Silverside (corned beef)

I never learned to eat corned beef til I came to NZ--I'd only seen the stuff in a can (which is vile, don't try it). In NZ and Australia it's a common Sunday roast, one of our cheapest cuts of meat, and not served with cabbage, so all in all I'm a fan. It's also really, really simple to cook. Just to be clear though, no meat from a can (on that point, does anyone else remember the year or so that Jamie was obsessed with Spam?). In NZ we usually buy silverside, which according to wikipedia is a round cut, but you can also buy brisket corned beef. It should be in the beef section at your supermarket (you all probably know all this, I just didn't)

To cook it, take it out of the plastic and rinse well. Put the beef into a large pot and fill most of the way with water. Add:

1/2 cup vinegar (white, white wine, brown, or apple cider all work well)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 TBSP whole cloves
3 TBSP whole peppercorns
3 Bay leaves

If needed, add more water to fill the pot. You want to cover as much of the meat as possible. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for at least 2-3 hours.

You can cook this for as long as you like, the longer it simmers, the more tender it will be. It will be salty from the brining, so don't add any salt.

In NZ and Oz it's usually served with mashed potatoes and some sort of green vegetable--broccoli is nice. You don't need to do a gravy, it will stay very moist, but a lot of people here serve it with a simple cheese sauce. I like cooking this because it's easy, and because it makes my house smell good.

Simple Savory Pork Roast

I've not heard of that Zooborns blog, but I look forward to checking it out with the boys.

I've been trying to branch out and try new pork recipes. I've never been a pork fan, but that's because my only pork experience as a child was with fatty pork chops, salty ham and bacon, neither of which I like. I've discovered I actually like pork if it's a nice lean cut. I got a couple of pork loin roasts on sale a couple of weeks ago and tried out this recipe. It was yummy. I served it with roasted potatoes (drizzled with olive oil, salt, rosemary and Parmesan...also delicious...I'll post that recipe, too).

Here's the pork roast recipe I got from Allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary (I used a couple teaspoons of dried rosemary)
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 pounds boneless pork loin roast

DIRECTIONS:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.In a large, resealable plastic bag, mix rosemary, garlic salt, thyme, and pepper. Place pork roast in the bag, seal, and toss until thoroughly coated with the garlic salt mixture. Transfer to a medium baking dish.
3.Cook pork roast 1 hour in the preheated oven, or to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Non Recipe Post

Did you guys know about this blog: Zoo Borns? It's dedicated to new animals born in zoos around the world. It has pics, videos and info on the new babies. Thought your kids (and mom) might like it :)

Turtle Cheesecake

I keep thinking that we need to post more family friendly meal ideas (btw, thanks for the last two Mandy!), and fewer decedent desserts, for this site to be useful. I mean, after all, we all know plenty of ways to get fat . . . but I'm really proud of this recipe and I made it for Justin's birthday last week. After this, I'll post healthy stuff!

Amy told me that they had turtle cheesecake at the hospital where she had the new twins, which got me thinking . . . I don't think what I came up with was what they did, but it was nice! It's based on the New York Cheesecake recipe from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese 'A Little Taste of Heaven' cookbook (thanks Amy!)

Crust:
1.5 cups of oreos
2 TBSP melted butter

Ganache:
15oz dark chocolate (I use 70% or higher)
About 1 cup cream

Filling:
4 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 TBSP flour
1 TBSP vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Salted Caramel Glaze:
1/2 cup cream
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cups unsalted butter
2 tsp salt
1 TBSP powdered geletin mixed with 1/4 cup water

Garnish:
1-1.5 cups chopped pecans

Instructions
Crush the oreos in a food processor or with a rolling pin. Mix in the butter. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 325F for 10-15 minutes. It will be softer than a graham cracker crust, you want it to be starting to get crispy. Allow to cool slightly.

Warm the cream for the ganache and slowly add the chocolate, stirring frequently. You may need to add more cream or more chocolate, depending on the milk content of your chocolate. You want a smooth, dark, quite thick but pourable ganache. Thicker than fondue. Pour about 1/2 of the ganache over the crust. Sprinkle 1/2 of the chopped pecans over the chocolate. Cool in the fridge while you make the filling.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla on medium speed until well blended. Blend in sour cream. Add eggs, mixing on a low speed until just blended. Pour over chocolate/pecans.

Bake at 325F for about 60-70 minutes (bake on lowest oven rack). You want the centre to be almost set, but you don't want the edges to brown. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cake, cook for 1 hour before removing the rim of the springform. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Warm the remaining ganache and pour over the top of the cheesecake. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top. Refrigerate til set.

Gently warm the cream for the caramel in a small pot on low. Meanwhile, pour 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup of water into a medium pan (do not stir) and place on a medium high heat. Cook until the mixture turns to a deep amber. Remove from heat and add the warmed cream, butter, and salt.* Stir to combine until smooth. When the mixture is smooth, stir in the gelatin/water mixture, a little at a time. Allow to cool slightly.

To serve, cut slices of cheesecake, turn onto the side on the place, pour over caramel glaze.

When I cooked this, I also cooked a layer of caramel in the cake. This made it really, really hard to get out of the springform, and the flavour got pretty lost next to the ganache. If you want the caramel through the cheesecake, you could mix 1/2 the caramel with 1/2 the cheesecake mix, and either layer or swirl with the remaining filling.

*if you leave out the gelatin, this is a really yummy caramel fondue.

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

I had never thought to roast cauliflower before, but I saw this recipe in our local grocery store ad and tried it out this past week. It was delicious and so easy to make. Even Jamie, who doesn't care for cauliflower really liked it.

One 2 1/2 pound cauliflower, cut into 2-inch florets
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, drizzle the cauliflower florets with the olive oil. Season them with salt and pepper and toss well. Roast for about 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is tender and golden brown. Transfer to plates, garnish with the lemon wedges and serve hot or at room temperature.

White Chili

Taken from Betty Crocker with adaptations by Mandi Adams

1 TB vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped (approx 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
2 cups chopped chicken breast

3 cups chicken broth
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro or ½ teaspoon ground coriander
2 TB lime or lemon juice
3 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp honey

1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15 oz) or 2 cups of great northern beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) or 2 cups butter beans, (or large lima beans) drained

Crushed tortilla chips
Fresh diced tomatoes
Shredded cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend)
Sour Cream


Heat oil in 4-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic in oil, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender. Add chicken & cook until done.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes.

Serve hot and garnish with corn tortilla chips, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and sour cream if desired.

I usually double the recipe because it makes great leftovers and freezes well, too.

Sweet and sour meatballs

This is a really easy yummy dinner. It's also nice if you like 70's era Hawaiian nostalgia . . . you know, the blending of Asian and western foods and the random use of pineapple. We had this last night, and I kept thinking they probably served it at the midnight buffet on the Love Boat. You could probably just make it with the frozen meatballs that mum buys, but since we don't have Costco in NZ, I had to actually touch raw ground beef. Justin points out that it didn't kill me. There's a lot of sympathy in our marriage . . .

From "The Pioneer Woman".

Meatballs:

• 1.25 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp chili powder

Mix together and form into small meatballs (about 20 or so). Line on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 15 min (this is just to keep them from falling apart during cooking--Jamie could instead set them outside for 1 min . . .)

While they are freezing, chop up the vegetables and make the sauce.

Vegetables:

• 2 whole bell peppers, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups pineapple, chopped

The recipe calls for fresh pineapple, but I just used canned. Fresh would have been better, but that's generally true.

Sauce:

• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 TBSP cornstarch

Roll the balls in a small bowl of flour. Fry in batches in a canola oil. Set aside. Drain excess oil from the pan and throw in the bell peppers. Fry for one minute*, add the pineapple and fry for another minute. Pour in the sauce and add back the meatballs. Boil together gently until the sauce thickens. Add rice and additional chili powder as needed. Serve over rice.

* I followed these instructions last night, but I found that cooking that long made the bell peppers too soft. When I do this next, I'll either cook the peppers quickly then set aside before adding pineapples and the sauce, or just skip that step entirely and add them at the end.

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Killer Brownies

Note from Rebecca: I am editing this for Scott, who is too lazy to do a temperature conversion. He claims to be a scientist.

Ingredients:

1 cup Cocoa

2 cups White Sugar

200 gms Butter (for Americans, this is about 2 sticks--1 cup)

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 cup Plain Flour

250 gms Dark Chocolate Chips (at least)

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (this is 350 F)

Melt butter to liquid

Mix cocoa, sugar, butter, egg and vanilla in a bowl until it is a paste.

Add flour and chocolate chips.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes (give or take).

Leave brownies to set and cut.

Caramel Spiced Apple Cupcakes

First, we would like to point out that our lame username is simply a result of being pressured to pick one quickly. Given time, I'm sure we would have come up with something much cooler.

We made these cupcakes one week for family home evening and were amazed at how yummy they turned out. The recipe is from the "Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor" cookbook.

Cupcakes:

1 jar (14.5 oz) red spiced apple rings, drained (we didn't have these, so just made a quick apple compote instead - peel, core and slice apples and boil 5 minutes with a little sugar, depending on variety. Add a little corn starch mixed with water to thicken to a syrup.)
1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix (we used butter pecan instead)
1 package (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
3/4 C water
1/2 C vegetable oil (we used applesauce)
3 large eggs

Glaze:

45 to 50 caramels (from a 14-oz bag)
1/3 C evaporated milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped (we left these out)
24 wooden craft sticks (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.

2. Prepare cupcake batter. Place the drained apple rings in the food processor and in on-off pulse motions finely chop them, 15 seconds. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, chopped apple rings, water, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low seed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 3 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Spoon or scoop 1/4 C batter into each lined muffin cup, filling it two thirds of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans side by side in the oven.

3. Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and the top springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before glazing.

4. Meanwhile, prepare the caramel glaze: Unwrap the caramels and place them in a medium-size saucepan. Add the evaporated milk. Stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat until all the caramels are melted, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

5. Immediately spoon the warm caramel glaze over the top of each cooled cupcake and sprinkle the chopped peanuts around the edges. Push a craft stick in the center of each cupcake, if desired. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Super easy and super yummy.

By the way, if you have these sitting on a plate, don't leave the plate on top of the dishwasher while it is running, or else all of the glaze will melt off of the cupcakes. Trust us, we know.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Mum is currently helping me make these for my mother in law's birthday. They're from the 'Tasty Kitchen' site, which is a place where lots of food bloggers post recipes. Anyway, they are good! They are supposed to be made with thin mints, but I'm making them tomorrow with after 8's. Also, I'm changing it a bit--the recipe calls for bought hot fudge sauce--I usually just make up a quick ganache instead. I'm putting the ganache in here, but you could always do it the other way.

Also, these are really, really yummy.


FOR THE CUPCAKES:

• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar, Not Packed
• 1-¾ cup Flour
• ¾ cups Cocoa Powder
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Milk
• ½ cups Oil
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Boiling Water

FOR THE TOPPING:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 9 oz dark chocolate (or semi-sweet--you can use chocolate chips)

FOR THE FROSTING:

• 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
• ¼ cups Powdered Sugar
• 4 drops Peppermint Extract
• 4 drops Green Food Color

AND FINALLY:

• 24 whole Thin Mint Cookies

For the cupcakes:

Sift the dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix well. Add the boiling water. The batter will be very runny. Pour the batter into a measuring cup to make filling the cupcake liners easier.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.

For the topping:

Warm the cream, and melt the chocolate in over a low-medium heat, stirring frequently. Cool to lukewarm.

For the frosting:

Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks forms, add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 4-6 drops of food color and 4-6 drops of extract, depending on how strong of mint flavor you want and what color you want it. Place whipped cream in a decorator bag, I used the Wilton plastic bag with a 1M tip.

For assembly:
Spread ganache onto the cupcake. Pipe on the frosting and top with a Thin Mint Cookie (if desired). These are really cute on a cupcake stand!

Tomato soup with cheesy herb dumplings

This is what I'm cooking tonight, so I thought I'd copy it over here. It's from the 'A cozy kitchen' blog, which has some good stuff. I think they took it from a vegetarian cook book. I like it because I like dumplings but prefer tomato soup to the broth you usually find them in. Mom claims that she and Dad like it, but in actuality, we are still waiting for Justin to come home to eat it :)


Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 ¾ cup vegetable stock
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes

Dumplings
1 cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, chopped
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs ( I used thyme & oregano)
3 tablespoons water

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan and sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and tomatoes. You can blend with an immersion blender if you want a smoother soup, but I never have.

Stir in the chickpeas and bring to a boil. Once it boils reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

To make the dumplings, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the chopped butter and knead with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture starts to resemble fine bread crumbs. Stir in the cheese and herbs, and then make a well in the center of the mixture. Add in the water and mix together. I always find I need more water to get it to stick together.

Divide the dough into 8 portions and roll into small balls. Add the dumplings to the soup, cover and simmer for 20 more minutes.

I usually double this recipe, as is, this is about enough for 3 people. Also, it's a bit spicy from the ground chili; you may want to cut that back if you have little kids or wimpy palates. The dumplings puff up a lot--make them smaller than you think they should be.

Vanilla Ice Cream (from Aunt Martha)

• 1 qt. milk
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 pint whipping cream
• 1 package vanilla instant pudding
• ¾ cup sugar
• 4 tsp. vanilla


"Mix together and freeze. This makes delicious yummy ice cream that will have Breyer’s crying to their mommies, and your little munchkins coming back for more." Quoted by Aunt Martha.

Bavarian Ice Cream

The other night Amy was asking us for some ice cream recipes, so I decided to post them here. Jamie got this one from Barbara Rawlins. He said you would all know who she is. We haven't made this in a while, but I remember it being very yummy. However, we cut the sugar WAY down (I think to about 2 cups or maybe even 1 cup) and it was still plenty sweet because of the bananas and pineapple. So, depending on your sweet tooth, you can play around with the sugar content.

4 cups sugar
4 cups milk
4 cups cream
2 cups orange juice
1 cup lemon juice
4 bananas mashed
1 15.5 oz can crushed pineapple undrained

Mix all ingredients together and freeze in your ice cream maker. (Makes approximately 4 quarts)

Pumpkin Soup

Kristen made me promise to post this. I feel kind of dumb, as it's really, really simple. Feel free to laugh at us!

1. Roast a pumpkin (if you do this in the crockpot, you sometimes end up with slightly bitter pumpkin).
2. Scoop out the flesh and puree in the blender
3. Put the puree in a large pot over a medium heat. Add chicken or veggie stock (you should have roughly equal parts pumpkin and stock). Simmer together. *
4. Season with salt, pepper, and 2-3 cloves of crushed garlic. You can also add other herbs (Justin likes to add a bit of time, I tend to add a bit of cardemom). You can also add dry crumbed parmesan to taste. Thin with more stock if needed.

That's it. I serve it in bowls with a big dollop of sour cream, some chopped fresh herbs (cilantro is nice) and freshly ground black pepper. It's nice with cheese toast for dipping.

*Note: For a creamy pumpkin soup, add 2 parts pumpkin to 1 part stock and 1 part cream or half-n-half. You'll need a little more pepper in this version.

It's nice on a winter day. It also freezes really well--we tend to make a lot, and then freeze in tupperware.

Enjoy!

The blog at last

Hey everyone

Sorry to be so slow getting this up! Here is the Adams Family Recipe Blog. As discussed, Mandi, Kristen, and I will commit to posting weekly. The rest of you are welcome to post whenever, and to comment whenever. Mum is welcome to have dad type up whatever she posts. Mandi is welcome to screen Jamie's contributions. You're probably free to do other stuff as well, but let's not list them all here.

Welcome to the blog!