Wednesday 28 November 2012

Lj's Slow Cooked Rosemary & Mint Lamb Chops



Slow Cooked Rosemary & Mint Lamb Chops.... Delicious comfort food!
served with steamed fresh Carrots, Yellow Button Squash and Peas
Make a marinade out of Apple Mint Jelly.. (I have an abundance of my Mum's..Lucky ME!)
freshly chopped rosemary and olive oil. Smother the chops in your marinade and leave for at least a few hours or if you can overnight like I did to really infuse those flavours.
Heat some olive oil in a large dutch oven. Add a sliced onion and saute,
 then your lamb chops and brown on each side. Season with Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper.
Add a few tablespoons of plain flour and stir into the juices from the marinade. Cook for a few minutes to cook off the flour.

Add some some water, just enough to cover the chops. No need for stock in the recipe as you get all teh delicious flavours from the meat and the marinade. Cover with the lid and simmer on low heat for a few hours (3 - 4 depending on how many chops you have in the pan) or until the meat is falling off the bone and the sauce is thick. Check every half hour or so and stir. I removed the bones and the fat from the meat before serving so it isn't as messy to each but you don't have to.... that is entirely up to you. I leave that fat on while browning the meat for the extra flavour it gives off while cooking, but you can trim off all the fat before cooking if you wish.


Serve with mash and whatever steamed veges you like :-)



Lj's Spicy Mango & Nashi Chutney

After cutting a Mango that I though was delicious and ripe.. and wasn't, I decided to create this recipe with whatever else I could find in my crisper. To my delight it turned out a treat!
I love creating new Chutney Recipes..

Ingredients:
1 Under ripe Mango
3 Roma Tomatoes
1 Yellow Capsicum
I White Nashi Pear
1 Medium White Onion
 2 Cups of White Vinegar
1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
1 Teas Ground Cinnamon
1 Teas Mixed Spice
1 Teas Chilli Powder
10 Black Peppercorns




What to do:
Dice the Mango, Tomatoes, Capsium, Nashi and Onion and place
into a heavy based pot. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and
simmer on low until thick and soft.
Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.
This would be so good on a cracker with Camembert,
or any kind of Chicken sandwich!
I can't wait to dig into some..







Sunday 25 November 2012

Natural Hand Scrub.. also fantastic for relaxing pedicures!


Natural Hand Scrub.. almost fantastic for relaxing pedicures!

 
Make your own natural hand scrub for the kitchen... Combine 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 tbs sea salt flakes, 1/2 cup of olive oil and lemon zest.
 
 Store on an airtight container. To use wet your hands and scrub with 1 teaspoon of the mixture between your fingers and over palms then rinse..

Italian Kangaroo Burger


Must be starting to  feel better because I'm kind of hungry (and so I should be as I've eaten very little the last few days) for a delicious burger with some melted cheese and chutney on multigrain bread! This one is for all you Kangaroo lovers... Not that there are many LOL

Mix together some kangaroo mince, tomato chutney, dried Italian herbs, Parmesan cheese, an egg and some homemade breadcrumbs. Heat a pan and spray with cooking spray. Cook until golden on each side and cooked through. Pop it into some bread with low fat tasty cheese and tomato chutney and them into the sandwich toaster.

Demolish! :-)





Semi-Dried Roma Tomatoes With Fresh Herbs In Virgin Olive Oil

Semi-Dried Roma Tomatoes With Fresh Herbs In Virgin Olive Oil.....


I'm new to Dehydrators and loaned my Mum's initially to dry some Sugar Flowers for a wedding cake. I bought some cheap Roma Tomatoes and decided to give making sundried tomatoes a go. Great for summer salads and home made vingarettes and salad dressing.
 Also great in a nice jar to give as gifts.
I've sliced the Tomatoes approx 1cm thick, seasoned with some himilyan salt and dried Italian Herbs. A lot of recipes I have seen have said to take out the seeds but that is a mission and I think leaving the seeds in will give a much nicer flavour even though they take a little longer to dry. They took approx 10 hours to dry . I've made some semi dried (approx 3/4 dry) Added them to sterilised jars and layed them with fresh basil, oregano and thyme from my garden and some mashed galic cloves. Topped them up with Cobram Estate Virgin Olive Oil and sealed. The others I have dried completely and popped into an air tight container. I can use these later and rehydrate in a nice vinegar with mustard seeds and herbs to make a lower fat version. Very happy with the way they have turned out!

Monday 19 November 2012

Lj's Fried Chicken..




Here is last night's dinner! Keep in mind this is a "sometimes" meal! Man of the house loved it and Mini Me will be spewing she wasn't here for it... NOM NOM NOM!

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Lj's Chicken, Bacon & Spinach Canneloni

Chicken, Bacon & Spinach Canelloni...

Ingredients:

400g Chicken Breast finely diced
3 Rashers of Bacon finely diced
1 White Onion finely diced
2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
250g Finely chopped frozen Spinach
1/3 Cup White Wine (I used Sauv Blanc)
Low fat grated Cheese
Basic White Sauce.. recipe below

In a hot frypan, saute the chicken, bacon, onion and garlic for a few minutes until the chicken is browned off. Add the defrosted frozen spinach and mix to combine. Add the white wine and simmer until the wine has reduced.


Make the white sauce with Parmesan:

Basic White Sauce with Parmesan:

2 Tbs Butter ( I used Nutalex)
2 Tbs Plain Flour
350 ml Skim Milk
Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt

In the microwave melt the butter, then add the flour and combine  Cook off the butter and flour for one minute. Add the milk and whisk, cook in one minute spurts whisking in between until the sauce is thick. Add the Parmesan Sea Salt and cracked pepper and mix.

Add 1/3 of the white sauce to the chicken mixture and combine. Roll the mixture into fresh pasta sheets to make canelloni rolls. Place in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray and top with the remaining white sauce. Top with some low fat grated tasty cheese and bake in a 180 degree oven for 45 minutes or until tha pasta is cooked and it loks golden. I'm serving with some homemade garlic bread. Nom Nom Nom



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