Chris

A Day Cycling in The Hunter

Hi everyone

I hope you are well and looking forward to the briskness of Winter. Geoff and I had the pleasure of spending a weekend in the Hunter Valley. I’ve always wanted to cycle through vineyards and have a picnic lunch along the way. So I share a wonderful day we had earlier this month – we were blessed to have sunny, warm weather.

It was nice to be greeted with this sign at the place we stayed – Constable Vineyards.

After we arrived early Friday evening, just in time to watch the sun set – we celebrated with a glass of French champagne and nibbles. OK I know we are in a beautiful wine region of Australia, but we really enjoy a glass of French bubbles, especially to set the weekend off!

In the morning, before we hired our bikes, I went and bought some cheeses, pate, biscuits, sun-dried tomatoes, meats, olives, figs and bread to take on our picnic. I bought these from the Hunter Valley Cheese Company at 447 McDonalds Rd, just next to McGuigan Wines. They were absolutely delicious. I also brought along a rug, nice plastic wine glasses and plates. Oh I was so excited about having a picnic under a tree in the vineyard!

We hired our bikes from Grapemobile Bicycle Hire http://www.grapemobile.com.au (Ph 02 4998 7660) at 307 Palmers Lane, Pokolbin. I booked them the week before on the internet and I’m glad I did as they were very busy. We chose the cruisers as they looked the most comfortable, although they don’t have gears. If you require gears, hire the mountain bikes. There were only two occasions when there was a slight hill, and being a cyclist there was no way I was going to get off and push. We also asked to be picked up and dropped off at our accomodation (only an extra $10 per person). When we arrived at Grapemobile (which has it’s own vineyards) we were given a small glass of Sparkling Moscato. So our wine tasting started before we even got on our bikes haha.

Ready to go!!

We were given a very detailed (partly hand-drawn) map to follow, which included the Palmers Lane Trail. We also wore lanyards which allowed us to cycle on private property. Helmets were supplied, although we took our own.

Our first stop was Worthington’s Vineyard. We were greeted by a very lovely lady – Julie Worthington and her welcoming friend. Julie’s knowledge of wines and the region is outstanding. They also have beautiful gifts for sale. We were given a small cheese plate to enjoy when tasting the wines.

I won’t go into the details of the wines from each winery, I think its is something to be experienced without any preconceptions.

They also had some cheeses from Binnorie Dairy to purchase with a little bag and icepack. Why bother, I told Geoff, we have our cheese and food in our basket ready and waiting. Some other people from the bike group bought some as I looked on with envy.

We left Worthingtons and travelled through their property to Gillards Road. Next stop was Scarborough Wines.

The paths between Worthingtons and Gillards Road

The ride between these two properties takes you onto Gillard Road. It’s only a short ride, until you reach the “hill” up to Scarborough Wines. No problem, I thought. This path just might be the one where you need gears on your bike.

Scarborough Wines

I didn’t realise how easy my road bike (at home) is to ride and how light it is and how great it is to have 18 gears, UNTIL I started riding up the path to Scarborough. As I mentioned before, I CYCLE, so there was no way I was stepping off. After we arrived huffing and puffing and dare I say, perspiring, the staff told us that most people walk their bikes. Yep…..I felt a little bit of pride creeping in.

We were greeted with another cheese tasting plate to enjoy with the wine tasting. I shouldn’t eat too much, I’ve got a lovely picnic basket full of goodies just waiting to be enjoyed under a tree in a vineyard…..any tree will do!!

I think I was trying to tell the lady all about Scarborough Wines!

Oh gosh, nice place right there for a picnic! But let’s push on.

Some views from Scarborough Wines

A bit of silliness

Heading back down that hill (doesn’t look that steep!!)

Next stop was Constable Estate just next to Scarborough at the end of Gillards Road. It was a total coincidence that we were staying there – we didn’t know it was part of the tour.

We took advantage of popping into our room for a break and Geoff went to lay down on the couch for an afternoon nap…….couldnt’ believe it. Absolutely no napping on this adventure, if you please.

If you have the time take a walk around the gardens, they are beautiful.

Geoff thinking he can pop in for a snooze – I think NOT!

Back on the road again and now we retrace our steps (or pedals) back to Palmers Lane, past the bike hire place and continue on to the next winery.

The views along the way were incredible.

By this stage it hasn’t taken us the one hour I thought it would, being a smarty pants. It’s now past 2pm and I still haven’t had my picnic lunch. Also the cheeses, pates etc etc have started to melt etc etc. I’m becoming a bit testy to say the least.

Geoff starts singing the song “Riding along on a pushbike honey etc etc”

We ride back past Grapemobile along Palmers Lane, cross over McDonalds Road and visit the next winery. We didn’t stay for too long, it’s taken us much longer than anticipated.

We cycle through more vineyards, can’t get enough of them and arrive at Calais Estate Winery. The lady who took us through the wine tasting knew so much and like the others was really lovely, so more wine tasting, more wine purchased!! When you purchase wines at any of the wineries, they will happily deliver them to the bike hire around 5pm. The rate we were going we knew we left it too late, so we just drove back and collected our wine purchases the next day.

Calais Estate have a restaurant if you don’t have a picnic basket full of goodies. We arrived a bit late I think.

I’m becoming a little weary and when placing my bike down, all my picnic essentials and wine fell out of my basket. It’s now 3:30pm………… this picnic thing isn’t going to happen I fear!

The gardens at Calais Estate are simple beautiful.

You might notice by the photos that the shadows are looking very long. That’s because it’s now around 4pm.

By now I know the picnic isn’t going to happen so I think what the heck, take lots of photos instead!!

Leaving Calais we just ride across the road to the next winery. The day is nearing a close so we just by-pass the next winery and head to the last winery on our list.

So we arrive at the last place on the list – Gemelli Estate. They were about to close but the lovely gentlemen gave us some wine tastings, and because he was so lovely, Geoff bought some more wine.

So now the sun is setting and we have about 2.5 kilometres to ride back. Easily done on my bike at home, that you can lift with your little finger, not so on these cruisers. Plus I’m a bit of a safety nerd, during the day I have lights flashing on my bike. So it’s a race back before the place closes. Did I mention before that I was hoping to have a picnic??

Well we arrive back by 5:45. Bikes returned, a bit of a laugh with the guys there, we get a lift back to our accommodation and I unpack my picnic lunch and decide to have it for dinner!! It was simply delicious.

The next day, we return to the vineyards to collect our wine. Our first stop was Worthington’s Vineyard.

That’s me without a bike or helmet.

It was after midday, it wasn’t busy so we purchased their cheese platter and did the wine tasting again, at a much more leisurely pace. We sat at one of their outdoor tables and enjoyed our picnic…..at last! I was so happy. Geoff did comment, however, that he would much prefer to have a picnic sitting at a table as opposed to lying on a rug under a tree! I hit him.

Thank you for coming along on our wine/cycle journey. If you have any questions, please comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Until next time.

Love Chris ♥

Spiced Coconut Rice Salad

Christmas greetings, oh my goodness it’s only 2 days away. It’s one of my absolute favourite days of the year as my family spend the day with my mum, my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife and my adorable (my mum’s word) nieces and nephews. Cant’ wait.

I was just talking with my girlfriend Jules about salads and she mentioned making a rice salad. I’ve got just the recipe for a delicious rice salad that my darling sister-in-law Lisa makes every Christmas Day. I was going to send it over to Jules, but thought I would pop it on my blog, so much easier to share this way. Please excuse the photo, not one of my gifts.

Coconut Pilaf

Ingredients:

300g (1½ cups) basmati rice
2½ Tbs vegetable oil
70g (½ cup) slivered almonds
2 medium brown onions, halved, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamon seeds
6 whole cloves
¼ tsp chilli powder
500mls (2 cups) chicken stock
125 mls (½ cup) coconut milk
Pinch of salt
75g (½ cup) currants
¹⁄³ cup roughly chopped fresh coriander, extra leaves to garnish

Method:

Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear.

Heat 2 tsp vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the almonds and stir for 5 minutes or until golden. Remove almonds from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper.

Add the remaining vegetable oil to the saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves and chilli powder and stir for 1-2 minutes or until aromatic.

Add the rice to the saucepan and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is coated with oil and spices and is lightly toasted. Add the stock, coconut milk and the salt, stir, increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Remove the saucepan with rice from the heat. Remove the lid and sprinkle the currants over the rice. Cover with the lid and stand for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle the coriander over the rice and then stir with a fork to separate the grains and evenly distribute the currants and coriander. To serve sprinkle the rice with the almonds and extra coriander.

My very best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful joy-filled Christmas and much love and blessings to you for 2016. Thanks for stopping by and letting me share some bits and pieces from my world.

Much Love

Chris xx

Chris

Avalon to Mona Vale Coastwalk

Newport Beach

Hi everyone

Summer is here. Yippee, yahoo. A friend asked me about walking along our beautiful coast from Avalon to Palm Beach. I started to explain the walk, then realised I had the details on the “blog”. So much easier reading it than trying to explain. This made me realise I haven’t posted the many stages of the walk that we did in 2011 from Palm Beach to Balmoral – the Sydney Coastrek walk! So below are the details and some photos of the walk from Avalon to Mona Vale Beach. I think it’s about 8kms. When we do these walks we always leave a car at the beginning and one at the end of the walk – we never think of doubling back – yikes.

Start at the southern end of Avalon Beach at Avalon Parade, which becomes Surfside Avenue. Follow it until it becomes a dead end, then take the path between houses to Barrenjoey Road – this is a very busy road so take care as there is no footpath.
Turn left and follow footpad behind barrier rail and then grassy verge for approximately 100metres.
Turn left into The Serpentine. At the end is Bilgola Head Lookout which has beautiful views over Bilgola Beach and Newport and back to Avalon.

Turn left down wooden stairs to Bilgola Beach. These stairs aren’t well sign-posted, if you pass 18 Serpentine you’ve gone too far.

If you choose not to walk along the beach you can still go down the stairs but at the bottom turn right into Allen Avenue then right into Bilgola Avenue and this meets up with The Serpentine. Turn left at The Serpentine and left again down the road which leads to the beach and SLSC.
Follow path down to beach and walk across sand to Bilgola SLSC and carpark.
Take wooden stairs up on south side of toilets with sign ‘Bilgola South Head’.
Follow bush track, veering left around headland. Another place with wonderful views. This continues onto Newport Beach.

Walk past Newport SLSC and across grass at end of carpark parallel to beach to Myola (steep) Road.
Follow Myola Road straight through and up to the crest of Bungan Head to T-junction with Bungan Head Road.
Cross Bungan Head Road and veer left down steps of Betty Morrison Reserve (Myola Road Numbers 95 to 83).
Walk down steep ramp to Bungan Beach SLSC and turn right onto beach. Halfway across Bungan Beach, turn right into sand path between dunes. Take steps and steep ramp up (this is Beach Road) to Barrenjoey Road.
Alternately, if you don’t feel like walking along Bungan Beach just continue on Bungan Head Road and turn left at Karloo Parade until you join Barrenjoey Road. Still a fabulous view this way too.
Turn left into Barrenjoey Road.
Continue on footpath then turn left into Hillcrest Avenue (no footpath) and follow it to dead end (Mona Vale Headland – Hillcrest Lookout.
Continue to eastern end of grassy area and turn right into signposted track down towards beach.

Mona Vale Beach

Coastrek 2011

Mona Vale Beach

This track leads to end of Grandview Parade. Immediately turn sharp left into another bush track with green sign leading down to Mona Vale Basin. Pause half-way down over a little bridge and enjoy the view. Sometimes we train up and down this track and onto the lookout (I end up having a nanna nap in the afternoon!!).
Make a sharp right at bottom of bush track into wide grassy rather curing left to Surf View Road.
Turn left into Surf View Road and veer left to arrive at Mona Vale SLSC. Yay you have reached your destination.
There are a number of cafes – Bronze at the surf club, Cinque at end of Darley Street and The Armchair. You deserve a break.

I train with Rob Cook Training on Friday mornings at various locations between Bilgola Beach and North Narrabeen. Some of the stairs I’ve mentioned he makes us run up and down a number of times. Eg. North Bilgola stairs, North Narrabeen stairs, the path between north Newport and Bilgola and the dreaded stairs at north of Mona Vale beach and Mona Vale headland – just saying! So if you see a young version of the current James Bond (yes Rob is English), encouraging – loudly – a group of ladies & blokes on a Friday morning….. that’s us. If you’re interested in Rob’s training days and locations on the Northern Beaches, click here.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Next time we will be walking from Mona Vale Beach to Narrabeen.

Summer has so much to offer and walking along Sydney’s northern beaches is one of them. Have a wonderful summer weekend!

Love Chris ♥

Chris

Summer is Here!

Hi everyone

Welcome to my favourite time of year (when it’s not Autumn, Winter or Spring). I’ve decided to repost something I wrote earlier about the fun of packing a BBQ dinner and going to a local park or beachside to watch the sunset or just hang out.

As you can see from the photos above and below we have been having picnics for years.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be over the busy holiday season when most dads are on holidays, we have often gone when Geoff arrives home from work. Nice way for a dad to relax after a busy day. Our favourite spot is the Pittwater side of Palm Beach. There are gas BBQ’s ready to go. Another great place on the Northern Beaches is Narrabeen Lake, we’ve seen some beautiful sunsets there, or at Bayview near the tennis courts, no sunsets but great place for kids to run around. In fact wherever there is a gas BBQ.

Here is all you need to take to make it easy (OK, the list looks pretty long but it’s worth it, I promise):

Bread rolls
Pre-made hamburger meat patties from supermarket (or you can make your own)
Tomato/BBQ sauce
Tomatoes (already sliced)
Lettuce
Cheese slices (pop them on the cooked side of the pattie and they just melt)
Serviettes
Plastic plates
Tongs
Paper towels
Oil to wipe down BBQ
Drinks – nice bottle of wine for us and I even take wine glasses wrapped in a tea towel (no plastic glasses here thank you)
Picnic rug – just in case the seats are taken

We will definitely be having picnics again this summer. I’m always writing about the family and this is a great way to spend quality time together and also with family friends. There is something special about cooking outdoors in the early evening, getting out of the house and away from the television.

Let me know your favourite place to have a picnic.

Enjoy summer – I’m already loving it.

Love Chris ♥

Chris

Chocolate Cake – Flourless

This recipe, like most that I have acquired over the years, is from an unknown source. It is pure decadence, is rich and simply delicious. The last time I made the cake I overcooked it, but it still had a lovely flavour, a subtle burnt chocolate taste (whatever that tastes like).

The photo was taken by my gorgeous friend, Tracey Berry. Tracey has such a beautiful flair and excellence in whatever she does.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients:

500 grams dark chocoloate (70% cocoa)
250 grams unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 eggs – separated
6 tbs castor sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Chop chocolate and butter, melt in a double saucepan or bowl over boiling water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir in essence and remove from heat. Quickly stir in egg yolks.

Beat egg whites and add sugar gradually. Take 2 – 3 tablespoons of meringue and fold into chocolate mixture, then put whole chocolate mixture into egg whites.

Turn into 23cm lined cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes in pre-heated oven. Take out and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove from tin and put weight on top and leave for 2 hours. Sift icing sugar on top.

Bon Appetit!

If you make this cake, please let me know how you go.

A little story – my darling friend Jules asked her husband to separate 2 eggs. He moved 1 egg to one side of the bench and the other egg to the other side of the bench – his interpretation of separating eggs (and he is an extremely bright and successful man!!).

How great is spring! Goodbye to the cold of winter and welcome the warmth of summer. We popped out on our boat today, to give it a run and do a bit of boat spring cleaning. Have a look at my Instagram photos. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of Australia. Blessed!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love Chris ♥

Chris

Being a Good Dad

Hi everyone

It’s been a while since I’ve posted – a busy couple of months. In this post I have a guest writer, namely my gorgeous husband and great all round guy, Geoff. We were asked to contribute to our Church’s blog for parents and below is what Geoff wrote about what he has learnt in being a good dad. I hope you enjoy it.

Guilty if you don’t – Inadequate if you do?

A few years ago my wife Chris and I went and saw a play called “2 Pianos 4 hands” at the Glenn Street theatre in Belrose Sydney. It is a comedy about two men who since boyhood had both dreamed of becoming famous classical pianists. One line that really stuck in my mind was when recollecting piano practice in his youth one of them said:

“he felt guilty if he didn’t practice and inadequate if he did”

As piano practice is critical to becoming a great pianist, he evidently pushed through the obstacles, got on top of his practice and became a great musician. I imagine his desire to be a great pianist along with the fact that his best friend also wanted to achieve the same goal were critical to his success.

I can relate to that when it comes to being a Dad. I am sure all Dad’s want to be great Dads but the challenges and pressures of work and other life commitments can make it hard to “practice” being a great Dad. Over time I have seen some Dad’s invest too little in their families to the point where they feel distant and inadequate when they do catch up with their kids particularly in teenage years.

A few things I have found to be effective.

Do life together

Involve your kids in what you do, fixing things around the house, washing the car, going to hardware store. Having a “date” with your kids, doing school projects together, doing active stuff – I like to run and my girls have both done a half marathon with me which made me so proud and made me realise the power of including our kids in what we do. If you have teenage children you might find it is difficult to spend time based on their reactions and behaviours but don’t give up, they really need you to be involved in their life! Organise fun stuff with other families, we have been camping every year with a bunch of other families which our girls have loved as a family, we only started snow skiing when the girls where in their early teens and now we go every year with good friends and their children. Take them to church conferences, let them see how you interact with people, it will give them confidence in developing people skills.

Believe in your children

Include your children in lots of activities, let them try new things and give them many opportunities to learn without jumping in too quickly with correction or criticism. Give them plenty of encouragement and make it fun, speak words of encouragement and build them up by telling them when you see great qualities in them. Your children will reflect back what they get from you. Fathers who believe in their children have learned to believe in themselves.

Love your wife

Children draw security from knowing mum and dad have a strong relationship. You are the main role model for your children, and your relationship with your wife is the model they draw on in understanding relationships. Make your wife a priority, don’t let your relationship fade into the background because of the kids, be a good listener, establish a united front as parents, don’t let your kids play you off against your wife, be openly affectionate with your wife, concentrate on being kind more often and being right less often. If you are divorced, work to create an atmosphere of respect, cooperation and kindness with your ex-wife.

Love God

My girls tell me how secure it makes them feel knowing that I love them, that I love their mum and that I love God. Going back to the play, in “practicing” Christianity, we can slip into facing the same obstacles. Guilty of we don’t practice and inadequate if we do. When that happens to me I can always trace the problem to doing things in my own strength and not relying on Jesus. A quick audit on my life will reveal the same old “natural” offenders, getting too busy, tiredness, worry, poor quality prayer, not spending time waiting on God etc – in short a reliance on my natural abilities rather than the power and presence of God. So when I feel distant from God its the tried and proven stuff that I reignite – spending time talking with God, meditating on the Word of God, praying with close friends, thanking and worshipping God – these things realign my motivations and renew my thinking so that rather than falling into the trap of feeling like I have to do the right thing I want to do the right thing.

Cheers, Geoff

I hope you have enjoyed reading Geoff’s thoughts. I’ve attached a few photos, one being when Geoff went Sky-diving with Eloise last weekend for her 19th birthday present. I watched from the safety of the ground, and I’m sure Ruby would have gone if her jaw wasn’t wired together, but that’s another story.

Have a wonderful Father’s Day to all you magnificent dads.

Love Chris x ♥

Chris

Flint & Steel Bush Walk

The mid-year holidays are here! Even though the girls are finished school they are still on holidays from Uni and Tafe – YAY!! We have just returned from 4 days at Gerroa. This is our third visit staying in the same house. Gerroa (right next to Gerringong) is only just over 2 hours from Sydney and so relaxing. Beautiful Berry is only 15 minutes drive, so we went there every day for great food and coffee. Sorry, I digress….now back to this post.

Are you looking for something fun to do? And not too exerting for little ones? This is a great walk for all the family and is very picturesque.

The Flint and Steel track is located in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park off West Head Road. Take McCarrs Creek Road (either from Mona Vale or Terrey Hills) and turn off onto West Head Road (it is well signposted). If the attendant is there it will cost $11 to enter the park, ask for a map of the walks of the area. As you drive along West Head Road, please be mindful of those pesky cyclists (yes, I’m one of them). I ride from Bayview to West Head twice a month – if you see me, beep and wave – I’m the one at the back of the pack. Our team is called “Team Havachat” – I don’t know why!!

The walk is on the left-hand side of the road and again is well signposted.

The walk is about 2kms return trip. I reckon it takes about 45 minutes to walk down to the beach and a little longer on the up-hill journey back. When you arrive at the beach it is just breath-taking. There are views over Broken Bay encompassing Lion Island and Patonga Beach. You can rest here a while as the children will love frolicking (don’t you love that word) around the rock pools.

When you return to your car I implore you to drive the few kilometres to the West Head lookout (yep I ride up that hill – very slowly) again breathtaking, with views over Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Headland and north to the Central Coast. Also at the picnic area which is 1km back towards Flint and Steel (where you will find toilets) they have gas BBQ’s, so why not pack some sausages and have a picnic. The whole area is one of my favourite places, whether walking, cycling or cruising past on the beautiful waterways of Pittwater.

Let me know if you do this walk or have any questions.

Enjoy your week.

Love Chris x

Chris

Vegetable Lasagne

Hi everyone

My computer was on the blink again…..oh so frustrating. So I haven’t posted since last month. As much as I love the versatility of an iPhone and iPad, it’s just not the same without a “proper” keyboard. So we bought a smaller iMac, which I love as I’m able to cart it around the house (I’m not sure if I’m meant to be doing that – but here I am using it on the coffee table in the lounge room, with the heater on and music blaring out).

Back to the latest recipe. I made this vegetable lasagne for our great friends Jen and Rich last Sunday arvo. The girls also had some and loved it so much I made it again on Wednesday. Unlike most people I’m not a fan of tomato based sauces, so this recipe suits me just fine! This recipe is amongst the many I’ve torn out of magazines, usually Delicious.

Ingredients

10g dried porcini mushrooms
½ (125ml) cup olive oil
1 onion, carrot and celery, finely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
2 bunches asparagus, trimmed, finely chopped
8 button mushrooms (or equivalent) finely chopped
½ cup white wine
1 packet fresh lasagne sheets (I didn’t use the whole packet – freeze remainder)
1 ½ cups parmesan, grated

Bechamel Sauce

110g unsalted butter
¾ cup (110g) plain flour
3 cups (750ml) milk
¼ tsp grated nutmeg

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180ºC and grease a shallow 2L baking dish.

Soak porcini mushrooms in ½ cup (125ml) boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid and finely chop mushrooms. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Add the peas, asparagus, mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and the reserved liquid. Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes until vegetables soften. Add wine and cook stirring for 1-2 minutes until reduced. Add 1 cup water to pan, season then cook, partially covered and topping up with extra water if necessary, for 30 minutes or until reduced and creamy.

For the béchamel sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Remove from heat, add nutmeg and season with salt. Cover surface with baking paper, then set aside.

Spoon one-third of the vegetables into baking dish. Cover with lasagne sheets, one-third of the béchamel sauce and one-third of the parmesan. Repeat layers 2 more times. Cover with baking paper and foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and paper, and bake for a final 15 minutes or until golden. Rest the lasagne for 5 minutes then serve.

Bon Appetit!

It’s worth the time in your kitchen to make this dish. It really is very tasty and has moved into our favourites list (which means Geoff will be having it anytime we have someone over for lunch or dinner haha). Let me know if you make it and what you think. Do you have a favourite lasagne recipe?

Winter starts tomorrow – enjoy your week, rugging up and embracing the chilly season!!

Love Chris ♥