Cookery Monday - Tropical Fruit Loaf

My little girl is getting so grown up!  

We got her all ready to help us today - her first ever cooking lesson!  

School starts young at the Short household!  :O)

All ready to get started:

 First job was to zest and then juice an orange.

Here Charlie puts some muscle into it and does a grand job!  :O)

Rosina was rather insistent on having a go - she's been pulling some very interesting faces recently (have to try hard not to laugh) Just look at that frown!  We showed her what to do and to be fair she did have a go, but decided it was a lot more fun to splash the orange in the jug - and of course she got the desired effect of giggles all round.  :O)

We popped the zest into our mixing bowl and kept the orange juice separate.  We then added the sugar and butter to our mixing bowl and mixed until creamy.  Next job was to chop, chop, chop all our dried tropical fruit.  A very sticky job!  Rosina enjoyed having a go too!  :O)

After adding and mixing in the eggs, flours and baking powder we poured in the fruit and mixed.

Time to bake!  Raw - cooked in 1 hour 10 mins. (50 mins covered with foil)

TASTE TEST!!!  :O)

and the verdict is?????

Hehe! 

2 Thumbs up from Charlie, 1 from Quinn and a mixed report from Caden who says 

that he loves the cake, but does not enjoy the tropical fruit.


Come back next time for a recipe that is inedible on purpose.  :O)

Go on - try it!!

After several request for this recipe I decided to blog it. :O)

LENTIL LASAGNE

Preparation = 25 minutes Cooking = 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

15g (1/2oz) butter

1 medium-large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, seeded & chopped

(i use which ever colour pepper I have in)

175g (6oz) split red lentils

397g (14oz) can tomatoes

300ml (1/2 pint) stock

300ml (1/2 pint) fresh milk

30ml (2 tbsp) tomato purée

5ml (1 tsp) dried mixed herbs

freshly ground pepper

100g (4oz) ready-to-cook lasagna

(I use 6 sheets)

2 eggs

225g (8oz) natural yogurt

100g (4oz) cheddar cheese, grated

METHOD:

1) Melt butter in a saucepan, add onion and cook until soft

2) Add pepper, lentils, tomatoes, stock, 150 (1/4 pint) of the milk, tomato purée, herbs and pepper. (it may look curdled to begin with.)

3) Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until lentils are tender.) (I find it works best for me to leave it uncovered and to stir frequently otherwise the lentils stick and burn to the bottom of my pan, but I do not use a non-stick pan, so if that's what you are using, it probably would be fine to do as recipe says)

4) While the lentil mixture is cooking, whisk together eggs, remaining milk and yogurt. Stir in half the cheese.

5) Place half the lentil mixture in a a 25.5x20.5cm (10x8 inch) ovenproof dish.

6) Cover with half the lasagne sheets, repeat layers.

7) Pour the sauce you prepared earlier over lasagne

8) Sprinkle remaining cheese over lasagne and bake at 200 degrees C (400 degrees F) (Gas Mark 6) for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY!