Free Recipe Blog

Pasta Salad

Ingredients

250 grams pasta - small shells or spirals

Dressing:
6 tablespoons lite olive oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 clove garlic – crushed
1 tablespoon lite mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare:
125 grams (4oz) ham - cut into thin strips
2 tomatoes - peeled and diced small
2 hard boiled eggs cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons of parsley finely chopped
2 tablespoons red and or green capsicum combined (red or green peppers)

Method:

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until just tender (salt is optional). Drain well and let stand for a couple of minutes.

Mix the oil, vinegar, garlic and mayonnaise with salt and pepper and mix this through the warm pasta. Let stand for about 30 minutes before serving.

Mix all ingredients into the pasta dish. Stand for about 1 hour.

Please note that the most important part in this recipe is to mix the dressing into the warm pasta. It will soak up the flavours as it cools and it will keep for approximately 12 hours.

This recipe will go well with seafood such as fresh prawns or it could be served as a side salad with a BBQ.

Chicken Minestrone

Time required 45 minutes – Serves 6

2 tablespoons oil
2 onions chopped
2 carrots chopped
2 zucchinis sliced
2 slender egg plants sliced
4 cups beef stock
810 g can peeled tomatoes
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1 cup macaroni
425g can chickpeas or butter beans drained
Shredded meat from 1 BBQ chicken

Parmesan cheese to garnish and country bread to serve

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pan, add vegetables and cook over high heat for 3 – 4 minutes. Add the beef stock, basil and tomatoes and bring to the boil.

2. Add macaroni and simmer for 20 minutes until the pasta is tender. Stir in chick peas and chicken. Heat through.

3. Garnish with parmesan and serve with crusty bread.

1 kg chicken livers
16 tablespoons (320grams) butter
4 medium onions chopped
4 cloves garlic crushed
4 teaspoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons ground bay leaves
2 teaspoons thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons (80ml) Brandy

Trim chicken livers, chop and set aside.

Melt 8 tablespoons of butter in a pan, add onion and garlic and sauté 2 – 3 minutes.

Add chicken livers and cook 5 – 6 minute, sprinkle with parsley, ground bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring 2 – 3 minutes.

Add remaining butter, stir until melted, and then turn mixture into a blender.

Add brandy and blend until smooth. Pack into a mould or 2 – 3 small moulds.

*Note*
You can halve the mixture if you are only expecting a small number of guests. However if you choose to make this full batch of Pate, I found that I was able to freeze the mixture for up to 2 weeks before using.

1 cup brown vinegar
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
Cinnamon to taste
Bay leaf
Cloves
Peppercorn

Boil all ingredients together, cool and cover beetroot.

This recipe can be made up of chicken, prawns, beef or a combination of your favourite. This time round I am using chicken because it is fast, quick and yummy.

Serves 2

1 small pack of Hokkien Noodles
200 grams BBQ Chicken sliced or pulled apart in thin strips
1 small brown onion diced
½ small green capsicum sliced
½ small red capsicum sliced
½ carrot cut into 2 inch long thin strips

1 tbsp olive oil optional
Vegetable cooking spray
Your favourite Thai satay sauce

1. Soak the noodles in boiling hot water

2. Heat up your wok or large pan and either spray it lightly with the vegetable spray or pour in the olive oil and let it heat up a little.

3. Stirfry the onions, capsicum and carrots until they are just cooked but still retain some of their crispness.

4. Because the chicken is already cooked, toss this into the wok or pan and heat through, stirring quickly, as you do with a stirfry.

5. Add a ¼ of the bottle of satay sauce and let it heat through.

6. Drain the noodles and add them to the wok.

7. Pour the remaining satay sauce over the noodles and stir it thoroughly ensuring everything is covered in the sauce.

Heat through and serve hot in bowls or on a small plate.

Sometimes I like to fill up on a smoothie. One of my favourites is my own style of Berry Smoothie.

I never measure the ingredients but the combination always comes out right. Not only that this smoothie is quite healthy and it is yummy too.

Berry Smoothie

Approximately 10 blueberries
Approximately 4 strawberries
Approximately 10 raspberries
Approxmately ½ cup of berry lite yogurt
Approximately ½ cup of Physical – No Fat or a low fat milk of your choice…
ice is optional

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until the mix is smooth. Pour into a tall glass and enjoy.
Serves 1

~Toni~

Faux Apple Crisp

3 large apples (jona golds are the best, in my opinion)
Cinammon
Sprouted wheat bread (I use Ezechial cinammon raisin from the health food store - 2 slices, they are small)
9″ square casserole dish
Makes 4 servings

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray your casserole dish with a non stick spray.

Peel, core, and slice your apples thinly into your baking dish. Sprinkle with cinammon (as much or as little as to your taste).

I take my bread from the freezer and grind it into crumbs in the blender. Now sprinkle evenly over your apples. Take a spoon and dish down here and there through the apples, so that some of the crumbs fall between the apples.

Bake uncovered in your oven 40 mins. or until your apples are cooked tender.

Cool and serve with flavored yogurt, artificially sweetened.

You can swap out the apples for blueberries, fresh or frozen. Just coat the berries first with 2 tsp flour.

It’s not been as hard an adjustment as we thought it would be and we are both eating healthier than before, that has been a bonus for us both.

About The Author
Abigail Baker is the webmaster and editorial manager for Country Mall Place at http://www.acplace.com - This article is the intellectual property of ACPlace.com and may be used in it’s entirety if credit due is given back to http://www.acplace.com.

Easy Orange/Banana Parfait
1 pkge Lite Orange Jello (no sugar)
2 cups vanilla yogurt (fat free, no sugar but artificially sweetened)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp Splenda
1 banana
1/8 cup Lite cream cheese
Makes 4 servings

Prepare the jello per the package directions. When it is partially set, slice and drop your banana pieces into the jello and mix gently so the banana pieces are covered by the jelly. Leave to set firm in the refrigerator.

Beat the remaining ingredients well together and set aside in the fridge.

Just before dinner put your dessert together. I use parfait glasses, they add to the fun and look of the dessert.

Drop a dollop of yogurt mixture into the bottom of each of 4 dishes and a scoop of the jello and then the yogurt mix again and so on to the top.

I have tried different flavors and different fruit, but, hubby likes the orange banana the best.

About The Author
Abigail Baker is the webmaster and editorial manager for Country Mall Place at http://www.acplace.com - This article is the intellectual property of ACPlace.com and may be used in it’s entirety if credit due is given back to http://www.acplace.com.

Tarragon Trout

2 trout with heads on (8−10 oz.)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tablespoon tarragon leaves
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine tarragon leaves and vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cool, and add the remaining ingredients. Pour the marinade over the trout. Refrigerate for 3−4 hours. Cook the trout on a charcoal grill for 3 to 4 minutes brushing occasionally with marinade.

About The Author
Cafe Hobson
Mediterranean Restaurant guide with International & Mediterranean foods and Wines information along with home entertaining advice. For more information on Mediterranean foods, recipes and Host/ess tips for your entertaining, visit Café Hobson

Baked Seafood Au Gratin

1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup butter
1 cup all−purpose flour
1 pound fresh crab meat
4 cups water
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1/2 pound bay scallops
1/2 pound flounder fillets
3 cups milk
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
dash hot red pepper sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Lightly grease one 13×9x2 inch baking dish. In a heavy skillet, saute the onion and the pepper in 1/2 cup of the butter or margarine. Cook until tender. Stir in 1/2 cup of the flour and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the crabmeat and stir well. Press this mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish and set aside.

In a large Dutch oven, bring the water to a boil. Add the shrimp, scallops and flounder. Simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid and set the seafood aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a heavy saucepan, melt the remaining 1/2 cup butter over low heat. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup flour.

Cook and stir constantly for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk plus the 1 cup reserved cooking liquid. Raise heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in the shredded Cheddar cheese, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Add the cooked seafood and stir gently.

Spoon the seafood mixture over the crabmeat crust and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve immediately.

About the Author: Cafe Hobson
Mediterranean Restaurant guide with International & Mediterranean foods and Wines information along with home entertaining advice. For more information on Mediterranean foods, recipes and Host/ess tips for your entertaining, visit Café Hobson