NOM NOM NOM GET IN MAH BELLEH

So a while back, I got these empanada makers (I like to call them 'impanema' makers, and hum accordingly) from Tupperware. It was this crazy ass special and I got two. And then I made like,

the most amazing pastie EVER.

Ingredients used:
Box of GF pastry from the frozen section of Bilo (possibly other leading supermarkets)
1 x tin of Sanitarium 'Savoury Lentils' (health food section)
1 x egg yolk, beaten (as recommended by The Perfect Pie Crust)
Handful of grated cheese

Instructions
Fan forced oven preheated to 180.
Lightly greased impanema with grapeseed oil (couldn't find gf flour)
Clack impanema maker together to make it 'talk'. Make it say something sausagey.
Cut pastry sheets in half.
Lay half over the impanema
One spoon full of savoury lentils in the middle.
Sprinkle with cheese
Shut the impanema, like a set of false teeth.
Peel away excess pastry, roll it into a ball and roll it out & make a loveheart to put on top when baking.
Use a pastry brush and paint the pastie with egg yolk.
If you have made decorations like the loveheart, stick it on now and paint with yolk.
Bung in the oven until it starts browning....

Take it out, dip it in tomato sauce and NOM NOM NOM.

Please excuse the quality of my photos, I got sand in my beloved Canon SLR 500 so I'm using my mother's camera - thanks mom!

I didn't think to use the excess pastry for decorations, but rolled it up and froze it to make more another time. It can be refrozen for up to 3 months.

Rhiannon just reminded me how silly it is to have two, so I'm giving away my spare in the following competition, so you too can make these beauties (as of now, they aren't available from Tupperware).

To win? Cook something new this week. Post a photo to the wall of Sausage Housewife Fanpage.

The dish that gets the most 'likes' by next Sunday night wins! Open to readers world wide....

Good luck!

Spinach & Ricotta Gluten Free Pasta Bake

This dish serves 4 - perfectly. I ate 3 bowls and SD had 1 :0p This recipe is from The Australian Womans Weekly Healthy Babies Recipe Book, available from most newsagents and supermarkets. Nothing baby like about this! But SB sure helped me devour it...

Ingredients
280 grams of gf pasta (if anyone knows where to find large gf shells, please let me know! I used penne)
500g trimmed spinach (I just used a huge handful of frozen spinach as the fresh stuff looked dodgy)
600g low fat ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons of fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used about half a teaspoon)
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint (didn't have any)
700g bottled tomato pasta sauce
125ml (half cup) of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of finely grated parmesan cheese (I just used grated tasty)

Cook pasta as per normal (I find gf pasta takes less time to cook....).
Let it cool.
Preheat oven to 180/160 if fan forced
Boil, steam or nuke spinach until wilted. Drain. Chop it finely, squeeze out excess liquid.
Combine spinach, ricotta and herbs in a bowl. Spoon it into the pasta if you can.
Combine sauce and stock into oiled shallow 2 litre overnproof dish. Place pasta shells in dish, sprinkle with parmensan.
Bake (covered) until pasta is tender (the book says for like an hour but that seemed crazy and I was hungry. We did it for 20 mins - the last 10 mins uncovered so the cheese would brown a bit)
Let stand for 10 mins.

So I only got half the amount of ricotta required, it seems I need direction on how to write a freakin shopping list. So I added in some free range, organic chicken and it was a hit. Will totally have this again. SD is super impressed. 3 nights in a row of cooking fandangle (for me) recipes. It's SUCH a nice feeling to have both of my boys really enjoy my meals...and make happy eating noises.

Is it lame that I'm annoyed all of my recipe books aren't the same size and shape, some are cut of of magazines or cards from the supermarket? I wish they all matched and looked pretty.

Peas.
SH.