Corn fritters with salad and lime mayonnaise

This meal also makes a nice weekend breakfast, if you don't mind sacrificing your lie-in. Otherwise, keep it for dinner and enjoy. Oh, and do try to make the lime mayo - it really gives the dish a real kick!

Corn Fritters

400 gram tin corn kernals, drained
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon dried chilli flakes (or more to taste)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 - Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl with a fork, so that no flour lumps remain.

2 - Heat a fry pan over a medium high heat. Drop a soup spoon's worth of batter into the pan, then spread them out a bit to flattened them. Cook for 2ish minutes, or until you see the bubbles begin to form, then flip them over and cook for another couple of minutes. Remover, then cover to keep warm until all the batter is gone.

Salad

2 handfuls baby spinach leaves, washed well and dried
1 avocado, cut into little chunks

Lime Mayonnaise

1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise
Juice of one lime

Assemblage

1 - Place some of the spinach leaves and avocado on each plate.

2 - Mix the mayo and lime juice together. Drizzle over the salad on each plate.

3 - Top the salad with 2 or 3 fritters each, then serve.

Lemony green pilaf

This is a most excellent way to start the week - full of leafy green goodness, and the nuts and eggs are a good way to get a protein boost. The brown rice, in particular, always has the effect of making me feel particularly virtuous.

If only I hadn't scoffed the chocolate pudding afterwards. Yikes!

Lemony green pilaf

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 spring onions (scallions), sliced roughly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups long grain brown rice, rinsed well
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock or water
2 big handfuls baby spinach leaves
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 hard boiled egg per person, cut in half
1/3 cup cashew nuts, lightly roasted
Coriander (cilantro) to serve

1 - Heat the oil in a large pan, then add the spring onions. Cook for a minute or two, then add the lemon zest and garlic. Cook for a minute more.

2 - Add the rice and stock, then bring to the boil. Cover, and simmer over a low heat for 35 - 40 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Remove lid, then stir through the lemon juice and spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted, then serve, topped with the eggs, cashews and coriander to taste.

Vegetable Quesadillas

I have no idea how authentic these babies are, but man, do they taste good!

Vegetable Quesadillas

2 red capsicums
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
2 handfuls baby spinach leaves, washed well
1/4 pumpkin, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tomatoes, sliced
200 grams grated tasty cheese
2 flour tortillas per person
Olive oil, to grease

1 - Preheat the oven to 220 C. Cut each capsicum into quarters, and remove the inner core and seeds. Place the capsicum pieces on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and lightly grease each with a smidge of olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20ish minutes, or until the skin is bubbling and starting to blacken, then remove and place in a plastic bag.

2 - Once the capsicums have cooled down, remove them from the bag, and remove the skin (putting them in the bag whilst hot lets the steam work it's magic on the skin, making it far easier to remove). Slice up roughly.

3 - Meanwhile, turn the oven down to 200 C. Place the pumpkin slices on a baking tray lined with paper, and roast for 15 - 20 minutes, until tender.

4 - Heat a chargrill pan over a medium high heat, and grill the zucchini slices for 3 minutes on each side, or until the pan leaves grill marks.

5 - Heat either a flat non-stick pan or a sandwhich maker, and brush with oil. Place each tortilla on a flat surface. Place some spinach leaves on the tortilla, then top with the capsicum, pumpkin, zucchini, tomatoes and cheese. Place the other tortilla on top, then cook on the sandwhich maker/pan for 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Cut into quarters, then serve.

Pumpkin Lasagne

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've been on a bit of a pumpkin kick this week. But seriously, what's not to like? It's the most versatile vegetable around, lending it's flavour gracefully from anything to soup to pasta bakes to curries, all without being dominating or bossy. The only thing saving it from perfection is the nagdamn skin that is such a pain to peel. Grrr!

Pumpkin lasagne

500 grams frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of moisture
500 grams pumpkin, peeled and thinly sliced
1 packet dried lasagne sheets, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes prior to use
500 grams ricotta cheese
1/2 cup cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
200 grams grated mozzarella cheese

1 - Preheat oven to 180 C.

2 - Grease a large baking dish, and place a layer of lasagne sheets down, cutting to fit if need be. Layer half the pumpkin over, top with half the spinach, then smoosh over a third of the ricotta mixture.

3 - Repeat, ending with another layer of lasagne sheets. Top with the remaining ricotta mixture, then sprinkle with mozzarella.

4 - Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is bubbling and golden. Sit for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry

This was one of those: Hmm, what the heck shall we have for dinner tonight. Better open up the cupboard and see what's hiding in there. Oh great - sweet mother of nothing. Hang on - I spy a sweet potato! And there's an old capsicum in the fridge, right next to that handful of spinach that I forgot to put into my sandwhich yesterday. I'm pretty sure I've got a can of chickpeas in the pantry. That's it - dinner is served!"

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm squares
1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 or 2 handfuls of spinach leaves, washed well
1 800g tin crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons hot curry powder
400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
coriander, to serve
cooked brown rice, to serve

1 - Steam the sweet potato in a steamer until just tender. Remove.

2 - Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Saute the onion until golden, then add the red capsicum, garlic and curry powder. Stir and cook for a minute or two.

3 - Add the tomatoes and chickpeas, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and spinach, and carefully simmer until the spinach has wilted. Be careful not to moosh the sweet potatoes too much! Add coriander to taste, then serve over the brown rice.

Spanakopita with green salad

I have a theory. Stay with me, it's a good one. Say you have a child. Or a pain in the elbow Uncle, who inconveniently pops around for dinner all the bloody time, but never is happy with what he is served. Do they like eating their greens? Nah, I didn't think so. I mean, when was the last time you saw a child sit down at the dinner table and declare "Oh, hip hip hooray - tonight we're having greens. Full of nutrients and so good for me! Thank you, kind parents!"

However, and this is the ever so slightly evil bit - if you hide the greens amongst all different sorts of cheese, then encase the whole thing in pastry, then the little suckers will be chomping it down with the best of them. Just don't let them know it's healthy! Or expect them to eat the side salad.

Spanakopita

250g frozen spinach, thawed out and squeezed of moisture
1 bunch silverbeet or rainbow chard (same thing, yeah, just one has prettier stems)
4 spring onions, washed well and thinly sliced

handful chopped parsley
5 eggs, beaten well
250g ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
300g firm feta cheese, crumbled
1 long red chilli, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
20 sheets filo pastry, only just taken out from the freezer
100g butter, melted
Sesame seeds

1 - Preheat the oven to 190 C. Remove the stems from the silverbeet/chard, then roughly slice the leaves. Put into a bowl, cover with boiling water, then remove once they have wilted. Let the leaves cool, then mix with the spinach.

2 - Meanwhile, combine the beaten eggs, parmesan cheese, feta cheese, ricotta cheese, nutmeg, chilli, spring onions, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the silverbeet/spinach mixture, and mix until combined. Set aside.

3 - This is the bit where you have to work carefully and quickly. Oil a large baking dish with a little of the butter. Spread out the filo on a work bench, covering with a damp tea towel between bits. Carefully pick up a single piece of the filo, and place into the dish, gently molding it into place. Don't worry if bits are hanging off the side, we'll fix that up later. Brush the sheet of filo with butter, then place a new one on top of it. Brush it with butter, and repeat until you have layered 10 sheets.

4 - Gently pour in the silverbeet mixture. Spread it over the filo so it is even, then place a sheet of filo on top of it. Brush with butter and so on and so on until the remaining 10 sheets are placed on top.

5 - Tuck the overhanging bits into the dish, or trim, then score the pastry in a diamond pattern. Brush with butter, sprinkle over some sesame seeds, and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crinkly. Rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then slice up and serve.

Green salad

3 handfuls lettuce mix, washed well and dried
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced into batons
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 - Mix the veggies into a bowl.

2 - Right before serving, combine the oil, vinegar and musard in a small bowl then pour over the salad. Toss, then serve.