internet chicken

this is one of the first dishes i cooked from the internet. it was a novelty for me. i wasn't a can of this and that cook....i cooked things from scratch....i made cake from distinguishable ingredients....this was a first for me. mind you, i have never been able to leave well enough alone with recipes and like to add my own touch, so this is now a bit different to the original which had chipped beef in it. no quantities - i just roll with what i have at the time. simple as.

chicken
bacon
mushrooms
1 carton sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup

lay the chicken in casserole dish and strew the sliced mushrooms and bacon over the chicken. combine the sour cream and soup together and pour over everything in the dish. bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes to an hour. serve with noodles or rice.

ambrosia

ambrosia is food of the gods or the heavens, depending on which definition you find.
in the food world, it's the name they give to a fancy fruit salad normally made with canned pineapple and canned mandains with sour cream and marshmallows. sometimes it's sprinkled with marachino cherries and or shredded coconut.
mine's a bit different. i like to put all the different fresh fruits i can lay my hands on in mine.

this is a list of fruits i'd put in:
apple
pear
banana
orange
lychees
grapes
peach
nectarine
pineapple
apricots
blueberries
strawberries
plums
cherries
mango
watermelon
rockmelon
and whatever other fruits you can think of.
sour cream
marshmallows

wash and prepare the fruit and cut into pieces. spoon over the sour cream and add the marshmallows. mix very lightly so as not to bruise the fruit.
chill in the refrigerator until required.

quick apricot mousse

remember my strawberry mousse from last year? i thought that was pretty effortless. this is even more so. and three ingredients, to boot.
this is another offering from the same australian women's weekly menu planner i got the cream cheese flan from; this one's from page 54.

825 gram can apricot halves
2 teaspoons gelatine
300 grams sour cream

drain the apricots and reserve 1/2 cup syrup. sprinkle the gelatine over the syrup and allow to soften over a bowl of hot water.
puree the apricots, add the sour cream and gelatine mixture and mix until combined throughly.
pour into individual dishes and refrigerate until set.

isn't that easy? i'd suspect that it might be diabetic friendly if you used apricots in natural juice, but you should check that out with a dietician just to make sure.

cream cheese flan

every so often, i like to flip through my australian women's weekly menu planners. i don't have the whole set and would love to complete it if it is at all possible. anyway, this recipe is from the third book of the first series and was printed in 1987....page 58, if you must know. i love these little books - they hark to a different time and the recipes in them have that quaint quality to them, retro, if you like, but definitely not mainstream.
a gluten free version of this flan can be made if gluten free biscuits are used for the base.

this flan can be made up to 1 day ahead; store, covered, in the refrigerator. recipe unsuitable to freeze.

1 1/2 cups (185grams) sweet biscuit crumbs
90 grams butter, melted
250 grams cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon rind
300 grams sour cream

combine the biscuit crumbs and butter and press over the base of a 23 cm flan tin; refrigerate until firm.
beat the cream cheese and sugar until soft, add the eggs and lemon rind and mix well.
add the sour cream and beat to combine.
pour the mixture into a saucepan and whisk over heat without boiling until slightly thickened (or microwave on high 8 minutes, stopping every 2 minute to whisk mixture).
pour mixture over biscuit base, cool and refirgerate several hours or overnight.

decorate with whipped cream, drizzled chocolate and strawberries if you'd like.

french onion dip

i can't believe i'm adding this recipe, but add it i must because miss c went to nooms' place and had it and thought it was soooo good. miss c needs to know how to make it in case she has a craving for it one day and doesn't know what to do. isn't it ironic how miss k knows how to make this, but doesn't eat it (she's not into sour cream), while miss c has absolutely no idea about what's in it, let alone make it, but loves it?
this recipe is for the dried packet soup mix, as opposed to the french onion dip which requires onions to be cooked from scratch - i'll post that another day when i am inclined to do so.
laugh away, but this isn't bad for those occasions when you really only want junk, and you really don't want to buy ready made french onion dip, do you, when this is so easy to make yourself?
(hint: this might not be a bad addition to ones repertoire for when schoolies comes around)

1 packet french onion soup (salt reduced, because it's already soooo salty)
1 carton sour cream

combine both ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl with a small whisk until everything is nicely married together. pour into a serving dish, cover and chill until required.
serve with crackers, vegetable sticks or chippies (it's not too bad on baked potatoes either).

chicken salad

i loved chicken salad with fruit in it and a creamy dressing and this is the variation i made for miss c to bring to school.

2 cups cooked chicken, cut in 2cm dice; i used free range breast because i had it
1/2 cup dried cranberries or craisins - dried cranberries look more plump than craisins
1/2 cup raw almonds
1 apple, cut into 1cm dice
1/2 cup eggplant relish
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cream
3 hard boiled eggs

place everything except the eggs into a large bowl and toss gently to combine. try not to overdo it because you don't want the chicken to disintergrate.
halve the eggs and place on top of each serving.
refrigerate any leftovers, if there are any.

honey picnic cake

this post comes courtesy of my friend liz. in an odd way. odd because i suddenly thought to call her out of the blue for no reason, or so i thought.

liz was trying to make this cake, from memory, beacuse she couldn't find her cookbook. the recipe was in one of those little murdoch cookbooks....sour cream...honey...

did you google it? i asked.

yes. couldn't find it.

and so we continued chatting while i went to my disarray of recipes and pulled out family circle's step by step quick and easy cakes. this is a different publication from lizzie's, but still published within the murdoch stable. went straight to the index and found it.

now, i could understand it if liz rang me to ask if i had the recipe, but how do you explain my calling her to give her a recipe she needed?

anyway, liz says this loaf cuts well and has made it several times, so there is your recommendation.

honey picnic cake

300 grams sour cream
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons honey, warmed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

preheat the oven to slow 150 degrees celcius. grease a 22 x 12 cm loaf tin and line the base and the two long sides with baking paper. blend the sour cream, sugar and egg in a food processor until combined.

add the flour and baking powder and process until well blended. add the honey and process until mixed. add the nuts and process just long enough for them to mix through.

spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. leave in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

corn relish dip by whisks

this is super simple and is super delicious, particularly if you like corn relish. it only takes moments to prepare, so is a great standby for spur of the moment occasions.

1 cup corn relish
2 cups sourcream

mix the corn relish with the sour cream until blended and chill until ready to serve.serve with crackers, or my favourite - potato crisps/chips.

cinnamon streusel cake by whisks

this smells so good whilst baking in the oven and tastes so good when it comes out, warm or at room temperature. what more could a person want?
i made this in little loaf tins and miss k took slices of this to school and shared it with her friends and all they could think about was cinnamon loaf....don't you love it?

cake ingredients:

125 grams butter
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup white sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch salt

cinnamon mix:

3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 dash allspice

streusel mix:

60 grams butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plain flour

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.

put all the cake ingredients in a medium sized bowl and beat all cake ingredients together with a electric mixer (i like to use a hand held mixer) and spread half of the mixture in a deep 28 centimetre round pan lined with baking paper. i like using a springform tin to bake this cake because it makes the cake easier to remove from the tin. just make sure your springform tin holds the base of the tin securely - you don't want the bottom of the cake tin to fall out when you're transfering the tin to and from the oven. something like that would make me want to cry. i know this happened to my friend janet and she said that's how she felt.

mix together the cinnamon mixture in a small bowl and sprinkle over first layer.

dollop on remaining cake batter as evenly as you can (it doesn't have to be perfect) and use a knife to swirl the cinnamon through the batter. as fun as this is, try not to overdo it - just a quick zig zag through the batter is all that's needed - it's nice having the distinct cinnamony lines going throught the cake when it's finished baking.

roughly mix the struesel mixture together (it's fine if it's lumpy) and sprinkle it over the cake mixture.

bake the cake at for 45-50 minutes or until done. to check for doneness, insert a toothpick in the centre of the cake and when you take it out, if there's a wet batter on it, leave the cake in the oven for another 15 minutes, then check again. if there's a moist batter on it, leave it in the oven another 5 minutes, then check again. if the toothpick comes out without any batter stuck to it, the cake's ready.

if the cake's ready, take it out of the oven and put it on a cake rack to cool a little. if you try to take it out of the tin when it comes straight out of the oven, it might just fall apart because it hasn't had a chance to stabilise. this cake is quite moist, that's why it needs a bit of time. just be patient and leave the cake to settle down for a little bit - give it at least 15 minutes - it will still be warm even after 30 minutes or longer. i know...and it smells so good. if you don't mind what your cake looks like, then go for it.