Apple Cinnamon Porridge

OK, back in the saddle after quite a few hectic months.... and forgetting my password!

This weekend I made Apple Cinnamon Porridge in the Crock Pot. It s really easy.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Rolled Oats
5 Cups of water
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
4 medium sized apples

So the night before you want your porridge, place the rolled oats in the crockpot with the water and sugar and cinnamon. Peel, core and quater apples. Dice 2 of the apples and grate the other 2, place in crock pot and cook on low. I put on at about 9:30 - 10.00pm and it is ready by 7am.

You can add a swirl of cream or milk before serving.

Its a great winter warming, hearty breakfast

What to cook tonight?

Well! The weather outside is crap, very windy and blustery, almost back to winter weather. So I found some schnitzel in the freezer and some mushroom sauce that I froze when I had too much. What to do? What to do?

Beef Olives! This is a great feed in our house, lots of flavour and a great winter/crap weather comfort food. I'll put it together and get back to you!

no updates for a few days............

Hi All, haven't had a chance to do any updates of late as the family and then myself all got sick, no not food poisoning, head and chest colds.

I have been reviewing what I have in my reportiore and I will post a cool recipe for Pumpkin Pie soon that a Canadian friend says was exactly like a North American one. And I have a very nice Lemon Slice, very sweet and very lemony!

I have been procrastinating over releasing my Tiramasu recipe. This has been a favourite of friends and family for a long time and I have kept the recipe very secretive for a long time. I would have to make one, and since we are trying to lose weight at the moment it is only for special occasions - therefore I will wait til my birthday in October to make this and post here. I am sure you can all wait, well maybe not - as a foodie from the family who travels internationaly has recently told me "your Tiramasu has ruined me for restaraunt Tiramasu anywhere in the world". So you will all realise it is worth the wait!

Hope to go hunting next week and get some turkeys as I need some breasts for my Parmesan Encrusted Turkey with Hot Lemon Marmalade.

So thats whats coming soon, so as soon as we are well again I will start taking more photos and posting the recipes here!

See Ya

Duncan

Chicken and Pea Risotto

Tonight I am making a Chicken and Pea Risotto for the family. I have some chicken stock that I made fromt he leftovers of a chicken cooked in the crockpot, and I froze it. I wanted to use free frange chicken in this meal and went to get a couple of chicken breasts from the supermarket last night. I was soooo surprised, it was $18 dollars for the chicken breasts and only $11 for a whole free range chicken!

So I got the whole chicken. I cut out the chicken breasts and have pan fried these for the Risotto tonight, and put the rest of the chicken into the crockpot for dinner tomorrow night (I'll work out what we are having later - but I will get more stock for the freezer anyway). I have pan fried the breasts for a bit of colour and finished in the oven.

The risotto itself is really simple to cook, it is the stock that has always put me off in the past as they are always so salty. My stock is made simply with the liquor left over from the chicken in the crockpot (I cheat and add 2 cups of water to the crockpot when I am cooking the chicken in it), I bone out the chicken once it is cooked and put all the bones, carcass and skin back in the crockpot with a diced carrot and diced cellery, some salt and pepper and about 500ml of water. I then leave it another night to simmer. All you have to do then is sieve the stock into a container and put it in the fridge, the next morning the fat will have solidified on the top and can be skimmed off. Leaving a great stock for using or freezing. I freeze it in zip lock bags.

Risotto

1 Cup Aborio Rice
2 Onions diced
1 tsp crushed garlic
500ml Chicken Stock
2 cooked chicken breasts
2 cups of frozen green peas
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese
2 Tblsn of olive oil (or rice bran oil)
1 large teaspoon of butter

Melt butter with olive oil in a large frying pan ( I cheat a bit here and use the pan that I cooked the chicken breast in to get the extra flavour of the chicken) . Add onions and garlic and stir for 2 minutes. Warm the chicken stock in a pot - it absorms better if it is warm. Add the Aborio rice, stir for another 2 minutes then add a ladle of stock stir in the stock until it is almost absorbed and then add another ladle. Do this until the stock is used up and the rice is tender. Add the chopped up chicken breasts and the warmed up frozen peas. Stir thru and finally add the parmesan cheese, this seems to finish the risotto of nicely.

You don't want to cook the crap out of the peas as they just need to be heated thru as they will pop when eaten and give the risotto a bit of a crunch.

You can take out the chicken and just have roast pumkin for a vegetarian option for example.

This risotto has so much flavour, is easy to make and makes use of leftovers from cooking a chicken. We sometimes cook a chicken in the crockpot for a roast and use half of it for dinner and the other half for the risotto the next night, with the stock being made overnight. This makes a chicken go a long way. I have made this with a pork roast also, bu the pork liquor is very strong so needs to be watered down 50/50.

The final tip for a good risotto is: Stir Stir Stir, you can't leave it on the stove, it will dry out and burn easily.

Healthy Cookies - Really Yummy

These cookies are really yummy and easily made. They are quite filling also, so just a couple with a cuppa are enough and this makes the batch last longer. These cookies are dairy free, egg free and wheat free (if you use the almond meal).


Healthy Cookies




3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup Olive Oil (coconut oil can be used if slightly warmed)

2 cups rolled oats

2/3 cup almond meal (or I use Spelt Flour)

1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

200 grams chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and olive oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don't worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. I baked these as long as possible without burning the bottoms and they were perfect - just shy of 15 minutes seems to be about right in my oven.

Makes about 3 dozen bite-sized cookies. Or if you have lots of visitors coming aound make a double batch!

Lasagne Photo

Had some trouble uploading a photo. This is what we had for dinner tonight, great leftover meal.

Simple Lasagne with hidden veges

Tonight is a great dish that Master Ethan absolutely loves. The good thing about this lasagne is that it is really simple to make as there is no actual pasta in it!

The Ingredients....

1Kg of Mince
3 Onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 tins of whole peeled tomatos
1 tsp rubbed thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 Tbsn of Brown Sugar
1 Tbsn of Oil
2 carrots
2 zuchini
500ml Milk
50gm Butter
4 Tbsp Flour
2 Cups grated cheese
1 Pack of square flat wraps (yes that's right - wraps instead of Lasagne sheets)

Meat: Dice the onions and crush & chop the garlic and brown,add grated carrots and zuchini to remove some of the moisture. remove from the pan and add the mince and to the pan, don't boil it, cook it hard! Get some colour on that meat. In a blender add the 2 cans of tomatos and the herbs and spices. This bulks up the mince and makes it go a long way. Add the tomato mix to the pan along with the onions and garlic, and let the whole lot simmer. When mixing, ensure to scrape all the brown stuff off the bottom of the pan, this is flavour!

Cut the wraps to suit the dish. This is a large lasagne so even a roasting dish can be used. At least 3 layers of wraps go into the dish. Put a layer on the bottome also.

Cheese Sauce: Melt the butter in a large pot and add flour to it. Mix it to a paste then add the milk a little at a time - I use a whisk for this, just seems to make sure all the lumps are gone. I find a medium heat ensures that you don't burn it. Once you have a good thick white sauce add the cheese and melt it into the white sauce.

Place the first layer of wrap in the baking dish and cover with a thin layer of the meat mix and then a thin layer of the cheese mix, repeat until all used up.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes on 180 degrees. Serve with a salad or steamed broccoli and some roast potatos go down well. Also a good fresh crusty bread.

This is a simple lasagne, that all the family will enjoy. And with the hidden veges, you know your kids are eating well.


Enjoy :-)