Hello all!
I have one cooking photo to share, a mini pudding for James’s 29th birthday :) No recipe but, it was mostly from a packet. I did substitute xanthan gum for egg though, a first! Worked fine :)
Regards, Julieanne
So, it’s been a while! I’ve finally got around to posting my stir fry recipe my Mum and friends have asked for (…oops :P). It’s a fun one to make, and as usual quantities are flexible (and you can add/minus stuff too).
Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
- 500g chicken breast, cut into small strips
- 1 tbsp season all
- 1 tbsp peanut oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 cup coriander, coarsely chopped (optional)
- 1 cup sweet chilli sauce
- 2 tbsp lime juice (optional)
- 1 whole garlic bulb, minced
- 3 tbsp ginger, minced (optional)
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 cups brown rice
- 90g tomato paste (optional)
- 1 500g pkt mixed frozen vegetables (I like Birds Eye Thai Style, click here for info)
 Method
- Using a rice cooker, cook the brown rice.
- Heat the oil on a wok and brown chicken strips on medium heat, seasoning with garlic, ginger and season all.
- Add all other ingredients except for the rice & tomato paste. Simmer on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.
- Add tomato paste if desired and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add 3/4 cup of corinader and stir in.
Serve with rice, using the rest of the coriander to garnish.
Note: This dish can also be served with rice noodles; stir these in well during step 4 with a little water, covering the noodles in the sauce.
After moving house (woo! I have a house now!), I remembered this can of condensed sweetened milk I had in the pantry that I was yet to try making a desert out of. So, during school hols I modified this awesome caramel shortbread slice recipe and made what I’ve dubbed Caramel Nut Crumble Truffles. The peanut butter is mostly in there because I realised I had no butter, and turns out it works well with olive oil as a substitute in this recipe! It definitely was no longer a slice though; the crumbles are quite crumbly and definitely need to be rolled by hand into balls of yum with the caramel. Steps below! Oh, and these have been hubby tested and approved :) I’m also going to give them to work colleagues as a welcome back to Term 3 sorta thing; hopefully they’ll like them too. :)
Oh, and it’s a bit healthier for the lack of butter and due to the skim sweetened condensed milk; but I’m not going to lie to you. It’s definitely a treat, not a health food! :P
Ingredients (Makes 40 sm
all truffles)
- 1 cup plain flour (gluten free if necessary)
- 1 cup of castor sugar, sifted
- 5 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter (softened in microwave)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (for later use in caramel)
- 1/2 cup squeezable maple flavoured syrup (not the really thick kind – something like this Green brand one)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp xanthan gum (or 2 tsp gelatine)
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 400ml can Skim Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 3/4 cup LSA meal (linseed, sunflower seed and almond meal)
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced. Grease and line an 18 x 28cm lamington pan with baking paper.
- To make the nutty crumble, put flour, LSA meal, castor sugar & peanut butter in a food processor. Whilst pouring in gradually small amounts of the 2 tablespoons of oil, mix until it forms a crumbly paste. Press into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until slightly golden.
- To make the caramel, in a medium saucepan over medium heat combine extra olive oil and maple flavoured syrup and stir until combined and warmed (not boiling). Add brown sugar, salt, xanthan gum and skim sweetened condensed milk, stir over heat for 10 minutes or until thickened. Pour over crumbly base and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.
- Cut into squares and roll into small balls, pressing the crumble into the caramel to make it stay together.
Tags: dairy, food-processed, gluten free, nuts, oven baked
Man do I love a good pasta bake. This one was easy and tasty :) And has the hubby seal of approval! Oh, and as is the norm with my dishes, it’s totally awesome as leftovers the next day.
Ingredients (Makes approx 5 servings)
- 1L water
- 300g pasta (spirals or penne or similar, not spaghetti, gluten free if need be)
- 500g beef mince
- 12 button mushrooms, chopped coarsely
- 2 capsicums (one red and one green is nice for appearances), chopped coarsely
- 1/2 cup dried vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup mixed herbs
- 1 jar pasta sauce (your choice; I went with Dolmio’s Garlic)
- 200g mozzarella
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200C (fan forced).
- In a casserole dish, pour 1/8 cup of oil to cover the base.
- Place mince, mushrooms, capsicum, vegetable stock and mixed herbs in dish and mix together.
- Spread remaining oil over the top of the mince mixture and bake for 20 minutes (or until mince is browned).
- Meanwhile, boil water and cook pasta as per packet instructions.
- Remove dish from oven. Scoop mince mixture over to one side, and pour in the pasta to cover the bottom of the casserole dish.
- Pour pasta sauce evenly into the dish , and spread mozzarella evenly on top.
- Bake for another 8 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Tags: beef, boiled, dairy, gluten free, mushrooms, oven baked, pasta, quick
Okay, so it’s been a while again… again. And now, Julieanne still = Full-time teacher, but now I’m teaching Kindy and have my own awesome class, woo!
I remember my Grandma cooking Bacon Bones for hours in boiling water in order to make soup stock when I was younger; the smell is amazing. I saw some at a meat market and, several hours & thoughts later, soup! Has thumbs up from my hubby and a couple of friends too, woo :) Oh, and its totally suitable for freezing for later microwaving.
Ingredients (Makes approx 8L)
- 6L Water
- 300g bacon bones, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup dried chicken stock
- 1 cup dried vegetable stock
- 1 can brown lentils
- 750g Mixed Frozen Vegetables (Peas, corn, beans)
- 8 chat potatoes, peeled
- 200g Rice Vermicelli
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 500g beef strips
- 1/2 cup herb salt mixture (e.g., celery salt, mixed herbs with salt… up to you)
- 250g ham off the bone, cut into small cubes
Directions
- Place water and bacon bones in a large pot. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
- In the meantime, in a oven tray place beef, 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup herb salt mixture. Cook until strips are browned all over.
- Remove bacon bones. Add stocks, frozen vegetables, lentils, beef and oil mixture, the remainder of the olive oil, the potatoes and ham.
- Cook on medium-high heat for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked.
- Add Rice Vermicelli and cook on high heat for another 2 minutes.
- Serve, with bread if desired.
Tags: bacon, beef, boiled, gluten free, ham, noodles, potatoes, soup
all truffles)
