Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Dump recipes
Ive decided that in order to fit in all the things I want to do in a day let alone all the things I need to do in a day, I need to become a little more time savvy.
In the lead up preparation time to my son's 3rd birthday, we've been eating the contents of my freezer. It started out purely so we could fit in the party pies, sausage rolls, chips and other party fare but then it got me thinking. So if a freezer full of meals can help me fit in a month of party preparation, I wonder what it would do to my regular lifestyle.
So in usual Amber style, I threw myself in head first and started researching what I needed to do to start a cooking style similar to OAMC or once a month cooking. Now I'm not planning to cook all our family meals for a month in one go (some people do and all power to them) but having a well stocked freezer of at least 3 meals a week would be ideal.
And then I discovered them concept of dump recipes.
Yes, I had the same reaction. It didn't sell itself straight away. But then I read on. The concept is really quite ingenious. Throw or "dump" some marinade ingredients along with your chosen meat into a large ziploc bag and freeze. When you want to use it, thaw it in the fridge over night, "dump" it into your slow cooker and dinner is served! 2 birds killed with 1 stone. So my next challenge to myself is to try at least 1 dump recipe in the next week. If it works, I'll post the recipe.
Bon appetit.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Welcome to the world of blogging
This is all very new to me. I LOVE reading other people's blogs but never really thought of writing my own. But I figure, if they can do it so can I.
What I'm all about at the moment is cooking really good food for my family. I have a daughter who is 4 and a son who is a week away from turning 3. They admittedly are really very good eaters, but they havent always been. My friends have often asked me "how do you get the kids to eat so well?" and my answer is quite simple. Offer up good tasty food and nothing else. Dessert in my house consists of yoghurt or fruit and unless dinner is eaten there is no "dessert". But that isn't much of an issue in my house.
I, like most other mums and dads, have often felt like I was dishing up the same thing night after night, week after week. So instead of dwelling on it, I set myself a completely achievable challenge. Cook 1 new recipe a week. Simple. It didn't even have to be a complete meal, just 1 recipe. So I started with some little cupcakes and simple things I could send my daughter to preschool with as a snack and went from there. I've made main meals, side dishes, desserts, and even jam since I started my challenge.
I hear all the working mums out there say to be, but you don't go to work you can spend all day cooking if you wanted to. To which I say, I was a working mum and I think I almost have less time now believe it or not. But with a little bit of planning (nothing comes too easy!!) I could have a week of gourmet meals without needing to answer the dreaded question "what on earth are we having for dinner tonight".
The purpose of my blog is to share some of these recipes I've been making that my family have loved. And before you get too scared, most of them don't take up too many ingredients or too many special skills.
So let's start cooking together!
Super easy raspberry jam
This is so quick, you can have your jam made in shorter time than it would take to get the kids in and out of the car at the supermarket.
1 kg frozen raspberries
1 kg white sugar
Jars to store cooked jam
1. Preheat oven to 120*C. Wash and rinse your jars and metal lids and place on a baking tray. Place in oven and "cook" for 15 mins or until completely dry. Keep in turned off oven until jam is cooked.
2. Place raspberries into a large saucepan. Over moderate heat cook raspberries for 3-4. Ins until just heated through. Add sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to bring mixture to the boil. Once it is boiling, cook for 6 mins.
3. To test jam for readiness, pour a small amount of jam onto a cold plate. Tilt plate onto an angle slightly. If the jam wrinkles it is ready.
4. Pour hot jam into hot jars and seal with lids immediately. Serve with scones. Crusty bread or anything you like. This will really impress your friends.
Happy cooking.
What I'm all about at the moment is cooking really good food for my family. I have a daughter who is 4 and a son who is a week away from turning 3. They admittedly are really very good eaters, but they havent always been. My friends have often asked me "how do you get the kids to eat so well?" and my answer is quite simple. Offer up good tasty food and nothing else. Dessert in my house consists of yoghurt or fruit and unless dinner is eaten there is no "dessert". But that isn't much of an issue in my house.
I, like most other mums and dads, have often felt like I was dishing up the same thing night after night, week after week. So instead of dwelling on it, I set myself a completely achievable challenge. Cook 1 new recipe a week. Simple. It didn't even have to be a complete meal, just 1 recipe. So I started with some little cupcakes and simple things I could send my daughter to preschool with as a snack and went from there. I've made main meals, side dishes, desserts, and even jam since I started my challenge.
I hear all the working mums out there say to be, but you don't go to work you can spend all day cooking if you wanted to. To which I say, I was a working mum and I think I almost have less time now believe it or not. But with a little bit of planning (nothing comes too easy!!) I could have a week of gourmet meals without needing to answer the dreaded question "what on earth are we having for dinner tonight".
The purpose of my blog is to share some of these recipes I've been making that my family have loved. And before you get too scared, most of them don't take up too many ingredients or too many special skills.
So let's start cooking together!
Super easy raspberry jam
This is so quick, you can have your jam made in shorter time than it would take to get the kids in and out of the car at the supermarket.
1 kg frozen raspberries
1 kg white sugar
Jars to store cooked jam
1. Preheat oven to 120*C. Wash and rinse your jars and metal lids and place on a baking tray. Place in oven and "cook" for 15 mins or until completely dry. Keep in turned off oven until jam is cooked.
2. Place raspberries into a large saucepan. Over moderate heat cook raspberries for 3-4. Ins until just heated through. Add sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to bring mixture to the boil. Once it is boiling, cook for 6 mins.
3. To test jam for readiness, pour a small amount of jam onto a cold plate. Tilt plate onto an angle slightly. If the jam wrinkles it is ready.
4. Pour hot jam into hot jars and seal with lids immediately. Serve with scones. Crusty bread or anything you like. This will really impress your friends.
Happy cooking.
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