What We Ate - Week 28 - 2012

Going through my photos this morning, I realize I didn't do a very good job of taking them this past week ! I know Monday and Tuesday I forgot because we had people over for dinner and I often forget then ! And Thursday night we ate late ... I must have just been too tired and hungry to remember the photo !

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Monday we had Thai Chicken Soup with friends. And Tuesday was a potluck. I made dessert.

Toasted Sandwiches and SJG potato salad

Thursday we had Asian Chicken Salad.

We ordered Indian.

Pasta ... the sauce on top is the one our friend 

Craig taught us to make to go with Jaylen's gnocchi. 

YUM !

What We Ate - Week 27 - 2012

 

Jamie's Oliver's Guinness Lamb Shanks

on a bed of mash, with corn and peas beside

Rory ranked this meal top 5 of anything I've ever cooked.

 

Jamie Oliver's Asian Chicken Noodle Broth from his Ministry of Food cookbook

We all loved this ....

 

Spiral pasta with spaghetti bolognaise sauce I had previously cooked and frozen.

 

Rory made us omelettes.  Yum.

 

If there's ever a night I'm going to break down and get take away, it's Thursday.  It's our craziest day.  

This week ... the boys were out late and their dinner was provided.  Alia and I grabbed subway.

 

Calzones.

Going to post this recipe this week.

 

Jamie Oliver's Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup

Apple Scone Cake

Apple Scone Cake

from joyofbaking.com

2 c flour

½ c sugar

1 t baking powder

¼ t salt

½ c (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

2 large eggs

½ c milk, divided

1 t vanilla extract

¾ pound (about 3 medium) Granny Smith or other cooking apples

2 T sugar plus a bit more

¼ t cinnamon

Peel and core apples and cut into ¾ to 1 inch cubes.  In small bowl toss apple pieces with 2 T sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In another small bowl whisk together 1 egg and 1 T milk from the ½ cup.   Set this aside to use as glaze for top of cake.

In large bowl combine flour, ½ c sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut the butter pieces into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 knives until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Whisk together remaining egg, milk, and vanilla, and add to the flour mixture.  Stir just until the dough comes together.  Do not overmix.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 4 or 5 times.  Divide dough in half.  Butter (or spray with Pam) a 9 inch glass pie plate.  Pat one half of the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.  (I found this easier when I floured my hands.) Spread the prepared apple pieces evenly over the dough on the bottom of the pie plate.

On the floured surface, roll the remaining dough into a 9 inch circle.  Gently transfer to pie plate to cover apple layer.  With your fingers, seal the edges of the two layers of dough.  Brush the top with the egg and milk glaze and sprinkle with sugar.  Cut a few slits in the top of the dough to let steam escape.

Bake in preheated 350˚ oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Best served warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Watermelon Pickles

Watermelon Pickles

From Eloise Morrison Templin via Liz Templin Alley

Rind from one watermelon

Brine: 1 cup salt

           4 quarts water

Per pound of rind:

            1 cup vinegar

            1 cup water

            2 cups sugar

            3 sticks cinnamon

            8 whole cloves

Note: I used the rind from a medium-small watermelon, which came to about 3 ½ pounds when all trimmed and weighed.  This made 4 pints of pickles.

Save rind from sliced watermelon after enjoying the fruit.  (We ate the melon over a couple of days, and kept the rind in the fridge for a day until I started making the pickles.)  Remove thin dark green outer portion of rind, and leave some of the red for color.  Cut into desired sized pieces—I like mine about 1 inch wide and 1 ½ inches long.  Weigh pieces and note total.  Prepare brine, and soak pieces overnight in the brine.

The next day cook rind pieces in that same brine for about 45 minutes.  Drain and rinse in running cold water.

Make syrup of vinegar, water, sugar, and spices using amounts above for poundage of fruit. Boil syrup for a few minutes.  Add the rinsed rind and simmer until the fruit is semi-transparent (45 to 60 minutes).  Place pickles in glass jars (discarding spices), cover with hot syrup, and seal. (I omitted the “sealing” part, put one jar in the fridge for now and froze the rest.)

What We Ate ~ Week 26 ~ 2012

Homemade sushi.  YUM.

 Salmon

Nutty Cous Cous

Spinach Tofu Avocado Salad

Rory made stir fry.  I have no idea how.  It was delicious.

Quinoa Patties

Guac Salad

We didn't actually have this sandwich for dinner.  We were supposed to but the night was busy and it all got too hard.  I ended up eating a quesadilla with the kids.  But, I made these on the weekend and since I didn't get a picture of the quesadillas, I decided to use this one instead ...

Pizza with friends.  This isn't pizza.  It's a loaf of bread stuffed with funky lime/thai chicken soup garlic, portobello mushrooms, pesto white sauce, Parmesan and provolone cheese.

Tagine.  One chicken, one lamb. 

Silverbeet, Pink Lady & Gruyere Toasted Sandwich

 

I'm always looking for new sandwich ideas.  Especially toasted ones !

I pinned this recipe a while back and just finally got around to trying it.
I'm glad I did.  Rory is too.  The kids ate it but they weren't excited about it.

You can find the original recipe here ... I made a few subtle changes.

Silverbeet, a whole big bunch
Shallots, finely diced
Pink Lady apple, thinly sliced
Wholegrain mustard
Gruyere cheese, grated
Wholewheat, grain bread

I used a whole big bunch of silverbeet.  This will seem like heaps !  It's ok.  It wilts so much !

Heat up your sandwich press.

Cut out the stems of the silverbeet and chop it up.  Sautee shallots and silverbeet in a bit of olive oil.

To assemble the sandwich ... Bread, mustard, cheese, apple,  silverbeet, cheese, mustard and bread.  Drizzle one side of bread with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt.  Put that side down in the sandwich press.  Drizzle the top piece of bread with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and then close the sandwich press. 

Cook until desired toasty-ness of bread and melty-ness of cheese has been achieved.

Rory and I thought this would be even better with big sliced of mushroom on it !  Will try that next time.

Spinach, Tofu, Avocado Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing

 

This is a little Bonnie invention.

 There are no real measurements for the salad part, just add ingredients as they look good.

Baby Spinach Leaves, finely sliced

Cucumber, finely diced

Cilantro (Fresh Coriander Leaves), finely chopped

Snow Pea Sprouts, finely chopped

Toasted cashews, roughly chopped

Spring Onions, finely diced

Avocado, chopped small

Silken tofu, small pieces

Dressing:

2 tablespoons mirin

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon honey

Make the dressing by mixing all ingredients.  I do it in a small mason jar so that I can heat the mixture a bit in the microwave to help the honey mix in.  Also, it's then easy to pop the lid on to save the leftovers.

Make the salad by combining all ingredients as indicated above.  Originally I was going to chop the tofu but when I tipped it out of it's box, it basically crumbled so I just scooped up pieces of the crumble and added it to the salad.

I made a variation for lunch a few days later.  It was yummy.  I didn't have any tofu and I forgot the cashews.  I added finely diced fuji apple and toasted sesame seeds.  Everything else was the same.

Brown Sugar, Lemon and Orange Salmon

This was delicious !

We love salmon around here and I'm always looking for new ways to cook it.

This was simple.  And tasty.  We'll have this one again for sure.

I based my cooking on this recipe but I added a bit, changed quantities, and didn't use it as a 

marinade but rather just reduced it down to be a nice thick sauce to pour on top !

2 salmon fillets (we ate 1/2 each)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 a fresh lemon - it was quite a big lemon

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 spring onion, chopped small

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

fresh ginger, minced (to taste)

juice of one orange

a few drops of sesame oil

Place all ingredients, besides the salmon, into a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until your desired thickness is met.  This took maybe 5-10 minutes for mine.  Stir and taste while cooking.  You may need to add more lemon, do this to taste ...

Cook salmon as you prefer.  Usually we BBQ but last night we cooked them in a bit of olive oil, with salt and pepper, in the cast iron fry pan.  

I topped each piece of salmon with a slice of fresh avocado, the sauce and a sprinkle of spring onions.

So yummy.

What We Ate ~ Week 25 ~ 2012

So, we are more than halfway through the year, and I've done one of these posts every week ... well, minus two weeks when my sister was here visiting. 

I was thinking about not doing them anymore.  Just yesterday, I was weighing it up.  And then this morning I get a facebook message from a friend I haven't seen in years.  Just out of the blue. She told me she has been following the blog and mentioned that she enjoyed seeing these posts of what we eat each week. 

I decided then that I'll keep them going.  At least for til the end of the year ... and then, we shall see ...

Here's what we ate this week .......

 

Broccoli Pesto Pasta

This recipe is not on the blog.

I want to modify it a bit, 

try it again and then

maybe I'll 

share !

 

Greek Lamb with Spinach and Orzo

 

Chicken Pot Pie

 

Nachos

 

Souvlaki Chicken ... cooked by Rory's Mum !

Burgers ... Our standard

 

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Green salad with cos lettuce, rocket and tomatoes from our garden !!

Tostones

Tostones! So easy, so yummy!

You Will Need:

1 green plantain (not ripe)

Oil for frying

Paper Towels

 

Cut off ends and carefully remove peel with the knife

Cut into 8 equal pieces, about 1 inch thick

Fry in hot oil, turning once, until golden but not browned

Remove from oil, flatten into 1/4" rounds using the paper towels to protect your hands

Return to oil and fry until golden brown and crispy

What We Ate ~ Week 24 ~ 2012

Breakfast burritos

Sausage Rolls and Salad

Maccas

 

Tuna Mac

 

Beefy's

 

Lasagna and Garlic Bread

 

The Lumberjack Cheeseburger

Frozen Yogurt

Frozen Yogurt (or Ice Cream) Without a Machine

taken from davidlebovitz.com

Making frozen yogurt by hand takes a bit of time, but is worth the time and effort, doesn’t require rock salt or lots of ice.  When you freezing something from liquid to solid, you’re creating hard ice crystals, so you want to break those up so your final results are smooth and creamy. It is best to use Greek-style or drained yogurt. (Or for ice cream, choose a recipe that is custard-based.)

1. Prepare your yogurt (see below) or ice cream mixture, then chill it over an ice bath.

2. Put a deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer, and pour your mixture into it.

3. After forty-five minutes, open the freezer and check it.  As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer or stick-blender for best results. Return to freezer.

4. Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing.

5. Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the yogurt or ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 2-3 hours to be ready. This is best eaten soon after it’s made—which shouldn’t be a problem.

Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

(I doubled this recipe)

¾ c sugar

2 t cornstarch

12 oz can fat-free evaporated milk

½ c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c yogurt (Greek or drained, plain or vanilla)

1 t vanilla

Stir together cornstarch and sugar in a saucepan.  Stir in evaporated milk and chocolate chips.  Cook over medium heat until chocolate is melted and mixture has thickened slightly.  Stir constantly to prevent burning. Remove from heat and add yogurt and vanilla. 

To make Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt
Do not add chocolate chips to mixture before heating.  Instead melt about 5 ounces pure dark or milk chocolate and drizzle over the almost-frozen mixture. Stir, breaking up the ribbons of chocolate as they start to freeze, to create little ‘chips’.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt


1 pound strawberries, rinsed and hulled
2/3 c sugar
optional: 2 teaspoons vodka or kirsch
1 c plain Greek yogurt
1 t fresh lemon juice
Slice the strawberries into small pieces. Toss in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch (if using) until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, stirring every so often.
Transfer the strawberries and their juice to a blender or food processor. Add the yogurt and fresh lemon juice. Pulse the machine until the mixture is smooth. If you wish, press mixture through a mesh strainer to remove any seeds.