I had a few people around for dinner a little while ago and as I quite like making desserts I decided to have a go at making trifle which is something I’ve never done before. My main course - mango chicken - was also a first run which I wouldn’t normally do because I like to try things out before making them for people.

I didn’t have a trifle recipe in any of my books so online I went and found one on the Women’s Weekly website.

This is modified ever so slightly from that.

Ingredients
2 x packets jam sponge logs (I bought little sponge rolls, not the big ones)
1 x packet of wildberry jelly (any type will do)
1 x 825 tin of pears (I used peaches)
500ml custard, (optional if you make your own)
300ml fresh cream
Grand Marnier & dry sherry to taste (orange juice will do, but I used orange juice and Triple Sec which has an orange flavour)

Custard: (optional, you can just add custard purchased from supermarket)
2 level tablespoons of custard powder
1 level tablespoon of sugar
milk, enough to get desired consistency

Method
Bowl - 21cm x 9cm (deep) with a base of 13cm diameter.

First make a jelly to packet directions and refrigerate until set.

Cut the Jam Sponge Roll into slices of equal thickness. Place them around the bowl, starting from the bottom of the bowl then building them around the sides to cover the entire inside. Fill in all the gaps by halving the slices where required.

Drizzle the sherry over the cake so that it becomes moist but not soggy. Add a little Grand Marnier in the same manner for taste variation.

Mum likes to make fresh custard- combine custard powder and sugar (or less to taste), add milk slowly to form a paste then stir in the remainder. Over medium heat and stir constantly until the custard can be poured but not too runny. (I used bought custard).

Pour the custard over the Jam sponge and spoon it over the sides to fill in the gaps - then let cool, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate - this allows the sherry & Grand Marnier to meld with the custard and sponge

Once the custard is cooled take the jelly and mince it with a fork and spread over the custard - again up the sides of the bowl to fill in any gaps - then refrigerate.

Whip 300ml of fresh cream and spread over the jelly, garnish with pears cut into slices in a circular pattern around the bowl and any other seasonal fruit - berries if available - or just the pears will suffice.

The finish! This was more than enough for seven of us. JJ and I have leftovers for a couple of days and it kept just fine in the fridge.

A while ago I read a recipe on how to make teacup biscuits on Planning Queen’s blog. JJ and I put it down as one our things to do during the school holidays. We finally did it.

I saved it for an occasion where we weren’t left to eat all 26 by ourselves - that would have been a bit piggy. We visited a friend who has three kids and it was one of those kids birthdays the day prior so we took most of them there.

JJ also had some left over for his lunchbox for a couple of days into the school term.

As the recipe said, we used lifesaver lollies for the handles and I had trouble cutting them in half properly. Someone mentioned to me that you could use fruitloop cereal so this might be worth a try next time.

It was a great little activity to share with my son, and quite easy to do.

On another note stay posted as I’m going to be doing a giveaway here. It will be a good one.

In one of my micro-blog posts I said that I’d made a really yummy banana cake, and Shai Coggins asked for the recipe. It’s worth sharing on my blog as it is absolutely deliciously moist, and did I say yum?

I managed to take this photo just before I wrapped up the last two pieces.

I’m not sure where the recipe originated but it’s on a piece of paper handwritten by either me or my sister.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups self raising flour
• .75 cup sugar
• half cup (quarter pound) butter
• 2 eggs
• 3 bananas
• 1 level teaspoon bicarb soda
• half teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons hot milk

Method

Beat butter and sugar to a cream then add beaten eggs and vanilla - beating well.

Mash bananas thoroughly and add. Sift in the flour. Dissolve bicarb soda in hot milk and add last Blend all thoroughly but lightly.

This makes a fairly stiff mixture but is very light and fluffy when baked.

Grease a tin (I put mine in a loaf tin and I usually line it with baking paper), and pour the mixture in.

Then fight with your child about who gets to lick the bowl and the beater.

Bake in a moderate oven (about 180 degrees celcius) for 25-30 minutes. In my oven it takes a bit longer which could be because of the loaf tin I use but I always test with a skewer to make sure it’s cooked through.

As you can see from the photo I didn’t ice it, but a cream cheese type icing goes well, or just whipped cream. I did have some cream left from something else and enjoyed a piece with cream over the top.

Let me know if you use this recipe. I would love to hear what you think of it.

Party food, ie chocolate crackles, and a suspension from school? Let’s see if I can do a neat segue.

My friend’s son had a 5th birthday party yesterday afternoon. The night prior my friend rang to ask me for a chocolate crackles recipe. It so happened that I had all the necessary ingredients as this is something I promised to do with JJ. In a moment of weakness I offered to make them and bring them along with me.

It’s the first time I’ve made them and it was dead easy. The recipe is on the side of the Rice Bubbles packet.

You will need:

• 4 cups Rice Bubbles
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 250g Copha
• 3 tbsp cocoa

In a large bowl mix the Rice Bubbles, icing sugar, coconat and cocoa.

S lowly melt the copha in a saucepan over low heat and allow to cool slightly. Add to the rice bubbles mixture, stirring well until combined.

Spoon the mixture into paper patty pans and refrigerate until firm.This will make about 24.

So I made these just before I went to school to pick JJ up. I was sitting outside his classroom when he came back with two other boys and the deputy principal and an envelope in his hand. The other boy said ‘we’ve been suspended’. Apparently there was an incident at lunchtime that involved kicking. I still haven’t got the full story but will find out at the suspension conference early this week.

JJ has had some detentions this year and it seems to boil down to mixing with this kid who gets him into trouble and not knowing how to behave in the playground. He also has trouble making friends at school.

I felt like I was rewarding him by taking him to the party but because it was a good friend’s birthday and we’d promised to go, we went. JJ is without tv and computer for one week and this will be reviewed after a week.

Just when I thought I’d achieved something with JJ’s behaviour this goes and happens. He’s fine (mostly) with me, and friends that had him for a couple of days over Easter noted that he was really good for them. So school, and this other kid, are the common denominator. The school wants to work with us to resolve this so this time I’ll be making sure that this happens.

It’s that time of year when the basil is abundant. I always grow basil as it’s pretty easy to grow and I just love it. Basil can be used in salads - raw, and in cooking. I also love it as a base ingredient for pesto. As my basil was starting to flower I had to pick a lot of it to make into pesto. Because I’ve now trimmed my basil I’ll get more life out of the plants instead of going all woody.

The first time I made this pesto I followed some recipe or other but now I know the base ingredients I just put them all into the ancient food processor I have to blend.

The ingredients are:

• fresh basil (of course)
• pine nuts (I’ve also used walnuts and not noticed any real difference)
• fresh garlic
• olive oil
• parmesan cheese

I don’t use set amounts but just keep blending and adding ingredients till it looks just about like pesto should. So that’s my really basic and bare-bones recipe.

If you’re after something a bit more precise and variations to the theme try this.

After I made my pesto I cooked up some pasta, put some leftover roast chicken and some of my fresh pesto and had a delicious meal. Mmmm, mmmm.

I’ve become a bit of a chocolate snob. In years gone by I would have been satisfied with any old thing, good or otherwise, but then I started appreciating that decent chocolate was just so much better than the cheap stuff. In the cheap chocolate you can really taste the sugar and not much else. But good chocolate is creamier and more delicious.

Nowadays I’d rather spend the same amount of money on something I like and get a smaller amount than get more cheap chocolate.

A couple of years ago I discovered Green & Blacks organic creamy vanilla white chocolate but it’s not stocked in many places so it wasn’t something I indulged in very often. We are spoiled here with Haigh’s though, so if I want something yummy I’ll go there.

Imagine my joy when I went shopping in my local supermarket and found the 35g pack of the Green & Blacks vanilla chocolate. It’s become a weekly purchase and I’d thoroughly recommend it. Mmmm, mmmm….

When my dad had his stroke one of the things I decided to do was to enjoy and embrace life a bit more. One way, I thought, of doing that is staying connected with friends and family and one way of doing that is by having them around for dinner.

So, in the last three weeks I’ve had three dinner parties. Normally dinner parties stress me out, but now I know I can do three in a four week period, my confidence has increased dramatically.

Two of these dinner parties were held during the last week. Therefore I’ve done heaps of cooking in the last week and when I have the time it is something I really enjoy.

It is somewhat stressful inviting people around for dinner. I’m the only host so I have to do everything from making the house presentable, to the cooking and then to be a vivacious hostess on the evening. I had too many people at the first one so I didn’t know who to talk to. I think I sat there for most of it just sighing, and dithering about what to do next. The food was damn good though.

The last two I had I was a bit more comfortable, probably because I’m more familiar with the guests that came.

Let me fill you in on what I fed my guests with for the last two dinner parties. I’m particularly pleased with myself because I even did dessert on both occasions. This usually falls through the cracks and the small dinner party circuit I move around in, it isn’t expected.

The first dinner party last Wednesday I made moussaka for mains accompanied by a green salad. For dessert I made a pavlova. Both these dishes can be prepared in advance so as much socialising as possible can be done at the actual dinner party.

On Saturday night I made a tuna-cottage cheese dip for a pre-dinner snack as my guests arrived late afternoon. For dinner I cooked an asparagus/bacon/mushroom risotto and for dessert we had lovely baked quinces.

I found a recipe online that said to bake the quinces slowly for 6-8 hours. As I put it in the oven at 3pm I realised we would not be waiting until 9pm until we ate it so after a while I cranked up the heat. I can’t believe I’ve never eaten these before. With icecream or cream they were just so delicious and I can’t wait to cook them again. Next time I’ll adapt the recipe to use less sugar, and to use a shorter cooking time with a higher oven temperature.

I’m going to take a short rest from hosting dinner parties but it is fun because I can indulge in what I like without having to drive home. And the other great thing is that JJ can be put to bed whenever, and I don’t have to move him.