Thursday, August 30, 2012

"Sneaky Sauce" tomato purée

A friend of mine introduced me to this sauce, she calls "sneaky sauce"

It's a very simple recipe, and it's basically a 'use what you have' type of recipe.

It's basically a vegetable purée that's combined with canned tomato purée. I steam/sauté veggies, then purée them in the food processor, until smooth. Then add canned tomato purée 1 part to 3 parts vegetable purée. You can also add pepper or herbs at this point. I don't add salt.

I have made the sauce twice (in bulk) and used various combinations of the following Ingredients:
Tomato
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Zucchini
Sweet potato
Red Capsicum (red bell peppers in USA)
Spinach

Basically what ever you have in the house. Try to do bright and red coloured veggies. Too many dark ones will affect the colour and make it not so appetizing.
I then freeze in small portions.

I have used this sauce as a pasta sauce, pizza topping, dipping sauce and in recipes where it calls for tomato purée. It's delicious on its own, and Ben and Ethan love licking the container clean when ever I defrost and use some sauce.


Healthy chicken nuggets - win win!

Today we made chicken nuggets for lunch. Here's my recipe.

2Tbs quinoa flakes
1/4 C quick oats
(blend in the food processor until resembling bread crumbs)

1 small carrot (peeled and grated)
1/2 zucchini (peeled and grated)
1/2 small onion (chopped)
1 egg
1 chicken breast (skin and fat removed)
Salt, pepper and mixed dried herbs to taste

Bread crumbs (I make my own from stale wholemeal bread I have in the house) to coat the nuggets

Combine all ingredients (except bread crumbs) in a food processor and process until combined and even consistency

Coat chicken mixture in breadcrumbs and shape as desired

Bake in hot oven for 15 mins, turning after 10 mins.

Served with my home made vegetable and tomato purée (recipe coming)

(not the best picture, but this was an afterthought and all that was left over!)
Each of my boys ate 5 nuggets. The recipe made 15 nuggets

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Happy Anniversary to us!

Tracie and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last weekend. We have been together for almost 7 years, but it's been 5yrs since our commitment ceremony.

I (Sal) had to work in the morning, so tracie and the boys made a wonderful dinner.
They made baked salmon on a bed of zucchini and fennel with a creamy white wine and dill sauce. It was served with steamed vegetables and crusty bread.
For dessert they made a heart shaped fruit "pie" (steamed and fresh fruit on pastry)
We drank Moët champagne!

It was yummm!

We enjoyed celebrating with our boys.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Healthy eating.

We have been making a big effort to make our diet as healthy as possible.

We are enjoying plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts. We still eat meat, chicken and fish, but less than we used to. We probably have 2 vegetarian dinners per week.

We have been making a lot of our own foods that one might often buy pre made. Things like tomato/vegetable sauces, soups, minced(ground) meats and chicken, chicken nuggets and even pasta and bread (not all the time!)
We also enjoy making apple sauce, toasted muesli (granola) almond milk, nut and seed mixes and healthy muffins.

We have noticed a difference in the boys eating habits and their tastes. We are eating far less processed foods, and far less sugar. They now enjoy much less sweet foods.

As im blogging from my iphone, I cant comment on individual photos, so...
The following pics are: (sorry if the order is wrong, this app is painful!)

A vegetable salad we had for dinner one night. (boys ate every bite)

Fruit salad snack

Bens breakfast that he designed himself. - Natural unsweetened Greek yoghurt, LSA (ground linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds) strawberries and grapes.

Moving the clothes line

We have been meaning to move our clothes line for over a year.
Apparently the previous owners placed our clothes line on the shady/damp side of the back yard. In the winter it got sun from 10-12 only.

So 2 weeks ago, Sal and the boys dug a big hole and cemented the clothes line to the other side of the yard. It was hard work digging an arm length deep hole in clay, but we did it!
We are very happy with our clothesline that now gets sun between 10-4! Much better for winter drying :)

Ethan's growth spurt

Anyone think Ethan's had a growth spurt?!?
He's about 3cm taller than Ben. (last measurement was 1.5cm taller than Ben)

Both boys have their 4 year checkup on Tuesday. Official heights/weights to follow....

Ice skating

We went ice skating a few weeks ago with our friends.
It was their first time, and they had a fantastic time! We will definitely be going again!