Crunchy Noodle Salad

Tonight's blog post is kind of a mental health post.

For the past 2.5 days Mr B and I have been watching and waiting as a bushfire rages out of control in the bushland around us. It is one of the most frustrating and scary things I have ever experienced as just when you think it's calming down and things are looking good, the wind changes and it all flares up again. I have this constant knot of tension in my stomach and I just don't know how people face these things.....well actually I do - you just keep going. You put one foot in front of the other, you keep yourself busy and you just wait for it to get better because honestly, what else can you do? I would love to pick our house, land and lambies up and move it to the middle of a big city, I would love to jump in my car and just leave, but more than anything I would love to just look out the window and for it to all be gone and if I never hear another helicopter fly over head ever again, it will be too soon. I'm sure I'm going to develop some sort of helicopter related nervous twitch from this whole thing.

I have the utmost respect for firefighters who face these things every day and for the work they have done and will continue to do in defending the properties and the communities here.

So in an effort to stop myself going completely mad, I have baked, I've cleaned, I've packed our cars full to the brim with everything we hold dear and now I'm writing to you. Last Tuesday night Mr B and I went to Mum and Dad's for quite possibly the very last dinner in the caravan before they move into their brand new home. As usual they had whipped up a feast consisting of Mushroom Pies, Greek Salad AND Crunchy Noodle Salad! Mum had been keen to try this Crunchy Noodle Salad recipe off the Chang's Fried Noodle packet for a long time and I had also heard lots of good things about it so I was really excited to try it. Let me just say WOW - the textures, the flavours, the crunch of the noodles...did I say WOW?  The dressing in this salad is just amazing and quite refreshing.

This makes enough to serve 4 people as a side dish, but if you toss through 300g shredded BBQ chicken along with the noodles you will easily have enough to serve 4 people as a main.

You will need:

1/2 - 1 Chinese Cabbage (or Savoy Cabbage)
6 green onions, finely chopped
100g lightly roasted almonds or pinenuts
1 pkt Chang's Fried Noodles

And for the dressing:

1/4 white wine vinegar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbspn soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Place in a small saucepan and place over low heat, stirring for 2-3 mins until sugar is dissolved.

Combine the cabbage, green onions and almonds or pinenuts in a salad bowl. Add the dressing and mix well.

Just before serving add the noodles and toss thoroughly.

Thank you for the distraction - but for now, it's back to fire watching duty....

Mrs B xx

Tuna and Quinoa Fattoush

Last Tuesday when Mum and Dad came for tea, I wanted to do some sort of nice hearty salad for dinner. The weather here has been warming up a fair bit lately, plus I knew we had a whopper of a cake for dessert as part of the week long birthday festivities for Mr B, so a light dinner was definitely in order.

I have to be careful serving salad up for dinner with Mr B because if I directly use the word salad in relation to what we are having for dinner, he will have talked himself into believing I'm dishing up a bowl of lettuce and it won't matter what I actually serve up, he will still leave the table hungry....plus he will sing 'You don't win friends with salad' from the Simpsons all night....

I have been eyeing this particular recipe off for awhile and, with the addition of the tuna, I think it makes a lovely hearty meal that is quite satisfying and doesn't leave you feeling like you've just eaten a bowl of lettuce.

Tuna and Quinoa Fattoush

You will need:

2 rounds of pita bread
 ¾ cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbspns balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbspns olive oil
1 tspn sumac
3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 lebanese cucumber, thickly sliced
100g feta cheese crumbled (we used 100g of our homemade Farmhouse Cheddar so you could use a sharp crumbly soft cheddar as well)
2 x 185g tuna chunks in springwater, drained
Optional - 4 hard boiled eggs

Preheat oven to hot, 200°C.

In a small bowl, combine onion and vinegar. Set aside 15 minutes.

Tear pita bread into small pieces and place on a baking tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine quinoa with water. Bring to the boil on high. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 10-12 minutes, until tender. Cool 10 minutes.

Combine lemon juice, oil and sumac in a screw-top jar. Season to taste. Shake well. The jar is definitely the go because I tried doing it in a bowl and just ended up with sumac stuck all around the sides and the bottom and a nice pool of lemon and oil in the middle!

In a large bowl, combine quinoa, feta, onion, tomato, cucumber, tuna, pita and half of the dressing. Toss well and drizzle with remaining dressing. Top with sliced hard boiled eggs if you want some added protein!

Next time I think I would add some sliced up avocado as well - but that could just be because I'm going through an avocado phase at the moment and adding it to EVERYTHING!!!

Enjoy!!

Mrs B xx



Honey Roasted Carrot Salad with Hommus Dressing and Moroccan Pita Chips

I have been lucky enough to have today off work. I usually get one Friday a month off, but from next week I'm working an extra half hour every day and I'll get every second Friday off! Yay! These days off are really useful to get all the little bits and pieces done that you normally don't have time for. Like today, for instance, I brought some cushions for our new dining table, brought a new little lamp table for the lounge and managed to sand it and get a coat of stain on it as well, made a batch of cupcakes ready for delivery tomorrow, made lunch for Dad and Mr B who were busy building our pergola in the cold, did some shopping, called into see Mum at work, got my hair dyed, did some housework, fed the lambies went for a trip with Dad and Mr B to deliver bath tubs to Mum and Dad's block, had a cup of tea with Mum, had dinner and now I'm writing to you! I think I'm going to have to go back to work for a break!

Sometimes when cooking dinner I get so caught up in the main component that I forget about the sides...do you do that? I will spend hours deciding on which lasagne to cook for dinner or whether to do the grilled chicken with peach jam I've been drooling over or maybe it would be nicer with lemon sauce and pocketed with ricotta and spinach....and then just automatically default to serving it up with salad or vegies....BORING!

So this week I decided to throw myself a curve ball (which isn't easy, have you ever tried to throw yourself a curve ball....run really really fast...and catch it?? Me either...) and plan a few of our weekly meals based on the side dish component rather than the 'main' component.

I found this recipe in my latest issue of Super Food Ideas and knew it was spot on for Tuesday night dinner with Mum and Dad!

Honey Roasted Carrot Salad with Hommus Dressing and Moroccan Pita Chips

You will need:

4 small wholemeal pita rounds
2 tspns moroccan seasoning
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm thick slices
1 tbspn honey
1/2 cup couscous
100g baby spinach
3 tbspns currants
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 tbspn crushed garlic (or 1 clove of garlic crushed)
1 tbspn olive oil (or 1 heaved tspn tahini )
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to season

Ok let's start by making the hommus dressing....

Combine the chickpeas, garlic, oil / tahini and lemon juice in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper and process until smooth. Place in the fridge until you're ready to use.

Now moving onto the salad....

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a small baking dish. Place carrots in a single layer in dish and drizzle with honey. Roast for around 30 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Place couscous in a small bowl and add just enough boiling water to cover it. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it stand for 5 minutes. Use a fork to fluff the couscous up. Add the carrots, spinach and currants. Stir to combine.

Serve the salad drizzled with the hommus dressing. Place any leftover dressing in a small bowl in the middle of the table for people to dip their pita chips into!

Speaking of the pita chips...

When the carrots have been roasting for 15 minutes, you can start preparing the chips. Cut the pita pockets into 6 or 8 even triangles. Place the pita triangles onto a baking tray and sprinkle with moroccan seasoning. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until crisp.

And there you have it! Now we served all of this with some crumbed fish fillets and it was delicious!

Today's lesson....never take the humble side dish for granted!

And before I head off, here are some gluten-free vanilla cupcakes I made today, all packaged up and ready for delivery tomorrow. I am really pleased with them - a field of purple butterflys!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Mrs B xx

Mexican Beef Salad

It's like mega hot here at the moment, and I don't know about you, but I certainly don't like coming home from work on a stinking hot day and spending hours in the kitchen whipping up a hot meal for tea. So to that end I've been trying to come up with cooler ideas for dinner, I mean we have been having salad with everything lately so I was thinking kind of like a salad in disguise so as not to distress Mr B. This one had the potential to go horribly wrong, on one hand it incorporated two of his favourite things, beef and mexican, but on the other hand there were beans involved, I knew I was walking a fine line but sometimes you just have to take a risk and this time, it paid off....Plus I mean we all like a fuss free mid week meal do we not!?


This recipe easily makes enough for 4 as a main and can be served hot, warm or cold, how's that for versatile!!

All you need is:

400g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 1cm cubes
500g extra lean beef mince
35g packet taco seasoning
400g can red kidney beans, drained
310g can corn kernels, drained
1 green capsicum, diced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 tspn crushed garlic
mini tortillas to serve

Cook the pumpkin in the microwave with 1/4 - 1/2 cup water for 5-7 mins or until softened.

Meanwhile, in a fry pan over medium heat, cook the mince until just starting to brown. Add the taco seasoning, garlic, capsicum and onions and cook for a further 3-4 mins.

Remove the pan from heat and stir through the pumpkin, kidney beans and corn.

Serve with tortillas and most importantly, enjoy!!

Mrs B xx