After making this oh-so-super-easy homemade tomato paste you are never going to buy any ever again. Even if you don’t grow your own tomatoes all you need to do is go to the market and buy a box of over-ripe tomatoes and some locally grown garlic and you are set for the most amazing smell to waft throughout your house.

I use this tomato paste as a flavouring in soups and casseroles and stews – yes its fantastic for that. But also its perfect for pizza, for dips and even sandwiches. Use it anywhere you need a tomato tapenade or extra burst of flavour.

Make a few jars of this and stash them in your fridge – they make cooking a whole heap quicker – for a bonus … here is a Jamie Oliver one-pot chicken dish that is my go-to dinner when I can’t think of anything else. This is a slight variation on Jamie’s dish – as it uses my tomato paste instead of fresh herbs and garlic.

Quick tomato and chicken one-pot dinner:

Take a few chicken thighs (depending on how many you are feeding) and chop them into large chunks, fry them in your oven safe casserole dish with some olive oil. Meanwhile peel and boil a few potatoes (one per person as a rough guide) – drain the almost cooked potatoes and toss them in with the browned chicken. Take it off the stove and add a few spoonfuls of your homemade tomato paste (with garlic), and then add in a few roughly chopped fresh tomatoes, a pinch of salt and another splash of olive oil. Bake in a medium oven for 20 minutes. Serve with a fresh salad. (if you don’t have any homemade tomato paste then you will need a handful of fresh herbs such as thyme and oregano and some chopped garlic gloves)

But here is my recipe for my homemade tomato paste…

You will need as many overripe tomatoes as you can get a hold of – cut them in half and lay them open side up on a baking tray. Splash or spray good olive oil over the tomatoes, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then peel a few garlic cloves and throw them in with the tomatoes (I used our homegrown garlic here) – use local garlic without all those terrible chemicals sprayed all over them. Bake in a medium/slow oven for about an hour. You want the tomatoes to have shrunken and browned a little but not be too dark.

Take your roasted tomatoes and garlic and put them into your food processor – if you don’t have one you can use a stick blender, pestle and morter or even a potato masher – and blend until you have a lovely paste. Now you can add a few different flavours – its up to you – some ideas include: anchovies in oil (just a couple), salted capers (rinse the salt off first), pitted marinated olives, roasted capsicum (adds sweetness), roasted chillies (add a bit of spiciness), or even roasted eggplant (adds a smoky flavour), also add some more olive oil.

Put your paste into clean jars that you have sterilised with boiling water, and pour a layer of olive oil over the top. Seal with your lids and label. The jars will keep in the fridge for about a month like this. Alternatively this freezes very well too – so if you do have a huge glut of tomatoes in your veggie patch why not make enough paste for the rest of the year!

I don’t know about you, but mornings in our house are a chaotic rush – getting the kids motivated to get ready on time, and then getting them to eat a good breakfast is a pretty tough call. A new year called for a new method, so we called in the big gun – negotiation! After a family meeting we discovered 2 things – 1. the kids don’t like surprises for breakfast (they like to know what they are getting in advance) 2. we all agree that a hearty breakfast is a good thing and we don’t want to ditch that.

So with those 2 things in mind we designed a breakfast menu for the week, and agreed that 1. the parents would get up early to get breakfast prepared and 2. the kids would get up and dressed and get ready for school in time without fussing. One week and it is working so far. We lapsed one day and we (the parents) slept in and so the kids got cereal for breakfast and everyone was late.

Here is our breakfast menu:
Monday:eggs how you like it (some like them scrambled some like them fried)
Tuesday: sushi (not such a big deal – just have to get up early to prepare the rice – and its great to have some left over to send to school) [here is a recipe - but we use a sushi flavoured vinegar + then fill with leftover chicken breast marinated in soy+mirin for 5 minutes, sometimes we do a quick omelette, and sometimes its avocado + cucumber - whatever you have available - the only essentials are the sushi rice, sushi flavoured vinegar and nori sheets]
Wednesday: Muffins (2 kinds – berry and double chocolate – see recipe below – and again these are great to take leftovers to work and school)
Thursday: eggs how you like it (yes again – we have chooks so having eggs on the menu is a must)
Friday: French Toast (again sounds fancy but it actually super easy – served with cinnamon sugar or maple syrup) [here is a recipe, but you don't need fancy bread - just any day old thick sliced farm break will do]
Saturday: Crepes (again these are easy to make – take a bit of practice but are yummy served with lemon and sugar or even filled with fruit and yogurt) [here is a recipe - you can even make the batter the night before and cover and keep in the fridge]
Sunday: lazy day - get your own breakfast – I am sleeping in.

Other breakfast menu options include: pancakes, rice pudding, toast with tomato/ham/cream cheese/avocado/, toasted cheese sandwich, fruit smoothies (add frozen fruit, banana, LSA, yogurt, egg, honey, nuts), oatmeal (porridge), omelette etc… [our parameter are - 20-25 minutes max to cook/prepare, healthy - high in fibre + protein + energy to get us through the day]

Recipe for easy no-need-to-weigh-anything muffins

1 cup regular cake flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
4 tablespoons of powdered milk (could substitute coconut or soy powdered milk)
4 tablespoons of LSA (finely ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds, is full of fibre, magnesium, omega-3 fats, vitamins E, D, B1 (Thiamin), B2 (Riboflavin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), biotin, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc and numerous other micronutrients.) You could substitute ground almonds as it has a similar texture.
4 tablespoons of quick cook oats (not instant – these are finely sliced oats and cook quicker than regular ones – if you use regular ones – let them soak in warm water for 20 minutes before using them so they break down a bit)
1/2 cup of white sugar (you could also use a combination of brown sugar + honey for a different flavour)
1/2 cup of melted butter
3 eggs (or 2 is fine but I like to add extra eggs where I can for added nutrients)
1 cup of water
pinch of salt if you like

Mix all the dry ingredients together
Whisk the wet ingredients together
Mix them both together (should be a medium batter – not to runny not too stiff)

This makes 12 good sized muffins – take a 12 muffin pan try and line with paper muffin cups – spray with spray oil. Spoon in the muffin mix and sprinkle with brown sugar – bake for 15 mins on medium/high heat.

Because some people in our house like berries and others don’t, I make 6 with berries and then add some extra ingredients to the other half of the batter for a different version:
Version 1 with berries: Spoon these 1/4 full of muffin mix and then spoon in a few frozen berries into each one – then fill the muffin pans 3/4 full of the mix and bake (top with a sprinkle of sugar if desired).
Version 2: chocolate muffins – add 4 tablespoons of milo powder or other powdered chocolate, and a few spoonfuls of choc chips to the mix.
Version 3: add dried cranberries and flaked coconut to the mix
Version 4: add mashed banana and peanut butter to the mix (substitute for some of the liquid)
Version 5: (if you are not a sweet person then omit the sugar first) then add grated cheese and chopped fresh herbs (like parsely).
Version 6: add a cup of muesli instead of oats to the dry batter.

If you mix up the dry ingredients the night before then this takes only a few minutes to get in the oven and you have a good breakfast in 20 minutes.

Homemade Muesli:

Lately I have been making a big batch of homemade muesli too – sometimes we have our hot breakfast then a bowl of muesli with yogurt to follow – sometimes I take a plastic container filled with muesli to work and add milk for a very nice lunch. Often the kids will have muesli for an after school snack – again this is such a versatile recipe and so easy to switch up and mix up to suit your own personal tastes.

Bag of organic 5-grain (rolled whole whoatseat, rye, oats, flaxseed, barley, and triticale) if you can’t get 5-grain – regular oats are fine too
Handful of dried cranberries
Handful of chopped dried peaches and pears
Just a few chopped dried strawberries (just a few of these luxurious treats chopped up make for a tasty hit)
Other dried fruits of your choice (we are not big on sultanas so we leave them out – but other dried fruits could include dried blueberries, dates, figs, apples, apricots etc)
Cup of mixed seeds – (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds)
Cup of puffed rice (we added sweetened puffed rice to ours for a sweet hit every now and again)
Cup of whole almonds

other options to add include:
coarse LSA (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almond), coconut flakes, Wheatgerm, soy grits

Mix all this up and store in an airtight container – serve up with milk (we like with rice milk) or yoghurt – try adding some fresh fruit too.

mmm… enjoy

The cherry association of Australia is promoting the healthy lovely aspects of cherries and the aussie summer obsession with everything cherry. Here is the event guide for local cherry seasonal events near you – including cherry spitting competitions and cherry picking and more – the cherry growers website also has a few recipes - and there is a chance to win an ipod. I was offered a box of cherries to help with my summer celebrations – but because I am away on hols I couldn’t take them up on the offer – but I will be eating cherries where I am going anyway – and will no doubt be visiting a cherry farm to pick our own – the kids love doing that – you should try it with your kids if you can.

The Craft of Baking

Karen DeMasco. Clarkson Potter 2009, Hardcover, 256 pages, $22.13

Oh delicious and delectable – me and the kids sat down with this book drooling and flicking through the pages. We straight away marked a few recipes for immediate making – the cashew brittle was a big hit – yummy and easy – ah happy happy baking days. The coconut meringue crunch was yummy but I think I must have made a mistake in my measurements as it was not crunchy enough – no complaints though it was still eaten within a day!

From breads, brownies, tarts, cakes and puddings to icecreams and candies there is lots here to inspire – and hone your baking craft – pity there was not a photo for every recipe though – am sure to make this book a firm favourite.

The brittle recipe was really so very easy – I have made brittle before but it never seemed this easy.

Cashew Brittle Recipe
Prepare a baking tray with baking paper or cooking spray

Pour the brittle onto your pan – smoothing it over while still hot with a silicon spatula. Once it is completely cool – break it into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Manna from heaven: cooking for the people you love
by Rachel Grisewood. Published by Allen and Unwin, Australia November 2009.

Loving how earthy and friendly this book is. The photographs are on the rustic side of styled with some sweet ‘crayon’ drawn illos to add to that family flavour of this book.

Rachel Griselwood is a london born london trained chef who moved to Australia – working and traveling – living the good life that Australia has to offer before setting down with her ‘Manna from Heaven’ bakery and treat shop in Sydney. However this book is all about cooking for family – her first love – the great feeling you get from nurturing and tending to your loved ones – we all know about that don’t we.

This gloriously big book, is full of satisfying family friendly fare – Each chapter takes you on a different journey in Rachels life – she takes us on a discovery tour with her first mouth watering treats that she baked out of her home kitchen to the lovely tartlettes [pdf download to recipe for tomato tart] she developed for trendy sydney delis to her big batches of Indian chutneys she made to sell.

There is a journey through her kitchen – with a story behind her favourite baking trays and tins – her favourite egg recipe to cook in her favourite red frying pan. The dinner party journey – the perfect fare for dinner with friends, dinner with family, her daughters favourite flat bread recipe, her best friends love of prawns, foods that trigger memories of her lost loved ones. A sentimental cook book – with a story behind each and every dish. But you don’t have to read it all – flicking back and forth through the book lands you on pages filled with lemon polenta cup cakes [pdf recipe download], a leaning tower of pisa sponge cake filled with cream and chocolate and raspberries.

There is a recipe in here that reminds me of my childhood – memories of farmers wives kitchens with soft creamy butterfly cakes – oh heaven …

Lemon Butterfly Cakes
recipe:
125g butter (room temperature – slightly softened)
180g caster sugar
185g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
grated lemon zest (1 lemons worth)

Slice the rounded top of each of the cakes – making a slight indentation in the cake – and cut this top in half to make the wings. Dollop a little of the mock cream [or as I have done - use real whipped cream] place the little wings on top and dust with powdered sugar.

These are so light and tempting and delicious – too too yummy

I made this angel food cake using a martha stewart cook book (here is a recipe online) – this is an amazing cake – it used 12 egg whites – and as we have our own chooks who are laying like crazy at the moment – I have been looking for a cake just like this. And yes it really is that white – just gorgeous – no egg yolks or butter in it to make it a creamy colour. – it has a sort of soft spongy texture and it sweet and light tasting. We like it with lemon curd or just on its own. It stays moist for a few days if kept covered.

recipe:
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
12 egg whites (save the yolks for the lemon butter)
1 tablespoon warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven (325 fahrenheit or 160 celcius)
Sift the flour and half of the sugar together 5 times – keep it in the sifter as you will sift it into the mixture at the end as well.

Beat together the 12 egg whites with the warm water for a minute until just foamy, add in the salt, cream of tartar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form, (3 min). Then continue beating while adding in the other half of the sugar slowly. Beat on high for a 2 more mins until stiff and glossy.

Sift the flour/sugar mixture into the egg white in six parts, gently folding with a rubber spatula after each addition.

Gently dollop the batter into a 10-inch tube pan, smooth over and run your spatula through the batter to release bubbles. Bake for about 40 mins – until golden and springs back when touched. Let cool for an hour before running a knife around the edges to loosen it from the pan.

Lemon butter (curd)

This is Stephanie Alexander’s lemon curd recipe – I have tripled it here to use up all those egg yolks left over from the angel food cake.

recipe
12 egg yolks
2 cups castor sugar
180g unsalted butter (about 1 1/2 sticks butter)
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
300 ml lemon juice (about 1 1/2 cups)

This recipe makes about 3-4 medium sized jars of lemon curd. So first of all find your jars and lids and wash them – then sterilise them by filling them with boiling water.

This recipe really couldn’t be easier – the hardest bit is zesting the lemons – then it comes together so quickly – it will be ready before you know it.

Then zest and juice your lemons (about 5 lemons).

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until well combined but not frothy.

Tip egg/sugar mixture into a heavy-based non-reactive saucepan, add the butter, zest and juice.
Stirring constantly, bring to simmering point over a medium-high heat (about five minutes).
As soon as bubbles appear, remove from heat, still stirring. Allow to cool. Transfer to sterilised jars and seal.

Lemon curd / butter is perfect on scones, pancakes, pikelets, toast and bread. Or you can get fancy and make little tartlettes and top with whipped cream or meringue, or serve with the delicious angel food cake – or add to vanilla custard and turn into icecream – really the uses are endless!

Here is a recipe for my favourite breakfast muffins – super quick to make – eat them warm straight from the oven – send your kids to school with a full tummy and lots of energy for the day.

Semolina breakfast muffins

In a bowl mix 1 cup of finely ground semolina with 2 cups of milk (can substitute powdered milk and water), and 1 tablespoon of butter, and cook in the microwave for 3-4 mins stopping and stirring to prevent lumps. (don’t forget to turn on the oven – pre-heat to medium).

Add to this warm cooked semolina porridge – 2 beaten eggs, 2 dessertspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, pinch of salt and 1 cup self raising flour (or if using plain flour add 2 teaspoons baking powder). Mix till goopy but not too thick – must be able to drop off the spoon – if too thick add a little more milk, if too runny add a little more flour.

Prepare muffin trays with paper muffin liners (spray with oil spray if worried about muffins sticking to inside of paper) – fill muffin liners to 3/4 – mixture should make 12 muffins.

Cook on medium heat for 15-20 mins – until golden brown on the top … eat warm

OPTIONAL – poke a couple of milk chocolate chips into the middle of each muffin before baking for a sweet surprise for the kids.

ALTERNATIVE – I have also made this very successfully using oatmeal porridge as a base instead of semolina porridge

With quite a lot of eggs and kids home for the holidays – I have been scanning for some inspiration. So I made up a batch of Stephanie Alexander’s lemon curd with lemons from a neighbours tree. With this lemon curd you can spread it on toast – homemade pikelets, with cream on sponge cake and pavlova (more uses for using up fresh eggs).

Speaking of scanning for inspiration – while looking at my fave food blogs I came across this semolina pudding with raspberry topping, I made it last night for dinner with varying success. I loved it – just that perfect amount of creaminess and berry sweetness. The boy had it without berries and loved the vanilla creaminess, the hubby loved it too and the daughter just liked the berries on top. It sure is hard to please everyone – so just please yourself and make this (I had the leftover pot for breakfast and it was devine cold).

by Kathreen Ricketson of whipup.net

Spaghetti bolognaise + Pesto

Bolognaise (I cook it in one big pot and freeze in batches) is a favourite with our meat eating boy but not so popular with the 9 year old girl – try making home made pesto to either go with the bolognaise or as an alternative pasta topping. Its healthy and easy to make: Take a bunch of basil and pull of the leaves and put in your food processor, add a handful of grated Parmesan and a handful of pine nuts, a big dollop of good olive oil, pinch of salt and grind to your preferred fineness. Feel free to add garlic (my kids prefer it without), squeeze of lemon, a couple of caper and anchovies for a slightly different flavour.

Pork buns and steamers from the asian food grocer

This might seem like a cheater, however as fast frozen food goes its pretty good, the kids devour these, they are quick and easy to make (just steam in a bamboo steamer), and pretty cheap to buy too. Make sure you read the ingredients list and don’t be afraid to try the weird ones!

Fried rice

Another easy one and especially easy to vary. Cook about 3 cups of rice (to feed a family of 4-5) (we have a rice cooker but if you don’t – use the microwave), in a wok (or large fry pan), cook some chopped bacon and spring onion (try some roast duck from the asian grocer) add whatever chopped veg you have on hand – carrot, broccoli, capsicum, some frozen peas and fry for a few minutes. Take out and put aside. In a bowl crack a few eggs and beat up with some soysauce, add these to the wok and fry for a minute or so until half cooked then quickly add the rice and mix – the egg with continue to cook, add back your veg and bacon mix, season with soy sauce – cook for another minute and you are done.

Chicken dumpling soup

This takes a little bit of preparation but is worth it – make sure to make heaps of dumplings. Make a basic chicken broth with chicken legs or a whole chicken and onion, carrot and herbs. Strain the broth and set aside, take the meat off the chicken and break into small chunks and set aside. Peel some carrotsand chop into chunks. In a bowl mix a cup of flour with 2 beaten eggs and a dollop of milk, pinch of salt, until a gooey paste consistency. Put your broth back on to boil, add in your carrots and let cook for 10 mins, add in your chicken and a handful of peas or other veg and let simmer. Now make your dumplings by taking a spoonful of the mixture at a time and adding it to the simmering broth. Let simmer for another 10 mins, season to taste.

Snack dinner

I love this on a weekend or summer evening – another cheater dinner but everyone loves this and the kids feel like kings. Basically set out on platters a whole heap of yummy healthy snacks and serve with homemade lemonade. Snack ideas can include cheese and cold meat platters, cut up carrot and capsicum sticks, homemade dips such as hummus, fresh crusty bread or nice crackers, sauteed button mushrooms, tomato and basil, cut up fruit – whatever you have – oranges, apples, watermelon etc. The kids will take a little of everything and you can sit back knowing it didn’t take all night to prepare and there isn’t much washing up to do afterwards.
By Kathreen Ricketson of whipup.net

I have a lot of trouble making food for my kids that they will eat. I am not a great cook, and I don’t have a lot of love of cooking, but I am constantly trying to think of things that they will eat. There are some old staples that I roll out that I know that they will eat like fried rice and bolognese.But I get very bored of eating these.

Last night I completely ran out of energy to make the kids something interesting. Instead of making something interesting like cassoulet or lasagna (neither of which they love, but I do), I just made up some spaghetti with olive oil and parmesan. I felt really guilty about serving something so basic, but they completely surprised me by LOVING it. and Liam told me “Dad, you are a great chef!”. They even ate multiple helpings…

Maybe this is the direction I should be going in for meals. Simple food is better. I just need to get over the guilt…