Cheesy Tuna Strudels Serves: 6

Ingredients:
3 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg
150g tasty cheese
handful fresh parsley
4 shallots roughly chopped
1 medium carrot roughly chopped
1 stick celery roughly chopped
1/2 red capsicum roughly chopped
425g can tuna in oil, drained
150g cream cheese cubed (or half tsp size blobs)
3/4 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste (I use lots of cracked pepper)
1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 180^o and line trays with baking paper (enough trays to fit 3 half sheets of pastry on them).

Lay pastry sheets out on bench to thaw.

Separate the egg, placing the eggwhite in one cup and the yolk in another cup (beat the yolk lightly).

Place the cheese in the TMX bowl and grate for 3 seconds on speed 8. Set aside.

Without rinsing the bowl add the parsley, shallots, carrot, celery and capsicum and chop for 3-5 seconds on speed 5 (until it is a finely grated texture).  Remove any large remaining pieces and handchop them or discard.

Add half of the grated cheese into the TMX bowl with the vegies.  Also add the curry powder, salt and pepper, cream cheese and tuna (flaking it slightly as you put it in). Mix until well combined on reverse speed 3 for 7 seconds.

Cut each pastry sheet in half, lengthways.  Spread the tuna mixture (in mounds) over 3 of the pastry pieces leaving a 2cm border around the edge.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the tuna mixture.  Brush the edges of pastry around the tuna filling with eggwhite.

Cut 7cm-diagonal slits (about 3 cm apart) down the remaining 3 pieces of pastry to form the strudel tops.  Carefully place these on top of the tuna mixture (the bottoms) and seal by pressing the edges together.

Transfer the strudels to the prepared trays and brush the tops with egg yolk.  Sprinkle with poppy seeds if desired.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.

Cut into slices and serve.

Notes:
This recipe is based on a Better Homes and Gardens booklet recipe.
I forgot to do diagonal slits as you can see in the photos.
My first forum photos - nothing flash but exciting all the same!!!

Members' comments
isi - I love this one!!!! Made last night a Colzone Pizza with Tuna, Onion, Pepper and Corn! Beautiful.

faffa 70 - Made these last week and they are soooo good that even MR FUSSY (DS no 4) requested them for his 5th birthday dinner last night!!!!! OMG I have never rushed to make a recipe so fast (before he changed his mind lol).

Twitterpated - We had this for dinner tonight. Really great and quick recipe that really delivers on taste. Especially good for those who aren't real fond of fish. DS tasted the mix before I put it in the pastry and loved it so much he has asked me to make it as a dip next time we entertain. Had a taste myself and I think he's on to something.

lucky - I made this last night for dinner, it was a huge hit with the whole family!! My boys 2 and 4yo both gobbled it up, so we have a new favourite to add to our list! Thanks Chelsea for sharing.

Frozzie - had these tonight as needed something quick and I had some puff pastry in the fridge and tuna and yum. I was surprised how nice this was...wasn't expecting it to be so nice. I added a zucchini and mild chilli. DH commented quite quickly which is always a positive lol. Thanks for the recipe chelsea...thumbs up from frozzies household and so quick and easy! I made one big one then used the rest for dip.  I just minced it up a bit more in the thx and it went down a treat...visitors loved it and even said it was one of the best dips he had tasted yet!!

JD - Took a full one around to Mum, popped the spare one in the freezer.  Lovely recipe thanks Chelsea. Frozen strudels reheat perfectly.

Chelsea - I made these tonight even though I was missing half the ingredients. I substituted the capsicum, celery and shallots for some broccoli and half an onion (I did have a carrot).  They were very yummy. I told DH about the dip idea and he tasted the mix and ended up cleaning the bowl and spatula.

Merrilyn - This was such a huge hit with the family, DH has requested I make it again for Father's Day Lunch. Thanks for a great recipe Chelsea.

Frozzie - Made this again the other day in individual pastries and had about a quarter of a cup left over so mixed it with a small pot of philly type cheese and was also very nice. Think it was 100 to 150g.

Lellyj - Thanks  Chelsea, for another delicious recipe.  This was fast and easy and also very filling.  I added all the ingredients except the tuna and then scooped some mix out and mixed with a bit more cheese and also some cooked broccoli and carrot chunks for my vegetarian son, then added tuna to the rest.  Will make again often. Next time I make this I'm going to add portabello mushrooms to the mix for the vegetarian option, and this would also taste good with tuna!

leesmac78 - WOW!  Yum!  Loved it!  Will make it again definitely!!!!!  In Germany, our pastry comes in rolls, 30cm x 50cm (approx, I had no ruler!!!)  So I used 2 packets and made a giant one.  Ed and I had seconds and there is plenty for lunch tomorrow.  Served with a simple summer salad it was delicious! Thank you so much for such a wonderful conversion!

Shazzy - My family loved this thanks Chelsea.  I took a frozen one out of the freezer for dinner last night and it reheated beautifully - I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical. In fact my husband actually raved how good it was! Will definitely be on our menu again and one that I can make and keep in the freezer for those nights we need a quick yummy meal.

maddy - .....another Chelsea winner. When I opened the tin of tuna, hubby was screwing up his nose.....thought to myself "Uh-Oh".....well he loved them!....we all did. Thanks Chelsea.

Uni - to fiddly for me, so I just threw everything in and made a pie.

CC - Made this for supper last night. I agree with everyone they are so good, thank you Chelsea for such a great recipe.

Kimmyh - Made these in the morning for Good Friday dinner and they were delicious. I was impressed at how quick and easy they were to make and how well they reheated. Will be making again. Thanks Chelsea, another one of yours in my favourites file.

Augusta - I made these on Good Friday and they tasted great. I used tinned salmon. Froze the other two for another time. Thanks Chelsea.

ES - I made this tonight substituting the curry powder with a pinch of chilli powder and a teaspoon of KFC Spice. I don't have a reverse function on my ThermoChef, so I used the knead function for about 20 seconds to combine everything at the end.
There were 3 adults and 2 kids for dinner tonight  and no leftovers. DD had three servings and fussy DS had 2 servings.

MF - Just made these. They smell divine.

Cuildh - One of the draw backs of being vegetarian on this forum is that, if you are like me, you see a recipe featuring meat or fish and you tend to pass it over as being 'unsuitable'.  I have always been aware that by doing this there is a chance that I may be missing out on lots of interesting recipes so, for some unknown reason, I just decided to browse this recipe this morning out of curiosity as it has been on the forum so much recently and there it was - a great recipe adaptation for a vegetarian version.
I have learned my lesson and am now going to start checking out every recipe - just in case!  Thanks everyone for your postings and suggestions.

http://www.westonaprice.org/Dirty-Secrets-of-the-Food-Processing-Industry.html

This is an interesting American article by Sally Fallon about processed food.  Cyndi O'Meara claims that cardboard breakfast cereal packaging is more nutritious than some processed breakfast cereals and this article seems to prove it (although the experiment is somewhat questionable). Scary stuff though!!!

Bellinis   (Italian Champagne Cocktail)
Fast and Easy Cooking (UK)

Tweaking
I used drained tinned peaches (unfrozen) for this recipe and they worked fine with the ice cubes. 

Delicious when made with a gorgeous bottle of Tasmanian bubbly for our Christmas brunch!!!

Flavour and Recipe    5/5  (Yummy!!!) 

For our Christmas dinner celebration I have been asked to bring a pasta salad and chocolate ripple cake.  Feeling slightly uninspired by my required dishes I have been checking out the forum to see if I could find something similar - but perhaps with a special tweak.  I have printed JulieO's pasta salad recipe which looks yummy and now need something for dessert.

Does anyone have any ideas for a chocolate dessert or cake that I could take??  Preferably not a cheesecake (or biscuit base) as that is the other dessert of the evening.  Has anyone tried the double chocolate cake from the UK cookbook??  Or perhaps the dirt pudding from the Budget Busters booklet?  I thought that may be nice in a big bowl served with berries (without the worms).  Any ideas appreciated.

We love the Gozleme's too.  Yummo!!!

Name of Recipe: Zucchini Brownies

Number of People: makes 24 2"x3" brownies

These little beauties have almost ½ a kilo of zucchini hidden in them.  Serve them completely cooled and your kids will never know they are eating veggies!!!

Ingredients:
1 egg
170g plain yogurt
110g olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
470g zucchini, roughly chopped
210g plain or wholemeal plain flour
30g baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup date sugar (or raw sugar)
80g rapadura (or another half cup of raw sugar)
100g chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preparation:

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a 9”x13” pan.
2.  Add egg, yogurt, oil and vanilla to TMX bowl and whisk on speed 4 for 20 seconds. Don’t worry if it seizes up.  Set aside.
3.  Add zucchini to unwashed TMX bowl and grate for 10 seconds on speed 4 (scraping down the sides of the bowl after 5 seconds).
4.  Add flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, rapadura, and date/raw sugar into TMX bowl. Mix until blended – 20 seconds, reverse, speed 3.
5.  Add liquid mixture back into bowl & stir for 10 seconds, reverse, speed 3.
6.  Spread evenly into pan and sprinkle with choc chips (and nuts if desired).
7.  Bake for 40-50 minutes (note: these brownies are very moist even when fully cooked).

Tips/Hints:
Wait until the brownies are completely cool before eating.

Converted from a Debra Lynn Dadd recipe (Sweet Savvy Website).

members' comments

cathy79 -  I blitzed the zucchini a little more than in the recipe as I wanted to make sure it was as smooth as possible.  Didn't have the chocolate chips, so didn't bother with that step.  Also didn't have the baking soda (can't remember what that's supposed to do).  Easy Peasy! I cooked for 35 minutes and allowed to cool. On slicing it was beautifully moist and quite moussy.  Both girls gobbled them up.
Had a little too much mixture for the slice tin so put in 2 little ramekins and cooked.  Delicious little puddings, even while warm.

Snoozi - I really blitzed the zucchini but I didn't have any cocoa so used carob.. I am not a big fan of the carob taste (although I did use it in the last batch of chocolate nut spread and thought it was nice).  I don't like it in this but the kids are wolfing..

sabimby - baked it in a square tin, around 9 inches. I cooked it on 180^oC for the 40 mins but it looked very wobbly so cooked it for another 10 or so mins, knife came out wet, cooked another 15 mins and still wet. The outside didn't burn though. Just wondering if the recipe needs to be edited to say that it should be moist and remove the part saying the skewer should come out clean??? Here I was thinking I'd cooked a dud (but a yummy dud!) however it sounds like others have had the same thing happen.

cathy79 - I cook mine until they "look" cooked on top, and spring back to touch. These freeze and defrost really well.  Don't forget they have yoghurt in them so do need to be kept in the fridge.

zeraa - Awesome. A bit to strong for the kids because I used dutch cocoa and dark choc. I used dates for half the sugar (the rest brown sugar as I had no rapadura) and they were good - I did them dry -Ii think they would have blended in better if I had soaked them in hot water foist as I usually do. I did a Spelt/rye/millet/buckwheat grain mix for the flour and did half beetroot and half zuchini. Very very yum. Beautiful brownie consistency and not too sweet.

ladybird - thanks so much for these, just made today and they are absolutely delish - DD (nearly 3) loved them and kept wanting more. they are healthy enough (with wholemeal flour) that I wouldn't actually mind, except that then she would think its ok to have limitless brownies!! I might cut down the choc chips next time to increase the healthy ratio..I did throw in a handful of fresh blueberries too and they were yummy.

em -  wow they are so moist and yummy, the kids love these and haven't a clue whats really in them ..haha thanks for the great recipe.

thermie crew - I loved the brownie recipe and couldn't taste the zucchinis at all but my children didn't like them - a big surprise!I think they were put off by the really moist texture. They'll eat zucchini slice though so can't complain!

Denzelmum - Made this last night without choc chip and walnut. Took some to work and got thumbs up from every one!  Very moist. Thanks, Chelsea.

Coops - BIG success and can't stop grinning each time my fussy kids go back for more, and more, and more, lol. If only they knew!!!

Name of Recipe: Swiss Beef

This is our family's favourite meal.  Very simple, but so tasty!  We hope you enjoy it too. 

Number of People: Serves 4 adults (with steamed veg).

Ingredients:
A handful of fresh parsley
1 onion, peeled and quartered
100g bacon rashers
50g olive oil
500g casserole steak – trimmed and diced
500g beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste.
160g white rice (long grain)

Preparation:
Place parsley into bowl and chop for 5 seconds on speed 5.  Set aside.
Place onion and bacon into bowl and chop for 3-4 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down bowl.
Add olive oil and sauté for 3 minutes, 100⁰, reverse speed 1.
Add steak and sauté for 3 minutes, 100⁰, reverse soft speed.
Add 250g of stock and salt & pepper and cook for 25 minutes, 100⁰, reverse soft speed.
Add rice and remaining stock and continue cooking for a further 20 minutes, 100⁰, reverse soft speed.
Add chopped parsley and stir through for 10 seconds, reverse speed 3.
Serve with steamed greens.  Enjoy.

Tips/Hints:
I have tried to steam veg in the varoma whilst the Swiss Beef was cooking, but it doesn't work well on the 100⁰ temperature setting.  The Swiss Beef can be kept warm in the thermoserve however whilst veggies are being steamed in the varoma for a complete family meal.

Name of Recipe: Vegetable Lasagne (for when you need a big vegie fix  )

Number of People: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 onion peeled and quartered
3 cloves garlic peeled
1 small red chilli deseeded
20g olive oil
1/2 red capsicum roughly chopped
2 celery stalks roughly chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 large or 2 medium green apples peeled, cored and roughly chopped (I use golden delicious)
1 can whole tomatoes
A splash of homemade tomato sauce
200g mushrooms sliced
Salt and pepper
Fresh or dried herbs to taste (parsley, basil, oregano)
A double batch of bechamel sauce (recipe in the EDC)
100g grated tasty cheese (can use TMX for this)
Fresh lasagne sheets (I make my own - see below)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 180^o or 160^o fan forced.
Place herbs in bowl (if using fresh ones) and chop for 5 seconds on speed 6.  Set aside.
Add onion, chilli and garlic to bowl and chop for 6 seconds on speed 6.
Scrape down bowl, add olive oil and saute for 2 minutes on 90^o at speed 1.
Add capsicum, celery, carrot, apple, tin of tomatoes and tomato sauce and chop for 3 seconds on speed 6 (don't overprocess or your lasagne won't hold together very well).  Cook for 8 minutes at 100^o on reverse, soft speed.
Add sliced mushrooms, chopped herbs, salt and pepper and stir with spatula to combine.
Place a spoonful of the vegie sauce on the bottom of lasagne dish and smear around with a spoon (to stop the pasta sticking).
Lay the first lasagne sheets and cover completely with one third of the vegie sauce, followed by one third (or a bit less) of the bechamel sauce.  Complete this layering a further two times.
Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

Tips/Hints:

Making your own lasagne sheets:
I make my own spelt lasagne sheets using my TMX and pasta maker (but I believe you can using a rolling pin).  I use 100g spelt grain, 200g spelt unbleached flour, 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon of EVOO.  I mill the grain first for 2 minutes at speed 9 and then add the other ingredients and knead on interval setting for 2 minutes.  I form the dough into a ball, let it rest for an hour in my silpat mat, put it through the rollers until very thin and then let it dry on my clothes airing rack for another hour before cutting to size with kitchen scissors.  Very yummy!!!