coconut sweet-slice

Originally this was intended to be Caramel Slice from my Kitchen Classics Picnic Hamper cookbook, but due to impatience and decidedly not enough coconut, I created my own desert. Hah.

125g / 1 c. self-raising flour
90g / 1 c. dessicated coconut
115g / 1/2 c. superfine sugar I used standard sugar
125g unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 tins of sweetened condensed milk
20g. unsalted butter
4 T. honey
40g. dessicated coconut

Topping
approx. 1 c. toasted coconut

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a shallow tin of your choice and line with baking paper, leaving thepaper hanging over the two long sides.

Sift the flour into a bowl, then mix in the coconut and sugar. Add the melted butter to the bowl and stir thoroughly. Press firmly into the tin and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Allow to cool.

To make the filling, put all the ingredients into a saucepan over low heat. Slowly bring to boil, stirring constantly, and let slightly caramelize. Quickly poor over the cooled base, spreadin evenly. Bake for 10 - 13 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the coconut in a frying pan over low heat, stirring constantly. Set aside. Remove tin from oven, top with coconut and place in fridge to set for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, lift the slice form the tin and cut into pieces.


***this is so rich that a domino sized-slice is MORE than enough. VERY coconutty, sweet and goopy...delicious.

Faux Pot pies - both chicken and ground beef

So this evening I made a "pot pie" with chicken - it was some tasty!! Did it in my clay deep dish pie plate at 400 until the top was brown. It was really good!

1 chicken breast diced fine - small bite sized pieces
1 rib diced celery
1 small onion chopped
olive oil and butter
1 c VE Chicken Stock prepared
1 can Campbell's cream of celery soup (could use mushroom or chicken or whatever cream soup you have on hand)
1/2 tsp VE Pot Herbs
VE Herb & Garlic Sea Salt & black pepper
3+ c mixed veg, or so - I just use the stupid store's nn mix of carrots, beans, corn, peas and lima beans
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1 c baking mix / bisquick

1) mix soup and stock with pot herbs ans S & P, set aside
2) melt 1 - 2 tbsp of oil and a pat of butter in a skillet and saute the chicken, and onions and celery, cook until onions are soft. add veg and saute for a bit more. turn off heat
3) add soup mixture to hot skillet and stir in gravy with veg and chicken.
4) pour the chicken/veg mix into the bottom of a pie pan (grease at your own discretion)
5) in a medium mixing bowl beat egg, add baking mix and milk. mix with a fork and pour over meat in pie plate.
6) bake at 400 until the biscuit top is brown ~ 30 minutes

A few weeks ago I did the same thing with ground beef. I used beef stock and Campbell's cream of mushroom soup (half fat) and instead of pot herbs, I used VE Herb and Garlic Dip mix and 3 onion dip mix instead of a real onion.

Lemon Chiffon Blueberry Squares

Yields 1 8 " square pan = 12 squares

2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp VE Lemon Chiffon Fruit Dip Mix
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 c all purpose flour
3 Tbps milk
3 eggs
1/4 c + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp VE Lemon Chiffon Fruit Dip Mix
1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C fresh or frozen blueberries

1) preheat oven to 350 F
2) prep crust by beating 2 Tbsp sugar and2 Tbsp lemon chiffon with butter until light and creamy. Continue to beat, gradually adding flour and milk until mixture resembles fine crumbles. - I did this in my stand mixer
3) press crust mixture into bottom of an ungreased baking pan or pyrex dish. Bake 15 minutes and cool on wire rack.
4) beat eggs with 1/4c + 2Tbsp sugar and 2 Tbsp lemon chiffon until foamy. Quickly mix in flour and baking powder. pour over cooled crust.
5) evenly sprinkle blueberries over top, allowing some to sink into batter
6) bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes or until set. cool and cut into squares

Was good, but I've had better lemon bars

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Have made this one for the kids a few times - very scrummy indeed! From dining alfresco

Serves 2

1 c milk
1/2 c fresh/frozen strawberries
1/2 banana - I have just pitched the whole thing in
1/4 c low-fat plain yogurt
1 Tbsp VE Summer Berry Fruit Dip Mix

blend and serve!

Peach Smothie

This one is tasty and would be even better frozen as a popsicle treat - yummy!!

2 c fresh or frozen peaches - I used canned
1 Tbsp VE Maple Spice Fruit Dip Mix
3/4 c orange juice
1 c low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 vanilla

put it in the blender and push the button fool!

Savoury Tomato Crumble

This is the other recipe we tried yesterday eve. This one is from the VE home comforts cookbook, and was tasty, but next time I would scoop out the tomatoes, chop up the pulp and mix it with about 80 % of the breadcrumb crumble and then put it back into the hollowed out tomato halv, then top with the remainder of the breadcrumb topping and bake it. I would make it again, but scooped!

4 large tomatoes, halved - we used 3
1/4 c olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp VE Bruschetta Herbs
VE S & P to taste
2 c fresh, soft breadcrumbs - Jody used a whole wheat bun
2 tsp VE Pesto Herb mix
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven to 400 F
2) gently toss the tomato halves with 2 Tbsp olive oil and the bruschetta herbs
3) arrange tomatoes cut side up in a shallow, oven-proof dish. Season with VE S & P, to taste
4) combine breadcrumbs, VE pesto herb mix and parmesan with remaining oil in a small mixing bowl
5) sprinkle tomatoes with breadcrumb mix. Bake for 20 mins, or until topping is golden.

Serving Tip - Serve with grilled fish or chicken breasts

Southwest Turkey Burgers

So Jody was over for dinner, and we tried out a few new recipes - this one and the tomato crumble. The burgers were tasty with a bit of zip - I thought so more than others, but Liam ate his whole burger, so ...

1 egg, beaten
2 Tbps (30ml) water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp (15 ml) Ve 3 onion Dip mix
1 Tbsp VE Louisiana Hot & Spicy dip mix
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/4 c breadcrumbs - I used dry
1/2 tsp each S & P

1) whisk 1st 5 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl - I used my stand mixer
2) mix in turkey, bread crumbs and S & P to taste
3) form patties - the book says 4 @ 1/2" Jody made 5 with 2 smaller for the little guys
4) Cook for 10 minutes on greased grill over med-high heat with lid closed, flip once and cook until thermometer is at 176 - I BBQed them to 185
5) Serve on crusty or whole wheat buns with lettuce, tomatoes, etc

Classic Potato Salad a la Erin

This one is from the dining alfresco VE cookbook. It was tasty with a bit of salt, and has the potential to be tarted up a bit from there. I made a few modifications noted in purple. I added way more potatoes but left the mayo unchanged and it was plenty gooey as it was and I also used less egg - personal preference.

1 c (250 ml) low-fat mayo
1 tsp (5 ml) Dijion-style mustard - optional - I used it
2 tsp (10 ml) VE Lemon Dilly Dip Mix
VE Sea Salt & VE pepper to taste - I used the VE Herb & Garlic Sea Salt
4 C (1 L) cooked diced potatoes - I used a hearty 1 L
4 green onions, sliced - I used 3 onion dip mix - a scant tsp
6 hard boiled eggs, sliced - I used 2 and diced them not too small

1) Whisk together mayo, mustard, lemon dilly, (3 onion if you're using it), S & P in a large bowl
2) add remaining ingredients, toss and serve. I think I dressed it with a bit of VE Chives - next time I will add some Lousianna Hot & Spicy in the dressing and sprinkled for colour.

What's with no pictures?

Have been trying in vain for a bit now to post the picture that I took of the greek meal. Can't do it even in edit html mode. it's weird - what gives?

My Amazing Greek Meal !!!!!

So for dinner, I let myself go, and the result was an amazing greek meal that I really enjoyed (as did the guys) So we had greek salad, chicken souvlaki with taziki sauce, rice, veg, hummus and pita. yyyyyuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Greek Salad

VE Greek salad dressing (recipe from the side of the dressing mix bottle)
2 Tbsp Greek salad dressing mix
1/2 c olive oil
1/3 c red wine vinegar
Romaine lettuce clean and preped for salad
cucumber chopped rough
tomato sliced largish
red/yellow/orange/green pepper chopped
red onion
feta
black olives

or whatever you have in your fridge for salad

Toss lettuce and veg, olives and feta with dressing

Chicken Souvlaki (from the VE Greek with Gusto recipe selection cookbook)

1/4 c VE Chicken stock
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp VE Greek Seasoning
1 Tbsp VE Souvlaki Seasoning
4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breast cut into strips or cubes
baboo skewers, pre-soaked to prevent scorching

1. wisk the first 5 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
2. add chicken and toss to coat. Can be marinated in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 12 hrs.
3. Thread chicken on skewer (with red/yellow/orange/green peppers) Grill over medium heat - we BBQ'ed them.

Tzaziki Sauce (on the side of the Tzaziki seasoning mix jar)

1 C plain (thick) yogurt
1 1/2 Tbsp VE Tzaziki Seasoning
1/2 c grated cucumbers - drained
VE sea salt to taste

mix all together in bowl and let stand 1/2 hour before serving.

Hummus (from the side of the dip mix jar)

1 can (19 oz) chickpeas
2 - 3 Tbsp VE Hummus dip mix
3 Tbsp each hot water, lemon juice and olive oil
1/4 c tahini optional - I usually add this but was out tonight - I missed it.

Mix it all up in a food processor and let stand for 1/2 hour before serving with pita.


I also served rice and steamed mixed veg (green and yellow beans and carrots with some peas thrown in for good measure)

All easy and super tasty!!!

Tri-Colour Italian Pasta Salad

I wish I could claim this one but, to be honest, even though I made it, it came from an Epicure cookbook. Dining Alfresco (which I've made a surprising number of things out of now that I've paged through it again).

4 c bite-sized pasta (I used rotini as it is my pasta salad pasta of choice)
2 c broccoli florets
1 recipe prepared VE Verde Vinaigrette
1 red bell pepper, coarsely diced
1 green bell pepper, coarsely diced
2 c halved cherry tomatoes
1 c cubed mozzarella cheese
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta al dente.
Steam the broccoli until tender crisp and refresh under cold water. Drain and set aside.
Whisk Verde Vinaigrette into large bowl and toss with the rest of the ingredients to coat. Season as you wish.

I'm going to make this tomorrow for my lunches over the next couple of days.
K,J

Recipe request : Jody's pasta salad

Red alert! Jody, I am in need of one of your recipes, and after fruitless scouring the BBA in hopes you had posted it, I am left empty handed for my impending BBQ party.

As best I can recall, it was rotini, and had cherry tomatoes, raw brocoli and cubes of mozzarella cheese in some kind of yummy dressing. If it rings any bells, I would love to recreate this splendid dish!