Cook That Craving: Nachos

I'm sure I was craving nachos at some stage.

Here's how to cook.



Ingredients
onion
500g mince
tin tomatoes
tin kidney beans
sweet chilli sauce
packet of corn chips
cheese
paprika
cumin

tomato
cucumber
avocado
sour cream

Fry the onion till browned. Add mince and cook till brown. Add 1tsp paprika and cumin to mince.
When brown add tomatoes and beans. Stir till bubling. Add a swoosh of sweet chilli sauce. Simmer for 5 mins.

On a tray place half of the corn chips. Pour half of the mince on top and then add some cheese. Then put the rest of the chips on top, the rest of the mince and the rest of the cheese.

Put in the oven for 15 mins to melt the cheese and crisp the chips.

Serve with tomatoes, cucumber and lashings of sour cream and avocado. Yum!

Cook that craving: Milkshakes

I LOVE milkshakes.
Especially now that I have a little one inside.

In fact I just love milk in general. In stead of getting a soft drink or juice at the shops for a drink I usually get a small carton of plain white milk. mmmm.

I made some raspberry milkshakes today for the first day of summer that felt like summer. We have been having a lot of rain.






Ingredients (makes 2)
milk
vanilla ice cream
raspberries
honey

pop it in and whiz it up!

silly sick and sad

I am all three of these things this week.


Silly - I'm sure you are all aware of the term "comfort eater." I am not a comfort eater. I really like food and cooking and reading Jamie Oliver cookbooks but in order to enjoy I have to be happy. Most of the time I am happy so this is not a problem. But in the morning or lunchtime if I am at home on my lonesome the desire to cook is not within me.

This presents a bit of a problem when there is not one but two to feed. I keep needing to remind myself that I need to eat lots and regularly and healthily because it is not just me I am feeding. So my morning ritual consists of;

Wake up
have a shower
feed the bobbin... etc

I need that mindset otherwise Myles comes home and I realise that I am starving.

Its very silly... hence the title.

Sick - I think this would also be correctly labeled as silly but for the purpose of a cool title lets leave it as sick. I have hypothyroidism. It's not a big deal. I just take a pill a day. Easy right?

Well... these are special pills. The chemist told me to keep them in the fridge. (Quite a few times actually) But did I listen? Well yes... and no.

 I looked at the packet a little while ago and read that after 21 days at below 25 degrees you must discard all extra pills. In a packet of 200 I thought that sounded harsh but figured that meant you kept one blister pack in the fridge and the rest in the cupboard so they don't need to be thrown out?

Actually I'm not so sure what I thought.

But in reality it just means you can have them out of the fridge (below 25 but higher than cold cold fridge temp) for 21 days and after that chuck em out.

So I have had my pills in the cupboard with one pack in the fridge. That pack is almost gone. I am very silly and need to go get a new pack. Lucky they only cost me five bucks! Thanks PBS!

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.


Sad - these silly and sick things make me sad. They sometimes make me feel like I will be a bad mother and forget to feed/medicate my child. Mostly they just make me laugh at myself at how rediculous and imperfect I am.


Hmm maybe I should just blame it on being pregnant and rename this post. When you get pregnant your brain turns to mush?

cook that craving

I have not been craving the healthiest of things.

Pizza, potato scallops, milkshakes, honey chicken.

I don't know if its me or the baby but we sure like our junk food.

So I decided that maybe I could find healthy(er) alternatives to those foods I crave so much and then I would not feel quite so bad for eating them.

The other night I cooked honey chicken for dinner.


Ingredients

- 4 chicken thighs
- 4tbs cornflour
- 2 carrots
- bunch of choy sum
- 1 cup of rice

- honey
- sweet chilli sauce
- sesame oil

- soy sauce
- Chinese 5 spice

Pop your wok on. You want it so nice and hot so you don't have to fry the chicken for long. Add a few lugs of oil. You don't need to fill the wok but you do need a fair bit.

You will probably want your rice on now so it is ready by the time your fries are. Everyone cooks rice differently but I put 1 cup of rinsed rice in a saucepan with 2 cups of boiling water. When it is all boiling away I turn it to the lowest setting and simmer with the lid on for 20 mins. When the buzzer goes turn the heat off and leave the lid on till you are ready to serve up.


Cut up carrots, choy sum and chicken into bite size stirfry pieces. (I like to leave the leafy parts of the choy sum so that I can rip them up later and stir them in at the end of the stirfry)

Toss chicken in cornfour till it is all nicely coated. Pop those babies in the hot hot oil. Test the oil first with a teensy piece of chicken. If its ready the chicken will rise to the top and fizz and bubble. You will probably need to do a few batches. They wont all fit at once. Cook until they go brown and then take them out with a spoon with holes in it to drain the oil off. Place on a tray with baking paper to soak up the oil.

Once you have done that pour out all the oil. Dont wash the wok as you will need a smidgin of oil to fry the vegis. Pop in the vegis with a dash of soy sauce and 5 spice powder for flavour. If you like it plain then leave it. This is not a crucial step. By the way this is the healthy part of the meal.
Once the carrot and choy sum are cooked throw in the leaves of the choy sum. They wither very quickly so they don't need long.

When that is done put the vegis to the side. Keep your wok on add about half a teaspoon of sesame oil, a tbs of sweet chilli sauce (you could use 1/4 of a chopped chilli or leave out) and 5 or 6 tbs of honey. You need to be quick and not cook this for long. Once it is bubbling you will have toffee. It doesn't need long. Once heated and melty add the chicken and coat in the honey. You may need to add more honey see how you go.

Thats it.

Serve out your rice, vegis and chicken in little bowls and enjoy!

Serves 4

onea pizza twoa pizza threea pizza four!

I haven't really experienced serious cravings but if there was one thing I have not stopped having a hankering for all pregnancy long its pizza.

In fact i think its dairy things. Yes pizza is now classified dairy. Because of the cheese.
I have hankerings for milk, milkshakes, things with cheese and cheezels.

Im sure there is about 0% cheese or dairy in cheezles but i have been craving them on and off.

Anyway. I really enjoy making my own pizza.

I make my own dough in the breadmaker.
Add homemade pizza sauce (tinned tomatoes, basil, pepper, olive oil, garlic chopped up in a blender)
add a small bit of cheese and put in the oven for 5 mins.
Take it out and add toppings. (olives, ham, chicken, capsicum, mushroom, pineapple) Remember less is more.
Pop some cheese on top and put it in the oven for 20 mins or until brownish on top.

Tasty.

Does anyone have any winner pizza topping combinations?

Why I love my husband...

The other night I wanted chicken nuggets.


No.


I needed chicken nuggets.

So Myles went out and bought me two packets of chicken nuggets, cooked them and served them with sweet chilli sauce.

Oh yeah it was about 11pm.
He is wonderful.