Cous Cous Salad - Vegan

This makes a great side dish with a salad or veggies, or even if you want to eat it with meat.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of Cous Cous
- 4 dried Bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- cracked whole pepper
- 1 teaspoon tumeric
- small pinch saffron
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable salt  the kind you get from the health food shop)
- 6 cherry tomatoes
- 1 baby zuchini
- 1 small carrot
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil

Method:

Place the cous cous into a bowl. Add Bay leaves, paprika, oregano, cracked pepper and tumeric. Mix dry ingredients together until the spices have evenly coloured the dry cous cous. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into a measuring jug with a small pinch of saffron and 1/2 a teaspoon vegetable salt.

Add to cous cous and stir, then leave to absorb.

In another small saucepan add chopped zuchini and carrot with 1/2 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil. Stir fry until nicely sautéed.

After or while your veggies are sauting, fluff cous cous ( add a little more water if needed, say another tablespoon or so) and add chopped cherry tomatoes. Add Sauted veggies and stir into cous cous.

Enjoy!

Avacado and Chive Dip

A simple, healthy and delicious dip, perfect with crackers or raw vegetable sticks.
This could also be used as a substitute for mayonnaise on your sandwiches, mmmmmmm!

Ingredients:

- 1 Ripe Avocado
- 3/4 cup No fat Greek yoghurt
- small bunch of fresh chives, chopped
-  1/2 teaspoon vegetable salt ( the kid you get from the health food store)
- whole cracked pepper

Method:

Scoop out the inside of the avocado and mash in a bowl with salt and pepper.
Add yoghurt and chopped chives.

4 Herb Garlic Bread

This herb garlic bread is delicious, a bit different from your usual parsley and garlic bread.

It is perfect as a winter snack or when you want to make something a bit more special to go with a meal such as a roast. It also makes great cocktail finger food for a party or a family gathering.

Ingredients:

- Rustic Baguette
- Small bunch fresh chives
- 5 Fresh Basil Leaves
- Small bunch fresh parsley
- Small bunch of fresh oregeno
- 3 Cloves of garlic
- 100g Unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon Murray River pink salt flakes (or any quality salt flakes, preferably pink)

Method:

Using a fork, crush butter in bowl, add crushed garlic cloves.
Chop chives, basil leaves and parsley and add to butter. Remove fresh oregano leaves form stem and add to butter - do not chop them, leave them whole.
mix all together until herbs are even distributed throughout butter and garlic mixture.
Cut baguette in half and spread butter on both of the insides.
 Place into 160C oven until butter has melted and bread has just started to turn crusty and golden on the edges.

Remove from oven and half teaspoon of salt flakes on each baguette half.
Cut into however many pieces or sizes you wish.

Enjoy with loved ones. 

Peach and Passion fruit Icy Frozen Yoghurt

This Frozen Yoghurt is not quite as icy as the strawberry version, and it is more creamier. A tip for keeping your frozen yoghurt as smooth as possible, is when scooping it out of the container, try and stay away form the liquid that collects.

I have to say that this is my favourite.




Ingredients:

- 4 Passionfruit
- 1 ripe peach, cut into very small diced pieces
- 3 cups natural Greek yoghurt
- 3 Tablespoon's runny honey
- 3 Tablespoon's Vanilla essence
- teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Add 3 cups of yoghurt and chopped peach to the container you wish to freeze your yoghurt in and stir together.

2. Add 2 Tablespoons of runny honey to the pulp of 4 passion fruit and stir to make a runny syrup.

3. Add to yoghurt mixture and stir until just combined.

4. Add 1 Tablespoon runny honey on top of yoghurt mixture and fold until most of the honey has disappeared, just leaving a few streaks here and there. Drizzle a teaspoon of vanilla essence on top of your mixture and place into freezer until frozen.



    This is how it looks frozen. 

Icy Strawberry Frozen Yoghurt

When its 38 C and the heat and humidity is getting to you, pull out a tub of this and have a scoop or two of this tasty and healthy treat. It uses Strawberries, Honey, Vanilla essence, and natural Greek Yoghurt.

Because this recipe uses fruit which contains water and no cream, preservatives or the normal chemicals added that stop store bought yoghurt's from going hard, this yoghurt has little chards of ice in the texture. It's texture is kind of like a slushy or icy, but in summer its quite refreshing and cooling.

Ingredients:
- 3 punnets
- 2 cups natural yoghurt
- 2 cup fulls vanilla essence
- 9 Tablespoons honey

Method:

Chop the green tips of 2 of the punets of the strawberries and add to blender, add 2 cups of natural yoghurt and add 4 tablespoon's honey. Blend in blender until runny and frothy.

Pour into container that you want to freeze your ice-cream into.



Take your third punnet of strawberries and remove green tops and add to blender with 5 tablespoons of honey and blend together.

Pour the strawberry blend in a spiral way over the yoghurt mixture, it will sink instantly to the bottom, leaving just a few traces on the top. DO NOT STIR. simply place into freezer.

After about 12 hours, or the next day, take out and fold. Basically you are trying to get a strawberry ripple from the  strawberry syrup that has settles on the bottom throughout your mixture, but its ok if it is not perfect.

It will still be quite soft and slightly frozen. Pur back in freezer for at least another 4-5 hours and fold again, then put back into your freezer until evenly frozen.

Remember this is quite icy and not smooth like your normal frozen yoghurt.

Smoked Paprika and Dill Fish

This Fish is lightly flavoured and fantastic with whatever kind of salad you want to put with it, but I personally love to eat my fish    
   with paypaya.

Serves 2 




Ingredients:

- Whole cracked black pepper - as much as you like
- 1 Teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 Teaspoon dried crushed onion
- 1 Tablespoon rice bran oil ( or grape seed oil, as both have high smoke points and are therefore better for  
   you for cooking)
- 3 Fresh sprigs ( long stems) Dill, chopped
- 4 Pieces of small fish fillets or 2 normal sized pieces of fish.
- 8 Cherry tomatoes - 4 per person  (optional)

Method:

1. Add 1 Tablespoon of Rice Bran oil into pan, but don't turn it on yet.


2. In a big bowl large enough for your pieces of fish, add teaspoon smoked paprika, dried crushed onion and chopped dill. mix together and evenly spread over your plate.

3. Add your fish flesh side down and skin side up to your spice and herb mic, then turn over so it is coated both sides.

4. Turn on your pan to high heat and while it is heating up add your cherry tomatoes.

5. When oil is just starting to sizzle add your fish with the cherry tomatoes, skin side down and allow to cook until you see about a cm up the sides of the fish is starting to cook, Jamie Oliver says its best if your fish cooks for about 80% of its time on the skin side.




6. When the skin of fish is looking crispy and you can see flesh starting to cook, then you can turn the fish and turn off the heat, allowing the rest of the fleshy side of the fish to cook slowly in the pan.

7. When fish is cooked all the way through, serve onto plate with cooked cherry tomatoes and add Murray River salt flakes and whole cracked pepper.

Enjoy 

Cinnamon Health Oatmeal

This is a comforting healthy recipe. Perfect on a cold winters morning. The skim milk is healthier than full cream milk and is also sweeter which compliments the cinnamon when cooked. The oats also have their own natural creamy milk when cooked.

Not only is this a delicious recipe, but it is healthy for you and can be stored in your pantry ready to go or taken to work as it can be cooked in a matter of minutes in a microwave. All you need to do is add water.

Utensils:

- Large bowl to mix ingredients in
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring Cup for flours and solids ( not liquids)
- Spoon to mix ingredients in
- Beautiful Jar to contain your mixture

Ingredients:

- 2 Cinnamon Sticks, each broken in half (you should have a total of 4 pieces)
- 1 .5 cups microwavable oats
- 1/4 Cup raw wheat germ
- 2 Tablespoons wheat bran
- 3/4 cup powdered skim milk

- 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Method:

1. In mixing bowl add oats, wheat germ, wheat bran and mix together.

2. Add skim milk powder and cinnamon to bowl and mix together.

3. Start adding spoonfuls into your jar, occasionally adding you broken cinnamon sticks so that they are evenly sitting throughout your mixture.

To cook all you have to do is put your desired amount of mixture into a bowl, add enough water in relation to the mixture and whack in the microwave, stirring roughly every 30 seconds.

Chocolate Rum Delight

Chocolate Rum Delight:

This little number is a wonderful cheeky drink, it looks part dessert and is best sipped slowly and definitely partly eaten with spoon!

Its rummy chocolatey flavours are perfectly delicious on a friday night after a hard day's work, or on a Sunday evening with the knowledge that a full busy week is ahead of you.

This recipe is for one serving in a glass.

Utensils:

- Grater

- measuring jug for liquid

- Beautiful Tall Cocktail glass - preferably a Cuvee glass 

- Dessert Spoon

Ingredients:

- Rum

- Baileys

- Dark Drinking Chocolate powder

- Grated milk chocolate ( you don't need more than a square or two per person, but put as much as desired)

- 1 cup milk ( 250mls)

- 1 large scoop plain ice-cream

- Whipped Cream

Method: 

1. Rinse out your cocktail glass and make sure it is clean, as most cocktail glasses sit around for a while and don't get used as often as your other dishes and glasses, they accumulate dust so easily.

2. Pour a lid full of rum into cocktail glass ( use the lid of the rum bottle to measure this) .

3. Pour 40mls Baileys of Bailey into cocktail glass.

4. Pour half your milk (125mls) into the cocktail glass.

5. Put 1.5  Tablespoon Dark Drinking chocolate powder into reamaining 125mls of milk. Stir until combined and there is no more powder left floating on the top. Then pour into cocktail glass.

6. Stir glass 5 times with spoon.

7. Put a large scoop of plain ice-cream into glass

8. Pour another 15mls of Baileys on top. 

9. Put whipped cream on top until it rises above the rim oc the cocktail glass.

10. Dust with extra drinking chocolate and chocolate shavings. 

Enjoy with family, friends, or some much needed quiet time with yourself!

Jamie Oliver's Food Tube!

Ok, is anyone else as excited for Jamie Oliver's FoodTube as I am?
 I can't wait for the firs video he uploads. Its already the 6th January and I am wondering how much longer we will have to wait, after all he did promise us a launch in January.

I have to say Jamie Oliver is one of my favourite celebrity chefs, he is just so passionate about what he does, and has the best sense of humour. He is mesmerizing to watch on TV. 

Welcome to the first post of 2013 for Foodie Fabulous.

This blog is dedicated to a foodie and her constant battle with the good and bad,the healthy and naughty and all the different restaurants  chefs, recipes and meals that inspire her to cook and try new recipes and meals. 

Bring on 2013 and all it has to offer!