Madras Beef Curry

Curry Paste

Mix together 2 tablesppons of ground coriander,1 tablespoon of ground cumin,1 teaspoon of tumeric.

Add black pepper (freshly ground) and chilli to taste. (I used about 1 teaspoon).

Add 2 cloves garlic, 2 teaspoons grated ginger and the juice of half a lemon.

Stir and set aside

To make curry

Brown onion and diced beef in a frypan with olive oil. Put aside in a bowl.

Put curry paste in same frypan and cook off for about a minute.

Add 2 tablespoons good quality tomato paste.

Return beef to pan and stir to coat with paste.

Add 1 cup beef stock. And a good handful of fresh chopped tomatoes.

Cook covered on low for an hour or so.

Cook uncovered for a further half hour. Again just at a simmer.

Serve on brown rice with a good dollop of fresh yogurt.

ENJOY!

Excited even before I start cooking ...

Why we do what we do ...Taking stock ...

Of why I make my own stock

1. It's easy - I mean - it cooks itself! I don't need to do anything!

(I can even cook it in the crockpot when I am out! How easy is that!)

2. It makes me feel good to do this for my family

(there is nothing like the thought of stock simmering away to make me happy!)

3. It tastes better

(To me - commercial stocks just taste of salt. UGH)

4. I know what is IN it!

(To give a comparison ... I found an ingredient list from a commercial product. MY stock does not have chicken powder, flavour enhancer (and in some it is MSG), anti caking agent, colours ....flavours ... (talk about vague!) Just what are we putting in our bodies?

PLUS - my stock has the goodness of the marrow from the marrow bones when I make beef stock. (and let's not get into the debate on the healing powers of good REAL chicken soup!)

5. I make my stock with NO salt. I don't want my children's and my family's tastebuds trained to become addicted to the commercial levels of salt that we are used to. Commercial stock is about SALT. NOT flavour! My stock is about flavour. And is a perfect base to use so I can flavour the MEAL I am making at the time to my tastes ... not rely on what a commercial product thinks EVERY meal should taste like.

To give a comparison. A popular heavily advertised brand of liquid stock here in Australia has 507mg of salt per 100g. The Australian recommendation is intake is to eat NO product with greater than 120mg of salt per serve.

My stock ... has pretty much none.

Even their salt reduced version has 400mg of salt per 100g. Totally outside the recommendations.

I make my stock in bulk. I freeze it in lots and it is always there.

I make stock because I love too. Because it is NO trouble. And it is better for us. Why would I change?

Lunch... and lamb...

This was my lunch.

Jealous?

I think lamb is my favourite meat ever. Lamb cutlets specifically.

They are expensive - but if I hunt I can get them on clearance. Then I freeze them and cook them when I am home alone. My own special decadent treat!

The salad was lovely! Coleslaw veges (shredding carrot, cabbage and purple cabbage) with capsicum, cherry tomatoes, a GOOD dollop of natural yogurt and really generously sprinkled with pine nuts, and sunflower seeds.

So good for you ... so decadent. Who says lunches are boring???

Things I LOVE! Nude food movers!

I hate buying food when I am out. Which means packing snacks.

But I hate waste. Which means no cling wrap, ziplock baggies etc.

What I NORMALLY do is take a whole heaps of different containers. They are all mixed and matched and they bump around in my bag. And the lids come off. And they leak.

But today I discovered THESE!

These are the Nude Food Movers Snack tubes. Especially designed so you can pack your food with no packaging.

They are air tight. They are leak proof. (I tried!) and they screw together so you only have one thing to carry around when you are taking snacks for different people with you.

They are the perfect size for fruit salad, nuts, cereal, yogurt ... (and did I tell you they don't leak??)

When screwed together they are the same size as a water bottle, so they even fit in the water bottle compartment of a lunch cooler bag.

I LOVE THEM!

There is a whole new range of products! I can't wait to try more!

But I wanted to show you these - cause I think they are a really practical solution for us!

The website isn't online fully yet - but it is www.nudefoodmovers.com.au

s

oh! and here are the pancakes!~

Use it up! Don't throw it out!

Is it just my house? Or do other people's kids eat half a banana ALL the time?

Somehow this morning we had THREE halves of bananas left over from breakfast. (don't worry - they were cut up bananas - not the half that someone had chewed on and eaten.)

I didn't feel like freezing them for banana bread and I needed something extra for lunches ... so 5 minutes cooking (if that) and we had wholewheat banana pancakes!

YUM!

No recipe required. And they are SO sweet and lovely!

Basically I used a good hand of whole wheat self raising flour, a little egg replacer, some milk, and squashed up banana. And a little yoghurt cause that helps it rise.

I was one popular mummy this morning!

10min to cook ....

I felt like someone off one of those tv cooking shows tonight. I had 10 min till dinner (we had just gotten home from a weekend away) ... and pretty much no food in the house.

And we did NOT want to eat out. Our budget could not afford it - and the thought of putting that GUNK into our bodies was even less appealing.

A quick search found some lamb that was really thin so would not need much defrosting in the freezer ... so this is what we did.

Let's call it honey and ginger lamb. With noodles. Cause that's what it is! (well - plus onion, carrot, capsicum, frozen beans. And tumeric. I add tumeric to anything I can. )

It tasted GOOD. It took less than 10 min. It was bright and colourful. And it was CHEAP.

Plus Miss E LOVES noodles (and capsicum) - so it was a winner there too.

Sometimes when you are in hurry it pays to take things SLOW

Tonights dinner.

Slow cooked lamb shanks.

You know those days when the evening is going to be a rush? And you just won't have time for ANYTHING?

Instead of thinking FAST food - think SLOW cooking.

You do your prep earlier in the day ... then let the flavours melt and meld over the hours while you get what you need done. By dinner time all you need to do is eat and serve.

Tonight was one night like that. Paul had to give a nutrition talk this evening, so dinner would be rushed.

Around 3 I started prep, and by 5.30 dinner was hot, ready and oh so flavourful!

If I am home I much prefer to slow cook food in the oven than the crockpot. You just cannot compare the flavours.

So without further ado - Slow cooked Lamb Shanks. Honestly the best tasting meal I have had in QUITE a long time!

I used a cast iron roasting dish. Put it on the oven and heat with some good quality olive oil.

Begin to lightly brown lamb shanks.

Throw in garlic (YUM) and onion.
Two tablespoons of tomato paste

And a really generous splash of red wine (I actually used port and it worked WELL)

Let the heat boil off the alcohol.

Throw in a tin of tomotoes, two cups chicken stock (we keep home made chicken stock in the freezer), and a good handful of chopped fresh rosemary.

Put in a moderate oven. Two hours. Turn if you remember

I served this with "rustic" mashed potatoes (what I call my mash when I don't peel the spuds first. I hate throwing away those nutrients and everyone here loves them) and peas. And poured that delicious sauce over top.

This was SO full of flavour. It was incredible! A must try!

Menu planning

Tomorrow
Thursday

Breakfast

Steel cut oats (for Eliana and I)
Rice with warm milk, cinnamon, nuts , dried fruit for Paul

Morning tea
Fruit salad

Lunch
Lentil patties (leftovers)
Salad
Home baked bread

Afternoon tea
Smoothies
Whole wheat pancakes (Miss E has a guest!)

Dinner
Turkey and quinoa meatloaf
Served with steamed vegetables

Friday

Breakfast

Poached eggs
Tomato
Mushrooms

Morning tea
Fruit and yoghurt

Lunch
Salad
Wholewheat spaghettie with Pea Pesto

Afternoon tea
Smoothies!

Dinner
Fish and home baked chips

(we are away for the weekend then - so no menu planning there. Wish as luck as we try to eat the best we can. I'll report back on Sunday night with how we went!

Lunch. Lentil patties. Homemade bread. Salad. YUM

Lunch was good! I loved it. And there was far too much so I left some. Miss E loved it. (the mark of approval from the 4 year old is the one that truly counts!)

It was quick and easy to make. Tasted good. And good for us!

On a winner here.

The bread was the one I posted about earlier. I didn't have time for all the rising times so when I tried to make buns it flattened - but worked out well - kinda like a healthy wholemeal foccacia. I sprinkled linseeds and pepitas in the top before baking, just to increase our number of plant foods - and they were great! The honey in this bread gave it a delicious flavour and I prefer to use honey than the sugar that is in most breads.

The lentil patties were a form of bucket cookery. No recipe. Just throw it in and see what works.

As best I can recall we had

• a tin of brown lentils (I normally use dried but this was leftover from a camping trip)
• an egg to bind
• celery and onion finely diced
• cauliflower very finely diced
• turmeric
• garlic
• cumin
• my mix was too moist so I did use some rolled oats to help bind it. If you are looking for gluten free I tend to make "crumbs" out of rice cakes and this works really well

I just shallow fried these in a pan with some extra virgin olive oil.

They worked out really well and were tasty! I need to make some yoghurt so we could serve them with a drizzle of natural yoghurt - that would be NICE

Served with salad (my girl is obsessed with capsicum) and overall deliceious!

Things I love

Our fruit bowl. Not because it is fancy, or expensive or even particularly nice. But because when I have it out - we eat fruit. A lot! I will often catch Miss E climbing up and grabbing an apple and I am FINE with that!

Out of sight, out of mind for us. When the fruit is in the fridge we just don't think to eat it. When it is out - we go beserk!

And we have SO much less waste! I love it!

I'll share more things I love later ... and I'd love to hear yours

How I bake bread

Actually, there are a lot of different ways we bake bread in this house. Paul bakes gluten free. And a post or six will come on that soon I am sure! I used to bake using the breadmaker, but I am trying to keep that gluten free for Paul. Lately I have been playing with the methods in the book http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ You basically make up a big batch of dough once a week (or every few days ... depending how much you eat) and pull off "chunks and cook it that way. Today we are making 100% whole wheat sandwich bread. Seriously it took 5 min to mix the dough, and now we are waiting for it to rise. Not gluten free .... but Miss E and I (so far) are not on a gluten free diet. And we are careful in our house with cross contamination. What has me REALLY EXCITED though is they have a NEW BOOK coming!! Healthy bread in five minutes a day! And it has some GLUTEN FREE recipes! 69 days to go! I can't wait!

Menu planning - let's start with just one day ...

OK - I really want to menu plan WAY ahead. But it's 6pm. and I have a cold. so let's just start with tomorrow.

Wednesday 23 September

Breakfast - slow cooked steel cut oats. Cooked with apple juice and served with fresh yoghurt. (Paul can't eat oats so he is having rice custard - yes for breakfast!)

Morning tea - fresh fruit

Lunch - lentil burgers (recipe to come!)

Afternoon tea - smoothies. popcorn. (the real home popped stuff. none of that artificial everything stuff.)

Dinner
EDIT! Lamb shanks with mash (turkey and quinoa meatloaf will be back. Thursday! Due to knowing I won't get it done tomorrow!)
Served with steam veges. And a lot of prayer that it works!

Our challenges

Paul is gluten free. Diagnosed coeliac. And a cyclist/runner so he needs to find enough to eat.

Miss E - so far so good. No allergies. No issues.

Me - I have weight to loose. And I suspect lactose intolerance. And despite trying so hard my body can't hold a second pregnancy.

I'm excited to see how this journey might help our health.

This is us.

G'day
This is us. We are an Aussie mama and dad. and a 4 year old bundle of energy! DH is a dietitian. And I am always learning.

We are embarking on a challenge. Not just to eat well. But to eat the best we can. To focus on nutrition. And health.

We know that food can harm ... and we fully believe that food can heal too.

We are on a journey. To take the best of what God has given us. And see just how far that leads us in health.

Want to join me? Share ideas? We can't wait to begin!