Quorn Pad Thai Noodles

This easy Quorn based Pad Thai dish was not quite as flavoursome as it could be, and the egg made it look a bit gluggy – not like the perfect bowl of rice noodles featured on the website! It is also not of the same WOW Factor quality as the yummy Salmon Pad Thai recipe that I absolutely adore making. It was satisfactory enough however. With the addition of some extra chilli or other sauces, maybe some chopped bok choy, and perhaps 1 egg instead of 2 next time, it is a great dish for after work when you just want to collapse in a chair with a bowl of something and a glass of wine.

Actually, the glass of wine goes without saying, no matter what the meal…..

I used cashews instead of peanuts, as I don’t like peanuts much. My local Coles supermarket has this great new thing called Scoop & Weigh, where you measure out your own nuts, fruits, seeds etc and weigh the little bag on a self-serve scales, then print out your own barcode sticker, just like the girls behind the deli! I’m having fun buying lots of bits & pieces, just cos’ I can! It’s so cool, just like playing shops when I was 6…..

Source: http://westender.com.au/coles-gets-a-market-style-facelift/

I added extra spring onion to the dish, and lots of coriander, for which a quantity wasn’t specified. I also added some lime zest, mainly because I paid $2 for one lime so I was determined to use every bit of it. Why do I not have any friends with a lime tree in their garden….

Happy Fooding!

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

Don’t be fooled by the title above and the ingredients below – this actually does not taste sweet! I think the soy sauce counter-balances the juice and sugar, making it just right.

Simple and tasty, this recipe is based on one of those random facebook postings that you get, designed as a sort of ad but giving you something to entice you into clicking the link. There are a lot of those popping up in people’s feeds lately I’ve noticed – not just recipes, but also a lot of home-remedy cleaning tips. I never click on the links, but I do sometimes write down the recipe ideas, and this one worked really well.

Definitely use thigh fillets here and not breast, as it will be way too dry with breast.

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

1 kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat/skin

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup light soy sauce

cracked pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp cold water

1 cup sugar snap peas

Combine chicken, pineapple juice, sugar, soy sauce and pepper in crockpot. Mix well and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours.

Blend cornflour and water then add this and the peas, to the crockpot. Stir to blend and cook for a further 1 hour.

Serve with black rice, yoghurt & naan bread if desired.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Healthy Little Goodies

These balls are adapted from a recipe in a food magazine from a couple of years ago – I adjusted the quantities to suit what I had in the cupboard and how fussed I could be on the day. These are great for a sweet but reasonably healthy snack – perfect for lunch boxes or after school munchies. Certainly they all disappeared at work!

Apricot Energy Balls

200 gms dried apricots (the soft kind)

120 gms walnuts OR macadamias (or a mixture of both)

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until finely chopped and sticky (add a little extra honey if necessary)

Using clean, damp hands, roll mixture into 3cm balls. Place on a dish lined with baking paper, and refrigerate for half an hour until firm.

Makes 18-20

Mixture can be doubled easily, and if you like you can roll the balls in either extra sesame seeds, coconut or cocoa.

Happy Healthy Snack Fooding!

Not-Mince Comfort Food

I overdosed on red meat last week, with the Irish beef stew – so delicious, but eating it for 3 days in a row (plus what’s in the freezer) just made me need to stop eating meat for a few days. I do find I feel a lot healthier when I stick to seafood and veggies, but I like my curries, stir fries and roasts too much to completely becoming a vegetarian.

I wanted something healthy tonight but without meat – so I raided the cupboards and threw together this TVP based “mince stew” – reminiscent of an easy quick simmered stew my mum used to make when I was little. I loved it then, but my first husband had a distaste for minced anything (he was in fact Mr Food Fusspot personified), so a lot of things quickly made their way OFF the menu in my house for 15 years.

The one Mum used to make had, I think, Gravox in it to thicken the juices, and was probably a lot higher in fat content than what we can buy these days (mince was mince – none of this 3***, 5***, premium stuff!), but gee it was delish, especially served on hot, buttered toast.

This is today’s “what I had in the fridge” vegetarian version – lighter, but still tasting of meat. TVP is amazing!

You can add whatever veg you like to this – celery and baby spinach would be great. The chilli was from the garden of the lovely Carol from my work, who has been bringing them in to share with those of us that love cooking (there are a few of us and we are quick to reserve all the new cookbooks as they arrive!).

Vegetarian Mince Stew

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup dried TVP soy mince

1 small brown onion, finely chopped

3 baby potatoes, finely chopped

1 small carrot, finely chopped

425 gm can diced tomatoes

1 small birdseye chilli, chopped

splash of soy sauce

1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 tsp paprika

3/4 cup frozen peas

cracked pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil in large pan and sauté onion, potatoes and carrots for 2 mins, stirring frequently.

Add all remaining ingredients, bring to a gentle simmer and cook, on low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Serves 2-3

(that was really hard, wasn’t it!)

Last week was actually “meat free week” – oops I failed there – but I don’t eat meat all the time anyway so I don’t feel particularly cut up about it – however, the supporting website has some really lovely vegetarian recipes on it, so check it out, even if you are a carnivore.

Happy Fooding!

Restaurant Review: Fantastic Pub Fare

Last week I was in Melbourne for a few days, visiting my awesome kiddies and parents, and I had several yummy meals, including a family bbq at my mum’s (where I stay when I’m there), scrambled eggs for brekky at Geo’s Cafe (complete with champagne, because it’s always 3pm somewhere!), and lunch with my mum Kaye and good friend Linda, at Kelly’s Motor Club Hotel in Cranbourne.

I’d been to this pub once before, several years ago, and I don’t really remember what the food was like, so it can’t have been too memorable, but the pub itself is an historic icon in Cranbourne and has been owned by the same family (the Kellys, strangely enough!!!) since 1923.

I felt like a salad, so decided to have a Caesar – but there was the option of paying a bit extra for either chicken or salt & pepper calamari with it. I love calamari so thought that would be good, and was expecting really just a ‘garnish’ of a few pieces on top of my salad.

WELL, as you can see from the photo above, there was actually more calamari than salad! It is rare that you get such generous portions (the prices were very good – but then I tend to compare with Perth which is more expensive than Melbourne anyway). There was a substantial amount of salad to begin with (and the poached egg was cooked to perfection and actually still HOT, which is rare by the time it comes out to your table lol), which is not that obvious in the photo, but believe me this was a humungous meal. I couldn’t eat it all and ended up wrapping half of the calamari up in a serviette and taking it home – I had it cold in a bread roll with Greek yoghurt, for lunch the next day (yes, I am strange, but you already know this).

Kaye and Linda both had “Seniors meals”, which are smaller servings, priced accordingly, and include dessert. Kaye had the battered fish & chips, which as you can see is still a reasonable size, and Linda had porterhouse steak with mushroom sauce – and they made a gluten-free sauce for her, as she can’t eat wheat. They also brought out a special serving of gluten-free bread, without being asked for it, which Linda said it was delicious (often GF breads are pretty disgusting!).

Even though the fish and steak were smaller sized options, neither of the ladies could fit in their free dessert, which was a shame as the choice was a massive mixed berry cheesecake or a very large serving of chocolate mousse.

The menu choices were really great, so much choice that in fact it was really hard to decide what to have. Service was great and staff very friendly. We were all very impressed and I will definitely go back there.

Happy Fooding!

Super Duper Salmon Pad Thai

I know, I know….there’s been a definite emphasis on Thai style curry flavours in my cooking, since Christmas. I have no idea why!  Perhaps it’s the hot weather and the fact that Thai dishes are a lot lighter and fresher than the stodginess of say an Indian curry (much as I LOVE Indian curries!) or a casserole.

Whatever the reason, this recipe from the Tassal Tasmanian salmon producer’s website, is amazing! I adore Pad Thai, but the only one I’ve ever tried to make, a few years ago, was a vegetarian one and was majorly complicated. When I saw this salmon version I thought it looked too easy to be great tasting – not so. Easy yes (I made it after a day at work when tired, so that shows how uncomplicated it is), tasty yes yes yes!

I followed the recipe exactly, except I garnished with cashews instead of peanuts, as I just like them a lot better. And I was starting to make it when I realised I had completely overlooked the red capsicum when I wrote out my shopping list, and had none in the fridge – so just had to leave that out.

If you can please imagine flecks of red here and there, when looking at the photo, then you will have it about right….

I made the full serving, so as it definitely does make enough for 4 as stated in the recipe, I had it for lunch at work for the next couple of days – I could have reheated it, but I just ate it cold as a kind of noodle salad and it was delicious.

Happy Summer 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!

Barley Bliss

For my birthday recently (these birthdays seem to come around with increasing frequency, which I am not very keen about!), I received a wonderful new cookbook, The Food Clock. I’ve already tried a couple of recipes and will be trying many more as this book is mouthwateringly tempting. As well as recipes, there is a kind of storyline woven through the book, so it’s a very interesting book, and the food is arranged by season of the year, rather than dish categories.

This barley dish is so delicious and SO simple. The book says it serves 4 but I find that it is only enough for 2 as a main dish, or 4 if it was served as a side dish or as part of many offerings. It is quite spicy from the chilli flakes, enough to pack a bit of a punch but not blow your head off. You could leave those out I supposed but it would not be the same, as the chilli blends with the olives and fresh dill to give a really great flavour. I love fresh dill – I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea as it has a distinctly strong flavour, but it works really well with this combination of ingredients.

I increased the cooking time by an extra 10 minutes as the barley wasn’t quite cooked enough/liquid absorbed, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly as stated in the book.

This is perfect warming food for eating in a bowl in front of the TV on a cosy night in.

Pearl Barley in Tomato, Olives & Chilli

200 gms (1 cup) pearl barley

500 mls (2 cups) chicken stock (I use Massel which is a vegetarian one that is also gluten-free and contains no MSG)

300 mls tomato juice

100 gms pitted black or kalamata olives, diced

100 gms pitted green olives, diced

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 handful of dill, chopped

Combine the barley, stock and tomato juice in a large saucepan and set over moderate heat. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring often, until the liquid is completely absorbed and the barley is tender, then serve.

Happy Fooding!

Marvellous Mars Bar Slice

Simple and easy, this slice is always a crowd pleaser and can be whipped up in just a few minutes.  It is also suitable for your gluten-free friends.

Mars Bar Slice

3 Mars Bars (based on the old 60 gm size – so just use however many of varying sizes you need, to get about 180 gms altogether)

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp butter

3 cups Rice Bubbles

200 gms milk cooking chocolate

1 tbsp butter, extra

Break the Mars Bars into rough pieces and place in a microwaveable bowl, with the golden syrup and butter. Cook in microwave on MEDIUM, in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted; mix well until mixture is smooth.  Add Rice Bubbles; stir until well mixed and place in a rectangular container (I use the Tupperware Slice N Stor, which is 28 x 17 cm).

Refrigerate for a few minutes.  Melt chocolate and extra butter in the microwave and spread over the base.  Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, then cut into squares to serve.

Happy Fooding!