Polenta corn bread

I fell in love with corn bread when I was travelling and eating my way through the US. I made it my mission to come up with a healthy recipe that was easy to make, and this is it!

Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup polenta
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 tbsp oil
1 cup tinned corn, drained
1.5 cups grated cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 170C (fanforced) and grease loaf pan.
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in polenta.
3. Combine eggs, milk and oil together and then gradually add to polenta mixture. Stir until smooth.
4. Stir in corn and cheese.
5. Pour into pan and cook for 35-40 mins or until lightly brown on top and inserted skewer comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool before cutting into slices.

This is a perfect accompaniment to any type of soup and is a great alternative to normal store bought bread.  I freeze the leftovers slices individually wrapped and give it to my kids as a snack or as an add on to their meal.

Tasty tuna pasta

I'm sure I'm not the only one that hates grocery shopping, so I am often left looking in the fridge and realising I don't have much to cook dinner with! That's where a few things in the pantry and freezer come in very handy to whip up a quick, healthy meal.


Large can of tuna in olive oil (425g)
1 x large onion, chopped
1 x clove garlic, crushed
500g Frozen peas
500g pasta (I use gluten free)
Optional- chili flakes


1. Sauté onions, garlic and chili flakes for 3-5 mins with a little oil in a pan.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to packet instructions.
3. Add frozen peas and tuna (with olive oil) to onions and cook for a further few minutes until peas cooked through.
4. Add tuna mixture to drained pasta and serve immediately with extra chili flakes if desired.

So simple but tasty!!
I use gluten free pasta made out of predominately rice. I find it is not as heavy as normal pasta and actually surprisingly quite good!

Cheesy spinach fritattas

I don't even consider making this dish as cooking, as you literally put three ingredients together and put it in the oven. That seriously is it! And to this day, I am constantly surprised when my kids gobble them down and ask for more. This recipe came about because my girls refused to eat eggs in any form, except when I made them into these!



Ingredients:

6 eggs
250g frozen chopped spinach (defrosted and drained of excess moisture)
200g shredded cheddar cheese


1. Break the eggs into a bowl
2. Add spinach and cheese
3. Mix until combined
4. Grease a 12 hole muffin tray (or use muffin cases) and fill each case evenly with mixture.
5. Place in 180C (fanforced) oven for 15-20 mins or until lightly brown on top and set.

And there you have it, 12 individual frittatas great for little hands to hold.
A great way to get dairy, vegetables and protein into them in one hit!

Easy eggplant parmigana

One of my new years resolutions was to try and have a few vegetarian meals each week, but trying to find something that would satisfy my carnivore husband was proving harder than expected! This dish is great because it is substantial, satisfying and very nutritious!
Really simple, vegetarian meal that is quick to prepare and very, very tasty!

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants (cut into 1cm thick slices)
One packet of mountain bread (I use corn variety so less gluten)
shredded cheese

Tomato sauce:
700g tomato passata (puree)
400g can of tomatoes
400g can of lentils (drained)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 onions, finely chopped
150g bag of baby spinach



1. Layer eggplant slices on lightly greased tray, brush with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in preheated 180C oven (fan forced) for 20 mins or until golden brown and soft.
2. In the meantime, saute onions and garlic with a little olive oil in a large pan for 5 mins. Add tomato passata and tomatoes, reduce temperature and simmer for 20 mins.
3. Add lentils and spinach and cook for a further 5 minutes.
4. Put a layer of eggplant on the bottom of a casserole dish, then tomato sauce, then mountain bread and continue alternating layers until all the eggplant is used. I put cheese in one of the layers in the middle and then finish with cheese on the top.
5 Cook for 25 mins in 180C oven or until cheese melted.

The tomato sauce recipe makes enough for two eggplant parmigana dishes. I usually reserve half the sauce and either freeze it or use it the next night as a sauce for pasta.

Depending on the size of the casserole dish, half a packet of mountain bread is normally enough. The other half can be frozen too and saved for next time.

The end result! It doesn't stay on the plate for very long!

Healthy, moist, yummy carrot cake

My girls love this carrot cake. I make them into muffins so I can freeze them and take them out in individual serves. If you use gluten free baking powder, they are gluten free, low in sugar and saturated fat. Even though they sound ultra healthy, they are really quite tasty and my girls always ask for a second serving!

300g grated carrots (~3 medium carrots)

50g of honey or pure maple syrup 

100g finely chopped dates/ sultanas (I use dates because they tend to be sweeter and that way I can add less sweeteners)

50g macadamia nut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs, lightly beaten

250g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

juice of 1 orange and rind of half an orange

NB: I grate my carrots and dates in my thermomix or food processor to save time and energy. (grating carrots is harder than it looks!)

1. Preheat oven to 160C (fan forced)

2. Mix oil, honey, eggs and vanilla until well combined.

3. Fold in carrots, dates, ground almonds, baking powder, juice and zest.

4. Fill 12 muffin cases and bake for 30- 40 mins or until skewer inserted comes out clean and lightly brown on top.

Great for a snack without being too sweet, so hopefully the kids won't be high on sugar and will still sleep!

Bolognese two ways

I am always looking for ways to save time in the kitchen so being able to cook one dish and getting two different meals, gets the thumbs up from me! The basic recipe is a bolognese sauce with lots of hidden vegies so perfect for little ones. I started making this when the girls were babies and wanted to minimise the amount of salt in their diet, so the recipe is very low salt. Obviously, the no added salt versions of ingredients don't have to be used but I figure since they are still eating it now, why change it!

Bolognese sauce:

1kg lean beef mince (I use the heart smart one)
3 tins of chopped tomatoes (no added salt)
2 tbs of tomato paste( no added salt)
2 zucchinis, chopped finely
4 carrots, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 brown onions, chopped
2 tsps vegetable stock concentrate (I make my own low salt version)
500ml water

NB: I put the vegies in my food processor or thermomix and blend them until pureed. (saves time on chopping and that way the kids cant pick out the vegies!!)

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat and cook mince for 5 minutes or until brown. Set aside
2. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, garlic, carrot and zucchini and cook for 5 mins or until softened.
3. Add tomato tins, tomato paste, stock and water, reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour. If you are short on time, reduce water to 250ml and simmer for 30 mins.


First nights dinner - Pasta bolognese

I use 500g wholemeal penne pasta and stir through half the sauce and serve. I know some people are a bit reluctant to use wholemeal pasta, but apart from taking a little bit longer to cook, it tastes great and looks like normal pasta once it is covered in sauce. Surprisingly it wasn't my kids I had to convince, it was my husband! Once he tasted it though, in his words "I wouldn't have known it was different if you hadn't of told me!"

Second nights dinner- Potato mince pie

When it comes to cooking the seconds night dinner, some mashed potato and shredded cheese is all that is needed.

Mashed potato:

500g potato, peeled and chopped
500g sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1. Cook potato in large saucepan of boiling water for 20mins or until tender.
2. Drain potatoes, then mash.
3. Add some water to get a thinner consistency if wanted. (you could add milk and/or butter, but I find it doesn't need any)

To tell you the truth, this is how I used to make mash potatoes until I got my thermomix. Now, my much loved kitchen gadget does it all for me!




1. Preheat oven to 200 C (fanforced)
2. Spoon the bolognese sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish.
3. Put mashed potato on next and then sprinkle grated cheese on top.
4. Bake for 30mins or until cheese melted and top is golden brown.

Both these dishes will feed four with leftovers, so there shouldn't be any fights over who gets seconds!

Cafe style orange and almond loaf

My weakness is definitely coffee and one of my favourite pastimes is sitting down in a cafe and enjoying a fantastic cup of coffee with a piece of cake of course! Not so relaxing when you have toddlers that don't like to sit still for more than a minute at a time! So I have resorted to making this orange and almond loaf at home and let me tell you, it tastes exactly like the one that you get from cafes and the best thing is, it doesn't cost you $5 for just one slice!

Ingredients

2 large navel oranges with unblemished skin
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 160 C (fan forced) and grease a loaf pan tin.

2. Place two whole oranges in a saucepan with water. Bring to boil and simmer for 1 hour. To ensure the oranges remain covered with water, I put a piece of baking paper on top of the oranges to press them down.(I usually do this stage the night before and allow the oranges to cool over night)

3. Drain, then allow to cool before cutting into quarters and placing in blender to puree until smooth. To make sure the cake isn't too bitter, I cut off the ends of the oranges where the thickest skin is and remove seeds before blending.

4.Beat the eggs and sugar together until mixed together well.

5. Add the orange puree, ground almonds and baking powder and mix until combined.

6. Pour into pan and cook for 1 hour. If cake looks like it is browning on top too much, cover with alfoil half way through cooking time. Leave in pan for half an hour to firm up before removing.

This cake is really moist and keeps for ages and even tends to taste better after a few days. Apart from the sugar, the cake is relatively healthy. No butter or oil, goodness from almonds and oranges and easily made gluten free by using gluten free baking powder.

I tend to cut the loaf into slices and freeze in individual portions.  That way, I always have a sugar fix when the afternoon slump occurs!