Lack of Food Posts

As most of you know, Pete is away a lot of the time which means you will also know I get suckers on my butt and sit at the computer far too long which means supper is always an easy throw together meal.

When Pete is home, it is not for extended periods of time so we always enjoy his favourite meals and lots of braais (barbecues) so there is nothing new to share with you, very sad I know.

Every now and again I will get a sudden rush of blood to the brain and will make something scrumity like the Anchovy, Garlic, Tomato Pasta, or indulge in Sticky Chicken Wings but for the most part, I throw a chicken with some veggies and  spuds in the oven.  I have been known to get extravagant and on occasion even make gravy.  This will serve me well for at least 3 meals with leftovers to add to a salad.  A couple of other quick favourites are steak and salad or a piece of fresh fish and salad.

I will work on getting back in the kitchen to share something new and delicious with you.

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Karin’s Quinoa Salad

My lovely sister-in-law Karin introduced me to the super grain quinoa.  I know, I am far behind in trying new things.  I was also put off by how expensive it is.

Quinoa in a nutshell – it is high in protein, is a good source of dietary fibre and phosphorus and is high in magnesium, iron and calcium, so is good for vegans and those who are lactose intolerant and is also gluten-free and is easy to digest.

On it’s own quinoa tastes pretty much like nothing but has a wonderful texture and put with other lovely ingredients makes a fabulous salad.  Karin adapted a couscous recipe from her favourite recipe book, The Cake the Buddha Ate. I highly recommend you make this for a lovely hot summer’s day salad.

Ingredients

3 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup flaked almonds toasted
1 cup fresh coriander chopped chopped
1 cup tinned chickpeas – oops I forgot to put these in
1 cup red and yellow capsicum peppers chopped – I only had yellow
¼ cup dates chopped
¼ cup figs chopped
½ red onion chopped

Dressing

100ml olive oil
50ml apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
1 small garlic clover crushed
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad and mix through.

Warm winters day clean out the fridge salad

Now how’s that for a title!  Quite apt if you were in our kitchen yesterday just before lunch time.   As we do, I have been storing a few bits and bobs in the line of leftovers the last couple of days and thought it time to use them up plus there were little dregs of sauces which I just don’t have the heart to throw away – I always think I can add them to something else but in reality never do, so, it was time to clean out the fridge.  What resulted was a taste bud tantalising and very satisfying lunch.

My salad consisted of crispy baby gem lettuce, onion, cucumber, tomato, coriander, roast chicken and gammon with a drizzling of mayo, sweet chilli sauce and black pepper which I enjoyed in a nice cosy sunny spot in the lounge.

There was a little more motivation to emptying the fridge but you will have to wait to see why.  Sadly no, we are not getting a new fridge, well not yet anyway.

Warm Chicken Salad

We were lucky to be enjoying some beautiful days for this time of year and the barometer has been topping the near middle twenties the last short while, well before the cold spell slap us in the face so a salad for lunch has once again been an option – yay!  This quick and easy salad will have you sufficiently satisfied until dinner time.  Quantities will depend on how many you are feeding or how hungry you are.  I don’t keep a lot of salad ingredients on hand this time of year – lettuce, cucumber and fresh herbs are standard though.  You can add anything else you have on hand and a little dollop of mayo (homemade of course) finishes this off perfectly.

Ingredients

Chicken breasts cut into strips
1 egg beaten
Seasoned flour – I cheated and used Hinds Southern Coating seasoning (thanks Aunty Christine)
Baby gem lettuce
Cucumber sliced and quartered
Coriander leaves
Avo sliced
Mayonnaise

Method

1. Dip the chicken in the egg and flour.
2. Fry in a little olive oil and butter, turning to brown both sides.
3. While the chicken is cooking, plate up the salad ingredients.
4. Serve the chicken over the salad greens with a little mayonnaise

Pork Sausage Salad

The festive season is in full swing and with lots of family catching up to do so quick lunches are definitely the way to go, especially when there is a nice sunny day – they have been very few and far between of late so taking full advantage is a necessity and on these days, a lunch that comes together in a matter of minutes is paramount – and so the pork sausage salad was created.  Quantities will depend on the amount of people you are feeding.

Ingredients

Pork sausages cooked – left over from the braai (barbecue) the night before are perfect
Tomatoes chopped
Cucumber chopped
Garlic chives chopped
Parsley chopped

Dressing
Homemade Mayonnaise
Whole grain mustard

Use a ratio of 3:1 respectively

Method

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and enjoy.

Chicken Salad

We are still experiencing extremely hot and humid days here in Mauritius so salads for lunch are top of the list plus Tandy’s challenge for this week is to use left overs so yesterdays lunch was made using left over Crumbed Chicken Breasts and drizzled with some of my homemade Salad Dressing. What a winner!  I haven’t put measurements or quantities for the ingredients – use as much or little of each that you enjoy.

 

Ingredients

Salad leaves
Cucumber sliced and quarted
Red onion thinly sliced
Pineapple cut into small wedges
Red pepper thinly sliced
Coriander roughly chopped
Curly leaf parsley roughly chopped
Mint leaves roughly chopped
Crumbed Chicken Breasts sliced
Salad Dressing

Method

1. Layer up all the ingredients on a plate.
2. Drizzle with Salad Dressing.

Low GI Tangy Tossed Salad

This salad makes a nice change to the traditional Greek salad (minus the tomatoes, green pepper and olives) and compliments a braaied (barbecued) lazy aged steak perfectly. 
Peppadew is the brand name of sweet piquant peppers (a breed of capsicum baccaum) originally grown in the Limpopo province of South Africa – if you are unable to find these, you can replace them with any other sweet piquant peppers.

 

Ingredients

½ small onion thinly sliced
1 packet mixed lettuce shredded
2 small red apples sliced and sprinkled with lemon juice
¼ English cucumber sliced and halved
4 peppadews thinly sliced
125ml low fat chunky cottage cheese
1 low fat feta round cubed
Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Blanche the onion in a little boiling water.
2. Mix all the ingredients in a large salad bowl.

 

Submitted by:  Desiree Visagie, Johannesburg

Sugar Bean Salad

I grew up with my aunt making this magnificent salad, so no surprise that it also forms part of my childhood favourites list and it always reminds me of family and Christmas lunch.  It is one of those dishes that everybody loves and if, for so some reason there are leftovers, they freeze exceptionally well.  My aunt always makes these  in a pressure cooker – I have never owned a pressure cooker so this recipe is for those of you like me.  Don’t be tempted to add the salt during the cooking process, as it could leave the beans with a hard texture.

 

Ingredients

500g packet sugar beans
3 litres water
125ml – 200ml sugar (to taste)
125ml brown spirit vinegar
100g butter
5ml salt

Method

1. Soak the beans in lots of water overnight.
2. Place the beans and water in a pot and bring to the boil.  Turn the temperature down and simmer for 3 hours or until the beans are soft and you have a quarter of the liquid left.  (Add additional water during the cooking process if necessary).
3. Add the sugar (to taste), vinegar, butter and salt and stir through thoroughly to blend.
   The sauce will thicken slightly when cool.

 

Submitted by:  Christine de Villiers, Port Elizabeth

Low GI Apple and Cabbage Salad

This is such an easy and extremely tasty salad and is a great accompaniment to any braai (barbecued) meal.

Ingredients

1 red apple
1 green apple
10 – 20ml lemon juice
500ml cabbage finely chopped or grated
Dressing

60ml plain low fat yoghurt
125ml low oil salad cream or mayonnaise
10ml sunflower seeds
4 lettuce leaves

Method 

1. Wash the apples but do not peel them.  Slice thinly and sprinkle with the lemon juice to avoid them discolouring.
2. Add the apple to the cabbage and mix.
3. Mix all the dressing ingredients and add 5ml -15ml sugar if it is too tart.
4. Pour the dressing over the apple and cabbage and mix.
5. Place in a container, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
6. Serve on the lettuce leaves.

 

Submitted by:  Desiree Visagie, Johannesburg

Couscous Salad

A fellow blogger buddy Michael Beyer (Oishii) was recently looking for a couscous salad recipe and I promised I would post mine for him – I just needed the opportunity to make it again so I could put quantities to the ingredients – it’s one of those recipes I just make and never actually “measure” anything.  We had family over for a braai (barbecue) this weekend so I jumped at the opportunity to make this delicious salad, as it is a great addition for this type of meal. The idea is to have the veggies al dente and its fabulous served at room temperature.

Ingredients

2 cups couscous prepared according the package instructions
Olive oil
2 cups cauliflower mini florets
1 large onion sliced
1 carrot scraped and julienned
2 cups broccoli mini florets
3 garlic cloves minced
1 inch piece ginger root minced
Juice of half a lemon
Salt & black pepper

Method

1. Get the wok really hot and drizzle in some olive oil, add and stir-fry the cauliflower
 for one minute.
2. Add the onion and carrot and stir-fry for a further minute or two.
3. Add the broccoli and stir-fry for one minute.
4. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for one minute.
5. Add the couscous and squeeze over the lemon juice, salt and black pepper and stir all the ingredients together.

 

Pasta Salad

Pasta shells always make for an attractive salad and the green pepper adds an extra burst of colour while the combination of flavours makes this a favourite for all occasions.  The leftovers keep well in the fridge for a few days too.

 

Ingredients

500g small pasta shells
1 green pepper finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
410g tin peaches drained and chopped
100ml raisins
375ml mayonnaise
15ml curry powder
45ml chutney
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook the pasta in salt water as per the instructions on the packet.  Rinse in a colander and allow to cool.
2. Place the pasta in a mixing bowl and add the green pepper, onion, peaches and raisins.
3. Mix all the remaining ingredients and pour over the noodles and mix well.

 

Submitted by:  Renee Whittal, Port Elizabeth

Pasta Rice Salad Ring

Rice and pasta salads can often look like a big lumpy mess in a bowl, so it makes a nice change to have a salad all neat and tidy turned out from a mould especially with the added burst of colour with the ingredients for this salad.

Patsta Rice Salad Ring

 

Ingredients

900ml cooked risoni pasta
200ml mayonnaise
410g tin peaches drained and chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 green pepper finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
25ml parsley chopped
25ml Greek or Italian salad dressing
5ml salt
2ml pepper

Method

1. While still warm, mix the risoni pasta together with the mayonnaise.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Press into an oiled mould.
4. Allow to set overnight in the fridge.
5. Unmould and decorate as desired to serve.

 

Submitted by:  Renee Whittal, Port Elizabeth

Pasta Salad

This is another variation of a fabulously easy and tasty recipe, great for all weekend occasions.  The cheddar cheese can be replaced with any one of your favourites.

Ingredients

Salad

250ml pasta cooked of your choice
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped onion
1 tin peaches cut into small pieces
Cheddar cheese cut into cubes

Dressing

50ml oil
5-10ml curry powder
25ml sugar
5ml Worcestershire sauce
3ml turmeric
25ml chutney
25ml vinegar

Method

1. Combine all ingredients for the salad and the dressing and mix together in a bowl.

 

Submitted by:  Elizbe Wessels, Mauritius

Green Salad

The quantities for this salad depend on the number of people you are feeding and what’s so nice about this recipe is we all have these ingredients on hand most of the time and if not, you can substitute any of the ingredients.

 

Ingredients

Mixed salad greens / lettuce
Frozen peas
Salt & pepper to taste
Mayonnaise
Spring onions finely sliced

Method

1. Tear and place the salad greens / lettuce in the bottom of a bowl.
2. Cover this layer with the peas and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cover this layer with mayonnaise and garnish generously with spring onions.

 

Submitted by:  Beryl Healy, Sundays River

7 Layer Salad

The quantities for this salad depend on the amount of people you are feeding and you can substitute any of the ingredient layers and add sweet chilli sauce to the mayonnaise mixture for a bit of a kick and serving it in a glass bowl shows the layers really nicely.

 

Ingredients

Lettuce
Onion
Celery
Green pepper
Peas
Cheddar cheese
Bacon chopped and fried

Dressing

Mayonnaise
Lemon juice
Yoghurt
Balsamic vinegar

Method

1. Place a layer of torn lettuce leaves in a bowl.
2. Add a layer of sliced onion.
3. Add a layer of sliced celery.
4. Add a layer of sliced green pepper.
5. Mix together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, yoghurt and balsamic vinegar to a thick pouring consistency and pour over the above ingredients.
6. Add a layer of thawed frozen green peas.
7. Add a layer of grated cheese.
8. Crumble over the top some crisply fried bacon pieces.

Submitted by:  Dee Richards, Sundays River

Noodle Salad

The great thing about noodle salads is you can substitute the noodles for your favourite; I often use mini shells as they hold the sauce really well.  

 

Ingredients

½ packet “elbow” noodles
1 small onion
½ green pepper
60ml sugar
15ml curry powder
125ml tomato sauce
60ml vinegar
60ml sunflower oil
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Finely chop the onion and green pepper and place in a bowl.
3. Add the balance of the ingredients to the bowl and mix well.
4. Add the noodles and stir through.

 

Submitted by:  Mandy Frielinghaus, Mauritius