Spiced Eggs

It has been a busy couple of weeks! Three weeks ago, Hungry Male and I flew down to Dunedin for my Nephew's first birthday. It was really nice being able to go back home and see everyone, since they were all together for the birthday party. We had a Hairy Maclary theme, and my sister made an amazing Hairy Maclary cake!

We had a weekend to ourselves and then for the following week we had house guests, as Hungry Male and some friends were taking part in the 90 Mile Classic IRB race. For those of you uneducated in Surf Life Saving language, this was an event where they raced one of the orange surf boats 88km down 90 mile beach, with a couple of transition stages in between. I was the support driver and had to follow them down the beach and make sure their petrol was ready at the transition stages. It was really nice getting to head further north for a weekend, even if it was quite a busy one, as I have never been up that way before and we even had enough time to go to Cape Reinga.

Because I was trying to catch up from a hectic weekend, necessity was the mother of invention when it came to lunches, as it was mostly a case of trying to figure something out from what I had in the cupboard and fridge. These eggs were one of my creations. 

I was actually a little obsessed with eggs this week and I had these on crackers, in salads and on toast. They were really a bit of a life saver. I boiled up a bunch of eggs on Monday night and that did me for almost the rest of the week.

Now I haven't quite perfected the easy-to-peel boiled egg yet, so if anyone has any tips please tell me! This batch I added a little baking soda to the water and peeled them under cold water, however, the shell still took a bit of the egg white off with it.

So if you are stuck for lunch or snack inspiration, give these a go!

Ingredients

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Place the eggs in a saucepan with a pinch of baking soda and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a gentle boil and boil the eggs for 6 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat then put the eggs immediately into cold water. Once the eggs are cool to touch, gently peel them while holding under running water.

On a small plate, place the paprika, sesame seeds and cumin seeds. Roll the eggs in the spice mix until well coated. Serve on toast, on crackers or in salads.

Enjoy xx

Tank-Style Raw Energy Salad

Aargh! It's been so long since I last did a proper blog post! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram then you won't be feeling quite so abandoned, but in terms of blog posts I've had a bit of an inspiration block for the last month or so. It's not that I haven't been making and eating any good food, but none of it seemed very blog-worthy.

However, I have been doing some inspiration gathering (looking at food blogs seems to help the creative food-juices flow) and I have a list of recipes that I want to work on over the next few months. This recipe is the start.

I really enjoy tank food. I know that the dressings are probably full of sugar, but in general they are at least a healthier grab and go option than most other fast food places. In particular, I really like their Raw Energy Salad/ Wraps. This salad is jam-packed full of wholesome ingredients including leafy salad greens, beetroot and quinoa.

While I am a foodie, I am also very budget conscious, so while Tank is great, paying $10 or so for a salad just isn't my thing. So i did what I love doing and got in the kitchen to recreate it. Now I haven't had these salads side by side to compare, but I do think that I have got something pretty close and just as delicious.

I also really enjoyed making this salad as I got to play with my relatively new food processor and its shredding attachment. This attachment is definitely my new best salad-making friend as it can julienne all of the vegetables I need for several salads in about 30 seconds! I shredded mt carrots and beetroot up on the Sunday and put them in separate glad containers, and then during the week all I had to do was throw together the salad ingredients. A food processor can be quite a costly investment, but I definitely think that you could use a normal grater and still enjoy this salad.

Easy, healthy and delicious.

Enjoy xx

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
3 large beetroot
3 carrots
4 cups leafy salad greens
1/2 cups almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut

4 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp runny honey

Place quinoa in a saucepan and cover with water until it sits about 2cm above the quinoa. Bring to the boil, then simmer for around 10-15 minutes or until water has evaporated and quinoa is cooked.

Peel the carrots and beetroot. Using a food processor with a shredder attachment, or if you don't have one a grater, shred the carrots and beetroot. Roughly chop the almonds, or place in a bag and hit with a rolling pin until the almonds are roughly broken up.

In a large bowl, toss together the salad greens, almonds, coconut, quinoa, beetroot and carrot. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, balsamic vinegar and honey. Drizzle over the salad and toss.

Then sit down and enjoy!

Winter Wellness Bowl

Excuse me if this post is a little jumbled, but I have been up since 3am and am starting to feel a little weary. Yes, 3am sounds crazy to me too, but for the next year of my life this will be my regular for a Monday. As part of my graduate programme, I spend one day a week out in the field. This involves being in a supermarket at 4am making sure all of our shelves are well stocked and tidy and that our displays are all set up.... Hence the 3am wake up.

With my Monday's spent in a state of sleep deprivation and spending quite a lot of it driving in a car, I need to figure out some great nutritious meals and snacks that are easy to eat in my breaks between stores. Today I did ok, eating a bit of fruit and some sugar-free oat mufifn things, but I definitely think that I could do better.

This winter wellness bowl that I made the other week would actually be a great choice.  This bowl is packed full of nutrition and uses some great seasonal vegetables. In this I included brussel sprouts and kumara, but it would also be great with pumpkin or butternut squash. The same goes for the chickpeas that I used. I love chickpeas as they really help to fill me up and are a great source of protein, but you could use lentils, kidney beans or some leftover chicken.

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 medium kumara      

1 cup finely sliced brussel sprouts

1/2 tsp vegetable stock powder

1/2 cup water

1 cup cooked quinoa/amaranth/rice or other grain

1 cup chickpeas

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin seeds

Squeeze lime juice

If you have time, wash the kumara and roast in the oven until soft. If you are short on time, prick the kumara all over with a fork and cook in the microwave for around 6 minutes, turning half way through. 

Heat a fry pan over a medium heat, add a little coconut oil and then add the brussel sprouts. Stirfry for 3-4 minutes, then add the water and stock. Simmer for a few minutes until the water has evaportaed and the sprouts are soft.

In the same pan, heat a little more coconut oil. Add the cumin seeds and paprika and fry over a medium-high heat until the cumin seeds start to 'pop'. Add the chickpeas and saute until they are well coated in the spices. Squeeze over a little lime juice

Chop the cooked kumara, then assemble all of the ingredients together as nicely or as un-nicely as you like.

Chia & Oat Pudding

Hi everyone. How is your week of wholegrains going? I will admit that not every single grain-based food that I have eaten this week has been wholegrain, but I would estimate that around 80% has been, a balance that I am happy with. One of my wholegrain foods that I loved this week were some chickpea and quinoa patties from Donna Hay. Quinoa is a great source of protein, fibre and lots of other vitamins and minerals, so it really is a great wholegrain to try to include.

This weekend is Waitangi weekend, which means that we get an extra day of weekend. Yesterday we spent doing chores around the house, including sorting through the pantry (which is a great way to see what ingredients need using up in the next few weeks). Today we headed North up to the Matakana farmers market for breakfast. We found ourselves some Bacon, Egg, Chorizo and Veggie breakfast wraps which were delicious! After that we headed to a nearby Marine Reserve to go snorkelling for a few hours. It was amazing how many fish there were and how close you could get to some of them!

So on to today's recipe. I'm not the sort of person who can keep eating the same breakfast day after day. I like to mix things up a little, which means that I am constantly on the lookout for great new breakfast ideas (I actually judge a food blog primarily on its breakfast recipes).

I had seen lots of recipes around for chia puddings, but I thought that I would try and make a slightly more filling and interesting version. This recipe contains the wholegrain goodness of chia seeds and oats, and is the sort of recipe that you can customise with your own flavours and toppings. This breakfast was pretty easy to make, tasted great, and kept me full all morning.

Enjoy x

Serves 1, but easy to double or triple quantities.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp chia seeds
1/4 Tbsp rolled oats
1/4 Cup Greek Yoghurt
1 Cup Almond Milk
1 Banana
1 Tbsp Rice Malt Syrup, honey, or other liquid sweetener
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

In a bowl place the chia seeds, rolled oats, yoghurt and almond milk. Stir to mix, cover and place in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, place the contents of the bowl in a blender or food processor, along with the banana and sweetener of choice.

Blend until smooth, thick and creamy.

Enjoy topped with your favourite fruit and nuts (mine had blueberries hidden in the middle).

Lentil Bolognaise with Zuchinni Noodles

So much has happened in the last few days!! All of our stuff got picked up today and in one week's time we will be beginning on our journey to live up in Auckland. Eek!

I also managed to get food poisoning or some kind of tummy bug, so have been feeling absolutely awful the last couple of days. Five days on and I still have almost zero interest in food. I am still really looking forward to Christmas and preparing to do all of my christmas baking this weekend. I found the best recipe for caramello biscuit fudge that will definitely get made, but I'm still yet to decide what else I will make. I do have a truffle recipe in mind that if it works out I will try and post before christmas.

Today's recipe I made a few weeks back, but thought that it would make a great, lighter meal during this hectic christmas period that often involves waaaaaaaay too much food. I made the zuchinni noodles using my spiralizer which is great! I just bought a cheap, plastic one that you twist by hand, but it works really well. If you don't want to go out and buy yet another gadget for your kitchen, you can still make zuchinni noodles using a wide-blade potato peeler and run it down the length of the zuchinni.

Ingredients
1 onion
1 tin brown lentils, drained and rinsed
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
3 large zuchinni

Peel the onion, then cut in half and slice thinly. In a large frypan, over a medium heat, sauté the onions until soft and clear. Add the lentils, tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let simmer for around 15 minutes or until the sauce is to your desired consistency.

Using a spiralizer or vegetable peeler make noodles out of the zuchinni. Add to the tomato mix and let cook for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Great served with parmesan

Black Rice and Chickpea Salad

I'm heading up to Auckland to try to find somewhere for me and the boyfriend to live next year so this will just be a short post today.

I popped into an Asian food store the other week as I wanted to grab some sushi rice and seasoning. As I was wandering round (which I love doing in foreign food stores) I spied some black rice. I remembered reading somewhere that black rice has a great nutrition profile, so I thought that I would grab some to make myself some lunches for the week. This salad was my first go using black rice and I absolutely loved it. It has a lovely nutty flavour, with a slightly chewier texture than white rice. Black rice is also full of amino acids and antioxidants from the black colour.

When it cooks up it turns more of a purplish colour, and as you can see in the photo, it does turn other things a bit purple too. This salad is bulked out with chickpeas, avocado, red capsicum, celery and baby spinach, making for a perfect take-to-work lunch.

Ingredients
1 cup black rice (sometimes also called forbidden rice)
2 cups water
1 red capsicum
1 avocado
2 stalks celery
2-3 spring onions
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or you can use any dressing that you like)
Few large handfuls of baby spinach to serve

In a pot place the rice and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the rice for around 20 minutes or until almost all of the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

In the mean time dice the red capsicum and avocado. Slice the celery and spring onions thinly.

Once rice is ready add the apple cider vinegar or dressing, vegetables and chickpeas and mix well.

Serve on top of baby spinach.

Lunchbox Solution- Leek and Blue Cheese (or feta) Mini Quiches

After a few painful weeks of waiting, I have finally gotten back the results for my honours dissertation and also my overall results. I am so happy to tell you that I will be graduating with first-class honours! It feels so amazing that all of the hard work, long hours and occasional melt-down has really paid off for me. So now I suppose I really need to get focused on my move away from my hometown to the big smoke of Auckland to start my marketing career. Apart from the excitement of starting this next stage of my life, I am also very excited to have a huge, huge range of places to eat my way around..... taste buds and camera, get ready!

Continuing on this exciting note, I also seem to be getting my food inspiration back! For quite a few weeks after finishing, I would look into the pantry and instead of my brain kicking into overdrive about all the potential things that I could make, all it saw was a bunch of random ingredients that just seemed like a hassle to put together. Anyway, I have been putting this creative streak to good use, so in the next few weeks you can expect to see recipes for Homemade Japanese Rice Bowls, Walnut and Almond Butter, Lentil Bolognaise with Zoodles, along with a post on budget-friendly $2 lunches and a spotlight on strawberries, since they are available in abundance at the moment in New Zealand (sorry Northern Hemisphere, but you can just dream of warmer times).

Onto these quiches! I had something similar at a cafe the other week and really enjoyed the flavour combination. I also thought that it would make a really fantastic portable lunch meal. You could prep some of these for the week and just grab and go in the morning.

I understand that blue cheese is one of those polarising foods. I used quite a mild, creamy blue cheese in this recipe and I really liked the flavour, but if you are really hating on blue cheese, some feta would also work really well in this recipe.

Ingredients
1 leek
1 tsp butter or olive oil
4 eggs
100g mild blue cheese or feta
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup baby spinach (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease around 10 muffin holes, or line with baking paper.

Cut the leafy end off the leek, cut in half lengthwise, and then give it a really good run under the tap to get rid of any remaining dirt. Slice leek into thin half rounds.

Heat butter or oil in a medium frypan and add the leek. Over a low heat, gently sauté until beginning to soften. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, self raising flour and milk until well mixed. Crumble in the blue cheese and feta and give another good whisk. Add the leek and baby spinach if using and give one final mix to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans and then place in the oven for around 20-25 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through (they should spring back when you press the top).

Serve warm or cold with salad.

A Nourishing Granola

Hi everyone

I did intend on publishing this post a little sooner, but unfortunately I got knocked back by quite a nasty bug, which involved having absolutely no inclination towards food (which for me is just insane!).

On a side note, here are some pretty cupcakes I made. I made lemon and raspberry ones adapted from this recipe and they were delicious!!

Today I thought that I would share with you a recipe that I adapted for granola (or muesli if you live down the bottom of the world). I really love granola/muesli in the morning, however, almost all of the packaged ones contain refined sugars and quite a lot of it! That's why when I can I try to make my own. Unfortunately, when I get busy I seem to forget how quick and easy it is to actually make your own, even the toasted variety.

I would note though that if you do decide to make your own, watch it like a hawk when it is in the oven! It only takes a minute for your delicious, toasted muesli to turn into bitter, burnt stuff. If it looks like it is getting overdone, take it out! It will crisp up more as it cools.

I adapted this recipe from My New Roots based on what I had in the pantry. I also didn't add any extra sugar aside from the rice malt syrup, but you could add in around 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar or coconut sugar if you feel the need.

Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup puffed millet, puffed brown rice or similar
1 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup rice malt syrup (or honey)
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl combine oats, puffed millet, chopped hazelnuts, and chia seeds. Mix well.

In a small saucepan combine salt, rice malt syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Heat over a low heat, stirring often, until melted and combined.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and mix well until all of the dry ingredients are coated (I used a bit of a smushing-movement with my spoon).

Press the mixture onto the baking trays so that there is a thin, even layer of mixture.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, watching it closely. Remove from the oven, give it a really good mix around and then pop back in the oven for around 10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so. The mixture should feel nice and dry.

Leave to cool and then store in an airtight container.

Homemade custard

Whoops! I am so overdue for a post!! I have been pretty busy these last two weeks, first going on a field trip for one of my papers and secondly preparing and doing my experiment to collect the data that I need for my dissertation. Unfortunately I only managed to collect half of what I need, so I will have to do one more day of data collection. To make things scarier, we were told today that there are only 8 weeks left until we have to hand in our dissertations. Eek! 

But of course I can't let that stop me making good food....

Up until earlier this year, custard to me was going to the cupboard, finding the custard powder, adding milk and cooking it up. Sometimes, if I wanted a really nice and creamy custard I may even add a few eggs. Because I relied on a package that had lots of numbers on it, it didn't really factor in as part of my whole food diet, it was more of a treat. However, because I really love custard, especially when I get sick, it made me determined to find a better way of making it. So I went searching on the internet and came away absolutely gobsmacked that I have been making it from a packet for so long.

It is so easy to make!!

I really didn't find it any more difficult than using pre-made custard powder. What's more, making it from scratch I know exactly what is in it and can use a more natural form of sweetner. Now I don't feel bad about enjoying custard all the time and it most definitely counts as a part of a real food diet.

Ingredients

2 cups milk (full fat works best)

2 Tbsp cornflour

1 tsp vanilla essence (or vanilla bean paste, which makes it taste awesome!)

1 egg

1/4 cup rice malt similar (or othe liquid sweet```ner)

In a small bowl whisk together the cornflour, egg and vanilla essence.

Place the milk in a pot and place over a medium-low heat unitl the milk gets nice and hot but not boiling. 

This next part you need to do quickly. Add the egg mixture and thoroughly whisk the mixture so that the egg white doesn't scramble. Keep whisking until the custard gets nice and thick.

Stir in the rice malt syrup, adding more or less to taste.

Serve immediately (Delicious with some grated chocolate)

Vanilla Mango Smoothie

I am now back into the full swing of my second semester. I'm pretty excited about a 3 day field trip up to the Central Otago wine region at the end of this week and I now have a date booked to do my experiment for my honours dissertation so a lot is happening! The three day field trip is essentially fend for yourself in terms of food so I have decided that to save money I am going to try to make my own breakfasts and lunches from home and just buy dinners. This has two benefits: 1) It will be far less expensive than trying to buy all 3 meals for 3 days and 2) It is much easier to eat healthier when all the food prepared for you is nutritious, real food. My plan at the moment is to make some whole wheat spinach and feta muffins to go with hard boiled eggs and fruit for lunches and to bring a chia porridge mix for breakfast. I tested the chia porridge this morning and it was fantastic!! I stayed full all morning. I will have a little play around with the flavours before I share it with you, so watch this space.

I have found that for some reason I am not responding to the cold weather the way I usually do. Usually first thing on a cold morning I want something warm to fill me up like porridge. However, for some wierd reason after not really craving them all summer I keep getting cravings for smoothies. At least it means that I have a great use for all the mangos I keep buying (2 for 1 was possibly getting ambitious). If I do forget about the mango and it starts to turn a little to the mushy side I can just slice it up and throw it in the freezer, ready for a tropical inspired smoothie that leaves me dreaming of lazing around in the sun somewhere.

Ingredients

1/2 medium mango, sliced and frozen

1/2 banana

1 Tbsp peanut butter or other nut butter

4-5 almonds, chopped in half (unless you have a really good blender)

1- 1.5 cups coconut and almond milk (or milk of choice)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Make sure that you have skinned and chopped the mango before you freeze it. I find snack-size snaplock bags work well for this.

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until nice and smooth. 

*NB I found this sweet enough for me but if you like things on the sweeter side you could easily add in a chopped medjool date or two :)

Pear, walnut and blue cheese salad

We are getting chilly here in Dunedin!! I suppose that it is now June and we are nearing the shortest day of the year but I think I forget just how bitter Southern winter days can be. It also doesn't help that my best friend is currently sunbathing in the Greek Islands, so I keep seeing pictures of clear blue skies and picturesque white-washed walls. Oh that and my grandparents have just jetted off to Rarotonga. I suppose all a girl can do in these sorts of situations is dream of beautiful warm weather and eat some delicious warming food.

Oh and keep warm by going shopping. I do love winter fashions.

I am still on a bit of a break from uni at the moment working on my dissertation so it is easy to snuggle up on the sofa with a cup of tea and do some research. Today Mum had the day off work so we went out for lunch up to Coffee Culture in Roslyn. For anyone who lives in Dunedin or is visiting you should definitely check it out! They have converted an old fire station which has some amazing views out over the city, the food was tasty and importantly the coffee was excellent.

Speaking of warming foods, winter isn't exactly what I would consider salad time of year, but in my opinion it just means that you need to change up the type of salads you have. Pear, walnut and blue cheese isn't exactly a ground breaking combination, but they go so well together that I thought I would share my version of this winter favourite. The delicious pan-fried pears help to warm it up a little, while the raspberry vinaigrette adds a lovely tang.

I'll add a wee note that I used Raspberry Vinegar in my dressing. This is a little bit of an investment type vinegar as it is more difficult to find and a little more expensive, but I absolutely love it!! It really does make a great alternative to apple cider vinegar. I haven't tried it, but if you don't want to go out and find raspberry vinegar, apple cider vinegar should work in the dressing.

Ingredients
2 pears, cored and slice thinly
Approx. 1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup shelled walnuts, roughly chopped (or put in a snaplock bag and give them a bash with a rolling pin Jamie Oliver style)
Approx. 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (just use however much you like really)
Couple big handfuls mixed salad greens

3 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
Grinding of salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan and lay the pear slices flat. Pan fry for around 4-5 minutes or until golden and then flip over. Fry the other side for a following 3-4 minutes adding a little more butter if needed. You may need to do this in 2 batches.

In a jar, shake together the dressing ingredients (vinegar, honey, oil and salt and pepper) until well combined.

On a large serving plate (or bowl if you prefer), spread out the salad greens. Drizzle with some of the dressing and toss a little to coat. Sprinkle over the blue cheese, add the cooked pear and then sprinkle over the walnuts.

Voila!

Store the remaining dressing to enjoy over the rest of the week. Just give it a bit of a shake up before you use it.

Banoffee Porridge

I hope everyone in New Zealand had a great Queen's Birthday weekend and a nice 4-day working week. I am currently sick! Not an annoying wee snuffle kind of sick, but a keep-me-up-till-2am-sneezing kinda sick! Yea not so fun. So basically I plan on spending my day on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket in my pyjamas, blogging, chick-flicking and maybe working on my dissertation.

One of the great aspects of being on dissertation leave is that with my stress levels being waaaaay down I am actually feeling incredibly inspired food-wise. This means that you can expect some fantastic recipes coming your way on the blog over the next couple of weeks.

Today's recipe was something I came up with for the holiday Monday. Porridge is a fantastic winter breakfast, but I always like to jazz it up a little for a weekend breakfast. While it is tempting to throw in a bunch of sugar to make it a sweet treat, this porridge is completely decadent without any refined sugars. Think caramel porridge, topped with banana and whipped coconut cream. I know that there is a lot of controversy over the fat in coconut cream, but hey, a little bit isn't going to hurt. I also find that a little bit of extra fat makes me feel a lot more satisfied and helps stop me reaching for extra sweet treats.

I hope that you enjoy this porridge as much as I did!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water
Pinch salt
1/4 cup dates
2 bananas, sliced
1 tin coconut cream (must be full fat- in New Zealand I find that Pams works fantastically)
1 Tbsp rice malt syrup (could also use honey or agave)
1 tsp vanilla extract

The night before you make the porridge, open the tin of coconut cream. Leave uncovered in the fridge overnight. (This separates the cream from the water and makes it reeeeeeeeally thick).

Place the rolled oats, milk, water, salt and dates in a pot over a medium heat. Bring the boil, stirring regularly and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to stir until porridge is thick.

Either place the porridge in a blender or food processor and give it a little whiz or use a stick blender to do the same.

Scoop the thick coconut cream out of the top of the can (make sure that you leave the water behind). In a bowl, whip the thick coconut cream with the rice malt syrup and vanilla.

Place the porridge in bowls, top with the sliced bananas and then the coconut cream. If you want an extra touch, grate a little dark chocolate over the top.

Healthy Hot Chocolate

It's snowing!! Well if you can really call hail and sleet snowing, however, it has settled on the ground in Dunedin and therefore shut down most of the schools. I am currently on dissertation leave at the moment so it hasn't affected me too much. One thing it does mean is that i am very keen to just stay inside with lots of warming food.

This hot chocolate definitely fits the bill! I came up with this last week when I was trying to watch the amount of sugar I was consuming. This actually makes a great afternoon snack as it is quite filling. I will note that I tried this with both full-fat cows milk and with an almond milk/ coconut  milk blend (both were delicious!). I know that there is a lot of debate around full fat dairy vs. low fat dairy, but at the moment I find full fat dairy much more satisfying. You also have to watch low fat dairy as often extra sugar is added to improve the flavour.

This would probably work with almost any type of milk so let me know what you used and if it tasted any good!

Ingredients
1 cup milk of choice
2 tsp raw cacao or cocoa powder
1-2 tsp rice malt syrup or honey (depends on your sweet tooth)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon for sprinkling (optional)

In a mug mix the honey/rice malt syrup, vanilla and cacao to form a paste. Add the milk stirring to combine a little. Heat in the microwave for a minute or so, depending on your microwave. Stir very well to make sure that the paste has fully combined with the milk.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!

Vegetable Stack

Oh my goodness, I am sorry it has been so long! I did intend on posting this in the weekend, but unfortunately study got in the way as it does too often now. I am currently sitting in my room at Sky City Hotel writing this on an iPad so I will keep it quite short and sweet.

This recipe was inspired by my post the other week about trying to eat around 10 fruits and vegetables a day. Having this for lunch certainly helped as it is packed full of delicious, nutritious vegetables. The nature of vegetable stacks is that you just use whatever you have readily available, so please don't take my ingredients as gospel and feel free to experiment.

Ingredients

5-6 cups leftover roast vegetables, sliced into 1 cm slices (I used potato, parsnip and carrot)

2 medium zuchinni, sliced into long thin strips

1 medium eggplant sliced into 5 mm thick rounds

500g cottage cheese

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Sea salt

Lay the eggplant and zuchinni strips out flat and sprinkle with some sea salt. Leave to sit for at least half an hour to draw the moisture out.

Layer half of the vegetables in a casserole dish, I used a lasagne one. Spread over half of the tomatoes and half the cottage cheese. Continue with the rest of the vegetables, tomatoes and cottage cheese. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top.

Bake at 180 degrees C. For 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly. Leave to cool slightly before slicing, or if having for lunch, leave to cool completely.

Chicken and Mango Salad

Aaaaaaaaaargh!! I'm getting so busy! Along with my oh so crazy workload for honours and working part-time so that I can actually enjoy life a little bit, I have to now also start applying for jobs. Unfortunately each one seems to take half an hour to complete, with some pretty difficult questions to answer (i.e. Describe a time when you had to take a leadership role <-- 5="" air="" am="" any="" at="" breaks.="" can="" employer="" for="" fresh="" future="" getting="" good="" i="" learning="" least="" like="" management="" minute="" oh="" or="" out="" p="" pinterest="" skills="" some="" stress="" taking="" tell="" that="" ugh="" well="" what="">
Ok rant over. You probably don't want to hear all about my problems, you want to hear about some delicious food don't you?

This recipe definitely delivers!! I wish I could take full credit for the dressing, however, I did adapt it from this recipe. Even if you don't make this salad you must make this dressing (that is an order). Before my crazy-ness spills over even more I'm just going to give you the recipe.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
1 small, crispy lettuce, shredded
1.5 cups shredded chicken (smoked is nice)
1 whole mango, skin removed and diced <--- a="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvLdPjpELyU">This video may help with this
2 Tbsp Sesame seeds
1/4 cup shredded coconut
4 Tbsp chopped cashews
Handful crispy noodles (optional, maybe exclude if you are avoiding processed foods but they are just so darn tasty)

Dressing
2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp olive oil

Turn oven to 180 degrees.

Begin by adding all of the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Whisk with a fork thoroughly until the dressing has thickened a little and looks kind of creamy.

Place the lettuce on a platter or in a bowl and our over around 2 Tbsp dressing. Layer on the mango, followed by the chicken. Pour over another 2-3 Tbsp dressing.

Place the cashews, sesame seeds and shredded coconut on a tray. Toast until they are beginning to go golden and fragrant (around 5 minutes). Don't burn! Sprinkle the toasted mixture over the top of the salad with the crispy noodles if using.

Serve immediately

OR

If you want to wait to serve it, hold of the dressing until just before.

Better than Powerade- Homemade Electrolyte Drink

I did intend on posting this recipe about a week ago, but between my sister's wedding and beginning my honours course classes I got a tad busy. 

Being a tad busy is something that I am pretty sure I am just going to have to get over this year. After 2 days back at uni I have a list of about 10 things to do including 2 assignment due in about 2 weeks time. I also have to begin all of my prep to write my dissertation now. Hungry Male, if you are reading this I advise you to find some sort of project or hobby for the year as you may be abandoned for the library quite often.

I will try to keep creating recipes for you and posting them, but it may be a case of me sharing more what I am eating at the moment than recipes themselves and be prepared for busy periods when it may be a matter of weeks between posts.

I am also pretty sure that I am going to be needing this recipe a lot this year! Last Saturday I unfortunately woke up with what we know at Otago as "Fresher Flu". Basically it was a head cold with a bit of a nasty cough, but with a busy week ahead preparing for the wedding I wanted rid of it quickly! After looking at a few didn't recipes for homemade electrolyte drinks I develoepd this one to my tastes. While I definitely have a sweet tooth, I tend to quite dislike things like drinks that I think have waaaaaay more sugar added to them than is necessary. Electrolyte drinks such as powerade and gatorade fall into that category. I much prefer this homemade version as it is packed full of Vitamin C and it is very easy to adjust it to your tastes.

Ingredients

2 large lemons

2 organges

1/2- 1 tsp fine salt

2-4 tsp honey (I went with 2)

1 cup coconut water (or if not available, 1 cup cold water)

1 litre cold water

Squeeze the lemons and oranges and pour into a jug. Add the salt and honey and stir until they have both dissolved a bit.

Add the coconut water and cold water and give everything a really good stir until well combined.

Best served chilled

Watermelon Feta and Avocado Salad

It's one week today until my sister's wedding!! I have had another dress fitting for my bridesmaid's dress and am getting pretty excited now. Unfortunately over night I seem to have come down with a bit of a cold, although better now than next week. So right now I am nursing my cold while watching Pride and Prejudice. I also made myself some homemade electrolyte drink that is all natural and full of Vitamin C. Once I have perfected the mix I might post a recipe up later in the week.

It is also just over a week until uni starts and I get properly stuck into my honours year. I am predicting that I am going to be pretty busy this year, so proper nutrition, exercise and sleep is going to be more important than ever. My goals are lots of water, lots and lots of greens, not too much sugar and in bed by 10.30pm at the latest (but we will see how this goes). The gym at uni is also free for students so I may as well start making the most of it for stress relief.

On to this week's recipe. This was one of those shot in the dark type concotions. I pulled a whole heap of stuff out of the vegetable drawer in the hope of getting some inspiration for a salad and this recipe came to mind. It makes a really refreshing summer salad, with saltiness from the feta and a little sweetness from the dressing. I will definitely be making this again.

Ingredients
3-4 large handfuls mixed salad leaves
1 cup watermelon, chopped
50g feta cheese, roughly chopped or crumbled
1/2 avocado, cubed

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
Pinch sea salt

In a small bowl of jug whisk the dressing ingredients: Balsamic, olive oil, honey and salt.

On a platter or in a salad bowl, layer half of the salad leaves, watermelon, feta and avocado and pour over half of the dressing. Continue to layer the rest of the salad ingredients and pour over the rest of the dressing.

Serve immediately

Valentines Treat- Raw Double Layer Freezer Brownie

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so I thought that I would get somewhat into the spirit by creating a special treat to give to any loved one. Valentine's Day isn't really anything for Hungry Male and I. Every year I tend to get quite jealous when I see all of the girls carrying around their over-priced flowers, but then Hungry Male points out that he would much rather just spoil me randomly throughout the year and there doesn't need to be a special day for it.


My logical side fully understands this reasoning.


My not so logical side is still waiting for flowers :)



Even though I don't really 'do' Valentine's I still thought that it was a great opportunity to come up with a sweet treat, because really, Valentine's is about sweet not savoury. This particular treat is full of goodness, with lots of fruit and nuts and no refined sugar.

Ingredients
1 cup dates, chopped
1 avocado, removed from skin
1 cup mixed nuts (I used a combination of raw peanuts and almonds)
1 Tbsp real maple syrup or honey

1 cup cashew nuts, soaked for 2+ hours in cold water

In a food processor, add the dates, avocado, nuts and maple syrup. Whiz in the processor until well broken up and clumping together. Press the mixture firmly into a metal slice tin using your hands.

Wipe out the food processor. Drain the cashews and add to the food processor with 2 Tbsp water. Whiz for around 30 seconds, thens crape down the sides and repeat until the mixture has turned creamy. Spread over the top of the date mixture.

Place in the freezer for 2 hours. If you want heart shaped bites, use a heart shaped cutter, pressing firmly down. If not cut into small squares. Store in the freezer.

Tropical Green Smoothie

I had a fantastic weekend last weekend at my sister's hens party in Martinborough. We had a delicious lunch of antipasto-type platters, and then picked-up some bike/pedal car type things and went around a couple of wineries doing tastings. And some of the wine was soooo nice!! I was very tempted to buy an apricoty dessert wine that we tried, but at $36 for a 500ml bottle it was a lil pricey for my budget.

Sunday was Mum's birthday so we went out for a light dinner and desserts. For desserts I got chocolate hazelnut churros! Yum! I definitely think that homemade churros need to go on my to-do list. Anyway, as is usual when I am away and relying on restaurants and cafes for food I really missed my fruit and vegetables!! So the first morning that I was back I made myself this smoothie to give myself a great start for the week!

Ingredients
1/2 large banana, chopped
3-4 thick slices mango (frozen is best)
1/4 large avocado or 1/2 small
Large handful baby spinach
1 Tbsp real maple syrup or runny honey
1 cup coconut milk
2-3 ice cubes (optional)

Place all of the ingredients in a blender. Blend for 30 seconds at a time or until the spinach and mango have broken up.

Serve chilled

Veggie-rific margherita pizza

January is flying by!! I have just over one week left on my research report and this weekend I am flying up to Wellington for my sister's hens night. I can't wait! At the risk of revealing important secret details I won't write about what is happening just yet but I will update you to the goings on next week.

In other news, I had the most amazing donut. So amazing that it is actually news worthy. Last week I went to this really cool interactive exhibition at Dunedin Public Art Gallery with a friend (giant room sized beanbag anyone? ) Here is a photo of me getting stuck in said beanbag.

Anyway, before we went to the exhibition we stopped off at Nova Cafe next door. I ordered what I thought was a normal salted caramel donut. I mean, a salted caramel donut alone sounded amazing to me. When it arrived however, I was more than ecstatic. I got to syringe the filling myself!! It was so much fun and tasted amazing.

I suppose that I should get on to this pizza. I made this last week when I was home all by myself and therefore got to make anything that I wanted for dinner. One of my choices was pizza, but since I was on a bit of a greens fix last week I thought that I would veg it up. Glad I did as it tasted good and I knew that I was nourishing myself well.

Ingredients

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp active yeast

approx 1 cup lukewarm water

2 medium zuchinni, grated

1 red capsicum, finely diced

2-3 large tomatoes diced

1 cup basil leaves, shredded

1 cup water

Pinch sugar

1.5 cups grated cheese

In a large bowl mix the flours and create a well in the centre. Add the honey, yeast and a little of the warm water. Leave to sit for 5 minutes to let the yeast bubble up. Gradually stir in enough water to form a ball that isn't too sticky. Either using a stand mixer or by hand, knead for 6-8 minutes or until the dough stretches without breaking. Add extra flour as needed.

Flour a large chopping board or a bench and roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick. Prick all over with a fork and transfer to a baking tray.

In the meantime, place the tomato, capsicum, zuchinni, basil and water in a saucepan. Let simmer for around 20 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce is thick. Turn heat up a little if this isn't happening.

Spread the sauce over the base and top with the cheese. Place in a 180 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden and the base is cooked.

Serve with a salad and wedges.