Soooo how is everyone going with this? Anyone start this year with breaking the jar habit?
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Soooo how is everyone going with this? Anyone start this year with breaking the jar habit?
We are doing OK with it. Some nights I really cant be bothered, but other nights I really enjoy it. While DH is away it is harder to spend the time in the kitchen, but we have been eating fairly well. The dog doesnt get packet crap so why should we? ;)
we've been doing really well with this. had HEAPS of fresh home made stuff frozen in meals in the freezer (from spag sauces down to vegie soups with fresh stock) - then the bloody fires hit and we lost everything from the power being out so long. we've got fresh veg coming in daily, so we're slowly going to build it back up, but to get stuff in the freezer in a hurry, we'll have to resort back to jars off and on for a while
DH has been fantastic at working with me to get to this point though. we were talking about making spag bol last week before going away, and that we needed jars to make it - and neither of us could remember if we even HAD jars in the cupboard....
we've been making a very tasty base sauce with tomatos (fresh), onion, bit of garlic (minimal as i've been suffering reflux with the ms), zucchini (they're going nuts at the moment) and multicolored capsicum. to make it go further we just add more tomato - makes a fantastic chunky sauce on it's own over pasta (or with steak yummmm!) or can be blended down to make a smooth sauce for using in a spag bol with extra added veg. IF we dont' have quite enough of this to go through the meat we're cooking up (we usually cook a kilo of mince at a time) we will add a jar of plain spag sauce just to make sure it's not dry - but we've only done that once lately...
have started coming up with our own curries as well - can't get them to come out the same twice in a row, but always delish!
spent yesterday blanching and freezing veg from our garden too...
Been doing so much better starting with Christmas, having a productive veggie garden helps so much. Basically, it is there so we use it the best we can, which sometimes is not easy as the garden is only new and there is a bit of mismatch with what comes through. Made a nice pea and ham soup with the leftover ham leg from Christmas that we froze down for later use.
Made a pav for Australia day, so we decided to make a nice mayo with the egg yolks. Both were a hit with everyone. Making more effort to make biscuits and cakes for the family (even though I am trying not to eat food like that myself). Sometimes I am thwarted by my pantry not having an ingredient, but that is slowly changing. Making my own rissoles more often now, but I do admit for grabbing chicken jumbos from Lenards to keep in the freezer, will need to experiment with my own version.
Just need to get the sausage parts for the Kitchenaid and we will have a go a our own sausages ;)
BG - what a pain losing all that food in the freezer
yeah something of a PITA seeing we bought over $500 worth of meat just before Christmas, about $200 of veg from the markets same day, spent the next two days cooking and completely filled the freezer with meals:
the big dog is loving it now though - he is getting all the meals. it was all frozen when we got home, but pwer had been out on 40degree+ days so it's just not worth the risk...
ohhhh Astrid!! That's exciting about home-made sausages!!!!
I was thinking (as DH made the 5 minute chocolate cake for visitors..) about how we have few packaged things except for lunches for M at school. I have yet to get enough homemade things for M for lunch. One day a week she takes hummous (homemade) and carrot sticks and rice cakes with her sandwich. And another day is vege muffins with her sandwich, but still she needs more snacks and stuff.... being dairy free is difficult for snacks and trying to not use package ingredients.
I find that homemade biscuits are eaten so quickly. I think next time I might need to bake up a couple batches (and hide one) so there is something for the end of the week.
DH had everyone jealous at work one day as he rocked up with silverside, parsley sauce and veg for lunch. Sauce was homemade of course with our own parsely ;)
Astrid I actually make a double batch and freeze half the dough for my biscuits for later! That way I don't have to make them twice. I have choc chip cookie dough in the freezer as well as the biscuit part of jam drops for later....
It's great to see people getting into this - keep up the good work...
This was my New Year's Eve effort this year - Click here for pictures
Delish Bear :) Nothing better than a spit ;) We were actually talking about this a couple of weeks ago!
Bit of a warning though who might be vegetarian or have an aversion to cooking animals ;)
Awesome work, next time send me an invite :p
Fair point - if you are squeamish then I'd give the link a miss...
The comical thing was the preparation - the pig had been in the deep freeze in my lockup for a couple of months, so the night before I had several interesting learnings:-
1. It is much easier to put a freshly killed pig into the freezer than it is to extract a frozen pig that has molded to the shape of the freezer.
2. When transporting a frozen pig across town, think twice before sitting it in the passenger seat of the car and putting a seatbelt on it....think a third time before driving past an active RBT site!
3. How the f*&*( do you thaw a 55kg lump of pork overnight?
:-)
I'm making my own marmalade at the moment. Damn that Bear, I never even used to eat marmalade and now he has me making it myself! :doh:
Not in the bathtub, unless you're angling for a divorce! LOL:
3. How the f*&*( do you thaw a 55kg lump of pork overnight?
A friend of mine had exactly the same problem, except that he'd pulled up at the lights next to a police car. He'd tried to make the pig incognito by putting sunglasses on it, but it didn't work for some strange reason... :think::
PMSL Suse and Bear!!! I am sure they would just have a bit of a laugh about it, they see worse!!
Bear I SSOOOO Hope you didn't put it in the bathtub!! Pixie I would be as peeved as you!!, It does look like a good night though, and I bet it tasted great!!
ooh spit - nice one Bear. We have a couple goats out back that are looking rather nice, just need to find a spit. For our Viking feasts we would always do a lamb on a spit. Amazing the number of people at the Vic Markets who freaked out at a whole lamb being carried to the car, some people must be very disconnected to where their cut up meat comes from.
The pig didn't seem to bother people that much, but a few of the neighbours did get a bit funny about the Xmas geese - Don't click if squeamish
I will forever bookmark those photos to try and remind myself how gross meat is. I was vegetarian but for some reason started eating meat again, lets see if the photos can change me back. :lol:
Slowly starting to get back into the swing of cooking fresh again, I didn't realise how long it would take to get the energy after giving birth. I have delegated a night of cooking a week to Juz, he is an expert at the Old El Paso kits :lol: I plan the meals for the next fortnight which makes things so much easier as I can get the kitchen set up the night before for things like perogies or a slow cooker meal. So hopefully I can start poking my head in here more often now.
Tonight is chicken strips with curried rice, not very fresh cooking considering aside from the chicken and rice the only other ingredients are cornflakes, egg and spices from a jar. I am making perogies on Thursday so that is fresh food ;)
would love some recipes for fresh food. I have an abundance of flour atm...so flour recipes would be good?
I have been making something called "monkey bread" lately. Basically you put all the normal loaf ingredients into a bread maker, with a bit of garlic.
Put it onto dough setting, take it out, divide the dough into small balls, dip in melted butter mixed with garlic and herbs, then place in a kugelhopf(sp). (you know the tins with a hole in the middle?)
let it rise again, then bake for 20 mins. All the butter seeps through, and it is amazing. Serve with dinner, and all the small pieces get picked off with ease.
Danni - that sounds fabulous!!! If you are trying to use up flour what about pasta, pikelets, fritters etc??
Pasta you can mix in your breadmaker and then roll out yourself or put through a roller. I have one that attaches to the bench but I also have one which attaches to the front of the Kitchenaid which is pretty good :D You can then make lasagna, fettucini, ravioli, canneloni and more with the pasta. If you have the extra bits you can also make macaroni and spaghetti too.
Fritters are basically savoury pikelets. You can add meat and vegetables of your choice and they are great finger food for the kids.
:bump: seeing as we've been talking about getting the food bill down...
I made some BBQ sauce today, I thought I'd share my recipe.
2 tins chopped tomato
1 brown onion chopped
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup whorstershire(sp?) sauce (I'm too lazy to get up & read the label....)
1 tbsp hot english mustard (I used French mustard because I didn't have the hot english)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chilli powder or 1/2 small chilli chopped and deseeded if you don't want it too hot
salt & pepper
Pop the olive oil and the onion in a large pot on high and stir for 2-3 minutes or until the onion starts to go slightly opaque. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Than turn down to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce thickens nicely. Cool to room temperature. I then put mine through the blender or the bar mix to get the obvious chunks out but that is only because our children hate chunks.... when its for adults I leave it chunky and I pop it into glass jars to share around.
This makes heaps, I often will use half for a BBQ chicken skewer night... and then jar some for later. Around Christmas I sometimes will buy up on jars and give this with edible presents....
That sounds ymmu Christy, will have to make a note of that one.
We made a relish/chutney last week. We had a heap of cucumbers and tomatos that need using. Will let it sit for a bit before trying it. A neighbour dropped around some zucchini relish on the weekend as they had a glut of zucchinis.
It is quite interesting being creative with what veg we have growing, makes a nice change to a lot of the meals we were eating. Certainly helps to stop us from grabbing takeaway or some easy food from the supermarket as we don't want to waste what we have at home.
One of my favourite and really really simple salads is a cucumber salad with yoghurt & dill sauce.
Can't give you quantities as I jsut chuck things together to taste:
Thinly sliced European Cucumber (the long skinny ones, or Lebanese would work, too). A mandoline type slicer is really handy for that.
Dressing:
plain yoghurt (I use mostly greek style yoghurt)
salt
freshly crushed garlic
chopped dill (generous)
a dash of red wine vinegar (depending on how acidic your yoghurt is)
a little olive oil
combine all in a bowl with a small whisk or fork until creamy
Mix with the cucumber and let stand in the frisdge for 1/2 hour to let the flavours develop
This is really refreshing and goes well with greek dishes or comfort foods like lamb stew. And oh so simple.
Sasa
:bump:
How is everyone going??
I made a capsicum and tomato sauce the other week. It turned out very nice, expect DH though I should have added some chilli. Well I would have, but our chillies are not quite ready yet. We had been inundated with tomatoes and it was a nice way to use them up. We already had some jars of pasta sauce made and have just started to use them. They are really quite yummy.
Think it has been ages since I have bought biscuits for the house (have bought the odd packet if I have had to go somewhere last minute). Been baking cakes as well. For lunches rather than resorting to tins of spaghetti for the girls I have been whipping up veggie piklets with our home grown veg. The girls seem to really love them.
I have been feeling so much better for home grown veg and homemade food. Whilst it is not all time, it is most of the time. I tend to be snacking less and really looking forward to some of the dinners we have been having lately. Silverside with homegrown cabbage is quite good.
would love some advice on what to do with the last stash of cherry tomatoes we have. I had to pull them off the vine still green. They have been sitting in the window sill for about 4 weeks and som hav an orange tinge, and thats about it. Some have even gone rotten so I better do something with them quickly
If I cook them, will they taste like normal tomatoes?
Mabello - try putting the in a bag with a banana...It may help them ripen a little, may not at this stage.
You could try making a green tomato chutney from them...
:bump:
Just waiting for our veggie patch to take off. We are getting lettuce at the moment, but not much else. Ooh and we now have chickens! So I am always looking at ways to use eggs.
I admit to still have the odd jar of ready made stuff on the shelf, it has come in handy for back-ups, but that should reduce as we will have a heap more homegrown food that will require preserving in some way.
It is intersting with the baking, I noticed that my eldest does not ask to buy biscuits from the supermarket, but she does put in requests for what I am to bake next.
Vege frittata is always a good way of getting rid of eggs!!! If you have a friend who is crafty and does stuff you want, you can always exchange eggs for stuff :D I do that with a friend who helps me with sewing stuff... I give her 12 eggs a month.
Been hoping to find someone willing to buy the excess, but most people have their own chooks here, or know someone who they already get them off. So I sometimes give them away. I find that giving away any of our excess produce often means something else will come our way later on ;)
Ways to use eggs:
Make your own custard - yummy
Spinach & Sheepsmilk Feta Filo pastry Pie
Quiche of course
Mayo
You can always add an egg yolk to Semolina cooked in milk for breakfast
Eggwhites can be beaten with a little water and added in a thin stream to soup (thinking Chicken & Sweet corn Soup)
I love adding hard boiled egg to potato salad
Sorry, can't really think of too much right now
Farmer's Breakfast: Fry off all the veges that you need to get rid off in a pan, some salt and pepper, maybe some herbs, then crack a few eggs over it and stir. it's easy, cheap and very yummy. You can add some bacon pieces for some extra ooomph.
You can add chopped omelette to stir-frys
Sorry, you have probably thought of all of those things already...
I often do that one for lunch :) Thanks for the suggestions. I do love a home mayo.:
I was looking for this thread the other day, and I couldn't find it! Thanks for bumping it!
Home-made chicken stock using the left-over chicken carcass when I buy a cooked chook on the w'end. I list a lot of herbs etc, but just use what you have in your pantry, you don't need to go and buy anything for this. If you don't have the vegies, pop something else in or leave them out.
I do this in the slow cooker on low overnight & then freeze in the morning.
Chicken carcass
1 or 2 large onions
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1/2 a head of garlic
3 bay leaves
1 whole chilli
parsely
mixed herbs
a sprinkle of whole peppercorns
top up with water
Basically rough chop everything, don't be fancy or fussy, place on the bottom of slow cooker, pop chicken carcass on top, fill up with water and leave on low overnight.
In the morning, use a soup ladle to ladle the stock out, put it through a seive into a jug and then pour the liqid into your containers for freezing. I use those fruit plastic containers with the screw top lids.
Makes about 3 litres and costs next to nothing - a couple of $ max. And saves buying stock at around $3 a litre for the Campells stuff or using stock cubes which aren't really that great.
If anyone has a recipe for beef stock, I'd like that too.
Beef stock: just replace the chicken carcass with meaty beef bones and marrow bones. I also like to use beef osso bucco. The meat can be eaten with some horseradish and boiled/steamed vegies.
Do you have to roast the beef bones first?
You don't have to roast the bones, but it will give a darker, richer flavour - same goes for chicken, if you fry the chicken off to get a nice dark amber colour before deglazing the pan.
Thanks! I'll give it a go! :D
I have a recipe for butter chicken, if it hasn't been done already
(sorry, not sure on exact amounts... but don't stress, you can't really go wrong)
Ingredients:
~500g Chicken breast, cut into pieces
Tandoori seasoning
Small pot of natural yogurt
Hunk of butter (errr... maybe 50g)
1/2 ts garlic (crushed or chopped)
1/2 ts ginger (crushed or chopped)
1/2 poddle of tomato paste (or more if you want it more tomatoey)
~100-150 mL cream
1/4 ts chilli powder
1/2 ts garam masala
Marinate chicken in tandoori & yogurt (overnight or a least a few hours).
Cook chicken (fry pan will do).
Melt butter, cook in garlic & ginger, then stir through tomato paste. Add cream, and spices.
Add chicken (and yogurty stuff it cooked in) to sauce.
Cook through.
Eat!
I never roast the bones but it can't hurt
hi girls, made my own butter chicken tonight, using spices, tinned tomatoes and cream. none of this Pataks/Sharwood stuff. I work with indians and they said that stuff is not real indian. so I found a few recipes. I must say the dont call it 'butter' for nothing - it called for 10 Tablespoons of butter!!!