Belinda Moore

I’ve made potato bake in the slow cooker before, but this time I used a onion white sauce.

Peel enough potatoes to 3/4 fill your slow cooker. Slice 1/2 to 1cm thick and boil or steam until just tender. Drain and rinse well.

Peel and slice two large brown onions and some garlic (because I put it in almost everything). Saute these in a little olive oil until translucent. Then proceed as per Creamy Mushroom Sauce.

500ml milk

3 tsp Massel vegetable stock powder

2 tablespoons cornflour

200ml milk (again)

300ml cream

pepper

Pour 500ml milk over cooked onion. Bring to the boil. Mix the stock powder and cornflour into the 200ml milk. Add slowly whilst stirring. Sauce should thicken. Pour in cream and continue to stir as it continues to thicken. Stir through a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper.

Oil slow cooker dish. Add a layer of cooked potato slices. Pour over some creamy onion sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheddar. Continue, finishing with a generous sprinkle of cheese.

Cook on high for approximately 2 hours. Serve with loads of steamed vegetables or a lovely big salad.

Saute 2 red onions, 4 large cloves of garlic and 1/2 a red capsicum until softened.  Add 2/3 cup tomato paste and approximately 350ml tomato puree.  Then add a couple of teaspoons of stock powder, some ground black pepper, two tins of cannellini beans (or pre-cooked equivilant) and simmer further.  Toward the end of cooking, add some chopped fresh parsley.

Delicious served hot over pasta with some grated cheese.

This recipe is based on our favourite Creamy Mushroom Sauce, which a few of my regular readers have tried and loved too.

600g broccoli, cut into small florets

500ml milk

3 tsp Massel vegetable stock powder

2 tablespoons cornflour

200ml milk (again)

300ml cream

pepper

Steam broccoli florets in medium to large saucepan. When soft, drain and set aside. Rinse the saucepan.

Pour 500ml milk into the saucepan and bring to the boil. Mix the stock powder and cornflour into the 200ml milk. Add slowly whilst stirring. Sauce should thicken. Pour in cream and continue to stir as it continues to thicken. Add broccoli and stir through a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper.

We had this over pasta, but you could also serve with rice or other vegetables.

This is a really easy and yummy pizza base recipe I learned from the Simple Savings forum.

2 cups flour (we used wholemeal wheat)

1 tsp baking powder (omit if your flour is self-raising)

1.5 cups full fat plain yoghurt (or enough to make a dough)

Mix all ingredients, divide into 2-3 balls, roll out on floured surface. I placed mine in the oven which was warming to 210 degrees C (fan forced) at this stage just for a couple of minutes. We then added sauce, toppings and grated cheese and baked until cheese was golden.

This one received several votes of “best pizza I’ve ever tasted” from my family, and I enjoyed it too!

A tasty, quick soup based on this recipe.

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 carrots, peeled, sliced

3 zucchinis, diced

3 sticks celery, diced

2 brown onions, finely chopped

4 cloves giant russian garlic, finely chopped

2 cups sliced fresh green beans

2 tins diced tomatoes

4 cups water

2 level tablespoons Massel Chicken-Style Stock Powder (vegan)

2 tins brown lentils

1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped

slices of lemon (optional but recommended)

freshly ground black pepper

ricotta cheese (optional)

crusty rolls or sourdough loaf etc

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots, zucchini, celery, onion, garlic and cook until they soften. Add green beans tomatoes, water and stock powder to pan. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. When vegetables are soft, add lentils to soup and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

Serve with your choice of parsley, lemon juice, pepper and ricotta to garnish, and bread or rolls. Serves 8. Freezes well.

I am going to set a challenge to myself to try 20 new recipes in September.  Most will be main meals, some could be baking or sweets of some kind.  I’m hoping that this challenge will bring some variety to our menu, which seems to be lacking lately…

I’ve been to the library and have 3 great vego recipe books to browse, plus the seemingly limitless amount of recipes on the ‘net, and those shared at Simple Savings and Menu Plan Monday - I don’t think 20 will be too difficult to achieve!

If you’d like to join in, please do!  Leave a comment to say so, and I’ll come by and see how you’re doing.  Happy recipe hunting!

Here’s another recipe from the Simple Savings site. It’s a quick and easy one which I usually cook in bulk (x5) and freeze.

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This dish is yummier than it sounds! I based ours on this recipe. I am waiting on my order of bulk lentils so had to use tinned lentils from my emergency supply. I also only had half an hour to prepare this, so the tinned lentils made it possible! This amount served the eight of us with some left over for tomorrow’s lunch (with rice, for something different!)

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1-2 pieces rice paper (spring roll wrapper) per person
small quantity of cooked rice
small quantity of stir-fried vegetables
Chilli Sauce (as a dipping sauce)

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Makes 2 cakes.  Freezes well.

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