Category Archives: Eats

My 10 basic building blocks of paleo eating

March 16, 2014 10:25 pm , Leave a Comment ,

I love experimenting with new recipes & finding new ways to whip up delicious feasts. That said though, there are a few basic meals that I always come back to, most of which revolve around the building blocks in this list.

Combine them with each other, with other recipes you find or use these as the basis to create your own adventure. Nail this list of recipes, and the cooking world’s your oyster (or other shellfish of choice).

10 paleo building blocks

 

1. Cauliflower rice

You need a food processor or blender to make this one worth your while but it’s worth the purchase to have this alone in your arsenal. All you need to do is break a raw cauli into florets, whizz til ricey-looking & then toss into a hot frypan with your choice of flavours & cover for a few minutes until slightly softened. Picture B is a cauliflower fried rice I made with sliced chicken thighs, sliced omelette & assorted fridge-cleanout vegetables. Try it plain with salt & pepper & a squeeze of lemon to accompany fish, or experiment with sliced almonds & turmeric to replace a Moroccan-inspired couscous.

2. Zucchini noodles

Use either a standard veggie peeler or a julienne peeler (this is what I use) shred zucchinis into noodles. Let them dry out for 10-20 minutes or so & then throw them in a hot pan with some coconut oil & a sprinkle of powdered garlic (Picture C). Once you’ve got that down, indulge in these Comfort Noodles.

3. Garbage stir-fry

We covered this one in the breakfast round up but it’s a format you can whip out any old time. Clean out the fridge, slice everything evenly, stir fry in some coconut oil & call it a meal. Make sure there’s a serve of protein involved & if you’re throwing in any leftovers, make sure this is their final outing – only reheat food once.

4. Chicken thighs

While I don’t mind a tin of (sustainably caught) tuna on my lunchtime salads, I do love a good chicken thigh (Picture D). I cook up a batch in the oven on the weekend with S&P, a sprinkle of paprika & garlic and a drizzle of oil. Let them roast for 20 minutes or so at 220°C, until they’re crispy around the edges & cooked through.

5. Boiled eggs

I keep a stash of boiled eggs in the fridge at all times. Throw them in salads, have them as an emergency breakfast or scoff them with raw veggie sticks for afternoon tea. For a refresher in making perfect ones, check out this article.

6. Roasted veg

Cold salads are fine in the summer but they aren’t as appealing come blustery winter days. When you’ve got a tray of chicken thighs in the oven, prep a tray of veg to go in as well – brussels sprouts, fennel, zucchini, eggplant & tomatoes, not to mention starchier options like pumpkin & sweet potato, all get their delicious on in this scenario.

7. Mayonnaise

Queen of the condiments in my opinion, the humble mayonnaise can have some offensive ingredients when bought off the long-life supermarket shelf. An egg, some olive oil, a squeeze of lemon & your choice of seasonings are all you need to whip your own in less than a minute. Legit.

8. Meatballs

Whether you make balls, bangers or burgers, mince-y concoctions are cheap, tasty & portable. Like boiled eggs, they’re totally versatile & easy to batch cook. Melissa Joulwan has an epic collection in her book Well Fed 2 & on her website.

9. A slow-cooked bulk meat fest

Another one for the winter days, cooking up a big pot of melt-in-your-mouth meat is a beautiful way to get your house smelling amazing & your co-workers jealous of your leftover lunches for days. Pulled pork is always a favourite and don’t forget about cheaper cuts – they’re perfect for the slowcooker.

10. Guacamole

Like mayonnaise, guacamole is a top condiment to dollop on salads to up your healthy fat quota & shines as a dip with veggie sticks.

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Breakfast: A future without Sultana Bran

March 11, 2014 10:35 pm , 2 Comments ,

When there’s no toast, no cereal, no oats & not even a dollop of yogurt on the menu, breakfast can seem insurmountable. And of course there’s eggs but, without toast, how do you turn them into a meal?

It’s ok, I’ve been there

My friends, it’s time to flip your thinking. What if you could just think of breakfast as Meal #1 or #2 of the day. Mind blown? The only reason we think we need to eat a certain way at a certain time is just because we’ve been raised to believe that’s the way it is. If you’d grown up in China, donkey meat pastry pockets or a steaming bowl of wonton soup might be your morning jam (or your Coco Pops, as it were).

Carlie, one of our Gritters, introduced me to Pinkfarm, a Facebook page run by two busy mums who love their wholefoods & healthy living. The Pinkfarm ladies have coined the term “Royal Breakfasts” & it’s worth checking out what they & their kids sit up to each morning. They actively avoid eating standard breakfast fare & come up with magnificent healthful feasts.

It might feel a bit wild to think of tucking in to a steak & veg for your morning meal, & that’s totally ok, but you need to stretch your thinking: life is still worth living without Sultana Bran.

So where to from here?

Stick to the rules we’ve been given with this 21-day challenge: a palm-size piece of protein, a couple of serves of veg & a good dose of healthy fat. Yep, you’re going to be hating life quick-smart if you’re waking up to a steamed chicken breast & salad each morning so you need to break some barriers & change the breakfast game.

My best breakfasts happen when I:

  • Cook extra vegies &/or meat the night before
  • Am prepared with some pre-cooked bits & pieces (meatballs, egg muffins, boiled eggs & cooked mince)
  • Have a fridge full of options
A 'royal breakfast': Leftover beef, kale & cauliflower rice, topped with an egg

A ‘royal breakfast’: Leftover beef, kale & cauliflower rice, topped with an egg

More often than not, I eat a combination of eggs, a couple of vegies & sometimes some kind of leftover meat. This can vary between scrambled, fried or poached eggs & I alter the veg based on what’s in the fridge but it always involves a green leafy. I often cook up a batch of meatballs or lightly seasoned mince on the weekend to use in breakfasts too.

…but aren’t I going to get sick of that?

Nope, not if you keep mixing it up! Here’s a few different ideas to get you thinking:

…but I don’t have time to cook in the morning, let alone sit down

I’d say have a smoothie but… with no fruit & no milk (coconut, dairy or almond milk) & when you’ve already downed a protein shake post workout, do you really want to? Mate, if you’re on for slurping cold spinach, celery, protein/an egg or two & water, I bow down to you. There’s a motherload of smoothie recipes here though if you’re interested.

Let me introduce another option to you: pre-cooking. Get organised in advance & you can either heat & eat at work, wrangle the kids with one hand while chowing into a muffin with the other or just take it a little slower knowing your breakfast can be in your face in mere seconds.

  • Egg, veg & meat muffins – mix & match some extra veg into these & swap out the meat depending on what you prefer/have on hand
  • Egg muffins
  • Frittata – slice it up & serve it with some sauteed veg if you have the time, otherwise chow it down however you can
  • Boiled eggs – pre-boil some eggs so you can peel & eat whenever & wherever you need to. These are perfect with a salad for lunch too.
  • Meatballs – like the above, make these up & eat hot or cold on the go or sliced up into other delicious dishes
  • Breakfast casserole – use your preferred mince (turkey is tasty!)
Paleo delicious muffins

Smiley egg muffins

…but I don’t like eggs

If you’re hate a runny yolk but are cool with a quiche-y egg style, see above. Otherwise, if you just can’t handle the little suckers or need a break from them, try some of the following:

  • More meatballs… Top ’em with guacamole & dish up with some sautéed veg (mushrooms, tomato etc)
  • Or kill two birds with one stone & put the avocado inside the meatball… Wow.
  • Hit the zucchinis hard with a Zuke-fest breakfast 
  • Paleo guru Mel’s power breakfast:
  • Fiesta breakfast bowl
  • Zucchini pancakes – grate a zucchini, finely slice a shallot & mix them with an egg & whichever herbs & spices strike your fancy. Pan fry dollops of it in a little coconut/olive oil until browned on both sides & set in the middle.

How did I do? Have I convinced you that you can rock your early morning meal?

Be sure to comment if you’ve stumbled across any awesome breakfast ideas, or if you’ve created your own morning masterpiece.

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Les Mills 21-day Nutrition Challenge

March 10, 2014 9:35 pm , 1 Comment ,

Les Mills, the genius people behind my beloved Grit, has a 21 day challenge which basically involves going squeaky clean, low-carb paleo (with the addition of a post-workout shake) for 21 days.

I’ve been thinking of doing a Whole 30 or similar lately & when this was raised at Gritshed, I thought it would be an ideal way to reduce the number of sweet potatoes I was ploughing through & have a break from my nightly dark chocolate anti-oxidant habit.

Normal paleo rules are in play but there’s also guidelines around portion sizes and timing of meals, as well as reducing your starchy carb intake.

Here’s the lowdown from Les Mills food dude Corey Baird:

So who’s with me?

I’m kicking this off on Wednesday March 19th & will be rolling through until Wednesday April 9th. For those clever cats playing at home, yep, that’s 22 days. Why is that? Well, it’s our anniversary in early April & we have a deluxe dinner booked at our favourite local restaurant Subo. While they do the most deliciously delicate meals of mostly locally sourced ingredients, I’m not missing out on a decadent feast due to possible traces of starchy carbs.

That’s my declaration of my only off-the-plan meal. I’m making the choice here to indulge in something I’m planning & totally looking forward to. This is vastly different to chowing into a block of chocolate at 9pm, or devouring a parcel of hot chips for a lazy dinner. And this is the secret to staying on the clean-eating bandwagon.

We’ve all had our slip-ups, felt like crap & ate our feelings.

The difference we want to develop with this challenge & with eating going forward is that you can & will be able to make a choice about everything that goes into your mouth. This isn’t about being hyper-aware of calories or ‘bad foods’, it’s about making choices. If you genuinely want that piece of chocolate, or that 7-course degustation in my case, & it is a choice you are consciously making, get in there & don’t feel guilty, enjoy it!

If you do fall victim to a carbalicious convenience food or a stray pile of deep fried business, get over it & get straight back on with cleaning up your act ahead of your next meal.

Don’t wait for the next day. Don’t wait for the next week. Don’t give up. 

Until launch day, I’m going to be posting a bunch of tips & bits to help you prepare for the challenge. Preparation is a big part of eating this way & even though it might seem like a load of work to start off with, you’ll get used to it pretty quickly & find the best way to make it work for you.

Once things are underway, I’ll still be posting regularly both here & via Instagram to share my experiences & delicious discoveries.

Let’s change the game.

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Recipe: Best ever guacamole

March 10, 2014 11:00 am , 1 Comment ,

For my mate Lee’s engagement party, she requested I bring a big batch of my Best Ever Guacamole. Plonked next to platters of vegetable sticks and corn chips, two trays of this stuff were pretty well demolished before I’d collected a glass of wine to sample some with.

What have we learned? Always make too much guacamole!

Don’t think you have to make this for a function either – I often make a batch on a Sunday & we use it through the week in salads or as a mini Mexi-fiesta with carrot & capsicum sticks. It’s also good dolloped on your morning veg & egg scramble or as a topping for whatever protein you’ve got on the dinner menu.

Guac on a speedy lunch of greens, sweet potato & eggs

Guac on a speedy lunch of greens, sweet potato & eggs

This recipe serves 4-6 guacamole-loving individuals as a party starter. Scale the recipe as required & store in the fridge. It’ll last for a few days – unless you eat it all, which is likely.

Best ever guacamole

  • 2 avocados
  • 1 spring onion/shallot (whatever you call the long green ones. You could sub in red onion here if you’re left shallot-less)
  • 4-6 slices of jarred jalapeños (adjust depending on your heat preferences)
  • 1 lime (or lemon)
  • Salt (Use some good stuff – ain’t nobody got time for that Table Salt business! I use Himalayan pink salt)

Finely slice your shallots & jalapeños and mush the suckers in a mortar & pestle (or with the back of a fork) until they’re a good green mess.

Add the juice of half the lime & grind in more salt than you think you should (about 1/2 – 3/4 of a teaspoon to start off with)

Mix everything together, cover & put it in the fridge for around 30 mins (& up to a few hours) to get the flavours mingling to the max.

When you’re ready to serve, or when the desire for guac overwhelms you, mash in the avocados.

Be sure to taste as you go – you want a good combination of flavours. Don’t be tempted to put in a bucketload of lime though; if it tastes like it’s missing something, you probably just need to add a little more salt. Stir it through & then taste again. You’ve got your other lime half though if you do need a little more zesty action.

Make ahead tip: When I made this for Lee, I mashed up the shallot/jalapeño/lime/salt mix a couple of hours before the party & then added in the avocado just prior to serving, adjusting seasoning accordingly.

A tower of sweet potato nachos crowned by delicious guacamole

A tower of sweet potato nachos crowned by delicious guacamole

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Recipe: Grain-free fig & hazelnut granola

March 3, 2014 9:43 am , Leave a Comment ,

grain-free fig hazelnut granola
My favourite of all the breakfast options is always eggs. Boiled, fried, scrambled or poached; I don’t discriminate. My other half though, well, he likes eggs but his heart has always belonged to sweet breakfasts. Pre our own paleolithic era, a creamy bowl of oats topped with fruit & honey or a thick slice of banana bread smothered with ricotta would do him just nicely thank you very much.

Almost every week since we started living life grain & dairy-free, I put together a batch of granola so we’ve always got a speedy breakfast on hand that satisfies any yearnings for the days of old. The beauty of granola is that you can easily customise it to whatever is in the pantry & you’ve got plenty of wriggle room to substitute or supplement for your own cravings or food requirements.

Our Healthful Pantry order this month included organic hazelnuts & dried figs so I was inspired to put this combo together. Hazelnuts, honey & cacao almost had me tasting Nutella. Almost.

This isn’t an everyday food but it’s an indulgence I like to have once or twice a week on days where I haven’t trained before breakfast & won’t be eating another nut-based meal/snack throughout the day.

I store this in a sealed container in the fridge & it usually lasts us 5-6 serves, depending on how much ‘accidentally’ gets stuck to the spoon after stirring (& consequently ends up in my mouth).

Grain-free fig & hazelnut granola

  • 1 cup hazelnuts
  • 1 cup almonds
  • 1 cup coconut flakes
  • 8 dried figs
  • handful or 2 sunflower seeds
  • handful or 2 cacao nibs
  • shake of ground cinnamon
  • 1-2 tblsp raw honey
  • 1-2 tblsp coconut oil

Preheat your oven to 150°C (300°F) & line a large tray with baking paper (you don’t have to but you’ll thank yourself when you’re trying to wash the tray later tonight!)

Blitz the hazelnuts & almonds in a food processor for a few seconds, or until they’re roughly chopped (or chop them by hand if it’s early/late & you’re overly kind to your neighbours) & tip them onto your baking tray.

Thinly slice the figs & toss them, along with the coconut flakes, seeds, nibs & cinnamon, on to the tray mixing them in with the nuts.

Drizzle your coconut oil & honey (warm them if they’re a bit solidified) over the lot & mix it through a little to evenly distribute.

Bake at 150 degrees for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes or so, trying not to burn your tongue on the spoon when you inevitably succumb to the toasty aroma.

Once it’s looking all golden and delicious, remove from the oven & let it cool down for a bit before tipping it into a container for storage.

Fig & hazelnut granola - Grain-free & paleo

We love to eat our granola topped with sliced banana, a handful of blueberries & a hearty drizzle of coconut milk. Depending on your relationship with dairy, feel free to involve some full-fat plain yogurt or whatever you’d normally put with crunchy breakfast-y goodness.

Just between you & me though, it’s also quite delicious eaten plain, by the handful, straight from the fridge.

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Week of eats: 16 Feb 2014

February 16, 2014 9:50 pm , Leave a Comment ,

Every Sunday, I plan out & shop for the majority of our meals for the week ahead. Here’s the best-of last week.

To kick things off on this rainy Sunday evening, as promised here’s the Creamy Chicken & Tomato Pasta from Let’s Eat Paleo by The Merrymaker Sisters. I added in some zucchini & served it with sweet potato noodles & it was super tasty. Quick & easy to put together, this dish has already made the menu again for this week.

Creamy Chicken & Tomato Pasta

The recipe was for four people so we both enjoyed leftovers for lunch the next day. A few cherry tomatoes, a handful of baby spinach & a sprinkle of some leftover pomegranate seeds & it was the second best lunch I had all week.

Leftover Creamy Chicken & Salad

While I put together the Creamy Chicken & Tomato Pasta dish, I let a pot of Chocolate Chili simmer ready for a speedy heat & eat dinner the next night. A day in the fridge to sit and flavour-mingle is the key to getting the most deliciousness out of a dish like this I reckon! This recipe is available online but I totally recommend Well Fed 1, the cookbook this is also in. (And FYI, the leftovers of this one took out favourite lunch of the week)

Chocolate Chili

Breakfast seems to be the biggest gripe new-to-paleo people post about online: “How do I do breakfast without Pop-Tarts, Coco-Pops & Wonderbread?” Behold the whatever-is-in-the-fridge scramble: sliced up leftover tomato-y meatballs, a handful of kale & 2 eggs scrambled with a plop of coconut milk. I’d have that over some sugar-laden cereal any day!

Kale & Meatball Scramble

One of the best cookbooks of last year would have to be Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi. We’ve made a lot of awesome dishes out of it & I was surprised we hadn’t given this particular recipe a spin yet. Braised Eggs with Lamb, Tahini & Sumac was an absolute ripper of a dish which Michael could not get enough of. Toasted pine nuts & pistachios tangled with spiced-up mince & roasted tomatoes, topped with eggs: Sold.

Braised eggs with lamb

Finally, although Valentine’s Day is a bit of a non-event in this household, I couldn’t resist making a chocolatey extravaganza for dessert on Friday night. This Coconut & Chocolate Tart was simple to put together & when topped with some figs & crushed macadamias, went down a charm with my Valentine. (Pro tip: drizzle coconut butter on top… Yeahhhh)

Coconut & Chocolate tart

Hope you’ve got some delicious things planned for dinner at your place this week!

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Review: Let’s Eat Paleo by The Merrymaker Sisters

February 11, 2014 4:42 pm , 3 Comments ,

I’m a cookbook fiend but in an already tightly-stuffed apartment, there’s only so many books a girl can keep in stock.

Enter, the e-book. Now normally, I do like my cookbooks to be a touch splattered with the dinners of days gone by. But, for The Merrymaker Sisters and their cute new e-book, Let’s Eat Paleo, I’ll try & keep the mess to a minimum (garlic-scented iPhone anyone?)

Let's Eat Paleo

Let’s Eat Paleo provides an easy introduction for those new to paleo life & a refreshing approach to daily dino chow for those already in the know. And if you like your paleo treat eats, The Merrymaker Sisters oblige with a variety of sweets including tarts, smoothies, cakes & brownies.

Having made a few recipes from The Merrymaker back catalogue, I was excited to see which delights had made the cut for the 50 paleo recipes included in the PDF. While there’s plenty of new additions, my favourite recipe from the girls – the De-Snicker-licious Raw Cake – deservedly makes an appearance, as does the Spinach & Leek Meache which I keep meaning to whip out. It’s got Sunday night supper written all over it!

De-snicker-licious cake

The bottom half of this extravaganza I made last year is the De-Snicker-Licious Raw Cake – it lived up to its name!

Other recipes I can’t wait to crack out include Sweet Potato & Kale Pancakes, Raw Bircher Muesli, Mustard & Chive Scones, Lamb Korma in the Slow Cooker and Shepherd’s Pie in a Capsicum (why did I not think of this!?). I’ve also got the Creamy Chicken & Tomato Pasta plotted into the meal planner this week – stay tuned for my verdict & happy snaps later in the week.

In addition to the recipes, there’s an inspiring intro which focuses on the paleo lifestyle, not just the paleo diet. It’s obvious from the blog & Instagram feed The Merrymaker Sisters maintain that they’re active little vegemites who know there’s more to maintaining health & wellbeing than running endless kilometres on the treaddie! It’s so great to see this attitude being spread by young Aussie women.

If you want some fun foodspiration, a way to support young local talent or just a handy little e-cookbook, Let’s Eat Paleo is a splatter-proof investment.

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Things I Love Thursday: 12 Sep

September 12, 2013 7:20 am ,

Here’s what’s been floating my boat this week 🙂

  • Researching all things Paleo! This meal planning template was a particularly useful find.
  • Pinterest funnies, especially this:

  •  Celebrating the birthday of my best friend since forever on the weekend. Friendship established 1992 & still going strong!
    Nina's birthday

    Here we are as chubby-faced primary schoolers 🙂

  • LOVE GRIT! Is it a tough workout? Here’s my post-GRIT face… Pooped!post grit
  • This Paleo Pizookie recipe with this banana ice cream recipe… Decadent but still a tick in the technical paleo book!

Paleo pizookie

  • And on banana ice cream: OMG!? I’d seen this article from The Kitchn before but just thought it was a bit of a beat up, or that I’d need some fancy-schmancy Thermomix-style blender. Ahhh no! It is pure magic! I shared the recipe with a workmate & he’s now using it as a bribery tool with his toddler. Bribery with just a frozen, blended banana – so simple! Just make it. You’ll see.
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21 ways to get from paleo to delicious

September 11, 2013 8:22 pm ,

The internet is rife with all manner of paleo resources – the good, the bad, the delicious and the downright ridiculously devilish (Clean Eating with a Dirty Mind, I’m looking at you).

Even though the guidelines of paleo eating may sound restrictive, there’s so much you can do beyond a slab of meat & a pile of steamed greens. I thought I’d put together this little slideshow of some of our paleo meals from the last few weeks to stoke the fires of creativity & point out some great paleo websites I’ve discovered along the way.

One more thing we crack on, I’ve read a lot around the traps about this way of eating being known for an over-reliance on meat. Long before starting to align our eating with paleo, we had enjoyed a tradition of a weekly “Meat Free Monday” dinner where vegetarian food was the no-excuses order of the evening. Interestingly given this criticism of paleo, we’ve continued this tradition without too much of a battle and I’ve included a few of these meals below.

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The next chapter: Hello Paleo!

September 9, 2013 7:06 am ,

There’s change afoot in our household.

For the last 3 weeks, we’ve been eating to Paleo rules. That is:

  • Lots of vegetables & fruit
  • Plenty of meat & eggs & seafood too
  • A good dose of nuts & other healthy fats

Sounds good right?

Well, there’s only a slight catch. Excluded from paleo eating are:

  • Dairy
  • Legumes
  • Grains
  • Sugar (mostly refined – some occasional honey & real maple syrup are cool)

So, other than for a couple of celebrations where we indulged a little, we’ve binned the tinned chickpeas, left the dairy farmers in the lurch and kept the bag rice buried in the top of the pantry.

“But for what incredible benefit would you now avoid blue cheese??”, I hear you cry. Well, we’ve been really surprised at the benefits of eating this way and, to be honest, how easy it’s been to stick to.

For the last few years, I’ve had a gluten intolerance so that’s kinda helped us get used to the no grains bit a little but, don’t get me wrong, we did have brown rice, polenta and oats queued up, along with tins upon tins of cannelini & kidney beans, lentils & corn kernels.

Like I’m sure many young women do, I’ve always tried to stick to low-calorie options, squirming whenever more than a quarter of an avocado came my way & trying to think happy thoughts when chowing into fat-free tuna in springwater with cucumber on paper-thin 60-calorie wraps.

It feels positively wild putting 150 grams of chicken and half an avocado in a hearty salad at lunch time but you know what, it fills me up so much more than the traditional low calorie, low fat diets we are normally pushed towards for optimal health. I no longer snack between breakfast & lunch. I have a pre-gym snack before I leave work in the afternoon & a recovery mini-meal post-gym. And then it’s dinner time. We haven’t given up the two squares of quality dark chocolate after dinner but beyond that, we’re paleo all the way, baby!

We’ve lost a couple of kilos, actually feel hungry by meal times but never hangry (a major issue for me previously!) and, this is purely our experience, but we’re finding our tastebuds have been totally re-invigorated.

This is merely the beginning – we started out thinking we’d stick to it for a month & see how things went but now, after 3 weeks, I can’t think of eating any other way.

I’ll post more about our paleo adventures here. Don’t worry, it’s not all zucchini and beef: there’s some seriously indulgent things you can do with a bag of almonds, a handful of dates and an avocado.

You might have heard of caveman style eating? This is it. Forget all processed “food”; if it needs more than a quick steam or a sizzle in the pan to become edible, there’s a very good chance it ain’t paleo, sister. If you want to read more about the whole deal, hit up paleo gurus Robb Wolf, Stupid Easy Paleo or Eat Drink Paleo for more information.  

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Weekend in pictures: 19-21 July

July 21, 2013 7:41 pm ,

Dinosaur craft. That was the biggest revelation of last week for me. After stumbling across this dino clutch bag DIY and this dino serving dish DIY, just about all I could focus on this weekend was accumulating all the pieces to get happy with dino-DIY! My friend Lee and I are tackling the dish on Sunday – excitement!!

Me & my DIY dinosaur

There were non-dino related activities too – a girl & her man have gotta eat, right?! Friday night incorporated this awesome skinny apple crumble. Without fresh cranberries available, I used some sliced up Medjool dates (& cut the honey back a bit). And to pump up the crumble topping, I stirred in a scoop of pumpkin seeds. Served up with a scoop of ice cream, M was in heaven.

Skinny Apple Crumble

After a heavy GRIT session on Saturday morning, I headed out to do the aforementioned dino shopping, but not before a coffee pitstop at local favourite Rolador. It’s nearly always a decent wait for whatever you order, whether you’re dining in or ordering from the side roller door, but given it’s always good it’s worth settling in for (good time for a scour through Pinterest, I say!)

Rolador cafe

The other great purchases of the weekend were these two Women’s Weekly cookbooks: Pressure Cooking & The Big Book Of Beautiful Biscuits. OMG. When I saw Beautiful Biscuits there was no way I was leaving without it. It’s the ‘vintage edition’ and my mum has the original.

New Women's Weekly cookbooks

Growing up, this was the book Mum would pull out when she had to ‘bring a plate’ or whip out a slice for a function. The slice I always, always wanted her to make was the below. A peanut butter, chocolate major deliciousness! While we got it once or twice, it was serious ‘treat food’ & looking at the ingredients as an adult, I can see why!

Beautiful biscuits kid dream

Funnily enough, when asked which recipe from the book he’d like me to make first, M suggested the below coconut chocolate slice… which was Mum’s go-to slice! I can definitely see why – delicious, easy & an ingredients list full of kitchen basics. And while I don’t wish to upset the ladies of the Women’s Weekly test kitchen, I did hack the icing slightly with great return. Instead of the suggested icing sugar/milk/cocoa topping, I mixed half a tin of light coconut cream (leftover from Friday night’s pressure cooked Massaman) and half a block of dark chocolate over a low heat for an icing of coconutty, ganachey goodness!

Beautiful biscuits slice

Sunday morning was all about brunch and coffees on the sunny deck at The Locale. I thought I hated their coffee but M suggested I try my latte with full cream milk, rather than my usual skim order… Lo & behold, it was great! There’s a few places around town that I don’t love for coffee so I can’t wait to taste test them with the milk switch – I think there must just be a skinny milk doing the rounds that’s a bit funk!

Locale coffee

After breakfast we hit the farmer’s markets & then finished off the rest of the groceries before hitting the carwash. It was a DIY car wash but it felt machine-y when you can sit inside to watch the suds run down the windows!

carwash

We decided to old-school it up for Sunday lunch & cooked up a chook & roasted vegies for a proper feast. After some initial browning, the chicken was done in the pressure cooker (with a recipe from my new book) in just 25 minutes! It was beautifully juicy and for less than halfa, I’ll definitely be doing it again! I made a chilli lime sauce to drizzle the chicken, which was stuffed with lemon, oregano & garlic. The vegies consisted of squash, garlic & brussels sprouts with a hearty drizzle of caramelised balsamic vinegar to finish.

Sunday roast

The final image of the weekend though goes to these beautiful dusky lilac roses which smell so delightful. Fresh from the farmer’s markets, I can’t think of a better way to spend $10!

Roses

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Pan-Roasted Chicken With Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

March 15, 2012 4:29 am , Leave a Comment ,

Pan-roasted Chicken & Lemon Garlic Vegetables

While I love strong flavours, saucy dishes and recipes with 37 different ingredients, sometimes a one-pan wonder of chicken and potatoes is just what the evening needs. Especially after a vicious vertical run. Well, it could’ve been more vicious in length (3.9km, not too shabby!) but it made up for it in verticality? climb – check out that terrain map!

Hill run

Screenshot from MapMyRun iPhone app

After following a Pinterest link to a recipe that didn’t sound as delicious as it’s picture and then hopefully clicking on to another pretty picture, I found this recipe  for Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans.

lemons

The housemate offered up his chicken breasts for the greater good and we picked up some good-lookin’ green beans, red spuds & lemons from the supermarket.

beans

We missed out on making our usual trek to the local farmer’s markets on the weekend as we were in downtown Lithgow  for Team Frog‘s go-kart race – a race which they won, might I proudly add! We also befriended a whole herd of goats and a pony.

Lithgow

The sights of Lithgow: The goat, the horse & the grass

If you’re looking for a bang-it-in-the-oven one-pan-wonder, this chicken dinner is your winner. While I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, you could quite easily mix it up depending on what is floating around in the crisper. We likened it to the slightly healthier version of Nigella’s Spanish Chicken which The Lad & I simply adore & most definitely should make again soon.

beans & potatoes

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

Slightly Adapted from Real Simple

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

  • ~6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • generous sprinkling of salt & pepper
  • 3-4 good handfuls of green beans
  • ~8 small red potatoes, quartered (I used slightly bigger spuds & so only used about 4 and just cut them into small wedges)
  • ~700g chicken breast – we had two very large skinless, boneless breasts so I just sliced those up into tenders

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Coat a large baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil & arrange the lemon slices in a single layer in the bottom.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the remaining oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper; add the green beans and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the green beans and arrange them on top of the lemon slices. Add the potatoes to the same olive-oil mixture and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, arrange the potatoes along the inside edge of the dish or skillet on top of the green beans. Place the chicken in the same bowl with the olive-oil mixture and coat thoroughly.
  3. Once coated, place the chicken on top of the beans & pour any of the remaining olive oil mixture over the chicken.
  4. Roast for 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through & the potatoes have softened in the centre & browned slightly on the edges.

Pan-roasted Chicken & Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

This is an easy week night dinner that takes minimal preparation & delivers low-key deliciousness for big & small eaters alike. It’s going to take a pretty fussy eater to decline this one!

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