Simple Cucumber Salad

My sister made this the other night. I loved it.

I tried my hand at it the other night. A different other night. I loved it, again.

Here's the 'recipe' ...

cucumber

sesame seeds

rice wine vinegar

sesame oil

  

I peeled strips off the whole cucumber to get the striped effect you see in the photo.  You can do that or peel the whole thing or don't peel it at all.  Slice cucumber.  Sprinkle with rice wine vinegar and a few drops of sesame oil.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

That's it. 

Easy. 

Delicious.

Block vs. Grated Cheese

A few years ago we tried to go totally unprocessed.  We did really well for about 5 months, then I had to go back to the States for a funeral.  I was gone ten days and when I got home, I just couldn't get back into it!!  It was so much work!

Looking back, because I want to start again, I think part of the problem was that I tried to tackle EVERY SINGLE additive & preservative at the same time.  As well as cutting out all the white stuff ... you know, flour, sugar, rice etc .....

It was too much at once.

But, there are things I still do regularly that I learned back then.  Like ... making my own mayo - so easy!  (watch this video!)   And grating cheese. 

I'll admit, I don't do these things exclusively but I'm going to head that way.  I'm going to try to replace one processed product in my pantry/fridge with an unprocessed version each week.  I'm hoping that trying to tackle this on a smaller, more gradual scale will be easier. 

I'll share what I find.  

So, what's with the grating cheese thing?  I need to find where I read it and come back and reference it, but apparently, grated cheese contains an anti-caking agent and block cheese doesn't.  Grating your own cheese is an easy way to eliminate one preservative from your diet!

It's easy.  And you can freeze it. 

Start with a block ...

Pop it in your food processor.  Or grate with whatever you use to grate.  Do the whole block!

 

Into the freezer and ready for when you need it!

So quick.

So easy.

Ellie's Asian Chicken with a Simple Side of Quinoa Salad

One night I rocked up at my sister's house to pick her up, maybe for the Keith Urban concert? Or maybe it was before we went to Zumba?  In any case, it was dinner time for her family and she had whipped up this beautiful chicken dish which I tasted on the way out the door!  It was delicious and I immediately wrote the 'recipe' in my phone.  Last night, I was thinking about what to cook and I remembered ....

She didn't give me any measurements, just ingredients so last night I wrote down what measurements I used.  I think that you could do them to any measure and it would be good but here's what I did to serve four of us.

2 chicken breasts, sliced

Marinate in:
Soy sauce, 4 Tablespoons

Honey, 2 Tablespoons

Lime, juice of one

White wine or sake, 4 Tablespoons

Garlic, 6 cloves

When you are ready to cook, dredge chicken in flour and fry in batches.  I shallow fried in grapeseed oil.

Trying to use up some of the veggies that are leftover at the end of a weeks worth of cooking, I make this simple side to go with it.  It's not got many strong flavors, really it's just the fresh taste of veggies and a little bit of lime juice.  You could totally dress it if you wanted it a bit more punchy. 

 

Again, there are no real measurements for this salad.  I'll tell you what I did but you can add whatever you like, really!

1 cup quinoa, cooked (I used a tri colored one)

2 roma tomatoes, finely diced

2 spring onions, finely dices

1/2 a red capsicum (bell pepper), finely diced

1/2 a yellow capsicum (bell pepper), finely diced

1/2 an avocado, finely diced

a large chunk of cucumber, finely diced

juice of half a lime 

sprinkle of sea salt

mix all ingredients. serve.

Savory Muffins: Mexican

 

The kids, finally, talked me into letting them take sandwiches to school for their lunches.  At the beginning of the school year, I relented ... instead of leftovers, they could make sandwiches.  I guess they grew tired of them real quick because now we are looking for other options!! (just not leftovers!) I have been thinking that savory muffins might be a good bet.  Jono is home sick today and has taste tested these and given his thumbs up.  We will see what Alia thinks when she gets home in a bit. 

I tried to make these a bit 'mexican' ... will play around with different flavors and ingredients in subsequent batches.  I think the options will be endless!

what i used.

'dry' ingredients

4 cups self raising flour

1 cup chopped ham

1 cup grated cheese (I used half mozzarella and half tasty (white cheddar))
1 spring onion, chopped

1 cup canned corn, drained

1 (4oz) can green chiles

1/2 cup sliced green olives

a hand full of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

salt

pepper

 'wet' ingredients

3/4 cup olive oil

2 cups milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

what to do.

Pre-heat oven to 180C/375F.  Line muffin tins with cupcake papers ... or grease.  Whichever is your preference.  I use the papers. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Then add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Gently stir until just combined.   Don't over mix or your muffins will be tough.  (but make sure you get all the flour down at the bottom ... no one likes a bite of unmixed flour in their muffin!)  Bake in oven until golden.  Mine took 25 minutes.  In hindsight, I'd probably leave them another 5 minutes next time ... they are cooked but only just! 

I'm going to freeze these in individual ziplocks so they are easy for the kids to grab when they pack their lunches!

Roasted Bell Pepper Salad

I tried this recipe ages ago ... I'm pretty sure I clipped it out of a magazine.

It's another of those with no real measurements.  

Roasted bell peppers (capsicum), I love all three colors but here I just used red and green.  Sliced.

Red onion, thinly sliced

Black olives, sliced

Feta cheese, crumbled

Olive Oil
Sherry Vinegar
Sea Salt
Pepper

Spread the bell peppers on a plate.  Top with red onion, black olives, feta cheese.  Drizzle with the oil and vinegar.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Let set for 30 minutes. 

Delicious.

Moroccan Tapenade ... With A Kick

Another recipe I found for the tapas night was this amazing tapenade!  I love tapenade anyway, but this one has a spicy little kick that is so great. 

The only thing I really changed about this is the amount of olive oil I used and the method ... and I doubled their original recipe to make two cups.

400 g Kalamata olives, pitted
3 big cloves of garlic
2 tablespoon harissa (definitely adjust to taste!)
2 tablespoon lemon juice
a handful of chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup olive oil

Throw everything into a food processor and process until desired consistency is reached. 

I served with a thick crunchy crouton type cracker.  You could serve with any cracker or bread!

Moroccan Quinoa in Cucumber Boats

Preparing for a Moroccan Tapas Night that we hosted at church, I googled something like Moroccan finger food and this recipe immediately caught my eye.   I'm glad it did ... it was delicious!  There are no real measurements on her page so I imagine it's a pretty forgiving recipe.  I did mine pretty much like hers but I couldn't find the Sambhar curry powder she calls for so I made substitutions.  Here's what I did.  You can adjust each element to taste.  I'm not kidding, I tasted after each ingredient I added! Also, I cooked this for 100 people to have one each.  When I make it again, I'll probably 1/2 the amount of filling and just eat whatever is leftover.  This amount filled four long continental cucumbers.

I used ...

4 big continental cucumbers
1 cup quinoa (I used a tri-colored one)
3 cups water
2 preserved lemons
4 or 5 sun dried tomatoes
2 spring onions
1 small jalapeno that I picked out of my garden
a small handful of fresh mint
1/4 of a bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)
handful of pine nuts
olive oil
sea salt
moroccan seasoning
cumin, ground

What I did ...

Cook quinoa.  I did it according to the package instructions which said one part quinoa to three parts water.  Bring to the boil, cover and cook until water is gone.  It took about 20 minutes.

In the meantime ... finely dice the preserved lemons and sun dried tomatoes.  Chop the spring onions small.  Get rid of the seeds and membrane in the jalapeno and finely dice it.  Chop herbs.

After quinoa is finished and has cooled a little bit,  add all of the above that you've just chopped/diced to it.  Drizzle with olive oil and then season with sea salt, moroccan seasoning and cumin.  (or the Sambhar curry powder if you can get it.  I'd love to try that as it is cinnamon based and I think it would really change the flavor .... ) Season to taste ....

For the cucumber boats ... peel down the outside of the cucumber (as you see in photo above) in long strips.  Cut into 3/4 inch 'slices'.  Scoop out the centre with a melon baller and then fill the hole with quinoa mixture.

Five Cheese Pasta

This was a throw together meal that Rory came up with after looking through the fridge and seeing that we had a few different kinds of cheese leftover from various other meals.   It was delicious.  It's basically just white sauce with cheese in it!  Don't be freaked out though ... white sauce is EASY to make.  I'm going to teach you how!

You will need:

Pasta, whatever kind you like.  We had vermicelli in the house and used that.
1/4 cup (50g) butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 small red onion, finely sliced 

A couple cloves of garlic, crushed

white wine (optional) It was the bottom of the bottle.  My guess would be about 1 or 2 Tablespoons
salt and pepper

We didn't measure the cheese ... we just had a bunch of bits and pieces left over so chopped them up and threw them in.  You could grate it if you wanted but it's not necessary.  You can use whatever cheese you want ...we used: 

Gruyere
Provolone

Tasty (white cheddar)

Parmesan (fresh)

Jarslberg (like swiss)

Cook your pasta.  While that's happening, make the sauce.

The trick with white sauce is to have everything ready and beside your cooking area because once you start stirring, you can't stop.  So ... once you've go everything ready, throw the onions, garlic and the butter in a pan, over medium heat and cook til onion is soft.  Add the flour and stir until it's completely mixed into the butter.  It will be kind of like a paste.  That's good.  That is how you want it.  Now, start adding the milk.  Just a little bit at a time.  Stir so that the milk mixes into the paste.  Add a bit more.  Stir.  Keep it up til you've added all the milk.  Your paste will not be so much like a paste anymore but more like a sauce.  If you are adding wine, do that too.  Cook, continuing to stir, til the sauce thickens a bit.  Add the cheese.  Stir til melted.  Season with salt and pepper.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning. 

Serve over cooked pasta and eat immediately. 

Crock Pot Honey Chicken

 

As with so many of the recipes I try these days, I found this one on pinterest.
I didn't really change much. 

1 kg chicken breast, no bones, no skin

salt and pepper

1 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 onion, diced

4 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoon olive oil

garlic, minced (to your liking ... I did about 4 cloves)

pinch red pepper flakes

4 teaspoons cornstarch

sesame seeds

Sprinkle chicken lightly, on both sides, with salt and pepper, and lay in the bottom of the crock pot.

Mix honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. I didn't have a heap of time and did it on high.  It was great but I'll try it on low next time to see if there is any difference.

Take chicken out of the crock pot, leaving the sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce.  Cover and cook sauce on high for ten minutes or until slightly thickened.

Cut chicken into bite size pieces, throw back in crock pot.

Serve over rice, with a drizzle of the sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

I served baby green peas on the side ... I think steamed broccoli would go well too.

Sundried Tomato Hummus

We went to visit some family a few months ago and my sister in law served the most amazing hummus that I've ever eaten.  It was sundried tomato hummus and she just made it up.  I asked her to list out the ingredients to the best of her recollection and I've been playing with it since.  This last batch I made was the closest but still not as amazing as hers!  But .... I like it well enough to share and well enough that I'll make it this way from now on. 
 

Don't be alarmed by the vague measurements, just taste as you go.  Put into a food processor the following ingredients.

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), 2 cans, drained
Garlic, 4 cloves, roughly chopped  (more or less, depending on who garlicky you like things)
Juice of one small lemon
Honey, 1 teaspoon
Sun dried tomato, I used a small jar (again, adjust to taste)

Some but not all of the oil in the jar of SD tomatoes
Soy sauce, start with 2 teaspoons and adjust to taste.  I did end up adding a bit more the other night.
Sweet paprika, 2 teaspoons (and you got it ... adjust to taste)

Whiz it up in the food processor.  I let it go for a few minutes until everything is pretty well smooth.  There were a few small chunks left in mine.  I didn't mind.  You can adjust that to your preference.  Taste it, if you think it needs salt, add a little bit more soy sauce.  Whiz a bit more. 

Serve with crackers of your choice.  I used plain and seaweed rice crackers.

Potato Soup

My home work was to make something for dinner. I had to help make dinner and write the recipe out. I chose clam chowder. We did not make clam chowder because Mom and I could not find clams. Here is the recipe we used.

6 tbsp (90 g.) butter, divided
300 g. diced bacon
1 cup yellow onions
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk

Cook the bacon in your stockpot. Our bacon didn't have enough fat so we added 2 tbsp of the butter. remove bacon to paper towels. Cook onions on medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, and spices and cook for 10 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, then let it simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. In a small pot, melt the 4 tbsp butter and whisk in the flour. cook over vary low heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in a cup of the hot broth and then pour this mixture back into the big pot. Simmer a few minutes until the broth is thick. Add the milk and half the bacon and cook until the soup is warm again. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Quinoa Black Bean Burritos

I saw this recipe for Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls and just had to try it.
I didn't change much about the recipe .... but here's what I did.

1 cup quinoa
1/2 a small red onion, minced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 cans of black beans
1 big bunch fresh coriander (cilantro)
1/4 tsp chili powder
juice of one lime
iceberg lettuce, to shred

salt

tasty (white cheddar) cheese, grated
greek yoghurt

guacamole or avocado

tomatoes, chopped

flour tortillas

Rinse quinoa and then add to a saucepan with 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer on low.  Cover and let simmer for 15/20 minutes til becomes tender and liquid is all absorbed.  Don't let it burn!

In a frying pan, heat a blub of olive oil over med heat.  Saute onion.  Add garlic.  Saute.  Add black beans and 1/2 cup water and a handful of chopped, fresh coriander.  Add the chili powder to taste.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med low and let simmer til liquid is mostly gone.  Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 your lime.  Season with salt to taste.

When quinoa is cooked, mix in about 1/2 a handful of chopped, fresh coriander and squeeze in the juice of the other 1/2 of your lime.  Season with salt to taste.

We served ours in bowls and had flour tortillas on the side to scoop it up with.  For lunch the next day, I put it into the tortilla and made an actual burrito.  Both ways were delicious.  I would even eat this without the tortilla!  The flavors were great!

Grilled Salmon Salad

The wonderful thing about Salmon is that all four of us love it.

The same with salad.  Salmon and salad together ... for our family ... it's a match made in heaven!

This salad was such a hit!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and used it as our base recipe.
I added some stuff, changed the type of cheese and served it differently though ...

Oh, and I changed the measurements because I wanted it to serve four instead of two.

500g fresh salmon
6 cups fresh spinach and rocket (arugula)
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
thin slices of red onion, as little or as much as you like
fetta cheese, to top salad
croutons, to top salad

dressing:
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar (I didn't measure and may have used a heaped teaspoon!)
3 or 4 small garlic cloves, crushed
pinch of salt and pepper
3/4 cup olive oil

Throw all of the dressing ingredients into a glass jar with a lid ... shake it up.  Add additional salt to taste.

Grill salmon.  Rory did ours on the BBQ with a bit of olive oil and salt/pepper. 

Combine all salad ingredients in large salad bowl.  Top with grilled salmon, chopped into large chunks.  Drizzle with dressing.

Australian Key Lime Pie

Ellie and I tried our hands at Key Lime Pie the other day.
I think I can pretty safely say it was a success.
We based our pies on this Martha Stewart recipe but had to change some 

things as we couldn't get some of the ingredients!

Here's what we did to make TWO PIES. 
(obviously, if you want one pie, you should halve this recipe)

1 package butternut snap biscuits
1/2 package granita biscuits
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 (395g/14oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
8 egg yolks
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3 cups thickened cream
Lime slices and lime zest to garnish

Heat oven to 375F/190C. 

Melt and cool butter.  Combine two types of biscuits in food processor and whiz until they become crumbs.  Mix crumbs, butter and the 6 tablespoons of sugar.  Put half of this mixture into each pie dish and form the base of your pie.  Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Lower oven to 325F/160C.   Using your mixer, gently whisk the egg yolks, lime juice, zest and condensed milk.  Pour half of this mixture into each pie crust.  Bake until centre is set but still quivers when you give the pan a little shake.   This took about 15 minutes ....

Let cool on a wire rack.  We were in a hurry so we cooled it for 1/2 an hour on the wire rack and then put it in the fridge for another hour or so ...

When ready to serve, use the whisk attachment to whip the cream and the caster sugar together on  a medium speed.  Spoon over pie.  Garnish with zest and lime slices.  (You can probably make it prettier than I did on the pie above!!  ha ha.  I was in a hurry to serve and eat it!!)

French Dip Sandwiches

I found this recipe on Pinterest. 
I love French Dip sandwiches and I love crock pot recipes so this seemed like a win win. 
I will make a few modifications next time I make it. (as shown below)
I don't know why but my meat was a little dry and there wasn't a whole lot of juice
and the juice, while flavorful and delicious was a bit strong.
So, I will add water next time and see
if that helps that ...

2kg beef roast, boneless
1 cup beef stock
1 cup water
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 cloves garlic, minced

So, basically, you just pull the fat off of the meat.  Discard the fat and put the meat in the crock pot.  Stir together remaining ingredients and add to crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.

When it's finished cooking, put the roast into a big bowl and shred it with two forks.  Reserve the liquid that you are using for the 'french dip' part of the meal and then put meat back into the crock pot to soak up the remaining juice.

To make the sandwiches, scoop shredded meat into hot dog buns, top with shredded tasty (white cheddar) cheese and toast under the griller (broiler) til cheese is melted.

I served these delicious sandwiches with the dipping sauce, raw carrots with ranch, and steamed broccoli.  A yummy and easy dinner. 

We had them for lunch the next day as well and my 11 year old took it to school - toasted and with ketchup since we had used all the 'french dip' the night before ... He said that way was delicious as well.

The Salad Box!

I am so excited about this!  I've only been doing it just over two weeks but I LOVE IT!  It makes healthy lunches so much easier!  Originally, I saw the idea over on Khrista's blog.  I thought it was a great idea but didn't have the containers or the motivation to go find them.  When Shay was visiting, we were talking about a similar idea and I was reminded of the salad box.  That same day we were in the grocery store and there were some tupperware containers on sale that I thought might be perfect.  I bought them, came home and assembled the box and haven't looked back.  It is so great!  I'm not kidding, there have been days where I haven't menu planned and I'm like, what will we have for dinner and just can't come up with anything ... we have salad!

I add some beans or some chicken and it becomes a meal!  And lunches, on nights that we decided to eat out or just don't have leftovers for the next day, we have salad!  It's perfect.  It's all cut up and ready to go and it literally takes me less than 5 minutes to make a beautiful salad!  

My salad box consists of two large containers filled a bunch of smaller ones, and a box for greens ...  It isn't always full, as you can see in the photo above.  I fill it full every time I do a big shop and then it sort of lives in various stages of fullness which I like because it means our salads are varied.  Here's a closer look at what's inside it ...

Tomatoes (mostly out of our garden!), cucumber slices, cauliflower chunks, onion slices, mushrooms slices (marinating in olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder and an Italian blend herb mix).  Radishes (in water so they don't dry out).  Salad ... washed and in a separate container.  I often have a can of beans sitting in one of those tall containers ... but I had just finished one when I was taking the photos and I try not to open one until I'm ready to use it, to preserve its life in the box! 

Capsicum (Red Bell Pepper) almost gone, Avocado, Nuts, Seeds, Leftover Funky Lime pizza garlic, the end of a jar of black olives, and some dressing ...

The dressing is great!  I love having it packaged up all ready to go.  Once the salad (specifically for lunches) is ready, I just pop in one of the dressings and it's done!  Seriously, it's fast food ... only you can't get much healthier!

It has its own section in the fridge. So far, I haven't had any trouble with it taking up too much space.  Most of the things last us through the week, some things less, some things more.  We are wasting much less produce since we've started the salad box.  Probably because stuff doesn't get left at the bottom of the crisper drawer!  I look at all of it every day and use it up!

It's not just great for salad either!  We used it to make stir fry the other night and then last night we used it to make omelets!  It was awesome!  EVERYTHING WAS ALREADY CUT UP!!  I'm serious, I love the salad box!

Blood Orange Slurpees

 

So simple, so fun.  

The kids love these for a summer treat.

All you need is crushed ice and some sort of liquid.
Fill the cup with the ice, then add the liquid.  Top up with more ice if necessary.

For these we used Schweppes Agrum Blood Orange.

Delicious.

Simple BBQ Clams

I know I have been MIA around here for a bit.  Sorry!  You can pop over to my other blog and read this post if you want to know why!

Anyway, I have a long list of recipes I want to share with you.  I'm doing a bit of a re-schedule of my ENTIRE LIFE so we'll see how I go with that.  Today, I'll share a very simple recipe.  It's not even a recipe.  All you need is a BBQ and some fresh clams.

Just put the clams on the BBQ and wait for them to open.  When they open, they are done.

I ate them just like that, but I LOVE clams.  Next time I may do a simple sauce to go with them ... you might like to do that too.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of the food I'm making!!  Grrr...Wanna make this one again soon since it was so yummy and EASY-PEASY, so I'll try and remember to take a picture then.  I found the original recipe here, but made a few modifications.

Spinach Salad

serves 4-6 (with LOTS of extra dressing)

Ingredients

Dressing:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
sugar to taste
sea salt to taste
Optional: fresh ground pepper to taste (I left this off cause I don't really like pepper)

Salad:
6 cups fresh baby spinach (I just used one bag)

 - NOTE: I didn't actually measure any of the following...just sprinkled and tossed till it looked right, but if you like measurements...

1/2 cup chopped nuts (the original recipe called for walnuts...I had pecons and LOVED the substitute...don't think I'll ever use the walnuts)
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup dried cranberries (the original recipe said you could use any dried fruit but the cranberries were delish, so I'll probably just stick with them)

Instructions

Put dressing ingredients in a bottle and shake well.  The cheaper your balsamic, the more sugar you'll need.  I used about 2 teaspoons and it tasted lovely, so just taste and add as needed. 
Toss spinach with nuts, feta and fruit. Give dressing another shake and drizzle over individual servings.  There was LOTS of dressing left over, but it can sit out on the counter (or in the fridge) for use on other salads.  I may never buy another balsamic vinegrette again because this one was so yummy and easy!

Sausage Apple Overnight Breakfast Casserole

I personally am NOT a fan of sausage, (what I would consider) soggy bread, OR baked egg dishes...BUT...I was looking for a quick, easy breakfast that I could make the night before and feed to a hoard of hungry boys starting VERY early in the morning - and I found this recipe (where, I cannot for the life of me remember!) and thought I'd give it a go.  It made TONS and was very filling, easy (did almost all the prep while dinner simmered), made the house smell AMAZING as everyone woke up, and got the stamp of approval from the hoard of boys! :-)  I highly recommend it...if you're into breakfast casseroles - or are feeding hoards! 

 

Sausage Apple Overnight Breakfast Casserole

1 pkg. (1 lb.) Pork Sausage Roll
6 cups bread cubed into 1 inch pieces (I had a coupon for french bread...so used that - it was under one loaf when cut up)
10 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large baking apples, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
maple syrup, if desired

Brown sausage; drain. Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. In another bowl, mix apples, sugar and cinnamon together until well coated. In a greased (forgot to grease the pan the second time I made this dish...definitely stuck to the pan!! So don't skip this step!) 9 x 13 inch baking dish, place half of the bread cubes followed by half the sausage, half the apples, and 1 cup of the cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients. Pour egg mixture over the layers making sure to evenly coat it all with the egg mixture. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve topped with a drizzle of maple syrup if desired. (the boys ate it plain and with syrup and loved it both ways)

Chicken, Mango, Avo Salad with Lime

 

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

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

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

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

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

Chop and add chicken. 

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

Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

 

You will need to play with this recipe to get it how you like it.  I will play with it more next time I make it ... but the kids loved it and have almost finished this whole jar already !  They say it tastes more like Milo than actual Nutella but they are happy with that !  

I got this recipe out of a magazine.  It was an advertisement for natVia ... a natural sweetener made from the Stevia plant. 

I modified it a bit ... and then just played around til it tasted right ... you'll have to do the same to get it to your tastes !

100g raw hazelnuts, you could roast them.  I didn't.

100g chickpeas (don't throw away the liquid in the jar)

80-100g sweetener of your choice ... I used natVia and I started with 80g.  

15g skim milk powder

20g pure cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

100 ml chickpea liquid

Milk

optional ... 1 teaspoon lecithin (I couldn't find this stuff so didn't use it ... supposed to make it smoother/creamier but not essential)

In your food processor, process hazelnuts until they resemble almond meal.  Add remaining ingredients ... minus chickpea liquid.  Process and then gradually add liquid while continuing to process.  On first taste, the cocoa flavor was overpowering so I added some milk.  I just kept adding it until the flavor was nice and the consistency was good.  If it's too runny before the flavor of the cocoa is right, just use more milk powder.   I think I added a little bit more of the sweetener too ... just a teaspoon at a time until it was a sweetness I knew the kids would be happy with.

Once this is gone, I'm going to try another recipe that uses just four ingredients.  Hazelnuts, condensed milk, choc bits and honey.  I'll let you know how that one goes too ...

Repocheta

 

I have no idea how I have hitherto fore neglected to put this, my favorite Nicaraguan food, on the blog! It boggles the imagination! 

You will need:

12 corn tortillas - it's not as good with flour tortillas, they turn out too sweet

2 cups cooked red beans with cooking liquid - canned is ok

Chunk of onion

Chunk of green pepper

Queso fresco, shredded - I found it at Walmart

One med tomato, chopped

1/4 cabbage, shredded

Lime juice

Salt

Sour cream

Hot sauce (optional)

For the beans:

Fry the onion and green pepper in a little bit of oil. Add beans and cook down until the liquid has thickened. If desired, add some hot sauce. In a blender, liquify the beans until they form a thick, spreadable paste. More water can be added as necessary. 

For the tortillas:

Fry flat in oil until crispy, drain on paper towel.

For the salad:

Mix shredded cabbage and tomatoes with a little bit of salt and lime juice, to taste. 

To assemble the repochetas:

Once you have all your components assembled, spread beans over tortillas, sprinkle with cheese, add salad, a dollop of sour cream and a dash or five of hot sauce. Be prepared with many napkins to wipe the beans and/or sour cream off your nose. 

Serves 4

Jamaican Breeze

Welcome to the first cocktail I ever invented!

Jamaican Breeze
 
1 cup Jamaica Tea
1 shot vodka
1 shot Tuaca - a vanilla-orange liquour
Ice

Shake together in a martini shaker, or simply combine in a glass and stir.

Jamaica Tea

The first time I made this from scratch and not from a packet, I strayed from the recipe and ended up making, literally, buckets of tea. However, no one was particularly sad about this as it is delicious. Also, later that evening I invented a cocktail using jamaica that is also quite yum. That recipe to follow...

 Jamaica Tea

4 cups water
3/4 cup dried hibiscus flowers
3/4 cup sugar
1 T lime juice
Ice

Bring water to a boil, add hibiscus and sugar, let steep for at least 10 minutes. Add lime juice and ice until cold. You may need to add a little more sugar depending on how much ice you used.

The Definitive Venison Stew

The original recipe can be found here (the part where it says it's quick and easy should be completely disregarded as laughably false), but as the cooking progressed, the recipe and I didn't agree on several points. So this is my version with important contributions of both help and ideas from Aunt Kathy and Pam.

Ingredients:

2 pounds venison, 1" cubes
1 medium onion, cut into 8 chunks
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4" slices
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
3/4 t salt
1/2 t ground white pepper (black can be substituted)
2 t dried parsley
1/2 t dried thyme
1/4 t dried rosemary
1 1/4 dry red wine
1 can beef broth
5 slices of bacon, chopped
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 t tomato paste
1 package cleaned, quartered mushrooms
2 large potatoes (next time I will strongly consider throwing in more potatoes)
1 T corn starch (as needed)


Marinade:
Remove all tendons, fat and silvery skin from the venison (removing this will help get rid of any gamey flavor). Add the venison, onions, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, and the herbs to a glass bowl or casserole dish. Pour 1 cup of red wine and 3/4 cup beef broth over the venison and marinate in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight. Do not marinate for over 12 hours or your meat will turn to mush.

Cooking:

Strain out the marinade and set aside for later. Separate the meat from the marinated veggies. Throw the meat in a large ziplock bag with the flour, shake to cover evenly. 
In a large saucepan over high heat, cook the bacon until it turns crisp.* Transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Pour all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease from the pan (Note: if you need more grease, augment with vegetable oil). Saute the onions, carrots, celery and potatoes in the bacon grease for 5 minutes, until the vegetables turn soft. Transfer to a large stock pot.

*Venison meat has little or no fat, the bacon is important.

Brown the venison in the remaining bacon grease in two batches and add to the stock pot. With the remaining wine, deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom, add in the remaining broth until heated. Add pan juice, the reserved marinade, mushrooms, bacon and tomato paste to the stock pot. Add enough water to barely cover the stew. Simmer on low for 1 hour until meat and vegetables are tender. If sauce is not thick enough made a paste of 1 T cornstarch and 1 T water. Add to pot and stir until thickened.

This recipe makes 6 to 8 servings.

Salmon and Soba and Soy Beans, oh my !

 

This is one of those recipes that I wanted to try as soon as I saw it !
I knew I would love it ... and I was right !!

This is so delicious.

My family

agrees.

I didn't dress the salad, as the dressing had wasabi in it and I thought it might be a bit spicy for the kids.  Jono (10) did try it though and said it wasn't too spicy.  But, he didn't dress his salad with it.  The kids just had straight soy sauce as their dressing.

I made a few changes to the original recipe too.  It said it served two and I was feeding four so I added a bed of spinach, cooked more noodles and did more salmon.  I reduced the amount of edamame, mostly because I got tired of shelling them, but also because one cup seemed like enough. Also, I used cooked edamame that had been frozen and thawed.  Oh, and I reduced the amount of wasabi in the dressing.  Here's how I did mine ...

1 nice piece of sashimi grade salmon, sliced

250g soba noodles

1 cup cooked edamame (soy beans), shelled

1 cup watercress, leaves trimmed and washed

2 cups baby spinach leaves, washed

6 radishes, thinly sliced

3 spring onions, chopped small

1 tablespoon wasabi paste

2 tablespoons peanut oil

sesame oil ... I just did a few drops 

2 tablespoons soy sauce

sesame seeds

Bring a pot of water to the boil over high heat.  Cook the soba noodles.  Drain, rinse under cool water and set aside.  

In a big salad bowl, mix spinach, edamame, watercress, radishes, spring onions and soba noodles.  

Whisk wasabi paste, peanut oil, sesame oil and soy sauce.  

To serve, put salad on plate, top with salmon slices, sprinkle with sesame seeds and then dress with wasabi dressing or plain soy sauce.  

So good !!!

Chicken and Beans on Rice

This was delicious.  Easy too.  I found the recipe here.  I did what she did with minor alterations like, one less chicken breast because I always find these sorts of chicken dishes have to much chicken. I also added rice and toppings.  Oh, and I mixed all the stuff together before adding to crock pot ...

Anyway, here's my way ...

3 raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (400g/15oz) can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 (400g/15oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 (400g/15oz) cans of diced tomatoes
frozen corn, I didn't measure ...
1 (340g/12oz) jar of salsa

to serve ...
avocado, chopped
grated cheese, i used a mexican blend
rice or tortillas or corn chips
sour cream or greek yoghurt (didn't have any in the house this time but will use next time)

Put chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker (crock pot).

In a separate bowl, mix other ingredients.  I just added the corn til it seemed a reasonable amount. Pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 5-7 hours.  I did the full 7 hours then turned it on 'keep warm' til we were ready to eat a few hours later.  When I stirred the mixture up when we were ready to eat, the chicken just broke into pieces! 

Serve on top of rice, or in a tortilla or with corn chips.  Top with avocado, grated cheese and sour cream ...

This was a BIG HIT with the whole family ! And it made lots.  Our family of four ate it for diner one night & everyone had seconds.  Two of us are having it for lunch today.  And there is still enough for lunch tomorrow!