Love lasagna?

I'm off for a few days R & R with some friends-leaving His Lordship to fend for himself. Ergo, rather than let the poor man set the kitchen on fire starve, I've put together some meals for him to feed himself with until I return. :)

1kg of beef mince for $6 can be used in a variety of ways-but as His Lordship LOVES lasagne whipping one up was a no-brainer (using 750g of the mince). I also used the other 250g to make up some small meatballs to serve in a rich tomato sauce over pasta.

How do you stretch your mince?

Cooking is not the tidiest of occupations.....

The stovetop where the béchamel sauce and meatballs in rich tomato sauce are doing their thing....

Lasagna ready to go in the oven-I add enough cheese to the béchamel that I don't need more over the top.

Lovely, luscious lamb.....

After nearly succumbing to takeaway on the way home from work last night ( came home and made homemade pizza instead and dessert was sourdough banana bread from the freezer!), I decided that tonight I would have a meal hot & ready when I get home from work.

Of course, that means my trusty slowcooker is now on the bench, cooking me a lamb tagine-bless it's generous and reliable slowcooker heart! :)

The lamb is the scrag ends left after we bought a lamb a couple of months back. They were browned then tossed in the pot:

Then 2 diced onions were dry fried with some curry powder and a sprinkle of chilli flakes, before 2 cans of chopped tomatoes and a handful of dates were tossed in:

Then it is all left to simmer away until I'm ready to "plate up" tonight.

I have made mention of the fencing we have been doing for two reasons-firstly to keep next door's brat of a dog out of our orchard and secondly to keep our hens in!

Have you ever seen more beautiful fencing? ;)