Ouch! That's Hot

Today Frank and I made mince gravy with potato salad.

Method:
Step 1 - Boil 2 cups of water.
- Peel and chop 6 potatoes then add to the boiling water.
Step 2 - Fry mince and onion until brown. Take off the heat.
Step 3 - Boil another pot of water. Once boiling, add half a cup of mixed veggies. Take off after 5 minutes.
Step 4 - Get one cup of water, add one tbsp of Bisto and flour. Mix till smooth.
Step 5 - Re-heat the mince, add the Bisto mixture and continue stirring. Add little bits of water to smooth out.
Step 6 - Drain the potatoes and mix with 2 tbsps of mayo.
Step 7 - Serve on a plate.

What do You Call a Cow With no Legs?

Ground Beef!

Today I paired up with Kain for Tech. Together we made mini mince pies.

Method: 
Step 1 - Pre-heat your oven to 200°c.
Step 2 - Fry one proportion of mince.
- Dice half an onion and add that to the pan.
Step 3 - Once both ingredients are golden brown, add in 2 TBSP of flour and 1/2 cup of hot water. Stir for 5 minutes or until bubbling. Remove from heat.
Step 4 - Evenly slice two sheets of puff pastry into 4.
- Place 4 pieces of the pastry onto a lined tray.
- Evenly distribute the mince mixture onto the 4 pieces.
- Add cheese to each pile.
Step 5 - Using the remaining pastry, gently cover the mince and cheese.
- Use a fork to seal the edges.
Step 6 - Put the tray into the oven, keep on eye on it.
Step 7 - Remove from the oven once golden brown.

You can wait till cool or eat it hot.

(Sorry for the bad quality photo.)

I'm Such a Good (W)rapper

Today we were running a bit late for Tech... Lucky enough though, my group made chicken wraps.

Method: 

Step 1 - Dice a bundle of lettuce.

Step 2 - Slice or dice a small tomato.

Step 3 - Spread mayonnaise on a medium sized roti.

Step 4 - Place lettuce, tomato, cheese and a handful of shreded chicken on one half of the roti.

Step 5 - Roll the roti starting from the side with the filling.

Making chicken wraps doesn't take a lot of time and can be sutible for all ages. You can customise this wrap by adding more or taking some ingredients away. 

As you can see, I cut my thumb on my right hand. Take this as a very valuable lesson... Always be careful with knives, look at what or where you're cutting and have parental supervision especially if you're unexperienced with knives.

What an Egg!

Today is our first day back at Tech. Frank and I joined forces and made mini quiches. In the oven they smelt so good!

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
Ham
Cheese
Puff pastry






Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180°c.
Step 1 - Whisk 4 eggs and 1 cup of milk until well combined.
Step 2 - Slice and dice the ham.
Step 3 - Grab two muffin trays. Using a brush, evenly distribute a little bit of oil.
Step 4 - Using a circular cut out mold, cut out 9-12 pieces from the puff pastry.
Step 5 - Place the puff pastry in the muffin tray then evenly distribute the ham, cheese and egg.
Step 6 - Put the muffin trays in the oven until a nice, brown crust forms.
Step 7 -  Take the trays out and let cool.
Step 8 - Ready to serve.

Yum!

Chocolate Muffins!

Today Frank and I made chocolate muffins... Because of what we used I'm going to call it Triple Chocolate Muffins. They are sweet with a subtle taste of bitterness which cuts through the chocolate and adds a new element to the desert.

Method and Ingredients:
Step 1 - In a big bowl combine 1 1/2 cup of self rising flouring, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa and 50g of chocolate chips. Mix until well combined.
Step 2 -  In another bowl combine 1/2 cup of oil, 1/2 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of yoghurt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and 1 egg. Stir until well combined.
Step 3 -  Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold the two mixtures, do not stir or whisk.
Step 4 - Line two muffin trays with muffin wrappers. Heat your oven at 180°c.
Step 5 - Put one tablespoon into each muffin liner. If there is extra batter, evenly distribute it into the liners.
Step 6 - Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Step 7 - Once out of the oven put on a cooling rack.
Optional - If you want you can add chocolate syrup to your muffins.

Eggs, Bacon... SAUSAGE!

Today at Tech I partnered up with Kate to cooking an English Breakfast in Mrs Tuipulotu's class. The ingredients listed below is enough for two people.

Ingredients:
Bread (4 pieces)
Sausage (4)
Bacon (2 slices)
Eggs (2)
Baked Beans (1/2 can)
Oil

Procedure:
1. Toast the bread on a flat metal tray in the oven at 200°C until golden brown.
2. Put a little bit of oil in the pan. Fry the sausages and bacon together in a pan. When the sausages have a nice brown colour on the outside take them out followed by the bacon.
3. Crack one egg at a time into the pan. Try not to scramble the eggs. One minute and each side then remove onto a plate.
4. Using the same pan, heat up the baked beans.

Since we were cooking for two we each had two pieces of toast, two sausages, one egg and halfed the baked beans. This week we were not only looking at how to cook but how to make our food look presentable. Waht I did was place everything one my toast starting with the baked beans followed by my bacon and egg. For my sausages I put them on the side.

Watch Your Fingers!

Today was our first jam-session at Tech.

My group was with Mr Grundy. Same teacher but different activity. This time we will be working with... wood. That's right. Wood. So far we were instructed to draw a few sketches, quote in qoute, 'blue prints' for a final design. What are we designing? Well, since we're working with wood, we have to design and construct an item with a useful purpose.  

My top three designs were, a book like box, a little jewellery holder and a picture frame. 

I'm In a Sticky Situation! - Tech With Mr Pineda

This week at Tech I was able to finally assemble my charity box.

I decided, I didn't want to make a normal box so, I made a heart (box?) At first I was getting very frustrated and annoyed but as soon as I slowed down to take a minutes or two to think, I became very relaxed and chilled out.

20 Minutes Later

Now that my blue print is finished, I cutted the shape out and hoped I wouldn't cut myself.

Here is what it looks like after it has been assembled

You Butter (Better) Not Mess With my Chicken! - Cooking with Robati and Saluselo

This week at Tech we cooked butter chicken with rice. Cooking along side me was Robati and Saluselo.

Method:
Step 1 - Dice the chicken.
Step 2 - Fry the chicken until brown.
Step 3 - Take out the chicken into a white bowl.
Step 4 - Fry onion until soft.
- Add sauce,
- Add chicken.
Step 5 - Serve with rice.

Once we were finished we took a spoon and taste tested our completed dish. I thought the dish was very favourful and nicely cooked. Although, Robati did think it was a bit too spicy, Saluselo and I didn't mind the heat.

I am seriously considering making butter chicken again following,
Mrs Tuipulotu's recipe!