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valentino - 2007-12-05 20:25:00

Chocolate Syrup A simple easy recipe and it ... keeps in the refrigerator as long as you wish ready for use.
1 Cup sugar, ½ cup cocoa, 1 tablespoon cornflour, 2 cups hot water and 2 teaspoons vanilla essence.
Put all the dry ingredients into a saucepan and stir well. Mix in the hot water and vanilla essence. Heat until boiling stirring constantly. Boil for 3 minutes. Makes about 2 ½ cups. Ready for a hot drink or a cold drink by mixing 2 – 3 tablespoons per 1 cup of hot or cold milk.

valentino - 2007-12-11 14:44:00

A Simple Strawberry Sauce 1 punnet strawberries and 1 tablespoon icing sugar. Wash, drain and hull the strawberries. Place in a food blender or food processor. Process until smooth then if personally required, push the puree through a sieve to remove seeds. Stir in the icing sugar and chill ready for use.

valentino - 2007-12-13 15:26:00

Frying Steak... Neat little hint...... When frying steaks, brown each side for a couple of minutes then remove from pan or BBQ onto a dish. If one is doing onions ( recommended with steaks ) then slice the onions and cook them in the juice that remains in the pan, also from the dish where the steaks are, one can use the excess juices from there as well with the onions. Once cooked remove onions from pan, quickly clean the pan but keeping pan warm as possible, lightly oil the surface and return the steaks for a quick further cook not to overcook and finally replace onions on top and serve immediately. Doing it this way saves "resting" time, ensures meat is hot and less chance of turning to leather.

valentino - 2007-12-17 11:28:00

Strawberry Whip whip a medium bottle of cream. seperatly mash or crush with a fork 2 punnets of strawberrys. Fold strawberrys in with the cream till it turns pink. Add in a packet of small chocolate fish. chill for an hour then enjoy!! the kiddies luv it and so do the adults! simple and yum

kelly151 - 2007-12-17 16:40:00

Kelly151... Hmmm adding choc fish is an interesting thought.... sounds like a good alternative sweetener. Cheers

valentino - 2007-12-21 07:16:00

Old Fashioned Butterscotch Sauce INGREDIENTS:
1 cup light brown sugar-firmly packed,
2/3 cup light corn syrup,
65 grams butter,
2/3 cup evaporated milk,
1/8 teaspoon baking soda,
1 teaspoon vanilla.
PREPARATION:
In a medium saucepan combine sugar, syrup, and butter.
Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Allow to boil, without stirring, for exactly 1 minute.
Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
In another bowl or large measuring cup, combine evaporated milk, baking soda, and vanilla.
Stir into the slightly cooled sauce.
Pour into jars, cover, and refrigerate.
Place jar in a pan of warm water to reheat.

valentino - 2007-12-21 17:44:00

A very good hint on the Edmonds Fudge ..... When measuring sugar - make sure one uses heaped cups full plus a spoonful, Milk at precise measure, cocoa just slightly heaped, butter at least the measure preferably slightly over and the vanilla at least the measure plus a dash - helps the smooth taste. Bring to boil on the lowest heat, it allows good time for sugar to dissolve, once at boil then simmer with a slight rolling bubbling boil for at least 10 minutes ( Take the first 2 figures of temperature when boiling sugar in minutes to allow this ). Then definately leave for 5 minutes of the heat before beating. Beat until one can "plonk-pour" the mixture rather than liquid-pour - ensures and knowing it is setting. Cut straight away. Cheers.

valentino - 2007-12-24 09:21:00

Bumping for these great recipes and suggestions :-)

juliewn - 2007-12-30 15:43:00

any advise on how to make a yummy stirfry so that the veges are crunchy?

rambo24 - 2008-01-03 13:18:00

Frozen Stir-fry Veges does contain... frozen moisture hence can soften veges. Also use less oil and have the Wok at it's highest temp and stir fry quickly. Fresh veges chopped are best used to gain nice lovely crisp tasting veges. Also in smaller batches, that is only cook say 3-4 cups full at a time. but do not totally cooked the first batches until the last batch is cooking then when nearly done, add the previous batch/es to finish off within a minute. When setting batch/es aside, ensure they are spread out to stop mulching effect. This way ensures stir-fry is kept at it's cripness.

valentino - 2008-01-03 22:18:00

Desserts and Some Alternative Accompaniments Great meals are remembered for their tempting and luscious desserts. They are a special treat that few can resist. Dessert is the one part of a meal that is purely about pleasure and indulgence rather than sustenance.

For a change from the expected accompaniments of cream or ice cream, the following ideas can be used to add flair to even the simplest desserts.
Crème Fraiche or French Soured Cream is delicious with fruit desserts.
Mascarpone is a rich, heavy cream cheese served with pastries, cakes and fruit.
Yoghurt makes an excellent foil for very sweet desserts, or Sweeten Thick Greek-style Yoghurt with Honey serve simply with fresh fruits.
Sorbet or Gelato makes a light and refreshing change to ice cream.
Crème Anglaise is a thin pouring custard that is perfect served with baked desserts and puddings.
Fruit Coulis ( Pureed Fruit with Sugar ) should be light and not overly sweet, but with a pure taste of fruit. Try berry coulis with rich chocolate cake.

valentino - 2008-01-08 14:28:00

Bumping... Need to keep it up for brianmac....

valentino - 2008-01-13 18:12:00

In a Hurry for a quick meal... Egg Pasta Pre-made Now and then I do this as I only serve for two and the left-over is chilled overnight for a delightful lunch for one the following day. 1 pkt fresh egg noodles, 1 container egg pasta sauce (flavour optional) and chopped up 3-4 rashers cooked bacon. Simply follow instructions on Pasta Pkt, warm the sauce in a saucepan with the bacon and when pasta is cooked, drain pasta, add sauce and bingo. Variations to Bacon pieces are either of the following, chopped up any left-over meats from prior meals, chicken, sausages, choritz or salami or even a small can of salmon including juices or anything that one may wish to try. Cooking time is only a few minutes.

valentino - 2008-01-18 09:26:00

bumping.... too good to lose, will add some myself soon :o)

jenna68 - 2008-01-20 09:49:00

Bumping again...Hmmmm Some food thoughts.. Scientically proven as well... A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. And...A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food. And another...Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

valentino - 2008-01-24 15:26:00

Some more.... Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function s... Another...Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

valentino - 2008-01-24 15:28:00

Continuing with more... Avocados and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? ... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them. Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

valentino - 2008-01-24 15:29:00

And some real interesting ones... Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries. Grapefruits, Oranges, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts. Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics. Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

valentino - 2008-01-24 15:31:00

Now if we put all the above together... One would have an ideal Salad... and using pure virgin olive oil as a dresser as well.

valentino - 2008-01-24 15:38:00

Bumping.... for the time being..... Was in the danger zone.

valentino - 2008-01-29 21:02:00

Another hint in baking especially using the..... Edmonds Cookbook. For example the banan cake. Made this for the umpteenth hundreth time today and is still tops. Even my neighbours knows when it is being baked. I simply use the Edmonds recipe, perhaps slightly heaped measures and at least 5 large bananas mashed, could even be more than 2 cups. I always use a ring hollow centre cake tin and only bake in oven for about 3/4 of the time suggested, that is 37 minutes and it always comes out moist, very fresh taste and the smell at it's peak. With virtually all of edmonds cake recipes I do not cook up to their time as I feel in most cases is too long, At least at their time is well cooked. Try knocking of the time a little, one can then realise this to get the right times.

valentino - 2008-02-01 20:58:00

Continued from above.... In using Round Hollow centred cake tins, decrease times by 25% so one only cooks for 3/4 of the time suggested, reason is the middle is cooked just as the outside is hence far lesser time required. Also if one cooks to the full time then one is really drying out the cake, hence loss of moistness and the smell. For whole cake tins occasionally used will go to about 90% of time noted, cake is still cooking for a few minutes later while cooling. Also note the centre, if it is well raised then it is cooked, allow the cooling time for cake to complete baking and the centre comes down a little. Another little trick is icing, Using just the basic icing recipe, ice the cake whilst there is a slight warmth and the icing will smooth to a nice smooth finish.

valentino - 2008-02-01 21:05:00

Just bumping for a moist banana cake... Works every time.

valentino - 2008-02-02 16:16:00

To brown.dog.... Please read a very good hint in post number 108 in making Chocolate Fudge re Edmond's recipe. Cheers

valentino - 2008-02-05 14:53:00

easy as most simple EVER white sauce 1.5 tbs of flour, 1.5 cups of milk. Pre mix these in a hand shaker, or similar. Melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat. as soon as melted pour mix in and stir continuously untill desired thickness. If you want cheese sauce, add a litle more milk and then dump in cheese and mix until melted. If you are making cheese sauce for Macca cheese, make it runny, so use more milk at pre mix stage. Runny cheese sauce is much nicer in macca. and it does thicken in oven. Thanks to valentino for showig me this thread. I used to post in recipes regularly but havn't been in for ages, other than an odd random.

stuw - 2008-02-08 18:47:00

valentino Heres my family secret banana cake.
1 cup white sugar, 100gr melted butter, 3 bananas mashed, 3 eggs, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup low fat milk, 150ml plain or fruit yoghurt. (I always use 1 pottle fruit yog) 2cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder. :: Heres my family secret banana cake.
1 cup white sugar, 100gr melted butter, 3 bananas mashed, 3 eggs, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 cup low fat milk, 150ml plain or fruit yoghurt. (I always use 1 pottle fruit yog) 2cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder. :: Lemon icing 25gr butter, zest and juice off 1 lemon, 2 cups icing sugar. Method: preheat oven to 160 C spray a 20-22cm baking tin with non stick spray. Beat the sugar and melted butter until thick and creamy add the mashed banana and beat well. heat milk in microwave until nearly boiling (I just shove in for 1 min) stir baking soda into milk and then stir into banana mix. add the yoghurt, flour and baking powder (I ALWAYS sift flour and BP) Mix very well, and pour into cake tin and bake for 40 mins. when cold ice.

stuw - 2008-02-08 19:02:00

and... Lemon icing place butter, zest and juice in microwave bowl and heat for 30-40 secs, beat in the icing to make fluffy thick icing. Sometimes I find it needs a little extra lemon juice, and I usually spread over cake with a spatulay wetted (is that a word) with lemon juice. YUMMMMM Makes the best cake ever, oh I just made up the bit about family secret.

stuw - 2008-02-08 19:02:00

Thank you Stuw... Sounds very good, I will try your banana cake, has yoghurt in it, interesting. Cheers

valentino - 2008-02-08 20:48:00

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brianmac - 2008-02-11 08:01:00

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brianmac - 2008-02-13 07:07:00

oh no was on page 4

pixiegirl - 2008-02-18 11:33:00

Stuffed Pumpkin Get pumpkin and cut top off, scoop out seeds etc. Microwave on high 15mins at a time till just cooked. Make up a rice risotto mix and add fresh veges, meat etc. Put rice into pumpkin put "lid" on and bake for 1/2 hr at 180deg. So easy and is a nice way to impress with out the work. Great for boys trying to impress the inlaws lol

hartbrake - 2008-02-18 12:34:00

bumpin :o)

jenna68 - 2008-02-22 06:41:00

Bumping for newflover Post number 107 or 102 for choc.

valentino - 2008-02-23 21:17:00

A simple Fresh Pasta Dish ( Aglio e Olio ).. When cooking fresh pasta, it should be cooked until 'al dente' meaning 'to the tooth'. It should be just tender not at all raw or soft and gluggy. This simple recipe is with just cooked pasta - coat immediately with a dressing of crushed garlic, extra virgin oil and plenty of finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley. Quanities to suit to taste. That is it - a very simple quickest of dishes yet most satisfying meals imagineable. Cheers. One can add if wish a little chooped cold meats of choice or small can of salmon but the basic dish is sufficient.

valentino - 2008-02-26 14:43:00

too good to vanish

bev00 - 2008-03-04 14:29:00

Another Very helpful hint re fudge making.... Have some white chocolate pieces handy stored in the pantry. If the fudge comes out a bit soft or not setting as one wishes, then reheat in microwave until quite hot, mix in say at least 1/2 cup of white choc, stir until all has melted and blended then beat a little and pour into prepared tin. Cool, cut into pices then allow to completely set.

valentino - 2008-03-06 17:40:00

To make home made Condensed Milk.... Put 1/2c boiling water into a blender, then add 1c milk powder, 2/3c sugar, 3 tbsp melted butter and a few drops of vanilla essence. Cover and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

valentino - 2008-03-06 17:47:00

Bumping Lots of helpful ideas here.

gazz - 2008-03-07 21:18:00

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cookessentials - 2008-03-08 11:21:00

Thank you brianmac.... Just adding some helpful hints and ideas... Great when it is very simple, easy and readily available. Will continously be watchful and browse your new venture as you build. Cheers.

valentino - 2008-03-08 12:13:00

To the " cookessentials " listings.... Liked the idea of pie weights, I'm a huge fan in cooking pies, quiches, cheesecakes etc etc bases blind and instead of using paper and rice or baking beads, these pie weights would work far better, Very good utensil to buy. Also the Icing set - notel metal nozzles, great and the piping bag is the only way to go, hence another great but for those into baking nice cakes and desserts. Great stuff, brianmac for all to have in their kitchen. Cheers.

valentino - 2008-03-08 12:22:00

Sorry about a couple of typo errors, I'm a one finger typist and sometimes I push too hard ot too soft or too big a finger going across twoi keys . Anyway, Piping whipped cream on desserts is great in presentation or adding dollops / knobs of cream then adding say a piece of fruit or choc button to finish off is great. Also to nice drinks, sundaes, special iced drinks, so on, so on,etc. Hence that piping set you are selling is a must in more ways than one thinks. Needed to add this. Cheers.

valentino - 2008-03-08 13:21:00

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brianmac - 2008-03-08 14:04:00

Sounds very idealistic....( the cake tins ).. especially for those who bake a few at a time and then store them for use by their family over the ensuing days. And I should imagine those testers would go hand in hand with the cake tins and for those wishing to have the ideal cooked times. Great things are coming Folks, by the look of things. Well done brianmac - cookessentials ( had to double check the spelling of the business name..... Think it is better to copy and paste that name),... (hint). Cheers for now.

valentino - 2008-03-08 18:09:00

to good to loose bump

dalwil - 2008-03-12 23:49:00

Could someone please tell me why Post No 101 Was Removed... Was something stareting with... " Bumping, instead of bumping place a hint....." something like that anyway... Be nice to know if something was wrong... Until then .. No more.. Cheers

valentino - 2008-03-14 09:38:00

Oh no, hope you don't cease posting your wonderful cooking and baking wisdom on here Valentino??? I have no idea why your post @ 101 was voted off? Maybe it contained contact details of some sort, then TM does it automatically (I think).

jen92 - 2008-03-14 09:47:00

BTW Valentino.. I don't know where that Milkshake thread went, but I wanted to ask you what you meant by using "old milk"?

jen92 - 2008-03-14 09:48:00