Lisa has the perfect light lunch or afternoon snack.

-2 slices of white bread.

-slices of Turkey (however much pleases you).

-1 slice of Muenster cheese.

-1 slice of Swiss cheese.

-1 egg.

-Mustard

-Mayo

-Butter (for the pan)

1. Turn the stove on medium heat, using a large pan. Melt one spoon of butter in the pan, and then put both slices of white bread, side by side in the pan.

2. On one slice arrange your turkey and cheese slices. Allow these to cook until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted.

3. In another smaller pan, crack your egg and cook it sunny side up.

4. Once your egg is almost completely cooked, flip the egg, making sure the yolk doesn’t break.

5. When both your toast and egg are done. Lay the cooked egg on top of the turkey and cheese. On the other plain slice, place your condiments. I used mayo and mustard!

This is perfect when you’re tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and just want something warm and filling! I made these for breakfast and they were delicious and kept us full!

Lisa’s smoothie looks absolutely delicious. She says, ‘This one is perfect for any hot day, where you just need something cold and refreshing! I love them! The recipe is also very flexible, use any fruit you like!’

-1 cup of frozen raspberries.

-1/3 cup of vanilla yogurt.

-1/2 cup of milk.

-a little bit of sugar, to sweeten, incase it’s a sower!

1. In your blender pour one cup of frozen raspberries, 1/3 cup of vanilla yogurt, and ¼ cup of milk. Blend until your smooth is…well smooth.

2. Continue pouring small amounts of milk into your smoothie, blending between each addition.

3. If you like your smoothie thicker, stop adding milk, if you don’t like it so thick, continue adding more milk, and blending until you reach the consistency you like.

4. If your smoothie is a little sour, feel free to add a small spoon of sugar, blend, taste, and continue until it meets your liking! Enjoy!

It’s no secret I love baking. The satisfaction of making a cake from scratch is awesome. But, let’s face it, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day, or ingredients in the pantry to do that. This week, a very special member of my family turned 13, and I needed a cake big enough to feed at least fifteen people – plus leftovers, because chocolate cake is even better the next day. I was also seriously stuck for time and inspiration. So, I cheated and here’s how:

What you need:

*3 packets of ‘White Wings’ brand Rich Chocolate Cake (or similar – but not mud cake because melting chocolate over a saucepan of water etc is not for cheats). These packets required adding softened butter and 2 eggs each – so 6 eggs all together.

*1 Betty Crocker brand Milk Chocolate Frosting. I love this stuff, and use it even when I’m not cheating.

*Aprox 40 miniature Kit Kat chocolates (buy the multi packs)

*Various packets of chocolates. I used: Freckles, Ferrero Rochers, Jaffas, Miniature Oreo Cookies (again, cheaper in the multi packs), Smarties or M&M’s, Maltesers and Chocolate Finger buscuits.

*Ribbon.

How it’s done:

I used a rectangular cake tin 22cm x 28cm and 7cm deep. Grease and line the tin with baking paper, set your oven to the instructions on your cake mix. Make and bake cake as directed – allowing for extra baking time because you’re using 3 cake mixes. Mine took almost 2 hours to bake.

Allow cake to cool COMPLETELY on wire rack. Seriously, give it an hour or two or you’ll regret it later when all your chocolate decorations fall off. Trim the top of your cake so it’s perfectly flat.

Smother the whole thing with the chocolate frosting. Using a little extra frosting for glue, surround the outside of your cake with Kit Kats as a border. Use the ribbon to tie around the Kit Kats, not only does this give the cake a little bit of extra wow, but it helps keeps those suckers from falling off! Use the chocolate finger biscuits to divide up sections – making sure each section is wide enough for whatever you decide to put in them eg: I measured using the Ferrero Rochers and the Oreos. Fill your sections with plenty of yummy chocolate goodness, bearing in mind contrasting colours etc.

That’s it. Done. So easy, so quick (except for baking time). And such a show-stopper!

Joelene says: When we were younger most of my family lived in Finland for a few years. It’s a gorgeous country with even more gorgeous food. This is one of the easiest recipes that my mother learnt there. It has the traditional Finnish flavours in the spices and is a favourite with all of my siblings.

Note: Most of the recipes I’ve seen call for almond extract, but it’s not something I’ve ever added. I do go heavy on the spices though; generally recipes only use half what I have here (and usually I add even more than a spoon of each).

You’ll need a Bundt or tube pan for this one.

Method:

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups sour cream

2 cups sugar

3 cups sifted white flour

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cardamom

Directions:

Combine the eggs, sour cream and sugar.

Sift the flour with soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom, add gradually to eggs mixture. Beat until smooth.

 Butter tube pan and dust it with raw sugar. Pour cake batter in and bake at 180 degrees for 1 hour. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve un-iced with tea or coffee.

There are four Wild Things living at my house. And that’s not counting my dogs. My Wild Things are all two-legged males, and all have bottomless pits for stomachs. They each eat around five meals a day and that’s not including snacks. Or dessert. Yes, they could easily be mistaken for Hobbits, except they’re bigger and their feet aren’t quite as hairy. So what keeps my Wild Things happy and satisfied? Hedgehog. It’s cheap, quick, chocolatey (and therefore yummy) and very, very easy.

What You Need:

125 grams of butter

½ cup caster sugar

1 packet of Marie biscuits

100 grams of walnuts, chopped

½ cup cocoa

1 egg, beaten with a fork.

How It’s Done:

Crush biscuits in a blender, leaving some chunky bits. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Combine butter and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in microwave until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. You might need to pause the microwave and stir the mix a couple of times. Pour butter mixture over biscuits, cocoa and about half the walnut pieces. Mix, cool for five minutes and then add the beaten egg and mix.

Press into a greased slice tin and refrigerate for an hour.

For the icing, add 2 tablespoons of butter and 200 grams of dark chocolate to a heavy-based saucepan. Melt over low heat, and then add 2 cups of sifted icing sugar. If the icing gets too thick, add a dash of hot water. Smooth over hedgehog and sprinkle with remaining walnuts. Refrigerate and then slice into pieces. Store in the fridge.

 **Note: the hedgehog slice in this photo was made with double the recipe amounts shown here, as well as two different brands of cocoa, which is what gives it the striped appearance.