The Kiwi Mental Kitchen

I've had the stevia syrup sitting in my fridge waiting for me to get around to juicing some lemons. Tonight I finally got around to it. The recipe I'm using for this lemon cordial is 3:2:1 lemon juice to sugar to water. I've kept that ratio for the lemon juice and the water and added the stevia by taste. And I believe the sweetness of the syrup will fluctuate a bit. The stevia syrup is brown and makes the concentrated look a little brown but once you dilute it to drink the colour change is not noticeable. This should hopefully be a good replacement to the lemon and barley cordial we often have. Lemon Cordial sweetened with home made Stevia syrup 1 Cup Lemon Juice approx 30ml Stevia syrup 1/3C of Water

So I've finally found a recipe that works in my kitchen. I finally decided to ask a friend who lived in the states for a while if she had one. The recipe I got had quite a lot of sugar in it so I took a gamble and made it without and it was brilliant. Tonight is my Second time making it and I tried baking it in a spring cake tin to see if that made it easier to get out but it stuck even more so here is a photo of the first one. Cornbread! Serves 4 1 1/4 C Flour 3/4 C Cornmeal (also sold as polenta in NZ) 2 tsp Baking powder 1/2 tsp Salt 1 C Milk 1/4 C Vegetable oil Grease loaf tin or other appropriate tin Preheat oven to 200 deg. C Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl Pour into tin  Bake  for 20-30 min (depending on thickness) or until a wooden skewer comes out clean Best served warm with chocolate chili. Today I didn't have any Capsicum so I finely grated 2 yams(little ones) and 2 carrots into the chili mixture.

Another quick dinner I throw together and leave to cook. This one is a household favourite, though I don't cook it often. I don't generally measure this one so these are approximate quantities. 4 Ingredient Meatloaf Serves 4 250-500g mince 500g sausage meat 1 C of breadcrumbs 1/3 -1/2 C of BBQ sauce (you can use tomato but we prefer BBQ) Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl Place in loaf tin Bake at 180 deg. C for at least 60 min Drain off excess liquid before turning out onto a chopping board for slicing Like I said easy. I generally serve with mashed potatoes and steamed veg

Tonight was a dinner that had to be able to be reheated and still taste good because hubby had a long day at work. I was impressed with how well it came out. I always trim my chops before I cook them, just makes them less greasy all up. My meds are still making me sleepy at the moment so dishes I can put on and leave alone while they cook is really good for me at the moment. Savoury Mutton Chops Serves 3-4 6 mutton chops 1 onion 2 Tbsp each, brown sugar, flour, tomato sauce, vinegar 1/2 tsp each, curry powder, ginger powder and mustard powder 1 1/2 cup of water (or enough to cover the chops) Preheat oven to 150 deg. C Place the mutton chops in a casserole dish Chop the onion and add to the dish Mix all other ingredients into the first 1/2 cup of water and pour over chops Top up the water to just cover the chops Bake with the lid on for at least 1 1/5 hours I served mine with mashed kumara and steamed carrots.