Sunday 26 October 2014

Confession time

Ok guys, I have a confession to make.  I'm still eating sugar!  I've tried but my hearts just not into it - I know, I know :(
I am trying to reduce my intake and if I am choosing between two brands, I will take the one with lower sugar, but I'm not cutting it out altogether.  I just like it too much!
I am however still on the organic products where ever possible, and won't eat anything with "diet" or "light" or "lite" in it's title, cause let's face it, that stuff is nasty.

I do have some great recipes to share with y'all though :)  And they're not too bad on the sugar scale either.  I do recommend making your own tomato sauce with the recipe from last blog, I don't buy it anymore, just make my own and the kids haven't even noticed a difference :)

What have I made this week?  Date slice, Jamie Oliver's cauliflower cheese, chicken and couscous salad, that yummy egg slice that I posted on my FB page, and some awesome salmon pastries (forgot to get a pic of these though).

First up, I'll go with the salmon - super simple and tasty.

All you need is puff pastry, cream cheese and salmon slices.
Roll out pastry and cut into squares.  Spread cream cheese in centre (generously) and then top with salmon.  I also topped a tiny bit of grated cheese on top too, but you don't have to do that.
Pop in the oven at 180C until pastry has puffed up.  Voila!

Cauliflower Cheese

Oh...My...God!  Soooooo good!
This is from Jamie Oliver's "Save with Jamie" book.

It does take a bit of time to make, but it's well worth it.  The sauce is so creamy and not too cheesy so you can still taste all the vegetable flavours.

2cloves garlic crushed
50g butter
50g flour
500ml milk
500g fresh or frozen broccoli
75g grated cheese
1kg fresh or frozen cauli
25g flaked almonds
breadcrumbs
olive oil

Place butter and garlic in saucepan and heat until butter has melted.  Add flour and stir until combined.
Gradually add the milk, whisking as you go.  Once smooth, add the broccoli (cut into florets) and simmer for around 20mins until softened enough to mash.
Using a stick blender, mash it up - you can leave some lumps of broccoli in it too if you want.
Grate in half the cheese, season and mix.

Cut cauli and place in a greased casserole dish.  Pour over the cheese sauce.
In a bowl mix almonds with some breadcrumbs - fresh or dried.  Season with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over.  Mix it and then sprinkle over top.

Bake at 180C for 1hour. 


Seriously good.  The crunch of the almonds, the creamy sauce, the garlic.  All works so well together.

Chicken and Cous Cous Salad

My sister gave me the recipe for this Roast Vegetable Cous Cous Salad, and I decided to add in some baked chicken breast as well.  Quite tasty with or without chicken.

You can be your own chef with this one, and use veges that you like.  This time I used red onion, kumara and potato.  You can also use pumpkin or any other roast veges.  I do recommend using the red onion in all versions though.

Cube your choice of vege, toss in a little oil and roast until tender.

Rub oil, salt and pepper into your chicken breast and bake until cooked through.  Slice.

Place 1C cous cous in a bowl, sprinkle some cumin seeds over and pour 1C boiling water over.  Cover with a tea towel.
Fluff cous cous with a fork, add veges and some seedless, red grapes (sliced), and the chicken.  Mix in the sauce.

Sauce: 1/4C oil, 2tsp curry, 2tsp vinegar (I used red wine vinegar), 1/2tsp sugar, 1 clove garlic crushed.
combine.

The egg slice recipe is on my page which you can find here.  It was yummy, though I did find it sweet.  It was also good re-heated the next day - hubby had it in a sandwich with Sweet Chilli sauce.


Date Slice

This is one from the good old Edmonds cookbook.  I found the base mix was actually quite soft so instead of rolling it into two parts, I just kind of blobbed it in the tin and spread it with my hands, then on the top, I placed blobs again.  I think it gives it a much better look than just a plain sheet of dough.

Filling:
1C dates (I used organic)
1/3C sultanas (optional)
1C water
1Tbsp brown sugar
1tsp butter
2tsp cocoa
1/2tsp vanilla

Put all ingredients except vanilla in saucepan and cook gently over low heat until a paste like consistency is formed.  Add vanilla and cool.

Base:
125g butter
1/2C sugar
1 egg
1 3/4C flour
1tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and beat well.  Fold in flour and baking powder.  Press half into base of a slice tin.  Spread with date mixture.  Blob remaining mix on top.
Bake at 180C for 30mins. 

So there you go, lots of recipes to keep you going.  I will be getting into the Christmas cooking soon too, so keep an eye out for those!
Hope you have all had a fabulous long weekend, Happy Cooking!