Pesto

 The basil has been going great guns in the garden, so it must be time to make pesto! Good quality pesto in the shops is so expensive to but, it is far cheaper and really easy to make your own.

 The one ingredient in pesto that is ridiculously expensive is pinenuts. I tend to use cashews in mine instead, much cheaper and just as yummy.

  Pesto is a great thing to have floating round in the freezer. I freeze mine in icecube trays - each cube is about a tablespoon of pesto. I also freeze tomato paste that is left over in the same way.

  The best way to make pesto is in the food processor.

  Pesto

2 c packed basil leaves
1 t crushed garlic
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c grated parmesan
1/4 c toasted salted cashews (or pinenuts or walnuts)

Blend everything together until they form a smooth paste. Pesto oxidises and goes brown very quickly, so freeze or cover with a layer of olive oil in a jar in the fridge. So many uses!

I am off to Mia's daycare this week to make pesto and pasta with the kids for the second year in a row. They loved it last year!

Vegetarian: Tomato and lentil soup

Usually the word lentil is enough to send people running. You won't even notice the lentils in this soup. It is my husband and 4 year olds' favourite as the lentils used are the small red variety, which pretty much just dissolve into the soup and thicken it. It is full of protein, taste like a delicious tomato soup, and is great served on a cool day for lunch or dinner with bread or scones.

Tomato and Lentil Soup

2 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t cumin
1 t coriander
1 t smoked paprika (I love smoked paprika!)
2 tins crushed tomatoes
6 c beef or vegetable stock
1/3 c tomato paste
1 1/2 c red lentils
2 T brown sugar
1/2 c chopped parsely or coriander leaves
sour cream to garnish (optional)

1. Heat oil on low in a large pot and fry onions and garlic until soft.
2. Add the spices and fry for 1 min.
3. Add tomatoes, stock, paste, lentils and brown sugar and bring to boil.
4. Simmer for 45 mins until lentils are soft, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking to the bottom.
5. Stir through herbs and serve with a blob of sourcream in the middle if you wish.
6. Crusty bread or scones on the side are delicious!

Vegetarian: Sundried tomato, onion and leek quiche

 One of my aims at the moment is to find more "go to" vegetarian recipes. I was fully or partially (ate a little white meat) vegetarian between the ages of 14 and 30. After getting pregnant and being anaemic I decided to eat red meat again, and I have continued to eat it since then. Often it is easier to develop a meal round meat, especially with a family that seem to appreciate it more than vegetarian dishes, but I am aiming to introduce more vegetarian fare to our diet. It is often cheaper than including meat, and there are obvious health benefits to not eating too much meat, especially processed meat.

Sundried tomato, onion and leek quiche

Pastry:
100g butter, melted
1/2 c cottage cheese
1 1/3 c flour

Filling:
1 T olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 leek, white bit only, chopped
1/4 c sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
Handful of basil leaves, chopped
3/4 c grated cheese
1/4 c grated parmesan
3/4 c cream (you can use milk although it won't be as rich and creamy)
3 large eggs

1. Turn the oven to 190 C.
2. In the food processor mix the butter and cottage cheese. Pulse through the flour to make a soft dough.
3. Knead the pastry to get a good consistency on a floured board. Roll out to line a 25cm diameter flan tin that is greased.
4. Bake the pastry in the oven covered in tin foil and weighed down with dried beans or rice (see note below) for 10 mins. Remove the tin foil and weights and bake a further 10 mins, or until golden.
5. While the pastry is cooking, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onions and leek and cook over a low heat, stirring often until soft.
6. Mix the onion mixture with cheeses, tomato and basil. Press into pastry case.
7. Beat eggs and cream together and pour over filling.
8. Bake at 180 C for 25 - 30 mins until set and golden.

Served with beans from our garden!

Cooking pastry blind:

Often when using pastry I really can't be bothered with the extra step of cooking it blind (without the filling and weighed down with rice or dried beans). I do recommend doing this though as it makes the pastry much crispier on the bottom and stops the filling soaking in and making it soggy!!!

Pumpkin and Silverbeet Lasagne: Sorry no picture!

 I made this for dinner the other night and promptly forgot to take a picture of it looking all golden and delicious just out of the oven! By that stage it was too late as it was either all in our tummies or in a container in the fridge for Nathan's lunch. You will have to take my word for it that it is very yummy, and everyone in our family likes it despite it being without the meat sauce Serve it with salad and fresh bread or garlic bread.

Pumpkin and Silverbeet Lasagne

1/2 small pumpkin or squash, de-seeded and chopped into large chunks
10 leaves of silverbeet, with the stems cut out (by this I mean you need to cut into the leaves and remove all of the tough stem)
2 T chopped fresh basil
1 egg, lightly beaten
250g tub cottage cheese
1 c grated cheese + extra for the top
Jar of tomato based pasta sauce
Lasagne that doesn't need pre-cooking

1. Cover the pumpkin (leave the skin on) in water and boil about 15 mins until soft. Leave to cool.
2. Scoop the flesh off the skin and mash.
3. Steam the silverbeet for 3 - 4 mins (I do this over the pumpkin at the end of its cooking)
4. Place the silverbeet in a sieve and press it down with a spoon to remove excess water. This is important to ensure that the mixture isn't too watery. You will be left with a very small lump of mashed dry silverbeet!
5. Add the silverbeet, basil, egg, cottage cheese and grated cheese to the pumpkin mix. Also season to taste. Mix together well.
6. Grease a flat oven dish. The one I use is about 40cms x 20cms.
7. Layer lasagne noodles, then half of the pumpkin mix, then half of the pasta sauce. Repeat and top with grated cheese. I use dried lasagne noodles that soften during cooking, san remo makes wholemeal ones that we usually buy.
8. Bake at fanbake 200 C for 20 - 25 mins until golden and cooked through.

Take a tray of roast veges and you have ... 2 quick dinners!

 I love it when you can cook something one day that can then be used for future dinners. I have gone through many stages where I have tried to cook double quantities of dinners, and then frozen them for future nights. I also like it when you can prepare something basic and then alter it to make 2 entirely different dishes.

Yesterday I chopped up some chunky seasonal veges and roasted them in the oven at about 180 C for 35 mins. I stirred them at halfway.

This mix contained mushrooms, zucchini, kumara, red capsicum and red onion (from my garden - very easy to grow!). You could use whatever you had lying around.

I used half of these to create last nights dinner, and half tonight. Both were very quick dinners that can be easily put together in about 20 minutes.

Pesto and Roast Vege Pasta

This is one of my go to dinners. Homemade or fresh pesto is best, but if you have to use a cheepo one I rate Countdown's select pesto WAY above Dolmio's!

3/4 packet pasta (e.g: penne, spirals, shells)
Half an oven tray of roast veges
3 big T pesto
Parmesan (and fresh basil and toasted pinenuts if you have them) to garnish

1. Cook the pasta to packets instructions.
2. Drain and toss through veges and pesto
3. Serve in bowls with grated parmesan and torn basil and/or toasted pinenuts if you have them.

I have several variations of this dish that I make when pressed for ingredients and time. Just take out the veges and add meat and veges that you have lying round at home. My versions include:

- Torn cooked chicken and asparagus (roasted in the oven for about 10 mins)
- 3 good quality sausages fried and grated and fried (until soft) grated pumpkin
- Grated zucchini (no need to cook first it will cook enough when tossed through pasta) and cooked frozen peas

Quesadillas

These are basically a flash toasted sandwich using tortillas. Again you can change the fillings to suit what you have in the fridge and what you like. Tonight I used:

Tortillas for my family (my girls eat a half each at a push, I eat one, Nathan eats 2)
Half a tray of roasted veges
Hummus
Tomato relish
Grated cheese
Torn basil leaves

1. Spread hummus and relish thinly over the whole tortilla, leaving a 1 - 2 cm gap around the edges.
2. Spread the veges over half of the tortilla and top with cheese and basil.
3. Fold in half and toast in sandwich press.
4. Serve with salad.


Some other filling ideas:
- Refried beans spread over bottom, shredded chicken, sour cream and cheese
- Cream cheese, cranberry jelly and shredded chicken (smoked chicken is yummy)
- Baby spinach leaves, feta, chopped olives and toasted pinenuts