Lactation Cookies

My good friend Cat gave me some tips re my milk supply issues:

1. Eat oats.
2. Eat Lactation Cookies.
3. Take Fenugreek tablets.

Here is the recipe for the cookies:


Lactation Cookies 

1 cup butter
1 & 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats, thick cut
1 cup or more chocolate chips/sultanas/almonds/macadamia nuts
2-4 tablespoons of brewers yeast (be generous)

IMPORTANT! Do not substitute the brewers yeast. Magic ingredient!!


Preheat the oven to 180C.

1) Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes.

2) Cream (beat well) butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well.

3) Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the butter mix. Beat until blended.

4) Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips.

5) Add to butter mixture. Stir in oats then chips.

6) Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined. Because the dough is a little crumbly, it might be easier if you use a scoop.

7) Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies. Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies.

Quick Chicken Noodle Soup

I'm not a great cook.

Unfortunately for me, I was a lazy child and never learnt from my Mum when I lived in home.

 Here are four ingredients you need for a simple soup:

:: fish sauce
:: yummy pink salt
:: soy sauce (specifically made for soups)
:: cracked pepper

 With some garlic and chicken thigh, you can make a quick Chicken Noodle Soup in half an hour. 

Recipe from my great-cook-friend Grace.

Ingredients: 
4 cloves of garlic
2-3 pieces of chicken (I use thigh, but you can also use drumsticks)
Lots of water
Dried noodle sticks (udon)
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Salt & Pepper
Shallots sliced (optional)

Method:
1. Boil garlic and chicken in a big pot of water. Until chicken is cooked.
2. Remove the chicken from the water. Rip into strips.
3. Add a bit of fish sauce, soy sauce and salt & pepper. To taste.
4. Cook noodles in the above soup. Until al dente.
5. Serve noodles in a bowl with soup. Add shredded chicken. 
6. If you have shallots, sprinkle on top.

 Voila!!

Frugal Fish Cakes

This recipe I got from $120 Food Challenge, a great blog! I've modified it a bit because for some reason, when I follow her recipe, it becomes quite soft and soggy.

It's a nice way to pad out a fish. I usually have to buy 2 or 3 packets when feeding 8. But with this recipe, I can pad out one packet (800g of fish) to feed 8.

INGREDIENTS

2 large potatoes (about 500g)
2 spring onions, chopped (or onion)
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
zest of 1 lemon
juice of ½ lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
500g firm white fish (I use Basa)
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp Rice Bran Oil (to lightly fry)

METHOD

Peel and cut potatoes in half. Place in saucepan of boiling salted water, cover and cook potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes; drain. Push through a potato ricer or mash until the potato is as smooth as possible. Set aside.

Heat a saucepan of water that comes to a depth of about 8cm and bring to a simmer. Place the fish fillets in water and poach gently for 5 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove the fish, cool a little and remove skin and any bones, then flake with a fork.

Add to the potatoes with the rest of the ingredients.

Form 2 tablespoons of mixture into a pattie and pan fry on both sides for about 3 minutes on each side until golden and heated through. If you want to, you can cook them, then cover them with clingwrap and store for up to 24 hours, then reheat them for about 6 minutes in a preheated 190°C oven.

Delicious!!!

Soy Chicken

You can either bake this or fry/stew on stove-top. Of course, I prefer baking - in the oven - then finished!

Ingredients:
Chicken Middle Wing 2 kg
Rice to serve
1 cup vinegar
1 cup soy sauce (dark)
1 cup sugar

Method:
1. Mix the three cups of ingredients. Set aside.
2. Place chicken in a big oven dish. Pour mixture over chicken.
3. Bake in oven at 180C until done. (1.5 hrs approx).
4. Serve with rice & steamed greens.

*For some fanciness, sprinkle sesame seeds (as in the picture). :)

Recipe: Japanese Curry (Vegetarian)

Again, very very easy. And you use whatever veg you've got in the house. All you need is the curry block and rice. Enjoy! :)

Ingredients:
Rice
Japanese Curry Block
Veg (onion, carrot, zucchini, potato, green beans, broccoli etc)

Method:
1. Fry the veg with a bit of oil.
2. Add just enough water to cover the veg.
3. Add the curry block. Lower the heat. Stir until nice and thick.
4. Serve with rice.

*You could add beef chunks and fry that up first, before the veggies.

A Minimalist Recipe: Chicken Roast

Everybody has their way of doing roast...and of course, your mum's roast will always be the best! But I wanted to share my roast ideas, as it is dead-simple, and a one tray recipe. I love simplicity of roast. One meal, all in one, all in the oven, all done!

Chicken Roast

You need:
2 whole chickens
olive oil
salt
some veg (potato, onion, carrot, pumpkin, green beans*)

1. Wash the chicken, pat them dry. Lay out on tray.
2. Rub a little bit of olive oil on the chicken.
3. Sprinkle salt on top (lots!)
4. Round up whatever veg you've got, drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil on top.
5. Put the whole tray in the oven on low (160C) for about 1.5-2 hrs.
6. Microwave the beans with a bit of water. Don't put these in the oven!

Of course, if you wanted to go fancy, you can cut up a lemon, and put it in the cavity of the chicken. You could also get some bacon or pancetta (Italian bacon) and mix it with some fresh breadcrumbs and put it in beneath the skin of the chicken breast...but then, you wouldn't be a Minimalist Cook, would you?? ;)

Delhi Chicken

This is a new favourite. A friend recommended the Curry Masters range from the local Indian deli. It is about $4 a box (feeds 4). You can use the slow-cooker or just cook it on the stove top.

Ingredients:
Chicken Thigh
Delhi Chicken powder (add 300 ml water)
Coconut Cream
Coriander to garnish (optional)

Method:
1. Brown the chicken with a little bit of oil.
2. Add the powder mixture.
3. Add coconut cream at the end.
4. Serve with rice & garnish with coriander.

It tastes even better the day after! I think this is what we'll be serving up for lunch when friends come round. Of course we can only invite friends who eat Indian. :)

Minimalist Cooking: Chocolate Truffles

Dead easy recipe: even I can do this! :) And I love these.

Chocolate Truffles

200g sweet biscuits - crumbs
1 can condensed skim milk
150g dark chocolate - chopped
shredded coconut

1. Crumbs in a large bowl
2. Heat condensed milk and choc in pan, low heat, until choc melt
3. Pour over crumbs
4. Chill for 10 minutes until firm
5. Roll mixture into little balls, roll in coconut
6. Refrigerate and eat cold

YUM!!!!!!

*Please note: your truffles will probably look like the one second from the left.

Minimalist Cooking: 3 week Menu Plan

At this stage of my life, cooking means fast, simple and nutritious meals. It's not fancy or expensive. This means I am not using ingredients like Rhubarb, vanilla bean or saffron!!

I have a three week rotating menu. I'm working on minimising waste, and saving money and time. I think to make things simpler, I would like to eventually do a one week menu e.g. Monday is fish, Tuesday is pasta, Wednesday is vegetarian etc.

Also, I would like to move towards a more veggo diet, i.e., 5 days veggo, 1 day fish and 1 day meat. However, I have a carnivore Husband who thinks vegetarian dishes are just pre-dinner snacks. Reform will happen slowly... ;)

Week 1

1. Spaghetti bolognese
2. Fish
3. Japanese Curry (Veg)
4. Cream pasta
5. Roast chicken
6. BBQ
7. Leftovers

Week 2

1. Ja Jjang Noodles (Chinese black bean noodles)
2. Stir fry noodles (Veg)
3. Chicken Noodle Soup
4. Lasagna
5. Crumbed Chicken
6. BBQ
7. Leftovers

Week 3

1. Fried Rice (Veg)
2. Pizza
3. Sausage Roll
4. Soy Garlic Chicken
5. Roast Lamb
6. BBQ
7. Leftovers

These recipes are very simple. They require minimal cooking...minimal effort, time and ingredients! You probably already have the ingredients in your pantry.

Ja Jjang Myun (Chinese Black Bean Noodles)

This is an Asian version of the Bolognese. Essentially the same ingredients, you just need Ja Jjang powder. They are available from Asian grocery stores.

It looks like this.

Ingredients:
Mince (beef or pork)
Ja Jjang powder
1 onion
whatever veg you've got (carrot, zucchini, cabbage)

Method:
1. Fry the onion & mince.
2. Add & fry the veg (grated).
3. Add a little bit of water (1 to 1.5 cups).
4. Add the powder. Simmer until it becomes a nice & thick sauce.
5. Serve with Chinese white noodles.

Dead Easy Spaghetti

I have stopped using tinned tomatoes and tomato paste. I find it a bit bitter & strong in flavour. A friend introduced me to the Passata - Italian jar of smooth mashed tomatoes. It is sweet. Also, I used to hate chucking out half used tins of tomato paste. So this is a one-jar recipe.

You need:
1 onion
mince
grated veg (carrot, zucchini)
1 jar of Passata
1 bag of dried pasta

Method:
1. Brown the mince and onion.
2. Add grated veg. & Passata
3. Serve with cooked pasta

Every Monday we have Pasta (it seems), as Tuesday is my shopping day, which means there's not much left in the pantry.

You can buy 12 jars of Passata from the Italian fruit & veg shop for $13.

Recipe: Crumbed Chicken

Crumbed Chicken - a Minimalist's version of the Chicken Schnitzel: without the oil

You need:
Chicken - thigh or drumsticks
Breadcrumbs
Eggs (2)

1. Put eggs in a bowl. Beat a bit. Put breadcrumbs in another bowl.
2. Dunk chicken in egg, then breadcrumbs.
3. Bake in oven for about 45-60 min, at 180C. Until browned and crispy.
4. Serve with rice and steamed veggies.