• 3 sheets puff pasty
• 1/2 onion
• small handful parsley leaves
• 250 grams medium/firm tofu
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup tasty cheese
• Salt and pepper
• Cherry tomatos; halved
• Broccoli; cut into tiny florets

• Pre-heat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF. Cut circles in the puff pasty using a 10 cm cutter; Spray muffin tin with oil and push pastry into the tin.
• Remove tofu from the plastic and wrap in a clean tea towel and place something heavy on top to absorb any moisture for a few minutes.
• Place the onion and parsley in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the tofu and blend. Add 1/2 cup milk and blend until smooth. Add the extra milk a little at a time until it is pouring consistency. Season well.
• Stir through the cheese (reserving a little to sprinkle on top). Pour into muffin tin (don’t over fill) and push the tomatoes and broccoli into the mixture. Top with the left over cheese.
• Bake for approx 30 – 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool a little and serve warm.

Makes 12 mini quichesDont overfill as the tofu mixture will puff up when in the oven.

Use whatever veggies you have on hand. They are also a great way to use up leftover veggies.

• Watermelon
• Rockmelon
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Mandarine
• Mascarpone (Optional* store bought or see my previous post for homemade mascarpone)
• Flacked almonds

For the Glaze

• Juice of one orange
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup

• Peel and slice all of the fruit and add to a platter. For the glaze add the juice, maple and the seeds from one vanilla bean to a saucepan and heat through. Drizzle over the fruit and refrigerate until ready to serve. Toss to coat fruit when ready to serve
• Add a handful of almonds to a dry frying pan, over medium heat toss regular until you achieve a nice golden colour
• Mix a little maple syrup with the mascarpone and add a dollop on top of the fruit. Finish with the toasted almonds.

• 400 g can of organic lentils; drained and rinsed
• 2 fresh beetroot
• A handful of parsley leaves; finely chopped
• Goats cheese; crumbled
• Juice of half a lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Give the beetroot a scrub and remove the stalks. Using aluminium foil create a little parcel for each beetroot, add a little water add beets and seal the edges. Place on an oven tray and cook for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven;open the parcel and allow to cool. Once cool, the skin will rub off the beets. Alternatively use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Chop in small chunks
• Place the lentils, parsley and lemon in a bowl; add a glug of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a serving plate and top with the beets and goats cheese; serve

• 1 turnip , diced into baby bite sized pieces
• 1 cup roughly chopped cauliflower
• 1/2 small leek , finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
• A touch of flour if mixture is too wet
• Coconut oil for frying

• Add the turnip, cauliflower and leek to a steamer basket; steam for 10 minutes or until soft. You want the turnip to still hold its shape
• Once cooked add ingredients to a bowl along with the egg, coconut and mix to combine
• If mixture is too wet, add a little flour (the mixture should be still quite loose – you shouldn’t be able to handle it with your hands)
• Add coconut oil to a non-stick frying pan and using a tablespoon add a dollop of the mixture to the pan. Flatten a little with the back of the spoon.
• Cook until golden, drain on paper towel

Will make approximately 8 to 10 baby fritters

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened from the healthy food store – its a super food!)
• 1 tablespoon tahini (I used hulled in this recipe but use either)
• 3 tablespoons rice malt syrup (or your sweetener of choice)
• handful of coconut chips (preferably the unsweetened kind)

• Add the cocoanut chips to a dry frying pan and cook over medium heat until golden – watch them close as they will burn easily.
• Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan on low heat. Whisk in the cocoa, followed by the tahini, rice malt syrup. Poor into a baking paper lined dish and sprinkle with the toasted coconut. Freeze until set. Serve straight from the freezer or fridge.

My chocolate bar was about 1cm thick. Crimp the baking paper at one end so it doesn’t run to thinly.If pouring into moulds add the coconut first and then the chocolate mixture.

If it is a hot day the chocolate will melt if left out of the fridge too long.

For the strawberry swirl

• 250 g punnet of strawberries; hulled
• A sprinkling of caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water

For the ice cream

• 1/3 (80g) caster sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• Place the strawberries in an oven proof dish and sprinkle lightly with caster sugar. Roast in a 180 degree C (350 degrees F) oven for about 30 minutes. They should start to break down and be oozing juice. Once cooked place in a bowl and mash with a fork (I like to leave it a little bit chunky). Allow to cool slightly and add the orange blossom water. Refrigerate until well chilled

For the ice cream

• In a medium sized bowl, whisk the milk and sugar for a few minutes to combine. Add the vanilla and cream and whisk to combine. Churn in an ice-cream maker according to your machines instructions. You want to remove it when it is a soft serve consistency so you can stir through the strawberry component. Add the ice-cream to a container and pour the chilled strawberry mixture over the top. Using a knife swirl it through the ice cream and refrigerate again until completely set
• Serve on its own or with fresh seasonal fruit

This recipe doesn’t make a huge amount of ice cream so double the recipe if you like. My ice cream maker isn’t very large so I tend to make smaller quantities

• 2 blood oranges
• 1 orange
• handful of cumquats (optional); sliced
• 1 baby fennel
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• A couple of sprigs of chervil to garnish (or use the fennel fronds)

For the dressing

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
• Salt and pepper

• Cut the top and bottom off the oranges. Run your knife down the sides to remove the remaining skin so there is no white left on the oranges. Slice the oranges.
• Using a mandolin to slice the fennel as fine as you can. Alternatively use a sharp knife to slice as fine as possible.
• Arrange the fennel on a plate and top with the oranges, cumquats, walnuts, and garnish with the chervil.
• For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and combine. Drizzle over the salad. Serve, or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 4 as a side. I prefer it served cold from the fridge, it allows everything to marinate and the fennel under the oranges to take on the other flavours.

• 500 g cauliflower florets – about 1/2 a medium sized cauliflower
• 2 tbls olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
• a big handful of fresh parsley; chopped
• 1 tbls tomato paste
• 3-4 pieces of pancetta; chopped
• 250 g long shaped pasta – such as penne , fusilli, etc
• salt/pepper
• shaved parmesan to serve

• Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the cauliflower florets and cook until tender; about 5 – 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the florets to a bowl; reserving the water. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions in the reserved water
• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic, half the parsley, then the pancetta and brown lightly. Add cooked cauliflower. Dilute the tomato pasta with 1/4 cup of water and add to the the frying pan, stir to combine. Add the cooked pasta, season well with salt and pepper and add the remaining parsley, stir to combine
• Add to plates and top with shavings of parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil

Easily serves 3 people Adapted from Twelve, A Tuscan Cookbook by Tessa Kiros

For 6 cake layers

• (halve the mixture and make 3 layers at a time. It is a lot easier to manage)
• 4 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 2 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 500 g butter , melted
• 2 cups milk
• 8 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• food colouring in red , yellow and blue (see notes)

For the vanilla icing

• 500 g butter , softened (not melted)
• 4 cups (640g) icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the fondant lego

• fondant in RED , YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE

For the cake

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). If making 3 layers at a time, grease 3 cake tins; set aside. Place flour and sugar in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Alternate adding the flour and milk and while beating ending in the flour.
• Using scales, divide the mixture into 3 bowls. If you don’t have scales use a cup to scoop out the mixture, cup at a time into the 3 bowl until it is divided evenly. Add the food colouring for the suitable layer and pour into the greased cake tins. Bake for approximately 30- 40 minutes or until cooked through. Test with a skewer or sharp knife. Cool slightly in the tin and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat steps to make the other 3 layers if necessary.

For the icing

• Place softened butter in a bowl and using an electric mixer, beat for approximately 5 minutes or until creamy. Add icing sugar and vanilla and beat for a further 10 minutes until light and fluffy

To assemble the cake

• Cut the tops of all the cakes. Place your purple layer on the plate you will serve it on and spread a good layer of the icing over the layer. (you can see from my pictures I didn’t use a huge amount of icing in-between each layer) Repeat with all the layers. Then spread a VERY thin layer over the entire cake (called the crumb layer). Fridge the cake now to set all the crumbs in this layer. Once cold the icing will set hard. This makes it a lot easier to ice and prevents you getting crumbs in your icing. Remove from the fridge and add the remaining icing and smooth using a large knife.

For the fondant Lego

• Roll out the fondant to a thickness of about 12mm (half and inch). Then using a sharp knife cut it into rectangles about 30mm x 15mm (1 1/4 inch by just over 1/2 inch). With the off cuts roll it out so it is a couple of millimetres thick and using a round 7mm plunger cutter (available from baking shops) cut the 6 circle and place on top of the rectangles as you go. Use a little water to moisten the top if they aren’t sticking. The lego will stick to the cake icing no problems.
• If making the cake a day or two ahead of time, keep in the refrigerator unit the day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Please note an Australian cup is based on a 250ml cup.Food colouring for the cake layers: AmeriColor works really well to get the intense colours. I used colours: 106 Electric Blue, 107 Lemon Yellow, 119 Red Red. If buying small bottles I would recommend buying a larger bottle of the red as you will use the most of this colour.

Cake colour mixes: Red layer: just pure red. Orange layer: Yellow and Red. Yellow layer: pure yellow. Green layer: Yellow and Blue. Blue layer: Pure blue. Purple layer: Red and Blue – I used to much of both colours and it was too dark.

• 2 cups milk (animal or plant based)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• Freshly ground black pepper – to taste
• 1 teaspoon rice malt syrup (or other sugar-free sweetener)*optional

• Add all ingredient to a large saucepan and bring to the boil (watch it or it will boil over). Lower heat and simmer for about 15 minutes to allow the milk to infuse. Strain and serve warm. Add a little extra sweetener to suit your taste.