I love cooking a roast chicken – or any roast for that matter – especially with homemade gravy. I get a little perplexed that a lot of people my age are completely ignorant when it comes to proper gravy. Gravox or powdered gravy isn’t gravy. It’s gross. Plus, after you’ve put in hours of care to make the perfect roast why wouldn’t you put all those delicious pan juices to good use?! I think a roast chicken is one of the easiest things in the world to make, and this method ensures that the meat stays super tender and juicy every single time. Yes, I’ve cooked probably close to a hundred chickens like this (or so it feels) and I’ve never had one turn out anything but perfect. So all you young people who can’t make gravy – here is your chance. It’s easy. It’s delicious. You’ll never eat any other kind of gravy other than home made again. Promise!

I often cook this recipe on a weekend and can get about 8 portions from a whole chicken. I usually freeze the leftover shredded meat in single-serve portions in zip-lock bags…this way I have shredded roast chicken on hand for other recipes or leftovers.

Ingredients:

Roast chicken:

– 1 large raw chicken (about 2kg)

– 1 cup chicken stock

– 2 medium brown onions

– Olive oil

– Salt & pepper to taste

– 8 sprigs of rosemary

– 4 – 5 cloves garlic

– vegetables to serve

Gravy:

2 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp butter or fat skimmed off top of roasting juices

Roasting juices

Hot water

Method:

Chicken:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Wash chicken in cold water (to remove any juices/bits that stick in package). Make sure you thoroughly wash the inside cavity.

3. Pat down with paper towel to dry and stuff the inside cavity with rosemary and garlic.

4. Chop onions into 1cm thick slabs and lay in a roasting dish.

5. Rub whole bird with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

6. Lay chicken BREAST SIDE DOWN on the layer of onions and pour in the chicken stock.

7. Place roasting dish in oven and cook for required time, turning the chicken over halfway through – so the chicken is now the right way up. (Cooking time – I allow 30 mins/500g – seems to work out every time as long as you allow enough resting time once cooked).

8. Once chicken is cooked remove from tray and rest BREAST SIDE DOWN – this allows all the juices to run into the breast, making it super moist and juicy – and covered in foil. Rest for approximately half an hour prior to serving.

Gravy

9. Tip all roasting tray juices into a tall mug/bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. You’ll be able to see all the fat sitting on top of the juices. Skim fat off top and discard (I usually place some paper towel into a bowl and tip the fat in there and then put in bin – much better than tipping it down the sink!).

10. Heat pan on stove top and add butter/roasting fat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.

11. Add remaining roasting juices to flour mix and whisk until smooth. Cook on low for 5-8 minutes, adding water until you get the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve – serve roasted chicken with preferred vegetables and top with gravy.

I love rolled oats…I have them for breakfast every morning and use them regularly in my baking. I’ll sometimes even cook up porridge for dessert in winter time…it’s warm, comforting and way healthier than pudding or cake. Having them cooked/prepared the same way every day can get a little boring though, so finding new ways of using oats is always awesome. I found a recipe for an apple peanut butter oat slice and decided to alter the recipe slightly and add some extra ingredients. (The original recipe is here: http://happyhealthymama.com/2012/11/apple-peanut-butter-snack-bars.html )

These are packed full of both fresh and dried fruit, and are moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I think you could vary the recipe in many ways and they would still turn out pretty well. The original recipe cooked them in a lamington tin and then cut up once cooked – I think making them in muffin tins is way easier, and they’re a little crumbly, so this seems to hold them together well. They’re super easy to mix up and don’t take long to cook. I made a batch of 12 and I’ve already eaten 2, so I don’t think they’ll last long!!

Healthy fruit & oat muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup dried fruit (I used sultanas, dried cranberries and diced dried apricots)

1 apple, cored and grated (leave the skin on!)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter (or any nut butter of choice)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

2. Add oats, dried fruit, grated apple, cinnamon and vanilla to a large mixing bowl.

3. Heat the peanut butter and honey in the microwave for 40 seconds and add to oat mix. Add banana and egg and stir until combined. Spoon mixture into muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops and edges are golden brown. Cool for half an hour before running a butter knife around the edge of each muffin to remove from tin.

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Can be frozen and reheated in the microwave.

Serves 12.

You could always use less oats and substitute other ingredients like desiccated/shredded coconut, quinoa (cooked or puffed), chopped nuts, sunflower seeds etc or add LSA mix, flaxseed or chia seeds.

You can add whatever dried fruit you like – it would be delicious with dates, figs, prunes, currents, raisins or dried apple. I think you could also use other fruits in this dish – try pear instead of the apple, add cherries, chopped peach, apricot or plum. You could always add some extra antioxidants by adding dark chocolate chips…because antioxidants are important!!

Get experimental – there are a million possibilities – just have a go!

Let me know if you make these and any variations you try – I’l be interested to see what other people come up with! 🙂

I’m one of those people who starts to think about what I’m going to have for dinner at breakfast time. I drove my mother mad when I was a young kid, asking her at breakfast before school every morning what we were having for dinner. Cooking isn’t my mum’s favourite thing to do – far from it in fact…so needless to say I caused a whole lot of undue stress every morning with this simple question.

So yesterday I was racking my brain all day with what ingredients I had available in the fridge/cupboard, and what I was going to do with them. I’d seen several recipes for zucchini boats on Pinterest – so decided to experiment a little bit and make my own version. I had only intended on eating one half of my zucchini and save the other half for lunch the next day – but I couldn’t not eat it – it was truly that delicious. This was super easy to cook, minimal effort, cheap ingredients, and most importantly was amazingly tasty. Try it – you won’t regret it!!

Ingredients:

– 2 medium zucchini

– 1 x 400g tin lentils (I used brown lentils)

-1 medium brown onion, diced

– 1 large carrot, grated

– 5 cloves garlic, chopped finely

– 1 small hot chilli – seeds removed, chopped finely

– 2 tbsp tomato paste

– 1 tbsp olive oil

– 1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes

-1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, coriander seeds, turmeric and smoked paprika

– salt and pepper to taste

– 1/2 cup tasty cheese (use hummus if you are making the vegan version)

– sour cream and fresh lime wedges to serve (leave out sour cream if vegan)
Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Add olive oil to a saucepan and cook onion until soft. Add garlic, chilli, spices and salt & pepper and cook until aromatic. Add carrot and lentils and cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and cook for another minute. Add diced tomatoes and cook mixture for 10 minutes.

3. Cut zucchini in half lengthways and scoop out seeds and some flesh to make ‘boats’. Place boats onto a baking tray and fill with lentil taco mix. Top with cheese (or hummus for vegan version) and cook in the oven for about half an hour or until the cheese is melted and zucchini is tender.

4. Serve with a wedge of fresh lime and dollop of sour cream.

Serves 4.

Optional extras:

You could also add guacamole or a fresh salsa to serve with this.

Guacamole:

Mash 1 avocado, juice of half a lime, 1/2 clove of garlic – finely chopped, a sprinkle of cayenne pepper or chilli powder, and salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa:

Mix 1 small cucumber – diced, 2 medium tomatoes – diced, 1/4 red onion or 3 spring onions – diced, 1 tbsp olive oil, juice 1/2 lime and salt and pepper to taste.

I love warm comfort food and in winter after dinner I usually want something hearty, a little bit sweet, and healthy for dessert. This recipe was concocted one evening when I realised I didn’t have anything to put on top of my apple crumble. Don’t get me wrong – you can eat it by itself and it’s delicious, but I like to have a custard, cream or ice-cream on top to add a bit of decadence. In my state of panic once I realised I had none of the above options, I decided to make a coconut milk custard (because I didn’t have any eggs, custard powder or milk to make a regular custard) to go with my dessert…and it was AMAZING!!! Super easy, can be made in the microwave – and best of all it’s delicious AND healthy…not to mention gluten and dairy free!!

Apple crumble:

Ingredients:

3 medium granny smith apples – peeled, cored and diced

3 tbsp sultanas

2 tbsp dark brown sugar (could substitute stevia, maple, agave, honey etc)

3 tbsp water

2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup flour (gluten free if required. Can use wholemeal flour too!)

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup flaked almonds

3 tbsp coconut oil (if you’re not vegan and too worried about calories use normal butter!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix apples, 1 tbsp sugar, water, 1 tsp cinnamon and sultanas in a microwave/oven safe dish (I do this whole crumble recipe in 1 dish to save on washing up later). Cover with lid and microwave on HIGH for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in a separate bowl rubflour and oil/butter together with your fingertips until you get the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add coconut, almonds and remaining sugar and cinnamon and mix to combine. Once apples are cooked sprinkle crumble mix on top and bake for 20 minutes or until top is golden brown and crunchy.

Coconut custard:

Ingredients:

1 400g tin coconut milk

2 tsp cornflour

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp dark brown sugar (or any other sweetener substitute)

Method:

Put can of coconut milk in freezer for half an hour (this separates the coconut water from the milk) and then tip the creamy milk into a bowl, leaving the watery part out. Add cornflour to water and mix until dissolved. Pour the flour/water mix into creamy coconut milk and add sweetener. Microwave on HIGH for 2-3 minutes (depending on the wattage of your microwave) stirring/whisking every 30-40 seconds. The mix should thicken and be the consistency of a pouring custard.

Serve with apple crumble (or anything else that requires custard!) and enjoy!

Serves 4.

The finished product – so yum!

As posted earlier, I got super busy on the weekend and made a heap of marinated meats for dinners. This means that I can go to the freezer and know that there is a tasty meal just waiting to be cooked with minimum effort required.

I made 3 different marinades which are amazing on the usual meats like chicken, pork, beef, lamb – but could also be used on seafood, tofu or vegetables too. Get creative and imaginative – it’s all about trying to infuse as much flavour as possible into the food!

Chinese 5 spice marinade:

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 thumb-size piece ginger, finely chopped

1 hot chilli, finely chopped

4 tbsp tomato sauce/ketchup

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

2 tbsp dry sherry, Chinese cooking wine (optional)

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Thai satay marinade/sauce:

This can be used as a marinade but also as a sauce for satay dishes – so make lots as it freezes well.

Ingredients:

1/2 tin coconut milk

2 tbsp fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

1 hot chilli

3 cloves garlic

1 thumb-size piece ginger

1 thumb-size piece galangal (I couldn’t get fresh galangal but found a pickled version at my local Asian Grocer)

Stems and roots of 1 bunch coriander/cilantro (save the leaves to add to soup)

2 tbsp palm or brown sugar

Method:

Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and blitz until smooth.

Italian Herb marinade:

Ingredients:

1/2 bunch fresh basil

1/4 bunch fresh parsley

3 cloves garlic

3 tbsp parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Method:

Place all ingredients into a blender/food processor and blitz until combined.

This soup recipe was a combination of several recipes I’d seen in the past and I decided that it would make for a perfect lunch soup for my work days. Living in freezing, FREEZING cold Canberra means that soups are an essential part of the winter diet – and this one is packed full of protein, complex carbs and veggies, both filling, nutritious and best of all, DELICIOUS! This soup is best served with a big piece of crusty bread. If you have the time it’s definitely worth making the No-Knead bread recipe I have posted – goes perfectly with soup!

Ingredients:

1 x 400g tin brown lentils, drained

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained

2 x 400g tins coconut milk (light version is fine to use)

1 large brown onion, finely diced

1 large carrot, finely diced

1 large stalk celery, finely diced

1 medium red pepper/capsicum, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large thumb-size piece ginger, finely chopped

2 hot chillies (take out seeds if you don’t want it so spicy)

4 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground tumeric

1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

Salt & pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup tomato paste

6 cups water

2 teaspoons chicken stock powder (vegan)

1 lime

Fresh coriander/cilantro

Natural or greek yoghurt

Method:

In a large pot put olive oil, onion, carrot, celery and capsicum and cook until softened. Add garlic, ginger, chilies, spices and tomato paste and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. (It’s really important to cook off your spices and tomato paste – if you don’t you can end up with a “raw” taste in your soup.) Add lentils, chickpeas, coconut milk, water, stock and salt & pepper to pot and bring to a simmer.

Cook on a low temperature for 15-20 minutes until vegetables and chickpeas are soft. Add the juice of half a lime to the soup once finished cooking.

Serve soup with a big dollop of natural/greek yoghurt, a sprinkle of fresh coriander/cilantro leaves, a wedge of fresh lime and some crusty bread (homemade is best!).

Serves: 10

Can be frozen.

For a while now I’ve been making my own bread. A lot of people remark at how difficult it is and how dedicated I am to cooking…but that’s not necessarily true. This bread recipe is super easy, requires no kneading, and can be altered to change the flavours. So far I’ve cooked a few wholemeal molasses loaves as well as a caramelised onion, spinach and parmesan loaf – all of which have turned out amazing! I accidentally discovered the secret to getting this bread so light and fluffy on the weekend, and that was because I left my dough to rise the second time around longer than usual…the result?! Fluffy, light and airy bread with a delicious crunchy crust. At a glance it might seem that this bread-making process is complicated and time consuming, but once you’re organised it’s easy and can fit into a daily or weekly routine. This isn’t one of those “Oh I have 10 minutes spare time, I’ll whip up a loaf of bread” recipe – you need to plan ahead – but trust me, totally worth the effort! (original recipe from: http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/amazing-no-knead-bread-step-by-step-recipe/)

Ingredients:

6 cups plain flour (I use half white/half wholemeal)

1/2 teaspoon dry yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 2/3 cup water

2-3 tablespoons molasses (optional)

Method:

Put all dry ingredients in bowl (and molasses if using it) and slowly add water to combine. The mix should be quite wet, so if the dough is too dry add a little more water (be careful –  a little goes a long way).

Cover bowl with cling wrap and leave on kitchen bench for 12-18 hours to rise.

Once risen, pour dough onto lightly floured bench-top and tuck edges underneath so you create a smooth ball on top with gnarly bits underneath. Place back into bowl to rest for a further 2 hours (dough should almost fill bowl again once risen second time around).

Preheat oven to maximum temperature; half an hour before cooking time place a cast iron pot with lid into oven to pre-heat. Once pot is hot, tip bowl of dough into pot smooth side down so the gnarly bits are now on the top of the loaf. Put lid on pot and return to oven to cook for 1 hour. After 1 hour of cooking time remove the lid and return to oven for a further 10 minutes.

Wait until bread is cooled completely before cutting. Bread is best if left until the day after cooking to cut and eat. I keep my bread in the cast iron pot with the lid on, as this keeps the bread from going soggy or drying out. Delicious with sweet or savoury toppings…or my favourite – toasted with butter…YUM!

Alternate versions:

Why not add some dried fruit to your molasses dough base to make a delicious fruit loaf?

Add 1 cup of chopped black olives and a couple of stems of chopped rosemary for a yummy savoury loaf.

Add 1/2 cup caramelised onions, 1/2 cup wilted spinach & 1/4 cup parmesan cheese for another savoury version.

 

I found a recipe on Pinterest the other day for a no-bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal slice (original recipe here: http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/best-recipe-ive-ever-messed-up.html)  that looked absolutely delicious. I decided to give it a try on the weekend, but of course had to add my own spin to the original recipe. This is quick and easy to make, and the taste is simply amazing…you won’t be able to stop at one bar that’s for sure!

 

Ingredients:

– 1/2 cup coconut oil

– 200g block 70% cocoa chocolate, broken into pieces

– 1 cup crunchy peanut butter

– 2/3 cup raw honey

– 2 cups rolled oats (use puffed rice or quinoa here if you want to make a gluten free version)

– 1 cup dried fruit – I used dried apricots, dates, craisins and sultanas

– Desiccated coconut to sprinkle on top

 

– Place coconut oil, peanut butter and honey in a bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Add in broken chocolate pieces and microwave for a further minute. Take out mixture and stir – the chocolate should be melted and all ingredients should be incorporated. Add dried fruit and oats to chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Press mixture into a greased and lined lamington tray, sprinkle with desiccated coconut, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Remove slice from pan and cut into bars (my tray made 24 pieces of slice – cut 6 x 4). Keep slice in airtight container in fridge for up to a week.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on a bit of a health kick at the moment and am thoroughly enjoying whipping up delicious food that is super tasty and also nutritionally amazing. This next recipe doesn’t take long to cook start to finish, and I have listed the instructions in order of cooking, so you can have this meal on the plate in under 1 hour start to finish (once you put your veggies on to roast the rest of the meal is super fast). Make sure you make plenty because it’s great for lunch the following day.

Spicy Tomato Lentils with  vegetables and hummus

Ingredients:

Lentils: 1 tin brown lentils, 1 tin crushed or diced tomatoes, 1 medium brown onion – finely diced, 3 cloves garlic – crushed, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), 1/2 tsp paprika (sweet or smokey depending on your taste), 1/4 tsp dried chilli (you could add fresh, 1 small birds-eye chili minus the seeds), 1 stock cube (vegetable), Salt and pepper, Fresh herbs ( I used parsley and basil)

Vegetables for roasting – I used cauliflower and carrot (you could use beetroot, eggplant, capsicum, zucchini, potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli – any vegetable that is delicious roasted), 1/2 tsp paprika (sweet or smokey depending on taste), 1 tbsp EVOO, salt and pepper.

Washed baby spinach leaves and hummus (recipe on another post) to serve.

1. Cut up vegetables for roasting into bite-sized pieces. Put into a baking dish along with the EVOO, paprika, slat and pepper and toss to coat. Roast for approximately 40 – 50 minutes @ 180°C.

2. Add 1 tbsp of EVOO to a saucepan, add diced onion and cook until soft. Add crushed garlic, paprika and chili and cook until spices are aromatic. Add drained tin of lentils to pan and stir to coat in spiced onion mix. Add the tin of tomatoes and the crushed stock cube to the pot. Simmer lentils for approximately 8-10 minutes and then turn off heat. Add chopped herbs to pot right before serving (this ensures that your herbs don’t go limp and overcook).

3. When vegetables are suitably roasted it’s time to assemble. Cover your serving dish with a layer of baby spinach. Top with a huge scoop of tomato lentils and then stack on a heap of roasted veg. Finish the dish with a big dollop of hummus on top.