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 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.
A couple of months of crazy days have seen us eating some “creative” meals of late.
My main focus has been to feed us reasonably healthy meals that do not require too much in the way of preparation or fuss. Some days there may have been time to do things like cook a roast for a couple of hours. Other days were “we need to eat in the next 30 minutes” type days.
We very rarely eat takeaway, as mostly we find we can do better at home, cheaper, faster and healthier. We do however look to fast food for concepts. I have seen some blog/Facebook groups that term this as “Fake-away” or “Takeaway at Home”.
Often our version of fast food turns into a “clean out the fridge special”. Some “recipes” for Clean out the Fridge specials are…
A packet of mince ( which we buy in bulk and freeze in 250g pieces, whatever veggies are in the fridge simply chopped and fried together with a bit of beef stock made from powder and a dollop of tomato paste gets a tin of tomatoes added and simmered for 15 minutes or so while some pasta cooks. This creates a satisfying meal on the table in well under 30 minutes and reduces wasted food.
A similar dish can be done with veggies and a cheese sauce added to a tin of tuna and pasta or rice.
Veges sauteed with a bit of butter or oil and add some chunks of beef, lamb or chicken. Pour over 2 cups of water with a tablespoon of gravy powder, add any herbs you like and simmer until the meat is pull-apart tender. This one might take about 50 minutes to an hour.
Other ideas for “Fake-away” meals include..
Make your own pizzas. This is great for using up leftover deli meats. You don’t even need a “proper” pizza base for these. Put two pieces of bread in the toaster together so that just one side of the bread gets toasted. Spread some tomato paste or sauce onto the untoasted side. Pile the toast nice and high with yummy toppings and sprinkle over some tasty cheese. Pop them under a hot grill until the cheese is melted and brown. Cut each slice of “pizza” into 2 and serve.
Fish and Chips are a good standby to have in the freezer. Frozen crumbed fish fillets and frozen chips are simply put in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes and “voila” dinner in half the time it would take to drive to the takeaway, wait for the order and drive home.
Burgers are easy to make with either rolls or bread. Serve with chips from the oven
While all of these ideas are fast and affordable, the easiest way to have superfast meals ready to go is to always cook far more than you need and have meals ready to go in the freezer. We have always got something for those days when we really just could not bother.
We are in the process of running down our freezer in preparation for 3 weeks away. (while we are away, I will unplug the freezer and let it completely defrost, then give it a good clean out in the new year)
I have been trying to mix the contents of the freezer around a little, so we don’t end up with sausages for 7 days straight 🙂 We had a fair bit of mince left in the freezer and I was looking for something a bit “different” to do.
I came up with the idea of a Beef Stroganoff type dish with little meatballs – but not a “Swedish Meatball – Ikea” dish.
Obviously, by the look of this plate, it was a hit.
So without further ado.. here is my recipe for
“Stoganoff Meatballs”
250 g Minced Beef
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
2 tsp Tomato Paste
Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil
1 Large Onion – finely diced
Garlic Cloves ( as many as you like)
Fettucine, Spaghetti or other pasta
2 Large Mushrooms – sliced
¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 Beef Stock Cube
½ cup Sour Cream
¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese ( plus some for garnish)
Parsley for garnish
1: In a bowl combine Mince, Herbs, salt, pepper and ½ the tomato paste.
Mix very well until combined. (I use my hands)
Using a teaspoon, scoop out heaped spoonfuls and roll them into balls. ( I make mine about the size of a large marble)
Place the meatballs in the fridge to firm up.
2: In a non-stick pan heat a tablespoon of oil and sauté one large onion and a garlic clove (or 3 if you love garlic as we do) until just starting to caramelise. (You don’t want too much colour on them or your sauce could be a little bitter)
Remove the cooked onions and place them aside.
3: In the same pan, add the pre-prepared meatballs and gently fry until cooked almost through. (Drain any excess oil as the mince renders it out.)
4: When the meatballs are cooked, remove them from the pan and put them aside with the onions. At this stage, put a pot of salted water on to boil and cook whatever pasta takes your fancy (we had some curly fettuccine noodles in the pantry)
5: Still in the same pan, add 2 sliced mushrooms and sauté until softened and golden.
Turn the heat down to medium and add ¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce, one beef stock cube and the other 1/2 of the tomato paste.
Stir gently until the sauce comes to the boil.
Make sure you scrape all the lovely tasty bits off the bottom of the pan.
6: Add in ½ cup of sour cream and ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and melts.
7: Return the onions and meatballs to the sauce and simmer until everything is heated through. Finally, stir through the cooked pasta.
8: Serve onto plates, sprinkle over some chopped parsley and a few shavings of parmesan. Enjoy!!
My husband suspects I might be just ever so slightly totally bonkers. (In the nicest possible way of course). After 20 years, he is used to my sometimes crazy purchases.
One of the “secrets” to living my perfect life, is to visualise what that life looks like in minute details. Then I choose an area that is less than perfect and upgrade it closer to my vision. Of course, some things are not possible to jump from level 1 straight up to level 10, but for the many little things in life that we “make do,” it can be an easy low-cost upgrade.
One of my upgrades this month has been to buy matching coat hangers for our wardrobe.
This was my side of our wardrobe before….
And this is the after…
It just makes me smile with joy every time I look into the wardrobe now. My wardrobe looks “10/10 ” to me, and it was not a huge expense.
I got these coathangers off eBay I chose the one with clips on them so they are useable for any type of clothing.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year or so, you will have heard about the KonMari method of decluttering. Through her best selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way To Banish Clutter Forever, Japanese author, Marie Kondo promises to transform your life one empty closet at a time.
Like many people, I took all this with a grain of salt. The book and I admit, a bit of peer group pressure 🙂 did spur me on to do a decent declutter of our home. Given that we live in a fairly small one bedroom apartment, i really did not think I would have much to “declutter”. Well I was WRONG!!!
Fairly ruthlessly, I decluttered wardrobes, shoe rack, book cases, kitchen cupboards and the pantry.
The KonMari book recommends you get rid of anything that “no longer brings joy to your life” That box of “one day I will fit into them” clothes most certainly did NOT bring joy, so listed on eBay they went. Clothes, shoes, books and heaps of tupperware that we have not used in ages all got listed on eBay. Over the course of about 8 weeks or so, my total “declutter wage” was just over $500!!!
The pantry declutter, left two groups…One small one of out of date foodstuffs that went in the bin 🙁 and a larger group of “stuff” we had bought for a long forgotten recipe, or had been given as gifts (jams, sauces, biscuits and relishes etc from hampers). These were all still perfectly fine and useable and a lot of them quite Gourmet (White Truffle infused oil ). I really did NOT want to waste these and have to throw out some substantial value. Looking at each product, I decided to roughly menu plan some uses for them.
We had some “interesting” dishes over the course of the few weeks until they were gone. Who knew that Mediterranean Tomato Chutney would make a truly delicious pizza sauce in place of regular tomato paste? or that Almond Butter in place of Peanut Butter is really good in satay sauce on chicken.
I do find, now that I have decluttered, the apartment is a lot easier to stay tidy. The bookcase/wall unit especially looks much more open without every shelf stuffed full of books. I have even managed to dig out some ornaments for display.
There are loads of stories on the internet of people who have found all sorts of “hidden treasure” through the act of decluttering. I did not find much actual cash ( no more than a few coins in the bottom of an old handbag) but people have found cash in pockets, old purses, and of course in the couch.
So get to it…start decluttering now. Just start with one place and do it well. List what you can on eBay, Gumtree, Facebook or Craigslist and let me know in the comments how much your “declutter wage” comes to.
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Then I saw an ad on the TV for ( of all things) a MacDonald’s Big Mac.
My husband suspects I might be just ever so slightly totally bonkers. (In the nicest possible way of course). After 20 years, he is used to my sometimes crazy purchases.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year or so, you will have heard about the KonMari method of decluttering. Through her best selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way To Banish Clutter Forever, Japanese author, Marie Kondo promises to transform your life one empty closet at a time.
