BLT Pizza

I LOVE trying new pizza recipes.  When I found this recipe, I knew it was one we needed to try.  I did exactly what she said to do, except I added red onions and I didn't measure at all.  That's one of the best things about making pizza ... you can just throw whatever you want on top.  No measurements needed.

Ingredients:
Dough - use your favorite recipe or store bought.  (There are a few recipes on the beans blog that you could try.  I'll be posting my go to recipe soon ...)
Alfredo sauce, I used store bought but you could totally make it if you wanted to
Tomatoes, sliced
Red onion, thinkly sliced
Bacon, cooked
Rocket (arugula if you are in America)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Method:

It's not complicated.

Roll out your dough and spread alfredo sauce on it.  Top with tomatoes, red onion, bacon and mozzarella cheese. 

We cook our pizzas in a outdoor pizza oven but you can do it in the oven on 200C/390F for about 10/20 minutes.  You just want the dough to be cooked through and the cheese to be melted and golden.

Top cooked pizza with arugula.

Delish.

Chicken, Mango, Avo Salad with Lime

 

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided it was the winner for dinner one night last week.  However, we had an experience just a couple nights before with an orange juice dressing that overpowered the salad so I decided to not do the dressing.  And I added chicken ... If you want the orange dressing (that looks amazing) then go check out the original recipe.  If you want to try it my way, here's what I did.

1 bag of rocket (arugula) 
fresh coriander, a handful (?) or to taste ...
1 ripe mango
1 ripe avocado
1/2 a red onion
1 lime
1 red chilli
1 chicken breast
white wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper

This was super easy.  Have your husband grill the chicken with a bit of salt and pepper, while you prepare the salad.  :) If that isn't an option, then just grill it yourself or throw it in the frying pan with a bit of olive oil and some white wine towards the end.

Thinly slice red onion and red chilli (I removed the seeds and membrane) Put in a small bowl, squeeze the lime into the bowl, add a pinch of salt.  Stir it up and set it aside.  

In a large salad bowl, add rocket (a few big handfuls, depending on how many you are serving) and fresh coriander that you have washed and roughly chopped.  Chop avocado and mango.  Add to rocket.  Pour red onion mixture on top and toss salad gently. 

Chop and add chicken. 

Drizzle lightly with a good olive oil and a nice white wine vinegar, sprinkle gently with a nice rock salt and cracked pepper.

Jono's Roasted Pepper and Chicken Pasta Salad

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 !!!

Pumpkin Salad w/ Lentils and Brazillian Beef

I found these recipes in a magazine.
Of course, I changed them just a bit to suite our tastes ...

For the salad:
1 kg chopped pumpkin
3 small onions, peeled and chopped in 1/2
ground cumin
400g can lentils
dried cranberries
pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted
fresh lemon thyme leaves
baby rocket (arugula) leaves
lemon

Coat pumpkin and onions with olive oil then sprinkle with ground cumin. Bake on 200C for about 30 minutes ... In a bowl, make your salad. Throw together a few handfuls of rocket leaves, a few sprigs of lemon thyme leaves, a handful of dried cranberries, and the same of the toasted pepitas. Grind in the rind of a lemon and then squeeze it's juice on top. Rinse and drain the lentils, add them. When the pumpkin and onions are cooked, add them too.

Super simple and I LOVED THE TASTE of this salad !!

For the Meat:
1 kg beef rump steak chunks
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup orange juice (I used the pulpy kind)

Mix everything but the steak in a big glass bowl. Then add steak. Let marinate for a few hours. I only had about an hour last night and it was delicious even after that amount of time. You can thread these onto skewers and BBQ them but last night I just did them in a hot non stick fry pan. I pretty much just cooked one side, flipped it and cooked the other side.

Delicious. Even Alia and I, who don't generally go for steak, loved this.

Serve with lemon wedges ... but I squeezed them onto my salad rather than onto the meat ...

Pumpkin Lentil Salad - UnP Version

So ... I've posted this recipe before ... but last night I made it with a couple small modifications to suit our Unprocessed Year requirements ... It was just as good. If not better ...

1 kg pumpkin ... I like kent or butternut but any that is good for roasting would be fine.

1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice - I used my citrus juicer & small oranges ... took 30 seconds !
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp honey
2 tsp Moroccan seasoning
1/2 a red onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can lentils
spinach and rocket mixture
feta

So .... spray your pumpkin with olive oil and roast in bite size pieces in a 200C oven - 20 minutes or so.

Make dressing by combining orange juice and 1/2 the olive oil, honey and Moroccan seasoning.

Heat remaining oil in a frying pan over med heat. Cook onion and garlic for a couple of minutes ~ until soft. Add lentils ... heat through.

In serving bowl, combine lentil mixture, pumpkin, greens, and feta. Top with dressing.

I served this with whole wheat foccacia (recipe coming tomorrow), olive oil and dukkah for dipping.

Pumpkin {Lentil} Salad

I loved this.
Rory thought it was ok.
Next time I might make him some chicken on the side, then he might like it ! :)

Here's the recipe that I modified from one I found in a magazine.

1 kg pumpkin ... I like kent or butternut but any that is good for roasting would be fine.
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp moroccan seasoning
1/2 a red onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans lentils (I actually only use 1 can but you could use two if you like lots of lentils!)
spinach and rocket mixture
feta

So .... spray your pumpkin with olive oil and roast in bite size pieces in a 200C oven - 20 minutes or so.

Make dressing by combining orange juice and 1/2 the olive oil, sugar and moroccan seasoning.

Heat remaining oil in a frying pan over med heat. Cook onion and garlic for a couple of minutes ~ until soft. Add lentils ... heat through.

In serving bowl, combine lentil mixture, pumpkin, greens, and feta. Top with dressing.

Serve with toasted turkish bread. I did ours in the sandwich press ... topped with olive oil and dukkah.

PS ... this was great as leftovers along side
a delicious omelet cooked by the omelet master - Rory !

Mediterranean Rice Salad

From The American Vegetarian Cookbook

Salad:

1 cup white or brown basmati or long grain brown rice

2 to 2 ½ cups water, depending on rice

1 teaspoon sunflower oil

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 to 3 cups sliced zucchini

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

8 cups Butter or Red lettuce, in ¼ inch slivers

4 cups coarsely chopped spinach, or 2 cups arugula and 2 cups spinach

1 cup alfalfa or sunflower sprouts

½ cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives (my favorite) or 1/3 cup slivered sun-dried tomatoes

¼ cup chopped fresh basil, or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (optional)

Ground rock salt to taste (optional)

Dressing:

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 large garlic clove, pressed

½ to 1 teaspoon honey (optional)

½ teaspoon dried chervil

¼ teaspoon dried mint

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon dried tarragon

½ teaspoon Dijon-style mustard

½ teaspoon ground rock salt or salt free seasoning

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place rice in a medium saucepan. If using basmati rice, add 2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon sunflower oil. If using brown rice, add 2 ¼ cups water and 1 teaspoon sunflower oil. Bring to a boil, stir once, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes for white basmati rice and 40 minutes for brown rice. Remove basmati rice from heat and fluff with fork; do not lift cover of brown rice for an additional 10 minutes, but do remove from heat.

(You could also skip this step entirely, by cooking your rice in a rice cooker if you have one. That’s what I do!)

While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet or wok. Add zucchini, basil, and oregano and sauté, stirring frequently (add 1 to 2 tablespoons water to prevent scorching) over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until zucchini is just tender; do not over cook or it will fall apart in salad.

Measure dressing ingredients into blender and blend until creamy.

Add slivered and chopped greens to salad bowl with dressing. Add rice and zucchini, toss well. Fold in sprouts, olives or sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs. Adjust seasonings. You may need to add a dash more salt, since no salt was added to the rice during cooking.

Spinach and Roast Garlic Salad

I got this salad recipe from the cookbook above.

I modified it a bit and am posting the modified recipe.

12 garlic cloves, unpeeled (I used a head and a half)
4 tbls olive oil
450g/1lb baby spinach leaves (I used a spinach/rocket mix and only about 150g)
1/2 pine nuts, lightly toasted
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
I also added fresh mushrooms.

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Put garlic in litte roasting tin with 2 tbls olive oil. I didn't use that much ... I just drizzled a bit. Roast for 15 min or so ... til garlic cloves are slightly charred around the edges.

While still warm, tip the garlic into a salad bowl. Add the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice and remaining olive oil and a bit of salt. Toss well and add black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

I didn't follow that exactly. I mixed up the dressing before adding it. I didn't read the amount of lemon juice properly and squeezed the whole lemon. Instead of adding it straight to the salad, I chopped a bunch of mushrooms and put them in the dressing to 'marinate' while the garlic cooked. Then I scooped them out and added them to the salad along with a couple spoonfuls of the dressing. I also peeled the garlic before adding it to the salad.

Quinoa with Red Peppers

Found this recipe in"From The World's Finest Pasta and Grains" by Anne Marshall

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Serves 4

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Ingredients:

3 red bell peppers (capsicum)

1 cup quinoa

1 tbls virgin olive oil

1 onion, cut into 12 wedges

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped. (Do I even need to say that I used more than this ?!)

1 large tomato, cut into 12 wedges

1/4 black olives, pitted and sliced

2 tbls capers

1 tbls chopped fresh oregano

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbls balsamic vinegar

oregano sprigs, for garnish

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Preparation:

Preheat the broiler (grill)

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Cut the peppers into wedges, following the natural indentations. Remove the seeds and white membrane. Place, skin side up, under the hot broiler and heat until the skin bubbles and starts to scorch. Place the peppers in a clean plastic bag, seal and cover with a cloth for five minutes. (I don't do this. I put the peppers in a bowl of cold water ) Remove the skin for the peppers with your fingers, then cut into long, thin strips.

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Cooking:

Coook the quinoa according to package directions. Keep hot.

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Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.

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Add the tomato and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in the peppers and heat through, about 2 minutes.

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Add the olives, capers, oregano and salt and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the vinegar, then remove from the heat.

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Spoon the quinoa onto a warm serving platter, spoon the pepper mixture into the venter, garlnish with the oregano sprigs and serve immediately.