There’s nothing quite like a hot scone dripping with jam and cream. Dieting folks, look away now.
Down here scones can be savoury (made with vegetables such as pumpkin, or combinations like ham and cheese) sweet (fruit scones) or plain - a good basic scone recipe tends to go down a treat for afternoon tea along with a cup of tea. They’re perfect winter fare, conjuring up images of comfort food, aprons and Grandmas. Of course, it’s summer down here, but we’ve just been through a particularly wintery rain spell so a batch of these were very much welcomed by my testers, Talented Hubby, Master J and Moo. Oh, and for the record, we pronouce them ’sconn’, not ’sc-own’, LOL.
Basic Scones
Makes 20
Ingredients:
4 cups (600g/1.3 lbs) self-raising flour
2 tablespoons icing (confectioners) sugar
60g (a little over 2 oz) butter
1 ½ cups (375ml/12.5 oz) milk
¾ cup (180ml/6 oz) water
* thickened/whipping cream to serve
* jam to serve
Method:
Preheat oven to 200ºC (430ºF/very hot). Line a shallow 20cm x 30cm (8″x11″) pan with non-stick baking paper.
Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl; rub in butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add milk and almost all of the water. Use a knife to ‘cut’ the milk and water through the flour mixture, mixing to a soft, sticky dough (begin by adding the milk and then add the water only as needed to form the right consistency - the last time I made these, I didn’t need any water at all and they still turned out lovely). Knead dough on floured surface until smooth.
Press dough out to 2cm (¾ inch) thickness (no need for a rolling pin, just use your hands). Dip a 4.5cm (1 ¾ inch) round cutter in flour, cut rounds from dough. Knead together the dough scraps and repeat until all used up. Place scones, side by side, just touching, in pan.
Brush tops with a little extra milk; bake about 15 minutes or until scones are just browned and sound hollow when tapped.
While the scones are baking, pour some cream into a small bowl and attack it with a stick blender to make it lovely and thick. Serve these mounds of deliciousness with jam and cream.
Note: Scones are best served the day they are made, fresh and hot out of the oven. You can freeze them but they never really compare to fresh-baked so for best results, keep the batches small (and just bake them more often!)
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Lizzie's Homemade Pizza Recipe
Are you all turkey-ed out? Can’t stuff another morsel in? Have a fridge full of wilting salad and leftover meats?
Pizza might not be traditional holiday fare, but if you’re anything like me, sometimes a complete 180º on the cuisine front sounds FANTASTIC after so many platefuls of ham and roast potatoes. Plus it’s a great way to use up leftovers!
The secret is in the dough. I tried making homemade pizza dough for YEARS, failing miserably each time, until I stumbled across a recipe on Mrs Catherine’s Making It Home Xanga site (now unavailable, unfortunately) for the lightest, fluffiest, failproof crust ever. I have never had a soggy crust since using this recipe. I puffy heart it so much it made it into my continually-evolving Family Cookbook (keep an eye out for that post in a few weeks!)
Lizzie’s Homemade Pizza (with props to Mrs Catherine!)
Dough makes 3 large/8 small/16 mini pizzas
Ingredients
2 tablespoons dry yeast
2 cups warm water
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
5-7 cups baker’s flour (if you have it: higher protein content) or plain/all purpose flour
Suggested toppings: tomato paste, pizza herbs (basil, oregano), shredded mozzarella, ham, pepperoni, semi-dried tomatoes, red and green capsicum (bell peppers), pineapple pieces, leftover cooked chicken or turkey, leftover cooked vegetables.
Method
Run a large mixing bowl under hot water to warm it. Add sugar and yeast to bowl and pour in warm water. Mix thoroughly and set aside for a few minutes until bubbles appear on the surface.
Add salt, oil and flour and mix to a firm dough. Knead on a lightly-floured benchtop for a few minutes. Roll into a ball shape.
Lightly grease the large bowl and return the dough ball. Cover and set aside in a warm place to rise (we’ve used the car and outside on the trampolene in the sun before! Whatever works!). Rising time can vary depending on the warmth of the spot you choose (as little as 25 mins in a warm car or as long as 60 mins just sitting on the benchtop). You want it doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (395ºF).
Punch the dough down and knead on a lightly floured benchtop for a further 5 minutes. Divide the dough into whatever portions are needed and roll out to desired thickness (the dough will rise a bit during cooking).
Place on an oven tray lined with non-stick baking paper and add whatever toppings you like. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Drool when you catch a whiff of it fresh out of the oven. Enjoy!
Personally, I could have leftover roast ham and turkey along with the usual repeat of Christmas day side dishes for a clear week after the celebrations end but even I have my limits eventually! Kids seem to really enjoy their very own individual pizza made with their own choice of toppings and the dough recipe translates well to foccacia as well - just roll out thicker and make depressions in the dough at regular intervals. Yummo!
Pizza might not be traditional holiday fare, but if you’re anything like me, sometimes a complete 180º on the cuisine front sounds FANTASTIC after so many platefuls of ham and roast potatoes. Plus it’s a great way to use up leftovers!
The secret is in the dough. I tried making homemade pizza dough for YEARS, failing miserably each time, until I stumbled across a recipe on Mrs Catherine’s Making It Home Xanga site (now unavailable, unfortunately) for the lightest, fluffiest, failproof crust ever. I have never had a soggy crust since using this recipe. I puffy heart it so much it made it into my continually-evolving Family Cookbook (keep an eye out for that post in a few weeks!)
Lizzie’s Homemade Pizza (with props to Mrs Catherine!)
Dough makes 3 large/8 small/16 mini pizzas
Ingredients
2 tablespoons dry yeast
2 cups warm water
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
5-7 cups baker’s flour (if you have it: higher protein content) or plain/all purpose flour
Suggested toppings: tomato paste, pizza herbs (basil, oregano), shredded mozzarella, ham, pepperoni, semi-dried tomatoes, red and green capsicum (bell peppers), pineapple pieces, leftover cooked chicken or turkey, leftover cooked vegetables.
Method
Run a large mixing bowl under hot water to warm it. Add sugar and yeast to bowl and pour in warm water. Mix thoroughly and set aside for a few minutes until bubbles appear on the surface.
Add salt, oil and flour and mix to a firm dough. Knead on a lightly-floured benchtop for a few minutes. Roll into a ball shape.
Lightly grease the large bowl and return the dough ball. Cover and set aside in a warm place to rise (we’ve used the car and outside on the trampolene in the sun before! Whatever works!). Rising time can vary depending on the warmth of the spot you choose (as little as 25 mins in a warm car or as long as 60 mins just sitting on the benchtop). You want it doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (395ºF).
Punch the dough down and knead on a lightly floured benchtop for a further 5 minutes. Divide the dough into whatever portions are needed and roll out to desired thickness (the dough will rise a bit during cooking).
Place on an oven tray lined with non-stick baking paper and add whatever toppings you like. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Drool when you catch a whiff of it fresh out of the oven. Enjoy!
Personally, I could have leftover roast ham and turkey along with the usual repeat of Christmas day side dishes for a clear week after the celebrations end but even I have my limits eventually! Kids seem to really enjoy their very own individual pizza made with their own choice of toppings and the dough recipe translates well to foccacia as well - just roll out thicker and make depressions in the dough at regular intervals. Yummo!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Guitar Hero Hilarity
Because we’ll be travelling this silly season, we gave the kids one of their major Christmas presents early. Have you seen the size of the Guitar Hero World Tour Complete Band Set box? Gi-gan-ta-nor-mous. As it was we were going to struggle fitting all the children and the luggage in so we had to make a decision. Leave a child and take the game, or open the game now and squeeze the child in. Hmmm - tough choice, LOL.
All three Piglets had put this on their list. Normally we would not go for something as expensive - and never for an individual’s gift - but with the amount of time Talented Hubby devotes to this particular game franchise we knew we’d get our money’s worth as a family.
As predicted, they have all become totally engrossed. We’ve had Guitar Hero II, and then III in the past but with the addition of a set of drums and a microphone with World Tour, everyone can have a turn at once. See what we did there? Purchased a game where nobody has to wait? That’s some good parenting right there folks!
But man, it is HILARIOUS to watch our children bang away on those instruments.
The guitar bit they can handle. The drums are taking a bit longer to master but that’s to be expected - they are my children after all, and I’m famously unco-ordinated (actually, I’m surprised any of them can work the guitar either, but I guess the influence of my DNA is overriden by Talented Hubby’s prominent “I am man, see me game!” genes, LOL). But its the effort at the microphone that makes TH and I continously snigger.
Oh, I shouldn’t say that, should I? LOL. No, my kids are awesome singers (giggle).
Master J works the ‘phone like he’s a contestant on Don’t Forget The Lyrics (one of his favourite shows), Boof’s just happy if he can get all the words out and Moo has taken one look at her brother’s efforts and dissolved into a puddle of shyness. I can’t blame her really. I’m waiting until school starts and TH’s back at work again and only then will I pick up the mic myself. Don’t laugh. You know you’d be dying to as well!
The thing with Guitar Hero is, it’s addictive. I sat down for one song (guitar only…did you not read the above paragraph? LOL) and walked away an hour later. It’s very hard not to get caught up when Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer comes up on the playlist.
At $270 AUD it’s definitely NOT a cheap option. But we had a little extra this Christmas and instead of lots of smaller presents that have ‘big bang’ value for a couple of days but get overlooked thereafter, Guitar Hero has staying power.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a jammin’ date with Mr Bon Jovi to attend.
All three Piglets had put this on their list. Normally we would not go for something as expensive - and never for an individual’s gift - but with the amount of time Talented Hubby devotes to this particular game franchise we knew we’d get our money’s worth as a family.
As predicted, they have all become totally engrossed. We’ve had Guitar Hero II, and then III in the past but with the addition of a set of drums and a microphone with World Tour, everyone can have a turn at once. See what we did there? Purchased a game where nobody has to wait? That’s some good parenting right there folks!
But man, it is HILARIOUS to watch our children bang away on those instruments.
The guitar bit they can handle. The drums are taking a bit longer to master but that’s to be expected - they are my children after all, and I’m famously unco-ordinated (actually, I’m surprised any of them can work the guitar either, but I guess the influence of my DNA is overriden by Talented Hubby’s prominent “I am man, see me game!” genes, LOL). But its the effort at the microphone that makes TH and I continously snigger.
Oh, I shouldn’t say that, should I? LOL. No, my kids are awesome singers (giggle).
Master J works the ‘phone like he’s a contestant on Don’t Forget The Lyrics (one of his favourite shows), Boof’s just happy if he can get all the words out and Moo has taken one look at her brother’s efforts and dissolved into a puddle of shyness. I can’t blame her really. I’m waiting until school starts and TH’s back at work again and only then will I pick up the mic myself. Don’t laugh. You know you’d be dying to as well!
The thing with Guitar Hero is, it’s addictive. I sat down for one song (guitar only…did you not read the above paragraph? LOL) and walked away an hour later. It’s very hard not to get caught up when Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer comes up on the playlist.
At $270 AUD it’s definitely NOT a cheap option. But we had a little extra this Christmas and instead of lots of smaller presents that have ‘big bang’ value for a couple of days but get overlooked thereafter, Guitar Hero has staying power.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a jammin’ date with Mr Bon Jovi to attend.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I Think I'll Go Rock In That Corner Right Over There
I just happened to glance up at the calendar and GOOD LORD IT IS NEARLY THE WEEK OF CHRISTMAS AND I HAVE DONE ALMOST NO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING AND HELLO, WE’RE TRAVELLING OVER THE SILLY SEASON WHICH LEAVES ME WITHOUT THOSE EXTRA COUPLE OF DAYS SHOPPING AND…
That wasn’t me shouting. That was my brain exploding with nuclear force.
This is the VERY last year I say to myself, “Oh wow, how lovely is this ‘no shopping, no stress’ Christmas thing? I love not beating down the other shoppers! I enjoy the complete absence of a ‘to buy’ list. Oh joy!” The absolute last time I say that because it is COMPLETE AND UTTER BUNKUM.
I will be shopping for Christmas ‘09 with my back-to-school gear in mid-January, thankyouverymuch.
We are in a state of chaos. We have perhaps a fifth of our list done. We’ve never left it this late to shop before. I don’t know WHAT I was thinking.
Over the course of six days I have to:
Shop for FIFTEEN PEOPLE.
Buy two additional presents, one of which is our daughter’s seventh birthday gift and the other my MIL’s birthday gift for January.
Post a last minute parcel.
Wash every scrap of clothing we own.
Pack five suitcases.
Clean the entire house.
Auto-post a ridiculous amount of content for Lizzie’s Home.
Buy this year’s ’special ornaments’ for the kids (they each get a new one every year)
Finish a handmade Christmas present (at least two night’s worth, maybe more).
Empty and scrub the fridge.
Book a restaurant for Moo’s birthday on Friday.
Bake a dog cake for said child’s birthday. I may get away with a dog-themed icing transfer and a bakery cake if I’m lucky. Poor Moo.
Take the kids out for breakfast on Moo’s day.
Spend at least a portion of Friday on a ‘Family Fun Trip’ for Moo’s day (we do special things in lieu of a party).
Make several phone calls relating to the puppy the kids are getting - or rather, the promise of the puppy they’re getting - for Christmas.
Fit in a trip to the cinema. And yes, I realise how silly this sounds given what I have to do but I try to carve out a little ‘me’ time each year to go see whatever holiday film is on and I’ll be doing that this year too, even if I have to sell the children to manage it.
School is out for the year, and Talented Hubby is on annual leave for the next several weeks (phew) but we literally only have until Sunday night to shop for EVERYTHING. I promised the kids we would try to fit in a day where each of them would come out with me alone but I’m going to have to start sucking down those Red Bulls if I’m going to pull this one off. TH also has to go back into work Saturday (long story), so that’s one less day for shopping, unless I bribe them all with sugar and drag them all with me. I love my little people to pieces but their patience (and my own) only goes so far and we’re talking INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH Christmas shopping here - and everything will take six times as long because there’s a bazillion more people out there panicking in the exact same way. Compounding matters is the fact that the Australian government just gave most parents and carer’s $1000 per eligible child with instructions to ’spend up big for the economy’s sake’. Personally, ours will go toward our trip and the cost of set up for the puppy, but there are enough people in the shopping centres carrying PlayStation and Wii boxes for me to know where at least SOME of the government’s money is going.
Godspeed Lizzie. Godspeed.
Sigh.
That wasn’t me shouting. That was my brain exploding with nuclear force.
This is the VERY last year I say to myself, “Oh wow, how lovely is this ‘no shopping, no stress’ Christmas thing? I love not beating down the other shoppers! I enjoy the complete absence of a ‘to buy’ list. Oh joy!” The absolute last time I say that because it is COMPLETE AND UTTER BUNKUM.
I will be shopping for Christmas ‘09 with my back-to-school gear in mid-January, thankyouverymuch.
We are in a state of chaos. We have perhaps a fifth of our list done. We’ve never left it this late to shop before. I don’t know WHAT I was thinking.
Over the course of six days I have to:
Shop for FIFTEEN PEOPLE.
Buy two additional presents, one of which is our daughter’s seventh birthday gift and the other my MIL’s birthday gift for January.
Post a last minute parcel.
Wash every scrap of clothing we own.
Pack five suitcases.
Clean the entire house.
Auto-post a ridiculous amount of content for Lizzie’s Home.
Buy this year’s ’special ornaments’ for the kids (they each get a new one every year)
Finish a handmade Christmas present (at least two night’s worth, maybe more).
Empty and scrub the fridge.
Book a restaurant for Moo’s birthday on Friday.
Bake a dog cake for said child’s birthday. I may get away with a dog-themed icing transfer and a bakery cake if I’m lucky. Poor Moo.
Take the kids out for breakfast on Moo’s day.
Spend at least a portion of Friday on a ‘Family Fun Trip’ for Moo’s day (we do special things in lieu of a party).
Make several phone calls relating to the puppy the kids are getting - or rather, the promise of the puppy they’re getting - for Christmas.
Fit in a trip to the cinema. And yes, I realise how silly this sounds given what I have to do but I try to carve out a little ‘me’ time each year to go see whatever holiday film is on and I’ll be doing that this year too, even if I have to sell the children to manage it.
School is out for the year, and Talented Hubby is on annual leave for the next several weeks (phew) but we literally only have until Sunday night to shop for EVERYTHING. I promised the kids we would try to fit in a day where each of them would come out with me alone but I’m going to have to start sucking down those Red Bulls if I’m going to pull this one off. TH also has to go back into work Saturday (long story), so that’s one less day for shopping, unless I bribe them all with sugar and drag them all with me. I love my little people to pieces but their patience (and my own) only goes so far and we’re talking INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH Christmas shopping here - and everything will take six times as long because there’s a bazillion more people out there panicking in the exact same way. Compounding matters is the fact that the Australian government just gave most parents and carer’s $1000 per eligible child with instructions to ’spend up big for the economy’s sake’. Personally, ours will go toward our trip and the cost of set up for the puppy, but there are enough people in the shopping centres carrying PlayStation and Wii boxes for me to know where at least SOME of the government’s money is going.
Godspeed Lizzie. Godspeed.
Sigh.
Friday, December 12, 2008
I'd Like To Introduce You To Miss Gappy McGapperton
A week from today, my baby, my Little Miss Moo/Princess Moo/Schmiggie/Miggie will turn seven years old. SEVEN. I mean, being the mother of a recently-turned-ten-year-old made me feel old enough, but somehow, illogically, being the mother of a seven year old and knowing she’s our youngest…my heart crept one step closer to pacemaker status, I’m sure of it.
When she was born, I was just barely 22 years old. And I already had three years of parenting experience under my belt. Good golly I was young! In Moo’s first year, we went through an autism diagnosis (Master J), a MAJOR career reconfiguration (Talented Hubby), a six month training stint living away from home during the week, home on weekends only (TH), therapy playgroups, speech assessments, medical appointments - the list goes on. At one point we had a special needs preschooler, a toddler and a newborn and I didn’t drive, requiring me to walk/bus it to all these various things. Thank God Moo was breastfed and therefore highly portable!
A lot has changed since Moo was born. I went from being the sole feminine influence in three boys’ everyday lives to being the mother of a honest-to-goodness Little Girl. The day the ultrasound technician pointed out the ‘two lines’ indicating her ‘girly bits’, I was beyond thrilled. My boys are healthy and happy and for that I am supremely grateful but a little girl to shadow me in the kitchen, to teach how to (badly) knit, to snuggle up watching Anne of Green Gables with? I do believe I cried, goop-covered belly and all. Later, at her birth (with the camera rolling) I was heard to say, repeatedly, “Is she still a girl?” like I expected her gender to have changed in the five seconds since I last looked (and as an aside, my GOODNESS ‘down there’ really DOES stretch like a turtleneck, huh? I’d never seen it from the southern perspective before! LOL)
Afterward, when I’d showered - and it was a great birth, the best of the lot - and returned to my room, I lay on my hospital bed. I savoured the sheer bliss of lying directly on my back, something I’d not been able to do with any degree of an open airway since around my fifth month, and proceeded to unwrap my ‘Christmas Present’. I laid a cloth nappy on my bare belly - just enough to cover me in case of an, uh, ‘meconium explosion’ on her part - and stripped my new baby down. I held her, vertical monkey-style, her raven head resting between The Milk Bar, the bare skin of her touching my skin, and I covered the both of us up with a blanket. We rested.
She smelled so good, that new baby scent. I kept stroking her deliciously curly hair - we’re all ruler-straight around here - and shaking my head in disbelief. We were warm and cozy and soon fell asleep. Talented Hubby must have returned from whatever part of the hospital he’d escaped to at some point because I woke to find Moo suitably diapered, dressed and fast asleep in her hospital crib and I’d had my pyjamas re-buttoned, LOL. I honestly can’t remember a time where I’d felt so content.
But my little girl, who has now officially passed the age my sister was when I - the ’surprise’ baby - was born, is so big and tall and, well, grown-up. It’s sad! With each passing year we mourn the loss of another childhood icon. No more Little People. No more buying baby dolls (not that she has fully outgrown them yet - just that she already has plenty!), and no more gorgeous little toddler/preschool/kindergarten aged clothing. Soon we’ll be saying goodbye to My Little Ponys and Cabbage Patch Kids. Never again will I buy a 000 sleeper. Never again will we have to install a baby carseat. Never again will The Milk Bar be open for business!
To make matters worse, tonight Moo lost her third tooth in two weeks and the second of her two front teeth. Even her baby teeth are dropping like flies! The sight of her in all her gappy glory, grinning from ear to ear, made me realise that she has well and truly entered into a brand new phase of childhood.
I am so not prepared for this!
When she was born, I was just barely 22 years old. And I already had three years of parenting experience under my belt. Good golly I was young! In Moo’s first year, we went through an autism diagnosis (Master J), a MAJOR career reconfiguration (Talented Hubby), a six month training stint living away from home during the week, home on weekends only (TH), therapy playgroups, speech assessments, medical appointments - the list goes on. At one point we had a special needs preschooler, a toddler and a newborn and I didn’t drive, requiring me to walk/bus it to all these various things. Thank God Moo was breastfed and therefore highly portable!
A lot has changed since Moo was born. I went from being the sole feminine influence in three boys’ everyday lives to being the mother of a honest-to-goodness Little Girl. The day the ultrasound technician pointed out the ‘two lines’ indicating her ‘girly bits’, I was beyond thrilled. My boys are healthy and happy and for that I am supremely grateful but a little girl to shadow me in the kitchen, to teach how to (badly) knit, to snuggle up watching Anne of Green Gables with? I do believe I cried, goop-covered belly and all. Later, at her birth (with the camera rolling) I was heard to say, repeatedly, “Is she still a girl?” like I expected her gender to have changed in the five seconds since I last looked (and as an aside, my GOODNESS ‘down there’ really DOES stretch like a turtleneck, huh? I’d never seen it from the southern perspective before! LOL)
Afterward, when I’d showered - and it was a great birth, the best of the lot - and returned to my room, I lay on my hospital bed. I savoured the sheer bliss of lying directly on my back, something I’d not been able to do with any degree of an open airway since around my fifth month, and proceeded to unwrap my ‘Christmas Present’. I laid a cloth nappy on my bare belly - just enough to cover me in case of an, uh, ‘meconium explosion’ on her part - and stripped my new baby down. I held her, vertical monkey-style, her raven head resting between The Milk Bar, the bare skin of her touching my skin, and I covered the both of us up with a blanket. We rested.
She smelled so good, that new baby scent. I kept stroking her deliciously curly hair - we’re all ruler-straight around here - and shaking my head in disbelief. We were warm and cozy and soon fell asleep. Talented Hubby must have returned from whatever part of the hospital he’d escaped to at some point because I woke to find Moo suitably diapered, dressed and fast asleep in her hospital crib and I’d had my pyjamas re-buttoned, LOL. I honestly can’t remember a time where I’d felt so content.
But my little girl, who has now officially passed the age my sister was when I - the ’surprise’ baby - was born, is so big and tall and, well, grown-up. It’s sad! With each passing year we mourn the loss of another childhood icon. No more Little People. No more buying baby dolls (not that she has fully outgrown them yet - just that she already has plenty!), and no more gorgeous little toddler/preschool/kindergarten aged clothing. Soon we’ll be saying goodbye to My Little Ponys and Cabbage Patch Kids. Never again will I buy a 000 sleeper. Never again will we have to install a baby carseat. Never again will The Milk Bar be open for business!
To make matters worse, tonight Moo lost her third tooth in two weeks and the second of her two front teeth. Even her baby teeth are dropping like flies! The sight of her in all her gappy glory, grinning from ear to ear, made me realise that she has well and truly entered into a brand new phase of childhood.
I am so not prepared for this!
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