14th April - 20th April 2012

This weeks menu plan is very Italian inspired, not that it was planned that way, just almost everything we liked the look of happened to by from that part of the world this week.

SUNDAY 

Sticky Pork Ribs with Coleslaw

My lovely boys recently bought me a copy of One Pot One Bowl by 4 Ingredients super whiz 

Kim McCosker.    

I really like it for those mid - week meal options because everything in the book is very easy to prepare / cook.   The Sticky Ribs are no exception, so easy to prep (marinate, American style ribs, I separated the ribs from the racks 1st then marinated them in Ketjap Manis, tomato sauce with BBQ sauce for 2 hours) when ready pop in the oven for 50 minutes on 180oC

Done.  

We served it with Coleslaw (our own blend) of 1/2 a White or Red Cabbage, 3 grated carrots and spring onions and mixed together with the Dressing which was mayo free.  Just yogurt, mustard, sour cream and honey. 

SATURDAY 

Spezzatino di Manzo

Spezzatino di Manzo is a lovely rich beef Italian stew.  It is very easy to prepare, the only work is browning the beef and chopping the veg and pancetta.  We where happy as we got to use a lot of herbs and celery out of our garden.    It cooked for 1 hour and 20 minutes with the lid on and another 40 minutes with the lid off.  In the last 40 minutes I got the cooled polenta out of the fridge, (Cooked to package instructions and added the chopped olives, thyme and Parmesan cheese to bind.  We spread it out in a shallow baking tray and popped in the fridge to cool down) Cut the polenta into triangles and baked for 20 minutes or until brown and crisp.

21st - 27th January

Monday 

Red Curry Lentils

Source:  Women's Weekly: Midweek Meals (recipe book)

Serves 4

Prep and cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 medium brown onion (150g) quartered

2 tablespoons of red curry paste (we didn't use as much, because of Mr. 4 year old)

2 x cans of brown lentils (rinsed and drained)

1 cup of vegetable stock

200g of green beans (halved)

2 tablespoons of lime juice

2/3 cup of yogurt

Method:

Heat oil in medium saucepan and cook onion, stirring until soft.  Add paste; cook, stirring until fragrant.  Add lentils and stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until stock has thickened.  Add beans, simmer for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat; and stir in lime juice.

Divide curry among serving bowls; serve topped with yogurt and (we had mountain bread) also. 

Sunday

Veal with Salsa Verde and Potato Rosti 

Source:  Women's Weekly: Midweek Meals (recipe book)

Serves 4

Prep and cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

800g piece of veal tenderloin, halved lengthways.

4 medium potato’s (800g)

1 egg

Salsa Verde:

2/3 cup of finely chopped fresh flat lead parsley

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint

1/3 cup finely chopped dill

1/3 cup of finely chopped chives

1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard

¼ cup of lemon juice

¼ cup (50g) drained baby capers (rinsed)

2 cloves garlic

½ cup (125ml) olive oil.

Method:

Make Salsa Verde (Place all ingredients in medium bowl; toss gently.

Rub veal with half the salsa; cook on heated oiled flat plate (on BBQ or if you one our stove top), uncovered, until cooked as you like.  Remove from heat, cover to keep warm.

To make Rosti, grate potatoes coarsely then squeeze excess moisture form potato.  Combine potato and egg in a medium bowl; divide into 8 portions onto the heated oiled flat plate, flatting with a spatula, until browned both sides.

Slice Veal thickly; serve with Rosti and remaining Salsa Verde.

Saturday 

Pumpkin and bacon pizzas with walnut salad

Source: A weight watchers Recipe from www.taste.com.au

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1kg butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, cut into 1cm-thick pieces
• 2 pieces lavash bread
• 1/3 cup tomato and herb pizza paste
• 2 red capsicums, cut into 3cm cubes
• 125g 98% fat-free Weight Watchers bacon, trimmed, cut into 2cm pieces
• 100g baby spinach, trimmed
• 2 tablespoons 100% fat-free balsamic Italian dressing
• 1/2 cup walnut halves, toasted (see tip)
• 1/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
• small fresh basil leaves, to serve

Method: 

Place pumpkin in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Cover and bring to the boil over 
medium heat. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Lightly grease 2 baking trays. Place 1 lavash on each tray. Spread pizza paste over lavash. Top pizza bases with half the pumpkin, half the capsicum and all the bacon. Bake pizzas for 15 to 18 minutes, swapping trays over in the oven after 10 minutes, or 
until bases are crisp and pumpkin is tender.

Meanwhile, combine spinach, remaining pumpkin and capsicum in a bowl. Pour over 
dressing. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Dollop ricotta over pizzas. Sprinkle with basil. Season with pepper. Serve with salad.

Please Note: 

To toast walnuts, spread over a baking tray and toast in oven, while cooking pizzas, for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden.

Its been a while.

I have been a busy lady, with a lot of things getting in the way of my new blog.   So this year, after a lovely holiday with my family over Christmas and New Year, I'm back on board.

I am going to do things a little different in 2012.  I will write more about our weekly mean plans and the recipes we put together in them.  

My husband and I work full time and we have Mr. 4 year old keeping us on our toes as well.   About 2 years ago a friend mentioned that she meal planned and I thought it was way too much hard work.  But we tried it and now love it.  We would be lost without doing it.  It fits perfectly with our schedules and we don’t have the hassle of trying to figure out what to cook on a daily basis and spending a large amount of money during the week buying extra stuff. 

We both enjoy the variety of meals, we eat what's in season and we have a large vegetable garden with plenty in season veg and many herbs.  Every Saturday we walk down to markets and do our weekly shop, it’s something that we do as a family.

We have a monthly budget of $600, which includes everything!!!

I hope these entries show that you don’t need a massive budget to feed your family well and healthily with a wide variety of food.  


Our up coming Menu Plan.


Due to the up coming hot weather in Melbourne this week, our meal plan will include a lot of dishes that can be cooked on the BBQ , wok burner on the BBQ or on the stove top.  But because its Australia Day on the 26th, we will be enjoying a roast leg of lamb.  Yum !! 

One Pot no Waste!

In our family because we meal plan, we buy exactly what we need for the meals for the following week.  This means that we rarely have to pop out to shops at the last minute and that my husband and I don’t have to think after a long day at work “gee what are we going to have to dinner tonight”.  No Stress!!  
 

It also has the added benefit that very little food that goes to waste.   We plan it so that we get the most out of each ingredient that we buy.  For example if we have to buy a whole celery we will make sure it is incorporated into other recipes for the week so none is wasted.

This brings me to a fabulous recipe we cooked recently; 

Lentil and Ham Hock Soup.

So simple, 1 Ham Hock (we bought a smoked one from our favourite deli) bring it to the boil in enough water to cover and simmer for an 1-hour.  Remove it (for later) and strain the stock left also for later use.

Then slice and dice 2 onions, 2 Carrots, 1 Leek and 2 Celery Stalks and cook with a spot of oil for approximately 5 minutes than add 2 cloves of garlic (crushed) the recipe we used suggested one small red chilli (but we didn’t because of Mr 4 year old) and cook for another minute. 

Add the reserved stock, bring to the boil again and add a cup of Green Lentils.  Simmer for approximately 35 minutes until lentils are cooked.

The last thing to do is add the diced meat from the previously boiled Ham Hock (removing all skin, gristle and sinew).

This soup is delicious, easy to make, cheap and great for the whole family.    

The best thing about it nothing goes to waste.  

Pizza the OMG way !!

When I first started this blog I mentioned that I would be road testing new recipes that I had never cooked before. These recipes would be coming from my ever expanding collection of cookbooks.

Friends of ours have a copy of Jane Kennedy’ s OMG I can eat that? Indulgent food minus the boombah. .   I was lucky enough to come across a copy for $10.  The book focuses on everyday meals with healthier options instead of the usual potato mash, pastry etc.   Our friends had made her 4 hour slow – cooked garlicky lamb served with her roasted carrots with feta and said it was delicious.

So far we have cooked 3 recipes from it,  $10 well spent in my opinion, as the all 3 have been very nice.

Which brings me to this months recipe.  Pizza made from grated Zucchini as the base.  That’s right, no wheat in sight.

The base is very easy to prepare, one large grated zucchini (peeled) 100g of grated mozzarella cheese and one egg.    Mixed together and pour onto a tray lined with baking paper.  Cook in a 190o Oven for 15 minutes or until browned. 

  That’s it.

Once the base is cooked turn up the oven to 220o.  Then you are free to cover the base with whatever you like and pop it back in the oven until the cheese is bubbling and brown.

Each pizza serves 2  (we made 2 pizzas) happily fed the 3 of us.   Spreading passata on the base we topped one pizza with fresh pineapple, prosciutto and rocket (once cooked).  The second with pepperoni, olives, char grilled capsicum and both pizzas finished off with mozzarella cheese.

This healthy take on the traditional is not going to replace the flour made pizza bases that we love, but is was nice for a change. 

Memories

Almost every Australian in the last 30 years has grown up,  with their Mum’s making  them a Birthday cake from the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake book.   I remember as a child Mum making my sister and I our birthday cakes that we requested from it.

A friend of mine offered and made our son the “Choo- Choo Train” last year from an original copy she had from her mother.   Our Son just loved the cake and couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful it was.  


After flicking through the book he decided that for his next birthday he wanted “Robert the Robot”.   And for the following 12 months at every opportunity he mentioned that he was having a “Robot Cake”

As luck would have it,  a special collectors edition was released this year and  I bought  a copy.  So for our sons 4^th Birthday my husband and I made “Robert the Robot” for him. 

It really wasn’t as difficult as we anticipated and the finished result was amazing.

We had one small disaster because I had greased the pans, but I didn’t line them with baking paper.  


We made a second batch of cakes that came out of the pans lined with baking paper without a problem.

We also cheated slightly, because we didn’t make the suggested Vienna Cream icing.  We purchased ready-made icing and coloured it blue.

Special mention also goes out to our friend "TD" who recently made the “Candy Castle” for her daughter.

It looked fabulous and was a massive hit with the Kids and (of course) the Adults 

Back on board

What a month we have had.   We've moved house, been sick and we are right in the middle of birthday season.  With my Husband just celebrating his 40th , our son is turning 4 this coming Tuesday and a number of friends and family celebrating birthdays in the last month as well. 

Happy Birthday Everyone !

So I have been very slack on updating the blog.   Stay tuned …… the next instalment will be up soon.