Just Add Yoghurt

Sitting in a restaurant in Rome, I swung my legs like a little girl waiting in anticipation for a traditional Italian lasagne. It arrived, oozing with a rich tomato sauce and creamy béchamel, unleashing this aroma that tickled my noise and whet my appetite. I loved it – I loved the cheesy exterior, rich tomato sauce and perfectly cooked pasta. If I could eat it every day I would. If only it wasn’t so heavy! So, when a colleague mentioned how mountain bread was the perfect, lighter pasta alternative I had to try it. This is my cheat ‘lasagne’. Ingredients: 500g turkey mince 1 cup tomato passata 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 onion finely diced 2 cloves garlic crushed 5 cherry tomatoes sliced into quarters 1 zucchini, sliced finely 6 tablespoons ricotta 4 Greek yoghurt 25g parmesan, grated 6 pieces of mountain bread salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon olive oil Method: Firstly, make the sauce. Start by adding oil and on...

Those sweet snacks that crumble when you bite into them, reminds me of all those chocolate crackles I ate at birthday parties when I was in primary school.  My crunch, catch and chew dance is synonymous with sweet bites like these. You crunch, quickly whip your spare hand underneath your mouth to catch those delicious crumbs and you chew with delight as all the flavours come together. In that order.  While this chocolate slice is not much to look at - honestly it's ugly - the salty and sweet combination makes you want to come back for more and more.  Ingredients:  Biscuit base:   1/4 cup sugar 75g salted butter (make sure to use salted) 1 teaspoon cocoa 175g coffee biscuits, crushed 1/2 cup coconut  Chocolate icing: 1/2 cup icing sugar 1 teaspoon cocoa powder 1 teaspoon yoghurt Method: Melt butter  Add sugar to butter and cook on low until dissolved  Mix in cocoa powder Crush half the biscuits finely and ...

On a cold winter night a warm vegetable bake is a weeknight dinner favourite. I do love those cheesy and creamy potato bakes that conjure up memories of Christmas lunch. However for a weeknight dinner, I want something lighter and healthier. The key to this recipe is to cut the vegetables at the right size so it cooks evenly. The yoghurt and ricotta mix will give it a creamy flavour, complemented with some tang that balances the dish and contrasts the natural sweetness of the pumpkin perfectly. With only 10 minutes to prepare, the oven does the hard work.  Ingredients: 1kg kent pumpkin 2 large potatoes 1 large carrot 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon dried tarragon 1/3 cup ricotta 1 cup yoghurt Method: Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees fan-forced Cut pumpkin into approximately 1 inch pieces Cut potato into approximately 1 inch pieces Cut carrot into thin slices (approximately 3mm) Mix pumpkin, potato and carrot with ...

My husband's favourite naughty delight is maltesers. So it was only fitting that for his birthday, I wanted to make a malteser-based dessert. With a box of maltesers and cream cheese in the fridge, I settled on a malteser cheesecake made with a dash of yoghurt for tang. Ingredients: Base: ½ pack of digestive biscuits 100g maltesers 100g butter Filling: 250g cream cheese, room temperature 80g Greek yoghurt ¾ cup icing sugar, sifted ½ cup double cream 100g maltesers , crushed 1 tablespoon malteser spread Extra malteser s to serve Method: Crush the digestives and matlesers in a food processor Melt the butter and add to the crushed biscuit mix Push into a greased spring form cheesecake tin around 15cm in diameter until evenly spread out – keep to the bottom only, not up the sides Place in the fridge for 30 minutes Meanwhile mix the cream cheese, yoghurt and icing sug...