This is a great weekend brunch or Saturday night tea, another one you can put together and let it cook while you relax. I serve it with a tossed salad and crusty bread.

Ingredients:
6 potatoes, peeled
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup grated tasty cheese*
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese*
1 onion, finely chopped
250g ham
1 cup  light sour cream 
8 eggs
1 tablespoon butter 
Salt to taste 
Pepper to taste 

Method:
While preheating oven to 175 degrees Celsius, peel the potatoes and quarter. Place them in a large pot and fill with water to cover. Bring potatoes to a boil and continue boiling for 7 to 10 minutes (you want the potatoes to be soft but not so soft that you can’t slice them). 

While the potatoes are boiling, put 4 tablespoons butter in a baking dish and melt in oven, then tip baking dish to make sure butter is distributed. 

In a bowl, toss together the cheeses; set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream and eggs together; set aside.

Once the potatoes are done, drain them and slice each piece in half. 

Remove the baking dish from the oven and dump half the potatoes into the pan and layer as evenly as possible on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.  

Take the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and place it in the same pot you boiled the potatoes in. Add the onion and sauté until tender, approximately 3 minutes. 

While the onion is being sautéed, chop the ham. Mix the ham and onion together in the pot with the heat turned off, and then layer half the mixture over the potatoes in the baking dish. 

Scatter half the cheese mixture evenly over the ham-onion mixture, then put the remaining half ham-onion mixture on top, then use the remaining cheese mixture and sprinkle on top, then pour the egg mixture over all evenly.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. 

*Note: I don’t keep Gruyere in the house as a rule so I will often just use two cups of whatever cheese is in the fridge, or a combination of tasty, mozzarella and parmesan.

​From the Cheapskates Club Gluten Free Recipe File

The Golden Arches is too pricey for regular weekend breakfasts, not to mention a tad on the unhealthy side, so to keep the troops happy we have the McMums Breakfast Special: McGoogs, Mum's Secret Hotcakes and Strawberry Shakes. The kids love it, their friends love it (or they're too polite to say they don't) and I love the fact that we don't have to leave home to get it. 

I can make 8 McMum's breakfasts for around the price of two at McDonalds, not too shabby when it comes to catering for hungry teenagers. 
McGoogs
Ingredients:
8 English muffins
4 eggs
2 tbsp water
8 slices cheese
 
Method:
Split the muffins and toast on both sides. Beat the eggs and water. Pour into a heated, non-stick fry pan. Cook 2 minutes, turn and cook through, about another minute. Cut the egg into 8 equal pieces. Place an egg and a slice of cheese on half a muffin. Put under grill for 1 minute, to warm through and melt the cheese. Top with the other half a muffin.

Chia seeds have been promoted as a super food, and they are really good for us, full of omega-3 (around 18%, almost the same as flaxseed) and good fats (30%) and fibre (37%!).  I'm not sure there is such a thing as a "super food" but chia certainly comes close to taking the title. 

Moving on to this oh-so-very-simple jelly that even Wayne and my boys love, that is also super simple and a super healthy way to start the day.

You simply take around 3 tablespoons of chia seeds and stir them into 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice or blueberry anti-oxidant juice or your favourite pure, organic juice then put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning you'll have the most delicious fruit jelly, without a hint of processed sugar or gelatine. It really is that easy. And that delicious.

Soaking the chia seed in either water (a tad bland) or juice makes them completely digestible so you absorb every last possible nutrient from those tiny little balls of goodness, so making the jelly is just a way to use them to full advantage.

I like my chia jelly topped with fresh strawberries (which we have in abundance in the garden at the moment, I'm picking around 800g a day) or blueberries and a dollop of plain yoghurt. Wayne likes his with berries, yoghurt and a sprinkle of dry toasted oats. The boys will eat it whatever way it's served and are quite happy to inhale it even plain.

Chia is a good way to get some extra nutrition into your body and if you have a slightly timid family, who may not like the idea of eating chia, try this jelly, it's sure to be a winner. 

Oh and you can use black or white chia, both work.

Chia Jelly
Ingredients:
3 tbsp chia seeds**
1/2 cup organic fruit juice*

Method:
Stir the chia seed into the fruit juice. Refrigerate overnight. To serve top with fresh berries and plain yoghurt.

*I don't like orange juice, so I use cranberry juice. Hannah loves apple chia seed jelly, the boys like orange and mango. Use whatever juice you prefer, it's all good.

**Hindustan Imports is where I buy chia seeds, I can buy 500g of black or white (you can buy a mixed pack but it is more expensive, I mix my own) for $6.55 - a huge saving of $13.60/kilo over supermarket prices!
http://www.hindustan.com.au/

I have 2 young boys with milk allergies. As they eat at least 1 litre of soy yoghurt a week, I found a website that sells probiotic cultures for non-dairy yoghurt (Green Living Australia).  I make one batch with the culture (with directions given) then use some of the batch of yoghurt as a starter made to make one more batch of soy yoghurt (using the cheapskates instructions). I make it using a vacuum pot and candy thermometer, and the long life soy milk.
Contributed by Cynthia Tay