{Recipe} Overnight Eggs Benedict Casserole

For the past two years we have had this eggs benedict casserole for breakfast on Christmas morning.

It's seems I've started a tradition but the kids did ask that we have it more often than just on Christmas morning because they don't want to wait a whole year to get to eat it again.

I've also made this without leaving it in the fridge overnight and it still turned out just as good, so if time isn't on your side and you need this breakfast in 45 minutes, then no worries. It will not disappoint.

Ingredients:

Casserole-

6 English Muffins- cut in half and some in quarters (you want to fill all the gap in your casserole dish)
4 eggs
6 rashers of rindless bacon- diced
2 cups of milk
3 shallots (green onions)- sliced
1/2 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Hollandaise Sauce-

4 egg yolks (you can use your egg whites to make a pavlova ;) )
130 grams of cold butter
Juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Dice bacon and spread half on the bottom of your casserole dish
Cut up your english muffins and layer on top of your bacon
Cover your english muffins with the remaining bacon
Mix 4 eggs, 2 cups of milk, shallots, onion powder and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl and then pour over your muffins and bacon.
Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning preheat your oven to 180 degree celsius and removed the cling wrap from your casserole dish and replace with alfoil.

Bake in oven for approx 30 minute or until the eggs are set. Remove the alfoil and let the top go golden brown for approx 5 minutes.

Whilst the casserole is baking prepare your hollandaise sauce.  Now I use my thermomix to make my hollandaise and I follow these instructions-

Place all ingredients into bowl with the butterfly in place and set at 90 degrees, speed 3 for 8 minutes.

If you don't have a thermomix you can make your hollandaise using this method.

Then simply pour your hollandaise over your baked casserole and sprinkle with paprika.

NB- I don't seem to have a photo with the hollandaise on and if your kids are weary of spices like mine you can sprinkly the paprika BEFORE you pour the hollandaise and they will be none the wiser :P 

Quinoa and Pumpkin Salad

This post first appeared on Wholefood Mum. 

Quinoa Salad is a very versatile dish. You can pretty much change the ingredients every time and you won't be disappointed.

The salad pictured above has the following ingredients in it:

• 1 cup of quinoa cooked as per the packet directions
• 2 green capsicums
• half a pumpkin- roasted and cooled
• a few handfuls of baby spinach
• some fetta cheese crumbled through it

I mixed a dressing of olive oil, honey, red wine vinegar and ground cumin to serve over it and it was delicious.

These were just the vegetables that I had on hand on the day and next time no doubt it will be a little different. I would have like to include some roasted zucchini as well, but we were all out.

Do you love quinoa? How do you serve it?



*Wholefood Mum is my other blog, but I just don't have the time to commit to it plus Actually Amy and And Sew We Craft so I'll be merging Wholefood Mum and Actually Amy over the coming weeks. 

Prepare: Smoothies for A Week

My hormones went haywire after I had Darcy. I lost 12ish kilograms in the first 2-3 weeks after his birth and then promptly put it all back on again in the space of 3 weeks. It was horrible! I was clueless as my diet and water intake had been really good, I hadn't been moving much, but it just didn't make sense.

I spoke to my Doctor and he ran several blood tests and it showed that yes, my hormones were way more out of whack than they should be after having a baby and it showed that my PCOS was well and truly out of control.

We are currently playing with my medication and I am now extra extra vigilant with my diet. This is where my smoothies are coming in. I try to have porridge for breakfast most days but on some school mornings that is a little hard seeing as school starts at 8am here.

So enter the humble smoothie. Just whack it in the blender/thermomix and away I go.

A grocery shopping day I usually come home, unpack the groceries and then do up a few bags of the following for some quick smoothies:

• Half a banana
• 10is blueberries
• 3-4 strawberries depending on size
• handful of spinach

I just add them to ziplock bags and pop them in the freezer. Then when it is time for a smoothie I just pull them out of the freezer and blend them up with 250-300mls of unsweetened almond milk and 2 tablespoons of oats.


You can find heaps of other smoothie recipes the I use here: 31 Days of Smoothies

Recipe: Pumpkin Muffins

I've been busy with back to school baking lately and I've been tweaking a pumpkin muffin recipe for a few weeks. I'm finally happy with this one so thought I would share.

All three kids loved them and I've already got another batch on my to do list for this week. 

 Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups plain (or wholemeal) flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (make sure it's DARK brown and not just brown)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (if you don't have coconut oil just use butter and cream with the sugars first)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups of pumpkin puree

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Sift flour and mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl mix coconut oil, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract until well combined. Fold in dry ingredients until incorporated well.

Spoon in lined muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes in pre-heated oven.

Jamie's Hit'n'Run Chicken

Okay, well this is my version of Jamie Oliver's hit'n'run chicken.

Ingredients:

Whatever roastable (totally a word) vegetables you have in the fridge- I mostly use zucchini, capsicum, onions, tomatoes.
1kg Chicken Drumsticks (Chicken Thighs work well for this too)
Herbs of your choosing- I used thyme and paprika this time.
Olive oil or coconut oil for drizzling over chicken and vege

Method:
Cut up all vegetables and whack in oven tray. Top with chicken drumstick then drizzle with oil and sprinkle with herb. Toss the chicken and vege with your hands to make sure they are all coated well with oil and herbs. Roast in a hot oven until cooked through. (About 45 minutes to an hour, my oven has a mind of it's own so I can't really give you an exact time. Sorry!)

With usually serve it with couscous, brown rice or a salad

{Recipe} Zucchini Moussaka #thermomix

As a part of this months meal plan I made a conscience decision to cut down on the meat we were eating. I am not a particular fan of eating much meat and it really isn't great for my PCOS so it was a no brainer for me. The kids don't really notice when we just eat vegetables and legumes and B doesn't really complain that often, as long as he gets an occasional steak then he is fine to eat whatever I serve.... 

So I thought I would try out some new recipes and one such was Zucchini Moussaka. Now B was a little miffed when we sat down for dinner and I told him that we were having moussaka for dinner and well he loves traditional moussaka, he was expecting some mince, but instead he got zucchini. But he did eat it and didn't complain at all, the kids on the other hand hated it. Me though, I loved it and plan on making it again and again and again. 

Ingredients:
Bechamel Sauce
Rind of 2 lemons
3 slices of multigrain bread or 1 cup of breadcrumbs
bunch of parsley
2 eggplants- sliced
3 zucchinis- cut into 3cm chunks or grated if not using a thermomix
4 cloves of garlic (minced if not using thermomix0
2 onions peeled and cut in halves (diced if not using thermomix)
60g Parmesan cheese (grated if not using thermomix)
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Sea salt to taste

Method:

Make bechamel sauce and set aside. Clean and dry TM bowl
Prepare eggplants by salting and allow to rest for at least half and hour
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celicus
Place lemon zest into TM bowl and grate for 10 seconds on speed 8. Set aside
Place parsley into TM bowl and chop for 5-10 seconds on speed 6. Set aside with lemon zest.
Place parmesan cheese and bread into TM bowl and great for 10 seconds on speed 9. Set aside with lemon and parsley.
Rinse the salt off the eggplant and pat dry. Drizzle with with extra virgin olive oil and bake in hot oven for 25-35 minutes until lightly browned.
Place onion and garlic into TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 6.
Add 10g of extra virgin olive oil and saute for 2 minutes at Varoma temp on speed 1.
Add zucchini and chop for 15-20 seconds on speed 6.
Cook for 5 minutes at 100 degrees on Reverse + soft speed.

Assembling the Moussaka:
Line bottom of oven tray with half of the roasted eggplant. Cover with half zucchini mix and then a layer of bechamel sauce followed by rest of eggplant, then rest of the zucchini mixture. Top with remaining bechamel and the parmesan, lemon, parsley and crumb topping. Bake for about 30 minutes until top is golden brown.



This recipe was slightly adapted from the Zucchini Moussaka found in the thermomix cookbook tiled 'A Taste of Vegetarian

*These are thermomix instructions, but if you would like to convert to a traditional method and need some help, please don't hesitate to ask as I would be glad to help. 

Choc Peppermint Fudge

On Sunday night I decided to try a new Christmassy fudge recipe. And well now I wish I didn't because it is just too good to stop at one tiny piece!

Seriously, you HAVE to make this. It would make a great gift too.

Recipe is from the Pioneer Women via the Food Network. 

Meal Plan Monday {week 13}

So this week I am trying out some recipes from a new book I received in the mail to review.
The book is called Baby Booms, Bellies and Blood Sugars: : How to lose inches, lower blood sugars and get your energy and life back! And whilst the title doesn't really make the book sound like something suited to me because I am definitely not a baby boomer... BUT I do have PCOS and well it is recommended that people with PCOS follow a diet pretty much the same as those with diabetes. 

My Grandfather was also diagnosed as having pre-diabetes symptoms so I was interested in finding out more for him too.  

I have been reading the book and it certainly is interesting. I will probably share more with you about it next week after I try a few more of the recipes and read more of it. 

If you want to find out more about the book, go here: http://www.babyboomersandbellies.com

Anyway, now for my menu plan for the week.

Monday: Bacon Onion and Tomato Slice {from Baby Boomers, Bellies and Blood Sugars}
Tuesday: Chicken Curry {from Baby Boomers, Bellies and Blood Sugars}
Wednesday: Sausages, Mash and assorted vegetables {B's cooking}
Thursday: Going out for dinner. 
Friday: Burritos
Saturday: BBQ
Sunday: Roast

Baking: Choc Chip Biscuits

What's on your meal plan this week?

Bacon, Zucchini and Butter Bean Pasta

So I told you yesterday that I am currently doing a stock take of my pantry and freezer and using up bits and pieces that I have lying around.

One such item was several cans of butter beans. My pantry is always pretty well stocked with beans, pulses and diced tomatoes. They are the base to a lot of our dinners. But it seems that we have recently accumulated a large amount of butter beans for some reason.

Anyway, this quick and easy pasta sure helped reduce the quantity of butter beans in the pantry.

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbs of olive oil
4 rashers of bacon
1 large zucchini
italian herbs
1 can of butter beans
1 cup of uncooked pasta of your choice.
parmasen cheese
salt and pepper

You could add onion too, I just didn't have any on hand.

Method:

Boil water and cook pasta as per packet directions.

Heat oil in frying pan and add diced bacon. Fry off for a few minutes then add garlic and zucchini.

Continue to cook for a few minutes and then add tomatoes. Bring to a gentle simmer. Add butter beans. You just want to heat the butter beans through.

Add cooked pasta and stir through.

Season with salt and pepper and parmesan cheese to serve.

What item do you always have lots of in your pantry?

RECIPE: Banana, Coconut and Chia Muffins

Ingredients:

160g Self Raising Flour
150g Plain Flour
180g Milk
2 Bananas
2 tbs of Chia Seeds
150g Raw Sugar or Rapadura
2 Eggs
70g Coconut Oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Place wet ingredients in bowl and combine well then add sifted flour and mix until well combined.

Spoon into muffin tin and bake in pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes. (My oven is a bit temperamental so I can't give you an exact time, sorry!)

Thermomix instructions:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Place all ingredients into the TM bowl and mix for 50 seconds on speed 5.

Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake in pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes.

Makes 12-18 muffins depending on size.

One BIG Pot of Lentils

I probably make a variation of this at least once a fortnight. It feeds us over several nights and one pot can turn into several different meal types.


This pot for example was served with spaghetti on the first night and then was turned into lasange for the second and third night.

You can change the seasoning up a bit and serve it on tortillas, flat bread, tacos, potatoes. The possibilities are endless.

This isn't a recipe as such, but a meal suggestion. Play with it and create your own winning combo.

Ingredients:

2 cups of red lentils (rinsed)
vegetables of your choice- In this post I used 1 red capsicum, 2 carrot, 2 stalks of celery, broccoli, 1 zucchini
salt
pepper
tinned tomatoes
basil
oregano
parsley

Add 2 cups of lentils to a large pot and cover with water, bring to boil and reduce heat to a simmer.

Puree (or thinly slice if you can't puree them) vegetables

Add vegetables, tinned tomatoes (or fresh if you have them available), herbs and seasoning and cook on a low heat for several hours.

This dish is great for meat eaters too. I never tell the kids that they are eating lentils and they are none the wisher. B didn't notice in the beginning either. 

You could use taco seasoning instead of the basil/oregano/parsley combo. The possibilities are endless.

I'm linking up with Veggie Mama for Meatless Monday

Linseed, Oats, Honey and Chia Loaf

This loaf all came about because I went shopping on Monday morning and the shelves were completely empty of any kind of fresh items in our one and only supermarket. It was then and there that I decided that I really needed to start making my own bread again (and get a crack on adding more things to our vegetable garden).

I really want to try my hand at making sourdough, but that takes time to build up the starter etc so I was flipping through my Everyday Recipe book that came with my Thermomix and came across a Five Seed Bread recipe.

Now, I don't have five different seeds in my pantry, but I did have Oats, Linseed Meal and Chia Seeds. So I adjusted the recipe to suit what I had.

You don't need a Thermomix to make this bread. You could use a bread maker or just your two hands.

Ingredients

500g Unbleached plain flour
120g Oats
2 tsp dry Yeast
1 tsp Salt
60g Linseed Meal
50g Chia Seeds
30g Honey
30g Oil
500g of lukewarm Water



Mix all ingredients by whatever means you are using.

In my Thermomix I used the interval speed for 2 1/2 minutes. If doing my hand, I would give it a good knead for at least 5 minutes or until I was happy with the dough.

This is a sticky mixture so don't stress if you are worried about the consistency of the dough.

Grease a 20cm square baking tin and pour the mixture into it to rise. We have ducted air conditioning in our house so I have to heat my oven to about 50-60 degrees for about 15 minutes then turn it off to create a suitable environment for the bread to rise. As soon as I turn the oven off I pop the tray of bread dough in the heated oven (make sure it is turned off though, we don't want to start cooking this loaf yet!) and let the dough rise to fill the pan. It will take about 25-30 minutes.

Once it has risen turn your oven onto 200 degrees Celsius and bake your bread for about 40-45 minutes.

Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. This is important because if you leave it in the baking pan the bottom will sweat.

DO NOT CUT THE LOAF WHILE IT IS STILL HOT. It is still cooking on the inside and if you cut it too soon it will collapse.

Once it is sufficiently cooled, slice and enjoy.

If you try your hand at baking this bread, please let me know how you went and what you thought.

Day 31: A Round up

This month has been fun, challenging a little there when I lost my smoothie mojo, but fun none the less. I did have to resort to some Pinterest style posts for a few days. but for the most part, I am happy to have shared over 25 different smoothie recipes.  I really hope you enjoyed this series too.

So without further ado here is a round up of all of the smoothie recipes over the past month.

Which one was your favourite?

Day 1: Banana Smoothie

Day 2: Watermelon, Blueberry and Banana Smoothie

Day 3: Kale, Apple and Maple Smoothie

Day 4: Banana, Orange and Spinach Smoothie

Day 5: Spinach, Carrot, Banana and Blueberry Smoothie

Day 6: Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie

Day 7: Green Peanut Butter Smoothie

Day 8: Pina Colada with a Tweak. {Guest Post}

Day 9: Berry Smoothie

Day 10:Banana and Tahini Smoothie

Day 11:Mango Smoothie 

Day 12: Pineapple and Mango Smoothie

Day 13:Cucumber and Pineapple Smoothie

Day 14: Spinach, Banana and Strawberry Smoothie


Day 15: Banana, Blueberry & Lemon Smoothie (Guest Post)


Day 16: Berry, Orange and Spinach Smoothie


Day 17:  Apple, Strawberry & Rhubarb Smoothie (Guest Post)

Day 18:Watermelon and Orange Smoothie


Day 19: Power Smoothie {guest post}

Day 20: Choc Banana Smoothie

Day 21: Super Green Smoothie

Day 22: Mango and Banana Smoothie

Day 23: Lettuce Smoothies {The Pinterest Edition}

Day 24: Carrot and Orange Smoothie

Day 25: Beetroot Smoothies {The Pinterest Edition}

Day 26: Choc Blueberry Smoothie

Day 27: Banana Coconut and Cashew Smoothie

Day 28:Orange and Parsley Smoothie


Day 29: Banana, Orange and Parsley Smoothie

Day 30: The Pinterest Edition

I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did!

Day 29: Banana, Orange and Parsley Smoothie

Ingredients: 

1 Handful of Flat Leaf Parsley
1 Banana
1 Orange
1 cup of cold water
1 cup of Ice
1 tsp of Camu Camu powder

You know the drill- Blitz in a blender and enjoy!

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series.

Day 28: Orange and Parsley Smoothie

I finally ventured to the shops the shops to stock up on some more Parsly (I am still waiting for our herb garden to establish) but would you believe it, there were no lemons! And since I used the lemons on had for dinner the other night I had to change my plans. So here it is...

My Orange and Parsley Smoothie! It doesn't look to flash, but it tastes great!

Ingredients: 

1 Handful of Flat Leaf Parsley
1 Orange
1 cup of cold water
1 cup of Ice
1 tsp of Camu Camu powder

You know the drill- Blitz in a blender and enjoy!

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series.

Day 27: Banana, Coconut and Cashew Smoothie

This 31 Days of Smoothies Series is winding down and well I think I have lost my smoothie mojo.

Never fear, I still have a stella smoothie to share with you today.

It's a simple one!

Ingredients:

1 Banana
3/4 cup of ice
1 cup milk
2 tsp of Coconut Cashew Cream

You know the drill- Blitz in a blender and enjoy!

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series.

Day 26: Choc Blueberry Smoothie

I woke up this morning with plans to have a Lemon and Parsely Smoothie. Until I opened the fridge and the parsley was nowhere to be found... Well that put a spanner in the works now didn't it?!

So I had to rethink my plans. I checked the freezer and the pantry and decided on this little number.

Ingredients:

1 cup of frozen blueberries
1 cup of milk of your choice
1 tsp raw cacao powder

Blitz in blender and enjoy! This one is a thick one so you will probably need a straw!

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series. 

Day 25: Beetroot Smoothies {The Pinterest Edition}

I really wanted to try some beetroot smoothies this week, but I couldn't get any fresh beetroot at the supermarket. So it will have wait until I can venture to the coast to do some shopping but I thought I would share some pins instead.

Source: stylenest.co.uk via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: delicious-blog-lucie.blogspot.cz via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: eatyourbooks.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: coffeeandvanilla.com via Amy- on Pinterest

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series. 

 

Day 24: Carrot and Orange Smoothie

I am back on the smoothie bandwagon this morning, and am I using up things in my fruit bowl and vegetable crisper in preparation for our monthly shop coming up soon.

It's a simple smoothie but really refreshing, which is just what I needed this morning!

Ingredients:

1 Carrot
2 Oranges- peeled
1 teaspoon of Camu Camu powder
1 table spoon of chia seeds
handful of ice

Chop carrot in small chunks and blitz in the blender first. Add Oranges, Chia Seeds, Camu Camu Powder and Ice and blitz again.

The only thing left to do is enjoy!

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series.


I'm linking up with:

Day 23: Lettuce Smoothies {The Pinterest Edition}

I am kind of losing my smoothie mojo at the moment. Befor starting this 31 Days Of Smoothies I would probably have 2-3 smoothies a week, now I am having them daily and whilst I love my smoothies, I need a break sometimes.

So today is a no smoothie day here. The kids have requested pancakes for breakfast and I think I will be treating myself to some too.

So instead I thought I would share some lettuce smoothie recipes from pinterest. I have never had a lettuce smoothie but after seeing these pins I think there will be some in my future.

Source: blog.valzelyaeva.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: veganlovlie.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: foodgawker.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: greenthickies.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: veggielovinfriends.blogspot.com via Amy- on Pinterest

Source: citygurlsecrets.com via Amy- on Pinterest

This post is a part of my 31 Days of Smoothies Series.