A Berry Merry Christmas Trifle

Yay, it's Christmas.

I'm from a large Catholic family (9 kids all up plus the aunts and uncles) and Christmas was a two day event for us growing up. We'd have Christmas day lunch at home with all the siblings and our parents and then Boxing day at my Uncles. My all time favorite thing to eat at Christmas was my mum and my aunts trifle. This year though the trifle making honor has been bestowed on me and I've come up with a cracker of a recipe.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Strawberry Jelly

Double Cream

Tinned Blackberries

Tinned Raspberries

Tinned Cherries

Custard

Medina Cake

Sherry (optional)

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT

First make the Jelly as per the packet instructions and let it partially set (just to the point were it is the consistency of an egg).

Cut the Medina cake into slices and place a layer onto the bottom of a glass bowl. Drizzle the juice from the tinned berries onto the cake (or Sherry if preferred) so that it soaks in.

Put on a layer of Berries then a layer of partially set Jelly and then place in the fridge to set. Now add a layer of Custard and then repeat the process (minus the Medina cake) making sure the final layer is Jelly.

Put back into the fridge.

Once the Jelly has set completely put on your final layer of cream and top with Berries.

Vegetarian Pizza

Pizza is just delicious and you can't go past it really. And it's much easier to make it from scratch than you think. As long as you have an hour or so to spare, making the dough yourself is very satisfying. I use Orgran Gluten Free flour.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Dough

2 cups Plain Flour (gluten free)

1 tbls or 7g pack dry yeast

1 tsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbls vegetable or olive oil

3/4 cup hot water

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Sauce

1 sachet Tomato Past

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Basil

1 clove Garlic

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Topping

This can be anything you like but my favorite topping are the following

1 Tomato

1/2 Onion

1/4 Green Capsicum

1/4 Red Capsicum

1/4 cup Zucchini

4 Mushrooms

Hand full of Spinach Leaves

1 cup Mozzarella cheese

1 cup Cheddar cheese

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT:

First your going to have to give yourself an hour to make the dough. Add Yeast, Salt and Sugar to the water and stir with a fork till combined. Cover with plastic and let sit for 5min in a warm place. You'll know the yeast is ready when bubbles form.

Sift flour into a dry clean bowl, add oil then yeast mix and stir till combined. Knead the dough till it's elastic. Should take about 10min and you'll know it's ready when you pinch the dough and pull lightly without the dough breaking off.

Put into an oiled glass or metal bowl and cover. Put the bowl into a sink filled half way with hot water. Let it rise till it's double the size then knead for a further few minutes then let it rise one more time before kneading for a final time. After the third kneading the dough should be nice and smooth.

Role out and place on a lightly oiled pizza tray and cook in the over for about 5min.

For sauce place Tomato Paste, herbs and garlic into a small bowl and mix to combine then slather it all over the pizza base.

Slice all the vegetables except the Spinach thinly so they cook at the same time.

Now this is the secret to making a perfectly cooked pizza. It's all about how you lay the toppings. First start with half the cheese, then add the onion, then the capsicum. Next add the zucchini and mushrooms then the tomato and spinach. Finish off with the last of the cheese. Make sure you place the toppings on from the outside in turing the base as you go. You do it this way to stop the topping pooling in the centre this way the base and toppings cook evenly with no raw spots.

Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Bubble & Squeak

I'm really showing my British heritage with this one. Bubble and Squeak is a great way of getting kids to eat there vegetables as you can pretty much put anything you like into them and it's got a heap of protean thanks to the eggs. It works for breakfast, lunch and dinner so it's a versatile recipe. I love to eat these instead of veggie burgers or with some grilled white fish.

This recipe makes about 6 patties.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

1 Potato

1 Carrot

1/4 Onion

1/4 cup Peas

1/4 cup Corn

2 tsp Parsley

2 cloves of garlic

pinch Pepper

pinch Salt

2 or 3 Tblsp Plain Flour (gluten free)

2 Eggs

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH THEM:

Peel and grate potato and carrot and place into a large bowl. Add Peas, corn, garlic and parsley. In a smal bowl wisk eggs then add to large bowl. Add flour one tablespoon at a time and mix together with chopsticks. If the egg is still runny add more flour till the mixture holds together.

Shallow fry for a minute on each side until golden brown and then place on kitchen paper to drain the oil. Serve with steamed vegetables, salad or as a burger.

Winter Stew

It's cold out side so time to start making some winter warmers.

I love a good stew but a good vegetarian stew is hard to find when your out and about. This is an adaptation of a meat stew I used to make when I was a meat eater. Even in vegetarian form it's hearty and will chase away the winter blues in a single spoonful.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED.

1 Brown Onion

1 Carrot

1 or 2 Potatoes

1/2 Green Capsicum (bell peppers)

1/2 Red Capsicum (bell peppers)

1/4 cup Corn

1/4 cup Green Beans

1/2 cup Broccoli

3 Mushrooms

1 can Tinned Tomatoes

3 cloves Garlic

Basil

Oregano

Parsley

3 Bay Leaves

2 tsp plain flour (wheat free)

1 cup Stock

1/2 cup Red Wine

30g Margarine

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH THEM.

Heat Margarine in a large saucepan then add flour stirring to mix them in. Add all the vegetables stirring to coat them in the margarine. put in a little water if needed. Add red wine and tinned tomatoes making sure you stir to get any of the flour off the bottom of the pan. Add stock, garlic and herbs then let simmer until potatoes are cooked and the sauce is thick.

Serve on Rice or with toast.

Spicy Snapper on Basmati

This one took some time to get right but I think I may finally have it.

I love snapper. As far as white fish goes it's one of the most flavorsome so I use it when ever I can but so far have not been able to perfect a snapper recipe of my own. Until now that is.

This is a great winter meal but can cross over to summer if you replace the rice with a green salad. It's filling and will keep away the hunger pains for most of the night and is a perfect meal to cook if you want to impress a dinner guest.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Snapper fillets (one for each person eating)

Basmati Rice

1/3 Red Capsicum (Bell Pepper) julienned

1/3 Green Capsicum (Bell Pepper) julienned

1/2 Carrot julienned

1/3 Onion thinly sliced

1 Tomato

6 Capers

1 Anchovy

2 Tblsp of Parsley

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Curry powder

1 tsp Turmeric

1/2 tsp Paprika

Salt to taste

Splash of Lime juice

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT

Cook the rice as per the packet instructions

Cut up the carrot and capsicum then along with the capers and anchovy except put them into a saucepan with olive oil. Stir fry for a minute on medium high heat then add the spices, lime and chopped tomatoes. Keep stirring the vegetable until the tomatoes start to look like a sauce. If it dries out a little add some water. Finally add fresh parsley and mix in.

Pan fry or grill the snapper.

To serve lay down a bed of rice, then the snapper then the vegetables.

Wheat Free/Gluten Free Banana Bread

Have to give a shout out to George Williams at InterFM in Tokyo for the inspiration for this one. I was watching him make his Banana "Bread" on ustream.tv the other night. To be perfectly honest his is more of a Banana Cake that would have been so good but I am wheat intolerant so I had to make mine up on the fly. Anyway, you can follow George on Twitter @kungfugeorge or watch his show at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kungfugeorge if you can understand Japanese.

Now mine IS a Banana Bread. It goes into a baking pan like a bread and it comes out of the oven like a bread. The only difference is that there is no yeast and you can't knead the dough because of the Bananas.

If you're vegan try this with a milk and egg substitute and let me know how it went. I would also recommend eating this one when it is still warm with some margarine spread.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

2 or 3 Bananas

1 3/4 cup wheat free self raising flour

1/4 cup wheat free plain flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp Almond meal

1 tsp Hazelnut meal

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp Cinnamon

50g of Margarine

1 Vanilla Pod

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees and used either margarine or canola spray to grease the pan.

In a large bowl sift the flour and cinnamon then add the sugar, almond meal and hazelnut meal and stir them together. Make a well in the flour mix and set to one side.

Open the vanilla pod and scrap out the inside into a saucepan. Drop the empty pod in and then add the butter and let it melt slowly over a low heat. Stir it now and then to make sure the vanilla seeds are mixed in.

Mash the bananas with a fork into an empty bowl. Add the eggs and milk and the melted butter then mix together. Make sure you remove the Vanilla pod as it will not be a pleasant experience bitting into it later.

Pour the banana mixture into the flour bowl then mix together with a wooden spoon until the two are combined then put it into the baking dish and bake for 45 to 50 min.

Potato Salad with Mustard Mayo

This is so easy a child could do it but you'd be surprised how many potato salad recipes get it wrong. This is very similar to a Japanese style potato salad in that it is mashed rather than cubed only with a bit of a Euro twist.

WHAT YOU'Ll NEED:

3 or 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/4 of an onion, sliced

1/2 carrot. sliced thinly then quartered

5 or 6 slices of cucumber quartered

1/4 cup of corn

1 tsp of Rice Wine Vinegar

1 to 2 tsp Whole grain Mustard

2 tbl Mayonnaise

Parsley

Salt

WHAT YOU'LL DO WITH IT:

This is going to be so simple. First get water boiling in a pot to cook the potatoes. While the potatoes cook chop up all the other vegetables. Soak the onions in water to take out the acidity. If you're using frozen corn like me then soak them with the onions to defrost them.

Once the potatoes have cooked through and you can stick a fork in them easily mash them with the rice wine vinegar and salt. Let the potatoes stand in the fridge for a while to cool them off then add all the vegetables, mustard, parsley and mayonnaise. Mix with a wooden spoon and serve with a Rocket Leaf salad or as part of a home made bento.