Gin and tonic in a cake.

Wow, I took a look on the net and there are lots of gin and tonic cake recipes.  This one is from the Home Beautiful of  May 2020 and makes 6-8 perfect cup cakes from just one egg!

Ginger and Walnut Carrot Cake from Nigella

This cake is a Nigella classic from her latest TV show, with a little update on the spice and topping from me.  You can vary the spice according to your taste (cardamon would be nice) but always use the ginger, and if you dont have time for caramel praline just top with chopped walnuts and ginger.

Impressive Mango Cheesecake for a crowd

I made this at Christmas when mangoes are at their peak.  Delicious, and not too heavy for summer.    Thank you Woolworths for the idea.  The cheesecake portion of this makes a light, simple summer dessert, so this is quite a versatile recipe.  Serves 12.

Green Tomato Relish

Recently one of my tomatoes was damaged in the wind, and I had a whole lot of green tomatoes.  This is also something that happens at the end of the season when the plants need to come out.  How to use them up?  Make a pickle, similar to the relishes used on hot dogs.  This is easy as anything to do.

The amount of capsicums you use can be varied, as also to onions.  If you want to keep it for  a long time leave out the garlic to avoid poisoning.  I used old pickle jars that I sterelised, but you can use canning jars also.

One pan Japanese Salmon

This is a recipe from Adam Liaw called Cancan Salmon and is an everyday Japanese dinner.  You can substitute the carrot for other veg such as asparagus, but if you want them not over cooked, add them with the salmon. This recipe serves 2.

Lebanese slow roasted lamb

Lamb: Trim the fat off a shoulder or leg of lamb that has been boned and butterflied.
Rub with a little olive oil, salt and 1 tablsepoon of sumac.  Set aside

Cook: In a large pan, (I use a wok) brown a large carrot, stick of celery, 1 red onion cut in half and 8 cloves of garlic, skin on.  Remove and then brown the lamb well, rendering any fat out that you can.

Heat 250 ml beef stock and 75 ml pomegranate molasses.

Now, decide how to cook the lamb
- for a slow cooker I put in the vegies, lamb and stock and cook overnight on low.
- In a pressure cooker place everything in and cook for 1 hr 45 mins.  Then finish in a hot oven 200C for 15 mins.
- In the oven place all in a large roasting dish, cover with foil and cook for 4-1/2 hours at 160C.  Then finish in a hot oven, 200C, for 15 mins.

Make a sauce with garlic, yoghurt, lemon, mint and salt.

Top the lamb on a serving dish with a mixture of chopped herbs and the seeds from 1/2 a pomegranate and broken up feta cheese.

Hazelnut and coffee freezer biscuits

These are great to have in the freezer for any time someone comes over and you something when friends drop in.  They make a crispy biscuit that is perfect with a cuppa.

 The nuts can easily be swapped for pecans, walnuts or whatever takes your fancy.  And you can change the coffee to dried cranberries or orange/lemon zest.  You can even make a desiccated coconut and lime zest version.  When using coffee, try using a mixture of coffee beans ground up and instant coffee, and the cinnamon and aniseed could be any spice you like. (try cardamom).

When freezing, I use a small ice cream scoop so that each one is the same size, but you could roll the mixture into two logs and cut off each biscuit roughly 1cm thick.