Sunday, November 30, 2008

Coming soon to a Nutshell near you!

Turbo Chef Oven!!

OK, I don't watch Informercials normally but I happened across this not so long ago and instantly wanted one. I sat there for half an hour watching Mr T of all people promoting this product. Tacky as it is with all the staged oooh and aaaahs coming from the audience, I was hooked.

Some of you might have seen similar products. Bench top ovens that work by circulating air etc. designed to cook faster. Well this is the step up from what you can buy in shops. It cooks by combining air circulation with infared and halogen. A whole chicken can take something like 30 minutes and you can cook your vegies at the same time. It can do pizza, cakes, work as a grill, bake bread and much more! The fat drains off to a catchment below and it's also self cleaning...

So will it be as good as it sounds? In about 10 days I should receive mine and I will tell you. Ok it's not the cheapest appliance in the world and technically I am putting off getting my nice new mixer but if it's good it will save time and money in the long run.

Of course the bastards advertise it at $200 + $30 postage... You order and then it says "Would you like to upgrate to platinum?"... Ok, you get fan speeds and a digital controller!!! Sure why not...

"Would you like the 4 piece kit that comes with the pizza tray, breakfast rack, grilling tray and something else that I can't recall?"...

"Well yes of course I would. With0ut those things all I have is a glorified microwave without a turntble (though it doesn't cook using microwaves, just to compare the concept".

"Would you like the extension so you can cook chickens, cakes, have more than one layer blah blah blah".

"Yes... I guess I would as I plan to use this quite a bit"...

"Would you like fast delivery for just an extra $10 so you can get it in a few days rather than a months time"...

"Sure, why not".

"You can get a free slicing set worth $50 and you only have to pay $15 extra for postage!!!"

"No, I will pass on the slicer... the grand total has already reached $330 as it is..."

It had better be worth it!

Product Review - Sorbies Nappies

So what's the verdict so far? Well I can't see myself spending the extra money on these. The night ones do seem alright but really Babylove does exactly the same job.

I have found that the day nappies seem a little more prone to leaking, though I admit we've had a few leaks with the Babylove and Woolworths brand as well. The patterns are bright and cute and I do like the quilted effect on the inside of the nappy but they are not as flexible as many other brands. The tabs don't stretch as far.

I think it may be time to move up to the next size. I might buy a pack next time in the size up and see how we go.

He is a walker now after all but I am pretty sure he's only just hit the 10kg mark. I will find out when I get his needles done soon but we shall see.

I have used Babylove for the last year without complaint. I won't be changing as it's not worth the extra money. A 114 box of Babylove costs $36 so it works out to be about 32c per nappy. Less than 2 packs of Sorbies on special.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Sorbies Nappies

Just a quick one for those with babies in nappies. If you want to try them out, Coles has the packs of 30 on special for $10. 23 day and 7 night nappies.

Works out to be about 33c per nappy which is OK and if you use less because the night ones last longer it could be worth while to get them when they are on special etc. I bought 2 packs. Will let you know how they are.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Quickest Ice Cream Ever

I was looking for vegan friendly recipes as I was hosting a dinner where one guest was vegan and came across this fantastic recipe for coconut ice cream. It's cheap, quick and can be made with 2 ingredients!

So, the actual recipe as found:

Coconut milk ice cream
Ingredients:
· 4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
· 1/2 cup superfine sugar or granulated sugar, or to taste
· 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract, optional
· 1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
· 1/4 cup toasted coconut, optional
Preparation:
Combine the coconut milk and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the extract and the coconut flakes. Chill in the freezer, stirring occasionally until hardened, or prepare in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Top with toasted coconut before serving.

So my way:

  • 2 tins of coconut milk or if you want a bit more creamy texture use 1 tin coconut milk, one of coc0nut cream. You could use light as well though I have not tried it yet.
  • Half a cup of sugar

Mix ingredients in a pot and allow to sit for a few minutes over a low heat so the sugar can dissolve. Place in fridge and allow to cool completely and then pour into ice cream maker according to the machines directions. If you don't have an ice cream maker you can just put it in the freezer and stir maybe once an hour until it's frozen.

That's it.

You can add the extra coconut if you like but I prefer it without the texture. It's quick, simple and absolutely delicious!

Instead of sugar I often use a product called Xylitol. It's a sugar alternative, completely natural and chemical free and has no fat, no carbs, no nothing. I found it when doing the atkins diet and it saved my life! You can use as much as you like without affecting your carb counting at all. And it looks and tastes much like sugar as well without that after taste you get with the artificial sweeteners. It's a 1:1 conversion though I find you can use less Xylitol as it's sweeter than sugar.

If you're diet conscious and avoiding sugar I strongly recommend you look into this product. It's not cheap but can go a long way. I pay about $18 for a 750g bag at the health shop.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Another roast chicken idea

Well todays effort seemed successful. At the moment I am trying to find as many things I can think of to do with a whole chicken. I make it all up as I go so writing it here also gives me something to refer to later on if I can't remember what I did.


Todays chicken was similar to the last one in regards to initial prep.


Bone the chicken and place the legs (in 1 piece or 2) and breast in your baking paper lined roasting pan. I gave the wings to my dogs today but you can throw them in too or use them in your stock later.


Pour on some garlic oil. If you don't have garlic oil just use some normal light olive oil and add a couple of chopped cloves to the pan.


Slice up an onion and loosely spread it over the top of the chicken. A little salt, pepper, paprika and 2 stock cubes crumbled over to season and then pour over a whole tin of diced, peeled tomatos. I do recommend the tinned tomatos for this for the fluid content, ease and cost but if you wanted to use fresh tomatos you can finely chop 4 or 5 and add a bit of water or tomato juice.


And that is the chicken done! As last time simply cover with some alluminium foil and put it in a pre-heated fan forced oven for about 25 - 30 minutes at 200 degrees, uncover and bake for a further 30 or so minutes. Check that it's done as it may need a little more time at the end. This was a 1.6kg chicken which I purchased from Aldi for $7.20.


This evening I also cooked my potatos with the chicken which is optional. I quartered the potatos and just spread them over the top of the chicken. I decided to leave the skin on because I was feeling lazy and I often prefer potatos with skins anyway which are also healthier.


These potatos were fairly crisp on the outside but not crunchy and really soft on the inside. No fat actually touches the potatos so they are a much healthier version of roasted potatos than one gets when roasting with chicken normally.


Serving:


This evening I simply spooned some of the tomato, onion and juice over the chicken and served with the potatos and salad.


If you wanted to though you could strain the liquid and reduce it some more turning it into a pretty interesting gravy or even a cream sauce would work nicely I think. I saved the left overs and might play with it tomorrow but because you've got the flavours from the chicken, tomato, onion and seasoning you'd not need to do much to it and the taste I thought was quite good.


This meal could serve up to 8 people depending on the portion size. I actually struggled to get through the whole chicken breast so one could easily slice each breast in half creating 4 portions and do the same with the legs. One could easily offer smaller chicken portions and make up a great filling and healthy meal served with other vegetables, salad and a slice of bread to mop up the juices from your plate. Rice would also work as a substitute for the potatos.



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Bolognaise sauce - Quick, easy, cheap!

Bolognaise is the best sauce and can be used for so many things. It's also great when cooking with that discount mince you've had in the freezer for a while and is SO simple my 12 year old niece makes it all the time.

The quick way.

Brown onion.

Add mince to pan/pot and brown.

Grate in a few carrots.

Stir in a few tablespoons of tomato paste (optional but I think it's much better with it).

Toss in a can or diced, peeled tomatos (I use 1 can for about 500g of mince. How much you use depends on your personal taste). You can use fresh tomatos too, about 4 is good for 500g just dice them and toss them in.

Add some water until it reaches your desired thickness. I prefer a thicker sauce so I don't add as much. If you don't use tomato paste the water is not as necessary.

Season to taste and add a little sugar as well. You'd be surprised at how much 1tsp of sugar can do to this sauce.

Allow to simmer and it's done.

Now this is the very basic method. You can add extra vegies as well and this sauce is marvelous for hiding them. Puree or finely chop descreet choices like cauli flower, water chestnuts, capsicum is great in this sauce. Basically go with anything white or red. Green veggies tend to change the colour and make it less appealing but white and red will blend right in when grated or pureed.

It's low in fat when you use low fat mince and can be packed with vitamins and minerals. And the options go well beyond just pasta.

Use as a pizza sauce or in toasted sandwiches, caneloni. Spread onto some english muffins, top with cheese and anything else you want and put under the grill. Use it for nachos or taccos! It freezes well, goes a long way and can make a number of great meals and most children will enjoy it.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Cutting up a chicken

Cut Up a Whole Chicken How-To: Compliments of Martha Stewart

1. Place chicken breast side up on work surface.

2. Gently pull the leg away from the body.

3. Slice through the skin between the breast and the thigh.

4. Pull the leg outward until the thighbone pops out of its socket.

5. Cut along the backbone around the ball and socket, pulling the leg away to detach.

6. Repeat with remaining leg.

7. Lay the breast on its side.

8. Pull away the wing until the joint is exposed.

9. Cut between the joint and the breast to remove the wing. If you want to remove the wing tips, pull them away and slice through the joint.10. Lift up the breast.

11. Using a knife (or poultry shears), slice between the rib cage and shoulder joints

.12. Slice through the rib cage on both sides of the bird.

13. Cut down through those bones, to separate the two sections.

14. Slice along either side of the bone in the center -- called the keel bone.

15. Work the knife gently along the rib cage to remove the meat from the rib cage.

16. Once both halves have been separated, trim away the slender fillet from each.

17. To divide the leg: turn the leg skin side down.

18. Cut along the white fat line to separate the thigh from the drumstick.

Roasting the chook

It's one thing to switch to buying a whole chicken rather than wasting extra money on pieces, it's always great to get ideas on what to do with it.

So a quick and easy chicken solution.

You can cut it up with kitchen shears but this leaves the bones. I prefer to bone the chicken. I start with the legs, wings, then breast which leaves a carcas. Don't worry if there is some meat left on the carcas as this comes off easily if you boil it.

In a roasting pan lay down some baking paper and lay your chicken pieces on top. You can cut the legs to make 4 pieces or just leave them whole.

I like to use garlic oil for this as it gives the meat a really vibrant flavour (described in a previous post). Pour on a little garlic oil and rub it into the flesh. Sprinkle or grind on some sea salt (or normal table salt if you don't have sea salt), pepper and paprika. I also use an all purpose spice mix which I buy at Aldi, though any blend you like is fine.

If you like a touch of zing sprinkle on just a couple of chilli flakes. Even just one or 2 tiny little flakes on each piece is enough to give it just that little bit of bite. I don't like hot and spicy food myself and find this to be not too overpowering, but you can add more if you wish.

The trick to getting this chicken really moist is in the cooking. I pre heat my oven up to approx 180 - 200 degrees celcius, fan forced.

Place a layer of Alluminium foil over the chicken and press it down so that it makes contact with the chicken but keeps the tray covered. Bake for 25 minutes, uncover and bake for another 25 minutes. This leaves the chicken really moist but gives a nice crunchy skin.

This is just a rough guide to baking time so check the chicken at around this stage and see how well done it is. A larger chicken may need more time and different ovens cook differently so it doesn't hurt to play around a bit.

And that is it. It literally takes minutes to prepare and can be done in advance so you can simply put it in the oven and set the timer.

To serve with it simply throw in some peeled potato halves or quarters with the chicken or in a separate dish if size is an issue or a salad, selection of vegetables, what ever you wish! This is excellent served fresh from the oven but can be frozen for a quick slap together meal later.

With the carcas, place it in a pot of water and boil until it forms a stock. You can season it if you wish but I find adding a few onions and other vegetables (I use frozen for this) gives it a bit extra and you can serve the vegetables up later. They go really soft but end up with an interesting flavour. My 1 year old absolutley LOVED these vegies and was saying yum yum after every bite. Pull the loose chicken off the bones and store in a container. It makes fantastic chicken for baby meals, sandwiches, stir fries. You may not get much but there is no shortage of options and all you're left with is less than a handful of bones. One chicken well and truly used to it's full potential.

Of course if you have dogs, they will also love the raw carcas. Just make sure you don't give it to them cooked as cooked bones are a no no.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Quick Tip - Onions!

So many people I know only by the amount of onions they may need. Whilst onions are not really expensive it is so much more practical to buy the big bags of them. Problem is, what if you don't use onion that often? They do last ages but will go off eventually.

A simple solution, freeze them.

Onions actually freeze quite well and the convenience is great. All you have to do is peel and slice or dice them how you want, secure in a freezer bag or freezer container and pop it in the freezer! I like to make individual portions, usually half an onion per freezer bag as I don't always use a whole onion for cooking. It defrosts quickly and can be thrown into most dishes before thawing.

So not only can you save a bit of money and time, you don't need to worry so much about those horrid onion tears!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Quick Tip - Garlic in bulk

Don't waste money on jars of garlic cloves or buying them individually as you need them.

For less than $1.50 you can get a bag of 6 or more bulbs and store them so that they taste as fresh as they did the day you peeled them.

Simply separate the cloves, peel and place in a jar. Cover with a good quality vegetable oil and pop it in the fridge! They last forever and the strength of the garlic never fades.

I also place a few in the bottom of a glass bottle and fill it up with oil. I let it stand for several weeks and it takes on a marvelous garlic flavour that is fantastic on any roast or to give any meal that bit of garlic flavour.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Staples

We all try to provide the best we can for our family. Everyone wants to make good healthy meals and ideally we would always be able to use the freshest of fresh ingredients. I strive to do this myself but have found that sometimes it's just not possible. Sometimes it's financial, sometimes it's circumstantial, but there are always times when we don't know what to make when the fridge is empty and there is not a vegetable in sight.

So what do I do to ensure that I always have ingredients for a meal no matter what.

1. Freeze meat.

I am always on the look out for well priced meat and will often go out with a certain set amount just to buy a few things for the freezer. You can save so much money by picking up packs that have been marked down for quick sale. Usually these have only a day or 2 before they expire but are perfect for freezing! The other day I picked up 2kg of heart smart beef mince for $10 and separated it into 4 portions. That $10 of mince will get me through at least 4 meals, possibly more depending on what I make with it. I could have taken the premium mince for less but prefer to keep it as low fat and healthy as possible.

I also picked up marinated chicken nibblies for $2 and some excellent quality rump steak for $4 which can be cut up to make 3 or 4 serves.

So for a grand total of $16 I have enough meat to stretch through probably a good 10 meals depending on left overs.

2. Buy whole chickens and separate them into portions.

This is something I have started doing recently. I used to buy 1 packet of chicken breast per week. I don't eat steak myself so I usually make a lot of chicken based dishes. I found that I was spending approximately $7 a week on a pack of 2 chicken breasts. For some meals I could stretch this over 4 serves depending on the size but I have recently found that buying the whole chicken is cheaper and goes a whole lot further!

For $8 I can buy a whole organic chicken and bone it. You can get 1 - 2 serves from each leg, 1 - 2 serves from each breast and then you have the wings and carcas. After boning I boil up the carcas with some vegies to make a great chicken stock and any meat left on the bones I pull off and this ends up perfect to feed my son! It's soft and moist and you can serve up the vegies with it which are nice and soft for little ones with few teeth.

You can either freeze the chicken portions from here or cook them to serve or freeze after. If you don't want to make any stock you can also use chicken scissors and cut up the chicken leaving the bones with it. You can also freeze the stock if you have no immediate use for it and use it later for soups, gravies and other dishes like risotto.

3. Don't be ashamed to use frozen vegetables.

So many people I know seem to have issues with frozen vegetables and really it's not necessary! Whilst I always prefer to use fresh, sometimes it just doesn't happen. I always have at least one bag of a frozen vegetable mix in my freezer just in case. I also LOVE those individual portion size bags. Ok they may cost a little more than just a bag of loose mixed vegies but there have been times where time is short or I have been unwell so I just whack a precooked frozen chicken portion in the microwave with one of those pouches and in minutes a meal of mean and veg!

Frozen vegies are also great for casseroles, pasta sauces, shephards pies and quiches.

4. Stock up on a few basic staples.

If you have the following ingredients in your pantry, a bag of frozen vegies and some meat portions in the freezer you can make virtually anything.

- Pasta. Can be bought for less than 60c a packet to serve 4+ depending on the meal. Always have 2 packets in the pantry.

- Rice. A little more expensive these days but a cup of rice goes a long way.

- Basic herbs and spices. Salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, an all purpose mix... What ever you want. I try to keep it pretty basic and these are the main ones I use on a regular basis. You don't need a massive stock pile of herbs and spices to make a good meal.

- A few tins of peeled, diced tomatos.

- Plain flour

- A decent quality oil. Cheap is fine too but oil is one thing you should buy quality if you can. I use extra light virgin olive oil which is perfect as I really don't like the taste of normal olive oils and this does not have that taste.

And that's it. That is all you need and with a bit of creativity you can come up with dozens of inexpensive yet healthy meals that are also quick and easy.

Welcome!

My first post. I have been thinking about this for a while and decided to finally put it into action.

A bit about me. I am married, we own a mortgage and have a little boy. I am a stay at home mother and we survive on one income. I handle pretty much all our finances and spend a lot of time trying to work out ways to save money, especially when it comes to groceries. I have come across some great recipes which are cheap, quick, easy and taste great not to mention the things I create for myself which accounts for maybe 90% of what I cook.

I am hoping that sharing my day to day cooking adventures along with other tips I may be able to help others.

My grocerie budget averages at approximately $100 per week excluding the cost of nappies. I hope to post several tips and cooking ideas per week where possible.

Remember though that the food I make as I go does not have measurements, just guides, ingredients and confidence in my ability to make it taste right. You can't be scared to throw things in, that's what makes cooking fun!