lazy Sunday fried rice ...

With not much left in the fridge, this is tonight's early dinner...

FAST FRIED RICE

OMELETTE
2 eggs .. beat with a fork and add a tablespoon of water

cook lightly in a hot pan in your choice of oil, then set aside in a bowl

RICE
onion
zucchini
carrot
leftover cold boiled/steamed rice (I use basmati or brown)
1/2 cup veg or chicken stock
S & P

Very finely chop all of the veg and cook over low heat with a splash of oil, then add the water/stock and put a lid on to soften for a few minutes... add the rice and mix through.. salt and pepper to taste... add the chopped up omelette and a handful of frozen or fresh peas

That's it, fifteen minutes for prep and cooking time, max!!!

I always cook too much rice for this reason, it's so easy to reheat for the next couple of days or to make fried rice .. and if I don't use it, my Jacky boy dog loves it with his dinner too!

Happy Days ... vegetables, protein and carbs to fill up little bellies, my kind of comfort food.

smoothilicious ...

Everyone loves a smoothie during the warmer months!

The boys and I enjoy a smoothie every day, whether it be for breakfast, afternoon tea or most commonly for us, it's dessert

They are healthy, filling, refreshing and most importantly ... delicious!

I always have frozen mango cheeks, raspberries and blueberries in the freezer.  We eat them as cool snack and obviously in our smoothies.

HEALTHY SMOOTHIES

Frozen Fruit ... a handful of any frozen fruit make it cold and thick
Yoghurt ... a couple of dollops of any natural yoghurt (we use Meredith's Sheeps Milk)
Milk ... I use Bon Soy or Pure Harvest Organic Oat Milk
A squeeze of smoething sweet - Pure Maple Syrup, Agave Syup or even Honey
LSA ... Ground Linseed, Sunflower Seed & Almond mix adds protein

Obviously you can drop the yoghurt to make them dairy free, or you use cow's milk if you love dairy!

when life gets a little bit crazy ...

North Stradbroke Island ... Spring School Break

It is so good to be back!! 

I have missed my little tummy rumble blog posts ... I didn't realise how much until today when I was sitting on my deck, at my freshly painted red table, with my lap top and my little Eli riding his bike close by.  I opened up my facebook page and then clicked on a link to my blog... and here I am again.

Sadly, it has been, out of sight ... out of mind.

I also only just noticed comments that I completely missed from as far back as June, and feel a little bit rude having not replied.  So, my sincerest apologies my friends! 

Why is it, that when life gets busy we so easily give up the things that make US happy?!

Whether it be exercise, reading, cooking, blogging ... I am going to make any effort to do at least two of these things every day ... even if it means missing one of my meaningless television programs in the evening when the boys are sleeping.

It is a challenge I am setting for myself!  Anybody care to join me?

the humble onion ... a natural earache remedy

In our house, we thankfully haven't had too many earache experiences, however, when we have we've used onion juice in the ear to clear the inflammation and act as a natural antibiotic...  it does hurt momentarily, but it clears it up so very fast!

We had a restless night a couple of months back with my little 2 year old,  Eli.  Just before dinner  he said "Mummy I not very happy, my ear hurts", with his gorgeous little red feverish cheeks ... he really wasn't happy at all.

I warmed a quarter of an onion (red,white or brown are fine) and squeezed a tiny amount of juice into a syringe and squeezed it into his ear.. It took about half an hour of cuddles, and Bindi the Jungle Girl,to settle him down ... it does hurt a little bit when you do it (quite a bit really, but it settles down fast), but it is so very worth it!

After about half an hour of restless cuddles and sadness, he settled down  I knew he was going to be fine when he asked for some manuka honey and he ate some pear and blueberries and a big glass of oat milk followed by water.

He didn't settle properly until midnight, and had a fever all night.  He slept quite soundly until 6am and woke this morning with nothing more than a runny nose. 

A trip to our wonderfully amazing chiropractor to help with the healing process, who confirmed his ear is still red and in need of more onion juice over the next couple of days .. and hopefully the end of the ear infection.

For the next few days, he requested some onion juice in his ear, as even he is aware of the wonderful benefits!

And, no need for a doctor, panadol or antibiotics .. everybody is happy!

tortilla .... a little bit of spanish love

I was a lucky girl growing up, one of my very best friends is Spanish and I spent a lot of time eating, sleeping and hanging out in the Lopez abode .... Not only a beautiful family to share time with, but a great introduction to my still all-time favourite cuisine.

Tortilla is one of our staple favourites in Rumble de casa.  There is almost always one in the fridge.. it's a delicious snack, the perfect Sunday night dinner, and Noah loves it instead of a sandwich in his school lunch .

INGREDIENTS
1/2 an onion (whatever you have in the crisper)
6 - 8 small potatoes (I use organice sebago or dutch cream - thinly sliced or in small cubes)
olive oil
6 organic eggs
S & P

METHOD
Sweat out onions in a generous amount of olive oil.   I cheat and lightly steam my potatoes before panfrying them in the olive oil with the onions, adding some salt & pepper..  Whisk the eggs in a bowl and when the potatoes have softened, toss this mixture through the eggs in the bowl and place back in the well oiled pan with a sprinkle of fresh parsley if you like.
Cook over a low heat with the lid on, and when the egg looks cooked, use a plate to turn the omelette out onto and then slide back in to brown the top... slice in pizza triangles and eat as you wish!

spiced apple crumb muffins

I wandered into the kitchen to make myself a nice chai latte, and left having made these for an after school snack ...

They are so deliciously yummy, and rather healthy, with all natural ingredients.  I found a similar recipe in a macrobiotic cookbook and have slightly altered it over the years.  I do all of my baking with spelt flour as it has higher nutritional value and is much easier to digest.

They are a bit messy to eat, but so worth it...

CRUMBLE TOPPING
4 tablespoons white spelt flour
4 tablespoons whole spelt flour
4 tablespoons whole rolled oats
4 tablespoons unrefined dark brown sugar
2 teasoons ground cinnamon
pinch sea salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy milk

MUFFINS
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 small organic apples peeled and finely diced
110ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing muffin tin
150ml real maple syrup
150ml soy milk
100g white spelt flour
125g whole spelt flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
60g chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180, grease a 12 cup muffin tray with vegetable oil.

For the crumb topping, combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and then add the oil and soy milk and rub together with your hands and set aside.

For the muffins, in a small bowl add the diced apples and toss with the cornflour.

In another bowl whisk together the oil, syrup and milk then sift in dry ingredients and then fold in the apples and walnuts.

Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin and top with crumble mixture.

Bake for around 25 minutes.

Devour with a nice warm drink and re-energise..

slow cooked beef and gremolata ...

I have been eating more red meat than usual and I don't like how it makes me feel, so I am going to go back to eating a lot less ... after tonight!

I had some beef in the freezer, not sure if it was my butcher's usual mixed cut, gravy beef or another cheap cut, but I put it on this afternoon and let it cook nice and slowly for a few hours.

SLOW COOKED BEEF
1 kg cheap cut of beef - diced
2 onions
3 carrots
2 zucchini
1 celery stick
1 punnet cherry tomatoes or 4 chopped and blended tomatoes or a can of chopped tomatoes
a handful of mushrooms (if you have any that need to be used)
3 cups stock or water
bay leaves
S & P

Cook off the vegetables until softened, then put in beef and lightly brown, add the tomatoes, the the stock, the bay leaves and the salt and pepper.

Put on the lid and cook slowly, checking often, and adding water as you need to.

You can also add red wine and any other of your favourite herbs or vegetables.  Potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, white beans, whatever you like.

Cook slowly until meat is tender and season to taste.

I love slow cooked meat dishes served with a zesty gremolata to give it a kick!

GREMOLATA

Parsley chopped finely
Lemon zest
Olive oil
Lemon juice

Mix everything together and the serve with your beef, and maybe some rice or your warm bread on the side.... and a nice glass of red, of course!!


Bon Appetit ... a late dinner for me tonight!