Archive for the ‘Vegetables’ Category

Roasted Vegetables with Oven Baked Meatballs

Posted 21 Nov, 2010 in Main Course, Vegetables [ No Comments ]

I generally spend a bit of time on Sunday afternoons making bulk loads food as once Monday rolls around, I really don’t have a lot of time to cook. And given that all my meals are based on meat and vegetables, I need to be prepared. This week, I made a huge batch of roasted vegetables and a dozen meatballs. Both are highly versatile and I like to use them to make:

  • A salad with the roasted vegetables tossed through with salad greens and a nice vinaigrette.
  • Meatball and hard-boiled egg mashed up with a bit of olive oil and some fresh herbs.
  • Meatballs warmed up with some pasta sauce and served over the roasted vegetables (this is my favorite)
  • As an omelette filling.

Aside from the few strange looks I get from the people at my office, I’m getting used to having leftovers of meat and vegetables for breakfast. Lunch is more accepted but a meat and vegetables based breakfast is certainly different from the traditional breakfast of cereal and yogurt. But given that I feel so much better eating this way, I’m not taking too much notice that I am the odd one out at my work with my leftover dinners for breakfast and my snack of hard boiled eggs and carrot sticks.

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Roasted Vegetables

1 head of large broccoli, cut into florets.
1 eggplant cut into cubes
2 red onion sliced into crescents
6 garlic cloves unpeeled
3 sprigs of thyme
2 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper

  1. Mix all ingredients and roast at 175°C for 45 minutes.
  2. Cool completely and store in the fridge.

Makes 4 servings.

Oven Baked Meatballs

1 kg ground beef
1 onion finely chopped
1 egg
1 tbs dried thyme
salt and pepper

  1. Mix all ingredients with your hand.
  2. Roll into 12 evenly sized meatballs.
  3. Bake on an oven tray for 40 minutes. The meatballs will be cooked through but the bottom side will be wet as it has been floating in its juices.
  4. Drain the juices and transfer the meatballs upside down (wet side facing up) into a clean oven tray.
  5. Place under the grill for 5 minutes to finish off.
  6. Cool completely and store in the fridge.

Makes 12 meatballs.

Vegetable Hash

Posted 19 Sep, 2010 in Vegetables [ 1 Comment ]

I’ve been away for work in Wellington all of last week. I loved the break from my normal job but by the end of the week, I was definitely ready to come home. I stayed in a reasonably nice hotel and had all my meals taken care of which was really nice. But again, after 5 days of eating hotel breakfasts and catered lunches, I was so ready for a big dose of meat and vegetables with a good helping of fat.

I’m a fussy eater by nature so I don’t like to dine out too often. I found the catered lunches especially difficult at it mostly consisted of sandwiches or meat pies. It was so hard to get a decent serving of vegetables of any sort. There must be an art to eating well while traveling. I don’t travel often for work so I will have to take this trip as a learning experience. I have to admit that I was completely unprepared in that I didn’t prepare any Paleo type snacks. And I could have requested special catering that is grain-free or low-carb. I guess I will know better for next time.

When I came home, all I wanted was vegetables. I didn’t know what to call this dish as it is just a big medley of vegetables cooked in lots of butter and seasoned with various herbs. It was just what I felt like having after a week of traveling.

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Vegetable Hash

1 onion chopped in half moon shapes
2 tbs butter
1/2 head cauliflower grated
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 sweet potato grated
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
goat feta to serve

  1. Saute the onion in butter until trunslucent.
  2. Add in the remaining vegetables with the oregano, garlic powder, and salt.
  3. Stir until cooked through.
  4. Serve on a bed of salad greens and top with sunflower seeds and goat feta.

Makes 4 servings.

Grain-free Indian Sweet Potato Pancakes

Posted 25 Jul, 2010 in Breakfast, Recipes, Vegetables [ No Comments ]

I’ve been so busy at work that when I left on Friday, I was actually planning on going in on the weekend to catch up on some extra work. Once Saturday rolled around, I changed my mind as I was reminded that I work to live and not the other way around. I’m really enjoying the weekly posts from Zen Habits which often brings me back to myself from the madness of work where I have a tendency to get lost.

Given that I have been so busy from work, I haven’t had much time to think about food. I found this recipe for Indian Sweet Potato Pancakes from the book, Ms. Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights. I love this book! Super simple recipes and the majority of them are for 2 servings as not everyone has a family of 4 to cook for.

These pancakes are completely grain free and a nice way to dress up a simple sweet potato. I’m sure that the recipe will work with any other mashed root vegetables and other combinations of spices.

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Grain-free Indian Sweet Potato Pancakes

Recipe adapted from Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights

1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbs ghee or more as needed
sour cream to serve

  1. Mix the mashed sweet potatoes, curry powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
  2. Heat a skillet over medium heat with the ghee.
  3. Drop the batter in the hot skillet and spread thinly and evenly.
  4. Lower heat and cook slowly. These are delicate so you can’t rush it.
  5. When one side has been cooked, flip and cook the other side.
  6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Makes 2 servings.

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