Sunday 10 February 2008

Shoestring Sunday - Leftovers

Today we had a bbq lunch, as a belated celebration for my boyfriends birthday. After the bbq I had to decide what we were going to eat for dinner. Leftover from lunch I had 1/2 a garden salad and two pieces of marinated steak that had been barbequed.
I thought for a while and then decided I would make a thai beef salad with what I had on hand.

Thai Beef Salad

Dressing
1 1/2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs sweet chilli sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp powered ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbs finely chopped mint

Salad
2 pieces cooked steak, sliced into thin strips
200g pkt grape tomatoes
1 continental cucumber, thinly sliced diagonally
1 capsicum, cut into thin strips
1 carrot, sliced inot thin rings
1 red onion, halved, cut into thin wedges
mixed salad leaves

Method
Whisk together all the sauce ingredients.
Place the steak in a bowl and drizzle with half the dressing.
Combine the salad ingredients together and then add the meat.
Toss again and then divide inot bowls for serving, drizzle each with some of the reserved dressing.

Monday 4 February 2008

Oriental Mince

Oriental Mince

This is my version of savory mince, with an asian twist on the sauce.

500g minced beef
1 onion, finely diced
2 tbs oil
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups mixed vegetables (I used, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms)
2 tbs oyster sauce
1 beef or vegetable stock cube (I used 1 tsp vegeta)
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp sugar

Brown mince and onion together, in half the oil. Remove and keep warm, add remaining oil, vegetables and cabbage and fry until cooked through/softened to your liking. Add mince back into pan. Stir to combine. Mixture will still be quite wet, if not add about 1/8 cup water. Make a well in the centre of the pan and add remaining ingredients, combining with pan juices. Then mix together ensuring that everything is coated in the sauce.
If the remaining sauce is too thin, add 1 tbs cornflour dissolved in some water and add this to thicken.
Serve over rice or noodle or by itself is nice too!

Easy Lemon Chicken

Easy Lemon Chicken

2 tbs oil
500g boneless chicken, sliced into strips
3-4 cups finely sliced vegetables (can also use a packet of frozen stir fry veggies)
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 chicken stock cube, crumbled
2 tbs dry sherry
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs chilli sauce
1 tsp cornflour
1/4 cup warm water

Add one tablespoon of oil to wok and fry chicken pieces, until browned and cooked through.
Remove and keep warm. Add remaining oil to wok and add vegetables. Keep stiring until vegetables are cooked to your liking. Meanwhile combine all the remaining ingreients in a jug, stirring until well combined. When vegetables are ready, add chicken back into wok and pour in sauce. Keep stirring until sauce thickens and all ingredients are hot.
Serve by itself or with rice or noodles.

Sunday 3 February 2008

Menu Planning Monday


Since I have moved my budget from weekly to fortnight, I am trying to only do one large shop each fortnight. Now I have to menu plan for a fortnight and I have to admit it is a bit tougher than I first thought. I have written it "restaurant style" as was originally started by Lightening! :)

1. Tender portions of veal, lightly crumbed in our fresh chunky style bread crumbs. Served with a lean gluten free beef sausage. Served with a selection of seasonal vegetables. (Beef schnitzel & sausages & veggies)

2. Our pizza dough is lovingly prepared from scratch, topped with a simple tomato puree and then served with a choice of the following toppings - grilled chicken, pineapple, gourmet beef sausage, ham off the bone, marinate mushrooms. Topped with our special cheese blensd and individually baked on a stone.(Gourmet homemade pizzas)

3. A portion of a whole chicken, marinated and rubbed with our secrte spice blend. Then lovingly baked slowly, to leave the chicken moist and flaouvsome. Served with baby roast vegetable and zucchini & tomato bake.(Sticky Chicken)

4.Tender minced beef simmered gently in a tomato and vegetable based sauce and served with a mixture of wholemeal and wheat pasta.(Spaghetti Bolognaise)

5. Finger sized strips of chicken, lightly crumbed in fresh breadcrumbs and pan fried. Served with cheesy potatoes baked in a creamy sauce.(Chicken Schnitzel & Potato Bake)

6. Tender thight fillets thinly sliced and sauted with a selection of seasonal vegetables, served in light asian inspired lemon sauce (Easy Lemon Chicken) recipe below

7. Lightly salted beef, lovingly cooked with brown sugar and other seasonings. Served with a creamy mash of potato and pumpkin and lightly steamed broccoli and zucchini.(Corned Beef)

8. Finely minced beef, stir fried with our specail vegetable mixture simmered in a sticky asian style sauce. (Oriental Mince) recipe below

9. Homemade beef and vegetable patties, presented in a fresh bread roll with baby spinach, tomato, avocado, cheese and beetroot relish (Gourmet Beef burgers)

10. A season selection of fish, prawns and other seafood with a side of our specail spicy home style fries. (Fisherman's Basket)

11. Tender strips of beef, marinated in our chefs specail sauce and seved on skewers with a spicy peanut sauce and fluffy basmati rice. (Beef satays with peanut sauce)

12. Tasmanian salon fillets, lightly marinated in chilli, ginger and soy all served an a bed of seasonal vegetables (Salmon steaks with veggie stir fry)

13. It's your birthday so your choice of any dish the chef is able to make :) (birthday dinner for my boyfriend)

14. Organic shaped fluffy tortillas served with delicately pan fried chicken, garlic and zucchini. Presented with a platter of seasonal salad vegetables, for a wrap your own feast for four. (chicken strips, tortillas and salad)

That should keep me busy for a few days huh?
Only really have to top up on fresh fruit and vegetables as well as supplies for the birthday dinner.
I can feel another cheesecake recipe soon :)
I'll post the recipes separately to make them easier to find later :)
I apologise for any spelling mistakes, but google doesn't want to spell check for me anymore :(
I've also joined Menu Planning Monday over at I'm and Organising Junkie - follow the link and get some more great menu ideas! :)

Saturday 2 February 2008

Menu Planning and More!

Well, who would have believed that I had been on holidays all this week! I thought I would get heaps done and I did manage to achieve a few things, but not everything on the list in my head.
I did manage to fit in some exercise, a few swims at the beach, a couple of visits with my parents, helped a friend move house, visits from the electrician and the freezer seal guy and spend part of one day with my best friend (zoe's mum) for her birthday!
I also managed to lose 2.2kg :)
I don't feel so bad now I have listed all of that!

Tuesday I am back at work so I need to organise the following before then:
- Ironing school and work uniforms
- finish a scrapbook for a 40th I am attending tonight
- make sausage rolls for above party
- make biscuits/muffins for lunchboxes
- cook freeze up glut of veggies remaining from my shopping on Sunday (mainly zucchini, mushrooms & plums)

I did manage to menu plan and grocery shop, but since it is already 2.30pm and i really need to get the album finished I will blog tomorrow about it!
Hope you are all having a great weekend :)