Mediterranean Tuna and Rice Bake

I'm tired. Easy meals are super high on my priority list right now, but they can't just be easy, they have to be easy, nutritious, tasty and economical too! I don't ask for much hey....

This recipe here is all of the above. The other thing I love about this dish is that it is comforting and delicious straight out of the oven, but equally (if not more) tasty when served cold the next day. That versatility, plus the fact it is beyond easy to put together, make this a must cook summer meal. 

You will need: 

1.5 cups cooked long-grain white rice

2 x 185g tins of tuna (I use John West Oven Dried Tomato and Basil, but I think it would also be nice with a Lemon Pepper flavoured tuna as well)
3/4 cup grated cheddar (plus extra to top)
100g semi-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
100g fetta, crumbled
1 large zucchini, grated
2 tbspn fresh basil, finely chopped
3 eggs, lightly whisked
Salt and Pepper to season

Pre-heat oven to 180C

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Spoon into a greased and lined loaf tin and top with extra grated cheese.

Bake for around 40-50 mins - it will be puffed and golden when done and if you stick a knife in the middle, it should be reasonable firm and not 'eggy.' Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the pan for 5-10 mins - it will firm up a little more as it cools.

Remove from the pan, slice and serve with salad (or cool completely and wrap up for lunchboxes!)

Enjoy!

Mrs B xx

A recipe from Mr B's Mum!

Sometimes I think that the whole world loses their mind at this time of year.

Traffic increases ten-fold, everyone is super stressed and super rushed (including myself) and sometimes I think we need to remind ourselves what the season is about.

It’s not about how much money you spend on someone or how many presents you have under the tree, it’s about spending quality time with your family and your friends and celebrating and relaxing and putting a smile on someone’s face.

Last weekend we caught up with Mr B’s Mum, Step-Mum, brother, sister, nieces and nephew for dinner as we don’t normally get to see them on Christmas Day. It was a lovely evening filled with chips, cheesecake, Christmas crackers and crafts, but most importantly it was just nice to have everyone together.

So I thought today would be the perfect time to share one of Mr B’s Mum’s recipes with you.

Not long after Mr B and I met, Mr B told me about this recipe and asked if I could make it for him. The original recipe stated that you could make it with crab meat, chicken or tuna.....and of course Mr B wanted crab meat. Now I should mention that when Mr B and I first met I was still very vegetarian and very anti-seafood (except tinned tuna....), but I was in a new relationship and I thought I would try this whole ‘compromise’ thing....needless to say I could barely swallow the crab meat and have never made it again ever since. But a few weeks ago Mr B asked if I could make it again, this time with tuna and I do love me some tuna! It was really easy and so tasty! I hate to admit it but it may even have earnt itself re-entry into regular rotation!

 Mr B’s Mum’s Versatile Curry

You will need:

1 pkt of chicken noodle soup
1 onion – chopped
1 carrot – diced
2.5 cups cold water
310g tin of sweet corn, drained
1 tspn curry powder
400g tin of tuna chunks in springwater (feel free to substitute with 500g chicken breast or 500g crabmeat)
2 cups of milk
2 tbspns of cornflour
Rice to serve

In a large, lightly greased, frypan over medium heat, fry the onion and carrot for 3-5 mins or until onion is softened.

Add the soup mix and water and bring to the boil. Allow the mixture to simmer for 5 mins.

Add the corn, curry powder and milk. Simmer for a further 5 mins.

Add the cornflour and tuna. Simmer with the lid on for 7-10 mins or until mixture is thickened.

Serve over steamed rice.

Enjoy!

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



Mid-Week Tuna Casserole

Some days everything goes just how you planned it. 

Some days everything goes wrong right from the moment you get up.

And some days everything is going smoothly until 3:30pm when everything falls apart. These are the days you get home to find out that whilst you do have rum (hooray) your coke is flat (fail) and you only figure this out once you have mixed your drink (epic fail) and then your stuck drinking a flat rum and coke which really doesn't make you feel any better at all. These are days when you want something quick and easy and delicious and comforting for dinner, not something that requires every pot and pan you own and results in a sink full of washing up. 

So while I sit here with my flat rum and coke, 3 pots on the stove, a meatloaf in the oven and a sink full of washing up, let me tell you about how you can avoid this very situation. 

a) Stay in bed. What can possibly go wrong from the comfort of your own bed?! 

b) Go for a walk, buy a new lipstick, get your hair and nails done instead of having a drink at the end of a long day.....if you are rolling your eyes at this suggestion, then try keeping ample supplies of lemonade / coke on hand instead. 

c) Make this tuna casserole. It's quick, delicious, comforting and easy! Plus you can eat it in bed if the mood takes you. 

You will need

1 onion diced
2 sticks of celery diced
2 carrots diced
100g of baby spinach
425g tin of tuna in spring water drained
425g tin of corn kernels drained
1/2 cup milk
1 heaped tspn curry powder
2 tbspn plain flour
100g grated cheese
4 potatoes peeled and diced

Pre-heat oven to 160C.

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water, place on the stove over medium high heat and bring to the boil.

In a large fry pan over medium heat, add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the celery, carrot and curry powder and cook for a further 5-6 minutes or until carrots are softened.

Add the milk, plain flour, grated cheese, tuna and corn. Stir everything really well to combine.

Stir through the spinach until wilted.

Spoon mixture into a baking dish and top with potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 15 mins or until potato is golden. Serves 4.

d) On the off chance you don't have access to rum, nail polish, lip stick, walking tracks or tuna casserole....may I suggest you get yourself some pregnant sheep....coming home to a newborn lamb is guaranteed to brighten anyone's day! Isn't he just the cutest, sweetest little thing???

Mrs B xx

Super Easy Tuna Chow Mein

Ok so I forgot to take a photo....

It may be because tuna chow mein is one of my favourite dishes....

It may be because I was starving hungry....

It may be because I was slightly excited about passing my motorcycle learners only a few hours earlier...

Whatever the reason, I still forgot and I apologise.

Let me make it up to you by giving you the recipe to create this delicious dish for yourself :)

You will need:

1/2 cabbage diced
2 small tins of light tuna
1 tin of baby corn cuts
1 red capsicum diced
1 onion diced
1 carrot diced
2 tspns curry powder
225g pineapple pieces drained
1 pkt oriental flavoured noodles

Brown your onion in a fry pan over medium heat. Add curry powder and cook for 2-3 mins or until fragrant.

Add in cabbage, corn cuts, capsicum, carrot, broken up noodle cake and flavouring sachet and 2-3 cups of water. Place the lid on the fry pan and allow to simmer for 20 mins stirring occasionally.

After 20 mins add in the tuna and pineapple and mix in well.

Allow to simmer for another 10-15 mins or until the cabbage is cooked and soft, the majority of the water should have been absorbed.

OH and I get two large bowls and one small bowl for the next days lunch out of this recipe :)

It is a great hearty winter dish and it's low in cals!! It's also my Mum's recipe and one of my favourite dishes from when I was little so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

Em x

Getting stuffed....courtesy of Margaret Fulton!

I have officially discovered my new favourite brekkie. The strawberries at the moment are so big and juicy that I have been buying a punnet to take to work each morning and dipping them in the french vanilla forme yoghurt. It is absolutely delicious. But on Sunday it was cold and wet and rainy and I felt like something that would warm me up so I chopped up the strawberries and microwaved them for a few minutes till they were nice and soft and then I poured my yoghurt over the top and got back into bed with my brekkie, my cup of tea and a book! It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning and I fully intend on doing it again this weekend : )


Last night Mum and Dad came over and I thought it only fitting that I take the nights meals from Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery which they brought me for my birthday. I decided on the Stuffed Eggplant because I had just seen some gorgeous looking eggplants at the supermarket and the Tuscan Tuna Stuffed Mushrooms followed by Golden Syrup Dumplings. The dumplings were not Margaret's...but I had never made them before and wanted to try!

The eggplant took awhile to make because you had to salt it and let it sit for an hour to draw the moisture out, then fry it, scoop out the filling and stuff it before putting it in the oven for 40 mins. The result was well worth it though! And the mushies were dead easy, the filling was easy to make and once you stuffed them, they just went in the oven too. Final results looked something like this:

Pretty impressive I thought!

Stuffed Eggplant

2 large eggplants
salt
1 onion chopped
4 tomatoes de-seeded and chopped
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tbspns chopped parsley ( I used basil )
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup beef stock
2 tbspns butter
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated cheese

Cut eggplants in half lengthways and slash edges, sprinkle with salt and let stand cut side down for an hour.
Drain eggplant and dry with paper towel. Spray a fry pan with a light coat of oil and fry eggplant for a few minutes cut sides down. Remove from heat and carefully scoop out flesh leaving a shell.
Combine eggplant flesh, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil or parsley in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Fill eggplant shells and place in a baking dish. Pour stock into dish, cover with foil and bake for 30-40 mins at 180C until eggplant is tender.
Meanwhile melt butter in a frying pan and fry breadcrumbs until crisp and golden. Sprinkle crumbs over cooked eggplant and top with cheese. Return to oven until cheese is melted and golden.

And then there was the Tuscan Tuna Stuffed Mushrooms

4 Portobello Mushrooms
1 x 250g pkt of microwave white rice
2 spring onions chopped
1 capsicum finely diced
2 x small tins of tuna in springwater
1 x tspn of tuscan seasoning (I didn't have any so I used moroccan seasoning)
100g of extra light ricotta
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook rice according to packet directions.
Combine all ingredients, except mushrooms, in a bowl.
Trim stem from mushrooms and if desired, dice finely and mix into filling.
Fill mushrooms with mixture and place in a baking dish with 4 tbspns water.
Bake at 180C for about 20 mins.

Now golden syrup dumplings are something I have always loved but I have never cooked because I was a bit nervous about getting them right and I just associate them with being horribly full because they are usually big heavy doughy balls. Anyway after a few weeks of searching I found a recipe that was reasonably low calorie and decided to give it a try. The dough was easy to make, and made 18 small balls. The syrup was equally easy and once I put the balls into the syrup I was amazed at how they instantly started to puff up. I put the lid on the pot and let them simmer for about 15 mins and when I came back they were so cute! 18 lil balls of dough swimming in a golden syrup sauce. And eating them was even better! The sauce was nice and thick, the dumplings were light and airy, I actually didn't feel like I'd over eaten when I finshed them!


Golden Syrup Dumplings

1 cup SR flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg
Dash of milk
1 tbspn butter
SYRUP
1 cup water
3/4 cup golden syrup (or honey - I used half and half)
1 tbspn butter
1 tbspn brown sugar

Sift flour and salt. Rub in butter and mix to a soft dough with the egg and milk. Roll into small balls - you should get around 18.
Boil the water in a saucepan and add the remaining syrup ingredients. Stir to combine. When boiling add the balls and cover tightly with the lid.
Boil gently for about 15mins and serve at once with cream and / or ice cream.

So very good and so easy!!!

Also, you may have read that OH went to Canberra last week, well he came home on Sunday and look at the beautiful photo album he brought me. We are thinking of using it for our wedding or honeymoon pics and finding a stand to put it on so it's always on display. It's unreal, everytime you look at it the colours change and it shimmers in different shades of green, blue, purple and silver. I am a smidgen spoilt...



Happy hump day people!

Love Em x

Raving about Risotto!

Well the wonderful world of Wikipedia tells me that Risotto is defined as a traditional Italian rice dish cooked with broth and flavoured with parmesan cheese and other ingredients which could include meat, fish or vegetables. The name literally means 'little rice.' Interestingly enough I have had a love / hate relationship with risotto I think because whilst I used to love ordering (and eating) it when I was out and about, I had always been told it was ridiculously hard to cook, and since beginning my weight loss journey two years ago I had also been told that it was mighty unhealthy, serious loss of brownie points for the humble risotto right there. Anyway recently I was flicking through a Recipes + magazine and found a recipe for Oven Baked Tuna Risotto....it sounded relatively simple, no cream, no wine, parmesan cheese only as an optional garnish....plus my OH was working away this week so I thought it was the perfect time for an experiment! On Monday night I set myself up with all my ingredients - tuna, capsicum, onion, zucchini, diced tomatoes, stock and most importantly the arborio rice! All very simple, chop up the capsicum, onion and zucchini, saute in a pan, add the diced tomatoes, rice and the stock, bring it to the boil....then chuck it in the oven for 20 mins...how super duper easy is that?! However, upon tasting at the 20min mark it was a little bit bland, so I added some tomato paste and some wet mediterranean herbs, stirred through the tuna and chucked it back in the oven.....waiting waiting waiting......and when I pulled it out of the oven may I saw I was astounded, the liquid was absorbed, the rice was tender and the flavour was delicious! I was glad my OH was away so I didn't have to share! And best of all I had made enough for several nights....nom nom nom. So needless to say my risotto cherry has been popped and I don't know what I was so worried about! It was low calorie and dead easy! Next week I am going to attempt it again, maybe with some pumpkin and spinach or something, OH wants evidence I can actually make it!

What else did I make....ohh a dead easy Honey Rice Bubble Slice. Now usually OH has a rice bubble slice in his lunches that involves melting marshmallows with butter and stirring them through rice bubbles and letting it set. However, I get bored cooking the same thing all the time so was on the look out for something different to do with the abnormally large box of rice bubbles in the cupboard. That was when I found the Honey Rice Bubble Slice recipe on http://www.bestrecipes.com/ . All it involved was honey, butter and sugar all melted together and mixed through some rice bubbles and then letting it set over night. The original recipe involved coconut mixed through at the end, but OH is funny about it getting stuck in his teeth so I left it out (he is also funny about cross contamination between his food - serving him lasagne or shepards pie is hilarious...but thats another story!). I made this the other night and got it out to cut up last night and have the mandatory nibble and taste test (required of all new recipes!) and it was brilliant, the honey was sweet without being too sweet and so much nicer then using the marshmallows.

Here is the recipe as adapted by me but you could add 1 cup of coconut with the rice bubbles if you wanted:

Honey Rice Bubble Slice

Ingredients:
2tbspns honey
75g butter
1/2c caster sugar
4 cups rice bubbles

Melt honey, butter and sugar in a small pan on the stove top. Bring to the boil, but keep stirring.
Working quickly, pour over rice bubbles and combine.
Press into a lined 18cm x 28cm slice tin
Refrigerate overnight or until firm - should be ok after 1/2 hour.

And last but certainly not least and it's another day with another batch of cupcakes....today I received 2 donations for the RSPCA plus some guys I work with, who only this morning listened to me complain about not having enough containers to transport large numbers of cupcakes, made me two stainless steel trays with high sides that should fit 24 cupcakes each - so I made them some cupcakes as well as a thank you because the trays will just make my life so much easier. Anyway given I had so many cupcakes to make (4 batches in total!) I decided on a simple decoration, I made some basic chocolate cupcakes and then frosted them with Betty Crocker's Deluxe Chocolate Frosting. I also found these little tiny Oreo cookies at the supermarket so I topped the frosting with one of those and they are just adorable, simple, but still adorable!

Tomorrow....Happy Friday!

Em x