Scone Nom Nom

Slow Sunday mornings make me happy. I love having time on the weekend to potter around the kitchen in my PJs and bake. Especially when what I am baking is scones and there is coffee brewing to enjoy them with.

I made this batch of scones while I was staying with my parents. I can’t comment on how they keep, or what they are like cooled because they disappeared pretty fast. This recipe has less butter than most and is kept moist and sweet with yoghurt and apple sauce. It is also pretty forgiving so is a great one to try if your scones usually resemble something more akin to rocks.

Sultana Scone Recipe (adapted from the Healthy Food Guide Plain Scone Recipe)

(yields 9 generous scones)

Ingredients

• 3C self-raising flour
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 1/4t salt
• 5T brown sugar
• 50g margarine
• 3/4C trim milk
• 1/4C unsweetened apple sauce
• 2T plain or vanilla low-fat yoghurt
• 1C sultanas

Method

1. Sift flour and cinnamon into a large bowl
2. Add salt and sugar, stir to combine dry to ingredients well
3. Add margarine and rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles bread crumbs
4. Make a well in the middle and add milk, apple sauce and yoghurt
5. Combine ingredients quickly with a knife, being careful not to over mix
6. Knead ball of dough lightly on surface lightly dusted with flour
7. Form dough into a square or circle and cut with a knife into even portions (I made a square and cut it into 9 scones)
8. Transfer to a baking tray lightly dusted with flour and brush the top of each scone with a little milk
9. Bake at 220 degrees C for about 14 minutes or until a golden crust has formed and your kitchen is filled by their glorious aroma

I had my scones with a little margarine and a lot of jam. Yum!

Guess who’s back… Back again..?

Sorry for my abrupt break in blogging. A trip back home for graduation and then feeling not too flash has meant that I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen at all so I enjoyed having a bit of a play this evening. After eating more convenience foods and restaurant food than usual I wasn’t that inspired to cook but I’m always so surprised how much I enjoy eating fresh, healthy food after having a break from it.

Tonight I needed to cook up some snapper I bought the other day and had been eyeing up the laksa paste in my fridge so I decided to poach the snapper. I have never poached fish before and I have no idea if this is anything close to the “correct” method but I do know that it worked, it was delicious and it was speedy. Please feel free to let me know if there is a better way of doing this!

Asian Poached Snapper Recipe

(serves 2)

Ingredients

250g snapper
1C vegetable stock
1C milk (you could replace the milk with evaporated milk or replace the milk with coconut milk and omit the coconut essence)
2 capfuls coconut essence
3TBSP laksa paste
1 spring onion
1 tsp dried capsicum flakes

Method

1. Bring vegetable stock, milk and laksa paste & coconut essence gently to the boil
2. Add fish and simmer approximately 8 minutes or until cooked through
3. Top with spring onion and capsicum flakes.

I served my fish over brown rice, broccoli and peas and spooned some of liquid the fish cooked in. Some fresh coriander and a touch of chilli would have given this meal a real boost.

Sky Rage

The novelty of air travel has completely worn off. I used to enjoy the suspense of waiting on the tarmac to take off, the excitement of leaving the earth and watching other people on the plane. Today, the whole process felt more like torture. This was not helped by the two young children who screamed the entire duration of the flight, the man beside me who hogged the armrest or that everyone around me seemed to have a cold or flu.

Thankfully, I had a good breakfast with me to help brighten my day. Airports aren’t exactly renowned for their healthy food options so I usually bring my own. This breakfast mix looks kind of like pet food but was the perfect portable meal. I prepared the mix last night so all I had to do was grab it out of the fridge as I walked out the door. I used an old cottage cheese container so I could just toss the it in the bin when I was finished, saving on precious baggage space.

This mixture was a mix of Nature’s Path Blueberry Almond Muesli, milk, chia seeds, banana, cinnamon and sultanas. Because it is left over night, the mixture is soft, creamy and very moreish. What made this really special, was the peanut butter and jam on top. Mm! I’d make this again at home even if I didn’t need a breakfast on the go.

Banana Muesli Mobile Breakfast

(serves 1)

Ingredients

• 1/2C Blueberry Almond Muesli (Any untoasted muesli would work)
• 1/2C trim milk
• 1TBSP chia seeds
• 1/2t cinnamon
• handful sultanas
• 1/2 banana, roughly mashed
• 1/2TBSP peanut butter
• 1/2TBSP jam

Method

1. Mix all ingredients apart from milk
2. Pour milk over the mixture and stir to combine well
3. Top with a dollop of peanut butter and jam
4. Refrigerate overnight

 

Mission Accomplished

I am a woman on a mission at the moment. I’m going away tomorrow and I seriously don’t like food going to waste so I’m trying to eat my way through the perishable contents of my fridge. After surveying my fridge this morning I came up with this decadent porridge recipe.

It turned out very sweet and creamy, reminding me of rice pudding. I topped my oats with greek yoghurt, passionfruit curd, toasted coconut and toasted, sliced almonds. I loved how the sweetness of the oat mixture was cut by the yoghurt and the toasted toppings broke the creaminess.

I quite often have toasted nuts on my oats. It sounds like a lot of hassle but doesn’t need to be. Just chop them up and pop them in a small microwaveable dish. Nuke them a minute at a time until they are golden and you can smell them cooking. So simple and delicious.

Creamy Tropical Oats Recipe

(serves 1)

Ingredients

1/3C rolled oats
2/3C light evaporated milk
1/3C water
1/2 banana, sliced
1t chia seeds
1 ring of tinned pineapple, chopped into bite-sized pieces (fresh would be even better)
1/2t coconut essence

1/2TBSP desiccated coconut
1/2TBSP sliced almonds
Greek yoghurt
Passionfruit Curd

Method

1. Heat oats, evaporated milk, water, banana and chia seeds in a saucepan at a moderate temperature.
2. Whisk every few minutes until the mixture is thick and creamy
3. Meanwhile, toast coconut and almonds in the microwave (see above for how to do this)
4. Add pineapple
5. When fruit is heated through, stir through coconut essence
6. Pour into a bowl and top with yoghurt, passionfruit curd, coconut and almonds.

If I make this again I think I would add sultanas in with the oats. You could also substitute the pineapple for mango.

My First Green Monster

Angela from Oh She Glows started the Green Monster Movement to spread the word about nutrient and energy packed green smoothies she makes. The smoothies have spinach/kale (which gives them their VERY green colour), banana, milk, ice and pretty much anything else you feel like throwing in like chia seeds, flax seeds, supplement powders, coconut milk etc. Apparently you can’t even taste the green stuff…

Don’t get me wrong, I love the concept of a green monster but the thing I just couldn’t get my head around was that they are GREEN. After some excessive Friday night fruit pie eating, I felt like a healthy kick after my workout this morning and the bag of spinach in the fridge was staring me down so I decided I’d finally try my first Green Monster. I used spinach, banana, oats, vanilla whey powder, milk and yogurt.

The smoothie tasted great! It was sweet and smooth. If you were colour-blind you would have no idea it had veges packed into it! Apparently if you are concerned about your iron intake you can steam the spinach first to make it easier for your body to absorb but I didn’t bother with this.

Mim’s Green Monster Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 generous handfuls of spinach
• 1/4C trim milk
• 1/4C unsweetened yogurt
• 1 very ripe banana
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1/4C rolled oats
• ice

I didn’t add ice because I was concerned my feeble excuse of a blender wouldn’t cope, but I should’ve definitely either refrigerated or frozen my banana beforehand or added ice because it was a bit warm. I can’t wait to try this smoothie again with different ingredients. I think a peanut butter-banana smoothie may work quite nicely!

Single Serve Blueberry Cobbler

I have an epic sweet tooth and love few things more than a hot, sticky pudding to end my day’s eating. However, I don’t trust myself to make entire cakes or puddings because I know I will not win the fight against my will-power so I’m always on the lookout for recipes that can be adapted to make just one serving. When I saw the recipe for Blueberry Cobbler on food.com I knew I had to make it my own!

Single Serve Blueberry Cobbler Recipe

(serves 2 not-so-hungry people or one hungry eater)

Ingredients

Filling

• 3/4C blueberries
• 1/8C sugar
• 1tsp arrowroot powder (I’m pretty sure cornflour or normal flour would work also)
• 1 tsp margarine or butter
• 1TBSP water
• 1TBSP lemon juice

Topping:

• 1/4C flour (could use white, whole-wheat, or a blend of the both flours)
• 1/2TBSP sugar
• 2/3tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1TBSP margarine or butter
• 1TBSP skim milk
• 1/4 egg (I just stole some egg mix from the frittata I was making)
• 1/3tsp almond essence (could substitute vanilla essence)

Extras (optional but delicious)

• 1TBSP sliced almonds
• 1t demerara sugar (brown sugar would work fine but I used organic demerara sugar from Edible Planet)

Method

1.Preheat oven
2. Combine filling ingredients in a microwave safe dish and mix until the mixture is boiling and thickened, stirring every minute or so. This took about 5 minutes in my microwave.
3. Mix together dry ingredients in a small bowl with a fork until well combine.
4. Melt margarine or butter and mix with wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
5. Mix wet and dry ingredients until doughy.
6. Spoon dough over blueberry filling in blobs
7. Sprinkle extras on top
8. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the extras are caramelised and the topping is cooked through and fluffy.

I served this dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was fantastic.