New week - new recipe?!

[katkinn]

Starting off with a bang and tonight making pesto for the first time!

Anyone got any cracking recipes they'd like to share? I was going to do the Jamie Oliver one - off to get some lovely fresh pasta at lunchtime to have with it!

Then later in the week I'm going to do Pad Thai

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/pad-thai-noodles-with-shrimps,739,RC.html

And I'm also going to try and make some Smoked Salmon Pate which I haven't done before!

And we're also going to be having

Fresh roasted tomato and red onion soup
Salmon in parma ham with herby lentils

Lovely weather for light, fresh, healthy food isn't it?!! But does anyone else find it much more expensive buying food in this weather??????????

katkinn
xxx

[book_lover]

will Laura stop bl**dy messing about with the keys on my laptop and losing me half written out posts? :rolleyes:

Katkinn, your menu plans always sound blimmin lush. I hope your DH realises he is a very lucky man!

Yes I agree. Winter is all about root veg and hearty casseroles which seem to work out much cheaper.

I am trying to spend less on food, but still eating as well - we have heaps of pulses and grains and condiments in the larder to use, plus things are coming on well in the garden (we already have a plentiful supply of parsley, flat leaf, corriander, rocket, lettuce, radishes and beetroot leaves). Also we're starting up with a weekly veg box as of Wednesday (which will shift my shopping day to Thurs from Mon). Also we get a lot of free meat because we live in game and farming country and DH being a gardener, he gets the perks.

I am going to have to start learning to plan menus around what we already have for these reasons.

Anyway, I've only planned for three days because Weds is our first veg box so we'll start again Thurs.

Tonight we're having rainbow trout, salad, jewelled cous cous. I'll prob do the trout in foil in the oven, really simple, stuff some herbs in it's belly.

Tomorrow we're having pork with ale and prunes (we never got round to having that the other week).

Wednesday we're having some breadcrumbed fish that needs using from the freezer with mushy peas and wedges!

Today I'm making smoked chicken and greens soup with rice - just made up in my head recipe but I always make a soup when we've had a chicken. That'll do lunches for 2 days and then I'm making pea, lettuce and mint soup (being thrifty again...). Sounds quite summery for a soup!

xxx

ETA Katkinn, my only tip is to start with classic basil pesto the first time, then muck about as you please next time or subsequent times you make it (aubergine, red pepper, rocket, beetroot etc.). You'll love it!

[Angel]

A pretty boring week for us as we've overspent massively this month with Alex's birthday and a weekend away so it's using up what we've got in !

Tonight is chicken curry
Tuna and pasta
Marinated lamb steaks with herby couscous (new recipe for me !)
Salad nicoise
Sausages and mash

[katkinn]

Bookie - I'm absoutely starting with classic pesto - basil, pinenuts, parmesan and oil!! The thought of anything else terrifies me at the mo!!!

will let you know how I get on tomorrow!

Good luck with your veg box Bookie - I know you'll absolutely love it!! (I hated it personally as i'm such a big wuss when it comes to trying new things!!!!!)

katkinn
xxxx

[book_lover]

Bookie - I'm absoutely starting with classic pesto - basil, pinenuts, parmesan and oil!! The thought of anything else terrifies me at the mo!!!

Drool....... wish I could convince myself that this was low fat...


Good luck with your veg box Bookie - I know you'll absolutely love it!! (I hated it personally as i'm such a big wuss when it comes to trying new things!!!!!)


this I don't understand - you try loads of new recipes every week, what do you mean, madamoiselle?

xxx

[katkinn]

mmm I like to try new things but things that I decide to cook - NOT what I HAVE to cook as it's using things in my veg box - does that make sense??!!!! (yes I am bonkers!!)

Actually ours was also really shite quality - so we stopped it. But I'm sure you're using a small independant firm rather than a large national which is what we were using (much better)

Although to be fair, lots of people use the company I used and hated and have no probs whatsoever and love it (although I do know a couple of other people who didn't like it as well so it wasn't me being uber fussy!!)

katkinn
xxx

ps - only cooking pesto tonight as it's DH's birthday and that was what he wanted!!!

[book_lover]

ah, I see. I also don't like the idea of being forced to use certain veg and have resisted thus far because of this. BUT our local council has reduced our rubbish collection to twice monthly (instead of weekly) and packaging on the veg is half the problem. We already recycle everything we possibly can....

It is from a small independent shop. hope it'll be good, although it doesn't say anything about being organic. Ah well! Also, maybe it will encourage me to try new things as there are veg I don't buy often such as fennel which may be in there.

Angel, I totally want bangers and mash and lovely red wine and onion gravy for my dinner now :cry:

xxx

[katkinn]

Righty well the pesto was absolutely and utterly FABULOUS!!!!

Although I was :faint: at the amount of oil I had to pour in. But we didn't have LOADS of it (I was v good!!) and it tastes so so much fresher and "healthier" than the premade stuff.

And berluddy hell it was so easy!! I've no idea why I haven't ever made it before.

Can highly highly recommend it!! I did Jamie O's recipe which was

1 garlic clove
large handful of toasted pine nuts (I used two small handfuls!!)
Very large handful of parmesan (I used two normal handfuls!)
3 handfuls of basil leaves (I used 4 normal handfuls)
olive oil to bind (you just keep pouring!!!!!)
salt and pepper to season

Throw all the ingredients into a food processor and bobs your uncle!!

Shall definitely be doing that again.

Had it with a tomato and buffalo mozzarella (and I wonder why my food shopping is so expensive :doh: ) salad and a little dressing made with pesto thinned with a little extra olive oil.

DELISH!!!!

(followed by Cadburys Light Chocolate Trifle :teehee: They were on special offer in Tesco!!!)

katkinn
xx

[book_lover]

Yum, sounds lovely katkinn. Take it you'll be making that again!

xxx

[Verry Raspberry]

I decided to try the famous lemon chickpea recipe yesterday, and I'd say it's OK (I'll make some adjustments and it'll be even better :wink: ), together with a really nice rice salad with raisins, dried apricots and a vinagrette with apricot-balsamic vinagear and fresh rosemary ( :thumb: )

Today it was a regular tuna salad with bread and rocket salad with tomatoes, feta cheese and vinagrette. Really fresh!

Tomorrow it will be brussels sprouts with apple and juniper berries along with sausages (it'll be rainy, so I reckon I'd like something warmer)

Later in the week I'm planning to make a Guiness stew, and a beer chocolate cake (with the rest of the beer I didn't use in the stew!)

[book_lover]

beer chocolate cake? not heard of that one before VR! although I HAVE had a chocolate chilli cheesecake in an African cafe (in Edinburgh :lol:) and it was FAB! Tangy and chocolatey (but not spicy - not THAT much chilli!)

xxx

[Verry Raspberry]

chocolate chilli cheesecake

:scratchchin: Sounds interesting! Love to try it! :grin:

I have a muffin chocolate with chilli recipe that will try soon enough! :ellie:

[book_lover]

strangely, I am now finding it hard to get excited about my weight watchers carrot cake (which is so small it's hard to even see :rolleyes:)

xxx

[Dancing Queen]

strangely, I am now finding it hard to get excited about my weight watchers carrot cake (which is so small it's hard to even see :rolleyes:)

xxx

I am SO with you there BL, aren't diet desserts depressing? Although I just had a Strawberry Mullerlight, and I do love those, but none of the other flavours :rolleyes:

For dinner tonight, I made a low GI dish from a recipe given to me by a friend....

CHICKEN PASTA WITH CARAMELISED ONIONS (serves 4-6)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red (Spanish) onions, peeled and cut into thin wedges
2 tbsp sugar
1 red capsicum (pepper)
2 chicken breast fillets (about 300g/10 1/2 oz in total), thinly sliced
4 spring onions, sliced
2 tsp crushed garlic
250 ml/9 fl oz low fat evaporated milk
250 ml/9 fl oz chicken stock
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto or tomato paste (puree)
350g (12 oz) dried pasta, such as spirals or penne
30g (1 oz) shredded basil
freshly ground black pepper

1)To make caramelised onions, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan and add the onions and sugar. Cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the onions a re soft and golden brown. Take care to keep the heat low enough so the onions do not burn. Remove to a bowl and keep warm.

2) Cut the capsicum into quarters lengthways and remove the seeds and stalk. Lay the pieces, skin-side up, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Place under a hot grill and cook about 7 minutes, or until the skin is blackened and blistered. Using tongs, place the capsicum in a plastic freezer bag. Twist and seal, and put aside to cool slightly. When cool, remove the skin and slice the flesh into strips.

3) Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Add the chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the chicken is browned and cooked through. Add the spring onions and garlic and cook for a further minute. Stir in the evaporated milk, stock, pesto, and capsicum strips. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Remove the chicken mixture to a bowl and cover to keep warm.

4) Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water until al dente. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and return to sauce pan. Stir in the chicken mixture and caramelised onions and heat through. Stir in the basil and season with pepper.

Nutritional info (per serve):
GI LOW
1650 kJ (390 Cal), 10g fat (saturated 2g),
23g protein, 50g carbohydrate, 4g fibre,
260mg sodium

I used 1 Tbsp of Pesto, and 1 Tbsp of tomato puree. It was gorgeous (even if I did curdle it :doh: ) and would highly recommend it!! I think pine nuts would have been lovely in it too. Tomorrow's dish is low-fat roasted veg lasagne (http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/recipes/low_calorie/main_meals/vegetable_lasagne.htm), so I'll let you know what it's like!

[katkinn]

which is so small it's hard to even see

that's why it's WW :teehee: For low fat deserts I can highly recommend the Cadbury's low fat choc trifle (although I don't actually think they're that low fat - but they're berluddy delish!!)

Suzie that sounds lovely - may try that in the next week or so!

katkinn
xx

[Sparkly]

Oh sounds yum Suzie!

I made the infamous sticky citrus chicken tonight (noo noo's i think) & twas yum. Though not that sticky... is it meant to be? Did I use too big an orange and make it too runny? :scratchchin:

[Angel]

ooh that chicken and onion thing sounds lovely !

My dinner tonight was really crap. I found some fresh tuna lurking in the freezer so I thought I'd cook that and serve with some pasta and fresh tomato sauce. The pasta was fine but the tuna tasted odd, quite bland and pretty horrid. I ended up eating the pasta and some broccoli and now I'm hungry :no:

Failsafe dinner tomorrow though :laff:

[book_lover]

Oooh yum, that dish sounds so nice Suzie.

Katkinn - will look out for that pud! Maybe as a treat for a Friday night or something (yup, don't I know how to live :lol:)

We had pork with black pepper, ale and prunes last night. It was GORGE. Yet another recipe out of the Anthony Worrel Tomson GI Diet book (and nope, didn't taste diety at all).

You get 2 pork steaks (to serve 2), I used lovely free range Wiltshire ones.... you marinade them for at least 3 hours in loads of crushed black pepper, thyme, oregano, red wine vinegar and garlic. I left them all day. Then you slice onions and soften in butter, pop the pork into the casserole pan too, brown, then mix a bit of cornflour with some of the ale and stir it in, then add the ale, some chicken stock and the prunes - bring to the simmer and then pop in the oven (covered) for 1 hour. We had this with root veg mash and steamed green beans (although I did 2 steaks, but enough sauce for 4 :oops:. I'm glad I did too - would never have been enough for us otherwise - I can't do dry food and my bessie mate calls me a "saucy bird" :teehee:)

Yum! Think you could do so many variations on this - sausages would be nice too. The prunes and the ale (I used sweetheart stout so even more sweetness) produced such a lovely, rich, sweet gravy. Yum!

xxx

[katkinn]

Bookie I am LOVING the idea of doing that stew with sausages (DH doesn't like pork :doh: irritating feck that he is!!)

[Angel]

In total contrast to last night I had a really yummy dinner tonight - and it was my new recipe !

2 lamb leg steaks griddled until just a smidge of pink left in the middle and left to rest so they get really juicy. Served with a green salad and couscous made with chicken stock, sweetcorn, spring onions, chopped cherry toms, lemon juice, coriander and mint. I served it with toasted pine nuts and it was totally LUSH !!

[Sparkly]

Made Jamie's salmon wrapped in proscuitto with lemon herby lentils and yoghurt tonight. I'm so full I've had to open the zip of my jeans :oops: but it was rather yummy & looked/tasted way more impressive than it actually was to make!

[katkinn]

ooh sparkly that's what we had on Tuesday night!!! Great minds et al :wink:

I'm not entirely convinced about the yoghurt with the lentils and this time did without but added tomato and red onion to the lentils and it was loads better imho! (I also added loads of dill as one of the herbs and it was delish!)
But I do still think there is room for improvement in the lentil area........ I was thinkign about maybe roasted red peppers chopped up......:scratchchin:

But HOW divine is the salmon with prosciutto (although I used parma ham this time!) ????

[book_lover]

Mmm sounds tasty!

We're having chimichangas tonight, although am getting swayed to make Verry Raspberry's Adobo recipe (see her thread) instead. But we have avocados which direly need using up and DH was hankering after chimichangas.... I AM making a massive pot of refried beans right now though, so will have the adobo with what's left of them later in the week.

Am actually trying to finish my recipe plan for the week (shopping today) - guided by our veg box. We're going to have roast butternut squash halves (with either blue cheese or emmenthal melted into the dippy bit) with salad one night, make our own rocket pesto and have it with pasta (and possibly a rocket salad :rolleyes: refer to photos of my garden thread!) on Sunday (having had a big seafood meal at lunchtime for Father's day meal out). Monday we're having lamb curry with red cabbage braised in spices and cranberry juice. At some point for lunch we're having egyptian beetroot dip. THAT is about as far as I have got!

(any ideas welcome! Especially if they involve green beans!).

xxx

[book_lover]

right - have done my recipe plan.

tonight, beef adobo with refried beans, tortillas, gaucamole etc. (see Verry Raspberry's thread for the recipe)
Sat - lamb curry and braised red cabbage with cranberry juice
Sun - rocket pesto and pasta, with salad and garlic flatbread
Mon - chow mein
Tues - Cod tray baked with tatties, garlic, green beans and tomatoes
Wed - Butternut squash baked with emmenthal in the "hole", salad
Thurs - Carrot potato and courgette rosti with some meat of some description!

Lunches = egyptian beetroot dip and pittas; baked tattie with red cabbage coleslaw; curried carrot and parsnip soup.

I HOPE that uses all my veg box stuff in a sensible manner!

xxx

[Sparkly]

ooh sparkly that's what we had on Tuesday night!!! Great minds et al :wink:

I'm not entirely convinced about the yoghurt with the lentils and this time did without but added tomato and red onion to the lentils and it was loads better imho! (I also added loads of dill as one of the herbs and it was delish!)
But I do still think there is room for improvement in the lentil area........ I was thinkign about maybe roasted red peppers chopped up......:scratchchin:

But HOW divine is the salmon with prosciutto (although I used parma ham this time!) ????

Oh wow! Yup the salmon and prosciutto was gorge... I agree about the lentils needing more oomph, though I did love the yoghurt with them. Roasted red peppers sounds good... would some kind of cheese crumbled/shaved over them be too much do you think? I reckon they need softening a bit. I actually did some of those yummy mushrooms (porta... no I won't even try to spell) in butter & sprinkled those over the top, which was nice.

[katkinn]

Bookie - you're going to have to post your menu for next week again in next week's thread :wink: BTW bookie - do you make your own garlic flatbread????

Well I made Delia's Pad Thai and it was absolutely SCRUMMY!!! HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended.

Takes a while to assemble all the ingredients, but once you start cooking, it's literally 5 mins!! And it's pretty healthy too so that's definitely one for my regular menu list! (not too bonkers ingredients either :thumb: )

Sparkly, I was thinking about goats cheese crumbled in with a puylentil and roasted red pepper salad thingy which I think will be lovely but I think is probably a totally stand alone supper dish on reflection!!!!! Not sure how well it would go with the salmon......:scratchchin:

[Angel]

I've been looking at Delia's Pad Thai recipe for a while now but never got around to making it ! Ok, so another one on the list now. Maybe I'll make that next weekend.

[katkinn]

Honestly Angel is really really is lush!!

It looks a tad :zombie: when you add the egg and I did have a WTF? moment, and it doesn't look like the most appetizing dish (apart from when you cover it with the garnish!!) AND I thought....mmmm that's not very much for me and my hoover husband - but we were both SO full afterwards!!

I want it again tomorrow night!!!!!!

Hope you like it!

katkinn
xxxx

[Sparkly]

Sparkly, I was thinking about goats cheese crumbled in with a puylentil and roasted red pepper salad thingy which I think will be lovely but I think is probably a totally stand alone supper dish on reflection!!!!! Not sure how well it would go with the salmon......:scratchchin: Mmm... that sounds yum, though you could be right about it being stand alone. Or even with some pieces of salmon through it, rather than separately. Let me know if you try it!

Pad Thai sounds gorge too!