Today i8: Asian-esque Soup

Finally refreshed my stock of sesame oil, ginger, lemongrass and GREEN ONIONS! - why did I highlight green onions? Because I recently read that you can cut (and use, I hope) the green part and then place the white parts in a glass of water on your window sill where they will (apparently and no promises) grow indefinitely so long as you replace the water on occasion.


so hopefully there will be much more of this:

Asian-esque Soup

Oarin's looked better than mine, three eggs!

Ingredients:

• Pre-chopped garlic (to taste)
• Ginger (again I use the pre-smooshed stuff)  (to taste)
• Lemongrass (pre-smooshed....just assume it from now on)  (to taste)
• Soy Sauce  (to taste....always)
• Sesame oil
• Eggs
• Cornflour (optional)
• Vegetarian mince (TVP , or even tofu - this soup is easy to vary!)
• Noodles (any will do, rice, egg - I used Mi Goreng noodles!)
• Vegetable stock (too taste, but you will need a fair few cups)
• Mixed Vegetables (I used shredded cabbage, julienned carrots and canned mushrooms, but you can also add spinach, green beans - anything really) 

Procedure:

1. Put a large pot on medium-high heat, add the sesame oil and once heated lightly saute the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and a dash of soy sauce.

2. Throw in all your vegetables and the vegetarian mince (or tofu!) toss for a few minutes in the pot and then add at least enough stock to cover - add more if you want more - I like more!

3. Scoop out a cup of the stock and mix in a few Tbs of cornflour to thicken this stock then put it back in the pot. (add even more depending on how thick you want the soup base)

4. Bring soup to the boil and toss in the noodles till they cook - season with extra soy sauce if you like.

5. There are two options for the eggs - firstly: you can serve the soup until your bowl top crack a raw egg into it and microwave it for a minute or two if you'd like it more cooked. Secondly: you could reduce the soup to a simmer and crack a number of eggs straight into the soup on the stove. It is up to you!

6. Drizzle with a little extra sesame oil before scarffing your meal.

Today i8: Yogurt with Honey Fried Oats

I've already included a recipe (Cheese-cake Shake) that included Lemon-Curd flavoured yogurt, but I have not yet boasted about how amazing it tastes....because in case you don't realise it by the end of this post, it  DOES taste amazing, like lemon cheesecake (assuming you like lemon cheesecake). So once again this amazing lemon curd yogurt is the feature of my snack time genius (subjective). Actually I was almost about to eat the yogurt from the tub when, to help attain a more enduring hunger-satisfaction, Oarin (i know shocking) suggested I throw a handful of oats into the mix. An excellent idea - a chance to make the amazing lemon curd even more like a cheesecake, albeit an upside down oat version....I think I may be obsessing about this cheesecake analogy.

Of course while Oarin was perfectly satisfied with chucking the oats in, my fruitless chase after mock cheesecake yogurt had me hatch a crunchy oat plan. FAST FACT: did you know that honey can be substituted for oil in frying for a sweet and effective non-stick alternative. Armed with this knowledge here is what I made:

Yogurt with Honey Fried Oats

See! it is totally just like cheesecake...

Ingredients:

• LEMON CURD Yogurt (ok I'm being picky, any yogurt will do and as much as you want)
• Oats (enough to top your yogurt)
• Honey (at least a few Tbs - but enough to match the amount of oats)
• Cinnamon/nutmeg/all spice (any combination, to taste - or leave it out)
• Flaxmeal (optional, but those dam omegas - any other tasty supplement you have could work here to, protein powders etc)

Procedure:

1. Place the yogurt into your bowl and mix in 1 serve of your flaxmeal (or other)
2. Put your frypan on medium-high heat and pour the honey into the pan
3. When the honey is thin and runny (it won't take long) toss in the oats and sprikle with your spices (cinnamon etc) combine well
4. Toss occasionally and be vigilant - you want the oats to be a tad crunchy.
5. Place the honey fried oats on top of the yogurt and consume.

**note: dried fruit or fresh fruit would be a great addition to this snack! - we did not have any on hand -- Oarin ate all the dried mango I got from 2brothers.com!

Today i8: Cheese-Cake Shake

I've been attempting to re-fix my sleeping pattern (again) and since I tend to struggle simply just going to sleep earlier I prefer the 'full-cycle' method. Basically I go to sleep a few hours later each night (day >.>), and wake up a few hours later each day (night>.>) and cycle this until I am going to sleep at a good hour (10/11pm ish). Works a treat even if it is a little impractical at times.

Between cooking for the horse-eater and fussy-child and exercising like a champ! (new exercise program and other off-topic fitness result happiness!) I'm feeling the laziness when it comes to feeding myself. Shakes can be great for times like this, except I hate the smoothy stable - BANANAS -.-

So instead I made this:

Cheese-Cake Shake

Keyboard not included

Ingredients

• 1 scoop Vanilla Protein powder, or a dash of vanilla essence (or both!)
• 2-3 cups milk (depending on how thick you like it
• 1-2 cups Lemon curd flavoured yogurt (as above)
• Flax powder or something akin  (I add this for omegas!)

Procedure

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender or shake mixer, and blend
2. Drink - alternatively put it in the freezer until partially frozen then blend again for a slushie.

Today i8: Lazy Lasagne in a Pan

It is 2:10am and hunger strikes, not a simple 'Mi-Goreng-or-toast-easily-satisfied-hunger', rather it was a 'rich-Italian-tomato-sauce-and-cheese-hunger' coupled with midnight meal laziness. Lasagne ticked all the boxes for my craving, but who wants a twice-cooked two hour monstrosity?!

Before we begin I want to talk about my abhorrent lack of useful/specific 'values' for ingredients (e.g 1cup, 2Tbs), there are a number of reasons why it is difficult. Firstly I cook for two-three people, if only it was that simple - one person (myself) has gastric sleeving and can't eat much; another (Oarin) would eat a small LARGE horse for every meal if he wasn't a vegetarian; and the third is a fussy autistic four year old who only hankers for pasta and cheese. However the beauty of (most of) these meals is they are often just a throw together of ingredients which you can customise to taste - they are very forgiving.

So if you can forgive my terrible recipe directions, I present:

Lazy Lasagne in a Pan

Didn't even wipe the plate!

Ingredients:

• 2tbs Olive Oil 
• Garlic, I used the pre-chopped stuff 
• 1/2 packet vegetarian mince (equiv. to 250g meat mince - or just use that if you are not a vege.) 
• 1/2 packet Pasta - whatever you have on hand, however much you want. 
• Red wine (optional), but I keep a cask just for this! 
• Parsley, freshly chopped is best, but other types will do 
• Tomato sauce 
• 1 can of diced tomato 
• Handful of grated Parmesan (to taste) - micro-zest it, even better. 
• Handful of grated tasty cheese (to taste) - optional! (for extra cheese) 
• Handful of grated Mozzarella (to taste) 
• 1 cup Ricotta or cottage cheese, either works - Ricotta might work better, but I only had cottage cheese>.< 
• Salt and Pepper 
• Mixed herbs 

Procedure: 

1. Cook you pasta - I like to cook it in the microwave, just cover with water and microwave for 10 minutes ( if you cook to much it is no biggy, pasta makes a quick meal) 
2. While your pasta cooks add the olive oil to a large fry pan (or suitably sized pot depending on the intended meal size) heat and fry up the garlic, followed by the vegetarian mince and enough tomato sauce to lightly coat the mince. 
3. Add wine (to taste, just a splash or two), the can of diced tomato and mixed herbs (to taste), allow to simmer. 
4. While the red sauce simmers, mix the ricotta (or cottage cheese) with grated parmesan and salt+pepper in a cup. 
5. Strain and add the pasta, the chopped parsley and the tasty cheese (if desired) to the pan with the red sauce and mix. 
6. Take a teaspoon of the white cheese at a time and add it to the red sauce - don't overmix, these are the equiv. of the 'white sauce' in the lasagne! 
7. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella over the top and cover with a lid (or foil) to help it melt. 
8. Serve - see it tastes like lasagne....kind of. 

Today i8: Mozzarella, Spinach and Artichoke Toasted Sammich

I'm going to be scribbling down any 'recipes' (if you can call them that!) that I eat on a day-to-day basis. Chances are I've borrowed the basic idea from somewhere or another and then taken any number of shortcuts in order to be able to actually make it...

Hopefully all this means that you should be able to make it to! And you can even take crappy pictures of it, just like me!

anyway today I made:

Mozzarella, spinach and artichoke....squished toasted bread stuff

Here is my non-food-art picture:

Yes, I ate half.

Ingredients (for one sammich):

• Handful of jarred or canned artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
• 2 slices of bread
• 1 TBS salted butter
• 1 TBS of olive oil
• 1/4 cup frozen spinach, defrosted and the water squished out.
• Garlic, I used the pre-diced jar stuff
• Grated mozzarella cheese

* This recipe can be done my frying both pieces of bread on one side in a frying pan whilst the cheese on top melts, but I used the flat-pressing George Foreman.

Procedure:

1. Melt the butter and olive oil in a frying pan, once melted place both slices of bread (one side only) into the butter/oil mixture - only briefly!
2. Place your bread butter-side down on your plate and top each slice with mozzarella
3. Sauté the spinach with garlic in a little olive oil and add that on top of the mozzarella on one slice of bread
4. Chuck the chopped artichokes on top of the spinach and put your sammich together
5. Grill in the George Foreman or sammich press etc till browned to desired levels and er...eat it.

I know it isn't Christmas - Merry Christmas!

Withdrawals

Sadly i've been away from cooking anything this week because i've been in withdrawals of my anti-anxiety medication "effexor-XR". Turns out it's the same severity as coming of heroin -.- needless to say i've had an awful bed ridden, brain-shuddering three days and to be honest i'm still not 100%.

but when I am, i'd like to try my hand at a ginger-bread and butter pudding and a bean and mushroom bake :)

For now I'm stuck on protein shakes and minties, can't stomach much else >.<

UPDATE! Feeling much better today, decided to harvest the first eggplant here it is:

PERFECT eggplant!

Tangy Eggplant Pasta Bake

There was an eggplant in the fridge that needed to be used, I'll admit I haven't had much experience cooking with eggplant...I was afraid I would end up with a bitter mess. Step 1: Google every viable vegetarian recipe for eggplant-something. Although i didn't turn over a specific recipe I was keen on, I did get the gist of good eggplant accompaniments, such as tomato and olives! I also learnt exactly why you prepare the eggplant with salt. Turns out the process is called "Degorging," the salt draws out the vegetables moisture, which is bitter in larger, older eggplants with brown seeds. In other words, As-salt your eggplants to reduce bitterness and improve their flavour.

My initial meal ended up quiet the tangy treat. So if your into that sort of thing you could skip the whole pasta-bake part and just use the sauce as a bread-topper. Personally as much as I love tang, I found the flavours far more "balanced" when I tossed through pasta, so that method has my recommendation:)

The picture is some that I had frozen and am eating for lunch while spamming dungeons in WoW patch 4.3. My food photography is abhorrent and I just used my iphone. But here it is anyway unabashed in wow-snack-time glory.

Tangy eggplant pasta bake and Wow Patch 4.3!

Ingredients

• 1 Large eggplant, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 Medium onion, chopped
• 1 Can crushed/diced tomato
• 1/2 Cup red wine
• 1/4 cup black or green olives (or both!), pitted and chopped
• 2 TBS capers, chopped
• 1/2 Cup Cheese, cheddar is fine
• 500g-1kg Pasta, depending on how saucy you want the pasta bake
• 1 TBS sugar
• 2 TBS Basil (fresh, frozen or squeezy)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 TBS oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Tools

• Colander
• Large non-stick frying pan
• Wooden spoon
• Paper towel
• Tray and Baking Paper
• Oven dish (for the pasta bake)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 Dc and place some sheets of baking paper on the tray (it's easier to clean!)
2. Place eggplant cubes in the colander, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. (It sounds like forever, but a match or LoL or a WoW dungeon and they are ready :P)
3. Rinse eggplant under cold water, dry with the paper towel, arrange on the baking tray and brush with 1/2 TBS oil. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, turning at halftime.
4. Cook the pasta in salted water either on the stove or in the microwave. Drain.
5. Meanwhile, Saute the onion in a little oil or water (for the health conscious), stir frequently.
6. Add the canned tomato and 1/2 cup extra water, reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally for about 25 minutes until reduced to a sauce.
7. Mix in 1/2 cup water, sugar, eggplant, olives, capers (and a dash of the caper vinegar if you like), redwine, salt and pepper. Cook stirring occasionally for 5-10 minutes. Then add the basil.
8. Stir the entire mixture through the cooked pasta in the pasta-bake dish.
9. Top with a light sprinkle of cheese and place in the oven until the cheese is melted.
10. EAT! Freeze any leftovers for lunch