Well well well
Here we are in the New Year!
How was everyones Christmas and new year break?
Ours was nice, a bit hectic at times but I must say I am ready to get back into a routine and some kind of normality!

Today I'm going to touch on a few tasty things I've made over the Xmas/New Year period.

This was our delicious Christmas Day spread! Roast chooky, crispy roast spuds, beetroot & feta couscous salad, roast vege medley,  boiled new baby potatoes drizzled with melted butter, steamed baby purple carrots, smoked salmon salad and bread rolls!
Phew there was quite some time spent in the kitchen that morning let me tell you!
Worth every second though, everything turned out fab!

So I'm going to share with you my two salad recipes, starting with the Beetroot salad.

SO delicious, these baby beets were fresh out of my mums garden the morning of Christmas eve before she drove 600 kms down to my house for Christmas!

What you need

Fresh beetroot
couscous
feta
rocket leaves

knob of butter

salt and pepper to taste.
Fresh lemon juice

So start with about 8 baby beets, or 4 large beets, and boil until soft...(i.e a knife can poke all the way through them easily)
While the beets are cooking get your couscous on...best way I've found to cook it so far is equal quantities of couscous to boiling water.
So, into a large bowl place 1 cup uncooked couscous, 1 cup boiled water (mixing 1 tsp of chicken or vegetable stock into this water is great for adding flavour) straight from the kettle, throw in some salt & pepper, and a small knob of butter,  then throw a large plate ontop to cover the bowl and keep the steam in. Let it sit there for at least 5 minutes before you take the plate off. It should be done by the time the 5 minutes is up, so fluff it up with a fork and let set aside.

When the beets are cooked, drain and place in a bowl of cold water until they are cool enough to handle and peel off the skins. The skins come off really easy when they're cooked, but if you don't want gorgeous pink hands, I suggest some gloves for this little jobby!

Now you're ready to combine everything. 

Chop up your beets into chunks whatever size you like. Crumble in some feta, about 50-60g is enough, toss in a few large handfuls of rocket, add your couscous and a squeeze of lemon juice and you're done!
So colourful and summery!

Next up is the Smoked Salmon & Avocado salad....nommy nom nom

This one is super quick and easy, no mucking about cooking beets or couscous here!

What you need

200g fillet of HOT smoked salmon, not the shavings of smoked salmon in the little pouches...this has been smoked in hot smoke so its cooked in the smoke.
1x bag of mixed salad greens with herbs..or whatever salad greens you want, but the herbs really make it!
2x ripe avocados
1x punnet of ripe cherry tomatos
1/2 telegraph cucumber
fresh lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper to taste.

Chop the tommys in half if you can be bothered, slice the cucumber into rounds and then cut the rounds in half so you end up with half moons, or even quarter them whatever you fancy...I don't mind, leave them whole if you want?!?!
Open your avos, and slice while still in the skin, and scoop out the slices
Now just flake in your filet of salmon, squeeze over your lemon or lime juice, sprinkle over your salt and pepper and give it all a a thorough but gentle toss....you don't want to end up with avocado mush...
I do the tossing in a separate bowl and then gently place into a clean bowl for serving, cause im fussy on presentation haha.
But there u go, job done!
Serve this salad with some warm bread rolls and you're good to go with a quick, light summery lunch or dinner. Mmmmm mmmmm!

Now last but not least, I have just made the most divine, moist chocolate beetroot cake!
I'll admit its not the best icing job or photography ever, but it sure tastes good!

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe (I am a self confessed Jamie Oliver ADDICT and mega fan...he is my cooking hero!) As you can see....I have a bit of a collection haha...still need more! I'll never get enough of my Jamie fix!!!

 

For the cake recipe, visit his site here http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolate-recipes/chocolate-and-beetroot-cake.



Now my (soon to be) Hubby (yes we are FINALLY engaged after 9 years together and 2 children!!) really dislikes anything "weird" or unusual going into recipes...and a classic example of this, would be beetroot or zucchini in a cake....his line of thinking is....vegetable + sweet treat = do not mix...
Clearly he has no imagination and hasn't discovered the big wide world of culinary delights just awaiting his tastebuds!
I still have to use the trick technique like you do with kids...when you grate up the veges and hide it in patties or mash or whatever...I hide unusual ingredients in otherwise normal looking recipes and then get him to taste it without telling him...then after he tastes and goes "oooh that's nice", I go, "can you pick the secret healthy ingredient?!"
He never can....today it was beetroot...and he loved it! success!
If I'd told him before he tried it, he wouldn't have eaten it...or he would have taken a bite and gone....I don't like it...cause he is pretty much still a child when it comes to eating lol.

Annnnywaayyyy...It's about time I got back in the kitchen and got on with the mum stuff...cake dishes...start tea...dinner dishes....bed time routine...etc etc! *phew* I'm already exhausted just thinking about it, let alone getting off my chuff and actually going to do it!

For now get nommy in the kitchen and stay beautiful! x