Friday 21 June 2013

Mussels in Chilli Tomato Sauce

Does the thought of omitting recipe ingredients stress you out? I'm here to tell you food is much simpler than you think and that your omission of ingredients is neither here nor there!

Also does the thought of seafood stress you? Mussels are so easy to cook and they are budget friendly (remember I am saving for a house!)

I made this on a Wednesday in less than 30mins, I had James de-beard the mussels which sounds far worse that it actually is - I've done this before, you just grab the little 'beard' thing and pull it up and out/down sorta thing, there are plenty of you-tube videos on this!

We went to the shops and they were on special for $5/kg and New Zealand produce which is all I would buy aside from Australian produce, so I googled a few recipes and found this one from taste.com

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 brown onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed 
  • 2 small red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1kg tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 1 lemon, rind finely grated, juiced
  • 2 teaspoons caster sugar
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1.5kg mussels, beards removed (see note)
  • 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
  • crusty bread, to serve
As you can see what I had didn't really match up but the principle is the same.

Ingredients:
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 brown onion sliced
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 tins of diced tomato
  • 2 fresh tomatoes chopped up (that's all we had )
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 Birdseye chillis (seeds left in)
  • 2 teaspoon hot flaked chilli
  • 1 kg mussels - de bearded
  • 3 tablespoons parsley (I just had the herb tube)
  • 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
Method:
  1. Heat oil in a large pan, with garlic, after a minute add onion, fresh and tinned tomatoes
  2. Let it thicken a little and add all other ingredients except olives and mussels
  3. Cook this on a medium temperature for about 15 minutes
  4. Add water if you think it is too thick
  5. Add mussels and olives and cover, cook for 7-10 mins shaking it a few times to coat mussels
  6. Take off the heat and serve!!
  7. Can serve with bread or home-made garlic bread! (Just mix a little minced garlic with butter, spread on bread and grill)

Thursday 20 June 2013

Peanut-So-Brittle Muesli Bars

So the other half of the peanuts went to my lovely work colleague who attempted peanut brittle for the first time

It was no so brittle - I always find sugar work is really temperamental - I can't say I would even attempt it!  But neither of us like food wastage and the peanuts were covered in a sugary buttery coating which realistically is the basis for most baked goods. 

So here we have another recipe not really about health but about not wasting food :-) I wouldn't normally recommend as much sugar as is in this recipe but it was already half made so just enjoy a pretty decent workout after these!

Ingredients: 
  • 4 cups peanuts
  • 3 cups caster sugar
  • 150gm butter
(The above was ready made into a pseudo toffee)
  • 2 1/2 cups quick oats
  • 2 eggs
  • desiccated coconut to sprinkle
Method:
  1. Just melt together the sugar, butter and peanuts add about 1 cups of water in a pot on the stove, do this slowly enough so as though it doesn't burn
  2. With a stick whiz, blend the mixture in the pan so it is broken up a little
  3. Let the mixture cool for 5-10mins and add to the oats in a large mixing bowl
  4. Combine well then add 2 beaten eggs and pour into a lined slice tin
  5. Sprinkle with coconut
  6. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 45mins.

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

So IIFYM macros!? Right?

These are treat time cookies, full of butter, sugar, flour and nuts. They are great, I even had one, James had a few and I shared them with work. I think home-made cooking just tastes so much better! 

At work we get mixed nuts, inevitably the peanuts are always left behind - we have heaps of them!

I decided with a girlfriend at work to take half home each and make them into something people would eat!

I made 29 cookies - I normally don't provide nutritional content but for anyone interested: 
Cals: 133
Fat: 8.6g
Carbs: 11.5g
Sugar: 5.5g
Protein: 3.3g

I only provided this because I think people exaggerate how 'bad' things are. No food is bad kidlets! ;-)

Ingredients: 
  • Leftover salted peanuts (about 2 cups worth)
  • 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup of butter
  • 1 1/4 cups wholemeal flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon full cream milk
Method:
  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
  2. Firstly put all the peanuts in a food processor / magic bullet etc & whiz them up as much as you can - it won't be peanut butter but like tiny soft oily granules kinda?
  3. Add in the butter and sugar and whiz a bit more till it's sort of creamy
  4. Add in the vanilla, egg and milk - whiz a bit more
  5. Lastly add in the flour & baking soda and it will become dough like - don't ask to much of your food processor like I did - mine started smoking :-/ .....
  6. Line a baking tray with baking paper and bake in batches of 12 (or however many you can comfortably fit)
  7. Only bake for 10-12 minutes! Do not over bake - they will not be chewy and delicious then!


Monday 17 June 2013

Sweet Potato, Zucchini & Chocolate Muffins

I had a great weekend. Very full of homey type things, cleaning, cooking and friends. I have relaxed a little bit with a few grains and 'chocolate' chips in these muffins, I have been squatting 4 x a week + dead-lifting &  reluctantly throwing in a few met cons during the week. So slowly but surely I'm trying to raise my macros - a la Layne Norton.

These passed the ultimate test in that James has eaten about 3 of them and hasn't noticed anything suspect. I also tried them out on a girlfriend (all be it very nervously) and she didn't seem to notice too much of a difference!

These muffins are based on the healthy foodie's version ! - I just had to use (like normal) anything left in the cupboard / fridge!

Ingredients - Makes 15:

Dry Ingredients
  • 2 cups wholemeal flour
  • ½ cup almond meal
  • 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ cup milk chocolate chips
Wet Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup date paste (Can easily be homemade - just soften dried dates in boiling water & whiz)
  • 1 cup pure sweet potato puree
  • 2 zucchini, whizzed in the food processor
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp pure almond extract
To be sprinkled on muffins
  • 3 tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts
  • 2 tbsp milk chocolate buttons
Method:
  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 
  2. Line muffin pan (for 15 large muffins) with muffin cup & give them a light spray of oil
  3. In a small bowl mix flour, almond meal, cocoa and cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder. Mix in choc chips and set aside.
  4. In a larger bowl, mix all wet ingredients together.
  5. Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix with a wooden spoon
  6. Divide the batter between the 15 prepared muffin cups and sprinkle chopped hazelnuts and choc-chips on top. Place muffins in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. (Oven time will vary - ideally if you poke it with a knife they will come out clean!)
  7. Remove the pan from the oven and let the muffins cool in the pan for 3-5 minutes, then remove and place them on rack to cool completely.
  8. Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one week.