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.

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.

Corn Chowder

Here's another soup recipe while it's still winter.  This one is very cheap - and easy and tasty too!  This recipe can be served blended, or partially-blended, but we enjoyed it chunky.

Ingredients:
40g butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 leek, trimmed, sliced thinly
2 celery stalks, chopped
800g potatoes, peeled, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 cups frozen or tinned corn kernels
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

Method:
Melt butter in a large saucepan and cook garlic and leek, stirring until soft.  Add celery, potato, stock and water; bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes.

Add corn and cream, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until corn is just tender.  Stir in parsley and serve.

Baked Penne with Sweet Potato and Spinach

Well, I hope you can forgive my absence over the past week - I got kind of busy having a baby.  As you do.  Anyway, I now have a beautiful little boy in my life - but the kitchen hasn't closed down!  I tried to freeze a few meals before the big arrival and this one is perfect for doing so.  Cheap and yummy!  Since I'll have my hands fairly full over the next few weeks, I'd love to share some of YOUR favourite recipes!  If you have a winner, just email it through to me using the links - with a photo would be great!  In the meantime, happy cooking!

Ingredients:
2 medium red onions, cut into wedges
600g sweet potato, sliced thickly
2 tablespoons olive oil
375g penne pasta
250g frozen spinach, thawed, drained
350g ricotta cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup cream
2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 220 degrees/200 fan-forced.

Combine onion and sweet potato with oil in a large baking dish.  Roast, uncovered, stirring once, for about 30 minutes until tender.

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until tender.  Drain.

Combine pasta in a large bowl with spinach, ricotta, garlic, cream and tomatoes.

Spread sweet potato mixture over the base of baking dish evenly.  Top with pasta mixture then sprinkle with nuts and parmesan.  Bake, uncovered for 10-15 minutes until browned lightly.

Curried Sausages

Not much to say about this one - an easy, one-pot weeknight meal that's sure to be a winner!

Ingredients:
800g beef sausages
20g butter
1 brown onion, chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons plain flour
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
500g baby potatoes, chopped
2 cups beef stock
1 cup parsley leaves, chopped

Method:
Cook sausages in a large frying pan until cooked through.  Chop sausages.

Melt butter in same cleaned pan and cook onion until soft.  Add curry powder and flour, cook, stirring for 2 minutes.

Add vegetables and stock; bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Add sausages; simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens slightly.  Stir in parsley.

Prize-winning Carrot Cake

So...after an unsuccessful Carrot Cake entry at the Pine Rivers Show, I knew I needed to step it up a notch for my entry in the Ekka - the big league!  I tried two different recipes for the first competition, but wasn't 100% happy with either.  So my dear mother passed on a recipe from a book called "The Blue Ribbon Cookbook" - Recipes, stories and tips from prizewinning country show cooks.


I whipped up the cake and LOVED the result.  My only disappointment was that I was rushed by a crying toddler just as it was time to line the tin and pour the mixture in, resulting in a couple of baking paper creases in my cake.  I thought about re-making the cake, but decided to enter it as is and if the cake itself was good enough, I'd win a prize.

So I put in the entry and began the long wait.  Meanwhile, hubby sampled the spare cake I'd made and declared it "the best Carrot Cake he'd EVER tasted!"  Quite a big call, but I did have to agree, it was pretty good!

So the news came through, and I won third prize for the Carrot Cake at the Royal Queensland Show.  I am over the moon, considering it's my first ever entry in the big show!  Next year there will be no creases in my baking paper and I'm hopeful of going even better!

So here it is, the prize-winning recipe for delicious Carrot Cake...this recipe makes enough for one standard round cake, or two log tins.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrot
4 eggs
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:
60g cream cheese
125g icing sugar
30g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Grease and line two log tins or an 20cm round cake pan.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together thoroughly with a large metal spoon.  Add the carrot and eggs, continuing to mix well.  Sift the flour, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg into the carrot mixture.  Add the vanilla and nuts.

Pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 1 hour (if using the log tins) or 2 hours (if using the round pan).  The cake should be golden brown and firm to the touch.  Allow to stand for a few minutes before turning out of the tins to cool.

Icing:
Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, butter and vanilla and spread evenly over the cake.

Low-Fat Creamy Chicken Linguine

This is a very tasty and healthy dish, but does require a few different steps, so it's not the quickest or easiest to make.  I ended up using the whole 500g packet of linguine, then ended up with plenty of leftovers to freeze for when the baby arrives.  I also had some jarred roasted capsicums leftover in the fridge, so I used them instead of the semi-dried tomatoes.  Another winner for the whole family!

Ingredients:
400g dried linguine pasta
100g snow peas, trimmed and sliced
500g chicken breast, cut into 2cm pieces
300g cup mushrooms, sliced
10g butter
40g plain flour
2 cups skim milk
60ml light cream
1/2 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan
100g low-fat semi-dried tomatoes

Optional, to serve:
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
Shaved parmesan
Fresh basil leaves

Method:
Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water, following directions on the packet.  Add the snow peas in the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Drain and return to pan.

Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes or until browned.  Transfer to a plate.  Add mushrooms to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until golden.  Return chicken to pan.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and gradually whisk in milk and cream until well combined.  Return to heat and cook for a few minutes, until the mixture boils and thickens.  Stir in the two types of cheese.

Add the pasta mixture, cheese sauce and semi-dried tomatoes to the frying pan.  Stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper and top with pine nuts, parmesan and basil leaves, if desired.