Lazy Bolognese-y

February 5, 2013September 3, 2025 ~ desertcook ~ 6 Comments

Hello!

Hope that you have had a lovely Christmas and school holiday break. We had a wonderful time – 5 weeks with our families, split between a remote caravan park, a beach house and my family home in Perth.

While it was delightful being away, the kids ate more refined and packaged foods and sweets than they would normally have, so I have been finding it difficult to get them back into their regular eating routine – especially with Harry and vegetables.

So when I made spag bol the other night, instead of just grating in the veggies like I normally do, I then blitzed them in the food processor before adding them to the meat which made a really nice thick sauce … without obvious pieces of ‘pooey vegetables’ (my lovely 2 year old!). Harry was so excited to see how much ‘meat’ he had on his spaghetti that he practically inhaled the bowlful – win for Mummy!!

See below the recipe for a link to our meat free bolognese.

500g beef mince
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp garlic olive oil
1-2 tsp minced chillies (or 1/2 tsp dried, ground chilli)
1 large carrot
1 large zucchini
1 tin (420g) beans, drained and rinsed (kidney beans, black beans or a 3 bean mix)
1 tin (420g) lentils, drained and rinsed
10-12 button mushrooms
Fist sized piece of sweet potato or pumpkin
1 large jar of tomato passata (approx 700g)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or you could use red wine)
1 tsp beef stock powder (we use the Massel brand)
spaghetti or fettuccine (we use the gluten free versions)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft and golden

Add the mince and break it into small pieces as it browns, add the passata, paste, aminos/wine and stock. Mix well and turn down to low heat. Add in the lentils.

Meanwhile, in the food processor blitz or grate the vegetables, beans and mushrooms. Process more or less depending on how smooth you want your sauce.

Add the veggie mix to the meat mix in the saucepan and stir well. Bring to a very gentle simmer for about half an hour, stirring regularly. I leave the saucepan lid on but cracked open.

Serve on the cooked pasta or a bed of steamed green beans – add grated cheese of choice to top if you like.

This makes a large batch. The Bolognese freezes and thaws well.

Enjoy 🙂

If you are a fan of bolognese, but you’d like a meat free option, check out our yummy mushroom and lentil bolognese.

Optional – Add in a few tablespoons of my tomato confit for an extra flavour boost.

UPDATE : This recipe remains a firm favourite in our home (12 years after I originally posted this recipe!). But these days there are 6 mouths to feed and 2 of those mouths belong to very big teenage boys and another pre-teen who is entering his eating era! So I only ever make this in a double batch – thank goodness for a 12L saucepan!! Because the meal is filling, high protein, high fibre, an excellent way to contribute to veg consumption and allergy friendly, it is very common for this to also go to school in a lunchbox thermos – so a double batch never goes to waste!

Banana Bread

December 4, 2012June 18, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

Banana bread sounds good in theory right? It’s fruit – it must be healthy.

Nope, sorry. Most banana breads that you find in cafes are pretty well just glorified cake …. don’t get me wrong – they are super delicious, but just the healthy choice people think they’re making!

This recipe is a lot lower in sugar and has lot of extra goodies added to it. Still super delicious, but I am really happy to pop this one in lunch-boxes or enjoy at brunch or with an afternoon cuppa.

See below the recipe for a coeliac friendly option.

2 cups flour (Plain flour is fine but I have used mixes of spelt, barley and rye and they all work well too)
1/3 cup sugar (optional, but add it in if you’re a sweet tooth!)
2 rounded tsp GF baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon/mixed spice
1/2 cup milk of choice (oat, almond and rice work well)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 medium, very ripe, bananas, mashed
75g vegan butter/tasteless coconut oil
50g maple syrup or honey*
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 tbsp seeds (use whichever are your favourite – process these first if you’d like less obvious bits). A small handful of chopped walnuts also works well here.
3 tbsp aquafaba (liquid drained from a can of chick peas) OR 1 whole egg
rolled oats to top (or more sliced banana)

Into a large bowl add all of the dry ingredients. I don’t do sifting (ever if at all possible!), so I use a whisk to gently mix this dry mixture until it’s even.

In a large measuring jug, mix the milk and the vinegar and whisk vigorously for a minute. It should become slightly thicker and have lots of frothy bubbles on top. Then set aside for a few (3-4) minutes. Or blitz in your blender/nutribullet for a few seconds.

To the milk mix, add the mashed banana, oil, syrup, aquafaba/egg and vanilla and whisk until well combined. (or another few seconds in the blender/nutribullet)

*If you’d like an alternative to the honey or syrup, you can blend in 6 medjool dates to the wet mix

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, folding them in until just combined – don’t over mix.

Pour into a large greased loaf pan, sprinkle oats on top and bake at 180C for about an hour, or until a skewer, inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack for another 10-15 minutes.

I also make these into muffins when I don’t have as much baking time – makes 18-20.

This is yummy as is, or with a bit of butter, or even toasted. It freezes and defrosts well, just slice and wrap individually before freezing.

Enjoy … as I currently am, with a cuppa 🙂

To make these coeliac friendly, use 1 2/3 cups of GF flour mix (I like Bobs Red Mill All purpose baking flour) plus 2 flat tsp of psyllium and make sure you use a gluten free milk then top with rolled quinoa or use the extra banana option.

To make these in a thermal cooker:

Whisk the milk and vinegar and set aside (Speed 4, 10 seconds).

Place the bananas, oil, vanilla, aquafaba/egg and syrup in the bowl and process on speed 5 for 8 seconds.

Add in milk mixture and process on speed 4 for 8 seconds. Then set aside the wet mix.

Add all of the dry ingredients to the machine and process on speed 4 for 8 seconds.

Add the wet mix back into the dry and process on speed 4 for 6 seconds, the scrape down and repeat.

Bake as per regular method.

Overnight Oats – breakfast heaven!!

November 20, 2012June 18, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ 5 Comments

It is getting hot in the desert, which means that porridge for breakfast isn’t so appealing any more.

I am keen to stick with oats as they are a great, filling and easy, low GI breakfast, but I just don’t love muesli without cows milk.

So it is overnight oats to the rescue – they’re soaked to soften them instead of cooking.

This will be breakfast (and possibly lunch!) all summer at my place – hope you delight in it as much as we do 🙂

150ml almond milk (soy/oat/rice milks work too, if nuts are out)
50g oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbps honey (agave/maple for a vegan version)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp chia seeds, and
diced fruit to top (I’ve been using blueberries, strawberries and mango)

Mix the oats and milk in a glass container, then add in honey, cinnamon and vanilla and stir well.

Leave overnight in the fridge.

Just before serving in the morning mix through the chia seeds and top with fruit.

Serves 2.

I have also made this for lunch (on more than one occasion!). Just mix up in the morning and allow at least 4 hours in the fridge.

Salmon and roast vegetable quinoa

November 1, 2012June 18, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ 5 Comments

My friend Amy introduced me to quinoa (pronounced ‘keen-wah’) a couple of years ago as I was desperately searching for some allergy friendly variety for our diets … and I am SO glad she did!!

It is an amazing seed – a real super-food; high in amino acids and full of protein, iron and calcium and a great source of low GI gluten-free fibre. For all of these reasons it has become a regular feature on our menu. Quinoa has a lovely nutty taste – almost like a mix between the chewiness of barley and the fluffiness of cous cous. It can have a bitter taste, but that is easily fixed by soaking and rinsing before you cook it.

This is one of my favourite quinoa recipes;

Salmon and roast vegetable quinoa.

1.5 cups quinoa (I use the white variety, but it also comes in black and red)
spray oil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp Massel chicken stock
dill (to taste)
1 large tin of salmon, bones and skin removed, flaked
1 large zucchini
1.5 punnets cherry or grape tomatoes
pumpkin

Place the quinoa in a large saucepan and cover with about 2L of water. Allow to soak for at least an hour (mine often sits for a few hours before I get back to it!), then drain and rinse well.

While the quinoa is soaking, cut up the vegetables (leave the tomatoes whole) and place in a large baking dish. Spray with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a pre-heated 180 C oven for about an hour, or until they are just cooked (you don’t want them to get too squishy).

Return the drained quinoa to the saucepan and cover in 4 cups chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 15 mins. Drain the excess stock.

Add the salmon, dill and olive oil to the saucepan and gently mix through on a low heat.

Serve the quinoa into bowls and top with the roast veggies.

Serves 4-5

Hugh’s muesli bars

October 17, 2012June 18, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ 3 Comments

I mostly pack my own snack for our morning outing when I pack the boys lunch boxes the night before, that way there’s not as much temptation to cave in and buy pre prepared stuff that isn’t so great for me – especially when I know how yummy the snacks ready waiting for me are.

To aid in my baking adventures, I was given the River Cottage ‘Everyday’ cookbook for mother’s day (I have to confess that I am a little bit in love with Hugh and I often wish I lived at River Cottage … but given that I live in the middle of the desert and that I am a real veggie growing novice, I am just making do with some of his amazing recipes for now!). This muesli bar recipe is adapted from one of the recipes that I first saw on his show.

It is probably more of a ‘grown ups’ recipe but I have taken to packing some for my boys when I have them because otherwise they just pinch mine!

250g nuttelex/butter
250g Sunflower seed butter
1/2 cup honey/maple syrup
zest of 2 oranges and 2 lemons (I mix and match with lime too, depending on what’s hiding in my fridge)

Mix all above ingredients in a large saucepan and cook over low heat until all melted and mixed together.

Remove from heat and add;

2 1/2 cups diced dried fruit (I’ve just used sultanas, dates, apricots and cranberries)
75g sunflower seeds
100g pumpkin seeds
75g flax seeds
75g chia seeds, and
400g rolled oats.

Stir in thoroughly, press the mixture down firmly into a greased baking pan and cook in a preheated oven at 160 C for approx 45 mins, or until golden.

Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

I find it’s best to leave it in the fridge for an hour or so before I cut it up, then store it in the fridge in an airtight container and it keeps well for a fortnight.

This makes a large batch and it is quite calorie dense, but because of all the protein and good fats it is filling and you don’t need a huge serving to be satisfied. Great for school lunchboxes when you’re at a ‘nut-free school and it can also serve as a quick and filling breakfast.

To make this Coeliac Friendly replace the oats with equal weight of a mix of puffed rice, rolled quinoa and desiccated coconut.

Chicken Risotto

October 16, 2012June 18, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

My kids aren’t terrific at eating pieces of meat, so meals that have everything mixed in together usually go down well – and this risotto is no exception. It gets scoffed down by everyone – in fact, after a torturous few months it was the very first meal that my Harry ate when he was 9 months old!

It’s easy to make and easy to adapt with whatever veg you have left and lastly (and possibly best of all!) it sticks together well, so it stays on spoons when little people are learning to feed themselves 😉

See below the recipe for the vegan option

5 cups chicken stock (for an instant variety I use ‘Massel’ stock powder)
70g nuttelex/vegan butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or about 1/2 tsp dried)
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
2 cups steamed veggies (green beans and corn or pumpkin and broccoli are popular combinations in our house, but you can use whatever your family enjoys)
Approx 300g coarsely chopped cooked chicken.

Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan

In a large frying pan, melt the butter and oil and cook onion, garlic and thyme, stirring until onion is soft.

Add rice and stir for about 1 minute, ensuring the rice in coated with the herb mix.

Add approx 1/2 cup of stock at a time and stir consistently over a low/medium heat until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy and just tender.

Remove from heat and stir through the chicken and veggies. Serve immediately. Feeds 5-6 adults.

If your diet allows it, you could also stir though 80g of finely grated parmesan cheese before the chicken. Or use 1/4 cup of Nutritional Yeast for a cheesey flavouring.

For a vegan option for this dish, remove the chicken and use 2-3 cups of sliced button mushrooms. Don’t wait until the end to add them in though. Add them to the meal about 2 minutes after the onion and garlic go into the pan.

Total cooking time will be about 25-30mins.

I’m not sure about your house, but in mine, the half hour before dinner is filled with bathing, dressing and wrangling 3 hungry little people, so standing in front of the stove for 30 mins doesn’t work very well!

So I’ve experimented a bit and I’ve found that an hour or 2 before dinner, when I have a bit more time, I can follow all steps through until there is about 1- 1 1/2 cups of stock remaining in the saucepan. Turn off both pans and leave them covered. Then just before dinner, bring the stock to the boil and put the risotto on a low heat and finish adding the stock before following the final steps.

This one isn’t really suitable for freezing. If you do have leftovers, you could reheat it the next day, but add a bit of stock (a couple of tbsps) before you zap it.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Fish Fingers

October 12, 2012June 18, 2021 ~ desertcook ~ Leave a comment

I spent many years of my childhood living in beautiful Broome (the North West coast of WA), where I got pretty used to eating fish like Red Emporer and Snapper (with my mum’s amazing beer batter!) as standard – how lucky!! Now we live in the middle of the desert and getting the goodness of fresh fish into our kids is a bit tricky! I try to include fish in our diet once a week, but it is often tinned salmon … and there is only so much of that, they’ll take!

So how about fish fingers? They are a kid favourite … but the very thought of eating the ones out of a packet turns me off, So here is a really easy recipe for allergy free fish fingers that even adults will enjoy 🙂

approx 400g fresh white fish fillets (I have been using flathead), skin off and de-boned.
equivalent of 2 eggs made up of ‘no egg’/2 beaten eggs/4 tbsp aquafaba
1 lemon for the juice and zest
thyme to taste (I used the dried variety and used about 1/2 tsp)
1/3 cup polenta (or blitzed rolled quinoa)
some oil to fry

Place the fish fillets, lemon juice, zest and thyme in the food processor and blend until quite smooth.

Spoon mix into an oiled baking dish (the one I use is 14cm x 23cm), spread evenly and press down firmly.

Refrigerate for an hour, or until firm and cold. Cut into fingers (I do them quite big – 8 to this pan).

Coat the fingers in your egg replacer, I find that the easiest way to do this is to brush the mix on with a pastry brush before turning them and repeating.

Then roll the fingers in the polenta or quinoa crumb so that they are evenly coated, and pop them in a couple of tbsps of oil in a hot frying pan. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, or until fish is white all the way through.

Serve with veggies … and of course tomato sauce!

Enjoy 🙂