Kelly Casanova Weaving Lessons

Recipes and food

Cinnamon Rolls

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My history with cinnamon scrolls is not very inspiring – often trying and constantly failing. Always too dry! For the sake of the children I went on an extensive search for a recipe that would produce moist scrolls. And found it!
Now, these scrolls are super unhealthy with a large butter content, but considering I will make them as a treat for the children (and the occasional nibble for myself!) I think it’s acceptable. The beauty of this recipe is the caramel sauce the dough sits in to bake. When they’re done baking you flip the scroll…..
and it looks like this! These are best eaten warm from the oven or re – warm them later.

I know you want to try these for yourself, so the recipe is here. Enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

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We have a beautiful harvest of various types of pumpkins this year so I’ve been making soup. Here is my recipe that has evolved over years of soup making! It is simple and makes a big batch.
2.8 kg pumpkin
3 potatoes (medium)
1 leek
2 onions
garlic cloves to taste (as a guide use 4ish)
2 smoked bacon bones
5 – 8 cups chicken stock

Weigh out about 1.8 kg of the pumpkin and chop into large pieces (leave skin on). Put into a roasting dish and into the oven at 180 degrees (C) for approximately 40 minutes, turning once.

Meanwhile, chop your onions and fry in a stock pot in a little olive oil and butter. Add chopped leek and garlic and stir until sweating. Throw in the chopped and peeled potato and raw, peeled pumpkin. Now remove the skin from your roasted pieces and put them in the pot too.

Add the bacon bones, stock and season to your preference with salt and pepper. The stock should be about level with the vegetables for a nice thick soup.

Allow to simmer until vegetables are very soft. Turn off and leave until the soup is warm but not boiling hot! Puree in a food processor. Serve with a dob of cream and extra pepper if you wish.

Did I mention it’s perfect with homemade bread hot from the oven?

Home made potato chips

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We recently harvested 6.5 kilograms of pinkeye potatoes from the garden which is our biggest haul yet. A really beautiful potato too and organic of course. Here is what I did with one batch and yes – they are as good as they look!

Clean your potatoes but leave the skin on. Cut into thin chips. Place into a hot frying pan coated with olive oil (much healthier than deep frying and you get to taste the chip more than the oil!)
Leave to fry on one side until really sizzling and browning, then flip over roughly. Be careful – they spit!
Keep cooking and turning until all chips are browned. We like ours a bit crispy, but you choose how done you want yours.
Tip onto paper towel and salt to your liking. Make as many batches as you need.
Let cool slightly and eat!

Easy peasy apricot jam

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I’m so pleased with the amount of apricots we got from our tree this year – however, the birds and insects (consequences of an organic garden) left me with a lot of partially damaged fruit. What to do? Make jam of course!
Start by cutting up your apricots and de-stoning them. Weigh your cut up fruit. This determines your sugar quantity. Say I had 300grams of cut up fruit, then I would use 300 grams white sugar.
The juice of half a lemon, or thereabouts.
Place fruit, sugar and lemon juice on a low heat in a saucepan. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if it seems a little dry as the sugar starts to dissolve. Stir fairly often while it’s dissolving.
Leave on a lowish heat, it will start to simmer and bubble,  then eventually foam. Stir occasionally and watch that it doesn’t foam over. 
When the foam starts to subside and the jam looks glossier, do the saucer test.
What is the saucer test? Place a small amount of the liquid from the pot onto a saucer and pop in the fridge for a minute or two. If the liquid “sets” or is nice and thick and gloopy when you take it out then you’re ready to jar.
Have your sterilised jars ready. That means washed in hot soapy water and placed in a low oven (leave the door ajar) on newspaper to dry and sterilise.
While the jars are still hot, ladle your hot jam into them carefully and seal. I just use plastic jam covers as I’ve found them to be the most mold resistant. 
With a recipe like this you can make huge or tiny quantities.

Dark Cherry Cheesecake

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I love cheesecake. Looooooove cheesecake. Mmmmmmm.

I made this one for Christmas using this recipe but with few adjustments. I didn’t like the idea of a chocolate base so instead used plain Marie biscuits. I also wanted it to be child friendly, so the rum was omitted. I think the only thing I would change next time is to add a little more lemon juice to make up for the absence of rum. I highly recommend this recipe.

M & M slice

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Here is a recipe I made up yesterday as a last minute Christmas party addition. It’s a variation on the typical condensed milk slice – no rocket science here.  It is very rich and very unhealthy! It’s also very easy. Enjoy!!
Ingredients
1 packet Marie biscuits (or similar)
100 grams melted butter
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup of M & Ms
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
200g milk cooking chocolate
1 heaped tablespoon butter extra
Crush biscuits in food processor or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Melt 100g butter and allow to cool slightly. 
Mix melted butter, crushed biscuits, coconut and condensed milk. Mix in M & Ms. Place in the fridge to set while you make the topping.
Melt cooking chocolate and extra butter in a bowl set over hot water or in a double boiler if you have one. When melted, spread over the slice. Refrigerate until set.

Pork and pepper casserole

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It may be Summer here in Australia but it’s been very cool the past week so it was a pleasure to have the oven running yesterday with the aroma of this beautiful casserole drifting through the house.
The recipe is from here and I think I’ll be revisiting this site – all that comfort food!
This recipe made enough to feed our hungry family of six with leftovers for tonight (I served with rice).
And the all important question: Did the children like it? They sure did!

Mud pies with worms for dessert anyone?

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Here is a fun holiday activity for the children – and the best part is it’s edible!
We got the idea from “God’s Design for Life – The World of Animals” by Debbie and Richard Lawrence (a most excellent set of Christian science books).
First, mix a packet of chocolate instant pudding according to the instructions on the packet. I don’t usually go for this pre – packaged stuff, but it is quick and easy. You could substitute with home made chocolate mousse or similar if you don’t like the packet stuff.
Crush some chocolate cookies (we used Chocolate Ripple biscuits).
Place some of the cookie crumbs in the bottom of a clear plastic or glass cup. On top of this, place a gummy worm so that it sits up a little.
Spoon the pudding mix in dollops and add another gummy worm if you want. Sprinkle a thick layer of cookie crumbs on top.
Refrigerate until set, then watch them disappear into waiting mouths!

Traditional fudge

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You either love or hate this type of fudge. Some people love the grainy texture, others like the more modern and smooth fudge. Being an extreme sweet tooth, I like both!

This recipe only has 4 ingredients and is easy to make. My son actually made the dish and we took turns stirring (it needs a lot of stirring!)

It’s really delicious and very rich, so you only need a small piece – well, that’s the idea anyway. It’s kinda hard to stop at one piece. You’ll find the recipe here.