Oh, the delicious Avocado, Tomato, and Mozzarella salad. If I had to pick a current staple in my life (in terms of food, of course), this would be it. Contrary to the name, it's actually incredibly cheap to make, especially in England. I get Fresh mozzarella for 47p and tomatoes and avocado's at the market. And on rainy British days I like to dine on this and pretend I'm sitting in California sunshine.

Ingredients:
1 ball fresh Mozzarella
1 small hass avocado, or 1/2 of a large one (what they tend to sell in the States)
1 small tomato, juiced and diced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a large pinch of fresh cilantro, or in the winter I use about 1/4tea dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

crusty bread on the side

Directions:
Dice and salt the mozzarella, avocado, and tomato

Sprinkle with lemon juice and cilantro/basil

Thats it! Enjoy! Sweet Pea won't touch this but she does like to steal my bread.

I promised another Halloumi recipe, and thanks to Nigella, here it is. I think my favorite idea in this recipe is the sweet potato, baking potato combo. The best of both worlds. Even Cheap liked this! Which says a lot because he seems to have issues with the dreaded sweet potato, even if it's covered in marshmallows and butter... crazy, I know.

Ingredients:
1 Sweet Potato
2 Baking Potatoes
1 onion, chopped (red would be nice but we used yellow)
6 cloves garlic, cloves- peeled but still whole
3 Tablespoons oil
8 oz Halloumi, sliced thin (Feta would be the closest alternative)

Optional:
Any other veggies that you might have laying around

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F

Dice up the potatoes into 1inch chunks

Mix with onions, garlic and oil but don't salt because the Halloumi is salty

Pour mixture into roasting pan and top with the thinly sliced Halloumi

Bake for about 30 minutes or until potatoes and cheese are golden.


This puppy will steal the show. Enjoy!

Or I guess this should really be called "oven-dried tomatoes".. Either way, it's a fabulous way to enjoy leftover tomatoes without losing them to the composte pile. This recipe is definitely an eye-baller. It's hard to give exact measurements depending on the amount and size of tomatoes used. That being said, it's hard to mess up. We love to have these dried tomatoes around to throw into sandwhiches and pasta. I freeze mine once I'm done and Sweet Pea loves squeezing the juice out of the "matoes"... just takes a bit more clean up in the end...

Ingredients:
As many ripe tomatoes as you want to dry (Roma and cherry are nice because they have less juice)
Extra virgin olive oil
Minced garlic or garlic powder
Basil or favorite Italian herbs
Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 200F

Cut the eye of the tomato off and squeeze all the juice out. For larger tomatoes, I cut the tomato in half. For smaller, like cherry, I leave it whole

Put the juice free tomatoes in a bowl and pour enough olive oil to coat all the tomatoes (as a reference I pour about 1 Tbs oil for about 2 cups tomatoes)

Add herbs and garlic (as much as you like) and salt

Put seasoned tomatoes in a single layer on a pan and check on them every hour. I cook mine until they're slightly tough but still soft. I don't like them too crunchy. It can take anywhere from 1-4 hours. Mine usually take 2 hours but times will very with the size of tomatoes and ovens.

This was my attempt to be very sneaky and get Sweet Pea to consume her loathed veggies. It worked... sort of. She had a full square right out of the oven. Cheap and some of my gal pals really enjoyed them as well, so they were a success all the way around. These are great for brunches, showers, or afternoon snacks.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup flour
1 tea salt
1 tea baking powder
1/2 tea garlic powder
1 onion, diced and sautéed, or 1/2 tea onion powder (to make it easier)
2 Tbs butter, melted
1 8oz package shredded sharp cheddar, or about two cups

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F

Reserve about 1/2 cup sharp cheddar then mix all the remaining ingredients together. Seems simple, I know.

Dump mixture into a greased baking dish (8x8 would be a good size) and top with the remaining half cup of cheddar

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden on top. Enjoy!