While rhubarb is not popular in my household it was in Mum’s. She made a lot of relishes and chutneys with the produce from Dad’s garden, although I’m not sure she made this one. Personally I think making relishes and chutneys is much easier than jams as they don’t need to set. As long as you cook them until they’re thick they work really well.
Among Mum’s recipe cutouts I found an article on Cheesecakes. It has four different types of bases, unbaked cheesecake recipes and a basic baked cheesecake with several variations. I’ve divided the article up and this is the unbaked cheesecake using ricotta cheese. I’ve also add a recipe from a Nestles leaflet which uses cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk, which is a bit different. I must admit I prefer a baked cheesecake, but an unbaked or refrigerator one is quicker to make and can taste just as good.
Among Mum’s recipe cutouts I found an article on Cheesecakes. It has four different types of bases, unbaked cheesecake recipes and a basic baked cheesecake with several variations. I’ve divided the article up and these are baked cheesecake recipes. I like the idea of changing the basic cream cheese cheesecake by adding a few extra ingredients. The Sultana Ricotta though is a different style using ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese it gives a softer texture to the cheesecake.
Among Mum’s recipe cutouts I found an article on Cheesecakes. It has four different types of bases, unbaked cheesecake recipes and a basic baked cheesecake with several variations. I’ve divided the article up and these are the bases recipes. I usually make the traditional plain biscuit one using Marie biscuits and occasionally the chocolate but I like the idea of having all four on the one page, it saves having to look them up.
I’m going to make Cauliflower with White Sauce and Cheese, as it’s always been called in our family, to go with Christmas lunch as usual. So I was pleased to find this recipe showing the proper way to make it. It’s something I make quite a lot, passed down from Mum of course. I’ve never had a recipe for it and I was surprised just how much my version has evolved from this 1970s one. I microwave the cauliflower, make a fairly thick white sauce in the microwave, pour it over the cauliflower and then top the whole lot with lots of cheese. Sometimes I even add broccoli – not traditional maybe, but it’s quick, easy and tastes great.
After finding the recipe for the Pumped Leg of Lamb I was reminded of another cold meat specialty of Mum’s – Pickled Pork. Like the lamb you don’t see pickled pork ready made any more and you’ll have to ask the butcher to prepare it for you. It’s treated the same way as the lamb and corned beef, pumped with brine and basically you cook it the same way. If you want to modernize it you could cook it in a slow cooker.
Hunting through Mum’s recipes I found this Pumped Leg of Lamb recipe and it’s brought back lots of memories. Ham when I was a kid only came in cans and even then only on special occasions. On the other hand lamb was readily available and cheap and Mum always made it to have as cold meat a Christmas time. When cooked it had a vague ham look, taste and texture. This recipe was printed in the Herald Sun in, I think, the 70s, I don’t have Mum’s original recipe, but I’m sure it didn’t have red wine, orange juice and honey in it, Mum’s was a much plainer version.
Pumped Leg of Lamb is similar to corned beef. You can’t buy it off the shelf these days, but I’m sure a butcher would be prepare it for you, like corned beef the lamb is pumped with brine and you cook it the same was as corned beef. Not sure if you want to try it out, but it does bring back lots of memories to me of cold meat and salads on hot Australian summer days.
I couldn’t resist adding this recipe for Chocolate Truffles to make for the festive season. In our house you can’t have too many rum balls, apricot balls or chocolate truffles – the more the merrier.
Marshmallows, coconut and chocolate with a few nuts added – a great sweet treat for Christmas entertaining. Although I think I’d be tempted to change the walnuts for some glace cherries just to make them even sweeter.
They say the older you get the more like your mother you become and I found that out this week. My good friend Deb and I were discussing the Christmas cakes we’d just made and hers sounded very unusual. Unusual, because it’s the first time I’ve heard of the fruit being soaked overnight in strong coffee and then a block of chocolate added – no sugar, no butter – she assures me it tastes great. So like Mum, I had to ask ‘can I please have the recipe’. She got recipe from a co-volunteer at the local Op. Shop who makes it all the time and so the cycle continues…………………..
Beb's Recipe Drawer 