Lamb Cutlets with Veg

There's no recipe for this, but I wanted to post it because the cabbage was the best I've had in a long time. It was home-grown by Mrs. Lopez and was soooooo good!

We had lamb cutlets pan fried with roasted pumpkin and broccolini, peas and sauteed cabbage with butter. Yes, I know, naughty naughty, but I love cabbage cooked that way. We had mint jelly on the side, proper Anglo-styles.

Home grown

Two-Bean salad with Chorizo

I've been making lunches for both Carlos and I to take to work/uni and have really enjoyed trying out different ideas. If I'm preparing vegetables for dinner, I'll sometimes make extra in order to put in a salad for the next day - I particularly love roast broccoli and pumpkin.

Recipe

Makes 4 serves

Cooking time 20 mins

Store in fridge up to 4 days

Ingredients

Pumpkin, 3cm wedge, chopped into medium chunks

Broccollini (baby broccoli)

1 can of canellini beans, rinsed and soaked in fresh water

1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed and soaked in fresh water

1/4 red onion, sliced thinly

1/4 red capsicum, sliced thinly

6-8 olives, left whole

12 slices of chorizo cut thinly (you can substitute salami)

30g parmesan cheese, grated

Method

Preheat oven to 200C and roast the pumpkin and broccolini for 15 mins.

Combine the rinsed beans in a bowl. Add the onion, capsicum, chorizo, olives and parmesan cheese. Once the roast veg are cooled, add to the salad. Mix.

This is a really low-gi salad as it's main ingredients are beans - they will give you slow-release energy all through the afternoon. You don't have to use any meat product in this if you choose not to. 

The type of chorizo I used was bought from an importers and was Spanish style - be careful because sometimes a South American sausage which is also called chorizo is sold which is not cured to a point where you can eat it without cooking first.If you're at all unsure, fry the slices off in a fry pan just to be safe.

Roast Broccoli and Pumpkin Salad

Recipe

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

16 brussels sprouts, halved

1 2-inch slice of pumpkin, skin removed, chopped into large chunks

2 tablespoons of ghee (melted if solid)

pinch of salt

1/4 red onion, sliced into thin crescents, seperated

fresh rocket

feta cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Place chopped broccoli, brussels sprouts and pumpkin in oven-proof dishes. Pour melted ghee over the vegetables and toss to coat. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and bake in hot oven for 30 mins, or until cooked. Leave vegetables to cool for 30 mins. Once vegetables are cooled, slice the red onion thinly and chop feta into cubes. Toss the vegetables with the rocket and onion and feta.

I didn't use a dressing for this salad as the vegetables had enough ghee from the roasting which covered the rocket nicely. I also found that the roasted pumpkin came apart a little at its edges which also gave the rest of the salad a really creamy texture.

Soy and Ginger Fish with Green Vegetables

Tonight I got home late after meeting with a friend for a 3 hour chat-sesh and needed to spend very little time on dinner. I had planned on using fish, so that was de-frosting in the fridge. I grew up in a non seafood household, which means I like to do as little preparation as possible; a frozen fillet of boneless white Basa from Aldi is perfect for a fish- squeamish cook like me.

I wanted to cook the fish in an oven bag with some ginger, garlic and soy. I had planned on preparing the vegetables separately, but once I looked at how large the oven bag was, I decided to go the super easy, least work route and chopped up my greens and put them in the bag to cook with the fish.

I chose to use all green vegetables for an iron boost, so broccoli, brussels sprouts and beans went into the bag, topped with the fish fillets (still a little frozen) and the grated ginger, garlic and a table spoon of soy sauce with a half teaspoon of fish sauce to plump up the fishiness.

ginger, garlic and soy

Ready for the oven

Recipe

Ingredients

2 white fish fillets (I used frozen Basa from Aldi - sourced in Vietnam from a farm)

2 head of broccoli

10 brussels sprouts, chopped in half

green beans, topped and tailed, about a handful

1 table spoon soy sauce

1.2 teaspoon of fish sauce

1 colve garlic, grated

1 piece of ginger, grated

Method

Preheat oven to 190C. Place everything into the oven bag, layering the vegetables on the bottom, then placing the fish on top, and finally spreading the garlic and ginger over the fish fillets and pouring the soy sauce mixture over the top. Tie bag closed and punch two small holes in it. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, and dinner is ready.

Notes

To Rice, or Not to Rice

In the house I grew up in, this meal would most certainly be served with steamed white rice. Up until a few weeks ago I wouldn't have hesitated to cook some basmati to have along side it, but it would have been a much larger amount than is recommended on the Low G.I. eating plan. At this stage I'm trying to get used to the idea of less rice, and making meals with no rice a way of getting familiar with that commitment. I'll re-introduce rice in a few weeks time as I move into more confidence with my power of choices.