Chicken and vegetable quiche

I do love a good quiche and when there's chicken added, it's even better tasting.

Serves 2 

Method - 

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Whisk 6 eggs in a bowl.

Add 1 cup of chopped up vegetables (I used peas and carrots).

Add 1 finely diced cooked chicken breast.

Add 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of paprika, stir all of the ingredients.

Oil a small baking pan (approx 15cm in diametre). Pour mixture into pan and cook for 20-30 minutes or until golden on top.

Moroccan couscous with roasted lemons

I had a similar dish about a year ago at a Moroccan restaurant here in London and wanted to try to create it (or what I remember of it).

Method  (serves 3)

Roasted lemons -

Preheat oven to 160C. Cut 5 lemons into quarters, lengthways and place on a tray then drizzle olive oil and grind some sea salt over the lemons. Put in the oven for 20 minutes or until soft and slightly golden around the edges.

Couscous -

Pour 375ml of boiling water onto 250grams of couscous and half a cup of sultanas and cover for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir couscous, add 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of paprika and 5 teaspoons of salt.

Plating up -

Wet a ceramic bowl then fill bowl with couscous. Place a plate on top of the bowl. Place one hand on the plate and one hand underneath the bowl; quickly, firmly and gently flip the plate and bowl so that your top hand is now on the bottom. Place the plate on the bench then gently lift the bowl off leaving the couscous on the plate in a nicely formed shaped (I used a square bowl for this).

Coconut hot chocolate

I do love a good hot chocolate and this one is dairy free which makes it even better.

Heat coconut milk from 1 can (roughly 400ml), 2 heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons of honey and stir while brining to the boil then take off heat when bubbles start to rise.

Dust with some cocoa powder using a sieve to avoid lumps.

Poached pear in red wine

This seems like more of a winter dessert but I had some merlot and a pear and thought "why not?"

Method-

Peel 1 pear and place in a saucepan with 1 glass of red wine (merlot or a cabernet merlot), 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy. 

Dark chocolate vegan mousse

Wow. Oh my goodness wow. I have never eaten this let alone tried making it so I had no idea what to expect.

That's right, it's vegan, dairy free and the only sugar it contains is honey and fruit sugars in the fresh fruit on top.

Serves 2

Method

Scoop out contents of 2 avocados, chop and mix with electric hand-held mixer.

Add 5 teaspoons of honey and 1 tablespoon of olive or coconut oil. Add half a cup of cocoa powder and using a wooden spoon, stir until avocado is completely mixed into the cocoa powder.

That's it.

Serve onto a plate or bowl and add fresh fruit.

Lavender and lemon iced tea

 Only having tried lavender once in my life (my lavender and white chocolate yoghurt recipe) I thought it would be fun continuing to experiment with the flower.

The weather in London at the moment is ridiculous, just as it is in our summers back in Australia. It's been 30+ degrees and a million % humidity too so this iced tea is just the ticket.

Method - in a ceramic or glass container place 2 sprigs of lavender and a one cup of boiling water. Add 1 squeeze of lemon and a teaspoon of honey. Let diffuse for 5 minutes before putting into the fridge to cool down.

In a glass, layer ice and slices of lemon and add 2 fresh sprigs of lavender.

Take the tea out of the fridge once it is slightly cooler (10 minutes is fine). Remove used lavender sprigs. Pour tea into the glass with ice and add a slice of lemon onto rim of the glass to decorate.

Cottage pie

Here I was confused about the differences between cottage pie and Shepherd's pie. Basically, Cottage pie uses minced beef and Shepherd's pie uses minced lamb so I guess you can have vegetables in either dish.

Method

This can be as difficult or as simple as you like it. You could use pre-made mashed potato or you could make your own (that's what I did). I must admit, to save time, I used frozen vegetables but they are still healthy, cheap and quick to use and not messy at all.

Mashed potato

Peel and chop 6 large potatoes and steam/boil in small amount of water until soft. Remove from heat, drain.

Either use a masher or an electric hand held mixer. I found the mixer to be quicker. I added approximately one portion of potato at a time and added a drizzle of oil each time then blended (about 6 separate times).

Pie filling

Peel and chop 3 onions and cook in a pan, remove from heat.

Next I cooked 1kg of minced beef in a pan and added 2 cups of frozen vegetables, half a cup of boiling water and 6 teaspoons of gravy powder.

Once this is cooked, remove from heat, add cooked onions to the mix.

Put mixture into a large rectangle baking tray.

Place mashed potato on top and carefully spread out evenly.

Put the cottage pie in a preheated 180C oven and cook for 20 minutes or until potato is golden brown.

Banana and peanut butter bites

Overcoming the fear of anything can sometimes take time. In this case, I'm 30 and only just starting to conquer my phobia of bananas. 

Method-

Peel and chop 1 banana. Mix banana using an electric hand-held mixer.

Add roughly 1 cup of rolled oats. Add 3 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter. Add 2 tablespoons of honey. If mixture is still a little bit runny, keep adding rolled oats until it binds together nicely.

Sprinkle a decent amount of either cinnamon or cocoa powder on a plate. Wet your hands. take about a tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball then roll it in the powder on the plate.

Refrigerate for 1 hour until firm.

Avocado, sweet potato and capsicum salad

There's nothing like a protein packed meal straight after a big run (I went for a long run this morning) but without a heavy meal on the stomach, a salad is the perfect option. Avocados are high in protein (I grew up on them, my dad is a vegetarian and they are one of his major sources of protein so we always had a surplus).

Here I used 1x chopped up avocado,
half a red capsicum, half a green capsicum,
half a chopped sweet potato that I steamed for 5 minutes,
1 x small chopped cucumber,
2 tablespoons of my homemade mayonnaise (see previous blog post),
a squeeze of lemon juice, a sprinkle of salt,
1 tablespoon of almond meal and 2 teaspoons chopped pistachio nuts.

Satsuma jam

Satsumas or mandarines as we call them in Australia are amazing, I love citrus fruits. Yesterday I bought a whole netted bag, ate half and instead of letting the other half go to waste, I figured it would make a great jam.

Method-

Peel and cut 4 satsumas/mandarines into small pieces. In a saucepan, add 4 tablespoons of sugar (I know, it's a lot of sugar but it's ok to treat yourself once in a while) and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Use a potato masher (or whatever those plastic/metal things are called) to press the fruit down and get the juices out. 

Bring to the boil and keep on high for roughly 3-4 minutes to let some of the liquid evaporate.

Turn heat down to low and let simmer for several minutes. Remove from heat, serve. 

If you feel that your jam is still a bit too runny, add a little more sugar and then bring to the boil again then turn heat down once again to simmer.

Cathy's lavender and white chocolate yoghurt

I do this blog simply because I love to experiment with food and I love taking photographs but to know that people are reading it is a bonus.

Soooo, I am proud to present one of my reader's attempt at my Lavender white chocolate yoghurt. It looks great, Cathy Lawrence, you are a pro!

Nectarine crumble

Instead of apple crumble, I looked at my little lonely nectarine in the bowl and figured that he could be off use instead.

So here it is.

Method-

(makes 2 jars)

Scatter roughly 2 cups of oats on a tray and toast in the grill until light brown (approx. 5 minutes).

Custard

In a bowl, mix 2 eggs with 6 teaspoons of sugar using a whisk. Add 1 cups of milk then whisk.

Take 2 jars and pour 1/4 of the oats into each jar. Pour half of the custard mixture into each jar. 

Cut 1 nectarine into slices and place half into each jar on top.

In a saucepan, place the jars and fill the pan with water near to the top. Boil for several minutes until custard mixture cooks. 

Top with more oats and a little drizzle of honey.

Rice pudding with fresh berries

I remember whenever mum and dad made a big batch of rice at dinner time, having left over rice for dessert and we just added a few ingredients to make it sweet.

Method-

Cook white basmati rice (1 cup per person), 1:2 rice to water ratio. Remove from heat before rice becomes too soft (make sure it still a tiny bit of bite).

In a separate pan, heat 1 cup of milk for every cup of rice that you use in a low-to medium heat. Add 1 egg yolk and use a whisk quickly to avoid lumps. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Add cooked rice and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer, continue cooking until the moisture has absorbed.

Serve topped with fresh fruit and cinnamon.

Avocado mousse

Avocado as a dessert, I never thought I'd try it but here it is, my first sweet avocado dish.

It's quite strange because I've done a bit of travelling and some of the places I've been to, they look at me strange when I say I want salt with my avocado as they tend to it theirs sweet (either as a smoothie or with sugar).

Method (serves 1)

Peel and blend 1 avocado. Add 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and then blend again.

Serve and top with some chopped dates for extra sweetness.

Benefits - it's dairy free therefor guilt free and it's packed with goodness and good fats that your body needs so you're really doing yourself a favour instead of eating high fatty, dairy-filled sugary desserts.

Rice stuffed blistered peppers

This dish is inspired by Mediterranean cuisine with char-grilled pepper as the focus.

Method (serves 2)

Cook 2 cups of brown rice in 4 cups of water, boil until soft but firm (20 minutes).

Steam half a cup of peeled and chopped sweet potatoes until soft (5 minutes).

In a frying pan, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, fry a handful of very finely diced steak and after 2 minutes, add 2 tablespoons of chopped courgettes (zucchini), 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of paprika. Add rice and stir well. Remove from heat.

Chop off the top and de-seed 1 capsicum. On a gas stove or on a naked flame, hold a pepper (capsicum) against the flame with tongs for 1 minutes on each side and rotate until the skin becomes black and blistering.

Remove from heat, stuff with rice filling and serve.

 

Banana and blueberry smoothie

This is a big deal for me. I had a phobia of bananas for most of my life and this morning, even peeling one was terrifying (just a bit of a drama queen).

Method (makes 2 glasses)

Peel and chop 1 1/2 bananas and blend.

Add a handful of blueberries, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and blend.