Fi's Minestrone

I found this recipe on Fi's blog Mummy Daze and thought it looked so good and so easy that I'd give it a go! It's absolutely delicious!!

Not my image, as per usual!

Serves 4 - with enough for seconds and leftovers

Get This -

2 tablespoons oil
ham/bacon/salami
onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons tomato paste

800g tinned tomatoes

2 teaspoons stock powder

4.5 cups cold water

2 medium potatoes, cubed

1 large carrot, diced

zucchini, sliced

1/2 broccoli, chopped finely

1/2 cup frozen peas

750g tin cannellini beans, rinsed and strained

1/2 cup macaroni/broken spaghetti pieces

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 cups fresh baby spinach (if you have some)
salt & pepper

fresh basil

serve with a dollop of pesto

Do This -

1. Add diced bacon, onion, crushed garlic and oil to large pot. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or until onion is softened.
2. Add tomato paste, tinned tomato, stock and water. Cover, and bring to the boil. Add potato and carrots. Cook, uncovered for 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
3. When you are nearly ready to serve, add the beans, zucchini, broccoli, peas and pasta. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until pasta is just tender. Add sugar and vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix in baby spinach leaves just before serving.
4. Ladle into bowls and dollop with pesto and basil. Serve with toasted bread or oven-baked rolls - whatever you have handy.

I served it with parmesan instead of pesto, and fresh basil.

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.

Devilled Sausages

As you know, I do not like using packet mixes or bottled bases. Who knows what's in those things!
So here's an easy recipe for devilled sausages...no packet required!

Serves 4

Get This -

• 500g beef or pork sausages
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 125ml water
• 2 onions, finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• fresh parsley

Do This -

1. Heat oil in pan and brown sausages until cooked.
2. Remove sausages and chop into chunks.
3. Fry onions in the same pan until soft.
4. Combine all other ingredients with the water to make a sauce. Add to sausages and onions and stir until sauce begins to boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Stir occasionally and cook for at least 10 mins, but the longer the better. I like at least an hour.
5. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or your favourite herb. Serve with mashed potato or sweet potato, or on a bed of steamed rice with vegetables.

This recipe is from http://allrecipes.co.uk/ with a few tweaks.

Thai-Style Curry

This recipe is like a choose your own adventure story book.

You choose the type of curry.
You choose as many or as few vegetables as you like
You choose the meat or tofu...and come up with your own special thai-style curry.

Serves 4

 Get This -

• 2 tbsps thai red, green or yellow curry paste
• 400ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsps fish sauce
• 2 tbsps brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lime juice or 1 kaffir lime leaf finely shredded
• 400g - 500g diced chicken, pork, lamb, or prawns peeled and deveined. Or 300g tofu, diced and lightly fried
• fresh coriander
• 4 cups jasmine rice (cooked)

Choose your vegetables -

• small can bamboo shoots (drained and rinsed)
• small can water chestnuts (drained and rinsed)
• 125g baby corn spears, halved diagonally
• snow peas or snow pea sprouts
• capsicum
• carrots
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• shallots or onions
• beans or sugar snap peas
• zucchini

Do This -

1. In a wok or large saucepan, over medium high heat, combine coconut milk and curry paste, heat and stir constantly until the majority of the paste has dissolved. 2. And fish sauce, brown sugar and lime, stir until dissolved. 3. Add meat or tofu and vegetables, stir gently until well incorporated. 4. Let simmer for 10 - 20 minutes until meat and vegetables are cooked through. 5. Serve over rice or noodles and top with coriander or your favourite herbs.

Coleslaw

I'd never made coleslaw before. But today I thought I'd give it a go.

I don't know why I waited so long, it's easy!

And sooooo much better than any store bought coleslaw.

It was the perfect accompaniment to our easy Friday night frozen fish & chips!

I haven't added measurements for this recipe because you can add as much or as little as you like to suit your taste.

Get This -

• sugar loaf cabbage, finely shredded
• purple cabbage, finely shredded
• shallots, finely shredded
• carrot, grated
• fresh basil, finely shredded
• mayonnaise
• lime juice
• salt & pepper

Do This -

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve.
2. Too easy!

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

Carrot Cake

This morning my Miss 4 saw Timmy from Timmy Time baking a carrot cake.

So of course she wanted to bake one, too.
I hate to bake, but she is very persuasive, so I went to my go-to recipe website, Taste.com.au and found this recipe. By some miracle I had every ingredient needed (but only 1/2 the amount of cream cheese for the icing).

So, we baked it.


She looks so cute in the apron I made for her



The best thing about baking...licking the bowl!

And it fell to bits when I tried to get it out of the tin. Next time I won't skip the baking paper lining!!

It still tasted amazing!

From Taste.com.au
Ours did not look this good
(as you will see below)

Serves 12

Get This -

Olive oil, to grease

2 (about 300g) carrots

1 cup (150g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (75g) plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (80g) brown sugar

3/4 cup (185ml) oil

1/2 cup (125ml) golden syrup

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Icing

250g spreadable cream cheese

1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Do This -

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a 20cm (base) round cake pan lightly with oil, and line with non-stick baking paper. Peel and grate the carrots, and set aside. Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large bowl.
2. Put the brown sugar, oil, golden syrup, eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl. Use a balloon whisk to mix until combined.
3. Pour the oil mixture into the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to stir gently until just combined. Stir in the grated carrot.
4. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 1 hour. Set aside for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make the icing, place the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Use a wooden spoon to mix until well combined.
6. Spread the icing over the cake.

This is our cake.
The icing is green because she likes green.
And it's not her birthday, but really, what is a cake without candles?

Spaghetti Bolognese

I know the really simple way to make this is to brown some mince, add a jar of prepared sauce and add to pasta, but it's so easy to make your own. It tastes heaps better and you know exactly what you're eating, too.

With illnesses, ailments and disorders on the rise I have to wonder if it has something to do with the mountains of processed foods we eat with all the additives, preservatives & chemicals. I don't like to use any bottled sauce bases anymore.

Serves 4

Get This -

500g beef mince
1 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans diced tomatoes
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 beef stock cubes
a shake of dried oregano
a shake of dried thyme
a shake of dried tarragon
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg
1/4 red lentils
1/2 to 1 cup vegetables, eg carrot, zucchini, cauliflower, capsicum
1/2 cup water (I swish out a can of tomatoes & use that)
salt & pepper
fresh parmesan, shaved/finely grated
fresh basil
spaghetti or other pasta

Do This -

• Heat oil in large pot.  Saute onions & garlic until translucent.
• Add vegetables, stock cubes & herbs.
• Add mince and stir until browned.
• Add tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute.
• Add all other ingredients and simmer.
• Sauce will be ready in about 20 minutes, but I love it after a few hours of gentle simmering...much tastier! 
• Just before you're ready to serve, cook pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
• Drain pasta, serve in bowls with the bolognese sauce on top and finish with fresh shaved parmesan and chopped basil.

Rice Paper Rolls

This recipe is from Taste.com.au and tweaked a little.

From Taste.com.au

Makes 12

Get This -

• 1 cup shredded barbecued chicken
• 1 lebanese cucumber, cut into matchsticks
• 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 1/2 cup beansprouts, trimmed
• 1/3 cup fresh vietnamese mint leaves
• 1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 12 x 22cm rice paper rounds (see note)
• sweet chilli sauce, to serve

Do This -

1. Combine chicken, cucumber, carrot, beansprouts, mint, coriander, lime juice and fish sauce in a large bowl.
2. Place 1 rice paper round in a medium bowl of lukewarm water for 15 seconds or until just soft. Place on a clean tea towel or paper towel.
3. Arrange 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture along the centre of rice paper round. Fold ends in and roll up firmly to enclose filling. Repeat with remaining rice paper rounds and filling. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.