I know you are supposed to wake up on Monday mornings feeling rested, refreshed and ready to face the busy week ahead, but when I woke up yesterday morning, all I wanted to do was hide under the covers until Friday.   Mmmmm, that wasn’t going to work!  Not with three kids to drop at school, two more to get to separate doctor’s appointments by 10am, my Mum to pick up and take to run her errands, grocery shopping (we really wanted to eat dinner last night), school track pants and a new school bag to be bought and catalogues to be collected so my teenager could fold and deliver them today.  Did I forget anything?  Maybe it was my shower.

My point is, we all have busy days and by the end of it all we  feel totally exhausted.  And even though we probably don’t feel like cooking we’re better off re-fueling our bodies with loads of vegetables than pizza dough and mozzarella cheese (as tempting as it may be).  So last night when all I wanted to do was curl up on the lounge and eat pizza, I instead had a quick look through my recipes and decided to throw together a stir-fry.  Cashew Chicken in fact.  Sounds fancy and time-consuming, but it’s totally do-able in half an hour, give or take a few minutes.  Add whatever vegetables you have on-hand (I had carrots, capsicum and snow peas), boil some rice and you’re all set.  And the kids love it.  If you have little ones who aren’t or can’t eat nuts yet, just serve theirs up before you return your toasted cashews to the pan.  It’s a tasty, quick meal to enjoy any night of the week.

Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:

• 500g boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger  (I have used powdered ginger in a pinch)
• 1 level tablespoon cornstarch
• Sauce:
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Other:
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon green onion
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 4 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, as needed
• 1 cup vegetables for stir-frying (your choice)

I ALSO ADDED SOME SLICES OF FRESH GINGER TO THE PAN WITH THE GARLIC

Preparation:

Add the salt, rice wine or sherry, ginger and cornstarch to the chicken cubes, using chopsticks to mix it in and adding the cornstarch last. Marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

Prepare the remaining ingredients while the chicken is marinating. In a small bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside. Finely chop the garlic. Wash and chop the green onion on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces.

Roast the cashews in a heavy skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan continuously so that the nuts do not burn. Roast for 5 minutes, or until the cashews are browned. Remove from the pan.

Heat the wok over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic. Stir-fry until aromatic (about 30 seconds). Add the chicken cubes. Stir-fry until they change colour and are 80 percent cooked through. Remove from the wok.

Add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the stir-frying vegetables. Stir-fry as needed, then push up to the sides of the wok. Add the sauce and the chicken. Heat everything through. Serve the chicken and vegetables over rice with the roasted cashews and the green onion as garnish.

Recipe Source:  Unknown

It’s hard to believe that I haven’t posted about this recipe before.  It’s that recipe that I take everywhere, playgroup, to a friends place for coffee, I even made it for the bake sale our school held at the polling booths during the last election.  And it always gets rave reviews.  Now I’m not boasting, because it’s so simple there’s no real skill involved in baking it, but last year I took it to a Mum’s afternoon tea at a friends place and I heard one mum come outside to tell her friend that she had to go inside and try a piece of that lemon slice before it was all gone because it was amazing!  Yep, she was talking about mine!  Of course I love it because it boasts two of my favourite ingredients, lemon and ginger, but it’s also simple, made from pantry ingredients and super quick to make, so it’s great for life’s little emergencies like when you have unexpected guests coming over or like me, you have a bake sale to contribute to, but no time for fiddly, fancy recipes.  Originally passed on to me by my mother-in-law, I know it will be making many more appearances at our birthday parties and family gatherings.  And yes, I’m even going to contribute a pan to the cake stall at our school fete this year, so if you’re one of my close school mum friends “Don’t even think about it!  This one’s taken!”

Lemon Ginger Coconut Slice

Ingredients:

1 Cup Self-Raising Flour

2 tsp Ground Ginger

100g Caster Sugar

25g Desiccated Coconut (and a little extra for decoration)

1 Egg, lightly beaten

60g Butter, melted

1 Tbl Golden Syrup

Icing:

1 Cup Icing Sugar, sifted

30g Butter, softened

2 tsp Lemon Juice

1 heaped tsp Lemon Rind, finely grated

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 160C.

Combine the flour, ginger, sugar and coconut in a large mixing bowl.

Using a microwave safe container, melt the butter and golden syrup in the microwave.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Add the egg and combine well.

Press mixture into a greased 19cm x 29cm slice tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Icing Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix together.

If the mixture is too thick, add a little water.

Spread mixture over the warm slice and sprinkle with coconut if desired.

Wait for the slice to cool completely before slicing.

Recipe Source:  While this recipe was passed down to me by my mother-in-law who, for some reason I thought had made it up herself or at least brought it with her from New Zealand, it actually turns out to be a well known recipe and I managed to find this version at http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/ginger-and-lemon-slice-L6980.html

Happy Cooking!

See that freshly grated Parmesan sprinkled all over my daughter’s Spag Bol?  She’s just as in love with fresh Parmesan as I am.  Can’t have Spag Bol without it.  Now I’m usually a Ragu kind of girl, but sometimes the rest of the family just want bolognese without the veges so I have been on the lookout for a new recipe, and this Woolworths (no affiliation here) recipe is just what they were after.  It uses Continental’s New Stock Pot in Beef, which isn’t something I would normally buy, but I decided to give it a try anyway.

Now, weeknights in our house are usually crazy busy, and with Miss 10′s Slumber Party coming up this Friday night my cleaning frenzy is in full swing.  In fact, I think I can hear a vacuum going in the girl’s room right now. “No clean room, no slumber party.”  In a minute I’m off to bleach the tiles in the main bathroom in case anyone wants a shower.  Add to that Mr8 having meetings three nights in a row this week and one at 7am tomorrow morning (life as president of a C&K kindy is tough…actually he loves it!  And as I am the wife of the president the office staff have taken to calling me Michelle), and I’m on my own quite a lot this week.  So this recipe was a godsend tonight.  There was no chopping of onions or even garlic.  I basically just browned my mince and added the remaining ingredients and let it simmer away while I packed lunch boxes.  Perfect!  The best part is that everyone licked their plates clean, it was that good.  Even though I love a cooking challenge, it’s nice to have a few recipes like this one up my sleeve for nights like tonight.  Have a great evening everyone!

Rich Red Wine Bolognaise

I double this recipe for my family of 8.

Ingredients:

2 Tbl Olive Oil

500g Lean Beef Mince

125ml (1/2 Cup) Red Wine

500ml (2 Cups) Water

400g Can Diced Tomatoes

70g (1/4 Cup) Tomato Paste

1 x 28g Continental Stock Pot Beef

2 Large Thyme Sprigs (or use dried)

1 Bay Leaf

Cooked Spaghetti, to serve

Fresh Basil leaves, to serve

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan or saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add mince and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until mince changes colour.

Add the wine and bring to the boil.

Cook for 2-3 minutes or until most of the liquid evaporates.

Add the water, tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, thyme and bay leaf.

Stir and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 50-55 minutes until thick.

Remove thyme stems and bay leaf.

Combine the spaghetti and sauce in a large bowl.

Divide amongst bowls.

Top with parmesan and basil.

Source: Woolworths Good Taste Australian Magazine

Remember how Gingernut Biscuits used to look?  That’s right, a bit like this one above. Golden, flat, crispy biscuits that crunched and crumbled when you took a bite.  Well, I can hardly believe it, but I made this one, and dozens more.  There are no fancy ingredients here, just the usual things I find in my pantry,  but these biscuits are quite spectacular.  And this recipe makes dozens and dozens of them.  How many?  Well, it was late and I lost count as I multi-tasked getting ready for the next day’s activities.    The mixture has a really weird texture.  When you first mix it up it’s really runny and gooey, and I had to double check the recipe to make sure I hadn’t left anything out.  But I hadn’t, and the longer it sat there, the more it thickened up, and in the end it resembled Russian Caramel.  You don’t need to wait for it to thicken, just start baking and make sure you only use one teaspoon of mixture for each biscuit and space them out well because they really spread.

We loved them, the kids loved them, my mum and brother loved them, and when I popped some in my nephew’s lunch box, he loved them too.  So try them, you’ll love them!

Gingernut Biscuits

Ingredients:

250g Butter

1 Cup Firmly packed, Soft Brown Sugar

1 Cup Golden Syrup

3 tsp Ground Ginger

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Bicarb Soda

1 Tbl Boiling Water

3 Cups Plain Flour, sifted

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180C and grease or line two baking trays with baking paper.

Combine the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, ginger and cinnamon in a large saucepan and stir over medium heat until well combined.

Heat, stirring frequently, over medium heat until it almost reaches boiling point,then remove mixture from the heat.

Pour the butter mixture into a large bowl and set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.

Dissolve the bicarb soda in the boiling water and then stir into the butter mixture. The mixture will start to bubble and froth up.

Add the plain flour and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Remember, the mixture will start off extremely runny, but will thicken on standing.  You can start baking straight away, you don’t have to wait for it to thicken.

Spoon 1 heaped teaspoon of the mixture onto the lined baking trays to form rounds about 3cm in diameter, leaving plenty of room for each to spread.

Bake for 10 minutes or until a medium golden brown colour.  Watch them carefully, once they start to brown they can quickly burn around the edges.

Remove your biscuits from the oven.  Leave to cool and firm up on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.  This allows the bottom of your biscuits to cool and firm up.

Repeat this process with the remaining mixture.

Store in an airtight container.

Recipe Source:  http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/10019/gingernut+biscuits

So, we like to picnic.  For us picnics are a great way to get the family out of the house in a hurry and with as little fuss as possible. It’s no easy feat getting a family of this size out of the house on the weekend.  You have to get them up, showered, dressed, fed, toileted, sunscreened, hair done, hats, take part in The Amazing Shoe Hunt, toileted, pack water, snacks, supplies for our little diabetic, toileted, referee over who sits where in the van, wait while someone goes to the toilet again, and duck back inside for the keys that you left on the fridge before doing a last minute head count.  All in all, it’s no picnic! (if you’ll pardon the pun).  And when you toss in the fact that I am not, by nature, an early riser, it screams a need for organization.

The trick is to plan ahead, and by that I mean Friday.  To be honest the one thing that drives me crazy on the weekend is the lunches.  I have been planning and packing lunches all week and while I usually know what we will be having for dinner, I tend to neglect our weekend lunches.  Vegemite anybody? But if I think ahead and toss some chicken breasts or a roast into the crockpot on Friday afternoon we have lunches on-hand all weekend whether we are planning to eat at home or go on a spontaneous picnic.  So here are a couple of our favourites, Crockpot Chicken Taco and Rotisserie Chicken.   The girls love taking them school in their lunch boxes, and The Vegemite Kid even ate some Crockpot Chicken Taco on our picnic, which is definitely a good sign that it’s kid friendly.  You can use these recipes for Chicken Tacos, tossed through a salad or in wraps and sandwiches.  And they freeze well.  I can’t remember exactly where I found the Taco Chicken recipe, but I have a sneaky suspicion it was posted somewhere on the 30 Day Gourmet Message Boards, and Rotisserie Chicken comes from A Year of Crockpotting. I’m learning to love my crockpot, and I’m thinking that pre-prepping needs to become my new Friday habit.  It makes for a much more relaxed weekend.

These pictures are from last weekend’s trip to the secluded and quaint Spring Bluff Railway Station.  Spring Bluff  is just a quick 20 minute trip down the Range from us, which is great when you a van full of munchkins all chiming in unison “Are we there yet?”  There is a huge grassy area for the kids to run around on, new barbeques, short bushwalks, a waterfall (lots of fun with a 3 year old!) and of course the lookout to the railway where the kids can watch the trains round the mountain and blow their whistles as they pass through the station.  The engine drivers actually looked like they were having just as much fun as the kids as they waved out of the windows like celebrities.  And if you have a teenager intent on a career in the Armed Forces,  you can fill him or her in on the military history of Spring Bluff.  My mum used to tell me this story every year around Anzac Day.

Crockpot Chicken Taco

5-7 Large Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breasts

1/4 Cup Chopped Onion

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Chilli Powder (The kids will never know it’s there)

1/2 tsp Cornflour

1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tsp Freshly Minced Garlic (approx. 2 cloves)

1/3 tsp Dried Oregano (but you could use fresh)

1/2 tsp Cumin

1 Cup Chicken Stock

Directions:

Place your chicken breasts in your crockpot.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.

Pour this mixture over your chicken breasts, put the lid on and set your crockpot to low.

Now, I find every crockpot I have had has cooked at a different rate, so my advice is to leave that lid on until your chicken looks cooked, then pierce the breasts or slice one open at the thickest end to make sure they are no longer pink inside.

Reserve the crockpot liquid.

Allow your chicken to cool and then slice or shred the breasts and place back into the liquid to soak up all of that flavour until you are ready to use the chicken.

I keep my shredded chicken in the liquid in the fridge until we are packing our picnic.  Then I drain the chicken and squeeze as much liquid out of it as I can using a fork.  So far we haven’t had soggy sandwiches.

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken skin removed,

or 5-6 large Bonesless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (I always use Chicken Breasts)

2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Dried Thyme

1 tsp Mixed Herbs

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Pinch Chilli Powder

4 Whole Garlic Cloves (optional)

1 Onion, quartered (optional)

Directions:

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and then massage this mixture into your chicken.

Place your chicken into your crockpot, breast-side down if using a whole chicken.

Do not add any liquid, the chicken will cook in it’s own juices.

Set your crockpot to Low and cook until chicken is no longer pink inside and the juices run clear.  Times will depend on your crockpot.  I find it’s all trial and error.

If you live in Queensland and you’re wondering what to do with your family this weekend, why not put the crockpot on tomorrow then pack a picnic and make the most of what’s left of the wonderful Picnic Weather we have been having.  I’m about to go and search for our next destination right now!  Happy Picnic-ing Everyone!

This week marks the beginning of birthday season in the House of 8 with Mr8 adding yet another candle to the cake.  Actually, he settled for two.  We didn’t want to get carried away and set off the smoke detectors.

Pay no attention to the ruffled table cloth covered in food.  We had just finished dinner with 6 kids, and it involved rice, so you get the picture.

This year Mr8 requested a Pineapple Carrot Cake for something different.  I have only had one other cooking experience with Carrot Cake, and let’s just say it was less than successful, so this time I decided to follow the directions to a T and make sure I used the type of oil specified in the recipe, and not substitute with olive oil, which I can tell you now may work in muffins, but not in carrot cake. Fortunately this one turned out beautifully and I strutted around the kitchen quite proudly as I whipped up the Cream Cheese Frosting.

Now it’s no secret that I love nuts, but Mr8 isn’t fussed on nuts in cakes, so I substituted sultanas for the walnuts and toasted up some shredded coconut to sprinkle on the top.  I wanted flaked coconut, but for some reason I couldn’t get it anywhere, but the shredded worked out nicely.  You have to be really patient and careful when you are toasting your coconut.  You need to keep it on a really low heat and stand there patiently tossing it around the pan, wondering if it will ever start to change colour, but when it does, Look Out!, because when the oil in that coconut heats up it really takes off and easily burns, so you need to watch it really carefully.  My dream cake of course would have been surrounded by a wall of crushed walnuts.  Maybe next time.

The pineapple is a really nice addition to this carrot cake and keeps it super-moist.  Even The Vegemite Kid ate his slice, and I confess that I may even have told a White One when he asked me if there was any fruit in the cake.  And once again I have found a recipe that conceals the presence of carrots very nicely.  I’m just not really sure that it counts as a nutritional bonus when the carrot is inside a cake, does it?

If you think Carrot Cake sounds too challenging, then this recipe is for you.  It’s ridiculously simple and quick to make.  You’ll be wondering what all of the fuss is about, and on several occasions I found myself saying “But it was so simple to make” when I was receiving praise for my efforts.

Pineapple Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 Cups Plain Flour

4 tsp Baking Powder (Follow the teaspoon to cup ratio on your baking powder container)

2 tsp Bicarb Soda

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 3/4 Cups White Sugar

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

3 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Cups Grated Carrot

1 Cup Shredded or Flaked Coconut

1 Cup Sultanas (or chopped Walnuts)

440g Can Crushed Pineapple

Toasted Shredded Coconut

Icing:

250g Block Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 Cup Butter, softened

2 Cups Icing Sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 175C.

Grease and line the base and sides of a Springform Pan.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a jug, combine the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients.

Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Add the carrot, coconut, sultanas and pineapple.

Stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into the springform pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 45 minutes.

If you feel the top is beginning to brown too much, grab a piece of Alfoil, shape it into a circle to fit on top of your cake allowing it to continue cooking without burning on top.  I had to allow about another 10 minutes cooking time before my cake was no longer wobbly in the centre.  It should spring back when you touch it lightly, but I recommend piercing it with a skewer to be sure it is cooked before taking it out of the oven.  Your cake may sink slightly (not due to the pinprick of the skewer), but don’t worry, you are going to turn it up-side-down before icing.

Allow your cake to cool, then invert onto a plate ready for icing.

To make the icing:  Whip together your cream cheese and butter until mixture is light and smooth, then add the icing sugar and beat until your mixture is creamy.

Spread generously over the top and sides of your cake and top with toasted coconut or crushed walnuts.

Adapted from a Recipe found at: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/carrot-pineapple-cake-i/

Here’s a sample of what I get up to over at The Little Lunch Box.

With six kids in the family I guess it’s inevitable that we would have at least one very fussy eater to contend with.  And The Vegemite Kid (Master 7) fills these shoes very well.  We have seen a glimmer of hope in recent months with the voluntary consumption of a chicken sandwich, several varieties of rice that weren’t white, Turmeric Rice, Mexican and Mr8′s Fried Rice with visible egg and peas (which were cunningly avoided), and even strips of Mojo Marinated Beef Strips wrapped in a Tortilla.  The odd flavoured yoghurt has also made it’s way into the lunch box when I have run out of Vanilla, and he has come home to tell me in his Surprised Voice that he actually liked it.

It hasn’t been easy, but we have persevered, offering a little bit of everything on his dinner plate at night the same way we do with all of our kids.  There’s no “I don’t want any of that” or specially prepared meals in our house.  And, on our dietician’s advice, there is no pressure (apart from eating his carrots because I know he doesn’t totally hate those).  We don’t want him to jack-up and refuse to eat anything new.  And, when it comes to lunch boxes I have had to learn to be creative and a little bit sneaky.  Zucchini and puréed fruit in Muffins, grated carrot in his Vegemite Sandwiches and things like LSA mix in muesli bars like I have done here.  The way I look at it, a little is better than none.  And little by little our perseverance has paid off, so for now we’ll keep doing it this way.  And I am confident that one day our little man will sit down to dinner with the rest of the family and eat everything on his plate.  And maybe even ask for Seconds!

Sneaky Mum Muesli Bars

125 grams Butter

1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar

2 Tbl Golden Syrup (you could use honey)

1 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 Cups Oats

1 Cup Rice Bubbles

1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut (or desiccated)

1/2 Cup SR Flour

1/3 Cup LSA Mix

1/2 Cup Choc-Chips (or Chocolate Melts broken up)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 160C.

In a small saucepan combine the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and vanilla.  Place on a low heat, stirring continuously to avoid burning until the butter and sugar have melted and it reaches a rich caramel colour.

In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients.

Pour the butter/sugar mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly ensuring that all of the dry ingredients are moist.  The chocolate will melt into the mix.

Scoop mixture into a slice tin lined with greaseproof paper and bake  for 25 minutes until the slice is slightly golden.

Cool before slicing into bars.

This recipe is loosely based on a recipe I found at http://recipes.coles.com.au/recipes/163/yummy-muesli-bars/

Monday was the kids first day back at school and everyone was sure to come home tired and hungry, which meant Quick & Easy was on our dinner menu (that’s code for re-claiming my house and putting it back together now the kids are back at school, so I don’t have a lot of time to think about dinner).  The girls wanted Tacos, the boys didn’t really care, and I wanted steak and salad, so I found this recipe for Mojo Marinade and we compromised by having Soft Tacos.

What I love about meats in marinades is you can pre-prep your meals in the morning, or even the night before by making your marinade, and placing it in a freezer bag with your meat/chicken and it can just sit in your fridge doing all the hard work for you while you go about your day.  The longer it marinates the more flavour you will have. Then you can come home, throw together a salad or some stir-fry veges and rice, and you have an impressive meal, full of flavour that took you literally minutes to make.

Here’s how I marinate my meats:

By placing the meat in a freezer bag it allows the meat to swim in the flavours of your marinade and all you have to do is turn it once or twice to make sure both sides have the opportunity to soak up the flavours.

And with winter peeking it’s head around the corner here in Australia I’m making the most of  summer time meals.  Here’s Miss 9′s soft taco creation:

Simple and healthy!  Just the way I like it.

Mojo Marinade

Ingredients:

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 Jalapeno Chilli, minced

1 Large Handful Flat Leaf Parsley, finely chopped

Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

2 Limes, juiced

1 Orange, juiced

2 Tbl White Vinegar

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

Directions:

Combine the garlic, chilli, parsley, salt and pepper in a mortar and pestle and grind away until you have a paste.  Have no doubts, it may not look like it is going to form a paste, but it will happen, you just have to really mash it all together.

Add the juice from the limes and the orange, followed by the olive oil and give it a really good stir to combine.  You could put it all in a jar and give it a good shake, but why make more washing up?

Place your meat in a freezer bag and pour your marinade over the meat.

Seal the bag and massage the marinade into the meat making sure all sides are coated.  I love doing this while it is in the bag because I don’t end up with oily, garlicy hands.  Place in a tray and pop it into the fridge to marinate, turning every time you think of it.

When you are ready to eat, remove the meat from the bag and cook to your liking.

This recipe is perfect for the BBQ.

Notes:   Placing the bag in a tray eliminates any mess if your bag has a pin prick hole in it and leaks.

Marinate for at least one hour, but no more than 8 hours.  If you marinate for longer than 8 hours  the fibres in the meat break down too much and you will end up with mushy meat.

Source of Original Recipe:  Tyler Florence, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/tacos-carne-asada-recipe/index.html

Is it a loaf, or is it a cake?  Or is it a loaf shaped cake?  It doesn’t really matter what you call it, this Banana loaf suggested by Retro Mummy is a lovely snack for the kids lunch boxes, a picnic in the park, or maybe even toasted for breakfast.  Not that I condone eating cake for breakfast of course, but hypothetically speaking it would be lovely to wake up to with a cup of coffee now wouldn’t it?  One cake goes nowhere in this house, so I doubled the recipe in one bowl because, to be honest, I was feeling lazy.  A lot of cakes change texture when you double the recipe, but this one remained moist and beautifully sweet, which I suspect comes from the Maple syrup which I indulgently opted to use (it’s totally optional).  The loaves are quite large and even after the kids had had their share and I had indulged in a bit of taste testing followed by an official piece for afternoon tea, there was still some of the first loaf left, and another for lunch boxes the next day. And if you’re one of those people lucky enough to own a Thermomix, Retro Mummy has a recipe for you here.  And if you own a Thermomix, but never use it, I can assure you it would find a very loving home on my kitchen bench (hint! hint!), and I would be delighted to take it off your hands!  OK, back to reality, this one bowl wonder is a must try, so go on, fire up the oven, grab those iffy, soft bananas off the top of the fridge and create something beautiful for morning tea.

Banana Loaf/Cake

Ingredients:

2 large Bananas, mashed

125g Butter, melted

2 Tbl Maple Syrup (optional, but highly recommended)

2 Tbl Milk

2 Eggs

1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 Cup Castor Sugar (or brown, but I just used regular)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 170C.

Combine the melted butter, maple syrup, milk and eggs into a bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the bananas and give it a good stir.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir to combine.

Pour into a lined loaf tin and place in the oven for 1 – 1 1/4 hours.

Cool on a rack before serving.

Recipe Source:  http://retromummy.com/2009/05/18/melt-n-mix-banana-bread/

When dinner time came around yesterday my head was feeling totally scrambled.  I had decided to change the kids bedrooms around to encourage a few ring-leaders to drift off to sleep a bit faster than they had been lately and this required taking back the spare bedroom we had been using as a toy room.  What a job.  It was all totally unplanned, an act of impulsiveness and needed to be done quickly.  My day was full enough already.  Well, I’m happy to say that it worked.  Splitting up two kids in particular led to children in bed on time reading to themselves or younger siblings and dropping off to sleep well before it was time for lights-out. Wow!!  The down-side is that my hall is now hip-deep in toys that need to find a new home today because we are expecting visitors tomorrow.  A small price to pay for some time to ourselves at the end of the day, but where to put them?

Moving on to dinner, Mr8 had a meeting he needed to get to so we needed to eat early and fast.  You might think Chinese Orange Chicken sounds extravagant, but it’s not.  You just combine all of your sauce ingredients in a saucepan and place it on the stove to simmer away next to your rice while you chop and cook your chicken. Then you just thicken your sauce while your broccoli is in the microwave, then toss it all together and serve.  Easy!  And so, so very good.  Just what I needed at the end of such a crazy day.  We’ve never had Orange Chicken before and we all absolutely loved it, especially the kids, so I’m putting it on my list of Easy Mid-Week Meals that everyone eats.

Chinese Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

4-6 Chicken Breasts cut into bite-sized pieces (depending on how many people you are feeding)

1  Cup  Plain Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

Olive Oil (You could use Canola)

Sauce:

1 1/2 Cups of  Water

1/4 Cup Orange Juice

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

1/3 Cup Rice Vinegar

2 1/2 Tbl Soy Sauce

1 Tbl Grated Orange Zest

1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

1/2 tsp Fresh Ginger, grated

1 Garlic Clove, minced

1/4 tsp Chilli Flakes

3 Tbl Cornflour mixed with 2 Tbl Water

For Serving:

1 Head of Broccoli cut into florets

2 Spring Onions, sliced on the diagonal (unless you are like me and are too tired to remember them)

Directions

Combine all of your sauce ingredients in a saucepan, except for the cornflour and water.  You will use this to thicken your sauce at the end.

Bring sauce to the boil, then reduce to simmer while you prepare your chicken and broccoli.  This is a good time to get your rice on.

Heat the oil in your pan about 2-3cms deep. You want it hot enough to sizzle madly when you drop your chicken in, but not hot enough to just burn the chicken.

Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss your chicken pieces in the mixture to lightly coat it on all sides.

Add your chicken to the pan of oil in small batches until it is golden and crispy and no longer pink inside.  Remove to a plate covered in paper towel to drain off the excess oil and cook another small batch of chicken.  Repeat until all chicken is done.

Now you can cook your broccoli.  Steam it, microwave it, it doesn’t really matter.

And while you are at it, check that rice!

While the broccoli is cooking combine the cornflour and water in a small bowl.  Turn up the heat of your sauce just a little and drizzle in about half of the cornflour mixture, whisking your sauce quickly to avoid lumps of cornflour forming in your sauce.

Now I wanted my sauce a bit runny, so I only used half of this cornflour mixture, but if you want your sauce to cling to your chicken in a sticky mess you may like to use all of it.  It’s a matter of preference really.  Play with it and make it the way you like it.

Place your chicken and broccoli in a large bowl and when the sauce is ready, add it to the bowl and toss everything together making sure the chicken is completely coated in the sauce.

Serve with rice and  garnish with spring onions (if you can remember them).

Notes:  This recipe is loosely based on a recipe I was trying to follow but was so tired I made some mistakes with ingredient quantities, but it actually turned out nicely, so I’m sticking with my version which is listed above.

Because I used 7 chicken breasts to feed my family I doubled the sauce, which turned out to be completely unnecessary, so here I have listed the ingredients for one batch of the sauce.  If you are feeding a crowd and like lots of sauce make 1 1/2 times the quantity, but you really won’t need to double it.

I don’t like my broccoli covered in sauce so I have served it on the side, and by now you all know that I forgot to garnish the dish with the spring onions, but it makes no difference to the flavour of the dish, it just looks impressive.

The original recipe can be found at http://www.mealplanning101.com/2010/02/chinese-orange-chicken.html