Tag: lunch

Categories
Recipes

Make Chicken & Broccoli Soup

It is getting colder. The nights are getting darker and spending time in front of the fire is a must.

Make these cool nights better with some tasty and healthy soup.

Download the Chicken and Broccoli Soup Recipe here!

Voome's Chicken and Broccoli Soup 
Chicken and Broccoli Soup

Don’t be put off by the fact that it looks so vibrantly green. It tastes amazing!

All my ingredients for the Chicken & Broccoli Soup.
All my ingredients for the Chicken & Broccoli Soup.

Ingredients

  • 1 Teaspoon of vegetable stock powder. ( I used some stock cubes I already had in the cupboard)
  • 300g of Broccoli chopped up
  • 3 Shallots (18g) chopped
  • 50g of Baby Spinach
  • 225g of Grilled lean Chicken Breast – Shredded (I used BBQ Chicken without the skin. I cut it up so that it was like it was shredded)
  • 1 Tablespoon of Basil Pesto (20g)
  • 1 Wholemeal Pita Bread (40g)
My version of Voome's Chicken & Broccoli Soup. Mine had more water in it so therefore was not as thick looking as Voome's version. Tastes amazing!
My Chicken & Broccoli Soup. Mine had more water in it, so it was not as thick-looking as the recipe. Tastes amazing anyway!

Method

  1. Pour 2 and a half cups or 625ml of water into a saucepan. Bring it to the boil.  (I added too much water as I was wanting to feed more people. If I added less the soup would not have been as watery. It did not take away from the taste and I even ended up getting seconds as it was so yummy. )
  2. Add stock powder and broccoli. Cover and return to the boil. Cook for about 3 minutes or until tender.
  3. Add the shallots and spinach. Cook for another 2 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and blitz with a handheld blender. Once all the ingredients are mixed in and all is smooth then return to the heat.
  5. Add the chicken and pesto.
  6. Season to serve. You could add ground black pepper, crunchy croutons, or as some other readers have done lemon juice was added, just a squeeze to enhance the flavour.

Suggestions

  • You could add some ravioli to the soup or maybe some noodles.
  • Maybe some crunchy bacon bits to the top of the soup to add with the texture and give you an added crunch with the soup.
Lillian tried out the Chicken & Broccoli Soup by Voome. She had a bit but not as much as I had hoped. I suppose it is good she gave it a go.
Lillian tried out the Chicken & Broccoli Soup by Voome. She had a bit but not as much as I had hoped. I suppose it is good she gave it a go.
The broccoli ready to go into the soup. Broccoli is good for you. It has Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Folate, Beta-Carotene that helps the body convert to Vitamin A, it also has Sulforaphane which has been said to help fight cancer.
The broccoli ready to go into the soup. Broccoli is good for you. It has Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Folate, Beta-Carotene that helps the body convert to Vitamin A, it also has Sulforaphane which has been said to help fight cancer.

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Originally published July 4 2017

Categories
Recipes

Make Mini Meat Pies

Would you like a super easy meat pie for your party? How about dinner or lunch? Or your Australia Day celebration?

Well, I have an easy recipe for you and it is very yummy too!

Preheat the oven: Heat the oven to 180°C or 356 °F

INGREDIENTS

  • 500 grams of beef mince (You can choose chicken, pork or turkey if you wish)
  • Frozen puff pastry sheets
  • 2 carrots grated
  • 2 big cups of chopped mushrooms
  • Soy Sauce – I added a sprinkle when cooking the mince
  • 2 spanish onions – finely cut
  • 1 brown onion – finely cut
  • 1 pack of Masterfoods Spicy Chilli Con Carne (this is used as sauce rather than a gravy)

METHOD

  • Take out 4 sheets of pastry to defrost
  • Cut up the onions and add them to the fry pan
  • Add the mince
  • Add the soy sauce
  • Add the grated carrot
  • Add the Spicy Chilli Con Carne sauce mix and then add the pouch with water to get all the sauce out and add to the sauce in the fry pan
  • Cook all ingredients until the water in the sauce has reduced a little but all as you need to have the sauce there to add to the mixture for the pie
  • Once all ingredients are cooked for the inside of the pie, turn off the fry pan
  • I used a muffin and friand tin to put my puff pastry in. I did find that the friand tin did it better. Also you will see that my pastry was not perfect and actually more rustic than I was hoping for.
  • Cut out a good square of pastry that will match the bottom and sides of the tin. I then pressed the pastry down to the bottom and the sides.
  • I then filled the pastry pie in the tin with the filling from the fry pan and finished off each individual pie with more pastry. This was measured by seeing if a big glass was a little bit bigger than the top of the pie width for each pie in the tin. I used a big gin glass to cut out a circle to then pinch closed on top of each indivual pie.
  • Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is very golden brown and looking crunchy.

I served the pies with a salad. It was very yummy and filling.

POST FEAST REVIEW

I thought that making pies would be easy and I was right. It really isn’t hard. However, I don’t really have a pie tin and made do with using a muffin and friand tin as a substitute. It worked out well with these tins but I did notice that the friand tin worked better.

The pastry was a bit clumsy and rustic but worked on the whole. A few pies had their bottom give out a little when I attempted to remove them from the tin.

I found that the pies were just the right size and a salad or vegetables for dinner. If you do decide to make this you can make a few different pies and then mix and match to have a few different ones on your dinner plate.

The pies were very tasty and the Spicy Chilli Con Carne sauce made it very tasty indeed as well as the chewy and melt in your mouth mushrooms.

I did read a few recipes but made it up as I went along, although this alarmed and annoyed my husband. He thought that I was following a recipe and got quite frustrated to learn I wasn’t. I then pointed out it was an experiment and he wasn’t cooking so it really didn’t matter.

WOULD I MAKE THIS AGAIN?

Yes, I would make this again. I think I need to get proper individual pie tins or make one big pie and have it as a slice of one pie for each person at dinner or lunch. It was rather quick and simple and for the remaining pies, I can have them in the fridge and just heat up for the next meal.

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Categories
School

School Lunchbox Inspiration

Does making school lunches make you cringe? It makes me wonder what I could add to the lunch boxes this year to keep little people interested and maybe try a new food or two. Yes I have two very fussy eaters. I never thought this would happen, as hubby and I are not fussy and try and experience different foods all the time. However my little ones don’t.

I have struggled to change this and I try and add a new food here and there to keep interest up and to add to their diet. One kid would like to be  Junior Masterchef and I use this to get her to try more foods than she would normally. She does a test taste a few things due to me saying as a Masterchef she needs to know what they taste like.

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So as you can imagine making two very fussy kids lunch boxes for school is a chore and I never know what to pack. I do try to make it healthy and a good mix of things. I normally have a sandwich of Vegemite/cheese/chicken/turkey, some piece of fruit either, watermelon, apples, pears, strawberries or a banana. I also sometimes throw in yoghurt, carrot and some other snacks. I do give a treat every know and then and that could be some biscuits, a cake we cooked at home or a square of extra extra dark chocolate.

Sometimes the kids do have a canteen lunch and I lived in hope that they would see things on the menu and want to give it a go. The school they go to has a very healthy canteen so if they order something it should not be too bad and crossing fingers might expose them to different foods and tastes.

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“With nutrition at the heart of IGA’s lunchbox inspirations,the local grocer has worked closely with a local nutritionist to ensure the

recipes have plenty of healthy options for parents to choose from, presented in a creative way for kids to enjoy.”

Are you like me and require some inspiration for kids lunches? IGA has some great lunch box ideas and I’m sure that you will be a lunchbox legend as well.  Since school is going back next Wednesday in NSW, this might give a hand to make the first week back easier.

Tips from IGA to help you make some awesome school lunches:

  • Cut out sandwiches with a cookie cutter. Make it a fun shape that your child/children will love. I have done this and been very surprised it worked so well. I used hearts, cars, flowers and other fun shapes. The kids came home and said I loved my stars and hearts.
  • Create the “WOW” factor with colour. Kids love colour and this will keep them interested in their lunch box
  • Bake some healthy cakes/muffins/cupcakes. Store the left over-overs in the freezer so that they are ready for the school lunch box. They’ll stay fresh and be ready to eat by morning tea.
  • Pack the lunch box the night before. This help if you are rushed and feeling pressured to get it all done in the morning. I pack the twins lunches the night before and it saves a lot of hassle and stress. All I need to do is to get the lunch boxes in the bag and kids out the door and all is good.
  • If you child or kids love to help in the kitchen, get them to help and give a hand to sorting out their lunch box. This way they are more inclined to eat what they pack.

I will be checking out the suggestions from IGA as they look like great inspiration and ideas. As you already know dealing with fussy kids is never easy so any ideas that help is a good thing.

 Thursday

Did you know?

“Two thirds of parents are feeling the pressure from other parents, teachers or friends, and a quarter (28 per cent) that say there is even competition among other parents when it comes to preparing school lunches” IGA (Independent Grocers of Australia)

I am not sure if this has happened to me as no one has said anything and I really don’t care about what other parents do with their kids lunch boxes. I am more worried about my kids.

 

For more information please visit:

Visit www.iga.com.au/school for easy and inspirational lunchbox idea or Join the conversation today at https://www.facebook.com/igaAustralia or via @igaaustralia on
Twitter.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post for IGA. I have decided to support their healthy stance on school lunches and due to my kids being fuss pots I am interested in anything that will make them eat good healthy food. I hope this helps you out and gives you some more ideas on how to get kids interested and for school lunch box ideas.

Wednesday