Meat balls and rice in tomato basil sauce

looks average but delish

This one is also known as porcupines.  It so funny, I have been calling it porky pine meatballs and did not realise until today that it was actually named after the animal porcupine with little rice spines.  Haha geez I can be an idiot sometimes. 

Anyway, so you add the rice to mince meat and some other ingredients.  It is really delicious especially if you bake it in tomato soup.  I did not have tomato soup so have used tomato pasta sauce.  Thanks to Dave the absolute ledend who lives next door who opened the jar.  Also ingredients, you can really add any vegetable to it as well.

With this recipe I have also added some fresh herbs from my yoga centre's garden which will give it a lovely flavour.

Ingredients

• 500 grams mince meat
• 1 cup rice
• 1 tin tomato soup or a jar of tomato pasta sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 large carrot - shredded
• 1 large zucchini - shredded
• 1 large brown onion - diced
• 1 hand full of herbs - basil, oregano, parsley, also some mint - break it up into pieces
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions 

1. Preheat your overn to 180 degrees celcius. 
2. Add all of your ingredients into a bowl and mix together.   
3. Roll into meat balls approximately 5cm in size and put in a casserole dish.   
4. Combine your water and pasta sauce then pour over the top of the meatballs. 
5. Bake for one hour.   

Serve with mash potato and peas or whatever vegetables take your fancy.

Enjoy!

Donna's potato bake

Donna Jenkins is my cousin on Mums side.  We've been great friends since our childhood and it's awesome to see our children are playing together.  We usually catch up during my holidays at Mount Gambier to visit family and friends. 

Donna made a delicious potato bake when I was holidaying with the family in September 2010. The french onion soup and cream are a great combination.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

• Potatoes -  approximately 10 potatoes (1 1/2 per person)
• French onion soup - 1 packet or more if required
• Cream - 2 cups
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Peel and thinly slice the potato for each person. 
2. Put half of the potatoes in a cassarole dish. 
3. Combine cream and 3/4 of the french onion soup and pour about half of the mixture over the top of the potatoes. 
4. Add the remaining slices of potato and then pour of the rest of the cream/french onion mixture.
5. Sprinkle the remaining french onion soup of the top of the potato to give it a more crunchy taste. 
6. Cook in a hot oven for about one hour. 
7. To cook more quickly soften the potato in the microwave first before finishing off in the oven

Melba's pea soup

Auntie Melba Hofmeyer

Auntie Melba was one of Lindstrom sisters (my Nanna's sister).  All of the Lindstrom girls where beautiful.  She was married to Don Hofmeyer. 

This is her pea soup recipe she gave to me when I was collecting recipes from the family in 1995.


Ingredients

Can use a ham, shank or bacon bone.  For a shank boil the meat first the day before then take off the fat.  With bacon bones you cook them that day.

250 grams green split peas.  Soak peas in hot water with a bit of carb soda overnight.  Cook separately the next day.  Tip out the water from soaking overnight, and put the peas in a saucepan of hot water and bring to the boil and keep an eye on them.  Keep simmering to nothing. 

Add onion, carrot or soup vegetables, parsnip, turnip, celery. swede (turnip is white and swede is yellow).  Chop up the vegetables. 

Add macrone or any type of pasta.

Add simmered down peas to the vegetables and meat.

Salt/pepper when the soup is cooked. 

Put in cubes of bacon/chicken powdered stock.