Organic Mini Burgers

In a bowl add:

• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1-2 cloves of minced garlic(Ikea garlic crushers are great for whole clove with skin & easy to clean)
• 1 t good quality smokey paprika (will post pic of my favoured brand)
• 1 t salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 t sesame seeds
• 1 t garam masala-optional
  
• 1 minced green chillie-only if you like it HOT.
• 500g organic beef mince

Knead them altogther to mix and combine.


Next shape into burgers to fit your buns and let them rest for atleast 20 minutes. I usually make them early on and leave them to chill in the fridge untill needed for the meal.

To cook, place under a hot grill(broiler) or barbeque. I do 6-10minutes per side but it depends on the size of your burger and preference.

Now for the really fun part, assemble in a bun with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes and pan fried mushrooms. Ohh and you could add slip some of that homemade coleslaw in too! I enjoy it more because I know what is in it.

Quick Coleslaw

The main work needed here is just shredding. In the past I have used the shredder on a food processor but find that the result is not the desired crispy coleslaw. Besides, I'd much rather wash a sharp knife and a chopping board rather than the whole hulla baloo that goes with the afore mentioned gadget. So the combination that works for me is:

Shred:

• 1/2 pointed cabbadge
• 1/2 red onion or 3-4 spring onions
  

Grate:

• 3-5 carrots
• 1 small apple

Combine, season and add 2-3T of good quality organic mayonaise. I used:



If you are out of mayo, you could be super healthy and use yogurt with a dash of maple syrup and 1 crused clove of garlic.

If you want to make it more special you could add a combination of:

• pecans
• walnuts
• toasted almonds
• pine nuts
• chopped apricots(none of those orange sulphur dioxide zapped radioactive ones!)
• raisins and the like(currants,sultanas...)
  
• pomegrante seeds
• dates
  

Much tastier and nutrient rich than the plastic wrapped tubs!

Pizza Night

HERS... :

and HIS :
This is the one time I don't feel guilty about feeding my family pizza-when its organic home-made pizza! My son insists on always adding his own toppings and my daughter is following suite. I found a great base recipe on the web by Anthony Worrel Thompson called perfect pizza dough, link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/perfectpizzadough_72456.shtml
This was voted the best dough recipe so far by my family.

I have a foolproof tasty tomato sauce recipe for my pizzas and the left overs can be used as a tomato relish to go with burgers or salmon fishcakes.

Pizza base tomato sauce

It has slight variations but the basic is this:
In hot olive oil add- *1 diced onion and oregano
cook for 3-4 min then add *1-2 clove crushed garlic
then add (to up the veg count) *1 grated carrot and or courgette
next add *a tin of plum chopped tomatoes
and cook down while prepping toppings. Season with salt and pepper. I keep the lid off and keep cooking until all the liquid has evaporated off and you have a thick sauce.


TOPPINGS we used were

• Steamed asparagus
• Black Spanish olives from deli counter
• Frozen sweetcorn
• Fresh tomatoes marinated in Olive oil with
  
• Spring onions
• Onion slices
• Sliced courgettes
  
• Leeks and baby sweetcorn are also a favourite, overlooked on this occasion
• Cheddar cheese
  

The pizza is cooked at 220C for ten minutes and drizzled with my homemade garlic and coriander infused olive oil when it comes out! Add freshly ground black pepper and grated Parmesan to taste:).

Iced Coffee and Ice Cocoa

Ratatouille

I must use up the vegetables that lurk at the back of the fridge threatening to go off. A news report this week about the amount of waste in domestic kitchens sent me running to the forgotten corners of my fridge. I found that the ingredients needing imminent care spelt out ratatouille! I find the quickest way to make this dish is to oven roast. I used:

• 1 aubergine
• 1 yellow pepper and green pepper
• 3-4 leeks
• 2-3 spring onions(usually I use red onions)
• 1/2 a tin of plum tomatoes (usually I may add 1 tin, but I used up what was open)
• 2-3 fresh tomatoes
• 2 sprigs of rosemary from the garden:)

I chopped all the veg to roughly the same size and placed in a large plastic food bag. Next I added a glug of olive oil, sea salt(adjust if adding tamari too), pepper,balsamic vinegar, chille and ginger sauce and 1 fresh green chillie halved.

Gave a good shake in the bag to combine and placed in a rectangle deep baking dish. I added the tinned tomatoes at this stage and covered with foil and placed in oven with baking potatoes. 180C for about an hour(time taken for spuds).
I removed the foil for the last 15 mins of cooking time.

I served this with Baked pots and salad but will use the left overs with pasta.

Mr Short n Snowy in April

It snowed only last month and now the sun is shining like a midsomers day!

Homemade Shepherds Pie

I have a few tips on how to make pies such as this and my fish pie more nutritious and tasty for my family.


1 Use plenty of vegetables in lamb mince mixture e.g. carrots,swedes,courgettes...what ever lurks in the fridge. (broc and caulis not recommended)

2 Use a mixture of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes for the potato layer-sweet potatoes are very good for you but my kids will run a mile away if served on their own. Perhaps other root vegetable or squashes could also be incorporated into this layer.

3 When making cheese sauce for fish pie try steaming one cauliflower and then liquidise in a blender-add grated cheese to it and seasoning. This gives a whole extra vegetable portion.

4 Add a topping of sliced leeks to the potato layer and cover with grated cheese to prevent burning-very delicious and another vegetable portion.

Strawberry & Coconut Muffins

Dry Ingredients:
225g pln flour
100g caster sugar
2t baking powder
25-50g of good quality dessicated coconut(I used crazy jacks organic)
1 small punnet chopped strawberries-about 150-200g

Wet Ingredients:
8floz milk
4floz rapeseed oil
1 large egg
1-2 t vanilla extract

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix to combine only(that is do not overmix)
Spoon into 12 muffin cases in muffin pan
20 minutes at 180C in fan oven.

They were a big hit with all the family:)


Yes, even with the little Miss!

Quick Aduki Bean Chillie

My husband insisted I make a record of this recipe-he 's got to really like it to do this so what better place than on here. So here it is:

In hot combi of rapeseed and Olive oil add
1 t sesame seed
about 0.5-1 t each crushed (in PnM) cumin and coriander seeds
1 t grated nutmeg
1 t dried oregano
When all this sizzles add
1 diced onion
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
1 T grated ginger
chopped green chillie to taste( either chuck a whole one severed in the middle-mild option or 1 t chopped-hotter)
1 std packet of fine green beans cut into pea sized pieces
cook for about 5 mins and then add
3-4 T frozen sweetcorn (ofcourse fresh would only add to the taste!)
Add 3/4 -1 can of tinned tomatoes
cook for about 5 mins and then add
1 tin aduki beans drained
Cook for about 5 min
add 1 t garam masala ot taco seasoning
add fresh or frozen green coriander
Serve with tortilla chips and salad or used mixture in wraps and bake with a tomatoe sauce and grated cheese on top.

homemade fisn n chips

I made these for my kids when Dadddy was away on business-My son stated it is his best meal ever! They(him and his lil sis) helped to breadcrumb the fish and I think audience participation always helps!
We were running out of breadcrumbs so I quickly added maple frosted cornflakes and oats to the remaining crumbs and ofcourse the sweeter coating was well appreciated by the younger tastebuds.



THE FISH:

THE CHIPS:


TOFFEE SAUCE COATED BOWLS:


FOR HOMEMADE ORGANIC RASPBERRY N STRAWBERRY SAUCE FOR ICE-CREAM:


HMMMMMM WISH DA WAS HERE TO ENJOY IT TOO:)