Beef Stir-fry with Oyster Sauce

Beef Stir-fry with Oyster Sauce

 

 

This one is super quick. As long as it takes for the rice to cook really- cause you can cut up the ingredients and get them all ready while it's cooking (and cause it's quick to cook you need to make sure everything is chopped and measured.

 

Time taken?: About 30 mins

 

2 year old friendly?: He wouldn't try it, so no way of knowing. STILL at the dinner refusal stage!

 

Serves 4

 

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon rice bran oil (i just used canola oil)

1 onion, halved and sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon grated ginger

400g lean beef strips

1 bunch baby bok choy. leaves seperated and washed

1/4 cup beef stock

1/4 cup oyster sauce

2 cups steamed rice, to serve

 

METHOD

Heat the oil in a wok or a large frying pan over a high heat.

Cook the onion for 3 minutes, or until tender

Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute until fragrant

Add the beef strips and cook for 3 minutes, or until brown.

Add the bok choy, stock and oyster sauce to the wok and simmer for 3 minutes or until the bok choy has wilted slightly.

Serve with steamed rice.





Healthy Fish and Chips with Homemade Tartare Sauce

Healthy Fish and Chips with Homemade Tartare Sauce

 

Another one from the Biggest Loser Cookbook. This recipe reccomends flathead as the type of fish but I think next time I'll try a meatier fish like swordfish or Barramundi as it would hold up better to the frypan. Still, this one was a hit with hubby and I even got Mr 2.5 year old to eat this (although naturally he had much more of the chips and not the fish).

Time Taken?: The chips take about 40 mins including peeling and chopping, but everything else, including the cleaning up, can be done while the chips are in the oven so it ends up being a very time-efficient recipe.

2 year old friendly?: Yes. See above.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
4 medium-large desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into thick strips
Olive oil spray
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoons chopped parsely leaves
4 flathead (or another white fish) fillets

Tartare sauce ingredients
1/3 cup low fat mayonaise
1 gherkin, chopped finely (or I used about 1.5 teaspoon of jarred gherkin relish
1 teaspoon capers, chopped finely

METHOD
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c. Line an oven tray with baking paper
Place the potato chips in a microwave safe plastic bag and microwave on high for 5 minutes
Place the chips on the pre-prepared oven tray and spray with oil. Season with salt and bake for 30 minutes, or until crisp and golden.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the Tartare sauce well.
In a shallow dish combine the lemon juice and zest and chopped parsely.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. heat a non-stick frypan over high heat. Spray with oil and cook the fish for 2 minutes on each side or until opaque.
Remove the fish from the pan and transfer to the dish with the lemon mixture. Turn the fish in the mixture so that it's evenly coated.
Serve the fish and chips with a dollop of the tartare sauce and lemon wedges.

Beef Stroganoff with Fettucine

Beef Stroganoff with Fettucine

 

This is a low-fat version of Beef Stroganoff straight out of the Biggest Loser Cookbook. I have attempted many different strog recipes and this is the tastiest one I have found so far. It is a little less creamy than the full fat version but still has a nice flavour.

Time Taken?: This one is pretty quick actually! About 30 mins tops, including chopping etc.

2 year old friendly?: I am gonna say yes, cause he had 1 spoonfull and thats the most dinner we've been able to get him to eat all week! I reckon there is not much not to like here for little ones... long pasta is always fun.

Served 4

INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon olive oil
400g topside steak, cut into strips
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
250g button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 pkt fettucine
1/4 cup chopped parsely leaves

METHOD
Put a large pot of water on to boil for the fettucine.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Brown the steak strips and set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until tender.
Add the garlic and the paprika and stir for 1 minute, until fragrant.
Return the beef to the pan with the mushrooms, stock and tomato paste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the fettucine according to packet instructions, or until al-dente.
Remove the beef from the heat and stir in the sour cream to combine. Add the parsely before serving atop the fettucine.

 

Lamb Chops with Leek and Potato Porridge

Lamb Chops with Leek and Potato Porridge

 

I must confess, before tonight I have never cooked lamb chops- and have barely ever eaten them (very Un-Australian I know!), but I have to say now that I am a BIG fan. This is a 'Fast Eddy' recipe, except the marinade for the chops came from a tip work collegue (thanks Carmel!) and the chops are definately the hero of this dish. The porridge is good- but not something I'd rush to cook again due to the time it takes to prepare the leek and potato (I actually had to PEEL the potatoes- not usually something I like to do on a week night!). It was good to have something a little different to my usual sides though, so I'd encourage you to try it for that reason.

 

Time taken?: The book says 5 mins prep and 25 minutes cooking. I'd say it's 20 mins prep and 25 mins cooking!

 

2 year old friendly?: Who knows these days! STILL in the dinner refusal stage. Tonight we managed to get him to eat 2 fish fingers (and they're his favourite!)

 

Serves 4

 

INGREDIENTS

2 leeks, diced finely

2 tbsp unsalted butter (I used lite nutelex- but it probably tastes a lot better with butter)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 medium potatoes, peeled and grated

1 cup chicken stock

salt and pepper

1/2 bunch parsely leaves, chopped finely

8 thick cut lamb loin chops (2 per person)

 

Marinade for chops

Soy sauce (about 1/3 cup-ish)

1 clove of garlic, chopped finely

Freshly cracked pepper

 

METHOD

Place chops in a shallow dish on a single layer and sprinkle over garlic and pepper, and then pour over soy sauce (enough to coat each chop) and turn the chops over to coat them on both sides.

Put them in the fridge to marinate for at least 1/2 hour

Set a large saucepan over a medium heat and saute the leek in butter for 5 minutes until well-softened.

Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the potatoes and stir well, then pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Cook over low heat, covered, for 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the parsely

Meanwhile, grill the steak on a hot bbq or griddle pan for 4 minutes on each side until medium.

Serve with a the leek and potato porridge on the side.

 

Healthy Chicken Parmigana

Healthy Chicken Parmigana

 

 

Yes you heard me right, Chicken Parmigana can be healthy! And this is a weight watchers recipe so i know it's true (you can tell it's weight watchers from the precise measurements below- I usually don't measure!). What's more is it's actually quite tasty- I have cooked it many times before and hubby loves it. It is a little fiddly though so i recommend it be a weekend meal. Sunday night is a great night for it as you can have yummy leftovers for lunch the next day.

 

Time Taken?: 50 mins- 1 hour

 

2 year old friendly?: Usually- but we're going through a dinner refusal stage at the moment.... *sigh*

Serves 4

 

INGREDIENTS

2 tsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp sugar (regular or castor)

2 tbs fresh basil leaves, shredded

500g chicken breast fillets, cut into 4 portioned pieces and beat out to even thickness (you could use 2 per portion if they end up smaller)

1 small eggplant, cut into 1.5cm thick slices

90g bocconcini cheese, thinly sliced

Canola or olive oil spray

 

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees c.

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.

Cook garlic, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and stir in basil.

Meanwhile, heat a chargrill or barbeque over high heat. Lightly spray both sides of the chicken and eggplant with spray oil and cook each seperately until chicken is cooked through and eggplant is tender. Transfer to a plate.

Lightly spray a 2L capacity overnproof dish with oil spray.

Pour half the sauce over the base. Place chicken, in a single layer, over sauce and top each with a slice of eggplant. Pour remaining sauce over chicken.

Top with bocconcini and season with freshly ground pepper.

Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

 

I serve this with a salad of baby spinach and roquet leaves with cherry tomatoes.