15 Minute Meal- Salsa Chicken

Who doesn't love a quick and easy meal? Being able to throw together some ingredients and 15 minutes get to sit down and eat it. A lot of packets spurt their benefits that they can help you make a quick meal, which is often tempting to me. But when I turn them over and find that there are more ingredients in the list than the minutes it takes to make them.... I don't love it so much.

Moving to Auckland and starting a 9-5job this year has only made the idea of a 15 minute meal more relevant to me. As much as I love cooking, I also love being able to relax by 7pm. Between getting home and doing dishes, that doesn't leave a heap of time to make a meal. 

I do love Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals book (although in all fairness, a lot take closer to 25-30 for me), but one issue that I have is that some contain quite a lot of ingredients in them and I am a tad limited on cupboard space. That's why I am always looking for inspiration for simple, delicious meals that are super easy and quick to cook, but which I also know are nourishing and great for me to be eating.

You may notice that this recipe uses jarred salsa. Yes, yes, I know that that somewhat breaks my target of no processed foods, however, if you know me you know that I am all about balance, and a little bit of jarred salsa is better than a fraken-food microwave meal or picking up over-processed takeaways. When shopping for salsa, as with all food, I look for the one with the least amount of long-named ingredients. Ideally I would use homemade salsa, which is on my cooking wish list since I've never made it before, so if you have a great recipe let me know! In the mean time I feel comfortable using a little bit of processed ingredient in what is otherwise a fresh and wholesome meal.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 large or 4 small chicken breasts

Salt & Pepper

2 Tsp dried oregano

1 cup Salsa

1 cup grated cheese

Turn your grill on to high.

If you are using 2 large chicken breasts, cut them in 2 horizontally (so you essentially make 4 chicken breasts).

Cut two sheets of greaseproof paper, large enough to fit all of the chicken. Place one sheet on a flat surface and sprinkle with the salt, pepper and oregano. Place the chicken on the greaseproof paper, cover with the second sheet, and bash with a rolling pin or similar until chicken is around 1 cm thick.

Place a little oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for around 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through.

Remove chicken from pan into an oven-safe dish. Top each piece of chicken with 1/4 cup of salsa and 1/4 cup cheese.

Place under the grill for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.

This is great served of rice with a big side of steamed or stir-fried vegetables (as pictured), put into wraps, or used as protein for a salad.

Enjoy xx

Apple and Blue Cheese Chicken

So much has happened in the last few days since I posted!! I got through to second stage interview for an honours year scholarship and job with L'Oreal, so next week I am flying up to Auckland and back. This is such a huge privilege and I am so excited about it, but it does mean that what was going to be a busy week next week has now just gotten crazy.

I have had to move a mid-semester test forward a day, as it was scheduled for the day I will be in Auckland. I have singing competitions on Thursday and Friday to prepare for, normal assignments to be working on and now I also have to prepare a presentation for L'Oreal. Aaaargh!!

My plan to reduce some of my stress next week is to have super simple meals. I mean like throw everything into a pan and heat for 10 minutes kinda meals. I will also try to do as much food prep as I can on Sunday.

While I will try to at least get one blog post up, you will understand why I haven't if it all gets too busy.

In the mean time enjoy this recipe for some chicken. I haven't shared a svaoury recipe with you for a while, so when I was inspired by some leftovers, I thought that I would share it with you. Cheese and fruit seem to pretty much always make a great pairing and blue cheese and apple together are no different. When you pair the sweetness of the fruit and the saltiness of the cheese with the chicken, you have something pretty magic going on.

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 apple, peeled and cored
1/4 cup finely cubed blue cheese
1/4 cup apple juice

Place the chicken between two sheets of plastic food wrap. Using a rolling pin or something heavy, bash the chicken to flatten it out.

Finally chop the apple and mix it in a bowl with the blue cheese. Evenly spread the apple and cheese mix over the chicken.

Gently roll up the chicken and secure with a couple of toothpicks. Place in an oven-proof baking dish and pour over the apple juice. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (juices run clear or cut into the thickest part).

Remove the toothpicks and slice the chicken to serve.

Pumpkin and Red Lentil Soup with Gingered Leeks

1 exam down, 2 to go! Although my next exam is only 1 1/2 days away, at least I can just focus on one exam at a time now instead of having to do two at once. Since my exam was on a Saturday morning I decided that I would treat myself to breakfast at the local Otago farmers market. I had a delicious Blackcurrant and Apple porridge topped with some reeeeeealy good muesli. This was delicious and perfect to keep me going through my exam. I also had a coffee to give me a caffeine boost.

Anyway, I have been living off this soup for lunches the past week as it was a perfect, easy lunch to just heat up and since the weather has been a little chilly, it was what I was feeling like. The past couple of times that I have made pumpkin soup, they have been a little bland. This time around, I wanted to make sure that this soup had lots of flavour, so I decided to amp it up with some ginger. I also used some of my homemade chicken stock which tastes delicious!

Perfect on a chilli night, with some nice crusty bread!

Ingredients
1/2 a large leek, sliced thinly
1-2 Tbsp butter
Thumb-nail size piece of ginger grated
1 kg pumpkin, peeled and diced into 2cm pieces
1/2 cup red lentils
2 cups chicken stock (or more vegetable stock)
2 cups vegetable stock
(any leftover vegetables. I threw in some cauliflower)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over a medium heat melt the butter. Add the leeks and gently cook for around 10 minutes or until they are soft.

Add the ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes longer, or until fragrant.

Add the pumpkin and red lentils and stir to mix well with the leeks. Add the stocks and turn the heat up. Throw in any other vegetables that you want to use. If the stock does not cover the vegetables, add more water until it does.

Turn up the heat to bring to the boil and then turn it back down to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until the pumpkin is very soft.

Using a blender, stick blender of food processor, puree the soup. Add more water to reach a consistency that you like (we like it really thick). Return to the pot to reheat.

Serve with sour cream or parmesan.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

Its a horrible wet Sunday here in Dunedin, which really makes me think that winter is here. At leasr this weekend is a long weekend, so tonight we can snuggle up and watch some movies with the fire on. The only downside?

I have to get studying! My first exam is just under a week away, so even though hungry male may get the day off, I have work to do. When I am busy studying, while I do enjoy getting to cook as a break, it is still better if I can have meals that don't take ages to make. I would prefer to use my study breaks on baking anyway.

This meal fits the bill perfectly as I think my prep time for this was all of 5 minutes. Perfect study food. I can throw it on in the morning and by dinner time it is all ready. This beef is also so versatile. You can throw it into wraps, add some chilli beans and make nachoes, use it for sandwiches and subs.... and there are probably heaps of other ways that I haven't tried yet.

So if you are busy studying, have a full on day at work or just cannot be bothered cooking, get this in your slow cooker now!

Ingredients
1kg beef chuck or blade steak (kept whole in steak form)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup water

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, cumin, chilli powder, coriander and sea salt.

Rub the spice paste into the steaks and place the steaks in the slow cooker. Add the water to the slow cooker.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours and then shred the beef with two forks.

Creamy Chicken Potato and Leek Casserole

I've decided that its time to add a new recipe category, a slow cooker one. I love my slow cooker! After a busy day of university and work, it's really nice to be able to come home to a comforting cooked meal. A bonus for me being on a budget is that I can use cheaper cuts of meat and they still taste great. Slow Cookers are especially good for winter comfort food and that is where this recipe comes in.

I got the idea for this recipe from a food magazine, but it involved about 1 1/2 hours in the owen. While most of the time I don't want to wait that long for tea, it made it perfect to adapt for the slow cooker. It also uses some great seasonal ingredients.

The original recipe called for cream, but to lighten up the recipe a little I decided to use this Philadelphia Cream for Cooking. This tasted great in the casserole and it was still beautifully creamy. Next recipe I post I will give you a way to use the rest of this up.

Ingredients

5-6 large chicken drumsticks

1 leek

4 bacon rashers, diced

4 medium potatoes, diced into 1cm cubes

1/2 cup white wine

Chicken stock cube 

2/3 cup cream for cooking

1. Turn slow cooker on to low.

2. Using a heavy, sharp knife, cut the knobbly end off the drumsticks and remove the skin (I had to give mine a fairly good whack)

3.Place the potato and leek in the bottom of the slow cooker, place the chicken on top and sprinkle with the bacon.

4. Mix the wine and cream together, then pour over the ingredients in the slow cooker.

5. Place the stock cube into the slow cooker.

6. Cook on LOW for 8 hours.

7. Just before serving, remove the drum sticks from the slow cooker and remove the bones.

8. Place the chicken back in and stir to combine.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Serves 2 as a meal or 4 as a small meal/side

I promised you this recipe a while ago, so here it is. I have tried a couple of gnocchi recipes before, but they have always been quite difficult, messy and sticky. Because I like gnocchi, I decided to give making it one more go. Sam Stern is one of the recipe writers whose recipes I always trust so I decided to give his Sweet Potato Gnocchi a go from his book "Get Cooking".

I'm so glad that I gave gnocchi a last chance as this was actually pretty easy and really yummy! I think I preferred it to normal potato gnocchi as it had a bit more flavour, however I want to keep experimenting with some ways to give it a bit more something.

Ingredients
 350g sweet potato/kumara in skin
Small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (Ginger haters do not exclude this!!!)
Salt and Pepper
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp finely grated parmesan
150g white flour
Olive oil
Favourite pasta sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Wash the sweet potatoes. prick all over with a fork and then bake them in the oven for 40-60 minutes until tender.
3. Remove, slice in half and cool for 2 minutes.
4. Scoop out the flesh and put into a bowl.
5. Add the ginger, seasoning, egg yolk and parmesan.
6. Sift in the flour.
7. Mix together with a fork and fingers to make a soft, warm dough, but handle lightly!
8. On a lightly floured board, cut the dough into 4 pieces, cover 3 with a cloth.
9. Roll the first piece into a long, thin sausage. Cut into 10 pieces.
10. Cover and repeat.
11. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.
12. Once boiling, carefully slip the gnocchi in with a spoon.
13. Boil until the gnocchi rise to the surface and then remove with a slotted spoon.
14. Tip into a bowl with a little olive oil and keep warm.
15. Serve with your favourite pasta sauce and some cheese

What to do with that leftover roast

 

You made a beautiful roast earlier in the week. Chicken, vegetables, the works. Now, however, what is left is sitting looking sad in the fridge. Sure Roast Chicken sandwiches are nice, but surely you can do better? You surely can with this frittata.

This recipe was adapted from New Zealand's Healthy Food Guide and makes sure that that leftover roast doesn't go to waste. It doesn't have to be chicken, any type of meat would work in this. It can be a lunch or dinner and is great served with some tatsy sauce, relish, or maybe even leftover gravy. Vegetarians can still enjoy this, just leave out the meat.

Ingredients

1 onion, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

350g leftover roast vegetables, diced

200g cooked meat

2 cups cabbage

2 tsp paprika

Grating nutmeg

6 large eggs, beaten

1. Find a large saucepan that can go in the oven. If the handle is plastic, wrap this tightly in tinfoil.

2. Over a medium heat, cooki the onion and garlic until soft

3. Add the roast vegetables and cook for a few more minutes

4. Throw in the meat, cabbage, paprika and nutmeg and mix well.

5. Push down the mixture until it sits flat.

6. Pour over the eggs, swirling the pan until it is evenly distributed

7. Cook the mixture over a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the edges and bottom are set and the top is firm.

8. Place the pan in the oven under a grill at 200 degrees C.

9. Leave under the grill until the frittata is set. When you poke the centre of it there should be no wet mixture coming out.

10. Cut into slices and serve with a tasty sauce.

Roast Tomato Soup

Tomatoes are so expensive at the moment! However, I picked up a bag of cheap cooking tomatoes at the supermarket and then looked for a use for them. Its the middle of winter in Dunedin, so pretty chilly and the perfect time of year for soup. Cold weather + bag of tomatoes = Roast Tomato Soup.

This is a Gordon Ramsey recipe and it calls for fresh basil, but, being the middle of winter I didn't have any of that so I used dried and it still tasted great. Roasting the tomatoes really enhances their flavour and the sun dried tomatoes make this soup taste even better.
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 Tbsps Olive Oil
1 kg tomatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves
2 tsps dried thyme
2 tsps dried basil
1 tsp caster sugar
1 litre vegetable stock
3 sundried tomatoes

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.
2. Place the oil in a large roasting dish and let it heat in the oven for a few minutes.
3. Chop the tomatoes in half and carefully tip the tomatoes, onion rings and garlic into the pan.
4. Toss to coat with the oil.
5. Sprinkle over the herbs and sugar and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the mixture caramelises, stirring a few times during cooking.
6. Tip the contents of the roasting dish into a large saucepan.
7. Heat the stock and pour over the tomatoes.
8. Bring to the boil, add the sun dried tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
9.Strain the stock into a bowl and place the tomato mixture into a blender.
10. Blend the tomato mixture until smooth, gradually adding the stock.
11. If you like a chunky soup, serve now. If you want a smooth soup, pass the soup through a sieve into a large bowl.
12. Season to taste

Carrot and Red Lentil Dhal

Meat can be so expensive so a good way to save money, and supposedly improve your health, is to eat vegetarian a few times a week. However, when most people hear the word vegetarian they think a plate of boring vegetables and nothing else. Having a vegetarian sister, I know better. Vegetarian food can be extremely tasty and satisfying. If you're still not convinced I suggest trying this recipe. If my carnivore of a boyfriend loves it, it must be special.

I found this recipe in a Healthy Food magazine and it is actually really quick to prepare, you just need to leave an hour or so for it to simmer. It tastes just as good if not better reheated the next day and can easily be frozen. The boyfriend loves it on toast or pita bread for a snack and its really healthy and nutritious as lentils are a form of protein.

Ingredients
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
500g grated carrot
1 litre vegetable stock
1/2 cup red lentils
2 tbsps peanut butter
1 tbsp curry powder
salt and pepper

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a sauce pan.
2. Add the seeds and gently fry until the seeds start to pop (you will hear them).
3. Add the carrot and stir.
4. Cover the pan and let the carrot sweat over a low heat for 10 minutes.
5. Add the stock and the lentils and let simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Add peanut butter, curry powder and salt and pepper. Simmer until the dhal is a thicky consistency, about 20 more minutes.
7. Serve topped with yoghurt and coriander.