Back to School Muffins....

Well some of you may already know and make this recipe BUT I thought it would be good to share as school goes back...


Looks like a chocolate muffin only healthy!
Tastes like a brownie... lasts for a week... if you don't eat them all!

Oh and they freeze....

Zucchini Choc Muffins

Ingredients: 200g butter

2 eggs
1 to 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups good quality coco
1 cup almond meal
2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup of milk

grated 3 medium carrots, 1 small beetroot, 1 small zucchini, 1 granny smith apple = about 2 cups of grated veg/fruit... the finer the less noticeable the veg is in the end result, peeling also aids smooth end product

1 small handful of walnut pieces or almonds ~ omit if nut free


you can sub in another cup of flour for the almond meal....


soy milk and grapeseed oil and make dairy free also


and more honey and more apple to ditch the sugar...

What I love about these muffins is that they are jam packed with goodness... and my kids don't feel like health freaks taking them to school

Method:

• heat your oven to 200c
• in a large mix bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• add eggs one at a time and combine
• add coco and combine
• add milk, almond meal, flour, oil and honey and combine
• fold through grated veg/fruit mix and walnuts
• spoon mixture into muffin cases or muffin tray and bake for 20 - 30 mins until brown op top and skewer passes through clean

batter....

try not to eat too many and save some for school lunches

~ the oil content keeps the muffins moist for a week if kept in an air tight container in the fridge

Enjoy!!!

Yours...

Honey Lady

ps apologies for the short posts..as soon as school is back we will ALL have a bit more time....

makes 24 muffins

Moroccan Beef Salad ~ A 20 minute wonder....

This picture is actually the left overs...

The recipes that I love and the ones that I get the most feedback on are those that look and taste like you have been in the kitchen for hours but really only take 20mins!

I often come in from work at 6pm and have children and self to feed... we are all starving hungry. Nutrition and taste are really important to me and this dish ticks all those boxes...quick, easy, healthy and delicious!

For this you will need....
4 minute steaks
olive oil for frying
100g feta - crumbly kind
1 tablespoon of ras el hanout
1 cup couc cous
2 cups of water
2 carrots
2 small spanish onions
2 big handfuls of mixed green leaf
preserved lemon, mint and flat leaf parsley to garnish...

*ras el hanout is the kings mix and is such an essential pantry item... you can use cinnamon and turmeric but the best is with ras el hanout....


To make...

I always want to write here... pour a glass of wine... which is usually how I start cooking! This is optional...

Put your kettle on and frypan on medium heat... small amount of olive oil in the pan and place in  2 of your minute steaks...sprinkle on half the ras el hanout and fry off minute each side...

Place your next 2 steaks in  and sprinkle on remaining ras el hanout. Fry off your steaks.

Add in a cup of water and de glaze your pan... this means disolve the juices that are on the base of pan...

Take out your steaks...

Mandolin slice your carrots and onions and place in pan. Chop up your tomatoes and add. Cook down for 5 minutes...

While this is happening pour a cup of boiling water over a cup of cous cous and cover... cous cous is SO easy folks... get to love it!

 The vegetable and tomato will break down really fast...

Slice up your beef and stir through your carrot mix...

Fluff up your cous cous with a fork and then place in a large serving bowl... I have this lovely moroccan serving bowl but any large flat based dish will do...

 Then pile on your carrot meat mix like so~


And then place on your salad greens....

Crumble on your feta and coarse chop your herbs and preserved lemon...

And that is it... serve and EAT!!!!!

This meal is so good the next day for lunch eaten cold.... that is if there is any left!!!

Enjoy

yours,

Honey Lady

Polenta Crusted Schnitzel with Greek Salad

I love polenta as it is so versitle ~ this recipe is a Honey Lady creation that is becoming a fave on our dinner...

Polenta is ground corn and is an excellent gluten free alternative... I do a fried polenta and roast vegetable stack which is a dish that I will do for special friends...

And Greek Salad... I could eat it every day! and with tomatoes at their peak it is really the only time to make a Greek Salad!!

So here we go...

Polenta Crusted Schnitzel with Greek Salad

For the polenta crusted schnitzel you will need

6 minute steaks

2 eggs

1/2 cup cream

1 cup of plain flour ~  use gluten free corn flour here if going gluten free..

1 cup of polenta

vegetable salt

My mum always made our own schnitzel and I remember we would each have a stage ~ I loved being in charge of dipping in the egg...

Start by mixing the eggs, cream and salt together until thoroughly combined... 

 On a paper dry off the steaks ~ this really important and stops gluggy schnitzels!!!

Then place your flour on one plate and your polenta on another... like so

First place steak in the flour and cover thoroughly on both sides...

Then place in the egg bath until covered and then using a fork remove and drain off excess egg.

Next place on the polenta and cover both sides, patting down gently...




Flour



 egg

polenta

And repeat!

Now to ccok these the trick is low to medium heat ~ a couple of minutes either side til brown

 



Place these on paper towel and allow to drain  while you make your salad

 Greek Salad

 Traditionally Greek Salad has lettuce, onion, tomatoes, garlic, feta and olive oil. I omit onions in mine and knife crush my garlic...

You will need...

1 small head of cos lettuce

6 tomatoes ~ roma

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 clove of garlic

100 - 150g Greek feta

100g kalamata olives

salt

This has got to be one of the quickest salads ever!

First glug in your olive oil into a salad bowl. Then knife crush your garlic and place in the oil ~ now make sure you lettuce is clean and dry then tear leaves into your bowl...

Cut up your tomatoes... and add... now crumble on your feta and then olives...

 

A crack of salt and we are done! How easy was that !!!??

To serve just plate and enjoy ~

You can do a squezze of lemon if you like which is quite nice....

Now bed is calling and must say good bye for now... eggplant is really lovely done this way...

Enjoy!

yours,

Honey Lady



Traditional Hungarian Zucchini

I know I promised Polenta Crusted Schnitzel... but with our markets and gardens pumping out so much zucchini and the day being so hot I thought I'd share with you a dish that takes me straight back to summer days as a child ~ there was always this dish ready to eat during my school hoildays...ticks all the boxes for me...easy, quick, seasonal and healthy... oh and can be frozen!

If you want this as a vego meal simply omit the ham...

Traditional Hungarian Zucchini

you will need...

4 smallish zucchini

2 Spanish onions - medium size

8 - 10 Roma style tomatoes or 20 small sweet style tomatoes
1 handful of flat leaf parsley

100 - 150g ham

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 medium sweet red capsicum ~ Italian style is best... we have our Hungarian ones but I have not seen them in the shops

salt

1teaspoon PAPRIKA ~ now this is pronounced pap-rik-a not pa-pree-ka

To make...

All Hungarian savoury recipes start like this...

Peasant chop your onions, garlic and capsicum and fry them off in a heavy based pan with a good glug of olive oil... what you are looking for here is the onion, garlic and capsicum to sweat down with minimal browning ~ there is a change in smell... odd indicator I know but the smell goes from strong to sweet... see if you can pick it...

Then slice your zucchini and ham and add to your pan with your tomatoes... like so...

and cook down on low heat

when the zucchini has softened and the tomatoes have become sauce add your Paprika and cook for a few more minutes... then chop your parsley and sprinkle over....

Take off the heat and serve with rice, cous cous or pasta... we would eat it by itself or as a sauce for meat... you can stir through pasta and then bake as a pasta bake or use as the filling of a vegetarian lasagna ~ its such a versatile and tasty combo that lends itself to many dishes...

What about on a grilled piece of polenta with a Danish style feta... yum!?

If you are really SAVVY you can make a double batch and freeze it...

I hope you enjoy this recipe and it becomes a family favourite for you also...

yours,

Honey Lady

This weeks shop Jan 14 2012 ~ plus a bit from the garden

 How can you not be inspired to cook when you have produce like this to use!!

The markets were wonderful this week so many stall with the most beautiful fresh produce...I really had to resist the urge not to over shop as our home garden is producing quite a bit as well... we have plums, plums and more plums... with grapes and figs about to be ready...

I am in love with these button squash and plan to cook them this week with garlic, olive oil and lemon... easy and bliss...

I bought lots of carrots ~ not all of these though ~ to juice but also to make healthy kiddy muffins and cakes for start of school... How beautiful are the colours??

I also got 6 trays of strawberries which equals about 10kg...I have frozen most of them and will show you this week how to make the most of these jewels while there season is at its peak and they are 'get out of town' sweet....

This week I'll share with you...

Polenta Crusted Schnitzel with a Greek Salad

Spinach & Feta Triangles ~ the best for school lunches

Zucchini many ways...

And Strawberry Granita...

I'd like to make a blueberry sponge roll but that may have to give way to the preserving of plums and tomatoes...

I also got this week a 10kg box of sauce tomatoes from Pat ~ sensational flavour and well worth the effort to preserve these babies.... we have eaten heaps already in salad and on toast with goats chevre and basil... yum!

I know that there a few of you out there say "I don't have the time" and fair enough... cooking is more than just a thing that has to be done each day for me ... I really enjoy creating with food and so I make the time for it... Its also how I learnt as a child to do life... the only thing different with blogging it is that I take photos as I cook and I spend an hour on the lap top posting..

My goal here is to inspire!

I also got this week my milk and feta from Paris Creek and Fleurieu Milk my cream and yoghurt...

Loads of fresh greens fro Judith... basil, rocket, lettuce, thyme, spinach and many more... LOVE my greens !

I'm really enjoying NAJOBE  Beef's minute steak for its versatility and ease of cooking...so I got a couple of pack for the freezer and some mince...

Cherries, kale and much more... I also did a Central Market visit and bought enoki mushrooms and a few Asian condiments!

My computer is taking forever to load the pictures!

So I'll post them tomorrow...

Yours,

 

Honey Lady

Cinnamon Plum Cake

 Plums are in season...yay!!!

I have so many childhood memories that involve plums ~ both my parents are Hungarian and plums feature heavily in loads of my family recipes... there is a really dense dark plum jam that my mother makes which is heavenly!

Today I went to the Central Markets and was so excited to find so many new season plums ...

I'm not sure of the actual name of the green variety BUT how cool ripe when green!

I also had the lovely blood that I got from the Adelaide Show Markets. I made this dish using all 4 different varieties...I love cooking with many varieties of the same fruit ~ like 3 -4 different types of apples... pretty unconventional I think but what happens is the melding of flavours and textures with each variety contributing its qualities...

Tonight I thought I'd share with you a cake from my childhood its really easy and SO delicious..

The house still smells like plums and cinnamon..

Cinnamon Plum Cake with Crumble Topping

you will need...

makes 1 x 23cm cake ~ 10 serves 8 -10
prep about 20 mins
cooking time 50 - 60 mins

Cake ~
250g soft butter
4 eggs
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 cups self raising flour

Plums~
2 cups of mixed plums chopped and de-pipped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons castor sugar

Crumble~
1 cup SR flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
100g butter softened

To make this cake is so easy...

Heat your oven to 200c

You place the butter, eggs, flour and sugar in a bowl and beat until just combined ~ don't over beat!



Butter and flour a cake tin and then pour in the cake batter ~ its quite thick but trust me it works

In a bowl place you plums and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and then evenly place on top of the batter like so ~

   

To make the crumble combine the butter, sugar and flour and mix until it is combined and forms a crumbly dough...

Top the plums with cruble and into the oven for about 1 hour...

And this

becomes this...eat warm...

yours,

Honey Lady



Thai Beef Salad ~ Honey Lady Style

I had my friend Justin Lane over tonight to match his wines, Alpha Box Dice, to the food I will be cooking at Tour Down Under this year.... and then another friend dropped in and  a few red wines later I get to my blog...

SO sorry for the late post!!!

PS...If you are wine tasting in the Mclaren stop past his cellar door ~ best wine in the south!

I made tonight my Kangaroo Fillet (already posted) and this Thai Beef Salad ~ and these are the 2 dishes I will demo @ TDU...

Before I get into the recipe for this salad I must confess...

I am not a Thai cook by any stretch of the imagination!



But if you recall ~ FUSION ~ is my favourite culinary term....

SO this is my take on a Thai Beef Salad with a whole heap of fusion and a bit of me thrown in!

For this you will need...

2 one minute steaks!

juice of one small lime

juice of half a lemon

1tablespoon of finely diced lemongrass

1 thumb sized piece of peeled ginger

1 sweet Italian capsicum OR 1/4 regular capsicum
~ this gives the colour without the punch of heat that a diced chilli does...

2 tablespoons of Chili infused olive oil ~ try Passionate Foodies ~ subtle warmth
2 small carrots ~ peeled
1 small Lebanese cucumber
2 cups of shaved iceberg lettuce
 2 bundles of a 5 bundle rice noodle pack
1 cup of shaved white cabbage

1 stick of celery

1/4 cup mint

1/2 cup coriander

1 cup snow peas sliced

1 cup bean sprouts




lots of ingredients ~ I know ~ BUT


really quick and really simple to prepare...


For the noodles...

These guys are even more easy  & quick than cous cous ... can it be so?

All you do is cover them in cold water til they go clear... drain and add to your dish... yep that easy!

They will look like this...

and then like this...

While your noodles are soaking, cook your minute steaks in a little bit of olive oil...and truly a minute each side...                               

Now on to the dressing...

Really easy... squeeze the juice of your lemon and lime and place in a bowl. then add your finely chopped lemongrass....microplane in your peeled ginger and chop in your capsicum ... now add tour chili oil and combine ~ then slice your beef and stir through the dressing so your beef is thoroughly covered ~ like so...

Have a try and add some salt to balance the dressing ~ My mate Les reckons  fish sauce and tamarind in this dressing would make it even better ~ so if you are inclined give that a go...

 

Yummo!



I have a mandolin... which in my opinion is one of the best kitchen investments you will ever make... if you recall I'm not so keen on even shaped chops BUT i do acknowledge there are times when fine, even pieces and to the dish...

The answer = my Mandolin

Oh I do also have a couple of excellent scars from this bad boy... SO be careful ~ its a sharp one!

SO now mandolin in OR finely chop the vegetables and add... like so...



only with a mondolin...



Almost there... drain your noodles...

Slice up your snow peas and chop your mint and coriander and add also... Combine the lot!

And serve on a plate!

To make this even quicker I have used roast beef from the deli counter which is ok... but fresh cooked minute steak is by far the better way to go...

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do!



yours,

Honey Lady