ANZAC Biscuits

So I know I missed a post last week. I was so excited to make Hot Crossed Buns and share the recipe with you, but let me tell you... it was a disaster! My yeast has lost it's oomph and the buns did not rise... at all! I continued to the end thinking that they would at least still taste ok after baking them. Nope. Since they didn't raise, the dough in the middle did not get done. I was so sad! I think its kind of funny now and someday I will try them again.

Anzac biscuits were sent overseas during World War I to the Australian and New Zealand soldiers. ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp and Anzac Day is similar to what we American's celebrate as Memorial Day. We were in Australia last year on ANZAC day, but didn't get to experience it fully (we wished we would have!). The town we were living in had a ceremony at dawn and a parade or march later that day. We were able to walk to the post office that evening and saw lots of crosses representing those who had lost their lives in WWI.

I thought since ANZAC day is just a few days away (April 25), I would make some bikkies to celebrate it. I found this recipe and modified it just a little.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1 stick and a little (125 g) butter*
2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
1 Tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda (bicarbonate of soda)

*Conversions never really match up. I used about 9 Tablespoons of butter

Instructions:

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, rolled oats, and coconut.

Melt the butter along with the golden syrup and water in a saucepan.

Stir the baking soda in.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix well.

Form small balls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350*F (175*C). For a more chewy cookie bake for 12 minutes, then leave them on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes after taking them out of the oven. For a harder/crunchier bikkie, bake for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy ANZAC Day!!

Curried Egg Sandwich

I don't know about you, but here in America, we dye hard boiled eggs around Easter. I don't really know why, we just do. Maybe I should look that one up... but I have done it since I was a child and still love doing it! After we finished dying the eggs, we usually admired them for a while, but then would make Deviled Eggs or Egg sandwiches. While I lived in Australia, I went to a church function. There they served a variety of sandwiches, one of which was an egg sandwich. I had to get one. Little did I know that I would end up eating about 5! (One sandwich was cut cut into 4 triangles, so really it wasn't too much...) They were delicious! I found out that they put curry in them. I decided I would use up some of my Easter eggs to make a curried egg sandwich.

Preparation Time: 5-30 minutes (It all depends on if you have your eggs already boiled and how far above sea level you are, but they are fast to make)

This recipe makes 3-4 sandwiches depending on the size of your bread

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
1/2 cup Mayo
1/2-1 tsp Curry Powder (depends on how strong you want the taste)
6-4 slices of bread
Chopped Lettuce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:

Boil your eggs. When they are done, I run them under cold water. I have found that this helps them peel better.

Mix Mayo & curry powder together.

Chop your eggs or do what I do... just smash them with a fork.

Add the eggs to your mixture.

Add salt and pepper to taste, spread egg mixture on the bread, sprinkle some lettuce on top, and your ready to eat.

Fast and easy and a good way to use up all those Easter eggs you dyed :)

Mexican Rice

I realized that some of my Mexican dishes I always say, "Serve with rice and beans." I thought that I should probably post a recipe for those. Today I am featuring my moms Spanish rice. This recipe is fast and easy.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1/3 cup oil
1 onion chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes (or you can use 1-2 fresh chopped ones)
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
3 chicken Bouillon cubes

Instructions:

Heat oil in frying pan. Add onion and rice to brown them.

Add stewed tomatoes, water, and spices. Stir it around.

Let simmer for 10 minutes and stir again. Then leave it alone for 20-30 minutes.

Serve it up with you meal and enjoy! You can pair it up with one of these recipes (1, 2, 3) or your own.

Mine didn't look quite like when my parents make it, but it
still tasted the same.