Recipes » The Best Nest

Cook Eat | No Bake Muesli / Granola Bars Recipe

Mar 192013

March 19, 2013 2 Responses »

Dave disappeared for a while on Saturday and when I found him again he was in the kitchen whipping up the first batch of what I’m sure will be a regular on the baking circuit – or non-baking actually!
See that pile of packaged muesli bars in the background? We have no less than five different varieties in our pantry at any one time! Ridic. I am probably the biggest consumer of the humble muesli bar in our house, yet they are always a super quick go-to snack for any of us in a hurry.

No Bake Muesli / Granola Bars

Fun_with_food

Ingredients

1 cup honey
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups rolled oats
2 cups of extras (eg coconut, choc chips, dried fruit)

In a large saucepan bring honey and brown sugar to a boil, constantly stirring. Turn heat to low, add peanut butter, mix until smooth.
When smooth remove from heat, add dry ingredients, mix until evenly coated.
Line 9 x 13 pan with baking paper and press mixture evenly into pan.
Refrigerate until firm then cut into desired size. Store in an airtight container.

Linking up with Ange at www.tallshortandtiny.wordpress.com for Fun with Food

Cook Eat | Tomato Chutney Recipe

Feb 192013

February 19, 2013 1 Response »

I have grown us a bounty of tomatoes this season, and despite our best efforts we are accumulating a bit of a back-log. Time for chutney.

Ingredients

1.25kg green or firm tomatoes chopped (I used some red ones also)
3 chopped onions
2 chopped apples
1/3 to 1/2 head of cauliflower florets broken into small pieces
2 cups of brown sugar
2 cups malt vinegar
1.5 tblsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
A good squirt of hot sauce eg Tabasco or a hot chilli chopped
2 tsp mustard powder

I took some liberties with the traditional Edmonds Tomato Chutney recipe as I love both Piccalilli and chutney, so I did what any off the cuff chef does and picked the bits I liked out of each recipe and combined the two!
Amaze.
This is one recipe I’m quite proud of and love seeing my family enjoy. It’s damn good and easy.

Method

Combine all ingredients into a preserving pan and bring to the boil stirring. Boil steadily, stirring frequently for maybe 1.5hrs until mixture is thick and jammy – until it doesn’t fall off a spoon, or a cracker!

Cook Eat | Tortilla Recipe

Nov 122012

November 12, 2012 1 Response »

Making my own tortillas has been on my to-do list since I moved to San Diego in 2003 and became forever addicted to Mexican food.
The gauntlet was laid on Friday night as Dave caught a shit-tonne of snapper and fish tacos were calling. There was nary a tortilla in the house.
It was time.
I did some googling, read some recipes and many reviews. The only way you can get a good feel for a recipe online is to read the reviews and take suggestions on board.
I found a good recipe and tweaked it as per reviews and my own experience with breads.
The result was authentic and amazing. These are like San Diego tortillas, not like Old El Paso. They are floury and flexible and taste like everything you want your carbs to be. We are hooked! I doubled this recipe and it worked like a charm.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup hot water
3 tablespoons olive oil (I used canola)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in hot water and oil. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10-12 times, adding a little flour or water if needed to achieve a smooth dough. Dough should be silky. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Divide dough into eight portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 7-in. circle. Shake off excess flour before putting in the pan.
In a large non-stick pan coated with cooking spray, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Keep warm. Yield: 8 tortillas.

Cook | Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe

Sep 232012

September 23, 2012 No Responses »

I found this recipe on another NZ blog Monkey Makes Three and it was perfect for a 9pm chocolate craving. Lonely nights with Dave away just make me want to eat arggghhh. And cook. I think about cooking all the time.

Any way, back to the recipe. I realise I may be a bit late to the party with mug cakes but how cool is a mug cake party any way? Mum reckons it comes out like a steamed pudding, can’t say I’ve eaten too many of those but it’s a good quick fix for those lacking in chocolate supplies!

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil
3-4 tbsp dark chocolate chips
dash of vanilla

- Mix the dry ingredients together.

- Mix in the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips.

- Evenly distribute mixture between 2 cups.

- Cook in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Tip into a bowl and eat.

Pineapple Coconut Goo Cake Recipe

Sep 112012

September 11, 2012 No Responses »

This is a no-good very BAD cake that you shouldn’t make if you are at all concerned with sugar, butter and all of those yummy things.

For the rest of you that like to live and eat cake, I give you this recipe that I discovered in my cousin-in-law’s lovely kitchen in Florida.

I made this as per the instructions however, it is so dang sweet that next time I will halve the sugar in the cake recipe, and divide the whole icing recipe and use a third. But see what you think,

CAKE INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

2 lg eggs

1 430gm can crushed pineapple

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup of chopped pecan {you don’t need this much}

1 cup desiccated coconut

ICING INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter

1 can condensed milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

MAKE THE CAKE

Preheat the oven to 175°c and flour a 13 x 9 x 2″ baking pan {I used a bundt tin}
In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt
Add eggs, pineapple and vanilla
Beat at med speed with electric mixer until combined
Bake for 30 min or until fork inserted into centre comes out dry
Using a wooden spoon, poke 1/2″ holes in top of cake at 1″ intervals
Pour icing over hot cake
Sprinkle with chopped pecans and coconut
Serve

MAKE THE ICING

In a med saucepan combine butter condensed milk and sugar
Bring to boil over med heat, stirring constantly {it will burn if you don’t, trust me}
Boil 2 min stirring constantly
Remove from heat, add vanilla

Eat Cook | Calzone Recipe

Aug 012012

August 1, 2012 No Responses »

Oh yes. You will love this one. I guarantee it. It has been tried and tested on Very Important Friends and they concur; calzones are go! Calzones are pretty common in SoCal, every pizza restaurant has them on the menu. I haven’t struck them at all since we’ve been back in NZ but to sum them up in a kiwi way; they are basically a pizza pie. Dough on the outside, filling on the inside. This is a slight variation in form as what you end up with is more like a pizza loaf. Either way, VERY yummy.

Calzone Dough Recipe

1.5 tbsp dry active yeast

3 tbsp sugar 1 1/2c lukewarm water

4-4 1/2c flour

1 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Add salt and flour and knead for 10-15 minutes. Let rise for approx 1 hr in a warm place {e.g. hot water cupboard} until doubled in size. Punch down and divide in two.

Dust your baking tray liberally with flour, the dough will be sticky-ish and you need to be able to peel it off in the coming steps.

Roll out your dough into a nice rectangle approx the length of your tray and half the width.

Filling

Pizza/pasta sauce

Whatever fillings you like, for the kids I used mozzarella, ham, pineapple and chorizo. For the adults I sautéed spinach with onions and garlic, added feta, olives, chorizo, tomato and mozzarella.

Spread your sauce across the middle third of the rolled out dough
Cut sections up the sides of your dough, not quite all the way to the sauce
Add your fillings
Peel your sections off the tray/baking paper and criss cross them up the length of the calzone
Spray lightly with oil or butter
Pop in oven for approx 20-30 min depending on your oven – keep an eye on things from 20min!
Enjoy!

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