Cooking Fresh Food - breaking the jar/can/bottle habit...

Thank you Bear. I actually had another question for you (unrelated to curing).... Now what was it....? Nup, no idea :doh:. Sorry about that.

I am after the following recipes

• Tuna pasta bake

• Macaroni cheese stove top (quick)

• Sour cream and chives pasta sauce

• Mushroom bolognaise sauce

I found this sour cream and chive chicken recipe.

Sour Cream And Chive Chicken Recipe
COATING

2 c. fresh bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cracked pepper
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/2 c. butter
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs. frying chicken cut into 8 pieces
3 med. onions, cut in half

SAUCE

1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 c. dairy sour cream
1/4 tsp. cracked pepper
1/4 Tbsp. Milk
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives

Heat oven to 350?F. Combine all coating ingredients except butter. Dip chicken in melted butter; coat with crumb mixture. Reserve remaining crumbs and butter. In 13x9" baking pan place chicken; add onions. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over onions. Drizzle with remaining butter. Bake, basting occasionally for 60-70 min. Remove chicken to platter; keep warm. To make sauce, scrape baking pan, pour pan drippings into sauce pan. Stir in flour. Cook over med. high heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly. Reduce to med. heat, stir in sour cream and pepper. Continue cooking stirring occasionally, until heated through. If needed ass milk to get desired consistency. Serve sauce over chicken and onions. Sprinkle with chives.


Just need to convert over to grams and celcius. Sounds okay.

:bump:

Just made a super easy zucchini bread (sweet) if anyone wants as zucchini are in abundance and in season:

3 cups finely grated zucchini
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
3 cups wholemeal self-raising flour (can be white if you like)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup pureed sweet potato (this is an added extra, but if you don't use it, you may need something like milk to moisten the cake)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla paste (can be vanilla essence or 1/2 vanilla bean pod)

I just chuck it all together in the mixer and let it go for a minute or two and then put into 2 bread tins that are greased. Into the preheated oven at 180 until cooked through... around 50 minutes.

Hmmm never thought of zucchini in a bread before. I like making fried zucchini sticks in breadcrumbs, I bought 2 the other day just for this purpose. I am sure I will have an abundance of zucchini in a matter of months with all the seedlings I just planted and I will give this recipe a go.

I used to make chocolate and beetroot muffins - there's loads of veggies you can used to make sweeter treats ;)

Does a beetroot and chocolate muffin count towards one's 5-a-day though? Lol

Bx

I don't see why not....

I've heard of using tomato sauce in chocolate cake (which isn't much of a vege serving is it?!), and another recipe that uses potato in chocolate cake. THat's jsut odd, but its closer to the serving of vegetable we need! Any excuse to eat choccie cake.

:sick: Not going to happen here :lol:

Little Miss you don't taste the beetroot at all, it just binds the mixture and adds moisture. Also it's boiled beetroot, not pickled! ;)

Bx

I've used beetroot to colour pink cupcakes before! & in the icing. DH said he could taste it, but the girls ate them up.

I use sweet potato in choc chip biscuits, cakes ... nearly everything sweet I do to add a moisture/creamy substance. Even our pancakes have sweet potato in them. I've used broccoli puree in our french toast before ;) syrup hides things well

You are all just scaring me now :o :tmi: :p

LMS - you've obviously not heard of the book "deliciously decceptive" - it's ways to hide vegies in fun food for kids. if you google "cauliflower conspiracy" it has similar ideas...

Yes Deceptively Delicious and the Cauliflower Conspiracy have inspired me to help get vege's into Matilda. Its worked so well, she eats more without hiding now than she ever did before.

I can't say I have heard of those. I am lucky that Noah enjoys his veggies, maybe not the asparagus in last nights dinner but he likes other green veg. It probably won't last though and I will need those resources :lol: Actually come to think of it he didn't eat the eggplant or hot chips either :S I thought it looked pretty good myself and ate nearly the whole lot. I put photos in my blog.

mumstheword, I just made a quick stovetop mac and cheese from the taste website that was delish. Here's the recipe.

Best-ever Macaroni Cheese

Preparation Time

10 minutes
Cooking Time

20 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4)

* 400g macaroni
* 1 1/2 cups (300ml) cream
* 3/4 cup (185ml) milk
* 1 1/4 cup grated tasty cheese
* 1/2 cup grated parmesan
* salt and ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup dried breadcrumbs
* extra 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese
* ground paprika, to serve

Method

1. Preheat grill to high and grease a large baking dish. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water according to packet instructions or until al dente. Drain and keep warm.
2. In the same saucepan, place the cream and milk over medium heat. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then stir in the cheeses and add a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Stir over medium-low heat until cheese has melted, then return the pasta to the pan.
3. Toss to coat the pasta in the sauce, then transfer to the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the pasta with breadcrumbs, extra cheese and a sprinkle of paprika. Place under the hot grill and cook for 2 minutes or until topping is golden and crispy.

:bump: So who is still trying to break the habit? I reckon this thread should be a sticky. And it needs a little bit of updating too...

I am after a couple of recipes....

The Maggi 'Cook in the Pot' Chow Mein Mince and Mediterranean Meatballs.

Basically, what seasonings do you put in your home made chow mein, and any suggestions on creating a similar sauce to the one for the meatballs. For the meatball sauce (for the packet), you add a tin of tomatoes, water and onion. But the sauce thickens a bit, and I would have a bit of trouble copying it. None of my recipes are very similar.

Since our budget is tighter now, I am using mince a lot more, but don't want to be limited to bolognese type things (which is as far as my mince knowledge goes without raiding my books, and they don't seem to have anything comparable). That, and the two boys love chow mein and the meatballs, so I need to make them yummy! Thank you!!!

i use mince to make stir fry with!! tastes yummy!

my bro makes an awesome mince stirfry with noodles and veg - no idea what he puts in it though! DH makes fantastic chow mein - but again, no idea what he uses! i love that the men in my life enjoy cooking!