Name of Recipe: Egg and Bacon Pie

Number of People: 4 (with sides)

This Egg and Bacon Pie is really so simple that I'm not sure it even qualifies as a recipe. It is a favourite at our house though so I thought I should probably post it.  

Ingredients:

2 butter puff pastry sheets or 1/2 batch of rough puff pastry
1/2 brown onion peeled
60g tasty cheese
2 rashers bacon - rind removed and chopped
4 free-range eggs
190g non-homogenised milk
salt and pepper to taste
chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Place pastry sheets on bench to thaw for 5 minutes or roll homemade pastry thinly.

Grease a pie plate/dish (I use a 30cm quiche dish) and line with pastry. Cut and join the pastry together where necessary (pressing the seams together at the joins).

Place the onion into the TMX bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 5. Sprinkle over pastry.

Place the cheese into the TMX bowl and chop for 4 seconds on speed 8. Sprinkle over onion.

Sprinkle the bacon over the onion and cheese.

Place the eggs, milk, salt and pepper into the TMX bowl and mix for 20 seconds on speed 4-5. Pour the mixture into the pie dish.

Garnish with chopped parsley and cook for 10 minutes at 200 degrees, before turning the oven down to 180 degrees and cooking for a further 20-25 minutes until set. Enjoy!

Tips/Hints:

I usually serve the pie with steamed veg or crusty bread for a simple meal.

You can chop the bacon in the TMX, but I prefer to have chunky even-sized pieces.

members' comments

Narelle -We had this for tea last night Chelsea and was delicious.  Will definitely be making it again.  I do also like it with whole eggs sometimes so might also try that. I've used this recipe as inspiration for mini egg and bacon pies as an appetiser.  Same recipe but using mini muffin trays.  DD1 has enjoyed them as her school lunch.  Again Chelsea - thanks for sharing!

cookie - Thanks Chelsea we really enjoyed it. I made it with the EDC short pastry but used yoghurt as the liquid. Very tasty.  I served it with Jo's 'fried rice'. That too was delicious and so very nice.

Name of Recipe: Italian Meatballs and Spaghetti In Tomato Sauce

Number of People: 4-6

Ingredients:

For serving:
50g Parmesan
roughly chopped basil or parsley

Meatballs:
50g Parmesan
1/2 piece frozen bread or 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic - peeled
40g sliced salami
1/2 small zucchini - washed and roughly chopped
1/2 carrot - washed and roughly chopped
500g minced beef
2 free-range eggs
1 tbsp basil pesto or sprinkling of fried basil and oregano

Tomato Sauce:
1 onion - peeled and quartered
1 clove garlic - peeled
2-3 bacon rashers - rind removed
30g organic olive oil
50g organic tomato paste
100g dry white wine
350g water
1 tbsp TMX vegie stock concentrate
2 x 400g tins organic chopped tomatoes
300g organic dried spaghetti (not quick cook)
handful fresh basil leaves - roughly chopped
freshly cracked pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place all of the Parmesan (100g) into the TMX bowl and grate for 6 seconds on speed 8. Set aside half in a bowl for serving and the other half in another bowl (to be used soon in the meatballs).

Place the frozen bread into the bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 8. Set aside with the Parmesan that will be used for the meatballs.

To make the meatball mix drop the garlic onto blades spinning at speed 7. Add salami and chop on speed 5 for 10 seconds. Add carrot and zucchini and chop for 10 seconds at speed 5 (scrape down sides and re-chop if necessary to make it very fine).

Add remaining meatball ingredients (including the Parmesan/bread crumb mix) and mix on reverse speed 3 for 8 seconds. Shape into mini meatballs (no bigger than a walnut shell) and place in oiled varoma dish and tray. Ensure that some vents remain uncovered. Set varoma aside and rinse and dry bowl.

To make the sauce add onion, garlic and bacon to TMX bowl and chop for 3 seconds on speed 5. Add oil and saute for 3 minutes at 100 degrees, reverse speed 1.

Add wine and cook for 3 minutes at 100 degrees, reverse speed 1.

Add tomato paste, stock concentrate, tins of tomatoes and cook for 7 minutes, 100 degrees reverse speed 1.

Add the water and spaghetti (broken in half) to TMX bowl and place varoma into position.

Cook for 18 minutes at varoma temp on reverse sp 1.5 (in between the 1 and 2). Lift the varoma slightly after two minutes of cooking and remove any spaghetti that has become lodged in the varoma vents. If the spaghetti isn't mixing well into the sauce at this stage turn the dial up to reverse speed 3 for 5 seconds, before continuing to cook it at speed 1.5.

Remove varoma after cooking time and add pepper and basil leaves to the TMX bowl. Stir through on reverse speed 2-3 for 8 seconds.

Combine spaghetti and meatballs in a large serving dish and sprinkle with the reserved Parmesan and some roughly chopped basil or parsley.

Photos: Check out the photos on my blog here.

Tips/Hints:

Don't be tempted to use quick cook pasta for this dish.  Standard "10-14 minute" pasta is already cooked until quite soft in this recipe (which is what we like ). If you prefer your pasta to be cooked al dente, add the pasta 5 minutes into cooking/steaming.

The sauce lends itself well to adding in extra vegetables.

The meatballs can be prepared earlier in the day (they are a little time consuming to roll) and refrigerated until needed. They can also be frozen in advance and then thawed and cooked for an easy tea.

Don't be tempted to make larger meatballs as they won't cook in the required time. I think we made almost 60 small meatballs.

This dish was inspired by this recipe on Taste.


Reeni: I had no Zucchini, so I used a large field mushroom in its place and no TMX stock, so I used normal beef stock and a bit of water. I had heaps of tomatoes, so I used them in place of the canned ones

KarenH: I only made a couple of changes:  I added in the other 1/2 of the zucchini and carrot into the sauce along with the onion, garlic and bacon.
Instead of using canned tomatoes, I used a 700ml jar of homemade tomato passata (Tenina's Basic Sugo Pomodoro from KIS)

Name of Recipe: Chicken Kiev (A variation of the Chicken Cordon Bleu Recipe)

Thank you so much Farfallina for providing us with your beautiful Cordon Bleu recipe and to Cookie who thought up the Chicken Kiev variation.  

Number of People: 4-6 (Makes 6 Chicken Kiev's)

Ingredients:

Kiev's
100g parmesan (cut into chunks)
500g chicken breast (cut into small chunks)
1 egg
20g flour
1/2 tsp salt

Garlic Butter Filling:
small handful of fresh parsley
2-3 garlic cloves - peeled
80g butter cubed (take out of fridge for 5-10 minutes before using)

Coating:
1 egg (beaten)
Bread crumbs
EVOO

Preparation:

Grate parmesan for 15 seconds speeding up from 2 to 9. Set aside.

Make garlic butter by dropping the parsley and garlic onto blades spinning at speed 7.  Scrape down bowl.

Add butter and combine at speed 5 for 30 seconds.

Divide garlic butter into six even sized pats and set aside (scraping out bowl well).

Put chopped chicken in TM bowl, proceed for 30 seconds on Speed 4.

Add grated parmesan, egg, flour and salt. Proceed for 30 seconds on Speed 4.

Divide into 12 pieces. Roll or flatten each out into a circle (approx 10cm diameter).  Wet your hands with water to work better.

Place the garlic butter pats in the middle of 6 of the circles.  Place another circle on top of each of the garlic butter circles (like a sandwich).  Press and fold the edges closed nicely so the butter won’t come out during baking.

Cover oven tray with wax paper. Brush it over with some oil.

Dip the kiev's into beaten egg and then bread crumbs. Place them in the tray.

Pour a little oil on the top of the kiev's.

Cook in the 180°C preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. (After 15 minutes passed, turn them upside down and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes)


Tips/Hints:

Our kiev's took a little over 30 minutes to cook tonight.  One leaked out (of course ).

I used 80g parmesan tonight but they were still a little too strong for our boys tastes so I will reduce it even more next time.  I may even add a little grated tasty cheese to the mix.

Photos:

Here is the photo of the one that leaked (hence not a lot of butter).  Note the seeded crumbs - classy huh!!!  

members' comments

Catisa - I didn't have any parmesan and decided to use a handful of grated cheddar. These were very tasty.

Narelle - We had them (I pan fried them though) and YUM YUM YUM.  So nice.  I've got another batch in the freezer too (uncrumbed) so looking forward to those next week.  I think these will become a staple in our house.

Berry - Yum Chelsea, thanks for the variation!  We loved these as well as the cordon bleu version.  Both will definitely be regulars for us.  

JD - really enjoyed it.  I only used 50 g parmesan and have frozen the 4 remaining uncrumbed ones. So cheap to make!  Thanks for doing the conversion Chelsea, really appreciate someone doing the work for me.

cookie - loved them. I made the garlic butter some time before and froze the little flat balls of it. I used them from frozen to put in the chicken. It oozed (what a lovely word) out as you cut the chicken.

CC - they were delicious. I intended to buy chicken but they had free range turkey breast mince on offer so I bought that instead. It was a little dryer than chicken but still yummy. Like most people said one leaked whilst cooking. I have three left to pop in the freezer for later use.

faffa - they were a huge hit with the family.

CarolineJ - yummo!  I made them stuffed with brie and cherries. I also pan-fried them as I was short on time.  Would definitely make again.

Herbal - they were a hit!!  And - inexplicably - not one leaked!!  I used seed bread (Helgas) for the crumbs, just great! Thanks for the recipe!

thermie crew - I've made them 3 times now and they've become a family regular. We all love them and with 2 fussy toddlers this is a rare thing! We normally only eat 4 of them and the other 2 are just as nice re-heated in the oven the next day for lunch with some salad.
Thanks so much for this recipe-much appreciated!! I've used thighs before and they worked well. Very moist and cheaper to buy too. I find though that they're harder to handle at the making stage and don't stay together as well.  

wapred - sure hit with the hubby and so much cheaper that the shops and look better. Great that I am now saving the $$$$$  Will definitely making these again... Thank you.

Zan - so so so nice! Love them with the minced chicken rather than the whole breast and the cheese. Kids all loved them too. Cheaper and healthier than shop bought ones.  

maddy - Delish......everyone loved it. I didn't have any leak.....so did a little happy dance. I did make the garlic butter earlier in the day and kept in fridge before using.....don't know if that's what made the difference?

virgo9 - it went down a treat. Yummy with mashed potato and steamed vegies. Will just have to tweak it a little next time - the kids and DH thought there was just a bit too much butter and garlic. But overall - a winner. Thanks!!

Debbiebillg - they were a huge hit. Kids loved them and were asking for more.  We freeze our chicken breast in around 900 gm so it usually does us two meals, so I doubled the quantities and it was great. I made it in to 10 as it works out well for us. Thanks for the recipe.
  
dede - Had these with a fried rice on the side. We all loved them and I would even say they are the best Chicken Kiev's we have ever eaten. I made double the batch as we have a family of 7 but we still had heaps left over. Definitely will be making these again. Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe. Love it.

farfallina - I finally tried it! It is so delicious! Thanks for sharing.

Twitterpated - I only usually use the thighs.  

cgonsalv - Thanks for this wonderful recipe.  It is definitely one to make in bulk.  I got a bit carried away with  the parsley so my garlic butter was bright green.  Looked and tasted wonderful still.  I did make the garlic butter in bulk and rolled it into a sausage shape before freezing it and then sliced it when I needed it.
The only things I did that was a bit different, was divide the mixture into six balls, and then I made a hole in each one, stuck the little frozen bit of garlic butter in and then joined the chicken mixture around it.  It was very quick and easy.  I was expecting it to be very sticky but it was not too bad at all.  The fat content in this dish is very high so am looking at a few lower fat options like this one I found:
2 Tbsp ricotta cheese
225 g frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp finely chopped chives
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

Mash ricotta with spinach, garlic, chives and parsley and use as required.
Not sure if it will taste any good.

CC -Even though I egg and crumbed twice, the garlic butter leaked but they still tasted great. Made six, cooked three and froze the others.

Frozzie -  we preferred them with the adapted filling and there are so many to try even though it's not really chicken kiev but an adapted version..I changed the filling and put garlic, chives, large green mild chilli, large handful of mushrooms and of course butter with a little lemon zest...whizzed up everything together except the butter (put that in last then mixed it to combine). I'm going to try to make these in mini for 'bites' for my sons party I think.  Definitely easier to handle than the proper kievs. Thanks again Chelsea. Its much easier as Chris posted previously to separate into balls (the size you want them) but make sure the butter cube or piece is in proportion to your ball size and just with your finger poke a hole into the ball, place the butter cube or piece and close around..heaps quicker and easier than sealing all edges and makes for no leakages!

Honey joy - can only repeat what has already been said-yum! I also made 6, cooked 3 and had 1 leak but I liked the way the leaked one helped add extra flavor to the crumbs of them all. Thanks for the concept.

LellyJ - Totally thrilled with this recipe with so many possibilities! Thanks :-)

tarasis - Made this again today for the first time in 9+ months, with the suggest method of making a ball and then pushing the butter in and forming the ball back around. It worked a treat with none of the three leaking a drop (yay!).

Coops - awesome!

ElleG - Great recipe, adapted it to make it with oats. Blitzed 150 g of oats for a few secs to make them similiar to breadcrumbs. Used 20 g to make oat flour and used that in place of flour in the recipe. Only had tasty cheese so used that instead of parmesan. It is delicious and thoroughly enjoyed - years since I could eat Chicken Kievs.

Hally - easy, yum & cheap.

Netstar - they were delicious!  Thanks for the recipe.  To quote my DH "these are one of the best things you have ever cooked for me!", lol, that's high praise!

Merlin - I have made this recipe so many times now, each a stunning success.Totally legendary recipe!

leoness 79 - what a winner!!! So yummy even my fussy 10 yr old son loved these! Thanks for this recipe! They also looked restaurant quality! I am very impressed.

Bubbles - Wow these were delicious! I found them a lot easier to make than I thought they would be.I can't believe how much yummier they are than the bought ones, I wouldn't go back to them now if someone paid me!

kt2 - We finally tried these tonight and they were really tasty!

maddy - Love the squirt of butter!!!

Kimmyh - loved them. Can't wait to try a few different flavours.

Zada - yum! No leaks.

suzanne - These are yummy as are the cordon bleu ones which actually are my favourite.

JuliaC83 - Made these with chicken thighs, tasty cheese and basil instead of parsley. Oven baked and crispy! So delicious! Great recipe.

jenfm - Tried this last week. DELICIOUS! My boys were well impressed with me. Thanks!

Dam Scot - Not sure if this has been suggested, I put my garlic butter in the freezer to make it easier to form the chicken around the butter. Also I used the chicken nugget recipe from EDC for my Kievs. My boys love it.

arcadia - they are delicious.

AnnaBanana - they were awesome. Had them with rice cooked with veg stock and some mushrooms in the Thermie.  Yum!  My son and his girlfriend loved it.  This is the first time that I've cooked Kiev and the butter did not ooze out during cooking. Will definitely be making again.  So easy.

Recipe Name: Mexican Vegetarian Stack

Book Name: A Taste of Vegetarian

Review:  We really loved this and will be making it again and again.  The green cheese topping looked a little strange (cheese chopped with parsley, spring onions and garlic), but was delicious.  I used Quirky Jo's spelt tortillas in this dish and they were yummy.  I really get a buzz out of cooking Mexican from scratch!

Tweaking details: Next time I would add in a tin of diced tomatoes (well drained) and just half of the de-seeded chilli as it was a little too hot for our boys.

Score: 4 (out of 5*)

Photo:

Name of Recipe: Versatile Beef Stew
Number of People: 4-6 adults with mash

I serve this as a winter stew with cheesy dumplings, as a chunky shepherds pie base topped with mashed sweet potato and grated cheese and as a filler for meat pies made with homemade (TMX) puff pastry.

Ingredients:
1 onion peeled and quartered
500g casserole steak diced 3x3cm
30g organic extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp organic spelt or wheat flour
500g assorted sliced veg (I like carrot, green beans, celery, swede etc)
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp relish
1 tbsp TMX veggie stock (or 1 stock cube)
Water 450g
Cornflour (optional)

Method:
Add onion to TMX bowl and chop for 2 seconds on speed 5. Scrape down.

Add diced meat, flour and oil. Saute for 3 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse speed 1.

Add all other ingredients and cook for 35-60 minutes, 100 degrees, reverse soft speed (35 minutes for tender cuts, 60 minutes cheaper cuts).

If you like a thicker stew make a paste using cornflour and water (and gravox if you are happy to use it).  Add the paste to the stew stirring it through quickly with a spoon and then continue to cook the stew for a further 3 minutes.

Notes:
You can chop the veggies in the TMX, but I prefer to chop them by hand for this recipe.

Don't be tempted to leave the relish out as it is the main flavouring for the stew. If you don't have relish then be sure to substitute something very tasty in it's place.

If using the stew for a pie filling it is easiest to make it the day before.  As with all casseroles it will be tastier and thicker the next day.

Photo:

members' comments

JuliaC83 - Easy and tasty. For veg I used carrot/celery/mushroom/green beans and served alongside sweet potato mash. DH loved it and kids ate a fair portion.

I just wanted to share with you my favourite organic distributor company - biodistributors (and no I don't know the owners personally).  They are based in Sheffield (Tasmania), but post interstate with Australia Post (up to 20kg) and also use fastway.  They have a good range of stock and their rapadura price is very good (5kg for $28.90).  They are a family business who donate a large amount of their profits each year to charity.  They give preference to fair trade products and their products are 100% vegan.  They are very helpful with questions and respond promptly to emails.  A great company really!

http://www.biodistributors.com.au

Apple & Cinnamon Porridge Bake

Serves 8

Note: Needs to be started the day before it is required!

Ingredients:
200g rolled oats (I like steel cut organic oats)
handful of shelled walnuts
Lukewarm water
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
2 large eggs
470g milk
1 tablespoon coconut oil
50g maple syrup
2 medium apples scrubbed and quartered
50g sultanas
1 tsp cinnamon

Method:
Chop walnuts in tmx if desired (press turbo once or twice briefly).
Place oats and walnuts in a jug or large bowl.  Pour in enough lukewarm water (and the apple cider vinegar) to just cover the ingredients.  Give it a gentle stir.  Cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight on the counter in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 180^o.
Grease a glass baking dish - I use a 18x28cm dish.
Place eggs, milk, coconut oil and maple syrup in bowl.  Mix on speed 5 until smooth (about 20 seconds).
Add apples to the mixture in bowl and chop finely on speed 7 for 15 seconds.
Drain the oat mixture in your TMX basket and then add it to the mixture in the tmx bowl.
Add the sultanas and cinnamon and mix on reverse speed 3 for 5 seconds.
Pour the mixture into the baking dish and cook for approximately 50 minutes (or until the top is nicely browned).
Let stand for 10 minutes, slice into squares and serve with yogurt.

Notes:
When cooked the top of the bake will be crispy and the middle will remain a thick porridge consistency.
I think banana would be a nice variation (replacing the apples).
This makes enough for two breakfasts for my family of four.
Use your varoma to heat and refresh the leftovers.
My kids hate porridge, but love this.