Mexican beans

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 red capsicum

1 green capsicum

3 carrots

3-4 stalks of celery

1 brown onion

4 cloves of garlic

2 x 400g cans of diced tomatoes of passata

1 x 400g can of kidney beans or ½ cups of cooked kidney beans

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1-2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp dried oregano

Method

Dice all the veg up about 1cm, chop the garlic.

In a large pot heat 1 ½ tbsp olive oil, through all the veg in a stir, cook for 1-2 minutes and then add spices, cook another 1 minute and then add tomatoes and kidney beans, add about ½ can worth of water. Simmer for about half an hour until the veg is tender.

You can take this mix and put in an ovenproof dish, break in 1-2 eggs each and sprinkle over some grated cheese, bake at 200 fan forced for 10 minutes or the eggs are done to your liking. Serve up with extra veg and sour cream if you like!

Cranachan

If you saw SBS last night it was "Eat well: Why most food labels are wrong about calories"

Did you see it?
Well...they had this cranachan on there, its a traditional scottish dessert. In modern times it is usually made from a mixture of whipped cream, whisky, honey and fresh raspberries, with toasted oatmeal soaked overnight in a little bit of whisky. Aye!

Well you may know my last name Farquharson is Scottish so my ears and eyes perked up when this was mentioned and I was like "omg I have to make that, it looks like all kinds of deliciousness right there! "

I made it tonight and had it for dessert, I thought it was too good not to share and you guys have to make it!
I also thought this would be a fabulous breakfast!
Anyhoo...this is what I came up with!
You could drop the oats and just use flaked almonds and flaked coconut or other nuts and seeds and follow the recipe the same, you could also not use cream and just use yoghurt:)

Cranachan
Serves 4
100g (1 cup) rolled oats
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey 

Melt the honey and butter in a pan on a low heat, add the oats and stir until the oats are golden brown and toasted, careful not to burn them, set aside to cool

150ml cream (whipping cream)
½ cup of greek yoghurt or other plain yoghurt
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract (or some whiskey)

Whip cream, vanilla (whiskey if using) and honey together until stiff, watch out it doesn’t turn to butter! Then fold in yoghurt until combined.

250g fruit- you could use pear, banana, passionfruit, kiwifruit etc….
I have used 125g raspberries and 125g strawberries, chop the strawberries up.
To assemble you can use whatever you choose, like a glass or dessert bowl. Put in some fruit in each glass, then oats, then cream, then repeat with fruit, then oats and cream on top. If you have any left have the top layer with some oats and fruit.

Lentil and vegetable soup

Lentils have 9g protein per 100g cooked lentils so are a great vegetable based protein. 8g fibre, 3.3 mg iron and 1.3 mg of zinc.

They are also an excellent source of molybdenum and folate and very good source of copper, phosphorus and manganese.

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic

1 onion

3 stalks of celery

2 carrots

1-2 zucchinis

¼ of a small cabbage

3-4 bay leaves

1300 ml vegetable or chicken broth

1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes

1 cup of lentils. I used ½ cup each of red lentils and French lentils. Near the soup section at the supermarket. Very cheap!

2-3 slices of bacon or pancetta, prosciutto (opt)

Method

Using a grater attachment on a food processor grate all your vegetables, or pulse with the food processor blade, until small. Or chop small by hand. I like small so my kids won’t be able to pick out bits.

If using bacon, fry off in a large pot in some olive oil, then add everything else. Simmer covered for 30-40 minutes or until the French lentils are soft. Take out the bay leaves if you can find them.

Italian baked meatballs with buffalo mozzarella

Serves 4- you can use 750g mince and serve 6

Ingredients

500g pork and veal mince

2 browns onions finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 carrot, ½ cm dice

1 stalk of celery ½ cm dice

1 cup of tomato passata

1 cup of beef or chicken broth

2 tsp dried basil- if you have fresh basil and oregano you can use that, just use a small handful of each and chop- or as much as you would like to use.

2 tsp dried oregano

250g tub of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thinly- you can find this in this nice cheese section at the supermarket, it’s a fresh mozzarella and is white in colour, will be in brine or most likely oil. If you can’t find it you can use normal mozzarella which is yellow and firmer or you can use grated mozzarella.

Method

Preheat your oven to 200c or 180 c fan forced.

Season the mince really well with salt and pepper, knead together until sticky and form tbsp sized balls and set aside. In a large pan heat some olive oil and fry off your meatballs for 1-2 minutes until browned. Then put in your onion, garlic, carrot, dried herbs and celery, passata and broth- simmer, stirring a further 1-2 minutes until the broth is hot. Transfer to an oven proof dish and bake for 30 minutes, uncovered.

When done-If you are using fresh buffalo mozzarella just slice and put on top of your meatballs and bake a further 5 minutes or until melted. This doesn’t take long.

If you are using the normal mozzarella which is more yellow in colour and firmer put under a hot grill on and cook for 5-8 minutes until melted and golden brown. This takes a little longer to melt than the fresh mozzarella.

Serve this with some nice crusty Italian ciabatta bread to mop up the juices, or some zoodles (zucchini/vegetable noodles) some thick cut pappardelle pasta, or pasta of your choice, or no pasta, you could even have with some creamy polenta. Also have with extra steamed vegetables or a nice big salad.

Roasted chicken drumsticks with balsamic vinegar, thyme and maple syrup

Serves 6

Ingredients

12 chicken drumsticks

600-800g potatoes, peeled or scrubbed, 2cm dice

3 carrots, cut into quarters

2-3 red onions, cut into quarters

1 tbsp fresh turmeric, finely chopped- if you don't have fresh you can use about 1-2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tbsp ginger finely chopped

1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar

1-2 tbsp maple syrup

1 x 10g pack of fresh thyme

2-3 tbsp olive oil

Salt and white pepper to season with

2 heads of broccoli, cut into small florets

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c or 180c fan forced

In a large oven proof dish or 2 small ones put everything except your broccoli in, and using your hands toss so the chicken is coated, don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, and then give your chicken a quick toss and then add your broccoli and bake another 30 minutes (1 hour altogether). You can bake the broccoli in a separate dish if you don’t have room, or just steam it on the stove nearer to when you serve up. You can serve with more steamed vegetable if you like!

Pear & strawberry crumble

Serves 6

Pear and strawberry with a sprinkle of optional chocolate chips topped with an oat and date crumble. The only sweetness comes from the fruit and dates (and chocolate if using)

Ingredients

4 pears, peeled, cored and 2cm dice (you could also use apples)

1 x 250g punnet of strawberries, hulled and cut in ½ or into 3 if really big

1/3 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

½ cup of spelt flour or gluten free flour

½ cup of oats

5 medjool dates, pitted

50g cold butter, small dice

Method

Preheat oven to 190c or 170c fan forced

Grease an oven proof dish with butter.

Blitz together your flour and dates until fine and put into a bowl. To that add your butter and using your fingertips blend the butter through the flour and date mix until it resembles biggish breadcrumbs, you still want to see some chunks of butter. Then add your oats and mix them through. Place your fruit and chocolate chips if using in your baking dish and sprinkle the crumble mix over evenly- bake for 30 minutes or until crumble is golden brown and the pears are tender. Check your crumble after 20 minutes and make sure it’s not getting too brown, cover with lid or foil if it is.

 Serve with double cream/ice cream/custard/whipped cream.

Cauliflower cheese fritters

Make 12 fritters approx

Ingredients

500g cauliflower, grated or blitz to a resemble bread crumbs

3 eggs

1 cup of grated cheese (100g) I used a mix of mozzarella, tasty and a little parmesan

1 tsp salt- I like this amount but you can half this

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

Method

Mix all together. Fry off in some oil in a large pan and using a spoon drop a tbsp of the mix and form a circle, press down slightly like a pancake. Have the heat low to medium so they cook without burning. Turn over when golden brown underneath. Serve up!

This could be an entrée, a veg side dish, or serve with salad or some poached or fried eggs for a breakfast. You could make mini ones and top with smoked salmon crème fraiche or sour cream and a sprig of dill, perhaps a couple of capers. 

Honey BBQ ribs

Ingredients

1.5-2kg ribs or a pork shoulder or lamb shoulder/leg

1 cup of tomato passata

¼ cup of apple cider vinegar or similar

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp celery salt

½ tsp ground cloves

1 tbsp molasses

1 tbsp honey

Method

Mix all the sauce ingredients and put your meat in an ovenproof dish and cover for 2 hours at 150c

Or you can cook in a slow cooker for the day.

If doing pulled pork or pulled lamb you can add 1-2 cans rinsed and drained legumes like butter bean or cannellini beans if you wanted, it’s like bbq baked beans.

I serve up with coleslaw, corn on the cob and some rice. The mayo for the coleslaw I used balsamic vinegar instead of acv and added in some wholegrain mustard at the end.

Here is a video of how to make mayo with a stick blender, it takes just 2 minutes!

click for a video on how to make mayo

Slow cooked satay miso beef

This is a slight variation of satay using miso paste, only a few ingredients in this too which is great! You can get miso paste in the asian section at the supermarket, you can also use it for miso soup, dressings and marinades, thanks to the glutamates it gives a nice umami flavor which is kinda savory/meaty feel to it








Slow cooked satay miso beef
Ingredients
1 kg chuck steak, cut into 6 even chunks
1 large brown onion, chopped
1 x 270ml can coconut cream
½ cup of peanut butter or other nut butter
Miso paste to taste. I used 2 tbsp in mine


Method
Mix your coconut cream and nut butter together, add a cans worth of water or broth and then add your miso paste, taste and add more as required.
Add this, your meat and onion to your slow cooker, low on low for the day.
I served this with rice and a stir fry of baby corn, green beans, cauliflower and snow peas.

Apricot, prune and nut balls

Ingredients

1 cup of shredded coconut

1 cup of almonds or other nuts

½ cup of dried apricots

½ cup of prunes, pitted

Method

Blitz up until fine and add a little water at a time until it comes together as a ball. Then roll into balls or press into a 20x 20cm lined tin and cut into squares. Keep in an airtight container.

Salted caramel snicker bars

This is just another version of a bliss ball:)

Ingredients

2 cups of roasted salted peanuts (300g) you can use raw unsalted if you want and add some salt at the end, start with ¼ tsp salt and add more to taste.

130g of pitted medjool dates- this is about 10

¼ cup (20g) of cacao powder

Method

Put everything in a food processor or similar and blitz up. Add 1 tsp of water at a time until it comes together in a ball. I used nearly 2 tbsp for this batch.

Then press into a 20 x 20cm lined cake tin (or roll into balls) Cut into 12 bars.

Slow cooked creamy mustard beef pie (spelt flakey pastry)

This can be a stand alone dish with the pastry as I was originally going to have it as. I was watching Masterchef the other night and they had a pie challenge. So I thought I wold have a go at making my own pastry and so I ended up just topping the pie with pasty but didn't use pastry as the base.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 kg piece of beef chuck steak, cut into 8, I only put this on at lunch time, took 5 hours on high.

2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp wholegrain mustard

300ml pure cream

5 cloves garlic, rough chop

2 red onions, rough chop

¼ cup of sherry or brandy (opt)

Method

You can either brown the beef, then add the garlic, onion and sherry (if using), reduce it a little and then add the mustards and cream, heat and add it all to the slow cooker or

Put in the slow cooker on low for the day. Take the meat out at the end and pour the liquid out into a pot and reduce all the liquid until nice and thick. Put the beef back in the slow cooker to keep warm while the liquid is reducing. Serve up wit steamed veg and pasta/rice/mash etc or use to make a pie

If you are using this for a pie filling mix

-the sauce and beef need to be used cold.

Chop the cooked beef into smaller pieces. At the end of cooking when you have reduced the cream and some cornflour with water and add a little at a time to the cream until it is really thick. Add to the chopped beef and leave to cool before using.

To make the pies 

1/2 the recipe below will make enough for 6 pastry circles or one big one- you might have a little leftover.

You can either fill ramekin dishes  with the beef and top with pastry using the ramekin as your guide

or you can use an big oven proof dish and top with pastry

Brush the pastry with milk or egg wash and you can sprinkle with poppy seeds, black sesame seeds or what have you.

To pastry needs to be rolled out thin to about 3mm and baked at 180 c fan forced or 200c normal for 25-30 minutes.

You can save leftover pastry put wrapping it and putting in the fridge to use within the week or store in the freezer.

Spelt flakey pastry

Makes 600g pastry

Ingredients

250g spelt flour

180g cold butter-diced small

70g cold butter-divide into 5 portions and then slice the butter in each portion-keep this in the fridge until needed.

½ tsp salt

Method

In a bowl put in your flour and the 180g cold diced butter and squash the flour and butter in-between your fingers, you can keep plenty of lumps in there. Then add 1 tbsp of very cold water (with ice) Using a bread knife mix in, add another tbsp of the water and mix, add enough water until you can press the dough together. Then put onto a floured bench, sprinkle over some flour as needed on the dough, knead until it just comes together and then roll out to about half an A4 paper (1/2 a printer paper size). The length needs to be a little bit longer though.

Over the top of your dough take 1/5 of your 70g cold butter and dot over. Then roll up your dough , and roll out to the half an A4 size again. Dot another 1/5 of the butter over the dough and roll up. Continue with this until all the butter is used. Then you can wrap and put in the fridge until needed. Have it in the fridge at least 30 minutes before you use it.

This is the video I watched to show you how to do it if my instructions are confusing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6mx254Zg44

Banana muffin sandwich

These are a cross between a muffin and a cupcake. I was going to call them muffcakes but my partner thought it was a bad idea...lol

With the filling in the middle the icing doesn't get stuck to your containers

Make 8-10 depending on size

Ingredients

4 eggs

1/3 cup of rapadura or similar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup of coconut flour

2 bananas, mashed

Pinch of salt

Method

Preheat oven to 180c fan forced

In a stand mixer or hand mixer whisk together the eggs and rapadura until light and fluffy. Then fold in the rest of the ingredients. Spoon into silicon muffin tray or muffin cases. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until firm to the touch.

When cold cut in half and sandwich together with the following date and lemon cheesecake filling. This makes a good amount for each muffin.

200g full fat cream cheese, softened

6 medjool dates, pitted

1 tbsp rapadura

Juice of ½ lemon approx.-put a little in at a time until you like the taste.

Blend together until nice and smooth.

Vegetable, tomato and barley soup

Ingredients

2 carrots

2 zucchini

2 stems of celery

1 brown onion

5 cloves of garlic

4 bay leaves

1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes or 400g tomato passata

¼ of a small green cabbage

½ cup of pearl barley

800-1000ml water/vegetable stock/chicken broth-800ml will be quite thick, add more liquid as needed

Optional ½ cup alphabet pasta shapes or similar

Chopped parsley and parmesan cheese for garnish

Method

I used a food processor and pulsed the vegetables to finely chop, not puree! Do the cabbage separate, this gets added later in the cooking. Or you can chop finely by hand.

In a large pot put in some olive oil and fry off your carrot, celery, zucchini, onion and garlic for 1 minute, then add your tomato, broth/water, bay leaves and barley. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the barley is tender, should be a little chewy in texture. Then add in your cabbage and pasta if using. Simmer a further 5 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Add plenty of salt and pepper. Serve with chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

Salted honey and cinnamon roasted nuts

Ingredients

2 cups of nuts, I have used one cup each of raw almonds and macadamias

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp coconut oil, or a similar oil

1 tbsp water

Method

Roast your nuts on a lined oven proof dish/tray at 180c for 10-15 minutes stirring once, should look golden brown and nice and toasty.

While than is cooking put your other ingredients into a medium pot, melt gently together. When the nuts are done put them in the pot and simmer stirring until all the liquid is used up. Then put back onto your tray, spread out and sprinkle over sme salt and leave to cool. Break up and store in an airtight container.

Chicken with lemon and thyme

To serve 4-6 depending on how hungus you are :)

Ingredients

6 big chicken thighs

1 red onion, rough chop

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

A few sprigs of thyme or lemon thyme

5 fresh bay leaves, you can this is the herb section from the supermarket or you can use dried

Zest of one lemon

1/4 cup of verjuice

300ml chicken broth

Method

In a large pan heat some butter and olive oil. Cook your chicken until brown on each side. Put in your garlic and onion and cook another minute. Season really well with salt and pepper.

In an ovenproof dish put in your browned chicken, onion and garlic, put in your bay leaves, lemon zest, verjuice, thyme and broth. Cover and slow cook at 160c for 60-75 minutes. Or you can do it faster at 200 c for about 30-35 minutes. Or you can chuck it all in the slow cooker for the day.

When the chicken is cooked take out the chicken and put on a plate. Put all the liquid put into a pot, no need to strain yet.  Put the chicken back into your empty ovenproof dish, cover and keep warm in the oven. Turn the oven down to 100c.

Let the liquid in your pot reduce down until it is thick like gravy. This should take about 10 minutes. Then you can strain it before you serve over your chicken and veg.

I served with grilled zucchini, steamed broccoli and carrots.

Bon appetite!

Slow cooker chicken stroganoff

 –serves 6

Ingredients

700g chicken thighs

2 leeks, white part only, washed 2 cm slice

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped-if you are in a hurry you can leave this out

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp sweet paprika

300g button mushrooms, some sliced, some cut in half, you can even leave whole as well.

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cups chicken broth

Sour cream to stir in at the end-as much as you like!

Method

Put everything (except the sour cream) into your slow cooker and put on low for the day. No need to cut up the chicken

When cooked strain all the liquid into a pot, put all the chicken etc back into the slow cooker to keep warm. Bring all the liquid to the boil, then turn down a little and cook until it has reduce by at least half, should be nice and thick like a gravy. By reducing it concentrates all the flavours, and we like flavour right? Then add your gravy back to the slow cooker and stir in your sour cream.

 Serve with your favourite steamed veges and rice, pasta , mash etc if you want.

Slow cooked lamb with rosemary and garlic, classic lamb flavors with jus

Here I have used a 10g pack of rosemary, leave whole, plus a tonne of chopped garlic and 1 cup of broth from the freezer and some salt and pepper. You can use a leg or shoulder.

Put on low for the day with the fatty skin side facing up.

When done carefully lift out-watch out it doesn't fall apart! Then you can put under a medium heated grill to brown the top and render the fat down some more. Gently scrap off the rosemary and garlic first (garlic will burn otherwise)

To make the jus

With all the juices in the slow cooker strain into a pot (you can add some spare red wine here too if you wanted (what is this spare wine you speak of?)

SImmer these juices until reduced right down and is thickened and tastes amazing. I reduced by about 3/4, this means if you start with 500ml, reduce down to 125ml. I threw in some chopped mint at the end too, for some freshness.

Gravy is really just broth and pan juices which is thickened with a flour, good but not as good as jus!

A jus, is broth that has been reduced, or simmered continuously until it is thick, the flavors will concentrate and you get that smooth gelatinous feel in your mouth.

Stir fried oats with apple, sultanas and cinnamon

Ingredients

1 cup of rolled oats

1 egg

2 tbsp coconut flakes or shredded coconut

2 tbsp slivered or flaked almonds

2 tbsp sultanas

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ cup of water or milk

1 apple, cored and cut into 8 wedges

2 tbsp coconut cream (opt) for the topping

Honey or maple to taste for the topping

Method
Mix oats together with the egg, set aside.

In a pan with some butter fry your apple wedges until golden brown and set aside. In the same pan, add more butter if needed and add your coconut, almonds, cinnamon and oat mix. Stir fry until golden brown and nice and toasted, then add your milk and sultanas. Keep stirring until there is no more liquid, about 1 minute. Serve up in 2 bowls and top with your apple, coconut cream and honey.

Double decker brownie cheesecake

If you are dairy free you can still make the bottom brownie bit and swap the butter for coconut oil, dairy free chocolate and leave the top layer out.


Brownie Base
200g dark chocolate
125g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 tbsp coconut flour
Pinch of salt

Salted caramel cheesecake top layer
250g full fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
6-7 medjool dates, pitted
½ tsp vanilla extract
Salt to taste- you can leave out if you prefer

Method

Preheat oven to 160c fan forced oven. 180c normal oven

Line a 20 x 20cm square cake tin.

Melt butter and chocolate together in a pot

When the chocolate mix is cooled a little add, eggs, vanilla, salt and coconut flour. You may have noticed there is no add sugar in the brownie mix. You can add some honey if you like just taste you mix and see how you like the taste. Spoon into your lined cake tin, spread evenly.

For the top layer blitz up the ingredients for this until smooth and then spoon this on top of the brownie base. Bake for 25-30 minutes, will be a little golden brown on top. When cool cut into squares/rectangle or whatever tickles your fancy. Store in the fridge.

Strawberry, almond and coconut pikelets

Serves 2- makes 8 small pikelets

Ingredients

3 tbsp blanched almond flour

3 tbsp shredded coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp baking powder

2 eggs

Strawberries, sliced and some for garnish

Method

Whisk altogether then place 1tbsp of the mix in a buttered pan, on a medium heat. Once the mix is in the pan place some of the sliced strawberries on top. Cook until golden brown and then turn over and cook the other side. Serve with maple syrup, cream and extra strawberries.

Chicken and chorizo paella

When I make it I only use a small amount of rice and more veg, just 1 cup of rice in this.
I use the term paella very loosely here, there was no crusty butt or sofrito to be seen! Sofrito is a Spanish tomato and onion sauce which is used as a flavor base for a variety of dishes, including paella.

You know I love to know about the history of food therefore I will tell you all about it! There are a couple of different versions, which version do you think is right?

Paella comes from the Latin 'patella' The Latin word 'patella' means 'pan' and it is from this word that the Valencian word 'paella', which also means 'pan', is derived.

Paella comes from the Arabic 'baqiyah' Baqiyah (sometimes spelt 'baqiya') is Arabic for 'leftovers'. It is said that paella was originally a poor man's dish and was a way of using up leftovers from the previous week

Paella comes from the Spanish 'por ella' The Spanish 'por ella' means 'for her' and is said to come from the fact that the first paella was made by a man for his fiancée.

This is more of a cheats version

Serve 4-6

Ingredients
300g chicken thighs, diced
1 chorizo, diced
1 red and 1 green capsicum, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 brown onion, diced
A pinch of saffron threads
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 cup basmati rice
1 cup of chicken broth
2 cups of peas-defrosted.
5 tomatoes, chopped or 1 can tinned tomatoes

Method
In a pot heat your broth and saffron threads, turn off and leave to infuse.
In a large pan – I have used a 32cm pan, heat some oil and panfry your chicken and chorizo for 2 minutes, then add your capsicum, tomatoes,(if using tinned tomatoes add the same time as your broth) onion, garlic and smoked paprika, stir-fry a further 1-2 minutes. Then add your rice and broth. Once you stir the rice in do no stir again, you are meant to get a nice crusty butt on the bottom, but mine never do!
Simmer for 8 minutes and then add your peas. Check your liquid, if you need more add some water or extra broth. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes or until your rice is tender and peas are cooked. If you wanted to you could add some prawn at the same time you add your peas. Serve with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.

Slow cooked satay lamb

Serve 4-6

Ingredients

I have used a half leg of lamb and taken the bone out and left in big chunks. You can use 800g diced lamb or about 1.2 kg lamb forequarter chops (bone in). The smaller your lamb pieces the less time it takes to cook.

1/3 of a cup of peanut butter or other nut butter

1x 270ml can of ayam coconut cream

2 tbsp tamari or similar

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp chopped turmeric (you can leave this out)

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 brown onion, chopped

4 carrots, cut in half (to keep chunky)

Method

Mix everything together except the lamb, onion, garlic, turmeric and carrot, taste it and see if you want to add more tamari or sweet chilli sauce. Then place carrots and lamb in a slow cooker and pour over your sauce. Leave on low for the day or high for about 5 hours. If you are really short on time just use peanut butter, tamari and the coconut cream for your sauce! You don’t have to but in the last hour of cooking I added some sliced zucchini. Serve up with extra veg and buttered rice. You could also do cauliflower rice, some kind of noodle like rice noodles or just have the lamb and veg. This is also great with chicken or beef!

Spelt Scones

You can double or triple this

Makes 6

Ingredients

1 cup of white spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

30g butter, small cubes

1/3 cup milk approx.

Method

Preheat oven to 220 C

Blend the flour, salt and butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add some of the milk and mix with a knife, just until it comes together as a dough. Add more milk as needed. Knead a couple of times. Do not over work it of the dough will be tough.

Put on a lined tray and form a rectangle with the dough and cut into 6. Separate the scones.

Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with jam and whipped cream. You could also put cheese in there and make cheese scones.

Slow cooked lamb shanks with tomato, rosemary and garlic

Ingredients

4 lamb shanks

1x 700ml jar of tomato passata

5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small handful of rosemary stems with leaves.

Method

Put in a slow cooker on low for the day. You don’t have to but I also added 2 chopped carrots, 2 celery sticks and 1 onion, all chopped. To stretch this out you can add some cooked butter beans or chickpeas in the beginning. If you want it really saucy add 1 cup of water or broth at the beginning. I have served with sweet potato mash and roasted Brussel sprouts and broccoli. When you serve up take the stems of rosemary out. Any sauce left you can freeze for another day. You can also save to bones to make broth :)

Bounty cheesecake balls

Ingredients

250g block of full fat cream cheese- do not use light as it is softer and might not work as well

1 cup of shredded or desiccated coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup of cacao powder

6 medjool dates, pitted.

Method

Put everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. If you do not have a food processor just soften the cream cheese and finely chop everything and mix by hand- then put in the fridge to firm up before you roll them. Then roll into balls, you will get about 20. You can leave like they are, or you can dip in chocolate. I melted 100g dark chocolate, mix until there are no lumps and is nice and smooth. Quickly dip your balls in and put on a lined tray. Whack in the fridge.

You could also melt the chocolate and put in a small zip lock bag, snip a little bit of the corner and drizzle chocolate over each one.

Prawn Singapore noodles

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g raw prawns- you can also use chopped chicken thighs but will take longer to cook

1 broccoli and ½ cauliflower cut into small florets

2 bunches of asparagus, woody ends cut off and cut in half

2 zucchinis, sliced

4 cloves of garlic

2-3 tsp curry powder

¼ cup of tamari (60 ml or 3 tbsp)

200g pack of brown vermicelli, noodles, prepare according to the directions. You can use any noodle you like here. If you want grain free you can use bean thread noodles or slim noodles (made from konjac otherwise known as shirataki noodles) you can use cabbage noodles (shredded cabbage) or vegetable noodles made with a spirooli or your vege peeler.

Method

Stir-fry your veg in a large pan or wok in plenty of oil, I have used a mix of butter and olive oil. When cooked add curry powder and the tamari. Toss through and set aside. In another pan (or take your veg out chuck in a bowl and use the same pan) heat some more oil and stir-fry your prawns and garlic, this only takes about 1-2 minutes. Serve you veg and prawns on top of your noodles or you can mix everything together in your pan/wok.

Jaffa bars/balls

Ingredients

2 cups of nuts/seeds

6 medjool dates, pitted

3 tbsp cacao powder

Zest of 2 oranges

40ml orange juice

Method

Blitz up until it comes together as a ball. You can then either press into a lined 20x 20 cm tin and cut into bars or roll into balls.