Thursday 19 / September / 2024
Have you ever thought of cooking without even turning the gas on? Try these easy fireless recipes. Children too can try making them with little help from you.
No Bake Chocolate Cookie Pops
It’s often helpful to have a no-bake dessert ace up your sleeve when you have too many guests at home. No-Bake Chocolate Cookie Pops is the quick, easy, kid-friendly answer to your “there’s no room in the oven” conundrum.
Ingredients
• 18 chocolate sandwich cookies with cream filling
• 4 ounces cream cheese (half of an 8-oz. package)
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• Assorted sprinkles, crushed nuts or toasted coconut flakes
Preparation
• Place the cookies in the bowl of a food processor and pulse them until roughly chopped.
• Add the cream cheese and continue pulsing until the mixture is well combined and there are no large pieces of cookie remaining.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using your hands, squeeze and roll the cookie mixture into 1-inch balls.
• Insert a lollipop stick into each ball, place them on the baking sheet and freeze them for 30 minutes.
• Melt the chocolate and vegetable oil in the microwave on 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval, until fully melted.
• Dip the cookie balls in the melted chocolate then immediately garnish them with sprinkles, crushed nuts or toasted coconut flakes. Return the pops to the baking sheet. Loosely cover and refrigerate them for 1 hour or until the chocolate is set.
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Tuna Bell Salad in Sandwich
This is best served on lightly toasted home-made bread with crisp lettuce and tomato slices or stuffed in a sandwich.
Ingredients
• 1 can of tuna in water drained and rinsed in a sieve
• 2tbsp regular mayonnaise
• 1-2 stalks celery finely minced
• 1 sweet, red, bell pepper minced
• 2/3tsp black pepper
• Optional fat free plain yoghurt
Preparation
• Drain and then rinse the tuna in a colander or fine sieve. Then mash tuna chunks until it’s in tiny (smaller than 1/4”) pieces. Mix all of the ingredients together with the tuna and serve on open toasts or lettuce wraps or use as stuffing into grilled sandwiches.
Parfaits
Creamy parfaits are perfect for any time of the day. Try one with fresh fruits and yoghurt for breakfast or with decadent chocolate and whipped cream for dessert.
Ingredients
• 3 cups vanilla non-fat yoghurt or normal yoghurt with few drops of vanilla essence
• 1 cup fresh or defrosted frozen strawberries in juice
• 1/2 cup fresh blackberries, raspberries or blueberries
• 1 cup good quality granola or muesli
Preparation
• Layer 1/3 cup vanilla yoghurt into the bottom each of 4 tall glasses.
• Combine defrosted strawberries and juice with fresh berries. Alternate layers of fruit and granola with yoghurt until glasses are filled to the top. Serve parfaits immediately to keep granola crunchy.
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Avocado Hummus
A great combination of guacamole and the ‘humble’ hummus with a spike of hot Tabasco — scoop up with toasted pita bread.
Ingredients
• 1 ripe avocado, cut in half, skin and stone removed
• 1 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1-2 lemon, juice only
• 1/2 tsp Tabasco
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Salt, to taste
• A little olive oil
• 6 readymade pita breads, to serve
Preparation
• Blend all the ingredients except the pita breads in a food processor until smooth.
• Transfer the avocado hummus to a bowl and cover with cling film. Chill in the fridge for one hour.
• Serve in bowls with pita breads.
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