This recipe is my holiday tomato sauce because that's what it reminds me off. From a young age i was lucky to be able to travel alot. I specifically remember going to Spain and having this tomato ketchup with my nuggets and chips, but this wasn't just your normal sauce, it had a slightly more tangier taste. I have been trying to recreate it and i have eventually (i'm talking 25yrs) found out what the secret ingredient is (after many failed attempts)... Its red wine vinegar. 
The red wine vinegar just lifts it, somehow, and makes it even better than it originally is! Great as a dipping sauce, but also on burgers as its authentic bitter taste brings the burger alive.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Tomato Sauce
1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

Method:
Combine together

These perfect little scones are great for lunchboxes or afternoon tea for the kids. I made them using my thermocook but you can do it by hand also.

Ingredients:

3 cups self-raising flour
80g butter, cubed
100g cheese, grated
100g Ham, diced
1 to 1 1/4 cups milk
plain flour, for dusting
butter to serve

Thermocook Method:

Preheat oven to 200.c Place flour into thermocook bowl, blitz for 2 secs. Add butter and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, this took around 10 secs. Add cheese an ham into the bowl and blitz for a few secs until combined. Add milk and blitz for 20 secs or until mixture is fully combined.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and Knead dough gently until smooth (take care not to knead too much).
Roll dough until 2cm thick. Using a small cutter, press gently and cut 40 rounds from the dough. Place 1 cm apart on a silpat or on baking trays lined with baking paper. Sprinkle tops of scones with flour. Bake for 12-15 mins minutes or until golden and well risen. Serve scones with butter.

Tip - use a bigger cutter to get a bigger scone, also if you want a thicker scone roll the dough thicker.

These delicious and nutritious (brakes into fergie song 'ill be working on my fitness'), no seriously these are so yum! my kids demolished them and little did they know there was over 9 veggies hidden in the tomato sauce. I used my 9 hidden veg tomato sauce recipe then topped that with a mixture of cheese i had in my fridge. Feel free to add anything you like into your scrolls, be creative.

Ingredients:

2 sheets Puff Pastry
3 Tablespoons of 9 Hidden veg sauce
1 Cup Cheese ( this can be a mixture, i used cheddar, Parmesan and feta)

Method:

Spread the pizza sauce over the pastry, leaving a 2cm border around the edge of the pastry. Scatter over the cheese. Starting from one side, roll up the pastry tightly to enclose the filling. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Cut each roll into 10 slices. Place cut-side up on the lined trays, press down slightly to flatten a little. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. 
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Curry night in our house is almost always experimental. But Ive created this super tasty one that we love as a family. The heat from the chilli, tartness from the tomatoes and the seasoning from the combination of all the fragrant spices. This jalfrezi curry delicious. A super simple Jalfrezi curry paste can be made in advance and can be kept in the freezer until needed. Served with charred capsicums and rice, winner winner chicken dinner.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Jalfrezi Paste
3 Tablespoons Natural Yogurt
4 Chicken Breasts
2 Capsicums ( i use yellow ones from sweetness)
2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
2 Red Onions, quartered and separated into petals
300g Rice
1 Tin Tomatoes
Chapatis to serve

Method:

Mix curry paste with 1 tablespoon yogurt and a pinch of salt. Cut each chicken into peices and coat in the curry paste mixture. Leave to marinate. Cook rice to packet instructions.
Place capsicums over the direct flame on your gas stove or in a frying pan if you have an electric stove until charred all over. Place into a bowl covered in cling film and let steam. Scrape of all the black skin as you can and de-seed. Chop into bite size chunks.
Place the onions into a dry frying pan and fry for 8 mins or until they are starting to char. Place the chicken into the frying pan and cook for 2 mins either side, add the capsicums and onions back into the pan with the chicken. Add the tin of tomatoes and 100ml water and cook for 15 mins or until chicken is cooked. Season with salt and pepper. 
Serve curry with rice , remaining yogurt and chapatis.
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My jalfrezi curry paste is delicious! I've taken inspiration from all over and created the blend which my family and i love. Its got a little heat, plenty of spice and with the cooled yogurt in my Jalfrezi curry recipe, the perfect balance. I use my mortar and pestle but you can use a thermocook or food processor to blitz.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons Cumin Seeds (ground)
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds (ground)
1 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon Ginger, crushed
1 teaspoon Turmeric
2 teaspoons Curry Powder
​1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Green Chilli, deseeded
1 Large handful Fresh Parsley
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Method:

Blitz all the above ingredients together into a paste. Use in my Jalfrezi Curry Recipe.

Tip - Freeze curry into small cubes for later use.
          

This tray bake is a little bit different. You create this smokey and delicious chorizo broth that you pour over your chicken and veggies and bake in the oven. Its simple and tasty and great for using up those leftover veggies.

Ingredients:

150g Chorizo, chopped roughly
1 Large Clove Garlic, chopped roughly
2 Chicken Stock Cubes
2 sprigs Rosemary
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Large Sweet Potato, diced
4 Large Potatoes, Boiled until just cooked
1 Large Red Onion, diced
1 Large Yellow Capsicum, diced
1 Bunch Curly Parsley, 
4 Tablespoons Natural Yoghurt
1 Red Chilli (optional) fnely sliced

Method:

Preheat oven to 200'c.
In a thermocook or food processor add together 100g chorizo, garlic, stock cubes, rosemary leaves, red wine vinegar and 300ml of boiling water. Pulse on a high speed until smooth, this took me about 30 secs (becareful of the hot water not splashing out). 
In a large baking dish mix together Chicken Breasts, sweet potato, normal potato, onion, capsicum, parsley and remaining 50g chorizo. Pour over you chorizo broth and mix well. Cover with al foil and place into the oven for 30mins. Remove foil and cook for a further 30mins until golden and veg are cooked through. 
Serve bake with sliced chilli and natural yoghurt.

This tomato sauce is jam packed with delicious and nutritious veggies, i know how hard it is to get veggies into a child's diet, and i've found this is the easiest way. This recipe is great frozen in batches ( i put enough for a few pizza bases in a bag) and great on pasta. You can make this sauce with any veg you like. but this is my basic recipe, feel free to add you favorite veggies.

Ingredients:

2 Small Red Onions, chopped
2 Small Leeks, Chopped (whites only) 
3 Celery Sticks, chopped
2 Carrots, chopped
1 Zucchini, chopped
1 Red / 1 Yellow Capsium, chopped
1/2 Butternut Pumpkin, peeled and chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, Chopped
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 Teaspoons Dried Oregano
4 Tins Diced Tomatoes
Salt & Pepper to taste
​
Method:

Wash all the veggies and place into a large saucepan (make sure it's big enough when you add the tomatoes).  Add oil to veggies and saute veggies for a few mins. Add the oregano and cook, covered for 25mins or until all the veggies are soft. Add tinned tomatoes and 2 tins worth of water and cook, covered, for a further 30mins. Blitz until smooth. Serve.

Thermocook Method: (you will need to cut this recipe is half to fit the bowl)

Add all the ingredients to the thermocook, 1 tin of water and cook on speed 3 for 30mins on heat 90' or until veggies are cooked. Once cooled pulse until smooth.

Tip - The amount of veggies you use will depend on the size of the veggies itself. Make sure you only use the bowl to its max capacity. (Be Careful of hot contents)

Tip - Save all the scraps from the veggies to use to make a  stock. 

This cake is our #flyincakeday cake for daddy when he flies home later today. A light, fluffy sponge cake layered and covered in fresh strawberry cream. This decadent cake is perfect to treat that special someone.

Ingredients:

150g Plain Flour
250g Icing Sugar
8 Egg Whites
1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
Sliced strawberries to decorate
Icing
225g Butter, softened
900g Icing Sugar
200g Chopped Strawberries

Method:
​
Preheat oven to 170'c. Line and grease a 18cm loose base cake tin. 
Sift together flour and 75g icing sugar in a bowl. Place egg whites into your kitchenaid and whisk until frothy. Add cream of tartar, salt, lemon juice and vanilla essence and continue mixing until stiff peaks form. Add remaining icing sugar 2 tablespoons at a time to the egg whites, making sure it's mixed in before adding the next. Gradually fold in the flour. 
Pour mixture into your prepared cake tin and smooth the top so its level. Bake for around 40-50mins  or until golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for around 10mins, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
To make the icing, beat butter in your kitchenaid until pale in colour, add in the icing sugar and strawberries, keep beating until creamy. 
Cut the cake into your desired amount of layers (i just did two) Layer with icing and then cover your cake in icing too. Arrange strawberry slices around the cake. Chill for around 30mins before serving to firm up the icing.

A twist on a classic potato bake. This dish originates from sweden, It's known for being eaten at christmas and easter time. It is thought to have been named after opera singer Pelle Janzon.
It's a simple dish, which doesn't have many ingredients (something i love!). Traditionally the recipe has anchovies in it, but i'm not a fan so i've left them out (if you want to add them see the note at the bottom). 

Ingredients:

90g Butter
1 Onion, thinly sliced
5 Large Potatoes, Peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 Cups Cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 200'c. Melt half the butter in a pan saute the onion until golden. Chop the remaining butter into small cubes. Spread half the potato over the base of a shallow ovenproof dish. Top with onions and finish with the remaining potato.
Pour half the cream over the potato and scatter the butter cubes on top. Bake for 20mins or until golden. Pour the remainder of the cream over the top and cook for a further 40mins or until the potato is tender.

Note: If you want to add anchovies, soak 15 anchovy fillets in water or milk for 5mins (this will reduce the saltiness) and add them with the onion when you layer the dish.

I saw this picture on pinterest about 6 mths ago with the words 'brown sugar chicken' and i thought to myself eww, sugar on chicken! But it kept coming up so i thought i would check it out... and after researching and trialing and changing ingredients i created the most amazing dish! The sugar and garlic form a glaze that sets over the chicken creating this amazing sweet and sticky taste. Great with some boiled potatoes and green beans, Devine! 

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breasts
4 Garlic cloves, minced
4 Tablespoons Brown sugar
1 Tablespoons Olive oil
Potatoes & Green beans to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 180'c Line a baking tray with al foil and lightly coat with cooking spray or lightly brush with olive oil.
In small frying pan, sauté garlic with oil until tender.
Remove from the heat and stir in brown sugar. Season chicken with salt and pepper. .Place breasts in your prepared baking tin and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.
Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through and juices run clear. 

Tip - The cooking time will vary based on the thickness of your chicken breast.