Little Critters series

We have been reading the Little Critters series by Mercer Mayer.  Upon consulting Google, I learned that Mercer Mayer is an American child writer and illustrator.  Little Critter is good for emerging reader, (so appeals a lot to Abel).  It also appeals to Noel when he was younger and still is  on days when he just wants to do light reading plus the illustration is usually funny or story lines are funny.

The book is usually not very thick and in a 15cm x 20cm size. So, they are perfect for little hands.
The story line is usually quite funny and practical too. Like Critter goes shopping with Mum and his sister and baby sister in the supermarket.
Little sister wants to sit in trolley, she wants to have lollies and other things, and mother Critter said No. (It's very realistic isn't it?) There is a page where Mother needs paper towel and  Sister wants pulls it from bottom of the pile and all the other paper towel fell off the display resulting in a not so pleased store manager. Finally everyone left with an ice cream. 




Note: We are not told what sort of animal the critters are.

Overnight oats -my version

With summer coming up and also seeing lots of overnight oats in the jar postings and one that CC made, I decided to give it a try.

Things needed:
A jar (I used a glass jar)
1/2 cup Quick oats (will try to use rolled oats)
3/4 cup Raw milk

I put it in the fridge for at least 6 hours-7 hours after I screw the cap. I have read postings where they don't cover their oats.

Upon serving in the morning, I added the following:
1 tsp of manuka money
1-2 tsp of dried cranberries
chopped pcs of one half apple
a couple slice of navel orange

Verdict:
It's cold and it has an interesting texture. It's easy enough to prepare. No cooking involved. I had to cut the fruits for the kids' lunch box anyways.  Give this a try, it's a good way to get some of my 5+ a day first thing in the morning.

Sausage Rolls

Sausage roll is another thing forever on my to-do list but never got around to do it. I finally attempted it when I had half a pack of mince left from making those meatballs.  On the same night I made this sausage rolls.

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry, semi thawed(Of course I used the ready made from the frozen section in supermarket. We always have this on stand by in our freezer).
Eggs
Beef mince
Bread crumbs
Salt
Pepper
pinch of sugar
Finely chopped red onions

If you read my meatball posting, I have used the same ingredients except for the sausage roll, I sauté the onions first then mix it with the mince , bread crumbs and the salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 200c. 
For each sheet of puff pastry, I half it to get 2 rectangles.  Then I spread the mince mixture and roll it up.  Then I cut into 4 pieces. As mine is finger food , I get 8 small rolls from 1 puff pastry sheet.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. (follow your packet instruction but with my current oven, I always have to increase the time) When the first timer rang, I glazed it with egg and add poppy seed and the final glaze of honey if you like sweet rolls.

Spaghetti with Meatballs

In the school holidays I attempted making meatballs for spaghetti. I read a number of recipes and decided to keep my recipe simple.  I didn't have all the dried herb so my recipe was without any herbs.

Here's my recipe


About 600g of premium mince.
Bread crumb (my recipe won't be so tedious if I had readymade breadcrumbs or food processor) I used my 3 day old bread and toasted it before I scrap with butter knife to get the crumbs.
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper
pinch of sugar
Finely chopped Red onions

Just mix everything and then start to form them into balls.  Instead of browning them on the pan, I baked mine in the oven in preheated oven for 25 to 30mins at 180c.  As the mince were lean there isn't much grease on the oven tray.

Next I cooked spaghetti in the pot and start cooking the sauce. I cheated and used one of those packet by Maggi to cook the spaghetti sauce.  Add a can of whole peeled tomato and ta da....spaghetti meat balls.

Scones

I have always wanted to make scones and I had numerous failed attempt.  My scones usually is lethal (ie  they are usually rock hard and can injure someone if the scone is thrown at them).  Finally, this one received the seal of approval.

The recipe is based on Annabelle White's buttermilk recipe:

Here is the recipe:


3 cups of flour
4 tsp of baking powder
1.5 cups of milk (to which I added 1.5 tsp of white vinegar to make buttermilk)-note you need to let the milk sit for at least 5 minutes
2 tbsp sugar -optional
pinch of salt
80g very cold butter


Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degree C on fan bake.  Sift the flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl and grate in butter and with clean hands work the butter into the flour until the mixture is fully integrated and resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir the buttermilk and add the buttermilk into the dry ingredients.  Use a butter knife to mix. (as if you are cutting the flour)  The mixture should look moist.  I find that I need to add maybe another 1/4 cup milk to get all the flour mixed.


Place the mixture on a floured bench and gently pat out into shape with a quick knead.  and cut into pieces and place on a grased baking tray ,close together.

Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven). My oven took 20minutes. It should look golden.

Once they are coloured they are done.  Serve with butter and good jam.

Note: The scones should feel light when you lift it out of the tray.