My homemade hummus is the best ever. Why? Because I can adjust it to taste exactly how I like it. And so can you. Prefer a garlic hit? Add more garlic. Like the tang of lemon? Add some more. While cooking from scratch may not save you time, it does mean you can have perfect tasting food.

I’ve been making hummus as a protein / fibre snack lately to eat on whole wheat crackers or with vegetables. I’ve never been a huge fan, but lately I’ve fallen in love with it’s subtle flavour. The biggest challenge is to make the lot last more than one day. Makes just under 500g.

Method

1. Blend or process until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water to loosen it up or until you have your preferred consistency. Taste and season, adding more garlic, tahini or lemon juice as suits your tastes.

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It’s Halloween today, so I thought I would share another pumpkin recipe: mini muffin- tin pumpkin quiches.

These mini quiches are similar to this recipe, previously shared, except that they are baked in a muffin tin, and therefore take much less time to cook. Of course, you can make any quiche recipe ‘mini’ by following the directions below.

These make great finger food, picnic lunches, school or work lunches or an out-and- about lunch. Makes approx. 8.

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a muffin tin.
• Over a low heat, sauté onion and garlic until softened, without browning. Add the dried herbs and sauté for a further minute, then set aside to cool.
• Beat the eggs and cream, then beat in the mashed pumpkin and cheese. Finally, stir in the onion mixture.
• Cut rounds from the pastry using a pastry cutter or glass, and line each muffin tin hole with pastry. Spoon or pour quiche mixture into each hole.
• Bake for 10 – 20 minutes or until quiche is set. I find that in my oven, things cook more evenly if I turn them half way through.

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1. savoury pumpkin pie
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Chilli powder? Fresh chilli? Tabasco Sauce? I was looking around for different ideas to spice up our fairly plain bean enchiladas and I came up with this ingredient as a flash of inspiration (if it’s been done before, I haven’t seen it).

I tell you, these went straight to our family favourites list! They have so much flavour and DH thought they were tasty even though they are vegetarian. And of course, as a bean meal, it’s a pretty inexpensive dinner. We made six enchiladas with this amount of mix.

I’ve been reading about enchiladas so much on American websites and as we’re eating a lot more vegetarian meals, I thought that we would have to give them a go. They have certainly become a winning meal in our house.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Sauté the onion, capsicum and carrot in a little oil over medium to high heat for five minutes or so.
3. Add the tinned tomatoes and sweet chilli sauce and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 – 20 minutes or until reduced and thickened. Stir in the kidney beans and heat through.
4. Spoon bean mix onto tortillas and roll up. Place on a greased baking dish, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.
5. Serve with the avocado, sour cream and shredded lettuce.

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1. kidney bean quesadillas
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3. sausage, cannellini bean and vegetable stew

These mini pizzas are so quick and easy to make and are great served for lunch as a way to get your five serves of vegetables a day.

If you have the toppings already cut up and ready to go, this lunch can be on the plate in under five minutes. Add an extra minute to cut up your toppings – it’s that easy.

We make vegetarian pizza toast with whatever is in the crisper, but you can use your favourite pizza toppings. Serves 1.

Method

1. Lightly toast bread.
2. Spread with tomato paste, sprinkle on oregano and capsicum, top with sliced mushrooms and grated cheese.
3. Toast under a hot griller until cheese is melted and bubbling and mushroom is cooked.

We are currently trying to get our yard into shape before summer hits. With the left over tree stumps that have been sitting around the yard for over four years, we made a little kid’s table and chair, where the little fella eats his lunch:

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I have just discovered quesadillas (or at least, the American version of quesadillas).

If you’re wondering what planet I’ve been living on to not know what these are, my excuse is that Mexican cuisine isn’t big in Australia.

Yes, I’ve had my fair share of Old El Paso tacos and I’ve even made my own tortillas from scratch a long, long time ago, but Mexican food is a bit, well, foreign to me.

If you’re uninitiated like I was, a quesadilla is basically a toasted tortilla sandwich. I’m not a big fan of lots of bread, so I like how this is a lower-carb sandwich, where the emphasis is on the filling.

You can put anything on it you like, we had mashed banana and cheese the other day. This is my bean and salad version. Serves 1.

Method

1. Mash the kidney beans slightly and stir through the cumin.
2. Spread one of the tortillas with avocado, then top with lettuce, tomato and kidney bean mixture.
3. Grate a little more cheese over the beans and place the remaining tortilla on top.
4. Toast in a sandwich press until golden and cheese has melted or in a hot pan, pressing down slightly with an egg flip and turning half way to toast both sides.
5. Slice into segments and serve.

Variations: add cooked chicken; top with sour cream or stir through the kidney beans to make more of a spreadable bean; add a sprinkling of chilli if you like things with a little heat.

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The little fella is pretty good with his vegetables, but broccoli always ends up on the floor. Unless it’s covered in cheesy sauce! This is so easy if you use leftover veg and pasta, otherwise steam some finger food sized vegetables to make this dish. Exact measurements will depend on how much leftovers you have, I find a little sauce goes a long way – just enough to make things tasty but still ‘pick-up-able’ (and ‘clean-up-able’ for mum).

Method

1. Sauté onion in butter over low heat until soft. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute before adding the milk and stirring well over low heat to make a thick sauce.
2. Stir in the grated cheese, pasta and vegetables and heat through.

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I’ve been making a variation of roast pumpkin risotto for quite a few years now. I think it was the first risotto variation I ever made and I got the original recipe off the back of a stock packet.

Well the other day I had an inspiration. I’ll roast the pumpkin in honey. It was yum. It was a revelation. Several days later I came across a recipe for – you guessed it – honey roasted pumpkin risotto. My idea isn’t such a unique revelation after all. I get that a lot. Nevertheless, this is my version of the risotto. Serves 2 –4

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. On a baking sheet, toss the pumpkin in the oil, garlic, rosemary and honey. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until cooked through, giving the pan a shake halfway through cooking.
2. Meanwhile, heat a little oil or butter in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté onion until soft. Add the rice, stirring to coat in the oil.
3. Add the wine and stir until absorbed into the rice. Add a little stock at a time, stirring until it is absorbed. Keep adding stock and stirring until the rice is cooked through.
4. Stir in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper (to taste – you have to taste) and cream if using. Gently stir in the cooked pumpkin and serve.

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This is a guest post from my husband Colin.

I’m the guy who used to pick the capsicum off his pizza.

When Mel’s talking food and makes comments about ‘fussy partners’ it’s me she’s talking about. My wife is a good cook who uses ingredients well. A quick search through the recipe section will show that. To my knowledge she has only ever tried to kill me with once with food. We were staying the night in a caravan park at Lennox or Brunswick Heads partway through the 1300 km drive to Sydney. Had she been successful the CSI investigators would, after removing their sunglasses, point out the murder weapon; a half empty bowl of Indian Curry. Motive would be difficult to establish if it weren’t for the fact we were staying the night in a caravan park at either Lennox or Brunswick Heads partway through the 1300 km drive to Sydney.

[Melissa’s note: it wasn’t that hot. ]

There’s a saying ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing’. I’ve heard it twice in the past week and both times it was from a Scotsman which speaks volumes of the Scottish climate. Anyway, the same can be said about food. There are no bad ingredients only bad recipes, if recipes are being used at all. Boil a Brussels sprout and tell me I’m lying. Sauté a Brussels sprout in garlic butter and and do the same.

If there’s something that you don’t like to eat find the best sounding recipe and try it. Don’t like mushrooms, try Stroganoff. Not fussed with zucchini, try Ratatouille and if capsicum is not your thing try this…

Steak with Capsicum Salsa

1. Cook the steak how you like it
2. Quarter the capsicum and clean out the seeds.
3. Place the capsicum under the grill skin up.
4. When the skin blackens remove and peel (covering in tin foil after grilling makes this easier).
5. Place the capsicum on a chopping board add a good splash of olive oil and chop it down to a salsa.
6. Add chopped parsley and steak juices if you pan fried the steak.
7. Mix it up and serve on the steak.

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Traditionally, risotto is made with Arborio rice which is a small grain, high in starch. It’s the starch that make the risotto creamy. I know I’m going to make good chefs cry with this statement, but I use plain old long grain rice because it’s cheaper and it tastes fine.

To stir or not to stir? I used to cook my risotto without stirring, just turn the heat down low, wack on a lid and come back half an hour later. This method makes risotto (if I’m allowed to call it that) really easy. However, it is so much better if you take the time to stir the risotto as it cooks (although I note on Masterchef they say never stir but ‘agitate the pan gently’). You’re also supposed to heat the stock before adding it to the rice, which I’m sure would speed up the cooking process, but I don’t bother with that either (one less pan to wash). So I guess the only rule is: cook it however you like.

I usually use my own homemade stock which makes this dish very inexpensive, less than $3 for a meal for two.

Method

1. In a medium saucepan fry mushrooms and rosemary in a little butter until mushrooms are just cooked. Remove from pan.
2. In the same saucepan, add a little more butter or olive oil and sauté onion and garlic over medium heat until onion is translucent translucent.
3. Add rice and stir for a minute or two to coat in oil. If you are using wine, add it now and stir until it is absorbed by the rice.
4. Add the stock a good slosh at a time (about 1/4 cup I guess) and stir until absorbed then add some more. Keep adding stock until the rice is cooked through. You may not need all the stock. This process takes between 20 – 40 minutes depending on what rice you use and if the stock is hot or not.
5. Stir in the parmesan and the cream if using, season and taste. Finally, gently stir in the mushrooms.
6. Serve with crusty bread and a salad.

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I love asparagus season. I look forward to eating fresh asparagus every year. This simple quiche is all about the asparagus. I made a particular effort not to put onion, garlic, bacon or any other overpowering flavour in the quiche as I am wont to do and I was glad I cooked with restraint – the quiche was subtle but delicious. And very inexpensive.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a pie dish or quiche flan with puff pastry. Bake for 5 –10 minutes or until just starting to cook and puff.
2. Wash asparagus, snap off the woody stalks and cut into 5cm lengths. Boil or steam until tender.
3. In a bowl beat eggs and cream together, add cheese, salt and pepper and mix to combine. Add asparagus spears.
4. Pour egg mixture into pastry case, spreading out the asparagus spears. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until egg is set and pastry is golden. You may need to turn the dish around in the oven half way through the cooking for even browning.

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