These ricotta dumplings are a slightly lighter and faster that your traditional potato gnocchi. Soft fluffy pillows of ricotta coated in a warm tomato sauce. I love this recipe because it is meat free and super filling. 

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
1 Garlic clove, chopped
1 small Red Chilli, finely chopped
400g can of Tomatoes
500g Fresh Ricotta
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons Self Raising Flour
1/4 cup Parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
1/3 cup Breadcrumbs
sourdough bread and mixed leaf salad to serve

Method:

Place oil , garlic and chilli in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Cook for 1 min, until fragrant. Reduce heat to low, add tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Simmer, uncovered, for 5mins until tomatoes softened and reduced slightly.
Mean combine 2 teaspoons oil with all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls (at times i've had to add a bit more breadcrumbs and flour to make it pliable).
Gently place ricotta balls into the tomato sauce, cover and simmer for 10mins. Turn dumplings and cover and simmer for another 10mins. Sprinkle with parmesan and serve with warm crusty sourdough and a lightly dressed mixed leaf salad. 

Note: The consistency of your balls will depend on what type of ricotta you use, smooth of crumbly.
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This dish is a great alternative to your usual breaded chicken nuggets. The pretzels add a salty crunchy texture and with the sweet sauce this meal with satisfy any little mouth. I season my flour too, i add a bit of smoky bbq seasoning, but you can use anything you have in your cupboard. I serve mine with sweet potato mash but you can serve it with whatever you desire.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts, cut into tenders
100g Salted Pretzels
3 Tablespoons Plain Flour
1 Tablespoon Smoky BBQ seasoning
2 Eggs, beaten
45g Wholegrain Mustard
60g Honey
2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
Mash to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 200'c. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 
Process the pretzels in a food processor until crushed. Transfer crumbs to a bowl. Place flour and seasoning into a separate bowl and egg into another bowl.
Dust chicken in seasoned flour, dip chicken into egg and then coat with pretzel crumbs. Place onto your baking tray and drizzle over a little oil. Bake for 35mins or until chicken is cooked (this will depend on the thickness of your chicken tenders).
Meanwhile place mustard, honey and vinegar in a small bowl and mix to combine. Place in the microwave to just heat the honey if it's very thick. 
Serve chicken tenders with mash and a good drizzle of sauce.
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Silky, rich and fluffy chocolate mousse a recipe to always have on hand. My mother in law's simple recipe will make you go back for seconds, and thirds and maybe (who am i kidding) fourths as well!

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate chopped 
3/4 cup thickened cream 
2 eggs separated 
2 tablespoons caster sugar 
Decorate to serve,  grated chocolate white or brown, whipped cream 

Method:

Microwave uncovered chocolate on 50% for 1 to 2 minutes or until melted stirring every 30 seconds. Cool for 5 minutes. 
Beat cream with electric beater until soft peaks form. Beat egg whites with cleaned beaters until soft peaks form. Sprinkle sugar over egg whites until sugar is dissolved. 
Add eggs to chocolate stirring with spoon until combined. Fold into chocolate 1/3 of egg white mixture until combined. Fold in remaining egg whites then cream.
Spoon mixture into large plastic bag. Snip the corner and pipe into little shot glasses. Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. Decorate to serve.
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A classic french dish with baby potatoes cooking into a cream sauce baked with camembert cheese. Delicious!

Ingredients:

1.5kg Potatoes (small baby ones) scrubbed
300g Speck (or bacon)
3 Eschalots, thinly sliced 
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
2 Thyme sprigs, leaves picked
1/3 cup Dry White wine
1/4 cup Sour Cream
2 tablespoons Parsley, chopped
1 whole Camembert cheese 

Method:

Place the potatoes in a pot of boiling salted water and bring to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20-25min or until tender. Drain and cool slightly then slice thickly. 
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 190'c. Place speck into a frying pan over a medium heat and cook for 3mins or until the fat has rendered. Add the eschalots and cook, stirring, for 5mins or until softened. Add the garlic and thyme to the bacon mixture and cook for 1 min or until you start to smell its fragrance. Add the wine, bring to a simmer then remove from the heat. Stir in the sour cream and parsley. Add the potatoes and gently stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper; then transfer the mixture to a ovenproof dish. Cut the cheese horizontally to make 2 discs, then cut in half o make 4 semi circles. Place cheese on top of the potato mixture, then bake for 25mins or until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately

This milk tart is similar to your traditional custard tart. Its original name is 'Melktert' and comes from South Africa. It's a sweet tart consisting of milk, flour sugar and eggs. Its got a high ratio of milk (hence why it's called a milk tart) which is typically infused with cinnamon. Enjoy. This pastry mix will make 1 whole tart and 5 mini tarts (taste tester tartlets i like to call them)

Ingredients:

2 Cups Milk
1 Cinnamon Stick
3 Eggs, separated
1 Tablespoon Cornflour
5 Tablespoons Plain flour
5 Tablespoons Caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
25g Butter, softened
1/2 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Icing Sugar
Pastry
250g Plain Flour
110g Icing Sugar
110g Butter, chilled
1 Egg

Method:

Preheat oven to 180'c. Lightly grease a loose bottom tart tin. In a food processor mix together flour, icing sugar and butter til it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and process till it forms a smooth ball. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30mins. Roll dough onto a lightly floured surface and line the pan with it. Trim off any excess and place it back into the fridge for 10mins. Line tart pan with baking paper fill with baking beads (i've got some special jamie oliver beads i'm in love with) and bake in the oven for 10mins. Remove paper and weights and bake for another 5mins. 
Place milk and the cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat, then allow to infuse for 10mins. Reduce oven temp to 170'c. Place yolks flours, sugar and baking powder into a bowl, add a little of the milk mixture and stir to form a paste. Stir in the remaining milk and discard the cinnamon stick. Return mixture to the saucepan and over a very low heat stir for 5mins or until thickened. Remove from the heat and beat in the butter, cover the top with baking paper and cool (this stops a skin from forming). 
Whisk egg whites, then fold into custard. Pour custard into pastry case an bake for 25mins or until the filling is set and slightly puffy. Remove, cool and sift combined cinnamon and icing sugar over the top. Serve.

I came up with this savoury mince and glass noodle recipe as i was going through my pantry and realised i had about 4 packets of vermicelli noodles (the glass looking noodles) just sitting there looking lonely.
I love a good noodle dish and this one was totally experimental, but oh my gosh! Delicious! I always have my recipe journal next to me in which i write down all my ingredients as i'm cooking and you should see this one, it covered in ingredients! 

Ingredients:

500g Beef Mince
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 Carrot, grated
2 Spring Onions, thinly sliced
1/2 Yellow Capsicum, Diced
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin 
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Fish Sauce
1/4 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Sheets Vermicelli Noodles

Method:

In a large bowl soak noodles in hot water for 5mins.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a wok and heat until hot, fry mince until cooked and slightly crispy. Add paprika, coriander, turmeric and cumin, Mix well.
Add carrot, spring onion and capsicum to the mince and stir fry for 5mins. Combine all the sauces and sugar together in a bowl. Add sauces to mince mixture and cook for 3-4 minutes, add noodles and stir until well combined. Serve
.
Tip: You can add any stir fry veggies to your mince, just make sure they are diced finely enough to cook through in the short time in the wok.

Tip: The savoury mince mixture itself can be used for numerous things like shepherd's pie or as a filling in jacket spuds. Be creative.

This recipe came about after we had corned beef for sunday dinner. We had alot of leftover meat, potatoes and white sauce. I hate wasting food, so brainstorming i came up with a crunchy, oozy filling full of chunks of corned beef. 

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup Thick White sauce
1 Cup cooked Corned Beef, Chopped finely
1/2 Cup Cheese, grated
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 1/2 Cups Panko Breadcrumbs

Method:

In a large bowl, stir together mashed potatoes, white sauce, corned beef and cheese season with salt and pepper.  Rolls heaped tablespoons of mixture into small logs. Place onto baking tray and place into the freezer for 15 mins or until croquettes are just starting to harden.

In a shallow container, place flour, season with salt and pepper. In another shallow container, whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water. In a third shallow container, place 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs. 

Roll half frozen croquettes in flour, shaking off excess, dip in egg wash, then roll in breadcrumbs to coat. Place back into freezer to harden again (this is optional but i find them easier to handle). Heat oil in a deep fryer.  In batches, fry croquettes until golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per batch, turning as needed. Drain on papertowel. Serve hot.

Tip - To know if oil is hot enough place a cube of bread into the hot oil if it turns golden within 60secs oil is ready.

Rich, tender chunks of falling apart beef smothered in a rich velvety red wine sauce. Add some veggies and dinner is done! I use my pressure cooker as it only takes an hour, but alternatively you can use your slow cooker. This is a one pot meal that you can set and forget.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Olive oil
1.5kg Gravy Beef (or beef cheeks if you can get them)
1 Onion, roughly diced
1/2 leek, thinly sliced (just the white part)
1 Celery stalk, roughly diced 
8 Potatoes, diced
1 Carrot, roughly diced
4 Garlic cloves, minced 
3 cups Beef stock (roughly)
1 cup Red wine ( I used a merlot)
1 Cup peas
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon Cornflour
Mash potato to serve

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pressure cooker on saute mode.  Sear the beef  on each side until nicely browned. Remove beef onto a plate, cover with foil to keep warm.
Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add garlic, onion, leek and carrots and sauté until onions become translucent, add the potatoes and celery and sauté for a further 3 minutes. Pour wine into the pressure cooker, cook for a few minutes (this cooks out the alcohol).  Add meat back in on top of veggies and pour over beef stock until meat is just covered. Put the lid on the pressure cooker, set the valve and cook for 1hr. After an hour release the valve and put presure cooker back onto saute mode and add peas. In a small bowl add a tablespoon of cornflour to a small amount of water to make a paste and add to the pot, stirring frequently reduce sauce until it's reduced and thick. Serve with mash potato.

Tip - This stew can be frozen so it's great for a speedy meal. Also great to freeze into cubes for baby food.

This basic sauce is a brilliant sauce to know! Not only is it the sauce for the most awesome lasagna but it's also the base to many other sauces including cheese sauce for mac n cheese or a base for a creamy chicken pie. I have given you a few different measurements below so you can get your perfect consistency. All use one cup of milk.

Ingredients:

Thin White Sauce: 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon flour
Medium White Sauce: 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons flour
Thick White Sauce: 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons flour

All use 1 Cup Milk

Method:

Melt the butter and heat until foam disappears. Add flour, whisking, cook for several minutes to lose the 'floury' taste, but don't cook so long it begins to color. Slowly add cold milk, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil, till smooth and thickened. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.

To make Cheese sauce - Add one cup grated cheese
To make a Veloute (A classic french mother sauce' - Exchange milk for chicken stock
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A scrumptious dish of chicken and halloumi all prepared in the one pot. You can serve this dish with rice, mash or a leafy salad, but i enjoy it just with some lightly toasted flatbread. I love this meal as it saves me on washing up and we all know washing up sucks!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons Olive Oil
500g Chicken, cut into 2cm slices
1/3 Cup White Wine
400g Cherry Tomatoes
1 spring onion, sliced into thin strips
1 Clove Garlic
250g Haloumi, sliced into 1cm slices
Lebanese bread, lightly toasted for serving

Preheat grill in oven to high. In a large ovenproof frying pan, heat oil. Brown chicken for 3-4mins. Add wine, bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2-3mins until the wine is reduced by half. 
Add tomatoes, spring onion and garlic, simmer for 3mins. Top with haloumi. Drizzle with a little olive oil, season well with salt and pepper. Grill for 4-5mins until haloumi has turn lightly golden and is soft. Serve with bread.

Note: You can add any veggies into this, zucchini or thinly sliced carrots would be great.