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Jerk Chicken

February 5, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Chicken · Tagged chicken, feeding the family, recipe

Funny how you phase through ingredients. Often it comes with wider food fashions. A few years back there was the balsamic/basil/bocconcini thing. And then the Moroccan thing, with lots of cumin/coriander combos. And of course sumac – I still pour that all over so many things.

My latest thing is Allspice. I managed without it nicely for years, but it’s made an appearance lately. Possibly since it adds some tang without heat, which is perfect for kids. If you pick up a jar soon, you can make this delicious jerk chicken, which is the ideal protein to go with last week’s Caribbean rice. I’ll do my best to post some other recipes using it soon, too, so that the jar doesn’t sit unloved in the back of your cupboard.

‘Jerk’ chicken. Which seems harsh, especially when it’s so delicious.

Jerk Chicken

1 small onion, peeled, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp chilli powder (I use a mild Mexican one)
1/4 tsp Allspice
Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1/2 bunch thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
600-700g chicken wing nibbles (they’re wings, but with the pointy ends chopped off – my kids find them easier to negotiate) OR chicken drumsticks

Blitz all the ingredients, except the chicken, together in a mini-food processor or blender. Pop the chicken into a deep ceramic or glass bowl and pour over the sauce. Mix well and leave to marinade (in the fridge) anywhere from 1-12 hours. Obviously, the longer you leave it, the better the flavour.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line an oven tray with foil and spray with oil. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer on the tray, pouring over the excess marinade.

Bake until cooked through and the skin is starting to blacken. Nibbles take about 30-35 minutes, drumsticks need about 45 minutes.

Serves 2 adults & 2 kids

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YOUR FAMILY LIKES CHICKEN? Try these…

Oven-baked chicken nuggets
Chicken & cashew stirfry
Chicken meatballs
Chicken & tarragon one-pot

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Carry on holidays

February 1, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged feeding the family, parenting, recipe, rice, vegetables

Waking up on holidays the other morning, I had my eyes still closed, but I could tell that I was surrounded by a lot of skin. I was smashed up against a deliciously broad back and I sighed contentedly. I love sun-kissed, hedonistic holidays. Then I realised that there was another hand poking through into my tummy. Oooo-errr! And another arm was around my middle and a leg pushed in between mine. Saucy!

Wriggling over in the limited space I was accosted by surprisingly bad breath and then a wee hand smacking me on the boob, bringing me back to my senses. This was no scene of wild holiday abandon. This was an early-morning wake up on our very-family-oriented getaway. And the double bed was crammed full of a snoring Mr VS and two children seeking refuge – one from the scary cockroach on the wall of our van-park cabin and the other from a tangled and smelly old quilt cover which was discarded on the floor.

Note to self. Must arrange a mid-year getaway with husband. Alone.

In the meantime, this mild Caribbean rice side-dish will keep the holiday vibe going. Just a hint of coconut and a stack of vegies. As always, everything is optional. Use whatever will work with your family. I’m including instructions for this in either a rice cooker or in a regular saucepan.

Why not garnish with an umbrella. Cute.

Caribbean ‘I’m still on holidays’ rice

2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 spring onions, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups long grain rice
1 litre water (boil the jug and use that to make cooking quicker)
160g coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
Several stalks of fresh thyme (use half a bunch if you have it)
1/4 red capsicum
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1 zucchini, grated (peeled if your kids hate green)
400g can borlotti beans, rinsed, drained
125g can corn kernels

Heat your rice cooker on the saute function or heat a saucepan over medium/high heat. Add your oil and saute the spring onion and garlic for a minute, stirring frequently.

Pour in the rice and stir really well to make sure it is thoroughly coated and the edges are just starting to turn translucent. (This takes a minute or two).

Carefully tip in the coconut milk and stir. Then add the water, cinnamon and thyme. Stir well. Turn the rice cooker to the cook function and cover OR reduce the heat on the stovetop to low and cover with a tight-fitting lid (a glass lid so you can peak in, is perfect).

Once little vertical tunnels appear in the rice, it is practically cooked (about 15 minutes), so really quickly remove the lid and chuck in the vegies and beans. Stir briefly, recover, and leave for another 5 minutes or so (I actually tend to switch my cooker to ‘warm’ for this stage – the residual heat is enough to warm everything through).

Serve with salad and some meat from the BBQ – something tasty like jerk chicken is perfect (I’ll post a recipe for that next week.)

Serves 4 adults & 4 kids as a side dish.

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A salad to serve warm or cold

January 27, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Vegetarian, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, recipe, salad, vegetables

Here’s one last BBQ side dish for the summer – my version of a pumpkin, haloumi and spinach salad. You can serve it cold in summer or warm in the winter, so all you Northern Hemisphere smugglers can enjoy it right now as well.

It’s back to the idea I talked about when I made Panzanella – just serve good healthy stuff and enjoy it and hopefully the kids will join in a bit. Miss F likes the squeaky cheese and spinach (with the yummy sweet dressing). Mr M&P doesn’t find much to his satisfaction here yet, with the exception of the cashews and pine nuts. Sometimes these things take time.

Cashews and pinenuts are the big lures.

Roast pumpkin & haloumi salad

600g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1.5cm cubes
Olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts
¼ cup roasted, unsalted cashews
1 block haloumi cheese
Baby spinach leaves
Baby cos leaves
3 spring onions, finely sliced
½ red capsicum, finely diced

1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp grapeseed oil (olive oil will do and if you have it, a bit of hazelnut oil mixed in is DELICIOUS!)

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Toss the pumpkin cubes in the olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a single layer on the tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until just tender but not totally squishy.

Place a frying pan over medium heat and add the pinenuts. Dry roast, stirring often to avoid burning. Remove and set aside.

Return the pan to the heat and add some olive oil. Slice the haloumi into 1cm thick slices and fry on each side until golden.

In a large salad bowl, mix together the leaves, onions and capsicum. Toss through the nuts and tear up the haloumi into bite-sized pieces. Pop in the pumpkin.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together and pour over. Give everything a good mix and either serve warm, or leave in the fridge and serve cold.

Serves 4 adults and 4 kids as a side dish.

Comments (4) »

What’s your food intolerance?

January 15, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats, Vegetarian · Tagged fruit, recipe, treats

A lot of people I know have an allergy or intolerance to some kind of food. Maybe they can’t eat gluten or eggs or meat or nuts.

For me, it’s dairy. And it’s getting worse as I get older. I manage it with a combination of substitution, abstinence and patience. I understand and accept that I’ll always feel sick after eating in most (non-asian) restaurants, where it is apparently incomprehensible that you can cook without oodles of butter. And I accept that I’ll never be able to eat dessert at most restaurants since ‘dessert’ is apparently a code word for ‘cream’ with the only other option being cheese.

It does frustrate me when I have to pay extra for soy milk in my coffee. With food sensitivities being so widespread, surely a café should allow for all of the soy/skim/rice milk variants when they set their basic prices. 50c extra seems like highway robbery – it’s not like us soy latte wankers are particularly rare.

And while I’m ranting, I went to a restaurant recently that didn’t have a single vegetarian main meal on the menu. And no, waitress, fish is actually meat. As is bacon. And chicken – that’s meat too. I was horrified that a pretty ritzy place wouldn’t even whip up a ‘off the menu’ option. My strict vegetarian friend had just two entrée options to choose from. Lucky she likes raw beetroot and dairy-laden artichokes.

Surely these days, all cafes and restaurants should be creative enough to offer up one allergy free option. Maybe something like this is tapioca dessert. It’s vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and delicious.

Proof that dairy-free, gluten-free desserts are possible!

Coconut & mango tapioca (from Vegie Smugglers 2)

7-8 cups water
2/3 cup tapioca pearls
400ml coconut milk
2–3 tbsp caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

To serve:
Sliced mango and banana

Add the water to a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.

Add the tapioca pearls to the water and simmer until they are mostly cooked and translucent (this can take up to an hour for large pearls). Check often during cooking; stir to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan (if this is happening, add another cup of water). Err on the side of undercooking – a small opaque centre is fine, they will finish cooking in the coconut milk (overcooked tapioca just dissolves into sludge).

Drain and rinse.

Return the tapioca to the pan with the coconut milk, sugar and vanilla. Simmer gently over low heat until warm and thick.
Serve in bowls with the fruit.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS

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The toys look as tired as I feel

January 7, 2013 · Filed under All recipes, News, Vegetarian · Tagged parenting, pasta, recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

Looking around at the constant mess that is my house during the school holidays, I keep seeing signs that the toys are feeling my pain. I suspect that ‘Toy Story’ is real after all.

Frazzled (with my body on backwards).

Askew (and just slightly stabby).

Confused (don’t know up from down).

Queasy (although the holiday hangover is passing).

In need of a good lay down (when does school go back?).

Funny how I was looking forward to these school holidays so much. Now after almost three weeks of it, I can’t actually discern any difference between the school and non-school parts of the year in terms of my workload. Actually during the holidays I have more interruptions and there isn’t a half hour where the house stays in order.

So the exhaustion levels are the same but the tasks have changed. Instead of packing lunchboxes and endlessly turning socks inside out and matching them, I’m now constantly washing the sand out of beach towels and applying sunscreen (my most hated job, but I can’t trust them to do a good job on their own).

The calendar tells me that the New Year is underway and many people’s holidays are over. Once more I’m reminded that mums don’t ever really get a holiday, do we? Yesterday, I did sneak an hour and a half on the deck with my kindle and a gin & tonic. I guess that’ll have to do.

Am I the only one feeling a little ripped off? What are your best ways to find some relaxation amongst the holiday chaos? Let me know QUICK! The kids don’t have to get off the PS3 for another 45 minutes – that’s my downtime slot for today!

In return, I’m offering you an easy dinner to ease your workload. It’ll use up all that basil which is probably going to seed in this heat. It’s from the Complete Lunchboxes Planner e-book.

Easy to make and yum either warm for dinner or cold on picnics.

Pesto Pasta Salad

1 large clove garlic
¼ cup pine nuts
1 bunch basil leaves
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup grated parmesan (please don’t use the powdered stuff)
250g pasta spirals
½ punnet cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

In a food processor (mini one is best), blitz together the garlic and pine nuts. Add the basil and blitz well. Combine in the oil (a little at a time). Stir in the cheese. Set aside (all day if you like).

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Scoop out 1⁄2 cup of the water and set aside, then drain pasta and return to saucepan. Pour over pesto and mix through. Use more oil or reserved cooking water if too dry. Stir through the tomatoes.

SERVES 2 ADULTS & 2 KIDS.

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Getting back on track

December 27, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged celebrations, recipe, vegetables

Every year at this time I feel entirely gross and slightly cranky at myself for my inability to say ‘no!’ to that last piece of chocolate or that last potato baked in duck fat (mmmmmm, thanks bro, great spuds as per usual).

But as good as the indulgence all was, it’s time now to get back on track. So here are the recipes that I turn to whenever I need to reset my stomach (and my entire sense of well being)…

I started today with home-made muesli.

Fish congee is total comfort food.

The slight acidity of this tomato salad feels as though it’s cutting through the days of fatty eating.

More japanese-inspired comfort.

Fish burritos are tasty but light.

My personal favourite soothing dinner (and the dish I’m cooking tonight) chicken noodle soup.

I like all of these dishes since they’re filling and tasty, but far more gentler on my system than the food I’ve eaten over the last couple of weeks. And I promise, if you tackle these recipes, you’ll be back on track and ready to indulge all over again by New Years Eve!

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Hostess with the most-ess

December 19, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats · Tagged celebrations, Christmas, family, ideas, parenting, recipe

Hello 1970, it’s great to see you.

I am the proud new owner of a punch bowl. I’ve never felt the urge to have one before, but something overcame me this year and I couldn’t rest without one.

Since moving to the suburbs, we entertain much more and have greater numbers of people around at once. Primarily the adults are drinking alcoholic stuff, but it is nice to have something else on offer, particularly for the kids, who are all old enough now to be pestering for fizzy drinks.

Like everything else, my policy on soft drink is that ‘everything is ok in moderation’. But at this time of year, with fun parties nearly every night, I’m looking for a bit of an alternative.

So I’m compromising with punch. There’s still sugar and fizz, but it’s slightly diluted and packed full of fruit. Use Christmas cookie cutters to make cute shapes from watermelon and rock melon and you’ve got something pretty appealing. Serve it in small plastic cups and the kids will tend to drink much less than a standard size softdrink can.

This is my current recipe, but I’m sure it will change. My mum favors tea-based recipes, but I like the colour of the cranberry. What about you? Have you got a favourite version? I’m keen to try a few out.

I won't tell if the adults decide to pop a bit of vodka in.

Shhhhhhh. Adults might like to pop a shot of vodka in their glass too.

Cranberry punch

2 parts cranberry juice
1 part ginger beer
1 part lemonade
1 part mineral water
Heaps of berries, rock melon, watermelon & mint (although kids tend to stress about green leaves in their drinks).
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And with that, I’m off for a bit of a blogging break. Thanks so much for supporting my business and blog throughout 2012. It’s been another great year and I wish you and your family all the best for Christmas and the New Year.

Comments (6) »

Every day ice-cream (fruit smuggling at its finest)

December 6, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Food experiences, Sweets & treats, Vegie smuggling techniques · Tagged feeding the family, freezer, fruit, ideas, recipe, treats

Nothing bad, the all-fruit ice-cream

When I put this dessert down in front of my kids last night, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Post-dinner treats at VSHQ consist of fruit and yoghurt (they get ice-cream at nanny & pa’s house) so they didn’t know WHAT they had done to deserve this magnificent creation.

Little did they know that there was some serious fruit smuggling taking place and there wasn’t a single unhealthy thing before them.

You see if you blitz up a frozen banana, you magically get the consistency of ice-cream. You can leave it as a magic one-ingredient dessert if you like, or you can add in some honey or other fruit. In this case I’ve used a couple of mango cheeks, then drizzled over some pomegranate seeds and ‘sprinkles’ of toasted coconut.

Best thing about this recipe is that it’s totally flexible to suit your family. You could replace the mango with berries and experiment with other toppings like pistachios and toasted almonds. I suspect frozen kiwifruit would work too, although I’ve not tried it. Maybe you can all do some experimenting and let me know what variation works at your place.

Magic fruit ice cream

1 mango
2 bananas (ripe but not over-ripe)
Pomegranate & toasted coconut to serve (optional).

Cut the flesh away from the mango skin (if you’re not sure how, watch this video). Pop into a plastic bag and freeze along with the whole bananas. When solid, peel the bananas (totally do-able – the skin comes away in chunks).

Place the bananas into the bowl of a food processor (a mini one will be fine for this quantity) and blitz until smooth.

Add in the mango and again, blitz until smooth. Pop this back into the freezer to harden up again (blitzing may have softened it all a little). Spoon into pretty bowls and serve to your astonished and amazed children.

Serves 4 kids, or 2 kids and 2 non-greedy adults

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No, really, my daughter is MUCH better than yours…

December 4, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, News · Tagged celebrations, feeding the family, parenting, recipe, vegetables

I’ll take the parenting win (I’ve had enough fails along the way).

Excessive bragging in parents is ugly, isn’t it? Managing parental pride so that you don’t become socially obnoxious can be tricky. I try to be self-effacing about my kids, which happens to be fairly easy since they’re pretty regular kids, with pretty regular talents. Both of them can swim without drowning (just) and both of them look acceptably cute when dressed well (which isn’t often). They find school pretty easy but I’ve never had the urge to get them tested by MENSA. They’ve neither too many nor too few friends and they seem to be generally taking life in their strides.

Despite their normal-ness, there have still been many awards in their lives. These days they’re unavoidable. Miss F received a medal at the end of netball season despite the team’s 12-match losing streak. Both have come home with myriad assembly awards for nondescript achievements such as ‘very good comprehension’ and ‘excellent class participation’. And Miss F did get a ballet trophy for turning up to 10 classes in a row.

So both my kids have been feted and awarded, and I have pondered in the past about whether all these awards are actually rendering achievement a little meaningless.

Our new school, however, still takes the end of year awards much more seriously and there’s none of this everyone-gets-a-prize mentality. There are four awards per class and this morning Miss F was the proud recipient of one. Not just any, but the ‘academic achievement’ award. Which I’m proud to brag about. She didn’t know beforehand and the surprise and delight and PRIDE on her face were so beautiful that I got all teary in quite an embarrassing way. It turns out, that some awards ARE a bit special, after all.

At school pickup Mr M&P had a sob because there was no award for him. We had a chat about how awesome it is to be proud of those we love, about the importance of being pleased for others. Miss F helped talk him down off his emotional cliff by pointing out that she’s made it to Year 2 without an award and he’s got a lot of opportunities in his future. I think the award caused them both to learn a bit about the complexities of winning, losing and life in general.

And now Mr M&P is really keen to apply himself and see what he can achieve next year. He’s fairly tenacious, so he might just be able to do it. Besides, he won’t have to push hard to reach his sister’s dizzying heights. Apparently after the presentation ceremony, Miss F trotted up to her teacher to ask what ‘academic’ meant. Which puts it all back into perspective nicely.

End of bragging for me. But what about you, what have your kids achieved this year? I won’t think you’re showing off.
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Possibly Miss F’s favourite meals have made her the mental powerhouse that she is today. Perhaps your kids might like them too…

Tuna pasta bake

Mini Frittatas

Nachos. Her latest favourite.

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Just because

November 27, 2012 · Filed under All recipes, Fish, Vegetarian · Tagged Christmas, parenting, pasta, recipe, tuna, vegetables

Miss F and Mr M&P were outside on the weekend, setting the ground rules for an imaginative play game. Being a Virgo, Miss F likes to have the back-story fully told, with characters thoroughly fleshed out before the playing begins. Usually she will transform herself and her brother into animals, so the species, colour, familial relationships, full names, colour preferences and purpose of journey/adventure will all be established before she get into character (and the dirt) ready to play.

Mr M&P is a less complicated fellow but happily goes along with it all. He was nodding away, agreeing to all the details and finally added his own, “and all their last names will be ‘Doodle’”. Smirk smirk snigger.
“Why?” demanded Miss F, more than a bit annoyed by his flippancy.
“Just because” said Mr M&P with such a sense of finality that I was impressed.

I loved evesdropping on perfect a moment of childhood. Just because. There is no reason. Just because doodle is a funny word and it makes him (and me) laugh.

I realised that I don’t do much ‘just because’. There doesn’t seem to be much room for ‘just because’ when you’re an adult. Everything seems to need a reason, a justification for why I’m spending energy on it. Things can be fun, but they are usually with purpose.

Perhaps this is why I love summer so much. There’s a whole lot more opportunity for ‘just because’. Sure you have a swim for the valid reason that you need to cool down, but while you’re under water it’s nice to have a glide about and pretend you’re a mermaid (if only for a few seconds). Just because it’s good for your soul to have a bit of silly fun from time to time. And I’m thinking that the pursuit of ‘just because’ might be one of my new goals for 2013.

Before that though, we’ve got the Christmas season to get through. The barrage of upcoming events is likely to cause havoc to your usual routines, which is why I’m proposing a pasta salad this week. Make a batch of it and you’ll have instant dinners and lunches ready to go whenever you need them. Should give you more ‘just because’ time.

Basic balsamic salad dressing
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all of these ingredients and mix well. Keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Ready, delicious and waiting (in the fridge)

Tuna pasta salad

500g pasta (I like orecchiette)
½ quantity basic balsamic dressing (if you like really glossy salads, you may want to use more)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
5 spring onions, finely sliced
400g can tuna in spring water (drained) – Omit this ingredient for a vegetarian salad!
1 large carrot, peeled, grated
½ red capsicum, finely diced
400g can corn kernels, drained
Olives
Basil
Pepper

(other yum ingredients include fennel, cannelini beans, red onion, artichoke hearts, green beans and banana chillis)

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain quickly and return to the hot pan. Pour over the salad dressing and toss through the tomatoes and spring onions (the residual heat of the pasta cooks them slightly).

Mix through the rest of the ingredients. Season well with pepper. Serve warm or pop straight into the fridge and enjoy later on, cold.

Serves a family of four for dinner, then enough for lunches the next day too.

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