Moroccan tomato and bacon baked eggs

It's been a long time since I posted something now. I got a new job so I haven't had that much time to cook a lot of food and we've had a few busy weekends this past month. Now we're getting in to the season when there's a lot of rain and cold weather so there's probably going to be more time for us to cook some new delicious recipes. I tried something new today which is perfect for a rainy weekend morning when you have some extra time to cook breakfast. Found this recipe on eatdrinkpaleo.com.au.

Ingredients

serves 2

4 free range eggs

1 small red chili, chopped

1 medium red capsicum, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 slices of bacon

1 1/2 tsp Moroccan spice mix (paprika, cumin, coriander seeds, cayenne pepper, oregano etc)

1 cup tomato passata

2 tbs butter

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh coriander, roughly chopped

1/2 tsp salt

We used a stainless steel small frying pan with a lid to make our baked eggs.

Brown off the bacon in a non-stick frying pan. When bacon is nice and crispy, drain it on a paper towel and dice up.

Saute onion, capsicum and chili in a the stainless steel pan with 2 tablespoons of butter for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add garlic and spices to the pan and stir through for half a minute. Add bacon and tomatoes, stir and cover with the lid. Cook on low heat for 12-15 minutes, giving it a stir a few times.

Using a spoon, make four wells in the tomato mix and crack an egg into each, letting the egg white spill over the edges. Sprinkle each egg yolk with a little salt and pepper, cover with the lid and cook on low heat until the egg whites settle and firm but the egg yolks stay soft. This took a bit longer than I expected (approx 10-15 minutes) and we still got some raw egg white and the egg yolks were slightly harder than expected. I think we might have to try this recipe more times in order to master it fully.

Try it! It's delicious!

Beef Stew

We have a lot of meat in the freezer from getting 16 kg of various beef cuts delivered a few weeks ago. So we decided that we need to cook something in order to make some space in the freezer. We haven't made a good beef stew in a while so we decided to make just that. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
650 g diced beef
1 large onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 can (approximately 400 g) diced tomatoes
200 ml beef stock
400 ml red wine
1 tsp fresh oregano
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaves
½ butternut pumpkin, diced

Soften onion and garlic in some olive oil in a large pot, then add beef and allow to brown. Add your carrots and allow to soften slightly. Then add your stock, tomatoes, red wine, oregano, basil and bay leaves. Put lid on and simmer on low heat for about an hour. Add the diced pumpkin and cook for another 30-45 minutes without the lid in order to evaporate some of the liquid. Serve by itself or with some cauliflower rice/mash.

Cheat of the week - Banoffee pie

I've been a bit obsessed with Jamie Oliver lately and his 15 and 30-minute meals. We saw an episode a while ago when he made a really simple banoffee pie. I've never had banoffee pie before so I wasn't really sure what to expect but it seemed so good so we just had to try it; banana caramel sauce and cream with coffee flavour...just great. Now, this is not exactly a healthy recipe but oh so yummy.

Ingredients

serves 6-8

1 pie crust (store bought or home made)

2 bananas

100 ml full fat milk

4 tbsp sugar

300 ml cream

1 tbsp camp coffee

2 bananas, extra

100 g dark chocolate

Put the first two bananas and the milk in a blender and mix until well combined. 

Melt the caster sugar in a pan over high heat. Don’t stir it, just gently shake the pan as it melts to a darker caramel colour. Add the banana milk mixture to the pan and stir until the toffee melts together and takes on a dark colour. If you have hard sugar crystals in the pan wait a little bit until they're all melted but be careful not to burn it. Pour into the pie case and let it cool down completely.

Whip the cream and then fold through the camp coffee essence so it leaves a marbled vision. Slice the bananas and arrange over the toffee filling, then spoon the cream over the top.

Place the chocolate bar on a bench top with smooth side up. Scrape a sharp knife across the chocolate towards you, making chocolate curls. Put on top of the cream.

Picture taken from Jamie Oliver's website

Spiced nuts

I tried this recipe for the first time during our first month in Australia, when we were living in the city. I was a bit bored with just eating normal roasted and salted nuts so I wanted to make something different and I remembered that my mum once made her own roasted nuts which were really nice. I found a delicious recipe on taste.com.au.

Ingredients

1½ tbsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp smoked paprika powder

1 tsp sea salt

500 g of mixed raw nuts

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Combine honey, olive oil, garlic, paprika powder, cayenne and salt in a small pot or frying pan on low heat. Stir until the honey has melted and the mixture is completely combined. 

Transfer the honey mixture to a large bowl. Add all the nuts and toss until they are evenly coated with the mixture. Spread the nuts on the baking tray. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, mixing around occasionally. Keep a close eye on them after 10 minutes so that they don't burn.

Banana bread no 2

Last time I made banana bread I wasn't actually that fond of the outcome so I found another recipe. I had some very ripe bananas that I needed to get rid of so I thought today was the day to try out the new recipe. I found the recipe on: http://www.crossfitvitality.com. I'm much happier with the outcome of this one, it's delicious!

Ingredients
makes 1 loaf
3 ripe bananas
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
60 ml coconut oil
480 ml almond flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
handful walnuts, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Mix bananas, eggs, vanilla, honey and coconut oil together in a food processor. Mix in flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Lastly add in the walnuts and mix around a little bit. Place the batter in a greased loaf pan and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Cardamom cupcakes

Next Tuesday (the 12th of Feb) it's what we call Fat Tuesday in Sweden. We eat these special buns on this day but I'm not a big fan of baking with yeast since it takes too long, so I decided to make a cupcake version  of the buns and the result is surprisingly good. I found a recipe but it's for big muffins while I only had cupcake tins so I think they could have been even better.

Ingredients
makes 12 big muffins or 20 small cupcakes
200 g butter
300 ml milk
300 ml sugar
3 eggs
600 ml plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cardamom

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Melt the butter, then beat the eggs together with the sugar until they're white and fluffy. Mix in the milk with the melted butter and beat it together with the egg mixture. Fold in the flour, baking powder and cardamom. Pour the mixture into the muffin/cupcake tins and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. Let them cool down.
When serving them you should cut off the top of the bun, take out a bit of the middle and fill them with 150 g almond paste mixed with a bit of cream in order to soften it up a bit. Whip 300 ml of cream and put in the middle of the cupcake. Put the top on and dust some icing sugar over it.

Chicken cashew curry

We went to an Indian restaurant when we were in New Zealand and had Chicken Korma. We really liked that so we wanted to make it ourselves. We found a recipe on http://cookinginwestchester.com.

Ingredients
serves 3-4
2 cm piece of peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves
2 red chilies
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1½ tsp ground cumin seeds
80 ml water

120 ml cashew nuts
3 tbsp yoghurt

600 g skinless chicken thighs
4 tbsp butter or oil of choice
1 large red onion, finely chopped
4 green cardamoms
1 to 2 sticks cinnamon
3 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 tsp turmeric
1 can (400 g) whole canned tomatoes
1 capsicum, diced
100 g green beans, chopped
1 tsp salt
fresh coriander for decoration

Place the ginger, garlic, red chilies, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a blender. Pour in the water and pulse a few times and mix to a smooth paste. Rub the paste onto to the chicken as let it rest while you prepare the rest of the dish.
Place the cashews and the yogurt in the blender and grind to a smooth paste.
Heat the butter on medium heat. Add in the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes until the onions begin to get golden. Add in the cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon and the cloves and cook for a few seconds.
Add in the chicken together with the spice paste and the turmeric. Sauté for about 6-7 minutes.
Add in the tomatoes and bring the chicken to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
Stir in the cashew yoghurt mixture and simmer for another 3 minutes. Serve on a bed of boiled rice and with some fresh coriander.

In the making

Finished result

Naked burrito

I found this recipe on an Australian Paleo website. I won't write the recipe as I followed it from point to point and it's so well written. It was really delicious and perfect for a Wednesday night and a good alternative for your weekly Friday night taco dinners. So here it is: Mexican Naked Burrito

Chocolate cupcakes

So I decided that I wanted to make some cupcakes to go with the chocolate ice cream just to mix it up a bit and not only eat ice cream. I found this recipe on Elana's Pantry, which is a really good website for recipes without wheat. You can find all kinds of things there.

Ingredients
makes 7-8 cupcakes
60 ml coconut flour
60 ml cacao powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
4 large eggs
60 ml coconut oil
80 ml honey

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Mix together the dry ingredients in a food processor, add in wet ingredients and mix until completely combined. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and scoop 60 ml into each cup. Bake in the oven for about 15-18 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Served broken up with chocolate ice cream, banana and walnuts

Thai crab cakes

This is a version of traditional crab cakes with a Thai flavour.

340 g crab meat, drained
100 g white fish
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 small sweet potato, boiled and mashed
1 garlic clove
2 spring onions, chopped
1 egg
1 tbsp coconut flour
a splash of lime juice
a few drops of fish sauce
100 ml almond flour
coconut oil

Mix the fish to mince in a food processor and add the crab meat together with the rest of the ingredients. Shape patties to the size that you want them (tip: it will be easier to shape the patties if you slightly moist your hands). Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Pour almond flour on a plate and coat the patties with some flour on each side. Heat up a frying pan and put in some coconut oil. Fry the patties for about 2 minutes on each side.

Nut, banana and coffee smoothie

So I had some almond milk at home and I have just come back from a nice walk. I decided I needed some energy so I came up with this recipe of an energy smoothie.

Ingredients
serves 1-2
1 frozen banana
1 tbsp nut butter (I used a mix of Brazil nuts, almonds and cashews)
1 small espresso shot
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 ml unsweetened almond milk

Put it all in a blender and mix until smooth.

Chicken and tomato bake

I made this recipe a couple of days ago but didn't get a chance to post it yet. I will try my best to remember the ingredients.

Ingredients
serves 2-3
4 chicken thigh fillets
3 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 big garlic clove, finely diced
1 capsicum, diced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 pinch chili flakes
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Fry off the onion in some olive oil until it starts to soften, add in the garlic and capsicum and let them soften for a couple of minutes. Add in your tomatoes and spices and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes. While that's simmering, heat up another frying pan and add in some olive oil. Put in your chicken thighs and brown them for a couple of minutes on each side. Place them in an ovenproof dish and pour over your tomato sauce. Cook in the oven for about 25 minutes or until your chicken is cooked. Serve with some zucchini pasta and some fresh basil.

Chocolate ice cream

I borrowed this ice cream recipe from Civilized Caveman and it's so easy to make it's ridiculous.

Ingredients
makes 2-4 servings
1 can (approx 400 ml) of cold coconut milk
60 ml rice malt syryp (or honey)
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together all the ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour in the mixture. The ice cream should take about 10-20 minutes. Pay attention to when it starts to set. Once done, put it in the freezer for another 30-60 minutes before serving.
But most importantly...enjoy!

Lamingtons

Since we're now in Australia, we wanted to celebrate the Australia day by making some delicious Lamingtons. But since we're currently trying to cut out wheat and sugar I tried to find some alternative. I managed to find this delicious recipe on EatDrinkPaleo.com.au and to be honest I think we both prefer these ones compare to the original. I'm not going to put the recipe on here since I almost did exactly according to her recipe. So I've just put a link to the original recipe and you can go from there. The only difference is that we filled our Lamingtons with my home made raspberry jam instead of chocolate.
Enjoy...and Happy Australia Day!

Long time, no see

Thai almond pork used to be one of our favourite dishes but we haven't made it in ages so tonight I decided to make it. We realised that it might get even better by using sambal oelek instead of fresh chili so next time we'll do that. The previous recipe post didn't have a picture so here it is.