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
Okay, so it’s been a while… again! Why? Julieanne now = Full-time teacher (primary school, mostly doing music :D). Woo!
I had the lovely Jane and Tim over last night and they requested the following recipe from me; I made it for them along with a silverside roast and spinach. Recipe is based on this one from Taste.com.au.
Ingredients (Makes approx 24 palm-sized hash browns)
- 1 red sweet potato, peeled and cut up into large chunks
- 1 purple sweet potato, peeled and cut up into large chunks
- 12 chat potatoes, peeled and cut up into large chunks
- 1 brown onion cut into quarters
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup flour (I use plain gluten free White Wings)
- 1/2 cup dried parsley
- 1/4 chicken salt
- 2 cups approx extra virgin olive oil (may require more or less, have extra on hand)
- Extra salt to taste
Directions
- Using a food processor, coarsely grate the potatoes. Then place the grated potatoes in a large bowl.
- Pour the potatoes onto a fine colander and rinse the potatoes until the water runs clear. Then, in small batches using paper towels, squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible from the potatoes before transferring them back to the large bowl.
- Again using the food processor, coarsely grate the onion. Add onion to the large bowl of grated potatoes.
- Add to the bowl the eggs, flour, dried parsley and chicken salt, and stir until well combined. A little liquid from the potatoes and egg should be present at the base of the bowl after this step.
- Add enough oil to a large deep frying pan to reach a depth of 2cm. Heat to 190°C over medium-high heat (when oil is ready a cube of bread will turn golden brown in 15 seconds).
- Spoon small palm sized balls of potato mixture onto a heat-proof spoon, squeezing out excess moisture with your hands. Place around the edge of the pan and flatten slightly to form discs. Shallow-fry for 3 minutes or until golden underneath. Turn and shallow-fry for a further 2 minutes or until crisp. Then use an egg lifter to transfer hash browns to a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil.
- Repeat in batches with the remaining potato mixture, topping up oil between batches if necessary. Season hash browns with salt to serve if desired.
Tags: eggs, food-processed, gluten free, potatoes, shallow fried, vegetarian
Okay, so it’s been a while! Let me explain briefly; Master in Teaching = Over! Julieanne = Casual Teacher getting lots of work atm luckily. Woo!
Anyway, here is a healthy simple soup recipe. I’ve been on a bit of a health kick lately and this one is good for you and uber tasty.
Ingredients (Serves 6)
- 4 large broccoli heads (with stalks), coarsely chopped
- 3 large cauliflower heads (with stalks), coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup of a mixture of green shallots, garlic chives and sweet basil, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup light cream cheese (I used Kraft Philly, the 80% less fat one)
- 1 cup of cold water
- 2 tsp garlic (can be more or less, your choice)
- 1 tsp Masterfoods Season-All (can be more or less, your choice)
- 6 tsp white chia seeds
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Corn chips to serve
Directions
- Boil water with the broccoli and cabbage in a pot until a little soft (approx 10 min).
- Drain the broccoli and cabbage and rinse immediately in cold water. Place in a blender with a sharp knife.
- Add the cup of water, chopped herb mixture, cream cheese, season-all and garlic to the blender. Process until smooth.
- Simmer the soup mixture in a pot over low medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper, and serve with corn chips and 1 tsp of white chia seeds sprinkled on top per serve. Enjoy!
Tags: blended, boiled, dairy, food-processed, gluten free, quick, soup, vegetarian
My garden’s been going nuts lately (good thing!), and I found myself needing to prune a whole lot of herbs. Aside from mint, which I made into tea, I had shallots, garlic chives and sweet basil to use up. So I thought… hmm… time to try making homemade pesto! This recipe has similarities to another pesto pasta recipe of mine. My hubby chowed all his plate down with compliments to the chef :-) I’m glad I made enough for leftovers later!
Note that whilst I need to use gluten free pasta, any pasta would be fine.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
For the pesto sauce….
- 1 cup of a mix of silvered almonds & pine nuts
- 1/2 cup of a mixture of green shallots, garlic chives and sweet basil, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tsp garlic
- 1 tsp Masterfoods Dill tips
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
For the pasta and vegetables bit…
- 2 large vine-ripened tomatoes, diced
- 100g of coarsely chopped shitake mushrooms
- 300g of uncooked gluten free pasta (I used tri-coloured spirals)
- 1 tsp Masterfoods Season-All
- 1 tsp of butter
- 1/4 extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
Directions
- Boil water in a pot and get the pasta cooking over high heat. Add a little extra virgin olive oil to the pot if pasta is sticking together (thanks hubby for this tip!)
- In the meantime, combine all ingredients for the pesto in a food processor. Process until well combined, light green and thick (paste-like in texture).
- Drain the pasta and rinse immediately in hot water. Serve onto plates.
- Rinse the pot and place the butter & mushrooms inside. Heat until golden brown over low medium heat.
- Add pesto, tomatoes, season-all, water and remaining extra virgin olive oil. Simmer over low medium heat for about 3 minutes.
- Serve the pesto and vegetable mixture over pasta and enjoy!
Tags: boiled, dairy, food-processed, gluten free, nuts, pan fried, pasta, quick, vegetarian
I’ve been in the mood for lighter dinner meals lately, and came up with this tonight. :-) And it’s easy as! Doesn’t need dressing either; there’s enough flavour in there as is.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
- 1 Desiree potato, washed & unpeeled
- 100g fetta, diced (get the ‘real’ stuff; e.g., no cows milk! Sheep and goat milk only.)
- 100g shaved deli ham, diced
- 1 handful cos lettuce, chopped coarsely
- 12 button mushrooms, diced
- 1 tsp of dill, finely chopped
- 1 small firm avocado, diced
- 1 tsp season-all (I used Masterfoods brand)
- 2 tbsp butter
Directions
- Place the potato in a swallow bowl with a little water. Pierce in two places with a fork. Cook in microwave on high for 5 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat the butter in a pan over medium-low heat.
- Cook the mushrooms in the pan over high heat, seasoning with dill and season-all. Stir frequently until they are cooked golden brown.
- Remove mushrooms from heat and place on a plate lined with paper towel to drain off excess oil.
- Turn over the potato over and add a little more water to the bowl. Pierce again in two different places with a fork.
- Heat the potato in the microwave again, on high, for 5 minutes.
- Cut the cooked potato into cubes.
- Toss the potato, mushrooms, fetta, ham, lettuce and avocado together in a salad bowl. Enjoy!
Tags: dairy, gluten free, ham, microwaved, mushrooms, pan fried, quick, salad
