This Week's Meal Plan

I've been meal planning for about 6 weeks now and am finding it so much easier and so much cheaper.


My fridge and pantry aren't full of bits and pieces that I've bought at the supermarket 'just in case' or 'that looks nice' or 'I might like that'. My shopping list has my menu plan on the back and I don't deviate unless absolutely necessary.

My new fridge is much smaller than my older one and I can't cram as much in to it, which is just as well because things don't get lost at the back like they once did. Cleaning the fridge was like checking the results of a science experiment on various types of mould.

My pantry is still a bit overcrowded as I have all those packages and containers filled with things that I thought I might need. I have so many different types of grains, seeds and flours that I could survive for weeks if we were suddenly overcome by a nuclear meltdown or something.

So, to this week's menu. I usually try to have one beef or lamb, one pork, two chicken, one fish and one vegetarian meal one night is always left overs for when I have meetings or am out for the day and I don't have time to cook.
I usually have a roast on Tuesdays, but this week I'll be in Perth.

MONDAY: Greek Lamb Stew with fried Polenta & steamed green beans

TUESDAY: Left overs

WEDNESDAY: Char Sui Pork Stir Fry and Noodles

THURSDAY: Chicken & Leek Pie with Scrunched Filo Topping (practice for Shire Catering next week), Glazed Carrots and Smashed Potatoes

FRIDAY: Fish (Bronze Whaler from Albany) & homemade Chips with tossed salad & yummy special dressing and broccoli salad

SATURDAY: Left Overs

SUNDAY:  Korean Beef Spare Ribs with Fried Rice

I notice that there's no vegetarian meal this week, but I have to practice my Chicken & Leek Pie to make sure it will be OK for Council. CWA are catering this month and I've revamped their menu with some more interesting options, so I'm putting myself forward to cook since I changed the menu.

I have a First Aid course all weekend, so left overs or maybe a meal from the pub on Saturday night.

I'm off to Perth tomorrow to have a tooth removed. I'm pretty distressed about it, but am hoping that I'll be able to get an implant to replace it. Bad dentistry years ago has caused bone damage in an infected root canal on a tooth that was crowned. I'm paranoid about false teeth and am determined to keep my teeth until the very end! So, all fingers and toes crossed for me, please...

Megan

p.s. The Fried Polenta was divine! Easy peasy with the Thermomix too. I'll post the recipe soon. 

Orange or Lemon Cake

My Dear Husband has a penchant for Orange Cake, so it's something I make frequently.

Today I went to make it and had no oranges! Rather than make a trip to the local store to buy a couple, I chose to make a Lemon Cake instead. I had plenty of lemons thanks to some generous friends with lemon trees.

I used what I call a Custard Lemon. It's a Meyer Lemon, which is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin and is a native of China.
It has a very thin, smooth skin and is deliciously fragrant. In my opinion the meyer lemon isn't suited to savoury dishes, but is fantastic in cakes and desserts.

Orange (or Lemon) Cake

155g softened butter
3 eggs
2/3 cup (120g) castor sugar
1 cup (160g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp grated rind

Combine butter and sugar and beat for 2 minutes. Add an egg and beat again. Repeat. Add the third egg with the flour and baking powder. Beat until combined. Stir in the rind.

Bake at 180C for 35 minutes in a greased lined orange tin. Turn out and ice with orange or lemon icing.

Update!
I wanted to make this recently and only had 2 eggs. I modified the recipe and actually liked this one better! Instructions are for the Thermomix, adapt for regular mixers as above.

Orange or Lemon Cake
130g softened butter or Dairy Soft
120g castor sugar
160g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb
Juice and rind of half and orange (or lemon, remainder is used in the icing)

Combine butter and sugar and beat for 2 minutes, speed 4. Add 1 egg and beat again on speed 4 for 30 seconds. Add dry ingredients, juice and remaining egg and beat for 30 - 40 seconds, speed 3 or until incorporated.
Add rind and blend for 10 seconds, speed 2.

Bake in a greased lined loaf tin for 35 minutes on 180C

Make icing with 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, remaining juice and rind and 2 tsp butter. Can ice while still a little warm and top with coconut.

A Good Cup of Coffee

Why is it so difficult to buy a really good cup of coffee?

I was in Albany at the weekend and I bought a total of 3 cups of coffee at different places and only one was really drinkable.

I know my coffee choice is a little fussy - a long black topped up with soy, but I make a superb one at home with my little 15 year old Black & Decker percolator, so surely a cafe should get it right?

Unfortunately, that's just not the case. If the coffee is too strong, the acidic nature of the coffee is high and the soy milk will separate. Not only is this ugly, it's a nuisance as I have to keep stirring it to bring it back together. I've tried ordering a weak long black, but have found that it's just too weak and tastes rather like I imagine dishwater would taste.

Gloria Jeans was the first coffee I had and it was only just drinkable and that's because they allowed me to add my own soy milk. At $4.80, it was pretty expensive too.

The next was at Bay Merchants, for breakfast. Really too strong, but at least the proprietor noticed I wasn't drinking it and offered to bring some hot water to dilute it. Not sure of the price here, but I imagine it was pretty expensive too.

The last and worst was at Calamari's Cafe on the Beach. Not only did we wait ages to be served, I almost gave up waiting for the coffee it took so long. And when it finally arrived, it was served in a small glass with the coffee sitting at the bottom and the soy sitting on top. It was so excruciatingly strong that the soy milk would not even attempt to join the coffee, not matter how much one stirred!! I could only manage two sips out of that one.
The only plus here is that all their coffees are $4.00, no extra charge for the soy. But, since I couldn't drink it, that really became the most expensive coffee that I had all weekend.

Probably the only place in Albany I have enjoyed a good coffee is at Dome, but then the food is so boring at Dome that I don't generally bother going there.

So, today I'm sipping a delicious cup of coffee made at home just the way I like it!

Warm Eggplant Salad

When I make a lasagne, I layer thin strips of Mediterranean vegetables between the meat and pasta. Often, it's difficult to manage to get all the layers I want and last night I was left with strips of baby eggplant. I'd also forgotten to add the lovely fresh basil I'd picked up at the supermarket. What to do with the eggplant?
I was serving salad with the lasagne and had a germ of an idea which turned into a simple and delicious warm salad.

Warm Eggplant Salad
5 or 6 baby eggplant, sliced longways
olive oil
bunch of fresh basil
splash of balsamic vinegar

Saute eggplant in oil - it will absorb it all, so be generous.
Place in a serving dish and tear over basil leaves.
Drizzle with balsamic, toss and serve.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup must be the most ubiquitous soup in the world. It seems whenever there's a soup of the day on a restaurant menu, it's going to be pumpkin. Everyone loves it and it's cheap and easy to make.

When I go to a restaurant, I like to try something I haven't had before, so find it really annoying when chefs take the easy way out and make a plain and boring pumpkin soup. There are so many things you can add to it to make it different, yet still delicious.

Here's the adaptions I like to do to take pumpkin soup up a notch in the culinary stakes.

Thai Pumpkin Soup 1
Chop an onion and saute in a mixture of butter and oil with 2 tbs of red curry paste.
Add chopped peeled pumpkin that has been microwaved or steamed for 5 minutes or so.
Add chicken stock or water and chicken stock powder and cook until pumpkin is soft.
Process and add up to 1/2 can of coconut milk.
Season to taste.
Serve with chopped coriander.

Thai Pumpkin Soup 2
Make in the same way as above, but use a blend of pumpkin and sweet potato. Add some grated fresh ginger for extra zing.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Make using the same method as Thai Pumpkin Soup, but add Indian Curry Paste such as Korma or Tikka.
Instead of coconut milk use light pouring cream or plain yoghurt and serve with pappadams.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup
Place 2 tbsp oil in baking dish and place in pre heated 200 degree oven.
Microwave or steam pumpkin
Place in roasting pan and bake until browned on all sides.
Add to sauteed onion and proceed as normal.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup 2
Use a mixture of carrot and pumpkin or sweet potato and pumpkin


4 P's Soup - Pea, Pasta, Pancetta and Pumpkin
Saute onion as normal and make regular plain pumpkin soup. When cooked add some pouring cream or cream cheese before blending. Add to this mixture some cooked ribbon pasta, fried diced pancetta (or bacon), some frozen peas (or corn niblets).
Test for seasoning and serve with crusty bread.

Pumpkin & Roasted Cherry Tomato
The acid in the tomatoes adds a wonderful tang to the soup. Just add to plain pumpkin soup, no other flavours are needed.
Roast some cherry tomatoes in olive oil in a hot oven until the skins burst. When cool enough to handle, pop them out of their skins and add to your pumpkin soup. Process, top with some chopped chives or parsley and serve with crusty bread.

No more boring pumpkin soup! If you have any further ideas, please list in the comments section below.

No Fail Sponge Cake

I had a card with this recipe of my Mum's that I wrote out years ago for this "No-Fail Sponge Cake".  When writing it down, I'd written next to the title "...yeah, sure".

Some years later, (and many failed sponges later) I came across the recipe card and thought I'd give it a try. Much to my utter amazement, I made my first successful sponge cake!

I've made it many, many times since and have even left out the raising agents and it still worked, though wasn't quite as light.

Recently in Nyabing, the local CWA held a cooking morning where we demonstrated how to make Cream Puffs and my No Fail Sponge Cake.

Here's a photo of a couple of successful students with their sponge:

Unfortunately, the commercial oven wasn't ideal and they didn't rise quite as much as they should have, but they were still good sponge cakes!

No Fail Sponge Cake

4 large eggs, room temperature (stale eggs are best)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
1/2 cup custard powder
1 tsp plain flour
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 180C fan forced
Grease and line the bases of 2 high sided 20cm cake tins with baking paper and flour the sides.
Using whisk attachment of mixer, beat eggs for 8 minutes. Beat for an extra 2 minutes if you have beater blades.
Meanwhile, sift flour, custard powder and raising agents three times.
Add sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes.
Use whisk from mixer (or beater blade) to incorporate dry ingredients.
Pour into tins and tap gently to remove large air bubbles.
Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

Ginger Sponge
Use raw caster and add 2 tsp ground ginger and 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Chocolate Sponge
Replace 1/4 cup cornflour with 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder. Increase sugar amount to 2/3 cup.

 

Getting Organised - Menu Planning

Menu Planning is something I do in fits and starts. During very busy times like seeding and harvest, it's invaluable as I can plan meals that will either cook while I'm out in the paddock waiting, waiting or are quick and easy to prepare when I do get home.

Having a template makes it that much easier. Normally, I just use a note pad, but the page will be lost back in the pad as many other notes get written. I've developed a simple template that can be downloaded or printed from Google Docs:

Menu Plan

Lunch has been included as, often, in the quieter times, the men will come home for lunch. I still quite often will make a soup or wraps, depending on the season as I like to sit down for lunch with my daughter when she comes home during her lunch break.

Here's my plan for this week. I'm hoping to do a little shopping on the way home from Perth on Tuesday.

Monday 27th June

Normally, I'll just print it off and write my menu down so it can be changed. This time, I just used a handwriting font, found here: Angelina Font

Off to make custard for ice cream and ANZAC's. Enjoy your menu planning!