While I have been enjoying the warmth of this extended summer, I am now appreciating the cooler weather and with it the decline of summer pests from my garden.
Is anyone else enjoying charred broccoli at present?  My family are so enthusiastic about it that we are going through quantities on a daily basis.
I guess when vegetables taste that good they are sure to be popular.
We have some lovely new Chicken Recipes in our autumn feature, the Coconut and Lime Poached Chicken being a personal favourite.
Happy Cooking!

Having spent a month munching my way through the National Lamb Day, Cuisine Artisan Awards, Cheese Awards and NZ watermelon month, it has somewhat softened the approach of autumn, I am always reluctant to give up summer.
Although as always with a seasonal change there are things to look forward to.  My quince are ready to pick and the recent rain has hopefully helped my tiny feijoas to ripen and grow into decent sized fruit.
While autumn is here the days are still balmy and I am hoping those quince last long enough for the weather to cool enough to stand in the kitchen making quince paste.
Happy Cooking!

Well they did tell us that summer could be a little unusual with the weather patterns and it certainly is that.  My plums are half heartedly ripening although nowhere near as flavoursome as last year.  Thankfully I have a few good recipes such as this fabulous Plum Cake that seems to taste great regardless of the plums.
Despite the weather we have been eating well and these delicious summer chicken recipes are featuring regularly on our weekly menu.
Happy Cooking!

With some of the kids breaking up from school within the next few weeks I am starting to think about homemade treats that we can make for teachers.  With that in mind I thought I would share with a you our top Homemade Gifts from the Kitchen, which started out being 10, has now grown to 15 and my tomorrow is likely to be significantly more.  It isn’t too early to make shortbread, it freezes beautifully and means that you can have oven fresh shortbread as you need it!
I am hoping that is what I will find time for later this week.
The other sweet treat that freezes well is a rolled pavlova/pavlova roulade.  You just make it up with cream and all and then wrap and freeze until needed.
So easy!
Happy Cooking!

After 2 glorious weeks in Sri Lanka it is taking a while to come back down to daily routines.  Amazing how quickly one can get used to having their morning omelette cooked to order and an amazing array of delicious buffet fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Now it is me cooking the dinners again and they are nowhere near as tasty!
Thankfully there are spring treats just around the corner such as asparagus and West Coast whitebait.
Happy school holidays and happy cooking!

I am sure you will agree that there are few things more nourishing in winter than a good chicken pie. This week we celebrate the very best chicken pie recipes with a variety of recipes to share.  I surprised myself at how much I actually like a butter chicken party pie, they are not too similar to a little curry puff.
Another comfort favourite is rice pudding and while some are undoubtedly nursery food, this white chocolate, rum and raisin rice pudding is anything but.
Keep warm and Happy Cooking!

I think it may be time for a new profile picture as I certainly don’t have bare arms in Wanaka this week.  With ski field temperatures barely above zero it is certainly a week for soups and casseroles (if only I had thought to cook, freeze and bring some with me).
Lentil and Vegetable Soup is one of my winter favourites and my recipe was inspired after having having the same in a Wanaka cafe last winter.  A large pot of vegetable soup means that the kids are both happy and I know they are getting plenty of goodness to keep them going.
Happy Cooking!

Our discussion forums are a great way to ask advice, offer opinions and interact with others.  Recently a contributor set up a $10 family meal challenge, creating a meal for 4 for $10 or less. There are some great looking recipes there and I know that many of us are always conscious of trying to reduce our grocery spend each week.
After much frustration with commercial muesli I have once again started making my own and now can’t believe I have been buying them for all these years.  Are you a muesli maker and do you have a recipe to share?
You do need to register to use our forum but the sole reason for this is to reduce spam, your email address and full name can remain private.
Happy Cooking!

This week we celebrate pumpkin with a great selection of our favourite pumpkin recipes to share (and only one of them is soup!).
Last last week I revisited one of our extra tasty roast pumpkin salads, gave it a new photo and popped it onto facebook and hey presto it is being shared around the world.  It really does deserve the publicity it is getting and is especially good alongside a slow roasted leg of lamb.
Feel like joining in on our fun conversation re your all time top 10 cookbooks?  See the conversation right here – top 10 cookbooks.
Happy Cooking!

Brrr, although we were enjoying a rather extended summer it has now disappeared in the blink of an eye bringing a sharp blast of autumn with it.
This sudden change has brought with it and instant shift from summer salads into thoughts of warming risottos, soup, casseroles and of course pies and tarts.
This week I plan to work on some new tart recipes and Liz will be here Thursday to capture images that we will share with you early next week.

Happy Cooking and Happy School holidays!

I hope you are managing to take some time out this Easter to relax with family and friends.
We are having some days away at a family beach house, the weather is great and it is so very relaxing.
Food will be easy with some whitebait from the freezer for an extra special starter, our favourite Asian Beef Salad with friends on Saturday night and a family roast on Sunday.
Dessert was to be quince ricotta tart although the mass of feijoas that we are gathering daily may instead mean that we have a fruit crumble – the kids will be happier with that!
Wherever you are I do hope you have a Happy Easter!

What a fabulous summer it has been, aside from my passionfruit  suddenly dropping its beautiful green leaves and I assume curling up its toes, the rest of the produce has been outstanding.  We are picking courgettes each day and I am into my second planting of basil.
This very simple Vietnamese style pork with eggplant has been made most weeks and courgette mixed with spinach in feta triangles.
There are not quite enough blackberries yet for a blackberry pie but I live in hope that one year soon we will get there!

Happy Cooking,

With January being such a wonderful month of endless sunshine it was pretty difficult to stick to good work habits. Now that the kids are back to school there are no excuses and we are brimming with new ideas for foodlovers for this year.
This Sunday, February 15th marks NZ National Lamb Day, it was on this date 133 years ago that our first shipment of sheep meat left NZ shores destined for overseas markets.
In celebration of this you will find a couple of opportunities to win tasty NZ lamb on our win pages.

Happy Cooking and Happy Valentine’s Day,
Helen

LIke many of you we will be enjoying a summer break at the beach.
My challenge will be that the nearest supermarket is one hour away – something I have never really had to contemplate before.  This will be a real challenge when I am used shopping on a daily basis but I am sure we will cope.
Wishing you and your family a lovely Christmas and New Year and we look forward to being back with you in 2015.

Happy Cooking!