Eating It

Making “Budget” Food High Class

Part of the appeal of eating out is often, for us ladies, the fact that we don’t have to cook 🙂

Luckily hubby and I enjoy cooking so that is not such an issue for us. We tend to look for “something different”
Different flavours, different pairings, different view.

We were wandering along our local restaurant strip recently and neither of us felt the compulsion to try anything (and subsequently spend $100 for a “blah” experience). One restaurant has “Italian Lemon Chicken with Garlic Beans” I have had this dish before and it is nice so when I pulled some chicken Maryland pieces out of the freezer for dinner, I thought that is what I will make.

The other appeal of a meal out is the beauty of the meal on the plate. We all eat with our eyes first and it does make a difference to the most basic of meals if you take just a little time to present it on a plate with care.

I like to look at Instagram or Pinterest for plating ideas. The rise of “FoodPorn” Instagrammers means there are loads of examples of beautiful plates of food. You don’t need to copy them verbatim, but take some clues as you why a dish takes your fancy and keep it in mind when serving your meals.

I found this image of a nice chicken dinner to provide some inspiration for my “Italian Chicken”

With just a little bit of “foodie” style elevated what could have been a standard Chicken and Mash dinner into something that felt much more like the experience of a meal out. A glass of my new favourite sparkling wine certainly helped too 🙂

Friday Night “Eat In”

You may remember that last Friday, I made the decision to create a restaurant style meal each Friday night.

I had the week to think about it and ponder over what was in the fridge and freezer. This what I came up with.

Salmon Wellington with Lemon Butter Green Beans and Carrots

Would I make it again?

Yes…. but. The pastry did go a little soggy, so if I was do it again, I would place baby spinach leaves on the pastry to try and combat some of the moisture. It would have been nice with some flaked almonds added to the vegetables too.

Overall though, it was a success.

A Restaurant Style Meal

Have you seen my “Getting $#!T Done” course yet?
I ask because, part of the challenge is to audit your life in every area and slowly level each area up to a “10”

One area of life is, of course, “Romance / Significant Other” I have rated this area of my life as a good solid 8 🙂

Nobody is perfect and I don’t know that anybody should actually rate their relationship as a 10. Let’s face it there is always more to do and some little thing that we are not 100% happy with about our partners (or ourselves).

When I was going through my monthly plan and trying to decide how I could level up this area, I thought one thing we enjoy doing is eating out. We choose not to spend $100+ very often on a restaurant meal, but we are both capable home cooks and can replicate a restaurant style dish without too much stress.

Anyway, I digress 🙂

In my never ending quest to become a princess and be wined and dined by my prince I decided that , as I work from home every Friday, I would look through a few menus and have a “fancy dinner” on Friday nights. I will not shop specifically for this meal, but rather use the menu as inspiration to use what I have in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

This weeks menu came from a lovely restaurant not far from us. See Restaraunt in Mooloolaba
I have actually only been there once, and it was with a group of girlfriends for a special lunch.
It is on my list of places to go with hubby, but is is a stretch on the budget.
(A couple would do well to walk out spending under $100 after meals and a couple of drinks)

Scrolling through their menu, this dish caught my eye….
Confit Duck, Spec and Green Pea Medley, Honey Carrot Puree

Yummmmmm, but I don’t normally have duck or spec residing in my well stocked fridge/freezer, but I most certainly do have chicken and bacon!! This sounded like a winner.

This is what I ended up with ….
Slow Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken, Bacon and Green Pea Medley, Honey Carrot Puree.

I found this recipe on Taste for the Chicken and made it with a small half bird from the freezer.

The “bacon and green pea medley” is a side dish I often make for guests.. (a similar recipe is here)
In my dish I used frozen peas, green shallots and snow peas and fresh beans all cut into small pieces about the same size as the peas.

For the honey carrot puree, I sauteed a small chopped onion in a drizzle of olive oil until soft but not coloured. to that I added two medium carrots chopped into rounds, and covered with water, a tablespoon of honey and a teaspoon of chicken stock. Simmer this until the water is mostly gone. Be careful, you don’t want it to boil dry.

To serve, mash or puree the carrots ( I used a stick blender) and spread onto a plate in an attractive pool. Nestle the chicken in the puree and surround with the peas. Gently spoon over the sauce from the chicken being careful not to “drown” it

As I am a TERRIBLE food blogger, I forgot to take pictures 🙁

Hubby declared the meal a success, and I felt I had boosted my “relationship score” a point or so – at least for the night 🙂

I wonder what I will find next Friday??

Not my picture of chicken 🙂

A Spring “High Tea” Picnic

This weekend was a family birthday, so we packed up the car and ventured out to have a special picnic.

The spring weather here is just lovely, and it is always a great time for a picnic.

I designed a “high tea” type spread with pikletes with jam and cream, finger sandwiches, chicken and vegetables, bruschetta, mini prawn cocktails, cupcakes, brownies and fruit salad cups.

None of the elements to this are difficult. The appeal comes in the presentation.
I arranged most of the food on a large platter around a central upturned lunchbox, upon which I placed the
pikelets. This replicated the “high tea” look I was after.

I also manged to do this for under $36 to serve 3 people. Even if I include the cost of the items I already had in the pantry or fridge, it would still have come in at under $50.

This was our main meal for the day, and we were all satisfied without being “stuffed”

I am happy with how it all turned out. The family felt they had been thoroughly spoilt 🙂

This is what I made ( with recipes where applicable)

Stretching Bread Rolls.

I picked up a packet of Soy and Linseed rolls at the supermarket the other day.

They were on special and they looked really yummy.

When I got home and looked at them again, I thought they were quite large. I am not gluten free, but I do try to keep my bread down as I find I do get a little bloated with too much.

I was going to cut them in half like this…

Then I saw an ad on the TV for ( of all things) a MacDonald’s Big Mac.
I came up with the clever idea to split my bread rolls into 3!!

Now I have 6 rolls and 6 slices of yummy Soy & Linseed bread for toast under my eggs in the morning.

What a great way to stretch those more expensive “artisan” rolls.