Potato Soup

My home work was to make something for dinner. I had to help make dinner and write the recipe out. I chose clam chowder. We did not make clam chowder because Mom and I could not find clams. Here is the recipe we used.

6 tbsp (90 g.) butter, divided
300 g. diced bacon
1 cup yellow onions
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk

Cook the bacon in your stockpot. Our bacon didn't have enough fat so we added 2 tbsp of the butter. remove bacon to paper towels. Cook onions on medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, and spices and cook for 10 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, then let it simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. In a small pot, melt the 4 tbsp butter and whisk in the flour. cook over vary low heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in a cup of the hot broth and then pour this mixture back into the big pot. Simmer a few minutes until the broth is thick. Add the milk and half the bacon and cook until the soup is warm again. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Quinoa Black Bean Burritos

I saw this recipe for Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls and just had to try it.
I didn't change much about the recipe .... but here's what I did.

1 cup quinoa
1/2 a small red onion, minced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 cans of black beans
1 big bunch fresh coriander (cilantro)
1/4 tsp chili powder
juice of one lime
iceberg lettuce, to shred

salt

tasty (white cheddar) cheese, grated
greek yoghurt

guacamole or avocado

tomatoes, chopped

flour tortillas

Rinse quinoa and then add to a saucepan with 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer on low.  Cover and let simmer for 15/20 minutes til becomes tender and liquid is all absorbed.  Don't let it burn!

In a frying pan, heat a blub of olive oil over med heat.  Saute onion.  Add garlic.  Saute.  Add black beans and 1/2 cup water and a handful of chopped, fresh coriander.  Add the chili powder to taste.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med low and let simmer til liquid is mostly gone.  Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 your lime.  Season with salt to taste.

When quinoa is cooked, mix in about 1/2 a handful of chopped, fresh coriander and squeeze in the juice of the other 1/2 of your lime.  Season with salt to taste.

We served ours in bowls and had flour tortillas on the side to scoop it up with.  For lunch the next day, I put it into the tortilla and made an actual burrito.  Both ways were delicious.  I would even eat this without the tortilla!  The flavors were great!

Grilled Salmon Salad

The wonderful thing about Salmon is that all four of us love it.

The same with salad.  Salmon and salad together ... for our family ... it's a match made in heaven!

This salad was such a hit!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and used it as our base recipe.
I added some stuff, changed the type of cheese and served it differently though ...

Oh, and I changed the measurements because I wanted it to serve four instead of two.

500g fresh salmon
6 cups fresh spinach and rocket (arugula)
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
thin slices of red onion, as little or as much as you like
fetta cheese, to top salad
croutons, to top salad

dressing:
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar (I didn't measure and may have used a heaped teaspoon!)
3 or 4 small garlic cloves, crushed
pinch of salt and pepper
3/4 cup olive oil

Throw all of the dressing ingredients into a glass jar with a lid ... shake it up.  Add additional salt to taste.

Grill salmon.  Rory did ours on the BBQ with a bit of olive oil and salt/pepper. 

Combine all salad ingredients in large salad bowl.  Top with grilled salmon, chopped into large chunks.  Drizzle with dressing.

Australian Key Lime Pie

Ellie and I tried our hands at Key Lime Pie the other day.
I think I can pretty safely say it was a success.
We based our pies on this Martha Stewart recipe but had to change some 

things as we couldn't get some of the ingredients!

Here's what we did to make TWO PIES. 
(obviously, if you want one pie, you should halve this recipe)

1 package butternut snap biscuits
1/2 package granita biscuits
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 (395g/14oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
8 egg yolks
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3 cups thickened cream
Lime slices and lime zest to garnish

Heat oven to 375F/190C. 

Melt and cool butter.  Combine two types of biscuits in food processor and whiz until they become crumbs.  Mix crumbs, butter and the 6 tablespoons of sugar.  Put half of this mixture into each pie dish and form the base of your pie.  Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Lower oven to 325F/160C.   Using your mixer, gently whisk the egg yolks, lime juice, zest and condensed milk.  Pour half of this mixture into each pie crust.  Bake until centre is set but still quivers when you give the pan a little shake.   This took about 15 minutes ....

Let cool on a wire rack.  We were in a hurry so we cooled it for 1/2 an hour on the wire rack and then put it in the fridge for another hour or so ...

When ready to serve, use the whisk attachment to whip the cream and the caster sugar together on  a medium speed.  Spoon over pie.  Garnish with zest and lime slices.  (You can probably make it prettier than I did on the pie above!!  ha ha.  I was in a hurry to serve and eat it!!)

French Dip Sandwiches

I found this recipe on Pinterest. 
I love French Dip sandwiches and I love crock pot recipes so this seemed like a win win. 
I will make a few modifications next time I make it. (as shown below)
I don't know why but my meat was a little dry and there wasn't a whole lot of juice
and the juice, while flavorful and delicious was a bit strong.
So, I will add water next time and see
if that helps that ...

2kg beef roast, boneless
1 cup beef stock
1 cup water
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 cloves garlic, minced

So, basically, you just pull the fat off of the meat.  Discard the fat and put the meat in the crock pot.  Stir together remaining ingredients and add to crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.

When it's finished cooking, put the roast into a big bowl and shred it with two forks.  Reserve the liquid that you are using for the 'french dip' part of the meal and then put meat back into the crock pot to soak up the remaining juice.

To make the sandwiches, scoop shredded meat into hot dog buns, top with shredded tasty (white cheddar) cheese and toast under the griller (broiler) til cheese is melted.

I served these delicious sandwiches with the dipping sauce, raw carrots with ranch, and steamed broccoli.  A yummy and easy dinner. 

We had them for lunch the next day as well and my 11 year old took it to school - toasted and with ketchup since we had used all the 'french dip' the night before ... He said that way was delicious as well.