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[Toria]

This is a quick & easy dinner I made a few nights ago - I'll give the recipe first, then my variation:

Leftover Roast Dinner Casserole (from Woman's Weekly babies & toddlers good food cookbook - this is in the 2-3 years section)

30g butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped cooked meat or chicken
1 cup chopped cooked vegetables
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup coarsely grated cheddar

Make a white sauce: heat butter in a small pan, add flour, cook, stirring until mixture thickens & bubbles. Gradually stir in milk, stir until mixture boils & thickens.

Place combined meat & vegetables in shallow oiled 2-cup ovenproof dish, pour sauce over the top. Sprinkle with combined breadcrumbs & cheese, bake, uncovered, in moderate oven for about 20 minutes, or until heated through & browned on top.

My variation: we had leftovers from a bbq chicken, but no leftover vegies. So, I used a bag of frozen vegetables instead. I used one of the Heinz Fresh Ideas range - Thai mix (carrots, beans, broccoli, sugarsnap peas, red capsicum & water chestnuts (but left out the water chestnuts cause I didn't think they'd taste right with the dish)). I had more than 2 cups of chicken & vegies, so I made extra white sauce & used a bigger dish.


My Pumpkin Soup (vegetarian)

Chop up pumpkin (& some sweet potato if you have some). Mix up some olive oil, ground pepper & nutmeg, toss pumpkin pieces in the oil to coat thoroughly. Bake pumpkin in a moderate oven for about 40-60 minutes (until really soft).

Roughly chop an onion or 2, coat it in the olive oil (but this time add a little brown sugar to the coating mix as well as the nutmeg). Add it to the oven tray about 15 minutes into cooking the pumpkin.

Heat up some stock in a large pot till it's simmering. Add the roasted vegetables. Use a hand blender to completely mash down the vegetables & mix until the consistency is right (I start with a little stock & add more if needed). Adjust seasoning if necessary.

[holycow]

Joh, I cook a version of your Red Hot Root soup, but haven't put carrots in it and usually use a half tin of coconut milk to make it creamy. I usually add some ginger and coriander to mine as they work well with the chili and coconut milk.

I'm going to make your version today, love the idea of the beans to make the creaminess!

[johT]

i have that book toria its excellent!
yum. im gona have to try both your soup recipes aswell - i just bought all the pumpkin and stuff
what type of pumpkin do you all use?? i mostly use butternut but wonder if theres a better one
jayne i have also made it once with kidneybeans, it looked abit different with a few dark specks but was still nice

[kermi]

I use Jap pumpkin in our soup Joh - cheaper than butternut but sweet and yummo. (Even more cost effective since the neighbours pumpkin vine invaded our yard and there are 6 or so growing there now! )

Pumpkin & Parmesan Soup
Put 500g pumpkin chopped, 30g butter or olive oil, a med onion diced and a crushed clove of garlic in a pot. Cook for a few mins on med heat until onions have carmelised. Add 3 cups of hot vegetable stock and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Cover pot with lid and cook until pumpkin is tender.
Blend until smooth (can be frozen at this stage for up to 2 months if need be). Reheat, stir in a little cream and top with grated parmesan cheese.

[johT]

mmmm. carmen i hope your freezer is stocked up!
will try jap next time

[kermi]

Originally Posted by johT

mmmm. carmen i hope your freezer is stocked up!

Yep, both of them Joh

And if that's not enough - I'm soooo glad I taught Calen to cook from the age of 9..
This is one of his favourite recipes!

[johT]

ok we are ready for your baby to come then LOL
calen will look after his mum huhi'd better make sure i teach dsd some more i think!

[kermi]

Originally Posted by johT

ok we are ready for your baby to come then LOL
calen will look after his mum huhi'd better make sure i teach dsd some more i think!

Well yeah - WE are ready for bub - just seems bub isn't ready for us yet!!

And yep - get those boys in the kitchen!! Their future girlfriends will thank us for it! lol

[johT]

hmmm dss (16) actually asked me how to turn the kettle on! yesterday!!! (not for cooking for fixing something)
no hope there im afraid well it's not totally my fault!i blame his parents too LOL!
dsd is abit better.better work on it!
they are learning how to clean
if this ones a boy im taking your wise advice carmen already my girls love cooking, gotta remind myself to teach them all to cook/clean more as they get older.

[Toria]

I use Jap pumpkins as well, they tend to have a nicer taste than the others.

I used to teach 1st year physics labs at uni & in one class they had to measure the temperature of boiling water (using a constant volume gas thermometer technique) - one (male) student didn't know how to tell when the water was boiling!!!

Carmen, maybe the baby is waiting to see what's for dinner before s/he arrives?