Buying chips and dips and other types of savouries to have before a dinner or at a party just wasn’t an option in the early days of Mum’s entertaining. There just wasn’t that much available to buy, so you had to make them yourself. This is just one of the things she made.
Biscuit and slice recipes that don’t require creaming the butter and sugar are always among my favourites. They are that much easier to make and usually use less bowls which equals less washing up, always a good thing. This is a simple recipe for Date Bars although I notice that the method misses out on adding the margarine – I’d just melt it and add it when mixing in the dates and walnuts.
When microwaves first appeared on the scene we were told you could cook anything in them and I think this recipe dates back to that time. I now find the microwave indispensible, but use it mainly as a tool to cook vegetables, melt butter or chocolate, defrost meat and to make white sauces. I found that the traditional oven was better for casseroles, roasts and baking in general, but there’s no denying this recipe would cook more quickly this way and could be worth trying.
Lemon chicken is something of a classic chicken recipe and this is a version that Mum cut out from the Herald Sun. Twice frying the chicken makes it lovely and crunchy and topped with the sauce the whole thing is delicious.
This is another recipe from the Herald Sun cooking column. The usual recipe is for Steak Diane, but in this chicken has been used instead – it’s worth trying out to see if you like the change.
Although today you can buy chicken wings already marinated in a variety of difference sauces, it’s still nice to make your own from scratch and it’s not really all that hard to do.
BAKED CHICKEN WINGS
Mix honey, tomato sauce and soy sauce. Brush wings thoroughly with honey mixture place in shallow dish or casserole and place in a very hot oven 220ºC. Cook 40 mins brushing with honey mixture and turning every 10-15 minutes.
This is a great recipe which it looks like Mum found in the Herald Sun cooking column. she passed it onto me and I’ve cooked it many times. It’s quick, easy and tastes great – if you don’t have any leeks you can use a brown onion, but the leek does add extra flavour.
Although Mum never really mastered the use of the microwave, except for reheating meals, she cut this recipe out of the Woman’s Day. I sure she had every intention of making it one day.
This recipe comes from a brochure put out by the Australian Meat Board in 1969. It’s certainly a different style of pie with the meat on top and the pastry underneath, but could easily be reversed.
I was quite excited to find this original Chocolate Ripple Cake recipe in Mum’s collection. The Chocolate Ripple Cake was a party favourite in our household from around the 1960s and was always a crowd pleaser. The only change to this original recipe for today’s cooks is to convert the ½ pint of cream to 500ml. I did recently make a more modern version by laying the biscuits down in a cake tin and building up the layering, then I topped it with fresh fruit. It turned it into a cake instead of a slice, but either way you make it, it still tastes delicious.
