I love this for breakfast with a cup of hot, steaming coffee.  This is Vogels Muesli; blueberry flavour with blueberry yoghurt.

I love the dried fruit and seeds that they put in muesli now. So delish!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup rice - I used basmati, risotto rice is typically arborio rice, but I prefer basmati
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 stock cubes - beef, chicken or vegetable. Or if you have liquid stock, use 2 cups of that.
2 cups water
spring onion
corn, peas, any vegies you want
tuscan seasoning - or any seasoning/herbs you like
salt & pepper
olive oil

Heat olive oil in a pan/skillet and pour in rice to brown a bit. Approx 2-3 minutes.

Chop onion and crush garlic, then add to pan.

Mix stock cubes, seasoning and water.

Add to rice in pan.

Add spring onion, frozen peas. Cover and let simmer until water evaporates and rice is cooked. Approx 12-15 minutes.

Serve as a side dish. Or I love to add chicken and have it as a rice meal.

This is an updated version of my previous recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
500g beef mince
1 onion
1 carrot
celery
peas/corn (optional)
1 packet of savoury mince/shepherds pie mix for flavour & spice
8 potatoes
milk
margarine

1. Brown mince

2. Set water to boil in a pot to cook the potatoes in. Peal and chop potatoes. Place in hot water and boil for 12 minutes. TIP: if not sure if potatoes are cooked completely, turn heat off and leave the potatoes in the pot with the lid on. They will cook all the way through.

3. Chop onions, carrot & celery.

4. Mix flavours with 1 1/2 cups of water. I cheated tonight and used a pre-made packet because I didn’t have time to make it from scratch. All it really is is beef stock, garlic, seasoning and herbs. Or any beef flavouring packet you have in the cupboard will work, ie. savoury mince.

5. Throw it all in with the mince. Add frozen peas and corn if you so desire.

6. Cover and let it simmer while you wait for the potatoes to finish cooking.

7. Mash the potatoes with milk, margarine, salt & pepper.

8. Tip the mince/vegetable mixture into an oven proof dish. Preheat oven to 180*C.

9. Spoon mashed potato over mince and use a fork to spread it evenly. Sprinkle with some grated cheese and herbs.

10. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Just until the top is golden brown and crunchy. Steam some broccoli and serve.

No skill whatsoever involved with making this. But this was my breakfast this morning and the photo turned out great.

Toast some bread.
Heat some spaghetti (either in microwave or on stove top in a pot).

Serve. Make sure to salt & pepper! Brings out all the flavour.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup semolina (I left this out and added 1/2 cup of extra flour)
1/2 cup caster sugar
175 g butter
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp cold water or milk
1/2 cup Boysenberry Jam (I used Blackberry)
410g can Pear Quarters in Clear Fruit Juice, drained and thickly sliced

1. Rub together flour, baking powder, semolina, caster sugar and butter in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles crumbs.

2. Cut in beaten egg and water or milk and mix until the mixture forms small moist balls of dough. Take 2/3 of the mixture, lightly knead and press out to fit a 20 x 30cm slice tin.

3. Spread with jam, arrange sliced pear quarters evenly over jam. Scatter with remaining crumbled dough.

4. Cook at 180°C for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack, cut into 12 pieces. Serve warm as a dessert with custard, yoghurt or cream, any leftovers will make popular lunch box fillers.

These are ideal for a lunch, afternoon snack or make a big salad and serve up a couple for an easy Summer dinner.

INGREDIENTS

3-4 sheets of puff pastry (or you can make your own, but I cheated)
3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1 TB flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c grated cheddar cheese
1 medium onion
2-3 bacon rashers
parsley

Beat eggs in a bowl, add milk, flour, salt, cheese and chopped up onion and parsley.

Fry bacon in a pan until cooked. Slice up and put in bowl with other ingredients.

Use a round cookie cutter or an upside-down glass and a knife to cut out pastry circles and place in a cooking-sprayed muffin pan. Lightly brush milk on the edges of the pastry to make them brown in the oven.

Pour mixture into pastry lined muffin pans. Fill to the top.

Bake in oven at 180*C for about 25-30 minutes or until brown.

Makes approx. 20 quiches.

INGREDIENTS:

500g beef mince
5 potatoes, peeled, boiled & mashed
1 onion
parsley
1/2 c grated cheese
1/2 c peas
1/2 c sweetcorn
1 x beef stock in 1 c water
2 squirts of tomato sauce (lol.. sorry I don’t know the exact measurement I used. Just do it to taste)
salt & pepper to taste
1 T Worcestershire sauce

Brown mince in a pan. Add onion. Add peas & sweetcorn.

In a bowl mix in stock, sauce, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.
Pour mixture into mince, onions, peas and sweetcorn.

Pour all mixture into an oven safe dish, top with mashed potato and sprinkle over grated cheese and parsley.

Steam some brocolli with it and you’re done!

A fan of the blog, Derek, has suggested I bring in my recipes from the food blog I used to participate in. Very good suggestion, thank you Derek!

I made this recipe up as I went along. I found the cannelloni shells in the pantry and knew we had some chilli con carne (mince, red kidney beans and tomatoes) left over from the night before. So I decided I’d make a cheap meal.

I first put the cannelloni shells in hot tap water to soften them a bit, easier to fill and means less time in the oven.

While they were soaking I mixed up the left over chilli con carne with a bit of grated cheddar cheese for a hit of flavour.

After 15 minutes of soaking I filled the cannelloni with the mince filling.
Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and tip in 1/2 a can of chopped and seasoned tomatoes.

Place the filled cannelloni on top of the tomato mix in a line. Pour the rest of the tomatoes over the top. Add 1/2 a can of water to the sides of the dish (so it doesn’t dry out and it cooks the cannelloni).

Roughly chop up fresh basil and spread on the top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and season with fresh black pepper.

Bake in the over for about 20 minutes. Serve with salad.

This was posted over at my blog. So I thought I should put it here, since it’s a recipe.

Cheese scones

Preheat oven to 180*C.
Ingredients:
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup cheese, grated
1 onion, chopped
2 T butter, soft
2 T parmesan cheese
parsley (Rob wouldn’t let me put any in mine)
water, to mix

Add self raising flour to your food processor. I know it’s random to show you our self raising flour bag, but it’s quite interesting to show food products from different countries.

Grate and add cheese.

Roughly chop onion, the food processor will do the rest.

Add parmesan cheese for extra flavour.

Add soft butter, not melted.

A pinch of salt.

All in together.

Add small amounts of water, slowly.

Until it represents dough.

Flatten out dough.

Cut into squarish shapes and place on baking tray. Top with some extra grated cheese.

Bake approx. 15-20 mins or until risen and brown. Once baked, slap some butter on them while they’re still warm from the oven.

What you will need:

Beef, chuck steak
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 onion
1/2 a cabbage
3 garlic cloves (optional, or you can add more)
beef stock and seasonings

Dice and brown meat quickly.

Chop vegetables

Cook quickly to bring out the flavours

Peel the garlic and leave whole

Mix the beef stock and seasoning in with 3 cups of water

Into the slow cooker. I put the cabbage in a bit later, but you can add it whenever.

Serve with mashed potato.