WW Card File Challenge #7 Beef Curry

....with apples and bananas?? OH was going through the card file looking for something to make this week and this one was just too weird to pass up! We have made a mango chicken curry with apples before, but a beef curry with apples and bananas sounded very interesting and we just had to try it!


It was actually dead easy and one of the tastiest curry sauces we have had for a long time, not to mention the beef was melt in your mouth tender!!

And this is how it's done....

500g beef steak cut into cubes (2cm x 2cm ish)
1 tbspn butter
1 x onion diced
1 x apple diced
1 x banana diced
1 tbspn curry powder
2 tbspns plain flour
1.5 cups water
1 beef stock cube
2 tspns brown sugar
Salt and Pepper
Pappadums and Steamed Rice to Serve

Spray a fry pan with oil and add the beef. Cook over medium high heat until browned. Remove the beef from the pan and add the onion and butter, cooking for 1-2 mins.
Add the onion, banana and curry powder. Cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the flour. Stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the water, crumbled stock cube, brown sugar and season with salt and pepper. Bring rhe sauce to the boil, stirring well, until it thickens. Add the meat and simmer for 30-40 mins until the meat is tender.

Serve with steamed rice in pappadums!

Yum yum yum, did I mention this is one of the nicest curry sauces I have tried?? This would be a perfect sauce for curried sausages too as it is nice and thick, not to mention packed full of flavour....it does have a bit of kick to it though so be warned, but the sweetness of the apple kind of off sets that. I will say though that it was a bit hard to tell the banana was in there as it breaks down and disappears during cooking, but I think it adds to the creaminess of the sauce maybe? Either way, this dish is a great way to hide fruit and vegies from fussy kids (and adults!).

Hope you all had a fantastic Monday and are all set for the week ahead of you!

Em x

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

At work yesterday we hosted an Australia's Biggest Morning Tea event to raise money for the cancer council. The ladies at work did an amazing job, so good in fact we had enough food left over to do it all again today! We had a fantastic vartiety too, from fresh fruit and vegies, bruschetta, biscuits, cheese and dip, lemon cakes, ice cream cakes, coffee streudels and my contribution - Mini Sponge Cakes with Lemon Cream Filling and Strawberry Jam Blondies




For the Mini Sponge Cakes with Lemon Cream Filling, I used the Lemon Cream Filled Sponge from the Women's Weekly Card File. I thought the indivual cakes would be easier to serve up then the large cake and I loved the look of it on the card.


This was the finished product :)


And these were the Strawberry Jam Blondies - so soft and chewy and the jam sort of caramelizes on the top making them to die for!!


For these delicious creations you will need:

2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
250g butter
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberry jam (or jam of your choice)
50g chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C and line a slice pan.
Melt butter and sugar together, either in the microwave or on the stove top. Quickly whisk eggs and vanilla into butter/sugar mixture.
Stir in flour, baking powder and chocolate chips.
Spread batter into prepared pan. Spoon jam over batter and then swirl into batter with a butter knife or skewer to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from the center of pan. Cool before cutting into squares and serving.

So easy yet so very very good!!

Ohhh and at the hairdressers on Tuesday they straightened my hair....my thick, painful, frizzy mop is dead flat straight....I nearly proposed to my hairdresser on the spot...every day it amazes me even more, I even walked in the wind today and it remained straight and flawless....and it's so versatile, no longer am I confined to up and back or well up and back, I can wear it up or out or however the hell I want! So that confirms it, I'm investing in a good quality hair straightener! Here let me show you a picture :)



Happy Friday!!

Em x

WW Card File Challenge #4 Corned Beef

Love can make you do things you normally wouldn't do.

When your loved one turns to you and asks you to cook them Corned Beef...what do you do? Do you deny them their favourite dish? Do you buck up and give it a shot? Do you look for the silver lining? Do you start plotting the long long long list of things they are going to have to do to make it up to you??

Well I think I began by saying something to the effect of Hell No and made my refusal very very clear. I used to be totally vegetarian, but due to iron issues, I try and eat a bit of meat, but I still have issues with big chunks of the stuff, it has to be in something or covered in something and it has to be in small pieces...roasts are not yet on my list of conquered meals.

But when I thought about it, I thought well he eats lentils and fake meat for me, the least I could do is cook him some Corned Beef and it was a good opportunity to knock off another one of my WW Card File Challenges (silver lining!).


It was actually pretty easy!

All I did was put a 1kg piece of corned beef into a pot with 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 bay leaves, a tbspn of peppercorns and an onion cut in half. Bring it to the boil, turn the heat down to simmer and let it bubble away for around an hour (30-35 mins for every 500g of meat). And there you have it! No nasty fat and drippings and horrible roasty things to deal with, just one very happy OH!


He had it with some mustard (sounds odd to me, but he says it's the done thing....) and a whole heap of steamed vegies and I have got brownie points coming out of my ears!! Hmmm foot rub anyone???

Em x

WW Card File Challenge #2 and #3 - Slices!!

Ok so blogger and I, not exactly on speaking terms at the moment. I had written a huge post on all the different types of rice pudding OH and I have been trying this week, there was vanilla, decadent chocolate, vanilla with raspberry sauce, strawberry, strawberry over a base of gooey chocolate cake...it was good, it was mind blowing and mout watering and when I went to check on it on Saturday when blogger decided to speak to me again, it was gone. Gone I say. I could have cried. But instead I turned the computer off and took myself out to lunch with a friend to forget about it. It is now Saturday night and I'm here, but I'm still giving blogger the silent treatment. But just because blogger and I aren't speaking doesn't mean you should all miss out too coz I made some damn good slices this week as part of my Women's Weekly Card File Challenge and I want to share them with you :)


Look good don't they? The thing I love about these card file recipes are that they are old fashioned classics and not only that, they are easy too!


First off we have the Apple Slice (although I must confess I threw some peaches in there too!)

You will need:
185g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1.5 cups plain flour
1 tspn cinnamon
1 tspn allspice
400g pie apple
800g peach halves
(Combine the apple and peach so they are nearly smooth, I used my potato masher :) )
2 tbspns white sugar

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the sifted flour and spices.

Spread half the mixture over the bottom of a lined slice tin. Spread evenly with the combined apple and peaches.

Spread remaining mixture over the top. The mixture will be hard to spread so just dot it over the top and they will connect during cooking.

Sprinkle with remaining sugar and bake at 180C for around 50 mins or until golden.


And this one proved to be so popular with the ladies at work, it was all gone before I got to sit the plate on the counter! But what was even better then that was hearing everyone talking about how it reminded them of baking with their Mothers or Grandmothers :)

All you need for the Raspberry Coconut Slice is:

90g butter
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup plain flour
2 tbspn cornflour
1/2 cup raspberry jam
2 tbspns butter
2 tbspns caster sugar
1/2 tspn vanilla
1 egg
1.5 cups coconut
2 tbspns self raising flour

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Agg the egg and beat well. Stir in the flour and cornflour and mix well.

Spread the mixture into a lined slice tin and pour the raspberry jam over.

Make your topping by creaming the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the egg, flour and coconut and beat well.

Spread the topping over the jam and bake at 180C for 25 mins.

Enjoy!! :)

And last but certainly not least....


My darling Mother made this for dessert last night....oh yes, if we thought the bowls of her famous pumpkin soup served with toasted turkish pide (which, by the way, was filled with cheese and balsamic!) were awesome...well we were right...but this dessert was mighty impressive!! Think chocolate mousse layered with strawberry champagne sauce, flake chocolate and whipped cream, layers upon layers of goodness, topped with a shard of caramel mousse filled chocolate?? Hello heaven!!

Apologies for the small photo but I only had my phone with me!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!! I have missed you!!

Em x

Women's Weekly Recipe Card File Challenge!

A few weeks ago my Mum was clearing out her recipe books and offered me her Women's Weekly Card File. I can't tell you how happy I was, I remember playing with this when I was little, pulling out all the cards, looking at the pictures and putting them all back in the wrong order! My Mum has had this card file since 1973 and she collected all the cards in it during some promotion that Women's Weekly held but only ever made the Pumpkin Scone recipe from it (and I have to say they are damn good pumpkin scones) so I think she was happy to pass it onto someone who was a) very excited about it and b) would put it to good use. So when Mum and Dad came for tea on Tuesday night I had to cook something from the card file!


Italian Rice Slice

Base - 30g butter
1 onion diced
1 cup brown rice
1 egg lightly beaten
3 cups water

Combine the rice and water and cook in the microwave or on the stove for 30-40 mins (or until soft)

Melt the butter in a frypan over medium heat and cook onion until soft and golden.

Once rice is cooked, stir through onion and egg.

Press into the base of 4 individual ramekins or one big baking dish.

Filling - 60g butter
1 red and 1 green capsicum diced
200g sliced button mushrooms
1 onion diced
3 tomatoes finely chopped
1 tspn crushed wet basil

In the fry pan you just used for the base, melt butter and add onion.

Cook until golden and soft. Add remaining vegetables and basil. Cook for around 10 mins or until vegetables are tender.

Arrange vegetables over your rice base.

Topping - 40g butter
1/4 cup plain flour
1 cup milk
1 egg lightly beaten
60g light shredded pizza cheese
.5 tspn crushed wet basil

Melt butter in a saucepan. Remove pan from heat and add flour. Stir until smooth. Return to heat, stirring constantly for 2 mins.

Remove from heat and gradually add milk. Stir until smooth. Return to heat, stirring until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and add beaten egg, cheese and basil. Stir until cheese melts (this will require some muscle power!).

Pour mixture over vegetables and bake in oven at 160C for around 40 mins or until topping is golden and set.


Ohhhhhhhhhhh my god, how awesome was this! I know it seems a bit fiddly with having to prepare 3 different layers but honestly, try it, you won't regret it! The cheese sauce was devine, the vegetables had so much flavour and the brown rice base just pulled it altogether beautifully. Definetly a keeper!

There are so many fantastic recipes in there, Mum and Dad have set me a challenge to try and cook them all so I'm going to aim for at least one dish a week and see how we go!

Em x