feeding the family | Vegie Smugglers

Posts tagged feeding the family

Controversy and packing a (lunchbox) punch

January 19, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged brunch, feeding the family, fruit, lunchbox, recipe, treats

Awwwww. Mr Meat & Potatoes shows off the new shoes.

I’ve got a small case of writers block. It’s two weeks since my last ~~confession~~ post and I’ve got a new lunchbox planner to bang on about and yet… the words don’t want to come.

So I’m digging through my emergency ideas arsenal. It’s full of word combinations that are guaranteed to at least get you all started, even if I stay relatively quiet. Usually the phrase ‘fat kids’ gets the juices flowing. As does ‘cling wrap’ and yesterday on facebook I discovered that using both ‘wiggles’ and ‘creepy’ in a sentence together gets quite a big response.

Similarly the phrase ‘healthy lunchbox’ is enough to glaze over the eyes of even the keenest adults, which is why I’m going to launch the new planner with words like ‘variety’, ‘tasty”, ‘easy recipes’, and ‘seasonal yumminess’… And with that, I declare the Term 1 planner launched (cue champagne smash).

Keeping with tradition, here’s a free preview recipe. Previously you’ve enjoyed a beetroot sandwich spread and the cheese puffs (still my favourite all time recipe) so today I’m going sweet, with these carrot, muesli and banana muffins. Fulfilling all of the criteria for a good planner recipe, they’re seasonal, quick to make, store well, freeze well and the kids will happily eat them.

In case you’re not familiar with them, the e-book planners have a weekly recipe and menu plan to keep you inspired throughout the term. Other recipes include corn relish, classic corned beef, a pesto pasta salad and chocolate chip biscuits and all for just $4.95. You can view some pages on my sample page or just click here to buy one now.

My kids will hoover this, will yours?

Carrot & muesli muffins

1 1⁄2 cups self-raising flour
1⁄4 cup brown sugar
1 carrot, grated
1 cup muesli
1⁄4 cup grapeseed oil
1 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 overripe banana, mashed

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease/line a 12-hole muffin tray.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, carrot and muesli.

In another bowl, whisk together the oil, milk, egg and banana. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined.

Divide out into muffin tray. Bake for 25 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

MAKES 12.

Comments (6) »

Turning fruit-bowl slop into dessert-bowl mmmmmmm

January 4, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats · Tagged breakfast, brunch, celebrations, feeding the family, fruit, recipe

A few bit of fruit that have seen better days....

How was your Christmas, did you overindulge? I did. There’s just so much to tempt me, so much that’s ‘special’ and delicious to eat. In fact the days are barely long enough to fit in all of the eating. There are the breakfasts, brunches, lunches, afternoon teas, early drinkies, dinner, dessert and supper. It’s hardcore, trying to find the time to sleep when you’re so busy shoving good tasting stuff down your gob all day.

Anyway, needless to say, I’m feeling a little worse for wear now. I made the mistake of looking in the mirror. In profile my tummy is sticking out further than my boobs, which is a BAD SIGN. So I’m thinking detox and healthier foods. But to be honest, I suffer a bit of emotional trauma if I go from feast to famine too quickly. Far better for me to ease out of the festivities slowly.

Which is perhaps why I found myself in the kitchen this morning dreaming of fruit compotes. They’re perfect; the right mix of fruit freshness with a naughty sweet treat edge. And justifiable at this time of year, when stone fruit is so abundant. I do that thing in the supermarket where I just buy four peaches and four nectarines and four plums and four apricots (for my family of four). But of course I get home and they’re all too hard to eat. And the next day we check eagerly and find them still like rocks. And the next. Finally we forget about them, and after a particularly hot day I find myself with an expensive fruit bowl soup of wrinkly skins and too-soft bits that are starting to mold together.

So really with this dish, I’m not avoiding detox, I’m just being a frugal homemaker, ensuring that I just don’t waste anything. Of course, I wouldn’t serve this on icecream (noooooo, never), just a bowl of vanilla yoghurt is a better choice.

vegie smugglers peach and apricot compote

And abracadabra! Fruit divinity awaits you.

Peach & Apricot compote

2 peaches
3 apricots
¼ cup brown sugar
Juice of 1 orange
8cm lemon peeling
1 cinnamon stick

Cut a cross into the bottoms of the fruit. Pop in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over the top. After a minute or so, remove them and peel off the skins. Chop roughly (I like a non-uniform texture).

Place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. After 5 minutes or so, turn off the heat and leave everything to stew together for a bit.

Serve warm or cold over yoghurt, pancakes, French toast (or icecream). And if you have it, a little drizzle of lime juice on top makes this really zingy and delicious.

Comments (8) »

Thank you (and an essential summer salad)

December 18, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged feeding the family, recipe, vegetables

Well, what a year! Thanks to all of you who’ve tuned into my blog, to those who’ve taken the time to comment on posts and contribute to the (sometimes feisty) Facebook ‘discussions’. Thanks too, to those of you who’ve bought cookbooks and e-books over the past year. The growth of my micro-publishing business has been really exciting and I want you to all know how much I appreciate your support.

I really love doing what I’m doing and I hope that comes across to you. Most of all I really hope that the recipes and (often very silly) craft sheets have made parenting just a tiny bit easier for you this year. That’s always my primary aim. This parenting malarky is SO hard, and I love the thought that my recipes are helping you make healthier families and that the craft stuff is giving you the tools to find creative time with your kids.

But it’s tiring, isn’t it, this life thing! Along with blogging, my regular illustration work and odd days of magazine design freelancing, this year I’ve moved house, published a new book and my hubby has started a business (Temple & Webster – yes, I HAVE to keep flogging it, sorry). I’ve continued to pour SO much energy into my gorgeous little Miss Fruitarian and Mr Meat & Potatoes. For some strange reason, I had thought that by this age, caring for them would have become easier, but I realise now that the parenting never eases, just reshapes as their needs grow and change.

So from my family to yours, I wish you a really happy holiday season. I do hope you manage to find some time for stillness to reflect and enjoy your situations, and to find the gratitude and love that we are each blessed with.

As you can tell from my sentimental waffle, I’m losing it a bit! Time to take a blogging break. I’m aiming to be back in 3 weeks or so. I’ll still be popping by Facebook (I do love our stoushes on there!) and the shop is open throughout Summer.

And as my final gift for the year, here’s my take on the modern Australian classic noodle salad – my kids both LOVE this dish and I figure a few fatty noodles are ok when so much fresh, raw goodness is being inhaled. See you next year…

Simple & delicious & perfect for this summer.

Crispy noodle salad

1 cucumber
4 cups Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
1 carrot, peeled, grated
6 spring onions,
thinly sliced
100g packet crispy noodles

Sauce
¼ cup white vinegar
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp grapeseed oil
Drizzle of sesame oil

Halve your cucumber lengthwise, scoop the seeds out with a teaspoon and slice into half-moons. Place in a salad bowl. Mix in the cabbage, carrot, spring onion and noodles.

Place all the sauce ingredients in a bowl or glass jar and whisk or shake until well combined. Pour over the salad and stir through.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

Comments (8) »

Through the generations

December 7, 2011 · Filed under Food experiences, News, Sweets & treats · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, heirloom recipes, recipe, treats

After quite a bit of procrastination, last weekend I finally got around to making the traditional boiled pudding for the big family dinner on Christmas eve.

Are you finding that as the years go by you’re inheriting responsibility for some of your family’s traditions? Perhaps some of the tasks that used to be your mum’s or your aunt’s are now your job? For me, it’s the pudding and I must say at five hours cooking time (plus about an hour and a half to prep) it’s an epic labour of love that is quite unlike anything else that I cook at any other time of the year. For a start it has a bunch of ingredients that I just never use at any other time – figs, mixed spice and chunk ginger for a start. And I get to go to the bottle shop and buy odd booze – last Thursday at 10.30am, there I was at the local with a trolley of brandy and stout.

Despite all the effort required, I don’t mind ‘pudding day’. Somehow it makes me feel more important, slightly higher in the family pecking order. And now that I make it, I get to serve it, which means I get to slosh over the hot brandy and set the thing on fire! Now THERE is something that I don’t do any other day of the year.

If you haven’t inherited any of these tasks yet, maybe this is the year to force your way in and learn the nuances of how they’re done. It’s kind of sad to realise how many of these ‘women’s’ skills are disappearing as the supermarket seduces us with an easy way out. There’s something hugely satisfying about serving up something home made to your nearest and dearest. Even if it’s not as perfect as something you could have bought, it really is love on a plate.

So here’s my recipe for a traditional Christmas pudding – it’s not too late to give it a try, although really they should have been made a few weeks back. It’s based on a Joan Campbell recipe, but with quite a few tweaks as I’ve varied it over the last few years. If you’re daunted, make it on a day when I’m on Facebook and I’ll talk you through any problems.

STEP 1: Buy booze and soak the fruit for as long as you've got...

Joan Campbell’s plum pudding (with a couple of changes!)

1300g mixed dried fruit (any mix of raisins, sultanas, currants, glace cherries, peel, figs, crystallised ginger TIP – definitely used figs, they are sweet and sticky and help hold it all together)
1/3 cup beer (stout is good)
1/3 cup brandy
250g butter at room temperature
225g sugar
5 eggs
50g plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
2/3 of a stale loaf (unsliced) white bread (remove crusts, make breadcrumbs in food processor)
1 carrot, peeled, grated
Rind 2 oranges
Rind 1 lemon
125 blanched almonds, roughly chopped

Add all the fruit to a glass or plastic bowl; pour over the beer and brandy. Leave to soak for a couple of hours or overnight (if you remember).

Cube the butter and add it to a mixmaster bowl. Beat for a minute or so before adding the sugar slowly. Continue beating until you have a creamy consistency – this takes a while. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well each time. Beat in the flour, spices and salt.

Tip contents into an extra large bowl. Add the fruit, breadcrumbs, carrot and almonds. Fold everything through until well mixed.

STEP 2: At this stage it looks a bit like spew, but perservere...

Cut a circle of baking paper and pop it in the bottom of a large greased pudding bowl (so that the top of your pudding won’t stick when you turn it out). Pour in the mixture and flatten the surface.

STEP 3: Now you've starting to get somewhere... awwh, looks pwetty..

Now for a bit of origami. Get a double layer of foil (you’ll need to buy the extra wide stuff). Do one ‘z’ fold of 2-3cm in the middle (so that it can expand when the pudding is hot and cooking). Place over the top of the basin and secure around the rim with kitchen string (wrap around a couple of times, knot with a slip knot, then tie over the top so that you have a handle and tie again). Place in a large saucepan. Pour boiling water ¾ of the way up the side (use a funnel). Cover, bring to a strong simmer. Cook for 5 hours. YES, 5 hours!!!! You will need to check it every hour or so to see if you need to top up the water (you don’t want to pan to boil dry).

STEP 4: the 'z' fold in the foil to allow for expansion during cooking...

Keep it covered (I’ve just removed the foil below to photograph it). Store in a cool place (spare fridge is best) until Christmas.

STEP 5: Sneak peak - the cooked pudding can sit for a few weeks to brew.

On the day, pop the pudding back in the pot, with water up the side again and reheat on a strong simmer for 2 hours.

Turn out onto a serving plate. Remove the paper. Serve with brandy cream and icecream.

For the full festive flambé…. Gather the family to attention… Pour ½ glass brandy into a mug, microwave it for 20-30 seconds. Pour over the pudding and immediately (and CAREFULLY) set it alight (use a gas stove lighter). Watch family ooooohhhhh and aaaaaaahhhhhhh.

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We wish you a healthy Christmas…

December 5, 2011 · Filed under Food experiences, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, parenting, vegetables

Apparently, it's Christmas...

OK, so the starting gun is about to go and your little lovelies are about to disappear into a haze of chips, lollies, chocolates, cakes and all the other sugar and fat laden rubbish that graces our tables at Christmas.

The Vegie Smugglers policy on food crap is that everything is good in moderation. I never actively deprive my children of party food, especially since they eat really well about 85% of the time. The Christmas festival, however, starts to get a bit out of hand as you attend event after event after event where party food is the standard fare.

So how to combat it? Well at other people’s houses, it’s REALLY hard. When the kids are toddlers, it’s totally acceptable to turn up at people’s places with a lunchbox packed for them. Surely your host will be silently commending your responsible parenting rather than thinking that you’re a bit uptight. If your kids are older, you can have a pep-talk in the car and remind them of all the healthy living conversations that you’ve (hopefully) been having throughout the year. Of course after much serious nodding and agreement, they will generally launch into the party and make a beeline for the buffet where a chip, marshmallow and tomato sauce sandwich will probably be the winner of the day. Breathe deeply. Remember, everything in moderation.

So elsewhere it may be a bit of a lost cause, but when you’re contributing or hosting a function there are HEAPS of healthy options that can lure the kids away from crap for a few hours….

FRUIT

Hallelujah, Australia in the summer time is a heavenly place to be. Load up fruit platters and let the kids start there. Cherries, watermelon, lychees, peaches. All delicious and ‘special’ enough to keep everyone satisfied.

Beetroot tzatziki

HEALTHY DIPS

Try this beetroot tzatziki from Vegie Smugglers 1. There’s a classic tzatziki recipe in the Term 4 planner. Here’s another great beetroot dip option. Or make homous. Or just a bit of cottage cheese and sun-dried tomato blitzed together. There are heaps of options for healthy dips. If you buy from the shops, take a moment to check the fat per 100g on the nutrition panel. You will be shocked to see how high most of them are. Of course, you can improve the situation by using raw vegies as dippers. Chopped carrot, beans, celery and cucumber are all perfect. You can cut a huge amount of these a couple of days before (store the celery in water) and it will be just as convenient as opening a packet of biscuits.

Vegetables hidden in these traffic light swirls.

Crowd pleaser, traffic light swirls

OTHER SNACK IDEAS

Try these traffic light swirls. Or these beef triangles. The pastry makes things fun and festive, but there are a few vegies to actually ingest here too. Simple rice paper rolls are easy and can be made ahead and do try out my sushi slice.

Older kids can eat unsalted nuts. Pistachios and peanuts in the shell are fun to crack open and the act of shelling slows down the eating. Much better than a bowl that they can just grab handfuls from.

Other easy to prepare things to munch on are cherry tomatoes, baby bocconcini and cubed cheese. Revert back to the 70s and pop everything on sticks. INSTANT FUN.

Make popcorn (the store-bought stuff is usually really high in fat) and if you are offering chips, give each kid one of the small packs, which lets them know when their share has finished. Again, they’ll eat much less than when there’s just a bowl that they can help themselves to.

DRINKS

Sometimes I will give Miss F one small glass of lemonade. Mr M&P doesn’t like anything fizzy and will stick to an apple juice popper. Leaving my ‘everything in moderation’ mantra for a moment, I just can’t see any good reason to let kids under 10 drink glasses of Coke, ever. The caffeine is terrible for them.

THE MAIN EVENT

While there’s little chance that they’ll want to sit down and eat anything much after a few hours of running around grazing, do make sure you set them a place and serve them a meal with a bit of everything to try. Give them a bon bon with a crazy hat. You never know, a festive occasion full of adults might just be the peer pressure they need to discover the joys of lettuce/roast pumpkin/turkey etc etc. Most things dolloped with gravy get the thumbs up from my kids, especially when eaten in the company of their extended family.

Yay! Summer on a stick.

PUDDING

And for sweets? Well, I’m not restricting myself and I won’t restrict the kids much either. Just keep the portion size reasonable and you’ll be sweet. If they don’t like any of the traditional Christmas treats, then revert back to fruit and some home-made ice blocks. Again, avoid having a bowl of self-serve chocolates. Maybe give each of them a chocolate coin or something similarly special.

And after all of that, I think everyone will be off for a good lie down.

So that’s my initial ideas list, but I’m sure my clever readers will have a bunch of fantastic suggestions too…

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Foolproof roast chicken & cous cous salad

November 29, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken, Food experiences, News, Vegetarian · Tagged celebrations, chicken, cooking techniques, feeding the family, mealtime, parenting, vegetables

On the fridge all year - Miss Fruitarian's 'to do' list for 2011

Each year I have a ‘to do’ list. You know, a list of things that I’d like to master in the coming year. Important stuff like “make choux pastry” and “be thankful every day”. Miss Fruitarian jumped on the bandwagon this year and has done well on her list, which included ‘get a kitten’ and ‘skip to 100’.

My list was blown out of the water by a house purchase, house sale, house move and job change (husband). I’m still catching my breath, and actually can’t even remember what was on my list for this year, let alone WHERE the piece of paper might actually be.

So with the year hurtling to a close, it’s lucky that my list in 2007 included ‘cook a perfect roast chicken’ – you know, where the vegies and meat are all cooked perfectly and AT THE SAME TIME. It’s a skill that comes in handy during the festive season.

Just in case you’ve got the chicken cooking thing on the list for next year, here’s a recipe that will cut you a bit of slack – a roast chook with a cous cous salad that is SO delicious and suited to hot Australian nights.

This cous cous salad is the best I’ve tried – it’s based on a recipe from Ainsley Harriott’s Barbeque Bible. It’s his spice combination and cooking method, which seems to produce perfectly fluffy cous cous. I’ve just added in a stack of vegies (of course).

Do my kids eat this salad with all the green flecks and pumpkin (their least favourite) bits? Surprisingly yes. The first time I made it, I thought they wouldn’t, which really vouches for how yummy it is. I do have to cut up Mr M&P’s chicken and mix it through as a lure, and Miss F does gag if she hits a chunk of coriander, but apart from that it disappears.

Now, if only I could get my kids to eat with their cutlery properly and have some vague semblance of table manners, I’d be feeling pretty accomplished. I guess I better put it on the ‘to do’ list for next year.

Fancy enough for the festive season, methinks.

Roast chicken with a delicious cous cous salad

1×1.8kg chicken
1 lemon, halved
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

¼ cup pinenuts

2 cups pumpkin (Jap is good), peeled and cut into a 1cm dice.
2 tsps honey
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp cumin powder
½ tsp sweet paprika
¾ cup cous cous
¾ cup chicken stock
Pinch saffron (optional)
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, grated
½ red capsicum, finely diced
Handful fresh herbs (any combination of mint, parsley & coriander)
Juice ½ lemon (plus the zest if you can be bothered)

Preheat the oven to 170C fan-forced. Have a rack down low (for the chook) and one up high (for the pumpkin).

Don’t be squeamish and don’t think about how a wee chicken carcass feels vaguely like holding a baby… Wash the whole chook well. Use paper towel to dry it both inside and out. Place a rack in a roasting tray then pop the chicken on top (breast side down). Pour about ¼ cup of water and the juice of half a lemon in the tray. Shove the squeezed half and the full half of lemon inside the birdie. Close up the legs (a girl’s gotta have some dignity), drizzle over olive oil & salt & pepper.

Roast in the oven for about 40 minutes. Meanwhile…

Pour your dry cous cous into a heat-proof bowl.

In a small non-stick pan, toast your pinenuts and set aside. Add about one tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, then fry off the garlic, coriander, cumin & paprika for a minute or so. Pour in the chicken stock. Add the saffron (if using) and the spring onions (this takes the onion tang out of them). Pour into the cous cous bowl. Use a fork to quickly combine, then cover with plastic wrap.

Spread the pumpkin out on an oven tray (lined with baking paper), drizzle over olive oil and honey. Toss lightly.

Pull out your chicken. Turn over (carefully), baste or drizzle a touch more oil. Season. Pop back into the oven & also put in the pumpkin (on the top tray).

Bake everything for about 40-45 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft and the juices of the chicken run clear. (There’s a demo of how about 1:40 into this video – or push a skewer in behind the drumstick then press to see the colour of the juice)

Cover the chicken with foil for a bit while you fork through the cous cous then toss in the rest of the ingredients in. Then carve the chicken (good ‘how to’ video about carving chickens, turkeys etc here), serve and EAT. Yum.

Comments (2) »

Quick. Make-ahead. Cheese.

November 24, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian · Tagged beans, feeding the family, Quick dinners, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

After a far-reaching day on Facebook yesterday that stretched from poo jokes to fat kids, some of you may have concluded that my birthday is not my best day of the year. The day after however is like a renewal. I’ve accepted the new age and am ready to move forward.

With that in mind, let’s stick straight to food today. No pfaffing or spamming, just a delicious, healthy, snacky meal that will come in handy throughout December as life gets more and more frantic.

It’s a good one since you can make the filling ahead and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or a couple of days, then spread it over a tortilla, sprinkle some cheese then either cook in the pan, or just fold one tortilla in half and cook in your sandwich press. It smuggles a bunch of good stuff, is a hearty vegetarian option and has enough oozy cheese to charm even the toughest tiny food critic.

Onions, carrot, capsicum, tomatoes, kidney beans, avocado. YUM.

Bean & vegie quesadillas

1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large carrot, peeled, grated
½ capsicum, seeded, finely chopped (any colour)
2 tomatoes, chopped
400g can red kidney beans, rinsed, drained, roughly mashed
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp barbecue sauce
10 bought tortillas
Grated cheese
Sliced avocado (optional)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium–high heat. Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often. Pop in the garlic, carrot and capsicum and continue cooking for 2–3 minutes or until everything starts to soften.

Mix through the tomato, then add the beans, sugar, cumin and barbecue sauce. Cook for another couple of minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Warm the tortillas in the oven or microwave according to packet directions so that they separate easily. Spread some of the bean mix over one tortilla. Top with cheese and avocado. Place another tortilla on top and slide into a warm non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When toasted on the bottom, slide out onto a plate, place your hand on top and flip over. Return the tortilla to the pan until both sides are golden. Repeat with the remaining mixture and tortillas. To serve, cut into quarters.

MAKES 5

Like this recipe? Check out my cookbooks to find a bunch more meals that your family will love.

Comments (7) »

Let the festive season begin

November 7, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, Food experiences, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, tuna, vegetables

Perhaps I’m allergic to my new house, because it seems that I’m waking up on most Sunday mornings with a headache. You see my new house is quite FESTIVE with a nice deck and views and I find myself entertaining a lot of FESTIVE FOLK. And we drink wine. And being a bit of a drinking lightweight who can only safely imbibe 2-3 glasses of chardonnay before I’m in the hangover zone, I’m finding myself spending most Sunday mornings with a slight haze of discomfort and a new appreciation of the clever R&D teams who masterminded Nurofen zavance.

Perhaps there is something in the water of this big dry land that does predispose the population to a love of getting drunk. There is something GREAT about the sense of fun that comes with a warm afternoon, good friends and a cold glass of something that makes you giggle.

Yet again on the weekend, I served up something yum for the adults, but left the kids to run amok with a sausage and sauce in a slice of bread. Not even any onions. I know it’s a top Aussie BBQ tradition but with a full two months of festivities ahead, I think I need to do better and lift my nutrition game. No more mumblings about ‘fridge space’, ‘easiest options’ blah blah blah.

So I’m rummaging through recipes and thinking about ways to keep the upcoming summer parties slightly more healthy for the kids. Or at least providing good options for them that are enticing for the adults too. Probably a chip or two fewer wouldn’t hurt any of us.

The first thing that sprang to mind was this sushi slice. Most kids will eat some kind of sushi – it’s easy to adapt the filling to suit your family’s tastebuds. This recipe is a classic avocado and tuna combination which seems like a good place to start. Do you think your kids will eat this? What fillings will you try out? I always like to hear your opinions on my recipes.

And why sushi slice? Well, it’s perfect for folks like me who adore Japanese food but never quite got the hang of the whole rolling a sushi roll thing. Just two lamington trays the same size and you’re done. And it’s great party food, as you can make it a few hours ahead and refridgerate it. The less I have to handle sharp knives after a wine the better.

Anyway, let’s clink glasses and ‘kampai’ to the upcoming (healthy) party season. And of course, if you do find that you’re waking up with a headache EVERY morning, you might want to look over at AA and have a think about whether it might be time to pass the mineral water instead.

No sausage? No bread? Heresy!

Flat-pack sushi squares

1½ cups sushi rice (short-grain rice, available at most supermarkets)
2¼ cups water
100ml sushi seasoning
(or make your own: 90ml rice vinegar, 3 tbsp caster sugar, 1 tsp salt)
4 sheets nori seaweed
½ cucumber, sliced in half lengthwise, seeds removed, grated
1 small carrot, peeled, grated
95g can tuna in brine, drained
125g can corn kernels, drained
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 avocado, very thinly sliced, covered with a drizzle of lemon juice

Pickled ginger (optional), to serve

Give the rice a really good wash under running water until the water is no longer milky. Drain. Pop the rice into a saucepan and add the water.

Place the (well-fitting) lid on the pan and bring the water to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer for 10–12 minutes or until the water is nearly all absorbed. Turn off the heat, leave the pan covered and let it sit and steam for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt (if needed). Pour over the rice and use a wooden spoon to mix through.

Prepare a lamington tin by lining it with plastic wrap. Place a layer of the nori seaweed paper over the bottom (use scissors to cut them to fit).

Mix together the cucumber, carrot, tuna, corn, soy and mayonnaise. Pour off any excess liquid and discard.
Use wet hands to place half the rice over the seaweed. Evenly top with the vegie mix and the avocado, then carefully top with the rest of the rice and another layer of seaweed.

Put a second layer of plastic wrap over the top. If you have another pan of the same size, place it on top, weighted down with a couple of cans. Place in the fridge for 1–2 hours to firm.

When ready to serve, use a really sharp knife to cut the sushi into bite-sized squares. Serve with pickled ginger (if using).

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

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A week of healthy dinners (is it possible?)

October 30, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged chicken, feeding the family, mealtime, recipe, vegetables

Back working again this week, so thought you might be interested to see what I do to get through a week of healthy eating when under time constraints and general exhaustion. Can I do it? Am I authentic? Or am I a vegie-smuggling fraud who espouses healthy eating but actually feeds my kids jam sandwiches all week once the going gets tough.

Here is this week’s plan…

Sunday night dinner: Fried rice

During the afternoon I’ll make tomorrow night’s pumpkin soup to put in the fridge and my best-friend will whip up a quick fried rice for tonight’s dinner.

Monday night dinner: Pumpkin soup

I’m not working on Monday so I’ll devote a couple of hours to cooking. I’ll make chicken pies – see the recipe below.

I’ll also make some beef cannelloni in a big dish that can sit for 48 hours in the fridge, ready to bake. Both these dinners are good serving sizes so that I’ll have enough to feed the kids, us and my parents who are doing a spot of emergency childcare for me.

Tuesday night dinner: Chicken pies

Wednesday night dinner: Beef cannelloni

Thursday night dinner: Quesadillas

I’ve got everything that I need for these in the pantry, fridge or the garden and they’re super quick to make.

Friday night dinner: Bolognaise
Same deal, my best friend made a double batch of this last week.

And there you have it. I have a big shop on the weekend, then two big cook-offs and I’m done for the week. I never usually feel like it, but stay motivated remembering how fantastic it is to walk in at the end of a work day and not have to spend any time pfaffing and thinking about what I can throw together for dinner – it’s already done, just waiting to be reheated.

So that’s mine, but what’s on your menu this week?

If minis look too fiddly, just buy a savoury flan case and make 1 big pie instead.

Chicken pies

1 tbsp olive oil
400g chicken breast fillets, trimmed, chopped into 1cm pieces
1 leek, finely chopped
4 bacon rashers,
finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
40g unsalted butter
¼ cup plain flour
2 cups chicken stock, warmed
1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1 bunch asparagus (or green beans), trimmed, thinly sliced

Canola oil cooking spray
3 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry
1 egg, whisked, for
glazing
2 sheets frozen
puff pastry

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink on the outside (don’t overcook). Remove from the saucepan and set aside.

In the same saucepan, cook the leek and bacon for 2–3 minutes. Add the garlic for another 30 seconds then remove from the saucepan and set aside.

Melt the butter in the same pan over medium heat. Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to stir for 1 minute until the floury smell fades and there are no lumps. Gradually add the stock and stir briskly until it is thick and combined. Return the chicken and leek mixture to the pan. Add the mushrooms, asparagus and black pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5–10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (test by picking out the largest piece you can see and chopping it in half).

Set aside to cool slightly and prepare the pastry cases.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin with cooking spray.

Use a small saucer as a guide and cut out four circles from each thawed shortcrust pastry sheet. Ease the circles into the muffin holes and use your fingers to smooth out the folds. Leave some overhanging the top so that you can join the lids on. Brush the overhangs with the egg.

Divide your chicken mixture evenly between the pies.

Cut circle pie tops out of the puff pastry, place on top and press the edges to seal. Lift the edges slightly to keep the pies from touching (and to make it look pretty).

Brush with egg and bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

MAKES 12

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5 updates from the real world

October 27, 2011 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged feeding the family, freezer, recipe

I’ve been in a slight panic recently, realising that with each year away from the ‘real’ workforce, my skills are becoming increasingly redundant. Even though I work from home, it’s a cruel fact that employers like your CV to be up-to-date, so as a bit of workforce insurance I’ve been picking up a few days freelance work here and there.

With the phrase “you’re not getting any younger” ringing in my ears, I ventured back to a REAL OFFICE filled with child-free hipsters in a groovy part of town.

Confused? Me too... read on...

The world has changed in the last two years. So in the interest of keeping us all as modern-as-tomorrow, here’s 5 things I noticed about 2011.

1. UGLY SHOES
Everywhere there are women tottering around in sky high monstrosities that look bad and are obviously uncomfortable. Wide straps, clunky heels, garish colours. I can’t really see any design grace or aesthetic covetability – but there you have it, ALL the girls are in them. And sometimes with socks. Already I’m confused and feeling very old.

2. LONG HAIR
This has been the case for a while now, with every 16-26 year old girl in the Western world wearing their long hair in funny topknots hovering on top of their heads. This does look pretty cool, doesn’t it, so it’s a shame that I cut my hair all off years ago once a baby arrived and it was permanently drenched in vomit. I suspect many of you are in similar situations. Probably for the best, rather than being ‘cool’, I now need my hair to ‘flatter’ my face and hide as many wrinkles as possible. Another trend for the kids.

3. LEGGINGS WITH SHORT TOPS
Everywhere I walked I was confronted with jiggly bottoms of girls who’d forgotten to put their skirts on. I know black is supposed to be slimming, but this is a pretty high-risk trend, and not one to be attempted by anyone born in the 1970s. Maybe you young mamas from the 1980s might still get away with it, but the rest of us should just keep our leggings for comfy bedtimes. Chalk this one up to another trend that looks bad and makes no sense to me.

4. DEVICES
Two years ago, if you had a snazzy device, you hid it. I would keep my ipod under wraps on the train, in case someone mugged me. These days they are SO ubiquitous that you can type on your ipad and answer your iphone loudly and in total safety.

5. THE CUTE GUYS ARE GETTING OLDER
Have you noticed that phenomenon? I realised that the vaguely hot men I was checking out (sorry husband) were all the ones dappled with grey. They looked so much more SUBSTANTIAL than the foppish youth in tight saggy jeans and girlie haircuts. They all looked hard working and lovely, heading home to their young families. They looked a lot like my own lovely best friend. Let’s hope this trend works both ways and these men are also thinking about how SEXY us older ladies are too.

And of course a few days back in the workforce reminded me of how bloody exhausting it all is, trying to keep a career going and nurture your family and have a happy partnership and maybe have two seconds to yourself. Cooking just gets shoved right down to the bottom of the pile, doesn’t it? It takes so much planning to incorporate any healthy eating into a situation where you’re out of the house for 12 hours a day.

So I was back to the recipes that I developed a few years back, remembering why I spent so much time devising meals that were freezer perfect and easily made ahead. It does take a bit of effort on weekends, but all of these dishes can be made in big batches and then are simple to reheat whenever you stumble in the door – tired, with a head reeling from the complexities of the modern world.

Mash. Freeze or keeps in the fridge for several days. Serve with meatballs, sausages or a tin of tuna..

Bolognaise. The kids will happily eat this every week.

vegie smugglers chicken pasta and vegetable soup

Hearty soups. Filling and reheated in a jiffy.

And with that, I’m off to the burgeoning pile of dirty laundry and filthy house that was in good working order when I left it just a couple of days ago…