Do you ever have those lazy, drizzling with rain, Saturdays when not much is happening, even the dog is asleep on its bed and it is 2pm before you know it, and you want to eat something warm and comforting.  This is it!

What You Need:

• Bread
• Bacon
• Baked Beans
• Cheese

What You Need To Do:

Step one is to extract yourself from the lounge, open your tired, half asleep eyes, unwrap yourself from the blanket and shuffle toward the kitchen.  Turn on the grill and let it heat up while you cook the bacon.

Put the bread in the toaster and cook to your desired burnt-ness and then top with the baked beans.  Drain the bacon for a bit and then put it on top of the beans.

Lastly place slices of your fave cheese on top and grill it until golden and bubbly!

When all done, go and find that lovely spot on the lounge again and finish watching the tv show/movie you were watching before, with half asleep eyes, so now you can totally rest those eyes!  Oh, and of course later you will be going for that 5km run so don’t worry about the calories!!

I suppose you all think we only eat sweet biscuits and cakes here, but sadly we do not. We do like savoury just as much! These are a great snack, or for in the lunchbox, we even had them for tea the other night with some roasted veges and cous cous. The husband was dubious about the meat content of that meal, or lack thereof, but was pleasantly surprised by how tasty and, more importantly, how filling they are!

What You Need:

• 2 cups chickpea flour
• 2 large potatoes (about 600g)
• 2 large brown onions (about 400g)
• 100g baby spinach leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 cup water
• oil for frying

What You Need To Do:

This is a great recipe because it is easy, quick and more importantly only uses one bowl! So, grate the potato into a large bowl, add the thinly sliced onion, spinach leaves and the garlic. Give it a little mix, trying not to break the spinach up too much.

You can sift the flour and spices over the top of the mix. Add the water and, using your hands, combine all the ingredients. (cue telephone!)

Shape 1/4 cups of the mixture into little patties using wet hands (cue child who needs help with something!). It helps to stop the mix sticking to your hands. This amount should make about 15 but you can make them any size you like! You can shallow fry them in a pan, or if you have a large pot or wok, you can deep fry them.

Cook them for a few minutes and then turn them over when they are golden in colour. Drain them on some paper and sprinkle a little salt on them while they are still hot.

You can have them with a little salad with some yoghurt and cucumber or just eat them for an afternoon tea snack.

I was watching Jamie Oliver on the TV today and he was chucking everything in the bowl – as he does- and I thought I might go and make something. We only had the crust left of the loaf of bread so i thought i would try and make some bread.  Being late in the afternoon, (not used to daylight saving yet!) to make a loaf might be a bit adventurous so I thought I would try a flat bread and so came a cross a recipe for foccacia.  With my bread making efforts previously a bit well, err, umm, not so good, this seemed easy enough.  Chuck it in the bowl, a la Jamie, mix, knead and wait.  Well it is in the oven now and the smell is divine so go and make some for tea tonight to have with a steak and salad or a nice bowl of soup.

What You Need:

• 3 cups plain flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh parmesan cheese

What You Need To Do:

Grab a large bowl, metal or ceramic is better than plastic, and sift the flour and salt together.  Sprinkle in the yeast and the mixed herbs.  I use instant dried yeast, the same as the little packets you get, but it is in a 250g container.  You can get it at the supermarket and just store it in the fridge.  Mix it all together so the yeast and herbs are even throughout the flour.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the water and the oil.  Mix it all up.  Get your hands in there and knead it for about  (is it sounding Jamie Oliver-ish?!)  3 minutes to form a soft dough.

Place it back in the bowl, cover it with some glad wrap and put it in a warm place for about and hour or so until it doubles in size.  I actually put mine in the office right next to me on the desk because it is quite hot in here with the computer going!

When it has doubled in size you punch it down so it deflates and then knead it for another 3 minutes until it is quite smooth.  I think this is great, any bread I have made has at least 10 minutes of kneading so this is really quick and easy on the arms!

Roll it out to a rectangle shape to fit a tray about 36cm x 26cm and poke a few holes into the dough but don’t go all the way through.  These will catch a bit more of the toppings. Scatter the onion, some more herbs, salt and the parmesan.  I also sprinkled a little more olive oil over the top just to help keep it a bit moist and brown up.

The smell is amazing as it is cooking and you will want to devour it as soon as it is out of the oven!!!

I bought some corn this morning at the local fruit shop, still in the husk, really fresh and golden yellow inside. I was going to cook in the fire tonight, wrapped in some foil, but I just had to have some for lunch! I just took all the husk off and then all the silk from inside, you know those long stringy bits, and put it into a pot of boiling water. Let it cook for about
five or six minutes and then drain it. I put a decent slice of butter on a plate and put the cob on top and turned it a few times to really coat it in the butter. Sprinkle with some salt and go and sit in the sunshine and enjoy !

Well, technically this isn’t a recipe but we were HUNGRY!  And I love anything with melted cheese!

I had some nice multigrain bread in the cupboard and it was nearly three o’clock – way past lunch!

What You Need:

• Bread
• Cheese
• Onion
• Butter
• Sandwich Toaster (Press)

What you need to do:

Butter the bread.  I used multigrain, because we always have that, but some nice thick slices of white bread, fresh from the bakery, would be just as good!

Put the buttered sides together and assemble the cheese and thinly sliced onion on top of the bread.  Add more cheese on top of the onion if you want that extra cheesy, melty, goodness to ooze out a little bit and go crunchy on the sides!!

Toast until golden brown and sizzling.  You want the onion to be slightly cooked so it is sweet within the cheese.

Cut into triangles and consume with gusto!

Enjoy!