Motivation is a funny thing.
I do think about popping on here to update you all with the minutiae of what I'm up to, but the primal-related bits aren't anything I haven't already covered in posts gone by. I refuse to be boring, hence the silence.
Here's the plan: if and when I come up with cool, new recipes for the clean-eating lifestyle, I'll be jumping on here straight away and sharing them with you.
Dinner photos, complaints about cravings, stubborn fat, blah blah - I'll keep that to myself.
Who has the time? Not me.
So, here's what I would have said in the past few months, and you can assume it will stay true of my life for the next while at least:
I'm over-allotted at work, teaching more lessons per week than I should, as well as running the school magazine and Theatresports Club.
I spent the past six months composing, directing and designing the school production, which went up three weeks ago to great applause.
I have formed an a cappella singing group and am writing/arranging new pieces for us at a prodigious rate.
I've joined a band and have a couple of gigs next month for which I have to prepare.
I'm making jewellery as my 'down-time' activity, and am going to get back into selling at markets as well as updating my Zibbet store.
I'm not worrying about food, trying not to really think about it whenever possible, beyond noticing the fact that I feel full earlier than I was last year, and find little urge to over-indulge on nuts, etc. This has given me a chance to see how the same can NOT be said for industrial foods. I finally feel like my hormones are back in order in that respect.
I know that I don't feel as well all the time as I used to; now I swing between being really keen to be active, and needing to sit down. Two years ago, I was happy to walk around the classroom all lesson, last year I'd do anything to stay seated, and now it's more back and forth. When I'm ready, I will be tweaking aspects of diet and lifestyle to see how this effects the subtle shifts in my energy levels. In the meantime, I'm getting a recumbent bike slash rowing machine combo for the living room, to help improve my fitness and reduce the cardio variable in the energy equation.
And then there are my social engagements, quality time with my family, friends and pets (I'm currently caring for a sick guinea pig), time set aside for relaxation (not enough of that), time taken up by marking many, many essays (too much of that)...
My life is too full to justify taking up any more of my time blogging about diet. My journey is boring now. I know lots of things, and I keep reading to learn more. Half the time, when I find something I want to blog about, someone else covers it that very day.
So, this blog will sit here as an archive of recipes, and a health journey which was unfortunately derailed. I'll add to it when I have something of value to say, or hopefully an awesome recipe to share. I'm not going to waste your time with 'filler' material like how to steam a fish. Seriously. When I see that stuff popping up in my feed, it's unsubscribe time. If you haven't got anything interesting to say, don't tell us about your vacation rental.
Bon voyage!
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Recipe: Easter's Fruit Buns Gone Primal!
(Before I begin, please let me apologise for the SUCKY quality of the following pics - the food was delicious, but the time of night was far from ideal for phone-cam photography :(
For the last two years, there have been many a delicious aroma flooding the air of the staff corridor at school: buttery popcorn, pizza, crepes... Yet, no delicious scent tugged at my nose hairs (...ew) so much as that of freshly toasted Hot Cross Buns! Both years, I have planned to try my hand at a grain-free, sugar-free version, and somehow missed the boat.
Not this year!
Despite my punishing holiday schedule of play rehearsals, holding choir auditions, hosting visitors, supporting friends' Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows, and recovering from a post-term stress flu, I put today aside as a cooking day, making a huge batch of Nola for the beau, and a pile of cauliflower pizzas for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch.
Then - bun time! With bonus biscuits!
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1 cups coconut flour (or just another cup of almond if you don't like coconut)
250g butter, finely diced
2 T cinnamon (or more, if you love it like I do!)
1T nutmeg
Pinch of salt
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup maple syrup (optional, but encouraged if you're not using fruit)
3 large apples, peeled and finely diced
Optional - substitute one apple with a cup of juicy fruit of your choice (I would have liked to add sultanas/raisins but the beau's gut doesn't like them)
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175 deg Celsius. Line muffin pans or grease/paper a slide.
2. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, spices, and butter. Using your hands - yes, do it! - rub the butter into the flour mix until the whole lot resembles fine crumbs. Then, add the maple syrup and egg yolks, and still well. Feel free continue the manual manipulation, but be prepared for stickiness.
3. Add the chopped apple (and other fruit, if using), and stir. Be sure to dice your apple more finely than I did - I had to use my stick blender to make the apple-y dough more consistent, and lost some of that delicious baked-apple crunch.
4. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until fluffy. Add gently to the large bowl, and fold until both mixtures are combined.
5. Softly roll balls of the mixture and place onto greased slide or into muffin pans. For a glossy finish, top with some egg white and/or milk (I didn't bother this time).
BONUS: I decided to save some mixture to see how it would go as biscuits, so I lined another slide , rolled some smaller balls of apple-y dough, and topped a few with 100% cacao buds.
6. After 45 - 60 minutes in the oven (or about 30 - 40 minutes for the biscuits), the buns should be golden brown on the outside and should withstand a prod without feeling at all squidgy. The photo below is a decent indicator of the final product as produced by my temperamental oven, despite the lack of natural light.
Although I'm not at all religious, why pass up the chance to top my baked goodies with chocolate?? For these criss-crosses, I melted some 100% cacao with some butter, then lead the mix across the cooled buns with a knife. Of course, at any other time of year, you can use the excuse of aesthetic merit and drizzle the chocolate stylishly over the fruity goodness.
Thus far, they've received the nod of approval from the beau's sister, who is visiting for a few days, and I've enjoyed a couple of the biscuits. The beau will be trying one when he gets home, and I have high hopes...
Serving suggestion - slice the buns in half, then toast in the oven. Top with a generous amount of butter, and some sliced banana or strawberry compote. Of course, some whipped cream never goes amiss! These could easily pass as scones, given the lack of yeast, so they're perfect for High Tea.
Keep your extras in an air-tight container to maximise their lifespan. Don't forget that coconut flour tends to be quite drying, and this effect increases as the buns age.
For the last two years, there have been many a delicious aroma flooding the air of the staff corridor at school: buttery popcorn, pizza, crepes... Yet, no delicious scent tugged at my nose hairs (...ew) so much as that of freshly toasted Hot Cross Buns! Both years, I have planned to try my hand at a grain-free, sugar-free version, and somehow missed the boat.
Not this year!
Despite my punishing holiday schedule of play rehearsals, holding choir auditions, hosting visitors, supporting friends' Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows, and recovering from a post-term stress flu, I put today aside as a cooking day, making a huge batch of Nola for the beau, and a pile of cauliflower pizzas for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch.
Then - bun time! With bonus biscuits!
 |
| Daylight was done by the time these beauties come out of the oven - a sun-struck snap will get pride of place once dawn breaks tomorrow! |
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1 cups coconut flour (or just another cup of almond if you don't like coconut)
250g butter, finely diced
2 T cinnamon (or more, if you love it like I do!)
1T nutmeg
Pinch of salt
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup maple syrup (optional, but encouraged if you're not using fruit)
3 large apples, peeled and finely diced
Optional - substitute one apple with a cup of juicy fruit of your choice (I would have liked to add sultanas/raisins but the beau's gut doesn't like them)
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175 deg Celsius. Line muffin pans or grease/paper a slide.
2. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, spices, and butter. Using your hands - yes, do it! - rub the butter into the flour mix until the whole lot resembles fine crumbs. Then, add the maple syrup and egg yolks, and still well. Feel free continue the manual manipulation, but be prepared for stickiness.
3. Add the chopped apple (and other fruit, if using), and stir. Be sure to dice your apple more finely than I did - I had to use my stick blender to make the apple-y dough more consistent, and lost some of that delicious baked-apple crunch.
4. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until fluffy. Add gently to the large bowl, and fold until both mixtures are combined.
5. Softly roll balls of the mixture and place onto greased slide or into muffin pans. For a glossy finish, top with some egg white and/or milk (I didn't bother this time).
BONUS: I decided to save some mixture to see how it would go as biscuits, so I lined another slide , rolled some smaller balls of apple-y dough, and topped a few with 100% cacao buds.
6. After 45 - 60 minutes in the oven (or about 30 - 40 minutes for the biscuits), the buns should be golden brown on the outside and should withstand a prod without feeling at all squidgy. The photo below is a decent indicator of the final product as produced by my temperamental oven, despite the lack of natural light.
Although I'm not at all religious, why pass up the chance to top my baked goodies with chocolate?? For these criss-crosses, I melted some 100% cacao with some butter, then lead the mix across the cooled buns with a knife. Of course, at any other time of year, you can use the excuse of aesthetic merit and drizzle the chocolate stylishly over the fruity goodness.
Serving suggestion - slice the buns in half, then toast in the oven. Top with a generous amount of butter, and some sliced banana or strawberry compote. Of course, some whipped cream never goes amiss! These could easily pass as scones, given the lack of yeast, so they're perfect for High Tea.
Keep your extras in an air-tight container to maximise their lifespan. Don't forget that coconut flour tends to be quite drying, and this effect increases as the buns age.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Balls!
The free-range chicken mince that my supplier sells is, without exception, too low in fat to really produce my chunky chicken burgers with an adequate moisture level. I have been toying with ways around this - adding fat simply renders out during cooking, extra egg tends to escape as well, and adding coconut or almond flour changes the taste too much. The solution? More (finely processed) veggies!
Ingredients (four servings):
500g ground chicken
3 or 4 eggs
5 spring onions
1/2 red capsicum (bell pepper)
1 tomato
10 asparagus spears
1 cup shredded cabbage
Optional: fennel (out of season here), bacon, a handful of basil, thyme, or lemon sage, a splash of lime juice, paprika, salt & pepper as desired.
Method:
1. Preheat oven (or grill) to 150 deg C. If using an oven, line a baking tray or two with baking paper.
2. Prepare your veggies by washing and then processing with a food processor. You could also chop them extremely finely, if you have the will and elbow grease!
3. Combine veggies with eggs and meat in a large bowl, and stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Grabbing small handful of mixture, roll into balls (or grab larger handfuls if you want to make patties/burgers, especially if grilling).
5. Place in oven/grill and cook until the centre of the ball/patty is thoroughly cooked. This took about 5 minutes on my grill, and 20 minutes in the oven.
Serve as is, or in a lettuce leaf, topped with cheese or tomato chutney, etc. Sorry for the lack of finished-product photo - we were too hungry to wait!
Ingredients (four servings):
500g ground chicken
3 or 4 eggs
5 spring onions
1/2 red capsicum (bell pepper)
1 tomato
10 asparagus spears
1 cup shredded cabbage
Optional: fennel (out of season here), bacon, a handful of basil, thyme, or lemon sage, a splash of lime juice, paprika, salt & pepper as desired.
Method:
1. Preheat oven (or grill) to 150 deg C. If using an oven, line a baking tray or two with baking paper.
2. Prepare your veggies by washing and then processing with a food processor. You could also chop them extremely finely, if you have the will and elbow grease!
3. Combine veggies with eggs and meat in a large bowl, and stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Grabbing small handful of mixture, roll into balls (or grab larger handfuls if you want to make patties/burgers, especially if grilling).
5. Place in oven/grill and cook until the centre of the ball/patty is thoroughly cooked. This took about 5 minutes on my grill, and 20 minutes in the oven.
Serve as is, or in a lettuce leaf, topped with cheese or tomato chutney, etc. Sorry for the lack of finished-product photo - we were too hungry to wait!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Fall-back Favourites: Fried Cauliflower Rice
When I'm pressed for time, I have a range of meals that I make without having to think about the details. Chop chop and in the pot - curries, stir-fries, etc. So in my new series of Fall-back Favourites, I will note the details of some of these recipes where measurements are open to interpretation, and effort is minimised. Check out the first two recipes in this series - Roast Leg of Lamb & Stuffed Capsicum (Peppers)
I was grilling some salmon a few nights ago, and was out of cabbage, so could not make my usually fatty side dish of sautéed veggies. I improvised with the foods I had in the fridge, and came up with a really tasty way of making fried cauliflower rice, the perfect accompaniment to seafood dishes or spiced meat mains that could do well paired with absorbent sides.
Ingredients:
Cauliflower, riced in a food processor (one head feeds at least four people)
Other vegetables - I used spring onion, capsicum, carrot, and broccolini
Fats for frying - I used bacon grease and coconut oil
Eggs - one or two per person
Optional - during step 2, add herbs such as coriander, and/or add a splash or two of sesame oil or soy sauce.
Method:
1. Heat fat in a large frying pan.
2. Add veggies, and sauté gently.
3. When veggies are done, remove from pan, and set aside. Keep warm.
4. Add eggs to the pan and scramble until cooked well.
Serve fried cauliflower rice topped with egg.
If you want the rice to be the main meal, rather than a side, try adding crispy bacon or diced chicken.
I was grilling some salmon a few nights ago, and was out of cabbage, so could not make my usually fatty side dish of sautéed veggies. I improvised with the foods I had in the fridge, and came up with a really tasty way of making fried cauliflower rice, the perfect accompaniment to seafood dishes or spiced meat mains that could do well paired with absorbent sides.
Ingredients:
Cauliflower, riced in a food processor (one head feeds at least four people)
Other vegetables - I used spring onion, capsicum, carrot, and broccolini
Fats for frying - I used bacon grease and coconut oil
Eggs - one or two per person
Optional - during step 2, add herbs such as coriander, and/or add a splash or two of sesame oil or soy sauce.
Method:
1. Heat fat in a large frying pan.
2. Add veggies, and sauté gently.
3. When veggies are done, remove from pan, and set aside. Keep warm.
4. Add eggs to the pan and scramble until cooked well.
Serve fried cauliflower rice topped with egg.
If you want the rice to be the main meal, rather than a side, try adding crispy bacon or diced chicken.
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| Here's the beau's meal, with the rice and eggs serving as a base for a delicious salmon fillet. |
Fall-back Favourites: Stuffed Capsicum (Peppers)
When I'm pressed for time, I have a range of meals that I make without having to think about the details. Chop chop and in the pot - curries, stir-fries, etc. So in my new series of Fall-back Favourites, I will note the details of some of these recipes where measurements are open to interpretation, and effort is minimised. Check out the first recipe in this series - Roast Leg of Lamb
This is a fantastic way to glam up some leftovers in a tasty capsicum (or what Americans call bell peppers). Whatever meat and veg you have in the fridge will work - chicken and chives, beef and broccoli, lamb and leeks... You name it! Here's a breakdown of the last batch I made:
Ingredients:
Bacon grease or coconut oil, for frying
Diced vegetables - I used spring onions, red onion, and tomato.
Meat - I used sliced ham
Eggs - one per capsicum
Capsicum/peppers - one per person
Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate (150 deg C).
2. Slice tops off capsicum, and remove all seeds. Put the tops aside, and sit the capsicum on a tray.
3. In a frying pan over moderate heat, melt oils and add onions. Sauté until cooked through.
4. Add tomatoes and meat. Once they are slightly cooked, add eggs and scramble until all ingredients are cooked.
5. Scoop frying pan mixture into the capsicum, sharing the mixture evenly between the peppers. Replace capsicum tops.
6. Place pan in oven and bake until capsicum is starting to brown. Top with cheese if you like.
Serve carefully, as most capsicum don't like to stand upright and will spill their guts if toppled. If your capsicum is particularly uneven, wrap the base in aluminium foil and create a steady base.
This meal is an absolute favourite of ours - I love the adaptability, and the beau is obsessed with the flavours. In terms of vegetable-based foods, this is second only to cauliflower pizza in my book!
This is a fantastic way to glam up some leftovers in a tasty capsicum (or what Americans call bell peppers). Whatever meat and veg you have in the fridge will work - chicken and chives, beef and broccoli, lamb and leeks... You name it! Here's a breakdown of the last batch I made:
Ingredients:
Bacon grease or coconut oil, for frying
Diced vegetables - I used spring onions, red onion, and tomato.
Meat - I used sliced ham
Eggs - one per capsicum
Capsicum/peppers - one per person
Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate (150 deg C).
2. Slice tops off capsicum, and remove all seeds. Put the tops aside, and sit the capsicum on a tray.
3. In a frying pan over moderate heat, melt oils and add onions. Sauté until cooked through.
4. Add tomatoes and meat. Once they are slightly cooked, add eggs and scramble until all ingredients are cooked.
5. Scoop frying pan mixture into the capsicum, sharing the mixture evenly between the peppers. Replace capsicum tops.
6. Place pan in oven and bake until capsicum is starting to brown. Top with cheese if you like.
Serve carefully, as most capsicum don't like to stand upright and will spill their guts if toppled. If your capsicum is particularly uneven, wrap the base in aluminium foil and create a steady base.
This meal is an absolute favourite of ours - I love the adaptability, and the beau is obsessed with the flavours. In terms of vegetable-based foods, this is second only to cauliflower pizza in my book!
Fall-back Favourites: Roast Leg of Lamb
When I'm pressed for time, I have a range of meals that I make without having to think about the details. Chop chop and in the pot - curries, stir-fries, etc. So in my new series of Fall-back Favourites, I will note the details of some of these recipes where measurements are open to interpretation, and effort is minimised.
First up, a classic leg of lamb. As an Australian, I take pride in my preparation of lamb, and now that my kitchen is equipped with excellent crock pots, fats and spices, my roasts are unbelievably tasty, even without using sauces or elaborate dressing techniques.
Secret ingredient: organic, grass-fed lamb! I imagine that grain-fed/finished lamb needs quite a lot of dressing up to mask the flavour of rank chemicals and tasteless meat, but pure lamb, fresh from Farmer Dan's farm is the pivotal ingredient. The preparation and cooking technique is to enhance the flavour, not change or mask it.
You will also need: coconut oil, bacon grease or other animal fat, dried or fresh rosemary, dried basil, fresh or dried garlic, salt.
Method:
1. Pre-heat your oven to moderate (150 deg C).
2. Place leg of lamb in a pot with a lid - it needs to be big enough to house the lamb comfortably, with space all around the leg.
3. Melt your fats, and combine with the herbs and spices.
4. Rub your seasoning all over the lamb, including the underside and under any flaps of loose fat. If you want to cut strips across the fat so that the seasoning reaches the meat, you may. I don't bother when preparing grass-fed meat.
5. Cover pot and place in oven for a couple of hours. You can leave it for longer if you need to - just lower the temperature to 100 deg C.
6. For the last ten minutes, remove the lid and raise heat to 200 deg C so that the fat on the roast sizzles and crisps.
7. Remove from oven and allow the roast to rest for 10 minutes in the pot, before removing roast and placing on a wooden board. Be ready for the juices - catch them if you can.
8. Carve and serve the meat, drizzling with fats and seasoning left in the pot. You could add some cauliflower rice to the pot to soak up the juice, but this is too fiddly for my fall-back plans.
Et voila!
First up, a classic leg of lamb. As an Australian, I take pride in my preparation of lamb, and now that my kitchen is equipped with excellent crock pots, fats and spices, my roasts are unbelievably tasty, even without using sauces or elaborate dressing techniques.
Secret ingredient: organic, grass-fed lamb! I imagine that grain-fed/finished lamb needs quite a lot of dressing up to mask the flavour of rank chemicals and tasteless meat, but pure lamb, fresh from Farmer Dan's farm is the pivotal ingredient. The preparation and cooking technique is to enhance the flavour, not change or mask it.
You will also need: coconut oil, bacon grease or other animal fat, dried or fresh rosemary, dried basil, fresh or dried garlic, salt.
Method:
1. Pre-heat your oven to moderate (150 deg C).
2. Place leg of lamb in a pot with a lid - it needs to be big enough to house the lamb comfortably, with space all around the leg.
3. Melt your fats, and combine with the herbs and spices.
4. Rub your seasoning all over the lamb, including the underside and under any flaps of loose fat. If you want to cut strips across the fat so that the seasoning reaches the meat, you may. I don't bother when preparing grass-fed meat.
5. Cover pot and place in oven for a couple of hours. You can leave it for longer if you need to - just lower the temperature to 100 deg C.
6. For the last ten minutes, remove the lid and raise heat to 200 deg C so that the fat on the roast sizzles and crisps.
7. Remove from oven and allow the roast to rest for 10 minutes in the pot, before removing roast and placing on a wooden board. Be ready for the juices - catch them if you can.
8. Carve and serve the meat, drizzling with fats and seasoning left in the pot. You could add some cauliflower rice to the pot to soak up the juice, but this is too fiddly for my fall-back plans.
Et voila!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Bits & Pieces
Food!
I'm still fasting til dinner most work days, with a couple of low calorie days and some high calorie days, and things are going really well! Here are some of the nourishing dinners propelling my metabolism and nutrition as I focus on trimming down and improving my belly dancing:
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| Tangy Italian Chicken in Bacon |
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| Chicken drumsticks, roasted whilst woven with bacon, served with a sauté of green cabbage, zucchini, green capsicum, carrot, and fresh basil. |
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| Cauliflower Pizza |
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| More cauli pizza, with grilled salmon and a typical veggie sauté. |
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| Jonathan's chipollatas, scrambled eggs, and a veggie sauté. |
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| Chunky Chicken Burger, a hard boiled egg, beetroot, and veggie sauté. |
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| Beef pocket steak, and veggie sauté. |
Halloween!
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| I dressed the beau as a Hulk Hogan-esque 80's wrestler, complete with artificial abs and injuries! I really should have been a stage make-up artist, considering the number of people who were convinced by the gash and the six-pack! ;) |
 | ||
| It wouldn't be fair to post a shot of the beau without also putting my own goth-ish belly dancing costume up for speculation! Baring my less-than-twiglet-esque midriff took some serious, er, guts... But thankfully everyone was pretty much distracted by my bust! Note the wig and the fake tan - now that's commitment! |
Shoes!
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| I've officially worn through my VFF KSOs! Pretty happy with the location of the dull zone too - hip hip hooray for VFFs! What's more, the number of stockists in Australia apparently exploded in the past year, and one in Melbourne is having a MASSIVE 60% off sale, bringing all styles down under the $100 mark! That's a big change from the $200+ I would have been paying before, or $150 if I shipped from the US again... Woohoo! |
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| Glad it's fine weather right now, since this tiny patch of exposed fabric will have to keep me going for another few weeks! |
Pets!
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| The beetroot that I served myself in a meal posted above was pretty tasteless (and not organic, which I found out later, explaining everything...) so I fed the raw leftovers to the guinea pigs. Now, from certain angles, Toffee's beet-fest was only minimally noticeable, but from others... |
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| RAARGHH!! I VAMPYRE!! IMMA EAT CHU!!!! |
Recipe: Tangy Italian Chicken In Bacon
November, thus far, has been a whirligig of playfulness in the kitchen, experimenting with my new grill and warmer-weather fare. First up, I wanted to try making a buttery filling to go inside chicken, without having to resort to using chicken breasts. Solution - using whole chicken thighs, and wrapping in bacon!
Serves two hungry primal eaters.
Ingredients:
4 free-range chicken thighs
4 slices of middle bacon
3 spring onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2T butter, diced
8 stalks asparagus, halved
1 tomato, diced
Fresh basil, finely chopped
1t chili powder/flakes
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
1. On a wooden board, lie out bacon strips and chicken thighs. Flatten the thighs with a rolling pin if they are on the small side.
2. Excepting the asparagus, combine all other ingredients in a bowl, mixing thoroughly. If your home is a bit chilly, you may wish to soften the butter first so that it will take up the spices.
3. Being the layering process: place the flattened thigh on the eye of the bacon, then add one quarter of the filling mixture in the centre of the thigh. Place asparagus across filling, perpendicular to the bacon.
4. Carefully roll the bacon, from eye to tail, pressing down the outer edges of the thigh as you go to secure the fillings in place.
5. When all thighs have been filled and wrapped, place into your grill (or barbeque, or onto a tray in a hot oven) and cook until chicken is completely done - around 15 minutes on my grill. Watch out for signs of burning bacon - reduce heat if the bacon is done before chicken is finished.
6. Serve with fresh salad or roast veggies - it works both ways!
Crunchy, moist, tangy, with a bit of a bite! Yum!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Recipes: Seafood? Eat It!
I like seafood.
A lot.
Some types, I would go as far as saying I love.
You probably know that I quite like sashimi.
I get excited when I see something like this arrive at my table:
But when I see the $65 price tag, I'm less excited.
Fortunately, I know how to cook, am not afraid of making mistakes, and can usually figure out how to do fancy things using local produce and a few vaguely sharp knives.
Much better! And sooo much cheaper, despite being enough to feed four people! All wild-caught seafood, and organic vegetables - I doubt the same could be said of the 'starter platter' from Kobe Jones I first pictured.
My salmon sashimi platter was the generous starter for one of the multiple dinner parties I've hosted in the past week since holidays began. I've been having a lot of fun with seafood, especially given that the warm Spring weather is finally starting to appear on occasion, and soon it will be BBQ time!
Here are a couple of recipes from the 'I'll be making this again' file amassed over the past week:
Pancetta-Wrapped Scallops
Ingredients (per person):
75g fresh scallops
50g pancetta (as flat and long as possible)
Wooden skewers (soaked)
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven or BBQ to moderately hot (around 200 deg C)
2. Wrap one or two scallops in one slice of pancetta, and thread onto a skewer to hold the pancetta in place. If your pancetta is flat and long, you can simply roll it up around the scallop, like this:
If your pancetta is more of an oval shape, you will need to fold in the edges like you were wrapping a gift:
3. If you are using a BBQ, just throw the completed skewers on the hot plate (you could use the grill, but fat will drip and you don't want flare-ups).
If you are roasting them in the oven (like I do), I would encourage you to lie the skewers across the top of a cake pan so that all sides of the pancetta can crisp up. You can reserve the fat that is lost for cooking your veggies in!
4. Bake/BBQ for around 10 - 15 minutes, until pancetta is crisp.
Serve with pancetta-wrapped asparagus!
As an intermission, here's the way I prepare most meals nowadays, including a lot of my seafood:
Ingredients:
Meat, in bite-sized chunks (diced beef, lamb, chicken, or whole baby octopus, prawns, scallops)
Vegetables that are amenable to sautéing - onion, cabbage, capsicum, mushrooms, tomato, zucchini, spinach etc.
Coconut oil, butter, or lard/tallow.
Method:
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan.
2. Add items that take a while to cook (meat, onion). Stir.
3. Add items that take less time to cook (cabbage, mushrooms). Stir.
4. Add items that take very little time to cook (zucchini, tomato, spinach). Stir.
5. When everything's cooked, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper, and serve in a big ungainly bowl. Scarf it all down, contentedly.
Baby octopus, red cabbage & mushroom sauté.
Chopped chicken thigh, asparagus, button squash, and mushroom sauté.
And that's my typical meal. Admittedly, this has primarily been the norm whilst our grill has been broken and lacking in replacement. Now I have a new grill, but I can't seem to be arsed to go back to seared meat. I don't see the point of cooking the meat separately when I'm sautéing veggies anyway. But this way I can cook fish quickly and easily, and make crispy bacon...
Speaking of cooking fish, the beau won't eat raw salmon, so I had to find a fun new way to cook salmon for him that was dairy-free, and did not require a grill. The idea of dry-baking the fish in the oven turned my stomach, but I found a way to add flavour and maintain the moistness that was practically effortless. It was eaten so quickly, I barely had time to snap a photo.
Baked Salmon with Spinach & Tomato
Ingredients (per person):
1 salmon fillet, skin on or off
1 roma tomato
1 handful of fresh baby spinach
A few fresh basil leaves
Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate (around 175 deg C)
2. In a baking dish, place salmon fillets side by side, leaving no gaps.
3. Sprinkle with basil and spinach leaves, and place whole tomatoes on top.
4. Bake until tomatoes are shriveled and starting to blacken. This took around 20 minutes in my temperamental oven.
Check to make sure salmon fillets are cooked through. If they aren't, return dish to oven for another five minutes and check again.
5. Once salmon fillets are cooked as desired, go to town on those tomatoes - rip them apart and smear their oozy inner goodness across the top of the fillets and leaves.
Look at that - DIY tomato sauce!
6. Scoop out fillets with topping intact, and serve on a bed of tasty veggies.
(Apologies for the dodgy photo - the guests were getting demanding after the aroma of roasted tomatoes filled the air!)
So that's what I've been cooking! This past week has been devoted to socialising, since I see so few members of my social circle other than work colleagues during the teaching term. I was also sick with violent gastroenteritis a week ago, which put a crimp in my plans, but also meant I pulled off an effortless 40 hours fast! I'm tracking my calories at the moment, but being a bit liberal with my carbs from veggies. Fruit & nuts are still my danger zone, so I'm avoiding them entirely, and dairy is confirmed to be the cause of my acne, so it's truly off the menu once more. So I'm on meat, eggs and veg, and couldn't really be happier. My gut is really flat, despite the sag of flab hanging in the front - yum. I'm going to be really careful for a while, since I'd like to be able to wear a proper belly dancing costume if I get asked to perform later in the year, and I'm a long way from that point.
Other than friends and fatness considerations, I've scaled back my hygiene routines given that it's the holidays. I'm trying out a no 'poo regime, and I have baking powder on standby if a just-water approach doesn't cut it. I'm using coconut oil as my facial moisturiser, though I use a basic astringent wipe to remove my make-up first. My make-up is organic and uses few harsh agents, though if my dairy-acne clears up I may be able to go without anything. Right now I just use tinted moisturiser and a powder to conceal spots and dark shadows under my eyes. I'm also getting as much sun as I can, now that the days are starting to break past the 20 deg C ceiling. I'm about to head to the farm for a few days, so I'll be doing lots of walking in the serene bushlands near my parents' property, though I want to wear my Vibrams so will stay out of the scrub - snake country. Walking along the gravel road is peaceful enough - traffic is very rare. I usually walk along singing my head off to any wildlife that might care to listen. A perfect way to unwind the tensions of this year - fingers crossed it doesn't rain!!
A lot.
Some types, I would go as far as saying I love.
You probably know that I quite like sashimi.
I get excited when I see something like this arrive at my table:
But when I see the $65 price tag, I'm less excited.
Fortunately, I know how to cook, am not afraid of making mistakes, and can usually figure out how to do fancy things using local produce and a few vaguely sharp knives.
Much better! And sooo much cheaper, despite being enough to feed four people! All wild-caught seafood, and organic vegetables - I doubt the same could be said of the 'starter platter' from Kobe Jones I first pictured.
My salmon sashimi platter was the generous starter for one of the multiple dinner parties I've hosted in the past week since holidays began. I've been having a lot of fun with seafood, especially given that the warm Spring weather is finally starting to appear on occasion, and soon it will be BBQ time!
Here are a couple of recipes from the 'I'll be making this again' file amassed over the past week:
Pancetta-Wrapped Scallops
Ingredients (per person):
75g fresh scallops
50g pancetta (as flat and long as possible)
Wooden skewers (soaked)
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven or BBQ to moderately hot (around 200 deg C)
2. Wrap one or two scallops in one slice of pancetta, and thread onto a skewer to hold the pancetta in place. If your pancetta is flat and long, you can simply roll it up around the scallop, like this:
If your pancetta is more of an oval shape, you will need to fold in the edges like you were wrapping a gift:
3. If you are using a BBQ, just throw the completed skewers on the hot plate (you could use the grill, but fat will drip and you don't want flare-ups).
If you are roasting them in the oven (like I do), I would encourage you to lie the skewers across the top of a cake pan so that all sides of the pancetta can crisp up. You can reserve the fat that is lost for cooking your veggies in!
4. Bake/BBQ for around 10 - 15 minutes, until pancetta is crisp.
Serve with pancetta-wrapped asparagus!
As an intermission, here's the way I prepare most meals nowadays, including a lot of my seafood:
Ingredients:
Meat, in bite-sized chunks (diced beef, lamb, chicken, or whole baby octopus, prawns, scallops)
Vegetables that are amenable to sautéing - onion, cabbage, capsicum, mushrooms, tomato, zucchini, spinach etc.
Coconut oil, butter, or lard/tallow.
Method:
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan.
2. Add items that take a while to cook (meat, onion). Stir.
3. Add items that take less time to cook (cabbage, mushrooms). Stir.
4. Add items that take very little time to cook (zucchini, tomato, spinach). Stir.
5. When everything's cooked, sprinkle with a little salt & pepper, and serve in a big ungainly bowl. Scarf it all down, contentedly.
Baby octopus, red cabbage & mushroom sauté.
Chopped chicken thigh, asparagus, button squash, and mushroom sauté.
And that's my typical meal. Admittedly, this has primarily been the norm whilst our grill has been broken and lacking in replacement. Now I have a new grill, but I can't seem to be arsed to go back to seared meat. I don't see the point of cooking the meat separately when I'm sautéing veggies anyway. But this way I can cook fish quickly and easily, and make crispy bacon...
Speaking of cooking fish, the beau won't eat raw salmon, so I had to find a fun new way to cook salmon for him that was dairy-free, and did not require a grill. The idea of dry-baking the fish in the oven turned my stomach, but I found a way to add flavour and maintain the moistness that was practically effortless. It was eaten so quickly, I barely had time to snap a photo.
Baked Salmon with Spinach & Tomato
Ingredients (per person):
1 salmon fillet, skin on or off
1 roma tomato
1 handful of fresh baby spinach
A few fresh basil leaves
Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate (around 175 deg C)
2. In a baking dish, place salmon fillets side by side, leaving no gaps.
3. Sprinkle with basil and spinach leaves, and place whole tomatoes on top.
4. Bake until tomatoes are shriveled and starting to blacken. This took around 20 minutes in my temperamental oven.
Check to make sure salmon fillets are cooked through. If they aren't, return dish to oven for another five minutes and check again.
5. Once salmon fillets are cooked as desired, go to town on those tomatoes - rip them apart and smear their oozy inner goodness across the top of the fillets and leaves.
Look at that - DIY tomato sauce!
6. Scoop out fillets with topping intact, and serve on a bed of tasty veggies.
(Apologies for the dodgy photo - the guests were getting demanding after the aroma of roasted tomatoes filled the air!)
So that's what I've been cooking! This past week has been devoted to socialising, since I see so few members of my social circle other than work colleagues during the teaching term. I was also sick with violent gastroenteritis a week ago, which put a crimp in my plans, but also meant I pulled off an effortless 40 hours fast! I'm tracking my calories at the moment, but being a bit liberal with my carbs from veggies. Fruit & nuts are still my danger zone, so I'm avoiding them entirely, and dairy is confirmed to be the cause of my acne, so it's truly off the menu once more. So I'm on meat, eggs and veg, and couldn't really be happier. My gut is really flat, despite the sag of flab hanging in the front - yum. I'm going to be really careful for a while, since I'd like to be able to wear a proper belly dancing costume if I get asked to perform later in the year, and I'm a long way from that point.
Other than friends and fatness considerations, I've scaled back my hygiene routines given that it's the holidays. I'm trying out a no 'poo regime, and I have baking powder on standby if a just-water approach doesn't cut it. I'm using coconut oil as my facial moisturiser, though I use a basic astringent wipe to remove my make-up first. My make-up is organic and uses few harsh agents, though if my dairy-acne clears up I may be able to go without anything. Right now I just use tinted moisturiser and a powder to conceal spots and dark shadows under my eyes. I'm also getting as much sun as I can, now that the days are starting to break past the 20 deg C ceiling. I'm about to head to the farm for a few days, so I'll be doing lots of walking in the serene bushlands near my parents' property, though I want to wear my Vibrams so will stay out of the scrub - snake country. Walking along the gravel road is peaceful enough - traffic is very rare. I usually walk along singing my head off to any wildlife that might care to listen. A perfect way to unwind the tensions of this year - fingers crossed it doesn't rain!!
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I cut out grains, sugar and starches at the beginning of 2009. I have been keeping a journal as I have progressively shed my bulges and my processed foods. I am aiming to live a clean, primal lifestyle, and I wish to share my eating habits with those who wish to clean up their lifestyle and live happily and healthfully. As the cliche states - if I can do it, so can everybody else.