Cous cous salad for busy lives

Ive just made a really nice salad that will keep for a few days in the fridge and is a quick and healthy 'grab' for on the go lifestyles

Combine chopped tomato, capsicum, coriander, mint leaves, spring onion, cucumber - add as much as you like of each - my total amount equalled about a cup.

3/4 uncooked cous cous - add a chicken stock cube, 1 cup hot water, 1/2 teasp butter - leave to 'fluff' and stir occasionally.

Once the cous cous cools add the chopped vegies, stir through.

Add 1 tabs lemon juice, 1 1/2 tabs olive oil, 1 teas red wine vinegar - shake up and stir through the lot.  Its ready to eat at this point or pop in in the fridge the flavours will infuse and it will be yummy for days to come!

To complete the meal add a hard boilded egg, or a can of tuna or salmon and you've got a well rounded, tasty, healthy meal.

Pearl barley and kidney bean soup

1/2 cup pearl barley and kidney beans. Soak over night and bubble gently for 20 mins or so - until soft
Gently fry 3 tabsp leek, onion, celery and sweet potato. Add 2 teas garlic 3 teas veg stock , 3 cups water, herbs that take your fancy and 2 teas polenta. Boil gently for 20 mins or so and your house smells amazing!! So now you have lunches for the week, add a little chopped tomato after you have reheated, and the tops of some spring onions or chives for more oniony flavor! Each serve has around 8 grams of protein, 1 gram fat, 20 grams carbs, 3 grams fibre

Vegetarian Fritatta and rye bread

In the spirit of "eating down the larder" I have cooked this delish fritatta and rye bread.  I dont know how long I've had that rye flour, but I had lovely rye bread in a resturant last night and it has motivated me to cook it up!

This fritatta basically the recipe on the back of the Sanitarium Nutolene product that is a great source of protein should you be a flesh free type

I was going to just add the link to the Sanitarium website - knowing that copyright is an issue when you pop up recipes that are not your own, but the site didn't have the recipe, but the back of the can did.  It's a fairly generic recipe anyway - and you can change the vegies added to grated carrot, zucchini, tomato, mushies, what ever you like, but heres the recipe I used

500 gm sweet potato and 300 gram potato - sliced, chopped and steamed
add to 6 eggs, beaten
cup of spinach (I used asian greens)
1/4 cup grated cheese
small red onion chopped
1/2 can on nutolene chopped

cook in  pie dish or cake tin for about 30 mins

This is enough to feed a family or do you for lunches for a week.

Here is the link to the rye bread recipe I am making

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22375/rye+bread

Its the second time I've made rye bread and last time it turned out really heavy - this dough seems lovely and light, so I am optomistic it will be delish!

Using up the spuds - potato pie

This week is use up the spuds week - they were dug up in Feb and despite proper storage in a dark dry space they are starting to shoot and wrinkle.  So this week instead of spag bol, its potato pie

You need
1 onion
1/2 kilo mince
a few vegies suitable for a pie (I used mushroos, silver beet and tomato)
enough spuds to cover the pie - once mashed
1 beef stock cube
gravey
relish
garlic - if you like garlic

Lightly fry onion, add the garlic (about 1 tabs), add mince and fry until brown.  Add vegies as you go, choped nice and small.  Add gravey (I used 4 tabs and about 1 1/2 cups water mixed first, then added.  At this point to me it didnt really taste yum, so I added 1 stock cube and empied some older relish jars (about 1/2 cup or relish all up) and now its very tastey.

Cook spuds, drain and mash, add some milk and cheese. (dont let the pot boil dry :))

Pop the meat in a pie dish that has been lightly basted with oil.  Spread the spud mix on top and lightly grill so it browns off.  Eat with vegies!

a pot of vegetable curry - for a week of lunches

I dont know too many people who got fat eating too many vegies - this way, atleast!

1 cup cubed potato and pumkin (or sweet potato)
1 cup cauli, 2 big leaves of silver beet
green beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 onion
2 tabs curry paste (i used red curry paste today)
1 cup beef stock
yogurt - 1/3 cup
1/3 cup sultanas if you like them in your curry

1:  peel and cube potato and pumpkin, boil 4 mins, add cauli, silver beet, beans - cook a further 2 mins - drain.
2:  gently fry chooped onion 1 min, add curry paste, stri and cook a min or 2.  Add tomatoes and stock.  Cook 1 or 2 mins, add the other vegies. 
3:  Pop the lid on and cook a few more mins.  Add yogurt and sultanas and it is ready to eat!!

sweet potato soup - with magic secret ingrediant . . . .

It took me a week of eating every day to get through the minestrone, so now I am on to my lovely sweet potato soup (with magic secret ingrediant)

1 fresh leek from the gardem (he he the leeks are magnificent right now)
about a half kilo of sweet potato
3 or 4 little spuds - or 1 biggie & about the same amount of pumpkin
2 teas garlic
2 teas vegie or chicken stock
a little red chilli - like a teas (pref rescued from the hothouse in the vacant house next door)
and the secret magic ingrediant . . . .

lightly fry leek and garlic in a little oil, add the spuds, pumpkin and sweet potato, 3/4 cover with water, add stock and chilli - and cook til soft - 20-30 mins.  Now the house smells awesome!

turn off heat and leave to sit / infuse

Later, wiz it (I usually mash but the leek and chilli need wizzing) in a blender or food processor.  Back to the pot - add the magic ingredient - 100-200 mls of low fat (or regular if you dont give a rat's . . . )coconut milk or coconut cream.  Greek yogurt is an excellent option, or sour cream.  Try the coconut milk though - it really is delish!  Season (salt and pepper).  Add a little parmeson if it needs more soul.

Then, take all the vegie scraps and peelings, clean out the fridge and add food scraps that ought to have been eaten by now - old biscuits, cooked rice, wednesdays pikelets (its friday as I write this), crusts that wont be eaten, vegies left over when Brooke fell asleep before eating her tea.  Put it all in a big pot and gently boil and then leave it on the stove top  with the lid on.  Feed it to the chooks tomorrow morning.

Jo's hearty minestrone- and the hero of the dish is . . . . .

You need
a few carrots
2 onions
2 cloves / teas garlic
3 sticks celery
3 med spuds
2 small zucchini
a handful of green beans
1/8 cabbage
a little oil
2 tabs butter
5 cups water
3 beef stock cubes
canned tomatoes (2 x 400gr)
310 g can cannellini beans
salt and pepper to season
fresh shaved parmeson cheese (the hero of the dish)
chop all vegies

lightly fry in this order, onions and garlic, carrots, celery, zucchin, spuds (diced), beans, shredded cabbage.  Add at 1-2 min intervals.  Add water and stock and canned tomatoes (undrained).  Boil, then reduce by covering and simmering 1+1/2 - 2 hours - it should now be a bit thick.  15 mins before serving add the cannellini beans.  Add shaved parmeson on serving.

This will make heaps!! - like serves 6

Jo's incredibly delicious pumpkin soup

I love cooking soup and I'm good at it - its a shame that no-one appreciates it in this house - still . . . sometimes its the journey that brings the most pleasure!

Look out for the secret ingrediant

1 home grown leek - chopped
teas each ginger, garlic, lemon grass
lightly fry

add 2 cups of water (or so)
chuck in some pumpkin - it should be covered by water - thats roughly 1 kilo before you've seeded and skinned it
I am using the remainder of a golden nugget, and and 1/2 kilo of sweet grey pumpkin

lightly boil for half hour or until mashable

Now, here's the secret ingrediant
red curry paste - add a teas or two, or three

This will taste amazing - AMAZING

so mash it, add cream if you must, I prefer plain yoghurt plopped on top a its is a nice contrast to the heat.

ENJOY - and like all secrets that are worth sharing, share!!

Magda's Chicken Impossible pie

Magda’s Chicken Impossible pie
 
THIS IS DOUBLE THE RECIPE, THIS IS DOUBLE THE RECIPE, THIS IS DOUBLE!!!

 4 cups milk
8 eggs
180 g melted butter
1 C plain flour
2 C grated cheese
400 g can creamed corn
2 T chopped parsley
3 chicken breast fillets boiled & finely chopped

1- Pre heat oven moderate 180 degrees C
2- In a large bowl whisk eggs ,milk & melted butter together with salt & pepper
3- Sift flour into bowl. Make a well in the centre & gradually mix in milk mixture.
4- Mix in half the cheese, chicken ,creamed corn & parsley. Put mixture into prepared dish
5- Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake for 40 to 50 min until firm.

The first time I followed the recipe exactly, 2nd time I used ½ the amount of butter but used Nuttelex instead. Next time I’m going to try it with no butter. I don’t think it needs it.

This is not my recipe and I dont know who Magda is - but 8 eggs!!  for anyone who keeps chickens this is an excellent recipe - partic if you eat the girls too!  I dont eat my girls, or anyone else with a name :)

Kids sick of sandwiches? Here's 5 alternatives

My kids are sick of sandwiches and I am not paying out for expensive alternatives - here's 5 cheap favorites of kids aged 3-11

1:  Pizza bread - make an amount of pizza dough, stretch it out and add all the usual things - cut it up and it usually does 2-3 days x 3 kids.  My kids particularly love it simple - ham, pineapple and cheese

2:  cheese and bacon rolls - either using bread or pizza dough - makes between 9-12 little rolls - sprinkle with cheese and bacon or ham - this rarely lasts longer than 2 days as the kids gobble them up!

3:  pikelets - here's my recipe 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk mixed together, add 1/2 cup plain flour and 1/2 cup wholemeal flour - mix up and cook - max 2 days - the sooner they ar eaten the better otherwise they tend to get a bit hard - perhaps a little baking powder might lighten them up - I will try and get back to you on that

4:  scrolls - again - stretch out the trusty pizza dough - lather it with whatever, roll it up like one big sausage, let it rise again, and cut it into 2.5 cm scrolls, lay them flat and let them rise and cook.  Inside I have used:

• vegemite or promote and cheese,
• nutella,
• garlic with tomato paste and cheese and you can also add a little ham

5:  wraps - fill with what ever they like, roll it up and cut like sushi, or dont cut it - its up to you .  Will it fall to pieces if you cut it up too much??  That's all there is to it.  Things that are good as wraps are mountain bread, burrito wraps, anything flat really, but my personal favorite is rolling out a piece of bread and filling it with cheese, ham, mayo, lettuce and cutting it up like sushi - and that is probably a better sandwhich than they would usully eat!

Happy lunch time :)

French Toast - 4 ways

Plenty of eggs in our house and here's our favorite Sat morning breakfast.  We change it from time to time, just for fun!

#1  Basic French toast

You need 2 eggs, a little milk and butter, spray oil, a little sugar
3-4 slices of bread

2 eggs, mixed up with a little milk in a flat based container

Soak bread in it - I usually cut each slice into 2

fry gently in butter, a little oil (a spray) first in the pan reduces the chance of butter burning

turn when brown - my kids always reject soggy french toast, so fry it on a fairly hot hotplate

sprinkle with a little sugar, it MUST BE EATEN HOT!

#2  Basic French toast recipe - draped in

Cheese!!  So you follow the basic recipe, and just before you pop it in the frypan drape it over cheese - parmeson is perfect, and then fry it - it is supurbly cruchy and a little salty.  Kids love it!

#3 Basic French Toast with a twist

add a half teaspoon of vanilla - it really does add something to the flavour!

#4  French toast - with a Brazilian twist

We've enjoyed the company of many Brazilian students over the years - one gave us a brazilian cookbook and this is an Aussie take on Brazilian recipe

Use the basic recipe, but add more milk to the eggs, like about 1/4-1/2 a cup.  Also use more butter - its a real fry up.

Put cheese between two slices of bread and squash it together - what kind of cheese?  Something that will melt nicely - I used a basic coon.

So now you have essentially a squashed cheese sandwhich - cut it into quarters, soak in the milky egg mix, and fry in butter.  Its a heart attach waiting to happen, but for a treat, like when camping - its pretty YUM!

Budget meal of the week - fritters

We all enjoy fritters in our house - they are quick and easy, use up left overs, are light on meat, and use eggs (which we have large amounts of due to having chooks).  Here's my base recipe - pop what you want into them

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups SR flour
up to 1 cup of milk
1 tin creamed corn is nice
spring onions (2-4)
seasoning - salt, pepper, pakrika

add:
any combination of corn (lightly cooked)
bacon / chicken / finely sliced beef / salmon
finely chopped mushroon, broccoli

Dont add too much of anything - but mix it up and fry lightly

yummy with sauce, sour cream, pl yoghurt, sweet chilli sauce, what ever

this will feed a family of 5

Aunty Joan's Apple Cake

Aunty Joan is 80 something, and a wizard in the kitchen.  After scoring some apples left over from a conference I decided to have a go at it myself.  After looking at the ingrediants I thought this is never going to work - it's too dry, but the apple makes up for it, you will see!

125 grams of melted butter (actually the recipe said 1/4 pound)
1/4 cup caster sugar

now cream the two

add 1 egg, 1 cup sr flour.

You need about 3/4 cup of cooked apple that is cold

Place 1/2 mixture in bottom of 7 inch tin (18 cm - small!!)
spread the apple
top with the rest of the mixture (I flattened it out a bit because it is quite dry and to spread in over cooked apple is like trying to rake dirt over a mud puddle)

Cook in a mod oven for 30 mins
ice with lemon icing

This is so yummy, you COULD eat the lot in 1 go.

Jo's quinoa & tomato salad (kind of like tabouli)

I just created this salad after promising to bring tabouli to a family BBQ.  I didnt have any cracked wheat, but I did have some quinoa (pronounced quin way).  I went to a conference recently and quinoa featured there in a salad and it was yum.

Quinoa is gluten free, and full of fibre and packs a whopping 15g of protein / 100g.  I decided to add a few things like radishes, as they were begging to be used up in the garden.  It provides a nice zing too (so perhaps miss if you've got kids).  I think this salad will be yummy with any meat, but particularly with falafel balls and in a wrap!

So here we go
1 part quinoa + 2 parts water, micro wave 10 mins and leave to stand for 2-3 mins and absorb any other water - I used 3/4 cup quinoa then refridgerate it until its cold
2 large tomatoes
half a cucumber (a long burpless one)
6 radishes
equal amounts of parsley and mint - like about half a cup squashed each
spring onions - 4 big ones

dice all the vegies, fine chop herbs, add to cooked quinoa with 1/4 cup lemon juice (to taste) and any other herbs you might enjoy . . . . I've seen cummin mentioned in other recipes but I'll leave it out

happy eating

potato and egg frittata

Plenty of spuds and eggs at our place, so lets combine the two

mix up eggs, and grated cheese, and a little full cream milk
peel a large spud, and layer the pie dish

add the egg mix, layer by layer and cook in a moderate oven 30 mins or so

I added a tablespoon of SR flour to get a little rise in the dish

eat with tomatoes and broccoli fresh from the garden.  My sons favorite broccoli dish has a little pan fried bacon added, and some parmeson cheese

enjoy!!

Vegetarianism within the context of a carnivoric family unit

Well I've made it to the end of my 29 days of being flesh free, in my diet that is.  If you read through my other 2 blogs at first I found the juggle of being vegetarian within the context of a meat eating family not that much of a juggle.  But despite my best efforts I wasnt getting enough iron or protein and I was starting to feel weary.  I lacked sustained energy that quite frankly, I take for granted.  I started craving sugar.  I've never had that before.

Over the last week I made a few more changes to my diet, it'd be too easy just to give up.  I must confess 2 servings of fish over the 29 days, 1 as a takeaway purchase - it was either chips or fish and chips, and I'm not that into chips.  The other was when a friend came for tea, we were running late, kids were hungry, we wanted to talk . . . .

Changes I've made over the 29 days include:

• eating protein at each and every meal and snack (this was a big help)
• plenty of dairy
• a few quick and easy meals, like baked beans, eggs, cheese on toast
• finding protein high snacks like spicy broad beans and Mrs Mays Pumpkin Seed bites quickly added 10 grams of protein to the tally
• eating sprouts
• trying tofu - particularly the flavoured ones

I'm feeling much more stable energy wise and a week ago this wasnt the case, so I'm pleased I perseverered!

Vegetarianism - within a carnivoric family unit

Originally I blogged how easy I was finding it to eat flesh free, within the context of a meat eating family.  I've continued to find it easy to supplement meat with vegetarian meals, but I have not found it easy to be a vegetarian.  I'm out of balance, despite my knowledge of nutrition and respect of the bodies needs, I'm not getting enough protein or iron.  The only days I've got enough protein have been when I used protein powder.  I've been craving sugar, I've never experienced this before.  Although I have been completing workouts, I generally feel pretty tired before and after.  I've spoken with a few permanent vegearians and here are the tips they have given me:

• eat a source of protein at each and every meal and snack
• nuts, eggs, dairy, sprouts (particularly lentil sprouts) are examples
• legumes should be eaten daily
• qunioa is a great grain to try with heaps of protein
• dont just cut meat, you need an alternative protein source

I havent finished my flesh free Feb, and I'll see it through and hopefully get closer to my usual balance of energy in, energy out.  I've learnt heaps about what happens in the body and the mind when we make changes.  It must be awefully hard to change years of bad eating habits, like for someone who suddenly finds themself with diabetes, or wanting to lose weight.  I am very sorry I tried it while coming off caffeine too.  Although the addiction to caffeine is long gone, the need for a quick energy fix is very strong, and I've exchanged it for a lot more sugar than I'd usually consume. 

Interesting findings :)

Open fire cooking

We've just returned from an awesome camping trip at Fortescue Bay, near Port Arthur.  Apart from being a beautiful bush spot, right by snow white sands and crystal clear water (not as freezing as previous), lovely walks, great people and a terrific family atmosphere, what set this camping spot apart was the open fire cooking.  Here's some things we tried:

• toasting marshmallow (nothing new here)
• toasting toast
• spuds in foil (with sour cream, parmeson cheese, onion and capsicum)
• corn in foil (still in the cob, add butter)
• hot cross buns (in foil, spread with butter)
• sausages on a stick (first, apologise to the sausage, then stick a stick from one end to the other)
• bananas - leave in their skins - slice from 1 end to other add chocolate - hazelnute choc was particularly YUM
• and the grand finalie - 2 shortbread biscuits choc on one side, toast a marshmallow and pop inside - eat
• and the grand, grand finale - 2 short bread biscuits, choc on one side, pop 3 marshmallows and 1 square of chocolate in between, roll on foil and put on the coals for a few minutes

Preparing the coals - this all cooks best on coals rather than flame.  Red coals cook pretty fast (great for marshmallows) while darker coals are better for spuds otherwise the outside cooks well ahead of the inside and can burn.  About 20 mins for spuds in darker coals.  Most other things, about 5 mins tops.

ENJOY

Vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism can co-exist!  Forward planning is essential though!  This weeks menu is:
Sunday - roast for the family, roast vegies for me with vegie burgers
Monday - sausages and vegies for the family, vegies and vegetarian lasange for me
Tuesday - stir fry chicken and vegies with rice for the family, stir fry vegies and baken beans for me
Wed - spag bol and sald for the family, left over veg lasagne and salad for me
Thurs - squid rings and fish fingers with cous cous and salad for the family, soy sausage, cous cous and salad for me
Fri - takeaway - souvlaki for the family, falafel wrap for me
Sat - salad and ravioli, veg ravioli for me
Sun - carbonara for the family with salad, omlette for me

Snacks - fruit, nuts, cake, biscuits
breakfast - 6 seed mix, bubbles and yoghurt and fruit
lunch - eggs, sandwhiches, baked beans

Enjoying flesh free Feb!

NEWS FLASH

Vegetarianism and family diet can co-exist..  Look at this excellent example of roast lamb for every one except me, and vegie burgers for me with the same roast vegies!  I can also have the gravy, but I think I prefer the tzatziki dip!

SCOOPING OUT THE 'PROTEIN'