Need to Get Healthy Again….

Salsa

I had a severe meat overdose last week.

Firstly, I made a beef stir-fry which lasted me for two evening meals – no particular recipe, just chucked in some marinated beef strips plus whatever veggies I had and a few sauces. It was good.

Secondly, I tried the Indian cafe at the end of my street, for the first time (even though it’s been there for over 2 years….) on Friday night – I bought takeaway lamb saagwala, rice, naan bread and vegetable pakoras. Apart from the pakoras, which were delicious, the rest was awful – undercooked, tough lamb with no flavour, and too-chewy naan bread. The service was also very poor – 25 minutes to get a takeaway order when there was only one order before me and one table of 6 in the actual restaurant. Plus, the girl taking the orders stopped halfway through an order to take an obviously personal phone call, which she then proceeded to take outside to carry on in private! I won’t be going back there again. Shame, as it is so close to home and they home-deliver for free if I really can’t be bothered walking 100 metres haha.

Thirdly, on Saturday, I decided to cook lamb shanks in a cook-in-the-bag thingy, with roasted veg. This was quite lovely – I don’t use a lot of pre-prepared foodstuffs, but I like the convenience of these flavour sachet/bag things for an easy, family-style meal occasionally. I had, however, eaten the leftover lamb saagwala, on a roll at lunchtime (because despite its lack of flavour excitement, I do hate to waste food, especially when an animal has died to provide it), plus I had a slice of roast beef on my crumpet for breakfast, so the whole day was very meat-intense, which is not like me.

And finally, on Sunday I went to “high tea” at a posh hotel in the afternoon. I deliberately ate nothing but a crumpet early in the morning, to build up a good appetite. I will write about my total pig-out separately, but suffice it to say, I did not need dinner that night and in fact felt quite disgustingly bloated and huge afterwards. Not only that, but the skirt I wore to the high tea was tight and it is usually quite a loose fitting one, so that means I still haven’t physically gotten over my excess of cheese and pastry whilst in the UK!

Time has come for some detoxifying……for me that means not eating meat for a while – not that I will ever completely be a vegetarian, as I do love a good curry, roast or  meat stir-fry. But I know my body, and I do just feel a lot healthier when I stick to veg & fish/seafood. I’d like to say I would give up alcohol to detox, but hmmmmm that will never happen. I have to have something to keep me sane….

I’m really big on mushrooms at the moment, so this is what I had last night – I simply placed 200 gms (9) cup mushrooms (stalks cut off then finely chopped) in a baking dish and topped with 100 gms crumbled feta, the chopped mushroom stalks, 50 gms pitted kalamata olives, cracked pepper and some fresh basil leaves. Baked it for 30 minutes at 160C and served with a freshly made salsa – in this case I used the kernels from 1 corn cob (I don’t bother blanching it, just slice it off raw – yummo), 1 red onion (finely chopped), 1 tomato (finely chopped), 1 avocado (chopped), a pinch of salt, cracked pepper and a splash of lime juice.

Mushrooms, Feta, Olives

This was a delicious and healthy comfort food – filling and “meaty” tasting thanks to the mushrooms, but without the blurrrrggggghhh feeling of eating too much meat in one hit.

This mushroom idea actually works well as a side dish, rather than the main meal that I made of it. I made this quantity just for me – it was too much of course, but bearing in mind that mushrooms shrivel a lot when they cook, you would need to increase the quantities if you wanted this to be a main dish for a few people or a side dish for a large group.

Mushrooms + Salsa = Yum

Happy Fooding!

Something Fishy….Or Not So Fishy.

Since returning from my amazing 🙂 UK trip I have really not done much cooking – I think I’m trying to stay in holiday mode as long as possible, and frankly sometimes it is difficult to get motivated to make stuff when there is no one to share the meals with – it’s just not the same on your own. I do, however need to eat, and you can only make do with sandwiches, couscous and home-delivered gourmet Crust pizza (mmmmm….) for so long!

I made this very easy and healthy “baked fish pie” last night, from the May issue of Recipes+ magazine. I halved the quantity, but have listed the full amounts (feeding 4) below.

I like the concept of this recipe – kid-friendly, quick and easy, economical, healthy etc – but I did find the fish itself too bland. When a recipe says “firm white fish fillets”, well you can use anything can’t you, but I do find that I just prefer salmon or tuna all the time, and apart from flake (shark) from Victorian waters, nothing much else cuts it in the fish flavour department. I will make this dish again, but use salmon for better flavour, and also I think some sort of cheese on the top of the mashed potato would finish it off nicely.

So, I like to think of this recipe as a basis to go on with, experimenting with adding other things. The celery was a great inclusion for a start, but there is scope for further improvement….and I also think you could use tofu instead of fish, if you wanted a vegetarian version.

Baked Fish Pie

1 kg potatoes, peeled, cut into 3cm pieces

1/3 cup milk

1 cup frozen peas

cracked pepper, to taste

550 gm jar tomato pasta sauce (any flavour)

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or basil

800 gm (=4) fish fillets, cut into 2 cm pieces (I used ling, but will try salmon next time – or prawns would be good!)

Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan forced).

Place potato in large saucepan; cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; return to plan and add milk and peas. Mash until combined. Season with pepper.

While the potato is cooking spray a 2 litre (8 cup) ovenproof dish with extra-virgin-olive-oil spray. Spoon pasta sauce over base of dish, then sprinkle over celery & herbs. Arrange fish pieces over the top and bake for 10 minutes.

Spoon potato mixture over the fish (add some cheese now ??). Bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!

Food Failures

Boring!

I have had a couple of no-good cooking attempts recently. One was a recipe I pulled out of a magazine, for gnocchi that is cooked and then sautéed with butter beans, lemon zest, lemon juice and peas, then topped with parmesan. I added fresh basil, baby spinach and pine nuts for good measure – all in all a great combination of flavours that should have worked, but sadly did not. The resulting bowl of pasta was a stodgy carb overdose that looked like mashed potato gone wrong, and just left me feeling blurgh (family word). I had to have a glass of wine to help me get through the experience!

My other not-so-great meal was this “melt in your mouth chicken breasts” dish that I mentioned in the steamed carrots post the other day. Upon reading the chicken recipe, you would think surely this can’t go wrong. Well, it didn’t so much go wrong as just not look or taste like anything out of the ordinary. The photo in the original looks like a great crunchy topping – mine did not turn out like that! Nor did it melt in the mouth. The mayo topping just slid off and disappeared into a vague bit of liquid in the baking dish. It was just total “plain Jane” in flavour, and is another recipe to be filed under R for rubbish bin!

Oh well, you can’t win ’em all, and overall I don’t have TOO many failures so can’t really complain. I hate wasting food, so I always eat the bad stuff anyway, reminding myself that it’s healthy….

Happy Fooding!

Cheese & Herb Tomatoes

I’ve raved about the Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook series before, and this tasty tomato side dish is from the AWW Microwave Cookbook 2. Both of the microwave books are out of print, but I just picked up a secondhand copy from the local Salvos for my daughter – op shops and market stalls always have a few AWW cookbooks going for a song, so they’re very easy to find.

I fought having a microwave at all, for years, because I thought I would only use it for heating things up and defrosting. When I finally bought one, about 20 years ago, I was determined to learn how to use it properly and actually COOK in it, to make it worth the cost investment (they were a lot more expensive then, and my budget was tight!).

Both of the AWW microwave cookbooks were invaluable in helping me get the hang of this newfangled, quick-cooking technology, and I still use recipes from both books on a regular basis. I’ve shared a couple with you – Satay Chicken and Scalloped Potato & Bacon – and I’m sure I’ll share more with you in future.

I had children who were fussy eaters (thankfully they grew up and got over it, eventually), and a husband who was even worse! This tomato dish suited everyone’s tastes, although I had to pretend that the cheese on top was tasty cheese, as just mention of “spew cheese” would have made the dish inedible in the kids’ minds!!!

I use fresh basil whenever I have it growing (it loves the hot Summers here in Perth, and there’s a big clump growing at the moment in the communal bit of garden belonging to the flat I live in), but dried is fine too.

Cheese & Herb Tomatoes

500 gms tomatoes

30 gms butter

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

1/3 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese

Cut tomatoes into 1cm thick slices. Place slices, slightly overlapping, in a large shallow dish (I find a pie plate works well).

Melt butter in a small bowl in microwave; stir in breadcrumbs and herbs, and cook on HIGH for a further 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Stir in cheese, and sprinkle mixture evenly over tomatoes.

Cook on HIGH for about 4 minutes or until tomatoes are heated through.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!

Annette’s Salad

At an OIDFA gathering last weekend, we had a yummy salad of chicken, salad and rolls, including a delicious bowl of salad made by one of the members, Annette.

We all asked how this was made and were told it was just avocado, feta cheese, red onion, tomato and basil – topped with bought Italian dressing! How simple. So I made some for my dinner one night this week – I added fresh bean shoots as well, for some extra crunch and nutrition, and it was very good but not QUITE as good as Annette’s. Maybe it was the brand of Italian dressing I bought, or probably it’s a case of something never being as good as the original – who knows, but for sure it was edible and very healthy.

I don’t think you need specific quantities for this, but here is how I did it:

Annette’s Salad

1 ripe avocado, chopped

100 gms feta cheese, chopped (I used low-fat)

1 red onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

a handful of fresh bean shoots

1/3 cup Italian dressing (I used fat-free)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Toss, refrigerate until ready to serve, and toss again.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Thai Red Curry Prawns

I’ve had a bit of a meat-free phase recently – kind of a post-Christmas detox, only not really as I haven’t given up wine haha. I just sometimes feel my body needs more vegies, and I firmly believe in listening to what your body tells you.

I am eating lots of fish and prawns, and am also eating a lot of spices at the moment, no idea why. There are many versions of red and green Thai curries around, so I made up my own prawn dish using the elements I liked from several dishes. The result was quite good, medium hot and not too complicated to make.

The prawns I bought were quite small – I should have bought the giant king prawns and shelled them myself, but I just couldn’t face the messiness of peeling/deveining them myself . You just have to be in the right mood for that, so I cheated and bought smaller prawns, already peeled with the tails left on. Of course they shrink when cooked as well, so ended up quite small. Instead of cooking rice or noodles to go with it, I decided to have Thai fajitas! Prawns wrapped in tortillas with a little yoghurt instead of guacomole – yum!

Thai Red Curry Prawns

2 tbsp olive oil

500 gms prawns, tails left on, peeled/deveined

1 brown onion, cut into wedges

1 small carrot, peeled & thinly sliced

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 tbsp red curry paste

400 mls coconut milk (I use low-fat)

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 kaffir lime leaves

1 cup fresh basil leaves

100 gms baby spinach leaves

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok or saucepan; add prawns and toss for 1 minute or until starting to change colour. Set prawns aside.

Heat remaining oil, and saute onion, carrot and ginger for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add red curry paste and stir to coat, for 1 minute.

Add coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Return the prawns to the wok along with the basil and baby spinach, and simmer for 2 more minutes.

Serves 2-4 depending on what other things you have with it.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Mild Thai Vegies

It is really, really hot here at this time of year. I love it, as I hate the cold, but many are not happy right now. Over Christmas we had about 10 days in a row of 37-42C with no relief, and even night minimums only getting down to 23-27C.

Finally a minor cool change came through on New Year’s Day, and since then it hasn’t been too bad, but even with a bit of a cool breeze, it is still way too hot inside my tiny place to think about using the oven much. The aircon is very inefficient and there is no insulation, making it freezing in Winter and stinking hot in Summer!

On New Year’s Day, when I was in post-Hawaiian-party recovery mode and pretty much doing nothing all day, I wanted to make a healthy vegie dish to go with my crumbed salmon (which I did in the microwave rather than the oven). I also needed to make do with whatever was in the fridge, as the shops were not open and I had not yet fully re-stocked from being away for 2 weeks.

I made up this curried veg dish – Massaman curry paste is very mild, so this is not a spicy dish at all, and you could use whatever vegies you like.

Massaman Thai Vegies

1 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, cut into wedges

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tbsp Massaman curry paste

400 mls coconut milk (low-fat)

400 mls tinned, diced tomatoes

7 baby potatoes, cut into quarters

2 small carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 red capsicum, sliced

kernels of 1 corn cob

2 tbsp fresh basil, torn

2 tbsp fresh mint, torn

Heat olive oil in large saucepan, and saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, potatoes and carrots. Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Add capsicum, corn kernels, basil and mint, and simmer for a further 10 minutes or until potato/carrot is tender, stirring occasionally.

Serves 4

Happy hot weather fooding!

Party Nibbles 2

Also for Christmas, I whipped up these little beauties!  Haha, they look so professional, but in fact this is a complete cheat’s canape……I got this idea a few months ago at an afternoon tea put on by my lecturers when I finished my Diploma.

All this is, is 2 packets of those little vol-au-vent cases that you buy ready-made, and in them I have spooned red and green Wattle Valley crunchy dips – half are red with a spot of green on top, and half are green with a spot of red on top – all nice and Christmasy looking! I used Chilli dip for the red, and Basil for the green, but you can use whatever flavours/brands you like.

These bought vol-au-vent cases are pretty dry tasting, so you need to make sure you put as much dip inside as you possibly can. This is not easy without making a big mess and getting dip all over the bench – you need a couple of tiny teaspoons and you must hold your tongue the right way lol.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Asparagus Risotto

Risottos are usually made with LOTS of butter, which doesn’t suit my low-fat lifestyle, so this is my reduced-fat version of a basic risotto. The only tricky thing here is to stir continually, whilst gradually adding the liquid – otherwise you get brown crusty bits in your risotto and your poor saucepan ends up with a burnt bum!

I usually use lemon juice, but this time added preserved lemon instead, from my recently made jar – wow, such a difference. Definitely worth it.

Risotto should be soup-y, so keep adding extra liquids if you need to. It is quite a bit more gluggy and stodgy the next day, so serve immediately if you are having guests, but leftovers (I like it cold, which by now should not surprise you…) are great in a bowl the next day if you don’t mind it being a bit more solid.

Asparagus Risotto

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 bunch asparagus, cut into 2.5cm pieces

1 brown onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

2 tbsp basil pesto

3 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup white wine

1 tbsp lemon juice OR 1 wedge preserved lemon, finely chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

cracked pepper, to taste

Heat oil and butter in a heavy based pan; saute onion and asparagus until onion is transparent. Add rice and pesto, and cook for 1 minute, stirring to coat well.

Mix wine and stock together in a jug, and slowly add to the rice, stirring constantly. Add bit by bit as the rice absorbs the liquid (if necessary, add extra chicken stock until the rice is cooked).

Add lemon, cheese and pepper, mix through and serve.

Serves 3-4.

Happy Fooding!

Thai Pork Stir-Fry

The other night I made this very easy pork mince dish from taste.com – I don’t usually think of mince when I think of stir-fry, but this did turn out well and has a lovely mix of Thai flavours in it. Instead of serving with rice noodles, this would be good served in lettuce cups, as it pretty much is the same ingredients as a Thai larb dish.

The ingredients here are not anything super unusual, but the flavours come from using fresh foods. If you didn’t use fresh lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli, for sure this would taste quite uninteresting and bland.

Another serving idea, which would make this go a bit further if you had more people to feed, is to serve it as a kind of Thai fajitas – the noodles in a separate bowl, with warm tortillas, Greek yoghurt or sweet chilli sauce, and maybe a bowl of shredded lettuce.

Serves 4 – so plenty of leftovers for me!

Happy fooding!