I am a thief. I stole this recipe from Australian Good Taste magazine but that isn't even the half of it. I stole the magazine from the waiting room at my doctor's office. Horrified? I couldn't leave it behind I had to have it. I'm sorry universe.

So you know what I did? I swapped it for my current Vogue magazine. I had it in my bag ready to read while I was waiting. I made the ultimate sacrifice. I exchanged style for sustenance. It says a lot about who I am these days doesn't it? Ok so it says I'm a thief but it also says that when you become a mum your priorities totally shift. Amen to that. Bye Anna Wintour, hello Donna Hay.

Thai Chicken Curry

INGREDIENTS

2 tsp vegetable oil

300g chicken tenderloins halved crossways

1 tbsp yellow curry paste

1 onion, halved and cut into thin wedges

250ml (1 cup) light coconut milk

80ml (1/3 cup) water

150g green beans, topped and halved

1 red capsicum thinly sliced

1 zucchini thinly sliced

fresh coriander to serve

steamed rice

METHOD

1. heat oil in wok over medium heat til smoking. Add chicken cook 2 mins til golden.

2. Add curry paste and onion. Stir fry til onion is soft.

3. Add coconut milk and water, bring to the boil. Cook 3 mins. Add beans, capsicum and zucchini cook for 2 mins. Beans should be bright green and chicken cooked through.

4. Divide into 4 bowls serve with rice and top with coriander.

EASY mid-week meal and cheap too $3.79 per serve!

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup (250ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/3 teaspoon paprika

Preparation method

Cut 3 slits in each chicken breast to allow marinade to penetrate. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika for about 30 seconds. Place chicken in a large bowl or ziplock bag, and pour marinade over. Using your hands, work marinade into chicken. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat barbecue for medium heat, and lightly oil grate.
Cook chicken on the barbecue until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear-about 10 minutes per side.

courtesy of www.allrecipes.com.au

I like a greek salad, here is a quick recipe if you don't have your own version:

Greek Salad with Walnuts

Ingredients (serves 4)
40g walnut halves
3 small ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 red capsicum, halved, deseeded, coarsely chopped
1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, thickly sliced
1 small red onion, halved,
thinly sliced
1 bunch continental parsley, leaves picked, coarsely chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs red wine vinegar
60g reduced-fat feta, cubed
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread walnuts over a baking tray. Bake in preheated oven for 6-7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool. Coarsely chop.
Combine the tomato, capsicum, cucumber, onion and parsley in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil and vinegar and gently toss to combine. Divide the salad among serving plates and sprinkle with walnuts and feta. Season with pepper and serve immediately.

courtesy of www.taste.com.au

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 large pieces of chicken breast (12 to 14 ounces each)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups low-fat (1%) milk
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 filo sheets (each 12 by 17 inches), thawed

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Roast 20- 30 minutes. Shred meat, and set aside.

While chicken is roasting, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium.

Add carrots, onion, and thyme; season with salt and pepper, and cook until carrots are crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add flour, and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a simmer and thickens.

Remove from heat; stir in peas, lemon juice, and chicken, and season with salt and pepper. Pour filling into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

Stack filo on a work surface. Using a paring knife, cut out an 11-inch circle from the stack; discard trimmings. Stack 2 circles on work surface, and brush gently with 1 teaspoon oil; repeat with remaining circles and oil.

*I'm using one large square baking dish so I don't have to worry about the fiddly trimming, I'll just whack the ready cut squares of filo onto my pie filling*

Place pastry stack over filling, and press down about 1/2 inch from the edge so pastry fits inside rim of pie plate. Bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Let potpie cool 15 minutes before serving.


I have not bothered to translate into metric because I think most of us here in the metric world are more used to translating from imperial than they are doing the reverse. Let me know if you can't, and I'll edit this post.

I was thinking tonight that we could have a weekly post with quick and easy dinner ideas.

Would anyone be interested? I'll post one each Wednesday. It has to be something easy, quick and reasonably healthy. I often find myself feeling slightly Iron Chefish when I have no idea what to cook for dinner and no time to nip out and get ingredients so I need to make do with what I find at home.

Tonight I had some fresh corn fed chicken breast fillets and not much else. For a change, I had a shot of brilliance and remembered an easy weeknight meal recipe I read at the doctor's surgery on the weekend. I have been known in the past to do a cheeky rip and steal of a good magazine page but with a bouncy toddler to entertain, thieving pages just wasn't possible. Fortunately it was a basic recipe so I managed to store it in my mind. I amended it and tried it this evening,

BBQ Balsamic Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Veges

2 Chicken Breast Fillets
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Soft Brown Sugar

Mashed Potatoes- I keep riced potatoes in my freezer and when I need them I just add them to some boiling milk with a spoonful of butter. You have perfect mash.

A potato ricer is a great tool to have, you really should get one if you haven't already! To use the ricer you boil the potatoes with the skin on. When cooked you peel and put through the ricer. This is the only way to make good mash, I've seen people boiling peeled potatoes and I don't like it. You fill your potato with water and it doesn't taste so good.

Anyway the frozen riced poato freezes perfectly and I always try to keep a little stockpile for nights like tonight when the little one went to bed late and I wasn't in the mood for cooking much.

Steamed veges- whatever you've got in the fridge/vege patch or freezer.

I had some broad beans in the freezer tonight so I shelled them and gave them a quick steaming and I had a couple of carrots that I cut into little Julienne strips and steamed quickly. Simple!

Now for the chicken you cut it horizontally so you have 4 steak-like pieces. You add the oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar to a bowl mix and add the chicken. Let it sit there while you prepare your veges and set the table.

Throw the chicken on the BBQ about 5 mins per side and serve with the mash and steamed veges.

Healthy, low fat and quick and easy. Everyone has a bottle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar at home and brown sugar of course. Chicken breasts are easy to freeze so you should have them on hand as well.

So there you go, it was really good and really quick. If you have a recipe you wouldn't mind sharing please email me and I will post it next Wednesday. If you have a photo that would be fabulous. I only thought of the picture after we had eaten so it was too late, sorry!