Smokey beans with chorizo

Over the last few months I have been trying to bulk cook either for the week ahead or to freeze leftovers for a later time. I know that I have written about bulk cooking and freezing and how it didn't really work for me. Well, like a massive amount of things my life has changed and habits change too. I usually take my lunch to work with me 4 days a week and treat myself on the 5th. Some weeks are better than others. My work place offers amazing facilities. We have a full kitchen with cook top, oven, microwave, toaster, sandwich press and I have seen one of those pizza ovens in the cupboard. Our pantry and fridge are amazingly stocked. We are provided with both fresh fruit and fresh bread each week. I tend to have my two pieces of fruit at work each day. I have morning tea of vitawheat with vegemite and sometimes with cheese. I think that the only down fall in our office kitchen is there is so much chocolate and other sweet foods. I think there is all and every type of chocolate biscuit there is in our fridge at the office. I do love a mint slice but it really isn't good to be frequenting the chocolate biscuit drawer and it would be lovely to have some healthier options, not sure what they could be.

As I said I do meals for the week or freezer when bulk cooking but I have also taken to making breakfasts as well. If I don't have breakfast ready for the week I tend to have corn thins with peanut butter and banana, not exchange bad but it could be better. I often make a baked oatmeal, which I thought I had previously blogged but I cannot seem to find so I will do that one day soon. That will usually take me through 5 - 6 days. It was time for something different though. I found a recipe for Smokey Baked Beans and the idea sounded good but not so much the recipe. My first issue with it was that it wasn't baked.... in the end mine weren't either hence there is no "baked" in the title. So I used it as a base and went my own way. I did find that part way through the cooking it wasn't really tasting all that smokey to me so I added a couple of tbsp of a bbq sauce I had in the fridge. I think part of the issue was that the recipe I was using as a guide had water and it was just too much liquid so I lost some of the flavour. As part of my bulk cooking and freezing, I cooked a large amount of kidney beans, borlotti beans and chickpeas and have them in the freezer. It makes life so much easier and so much cheaper than buying the tins. So I thawed some of them overnight and cooked it up in the morning. I think this gave me 4, maybe 5 breakfasts. I served it on a piece of toasted sourdough for the first couple of days but then just heated a bowl up in the morning and ate it without anything else.

Smokey beans with chorizo

• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 chorizo, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 400g tin chopped tomato
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp smokey bbq sauce (I used Stubbs smokey mesquite which I got from Harris Farm Market)
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (I used a hot smoked paprika)
• 2 cups cooked beans (I used kidney & borlotti)

Method:

Heat large frypan over a medium heat and add chorizo. Cook until it is starting to brown and then remove from the pan. Add onion and cook until soft and translucent then add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring for 1 - 2 minutes, I find the flavours better if tomato paste is "cooked off".
Add the remaining ingredients and reduce to a low heat until it has thickened and is the consistency that you desire.

Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce

Hi! It's been ages, actually I don't really need to say that. I have made a bunch of things and keep telling myself "I must blog that" but never seem to get around to it but here I am. I've been on holidays for the past 10 days. Well, sort of, since I did go to work for 3 days but it was fine because I got a heap of stuff done and didn't have to put up with anyone else. Unfortunately I have to go back to work proper tomorrow. I don't really feel much like interacting with people so I might end up in my separate little office on the guise of finishing stuff I didn't get done in those three days. I suppose it will depend on how I am feeling tomorrow.

It is raining here today which makes it a lovely day to be sitting here writing. I will most likely end up on the lounge reading and/or napping at some point today. Although there is house work that needs doing. I keep telling myself that I can do it later however the problem with that is that it continues to build up. Yes, you can do it later but it becomes a bigger job. Will get out of the chair and off here soon.

I started this with this Eggs in Purgatory recipe from Nigella. As I started to cook it dawned on me that it was a pretty boring recipe so I just started adding things. It turned out really well so I thought that I should sit down & blog as quickly as possible so that I remember it. One thing I did put in it was  3 smoked mushrooms. I bought a jar of them when I was on my cruise to New Zealand. That was over a year ago now and I hadn't opened the jar. They added a lovely little smoky flavour, not too much, just a hint. I will make this again. The sauce will make enough for two eggs, possibly 3. I cooked 1 egg in it and scooped it out. I will use the sauce again, probably tomorrow. Next time I would either make half the amount or, more likely, take out half the mix before cooking the egg. I would also sprinkle with chopped parsley but I didn't have any inside and it is raining out there.

Eggs poached in tomato sauce

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, crushed

shake of chilli flakes

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 roasted capsicum, torn into pieces

1 zucchini, grated

125g can four bean mix

3 smoked mushrooms, chopped

400 g can crushed tomatoes

1 egg

Saute onion 1 - 2 minutes, add garlic and chilli flakes and saute another minute.

Add remaining ingredients. Cook 10 minutes.

Make an impression in the sauce and crack egg into it. Cover and cook 2 - 3 minutes. Until the white is firm and yolk still runny. I cooked a little bit too far today. Serve on toast.

Delicious April 2012 - Cauliflower, Lentil & Coconut Milk Curry

I haven't forgotten about this month's delicious magazine recipe. I have just had a bit of a motivation problem. In fact I lost my cooking mojo for a few weeks. I did make a couple of things but for the most part I really just couldn't be bothered. I did however start to get out a bit. Barbecues at friend's places, dinner out, swimming a lot. I had been getting meals from the local cafe for lunch so wasn't all that inclined to eat much for dinner. 

I was quite interested in making Bill Granger's Lentil Bolognaise from this issue. It is always nice to get some more vegetarian meals. However in the past 12 months I have managed to lose 20 kg and, as much as I love it, I am being very careful about the amount of pasta that I eat. I have issues with pasta. I just adore it. Unfortunately I just can't eat a small amount. When it comes to pasta I always have a massive bowl full and eat until I am absolutely stuffed. I also never make a salad or anything to go with it. Although at least this recipe is lentil based rather than meat. Plus I would probably add some vegetables to it, probably grated carrot, zucchini, perhaps corn & peas as well. I will make it one day. I might be able to serve it with some quinoa instead of the pasta. 

I came very, very close to making Phoebe Wood's Eggplant Escabeche. It looked and sounded so yummy. I guess the best way to describe it would be some kind of eggplant pickles or relish. The only thing that stopped me making it was the fact that it used 1.5 kg of eggplant and at the moment at my local greengrocer eggplants are $8.99/kg. Would make for a rather expensive recipe unfortunately. I will add it to my "must make" list for when eggplants drop in price. 

What I ended up making was Debbie Major's Cauliflower Lentil & Coconut Milk Curry. I had cauliflower in the fridge that was in desperate need of using up. I also had a few green beans that really needed to be used as well so I tossed them in as well. I was really happy with the result of this. I only had a good medium curry powder so just reduced the amount a touch. I would probably reduce the amount of coconut milk in it next time as there is a bit too much sauce for my liking. I would probably use 250 mls. I think that would be plenty. Although if I had the 400 ml can then I would be able to add more if necessary. I served it with some brown rice and a Chickpea, carrot & yoghurt salad. The salad was really easy to throw together, just some chickpeas, a grated carrot, sliced green onions, chopped mint & coriander, yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon juice. Was the perfect accompaniment to the curry. 

Herb-crumbed cutlets and bean & parsley salad

So I performed a little surgery and gave the place a bit of a facelift. I also finally got around to making my own header. I think that it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. I actually had quite a bit of fun playing around with some photo editing software over the weekend. Even better, I have a one day photography course coming up in a couple of weeks. I hope that it will improve my photos. Most of the time getting a good photo is pretty much a matter of luck for me. I suppose if I really sat down with my camera manual I might be able to work it out but I think it will be a lot easier having a professional photographer how to get the best out of your camera. There is also the possibility of a longer course next semester. I am actually quite excited at the prospect. 

I made this recipe quite some time ago now. At the moment I am in a bit of a funk and can't really be bothered cooking or even eating much. I am, of course, still eating and trying to eat well but there is just nothing exciting being made in my household. Chicken & sprout sandwiches really aren't blog worth. 

I plan on making this recipe again. I have more cutlets in the freezer. I only made a few changes to the recipe. I used sourdough in place of the white bread for the crumbs. Instead of flour & egg wash I lightly coated the cutlets in low-fat greek yoghurt. I had some green beans that really needed to be used up so I sliced and blanched them and added to the salad. It was nice and filling and I can't wait to make it again. Perhaps with some different herbs in with the crumbs and next time I might give them a spray with some olive oil and cook under the grill instead of pan frying. 

Black Bean & Vegie Nachos

I can't sleep tonight. I am tired and feeling rather blah but I just cannot seem to get so sleep. I was going to start a recipe for tomorrow night but on reading over it again it had to simmer for 3 hours. While I am having trouble getting to sleep at 11 pm I don't really want to have to stay up until 2 am waiting for something to finish cooking. So it will just have to wait until tomorrow. At least not sleeping gives me a chance to get caught up on some things that have been languishing around for a while and also schedule some posts for the next few days.

I bought some dried black beans ages ago and I haven't used them very much. There are a lot of different recipes that I have come across that use them but I just haven't gotten around to making any of them. The beans work very well in a taco/nacho filling though. I have made two different ones now. I really like vegetarian mixes for nachos and tacos. I also make my own seasoning mix. So much better for you than the ones you buy in the supermarket. I made a few extra tweaks to my seasoning mix this time and was very pleased with the results. I am glad that I wrote this recipe out while making so that I could replicate it as it was very good. 

Black Bean & Vegie Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c black beans, soaked overnight & boiled until cooked.
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 red capsicum, finely diced
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 zucchini, grated
• 250 g mushrooms, finely diced
• 4 tsp homemade taco seasoning (or to taste)
• 1 can tomatoes
• 300g can corn (undrained)
• 2 – 3 tbsp tomato paste

Method:

• Heat oil in fry pan over medium heat add onion and cook 4 -5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and cook a further minute.
• Add capsicum, carrot & zucchini and cook stirring for a few minutes. Add mushrooms and stir in. Sprinkle over taco seasoning and stir for a few minutes or until fragrant.
• Add beans, tomatoes, corn and tomato paste. Let simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Serve with tortillas or over corn chips with grated cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream or yoghurt.

  

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

  

Ingredients: 

• 6 tsp Chilli Powder
• 5 tsp Paprika (3 tsp sweet, 2 tsp hot smoked)
• 4 ½ tsp Cumin
• 3 tsp Coriander
• 3 tsp Onion Powder
• 2 ½ tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Method: 

• In storage container with tight-fitting lid, combine all ingredients and mix well.   
• Seal tightly. Store in cool, dry place for up to 6 months.