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Love is… having someone to check you for nits

February 14, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News · Tagged celebrations, dinner, parenting, recipe, tuna

Adult-only ingredients and wine? Check. Kids in bed early? Fingers crossed

It’s safe to say that my better half and I have never been overt romantics. We have our special moments, of course, but rarely the prearranged kind. So Valentines Day flowers and gifts has never really been our thing.

However, one night last year, my best-friend arrived home with a romantic brown paper bag full of presents that touched my heart and got me all teary – chocolates and a Tiffany’s box? No, it was nit treatments and a matching pair of his ‘n’ hers nit combs.

Even for us it was a pretty unromantic moment, but looking at him, home after hours out in the big bad world, earning all our money and then running our errands, I had never loved him more. Perhaps it was his commitment to our family through good times and bad that got me all ‘awwwww’ over it. Or maybe I was just pre-menstrual. I can’t remember. But I do know that I look at single parents and wonder just how they cope during the dreaded nit infestations, night terrors or emergency dashes to hospital.

I’m hugely grateful that I have a lovely partner. And to say thanks, this Valentine’s Day he’s getting something special. A little special romantic dinner pour deux.

Our relationship history is littered with memorable meals both in restaurants and at home. Possibly no dish means more to us than this Tuna & Mango Salsa recipe. I made it for him on our first proper dinner together after we moved into our first apartment (almost exactly 11 years ago). Apparently this dish smoothed over any apprehensions and made him think that maybe he’d made the right decision, after all.

So try it on your man (or woman). It’s easy, but special, and with the chilli and coriander, definitely an adult’s dinner. For this night of the year, feed the kids fish fingers and pop them into bed early. Hopefully they won’t re-emerge too many times, you’ve got some serious romancing to do…

Adapted from the Family Circle 1997, ‘Tex mex’ cookbook.

Coriander Tuna with mango salsa

1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 small red chilli, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tbsp olive oil

2 tuna steaks

Mango Salsa
1 mango, peeled, diced
½ small red onion, finely sliced
½ cup coriander, chopped
2 tbsp lime juice

Crush up the first five ingredients in a mortar and pestle until you have a paste (you can also do this in a blender). Smear it over the tuna steaks, cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Combine all of the salsa ingredients together in a bowl.

Heat a char-grill pan, bbq or frying pan until really hot. Sear either side of the tuna for 3 minutes or so, until cooked to your liking (I like mine still raw in the middle).

Serve with the salsa, fresh salad and wine.

My domestic sham EXPOSED!

February 8, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged cooking techniques, feeding the family, recipe, treats

A boon for modern housewifery, a recipe that relies on rotting ingredients.

Each year, Australians throw away $516 billion worth of food. That averages out to $616 per household. Usually I’m conscientious about this, but lately I’ve had to contend with THE ANTS.

In the last week THE ANTS have invaded and forced me to throw away brown sugar, 5 packets of pineapple/sultanas, flaked almonds, an olive loaf and 3 peaches (they were INSIDE!) They’re even into the peanut butter (we’re now just picking out the dead ones and plowing on regardless). No amount of vacumming, tidying, spraying, drowning or baits is getting rid of them.

They are making me feel like a slovenly housewife. They trail past, mocking my cleaning and trying to steal my ingredients.

And you see, it took a bit of coercing to convince my best-friend that I’d be better off working from home (for less money) and looking after everyone. We’d always been a strictly 50/50 feminist arrangement and shifting to more traditional roles was always going to be tricky for everyone. The new arrangement has been going well for a year now but these ANTS are giving me bad press. It’s depressing.

So let’s cheer ourselves up with cake. And let’s call it ‘bread’ to make ourselves feel less weak-willed. I know that none of us are under any delusions that banana ‘bread’ is healthy. It’s full of butter. But sometimes you just need sweets and if you do, then ease your conscience with a tonne of bananas, dates and walnuts (which are apparently, one of the best plant sources of protein).

Even better, this recipe is actually a congratulations to all of you fellow slovenly housewives who have allowed your bananas to droop and brown. A friend (and master baker) confided recently that the secret to her ‘bread’ was to wait until the bananas are practically liquid. There are not many ingredients and recipes that require you to be quite so domestically impeded. Enjoy.

(The best) banana bread

1½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup dates, chopped
½ cup walnuts, chopped
100g butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
4 over-ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 14x20cm loaf tin and line the bottom with baking paper.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Stir through the sugar, dates and walnuts.

Pour over the butter and mix through. Add the eggs and mashed banana. Mix until combined (don’t overmix).

Spoon into the loaf tin. Bake for about 50-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean (cover with foil if it starts to brown too much around the 40 minute mark).

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The fine art of heatwave cookery

February 2, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News

Hot. Cranky. And don't get me started on all the ants.

It was 33 degrees in my bedroom at 10pm last night and I do not have air-conditioning.

I am unimpressed about this.

With Cyclone Yasi bearing down up north, I wouldn’t dream of whinging about my relatively calm (just hot) situation. In private though, I will admit to a fair bit of cranky behaviour. Actually, very cranky behaviour. Cranky to the point that the kids are keeping well clear unless they are needing a bottom-wipe or are desperate enough to pester for an iceblock.

I’ve been speculating that this is what menopause feels like. Three years of a humid, sticky February. Perhaps one of my more mature readers can confirm or (hopefully) deny this scary theory.

So, while appetites are generally down, I do feel the need to feed my children something at the end of the day, but what? When the food becomes limp on the journey from fridge to bench and there’s no way you’re turning on the oven or hotplate, what are you going to eat?

Vegie-smuggling salads are a tricky area (one I’m working on), but luckily my kids are becoming much better with basic salad ingredients and I can feed them raw carrot, cucumber, grape tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. Tonight I’m planning a little salad & fruit platter. With a bowl of homous to dip into, some smoked salmon for the luxury-loving Miss Fruitarian and a bit of ham for Mr Meat & Potatoes. A couple of slices of bread and I’m done.

Last night I turned on the hotplate long enough to cook some store-bought tortellini (yes, I know, they’re not very healthy), and I tossed them into raw, finely diced tomatoes, capsicum and marinated artichokes. (You can also use my barely-cook, make-ahead tomato sauce.) I sprinkled over crumbled feta and ham for the kids and some olives and basil for my best-friend and me.

Later in the week I’ll tackle guacamole & salsa rolled up in wraps and tuna & corn mini-pizzas under the grill.

You can opt for chopped salad vegies mixed through cottage cheese and stuffed into pita breads, or if desperate, BBQ chicken (remove the skin) and coleslaw rolls.

That’s about all my addled, cranky brain can come up with. If we all pitch in, we’ll have enough ideas to get us through to March. Please feel free to share what’s on the heatwave menu at your place…

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Tackling the ‘L’ word

January 27, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News · Tagged feeding the family, kids, lunchbox, parenting, recipe

Dig through the plastics drawer and find that lid.

This morning, Miss Fruitarian spent quite some time explaining her extensive knowledge of cussing. All Year Ones (which she insists on being called even though it isn’t official until Monday) know that the ‘f’ word is fart, the ‘b’ word is bum and the ‘g’ word is god.

For me, the word that makes me the most uncomfortable is the ‘L’ word…. Lunchbox.

Like a scary movie, the l-word is back, along with homework, morning deadlines and the need to get your washing schedule planned so that you have enough clean uniforms to make it through the week (yes, I should just buy the extra tunic and save myself the hassle).

Despite all the myths and expectations, I hate lunchboxes as much as every other mother in the country. They are a pain, particularly when you attend a teeny-tiny school with no canteen to fall back on. I’ve been paying keen attention to all the ideas in the media (particularly The Healthy Food Guide which also features a Vegie Smugglers excerpt this month) and it seems the same 10 ideas get shifted around and nuanced each January. Simple sandwiches (roll into pinwheels or use cookie cutters to make them cute), foods – apparently that start with ‘c’ – in sticks (cheese, carrot, capsicum, cucumber), the odd melon ball, dried fruit, savoury muffins and home-made muesli bars. Older kids can tackle a yoghurt. Avoid fruit juice. Freeze stuff in summer.

For mornings where you are motivated, you could try some of these combinations…

Beetroot dip/grated carrot/roast beef
Poached chicken/avocado/lemon
Canned tuna in springwater/corn kernels/cottage cheese
Ham/swiss cheese/pesto

So many ideas to make lunchtime fun. But so many ways to feel disappointed in yourself when for the 14th time in a row you pack a ham and cheese sandwich (crusts on, cut into two), a store-bought muesli bar and a bunch of grapes.

This is real-life, folks, nothing glossy. None of us have time so don’t sweat it. Particularly since the kids don’t care. They want the same boring whatever as what’s in their bestie’s box and they’re so busy talking they won’t eat most of it anyway. Then they’ll be off to run about like lunatics and play ‘dance school’ or (my favourite) ‘slap bottom’ and lunch won’t even be vaguely remembered.

The moral to my rant is to give them a good breakfast, healthy and varied dinners, lots of fruit for snacks and forget about the rest. Lunchbox stress is just another area where mothers are made to feel guilty. Do your best and then relax.

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Berry pun headline goes here…

January 21, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats · Tagged feeding the family, fruit, recipe

Berry nice? Berry good? Berry yummy? The berry best? The food mags are full of good berry puns at the moment. Which means it’s berry season. You’ll have noticed the prices have plunged and since they grow best in cooler climates, they generally haven’t been flood affected.

And the best bit is that they’re so yum that you don’t have to do anything fancier than plonking them in a bowl and you have a delicious gourmet dessert.

Nice and simple for summer.

Berries & yoghurt

Dollop quality vanilla yoghurt in a bowl. Toss over any mix of berries. Top with mint leaves.

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”

January 18, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, News, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, kids, parenting, vegies

Can you place the quote? That’s right! This week I am channelling Michael Corleone in the Godfather Part III. Why? A family blood-feud? No, just that these words were squealed (with an edge of small child hysteria) at my dinner table last week;

“Mummy, is this ONION?, you know I don’t like ONION!”.

What, little child!?! You don’t like onion? Since when??? Onion has been liberally used throughout most of our meals for the past few years, but suddenly this week, it is being identified and picked out of everything. Then with a face screwed up in disgust, the child is smearing half chewed chunks over the table and turning a peaceful family meal into a battle scene.

Just when I thought I was on the home straight of Vegie-Smuggling I realise that I still have many years of food fads to go.

What to do when these phases hit?
1. Keep calm. Don’t inflame the situation by arguing, particularly if you have one of those argumentative little lovelies who enjoy nothing more than a battle.
2. Stay in charge. Try to get your kids to eat it all up, assertively reminding them that they’ve eaten it before and loved it before.
3. Serve a similar dish again within a few days. See if the aversion was a once-off, or something you are going to have to deal with.

If it’s a definite new food problem, head back to your vegie-smuggling basics. If you’ve been cooking with nice big chunks of the culprit veg, go back to grating it for a while, or replace with a variation. For me, grating the onion or replacing it with spring onion has been enough to keep the last couple of nights calm (and the dinners still tasty).

Within a week or two, just go back to normal. Your lovely fickle offspring will (hopefully) have forgotten all about it. Kids are good like that. Unlike the Corleones.

This was my first vegie-smuggling recipe!

Cheesy Pots

This recipe is one I return to again and again as a fail-proof dinner that smuggles nearly anything.

2½ cups of any fresh vegetables, chopped super-fine or grated. I use peas, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrot and canned corn.
50g ham, diced (optional)

Cheese sauce
40g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1½ cups milk, warmed
125g cheddar cheese, grated
Salt & black pepper

Preheat oven to 180C.
Microwave or steam each of the vegies separately until just starting to soften. Mix them together with ham, if using, and distribute evenly among overproof dishes.

For the cheese sauce, heat the butter in a non-stick saucepan over low-medium heat. Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to stir for 2 minutes. Gradually add the warm milk. It is important to do it gradually and stir constantly. The mixture will thicken into a paste before smoothing back out into a glossy sauce.

Bring sauce to the boil, remove from the heat and add the cheese. Stir until melted. Season to taste.

Divide sauce evenly among the ovenproof dishes. Place on an oven tray and bake for 25-30 minutes until bubbling and golden.

MAKES 5 CUPS (divide between ovenproof dishes to suit your family).

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Grow your own…

January 10, 2011 · Filed under Food experiences, News, Vegie smuggling techniques

Yes indeedy, I GREW these beauties...

I have an admission. While I competently know my way around vegetables in the kitchen… I can’t grow them to save myself. My thumb is far more brown than green (no poo jokes please). Which is a shame since growing your own food is a fantastic way for kids to learn all about healthy eating.

But I do try to make Stephanie Alexander proud. My main problem is that being an urbanite, I’m only growing stuff in pots. Which is a good excuse for failure, but doesn’t justify my ‘gardening flightiness’ as my husband puts it. I just think plants are so damn unforgiving. I lose interest for just a couple of hot days, return outside and find it all dead. Luckily they’ve just renovated my local supermarket.

Still, even the crappiest of us can grow SOMETHING. And seeing the kid’s interest in it makes the effort worthwhile. My kids now know the difference between a wide range of herbs. They love to pick the cherry tomatoes, and this year, with impressive tenacity I’ve managed to grow the eggplants pictured above. Aren’t they pretty? I chopped them up this morning for a new eggplant lasagne recipe I’m working on.

And here is my most glorious strawberry of the season. Perhaps I should have used this in my strawberry muffin recipe (which you can find in the cookbook), but I preferred a far more noble use – dropped in last night’s glass of bubbles. I toasted the plant and the summer and swept up in my success, started planning my winter crop.

Destined for something noble – my champagne glass

If you are keen to get gardening, try out these inspiring gardening resources; Stephanie Alexander’s kitchen garden foundation, Grow your own food (thanks Paula on facebook for this suggestion), www.gardenate.com/ has a stack of great information which can be adapted to your location and it’s hard to go past the ABC gardening website, which has everything you could ever need to know. Get the kids involved and good luck – may your thumbs be less brown than mine.

Bring a plate

December 15, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Vegetarian · Tagged celebrations, Christmas, feeding the family, pastry, recipe, vegetables

It’s night after night of celebrations this week. Picnics, carols, swimming parties. It seems never ending. So to avoid the kids eating 16 straight meals of chocolate, chips and candy canes, these little swirls provide a vague notion of health on these balmy evenings.

Have a great party season, I’ll see you all next year…

Stop, go, stop, go, stop go, slow down!!!!!

Traffic light swirls

3 sheets frozen puff pastry

Red
1/2 cup roasted capsicums
1/2 cup semi-dried tomatoes

Amber
125g creamed corn
1 small carrot
Handful grated cheese (mozzarella or pizza cheese is good)

Green
Store-bought pesto
1 small zucchini, grated

Egg, for glazing

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cover two baking trays with baking paper. Separate out the pastry sheets and leave to thaw.

For the red: blitz together the capsicums and tomatoes. Spread over the entire pastry sheet.

For the amber: blitz together the corn and carrot. Spread over the entire pastry sheet. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

For the green: Spread the pesto over the entire sheet. Scatter over the grated zucchini.

Use the plastic backing on the pastry sheets to help you roll them up into a swirl. Cut through the roll into 15-20mm slices. Place on the trays (so they look like little sushi rolls). Brush with egg. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden.

MAKES 30

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Easy yet indulgent Christmas ideas

December 6, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences · Tagged celebrations, Christmas, feeding the family, food, ideas, salmon

There's a tree! It's officially Christmas.

Let’s get the Christmas recipe ball rolling. I mentioned over on Facebook that last year I made this Orange and Marmalade Roast Turkey. It was really fiddly, but I was only cooking for 6 people so it was kind of do-able (especially after an afternoon of bubbles).

This year, I’m focusing on SIMPLE and EASY food that will spoil the loved ones with a minimum of fuss. I’m on the lookout for some yum side dishes that I can take across town to pop on the buffet table at a big Christmas dinner. Do you have any suggestions?

In return, here are a couple of my favourites – quick, yet impressive recipes that I’ve made a few times and guarantee are great…

My favourite from recent years is this dressing, from the Tetsuya Cookbook, which is perfect for drizzling over any seafood.

Tetsuya’s Vinaigrette

1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
6 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tbsp lemon juice

Mix it all together and drizzle it over fresh oysters. Top them with chives and a tiny spoonful of ocean trout roe. Delicious, sublime. You’ll be licking the shells, the plates, your fingers, the mixing bowl etc etc.

If you’re sticking to seafood, this decadent tart is unbeatable and can be made the day before…

Smoked salmon & swiss cheese tart

1-2 sheets shortcrust pastry
200g smoked salmon
Egg white (for brushing)
3 eggs, lightly whisked
200ml cream
100g swiss cheese
1-2 tsp fresh dill
Pepper

Grease a 22cm flan tin with melted butter. Line it with pastry. Cover with baking paper and pastry weights (or rice) and bake at 190C for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and weights, brush pastry with egg white and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove. Leave to cool.

Scatter salmon evenly around the tart. Mix together eggs, cream, cheese, dill and pepper. Pour over to fill the case. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just set.

You can eat this cold or reheated. It’s rich, just a small slice will do.

If the whole pudding thing seems too hard, try a meringue & cherry parfait. The cherry sauce here is delicious. Pop it in tall glasses layered with thickened cream, brandy sauce and crushed meringue – very festive and looks fancy! You can make mini meringues easily, up to a week before Christmas (they taste HEAPS better than store-bought). I’ve made “Sue’s Meringues” from Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion a few times and they’ve always turned out well.

And I hear you shouting – what about the kids?? Mine do join in with Christmas dinner – they will generally eat all sorts of roast vegies so long as they’re smothered in gravy. But let’s face it, after a champers or two I couldn’t really give a stuff about their nutrition. It’s Christmas. They can just eat the entire contents of the Cadbury stocking that Santa brought for all I care.

Now about those side dishes you’re all going to suggest…..

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One chew per minute – the Friday night problem

November 25, 2010 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences · Tagged dinner, feeding the family, parenting, recipe

Have you noticed that the kids chew more slowly as the week progresses? On Monday, the mouth moves in a sprightly manner and you can confidently give cutlets and meals requiring complicated utensil work. You can serve them lasagna, soup or stir-frys.

By Wednesday, the gloss is wearing off. After ballet and a few days of heavy duty learning, the meals are needing to be simpler. Pasta with meatballs is a good choice. Quesadillas also work well.

But by Friday night? They’ve played after school, been to swimming, and carried library books, science homework and various notes and invitations. They’ve talked and played and laughed and skipped until their legs won’t work and I’ve had to practically carry them from the car to the house.

Before they totally run out of puff, I get them washed and into their pajamas. Then the TV comes on. Movie night and simple food. Really simple food. Preferably something that melts in the mouth as chewing is now a hugely tricky undertaking.

Parents are tired too, so meals need to be easy to cook as well as eat. All of these recipes are for simple things at the end of the week.

Here you go little ones, something simple to hold (and chew occasionally) before we pop you into bed. It’s been a big week.