Barbecue Style Marinade....

Ok so this is just a quick post as I've had a special request =)

So in the barbecue style marinade that I make at home I normally use the following ingredients:

Sunflower or olive oil
Tomato ketchup
Soya sauce
Honey
Curry powder
Dried / fresh mixed herbs (Some fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano if you have them)
Smoked paprika (if you don't have this normal will do)
Salt (if needed)
Black pepper  
Fresh root ginger grated
Fresh garlic grated/sliced/mashed (however you do it)
Juice of a lime or lemon (if you want you can add the zest)

This is one of those things I do by sight and taste (if that makes sense). I add the ingredients bit by bit taste testing as I go along, the consistency is somewhere between a paste and a thick sauce.

If I'm using this on chicken I'd cut/ slash the skin at least a couple of times and rub in the marinade paste and follow the cooking instructions on the packet or as usual. Keep a eye on the meat when cooking and turn it, as the sugar in the honey can start to burn.  You can cover with foil for part of the cooking time to prevent this if need be.

A variation on this recipe is to leave out the tomato sauce, soy sauce and honey and replace with plain natural yogurt, this works really well with lamb chops.

Enjoy =)

Blog to be up dated =)

Well I'm going to have to make a new banner as this one no longer fits, but it was time to give the blog a good dusting as it were =)

Fresh tomato and corriander salad...

I have to admit that I always make my salads by eye, making up the amount that looks right to me at the time.

For this salad I use roughly:

6-8 vine tomatoes (if you can get them)
One Red pepper ( the sweet type that are sometimes called bell peppers)
One yellow pepper
one small red onion
2 cloves of garlic
a generous bunch of fresh coriander leaves
salt
black pepper
virgin olive oil

Remember that you can adapt the amount of ingredients to suit your needs, but this is my basic ratio.

So for this salad I slice the tomatoes into sixths or eighths depending on size, taking out the hard little bit and then dice them. Then slice and dice the peppers into a similar size.

Finely chop the small red onion and crush the garlic.

Once all these ingredients are in your bowl, thoroughly wash the coriander and then chop it or cut it with kitchen scissors and add it.

Now all you have left to do is season to taste using the virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Have you ever tryed....

adding green pesto and kalamata olives to mashed potato. My uncle introduced me to this combo when he was over from Australia a couple of years ago and my kids love it. It goes really nicely with oven roasted chicken and a fresh salad. In my home we add milk and butter and a little sea salt to the potatoes once we've drained them and then mash with a large fork. We have the pesto and olives on the dinner table available for use, so that everyone can customize their mash =)

Have you tried...

Have you ever tried adding a chinese twist to your cooked greens by splashing on a dash of soya sauce and a dash of sesame seed oil, after cooking.

Enjoy!

Have you tried.......

Have you ever tried putting jam in your cupcakes? Simply half fill one of your cupcake cases, that's been placed in a cupcake tray, with your cake mix and then put a generous dollop of a jam/fruit conserve of your choice and then cover with mix and bake.

Be careful the jam will be very hot, so wait a couple of minutes at least. Maybe cut in half to speed up cooling or add ice cream or cream. Yummy! Or even custard if you want to keep it nice and hot!

Enjoy!

Easy Fried Noddles.............

Packet noddles are maybe not what most people would think of as the makings of a meal, but with know how they can be! Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to make it in no time and add your own touch to it! This will feed 2-4 depending on how much they eat and the amount of vegetables used.

I'm only going to give a rough guide to amounts, so here goes:

3 packets of noodles (the type that has a picture of a bowl of cooked noodles on it, serves one)
4 eggs beaten
1-2 onions depending on size and how much you like onions
a couple of handfuls of mushrooms, sliced
1/2 a green pepper sliced, or the whole thing if you like
ideas for extra vegetables to use:

a bunch or few handfuls of fresh spinach
2-3 carrots grated
bean sprouts
broccoli cut into even sized pieces to ensure even cooking
green beans (french beans)
and any other veg you like.

Seasoning:
soya sauce
toasted sesame oil
vegetable bouillon or stock cube crumbled
or/and flavoring that comes with noddles, but make sure it does not have any yucky things in it, like mono sodium glutamate!
A little dried ginger powder (for a bit of a kick), sprinkled lightly or freshly grated ginger
Black peper (if wanted)
sunflower oil for cooking
Now for the cooking:

Boil the noddles for a couple of minutes until just slightly under cooked, to check simply pick a noddle out with a fork to taste test just like pasta.

Once cooked drain and rinse with cold water and put to the side.

Now beat your eggs and heat up your wok or frying pan, a deep one is best.

Put a little sunflower oil into your pan/wok and pour in the eggs and cook like an omelet, but then break it up into pieces. when cooked put it to the side in a bowl.

Rinse your pan and heat it up until dry.

Now for the veg, prepare as directed above and heat some oil up in your pan.

If using any hard vegetables like the broccoli add these first to the pan, along with the onions and fry for a couple of minutes. Otherwise add all your vegetables into your pan, accept spinach, grated carrots and bean sprouts and stir for another couple of minutes, adding a splash of soya sauce.
Now add in your eggs and noddles and sprinkle on your dry seasoning bit by bit, taste testing as you go along. You can also add more soya sauce if needed. Remember you can always add more if needed, but by gradually adding the seasoning you can avoid over doing it and making your food too salty!

Next if using spinach, grated carrot or bean sprouts its time to add them in. Keep pushing, stirring and turning the noddles to ensure that they are mixed in with your vegetables and seasoning. When they are heated through, they are ready to eat!

Add a few splashes of toasted sesame oil for extra flavor and serve.

Enjoy!