I've previously mentioned how I use technology to plan my meals and write my shopping list. Of course, not everything is digital - I still have handwritten, scribbled notes and many favourite, sauce splattered and annotated cookbooks.
Try something new
I like to try at least one new recipe a week, and this may come from a cookbook, an idea posted on another blog, or something I invented in my sleep (this happens fairly often). This meal is usually scheduled for a weekend or a day I'm not in the office. I like to make things as easy for myself as possible.
Keep it fresh
My planning also takes into account my access to fresh produce. I prefer not to freeze steak or seafood for example, so I will always plan those meals around when I can buy fresh.
Save time with bulk cooking
I also like to ensure that at least one meal a week is something that can be doubled or tripled. I prefer not to have the same meal twice in a week but instead will use the extra from the first meal to make something a bit different. Alternatively I will prepare something and freeze it so we won't starve if I'm sick or I get home late.
This week I spread out some cookbooks and clicked through some favourite foodie websites. My husband chose Jill Dupleix's Angelhair with crab and lemon as the new recipe on this week's meal plan. He gets extra bonus points for choosing something quick, easy and light. He usually doesn't!
Photo credit: Betty Crocker by 427
Keep records
My planning system also includes recording each day's meals on our synchronised google calendars. It avoids the mid-day phone call, "what are we having for dinner tonight?" And here it is for you.
Monday:
Garlic and chilli king prawns stir-fried with onion and still crispy red capsicum, green beans and broccoli, lightened with oodles of fresh parsley, served on steamed Basmati (I use Basmati a lot as it is lower GI than other types) rice. I'd prefer brown rice but I haven't won that battle in my household yet.
Tuesday:
Home-made chilli and herb crumbed chicken schnitzels (oven baked), with macaroni cheese, roast grape tomatoes, baked herb field mushrooms, steamed greens. For some reason unknown to me, my macaroni cheese provokes bizarre reactions of rapture amongst my friends and family. My husband regularly begs me to make this, and due to the fact it is so insanely easy, I do indulge him. My version isn't too heavy either - the sauce is a roux enriched with mustard, cheese and herbs and lightened with low-fat milk.
This meal will give me leftovers - extra cooked chicken schnitzels to go into the freezer (I can then pull them out later, defrost in the fridge overnight, then top with a tomatoey sauce and cheese, then chuck under the grill) plus leftover macaroni cheese to have with a salad for lunch on Wednesday.
Wednesday:
Angelhair pasta with crab and lemon plus a simple garden salad. With any luck I'll be able to buy some fresh pasta from the Italian place down the road, but if not I have some decent quality dried pasta in the pantry. I don't mind making my own pasta but I'm better at ravioli or lasagne sheets that don't need as much precision!
I'm not in the office on Wednesday so I can skip over to the fishmonger and then the butcher for tomorrow's dinner.
Thursday:
Seared beef and rice noodle salad. I can make this one in my sleep and it is lovely and fresh and flavourful.
Friday:
My grandmother, my sister and her boyfriend are coming over for dinner to have my famous risotto. This one will have prosciutto, tomato, basil and baby spinach. We'll go heavy on the carbs with some home-made bread and a few simple salads. Dessert is likely to be sorbet and fruit or perhaps some cupcakes if I get time.
Saturday:
Duck salad with rocket and baby spinach, just warm slow-roasted tomatoes, red onion, capsicum and snow peas, drizzled with chilli jam.
Sunday:
On Sunday nights we usually have dinner with my parents or in-laws. Otherwise it'll be a quiet night at home with takeaway Thai or a wood-fired pizza with a few glasses of wine.
If you'd like to see what other people are cooking this week, you'll find more meal plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie and Chive Talkin.
Check back later in the week for recipe reviews and results!
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photo credit: I love chocolate pudding
I do have to admit, I'm not usually fond of microwave recipes.
The microwave bewilders me; it places a plastic barrier between the food and my senses, blocking out changing smells and textures and rendering me useless. I can only gaze at the steady spinning, whirring and hoping that the 'ding' will come at the right time.
My grandmother was always equally hopeless with the microwave. I recall her wrapping butter in aluminium foil and putting it in the microwave because someone had told her she could do that to soften it. I also recall the zapping noises and the sparks.
This recipe is however so enticingly easy and delicious that even I and my microwave manage to call the truce long enough to make this one.
I'd be surprised if you didn't have all of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry right now and you'll be delighted to know that this pudding is prepared, cooked and served in just one dish!
Photo credt: 365:339 Microwaved
You will need to consider your own microwave's power rating and adjust the time accordingly; the time is set based on the older 800 watt microwaves. It is probably wise to drop the power down to medium-high if your microwave isn't similarly ancient.
Ingredients
- 60g butter
- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
- 220g caster sugar (about 1 cup)
- 25g cocoa (1/4 cup)
- 180ml milk (I use low-fat milk and it works fine)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 35g (1/3 cup) cocoa, extra
- 2 cups boiling water
Method
Place butter in a large microwave-proof dish and heat on high for 60 seconds to melt. (Note: I still can't bring myself to do this and melt the butter in a pan on the stove then add to the dish)
Stir in sifted flour, caster sugar, and cocoa. Add the milk and vanilla and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Sprinkle with combined brown sugar and extra cocoa.
Carefully pour the boiling water slowly over the back of a large metal spoon and over the pudding mixture.
Cook on high for 12 minutes (Note: Eep! Try 8 minutes on medium-high in a modern microwave and see how you go) until springy-soft and just cooked in the centre.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes if you can, then serve with ice-cream or cream.
photo credit: the last bit of pudding
I promise it will be magic.
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Ingredients: Cake
- 125g self-raising flour, sifted
- 120g caster sugar
- 125g unsalted butter, chopped, room temperature
- 2 extra-large eggs
- one large orange (or lemon): 3 tsp finely chopped zest and 2 TB juice
- 3 TB poppy seeds
- 2-3 TB milk
- good quality marmalade, for glazing
Ingredients: Icing
- 2 TB passionfruit pulp, strained to separate seeds
- 125g unsalted butter, chopped, room temperature
- 220g well sieved icing sugar
Method: Cake
cupcake glazed with orange marmalade
Preheat oven to 180C (not fan forced) for mini cupcakes, or 200C (not fan forced) for standard size cupcakes.
Take eggs, butter and milk out of the fridge to come to room temperature. While that's happening, measure out the other ingredients and get everything ready.
Stir 2 TB milk into the poppyseeds in a small bowl. The poppyseeds should start making 'zingy' noises.
Combine flour, sugar, butter, eggs and 2tsp of the orange rind in the large bowl of a food processor, don't over-mix.
Add the freshly squeezed orange juice through the top of the processor while pulsing the mix.
If more liquid is required to make a smooth batter, add half to a TB of milk.
Fold the poppyseeds into the batter with a metal spoon. Add remaining chopped orange zest to taste.
Spoon the batter into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. The mixture will make 36 mini cupcakes or 12 regular size.
Bake mini cupcakes for 8-10 minutes and regular cakes for 15 minutes. The tops will spring back when gently prodded.
When done, immediately take the cupcakes out of the tins and onto wire racks.
While cakes are still warm, use a pastry brush or bread knife to carefully spread gently warmed marmalade on the tops of the cupcakes.
Method: Icing
iced with passion fruit butter cream
Beat butter with electric beaters until pale and fluffy
Beat in half of the icing sugar and half of the juice from the passionfruit pulp until combined
Beat in the second half of the icing sugar and passionfruit juice.
Add a little extra milk (1/2 to a TB) if required to make a very light and fluffy icing
Pipe icing onto cooled cupcakes.
If desired, decorate with reserved passionfruit seeds or curls of orange zest.
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photo credit: Bucket of Lemons
This cake is made from very basic fridge/pantry items so you won't be trekking all over for exotic ingredients.
It also has the advantage of being light and indulgent without being high in fat. If you make it to serve 8 people, one slice is less than 4.5g fat, which means you could safely enjoy seconds.
The taste is reminiscent of a baked cheesecake and it is very popular in our house!
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 100g caster sugar
- 3 TB plain flour
- 400g strained Greek yoghurt
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Beat egg yolks with sugar to a thick, pale cream.
Beat in flour, then yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, until thoroughly combined.
Whisk egg whites until stiff and fold into yoghurt mixture.
Pour into a round, non-stick 23cm baking tin greased with butter.
Bake 50-55 minutes until the top is brown. The cake will puff up like a souffle and then subside.
We tend to serve this with fresh berries but you could certainly eat it plain or drizzle with a little citrus/sugar syrup.
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]]>Well you aren't so awesome when it's 9:00pm on a Tuesday night, you're starving and you end up in a drive-thru deciding whether chicken nuggets or a fillet-o-fish will go better with a half-empty bottle of sauvignon blanc.
Being crazy perfectionist when planning your meals defeats the entire purpose. Sure you could plan a week of amazing tantalizing gourmet treats from scratch but unless cooking the evening meal is your only job and you have no other responsibilities whatsoever and you are a superhero or energiser bunny you are just flat out lying to yourself.
The reality is there WILL be days when everything goes wrong, you come home late, a friend calls you in tears because the moron you never liked is treating her like crap again, the power goes off or you just plain can't be bothered. If you don't have days like that then we are probably living in different universes. You need to build stuffups into your planning.
A well stocked pantry (and spaces on your meal plan) can help out in times of crisis or laziness. I'm a big fan of carbs in a crisis but go with what works for you.
Some of my pantry basics:
Rice/Pasta/grains:
- basmati rice (to serve with curries etc - and its low GI - bonus!)
- jasmine rice (short grain)
- carnaroli or arborio rice (for risotto - I prefer carnaroli but arborio can be easier to get)
- spaghetti (I like the Barilla Spaghetti Rigate - the ridges hold the sauce better)
- macaroni or short pasta
- thai style flat rice noodles
- polenta
- couscous
Tinned stuff/Sauces
- Tomato pasta sauce or passata
- Tinned crushed tomatoes
- Tinned diced tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Tinned red salmon
- Tinned mixed beans
- Tobasco
- Woucestershire sauce
- mustards (wholegrain, Dijon, English etc)
- coconut milk
- coconut cream
- curry pastes (madras, vindaloo, thai red curry etc)
- soy sauce
- fish sauce
Oils/vinegars:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Grapeseed oil (great for frying)
- Nut oil (unless you're allergic like I am)
- White wine vinegar
- Rice wine vinegar
- Balsamic vinegar
- Red wine vinegar
Vegetables:
- Potatoes
- Onions (keep potatoes and onions well separate)
- Sweet potato
- Carrots
- Garlic
- Fresh herbs (in the garden or a window box)
Basics:
- Plain flour
- Self raising flour
- Caster sugar
- Icing sugar
- Quality salt flakes
- Whole peppercorns
- Bicarb soda
- baking powder
- cocoa
- stock (chicken, vegetable)
- breadcrumbs
Alcohol:
- beer
- brandy/cognac
- plenty of wine
The most important thing in my pantry: a folder filled with menus from fabulous local takeaway restaurants. Why grab a whopper when you can get a pad thai instead?
Some quick and easy ideas:
Yes it would be great to only eat fabulous slow-cooked tomato pasta sauces made from your own organically grown heirloom tomatoes with fresh picked basil and garlic but it isn't possible on a daily basis for many of us. (Grendel, you can stop gloating now.)
A jar of Barilla pasta sauce for $2.50 can be bulked up in a few minutes with a tin of 79c tomatoes, some fried onion and garlic and a liberal amount of quality salt and freshly ground pepper. Add fresh herbs if you've got them. A tiny splash of balsamic vinegar or red wine will give the sauce depth with minimal effort.
You can even buy garlic in a jar now if you don't have access to garlic straight out of the ground or you don't add it to everything like I do. Serve over decent quality (egg) pasta with a liberal amount of grated parmesan/reggiano and a generous glass of wine and you'll be a quasi-Italian Mama in minutes.
A couple of potatoes (I like ruby lou or royal blue but whatever you have is fine) brushed, not washed or peeled and some onion chucked into a food processor with a grating attachment can become potato rosti in a flash.
My grandmother likes to fry the onion first but I often forget.Mix the potato and onion with egg and a bit of flour. Season well and form into flat cakes with your hands. Pop them in the fridge for a few minutes if you remember, then into a small amount of oil over medium heat and flip when the bottom goes crispy and golden.
Drain the rosti on paper towel while you wilt some baby spinach in the frypan (off the heat will usually work) and poach or fry an egg or two. Stack up the plate with the spinach, rosti and then top with the egg. No harm in adding some proscuitto if you have it. Serve with beer.
If you've got time to scoot past an open butcher or fishmonger (lucky you!) on the way home your stocked pantry will convert a piece of protein into a meal, stat.
Fridge and Freezer essentials to follow!
UPDATE: While I'm finishing up my fridge and freezer posts, you might want to head over to Summer Tomato. Darya has written a great post about stocking your pantry for healthy eating.
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]]>Ok, so we don't have an elegant matching decoration theme (unless you count half-chewed-by-cats tinsel strewn across the floorboards with baubles and other christmas tree decorations flicked behind the furniture) or an elaborate menu. We do however have plenty of alcohol. And that's important if you've ever met my family.
We're having a cruisy Christmas brunch with none of the trimmings. The menu? Bubbly and freshly squeezed juices, plenty of plump oysters, smoked salmon, bagels, croissants, home-made jams, buttermilk pancakes with lashings of maple syrup, fresh fruit, mince pies, biscuits and jam doughnuts. We'll keep it going with plenty of beer and a barbecue later for those who can be bothered to stick around.
All I need to do tomorrow is chop up the fruit and make and flip a few million pancakes. My long-suffering husband will be in charge of the juice, topping up wine glasses and will then be stuck behind the espresso machine. The rest of the food will be not-so-artfully arranged on the table for everyone to help themselves. There's something beautiful about a non-stressful Christmas.
No matter what you're doing this festive season, I hope it is wonderful and safe and happy. Best wishes to you and yours and here's to a fabulous 2009.
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]]>This is the second part in the series. This is the bit where you will write a master list. This list is not your weekly shopping list. This list forms the basis for everything in your fridge, pantry and freezer. This list, if written properly, will save you oodles of time.
The trick is not to copy someone else's list (not even mine). It needs to be tailored to the way that you live, work, cook and eat. It is no good building a pantry of polenta, lentils and cous cous if you're a meat and 3 veg kind of guy, even if it sounds like the right thing to do.
A few things about me:
- I hate microwaves
- I am lazy
- I love saving money
- I have a fairly big pantry
- I prefer my meat/fish etc fresh, not frozen
- 2 people live here but other people like to eat here - with no notice
So with those things in mind, I know that my master list is *not* going to include half a cow in the freezer, nor is it going to include microwavable convenience meals in the pantry.
What my list does include, for example: a variety of different oils and vinegars (canola oil, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, balsamic, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, white vinegar) that are used for frying, as the base for salad dressings, dressing roast veg etc; spices (saffron, cloves, etc); flours, sugars and baking essentials; a variety of different types of pasta and rice, a cheating stash of stock, curry pastes and pickles, coconut milk and cream and much more.
My goal is to not waste food and not waste time at the supermarket.
As you change the way you cook, you will also need to tweak your master list. For example, we were given a breadmaker as a wedding present. Perfect gift for a lazy tight arse really. So I now always have flour and yeast handy to make bread, pizza etc.
A huge quantity of pizza dough takes 45 minutes in the breadmaker - then I roll it out and brush with a mix of eevo, fresh rosemary from the garden and garlic. I pop it into my benchtop pizza maker (which is the best thing ever) for 5 minutes and it serves as a great distraction while I'm getting dinner ready. Or for a quick dinner I just chuck some smoked salmon, rocket, fine rings of spanish onion and crumbled fetta on top of the pizza bases once they've come out of the oven.
There are a multitude of things you can make just from 'stuff' in the pantry - if you follow a basic pasta and sauce with a chocolate self-saucing pudding you'll still be in the good books and you won't need to head out to the shops.
This post is still in progress and is very much dependent on what you want. If you want me to post a list of my pantry/fridge/freezer essentials I will do that. If you want some quick recipes that can be made out of those basics I can do that too. Just leave a comment and let me know.
The next post will be how to plan a week's worth of meals and how to set out the list.
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Wild Raspberries by mrwi
There is something special about the combination of white chocolate and raspberries. Tart, sweet and indulgent. Combined into a muffin or cupcake, they are elevated into something great.
This muffin is one I pinched from Delicious magazine.
The muffins have a light buttery crumb and are studded with sparky raspberries and chunks of white chocolate. As a bonus, they're super easy to make, present beautifully and are delicious warm from the oven, softly collapsing in your fingers as you push them into your mouth.
Photo by minato
Ingredients
- 440g plain flour
- 1 tbs baking powder
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 200g white choc, roughly chopped
- 200g fresh or frozen raspberries
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then add the oil, milk and beaten eggs.
Mix gently until just combined, then carefully fold in the chopped white chocolate and 150g of the raspberries.
Spoon the muffin mixture into the paper cases and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the muffin pan from the oven and garnish each muffin with the remaining raspberries.
Return to the oven and cook the muffins for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Best served warm.
photo by minato
For more raspberry and white chocolate goodness try Iron Chef Shellie's raspberry and white chocolate brownies, which inspired this post. Or for more of my baked treats, check out the links just below.
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]]>It might be time-consuming but I really believe that writing meal plans and shopping lists can help you to eat better more balanced meals and save money too. However, a lot of meal plans are set up so that while you eat nice, healthy, balanced meals and save some dosh, the meals are boring and repeated over and over ad infinitum. I don't like boring, so this is the way I do it.
To write an effective meal plan there are a number of things you will need to do first.
Inventory of your pantry, fridge and freezer
In my mind, this is one of the most important things you can do and so few people do it very often. You will need some spare time for this. I suggest breaking it down over a few days unless you have free time growing on trees (I don't). If you do this thoroughly you will save yourself a lot of time and money later.
Now if you have a perfectly organised and laid out pantry this will be easy. I'll assume you don't. If you do you can go and gloat for a while.
Start by taking the food out of the pantry, one shelf at a time. Once the shelf is empty, dust and then wipe it clean. (I use enjo cloths for this but you can use whatever you like, but please avoid strong chemicals in the kitchen. If you need a non-physical cleaner McClintock's make a nice vanilla fridge wipe that will do the job without spraying poison everywhere.) I also like to clean the pantry walls (mine is a walk-in) at the same time but I'm weird and you don't have to do that.
Take a very close look at all the food that you've pulled out of the pantry. The first thing I do is look for patterns and start to group things together. As you move each item, check the expiry date. When moving pasta, rice etc inspect well for weevils or any other nasties.
Everything in your pantry will be roughly divided into three groups - "I will eat it" "I would like to think that I will eat it because: it is horribly healthy/was on special/some other stupid reason, but I really won't" and "this food is now a science experiment". I hope you have a bin handy.
With the middle group, you can donate this to a charity group or nearest struggling student. In some cases some items may be in the middle group even though they could be in the "I will eat it group" just because you don't know how to prepare it/what to eat it with. If that's the case leave a comment here and I'm sure we can try and help.
You should now just be left with food in the "I will eat it group". Be honest with yourself and make sure that everything left does fit within this category. What is left will tell you something quite important about your eating habits - is everything tinned/packet convenience food or do you have a lot of bulk basics? Do you have 14 packets of rice noodles that were scattered around in different parts of the pantry? At this stage I often write rough notes on each type of food - ie: rice, pasta etc and note if I'm out of anything.
Before you go any further and get distracted you'll need to put everything back in the pantry. Before I do this I chart out my pantry onto paper and work out where I'm going to put everything but you can just roll your eyes at me and ignore that. Do make sure that you give some thought to where you put things though. Put like items with like and be conscious of what is at eye level and what isn't.
For example, in my pantry, my husband's cereal, muesli bars etc are all at his eye level. This avoids the male-pattern-blindness and staring blankly into the pantry every morning. On the other hand, I keep the couverture chocolate on the bottom shelf along with the baking powders, flour etc. I hope he isn't reading this.
Make sure that you can see everything in the pantry easily because you will need to be able to later!
Repeat this with your fridge and freezer. You'll need to work quickly here so just get the food out, clean the fridge (most cleaning products are not suitable for use in the fridge so be careful) and put the "I will eat" things back.
When you put everything back in the fridge make sure that raw meat is kept well separated from everything else. All raw meat in my fridge is kept on the bottom shelf. If you have traditional wire shelves this will stop any chance of raw meat dripping onto something else. I have glass shelves which makes my life easy, and I put meat on plates to further minimise any risk. Yes, I'm paranoid.
It is now probably a few days after you started and you hopefully now have a shiny clean pantry, fridge and freezer. Well done!
The next step is to work out your fridge/freezer/pantry basics that will form the foundation for your meal planning. Click to continue on to part 2 on how to plan your meals.
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photo credit: Had a bad day, dear?
The best bit is that cupcakes are as easy (and as inexpensive) to make as you want.
My never-fail recipe for coffee cupcakes follows. If coffee isn't your thing (shame on you) then you can use the recipe as a base for a multitude of different variations. Let me tell you how.
My recipe is heavily inspired by Nigella Lawson, whose cupcake recipe can be found in her classic book How to be a Domestic Goddess. My variations involve substituting coffee for milk, homemade buttercream for packet icing and cutting down the sugar to a less sickly level.
Even though this recipe cheats and uses a food processor instead of creaming the butter and sugar in a mixer, the cupcakes turn out beautifully light and fluffy. I don't know how it works but it does, you'll just have to trust me.
This recipe uses pantry basics and costs almost nothing to make. The tiny portions mean that there will be enough to go around in the staff room and you will impress everyone with barely any effort.
Ingredients (cake)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened and chopped
- 125g self-raising flour, well sifted
- 100-120(ish)g caster sugar (adjust to taste)
- 2 eggs
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 TB fresh espresso, cooled
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of allspice
Ingredients (icing)
- 125g unsalted butter, softened, chopped
- 220g pure icing sugar, sifted
- 2-3 TB fresh espresso, chilled
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- food colouring (optional)
Method (cake)
Pre-heat oven (not fan-forced) to 190 degrees celcius.
Prepare mini-muffin tins with tiny paper muffin cases. This recipe will make 36. (Alternatively you can make 12 regular sized cupcakes, just adjust the cooking temp to 200 C and cook for 15 minutes.)
Combine all cake ingredients other than the espresso in the bowl of a food processor. Whizz until combined. Pour the espresso down the food processor's funnel and process on 'pulse' until the mixture forms a smooth, dripping consistency.
Use a teaspoon (and an extra one to push the mixture out) to evenly fill the mini-muffin cups.
Cook the cupcakes for about 7-8 minutes or until lightly browned and the tops spring back when gently prodded. Allow to cool on wire racks while you make the icing.
Method (icing)
photo credit: buttercream
Beat butter and vanilla extract in an electric mixer until as white as possible (this will take a while).
Beat in icing sugar and espresso in two batches (I usually add 100g of sugar and 1 TB of espresso each batch, adding more to taste).
Add food colouring if desired, and mix through.
Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes. If you don't have a piping bag and can't be bothered making one out of greaseproof paper, smoosh the icing onto the cakes with a butter knife or palette knife.
Serve. The cupcakes won't last long!
Have you tried my recipe for orange and poppy seed cupcakes with passionfruit butter cream yet?
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