What We Ate ~ Week 23 ~ 2012

Um, yeah, we had sushi THREE times this week. Mainly because I love it and I had leftover stuff from the first night and so just kept making more rice til everything was gone. I seriously could eat sushi EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Sushi

Thai Chicken Soup

Hot Dogs

Sushi

Went to a Thermomix demonstration.  Ate Thermomix food all night.  

Sushi

Calzones

What We Ate ~ Week 22 ~ 2012

Sorry, this is a bit late this week !! I was a bit preoccupied with Rory being home for the weekend ! He's gone again. This is his last stint away though, and we couldn't be more excited about it being finished and having him home again !!

So, on Sunday night I used some leftover baked potato soup, cooked chicken that I pulled out of the freezer, a handful of shredded cheese, a couple pieces of pastry and made a pie.  It was runnier than I thought it would be. The runniness didn't keep it from being delicious though.

It was less runny the next night.  

And still delicious.

Calzones ! YUM !  I used some pizza dough I had in the freezer. We each did our own thing. I stuffed mine with winter veg sauce, capers, kalamata olives, bacon, onion, garlic, mozzarella and provolone cheese, shredded.  IT WAS SO TASTY !

Hot Dogs.

Please ignore the shriveled hot dog !  ha ha.  It was grilled.  Not dried out and yucky like it looks in the photo !

Carbonara.

What Rory requested his first night home.

Indian.

From a restaurant.

Calzones again.

They were so yummy, we had to make them for Rory !


This was the last week of the freezer/pantry challenge.  I did ok.  I was left with $122.77 at the end of the week.  Add that to what I've already saved and over the four weeks I saved a total of $729.02.

NOT TOO SHABBY !

I'd like to say we are back to normal next week but I dare say that it will be a lot of quick, easy (unhealthy) meals since we are all just trying to keep our heads above water til Rory is home !!

But ... we shall see.

Jaylen's Gnocchi & Craig's Bacon Mushroom Sauce

This is the yummiest gnocchi.

Our friend Jaylen taught us how to make it.

His dad taught us how to make the bacon mushroom sauce that goes on top.

This last time we made it, we also topped it with the Winter Veg Sauce ....

You will need:

500g fresh ricotta cheese

150g pecorino romano cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups flour

Mix the first 4 ingredients and 1/4 cup of the flour.  Season with whatever you like.  Mix into a soft dough.  Add the remaining 1 & 3/4 cups flour and incorporate to make a stiff dough.  Separate dough into 4 pieces and roll them into big long logs.  Cut each log into pieces and then roll the gnocchi using a gnocchi board or the back of a fork.  The gnocchi board is a hundred times easier and they are cheap. (I think I paid $10 for mine, including shipping !)

While you are rolling, boil your water.  Once boiled, add gnocchi.  It will rise to the top when it's done.  Scoop it out and keep cooking in batches til they are all done.  That's it !  Top with whatever sauce you like.  (I'll give you a great recipe below ...) And some more of the pecorino romano cheese !

 

 Craig's Bacon Mushroom Sauce

(the way I did it)

1 onion, diced

Garlic, as little or as much as you like, diced

Mushrooms, sliced

Bacon,  250g, sliced

Chicken stock, 1 cup

White Wine, 1 cup

Cream, a cup or two ... 

Fresh Basil, chopped

Fry those first four ingredients together with a little bit of olive oil.  Add chicken stock.  Reduce.  Add wine and basil.  Reduce.  Add cream.  Stir and cook til thickened. 

Winter Veg Sauce

I made this for the first time a year ago and LOVED it.  I have modified it a bit to suit our own tastes.  You can find Tribeca Yummy Mummy's Winter Vegetable Tomato Sauce over on her blog.
Here's how I do ours ....

1 big red onion, diced

4 carrots, peeled & shredded

2 parsnips, peeled & shredded

5 cloves of garlic, diced (adjust to suit your garlic tastes)

olive oil

pinch of salt

dash of garlic powder

fresh herbs ... oregano, basil, thyme

4 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes

2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes

salt and pepper, to taste

brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon (or more)

honey, to taste

Saute garlic and onion in olive oil, in a large, heavy bottom pot, until garlic begins to brown and onion is translucent. Add carrots and parsnips, pinch of salt and cook til veggies are soft. Add herbs.  Let cook just while you open up the cans of tomatoes.

Stir in the tomatoes and garlic powder. Bring this sauce to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low and partially cover. Let simmer for an hour or longer, stirring every 15- 20 minutes. Taste as you go. After a while, once the sauce has cooked down some, add the brown sugar and/or honey.  You don't want it super sweet but the sugar/honey give a great flavor and cuts down on the acidity in the tomatoes. 

Season with salt and pepper.

Done.

Serve over pasta, gnocchi (that recipe coming this week !), in a calzone, as a pizza sauce, on a baked potato !  The options are only limited by your imagination ...

 

What We Ate ~ Week 21 ~ 2012

Chicken Cooked on the BBQ

Potato Bake

Salad ... Cos, Rocket and snow peas from the garden, tomatoes, carrots, and pomegranate.

Pizza.

We had garlic, funky lime and buffalo chicken.

Two minute noodles.

Again.

Don't judge me.

Rory's carbonara.

Garlic prawns.

Garlic bread.

Roast Veg.  Potato, Onion, Carrot, Pumpkin, Garlic and Leek.

Topped with feta.  So yum.

I'll post this recipe.

Gnocchi.

I'm going to post this recipe for you this week.

This week was a bit harder on the savings.  Rory was here for the first two nights and so we bought stuff to make that special.  I did pretty well cooking out of the pantry/freezer for the rest of the week until Saturday when we had a friend over and made gnocchi.  BUT .... having said that, I didn't spend the entirety of our weekly budget so I'm happy.  I did spend way to much to list out the individual things I purchased so I'll just tell you what I saved ... $114.45 ... adding that onto the first two weeks and I've saved $606.25 total.  One more week to go ... not sure if I'll make it.  It's pretty hard with my husband being away.  A lot harder than I thought it would be.  I may not add to the pressure of that by keeping the challenge going, but we'll see ... I'll let you know next week ! :)

Tracey's Jam Filled Donut Muffins

My friend Tracey gave me this recipe ... I used a different flavor of jam than she does and I sprinkled powdered (icing) sugar on top ... she does caster sugar.  Either would be superb.

Preheat oven 180C/375F

Mix:
140g caster sugar
200g flour
1 tsp baking soda

Mix: (separately)
100ml Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
140g melted butter

Add wet ingredients to dry.  Mix lightly.

In a muffin tin, lined with muffin papers, 1/2 fill with mixture.  Add a teaspoon of jam.  Cover with more mixture.

Cook for 20 minutes, or until top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Dip into caster sugar or dust with powdered sugar when finished.

Makes 12 muffins.

What We Ate ~ Week 20 ~ 2012

 

Asian Chicken Salad

But I did it a bit different.  I didn't add the noodles.

I just did almonds, cashews, and sesame seeds.

Still gave me the crunch I was after ......

Baked Potato Soup

Roast Cauliflower and Broccoli

Kids talked me into store bought (NASTY) pizza ...

I was going to do spanikopita meatballs but then decided to just do the meat and then in the end make it into a greek fried rice. I just did garlic, onion, chicken mince, greek seasoning, squeezed in a bit of lemon, added cooked rice and some soy sauce. Oh ... and two eggs. It was yum. We topped it with tzatsiki ...

Rory got home Thursday night ! He requested macaroni and cheese ! No way am I going to deny this man who has eaten 'lunch room' food for the past ten days a good home cooked meal ! So ... I shopped ! And I'll be shopping for three more dinners before he has to go back out to no mans land for another 10 days ! And then the kids and I will start eating out of the freezer, pantry again !

Went to friends place for dinner ... we had Raclette. So yum !  We bought some stuff to contribute but I don't have the itemized receipt so I'll just put the total amount in my calculations down below.

We had Indian for dinner with our friends who live next door.  

We ordered it from our favorite Indian restaurant up the hill.

What I had to buy this week: 

(and how much I spent)

Cinnamon ... $1.26
Pistachio's ... $7.98
Turkish Bread Rolls ... $5.55
Onions ... $1.89
Apples ... $ 1.79
Potatoes, 2kg ... $4.98
Sushi Rice ... $2.90
Gross Take Away Pizza ... $15.40
Cream of Mushroom Soup, 2 cans ... $3.72
Milk, 1L ... $1.99
Tasty Cheese, 1 kg ... $ 6.99
Kale, Bunch ... $4.48
Pasta Shells, 750g ... $2.99
Rice Crackers, 2 packs ... $4.00
Raclette stuff ... 2 french sticks, prawns, block of colby, block of gouda ... $24.17
Indian dinner ... $50.00

And the Sushi from last week's post but this week's budget ... I remembered that my parents and Rory's parents sent me birthday money that I have not yet spent.  I have decided that the Sushi Dinner and hot chocolates will be my birthday present to myself from them, so I will not take those two things out of the grocery budget this week after all !

Total .... $140.09

  $350.00 weekly budget
- $140.09 total spent this week
------------

$ 209.91     saved this week !   


Yep, I'm totally stoked with this !!

Homestyle Ceviche

Nicaraguan Ceviche is delicious and fairly different from the ceviches I had had in the past. Most ceviche dishes are simple fish with lime and I find them rather bland and overly acidic. This is the version I was taught to make by my sister-in-law, Maryuri. I hope you enjoy it and can forgive my total guesswork on the actual amounts of things; it's hard to put an amount to "nearly all the small bottle of salsa inglesa." Oh, and a note on the fish: what I use is called corvina in Spanish. My translator tells me that's either sea bass or a "large edible fish." I'm guessing any white fish you like would work just fine; no need to buy fresh, I use frozen and thaw it. Ok on to the recipe!!

CEVICHE

1 lb fish
7 or 8 small limes
3 roma tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup culantro (or cilantro or coriander or whatever it's called where you are)
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco (to taste)
Saltine crackers

Chop thawed fish into bite-sized pieces. Add enough fresh lime juice to totally coat the fish with a good bit extra, let sit for 20 or so minutes, at some point, add salt. While the fish is "cooking," chop all your veggies. Once the fish is totally opaque, add the veg, culantro, Worcestershire and Tabasco. Stir, taste, and adjust seasoning to your preference. Serve with crackers.

Serves 4.

My dashingly handsome assistant

In Memoriam 2012

What We Ate ~ Week 19 ~ 2012

My husband has had to go away for work for 10 days !  Sunday night we took the kids to the beach to get fish and chips as a bit of a going away family treat.   It was dark by the time we arrived and though there was light on the playground, it was very dim on the picnic blanket ... it was lovely, but I didn't attempt a photo !

Buffalo Boneless Chicken with Roast Potatoes, Carrots, Pumpkin, Onion and Garlic 

Pumpkin Lentil Salad 

And I made whole wheat garlic bread sticks. I cheated though, I used my bread maker to make the dough and then just rolled them out, let them rise and baked them. Easy. And they were yummy !

Two Minute Noodles

Some days a Mama just can't cook a proper dinner !
(Did I mention my husband is out of town ?!)

Subway Sandwiches 

Sometimes it happens two days in a row ... 

and so we go out !

 

BBQ Meatballs and Roast Potatoes

Saturday was the hardest day without Rory here.  During the week we are busy with school, work, sports, music lessons, etc ... But Saturdays, we are used to spending the whole day together.   I was feeling a bit like we all needed something FUN on Saturday afternoon so we rugged up (it's cooling off here in Sunny Queensland) and headed out to the sushi go round !  We had a lovely dinner, just the three of us.  We followed our sushi with big hot chocolates from the coffee shop across the bridge from the sushi shop ... to warm us up !

I'm planning a menu for this coming week ... need to be a bit more disciplined or our savings from the freezer pantry challenge will be $0 !!  Didn't do too bad this week though ...  (even with our eating out)

What I had to buy this week: 

(and how much I spent)

Butter, Organic, 250g x2 ... $8.98

Eggs, Barn Laid 12pk ... $4.00
Feta, 600g bucket ... $11.99
Chips, Salt and Vinegar, 175g ... $2.99
Chips, Red Rock Deli Sea Salt, 185g ... $3.48
M n M's, Coconut, 200g ... $3.89
Salami, 18 Slices ... $4.75
Cheese, Tasty, 500g ... $3.99
Bread Rolls, 6 ... $1.35 (ON SALE !!)
Egg Nog, 600ml ... $2.69

SUBWAY sandwiches ... $20 something

Total .... $48.11 (+ subway)

  $350 weekly budget
- $68.11 total spent this week
------------

$281.89 saved this week !

Our pay week goes from Friday to Friday so the Sushi will come out of next weeks budget ...

Eating From The Pantry & Freezer Challenge Begins

Today I start the Eating From The Pantry & Freezer challenge ....  I'm pretty excited to be taking part in this.  I did take an inventory of EVERYTHING in my fridge, freezer, & pantry.  I was going to write it all out and share it with you but that was going to take a LOOOOOONG time and I decided I'd rather spend the rest of my day off finishing my book ... it was so great ... I'd recommend it to EVERYONE !  Which book ?  Read my review to find out !

But back to the challenge ... 

Here's how I've decided to do it.  Instead of telling you what I do have, I'll tell you, in my regular weekly WHAT WE ATE posts what I prepared for that week.  I will tell you, for each meal, what I had to buy and give you a total of what I spent.  I mentioned in my original post telling you about this challenge that our grocery budget is $350 a week.  I nearly died when I read in Keeper of the Home's post that she spends $450 a month !!  I always forget how much more expensive food is here in Australia !!  But, it is what it is and my goal (even though Stephanie who is hosting the challenge says we shouldn't make this our goal) is to spend as little as possible for the next four weeks.  

I have a fair bit of meat in the freezer, I have a little bit of fish, I have flours and sugars and rices and pastas.  I have spices coming out my ears.  I have a garden full of herbs.  I have a few cans of beans and tomatoes.  I have one loaf of bread in the freezer and then I'll start making my own.

Alrighty then, here we go .....

Poppy Seed Muffins

I modified these today. I've decreased the amount of sugar necessary and I've substituted whole wheat for the majority of the white flour. Next time, I'll try even less sugar until I can use as little sugar as possible and still be happy with the muffins. On a side note, I forgot to put the eggs in today and these muffins were still fine. I'll put the eggs in next time and then decide if they are even necessary.

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F.

1 and 1/2 cups canola oil
3 cups whole wheat flour, sifted
1 cup white flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups milk
2.5 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract

Mix all ingredients 'til lumps of flour are gone. Pour into muffin tins. Bake 20 - 25 minutes. I always bake about 10 minutes, then check them every 5 minutes after that til they are done. (when a toothpick inserted into the middle of them comes out clean !)

These are so amazing ! Love them !!! Perfect for breakfast ! Perfect to go in lunchboxes ! Perfect for an afternoon snack after school ! Perfect for dessert after dinner ! The options are endless !!

Makes 24 muffins.

What We Ate ~ Week 18 ~ 2012

Rory's Carbonara 

Egg Curry

Pearl Cous Cous 

Spinach and Feta Pull Apart Bread 

Quinoa Patties

2 Minute Noodles

Thai Chicken Soup

 

Cheeseburgers

Thai Chicken Soup

This is a soup that everyone needs to try at least once in their life !  Of course, once you've tried it, you'll want it again and again !

When I originally posted the recipe, I didn't do it with measurements or anything ... In fact, here is what I said "Ok ... for those of you who like exact measurements, this recipe is not for you. Actually, I am a person who likes exact measurements but I've made this a number of times now from these instructions my sister gave me and I haven't messed it up yet !!"

But last night I made it again and I wrote down measurement so that you could have them and feel a bit more confident about trying to make this.  I also took photos of each component so you can see what you are aiming to make ! 

I cooked for four of us last night.  Two adults and two kids who love this soup and eat as much as the adults.  We each had two bowls.  There were no leftovers.  (except of the stock, lime juice and spring onions!)

Here's what you need:

8 Cups Chicken Stock or Chicken Stock Cubes (Stock = Boullion)

5 Pork Ribs or Pork Stock Cubes

6 Tablespoons Fish Sauce

3 Tablespoons + 1/4 cup Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce

2 Chicken Breasts

3 Limes

Thai peppers or 2 Teaspoons Chilli Garlic Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar

4 Cups Rice (I use sushi rice but you can use what you like)

Fresh Cilantro (Aussies - Coriander)

Green Onions (Aussies - Shallots or Spring Onions)

2 Heads of Garlic (more or less depending on you !)

8 Tablespoons Olive Oil

So, I usually start with the stock because it needs to simmer for a while !

I use 8 cups of already made chicken stock (in the box from the supermarket), although last night I didn't have any and just used water and stock cubes and it was great.  Add 6 more cups of water and a couple of chicken stock cubes and the pork ribs (or pork stock cubes if you can get them, I can't.)Add 1/4 cup Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce and 2 Tablespoons of Fish Sauce.   Boil for at least an hour.  Although, if you are using the pork stock cubes, you probably wouldn't need to boil it for that long ...

What is this Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce ?? Don't know exactly but here's what the bottle looks like. When we were in Colorado, Ellie used one called Gold Label ... I found it in a little Asian shop here. Ellie says it's Thai or Vietnamese. I'll give you the ingredients. That's how I made sure I had the right thing .. It's soy bean sauce, water, sugar salt and food enhancer ...

The chicken. Cut the breasts into small pieces. Ellie says bite sized but I think she did them a bit smaller than bite sized. I guess it's your preference. You can see what size I do mine in the picture above.

Marinate the chicken in 3 Tablespoons Golden Mountain, I usually marinate while I'm getting a few other things ready and then fry the chicken towards the end.  Just with a bit of oil in a fry pan ... 

I put my rice in the rice cooker and forget about it. If you are cooking it another way, you may want to wait til later to cook it so that it is still warm when you eat.

For the funky lime sauce. In a bowl add the juice of 3 limes and a bit of Golden Mountain (oops, I forgot to add this last night ... I'd say add about a teaspoon), 4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, 4 Tablespoons water and some chopped up Thai Peppers. I can't get those so I use 2 teaspoons chili/garlic sauce out of a jar.

Ellie said to use about 1/2 the amount of fish sauce as you do lime but I think that's a bit too much fish sauce so I don't put as much in.  You should adjust it to your taste !

Press the garlic through the garlic press. I do two or three heads of garlic but we are garlic freaks around here. So - you choose how much but press your garlic and set it aside. Heat the oil.  I use olive oil and last night I used 8 Tablespoons.  I have a small rectangular pan that I cook this in.  You should use the smallest fry pan you've got and if it's bigger you'll need to adjust the oil.  Ellie told me to use enough oil so that the garlic floats when you are cooking it. So ... get your oil real hot and then add the garlic. Cook it til it starts to brown. But don't burn it !! :)

Chop the cilantro (coriander), put it in a bowl and set it aside. 

Same with the spring onions.

To serve -- put all of these on the table -- the stock, the rice, the funky lime sauce, the garlic (in it's oil), onions, cilantro and the chicken. I also put the chili/garlic sauce on the table in case anyone wants to make theirs spicier.

To eat -- everyone needs to put this into their bowl -- Ellie does it in this order ... Rice, chicken, garlic, green stuff ( cilantro and onions ) funky lime sauce and finally the stock.  I've discovered that I prefer this order ... Rice, chicken, stock, funky lime sauce, onions and top it off with garlic and cilantro (coriander).  No matter what order you use, get all this stuff into the bowl and eat it.  You won't be sorry !!


**
PS ... we let the children decide what they put in theirs.  Jono does everything but the lime sauce and cilantro.  Alia only has chicken, rice and stock.  If we are under the weather, I make her have garlic too !  She told me last night (and it was a night that I made her have garlic) that this is her FAVORITE SOUP !