Videos

How To Make Homemade Strawberry Jam

Video ~ ~ mrsgooses ~ Leave a comment

Strawberry jam is easy to make, tastes great and is a perfect gift.

Ingredients:
1 kg fresh strawberries
1 kg jam sugar

Equipment:
Preserving jars with lids and bands
Jam funnel
Jar lifting tongs
Strawberry huller
Large pot for canning

Directions:
– Preheat oven to 110 C.
– Wash and hull strawberries.
– For a chunky jam, leave strawberries whole. For a less chunky jam, chop strawberries.
– Place jars, lids and bands on trays in oven for a minimum of 10 minutes (or just leave in oven while cooking jam).
– Place strawberries and sugar in a large pot and heat over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
– Once sugar is dissovled, insert jam thermometer if using, and bring jam to a boil.
– Skim off any foam while boiling.
– Continue to boil until jam setting temperature is reached – 104 C on a jam thermometer or you can also check for setting point using a plate out of the freezer and checking if the jam wrinkles. (Before starting the jam, place a plate in the freezer, after boiling the jam for about 5 min, take the plate out of the freezer and place a small amount of jam on the plate. Leave for about a minute and then push your finger through the jam, if it wrinkles, then the jam in done. If not, boil for a few minutes longer and try again).
– Once the jam is ready, remove from the heat.
– Take your jars out of the oven and carefully ladle the jam into the jars using the funnel, leaving about 1 cm from the top of the jar.
– Place lids and bands on jars.
– Place jars in one layer on the bottom of a large pot or canner. Make sure you have a tea towel or trivet between the bottom of the pot and the jars, so that the jars don’t break.
– Boil jars, in batches, in water for 10 minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack.
– Cool for 12 hours to allow jars to finish sealing.
– After 12 hours, check lids are sealed – press on lid to see if it springs back. If it springs back, then the lid hasn’t sealed properly and will need to be canned again. If the lid doesn’t move, then the lid has sealed properly.
– Label jars and enjoy.

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Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Muffins

Video ~ ~ mrsgooses ~ Leave a comment

This recipe for savory muffins uses roasted red peppers and feta. You can try other flavour variations as well, like sundried tomatoes, olives, rosemary or goat’s cheese. In this video, I’ve used the batter to make 24 slightly smaller standard muffins. If you want larger muffins, try one standard 12-cup muffin tray and fill them very full (and remember to increase the baking time).

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Muffins:
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 cup feta cheese, diced or crumbled
1 cup roasted red peppers in oil, chopped
1 cup oil from roasted red peppers
1⁄2 cup milk
2 eggs
1⁄2 cup water
2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

– Preheat oven to 200 C
– Grease 2 x 12-cup muffin pans
– Mix first 7 ingredients in one bowl
– Mix last 4 ingredients in one bowl
– Mix wet into dry until just combined
– Scoop mixture evenly into muffin pans
– Bake for 15-20min
– Cool on wire rack

You can also follow me on Twitter @goosesgoodies

Quick and Easy Beef Chilli Recipe

Video ~ ~ mrsgooses ~ Leave a comment

This is my quick & easy go-to chilli recipe. It takes about 30-60min to cook and tastes great.
The ingredient list is short, but you can add or substitute whatever you like. I usually serve this with rice, a baked potato, some corn chips or just on its own with some grated cheese. This chilli recipe also freezes well, so I often make a double batch and then freeze individual portions for later.

Chilli Recipe — Serves 4-6:
1 onion, chopped
1 pepper (any colour), chopped
500g ground/mince beef
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons ground chilli seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 x 420g tins diced tomatoes
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper
– Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and pepper and saute until onion has softened.
– Add beef mince and stir until browned.
– Add tomato paste and mix in well. Then add chilli seasoning, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and mix.
– Add tinned tomatoes and kidney beans and stir well.
– Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally, until desired consistency is reached.

Please note: If you are going to simmer longer than 30 minutes, then reduce heat to low or add more liquid (tomato sauce or an extra tin of tomatoes).

Enjoy!

You can also follow me on Twitter @goosesgoodies

How To Make My Favourite Vanilla Cupcakes With Vanilla Icing

Video ~ ~ mrsgooses ~ Leave a comment

This video shows you how to make a classic one-bowl vanilla cupcake with a buttercream icing using a Wilton 1M swirl. The icing contains vegetable shortening, so the icing will stay white and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. These easy vanilla cupcake and icing recipes can also be used to make cakes or as a base to add other flavours or food colourings to both the cake and icing.

Vanilla Cupcakes:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 large eggs
– Preheat oven to 180 C (or 160 C for fan bake).
– Place cupcake cases in pan.
– Measure all ingredients into the mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment.
– Mix at low speed until ingredients are combined.
– Scrape down bowl once.
– Mix on high speed until smooth and fluffy (about 2 min).
– Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans.
– Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
– Let cool for 10 minutes in pan before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

White Vanilla Buttercream Icing:
1 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon clear vanilla flavouring
7-8 teaspoons water
– Place vegetable shortening, icing sugar, vanilla and 7 teaspoons of water into the food processor. Mix until icing is spreading consistency and add more water if needed.

You can also follow me on Twitter @goosesgoodies