Tomato and Cheese "Risotto"

My sister Erika's recipe. More or less. Over Christmas she made this for the big family gathering. My nephew said "Dad, when I throw up, it looks like this". But he still ate it and liked it (I think...?).

Tomato and Cheese "Risotto"

Oil

2 slices middle bacon (I actually use shaved ham. WAY cheaper!)

1 onion, chopped

50g butter

2 1/2 cups rice

1 400g (ish) can tomatoes

4 cups water

salt

pepper

chilli powder

1 cup (or more) grated cheese (like Edam)

Cook onion and bacon/ham in oil. Add butter. When melted add rice and stir while cooking for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, water and seasonings and cook, stirring occasionally until rice is tender. Stir in cheese until melted.

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Did I leave anything out Erika? Is that even right? That's what I did the other night when I made it anyway. Is that what you do?

Also, it's named "Risotto" because I'm sure that it's not cooked right to be a risotto, but that's what I call it.

Quiche

Erika and her kids came over for dinner tonight and the two of us (plus 3 small children) managed to demolish most of my triple recipe quiche. There are two and a half pieces out of 12 left. It was a crustless/self-crusting quiche made with wholemeal flour so the colour is a bit darker. Our fillings were onion, garlic, bacon, broccoli, peas, corn and cheese. It was good! I was glad I'd made so much so that we could all eat as much as we wanted and come away from the meal feeling full even though it's a light dinner.

Creamy asparagas spirals

Erika made dinner tonight. She made a creamy sauce with asparagas, silverbeet, bacon and probably other stuff, then stirred it through spirals pasta. It mostly tasted like asparagas, in a really good way, hence the name. It was great.

Creamy Chicken and Bacon Pie

This was one of my "inventions" as Nat calls it. I made the pastry from the MasterChef Australia recipe. It didn't turn out too great as we don't have a food processor, only a blender. And size 5 eggs rather than what looked like 7's or even 8's. Too dry. I thought the filling was tasty though, and the texture of the bottom of the pie was great. I enjoyed it.

Nat said "It's not disgusting" and he had seconds. He said he hates potato cubes like that unless they're roasted.

Because of all of this I'm not going to bother posting a recipe.

Creamy Bacon Spaghetti

Nat cooked dinner tonight. It was delicious. He told me that "Creamy Bacon Spaghetti" should be what I call what he made. It was really good.

Nat's recipe:

2 slices rindless middle bacon

2 Tbsp olive oil

a squeeze of lemon juice

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 shallots, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

a knob of butter

1 tomato

handful of fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup cream

a few grinds lemon pepper

Put water on to boil.

Cook chopped bacon in a pan with first measure of oil and lemon. Remove from pan when crisp and drain on absorbent paper.

Add salt to boiling water. Put your spaghetti in to cook.

In the bacon pan heat second measure of olive oil. Add salt. Cook chopped shallots and chopped garlic. Add butter and let melt. Add chopped fresh tomato and crush with a wooden spoon. Add basil and let cook. Put bacon back in the pan. Add cream and lemon pepper. Cook for a couple minutes.

Add cooked spaghetti and more fresh basil to pan and stir to coat.

This doesn't need any parmesan cheese when served because it is sooo delish! I tried some on it but I didn't think it improved it at all.

Bacon and Eggs

Very little inspiration tonight. Nat's working today and so we didn't go shopping, so also very little "fresh" in the house. Thus. Bacon and eggs on toast, with canned fruit for dessert.

Homemade Pizza

I had some leftover bread dough and so made pizza for dinner. A pizza base recipe is definitely better, but they were still nice. Our toppings: half tomato paste/half tomato sauce mixed, brushed on, chopped onion, chopped mushroom, chopped tomato, chopped rindless middle bacon, grated cheese.

Theo ate a whopping 4 pieces.

"Spanish Rice" with Bacon and Cheese

I went to my sister Erika's house for dinner tonight. She made this rice dish that she makes sometimes that's really nice, but I don't really know what to call it. Here's an approximate recipe.

Erika's Cheesy Tomato and Bacon Rice

For 2-3 servings

1 onion

2 slices middle bacon

Butter/oil

1 400g(ish) can tomatoes

2 - 2 1/2 rice cups of rice

Chilli powder

1 can water (rinse out the tomato can and use that)

Probably more water than that

Cheese

Chop onion and bacon. Cook in butter/oil. Add tomatoes (chop them first if you're using whole peeled), rice, chilli powder and water and cook, stirring to prevent sticking, until rice is cooked. Add more water while cooking if you need to. When rice is cooked add cheese and stir/cook until cheese is melted.

We ate it with carrot and celery sticks. Not mixed, but the were present as part of the meal. You know what I mean.