Chicken, Sausage and Vegetable Tray Bake

On this day, I've decided to throw my microwave oven away. First, because it took up too much space on my small kitchen counter and second, because I seldom use it anyway. And third, because it may or may not be dangerous to your health. I say may or may not because for whatever reputable studies you read that show microwaves are dangerous, there are also other reputable studies that show they are not. Just like everything in life. So I just do what I think is right. And I recently came across someone who said not to hold on to things that are not beautiful or useful. She was talking about spring cleaning, but that huge chunk of metal on the kitchen counter that is hardly used seemed to fit into that category. And so out it goes. Now hopefully that rule of the thumb will help me as I step into my basement to throw (or give) yet more stuff away.

But wait! What about dinner? Luckily I have this chicken, sausage and vegetable tray bake recipe up my sleeve :-)

I mean, you take chicken, sausages and whatever vegetables you have that are roastable, and bung them on a tray in the oven. That is it! And the oven cooks it for you while you get on with your work. And it comes out delicious and perfect every time and you can have it with rice or bread or soup or salad. Dinner is served (and you don't need the microwave oven).

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, jointed or 4 chicken legs
• A pack of sausages (I got the spicy turkey kind)
• 4 medium sized potatoes, cubed
• 2 onions, also cubed into the same size.
• 2 carrots (or pumpkins or sweet potatoes) who also meet the same fate
• 2 capsicums, cored, deseeded and cubed as well
• A handful of cherry tomatoes
• A handful of olives (optional)

• Half a cup of olive oil
• Pepper
• Salt
• Any dried or fresh herbs you have on hand (e.g oregano, rosemary, basil)

This is how you do it

Usually, once I buy chicken, I will marinade them before I freeze them. So when I need some, I merely defrost the frozen, marinated chicken overnight in the fridge (or place the whole bag in water for 2 hours). Of course if you don't have any marinated chicken on hand, you can just spice-rub the chicken with salt pepper and herbs but the taste tends to just stick to the skin. But it works too.

If you are making a spice rub, then in a bowl, mix a teaspoon of salt thereabouts with the pepper and herbs, and olive oil. Or, even better, use a pestle and mortar to mix and grind them. Then rub it all over the chicken and toss the vegetables with it.


Lay the vegetables first on a tray, then the chicken pieces on top. Roast for half hour or till chicken juices run clear, about 50 mins. I like to turn the chicken half way to ensure even roasting at the 20 minute mark and again at the 40th minute.

You can use frozen chicken pieces too. Just put them into the oven first, without the vegetables. 20 minutes later, take the chicken pieces out of the oven, pour out the water from the tray if you think it is too watery, and rearrange everything by putting in the vegetables first, then the the chicken pieces on top. From then on, roast for about another 40 minutes. 

Enjoy your meal and the zen feeling you get for having cleared things away! 

How the Harvest Moon became a Cheesecake

It was a Harvest Moon last week from 9-10 September. I didn't know what it was, except having heard of it in Sex in the City when Samantha's latest boyfriend acted in a play with the same name and so she brought the glitterati from Manhattan to Brooklyn to support this otherwise nondescript staging. But apparently the Harvest moon is so called, as the farmers in the western part of the Northern Atmosphere used the light of the moon at this time to harvest in the night, due to its exceptional brightness caused by it being closest to the Earth as we move towards Autumn equinox. Who knew?  There's something interesting to be learnt every day right?

Anyway the big bright moon reminded me of a cheesecake. Don't laugh. It makes perfect sense. It's yellow and round and delicious. Many other foods have been inspired by a big full moon anyway, like the Chinese Mooncake or the American Moon Pies...and even Cookie Monster looked at the moon and saw a cookie!  And being berries season, I thought, what better to make a cheesecake and adorn it with jewel-like berries that will only make it better? So I searched for a low-fat recipe (so that I can scarf down half a cake at one sitting if necessary), bought them plumpcious blackberries, blueberries, rasberries and strawberries and got to work. By the way, eggs, milk and berries are breakfast ingredients too. Ergo cheesecake is also for breakfast. I like my logic :-)

My homage to the Harvest Moon Cheesecake (adapted from Kraftrecipes.com)

Ingredients

For the crust

• 4 low-fat graham crackers or 8-10 Oreos, crushed  
• 2 tbsp soft butter

For the filling

• 3 packs  (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Yogurt or Low fat or Fat free Cream Cheese, softened
• 150g  sugar
• 1 tsp  lemon zest
• Juice of half a lemon (more or less depending on how tart you want the cake to be)
• 1/2 tsp  vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

For the topping

• Sliced fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries  
• Warmed strawberry jam, chocolate sauce or even Nutella

This is how we do it

Heat oven to 180 degrees

Using a food processor, add the butter and the graham crackers or Oreos until it becomes soft and sandlike. Press this to the bottom of the springform pan or a pie plate.

If you have no food processor, put the cookies in a ziplock or similar, and using a rolling pin or preferred implement for knocking, beat it till the cookies crumble. Then transfer to a bowl and add in butter which has been melted. Press this to the bottom of the pan.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and the vanilla extract with mixer until well blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each, until blended.
 
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the springform pan or a pie plate.
 
Bake for 45 min or until center is almost set.

Cool completely or refrigerate for 3 hours (while marvelling how much like the moon it resembles).

Adorn with berries and pour the warmed strawberry jam or chocolate sauce over it . And feast with your eyes and your tastebuds.

Om nom nom. 

Granola muffins to the rescue!

There are times when I am so bored with breakfast that I need something else rather than the usual cold cereal with milk or warm eggs with something. Sure waffles and pancakes are great, but I would have to cook them first, something I don't usually like to do when I am ravenous and not yet coffee-ed up while my 2 small kids in the background fight over a ball and spill milk on the carpet. And for those days when I have to get the kids ready, get myself ready, eat breakfast and rush for a morning meeting with my boss, it gets worse. So here's what I do. I make a batch of these babies the night before. And voila! I am transformed to a serene smiling mommy in the morning, sipping coffee with everyone, happily munching a delicious muffin that is packed with ingredients that delivers something for the health (granola), the mind (Mommy gets to feel accomplished) and the soul (a day that starts with smiles is a day that will be filled with more of them!)

Granola and Walnut Muffins with Chocolate Chips (adapted from Nigella's Granola Muffins recipe)

In this recipe, Nigella made her own granola, which I did not. I followed her example of intelligent short cuts and used store bought Chocolate Granola. Muesli would work too I suppose. I don't like dried fruits in my muffins, but I suppose you can add them too if you want.

Ingredients

225g plain or whole meal flour or a mix of both
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
250ml buttermilk
1 egg
175g light brown soft sugar
80ml vegetable oil (I used rapeseed oil)
250g granola 
A handful of walnuts, chopped
A handful of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

This is how we do it

The beautiful thing about muffins is that all you have to do is mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. You don't even need a mixer for this, just a bowl and a wooden spoon.

So in a bowl, mix together the flour(s), baking soda, salt, sugar, walnuts and choc chips. In a measuring jug (or another bowl), mix the buttermilk, egg and vegetable oil together until it becomes a somewhat yellowish mixture. 

Make a well in the centre of the the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients bit by bit and mix them lightly to combine,  just so that the it forms a sticky brownish liquidy batter with lumps in them. With muffins, a lumpy batter is a good thing - it makes the muffins light and fluffly. 

Then, using an ice-cream scoop (or a large spoon), drop a scoop of batter into the muffin cups. It should fit all 12 to 16  normal-sized muffin cups, depending on how full the cups are.

Slide the muffin tray into an oven that's been pre-heated to 180 degrees and bake for about 25 mins or until they are risen and golden and spring back when you press them.

And there you have it! Breakfast, a sense of accomplishment and a peace of mind for tomorrow (and dessert for now).

Good things do indeed come in small packages. :-)

Thin Crust Pizza on the fly

So who's up for another seemingly effortless homemade meal? Seemingly effortless, as in more effort than just picking up the phone, but definitely less effort than cooking a 3-course meal. But feeding a family has made me more aware of what goes into my food, and I realise, I like knowing what goes into my food. And my kids love pizza and I used to buy frozen cheese Dr Oetker ones and put my own toppings, but once I read the ingredients and realised the number of unpronounceable chemicals they have in it, I decided to switch to ordering pizza only from Italian restaurants. Except those were way more expensive, though delicious. We still order pizza, but ever since coming across this recipe for pizza crust, I've been making more of my own. And no one is complaining either!

INGREDIENTS

For the pizza dough. (taken from Italian Basics by Schinharl and Dickhaut)

This makes enough for  4 small dinner plate-sized pizzas or 2 big ones. It does take a little planning, but if like me, you plan lunch while eating breakfast, you can get right to it after cleaning the capuccino cup. I usually make the dough after breakfast (takes all of 7 minutes. Really! I timed it!), then let it rise and occasionally punch it down, until it is time to assemble the pizza (about 2 hours. But really, 2 hours is just its 'alone time', while you leave it alone and get along with your ever-so-busy life so it doesn't count.)

• 300g plain flour
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cube or 21 g of wet yeast (or its dry instant equivalent)
• 150ml warm water (more or less)
• Sprinkling of sea salt 

This is how we do it :

(It's so easy! No flipping skills needed!)

Either using your counter or in a large bowl, add in the flour, salt, olive oil, and then crumble in the fresh wet yeast or tip in the dried yeast from its packaging. Add the water in a slow stream bit by bit and knead the flour into a dough, until if forms a small ball. Don't worry if it's too wet, just add in more flour. It should no longer be sticking to your fingers. Then leave it in the bowl, cover it with a wet cloth, and leave it in a warm area. My warm area was on the balcony in the sun. I checked it every half an hour coz it thrills me to no end to see the pizza dough double in its size, and then flatten, coz I've just punched all the air out of it.  Hehehe :p

When you are ready to cook the pizza, just roll out the dough, spread the marinara sauce on it, top with your favourite toppings and bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes in an 180 degree Celsius oven. Oven times may vary though according to your oven and crispiness preference. We like our with a just-brown crust and gooey cheese.

Pizza sauce :

The easiest way is to open a jar of marinara and spread it on top of the pizza.

The second easiest way is to use my recipe for all-in-one-pot marinara sauce which is equally delicious, plus you would know what's in it.

All-in-one-pot delicious marinara sauce for everything.

• A can of peeled tomatoes
• Half a can of water (or chicken or vegetable broth if you like)
• A clove or more of garlic, pressed and finely chopped
• A chopped onion
• A tablespoon of butter
• A tablespoon of olive oil
• A tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• A tablespoon of sugar
• A pinch of salt
• A dash of pepper
• A sprinkling of dried Italian herbs or just simply dried Basil and/or dried Oregano 
• Optional - grated parmesan and creme fraiche (or philly cream cheese if that's what's in your fridge)

This is how we do it :

Take a pot. Put everything in it (except the last 2 optional ingredients - they go in towards the end.) Turn on heat. Cover. Stir occasionally. 30 minutes later - the end. Adjust for seasonings if needed. Thick, rich, homemade marinara sauce for pasta, pizza, lasagne,  meatball sandwich sauce etc. Easy peasy!

Pizza toppings :

Of course you top it with whatever you want but these are our favourites :

Hawaiian Pizza

• A few slices of turkey mortadella, torn.
• A few pineapple chunks straight out of the tin.
• Fresh Mozarella cheese. Now if you do use fresh mozarella, my tip is to squeeze the water out of them to make sure the pizza does not come out watery and soggy which was what happened to me once when I made Margherita Pizza with only tomatoes (which was watery) and unsqueezed mozarella cheese (also watery)
• Or whatever melty cheese you fancy - Gouda or Cheddar works well too. But don't tell the Italians when you are using Dutch or English cheese ok?

After rolling out the dough, I top it with the sauce, turkey and pineapples and put it straight into the oven. After about 8 minutes, I check the crust and when I see it turning brown, I take the half-baked pizza out and put the cheese on top. This way, I still get gooey melty cheese without undercooking the crust.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

This time, I added an assortment of mushrooms, capsicum, onions and pineapple chunks. The important thing to remember is to cut them thinly and about the same size. And do not add to much topping or the pizza will get soggy.

Other than those, I also top the pizza crust with leftovers like chicken, salmon, stir-fried vegetables and whatever can else that will taste good with cheese. Having said that, you can also spread the cooked pizza crust with nutella and berries for a crunchy chocolatey dessert! :-) Have pizza, will eat! 

Buon Appetito!