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mains

pumpkin, green lentil & parsnip soup

February 22, 2012
lunch, mains, soup
3 Comments

Wow, what a disaster I had in the kitchen last night! It was just ‘one of those days’, where things didn’t come together too easily. I took ages to actually prepare any food, burnt myself a few times, broke my most valuable/expensive piece of cookware, then forgot to put the blender on while puréeing the soup and made a mess. I finally sat down to dinner at 11 and although the soup was lovely, I was glad the whole cooking ordeal was over! Does anyone ever have days like that in the kitchen? I tend to every now and then and it feels like such a relief to get it over and done with! Either way, this gorgeous soup was worth the fuss and mess and the toasted pumpkin cumin seeds were a good treat. I also loved the colour of it.

Today was a good day. I worked at the farmer’s markets selling organic produce (dips and muesli) and then spent my sunny afternoon studying with friends. I got a lot of reading done, although I worry about my ability to absorb information sometimes. I can spend 20 minutes or more reading one page over and over, simply because it’s not processing. I seem to eventually get it, though I wonder how much I’ve actually learned because sometimes when I reread things, I can’t remember the words! Right now, the thought of taking on 4 subjects for my first experience of university gives me butterflies. I really hope I can pull it off! 2 weeks until I find out, I guess.

One batch of this soup will feed 6 people.

 

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg of pumpkin, diced into 1cm cubes

2 large parsnips, diced

1 cup french green lentils

saffron strands (optional)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 litre salt-reduced chicken stock

1 cup boiling water

1 litre water (to add later)

pepper

pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin

1 tbs cumin

olive oil

 

METHOD

Pumpkin Seeds

Place seeds under the grill. Coat with cumin. Grill for a couple of minutes or until you hear a bit of pre popping noises.

Soup

Preheat oven to 180.

Put the pumpkin, parsnip, garlic, saffron, stock and water into a heavy baking dish.

Cook in the oven for 40 minutes, ensuring the stock doesn’t get all soaked up and dry.

Remove and put in a stockpot with the extra litre of water and lentils. Reboil.

Cook on a simmer for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft. Season well.

Place in a blender for a short while to get a soup that is a nice mushy texture.

Serve and garnish with roast cumin pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of olive oil.

(Adapted from Low GI Cooking)

mushroom, caper and parsley pasta

February 21, 2012
mains, pasta
11 Comments

I had some mushrooms handy and wanted a flavoursome pasta sauce. I skipped the creamy sauce recipes I found; this recipe looked so simple and it was. A perfect combo of flavours too. I served it on spelt pasta and garnished it with some delicious parmesan. I have been craving cheese so much lately! I had toasted cheese on spelt bread for breakfast and this for dinner. I’ve also been gawking at the Camembert cheese in the fridge for 5 minutes at a time each time I open the fridge. This is a good recipe if you couldn’t be bothered with effort.

Serves 2

 

INGREDIENTS

2 tbs olive oil

1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced

30g drained capers

200g cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

3/4 cup roughly chopped fresh continental parsley leaves

finely grated parmesan, to serve

pepper

wholemeal spelt pasta, cooked to packet directions and set aside

 

METHOD

Melt oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and capers, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the parsley, pepper and remove from heat.

Heat through pasta with hot water, drain and place in bowls.

Top with sauce.

Sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

 

(Adapted from Taste)

vegetarian lasagna with capsicum, ricotta and spinach (gf)

February 14, 2012
mains, pasta
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It’s been a few days between posts… Tonight I had this grand idea in my head of having this big elaborate lasagna roll meal. When I boiled the pasta (with intent to lay it down, layer filling then roll it up), it didn’t quite turn out how I wanted. I just couldn’t get it to not stick together and the pasta got all torn up. So, instead, here is my first attempt at my own lasagna recipe. It turned out well – don’t let the photo turn you off the meal itself. It was pretty tasty and because I boiled the lasagna sheets, it only needed around 25 minutes in the oven.

Serves 4.

 

INGREDIENTS

200g gluten free lasagna pasta sheets, boiled until al dente

2 small red capsicums, cut into large pieces and roasted at 200 degrees for 20 minutes

125g english spinach

8 medium sized mushrooms

250g low fat ricotta cheese

125g low fat mozzarella cheese

1 can chopped tomatoes

large handful pitted kalamata olives

15g basil, chopped

1/2 tsp crushed chilli

2 tbs capers

 

METHOD

In a large saucepan, add the tomatoes, capers, olives, half the basil and chilli. Cook on medium heat for around 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a separate saucepan, cook mushrooms and spinach together for around 5 minutes. Set aside.

Layer your lasagne. My layers were as follows:

Pasta sheets, sauce, ricotta, capsicum, remaining basil, spinach & mushroom mix – repeat until ingredients have run out and place mozzarella all over the top!

Pop into the oven for 25 minutes on 180. Serve!

chicken noodle soup (gf)

February 9, 2012
lunch, mains, pasta, soup
2 Comments

I love chicken noodle soup. If I’m feeling at all under the weather, it always picks me up! This is a pretty easy recipe to get together. You can use whatever noodles you wish – I used tini amaranth and rice penne, which I thought was a perfect addition to the meal. If you feel like a bit of extra kick, add some crushed chilli. Enjoy!

Serves 2

 

INGREDIENTS

olive oil

2 small stalks celery, chopped

2 small carrots, diced

6 cups of chicken stock

300g noodles of your choice, cooked and drained

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

two large handfuls of parsley

1 tsp crushed chilli (optional)

 

METHOD

Heat  oil over medium heat, adding the celery and carrot. Season well and cook,  stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to get soft.

Pop in your stock and bring to a boil. Throw in the noodles, chicken and parsley and once heated through, serve!

 

 

10 minute chicken & spinach curry

February 8, 2012
low fodmap, mains
2 Comments

Today was cruisy. I signed up to trial a gym out, so I spent an hour exercising and I’m pretty sore at the moment! It felt great and this afternoon, I managed to feel alert enough to read for a few hours without too much trouble concentrating. I watched some basketball tonight and because I’m working at 7am tomorrow and came home late, decided to cook something easy and low maintenance. I’ve been wanting a curry for a while  and I had some leftover chicken, so it seemed like a good opportunity to throw something quick together – no curry paste, long wait or effort required. While it’s not a very rich/thick sauce and requires pretty much no simmering time, it tastes great and isn’t too heavy on the belly. I intentionally left out onions and garlic, for those people out there with allergies, and the flavour was not compromised. Leave out the mushrooms if you’re on a low fodmap diet.

This serves 2.

 

INGREDIENTS

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 cup water

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp tumeric

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/2 tsp crushed chilli

250g chicken, cut into 3cm pieces

100g silverbeet (chard), chopped rougly

4 mushrooms, quartered

cooked brown basmati rice, to serve

 

METHOD

Heat olive in a non stick frying pan.

Add the spices, chilli and ginger, along with 1/2 cup water.

Cook until aromatic, then add the chicken and mushrooms.

Cook for 5-6 minutes, adding water if necessary.

Add chopped spinach, then cook for another 4 minutes.

Serve atop brown rice, garnished with coriander.

barramundi with carrot, parsley & lime salad

February 7, 2012
low fodmap, mains, seafood
2 Comments

I can’t get enough of seafood. I don’t have anything fancy up my sleeve but this really is a perfect  no fuss midweek meal – easy to whip up, healthy, light and fresh. Perfect for Summer and I’m a sucker for anything that tastes like lime. The carrot salad is delicious and could be used with a number of dishes, or as a sandwich filling. I served the salad and fish up with steamed bokchoy, brown rice and squash – you can do whatever you wish, I just thought of this as an idea, rather than a firm recipe.

Serves 2

 

INGREDIENTS

2 x barramundi fillets (or fish of your choice)

1 cup cooked brown rice, to serve

vegetables of your choice, to serve

2/4 lime, to serve

Carrot & Parsley Salad

2 small carrots, grated

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 bunch parsley, roughly chopped

4 tbs garlic infused olive oil

1 tsp cracked pepper

large pinch of cumin

 

METHOD

Place your fish under the grill, after slightly brushing it with olive oil. It should take around ten minutes to cook.

Meanwhile, mix the carrots and parsley. In another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients for the carrot salad and then stir through.

Throw your vegetables in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Drain.

When fish is cooked, serve up with carrot salad, vegetables and brown rice.

Enjoy!

roast pumpkin, tofu & soba salad

January 26, 2012
light meals, low fodmap, mains, salads
4 Comments

It’s been a huge couple of weeks. Lots to think about, lots of decisions and changes to be made and life has taken a big turn (to say the least). I’ll try to race through this as quickly as possible.

So, I got accepted into university. When I think about the last 12 years and all that has gone on, I could hardly believe that I got an offer to the uni of my choice. I am still a little shocked about it all. I’m proud and overjoyed but I’m also very scared about what this means for me financially. Coming from full time work with a loan strapped tightly to me, and supporting myself, I’m worried about whether I could handle it all for the next 4 years. I’m not the best to deal with stress and having no regular/firm income is going to be tough for me. Making sure I can put in the effort of doing 4 subjects full time, while having enough money to pay everything by the month is going to be a challenge. I really want to give it a go because I have worked so hard for it. So, I did enrol. However, I’m still thinking about deferring right now because it all seems too hard/expensive right now. I’m really happy I made it to this point though. Just having a choice is a wonderful feeling in itself. So I guess I have to do a lot of soul searching and thinking and then just roll with it and hope for the best. Fingers crossed I can take the plunge. It will be worth it. I wouldn’t have to drag myself to jobs I hate anymore for one. That would be quite nice.

While I have managed to turn my life around significantly (really only over the last few years), I still have a lot of work to do. Happiness is an ongoing journey after all, isn’t it? One thing I’ve been trying very hard to achieve is staying positive. Really challenging when you’ve had such a negative mindset for such a long time. I always strive to uplift others but I don’t put enough effort into my own happiness.  I have decided it’s time to put some real effort in. I’ve been completing exercises and reading books centred towards improving my ability to think rationally and remain happy and flexible in the face of challenges. I’m going with the idea of ‘what you think, is what you feel.’

I’ve also been trying especially hard to eat well and exercise. I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and walking a lot. I’ve managed to stick out drinking a lot of water too, which has been great. I certainly feel more energised when I’ve had enough water!

Not really too much else is happening but I’ve been kept busy and I have a lot of organising to do. I created this warm salad the other night and ate it at a park with some strawberries for dessert. It turned out really well and it was very easy to make. Budget friendly, as well.

Serves 2 hungry people.

 

INGREDIENTS

extra virgin olive oil

100g of 100% buckwheat soba noodles (use whichever type of soba you like)

quarter of a small pumpkin, cut into small cubes

250g tofu, cut into small cubes

2 tbs tamari

2 tbs grated fresh ginger

1 tbs chopped fresh rosemary

large handful rocket and baby spinach

 

METHOD

Cook soba noodles according to packet directions and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200. Pop your pumpkin on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, place your ginger, tamari, some olive oil then your tofu. Mix ingredients together. Place under the grill on low-medium heat for 5 minutes.

When everything is ready, place together with the rocket and baby spinach in a large bowl and toss. Serve warm.

miso noodle & vegetable soup

January 17, 2012
light meals, lunch, mains, soup
4 Comments

I was in need of something nourishing and found a great noodle soup to play with on Green Kitchen Stories. If you’ve not yet stumbled across this beautiful blog, please head over and say hello. I have tried many recipes from there at this point and I am always impressed with how great I feel after I eat the end result!

This particular soup is packed full of vegetables and all sorts of goodness – I added some tofu and it was perfect. I’ve posted the original recipe below, with some slight editing to accommodate for my ingredients.

Enjoy!

 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 fresh chilli

2 cloves garlic

2-inches (5 cm) fresh ginger

1 stalk fresh lemongrass

1/2 leek

4 small carrots

1/2 cup broccoli

6 shiitake mushrooms

1/2 cup  fennel bulb

1/2 cup green beans

8 cups water, boiled

6 tbsp miso paste

1 tbsp tamari

100g tofu

270g soba noodles

1 handful coriander

mixed sesame seeds

1 lime

 

METHOD

Preparing the vegetables: Finely slice the chili, mince garlic and ginger, cut the lemongrass in half and “bruise” it with the bottom of your chef’s knife. Finely slice leek, carrots (use a peeler) and divide the Romanesco into small pieces. Cut the brown mushroom into quarters, slice the fennel bulb and chop the fennel greens. Trim the green beans by removing the top stems.

Preparing the miso: Pour 4 cups boiling water in a pot, add miso paste and whisk. Add soy sauce, chili, ginger, garlic, lemongrass and set a side for a couple of minutes.

Preparing the noodles: Meantime, pour the remaining water (4 cups) in a new pot. Place it on the stow on medium heat, add a pinch of salt and the noodles, cook them according to the package.

Assembling the soup: When the noodles are done, place them and all the vegetables in the miso soup and reheat it with the tofu, making sure it doesn’t boil. Pour in 4 bowls and top with freshly chopped cilantro, lime juice and sesame seeds.

‘lively up yourself’ lentil soup

January 15, 2012
light meals, lunch, mains, soup
1 Comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a big week at work and I was glad to see the end of the Friday working day. I spent my evening with family, helping look after one special little girl with some others, while her baby brother was being welcomed into the world and settling in with his parents at hospital. On Saturday I got to meet the new little family member and it was just about one of the most exciting things I’ve experienced in my life.

I have never held a one day old baby before and I was a little nervous. It was a lovely experience either way though. I felt a little teary for some reason and it was a lovely moment – everyone in the room sharing such an important occasion. I came home and had a big sleep, as I was knackered out.

Today we went back for another little visit and this gorgeous little boy fell asleep on me for some time. I could feel his chest rising ever so quickly with each of his precious breaths. His facial expression changed almost constantly for a while, then he fell into a deep sleep with his hands and face scrunched against my chest, occasionally making small noises. I felt so calm around this little guy. It made me think of the importance of being there for others – helping them grow, being there for a cuddle and all the rest. I also had a bit of a think this afternoon about what it means to be a good person and decided that I’d create an ongoing life time goal for myself: being the best person I can be. I want to be consistently kind to people and make others happy. To not judge people and to have a better understanding of where people are coming from. I feel as though I can be such a socially awkward person sometimes and I want to put in a bit more effort to change this. So I have a bit to think through!

Anyhow, to the food. I needed something nourishing and remembered this gorgeous recipe from Heidi’s wonderful blog, that I tried last year. It is oh so tasty and so very nourishing. Also very easy. This recipe serves 6 people. I have added/changed a few things according to what I had but it’s essentially the same as the original.

 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups French lentils, picked over and rinsed

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 large brown onion, chopped

1 700g jar crushed tomatoes (100% with no additives)

1 large roma tomato, chopped into large chunks

2 cups water

3 cups of a big leafy silverbeet/chard, rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

Saffron Yogurt

a pinch of saffron (30-40 threads)

1 tablespoon boiling water

1/2 cup low fat Greek Yogurt

 

METHOD

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into the yogurt. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion and saute for a couple of minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped greens, and wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt.

 

(Source)

spelt pasta with tomato, mushroom & tuna sauce

January 14, 2012
mains, pasta, seafood
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Hope everyone is going well. It’s been a while between posts, so I thought I’d share this pasta I cooked up for dinner recently. Perfect if you’re time deprived, which I have been lately. This serves 2 people.

 

INGREDIENTS

olive oil

1 small brown onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

8 swiss brown mushrooms, thickly sliced

185g tinned tuna, drained

400g can chopped tomatoes

8 pitted black olives, halved

200g spelt pasta (or whatever you liked to choose)

pepper, to season

1 tsp oregano

100g rocket & baby spinach

 

METHOD

Cook pasta according to packet directions. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes, until they start to become transparent. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the tuna, tomatoes and oregano. Season well. Simmer for around 15 minutes, throwing in the olives in the last couple of minutes. Remove from heat and stir through the rocket & baby spinach.

Run some hot water through the pasta to ‘reheat’ and drain. Divide amongst bowls and top with sauce.

Enjoy!

 

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