Apple Muse

Taken from here (http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/grec70.htm) and the amounts of ingredients totally made up.

Ingredients:
* about 5 medium sized Granny Smith apples
* 1 lot of almond milk (but I added maybe another half a cup of almond meal to it to thicken it up a bit)
* maybe a cup of breadcrumbs
* maybe a table spoon of honey
* a bit of saffron

Do it!:
* peel, core, and slice the apples.
* stew the apples in a pot with some water (and a little bit of sugar if you want) until ready to get mushy.
* mush the apple up into goo.
* add all of the other ingredients.
* slowly heat through on a low heat, stirring fairly often. This baby catches on the bottom pretty quick.

* serve with a mix of spices on top. This is apparently a starter type soup, but it's pretty thick and hearty.

[Edit: Man, what the heck? It seems like a nice wintery breakfast or a nice desert with some icecream. Perhaps more apple involved would be a good idea, and no sugar at all to keep it from being too sweet. Maybe even tarter apples.]

Red Bean Pancakes

Red bean paste:
* can of red beans
* up to 1/2 cup of sugar
* some water

1. blender up the beans with the sugar and some water. I think 1/2 cup is too much sugar.
2. "fry" the bean mix, stirring continuously, until it's more of a thick paste and has darkened in colour.

pancakes:
* 2 cups of flour (plain or self raising, depending on how fluffy you want the pancakes)
* up to 1/3 cup of sugar
* 1 egg
* enough water to get it to a good consistency
* butter/light oil for frying

1. blender up the flour, egg, sugar, and water until you've got a nice pancake mixture.
2. cook up some pancakes.
3. spread some bean paste over half the pancake, then roll up the pancake, making sure the mixture is evenly spread. seal the roll with a little uncooked pancake mixture.
4. in a little butter, place the rolled up pancakes in the pan and fry until it starts to brown.
5. eat!

Nacho nacho man

superduper lots of nacho mix for when you're feeling tired and in need of irons.

bits:
* 500g of beef mince (or more if your'e feeling particularly meaty - just use less vegetable or elseyou'll have nachos for a month)
* one small zucchini (or half a big one)
* one small - medium sized capsicum (doesn't matter what colour)
* one onion
* two or three tomatoes or one tin of diced tomatos
* one or two tins of three or four bean mix, depending on just how big and beany you want it
* some tomato paste
* quarter teaspoon ground cinnamon
* half teaspoon ground nutmeg
* tablespoon of cumin powder (i think...you need a fair bit of cumin power)
* quarter - half a teaspoon of paprika
* as much cayenne pepper and/or chili as you're into
* half a teaspoon of dried oregano is also nice sometimes
* quite a bit of parsley - helps mute the digestory effects of the onion and beans, and it won't alter the taste too much
* bit of oil
* condiments - salsa, jalapenos, sour cream, cheese, refried beans, whatever

rules:
1. cut up the onion into smallish pieces - pretty much however big you want the onion to be when you find it in the final product.
2. start sweating the onions in a little oil in a big pot (soup pot or the like). when about half done, chuck in the mince and turn the burner down to medium low so that you can go off and do other things and it doesn't burn. stir it around a bit to loosen the mince up.
3. dice one tomato into quite small bits and stir it into the onion meat mix. by now, there should be a bit of juice happening in the pot.
4. start putting the spices in. you can alter the amounts, cuz it'll start smelling super good right about now, so you'll know when you've hit the right combination. be very sparing with the cinnamon though, otherwise it turns into nacho doughnuts.
5. cut up the res tof the tomatoes, zucchini, capsicum, mushrooms, and any other vegetables you've decided to add. cut 'em up pretty small.
6. when you can't see any pink in the meat, you can start adding more stuff. add the tomato paste (like, a table spoon and a half? one or two scoops, anyway) and remaining tomatoes, then add the zucchini first, then the capsicum. hold off on the mushrooms for now.
7. drain and wash the beans. add them around the same time as the zucchini and capsicum. stir it all about, cuz it's getting to the stage where it'll start wanting to catch on the bottom.
8. turn the heat up as far as you can handle it. if you're going to wander off and do other things, keep it down to simmer by itself. if you're going to stare at it and stir it, you can turn it right up. just make sure it's not burning on the bottom.
9. when it's looking just about ready, chuck the mushrooms in (and chopped parsley, if you're using fresh rather than dried parsley). keep cooking and stirring until the mushrooms are done enough for you.
10. serve with corn chips, cheese, salsa, jalapeno chilis, and sour cream. good with beer and british comedy.

Grilled polenta and roasted vegetables

Ingredients:

(halve this if you want to make enough for fewer people)
* 2 cups of polenta
* 8 cups of water with vegetable or chicken stock
* salt and pepper to taste
* two capsicums
* a bunch of mushrooms
* two tomatoes
* any other vegetables you want on top
* olive oil

Instructions:

1. Line a non-shallow baking tray with grease proof paper for later. Chop the vegetables up for roasting*. Bring the water, stock, salt, and pepper to the boil.
2. Slowly add the polenta, constantly stirring. The mixture should start to thicken up pretty quickly.
3. Turn it right down and cook for about twenty minutes (or until you get sick of it), stirring all the time if you can. This'll stick to the bottom the first chance you give it.
4. Tip the polenta mix into the prepared tray and smooth it out. It'll set pretty quick.
5. Put the polenta in the oven/under the grill for a while, until it cooks through and starts to toast up.
6. Take the polenta out of the oven when it's getting just about yummy.
(6a. Slice the tomato thinly. Cut the mushrooms into chunks. Etc.)
7. Cover the top of the polenta with slisced tomato. Chuck the other vegetables on top. If there's oil from the capsicum, tip some over the vegetables and polenta.
8. Put it in the oven for a bit longer, until the tips of the vegetables are just starting to burn.

Hopefully yummy.


___
* Roast capsicum is nyummy with this. Roast with a bit of oil until not quite done, let cool, then take the skin off. Chop it up into strips. It'll get roasted a bit more later on in the recipe.

Meatloaf, just like on tv

Surprisingly ok:

quantities are approximate:
* 1 cup of tomato sauce
* 2 tablespoons of barbeque sauce
* 1 tablespoons of sugar
* 0.5kg/1kg of beef mince
* 6 tablespoons of plain flour or breadcrumbs or both
* some salt
* some "onion powder"
* some "garlic powder"
* some ground black pepper

1. tomato sauce, barbeque sauce, and sugar in a small saucepan over moderate high heat, stirring until it starts to bubble.
2. mix most of the tomato sauce goo (leave about two tablespoons) and beef mince in a bowl.
3. add the rest of the ingredients and mix it all up good and proper.
4. dump it into a loaf tin/whatever you can find to cook it in, cover it in cooking foil, and put it into a hot (200 degrees) oven for half an hour.
5. take it out after half an hour and discard the foil - if it's particularly fatty, drain the fat.
6. cut it into about eight slices/chunks, pour the remaining tomato sauce goo into the cracks and over the top of the meatloaf.
7. cook uncovered for another half an hour or until it's cooked.
8. serve with vegetables, because otherwise this is a heart attack waiting to happen.


I reckon it'd be awesome with chili or paprika or, y'know, any kind of taste. Also maybe some small bits of carrots and capsicum and mushroom and stuff.

Ultimate Break Up Treat

Ingredients:

* More potatoes than you think are strictly necessary,
* An onion or two,
* More mushrooms than you think are strictly necessary,
* More butter than you think is strictly necessary,
* Some of slices of bread/Some breadcrumbs,
* Some delicious melty cheese

What To Do:
* Peel and boil them potatoes like nobody's business.
* Sautee the onions until they start going clear, then add the mushrooms and lightly cook them.
* Mash up the potatoes when they are soft. Put the mashed potato into a big baking dish.
* Mix through the onion and mushroom concoction.
* Either grate the cheese, OR, if you are lazy or fragile, dice the cheese. Mix the grated cheese through the potatoonionmushroom mush, or poke the cubular cheese in strategically.
* Foodprocess up yourself some tasty breadcrumbs. Put a good layer of breadcrumbs on top of all the other mush.
* Melt some butter (much more than you think you should), and drizzle on the breadcrumbs.
* Cook in an oven on some heat until the breadcrumbs go crunchy and awesome.
* Munch it down.

You are cured! Right? Right?!

Leek and Potato Soup

Ingredients
* potatoes
* a leek
* some onion (I used two, but I sure do dig that onion)
* olive or canola oil
* chicken or vegetable stock

Instructions:
* chop up the onions and sautee them in the oil until they turn clear.
* chop the potatoes and the leek into smallish bits, and add to the onions.
* add a bunch of water and the stock.
* boil until all the bits go soft and start to disintegrate.

I mashed it up with a potato masher thing once the vegetables had gotten soft enough. If you find leek and potato boring, maybe some spices?

Nervous Gumbo

Ingredients:
(3 tablespoons) vegetable (I used canola) oil
3 tablespoons of flour
l large chopped onion
chopped capsicum
chopped carrot
chopped sweet potato
5 or 6 cloves chopped garlic
some string beans or something
half a thing of tomato paste
1 tin of tomatoes
2 - 3 cups water
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you want

Instructions:
* cut up the vegetables into bits that you'd like to find in your gumbo (bearing in mind that it's meant to cook for, like, an hour and a half).
* Heat the oil in a big ol' pot, then stir in the flour. Stir it like you've never stirred before, until it gets all brown and you wonder if perhaps you've let it go too far.
* Chuck in the onions, capsicum, sweet potato, and garlic. Keep stirring and cooking until the onions go clear.
* Add the tomato paste, and stir.
* Throw in the beans and keep stirring over heat until it "goes crumbly or dry". Or until you get sick of stirring it.
* Tinned tomato goes in, and cook slowly on low heat for ever and ever and ever. Add the water, a little at a time, and stir ocassionally. This thing'll stick to the bottom like some sort of manta ray.
* Hey, remember to put in the sugar and the bay leaf, too. Also I put in some peri peri seasoning to make it a bit bitey.

Goes great with steamed or boiled rice. Also, maybe you should use the proper vegetables? Who knows?