Easy coconut rice pudding in the slow cooker.

5 handfuls of arborio rice

1/3 cup sugar (optional for sweetness)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

250ml cup coconut milk

700ml milk

Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Sultanas (optional)

Place all ingredients except sultanas in the slow cooker, stir and turn on low. Check every half hour or so and give it a stir. If it seems to have absorbed a lot of liquid, stir in a little more milk at a time. I didn't need to do this, but it's possible your slow cooker is different to mine. Leave it cook, testing the rice for doneness (I think mine took about 2 hours). When it seems nearly done, add the sultanas.

Serve warm to hot with ice-cream.

So easy!

Posted by Kelly of The Handmaden. Visit me for many more recipes, crafty tutorials, frugal Godly living and home education!

Baking for Sundays

Our family has developed the Lenten tradition of baking for Sundays. No baked treats are to be had during the week, so the excitement builds as the week progresses and ideas fly around for exactly what will be baked on Saturday to be consumed on Sunday.

This has to be my favourite chocolate cake recipe because it's simple enough, but a great deal tastier than your every day, run of the mill recipe. The recipe makes quite a large cake, so it would be suitable for dividing into round pans and sandwiching with cream or pour into a large square fruit cake tin.

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

           1 cup plain yoghurt

3/4 cup cocoa

200g soft butter

1 & 1/2 tspn vanilla extract

1 tspn bicarb soda

1/4 tspn salt

3 cups SR flour

1 cup of hot, strong espresso OR 1 cup hot water with 3 heaped tspns instant coffee

Place all ingredients in this order in a food processor for 1 minute. Place in greased baking tin (2 loaf tins or 1 20cm tin)
Cook at 160 degrees (C) for about 1 hour, use a skewer in the middle to test for readiness.

This goes really well in the freezer.

Tastes great with or without icing.

Buttercream icing:

I usually beat a couple of tablespoons of butter until creamy, then gradually beat in icing sugar (and cocoa if you want chocolate icing- food colouring if you want it coloured) until it starts to get very thick. You can also add a small dash of milk to make it more creamy or to make a larger quantity so you can add more icing sugar without it being too dry.

Enjoy!

Kelly @ The Handmaden.

Speculatius for the Feast of St Nicholas

Written by Sue Elvis

It’s not too late to bake up a batch of Speculatius to celebrate the Feast Day of St Nicholas...

1 cup butter

1 cup lard

½ tsp nutmeg

4 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

2 cups brown sugar

4 ½ cups sifted flour

½ cup sour cream

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ cup chopped nuts

• Cream the butter, lard and sugar together.
• Add sour cream alternately with sifted dry ingredients
• Stir in the nuts
• Knead the dough into rolls
• Wrap the rolls in plastic wrap, chill in fridge for a few hours or overnight
• Roll the dough thinly and cut into shapes
• Bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes
• Serve with warm mulled wine or just a plain glass of red!

We've made a huge batch of Speculatius. We'll enjoy some tomorrow on the Feast of St Nicholas. We'll freeze the rest and eat them at Christmas.

These biscuits are guaranteed to be very delicious.

PS To be totally accurate, my daughters did the baking. I just wrote the post!

How to Make a First Holy Communion Cake Big Enough for a Crowd

Written by Sue Elvis

Six year old Charlotte couldn't wait to receive her First Holy Communion. Everything had been arranged: she’d learnt her catechism, prepared for confession, tried on her white dress and veil. Only one more thing needed to be done: bake a celebratory cake.

Now there is nothing difficult about baking an ordinary sized cake, but what about baking a cake big enough to feed a crowd? Charlotte’s First Holy Communion took place at a homeschooling camp. There were thousands (really only a hundred or so!) children there. And all those children loved cake.

This is how we solved the huge cake problem:

I decided I would make a very simple cake using bought packet mixes.

I bought two large rectangular tins to bake the cakes in. (The kind used for roasting potatoes or chicken.)

I worked out how many packet mixes were needed for each large tin. To do this, I had to compare the capacity of one large tin to an ordinary sized cake tin, by filling the larger tin with water using the smaller tin as a measure.

I then decided how big a cake I wanted, using the large tin as my basic unit.

I can’t remember the exact measurements but let’s suppose…

One large tin equals 4 small cake tins…

And I wanted a cake 4 times the size of the large tin…

Then I had to buy 16 packet cake mixes.

Is this getting confusing? I feel like I'm doing a homeschoolers' maths problem…

I made up the cake mixes, poured them into the large tins and cooked them in the oven, two tins at a time.

I then wrapped each cooked-and-cooled cake in plastic wrap, and froze them until the day before the First Holy Communion.

Andy bought a large board from the hardware shop, and a packet of prepared white cake icing.

He designed some simple and appropriate decorations to go on top of the cake: a chalice, crosses, the Host… He drew them on baking paper and cut them out to make templates.

Andy then divided the icing into three pieces. One piece was coloured blue and one yellow, using food dyes. The third piece remained white. The icing was rolled out and the decorations were cut out using the paper templates. The decorations were then wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated.

On the morning of the First Holy Communion, we made up a large batch of simple butter icing: we creamed together softened butter and icing sugar to taste. (There are lots of recipes online.)

The thawed cakes were placed on the board. They were covered with the butter icing. The decorations were added to the top of the large cake. Voila! The cake was ready to be eaten after the First Holy Communion Mass.

Of course, if your cake doesn’t need to feed such a large number of people, and you want it to be very special, you could bake your cake from scratch. Here’s our favourite celebratory cake recipe.

You could also make a Confirmation cake the same way, using prepared icing Fruits-of-the-Holy-Spirit decorations. This is only a small cake but a larger rectangular cake could be made...

Or a baptism cake.

How about a simple wedding cake? This is the cake Imogen made for her big sister’s wedding. Each cupcake was decorated with silver balls and white icing flowers.

Charlotte’s First Holy Communion cake looked impressive. No one realised it was a packet mix cake. There was plenty for everyone. It was a great success. 

One very simple but delicious cake. And one very happy First Holy Communicant.

I blog at Sue Elvis Writes. Please visit to share more of my posts!

For the Ascension of Our Lord

A white chocolate mousse. Its simulates a cloud, right?

This is what I'm making tonight. This amounts fits seven wine glasses. 


Whip four egg whites until stiff.


Whip 300ml of thickened cream  with three tablespoons of icing sugar,  till soft peaks form. 


Melt 300g of good white chocolate. Gently fold together the chocolate, the cream and the egg whites. 


Spoon into wine glasses roughly, you want that cloud effect! Allow to set. Chill if desired. 

Lenten meals

For those giving up meat during some days of Lent..

.

Some of our family standbys -

Zucchini Slice
5 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted
375g zucchini, grated
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup grated low fat cheddar cheese
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm lamington pan.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Add the flour and beat until smooth, then add zucchini, onion, cheese and oil and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Peanut Butter Pasta ( ALSO NICE WITH RICE)
Dry pasta
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tbsp soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne (more if you like it spicy)
1/2 tsp black pepper
3-4 cups veggies (broccoli, peppers, carrots, peas, corn, etc), cut into bite size pieces - optional, sometimes we leave this out and just serve the pasta and sauce with lots of salad...

Cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, whisk together the peanut butter, hot water, and milk until smooth. Stir in the soy sauce, garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper. When pasta is almost done, add vegetables and cook for another couple of minutes. Drain and return to pot. Pour in the peanut sauce and toss well.

Nigella's Macaroni Cheese
500g macaroni cooked al dente
500g cheese chopped( low fat for me)
1 cup evaporated milk - but I usually just use skim milk
2 eggs
1/4 tspn of nutmeg ( but I usually just use paprika)

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Mix ingredients except pasta in blender. Pour into wide shallow dish that will fit ingredients. Stir in pasta.
3. Bake until melty around 10-15 minutes.

Nigella's Cheesy Risotto
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil
2 baby leeks (or fat spring onions), finely sliced
300g risotto rice
125ml white wine
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 litre hot vegetable stock
125g Cheddar, chopped

1.Melt the butter and oil in a medium-sized pan and cook the sliced baby leeks until they have softened.
2. Add the risotto rice and keep stirring for a minute or so, then turn up the heat and add the wine and mustard, stirring until the wine is absorbed.
3. Start ladling in the hot stock, letting each ladleful become absorbed as you stir, before adding the next one.
4. Stir and ladle until the rice is al dente, about 18 minutes, then add the cheese, stirring it into the rice until it melts.
5. Take the pan straight off the heat, still stirring as you do so, and spoon the risotto into warmed dishes.

Chana Dahl (yellow split peas) - we eat this with rice and veges

1tsp curry powder

3tsp salt
1tsp ground tumeric
5c water
1.5c chana dahl (or yellow split peas)
1clv garlic, peeled and chopped
1tsp red chilli powder (can substitute cayenne pepper)

1 onion
Instructions
Put the dahl in a big pot with five cups of water. Bring to a boil and remove any surface scum. Add the turmeric and ginger. Cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar, turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours or until the dahl is tender. ..I usually cheat and just bung this ll into the crocpot and cook on low all day....Most but not all of the water should be absorbed. Add the salt to the dahl, stir to mix. Heat some oil in a small frying pan over a medium flame. When hot, put in the curry powder. A couple seconds later, put in the garlic and onion. Stir and fry until lightly browned. Put the chilli powder into the pan. Immediately lift the pan off the heat and pour its entire contents into the pot with the dahl. Stir to mix.

Camembert Pasta. After Stations of the Cross. And with red wine. From Jamie Oliver's
Ministry of Food. For a special occasion that just happens to fall on a Friday in Lent. 

250g Camembert cheese

2 cloves garlic

1 sprig fresh rosemary

salt & pepper

olive oil

100g parmesan cheese

400g dried rigatoni

150g fresh spinach ( we used baby spinach leaves)

Preheat oven 180 degrees Celsius. Put Camembert in a small oven proof dish or bake in box. Lift off top and discard. Lay chopped garlic and rosemary on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Bake 25 minutes or until golden and melted.

Cook pasta in salted water until al dente. Add spinach to pan for about 10 seconds to wilt, drain, reserve some of the cooking water.

Return pasta and spinach to pan. Drizzle with olive oil, add grated parmesan. If too thick, add some of the reserved cooking water. Season. Remove cheese from oven.

Serve pasta in bowls. Drizzle the melted Camembert over the top of each serve.

Pizza for those Italian Saints

As we move through the liturgical year, we often find ourselves celebrating the lives of Saints of Italian origin.

As we cook our way through the liturgical year, we often find ourselves making Italian food.

Not a hardship at all for our family!

The trick for us is finding easy, quick, inexpensive recipes that all will eat.

Pizza is always a big favorite here.

And it is so much cheaper to make your own pizza.

With whatever toppings our family desires...tonight it was fresh tomato, herbs and bocconcini cheese...

So, here is the very easy, super simple pizza dough we make.

2 cups plain flour
1 x 8 g sachet of dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup warm water


Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and add oil and water.
Mix to a soft dough.
Knead on a floured surface until soft and pliable.
Return to the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes. The dough should double in size.
When it has risen, 'punch' the dough once to remove air bubbles.
Remove from bowl and knead gently for 1 minute.
Roll the dough out to desired size and add favourite toppings.

There you have it! A simple pizza dough and a start to this year's liturgical cooking.

Cooking with the saints...this week

A busy week of saints and cooking.

For how better to remind ourselves, our children, our families, of the saints and the feast days, than by reading, praying, attending Mass, talking...and eating together.

Building memories of the liturgical year... building a sense of the faith, a sensus fidei , a connection with the saints.

October 17... St Ignatius of Antioch...who wrote. " I am the wheat of Christ"... And we made whole wheat pancakes.

October 18.... St Luke....and jam tarts. Why tarts for St Luke? Traditionally in England, this feast falls in the midst of the Banbary festival and autumn Banbary (fruit ie fig and raisin) tarts are served.

October 19... St Peter of Alcantara, who, among other things, was the spiritual director of St Teresa of Avila. Avila Potatoes.

October 21.... Blessed Charles I of Austria ... And Austrian Coffee Cake for dessert.

October 22..... Blessed Pope John Paul II. A perfect day to try Polish recipes....Sweet Polish Cherry Cake?

October 23...... The Franciscan St John of Capestrano, who travelled with St Bernardine of Sienna, encouraging devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. This saint is often depicted with angels in the background. A delicious ending to the week of saints and of cooking...Self-Frosting Angel Cake.

A Spanish dinner for St Teresa of Avila

St Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church.

 The Holy Father spoke of St Teresa " as a true teacher of Christian life for the faithful of every time. In our society, which all too often lacks spiritual values, St Teresa teaches us to be unflagging witnesses of God, of his presence and of his action. She teaches us truly to feel this thirst for God that exists in the depths of our hearts, this desire to see God, to seek God, to be in conversation with him and to be his friends."

 In honour of St Teresa, we planned a dinner from Spain. Tonight we made Vegetarian Paella and Nigella Lawson's Spanish Omelette.

 I have to admit to being a Nigella- wannabe. I love her recipes; reading her cookbooks is an escape....she doesn't just give a recipe but draws a cosy picture.

 But if you, like me, are Not-Quite-Nigella, then perhaps try this Five Minute Spanish (Potato) Omelette ..from another NQN, with a very popular foodie blog....

 And if you like meat, try some other paella recipes . We have made Easy Paella and also Easy Chicken Paella in previous years, in honour of this saint.

 Most of all, enjoy your cooking and eating together for, in St Teresa's words.."From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us"

Ice Cream!

October 12 is the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar.

You can read more of this Marian apparition at St Maximilian Kolbe...the blog of the Militia of the Immaculata of Australia.

Our Lady appeared to St James the Apostle when he was in despair over few converts to Christianity. And his faithfulness in building a shrine in her honour was rewarded with the growth of Christianity in Spain.

A perfect day to remember St James with this dessert...Coupe St. Jaques. Literally, an ice cream cup for St James.

Fill parfait glasses with two or three different types of fruit, top with ice cream , pour over liqueur and syrup, and then top with whipped cream.

And say the litany of Our Lady!

If you want to make your own ice cream, here is a very simple recipe..and one that has never failed me.

Start with two cups whipping cream and one tin of sweetened condensed milk. Whip the cream to the stiff peaks stage. Add flavourings or add-ins to the condensed milk. Stir the condensed milk into the cream. Put in a covered container and freeze. I usually freeze overnight.

Simple and luscious.

Add-ins and flavourings? Chocolate chips, Nutella, nuts, peanut butter, coffee, vanilla, mashed banana or strawberries, dried fruit, glade cherries.....you name it!

Monastery Bread for St Bruno

St Bruno , with the encouragement of Bishop St Hugh of Greenoble, founded the Carthusian order of monks , their monastery being at Chartreuse.

I have been fascinated by monastery cookbooks in my time..simple meals to feed a large number of people with minimal fuss or cost.

Some of my favourites?

Well, I own this one....Twelve Months of Monastery Soups. Delicious soup recipes for wintry family dinners.

And what comes to mind, to eat with a monastery soup? Monastery bread, of course!

Simple, rustic, crusty bread.

On the feast of St Bruno, or some time this weekend, why not bake bread?

Here is a simple recipe for rustic, hearty, no knead bread....

No-Knead Bread

3 cups bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 3/4 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, ( overnight!) at warm room temperature.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 200 degrees. Put a heavy pot (I have used Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover and bake 30 minutes, then remove cover and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. And let it cool a bit before slicing!

Eat and enjoy, in honour of St Bruno.

Cooking for the Feast of St Francis

October 4.The feast of St Francis.

St Francis' ardent love of God merited for him the name of Seraphic.

What can we cook with our families on this feast?

Well, tradition holds that on his deathbed, St Francis asked for Frangipane cream or Moastaccioli (almond biscotti).

Desserts! Perfect to cook and eat together!

The book A Continual Feast, by Evelyn Birge Vitz, a great aide to celebrating the liturgical year with food , has this recipe for Moastaccioli:

1 pound blanched almonds (approx 500g)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon, or 1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
Approximately 1 cup flour

Chop the almonds very fine or coarsely grind in a blender.

In a bowl combine the nuts, honey, cinnamon, and egg whites. Mix thoroughly. Gradually stir in enough flour to form a thick paste.

On a lightly floured surface, knead the paste until smooth and stiff. Roll out to about 1/4 inch. Cut into diamond shapes, about 2 1/2 inches long. Place the diamonds on a lightly buttered and floured baking sheet. Let dry for 1 to 2 hours.

Bake in a preheated 250° F (150 degrees Celsius) oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until set. Do not let brown.
Enjoy with coffee, tea or hot Milo!

Dad's 4-word dessert recipe

By Anthony English

 

When Mozart was a boy he heard Allegri's Miserere once and was able to write down the entire piece from memory. When I was a boy, my dad made an exotic and novel rice dessert for us, and I (after some decades of reflection) was able to cook that very dessert and write down the recipe in four words.
Although my culinary skills don't always receive high praise, it occurred to me that perhaps it would be nice for my wife to have a night off cooking, and for my eight-year-old son to have a night on, with my assistance. We chose Saturday night. But the highlight wasn't the main meal. It was the dessert. More on that in a moment.

 A hand in the cooking

 One of the many benefits of cooking with your children is that you can look like an expert. It is time together, a lot of fun, and a chance for the usual cook to have time out of the kitchen (provided you set up barriers and sentries at the kitchen door). Another advantage is that the children are more likely to eat some food they've had a hand in (so to speak). And of course it's not doing the children any harm if they come into adulthood equipped with at least some rudimentary survival skills.

I recall that my own dad occasionally used to cook a two-ingredient rice dish for "sweets". It was a great novelty for us children when we heard we were having rice and currants. There were no recipes passed down from generation to generation, so when it came to explaining to my own son how to cook this exquisite delicacy, I had to wing it a little. As my son is an apprentice cook, with an apprentice chef to guide him, I had to make it simple. So here it is:

1. Boil rice.
2. Add currants.

Now I have to admit that that first instruction requires some skill to carry out, but it's not all that hard. And once the rice is boiled, even the most culinarily challenged should be able to cope with instruction number two. If you're scandalised at the simplicity of such a recipe, you can add another step, to make it look more professional:

3. Serve.

So my son and I made Dad's rice and currants dessert and served it hot. It was a real hit, probably as much for the novelty as anything. There are all sorts of variations you could add, but we started just with these two ingredients. It's a simple introduction to cooking for someone starting out.

At the end of a successful and simple dessert, everyone generally agreed that importing my son and me as guest chefs was a good idea. The children loved the rice and currants, and speculated on the difference between currants, sultanas and raisins without the help of Professor Google. The kitchen eventually got cleaned up [wise use of the passive voice here - Ed.] and best of all, my son asked me "what are we going to cook next Saturday?"