​The night I first cooked this for dinner, I really didn't feel like cooking. But as my family needs to be fed I had to come up with something. So I flicked through a That's Life Cookbook which I always find has quick recipe ideas other readers send in, usually quite simple ideas to, and that is what I needed that night.

I came across this recipe, I had loads of sage growing on my balcony so I thought I'd try it.

While the kids were at their after school activities, I had one hour to shop. I got all the ingredients, picked up the kids, got home and had dinner in the oven with very little prep work and quite quickly.

The original recipe makes a burnt butter sauce to go with it, I didn't feel like that so I just bought a medley mix of tomatoes and roasted them to make a sauce for my dish. I also served it with a green salad, but it would go well with steamed beans or broccoli and cauliflower. Since making it the first time I now do add a burnt butter sauce, it's delicious, but it is optional. I love the crispy sage leaves when making the burnt butter sauce.

I prefer the streaky bacon and pancetta wrapped chicken, over the prosciutto version. The streaky bacon and pancetta had a lighter flavour for me, so in all honesty I'd leave the prosciutto for the veal saltimbocca I make and use streaky bacon and pancetta with the chicken. If your pancetta is round you will need to slices per leg. You can use regular bacon, but it doesn't stick to the legs very well, but if you have it in your fridge, use it. Secure it with toothpicks though.

After thought: I will now bake extra legs, as I just had a sandwich with the chopped up chicken and bacon, some mayonnaise and lettuce, it was fantastic!

​Recipe Adapted from That's Life Cookbook

Serves 4

8 chicken legs
1 bunch sage
8 slices pancetta or prosciutto or streaky bacon, thinly sliced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 punnets cherry truss tomatoes
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

​Burnt Butter Sauce: (optional)
50g unsalted butter, chopped
10-15 small sage leaves


Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced).

Remove the skin from the chicken legs (you can buy them without skin already, but it does cost more). Season with a little salt and pepper. Keep in mind the pancetta, prosciutto or streaky bacon adds saltiness to the dish.

Lay a piece of pancetta, prosciutto or streaky bacon on a work bench (if your pancetta is round, use two pieces). Place 2-3 sage leaves side by side in the centre of the pancetta, prosciutto or streaky bacon. Place the chicken leg on one end of the pancetta, prosciutto or streaky bacon and roll up to wrap the pancetta, prosciutto or streaky bacon and sage around the leg. Secure the end with a toothpick. This can be done in advance and refrigerated until needed.

Place chicken on a baking paper lined tray baking tray.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through (check if cooked from 30 minutes as each oven is different).

Meanwhile, place the tomatoes on a baking paper lined baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.

Remove chicken from the oven, once cooked, keep warm by loosely covering with aluminium foil. Place the tomatoes in the oven to warm up for 10 minutes.

Make Burnt Butter Sauce: Place chopped butter into a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook until melted then add sage leaves to pan. Cook butter and sage leaves, swirling pan often, for 4-5 minutes or until sage leaves are crisp and butter has turned a deep nut-brown colour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve chicken with tomatoes and a green salad or some steamed vegetables. ​

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​This cocktail has a lovely fruity flavour to it. 

I've realised there are many, many versions of a Cherry Bombe and this ones mine.

You can make it in a cocktail shaker, but if you don't have one, just make it straight in your glass or in a jug for parties.

If you want it really, really red add a drop of red food colouring also.

​Recipe adapted from Family Circle 'Cocktails and Party Drinks' Cookbook

Makes 1

Ice cubes
30ml gin
15ml cherry brandy
15ml lime juice
15ml Cointreau
1 teaspoon grenadine
dash bitters
Pineapple juice, to top up
Pineapple wedge or cocktail umbrella, to garnish
​

Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the gin, cherry brandy, lime juice, Cointreau, grenadine and bitters. Shake well and strain into a highball glass half filled with ice. Top up with pineapple juice and garnish with a pineapple wedge or cocktail umbrella.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/cherry-bombe.html 
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​I love homemade lemonades, they always taste so fresh.

This raspberry version is delicious, it looks beautiful and more importantly is so easy to make.

The sugar content is up to you, it really depends on how sour your raspberry and lemons are. But how I fix it, if I feel it is too sweet, just add more water, or I add a glassful of ice, then top up with strawberry lemonade and allow the ice to not only chill your drink, but also dilute it also. So add more or less sugar, that is really up to you and how you like it.

It makes about 6 glasses, so when I have guests over I would make it in a large jug. But if I'm just making it for my kids, what I do rather than make a large jug of it, I pour the mixture without the water into a bottle and my kids make it when they are thirsty and use it like you would cordial, and add water when needed.

I also have recipes for traditional lemonade and a strawberry lemonade. Both delicious.

This is a drink that would look good served up at a party, looks beautiful, tastes even better. Give it a try.

​Recipe adapted from Family Circle Cookbook 'Juices, Smoothies and Shakes'

Makes 6 x 375ml glasses

300g fresh or frozen raspberries, (thawed if using frozen)
1 1/4 cups (310g) caster sugar
2 cups (500ml) lemon juice
1.5 litres cold water
ice cubes, to serve
mint leaves, to garnish
​

Combine the raspberries and sugar in a blender and blend until smooth.

Place a fine sieve over a large bowl and push the mixture through to remove the seeds. Discard the seeds.

Add the lemon juice and mix well. 

Pour into a large jug and stir in the cold water. Refrigerate until cold.

To serve, pour over ice cubes and garnish with mint leaves.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/raspberry-lemonade.html 
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​My oldest son was sick with a cold. Whilst flicking through this cookbook, I came across this recipe. I had all the ingredients at home, so I figured I'd make this for him. He loved it.

This has now become something that I constantly have in the fridge. If it's in the fridge he doesn't look for sugary juices, he goes straight for this.

I don't add mint, as he doesn't love it, but if I was making it for me, I probably would.

​Recipe adapted from Family Circle Cookbook 'Juices, Smoothies and Shakes'

​Makes 3-4 glasses

2cm (15g) piece fresh ginger, finely sliced
1/2 cup (125ml) lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves (optional)
3 cups (750ml) boiling water
​

Place the ginger, lemon juice, honey and mint (if using) into a heatproof jug and pour over the boiling water. Leave to infuse for 2-3 hours or until cold.

When the mixture is cold, strain into another jug and chill in the refrigerator.

Serve in chilled glasses over ice.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/ginger-lemon-and-honey-soother.html 
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​For ages I had heard of acai bowls and had no idea what they were or how to make them. Then one day I discovered they are just smoothies in a bowl made with acai berries and a few other ingredients. 

This is what my kids breakfasts look like recently, they love these. They are so easy to make and so quick to make that even I prefer this to making toast or even cereal.

Acai berries a small fruit native to Central and South America and are considered a superfood because of their high antioxidant levels. You can find packets of acai berry puree in the freezer section of most supermarkets.

This is tasty and fresh and far cheaper to make at home, than buy it out in cafes.

Made in a blender, this takes less than 5 minutes to make, seriously, as I said, quick and easy.

When rushed for time we just have it in a mason jar and drink it like a smoothie.

Make sure you freeze your bananas peeled, it's hard to peel a frozen banana. Always have frozen berries in your freezer. You want your acai smoothie to be on the thick side because you’re going to pour it into bowls and eat it with a spoon. If you don't freeze your bananas you can still eat it in a bowl, it just won't be as thick as when they are frozen.

The topping possibilities are endless, fresh berries, fresh bananas, nuts, granola, shredded coconut and chia seeds to name a few toppings. 

You can also change the frozen mixed berries with frozen peaches, pineapple or mango id you want to try this in other flavours. You can use vanilla Greek Yoghurt if you prefer.

This is a perfect start to the day.

​Recipe adapted from www.dinneratthezoo.com 

Makes 2-3 acai bowls
​
1 cup of apple juice
1 large frozen banana, cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups of frozen berries
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 frozen packet of acai berry puree (100 grams), broken into pieces

Assorted toppings such as sliced almonds, berries, shredded coconut, granola, chia seeds, sliced banana, mint sprigs, etc.
​

Place the apple juice, banana, frozen berries, yogurt and acai puree in the blender.

Blend until thoroughly combined and smooth, I like to do it in bursts.

Pour the smoothie into 2-3 deep bowls.
​
Arrange the desired toppings over your smoothie bowls and serve.

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Our Eating Around the World adventure took us to the Ukraine. When looking for things to try I came across a few vareniki recipes. I liked the idea of vareniki, it looked like something we would like. I had seen a few Polish pierogi recipes that I wanted to try one day and this seemed like the Ukranian version of pierogi.

After trying these a few times, I have now combined two recipes to make my own version of vareniki.

The first time I made them I followed one recipe and although we loved the dough, it was amazing, I didn't love the filling. So the dough remained, but I played with the filling and now I'm happy with both the dough and the filling.

 The dough is easy to make and work with, shaping the vareniki however, does takes a bit of practice, it does get easier and easier the more times you make them. There is a video you can watch here, I didn't follow this recipe but it does show you how to make them and give you an idea how it works. Just remember when rolling out the dough, add extra flour if it is sticky, then it is easy.

The filling needs to be like the best mashed potato you have eaten, don't skimp on the butter or the cheese or your filling will be bland. The caramelised onion is essential it makes then filling so much better.

Now the dough and filling are great, next issue, was to fry or not to fry the vareniki, some people do, some people don't. 

So what I discovered if I don't want to fry the vareniki, I serve them with a sauce, like tortellini. I went with a Creamy Mushroom Sauce for a vegetarian option, not on purpose, it just happened because I love this Creamy Mushroom Sauce and I also served it with my Short Rib Ragu to see what it would be like with a meat sauce. ​

I invited my parents over and we had both, some of us preferred the mushroom sauce some of us preferred the meat sauce but we all agreed both were great.

Now to fry the vareniki. One of the first times I made vareniki I didn't fry them but I served them with a bacon, onion and butter 'sauce'. ​

​I like the butter sauce idea, but I felt it could be better. I felt the vareniki needed to be fried, I'd seen it before, but was scared to try it thinking it wouldn't work. I was wrong, they were delicious. Fried vareniki with a bacon and onion butter sauce and a dollop of sour cream and chives, pure genious. These were moorish and so tasty. Again don't skimp on the butter sauce, no it's not a light meal, but you don't have it every day so enjoy and eat it properly. I may even add mushrooms to the butter sauce next time, it would work well here.

You can add more of the topping if needed, it all depends on how much you love bacon.

Now vareniki they say can me frozen uncooked, once formed, you  just freeze them in a single layer on a baking paper lined baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap, then when they are frozen transfer to snap lock bags and freeze for up to 3 months. I haven't frozen them as yet, but I will next time.

So fry them, don't fry them, serve them with a mushroom sauce or a tomato meat sauce, or with a butter sauce, all is up to your personal taste, but I loved them all.
​
So if you like dumplings, pierogi, vareniki, try these, they do take a little time, there is a bit of work involved, but my goodness they were good.

Recipe adapted from www.foodiewithfamily.com and natashaskitchen.com 

Serves 10-12

For the dough: 
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup water
1 cup full cream milk
5 cups plain flour, plus about 1 cup more for dusting

For the filling:
8 medium desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-3cm pieces
100g butter, melted
55g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
3 medium sized onion, sliced
2 tablespoons canola oil, for frying
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Topping/Zazharka: 
4 rashers bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
​60g butter

To serve:
Sour cream 
Chopped chives
​
For the dough: Place the egg and sour cream in a large mixing bowl, whisk together with a fork until well combined.

Add water and milk, mix to combine.

I like to use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Now with the motor running on low, add the flour, 1 cup at a time. Once all incorporated allow the mixer to knead the dough. If your dough is sticking to the bowl, add a little more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. Once it is no longer sticking to the bowl, continue to knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Cover the dough in the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Now make the filling: Saute the onions slowly in the canola oil, until they have caramelised, this takes care and patience, you don't just want burnt onions, slow caramelisation is what is needed.

Place potatoes in a pot, add enough water to cover potatoes then bring to a boil over medium/high heat and continue cooking 15 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. Drain and cool for 5 minutes.

Mash in 1/2 tsp salt, pepper to taste, 1/2 of the melted butter and the cream cheese, mash to combine. Mash in the shredded mozzarella cheese. Stir in the caramelised onions, taste, add more butter if you feel you need it. Remember this has to taste great now for great vareniki later, don't make it a wet mixture though as it will be hard to form the vareniki with a wet filling. Set aside while rolling out the dough. 

Divide dough into 2 pieces. Cover the second piece with the mixing bowl and thinly roll the first piece out onto a floured surface to just under 0.3cm in thickness.

Use a 7cm diameter round cookie cutter to cut circles from the dough, keeping them as close as possible (collect scraps and place under the bowl to re-use). Add 1/2 teaspoon of potatoes over each round.
​
​​Fold the dough over the filling to form a crescent and seal the edges tightly with your fingers. Now you can pinch and twist the vareniki edge to make a nice pattern, this takes practice and gets easier and easier everytime. (If I make it with a mushroom sauce or the meat sauce I sometimes pinch the two edges together to make it look like tortellini other times I just leave it in a crescent shape).

Place the finished vareniki on a sheet of baking paper dusted with flour until ready to boil. Keep refrigerated if making them ahead of time.

​​​Make the Topping/Zazharka: Saute bacon and onion in butter, until the onion has softened and the bacon is cooked. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Once boiling, place 1/2 the vareniki in boiling water. After they float to the top, cook about 2 to 3 minutes more, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Repeat with remaining vareniki.

As soon as you add the vareniki to the water, in a large frying pan, add about 50g butter. Once the vareniki are cooked, add as many as can fit in the pan in a single layer, the ones that don't fit, I just leave unfried, as they are great like that to. Fry until lightly coloured on both sides, add to the the other cooked vareniki. Repeat with second batch of vareniki.

Drizzle the vareniki with melted butter and bacon topping. Serve with sour cream and chopped chives.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/potato-and-caramelised-onion-vareniki.html 
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