Super Easy Salsa

 

I've been trying to cook out of the pantry this week and I needed some salsa to go with our burrito bowls the other night.  I did a bit of research on line and then threw this together ...

2 x 400g (14oz) cans of tomatoes

1 small can of green chillies

1 small red onion, cut into 8chunks

whole garlic cloves, to taste

1 cup fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves

1/2 tsp cumin, more or less to taste

juice of one lime

1/4 tsp sugar

Put everything but the tomatoes and chillies into a food processor or blender.  Pulse it til it's chopped up.  Add the tomatoes and chillies and pulse til it's as smooth or chunky as you like.  That's it.  So easy.  So yummy. 

Used the leftovers in chicken chimichangas last night !

Add Some Proscuitto to That !

Remember the Silverbeet, Pink Lady and Gruyere Toasted Sandwich recipe I posted a a couple of months ago ?  Have you tried it yet ?  Well, if not ... you should try this one instead !! 

It's basically the same as the other one with some additions ... (prosciutto, shredded carrot, mushrooms and provolone cheese)

Here's what I did ...

Silverbeet, a whole big bunch (any green would be suitable!)
Shallots, finely diced
Shredded Carrot (I probably won't do this again, but it needed to be used up so I threw it in)
Mushrooms, sliced
3 or 4 slices of Prosciutto, chopped
Fuji apple, thinly sliced
Wholegrain mustard
Gruyere cheese, grated
Provolone cheese, grated
Wholewheat, grain bread

I used a whole big bunch of silverbeet.  This will seem like heaps !  It's ok.  It wilts so much !

Heat up your sandwich press.

Cut out the stems of the silverbeet and chop it up.  Sautee shallots and silverbeet (and carrots if using) in a bit of olive oil. Add prosciutto, cook to your desired crispness. 

To assemble the sandwich ... Bread, mustard, cheese, apple, mushrooms silverbeet, cheese, mustard and bread.  (The last recipe had a drizzle of olive oil and salt on the outside of the bread. I didn't bother with that last time and there was no difference in taste !)

Put in sandwich press and cook until desired toasty-ness of bread and melty-ness of cheese has been achieved.

Indio Viejo

This recipe is well over 600 years old, which makes my inner history nerd extremely happy. Also, it's delicious, so my mouth is pretty jazzed as well. It's basically a thick meat stew that can be made with any or all of beef, chicken, and pork. Normally this is served with rice and tortillas or boiled green bananas, 'cause there is no such thing as too much starch.

1 whole chicken breast, cut into chunks
1/2 lb soft beef, like flank steak or skirt steak
1 packet chicken consume (10g or possibly one cube of bouillon)
1 small onion chopped fine
Bunch mint chopped fine (you can substitute cilantro if you hate mint)
3T butter (or margarine if you're poor and/or lame - I am both, for the record)
1c maseca (instant corn flour, do not use corn meal)
2-3 limes

Boil chicken and beef with the consume in 3 to 4 cups of water. While cooking, skim off oogies. When meats are soft, cut up into bite sized pieces, discard bones (this is my cat's favorite part), set aside. Set cooking liquid aside to cool for later.

Melt butter in large pan, add onion and herbs, fry until onions are soft. Add meat to herb mixture, fry for a couple minutes. Meanwhile add some of the cooled meat juice to maseca, whisk until smooth.  Add maseca mixture and the rest of the juice to pan, add lime juice, adjust seasoning. Cook until maseca is smooth and no longer mealy. You may need to add more water to cook the corn without sauce becoming too thick. 

Serves 6.

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 ....

What We Ate - Week 28 - 2012

Going through my photos this morning, I realize I didn't do a very good job of taking them this past week ! I know Monday and Tuesday I forgot because we had people over for dinner and I often forget then ! And Thursday night we ate late ... I must have just been too tired and hungry to remember the photo !

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Monday we had Thai Chicken Soup with friends. And Tuesday was a potluck. I made dessert.

Toasted Sandwiches and SJG potato salad

Thursday we had Asian Chicken Salad.

We ordered Indian.

Pasta ... the sauce on top is the one our friend 

Craig taught us to make to go with Jaylen's gnocchi. 

YUM !

What We Ate - Week 27 - 2012

 

Jamie's Oliver's Guinness Lamb Shanks

on a bed of mash, with corn and peas beside

Rory ranked this meal top 5 of anything I've ever cooked.

 

Jamie Oliver's Asian Chicken Noodle Broth from his Ministry of Food cookbook

We all loved this ....

 

Spiral pasta with spaghetti bolognaise sauce I had previously cooked and frozen.

 

Rory made us omelettes.  Yum.

 

If there's ever a night I'm going to break down and get take away, it's Thursday.  It's our craziest day.  

This week ... the boys were out late and their dinner was provided.  Alia and I grabbed subway.

 

Calzones.

Going to post this recipe this week.

 

Jamie Oliver's Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup

Apple Scone Cake

Apple Scone Cake

from joyofbaking.com

2 c flour

½ c sugar

1 t baking powder

¼ t salt

½ c (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

2 large eggs

½ c milk, divided

1 t vanilla extract

¾ pound (about 3 medium) Granny Smith or other cooking apples

2 T sugar plus a bit more

¼ t cinnamon

Peel and core apples and cut into ¾ to 1 inch cubes.  In small bowl toss apple pieces with 2 T sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In another small bowl whisk together 1 egg and 1 T milk from the ½ cup.   Set this aside to use as glaze for top of cake.

In large bowl combine flour, ½ c sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut the butter pieces into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or 2 knives until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Whisk together remaining egg, milk, and vanilla, and add to the flour mixture.  Stir just until the dough comes together.  Do not overmix.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead gently 4 or 5 times.  Divide dough in half.  Butter (or spray with Pam) a 9 inch glass pie plate.  Pat one half of the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.  (I found this easier when I floured my hands.) Spread the prepared apple pieces evenly over the dough on the bottom of the pie plate.

On the floured surface, roll the remaining dough into a 9 inch circle.  Gently transfer to pie plate to cover apple layer.  With your fingers, seal the edges of the two layers of dough.  Brush the top with the egg and milk glaze and sprinkle with sugar.  Cut a few slits in the top of the dough to let steam escape.

Bake in preheated 350˚ oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Best served warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

Watermelon Pickles

Watermelon Pickles

From Eloise Morrison Templin via Liz Templin Alley

Rind from one watermelon

Brine: 1 cup salt

           4 quarts water

Per pound of rind:

            1 cup vinegar

            1 cup water

            2 cups sugar

            3 sticks cinnamon

            8 whole cloves

Note: I used the rind from a medium-small watermelon, which came to about 3 ½ pounds when all trimmed and weighed.  This made 4 pints of pickles.

Save rind from sliced watermelon after enjoying the fruit.  (We ate the melon over a couple of days, and kept the rind in the fridge for a day until I started making the pickles.)  Remove thin dark green outer portion of rind, and leave some of the red for color.  Cut into desired sized pieces—I like mine about 1 inch wide and 1 ½ inches long.  Weigh pieces and note total.  Prepare brine, and soak pieces overnight in the brine.

The next day cook rind pieces in that same brine for about 45 minutes.  Drain and rinse in running cold water.

Make syrup of vinegar, water, sugar, and spices using amounts above for poundage of fruit. Boil syrup for a few minutes.  Add the rinsed rind and simmer until the fruit is semi-transparent (45 to 60 minutes).  Place pickles in glass jars (discarding spices), cover with hot syrup, and seal. (I omitted the “sealing” part, put one jar in the fridge for now and froze the rest.)

What We Ate ~ Week 26 ~ 2012

Homemade sushi.  YUM.

 Salmon

Nutty Cous Cous

Spinach Tofu Avocado Salad

Rory made stir fry.  I have no idea how.  It was delicious.

Quinoa Patties

Guac Salad

We didn't actually have this sandwich for dinner.  We were supposed to but the night was busy and it all got too hard.  I ended up eating a quesadilla with the kids.  But, I made these on the weekend and since I didn't get a picture of the quesadillas, I decided to use this one instead ...

Pizza with friends.  This isn't pizza.  It's a loaf of bread stuffed with funky lime/thai chicken soup garlic, portobello mushrooms, pesto white sauce, Parmesan and provolone cheese.

Tagine.  One chicken, one lamb. 

Silverbeet, Pink Lady & Gruyere Toasted Sandwich

 

I'm always looking for new sandwich ideas.  Especially toasted ones !

I pinned this recipe a while back and just finally got around to trying it.
I'm glad I did.  Rory is too.  The kids ate it but they weren't excited about it.

You can find the original recipe here ... I made a few subtle changes.

Silverbeet, a whole big bunch
Shallots, finely diced
Pink Lady apple, thinly sliced
Wholegrain mustard
Gruyere cheese, grated
Wholewheat, grain bread

I used a whole big bunch of silverbeet.  This will seem like heaps !  It's ok.  It wilts so much !

Heat up your sandwich press.

Cut out the stems of the silverbeet and chop it up.  Sautee shallots and silverbeet in a bit of olive oil.

To assemble the sandwich ... Bread, mustard, cheese, apple,  silverbeet, cheese, mustard and bread.  Drizzle one side of bread with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt.  Put that side down in the sandwich press.  Drizzle the top piece of bread with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and then close the sandwich press. 

Cook until desired toasty-ness of bread and melty-ness of cheese has been achieved.

Rory and I thought this would be even better with big sliced of mushroom on it !  Will try that next time.