Eggs Masala (Meatless Monday)

The husband still isn't convinced of meatlessness as a good thing, but he doesn't complain at these eggs. I like them for lunch, and they are the ideal using up the end of the ingredients before grocery shopping.



Ingredients
1/2 onion
1/2 tomato
3 eggs
Chillies to taste
Garam masala
Turmeric
Cumin seeds
Garlic clove
Olive oil

1. Dice onion and tomato. Toss in a hot pan with oil and cumin seeds, crushed garlic, finely chopped chillies, and other spices to taste.

2. Cook until the onion is clear.

3. With a fork, whisk the 3 eggs in a separate bowl. Tip into the pan with the rest and a little salt and pepper.


Serve on toast, or I prefer rolled into a wrap and toasted in a panini press.



These little containers are brilliant reminders of part vege in my fridge. Whenever I have the tomato and onion I know I am nearly ready for eggs masala.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Spicy Chicken and Cabbage Pita Pockets

Last night I made Cajun Spiced Chicken with Silver Beet.
I am not a fan of cooking meat for one meal only, as it's only the husband that eats the meat. So I like to "recycle" cooked meats for other meals.

Today he took a couple of chicken legs to work as a snack.

Which left me with a pair of legs to turn into chicken pita pockets. They were tastier than they looked (according to the husband, in fact, he liked them and didn't notice the cabbage)



Ingredients
Leftover Cajun Spiced Chicken with Silver Beet
Knob of butter
Handful of chopped cabbage
Roasted vegetables (I had carrots, garlic and onions with my tea)
2 pita pockets

Heat the pita pockets so that they rise a little. Slice open along one side.

Remove the meat from 2 chicken legs, discarding the bones. Warm the chicken and leftover chard/tomato mix. I did this in the microwave for a minute and a half.

In a pan, throw in the butter. When this has melted, add cabbage, salt and pepper. Cook until the cabbage is soft, but not gooey.

In a panini press, lay out the pita pockets. Carefully scoop and spread the chicken, cabbage and roasted vegetables through the pocket. Cook in the press until golden brown.

Now, long term readers know that the husband is recovering from colon cancer, and is still getting used to eating vegetables, cutting down on meat, and not every meal being a curry. Oh the culinary joys of interracial relationships! These he really liked, and they were super high in vegetables. The cabbage I like cooked in a little butter, he would have worried about the butter, but I try to keep his weight up by cooking with it every now and again. It's a sneaky post-chemo, high calorie trick ;) it's also great cooked in a little olive oil or steamed.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Apple Pie - Simplified

I love apple pie.... Really. To the point that large ones get eaten too fast to be healthy.

This weekend I had leftover puff pastry, and I hate wasting pastry. Nom nom nom pastry.

Simply roll and line a greased pie tin. Peel and slice 2 apples. I used Braeburn because I had them. Sprinkle with cinnamon and throw in 2 cloves. Cut pastry strips and form a lattice top. Roll the edges and bake for approx 15 minutes at 180 degrees C.

Wait a little. Or it will burn your entire face. Eat while warm.... I ate mine fore eating dinner.... Then I skipped dinner.

I think a simple peeled sliced apple works well, as the pie doesn't get too damp, yet has a good moist quality, without running the pastry. The pie doesn't need sugar in my opinion.

Amazing with custard or cream. Or both.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bacon and Mushroom Fettuccine

Those of you who have been following for a while will know that feeding the man here is.... Challenging! But since recovering from chemo and colon cancer, he is at least trying new foods, and even will eat pasta. Usually I make this without the bacon, but he skipped breakfast and begged for meat. It does however make enough for 2 large portions, so he ended up with leftovers for work. And as we all know, the mushrooms make everything taste "meatier" so there went another trick to lower his meat intake. I am a sneaky vegetarian after all! Ridiculously easy to make, tasty, and the ingredients are never far from the fridge.

Ingredients
1/2 onion, diced
4 mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 slices of bacon, diced
1 handful fettuccini
2 cloves of garlic
2 springs of rosemary
1 vegetable stock cube (optional)
Teaspoon olive oil
Water
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Boil water with salt. Snap fettuccine in half, and cook until nearly done... Still with a slight hardness in the middle. I like snapping it in half so it fits in a standard saucepan, and so that the man doesn't complain that it's too hard to get the pasta on the fork!

2. While pasta is boiling, heat a deep fry pan, add butter and diced onions. When onions are clear, add bacon to the pan.

3. Using a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic and rosemary, then add to the pan. Add the mushrooms and stir. Add a vegetable stock cube if you wish at this point.

4. Drain pasta, adding a few tablespoons of the boiling water to the fry pan, and add the fettuccine to the fry pan.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir until all the ingredients are mixed and the mushrooms are soft.

6. Serve and eat.

 Great for those in a rush meals. It takes less that 10 minutes from "I'm starving, what's for lunch?" to being on the plate. To change it up, sometimes I will use penne instead, and a little diced chicken instead of bacon, and a tiny tin of coconut milk. Throwing in a couple of diced green chillies then gives the whole dish a somewhat Thai flavour and the man thinks I have more exceptional cooking skills than I really do. ;) Sorry, there are no photos as the man ate it all before I could take a decent one (he was dying of starvation remember), and a plastic container for lunch just seemed less classy.

Dahl Toasted Sandwiches

I know I have blogged of the wonders, and probably to the despair of foodies worldwide, but these are magnificent.

I love this recipe for a simple red lentil dahl, it's a vegetarian curry.  It's super simple to make (just keep the heat down low and stir, stir, stir).  And it has a taste beyond comparison.  It is also incredibly cheap- less than a dollar for the ingredients, which will easily serve 4.  It makes a meal served with rice for around 50 cents per person.  Crazy!

Red Lentil Dahl

I recommend trying it, even non-curry lovers like it.  Leave out the chilli for those of you who don't like hot.

As leftovers, lentils are great.  I personally love a nice dahl toasted sandwich on an honey grain toast as lunch the following day.  The flavours of all curry deepen over time, so they make the best leftovers.

Today's super simple toasted sandwich lunch

Muffin-tin Iskender

After a lot of talking about Art today and how it really is breaking down things into smaller parts, this happened for dinner.... a deconstructed Iskender.  Which is nice.... as the foods don't touch!  Lol.

Here we have:
- Felafel patties
- Cucumber cubes
- Grated Carrot
- Cubed beetroot
- Lettuce slices
- Hummus
- Yogurt dressing

And it was all served with a side of rice. 

For Iskender lovers, tomorrow's lunch will involve this in some way.  I LOVE LEFTOVERS!

Iskender for tea

I ordered the Easy-Lunchbox last year, and the set arrived while I was away.  I thought it was time that I gave them a whirl.

Last night I put some leftover rice in the large compartment.  With tabbouleh in the fridge, a Turkish iskender was totally on the menu.

While the falaffels were dry-frying, I harvested lettuce and cucumber, grated a carrot, and popped it all in the lunchboox with a little beetroot.  In the small containers, hummus and a little left-over natural yogurt.

When the falafels were done, dinner was ready.  And did I mention, I have tabbouleh and cooked falafels left-over for tomorrow.  I did say I was the master of the letover... :D

I was impressed with the depth of the compartments in the easy lunchbox, it held enough for my dinner, which was nice, as I still treat this as the largest meal of the day.  A little difficult to eat from cross-legged, but I could infact eat at a table.... (Being a Drama teacher often means I spend a lot of time sitting on the floor with my food.....)

Dahl toasted sandwiches

Well, I am the master of the left-over and a lazy cook.....

Yesterday's dahl become lunch for my husband at work (one that travels well and he does not complain about) and toasted sandwich fillings for me.  There is nothing greater than something that is warm, and takes less than a minute to prepare... :D

Muffin Tin Monday - I didn't manage a theme.....

Well, I just had one of those days where I spent the whole thing chasing my tail.  I got home, and was not interested in doing MTM, then I stopped, and just did it.  And I was pleased that I did.

Here we have, with no panache or style:
1.  Green grapes
2.  Gingernuts
3.  Marshmellow ducks
4.  Berry yogurt
5.  Strawberries
6.  Caramel sandwiches.

At least the strawberries and grapes were harvest-y?

Muffin Tin Monday - No theme, just "leftovers"

No theme- just leftovers in the fridge....

Here we have some pebbles, cucumber slices, fettucine, apple slices, almonds and cheese and crackers.  Simple and nom.

It's a busy weekend around the house... :D

Well, I usually loathe and despise those annoying chores like lawns, weeds... etc... but not today.  I will post later about what I found outside!  Joy!

But for now, it is lunch.  And I was on the fringe of just saying, "screw it" and eating a muesli bar or skipping lunch completely (and being totally over it by dinner and bingeing.... so not good).

So I opened the fridge and decided to comparmentalise my lunch.... and just eat leftovers....

Here we have some leftover lentil and bulgar wheat salad- still amazing even given that I made it on Thursday (and is now Sunday).  Fresh bread toasted, cut into puzzle pieces, topped with leftover peanut butter and half a banana cut into slices on top.... meal mates minis with cheese stars, 1/4 cup of nuts and raisins (also left over from movie night the other day), and a kiwi fruit.  Not a bad effort, all things considered.  I shall now head back outdoors to continue working on the gardens... after hanging the laundry.

You may notice a beagle sneaking a glance at my lunch.... and here she is again after being denied my computing snacks!

Way way way too cute to be ignored!