Potato, Leak and Mushroom soup

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes
• 3 leek stalks
• 300ml cream
• 2 onions
• 250gm sliced mushrooms
• 4 cups chicken stock
• butter
• salt

Process

1. Dice onions and put in pot with butter. Stir onions on a medium heat until soft and clear.
2. Add stock and salt and bring to the boil.
3. Add diced potatoes, leek and mushroom.
4. Simmer, stirring occasionally until potato is soft.
5. Blend the soup until smooth.
6. Add cream and heat through until thick.
7. Grind some pepper on top.

Serves 6

Alternatives
* Serve with some crispy prosciutto on top
or
* Put in 2 gloves of roasted garlic before blending.
or
* Add a spear of asparagus in with the potato

Lactation Boosting Biscuits

Ingredients :

* 1 cup butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal*
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups oats
* 1 cup or more chocolate chips or sultanas
* 2 tablespoons of brewers yeast* (be generous)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 190C.
Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs one at a time, mix well.
Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the butter mix. Beat until blended.
Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to butter mixture.
Stir in oats then chips.
Scoop or drop onto baking sheet.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of biscuits.

Serves: 6 dozen cookies

Preparation time: 15 minutes

*can be found at any local health food store.
*NOTE* IT MUST BE BREWERS YEAST, NO SUBSTITUTIONS.

I make the flaxseed meal by grinding flaxseeds in a coffee grinder (if I can be bothered. I haven't noticed any difference if I don't put flaxseed in)

World's easiest one pot risotto

Serves 2-3.

1 cup arborio rice
2 ½ cups stock
60g butter
350g jap or butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced (or sweet potato or chicken or mushrooms)
½ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
cracked black pepper and sea salt
1tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 190C. Place Arborio rice, stock, butter and pumpkin in an oven proof dish and cover tightly with a lid or aluminium foil. Bake for 30 mins or until rice is soft. Stir through parmesan, pepper, salt and parsley.

Chicken and Corn soup

Ingredients:

• 1.5L water (approximately)
  
• 4 chicken thigh fillets
• 400g tinned corn kernels
• small tin creamed corn
• salt
  

Alternatives:

1. Can use 2 breast fillets instead
   
2. 1 egg white
   
3. cornflour for thickening

Method:

Put water, salt and the chicken in saucepan on medium to high heat. Bring to boil and when the chicken is cooked pull out and using two forks, shred the chicken and place back into the water. Add the corn.

If using the egg white, whisk and then add to the soup.
If using cornflour, take some soup out and mix the cornflour into it and then add to the soup


Personal notes:

I like my chicken and corn soup quite salty, but I leave it to top salting so everyone can salt as much or little as they like.

The awesome Chilli con carne a la Gus

What you need

• A couple of onions, chopped
  
• Some garlic cloves, chopped or bashed
  
• 500g extra lean premium organic beef mince
  
• A spoon or so of cumin
  
• Some chilli flakes or powder or whatever form you want
  
• A tiny tin of tomato paste
  
• A small tin of red kidney beans (ie Edgell)
  
• A small tin of mixed kidney beans
  
• A tin of tomatoes (chopped or whole, just bash em up when you add them if you have whole tomatoes)
  
• A cup of rice (white is nice, but brown also works)
  

What you do

Put the cup of rice with 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it starts boiling, turn it down to the lowest heat setting, put the lid on, and let it cook until the water fully reduces (apparently this is the "absorption" method). It's basically finished just before the rice at the bottom of the pan starts to burn.

Chop your onions and garlic and get your other ingredients ready.

In a large frying pan, splash some olive oil and cook the onions over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Throw in the garlic, then the meat (chop up the mince if it's stuck together too much). Put the cumin and chilli in, and cook for a couple of minutes until the meat is mostly brown. Also, add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add the tomato paste. Drain the water from the tins of kidney beans. Add the tinned tomato and kidney beans to the frying pan.

Let it simmer for a few minutes, and you're done.

What you can eat with it

Pickled pickles, natural (tart) yoghurt and sweet chilli sauce all go very well with this dish. Also as a side you can serve sliced tomatoes topped with salt and vinegar (white or balsamic both work).

As extras, you could also grate a carrot into the meat dish as it's cooking.

What can go wrong

• Too much cumin. Generally you would not need more than one heaped dessert spoon.
  
• Too much tomato paste. No more than one tiny tin (like the homebrand tins), even better is using half a tin.
  
• Too much chilli. Ouch.
  

Garlic Prawn and Bacon Pasta

Ingredients:

• 8 cloves of garlic, finely diced
  
• 1 onion, finely diced (optional)
  
• 8 rashers of bacon, diced
  
• 400g prawns (preferably green)
  
• a knob of butter
• lug of oil
  
• Pasta
  

Method:

1. Heat butter and oil in a saucepan (however much you want)
2. Add garlic and onion
3. Add bacon
4. Cook until the onion is soft
5. Add prawns and cook until pink
6. Cook your pasta according to the packet instructions- I recommend spaghetti or penne
7. Drain pasta and serve with sauce
   

Serves about 4. Takes about 20-30 minutes (prep & cooking)

Alternatives:

1. Add chilli oil or some fresh chillies
2. Add a can of tomato if you prefer tomato-based sauces
3. Add cream for a creamy base
   

Personal notes:
This is a home-made recipe based off a dish at Leichhardt's Bar Italia, so ingredients are estimates and can be juggled around depending on how garlicky or bacony you want it. I like to get the short-cut rindless bacon because it is easier to cut. Alternatively, bacon bits are even easier. I usually always add some chilli just to give it a bit of zing.

Green Pea and Ham soup

A winter dish great for making in a big pot and then eating over several days.

Ingredients:

• 1 Smoked ham hock
• 500g Bacon bones
• 500g Green frozen peas
• 1 onion
• 1 potato
• 100g lentils

Process:
In a large pot with a good lid;

1. chop onion finely and put into the pot on a high heat - wait until onion pieces begin to go transparent.
2. Add about 4 liters of water, frozen peas, ham hock, bacon bones.
3. Chop up potato finely and throw into the pot along with the lentils.
4. Reduce heat once the water has boiled to a nice simmer and put the lid on.

Cook for at least 2 hours. I find that the best time is once the peas have started to break down and the soup has a nice green colour to it. The ham hock skin should have split open and the meat should be easy to separate from the bone. Stir occasionally to keep the onion, lentils and potato from sticking to the bottom.

Points

• Once the skin on the hock has split you can remove it from the soup (less fatty).
• The ham hock will have smallish bones in it so be aware when serving the soup.
  

Best served with crusty bread rolls and cold milk.

Serves about 6 to 8.