"BLT on T" - Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato on Toast

  "BLT on T".  The first time I had this was when I was 11 years old at my friends house.  Her dad is American and they ate this often.  

My version is bacon, lettuce, tomato on toast with the addition of a fried egg, avocado and cheese.  The secret is frying the egg on a medium heat in animal fat and topping with ranch dressing and cracked pepper.  

~Lorna

Cheesy Meatball Casserole

This is so simple and very delicious.

750 grams mince

750 grams sausage meat

1 onion

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

seasonings - tamari sauce, pepper, garlic

Pasta sauce

Grated cheese

1. Mix the mince and the sausage meat together with the egg, breadcrumbs and seasonings of your choice until combined.
2. Shape into golf ball sized balls and fry them until cooked through.
   (We put water in the frying pan to begin with which prevents the meat from sticking until the fats are released from the meat and then they fry in their own fat.)
3. While the meatballs are cooking, put a layer of pasta sauce onto the bottom of a casserole dish.  When the meatballs are cooked, transfer them to the casserole dish.
4. Pour the remaining pasta sauce over them and top with a generous amount of cheese.
5. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.
6. Serve with rice and green vegetables.

~Lorna

Cowboy Casserole

I do rather like "one-pot" type meals. This one lends itself easily to changing it around to suit your preferences. It would make for good left-overs, if there happened to be any actually left over!

10 medium sized potatoes
fat for roasting
1 kg mince meat
tamari sauce, curry, beef stock, mustard powder
2 onions
vegetables - I used 1 head of broccoli 
2 cups of corn
2 cups of grated cheese
1 cup of milk
250g sour cream
salt, pepper

1. Scrub the potatoes and cut them into bites sized pieces.  Roast them in animal fat for around 30 minutes or until they are just cooked through.
2. Fry the mince meat until it is no longer pink.  Add onion and vegetables; cook until done but still firm.  Add the corn and the seasonings of your choice.
3. To the frying pan tip in 1 cup of the cheese,  the milk, and the sour cream.  Mix everything together on a low heat.  Season to taste.  
4. When the potatoes are cooked, layer about 2/3 of them on the bottom of an oven dish.
5. Pour the meat mixture over the potatoes, spreading it evenly.
6. Put the remaining potatoes on the top, pressing them gently into the mixture.
7. Cover with the remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until the potatoes are golden and crunchy.
8. Serve with a side of green vegetables or a salad.  

~Lorna

Persian Couscous Salad

Good for summer dinners - not too hot or heavy, perfect as an accompaniment to your favourite meat and a salad

2 cups of couscous
4 tsp of chicken stock
1 tsp sugar (or other natural sweetener like erythritol/stevia extract)
Grated rind of 1 lemon
4 cups of boiling water
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup pine-nuts
1 cup of dried fruit (currants, cranberries, diced prunes)
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped apricots
Chopped parsley, corriander

1. Mix couscous, stock powder, sugar, and grated lemon rind in a bowl.
2. Add 4 cups of boiling water.  Cover and leave to stand for 3 minutes.
3. Melt the butter in a pan and heat the dried fruit and nuts over a medium heat until the nuts brown lightly and the fruit swells a little.  
4. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and add the nuts and fruit and some chopped herbs.  Stir to mix, and serve with meat and a green salad.

Tips for cooking couscous here

*Couscous is a type of pasta!  If you are interested this link to Wikipedia is really interesting.  

Fried Rice

Mr V is definitely a handy person to have in the kitchen.  His mother raised him to be able to feed himself well.  This is a most sensible skill to teach our sons!  I tend to stay out of his way if he is making food!  I think he could be likened to Chef Ramsey but without the bad language and angry outbursts (so that just leaves the efficient whirlwind part!)

Here is the fried rice he made us.

3 1/2 cups uncooked rice
4 Tbsp lamb fat
left over meat (we used roast lamb)
2 cups of mixed vegetables
2 onions
2 Tbsp tamari sauce
2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper

1. Melt the lamb fat and put the rice into the frying pan.  Fry until the rice is very golden brown; about 5 minutes.
2. Add the left over meat and any vegetables that require longer cooking such as carrots.  Heat these through.
3. Toss the chopped onion, tamari sauce and curry powder through the rice and meat.
4. Add 7 cups of water slowly one at a time stirring constantly.
5. When the rice is cooked, add any remaining vegetables.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve.

Cheesy Ham and Potato Bacon Bake

Cheesy Ham and Potato Bacon Bake

10 medium sized potatoes
2 kumara
2 onions
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup of left over roast lamb
1 large bok choy
1 bunch spinach
1 large kale leaf
1 250g tub of cream cheese
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
8 slices of bacon

1. Cook the potatoes until tender.  Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease an oven dish.
3. In a frying pan melt the butter and add the onion, saute until tender.  Add them to the potatoes.
4. Add the green vegetables meat and cream cheese to the potatoes and onion.  Stir to combine.
5. Put this into the oven dish and top with cheese.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until heated through and golden.

~Lorna

BBQ Ranch Chicken Casserole

BBQ Ranch Chicken Casserole

So easy and so yummy.

500g chicken
500g pasta
1 cup corn
3 tomatoes
1 onion diced
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
salt
pepper
1 1/2 cups ranch dressing
3/4 cup bbq sauce
1 cup cheese

1. Cook pasta until nearly done.  Set aside.
2. Cook the chicken and remove from bones.  Chop and set aside.
3. Heat oven to 180 degrees C and lightly grease a casserole dish.
4. In a large bowl combine diced tomatoes, diced onion, corn, cooked pasta and chopped chicken.  Add salt and pepper.  Mix well.
5. Mix the ranch dressing and bbq sauce well, and pour it in the bowl with other ingredients stirring to combine.  
6. Mix the first amount of cheese through.
7. Transfer the mixture into the casserole dish and spread it evenly.  Top with remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes.

Recipe sourced from Will Cook For Smiles

~Lorna

Maple Glazed Sausages

Maple Glazed Sausages

This sounded delicious, and it is... if you like sweet things!

18 real lamb sausages

1/2 cup of real maple syrup

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Cook the sausages and drain off the fat.
2. Tip the final 3 ingredients in the pan and heat until bubbling and the sausages are nicely coated.
3. Serve with fluffy white rice and vegetables.

~Lorna

Baked Potatoes and Bacon and Egg Bake

Baked Potatoes, Bacon and Egg Bake, Salad

Baked Potatoes with festive left overs
Clockwise from top (Bacon/Egg Bake, Macaroni Cheese left overs, Sour Cream, Coleslaw, Home Cooked Beetroot, Lettuce/Cucumber salad with cranberries, Steamed Red Onion and Green Capsicum)

Baked Potatoes

When I think of baked potatoes I think of too much work or too messy.  These are neither!  They are easy and delicious.

To cut these potatoes slice a small sliver off one side so the potato sits flat, place chopsticks either side, cut across the potato to form 5mm slices

1. Wash the potatoes and cut them as explained above.  Place in a roasting pan.
2. Brush with melted butter or melted lamb fat and sprinkle with a little salt.
3. Cover, and place in the oven at 220 degrees C for 45 minutes.
4. Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
5. Remove from the oven and brush them again with butter or fat.
6. Sprinkle with a topping of breadcrumbs, herbs, and grated Parmesan cheese.  
7. Return to the oven and grill until the crumb mixture is golden.

Serve with sour cream, sweet Thai Chili sauce, and steamed red onion and capsicum.

Bacon and Egg Bake

I really like bacon and egg pie.  Last night I just ran out of time so I threw together this and it worked perfectly!

1. Cook 6 slices of bacon that have been chopped up into small cubes.  Put them into a well greased deep oven dish like a loaf pan.
2. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of frozen corn in with the bacon.  Add some onion diced up.
3. Crack 8 eggs over the top and move them about with a soup spoon to ensure they fill in all the gaps.
4. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and herbs on the top.
5. Cook for 30 minutes at 180 - 220 degrees C

Done and delicious!

~Lorna

Chicken Pie Wreath

This was so easy to make and so yummy!

The quantities I will share here feed our family of nine (5 adult serves, 4 child serves)

1x 2kg chicken roasted
4 cups of chopped broccoli 
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 capsicum
1 1/3 cups of cream
5 tsp cornflour
2 tsp chicken stock
pepper
2 cups of cheese
pastry - 75 grams butter, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/3 cup water (make 3 lots of this)

1. Remove all the meat from the chicken bones and place aside to cool.
2. Put the vegetables in a pot with a small amount of water to steam until bright in colour but still firm.
3. Mix the chicken stock, pepper, and cornflour with a little bit of the cream to form a paste.  Then add the rest of the cream and mix well.  Tip over the cooled chicken.
4. Drain the water from the vegetables and allow them to cool.  
5. Add them to the chicken and cream mixing well to combine.  Put the mixture in the fridge for a few hours.
6. Make the pastry.  Roll out thin and cut into long triangle shapes.  We used 16.
7. Lay 8 triangles in a circle with the tips pointing out of the circle.  Fill with the chicken/vegetable filling and cheese.  Fold the tips over the filling and tuck under the base.  There will be some filling showing, this is ok.
8.  Brush the pastry with egg or milk.
9. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
10. Serve

We had ours with stuffing (from the chicken) and coleslaw.

Sausage Casserole

This recipe makes a small amount of sausages go a long way!  

This meal fed 5 adults and 4 children.

12 sausages (not especially big ones either)
2 large carrots (not peeled)
5 potatoes (not peeled)
2 onions
(you could also add kumara and parsnip)

3 Tbsp cornflour
1 Tbsp tamari sauce
1/2 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt 
pepper to taste 

3 1/2 cups of rice

bunch of spinach
2 bok choy 
2 sticks of celery with the leaves on

1.  Put the sausages in a large electric frying pan with some water to cook.
2.  While the sausages begin to cook, wash the potatoes and carrots.  Cut them into bite sized chunks and add them to the sausages in the pan.
3.  When the vegetables are almost cooked through add the onion and turn down to a low heat.
4.  Wash the rice well and add 7 cups of water.  Cook for 10 minutes or until the water is gone.  Stir the rice to fluff it up and remove it from the heat.
5.  While the rice is cooking, cut up the spinach, bok choy and celery and put it in a frying pan with a little water.  Steam cook for a few minutes until the leaves turn bright green and remove from heat to serve.
6.  Mix the cornflour, tamari sauce, mustard, salt and pepper together with a small amount of cold water to make a paste.  Add 3 cups of cold water and pour this over the sausages. Cook on high until the gravy thickens.
7.  Serve.

Made by J14