Lunch

Aussie Meat Pies

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With the AFL Grand Final this weekend, it feels almost compulsory to add a recipe for meat pies. Doesn’t every Aussie watch the footy eating a pie?!

The problem for me is that with my mince aversion, there is just no way I could possibly eat a shop bought meat pie that is full of miscellaneous animal parts and gristly bits – ick!

So here is my recipe for slightly healthier Aussie meat pies. We have a friend that insists that tomato sauce is all the salad you need to go with pies, and with the veggies snuck into this one, I have no problem with that 😀

  • 600-800g casserole beef, diced fairly small (about 1cm cubes)
  • 2 small carrots (mine was massive so I just used 1)
  • 1 small sweet potato
  • 1 cup peas
  • 1 tbsp each of bbq sauce, tomato sauce and cocnut aminos1-Blog 034
  • 3/4 tbsp Vegemite
  • 1.5 cups very hot water
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp Orgran gravy powder.
  • Short crust pastry of choice.
  • Milk of choice

Place the meat into the slow cooker and place on low to heat up while you prepare the veg and sauce.

Finely grate the carrots, peel and grate the sweet potato and mix with the peas. Set aside.

In a large mixing jug, mix together the sauces, garlic, gravy mix and Vegemite. Then add the hot water and mix well until it is all dissolved and well combined.3-Blog 040

Pour the sauce over the meat and then add the veggies. Mix until well combined. It won’t look very saucy at this stage, but it will get more so as the veggies cook down.

Return the lid to the slow cooker and set to high for 4 hours. About 3/4 of an hour before cooking time is up, remove the lid and allow the meat to keep cooking whilst some of the liquid evaporates. If you forget this step, you can always add another bit of gravy powder to thicken the juices a bit.

Line either a pie dish or muffin trays with pastry, then fill with meat mix and place a lid of pastry on the top.

Use a fork to press down the edges and join the top to the base, brush with milk of choice and cut small vent holes.

For those who are Gluten Free,  I used this pastry. I used a puff pastry because I knew from past experience that it didn’t puff hugely and I didn’t want them to be too stodgy.1-20130806_133713

You could also use a puff pastry top if you wanted a lighter finish for your pies.

Cook in a preheated oven at about 200C for 35-40 mins or until the pastry is golden brown and crunchy.

The meal can be frozen once the pastry is on, but before you cook in the oven. Defrost well before cooking and cook as normal for the final step.

This made a quite a large amount, enough for dinner for 6 adults.

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Enjoy your pies and cheering for your team (or in my case – a substitute Western Australian Team because my beloved team didn’t make the finals … this year!!)

A very happy first time pie eater!
A very happy first time pie eater!

Super Salmon patties

~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

Simple salmon patties were another standard in my house while we were growing up. Sadly, when we got married, Peter wasn’t such a fan – he thought they were too bland.

But they are such a great way to get some good fish oils into kids, and they are also  great because they are the perfect finger food for little hands, super transportable for picnics and lunchboxes and they’re a very inexpensive meal option!

So I have worked at adapting them, making them allergy friendly and increasing their nutritional value and now they are a resounding success with everyone in our family. Yay!

Hope you and your little people (or just the big ones!) enjoy them too 🙂

  • 1 400g tin pink salmon (drained and skin and large bones removed)
  • 1 medium sweet potato (4-5 cups when chopped)
  • 400g tin chick peas/butter beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp fresh finely chopped dill
  • 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 4 tbsp hemp seeds
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • oil for cooking
  • Optional: a 1/2 cup corn kernels and 1/2 a grated zucchini

Peel and dice the potatoes. Place into a saucepan of boiling water and cook until soft.

Drain and rinse the chic peas, the soak them in boiling water for about 10 minutes minutes, before draining again and mashing well.

If using zucchini – grate then squeeze out all the liquid between paper towels (might take a few lots of towels). Set aside.

Drain the salmon and remove any large bones before mashing

Roughly mash the potato, then mix through the mashed chick peas, followed by the salmon (plus corn and zucchini if using).

Add in the dill, salt and pepper then mix.

Add in the nutritional yeast and hemp and mix well until evenly combined.

If the mixture is still too wet, then add in more of the nutritional yeast and seeds until you get a consistency that allows you to form balls, then squash down into patties – i do mine about palm sized.

Place mixture in the fridge for an hour .

Remove from fridge (roll in some breadcrumbs or almond meal if you like more of a crispy coating), then place in a hot frying pan with some oil.

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Cook until golden and then turn. About 3 minutes on each side. (You can also spray them with a little oil and bake in a preheated moderate oven for about 20 minutes per side).

Drain on some kitchen paper; allow to cool a little and then serve, on their own, in a burger or with some extra salad or veggies.

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Makes about 24

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These don’t freeze well, but they last a few days in the fridge and are great for easy, healthy lunches.

I think they are particularly great for lunch with some slices of avocado on top and drizzled with sweet chilli sauce 🙂

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**To make these into veggie patties which as great vegan option we simply leave out the salmon. The work brilliantly on their own or in a burger.

Pomegranate Chicken Quinoa

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You know me … always on the look out for all things quinoa – so I was quite pleased when this was so well received by my family – and my parents … who aren’t quite accustomed to all of the weird ingredients currently in their pantry and my ‘alternative cooking’!

I got the base of this recipe from my clever sister-in-law then made some additions.

  • 4 large chicken thighs, fat removed and cut into strips
  • Olive oil for cooking
  • 1 tsp Massel chicken stock powder
  • 2.5 cups quinoa (I would normally use white but could only buy red today – tasted just as yummy but didn’t look quite as pretty)
  • 80g slivered almonds (optional – but gives a great texture if your diet allows)
  • handful of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
  • 1.5tbsp olive oil
  • 1.5tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp coconut aminos
  • Flaked salt
  • the seeds from 2 pomegranates

In a large pot, set the quinoa to soak in plenty of water (ideally for at least an hour).

Optional step: Toast the almonds over a gentle heat, in a dry frying pan Watch them carefully – they burn quickly! Then set them aside to cool.

Take my advice - wear an apron!!
Take my advice – wear an apron!!

Seed the pomegranates. This was a first for me and boy did it make a mess! There are apparently all sort of tricks you can use for getting them out more easily – but I have also heard that you can buy jar of the seeds … so I may just investigate this option for next time 😉 Set the seeds aside.

Heat another 2 tsp oil in the frying pan and add the chicken, sprinkling with the stock powder then allowing to cook until golden brown. Set aside.

Drain and rise the quinoa then cover in 9-10 cups of water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Drain the quinoa and add the olive oil, aminos, lemon juice and salt. Stir well. Then add the pomegranate seeds.

Just before serving stir through the mint.

Top with the chicken (and sprinkle with the almonds if your diet permits).

This makes a lot! Enough for about 6 adults. It doesn’t freeze well but you could just freeze the plain, cooked quinoa to defrost for next time.

We ate this warm because it is cold here at the moment, but you could also leave out the chicken and almonds and serve cold as a yummy Summer side salad.

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Enjoy!

Banana Custard

~ desertcook ~ 2 Comments

We have recently been offered and accepted a job back in Perth, so we are in the midst of packing to leave Roxby Downs. It is a time of very mixed emotions – we are very sad to be leaving behind our lovely friends and small town lifestyle here but also very excited to be moving closer to family and friends …. and not to mention the excitement of being able to have loads more choice for our foods!!

One of the things I like least about moving is the process of running down the pantry and fridge/freezer. I discovered heaps frozen overripe bananas in the back of my freezer the other day (that I had totally forgotten about!) so I have been experimenting with ways to use them up. Custard was the best of the bunch 😉

Banana Custard

  • 3 defrosted overripe bananas1-May 2013 086
  • 500ml oat milk
  • 2 heaped tsp of No Egg powder
  • 50g coconut sugar
  • 30g pure Cornflour
  • good pinch of cinnamon

Place the Bananas, sugar and cornflour in the food processor and process until smooth. (Speed 6 for 10 seconds for a thermal cooker, then scrape down).

Add in the No egg, milk and cinnamon and process again until well mixed and very smooth. (Start low and gradually build up to speed 6 for 20 seconds in a thermal cooker).

Transfer mix to a saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring for about 12 minutes until the mixture thickens. (for a thermal cooker, mix on speed 1, 100C for about 20 mins).

Serve warm or cold, topped with extra sliced banana or sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Makes about 6 serves.

I kept the left overs for a couple of days in the fridge in reusable squeezy containers.

If you want to make a chocolate variety, just add 1 tbsp of cocoa when you are adding the cinnamon.

If you don’t have frozen bananas just use fresh overripe ones.

🙂

Hope you enjoy your baking – I’ll be back in a few weeks from Perth!

Pea and Ham soup

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This is one of my favourite winter soups. I make a huge batch of it, eat it for dinner, then freeze some and eat the leftovers for days afterwards for lunch. Yum!

It is a very imprecise recipe but very forgiving!

Not a nice job, but there is plenty of meat on the hock.
Not a nice job, but there is plenty of meat on the hock.
  • 1 ham hock (about 800g)
  • 3-4 celery sticks, chopped
  • 3-4 carrots, chopped
  • 3 potatoes, chopped, skin on is fine (OR 1 large sweet potato, peeled)
  • 2 cups of dry soup mix (see below)
  • approx 2 L water

The dry soup mix is one I make up in bulk at the start of winter. It is made up of  1 quarter each of green, red and yellow dried spilt peas and 1/4 barley. It is actually the background picture for our blog 🙂

Place the ham hock in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add in the veggies and the soup mix.

Add water to cover the hock and to the capacity of the slow cooker.

Cover with lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Then (this is the bit that almost makes me go vegetarian each time I do it!), remove ham hock from the pot and replace lid.

Pull ham off the bone and finely chop.

Return to the soup, stir well and cook on low for a further 1-2 hours.

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You made want to add salt depending on the hock you have used (some are less salty than others).

Enjoy 🙂

Mum’s minestrone

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We have just returned home from an 8 day family camping trip through the interior of Australia. It was just amazing …. but after 8 days of camping food I have been hanging out for some serious serves of veggies!

And since the weather is finally getting a little cooler, soups are back on the menu- Hooray!

This is my mum’s minestrone, the one that I have eaten since childhood and I still adore it … I am just sad that I can no longer sprinkle it with cheese while it’s hot!

  • 1tbsp garlic olive oil
  • 1 brown onion, finely diced
  • 4 rashers of short cut bacon, diced1-Blog 005
  • 10 cups Masssel chicken stock made with boiling water
  • 4 celery sticks, finely sliced
  • 4 carrots, finely sliced
  • 2 tins corn kernels
  • 2 tins kidney beans
  • 4 ripe tomatoes, finely diced (or 2 tins diced tomatoes)
  • spiral pasta of choice (we use a GF one)
  • 2tsp fresh ‘Italian’ herbs*, finely chopped

* I use whatever is growing in my garden; rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley etc. You could also use a tsp of a dried Italian herb mix.

Heat oil in the base of a large saucepan (I am luck enough to own an 11L saucepan so I love making a huge batches) and fry the onion and bacon.

Add the herbs.

Add the stock and bring to the boil

Add the veggies and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add a few handfuls of pasta and cook until it is soft.

Serve hot (and sprinkle it with grated cheese if you can!).

This makes enough for about 10-12 serves and keeps in the fridge for about a week.

This one can easily be made vegan by removing the bacon

If you make huge batches of soup like I do, it’s helpful to refrigerate them individually. If you want to freeze, it is best to stop the recipe before you add the pasta as it tends to absorb too much water and get quite soggy on defrosting. Just add the pasta part when reheating.

Enjoy 🙂

Chicken Nuggets

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If we go out for dinner or lunch and my kids ask for chicken nuggets, it makes my toes curl. I really don’t like them eating the super processed ones, but they do seem to really love them. For me, fast food nuggets belong firmly in the category of ‘wouldn’t eat them if you paid me!’.

But my revulsion aside, the kids love them …. So I was determined to make some home-made ones for them that snuck in a bit of extra goodness on the side.

These ones are packed with veggies but my kids don’t notice in the slightest – Mummy win!!

  • 4 Chicken thighs, skinless and boneless
  • 1 tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce)
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 piece (first sized) pumpkin
  • 1 400g tin chic peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/3 cup GF bread crumbs
  • 1/3 cup GF flour
  • 1/2 tsp pink salt flakes

Place the carrot and pumpkin in the food processor and blitz well until quite fine. (Speed 6 whilst you drop through the top chute them up to speed 8 for 10 secs)

Add in chick peas and blitz and until all combined (speed 7, 12 seconds)

Add in aminos, 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast and herbs and mix to combine (speed 4, 6 secs)

Add in chicken thighs, one at a time through the top chute on to spinning blades then process until chicken is totally minced and mix is quite smooth (speed 5 whilst adding the chicken, then up to speed 6 for 10 secs at a time, scrape down in between).

Mix together the crumbs, flour, salt and other tbsp of nutritional yeast.

Take a heaped tsp of the chicken mix, roll it in the dry mix and press down into a lined baking tray. Spray lightly with olive oil.

Place into a pre heated 200C oven for 20 mins.

Turn the nuggets and return to that oven for a further 7-8 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

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You can try these if you’d prefer

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Serve with more salad or veg if you like … we often take ours out to share at a parties or picnics … with just tomato sauce and there are no complaints 😉

Nuggets and sauce for dinner at home?! My children were thrilled!
Nuggets and sauce for dinner at home?! My children were thrilled!

I cook in bulk as often as I can, in order to have meals to freeze, so I often make a double batch. I sometimes make them bigger than the store bought ones too by using a dessert-spoonful of the mix – and tell the kids that they are ‘Monster Nuggets’. If I don’t have time to cook them all, I freeze half of the meat mix to defrost and crumb next time there is a nugget demand! The left overs also re-heated well for lunch the next day.

She snuck back to get into the left overs while the boys weren't watching!
She snuck back to get into the left overs while the boys weren’t watching!

Enjoy 🙂

 

(Ex) Shepherd’s Pie

~ desertcook ~ 4 Comments

This was a standard in our house while I was growing up.

My maiden name was ‘Shepherd’ so every time my mum made this dish, she’d tease us, and say that she’d need to take fingers or toes from us kids to go in to it and we’d run off squealing 🙂

It’s been a long time since I was a Shepherd but Mum cooked it for us while we were in Perth over Christmas and I was surprised to find that it was a mince meal that I quite enjoyed. So here is my version of my mum’s pie.

  • 2 tbsp garlic oil
  • 1 brown onion, finely diced
  • approx 500g beef mince**
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 4 tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce if your diet allows)
  • 1 tbsp vegemite (or a GF, soy free miso paste)
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 heaped tbsp Orgran’s gravy mix powder (or use homemade gravy and omit the powder and the water)
  • 3-4 grated carrots2-March 2013 381
  • 1.5 cups frozen peas
  • 1 (or 2) tin brown lentils, drained and rinsed
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 6 large field mushrooms (see notes at bottom of recipe)
  • 2 cups spinach – optional
  • 1 tsp nuttelex (or coconut oil)
  • good pinch salt
  • 1 tsp chopped rosemary

**For a more traditional pie, use your left over roast lamb here (Shepherd’s did look after sheep after all!), finely chop it and just add it to the vegetable mix to simmer for a few minutes before you transfer it over to the casserole dish.

In a large frying pan heat the garlic oil, the add the onion, cooking until it begins to soften.

Then add the mince and break it up as it browns.

Add in the sauce, paste and vegemite mix well.

Add the lentils and then add in a about 1/3 cup water. Allow to simmer very gently for about 15 minutes.

While this is simmering, bring potatoes to the boil in another saucepan and boil until very soft. (If you’ve used a thermal cooker to do the veg … you can easily do the mash in it too. Drop chunks of potato onto speed 4 spinning blades through the hole in the lid. Turn up to speed 6 for about 10 seconds after adding. Turn off, scrape down, add about 1/4 cup water and cook on Steam Temp, Speed 2 for about 8 minutes, scraping down once during cooking time. Blitz on Speed 5 until roughly smooth, then add oil, rosemary and salt then mix again on speed 4 for about 8 seconds).

Add to the meat mix, the carrot and peas and bring back to a simmer for 5 minutes. (To prep the veggies in a Thermal cooker, Drop chunks of carrot onto speed 4 spinning blades through the hole in the lid. Turn up to speed 6 for about 10 seconds after adding. Set aside then add the mushrooms and blitz on speed 5 for 10 seconds. Set aside – you can even blitz the frozen peas if you’d like to hide them a little more!). Blitz the spinach and add it here too if you’re using it.

Mix the gravy powder together with a couple of tbsp on water to make a paste then add to the meat and mix well. You don’t want the meat mix to be too runny, so be careful not to add to much water here.

Transfer for meat mix to a casserole dish.1-March 2013 384

Drain and mash the potatoes together. Make sure the mash is very smooth, then add the nuttelex, salt and rosemary.

Top the meat with the potatoes. Because it is quite thick, I find it easiest to place blobs of the potato around the dish and then spread from there. Use a fork to spread it so that you get raised lines that go lovely and crunchy in the oven.

Place in a pre-heated moderate oven for about 20-30 mins, turning on the top element of the oven, or placing under the grill for the remaining 5 minutes.

This was very well received at our house and it made enough for all 5 of us for dinner and a couple of yummy lunches too.

If you would like to bulk this meal up enough to make enough for 2 large family dinners, I add a second can of lentils and 4-6 large grated field mushrooms.

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Enjoy 🙂

*if you love a Shepherd’s pie but you want or need a vegan version check it ours here.

Prawn salad rolls

~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

I recently made the 2 and a half hour drive from Roxby Downs to Port Augusta.  One of the highlights of the  trip, for this desert dweller, was being near the water … and therefore fresh seafood, again!!

So I stocked up on some beautiful king prawns, and made my ‘happy salad’ when I got home! So many of my favourite foods in one place 🙂

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It is a very quick, super easy and healthy summer meal … I particularly enjoyed mine with half a glass of pear cider 🙂

  • 6-8 king prawns, cooked, peeled and cut in to 1 cm lengths2-March 2013 195
  • 1 avocado, cut into small chunks
  • 1 orange, peeled and cut into small chunks
  • 2 tbsp Thousand Island dressing (I used the Praise fat-free one as it’s made with a maize thickener)
  • 2 finely chopped mint leaves
  • 4 large iceberg lettuce leaves

Mix together the prawns, avocado, orange, mint and dressing, spoon mixture in to the lettuce leaves and then roll. Too easy!

The only way this gets better in my book is when it’s mango season and I can swap the orange for fresh mango!!

This one is best made and eaten straight away. If you leave it too long the lettuce goes soggy and tends to tear.

Serves 2 adults. 1-March 2013 197

Chicken Wraps

~ desertcook ~ 1 Comment

So often I have tried store-bought wraps that are gluten, egg, dairy and soy free in the hope that ‘this time they’ll be acceptable’ but every time I have been disappointed as they have been tasteless and they crumble as I’ve tried to wrap them around my dinner.

We have had a really long, hot summer and I have been really hanging out for some salad wraps so I began to experiment and the other night we had a total victory!! These wraps are a bit time-consuming to make, but they were worth it; soft and flexible and yummy.

They are adapted from a recipe that you can find at:  http://www.kerstenskitchen.com.au

  • 1/2 a cup each of white rice flour, brown rice flour and Arrowroot1-March 2013 079
  • 1 tsp guar gum
  • 1 tsp GF baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 tbsp oil
  • 1 1/4- 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 dessert spoon of nutritional yeast flakes

Mix together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add the oil. Then slowly add small amount of water at a time.2-March 2013 080

Take time to combine with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Stop adding water when the batter is smooth and glossy, with a consistency a bit like a thick pancake.

Add a heaped wooden spoon full of mixture to a cold frying pan then use a spatula to spread it out so that there is a thin layer covering the base of the pan. Don’t grease the pan – the oil in the batter is sufficient.

Turn stove on to high heat and place the pan on the element.

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Cook for about 2 minutes – turn when the mixture is firm and bubbles/puffs a little. Cook for another 2 minutes on this side.

Place on a plate and cover with tea towel. Stack each wrap on top and keep covered. The steam softens the wraps and makes them nice and pliable.

Cool off the pan in between each wrap by running cold water over the back of it. This stops the mix cooking straight away and allows you to spread it more evenly.

We served ours with ginger chilli chicken and salad.

To make the chicken, I used

  • 4 chicken thighs, skin removed and thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp coconut aminos (or soy sauce if you can have it)4-March 2013 085
  • 1 tbsp rice bran oil
  • 1/2 finely chopped red chilli
  • 1 heaps tsp minced ginger

Mix the chicken with the aminos and allow to sit for about half an hour. Heat oil and add ginger and chilli, cook stirring for 2 minutes. Then add chicken, stirring occasionally until cooked.

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Lay the fillings in the top, centre of the wrap and top with fresh crunchy salad. (It’s best if you roll over one side, then fold up the bottom then wrap the second side over the top).

I think I will make this again when we next have a curry, but I will make it smaller and a bit thicker then top with my home-made garlic butter, for a naan type bread – mmm!

Enjoy!