A reader commented to me recently and I quote .....
"Miss CCC, you are amazing. Thanks to you I have learned to feed my family food they love.....I can go to your blog, plan for the next week and do my shop. It's changing my life, making me more organised, and they actually like my cooking - unheard of."
To me this is like music to my ears! The reason I bring this quote to your attention is not to gloat - but it does make me question my reasoning behind why I don't post all of the dishes that I make? Why do I feel compelled to only blog about meals that I tend to think of as "recipe book food" and not the humble stuff that is more often than not, what we eat? Why do I think that the food that I have to whip up on a busy sport night is not what would actually benefit all those other busy mums out there?
I am going to take a bit of a rethink here and actually let you know about a lot more of the meals that we consume here on a regular basis. I put my hand up and admit that sometimes I take the easy way out. Some nights we are running around for many hours before we finally all get home.
So let me give you a real glimpse into our lives.....
Friday night we had rugby until around 7:30. When we arrived home it was cold and dark - and they were all hungry. I had asked before we left what we should do about dinner - had several contingencies in mind - but I was told "don't worry about food...you are always thinking about food!!" Now, though reality had hit the fan and I was faced with - we want pizza for dinner!!! I had to turn around and make pizza dough - thank god for the thermomix - making pizza dough is really only about 2 minutes of kneading - the rest proving. I have a tendancy to keep all those little tidbits of leftover meals in ziploc bags in the freezer - you know that last couple of meatballs - the last couple of sausages..... so I thankfully I was able to rustle up a "meatlovers" pizza in no time at all. A little foresight meant that I had also picked up some lovely prawns at the fish market - and a prawn, basil and tomato pizza was also on the menu.
Saturday we had the Blue Eye Cod with Kaffir Lime and Chilli Pilaf. "The Darlings" of course did not have this (they had actually filled themselves up after rugby - yes, another game!!) - but for them I prepared Teriyaki Basa and plain boiled rice.
Sunday - I had that in the bag! I wanted to Make Reuben Sandwiches. Have you ever had a Reuben??? A good Reuben is a glorious thing. Now while I do not profess to have made the perfect sandwich - it certainly filled their bellies!
So what does a Rueben involve? Well there are a couple of schools of thinking here - you can make it with Pastrami - or you can use corned beef. I chose the latter - and simmered a piece of corned beef in the crock pot all day. As for the other elements...... there are those that say a "thousand island dressing" is the condiment of choice - while others say that a "Russian Dressing" - with horseradish is the way to go. I had been perusing Pam's menu the other day and decided to make thousand island type spread she prepared.
Reuben Sandwich
Rye Bread
Corned Beef
Sauerkraut
Swiss Cheese
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tsp pickle relish
2 tbs tomato sauce (ketchup)
Combine mayonnaise, tomato sauce and pickle relish in a small bowl.
Spread the rye bread with the "dressing" add slices of corned beef, swiss cheese, and sauerkraut. Season with salt and pepper. Either pan fry in a dry frypan, or in a sandwich toaster until bread is toasted.
Serve with fries.
There you have it Dear Readers - not everything that we eat here ends up on the blog. This was a simple, tasty meal - that really anyone can produce.
What do I look for each week when I start to plan my menus? I look for inspiration! I think I will now try to share with you the plain, simple (and more often than not un-photogenic) meals that we actually eat. If they can help inspire, or make life easier for someone, then this blog has been successful.
Dear Readers please share with me your thoughts and ideas of ways that I can help you too.
"Miss CCC, you are amazing. Thanks to you I have learned to feed my family food they love.....I can go to your blog, plan for the next week and do my shop. It's changing my life, making me more organised, and they actually like my cooking - unheard of."
To me this is like music to my ears! The reason I bring this quote to your attention is not to gloat - but it does make me question my reasoning behind why I don't post all of the dishes that I make? Why do I feel compelled to only blog about meals that I tend to think of as "recipe book food" and not the humble stuff that is more often than not, what we eat? Why do I think that the food that I have to whip up on a busy sport night is not what would actually benefit all those other busy mums out there?
I am going to take a bit of a rethink here and actually let you know about a lot more of the meals that we consume here on a regular basis. I put my hand up and admit that sometimes I take the easy way out. Some nights we are running around for many hours before we finally all get home.
So let me give you a real glimpse into our lives.....
Friday night we had rugby until around 7:30. When we arrived home it was cold and dark - and they were all hungry. I had asked before we left what we should do about dinner - had several contingencies in mind - but I was told "don't worry about food...you are always thinking about food!!" Now, though reality had hit the fan and I was faced with - we want pizza for dinner!!! I had to turn around and make pizza dough - thank god for the thermomix - making pizza dough is really only about 2 minutes of kneading - the rest proving. I have a tendancy to keep all those little tidbits of leftover meals in ziploc bags in the freezer - you know that last couple of meatballs - the last couple of sausages..... so I thankfully I was able to rustle up a "meatlovers" pizza in no time at all. A little foresight meant that I had also picked up some lovely prawns at the fish market - and a prawn, basil and tomato pizza was also on the menu.
Saturday we had the Blue Eye Cod with Kaffir Lime and Chilli Pilaf. "The Darlings" of course did not have this (they had actually filled themselves up after rugby - yes, another game!!) - but for them I prepared Teriyaki Basa and plain boiled rice.
Sunday - I had that in the bag! I wanted to Make Reuben Sandwiches. Have you ever had a Reuben??? A good Reuben is a glorious thing. Now while I do not profess to have made the perfect sandwich - it certainly filled their bellies!
So what does a Rueben involve? Well there are a couple of schools of thinking here - you can make it with Pastrami - or you can use corned beef. I chose the latter - and simmered a piece of corned beef in the crock pot all day. As for the other elements...... there are those that say a "thousand island dressing" is the condiment of choice - while others say that a "Russian Dressing" - with horseradish is the way to go. I had been perusing Pam's menu the other day and decided to make thousand island type spread she prepared.
Reuben Sandwich
Rye Bread
Corned Beef
Sauerkraut
Swiss Cheese
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tsp pickle relish
2 tbs tomato sauce (ketchup)
Combine mayonnaise, tomato sauce and pickle relish in a small bowl.
Spread the rye bread with the "dressing" add slices of corned beef, swiss cheese, and sauerkraut. Season with salt and pepper. Either pan fry in a dry frypan, or in a sandwich toaster until bread is toasted.
Serve with fries.
There you have it Dear Readers - not everything that we eat here ends up on the blog. This was a simple, tasty meal - that really anyone can produce.
What do I look for each week when I start to plan my menus? I look for inspiration! I think I will now try to share with you the plain, simple (and more often than not un-photogenic) meals that we actually eat. If they can help inspire, or make life easier for someone, then this blog has been successful.
Dear Readers please share with me your thoughts and ideas of ways that I can help you too.
Man I wish you were my mum - the meals you whip up even on a busy day leave me totally in awe! Can't wait to have a Reuben on our Westfield outing...
ReplyDeleteI was totally thinking about making reuben sandwiches the other day, but don't know how to make corned beef. How do you make it??
ReplyDeleteLook at my postings for corned beef - or there are directions on prepackaged corned beef you can buy in the supermarket!!!
ReplyDeleteI make mine in the crock pot!