Getting back to it...

So it has been forever since I've posted, and as an update on the home front, I am now mum to a wonderful little ball of energy named Joe who turns 2 in December! 

Blog wise, I have good news in the form of new recipes for you to try out! We've been trying to eat more healthy in my house, as the hubs wants to lose weight, and I have to keep mine under control now I am expecting number 2. With that, I bring you my new recipe - inspiration from Pinterest!

Clean Eating Tacos!

Serves 4

Ingredients

Baby cos, leaves whole but separated and washed

1 tub chunky avocado from Woolworths (if you're lazy) OR 2-3 ripe avocados, mashed

2 cloves of garlic (more if you want, it's all to taste)

1 lemon

salt

Pork mince

1 pack taco seasoning

2 cups frozen corn (you can use less or none, up to you)

1 carrot, grated

1 zucchini, grated

1 cup passata sauce

2 tomatoes

Low fat grated tasty cheese

Method

1. Heat up your frypan, and add a little bit of olive oil. Add your pork mince and cook until almost done. Add your taco seasoning, passata, and corn, and stir through for say 2 minutes. Add your carrot and zucchini, and turn the burner down low so it simmers while you prep the rest.

2. Get your avocado in a bowl, and crush your garlic into it. Add the juice from the lemon, and give it all a stir. Add salt to taste.

3. If you haven't already, prep your baby cos leaves and place on a serving plate. Dice your tomatoes and add to a separate bowl/plate.

4. Your meat and veg should be cooked through, but if not just wait until it is, making sure you give it a stir every now and then. When ready, put everything out on the table for everyone to serve themselves!

This recipe is much healthier than using taco shells, as you're using the lettuce leaves instead.

Bon appetite!

Super easy fried rice

Only a month and a half left until I pop out the little nugget, and I think I've finally gotten back the vibe for creating new meals! Yay! Last night's creation was mainly due to four leftover sausages from the previous night's dinner. Four sausages would not cover both the hubs and I, and I wanted to have extra for lunch today. Solution? Fried rice! Fried rice is super easy to make, and the best part is you can throw in whatever you have on hand in the fridge! Some staples to keep in your cupboard for this super quick and easy dish - Chinese five spice, sesame oil, onions, and soy sauce. In this instance, I used sushi and sashimi soy sauce that I bought from the Asian food section in the local Woolworths, it's sweeter and not as harsh tasting as normal soy sauce. I'll no doubt be making fried rice again, but next time I would like to add chorizo sausage and ham bits in place of the leftover sausages - the smoky flavours would add so much to this dish!
To the recipe!

Fried rice
Serves 4

Ingredients
Must haves:
- 1 teacup rice - I used Koala brand jasmine rice, but feel free to use whatever rice is in your cupboard. Remember, if you plan to use brown rice, brown rice takes longer to cook. You want it to be soft and fluffy.
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice.
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil (if you don't have any, that's fine, olive oil or vegetable oil do the trick too).
- 1 - 2 onions, chopped - I used 2, but they were on the small side. Use your judgement on how much you want in there.
- 2 - 3 eggs - I used 3, but if you feel that's too much, adjust accordingly.
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste.
Other ingredients I used:
- 4 cold thin beef sausages, sliced thinly.
- 3 carrots, grated.
- Handful of broccoli, chopped.
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
You can change these up. I reccommend trying finely chopped capsicum (red is sweetest, but also give yellow a try), mushrooms, Chinese sausage (not sure if all Woolies carries these, but have a look also at specialty Asian supermarkets), ham/bacon, bok choy, corn. Really, you're only limited by what you have on hand.

Directions
1. Get the rice on! Put your teacup of rice in a microwaveable dish with the Chinese five spice and add 2 teacups of water. Put it in the microwave and select the rice setting. Alternatively, you can use a rice cooker or saucepan on the stove (remember, 2:1 ratio of water to rice - unless it's brown rice in which case up the water to account for a longer cooking time).
2. This was when I prepped all the vegies, but if you've done so already then awesome! Have a cup of tea while the rice is cooking!
3. In a large fry pan or wok, put a tablespoon of sesame oil and let it heat up. Add your onions and get them golden, then add the garlic to infuse the oil and the pan.
4. Add your sausages, moving them around the pan so that they warm up. Add your vegies, then add your cooked, fluffy rice.
5. Continue stirring the pan, add your soy sauce and eggs. Stir the eggs in so that they cook throughout the rice.

You're done! Enjoy your delicious, quick and easy fried rice!

Using packet vanilla cake mixes to create your own flavours!

I love cakes. I'm sure a lot of people do (except my Mum, she doesn't like cake). I'm currently in the process of a pantry clean out, and discovered 2 packs of vanilla cupcake mix right at the very top. Now, vanilla cupcakes are nice and all, but what happens if you feel like something a little different? Well friends, that is exactly what happened the other day! It's very simple, and a fun way to experiment with different tastes. I'll definitely be making the Vanilla-Rosewater ones again, they came out so light and fluffy!

Vanilla-Rosewater Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 pack vanilla cupcake mix (mine was made by Greens I believe)
Vanilla essence
Rosewater

Directions
Follow the directions on your pack - I think most will have you mix the mixture for 3 minutes so you want to stop mixing at 2 minutes and add rosewater. This is all to taste, so pour a little in, mix, taste and then add more depending on how subtle or strong you want the rosewater to come through. I think I used maybe half a teaspoon to a teaspoon, but I was going off how strong I wanted to rosewater taste. In the end, I could taste the rosewater but it didn't overpower the entire mix. I also added a drop or two of vanilla essence to make the vanilla taste a little fresher.
Bake as instructed.
Ice as instructed, although feel free to add some rosewater to taste here as well. I also topped mine with pink, purple and white sprinkles.

Chocolate Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 pack vanilla cupcake mix
1 pack cocoa

Directions
Follow the directions on your pack. One minute before the reccommended mixing time, add cocoa to taste. Same thing as above - add a little, mix, taste, add more depending on how you want it to taste.
Bake as instructed.
Mix the icing as instructed, but add cocoa to the mix to taste the same as with your cake mixture - add, mix, taste, repeat until it is what you want it to taste like. I then added blue and green sprinkles.

Quick and easy salad, perfect for mum to be

I thought I'd quickly share with you what I made myself for lunch today. 
Grab a handful of baby spinach leaves, add half a punnet of small cherry tomatoes, half a Lebanese cucumber - peeled and sliced, some chopped Spanish onion, and some cubed Gouda cheese. Mix together with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Deelish!!
I'm 14 weeks now, so the nausea is starting to slowly pass. I can't wait to be back in the kitchen, creating new dishes and recipes to share with you all!

Back in the kitchen...kinda

So friends, Tuesday night marked the first time I've cooked a meal from scratch for the past couple of months! I was happy to be back, but wasn't quite up to the task of creating something straight out of my head. Seems this pregnancy thing has messed up my imagination for putting flavours together :(
I did, however, follow an easy recipe for beef goulash, but just made a larger batch so I had enough to take as lunches. See the recipe here: http://www.recipes.com.au/Recipe/Beef-Goulash.aspx
Instead of steamed potatoes and beans, I served mine with sweet potato mash, and then the leftovers I mixed in with cooked pasta. I definitely recommend combining with pasta as it is delicious!
I hope you all have a lovely weekend - I'm planning on cleaning out old clothes and hanging out with some friends and my favourite takeaway - pizza!

Cooking something other than food

Hi friends.
My apologies for the lack in posts these past couple of weeks. You see, while I usually love spending time in my kitchen and whipping up gourmet (and sometimes, not so gourmet) delights for my husband and I to enjoy, it seems we've cooked up a little something else. Yep, I'm in the family way.
What does that mean? It means for the past couple of weeks, I have not had the stomach (har har) to prepare food. In fact, most days I have a constant nagging nausea that goes away for fleeting moments but has left me drained by the time dinner rolls around. The food prep and cooking has fallen into the capable hands of my husband who is being a great sport about my complaining. In his words, apparently I sound like "Wah, wah, wah! Baby! Wah, wah, wah! Pregnant!" and "Could you please...?". Also in the past couple of weeks, we've started to be more proactive about housework and making our bed. We're starting to feel something more akin to being grown ups rather than playing house. So, yay us!
What does this pregnancy mean for the blog? At the moment, it's going to languish in the ethers of the internet while I rest and focus on not feeling sick. I still intend to use this blog as a way to document recipes and tips on how I cook them, but while I'm not cooking I won't be posting recipes. Fingers crossed the sickness goes away after the first trimester, otherwise it's going to be a longer hiatus than intended.
Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it and you. Hopefully I'll be back before long! Take care of yourselves, and experiment!

Juicing and detox soup

So I went off the wagon this weekend. Yup, not only did I partake in Kentucky Fried Chicken pieces, but Sunday caught me with a McDonalds breakfast and a burger with chips for lunch. Both delicious, but horribly bad if I am going to get to my goal of 62 kilos in another 2 weeks time. So in the next couple of days, I am detoxing. Mega detoxing! I'm talking homemade juice and vegetable soup! No carbs (well, not a lot anyway) and no sugars (apart from those in fruit and veg). Do you juice? It's fun to come up with one that you like and that makes you feel good. Obviously, the more vegetables you put in as opposed to fruit is better for you, as vegetables have less sugar that fruit. If you want to have a look at juicing as a way of health and ridding your body of toxins, I'd suggest having a look at Raw Juices Can Save Your Life by Dr Sandra Cabot. Also, another good one is The Liver Cleansing Diet, also by Dr Cabot. No, I'm not sponsoring or getting paid (I wish!) but I have them both and have gone through the Liver Cleansing Diet, and I did feel better being on it. Anyways, this is a recipe blog, so I thought I'd share with you a really simple vegetable soup that I made last night. It's tasty and light, perfect for when you're feeling a little under the weather!


Vegetable Soup


Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 brown onions, diced
3 carrots sliced (feel free to use more!)
2 celery stalks, chopped (again, feel free to use more)
1 can whole peeled tomatoes (I use Ardmona, but any brand is fine)
1 tablespoon tomato paste (Ardmona again)
2.5 can fulls of water (what I mean here is this: when you put your tomatoes in the pot, fill the can with water 2.5 times)
Handful of fresh basil
Handful of fresh continental parsley


Directions
Heat up your soup pot. Mine is a 24 cm stock pot I got from Woolworths. When the pot is hot, pour in your olive oil, then add your onions. Lightly cook through until they start to go golden brown. Add your carrots, celery and tomatoes, then add your water using the method I discussed above. Mix that through then add the tomato paste, giving that a good stir. Then, after all that, add your basil and continental parsley by tearing it into chunks.
Let the soup come to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer until your carrots are cooked through properly. They should still be firm, but easy to bite through (I just took a piece out and bit into it.)
And with that you're done! If you're not dieting like I am, a nice crusty loaf would go perfectly with this soup!


You'll note that I didn't add any salt (not that I cook with much salt to begin with). The tomato paste has salt in it, but if you want a little more, then go ahead. You are cooking for you and your family, and cooking should be fun and to what you like to eat! Just don't go too overboard!


I'll see you all next time!