Big ooops.

Obviously I had eaten to much boiled Christmas Cake, laced with alchol, because I forgot to mention to put CHEESE on top of the ingredients before rolling up and cutting the mixture , in MARKS ROLLUPS. So it should now read in the ingredients,CHEESE. Sorry about that. happy rolling and cooking.

Marks Rollups.

T'was the week before Christmas and the Christmas Fairy waited patiently to be placed high upon the tree. My 2yr old Grandaughter, who was amazed by all the preparations both at her home and at Nanas, picked up the 8"doll like Fairy and placed it under her arm and walked off into the other room. She placed the Fairy on the floor, adjusted other things she had collected and picked up the Fairy and placed it high on her shoulder just like a baby, and off out the door home. We did retrieve the Fairy and she is on the top of the tree watching over us all.
Heres a New Year receipe for all" the bring a plate BBQ'S."
MARKS ROLLUPS.
2 sheets puff pastry.
Leftover ham
tomatoes finely sliced
1 onion finely sliced
Tomato paste.
Maybe a small amount of pinapple
Any thing else your tastebuds desire.
METHOD.
Roll out pastry on a floured board into a retangle shape
Spread with tomato paste, the other ingredients, just like a pizza.
Now here is the fun part. Roll the retangle from one long end to the other.
Cool. Now you should have a sausage shape.
Take a sharpe knife and cut 2-3inch slices and place CUT SIDE DOWN on an oven tray.
Cook for approx 15 minutes in a hot oven 200c let cool and off you go. Remember to turn off the oven!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

A Throw Together for Busy Teacher Aides

English Speakers of Other Languages

It’s school day, powdery red flowers
sprinkle as blackbirds cavort
in the feifoa trees outside
my kitchen window.

South Auckland white vans reverse
out of their driveways on a
still sunny morning. The wild
October winds have retreated
and fireworks will spit
on November the fifth.

In the Rainbow Reading Room
(1/2 of the lunchroom in Block F)
files are being sorted. Students arrive -
some eager to learn, some tired from
a part time job or a behaviour problem
that’s doing them no favours
and some have to learn English,
though Polynesia surrounds them.
The tapes and CD’s spread the same words
as the books and reading commences,
writing is pushed and words shyly said.

And me, well the bell goes when least expected
I eat fruit at break and a sandwich at lunch, and
drink soup the days Miss Ani comes and sorts
out the kitchen dishing out wise words to students
and teacher aides alike as she bustles about.

And as an after thought, the child from next door
realigns the magnetic poetry words on my fridge –
his/grace/approach/my/messy/experiment/open/
hear/life/feel/joy/ and some words upside down,
but that’s to be expected from an ESOL child.

Now for the Recipe for Teacher Aides who need a nap after school!

Throw 3 skinned chicken thighs in an oven proof dish.
Plus 1/2 a chopped onion
1 tin of Mexican tomatoes or similar, depending on what kind of day you've had.
1 tin of chick peas
Bake in oven on 180 for 1 and 1/2 hours and serve with broccoli. Enjoy.

Butter Chicken

My middle son returned home frequently between finding a new abode, and on one of these occasions, found out I had become more experimental in the kitchen. This son was a meat and 3 veg like his Dad had been and he found it difficult to convert to spaghetti Polonaise,Lasagna, Butter chicken, and stir fries. He soon found out that it was easier for him to adjust to the meals than to cook for himself ,with his then limited knowledge. This was 15 years ago, and I will have to admit he made a superb spaghetti polonaise, even if I do say so myself!!!!!. BUTTER CHICKEN. INGREDIENTS: 2 chicken breasts
50gbutter
1 large onion finely chopped
1 large clove garlic , crushed
1teaspoon each:chilli powder,turmeric,cumin,ground ginger, nutmeg.
1/2teaspoon pepper ,1/2 salt.
1/2 cup cream
2tablespoons tomato paste.
1/2teaspoon garam masala.
METHOD: Skin chicken breasts, and slice each into strips, or cubes whichever you prefer. Coat each piece in combined chilli powder, turmeric,nutmeg,ginger,salt pepper and cumin. Melt butter in saucepan, add onion and garlic, cook until soft. Add chicken, stirring until golden. Add tomato paste and garam masala.Stir in cream, then simmer gently for approx 10minutes. Serve with your choice of rice.

Chickpea and Mushroom Pie

Sorry guys pressed the wrong button, here's the recipe!

Preheat oven 350F/160c
Gently cooked half an onion in oil with a finely sliced carrot or two.
Add 225gms of sliced mushrooms and continue cooking.
Stir in a tablespoon of brown flour and cook for further minute.
Add a cup and half of water/ with a stock cube if you want.
with 2 teaspoon of soy sauce
a tin of pasta sauce or tin of diced tomatoes.
Cook for 3 mins.
Add a tin of drained chickpeas, mix.
Put in an ovenproof dish.
Topping
Mixed 2 - 3 tablespoons of grated cheese
with 2 tablespoons of ground almonds
abit of grated lemon rind
and 1 tablespoon of coconut.
I added breadcrumbs, but think it disguised the taste!
Spread topping over mixture and bake for 20mins.

Camel Train with Chickpea and mushroom pie

CAMEL TRAIN

On Fridays I go by train to Britomart and back
Auckland’s flashest station, have you been there yet?
Sometimes the journey is slow, sometimes fast
sometimes there’s a character ticket collector,
wishing us well, hoping this weekend the
Warriors’ll win, but sometimes not.
But always there’s an adventure waiting to happen
‘cos the melting pot of Auckland at 5.30pm
is stirred going home or not.

I am a watcher of people on trains, an earwigger of note
a random conversationalist, and I empathize with the tired
people who outfits and faces intrigue and enchant.

Take the suited Indian man – meets woman–
who asks ‘have you found a girl yet?’
‘We’re getting married in January, India,’ he says nodding his head.
I know this, I’m tempted to say, been there, done that and
the stars will be right in that cooler season, like it or not.

There’s been a talk with a working mother who says times have changed.
She alights before me and I see her skirt is short and in her patterned tights
she’s trying to be younger to keep up with her job, after only a month they’ve
already assessed her lot. This week a fizzy hair window hugger is
incommunicado, her bags are packed, her fingers twitchy
and her mouth is moving to an unknown plot.

There’s co-operation in the evening light when I must have looked tired,
I’ve been offered a seat twice and when the end carriage rolled from
side to side, I was grateful as I’m short and the tall woman with goggley
eyes, was able to brace herself with a hand on the roof as this particular
carriage only had poles near the doors and seat handles beside.

The biggest item was a woman asleep til it came to her stop, then she flew off the train and drop her tiny bag. I yelled and the Indian lady next to me got up in a flash. She picked up the wallet but the doors shut. ‘Through the window!’
said the Palagi woman looking up from her book. The girl with short hair on a seat at the side, snatched the wallet and threw it with all her might. As the train moved off the woman who had been asleep caught her tiny bag and with high heels teetering, moved off into the night, and we all laughed.

‘Camel’ trains sway wherever you are, they’re stately as you sit up in the air.
There are people who stare and views to stare at. There are experiences to
share and folks getting off at your stop. A migration of warmth,
silence but always a purpose, an adventure in motion, travelling to rock!

Cow and Peach Rollup Pie.

It was freezing cold, the fog was so thick I couldnt see the fence in front of me. The fire in the grate was burning red and orange, the children were playing happily in the warmth. I had brought the last load of firewood in for the fire, and left the rear door open. Mrs Cow , yes thats correct, a cow, decided to visit the family in the house. In she walked through the open door, into the laundry and about to enter the kitchen when one of the children screamed "COW". What to do? How to remove a beast of that size? Mrs Cow looked at me with those jet black eyes and blinked her eyelashes at my astonished face. I swear I saw humor in those eyes. As quickly as she appeared, she backed herself out the door and outside. We all laughed and laughed and never left the door open again.!! Cow and Peach Rollups.INGREDIENTS. 3-4tablespoonsbutter,1/2cup orange juice, 1teaspoon grated orange rind, 1/2cup sugar, 2cups selfraising flour,1/4teaspoon salt, 30z{75grams]butter, 1/2cupmilk, 1/4cup brown sugar, 1teaspoon cinnamon,1 16oz[450]can sliced peaches,drained. whipped cream for serving. Mix the first 4 ingredients togetherin saucepan. simmer for 5 minutes then pour half the mixture into buttered square ovenproof dish. Sift flour and salt into bowl.Rub in second measure of butter and add milk to make a soft dough. Roll out about 12inches square. Brush with brown sugar and cinnamon. Arrange drained peaches on this and roll up like a jam roll. Cut into about 9 slices and arrange rings cutside down, in syrup in dish. Pour remaining syrup over dough. Bake at 200oC[400of]for 25-30minutes., or until crisp and golden brown. Serve with whipped cream or custard or yoghart. There is no cow with this,!!! just an interesting story.

Has the World Gone Mad!

On a dark winter's night
celebrating 20 years
Nuke Free in NZ
a vandal chose my
ancient '91 Mitsi
to hit with eggs!
Returning with wing mirror
smeared I didn't twig why
til daylight hit.
An eggy stroke
20 years too late I laugh
as I scrub off yellow yoke
and egg shells on my
car's driving side.

Another Friday I escape
the rain in Queen Street,
Smith and Caughey's no less.
Idle eyes espy cockerel
egg cups with eggcosies
cellophane packed!
Knitted, pearl and pompom
decorated, surely designed
for English aristocracy
whose entry fee to their
stately homes would climb
steep - one cosy for their
morning egg labelled price
$24, no less! Has the
world and society gone mad!

But eggs aside it's so cold I'm into

Camel Soup

Pick a large saucepan out of your cupboard and chop up
a quarter of a cabbage, an onion, a slice of pumpkin,
a few cloves of garlic, a carrot, frozen vegies if you
want. Pick some parsley and add. Dribble a little oil
on top of the vegies and heat. Add a teaspoon of Bengali
Panch Phoran. I got my packet in Melbourne, not sure where
you buy it here but a few spices enliven soup. Panch
Phoran contains:- cumin seeds, fennel, fenugreek, mustard,
nigella, the last of which I thought was an Italian cook!
Add a handful of red lentils as this will thicken the soup.
Pour on boiling water to almost cover all ingredients and
simmer til soft. Blend or mash and serve with bread or baked
potato and then you'll warm up!

SILVERBEET OR SPINICH COBB LOAF DIP.

Who put the meat in the microwave? "Not I" said the boarder. yer right. "Not I" meowed the cat. "Not I " said the author. It had been there for some time believe me. So I now have a great recipe for a dip. Great to eat and easy to make. SILVERBEET OR SPINICH COBB LOAF DIP. Ingredients: 3leaves silverbeet or spinich. Fresh parsley. 250g cream cheese. 1 cup grated Tasty cheese. 1tsp curry powder. 1tsp cumin. 1/2cup natural mayonaise. 1/2 finely chopped onion. 1/2 paresman cheese. METHOD: Wash and finely chop silverbeet or spinich.Put everything in a bowl and mix together. Take a sharpe knife, and cut the top of the loaf of bread. Remove bread and fill the cavity with the cheese mixture. Wrap the bread in tinfoil and bake 1hour at 150oC and enjoy. Any loaf can be used if a Cobb is not available.

Gypsy Salad

Rhubarb,rhubarb,rhubarb,
Gypsy,pixie,lipsey.

I'm learning phonemes and phontics
at tech, but it all sounds like a
party game, where the players whisper down
the line, words ending up all tipsy!


I've tried the rhubarb muffins,
twice infact, but the flour
isn't as good as in Australia
where the carrot cake I made
turned out without a thud.

So the Gypsy Salad I
produced the other night,
for visitors who flew in
near dinner time
was just right.


Title and some ingredients
pinched from a local Turkish cafe,
so I hope they don't mind my gaff!


GYPSY SALAD

Slice and chop half a cucumber
Chop up a red or orange capsicum
Finely chop half an onion
Do the same with a stick of celery.
Deseed three or four tomatoes and chop up.

Mix all together in a small salad bowl
Add Feta cheese, cubed.
Add olives if liked OR
I chose New Zealand's own Puhoi's Bouton d'or
Feta Olive Tapenade,
but I realise our overseas readers are at a
disadvantage there!

This is a refreshing salad to have with cold chicken,
kumara salad and feijoa chutney, but these will have to
wait until another time!

Tauranga Special

This is a yummy caserole with pinapple and tomato soup in it. It is named Tauranga Special after a very special male friend I once had who lived in TGauranga and helped me through some tough times with my husband. In the 60's, I was a very young mum of 2, wanting to experiment with food. My husband was from a farming background where meat and 3 veg were the nornal teatime fare. I used to make this caserole for the nights he would be out late with his male friends, knowing that it would be eaten, even though his belief was pinapple and rice were for puddings only. TAURANGA SPECIAL. 1.1/2lb,[750grams]stewing steak, 1 small tin pinapple pieces, 2 finely chopped onions,small tin condensed Tomato soup, plus 1can water, seasoned flour. METHOD. 1. cut steak into bite size pieces. 2.Place flour in a plastic bag with salt and pepper and steak cubes. 3. shake bag to coat meat. 4.Place meat in casserole dish with pinapple,juice,onion and soup. Rinse out can with water and add to casserole.5.Add a dash of worstershire sauce. 6 Place in oven 350f[160c]for 2 hours checking occasionally and giving it a stir. Serve with lashings of mashed potatos and peas, or the favorite of mine RICE of your choice.

Something Simple

SOMETHING SIMPLE

My feet are dancing
at the end of the bed,
nails clothed in pink
they pirouette!

Suntrapped ironed sheets
sooth the soul
while choreographed
feet swan about
when I should
be cooking tea!

That's my answer to Byron's posted request of when are we opening the Egg and Camel Cafe!!

Here's an easy fruit cake recipe which someone gave me but I can't remember who. sorry!

RARO CAKE

1 kilo of mixed dried fruit
1 packet of Raro drink made up to a litre. I used passionfruit and pineapple, but orange would be just fine.
2 cups of S.R. flour

Make up the packet of drink in a bowl and soak the fruit in it over night.
Next day mix in the flour and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours on 150c or 300F

For abit of a surprise add half a bar of cooking chocolate smashed up before adding the flour.

"Fill the gaps pud"

When my sister and myself were small in the post war years, our Mum would make a fruit sponge pudding she called "fill the gaps" pud. For years I thought this was the title of this pudding . Before she passed ,it was talked about by my oldest son who had had this pudding served by myself to him,often with icream , or cream and then the true receipe was revealed. My youngest son gave me apples off a very old apple tree at his property. I made an apple fruit sponge and so the legend goes to another generation, as his 14 month old daughter just loved it . APPLE OR FRUIT SPONGE PUDDING. Half fill a pudding dish or pie dish with stewed fruit or tinned peaches,apples or frozen fruit of your choice. SPONGE FOR TOP. 4oz Butter. 4oz sugar.1 egg. 2tablespoons milk. 4oz flour. 2teaspoons Baking Powder. Cream butter and sugar,add egg and milk and beat well. Add sifted flour and baking powder and pour over fruit. Bake about 3/4hour at 190oC,{375oF} . Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve hot. Great cold the next evening if there is any left. The other mother-in-law has made this with fresh peaches off the peach treeand thanked me for the wonderful pud.

'A Truck Carrying Eggs has Rolled South of Kaikoura

A truck carrying eggs rolled south of Kaikoura
sometime last year, radio news reported.

So I'm thinking of this eggy subject above -
it's like my writing, that's sure not sunnyside up.
When rhythm is called for stressed or unstressed,
I'm more than stressed, let it be said!
Which emotion, happy or sad, joy or dread
do I express?

Colours! I've written no colours, perhaps I'm drab,
but eggs are yellow, orange and white, speckled and brown,
a red dot sometimes. They don't smell unless they're bad, oh!
What if the tarmac was hot, egg on black, opposing the AA
sign, that they said got smashed. Kaikoura, now that's a name,
whales to watch, waves to shame. Alliteration, that's my game.
A rhyme! I love it when I'm going to reach my poetry/recipe
deadline on time!!

Savoury Hot Cakes
4 tablespoon of SR Flour
1/2 teasp. of tumeric
Salt
Teasp of Fenugreek leaves or coriander
1 Egg, a little milk.
Beat well and add
1/4 -1/2 chopped onion
1/4 -1/2 grated carrot
A big handful of finely sliced silverbeet (chard) or spinach.

Cook in a hot frying pan in spoonfuls, turning over when lightly brown
on the underside. Very nice with lemon yoghurt or sour cream.

Desert for Christmas Dinner

For more than 20years,Aunty , myself, and a group of friends, have been producing Mid Year Christmas Dinner. Orginally for a fundraising gimmick, where we fed and entertained 100plus people, to a more orderly 35 in my home. Each year there is the challenge of new dishes to make and try. This is one that proved very popular. OREO MOUSSE PIE CRUST; 2 packets Oreo Biscuits crushed. {350 grams} 75g melted butter. To make the crust, combine the crushed biscuits with the melted butter. Press into a pie plate. Chill in the fridge while making the filling. MOUSSE. 350g cream cheese, 180g sweetened condensed milk, 170 dark chocolate , melted, 1 cup cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1pkt Oreo biscuits halved. MOUSSE. Whisk the cream cheese until aoft. Mix in the condensed milk and melted chocolate. In a separate bowl,whisk the cream and vanilla essence, until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Pour half of the mixture over the biscuit crust. Place the halved Oreo biscuits on top of the mixture then pour the remaining mixture on top. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until it is set. Serves 8 to 10

Why the egg and camel?

Kate asked why the egg and camel?
Answer from aunty: watched an Aussie tv doco
on townies in tents in the outback.
We were somewhat perturbed at the cooking over a campfire
of a Kangaroo. Especially the tail which was served up like a huge oxtail. Ugh!
We thought we could do better than that and out of the blue
the egg and camel was born!

Hummus Spread

Which came first -
the camel or the egg?

The camel, an eastern,
biblical proportioned kind of creature,
man's best friend in the desert, portrayed vividly
in Suzanne Fisher Staples
'Daughter of the Wind'
(family life in the desert), which I've read.

To be savoured in company,
the egg, plus tomato and bacon,
latter day hash browns -
best in a London Caff.

The egg, housed with 11 others
in a cardboard box is now
removed from hay and grass,
plus its parents, the hen and cock.

Maybe the camel wins,
bearer of wives and kings.
But, to the egg,
in its protective shell,
it's the seed of creation
that gels!

This next recipe is small,
but protein filled.
Hummus Spread
for plain biscuits, a sandwich
or toasted triangles of pita bread.

Mash one drained tin of chick peas
Add 1 teaspoon of cumin
Plus 3 - 4 chopped dried apricots
Some chopped parsley
One chopped, deseeded tomato
And a good dash or two of chilli sauce.
Mix well and keep in fridge in airtight container.

Kornies Biscuit Recipe From Mum's Book.

This is from the Fourth Edition July, 1938 Souvenir Book of Cookery Recipes, New Zealand Dry Cleaning Co. Ltd. Mum reduced the amount of sugar because of the fruit used. So technically it is an orginal recipe . "Kornies"
6oz butter ,1cup flour ,1/4cup sugar, 2teaspoons baking powder , 1cup dates or saltanas,{ we use saltanas },1egg ,2cups cornflakes,1teaspoon vanilla,a little milk. METHOD: Cream butter and sugar,add egg and other ingredients, mix to a stiff consistancy. Spread cornflakes onto a plate, board, or lunchpaper,and roll teaspoon lotsof mixture in it. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a moderate oven. And ther it is , easy to make great for lunchboxes or morning teas at work!!!!!.

Recipes She Said

Recipes she said,
her mother's
grandmother's.
A book I said -
some years ago.
Blogging my niece
introduced me to.

A blog, nanaglenn
and auntynga's
old fashioned recipes.

'Kornies' she said
appeared at school.
The maker called them
something else. The
fashions are coming
round again,
full circle,
just like us!