I remember as a child spending cold rainy days in the kitchen where it was always warm and toasty.
My ouma used to love making oven meals, partly because they are delicious and simple and partly because she wanted to keep us warm.
We also used the oven drawer to dry our school socks in, but I digress.
My family and I enjoy oven bakes, because you can basically throw anything into a dish, top it with cheese and voila.
It’s school holidays now.
If you are lucky enough to be a stay at home mom or if you took leave, like I did, you can get rid of some of their boredom by letting them help in the kitchen.
I bought a partitioned dish in Athlone the other day, which means they get to choose what they want to eat and it all goes into the oven at once.
It appears my 14-year-old son has the most interesting palate, he must be taking after his father, the chef.
This child asked for a Sloppy Joe mix (basically smoor mince and sauces), Doritos, blue cheese and cheddar, topped with this lekker veggie sprinkle we discovered.
It sounded weird, but it tasted wonderful.
The girls are a little less complicated. They went for pasta, white sauce, mushrooms, baby marrow and of course loads of cheese, flavoured with Aromat and mixed herbs.
I could pop all of this into the oven at once and everyone was happy come lunch time.
This week we have a collection of simple easy casseroles for you to try out in your oond.
Let us know what you think and feel free to send us your own recipes.