Homegrown Pomegranate

 

i realize I've been m.i.a for a week or a bit more ... we went on a little long weekend getaway ... just me and my husband !  it was the most amazing time and lots of what we did revolved around eating amazing food.  i will share some of that with you.  i'm just trying to get through this week first !  

but just so you know i'm not ignoring you, here's a little something that i picked out of our garden yesterday.  it was yummy yummy yummy !  if only it wasn't the only one on the plant ! i tried to look on instagram to see how long it took this one to grow and all i could see was that the first photo i posted of the little fruit was 18 weeks ago .... so, i guess it's going to take a while to grow another one, especially since there aren't even any flowers on the plant at the moment.  i guess it took everything it had for my little plant to grow this big piece of fruit ! 

see you soon.  i'm hoping to have time on the weekend to sit and blog.  we shall see ...

What We Ate ~ Week 30 ~ 2012

Don't know what happened that I didn't take a photo of Sunday nights meatball dinner ?!

It was a new recipe and pretty yummy ! I'll have to cook it again and get a photo ...
You can find the recipe on my "Pin's I've Tried" Pinterest pin board though.

Southwest Chicken Soup

So yum.

Korean Beef (recipe on my "Pins I've Tried" Pinterest pin board)

Crispy Kale,  Sauteed Mushrooms, and Steamed Broccoli

This recipe came out of a Donna Hay magazine.  Roast Chicken with a Almond and Kale Pesto on top.  The sides were made up.  I did the carrots in the oven, with garlic and onion slivers and a bit of the chicken drippings drizzled on top to bake.  Then I did a bit of a 'hash' of asparagus, mushrooms, roasted red bell pepper ... can't remember exactly what I did ... just sauteed, I think.  And Corn on the Cob.

Buffalo Boneless Chicken with carrot sticks and ranch.

By request from my boy ... Bacon and Egg Muffins.

Homemade Sushi !

Cool Way to Cook Eggs for Bacon and Egg Muffins

I saw this cool cool way to cook eggs on Pinterest, which took me to this blog.  I have been wanting to try it and tonight was the night !  We wanted to make bacon and egg muffins and these eggs were PERFECT for them !  And so easy ...

All you do is spray some oil into the bottom of a muffin tin tray ... crack in the eggs ... pop the tray into a oven that has been preheated to 350F/180C.  I forgot to set my timer so I'm not sure, but I think it was between 10-15 minutes ... I just watched them.

I did extras since these are supposed to freeze and reheat well.  Six eggs are in my freezer and will soon test that theory ! (updated to let you know that they freeze and reheat just fine ...)

For the bacon and egg muffins ... we just do, a slice of cheese, a couple slices of bacon, and an egg between two halves of an english muffin.  Rory added jalapenos to his too ...

Southwest Chicken Soup

A friend gave me a recipe for Southwestern Turkey Soup ... she had discovered it in one of her Cooking Light cookbooks and LOVED it.  I love a good soup so decided to try it.  I followed her modifications, like substituting chicken for the turkey (turkey costs a FORTUNE in Australia) and made a few modifications of my own.  Here's what I did.

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced red capsicum (bell pepper)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

500g chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons no added salt tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 cups low sodium chicken stock

2 bay leaves

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can green chillies

To Serve:

fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

spring onion, chopped

avocado

lime wedges

corn chips

Heat oil in a large heavy bottom pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, capsicum, and garlic.  Saute a few minutes or until tender.  

Coat chicken with flour.  Add chicken to pan and cook until browned on all sides. 

Add tomato paste & spices.  Stir. 

Add chicken stock.  I added a little and loosened all the yummy crusty bits that had browned on the bottom of the pan, then added the rest.  Add bay leaves, tomatoes, beans, corn and green chillies.  Bring to the boil. 

Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes.  Remove bay leaves and serve.  Squeeze lime over individual bowls and then top with fresh coriander, spring onion, avocado & corn chips.

This is delicious. Try it !

***

Just for our records ... One serve is 1 and 1/3 cup soup, 1/4 cup corn chips, 2 tablespoons avocado and 1 lime wedge .... 287 calories.

***

Agnolotti with Sundried Tomato Tapenade

 

This is a fast throw together dinner that is super yummy !

I use the family pack that serves four of the Ricotta and Spinach Agnolotti.  Cook per package instructions.

As well, you'll need:

Cottage Cheese, 250g

Sundried Tomatoes, 150g

Black Olives, to taste (maybe a tablespoon ?)

Capers, also to taste (maybe a teaspoon or two ?)

Baby Spinach, 60g

Parmesan Cheese, to be grated on top

I used to be able to get a sundried tomato tapenade that made this even simpler, but I haven't been able to get that lately, so I make my own.  Doesn't take long.

I use a stick blender to blend the sundried tomatoes, olives and capers.  Just keep tasting it til it tastes yummy.  

Mix the tapenade and the cottage cheese.

Drain the pasta, put back in the pan and stir in the cottage cheese/tapenade mixture.  Throw in the spinach ... it will wilt.  Serve and top with Parmesan cheese. 

So easy. 

So yummy.

What We Ate ~ Week 29 ~ 2012

I didn't plan a menu this last week. 

I was able to cook out of the pantry for the most part ...

We had hot dogs on Sunday night. 

I thought I took a photo but I can't find it on my phone so maybe not ...

Chimichangas

Onigiri

Homemade Sushi

Make your own.

We all made whatever we wanted with whatever we could find.

I made pearl cous cous and a bit of sushi that was leftover from the night before.

Agnolotti ... will post this recipe this week.

Carbonara

Semi-homemade donuts

When I was little, my mom used to make us homemade donuts. She would pop open a can of biscuits, use her perfect donut hole cutter, fry up the donuts and the donut holes, roll them in powdered sugar, and voila! homemade donuts. One of my favorite breakfasts. However, I have never made them. I don't have the perfect donut hole cutter, and I would be sad because the donut holes were my favorite part of homemade donuts.
So, years and years later, I'm on a walk with a friend of mine who tells me that her husband cuts biscuits in quarters and fries them up and rolls them in sugar. (Cue the clouds parting and angels singing here.) What a revelation. Not only do I not need the perfect donut hole cutter, but I don't even have to make traditionally shaped donuts. Get ready for it: They can ALL be donut holes!
So here you go, my super technical, exceptionally difficult donut recipe! Trust me, you're going to love it.
Pop open the can of biscuits and cut each biscuit into as many pieces as you like. For "donut holes" cut them into fourths, but be ready to get tired of flipping each piece pretty quick. These are cut into halves. (Also delicious.) Fry them until brownish on bottom (don't worry you can see it browning up the sides too...) then flip them and fry until brownish on the other bottom.

Remove from oil and drain for a few seconds on paper towels. If you happen to be drinking cold coffee made by a friend as I was, then all the better for your cooking experience. Then, toss them into a bowl of powdered sugar or regular sugar. Or half in powdered and half in regular sugar and then there's a choice and suddenly breakfast is fancier.

 Artfully arrange on a plate. (by that I mean stack as many as you can...) And serve.

Or... pause for a moment to take a pensive photo with the fish.

Seriously, you're going to love these things. You should probably try them today. Or tomorrow. The next day at the latest, but that's only because you may need to go to the store to get biscuits.

Calzones

Calzones are so easy to make.  You can put whatever you want in them.

All you need is pizza dough, some sort of 'sauce', fillings and cheese.

I like to use Winter Veg Sauce in mine.  Then I add whatever veggies I have in the fridge.  Pumpkin, zucchini, lots of mushrooms, kalamata olives, asparagus, pine nuts, capers, bacon, onion and garlic (sautee those last three together).  Topped with provolone and mozarella cheese.

But like I said ... you can put WHATEVER YOU WANT in it.  

Fill it up quite full and then fold it over like in the photo below ...

Bake in a 200C oven for 10-20 minutes depending on your oven.  Watch it the first time ....