when I worked at Sellars & Co solicitors. The kids always enjoyed it, and it was a good way to get them to eat courgettes.' Boiled fruit cake - 'This recipe was off the back of a packet of mixed fruit. It was given to me by my mother-in-law when I was first married because Dick liked it. Often it would be half eaten before it was cold. I used to double the mixture and make two or three cakes.' Port & prune truffles - 'Another Jo Seager recipe taken from her TV series. I ring the changes by using citrus prunes and Cointreau.' Flummery - 'Bev Richardson used to make this when I was about five and it was always a favourite.' Rare fillet of beef with green sauce - 'A recipe from a competition in Wellsford run by Halls Electrical about 1992. I have made the green sauce lots and it's delicious.' Pumpkin & lentil soup - 'Yum!' Thai fish salad - 'Make this all the time.' Fish with lemon & Caper sauce Pulled taffy - 'Our kids can remember making this with me when they were young.' Spiced apple shortcake - 'Always a favourite.' Egg n crumbed fish - 'Fish fingers are popular with kids and these ones we knew that they were all fish. Kids loved them.' Cho kanjang - 'Found while researching for our trip to South Korea. Dick and I really like it.' Lemon cheesecake - 'Contributed this to a book I was involved in creating to raise money for Korean charities during our stay in Korea (2008).' Dukkah - 'Used to serve this dukkah with breads and dips at the restaurant (Bardz Brasserie in 2004).' Pan fried lemon chicken - WW Chicken & mushroom scallopine - WW Fish & potato pie - WW potato cakes - 'Used to make them all the time.' Steamed thai chicken rolls - WW And I got a couple from Andrea too: Andrea & Rita's mulled wine Chicken & vegetable curry - 'Andrea made this and it was so delicious.' Cajun chicken with lime, tomato & avocado - 'One of Andrea's favourites to make, especially nice on the BBQ.' Coconut ice - with a photo of Andrea selling it at Calf Club Day! Chicken, vege & tortellini soup - WW - 'I made this for dinner when Mum was sick. She needed a light, clear soup. It was so delicious that we've had it many times since. It's one of the few I cook (Mum usually cooks!).' I must put Dad's avocado/sour cream recipe in there too. So simple and so delicious! Overall, I was delighted with that! LOTS of recipes for my Family Recipe Book. Awesome!! One very happy Elle. :)