A sweet summer tart.....

Okay if you're not into cooking and came to look at pretty sewing projects I'm sorry to disappoint but I just had to share the following 2 recipes with those that maybe interested. I love to cook/bake and have far too many recipe books but these following recipes are two that I use a lot.

I love it when I can make a meal with 90 % of the ingredients coming from my little vegetable garden. It gives me such a good satisfying feeling feeding my family good organic food that has cost very little.

This tart is perfect for this time of the year when tomatoes are ripening up faster than you can use them,

...capsicums are waiting to be picked because they are weighing down the plant.

Red onions strung together by my clever Mum and bigger than both my hands put together...not kidding, one feeds us over 4 meals!

Okay here's my Summer tart ready to go in the oven and here's the recipe;

2 sheets of pre-rolled flaky pastry (sometimes I make my own if I have time)

2 tbsp tomato paste, small handful of fresh marjoram, 1/2 tsp salt, black pepper

1 tblsp basil pesto, 1 tblsp water.

250gms tomatoes, 1/2 a medium capsicum, 1 small red onion or half a large one, 1 medium courgette, 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed, 8 basil leaves, roughly shredded, 2 tblsp olive oil, 100gms feta cheese, crumbled. Salt & pepper to taste.

Pre heat oven to 200C. Lay pastry on lined or greased baking sheet joining together to make a rectangle. Without cutting right through, run a knife around pastry about  2cm inside the edge marking out a smaller rectangle. Mix together the next 6 ingredients and spread over the inner rectangle. Place the following in large bowl; quartered tomatoes, roughly sliced onions and capsicum, courgettes sliced lengthwise, oil, garlic and basil. Toss together so everything is coated in the oil then spread onto the prepared pastry. Sprinkle evenly with the crumbled feta and season with salt and pepper. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the veggies begin to brown at the edges.

Serve hot or warm with a green salad. This recipe really is simple to prepare and the best bit is my girls devour it!

Okay so this following recipe is another favourite of mine because  it uses up those over ripe bananas that no-one wants to touch ( and don't they ripen far too quickly at this time of the year) plus I always like to make the most of having the oven on so this "Banana bread" went into the oven last night when the tart was done.  It is a 'Donna Hay' recipe that I have changed a little to make it a nice dark loaf.

You will need;

125gms butter, 1 cup dark brown soft sugar,1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 eggs, 2 bananas, mashed, 1 1/2 cups plain flour,sifted together with 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 cup sultanas, 1/4 cup treacle, slightly  warmed.

Preheat oven to 160C. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla till pale and creamy. Gradually add eggs beating well after each addition. Add banana, sifted dry ingredients and treacle, mix to combine. Spoon mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin.

This is great for school lunches or afternoon tea and for those of you who don't like traditional banana cake like myself believe me you will like this. I make this loaf once a week at the moment and we never tire of it.

Also just wanted to say that my thoughts are with everyone down in Christchurch that is reeling from the devastating earthquake that happened yesterday afternoon. We have been glued to the TV watching it unfold. It is just not fair that they are going through this again...