Who doesn’t love Milo right?

I remember as a kid coming home from school, and, the first think I would do, would be to grab the milk out of the fridge. I’d add a couple of scoops of milo and stir the cold milk through, for a mug full of goodness!

For us adults, this treat will bring you back to those good old days, sipping down some milo and watching cartoons in the afternoon or heading out to play some cricket or footy outside with the neighbours.

Stir in the milo to these baked treats and, once out of the oven, delve in and enjoy!

Vegans Substitute: Swap the butter for margarine and the egg for egg replacer.

Please note: The photo will be up shortly for these delicious biscuits, I haven’t had the opportunity to put it up yet.

Makes:

• 16 enjoyable biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 125 grams butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups SR Flour approximately
• 3 tbs Milo or drinking chocolate
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• butter or oil for greasing

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius or 320 degrees Fahrenheit (Fan-forced oven – add another 10-20 degrees for non-fan-forced).
2. Melt your butter in a bowl and mix in the vanilla essence.
3. Crack the egg into the mixture and beat until the mixture becomes thicker in shape.
4. Beat in the bicarbonate soda, milo and sugar.
5. Once you are satisfied that the colour is even and the milo has mixed in properly, slowly add your flour.
6. Mix the flour in and when the dough does not stick on your hand, it is ready. If it’s still not right, add more flour.
7. Roll the mixture into a thin sausage/log and chop into 2 cm pieces.
8. Spray two trays with oil or grease with butter.
9. Squash each piece flat and add onto the tray.
10. Place in the oven.
11. Check the biscuits at ten minutes, if they are not quite ready, watch for another five.
12. Allow to cool, before serving.

My sustainable garden is doing well and I’ve already been able to harvest spring onions, tomatoes, beetroot, chillis and corn.  Not to mention my fruit trees and herbs which are doing amazing.  The thing about having this type of garden is trying to make sure you don’t waste the rewards.

At the moment, I have quite a few beetroots.  I love them.  But, I have so many, I’m trying to come up with different recipes for them.  My good old favourite is, roasted but this dip has absolutely amazing flavours, it could definitely become the number one recipe for me.  On top of this, it’s SO easy to make.  Roast the beets and then, when cool, blend with your other ingredients.

Party guests will be amazed with the flavours and the colour of this lovely dip.

Makes:

• 1 container of dip

Ingredients:

• 1 medium beet roasted and cooled with skin removed
• juice of 1 small lemon
• 1 tbs good quality balsamic vinegar
• salt
• cracked pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp garlic mince

Instructions:

1. In your blender, mix all your ingredients fine.
2. Taste test and add more seasoning if necessary.

Think of a fried brekky, everyone loves it!  Fried eggs, fried bacon – well vegetarian bacon for us, on toast.  Who can think of anything better, right?

How about making a pasta out of it?

This fried feast is balanced by the simple spaghetti and a little olive oil.  It’s extremely delicious and, yes, probably a little unhealthy, but if you are in the mood for something like this, why not?

In taste, it’s sort of your alternative to a carbonara but only a dry version. And, for those who can only cook fried eggs on toast, you may be able add another dish to your repertoire with this delicious alternative.  A simple dish, but absolutely delicious in taste!

Makes:

• dinner for two

Ingredients:

• cooked spaghetti for two
• 2 eggs (I use free range)
• 3 bacon strips (vegetarian of course)
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbs butter (or alternative)
• 1 tsp garlic mince
• salt and cracked pepper to taste
• parmesan (grated) is optional

Instructions:

1. In a pan, add your olive oil and butter.
2. Once boiling, drop the heat down and crack your eggs in the pan.  I use an egg ring to keep the shape and to stop it spreading too far.
3. Place in your bacon pieces.
4. Once cooked, allow to cool and cut the eggs and bacon roughly into small pieces.
5. In your pot, add your cooked spaghetti, breadcrumbs, garlic and seasoning.  Heat until the garlic is cooked.
6. Mix in your egg and bacon with the oil mixture.
7. Allow to warm through and the oil to begin to evaporate.
8. (OPTIONAL STEP) :
   Mix parmesan into the mixture if you like and serve with some parmesan on top and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if the mixture is now a little dry.

Unfortunately there is no photo to show off this quick and scrumptious dish, but I’m sure I’ll be able to redo this soon and put one up.

This recipe came about after having quite a few hydroponic tomatoes needing to be used.  In this new house, I cannot stand to waste any food and when I saw the tomatoes, a simple pasta dish came to mind.

The actual tomatoes aren’t really cooked, they are added in to warm them through and to be honest, they don’t really need to be cooked.  The tomatoes have so much flavour and I find that cooking these, can sometimes loose all the delicious fresh taste you can get when you bite into a fresh tomato!

Adding the tapenade just adds another dimension to the dish and if you get some home-made tapenade it’s even better! A note to vegetarians and vegans - always make sure you check the ingredients for the tapenade.  Some traditional versions do include anchovies.  Always ask if you are unsure.

The pasta is your simple bought variety, it doesn’t need anything more as it allows the tomatoes and tapenade to shine through.

Makes:

• 2 serves

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbs good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic mince
• 2 tbs olive tapenade
• 4 ripe tomatoes, diced
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• 2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped fine
• 2 serves spaghetti

Instructions:

1. Boil your spaghetti and drain, leaving a little bit of water in the bottom.
2. Keeping the pasta in the pot and on a low heat, mix through your seasoning and garlic.
3. When the garlic has cooked through, mix in your olive tapenade.
4. Take the pot off the heat and add your parsley, olive oil and tomatoes.  Stir through thoroughly and serve!