Chocolate Slice

Another one of my favorite treats growing up was this chocolate slice. It had been a long time since I had eaten it and while looking through a cookbook I recently remembered it and so called my mum for the recipe. I had forgotten how quick and easy it was to make. This is the perfect throw together slice to take to friends or family or for a special lunchbox treat.

Chocolate Slice


250 gms butter plus more for greasing pan
1 cup sugar
1 tab Golden syrup- light corn syrup can be substituted
2 tab cocoa
1 tsp vanilla essence to taste
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup coconut (I used sweetened flakes as it was all I could find)
2 cups of flower

Place butter, sugar, golden syrup, cocoa and vanilla essence in a pot/saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add baking powder, coconut and flour and mix
Place in greased dish 13x9. Bake for 10 mins only at 350 F. When cold ice with your favorite chocolate frosting. You really need to give this a few hours to set up before cutting it. If you don't it will be very soft and though delicious will not cut into neat squares.

La'ai's Samoan Sapasui or Chop Suey

Chop Suey is a dish that I have loved for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure when the first time I ate it was or whether I first had it while living in New Zealand or if I first ate it in Australia. Either way it would have likely been prepared by a New Zealand Maori native or a Samoan or Tongan islander native. Growing up in both New Zealand and Australia I would say that there was a fairly strong Maori/Samoan/Tongan influence in my life. Whether it be friends, family, food or church, the islands were always present in one shape or form. This is one of my favorite island dishes for sure. Before making this dish this time around, I hadn't eaten it since I lived in Australia so I was excited to have it once again. It didn't quite look like I remembered but it tasted spot on. Ahhh the islands.

Chop Suey
http://polynesiankitchen.blogspot.com



2 lbs. chopped beef (chuck steak) or chicken (I used chicken)- cubed and cooked through
5 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tsp ginger – I used fresh minced ginger
1 cup soy sauce
1 half head of cabbage chopped(veggies can be fresh or frozen)
Approx 1 cup of baby carrots chopped
1 cup beef or chicken broth
1 bag of Long Rice Noodles (I just found a bag at my local Wal-mart)
3 Tbsp. oil

Prepare noodles – bring 3 quarts water to a boil. Add noodles and turn off heat. Soak noodles until softened.

Sauté meat in oil for 3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Add broth and soy sauce and cook 5 more minutes. Drain noodles and stir into meat mixture with vegetables. (You may have to add more liquid as needed as the noodles may absorb some of the liquid.

** Depending on your cut of meat, you may boil tougher cuts for ½ hour before sautéing.

Carrot and Parsnip Mash- Don't knock it till you try it!

Another favorite dish of mine growing up was carrots and parsnip mash. Whenever possible, my mother would serve this side with our weekly Sunday roast lamb. (Oh how I miss our roast lamb with mint sauce and gravy served with roasted potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potatoes. Mmmmmm). My father and brothers didn't like this side or rather my father didn't like it and my brothers refused to try it so my mother and I were the only ones who would eat it. I really could eat this every day and actually prefer it to mashed potatoes. When my mother came over for dinner on Mothers Day I made this side to serve with our meal and as usual my brothers wouldn't touch it nor would my mother’s husband or my husband. That was fine by us - we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Carrot and Parsnip Mash


Ingredients
Roughly 5 medium sized carrots
Roughly 2 medium sized parsnips
1 tablespoon of butter
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method
Cut the carrots and parsnips into fairly small pieces and either boil in a small amount of water or steam until soft. Drain off the water, add butter and salt and pepper. Using a potato masher, mash as you would potatoes.

Chocolate Ripple Cake/Log aka Chocolate Icebox Cake

Growing up this was one of my most favorite desserts. I remember eating this as a kid and begging my mother to make it. Last week when I was planning my Mothers Day dinner menu I remembered this dessert and wondered if there was any way I could make it here in the states (you will see why). Once I had in my head that I wanted to have this dessert for Mothers Day there was no stopping me.

In Australia this dessert is made with a cookie/biscuit called a chocolate ripple biscuit (hence the name). You can't get chocolate ripple biscuits here in the US and I had had no luck finding a substitute that would work at any of my local grocery stores. I couldn't even find a recipe to make the cookie from scratch to use in this dessert. I spent a good part of Thursday and Friday last week online trying to find a substitute for the cookie I needed. At last I had found it. Now if only I could find this cookie in the stores. I read countless stories from people online who could not find this particular cookie as Nabisco doesn't widely sell them anymore and MOST grocery stores don't keep them on the shelf. I thought this was an Australian/New Zealand dessert until I started my online research. It turns out that this cake actually originated in America. I was lucky enough to find this pricey cookie at an Albertsons in downtown Salt Lake City. When I did find them I almost cried. I was so excited to make this childhood favorite. It was everything we remembered it to be and my Mothers Day dessert was a success!

A little history: An icebox cake (American), zebra cake (British), or chocolate ripple log (Australian) is a dessert consisting of whipped cream and chocolate wafers. The back-of-the-box recipe on Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers indicates that the wafers are stacked to form a log with whipped cream cementing them together, and then the log is laid on its side. A second log is formed and the two are set side-by-side and more whipped cream covers the exterior. The cake is then left overnight in the refrigerator (or "icebox)." The wafers absorb moisture from the whipped cream and the whole can be served in slices. The dessert is usually served by cutting it into slices at a 45 degree angle, so bands of chocolate and cream are visible across each slice. The traditional wafers are the Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, but they can be hard to find so other cookies are often substituted.

Chocolate Ripple Cake/Log aka Chocolate Icebox Cake


1 box of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers - pictured below
2 Cups of heavy whipping cream - whipped
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Method:
Add vanilla to cream and whip. Once cream is whipped use a knife or spatula and spread each wafer with a generous amount of cream. Stand the biscuits on edge on a tray, pressing them together to form a log.



Cover the whole lot with cream. I also crushed some oreos and sprinkled them on top.





Place in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight (overnight is best). You have to allow enough time for the cream to soften the cookies for a cake like consistency.
Cut on an angle to serve. This dessert is VERY rich so I chose to serve mine with some fresh strawberries.

This is the cookie that is used in this dessert in the US.


An image of the US version of the dessert- Chocolate Ice Box Cake. I love the shape and design of this cake. Though I think visually it is more appealing, I wonder about the consistency of the cake. I would think that if the cookie isn't completely covered in cream it wouldn't soften.

Australian/New Zealand Pavlova or "Pav"

Ok so I'm not going to get into who the whole Australian/New Zealand Pavlova debate. My father is an Australian, My mother is a New Zealander, two of my brothers were born in New Zealand, I have lived in both Australia and New Zealand and grew up eating pavlova. I feel like I am linked significantly enough to both countries. Hence I feel no need to weigh in on or even discuss where this delicious dessert originated. Bottom line- there is nothing like a good pav.

Like I said, I grew up on these things. My mother was known for her amazing pavlova’s and boy did she know how to make them. They were always perfect. This past Monday I received a request from my dad to make a pavolva for him to take to his school (he is a vice principal at a high school) for the kids to try. I had wanted to try my hand at making a pav for a while but just hadn't done it yet. So when my dad asked me to make one I was nervous. What if it didn't work out? I had never made one in Utah and where I am from in Australia we don't have to contend with altitude issues and it is much much more humid than Utah. I thought both of these factors would definitely come into play. I employed the help of my mother in law who has made a few pav’s in her time (in Utah). She got her recipe from a lady in Australia while she was on a trip there a few years back. This lady had also lived in Utah at some point in time and perfected this recipe while she lived here in Utah.

I didn't have much notice to make this pav so it wasn't perfect, at least it didn't look perfect. My dad however assured me that it tasted awesome, had all the right textures of a regular pav and the kids all flipped out over it. You will notice in my pictures that my pav has a golden color to it. I'm not sure why that is. My mothers pavlova’s were always pearly white but my mother in law said that he pav’s have always been this color. Another thing that wasn't quite right about this pav was that it was a little more crumbly around the edges. My mother’s pav’s always looked like a soft billowy cloud with smooth edges. I think the reason my edges were more crackly was because my eggs were still too cold (they HAVE TO be room temperature!). Anyway, other than some time constraints and my eggs being a little too cold I can now say I have made my first Utah pav. More than ever I am excited now to mess with this recipe in order to try and perfect it. I may just try again this weekend. I'm on a mission.

You will notice my pav is covered with strawberries and kiwi fruit. This is how we ate them growing up. A pav just wouldn't be a pav to me if it wasn't covered in fresh whipped cream (none of that fake crap) and covered with strawberries and kiwi fruit!

Australian/New Zealand Pavlova or "Pav"


5 egg whites (must must must be at room temperature. Ideally get them out in the morning and make the pavlova later on that day)
pinch of salt
1 cup of white castor sugar (to make castor sugar put sugar in a blender and blend until fine)- see note below
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Beat egg whites and pinch of salt until stiff. You want to beat them until they look like they couldn't get any stiffer and then beat them some more after that. This is key!

Once the eggs whites are stiff stiff stiff, slowly begin to add the sugar.

Once all the sugar is added, fold in cornstarch, vanilla and vinegar.

Place on a baking sheet covered in foil and place in the oven. My mother in law has found that she has had better success if she places the pavlova mixture in a tall pile as opposed to spreading it out. It will naturally spread out as it bakes and cools in the oven.

Bake the pavlova at 300 degrees for 25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 275 degrees (leave pav in the oven during this process). Bake at 275 for 50-60 minutes. Turn the oven off and let the pavlova cool in the oven. Both my mother and mother in law leave it in the oven over night to cool.

Apple or Any Fruit Sponge

The recipe book my mother used the most growing up was her Edmonds Cookbook. This is another childhood favorite of mine that I enjoyed eating and making as a kid. To me this would be considered a comfort food. Who doesn't love a warm, fruity, baked, pudding served with vanilla ice cream? YUM!!!!!

I like this dessert best with peaches or apricots. I happened to have some canned peaches from my mother in law in my pantry so that is what I used to make this delicious dessert.

Apple or Any Fruit Sponge
Edmonds Cookbook


Ingredients
3 cups of fruit of your choice (I used canned peaches leaving out most of the juice)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 egg
1 cup of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

When the oven is to temperature, place fruit (cut into bite sized pieces) and about half a cup of the juice from the fruit into a baking dish (I used a cornware dish). Bottled or canned fruit is best for this recipe. Frozen or fresh fruit doesn't have enough juice. Place fruit in the oven.



While the fruit it warming in the oven, in a bowl cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Once combined sift in flour and baking powder. Mix well. Add milk and mix until all ingredients are combined.

Remove fruit from the oven. Take large spoonfuls of the mixture and place over the top of the warm fruit.



The batter will spread and cover the fruit as it bakes.





Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. ENJOY!

The BEST Honey Chicken- My favorite dinner growing up

Everyone has a favorite meal. My favorite meal growing up was my mothers honey chicken. I loved it then and I love it now and it has since become one of my husbands favorite dishes too. It is the kind of dish my mother would often make for guests when they would come over for dinner and I have done the same. I am yet to find anyone who doesn't LOVE it. This recipe makes for a moist, fall off the bone chicken with a wonderful sauce that will leave you wanting to lick your plate.

This dish can be served over rice or pasta noodles. My favotite way to serve it is over hot buttery noodles. This recipe makes a fair amount of sauce. For me there is nothing like honey chicken served over a bed of hot buttery noodles swimming in the honey sauce. If you try this recipe I guarantee you will not be dissapointed.

I'm not sure of the name of the cookbook that this recipe came from. I scribbled the recipe down when I was preparing to leave home to move to the States as I knew it was a dish I would make time and time again. For me this is another comfort food.

Honey Chicken

Easily Serves 6 people (see note below)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup of honey
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
4 teaspoons of worcester sauce
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of grated green ginger (I used the minced kind you can find in a small glass jar at the supermarket)
2 cups of chicken stock (or 2 cups of water and two chicken boullion cubes crushed)
6 teaspoons of cornflour
1 tablespoon of water
Chicken drumsticks or other bone in chicken meat (I prefer drumsticks)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken in 13X9 baking dish and cook for 40 minutes. While chicken is cooking prepare sauce.

In a medium sized saucepan melt butter. To melted butter add honey, soy sauce, worcester sauce, lemon juice, ginger and stock stir to combine. Once combined mix cornflour and tablespoon of water in a separate container to make a paste. Add cornflour mixture to saucepan and with the heat on medium high stir sauce mixture until the sauce begins to thicken. The sauce will thicken to a runny gravy time consistency but will continue to thicken in the oven once you pour it over the chicken.

Once the chicken has cooked for 40 minutes remove the chicken from the oven and pour the sauce over the top of the chicken. Put the dish back in the oven and cook for another 40 minutes. The longer you let the chicken cook with the sauce, the more tender the chicken will become.

Serve chicken over a bed of your favorite noodles. ENJOY!

You can almost see the chicken bubbling in this picture. I took this photo right as I pulled them out of the oven.


***note***- This recipe makes enough sauce to cover a full 9X13 pan full of chicken with enough sauce for all to enjoy over noodles or rice. In my 9x13 pan I was able to fit 11 drumsticks. This amount can easily feed 6 adults allowing them to have 2 chicken drumsticks each.

Banana Delight- A Childhood Favorite Revisited

Growing up my mother would on occasion make this yummy dessert. I always loved it and remember as a kid begging my mum to make it often. My mother told me that the original recipe came from either a New Zealand or an Australian Woman’s Day Magazine. In the move from Australia to the US the recipe was lost so this week I sat down to see if I could re-create this childhood fave to share with my own little family. Thankfully this recipe is extremely simple and so with the help of my mother and a little messing around in the kitcheb Banana Delight is BACK! My husband and son loved this and that made me extra happy.

There is just something about sharing a childhood favorite with my own child and my sweetheart. In a funny way it helps me feel like I am connecting two worlds. The one I knew growing up in Australia and the one I live in now in the US.

Banana Delight
By Nats


Ingrediants
4 large ripe bananas- mashed (You don't want them to be green, but they can't be to banana bread stage either)
8 ounces of cream cheese- softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 pint of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1. Mash the bananas using a fork and set aside.

2. In a bowl combine cream, sugar and vanilla essence. Whip until the consistency of whipped cream. Set aside

3. In a separate bowl combine softened cream cheese and lemon juice. Using a hand held mixer blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Add whipped cream mixture to cream cheese mixture and fold just to combine. Once combined fold in mashed bananas and powdered sugar.

Growing up we always ate this dessert as is, however, since I am a lover of all things graham cracker crust I served mine over a graham cracker crust (see below).

Prepare graham cracker crust- I actually cheated and used the mini graham cracker crusts- see below. I love these and always try to keep some on hand.

To make your own crust- process graham crackers in a blender, add some melted butter and cinnamon. You want the mixture to stick together when you combine it. Press into the bottom of any dish and refrigerate until set.

For the Crust
Graham crackers
Unsalted butter (approx 2 tbl spoons)
1 tsp of cinnamon- You can adjust this to your taste.

Australian Pikelets - A snack time favorite

Growing up in both Australia and New Zealand, one of my favorite snack time treats was pikelets. To most they look simply like a mini pancake but to me they taste like home. Though similar to the pancake we rarely ate these at breakfast time, but rather enjoyed them as an afternoon or after school snack. I like them warm or cold but I think that they are best served warm with a spread of butter and topped with whipped cream and jam. If you have ever tasted New Zealand butter or cream (or most foods for that matter) you know it's the best in the world! These little treats are slightly more dense than the average pancake and due to the amount of sugar in them tend to be a little sweeter. What can I say I love them. More than that I love that my little boy loves them too.



Pikelets

Ingredients
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk (approx)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ounce butter (optional)

Directions

Beat the egg and sugar until thick and add with the milk to the sifted flour, salt
and baking powder.

Add the melted butter last.

Mix until smooth and cook in spoonfuls on a hot greased griddle or frypan.

Anzac Biscuits- YUMMMMMMMM!

I have much to be thankful for. One thing I am thankful for is the fact that I am not a HUGE cookie fan. Food is tempting enough, when I don't HAVE to have something I am grateful. That being said however, there are three types of cookies that are dangerous for me to have in my house, because I could literally eat the whole batch without a problem. The first kind is homemade Oreo Cookies, the second is Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies and the third is Anzac Biscuits. Anzac Biscuits were my favorite cookie growing up in Australia and I had forgotten about them until just recently. Like most cookies Anzac's can be soft and chewy or firm and crispy. I like mine moist and chewy. They are the perfect cookie0- soft, buttery with a heavenly oaty flavor.

On Saturday my sister Shanna came over and we had something of a bakeathon at my house. We love to get together on Saturday's and try new recipes. Shanna loves Oatmeal cookies so I knew she would love my Anzacs. They are so simple and fast to make. Try them some time!

A little history on Anzacs- Anzacs are a traditional Australian and New Zealand biscuit (ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) and they were used in wartime (specifically WWI) as a nutritional snack that would survive the trip over to the war front. Now, they are traditionally eaten on April 25th which is ANZAC day (the equivalent of Veterans day). But I say you can eat them WHENEVER you want too. I made them on both Saturday and again yesterday. For my hips sake, I'm going to need to tuck this recipe away again for a while.

Anzac Biscuits
Donna Hay "Modern Classics Book 2"

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup shredded coconut (try the unsweetened variety)
2 Tbs. golden syrup (available at world market in the USA and other stores that specialize in English food and ingredients)-Luckily when I moved to the states my Mum sent me over with 5 jars of the stuff. Thanks Mum!
4oz butter
1/2 tsp. bicarb soda- in US this is just baking soda. It is the same thing we just use the long name
1 Tbs. hot water

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl place the oats, flour, sugar and coconut and mix with a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients.

3. Place the butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan over low heat, and let them melt together.

4. In a small bowl stir the hot water and bicarbonate soda together.

5. Pour the water and bicarb soda mixture into the butter mixture. It will froth up-don’t panic.

6. Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients.

7. Mix well using a wooden spoon.

8. Using a tablespoon to measure out the amount place 1 Tbs of the mixture in your palms and then roll together into a ball. Place on the baking trays with enough room for expansion (these do flatten out quite a lot).

9. Bake for between 10-15 min (check after 10min). I cooked mine for 12 minutes max. These will continue to cook a little after you pull them out of the oven. The longer you cooke them the harder they will become.

10. Allow to cool for 5 min and then remove the biscuits and place on a wire rack to cool down completely.

A catch up blog- Crispy Chicken Wraps and Australian Sausage Rolls

With our little family being sick for a couple of weeks before Christmas I hadn't had much time to sit and blog. I have made a couple of new things recently that were yummy and I thought were worth the mention. I am so glad the sickness and Christmas is over and am looking forward to some quieter days ahead.

My favorite new lunch item to make is these Crispy Chicken Wraps. I found the recipe on My Kitchen Cafe and fell in love with them. They are really easy to make and very very tasty. Imagine warm, crispy tortillas filled with creamy cheesy chicken. If I could have these for lunch every day I would.



Crispy Chicken Wraps
adapted from Cook's Country

**To prevent the wraps from unrolling during cooking, be sure to start them seam-side down in step 3.

1/3 cup mayonnaise, light or regular
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 scallions, sliced very thin
2 celery ribs, chopped fine (I omitted these due to my husband's non-celery preference)
2 tablespoons sour cream, light or regular
2 teaspoons hot sauce (this does not make them spicy but adds great flavor!)
1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded into bite-sized pieces (about 3 cups)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (the sharper the better, in my book)
4 (12-inch) flour tortillas

1. Whisk the mayonnaise, cilantro, scallions, celery, sour cream and hot sauce in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to combine.

2. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open. Spray the tortillas all over with cooking spray.

3. Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. I melt a little butter in the skillet just for a little added color and flavor. Arrange 2 wraps, seam-side down, in pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve warm.

Australian Sausage Rolls



These are one of my all time favorite Aussie snacks not only to eat but also to make. Super easy and very tasty these never last long once they hit the plate. There are quite a few recipe variations out there but this is one I came up with a few years back when I still lived in Oz. My family always loved it when I made these and I am always delighted when my brothers request that I make them for them now. I have made them a few of times since I have lived in the States for work and family parties and they never disappoint. This picture is not of my sausage rolls. I just discovered that I don't have my USB cord to upload my pics so this one will give you an idea until I post a picture of the ones I recently made.

Australian Sausage Rolls

2 packages of Jimmy Dean Mild sausage (You could use whatever Brad you wanted)
1 Medium sized onion (**see note**)
5 tbls spoons of your favorite dried herb mix (I just eyeball it and quit when I think it is well seasoned)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pkg. (2 sheets) Pepperidge Farms puff pastry sheets
Butter (for brushing sausage rolls prior to baking)

Mix together in a bowl; sausage meat, minced onion, dried herbs, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Roll out pastry sheets as directed on box. Cut each sheet into 4 long vertical strips and then cut those 4 strips horizontally so that you have strips of pastry that are approximately 5 inches long and 2 inches wide. Using a little more than a tablespoon of meat mixture, place meat in center of piece of pastry. Fold each side in toward the center and place seam down on a greased cookie sheet.

Brush sausage rolls with melted with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Sausage rolls can be eaten cold or reheated at 325 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Many Aussies like to eat these hot with a little tomato sauce or Ketchup. I however like these best at room temperature and like them all on their own.

**Note**- Though my husband and I like the taste of onion, neither of us is a big fan of big chunks of onion in anything so when I make my sausage rolls I mince the onion in my food processor. This is purely our preference.

I promised to post some pics of my own sausage rolls when I got around to uploading them from my camera. See below.