Christine's Salmon Pasta Topping

I invented this recipe about half an hour ago, but it's based on many previous recipes I've done along similar lines.

It may not find favour with your household's eaters if they're not fond of gooey, not-very-chewy food. I made it tonight because I had a sore throat! But if you like soft foods, it's pretty nice.

Ingredients:

210g (7.5oz) can salmon (or you could use tuna, or even cold diced roast chicken)
125g (4.5oz) can corn kernels
White end of 1 spring onion (green onion / scallion)
Small stick of celery (about 15cm / 6 inches long)
1x heaped 20mL tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
100mL milk
1x 20mL tablespoon sour cream
2x 20mL tablespoons cream cheese (Philadelphia cream cheese, Philly cheese)
2x 20mL tablespoons grated (shredded) cheese - I used mozzarella but any hard yellow cheese would work
Water
NOTE: I used low-fat milk, light sour cream and light Philly cheese to bring down the calorie count. You could also use a light grated cheese, or you could make them all full-fat if you’re not counting calories!

Method:

1. Drain the tin of salmon and remove any vertebrae or other large bones.

2. In a small bowl, mash the salmon to break up any large lumps.

3. Finely slice the celery across the end, to make thin rainbow-shaped slivers.

4. Remove the roots from the spring onion, and starting from the white end, finely slice the first ~10 centimetres or up to the edge of the very green part. Don't use the green part.

5. Place salmon, celery, drained corn kernels and spring onion in a hot frying pan (oiled if it’s not a non-stick pan) and fry for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking or burning.

6. While the other ingredients are frying, place the milk in a small mixing bowl and add the sour cream and Philly cheese. Using a fork, mash the sour cream and Philly cheese into small lumps.

7. Add the grated cheese to the milk mixture and stir briskly.

8. In a small glass or cup, place the cornflour and enough water to cover the cornflour. You MUST add the cornflour first or it will form a hard lump. Stir thoroughly until the cornflour is dissolved.

9. At the end of the 10 minutes’ frying time, add the milk and cheese mixture to the frying pan and stir thoroughly until it is evenly mixed with the salmon mixture.

10. Allow the milk to heat almost to boiling point, then give the cornflour a final stir and add it to the frying pan (try to pour it around instead of all in one place). Stir briskly until the milk has thickened, then remove from the heat immediately.

I had half of this with some penne pasta (half a 250mL cup of pasta when uncooked) and that made a very satisfying meal, so this amount of salmon mixture with 1 cup of pasta would make a good meal for two.

Pineapple Punch

This recipe was picked up by my mother and her sisters in their university days, when they lived at Currie Hall, a student residence attached to the University of Western Australia. It's really simple, very refreshing and can be made alcoholic if you want it to be, although this version is non-alcoholic.

You can use any large serving (or even mixing!) bowl for this, but a proper punch bowl does add a nice touch.

Ingredients:

3 litres chilled pineapple juice
2 litres chilled lemonade (NOTE: this lemonade in the UK and Australian usage - the clear, fizzy, lemon-flavoured soda drink (for example, Sprite or 7Up) - not the drink made from lemons and sugar that is called lemonade in the US).
1 litre chilled non-alcoholic wine (I use a non-alcoholic white wine from the brand Maison; any will do, but obviously anything other than a white wine will change the colour of the punch from yellow to orange).
1 punnet strawberries

Method:

1. The night before you are having the punch, wash the strawberries, cut the ends off and place them in the freezer.

2. Pour the non-alcoholic wine, most of the lemonade and most of the pineapple juice into the punch bowl (I generally find that it can’t take all of these; your punch bowl may have the capacity to take all of the liquids. Go with your instinct, you really can’t go wrong lol).

3. Add the frozen strawberries to act as ice blocks.

4. Enjoy!

To make it alcoholic, you could use real wine instead of non-alcoholic wine, or you could use the original mixture and add vodka, white rum or another spirit to taste.

Help!

X and I are taking a break so I can get my bearings and learn to not rely on him so much. This means that I'm not going to have a kitchen for a while. I'd like to stock up my fridge with as much as possible, so I'm asking for recipes.

What we have to work with:
- Steel Cut Oats
- Lentils - both red and green
- Dried Kidney Beans
- Dried Navy Beans
- Dried Garbanzo/Chickpeas
- Lots of Broth
- Pasta
- Various cans of tomatoes, soups, mixes, etc.
- Tofu/Tempeh

I'll be running to the store for some frozen fruit and veggies, but I'd love any and all recipes you can provide. While I'm vegetarian, I'm quite adept at switching out meat for tofu, beans (which I hate at this point), or tempeh. Websites are great, personal recipes are better - I haven't time to really search them out. Thanks!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Or biscuits for UK and AUS people. I've made maybe 20 batches of those in the past few months - they are good! Recipe taken from here; metric conversion - from here.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (2 oz, 57 g) vegetable shortening
8 tablespoons (1 stick, 4 oz, 113 g) unsalted butter, soft but not melted
1 cup (220 g) packed* brown sugar
1/2 cup (100 g) white sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (AUS and UK: vanilla essence)
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (270 g) flour
1/4 teaspoon (1.25 g) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 oz, 340 g) chocolate chips

* Packed brown sugar is not a type of brown sugar (I don't remember who asked). 'Packed' means you don't just pour it into the cup but tightly press it in, in order to fit as much as you can.

Directions:

Cream shortening and butter together - preferably by hand with a fork. You shouldn't have a problem if the butter is soft enough.
Add brown sugar and white sugar and mix.
Add the egg, egg white and vanilla and mix.
Add flour, baking powder and salt [recipe says to sift flour, baking powder and salt together beforehand but half the time I omit that step].
Fold in chocolate chips.

* At this stage, you can make rolls of dough, cover with plastic wrap and freeze.

Take spoonfuls of dough, or cut circles from the frozen dough, and place on aluminum foil or parchment paper.
Leave some space between them because they expand a little.
This, and most other recipes I've seen, says to bake at 375 F (190 C) for 12 min or until tops are lightly brown. For my oven, tops get brown for 6 min at 350 F (175 C), so be sure to watch them. As with all cookies, rotate them halfway through baking.
Cool on a wire rack.

They remain soft on the outside for about a minute after you take them out of the oven, but do not get fooled into overcooking them! While trying to find the perfect temperature, I overbaked my first two batches and the cookies were crunchy throughout. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I like mine soft and chewy on the inside.

Jelenka's Crocodile

I am not talking about crocodile meat, but about this crocodile:


This is an interesting looking stuffed bread that is perfect for entertaining. Taste-wise it's nothing spectacular, but it makes a good presentation. Especially if yours is not as cross-eyed :o) as mine and its mug is less pig like.

For the crocodile body:

3 1/4 cups (500 g) flour
1 cup (250 ml) milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
A pinch of sugar
A pinch of salt
40 g fresh (compressed) yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast (that is four times the yeast normally needed for this amount of flour, but it works)

For the filling:

1 hard boiled egg, sliced
1 roasted pepper, cut into strips
200 g ham, chopped
100 g cheese, shredded/grated

* Or, put in whatever you have in the fridge - the filling is up for interpretation. Just make sure that the filling is cooked beforehand if needed.

Directions:

Knead dough using the pizza setting of the bread machine.

The pizza setting has much shorter time for rising than the regular dough setting. With this amount of yeast, the dough rises quickly!

It's important to have all of the filling prepared before the dough is done. Again, it rises quickly even at room temperature, so you need to work fast.

On a piece of aluminum foil and with the help of a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about 1.5 cm/ 1/2 inch thick

Arrange the filling in the middle along the long side of the rectangle.

To give credit where credit is due :), and because her pics are better than mine, here are the step-by-step instructions on how to make the croc, courtesy of Jelenka at http://www.eva.ru/

The pictures are pretty much self-explanatory, but ask me for translation if there is anything you don't understand. It looks way more complicated than it actually is.

Bake for 15 min at 325 F/162 C or until a toothpick inserted in the bread part comes out clean.



Edited to add: you cut it in slices across the shorter side and eat it like a regular stuffed bread.

Tai's Honey and Soy Mince

Serves: 6
Prep time: 10-15 mins
Cooking time: 30-40 mins

Ingredients -
500grams mince
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
2 cups water
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen beans
3 tablespoons cornflour

Directions -
Brown the mince over medium heat. Add water, soy sauce, honey and vegetables. Stir then simmer for 10-15 minutes. Slowly add flour (I do it a tablespoon at a time so that it won’t cause lumps) then simmer for another 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve with rice.


Note: Jason seems to think this would taste great with some garlic in it, I'm not convinced so refuse to put it in.

Mary's Hot Cocoa Mix

A friend of mine gave me this recipe. It's very easy and tastes really good, although it's not quite as sweet as store-bought mixes.

1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon hot milk*
Hot milk

Mix cocoa and sugar in a mug, then pour the tablespoon of milk into it. Mix it all into a thick syrup/paste. Fill the mug with the rest of the hot milk. Add more sugar if needed. It's great with a half-pinch of ceyenne pepper, too.

*You can use cow milk, goat milk, soy milk, rice milk, or even water.