Coconut Celery Zucchini and Pea Soup

We are well and truly in winter mode. Rugs are out and hot mugs of drinks. Every week, I like to schedule in a soup for dinner.

I made this for lunch though. My friend is expecting her first child and was heavily pregnant. I thought it would be love to have a girly chat with her before the baby arrives. She and I love to exchange ideas and recipes and we had lovely conversations about using simple and down to earth ingredients rather than processed items. We laughed about how her husband still prefers sweet desserts as that is how desserts should be in his mind, and how my husband has grown to have less of a sweet tooth over time.

I wanted to make something nourishing for her. A little like our friendship. Nourishing.

There is a green smoothie and then there is a green soup. This has celery, zucchini and peas. How much more green can it get? Oh hold on, it does have red onion in it so it's not totally green. Instead of heaviness of cream, I used coconut milk for that added richness.

I picked up these vegetables from our local farmers market. The freshness shone.

Yes, of course I made extra for dinner and lunch the next day. It's a perfect plan. Lunch with a  girlfriend and dinner already done. More time for Asher for the rest of the day.

Coconut Celery Zucchini and Pea Soup (serves 6)
1 full bunch of celery chopped
3 zucchini chopped
200 grams of organic frozen peas
2 tsp coconut oil
2 red onions sliced
2 tablespoons of garlic
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of ground ginger or fresh ginger minced
2 ltres of chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tin of coconut milk

Saute onions and garlic in 2 tsp of coconut oil. Add all spices and cook till fragrant. Add all veges and cook till they are slightly soften. Add stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend with a hand blender. Strain if you like. Otherwise, reheat the blended soup with coconut milk. Serve with Coconut Bread or a grain free bread.

Pressure Cooker- Red Wine Lamb Shanks

I don't shy away from my meat. One of my favourite things to have during winter is a lamb shank. Given that we have a pressure cooker now, I tend to use it to cook lamb shanks rather than a slow cooker- somehow, I never get to prepare everything in the morning to make a nice melt in your mouth lamb shank!

There is a butcher near where we are that does a french lamb shank really well. He said 1 per person is plenty and so true that was. It had plenty of meat and I couldn't even finished mine. The magic of lamb shanks comes from using an acid to soften the meat and long and slow cooking time.

I like to serve mine with a big batch of vegetables. The best thing is that I pressure cooked it before I went to the gym. Switched the fire off, and away I went. When I returned, I turned it back on again for the last 30 minutes or so and it was just perfect.

This does make me think- do you use your slow cooker or pressure cooker more at home?

Melt in Your Mouth Red Wine Lamb Shanks (Serves 4)
4 Lamb Shanks
1 red onion diced
1 tablespoon of garlic
1 tinned of diced tomatoes
1 tsp of dried chill flakes
1 capsicum diced
1 carrot diced
1 cup of red wine
1 cup of beef stock

Brown lamb shanks first. Remove from heat and set aside. Saute garlic and onion till soft and add in all other ingredients. Simmer for a few minutes before adding shanks back on again. Place cover of pressure cooker on and cook for a good 1-1.5 hours. If you can, cook for another 30 minutes to make it really melt in your mouth. I turned it off at that point, went to the gym, came back, turned it back on and had a shower!

Then dinner was done!

Proscuitto Wrapped Basil Meatloaf

You guys know that I love my meatloaves. I honestly think they are underrated in the normal home kitchen. There are so many ways to play around with it that I can't stop experimenting and coming up with new quick and easy meatloaf ideas. I can see Asher having this for dinner one night!

We love going to farmers markets. Manning Markets is our go to for our weekly shopping recently. It just seem to carry everything we need. From grass fed meats, to organic vegetables (more for Asher) to one of my favourite coffee... What else can we ask for?

In come naturally smoked chorizo and bacon. No sulphites. Just salt smoked. Amazing. Then we spotted another store that sells smoked chicken breasts and proscuitto. Oh I'm in love.

All I did was to mixed chicken with egg, salt, pepper and fold in some home grown basil. Push it to a loaf pan and wrap the proscuitto on it. It's one of the quickest dinners I have prepared. Everything in the oven and ta dah.. dinner all done when Asher is asleep.

Proscuitto Wrapped Basil Meatloaf 
6 pieces of proscuitto
500 grams chicken mince
1 bunch of basil leaves
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
2 eggs
salt
pepper


Mixed egg, salt, pepper, onion and garlic with mince. put mixture into lined bread loaf pan. Pushed it firmly and packed it tight. Carefully (who am i kidding..) place proscuitto overlapping on to the meatloaf. Bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes.

Chicken Pesto Zucchini Noodles

 I was looking at my previous posts and it hit me that I never wrote about Zucchini noodles. I swore I thought I did! It's one of those food that I go to whenever I feel like having noodles. It's rare that I feel like having pasta- as for some reason, it always makes me feel heavy and gluggy. To think I used to cook pasta up every week without fail!

I bought one of those vege twisters at 40% off at our local appliances store and boy was I hooked. I have since made long vege noodle strands out of carrot and zucchini. I have yet to try beetroot yet but I bet it will taste amazing. My only complain is that it takes ages (and my son isn't old enough to do it for me yet!), plus there could be some wastage if the zucchini is too huge to fit into the little equipment. I tend to just chop up the leftovers and throw it in anyway.  I might just invest in a bigger and more friendly to use spiraliser in time.

My hubby grew a mini herb garden for me. I promise I will take photos of it one day! But from it, we managed to harvest quite a healthy bunch of basil leaves. This form the basis of our pesto.

I added parmesan cheese in my home made pesto- yes, it's not strict paleo but I can tolerate a little dairy after I have eliminated it for some time from my diet. Also, I identify myself as more clean eating than paleo. That's a good thing because I can't imagine life without cheese! In life, I truly believe there is no one size fits all, and you have to find what works for you and your body.

For me, I find that my family flourishes when we reduce grains, wheat, gluten and stick to the natural meat, seafood, veges wholesome food that you find in markets. Asher started his first solids with avocado and I'm pleased to say that even though I let him try some cereal at 8 mths, he has never taken to it- instead, his young palate always seem to prefer chicken, beef, lamb, spinach, peas, leek, sweet potato, pumpkin and of course congee. We also gave him eggs and he loved it! Yay to food experimentation.

So back to the pesto- it really is a blitz it in a mini food processor kind of meal. The noodles? I sautéed it lightly and then topped it up with the chicken pesto.

Chicken Pesto Zuchinni Noodles (serves 4)
3 huge zucchini- made into noodles shreds
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
500 grams of chicken mince
1/2 cup of peas

Pesto
1 huge bunch of basil leaves. Probably around 2 cups
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup garlic olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp of pine nuts

Blitz pesto ingredients together.

Saute pan with some garlic and chopped onion. Brown chicken mince. Toss pesto and peas over it. Taste. Add a little water if mixture seems dry.

In a separate pan, sauté zuchinni noodles with a little oil till slightly soft. Dish them into bowls and top it with chicken pesto and some more cheese!

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Cottage Cheese and Sundried Tomatoes.

I get frustrated when someone tells me you can't feel full while eating clean. It's pretty hard not to feel full with a whole chicken breast! I can't even finish one. That said, I do understand that it get be drying at times.

Did I mention that I use the oven to cook ALOT? Many days, I prepare meals in the morning and stick it in the oven with a timer on. There are times when Asher needs me more or clings to me and I can't always predict when that can happen. When he settles or naps, I whiz around the house doing housework and prepare dinner- at least hubby can come home to a home cooked meal with little washing up to do.

I decided to stuffed some chicken breasts with cottage cheese and sundried tomatoes out of a whim one day and was surprised it was actually good and moist. To top it off, I wrap the chicken with a slice of prosciutto- oh it was yummy! Simple and quick I say.

Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Cottage Cheese and Sundried Tomatoes (Serves 4)
4 chicken breasts
6 slices of prosciutto
1 cup of cottage cheese
1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes.

Butterfly chicken breasts. The stuffing is really just cottage cheese and sundried tomatoes mixed together. Place stuffing in chicken breast and use prosciutto to wrap it up (I used around 1.5 slice per chicken breast). Bake for 35 minutes at 170C oven.

Thai Larb Salad

Hello 2014! Truth be told, the year 2013 passed really quickly for me. I have not worked since mid June 2013, and it is as if time stopped when Asher arrived.

However, I felt that much has changed in our lives. Yes, having a baby means we rarely head out in the evenings. That is a positive thing as we took time to wind down, relax and get things organised for the next day. Yes, there are sacrifices that we made. We are much more conscious about expenditure and we eat out less. We try not to plan too many things through the day as that seem to make Asher more cranky.

Personally though, having a baby tested me big time. I love to be in control. Guess what, having a baby means I have to think this differently. Yes, things do not always get done- that's ok. It will get done another day. Asher needs me to get on the floor to play with him as soon as I can. I have to remind myself, a baby isn't a baby for long. He is going to grow and one day, I'm going to miss having this time with him. After all, it is a huge luxury to be home with him for the first year of his life.

Organisation. I have two nappy bags. A bigger one with everything in it- spare clothes for me, a small rattle/book toy, spare nappies, change of clothes for him, wet wipes, lip balm, tissues..etc. It's truly a mummy's bag. More often though, I travel with a smaller sling bag with the bigger bag in the car. That is also a change mat which makes my life so much easier when he decides to "go" in the car and there isn't a change room anywhere in sight.

Flexibility and time management. Asher is the most awake and alert in the morning and right after his nap. I try to time and plan any activity around that period of time. We have a routine, but we do not run on a tight schedule. Oh, and always leave 5-10 minutes earlier than what I think we need.

Relationship. This is an interesting one. As I'm home more often, hubby gets less stressed about needing to share his load of housework. Clothes are actually folded (more often), floors are clean. I try to do more while it is not always possible, so that when he is home, he gets more time with Asher. However, I certainly appreciate hubby even more when he hangs the clothes out before I wake up, and do the occasional vacuum! Not only that, we learn to speak to each other in a calmer manner. We argue less as the focus is us as a family-perhaps less as an individual. That is the biggest change. We think the big picture more. I love him more because I see all the smaller things he did before and all the sacrifices he has to made. Most of all, how much he adores Asher and us as a family.

 I thought I might start the new year with a fresh new recipe. It is thai inspired and packed full of flavours. It's also one of my "quick no fuss" meals to have handy for the week. Hubby recently started a herb garden so I'm looking forward to having fresh basil in our cooking very soon.

Thai Larb Salad (serves 4)
500 grams pork mince
1 tsp garlic
2 chili padi chopped
2-3 sprigs of spring onion chopped
1 red onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 capsicum chopped
3-4 button mushrooms chopped
1 tablespoon of soy
1 tablespoon of mirin
2-3 tablespoon of fish sauce
white pepper
2 tablespoon of pine nuts or cashew nuts

4 bunches of basil leaves

Cos lettuce to serve with.

Saute red onion, chill and garlic till done. Brown mince. Add all the vegetables with a splash of water if the mixture gets too dry. Add in all sauces and cool well. You can either toast pine nuts and add to it or add it in the pan straight up. Just before serving, add 2 bunches of basil leaves to the pan and toss through. The heat should wilt the leaves gently.

Serve on a bed of cos lettuce and more basil leaves.

Chicken with Ginger and Lemongrass

I'm not sure where I got the inspiration to make this dish from. But I love the flavours of ginger and lemongrass in this. All I wish is to have a clay pot and gas stove to cook this in!

I'm pleased to let you know that reducing in carbs for a few weeks has resulted in a stronger me. Don't get me wrong, I'm still eating carbs- just not every day and also, just realising how much carbs are there in natural occurring food anyway like fruit. It has also tested in my ability to think out of the box and cook with more protein!

Having chinese meals is actually not that difficult. The only thing that I need to not eat is rice. Other than that, it's meals-as-usual in our household. My hubby on the other hand, is excited as he started to see more dishes like lamb, pork, salmon and beef presented to him for dinner.

I think Chicken with Ginger and lemongrass has a thai or even vietnamese feel to it. Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy this as much as we did.

Chicken with Ginger and Lemongrass (serves 4)
500 grams chicken thigh chopped
1 small knob of ginger sliced
1 tablespoon of garlic
2 red chill padi chopped
2 stalk of lemon grass-white bit chopped
1/2 cup of water- or chicken stock
2 tsp of fish sauce
pinch of salt
squeeze of lime or lemon
fresh spring onions chopped

Saute ginger, garlic and chill. Cook lemon grass with it as well. Brown chicken in pan. Then add stock/water, fish sauce and pinch of salt. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve with lime/lemon juice and spring onions.

Creamy Chicken and Egg Pie

I realised, it was 10 years ago since I made this pie. I can still remember, hubby and I were housemates then. We weren't even dating. There were a few of us in this big shared house and we took turns to cook.

Yes, we survived. From chicken wing dings (some frozen chicken crumbed chicken wings), massive amounts of instant noodles, odd concoctions of soups and stir fries, oven baked fish and chips.. yes..those were the days.

Did I mentioned that it was in that kitchen that I produced my rock hard rock cakes.

It was also around that period of time, that I made this pie. I recall that hubby's (who wasn't even my boyfriend then!) brother came over to visit. I thought that a pie could be just something different and a nice change for all. Maybe I was trying to impress them subconsciously. But it was better than all the odd concoctions and pre packaged stir fry sauces. It turned out ok and it was all gone.

I thought I would shelve that recipe.....

and there it was, 10 years later All shelved up. but just as good. The surprise is when you cut the pie and take a bite of the creamy chicken and that egg. It hits you.

Creamy Chicken and Egg Pie
1 shortcrust pastry
1 puff pastry

500 grams of chicken thighs, trimmed and diced
1 capsicum diced
1 onion diced
1 tablespoon of garlic
200 grams of lean bacon diced
2 eggs hard boiled and quartered
1 cup of soy milk/milk
2 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of djon mustard
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of sherry


Blind Baked shortcuts pastry in 180 C oven for 20 minutes. If you can, line a piece of baking paper and put some rice/dried beans on it when blind baking.

Mean while, brown chicken. Once done, set aside. Heat butter and melt. Whisk in flour till it is slightly golden. Then pour in milk, whisking it till it becomes thick. Add in mustard and cheese. Simmer for 5 minutes, adding some water if needed to water it down. Then toss in all veges and finally chicken.

Spoon mixture to short crust pastry (removing the baking paper and beans).Scatter egg randomly on pie. Top with puff pastry, poking a few holes at the top. Brush with egg. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with side salad

Roasted Chicken with Herb and Lemon Stuffing

 I'm not sure if I can hold my head up high as I write this. I could feel my cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment. It's true. I have never attempted roasting a chicken since I started cooking years ago. It's one of those tasks that seems huge and too much work to me. I think I used to assume that anything that takes more than 30 minutes to cook must be hard.

I started reading up on how to roast a chicken and was surprised to learn that it's really... all in my head. The preparation work may take a tad longer than what I am used to, but having a fresh roasted chook in our humble kitchen is pretty amazing. More like a sense of achievement (ha ha, yes i know, simple things amazes me). The crisp skin, moist meat and addictive stuffing.. argh.. why haven't I discover this little secret before?

But you will not laugh at me... will you?

Roasted Chicken with Herb and Lemon Stuffing (serves around 5-6)
1.6kg of organic free range chicken
2 tablespoon of olive oil
sprinkle of salt

Stuffing
3 cups of a day old multigrain breadcrumbs
a tablespoon of margarine
2 tablespoon of mixed herbs
1 tsp of lemon zest
1 tablespoon of garlic
half an onion sautéed

wash and pat chicken dry. Trim any fat that you can see. Preheat oven at 200C.

Combine stuffing together. Spoon stuffing into chicken cavity. Tie legs together. Brush or using your hands, oiled chicken. Sprinkle generous amount of salt on chicken. Roast it for 1 hr till golden brown. Serve with crisp potatoes and veges.

UPDATE: Don't forget the blog giveaway!!! It ends TOMORROW (28th of Oct)!

Roasted Capsium Garlic Pesto Spaghetti

 Using Jamie Oliver's 30 minutes cookbook has inspired me to make sauces for pasta myself. He opened my eyes to the kind of things I could do with my humble food processor. Having a jar of grilled capsicum on hand, I thought it would be pretty cool to blitz everything up and use it as a sauce base.

Further, my hubby bought 15 cans of tuna. Seriously. 15 cans. They were on sale, and it's the kind we like (John West) so he decided to purchase it for "rainy days". Now I like a good tuna sandwich and perhaps a tuna potato cake one day but 15 jars? woah!

So I used it in this pasta as well.

I made this with little intention to blog it, but when I did a taste test, I thought it turned out pretty well. A pasta sauce that is not tomato based or cream based! Pretty cool hey.

Roasted Capsicum Garlic Pesto Spaghetti (serves 4)
500 grams of spaghetti cooked in boiling salted water
3 cans of chili tuna
1 chopped yellow capsicum
1 cup of corn
1 cup of peas

To be blitzed
250 grams of roasted capsicum (You can roast it yourself but I got mine from a jar)
1 tablespoon of garlic
around 80 grams of basil leaves
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt
3 chili padi chopped

Blitz everything up. Heat pan and blitzed ingredients. Saute all veges first. Toss through tuna for around 5 minutes. Toss pasta though. Serve with some cheese if desired.

Braised Pan Fried Snapper with Spicy Bean Paste

Ever since I experimented with Soy Bean Paste, I am in love with it. Chinese cooking is not the same without it anymore. Usually I would say that my must haves in the kitchens are oyster and soy sauce but I'm beginning to feel that this is one of the musts have in a chinese kitchen as well.

I would never recommend it to have it regularly of course- as the amount of salt in there would be quite scary to know. But the occasional use of it in dishes, I presume should be fine.

I nearly hesitated posting this dish as I didn't like the look of the fish head! However, this is my first attempt in braising a fish- usually I would steam a whole fish and pan fried fillets instead. Hubby encouraged me to post it anyway, since I was stepping out of my comfort zone in the kitchen.

The photos are not very well taken- I'm really sorry. I need to find a way to make a whole fish sexy! How do photographers do that???

Nevertheless, it was one way of introducing more fish in our diet. Always a good thing isn't it?

Braised Pan Fried Snapper with Spicy Bean Paste  
300 grams of baby snapper cleaned

1 onion sliced
1 knob of ginger sliced
2 chilli chopped
1 tsp of garlic
2 tablespoon of soy bean paste
1/2 cup of water

Lightly salt the snapper. Oil pan and pan fried till cooked with a nice crisp (but not deep fried). When the fish is nearly done. I push it aside, and start frying garlic, ginger and onions till soft. Added the chili, soy bean paste and water. Simmer. I spoon it on the fish and let the fish absorb the flavours for around 4 minutes. Serve warm with rice.

Cheat's Version Vietnamese Beef Pho

I'm very appreciative of Vietnamese eateries- especially a small one near where we live. It offers convenient and reasonable priced healthy food. My favourites of course are the Pho and paper rolls.


While this is not the real deal, it provides a quick and tasty alternative. The real deal says that the stock has to be simmered for hours with the right blend of fish sauce, onions, ginger and cinnamon. I cheated by purchasing beef stock. Where I cheated, I saved time by simmering the stock with the above ingredients for 20 minutes or so.

The rest of it is really quick and easy, just blanching the beef with the stock and then it's ready to serve. I thought I was lucky enough to get my hands on some Vietnamese beef balls from our local oriental shop-but I found them a little too tough with small bits of sinew. Not a good match at all. I spotted another brand- frozen though, and might give that a go another time.

Hubby gave me credit for trying to match the "atmosphere" of Vietnamese eateries, seriving my soup with a dish of bean sprouts, basil leaves, lemon and chopped chili. Hey, that's the least I could do with my cheat's version!

Cheat's Version Vietnamese Beef Pho (Serves 2-3)
100 grams of lean beef fillet sliced really thinly
100 grams of Vietnamese beef balls
1 ltre of beef stock
1 cinnamon stick
1 small piece of ginger peeled
1 red onion sliced
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1/4 lemon juice

1/4 pack of rice sticks- soaked in warm water for 5 minutes.

Serve with bean sprouts, basil leaves, lemon quarters and chopped fresh chili.

Fry onions till soft. Simmer stock, spices and sauces for 20 mins. Meanwhile cook noodles and set aside in bowls. Taste and season if needed. Cook beef balls in it till done. Then, quickly blanched sliced beef. Ladle the soup on the noodles straight away. Serve hot with all the condiments.