Australian Meat Pies

My photo's do not do this justice as we ate all the nice looking pies first and I had only my son's camera with a low battery to use on this recipe but the recipe itself is superb!

While in Australia I got hooked on these meat pies that are served at sporting events, on job sites and are used for party or picnic food. They are easy to make and extremely popular over there but you can't find anything like them in America.

Now you can enjoy a little taste of Australia yourself!

Aussie Meat Pie:

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil,

1 medium brown onion, finely chopped,

1 lb. ground beef,

1 T cornstarch,

3/4 cup beef stock,

1/8 cup tomato paste,

1 T Worcestershire sauce,

1 tsp. Vegemite or substitute with 1 beef or vegetable stock cube,

4 sheets frozen, ready rolled pie pastry, thawed, ( We made our own. )

1 egg beaten,

4 small pie tins and baking tray,

Ketchup.

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in sauce pan over medium high heat. Add onion and saute until soft.

2. Add ground beef and stir with wooden spoon until browned.

3. Combine cornstarch and 1 T of the beef stock. Set aside.

4. Add remaining beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and Vegemite or stock cube to beef. Stir well to combine. Add cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and cool.

5. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Place pie tin on top of pie pastry and cut circle around it. Repeat for all pie tins. These are the pie tops.

7. Place pie tins on pastry again and cut circle, this time about 1/2 inch away from the edge to make larger circles. Press these into pie tins.

8. Fill with meat mixture.

9. Place pie tops over meat. Use fork to seal edges and poke holes in top of each pie. Brush tops with egg.

10. Place pies on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with Ketchup.

I doubled the recipe and made 6 medium pies.

My kids like these for dinner ~ or breakfast!

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I received this recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies more than 20 years ago from a friend. I have tried many chocolate chip recipes but this one surpasses them all. Our kids entered the cookies using this recipe in the local fairs and believe me, they are prize winning cookies. Our son David won Grand Champion for his cookies one year, and there were many cookies entered in the competition.

You will need:

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 pound of softened butter ( please use real butter)
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla
• 5 cups of flour
• dash of salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 cups chocolate ( real chocolate ) chips
• 3 cups chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds

Cream thoroughly in your mixer the brown sugar, sugar, and butter, then beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended.Add and beat in the vanilla. Sift together the flour,salt, and baking soda and slowly add it to the creamed mixture. When the cookie dough is mixed well, stir in the nuts and chips. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. One of the secrets of this recipe is to bake until barely brown, remove from the oven and you will have chewy cookies. The best!

Sometimes it is fun to buy 3 or 4 different types of chips~ peanut butter chips, toffee chips, butter brickle, etc. and I usually add at least a cup more of chips than the recipe calls for. I have also broken up rich chocolate candy bars to add to these cookies. Any of you chocolate lovers can come up with many more excellent ideas.

Oh so delicious!

AUTUMN CHICKEN SALAD

This chicken salad is easy and really tasty, the grapes, walnuts and crasins help to give it a fall feeling.

We eat a lot of chicken salad so I am always looking to change it up a bit. This is also an easy recipe to change to everyones tastes. You start with 1/2 cooked chicken breast, this is where you can add some flavor depending on how you cook it or wether you are using a left over one. I cooked mine in lemon and garlic so there. was just a hint of those flavors . Then I added 3 chopped green onions, 1 stalk of celery chopped( large or small depending on what you like) sometimes I like to make it chunky if it is going to be for just salad but if it is going on a sandwhich I like to cut things a little smaller. We now add 2 tablespoons crasins and a handful of cut red grapes. I used organic ones that were on sale so they were biggger then the usual grapes I use and so I cut them in fourths.....
I now add 1/4 cup mayonaise , 1/4 cup Mircle Whip and 1 teaspoon deli mustard. You may add salt and pepper but my chicken was already well seasoned so I did not. The last ingredient is 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, this brings a nice crunch to the mix....

Mix it all together and put on toast or any bread you like also good on a lettuce leaf or in a tomato that has been scooped put, to really mix it up you could add some cooked pasta and make it into a side salad. This should make enough for 2-3 sandwiches maybe four if you stretch it.If you chose to try adding the pasta you will have to increase the mayo mix.I would start with 1/2 cup of curly pasta or maybe a cup.

~ENJOY~