I am sitting here with a gale blowing outside and rain pelting down outside my window. My dogs are very unhappy as it was walk day but now they are trapped inside because I am not negotiating with their pleading looks...no no no...too cold, too windy too wet! My mind is turning to a warm fire, hot chocolate and brownies.
I am sure we all have a recipe file filled with recipes sent to us by family and friends or collected over the years of homemaking, yes?
I have a recipe box that I started 22 years ago and it holds some special memories. Inside it is Aunty Joy's hot milk sponge cake recipe. She has now gone to be with her Saviour, Jesus, but every time I make a birthday cake and use this recipe I think of standing in her kitchen planning my wedding cake with her.
I have a recipe for Boston Beans given to me by a faraway friend living on a farm outside Ladybrand which I dug out and made last week. I thought of her long distance love and missed her terribly.
There is a butter and condensed milk cookie recipe in here too from a once upon a time friend who is now in New Zealand. She came alongside me as a new mom and was a never ending source of help and encouragement.
Today I am longing for Beth's Brownies. Beth is now in the USA and a mommy of 8 kiddies. She used this recipe to bake batch upon batch of brownies to sell to a home bake shop 21 years ago when they were still in Cape Town. Beth was my very first Christian mentor and prayer partner. Her brownies paid for two return tickets to the UK back then for her and her husband to have a holiday as he was in Bible school and they lived off her income.
Special memories open up in my mind every time I open up the recipe box.
Here is Beth's brownie recipe:
Mix together 100g self raising flour and 250g of sugar
Melt 1 00g of butter with 6 squares of dark chocolate
Mix together 3 eggs (well beaten) and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
Combine all of the above and add 250g chocolate chips.
Put it into a greased baking tin and bake at 180 deg C for 20 30 minutes until the tester comes out clean.
Don't wait too long to eat them with your family....remember sharing is caring :)
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Save with Jamie – Book Review
I am a fan of Jamie Oliver. I think it was
more than 10yrs ago when I picked up a book of his at a friends home and read
it in bed at night. Superman and I have also watched a few of his TV series,
when I was still watching TV that is. And every now and again when I feel like
it I will watch something of his on Youtube.
That was how I found his series on saving
money with food without compromising on taste and health. (Go to Youtube and
key in “save with Jamie” for a whole range of saving tips.) I only had to watch a few of his videos
where he cooks the meals from his book by the same title: Save With Jamie, to
know that it was a book I wanted in my collection.
Having used the book now for about 6 months
I feel that it brings such enrichment to my home that I have to encourage
others to add it to your shelf.
The top eight reasons I love this book:
Meat!
We have slowly moved to a low carb diet
since 2009 when Superman was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I struggled for a
long time to give up baked treats and puddings as I love/d baking. There is
also something so satisfying about a big bowl of pasta or creamy mashed
potatoes. It’s not that we never eat these foods, but they are rather eaten
rarely.
Giving recipes based around cheaper cuts of
meat like pork shoulder and beef brisket and showing how to cook them for
maximum taste and tenderness can help any other omnivore to save a little on
what is always the most expensive item in a food budget.
Leftovers!
The way we have worked with this book is
that either on a Sunday or Monday evening we make a big roast – 2 chickens or 1
large shoulder of lamb or pork or a beef brisket – and we enjoy that with all
the trimmings. For the chickens we will eat the dark meat and save the breast
meat for a meal through the week and the carcass for stock. For the lamb, beef
and pork, we will save half the meat for a meal later on in the week.
For instance, on Monday my son made a
gorgeous roast lamb with savoy cabbage, peas and roast potatoes. Half the lamb
was saved and used in Jamie’s biryani recipe on Tuesday, which was stupendous.
The winner meal so far is left over beef brisket in Korean stir-fry. Nom Nom
Nom!
Stocks & dripping!
Obviously these roasts have bones left
behind and he encourages the home cook to make stock and use it in later
recipes and soups. Always a high scorer on the nutrition scale! Dripping is
also saved and used to add extra flavor to risotto, soups, gravy and stir fry.
Buying and storing bulk!
At the beginning of the book (like most of
his later ones) he has a pantry and stock list. These things may seem pricey to
buy up front (sesame oil etc) but you use so little of it that they last a long
time. You can also spread the pantry stocking over a few grocery shops so that
the first is not overwhelming on your wallet. His freezer tips are also a
winner and as he rightly points out, buying frozen veg (if you don’t grow and
freeze your own) is often cheaper and has more nutrients than 5-day-old grocery
store fresh veg.
“Old” fashioned tips
Truly the age of our grandmothers is coming
back when it comes to thrifty food. Waste not want not is a big thing in this
recipe book. How to use up sagging veg in pickles, soups and stocks…how to
freeze chillies and herbs…why dripping is a delicacy and needs to be saved…so
much more!
He also intersperses shopping tips and why
supporting the little butcher or fishmonger shop or the local farmers and
markets is a wiser choice than the big chain stores.
Saving money!
This is not a book on how to use beans for
protein. This is whole foods, across all the food groups but how to do it
frugally and without waste. So if you are a vegetarian or vegan this book is
not for you and if you are not prepared to rethink how you shop and cook, then
skip this one. However if you are like us that enjoy food, love making it,
smelling it cooking and try to do it in the most ethical and organic way, then
give it a go.
Time saving – sort of!
Sort of, because some of the meals take
long slow roasts in the oven but the finishing off is quick and also as he uses
all the leftovers, you can do one big meal on an evening when you have more
time and then have 2 quick meals from left overs on other nights of the week.
The nom-nom-nom factor
A friend once told me I am obsessed with
food…and I am. Not any food though – good food, tasty food, food that makes my
family smile, food that I can serve to dinner guests, food that’s funky for my
younger fussy eater, food made from scratch and leaves my loved ones and I saying
that was a good meal.
We have a saying in our kitchen, when I am
making a recipe that asks me to do something that raises my eyebrows (like
making a rice pie crust!!!): “Don’t argue with Jamie”. To date there has not
been one recipe in this book we do not like, even though we are half way
through testing them.
So if you are feeling a little despondent
or unenthused with your culinary skills at the moment, I encourage you to give
this book a try! And if you need to see a meal take a look at this favourite of ours
Happy cooking! Oh and if you are a Cape Town reader and you are looking for high quality affordable organic meat, take a look at my elder children's business Funky Chickens
Monday, May 12, 2014
Easy foundations for nutritious meals
When I started turning my attention to real
nutritious whole food my youngest was still in utero. He is now 12 years old.
But as each year passes I add a bit more to my repertoire.
Our first moves were from white shop bought
bread to whole wheat bread then to making our own whole wheat bread then onto
buying the grains and grinding them and making our bread. It was a process of
good-better-best. The goal was to always be growing and learning how to be
wiser stewards of our bodies.
It can be so overwhelming when starting to
switch onto whole foods and real ingredients that when we think we have to do
it all at the beginning we give up before even taking one baby step.
My advice is always to just make one change
and when that change for the better is part of your routine, add another and
then keep going. With that in mind, one of the easiest things you can do is
make these 5 easy foundational parts of most recipes and keep them in your
fridge or freezer until you need them.
Meat stocks
Chicken, beef and lamb stocks can be made
and frozen in Ziploc bags or plastic containers. We use loads of chicken stock
so I just keep 3x 1 liter jars in the fridge all the time. We eat roast chicken
once a week (I roast 2 and we have leftovers for salads, soups and sandwiches)
the next day. I keep all the bones, cartilage and skin to make stock. If I
debone a chicken (it’s cheaper than buying mixed portions) I also keep the
carcass for stock.
I get beef and lamb bones from the organic
farmer who supplies my children’s business with their products and make stock
from those.
Meat stock recipes here. (Lamb and beef are done the same)
Vegetable stock
For vegetable stock, I will save carrot
peels, celery bits, onion bits and any other vegetable offcuts every now and
again for vegetable stock. They can be frozen in a container until you have
enough unless you are doing a big cook up then use them fresh.
Uses for your stocks:
Stews
Spaghetti and lasagna mince
Risotto
Pasta
Rice
Tomato and vegetable sauce
This is a much quicker but still tasty way
to have tomato sauce on hand for recipes. It is much more nutritious than cans
of tomatoes.
Obviously its great if you have a glut of
homegrown organic tomatoes, but any tomatoes can do great things in this sauce.
2kg tomatoes quatered
2 bulbs of garlic, peeled
3 large carrots, grated
1 large bunch of celery, chopped
A selection of herbs (rosemary, thyme,
oregano)
Wash and prepare the vegetables. Add to a
large pot with a drizzle of olive oil. Bring up to a boil while stirring.
Reduce the temperature and let it bubble away for an hour until soft.
Add 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and salt
and pepper to taste. Blend up with a stick blender and once cooled store in
jars in the fridge or freeze in containers or bags.
Uses for your tomato sauce:
Soups
Stews
Pasta
Bolognaise Sauce
Lasagna
Ratatouille
Bonus idea…
Have you heard about Artisan Bread in 5minutes a day? It was the rage about 3 years ago. It’s a great way to make your
own bread a couple of days a week.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
7 easy supper recipes
After my last post I have been thinking
about woman who find the kitchen intimidating. I don’t know if you are one, but
if so this is written to you. I realize that for some, the way Jamie Oliver
writes his recipes are simply overwhelming. I get that! He chats his recipes,
more than writes them and this is quite confusing.
I am no Jamie Oliver, so these are not
those types of recipes. The 7 that follow are simply great easy filling
nutritious ones that you can cook from scratch with whole ingredients. They are
my favorites for nights when I know we will be in late. I would get the longer
cooking items started around 3pm before we leave for afternoon activities and
then spend 20 minutes finishing them off.
Just a note – we eat very little potatoes,
rice and bread at the moment, as it is best for my husband’s blood sugar
levels. Last time we checked he was clear of Type 2 diabetes. So if this is not
a concern for your family, then you can add the carbohydrates.
Lamb Stew
500g
lamb knuckles, neck or cubes
1
onion, chopped
1
teaspoon crushed garlic
Olive
oil
6
tomatoes, chopped
1 can
of lentils
Beef or
vegetable stock
250ml
wine
250ml
water
Salt
and pepper
Variety
of vegetables cleaned and chopped (carrots, potatoes, courgettes, green beans)
Brown
the onion and garlic in the oil. Add lamb and brown. Add the other ingredients.
Turn heat down to a gentle simmer. Allow to cook for about 2 hrs until tender.
Add vegetables and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Serve
on basmati or brown rice.
Shepherds Pie
1 onion
chopped
1
teaspoon garlic
250ml
beef stock
250ml
frozen peas, corn and carrots (or fresh chopped)
6
potatoes peeled and cubed.
Make
your mash by boiling the potatoes until cooked. Mash with some milk ad butter.
In the meantime fry onion and garlic and brown the mince. Add the stock and
season with salt and pepper. Add the veggies. Transfer to an oven proof dish.
Add the mash to the top and cover over the mince. Use a fork to make tracks on
the top. Bake for 30 minutes on 180 deg Celsius.
(*We
make cauliflower mash now using 3 large heads of cauliflower, steamed, and
blended with salt pepper, parmesan and butter for the topping.)
Bunny chow in rootis
I make
my own rooti (chapitis) but you can buy ready made wraps or rooti from most
stores.
500g mince
1 onion
finely chopped
1
teaspoon garlic
Mixed
frozen veggies or whatever your garden is yielding.
250 ml
Beef stock
Brown
the onion in some hot oil. Add the garlic and beef mince. Brown well. Add the
veggies, spices, stock and cook for 15 minutes. Allow sauce to reduce. Spoon
some into the centre of your rooti and roll up to eat.
Speedy
Mexican Meal
This is a handed on recipe from my dear friend Elastic Mom.
1
onion, diced
2
cloves garlic, finely chopped
1T oil
½ red
pepper chopped
½ t
chilli powder
1 ½ t
cumin
½ to 1
t salt
1 can
baked beans
300g
finely sliced chicken
1 large
packet corn chips (Nature's Choice is the most friendly for your body)
Cheese,
grated
Lettuce,
shredded
Spring
onions, chopped
Sour
cream / yoghurt
Salsa
sauce (optional)
Olives,
chopped
Avocado,
sliced
Sauté
onion, garlic and chicken until chicken is cooked. Add pepper and seasonings.
Cook until pepper softens. Add beans (and tomato paste if necessary). Heat
through and serve with remaining ingredients.
Chicken Pita Breads
6
deboned skinless chicken breasts
8 pita
breads
Kikkoman
sauce
Garlic
Sliced
lettuce
Chopped
tomato
Cucumber
Plain
yoghurt
Grated
cheese
Working
with slightly thawed chicken breasts, slice them very thinly along the shortest
width. Place them in bowl and pour the Kikkoman on to just cover.
Make
your tzatziki sauce by grating your cucumber and letting it lie in a colander
to drain. Mix the cucumber with 250ml of yoghurt and ¼ teaspoon fresh garlic.
Heat
some olive oil in a frying pan. Add some garlic and some of the chicken pieces.
Fry until cooked through. Set aside and fry the next portion. When all chicken
is fried add it all back to the pan and pour the Kikkoman into the pan. Reduce.
Toast
your pita breads. Slice off the top and let everyone fill their pita’s with the
fillings.
Thai Chicken Curry
500g
chicken breast fillets diced or sliced
2
carrots julienne
4 baby
marrow (zucchini) julienne
1 red
pepper sliced
1 can
coconut milk
1
packet of cashew nuts
Green
curry paste – 1 teaspoon or more depending on your tolerance.
Oil for
frying
Basmati
rice
Coriander
(cilantro)
Yoghurt
Fry the
chicken breasts with the green curry paste. Add the veggies and cook until
cooked but still crunchy. Add the coconut milk. Add cashews. Allow to reheat.
Serve on basmati rice.
Coriander
yoghurt – finely chop coriander and stir into the yoghurt. Serve as a side
portion with chicken curry.
Basil & Parmesan meatballs with spaghetti
500
grams beef mince
1 cup
grated parmesan
½ cup
chopped fresh basil (use dry if you have to)
Olive
Oil
Spaghetti
8 fresh
tomatoes finely chopped
Garlic
and Oregano
Mix the
beef, parmesan and basil together and make into little bit sized meatballs.
Fry
gently in some olive oil.
Cook
the spaghetti.
Put the
tomatoes into the pan with the meatballs, sprinkle with oregano, salt and
pepper. Cook until the tomato forms a chunky sauce.
Serve
on a bed of spaghetti, sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve with a salad.
(We
will make our own vegetable “pasta” with the spiralizer we bought. This is a
great way to use up abundant marrows (zucchini) when you have planted too many J )
Monday, May 5, 2014
Reasons for cooking from scratch
I have been watching Jamie’s USA Food
Revolution on YouTube. I enjoyed the UK series so much a couple of years ago,
that when I stumbled onto the USA one the other day I decided to give it a go.
I know this was filmed 4 years ago in 2010 and I do hope they have seen long lasting change from what Jamie sparked. The problem of the USA school food system is not all at the door industrial food giants; it’s a compound issue, in my opinion.
Right at the start let me say that I have "met" many moms, mainly stay at home homeschooling moms, who are really diligent with their families health and eating. Please do not think that I have a skewed perspective on every American Mom because I have now watched this TV series :) What follows are simply my thoughts.
Right at the start let me say that I have "met" many moms, mainly stay at home homeschooling moms, who are really diligent with their families health and eating. Please do not think that I have a skewed perspective on every American Mom because I have now watched this TV series :) What follows are simply my thoughts.
Starting at the core, with Mommy being out of the home working long hours to survive, food has become a necessity, not a gathering of the family to enjoy one of our basic needs. So fast food, ready to heat meals, convenience foods, empty calorie stomach fillers are the norm in the home.
I am saddened that those little ones did
not know a beetroot from a cauliflower, a tomato from a potato. They have just
never been taught. It was clear in the show that it was not even in the school
curriculum for tots to learn the basic food vocabulary besides what they pick
up naturally being French Fries, Hamburgers and Pizza.
At the top of the pile of blame seem to be the USA
school food guidelines, for which I suppose the conspiracy theorists would have
a great explanation! I think that the industrial food giants are simply
supplying what the shoppers are demanding in their ignorance – or perhaps in
their need for convenience. The fighters of the real food cause in the USA –
Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin, Jordan Rubin etc – have some fabulous books,
YouTube documentaries and ideas for anyone who is looking for the truth behind
most health problems.
So add the three things together –
industrial food, moms out of the home and a lack of education - and you end up
with the compound root of the problem. Many mom’s are not equipped with knowledge
either on how to cook from scratch with real ingredients, they do not have the
time to do it and because they do not have the knowledge, they cannot pass it
on to their own children. Whether they are stay at home, or work out of home, there are many reasons to cook from scratch.
This is not a heavy on moms. I am one too.
I know how hard it is to always do the right thing, and there are obviously times
when we all want a break. I have always believed in an 80/20 rule. 80% of the
time I make sure that we eat the right food, exercise and stay away from junky
treats. 20% of the time which includes when my children are not with me over
meal times, when they are out with friends or when we have a real craving for
decadent chocolate brownies or wheat flour based pancakes J then we indulge and enjoy, guilt free.
I thought I would share a list of things
that I believe are some of the best things about cooking from scratch and I
have some resources listed below for you to consider.
1. Cooking from scratch becomes a
family affair. I always have one, two or three of my children to help with
peeling, chopping or stirring. This started when they were very young and has
continued through to their teen years. Even my eldest’s betrothed is roped in
when he visits. And now Superman comes to help in the evenings too and we chat
while we chop and dice.
2. You use real ingredients that
do not have alphabet codes followed by a string of numbers. Even bread which is
made from flour, water, fat, yeast, salt and sugar made at home is glaringly
different from the ingredients listed on the back of packets of shop bought
bread. I decided years ago to not put something into my body if I didn’t know
what it is.
3. When cooking from scratch with
young ones, you have the wonderful chance to pass on your knowledge, as much or
as little as it is, to the next generation. I am not a "prepper", nor a doomsday
prophet, but I know that real food is going to be harder and harder to come buy
as we come the end of the age. If we can equip our children, who will equip
theirs in turn, to source, prepare and cook real ingredients, we are setting
them up to survive in a world vastly different to what we currently live in.
4. Because cooking from scratch
demands real raw ingredients you are voting with your Rands and Dollars for the
farmers. You are buying carrots, potatoes and tomatoes from Farmer Joe. Farmer
Joe can feed his family and keep on growing real food for you and your kids. If
you want to step this up, buy from local food markets. You are then keeping
your money in the place where you live and make a huge difference to the local
community. While we choose organic raw ingredients as far as possible, this would
not necessarily be feasible for everyone, but just buy buying what farmers
grow, not what industry produces, you are helping keep food real.
5. Sitting down to a meal that you
and your family have made from scratch together, gives a huge sense of satisfaction
to everyone. There may be more dishes to wash (sometimes), more time may have
been spent on making the meal, but you know that what you are putting into your
bodies is good for it and will not compromise your health or the health of your
family. That’s peace of mind.
6. Following on from this is that
as you make the meals and sit at the dinner table to enjoy your work, you begin
to create a food culture. Something that will stay with your family for years
to come.
7. Cooking from scratch is more
frugal. Even when you add organic bacon, organic bananas and homemade
mozzarella to a homemade pizza base it is STILL cheaper than buying a
ready-made pizza from the local delivery joint or even Woolies Foods.
8. As your skills improve with cooking
from scratch you will probably begin to think about growing something of your
own. For beginner gardeners I think the best thing to do is to grow your own
culinary herbs. While they are not going to fill a plate, they can turn a plain
meal into something spectacular. Rosemary crushed with salt, pepper and garlic
rubbed onto a chicken for roasting, or handfuls of chopped basil and oregano
into a bolognaise sauce, immediately transforms the meal.
9. Learning to cook from raw
ingredients has another added benefit in that you eliminate food and packaging
waste, or at least reduce it. You will have less tin, plastic and cardboard in
your recycling bin and less wet food into your domestic bin.
10. Lastly, when you cook from scratch you begin to develop a home
mentality. If you work outside of your home you probably come home exhausted
from a challenging day. Laundry still needs to be done, meals prepared, the
house tidied up. These things can become a real bind when you are already dead
tired. The thing is that we can all go without our favourite jeans if the
laundry is not done, but we cannot go without food. When we start to rank meals
higher on the agenda and we see the blessing that proceeds from this simple act
of making wholesome nutritious food, we begin to see our homes as not just a pit
stop in a full busy day, but the centre to our families activities and lives.
Resources for those wanting to develop
cooking skills:
Jamie’s 30 minute meals (ignore the 30
minutes – just make the recipes)
Jamie’s 15 minute meals (as above)
Save Money with Jamie (my latest favourite cookbook!)
Down to Earth Blog (Rhonda has a wonderful
simple encouraging blog)
Budget Bytes (Delicious tasty thrifty quick
easy meals)
My humble meal planner e-book
Equip yourself further by reading:
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Michael Pollan’s Food Rules
Down to Earth by Rhonda Hetzel
The Makers Diet by Jordan Rubin
Any of Joel Salatins books
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