What You Need:

• 200g pork fillet

Glaze

• 1 tablespoon hoi sin sauce
• 1 tablespoon kecap manis
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic

What You Need To Do:

If you have time you can make the glaze the night before and marinate the pork overnight, but if you don’t have the time ( or inclination!) it will still taste yummy.  All you do is mix all of the glaze ingredients together and coat the piece of pork.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and oil a baking tray.  Bake the pork until it is done, this piece took about 20 minutes. You can carefully baste the pork with some of the juices from the pan while it is cooking to help keep it moist.  Take it out of the oven and set it aside for about five minutes before you cut it.

I served the pork with some basmati rice and some wilted bok choy, just because that is what I had!  You could stir fry some veges or even have a little salad with it.

What You Need:

• 1 x 95g can chunk tuna
• 1/4 cup red kidney beans
• 1/4 cup sliced cucumber
• 1/4 cup tomato chopped
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup celery
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red capsicum
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon baby capers
• Iceburg lettuce
• salt and pepper

What You Need To Do:

Firstly open the can of red kidney beans and drain and rinse them.  Leave them for a minute so all the liquid has drained away.  Slice all of the salad stuff so they are about the same smallish, bite size pieces.  No need to chop the capers, just leave them whole.

Gently flake the drained tuna into the bowl of salad.  I prefer to use the tuna that is packed in brine, for the extra flavour, but you can use the oil or springwater type too.  Just try to get the chunk style because the sandwich style can sometimes be a little mushy!

To make the dressing just stir together the oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.  Pour over the salad and gently toss, being careful not to break up the tuna too much.  You probably won’t need all of the dressing so you can store it in the fridge to use on other salads or you might be inspired to make this again!

If you have a small, whole lettuce, you can slice it into quarters and just put a whole quarter on the plate.  Otherwise a good sized chink will do as long as it is nice and crunchy.  Pile up the salad next to the lettuce and if you like, drizzle a little of the dressing over the lettuce as well.

You can also add some flat leaf parsley for extra zing but, sadly,I left my fabulous herb garden behind at my old house and this new one isn’t happening yet so I didn’t have any to put in!

What You Need:

For the cake:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 2 1/2 cups self raising flour
• 2 teaspoons bi-carb soda
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 cup walnut pieces
• 3 cups grated carrot
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the icing:

• 250g cream cheese
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup walnut pieces

What You Need To Do:

Cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, and grease and line your prefered baking tins. The larger cake tin is a 25cm square number.

Get the kids lined up along the bench and hand out the vegetable peelers and put them to work, peeling the carrots. Grate them into a large bowl, or, if you have one of those fancy food processors that make life easy, you could use that.

While they are toiling away, you can sift the flour, sugar, bi-carb, cinnamon and salt into a very large bowl. Add the walnuts and give this a good mix.

Whisk the eggs lightly and add to the oil and vanilla. Pour this on top of the flour mix and add the grated carrot. See, I said you would need a very large bowl!

Mix it all up and pour the batter into your chosen tins.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden on top and a skewer comes out clean.

Icing:
Leave the cream cheese out overnight so it is nice and soft. All you have to do is whisk the cream cheese and the butter together until it is really smooth and then gradually add the icing sugar and lemon juice until you get your desired balance of sweet and sour. Spread the delicious creaminess over the top of the cooled cake, sprinkle with a few of the walnuts and you have made a decadent treat!

What You Need:

• Bread
• Bacon
• Baked Beans
• Cheese

What You Need To Do:

Step one is to extract yourself from the lounge, open your tired, half asleep eyes, unwrap yourself from the blanket and shuffle toward the kitchen.  Turn on the grill and let it heat up while you cook the bacon.

Put the bread in the toaster and cook to your desired burnt-ness and then top with the baked beans.  Drain the bacon for a bit and then put it on top of the beans.

Lastly place slices of your fave cheese on top and grill it until golden and bubbly!

When all done, go and find that lovely spot on the lounge again and finish watching the tv show/movie you were watching before, with half asleep eyes, so now you can totally rest those eyes!  Oh, and of course later you will be going for that 5km run so don’t worry about the calories!!

What You Need:

• 1kg beef mince
• 200g pork mince (optional)
• 1 small carrot
• 1 onion
• 1/2 zucchini
• 2tbsp tomato sauce
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 2tbsp worcestershire sauce

• 2 eggs
• 10 bacon rashers
• salt & pepper

What You Need To Do:

First of all grate the carrot, onion and the zucchini into a bowl. If you dont have zucchini, you can use squash or sweet potato or you can leave it out. It just adds a bit more flavour to the mix. As I said, you can substitute with whatever you have.

Add all the sauces and the beaten egg to the bowl and give it a little stir. Put all of the meat in and season with the salt and pepper. Now, using your hands, mix all of the meat and veges together. Yes, it will be freezing to your fingers, so I use one hand at a time, just so the other can thaw out!!

It will seem a bit sloppy at first but if you keep mixing it will come together and be able to be shaped into a loaf to fit into your baking pan. I use my bread tin because it is non stick and about the right size.

Now for the fancy bit! Trim the bacon slices so they are neat long rectangles and lay them over the top of the loaf. Using a weaving pattern, criss cross the slices so they cover the whole loaf. I brushed a little seeded mustard on top, again for more flavour and a little glaze for the bacon.

Bake at 170 degrees, for about 45 minutes, until the bacon is brown and sizzling and the juices of the meatloaf should run clear. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before you cut it otherwise it will just break up. We have it with mashed potatoes and honey carrots for a filling dinner.

What You Need:

• 185g butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of self raising flour
• 2/3 cup of caster sugar
• 1/2 cup of plain flour
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 2 medium apples
• 2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind
• 1/3 cup marmalade warmed

What You Need To Do:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius and grease a 23cm round cake tin.  I used a springform tin just to make it a bit easier to get it out and lined the bottom with some baking paper.

First of all cream the butter and the sugar and when all light and fluffy, beat the eggs in, one at a time, until just combined.  Its a really quick and simple recipe,  all you have to do now is sift half of the flour and pour half of the milk into the butter mix and stir with a wooden spoon.  When it is smooth, add the remaining sifted flour and the rest of the milk and stir until that is smooth too.  Spread this mixture evenly into the prepared baking tin.

Now for the impressive part!  Peel, core and quarter the apples. You need make cuts into the rounded side of the apple, slicing about three quarters of the way through.  Now, before you give up (because that is way too hard when you are trying to quickly make a cake before the visitors arrive!) there is a easy trick to getting this right.

Grab a wooden skewer and pierce through the apple piece, about 3/4 of the way down the cut face, so you have the rounded side of the apple (that you will be cutting) facing up.  Then carefully slice through the apple so the knife hits on the skewer and doesn’t go all the way through to the bottom. If you make lots of these cuts close together you end up with a lovely decorative apple slice that will impress everybody with your expert knife skillz!!

Now, place these beautiful quarters, round side up, around the edge of the cake.  Cook for about 1 hour until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Stand the cake for about 5 minutes before turning onto a rack, right way up!

Brush the warm marmalade over the hot cake and let cool.  To serve, dust with some icing sugar and a big dollop of cream!

What You Need:

• 2 cups chickpea flour
• 2 large potatoes (about 600g)
• 2 large brown onions (about 400g)
• 100g baby spinach leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 cup water
• oil for frying

What You Need To Do:

This is a great recipe because it is easy, quick and more importantly only uses one bowl! So, grate the potato into a large bowl, add the thinly sliced onion, spinach leaves and the garlic. Give it a little mix, trying not to break the spinach up too much.

You can sift the flour and spices over the top of the mix. Add the water and, using your hands, combine all the ingredients. (cue telephone!)

Shape 1/4 cups of the mixture into little patties using wet hands (cue child who needs help with something!). It helps to stop the mix sticking to your hands. This amount should make about 15 but you can make them any size you like! You can shallow fry them in a pan, or if you have a large pot or wok, you can deep fry them.

Cook them for a few minutes and then turn them over when they are golden in colour. Drain them on some paper and sprinkle a little salt on them while they are still hot.

You can have them with a little salad with some yoghurt and cucumber or just eat them for an afternoon tea snack.

Have you ever been to a coffee shop and ordered one of those big, beautiful looking biscuits they have in fabulous glass jars on the counter?  Thinking you might just savour it with your double shot cap.  Oh! the disapointment when it arrives on the tiny white plate.  It is tasteless, and either too dry and hard or crumbles into million pieces when you try and daintily break a bit off, never mind trying to dip it into your coffee!  These biscuits are tasty, sweet and chewy, but a little crunchy, so you can dip them if you like, or you can eat it without looking like a mess!

What You Need:

• 175g caster sugar
• 110g brown sugar
• 225g butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 450g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
• 1/4 cup crushed macadamia nuts
• 1/4 cup white chocolate bits
• pinch salt

What You Need To Do:

Preheat the oven to 200 degress Celcius.
I always use butter in my cooking.  I think it performs better than margarine, so make sure you let the butter almost come to room temperature so it will cream better with the sugars.  So, obviously that is the first step, cream the butter with the sugars!

Whisk up the eggs with the vanilla and add a little of the egg to the mix and beat in well.  Keep doing this until you have added all of the egg.   This is practically the same recipe as the Jam Drops, but I changed a few things, so with this one you don’t have to freeze the dough, so therefore, eating biscuit time comes quicker!  This is great news for when the hungry hordes (insert names of various children/spouses here) come home from school/work!

Next, sift the flour, soda and salt over the mix and add the nuts and chocolate.  Carefully fold the mixture until there are no lumps of flour left.  Roll about a tablespoon size lump of dough into a ball and place onto a tray, lined with baking paper, leaving a space between as they will spread a little.  If you have any helpers at this stage, especially 4 year olds,  make sure that more mixture is rolled into balls than is going into the mouth!

Bake them for about 8 minutes or until a pale golden colour.  I like them chewy so I take them out just as they are starting golden and leave them to cool on the tray for a bit.  This mix makes alot of biscuits so you can sit the dough in the fridge while you are waiting for the others to cook.  It will firm up a bit but it is a little easier to roll if you want perfect, round, smooth looking biscuits.  Actually, I would love that, but my lot don’t care for fancy they just want to eat them NOW!

What You Need:

• 50g butter
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 1/2 cups muesli
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 75g wholemeal self raising flour

What You Need To Do:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celcius and line a 20cm tin with baking paper. This is so quick to make so get this out of the way first!

Melt the butter, honey and sugars over a medium heat. You want the sugar to dissove and the mixture to be smooth. Don’t be tempted to taste it because it’s that hot it will take your tastebuds right off! (not speaking from experience or anything) Set it aside to cool a bit before mixing into the dry stuff.

Mix the flour through the muesli and dates then add the melted honey and sugars. You might need to use your hands because the mixture is quite thick. Knead it all together and then press it into the baking tin.

Bake it for about 20 minutes or until it is golden on top and then let it cool in the tin before cutting into pieces. It will still be soft when it is done but it will firm up as it cools. I like them a bit chewy but if you want them crisper leave them in for a bit longer.

Oh, and a big Thankyou! to my precious 4 year old for her expert hand modeling work!

What You Need:

• 3 cups plain flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh parmesan cheese

What You Need To Do:

Grab a large bowl, metal or ceramic is better than plastic, and sift the flour and salt together.  Sprinkle in the yeast and the mixed herbs.  I use instant dried yeast, the same as the little packets you get, but it is in a 250g container.  You can get it at the supermarket and just store it in the fridge.  Mix it all together so the yeast and herbs are even throughout the flour.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the water and the oil.  Mix it all up.  Get your hands in there and knead it for about  (is it sounding Jamie Oliver-ish?!)  3 minutes to form a soft dough.

Place it back in the bowl, cover it with some glad wrap and put it in a warm place for about and hour or so until it doubles in size.  I actually put mine in the office right next to me on the desk because it is quite hot in here with the computer going!

When it has doubled in size you punch it down so it deflates and then knead it for another 3 minutes until it is quite smooth.  I think this is great, any bread I have made has at least 10 minutes of kneading so this is really quick and easy on the arms!

Roll it out to a rectangle shape to fit a tray about 36cm x 26cm and poke a few holes into the dough but don’t go all the way through.  These will catch a bit more of the toppings. Scatter the onion, some more herbs, salt and the parmesan.  I also sprinkled a little more olive oil over the top just to help keep it a bit moist and brown up.

The smell is amazing as it is cooking and you will want to devour it as soon as it is out of the oven!!!