'Fridge Raider' Frittata

'Fridge Raider' Frittata

 

This is so called because I literally raided my fridge and used whatever leftover vegies and other bits and pieces I had in there from the weekend's meals. The original recipe (another weight watchers one) used leek, broadbeans, bacon, zucchini, shallots and parsely. I have written below what I used- but you use whatever you like- that's the beauty of it! Just make sure you have enough 'filling' to make the frittata substantial enough. This is also great to pack for lunches the next day. Serve it with a nice fresh salad and you have a tasty and light meal!

NOTE- for this recipe you do need saucepan or pan you can tranfer from the stovetop to the oven. I have a great pan (pictured above) that I use that I got from a home-maker shop for about $20- so you don't have to spend $300 for one of those frypans with the handle that can go in the oven. Just be careful handling the above when hot- turn stove off first and then use oven mits.

Time taken?: About 35 mins, including chopping and resting time.

2 year old friendly?: Yes it definately is, and it's a great way to hide vegies and give them a nice healthy dose of protein!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
6 eggs
1/2 cup skim milk
1/3 cup grated light cheese
1 tbs olive oil
3 slices of proscuitto, chopped
About 4 or 5 green shallots, sliced thinly
Some sliced mushrooms (I had 3 largish cup mushrooms left- so that's what i used!)
1/2 a large zucchini, chopped
A handful of coarsely chopped flat parsely

METHOD
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 160 fan forced
Whisk eggs, milk and cheese in a large jub or bowl and set aside
Heat oil in a 22cm ovenproof and stoveproof pan on medium heat.
Cook proscuitto, mushrooms and zucchini, stirring for 5 minutes or until vegies are soft.
Add shallots and parsely, stir to combine and then spread mixture out evenly out in pan.
Pour in egg mixture, making sure it's evenly spread. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes or until frittats starts to set.
Transfer to oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until just set and light golden.
Allow to sit for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Chicken with Mustard Marinade and Rissoni

Chicken with Mustard Marinade and Rissoni

The whole family enjoyed this one- and it was the very first time I did it and turned out great! Try it! The marinade is a weight watchers recipe- so low in fat. I decided on chicken but apparently you can use this marinade on fish too- but only marinate it for 15 mins. I also decided to use rissoni to serve it with as a change from rice or potatoes. Rissoni, for those who have never had it before, is small pasta that looks like large flat grains of rice. You get it from the pasta section at the supermarket. I cut the chicken small so it cooks fast- so even though the chicken took 30 mins to marinade it was still a pretty quick weeknight dish cause it takes very little time to cook.

Time taken?: About 40 minutes including marinating time.

2 year old friendly?: Yes! I am happy to say that he liked this one!

Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS
500g chicken breast, cut into 2-3 cm cubes
1 heaped tbs wholegrain or dijon mustard
1 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tps grated lemon rind
1/3 cup lemon juice
About 1/2 500g packet of rissoni

METHOD
Whisk the mustard, oil, garlic, lemon rind and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Add chicken to the marinade and mix to combine. Marinate in the fridge for 30 mins (or more).
Meanwhile, put a medium saucepan of water on to boil. Once the water is boiling heavily, add a generous amount of salt and cook the rissoni until al dente. Drain and stir through a little splash of olive oil and season with pepper and a little salt.
Heat a large frypan on medium-high heat. Cook marinated chicken until cooked through and slightly browned.
Serve chicken on top of the rissoni and with a simple garden salad.

Quick Steak Rub

Quick Steak Rub

Steak is a staple in our house but sometimes I get tired of the usual steal seasoning. This is a very quick Jamie Oliver inspired steak rub (I saw him do something similar but not exactly this on TV once). I am just posting this for the idea, but you can throw in anything you like- any type of herb, you could add capers or olives... etc etc. You'll need a mortar and pessle, if you don't have one get one- they ultra handy!

Serve this with your favourite side dishes. I just did some salad and potatoes tonight.

Time taken?: The rub takes all of 5 minutes to make, then there is the steak cooking time. So quick!

2 year old friendly: Again, he's not up to steak yet. I will try it on him soon when he has the rest of his teeth!

INGREDIENTS
2 250g fillets of steak
1 lemon
a handful od parsely, torn
2 cloves of garlic, whole with skin on
Dry thyme
Olive oil
Freshly ground pepper

METHOD
Peel the zest off half the lemon with a vegetable peeler (skin only, no pith) and put into mortar and pessle.
Add the juice of the whole lemon, the parsely, the garlic, about 1 teaspoon of thyme, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of freshly ground pepper.
Grind and mix it all up.
Lay the steak on a cooking tray and bash each piece with the palm of your hand to flatten out and tenderise.
Take the rub out of the mortar and pessle and rub over the steak with your hands (the skin will come off the garlic when it's cooking).
Leave steak to marinate in the rub while you heat up a griddle pan on high heat. Once the griddle is nice and hot, cook steak to liking.

Jamie's Fish Tray Bake

Jamie's Fish Tray Bake

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe- from his book '30 Minute Meals'. It's typical Jamie, simple, rustic and packed full of flavour! It's not a very budget meal though, so one for a treat! Just a tip is make sure you use as big a tray as you can fit in your oven, and don't cover your fish skin with anything (like i did above) or it won't go crispy.

Time Taken: 20 minutes TOPS (Jamie's 30 minute meal included 3 side dishes and a dessert- but this dish alone was PLENTY- we were both full- so I did it on it's own).

2 year old friendly: He still turns his nose up at plain fish- so he got fish fingers!

Hubby and I had this on our own but we were stuffed! It would easily serve 4 with a side, like some rice, cous cous or even crusty bread!

INGREDIENTS
4 x 150g salmon fillets (I used 2 but they were massive!) scaled and pin-boned
8 large unpeeled tiger prawns (i used bannana prawns cause the shop didn't have tiger)
1 bunch asparagus
1 lemon
1 fresh red chilli (i left this out cause I don't do chilli)
a small bunch of fresh basil
1 x 30g tin of anchovies (I used a jar that was slightly bigger but only half the oil. You can leave these out if you want to)
4 cloves garlic
3-4 tomatoes (I used 8 cherry tomatoes cause regular tomatoes are very expensive right now!)
4 slices pancetta

METHOD
Turn your oven grill up to full heat.
Lay the salmon fillets and prawns in a large roasting tray.
Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus, then add the spears to the tray with a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Quarter the lemon and add it to the tray.
Finely chop the chilli (if using) and add it to the tray with the basil leaves.
Drizzle over the oil from the anchovies and tear in 4 of the fillets.
Crush in 4 unpeeled cloves of garlic and drizzle over some olive oil.
Roughly chop the tomatoes (or halve if using cherries) and add.
Arrange everything nicely in the tray so the lemons are facing up and the salmon is skin side up.
Drape the 4 slices of pancetta wherever you like.
Place the tray under the grill on the middle shelf for about 10- 12 minutes or until salmon cooked through.

Pea, Lettuce and Mint Soup

Pea, Lettuce and Mint Soup

This is one I like to make on a weekend and freeze portions to bring to work for lunch. I thought I'd do this one yesterday for one last batch before winter ends! It's a weight watchers recipe, so very healthy and low-fat but also very tasty and very filling so it really does feel like a meal once you've had a serving.

Time taken?: 35 minutes

2 year old friendly?: Never tried, he doesn't like eating green things- so I don't like my chances. However, when he gets older I plan on selling it to him as 'green slime soup' or something fun like that so he'll eat it!

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large brown onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock
400g potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 1/2 cups of frozen or fresh peas
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup skim milk

METHOD
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Cook onion, stirring for 5 minutes or until softened.
Add garlic and lettuce. Cook, stirring for 2 minutes or until lettuce has just wilted.
Add stock and potato and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium/low and cook, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes or until potato is tender.
Add peas and mint. Cook for 2 minutes or until peas are tender. Remove from heat.
Using a food processor or stick blender, process soup until smooth.
Return soup to low heat. Add milk and stir until heated through.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve with some toast or crusty bread. Add a dollop of light sour cream when serving if you'd like to make it extra special!

Tina's Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Tina's Chicken and Mushroom Pie

My friend Tina, who is a follower of my blog, gave me this one, which is why is it so named! Thanks Tines!

She uses chicken mince in hers, but i used breast fillet to see how it would go. It turned out great! Hubby had seconds! This recipe is the original recipe halved to make a pie that easily has 4 serves. I somewhat unsuccessfully attempted an eggwash on the top of mine but as it's cooked under the grill it's probably not a good idea as it comes out looking burnt! (Still it tasted delicious!)

Tina says also that you can do these as mini puffs, just make the same filling but incase it in smaller squares of puff pastry and cook until it puffs up and browns. Best to use mince if doing this.

Time Taken:? About 45 mins, includng prep. But it was the first time I made it so it might be shorter if I was familiar with it.

2 year old friendly?: He didn't want to eat it tonight, but he is still unwell and was turning away everything! If he was well he would have eaten it I think.

INGREDIENTS
500g chicken breast fillet, cut into small dice (or chicken mince)
500g button mushrooms
1/2 a leek
1/2 cup milk (I used skim milk)
1 tablespoon cornflour
dash of brandy
salt/pepper/etc
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, de-frosted

METHOD
Chop/slice mushrooms and fry, (Tina uses butter, tonight I used nuttelex) and put to the side.
Chop leek and fry, place to the side.
Cook chicken, add seasoning. Once the chicken is cooked, put mushrooms and leek back into the pan with the mince and stir to combine.
Add the milk and cornflour (sometimes a little more than one tablespoon is required) and combine until the mixture comes together.
Add a dash or a couple of brandy... just gives it a little kick.
Place in pie dish and just cover with puff pastry. Because the filling will still be warm from the stovetop, you can just cook or use the ovengrill until the pastry is brown or cooked.

Beef Fajita's with home-made Guacamole

Beef Fajita's with home-made Guacamole

This is one of those recipes I haven't done in years (since before mr 2 year old was born!) but I was so happy to revive it and put back into my repertoire- cause it was really yummy! I got the recipe for the fajita filling originally from Bob Greene's "The Best Life Diet" which is a book i bought after I saw it on Oprah years back (so I know it's healthy!). Bob gives a guacamole recipe also, but I made up my own instead and made it a bit simpler and a bit cleaner than his.

I serve my fajitas and guacamole with salsa (just from the jar is fine) and low-fat cheese, all wrapped up in low-fat corn tortillas.

Time Taken?: You need at least 3 hours at least to marinate the beef, but once that's done it takes about 20 minutes- 15 minutes for prep (mainly chopping) and 5 minutes to cook. I do it on weekends cause of the marinating time (and it says to keep turning it over occasionally while marinating otherwise I'd say you could marinate it over-night).

2 year old friendly?: Not sure. Our little mister was unwell tonight and had an early dinner and went to bed early, so he missed out! I think he would have liked it. The meat is nice and soft due to the marinating.

Serves 6 (filling makes enough for 2 fajitas each). I cooked this for only 2 of us, but the filling would be good the next day as a filing for a wrap for lunch.

INGREDIENTS
Marinade
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (or lemon if you don't have lime)
2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
1 small garlic clove, minced

Filling
500g of pre-sliced beef strips (the one you buy for stroganoff or stir-frys), cut in half.
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 red capsicum, cut into julienne strips
1 green capsicum, cut into julienne strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
12 low-fat corn tortillas (or roughly 2 per person)

Guacamole
2 ripe avocados
2 tablespoons freshley squeezed lime or lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
Coarse Salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD
In a medium glass bowl, combine all of the marinade ingreidents and mix well
Add the beef, turning to coat well in marinade.
Cover and refridgerate for at least 3 hours, turning the beef occasionally.

Meanwhile, peel, seed and roughly mash the avocados in a medium bowl with a fork. Add the juice and 1 teaspoon paprika and mix well. Taste and add more paprika if needed and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer for serving bowl and spinkle with a little more paprika for presentation.

After beef has finished marinating, drain off the excess marinade and discard. In a large saucepan, heat the oil on high heat for 1 minute and then add beef, capsicum and onion. Stir-fry for 5 minutes or until beef is no longer pink and the vegetables are JUST tender. Drain off excess liquid and transfer to serving bowl.

Heat the tortillas as per packet directions and serve with the filling, guacamole, tomato salsa and low fat cheese.

I would reccomend washing it down with a nice cold beer (although probably not what Bob Green had in mind!).