Month: July 2016

Creamy Tomato Soup

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This OH SO SIMPLE Soup is something that I first made on the stove top for my tinned tomato soup addict daughter. Tomato soup is her comfort food – her Mum Ive got a sore throat and feel a bit sick go too. She likes it mixed back with a little cream and when she’s not watching I sneak in some fresh basil and she says its there yummiest soup ever.  I now use my Thermomix – well because I can .. But you can bung all of these ingredients into a saucepan and then blend till smooth with a stick blender. This will make 2 – 3 serves depending on how “sick” and in need of comfort you are.

creamy tomato soup.jpg

Ingredients:

1 Tin Ardmona Rich & Thick Classic Tomatoes

1 Small Brown Onion

1 -2  Cloves of Garlic Depending on Size Of Garlic ( Or one heaped teaspoon crushed garlic)

Extra virgin olive oil ( about 30 ml)

Couple of Sprigs of Fresh Basil Leaves

Thermomix Vegetable Stock or Chicken Stock

Water

1/4 Cup Cream for Cooking

 

METHOD:

Pop your Onion and Garlic in your Thermomix Bowl – Chop Speed 5 , 5 seconds. Scrape down bowl ..

Sauté with EVOO for 5 minutes 90 degrees Speed 2.

Add Your tin of Tomatoes, Basil, Tin of Water( using the tomato tin)  and Stock if using vegetable stock or rinse your tin in liquid chicken stock if using chicken stock.

Cook  100 Degrees Speed 2 for 15 minutes.

Add Cream. Set for 1 minute and gradually increase speed to Speed 9 for a nicely blended smooth soup.

Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and extra basil and a bit of pepper.

 

TRADTIONAL:

Sauté your chopped onion and garlic in EVOO till tender. Add your tomato, basil and stock. Cook and bubble and gently simmer for 15 -20 minutes . Add your cream and blend with a stick blender when you feel safe. Serve as above. ENJOY!

 

Freezes beautifully! If you have any leftovers!

Moroccan Inspired Seafood Tagine

Published on by The Domesticated Ms Hemsworth2 Comments

seafood tagine.jpg

A Tagine is a fancy cooking pot that has a conical shaped lid. You pop the lid onto the top of your “fancy ass casserole” and the steam goes up into the cone and circulates back down and cooks the food till its lovely and tender. Yeah – Of Course I own one, and yes Ive used it several times – but guess what ? This can be made in any heavy based pan and tastes amazing. AND is very filling and a great way to get your FISH proteins into you.

INGREDIENTS: ( Serves 2 – 4 depending on levels of greediness)

8 Large Peeled De-veined and Clean Green Prawns

2 White Fish Fillets ( I used Dory – sorry)

200 g Calamari Rings ( Or One Clean Calamari Tube cut into rings)

2 Tablespoons Cumin Powder

1 Large Heaped Teaspoon Crushed Garlic

50ml Onion Infused Olive Oil

1 Onion Sliced into Rings

1 Tin Ardmona Rich and Thick Tomatoes

At Least a Bunch of Coriander.

METHOD:

Marinate your seafood in … 1 Tablespoon of the Cumin Powder, All the Garlic, The Olive Oil and Half the Coriander. ( DO this in the morning and sit in the fridge all day)

Sauté your onion in a little more olive oil and then pop in the tin of tomatoes. Add the other tablespoon Cumin powder and stir well , Bring to boil and reduce a little.

Pop your seafood on the top and give a gentle mix in – when back on boil turn off heat and plonk lid onto the cooking vessel.

It can sit here and wait in Winter for a while – and when you’re ready to serve pop it lid off into a 180 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with loads more coriander  ( and if you’re so inclined and a bread eater – Im not) A lovely bit of toasted turkish bread drizzled with garlic olive oil.

This ones finger licking good and oh so simple!

ENJOY!

 

A Brief Interlude

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knee

So if you are a regular follower of this page and group – you will know by now that this time last week – I was officially DAY ONE after surgery – Total Knee Replacement of my Right Knee. Which if you don’t understand or don’t know anyone who has had this kind of surgeries is possibly one of the most agonisingly painful things that you can have done. So much so they say if you need two done – get them done together. AND I was lined up for that and IM SO GLAD my surgeon suggested we see how this goes and wait to do the left ( which was misbehaving badly due to the superior misbehaviour of the right).

Now I don’t like to be uninformed when I do homework in regard to such things so I researched this surgery very carefully and have been through 12 months of drug trials and painful injections, meniscal removal and physio before I lined myself up for this. I also chatted to people who had been through this and similar surgeries who assured me the outcome is worth it and that they suffered pain controllable by panadols.  Ive joined Facebook support groups and I THOUGHT I WAS PREPARED.

Well short and sweet HELL NO. Nothing – but NOTHING could prepare me for the pain but euphoria of night one ( knowing it was done finally) and then day one after surgery. Appetite vanished and the physio came to visit with various instruments of torture. And we discovered my Femoral Block – inserted to allow me to be up and walking by that day was not working as it should. Which was why I was pushing my pain button like a …. I could not even stand the sheets to be on my skin. They ice packed me – I begged for it to be removed after about 2 minutes, they moved me to bathe me – I screamed in agony. The started to feed me pain killers and Nurofen on an empty tummy – the nausea and the wind started to build. Wednesday morning I was in agony and attached to a little plastic bag every five seconds. Incredibly hard to do – as I had eaten nothing. And it hurt it hurt so badly..

They managed to get pain killers into me via injection. I managed to hobble to the shower sit on a shower chair and cry my eyes out while I washed off the vomit. It settled when they gave me an injection to stop the nausea and then the great wind commenced. So they gave me a laxative. To cure the wind.

It did not cure the wind for the next 48 hours. Sheer explosive hell. I swear if you noticed an earthquake again in Newcastle it was me. Im sorry. But I tell you – the quickest way to get a knee surgery patient out of bed – is to feed them a laxative. By the next morning – I was quite mobile and they made me walk to the patient lounge for a cup of tea (  I was dehydrated, I was in agony, I had bruised my hands on the Zimmer Frame and my ass on the toilet seat but I was walking)

Then the bad news began to infiltrate my protective bubble – bad news I can not currently extend on but lets just say – IT WAS NO FUN. The feelings of uselessness are overwhelming when you are hit with wave upon wave of bad news and there is NOTHING – NOTHING at all you can do.

So I am home now, I am getting back into good eating habits. Ive let a few old comforts in – but I kinda figure with my intense fast for about 5 days I can allow a few treats at the moment. And I have in the archives a few recipes and in the freezer many meals pre prepared ( thank god)..

Eventually I will share everything else that happened last week – but its stuff Im dealing with and others are dealing with so for privacy I will remain silent at this stage. I will have some recipes up soon. So thank you all for your support and love and sharing on the group page xoxo