Thursday, June 21, 2012

Much Requested Kedgeree Recipe

So it seems a bit like I am writing a cookbook right now, right?  But I promise I'm not... not yet anyways!!! 

Not too long ago, I was at a family get together which are sadly occurring less frequently these days,  where we all brought dishes of food to eat.  I brought along my version - the lower saturated fat version, of Kedgeree.  A friend first cooked it for me and I requested the recipe from her... so it's only fitting I pass it on to those who have requested it from me.  And I'm no sneaky sausage... I haven't left out any ingredients so that my version is always the best... yours will taste just as yummy as mine I promise.

Original Ingredients

2 eggs
680g smoked haddock fillets, any bones removed
2 bay leaves
170g long grain or basmati rice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
115g butter
1 medium onion (or equivalent spring onions) finely chopped
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
2 heaped teaspoons of curry powder
2 lemons
2 handfuls of chopped fresh coriander

My Modified Lower Saturated Fat Ingredients

4 eggs - yolks to be removed and fed to your youngest child!
680g orange smoked cod fillets, any bones removed
2 bay leaves
170g long grain rice - cheaper than basmati
Macrobiotic salt (salt which is in it's natural unprocessed state) and freshly ground black pepper
115g of olive oil - not extra virgin as it's unsuitable to heat, experiement with the amount, as you could probably use less - much less, but not none!
1 medium onion finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic pressed through the garlic press - bugger chopping it!! I love garlic btw!
2 heaped teaspoons of curry powder
2 big lemons
3 handfuls of chopped fresh coriander - I love coriander as well!

Method

Boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Allow to cool while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Put the smoked cod in a frying pan with some water and the bay leaves and bring to the boil.  Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes until fish is all cooked.  Remove from the pan and when the fish is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and flake the fish into chunks, then set aside.

Cook the rice in salted water for about 10 minutes then drain.  Refresh it in cold water, drain again and put it in the fridge until you need it.

Warm the oil in a pan over low heat and add the onion and garlic.  Allow it to soften, but not colour for 5 minutes.  Add the curry powder and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the juice of one lemon. 

Cut the eggs into wedges.  If you are concerned about your saturated fat intake, remove the yolks and feed them to your kids, dogs, husband etc or dispose of in the bin... if not proceed with eggs wedges intact!!

Add the fish and rice to the pan and gently heat through, then add the eggs and coriander stiring gently as not to break up the eggs any further.

Put into a warm serving dish and serve with the second lemon, which you have considerately cut into wedges.  Serves 6 (or 4 with the option of seconds!!)  Enjoy.

It's such a tasty dish... you won't mind all the dishes it creates because there are A LOT... maybe schedule someone else to do the washing up duties!

Good luck with it. xx

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

My Wellness Presentation, Apple, Blueberry & Walnut Bread

So about a week ago now I had my first ever Juice Plus Wellness Presentation, a friend of mine, De and I have kinda, sorta gone into business together.  As she is the charismatic speaker, she did the nutrition presentation and she did a wonderful job, even if I do say so myself.  I am biased, because I love her to bits - she's passionate, energetic and relentless about her nutrition, fitness and health and that of her family and so, in this way (and several others) we are like minded.

Anyways moving along... I made a cake, from a recipe that I cut out of a magazine and put in my recipe book thinking... hmmm it's quite healthy, but how do I make it into a cake that I could eat, with low saturated fat - ie no eggs and dairy?

My low saturated fat version was a resounding success because everyone loved it, including my six year old daughter!  I experiemented with putting in my left over wet almond meal in it as well, because I really hate throwing all that lovely almond goodness in the bin or feeding it to my (ok, yes - deserving) chooks.  I'm not 100% about exact measurements of what I added, but I will give it my best shot ok...

Here is the orginal ingredients list

2 cups of plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup caster sugar
1 punnet fresh blueberries, or 3/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 peeled, cored and grated green apples
3/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
125g melted butter
2 lightly beaten eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp demerara sugar

Here is my ingredients list

1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raw sugar (could even use less, I will next time)
About 3/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 peeled, cored and grated red apples ('cause thats all I had)
3/4 cup broken up raw walnuts (I didn't have time to activate or chop them)
125g olive oil (not extra virgin as its not suitable to heat)
1/4 cup home made almond milk
1 tsp natural vanilla extract (you could use vanilla beans paste)
All the almond meal left from one cup of almonds after making almond milk (make sure there is not a drop of moisture left in the meal)
2 tsp raw sugar

AND for my egg replacement I did this with vinegar, water and baking powder:

Mix one tablespoon each of white vinegar and water in a glass.  To this add one teaspoon of baking powder and stir well until the mixture blends and finishes fizzing. Then just replace the eggs with it!  This can be used when you need to replace more than one egg in your cake recipes... apparently.

Check out this egg replacement page... http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/  -  it's handy!

Method with my Ingredients  

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (356 fahrenheit).
Light grease (I use canola spray oil) loaf tin (about 10 x 20cm) and line the base with baking paper.

Mix flours, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl together.  Add sugar, blueberries, apples, walnuts and almond meal.  Remember to reserve some walnuts for the top of your cake.

In a jug mix together the oil, milk and vanilla.  Gently fold into flour mixture until combined.
Add in your egg replacement and gently fold again until well combined.

Tip mixture into the loaf pan.  Top with reserved walnuts and sprinkle on the 2 teaspoons of raw sugar, although if you wanted you could skip the sugar on top.

Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes - after this time keep checking every 5 minutes until your skewer comes out clean (I can't remember exactly how long it took with the addition of the wet almond meal).

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.  The recipe says cool completely before scoffing, but it was delicious when still warm.

I didn't heat the cake on the evening of the wellness presentation, but again the recipe says that the cake is delicious toasted with your favourite topping.

I'm no chef... but I am not scared to experiment in the kitchen as, for me partaking in a low saturated fat lifestyle there just isn't that many recipes around...  What's the worst that could happen?  Your kids hate it - so you get the whole lot to yourself or worse still, it's completely unedible and you chuck it in the bin and start again!!!   Personally I have never had this happen!  Do some research about your experiements - google is your friend and teacher and use your comon sense.

I have halved the sugar in this recipe and gone for the least processed sugar I had available.  You can pretty much half the sugars in all your cake recipes without a problem - at least I have never had any problems.  You could use unprocessed honey, maple syrup or any other NATURAL sweetner in its least processed form.  DO NOT let me hear that you have used an insecticide artifical sweetner - unless of course you want to die a slow and painful death.  No joke - look it up. 

I don't mind using a little sugar in my recipes, because I have made the cake or whatever myself and thus I know what I have put in it.  There are no mysterous numbers that we are supposed to believe are food.  I am making a huge shift away from processed food - they are killing us and making our kids sick and miserable.

Ok off my soap box and good luck with your yummy cake and cake experiments.  xx

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Health Information Online, Participants Needed

Are you a reader from Western Australia?  Do you have teenagers aged 13-17?  Do they look for health information online?  Yes, yes and yes?  Oh my God.... please read below.  I need your HELP!

Hi friends. As you may know I am currently involved in research as part of my Honours degree at Edith Cowan University. As an enthusiastic seeker of health information online, I have decided to explore the experiences of adolescents aged 13-17 years old, living in WA, who have sought health information online. Through examining where Western Australian adolescents are seeking health information on the Internet, by means of which devices and understanding what their experiences are of using the Internet for health information, this study will deliver information to health services to provide targeted health messages and improved delivery methods for health messages to adolescents living in WA. Participants are being recruited through this blog post, after which I will send you, the parent or guardian an information sheet and consent forms. If you allow your son or daughter to participate in the interview and answer questions about their online health information experiences, they will be asked to sign a consent form and participate in one to three, one on one Skype or in person interviews with myself lasting between 20-45 minutes in duration. Your adolescent’s participation is voluntary and if they choose to participate, they will be free to withdraw or not answer questions as they see fit. This research has been approved by ECU’S School of Psychology and Social Science Ethics Subcommittee. Once the study is completed the data will be stored securely at ECU and will not have any identifying information about your child. If you have any queries about this research project, are interested in finding out more or would like your adolescent to participate please do not hesitate to contact me by leaving a comment with an email address I can contact you on and I will send you a thorough information sheet about my research. Thanks for your time.

 If your teen fits this profile, please leave me a comment with an email address, which I will NOT publish.  And I will send you an information pack, complete with consent forms.  

I have to put it out there that I will be in no way counselling your teen... and I am not interested in the "why" behind why they have looked at the information online, but rather of their experiences of looking for health information on the internet.  This can have occurred at school or at home for personal reasons or for school.  I have a current Working With Children Check.

If you have any question feel free to leave a comment and email addy and I will answer asap.

Thanks.

Lee-Anne

PS, If you know of anyone who might be interested in taking part who lives in Western Australia, please refer them to this post.  Ta.