Recipe - Super easy pancakes

Ingredients

1. 1 3/4 cup milk
2. 2 eggs
3. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4. 2 cups self-raising flour
5. 1/4 cup caster sugar

Method

1. Whisk milk, eggs and vanilla together in a jug.
2. Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir in sugar.  Make a well in the centre.
3. Add milk mixture.
4. Whisk until just combined.
5. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Spray with baking spray.
6. Using 1/4 cup mixture per pancake, cook 2 pancakes for 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on surface.
7. Turn and cook for a further 1-2 minutes or until cooked through.
8. Transfer to a plate. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm.
9. Repeat with remaining mixture, spraying pan with cooking oil between batches.

Serves 2

Recipe – Red Wine and Quince sauce (Perfect for Steak)

Loved this sauce J It’s terrific for steak and chicken and I imagine switching the stock to chicken would make it equally as good for chicken and maybe even salmon? Not sure if a vegetable stock would do it any justice … really think fish stock isn’t an option. Anyway. That’s my thinking out loud!

Ingredients

• 100g quince paste
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoons butter (this is a modification from original recipe)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup (125ml) red wine
• 1/2 cup (125ml) beef stock

Method

• Place half the paste in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on medium for 15 seconds (alternatively, melt in a saucepan over low heat on stove).
• Stir in vinegar, butter and lemon juice. Season.
• Add wine, stock and remaining paste to pan, and simmer for 5 minutes until reduced and syrupy.

Source: http://www.delicious.com.au/recipes/steak-mash-quince-sauce-rocket-parmesan-salad/d719839b-2594-407a-a039-953c2930c8b7?current_section=recipes

Recipe - Healthy Banana Muffins using Coconut Flour

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 2 bananas (ideally aged)
• ¼ cup coconut oil or butter (softened)
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ½ a cup oats (optional)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Milk to thin (I find different types of coconut flour need different qty’s, so play it by ear. Guesstimate is ½ cup to ¾ of a cup)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 C degrees
• Put all ingredients except the bananas, oats and in medium sized bowl
• Using electric whisk, mix until smooth and well incorporated.
• Slowly add in milk bit by bit, don't let it get runny at all. Batter will be somewhat thick.
• Roughly chop bananas and whisk them in
• Stir through oats
• Bake for at least 20 mins until lightly browned and set in middle.

Recipe - Carrot Dip

New party trick when making dips – have yogurt handy! Add as needed if the dip is too chunky. Did anyone else already know this? Maybe I was just slow on the uptake ….

Ingredients

• 1kg carrots, peeled, cut into 2cm pieces
• 2/3 cup (165ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons harissa (see note)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• Pinch ground ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Method

• Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with foil. In a pan, cover carrots with water and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes until just tender. Transfer to the baking tray, drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and roast for 20 minutes until browned. Cool, then whiz in a processor with harissa, spices, garlic and vinegar. Slowly add remaining oil and whiz until smooth. Season and serve

Source: http://www.delicious.com.au/recipes/carrot-dip/b93ccb91-8372-4c94-850d-066f6e22155e?current_section=recipes

Recipe - Potato Rosti as a side dish for dinner

I made this a little differently so I didn’t have to deal with moulding the rostis into circles and dealing with egg circles etc. Turned out wonderfully J

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 5 medium sized potatoes peeled and grated in a food processor or manually with grater
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp. chopped chives
• 2 tbsp. plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Olive oil

Method

• Peel the potatoes then coarsely grate them in a food processor or by hand with a grater.
• Add a good pinch of salt, toss and scrunch it all together, then leave for 5 minutes.
• Squeeze handfuls of grated potato over a bowl to remove as much liquid as you can. Place the squeezed potato in a clean bowl.
• Add egg and chives, and sift over flour and baking powder. Mix until combined.
• Add good glug of olive oil.
• Season with pepper (no salt should be needed as add salted salt when first grating the potatoes).
• Place into bowl, cover with alfoil and and cook on 180 for first 30 minutes. Take off alfoil and cook through. When just done switch to grill function to brown the top, if it hasn’t browned already
• If, at any stage it looks a little dry, pop some globs of butter on top

Recipe - Mindlessly easy Hummus – from Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals

Care for a dip? I saw this hummus on Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals. Of course, being 15 minute meals means it’s about being quick and time saving options vs producing the best possible outcome (as, with any dish, time is needed). This wasn’t bad at all!!!

What i'll do differently next time:

• Chopping the herb separately and stirring it in as it was weird having a green dip. 
• Adding roasted garlic. 
• Then, I’d say it will be pretty darn good!

Ingredients

• Tin chick peas – drain liquid don’t rinse
• Tahini or peanut butter – heaped teaspoon (the peanut butter is Jamie’s idea not mine)
• Juice of one lemon
• Herbs – coriander mint or basil. About 2 tbsp. to start then adjust as needed
• Pinch cumin
• 2 or 3 heaped tbsp. of yogurt
• Season with salt and pepper to taste
• Chilli optional

Method

• Whiz all in food processor and make adjustments from there

Recipe - Gigantes with tomatoes and greens

Ingredients

• 500g dried gigantes beans or butter beans, soaked overnight
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 350g/12oz chard or spinach, washed
• small handful fresh parsley, chopped
• small handful fresh mint, chopped

Method

1. Drain the beans, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for 1½-2 hours until the beans are just tender.
2. Gently soften the onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil for 5 minutes. When soft, stir in the paprika, tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, 100ml/3½fl oz water, salt and pepper.
3. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the chard and take off the heat.
4. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C
5. When the beans are cooked, drain them and mix with the tomato and chard sauce, adding a further 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the chopped herbs.
6. Transfer the beans to a casserole pan, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and bake for 35–40 minutes until the beans are tender and the sauce thickened and bubbling. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

N.B I took a shortcut and used 3 x 400g cans of cannellini beans. All that mean was starting at step 2 and adding the beans 5 mins after you add the tomatoes.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gigantes_with_tomatoes_47546