Wednesday 13 May 2009

Yummy recipes

As I prepare to be a Mrs, I want to try and cover all fronts; necessary for a balanced life methinks. Just a few recipes I've 'stolen' from the internet, I'm trying to be more adventerous in the kitchen. I'll give credits later but acknowledge that none of this recipes are mine. Feel free to try them out.

Xoxo.

Vegetarian Lasagna
You need:

Onions (1 1/2 - 2 large ones)
Garlic
Bay leaves
Tinned tomatoes (or real ones) 3 cans
Double concentrate tomatoes
Cinnamon
1 maggi cube (stock cube?)
Eggplant (2)
Olive oilCheese1)

First slice the eggplant into as thin slices as possible. Spread a little salt over each slice and let them rest for 30 minutes. This will drain some of the water out. After 30 minutes, put them in the oven with a little oil on 200 degrees C for about 15-20 minutes.

2)Whilst doing this, make the sauce. Start by cutting onions into tiny pieces, fry them with garlic in olive oil. Depends how much you like garlic, but at least 2-3 of them. Mix in 3-4 table spoons of double concentrate tomatoes and the maggi cube. Let it fry for a little bit. Add the tinned tomatoes, bay leaves and cinnamon. It's hard to explain how much, just let it look ok and taste along the way! When you put too much, you'll end up with a too bitter taste. Something that could help for this is add a teaspoon or two of sugar and some more tomatoes. Let this sauce simmer for like 1 hour but TASTE along the way to make sure its good!

3)Lay the slices of eggplant in the bottom of a casserole , just like you would with a lasagna. Layer with the sauce. Then repeat. Put sauce on the top, and some swiss cheese or something.

4) Put it in the oven for 20-30 minutes 200 degrees celcius. Delicious! Can be served with brown rice, sweet potatoes or ordinary potatoes. Really good with tzatziki too.This is how you make tzatziki: Grater half a cucumber into some plain low fat yoghurt, squeeze one garlic into it.Yes - I know garlic gives bad breath but whatever. it IS healthy.Last tip I have - Always try to make your salads as dark green as possible. Contains way more vitamins and nutrition. Spinach leaves works just fine and are very healthy.

Plantain vegetable stew
Awesome way to eat boiled plantain. Add tomatoes, vegetables (spinach), seasoning (like u r cooking stew), and chop the plantain in cubes. It is very, very yummy. Even the one made with green plantain.

Vegetable soup

Ingredients
3 sticks of celery , sliced
2 baking potatoes, diced
1 small/medium onion, diced
1/2-1 leek, sliced
4 small/medium tomatoes, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 vegetable stock in 600-800ml hot water
A large pot/pan

Method
1.Put all the vegetables in a pan to fry briefly for a few minutes.

2.Once the vegetables start to steam, add stock and salt.

3.Bring to boil then simmer with a lid on for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

4.Add pepper if desired and enjoy.
Serves: 2-4
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 30-40 mins


Leek and potato soup recipe
Ingredients
Onion, chopped ?
1Leeks, chopped ?
3Large potatoes, chopped ?
2300ml veg or chicken stock
300ml semi skimmed milk
50ml dry white wine
Salt and pepper

Making Method
1. Put all of the vegetables, milk and stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil.? Simmer on a lower heat for around 25 minutes.
2. Puree in a food processor or blender until it is all smooth.
3. Get a fresh pan and pour in the mixture, add the seasoning and the wine.? Heat soup through.
4. Serve immediately.
Serves: 4Total Preparation Time: 5 minutesTotal Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Chicken noodle soup

Ingredients
900ml chicken stock
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast,
about 175g/6oz1 garlic clove , finely chopped
1tsp fresh root ginger (chopped)
2 shredded spring onions
50g rice or wheat noodles
2 tbsp sweetcorn2-3 thinly sliced mushrooms
2 tsp soy sauce , plus a little extra for serving
mint or basil leaves
shredded chilli

Method
1. Pour the chicken stock into a medium sized pan, add the chicken, garlic & ginger and then bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat, partly cover and allow to simmer for around 20 mins, the chicken will go tender during this time. After 20 mins is up take out the chicken and using a fork shred it into small bit sized pieces.
2. Place the chicken shred back into the stock with the noodles, corn, half the spring onion, mushrooms and the soy sauce. Simmer for around 4 mins until the noodles are soft and tender. Using a ladle pour the soup into two bowls and sprinkle the remaining onions, herbs and chilli shreds over each bowl.
Serves: 4Preparation time: 10 mins Cooking time: 30 mins

The recipes look simple enough, I've never cooked from a recipe before so I'm looking forward to it. Will be back to share on the experience!

3 comments:

Favoured Girl said...

I'll try the Plantain stew... hmmm.

Have a great weekend!

Anonymous said...

The plantain vegie stew is news to me. Sounds yummy.SY

Hadassah said...

@ FG: Thanks for your comment, I'm definetely giving that one a try

@SY: Yum, yum