Shank You Very Much

31 01 2013

Ooooh this is exciting! My first time cooking shanks. 2nd time cooking lamb. Had no idea what I was doing but I have watched enough cooking shows in my time to give it a crack and “Ready Steady Cook” assures me that lamb, red wine & rosemary work. On a side note, I’m pretty sure it’s near impossible to stuff up anything in the slow cooker. My long-time carnivore sister Christie was suitably impressed, she can be a pretty hard marker so I am air-punching right now. Go me.

1 cup red wine
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 L stock of your choice (I use my homemade beef bone broth)
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
Big pinch salt & pepper
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Few sprigs rosemary
2-3 tbs turmeric
4 lamb shanks
1 tbs coconut oil for cooking

Pop the turmeric in a bowl. Coat the shanks in the turmeric- you can roll them in it, I just pretty much rubbed it all over the outside. Heat the oil in a frypan, add garlic, onion and any turmeric left from coating the shanks & cook until the onion is translucent. Transfer this from pan into your slow cooker. Pop the same pan back on the heat and seal the shanks on all sides then pop them in the slow cooker too. Add all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Turn it on. Go do your thing for about 5 hrs. You can leave it longer. I left mine for about 7hrs. Serve with a cauliflower mash or cauliflower rice. We had ours with a cauliflower & zucchini purée.

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Orange & Almond Cookies

25 01 2013

I wanted to bake a cake tonight. Lemon & poppyseed. I didn’t have any lemons left. Or poppyseeds. Then I lost interest in the cake idea, they do take a while to bake. I have no patience today. So, change of plan. Cookies. Actually cookie dough, or bake-free cookies if you like. You will like. They are fast, they are clean, they are sugar free, they are full of great healthy fats & protein. Splendid splendid no bake orange & almond cookies, or balls, you can make them balls, or just eat the dough out of the bowl. I totally didn’t do that.

1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup coconut butter ( if you don’t have this use 1/2 cup coconut flour & 1/2 cup coconut oil)
Juice & zest of 1 orange
Stevia to taste (or sweetener of your choice)
1/2 tsp vanilla powder or extract
1/4 cup chopped lightly toasted almond (optional)
1/2 cup flavorless (or vanilla) protein powder (you can use extra coconut flour if you don’t have this)
Pinch salt

Add everything together in a bowl or food processor & mix well until completely combined. Should be a dough-like consistency. You can add a bit extra coconut/almond flour if it is too wet still. Spoon into your hand and shape into whatever you like and pop them in the freezer to set. I store mine in the freezer too but the fridge would be fine. I also baked a couple just for fun. 180C for about 10-15 mins.

Here’s the baked ones…

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And the raw version…

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Capsicum & Walnut Dip

24 01 2013

Say no to cr@ppy sugar loaded, preservative full & artificial everything dips from the supermarket! That would work well on an election banner ;) Make your own people! It is cheap, super easy, you know EXACTLY what is in it, and, the best bit is it will not de-rail your clean eating. Have your dip & eat it too. Woo hoo! This made LOADS of dip, I ended up eating it with my salads, omlettes, dinner for a few days as well as taking a container of it to a party with my own home made crackers.

2 red capsicum, deseeded
3 cloves garlic
Handful fresh basil leaves
1 tbs fresh grated ginger
2 tbs coconut aminos (or tamari)
Juice 1 lemon
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 cup lightly toasted walnuts (or nuts of your choice)
About 2 tbs olive oil
Pinch salt & pepper

In the food processor add everything except capsicum & nuts and blitz until all chopped as best you can. Add capsicum & nuts and pulse a few times until it is the chunkiness you like. That is it. Done. Told you it was easy didn’t I?

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Minted Ginger Lemonade

19 01 2013

Holy sweatballs it is hot! We needed a cool refreshment, ice cold lemonade would be nice, sans the kilos of sugar please & thank you! Lemons are antibacterial, antiviral, immune boosting, aids ingestion and helps cleanse the liver. Ginger is loaded with antioxidants, is anti-inflammatory and is an excellent for alleviating gastrointestinal distress.

1/2-1 cup fresh lemon juice (depends how lemony you like it)
Dash stevia
1/2 cup finely chopped mint
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
Zest of 2-3 lemons
1.25l sparking mineral water/soda water
2 tbs freshly grated ginger

In a large jug muddle together all ingredients except mineral water OR if you have a stick blender use that to blitz everything together. Pour over mineral water and mix well. That’s it. You’re done. I strained off the green bits for the photo because it looked a bit like I had lawn clippings in my jar but I actually drank it with all the special green stuff :) This would be delicious as a cocktail…..

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Stuffed & Wrapped Chicken

17 01 2013

The meat soirée continues…. This time with prosciutto. How have I survived this far without it?! This is super easy and can be served with whatever else you fancy. The chicken is stuffed with what is essentially a pesto that I made from what was left in the fridge, there was no measuring so just experiment with what you have in the quantities you have. That’s helpful isn’t it. Off you go.

Stuffing-
2 big handfuls Italian parsley (you could use basil or regular parsley if you like)
2 big handfuls kale
1 long red chilli
1 tbs grated ginger
2-3 handfuls walnuts (or whatever nuts you like)
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs olive oil (or oil of your choice)

Chuck everything but the nuts into the food processor & blitz until it is all chopped up & looking “pesto-ish”. Add the nuts & pulse a few times until it is at the consistency you like. If it is too wet, add some more herbs/kale, if it’s too dry add a dash more oil or some water. Done.

Wrapped Chicken-
4 chicken breasts- sliced open so that you can stuff them
About 8 pieces of prosciutto (bacon would probably work too)
1 tbs coconut oil for cooking

Preheat the oven to 200C. Stuff the chicken breast with the pesto stuffing and close over to contain. Wrap the chicken with 1-2 pieces of prosciutto to cover the outside. Heat the frypan & add the coconut oil. Once hot, add the chicken breasts, cooking just enough on each side to seal them. Pop into a baking paper lined tray & into the oven for about 15 mins until cooked through. You could cook them completely in a frypan if you like, I find they stay more juicy & the outside doesn’t burn in the oven though.

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