Bread without a Bread Maker

Preparation: 70 mins (50 mins resting total)
Cooking Time: 30 mins

I've had a bread maker on my wish list, but we've just discovered we don't need one. I made this using my mix master to quickly and easily make the dough. Keep an eye on time and you can make bread while doing other things as well. It only takes about 20 minutes total prep!!

For this first try I used Lauke German Grain bread mix as it came with yeast and we weren't sure if the mix master would make good bread or not. The Lauke bread kit comes with flour and yeast for 4 loaves of bread. It is so simple!

Put approximately 600g bread makers flour, 2 tsp yeast and 410ml warm water into the mix master and mix on the dough setting for about 6-10 minutes. I think I did it for about 8 minutes, or until the dough was even, the flour all mixed in and the machine was able to go through without difficulty. The box says more kneading provides better bread.

Next I pulled all the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gave it 3-4 hand kneads to form it into a ball and placed it back into my mixing bowl. I covered it with foil and let it sit for 40 minutes. Leave it in a warm, draft free place so it can rise. It says it should double in size. Mine increased in size but not by as much as I was expecting, but I still got a great end result.

Pre-heat the oven around half way through the breads resting time to 200C

Next, punch down the dough, then pull it out and knead it for 2-3 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Form into shape and place in an oiled loaf pan. Let it rest for another 10 minutes to rise again.

Pop the tin in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. If you knock on the top it should sound hollow when done. Take it out and shake it straight onto a wire rack. Try to allow it to cool before cutting as this will give a moist loaf. If you can't help yourself and have to try it straight away it will probably dry out quicker, but the temptation of warm bread is hard to resist!!

Notes: The bread was not always fully cooked. Last bread came out well - try this next time: 50 min first rise, 30 minute second rise, 35 min bake

Cous Cous with Chick Peas and Vegetables

Serves: 2-3
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1/2 Onion
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli, tumeric, cinnamon, ginger
Small Capsicum
1 Carrot
4-5 Mushrooms
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin chick peas
chopped parsley
1 1/2 cup cous cous
1 cup water
1/2 cup stock
3 tsp margarine

Cook onion until brown. Add spices until fragrant then add capsicum, carrot, tomatoes and chick peas. Cook until vegetables are soft and add chopped parsley.

Bring stock and water to boil and add a pinch of salt. Take water off heat and add cous cous. Let sit for 2-3 minutes then put back on a low heat and stir through margarine with a fork to loosen the cous cous grains.

Note: To cook cous cous use these ratios: 1/2 cup water for 1/2 cup cous cous and 1 tsp margarine.

Nachos

Serves: 2-3
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Capsicum
6-7 Mushrooms
1 can Tomatos
1 can Red Kidney Beans (or 4 bean mix)
3/4 cup Frozen Corn
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin

Natural Corn Chips (lightly salted is best, not the cheesy ones)
Grated Cheese to serve

Brown onion in oil and add chilli powder. Add carrot, capsicum and mushrooms, cook until carrot begins to soften. Add tomatos, kidney beans and all the herbs/spices. Simmer for about 40 minutes, then add the corn. Serve when corn is hot.

Chunky Chickpea and Herb Dumpling Soup

Serves: 4
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 30 mins
Calories: 1688cal (422cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tspn Ground Cumin
1 tspn Ground Coriander
1/4 tspn Chilli Powder
2 x 300g cans Chickpeas
2 x 425g cans Chopped Tomatoes
3.5 cups Vegetable Stock
1 tblspn Chopped Coriander

1 Cup SR Flour
25g Butter
2 tblspn Grated Parmesan
2 tblspn Mixed Chopped Herbs (eg chives, flat leaf parsley, coriander)
1/4 Cup Milk

Chop and cook onion over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add garlic, cumin, ground coriander and chilli and cook until fragrant.
Add chickpeas, stock and tomato.
Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes then stir in coriander. (make dumplings while waiting)

Rub butter into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in cheese and fresh herbs. Add milk and mix until just combined.
Bring together into a ball then divide into 8 portions and roll into small balls.

Add dumplings to the soup, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre of dumplings.


Notes
I've substituted the parmesan for tasty cheese. I've also done lots of combinations of herbs in the dumplings. They are best with fresh herbs, but dry chives and parsley is great too.
This recipe is from "Delicious Vegetarian Food" Family Circle cook book and is a big favourite.

Fried Rice

Serves: 2
Preparation: 10 min
Cooking: 20 mins
Calories*: 750cal (375cal per serve)

Ingredients
Rice
1 Carrot
5-6 Mushrooms
Frozen Peas
Frozen Corn
Cayenne Pepper
Moroccan Seasoning
2 Eggs

Cook 1.5 cups of rice in the rice cooker. While this is going finely chop carrot and mushroom and cook them through in a wok, lightly frying. Add the peas and corn when you're almost ready to add the rice.

When the rice is finished cooking remove it and rinse with cold water. Beat 2 eggs and then add rice and stir through. This allows the egg to coat the rice and helps stop the rice from clumping which allows you to cook it evenly. Add the spices. I added a small amount of cayenne and a good amount of Moroccan seasoning - probably about 1tsp and 3-4tsp approximate.

Add the rice to the wok and stir through the vegetables. Flip the rice occassionally until all the egg is cooked through.

Vegetable Stew

Serves: 6+
Preparation: 20 min + 10 mins to add seasoning
Cooking: 4 hours (slow cooker)
Calories*: 2000cal (330cal per serve)

Ingredients
1/2 Butternut Pumpkin
1 Large Potato
1 Small Sweet Potato
1 Carrot
Mushrooms
1 L Vegetable Stock
1 cup Yellow Split Peas
3 tbspn Corn Flour
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Harissa (Middle Eastern Spices)
1/2 cup Port
1/2 cup Brown Rice*
1/2 cup Frozen Peas
1/2 cup Frozen Corn
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop vegetables and place in slow cooker with 1L of stock. Place split peas in a bowl with hot water to soak. After 1-2 hours drain the split peas and add to the slow cooker.

After about 3 hours add the corn flour, bay leaves, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper, port and rice. Continue cooking and when you have about 10 minutes to go add the peas and corn. Ensure rice is cooked through before serving.

Note: If you are using white rice add when you have 30 minutes left of cooking instead of 1 hour.

Mushroom Pasta

Serves: 2
Preparation: __ min
Cooking: __ min
Calories*: ___cal (___cal per serve)

Ingredients
1 pack Vegeroni Pasta
Mushrooms
Brocolli
Port
Fetta
Beetroot

Method to come

Vege Burger

Serves: 1
Preparation: 5 min
Cooking: 5 min
Calories*: 500cal

Ingredients
1 Red Lentil Pattie
1 Egg
1 Wholemeal Bun
1-2 Spinach leaves (or mixed lettuce)
Sliced Cheese
Beetroot (optional)

Fry egg. Slice open and lightly grill bun. Put lentil pattie in microwave for 2 minutes. Assemble and eat!!!

Thai Red Curry

Serves: 4
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes
Calories*: 1200cal (300cal per serve)

Ingredients
Any vegetables that take your fancy. Here I've used:
1/4 Pumpkin
1/2 Broccoli
1 Carrot
6-7 Mushroom
1 Capsicum
2 table spoons "Thai Gourmet" Red Curry Paste
1 lite coconut milk

Add pumpkin and carrot to pressure cooker and begin cooking. Chop the rest of the vegetables and add to the pot. Add curry paste, coconut milk and 100ml of water, stir. Pressurise cooker to first line and cook for 7-10 minutes. Depressurise cooker and serve with rice.

Mushroom Moussaka

Serves:  4
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking : 35 minutes (+10 minutes standing time)
Calories*: 1050cal total (260cal per serve)

Ingredients
1 Eggplant
1 large Potato
1 Onion
2 cloves of Garlic
500g Mushrooms
1 tin chopped Tomatoes

40g Margarine
1/3 Cup Plain Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 Egg
40g Cheese

Preheat Oven to 220C. Cut eggplant and potato into slices and lay on baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes (or 30-40 if you didn't preheat the oven)

Meanwhile, finely chop ontion and brown in pan. Add crushed garlic and thinly sliced mushrooms. When mushrooms begin to cook add tomato and simmer rapidly for about 8 minutes.

While the mushrooms cook make your bechamel sauce*. Melt margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add in milk stirring slowly and consistently until all milk is added and the mixture is combined and thickened. Add cheese and beaten egg.

All three components are now ready to assemble. Remove eggplant from oven and reduce heat to 180C.

In a greased oven dish spoon 1/3 of mushroom mixture. Layer potatoes then add 1/3 mushroom mixture. Layer eggplant then add remaining mushrooms. Cover with bechamel sauce and bake in oven for 35 minutes. Leave for 10 minutes before serving.

* Note: There are many opinions on how to make a good bechamel. If you get stuck and the mixture is lumpy and not combining you can save it by using an electric hand blender. This may leave the mixture too runny so allow to gently simmer on low heat until thickened, stirring gently and regularly.

Minestrone Soup

Serves: 4
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 35 minutes
Calories*: 1200cal total (400cal per serve)

Ingredients
3 rashers of Bacon (optional)
2 Carrots
2 sticks of Celery
1 Potato
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1L Vegetable Stock
1 tin Red Kidney Beans
1 can Chopped Tomatoes
1/2-1 cup of Pasta
Parsley (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste (you won't need salt if you added bacon)

Add bacon, vegetables and garlic to pot and cook for about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and stock, bring to boil and cook until vegetables stoft. If you have a pressure cooker you can speed up the cooking time here to about 30 minutes and the result is amazing!

Once vegetables are soft add pasta (I used 1 cup) and cook for a further 3-5 minutes until pasta is al dente. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Notes on Pressure Cookers:
A pressure cooker really speeds up the process with these types of meals and they're actually really easy to use. You must have a good amount of liquid for it to work properly which makes soups ideal.

Bring the ingredients to a boil, secure the pressure cooker lid and turn stove to medium. Wait until the indicators show the cooker is pressurised (refer your cookers instructions, mine is to the second line), then turn stove to low and cook for required time. The longer you cook the food the more likely the vegetables will turn to mush, so 30 minutes is good for a soup like this, but you can go longer if you want a pasta sauce for example.

Be careful when releasing the pressure from the cooker. Don't remove the lid straight away - allow the cooker to cool or run under cold water. Open the release and let all the steam escape. If you try to take off the lid too soon you may end up with the soup exploding over the counter (which happened to me lol) or worse, over you, so be patient getting that lid off!

Quick Stirfry

Serves: 1, easily doubled
Preparation: 3 mins
Cooking: 10 mins
Calories*: 270cal per serve

Ingredients
1 cup of rice
1 cup of frozen mixed stir fry vegetables
Soy Sauce
White Wine
Honey
Bean Sprouts (optional)

Rinse rice and cook it in a steamer as per your steamers instructions.

Start cooking vegetables in fry pan or wok. As they start to defrost add 3 dessert spoons of soy sauce, 3 dessert spoons of white wine and 1 dessert spoon of honey. This is a guide only, add more or less to taste - I usually spash the condiments in rough amounts.

Turn the pan down to low and let simmer until rice is cooked. Add bean sprouts just before serving. Too easy!

Spinach and Fetta Pie

Serves: 2, or more with a side dish.
Preparation: 40 mins
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories*:  1900cal total (475-950cal per serve)

Pastry
1 Cup Plain Flour
60g Margarine
Warm water as required

Pre-heat oven to 180C.

Place flour and margarine in a food processor and add several dessert spoons of water. Mix and add water as required until the flour comes together in clumps. Turn out onto bench and knead, then roll out until slightly larger than pie dish.

Gently lift pastry over greased dish and ease into the corners. Trim excess and place a sheet of greaseproof paper and pie weights or substitute (split peas work well) to cover base of pie. Bake for 15 minutes then remove pie weights and fill.

Filling
Fresh Chopped Spinach to cover base of pie
Mushrooms - precook in a splash of port
200g Australian Fetta
4-5 Eggs, beaten
Pepper to season
A little grated Tasty Cheese

Arrange the spinach, mushrooms and fetta in the pie dish. Beat eggs, season with pepper then pour eggs into the pie to cover ingredients. Sprinkle a little grated cheese and place pie back in the oven.

Cook until the egg is set.