Gluten free - dairy free - sugar free - nut free - egg free - can be vegetarian In June 2013 one of my besties, who lives across the ocean, posted on Facebook that she was making a batch of potato and corn chowder. I thought that it sounded good and asked for the recipe. She sent it through with the note saying it is incredibly basic, and not to get too excited about it! She was right- it was incredibly basic - but with so much potential! So, I've tried it a couple of times now with my own additions and I'm excited to share the result. The original recipe came from a book Called Mom's Best Country Recipes- a small paperback tourist cookbook that my friends Mum (Mom) brought back as a gift from the Ozarks of Missouri. Sounds homely, hey? It is! And it's just perfect for this time of year as winter comes upon us. I've figured out a process to make this soup at the same time as you make a big batch of chicken stock- enough for the this soup and at least another 2 soups! I love saving time! If you don't have time to have the stock boiling for 2-3 hours before you make the soup, that's fine, just use pre-made stock (chicken or vegetable), and leave the chicken out. I originally made it without chicken and it's still really good. Or, this would be a great soup to make with any leftover meat after a roast chicken dinner. But, let me say, if you have the time to boil the chicken and make the stock from scratch, this will be one of the best immune-boosting, healthy soups you will make. Research has now proven that mum's good old cold-and-flu remedy of chicken soup (made from chicken on the bone) really does boost the immune system. Combine that with the ginger and garlic I've added to the soup, and you've got a winner. You add the ginger and garlic right at the end, to retain most of it's wonderful nutritious properties. Serves 4 as a main. Ingredients for the stock:
Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - refined sugar free - egg free - nut free
This is a popular Chinese dish that's really fun to eat because you get to eat with your fingers! I started making this using Kylie Kwong's recipe from her book 'Simple Chinese Cooking', but I tend to vary it a bit every time I make it. An internet search reveals that there seems to be a consensus on the essentials of a Sung Choi Bao: sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, ginger, garlic, bean sprouts and spring onions. It seems to be traditional to use pork mince meat, but if you don't want to use pork, it's also really good with chicken mince, and my guess is that turkey mince would work well too. Not all recipes add other vegetables to the mix, but when they do, carrot, celery, shiitake mushrooms and red onion seem to be the standard. As with most recipes, I tend to use what my family likes the most and what I have on hand. We generally don't like celery in our stir fries and I often don't have shiitake mushrooms on hand. Sometimes I add finely chopped red capsicum, snow peas and I love adding purple cabbage too. All those colours make it look really spectacular. Follow this recipe as a guide and make it your own! The other significant variation we often do with ours is add vermicelli noodles (made with mung beans), and turn it into a stir-fry eaten out of a bowl, rather than eating it out of lettuce leaves. This amount should feed 4 adults, and 4-6 people if kids are involved. Ingredients
Gluten free- dairy free- low sugar- egg free- nut free- vegetarian option
I love a meal that's super easy and that everyone in the family loves. Home made Sushi Rolls are one of those in our house. We fill ours full of vegetables, maybe a little omelette or tuna...or if I want to go to more effort I'll cook up some Teriyaki Chicken. Other than cooking some rice, all it takes is a bit of chopping. We put everything in the centre of the table and make them ourselves. The kids love a meal that they get to choose what to put in it, and I don't mind, because it's all vegetables, so it's all good! I used to be a bit scared of Sushi because it seemed so hard to get it to roll properly and stay tight and look good. But when you're making your own for dinner, none of that matters! We cut the nori sheets (seaweed paper) in half and make a nice long roll- no need for cutting once they're rolled. There's no set ingredients list for this - it's a matter of personal preference for what to put in them, and the quantity is according to how many people you want to serve. For our family of four, I usually cook 4 cups of rice. This makes 3 or 4 rolls each (a total of 2 nori sheets per person) and also gives us enough left-over rice to make some rolls for school lunches the next day. Winner! Here's what we use: Ingredients
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