This 4-ingredient dessert is the perfect way to beat the heat in our hot Australian summer, while celebrating one of our most glorious summer fruits – the mango!

Ingredients

• 2 large mangoes
• 600ml thickened cream
• 1 can (~300g) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Line a loaf tin with plastic wrap, with enough overlap along the edges to cover the top.
2. Remove the flesh from the mangoes and blend until smooth. Pour the mango mix into the loaf tin and freeze for 15 minutes.
3. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, then mix with the condensed milk and vanilla. Be careful not to over mix as the cream will split and the texture will become grainy.
4. Pour the cream mix on top of the mango mix, then fold the plastic wrap edges on top (this is to prevent the top from becoming icy). Freeze overnight or for at least 4 hours until firm.
5. When ready to serve, remove from the loaf tin and let stand for 10 minutes to soften. Serve topped with whatever you like, but I love mint and blueberries!

Despite living in Australia, we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with our friends thanks to two of them spending a number of years working in Vancouver. While these turkey meatballs are no competition to the amazing roast turkey and myriad of sides our friends serve up, these meatballs do happen to make for super easy mid-week meal prep!

Ingredients (serves 2-4 depending on size)

• 500g turkey mince
• 1 piece stale bread (I use gluten free bread and it works well) OR 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/8 cup cranberries
• herbs of your choice – I use 1/2 tablespoon each of fresh parsley, dill, chives and rosemary from our herb garden! But if you’re on a budget, just dried parsley is totally fine!

If you need to make these on a bigger scale, this recipe can easily be doubled or tripled by multiplying all of the quantities. 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C and line a tray with baking paper.
2. Place the bread in the food processor and process until crumbed. Add the egg, herbs and mince and process until well combined.
3. Place 2-3 tbsp of mixture on your palm and flatten, then place 3-4 cranberries in the middle, then close the mixture over the top before rolling. Roll the mixture into small meatballs and allow to set in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
4. Heat a large fry pan over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the meatballs, flatten slightly with the back of a spatula, and brown both sides (don’t need to cook through). 
5. Transfer the browned patties to the oven tray and bake until cooked through (about 10 minutes or so).
6. Serve with your choice of greens (or in this case, lettuce with red sorrel from the garden, with cauliflower roasted with a sprinkle of aged parmesan).

This pesto recipe was a bit of a happy accident. I call it an accident in that, while I was house-sitting for my mother, her wildly growing herb garden wilted in the cold snap. Rather than attempting to resuscitate the plants, I preened them and ended up with an abundance of rocket and parsley.

I’ve now written a handy guide for growing and storing your own herbs after I learned my lesson – but at least I have some wonderful zesty pesto to show for it!

Ingredients 

• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 2 cups rocket leaves
• 1/4 cup pinenuts
• 1/2 cup flat leafed parsley
• 4 tablespoons of lemon infused olive oil (OR use regular extra virgin olive oil and add 1 tsp lemon zest)

Method

1. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a fry pan over a medium heat until browned. Set aside to cool. Note that there is about a three second difference between ‘toasted’ and ‘burnt’ pinenuts so watch them like a hawk!
2. Place all of the dry ingredients in a food processor. While processing, slowly add the oil until everything is well combined. Serve with fresh warm bread, your favourite poultry, tossed with boiled potatoes……  the possibilities are only limited by your tastebuds!

Another soup to warm the hands, heart and soul when our weather finally cools down! Pumpkin soup is one of my absolute favourites, and after a recent admission to hospital, this was all I felt like eating to restore my body back to normal working order!

Ingredients (serves 4) 

• 500g Kent pumpkin
• 4 large carrots
• 1 litre stock (vegetarian if you’re vegan, chicken if you’re not)
• 400mL can light coconut cream
• 4 tablespoons Za’atar
• Dollop of yogurt to serve (plain coconut if you’re vegan, plain Greek if you’re not)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200*C. Peel and roughly chop the pumpkin into small cubes. Leave the carrots with the peel on but chop into similar sized pieces. Place onto a lined baking tray or two, spray with olive oil, and roast until golden brown and soft (approximately 30-40 minutes).
2. Place the stock, coconut cream, pumpkin, carrot and 3 tablespoons of za’atar in the blender and blend until smooth. Top with the extra za’atar and your choice of yogurt to serve

These mini pesto fruffins are a cross between a frittata and a muffin, and make for a quick and easy lunch box snack (or in my case, hidden in my scrub pockets at work…)

Ingredients (makes 12 big or 24 mini)

• 4 large free range eggs
• 1/2 cup self raising flour
• 1/2 cup low fat plain Greek yogurt
• 2 heaped tablespoons pesto
• 100g block of your choice of cheese (feta, Edam, cheddar or Gouda work well here!)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200*C. Line a muffin tin with cases or grease with oil.
2. Mix the eggs, pesto, flour and yogurt until well combined. Pour mixture into muffin tins.
3. Dice the cheese into 12 or 24 pieces depending on your muffin tray size, and press one piece into each blob of muffin mixture.
4. Bake until risen and golden on top (15-20 minutes). Eat warm!