Tasty Thursday - Easy to prepare

Yummy yummy.. its time for another Tasty Thursday. This weeks edition is focussed on low-prep, easy to prepare food that go easy on your tummy. As someone who works eight hours a day, the last thing I want to do on some days is go home and cook. This doesn't mean I don't want to EAT! and if I am eating I would generally prefer tasty food to plain old fill-your-stomach food.

Necessity often breeds invention and this has certainly been the case for me recently. Trying to get in balanced nutritious food while still keeping prep time to a minimum has become a daily battle. Being vegetarian means that I can't just pop a piece of meat/fish/chicken on the grill as a solution. So, here is another quick meal for the list. The potatoes provide the carbs, margerine and olive oil provide the fats and the cottage cheese is a protein and dairy. Serve with a green salad for the veg component and the stewed clementines as fruit. This was a hearty winters evening meal that satisfies and warms you to your bones. The warm cinnamon flavour of the dessert mellowed by the burst of fresh citrus was the perfect ending to a rough day.

Garlic Baked Potatoes

-Serves 2

4 medium thin skinned potatoes

1 bulb garlic / a scallion bulb

Olive oil

Low fat chunky cottage cheese (flavoured if desired)

Wash potatoes thoroughly

Pour approx a teaspoon of olive oil into your palm and coat each potato completely

Using a sharp knife, pierce the potatoes randomly ensuring that each side has a few cuts

Coat garlic with olive oil

Pour a little oil into a baking try for good measure

Arrange potatoes and garlic so that each potato rests near the garlic

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 45 mins or until cooked through and skins are golden

Remove from oven, and cut open

add margerine and salt to taste (optional)

Squeeze roasted garlic onto potatoes (optional)

Top GENEROUSLY with chunky low fat cottage cheese

If you used the scallion bulb, chop finely as a topping for the cottage cheese (optional)

Enjoy

Caramel Stewed Clementines

half a cup brown sugar

1 cup water

2 seedless clementines (mandarins)

1 to 2 sticks of cassia bark (cinnamon)

place sugar in a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon of the water and cassia bark

cook on low to medium heat stirring all the while

when the sugar darkens to a rich colour, add peeled and segmented clementines

coat the clementines with the syrup as they cook

while cooking, add water a tablespoon at a time as the mixture thickens to keep it at the right consistency

gently turn the clementine segments regularly to ensure cooking on both sides but try to keep the juices from squeezing out completely

Add a little more water at the end to thin the syrup

Serve warm

The leftover syrup is a great topping for ice-cream

Tasty Thursday - Baby Garden Pasta

Better late than never, right? Sorry guys for missing this weeks Tasty Thursday. On Thursday we had a group therapy session at work to help us transition to the new company branding. It was about 4 hours and we discussed things that we like and dislike about the company. At times it was fairly tension filled and I was exhausted by the end of it. And on Friday there was a baby shower for one of our co-workers. This was stressful for me. Just when I think I'm making progress, I discover that I have another stumbling block.

In this case, I just couldn't go to the baby shower. The thought of seeing all those baby clothes and all the excitement and happiness made me feel extremely anxious and I ended up not going. Part of the problem was that the lady in question was due in the first week in December and that was when my second lost baby would been born. It was good that I didn't have another big emotional storm, but I was still extremely uncomfortable.

****************TMI AHEAD*******************
The good news is I think I O'd this week. And hubby and I have been trying to BD regularly (after a long dry spell). I think we might have timed it correctly, so now its a question of whether I O'd on the correct side where my tube is still intact. I don't have confirmation of O yet, I'll probably only get that by Monday, but I feel like I O'd. My temps for the last 5 days have been 36.2, 36.2, 36.2, 36.3, 36.4 .. If it continues to go up then I will know that I have O'd. And then will be time for the 2WW during which I will be anxiously biting my nails until either AF comes or I have a confirmed pregnancy. And then the real worry begins.. LOL.. who wants to be me??
*********************END OF TMI*******************

This garden pasta is quick, easy and good for stress since it has lots of wonderful green veggies. Excellent for the health conscious or TTC'ing mommies :) Credit goes to our very own T'alicious for this wonderful recipe.



Baby Garden Pasta
Baby marrow
Baby corn
Sugar Snap peas (Mange Tout)
Tri-colour pasta
1 mini can of tomato paste
1 can Italian tomatoes - (Pomo D'Oro)
garlic, chilli
salt to taste

Boil Pasta in salted water until al dente

Slice veggies diagonally (very important to the flavour) and pan fry in a little Olive oil and salt

When veggies caramelise, add about 2 tablespoons of water to the mixture to keep all that smoky sweet flavour.

Cook tomatoes with garlic, chilli and salt

Mix vegetables into pasta

Add tomato

Serve with a tablespoon of sour cream on the side.

Tasty Thursday - Sweetcorn Filled Gems

This weeks Tasty Thursday is a favourite in our house because of its simplicity and how easy it is to make. Its delicious, doesn't require much cooking skill and it is pretty easy on the tummy. Usually after a week of heavy, rich or spicy foods, hubby and I are looking for something that will soothe our tummies and give it a chance to settle.

Also, if we've been having those rich and spicy foods, chances are its been a hectic week where we haven't been doing the cooking ourselves and eating at home. This is a meal reserved for those times when we're too tired to cook but still want something nutricious and wholesome. And most of all quick!

Ingredients

4 Gem Squash

1 tin cream-style Sweetcorn

8 teaspoons butter (to taste and optional)

Grated Cheese

salt to taste

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper/ curry powder/ peri-peri/ paprika

a sprinkle of dried mixed herbs

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Cut the Gems in half

Place in a wide, shallow microwave dish with about half a cup of water

Microwave until seeds start to pull away from the sides and gem squash is cooked (usually about 8-10 mins)

Scoop out the seeds

(you can plant them, roast them or just throw them away)

Place a teaspoon of butter in the shells and grind over some salt

Fill the shells with sweetcorn, top with cheese and sprinkle over the paprika and herbs

Enjoy!

Tasty Thursday - Picnic Fare - Potato Salad

Continuing our series on picnic fare, todays Tasty Thursday is about that classic american dish .. Potato Salad. As lacto-vegetarians (means we have dairy but no eggs), generally store bought potato salad doesnt work for us since it contains mayo. However, we have found a pretty good substitute - Salad Cream. Here in South Africa, there is a brand called Trim which contains low oil and no eggs making it an extremely healthy choice. There is a light version as well, so if you're watching those calories, this is the way to go! This is an excellent side dish, a meal on it own or an additional relish in your burgers, hotdogs and braaied sausages.

Potato Salad

Potatoes (peeled and cubed)

Cross and Blackwell Trim Salad Cream

1/2 cup chopped herbs - Dill, Spring Onion, Chives

1/2 teaspoon curry powder 

Salt and Pepper to taste

Microwave potatoes until cooked through.

Allow to cool slightly.

While still slightly warm, pour the salad cream over (enough to cover thoroughly) and mix - doing this while the potatoes are still warm will allow you to mix the cream in easier

Add salt, pepper and curry powder and mix through

Toss in half the herbs and mix evenly

Decorate the top with remaining herbs

Tasty Thursday - Picnic Fare - Baked Bean Salad

Now that the weather is warming up, I thought it would be a good idea to do a series on quick easy picnic food for Tasty Thursdays.

What I love about picnic food, is that it is so versatile. The baked bean salad listed below can also be spread on a pizza base or even just a slice of bread topped with some cheese and oregano and baked for a quick delicious pizza. Grill some Italian or French bread rounds brushed with garlic and olive oil, top with the baked beans salad and a sprinkling of fresh herbs and you have some tasty (and classy) bruschetta to serve at brunch.  Spread a cracker with low fat cream cheese, drop of dollop of this mixture on top and you have a quick, healthy snack. Or you could serve it as an accompaniment or side dish when braaing (barbecuing). You could even use it as a type of relish inside a burger or hotdog. I could go on and on. Go crazy and let your creative juices flow to come up with other exciting ways to use this versatile salad.

Baked Bean Salad

1 tin Baked Beans in tomato sauce

1 Tomato (chopped)

1/4 - 1/2 an onion (optional)

1/2 cup chopped parsley, spring onions, coriander

1 tsp medium curry powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed ginger and garlic

1/2 tsp crushed green chillies (cayenne)

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

Method

Mix all ingredients into a large bowl and refrigerate until time to use.