Potjie

Our main meal was in the afternoon when visiting with my uncle, aunt and cousins - we had the most divine potjie I've ever tasted, served with rice. I made brownies and German apple pudding with ice cream for dessert.

Curry and rice

Curry made with a mix of lamb and beef mince, served with basmati rice, Mrs Ball's chutney and buttered bread.

Spag bol

Spaghetti bolognese - actually taglietelle, not spaghetti.

The Blossoms

As the shippers were still busy and there were boxes everywhere and nowhere to sit and eat we went out for dinner again, this time to The Blossoms as it's nearby and cheap. Grant and I had a loaded burger and lamb shank, Noah had spaghetti and garlic bread, and Daniel had chicken nuggets, jacket potato and beans.

Mexican casserole

Mexican casserole for supper tonight.

Jackets, lamb, salad

We had fish and chips for lunch so supper was light - jacket potatoes, salad, leftover roast lamb.

Lamb dinner

Roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes, steamed carrots and cauliflower.

BBQ

BBQ with salad, oven rolls, corn on the cob and lamb chops.

BBQ

Salad, pasta salad, barbecued lamb chops and Lincolnshire sausages.

Leftovers

Leftover Mexican casserole with chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Mexican casserole

1 pound lean ground beef [I used lamb]
1 tin beans, drained [I used flageolet]
1 bag tortilla chips, crushed
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups grated cheese
1 package taco seasoning [I made my own]
1 tin cream of chicken soup
½ cup water

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In a large frying pan or pot, brown meat and drain off fat. Stir in beans, tomatoes, onion, taco seasoning, soup and water. Simmer over medium-low heat until everything is well combined and heated through.

Grease a lasagne dish. Put down a layer of crushed tortilla chips, followed by a layer of the meat/bean mixture, then half of the cheese. Repeat layers. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbly and golden.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Top with sour cream and salsa if you like (we didn't).

We all really enjoyed this and I'll definitely be making it again!

Curry

Curry made with lamb mince, served with rice.

Lamb shanks

It's Mother's Day and my oven broke when I turned it on to cook our roast dinner. Something blew and it tripped the electricity and when we turned it back on the oven just wouldn't heat up.

Luckily we were having lamb shanks so we did them in the microwave. I turned the grill on quite high, lowered the rack and let the grill heat the oven and that's how we did the roast potatoes. I turned the sticky toffee pudding into my crockpot on high and it cooked that way. We also had steamed carrots and broccoli.

Cheeseburger Pasta

500g lean beef or lamb mince
1 package taco seasoning (I made my own - see below)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
250g pasta

Put pasta on to cook. Brown and drain meat. Stir in taco seasoning and tomatoes. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer until pasta is ready.

Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce….

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
¾ cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking for a few minutes until fragrant and light brown in colour. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil. Whisk until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheddar cheese until melted. Add the salt and pepper to the cheese sauce. Pour the cheese sauce over the mince mixture. Stir gently to combine and stir pasta into the sauce.

This dish is very good, the kids enjoyed it too. I made my own taco seasoning as I didn't have any in the house - here's the recipe, although I reduced the chilli powder by half and left out the cumin, which I hate.

Taco Seasoning (equivalent of 1 packet)
2 teaspoons mild or hot chilli powder (I used mild, and half the amount)
1½ teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoons onion powder (I didn't have any so I left this out)
½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoons garlic powder
½ teaspoons ground cumin (I left this out)
½ teaspoons oregano

Meat, salad, potato

Lamb steaks, microwave potatoes and salad. This meal took 10 minutes to throw together.

Spag bol

Grant made spaghetti bolognese.

Creamy bolognese pasta

Pasta (instead of spaghetti) with bolognese sauce that has cream cheese stirred through at the end.

Curry

Curry and rice, served with buttered bread and Mrs Ball's chutney.

To make the curry I stir-fry a chopped onion and some mince (we like lean lamb), then add some herbs, curry powder, stock cube, can of baked beans, chopped peeled potato, about a third of a cup of ketchup and some water. Simmer until potato pieces are done. (When I make it without the potato it takes quicker and we call it curry-in-a-hurry.)

Lamb escalopes

Grilled lamb escalopes, baked potatoes and steamed carrots, broccoli and baby corn.

Spaghetti bolognese

Spaghetti bolognese tonight, and the best part is there's enough sauce for tomorrow night too.