CREAMY POTATO AND CELERY SOUP

With the emergence of celeriac as a popular vegetable, celery is often now overlooked.  The two are different vegetables although from the same family.  Celeriac is not the root of the vegetable you buy called celery, it is a plant cultivated for its root or base instead of for its stalk or leaves like celery. Sadly I think celery is now very overlooked.  I use it in salads, casseroles and it’s great with cheese, but had forgotten about using it as a main element of soup until I found this recipe.  Try it and see what you think………….  (You could substitute rice or risoni for the sago.)

 

CHEESY VEGETABLE CHOWDER

I can’t decide if this is a chowder or a minestrone soup with lots of cheese.  For some strange reason it reminds me of a soup Mum used to make with grated onion, carrot, celery and chicken noodle soup which she covered with water and when cooked added some milk to – don’t think there was ever a recipe for it, but it was one of my favorites especially when I was sick.

DILL SALMON LOAF with Piquant Yoghurt Sauce

With Christmas on the horizon I’m starting to look for recipes that will work on the big day. I think this salmon loaf would make a great starter.  You could make it the day before and serve it cold with the yoghurt sauce and a light salad.

PORK APPLE AND SAGE CASSEROLE

This casserole base makes two portions and is a great way to pre-prepare a couple of nights dinners.  You can make the base, divide in half and then freeze it.  It’s easy enough then to defrost it and add the extra ingredients on the night you want to use it.

VEGETABLE & ALMOND CASSEROLE

Vegetarian recipes weren’t something Mum would have been looking for on the pages of the Herald Sun.  Growing up I can’t remember anyone among our family or friends who didn’t eat meat, so cooking vegetable only dishes just wasn’t necessary.  This recipe is on a page Mum kept from the paper that had pork, lamb, sausage and fish casseroles on it, so the recipes were around, they just weren’t something Mum made.

BEEF AND PASTA BAKE

This is a nice meaty pasta bake with carrot, celery and mushrooms cunningly hidden to fool those picky eaters.  I like that you can make it and freeze it as it’s always great to have something in the freezer for those busy or lazy nights when you just don’t have time or feel like cooking.

Beef & Pasta Bake