Monday, September 15, 2008

Peanut Noodles



Ingredients:

whole wheat Fettucini
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 zucchini roughly chopped
3/4 cup roasted peanuts

For the dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 dried red chillies chopped
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and ground pepper

Method:
Cook the noodles as per instructions in the box.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan and cook the garlic and onion until they begin to soften.
Add the peppers and zucchini and cook for 15 mins over medium heat until they begin to soften and brown.

Add the peanuts and cook for another min.


Whisk together the olive oil, grated lemon zest and 3 tbsp of the lemon juice.Add the red chillies and balsamic vinegar to taste.
Season with salt and pepper.


Toss the noodles into the vegetables and stir-fry to heat through.Add the dressing, stir to coat and serve immediately.

Tang Loaf with Apples, Walnuts and Raisins



This cake is from one of the cookbooks I own.I hadn't looked into this book in years and as I was tidying up my itsty bitsy shelf in my kitchen dedicated to cookbooks, I started going through it and found this recipe.The original recipe had orange juice which I did not have and I searched my pantry and found I had a can of tang that I substituted with and the fruits in it were apricots and apples with orange peel.

This is the the original recipe.I have added my substitutions in brackets.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder (I added baking soda)
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup sunflower or low-fat margarine (I added butter)
1 cup light brown sugar (I added 3 tbsp sugar with the brown sugar)
Juice of 1 Orange (Made one cup tang as per instructions on box and added that)
2 large eggs lightly beaten
rind,grated and juice of one Orange (Used 1 cup Tang)
1/2 cup walnuts chopped
1/3 cup dried apricots chopped (used 1 tbsp raisins)
1 large cooking apple (used 1 small red apple)
oil for greasing (I used oil spray with flour)

Method:
Preheat Oven to 350 deg F.
Grease a 2 pound loaf pan and line the bottom with wax paper .(I lined my loaf pan with Aluminium foil and sprayed with oil spray)

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add the margarine,sugar,eggs,orange rind and juice.(Instead of orange rind and juice I added tang)

Stir ,then beat with an electric beater till smooth.(I stirred and beat with a wooden ladle)

Stir in the walnuts, apricots(I used raisins).
Quarter ,core and peel the apple.Chop coarsely and add to the mixture.



Stir and spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and level the top.

Bake approximately 30 mins till you poke with a knife ad it comes our clean.My book did not have the exact time.So I kept checking every 5 mins.I baked for 30 mins and then switched off the oven and kept for a while.



Needless to say, the substitutions all worked and I love the end product.My son lapped it all up and said me-me (Yummy) :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Sneaky Mac and Cheese


This month has been everything about sneaking in Veggies into R's diet.He refuses to eat them whole.So this is one more thing I tried and succeeded in getting him to eat.

R loves pasta..esp buttery pasta with cheese grated on top.So I sneaked in some veggies into his bowl of pasta for lunch today.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup elbow macaroni
1 tsp butter
salt
grated parmesan cheese
cauliflower puree 2 tbsp (you can add more )
(Steam cauliflower florets in the microwave for 5 mins and puree in mixer.Store in freezer)

Method:

Cook the pasta as per instructions in the box
Drain and pour in a bowl
Add a pinch of salt and the cauliflower puree.Stir well.
Add the cheese and mix well.
Serve hot.It was gulped down instantly. Big grin on this moms face for today.