Posts tagged feeding the family

A salad to serve warm or cold

January 27, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , ,

Here’s one last BBQ side dish for the summer – my version of a pumpkin, haloumi and spinach salad. You can serve it cold in summer or warm in the winter, so all you Northern Hemisphere smugglers can enjoy it right now as well.

It’s back to the idea I talked about when I made Panzanella – just serve good healthy stuff and enjoy it and hopefully the kids will join in a bit. Miss F likes the squeaky cheese and spinach (with the yummy sweet dressing). Mr M&P doesn’t find much to his satisfaction here yet, with the exception of the cashews and pine nuts. Sometimes these things take time.

Cashews and pinenuts are the big lures.

Cashews and pinenuts are the big lures.


Roast pumpkin & haloumi salad

600g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1.5cm cubes
Olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ cup roasted, unsalted cashews
1 block haloumi cheese
Baby spinach leaves
Baby cos leaves
3 spring onions, finely sliced
½ red capsicum, finely diced

1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp grapeseed oil (olive oil will do and if you have it, a bit of hazelnut oil mixed in is DELICIOUS!)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Toss the pumpkin cubes in the olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a single layer on the tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until just tender but not totally squishy.

Place a frying pan over medium heat and add the pinenuts. Dry roast, stirring often to avoid burning. Remove and set aside.

Return the pan to the heat and add some olive oil. Slice the haloumi into 1cm thick slices and fry on each side until golden.

In a large salad bowl, mix together the leaves, onions and capsicum. Toss through the nuts and tear up the haloumi into bite-sized pieces. Pop in the pumpkin.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together and pour over. Give everything a good mix and either serve warm, or leave in the fridge and serve cold.

Serves 4 adults and 4 kids as a side dish.

Comments (4) »

Dig out the lunchboxes… again

January 22, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Sweets & treats · Tagged , , ,

How are you feeling about the upcoming return to school? I’ve enjoyed spending time with my kids and I’ve had a house full of them and their friends throughout January (I actually did a tally and I’ve had a total of 34 different kids pass through my doors!) – it’s been nice to listen to them all play and get to know the personalities of my children’s friends.

But the prospect of the return to routines and of empty lunchboxes staring at me every morning does fill me with a bit of dread. As always, I’ll turn to my Lunchbox planner, which has 40 weeks of plans which takes some of the thinking out of it! I keep everything pretty simple, but throw in a weekly recipe and use lots of seasonal fruit and veg to keep things interesting. You can buy a copy of the e-book here.

There’s been a bunch of great posts around lately full of back to school ideas and advice. I liked this post from Natural New Age Mum with biscuit ideas – they all look great! At the moment I’m working on a new quick-bake e-book and here’s a little preview. It’s another biscuit suggestion that pops a bit of fibre into the lunchbox and gives them some energy for the afternoon session.

Best wishes to all of those sending off your kids for the first time. I did that last year, and it was extremely bittersweet. This year is much more relaxed, there are no nerves, just excitement about which class we’ll be in with which friends. What a difference 12 months makes!

Biscuits. They make me happy.

Biscuits. They make me happy.

Oat, sultana and sesame biscuits

½ cup self-raising flour
1½ cups oats
¼ cup Allbran cereal
3 tbsp sesame seeds (optional, but recommended)
¼ tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
½ cup sultanas or currants
60g butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two oven trays with baking paper.

Sift the flour into a medium sized bowl. Mix in the oats, bran, seeds, cinnamon, salt and sultanas.

In a separate, larger bowl, use hand-held beaters to combine the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg and mix well.

Use a spoon to fold in the dry ingredients. Pop on kitchen gloves to avoid mess and roll out ping-pong sized balls of mixture. Place on the trays and bake for 12-15 minutes until just brown.

MAKES ABOUT 24.

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Mystic mum predicts the future

January 2, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Red meat · Tagged , , ,

I predict this wise-looking guy will NEVER ACCURATELY time anything.

I predict this wise-looking guy will NEVER ACCURATELY time anything.

Unlike my entirely credible astrologer sister, my basis for claiming psychic status is more a result of consistent proof, that when it comes to my family, I WILL ALWAYS KNOW how things are going to turn out BEFORE they happen.

Like when, on New Year’s Eve, I let my kids stay up until 2am. I predicted that the next day they would both have silly accidents, end up crying and need to be carried to bed by 7.30pm. AND I WAS RIGHT. And when, on that same night, I drank an innocent enough looking thimble full of Jagermeister, I predicted that I would start 2013 with a hangover. AND I WAS RIGHT.

Since I’m so consistently right and all-knowing, I’m thinking of changing my name from ‘mum’ to ‘oracle’. Life would then sound like this….

Child [yelling from other room] “ORACLE. WHERE ARE MY SLIP ON SHOES?”
Mum [calmly] “One is behind your bedroom door and the other under the dining table.”

Child [yelling from other room] “ORACLE. MR M&P IS USING MY YELLOW TEXTA WITHOUT ASKING.”
Mum [calmly] “Let it be so, and avoid feckless squabbles.”

Child [standing by bedside, whispering to oracle as if oracle is awake, even though oracle is asleep] “Oracle…”
Oracle [on waking] “IF YOU ARE GOING TO ASK ME ANYTHING ABOUT WHEN YOU CAN PLAY SKYLANDERS, I SUGGEST YOU GET OUT OF HERE NOW”.

And child exits room immediately without another word; such is the wisdom and grumpiness foresight of oracle.

It goes along with my ability to see my child pick their nose and eat it BEHIND ME. My knowledge that I’ll need a packet of wipes in my bag if we’re going to eat choc tops at the cinema, and that each and every time I reveal that THIS IS THE NIGHT FOR A HAIRWASH, my kids will cry and scream as though I am releasing a plague of locusts upon them.

I can also predict that this week I won’t have any time to whip up anything new, so this recipe is from Vegie Smugglers 2, a fabulous book that you all should buy. I can predict, that this is the link you will need to do just that.

rice paper rolls

I predict the adults may want to add in fresh chilli.



Beef & peanut rice paper rolls

1 tbsp peanut oil
1 onion, finely chopped
500g lean beef mince
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp minced ginger
1 yellow capsicum, seeded, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, grated
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
White (or black) pepper

To serve:
10 rice paper rounds
Crushed roasted peanuts
Bean sprouts
Spring onions, cut into sticks
Cucumber, cut into sticks
Dried rice vermicelli (prepared according to packet directions, rinsed under cold water, drained)
Mint and coriander leaves, to taste (I like lots)
Sweet chilli sauce
Lime juice

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. (Cooking over a higher heat cooks off the liquid, keeping the mixture quite dry.)

Cook the onion for a couple of minutes, then add the mince, garlic and ginger. Toss through until the mince is brown, breaking up lumps as you go. Add the capsicum and carrot and stir for another couple of minutes.

Add the soy sauce, sugar, fish sauce and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the mince is thoroughly cooked.

Prepare the rice papers according to packet directions. Start by adding a few tablespoons of the meat mixture to the paper then add whichever ingredients you like, roll up and enjoy!

MAKES 10

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Every day ice-cream (fruit smuggling at its finest)

December 6, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , , , ,

Nothing bad, the all-fruit ice-cream

Nothing bad, the all-fruit ice-cream

When I put this dessert down in front of my kids last night, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Post-dinner treats at VSHQ consist of fruit and yoghurt (they get ice-cream at nanny & pa’s house) so they didn’t know WHAT they had done to deserve this magnificent creation.

Little did they know that there was some serious fruit smuggling taking place and there wasn’t a single unhealthy thing before them.

You see if you blitz up a frozen banana, you magically get the consistency of ice-cream. You can leave it as a magic one-ingredient dessert if you like, or you can add in some honey or other fruit. In this case I’ve used a couple of mango cheeks, then drizzled over some pomegranate seeds and ‘sprinkles’ of toasted coconut.

Best thing about this recipe is that it’s totally flexible to suit your family. You could replace the mango with berries and experiment with other toppings like pistachios and toasted almonds. I suspect frozen kiwifruit would work too, although I’ve not tried it. Maybe you can all do some experimenting and let me know what variation works at your place.


Magic fruit ice cream

1 mango
2 bananas (ripe but not over-ripe)
Pomegranate & toasted coconut to serve (optional).

Cut the flesh away from the mango skin (if you’re not sure how, watch this video). Pop into a plastic bag and freeze along with the whole bananas. When solid, peel the bananas (totally do-able – the skin comes away in chunks).

Place the bananas into the bowl of a food processor (a mini one will be fine for this quantity) and blitz until smooth.

Add in the mango and again, blitz until smooth. Pop this back into the freezer to harden up again (blitzing may have softened it all a little). Spoon into pretty bowls and serve to your astonished and amazed children.

Serves 4 kids, or 2 kids and 2 non-greedy adults

Comments (23) »

No, really, my daughter is MUCH better than yours…

December 4, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged , , , ,

I'll take the parenting win.

I’ll take the parenting win (I’ve had enough fails along the way).

Excessive bragging in parents is ugly, isn’t it? Managing parental pride so that you don’t become socially obnoxious can be tricky. I try to be self-effacing about my kids, which happens to be fairly easy since they’re pretty regular kids, with pretty regular talents. Both of them can swim without drowning (just) and both of them look acceptably cute when dressed well (which isn’t often). They find school pretty easy but I’ve never had the urge to get them tested by MENSA. They’ve neither too many nor too few friends and they seem to be generally taking life in their strides.

Despite their normal-ness, there have still been many awards in their lives. These days they’re unavoidable. Miss F received a medal at the end of netball season despite the team’s 12-match losing streak. Both have come home with myriad assembly awards for nondescript achievements such as ‘very good comprehension’ and ‘excellent class participation’. And Miss F did get a ballet trophy for turning up to 10 classes in a row.

So both my kids have been feted and awarded, and I have pondered in the past about whether all these awards are actually rendering achievement a little meaningless.

Our new school, however, still takes the end of year awards much more seriously and there’s none of this everyone-gets-a-prize mentality. There are four awards per class and this morning Miss F was the proud recipient of one. Not just any, but the ‘academic achievement’ award. Which I’m proud to brag about. She didn’t know beforehand and the surprise and delight and PRIDE on her face were so beautiful that I got all teary in quite an embarrassing way. It turns out, that some awards ARE a bit special, after all.

At school pickup Mr M&P had a sob because there was no award for him. We had a chat about how awesome it is to be proud of those we love, about the importance of being pleased for others. Miss F helped talk him down off his emotional cliff by pointing out that she’s made it to Year 2 without an award and he’s got a lot of opportunities in his future. I think the award caused them both to learn a bit about the complexities of winning, losing and life in general.

And now Mr M&P is really keen to apply himself and see what he can achieve next year. He’s fairly tenacious, so he might just be able to do it. Besides, he won’t have to push hard to reach his sister’s dizzying heights. Apparently after the presentation ceremony, Miss F trotted up to her teacher to ask what ‘academic’ meant. Which puts it all back into perspective nicely.

End of bragging for me. But what about you, what have your kids achieved this year? I won’t think you’re showing off.
______________________

Possibly Miss F’s favourite meals have made her the mental powerhouse that she is today. Perhaps your kids might like them too…

Tuna pasta bake recipe hiding corn, zucchini, carrot and capsicum

Tuna pasta bake

vegie smugglers frittata recipe

Mini Frittatas

Nachos. Her latest favourite.

Nachos. Her latest favourite.

Comments (4) »

So hot back then – nachos from the nineties

November 14, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Red meat · Tagged , , , ,

I don’t know about you, but back in 1991, nothing said ‘mature’ quite as much as popping out to the new Belaroma Café for a ‘cup of chino’ and a bagel. It was a 15-minute drive away, but cafes were a bit few and far between back then. Sure, there was the Grace Brothers cafeteria, where you pushed your tray along the metal shelf and ogled cling wrapped bits of black forest gateau but nothing competed with the Belaroma in terms of sophistication.

I seem to recall being there ALL THE TIME once I got my drivers license and could meet up with friends at the shocking hour of 9pm on a Tuesday! The freedom was delicious.

But perhaps we overdid it a little. I don’t think I’ve eaten a piece of carrot cake since 1993 and I can’t even say the word ‘nachos’ without a touch of scorn, so cemented is it to 1992 in my memories. But determined to be open minded in my quest for new family food, last week I whipped up a version of the tex-mex classic. Lo and behold, it was a MASSIVE hit, with the light-eating Miss F getting through two whole plates of it. I guess there was a reason why it became so popular, after all.

And it’s another recipe that can be made ahead and then assembled whenever you need.

Enjoy it; I’m off to dig through carrot cake recipes…

Corn chip lures, with all the healthy bits melted on top.



Nachos

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
500g lean beef mince
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
3-4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1×2 tbsp tomato paste sachet
1 carrot, peeled, grated
½ green capsicum, finely diced
400g borlotti beans, rinsed, drained
400g can chopped tomatoes
½ cup water

To serve
Corn chips (buy the ones from the health food isle)
Avocado
Tomato
Grated cheese

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute the onion until golden, stirring frequently. Add in the mince and use the spoon to break up any lumps until it is all browned.

Add in the garlic, cumin, oregano, sweet chilli and tomato paste. Mix in the carrot, capsicum and beans and combine well.

Pour over the tomatoes and use the half-cup of water to swish out the remnants of the can. Bring to a simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Taste and season if need be.

Set aside, ready to use whenever you need it.

To compile the nachos, either…

Add a few chips to a plate (don’t give them too many!). Spread over a layer of mince, scatter the tomato and avocado, sprinkle with cheese and microwave until it is hot and the cheese just melted.

OR

Make one big family serve on an oven tray (lined with foil) and bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and golden.

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Yes, it’s that time of year again (and a FREE e-book for you)

November 11, 2012 · Filed under All recipes · Tagged , , , , ,

Plum pudding muffins! So easy, so yum. Just one of the recipes for you.

It’s usually around this time of year that I start to innocently pester my kids about what they’re going to hit up Santa for. I like to get them to start locking things in, which gives me enough time to sort my life out and get whatever they’re wanting at a good price with the minimum of panic.

It also gives me time to gradually knock any crazy suggestions on the head and introduce the idea of something more suitable. Like last year when Miss F started off wanting ‘a life-sized rocking horse’. I spent November working on that one, reminding her that Santa would probably think her room too small. But by December 1st, she was even more adamant that That. Was. What. She. Wanted.

Still I worked away, with reasons ranging from ‘I don’t think the elves make those’ (yes they do, she assured me), to ‘don’t you want something more grown up?’ (no, was the answer there). When we visited Santa mid-month, she sat on his knee and loudly and proudly asked for ‘a life-sized rocking horse’. Santa, bless him, raised his eyebrow, glanced at me in a mild panic and said “well, I can’t promise anything”. Which was a better response than the badly-briefed David Jones Santa who, the year before, when asked for a scooter (which I already had in the garage), asked “and what colour would you like?”
“Pink,” said Miss F.
“Done,” said Santa.
Bastard. The scooter in storage was plain silver. Luckily I was able to exchange it, but it was an element of pre-Christmas hassle that I didn’t need.

I know, I hear many of you exclaiming that I was crazy to care, but I do care. I remember asking Santa for a toy cash register and being ASTONISHED when it arrived under the tree. I like the magic of the big man. I like to advance his myth.

So what happened last year? Well, the rocking horse didn’t fit in the sleigh, but he did leave a lovely, detailed letter with a voucher for a horse riding lesson.

And what’s on the list for her this year? Well after watching Brave earlier this year, the ongoing yearning is for an adult’s archery set. Complete with arrows with real points. Joy.

To ease the pain of Christmas, I’ve done up a special Vegie Smugglers Christmas PDF, with some recipes, colouring in, gift tags and some cute gift ideas. You’ll receive a link to download your free copy once you become a subscriber of this blog (see, top right). If you’re already a subscriber, send me a message to vegiesmugglers@gmail.com. Just pop ‘book please’ in the subject and I’ll forward you a link too. (But please, make sure you’re already a subscriber before you email me.)

I used to always use Facebook to keep you peeps close. But my FB posts only reach a tiny portion of you now and I’d like to avoid sponsored posts, so this is my incentive to get you to cut out the middle man and deal with me direct. Subscribing just means that you’ll receive my recipes and posts straight to your inbox, ready to read whenever suits you.

All my PDF books are fantastic on the ipad!



PS: 10am Sunday… The lovely Em has just pointed out that there’s a missing ingredient on the turkey meatball recipe… ummmm… the turkey mince! I’ve fixed it now, but anyone who downloaded earlier today, remember to put 500g turkey mince into your mix. They’ll be pretty measley without it.

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You’re vegetarian, but the kids aren’t

November 5, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Ham/pork, Vegetarian · Tagged , , , , , ,

So you’ve been a vegetarian for years, happily sitting on the bacon sidelines and letting the world of steaks, mince and roasts pass you by. But then you have a baby, who after a delightful vegetarian life reaches the 8-9 month mark and is ready for a bit more protein. What do you do?

Perhaps your reasons are ethical, environmental or just plain taste-based, you now have a bit of a dilemma about how to feed your family and do the best thing for your kids’ health.

There is no reason why you can’t raise vegetarian children. It does mean that you need to pay special attention to their diet to keep it nutritionally balanced. There’s a good article here and resource here to help guide you.

Kids need much less protein than we often think. Here’s a link to just how much they require. Often you can fill their need for animal protein with milk, cheese and eggs. Ideally though, you should take a visit to a nutritionist or dietician to ensure there is no deficiencies anywhere in your eating plan.

Possibly the biggest battle you’ll face is the opinions of concerned grandparents and friends who really can’t fathom that your little lovelies can survive without the occasional chop. And perhaps they have a point. Unless you’re being really vigilant, then it might be a good idea for the kids to get a little dose of animal protein and iron a couple of times a week. If you’re ok with this, then here are a couple of ways to do it without you having to handle meat too often.

Big batch and freeze it

Make double batches of bolognaise, fajita mince or chilli and freeze them in small portions. These lamb sausage rolls are also good. That night the kids can have their meat fix and you can enjoy your Indian-style tempeh all by yourself.

Versatile dinners

Heaps of dinners can be made to a point, and then modified to suit the meat and non/meat-eating members of your household. Cheesy pots can be customised easily, as can rice paper rolls (cookbook 2) and pasta bake (just make individual ones).

This recipe for Chinese meatballs is perfect too. Make a double batch and freeze them. Then next time you whip up a stir-fry, add a few reheated meatballs on top of the kid’s serve.

Remember, if handling meat is a problem for you, maybe ask the concerned grandparent if they wouldn’t mind whipping up a meatball care parcel for you from time to time. I reckon they’ll be so relieved that they’ll be happy to help.

vegie smugglers plum sauce chinese-style meatballs

Serve meatballs on whatever vegies and noodles you like. Top with another dollop of plum sauce and some coriander.

Chinese-style plum sauce meatballs

Canola oil spray
1 slice bread (any flavour)
1 large clove garlic
½ tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
1 zucchini
500g veal/pork mince
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp plum sauce
Sprinkle white pepper (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line an oven tray with foil and spray with the oil spray.

Use a food processor (I like my mini-one) to blitz the bread up into breadcrumbs. Add in the garlic and 5-spice and blitz so that all the crumbs are a garlicky-aromatic source of yum. Add to a mixing bowl.

Pulse or grate the zucchini and add the bowl. Also add in the mince and all the flavourings.

Wear kitchen gloves and mix this all together well (or you can do all this in a large food processor if excessive handling of meat makes you queasy). Roll into bite-sized balls and place on the oven tray.

Spray meatballs with oil spray and bake for 15 minutes. Remove, use tongs to carefully turn over, spray again and bake for another 10 minutes until cooked through.

Makes 30ish.

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Five tricky vegies (and how to smuggle them)

October 22, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, The best way to smuggle..., Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , ,

Chances are that if you sit the kids down and read out a list of the following vegies (and one legume), they will do all sorts of face contortions, with tongues out, shoulders up and arms flapping. They will quite possibly spend much energy and passion telling you just how much all of these things are GROSS. Which is a shame, because they are packed with a massive amount of nutrients that your kids really need to eat if they ever want to grow up to be astronauts or ballerinas.

So while I really like to spend a lot of time educating kids about how to eat well, at other times, I just like them to shut up and eat dinner. On some nights, with some ingredients, full scale smuggling is required.

I think these five ingredients are prime vegie smuggling candidates. Apparently disgusting on their own, with a bit of effort, you can transform them into delicious dinners that are down the hatch before the kids even have a chance to utter the phrase ‘I’ve been duped’.

Eggplant

shepherds pie

Shepherd’s Pie

Chickpeas

Cheeseburgers


Broccoli

a meal that smuggles all vegies

Cheesy pots

Tomatoes

Vegie Smugglers chilli with no chilli recipe

Chilli (with no chilli)

Zucchini

vegie smugglers spaghetti carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara

Toddler Recipes: What (and how) to feed fussy eaters

My latest e-book makes feeding your fussy kids a breeze. Visit the shop!

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Why mini food-fascists shouldn’t ruin your day

October 16, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged , , , , ,

vegie smugglers panzanella

So delicious, the kids might just join in after all.

So you’ve looked at the picture and now I can hear you screeching, “Has she gone mad! There’s NO WAY my kids would eat that”. And possibly you’re right. The vegies are all on show, there’s A LOT of them and there’s even little bits of poison like olives included in this panzanella.

But the thing is, kids are never going to eat a salad like this if they’re never introduced to it. I get sick of parents saying to me “my kids just WON’T eat (insert item name)”, to which I say, “do you ever serve (insert that item name)”, then usually they sheepishly admit that no, they never do.

I understand that you’re battle weary, but how on earth will your kids ever eat a wide variety of food if you’ve stopped serving it?

The kids shouldn’t hold us hostage, destined to a life of sausages and carrot sticks. They need to understand that while you do spend time creating their favourite dishes, sometimes they have to join in with your favourite dishes too. They need to see adults enjoying healthy food. And if you serve this at your next BBQ, they can see lots of adults oohing and aahing over it. Being that kids are such classic joiner-innerers, they might even have a stab at it. At this stage, my kids will munch on the bread, capsicum, cucumber and olives.

Who knows, by the end of summer, after seeing and eating it multiple times, I’m betting that they’ll just tuck straight in.

If cooked till nice and black, the skin will peel off the capsicums easily. No need to place in bags/tea towels or anything.

Panzanella

½ red onion
2 red capsicums
½ Baguette (or slices of sourdough – it’s delicious and chewy)
2 large cloves garlic
1 large Lebanese cucumber
2 punnets of cherry or roma tomatoes OR 3 big vine ripened OR 4 roma tomatoes
Handful of olives
½ bunch basil
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Slice the red onion and place in a cup of iced water. This takes the ‘bite’ out of the onion but still leaves it firm and crunchy. Leave to soak for at least 10 minutes then drain and set aside.

Cut the cheeks off the capsicum and place under a hot griller until totally blackened. Remove and set aside until they’re cool enough to handle. Once they are, peel and discard the skin.

Grill the baguette or sourdough slices until toasted. Do both sides then remove. Rub garlic over one side while the bread is still hot.

Chop your tomatoes (just in half for little ones) and add to a salad bowl. Add in the chopped cucumber and chopped capsicum flesh.

Tear over the basil and the toasted bread. Toss through the onion and olives.

Mix the oil and vinegar together (whisk with a fork) and pour over.

This salad can be served fresh but its nice to leave it sit for a couple of hours so that the flavours can combine.

Serves 8 as a side dish.

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