This is my son's plate, he added more Parmesan than was necessary but he's a growing lad.
It's okay to eat fish (iotef) is a blog about one woman's struggle against the fact that vegetables aren't as delicious as cheese.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Pasta with kale, chickpeas and parmesan
I wanted something light and fresh after all the dense meat pies and gravy based Christmas meals. It took me ages to find something I wanted to make which has the triple threat: delicious, healthy, inexpensive. I finally found this recipe for 'Tagliatelle with cavolo nero, chickpeas and pecorino' but I swapped out the cavolo nero for kale and the pecorino for Parmesan. It seems like I can never find good vegetarian food without cheese. Is it possible to make appetizing meals without either cheese or meat? I know that some vegan food is amazing, but I'm determined to make (as much as possible) everything in-house and I cannot make cashew cheese in house. Anyhow, this was very well liked. Instead of tagliatelle I made homemade butter noodles, which have a very nice texture, if too much butter.
This is my son's plate, he added more Parmesan than was necessary but he's a growing lad.
This is my son's plate, he added more Parmesan than was necessary but he's a growing lad.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Oven-baked Ratatouille & Sausages
I made this thing without doing much research or thinking. I just googled "quick healthy family meals" and this recipe came up. It looked too easy to be very tasty, but I decided to go for it as I was tired, and liked the idea of something I could shove in the oven. I wasn't planning to add it to the blog, but everyone seemed to like it so much that I feel like it deserves a place in here.
It says it serves four, but from the ingredients on the list I didn't think it was going to feed the four people in my house. There are two burly blokes, and a 13 year old boy in my family! So I decided to increase all the ingredients. It meant that I needed to roast the vegetables in two trays and everything took a little longer. My adapted recipe involved 8 Cajun style sausages with pork, rice and kidneys, two red peppers, two onions, four courgettes (3 green, 1 yellow), 4 cloves of garlic, 800g of canned tomatoes, and salt, pepper and thyme to season. I generally followed the recipe, but before adding the tomatoes I drained the leftover olive oil from the baking tray. I let the stew cook for 30mins, instead of 20mins, because there was so much more of it to cook.
Everyone really liked it and encouraged me to make it again in future. I took these pictures after we had started eating, and when I decided that this recipe was a keeper
It says it serves four, but from the ingredients on the list I didn't think it was going to feed the four people in my house. There are two burly blokes, and a 13 year old boy in my family! So I decided to increase all the ingredients. It meant that I needed to roast the vegetables in two trays and everything took a little longer. My adapted recipe involved 8 Cajun style sausages with pork, rice and kidneys, two red peppers, two onions, four courgettes (3 green, 1 yellow), 4 cloves of garlic, 800g of canned tomatoes, and salt, pepper and thyme to season. I generally followed the recipe, but before adding the tomatoes I drained the leftover olive oil from the baking tray. I let the stew cook for 30mins, instead of 20mins, because there was so much more of it to cook.
Everyone really liked it and encouraged me to make it again in future. I took these pictures after we had started eating, and when I decided that this recipe was a keeper
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Turkey and Swede Pie with Sour Cream Crust
ALERT! THIS IS NOT A HEALTHY MEAL!
To make the pie crust, simply combine 200g of unsalted butter with 250g of plain flour and then add a spoon or two (125ml) of sour cream. This dough is weird. It stays very tacky, so you need to keep it between layers of clingfilm (plastic wrap) at all tI'll imes. I call it the burn victim of doughs. On the up side, it keeps the kitchen clean, as you don't have to keep dusting with flour to roll it forforforfor t out. Split the dough into two halves, and shape each one into a flat disk, then put them in the fridge for 20 mins. After twenty minutes, take them out of the fridge, they'll be more solid than before. Let them warm up a a minute so that they're workable before doing anything else. Roll them out until they're about 3mm thick, while keeping them between the plastic wrap at all times. If the dough touches anything else it will stick to it. Put one of them into the bottom of your pie dish, keeping the top layer of cling film in place, roll out the other so that it's ready to go on the top, but keep it in the cling film, and put both back in the fridge for another 20 mins.
The filling simply involved things I had in my house. I had a pound of ground turkey meat, so I pan fried that in a little olive oil until it was cooked and then put it to one side. I boiled a swede (rutabaga/waxed turnip) in water. While that was boiling, I pan fried an onion until it went soft, then added three cloves of garlic. We had some leftover vegetables from the last night's enchiladas, so I put in the mushrooms and grated carrot from that (about 2 carrots worth) and lots of black pepper and thyme. Once the swede was almost cooked, I put two chicken stock cubes in the swede water, and brought it to the boil. I melted a little butter in a large pan and added a large spoonful of flour so it became a thick paste. Then I poured the swede, including the stock water into the flour paste to make a gravy, and then added the onion/vegetable mixture and the turkey and let the whole lot simmer until the gravy thickened. When done, you're supposed to let the pie filling cool before combining with the dough. I'm not sure how necessary that is, but all the recipes I read seemed to be in agreement on this.
When you're ready to bake, get the ingredients out of the fridge, remove plastic wrap, and combine. I covered the dough with an egg wash (one egg yolk, and a little milk) for colour but the dough was still tacky (perhaps I didn't let the filling cool enough). My top layer of dough also teared a little over the filling, so I didn't get the egg wash over evenly, and it looked a bit of a mess. I tried to score it with a knife to make it beautiful, but this did not make it beautiful. Bake at 400C for about 30-40 minutes, until cooked.
The result was a crisp, crunchy, crumbly pie crust with a thick chunky soup as filling. Perfect winter food. The crust tasted more like a cookie than a pie crust. It didn't really want to hold it's shape, so it ended up more like a crumble than a pie, but that was not problem. Meat crumbles should be more prominent in family cooking. Everyone enjoyed it, even my son, who typically does not enjoy swede. My husband and my son both had seconds. When I asked if I should throw out the last piece or save it for later, I was mocked, they did not want me to throw out any pie. If ever I am snowed in my house with limited ingredients and some left over sour cream, then I would absolutely make this again. I'd also make this for guests. It cannot, however, be an everyday meal. It is not healthy. we each ate half a stick of butter just from the pie crust.I served it with green beans and carrots.
To make the pie crust, simply combine 200g of unsalted butter with 250g of plain flour and then add a spoon or two (125ml) of sour cream. This dough is weird. It stays very tacky, so you need to keep it between layers of clingfilm (plastic wrap) at all tI'll imes. I call it the burn victim of doughs. On the up side, it keeps the kitchen clean, as you don't have to keep dusting with flour to roll it forforforfor t out. Split the dough into two halves, and shape each one into a flat disk, then put them in the fridge for 20 mins. After twenty minutes, take them out of the fridge, they'll be more solid than before. Let them warm up a a minute so that they're workable before doing anything else. Roll them out until they're about 3mm thick, while keeping them between the plastic wrap at all times. If the dough touches anything else it will stick to it. Put one of them into the bottom of your pie dish, keeping the top layer of cling film in place, roll out the other so that it's ready to go on the top, but keep it in the cling film, and put both back in the fridge for another 20 mins.
The filling simply involved things I had in my house. I had a pound of ground turkey meat, so I pan fried that in a little olive oil until it was cooked and then put it to one side. I boiled a swede (rutabaga/waxed turnip) in water. While that was boiling, I pan fried an onion until it went soft, then added three cloves of garlic. We had some leftover vegetables from the last night's enchiladas, so I put in the mushrooms and grated carrot from that (about 2 carrots worth) and lots of black pepper and thyme. Once the swede was almost cooked, I put two chicken stock cubes in the swede water, and brought it to the boil. I melted a little butter in a large pan and added a large spoonful of flour so it became a thick paste. Then I poured the swede, including the stock water into the flour paste to make a gravy, and then added the onion/vegetable mixture and the turkey and let the whole lot simmer until the gravy thickened. When done, you're supposed to let the pie filling cool before combining with the dough. I'm not sure how necessary that is, but all the recipes I read seemed to be in agreement on this.
When you're ready to bake, get the ingredients out of the fridge, remove plastic wrap, and combine. I covered the dough with an egg wash (one egg yolk, and a little milk) for colour but the dough was still tacky (perhaps I didn't let the filling cool enough). My top layer of dough also teared a little over the filling, so I didn't get the egg wash over evenly, and it looked a bit of a mess. I tried to score it with a knife to make it beautiful, but this did not make it beautiful. Bake at 400C for about 30-40 minutes, until cooked.
The result was a crisp, crunchy, crumbly pie crust with a thick chunky soup as filling. Perfect winter food. The crust tasted more like a cookie than a pie crust. It didn't really want to hold it's shape, so it ended up more like a crumble than a pie, but that was not problem. Meat crumbles should be more prominent in family cooking. Everyone enjoyed it, even my son, who typically does not enjoy swede. My husband and my son both had seconds. When I asked if I should throw out the last piece or save it for later, I was mocked, they did not want me to throw out any pie. If ever I am snowed in my house with limited ingredients and some left over sour cream, then I would absolutely make this again. I'd also make this for guests. It cannot, however, be an everyday meal. It is not healthy. we each ate half a stick of butter just from the pie crust.I served it with green beans and carrots.
Pies update:
- I made a beef in beer pie from this recipe which was delicious.
- I tried to make the above pie again with chicken instead of turkey and it wasn't so good. I think chicken is a bad pie meat because it's just not hearty enough. Pies need more oomph.
- I must remember to make this pork and apple cider pie before the weather gets warmer
- This also looks excellent.
- I made a pie using leftover Pecan Lodge brisket. I made two pans hot. I caramelized a huge onion in one, and I sauteed a pack of baby Bella onions in the other and combined them. I sliced up the brisket and put it in with the veggies to get hot. I made beef stock (two cubes ~300ml water) and poured it on top. I poured in a 400ml bottle of St Arnold Ale. I became worried. I added an emulsion of butter and flour to thicken the sauce and a few spoonfuls of BBQ sauce (also from Pecan Lodge) to taste. I baked it in shortcrust pastry. People liked it.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
The Underwhelming Chicken Behemoth vs. Quinoa and Kale Pilaf
We've not been very good recently. We take on far too many calories in beer and chips. It's too easy to think that the next meal is going a good one, it usually isn't. We need more quick fixes and go-to healthy solutions. We need to not call the amazing Italian place and have them fetch us sausage rolls and meatball subs quickly and for a reasonable price. The ihop isn't even nice, what are we doing there? Gah.
After a few days of poor behavior, I decided to try another iotef meal. I read a few recipes that combined chicken breast with sun-dried tomatoes and goats cheese - because that sounds amazing. I've never cooked with sun dried tomatoes before, so I was excited to try. I finally settled on this one, although the task of stuffing the breasts seems to me like way more effort than it's worth. I copied the recipe exactly, which is novel for me. except I guess I didn't do a great job of combining the cornflour with boiling water, my gravy wasn't very thick. The meal smelled great but honestly this was a bit of an anti-climax. All the ingredients were delicious, (fresh basil, goats cheese, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, shallots) so it should have been delicious, but it was just kind of boring. I think I could have made a more exciting meal if I would have just made fresh pasta and threw these ingredients on top. One reason for the lack of flavor might have been that the chicken breasts that we had were just obnoxiously large. The ratio was about 95% chicken to 5% stuffing. This may have also meant that the inside of the chicken didn't get hot enough for long enough to get all the flavors mixing together. For whatever reason, it just wasn't that exciting to me, although my son and husband seemed to like it just fine.
I couldn't decide what to serve this with, the internet seemed to suggest rice or potatoes, but I felt like it wanted something green. I eventually landed on this quinoa and kale recipe. It was so nice, it was really fresh and sweet and lemony. I toasted the pine nuts under the broiler and used regular kale instead of lacinato kale. I used twice and many spring onions (scallions) and fewer shallots. This thing was just meant to be playing second fiddle to the chicken, but to my mind, it was clearly the winner on the plate. I'm much more likely to make this again than the chicken thing.
Update - Janauary 2013: I've made the quinoa and kale thing many times. I've made it for my mother-in law, I make it at every BBQ event as a healthy side dish, I put it next to quiche. Everyone likes it and I've passed it along to a lot of people. I'm never making the stuffed chicken again, but the quinoa and kale is a keeper.
After a few days of poor behavior, I decided to try another iotef meal. I read a few recipes that combined chicken breast with sun-dried tomatoes and goats cheese - because that sounds amazing. I've never cooked with sun dried tomatoes before, so I was excited to try. I finally settled on this one, although the task of stuffing the breasts seems to me like way more effort than it's worth. I copied the recipe exactly, which is novel for me. except I guess I didn't do a great job of combining the cornflour with boiling water, my gravy wasn't very thick. The meal smelled great but honestly this was a bit of an anti-climax. All the ingredients were delicious, (fresh basil, goats cheese, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, shallots) so it should have been delicious, but it was just kind of boring. I think I could have made a more exciting meal if I would have just made fresh pasta and threw these ingredients on top. One reason for the lack of flavor might have been that the chicken breasts that we had were just obnoxiously large. The ratio was about 95% chicken to 5% stuffing. This may have also meant that the inside of the chicken didn't get hot enough for long enough to get all the flavors mixing together. For whatever reason, it just wasn't that exciting to me, although my son and husband seemed to like it just fine.
Update - Janauary 2013: I've made the quinoa and kale thing many times. I've made it for my mother-in law, I make it at every BBQ event as a healthy side dish, I put it next to quiche. Everyone likes it and I've passed it along to a lot of people. I'm never making the stuffed chicken again, but the quinoa and kale is a keeper.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Spicy Chicken Salad with Homemade Strawberry Dressing
This salad was based on the one our German friend Annique made when she came to Texas. We used chopped romaine lettuce, one grated carrot, one red apple, chopped cheery tomatoes, one red bell pepper and some fresh mozzarella. We served it with a homemade strawberry dressing and spicy chicken, both of which my son made. My son is delightful by anyone's standards, he's especially delightful for a thirteen year old.
The spicy chicken was adapted from the same recipe we'd used to make the spicy mackerel earlier in the week, but we swapped out the butter for olive oil and marinated the chicken for about 30 minutes before cooking. We made the pan very hot and did not add any additional oil apart from what was in the marinade. It was cooked in about 5 minutes until the chicken were golden. It came out a little too spicy for my son but my husband and I both liked it.
The salad dressing was simple and delightful. It's made with one part balsamic vinegar, two parts strawberry jam and one part olive oil.
The spicy chicken was adapted from the same recipe we'd used to make the spicy mackerel earlier in the week, but we swapped out the butter for olive oil and marinated the chicken for about 30 minutes before cooking. We made the pan very hot and did not add any additional oil apart from what was in the marinade. It was cooked in about 5 minutes until the chicken were golden. It came out a little too spicy for my son but my husband and I both liked it.
The salad dressing was simple and delightful. It's made with one part balsamic vinegar, two parts strawberry jam and one part olive oil.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Spiced Mackerel with Horseradish Potatoes
I fell of the gym-wagon. I was training for a half-marathon. I had a spreadsheet in which I logged how far I had run and how long it took me. I went from being awful at running, only lasting a few meters until I hit the proverbial wall, to being able to run a few miles with some composure. I took it pretty seriously, buying special running clothes and shoes and joining running forums. Alas, one day my knees hurt and I missed training. Then about two/three weeks passed and I had not gone back to the gym. I was way behind on my schedule and, although I was always certain that I would start again tomorrow, it didn't happen. The jig was up.
This whole time, my adorable friend Sarah kept innocently asking "how's the running going?" and I would often reply "urghhh! gawd! I'll do it tomorrow!" in the style of a petulant teenager. Yesterday, Sarah said "this is why I don't set big goals, just set little goals and be glad when I achieve them". Those words rung in my head and I decided to go to the gym, not to run 5 miles, my goal was simply to put my gym clothes on, go to the gym, and maybe touch the equipment. This plan worked. I went to the gym, I ran about 1 mile and it didn't feel all that bad, I wasn't sweating like hell and wishing I was dead. I felt good that I had broken the cycle. There was, however, a new reason to feel bad. For the first time ever, my belly actually jiggled when I ran. {thunderbolt}
There's a good chance that I am simply pre-menstrual and this belly weight will go in a week, but still, this was a disturbing threshold to cross. I came home and had a bath but the belly loomed large in the water. This morning, I weighed myself on the fancy scales at my office. I am heavier today than I have ever been. Unless I'm about to do a 6lb poo, action is needed. Iotef was invented to encourage healthy family meals, mostly for the sake of my husband and son. Right now, I need iotef more than ever.
For dinner, I made fish, but I put butter on it and ate it with white potatoes so I might as well just buy a moomoo.
This is the recipe that I followed. It was pretty freaking delicious, and really very quick and easy. The horseradish was a little too much for my son, he added extra sour cream to his plate to calm it down. My husband enjoyed it, he tends to like strong flavors. I think it was healthy in terms of the balanced meal but not low fat enough. I am not supposed to cook with butter. Even just a little butter and then putting it under the broiler is not okay. How many calories are even in horseradish? I bet it's tons.
This whole time, my adorable friend Sarah kept innocently asking "how's the running going?" and I would often reply "urghhh! gawd! I'll do it tomorrow!" in the style of a petulant teenager. Yesterday, Sarah said "this is why I don't set big goals, just set little goals and be glad when I achieve them". Those words rung in my head and I decided to go to the gym, not to run 5 miles, my goal was simply to put my gym clothes on, go to the gym, and maybe touch the equipment. This plan worked. I went to the gym, I ran about 1 mile and it didn't feel all that bad, I wasn't sweating like hell and wishing I was dead. I felt good that I had broken the cycle. There was, however, a new reason to feel bad. For the first time ever, my belly actually jiggled when I ran. {thunderbolt}
There's a good chance that I am simply pre-menstrual and this belly weight will go in a week, but still, this was a disturbing threshold to cross. I came home and had a bath but the belly loomed large in the water. This morning, I weighed myself on the fancy scales at my office. I am heavier today than I have ever been. Unless I'm about to do a 6lb poo, action is needed. Iotef was invented to encourage healthy family meals, mostly for the sake of my husband and son. Right now, I need iotef more than ever.
For dinner, I made fish, but I put butter on it and ate it with white potatoes so I might as well just buy a moomoo.
This is the recipe that I followed. It was pretty freaking delicious, and really very quick and easy. The horseradish was a little too much for my son, he added extra sour cream to his plate to calm it down. My husband enjoyed it, he tends to like strong flavors. I think it was healthy in terms of the balanced meal but not low fat enough. I am not supposed to cook with butter. Even just a little butter and then putting it under the broiler is not okay. How many calories are even in horseradish? I bet it's tons.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Cod Chowder with Leeks and Sweetcorn
My typical regime for choosing what we eat for dinner is to go to the BBC food website and hit the option to search for "healthy" recipes and then find something that doesn't look like a massive pain in the arse to make.
Today, I hit upon a recipe for smoked haddock chowder. My fishmonger doesn't do smoked fish and was out of haddock, so I made a cod chowder instead. I was a little worried that the chowder would be bland, given that the fish was not smoked, so added a little fish stock to the milk to help it along. The result was very flavorful, too flavorful for my son, who added cheese and extra milk to lighten it up. My husband liked it and it all went in one go - no leftovers at all.
The meal was considered "healthy" by the good people at BBC food, and who am I to argue? but it doesn't offer much in the way of vegetables. I'm sure corn is technically a vegetable, but I imagine that the nutritional value is quite low. I'd guess this meal was classed as healthy because of the fish. I could use this (without the new potatoes) as a recipe for fish pie, and then serve it with a side of green beans. I would probably go further as a pie and have more vegetables on the plate.
The meal was considered "healthy" by the good people at BBC food, and who am I to argue? but it doesn't offer much in the way of vegetables. I'm sure corn is technically a vegetable, but I imagine that the nutritional value is quite low. I'd guess this meal was classed as healthy because of the fish. I could use this (without the new potatoes) as a recipe for fish pie, and then serve it with a side of green beans. I would probably go further as a pie and have more vegetables on the plate.
Still, the family enjoyed it, and they all have a nice portion of fish in their bellies.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Low-Fat Chicken Curry
We made a low fat chicken curry from a BBC food recipe. We didn't have any chicken stock so used some tomato sauce. It was too spicy for me and the boy, might have to add sour cream or something next time. The husband enjoyed it. Check out my rice mounds, classy!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Chicken Pot Roast
I used this recipe but used a whole chicken instead of chicken breasts. It was unreasonably delicious. I served it with string beans. Will absolutely make this again.
Edit: I made it again in March 2014. Still delicious. See lower picture.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Cauliflower Crust Pizza
Cauliflower crust pizza is amazingly delicious. It tastes different, like roasted cauliflower tastes different to baked bread, but both are worthy of exaltation.
All credit needs to go to the lady who wrote this recipe on her blog. She's obviously tried a few things before declaring this the ultimate in cauliflower pizza crust recipes. I've never tried any other, so I can neither confirm or deny her claim that this is the best, but it was fantastic. It doesn't make a very large crust, in future I might have to make two of them to feed my family. It was also pretty fun to make, squeezing the cauliflower though the tea towel was exciting - it makes way more water than you would think! Also, I had to go out and buy a food processor - Walmart had a teeny one for $10. It's super adorable. I felt like a kid in a toy kitchen making food for imaginary friends. It took about 4 or 5 loads in my tiny processor to make enough cauliflower pulp for the base.
We made marinara sauce from the BBC food recipe, which was also excellent. We topped the pizza with mozzarella, Parmesan, chicken and red bell peppers, and garnished with parsley.
I served with a side salad ( baby romaine lettuce, golden delicious apple, red peppers and mozzarella), a pasta salad ( penne pasta, the leftover marinara sauce and Parmesan). Perfetto!
All credit needs to go to the lady who wrote this recipe on her blog. She's obviously tried a few things before declaring this the ultimate in cauliflower pizza crust recipes. I've never tried any other, so I can neither confirm or deny her claim that this is the best, but it was fantastic. It doesn't make a very large crust, in future I might have to make two of them to feed my family. It was also pretty fun to make, squeezing the cauliflower though the tea towel was exciting - it makes way more water than you would think! Also, I had to go out and buy a food processor - Walmart had a teeny one for $10. It's super adorable. I felt like a kid in a toy kitchen making food for imaginary friends. It took about 4 or 5 loads in my tiny processor to make enough cauliflower pulp for the base.
We made marinara sauce from the BBC food recipe, which was also excellent. We topped the pizza with mozzarella, Parmesan, chicken and red bell peppers, and garnished with parsley.
Edit: this was so good we made another one for Julia on the 4th of July.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Sopranos Dinners
We started watching to Sopranos. I had never seen it and it's one of Gavin's favourite shows. A few episodes in, we realized that it always gives us a hankering for Italian food. So I decided that next time we watch the Soprano's we'd get red wine and I'd cook something associated with New York Italian cuisine.
1. Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
This is an adapted Nigella Lawson recipe. I did this but I also added a small cube of mozzarella in each meatball, I added some paprika, and half a glass of red wine.
2. Shrimp Fra Diavolo
I didn't want to make anything else with ground meat and cheese, but tried to make something a little more interesting. I saw Lobster Fra Diavolo on the Wikipedia page for Italian American cuisine so I looked it up. I love spicy shrimp pasta, and I've never heard it called this name. I followed this recipe. It was really wonderful, but it was much too spicy. My boy couldn't really eat it at all, so next time I'll dial down the spice. It was really easy to make, and didn't take all that long, so I figured I'd add to the authenticity of my dinner with home made pasta. I don't have any special pasta roller, but my amazing friend Julia sent me this recipe, and she told me that you don't really need to leave it to dry. She was 100% correct. The pasta was great and authentic pasta really added to the meal. Good old Julia! She's the best!
3. Zabaglione with strawberries and savoiardi
1. Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
This is an adapted Nigella Lawson recipe. I did this but I also added a small cube of mozzarella in each meatball, I added some paprika, and half a glass of red wine.
2. Shrimp Fra Diavolo
I didn't want to make anything else with ground meat and cheese, but tried to make something a little more interesting. I saw Lobster Fra Diavolo on the Wikipedia page for Italian American cuisine so I looked it up. I love spicy shrimp pasta, and I've never heard it called this name. I followed this recipe. It was really wonderful, but it was much too spicy. My boy couldn't really eat it at all, so next time I'll dial down the spice. It was really easy to make, and didn't take all that long, so I figured I'd add to the authenticity of my dinner with home made pasta. I don't have any special pasta roller, but my amazing friend Julia sent me this recipe, and she told me that you don't really need to leave it to dry. She was 100% correct. The pasta was great and authentic pasta really added to the meal. Good old Julia! She's the best!
3. Zabaglione with strawberries and savoiardi
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Crockpot Chronicles: Part 1
My husband and I bought a crock-pot for $10 from goodwill about a year ago. It's been sitting in the cupboard ever since. As I am trying to save some money, but still want to cook interesting and delicious meals, I figure that it might be time to get the crockpot out of the cupboard and give it a try.
One of my friends, Derek, kindly sent me two recipes for crock pot chicken. I tried one of them out this week when we had company.
Bung the following items in a crockpot and ignore for 8 hours: 1 whole chicken, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup honey, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 tablespoons minced garlic.
I overcooked the chicken a little. Derek recommended only leaving it in the crock pot for 5 hours instead of 8, and he was right. By the time we ate it it had lost it's consistency but it was very moist and flavorful.
I served it with fusion stuffing (just like I made last thanksgiving), roasted vegetables, and mashed potatoes so it was not a healthy meal, but oh boy it was delicious. I even used the juice at the bottom of the crock pot as the base for a gravy. Wowzers in my trousers!
I forgot to take a picture of the chicken until after we'd started eating, so this is the best picture I could take
One of my friends, Derek, kindly sent me two recipes for crock pot chicken. I tried one of them out this week when we had company.
Bung the following items in a crockpot and ignore for 8 hours: 1 whole chicken, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup honey, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 2 tablespoons minced garlic.
I overcooked the chicken a little. Derek recommended only leaving it in the crock pot for 5 hours instead of 8, and he was right. By the time we ate it it had lost it's consistency but it was very moist and flavorful.
I served it with fusion stuffing (just like I made last thanksgiving), roasted vegetables, and mashed potatoes so it was not a healthy meal, but oh boy it was delicious. I even used the juice at the bottom of the crock pot as the base for a gravy. Wowzers in my trousers!
I forgot to take a picture of the chicken until after we'd started eating, so this is the best picture I could take
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Thrifty Tofu Thai Curry with Brown Rice
The mission of this blog is two-fold. 1. I want my husband and son to enjoy my cooking. 2. I want to get the good feeling that comes with knowing that I'm doing my best for them nutritionally. The challenge is that they tend to really like the kind of food that is linked to diabetes.
For the time being at least, I need to add a third mission. I need to be thrifty. I have somehow got quite emotionally attached to a '91 Honda Accord named Frank. Today, I took Frank to the shop to get a new timing belt - which cost about $650. The other thing that I love really a lot is my son, and on Tuesday, we're getting him fitted for braces. After the down-payment, I need to make two years of monthly payments that are set at just the right level so that I can actually afford it, and so do not feel justified in saying no, but that it also uses up as much of my available income as possible. The result of these developments is that I am temporarily and voluntarily quite poor. I need the next few family meals to be cheap, like, really cheap. When I headed out to the supermarket today, I didn't know what I was going to make for dinner, but I didn't want to spend more than $10, and preferably closer to $5, but I still wanted to make it tasty and healthy.
For the time being at least, I need to add a third mission. I need to be thrifty. I have somehow got quite emotionally attached to a '91 Honda Accord named Frank. Today, I took Frank to the shop to get a new timing belt - which cost about $650. The other thing that I love really a lot is my son, and on Tuesday, we're getting him fitted for braces. After the down-payment, I need to make two years of monthly payments that are set at just the right level so that I can actually afford it, and so do not feel justified in saying no, but that it also uses up as much of my available income as possible. The result of these developments is that I am temporarily and voluntarily quite poor. I need the next few family meals to be cheap, like, really cheap. When I headed out to the supermarket today, I didn't know what I was going to make for dinner, but I didn't want to spend more than $10, and preferably closer to $5, but I still wanted to make it tasty and healthy.
This story's getting way too long, the bottom line is I made tofu. They sell 16 oz of tofu at my supermarket for 99 cents! 99 FUCKING CENTS! Do people know about this? 16 oz of tofu can easily feed three. What the fuck people!? Why didn't anyone tell me about the tofu!? I only looked at it by mistake. Jesus wept.
I like tofu, tofu is healthy, and I can easily afford tofu. I had a jar of Trader Joe's yellow Thai curry at home and I had rice in the cupboard, so I got 99cents of tofu, a red pepper and onion and one yam and I was sorted. It probably didn't even come to $3. Now obviously, using a jar of curry sauce makes this meal a massive cheat and not truly worthy of a blog post, but as I have never cooked with tofu before, this is a special case.
The rice I had was brown rice, and I do not have a proud history with brown rice. I decided to google for some pointers rather than just wing it. I followed this advice, and for the first time in recent history, my brown rice was pretty good. I rinsed the rice in cold water, I boiled a large pan of water, added the rice, and boiled it for 30 mins, I kept topping the pan up with more water if it got low. After 30 mins, I drained the rice and let it steam in the pan for ten minutes. I added a little soy and some salt and fluffed it with a fork. It wasn't life changing, but it was fine.
The rice I had was brown rice, and I do not have a proud history with brown rice. I decided to google for some pointers rather than just wing it. I followed this advice, and for the first time in recent history, my brown rice was pretty good. I rinsed the rice in cold water, I boiled a large pan of water, added the rice, and boiled it for 30 mins, I kept topping the pan up with more water if it got low. After 30 mins, I drained the rice and let it steam in the pan for ten minutes. I added a little soy and some salt and fluffed it with a fork. It wasn't life changing, but it was fine.
For the tofu, I was just winging it. I heated oil in a wok, added two cloves of garlic and tipped in the tofu, which was cut into cubes. My plan was to get the outside a little crispy while keeping the inside soft. I added a tiny bit of soy. I wanted to fry it fast, but the tofu was sold in water, and it had held onto some of that liquid which dribbled out of the tofu, so it was more boiling that frying. I poured everything into a sieve and then put the tofu back in the pan. The second time I started to get some success, the outside of the tofu was starting to get a little crispy, but I was worried about over-cooking the inside, so I stopped it there and had half-crispy tofu. IT WAS DELICIOUS! NINETY-NINE CENTS OF PURE DELICIOUS!
I then put a sliced onion in the pan and fried that in olive oil until it became translucent, then added the red pepper and a sweet potato (yam) sliced into little cubes. I fried it all together for maybe 5 minutes and then added the sauce. I simmered the sauce and the veggies together until the potatoes were cooked and then added the tofu just before serving.
It was freaking yummy and tofu only costs 99cents.
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| Tofu Thai Curry with Brown Rice |
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Oven Roasted Veggies & Chicken Alfredo
This was a quick after-work recipe that was very delicious! It had three parts, oven roasted veggies, Alfredo pasta and garlic chicken.
Preheat the oven to 425. Cut up the broccoli, mushrooms, and leeks and put them in one layer on a baking tray. Drizzle pretty generously with olive oil, salt and pepper. One thing I've learned recently, is not to underestimate the power of salt and pepper. I was worried that this would be boring, but it was great. Roast for about 20 mins, shaking them around occasionally. By the time these are done, everything else will be ready too!
Boil pasta. I wanted fettuccine but they didn't have any, so I got the big shells instead.
In another pan, heat some olive oil and add three chopped cloves of garlic. When you can smell the garlic starting to cook, add the chicken. When the chicken's cooked, take it out and then leave it to one side. Add flour to the remaining oil so that it goes thick. Then stir in about 2 cups of chicken stock to make the beginnings of the Alfredo sauce. Add a good spoonful of nutmeg to the sauce. I slipped on the nutmeg and added too much, but it was really yummy - so don't worry about it, go for it with the nutmeg. Then add sour cream until the sauce is a good consistency. Sprinkle with black pepper.
When the pasta and the veggies are all cooked, combine everything into a big pile of deliciousness and sprinkle with Parmesan. The whole family loved it! They had three or four servings each until they cleaned the pan.
Preheat the oven to 425. Cut up the broccoli, mushrooms, and leeks and put them in one layer on a baking tray. Drizzle pretty generously with olive oil, salt and pepper. One thing I've learned recently, is not to underestimate the power of salt and pepper. I was worried that this would be boring, but it was great. Roast for about 20 mins, shaking them around occasionally. By the time these are done, everything else will be ready too!
Boil pasta. I wanted fettuccine but they didn't have any, so I got the big shells instead.
In another pan, heat some olive oil and add three chopped cloves of garlic. When you can smell the garlic starting to cook, add the chicken. When the chicken's cooked, take it out and then leave it to one side. Add flour to the remaining oil so that it goes thick. Then stir in about 2 cups of chicken stock to make the beginnings of the Alfredo sauce. Add a good spoonful of nutmeg to the sauce. I slipped on the nutmeg and added too much, but it was really yummy - so don't worry about it, go for it with the nutmeg. Then add sour cream until the sauce is a good consistency. Sprinkle with black pepper.
When the pasta and the veggies are all cooked, combine everything into a big pile of deliciousness and sprinkle with Parmesan. The whole family loved it! They had three or four servings each until they cleaned the pan.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Salmon - Rushed Dinner
I didn't take a picture of this but I want to write it here because I did something that I haven't done before and I think it worked well.
I got a nice big piece of salmon and cut it into 2 pieces (1 for me and one for the boy). I heated some olive oil in a pan, added 2 cloves of garlic put the salmon in and fried it so the outside was golden but the inside was still a little tender.
In a second pan, I fried a whole punnet of button mushrooms (sliced) in a small knob of butter until they turned golden brown. The mushrooms readily absorb the butter so it's pretty much a dry heat. Then I added a mountain of spinach and let it cook for about 1 minute. I then poured a small amount of vegetable stock in keep it moist but didn't want to add more fat.
Served with cous cous.
It probably took about 10mins to make, was reasonably healthy and made enough for lunches the next day too.
I got a nice big piece of salmon and cut it into 2 pieces (1 for me and one for the boy). I heated some olive oil in a pan, added 2 cloves of garlic put the salmon in and fried it so the outside was golden but the inside was still a little tender.
In a second pan, I fried a whole punnet of button mushrooms (sliced) in a small knob of butter until they turned golden brown. The mushrooms readily absorb the butter so it's pretty much a dry heat. Then I added a mountain of spinach and let it cook for about 1 minute. I then poured a small amount of vegetable stock in keep it moist but didn't want to add more fat.
Served with cous cous.
It probably took about 10mins to make, was reasonably healthy and made enough for lunches the next day too.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Baked Aubergine with Cheese and Basil
My husband could not poop. We tried a fybogel, we tried fluids, but alas, pooping did not happen. I googled anti-constipation foods and read that aubergine (egg-plant) and broccoli are good at getting things moving. Armed with this information, I browsed BBC Good Food with my husbands bowels on my mind.
The result was this recipe, for baked aubergine with tomato, mozzarella & Parmesan. Everyone really liked it. My son was explicit that this is easily the most delicious meal that I've made under the guise of healthy family meals. He was torn between being excited to eat it all immediately and keen to keep leftovers for his lunch the next day. My husband agreed and they both had second helpings, and it made enough that we had plenty left over for lunches as well.
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| baked aubergine |
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| baked aubergine served with broccoli |
my husband pooped about 5 minutes before the meal hit the table, so I can't speak to the digestive properties of this meal.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Soupa scoopa and mighty soups
I made soups. My son has a new thermos for taking hot lunch to school. We can really cram anything in there but it will all get combined by the end of the day so soup makes more sense. I've been trying out some new homemade recipes. We eat the soup for dinner and the boy takes the leftovers to school in his thermos the next day.
1. Chicken and Leek Soup
I mostly followed this recipe but I don't have a crock-pot so I just made it on the stove top. It was kinda tart to I stirred in some half and half when it was on the table and that eased it up a bit. It was very nice but it's one of those soups where every mouthful is exactly the same as the last. I served it with a salad with my favorite omega mix of nuts and berries on the top and some light balsamic dressing. Salad is so delicious but my family aren't so keen.
2. Vegetable and Chorizo Soup
This one was made from this recipe but I couldn't get all the ingredients at my usual supermarket so I made a few substitutions. First, I couldn't get vegetable stock so I used chicken stock. Second, they were out of leeks so I used a normal onion instead. I made double the quantity of soup so that it would last longer but decided that I should use half chorizo and half a less fatty meat so it was half chorizo and half chicken. My son and I both thought that this one was great but my husband preferred the potato and leek soup. There were so many veggies in here that I didn't make a salad, just served with bread.
1. Chicken and Leek Soup
I mostly followed this recipe but I don't have a crock-pot so I just made it on the stove top. It was kinda tart to I stirred in some half and half when it was on the table and that eased it up a bit. It was very nice but it's one of those soups where every mouthful is exactly the same as the last. I served it with a salad with my favorite omega mix of nuts and berries on the top and some light balsamic dressing. Salad is so delicious but my family aren't so keen.
2. Vegetable and Chorizo Soup
This one was made from this recipe but I couldn't get all the ingredients at my usual supermarket so I made a few substitutions. First, I couldn't get vegetable stock so I used chicken stock. Second, they were out of leeks so I used a normal onion instead. I made double the quantity of soup so that it would last longer but decided that I should use half chorizo and half a less fatty meat so it was half chorizo and half chicken. My son and I both thought that this one was great but my husband preferred the potato and leek soup. There were so many veggies in here that I didn't make a salad, just served with bread.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Tangy turkey sausage casserole
I fried an onion, six Italian spiced turkey sausages and a punnet of mushrooms together in a large pan (all sliced). When the sausage was cooked, I added half a teaspoon of paprika, half a cup of apple cider vinegar and a quarter of a cup of Worcestershire sauce. I let this simmer together for about 15 mins.
As it simmered, it all went the same unappealing shade of browny-grey. I started to worry that my spontaneous combination of ingredients would be too tart As I was struggling to come up with a dinner rescue strategy, I let my son taste the juice and he really liked the flavor I decided to give it a try and served it with sweet potato mash and green beans. The kid licked the plate clean and is taking leftovers to school tomorrow. I love it when my son enjoys my cooking. :)
My husband is out so I can't comment on what he thought of it, but i'll update later.
Update: Husband approved
Monday, January 21, 2013
Thai Steamed Cod with Lemongrass
In naming this blog, I acknowledged that fish are healthy, but none of the recipes described in this blog use fish. Well, there was a fish pie, but it was loaded with potatoes and cheese, so is not the solution to my family dietary dilemma. I've used shrimp a lot, because shrimp are delicious, and they come from the sea. Sadly, however, they are not even closely related to fish and contain a lot of cholesterol.
It's not that I dislike fish. I used to cook with fish quite often. I would poach it in milk and serve it with parsley sauce and buttery mashed potatoes. My husband thinks parsley sauce is bland so he doesn't eat it. I wrote a whole blog about that already, it turns out that adding shallots doesn't help, it hinders. My problem is that I don't know what to do with white fish to make it exciting enough so that my husband will really enjoy it while still keeping it healthy. I'm sure he'd love cod, if it was breaded, fried and served with cheese.
Today I cooked with cod. I steamed it with soy sauce, lemon juice, rice vinegar, bok choy, garlic, ginger and lemongrass I have never cooked with lemongrass before. It tastes a lot like lemons, but looks a lot like grass, so that was exciting. I made lemon juice by chopping two lemons in half and squeezing the living shit out of it, which was also fun. I didn't measure anything but combined the ingredients hap hazardly into an aluminium parcel, wrapped it up and put it in the steamer for about 15-20 mins until the fish was cooked.
The meal is based on several Thai-style fish recipes that were similar. Typically, they said to use a red chili but there was none in the supermarket today. Just in case it was crucial, I got some red pepper sauce for the table. The recipes recommended serving this kind of dish with jasmine rice. I'm not that into rice so I put a few steamed dumplings on the side instead. Dumplings are delicious. I made green beans because I am as white as the rice that white famously sticks to.
This is the result
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| Thai Steamed Cod with Lemongrass |
My husband liked it a lot. He says it's one of the best things I've made and he had second and third helpings. My son was not so sure, he thought it was nice but not amazing. I'm more of my son's persuasion. It might have tasted too much of citrus for me. My husband's history with frozen margaritas tells me that he's okay with tart citrus acid flavors. I don;t like lime margaritas, I like mango ones because they're less sour.
It was certainly really fun and easy to make, and healthy too. My husband and son both ate it, and so at least one meal this week was home cooked, low fat, and tasty. :)
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Quiche Pastiche
This quiche is a pastiche because I copied Julia.
Husband no like quiche. I make quiche, him like good. quiche delicious but take long time to make. Quiche currently expanding in belly.
Here quiche crust recipe
Here quiche mix recipe. Very simples.
I first saute small onion, in pan with little butter. Add 2 celery sticks, until start get soft, then whole punnet of mushrooms sliced, then two cloves of garlic, then 1/2 pound of cocktail shrimp, peeled. Let shimps go pink. Add lots of spinach. Let spinach reduce to not obnoxious volume. This make large amount of ingredients for pie dish, quiche really full.
Add egg mix and oven it for few mins so egg mix not so liquid.
Then add mozz cheese, leftover mushroom slices and tomato for topping. and cilantro. cheese is drink. i not use so much cheese really.
Quiche nice but belly painfully full. Quiche expand in body make feel unsure.
Here is picture of quiche.
Husband no like quiche. I make quiche, him like good. quiche delicious but take long time to make. Quiche currently expanding in belly.
Here quiche crust recipe
Here quiche mix recipe. Very simples.
I first saute small onion, in pan with little butter. Add 2 celery sticks, until start get soft, then whole punnet of mushrooms sliced, then two cloves of garlic, then 1/2 pound of cocktail shrimp, peeled. Let shimps go pink. Add lots of spinach. Let spinach reduce to not obnoxious volume. This make large amount of ingredients for pie dish, quiche really full.
Add egg mix and oven it for few mins so egg mix not so liquid.
Then add mozz cheese, leftover mushroom slices and tomato for topping. and cilantro. cheese is drink. i not use so much cheese really.
Quiche nice but belly painfully full. Quiche expand in body make feel unsure.
Here is picture of quiche.
night night
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Green Beans and Portalbella Mushrooms
Christmas is over. I'm blogging on my new phone just for the sheer novelty of it. I can blog and walk at the time.
Here's Morrocan Chicken, made from this recipe It wasnt that good. Kinda tasted like " curry flavor" which is annoying as shit, considering everything that went in this was fresh.
Ho hum.
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