Ha! I’m trying to offset my rather abundant cake making, and tasting, these last few weeks, with a healthy and simple salad.  It is tasty and really quick to make and goes great in work and school lunches.

What You Need:

• 1 x 95g can chunk tuna
• 1/4 cup red kidney beans
• 1/4 cup sliced cucumber
• 1/4 cup tomato chopped
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup celery
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red capsicum
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon baby capers
• Iceburg lettuce
• salt and pepper

What You Need To Do:

Firstly open the can of red kidney beans and drain and rinse them.  Leave them for a minute so all the liquid has drained away.  Slice all of the salad stuff so they are about the same smallish, bite size pieces.  No need to chop the capers, just leave them whole.

Gently flake the drained tuna into the bowl of salad.  I prefer to use the tuna that is packed in brine, for the extra flavour, but you can use the oil or springwater type too.  Just try to get the chunk style because the sandwich style can sometimes be a little mushy!

To make the dressing just stir together the oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.  Pour over the salad and gently toss, being careful not to break up the tuna too much.  You probably won’t need all of the dressing so you can store it in the fridge to use on other salads or you might be inspired to make this again!

If you have a small, whole lettuce, you can slice it into quarters and just put a whole quarter on the plate.  Otherwise a good sized chink will do as long as it is nice and crunchy.  Pile up the salad next to the lettuce and if you like, drizzle a little of the dressing over the lettuce as well.

You can also add some flat leaf parsley for extra zing but, sadly,I left my fabulous herb garden behind at my old house and this new one isn’t happening yet so I didn’t have any to put in!

Hello! Sorry I haven’t been in touch lately but I am trying to sell my house and am a bit hesitant at making a mess in the kitchen because somebody always wants to have a look when you have just rolled out the scone dough or browned the meat or filled the sink with dishes!!! Anyway, I thought today, too bad!, I will make a mess and cook something tasty for lunch. It’s nice on its own or you could have some for dinner with a nice piece of chicken breast cooked in Tandoori or Tikka paste.

What You Need:

• 500g pumpkin
• 1 large onion
• 1 zucchini
• 8 cherry tomatoes
• rosemary
• thyme
• flat leaf parsley
• salt
• pepper
• 1 cup cous cous
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup natural yoghurt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• garlic

What You Need To Do:

First of all roast the pumpkin, onion and the herbs, except the parlsey, with some olive oil, salt and pepper for about 10 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked through and starting to brown. The onion should be soft and sweet tasting.

I cooked the zucchini on the barbeque so it would have the nice char grill lines on it and it also adds a smokey favour but you can put it in the oven with the pumpkin if you don’t have a barbeque. Just cut it into thin strips and add some garlic and olive oil before placing it on the char, making sure it is pretty hot before you start. It was about this time that the phone rang and I panicked into a wild clean up but it turned out to be a friend calling, not the estate agent, so I calmed down and continued in my normal sedate-like manner!! Phew!

For the cous cous I cheat and use the easy way! Just add a cup of boiling water to a cup of the dry cous cous and cover with plastic wrap and let it sit until it is all absorbed, usually about 5 or 6 minutes. Add some salt and pepper and fluff with a fork until all the grains are separate.

When you have all the bits cooked just toss them together in a large bowl and season to taste. Add the tomatoes, chopped in half, and tear some parsley leaves from the stalks, no need to chop them!

Mix the cumin powder into the yoghurt and serve drizzled over the top.

Today we had visitors for lunch, so I thought we would just have an easy barbeque. I made the usual salads but thought I would make one special dish! The humble sweet potato is such a rich flavour base for fresh herbs, garlic and onions.

What You Need:

Salad

• 1kg sweet potato
• 6 whole french shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach
• Tablespoon each : Rosemary, Thyme & Oregano
• Olive oil
• Cracked black pepper
• Salt

Dressing

• 50mL olive oil
• 25mL balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove

What You Need To Do:

Start by peeling and chopping the sweet potato into bite size cubes. Peel the outer layer from the shallots and the garlic. It doesn’t matter if there is a little skin left because it will come off easily after roasting.

I send the kids out to pick the herbs, because they love helping, and they also love catching the grasshoppers that seem to love my herbs! I just remove the leaves from the stalks and leave them whole.

Put the potato, shallots and garlic in a baking tray and drizzle with a little of the olive oil. Sprinkle with the pine nuts, a little salt and pepper and the herbs and, using your hands, gently toss the potato so the oil coats everything.

Bake these for about half an hour at 170 degrees Celcius or until the potato and shallots are tender but not too soft. You probably will need to turn them halfway through cooking so they go all golden and yummy!

While they are cooking, and the herbs and garlic are wafting through the kitchen, you can make the dressing. Just mix the oil and balsamic together. When the garlic that is roasting is soft, just pinch one of those from the oven, squash it a bit and add it to the oil and vinegar!

When the potatoes are cooked, let it cool for a bit, before adding it to the spinach because the heat will make them wilt a little. Check that shallots are skin free, and then add it all together in a bowl and drizzle some of the dressing over the top. Toss it gently so the balsamic and oil coat the leaves (they can be a little tough to eat raw!) and the potatoes.

This is also yum as a main meal with a bit of fetta cheese. I like the creamy Danish style!