Food/ Recipes – Page 2 – Create You Coaching

Slow- cooked Pork Belly Tacos & Picked Onion

This is a technique that I found about a year ago and it is a keeper. I never do the belly any other way and it is very versatile; we used it with noodles or rice for Asian and in warps or for these awesome homemade tacos.

Ingredients:

500G Pork belly strips	4 tbsp. Soy sauce
Small onion finely sliced	1tbsp. Honey
Mini tortilla wraps	1-2tsp Sweet chilli sauce
Natural yogurt	Rice wine vinegar
Smashed avocado or guacamole	White vinegar
	Sugar or alternative
	Salt and pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika

Method:

We use the pork belly strips you buy in the supermarket; they are a cheap cut and taste so good. We do look for ones with more meat on just so you not eating pure fat. Warm the oven to 177 C.

You need to score the fat in a crosshatch format but do not cut through to the meat. I use a Portuguese spice rub but add smoked paprika and garlic powder to it and rub it all over. I also rub some plain salt into the fat before starting to cook. I line them up like soldiers in a backing tray that will hold some liquid, put them in the pre-heated oven for an hour.

Prepare your basting sauce by combining Soy Sauce, honey and sweet chilli sauce; whisk it with a fork or shack up in a jar. You can prepare your Pickled Onion now, combine the vinegars’, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl and warm through in the microwave, 30 seconds are fine. I added some red food colouring to give it the authentic colour and a pinch of onion seeds. You could use red onion and skip the food colouring.

Food coolouring can add that pink tint if you dont have red onions

After the pork has had its hour turn the oven down to 120 C, baste the pork with the marinade and put back in the oven for 20 minutes. Baste it one more time in the cooking liquor from the baking tray. The meat is super tender and shreds or slices easily.

For the children’s wraps I steamed cauliflower, broccoli and sweetcorn. The Broccoli and sweet corn were served on the side and the cauliflower mashed was layered in the wrap with cheese, shredded pork and folded in half like a quesadilla and served with some yogurt. You can heat it in a pan or the microwave for a few seconds to melt the cheese.

The brushed both sides of the mini wraps and toasted them in a hot pan then topped with a little Mexican rice, pulled pork, Guacamole, yogurt, shredded lettuce and picked onion. Finally, some hot sauce from the guys at All Sauce and some lie wedges. Taco truck delicious!!

Cocktail Hour

This post is slightly delayed, apologies for that, but you have it in time to be inspired for Bank Holiday next weekend. The weather being so grey is partly what delayed the post, rainy days don’t exactly scream cocktails in the garden. I hope you are all well, safe and having a good weekend at home?!

It was last weekend that we tried a few simple mixes after stocking up the bar for the lockdown and summer period. The measures below are for one drink.

Firstly, an Elderflower Gin Fizz, refreshing and an instant happy hit. We combined a 4cl measure of Gin and a 2cl Elderflower liquor shaken over ice and topped up with Cava. My personal preference is Cava but if you are a Prosecco lover that is totally fine too.

Japanese Blossom in Woodford Reserve copper glasses https://www.woodfordreserve.com/

Fever Tree have brought out a cocktail book that showcases their tonic and a huge variety of cocktails you can make. Our neighbour recommended the Japanese Blossom as we had bought a lovely French Caribbean Rum, Clément. You will need the rum, Elderflower liquor, lemon juice, tonic water or Elderflower tonic, pineapple juice and honey. Remember you can substitute if you do not have all these ingredients, it’s your cocktail your rules!

The Expresso Martini, we used 4cl Vodka and 2cl Coffee Liquor and some sugar syrup, we didn’t use fresh coffee and it tasted great all the same. For the garnish all we had was white chocolate eggs from Easter that I bashed up in the Pestel and Mortar.

We used this lovely Gatsby Cocktail Book for some of the recipes such as the Old Fashioned. We used Bourbon, Angostura Bitters, sugar syrup and an orange peel for garnish. Muddle the ingredients in a glass over ice and then garnish once you have combined the mixed to your taste.

Enjoy responsibly please.

Carrot Cake Bars

Here is a quick little share; a recipe from The Toasted Pine Nut that I adapted slightly too what we had in our cupboard. Lindsay makes lovely super healthy, gluten free and lower carb recipes, myself I take the old school plain flour and sugar approach. We are using what we have in the cupboard and you can just substitute your sugars, flour and even fruit for what you have in the house. We even used Walnuts instead peacan nuts!

Toast some almond and mix with your chopped nuts to top the cake.

Follow the link above for Lindsay’s recipe and for mine I used brown sugar instead of Coconut sugar and self raising flour instead of cashew flour.

The icing we only had half a tub of cream cheese so did what I could, but it is really tasty anyway! Just note mine had a wet consistency. Combine cream cheese and 25g butter, room temperature for both, whisk till combined, I had to pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds to loosen more. Sift in icing sugar, I just guessed the amounts to be honest whisk and a teaspoon of vanilla essence, then I decide some lemon zest would be a nice so added that too.

Wait until the cake part has cooled to room temperature before putting the icing on. Put the iced cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour and cut into the bars. Yum! I left some of mine un iced and cut into smaller cubes for the babies.

Golden curry our way

During these times it is more prevalent but should always be applied. Use what you have, adapt the recipes, and do not fear, just consider what can be interchanged with what. I saw the video for this one and loved the idea and convinced myself that Nigella used green peppers, they were green chilli. That is fine we ended up using yellow and orange peppers and added a hint of chilli at the end after a ladle was removed for children meals.

Ingredients:

1 Green Pepper (or whatever colour)	1 tsp Ground turmeric
150g of shallots cubed or 1 small/medium onion	2 tsp Tamarind paste
25g Fresh ginger	Pinch of salt
1 Lemongrass stalk	Coconut oil or alternative
400 ml Coconut milk	Chilli
1 egg per person	Rice to serve or flatbread to dip
2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped	Spring onion, onion seeds & crispy onion to serve

Method:

Blend the peppers, garlic, onion, and ginger with a stick blender. I added the turmeric and stir through. Heat the oil in the pan and add the paste and lemon grass and fry for 5 minutes until cooked. Add the coconut milk and bring to boil and then simmer for 7 minutes until reduced, thick, and golden. At this point I removed a large ladle of the curry and set aside for the children.

*I chopped some of the lemongrass heart to belnd with the paste to really get that flavour through.*

By mixing through steamed frozen peas and a grated carrot and mixing with rice, a teaspoon of yogurt and half the sauce set aside it made 2 meals for our twins, so 4 if you have one baby. Once the babies’ portion is removed add chilli to taste, when you are ready to eat bring the curry back up to boiling break 2 eggs in and cover to steam. About 2 minutes for a soft egg but just keep an eye on it and cook as desired.

We have a rice cooker, so we put the rice on 20 minutes before we need it. I scooped it out with a bowl for a dome. Chop the green of spring onion finely and plate; first the rice then ladle the egg and curry sauce over that and top with the garnishes as per the image. A drizzle of siracha was a lovely touch and for not a lot of work you have a flavour explosion.

Potato, Cheese and Veg Soufflé

Stumped for lunch or need a quick snack this is so easy to prepare, and you can do it around other morning tasks. Most of the preparation is steaming the potatoes!! Heat your oven to 180 degrees C

2 potatoes, cooked and mashed	Paprika
30g Cheese grated	Garlic powder
3 slices of ham diced into cubs	Pepper
¼ cup Frozen peas and corn
2 eggs
Little milk
Butter

To the mashed potato add a bit of butter and splash of milk so you can mix it well. To this add your cheese, ham, vegetables and herbs and spices mix through. Feel free to substiture the vegetables for something you or your little ones love! Wisk your eggs with a bit of milk and add that to the mix combine well. You can separate your eggs and whisk the egg white and fold through after but for a busy lift there is no need for that.

Spoon your mixture into greased muffins tray, mine stuck a little so I searched, and online they advised butter and breadcrumbs… Mamma ain’t got no time for that but you are welcome to add that step.

The second picture is the cooked versioun and the utenncil I used to get them out

Pop these in your preheated oven for 20 minutes, it will leave your house smelling lush! I topped them with a little grated cheese before heating them in the microwave for lunch and served with yogurt for dipping. The taste so good that they would make a lovely little canape for adult too!

Tuscan mince and ricotta filled pasta

We bought large pasta shells because I insisted that they look luxurious and would be great for a dinner party. They have been in the cupboard since the start of lockdown, their time had come. It is much easier than the images and recipe list would suggest, give it a try it is a nice treat and feels a bit like you went to an restaurant in Siena.

Mince of choice	Rosemary 2 sprigs chopped
1/2 tub of ricotta	Mixed herbs
¼ – ½ Chorizo chopped into small cubes	1 tbs fennel seeds toasted and ground
1 onion chopped	1 tsp ground cumin
500g Pasta (If you don’t have the large use any)	Black olives roughly pulled apart
Sundried tomatoes- not a necessity	Black pepper and salt
3 cubes frozen spinach defrosted or fresh	Chilli flacks
Preparade Tomato sauce	Lemon zest of 1 lemon

The chili flakes here were added to the tomato sauce for the adult portion

Fry your onion in a bit of oil, I added a pinch of salt at this point once translucent add the garlic but drop the heat. I forgot to toast my fennel so move the onion and garlic to the side and did it in the same pan; see in the image below. This happens to me a lot and I am not one to dirty and pan unnecessarily. Add the mince to brown, after about 2 minutes add the herbs; Mixed herbs, fennel, cumin and 1 sprig of rosemary. Add the defrosted spinach and half of the chopped chorizo, fry until the meat is cooked and has a nice colour. You could add more salt at this point, we jsut added a pince once I had removed the childrens portion.

Toast your fennel in the same pan if you forget

Remove from the heat and add the Ricotta and lemon zest stir until it is well incorporated. I added a piece of sundried tomato while assembling but you can just add a handful of chopped pieces now and mix through. Cook the pasta as directed on the packaging, drain and cover with some olive oil. This can be done during the cooking process or after depending on when you want the dish to be ready. I cooked the filling in the afternoon and set it aside to cool and kept it in the fridge until I needed it for the children’s dinner.

Once the pasta has cooled down a little you can start assembling, but first put a layer of your tomato sauce on the bottom of the oven dish. Now start filling and I even think this could be fun for the littles ones if they were a bit older. I put the rest of the chorizo in the bowl with the cooled down mince and just spooned a little with each scoop. Then place them on the sauce in a woven like pattern so you can fit the largest quantity of shells in the dish.

Top the dish with the olives and cheese and top with the chopped Rosemary to finish. What you will get is warm, comforting Tuscan flavours that brings the Mediterranean sun right into your home. We made two dinners and two lunches for us and the sae for the Austin and Aria. This would be great served with a salad if you have anything in the house, but we were a bit low on fresh foods.

Beetroot and Feta muffins

We have had some pre-boiled beetroot in the fridge for 3 weeks now and I spotted a recipe for feta and beetroot muffins that I have been baking in my mind for almost as many weeks. Unfortunately, the state of play while I was making said muffins was chaotic at best, so I have no images of the process but at least I do have some of the final product.

1.5 cup of self-raising flour	Crubled feta
1 teaspoon baking powder	½ cup grated mature cheddar
2 preboiled beetroots roasted and blended	Mixed herbs
1 cup of milk or half and half
2 tablespoons of yogurt, not needed
1 egg

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees and spray your muffin tins with non-stick, mine is from South Africa as I’m not sure they do it here in the UK. I also dusted it with flour from the sieve and some I spilt.

The beetroot went into the oven first and once roasted for 20mins it should have some colour but also its sweetness will be released. Place it in a jug and blend with a hand blended, set aside. Sift together the dry ingredients, you can add a pinch of salt, I didn’t as it is for my 18month old’s.

In a jug combine all the wet ingredients and whisk. I added a splash of reserved beetroot juice, because, why not? I added half the wet ingredients and then added the crumbled feta and added the rest of the liquid and herbs and cheddar cheese.

Presto, put the mix in the muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes, once cooked I freed them with a knife and left them on a drying rack.

Gammon, mushroom, leak and cheese pie

We had a nice hunk of Gammon in the freezer, from Mother’s Day as it happens, and some leak from last week’s shop. What a yummy pie that would make!

2 leaks chopped	Paprika
½ punnet of mushrooms, more if you like, sliced	Dijon mustard
Cooked gammon or slice some cold meats you need to use up	1 tbs of flour
2 medium carrots, halved and sliced	Mixed herbs
¼- ½ head of broccoli	Unsalted Butter and vegetable oil
150ml single cream	Whole milk
Grated cheddar Cheese, we used mature	1 garlic clove quartered

Fry the leaks for 2 minutes in some oil of your choosing, then add the mushrooms and a bit of butter and the garlic. Meanwhile steam your carrots and broccoli in the microwave and chop into 1cm or smaller chunks once soft. I was doing a hidden veg vibe, so they don’t bite into something and pick it out so chopped them quite fine.

Once your mushroom’s and leaks have cooked down and taken on some colour grind in some pepper and add the mixed herbs and paprika. Removed 2-3 tbs and add it to the chopped steamed veg for the kids. Hubby is not into carrots and broccoli.

Now put in in a bit of butter, how much is up to you really, add the flour and stir through the butter, remove from the heat after a minute or so and pour in the cream and stir the entire dish add a little milk to loosen and the Dijon mustard. Put back on the heat, as the mixture thickens add more milk till it is the consistency you want, then turn off the heat. At this point remove to spoons of the sauce and add to the baby’s veg and put 30g of cheese in too and mix. You will see it is mostly vegetables and just enough sauce and cheese to bind it. Add cheese to the adult portion and stir through, it is enough for 4 medium pie’s the same as the children’s or one large lidded pie. I added a pinch of toasted and ground fennel seeds, but it is a strong flavor so only add it if you love it and it is really not necessary.

It seems I added another grind of pepper, possibly once the kids was removed

The gammon needs to be chopped into cubes, for the babies I did them small 5mm square roughly and then 1cm for us. Remove your pastry from the fridge 10 minutes before needing it. Cut a 15cm piece and cut that in half so you have 2 squares.

Mix the gammon cubes into the rest of the children’s mixture once it is cooled. Place the mixture in one half of the pastry and fold over, you may need to tuck it a bit so it all fits and then with a fork push the edges together. Back for 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees.

For the adulty meal the mixture would have cooled now so add your gammon and mix put in a pie dish or any baking tray and top with the pastry, so it is covered back for the same time as the babies. I mixed carrot and broccoli in my half of the pie and it was extremely delicious! I would really recommend it and did keep telling my husband how he was missing out. Much to his silent annoyance.

Leftover lunch!!

This will be super short as the recipe came from the need to get them to eat vegetables we had and left over carbonara from their lunch.

Chop up the mini corn and broccoli and fry it a bit more, then whisked an egg with some whole milk combined with the chopped pasta and veg and back in the pan with some butter, so it doesn’t stick. Straight in the plate to cool and top it with some feta or any cheese you have.

It was very tasty, and it had all the food groups so why not!?

So quick and the children loved it… so did I!

We had pizza last night and I use sandwich thins and spread a mix of tomato sauce and tomato puree on the bottom topped with ham and cheese and a mixed herbs on top. So delicious and will work with anything you have. I used wraps before and cut then into rough rounds, but you could just quarter the.

Healthy Pasta Sauce – Carrot, courgetti and tomato

This is one that we use all the time if you need to get a lunch or dinner together in no time. Usually we just grate a carrot into in as it gives a lovely flavor and texture, plus loads of vitamins. We only made one meal for the twins so there was sauce left to keep for another day.

Ingredients:

1 grated carrot grated	Coconut oil (any oil you prefer)
1 small or half a medium onion finely chopped	Dried mixed herbs or oregano (Fresh is fine too!)
1 small or half medium courgetti grated	Tomato paste
1 can of chopped tomatoes	We use a little Maple syrup to balance tomato
Garlic optional (We didn’t use it, but you totally can)	Balsamic vinegar
Any Pasta, I cut the shells in half once they were cooked	Butter
Mild cheddar cheese grated (15g/ child portion)	Chilli flakes

Basically, you just cook it all in one pan, starting with the veg that take the longest. First, we fry off the onion until it browns or goes translucent (it shouldn’t be completely cooked, add the carrot and a small nob of butter fry it for 1-2 minutes till lightens in colour. Then add your courgette and fry all till the water from the courgetti has evaporated, put in a pinch of your chosen herbs, I wanted it to brown but it was taking too long so I moved on. If anything gets stuck to the pan deglazed with some balsamic vinegar, just give it 30 seconds or a minute to evaporate.

Fry onion, carrot and courgette – you could add mushroom at this point if desired

Add the can of chopped tomatoes, you can use passata if that is all you have. If you only have plum just chop them up and throw in all the juice from the can. I rinsed the can with some of the pasta water, about half a can. Let the sauce simmer and reduce for 3-5 minutes add the tomato paste and Maple syrup, you can use a ½ teaspoon of any sugar you have. At this point you can remove some for the babies and add chilli flakes for the adult portion.

Set aside a portion for the next day. This can be frozen too.

Stir the sauce through the cooked pasta and add cheese once it is removed from the heat. I added another splash of pasta water, as you would normally when making pasta. I good amount of sauce was left that we will use either for another meal for the children or for a lunch for us.