Saturday, November 21, 2009
Boiled Mud Crabs
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Chicken and Prawn Mornay
We had planned to have left over spaghetti bolognaise from the night before upon returning from the hospital. The kids had a bowl ful before we left but I must admit I am not a fan of leftover dinners. Don't get me wrong I eat them for lunch or freeze for lunches but I don't really enjoy eating the same dinner two nights in a row... not sure why I just don't.
Needless to say I was fancying something different and for some reason creamy! My initial thoughts were "Mornay" and then decided that chicken and prawns would be nice! And it was. Infact I was quite pleased with the outcome and will cook this again for sure.
Chicken and Prawn Mornay
Serves: 4
Points per serve: 7
500 grams chicken fillets, diced
cooking spray
300 grams prawns, peeled and deveined
2 springs onions, sliced
1/2 red capsicum, finely diced
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
50 grams reduced fat tasty cheese, grated
ground white pepper
1/2 cup parmesan, finely grated
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Coat a small frying pan with cooking spray and heat over high heat. Cook the chicken until sealed and slightly browned. Remove from heat.
Spray 4 individual ramekins (1 1/2cup capacity) with cooking spray. Divide chicken evenly amongst ramekins. Divide the prawns evenly and add to the chicken. Top with the spring onions and capsicum.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter and remove from heat, add flour and mix into a roux. Return to medium heat and add milk and wine gradually, stirring continuously with a whisk ensuring a smooth sauce. Add the garlic, mustard and tasty cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and prawn mixture evenly. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes in oven or until cooked through and cheese golden.
(click here for a printable version of this recipe)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tropical Pork with Mustard
So on to this recipe... hmmm this is going to be an interesting one to explain. I started off wanting to cook Pork with Orange and Mustard Glaze but when I got home there was no orange juice in sight. In fact the only juice I had was tropical but that wasn't going to stop me.
Needless to say I made this whole thing up and have to say both Noel and myself were pleasantly surprise. Not quite sure if this is the right name for the dish but we'll go with it for now.
Tropical Pork with Mustard
Serves: 4
Points per serve: 5.5
8 pork medallions, 100g each
1 cup tropical fruit juice
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup wholegrain (seeded) mustard
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger, crushed
freshly ground black pepper
In a large ceramic bowl or snap lock bag place pork medallions.
In a small jug combine tropical fruit juice, honey, mustard, thyme, oil, garlic and ginger. Mix well, ensuring the honey has dispersed in the sauce, season with pepper. Pour over pork and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours, longer if time permits.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Heat a large frying pan over a medium high and coat with cooking spray. Remove pork from the dish and reserve marinade. Fry pork medallions for 3 minutes on each side or until nicely browned. Place in a casserole dish or baking tray, place in oven and continue to cook for 5 minutes or until pork is cooked to your liking.
Meanwhile add the reserved marinade to the frying pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring, until reduced by half. Serve pork with glaze.
(click here for a printable version of this recipe)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Spiced Honey Chicken Stir Fry
Armed with chinese five spice, honey, hoisin sauce and a few other ingredients I came up with Spiced Honey Chicken Stir Fry. I cannot really say where I got this combination from except from several different recipes mixed together.
However, it was nice. Everyone enjoyed it and will definitely be on the menu again. We served this with Sesame Noodles.
Spiced Honey Chicken Stir Fry
Serves: 6
Points per serve: 3.5
600 grams chicken breast, diced
1 teaspoon chinese five spice
cooking spray
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 4 cm lengths
200 grams broccoli, cut into small florets
1/4 cup water
1 red capsicum, cut into 4 cm strips
6 spring onions, cut into 4 cm lengths
125 grams snow peas, trimmed and halved diagonally
2 teaspoons ginger, grated
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
Toss the chicken with the chinese five spice to coat. Coat a work or large frying pan with cooking spray and heat over high heat. Add chicken, in batches, stir fry until sealed and cooked. Remove to a plate and set aside.
To the same pan add the carrots, broccoli and ginger. Stir fry for 3 - 4 minutes, adding the water after 2 minutes. Add the capsicum and cook for a further 2 minutes or until just tender. Add the spring onions.
Return the chicken to the wok and add the combined honey, hoisin sauce and soy sauce. Stir fry until heated through and fully combined.
Sesame Noodles
Simple and quick to cook it was the perfect partner for Spiced Honey Chicken Stir Fry last night.
The amazing thing about this recipe is that there are no noodles used at all. Instead it's pasta, novel as it sounds, the pasta worked well. As it's a lot firmer than some noodles, cooking with it didn't end up in a mosh of broken up noodles. I do have to confess though I used angel hair pasta tonight and it was too thin - my advice would be just to buy thin spaghetti.
Pam, doesn't stir fry her's but I did as I wanted really hot noodles. I have made this once before and it was really nice but I thought I would experiment a little further with the recipe ~ hope you don't mind Pam? LOL!!
So this is my version, but if you would like to see Pam's original version please click here warning her photo looks much nicer ~ in fact Pam's blog is fantastic! Please go and visit her as it's well worth doing so.
Sesame Noodles
Serves: 8
Points per serve: 3.5
500 grams thin spaghetti
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoons sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons pure sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot chilli sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 tablespoon hot water
3 to 4 spring onions, sliced thinly
Mix together the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, chilli sauce, canola oil and water in a jug. Taste and re-season if desired.
Heat a wok over high heat add combined sauce and noodles. Toss for 2 - 4 minutes until noodles are completely coated. Remove from heat and toss through spring onions. Serve.
(click here for a printable version of this recipe)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Low Fat Hollandaise Sauce
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sweet and Spicy Lamb
Another quick and easy dish to cook, this recipe is from The Symply To Good To Be True collection and I have to say it pleased everyone in the house, as well as surprised Noel and myself. It was pleasantly sweet but not overly spicy either. I thought it could have been a little more spicier and will probably add a little chilli powder the next time I cook it. The kids gave it the thumbs up which is always a good sign.
I served this with Vegetarian Fried Rice but would be perfect with steamed rice or even couscous.
Cut lamb into strips (if required).
Toast almonds on a sheet of foil placed under a grill until browned, set aside.
In a non stick frypan or wok that has been coated with cooking spray saute lamb, ginger and garlic until meat is nearly cooked. Remove from wok. Add onion, apple and sultanas and cook for 2 minutes. Put cardamom, cumin, coriander, turmeric, stock powder and tomato paste into pan. Mix cornflour into the milk add the essence. Add to frypan stirring continuously until boiled. Return lamb to the pan and heat through.
Sprinkle almonds over top.
NOTE: for a thinner sauce reduce the amount of cornflour to 2 teaspoons.
(click here for a printable version of this recipe)






