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Saturday, October 25, 2014

Italian Meatballs

So it's been a little while since I posted on my recipe blog, but I thought it was time that some of my favourites were posted..
This is a true vegetarian recipe passed down from generations...blah blah ... But seriously it is a good one....

This will make around 15 medium size patties (they don't have to be balls)

1/2 cup rolled oats
11/4 cups tasty cheese
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
3 eggs
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 clove garlic crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tin tomato soup ( I love Heinz)
1/2 cup milk

In a medium size bowl mix together the rolled oats and cheese.
Using a small food processor, process about two slices of bread to get your one cup of bread crumbs and add this to the first two ingredients. In the food processor add the onion, macadamia's, eggs, sour cream, garlic and salt. Or alternatively you can chop all ingredients finely (besides the eggs) and
mix all ingredients together.
In a fry pan on medium heat fry tablespoons of the mixture till golden brown on both sides. Place in a casserole dish and pour the tomato soup that is mixed with 1/2 cup milk over the patties, ensuring that they are all covered. Cook in a 170 -180c oven for approximately 40 minutes.
This is originally used with walnuts,which actually makes them a bit "meaty" in texture, but I love the Macadamia nuts.
Enjoy!!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

This is a lovely vegetarian slice that can also be a gluten free dish. This recipe is from my sister Judy who is a fabulous cook.

Mock Fish Fingers

1 cup Macaroni
1 cup soft breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 onion finely chopped
125g creamed cheese
2 eggs beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced


Cook macaroni till soft.  Cook the onion in butter until clear. Mix all the ingredients together. Pour the blended mixture into a greased slice tin.  Bake in a moderate oven 25-30 minutes or until set. When cold cut into fingers. Dip into egg and dried breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tofu and Vegetable Massaman Curry.
I thought it was time for another vegetarian curry. This recipe is from the Sanitarium site that they post once a week. The hubby usually makes dinner on the day/s that I work (what a gem) and this Massaman was fantastic and healthy. The kids tried it and thought it was ok, but "please don't make us eat it again" was their response. This is a lovely dish for all those Thai fans.

Ingredients
250g hard Tofu, cut into 3cm cubes
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 cup cornflour
1/4 oil
1 red onion, diced
2 small cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup vegetarian massaman curry paste
400ml light coconut milk
200g potatoes cut into 2cm cubes
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
juice of 1 lime
60g unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup torn coriander leaves, plus extra for garnish

Method
1. Pat tofu dry on kitchen paper, then toss in combined curry powder and cornflour.  Heat oil in a wok and add the tofu, fry until golden on all sides.
2. Heat remaining oil in a wok, add the onion, garlic and fry until golden.  Add 2 tablespoons of the curry paste, stir briefly, then add the light coconut milk and stir well.  Add all the remaining ingredients in turn except the tofu, coriander and peanuts.  Simmer gently for 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender but not mushy.  Add brown sugar.
3. Combine cornflour and water and stir into curry to thicken.  Add lime juice and the tofu and most of the peanuts, reserving some for garnish. If curry is too thick add a little hot water.
4. Serve with rice and garnish with coriander and extra peanuts.

This keeps for 2 days in the fridge and is great with Basmati rice.

Enjoy!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Tandoori Chicken

It has been ages since I posted a recipe and this one is just great.. I found it at the Dentist while my son was getting his teeth cleaned and polished. I was flipping through the mags and just chilling. (Thank goodness it wasn't me getting the dental work) I tried taking a photo of the recipe with my very basic mobile phone, which didn't turn out very well, so some of this maybe from memory.. I have already made this a couple of days ago, so I do know it tastes good, actually great and it's low fat!!! Yes!! Another great fact is that my kids loved it, even my fussy daughter, so it was a bit of a hit.

2 Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/4 cup Tandoori paste (Sharwoods)
1 cup natural yogurt, Greek style

Topping

1 cup coriander leaves
1cup mint leaves
Juice of one lemon or lime
1-2 Tablespoons maple syrup
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 small green chilli (optional)

Combine the Tandoori paste and natural yogurt and place the chicken breasts into the mixture to cover well.
Place the chicken under a grill or barbeque or place in the oven to cook through. The cooking process should only take about 10-15 minutes or until the flesh is white.
If you have a food processor you can blitz all the topping ingredients together. You can add more maple syrup if you want it a bit sweeter but the coconut does a pretty good job.
Cut the chicken into slices and place the topping over the chicken. The original recipe had green beans with the meal, but I think a green salad would suffice.

This is a great dish when you want to have something with a bit of spice, but without the huge hit of fat that usually goes with a great curry..
Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Christmas

It has been so long since I wrote on my blog, I know very slack. It is almost Christmas and I think the last time I blogged was July,eek! The year has gone nowhere and now the kids are counting down the days and opening up their Advent Calendars. I have seen so many gorgeous recipes lately, but one stands out as a simple and delicious morsel that I had to just give it away. This sweet little slice comes from an old family friend and with a little Christmas tweaking it's perfect for this time of year.

Peppermint and Cranberry Bubble Slice

200g Block Peppermint chocolate, chopped
180g Block Dark chocolate, chopped
50g Copha
5 Cups Rice bubbles
3 x 35g Peppermint Crisp chocolate bars, roughly chopped
85-100g dried cranberries

1. Grease a 3cm deep, 18x28cm slice pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.
2. Place peppermint chocolate, dark chocolate and copha in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes or until melted and smooth.
3. Place rice bubbles,cranberries and peppermint crisp in a large heatproof bowl. Add chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Spoon mixture into prepared pan, pressing down with the back of a spoon to level. Cover. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.
4. Cut into squares, serve.

It is easier to cut this into nice little squares if you get it out of the fridge after the two hours, or they easily cut into diamonds after being well set.
Christmas is a great time to get together with family and friends, and this little number is easy to create and take along to any Chrissy function.

Enjoy!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I know, another recipe so soon, what is wrong with me. It's called having sick kids and having to stay at home. I am totally avoiding the huge pile of ironing that is calling me and the sound of the ringing washing machine that is telling me that the washing is ready to hang out. It is so much more fun cooking and listening to the radio and winning movie tickets. Yes my 7 year old thinks I am gold at the moment. I am not a real muffin fan, but these are well, yummy and almost a little bit healthier than the average muffin. They are sort of healthier, but I wouldn't get too carried away with eating more that one, even though you might want to. I picked this recipe up at the back of a book that I finished reading last week. The main character in the story kept making these for breakfast, so I guess the Author thought it only right to give the reader something to do once the book is finished and to satisfy the palate.

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.
125g cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 180. Line a muffin tray with muffin cases.
In blender,(I used my hand-held) mix cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla till smooth. In seperate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the cream cheese mix in the blender. (The mix goes very dry, but don't worry) Add eggs, milk and canola oil. With a spoon, fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes.

NB: I used olive oil instead of the canola as it was all I had at the time. The muffins turned out really good, with a crisp outer edge and soft on the inside. The recipe said to cook them for 35, but mine were ready at about 30 minutes, but it can depend on your oven.

I also made a cream cheese frosting. I used the left over cream cheese tub about 125g, added about 2 tablespoons of icing sugar, one tablespoon of sour cream and a lovely squeeze of lemon to your liking. Blend all together with a mixer and ice when cooled. Another tip that I can give you is to make sure your eggs are at room temp and the milk, it just gives the muffins a softer finish.

These are really easy to make for a morning tea, or just to indulge because you can!
Enjoy!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Chick-peas and Eggplant in Minted Cream

This curry is adapted from the recipe book Classic Curries, by Lisa Dyer. This has to be one of my favourite recipe books and one of my favourite vegetarian curries in this book, besides the Pumpkin Korma which I may add at a later date. I know it has been forever since I posted on my blog, but life just catches up with you and it's hard sometimes to just sit down and write. I think when you have sick kids, the world just stops and it takes a little while to catch up. Winter time denotes a yummy curry that you can soak up with some garlic naan if it suits. My kids love this one, even with the eggplant which isn't always kid-friendly. I think the eggplant soaks up the flavour of the curry and nicely disguises the sometimes bitter taste of this vegetable.

Serves 4
4-6 finger eggplants
2 medium size zucchini
6 Tbsp oil or ghee
1 large onion, peeled, quarted and sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1-2 fresh chillies, deseeded and chopped, or use 2 tsp minced chilli from a jar
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground garam masala
425g tin chopped tomatoes
300mls vegetable stock or water
salt and pepper
425g can chick-peas, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
150ml double cream
Plain or pilau rice, or parathas, to serve

Trim the leaf off the eggplant and slice. Trim and slice the zucchini. Heat the oil or ghee in a saucepan and gently fry the eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic and chillies for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently and adding a little more oil to the pan, if necessary. Stir in the spices and cook for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, stock or water and salt and pepper to taste and cook for 10 minutes. Add the chick-peas to the pan and continue cooking for a further 5 minutes. Stir in the mint and cream and reheat gently. Tast and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Serve with plain or pilau rice, or with parathas if preferred.
NB You can easily omit the chillies if you would rather a milder curry. I just added one small green one, deseeded in the latest curry and it was just the right amount of heat for the kids.
Enjoy