Butter Cake

I have needed a standard birthday cake recipe for yonks. K's birthday party was this week, so I decided to just go for a classic butter cake recipe*. I can't take any credit for the decoration since my MIL offered to do it, but I figured the cake recipe was definitely worth writing down here for future reference.

I actually made this cake twice this morning, because I'm currently so scatteredbrained from Moving Hell that with my first attempt, I not only forgot to pre-heat the oven, I also forgot that I only have plain flour in the house, and didn't add baking powder to my mixture. The resulting cakebrick was still tasty, if dense, but the version which actually contained raising agents had a lovely fluffy crumb.

Ingredients
125g softened butter
2/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups self-raising flour (or 2c plain flour + 4tsp baking powder)
2/3 cup milk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C (unless you are a dingbat like me) and grease and flour a cake tin. Let the birthday girl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Hold the beaters steady as she adds the eggs and vanilla essence, and then let her beat them until well combined. Add the flour a half-cup at a time, alternating with the milk, then share the beaters out between your children to lick. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Splat it into the prepared tin with a spatula and scrape down the sides of the bowl, but not too carefully, because your children will probably be finished with the beaters by the time you have the cake mix smoothed down and the tin in the oven, and they will be wrath with you if you haven't left them enough mixture in the bowl to share. Cook it until it is done, and if the top cracks like mine did, don't worry about it, your MIL can always just add extra icing. Or you can, if you don't have a MIL to subcontract your cake decoration out to.

Serve with the traditional accompaniments of out-of-tune renditions of Happy Birthday in three different keys, and an embarrassed birthday girl who wishes everybody would stop singing so she can eat.




[* Acute readers may have gathered from this that I'm no longer dairy-free. I've given up on any attempts to get cute and creative with my diet, or my blogging for that matter, because our upcoming interstate move is monopolising most of my brain power].

The CBFs

What do you do on those nights when you couldn't be bothered cooking? My usual standby is risotto, but I've only perfected one dairy-free version and my family don't like it as much as I do so I try not to feed it to them every week :P Stir-fries are good when we have the veges for them; so are microwaved potatoes with Mexican beans from the freezer (although woe! re the lack of sour cream and cheese). And I'm quite happy with breakfast for dinner any night, but my beloved is less so.

My compromise between cooking from scratch and calling out for takeaway is a stash of sauces in jars (ones without too many numbers in them), but unfortunately my usual Butter Chicken-minus-the-chicken version is out due to containing cream. Which is annoying, because it's really nice and super-easy as a vego recipe with just onion and a combo of potato and cauliflower or peas or spinach. I did have one jar of sweet and sour sauce left, which I made up with tofu and heaps of vegies for dinner tonight, but in future I think I'm going to make it myself using this recipe (although I won't bother with frying and battering the tofu, with it being a CBF evening and all). Sweet and sour sauce is so easy I think even with making the sauce beforehand instead of opening a jar, the dish still counts as minimal preparation...

Got any quick, simple, dairy-free/vegan recipes to share for next time?

Vegan Pot Pie and Coleslaw

I'm going off dairy to see if it fixes my recurring middle ear infections (we have a strong family history which indicates that it's the likely culprit). Dangnabbit. I was vegan for a year, and cheese was definitely the hardest thing for me to cut out of my diet!

Tonight was another bottom-of-the-vegie-crisper night, since I will be going to the markets tomorrow. I pulled out all the vegies I had in the fridge and decided to make a pot pie with most of them, leaving the cabbage and carrots for coleslaw. I normally make a pot pie with white sauce, but obviously that's now on the banned list, so I used a small tin of coconut cream and added some ground almonds to thicken it. It was very yummy!

Vegan Pot Pie
1 lge onion, diced
1 lge tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp each cumin and coriander
1 lge red capsicum, diced
1 med zucchini, diced
1/2 sm sweet potato, diced
3 med potatoes, diced
1 sm tin coconut cream
1/4 c ground almonds
black pepper
1 sl. dairy-free puff pastry (I used Aldi brand)
1 beaten egg (omit for vegan version)

Steam potato and sweet potato until tender. Meanwhile, saute onions, then add capsicum and garlic. Coninue frying until pepper starts to soften, then add zucchini for another five minutes or so. Add the spices, and fry for a few minutes. Start to drizzle in the coconut milk to make a paste, then add the potato and sweet potato and toss. Pour in the rest of the coconut milk, add the ground almonds, and heat through. Pour the mixture into a deep pie dish, top with a sheet of puff pastry and brush with beaten egg, if using. Bake at 200C until puffed and golden brown.

Coleslaw
~1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp seeded mustard
1-2 tsp olive oil
1-2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1-2 tsp water
1/4 sm green cabbage, shredded
1 med carrots, grated

Combine the dressing ingredients, starting with the smaller quantities given, and adjusting to taste. It will be very strong-tasting by itself, but the sweetness of the cabbage and carrot will temper it, so don't worry too much. Add enough water to make it a smooth, slightly runny consistency, then toss through cabbage and carrot.

Bottom of the Vege Crisper Chickpea Curry

This is my bog-standard clear-out-the-fridge-before-market-day curry. It's best with root vegetables but you can add anything into it which doesn't mind a half hour cooking period. However, sweet potato is essential for the proper balance between sweet, spicy and creamy, in my opinion. I've been playing with the seasonings for a while, and for ease of use I generally go with commercial curry pastes, but I didn't buy any this month. I used an experimental blending of spices instead and it turned out perfect! Although anyone who likes a bit more bite will want to up the chilli a fair bit ;-)

This is now my definitive foundation recipe.

Ingredients
1 lge onion
1/2 tbsp oil
2 tsp crushed garlic (or two cloves)
1 tsp ea cumin and coriander
1/2 tsp ea ginger and turmeric
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tbsp panch phora
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 sm-med sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 lge carrot, diced
400g tin chickpeas (or 1/2 c dry weight, soaked and pre-cooked)
1c frozen peas
125mL coconut cream
1/2c ground almonds

Saute the onions til translucent, then add garlic, then spices and fry until fragrant (add a bit more oil if they're too dry). Add the root vegetables and enough water (less than a tbsp) to coat them with the spice mixture, and cook for five minutes or so. Put in about an inch of water, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are nearly tender. Remove the cover, add the chickpeas and boil briskly until the water is almost evaporated. Reduce the heat and add the peas and coconut cream. Bring to a very gentle simmer. Stir through the ground almonds and heat very gently for five or ten minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve over brown rice.

As with most curries, this is even better made ahead and allowed to rest for a couple of hours or overnight for the flavours to blend.

Makes 4-5 serves.

Humph.

I have two recipe posts waiting to be written, but when trying to menu plan for the next month, I've come up with another problem with this idea. I need to minimise new purchases and make as much as possible out of the contents of my pantry and remaining food storage so I don't have to move it all interstate. Gah. I'm not sure it's going to be compatible with continuing the challenge...

Growing Mungbean Sprouts

I can happily grow mungbean sprouts of the length for use in sandwiches (or, if you're my kids, fighting over while they're still in the sprouter) but have signally failed to grow them long enough for use in most East Asian cookery. I'm bookmarking this link in the hope that it will help me solve the problems I was having. I've never weighted them while growing before, for instance.

It inspired me to do some quick salad sprouting with the kids today. We inherited a three level sprouter from my Dad which is probably at least 20 years old. Although it's the kind which should be used with disposable filters for the smaller seeds like alfalfa, I never use them, and so long as I drain them well enough they're usually fine without. I couldn't find any mungbeans, but I did have a new bag of alfalfa and an old jar of fenugreek, alfalfa and mustard combo, so I did a tier of each. The mixture may be too old to sprout: we'll see in a few days.

Casualties so far

These are some which did not make the cut.



Quite a lot of the ones I am getting rid of are just too narrowly focused to be worth keeping, and since I'm moving back towards fully vegetarian, most of the ones which contain mostly meat recipes are pretty useless too. But I'm also culling my vegetarian collection and getting rid of the ones which are so drearily determined to worry about fat, sugar and salt that they forget to concentrate on taste.

Mama Zabetta's Spicy Greens

This recipe is from Witch in the Kitchen: magical cooking for all seasons by Cait Johnson, which I only just bought and thus is not on my potential cull pile, but I figured I hadn't made a recipe from it yet so I should probably blog one anyway. The cookbook is divided into sections for each of the eight major pagan festivals and contains lots of other suggestions for crafts and rituals as well as seasonally-inspired recipes. I love it and foresee it getting a lot of use!

My menu plan for the week had vegetable fritters down for one night, so I moved it to Monday night, since I do the fruit and vege shopping on the weekend, and added the stir-fried greens recipe as a side. I made brown rice and corn fritters, which my kids devoured as though they hadn't been fed for a week, but the stir-fried greens weren't as much of a hit with them (although we adults ate the lot). The two smaller ones insisted on cutting up the silverbeet for me, which meant that Miss K at least tried "her" greens and seemed to like them, but she didn't touch the other vegetables. I thought they were very yummy indeed, and it's definitely my kind of recipe, since it contains lots of "add whatever you like here" and "chuck in another slosh of this until it looks right". And half the fun of this book is in the author's editorialising throughout the recipes, which I'm leaving out for brevity. But here are the bones of the dish.

Mama Zabetta's Spicy Stir-fried Greens with Nuts and Seeds



Ingredients
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Onions, chopped
Garlic cloves, chopped
Dried mustard (I didn't have any)
Chilli or pepper flakes
Assorted slower cooking vegetables: I had zucchini, celery and green capsicum
Shoyu or tamari (I had mushroom soy sauce)
Dry red wine (optional)
Assorted faster cooking vegetables: I had silverbeet (swiss chard)
Toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds
Cashew, pecan or almond pieces
Toasted sesame oil (I didn't have any)
Fresh parsley, chopped (I had coriander)

Heat some oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the onions, garlic, chilli or pepper flakes and dried mustard. Stir occasionally til onion is golden and tender. Chop your slower cooking vegetables, and add with a slug of soy sauce and red wine (if using). Stir and add olive oil occasionally. [I added about a tablespoon of honey as well]. When everything is just crisp-tender, add the faster cooking vegetables and continue to cook for just another couple of minutes, until the greens are just wilted.

Add a handful or so of toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds and either cashew, pecan or almond pieces [I dry-fried a saucerful of sunflower seeds, slivered almonds and pine nuts, and served separately at the table]. Drizzle with toasted sesame oil and serve topped with chopped fresh parsley [or coriander, if you remember, which I didn't] over a bed of your favourite cooked grain.



I served it as a side to my rice fritters, which are the easiest thing in the world to make and somehow turn brown rice into a magnificent dish which Ms I Hate Brown Rice, Actually will devour. You can add tuna for a non-vego audience and they are even better. I served them with a dollop of sour cream and some sweet chilli sauce on top, but Ms B insisted on eating them with tartare sauce like she used to when she ate the tuna patties, and they were still yummy.

1 cup brown rice, cooked and cooled slightly
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup grated cheese
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1-2 tbsp flour to bind

Combine. Drop tablespoonfuls into a frying pan over medium heat and flatten. Turn them over when they're cooked on one side, then stick them on a plate in the oven to keep warm while you fry the rest. Try and secure some for your own plate before your offspring devour them all and then fight over the crumbs.

Tomato-Barley Soup

I wanted something a little less ambitious after the last couple of recipes. I'm not overfond of tomato soups personally, but my family loves them, and I figured this one sounded interestingly chunky and encouragingly simple.

The recipe comes from Nava Atlas' quirky cookbook American Harvest: Regional Recipes for the Vegetarian Kitchen. This is yet another one from my mother (I swear I have actually bought some of my own cookbooks in the last twenty years). I really like reading this cookbook because, as you can kind of see in the last photo, it is full of funny little pencil drawings and snippets from historical cookbooks and other sources. But I hardly ever cook anything out of it, which seems like a shame. It just doesn't quite match up with my usual cooking style, although it's much less stereotypically American than most of the internet since it relies on fresh unprocessed ingredients and does not contain any mention of either Velveeta mock-cheese or cream of lark's-vomit soup. But I now have a list of recipes I like the sound of (including the Virginia Peanut Soup on the facing page), so hopefully I shall use it more often, since I can't bring myself to put it into my cull pile.

Tomato-Barley Soup



Ingredients
oil
2 large onions, quartered and thinly sliced
3/4 cup pearl barley, rinsed
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium turnips or 2 smallish potatoes, peeled and diced (I used potatoes)
2 large stalks celery, diced
One 28-ounce can imported plum tomatoes with liquid (1 used 2 x 400g tins)
2 bay leaves
5 cups water
3 tbsp fresh dill (I didn't have any)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. And the onions and saute over a low heat until they are golden. [Endeavour not to get distracted and burn the crap out of them, especially if they were your last ones, because otherwise you might have to go to the lengths of emptying them out of the saucepan into a colander and scrubbing out the saucepan before putting the slightly singed pieces back in, and that would be just silly.] Add the barley, carrots, turnips or potatoes, celery, tomatoes with their liquid, bay leaves, and water. Turn up heat to bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 1/4 hoursstirring every 20 minutes or so [I didn't cook it for that long; probably only 45 mins]. At this point the barley and vegetables should be done, or nearly so.



Add the dill and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, another 10 or 15 minutes...Adjust the consistency with more water, if necessary [it was]. The soup will thicken as it stands [oh boy, did it just]. Adjust the liquids and seasonings if necessary, but let it stay nice and thick.



Verdict

Filling and tasty. We served it with grated cheese on the top, which worked well. I could have added more water before serving, but I liked it as a stew. Will probably make again, anyway.

Hmm.

It's clear the challenge is not going to work as written. I didn't record a meal last night because I ran up against the fact that I only had a few vegetables left in the fridge and am trying to cut out going to the shops specifically for one recipe. I couldn't find anything which I could reasonably make with the vegetables I had which didn't a) come too close to a meal or protein source we'd had in the last couple of days, which I hate doing; b) require so many substitutions as to make it barely following a recipe at all; or c) teach your grandmother to suck eggs - ie. one recipe I found which I could have made last night without substitutions was tuna patties. Um, right. The day I need a recipe to make tuna patties, it won't matter because I'll already be in the nursing home.

I've also discovered that there are classes of cookbooks which are getting a pass even though I don't necessarily want to cook anything out of them in the next couple of months. For instance, the aforementioned recipe for tuna patties came from The Commonsense Cookery Book, which I will be keeping as a resource for my kids as they learn to cook. Another, Farmhouse Cooking, is staying because, while I don't anticipate needing a recipe for curing a ham any time soon, it's rather more likely to come in handy at some point in our proposed homesteading adventures.

Bu ton the other hand, while I didn't find anything I wanted to cook yesterday, I did put five or six books in my cull pile. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the vast number of ethnic cookbooks which require an upfront investment in condiments which I probably won't use up any time soon and will just be annoying to pack. It's also coming up against the fact that I don't necessarily give a rodent's posterior about being authentic if it involves twenty three herbs, spices and sauces when I can just trade that in for a commercial sauce or paste, or make something which tastes awesome but is probably a shocking mismatch of ingredients from different traditions (oh, sorry, I mean Fusion Cuisine). This is probably an admission that I am not a Real Foodie(TM), but meh. Should I turf them all and decide that this is what the internet is for?

That said, I'm not even thinking about getting rid of, say, Claudia Roden or Madhur Jaffrey, because there are some things which One Just Does Not Do.

Anyway. I'll revise my original target to posting here 4 times a week, and anything more than that is a bonus. Also, since I'm not just putting my main meals on trial, I'll try to do more baking as well. I have at least four bread cookbooks and still never make bread by hand, for example. Sigh.

Gado Gado

This is another one from The Vegetarian Gourmet. It was kind of a cheat, since I've made it before, but by the time I'd discarded four other cookbooks because I didn't have the ingredients or hadn't left myself enough time, it was this or just flinging something together, and I didn't want to fall in a heap on the second day of my challenge!

Gado Gado is a very useful "bottom of the vege crisper" recipe, since you just pull out any vegetables you've got and whack peanut sauce on them. Mmm, peanut sauce... I added noodles to the suggested list of foods to serve, and cooked up enough hard boiled eggs for everyone to have one (or, in the case of the kids, two). I'll give the recipe for peanut sauce as written, because I actually followed it with only one substitution due to missing ingredients, but just tell you what veges we had instead of giving you the suggested ones. You can use whatever you want, or whatever needs to be cleared out of the fridge before you go shopping.

My nearly-5yo also had enormous fun with this recipe. She peeled veges for me, then cleared the table (because she wanted it to be "pretty" for the photographs) and assembled most of the veges on the platter by herself. She did not, however, eat the peanut sauce, which kind of made it less like gado gado than a big plate of vegies, noodles and eggs, although she didn't seem to mind this.

Vegetable Salad with Peanut Sauce (Gado Gado)



Sauce
oil
2 cloves garlic
1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder (I used a bit less than 1/4 because I am a wimp)
1 medium onion, finely diced
225g crunchy peanut butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (because I didn't have any lemon juice)
450mL water

Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onion until golden. Add the garlic and chilli and fry until fragrant. Add the peanuts, brown sugar, and rice wine vinegar or lemon juice and stir to combine, then gradually stir in the water. Bring it to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened but remains thin enough to pour. Keep the sauce hot on a very low burner while you finish preparing the vegetables.

Vegetables platter
1 small red and 1 small green capsicum, sliced
about two cups of shredded won bok
1 tin of baby corn, or use fresh
1 medium zucchini, cut into 2 inch long sticks
1/4 cauliflower, cut into florets
1 medium sweet potato, cut into 2 inch long sticks
2 small carrots, cut into 2 inch long sticks
3 cakes of rice vermicelli
hard boiled eggs (optional)

I didn't blanch the capsicum or won bok, although Scott suggests doing so for some vegetables, because I could not be arsed. I steamed the sweet potato and carrots until almost tender, then added the cauliflower for a couple of minutes, then the zucchini for another couple of minutes.



Boil the noodles for a few minutes until cooked, then drain and put in the middle of the platter. Arrange all the vegetables in piles around the edge of the platter. Pour the sauce over the vegetables, or serve in a separate bowl. We gave everybody a hard boiled egg each, although Scott suggests using 1 egg as a garnish. Omit entirely for a fabulous vegan meal!



Verdict

It was bloody marvellous. Two out of two recipes from this book have been roaring successes: I think this book is going on the "keepers" pile!

Vegetable Paella

Recipe from David Scott, The Vegetarian Gourmet. This is another one which has been hanging around in my bookshelf for decades and is rarely used. I think it was originally from my mother as well, come to think of it.

A rice dish jumped out at me tonight, because we all like rice but I'm bored with risotto. I always thought a paella was pretty similar to a risotto anyway, but I've never made one with brown rice before. It might have been a good idea to take the extra cooking time into consideration when choosing a recipe when it was already 7pm! It took over an hour to cook. But that may have been an advantage, because everyone was so hungry by the time it appeared that it was hoovered up with great enthusiasm by everyone, including Ms I Hate Brown Rice, Actually (B) and Miss I Will Never Ever Eat A Tomato [Or A Capsicum Or A Mushroom Or Any Visible Onion] (K).

This would be easy enough to veganise if you just leave out the cheese garnish at the end (although you might want to add a contrasting flavour to serve with it, or up the seasonings, since I suspect it may have been a trifle bland without the cheese).

Here followeth the recipe, with the usual variations noted (because I am constitutionally incapable of following a recipe exactly as written).

Vegetable Paella

Ingredients

Oil (I used the infused oil from a jar of sun dried tomatoes, for extra nom)
2 cloves garlic
2 medium onions, sliced
2 medium green peppers, sliced (I used one green, one red)
1c chopped mushrooms (my addition)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (I used a punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved)
375g brown rice
850mL water or stock
salt and black pepper to taste (I added 1 tsp each cumin and coriander and a slug of red wine vinegar, because I thought it sounded dreadfully bland)
100g cucumber, peeled and sliced (omitted)
2 sticks celery, chopped (omitted)
100g chopped nuts (I used cashews, slivered almonds and pine nuts)
1 bunch English spinach, washed and shredded (my addition)
1c frozen corn kernels (my addition)
50g olives
175g grated Cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan and saute the onions until they start to colour. Add the pepper and mushrooms and fry for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, rice and spices and cook over a low heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. Pour in the water or stock [I had mine at the boil], season with salt and black pepper, and boil rapidly for five minutes.
Add the cucumber, celery and nuts, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed [add the slug of vinegar at some point in this process]. Stir in spinach and corn towards the end of the cooking time. Serve garnished with grated cheese and olives [we probably used twice as much as specified].

Cookbook Challenge

My name is Mama Ogg, and I have too many cookbooks.

I'm moving interstate in a few months, and part of our decluttering effort probably really ought to focus on reducing the weight of our ridiculously huge library. So as part of that - and partly to get me out of a food rut I'm currently stuck in - I am going to try to go through all my recipe books and see how many recipes I actually feel inspired to cook, and then, how successful they are. Preferably with pictures, because this blog has been pretty moribund for years and is dreadfully boring besides. So, I think a two-month challenge to whittle down my book collection would be a Good Idea. Starting yesterday!

Linky Goodness

Recipes to try when I get my crockpot back:

Crockpot Honey Lentils

Crockpot Baked Bean Soup

Sweet Potato Chilli

African Peanut Soup

Red Bean Goulash

Recipe from Janet Horsley's Bean Cuisine, with one or two minor changes. Bean Cuisine probably has the distinction of being my oldest vegetarian cookbook, which my mother gave to me when I was a teenager (I first went vego when I was about 14 but I don't remember exactly when she gave me the book). It's one of those earnest and unintentionally funny British wholefoods vegetarian cookbooks where they are making the first valiant attempts at ethnic outreach to avoid the tedium of veg and three veg, boiled until grey, a la Ye Olde English Vegetarian Cookery. I wasn't tempted by Tangerine Tofu Salad or Wheat Berry Risotto, but I did like the sound of Red Bean Goulash. And it was terribly good :-)


2 onions
1 green pepper
2 sticks of celery
2 potatoes
1/2 tsp caraway seeds (I didn't have any, so used cardamom instead)
2 tsp paprika (next time I'm going to try it with 3 tsp)
4c water + 2tsp stock powder, or just use stock
1/4 small cauliflower
2 400g tins kidney beans, or 1c dry kidney beans, soaked, boiled and drained
2 tbsp tomato puree (I used about a cup of passata)
1/2 c natural yoghurt
2 tsp lemon juice (I omitted this since I didn't have any lemons)

Slice the potatoes, celery, onions and pepper and saute in the oil. Add the seeds and paprika and fry until fragrant. Pour in the water and simmer until potatoes are just tender [I misread the recipe here and used 4c of water, but the original calls for only 1 1/4c. I will go with my quantity next time though, because it made lots of tasty sauce which was awesome with mashed potato!]. Stir in tomato paste/passata, cauliflower and beans and simmer until everything is tender and sauce has reduced a bit. Take off the heat, stir through yoghurt, cover and sit for half an hour or so before serving to let the flavours blend. Serve with mashed potato made with sour cream and lots of pepper and salt. Nom!

Roast Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

about 6c diced sweet potato, pumpkin, potato and red onion
olive oil
1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 tin diced tomato
1c passata
1/2 c sultanas
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1tsp each cumin, coriander and sweet paprika
1/2 tsp each ginger and chilli powder (or to taste)
1c couscous
1c boiling water
olive oil, black pepper to taste
1/2c slivered almonds

Toss the vegetables separately in olive oil. Roast the sweet potato and potato for ten minutes then add the pumpkin and onion and roast until soft. Put the vegetables in a large frypan or saucepan with the chickpeas, garlic and spices and saute until fragrant. Add sultanas, tomato and passata, stir and simmer for about fifteen minutes to allow the flavours to blend (add more water if necessary to stop it sticking).

In the meantime, combine the couscous and boiling water in a covered pan for about five minutes, then stir through a drizzle of olive oil and black pepper to taste. Toast the almonds briefly in a hot pan until golden, stirring all the while, and remove from pan as soon as they're done to stop them burning. Sprinkle over the top of the tagine to serve.

Ethiopian Lentils and Vegetables

Ethiopian Vegetable Bowl

Lentil Bowl (recipe adapted from here)

1 small onion, diced
~1 tsp each ginger, garlic powder (aaargh, no garlic in the house! Use the real deal if you have it)
~1/4 tsp cayenne
1 c red lentils
water

Saute onion til transparent, add spices and fry for a minute or two. Add lentils and 3-4 cups of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes, checking the water level occasionally.

Vegetable Bowl (recipe adapted from here)

1/2 large sweet potato, cut into small dice [original recipe calls for carrots but I didn't have any]
3-4 medium potatoes, cut into small dice
~1 tsp each ginger, garlic and turmeric
1/4 green cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 zucchini, cut into small dice (optional)
4-5 shallots, snipped

Saute the root vegetables in a big frypan until they brown, to deepen the flavour. Add spices and fry for a minute or two, then add a little bit of water until it's about 1cm deep. You want to steam the vegetables but cook the sauce off by the end of the dish, so start with a little bit of water and add more if necessary. Cover and simmer gently until the vegetables are almost tender, checking on the water level occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Then add the cabbage, zucchini and shallots and stir to coat thoroughly in divine-smelling yellow sauce. Add a bit more water if necessary (only enough to dampen the mix and make sure it doesn't stick) then cover and simmer for five minutes until vegetables are cooked through but still vibrant.

Serve with rice.

Muesli Biscuits

I made these today, with a packet of Aldi brand muesli which nobody was eating, and they are scrummy!

Ingredients

• 2 tbs boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 125g butter, melted, cooled
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 220g (2 cups) natural muesli
• 150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 150g (1 cup) plain flour

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Combine the water and bicarbonate of soda in a medium jug. Add the melted butter and maple syrup and stir to combine.
3. Place the muesli, brown sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl. Pour in butter mixture and use a wooden spoon to mix until well combined.
4. Place teaspoonsful of the mixture onto the lined trays about 5cm apart.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Stand on baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Moist Lemon Cake

I gave this recipe a try today, except I substituted the juice of two lemons for most of the milk, since we have all these lemons we need to use up!

INGREDIENTS

125g butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
½ cup (75g) plain flour
½ cup (125ml) milk

Topping
½ cup (125ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

NOTE: This recipe can be made two days ahead.

METHOD

Preheat the oven to moderate (180°/160°C fan-forced). Grease a deep 20cm round cake pan, then line the base with baking paper.

Beat the butter, rind and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined between additions.

Stir in the sifted flours in two batches with the milk.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes or until the cake is cooked when tested.

For the topping, combine the lemon juice and sugar in a jug; stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the topping over the hot cake; allow cake to stand for 15 minutes before turning the cake onto a wire rack to cool.

Suitable to freeze.

Pumpkin, Spinach and Rice Pie

I had planned on Roast Vegetable Quiche tonight but due to having my keys stolen by evil children we didn't make it to the markets for veg. So I kept the pastry idea, and decided to use up my leftover butternut pumpkin and the other 50c tub of silken tofu.

1 sheet short crust pastry
~2c diced butternut pumpkin, steamed
4 frozen spinach portions, defrosted
~1c grated cheese
~1c cooked brown rice
black pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
300g tub silken tofu, drained
1 egg
~2tbsp sour cream
slosh of balsamic vinegar
1 heaped tsp crushed garlic

Fill pastry shell with beans and blind bake for ten minutes or so. Combine pumpkin, spinach, cheese, brown rice and seasonings and mix well. Put wet ingredients in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Stir into rice mixture, mix well, and turn into pastry case. Bake at 200C until risen and cooked through.

I'm also making Colcannon on the side :D Nom nom nom.

Fruity Crockpot Oatmeal

I'm also trying this recipe out in the crockpot overnight. I used a tin of pie apples instead of a fresh apple, and dates instead of raisins. I also added an extra 2 cups of water because the quantities given didn't go very far in my crockpot and I don't want it to boil dry. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Carrot Tofu Cake

I bought a couple of packs of silken tofu marked down to 50c each today, so needed to think of something to do with them. I also wanted to make a cake for a coffee morning tomorrow. So I googled "tofu cake" and came up with this recipe. I changed the recipe slightly (and also accidentally made it non-vegan, because I didn't realise it *was* vegan, so I substituted milk and oil for the applesauce since I didn't have any. But anyway...).

~4 carrots, grated
300g packet silken tofu, drained
1/3c oil
1/3c milk
2c plain flour
1 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
~1/2c chopped walnuts

Grate carrots and combine with walnuts in a large bowl. Place all other ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Combine, and cook at 180C until done.

It's still in the oven so I can't tell you how it turned out yet :)

Russian Mushroom and Potato Soup

I am in a rut and need more recipe inspiration. This soup sounds very yummy indeed.

Lamb and Bean Hotpot

How to turn $2.44 of meat and the few remaining contents of the vegetable crisper into a glorious meal.

4 lamb sausages
2 onions, cut into 1/8ths
2 large carrot, diced
6 potatoes, diced
1/2 bag mushrooms, cut into chunks
garlic
1 ea tin kidney beans and cannellini beans
1 tbsp mushroom soy sauce
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
~1 tsp beef stock powder
2 tbsp cornflour

Boil the sausages to remove fat, dice. Saute onions until translucent, add mushrooms and cook until they start to release moisture. Add sausages and garlic and cook for a minute or two. Deglaze bottom of pan with mushroom soy sauce and a little bit of water. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for cornflour, plus two or three cups of water (until just below the level of the other ingredients). Cover and simmer until root vegetables are nearly tender, then uncover and allow the sauce to reduce a little. When cooked through, dissolve the cornflour in 1/2 cup cold water and stir through the stew, stirring until thickened.

Recipe Dump

Some recipes I've tried recently which I don't want to lose...

Vegan Pastry - shamefully, I'm totally crap at pastry. This is the only recipe I've had even moderately good results with!

Basic Biscuits - these are quite light with the SRF, but not too sweet.

Chocolate cake in five minutes

I am so going to try this recipe the next time I have a craving for chocolate!

Making from scratch

I have added two new recipes to my repertoire in the last couple of days - custard and mayonnaise. Mmmm... yum!

Plum Cobbler

This recipe for plum cobbler is simple but very very yummy. I made it with a large tin of plums, which was slightly disgusting because they had to be halved and seeded and it felt like disembowelling small rotting animals. But it tasted good.

Meat! Cooked!

I asked my Beloved what he wanted for dinner, and his answer was the above. Sending him out to the freezer to see whether we did in fact have any meat! which could be cooked! revealed a package of mince but no further inspiration, so I googled for recipes. For some reason, I liked the sound of "hotpot" so I added that to the search term. After one or two false starts I found this recipe: Prater Pie (otherwise known as an authentic Lancashire 'Ot Pot - look for the recipe added by Barbara about halfway down the page). Since I am not daft, and had half a red cabbage waiting in the refrigerator for this very recipe, I took her advice and accompanied it with Pickled Red Cabbage and Apple. And lo, it was very bloody good.

Dessert Recipes to Try

Since I am now broke for the next two weeks I am going to try cooking a healthy(ish) dessert every night so that I can have a sugar fix without having to spend heaps on empty calories. I've done dessert for the last three nights (for a change) so I'm on a roll. So far we've had golden syrup dumplings (there are 6 in the freezer), banana cake, and baked apples (or in this case, nashi fruit). I still have 3 squashy bananas to use up so I'm going to increase my banana cake recipe by half again and make muffins.

Here are some other suggestions:

Fruity Pikelets (good because they are customisable rather than the fruit being added to the batter).

Date Pudding.

Eggless Carrot Cake.

Appleberry Crumble.

Baked Rice (or quinoa) Pudding.

Rhubarb Custard Meringue (one for when we actually have rhubarb we can harvest, as well).

Fruit Compote (for a non-B night).

Plain yoghurt with honey and cinnamon is very yummy, probably acceptable to B, and a good way of adding extra calcium. Plus I can make the yoghurt myself. And it's about time I learned how to make proper custard.

Yummiest Breakfast Scrommelata Evar

I have discovered the ultimate in morning luxuries - eggs scrambled with cream. Mmmm...

Ingredients:
2 slices bacon, diced
leftover roast veges, about 1 cup
1 garden-fresh tomato
3 leaves chard, shredded
about 1 cup diced capsicum, mushrooms, etc
2 eggs, fresh from the chooks
2 dessertspoons cream
1 tbsp parmesan
1/2 tsp onion powder (in lieu of onions)
black pepper
1/2 cup grated Cheddar (optional)

Saute the bacon, then add all the veges (chard and tomato last) and cook til chard has just wilted and everything else is nice and soft. Beat eggs and cream together with the Parmesan, and season.Pour over the veges, tilt pan to spread evenly, and cook til set on the bottom. Sprinkle over grated cheese and put under the grill til top is set. Serve on toast, and prepare to swoon.

Bacon Muffins

This recipe (with some judicious editing - the idea of making muffins with cream of mushroom soup nearly made me barf) Woz Not Bad.

Beef, Beans and Greens

Mmmm...must go and buy some navy beans tomorrow. I have a hankering to make Boston baked beans, and also to make this stew with the chuck steak and kale I now have hanging around.

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

1 onion
1-2 tsp green curry paste
1 large sweet potato
1 carrot
1/3 cup red lentils
1/3 cup ground almonds
1 small tin lite coconut milk


Cook. Then blend. Then eat. It's yummy!

Random recipes

Made this recipe for sweet and sour dipping sauce tonight. We had DIY rice paper rolls (which would have been rather more successful if E and then B had not dropped the packet of wrappers!) for dinner.

I want to try this recipe for Green Tomato and Apple Chutney this week. I am requesting apples from the trees on the way to riding school tomorrow, so I don't have to experiment with expensive ones! *g* I do probably need to buy more brown sugar, vinegar and sultanas, though.

Sage and Garlic Bread

250g wholemeal bread mix
1.5 tsp dry yeast
2 tsp dried sage
large pinch salt
3 tsp garlic
1 tsp honey
150mL tepid water
milk for glazing
poppy seeds

Put bread mix, yeast, sage, garlic and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add honey and water, and mix together to form a dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic (about five minutes). Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and leave in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size.

Knead the dough again for a few minutes, then roll it into a long thin sausage and form into a circle. Join the two ends by moistening with water. Put it onto a greased baking tray, cover with a clean teatowel and leave somewhere warm for about 30 minutes.

Brush with milk and sprinkle with poppyseeds before baking in a preheated 200C oven for about half an hour. Eat warm and spread with butter!

Roast Vegetable Quiche

1 sheet shortcrust pastry
1/2 sweet potato
equivalent weight in Queensland Blue pumpkin
2 small onions, cut into eighths
1 small orange capsicum, cut into thirds
~1 tbsp pinenuts
1/2 cup grated cheese (mixture of cheddar and parmesan)
2 eggs
1/2 tub silken tofu
~1/2 cup milk
1 tsp egg replacer
2 tsp crushed garlic
slosh balsamic vinegar
black pepper

Dice the sweet potato and pumpkin and toss them and the onions in oil. Plonk in a roasting tray and stick in the oven at 210C for 30-40 minutes.

Put the capsicum pieces cut side down on another tray and roast likewise. When skins begin to blacken, remove and cover with a clean teatowel. When cool enough to handle, remove skins and roughly chop flesh.

Grease a square flan dish and line with pastry. Cover with a square of baking parchment and add baking beans. Blind bake for ten minutes. Remove parchment and beans, and roughly spread roasted vegetables over pastry base. Sprinkle with pine nuts and grated cheese.

Combine eggs, milk, tofu, egg replacer, balsamic vinegar, garlic and pepper in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Pour over filling and bake at 200C until cooked through.

Apple Chutney

Now I'm all fired up about preserving, I think I need to trial this recipe.

Collard Greens with Bacon

A new experiment from the Farmers' Market. I've read about collard greens for years without ever seeing them for sale, so of course I had to buy some to try. Googling for recipes brought up a number of common themes and some variations, so I zipped up to the shops for bacon, and ended up throwing this together as an accompaniment to fritatta.

1 bunch collard greens, stems removed and leaves shredded
1 small onion
1/3-1/2 cup bacon, diced
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp paprika

Saute the onion and bacon together until the onion is cooked. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add greens, vinegar, sugar and paprika and stir together, cover and sweat over a low heat until greens wilt and are just beginning to change colour (you want to keep them green). Serve as a side dish, and lament that there wasn't twice as much!

This quantity fed E and me, but next time I will buy two bunches as I probably ended up with about half the quantity of leafage as in the average supermarket bunch of English spinach (as a comparison).

Menu Plan 1 Dec - 7 Dec

Saturday 1 Dec
leftovers

Sunday 2 Dec
leftovers

Monday 3 Dec
Roast Chicken
(sweet potato, potato, pumpkin, carrot, broccoli, green beans/steamed veges)

Tuesday 4 Dec
Risotto with Roast Vegetables, Spinach and Fetta
(pumpkin, sweet potato, spinach, onion, fetta)

Wednesday 5 Dec (B horse riding)
Tuna Pasta Bistro
(cheese sauce with tuna, and your choice of broccoli, red capsicum, carrot, peas'n'corn, SDT, etc)
Apple Crumble with Flaxseeds

Thursday 6 Dec
Lamb Curry(?); greens with coconut
(onion, potatoes, peas, sour cream; greens in season, onion, green capsicum)

Friday 7 Dec
Fritatta
(Onion, potato, SDT, olives, red capsicum, anything else left over)

Apple Teacake

We just tried out this recipe.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Mmm, yes please! Recipe from Elise's Simply Recipes blog.

Minestrone

The purchase of yummy Italian bread and lots of vegies at the Farmers' Market this morning required the making of minestrone this evening.

1 onion, diced
1 leek, sliced thickly
1 carrot, diced
1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 (very) small red capsicum, diced
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tub tomato paste
1L water
1/8 green cabbage, finely shredded
1 bunch pak choi, finely shredded (or use spinach or silverbeet)
1/2 zucchini, diced
1 tin cannelini beans
1 tin kidney beans
black pepper and basil to season

Saute onion, leek, carrot, broccoli and capsicum until beginning to wilt. Add garlic for a minute until fragrant. Add tomato paste, and gradually mix in water. Season. Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add cabbage, pak choi, zucchini and beans, simmer for five minutes until heated through, and serve with grated cheese (preferably Parmesan, although I didn't have any tonight) and Italian bread.

We've been eating pretty crappily this week because I've been too tired to cook most nights, and I can just feel my body radiating gratitude at me for all those yummy vegetables right now *g* Maybe I'm a food snob, but I can't believe that some people eat the kind of processed crap we've been subsisting on this week all the time, and think that it constitutes real food...

Easy Meals

Things in cupboard/freezer:
Butter chicken sauce x 2 (need diced chicken x 2)
Rogan Josh (need diced lamb)
Laksa (need meat, tofu or nuts, and noodles)
Pita pizzas (need salami/ham in freezer)
Frozen chicken x 1
Fish fillets

Things to buy and freeze in meal sizes:
Greenhills beef order (split with mum and dad)
Ham hock (for pea and ham soup)
Noodles for stir-fry, laksa
Shredded ham, sliced salami

Things to buy for the cupboard:
Stir-fry in a can

Things to cook and freeze:
Mexican Beans
Spaghetti sauce, veg and meat (freeze as is and as lasagne)
Pumpkin Soup [made 1 batch 11/10]
Dhal [made 1 batch 11/10]

Kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils for easy meal bases

Cakes and biscuits

Yum!

Tonight I flung together a meal which turned out to be amazingly yummy. Part of it was due to the specific ingredients - we bought new potatoes from the farmers' market last time we were there, and served them as simply as possible - boiled in their skins with butter, pepper and salt. They were utterly magnificent. Anyone who goes to the local farmers' market, you must buy potatoes from Glenn na Meala Farm. They are so delicious that they have even convinced the EDoD that she likes potatoes, an astonishing feat! They also have the advantage of being super local - the farm is only ten minutes drive away from our house :-) I also used eggs from our own chooks, and olive oil from another very local producer, but the rest of the ingredients were generic supermarket/greengrocer products and sourced from God knows where... *sigh*

Vegetable Fritters

1 onion, finely diced or grated
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, grated
salt
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup grated cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
salt and black pepper to taste
2 large eggs
2-3 tbsp wholemeal flour
oil for shallow frying

Grate the vegetables into a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave til the juices release. Rinse and tip into a clean teatowel, squeeze until dry. Add corn kernels, grated cheese, and garlic and mix together. Stir through wholemeal flour til the vegetables are coated (add more if necessary). Beat eggs and seasoning together, bind mixture with egg, and put in the fridge for half an hour, unless your family is starving to death, in which case just be careful in turning them as they won't stick together as well. Shallow fry and serve hot.

Chickpea Couscous Salad

7-8 sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), shredded
1/4 cup currants
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 tsp butter or margarine
1 cup couscous
1 cup boiling water
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 stick celery, thinly sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper to taste

Combine tomatoes, currants, peas, butter or margarine and couscous in a lidded container with the boiling water. Stir quickly, cover and leave until water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork, and microwave for 30 seconds or so if the couscous is still slightly soggy. Turn into a large serving bowl with celery and chickpeas. Beat olive oil and balsamic vinegar together then pour over couscous mixture and stir thoroughly. Season to taste.

Kitchiri

Another yummy lentil recipe made up on the fly... Kind of an Indian risotto without any cheese.

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown lentils
1 cup Arborio rice
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp each ground cumin and coriander
1/2 tsp chilli flakes, or to taste
salt, to taste
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 medium carrot, diced
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup sour cream
4 hardboiled eggs
sweet chilli sauce

Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and spices and fry until fragrant. Add lentils and two-three cups of water and cook until lentils have softened. Add Arborio rice and vegetables (except peas) and continue to simmer gently, adding more boiling water as liquids are absorbed. When rice is almost tender, stir through peas and sour cream and continue to cook gently until rice is soft but still slightly nutty. Serve topped with quartered hard boiled eggs, and sweet chilli sauce.

Chicken and Quinoa Soup

Beth and Katy both devoured this soup when I made it last week, so the recipe is a definite keeper. We had roast chicken for dinner tonight, so I decided I would make this soup again from the leftovers (and I'm actually motivated to make stock from the carcass tonight since I can think of an immediate use for it).

Chicken and Quinoa Soup
1/3 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups water or chicken stock
1/2 small potato, grated and finely minced
2 Brussels sprouts, finely shredded
1/2 cup cooked chicken, diced
1/2 cup corn kernels
1-2 tbsp cornflour dissolved in water
oregano, black pepper and salt to taste

Boil the quinoa and the potato til the quinoa's "tails" are beginning to loosen, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook until quinoa is fully cooked. Pour in cornflour and water, and stir until soup thickens (add more cornflour and water if soup seems to thin after five minutes or so). Serve to pickiest eater and watch her scrape her bowl clean.

Next time, I will add finely chopped broccoli florets and increase the amount of potato, which appears to be undetectable.

Basic Biscuit Recipe

I want to do some biscuit baking with the munchkins, but I don't have a basic biscuit recipe which I like. Here is one I found to experiment with.

Food Down Under Basic Biscuit Recipe. Is awesome. We made it this afternoon and iced it and sprinkled it with 100s and 1000s (K's job), and I have tried very hard not to eat all of them immediately. They are kind of shortbready but not gritty - very nice!

Cup Cakes!

Katy and I decided to try out this recipe this morning. We made a quick trip to the shops for sprinkles and mini M&Ms to decorate them with, because I was feeling decadent! They look beautiful, having just come out of the oven, and we are waiting for them to cool down before we decorate them.

ETA: This is now my official white cake recipe - they are delicious! K lost interest in decorating them and I got a phone call while I was in the process of doing the rest, so some of them don't have sprinkles because the icing had hardened by the time I got to them. Oh well. Still yummy.

If there are any left for you this evening, Beloved, let alone B when she gets back tomorrow night, you will both be very lucky *g*

Sour Cream Apple Muffins

Another new recipe. Since I am always on the lookout for the perfect muffin recipe, I must write down every variation of every recipe I try :-) My version looks like this.

1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 cup white plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup ground almonds
1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup melted margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 heaped cup baker's apple
1/2 cup sultanas

Combine dry ingredients. Stir through baker's apple, breaking into smaller pieces. Measure margarine and sour cream into a jug; add enough milk to make liquid up to 1 1/2 cups. Add to eggs and beat thoroughly. Combine with dry ingredients. Cook at 180C until cooked through (I forgot to adjust the oven temperature after the last recipe - the recipe I used said 400F for 12-15 minutes).

Made 12 large and 17 mini muffins.

ETA: unfortunately these were not very nice. They were certainly deliciously moist, but there wasn't enough sugar to disguise the taste of the fats. Next time I will adjust total sugar to 1 cup.

Salmon Loaf

New recipe to try.

As usual, I extemporised like mad with this recipe and made all sorts of changes, so I'm hoping I can remember them all... First of all, I thought that 2 cups of breadcrumbs was excessively bland, so I substituted 1/4 cup of ground almonds and 1/2 cup of wheatgerm. Then I only used about a heaped 1/2 cup measure of breadcrumbs on top of that, instead of making it the full 2 cups of the recipe. I only used 1 tin of salmon, because that was all I had.

1 tin pink or red salmon
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup wheatgerm
1-2 tbsp minced onion or shallot
¼ cup evaporated skim milk (or juice drained from salmon whisked with milk powder to thicken)
2 eggs
2 tbls salmon juice
2 tbls lemon juice
2 tbsp sour cream (optional)
¼ tsp tarragon
pepper
3 small-medium potatoes, steamed and mashed
1 carrot, grated
1 cup mushrooms, finely diced

Whisk eggs together, add liquid ingredients and sour cream, then ground almonds, wheatgerm, and enough breadcrumbs to make a thick paste. Add vegetables and salmon, season. Pack firmly into a greased glass loaf pan or square pan, and cook in the microwave on medium (6) for 35-40 minutes, checking for doneness after 30 minutes (may take a little extra to get the centre cooked through).

Recipe to Try

Martha's Chinese Chicken Salad - from Elise's Simply Recipes blog.

Only thing I would do differently is boil the beanthread rather than fry them - fried noodles don't do much for me at all.

Satay Tofu and Rice

This recipe originated from a vegan nasi goreng recipe, but I don't think it bears much resemblance to classic nasi goreng so I've renamed it. I haven't made it for years and had lost the recipe, so I'm writing it down now so I don't forget it again!

Ingredients
Satay sauce:
1/2 onion, finely diced
4-6 tbsp crunchy natural peanut butter
2-3 tbsp kejap manis (or substitute soy sauce)
2-3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp grated ginger (I didn't have any so I used 1 tsp ground)
2 tsp crushed garlic
1 small tin lite coconut milk
water

Tofu and Rice:
375g firm tofu, diced
2 cups brown rice, cooked
2 1/2 onions, sliced
1/2 head broccoli
1 large carrot, sliced
1 red capsicum, cut into 1 inch lengths
2 celery sticks, sliced (optional)
1/4 won bok, shredded

Cook the brown rice until tender, then remove cover and continue to cook, stirring, until most of the moisture has evaporated and the rice grains separate easily. Allow to cool while making the peanut sauce.

Saute onion until transparent, add ginger and cook until fragrant. Add peanut butter and thin with enough water to make a thickish sauce. Add kejap manis and sweet chilli sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in coconut milk and reduce heat to low. Heat through but don't let it boil.

Remove sauce from heat, cool slightly, then marinate diced tofu in sauce for a minimum of half an hour, stirring occasionally. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while waiting.

Stir fry onion until beginning to soften, then add broccoli and carrot and stir fry for a minute or two. Add capsicum and celery and continue to stir fry for another minute. Add rice and stir through vegetables. Pour sauce and tofu into wok and stir to mix and heat through. Finally, add won bok and stir until beginning to soften. Serve immediately.

Menu Plan June-July

Slight monetary crisis means we're having a largely vegetarian month coming up... Which will be a pain as it means I have to cater separately for Miss I-hate-vegetarian-food. A good opportunity to get her involved in more cooking, I think!

Saturday 23 June (B at farm)

• Barley and Vegetable Stoo with Dumplings
  

Sunday 24 June

• Lentil Lasagne
  

Monday 25 June

• Brown rice with mushrooms, Sweetcorn Rissoles, veges
  

Tuesday 26 June (Beth at farm)

• Tamale Pie
  

Wednesday 27 June

• oven-baked fish fillets, mashed spud, spinach sauce, veges
  

Thursday 28 June

• Atkilt Wat and Ethiopian Lentils (cook lots of rice)
• B can cook herself sausages, microwaved veges
  

Friday 29 June

• Butter Chicken
  

Saturday 30 June

• Tofu Nasi Goreng
• B can cook herself mini muffins in bread cases
  

Sunday 1 July

• Spaghetti Bolognaise (kangaroo mince from freezer)
  

Monday 2 July

• nachos (use leftover bolognaise for B)
  

Tuesday 3 July

• enchiladas
  

Wednesday 4 July

• risotto with ham or sausage
  

Thursday 5 July

• Salmon Casserole/Pasta Bake
  

Friday 6 July

• Lamb Korma
  

Saturday 7 July

• Mexican Bean Potato Toppers
  

Sunday 8 July

• Paneer with Spinach, Aloo Mutter
  

Monday 9 July

• Roast Chicken
  

Tuesday 10 July

• Tom Kha with leftover chicken
  

Wednesday 11 July

• oven-baked fish fillets, mashed spud, spinach sauce, veges
  

Thursday 12 July

• Bacon and Mushroom Quiche
  

Friday 13 July

• Green Chicken Curry
  

Saturday 14 July

• Felafel, Bourghul Salad, other salad veges
  

Sunday 15 July

• Kofta Curry, spiced vegetables
  

Monday 16 July

• Spinach Eggah
  

Tuesday 17 July

• Ethiopian Chickpea Wat
  

Wednesday 18 July

• risotto
  

Thursday 19 July

• Salmon Casserole/Pasta Bake
  

Friday 20 July

• Barley and Vegetable Stoo with Dumplings
  

Saturday 21 July

• Tamale Pie
  

Sunday 22 July

• Cheese Empanaditas (CAA pp. 30-1) and salads
  

Monday 23 July

• Kangaroo Stroganoff
  

Tuesday 24 July

• Tofu Stir Fry
  

Wednesday 25 July

• Crockpot Chicken and Apricot Tagine
  

Thursday 26 July

• Bacon and Spinach Macaroni Cheese
  

Friday 27 July

• Ravioli with Carbonara Sauce
  

Saturday 28 July

Sunday 29 July

Monday 30 July

• Shepherd's Pie (kangaroo mince)
  

Tuesday 31 July

Mushroom and Sausage Risotto

This is an oddball kind of a recipe which came about when I was trying to think how to make risotto acceptable to Ms B, aka Ms Feed-Me-MEAT! Sausages were the only thing I had in the freezer (boiling them first makes them easier to cut up).

1 onion
1 cup diced mushrooms*
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
boiling water
2 sausages, lightly boiled and sliced
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tsp basil
1 cup grated cheese**
black pepper and salt to taste

For onion-phobic people like B, whizz up the onion in a blender with 1/2 cup of warm water. Otherwise, just dice it, and saute until translucent. Saute mushrooms until soft, then add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add Arborio rice, and about 1/2 cup boiling water (or onion water), adding more as rice absorbs the moisture. Add sausage, tomato and basil after the rice has cooked for a while. Keep adding water until rice has a nutty texture. Stir in cheese, adding more water if necessary, and then season and serve as soon as cheese is melted through. Give the Eldest Daughter twice as much as she originally asked for because she likes it That Much.

* I would have put in more but I ran out; I'd love to use dried mushrooms to increase the flavour as well.
** I usually use 1.3 cup Parmesan but didn't have any in the fridge.

Mango Chutney

It's the wrong time of year for mangoes, but next summer I will definitely have to come back to this recipe when big trays of bruised mangoes start turning up at the Markets for ridiculously low prices!

Menu Plan - in progress

Thursday 10 May

• Tuna Pasta Sauce

Friday 11 May

• Chicken Chowder
  

Saturday 12 May

• Amanda's Partay - bring grub of some description
  

Sunday 13 May

• Kangaroo Bolognaise
  

Monday 14 May

• Crockpot Chicken and Apricot Tagine
  

Tuesday 15 May

• Vegan
  

Wednesday 16 May

• Red meat
  

Thursday 17 May

• Fish Cakes

Friday 18 May

• Chicken

Saturday 19 May

• Eggs Florentine or Baked Eggs in Spinach Cases
  

Sunday 20 May

• Kangaroo Roast

A Success!

The Bacon and Spinach Macaroni Cheese I linked to a couple of posts ago was a big hit last night. The EDOD finished her entire plateful, which means that this dish has now made it to high rotation in what passes for my menu planning these days (she ate it again for lunch today as well). Since I made a few changes to the recipe, I'll put my modified version here.

Bacon and Spinach Macaroni Cheese

• 300g vegeroni pasta
• 200g short-cut rindless bacon, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp cornflour
  
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
  
• ~1-2 cups grated low-fat cheddar cheese or tasty cheese
• 30g parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 5 portions of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
• black pepper and basil to taste
• 2 eggs, beaten

Cook the pasta until just al dente. Fry the bacon, then leave to drain. Blend the cornflour with 1 cup of water, then stir over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Gradually add the rest of the milk and the water, then mix in the cheeses and simmer gently until melted. Season to taste, then stir spinach, bacon and pasta into the sauce. Quickly fold in beaten eggs, pour into casserole dish and cook at 200C until top is golden.

This made about five adult servings.

Cake and Kangaroo

Not in the same dish, obviously!

This afternoon I engaged grumpy munchkins in cooking the Banana and Blueberry Loaf from my last post, and in the process turned them into happy and, an hour later, well-fed munchkins.
Cooking with my babies is fun!

Dinner was stroganoff, but I substituted kangaroo steak for beef, and the result was gorgeous!

Kangaroo Stroganoff

Ingredients:
500g kangaroo steak, thinly sliced
600g mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 onions, sliced
1 dessert spoon crushed garlic
~2-3 c water
1 chicken stock cube (optional)
3/4c extra lite sour cream
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp basil
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Suate onions til translucent. Remove from pan, and sear kangaroo strips over a very high heat for a minute or less, until sealed. Deglaze pan with 1-2 tbsp water. Add garlic, mushrooms, onions, and stock cube dissolved in a little boiling water. Fill pan with water to about 3/4 the height of the ingredients, cover and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer very gently for 45 minutes or until kangaroo is tender. Take out a couple of ladlefuls of broth and whisk into the sour cream, until smooth. Add cornflour to sour cream mixture and stir until smooth, then add to pan. Turn heat up and stir until thickened.

Serve over mashed potatoes, with steamed vegetables on the side. Drool.

This would probably make about 4 generous adult serves, or 5 if you add lots of extra veges.

Edited for clarity.

Yumminess to Try

Bacon and Spinach Macaroni Cheese - sounds like something which the EDOD will eat and which will be less boring for the rest of us than bog-standard mac'n'cheese.

Warm Potato Salad with sweet chilli sour cream - like wedges with the dipping done for you!

Banana and Blueberry Loaf - perfect in the unlikely event that we ever have some bananas which are allowed to become overripe...

* * * * *

I do find it odd that so many recipes containing goat's-milk cheese make it into the budget category on this website, though. In the world which contains my not-particularly-ungenerous grocery budget, real goat's cheese equals "luxury which can only be eaten every couple of months". $7-$8 for 400g is hardly a "budget" ingredient!

Ideas for Cooking Kangaroo Mince

Kangaroo Con Carne.

Shepherd's Pie with Kangaroo Mince.

From what I've read, it appears you can substitute roo mince for beef mince in any recipe where there will be extra moisture added (eg. a tomato-based sauce). Because of the low fat content, I would be wary about trying to make rissoles or burgers, although making smaller meatballs which are cooked in sauce would probably also work.

Bacon and Mushroom Quiche

I just made this for dinner and it was so scrummy I have to write down the recipe pronto before I forget. The quantities given for the filling were too generous for the size of the pastry, so I cooked the overflow in a loaf tin lined with baking parchment.

Ingredients:
1 sheet of short crust pastry
3 eggs
milk
1 onion, diced
1/2 tub of silken tofu
1-2 tsp garlic
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
100g bacon pieces
1 cup diced mushrooms
3/4 cup grated cheese
basil and black pepper

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C. Line a square quiche dish with the pastry, fill with beans, and blind bake until puffed and beginning to go golden. Fry bacon until browned and crisp, cool slightly, then combine with mushrooms and cheese. Put three eggs into a blender and make up to 250mL with milk. Add diced onion and blend until smooth. Add tofu, garlic and balsamic vinegar and blend until smooth. Combine with bacon, mushroom and cheese, and pour into pie dish. Cook for a bloody long time until browned on top and mostly firm in the middle. Turn oven off and leave quiche to firm up for fifteen minutes. Feed to your fussiest child and discover that she actually likes it!

Yummy!

New recipe to try. I have made a crockpot chicken and apricot tagine before to a different recipe, but this one looks quite similar and pretty simple.

Cake!

I've been annoyed at not finding a basic cake recipe which I can use for topping pie fruit as a quick dessert, so tonight I made one up. I grabbed a 1/3 cup measurement (what came to hand) and made sure that everything was in increments of 1/3 so I would find it easier to remember. The recipe was as follows:

2/3 cups plain flour
1/3 cups wholemeal plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cups milk
1 egg
cinnamon (for an apple cake)

I poured it over a small tin of apple pie fruit, and cooked it at 180 til cooked through. It could probably have come out a little earlier as it was a bit dry. To make it into a plain cake, I'm going to try doubling the quantities, adding 2/3 c applesauce in lieu of any fat (whick I forgot about in the above recipe), and make it in a baking tray so I can cut it into squares.

Tuna Pasta Sauce

Made a very yummy tuna pasta sauce last night which I think will be a request in the future. I think I will double the quantities and make tuna lasagne sometime as well.


Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup water
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1.5 cups mushrooms, finely diced
1-2 tsp garlic
1 425g tin tuna in springwater, drained
1 440g tin diced tomatoes, with juice
1.5 cups corn kernels
black pepper

Blend onion with water until frothy and liquid. Saute mushrooms and capsicum until soft, add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add tuna, tomatoes, onion water and corn, bring to a gentle boil, and simmer until liquid has evaporated and sauce is thick. Serve over pasta with freshly grated Parmesan.

Next time I might try blending the capsicum along with the onion, because of course Beth whinged about having that in her food as well, although at least she did actually eat a fair amount! There was enough left for E to be able to take one serving for lunch on Monday as well.

Not a success...

The pumpkin and spinach lasagne recipe I linked to below was not received with approbation by my family. Nobody finished their serving except me, and I didn't like it all that much! I ended up making it for dinner instead of for the freezer as originally intended, because I very cleverly missed a bag when I was putting the frozen foods away yesterday afternoon, and the bag of spinach portions sat on the floor with the non-perishables for about six hours before I finally put everything away. By that stage, of course, it was well and truly defrosted, so I slung it in the fridge and bumped up my lasagne production date to use it all up. Now to figure out what to do with the big bunch of silverbeet I actually bought for that purpose...

Next time, I won't bother with the ricotta sauce (I've never understood the appeal myself but I figured I'd stick with the recipe at least the first time), and make my usual cheese sauce. To appease Beth's tastes, I'll mix the spinach into that layer instead of leaving it separate. And I will try to be very careful about not overcooking the pumpkin - it was tasteless and watery, and even though I seasoned it quite generously with ginger and garlic powder, black pepper and a little salt, you couldn't taste any of it. I just wish I knew the recipe for the one they make at the Coffee Club in the Mall, because that stuff is quite seriously addictive!

Cooking for the Freezer: More Frustrations

We finally managed to get out and do our monthly shop today, but discovered (after circulating through half the supermarket filling the trolley) that they didn't have the right kind of large foil trays! Bah. I visited so many places looking for the darn things last time that I forgot where I actually bought them. I think it was Home and Variety. We had two trolleys full of bags and a bunch of frozen stuff, so couldn't really go past and pick some up afterwards. Will have to go back to the mall yet again before I can finally make this darned lasagne. Curses...

Still, I got everything else on my list. More food for freezer cooking, and some more jars and tins for can't-be-arsed-cooking nights. One of those occurred tonight, but we got takeaway Chinese from King Fook instead. Yum!

Cooking for the Freezer: Progress Report 3

I made a tuna casserole in the last of the large aluminum trays the other day, and will have to buy more of them before I can make the pumpkin and spinach lasagne which I finally have all the ingredients for. I was planning to do my monthly shop this week, but Katy being sick has meant that I haven't been able to. We did make it out to the markets this morning, where I bought lots of fruit and veges, and also some more lentils, stewing steak, mince and chicken breasts for freezer meals. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, but I think I will make beef and brown lentil stoo in the crockpot for a start. That, of course, means that now I have to empty it and clean it. Yesterday I put another batch of pumpkin and lentil soup on, and then forgot to turn it off until after I got home from my ABA meeting about 12 hours later, so it was horribly overcooked. Chook food *sigh* Disappointing, but at least it was just using up odds and sods from the bottom of the vege crisper. I would have been really pissed off with myself if I'd bought the veges especially for the recipe and then wasted them like that... We were also lucky enough to find a big stack of the really yummy rectangular tomato-glazed pizza bases marked down to $1 each at the markets, and bought six, which are now in the deep freeze. I also bought poppyseed bagels for Beth to try, although I somehow doubt that they are destined for the freezer!

Forgot to mention that on Monday night I also made a gorgeous crockpot dhal with yellow split peas, sweet potato, capsicum and onion, seasoned with curry paste and lots of garlic. It cooked down into a gorgeous orange slurry after six hours or so, and along with 2 cups of brown rice, made up one meal for E, K and myself, and three lunches for E. Will have to make again, but a bigger batch next time. I will also need to make another batch of samosas, since we ate some with our dhal (so that Beth would have something to eat) and I parceled the rest of them out for E's lunches, alongside the dhal. Must induce food-related envy in E's co-workers wherever he goes, of course *g*

Cooking for the Freezer: Progress Report 2

I didn't manage to make the vegetarian lasagne until today, but it is now cooked and ready to go into the fridge tonight to cool down. Poor Beth was disappointed again... although she was pleased with the fact that I cooked extra white sauce so that we could have spinach sauce for dinner! Bizarrely, that was the only thing she ate - a plateful of spinach sauce. She didn't even want her sausages. That girl is downright eccentric when it comes to her food choices. I made lentil burgers for dinner the other night, and had five left over which are now in the deep freeze. I have also made a vat of pumpkin soup, and have a dinner-size serving in the freezer for later. Katy and I have been eating the rest of it for dinner last night and lunch today. Yummy!

Cooking for the Freezer: Progress Report 1

After a late night dash to the supermarket, I am now set to make up a vegetarian lasagne tomorrow with the lentil sauce which is in the fridge, and to experiment with the new recipe for pumpkin and spinach lasagne as well. Today I finally made up the meat sauce into lasagne, thus raising the hopes of Beth who was very disappointed to get a baked potato for dinner instead! I also cooked banana bread, using the two mushy bananas in the fridge, and applesauce muffins since I had a jar of applesauce to use up. Most of the muffins will go in the freezer for my beloved's lunches, but I doubt the cake will last that long since between us, Katy, Eric and I have eaten half already *g*

Last week I put up about 18 lamb samosas, of which a few have since been eaten. I need to buy the biggest size of ziplock bags and decant the frozen samosas from the 9L container, so I can use it to freeze other things in. Other recipes I have in mind include freezing the base for lentil shepherd's pie if I have any sauce left after making the lasagne, cooking lentil burgers with the leftover lentils (need to buy mushrooms), and seeing whether I can freeze pre-stuffed enchiladas (without the sauce) without it going soggy. Once I've finished up all the already-cooked stuff in the fridge, I might try tuna or salmon casseroles, and meatballs.

More recipes to try

Pumpkin and Spinach Lasagne

Beef Provencal

Beef, Kumara and Rocket Stack

Fish Cakes

QRTT: Salmon, Baby Spinach and Couscous salad

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 3

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

1 1/3 cups (300ml) vegetable stock or water
1 cup (200g) couscous
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp grated lemon rind
210g can pink or red salmon, drained
8 cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped Italian parsley
2-3 green onions (shallots), finely-chopped
Freshly-ground black pepper
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

METHOD

1. Boil stock in a medium sized stock pot. Remove from heat. Stir in couscous. Cover and leave to swell for 2 minutes. Stir again with a fork to separate the grains.

2. Spoon into a shallow bowl. Fluff with a fork to separate. Place in the refrigerator to cool for 5 minutes. Add juice, oil and rind.

3. Flake salmon and place in a salad bowl with halved tomatoes, parsley, onions (green and white stems) and pepper. Spoon couscous mixture into bowl. Mix all ingredients well.

4. Serve on spinach leaves, topped with pine nuts.

Tip

You will need 1 lemon for the rind and juice for this recipe.

Recipe courtesy of Catherine Saxelby, from Nutrition for the Healthy Heart. Found here.

Lamb Samosas

I have been seized with the urge to do some cooking for the freezer, in the hope that we find out that I'm pregnant soon and I can get on with the morning sickness and general whinging without having to cook too! These were drier than the vegetarian samosas, but still quite yummy. Next time, I might add some very finely grated potato to help combat the dryness.

600g lamb mince
1 small onion, very finely chopped
1 tsp each ground cumin and coriander
1/4 tsp chilli (could add more if not cooking for Beth)
1/2 tsp ginger
1 cup frozen peas (omit if cooking for Beth because she is a fussy bugger)
5 sheets shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 190C. In a large frying pan, saute the onion in a little oil until translucent. Add spices and fry until fragrant. Add lamb and cook until brown, breaking up clumps as much as you can (I use a potato masher). Fry gently until no pink remains, adding a little more oil if it seems dry. Add the peas and warm through as you prepare the pastry. Cut sheets into quarters, fill and fold, pressing down on two sides to make a triangle. Brush with beaten egg and cook for 15-20 minutes or until golden.


Makes 18-20.

Scrumptious Samosas

Inspired by making mushroom pastries all day for the St Valentines feast on the weekend. Simple and incredibly moreish!

Ingredients:
1 large onion, finely chopped
1-2 tsp curry paste
1-2 tsp crushed garlic
1 large potato, finely diced
1.5 teaspoons each of red lentils, brown lentils, blue lentils, and yellow split peas
water
2 sheets shortcrust pastry, thawed but still cold
1 egg, beaten [omit for a vegan recipe, and glaze with soymilk]

Saute onion until tender, add seasonings and cook until fragrant. Stir in potatoes and lentils, add water, and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes and lentils are cooked, adding water as necessary. Cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated off. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 190C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Cut the pastry sheets into four squares. Arrange a generous dollop of lentil filling on one half, leaving about one centimetre free at the edge. Fold pastry over to make a triangle and pinch the sides firmly to seal. Glaze with beaten egg and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden. Serve with mango chutney, and a side serving of chickpea and vegetable curry over brown rice.

Menu Plan - January

Mon 1st Laksa with Tofu Nuggets

Tue 2nd Tuna Pasta Bake

Wed 3rd Vegetarian Couscous

Thu 4th Chicken Parcels

Fri 5th Fritatta

Sat 6th Lentil Burgers

Sun 7th Roast Chicken

Mon 8th Spaghetti/Lasagne

Tue 9th Fish Parcels

Wed 10th Enchiladas

Thu 11th Chicken Chowder

Fri 12th Risotto

Sat 13th Eric's Party - Potluck

Sun 14th Nachos

Mon 15th Laksa with Tofu Nuggets

Tue 16th Salmon Pot Pie

Wed 17th Enchiladas

Thu 18th Chicken Parcels

Fri 19th Frittata

Sat 20th My birthday - NOT COOKING!!!!!

Sun 21st Roast Chicken

Mon 22nd Spaghetti

Tue 23rd Chicken Pot Pie

Wed 24th Enchiladas

Thu 25th Fish Chowder

Fri 26th Risotto

Sat 27th Lentil Burgers

Sun 28th Butter Chicken

Mon 29th Nachos

Tue 30th Fish? baked with toppings?

Wed 31st Egg and Bacon Quiche

Menu Plan - rest of December

16th Salmon Pot Pie

17th Roast Chicken

18th Enchiladas

19th Frittata

20th Tuna Pasta Bake

21st Chicken Parcels

22nd Vegetable Curry

23rd Lentil Burgers

24th Home-made Pizza

25th meal with Margaret/Dennis

26th Creamy Pumpkin Soup

27th Nachos

28th Risotto

29th Chicken Doner Kebabs (Recipes for Health and Beauty p. 11) and salads

30th Spaghetti and Meatballs

31st Egg and Bacon Quiche

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Beth did not eat this. Foolish child.

Ingredients:
2 sm-medium chicken breasts
chicken stock cube
2-3 cups water
1 red capsicum
7-8 spring onions
7-8 button mushrooms
1-2 cloves garlic
7-8 sun-dried tomatoes (oil free)
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 cup broccoli florets
1/2 cup parsley, shredded
1/2 cup snow peas, snapped into 2-3 pieces
100mL lite sour cream
1 tsp cornflour
black pepper

Method:
1. Gently poach the chicken in enough water to cover until cooked through (add stock cube to boiling water). Remove chicken from stock and cool. Reserve stock. When cool enough to handle, slice into bite sizes pieces.
2. Slice red capsicum into large flat pieces and place on a baking tray which has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Grill under a high heat until black and bubbling. Remove from heat, cover with a clean teatowel, and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Remove skins and slice.
3. Saute spring onions and mushrooms for five minutes, then deglaze pan with a little chicken stock. Add carrots, broccoli florets, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted capsicum, pour in about a centimetre of stock, cover and simmer very gently for 6 minutes. Add chicken, snowpeas, parsley and seasonings and simmer for another minute or so. While chicken is heating through, whisk together sour cream, 2 tbsp stock and cornflour. Add to pan and heat until warmed through and slightly thickened.
4. Serve immediately over wholemeal pasta, with parmesan cheese.

Chicken Parcels - another customisable meal

2 large chicken breasts, halved (about 100g each)
mushrooms, sliced
bacon rashers (1 per parcel)
tomatoes

Place the mushroom and tomato on squares of alfoil and top with the chicken and bacon rashers (if using). Seal the foil parcels and cook in a pre-heated oven at 200C for twenty minutes or until cooked through. Serve with salad or vegetables.

I made this for dinner last night and it got five stars from all of us. I was serving it with pretty substantial salads so I left the vegetables simple, but this could be served with any quick-cooking vegetables you like. Vary the cooking method for different vegetables, by putting some on top to steam and others underneath to absorb juices. Suggestions:

buk choy (on top)
sun-dried tomato
yellow squash or zucchini slices
roasted capsicum
sweet potato (par-boiled or roasted)