Cauliflower Bake

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1 cauliflower - broken into florets

1 can tomatoes

1/2 jar passata 

1 tablespoon chopped sundried tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon parsley - finely chopped

100 mL cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 brown onion - sliced

salt & pepper

Cheese grated

Do This -

To make sauce place tomatoes (canned and sundried), garlic, parsley, cream, onion, salt & pepper in a saucepan and simmer for 20 mins.

Place cauliflower and onion into a baking dish and pour sauce, passata and lemon juice over the top.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake at 180° for 20 - 25 mins.

Bacon, Cheese and Zucchini Fritters

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1 grated zucchini 

1 cup grated cheese 

4 rashers of shortcut bacon, diced finely 

1 onion diced finely 

2 eggs

1/2 C milk

1 cup SR flour

Salt and pepper

Optional - diced red capsicum, grated carrot or sweet potato.

Do This -

Combine in a bowl and add a little bit of oil to a non stick frying pan. 

Cook in batches. I do four at a time. Flip when you see bubbles forming on top. Cook for another 5 mins.

Easy Potato Bake

Serves 4

Get This -

4 potatoes, peeled and sliced
125g diced bacon
1 onion, diced
300ml cream
1 cup grated cheese

Do This - 

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Spread half of the potatoes in a layer in the base of a greased ovenproof dish. Add half the onion, bacon, cream and cheese. Repeat with a layer of potatoes, then the remaining onion, bacon, cream and cheese. Finish the last top layer with cheese.
3. Bake in the oven until potatoes are tender and top is browned. (about 30-40 minutes)

Zucchini Slice

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6 eggs

2 large zucchinis, grated

1 cup self-raising flour

1 onion, finely chopped

200g bacon, diced
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt & pepper to taste

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Line a 20 x 30cm baking tray with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, add the flour and combine well.
3. Add all other ingredients and mix.
4. Pour the contents into the prepared tray and bake for 30 minutes or until brown.
5. Allow to cool slightly, then slice.

Dongella's Shepherd's Pie

(From Taste.com.au)

Get This - 

500g beef mince
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion chopped
clove of garlic
2 teaspoons mixed herbs
1.5 cups of beef stock
1 cup frozen peas
1 grated carrot
1 grated zucchini
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup grated cheese
1 tablespoon butter
3 potatoes


Do This -

• Heat Oil in a large frypan, Saute onion and garlic, add mince and cook until brown.
• Add tomato paste, beef stock, mixed herbs, sauce, peas, carrot and zucchini, mix thoroughly and simmer until liquid is absorbed.
• Meanwhile boil potatoes until soft. Mash with butter.
• Place mince mixture in a casserole dish, top with mashed potatoes.
• Sprinkle with cheese and bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until cheese has melted and is lightly brown.
• Enjoy!

The Best Cheesy Muffins

Makes 12

Get This -

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 medium carrot, grated
1 small onion, finely diced and lightly fried to take the rawness away
1 cup grated tasty cheese
30g of your favourite Kenilworth flavoured cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup milk
125g butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs


Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200°C or 180°C fan-forced. Line 12 large muffin cups with patty papers.
2. Sift flour into a large bowl and add carrot, onion, parsley and cheeses. Stir to combine and make a well in the centre.
3. Whisk eggs and milk a jug. Add egg mixture and melted butter to the bowl and fold together until just combined, do not overbeat.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared tins. Bake for 20 mins until risen and golden brown. Leave in the tin for 5 mins then lift out onto a wire rack to cool.

Cheesy Carrot & Apple Muffins

This recipe is adapted from "Cheesy Vegie Muffins" on on Taste.com.au

Get This -

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup coarsely grated carrot
1 cup coarsely grated apple
1 cup coarsely grated cheddar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 eggs, lightly whisked
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
80ml (1/3 cup) olive oil

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line twelve 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with paper cases.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the carrot, apple and half the cheddar. Season with salt and pepper, and mix until well combined.
3. Whisk the egg, milk, cinnamon, oregano and oil in a bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
4. Divide the mixture evenly among the prepared pans and sprinkle with the remaining cheddar. Bake in oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden.

4 Ingredients - Cottage Pie

Chicken Enchiladas with Beans

Serves 4

Get This -

1 tablespoon olive oil
500g chicken breast fillet or chopped barbecue chicken
10 enchilada tortillas or corn Mountain Bread
450g can refried beans
3/4 cup grated tasty cheese
375g jar chunky tomato salsa
avocado
sour cream


Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook chicken for 4 minutes each side, or until cooked through. Stand for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat tortillas using packet directions.
3. Slice chicken and put back into the frying pan with the refried beans. Stir until warmed through.
4. Place chicken and bean mixture onto each tortilla. Top with a little cheese. Roll up tightly to secure. Place onto a greased and lined baking tray.
5. Spoon salsa down centre of enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until heated through.
6. Serve with avocado and sour cream.

Also serve with a side salad of rocket, cherry tomatoes & red onion if you wish.

Lasange

Lasagne is something I love to eat, but never make because it seems too fussy.

Well, tonight I gave it a go.

I combined three recipes from online searches and came up with this...

I reckon it's pretty good!

Serves 4

Get This -

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g lean beef mince
• 400g can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 250g packet dried lasagne pasta sheets
• small carton of cream
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
2. Heat oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Add mince. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up mince, until browned. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs and cinnamon.  Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat.
3. Soak the lasagne sheets in a single layer in boiling water for 5 mins. (Although the packet says no pre-cook, soaking improves the texture.) Drain well. 
4. Drizzle a little olive oil over base of a 7cm-deep, 25cm (base) square baking dish. Arrange pieces of lasagne over base of dish. Pour enough cream to just cover lasagne sheets. Spoon one-third of the mince mixture over pasta. Spread with one-quarter of the cheeses. Repeat layers twice. Top with lasagne sheets, cream and cheeses. Cover loosely with foil.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender and cheese golden. Stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Option 1 - Replace cream with cream cheese.
Option 2 - Replace cream with ricotta cheese. 
Option 3 - Use a mix of all three

Potato Bake

Hubba wanted to cook a roast on his new Weber barbecue tonight so I thought a potato bake would be the perfect accompaniment. The only problem...I've never cooked a potato bake before! So I put the call out on Facebook and Twitter and six lovely ladies came to my rescue with six different recipes! I particularly liked this recipe from Sass. But I ended up putting the ideas together to make my own version. It had to be very plain because I was attempting to entice my 8yo Mr Fussy into trying something new. This is what I came up with...

The bad news is Mr Fussy wouldn't even try it.
The good news is Hubba loved it! And so did I!!

Serves 4

Get This -

6 potatoes
300mL cream
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon plain flour
salt
cheese

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 180degC.
2. Peel and slice the potatoes.
3. Place in the bottom of an oven proof dish and sprinkle generously with salt.
4. Whisk together the cream, milk and flour.
5. Pour over the potatoes.
6. Cover with alfoil and bake for 40 minutes.
7. Remove the alfoil, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake uncovered on 200degC for a further 20 minutes.

Julie Goodwin's Cheesy Tuna Pies

Just for a change - photo by ME!

Serves 4

Prep time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 25 minutes

Get This -

1 x 375g packet macaroni
50g butter
1 medium carrot, diced small

1 brown onion, diced

1 cup frozen baby peas

1 tin corn kernels

1/4 cup plain flour

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 cup grated tasty cheese

425g tin tuna in brine, drained

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Olive oil spray

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Celsius fan forced).
2. In a large pot of rapidly boiling, salted water, cook the pasta to packet directions. Drain.
3. In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the carrot and onion. Saute gently until the carrots are soft. Add the peas and corn.
4. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat all the vegetables well.
5. Pour in 1/2 cup milk and stir until it is all incorporated and starting to form a thick, doughy sauce. Add another half a cup and repeat. Add the last of the milk and cook for a minute more, stirring.
6. Toss in the mustard and cheese and stir until the cheese has melted. Add the tuna; break up any huge lumps but don't stir too much after this or the tuna will disintegrate and become mushy. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
7. Stir the pasta gently through and divide between 4 ramekins or small pie dishes. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top and give a little spray of olive oil.
8. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown and crunchy.

Bacon & Cheese Mini Muffins

from Taste.com.au

Makes 30

Get This -

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 short-cut bacon rashers, finely chopped

2 cups self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1/4 cup coarsely grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup extra light olive oil

1/4 cup light sour cream

2 eggs

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a 12 x 1 1/2-tablespoon (30ml) capacity mini muffin pan.
   
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add bacon. Cook, stirring, for 6 minutes or until bacon is crisp. Drain. Allow to cool.
   
3. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in sugar, cheese and bacon. Whisk milk, oil, sour cream, eggs and pepper in a jug. Add to dry ingredients. Use a metal spoon to combine.
   
4. Spoon mixture into muffin holes to almost fill them. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes in pan before turning onto a wire rack. Repeat with remaining mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature.

From Taste.com.au and tweaked a little.

Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake with Spinach & Semi-Dried Tomatoes

from Taste.com.au

Serves 4

Get This -

• 250g dried pasta
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped 
• 100g baby spinach leaves
• 300ml light thickened cream
• 3/4 cup semi-dried tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a 5cm-deep, 20cm x 28cm (base), 8-cup capacity baking dish.
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes or until tender.
3. Drain pasta and return to saucepan. Add chicken, spinach, cream, tomatoes and 1 cup parmesan. Toss until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Top with mozzarella and remaining parmesan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Spoon pasta bake onto serving plates. Serve.

Recipe from Taste.com.au

Crispy-topped Cottage Pie

from Taste.com.au

Serves 4

Get This -

• olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 750g beef mince
• 1 cup beef stock
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons plain flour 
• 2 carrots, peeled, diced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 500g Desiree potatoes, thinly sliced
• 100g tasty cheese, finely grated

Do This -

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring, for 8 minutes or until soft. Add tomato paste. Cook for 3 minutes.
2. Increase heat to high. Add mince. Cook, stirring, for 8 minutes or until browned. Add stock, water and tomatoes. Bring to the boil. Stir in flour and carrots. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes. Add peas.
3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 10-cup capacity ovenproof dish. Spoon in mince.
4. Combine potatoes, 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, and salt and pepper. Arrange one-third potatoes over mince. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat layers, finishing with potatoes. Drizzle with a little oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Increase heat to 230°C. Remove foil. Bake for a further 20 minutes or until golden. Serve.

Note - to hide the vegetables from Miss 4, I grated the carrot and swapped frozen peas for grated zucchini.

This recipe is from Taste.com.au

Mini Asparagus Frittatas

Makes 12

Get This - 

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup pure cream
• 1/4 cup grated tasty cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped semi-dried tomatoes
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced. Grease 12 hole patty pan.
2. Whisk eggs, cream, cheese and garlic together in a jug. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Combine asparagus, tomato, basil and onion in a bowl. Spoon evenly into holes of prepared pan.
4. Pour egg mixture over asparagus mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden and set.

Mushroom & Tomato Frittata

I'm still a little shocked at how easy and quick and tasty this recipe is!
It's a new favourite!!
I found it on Taste.com.au and changed a few things.
I added some bacon, changed the parsley to coriander and cooked it in the oven because I don't have a grill.

from Taste.com.au
 

Serves 4

Get This - 

• 20g butter
• 200g Swiss brown mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 2 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 4 eggs
• 75g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
• 2 bacon rashers, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander roughly chopped

Do This -

1. Preheat the grill to high or the oven to 180deg.
2. Melt the butter in a non-stick frypan over medium heat. Add the sliced mushrooms, bacon and tomato wedges, and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until tomato and mushrooms have softened.
3. Lightly beat eggs with 1 tablespoon water in a large bowl. Stir in cheese, coriander, and the mushroom and tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Melt remaining butter in the frypan over medium-low heat. Add the egg mixture, stir briefly, then cook for 5-6 minutes until golden underneath and nearly set. Place pan under hot grill for 3-4 minutes or until just set and top is golden. Or pour the mixture into a flan/quiche dish and bake in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes until just set and top is golden.
5. Serve with your favourite salad.

Rice Cakes

Tonight I had some left over cooked rice.
I'd usually make fried rice with it, but I did that 2 nights ago, so I went looking for something else.
I found a recipe on Taste.com.au for rice cakes that used smoked chicken. But I didn't have any chicken so I substituted bacon and added some sour cream to make sure they wouldn't be too dry.

They were really tasty! A bit like mini quiches, but without flour, which is always good for me!

Makes 12

Get This -

1 - 1 1/2 cups cooked basmati rice
4 bacon short cut rashers, diced
2 tablespoons semi-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup grated cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1 tablespoon sour cream
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup basil leaves, finely shredded
3 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 12 hold muffin pan.
2. Fry the bacon until cooked, then leave to cool.
3. Place rice, bacon, dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cheese, parmesan, onions, basil, eggs, salf and pepper into a large bowl. Mix well to combine.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cakes are firm to the touch and light golden. Stand in pan for 5 minutes. Run a flat-edged knife around edges of cakes. Turn onto a wire rack.
5. Serve with salad. Tonight's salad was coral lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, capsicum, lebanese cucumber, fetta and avacado dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

These would also be great lunch box idea.

Impossible Quiche

I've tweaked a couple of recipes on Taste.com.au to come up with this.
It's good, trust me!

(serves 4)

Get This -

• 125g ham or bacon, chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 carrot, grated
• 1/2 zucchini, grated
• 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese
• 1/3 cup self-raising flour
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to season
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease a 5 cup capacity pie dish.
2. Combine and scatter, ham/bacon, onion, grated vegetables and cheese over base of dish.
3. Whisk flour, eggs, milk, salt & pepper together in a large jug and pour over ham mixture. Cook for about 40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool slightly. Serve warm or cold.

.

Creamy Chicken Pasta Bake

Serves 4

Get This

250g dried macaroni pasta
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
3 bacon rashers, cooked and chopped
100g broccoli
300ml light thickened cream
1 can tomatoes
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Do This

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease an  8-cup capacity baking dish.
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes or until tender. 
3. Drain pasta and return to saucepan. Add cooked chicken and bacon, broccoli, cream, tomatoes and parmesan. Toss until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Top with mozzarella. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.