Day 8 - & No Food to Blog About

Today has been a good day. Well, apart from waking up at 7:30 this morning with a major hypo (low blood sugar), probably due to the amount of walking I did yesterday, and then proceeding to get burnt, also due to the catalogue delivery job, aside from those two things it has been a great day.

I got all of my newspapers delivered (all 650 of them) and came across 2 lovely old people, you know the kind that make you smile. I had almost forgotten they existed with working in the bakery and getting all the rude customers. One lady stopped to tell me I looked like a model... yes, kind of an odd comment I know, but I will take a compliment any day!

Then a man started having a go at me for not delivering the paper to him, but when he found out I only started this week he apologised and explained how they never get any catalogues and he and his wife really enjoy them. He told me where their house was and when I got around to that area I almost walked past it myself. It is like a set of 15 units, but they each have their own letterbox at their front door, instead of being all at the front of the property. Pretty poory designed and I can see why most people would just skip it, to be honest I would have to if it wasn't for the fact that I had spoken to that man.

Once all that was finished I had to go into the city for a diabetes clinic. My 3 monthly blood test was 7.1%, which has come down since I have been on the pump, so yay!

I came home to an empty house tonight so I didn't cook what I had planned to, it will have to wait until another day. I ended up having 2 minute noodles, very gourmet I know! I'm pretty sure you guys don't need a recipe for that, so i am going to have to leave you without any food related stuff today.

Day 7 - Mediterranean Lamb Pizza

Aargh... I know all I do is keep complaining about NaBloPoMo, but I am going to do it again! I have been walking for 5 hours today delivering pamphlets and just when I thought the night was over, I have to come on here. I know, I know, I signed myself up for it... and I could forget all about it, but I am a very stubborn person and there is very little that is going to stop me from posting every day for 30 days like I said I was going to!

This isn't the only way that my stubborn nature has worked against me lately though. When I signed up for this delivery walker thing Charlie, my boss, told me that I may be taking on too much. I insisted on having the 2 areas because I am desperate for money and I figure I should be walking anyway, so this will just force me to do it and I'll get some extra money for Christmas time. I mean, I am on holidays and I would normally be sleeping in until lunchtime, watching bad daytime TV and generally being lazy. That is how I normally spend my holidays, and at the end of it all when I have to go back to uni I always think what a waste of time that was! Anyway, I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm going to stick with it mostly because I don't want to prove Charlie right, and partly because I want to save up enough money to buy myself a sewing machine before I drop it back a little.

My only problem is I have a diabetes clinic appointment tomorrow evening, which is going to cut my deadline back by a few hours. So tonight Chris was nice enough to come delivering with me for an hour or so, but I am still going to have to get up early to finish it all in time tomorrow. I just hope this gets quicker once I know my area!

Alright, to the food part now... I made this for dinner tonight because I knew Chris was coming over. Our family doesn't eat much lamb, but I'm trying to get used to the idea of it since I may be living with this guy sometime in the future. Luke turned his nose up at it when he saw the recipe in the magazine that I was working off, but even he thought it was delicious once I made it. I substituted the lamb fillet that the recipe called for with lamb mince, because I don't quite think I'm up to eating that yet. Plus I have seen turkish style pizzas that use mince so I thought I would give it a go. It was a real quick and easy weeknight meal and everyone agreed that it tasted great, too bad the boys ate it all before I had a chance to go back for seconds. The recipe is from the November issue of Australian Good Taste magazine.

Mediterranean Lamb Pizza (Serves 4)

Preheat oven to 200C and grill to high. Spray a large baking tray with olive oil spray and place 1 quartered, deseeded red capsicum under the grill, skin side up, for 5 minutes, or until blackened and blistered. Transfer to a plastic bag and set aside for 5 minutes. Peel off the skin and cut into strips.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over high heat and brown 200g lamb mince, remove to a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add 2 zucchini, peeled into thin ribbons the the pan and cook, stirring for 4 minutes or until tender.

Spread 4 small round pita breads with 2Tbsp basil pesto, sprinkle with 50g grated cheese and top with lamb, zucchini, capsicum, 80g low fat ricotta & 1Tbsp toasted pine nuts. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese melts and bases become crispy.

Why Should I Eat That?

The following nutritional information is taken from the magazine, when I renew my subscription to my nutrition program I will change this to reflect the use of mince instead of fillet. The original recipe called for 150g lamb fillet. The original recipe is low in kilojoules and fat and high in fibre.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 1210kJ, Protein 21g, Fat (Total) 10g (Saturated) 3.5g, Carbohydrates (Total) 26g, Dietary fibre 4.5g.

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Day 6 - Mini Pavlovas... or any size for that matter!

Ooops, I almost forgot to post tonight. I have been so busy rolling newspapers and catalogues to deliver tomorrow, that it completely slipped my mind. Until now, when I was about to go to bed! So I will have to keep this one short.

The recipe that I use for pavlova is off a ceramic pavlova baking dish that I got from my aunty. When I was catering for my brothers 21st I wanted something to compliment the mini cheesecakes that I was making, something with a little less fat. So I decided to make some mini pavlovas. Unfortunately there are no photos of the finished product as I was too busy cooking to think about anything else.

Pavlova

Preheat oven to 180C and cut out a large circle (~26cm/10") from baking paper. Beat together 4 egg whites & 1/4tsp salt with an electric mixer until peaks form. Gradually add 1C castor sugar until meringue becomes shiny. In a separate bowl, mix together 2tsp cornflour, 1tsp white vinegar & 1/4tsp vanilla essence, and add to meringue until it disappears.

Stick circle of baking paper to a baking tray with a little oil spray or water, pile meringue mixture onto tray and spread out, smoothing the sides. To make mini pavlovas, lightly spray 12 mini muffin pan holes with oil and divide mixture evenly amongst them.

Reduce heat to 150C and bake for 80 minutes (15 minutes for mini pavlovas). Turn oven off and leave pavlova inside to cool, with the door ajar. When ready to serve, top with whipped cream & fruit (at Lukes 21st I used a mixture of the strawberries that I used for the mini cheesecakes, along with cranberries, blueberries, passionfruit and diced kiwi fruit).

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Day 5 - Ratatouille for HotM #9

Yay, I finally ate fresh vegetables for the first time in almost two weeks tonight. Let me tell you, they were the best thing I have tasted in a while!

This dish is a favourite for my family for celebrations because it is so simple to prepare, delicious and a good way to get more vegetables into BBQs and such. In fact, this is one of the first things I thought of to serve at the catering job I am doing for mums friend in a couple of weeks. It's a nice contrast to cold salads and will go perfectly with the spit roast they have planned. Plus it is very simple to make and eye catchingly colourful.

I'm sending this post over to Michelle at The Accidental Scientist for Heart of the Matter #9. It's not a traditional Christmas dinner or anything, but it is a great side to have at any celebration and a wonderful way to get more vegies into your and your guests tummys. It is adapted from a book called 'BBQ Food' by Murdoch Books here in Australia. We had this with scrambled eggs tonight for a quick, healthy weeknight meal.

Ratatouille (Serves 8)

Preheat BBQ or oven to a moderately high heat. Trim the top off 1 full bulb of garlic (around 6-10 cloves) so the cloves are slightly exposed, drizzle with 1tsp olive oil and wrap in foil. Put in the BBQ or oven for 15 minutes before the other vegetables are put in.

Meanwhile, halve 6 roma tomatoes, cut 4 baby eggplants & 3 zucchini into 1cm pieces on the diagonal, deseed and cut into wedges 2 red capsicums, cut 3 red onions into 1cm rounds and halve & peel 10 mushrooms (The mushrooms aren't in the picture above because there were none at the supermarket!). Lightly brush the vegetables with 2 Tbsp olive oil and add to the BBQ or oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes (BBQ) or 30-40 minutes (oven) until cooked through and marked.

Remove vegetables to a large bowl and squeeze garlic cloves out of their skins over them. Mix together 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar and 40ml olive oil and pour over vegetables, tossing lightly to coat.

Why Should I Eat That?

This side is low in kilojoules, fat and sodium and relatively high in fibre. It also contains the majority of your minimum vegetable needs for the day.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 603.7kJ, Protein 9.7g, Fat (Total) 9.7g (Saturated) 1.3g, Carbohydrates (Total) 8.4g (Sugars) 6.8g, Dietary Fibre 4.6g, Sodium 16.1mg, 3.3 serves of vegetables.

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Day 4 - The Return of Soup Sunday!

It's been a while since my last Soup Sunday, and the weather has been way too Summery to even think about soup lately. Unless you just got your teeth pulled out that is! I made a batch of this soup (along with a few others) the weekend before my wisdom teeth came out. It's deliciously creamy, very tasty and full of goodness. This one is from the 'Vegetarian' book from the 'Ultimate Recipes' collection.

Vichyssoise (Serves 4)

Trim 3 large leeks, removing most of the green parts and finely slice the white parts. Melt 40g margarine in a large saucepan and fry the leeks along with 1 diced onion for 5 minutes, without browning.

Add 500g peeled, chopped potatoes, 850ml vegetable stock, 2tsp lemon juice, pinch of ground nutmeg, 1/4tsp ground coriander, 1 bay leaf, salt & pepper to the pan and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then process with a stick blender.

Mix together 1 egg yolk & 150ml light cream and whisk into the soup over a low temperature. Reheat gently, without boiling and then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Vichyssoise is traditionally served cold, but it is also good hot.

Why Should I Eat That?

This soup is low in kilojoules and sodium and relatively high in fibre. It also contains 3 of your 5 serves of vegetables for the day.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 1295.5kJ, Protein 7.7g, Fat (Total) 18.3g (Saturated) 6.8g, Carbohydrates (Total) 27.2g (Sugars) 6.8g, Dietary Fibre 4.6g, Sodium 523.9mg, 3.1 serves of vegetables.

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Day 3 - Asian Style Chicken Meatballs

I'm very close to the wire tonight aren't I? My wireless internet connection is playing games with me tonight, which is always fun. So I have to type this quickly before it decides to disappear again!

The recipe that I have for you tonight is Asian style chicken meatballs. I made some of these when I catered for my brothers 21st a few weeks ago. In fact, I made a double batch in case we ran out of food to feed everyone, but we didn't need them so I froze them. They are very tasty by themselves as fingerfood with a good dipping sauce, or as I have used them here in a stir-fry for a meal.

Unfortunately I got a little over confident in my chewing ability when I decided to make this last night and ended up not being able to eat the vegetables. They just aren't a suckable kind of food, you really need your back teeth to chew them! Which is a shame because it tasted so good.

This recipe makes about 30 meatballs, which is enough for 2 stir-fries.

Asian Style Chicken Meatballs (Makes 30)

In a large bowl combine 500g chicken mince, 2tsp grated ginger, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1Tbsp chopped lemongrass, 1 1/2C breadcrumbs, 2Tbsp cornflour, 2Tbsp soy sauce, 1 lightly beaten egg & 1Tbsp chopped coriander. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 180C and line 2 baking trays. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls and place on prepared baking trays. You may find you need to add more breadcrumbs to the mix because it is quite gooey, but don't add too much or they will be dry. It also helps to just take half of the mixture out of the fridge to work with at a time, the colder it is the easier it is to work with. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Chicken Meatball Stir-fry (Serves 4)

If you want a quick weeknight meal, freeze the meatballs in 2 seperate containers. Thaw overnight in the fridge and stir fry together with capsicum strips, carrot, snow peas, canned baby corn, canned water chestnuts & stir-fry sauce. It is a very versatile meal, you can really add whatever vegetables you like or have left in the fridge.

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Day 2 - Orange Spiced Chicken with Couscous

I made a grim discovery just now while looking for the photo to go along with this post. The whole folder where I keep the photos of recipes that I've made but haven't blogged about yet (aptly named 'To Blog'), is empty. Completely empty! I don't know what has happened but I know there were photos in there (of like 20+ recipes) because I added to it a few weeks ago. Seems like the photo erasing fairy has visited my computer... and I'm not happy at all! Hopefully they have just gone on an adventure to another folder somewhere where I can find them... otherwise there is a lot of hard work going to waste and my 30 days of blogging won't be as pretty as I had hoped!

(EDIT - I found the photos! Yay, they were on my USB for some reason, it only took me like 6 months to find them... haha)

The only thing stopping me from crying right now is the fact that I have made progress towards getting some Christmas cash today. I have an interview on Monday to do catalogue mailbox dropping, well it isn't so much an interview as a case of looking at the map and choosing which available route I would like to do. So that is good. The weather is lovely at the moment, I need to walk more and this will make me do it more. I was also contemplating doing a house cleaning job, but I think I would prefer to be outside in the sunshine. Plus I have experience with this because Leanne, Sarah and I used to do it when we lived together in the city for grocery money. That was a community newspaper (The Melbourne Times) though, and this is catalogues so we will see how it goes.

I also got asked to do a catering job out of the blue today. One of mum's friends got married a couple of months ago and they are having their reception at the end of the month. They were doing it all themselves but now there are a lot of guests (90) and they are stressing out a little. So they've asked me to make some salads to compliment the spit roast they are having and some desserts for afterwards. Anyone got any suggestions for good salads that can be mostly made ahead and feed a lot of people? Or big serve yourself kind of desserts? This is a bit different for me because I've only ever catered fingerfood. I have a few (thousand) ideas of course, but it is always good to hear what other people would do.

Anyway, back to the recipe, minus the photo - I will post it if/when I find it. This one is from the February issue of Australian Good Taste and it is one off my pile that I have been meaning to post about for a long, long time. In fact, I made it back in July! So I don't remember much about it other than it being delicious & refreshing.

Orange Spiced Chicken with Couscous (Serves 4)

In a bowl mix together 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1Tbsp olive oil, 2tsp finely grated orange zest, 2tsp cumin, 1tsp paprika, a pinch of cayenne pepper & 600g diced, skinless chicken breast and toss to combine. Cook this in 2 batches in a large frying pan over medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Cook 1 halved, thinly sliced, medium brown onion & 2 thinly sliced celery stalks for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add 200g peeled, deseeded, coarsely grated pumpkin & 1 coarsely grated zucchini and cook for another 2 minutes, or until tender.

In the meantime, place 240g couscous in a large heatproof bowl and pour over 310ml boiling water. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes, then use a fork to separate the grains. Add vegetable mixture, chicken, 1/2C shredded, fresh basil leaves & 1 peeled orange, cut into 2cm pieces and gently toss until combined. Divide among serving bowls and top each with 1Tbsp natural greek yoghurt.

Why Should I Eat That?

This meal is low in fat and sodium.

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 2298.5kJ, Protein 43.5g, Fat (Total) 15.0g (Saturated) 4.4g, Carbohydrates (Total) 57.4g (Sugars) 9.2g, Dietary Fibre 3.5g, Sodium 132.2mg, 0.21 serves of fruit, 1.85 serves of vegetables.

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I'm baaack... & starting NaBloPoMo a bit late

Well, my jaw is still sore and I'm not quite back to eating my normal diet (the only textures I know at the moment are soft and squishy), but I came accross an event while catching up on my blog reading that has spurred me to come back a little earlier than I planned to. As a lot of you know I've lost my blogging groove a little of late due mostly to university and its ever present pressures.

So when I saw NaBloPoMo on a couple of blogs I saw it as a great opportunity to get back on the blogging wagon. If you haven't already heard, it stands for National Blog Posting Month and pretty much just involves posting EVERY day throughout November! Since I am starting a week late, my daily postings will go through the first week of December as well. The other good thing about this is that it will help me to get through the pile of recipes I have waiting to be posted. What a perfect event for me at this point in time!

The other thing I have jumped on lately is Facebook, so if you are on there too feel free to add me to your friends list. Just follow one of the photo album links below to find my profile.

I completed 2 exams last week (Health Data & Chemistry), but due to getting my wisdom teeth out I am doing the other 2 in February (Nutrition & Health Behaviour). Speaking of the wisdom teeth, the surgery went well and much to my delight I didn't swell up like a balloon or bruise at all! My jaw is just very stiff and I'm still eating from teaspoons because I can't open my mouth very far. My favourite food groups at the moment are icy poles and mashed potato... yum!!

The other thing that got me through the whole liquid/soft foods diet was banana smoothies. Them and fruit juice has been my only source of fruit for the last week, so I have been enjoying them heaps. The recipe is very similar to my Strawberry smoothie, but I'll post it here anyway. Sorry, I'm not quite up to taking photos yet.

Banana Smoothie (Serves 1)

Blend together 1/2C skim milk, 1/2C low-fat natural yoghurt, 10g honey & 1 roughly chopped, medium (100g) banana with a stick blender until smooth. Pour into a glass and top with a sprinkling of mixed spice, if desired.

Why Should I Eat That?

This smoothie is low in fat and sodium and also contains almost half your daily calcium needs. A great way to start the day!

Nutritional Information: (per serve)

Energy 1047.5kJ, Protein 15.4g, Fat (Total) 0.6g (Saturated) 0.2g, Carbohydrates (Total) 44.3g (Sugars) 41.2g, Dietary Fibre 2.2g, Sodium 168.5mg, Calcium 485.8mg, 0.7 serves of fruit.

What else have I been up to?

Fundraising has finished up for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes and the Diabettys managed to raise $2,496.40! It was a wonderful day for a walk around the lake, you can view the rest of the photos here.

My brother, Luke, turned 21 last month and we held a bit of a family gathering for him in my Aunty Dot's beautiful garden. I catered for the event of course, with lots of finger food (savoury and sweet) and a big bowl of fruit punch. Inevitably I was too busy cooking the food to remember to take photos of it, but I will be sharing the recipes with you throughout this crazy 30 days of blogging. To see more photos of the gorgeous setting, go here.

Leanne and I held our annual Halloween party again this year, we are one of the very few people who actually celebrate it over here in Australia. Although we don't go trick or treating (mainly because nobody has any candy and you just get a whole lot of weird looks!), we just hold a dress up party and go crazy on the decorations. We both get very into designing our costumes, but this year we were upstaged by my boyfriend Chris, who went in a blow-up chefs costume. For more photos, go here.

That's all of my news for now, I'll see you tomorrow with another recipe!

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