Mexican Chicken Salad

Monday nights have become very short on time for us! I've started doing a makeup course (one of my many other loves) which starts at 7, so by the time I walk home from work (yes I am lucky enough to live close enough to my work to walk! Having lived in Melbourne I REALLY appreciate it!!) get changed and redo my make-up for the course there isn't much time leftover to make a delicious and nutricious meal for Simona and myself! (Annie's food is pre packaged up in little bags of tasy meat rice and vegies so we just tip it in her bowl and she is happy!) But us humans have been sufering slightly. Eggs on toast has become a regular occurance, and though Simon hasn't complained (he'd eat eggs on toast every night of the week if I let him) I feel a bit slack, and after slacking off slightly on the weekends I feel like something healthy!!

 

It was such a nice day yesterday, it felt like summer, so I got all excited and decided to make a salad!!

This one is super simple yet deliciously tasty, and like a lot of my recipes modifiable for your dietry requirements. Its gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, leave out the chicken for vegetarian/vegan options and you can remove the beans and corn if you are paleo (although it would eliminate the "mexican" edge a fair bit)!

Mexican Chicken Salad 

 Serves 3-4 for a light meal

1 capsicum

1 red onion

1 chilli

2 tomatoes

Lettuce (as much or as little as you want)

1/2 cup- 1 cup of chopped fresh coriander

1 cob of corn

1 - 2 chicken breasts and thigh meat from a previously roasted chicken

1 tin of three bean mix

1 -2 lime

Teaspoon Cumin

Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Teapsoon Paprika

2 tablespoons olive oil

 

Method

1. Chop the capiscum, red onion, chilli, tomatoes, lettuce and place into a large salad bowl.

2. Tip your beans into a colander to strain, then tip beans into your bowl.

Remove the leaves and "hair" from your corn and cut off the kernals. I find it easiest to lay the cob  horizontal and slice off the kernals in a big strip, then turn and do another strip and so on until all the kernals or off. Put into your salad bowl.

3. Chop your chicken roughly and into the bowl!

4. In a seperate little bowl squeeze your limes and mix together with the cumin, garlic powder, paprika and olive oil until combined. Pour into your salad bowl with the other ingredients.

5. Toss your salad. ha ha

 

Serve! The lime comes through in little bursts of freshness as oes the coriander. You could serve with homade tortillas! Leftovers make a great lunch when you remember to get the container out of the fridge before you walk out the door :(

 

Happy cooking! (from scratch)

Erica xx

Paleo and Clean Eating Challenge... Mexican Mince in Cabbage Leaves

I love a challenge in the kitchen, but sometimes find it hard to think of new things that I would like to have a go at cooking. I’ve just gone live with my Facebook page and a friend suggested to me that I allow people to send through a request on something, either a certain food or meal, or cuisine, they would like to me see me come up with a recipe for. GREAT IDEA I said, you can be first!!!

 

A healthy lifestyle is very important to her so she asked if I would be able to make a meal that was both Paleo, and considered clean eating. What a task!! Have you ever seen the do not eat list for Paleo? You can check it out here. We eat a considerable amount of it, in particular beans and legumes, a staple food in a lot of my vegan meals!! We don’t eat a huge amount of sugar so that was easy, but I do love nothing more than freshly baked bread out of the over, so that was definitely out too! I wanted to make something that was filling, but that adhered to the allowable food on Paleo (which actually is A LOT, avoid beans and legumes, wheat and grains, sugar and starchy vegetables like potato and I think your headed in the right direction) and also make a dish that was clean, which as far as I understand, means whole foods like meat and vegetables and keeping the food as close to its original form as possible. I hope I achieved both please let me know if you have any tips for me or you think I haven’t got it quite right! Surprisingly a lot of the food we cook at home is actually Paleao and a lot of it is also Clean (I probably tend to use my homemade shortcrust pastry just a wee bit too often haha)

I made a main and a dessert, just to show that delicious tasty treats don’t have to be packed full of sugar and can fit under the “Clean” and “Paleo” headings! The main was stuffed full of vegies and also tasted delish!!

 

Please enjoy

Mexican Mince in Cabbage Leaves

(perhaps it needs a new name… doesn’t sound exceptionally appetising hahaha)

Ingredients

1kg Mince (I used beef, but any mince will be nice!)
2 grated carrots
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic squished, or very finely chopped
Big bag full of baby spinach
50g of pinenuts
1-2 chillis chopped and de-seeded (de-seeding is optional depending on your desire for heat)
½ cup chopped coriander
1 large red capsicum chopped
1 tin tomatoes
2 tablespoons each of cumin and smoked paprika
1-2 teaspoon of sea salt
1 whole baby cabbage

 

Method

Pop a bit of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Once heated put in your garlic and onion until soft then put in mince and brown.

While mince is browning chop up the capsicum and grate the carrot. Add to the mince along with the chilli, baby spinach, pinenuts, coriander and tin tomatoes.

Add your spices, and salt.

Reduce heat to low, give everything a good stir and let simmer, stiring, and tasting occasionaly for around 30 minutes or most of the liquid has evaporated. Add more spices and salt as needed.

While the mince is cooking pop your whole baby cabbage in a steamer over a pot of water on medium-high heat. Remove from heat once the cabbage starts to feel “soft”.

Remove cabbage from steamer and very very gently peel back the leaves. You will need to cut them at the base to remove from the cabbage.

Put some cooked mince mixture into a leaf then roll like you would a burrito! Fold the top and the bottom over then one side over, then the other side, pulling gently but tightly. Once you have done all your cabbage rolls, sit them back in the steamer over medium heat for 5 minutes. This will help the cabbage to seal.

I tried both red and green cabbage… while the green cabbage went a bit transparent it stuck together much better than the red. Both tasted nice!

If you would like to challenge me to cook something, whether it be a type of food or a particular item of food, leave a comment below or email me at yearofcooking@outlook.com.au 

 

Happy Cooking (from scratch!)
Erica xx

Beef Fajitas

I am not claiming to be an expert on Mexican food. Just a lover of it. The spices the absolute deliciousness of it, the spices the freshness, did I mention the spices? I just LOVE it! It's a massive toss up between Thai and Mexican to my favourite cuisine at the moment!

This is my recipe for Beef Fajitas! It's a bit of a favourite in our household, and its a quick and easy dish to throw together, especially if you premake your tortillas! The smokey flavour from the paprika, matched with the sweetness from the capsicum and onion is delicious!

Beef Fajitas

Ingredients

Serves 2-3 (we only eat a maximum of 150g of red meat per serve so this leaves leftovers for us. Obviously some of you will eat more than that)

500 grams of Rump Steak (Feel free to use any other beef that is steak quality, porterhouse, eye fillet, scotch fillet, or rump. These cuts work best when cooked quickly)

1 red capsicum

1 Brown Onion

1 Tablespoon of Corn Flour

1 tablespoon of oil

1-2 Tablespoons of Cumin

1-2 Tablespoons of Paprika

1-2 Tablespoons of Dried Coriander

Big pinch of sea salt

1/2 Lime

optional: fresh or dried chilli to taste

Method

Slice your Capsicum and Onion

Slice your meat. Place in a freezer bag with a tablespoon of corn flour. I find this helps the pieces of meat separate, and also helps to keep the moisture in the meat. I believe it is a technique used in a lot of Chinese cooking, as the corn flour sucks up the sauce as well when cooking.

Heat up a frying pan with a tablespoon of your chosen oil (I prefer coconut oil as it doesn't burn when heated to a high temperature). Once hot throw in your onion and capsicum. Once they start to soften put in your meat. Add your spices

Once the meat starts to brown, you can start to taste. Remember you can eat beef very rare, so don't be afraid!

You might be suprised to know (if you read my first post that I have considered a meat free lifestyle) that we like our meat on the rare side of medium rare. It's just so much more tender!

Add more spices if you feel there isn't enough. Don't be afraid to add more salt.

I have only recently started cooking with salt, for two reasons. 

1.My Mum is terrified of the stuff, as I imagine a lot of people her age are, due to the noise The Heart Foundation have made over the years about the dangers of salt. Watch any chef though and they will use sometimes insanely large amounts of salt to season their food. It just really helps to bring out flavours and add a fullness and richness to your dishes. 

2. Pre packaged food contains a lot of salt, so there was never any need to add any extra. Now that I cook from scratch the dishes really do need that pinch or two added.

Once the beef is cooked to your liking, squeeze over half a lime and serve! I like to serve our meat with freshly cooked tortilas, corn (gluten free) or flour, lettuce or baby spinach, homemade salsa and squashed avocado with a squeeze of lime in it!

An easy weeknight meal that is sure to please!

Happy Cooking (from scratch!)

Erica xx

Super Fast Homemade Tomato Salsa

This is so quick and easy you will be kicking yourself for not making it sooner!! It's great on top of your mexican dishes or served with corn chips for an easy snack or for entertaining! PLUS it has both cumin and coriander in it... my favourite herb and spice. I love them so much I have (half) jokingly suggested to Simon that we name our first child Cumin Coriander hahahaha

Homemade Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

Tin of chopped tomatoes

(Optional) fresh tomatoes chopped roughly

1-2 Tablespoons of chopped Fresh Coriander (to taste)

Teaspoon of Cumin

1/2- whole a roughly chopped red onion depending on how chunky you like your salsa

1/2- whole Chilli, with or without seeds depending on your hotness levels (I used 1 teaspoon of dried chilli as I didn't have any fresh on hand)

Teaspoon of salt

Method

Put it all in a blender

Blend until desired consistency is reached

Taste

TRY AND STOP YOURSELF EATING IT ALLLLLLLL!!! Do not under any circumstances buy a packet of corn chips before you make this if you intend on using it for your meal that night, there will be none left haha!!

Happy Cooking (from scratch!)

Erica xx