Banana Oat Cookies (Healthy!)

My Japanese friend Yuko prefers cookies that are not as sweet as we often make them in Australia, and so for those who don't like too much sweetness in their cookies, these are made without any sugar.  They are also flourless (using only almond meal) and rely on the banana and choc chips to sweeten.  If you really want to be good, use dark chocolate.

Ingredients

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed 

1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn't solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Method: 

Preheat the Oven to 180 Celsius

1. Mash the bananas and stir together with the vanilla essence  and oil (I used olive oil)

2. Mix in another bowl the remaining ingredients.

3. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, stirring well to mix

4. Roll into golf ball size balls and put onto a baking tray, squashing slightly.

5. Bake for just under 15 minutes and allow to cool.

Note that when rolling into balls, the mixture may be slightly crumbly. This is okay.

Easy Potato Salad

Perfect for taking to a BBQ, this potato salad is easy and quick to whip up in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
1kg Potatoes, peeled and cubed in 2cm
mayonnaise (approx 1/4 - 1/2 cup)
1 small lemon, juiced
1 small red onion cut finely
four slices of ham chopped into squares
3 spring onions, chopped finely
some fresh basil leaves, finely shredded

Method:
1. Place the potatoes in a saucepan and bring to the boil, cooking until done.  Soft but still able to hold their cube shape.
2.  Drain and transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the remaining ingredients, adding the mayo slowly until there is just enough (nothing worse than having too much mayo and you may even use less than this recipe outlines)
4. Season with salt and pepper. Serve

Delicious!  Even served semi warm this salad is lovely.

Options:
Add things like pineapple, left over chicken or salami for a twist.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

I

This is called a 'salad' but there is nothing salady about it really.  You can serve this dish in any season.  Winter with some nice meat or even in summer with the BBQ.  This was so delicious that it disappeared very quickly...there wasn't even any left to take for lunch the next day!!!

Ingredients:

2tbl White Wine Vinegar

1/4c brown sugar

1/4c olive oil

salt and pepper

2 large potatoes

2 large carrots

1 large red beetroot

3 cloves garlic

1 bunch asparagus

1 red onion

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 c

2. Chop the vegetables (except asparagus) up into large rustic chunks and place in an oven proof dish 

3. In another dish, mix the vinegar, sugar and oil together, then pour over the vegetables

4. Mix until all vegetables are covered

5. Bake for around 50 minutes or until the potatoes and beetroot are tender.

6. Mix the asparagus in and cook for a further 5 minutes so it warms through but is still crunchy

7. Serve in a big bowl

Pepper Pork and Choy Sum

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This is an altered version of a Donna Hay recipe from the book SEASONS.  I served it with Roast Vegetable Salad.

Ingredients:
Cracked Pepper
300g pork fillet sliced fairly thinly
oil
1 heaped tsp ginger powder
1/3c of white wine
1/3c soy sauce
1c chicken stock
2 bunches of coy sum 

Method:
1. Slice the pork and sprinkle generously with cracked pepper
2. Cook in a frypan and set aside
3. Mix the remaining ingredients in the frypan minus the choy sum and bring to the boil.
4. Add the pork back in, allowing to cook for a few minutes.
5. Add the Choy Sum and cook til tender.

Berry Pie

This started out from a recipe from the Donna Hay Recipe book SEASONS.  A basic biscuit base with a berry center, cooked to perfection. Yum.

Bitter Chocolate Meringue Tart

Again, another Donna Hay Recipe from her recipe book SEASONS.  This is a chocolate biscuit base tart with a dark chocolate and cream center with a meringue topping.  Takes a little bit of pre planning, but not difficult.  Only for those who enjoy dark chocolate. It's super rich, but certainly does look impressive on the table!

Ingredients:

200g shortbread biscuits

1 tbl cocoa

50g butter melted

Chocolate filling:

400g dark chocolate melted

1c single pouring cream

Meringue top

150ml egg whites (4 egg whites)

1c caster sugar

Method:

Process the biscuits, cocoa and butter until like breadcrumbs.

Press into a round fluted tart tin

Put in fridge for 15 minutes

For the chocolate filling, simply melt the chocolate and cream slowly.

Pour over the biscuit base and refridgerate for 30 minutes or until set.

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Beat the eggwhites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar until thick and glossy.

Pour over the chocolate and bake for 15 minutes or until the peaks are golden and the meringue is set.

Allow to cool

This recipe has come from the donna hay Seasons cook book

Milk Chocolate and Coffee Layer cake

A sinfully sweet sugary, but light afternoon dessert.

 Recipe from the Donna Hay book SEASONS so I can't put the recipe here. But this recipe was quite easy to make. I hadn't made meringue before so this was a first.   A tip - when making meringue make sure you cook it look enough and make it thick enough to work with. Otherwise it will break too easily and.  If you don't cook it long enough, the middle will remain too chewy and 'wet'.  The only thing about this recipe is that it is a little hard to cut because of the consistency of the meringue. Otherwise, tastes good.  So very very sugary that only little pieces can be managed!