Zucchini, apple, carrot and ginger juice

1 small zucchini

2 small carrots

1 apple

slice of ginger

serves 1

Creamy chicken with rice

This is a recipe I made weeks ago, it was a real hit…. now I can’t really remember what I did! I should really blog more often!

chop chicken pieces up small, fry until browned. Add 2 cloves of garlic, cream and small pieces of broccoli. cook until broccoli is just tender. Serve with rice.

Apple, Pear and Kale Juice

Recently I purchased an Oscar 900 Juicer. I have always loved the idea of having fresh juice. I have borrowed friends juicers before but they were always too much work, they ate through the fruit, made a mess and were time consuming to clean up. During a work meeting one day a colleague asked me to hold her keep cup, she explained that it was veggie juice with beetroot in it , so she didn’t want it to spill. We got talking, she told me about her Oscar juicer, how easy it was and how much she loved it. After talking to a few other people I was convinced. I thought about it for about a month, and convinced myself that it’s the right time now to make the purchase, especially now I have bubs on the way (16 weeks).

I love this juicer! Two carrots, one orange, and apple and your have a small juice for two people!

Apple, Pear and Kale Juice
Two small serves

1 pink lady apple
1 Granny smith apple
1 pear
6-8 hand size kale leaves

This tastes way too good to be healthy! A great start to the day.

Asian Soup

What do I do when I want to procrastinate? I cook. I think it’s a valid excuse… right? We all need to eat yummy nutritious food.

Today I’m supposed to be getting the house ready for the Real Estate to come around and take photos tomorrow. So what do I decide? I need a yummy lunch to keep me motivated.

I go to the pantry and grab one of those Asian soups with the flat rice noodles, that you just add water to and boil for a few minutes. I look at the ingredients and see some flavouring with numbers… I look it up MSG! Really?!? Ok, so I don’t really want to eat that. But I REALLY want an Asian noodle soup. So this is what I came up with, I had to blog it straight away as I never want to forget this one.

Ingredients (serves 1)

SOUP
1tsp tamarind paste
a few small slices of a kaffir lime leaf
squeeze of lemon juice (lime would be better)
1tbsp sweet chilli sauce
salt and pepper
splash of soy sauce
pinch of dried chili
slice of ginger
slice of garlic
Rice Noodles

SALAD
1 spring onion
Coriander
cos lettuce
Tomato

Optional Extra
I had some red curry and chili sausages in the fridge, so a cooked one up, sliced it and added it at the end. YUMMO!

Slice up all the salad ingredients and add to a bowl.

Add all soup ingredients to a pan and add water (I think I did a couple of cups) boil until noodles are cooked. Remove ginger and garlic.

Pour over salad, add sausage and eat! mmmmm

The salad goes all soft and wilted, just the way I love it.

The girls at work think I’m strange eating wilted/cooked lettuce, does anyone else out there love it too?

Lamb in the slow cooker

A couple of weeks ago I cooked some lamb shanks in the slow cooker. They turned out perfectly, Rob even said they were just as delicious as his nan made when he way younger. The only problem is I can’t really remember what I did! It was something like this:

2 lamb shanks

1 packet of lamb chops

2 tins tomatoes

ginger

garlic

onions

pepper corns

tumeric

cumin

paprica

pinch, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

13 August 2012

Today I’m thankful for:

• a day off work
• a clean house
• cup of tea
• sunshine
• time

Vanilla Sugar Syrup – Thermomix

Based on the Thermomix Recipe for Citrus Dessert Syrup.

170g sugar

10g vanilla extract

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod

50-60g water

add all ingredients to thermomix mixing bowl, cook for 3-6 minutes at 90 degrees speed 2 or until all sugar granules have dissolved.

Pour into sterilised jar, add left over vanilla pod.

Serve with pancakes, porridge, add to your coffee or any other delicious treat!

 

muffins

This muffin mixture divided into two.

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/basic-muffin-base-L8631.html

half with two mashed bananas and half a block of cadbury caramel filled chocolate

half with cinnamon and vanilla bean paste with raspberry jam in the middle

Beef and onion pull apart

I’ve been attempting to buy less and use all of what I buy. I guess we are usually better than the average person at this, but I always feel bad when I have to throw any food out. If we are going to eat meat I would hate to think that it is going to waste, and I know how much effort goes into growing vegetables and I hate wasting my own home grown ones, so why would I waste others. But I also want to east tasty meals too, and save money! It has been forcing me to get more creative. I had leftover beef from the stew mentioned in the post below. I was going to make a pie but I’m not a fan of gravy in the powder form and I wasn’t about to go out and buy anything to make it. So I looked at what I had that could possibly make a dish… meat, onions, left over filo pastry, but I was thinking that it would be a bit dry, so maybe adding eggs and cream would help. I was very unsure about the combination, but hoped for the best. And it turned out great, in Rob’s words “You’ll have to make this again…soon… very soon… this week”?

Based roughly on this recipe:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25977/caramelised+onion+and+prosciutto+pull+apart+pies

Ingredients:

Left over stewed meat
2 Onions
brown sugar
balsamic vinegar
Filo Pastry
Butter
3 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp cream
Chopped fresh rosemary

Thinly slice onions cook until translucent. Add a small amount of brown sugar and balsamic and cook for a further 15 minutes or until very soft and brown. This is a long process but worth it. For further info google caramalised onions.

Chop filo pastry roughly into 10-15cm squares
Brush each layer with butter and stack to make a start shape. Use about 7 or so layers
Make as many as you need to file the size of dish you have. I made five. Make into cup shape in put in dish.

Fill each cup shape with leftover stewed meet (veg is good too) top with onions.

Whisk salt, pepper, eggs, milk and cream and spoon over meat. it will just be a small amount in each to keep it moist. brush remaining butter over pastry.

sprinkle with finely chopped rosemary.

Cook until eggs are set.

Winter Stew

Gravy beef 1+ kg
Red wine
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Lots of pepper
Parsley
Large piece of lemon rind
Scoop of home made vegetable stock (see thermomix recipe)
winter vegetable of your choice, I used carrots, potatoes, onions and peas
put in slow cooker and cook!