Pass The Beans Please

What We Ate ~ Week 5 ~ 2012

2012-02-05T20:08:00.000+10:00

Rory made ribs ... I'm going to have him post the recipe soon ! Served with potato salad. A simple one with bacon, roasted garlic, Japanese mayo, capers, spring onions, and hard boiled eggs.

This was a mushroom and spinach frittata. I sort of followed a recipe, but added more stuff. It was only ok. No recipe coming. :)

Onigiri

We ordered Indian food for dinner. This is Chicken Lahori. YUM.

Fried eggs on toast. With Vegemite.

Pizza Night !

Grilled chicken marinated in leftover rib sauce. With salad and corn on the cob.
By candlelight ...

What We Ate ~ Week 4 ~ 2012

2012-01-29T08:28:00.000+10:00

I am so loving this ! I love looking back on the week that was ... Would love to see what the rest of you are eating too ! How 'bout it ? Anyone want to join me ?

Often at the end of a shopping week, we will just have something simple. This was not only the end of the shopping week, we also had been away for the weekend and needed something easy. We thought omelets because we had plenty of eggs. Well, we thought we had plenty of eggs. But the second dozen, which I had gotten from someone at work who has chickens, was less than pleasing ! Every egg had two yolks and something that looked like blood in it ! We were grossed out and not sure what the deal was so we didn't use them. That meant we had to split the one omelet we had ... I put a big chunk of feta and avocado on the side and called it good. This omelet has spring onion, black olives, pine nuts, feta and tasty cheese in it.

Oops ! Totally forgot to take a photo ! I had been at Zumba while this was in the oven, came home to a bowl already served up, sat down and ate ! Unfortunately that means I had to draw the picture ... drawing is not my strong suit ! What I ate, not that you can tell from my drawing, is my Mom's mac and cheese !

This was another throw together meal. Just using up what we had. It's garlic and coriander chicken (minus the beans sprouts, didn't have any of them), jasmine rice, and some zucchini that I sliced (kinda thickly) and them sauteed in a tiny bit of olive oil, sprinkled with lots of garlic powder and a little bit of rock salt. I LOVE zucchini this way !

These Low-Fat Chicken Enchiladas were delicious but SUPER SPICY !! We fed the kids earlier because I suspected they would be over the top hot ! We smothered them with Greek yoghurt and iceberg lettuce to dull the spice to an edible heat !

I loved these black bean stacks ! So yummy ! Originally found them here but I did a few things different ... here's what I did. I served these with these yummy steamed carrots with garlic-ginger butter (only 69 calories per serve!!). I couldn't find baby carrots so I just chopped up normal carrots ... they were tasty.

We love this salmon with pepita-lime butter. It's so easy to make too ! You just grill or pan fry the salmon with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Toast 2 tbls pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Melt 1 tbls butter and then add a bit of lime zest, 2 tbls (or the juice of a small lime) lime juice and a pinch of chili powder. Drizzle this on top of the cooked salmon. SO GOOD !

Served it with this Fresh and Delicious Quinoa ! (my new favorite quinoa dish !!)

Went out to dinner last night ! So yummy ! I had "Creamy Prosciutto and Wild Mushroom Carbonara" with a side of creamy garlic prawns that I added to it.

Fresh and Delicious Quinoa

2012-01-27T08:44:00.001+10:00

I found this delicious looking recipe on pinterest and had to try it. I'm glad I did too ! It's amazingly delicious ! I did almost everything the same ... really, the only things I changed were that I roasted the red bell pepper, how I added the garlic, a few measurements and a bit of the how to assemble. Here's my version ...

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tbsp coconut oil (but I think any oil would do)
1 & 3/4 cup water
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, chopped into chunks
a punnet of cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper
small handful coriander/cilantro, diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste

Roast your red bell pepper, set aside. Here is a little tutorial on how to roast peppers, if you need it.

Put the coconut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it’s hot add the rinsed quinoa and toast for a minute or two. Add water, stir once, cover, and simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes. Watch it though and turn it off as soon as the liquid is absorbed ! (I like my glass lid for this !)

Mix the lime juice, oil, cumin, minced garlic and salt. Stir. Set Aside. This is the dressing.

In a big bowl ~ tomatoes, beans, & onion. Remove skins from red bell peppers, chop and add to bowl. Chop avocado but don't add it yet.

When the quinoa has finished cooking, remove it from heat and fluff with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes, then add to the bowl with the other ingredients and stir. Add dressing. Stir. Add avocado and coriander/cilantro, gently stir.

Black Bean Stack

2012-01-27T08:02:00.002+10:00

I saw this recipe on pinterest and had to try it.

I made a couple of changes ... here's how I did mine.

4 flour tortillas (as close to the same size as your springform pan as possible)
a blub of canola oil
1 large onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced (I took out the seeds and ribs)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper
2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
12 ounces of beer (I used Little Creatures Pale Ale)
2 cups frozen corn
3/4 cup spring onions, thinly sliced
2 & 1/2 cups tasty (or cheddar) cheese, shredded

So, if your tortillas are bigger than your springform pan, use the bottom of the pan as a guide, and trip them to the right size. Set aside. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan over medium heat. Add onion, jalapeno, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir and cook til soft ... maybe 5 minutes. Throw in your beans and beer. Increase heat and bring to the boil. (About now you should turn your oven on to 400F/200C.) Reduce heat back to medium and simmer, about 10 minutes or until most of the been has evaporated. Add corn and spring onions. Simmer a bit longer to reduce liquid just a bit more. Maybe only another minute or two. Layer like this ... tortilla, beans, cheese. Use 1/2 cup cheese for the first three layers and then finish the top layer with 1 cup cheese. Bake about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove side of springform pan and voila ... black bean stack ! I had a bit of cilantro left from the carrots I made as a side dish, so sprinkled that one top ! Served with a bit of Greek yoghurt too. Delish. I had this for lunch the next day and it was just as good leftover !!

Asian Dinner

2012-01-26T14:56:00.003+10:00

I'm not sure this fits into the catagory of necessity being the mother of invention...but invent tonight I did - and it was a grand success! I have this little quirk that I have a hard time eating something I have recently thrown up...its been YEARS since I've eaten alphabet soup. But I digress. Tonight's menu plan was just a little too close to my Thanksgiving Eve puke-fest prior to emergency gall bladder surgery...ANYWAY. I invented the following...and boy was it yummy!!

Asian Broccoli/Cauliflower
Bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower. Cook per package directions. Sprinkle on a little bit of soy sauce and a small dab of butter. Melt the butter and serve.

Asian Roasted Carrots
Preheat oven to 375. Peel enough carrots for your family. Cut into short, thin sticks. Line cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with olive oil cooking spray (regular would probably work fine too). Lay carrot sticks out in one layer...I tried to not have them touch so they would cook quicker. Spray the top of the carrots lightly with the cooking spray and then drip a tiny line of sesame oil over the carrots. Sprinkle top of carrots with sesame seeds then mix the carrots up a bit and lay them flat again. Bake the carrots until they are soft enough for you. I baked mine approximately 20 minutes, shaking the pan after the first 10 minutes. Serve.

Asian Grilled Fish
Place fish (I used swai) on a double layer of tin foil. (one piece of piece per foil packet) Mix a small amount of sesame oil and peanut oil and spread over the top of the fish. Flip fish over so oil gets on the tin foil. Flip fish back over so bottom of the fish gets a coating of the oil. Slightly fold up the edges of the foil layers so that the next bit of sauce doesn't spill onto your counter. Mix a bit of (the amounts are dependant on how many pieces of fish you have) rice vinegar and soy sauce together. Spread enough on the fish to thoroughly coat. Flip fish and coat the other side. Sprinkle top of fish with sesame seeds. Fold two sides over the fish and then fold the remaining two sides to create a packet. Grill on high for approximately 10 minutes. Open the packet(s) and put the whole thing in the oven on broil. Broil for a few minutes until the sesame seeds have toasted a bit. Serve. The fish basically steamed in the packets on the grill, so the fish was very moist and yummy.

Chicken Florentine

2012-01-25T13:47:00.004+10:00

In an attempt to find yummy recipes that fit the diet we are currently one - we redesigned a chicken florentine recipe...it was SO yummy that we put it on the menu for a second week in a row! This is an easy, must try!

Chicken Florentine

Chop red peppers into tiny pieces (about the size of pimentos). I used 1 1/2 peppers because we had a half that needed using, but it wasn't enough. 1 would probably be fine though.

Layer fresh baby spinach into a baking dish with the red peppers. We use a round, glass baking dish. The spinach will cook down a lot, so pack in as much as you can (if you like spinach as much as we do!). The layers go: spinach, red pepper, spinach, red pepper, sprinkle of feta cheese, spinach, red pepper, spinach, red pepper, sprinkle of feta cheese.

Trim fat from five, boneless chicken thighs. Lay the chicken pieces on top of the spinach layers. The five pieces are enough to completely cover the top of the baking dish, basically sealing in the spinach layers. Spinkle the chicken with seasoned salt.

Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes (or until the chicken is done), uncovering the dish for the last 20 minutes.

The spinach will cook down to almost half the size and there will be LOTS of yummy juice. Serve over rice or eat as is. This serves 3 to 4.

Pumpkin Dessert Squares

2012-01-24T09:32:00.003+10:00

This is Uncle Larry's current favorite dessert. I chose it for my birthday "cake" this week.

For crust: 1 pkg yellow cake mix (take out 1 cup)
1 egg
1/2 c melted butter

For filling: 1 can (about 1 1/2 cup) pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 c sugar
2/3 c evaporated milk (I use fat-free)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

For topping: reserved cup cake mix
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp melted butter
(optional) 1/4 c chopped pecans

Grease bottom of 9" x 13" pan. Mix crust ingredients and press mixture into pan.

Beat filling ingredients together. Pour over crust mixture.

Combine topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling layer. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven about 45 minutes.

Adapted from Jana Brummett's recipe in Loaves and Fishes and Other Fancy Dishes, cookbook of the Greencastle (IN) Christian Church.

How to cook Quinoa

2012-01-23T09:26:00.004+10:00

Maybe this is not a problem for you, but I always have to look up how to cook quinoa if I want to cook it as a side to accompany dinner. Here is my favorite recipe.

1 cup quinoa

1 1/2 cups water

optional: 1/4 tsp salt

There are two variations in the beginning.

1. Heat a skillet and put the dry quinoa in there. Toss and shake until the quinoa browns a bit and begins to pop.

2. Soak quinoa in water for 5 minutes, then rinse and drain.

Choose which of the two you would like to do. Option number one makes the quinoa taste nuttier and stronger. I think option number two makes the quinoa puff up larger.

After you have prepared your quinoa in one of the two ways, Put the quinoa in the cup and a half of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Then turn down to simmer and cover with a tight fitting lid, and cook for 15 minutes.

At the end of the cook time, fluff with a fork and serve.

Asian Spinach Salad

2012-01-23T08:44:00.003+10:00

I know that some of you will not be able to believe that I am posting a Spinach recipe, but I am. To fill the rest of you in, let me tell you that until my adult years, spinach was one of the foods I could not keep down. In my family if it was on the table, you had to at least try a bite... even if you had "not handled it well" last time. So, I have many a messy story about me, the dinner table and spinach. That being said, I still don't really eat cooked spinach, and if it comes out of the freezer... I'm not getting anywhere near it. But, fresh baby spinach raw, or ever so lightly wilted, I can handle. Enjoy, even.

So, I found and adapted a spinach salad recipe. The original recipe is here on the food network site.

Ingredients for salad:

Baby spinach. original recipe says 2 lbs. I used a store bought package that I think was less.

Mandarin oranges

Toasted sesame seeds

I start with the dressing in a large bowl that I will then use for tossing the salad.

1 clove garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons good-quality soy sauce, such as Kikkoman
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Mix and let set until you're ready to toss the salad.

Then I warm up a skillet and throw the spinach in there. If you've just cooked bulgogi in the pan, then throw the spinach on top of the leftover bulgogi sauces. If not, throw a tiny bit of sesame oil in the pan. Toss the spinach in the pan until it is wilted to your satisfaction. I usually stop when I have some leaves that are not really wilted a bunch. Then I give the wilty spinach to my husband and boys, and I eat the more raw leaves. Take from pan and toss in the dressing.

Using tongs, serve it onto plates. I usually have a lot of dressing left over... maybe next time I should try making less... maybe.

Place a few mandarin oranges on top of the spinach.

Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top and voila: a gorgeous and tasty side for whatever you're eating. (If you don't have toasted sesame seeds on hand, then throw a handful of regular sesame seeds in a hot frying pan and toast until browner...)

Roast Garlic & Chicken on Cream Cheese Pizza

2012-01-23T07:30:00.000+10:00

This was delicious. Rory says he's not convinced about cream cheese on pizza but the kids and I are ! We loved this !! I found this recipe that I wanted to try but rather than go buy extra stuff, I decided to use what I had. This is the resulting pizza ...

Use your favorite pizza dough.

Ingredients:

2 heads of garlic

cream cheese mixed with cream

parsley, thyme, basil, oregano ... all fresh, chopped small

provolone and mozzarella cheese, grated

a cooked chicken, pulled apart

red onions, sliced

Roast 2 heads of garlic. Get that started before anything else as it takes a bit of time. I just wrap the heads in tin foil, into a hot oven for about 30 minutes or until soft and smelling amazing !

I didn't really measure anything else. I had some cream cheese in the fridge, I used a couple of spoonfuls, mixed it with some cream that I also had in the fridge just to soften up the cream cheese and make it a bit more spreadable. I didn't use much cream. Maybe a tablespoon ? It won't matter how much you use ... cream cheese and cream, you can't really go wrong !

I spread that on the bottom of the pizza and then sprinkled the herbs on top of that. Top that with as little or as much chicken as you want to pull off of your cooked chicken. We froze the rest of our chicken to make Trina's chicken casserole later. Top with onions and then cheeses.

Bake in 425F/220C oven for about 10 minutes ... or until cheese is melted to your liking.

What We Ate ~ Week 3 ~ 2012

2012-01-22T17:38:00.000+10:00

Apricot Chicken with A Nutty Cous Cous

This was a healthy fish taco out of one of the Biggest Looser cookbooks. We didn't like the corn tortillas and ended up just eating it like this ... sort of like a salad. It was ok. Probably won't make it again so won't bother posting a recipe !

We ate out this night ! YUM YUM YUM !! This is a beef rogan josh with saffron rice and garlic naan.

Will totally make this again ! This fish was amazing ! Again, we only ate half a serve for dinner so had it for lunch as well ! Both of these recipes come from the low calorie section of the Eating Well website. The fish is Salmon with Pepita Lime Butter (pepitas are pumpkin seeds). The pumpkin is based on the Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes but we obviously used pumpkin. The potato we just coated with olive oil and roasted. The peas were frozen and we steamed them.

Salad ... from memory it was rocket, lebanese cucumber, roma tomato, pine nuts, fetta, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, and a bit of fried bacon. Topped with olive oil, garlic chive flower vinegar and flaky sea salt.

Homemade pasta. Roasted tomato, garlic and onion sauce. Will post recipe soon ...

We were at a family get together last night and I totally forgot to take a photo of dinner ! So .... you get a fabulous drawing. No, the children didn't draw this, I did. They would have done a better job. Their sausage would have been bigger than the corn on the cob ... like in real life !!

On this plate is ... sausage with ketchup, potato salad, onigiri, peas, corn on the cob, green salad, and I think that is it.

Apricot Chicken

2012-01-20T09:07:00.001+10:00

This was easy and delicious !!

This technically should serve four but we served it with A Nutty Cous Cous and only ate 1/2 a serve of chicken so had it for dinner and lunch the next day !

Chicken:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

salt

pepper

olive oil

Apricot Sauce:

a blub of oil, I used olive

3/4 cup dry white wine, I used Chardonnay

1/4 of a red onion

4 fresh apricots, pitted and chopped

3 tablespoons apricot jam, I used St. Dalfour

2 teaspoons fresh tarragon, chopped (or 1/2 tsp dried)

Here's what you do ...

Rub the chicken with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook on the BBQ. Or you could pan fry if you wanted.

To make the sauce ... Saute onion in oil over a medium heat. Add wine. Reduce ... maybe 3-5 minutes. Add apricots. Cook for a couple of minutes ... the fruit will break down. Stir in jam, tarragon and a pinch of salt. I kept it on the heat and stirred until it was combined and a thickness I was happy with. Take off heat and let sit til chicken is done.

When chicken is finished, top with apricot sauce and serve.

Delicious !!

Pollo Encebollado

2012-01-19T06:38:00.000+10:00

I'm not really sure how to translate the name of this dish exactly. Onionfied Chicken? Beonioned? Oniontastic? Let's just call it Chicken Covered in Onion Glory. Whatever you call it, it is mighty tasty. The original recipe is here, but I modified it quite a bit according to my own personal preference and what I actually had in my kitchen.

2 lbs of chicken (I usually use drumsticks)
Salt
2-3 T oil
2 onions sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken stock or bouillon
1/2 cup water
The juice of one lime
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (optional but highly recommended)
Seasoned bread crumbs

Rinse the chicken, pat dry; season with salt and brown in oil. Once browned, remove from pan and set aside. Pour off excess oil and add the onions. Cook over med-low heat for 10 minutes, add the garlic and cook another 3-5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and starting to brown. Add the chicken back in along with the chicken stock, water, lime juice and Tabasco. Increase heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

Thicken sauce with seasoned bread crumbs just before serving.

Serve with rice.

A Nutty Cous Cous

2012-01-16T09:27:00.000+10:00

I've been wanting to use the pistachio dukkah that I made the other day but we've been trying to eat lower calorie meals. Sitting down to a bowl of dukkah, olive oil and turkish bread doesn't really qualify. Then I saw this recipe over on Taste, I had to try it ! It is so yum. I love the flavor that comes through from the dukkah ! And the subtle hint of lemon ....

4.5 cups chicken stock
500g couscous, I used whole wheat
2 lemons, halved
100g slivered almonds, toasted
2 tbs pistachio dukkah
a handful of parsley, I used flat leaf, chopped

Bring the chicken stock to the boil. Add cous cous. Cover and remove from heat. The liquid will absorb in about 5 minutes. Gently stir with a fork to separate the grains.

Cook lemon on grill (or in fry pan like I did last night when it was pouring down rain !) for 2 minutes each side or until charred.

Put cous cous in a large serving bowl. Add the almonds, dukkah and parsley to the couscous and stir. Squeeze lemon on top. Serve.

(just for our records ... this serves 8 and is 205 calories per serve)

What We Ate ~ Week 2 ~ 2012

2012-01-15T00:00:00.002+10:00

Asian Chicken Salad

Chicken Curry cooked by my 10 year old (and his Grandma)

Mini Pastry Wrapped Sausages made by my 8 year old, with stir fry veggies

Tempura Battered Fish with green salad (spinach, avocado, tomato, cucumber, red onion, sauteed mushrooms, shredded carrot, olive oil and garlic chive flower vinegar !! so yum !! )

Pad Thai w/Lumpia

Out to eat.
I had a marinated chicken salad (it was rocket, goats cheese, pine nuts, red onion and roast pumpkin) and cajun calamari on the side.

Pizza
~ Garlic ~ Funky Lime ~ Roasted Garlic Chicken ~ Pesto Mushroom ~

I'll post a few recipes this week as a couple of those pizzas are new ones.
Also ... I'm going to try and get the kids to do guest posts on what they cooked !

In the Kitchen with Grandma

2012-01-11T20:52:00.000+10:00

We may have another guest post from Jono !

He and Grandma cooked an amazing Chicken Curry the other night ...

So yum !

What We Ate ~ Week 1 ~ 2012

2012-01-08T07:28:00.002+10:00

It's a New Year and time to make a change. Instead of posting our menu before we eat it, I'm going to post WHAT WE ATE each week, after the fact. I'll simply snap a shot on my iPhone at dinner time and then can link to recipes from there ...

I find our menu chops and changes so much and I want a true representation of what we actually eat each week so I'm going to give this a try !

You are welcome to join me ! If you post on this blog ... I'd love to see what you are eating ! If you have your own blog ... link in the comments !

I'm going to post Sunday to Saturday each week ....

Here we go !

Buffalo Boneless Chicken with Roasted Cauliflower/Broccoli

Dukkah Crusted Pomegranate Marinated Cod with Greek Quinoa Salad
and Sauteed Silverbeet (from our garden !)

The fish and the quinoa were new recipes. They were both very tasty. We decided not to bother trying to 'crust' the fish next time as the dukkah all fell off. We will just use the remaining marinade and some dukkah to make a nice sauce (we did that this time too ... just simmer together for a few minutes and then top the fist with it ... as you see in the photo) The quinoa I will make again and again. Such good flavor. The only thing I did different was roasting the red bell pepper ... and I didn't add a green one.

Homemade Pizza !

Mexican Cous Cous w/steamed asparagus

Lemony Chicken w/Israeli Cous Cous and Italian Salad with Fresh Basil Vinaigrette

Cheeseburgers

Toast, vegemite, dill pickle slices, fried egg. Mmmmmmmmmm !

Chive Flower Vinegar

2012-01-03T08:09:00.000+10:00

Last week, I made Garlic Chive Flower Vinegar. Then, a few days ago, I found a chive plant with purple flowers on it ... I bought it for our new little garden and couldn't resist trying out a little Chive Flower Vinegar.

Again, super easy ... pick the flowers, add to white vinegar. Done. I love how the flowers are turning the vinegar a pretty pink color !!

"Spicy" Spaghetti

2012-01-03T03:26:00.000+10:00

A favorite in our house.
But it doesn't photograph well . . . ;)
So here it is, picture-less.

Spaghetti All'Arrabiata
Jamie Oliver-Style
Serves 4

(Lucky for all you Non-American readers, there were European measurements with this recipe! ;)

7 tablespoons / 100 ml olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 dried red chilies
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 14-ounce / 400-gram cans of plum tomatoes, sieved, or 3 1/2 cups / 800 ml passata
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
18 ounce / 500 grams spaghetti
1 teaspoon / 5 ml red wine vinegar

Pangrattato
3 tablespoons / 45 grams stale bread crumbs
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped (optional)
Fried sage leaves (optional)

Heat about 5 tablespoons / 75 ml of the oil in a large sauté pan over low heat. Add the chilies, garlic. and onion, and cook gently for around 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let them cook until the sauce is quite thick, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti in the salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup / 60 ml of the cooking water. Once the sauce has thickened, add the red vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To make the pangrattato, heat the remaining oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and thyme, if desired, and fry until the bread crumbs are crispy, about 3 minutes. Add the drained pasta and the reserved pasta water to the sauce, and toss to coat. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve with the pangrattato over the top. if you like, you can garnish with fried sage leaves.

Garlic Chive Flower Vinegar

2011-12-27T17:32:00.000+10:00

I have been wanting to try making this for a long time but just never have.

Well, the garlic chives have been blooming in our garden like crazy so today was the day !!

It was so easy and it smells so good !

I'm not sure how long it will need to 'steep' but I'm going to taste it in a week and see how it's going !
I can't wait to try it ...

Here's how you make it.
Get some garlic chive flowers ... out of your garden, or a friends garden, is good.

Take pretty pictures of them.

Find a glass jar ...

Take some more pretty pictures.

Pop the flowers into the jar ...

Add apple cider vinegar vinegar.

Take out into the garden and take more pretty pictures.

Smile about how clever you are.

And that's it.

Easy !

Sticky Date Pudding

2011-12-27T09:11:00.000+10:00

I LOVE STICKY DATE pudding.

I had never had it before coming to Australia ...

Here's how you make it ..

For the pudding:
250g pitted dates, chopped
1 tsp bicarb soda
1.5 cups boiling water
125g softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cups self raising flour, sifted

For the sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
300ml thickened cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
60g butter

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Line (or grease) the base of a cake pan. I used a round one.

Soak the dates in the boiling water, with bicarb soda mixed in. Soak for about 20 minutes. Don't tip out the water ... although, I did (accidentally) and it was fine after I replaced it. But still, it's better if you use the water the dates soaked in !

Put the butter, sugar and vanilla in your electric mixer. Beat til pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each one is added. Fold the date mixture and flour in until well combined.

Pour this into the cake pan. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. (this is tricky though since it's a sticky date ! ours didn't come out totally clean but it wasn't all goopy anymore ) Turn onto a plate.

Make the sauce ...

Over a medium heat, combine sauce ingredients in a sauce pan. Stir often, til sauce boils. Reduce heat and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Make holes all over the pudding with a skewer. Pour warm sauce over warm pudding. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve with remaining sauce and ice cream !

YUM YUM YUM !!

Pistachio Dukkah

2011-12-22T13:08:00.000+10:00

oh boy do i love this stuff !

i had dukkah for the first time about 10 or 12 years ago at christmas dinner with friends

i loved it straight away !

then a few years ago, my friend kel and i found it at the markets

yum yum

we have talked about how easy it must be to make
but just never made it
until last week !

i went to visit kel for her 40th birthday weekend celebration extravaganza !

we made dukkah

i'll never buy it again.

Here's how we made it ...

1/4 cup sesame seeds
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cups pistachios (buy the ones already taken out of the seeds !)
salt
pepper
olive oil
turkish (or your choice of) bread

So ... dry roast (in a frying pan) the sesame seeds til golden. Tip into the food processor. Dry roast coriander and cumin seeds til fragrant. Tip into food processor. If the pistachios aren't already roasted and salted, dry roast them and add a bit of salt. Tip into food processor. Add pepper. Process til chunky ... see photo !

Serve with olive oil and bite size bread chunks.

To eat ... dip bread chunk into olive oil, then into dukkah ! Enjoy !! YUMMMMM !!

I'm making this again tomorrow for Christmas Eve with the family !!

Autumn Spinach Salad

2011-12-14T10:41:00.005+10:00

10 oz (or so) fresh spinach
ripe pear
1/2 c red onion, sliced thin
1/2 c dried cranberries (can substitute pomegranate)
1/3 c walnut pieces (optional)
1/3 c cider vinegar
1/2 c canola oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
salt (optional)

Wash, dry, and tear spinach leaves into bite-sized pieces and put in salad bowl. Core pear, slice thin or cut in bite-sized pieces. Dip pear pieces in the cider vinegar, then add them to salad. Add red onion and cranberries (or pomegranate).

To the remaining cider vinegar add the oil, mustard, sugar, and salt, and whisk together.

Just before serving, Dress salad with the Dijon vinagrette, toss gently, and sprinkle on walnuts if desired.

Chipotle Chicken Posole

2011-12-12T08:10:00.000+10:00

Sundays are a hectic day at our house. We are up early, gone late and the last thing either of us want to do is make lunch, spend more money, or eat poorly. So we have been trying to kill all three birds with one crock pot.

Last night I was rummaging around for whatever was on hand, trying do decide what to throw in the ol' crockery and i found this:

2 bone in chicken breast
1 15 oz can of gold hominy (you can substitute corn)
1 can of diced green chiles
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 seeded and diced jalapeño pepper
1 medium onion chopped
6 chopped garlic cloves
some chopped celery
cilantro

I had no homemade stock on hand so I boiled up some 6 cups of water and threw in 2 chicken cubes and a half of a bacon bullion cube. I let it cool and then set it aside to use in the morning.

This morning I seasoned the chicken with pepper, salt, smoked paprika and some Trader Joe's 21 seasoning salute. I love this stuff. I poured the stock in the crock pot and set the chicken in it.
Pour in the whole can of hominy with the juice and add the onion, celery, garlic, jalapeño, chipotles, and chiles then stir.

I covered and cooked for 5 hours on high.

When we got home I removed the chicken and deboned and shredded and added back to the soup.
This is when I added cilantro. I love the stuff, but no one else in my house does so it also works to add it to each individual bowl.

A good way to cut some spice is to add some sour cream if you have it.

Turns out the soup is about 300 calories per bowl.
Tasty, delicious and pretty inexpensive.

Chicken & Black Bean Tostada Bowl

2011-12-11T07:33:00.000+10:00

When we were in the States I bought some Tortilla Bakers for making individual tostada bowls. I used them for the first time (with tortiallas) the other night.

I followed the instructions on the box for making the bowls.

Lightly spray your little bakers with non stick spray.

Between damp paper towls, microwave your tortillas for about 15/20 seconds. Fit it into the baker. Bake in 350F/170C oven for 5-8 minutes. (I will do ours longer next time. I was worried they would burn but the bottom and sides weren't really crispy like the top ~ as you can see in the photos !)

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from baker. Then place on rack to cool completely.

We filled these ones with ....

Chicken, diced and cooked with a mexican spice mix

Black beans, straight out of the can, drained

Tomatoes, diced

Spring Onion, chopped

Cheddar Cheese, grated

Greek Yoghurt, dolloped (you could use sour cream but we didn't have any)

Avocado, chopped

Lettuce, chopped small

Veggie Fish Bake

2011-12-09T07:11:00.003+10:00

Veggie Fish Bake

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

4-6 medium to large potatoes, peeled and sliced approximately ¼ inch thick
4 medium to large carrots, peeled and sliced approximately ¼ inch thick
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced approximately ¼ inch thick – separated into rings

Spray large baking dish with Pam (I used olive oil Pam).
Layer potato slices in the bottom of the dish. Next, evenly spread the carrots and then the onion rings over the layers of potatoes.
Melt 2T of butter and stir in 1t of dried basil and 1t of dried dill weed. Sprinkle butter mixture over veggies. Evenly spray another layer of Pam over the veggies. Cover and bake until potatoes feel like they are approximately 15 minutes from done. (I baked them for approximately 40 minutes)
Meanwhile, melt 2T of butter and stir in 1t of dried basil, 1t of dried dill weed, salt and pepper (I used white pepper cause I like it best), and 3t of lemon juice (I didn’t feel like squeezing fresh, so used the bottle and it turned out fine).
When the potatoes feel like they are getting close to done, place four fish fillets (your favorite white fish…can’t remember what I used!) over the veggies. Spread the second batch of butter mixture over the fish. Recover and return the pan to the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the fish is flaky and done.
Meanwhile, chop two medium tomatoes (I chopped mine rather small). When the fish is finished, sprinkle the tomatoes over the fish. Recover and return pan to the oven for 5 minutes.
Serve.
DELISH!!! EVERYONE in the family went back for seconds!! My mom used to make this when I was a kid (only fish recipe I recall liking as a child!), and I stumbled upon it the other day when looking for meals I could eat while on my post-gall bladder surgery restricted diet. It was such a hit that it's going on the make again soon list! :-)

Creamy Ham and Greens

2011-11-30T07:09:00.000+10:00

So, last night was a bit of a scrounge around and see what I could find to make for dinner. I need to go shopping but I'm really not motivated to do it because we have two late sporting nights ... tonight and tomorrow ... and then it's Friday ... and then we have another Christmas party ... and I'm waiting on the $250 food voucher that should be coming today ( it was part of the deal we got when we bought our new fridge last week ) And ... And ... And ...

What I came up with was ... spanish tortilla ... potatoes baked like for spicy potatoes but without the spicy.

I had some ham in the freezer that needed using, I had silverbeet, rainbow chard and kale in the garden that needed picking, I had a bit of cream leftover from Rory's birthday carbonara and I always have garlic and onion on hand ....

This is what came of those ingredients.

1.5 cups slivered ham, chopped ( I had a triple smoked one )
3 cups mixed greens, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 a red onion, diced
cream, (I only had 1/4 of a cup and I think it was plenty !)

Start with a bit of olive oil in the bottom of your pan, add garlic and ham. I started with the heat pretty hot and then turned it to medium pretty quick. Once the garlic and ham have started to brown, add onion. Cook a minute or two more than add the greens. Cook a minute or two and then add the cream. Cook a minute or two more ... or until the cream is no longer runny and seems to be coating the other ingredients. Serve hot. So yum !!

This served the four of us.

Grandma's Cranberry Fluff

2011-11-29T07:01:00.000+10:00

This right here is all my childhood Thanksgivings rolled up in one sweet dish ! It's what I looked forward to every year ! My Grandma's Cranberry Fluff !!

This year I got a text from my Aunt Lissa saying "we have a huge problem ... cranberry fluff is not on the beans blog !" Well, that just can't be ! The world needs cranberry fluff ! Aunt Lissa sent me a photo, and I pinched another one off my Dad's facebook page and I'm about to share the recipe with you !

In the photo above, you see one bowl pre whipped cream and one bowl post whipped cream ! :)

What you need (and do):

2 cups raw groundup cranberries (frozen works best and I've never bought them ground, you have to do that yourself ! I've found a food processor works well for that job.)
3 cups small marshmellows
3/4 cup sugar

Stir those first three ingredients together and chill overnight.

2 cups peeled, diced tart apples (green)
1 cup green grapes (quartered)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup whipped cream or cool whip

Add next four ingredients to the chilled cranberry mixture. Right before serving, fold in the whipped cream.

Serves 8-10.

My beautiful Grandma with this years cranberry fluff.

Tempura

2011-11-27T22:00:00.000+10:00

Rory made tempura cod last night. It was delicious ! Following the instructions on the back of the bag, he did it like this ...

4 pieces of cod
125g tempura batter mix
180ml cold water

Whisk the water and batter mix together. Do not over mix (it's ok to have a few lumps). Coat the fish and shallow fry in hot oil until golden brown and fish is cooked through. (ours took about 15 minutes, cooking all four pieces together in the same cast iron fry pan)

We had leftover batter too so Rory chopped up a zucchini and did them as well. They were super yum !

We squeezed fresh lemon juice onto the fish and served with tartar sauce.

Also pictured: Sesame Asparagus and Basil Zucchini Mini Muffins

Basil Zucchini Mini Muffins

2011-11-24T18:00:00.000+10:00

I saw these over on Join in the Feast. Have you been to that website ? No ? You should go check it out ! The author is a friend of mine ... a friend I haven't met yet. I knew her husband way back when we were in highschool and "met" her on line ... on facebook, I think. I can't remember, it's been a few years now.

Anyway ... go check it out. Join in the Feast is on facebook too ... you should LIKE it !

These muffins are so cute and tiny and so very very delicious. They were a huge hit with the kids ! Here's the recipe ... I'm sharing with Laura's permission.

3/4 c flour
1/2 c wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fresh-ground pepper
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/4 c buttermilk
1 & 1/2 c shredded zucchini
1/2 c finely sliced basil leaves

In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and pepper.

In a bowl cream together the butter or shortening and the sugar, then beat in the egg and the buttermilk until the mixture is well blended.

Stir in the zucchini and the basil. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture, stir the batter until it is just combined.

Divide batter among 24 well-buttered gem tins (each 1/8 cup).

Bake the muffins in the middle of a preheated 400°F (200°C)oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean, turn the muffins out onto a rack, and let them cool.

My Menu - Bonnie - 21 November 2011

2011-11-21T08:24:00.004+10:00

Quickly today ... here's our menu for the week.

Monday

Asian Chicken Salad

Tuesday

Mom's Carbonara

Wednesday

Burrito Bowl's on the run ! (we will be out all evening !)

Thursday

Crock Pot Fajitas

Friday

out

Saturday

company Christmas party

Sunday

play it by ear

Sushi Crunchies !

2011-11-20T21:01:00.001+10:00

I discovered sushi crunchies (not sure of their 'real' name) when we were in Denver a few months ago. My parents favorite sushi place, where I think we ate like 8 times in 4 weeks (!!) makes a roll with sushi crunches inside it that I've been trying to replicate ever since. I think I've come pretty close with the roll you see in the photo above ... although, I don't roll mine inside out like they do.

I put avocado, dry roasted cashews, sushi crunchies and sometimes cream cheese. (the one pictured doesn't have the cream cheese) I top it will bulldog sauce. So yum ! It's my current favorite roll !

To make the crucnhies ... I watched this video ... you should watch it if you are going to try them. It gives some great tips.

I only make half his recipe ... here's how ...

Vegetable, corn or peanut oil

1/2 cup of Tempura flour (i actually used tempura batter mix),

1/2 cup of Water

1 egg white

Heat the oil in a pot. Don't fill it more than half way. I did the first time and ended up having to throw away the pot I used after I burned the oil to the outside of it ! Anyway, get the oil really hot (but not boiling)

While your oil is heating, mix the egg white, flour and water.

Test the oil by adding a drip of the mixture to the oil. If it instantly floats and sizzles at the top then the oil is ready. When the oil is hot, drizzle a bit of the mixture into it. (see the video for useful tips on this part !) Make sure you pour it slowly and not too much at once.

Once it's golden, remove it with a slotted spoon or small metal strainer to a plate covered with paper towel. Continue until all the mix is used up. Let it cool for a bit, then tip into a bowl. I smash it a bit with the back of a spoon because I like my cruchies broken up.

That's it.

These are so yummy.

One thing though, if you are making the sushi for the next day, don't add the crunchies, just sprinkle them on top the next day ! (they go soggy in the rice over night)

Best Cheesecake EVER

2011-11-20T08:21:00.005+10:00

Cheesecake...sooo yummy, but how to make it come out just right?? This recipe takes time (although almost all of the time is cooking and cooling), but the creamy, yumminess is OH SO worth it!

Step 1: Pound 1 3/4cup graham crackers into crumbs. I use a quart sized zip lock and a cup with a flat bottom.

Step 2: mix crumbs with 1/3 cup butter, melted, and 1/4 cup sugar (I used raw sugar so that's why it looks brown)

Step 3: press crumb mixture into the bottom of a spring form pan...I use the flat bottom glass

Let a little of the crumb mixture go up the side. Don't be a perfectionist with this :-)

Step 4: if you, like I never remember to get the cream cheese out of the fridge in time...soften in the microwave

Step 5: beat 3 - 8oz packages of softened cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar until well blended

Step 6: add 1 cup of sour cream

and 2 tsp (although I usually let a bit more splash in because I love it) of Vanilla and mix well. (this is your last chance to really blend things so don't be sigh about mixing)

Step 7: Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after eacch addition until JUST blended. DO NOT OVER BEAT!

Step 8: Pour into crust. Gently smooth mixture so that the crust is sealed in.

Step 9: Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for dark nonstick springform pan or 350 for silver...for1 hour or until center is almost set...this is key. It will keep cooking so make sure that the middle still jiggles a bit. (it took me a few goes before I really got the hang of how much jiggle was just right)

Step 10: After the baking, turn off the oven and open the door just a tad. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for an additional hour with the oven off.

Step 11: After the addition hour, remove the cheesecake from the oven and let stand for one to two hours (I often make this at night and am in a hurry to get to bed so only let it sit one hour). Chill at least four hours.

Ok - what are you waiting for?? You are going to LOVE this cheesecake...Go...Bake...Enjoy!!

try it on your smart phone ....

2011-11-16T08:03:00.000+10:00

Have you tried using the TABLE OF CONTENTS ? If you look just under the header, you will see the following links:

Search The Beans Blog

The Table of Contents doesn't seem to work on all computers. I don't know why ... BUT, it seems to work on all smart phones. It's really handy for me as I use my iPhone instead of a printed recipe whenever I can. So ... why don't you try it ? See how the Table of Contents works for you and let us know !

Also ... if you are searching for a recipe you think you've seen here before but it isn't showing up in the Table of Contents, let me know and I'll fix it !

Hope ya'll are having a great day ! It's Wednesday morning, the start of my day off ! Woo Hoo ! Soon I'll take the kids to school and then I'll have 6 hours all to myself ! Yee haw !

I'm really not a hill billy but I sure sounded like it just then ...

Bye.

Try out the T. O. C. !

Bye, maybe ?

One last thing ... have you seen The Beans Blog is on Facebook ? Have you "liked" it yet ?

ok ... for real this time ... BYE !

Thai Chicken Soup

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000+10:00

Ingredients:

Chicken Stock or Chicken Stock Cubes (Stock = Boullion)

Pork Bones or Pork Stock Cubes

Fish Sauce

Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce

2-4 Chicken Breasts

A few limes

Thai peppers or chili sauce

2 cups rice

Fresh Cilantro (Aussies - Coriander)

Green Onions (Aussies - Shallots or Spring Onions)

Garlic (at least a head)

Oilive Oil

Ok ... for those of you who like exact measurements, this recipe is not for you. Actually, I am a person who likes exact measurements but I've made this a number of times now from these instructions my sister gave me and I haven't messed it up yet !!

This is also a good meal to cook with a friend ... it's a lot of work !!

This is not a one pot soup. To serve it you are going to end up with a whole bunch of dishes in the middle of the table ... The more you make this, the more you will work out the timing of it all.

So, I usually start with the stock. Because I can't get pork boullion here, I have to use pork bones. So, I use 8 cups of already made chicken stock ( in the box from the supermarket ) and then add 4 or 8 more cups of water and a couple of chicken stock cubes and the pork bones ... actually, I use pork ribs because as of yet I haven't been able to find a butcher that hadn't already given his pork bones to the local Chinese Restaurant !! So, I boil my stock and bones together and just let them simmer away. At least an hour. If you are using pork stock, I don't think you'll need to let it cook that long. Oh yeah, you also need to add about 1/4 cup of the Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce and about 2Tablespoons of fish sauce.

What is this Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce ?? Don't know exactly but here's what the bottle looks like. When we were in Colorado, Ellie used one called Gold Label ... I found it in a little Aisan shop here. Ellie says it's Thai or Vietnamese. I'll give you the ingredients. That's how I made sure I had the right thing .. It's soy bean sauce, water, sugar salt and food enhancer ...

Second. The chicken. Cut the breasts into small pieces. Ellie says bite sized but I think she did them a bit smaller than bite sized. I guess it's your preference.

Marinate the chicken in Golden Mountain (for as little or as long as you like) and then fry. Just with a bit of oil in a fry pan ...

While that's cooking I put my rice in the rice cooker and forget about it. If you are cooking it another way, you may want to wait til later to cook it ...

For the funky lime sauce. In a bowl add the juice of a few limes and a bit of Golden Mountain, a bit of fish sauce, 1tsp sugar, a little water and some chopped up Thai Peppers. I can't get those so I just use chili/garlic sauce out of a jar. The quantities of this are ... well, uncertain. Ellie said to use about 1/2 the amount of fish sauce as you do lime but I think that's a bit too much fish sauce so I don't put as much in. It's a bit to taste ... which is tricky if you've never tasted it. It should be fairly lime flavored ...

Press the garlic through the garlic press. I do two or three heads of garlic but we are garlic freaks around here. So -you choose how much but press your garlic and set it aside.

Chop the cilantro, put it in a bowl and set it aside. Same with the spring onions.

The last thing I do is cook the garlic so that it's hot when you serve the meal. You want to fill a small frying pan with olive oil. How much ? Maybe an inch ?? Depends on the size of the pan. Ellie told me to use enough oil so that the garlic floats when you are cooking it. So ... gety your oil real hot and then add the garlic. Cook it til it starts to brown. But don't burn it !! :)

To serve -- put all of these on the table -- the stock, the rice, the funky lime sauce, the garlic (in it's oil), onions, cilantro and the chicken. I also put the chili/garlic sauce on the table in case anyone wants to make theirs spicier.

To eat -- everyone needs to put this into their bowl -- Rice, chicken, garlic, green stuff ( cilantro and onions ) funky lime sauce and finally the stock. Eat straight away. I've tried it left over ... not so good.

This is a lot of work ... I especially realized that just trying to type it out !!! ha ha. But it is seriously one of my favorite meals now !! I keep thinking I need to have someone over so that I have an excuse to make it !! It's a lot of work to do for just the four of us but I am thinking I might break down and just make it for us anyway !!!

Let me know if you have any questions ... and if you live near by ... invite yourself over and I'll cook it for you !!!

***

I'm not sure why the labels sometimes don't work. I'm re-posting this in the hopes that it will make the labels work so that this shows up in the Table Of Contents ! It's a recipe you want to try !!!

My Menu - Bonnie - 14 November 2011

2011-11-14T16:04:00.000+10:00

Sunday

B - French Toast

L - Leftover Burgers

D - Homemade Sushi

Monday

B - the usual (greek yoghurt, blueberries and homemade granola)

L - leftover sushi

D - tapas, mostly from "Jamie does Spain ..." mini meatballs, peppers, chorizo & garlic, baby clams, calamari, salad, pan (bread)

Tuesday

B - the usual

L - salad (and any leftover tapas)

D - Jono's Roasted Pepper and Chicken Pasta Salad

Wednesday

B - the usual

L - salad

D - Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce w/Chicken and Prawns, Lumpia, Sweet and Soup Sauce

Thursday

B - the usual

L - Black Bean Chili Soup from freezer (if no leftovers)

D - Cheesy Prosciutto Chicken and Asparagus, with Basil Zucchini Mini Muffins

Friday & Saturday

unplanned ! spontaneous ! we'll see what happens !

Cheesy Prosciutto Chicken and Asparagus

2011-11-14T08:38:00.002+10:00

Modified from a recipe in Jamie's Ministry of Food cookbook. (one of my all time favorites !) I don't have any real measurements for this recipe but you don't need them.

4 chicken breasts
pecorino romano cheese block
fresh thyme
fresh ground black pepper
1 lemon
8 slices of prosciutto
olive oil

Score the bottom side of the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with thyme leaves, pepper and lemon zest. Grate cheese on top of that. Put two pieces of prosciutto on top of that. (so, two pieces per breast) Cover with glad wrap (saran wrap) and them bang them with the frying pan to flatten them.

Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan. Put chicken in, prosciutto side down. Cook til chicken is cooked through. Serve with lemon (that you zested) on the side.

I served this with asparagus and slivered garlic sauteed in olive oil and topped with toasted almonds ! Soooo good.

We had leftovers and I put them in a salad the next day. Amazing.

**

Ps ... sorry about the photo ! I'm making a lightbox this week so that I can take photos in the poor evening light !!

// My Menu // Khrista - October 31st- November 6th, 2011

2011-11-02T04:30:00.000+10:00

Halloween Costume creation consumed most of my time last week, so I am late to planning a menu for this week.
As a result we ate out last night... Chick-fil-A... on Halloween night...there was NOBODY there!
It was really nice! We all ate and then the kids had the playscape all to themselves.
My Love and I actually got to sit in peace and "talk!" We might do that again very soon! :)
It was kind of like a date! ha! ha!

Here's a few links to recipes for this week:
Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze
Sweet Potato Enchiladas
Taco Pizza
Toasted Pita Salad

My Menu - Bonnie - 31 October 2011

2011-10-31T07:31:00.001+10:00

Rory and I planned a quick menu together on the way to Movie World on the weekend ! Here it is ...

Monday

Rory's Salmon with Kale, Avo and Asparagus Salad

Tuesday

Chicken-Mushroom-Green Bean Stir Fry

(this will be our first try of this!)

Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli

Wednesday

Chicken Chimichanga Lettuce Wraps

Thursday

Greek Egg Omelets

Friday

Cauliflower Shep Pie ?

***

PS ... are all of the links showing up the same color ? What color ? I have them all set to the same color, but when I preview it, half of them are purple and half of them are green. I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong !!!

Ice Blocks for Healthy Kids

2011-10-30T08:40:00.000+10:00

Remember we had Jono guest blogging earlier in the week ? Well, today we have Alia ... my 7 year old daughter .... we have been making our own ice blocks for years now. The kids love them and I don't have any problem with them eating them because they are totally fruit !!

Here you go, in Alia's own words (and spelling) ...

***

Hello my name is Alia and I am going to tell you how to make ice blocks. First you get some fruit and put it in a blender or food prowseser. I yoused 3 mangos, 3 bananas, 2 kiwi, frozen berries, a hole tub off strawberries and 4 cups off water. Then you get your fruit and put one off the fruits in the blender or food prowseser and wall it is on por some water in it to make it smouth. Next por it in the ice block contaners. After that put them in the freezer and once thier frozzen tack them out and run it under hot water to open them. Finily eat them I hope you injoy.

***
Mommy's Translation:

prowseser - processor
yoused - used (i love how she spelled that one !)
hole - whole
off - of
wall - while
por - pour
smouth - smooth
ice block contaners - ice block molds
thier frozzen - they are frozen
tack - take
finily - finally
injoy - enjoy

AND ... she's listed out the total ingredients which was pretty clever as I had written down for her what she did in each one and she's added them all together !

For the mango one, I chopped up three mangoes. She added a banana (that had been frozen for banana bread) and maybe 1 cup of water.

For the strawberry one, she cut the green leaves off one punnet of strawberries, added a banana (again, frozen but thawed) and water.

For the kiwi one, I skinned 2 kiwi fruits for her. She added a (you got it ... previously frozen) banana and the water.

For the berry one. We had an open bag of mixed berries in the freezer that no one was eating. We let them thaw then she threw them in with some water.

Super easy. Fun for the kids to make. (apart from the chopping/peeling of a few of the more fiddly pieces of fruit, she did ALL the work !) Super yummy. The kids love these. And best of all. Healthy.

Jono's Roasted Pepper and Chicken Pasta Salad

2011-10-26T09:21:00.000+10:00

We have a guest blogger today ! My boy Jono, who is nine, almost ten (!) cooked dinner for us last night. He got the recipe out of a cookbook he was given for is his birthday, but he made a few small changes. I asked him this morning if he wanted to write a blog post about it and he was pretty excited to do it ! So ... here you go, in his words ...

hi i am jono and i am going to tell you how to make a roasted pepper and chicken pasta salad

you will need:

2 chicken breasts

1 yellow bell pepper

1 bag of any pasta

1 red bell pepper

a handful of rocket

for the marinade:

2 tbls olive oil

lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 clove garlic, crushed

salt and pepper

for the dressing:

4 tbls olive oil

3 tbls rice wine vinegar

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tbls green pesto

a bunch of chives

a handful of chopped parsley

first boil some water then get your two chicken breasts and wrap them in cling film. then bash the chicken with a mallet until flat put the chicken in a container and mix in the olive oil lemon juice garlic salt and pepper put in the fridge for 20 minutes. cut the peppers in half and take out the inside then put them under the grill until skin is black. then soak then in water until ready to pick up then pull off the skin and slice them. cook pasta according to packet heat a frying pan to a medium high heat put chicken in and pour marinade on top. once cooked cool for a couple minutes while cooling chicken put pasta in a bowl with peppers and rocket slice chicken and put into the bowl pour the marinade on and mix and it is done.

Notes from Mom : I didn't want to change any of how he wrote his instructions so here are a few tips (translations) from me ...

bell peppers = capsicum

rocket = arugula

cling film = glad wrap. saran wrap.

grill = broiler

We made the pesto for the dressing. We used sweet and greek basil, just a handful or so. Then added maybe a tablespoon of pine nuts, maybe the same of freshly grated parmesan, added a blub or two of olive oil. A bit of salt and pepper. We used the stick blender on that. Then we just added the rest of the dressing ingredients to that and blended it some more, again ... with the stick blender.

This was DELICIOUS !!! It served four of us for dinner, and there were three small portions left over for lunches .... luckily I didn't need a packed lunch today since it's my day off !! Wooo Hooo !!!

// My Menu // Khrista - October 24-30, 2011

2011-10-26T01:12:00.000+10:00

Can I fast forward to Sunday?! I am SO excited about our traditional annual pumpkin carving and pumpkin soup! I can't wait!!!

The Bendeguz

2011-10-23T21:40:00.001+10:00

So ... the other day my husband was craving Eggs Benedict. But it was already way past breakfast time and we didn't have any of the ingredients anyway so we just left it. Then our friends invited us to come have pizza for dinner. We never turn down pizza with Craig & Jodie ... this was no exception ! Rory threw out the idea of making an Eggs Benedict Pizza. Craig was up to the challenge and the rest my friends, is history ! Mouth watering, record breaking, best pizza eva history !

So, how do you make it ?

You'll need your favorite pizza dough recipe. This one had a nice thick crust.

Roll out your dough. Top with "funky lime" garlic and the oil you cooked it in. (funky lime garlic ... heat olive oil in a small frying pan. Add freshly minced garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, til light brown ... DON'T BURN IT !! Burned garlic is bitter and yucky !)

Top with mozzarella cheese and sliced bacon. Cook the pizza til cheese/crust are golden.

While pizza is cooking, make hollandaise sauce and poach a couple eggs. (recipe here)

Once pizza is cooked, drizzle hollandaise sauce on top, top with baby spinach leaves and poached eggs.

Try not to make groaning noises when you eat this ... (but don't be surprised to find that is an effort in futility !)

Baked Brie

2011-10-22T11:02:00.000+10:00

We had this at a friends house last year on Christmas Eve and I've wanted to make it ever since ! I don't think they did the jam though ... that was the addition of the friends we made this with last night !

This was so easy ! Not to mention DELICOUS !

All you need is:
1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
1 wheel of brie
strawberry jam
crackers

All you do is:

Put the brie on top of the pastry. Top with strawberry (or your choice of)jam. Fold the pastry up to wrap the jam covered brie. Bake in 400F/200C oven til pastry is golden. We did it for 25 minutes last night ... I might try a little longer next time.

Serve with crackers or fresh slices of crusty bread.

SO stinkin' yum !

Cranberry Buttermilk Scones with Sweet Orange Glaze

2011-10-21T08:03:00.004+10:00

I LOVE scones....I make them all the time. Today I decided to tweak one of my favorite scone recipes and what happened was the most delicious scones I've ever made! And it's easy too!

Makes 16 medium size scones.

Ingredients:

- 3 Cups Flour
- a heaping 1/3 Cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 Cup Cold Butter
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- About 3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries (I like a lot so I just dump them in without measuring.)
-A couple Tablespoons heavy cream for brushing.

Directions:
Preheat over 400 degrees F.
(I use a kitchen aid but if you don't have one your fingers or a pastry blender will work just fine.)
In your bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
Chop your butter into cubes and throw into the bowl. Turn kitchen aid to stir and mix until the butter is about the size of peas.
Add the buttermilk and mix until combined then add the cranberries.
Dump onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two balls.
Pat each ball into 3/4 inch thick rounds. Next, cut each round into 8 wedges and place on a greased baking sheet.
Brush the tops with cream and bake for about 14 minutes or until lightly browned. It is easy to over cook these without realizing it so keep on eye on them. There is nothing worse than a delicious scone with a burnt bottom.

While they are baking, whip up the glaze.
About 1 cup of powdered sugar
About 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest
About 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice.
As you can see, I'm not certain on the measurements for the glaze. I just mix it with a fork until it looks and tastes right.....hmm...Sorry about that.
You want it to be thick enough to spread across the top of the scones once they come out of the oven.
Let the scones cool about 15 minutes before adding the glaze.
Brew a pot of coffee while you wait for the scones to cool. Perfect for a blustery, autumn day!

My Menu - Bonnie - 18 October 2011

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000+10:00

I didn't get my groceries done on line last week. It was a crazy busy week and before I knew it, I hadn't been home long enough to sit down and shop before the cutoff time to have my groceries delivered on my day off ! And after that, the week just kind of had me running behind it, hanging on for dear life. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun week and I loved it, I just didn't get the on line shopping done ! So yesterday morning I planned my menu and hit the shops in the afternoon.

I always want something easy or delicious (or both) the night I do shopping otherwise I might not want to make it ... I find grocery shopping can make me really exhausted ! Anyone else like that ?

So, last night was sushi ... YUM !

Monday

Sesame Seed Chicken Bites

Kale, Avo and Asparagus Salad

Tuesday

Jamies 30 minute meals ...Tasty crusted cod, mashy peas, tartare sauce, warm garden salad. We've made this before. Sooooooo good !!

Wednesday

Another from Jamies 30 minute meals but this one is one we haven't tried before.

Killer Jerk Chicken, rice and beans, refreshing chopped salad, chargrilled corn.

Thursday

Asian Chicken Salad

Friday and Saturday ... who knows ?!

Last Friday we did panko crusted fish, antonio's potatoes and salad.

and then Saturday we went out with friends for Thai ! YUM !

Eggplant Burgers

2011-10-12T16:48:00.000+10:00

Look, I know the photo leaves a little something to be desired but I'm going to make myself a light box ... hopefully on the weekend ... and then I'll be able to take good food photos at night !

But ... don't let the photo deter you from trying this ! I loved this. My kids loved this. My husband loved all but the eggplant.

And it was easy. Easy peasy.

Eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch slices. Salted and set aside.

Burger Patties

Tomato, sliced

Caramelized Onions

Mushrooms, sauteed with a bit of garlic powder

I started with the caramelized onion. When that was about done, my husband grilled the eggplant and burger patties. I sauteed the mushrooms.

To assemble ... eggplant, burger, tomato, mushrooms, onions ... the kids added cheese to theirs. I had ketchup. Rory had sweet chili sauce. Jono has those two and BBQ sauce !

menu plan monday // Khrista 10.10.11

2011-10-11T08:16:00.003+10:00

I've been doing a rotating menu/grocery list system for about a month now with great results.
I created four separate weekly menus and compiled a master grocery list for each week.
Usually on the weekend I will print out the next week's grocery list, mark off items I have on-hand, add items from my running list in the kitchen, and then go shopping.
It's been great not having to sit down once a week and produce a new menu, and compile a grocery list.
The above menu was added to the rotation this weekend. Some of our favorites.
(I will post the "Spicy" Spaghetti recipe this week! ;)

Spicy Chicken Soup

2011-10-05T07:32:00.002+10:00

This was delicious. I used this recipe as a base but I made a few changes. If you are a kitten tongue like my cousin Pam, then you probably won't like this because it is SPICY !! But ... I pulled out some chicken before I added the chipotles, and cooked it in plain broth for Alia ... she liked that.

olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
7 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 chicken breasts, chopped into small bite size pieces
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
6 cups chicken broth
1 bunch cilantro
Juice of 2 limes
S & P
avocado, sliced for topping

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil, add chicken. Cook til just about cooked through. Add chipotles, adobo sauce, and chicken broth. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cilantro and lime juice; season with salt and pepper. Top with avocado.

The original recipe said to top with the tortilla chips ... we didn't but Rory added a few crackers and Jono added sour cream to cool his down a bit.

This fed the four of us for dinner, with corn on the cob on the side, and there was one bowl leftover for Rory's lunch. Next time I might use three chicken breasts to stretch it a bit further ...

Crock Pot recipes

2011-10-05T06:52:00.003+10:00

Raechel - a favorite blogger that I secretly read - got a new crock pot at a garage sale and is itching to use it. She's compiling a list of yummy recipes here. (I added a link to our Greek Lamb With Spinach and Orzo to her list!) And in case you are wondering about the lovely crock pot recipes already on this wonderful blog...check them out here.

Happy Fall everyone (or spring for those in Australia!)

My Menu - Bonnie - 5 October 2010

2011-10-05T00:00:00.001+10:00

I don't go to work on Wednesday's anymore. I have found that planning my menu early in the week, doing the shopping online and having it delivered on Wednesday is working really well ! Hence, the reason I am planning Wednesday to Tuesdays now.

Wednesday
Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Sauteed Leafy Greens

Thursday
Raw Lasagna on Big Honkin' Mushrooms
corn on the cob

Friday
I'd like to make pasta on the weekend but we'll see what ends up happening

Saturday
Weekends are pretty flexible around here so
I'm not going to plan Saturday until closer to the day !

Sunday
Eggplant Burgers
I'm going to use our meat patties ...

Monday
Rory's Salmon
Asparagus
Sauteed Mushrooms

Tuesday
Chimichanga Lettuce Wraps

**

I'm going to make refrigerator pickles this week. OH YUM ! I can't wait.

And Alia is going to make Coconut Bars out of a new cookbook she got for her birthday !

**

Zucchini & Eggplant Rolled "Cannelloni"

2011-10-03T06:44:00.002+10:00

I combined parts of this Grilled Zucchini Roll recipe and this Eggplant Cannelloni recipe to get to this ... Jono and I loved it. Rory thought the goats cheese was a bit bitter. Alia ... well, we won't go there.

I think next time (yes, there will be a next time for sure !) I will add ricotta to the mix to try and reduce the bitter taste Rory didn't care for.

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices
3 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch slices

150g (5.3 ounces?) goats cheese
kalamata olives, I just scooped a couple spoons out of the jar, chopped
capers, 1 or 2 teaspoons
2 tablespoons fresh parsely, finely chopped

salt and pepper
olive oil

spring onions, about 6, chopped
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
juice of 1 orange
2 large red bell peppers (capsicum)

Roast your bell peppers. This is easy. Cut them into large pieces & remove seeds. Put them on tin foil, skin side up under the griller (broiler). Grill (broil) until the skins are black. Remove to a bowl of water. Skins should peel straight off.

Salt the eggplant on either side and let sit while you prepare the zucchini. Brush both sides of zucchini with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush both sides of eggplant with olive oil.

BBQ the eggplant and zucchini ... eggplant took about 3 minutes each side. Zucchini probably only needs 2 minutes each side. You just want them soft enough to be able to roll.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute spring onions and garlic til golden. Add bell peppers and orange juice. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until peppers are soft, or until you remember to check it ! (oops) Cool. Zoop Zoop. (blend with stick blender)

Turn oven on to 400F/200C.

While the sauce is simmering, mix goats cheese, olives, capers and parsley in a bowl. Scoop about 1/2 a tablespoon of the filling at the end of each slice of eggplant and zucchini. Roll up. Lay seam side down in baking dish. Top with sauce. Bake about 15 minutes.

Greek Lamb with Spinach and Orzo

2011-10-02T14:00:00.000+10:00

I'm reposting this to see if I can get the labels to work. For some reason they have never worked on this post, which means they don't show up in the table of contents which is ANNOYING !

Also ... this is really good and you should cook it NOW !

This is a Crockpot recipe, so I expect full rewards for its awesomeness Bonnie! hehe.

1 2lb boneless lamb roast
1 T dried oregano, crushed
1 T finely shredded lemon peel
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t salt
The juice of 1 lemon
5 oz. box fresh baby spinach
16 oz bag of orzo, cooked according to package directions
8 oz crumbled feta cheese
1 can chicken broth for just in case.

Trim fat from roast. If necessary, cut roast to fit in the crock pot. In a small bowl combine oregano, lemon peel, garlic, and salt. Sprinkle evenly over sides of lamb raost; rub lightly with fingers. Place lamb in cooker. Sprinkle lamb with lemon juice.

Cover and cook on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high heat setting for 4 to 5 hours (we do the low setting)

Remove lamb from crock pot. Shred meat into bite sized pieces, removing any oogies, set aside. Add spinach to cooking juices in crock pot (we add 1 can chicken broth as there didn't seem to be enough cooking juices), stirring until spinach is wilted. Add cooked orzo, feta, and lamb; stir to mix.

Top with a squeeze or lemon or some hot pepper paste if desired.

PS ... Orzo is called Rissoni in Australia !!

Cinnamon Roll CAKE ?!

2011-10-02T10:51:00.002+10:00

I saw this recipe on pinterest and had to try it ! It was absolutely delicious !! Here's how you make it ...

For The Cake Layer:
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

For The Cinnamony Sweet Layer:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

For The Glaze Bit:
2 cups powdered (icing) sugar
5 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the cake layer ingredients together ... only adding the melted butter slowly after the other ingredients are mixed. Butter a 9X13 pan and pour in the cake layer.

Mix the cinnamony sweet layer ingredients together until well combined. This won't spread over the cake layer so you kind of have to drop it in blobs ... do it evenly. Then get a knife and swirl it. It won't be a smooth cake top ... that's cool.

Bake at 180C/350F for 30-40 minutes. Mine was still wet in the middle at 30 minutes and perfect at 40 ... or maybe it was 45. You'll just have to test it ...

Mix up your glaze and drizzle over the cake while it is still warm.

Greek Egg Omelets

2011-09-29T21:00:00.000+10:00

For each omelet you'll need:

2 eggs

Chopped red onion

Chopped tomatoes

Reduced-fat feta

Beat 2 eggs.

Pour eggs into small skillet.

Cook until stiff enough to flip.

Flip.

Sprinkle remaining ingredients onto one-half of eggs.

Fold eggs in half.

Flip.

Serve.

**
note from Bonnie ... I tried these tonight and they were delish.
I added black olives ... as you can see in the photo above !

My Menu - Bonnie - 28 September 2011

2011-09-28T15:04:00.003+10:00

Trying some new stuff this week ...

Wednesday
Salmon w/Avocado Salsa

Thursday
Mexican Chicken Lime Soup

Friday
BBQ Birthday Dinner for Alia with the neighbors

Saturday
Family Sushi Birthday Dinner for Alia
I'm going to make this Cinnamon Roll Cake

Sunday
Zucchini Rolls & Eggplant Cannelloni

Monday
Black Bean Chili Soup (out of the freezer)

Tuesday
Greek Egg Omelets

**

What's on YOUR menu this week ?

Gallo Pinto

2011-09-28T09:35:00.007+10:00

This dish is served everywhere in Nicaragua, as a side dish or main dish, often with corn tortillas and boiled or fried plantains. It is part of breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner!

2 cups cooked long-grain rice
1 cup red beans
1/2 cup of finely diced white onion
3 teaspoons vegetable oil
salt
sour cream

Place vegetable oil on a frying pan and heat for approximately 1 minute. Saute onions until caramelized. Add entire pot of cooked beans and its gravy into the sautéed onions. Stir over low-medium heat for a minute. Add cooked rice to sautéed bean mixture, mix well and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve immediately, topped with sour cream if desired.

Variations: Can substitute canned red or black beans, undrained. The recipe I used called for 2T chopped cilantro, added with the salt (but I am not a fan of cilantro, and I don’t remember Liz or Eli using it in Nicaragua). To be authentic don’t skimp on the salt. Other versions of this recipe added chopped red or green pepper and garlic with the onion for more zip.

The name of the dish translates to "speckled rooster," a reference to the look of the dish rather than its contents.

Shepherd's Pie w/Cauli Mash

2011-09-27T08:26:00.004+10:00

I didn't use a recipe for this. I'll try and give you measurements where I can but really, they aren't necessary. Also ... I made a huge pan of this because I had a kilo of mince (ground beef) that needed to be used. We are having leftovers of this for dinner tonight !!

1 kg (2.2lb) beef mince (ground beef)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
onion, diced (I had half an onion in the fridge so just used that. You could use more if you wanted ...)
garlic, 3 cloves, finely diced
frozen green beans
cauliflower (I used two heads)
a blob of butter
2 blobs of cream cheese
grated cheese
salt and pepper

Boil the cauliflower.

Run warm water over a few handfuls of green beans in a colander and leave in the sink to 'thaw'.

While that is boiling, brown the meat with the garlic and the onion. Season, not too heavily. When the meat is done, put it in the bottom of your baking dish. Pour in can of soup and mix together.

Top the meat/soup mixture with the green beans.

Drain softened cauliflower and put back into pot. (I just cooked til a fork went into it easily) Throw in the butter and cream cheese, a pinch of salt and a couple pinches of pepper. Zoop Zoop it. (translation ... use your stick blender to blend it.) You could use a potato masher or food processor or regular blender too ...

Top the beans with the cauliflower mash. Top with grated cheese. I used a combination of tasty (cheddar) and mozzarella.

Bake 30 minutes on 180 (350) or until cheese is browned.

I know this isn't the prettiest picture but I waited til after the movie
(I saw THE HELP last night) to eat and I was too hungry to take a pretty picture !

Kale, Avo & Asparagus Salad

2011-09-26T08:11:00.007+10:00

I have kale growing out my ears in our garden ! I've done the Roasted Kale a number of times and last night tried Khrista's Raw Kale and Avocado Salad for the first time. It is DELICIOUS ! I can't wait to make it again ! In fact, I might be making more for my lunch today ...

I changed it a bit though ... I made this to serve four.

A colander full of kale from my garden, stems removed & shredded
A punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, chopped
Asparagus, 2 bunches
Olive Oil
Juice from 1 small lemon
Sea salt, to taste
Sesame seeds

Put the kale in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice and sprinkled with salt to taste. Now get your hands in there and massage it a bit. This softens the kale (and according to Khris, makes it tastier and easier to digest)

Saute asparagus in a bit of olive oil til cooked to desired tenderness.

While that is cooking, chop your tomatoes and avocado and mix into kale leaves.

Top with sauteed asparagus and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

YUM YUM YUM !

Breakfast Burritos

2011-09-25T14:59:00.004+10:00

My sister Ellie taught me how to make these ...
although, I've added a few little homemade salsa's of my own to the mix ....

There are lots of components ... and no real measurements, it depends on how many you are cooking for ... you'll work it out !

Potatoes: Chop 'em small and shallow fry with garlic powder and salt in a bit of olive oil. Fry til crispy (or done to your liking) These take a while so get them started and then do everything else.

Bacon: Chop and cook til crispy.

Eggs: Scrambled. Do these at the end so that they are hot when you serve !

Tomato Salsa: For this one I diced two tomatoes, 1/4 of a red onion (finely diced), 1 clove of freshly minced garlic, 2 handfuls of fresh coriander, salt, pepper and the juice of one lime. Mix.

Green Chili Salsa: 1/4 of a red onion (finely diced), 3 cloves of garlic (minced), 2 tins of fire roasted green chilies, 1/2 cup chicken stock. Sautee the onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add the chilies and the chicken stock. Stir occasionally so it doesn't burn. Keep it going til the sauce thickens up.

Cheese: Cheddar. Grated.

Flour Tortillas: Warmed

Top the tortillas with whatever combo of ingredients you want ... add Sour Cream too. Fold it up and eat it ! So good !!

I was going to add Avocado this time too but I forgot. I think it would be really good ....

Hot Sauce Popcorn

2011-09-15T07:10:00.002+10:00

My nine year old son and I are addicted to this stuff.

I was craving buffalo boneless wings one afternoon.
I didn't have chicken defrosted, didn't really want to eat that much
but needed a snack and just couldn't get the hot sauce out of my mind !!!!!!

This is the result.
Super easy to make.

Pop some popcorn. However much you want.

Melt some butter, however much you would melt for the amount of popcorn you made.

Add hot sauce to taste. (I add about double the hot sauce to the amount of butter)

I use Franks Red Hot & I have a giant Costco bottle that we brought back with us this last trip !

I warm the hot sauce and butter in the microwave.

(or you could do it on the stove if you don't use a MW)

Pour it on top of the pop corn !

Seriously addictive !

Diet-Friendly Menu Plan

2011-09-04T13:52:00.002+10:00

Menu Plan
(Two weeks in a row...Don't fall out of your chair!)

As often happens in our house, life happened and we didn't get to all of the meals planned for last week. So, a few things have shifted to this weeks menu.

Saturday Dinner

Salsa Fish Packets

Can of Asparagus - chilled

Roasted Carrots

Sunday Breakfast

Yogurt and berries

Sunday Lunch

Green salad - if anyone is hungry for lunch

Sunday Dinner

BBQ in Estes with the family

Monday Breakfast

Scrambled eggs with salsa

(possibly the homemade salsa Toby made)

Apple

Monday Lunch

Chicken-veggie soup

Monday Dinner

Shepherd's Pie (cauliflower version)

Slice cuke, tomato, onion salad

Tuesday Breakfast

Yogurt and berries

Tuesday Lunch

Taco Salad

Tuesday Dinner

Stir-fry

Wednesday Breakfast

Spanish omelet (with eggs, cheese, and salsa)

Orange

Wednesday Lunch

Chicken-veggie soup

Wednesday Dinner

Turkey patties (Costco)

Roasted carrots

Another veggie of some kind

Thursday Breakfast

Yogurt and berries

Thursday Lunch

Green salad with lots of veggies and hard-boiled eggs

Thursday Dinner

Sesame Fish (YUM!)

Broccoli

Sliced tomatoes

Friday Breakfast

Scrambled eggs

a piece of fruit

Friday Lunch

Green salad of some kind (whatever is in the house)

Friday Dinner

Shabbat! - TBD

Granola (Meusli)

2011-09-03T22:35:00.004+10:00

I tried this at Shay and Shawn's place while we were in the States last month.
I loved it, got the recipe and tried my hand at making it tonight. Sooooo yum !!

12 cups oats
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 cups coarsely chopped pecans & almonds
1 tsp salt

2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
2/3 cup oil, I used canola

preheat oven 300F/150C
put baking paper on baking sheet ... I actually used two deep baking pans b/c this makes heaps
mix first four ingredients

stir honey, brown sugar oil in saucepan over medium low heat until smooth. ( i just popped it into the microwave for a few minutes) pour over oat mixture, toss. spread on baking sheet

bake until golden, stirring every 10 minutes ... about 40 mins (mine took much longer ... it was in there over an hour)

stir. cool.

Crock Pot Apple Butter

2011-09-02T01:43:00.002+10:00

For our small family I make 1/3 of this recipe. You could also start with Bonnie's crock pot applesauce, omitting the cinnamon in her recipe.

15 large cooking apples
1/2 cup apple cider or water
3 cups sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground allspice (optional)

Pare, core, and dice or slice apples. Put apples and cider in a large pot or Dutch oven. Cover, cook over medium heat until apples are tender. Mash apples with a potato masher. You should have about 6 cups applesauce.

Put applesauce and sugar in crock pot and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover pot and cook on low 8 hours (or overnight). Stir in spices and turn crock pot to high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is desired thickness. I usually take the lid off to let some of the moisture evaporate, and have even wiped the moisture off the inside of the lid to hasten the process.

This makes about 4 pints. It will keep in the refrigerator about a month. For longer storage, the apple butter can be canned (process 10 minutes in boiling water). It probably would freeze, but might separate. I have always made a smaller amount and used it right away!

Homemade Sugar Free Crock Pot Apple Sauce !

2011-08-31T16:44:00.003+10:00

This was so simple. So easy. And is so delicious.

I gave the kids a taste test and they immediately asked for a whole bowl !!

So ... here's what I did.

Ingredients:
4 Granny Smith Apples
6 Fuji Apples
8 Sundowner Apples
just under 1/2 cup of water
cinnamon

I used a combination of apples. Granny Smith because they cook well and add a nice texture. Fuji because they are my FAVORITE tasting apple. And Sundowner because they were cheap and the sign said they were sweet ... I'll bet you could use as many of any combination that you want and it would be delicious. Although, if you did ALL Granny Smith I think it might be a bit tart without the addition of sugar.

So, peel, core and quarter the apples. Actually ... you should core, peel and quarter them. I did them the other way (peeling first) and the apples were browning by the time I was ready to quarter them.

Throw 'em in the crock pot with the water and a sprinkle of cinnamon (to taste).

I turned mine on high for an hour and then turned it down to low. I checked after four hours on low, got a spoon in there and tried to scoop the bottom ones up to the top, and it was like I had used a potato masher on them. I just stirred them up, gave the kids a taste test and the rest ... well ... the rest is history.

I will make this time and time again. I'm so pleased !

Salsa Fish Packets

2011-08-29T11:40:00.004+10:00

Salsa Fish Packets

Favorite White fish (we've used Tilapia and Swai)
Favoite Salsa
Optional: pickled jalapenos

Place fish on a piece of foil (big enough to fold into a packet - we use a double layer of heavy duty foil).

Top fish with favorite salsa.

Optional: place single line of jalapenos along top of fish.

Fold foil closed into a packet.

Grill packets on high for approximately 10 minutes (or until you open packet and fish is flaky and done).

Enjoy!

Turkey Chili

2011-08-29T11:33:00.005+10:00

1 pound ground turkey

1 red bell pepper
1 onion
Rough chopped garlic (however much you want)
1-2 can(s) of crushed tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
1T chili powder
1t salt
1/2t black pepper
Optional: 1 can of green chilis

Brown ground turkey with onion and garlic. Add all ingredients to the crock pot. Cook on low 8 hours. Serve.

Chicken-Mushroom-Green bean Stir Fry

2011-08-29T11:27:00.005+10:00

Chicken-Mushroom-Green bean Stir Fry

1 whole roasted chicken (minus skin) - pulled off the bone
Enough of the following to feed your family:
Red bell pepper
Mushrooms (we usually use baby bellas)
Fresh French green beans (or you can use frozen...we like the fresh better, but the frozen were yummy too)
Sesame seeds

Garlic Powder
Soy sauce
Peanut oil (the original recipe called for olive oil, so either one or your go to oil would work fine)

Cut veggies to desired size.
Sautee veggies in soy sauce and oil until desired tenderness. (we usually add the juice left from the roasted chicken and additional water or chicken broth if needed) When the veggies are about half cooked (not an exact science) I add in garlic powder to taste. We like garlic around here...so I am rather generous with it.
Mix in chicken. Heat.
Toss in sesame seeds.
Serve.

Mexican Cole Slaw

2011-08-29T11:23:00.002+10:00

Mexican Cole Slaw

1 bag of cole slaw (the kind with carrots)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2T extra-virgin olive oil
1/2t salt

Mix sauce together. Pour over slaw. Toss well. Enjoy!

Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

2011-08-29T11:08:00.003+10:00

NOTE: We are cooking these as I type...will let you know whether they are tasty!

Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

2 eggs (beaten)

1/2 cup red onion (chopped)

4 cloves of garlic (crushed)

2 T parsley

2 T Worchestershire Sauce

1t salt

1/2t ground sage

1/8t ground pepper

6 colorful bell peppers

In a bowl, beat 2 eggs, as you add each additional ingredient, stir well.

Add ground turkey last and mix well.

Cut the tops off 6 colorful bell peppers and set aside.

Stuff ground turkey mixture evenly into peppers (the mixture will be runnier then normal meat loaf because of the lack of bread/cracker crumbs)

Place pepper tops on top of each pepper.

Place peppers standing up in baking dish of choice.

Optional: add 1/4 inch of HOT water to bottom of baking dish.

Bake at 350 until meat is cooked (we're guessing about an hour...)

Serve!

Diet-friendly Menu

2011-08-29T10:35:00.005+10:00

Sunday Dinner

Ground Turkey stuffed Peppers

Grilled Asparagus

Monday Breakfast

Greek Egg Omelets

Orange

Monday Lunch

Stuffed Tomatoes on lettuce

Snack - greek yogurt with berries

Monday Dinner

Salmon patties (from Costco) with tomato and onion slices

Mexican cole slaw

Tuesday Breakfast

Greek yogurt with berries

Tuesday Lunch

Super salad

Tuesday Dinner

Chicken, mushroom, green bean stir fry

Wednesday Breakfast

Cottage cheese with pear

Wednesday Lunch

Green salad with salmon/tuna/chicken (depending on the person)

Wednesday Dinner

Roasted turkey breast (from Costco)

Artichokes

Thursday Breakfast

Greek yogurt with berries

Thursday Lunch

Spinach salad

Thursday Dinner

Turkey chili

Friday Breakfast

2 hard-boiled eggs

1/2 of a grapefruit

Friday Lunch

Salad with grilled chicken breast

Friday Dinner

TBD - Shabbat

Saturday Breakfast

TBD - Shabbat

(hopefully trying out one of the new, healthy

muffin recipes we've found...will try and remember to keep you updated!)

Saturday Lunch

Green salad with tuna/salmon

Saturday Dinner

Salsa fish (swai) packets

Tomato/onion salad with italian dressing

Asparagus (or some other veggie)

Sunday Breakfast

Scrambled eggs with salsa

Apple

Sunday Lunch

Chicken-Vegetable Soup

Sunday Dinner

Shepherd's pie (cauliflower style - experimental recipe...will post if we like it!)

Cauliflower Mash a la Rory

2011-08-23T20:07:00.004+10:00

I don't know how he does it but my husband has this knack for makin' stuff taste goooooood ! I asked him how he does it and he said, "I just stand in front of the spice drawer and look at what's there, grab a couple that look good and go from there ...." I'm sure if I did the same, it would NOT taste great.

Here's his latest creation:

Cauliflower
Greek Yoghurt, 2 spoons
Salt
Pepper
Fresh herbs (rosemary, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme) finely chopped
Minced garlic, one clove
Pinch cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg

Boil the cauliflower til tender. Zoop Zoop it. (that means blend it with a stick blender) Add salt, pepper and fresh herbs to taste. Mix in yoghurt. Add garlic and the stuff measures in pinches ...

And that's it ! So yum !! Seriously ... it's weird but I think this tasted like pumpkin pie. YUM !!

Super Healthy Chicken-Vegetable Soup

2011-08-22T02:45:00.007+10:00

Diets often equal bland, boring food...but the new diet that we've been exploring is MUCH better than normal and it works! (for those interested it's called the 17 day diet...there's a book).

I modified this soup recipe from one found in the diet book.

NOTE: I don't really measure the ingredients...just try and make a BIG pot of soup that's pretty balanced ingredients-wise.

Super Healthy (and YUMMY) Chicken-Vegetable Soup

Lightly salt and pepper 1 package of chicken breasts (we often use chicken breast tenders). Grill until just done (I think I do about 3 to 4 minutes per side). Dice into small chunks.

Large chop the following veggies: (large chopping the veggies make this soup super fast to throw together)
- 1/2 head of cabbage
- 3 to 5 large carrots
- 1/2 bag of frozen, chopped okra (I've discovered that not all frozen okra is alike...the okra from Safeway seemed slimier)
- 1 to 2 large onions
- 4 to 5 celery heart stalks with leaves
- 1 bulb of garlic (or less as desired...I leave them mostly whole...just slightly crush them)

Using approximately 1T of olive oil, I saute the garlic for 1 minute before adding the onions. Then add the carrots and celery and continue to saute for another couple of minutes. Add remaining veggies.

Add the following ingredients:
- 4 to 5 cans of chicken broth
- 2 cans of crushed tomatoes
- bit of white pepper (or pepper of choice)
- coriander, celery salt, and cumin to taste

Cover and bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. Simmer for one hour or until veggies are done to your liking.

Once the veggies are cooked, add the chicken.

We keep this soup in the fridge all week to have for lunches or snacks.

ENJOY!

Chimichanga Lettuce Wraps

2011-08-21T20:27:00.003+10:00

i read somewhere just the other day that anything you can wrap in a tortilla, you can wrap in lettuce. i read this at the right time, since we're not currently eating tortillas ! i decided to give it a try and tonight we had chicken chimichanga meat wrapped in lettuce, and it was DELICIOUS ! a hit with the whole family !

here's what i did ...

mix the following items together in a bowl ...
2 chicken breasts, cooked (we grilled them) and diced
1 jar salsa, I use a medium
1 tsp ground cumin
a bit of fresh oregano, maybe 2 or 3 teaspoons of leaves (or 1 tsp if using dried)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 finely chopped green onions (spring onions)
1 tin of tomatoes

throw that in the microwave for just a couple minutes to heat it all up. it doesn't need to be piping hot, just warm ...

i put that bowl on the table, about 1/2 a head of iceberg lettuce pulled apart, the greek yoghurt (you could use sour cream if you prefer) and some hot salsa for Rory.

done.

wrap 'em up and eat 'em.

oh, and make sure you have plenty of napkins on the table ... these bad boys are MESSY !

My Menu - Bonnie - 20 August 2011

2011-08-20T19:42:00.003+10:00

You probably don't know, unless you've been to my house, that until today, my computer was in the guest bedroom. I've been wanting to move it out into the family room for a long time but it just has never happened. Well, today it happened and I'm sooooo excited about it ! As I type, Rory is finishing up the dinner dishes, the kids are watching the footy and I'm out here in the middle of it all instead of tucked away in the back room ! I love that !! The photo above shows my little corner ! The bookshelf is home to all of my cookbooks which was super handy this afternoon when I planned this menu !! I use the cookbooks AND the internet a lot so having them in the same spot is BRILLIANT !

So ...... we ate WAY too much while we were on our 6 week holiday ! We came back feeling like we needed to not eat all all ! Of course, that's not going to happen so we're doing lean proteins and veg for a few weeks .....

Here's what we've planned for this week.

Saturday
Tonight we had a roast turkey breast,
crispy kale (that we grew in our garden!)
and lemon rosemary carrots.

Sunday
Lunch ~ leftover turkey,
cauliflower "popcorn" (but I'm going to top it with the spices from spicy potatoes)

Dinner ~Chimichanga Lettuce Wraps
(I'm making the chimichanga meat but rather than wrapping
it in tortillas, we're going to wrap it in lettuce. It's an experiment, we'll see )

Monday
Lunch ~ Fuji Chicken Salad

Dinner ~ Chargrilled Salmon with Asparagus in a Lime Vinaigrette

Tuesday
Lunch ~ Grilled Chicken and Salad

Dinner ~ Lemon Thyme Fish
Spanish Garlic Mushrooms

Wednesday
Lunch ~ dinner leftovers

Dinner ~ Spanikopita meatballs (without rice)
Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli
Tsatsiki

Thursday
Lunch ~ dinner leftovers

Dinner ~ Spinach/Quark Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce
(I'm modifying a recipe we've tried before ...substituting the quark for the ricotta
and omitting the flour ...we'll see how it goes ...)

Friday
Lunch ~ dinner leftovers

Dinner ~ Chicken Souvlaki (Khrista's recipe)
but without pitas ... I'm going to make it as a salad.

Asparagus Artichoke Salad *EDITED

2011-08-17T01:00:00.000+10:00

When the weather turns a bit warmer and the stores start displaying green lovely asparagus I HAVE to make this salad.
The recipe is incredibly simple and was inspired whilst shopping at Whole Foods for a dish to contribute to a family Easter dinner.
While perusing the deli case for something pre-made I glimpsed this delicious looking salad!
I scrutinized it and at $5.99/lb. I knew I could re-create it for far less. So I went about the store collecting all the items I thought might be in the dish. It turned out splendidly and was well received at our family gathering.

Without further adieu...
My Favorite Spring Salad
1 bunch fresh asparagus*
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1-15 oz. can artichoke hearts (packed in water)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic chopped or minced
Salt & Pepper

Wash asparagus and trim ends, then cut to desired size.
Place in large bowl.
Wash and halve cherry tomatoes.
Add to asparagus.
Cut artichoke hearts into desired size and add to bowl.
Heat olive oil in pan and warm the garlic until fragrant and soft.
Drizzle over vegetables and gently toss.
Season with salt & pepper.

*When choosing asparagus, select firm, green spears with tight, crisp tips. I prefer thin asparagus as the thicker ones tend to come from older plants and can be tough.

Printable recipe:
Asparagus Artichoke Salad

Chocolate Croissants

2011-08-17T00:41:00.000+10:00

A most simple, yet decedent treat...

-1 can refrigerator croissants
-a few chocolate chips per croissant

Roll chocolate chips into each croissant.
Place on baking sheet.
Bake as directed on package.
Let cool a bit, then bite into a little bit of heaven!
A truly naughty treat!

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Salsa, Rice & Beans (Crockpot)

2011-08-16T13:46:00.000+10:00

4 large bell peppers
2 ½ cups cooked brown rice
15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup tomato salsa
3 scallions, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon sugar

Cut the tops off the bell peppers, save for later use, and remove and discard the seeds and membranes. Arrange the peppers upright in a 5 ½ - 6 quart slow cooker.
(My Crock Pot is only 4 quarts and they turned out fine.)
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the rice, beans, salsa, and scallions and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
Fill the prepared peppers evenly with rice mixture, packing it lightly. Replace the pepper tops. In the same mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, cumin, oregano and sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour over and around the peppers in the slow cooker.
Cover and cook on Low for 4 hours, until peppers are fork-tender but still hold their shape.
Serve hot.

Note: Adapted from a recipe from the book titled: Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

menu plan monday // Khrista 08.15.11

2011-08-16T00:06:00.000+10:00

MONDAY

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Salsa, Rice & Beans

(I said I would post this recipe a while back, I'll try to share this week!)

TUESDAY

“Pasta” with Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes & Garlicky Kale - So delicious!

WEDNESDAY

Salad Bar

We pull out TONS of veg and all make a big salad! Perfect for hot Summer nights!

Here's a list of things we normally have available:

Lettuce

Spinach

Kale

Carrots

Celery

Beets

Mushrooms

Cherry   Tomatoes

Broccoli

Radishes

Sprouts

Snap Peas
Cucumbers
Bok Choy
Onion
Avocado
Red Cabbage
Chickpeas
Butter Beans
Kidney Beans
Sunflower   Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds

We dress it with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Flaxseed oil & vinegar or lemon juice.

THURSDAY

We make a new recipe every Thursday this week we will try Sprouted Kitchen's

Summer Tomato Lentils

FRIDAY

Pizza Night

we'll have either Funky Lime or Taco Pizza (the Taco Pizza is my current fave!)

SATURDAY

Chipotle

(it's a tradition!)

SUNDAY

Toasted Pita Salad

(this is new to us, it will be tested to see if it remains permanent. ;)

Ranch Style Dip (with optional green extra)

2011-08-16T00:00:00.000+10:00

So .... I wanted to make a dip that used greek yoghurt as the base. I found a few online for ideas and then combined them to make this. It was nice. You'll notice that the two photos are pretty different. I forgot to add the spinach until today (when I found it in the microwave where it was defrosting last night !!! ha ha) But ... it was good BOTH ways and next time I might not even worry with the spinach because it was kinda like ranch before the spinach went in !

Anyway, here's what I did ...

500g greek yoghurt
1/2 cup reduced fat feta, crumbled pretty small
500g spinach (optional - especially if you forget it !)
1/4 small red onion, finely diced
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 Tablespoons garlic flakes
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least an hour so that flavors combine ! I served with carrot sticks, cucumber slices, red and yellow capsicum (bell pepper) strips, cauliflower and broccoli florets.

Fuji Chicken Salad

2011-08-15T15:45:00.006+10:00

This salad is incredibly tasty. And so simple. And only 9 ingredients ! (including a homemade salad dressing) I had this salad for lunch today, I wish there was more so I could have it for dinner tonight. Yeah ... THAT's how good it was !

I made individual salads, one for me and one for Rory. Here is the ingredient list for a single salad ... adjust as necessary.

Salad:
1 cup ice-burg lettuce, chopped
1 cup wombok (chinese or napa cabbage), chopped
1 chicken breast, cooked & sliced (we seasoned with salt/pepper then grilled ours on the BBQ)
1 Fuji apple, thinly sliced

Dressing: (this was enough dressing for two salads)
1/4 cup caramelised balsamic vinegar (use a good one !!)
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tsp Italian herbs
salt and pepper

Here come the complicated instructions ...
1. Put the dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake 'em up.
2. Put salad ingredients into a bowl or onto a plate.(or into a tupperware for lunch, like I did !)
3. Top with dressing.

Cauliflower Mash

2011-08-14T20:00:00.002+10:00

1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder

Bring a pot of water to the boil, add cauliflower and cook til tender. Mine took about 12 minutes. Scoop out a coffee mug full of the water you boiled the cauliflower in and then pour the remaining water with the cauliflower into a colander to drain. Puree cauliflower in a food processor, using the reserved water and olive oil to make it smooth. Season to taste.

We served this tonight as a bed for Chargrilled Salmon with Asparagus in a Lime Vinaigrette. (pictured above)

Delicious !!

Honey-Teriyaki Chicken Fingers with sesame seeds

2011-08-11T15:28:00.004+10:00

We do like this meal. Last time we had it we just made the chicken. This time we made the noodles and snap peas with it.

small amount sesame and vegetable oil for frying

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp molasses

1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp liquid smoke seasoning

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips (I used 4)

1/4 cup sesame seeds, lightly toasted

8 oz cellophane noodles, soaked in hot water until tender

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

2 tsp sesame oil

4 cups snap peas, steamed

Whisk together soy sauce, honey, molases, ginger, garlic, liquid smoke seasoning, and black pepper. Add chicken strips and turn to coat. (I marinated mine while I prepped the beans and noodles.) Heat about a tbsp each sesame oil and vegetable oil in a large frying pan (or wok) and add chicken. Cook 5-7 minutes until cooked through, turning once during cooking. Remove chicken from grill pan and roll in toasted sesame seeds.

Remove ends from snap peas and place in frying pan after removing chicken. Place a bit of soy sauce in the pan to deglaze and pick up the flavor from the marinade of the chicken. Cook a few minutes until heated.

Drain cellophane noodles and toss with cilantro and sesame oil. Serve chicken with noodles and snap peas. (We used a different kind of noodle that called for cooking after soaking. So I tossed them in a frying pan with some sesame oil... they ended up being very dry. I don't know how they will taste if you actually follow the directions, but we were thinking next time to make up a little more of the marinade... or something to add a bit of moisture to the dish.

Refridgerator Pickles

2011-07-31T12:06:00.000+10:00

I am excited!!

I am so excited to FINALLY be posting to Bonnie's wonderful blog!! I was a little (well, a lot) unsure of how to post, but not any more!!! That is because Bonnie gave me a lesson that began with photography and ended up here!!! Yippee!! So....without further ado...

These are my favorite refrigerator pickles. I make them every summer when cucumber season is heavily upon us. I love, love them. They keep for a month in the 'fridge and if you eat 'em up you can add a cucumber or two to the leftover brine before throwing it away. A replenishing of sorts. You can make them spicy or not, it is up to you. If you are in the 'not' category, just leave the red pepper flake out.

Refrigerator Pickles
Makes 1 quart and keeps one month in the 'fridge.

1 c. white vinegar
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
7 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dill seed
5 or 6 small cucumbers, taking off strips of the peel, and sliced into 1/8 thick rounds. (the best kind to use are Kirby, or pickling cucumbers, because their skins are not bitter or tough, and they have less seeds. However, I have used other kinds of cucumber with success)
1 white onion, cut into half moons, and thinly sliced.

Place the vinegar, sugar, pepper, salt, cloves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes (if using), and dill seed in a quart jar (or other container of the same size). Put on the lid and give it a good shake until sugar and salt is dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion in layers, pressing with a spoon to compact and press into the brine. Put the lid back on and give it another good shake. Place in the 'fridge for 4 hours to marinate. Yum!

menu plan monday // Khrista 06.27.11

2011-06-28T00:16:00.002+10:00

This week's menu is brought to you almost entirely by the Martha Stewart Everyday Food App for iPhone! I love this app! I have many favorite MS recipes and now they are all in one place! yay! I highly recommend it! I also have another app that has been incredibly useful to me that I love and hope to do a post about soon!

..::MONDAY::..

Spinach Lentil Soup with Hillbilly Bread

..::TUESDAY::..

Penne alla Norma (Martha Stewart Everyday Food App Rocks! :)

..::WEDNESDAY::..

Mexican-Style Lasagna

..::THURSDAY::..

Eggplant Mozzarella Melt

..::FRIDAY::..

Homemade Pizza Night - We may have guests so I might make both Funky Lime (I make this a little differently than Bonnie. I should post my tweaks.) AND Taco Pizza! (My new FAVORITE pizza!)

..::SATURDAY::..

Early 4th of July feast - undetermined as of yet...

..::SUNDAY::..

Eat Out

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

My Menu - Bonnie - 15 June 2011

2011-06-15T14:31:00.007+10:00

i'm nothing if not a serious multi tasker
it's rare that i'm only doing one thing ... i'm not sure if this is
good or bad, but it is the way i am ...

my menu planning this week happened in the bath tub ! with bubbles !
and a top up once the water got cold ...

if you've been following along on facebook you will know that i've
been on a bit of a 'cook out of the freezer/pantry' kick.
here's a few of the meals i made last week ...

anyway ... this week, i decided to plan for the 16 days we have left before our trip using as much as i could out of the fridge and pantry. i started by taking an inventory of all the core ingredients (whose been watching masterchef?!) we had in our freezer/fridge/pantry and trying to plan meals around those so that i will only have to do minimal shopping. i then took that, and my iPhone (with the beans blog mobile friendly page !) to the tub with a pen and paper and planned away ! i'm pretty excited with what i've come up with !!

wed june 15
pizza (had dough in the freezer)
funky lime X2
pepperoni (had pepperoni in the freezer)
tapenade with mushroom (making this one up)

thurs june 16
sloppy lentil pie (using the sloppy lentil leftovers that i froze)
i'll add peas and corn and make a pie with puff pastry
serving with roasted cauliflower and broccoli

fri june 17
lumpia (but i'm going to use been mince because i have it in the freezer)
black bean spaghetti with calamari (i bought the spaghetti ages ago to try ....)

sat june 18
falafel (why do i have so many cans of chickpeas in my pantry !?!)
with salad and tsatsiki

sun june 19
spanikopita meatballs but not serving with rice
serving with spicy potatoes and leftover greens/tsatsitki from saturday

mon june 20
buttered egg noodles with parsley
cajun flavor (?? maybe ?? we'll see how it develops) chicken pieces
with lemony rosemary carrots

tues june 21
chicken rogan josh (leftovers frozen a while back)
with jasmine rice and corn (yeah ... i have a HUGE bag of corn in the freezer!)

wed june 22
chicken chimichangas (using leftovers frozen tortillas)
with guacamole and sour cream

thurs june 23
burrito bowl
basmati, lime, coriander
black beans, olives, tomatoes, cheese
sauteed onions ? salsa and sour cream if any is left from wednesday.

fri june 24
mexican cous cous
will use tinned tomatoes and a can of green chilies if there is no salsa left

sat june 25
nothing planned ... gotta leave some nights open for weekend spontaneity !

sun june 26
crock pot baked potato soup (use frozen avocado on top)
(have you tried frozen avo? - i love having it in the freezer !!)

mon june 27
garlic and coriander chicken
with bok choy and rice

tues june 28
we have an individual serve of ham bone soup in the freezer
also some leftover frozen spinach and pumpkin dahl
going to also try Jill's Channa dal (curried chickpeas)
and i will make naan

wed june 29

thurs june 30

i'm leaving the final two days unplanned because i am sure that these meals will not all get eaten on the exact days as our lives need a bit of flexibility and you know ...stuff happens. so ... we will either eat leftovers or meals that got missed during the weeks due to plan changes. if none of those are an option, we'll do eggs on toast or something like that ...

all of that ... and i only have 30 things on my shopping list ! for over two weeks ! amazing.

and that is all i will plan until i am PLANNING MEALS WITH MY MOM !! and my Dad. and my cousin Pam. and my brother Jimmy. and my cousin Jill when she arrives from Nicaragua. And then with my sister Ellie & Ryan (my bro b/c he married my sis) And Shay and Shawn when we spend some days with them ... and Rory of course ... I am soooooooooooooooo excited !! soooo soooo excited !!

How To Make Buñelos (Nicaraguan Doughtnuts)

2011-06-15T13:06:00.000+10:00

Step 1: Peel the yucca with a large sharp knife

Step 2: Wash the peeled yucca

Step 3: Chop into cubes, rinse again to remove excess starch

Step 4: Add cinnamon and the crazy salty local cheese

Step 5: Steep cinnamon and cloves in honey for the sauce

Step 6: Throw the yucca mixture into a bucket, walk it down to the molina for grinding into a paste

And we're grinding...and we're grinding...

Step 7: Add sugar to the yucca paste

Step 8: Heat oil in a frying pan. While you're waiting for the oil to heat, try to amuse a baby.

Step 9: Add spoonfuls of the dough to the hot oil. Fry until buñelos resemble chicken wings

Step 10: Add honey sauce. Devour as fast as you can without burning your mouth.

Caution, do not get distracted whilst frying, lest your doughnuts end up thusly.

Ta da! This is how we make Buñelos

menu plan monday // Khrista 06.13.11

2011-06-14T12:25:00.000+10:00

Has it really been since APRIL since I posted a weekly menu?! Whoa! I have been planning, just not posting! Here's our plan for this week:

..::MONDAY::..

Baked Ziti with Zucchini, Chickpeas, & Olives

(this is a new one for us and is delicious! I made so much of it the first time I made it that we were able to put away a pan in the freezer. We took it out tonight and it was just as good! Will share soon!)

..::TUESDAY::..

Okra & Tomatoes (our Okra in the garden is ready to harvest!)

..::WEDNESDAY::..

Caponata Linguine (a new recipe for us, using some of the BEAUTIFUL eggplant from our garden!)

..::THURSDAY::..

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes, Fresh Green Beans & Salad

..::FRIDAY::..

Homemade Pizza - Funky Lime

..::SATURDAY::..

Eat Out

..::SUNDAY::..

Father's Day - Eating Out & I'm making DR PEPPER CAKE

Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup

2011-06-06T07:03:00.005+10:00

I saw this recipe over at the flour sack and just HAD TO TRY IT ! I am so glad I did ! This is one delicious soup. I made a few adjustments though. I LOOOOOVE roasted garlic and decided that it would be amazing in this soup ... it was.

Here's how I did mine ...

3 blobs of butter (I didn't really measure, just scooped)
1 leek, sliced (I just slice til I get up to the dirty bits)
1 bunch of spring onions (They needed to be used up but they were a good addition)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 whole garlic heads, chop of the top (you know, the part that holds them all together)
6 cups chicken stock
a bay leaf
salt
pepper
700g (1.5lb) potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
450g (1lb) red potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
1/2 cup cream (although, I didn't measure and may have used a little more)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
a hand full of fresh chives, minced
garlic chips ... (thinly sliced garlic, shallow fried in olive oil til golden brown)

Preheat oven to 200C (400F), wrap your two garlic heads in tin foil and let roast in oven til softened. (I think it took about 30/40 minutes) Prepare rest of ingredients.

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add leaks and spring onions, cook til soft. Stir in garlic and cook another minute or so, til it smells GREAT ! Add broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Partially cover and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and continue to simmer til potatoes are tender. 15 minutes ? 20 ? Pull out the bay leaf. By now, your garlic should be roasted. Squeeze garlic out of the skins into a small bowl. Smush it up with a fork. Put it, along with the cream and thyme into the soup. Check your seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Use your zoop zoop (stick/immersion blender) to process the soup til creamy ... leave a few potato chunks if you like. Sprinkle with garlic chips and fresh chives.

Printable Recipe

Arancini

2011-06-01T07:16:00.005+10:00

Last year at Rory's company Christmas party, I chose arancini for my meal. I chose it because it was a food I had never heard of and I love trying new stuff that sounds yum. I am so glad I did ! I loved it, but I haven't had it since. Well, the other night we made risotto. A delicious mushroom risotto that I will totally make again. It is on page 66 of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals cookbook. I highly recommend trying it. Make the whole meal ! The salad was so yum (you can see the few leftovers in the photo above) and the dessert .... well, there weren't any leftovers of that !!

Anyhoooooo ....

We had some leftovers of the risotto so I decided to try my hand at arancini. It was so stinkin' easy ! Here's how you can do it too ...

leftover risotto, I had enough to make 10 golf ball size arancini
flour
egg, beaten
panko breadcrumbs (or any breadcrumb, I just used panko b/c they crisp up nicely)

Roll the risotto into golf ball size balls. Then coat with flour, egg and panko. (here's a little video if you want to see it done ... I watched this and decided to use the spoon like she did in the egg ... it was a good tip !)

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan to medium-ish heat (adjust heat as needd) and fry arancini until golden. I turned them onto every side ... they were actually a little more square than round by the time I finished ! haha

I served with leftover salad (it was a spinach/pine nut/sun dried tomato/cucumber with a lemon balsamic dressing salad) and I sprinkled grated romano cheese over the salad and the arancini.

Sooooooo goooooood !!

My Menu - Bonnie - 30 May 2011

2011-05-30T00:00:00.001+10:00

I'm quite excited about this weeks menu. For the first time, I've planned all three meals of the day. Granted, the lunches are almost all leftovers from the night before but at least there is a plan ! This is always a good thing !! And breakfast, it's cooling off now and I like winter breakfasts that take a bit more preparation than just get up and throw a bowl of cereal together ...

We're trying mostly new stuff this week which is ALWAYS exciting to me !

**

Saturday
B. Leftover Chocolate Marble Banana Muffins

L. Leftovers ... clean out fridge !!

D. Jamie's Oozy Mushroom Risotto, Spinach Salad & Quick Lemon & Raspberry Cheesecake (from his 30 minute meals cookbook) soooooo good !

Sunday

B. Apple Coffee Cake Streusel (my delicious little experiment)

L. Leftovers

D. Chook Roasted w/Garlic & Verjuice (like we saw on Masterchef)
with Roast Veggies and Garlic Knots

Monday

B. Yummo Apple Oats

L. leftover Chook/Veg

D. Crock Pot Sloppy Lentils w/homemade Whole Wheat Buns

Tuesday

B. Yummo Apple Oats

L. Leftover Sloppy Lentils

D. Dinner at a friends place ...

Wednesday

B. Overnight Oatmeal

L. Leftovers or Sandwiches

D. Pizza ... trying some new ones.
Greek, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese, Garlic Cream w/Artichoke

Thursday

B. Warm Apple Cinnamon Maple Oats

L. Leftover Pizza

D. Garlic Potato Soup w/Florentine Rolls

Friday

B. Unplanned ... (just for something different !)

L. Leftover Soup

D. Steakhouse Mushroom Burgers

**

For more menu plans, head over to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday

Apple Coffee Cake Streusel

2011-05-29T11:18:00.003+10:00

I've long been searching for a recipe to make a cake I remember from my childhood. It was a coffee cake. It was cake on the bottom with buttery, brown sugary, crumble stuff on the top. I've never found what I was looking for. This morning, I came pretty close. The one I remember didn't have apple in it, but this filled the craving I have had for many many years to eat this cake again !!

I took elements from a couple of recipes I've tried recently and came up with this. There are three layers ...

For the Cake Layer:
2 tablespoons canola oil (I think you could probably use whatever oil you like)
1 & 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 160C/325F degrees. Spray a 9-by-12 & 1/2-inch baking pan with oil, lay baking paper on top of that and push it into the corners and up the sides to flatten it. (leave a little excess up the sides to easily remove the cake at the end) Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together egg, milk, canola oil, and vanilla. Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Spread batter evenly into prepared baking pan, and set aside.

For the Apple Layer :
2 apples, peeled, cored & thinly sliced.
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix all ingredients in medium sized bowl. I used my fingers to rub the sugar and spices into the apple sliced. Cover cake batter with apples.

For the Streusel Layer :
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter, softened

In small bowl combine all ingredients and sprinkle on top of apples.

Transfer pan to oven, and bake, rotating pan every 10 minutes. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 30/40 minutes. (this will depend on your oven ... I tested mine every 5 minutes after the first 20)

Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool. I actually pulled the cake out of the pan, using the excess baking paper ... it took two people to do it.

Let cool for a couple of minutes, then serve it up and enjoy ! Rory and the kids (and our friends who live next door) had creme fraiche with theirs but I just ate it as it was ... mmmmmmmm.

Chocolate Marble Banana Muffins

2011-05-27T03:36:00.005+10:00

A friend of mine made these a few weeks ago...then my sister...so Saturday when I had a few bananas that needed to be used up I gave in and finally tried them. Delicious! I found the recipe here.

I only did a couple things differently, which are highlighted in orange.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup buttermilk (I poured 1 Tablespoon white vinegar into a 1 cup measuring cup then filled it up with Vitamin D Milk and let is set for 5 minutes. Ta Da! Buttermilk!)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup chocolate chips, optional

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray 12 count muffin tin.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, mash the bananas, then whisk in the buttermilk, sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, and whisk until just blended.
Remove one cup of the batter, and add it to a medium bowl. Whisk in the cocoa powder, just until blended.
Mix chocolate chips into the regular, white/yellow batter.
Divide the regular, white/yellow batter between muffin cups.
Scoop 1 tablespoon of chocolate batter on top of the batter in each muffin cup.
Using a toothpick, swirl the chocolate batter into the banana batter.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Honey Sesame Chicken

2011-05-24T00:00:00.000+10:00

This recipe looked so yummy to me. I changed it just a little bit ... here's how I did mine :

3 chicken breasts - cut to bite size pieces
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of sherry
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of sugar
2 tbsp flour & 1 tbsp cornstarch,mixed together
salt & pepper to taste

Marinate chicken with soy sauce, sherry, sugar, sesame oil, salt & pepper. Let marinate at least an hour. Just before frying mix the flours into the chicken.

Heat oil for frying. Fry chicken until golden brown, remove from pan to paper towel. Tip all the oil from the pan.

Mix the following ... and pour into the pan you cooked the chicken in.
3 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1- 2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1/4 cup of water
some toasted sesame seed

Let the sauce thicken a bit. Add in the chicken & stir, making sure chicken is coated with the sauce. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on the chicken. Serve with warm rice.

My Menu - Bonnie - 23 May 2011

2011-05-23T07:48:00.004+10:00

A good mix of old favorites and new stuff this week ....

Friday

Chicken Pot Pie

Saturday
The Ajiaco Soup got pushed back from last week. We had it Saturday. Delicious !
I LOVE THIS SOUP !!

Sunday
Had take away fish and chips with Dad who is staying nearby for a couple of nights.

Monday
Burgers
We're going to try the Isabella
and I'm going to make Khrista's homemade Wheat Buns

Tuesday
With all the talk of this on facebook, I've just got to make
Mom's Penne with Triple Tomato Sauce

with Caesar Salad

Wednesday
Pizza

Thursday
Jamie's 30 minute meals ... Oozy Mushroom Risotto, Spinach Salad,
Quick Lemon & Raspberry Chesecake

Can't wait to try this one !

Friday
Maggie Beer's Chook Roasted with Garlic and Verguice
that we saw on Masterchef a couple of weeks ago
with roast veg

***

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Potato Bake

2011-05-18T08:00:00.002+10:00

I'd never had potato bake before coming to Australia. I love it.
But don't make it very often, usually only when other people
come over so we don't eat the whole thing by ourselves !!

Here's what you need :

Potatoes, I have no idea how many, I just cut as I go
Grated Cheese, I use a mixture of Mozzarella and Tasty (Cheddar)
Minced Garlic
Cream
Onion, sliced
French Onion Soup Mix

Ok ... get ready, this is a very technical recipe. With very specific measurements !

Mix the french onion soup and cream with a blop of minced garlic.

Slice your onion and potatoes. Like I said, I just slice the potatoes as I go. (I use a mandolin slicer to get them thin and uniform) And as you can see, I don't bother peeling the potatoes.

Do layers of cream, potato, onion, cheese, cream, potato, onion, cheese, etc .... til you get to the top of your baking dish.

Make your last layer cheese.

Cover and bake in a 180C/360F oven for about an hour. (or until potato is tender) Remove cover and bake another 10 minutes or so to brown the cheese on top.