Brunch Toast Cups

 

Gran used to make these for us in the school holidays and she said she used to use them as a smoko option for the shearers when they were farming. They have become my weekend go-to for a light lunch or if I know we need something quick or transportable (and little people love them too!). They are perfect for sending off in the lunch bag with the farmer for days of mustering when they need the energy but a hot lunch isn't an option and you can put pretty much anything in them, making them perfect for using up left overs too. 

INGREDIENTS

• 6 pieces of bread
• Butter for spreading on the bread
• 1/2 tin of spaghetti
• 1/4 cup chopped spinach
• 2 rashers of bacon (New Zealand farm raised please)
• 6 eggs (or 3 eggs mixed with 1 cup cream)
• 1 cup Grated Tasty Cheese

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Grease a large muffin tin. Butter the bread and place butter side down into the muffin tin. Mix the spaghetti and spinach together and then spoon into each bread cup, using even amounts in each. Chop the bacon and place even amounts in each cup. The eggs can be cracked in to each cup whole or beaten and pured into each cup. I prefer beaten because it soaks into the bread and makes it a little bit like french toast. Top with grated cheese. Place in the middle rack of the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes.

TIPS:

• I prefer beaten because it soaks into the bread and makes it a little bit like french toast
• If you are short on eggs or like a more french toast texture, beat three eggs and 1 cup of cream together and pour evenly into cups and let it soak into the bread.
• Swap the spaghetti for baked beans
• Swap the bacon for slices of cooked sausage (or keep both!)

Summer Vegetable Fritters

 
My grandmother used to say things that we would be all well served to take on board- one of these such statements was that "just because you have a lot of something doesn't mean you should waste it". She was talking about vegetables but it pretty much applies to everything in life- including money, friends and love!
During the summer in particular you can end up with a bit of a glut of some veges, these little fritters are a great way to use some of them up, especially when they are getting close to past their best. They are also a pretty handy trick for getting veges into the kids, and they freeze well so they can be a great addition to lunch boxes well after these veges are out of season.

INGREDIENTS

You can vary the vegetables you use depending on what you have on hand:

• 1 cup of grated potatoes
• 2 cups of grated/ finely chopped vegetables of your choice- carrots, spinach, onion, broccoli, corn, peas
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground corriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
• 3 eggs

METHOD:

Grate the potatoes and then wash and drain. Grate or finely chop the remianing vegetables (I use my Tupperware Turbo Chef to chop them up).
Beat the egss. Mix the dry ingredients and the beaten eggs until you have a smooth batter (try not to over-mix because the fritters will be tough). Add the vegetables and stir through the batter. Heat a large pan and add oil and/or butter to fry the fritters. Add heaped teaspoons of batter to the pan to create small fritters (small fritters are easier to cook all the way though without burning the outside). Fry until golden on both sides.

Serve as a side with dinner, as a yummy healthy snack or light lunch.

TIPS:

• You can make these in big batches and freeze the fritters, a quick heat in a frying pan will make them just like when you first made them. 
• Serve them in a stack with bacon or smoked salmon and some horseraddish mayo (see recipe here) for a quick and yummy brunch or lunch.
• These are a great addition to your kids lunch boxes. When we were kids, Gran used to put the mixture into metal cookie cutters in the pan- we obviously thought they tasted better when they were a cool shape!?!
• You can add chilli if you like them with a little bit of spice

Enjoy xx

Roast Chicken & Noodle Soup

If you have a roast chicken for dinner, there is always a bit left over and of course you have the bones. This recipe is a great way to get another meal from those leftover bits and get the satisfaction of making something rich, warming and delicious from scratch for your family.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Stock (this is the base of your soup):

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 chicken carcass picked clean of meat and cut into pieces
• 10 cups water
• 1 large carrots roughly chopped
• 1 celery sticks roughly chopped (use the twiggy bits from the top- not the leaves)
• 1/2 large onion roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Roast Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 large carrots chopped
• 2 celery ribs chopped
• 1/2 onion diced
• ½ tsp dried mixed herbs
• ½ cup risoni or orzo pasta
• 1 200g pack of Vermicelli Rice noodles
• 2 cups cooked chicken shredded or chopped
• Salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Use a large pot – I use my big cast iron casserole dish. Heat oil over medium-high heat and add chicken carcass pieces and cook, turning occasionally, until bones and any remaining skin are browned. There will be bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. These are the yummy tasty bits!

Add a splash of the water to deglaze the pan and scrape all the browned bits off the bottom. Add the vegetables, water, and salt. Bring to barely a simmer (watch closely to make sure it never comes to a boil as that can make your soup cloudy).

Simmer for 90 minutes, scraping fat off the top occasionally, and checking to make sure your broth has not started to boil.

Discard large pieces of bone and vegetable before straining broth through a strainer. Rinse your pot to remove any chicken or vegetable remnants (there is often gritty bits left behind) and return broth to pot. Bring to a simmer and add carrots, celery, onion, risoni pasta and herbs. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Stir in the Vermicelli Rice noodles and chicken last (these don’t need cooking, they will soak up the broth and be ready in 5 mins).

Add more salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute to make sure the chicken is heated through.

Enjoy xx

Chicken Pan Pie

I threw this together last night for tea, I had forgotten how much i used to love Gran's pan pies full of creamy deliciousness. Using ingredients that most of us have in the house all the time, this is a great way to fill up the farmer and the family. Great served with seasonal veges and new potatoes or on its own, chicken pan pie is an easy dinner option and it can be adapted to make several smaller pies too. 

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive oil for the pan
• 1 large brown onion
• 6-8 chicken thighs trimmed and chopped
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• 400gm button mushrooms, cut into quarters
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 3/4 cup cream 
• If you don't have cream, substitute with 1/2 cup of sour cream or 1/2 cup milk mixed with 1/4 cup of mayonaise
• 2 Tblsp lemon juice
• 1 Tblesp chopped tarragon 
• salt and black pepper
• 2 sheets of store bought rolled puff pastry
• can substitute with filo sheets (as I did in the photo)

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Heat the oil in a deep oven proof frying pan (I use my big old cast iron pan for this recipe) over high heat. Add the onions to the pan and cook for 2 minutes until golden. Toss the chopped chicken through the flour to coat, add it to the pan and cook, turning for 5-6 minutes or until brown on the outside. Add the mushroms and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the stock, cream, salt and pepper, lemon and tarragon and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced to become thick. Lay the sheets of pastry on top of each other and cut a circle that will fit neatly inside the rim of the pan, or use 4x 2 cup ramekins. Place the pastry on top of the chicken, transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden. SERVES 4

Enjoy xx

Beef and Bacon Ciabatta Sliders

I made these one Saturday for the farmer and some friends (more farmers) and the were good, really good. They took about 5 minutes to throw together, and in terms of taste I am calling this a success. A yummy success.
This recipe makes 8 little sliders but it could easily be stretched or shrunk depending on your audience.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 standard size pieces of beef schnitzel or minute steak cut into 4 small pieces
• 4 rashers streaky bacon cut in half
• either 8 small buns or 16 slices of ciabatta 
• 8 tsp tomato relish 
• 8 slices tasty cheddar cheese
• 1 tomato sliced
• lettuce
• sprouts
• mayonnaise
• salt and pepper

METHOD:
Take the base of each slider and spread 1 tsp of tomato relish, place a slice of cheese on each. Grill this in the oven until the cheese is melted.
In a fry pan, cook your bacon rashers and beef.
Now build your slider; take the bases with grilled cheese and then add one piece of bacon, a piece of beef and your salad. Add mayonnaise and top with the other half of your bun.
Serve and enjoy!

xxA

Pork-chop sausage rolls

These happened by accident, I had a pork chop in the fridge but it wasn't going to be enough for the farmer and me to have for tea so I had to think of a way of making it stretch a little further. The farmer loves sausage rolls so I thought why not give them a try with diced pork chop instead of pork mince. We have found a winner here my friends, tasty and didn't take long. One chop made two rolls the width of my oven tray which meant not only did it stretch for dinner, there was a couple left for the farmer's lunch the next day! These would be great to wheel out for any time you need to feed extras.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large pork chop 
• 1 onion
• 1 small leek
• 1 Tblsp olive oil
• 2 slices bread (no crusts)
• 2 Tblsp milk
• 2 Tblsp chopped parsley
• cracked black pepper
• salt to taste
• 3 eggs
• two sheets rolled out puff pastry
• 1 Tblsp sesame seeds

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Chop the onion and leek very finely. Cook  the onion and leek in the olive oil at a medium heat for about three minutes until softened. Set aside to cool.
Roughly chop the bread and place in a bowl. Pour over the milk and leave for 2-3 minutes. Mix the bread around so that there is no excess liquid. While that is soaking, take your chop and cut all the meat from the bone. Chop this as finely as you can so it looks like coarse mince. Now add the chopped pork, onion, leek, parsley, pepper, salt and two eggs to the bread in your bowl.
Mix with your hands until it is all combined (make sure your hands are clean!).
Take you two sheets of pastry, lay them out and arrange half of the mixture on each sheet in a sausage shape along the edge closest to you. Take your third egg and beat it up in a cup, use this to brush the far away edge of the pastry so that it will stick shut. Now roll up and press to secure. Repeat with both sheets.
Now you can choose whether you cut the rolls up at this point or bake as one big sausage and cut up after cooking ( I cut it up after but either if fine, before cooking is less messy because you don't get pastry flakes everywhere). Place your rolls seam side down on a baking tray and brush with the remaining egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and puffed.
Serve with tomato sauce.

TIPS:

• you don't have to use a pork chop, mince would probably work better but the whole thing behind this recipe discovery was that I had a chop- so I used it.
• You could add other veges to the filling if you chose
• 1/4 of an apple cut really finely and added to the mixture would also be yum

Enjoy xx
A

Summer chicken salad

Add a fantastic flavour to chicken by dredging it in basil and  and garlic and lightly pan frying it. Serve tossed together with the crisp produce of summer for a light, healthy lunch. The best bit is that you can have it on the table and spread it to as many hungry mouths come through the door in under 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS: (for one person- multiply for more people)

• 1 chicken breast per person or two chicken thighs
• 1 tomato sliced into wedges
• 3 asparagus stalks cut into quarters
• 2 large lettuce leaves
• 1/4 cup soft cheese Brie/Camembert 
• 1 Tblsp Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tblsp basil pesto
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• mayonnaise to serve

METHOD:
Cut chicken into 6 pieces. Place into a bowl with the pesto, soy sauce, white vinegar, garlic and honey. Cover with glad wrap and place in fridge. Marinade your chicken for at least an hour, overnight is best.
Lightly steam the asparagus and leave to cool while you cook the chicken. Cook chicken in a pan with the olive oil until golden on all sides and cooked through.
To prepare the salad, combine all of your salad greens, including your asparagus and arrange on your plate(s). Sprinkle with cheese, and top with tomato and chicken. Serve with home-made mayonnaise on the side.

TIPS:

• Add any other goodies that you have in the vege garden or find in season at the farmers market like avocado, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, red onion or fresh torn spinach.

Corn Fritters

Corn fritters remind me of university days, such a  good lunch for the flat. Actually if our flat was a country then corn fritters may have just been our national dish (if you don't count Speight's as a meal). They take two minutes to throw together, cost about two bucks a batch and can make a great brunch, lunch or easy tea when cooking is not on the motivation list.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can cream style corn or kernels depending on what you prefer
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tblsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup diced red pepper
• 1/4 cup diced onion

TO SERVE:

• 3 rashers bacon
• 2 Tblsp sour cream
• 1/2 Tblsp fresh chives chopped
•  1/2 Tblsp fresh parsley chopped
• 1 Tblsp tomato relish
• basil leaves

METHOD:
Make a batter from the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, eggs and milk. Beat until smooth. Add the corn, red pepper and onion. Drop a tablespoon of the mixture onto a non stick frying pan. Cook until golden and then turn and cook the other side.
Cook the bacon until crispy. Mix the sour cream, parsley and chives together in a small bowl.
Serve the fritters in a stack with the bacon, sour cream and relish. Finish off with the fresh basil leaves.
yum!!

Enjoy xx
A

Chicken, mushroom and thyme pies

Even the word pie is comforting, this is a great meal on the run because it can be on the table in half an hour, it is also well received in mini version for lunch.
I think the idea behind Gran's recipe was to make it faster by cooking the chicken and making the sauce all in one pan, making it a great one-pan wonder for the busy people of the world. I concede that although home-made pastry is amazing with its rich buttery fluffyness, it is not the fastest way to get tea on the table, So I bought the ready to roll stuff from the supermarket and don't feel guilty at all (mainly because I have pie to make me feel better).
This recipe always makes me think of the Cromwell gorge in the summertime when the thyme flowers are blooming and the valley is swathed in a rich purple carpet of flowers that keep the bees happy for weeks.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 rashers streaky bacon (cut or scissored into 2.5cm strips)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic chopped finely or crushed
• 125g mushrooms (sliced)
• 250g chicken thighs cut into 2cm pieces
• 25g plain flour
• 2 tsp thyme
• 15g butter
• 375g puff pastry
• 300ml chicken stock
• 1 Tblsp sesame seeds

METHOD:
 Preheat your oven to 200°C. In a heavy-based frying pan (I prefer cast iron but whatever you have is fine), fry the bacon and garlic in the oil until beginning to crisp, then add the sliced mushrooms and soften them in the pan with the bacon.

Toss the chicken in the flour and thyme (you could toss them about in a freezer bag). Put the butter in the bacon-and-mushroom pan before adding the floury chicken and all the flour left in the bag. Stir that up while cooking the chicken until it begins to brown slightly. Pour in the hot stock and stir to create a gravy. Simmer that for about 5 minutes, it will thicken.

Now you can choose how you make these pies into pies; you can take a large muffin pan and have bases and lids or you can take large ramekins or pie pots (most kiwis wouldn't own a pie pot, gran said they were very English!?) and just have lids. I tend to make muffin tray ones for lunches and just lids if I am serving directly for dinner.

In a muffin pan cut out your circles larger than the pan holes and place in (make sure you grease your muffin tin well or line with muffin papers). Divide your mixture between the cases. Make lids for each and place on top and press down the edges to seal. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

In pie pots make pastry rim (a 1cm strip around the top of the pot), use water to make it stick to the side if needed. Divide the mixture between the pots. Make the circles for lids larger than the pots, pop them on and seal them around the edges . Sprinkle the tops with the sesame seeds.

Cook the pies for about 15-20 minutes turning them around halfway through cooking. Once cooked, they should have puffed up magnificently.

TIPS:

•  As you can see in my picture you can just pop the lids on the muffin sized ones without sealing but I think I lost a bit of gravy that bubbled out doing it this way

Rustic mushrooms and bacon on toast

 

If you’ve been following A Spoonful of Country, you know that I’m all about cooking quick, rustic dishes using whatever I have in my kitchen with only a handful of ingredients. Mushys are so good, not to mention easy and delicious, it’s a simple pleasure of mine and I like to make it for myself as a quick lunch or a hearty weekend breakfast for the farmer and I.

The possibilities are endless with the ingredients, as long as you have mushrooms, bacon and a few slices of bread. Any combination of mushrooms would work. I like the Swiss Brown button mushrooms from the supermarket but field ones picked fresh are by far the best. If you are feeling indulgent, you can add some cream to make a sauce but it isn't necessary.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-4 slices bread, toasted
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 250gm mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 3-4 rashers of bacon, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons herbs (parsley, thyme and rosemary would work)
• 1 onion sliced or chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon cream (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste

METHOD:
 In a pan, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil on medium heat for a minute. Then add bacon pieces, mushrooms and herbs to pan and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, toast your bread slices. In pan, season with salt and pepper, then stir in cream and butter if you are using cream. Serve mushrooms on top of buttered toast with a good cup of tea of course!

Bacon egg rolls

This is my version of egg rolls for a lazy dinner when there isn't much in the cupboard or no one can really be bothered with tea. You can add your own twist to what you put in them and they are ready in about two minutes.

INGREDIENTS: (per roll)

• 1 rasher bacon (or 2 strips)
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tblsp water
• Salt & pepper
• mozzarella cheese
• tomato relish
• 2-3 basil leaves 

METHOD:

Put two eggs and the water in a bowl and whisk until fluffy. Add your salt and pepper. Heat either a large non stick frying pan or your crepe maker. Pour the egg mixture into your pan a swirl to coat the pan (depending on the size of your pan you may have to swirl a few times until the egg has created a layer and there is none running any-more). Cook for about 1 minute until the egg is just cooked. Turn out onto a plate and top with cheese, tomato relish and bacon. Roll up to complete and put your basil leaves on the top.
Repeat for as many people you are feeding (or at least twice for the farmer who always wants more than one!).

TIPS:

• You can replace the water for cream for a lovely velvety egg roll
• You can add the grated mozzarella while the egg is still in the pan and it melts and goes all creamy.
• Oven roasted cheery tomatoes are yummy to put in when they are in season also.

Enjoy xx
A

Scotch eggs

Scotch eggs are something that I tend to forget about when I am pondering what to feed the farmer for dinner. But they are so good and pretty easy to make too. This is not glamour food, this is comfort food- the kind that reminds you of Grandma and school holidays.  Great for lunch boxes, picnics, boating trips, hangovers and surprise lunch guests, Scotch eggs are underrated in my book. You can serve them cold with some sauce to dip them in or have them hot with mashed potato on a cold winter night- either way you should put these on the menu.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 eggs
• 500g sausage meat (or 250g beef mince/250g sausage meat- I prefer the mix of the two)
• 1 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp of dried mixed herbs or 1 handful of freshly chopped parsley & 1 tsp fresh thyme
• salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Breadcrumbs

METHOD:
Hard boil your eggs and peel the shell off them (see my blog of how to perfectly boil an egg). While your eggs are boiling prepare the meat.
In a large bowl, mix together sausage meat, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and herbs (if you are using just beef mince because you forgot to buy sausage meat, then you will have to add an egg and 1/2cup of breadcrumbs to bind it all together).
Divide meat mixture into six equal portions & wrap the meat around each hard-boiled egg.  Coat each meat-wrapped egg with breadcrumbs.
Now there are two ways you can cook scotch eggs;

1. Deep fry them. Fill a saucepan about 1/3 with oil and heat till it bubbles. Deep fry Scotch eggs for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.
2. Place eggs in a large non stick muffin pan, bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 15-20mins.

TIPS:

• wet your hands before you wrap the meat around the egg and then it won't stick to you as badly.
• these are great to serve cold. You cut them into quarters and serve with a dipping sauce, the best is Glass Eye creek wild meat sauce-yum!

Enjoy xx
A

Savoury scrolls

 

These are great for in-betweens, ignore the calories, they are yummy cheesy goodness. I sometimes throw a batch of these in the oven and serve with soup for winter lunch. You can put pretty much anything in them and they are a great thing for little people to help with too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large sheet flaky puff pastry (homemade is best but not compulsory)
• 1 cup grated tasty cheese
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (optional)
• tomato sauce
• 2 rashers of bacon chopped into 1cm squares
• 8 (approx) sundried tomatoes chopped 

 METHOD: 
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll out your pastry to make a large sheet. For an easy pastry recipe try my quick puff pastry recipe.

Leave a border- not like my slap happy sauce spreading here!

Spread tomato sauce over dough, leaving a 3cm border along both long edges. Sprinkle with Cheese, bacon and sun-dried tomatoes. Roll up dough firmly. Cut into slices about 2-3cm thick. Arrange scrolls close together on prepared trays (I advise baking paper to avoid cheese stuck to your trays), ensuring join is turned inwards so scrolls don't unroll while cooking. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until light golden and cooked through.

Easy peasy!  Enjoy xx
A

Fresh Smoked Salmon

I hope you enjoy this step by step guide to smoked salmon which is an easy treat to add some variety to your summer BBQ's. The Farmer and I try to catch the fish ourselves, however I am not above stopping at the salmon farms in the Mackenzie to pick up a few fillets either!!
The farmer has requested that I tell you that he usually smokes the salmon and he would like some credit please.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Salmon (I like using boned out fillets, but a whole fish is just as good)
• 3 Tblsp brown sugar
• 3 Tblsp lemon juice
• seasoning (I usually use smoked salt and cracked pepper)
• Smoker 
• Smoking wood chips (easy to buy at your local hardware/outdoors store)
• Tin foil

METHOD:

First take your salmon fillet and pull out the bones with kitchen tweezers (clean pliers also work really well). Then mix the sugar, lemon and seasoning in a small bowl. Brush on with a basting brush to cover the entire fillet. Rub all over, just like you would do to a pork roast skin. If you are patient it is great if you do this bit the night before and let it marinade overnight, but we have had good results doing this right before smoking it.
Place the fillet onto some tin foil, I usually make the tin foil a couple of layers thick so that it doesn't break.

Place the wood-chips in the bottom of the smoker and put it (with the lid on), over the heat. We just put ours on the BBQ  with a couple of burners on the lowest setting, but you can do it over a fire (it is much harder to get consistent low heat over a fire tho). When the wood-chips start to smoke place the fish into the smoker. The trick is to try and keep the heat as low as possible while still making the chips smoke, you are trying to smoke it, not cook it.
Check the fish occasionally for the next hour or so, the time it takes will depend on the size of the fish. It will go a light pink colour and fall apart easily.
Take the salmon off the smoker and allow to cool. After 10 minutes or so you can use the salmon for whatever recipe you are making or just enjoy straight off the foil!! 

TIPS:

• Serve with crackers and cream cheese on a platter- this makes a great starter for a dinner party
• Smoked salmon is very versatile, I use it in quiche, salad, pasta, eggs Benedict, omelettes, canapés or straight off the tin foil.
• Salmon is a great way of getting omega 3 into your family, it is really really good for you and the best thing is, you don't need to eat a huge amount because it is very filling, so it makes a really affordable meal option
• Smoked salmon keeps for about a week in the fridge but it freezes well, so I usually cut up a large fillet into meal size portions and freeze them. Just make sure you defrost them slowly in the fridge otherwise it can dry out

Lunch Box ideas

A day on the tractor or out on the hill needs to be accompanied by a nice full lunch box. I sometimes feel like the farmer must get bored with the same old things in his lunch but he assures me that he would eat B&E pie every meal if I let him!

Despite my feeling of a severe lack in creativity most days, I have compiled a list of some of the ideas I use for work lunches. We don't have any little people in our house, but these would be great for school lunches too (smaller portions that what the farmer gets tho!?).

Please do not be under the illusion that I am up at 5am each morning creating great feasts for the farmer, most days he gets sent with a water bottle and a frozen slice of Bacon and Egg pie (given the lack of complaints, I assume it defrosts by lunch time).

Morning tea:

• savoury and sweet muffins
• scones (cheese, savoury or date)
• banana bread
• un-iced cake (make one on the weekend, slice and freeze ready to be thrown in the lunch box)
• pikelets with butter and jam

Fruit:

• Anything as long as it is in season
• I sometimes put a handful of frozen berries in a drink bottle of water. It makes the water taste good, keep cold (for a while anyway) and you are getting some of the goodies out of it in each sip!

Sandwich fillings:  
Don't forget to change the type of bread that you use, ciabatta is great and so is Turkish and home-made is best!

• Vegemite & cheese
• Steak leftover from BBQ with some lettuce and onion relish
• boiled egg mashed with a little egg mayonnaise, season and add some fresh, finely chopped chives and/or parsley
• canned tuna mashed with a little whole egg mayonnaise, squeeze of lemon juice and fresh, finely chopped parsley
• grated cheese and grated carrot and a light spread of avocado
• leftovers – chicken, roast beef, corned beef, meatballs, rissoles or sliced sausages
• Sliced sausages, cheese and red capsicum
• chicken leftovers go well with just some avocado or mayo and salad leaves
• chicken, mayonnaise and a yummy salad of lettuce, tomato and grapes
• cream cheese, grated carrot and shredded lettuce
• hummus, sliced tomato, grated carrot and salad leaves
• bacon, lettuce, tomato with a light spread of avocado (the farmer likes cheese with this)
• sliced ham and cheese with thinly sliced pickled onions
• ricotta, semi sun-dried tomatoes and rocket leaves
• mix some fresh herbs into cottage cheese and top with ham or chicken
• cheese and honey (yes, together! Go on, try it- I dare you!)
• sliced leftover corned beef with some BBQ sauce and rocket leaves
• sliced left over corned beef with wholegrain mustard
• banana and honey (this is best made fresh, but making the honey sandwich and adding the banana later works fine too)
• Ham, cream cheese and capsicum & apricot chutney
• tomato relish and cheese

Sandwich alternatives:

• make a big pasta salad and it will last for a couple of days
• leftover pasta tossed with some cooked bacon, halved cherry tomatoes and grated cheese
• leftover pasta, diced ham, cooked corn kernels, grated cheese and a little mayo
• fresh spring rolls – shredded chicken, bean sprouts, grated carrot, crushed peanuts and fresh coriander and mint
• bread cups – butter bread and place into a muffin tin hole, butter side down to use as the pastry for a mini quiche. Great fillings are bacon and egg, corn cheese and bacon, leek, spinach and egg
• home-made sausage rolls
• ploughman's lunch – bread roll, cubes of cheese, sliced corned beef, sticks of carrot and dip
• Frittatas, quiches or vegetable slices
• Cold meat patties left over from a BBQ with some cheese slices and tomato sauce
• hot soups or leftovers in little flasks for cold Winter days

Rachel Keeley's yeast free pizza base

Rachel and I flatted together when we went to Lincoln University and this pizza was such a good way of feeding the boys in the flat for cheap and really fast to try and stop them emptying the fridge before dinner!! 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Cups flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3-4 Tblsp Butter
• 3/4 Cup milk 

METHOD:

Mix all of the ingredients together and then kneed the dough until you can roll it out easily. Roll it to the shape/size of your tray.  Then put your toppings on and bake at 250 degree Celsius until cooked.

TIPS: 
I always bake the base for two or three minutes before putting on the topping because I like it crunchy, but you don't have to.
Don't forget that cold pizza makes for a great lunch box filler too. 

Watch this space- just need to convince the farmer we need a pizza oven......
xx A

Bacon and Egg Pie

Who doesn't love B&E Pie? Great for farmers in-betweens or for lunch, this classic is an easy meal whipped up in no time. It can be enjoyed hot or cold and is great with a bit of home-made tomato sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

• 700gm puff pastry see quick puff pastry or see good simple shortcrust pastry (either is fine)
• 1 dozen eggs- free range are best
• 10 rashers of bacon- rind off and chopped into 2cm squares
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 cup milk or cream
• seasoning

METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius. Roll out your pastry and line a 30cm pie tin/tart tin. Keep aside the remaining pastry to make the top. Scatter the peas, onion, about 2/3 of the bacon (and herbs if you are using them) over the pastry in the bottom of the pie dish. Break 10 of the eggs one at a time into the pie- try not to break the yolks. Finish with the remaining bacon.
Whisk the remaining eggs, milk or cream and drizzle over the top of the pie. Grind some pepper and salt over to taste.
Roll the remaining pastry for the top of the pie. I cut this into strips and make a woven top, but if you are in a hurry one piece is fine. Dampen the edges of the pastry case with a little water and carefully place the remaining pastry on top. Press the pastry case and top together to seal and trim edges.

Glaze the pie with whisked egg yolk and water (you don't need to do this if you weave the top because some egg bubbles through and does it for you!). Bake for 50 -55 minutes. Leave in the tin to cool.

TIPS:

• Use the freshest eggs possible, I have chooks but often you can pick up free range eggs from roadside stands as well as at the supermarket. The fresh taste and bright yellow colour of farm fresh eggs is simply unbeatable.
• You can add fresh herbs to this if you wish, parsley and chives are great
• Sometimes I add a little ground nutmeg to the milk/cream to give it a little flavour kick

You can make a large pie and then cut it up and freeze it for lunch boxes

Grandma Bush's self crusting quiche

This recipe is a must have for every country house, it is so easy and quick. My grandmother must have made thousands of these over the years and now it is regularly used in our house too. It's a great way of using up left overs or quickly thrown together with a salad to feed unexpected lunch guests. Gran used to say that "each quiche is always the same only different" you can put just about anything into this recipe and it will still be just as good- so get creative

INGREDIENTS:

•  1 Cup Milk
•  1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Cup spinach
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• pinch salt
• 3-5 eggs
• butter to grease dish

METHOD:

Beat eggs with salt, milk, flour and Baking powder in a bowl. Add veges and cheese. Stir to combine. Pour into buttered quiche dish and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 25-30 mins.

TIPS:
This recipe is great for using up left overs from the fridge so it can become more of a flan style dish if you want. I also make these and freeze them in slices for farm lunch boxes. Try out some of these different combinations;

• salmon and cream cheese
• mixed roast veges- pumpkin, kumara, potato
• spinach, pine-nuts and shredded chicken
• ham left over from Christmas is great
• bacon and mushrooms

 Thanks gran xx A