Crustless quiche

In our efforts to eat a more traditional diet, I have been searching for low-carbohydrate, nutritionally dense foods for lunch boxes.
This crust-less quiche fits the bill perfectly. Quick and easy to make, it freezes well too, so can be made in bulk as a stand by. 

Crust-less Quiche

small tub cottage cheese, or cream cheese
3 eggs (2 if large)
small onion, finely diced
vegetables, optional (sweetcorn, broccoli and tomatoes work well)
meat, optional

Beat cheese and eggs together until well mixed.
Place vegetables and meat into a greased flan tin or other oven-proof dish, pour over the cheese and egg mixture and bake at 200 deg. C. for 40 minutes until centre is springy to the touch

Gala palaver

During my BC (before children) days, I used to dream about all the wonderful cakes that I would whip up in an instant for the school gala's cake stall once I became 'super-mum'. I envisaged row upon row of pretty cupcakes, tooth-achingly sweet caramel shortbread, old-fashioned battenbergs and seasonal sweet treats. There'd be mince pies for Christmas galas, bird-nest cakes for Easter, and ghostly biscuits for Halloween.

Oh how different reality is!

9pm two days before the kindergarten gala, I caught sight of the two empty paper plates sitting on the kitchen bench as I reached for a reviving cup of tea. Aggh! I hadn't made anything! Suddenly, all those wonderful ideas I had were no longer appealing. I needed to make something that I could do on autopilot, wouldn't stick to the glad-wrap covering, and was just a little bit different from the mountains of chocolate cakes and banana loaves that are usually offered at such events.

Having a penchant for biscuits, and with Easter coming up, I ignored the impending bedtime and decided to make Easter chick biscuits.The good thing with these type of biscuits, is that the dough works very well with Stevia, instead of sugar, so you can have an iced biscuit, safe in the knowledge that it will as likely as not, have less than a teaspoon of sugar in it all told.

I have yet to supply any school or kindy cake stall with the type of baking that I had expected to do. Maybe one day, in an energetic moment, I should have a bake-athon and freeze it in anticipation of the next gala?

Raw Meaty Bones

It would appear that I have a feline companion on my journey along the culinary road.
It all started a few weeks ago, when we noticed she was gaining weight whilst eating the recommended amount of a commercial brand of cat food. We had restricted her intake, but she seemed hungry as well as overweight.
A quick search on google, and I found that commercial cat food is loaded with carbohydrates; mainly corn.

Excuse me. Corn? Since when has a cat naturally eaten corn?
Given that most weight gain in humans is down to too much carbohydrate, I could appreciate that our family pet was putting on the grams on this food.
So, armed with little more than a logical mind and the information on the wonderfully helpful  Raw Meaty Bones website, I started to introduce raw meat into her diet.

Initially, we just gave her a little diced chicken mixed with her usual food, then slowly we decreased the amount of commercial food, and increased the chicken until she was eating just the raw chicken meat. To ensure she received all the nutrients she needed, we started to add salmon meat and bones, and offal. Soon, I'm hoping she will be eating whole pieces of chicken such as wings, neck and thighs, then we can start to offer whole pieces of rabbit. A much more natural diet than corn biscuits and mush!

I think she would still prefer the commercial food given chance, but she is loosing the excess weight, and seems to be a happy and healthier cat.

Beef, glorious beef

Last weekend, I headed to Hill Street Market, to see Julian, the owner of Rannoch Meats.
Julian is a regular stall holder at the market, selling delicious beef from his herd of red Devon Cattle bred on his farm in the Wairarapa.
The beef Julian sells is what I would call 'real meat'. The animal is a traditional breed, and because Julian really cares about what he does, the herd is well looked after, leading stress-free lives and eating their natural diet. When they are old enough, Julian uses a local slaughter house, and the meat is hung for around three weeks, making it a very tasty meal!
Having so far enjoyed a couple of steaks, a cottage pie and some sausages from the quarter beast we bought, I can honestly say that it is amongst some of the best beef we have tasted. The flavour of the cottage pie especially, was both richer and deeper, and needed no other flavour added.

If you have the freezer space, I would recommend buying beef by the quarter or half beast. Buying this way, you are not only supporting local farmers, but getting fantastic quality meat at less than you would pay in your local butchers.

Bean Stew

A great recipe for meat eaters or vegetarians, this bean stew is delicious with or without bacon. Great with almost all starchy side dishes, although I think it makes great comfort food when served with garlic bread, polenta or creamy mashed potato.
The maple syrup gives the casserole a lovely, smokey flavour, but if you are conscious of using sugar in any form, it could be reduced to 1 1/2 tbsp.

If you don't have a casserole dish that can be used on the hob, the stew can be made in a large saucepan, then transferred to a lidded casserole dish for cooking in the oven. Alternatively, it could be simmered on the hob, but I always find that it 'catches' on the bottom, and ultimately takes longer to cook due to loosing heat every time the lid is removed for stirring.

1 Onion, diced
1 clove Garlic, crushed
100g-150g diced bacon, or chopped back bacon (optional)
1 tin Cannellini beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 medium carrots, diced
1-2 parsnips, diced
250ml Vegetable stock
2tsp soy sauce
3tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
3tbsp corn flour
few drops kaitaia fire, or tabasco sauce, to taste

Using an casserole dish that can also be used on the hob, Fry the onions and garlic until soft. Add bacon if you are using it, and fry until the fat runs. Add paprika and cornflour, and stir until well coated.
Add the tinned tomatoes, soy sauce, maple syrup, thyme, kaitaia fire and stock. Stir well. Bring to the boil. Add beans and veg. Transfer to the oven & cook at 180deg C for 1 hour.

Countdown to Labour Day

For many people here in New Zealand, the fourth Monday in October, or Labour Day, marks the end of winter frosts and signals the start of the gardening season.
Keen to get in on the act early, I have several seedlings poking their tentative heads out of the soil in my 'green house' ready to be planted out in my new, hubby-built veggie planters in a few weeks.
As this is my first year of 'Square foot gardening'. I'm sticking with what I know. Broccoli, Cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, coriander and Lettuce already sown, with beans, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and strawberries to follow. No  heritage varieties yet.
It almost goes against the grain to be planting just one or two seeds at a time, but it really does make sense. Why grow your vegetables in a traditional manner, taking up more space than you would like to use up, and producing more veg than you family can consume before it wilts, unwanted, in the bottom of the fridge? By sowing only as much as you will eat in a week, every week, you will have a continuous crop of fresh, home grown veggies all year round.
So the theory goes, anyway. I'll let you know how it works in practice in due course!

Sausage Casserole

An old work colleague tipped me on frying onions with butter, sugar and paprika. She swore that it was the only way to eat them with sausages, burgers or hot dogs. She was right. I thought the method would work well in trying to recreate the sausage casserole mum used to make using a commercial herb and spice blend. Happily, it gave the casserole the perfect base on which to build the other flavours. Don't be tempted to leave out the sugar. It is only a small amount, but it really does give it a more rounded flavour.

500g Pork Sausages
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 onion, diced

1tsp sugar
1/2 tsp paprika

2tbsp cornflour
1tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2tbsp tomato paste
1tsp thyme
black pepper
500ml hot vegetable stock or water
2-3 Carrots

Brown the sausages under the grill or in a pan. Cut into 6-8 pieces, depending on size. Transfer to a lidded casserole dish.
Fry the onions and garlic in a little butter until soft. Add sugar and paprika, and cook for another minute or two. Transfer to the casserole dish.
In a jug, blend cornflour, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste together, with a little water. Stir in the hot stock, then pour into the casserole dish.
Slice carrots. Add to casserole.
Cook for 1 hour at 160deg c. with the lid on.

I like to serve this with some green vegetables and mashed or baked potatoes.