Tag Archives: onion

14 Days of Zespri – Day 12

This is going to be my last packed lunch for the 14 days of Zerspri challenge. I’ve really enjoyed eating my kiwifruit lunches and I’ve loved being able to add some new items to my lunchbox collection. I opted to keep things simple with this lunch so I’ve got a sandwich, a little salad, some crunch veggies and a kiwi hanging out in it personal side cart.

Tomato salad and sandwich lunch

Today’s lunch:

  • A cheese and pickled jalapeno sandwich on low gi multiseed bread,
  • a simple baby tomato salad with spring onions,
  • a few sugar snap peas
  • and a kiwifruit.

Zerspri are currently running a campaign called Occupy Lunchbox through which they’d like encourage parents and children (and anyone else who packs lunches) to make healthy choices when packing lunchboxes. The ambassador for the campaign is a cutie called KID Z, check her out in the video below to hear all about what she stands for as the face of the Occupy Lunchbox movement.

14 Days of Zespri – Day 9

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in the Zespri Daily Scoop of Amazing challenge. I’ve learned you can do more with these fuzzy brown fruits then just peeling them, cutting them into chunks and eating them. I’ve been trying to use them in interesting ways, so far I’ve made a kiwi smoothie, face mask, salsa, kiwi squares and pancakes. As the challenge has progressed I feel like I’ve gotten my blogging mojo back, something I’m very happy to have returned.

My lunchbox today is filled with “leftovers” from a braai we had last night. (Is it still considered leftovers if you purposefully prepared an extra portion of food to stick in your lunchbox?) My boyfriend was so happy to braai that he couldn’t wait to share our interesting supper with his friends over on G+.

Kiwi Kebab Lunch

The ostrich cubes on these kebabs were marinated in a mixture of kiwifruit, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli and olive oil. The kiwifruit in the marinade has a tenderising effect on the meat so it’s best not to let it sit for too long, an hour is perfect. I then skewered them with alternating chunks of kiwifruit and onion. The grilled fruit has a really intensified flavour and the onion turns all sweet and sticky, a yummy option for your next braai or just grilled in the oven.

Today’s lunch:

  • Chickpea, red onion and cucumber salad with zataar and dried apricots,
  • longstem broccolli and
  • braaied ostrich and kiwifruit kebabs.

Here is my recipe for the kiwifruit and ostrich kebabs.

Ingredients:

  • 1 kiwifruit mashed with a fork
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp grated garlic
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 chopped bird’s eye chili
  • 6 bamboo skewers soaked in water
  • 500g cubed ostrich steak
  • 1 onion cut into 8 pieces
  • 2 kiwifruit cut into 6 pieces each

Method:

  1. Combine kiwifruit, soy sauce, olive oil, garlic, ginger and chili.
  2. Add the cubed ostrich steak and mix so that all the meat is covered in the marinade.
  3. Set aside to marinate for about an hour.
  4. Skewer the cubed ostrich steak interspersing with alternating pieces of kiwifruit and onion.
  5. Grill kebabs for 5 minutes on each side.

14 Days of Zespri – Day 4

Today’s lunch is another kiwifruit laced affair, I’m having fun finding different ways to enjoy my stash of kiwis. I’m supposed to be sharing a recipe with you today, but honestly the salsa in my lunchbox today is so simple it’s hardly a recipe at all. I combined equal parts of diced kiwifruit, red onion and yellow pepper, a handful of chopped coriander and squeezed over the juice of half a lemon. That’s it! The kiwifruit adds a lovely sweet tang to the salsa that is a great accompaniment to the smoked chicken in the wraps. I loosely rolled the tortillas around the chicken and salad so that I had enough room to spoon in the salsa when I was ready to eat it. That way the tortillas don’t get all soggy and are easier to eat.

Chicken wrap and kiwi salsa

Today’s lunch:

  • Smoked chicken tortilla wraps with rocket, grated carrot and coriander,
  • celery sticks,
  • a tub of kiwifruit salsa and
  • a few strawberries.

This coming Saturday I’ll be participating in my third annual cookie swap. It’s the third year running in Cape Town and this year there are going to be events in Joburg and Durban too. Seeing as we’re well into our Zespri challenge I thought I’d attempt a cookie with kiwifruit in it and share the recipe with you. Most of the recipes I came across required dried kiwifruit and I don’t own a dehydrator or a very reliable oven so that wasn’t going to happen. I did come across this interesting recipe in an old edition of Lawrence Journal-World from 1987. How retro! The recipe is a variation of a tray bake that you cut into bars once cooled and I think pretty ideal for when you need to bake for a crowd.

Kiwifruit Bar Cookies

#446 – Spek Wrapped Spanspek Salad

#446 - Spek Wrapped Spanspek Salad

When I bought this spanspek (also known as cantaloupe) I knew that I wanted to eat it with prosciutto or a similar style cured ham. The only cured ham the supermarket had at the time was something called spek which I’d never tried before. That didn’t stop me from buying it though. I’m not going to lie, the alliteration in the title tickled me, but I found the flavour of the spek was too strong for the melon.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Cubes of spanspek wrapped in spek and
  • a salad with shredded cabbage, red onion, sugar snap peas and baby tomatoes.

#437 – Lentil and Bacon Salad Lunch

#437 - Lentil and Bacon Salad

As much as I try to keep my lunches healthy and lean sometimes it’s nice to break the rules a little. Who can resist a piece of yummy bacon anyway? I think I struck a nice balance between the sweet, smoky, crispy bacon and the lentils and other crunchy veggies in this salad.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Lentil and bacon salad with mixed lettuce leaves, red onion, carrot, mange tout and baby tomato,
  • some grapes and
  • a plum.

#428 – Sausage and Mash Lunch

#428 - Sausage and Mash

Who doesn’t love a plate of sausage and mash? It’s the quintessential pub meal full of calories and comfort. In my lunch box it may not look so pretty, but it sure does taste good.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Beef bangers,
  • herby mashed potatoes,
  • onion gravy,
  • rainbow swiss chard with feta,
  • baby tomatoes and
  • some plain yoghurt with a swirl of apple butter.

#427 – Japanese Curry Lunch

#427 - Japanese Curry

I’m getting back onto the lunch packing horse again. I’ve been very naughty lately and eating convenience food or (even worse) not eating at all at lunchtime. After a phase of not doing something the anticipated chore always seems worse then the actual undertaking. So here I go again…

Today’s Lunch:

  • Japanese Curry with carrot, potato, sweet potato (those delicious orange fleshed ones), onion and strips of beef,
  • short grain brown rice and
  • mangetout

I didn’t like how the curry looked in my bento, so I took another photo after warming it up at work. Much more appealing do you think?

#427 - Japanese Curry

Daring Cooks August 2010 – Pierogi

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

I used the challenge as an excuse to buy myself a new toy from Yuppie Chef, one I’ve been lusting after for awhile now.  A Joseph Joseph adjustable rolling pin, what an improvement from the old Spray and Cook can I’ve been using up until now!

Daring Cooks August 2010 - Pierogi

I opted for the Russian style pierogi dough as it seemed a little simpler and had a shorter list of ingredients. The dough was fairly easy to make and after a little kneading came together into a satisfying golden orb.

Daring Cooks August 2010 - Pierogi

I prepared two fillings, the first of which was the Russian style potato filling supplied with the challenge. I substituted the bacon with finely diced chorizo for a different flavour. For the second filling I sautéed onion, garlic, mushrooms and some thyme in a little butter until all liquid from the mushrooms had evaporated and the mixture was deliciously fragrant.

Daring Cooks August 2010 - Pierogi

Next came the rolling and filling stage, this is the part where my new toy really shined.  The final result was a small army of delicately scalloped dumplings patiently waiting to be cooked.

Daring Cooks August 2010 - Pierogi

The reward for my efforts? A plateful of boiled pierogi topped with a little sour cream and a dusting of smoked paprika.

Another fun challenge this month, now if only I could get into the habit of not waiting till the very last minute to perpare my entry.  All recipes for this month’s challenge can be found here.

#434 – Smoked Chicken Salad Lunch

#424 - Smoked Chicken Salad

This past weekend I had the privilege of watching Christine Stevens prepare a few recipes from her book Harvest at the Cape Town Book Fair.  One of the dishes she prepared was a winter salad containing cabbage, carrot, celery and onion dressed with an orange juice vinaigrette. She explained that she thought cooking was all about adapting and that the original recipe in her book used fennel, but since she had none on hand she’d substituted onion instead.  The combination of fennel and orange was the inspirational springboard for this salad lunch.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Mixed salad leaves topped with
  • carrot, red onion and fennel marinated in a little orange juice topped with
  • sliced smoked chicken and
  • orange segments with feta cheese.

#420 – Butter Chicken Lunch

#420 - Butter Chicken

Leftovers from this month’s Daring Cooks challenge made for an excellent lunchtime treat, especially with the freezing rainy and snowy weather we’ve been having in the Cape recently.

Today’s Lunch:

  • Butter chicken,
  • basmati rice with fried onions,
  • carrots and
  • green beans.