Fettucini with Bacon, Mushrooms and Peas

A tasty and creamy but healthy pasta dish - great for mid-week!

Ingredients:

3 rashers bacon

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 red onion, chopped

185g mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 1/2 cups (375ml) low-fat light evaporated milk

2 teaspoons cornflour

325g dried fettucini

25g parmesan shavings

Method:

Chop bacon roughly and cook in a medium pan with oil, garlic and onion for 5 minutes.  Add sliced mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring often, until soft.

Add the parsley, peas and milk to the pan.  Mix the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water until smooth, add to mixture and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, or under tender.  Drain and serve with the sauce and top with parmesan.

Tuna, capsicum and pasta salad

Another summer salad favourite!

Ingredients:
250g pasta shells
100g green beans, trimmed and chopped
1 small red capsicum, sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
1 cucumber, diced
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
4 tomatoes, cut into eighths
375g tin tuna chunks, drained

Dressing:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar

Method:
Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes, or until tender, adding the beans in the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Drain and rinse under cold water.  Place in a large bowl with the capsicum and spring onion and mix well.  Add the cucumber, egg, tomato and tuna.

Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.  Drizzle over salad and serve.

Beef Teriyaki with Cucumber Salad

This recipe is a favourite in my household, and comes from a huge book of salads called "Tossed".  I love pulling out this book when the weather starts warming up and rediscovering all the best recipes from last Summer.  This one is truly delicious!

Ingredients:
400g beef strips
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 cups white rice, cooked

Cucumber salad:
1 large Lebanese cucumber, diced
1 reg capsicum, diced
2 spring onions, sliced
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Method:
Combine soy sauce, mirin, garlic and ginger in a bowl and add beef.  Stir to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

To make cucumber salad, combine the sugar and vinegar with 2 tablespoons of boiling water.  Pour over cucumber, capsicum and onions and cool in the fridge.

Stir-fry beef in a frying pan over medium heat until cooked through.  Serve with the salad and white rice on the side.

Easy Potato Salad

This creamy dish is a must-have as a side dish for a BBQ.  Bacon is also a tasty addition to potato salad if you wish.

800g potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 large eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Cook potatoes in a large saucepan until tender.  Drain.

Combine mayonnaise and sour cream in a small bowl (add more of either ingredient if desired).

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir gently.

Hommus

Okay, considering my last post (the best Banoffee Pie you'll ever taste!) it's time to get back on the straight and narrow.  I'm trying to eat quite healthily at the moment in a bid to shift the post-baby weight, and this recipe has been a life-saver for me!  Snacks always seem to be my downfall, so for the past two weeks, I've kept a constant supply of hommus in the fridge, along with chopped-up carrot and celery (the trick is to chop it every couple of days and keep it fresh in a Tupperware container so it's always ready on hand to grab).  It's such a tasty snack and mega healthy, cheap AND so quick to make, so you really can't go wrong.  And the good thing is, you can mix it up a bit by changing which spice you use.  Do it!

Ingredients:
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon spice (I have used cumin & coriander, Moroccan spice mix, chilli flakes & paprika)

Method:
Place all ingredients in a food processor (or use a hand-held blender).  Process until smooth.  Keep in an airtight container.

Banoffee Pie

This dessert is one of my all-time favourites and is such a crowd-pleaser.  It's surprisingly easy to make and is SOOOO delicious!

I love this method of making the caramel - it turns out so sticky and sweet, and is so much tastier than using tinned caramel.  Next time you're out to impress, definitely try Banoffee Pie!

Ingredients:
100g butter, melted
250g Nice biscuits

Caramel:
100g butter
100g brown sugar
397g tin condensed milk

Topping:
3 bananas
300mL cream
cocoa powder

Process biscuits in a food processor until fine, then add butter and combine.  Press into the base and sides of an 8 inch springform tin.

Make the caramel - put butter and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until butter melts and sugar dissolves.  Add condensed milk and gently bring to the boil, stirring continuously until thick.  Spread over the biscuit base, then chill for about an hour, until firm.

Whip the cream, then fold in sliced bananas.  Spread it over the caramel.  Dust with cocoa.

Sausage and Cous Cous Salad

I'm sure I've written here before about how much I love cous cous.  It is definitely one of the quickest and easiest ingredients of all time!  I make variations of this recipe quite regularly, with whatever's hanging around - other yummy ingredients to add include a can of corn, peas, sweet potato, pumpkin or cherry tomatoes.

You can leave the onion and capsicum raw, but my kids aren't so keen, so I just pop them in the pan with the sausages until cooked.  This is delicious served with a drizzle of sweet chili sauce.

Get all your fresh vegetables from Charlie's Fruit Market!

 

Ingredients (serves 6)
6 sausages
1 cup cous cous
1 cup boiling water
1 can of chickpeas
1 capsicum, chopped
1 small red onion, sliced
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Cook sausages in a frying pan over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.  (Optional: cook onion and capsicum until tender).  Transfer sausages to a chopping board and slice thickly.

Place cous cous in a heatproof bowl.  Add boiling water.  Cover and stand for 5 minutes.  Use a fork to separate grains.

Add sausages, chickpeas, capsicum, onion, parsley and raisins to cous cous.  Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic and cumin.  Drizzle over salad.  Serve.

Chocolate Slice

This is one of the classics, which is super easy to make and always a favourite!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 Weet-bix

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup cocoa

125g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa, extra

2 tablespoons hot water

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Line a slice tin with baking paper.

Crush weet-bix in a food processor and add coconut, sugar, flour and cocoa.  Melt butter with golden syrup, then mix into the dry ingredients with vanilla

Spoon mixture into tin and press down firmly.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a small bowl.  Add water and stir well.  Spread over hot slice and allow to cool.  Cut into squares and serve.