Thai Style Warm Spinach Salad (GF)

heat a medium saucepan and dry fry a few handfuls of cashews

add 2 tabs coconut oil and 1 small onion, sliced. cook stirring for a few minutes.

add 2 cloves roughly chopped garlic and stir for another minute.

add in a few cups of chopped vegies (i used eggplant, zucchini, broccoli and a whole red capsicum) and cook stirring until the vegies are cooked to your preference.

turn heat off and add in juice of one lime (or lemon), black pepper, good squeeze of stevia and some salt (or fish sauce). stir. add in lots of roughly chopped coriander and mint leaves

get a large bowl and put baby spinach in, top with vegies mix. gently mix so spinach has some dressing and some of it starts to wilt.  serve

we had ours with bbq'd pork cutlets and it was delish!

Green Bean Salad (GF)

quick and easy but surprisingly nice!

green beans, topped, tailed, cut into 2" / 5cm pieces and steamed or boiled until green and starting to soften
1 red capsicum, finely diced
1/2 green capsicum, finely diced (optional)
1 stick celery, finely diced
1 rasher bacon or 3 shortcut bacon, fried or grilled til crispy, crumbled or finely diced
black pepper, freshly ground
balsalmic vinegar *, a drizzle
olive oil, a drizzle

suggested additions:
handful of toasted pinenuts
1/2 red onion or 2-3 shallots (green onions), finely chopped


* googling informed me that balsalmic vinegar is Gf, please check for yourself

mix and chill before serving

Variations on a Theme (GF, TMX)

*** Happy Australia Day! ***

today we spent most of the day with good friends, having a BBQ lunch at one house, all bringing food to share. As Rora loves the Asian Noodle Salad i made that but was missing at least half the ingredients lol it was still very nice so I thought I would record the variation in case it was useful to anyone :)

I also did a quick conversion of the Nem Nuong recipe from Taste

both recipes are gluten free :)

Asian Noodle Salad Variation
1/2 chinese cabbage (wom buk) shredded finely
1/8th red onion, sliced very finely
100g roasted cashews
1 pkt chang's gluten free fried rice noodles
approximately 15 leaves (or half a bunch) of vietnamese mint, finely sliced

dressing:
1/4 cup white vinegar
approximately 2-3 tablespoons apple juice concentrate (or any other sweetener)
1 tab gluten free soy sauce
a few tbspns of sesame oil
around 2 tabs sesame seeds

combine all dressing ingredient and shake well
mix all ingredients except the noodles. add the noodles and mix well just before serving.


Nem Nuong variation
35g jasmine rice
4 garlic cloves, peeled
5 green shallots (scallions / green onions), ends trimmed, cut into 2" / 5cm pieces
500g beef or pork mince (tradionally pork but i only had beef)
20g fish sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp caster sugar (I forgot this and they were fine so i guess it's optional ;))
25g rice bran oil (peanut oil or any other mild flavoured oil)

heat rice on varoma for around 6 minutes speed soft until fragrant
grind on speed 10 for 30 seconds
add garlic and chop for around 10-15 seconds speed 6
add shallots and chop on speed 5 1/2 for 10 seconds
add all other ingredients and pulse using turbo / closed lid until well mixed
roll into small balls and chill before cooking if possible.



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com

Easy Potato Salad

inspired by a thread on EB

put water in the thermomix and place in varoma on top around 6 medium potatoes and half a large sweet potatoes quartered. cook for ummm i think it was 5 minutes but could have been 10 (oops) on varoma temp, speed 1

remove the varoma and lid and add the basket and 3 eggs (actually i did 6 but kept the others for the girls. it's best if you use room temp eggs so they don't break with the hot water lol)

cook for 15 minutes on varoma temp, speed 1

in the meantime finely dice some lean bacon (4 shortcut pieces) and fry til crispy
finely chop some garlic (1-2 cloves)

let eggs and potatoes cool to peel & dice - 2cm pieces for the potatoes and 3/4cm pieces of egg (quarter & dice)

in a large bowl mix around 2/3 cup mayo (can make your own in tmx of course, i used a low fat praise one that is also GF) and a little less of plain or greek yoghurt. also add in some S&P, some fresh shredded mint leaves, and the rest of the ingredients.

toss to coat and serve or chill and serve

Nem Nuong (GF, TMX)

Last night's dinner was a big (italian style lol) salad with Nem Nuong

i didn't have any pork - i though the recipe needed pork and veal mince but spaced it and bought double amounts of veal and no pork lol. it made them a little dry but they were still yum. I made a double batch and there was not one left after feeding 3 adults and 3 kids (SIL was here for dinner).

i won't worry about C&P this recipe across as the one i have in my vietnamese recipe book is almost identical :) this recipe was a CINCH in the thermomix though - i just roasted then ground the rice in it first, then chopped the garlic and chives (i'd run out of shallots / green onions) and then added in everything else (i actually had a coarse ground mince so didn't need to make my own)

i love these made quite small and put in the rice paper rolls, or served with rice vermicelli and salad, and nuoc mam.

just can't compare...

my friend irene first made this bean salad for us when we were camping with her at kangaroo valley last year. rory loved it! now ryan loves it too. i've tried to replicate it with a non-commercial dressing and they won't touch it LOL so now i've given up and i just make it like she does :)

Irene's bean salad
1 tin mixed beans (4 or 5 bean mix), rinsed and drained
french or italian dressing (low fat and / or gluten free)

mix and serve, chilling optional lol

Christmas BBQ Lamb Cutlets

i know that lamb cutlets are generally horrendously expensive but that makes them a lovely treat for christmas! this recipe is really yummy - just don't burn them lol

CHRISTMAS BBQ LAMB CUTLETS
(For 18 cutlets)


1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh rosemary, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic crushed
4 small red chillies, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup jellied cranberry sauce
18 trimmed lamb cutlets

Combine ingredients and marinate cutlets overnight

Grease bbq plate and preheat to medium high.

Cook cutlets, basting occasionally with marinade, for 4 mins on each side for medium.

Serve immediately

(i've tagged this gluten free as i'm assuming cranberry sauce is GF. will confirm later)

Brown Rice Salad

we're going to a birthday party tonight for our friend and chiropracter Michael. his wife Kristen asked us all to bring a salad. at first i had planned to make the Asian Noodle Salad i seem to have become famous for, but realised that i can't eat it on the core plan! (and will need my points for other things ;)) so i decided to make a rice salad.

At first i was planning a typical rice salad, but decided to go with brown rice and maybe something a little different. Inpsired by this recipe i am making my salad with:

brown rice
sliced baby corn
finely diced red and green capsicum
pepitas
sunflower seeds
sliced black olives
sliced shallots / spring onions

i can't be bothered to do my own dressing as i'm feeling lazy and planning to make a cake (the kids' choice) to take too, so i'm just using a purchased fat-free italian dressing.

the berries on the cake are just frozen this time too :( i couldn't get any more blueberries this week at choku bai jo

Spiced Cous Cous

Spiced Couscous (mum's version)

Serves 4 - 6

Really refreshing for summer - serve with Moroccan Chicken

1 tab extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn salt
3/4 cup water or chicken stock
1/2 cup couscous
2 tabs chopped mint and/or parsley
2 ripe tomatoes, seeded & cubed
2 tspns lemon juice

1. heat oil, add ground cumin. heat through until fragrant.

2. add salt & stock and bring to the boil.

3. stir in the couscous and let the mixture stand, covered, off the heat for 5 minutes.

4. fluff mixture with fork and stir in mint, parsley, tomatoes and lemon juice.

5. season to taste.

Moroccan Chicken

Grilled Chicken with Moroccan Spices (mum's version)

Serves 4 - 6

An easy recipe from Karen’s mum.
Great to BBQ, serve with Spiced Couscous.

3 cloves garlic
2 tabs extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tspn ground cumin
1 tspn ground ginger
1 tspn coarse salt
1/2 tspn each ground paprika and cinnamon
freshly ground black pepper to taste
4-6 chicken breasts or pieces
butter, melted

1. wipe chicken pieces and remove excess fat

2. combine all spice mixture ingredients in large bowl. add chicken and coat with mix. marinate one hour.

3. arrange chicken on a hot oven grill and brush with melted butter.

4. grill over moderate heat for 10 minutes, then turn and cook for a further 6 minutes

A Moroccan inspired meal for a Summer night

i don't seem to have posted these recipes yet - i can't believe it!

the other night for dinner we had grilled chicken with moroccan spices, cous cous salad and a potato salad with a mix of potatoes including purple congoes :) this is based on a recipe from mum, which i will also post, but which is different from what i made.

grilled chicken with moroccan spices
to serve 6ish
3 chicken breasts, cut into tenderloin sized stripe
2 heaped tspns brazen's moroccan spice blend

cover the chicken all over with the spice blend and leave for 20 minutes or overnight.
grill on a bbq plate (we have an indoor grill, our bbq is broken :() until cooked through.

cous cous salad
maybe around 1 1/2 cups of uncooked cous cous
1 1/2 tspns cumin seeds
1 tspn coriander, ground
1 1/2 tspns chicken stock powder
water to cover (sorry i have no idea how much, maybe 2-3 cups?)
3 tomatoes, diced (remove seeds if you can be bothered)
1 lebanese cucumber, diced
a few sprigs mint, shredded
(other ingredients which would be good in this include half a finely diced red onion, currants - add to the water with the cous cous - and nuts such as cashews, pistachios etc)

bring the water to the boil. turn off heat and add in cous cous (at this stage you can remove extra water if you have too much - you want about 1cm above the level of the cous cous)
add spices and stock powder, stir and cover.

leave for 10 minutes or until all water is absorbed. stir with a fork to fluff and let cool for as long as possible.

mix through the rest of the ingredients and serve. you can eat it at the temperature it comes or chilled.

pretty potato salad
around 6-8 purple congo potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
around 6-8 small potatoes suitable for a salad (i think i might have used nicola maybe), scrubbed but not peeled
half a finely diced red onion
few sprigs parsley, finely chopped
1/3 cup cashews, toasted *
1 tab olive oil
few tspns of dijon or seeded mustard, to taste
large squeeze of lemon juice
salt & pepper
optional - some crispy diced bacon would be great too

boil the potatoes until they are just cooked, let cool a little and cut into 1" pieces. let them cool as long as you can.

mix everything together well, though gently (you might find it easier to mix the dressing first)

* to toast the nuts just place them in over a medium-low heat in a small pan or pot. keep moving them around every few minutes so they don't burn. you can use the microwave but i find it much easier to burn them than on the stove.

PS: sorry about the picture, blogger is still not making them the size i want :(

Pasta Salad

Geoff wants this printed out so he can make it, so here goes lol (of course there are a million versions, this is just one with what we have on hand today)

small or fancy pasta, cooked (and cooled if time)
tin of corn, drained
frozen peas, cooked, drained and cooled
ham, finely chopped
capsicum, finely chopped
black olives, sliced
parsley, finely chopped
kidney beans, drained ???

dressing - mayonnaise and / or pesto

mix well

as you can see from the pics it was a HUGE hit!

Links - BBQ ideas (marinades, salads etc)

Asian BBQ chicken

Barefoot Contessa's BBQ Sauce

Barbequed Chicken

Beetroot & Haloumi Salad with Walnut Dressing

Garlic-Mustard Glaze (for meat)

grilled corn salad

Mango, avocado & red onion salad

Mom's warm potato salad

napa cabbage salad with buttermilk dressing

Potato Salad with apples and bacon this one looks soooo good!

Southwestern three bean salad

Summer lovin' salad (with bacon, chicken, hard boiled eggs, blue cheese, dijon mustard etc etc mmmm)

thai noodle salad

wild rice salad


assorted recipes from eb (main meal ideas)