FINYS FABULOUS FOODS AND FINDS

This is an interesting mixture of ingredients, and is both sweet and salty. I love food cooked using Hoisin sauce - this is the sauce that is used in Peking Duck which is one of my all time favourite foods.  It has an unusual taste, and goes very well with so many other ingredients, whether they are vegetarian or meat dishes. This meal has a rich and unusual flavour, and could be also served with steamed vegetables.  Cashew nuts could replace the walnuts if need be, however I had walnuts in my fridge so that is what I used in this instance. I served it over potatoes so that I could soak the sauce into the potatoes, and then I dipped fresh home made bread into the left over sauce!  This was delicious and well worth eating a bit less so you can fit this in. And remember, as I always say, my lovelies, do NOT over cook chicken breasts - they become dry and tough when overcooked.  If you JUST cook them so the pink is only just gone, they will be melt in your ...

This burger is almost too big to get your mouth around!  However, once you master this, you will find this a delicious recipe. Tuna mixed with capers and cheese are a very good combination, and even children will like this unusual burger. I made it as a main meal and therefore made the patty larger than normal.  I added salads to make it healthier, and served it with raw green peas, and extra lettuce. Preparation Time: 20 minutes (plus 15 minutes in the fridge, optional) Cooking Time: 10 minutes Makes: 1 serving Ingredients 1 95 g tin Tuna 1 spring onion 1 tbsp Capers 1 tbsp parsley, chopped ½ cup breadcrumbs 1 very small egg, lightly beaten ½ cup grated tasty cheese 1 tbsp olive oil TO SERVE: 2 slices tasty cheese, or grated 1 roll, halved A little mayonnaise Bit of tomato sauce (optional) ¾ cup mixed lettuce leaves ½ tomato, sliced Instructions: Combine the tuna, egg, breadcrumbs, spring onions, grated cheese, parsley and capers. Mix ...

I am always on the lookout for things that my grandson likes to eat, as he eats little! One of the things he likes is pineapple, and as he loves the bought pineapple rings, I decided to make my own as they would then have less sugar and oil. I baked them instead of deep frying as they do when you buy them, and I always buy these when we get fish and chips. I have read that fish and chips and Coke Cola are the two most unhealthy foods we can eat, so, much as we love my fish and chips, we only have them every few months, and generally only when my grandson stays the weekend. He is such a bad eater, however, that he only eats chips - if we order something like Red Rooster, he still only has chips. So I thought this pineapple idea was a good one. When buying pineapples, you need to be very careful.  I have found that the ones in the supermarket generally have little taste or are even sour. I therefore always buy a pineapple from an expensive fruit store, where I know the ...

Rice paper rolls are a bit fiddly but I think they are SO worth it.  With vegetables (or meat) wrapped in a wafer thin pancake type of rolls, there is no limit to your imagination when creating different versions of these! They are generally with Asian inspired vegetables, however you could really making anything inside these tiny paper thin pancakes.  I have even made a dessert using them, and they were delicious as the pancake is not sweet and the sweet of a dessert balances it out to give a great sweet! They can also be vegetarian or not!  They are often made with prawns, which is a recipe I often make, however in this instance I decided to be "vegetarian" for the night!  My partner is a meat and veggies person, and was not impressed that I left out the meat part, however he even admitted that they tasted very good. If you do not eat fish, simply leave the tuna out of this recipe, however the tuna makes it extra healthy as it is packed with Omega3 which ha...

Curries are a great idea for those cold chilly nights which we are having in Australia at the moment. There are many different variations of a curry, and curry is a term used to describe a dish that has spices in it, and especially used in Indian/Asian recipes, but also used in Mexico. Some of the distinctive spices that often get used in a curry include turmeric, cumin, chili, ginger and coriander. The good thing about curries is that you can vary the amount of spices you put in them and therefore make it as hot and spicy as you like it.  Some people will put a lot of chili in it to give it a hotter flavour, whereas other people cannot tolerate a very "hot" dish, so would put less spices in it. It is very difficult to fail when making a curry as it can be varied so much by using different, and more or less spices. There are green and red curries, amongst others, and this recipe is a "green" curry.  Another good thing about curries is that if you are in ...

BRUNCH - is something that gets eaten a little later than breakfast! Or supposedly so.  Sometimes I make a big breakfast and I usually have this a bit later than my normal uncooked breakfast, as then I do not need to have lunch as well. Well, my lovelies, here is a recipe that is great for a Sunday morning, and it will save you making lunch for everyone.  I love breakfasts as eggs are one of my favourite foods (along with bacon and Nestle Sweetened Condensed milk). Sadly, I can no longer eat the Sweetened Condensed milk as there is just too much sugar in it, so I now concentrate more on savoury dishes, as well as a few sweets with no added sugar. But this article is not about sweets or my sugar levels!  It is about a brunch pie!  In this one I have teamed my two favourites - eggs and bacon and turned them into a rustic egg, bacon and cheese pie. Each week, the consensus is different about whether eggs are bad for your cholesterol levels or not.  Curren...

Turkey is a very low fat mince, is extremely cheap to use, and best of all, it has a lovely taste.  It is also very versatile, and I often cook using this mince. It is also an excellent source of protein and good if you are on a low fat diet. You can buy it at all supermarkets nowadays, and I usually buy 500 g, use half and have some always in the freezer. Often when I cannot think what to make for an evening meal, we have turkey balls with spaghetti, which is both easy to make, quick and delicious.  Having them on hand in the freezer is great for an emergency when I don't feel like being creative, or thinking about what to cook! In this instance I made the turkey into a "meatloaf" and as I was having one of my grandchildren here for dinner, I also minced some carrot, and a few other vegetables, which he could not taste.  He is not a good eater, and that is how we get him to eat vegetables - by hiding them in certain foods. I wanted some sort of sauce with this,...

Raw is currently the rage in cooking!  I have made some interesting recipes, though I have to admit some of them have failed! It is not so easy to get the right quantities of ingredients so that the sweet or dessert will not fall apart. I make a lot of bliss balls, as currently I am not eating much with refined sugar in them, and most of these raw desserts have no added processed sugars. This one also has chia seeds in it.  I love the texture of these seeds, and they are so easy to use in a variety of sweets and puddings.  They are also supposedly another of the new "super foods".  Their health properties include such things as Omega-3, antioxidants, fibre, iron and calcium.  They also contain some protein and are versatile in that they can be eaten both cooked or raw.  However they should be added to another food or soaked before eating them. Raw foods are the latest health craze and many of them use obscure ingredients.  However this recipe...

 Once a week I eat just 500 calories in a day for health reasons.  This is on the 5/2 diet and I do not do it to lose weight. This is a filling meal you could make and still be within your 500 calories for one of your two fasting days. I am always on the lookout for ideas for these days as a salad gets a bit boring after a year or so of being on this diet. This egg white omelette is ideal for this, or if you want an easy, low fat, low calorie meal.  It has approximately 235 calories in the whole meal! You can add whatever vegetables you like, and I have used what I had left in my fridge. I used the spinach that I grow in my garden as this climbing type variety is ideal for cooking or eating in a salad. Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes Makes: 1 omelette Ingredients 3 large egg whites A handful of spinach ½ stick celery, chopped fine ½ onion, chopped 25 g Mozzarella cheese (or any tasty cheese) oil, or spray 10 g parsley, chop...

Gnocchi is often eaten in Italy as a first course, however I always serve it as a main meal. Gnocchi is another versatile food as there are so many toppings you can make to go with it.  I generally make my own gnocchi however on this particular day I had been out all day, and was in a hurry so used a packet variety. Of course these are not as nice as home made ones, however I will do home made gnocchi in another recipe. There are several variations of gnocchi, and the softest is made with potatoes. Other types tend to be firmer whereas the potato ones have a softer texture.  They are therefore far more pleasant to eat , and if you can get the brand in the picture, I find this brand is very nice. Spinach is one of the easiest vegetables to grow yourself, and I use the variety pictured.  This one has a slightly more "peppery" taste and works well in most dishes.  It is a climbing spinach and keeps coming up year after year, and can be eaten raw in salads or coo...