Baking Scrolls

I started this recipe post a few weeks ago - the scrolls featured are now pretty much finished! I've been jotting down stuff to blog about but have been a bit busy actually doing stuff rather than blogging about it, but there are plenty of more posts to come ;)

Vegemite scroll dough all rolled up ready to be sliced

I had a big baking day yesterday, and filled a big container with 2 kinds of savoury scrolls and a big batch of Banana and Weetbix muffins (previously posted) to have some frozen snacks for lunch boxes on hand. I'm lucky in that my kids do generally eat fruit or carrot sticks without much fuss, but I am still trying to sneak in goodness where I can, so this time I added some pumpkin seeds in the muffins, and no one has even noticed! Miss Almost 6 is fussy with food, so if I find something she likes that isn't chips or chicken nuggets, I get excited.

A friend posted on Facebook that she was baking cheese and Vegemite scrolls and some pear muffins for her kids. INSPIRATION! Why hadn't I thought of baking savoury scrolls? My fusspot loves stuff like that from Bakers Delight, so I figured making them myself was worth a go, so she can have them and feel like it's a treat without it costing me. Success! Miss Almost 6 gobbled up four scrolls (only about a scone-size) for afternoon tea, and has asked for me to make more when these ones are done!

This is the base-recipe I used, though I doubled it and  I made a batch with just Vegemite (Miss Almost 6 requested no cheese with them) and a batch of bacon and cheese too.

Scrolls:

2 cups of Self Raising flour
A pinch of salt
85 grams of unsalted butter
2/3 cup of milk (though I added more when kneading it, as it was too floury)

Method: Mix flour and salt. Rub butter in with fingertips. Mix in the milk until dough forms. Knead on floured bench until all the flour is worked in (I had to add a little more milk as mine wasn't sticking together. You don't want it wet, just like play dough). Roll the dough out to a thickeness of 1cm, it should make a good 30cm circle. Top with whatever combination you like (bacon and cheese; cheese and sweet chilli sauce; Vegemite and cheese; tomato paste, ham and cheese), and roll dough into a log. Slice into approx 2cm slices and bake on a lined pizza tray. I glaze mine with milk, and bake for 12-14 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius.

Recipe notes: A single batch of these made 12 or 13 scrolls. I don't really do the sums on this sort of recipe, but given the most expensive ingredient would be the bacon, and the rest are pretty much pantry staples, I class these as pretty cheap!

All baked and cooling down

Dough rolled, cooked bacon pieces and grated cheese sprinkled

Bacon and cheeses all ready for the oven

Having  tub full of home-baked snacks on hand makes me feel super organised

Aunty Conny's Spaghetti

This recipe has a kind of cult following within my family. My Mum started making it for us when I was maybe 8 years old, and she got the recipe off our Aunty Conny, hence the name! It is just a basic pasta recipe, and although it wouldn't win many awards for how it looks, it is an easy mid-week meal, or quick enough to put together instead of resorting to junk food. I consider it to be a fairly cheap meal, and it's handy because all the ingredients are what I consider pantry staples.

It is great to stretch over two nights (though I would add a bit more mince and pasta), and it tastes even better the second time round. It also goes well frozen, just make sure you reheat it thoroughly.

My little family of four (2 adults, one finicky nearly-6-year-old and a ravenous 2 year old) generally eat it as it is, with crusty bread and butter on the side, but it is also great with a fresh salad, or even some hot veges along side it, for more of a vitamin fix and to ensure more left-overs.

Ingredients:

300 grams, give or take, beef mince - the best quality you can afford
1 large onion, diced
1 packet of dry chicken noodle soup
1 tin of diced or whole tomatoes
1 tin of condensed tomato soup
About 2 cups of uncooked pasta - we use either small spirals or penne (I prefer the spirals)

Method: 
Brown your mince in a large frying pan (the deepest one you have!), breaking it up as you go, and while it's doing it's thing, throw on some water to cook your pasta.

Once the mince is cooked through, add the onion. Once the onion has softened, sprinkle over the dry chicken noodle soup, and mix the mince/onion/soup all together. Add the tomatoes and the tomato soup. If you've got the whole tinned tomatoes, use a spoon to break them up into bite-size pieces. I also always rinse the cans out with a little water and add the liquid to the pan and mix it through.

Let the sauce simmer away while you cook the pasta, usually about 10 minutes in the boiling water. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and mix it through the sauce.

You can leave this all simmering if you're waiting for someone to arrive home, or for the table to be set, or for the kids to calm down and let you serve dinner. Just make sure you give it a stir every few minutes, and keep the heat down low, or it will potentially stick to the bottom of the pan and dry out a little.

Notes: My family would eat this as it is, but if you're feeling fancy you can add some herbs to jazz it up. (I've done that on the odd occasion and for me it didn't taste quite 'right', but please yourself!) The quantities I have listed would do us a pretty filling dinner, with enough left over for Anthony and the girls to have for lunch the next day.