ORDER! ORDER! ORDER!

 

ORDER! ORDER! ORDER! 

Sometimes I forget how clever my big one is. He suggested I make up our juices and smoothies and keep them in the fridge for quick access! 

Tonight I made several of my favourite morning blends and popped them in the door – with a quick note on the front reminding us what we need to add when we make them. 

Now we have no excuses – it’s just blend and enjoy!

Fish Tacos

FISH TACO’S

Cheats dinner #99 I don’t know what it is about mid week meals but the easier the better in our house. I want them to cause minimal dishes and make MOO happy. This ticked all the boxes! 

RECIPE 

400g White Fish Fillets

Mini Tortilla Wraps 

Baby Spinach 

1/2 Red Onion – grated 

Tartare Sauce

2x Sweet potatoes 

1x Orange rind 

Salt and Pepper 

METHOD 

1. Slice Sweet potatoes into rings
2. lay flat on a baking tray, lightly cover with olive oil 
3. Grate orange rind on top and add salt and pepper
4. Bake in 180 oven until crisp around the edges. 
5. Grill fish – then slice into strips 
6. Assemble the wraps 
7. Serve with sweet potatoes 

enjoy! 

Choc Blueberry Banana Bread

CHOC BLUEBERRY BANANA BREAD

I hunted and searched and could not find a sweet chocolate banana bread that would satisfy my cravings! I have come up with the following recipe that with the utmost modesty I just have to insist you try! 

RECIPE 

3x Mashed Bananas 

2C Almond Meal

1tbs Baking Powder

1tsp Cinnamon 

2 tsp Raw Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla 

2 Eggs

1 Scoop Chocolate Protein Powder

Handful chopped blueberries

METHOD

1. Combine all ingredients in above listed order
2. Pour into a lined loaf tin
3. Cook at 180 for aprox 35 minutes 

I topped mine with some slivered almonds. I have also since made this with Strawberries instead of blueberries and it was just as good.

Can be sliced and frozen in portion sized for some easy snacks ! 

{Should Be} Turkey Burgers

{SHOULD BE} TURKEY BURGERS 

In order to share with you the meaning behind the title of this dinner I need to share with you my outrage with chain supermarkets. Where we live I have a local Coles, Woolworths and even several butchers … none of which today sold Turkey Mince. I couldn’t believe it! Then when I approached the customer service staff I was asked why I would even want turkey anyway – its not Christmas. 

Bit sad that we live in a community so naive to not understand the health benefits of turkey – lets begin with the leaner meat argument. 

I have substituted for organic free range chicken mince and am seriously considering a meat grinder so I can make my own . . . would be a fun thing to make – my own mince – possibilities are endless – sausages even! Hmmm might just add to the christmas list. 

ANYWAY! You will be pleased to know these tasted great with chicken 🙂 Moo ate all of his and started on his dads also! I did forget to pick up some salad greens so we just had ours on some Gluten Free buns I picked up from the health food shop with some left over honey mustard from the chicken fingers the other night. 

RECIPE 

500g Chicken or Turkey Mince

1 Egg White

1/2 Red Onion, finely diced

1/2 C Quinoa flakes (you could used finely chopped oats)

1 clove minced garlic

salt and pepper 

2 Tbs Fresh Parsley 

2 Tbs Fresh Oregano 

2 Tbs Fresh Basil 

METHOD 

1. Lightly beat the egg white 
2. Add to all the other ingredients except the mince 
3. combine with the mince
4. break into 6-8 patties 

There are two ways to cook these – bake them in your oven for about 30 – 45 minutes or on your griddle pan. 

I tried both ways tonight and really the only difference was in the time it took to get dinner on the table. 

Was a nice experience to not have an argument over tea for one night this week! 

 

Steamed Peanut Chicken

STEAMED PEANUT CHICKEN 

I am regretting not taking a more appetising photo of this dish – The one I have does not do justice!! 

That being said – Moo picked, while negotiating how he could get some McDonalds. This conversation went a lot like this “What about this mum. We don’t eat dinner and we get at McDonalds” “Or! We can eat this later!” He wasn’t terribly impressed with my No response and took it out on his dinner bowl. 

I do urge you to try this recipe though!! It isn’t the prettiest dinner but totally scrummy! 

RECIPE 

1/4 C Nut Butter (smooth is best) 

1/4 C Coconut Milk 

2 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar 

1 Tbsp Raw Agave Syrup 

1 Tbsp Lime Juice 

1 Tbsp Minced Ginger 

1 Tsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 clove of garlic, crushed

Green Beans

1 Red Onion, quartered 

2 Sweet Potatoes diced

2 Chicken Breast (free Range, Organic) 

METHOD

1. Pre Heat oven to 200 degrees 
2. In a medium bowl combine, panut butter, milk, vinegar, agave, lime, ginger, soy and garlic – season with salt and pepper
3. Cut 4 squares of aluminium foil (12 x 16 inches) 
4. Divide vegetables evenly onto each square top with chicken and sauce 
5. Wrap each parcel tightly 
6. Pop into the oven for about 20-25 minutes

You can check the parcels to ensure the potato and chicken are cooked but make sure you seal them tightly before popping back into the oven if they aren’t quite done

then serve them in a bowl – PERFECT!

xox

 

Chocolate Chip Soft Serve

CHOCOLATE CHIP SOFT SERVE 

The weather was beautiful today, sunny with a slight breeze so I picked Moo up from school, got the dog and went for a stroll around the lake. We saw some ducklings, chased some butterflies and raced down the slide. 

We would normally top a day like to today with some chocolate ice cream – and I fully intended on keeping this tradition – however after recently discovering I can no longer handle lactose and have an intolerance to gluten I wanted to indulge too – and to be honest I had hoped our experiment ended better than it did so that I could make this more often! 

I thought it was delicious! He cried as he detected banana ….

RECIPE 

2 frozen bananas 

2 Tbs Coconut Water (could use normal water) 

2 Medjool Dates

2 Tbs Cacao Powder 

1 Tbs Cacao Nibbles 

METHOD

1. In your blender combine the banana, water and dates 
2. Stir through Cacao 
3. Top with Nibbles – stir through once dished up 

It is THAT simple! I couldn’t get enough! Was secretly happy I got to eat two bowls! YUM!! 

xox

 

 

Rainbow Salad

RAINBOW SALAD 

Tonight is another one of those easy nights. A challenge and he didn’t eat much of it. BUT the win here is that he tried it, we had no tears and it was a bit of a game. Whilst making the salad we talked about rainbows and the different colours we see. We talked about what these colours might taste like and how they make us feel. We discussed the names of the vegetables, where and how they grow – it was great bonding time.  I added a tin of tuna for some protein but would be great with chicken or just on its own! 

RECIPE 

2x Carrots

1x Beetroot

1x Bag of mixed lettuce

1x Cob of corn – kernels removed

Cherry tomatoes 

Olives (optional) 

1.5 Tbs Tahini 

1.5 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar 

Juice of /12 a lemon 

1 tsp Raw Agave 

METHOD

1. In a large bowl add lettuce – using a vegetable peel shred carrot – add halved cherry tomatoes – add corn kernels, peel and dice / slice beetroot, add olives. 
2. Combine Tahini, Vinegar and lemon juice until mixture is thin – add raw agave – mix through the salad 

I am really glad I made this salad tonight – it was so tempting to throw caution to the wind and scoff a take away burger but this was a much better option – plus if moo gets hungry later on there is always plenty more left over! 

I often find it difficult to have that balance, when you come home from a long day at work to make something that looks good, tastes good and pleases everyone – thats why I particularly love this salad – it ticks all of these boxes, it’s easy and there is so much variety in there that there is bound to be something that everyone likes 

xox

 

Best Ever Chicken Strips

BEST EVER CHICKEN STRIPS

I had a yuck day at work today – and when I collected moo from school I dreaded the inevitable dinner time argument, not to mention, I needed to eat my feelings.

RECIPE 

1/2 C Almond Meal / Flour

1 1/2 tsp Garlic Salt

1/2 tsp Paprika

2 tsp Flax seeds

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 egg

1 egg white

1/4 C Almond milk

2 Pieces of whole grain bread (ground into crumbs)

500gm Chicken Tenderloins

METHOD 

1. Pre Heat oven to 180
2. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl
3. Combine wet ingredients in another
4. Dip chicken into breadcrumb mixture, then in egg mixture and again in breadcrumbs (this step is really important!)
5. Lay on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes either side

The Sweet Potato fries were super easy – I just sliced up some sweet potato, added a little oil, garlic salt and pepper evened it out and popped it in the 180 degree oven for about 40 minutes, turning once. The hardest part is leaving these alone while they cook!

xox

Power Bars

POWER BARS 

I confess I forgot all about school tomorrow! It is 8pm and I am washing uniforms, packing lunch boxes and discovering I have not prepared anything awesome for lunch.

Tonight we had pizza for tea – I have discovered mashed roast pumpkin is incredible as a sauce base and as long as I call it orange sauce Moo eats it up. I cheated and made tonights on Gluten Free wraps and topped Moo’s with cheese (I know sounds gross but oddly it worked and he couldn’t get enough of it!) Us grown ups had other roast vegetables like eggplant and red onion mmmmm

I had some left over pumpkin and some fruit going off so I whipped up a batch of our favourite power bars (great name if you have a super hero mad child – gives them super strengths!)

RECIPE 

2/3C Nut Butter

10tbs Cooled Roast Pumpkin (roughly)

1.5C Shredded coconut

1 whole ripe banana

2tsp Cinnamon

2tsp Vanilla

pinch of salt

METHOD 

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees
2. Combine ingredients in order as listed above in your blender or food processor (this is a time saver if you don’t have or want to use a machine – Mash the nut butter, pumpkin and banana together then stir in the remaining ingredients)
3. This mixture will go mushy, almost cake like
4. Place into prepared lined tin, I think mine is 20cm x 20cm and it filled this nicely.
5. Bake for about 1 hour (keep an eye on them to avoid burning like I dod … whoops)
6. Let cool in the tin then transfer to a wire rack, slice and serve.

I just adore this recipe, and whilst I would rather he willingly eat vegetables and fruit I take comfort knowing that he thinks he is eating super hero cake and not picking bits and bobs out of it!

You can make this recipe in mini / individual loaf tins also and serve as a breakfast with some fresh berries and a drizzle of honey – YUM

The best part about this recipe is it doesn’t have to be exact – you can play with it – add and take bits out – tonight I fell short on the pumpkin and coconut and they are still amazing!

Here is a picture of our thrown together lunch for tomorrow

I think I will also let him take some left over pumpkin pizza as I fully expect the fruit salad to make it home along with the vegetable sticks – but I mum can dream right? At least the power bars will keep him moving and focussed!

xox

Jamie Oliver – Fish Bake

– FISH BAKE –

I borrowed this recipe from Mr. Oliver and added my own home made Salsa Verde and roughed up a little garden salad – was such an easy and fairly cheap mid week meal. MOO likes his fish so I knew it would be a winner and reduce the arguing for the evening.

RECIPE 

4 Large prawns

2 Salmon fillets

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Basil

Asparagus

2x Lemons, cut in quarters

1x Red chilli

1x Clove of garlic

1x Tin anchovies

8x Cherry tomatoes

METHOD 

1. Place the fish in the roasting tin
2. Add half the anchovies and the anchovy oil to the tray
3. Add the cherry tomatoes, asparagus and lemon quarters
4. Top with olive oil and salt and pepper – give everything a good rub and mix about
5. finely slice the chilli and toss over the bake
6. Top with basil and pop the garlic in the amongst the fish
7. Pop into the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes

I cannot remember what Jamie serves his with but I had salsa verde in the fridge from a previous meal and topped mine with that

the salad was simple, some roast potatoes, cherry tomatoes and rocket.

My only suggestion, and lesson learned with this meal is to peel the prawns before serving them to children – they might look impressive but when that little face looks up at you with the “what on earth have you served me this for” look and a prawn head sticking out of his mouth – they suddenly loose their appeal!! Luckily for me this didn’t put MOO off and he got to eat my prawns also!!

Enjoy