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The Empowered Educator

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Family Food Friday…..Winter Warmers

by The Empowered Educator 12 Comments

The sunshine and blue skies have gone again unfortunately and this week has been cold and rainy….there goes the driveway again!!!

………So we have been indulging in some lovely winter comfort food to warm us up inside. I thought i might share some of our favourite winter warmer recipes with you to kick off my new weekly ‘Friday Family Food' series….i hope you find something you think your own family might enjoy!

Many of the recipes are from when i was a kid, tweaked a little now for my own family but still old fashioned Australian favourites i guess….but i'm making no apologies for that as i love this type of food and enjoy making them from scratch rather than a packet. They are all easy and take little time to prepare…..just right for busy parents trying to get dinner on the table!

Here are 6 of my favourites……

Shepherd's Pie…A winner for the whole family…..even the toddler twosome like this one! I sometimes add a can of brown lentils to the mince if i want to make it go a little further! Makes enough for some lunch leftovers too.

Devilled Sausages are just wonderful comfort food…served with mashed potato and some vegies this recipe takes me back to my childhood dinner table….if you have to have sausages….use this recipe!

Porcupine Balls …… i posted about this recipe just recently but had to include them in this list as they are just such a good standby for a night when you need a really quick prep meal that even the younger ones will eat!

Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding …… i just had to include our favourite winter dessert in this list…again so easy to make but so delicious served with some Quick Microwave Egg Custard or ice-cream!

Baked Spinach & Ricotta Cannelloni ……who doesn't love a little baked pasta with spinach from the garden and some soft ricotta smothered in a yummy tomato sauce and finished with a melted cheese top…mmmmmm…they'll be coming back for more!
My tip to save time on this recipe is to use the fresh lasagne sheets and roll them with the filling rather than trying to fill those fiddly dry cannelloni shells (i really detest those suckers!)!!

Beef Stew & Rosemary Dumplings is the final recipe i wanted to share as part of this Winter Favourites list. My Mum passed this recipe on to me and i remember having it often as a child. Over the years i have modified it to suit and haven't used the actual recipe for many years….it's one of those ones you cook with love…but i shall do my best to try and write out a semblence of a recipe for you to follow!!!

Stew
1kg Chuck (or any stewing) Steak cubed
2-3 Tblsp plain flour
1 large onion diced roughly
Any root vegetables of your choice cut into chunks ( i tend to use potato, sweet potato and carrot)
Half cup peas
1 tin chopped tomatoes (or equivalent fresh if you have them)
1 tin salt reduced tomato soup (if you don't like using tin soup you can easily swap for a few tbsp tomato sauce or puree mixed with a cup of water….this is one of the few recipes i use a tin with because it seems to be the magic ingredient that encourages kids to eat the stew…and for me getting the meat and vegies into them outweighs the tin thing!)
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp mixed herbs (or your favourites)
Salt and pepper to taste
1tsp beef stock powder

Roll cubed steak in flour and brown in frypan with onion. Put into slowcooker or casserole dish with all other ingredients and cook for and hour and half in a medium heat oven or 6-8 hours (depending on meat cut) in slowcooker on low setting. If you want to thicken it a little more do so before adding the dumplings…just add a tbsp of flour to a little water to make a slurry and mix through the casserole.
When the stew has been in the oven for an hour (or nearly done in the slowcooker) uncover and add your dumplings onto the top of the stew…you don't need to push them down just sit on top…cook until golden brown and the meat and vegetables are tender (the dumplings won't get a brown crust in the slowcooker but they will be lovely and soft!).
Enjoy….let me know if you have any problems with the recipe…i tried to remember everything i do although i usually just guess amounts for the dumplings depending on how many i want to make…you can't go to wrong with dumplings!

Rosemary Dumplings

1 & 1/2 cups SR Flour
60 g butter/marg  softened
1/2 cup milk (may need more)
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary chopped(or dried is fine too)
1 Tbsp parmesan cheese

Rub flour and butter with fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs…add rosemary and cheese and enough milk to get a wet dough. Form into rough balls to place on top of the stew.

So there you have it….my 6 favourite Winter Warmers…i'd love to see your favourite winter dinner recipe…just leave me a link in the comments if you have a recipe to share!
For more recipes you can stop by my Pinterest Board ….i can't seem to stop pinning yummy things!
You can also follow our Facebook Page to make sure you don't miss any posts! Hello and thank you for following to the lovely new ‘likers' this week. I appreciate you stopping by to read about our family life!

Back tomorrow with the Weekly Kid's Co-Op linky!

Warm Wishes…

Filed Under: family food

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Comments

  1. Busy mum of 3 says

    29/06/2012 at 6:39 am

    I made Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding for dessert last night, my daughter said it’s her absolute favorite dessert!

    Reply
    • Jode says

      29/06/2012 at 12:02 pm

      My teen adores it too! I don’t mind a large slice myself lol!

      Reply
  2. Amie (Triple T Mum) says

    29/06/2012 at 7:08 am

    Hey Jode, you have probably hit every single one of my favourite dinners on this list! Isn’t it great how we all have our own twists on how to make them. Looking forward to reading next weeks Family Food Favs! What a great new series!

    Reply
  3. live sports says

    29/06/2012 at 7:12 am

    nice

    Reply
  4. Tammi says

    29/06/2012 at 7:44 am

    Shepherd’s pie and devilled sausages along with casserole/stew feature regularly here in the winter months as does soup. Curry is also a favourite and who can go past a steamed pud or crumble?
    x

    Reply
  5. Lexie @ Off the Shelf says

    29/06/2012 at 6:53 pm

    All these look delicious! Bookingmarking them for when its winter here in the US. Although I might not make it until then for that pudding!

    Reply
    • Jode says

      02/07/2012 at 11:03 am

      Thanks for stopping by Lexie…don’t worry about waiting, that pudding is still a favourite here in Summer too!!!

      Reply
  6. Catherine says

    01/07/2012 at 12:37 pm

    These are definitely winter warmer recipes, mmmm a good roast vegetable soup recipe with rosemary damper are up there as my favourite for dinner in winter. Chocolate self saucing pudding is one of our favourite winter desserts too, though just the other week we make golden syrup dumplings and they were really tasty and Miss 12 loved making them. I hope the sun comes your way this week. xx

    Reply
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Jodie
Hi, I'm Jode, Mum to twins and a teen, and an early childhood educator.
I love to share ideas & resources for play based learning
Find out more about me here...

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