Roasted Brussels Sprouts

There are two types of people in the world: those who love Brussels sprouts and those who hate them. Well, I've realised that roasting makes all vegetables better*, and Brussels sprouts are no exception. If you would like to switch to loving them, this is how. If you already love them, this will make them even better.

*except maybe lettuce? Roasted lettuce probably isn't any good.

Actually, let's explore this roasting idea further. Roast potatoes are wonderful, especially when the skins are crispy and glistening with some oil. Roasted sweet potatoes are enough to distract me from even an expensive steak. Roasting aubergines or red peppers transform them into silky, complex dips (see here and here).

Beans with Sausages, Bacon, and Poached Eggs

My husband loves sausages, bacon, and all other pork products. A few years ago I took this picture of him.

I knew that he would love this Donna Hay recipe:

• simmered borlotti and kidney beans with soft onions, rosemary, and thyme;
• sausages wrapped with bacon and then baked;
• all topped with poached eggs.

This is a pork-lover's dream! It reminds me of an English breakfast, but much more posh.

Chicken with Lemon Potatoes

I recently made this simple dish for dinner. It's so easy because the chicken and potatoes are all cooked together in one large frying pan. The recipe is here on the Donna Hay website.

First the chicken is browned in some oil. Then wine, stock, and lemon juice are added, thinly sliced potatoes and sprigs of thyme are thrown in, and it simmers away until everything is cooked. See, simple.

Tuna and Kidney Bean Patties

What to eat when the fridge is almost empty? I have discovered that these tuna and kidney bean patties can be made with pantry ingredients and one egg. You just need a can of tuna (or salmon) and a can of kidney beans (or chickpeas, or cannellini beans, or pinto beans). Mix them up!

Cannellini, Green Bean, and Tomato Salad

At the local vegetable market, I buy these long beans. They are sold coiled up in a bunch and are usually about 40 cm long when laid out. Fortunately for me, they are easy to use: in all the same ways as Western green beans. So I usually cut them into bite-sized pieces and stir-fry them or blanch them for salad.

Zucchini Noodles with Rocket, Lemon, and Capers

People are always asking me how I eat so many vegetables. Today I am going to share with you one of my tricks. I adapted this pasta recipe from a published Donna Hay recipe. Regular readers already know one trick that I used: I replaced the spaghetti with zucchini (courgette) noodles. But today I want to talk about another trick.

Breakfast Parfait with Grain-Free Muesli

Let’s talk about your first name. Do you like it? Have you ever fantasized about changing it? My parents have often told me that they couldn't agree on my first name. My mother wanted to call me Juliana and my dad wanted Elizabeth. In the end they called me Sarah.

Sometimes I have imagined myself with Juliana or Elizabeth as my name. I think as Juliana I might be more of a romantic--it has a fairy tale ring to it. Elizabeth, meanwhile, sounds regal. I think it might fit with my slightly stoic personality. I would never have been a Lizzie, though, that seems too casual for my sincere side.

Dukkah Roasted Chicken with Tahini Yogurt

Would you rather have a live-in massage therapist, or a live-in chef, or a live-in cleaner? I'm quite happy to do my own cooking. But cleaning--oh yes! I would rather leave that to someone else. And a live-in masseuse! Wow, wouldn't that be amazing?

There is a little shopfront near me that does neck and shoulder massage while you sit (face forward) in a chair. I have bought a little package of time that I can redeem in 15 minute blocks. After work from time to time I wander over and get 30 minutes of neck and shoulder rubbing. It is amazing. After my first visit, the therapist struggled with my tense muscles. She said, "You should come back again next week." I giggled. Sign me right up.

Slow-Cooked Beef Ragu

A story of awkwardness: being alone in a crowded place. A couple of months ago, I was at a bar on a Friday evening; three bands were playing and I knew a few of the musicians from work. I still had one crutch with me. (It had been five weeks since I had a bad tumble while running and injured my knee.) The bar was packed, and I’m sure the number of people would have been against fire regulations in another country.

I found a seat against the back wall and propped my crutch up behind me. A few friends were nearby and chatting with me, but eventually they went to mingle and I was alone. Sitting there by myself in a packed bar, I began to feel very awkward. I worked hard to relax the pit-of-my-stomach tenseness and sit there with a pleasant look on my face.

Daikon "Risotto" with Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts

I have so many ideas to share about how to eat more vegetables! Recently I have been replacing different parts of our meals with vegetables. Last week and this week I made vegetable "risotto". Last week I made turnip rice for a red wine risotto and this week I am sharing a recipe for daikon rice. Daikon is a little like radishes in taste and like a rolling pin in size. It is quite crunchy when raw and cooks up quickly. This risotto made an excellent weeknight meal.

Bocconcini-Stuffed Meatballs

It was my tenth anniversary this month. I’ve been reflecting on what I love most about Anthony, and it’s still the same thing as when we first met. He makes me laugh. I am naturally a pretty serious person and I desperately need some levity in my life. Here are some examples, both in words and pictures.

“Good morning, Smiler!” he says gleefully to me. I am cranky when I get up.

Asian Omelette Wrap

The "omelette wrap" idea is a revelation to me. Use eggs as a wrapper for food? Ingenious! Grain-free and nutritious and very easy indeed. And I love eggs in all forms.

This recipe caught my eye in a Donna Hay magazine. So I suggested it to the Wednesdays with Donna Hay group in which I participate. I was completely taken in by the caption in the magazine:

Spicy Quinoa and Sweet Potato Soup

I've got a bad cold and so I'm craving spicy food. When I can't smell much, the heat of chilli seems to cut through the fog a little. Plus spicy food makes my nose run and cleans it out! (Too much information?) Thankfully I made some of this soup a few weeks ago and had several portions in the freezer.

Before freezing (as pictured above) this was a thick, chunky soup. After thawing and reheating, it was more like a warm salad - all the liquid had been soaked up or evaporated. It was delicious both ways.

Quinoa, Broccoli, and Bacon Fritters

You might not know this about me: I am obsessed with correct punctuation. It began as a young child. Thanks to my book-loving parents, I owned more than 200 books by the time I was nine, and they were alphabetised and organised on my bookshelf.

My father took a break from his work to do a PhD when I was ten, and he moved our family to Scotland to complete it over five years at the University of Aberdeen. It involved a huge thesis and he talked about it constantly with our family. I was old enough to understand a little of the subject matter. His thesis later became a 380 page book called Attributes and Atonement: The Holy Love of God in the Theology of PT Forsyth.

Caramelised Cherry Tomatoes

Caramelised cherry tomatoes, otherwise known as my new easiest side dish. I have started a new job and I am working much longer hours than before. I have to admit that I gave up on cooking for a while. I bought fast food from the train station and enlisted the nearby delivery restaurants to keep us fed for a month. But too much food cooked outside my own kitchen starts to taste strange after a while. Enter: this laughably easy dish.

I bought some white fish to pan fry since that's a fast main dish. Then I added this Donna Hay recipe for caramelised cherry tomatoes. The idea is really that you pan fry some chicken or fish and remove it. Then deglaze the pan for two minutes with balsamic vinegar and halved cherry tomatoes. Then serve. That is all! Cooking the tomatoes add only two minutes to the overall time of making dinner. I served it on some courgette noodles (they were raw, and the balsamic juices warmed them a bit). That's the kind of fast food I need right now.

Balsamic Chicken

My favourite camera lens is broken right now. I discovered this just after I plated this balsamic chicken and was ready to take pictures. My friend, Jess, was coming over to eat with Anthony and I; I had finished cooking about ten minutes early in order to snap some pictures. But after one shot, the camera showed an error message: "Communication between the camera and lens is faulty". Oh no!

I switched the camera off and on again (the universal fix for technology?). I was able to take one more picture (which is above) before the error message popped up again. However, the light meter and auto focus both didn't work, hence the courgettes are in focus and the chicken is not. In the end I decided that I really like this picture.... It's hugely overexposed but we'll just call that a "feature" and leave it at that!

Courgette and Ricotta Frittata

The last time I made a frittata, it tasted wonderful but it was a textural disaster. (Read all about it here: ginger and shiitake omelette.) This courgette (zucchini) and ricotta frittata was on the roster for our Wednesday with Donna Hay blogging group, and I was determined to improve upon my earlier attempt. As a result, I completely changed the procedure for making this frittata.

Pea and Mint Soup

File this one under "food that looks ugly but tastes good". It's a blended soup made with green peas (fresh or frozen), two small potatoes, and a big handful of fresh mint. My tongue was amazed at the vibrant flavour considering how dull-looking the soup was. The fresh mint was foremost and made me feel as though I was eating summer in a warm bowl. The peas jumped out at me next, with the smooth cream bringing up the rear.

Part of the reason the soup looked so terrible: I left on the skins of the potatoes. They were brown and made the resulting soup have a brownish tinge. I suppose that shows that I care more about the nutrition of my food than the beauty of the pictures. And I definitely care about taste!

Baba Ghanoush

The Joy of Cooking taught me a lot about food; I have the 1953 version. But one piece of advice The Joy of Cooking gave no longer applies--there is no need to salt eggplants (aubergines) before cooking. New varieties of eggplant are much less bitter than in our grandmothers' days.

Shiitake Mushroom and Ginger Omelette

I was reminded this week that cooking is more an art than a science. I was making this mushroom omelette using a Donna Hay recipe online. It turned out very nice looking and it tasted great. But it was totally stuck to the pan. How frustrating.

The omelette was finished in the oven, as per the recipe. For this reason, you can't use a non-stick pan or any pan with a plastic handle. I don't own a cast iron pan, just the stainless steel one you see pictured. It's actually a great quality wedding gift with copper in the base, etc, etc. But sadly, there's no use touting its quality when half the egg is falling out of the pan in large, jagged bits and the rest is still stuck inside. Sigh.