Kentucky Scramble

I made Kentucky Scramble tonight for dinner (sticking to my Menu Plan) – YAY!

It seemed to get a big thumbs up from the kids – so that was good.

Some of the recipes in my Menu Plan are not our “usual” evening fare, so it’s good to be trying some new things with the kids to see if they like it.  If they do – it will be a keeper – if not, I will substitute a different meal the following month.

Happy eating 🙂

WEEK 1 – Shopping List and Recipes

Once I had the Menu Plan worked out, I looked at each week’s recipes then did a rough shopping list for ingredients I would need for each meal.

This week I will feature Week 1 – Recipe Plan below

WEEK 1

Pork Chops

Burritos

Chicken Stirfry

Tandoori Chicken

Kentucky Scramble

Ingredients List required for Recipes (to help with shopping list)

WEEK 1

Pork Chops:   Pork Chops, pasta sauce packet, veges to steam/cook

Burritos/Tacos:  Chicken/Beef, Burrito/Taco kit with extra Burritos/Tacos if required, cheese, tomato sauce

Chicken Stirfry:  Chicken, stirfry sachet or ingredients for marinade (check recipe), rice, frozen veges

Tandoori Chicken: Chicken, tandoori jar or ingredients for marinade (check recipe), pappadums, rice

Kentucky Scramble:  Eggs, ham/sausage, red capscicum, corn, parsley

Sometimes, if I’m feeling lazy (which can be often) – I just buy the sachets at the supermarkets for stirfrys, or a jar for a curry.  Sometimes I cook from scratch – so I will give you both options in my recipes and ingredients (but generally for these things I will say “see ingredients in the recipe” because there are too many to list).

I’m trialling using Woolies Online for my groceries as it’s another job I have to try and squeeze into my week, which is never fun if you have 3 kids in tow!

So with my list written out (plus other essential items added for the week) – I go online and order my groceries, which will be delivered ready for the next week’s recipes/menu plan.

Now, time for the Recipes

ALL MEALS FOR 4 PEOPLE

Pork Chops

Ingredients:

Pork chops, veges for steaming (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, beans etc)

Continental pasta sauce mix (or cook potato instead)

Method:

Marinate pork chops in sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce and tomato sauce for at least

one hour.  Cook under the grill, basting continuously until cooked.

Cook pasta sauce mix in the microwave (takes 12 minutes)

Steam chopped veges in a pot.

Burritos

Ingredients:

Burrito Kit & extra packet of burritos (depending on how many your family eats)

or Taco Kit & extra tacos (depending on how many your family eats)

Chicken, 400grams – chopped into small bite sized pieces

or Mince, 400 grams

Lettuce, chopped

Tomatoes, chopped

Cheese, grated

Other veges according to taste:  e.g. red or green capscicum

Method:

Cook chicken with spice mix included in burrito packet

Chop lettuce & tomato and grate cheese while chicken is cooking

Make burritos according to instructions on the packet

(everybody does it themselves at our place)

Tandoori Chicken (from Taste website)

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, on the bone, skin removed

5 Tbsp tandoori paste

1 cup thick plain yoghurt, plus extra to serve

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 onions, thickly sliced

2 cups coriander leaves, picked

Lemon wedges, chutney and naan bread to serve

Method:  Click on link …

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/7010/tandoori+chicken

Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:

Chicken breast, 400 grams

3 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp sherry

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp instant chicken stock

2 tsp cornflour

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp grated root ginger

400g quick cooking vegetables sliced (or use frozen)

Rice or Noodles

Method:

Cut chicken meat into slices.  Place in oven bag with 1 Tbsp oil and all ingredients

except vegetables.  Knead bag to mix and leave to marinate.

Slice vegetables into thin slices.

Heat oil in a wok and cook chicken slices until meat is golden brown.

Add vegetables and cook until veges are heated through.

Serve with rice or noodles.

Kentucky Scramble

Ingredients:

8 eggs

1 Tbsp butter or oil

2 spring onions, chopped

1 red capscicum

100g mild garlic sausage or luncheon

salt & pepper

chopped parsley, handful

1 cup corn kernels

Method:

Melt butter or oil in a frypan and sauce onions, red capscicum and sausage

over moderate heat – approx 8 minutes.

Turn heat to low and pour in eggs, seasoning and parsley.  Scramble until almost set.

Stir in corn.  Leave on heat for 1 minute.

Serve on toast or english muffins with tomato sauce.

It must be said that I’m a fairly conservative cook who likes easy meals.

Perhaps you might like to share some of your favourite recipes and I could make up some new Meal Plans once I’ve finished sharing my 5 weeks worth?

Anyhow – that’s it for Week 1.  I hope some of it might be useful?

Fi x

Menu Plan

I did a menu plan with 5 different weeks of meals – the idea being that I can mix and match and cook according to how I feel any particular week.  I imagine I will add more weeks as I go along, so that I can add new meals as we try different things.

Here’s what the 5 Week Menu Plan looks like – just the meals themselves (and remember, I only cook 5 nights a week).

WEEK 1

Pork Chops

Burritos

Chicken Stirfry

Tandoori Chicken

Kentucky Scramble

WEEK 2

Fresh Fish

Chicken Kievs

Eggy Slice

Fish Pie

Pancakes

WEEK 3

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Fried Rice

Ham Steaks

Devilled Sausages

Homemade Pizza

WEEK 4

Mini Quiches

Ham Steaks

Sausage & Vege

Nasi Goreng

Nachos

WEEK 5

Satay Chicken Stirfry

Salmon Patties

Beef Stirfry

Spicy Chicken Pasta

Homemade Pizza

Fi x

 

 

The Year of Organisation … AND Recipe Planning … AND Shopping Online !!!

It’s been a long time since I did anything with my Recipe Blog.

This year I have dubbed “The Year of Organisation”.  I’m slowly going through my house and decluttering, tidying and generally getting rid of “stuff” which I neither use, nor want, any more.  It’s a great feeling.

I am also seeking to simplify my life at home by producing a Menu Plan, Shopping Lists to go with the Menu Plan, and typing up the Recipes I use.

I’m not sure if others are like me, but my week consists of going to work, taking the kids to various after school events, arriving home around 5pm then thinking “What on Earth am I going to cook for dinner”?!  Generally I haven’t thought to take something out of the freezer to defrost – which means bunging something in the microwave to be zapped – then cobbling together something edible enough for the troops and I to eat – before the big clean up and falling into bed exhausted – ready to do it all again the next day.  Oh and in between helping with homework, hanging out or sorting washing and a bit of cleaning and tidying thrown in for good measure.

I’ll be honest – cooking is not my most favourite thing in the World to do.  If I could – I would just take a pill to satisfy my dietary requirements – and that would be just fine and dandy with me.  However I have 3 young bodies living in my house who need nutritious meals (and to learn HOW to cook food for themselves) – and so – I cook!

The question was – how to organise myself a little better?  I came up with the idea of a Menu Plan – then thought I would need something for more than just one week.  I pulled out my recipe books and wrote down 25 meals that I cook regularly (and which generally the fussiest of my 3 children will eat).  Then I made a rough Menu Plan for a 5 week period.

I only cook 5 meals a week because my children are with their Dad a few weeks a night, and then I have leftovers or cheese on toast – but I’m sharing this with the idea that you can come up with your own Recipe Plan for what works in your family situation.

Anyway … I mentioned on a Facebook post that I had put together a Menu Plan – and it seems there was some interest in what I was up to – and would I be willing to share?

So this is a start for those of you who are interested.  I will make several different posts that you can look at for the different aspects of what I’ve been up to.  Feel free to copy and paste into a Word or Excel document on your own computer – then make it your own.

Happy Organising, Menu Planning, Shopping and Cooking everyone!

Fi 🙂

The Most DELICIOUS Chocolate Truffles!!!!

Well it’s been rather a long time since I last added a new recipe here.

With Christmas just around the corner … I thought a recipe for Chocolate Truffles would be in order.  But these are no ordinary truffles … no sir … these truffles you absolutely HAVE to make.  They are divine.  Truly!

My dear bloggy friend Mrs Bluestockings shared this recipe on her blog in 2008.  Because she did it so beautifully (with photos and everything!) I thought it might be best to just link to her post.

But first … a little teaser …

Now click HERE to visit Mrs BB’s blog for her scrumptious truffle recipe – and Merry Christmas to you all.

Fee 🙂

Banana Oat Hotcakes (courtesy of Coles magazine)

Here’s another delicious recipe from my friend Katy.  She’s been eating these with her daughter Elley.  They sound delicious.  I think I’ll have to go and try some …

Makes 12 (Serves 4)

1.5 cups SR flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup quick cook oats
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1.25 cups milk
60g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 small bananas mashed

1. Sift flour and baking powder into large bowl. Stir in oats and sugar and make a well in the centre.
2. Whisk eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla essence in a jug and pour into dry ingredients.  Add mashed banana.  Mix well.
3. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat (not too hot because the inside won’t cook). Grease the pan slightly.  Pour 1/4 cupfuls of mixture into the pan, not too close together as they expand.  Cook for about 3 mins until golden brown and a few bubbles appear on the surface (like cooking thick pikelets).  Flip over and cook a further 2 mins.

Serve warm with yoghurt and honey or maple syrup.  Yummo!

BROWN RICE SALAD

Here’s another great offering from Katy.  She went on holiday to Queensland recently and got this recipe off a friend:-

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cooked brown rice
Shallots
Red capsicum, chopped
1/3 cup currants
60g roasted cashews
Parsley chopped
2 Tbsp roasted sunflower seeds

Dressing
3/4 cup oil
4 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl together and mix well.  Place dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.
Pour over salad.