“SEAL”ING THE EVIDENCE!

September 30, 2015September 30, 2015Leave a comment

Karina’s Environmental Cooking Tips!

When it comes to helping the environment and the kitchen, you can do many things. In order to “Seal” the evidence, with regards to ensuring you are helping the environment, you can ensure the “Seal’s” of your fridge and freezer, are left good condition. By doing so, you are helping to reduce your power and electricity bill, minimise the time it takes to cool down and freeze your food, along with helping the environment by reducing wasted food and electricity.

Other tips you can use to save energy in the kitchen include:

Try to minimise the amount of times you open and shut your fridge and freezer.
Load your dishwasher completely, before turning it on. Use the Eco cycle on your dishwasher, if you have that option.
Don’t place your refrigerator near sunny spots. If you do, you will use more energy keeping your fridge cool.

There are many more energy-efficient tips, however, this will do for now.

I hope this post gets your “Seal” of approval!

Have fun in the Kitchen!

Karina x

STOP BEING TOO “CHEESY!”

September 27, 2015Leave a comment

Healthy Low-Cheese Focaccia Pizza!

Jamie Oliver’s Focaccia Ingredients:

Go to: http://www.jamieshomecookingskills.com/core_jo/images/jhcs-docs/doc3720.pdf for Jamie Oliver’s awesome Focaccia Recipe 🙂

Karina Teuma’s Pizza Ingredients:

– 1 x Jamie Oliver Focaccia Recipe

– 2 large red banana capsicums, deseeded and sliced thinly

– 2 small zucchini’s, sliced thinly, then cut into medium-sized strips

– 24 medium-sized kalamata olives, pits removed, sliced in half

– 2 medium-sized shallots, sliced thinly

– 2 medium-sized pink onions, cut in half, then sliced thinly (or you can use red onions)

– 200 g mixed grated low-fat cheeses: mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan (or you can use only low-fat cheddar)

– 500 g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

– 8 rashers of rindless bacon, fat removed, sliced roughly

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:

– 1 pinch of pepper

– 4 tablespoons of mixed, dried italian herbs

– 280 g tomato paste

– 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

– 6 cloves of garlic, minced finely

Garnishing Ingredients:

– 4 tiny bunches of fresh oregano, leaves picked

– 2 tiny bunches of fresh rocket, leaves picked

Method to make Jamie Oliver’s Focaccia:

Go to: http://www.jamieshomecookingskills.com/core_jo/images/jhcs-docs/doc3720.pdf for Jamie Oliver’s awesome Focaccia Recipe 🙂

Method to make Karina Teuma’s Pizza Toppings:

After following Jamie Oliver’s focaccia recipe, but before you put the focaccia in the oven, it’s time to prepare your pizza, as follows:

Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.

Keeping your focaccia on your baking tray, as per Jamie Oliver’s instructions, combine all your pizza sauce ingredients and mix well. Evenly and very gently, spread your pizza sauce onto the focaccia, until well covered. Sprinkle your pizza ingredients onto your pizza, in any order you prefer, however, ensure you sprinkle your cheese on your pizza last.

Place your pizza in the oven for 20 Minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly and the bread is cooked. After your pizza has cooked, turn your oven off.

Compiling the Beauty:

Sprinkle your garnishing ingredients on top of your pizza, then cut into desired pieces.

Grab one glass of your favourite healthy drink and relax.

Serves 10-12 as a meal

Enjoy!

Karina x

WE’VE GOT “CHEMISTRY!”

September 23, 20152 Comments

Karina’s Chemical Safety Cooking Tips!

Separate your detergents and other chemicals from your food preparation areas
Whilst shopping, separate your chemicals from your food by placing your chemicals in different bags from your food
If you have young children, locking your detergents and other chemicals away would be a good idea
If you are out at a picnic, use food-safe grade wipes, to clean your cutlery, plates and cups

Be safe in the kitchen!

Enjoy!

Karina x

“CRUMBLE”ING WITH DELIGHT!

September 20, 20152 Comments

Karina’s Healthy Strawberry, Cinnamon and Almond Crumble!

Ingredients:

600 g fresh strawberries, halved
2 tablespoons of stevia
1 cup instant oats (natural oats)
20 g olive oil spread, brought to room temperature
40 g almond meal
1/2 tablespoon almond essence
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, by mixing with a wooden spoon until very well combined.

Pour all your ingredients into a baking dish. Your baking dish does not need to be greased or lined.

Bake at 200°C for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown, then turn your oven off.

Compiling the Beauty:

Put the telly on, grab your favourite bowl, then pile your steaming hot crumble into your bowl. Pour low-fat hot custard or freezing cold low-fat ice cream on top.

This crumble is also delicious the next day, over your favourite low-fat and low-sugar yoghurt! It’s great for breakfast too!

Enjoy!

Karina x

YOU “GOAT” TO BE “KIDDING” ME!

September 15, 2015September 15, 20156 Comments

Karina’s Healthy Cooking Tip!

Above is a picture of the mother and father goat, along with their “kid,” who was born only one week ago. This was a proud moment for the “kids” parents.

There are many benefits of raising your kids around farm animals you have bred. Too many to mention! The below is a small list of some of the benefits of raising your kids up with other “kids” and farm animals alike:

Reduces the amount of waste if you do decide that your livestock will be on your plate one day
Educates your kids about where your food came from
Encourages your family to eat more sustainably
Gives your kids a sense of pride, with raising their own farm animals
Helps your kids appreciate food more
Animals are a natural stress relief for humans

Enjoy!

Karina x

AVOCA”DO” THE RIGHT THING!

September 13, 2015September 13, 201518 Comments

Karina’s Lean Avocado & Chicken Burgers!

This burger is great for your health. Get some into your belly and enjoy 🙂

Ingredients:

Mixture:

500 g lean chicken mince
1 very small pink or red onion, diced finely
4 garlic cloves, crushed
200 g peeled sweet potato, grated finely
1/12 tablespoons soy sauce
1 egg
4 tablespoons of fresh and roughly chopped parsley, stalks removed

Additional:

Sweet chilli sauce to serve
2 tablespoons of olive oil, to line baking tray
1 handful of fresh rocket leaves to serve
4 crusty and fresh low GI rolls e.g. wholemeal, soy & linseed, or any Low GI bread rolls you like.
1 medium avocado to serve, sliced thinly.

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

While your oven is preheating, place all your mixture ingredients into a large bowl, then mix well using a wooden spoon. Once your mixture is well combined, mould your mixture into four large patties, then set aside.

Line your baking tray using olive oil, ensuring your baking tray is cool to the touch and is not hot. Place your four large patties onto your lined baking tray, then place into your preheated oven and bake, for 35 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Once cooked, turn your oven to ‘off.’

Compiling the Beauty:

Lightly toast your fresh bread rolls, then cut each roll in half. Place a few rocket leaves on the base of your bread roll. Place one chicken patty on top of your rocket. Top with your avocado, a dollop of sweet chilli sauce, then close your burger with the crispy top.

Repeat with the other three burgers.

Serves 4

Enjoy!

Karina x

Blooming Balls!

September 9, 2015September 9, 20156 Comments

Environmental Tip: Making Seedballs, thanks to http://www.milkwood.net !

Remember my original post, as per the below, back in June? Well, true to form, three months later, without planting, these seed balls have now developed into seedlings! I thought you’d like to see the results of how great they really are! The best part was, I didn’t even need to plant them!

Have fun in the garden!

Enjoy!

Karina x

HAVING A ‘BALL’ OF A TIME!

June 17, 20158 CommentsEdit

Environmental Tip: Making Seedballs, thanks to http://www.milkwood.net !

On the 31/05/15, Milkwood held a free class on making seed balls and talking permaculture. I was engaged the whole time and even got to make my own seed balls, then take them home! What an awesome day!

All credit goes to http://www.milkwood.net for showing me how to make Seedballs, what they are and how good they are for the environment.

Seedballs are made from the below ingredients:

– 3 parts clay

– 1 part compost

– 1 part seeds (we used a combination of lettuce seeds and parsley seeds)

– Enough water (just to make it damp enough to roll into balls)

The method:

Mix three parts clay, with one part compost, then one part seeds (whichever vegetable seeds you like), then pour just enough water to make the mixture moist.

Using your hands, roll the mixture into tiny balls (about 1.5 cm in diameter).

Lay out to dry in a sheltered/shady position for approximately 2 days, then store with plenty of ventilation, until you’re ready to use them.

Using the Beauty:

Simply roll these little beauties into your veggie garden, on the ground wherever there is soil, or simply on the grass in your backyard. It really is this simple.

How these Beauties Work:

Once these beauties make contact with the soil, all they need is a heavy downpour of water, be this by the rain, or man-made rain i.e. the tap. The idea behind these Seedballs, is that the seeds within the Seedball, become protected right until they germinate. This means that birds will not be able to peck at these seeds, as the seeds become protected within this clay/compost/seed/water mixture, allowing the plant to fully develop and to become resilient to wildlife.

Now this, people, is such a clever idea! I’ve got a few at home ready to simply roll into my garden!

Now, you can say you have had a ‘ball’ of a time!

Have fun in the garden!

Karina x

Don’t Be ‘Chicken!’

September 6, 20158 Comments

Karina’s Father’s Day Chicken Pizza’s!

These pizza’s are the ultimate time-saver, are super-easy and reduces food waste!

Today was Father’s day in Australia. My family stuck with tradition and had a nice Father’s Day Lunch: BBQ style! We had BBQ chicken breast, BBQ chicken kebabs, low-fat chicken sausages, low-fat beef sausages and a massive greek salad.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pita bread, as many or as little as you like
Leftover BBQ Chicken (either lean chicken kebabs or lean chicken breast)
Leftover greek salad (use spanish onion, olives, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and capsicum – don’t use cucumber)
Pizza topper herbs, to sprinkle per pizza
Cracked black pepper, to sprinkle per pizza
Grated low-fat pizza cheeses, half a handful per pizza
1 tablespoon tomato paste, per pizza

N.B. you can use other types of leftover meat, to create your own unique pizzas….this is the fun part!

Method:

Pre-heat your pizza stone and your oven at 180°C. If you don’t have a pizza stone, pre-heat your oven tray. While these are preheating, prep your leftover BBQ meat and salad ingredients, by chopping the BBQ meat and straining the salad dressing from your greek salad.

Once your oven is pre-heated, using oven mittens, place your pizza stones (or oven trays) onto a heat-safe surface. Pace as many of your pita breads onto these pizza stones as you prefer, then spoon tomato paste onto each one of these, as a pizza sauce base. Once this is completed, pile your leftover BBQ chicken onto your pizzas, then pile your leftover greek salad on top of this. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper and pizza topper herbs. Once this is done, complete your pizza with a sprinkle of your low-fat pizza cheeses, then place all your pizzas into the oven at 180°C for 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes are over, or once your cheese has melted and the base is crispy, turn the oven to ‘off.’

Compiling the Beauty:

Arrange on a plate and enjoy, served with your favourite healthy drink.

Serves as much as you make!

Enjoy!

Karina x

MY KITCHEN RULES!

September 1, 2015September 1, 20154 Comments

At first glance, one may assume I may be speaking of the cooking show ‘My Kitchen Rules.’ Diving deeper, there is another meaning.

Let’s pretend I am a child right now, who has written down a set of rules for my parents, to help me stay safe in the kitchen.

MY KITCHEN RULES:

Please don’t put me anywhere near harm in the kitchen.
Please store all your knives away from my innocent hands.
Please provide our home with fire extinguishers, fire blankets, a first aid kit, smoke/fire detectors and anything that will keep me safe.
Please clean your hands well before you cook for me, so you don’t contaminate my food.
Once you have finished cooking for me, please turn the stove and oven off because I would like to see my Mummy and Daddy again.
Please make me clean my hands before I eat.
Please keep that dead animal in the fridge, until you are ready to cook it for me.
Please make me healthy meals, that are low in saturated fat, so that I may be healthy.
Please read the labels of the food you give to me, to make sure you are giving me the right nutrition.
Please try to cook using fresh fruit, vegetables and lean meat.
Please make sure it tastes good, so that I eat it.
Please keep my pets away from where you are cooking, so they don’t get hurt and so they don’t make things dirty.