bbq chook in the crockpot and a new quinoa salad to try

Deary me, I have been a bit slack on this old blog lately!

I just haven't been able to get my act together.

A couple of times I sat down to write something and couldn't decide what to write, nothing seemed interesting enough or I couldn't be bothered to take some photos to post or whatever, 

so they just didn't get written.

But last night we had something new and yummy for tea so I just had to come and share it with you.

I have had these recipes pinned for a while and I thought I should go through my boards and have a look for something new and inspiring to cook.

As it was my cooking day yesterday,

(what I don't cook everyday!- no I don't but that is probably a whole other post that I should write soon!)

I thought I would try a couple.

The first part was a crockpot recipe for rotisserie chicken.

Now here in Australia we would probably call it a BBQ chook or cooked chook.

We often used to buy one of these for a quick lunch on the weekend from the supermarket but at $10+ each they work out a little exe.

So I started buying a few extra chooks when I did my grocery shop.

I would get one out on a Friday to defrost and then cook it up in the oven for over the weekend.

Or if we had a roast chicken I would do two and we would have one ready for another meal- either a salad or sandwiches or something else super yummy like a chicken pie.

I buy the fresh chickens from Woolworths, they are around 1.5kgs in size and cost a little over $5, so basically half of what I was paying for a cooked chook.

1.5kg is just enough for our family with no leftovers, but not a huge amount of meat each, 

sometimes we might break into a little of the extra chook if we need to.

So back to last night's dinner.

This recipe cooked the chicken in a slow cooker or crockpot and I thought I may as well give it a burl!

Because I have a very large crockpot I could fit 2 of these chickens in and now we have one for lunch today.

I must say I was surprised at how much this tasted like a bought BBQ chook, minus the stuffing which I can't eat anyway, and goodness knows what junk they put in it or on it as the case may be.

It got the thumbs up from the family, so I think it will become a summer staple.

Great when you don't want to turn on the oven and heat up the house on a hot day!

 I will write the recipe out as I found it and then write in my adjustments.

 Crockpot BBQ chicken

1 whole chicken (1.5kgs)

2T paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) - I didn't!

1 1/2 t onion powder

2T garlic powder or 3 cloves garlic

1t salt

1/2t black pepper

Place all of your ingredients in a small bowl  and stir in water by the teaspoon until a paste forms.

Rub it on your chicken inside and out.

Spray your slow cooker with spray oil and place your chicken in slow cooker (now the recipe says to place it breast side up, the picture actually shows the breast down, now I have been told that if you place the breast down you will get a moister chicken as the fat runs down into the breast- so that's what I did).

Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high 3.5-4.5 hrs.

Make sure the thickest part of the thigh registers 180degrees- now I presumed this meant Fahrenheit as it is an American recipe and as my food thermometer has both I didn't bother to convert. 

Now I just need to tell you that I cheated a little on the ingredients.

I didn't have any onion powder or garlic powder so instead of that and salt I used an Olssons Sea Salt Rub. I actually have no idea if you can buy these in the supermarket as VCH deals with Olssons for his business and we get heaps of these given to us.

The one I chose is called Wild Thing and contains juniper berry, thyme, onion, rosemary and Australian sea salt.

Now when I checked after 6 hrs on low there was lots of liquid in the bottom, so I tipped it out into a bowl.

I have since put into another container in the fridge and will use as a stock.

I thought it might be just fat but as it is now cool it doesn't look that way at all.

I then just left the chickens in there with the crockpot turned off until we were ready to serve, but I think I could have left it on low if I wanted them really hot or were leaving them for a long time.

Now of course to go with the chicken I thought I would have a nice salad or two - so I made a coleslaw and this lovely quinoa salad with blueberries, strawberries and watermelon.

Here is a link to the recipe:

They served in on individual plates but I just put it on one large platter.

I also used frozen blueberries and not fresh- I just tossed them through the slightly warm quinoa frozen and they were nicely defrosted by the time we served it. 

I also think you could get away with half the amount of quinoa (mine is a combo of white and red), 

when you look at the photo on the original recipe they don't seem to have as much quinoa either.

We have plenty left over for tea tonight.

I think this would be lovely to take to a shared meal.

Again all the family liked this even the ones not overly keen on quinoa!

You may also notice this new button on my sidebar.

I was invited to join this sight because they were impressed by the quality of my recipes- imagine- I was a bit chuffed!

Have a great weekend everyone- I have some custom orders that I need to get finished for a cafe that is

opening soon!

busy mum moussaka

With lots of these lovely Lebanese eggplants in our garden I decided to make moussaka the other night.

 As it was so hot, I decided to save heating up the kitchen and use my slow cooker.

 First, I cut the eggplant in half and fried them on both sides in a little olive oil.

(if you are using a conventional eggplant you should cut them in 1cm thick slices and if it is not fresh I would suggest you salt them for 1/2hr and then rinse off, because these are fresh from the garden and very sweet there is no need to do this)

The beauty of my slow cooker is that it has a searing pan, so I just used it and it saves on washing up.

 Once they were brown I set them aside on a plate.

 Then I browned 1kg mince and added a bottle of passata sauce. some cinnamon, cumin and coriander a little sprinkle of Celtic sea salt and some pepper.

The finished product because it was cooked in the slow cooker had a bit too much sauce, 

so next time I would only use 2/3 of the bottle.

 I layered the eggplants on the bottom.

Then I tipped in the meat.

 I mixed together 2C grated cheese, 500g ricotta and 1/2 C Greek yoghurt, then spread it over the meat.

I sprinked some extra grated cheese and paprika on top and grated over some nutmeg.

Then I put it in the slow cooker for 1hr on high and 1hr on low.

Serve with a garden salad.

Now this is where there should be a photo of the finished product, but I wanted to take one the next day with the leftovers but forgot, then when I was out the kids ate them- oops!

We are really enjoying these Lebanese eggplants, they are lovely roasted in the oven too!

stuffed button squash

VCH is the vege gardener around here.

His garden is going great guns at the moment and we are drowning in zucchini and button squash with just the right amount of tomatoes and cucumbers and some yummy Lebanese eggplants.

 These babies were left too long and became rather large, so I thought I would stuff them.

So as usual I surfed the internet for recipes and then did my own thing.

First I hollowed them out, I gave the insides to the chooks, but you could cook them up and eat them or add them back into the mince.

 As I hollowed them out I made sure I put the tops with the bottoms rather than leave them on the bench, because I have done this before and you can't work out who belongs to who!

 To go inside it I simply browned a kg of mince and then added a bottle of passata sauce.

Lots of recipes used cooked quinoa and some other veges, but since I had some of my yummy quinoa salad (made with homegrown roasted pumpkin, squash, zucchini and eggplant) left over I just added that.

Some recipes used rice, just add whatever takes your fancy!

Then I put the mince inside the squash and put their correct lids on and popped them into the oven at about 180C.

Lots of recipes said 30 minutes, but these took a good hour and they were still quite firm, if you want them softer you would need to cook them longer still.

If I had thought of this earlier in the day I would have used the slow cooker.

We served them with a tossed salad.

I took this photo the next day with the one remaining leftover one that we ate for lunch.

I have teamed it with home grown sprouts and homegrown tomato and cucumber.

We also like our squash roasted or stir fried, often great for breakfast with fried tomatoes and onion.

What do you have growing at the moment?

friday favourites- crockpot

I know I haven't been regular with my Friday Favourites posts,
 it has been more a problem of having too many posts and not enough time to do them all in.

I must say I am a recent convert to the humble crockpot/slowcooker.

I have only had one for a little over a year.

My aunt actually gave me one years ago that used to be hers but when I looked at it I realised that there was no way I was going to fit a meal for our family in it, so I passed it onto someone with a smaller family.

More and more recipes have been appearing on the internet and when a friend got one and raved about it my interest was piqued.
After a little searching and looking around comparing prices, sizes and how they worked I bought an 8L slow cooker with a searing pan, this allows me to brown the meat in it on the stove and then just throw in the rest of the ingredients and turn it on without having an extra frypan to wash up.

 here it is working away cooking dinner, think the outside could do with a clean!

The crockpot has really come into it's own over this winter's soccer season.

I have made Friday nights a slow cooker night as I need to take B4 and The Girl into soccer training and I don't get home until 5:30 or later and B1 and B2 are usually heading out to play soccer and referee at that time or earlier and are not home until 8:30pm so they need to eat before they go.
If I have put the crockpot on earlier in the day they can simply serve themselves and eat before they leave and not have to grab some junk food at the soccer match.

Then the rest of us can eat when VCH gets home from work.

Last week B2 was playing a 6pm game in a neighbouring town and VCH was providing the transport so they just ate when they got home at 8pm and the rest of us had ours earlier.

Last week we used the crockpot 3 nights in a row.

Wednesday I made a potato bake in it before I took the kids to kids club and bought some fresh fish at the local fish monger- leather jacket it was delicious!

Thursday night B3 made crockpot lasagne- this is the second time we have made it and I have to say it is the most delicious and easiest home made lasagne I have ever come across, I used gluten free pasta sheets.

Friday night we had easy chicken curry, I add sweet potato to it and later will add some greens 1/2 hr before it is ready when I add the coconut cream.

Another family favourite is taco chilli chicken.

We are getting ready for an international night at church and this year we are having an Indonesian night, so I am practicing some recipes, tonight we are having rendang padang  (beef curry) and I found a slow cooker recipe for it so I will let you know how it turns out.

We have also enjoyed Marnie's stuffed Capsicum's
and a slow cooked lamb hot pot
and also this beef stew
Some other things we like in the crockpot are corned beef and pickled pork and irish stew.

What are your favourite things to make in your slow cooker?

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busy mum potato onion tart

 I found this recipe on pinterest as a side dish but we serve it as a tart with salad for a main meal.

It is really yummy.

I have also served it for guests for lunch and they left with the recipe they liked it so much.

It is easy enough for the kids to do.
 I use Desiree potatoes, I buy them by the bagful at my local fruit and veg- they cost me 99c a kilo and I don't need to peel them. 

I have doubled the original recipe, if you don't have as big a family as me feel free to halve it.
If you have not used Gruyere cheese before do not be put off by the smell- it will smell when you grate it and when it is cooking but it tastes divine- believe me!

4 tablespoons butter 12 sprigs thyme, strip the leaves from the stems or other herbs from your garden  B2 made the one pictured and I am not sure what he used as we didn't have any thyme  2 large onion, sliced somewhat thickly ( a tad more than 1/4 inch thick) 1 kg. desiree potatoes, washed and very thinly sliced - I use my v-slicer for this 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup grated gruyère  2 cups grated mozzarella sea salt and cracked black pepper Preheat oven to 200° C.  Melt the butter in a 9-10 inch ovenproof frying pan (cast iron is great) over medium heat.  Add the thyme and onion and cook for 5 minutes.  Layer the potato, oil, Gruyère, mozzarella, salt and pepper in the frypan. If you don't have a frypan with a metal handle wrap it with foil before placing it into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.  Turn upside down to serve. Serve with a tossed salad.  Enjoy!

busy mum taco chilli chicken

 I shared with you a couple of weeks back how on Monday's we have fish as it is a day I can go and grab some fresh fish at a local fish mongers and then make a quick dinner once I get home.

Fridays is my other day to cook during the week

The other three days the older three boys cook depending on afternoon commitments - this changes every term, each term we look at who is where-when and then work out the best possible schedule.

This term B1 does Tuesdays, B2 Wednesdays and B3 Thursdays.

We try to have a vegetarian meal one night, a mince meal one night, a chicken meal and of course a fish meal.

Coming back to Fridays.

I have chosen Fridays to be a crockpot night during terms 2 and 3 because the two big boys are either refereeing or playing soccer on Friday night and I like them to be able to eat before they leave at around 5pm.

As I am still at B4's soccer training it needs to be something that they can just dish out, 

then the rest of us can eat when we are ready.

Last night B2 and VCH left early to get to a town about 40 minutes away for B2's game so they actually ate when they got home about 8pm.

The crockpot is perfect for this and saves them buying a meat pie or sausage roll at the canteen. 

I tried a new recipe on Friday night that I thought I would share with you.

 It was a winner!

I found this on Pinterest and have Australianised it.

 Taco Chilli Chicken- in the crockpot

1 onion

1 x 420g can kidney beans

500mls tomato passata

300g frozen corn kernels

2 cans of diced tomatoes (I used 1 large 800g tin)

1 packet of taco seasoning- or you could make your own

1T cumin

1t chilli flakes

pinch cayenne pepper- depending how spicy you like it feel free to add some more

1kg chicken thighs

chopped fresh chilli (optional)

fresh coriander chopped

Combine first 9 ingredients in a slow cooker and then place chicken on top and cover. 

Cook for 10 hours on low or 6 on high (I actually think this was too much and next time plan on cooking it on auto which is 2 hours high and then turns to low for 4 hours).

Half an hour before serving remove chicken and shred (a handy hint I saw on a blog was to put it into your Kitchen Aid with mixing attachment and turn on low- B2 did this for me since I was at soccer training and this worked really well).

Return chicken to slow cooker and mix through.

 

We served it in bowls with some corn chips on the side, fresh guacamole, sour cream and a sprinkle of coriander. 

You could also sprinkle some cheese over the top and add a fresh salad. 

Alternately serve in taco shells with salad.

To make guacamole: mash an avocado, add finely chopped red onion, tomato, coriander and a squeeze of lime or lemon. 

 Serves 10- with 8 of us we had enough left over to make a layered mexican dip and serve it with corn chips for lunch the next day.

I put a tub of softened mashed cream cheese on the bottom put the rest of the chilli chicken - that I had warmed on top added some sour cream and grated cheese and popped it into the oven for 10-15 minutes, then I topped this with guacamole- delicious!

T = tablespoon

t = teaspoon

C = cup

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busy mum fish and tartare

Here at five brothers and one sister we have certain things on our menu every week, 

this might sound boring to some but really it is never the same.

One thing we have weekly is fresh fish.

I pick a night that I am in town and busy to grab some fish from one of our local fish mongers and bring it home to cook up for dinner. 

This term that night is Monday.

 I will serve it with a salad and maybe if I have time or help, some homemade chips.

I like to choose something local - we have an extensive local fishing industry right at our doorstep.

This week we had sweep.

Last week we had some bream that the kids caught when they went fishing with VCH.

Notice I said the kids, 

B4, B5 and The Girl went fishing with VCH and they caught some bream and he came home empty handed!

There wasn't quite enough for 8 of us so I bought some local snapper to cook up with it.

For a few weeks before that we had been eating flathead.

I like to cook my fish simply and quickly.

Sometimes I will throw it all in a baking dish with some butter, lemon and herbs from my garden, 

other weeks I simply coat it in flour and pan fry it.

Because we do not eat wheat I have found that coating it in seasoned coconut flour and frying it in some coconut oil gives a lovely flavour, 

which is what I did this week with the sweep, 

I also grated some lime zest into the flour and then served the fish with a wedge of lime.

Some other yummy coatings are crushed macadamia nuts pressed onto the fish or even just some dessicated coconut, or tapioca flour with cracked pepper and lemon zest. 

As you can see from the photos we also had a tossed salad with lettuce, shallots and radishes from the garden and sweet potato chips.

Sometimes we have coleslaw and one week I made a lovely quinoa salad with pear and zucchini and red onion- it went down a treat.

The sauce you can see on the fish is my own homemade tartare sauce.

I have been making this tartare for quite a few years and it was even published in a cookbook!

This tartare is so easy and really yummy.

Simply combine equal amounts of yoghurt- I use Greek and mayonnaise -I use homemade (I will do a post on this one day soon), but any mayo will do.

 I usually do about 2 heaped tablespoons of each, 

then I mix in some herbs from the garden, 

I usually use parsley and chives, but mint, coriander or dill will also work 

and some finely chopped shallots, 

also from the garden, 

we have shallots growing year in our garden, 

you can also add some lemon or lime zest.

This will keep for about a week but we usually use it in one go.

Do you have a favourite easy fish recipe?

I know lots of people who are scared to cook fish but really it is not hard,

if you keep it simple it really is quite easy.

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yummiest chicken ever

Here a while back Sarah at a beach cottage posted a recipe for Forty Garlic Chicken, it sounded really yummy.

 So one day I made it and it was divine!

Everyone loved it!

 

The garlic all 40 cloves were sweet and delicious and made the best garlic bread you have ever tasted, simply spread one of the cloves onto a slice of crusty bread, mmmmm.

I tend to avoid wheat products as they don't seem to like me or maybe it's my body that doesn't like them, but when we have this I will make an exception and have a thin slice or two smothered in garlic.

 

Sarah suggests serving it with a salad and it does make this meal so fresh and simple.

I like to add a bit of everything to my salad and a really nice and simple salad dressing is equal parts of honey and vinegar, I like to use raspberry vinegar, just shake together in a jar and pour over the salad just before serving.

I have tried it with roasted vegetables and while it was nice, I think I preferred it with the salad and crusty bread.

I reduce down the leftover liquid for a simple gravy/sauce to go with it.

I even sent this off as a meal for some friends in need one night and the report came back was that it was gourmet, like dining out in a restaurant, quite a compliment from such a simple dish.

If you haven't already, try this recipe, I'm  sure you won't regret it.

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bacon and egg muffins

We had these for tea (dinner in Australia is called tea) the other night and they were lovely.

They are bacon and egg muffins and I got the recipe from here

It is a breakfast recipe but I adapted it to a main meal by serving it with salad and sweet potato hash browns.

I made these in my smaller muffin pans which meant I made 18, but you could use Texas muffin tins and make bigger ones.

These are super easy and super yummy.

Bacon and egg muffins

10 eggs

bacon

capsicum

onion

Put bacon in the base of a muffin tin, put finely chopped onion and capsicum on top of bacon. 

Whisk eggs and pour into tins.

Cook at 180C for 20-30 minutes (depends on size of tin) until egg is set.

You can sprinkle a little grated cheese on it at this stage if you wish.

Serve. 

Leftovers can be reheated or you can eat cold. 

I had the two leftovers for breakfast the next day and they were still very yummy.

Sweet potato hash browns

Grate 3 sweet potatoes, add two eggs, salt and pepper and mix, fry in a little olive oil until brown on both sides.

For a main meal add salad or serve for breakfast

pumpkin, chicken and lemon bake

We have enjoyed this dish twice now, it is ideal to use lemons and pumpkins from our garden.

We have served it mashed potato and some greens, in this case beans.

The first time we made it I used the juices to make a lovely gravy, which was super yummy and had a nice lemony flavour to it.

This time B2 and B3 did most of it, and then I realised too late about the gravy, the juices served with it were still nice though.

This recipe was originally from BHG mag and I double it to feed 8 of us.

Pumpkin, chicken and lemon bake

1.6 kgs chicken pieces

1t paprika

1t sumac

1t salt

1T olive oil

1 kg of pumpkin

3 lemons

1 C white wine

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Combine paprika, sumac and salt and sprinkle over chicken. Heat a large heavy based frying pan over medium heat and cook chicken on all sides until golden. Transfer to oven proof dish (I use a large roasting pan)

2. Leaving skin on cut pumpkin into 1.5 cm thick slices. add to chicken. Thinly slice 2 lemons and add to dish. Juice remaining lemon and pour over chicken with white wine.

3 Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the juices run clear when a thigh piece is pieces with the tip of a knife. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.