Tuna & Sweet Potato Cakes

I've made this meal twice in the past two weeks, as it's become a favourite of my 19-month-old girl.  With a squeeze of tomato sauce on top, she devours these pretty quickly!  Throw together a salad and it's a perfect healthy, tasty, easy weeknight meal.

Ingredients:
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
425g tin of  tuna chunks, drained
2 eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Olive oil

Method:
Cook the sweet potato in a saucepan or in the microwave for about 7-8 minutes, or until tender.  Transfer to a large bowl.

Mash the sweet potato then set aside to cool.  Add tuna, egg and breadcrumbs and stir until well combined (add some more breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet).  Divide into patties about 8cm.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and cook patties for about 3-4 minutes each side, or until browned (hubby sometimes cooks these on the BBQ too!) Serve with a mixed salad of whatever's in season, or in the fridge!

Apple Sour Cream Cake

I was having some people over for afternoon tea recently and had a carton of sour cream in the fridge that needed using.  This delicious cake was the end result!  It's a Women's Weekly recipe - I LOVE the crumble topping and the cake was nice and moist.  But it's definitely not a throw-together-at-the-last-minute cake, as it needs almost 2 hours in the oven!  Hope you like it!

Ingredients:

250g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
11/3 cups plain flour
¾ cup self-raising flour
300g sour cream
3 medium apples, peeled and finely chopped
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping
¼ cup plain flour
1 1/3 cup coconut
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
60g butter
¼ cup flaked almonds

Method:

Line a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Firstly, make the topping:  Combine flour, coconut, brown sugar and cinnamon in bowl.  Rub in butter and press ingredients together.  Refrigerate until firm, then use a spoon to break it up into a crumble and add almonds.

Cream butter and sugar in a bowl with electric mixer, then add eggs one at a time and beat until combined. Stir in half the sifted flours with half the sour cream, then stir in remaining flours and sour cream; mix until smooth.

Spread one-third of cake mixture into prepared tin, top with half the apples, sprinkle with half the cinnamon, spread carefully with another third of cake mixture. Top with remaining apple and cinnamon mixture and the remaining cake mixture. Sprinkle topping evenly over cake.

Bake for about 1 ¾ hours. Cover cake with foil halfway through cooking time to stop topping from over-browning.

Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Pasta

The cream of celery soup gives this pasta dish a lovely flavour.  Use whatever vegetables you have on hand (I added celery and used mixed vegetables instead of just peas).  Another quick and easy meal for the busy mums out there!

Ingredients:
375g penne pasta (or macaroni shells)
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2cm lengths
1 tablespoon olive oil
300g chicken breast fillets, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium brown onion, sliced
410g can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method:
Cook pasta in a saucepan of boiling water until tender, adding asparagus to pan for the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Drain.

Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat.  Add chicken, garlic and onion.  Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Add soup, peas and 1/3 cup cold water.  Bring to the boil.  Add pasta, asparagus and cheese.  Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until cheese has melted.

Sushi

Sushi is one of those foods that people often think is too hard to make at home - until you try it and realise how easy it actually is!  That was me a few years ago - but now it's one of the family favourites!  I love it because it's something a bit different, has heaps of varieties and is super healthy!  Sushi mats and ingredients are available in the Asian section at the supermarket.  Work out your favourite combinations and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup sushi rice
2 tablespoons rice/white wine vinegar
150g protein filling - eg tuna, smoked salmon, teriyaki chicken/beef, prawns
Vegetable filling - eg cucumber, capsicum, avocado, sprouts, carrot, cut into strips
1 packet nori sheets
Soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and pickled ginger, to serve

Method:
Cook rice according to packet.  Pour vinegar over and stir, then leave to cool until it can be handled.

Place a nori sheet, shiny side down, on sushi mat.  With wet hands, spread a portion of rice over the nori sheet, leaving a 2 centimetre border along the top edge.

Place fillings horizontally on the rice.  Use the mat to roll up the sheet firmly.

Sprinkle water on the top edge of the nori sheet to seal.

Repeat with remaining ingredients.  Put in the fridge to cool, then slice into pieces and serve.

Tuna Rice Bake

Today I have a special guest on the blog - the very person who taught me how to cook - my mum!

I have many memories of spending time with mum in the kitchen and she definitely instilled in me a love of home-made, nutritious and delicious food!  Thanks mum, over to you...

"This is the recipe I made when Hope came to sleep over recently.  I know that she's getting a nutritious meal with a variety of vegetables.  The original recipe doesn't have carrots, zucchini and peas - I vary the vegetables using mushrooms or corn.  Very yummy!"

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice, cooked

2 teaspoons butter

1 large onion

3 sticks of celery, chopped

2 carrots, diced

1 zucchini, diced

1 cup frozen peas

2 tblspn cornflour

2 cups milk

2 tspn mustard (or to taste)

425 g can tuna

Pepper and salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup grated cheese

Method

Heat butter in a large frying pan or saucepan.  Add onion, celery and other vegetables and cook until softened.

Sprinkle in flour, stir a little, then remove from heat.  Gradually stir in milk and return to heat, stirring until boiling.  Add mustard, simmer one minute, then add tuna, pepper and salt and rice.

Cool the mixture slightly, then add eggs.

Grease a lasagne dish.  Add tuna mixture, then top with cheese.  Bake in moderate oven at 180ºC for 25-30 minutes.

Pancakes

I've been meaning to post this one as a weekend special for a little while - but I think with Father's Day tomorrow, it's the perfect opportunity!  I'm sure any dad would love to be treated to pancakes in the morning - and this recipe is SOOOO easy there's really no excuses!

The recipe is from the delightful Caroline over at http://carriecookingrecipes.blogspot.com/ - she's another busy mum of two with some great recipes, so I highly recommend you check them out!  I don't even use the recipe anymore, it's so easy to remember.  I've also used this recipe to make pikelets.

So here they are - and hooray for dads!

Makes approximately 10 good-sized pancakes

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Butter for frying

Method:
Add all ingredients into a bowl.  Mix with a whisk until smooth.

Preheat a frying pan on medium heat.  Melt butter in the pan and tilt to spread.  Pour mixture into pan and cook until bubbles appear.  Flip and cook the other side.  Serve hot with your favourite toppings.

Sweet Chilli Chicken & Rice Salad

I came across this recipe in a food magazine and it turned out great!  So easy to put together and we all really enjoyed it - hope you do too!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce
2 limes, including juice and rind
500g chicken breast, sliced
1 cup brown rice (or any rice will work!)
400g can corn kernels
1 capsicum, chopped
1 cup coriander, chopped (parsley is fine also)

Method:
Combine sweet chilli sauce, lime juice and rink in a bowl.  Place chicken in a shallow dish and top with half of the chilli mixture.  Stir to coat and refrigeration for 30 minutes to marinate (if time allows).

Cook rice according to packet.

Heat a large frying pan on medium.  Cook chicken until lightly browned and cooked through.  Add to rice along with corn, capsicum, coriander and remaining chilli mixture.  Toss to combine.