Vegetarian Enchiladas

I love beans, not the green variety (though I do like them too), but legumes. They are incredibly versatile, nutritious, satisfying and tasty.
I use beans in salads, Indian and Mexican cooking. In Mexican dishes I generally use beans instead of meat.
For this meal I soaked some dried beans over night (kidney beans and another variety which I've forgotten) then boiled and processed some, I left some whole for the texture. I was using an Old El Paso Enchilada meal kit so I mixed through some Mexican spices and half of the tomato based sauce. I filled the tortillas with the bean mix, rolled them, placed them in an oven tray and covered them with the remaining tomato sauce and some cheese, as per the instructions. As a side to the enchiladas I made some guacamole and a salad.
I really enjoyed this meal, however eating lots of beans can tend to have a bad side effect....

Kangaroo and Salad

I recently needed some read meat, not because I like it, but because I need to look after my iron levels. I had some kangaroo meat in the freezer and cooked that up. Apparently kangaroo meat is very good for you, it's lean, low in fat, high in iron and it's quite cheap. That is all good and well, but I feel very strange about eating the national animal of Australia. I'm caught in a mental struggle; I know the meat is good for me but I feel some moral conflict when eating it. I don't think i'll be having any kangaroo meat again anytime soon but I will explain a bit about this meal.

I cooked the meat just enough because it has a tenancy to be chewy when even slightly overcooked. I then mixed it with some Worcestershire and tomato sauces and made a runny gravy with the pan juices and some Gravox.
The salad was really tasty. I recently bought a jar of gherkins and have been adding them to most of the salads I'm making. The are a tasty addition. Along with the gherkins, the salad had some tomato, capsicum, lettuce, olives, celery and cucumber.

Brown Rice, Broccoli and Salmon

You can't get much healthier than my dinner tonight (ok, maybe you can but this was pretty good)!
It was a simple meal, with enough left over for lunch tomorrow.
I used a microwave packet of brown rice, garlic and ginger, some broccoli, green beans, an egg and a packet of chilli salmon. I topped it off with a little soy sauce.
Tasty stuff!

Fajitas

Tonight's meal was from our favourite Old Al Paso Fajita kit. I've lost count how many times I've made Fajitas this way, they never fail to please.

Today I used refried beans as the main filling, it was time for a vegetarian meal. I also fried some onions, tomato and capsicum with a little coriander.

 
That went into the wrap along with avocado, cheese, lettuce and some salsa.

Tasty, fresh and healthy and enough left for lunch!

Cous Cous for Lunch

My lunch for 2 days is this cous cous salad. In addition to the packet of Ainsley Harriott Roasted Vegetable Style cous cous I used tomato, capsicum, lettuce, fetta, sunflower seeds, salt & pepper. Just before eating it I added tuna and some four bean mix.

I found the taste very bland so went frantically searching for some more salt and pepper. I couldn't find any so had to settle for a bit of sweet chilli sauce mixed through. I've had this brand of cous cous before and enjoyed the taste so the reason for it being so bland must be due to the added salad ingredients lacking in flavour.

Salads

Here are a few salads I have enjoyed lately.

This one had butter beans, corn, tomato, capsicum, cucumber, avocado and canned salmon. For the dressing I whisked together some white vinegar, Gourmet Garden Mediterranean herbs, mayonaise, salt and pepper.

This salad consisted of a packet of pre-prepared 'Citrus Salad' from Safeway and some marinated honey and soy chicken strips on top. Simple, quick but very nice. The packet salad came with the salad mix, a citrus dressing and some tiny croutons.

This was a meat-free meal. My (soon to be) sister in-law told me about a salad she'd made recently using three coloured capsicums, roma tomatoes and fetta. That inspired me to make this. I used red, yellow and green capsicum, tomato, capsicum, fetta and coloured cos lettuce. I dressed it with a mixture of white vinegar, mayonnaise, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, Gourmet Garden Italian herbs and olive oil.

                                                        

Oven-Baked Corn Omelettes

In addition to making Weet-Bix Cookies today, I made some savory muffin-like snacks. I found a recipe for Oven-Baked Corn Omelettes while searching for a healthy snack to take to my parent's house.

As usual, I changed the original recipe to suit my own tastes and what I had in the fridge. Here is my modified recipe:

• 1 red onion, finely sliced 
• 6 button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 tomato, finely diced
• 1/3 cup red capsicum, finely diced
• 400g cans corn kernels, well drained
• 3/4 cup grated tasty cheese
• 8 eggs
• chives
• tomato sauce (to taste)
• Worcestershire sauce (to taste)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease or line an 8 x 1/2-cup capacity muffin pan with paper cases.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onions then mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove from heat. Stir through corn, tomato and capsicum. Cool for 10 minutes.
3. Stir cheese into corn mixture. Spoon evenly into muffin holes. Beat eggs in a jug with a fork until well combined, add chives and sauces and beat a little longer. Pour evenly over corn mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until light golden and set.
4. Stand for 5 minutes in pan. Carefully lift out.
   
   This is what the inside looks like.
   
   
   
    
   **I actually added two more eggs, so that I would have a few mini muffins aswell.
   
   

   

   10 eggs made 12 smallish muffins and 12 mini muffins (I ate a mini one before taking the photo).

   
   
   

Weet-Bix Cookies Recipe

 I found a recipe on the Woolworths website titled Chocolate Weet-Bix Cookies and was inspired to make some biscuits of my own but I changed the recipe a little.

The original recipe calls dried apricots and choc bits but I omitted the chocolate and used sultanas instead of apricots. I also used half a cup of loosely packed sugar rather than 100g. I wasn't impressed with the finished product, I didn't find them very morish and won't make them again but hey, it's always good to try out a new cookie recipe!

• 4 Sanitarium Weet-Bix, crushed
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• ¾ cup wholemeal plain flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sultanas
• 3 Tbsp margarine
• 2 Tbsp golden syrup
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1/4 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC. In a bowl mix Weet-Bix, rolled oats, flour, sugar and sultanas until well combined.
2. Place margarine and golden syrup in a small saucepan and heat gently until melted.
3. Mix bicarb soda and water together then pour into margarine mixture. Add to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Roll tablespoons of mixture and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on tray before serving.

Burritos

I just finished my tasty dinner and am excited for lunch tomorrow because I'll be having tasty left overs.
Dinner was burritos, here's the run down:

Turkey mince, re-fried beans, onions and some burrito seasoning made the filling which i put on top of the grainy wraps. On top of that I added some tzatziki, corn, tomato, capsicum and baby spinach leaves. Delish!

Bircher Muesli

Mmm-mmm, Bircher Muesli, my favourite! I love bircher and have it for breakfast most mornings. I discovered my enjoyment for it about 2 years ago and make it slightly differently each time. However I did measure ingredients when I made it the other day, so that I could post an accurate recipe here. As with all recipes, quantities should be played with to suit your tastes and so you can claim the recipe as yours!

Bircher Muesli

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup fruit/seeds/nuts (any combo you like; sultanas, almonds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, craisins, dried apricot etc)

sprinkling cinnamon

sprinkling nutmeg

250ml fruit juice

1 cup yoghurt

Method

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge over night. 

In the morning you might like to add a little extra liquid or yoghurt or maybe drizzle with some honey.

We serve ours with fruit. Here is a his and her's bircher breakfast.

T likes his with fruit salad or two-fruit mixed with a generous helping of bircher.

I have mine with a chopped banana and All Bran.

Muesli Bars Recipe

Here is the recipe for a snack I make every week; nutritious and delicious! I wrap the bars in foil and take them to work for a mid morning snack. 
 
Muesli Bars 

• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup sultanas 
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup nuts of your choice (I usually use almonds & walnuts)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 100ml light olive oil
• 1 egg
• 50ml honey

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line baking tray/pan with baking paper.
2. Combine oats, sultanas, pepitas, sunflower seeds, nuts and spices in a bowl. Whisk oil, eggs and honey together in a jug. Stir into dry mixture.
3. Transfer to prepared tray/pan. Press mixture firmly into pan. Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Cut into pieces. Enjoy!

*I usually make these bars without exact measurements and adapt the amounts according to what i have in the pantry. Add ingredients to suit your taste too, try coconut, dried apple or apricots.
**You can absolutely use less oil and an additional egg to bind the ingredients.
***If the mixture is too crumbly, you could add 1/4 cup flour to help it stick together better.

Brekky Bars

I’m a big fan of healthy baking (recipes that are low in fat & sugar and full of natural goodness) and my very favourite cooking website is www.taste.com.au .

Today I searched for a recipe that required dried apricots and sultanas and came across Brekky Bars:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20357/brekky+bars

I followed the recipe as is but added an over ripe mashed banana to the milk and egg.

The finished product is delicious!

Just look at all the yummy bits!!

This will absolutely become a regular recipe in our house.