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For anyone who has tried my banana cake and wants to know how it is done, here is the recipe.

200 grams of butter softened

1 1/2 cups of white sugar

3 eggs

4 bananas peeled and mashed

3 cups of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius using a fan forced oven.

2. Put the softened butter and sugar in a bowl and beat it well. Add eggs one at a time and beat.

3. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl.

4. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in another bowl.

5. Stir in HALF  the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt mixture into the butter, eggs and sugar mixture.

6. Add the milk and lemon juice then the rest of the remaining dry ingredients into the mixture.  Mix well.

7. Add the mashed bananas in.

8. Line a large square or round tin with baking paper and pour in the mixture until the tin is half full.

HINT: Any left over cake mixture can be poured into a muffin tray and baked for 15-20 minutes.

9. Smooth the top of the cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Use a skewer and insert it into the cake, if the skewer comes out clean and dry, it’s cooked.

10. Let the cake sit in the tin for 5-10 minutes and remove it from the tin.

This is a simple and classic banana cake recipe that I make when I have bananas that no one wants to eat because the skin has gone all brown!

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It was unbearably hot last week with temperatures ranging from 40-45 degrees Celsius so I brought out my beloved blender and bought some tropical fruit. With little imagination, I made Jeremy’s all time favourite drink, a Tropical Fruit Smooth! He ended up drinking 2 glasses at 3pm and was full until 6pm! Here is my recipe:

Tropical Fruit Smooth

2 or 3 cups of seedless watermelon cut up

1 or 2 cups of sweet pineapple prepared

2 or 3 cups of ripe mango peeled

2 or 3 cups of apple, breakfast or some sort of juice (not orange juice)

3 cups of ice cubes

Makes about 6 glasses

Put all ingredients together in the blender and blend away! This drink can be stored in the fridge for a day or two.

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We love eating prawns at home, it’s such a healthy meat that is extremely versatile. Here is a recipe that we all enjoy eating, especially during summer. It’s light and quick to make.

Sizzling Prawn Salad

Serves 2

18 Green Medium Prawns peeled

3 Medium cloves of garlic chopped

Ginger the size of your thumb peeled, sliced thinly and sliced the other way again, like stalks (see the prawn picture below)

2 Birds Eye Chillies chopped (less if you don’t like it spicey)

1/4 cup of vegetable oil or sesame oil

2 to 3 handfuls of Mix Salad or 1/4 of a Butter Crunch Salad (that’s what I have used here)

Half a medium red capsicum cleaned and halved again, then sliced in 1cm thick slices

1 Lebanese cucumber, halved and sliced in 1 cm thick slices

Half a medium red onion cut in 1 cm slices

1 Tomato halved and sliced in 1 cm thick

Half a medium Shallot sliced (optional)

Spicey Vietnamese Fish Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

Here is a great recipe I found online to make the dressing. It makes 2 cups but the left over can be pored in a jar and refridgerated for up to a year.

1. Peel the prawns, I leave the tail because it looks nicer on the plate but not so practicle to eat.  Marinate the prawns with the garlic, chilli and ginger. Leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes (optional).

2. Arrange the salad on a plate.

3. Turn the stove on to HIGH and use a none stick pan (I love doing this in my wok).  Put the oil in and wait until the pan is very hot. This is the secret to making these prawns taste so good! Put the prawns in, do not leave the stove. Turn the prawns evenly and until they are a deep golden color.

They must be this golden color before they are ready. It usually takes only takes 5-7 minutes on high heat.

4. Place them on the salad and pore on the Spicey Vietnamese dressing. Voila, it’s ready to eat! We love this salad with a crisp Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.  

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I made a fantastic meal with all the mushrooms that I have been growing lately. It tasted delicious and Jeremy even ate some. It takes 3-4 hours to cook in the oven but the meat just falls off the bone and is such a great winter dish!

Osso Bucco with Mushrooms

6 pieces of veal osso bucco (veal or beef is fine)

1 kg mushrooms (I like a combination of swiss brown and button mushrooms)

2 medium onions quartered

2 cloves of garlic crushed

1/4 cup of white flour

1 tablespoon of sweet paprika

1 table spoon of chilli powder (optional, but gives it a kick)

Olive Oil

1 litre of beef or chicken stock

1/2 cup of red or white wine (you can be adventureous and put in cheap beer)

1/4 cup of tomato paste

Sprig of oregano

Sprig of Rosemary

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Turn on the oven to 180 degrees fan forced.

On a plate, combine the flour, sweet paprika, chilli powder and mix it evenly together. Coat the osso bucco with this combination. 

In an oven proof pot, drizzle olive oil and fry the the meat until golden brown. You might need to drizzle more oil as you fry in batches to prevent drying and sticking in the pot. If you put too much oil, it will float on the top of the pot once it’s cook and you’ll need to skim the oil out before eating it otherwise it will taste oily!

Once all the meat is cooked, place them all in the pot and put in the crushed garlic, onions, tomato paste, stock, wine, rosemary and oregano.

Bring to the boil on the stove and then put in the oven for 2 hours with the lid on. Make sure all the contents and liquid does not exceed more than 2/3 of the pot otherwise it will bubble over and you will have some cleaning to do in the oven.

After 2 hours, take the pot out of the oven and put in some salt/stock powder to add some flavour to the pot, add brown sugar and put in the mushrooms. Cook for a further 1.5 - 2 hours.

I like to serve it with potatoes (mashed or not) or for a healthier option, brown rice.

I actually forgot to take a photo of the final result as we were so hungry that we jumped on the pot and dug into it pretty quickly.   

Serves 6.

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