I know, I know, it’s been ages! To be fair, there has been a lot going on in my world. This week, my family and I (and my kitchen!) upped and moved ourselves back to Singapore! Yes, I said back. For those of you who don’t already know, myself and CTO spent the first 2.5 years of our marriage in Singapore, moving back to Australia to have Miss G. So, we are currently in a hotel whilst I’m out unit-hunting! But here is something to tide you over until I can get into my future kitchen and start whipping up some fabbo goodies for you all!

I’ve put together a short list of 5 of my favourite recipes that I’ve made from Pinterest, and that they’ve become regulars in my kitchen. All are pretty simple to make, and mostly require pantry staples. I urge you all to give some of these a shot, they are fantastic recipes and they’re really homey.

My first recipe is a classic in a lot of Aussie homes, the good ol Hedgehog Slice! I went searching for a really easy melt’n’mix recipe, and I found it at The Sweet Baking Project. It’s a great recipe to do with kids, you can even do the melting part in the microwave rather than on a stove!

This next one is the best banana cake I’ve ever made, I’ve even forgotten the eggs (twice!) and it doesn’t affect the taste! Cooking Classy’s To Die For Banana Cake with Vanilla Bean Frosting is simple, tasty, and quick to make. Did I mention it was a 1 bowl recipe? Well, 2 if you mash your bananas in a cereal bowl like me, but let’s not squabble. This recipe makes 1 large sheet cake, or 2 loaves, or 16-24 muffins… depending on the size of your tin/papers. And if you don’t have sour cream, don’t stress! I’ve used greek yogurt in it’s place many a time.

I’m backing away from sweet now and sauntering over to savoury. How many times have you just wanted to chuck the pasta sauce in with the pasta whilst it’s boiling, just do everything at once? This Italian Wonderpot at Budget Bytes might be what you’re looking for. Just chuck it in, stir, and cook. And it’s pretty much all pantry staples! Perfect for a house full of teenagers with bottomless stomachs, or last minute dinner guests.

This next one is one of my absolute favourites, and it uses the slow cooker! This Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken from Damn Delicious is low-prep, all pantry staples, and doesn’t require a long cook time… only 4 hours! And to make it even more child-friendly, I sometimes replace the chilli flakes with 1-2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce. It tastes awesome, and is great with steamed broccoli and rice, or in sandwiches, wraps and salads.

The final recipe I want to share with you is another classic, a great way to use up surplus veggies, and to sneak them into the kid’s meals! The humble Zucchini Slice, can it get any more homey? Julie Goodwin’s version is nice and easy to follow, and if you have a food processor to do the grating for you, it gets a little bit quicker to make. The bacon and cheese hide all the veggies, so your littles ones don’t even realise how many veggies they’re actually eating! And for the adults, well… you get the nice egginess of a quiche, the heartiness of a pie, you get your old fashioned meat and 2 veg, and the lack of hassle from having to bother with pie pastry! Don’t eat meat? Don’t add it, it’s very easy to make it vegetarian. You could even add some canned tuna or salmon and make it a giant fish cake!

Well, that wraps up my first “Top 5 to Try”! Honestly, give some of these a go, they are fabulous recipes. I’d love to hear how you got on!

XO Mandi

All opinions are my own with no outside influences, and all recipes are from the sites linked.