Quick and easy beef salad variation uses dried mushrooms

Variation - Beef and Mushroom Salad

Warm salad of beef and mushroom
Serves 4

600g / 20 oz piece rump steak .

60 / 2oz (1 1/2 cups) dried mushrooms  
2 tablespoons olive oil (or peanut oil)

1 red pepper sliced

½ cup roasted cashews
3 spring onions or shallots- sliced

Baby spinach leaves or large spinach leaves, shredded - 2 large handfuls

Handful fresh coriander or mint (or both)

For Dressing - combine:-                                             

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp mirin (sweet sherry or chinese wine can be substituted)

2 tbsp oyster sauce

Cover dried mushrooms with warm water and stand for 20 minutes - drain and discard stems.

Slice capsicums thinly and chop onions.

Trim steak - heat oil in pan, add steak and cook until meium rare and browned on all sides. When cool, cut into thin strips.

To serve, combine steak, mushrooms, pepper, and spinach - add dressing and toss. Garnish with herbs and nuts.

Warm Thai beef salad is simple and has many variations

Thai Beef Salad

There are many variations on this theme.   This is a simple version featuring fresh crunchy vegetables, tender beef and tangy chilli dressing.   I served it with vermicelli noodles - see below.  Tomorrow's variation includes  dried mushrooms.

Thai Beef Salad
1 tbsp oil for frying
500g (16 oz) thick-cut, premium-quality beef steak (sirloin, rump or fillet) fat and sinew removed
Sweet Chilli Dressing:
3 tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime or lemon juice

Salad
1 lebanese cucumber, chopped into small finger-sized batons
1 cup cherry tomatoes. halved
2 spring Onions, finely sliced
handful sugar snap peas. finely sliced (optional)
1/4 cup each chopped mint and coriander
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls baby spinach or rocket leaves

Heat oil in a large frypan. Season beef and cook 2-3 minutes each side until medium rare. Set aside to cool and, meanwhile, combine dressing ingredients.

Place  rocket or spinach leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions and sugar snap peas in a bowl with the herbs. Drizzle over half the dressing and toss to coat thoroughly. Thinly slice the cooked meat across the grain and toss through the salad. Drizzle over remaining dressing.

Vermicelli Noodles are boiled  for 3 minutes in stock
or simply covered with water then drained.  Add a little
sesame oil and coriander etc

Make sure you buy vermicelli in serving sizes.  If  you buy
the large single size you may end up with it all over the floor

Asian Chicken Bites herald in the Year of the Dragon

We're off to a Chinese New Year party tonight to herald in the Year of the Dragon.  In China, it's known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name so we need to dress in bright colours.  I've got a chinese jacket which I bought from Vinnies for a 'Host a Murder' Party so I think I'll wear that.

龍 Dragon

辰 Chen

February 5, 2000

January 23, 2012

February 10, 2024

Asian Chicken Bites
These tasty little chicken balls are ideal for party / finger food.  I hope the dragon likes them!
500g minced chicken
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp ginger finely grated

1 to 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1  birdseye chilli finely chopped and/or 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 spring onions finely chopped or 1 onion
1/4 bunch coriander finely chopped
1 egg white, beaten (you can use the whole egg if desired)
Soy sauce to taste
squeeze of lemon juice
Vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients then roll into small balls, (using damp hands to assist this process.)  Pan fry in oil until golden, or for a lighter dish, arrange chicken in a baking dish, on baking paper and cook in a hot to moderate oven for approx 20 minutes until turning golden. (For best results start with a hot oven and turn down a little after 10 minutes)  Makes approx 30  bite sized balls.  Serve with a squeeze of lemon and garnish with coriander or mint. 

I'm excited too re winning the battle of the bulge

Battle of the Bulge
From our  expert on fashion, from Milwaukee, USA, Lynee  Follow That Girl    who could write a book about jeans; styles, length, what shoes and tops to wear. 
She says about me (generously) "My boss has this friend from Australia, Clara -who coincidentally writes a blog called "Fit in Your Jeans Cuisine". How perfect.
The photo's of the finished recipes are gorgeous and mouth watering."
Thanks Lynee, for your kind words.  Can't wait to hear how you went and what you were wearing when you cooked your meal.
Clara

It's getting to that time of year. You know, THAT time of year. It's when my husband watches in disgust as I jump, lay on the floor, do a dance routine, lunges or cry to get on my skinny jeans. After I painstakingly inch the zipper up and nearly lose a nail buttoning them, I promise myself that "Today, I'm only eating water." The next thing I know I'm eyeing up something that looks like this...

I am announcing today that I will wear my skinny jeans with comfort all year around. And no, I cannot survive only eating water.

So what am I going to do? I'm going to actually follow Clara's recipes, and make sure I only eat my small portion! I'm excited, and so is my husband. You see, I'm not a very good cook. I screw up scrambled eggs, burn the toast, overcook the noodles and dry out the chicken. So, I plan to write about my "Fit in your Jeans Cuisine" diet once a month, my wins, my failures... my poor husbands love while he eats it even when it's awful (of course I'll throw in what awesome outfit I'm wearing from Next Door while I slave away in the kitchen). Are you excited? I'm excited!

Lynee

How to do OK Seafood Pizza at Nambucca Heads and still fit in your jeans



Nambucca Nosh

John's OK  delicious Pizza  served at sunset

Star ingredients

Secret is having a thin base -
this one is a commercial wholemeal version

Spread some tomato pizza sauce

Add the seafood (and if you wish some salami slices -  hmmmm)

Add red onion slices and artichoke hearts

Finish with a slurp of sweet chilli sauce and a
light sprinkling of mozzarella cheese
Bake in a moderate to hot oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy,  with the sunset at Nambucca Heads

How to put on skin tight jeans after Xmas

I only need a belt in case my jeans burst

Thought you might benefit from some post Xmas hints on how to fit in your jeans.
G said,"I only need a belt in case my jeans burst."

Or Peter Hinchliff's experience, "The other day I got a clean pair of jeans out of the wardrobe. Then began a two-minute nightmare as I struggled to get into them. I couldn't get the wretched things past my knees, let alone fasten the button at the waist.


"Oh no," thought I in the midst of the wrestling match. "No more cake. No more biscuits. No more eating for a week." Then I noticed the label on the jeans. They were my wife's. She'd hung them in my wardrobe by mistake.


Everyone should be lucky enough to find a smaller person's jeans in their wardrobe after Christmas feasting. The relief at discovering they belong to someone else makes up for having gained an inch around the waist.......... and then about why it happens...... "Eating up every chocolate and biscuit, draining the whisky bottle to the last drop isn't mere self-indulgence. It's a duty. A display of appreciation. A way of saying thank you." Let waist-lines bulge and buttons strain as we accept the responsibility of showing appreciation to our gift-givers.

Like many people today we are more conscious that good food can taste indulgent without necessarily being so, with the obvious exceptions of course. So here are some of the delicious, less indulgent dishes we enjoyed on Xmas day, which I will post over the week. At this time of the year, one needs to keep on making the dishes rather than write about them.


Capsicum Dip with Parmesan Cheese Rounds
Thai BBQ prawns served with Mango and Avocado salad with snowpeas and roasted sesame seeds
Stuffed Turkey Breast, and honey cured ham with Green salad with Salsa Verde, and Roasted beetroot and pumpkin salad with goats' cheese and walnuts
Potato salad with yoghurt dressing
Pavlova with berries served with Yoghurt and Mascarpone cream.

We were very fortunate to have some wonderful wines to accompany each course, thanks to our resident wine expert.


I hope you all had a fantastic festive dinner and can still 'fit in your jeans.' If not, all is not lost - visit http://www.fitinyourjeanscuisine.com/ for tasty healthy food or if all else fails, read the instructions below on How to put on Skin Tight Jeans

Clara

Handy Hints
Put the jeans on in the morning, after a cold shower. Putting your skin-tight jeans on in the morning will increase the chances of success since you haven't eaten much. Also, a cold shower will get your body as taut as possible, making you slightly slimmer.
Wiggle into the jeans. Putting a belt through the jeans' belt loops will help you pull the jeans up. Using the belt as a grip, wiggle side to side to get the jeans over your hips.
Zip up first. Closing the button is almost always the hardest part of putting on skin tight jeans, so try get the zipper closed first. If the jeans are really skin tight, hook the end of a hanger into the zipper so you can leverage the zipper up.
Hold your breath. Like an athlete at the finish line, the last step takes a deep breath in. Breathe in deeply so you contract your midsection and in one quick and deft motion get that button closed.


Click on 'comment' at bottom of page to have your say or email clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

New Years Resolution to fit in your jeans

Time to reflect and move forward with or without a New Years' Resolution. Oscar Wilde wrote," A New Year Resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other."
and "Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account."


I like this one by Hal Borland - "Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."
So do we or do we not make one???? I found some of Sonja Lyubomirsky's hints to be helpful from her recent book 'The How of Happiness'.
A summary of a goal's / project's ideal characteristics.


Identify what you expect to accomplish

* Imposed by self
* Approach rather than avoidance
* Flexible and be able to work with other aspects of your life
* Activity based - not relying on circumstance


Identify and Imagine the most positive outcome of your goal and the biggest obstacle that stands in the way. (The obstacle bit apparently is the tricky part which most of us don't think through.) They give the example re specific details of when and where and how the person wants to act in critical situations.
For example; If the goal is to "eat more fruit and vegetables", the subject might think of how they will act in restaurants, when travelling , and at other situations where they may be tempted not to follow through with the goal. Then they have to specify the behaviour they would do with an ..."if I am at a restaurant and they ask about dessert, then I will choose options with fruit, not cake."
Have fun

Happy healthy New Year
Clara