Daisy Chains and Picnics

  A quick and easy way to use up zucchini. This slice is perfect for a weekday dinner, school packed lunches or picnics. Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, diced 5 eggs 1 cup cheese, grated 1 cup SR flour 1/4 cup olive oil 2 cups zucchini, grated salt & pepper 1 tsp sesame seeds Method 1.  Preheat oven to 175 C. Grease and line a 28cm x 18cm baking dish. 2.  Heat oil in pan over a medium heat. Cook onion until softened. Allow to cool slightly. 3.  Using your hands, squeeze excess liquid from zucchini.  4.  In a large bowl, add onion, eggs, cheese, flour, zucchini and oil, stir well to combine. Season with salt & pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. 5.  Pour mixture into prepared dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through and firm to the touch. Allow to cool before cutting. Enjoy with a side salad.

Scott came home with a bucket load of home grown tomatoes from Sally's garden so I made this tomato quiche for dinner, I also had some mushrooms in the fridge so added them to the quiche.   There was plenty left for Scott's lunch next day. Ingredients 2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry 80 g mushrooms, sliced 1 onion, diced 3 tomatoes, peeled, sliced 4 eggs 80 ml milk 3-4 tbsp thickened cream 70 g grated cheese 1 tsp dried basil Method 1.  Preheat oven to 180°C. Allow pastry sheets to become partially thawed.  Line base and sides of a loose-based fluted flan tin with pastry, trim to fit. Prick base of pastry with a fork. Freeze for 15 minutes. 2.  Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onion. Cook until softened and just tender, approx 4 minutes. Set aside. 3.  Bake pastry for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven.  4.  Sprinkle 1/3 grated cheese...

Darren used to love a Gregg's sausage, bean and cheese melt and he has been on at me to try making them myself so today I thought I'd give them a try, my first attempt. Depending on the brand of beans and sausages it may be necessary to drain some of the tomato sauce otherwise it may leak out. They turned out really well, I will definitely make them again, Jodie devoured 2 for lunch. Next time I will make them into squares ( which are more like Gregg's ones) and cut the sausages into smaller pieces. Ingredients 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed 1 x 420g tin beans & sausages 65g grated cheddar 1 egg, beaten for egg wash Method 1.  Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a baking tray. 2.  Place thawed pastry on a lightly floured surface, cut in half both ways. 3.  Cut sausages in half. Using a spoon, evenly split beans & sausages and place to one side of each piece of pastry, add a sprinkle of grated cheese, fold pastry over filling to make an rectangle (as you would with ...

  Scott came home the other day with a bag full of homegrown tomatoes from Sally and the same day a neighbour left some homegrown cherry tomatoes on our doorstep when I was out, so I had an abundance of delicious fresh tomatoes to use. I had tomato on toast for breakfast, Scott went away with a tomato sandwich for lunch and Jodie got some cherry tomatoes for her snack, so what to do with the rest!, It was a hot day so I didn't want to make soup so I thought a delicious cheesy tart would be perfect. I used 4 cheese melt as it has a delicious tangy flavour and doesn't go oily. Ingredients 1-2 sheets frozen short crust pastry 2 cups grated 4 cheese melt 200g zucchini grated 2 spring onions, thinly sliced 4 tomatoes 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 tsp vegeta stock powder 1/8 tsp white pepper Method 1.  Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced. Remove pastry sheets from packaging, allow to thaw for 10 minutes or until soft enough to work with. 2.  Lightly grease a 26cm ...

I am always looking for packed lunch ideas for the girls, they love eggs and pastry so these are a perfect bite sized lunch that can be enjoyed cold or hot, on their own or with a side salad. I used ready made tart cases for ease and quickness but you can make your own pastry or used ready rolled pastry for the cases. Ingredients 1 packet 12 ready made tart cases 3 eggs 1 egg yolk 1 tbsp milk or cream salt and pepper to season Method 1.  Preheat oven to 190°C. Arrange tart cases on a baking sheet. 2.  In a jug, whisk together eggs, egg yolk, milk or cream. Season with salt and pepper. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart case. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until golden and set. Serve warm from oven or allow to cool.

I didn't have any pastry left in the freezer so made a crustless quiche, it turned out delicious, although Jodie was miffed there was no pastry, according to her, that's the best bit! but she still ate it!! I got some French Comptè cheese drastically reduced so I added half a cup of this along with half a cup of cheddar, it gave it a delicious tangy flavour, but all cheddar works just as well. Enjoy it hot or cold. Ingredients 5 eggs 1/2 cup milk small pinch salt & pepper 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg 100 g diced ham 1/2 cup grated tasty cheddar 1/2 cup grated Comptè cheese 1 1/2 spring onion, sliced 8 cherry tomatoes, halved Method 1.  Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a flan dish with oil or butter. 2.  Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Scatter ham, onion and most of cheese into the flan dish. 3.  Pour egg mixture into the flan dish. Top with halved tomatoes and remaining cheese. 4.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and set. Enjoy with a side salad ...

Perfect as a summer lunch or dinner, ideal for lunch boxes and picnics, this slice is delicious enjoyed hot or cold. Ingredients 200 g Jalapeno cheese, grated 1/2 cup Parmesan, finely grated 50 g mozzarella, grated 1 large zucchini, peeled & grated 120 g hot salami, chopped 80 g shaved ham, chopped 1 red onion, finely chopped  2 spring onions, sliced 1 cup self-raising flour 6 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tbsp olive oil 10-12 mixed baby tomatoes Method 1.  Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line base and sides of a 10 cup-capacity baking dish. 2  In a bowl, mix together half the Jalapeno cheese with the Parmesan and mozzarella. Set aside.  3.  Combine zucchini, salami, ham, onion, spring onion and flour in a large bowl, season with salt & pepper. 4.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs & oil. Pour over zucchini mixture. Add the 3 cheese combination. Mix well to combine. Pour into prepared...

A bit of a Scottish take on a beef wellington. Haggis encased in flaky pastry topped with a creamy whisky sauce. We don't get haggis here, we get family to post out a couple of tins of haggis every so often, they are nice but not as delicious as fresh made haggis. But we can't complain, at least we get some for Burns Night. The tinned haggis is quite difficult to roll into a sausage shape as it is more dryer and crumbly than the ones in the cases, you just have to go slow and steady to manipulate it into as much of a sausage shape as you can. Use the remainder of the whisky sauce to pour over the haggis, neeps and tatties. Ingredients 392 g tin haggis 1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry 3 tbsp whisky sauce 1 egg, lightly beaten Method 1.  Preheat oven to 190°C. 2.  Remove haggis from tin, wrap the haggis tightly between 4 layers of clingfilm, roll the haggis into a thick sausage shape. Twist the ends to tighten. Refrigerate...

With Australia day fast approaching, I had to share this Aussie icon. The pie floater is a meat pie submerged in thick pea soup, the pies are traditionally turned upside down sitting or sometimes submerged in the pea soup. The first time I had ever heard of this was while watching an episode of Billy Connolly's Australian tour. He was doing a show in Adelaide and indulged in one of these south Aussie icons. We tried a similar thing called a tiger pie from Harry's Cafe de Wheels on the Sydney harbour, the Tiger is a meat pie served with scoop of mash a scoop of mushy peas and a scoop of gravy, it was really delicious.  A pie floater put simply is a meat pie on top of or covered in green pea soup with a choice of sauce squirted on top, the usual being ketchup, brown sauce, mint sauce, gravy or bbq sauce, some people also enjoy vinegar over their floater, I suppose the options can be endless, whatever 'floats' your pie!!. I searched a few variou...