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Shrove Tuesday

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Posted on March 4, 2014

Today is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. It is the day before Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of penitential season of Lent. Pancakes were traditionally eaten to use up the rich foods such as milk, eggs and sugar. You can read more about the origins here.

Despite eating a gluten-free diet I still managed to have pancakes for dessert.

I made a half quantity of the following recipe which made 4 nicely sized pancakes/pikelets. We drizzled a little lemon juice on them and topped with a sprinkle of sugar. Yum!!

BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES – The recipe is my adaptation of one from The Healthy Chef – check it out here.

160 g milk ( rice, almond, dairy, seed)
50 g buckwheat flour
50 g ground almond meal
20 g ground flax seed (linseed)
Half teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Combine the milk, buckwheat flour, almond meal, flax seed, baking soda and vinegar to form a smooth batter.

Heat a non stick pan with a little organic cold pressed coconut oil or macadamia nut oil and drop in about 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake. Turn the pancake over gently the cook for a further 2 minutes until the pancake is golden brown and cooked through.

Foodie Friday – A Takeaway Alternative

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Posted on February 28, 2014

Friday is the end of the working week and it could be very easy to slip into the ‘routine’ of takeaway on a Friday night. It was not a tradition at home when I was growing up but I know for many families takeaway is a Friday night staple. In order to avoid succumbing to takeaway on a Friday (or any other night) it is important to have a meal planned. As part of my menu plan I often factor in an easy meal for Friday night.

Tonight was no exception – we had nachos. It is about as easy as you can get and there are only 4 ingredients. There are no quantities – just use as much as you need.

NACHOS

Corn chips
Tomatoes
Refried beans
Grated cheese

Layer the corn chips on a tray or shallow ovenproof dish, add dollops of tomato and refried beans then sprinkle with grated cheese. Repeat the layers until ingredients are used. Bake in the oven at 170C for 12-15 minutes.

To make things a bit fancier you can serve with sides of sour cream or good-quality natural yoghurt and guacamole. A green salad is another option.

I make my own refried beans in the slow-cooker and freeze them in 500g tubs. You can find the recipe here. I have used canned tomatoes, diced fresh tomatoes or home-grown tomatoes that have been cooked down to a pulpy mixture. Some extra chilli can be mixed into the tomatoes if you prefer a spicier dish.

This recipe is vegetarian but you can add a small amount of minced beef mixture or shredded cooked chicken if you wish. However, I would recommend that you try the vegetarian version on the carnivores in your household as the beans make a substantial and tasty meal.

Do you have alternatives to takeaway?

Foodie Friday – An Introduction

The Rhythm of Life

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Posted on February 10, 2014

…….or just a Never-Ending Story?

The jobs that seem to fall together under that all-encompassing title of “Housework’. Do you embrace them as a steady part of your routine and rejoice in the satisfaction of a job well done? Or do you constantly rail against the monotony of having to do the same task over and over again?

During the past few weekends we have made substantial progress with what The Duke refers to as our bucket list. It is not a bucket list in the generally accepted sense but more like a ‘to do list’. We have bought and planted the shrubs outside the boundary fence, prepared the fence posts (cut to length, cleaned and painted), created and planted the rockery and started on building more raised garden beds.

However, the last couple of days have been a bit different. The combination of a very busy week at work and drizzling rain yesterday meant that I did very little outdoor work. In fact, I could say I did nothing much until I actually list what I did do.

Washing
Ironing
Prepared meals
Menu planned
Shopping
Picked beans, tomatoes, corn and mangoes
Sorted contents of freezer
Prepared and stored mango (pureed, frozen, dehydrated)
Prepared and froze corn
Swept floors
Dusted sideboard and bookcase
Refilled pantry containers from storage buckets

There were probably a dozen other little tasks that have not even made it onto the list.

The Duke also washed several loads of dishes and emptied the compost numerous times while I was making a mess in the kitchen.

Most of these tasks will need to be repeated the next day, week or month but that does not bother me particularly. I am constantly looking at ways to simplify my life and one of the reasons to reduce the amount of time and effort that is expended on routine tasks such as many of those that I have listed. A good example is shopping. This my shopping consisted of buying cheese and vinegar at Aldi (the vinegar was for the chutney), a small quantity of fruit and vegetables at the local fruit stall and The Duke bought some bacon at the butcher when he went in to town on another errand. The flow on effect was that putting everything away took about 2 minutes so that is a huge saving as well.

So, what do you think of repetitive homemaking tasks?

Storing the Surplus

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Posted on February 2, 2014

As I mentioned yesterday, I picked corn. I ended up with about 18 cobs and after The Duke had 2 for his lunch I was still left with a lot of corn to keep for another day. After doing a bit of research, I decided to blanch it, strip the kernels and freeze them.

Here is what I did.

Cooked 3 – 4 cobs at a time for 6 minutes in boiling water. It needs to be a large enough volume so that the water returns to a rolling boil within 1 – 2 minutes of adding the corn.

Remove the corn from the water using a slotted spoon and drop immediately into iced water for 6 minutes.

Strip the kernels from the cob using a sharp knife. In the instructions I found on the internet someone suggested using a bundt tin to support the narrow end of the cob while cutting the kernels off. I happened to have one of these so tried out. I was very pleased with the ease of removing the kernels and the tin was perfect to catch them in.

I gently stirred the mixture to separate the kernels and spread them on 2 trays, covered them and placed them in the freezer overnight. I weighed the kernels before I froze them and my efforts yielded 1.7kg.

This morning I removed the frozen kernels and packed them into 2 containers. This way the kernels are individually frozen and I can remove as much or as little as I need at a time.

Despite my despair of a few weeks ago, the corn has been a real success and there are more cobs which will probably be ready next week.

Fabulous February

Simple Food

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Posted on January 22, 2014

Simple really does come in all sorts of guises and one of them is food. Here is what we had for dinner on Friday night. It was the end of the working week, we were both exhausted and not keen on creating a huge meal so I pulled this together with what was in the refrigerator and pantry. It took about 5 minutes, presented well and was nutritious and filling.

The tomatoes, figs and pumpkin were from the garden. The pumpkin had been roasted to use on pizza and I had some left over. Cheese, capsicum and cucumber from the refrigerator and finished off with walnuts and dried apricots.

Do you make any truly simple meals?

This is just a quick post as I have been away for a couple of days with my job so no time for blogging. I am working on a new post about my wardrobe. It may be ready tomorrow night so look out for it coming soon.

Dinner – Keeping it Cool

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Posted on January 5, 2014

As I mentioned in my previous post we sweltered through some very hot weather yesterday. I find find that producing an appetising, nutritious meal with the minimum of effort can be a bit of a challenge.

Since it was so hot yesterday, I had the added difficulty of not wanting to traipse to the shops to buy our weekly fruit and vegetables. So, I decided that I would make do with what I had.

The end result was a 3 course meal.

Chilled tomato and parsley soup
Rice paper rolls with dipping sauce
Pineapple and mint crush

None of these came from recipes in the true sense of the word but were creations out of my head with the ingredients I had available. However, I will add them to the recipe file soon.

A Christmas Table & Leftovers

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Posted on December 29, 2013

Each year I review my Christmas catering efforts to see what worked, what didn’t and what could be changed.

As I have explained, this year was quite different as I catered for a small family gathering of 4 in an unfamiliar kitchen with limited ingredients. I shopped with a view to minimal leftovers as well as a very simple menu. You can see the menu in my previous post.

This was the entree – grilled asparagus and prosciutto-wrapped haloumi. There was a roasted capsicum sauce to accompany it.

Here is the table set for the main course with grilled salmon, chestnut and cranberry stuffed chicken roll and 3 different salads.

It was very enjoyable and there is nothing that I would change. The menu could easily be used for a bigger group with minimal additional effort.

We visited relatives on Boxing Day so the leftovers had to wait until the following day when I used them to create a main meal salad. I do not have a photo but here is the ‘recipe’.

Potato & Salmon Salad

6 tiny potatoes
1 small piece of grilled salmon
1 stick of celery
1/4 red capsicum (bell pepper)
Herb mayonnaise

Boil the potatoes until just tender. Cool and cut into small pieces. Flake the salmon and add to potatoes. Add finely sliced celery and diced capsicum. Toss ingredients and stir mayonnaise through. Chill and serve on a bed of salad greens with tomato wedges.

The recipe is based on exactly what I did and it served 3 adults for lunch.

What creations have you made with leftovers during the festive season?