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. :)

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. :)

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.

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

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 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! :)

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!'