What’s Cooking?

I’m a busy mum and my husband works nights so he is very rarely home for dinner. This is where it falls on me to cook dinner for my two fussy children.

One of my children’s favourite meals is Cowboy Casserole with a base of mince, baked beans, macaroni and some vegetables. I usually use peas, carrots, mushroom and corn, however you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Left overs can be wrapped in pastry for pasties or pies.

My children also love macaroni cheese but after a long day at work and my limited skills at creating cheese sauce, my secret hint is to add a tablespoon of sour cream to hot macaroni, stir it in and then add a cup of grated cheese, some sliced ham and any cooked vegetables you have handy.

For drinks we often have iced tea. I always use fruit tea's, mainly with a berry base to them by making one cup with four tea bags add three big spoonfuls of honey and top with ice and water to taste. The more water added the more diluted the iced tea becomes. We also have popped them into ice block mould and frozen them for delicious summer treats.

With rugby season coming up, we have to bring a plate to all home games to share after the game. One of my favourites is Rugby Slice. I change it regularly depending on what I have in the cupboard. I have added apricots, chocolate chips, raspberry essence or sultanas. Here is the basic recipe:

Rugby Slice
4 crushed weetbix
1 C Sugar
2 C Flour
2tsp baking powder
4tsp Cocoa
250g melted butter
¼ C Milk
Place flour, weetbix, sugar, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl and mix. Add any extras, then add melted butter. Mix together then add milk. Put into a sandwich tin or roll into biscuits. Bake for 15mins at 180⁰C. Take out, allow to cool, and ice.

I often sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips whilst it is still hot or some hundreds and thousands. Hope this has given you some ideas for either at home or at your OSCAR programme.

Ariana