Salad - mania 2

Todays salad is a little less salad, a little more veggies.

1 eggplant cut into 1cm thick slices
3 spring onions sliced
4 cloves of garlic sliced
1 brown onion sliced
1 small red capsicum cubed
300g sugar snap peas, washed and de-ended
Cous cous, cooked
Chilli powder
Coriander powder
Cumin powder
Olive oil

Place eggplant slices in a container with the oil and chilli powder and shake until well covered. Allow to sit for a few minutes.

Heat a grill pan and place a single layer of eggplant.  Once cooked on one side flip to cook the other.

Meanwhile heat some oil in a pan and when hot, add the peas. Stir constantly to avoid sticking. Add the spices. After a minute or so add the capsicum and onion. Stir for a further minute then add the spring onion and garlic.

Remove from the heat and place in a large bowl with the cous cous.

Serve with the eggplant.

I had the left overs for lunch with some light sour cream, very tasty however not required.

Happy eating,

Odette.

Salad -mania

How many different salads can a girl make before she just can't stand it anymore.
My first salad was strangely really tasty and very simple.

300g green beans, washed and ends sliced off
1/2 an onion
1 green apple
Olive Oil
Balsamic vinegar.

Cook the green beans by placing them in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. Very important not to over cook.
Slice the onion and dice the apple.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and drissle over the oil and vinegar. Now let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Really simple and really good.

Happy eating.

Cous cous salad

So to continue on with the challenge, it's getting towards the end of my fresh food supply. This is the time when food becomes a bit more interesting. But so far it's turned out well. So I give you my cous cous salad, may sound a bit weird but this was SOOOO tasty, I found it hard to save some for lunch the next day.

Cous Cous Salad

Ingredients:

For the salad:

1/4 C quinoa

1 C whole grain cous cous

1/2 Onion

1 cob of corn

1 zucchini, grated

3 eggs, hard boiled

For the dressing:

5 cloves of garlic, diced

1 tbs spice mix (whichever you like)

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs tahini

2 1/2 tbs thickened cream

3 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp brown sugar

Method:

Cook the cous cous and quinoa as per their cooking instructions. (See below if you don't have the cooking instructions). Place the grated zucchini, hard boiled eggs, cous cous, quinoa, sliced onion and corn from the cob into a large bowl.

Heat the oil in a saucepan until just hot, turn down the heat to low and stir in the garlic. Make sure you don't let it burn. After about 1 minute remove the pan from the heat and add the other dressing ingredients. Replace the pan on a low heat and stir until well combined and heated through. Do NOT let it burn or boil. 

Pour the dressing over the salad and season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy.

Happy Eating!

Variations:

- This is very much a "whatever is in my fridge" recipe. The veggies in the salad can all be substituted with others, or add more if you have them. 

- The eggs can be replaced by any protein source, chicken would work well for the meat eaters. Otherwise chickpeas would also be tasty. 

- The dressing could be played around with as well, just be careful not to over power the flavour, tahini can be quiet bitter (hence the brown sugar). But if a lighter more summer feel is what you're after try removing the tahini and sugar and add some orange zest. 

Cooking Cous Cous: I cook cous cous by putting it in a plastic container with equal parts cous cous and boiling water. Then put the lid on to keep it air tight for about 10 minutes. 

Cooking Quinoa: I place 1 part quinoa to 3-4 parts liquid in a microwave safe bowl, cook for about 10 mins on high. After about 8 minutes it's advisable to watch it, more liquid may be required.

As always, please let me know if you try this. I'd love to hear feed back. And Happy Eating!

Potato Salad

So the pantry challenge is going well, we're still excited about cooking. Which is good, in the past when I've tried this sort of thing by day 3 I get so annoyed with not having the ingredients I want I tend to cave. Unfortunately the truth of pantry challenges is you have to have a well stocked pantry to begin with. Otherwise you just end up eating baked beans on toast for 2 days. Anywhoo, it was curry the first night, last night I decided to try making potato salad.

I've never made potato salad before, I'm really not sure why as I've always enjoyed it. So as we had a huge bag of potatoes in the cupboard I decided to give it a go. As a note, I forgot to add the eggs, so should it tickle your fancy add as many hard boiled eggs as you can stand. Alternatively some bacon strips which have been cooked in the oven would go nicely as well, for the non-vegetarians.

Pantry Potato Salad

Ingredients:

10 medium potatoes (about fist size), cubed

1 red capsicum, cubed

2 small onions, sliced

5 cloves of garlic, diced

1 tbs olive oil

4 tbs thickened cream

1 tbs Dijon mustard

1 tbs wholegrain mustard 

Note: I really like garlic, if you are less of a fan feel free to add less.

Method:

Place potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Boil until cooked but not too soft, drain and set aside.

Heat a olive oil over a medium / low heat then add the onions. Once they start to go brown add the capsicum and garlic. Stir through and cook for about 1 min (until the garlic starts to go brown). Remove from heat and set aside.

In a bowl mix together the cream and two mustards to make a sauce. Combine everything in a big bowl and enjoy, salt and pepper to taste.