Bacon topped Roasted Pumpkin and Cauliflower Soup

This soup was so easy and delicious I have to write down how I made it so that I can make it again next winter! It all started because I didn't cook a meal I had planned which left me with half of a pumpkin and a head of cauliflower that really needed to be used.  I didn't really have a piece of meat or any potatoes to go with them so a roast was not on the table.  I didn't want to go to the shops ... you know, it was one of those days!  We all have them, right?! So, I scrounged around and this is what I came up with.

1/2 of a Kent pumpkin

1 head of cauliflower 

1 head of garlic

A couple of onions

I chopped the pumpkin and cauliflower, peeled and quartered the onions, and just peeled the garlic.  I put all of that in a large baking dish (lined with baking paper of course) and coasted with olive oil.  I roasted them in the oven on like 180C (350F) until the pumpkin was soft and the cauliflower was starting to brown. 

I put all of that into my blender, added a bit of chicken stock and blended it to a thick soup consistency. 

We love toppings on our soups too so while the veggies were roasting, I chopped up the following.

1 small onion

A couple cloves of garlic

A few rashers of bacon

I fried them all together ... starting with the bacon because it takes a bit longer ... then adding the garlic and onion and cooking til garlic is not longer bitter and onions are soft.

I served the soup in a bowl, sprinkled with the topping. 

I had intended to grab a few chives out of the garden as well to sprinkle on the top, but I forgot!  Oh well ... next time!

Cauliflower "Rice"

 

This is not so much a recipe as a couple of simple steps ... I saw this recipe and had to try it! 
It was so simple and so tasty.  I will do it often. 

Here's what you do ...

Break off cauliflower florets & put in food processor.  

"Whizz" until the cauliflower looks like rice. 

When you are ready to serve it, put it

in the microwave for about five

minutes.  Season it how

you would normally

season your rice.

We added 

soy 

sauce tonight

and just ate it as a side.

Curry is planned for Wednesday 

night and we will be using the leftovers from

tonight!  I think it will be a delicious under curry too!!

Roasted Garlic, Cauliflower and Mushroom Quinoa

I made this the other day to take for lunches.  I didn't take a photo until I was halfway through eating it ... sorry!

I had found this recipe on pinterest.  But ... I was tasting as I went along and I decided that it didn't need the balsalmic dressing and goats cheese ... it was nice just like it was.  And even better the next day after the flavours had developed over night!

Here's what I did:

1 head of cauliflower, broken into small florets

a few cloves of garlic, cut into slivers

mushrooms, button and oyster, quartered

1 cup quinoa

1.5 cups water

1 chicken stock cube 

thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F/200C

Toss the cauliflower, garlic and mushrooms in olive oil.  Add salt and pepper and thyme.  Mix.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until starting to brown.  Don't let them burn!  Stir half way through ...

While the veggies are cooking, make the quinoa.  Place quinoa in a small pot with the water and the chicken stock cube (break it up and stir it in) (or just use ready made chicken stock/broth) Bring to the boil.  Reduce heat, cover and let simmer ... about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.  Fluff up quinoa with a fork and let sit til veg is ready.

When veg is ready, mix into quinoa.  

Easy.

And like I said, delicious the next day too!

Asian Dinner

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.

Shepherd's Pie w/Cauli Mash

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 !

Cauliflower Mash a la Rory

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 !!

Cauliflower Mash

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 !!

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

I've posted this recipe before but only using the cauliflower.
While I was in the States, we decided to try it using broccoli as well.
It was nice, although Rory didn't really like the broccoli.

Anyway ... this is super easy and tastes soooo good.
I didn't even measure.
Just pick apart a cauliflower and broccoli - into florets.
Slice up a bunch of garlic to whatever size you like it.
Put the veggies and garlic in a baggie with some olive oil.
Shake.
(I don't actually use the baggie ... I just put them in the baking dish and sprinkle the oil on top.)
But whatever floats your boat.
Bake in hot oven (220C) about 25 minutes.
Stir half way though.
Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
Put under broiler 'til cheese browns. (about 3 minutes)
That's it.
Delicious, I'm telling you !
You've gotta try it !!

PS ... Sometimes I don't use the Parmesan cheese ... it's delicious that way too.

Trin's Chicken Casserole

Ever wonder what to do with those leftover bits of roast chicken ? Ok ... so we don't normally have as much as you see on this chicken ... usually it's really just scraps. But for the sake of the chicken photo ... I'm keeping this one !!

Years ago, my friend Katrina gave me this recipe passed on to her by her mother in law (if I remember the story correctly.) It's simple and yummy. I've modified mine a bit ... because, well, because that's what I do !!
~
Preheat oven. 180C/375F

What do you need ? Chicken that you've picked off of the bones. A bit of bacon. A potato. 1/2 an onion. Some flour. A package of chicken noodle soup mix.

Cook the bacon in a frying pan til desired state of crunchy or non crunchy-ness. Add onion. Sautee til desired tenderness. Add chicken and sprinkle with flour.

Cook a couple minutes ... just to get it all mixed in with the flour. I think the flour acts as a thickener when you cook it in the oven.

Throw all of that from the frying pan into a casserole dish. Add uncooked, diced potatoes.

Sprinkle with chicken noodle soup mix.

Cover with water.

Cook in oven ... 30 minutes ? 45 minutes ?
If you cook it longer, it becomes less soupy.
Sometimes we want soupy.
Sometimes we want not so soupy.
We play it by ear.
Serve with lovely fresh crusty bread.
Or don't.

This week I served it with roasted cauliflower.

A Bonnie Original

Tonight, Rory is out ... hence all the posting !!
I hate cooking dinner twice when he is out so tonight I decided
to make something that I could feed the kids earlier
and Rory and I could eat once he gets home.
~
I also decided I needed to do a "throw together" meal since I didn't
want to go buy anything and the meal I had planned for
tonight will be better saved for another night. It's a BBQ cooked one
and it's raining and besides that, I don't even know how to
turn the BBQ on, let alone cook on it !!
~
Here's what I dug out of the pantry and fridge to work with.
~

I had a little bit with the kids ... hey, it's a long time 'til he gets home !

Here's how I made it.
Use your own measurments.
While the pasta is boiling:
Saute garlic, onion and red onion.
Add mushrooms.
Add diced tomatoes and tomato puree.
Add basil, oregano and parsley.
Add red wine.
Add brown sugar. (just a bit)
Add kalamata olives.
Bring to the boil.
Reduce heat.
Simmer.
~
I mixed the pasta in with the sauce.
~
I've got asparagus, garlic and cauliflower cut up and tossed with
a bit of oil in a tupperware. When Rory get's home I'll
roast them like this to go with the pasta.
Easy. Yummy.
~
Mission accomplished.
~

Fish and Flower

I used Barramundi. Any white fleshed fish will do.
Put the fish on a piece of tin foil.
Top with some thinly sliced onion and slices of lemon.
Add a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil to the top.
Wrap up the fish in the tin foil.
Bake in a hot oven (220C) for 15/20 (??) minutes.

I served the fish with a yummy green salad. You guessed it .. a variation of my
favorite asparagus salad !!

AND

This new cauliflower dish that my Mom and cousins make in Denver.
It's super easy and tastes soooo good.
I didn't even measure.
Just pick apart a cauliflower - into florets.
Slice up a bunch of garlic to whatever size you like it.
Put those two things in a baggie with some olive oil.
Shake.
Bake in hot oven (220C) about 25 minutes.
Stir half way though.
Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
Put under broiler 'til cheese browns. (about 3 minutes)
That's it.
Delicious, I'm telling you !
You've gotta try it !!