Favourite Recipes!!

[Ruby]

There have been a lot of threads lately on diet/food/health etc and with Bruce’s comment today……….

- trying new recipes is enjoyable too.

and previously

Stewie, I am specifically collecting recipes of foods outside the square, and want to get more into gluten free stuff.

Maybe its time we started a recipe thread?

Food is such an important part of life and we might get the opportunity to learn a little extra and expand our horizons on the food front. If you’d like to add your favourite recipes to this thread, I’ll collate all the recipes together to form a cookbook in a few weeks time.

Don’t think it only has to be healthy recipes, any family favourites will do. (not everyone is into healthy eating).

I’ll start off with a few of my family favourites…….

Lentil and Root Vegetable Casserole

2 Onions
2 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons Mild Curry paste (eg, korma)
4 cups of Root Vegetables (eg, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, turnips, swedes, potatoes) cut into similar sizes
3 cups of vegetable stock
2 cans of diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
150g of red lentils
fresh parsley or coriander
low fat yoghurt

Fry onions and garlic until soft. Add curry paste and cook for a few minutes. Add vegetables, stock, lentils, salt and pepper and cook until soft. Just before serving add a handful of chopped herbs. Serve topped with a spoon of yoghurt.

Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna


12 Lasagna Noodles (pre cooked)
2 Boxes Chopped Spinach
2 Cloves Crushed Garlic
1 Tb. Olive Oil
1 1/2 Cups Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
Spaghetti Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese

Cook frozen spinach in steamer until soft
Mix Ricotta Cheese, Garlic, Olive Oil, Cooked Spinach, and Parmesan Cheese in a large bowl
Spread spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a large glass dish (enough to prevent the noodles from sticking)
Put four of the pasta noodles on the sauce so that they form one flat sheet
Spread 1/3 of the spinach mixture over the noodles, making sure to evenly distribute it to the corners
Then repeat the past three steps two more times, sprinkling mozzarella cheese between the sauce and the noodles: sauce, noodles, spinach mix, sauce, noodles, spinach mix, sauce
Sprinkle shredded Mozzarella liberally on the top and a little bit of parmesan
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour
Let sit for 20 minutes before serving or refrigeration


Homemade Hommus

1 400g can cooked chick peas, liquid reserved
2 tbs tahini
1 tbs olive oil
½ clove garlic
Juice of ½ lemon or lime
pinch salt and pepper

In a food processor or blender, add all ingredients, plus ¼ of the liquid from the chick peas. Blend until smooth and creamy. Adjust consistency with more liquid if desired. Serve with vegetable sticks or crackers.

Looking forward to seeing some culinary delights added to this thread.


Ruby

 

[Rolf Schaefer]

Hi Ruby,
I am looking forward to the invite when you next cook Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna.

 

[emcdonald]

Braised beef in red wine on garlic mash

500g of good thick beef (doesn't have to be too lean for this recipe)
2 cups red wine
2 red onions
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
rosemary to season (fresh)
freshly ground black pepper

3 large potatoes
tablespoon of butter
tablespoon of garlic puree
Salt and pepper to taste

method:
*
Place a saucepan of boiling water on the stove and begin cooking the peeled, cubed potatoes
*
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
*
Take a large, over proof bowl and place in it the red wine, brown sugar and the red oinins (quartered) along with some of the rosemary. The idea is to get this glaze bubbling away so it reduces before you place the meat in.
*
Heat a small amount of oil in a shallow pan and place on high heat
*
Cut the beef into large cubes (4cm) and season the raw meat with black pepper
*
Quickly toss the meat in the pan browning it, the meat should still be 3/4 uncooked
*
Remove from the heat and place in the oven into the glaze that should already be bubbling ( you may like to spoon some of the mixture back over the beef)
*
Meanwhile drain the cooked potatoes and mash with butter and garlic (you can add milk if necissary) and season to taste with the pepper and salt
*
The meat should be tender after around 10 minutes, the less it is cooked the better it will taste - be careful not to toughen it by leaving it too long
*
Place a pile of the mash on the plate and place several pieces of beef on top, drizzle the remaining pan sauces over the two
*
We also sometimes serve this with green beans tossed in butter
*
Enjoy!


Please note that the differnent types of red wine you use will give the meat differing flavours - shiraz will usually give a more 'spicy' or 'bitie' taste where as a cab sav will be more mellow.

 

[Brenda Irwin]

My boys love this easy one.
Boil up a pot of pasta, drain and add 680g Can of Leggo's Spagetti sauce with beef. Stir it through the hot pasta and serve.

 

[geoffw]

Our easy family one. We rarely eat potatoes any other way now.

Cook (microwave, boil or steam) the spuds. Peel and slice them.

Mix some chicken stock powder with sour cream or low fat plain yoghurt. (We use a Macedonian vegetable stock powder available which is great- but normal high sodium chicken stock will do the trick- just not Home Brand).

Spread some spud slices, some of the mixture, slices etc.

Put some thin slices (or grated) cheese on top (low fat fetta also works) and bak until golden brown on top. Or microwave until melted.

 

[Ruby]

I am looking forward to the invite when you next cook Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna.

Put your skates on Rolf........I have some leftovers in the fridge!!

Better be quick though or you'll miss out.

 

[thefirstbruce]

Hi Rubes

I've been lurkering aound the Qld Vego and Vegan Society this last week while contemplating my heart scare.
They seem to have a healthy thriving community there.
I am seeing more and more signs of younger ppl wanting to go vego. Some of this I think is motivated out of young ones wanting a sense of belonging to a group. And considering mainstream religion is out of fashion or too hard, I see many joining green groups or becoming vegos....

Nevertheless, I think a balanced vego diet has a lot to offer health wise.
I was one in my late teens and most of my 20s, and only eat meat now about 100grams x 1-3 times a week.

They have some nice vego affair on their site....
http://www.vegsoc.org.au/recipes.asp

Meanwhile, here's some vego stuff I am eating a lot while dieting. Have lost 6.5kg in 10 weeks, despite weaning from wine, and heart scare. This stuff is also obviously heart healthy.



Dinner or Lunch

Bhutanese Barley in a Bowl
Stuff
6 Cups Boiling Water
2 Cups dry barley (cheap as chips and good for you, though not gluten free)
3 full bunches of Asian greens - choy sum, bok choy, tat choy, or pak choy
4 Cups of red capsicum, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, or anything really)
8 cloves garlic
3 large red Chilis
3/4-1C of fresh grated ginger (seriously....latest serious research shows ginger can reverse prostate cancer or hypertrophy)
8 T soy sauce
1 whole bunch shallots or 2 onions
oil for frying
3T vege stock powder
1 lemon's juice and 2T rind


Timeline mins
0m to clean barley, throw into 2Cups boiling water, stir, strain, rinse.
3m throw barley into new batch of 5 Cups boiling water, reduce to simmer and cover. stir occasionally.
4m chop onion, garlic, ginger, chili throw into hot fry pan til aromatic (3m) take off stove. (don't overcook)
5m chop veges
30m throw all veges (except leafy greens), stock and onion, garlic, ginger, chili, and lemon rind into simmering barley.
40m Add greens, lemon juice, and Soy Sauce, (and water to make soupy if desired. Otherwise you can eat it as a stewy consistency.)
42m remove from heat when greens are soft but still nice and green. (about 2-3 mins)
let stand for 5mins so flavours can perfuse

great for freezing and reheating, though barley gets soft. Can be made similarly with rice, which is more like a risotto.
can add more steamed vege and flavours after reheating


Roasted pumpkin, pecan and fetta salad

2 cups pumpkin, chopped coarsely
cooking-oil spray
4 Cups rocket leaves or mescaline mix
2/3 cup toasted pecans
2/3 Cup fetta cheese, crumbled
1 Cup cherry tomatoes sliced in half
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes (optional)
CITRUS DRESSING
2T orange juice
2T lemon juice
2t olive or grapeseed oil


Preheat oven to very hot (240°C/220°C fan-forced).
Place pumpkin on lightly oiled oven tray; spray with oil. Roast, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until tender.
Place ingredients for citrus dressing in screw-top jar; shake well.
Combine pumpkin in medium bowl with remaining ingredients and dressing; toss gently to combine.



Breakfast

Bruce-cetta
quick filling and yummy....great snack too

1 slice rye or multigrain toast
25grams of cottage cheese spread over
sliced romano or organic tomatoes (you gotta use really tasty ones)
sprinkle 5mls of olive oil over toms (can leave off if dieting)
salt and pepper
cover with young fresh basil leaves, chopped or whole


Goodmorning Couscous
1C boiling water
1/2C couscous
1/2t honey (if desired)
3t orange rind +/- 1/3 cup of juice (not good for dieting though)
pinch cinnamon
1C chopped fruit (I love any combo of nectarines, peaches, blueberries, kiwi fruit, raspberries, passionfruit)
1-2T low fat soy or dairy yogurt (or use soy or dairy milk instead)
1T or 5-10grams some nuts or flax, sunflower, pumpkin, or whatever seeds.

combine water and couscous, let sit for 3-5mins, then throw in the rest of the stuff.
can heat in microwave quickly if you want it all hot, though I don't bother.

I often make this and have half for breakky, then put rest in secure tupperware or deco container, take to work and finish at morning tea. Losing weight to me has really pivoted around smaller meals every 3 hours. Keeps the blood sugar stable.

Can also do the same basic recipe using any other grain, cooked rice, oatmeal, barley. I don't do Muesli cos it has too many Calories.


Fast Omelette
simple and quick

1 egg
30mls dairy or soy milk
1-2Cups vege- mushrooms, tomato, eggplant, asian greens or basil, asparagus

chop and zap vege in cereal bowl til half cooked, while beating egg and milk, then add all, and cook til egg is firm. about about 4-5mins of zapping all up...add salt pepper. be careful not to overcook. can throw a bit of cheese in- stronger cheeses for flavour enhancement parmesan blue vein etc. though they are heavy in Calories.


Oatmeal Pancakes
great for late weekend breakkies

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
2/3 Cup dairy or soy milk
1 egg

(You could do the baking soda and powder thing like a conventiona pancake, but I don't bother...tastes great this way and they hold together fine....)

nuts or seeds
fruit - nectarines, peaches, mango, orange, banana, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, etc....
yogurt
honey
cinnamon

use a bamix device to blend first three ingredients well. or alternatively you can beat the crap out of the egg separately till it peaks, separately blend the oats and milk, then combine...this will give a less dense, more aerated pancake.

make pancakes...get the heat medium - medium/high so you can do a stack in a short time....just watch for those bubbles...

can do smallish ones that you can put 3 on a plate at a time for more creative presentation (or larger whole plate ones),

stylishly slice fruit

put a T of yogurt on top of pancake, arrange fruit nicely to side or however, sprinkle with cinnamon and honey...

can also put chopped nuts in the pancake mixture, and fold pancake around fruit and yogurt...

serve with freshly brewed Illy or Zaraffas Coffee

 

[Ruby]

Bruce-cetta
quick filling and yummy....great snack too

It sounds great Bruce.

Thanks for all the recipes, I'll be slowly trying them all out.

Just a few more of my favourites.

Roasted Sweet-Potato Salad


2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1kg sweet potatoes
2 large red capsicums
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (white or red)
500g baby spinach


Preheat the oven to 220C.

In a large roasting pan, combine the oil, salt, and black pepper. Add the sweet potatoes and capsicums and toss to coat well. Roast, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and stir in the vinegar.

Place the spinach in a large serving bowl. Add the potato mixture and toss to coat well. Serve Immediately


Vegetable Soup
1 large clove garlic
2 medium potatoes
2 large carrots
2 pumpkin wedges
2 zucchini
1 stick celery
1 parsnip
1 brown onion
1 large leek
5-6 cups beef stock
2 large diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon canola spread
black pepper
1 can red kidney beans (strained)
250 grams frozen baby peas
Chop or dice vegetables. Melt canola in large pot. When hot, add crushed garlic and sliced potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, zucchini, celery, parsnip, onion and leek. Any other vegetable of your choice may be added.
Stir for about 3 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, beef stock, bay leaves and black pepper. Bring to the boil and then gently simmer until vegetables are just cooked. Add kidney beans and peas. Bring to the boil again and then remove from heat. Remove bay leaves and serve.



Crunchy Fillet of Fish


4 fish fillets
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp wholegrain mustard*
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds or cashew nuts
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil

Combine lemon juice, oil and mustard in a jar. Shake well. Brush both sides of the fish with the mixture.

Combine nuts and basil on a large plate. Coat both sides of the fish fillets.

Place fish in a single layer on an oiled baking dish. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes at 190°C. Serve with steamed vegetables and oven-cooked jacket potatoes, if desired.

 

[thefirstbruce]

Hi Rubes,

Am getting into fish more these days, though am looking seriously at going more vego. The China Study is reinforcing that.

Have always had a bit of an aversion to fresh fish. Maybe it was that dad had us out most weekends when kids on a dinghy catching the bloody things, or the trouble of gutting and scaling, or one or two bad tasting bits from the local f&c shop.

Anyway, the nuts and basil sound good.

 

[TryHard]

Ice Cream

This is my payback for my wife's obsession with our healthy eating (she doesn't realise I'm worth more dead than alive - yet ...)

Rather than buy one of those appliances, the Ice Cream Machine (that apparently joins the Foot Spa and Bread Oven as least used presents ever) this is a really EASY (EASY!) ICE CREAM RECIPE that everyone loves, needs no special equipment, that will undo any of the good the above healthy recipes do you !

INGREDIENTS

3 litres fresh cream
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
Fruit of your choice (eg. strawberries, mango, blueberries) or worse still chocolate flake

Put everything in a blender and whisk it till smooth consistency - probably a minute or so. (You can even use a mixer if you don't have a blender, if you can work out how to not get covered in fruit.)

Put it in containers, and in the freezer

Once frozen, eat...

---------------------

Its that easy. And WAIT till you taste it ! Best to only eat it once every month or two, its not exactly cholesterol-free. 99 out of 100 kids will say its the best ice cream they have ever tasted - guaranteed or your money back ;-)

Cheers
Carl

 

[thefirstbruce]

Hey, I have something healthier TryHard.....and just as yummy....
but you need a heavy duty juicer like the Champion.

Peel and freeze a stack of very ripe bananas, then stick em through the juicer. Out the other end comes ice cream consistency banana.... Bloody beautiful too. Keeps forever in the freezer....but goes soft quicker than normal icecream....

Add a bit of honey if not sweet enough....or freeze some mango or peach or or strawbs or whatever and do the same....then you can get that multi coloured effect....

 

[Ruby]

I’ve collated all the recipes into a pdf, to make it easier for everyone.

Its never too late though…….if you’d like to add your recipe to the thread, we can easily update the book later on.

Ruby

Somersoft Recipe Book Volume One

 

[Olly]

Since having cancer and then reading The China Study, I've been cutting dairy and meat from my diet. However, I used to make the following for parties, BBQ's etc. and if it was on the table now I'd definitely have some )

Damper Dip

Buy a damper, and using a sharp knife cut a lid off the top. (You're not cutting the damper in half horizontaly. Come in about 1/3 on the top all the way around so you end up with rounded side walls. The lid is ab out 2/3 the size of the top of the damper.)
Rougly scoop out the inside of the damper by pulling out chunks of bread. Be careful not to go through the bottom or the sides. Put the chunks aside. Do the same with the lid.
The filling I loved was cartons of sour cream, shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced mushrooms, sliced spring onions and bits of ham (bacon if you don't have it).
Hand mix the filling together. (It's hard to give measures of ingredients as it depends on the size of the damper you get and what bits you like more of etc. It ends up when mixed as a sticky but firmish mixture).
Fill up the damper with the mixture.
Put the lid on then wrap the whole thing in alfoil and put it in the oven.
It's done when the filling is hot and all melted together.
Serve on a platter with the chunks of scooped out bread for dipping. Break up the lid and do the same. There's no waste because after the filling is eaten the damper is broken up and eaten as well.

Another quick and easy dip.
1 tub of cream cheese
1 can of crab meat
1 small jar of 1000 Island dressing.

Squeeze the moisture out of the crab meat. (It usually comes in a sheet of wax paper so this is easy). Mix together with the cream cheese. Form it into a mound on a plate and pour the 1000 island dressing over the top and serve with crackers.

Cheers
Olly

 

[Ruby]

Thanks Olly......I've updated the pdf.

We are now at version 1.1

 

[ani]

Pappardelle (or Tagliatelle) with Sesame Seeds

Serves 4

Toast half a cup of sesame seeds until golden.

Cook 500g good quality pappardelle in boiling well salted water.

Drain and while still very hot, add toasted sesame seeds, 125g room temperature butter thinly sliced, 100g of grated parmesan and pepper.

Toss and serve.

 

[wish-ga]

My mum has a head cold. Yesterday I went over and made her
Matzo Ball Soup:

Matzo knaedl (knaedl pronounced ken-er-dell)
1 cup coarse ground matzo meal (labelled as such in supermarket or specialty deli)
2 eggs beaten
4 tablespoons butter/marg melted
1/4 cup of water
1 tsp salt

Mix all of above together and refrigerate for 1hr (even overnight)

testing, testing 1-2-3
Take mix from fridge and form 1 ball that is about 1 inch. Drop it into boiling broth (chicken or vegetable). Watch to see if it stays together of starts to simmer apart. (hint once mixture is good consistency you can form balls and put back in fridge for a bit to ensure they don't fall apart once in the jacuzzi). Soup will stop simmering once you add all the knaedl but will soon come back to a simmer.

emergency measures:
Add a little more matzo meal before forming rest of knaedl if your test one fell apart. Careful not to add too much or you will end up with cannonballs.
Don't stir broth too vigorously or your knaedl will collapse.
There is a bit of a feel for it so don't get too disheartened if your first attempt is a matzo massacre they are tricky guys.
Broth you use is up to you (home made or shop stock, vegetable or chicken are the usual)

Pkts of matzo knaedl have a recipe on it too so you don't have to believe my Oma

 

[lizzie]

six heaped tablespoons of milo and a dash of milk. stir into a paste and eat with a teaspoon while lounging on the couch.

yum ... oooooo, sugar hit.

 

[Barracuda]

Crepes - love em

I love cooking these - great for breakfast & dessert.

It's just a basic recipe straight from the cooks companion (actually, this is from memory, so I may get something wrong)

250g sifted flour
3 eggs
65g butter
1 1/2 cups milk
pinch of salt

Makes 12-15 crepes

- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl & form a well in the middle
- Heat the milk & butter until the butter is melted - I just cut the butter up into chunks and put it in the milk and then zap in the microwave until the butter has just melted - don't want the milk too warm.
- Break the eggs into the well in the flour and break up with a whisk, pour in the milk/butter and add salt. Mix/beat with a whisk, introducing more flour into the beating action as you go until all combined and smooth.
- Cover and refrigerate until cool. (note, have cooked straight from this point without issue - milk/butter was only tepid, not hot)

Ideally, use a non-stick crepe pan, but if not a small frying pan would work.

When ready to cook, give the mixture another stir to combine and check consistency - the book says it should be about the consistency of cream. I have always stirred in a bit of extra cold milk to get it runnier than it comes out of the fridge - helps to make a thinner crepe (not cooking pikelets here) and gets it to run across the pan.

I smear a bit of butter on the crepe pan anyway before ladelling on the mixture onto a side of the pan and tipping the pan to evenly coat the surface. I wait until the top is no longer runny & flip. Practice flipping without utensils - it's really easy and I've found trying to mechanically flip with a spatula just leads to tearing etc. The butter helps release it, even on a non-stick pan.

They're best still warm, but will keep in the fridge covered -just zap 'em prior to serving.

For breakfast, serve with anything... we like chocolate hazelnut spread (nutella for the less precious amongst us), jams, marscapone, banana, maple syrup.... whatever

For desserts, serve with crushed warm berries, marscapone, cream, ice-cream, a dusting of cinnamon...

Mmmmm

 

[asy]

six heaped tablespoons of milo and a dash of milk. stir into a paste and eat with a teaspoon while lounging on the couch.

yum ... oooooo, sugar hit.

Sorry Lizzie, you're wrong with the above recipe.

You missed out one word.

It's:

six heaped tablespoons of milo and a dash of CONDENSED milk.

Now THAT is a sugar hit. I used to make them when I was doing HSC, years and years ago, and freeze it. oooooh... yum...

Haven't had one since, though... May have to fix that!

asy

 

[BUNDY]

Here's a great healthy snack

APRICOT TAHINI BALLS


½ Cup lite tahini (Hulled - low fat)

1/4 Cup Honey

½ Cup Dessicated coconut

½ cup LSA (Linseed, sunflower & Almond mix)

1 cup dried apricots

¼ cup chopped almonds

Method

Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix together until mixture is stiff. Add small amount of coconut if required to assist in stiffening. Roll into balls and coat with coconut.

Even the Kids will like them.

Cheers
BUNDY