Recipe: Baked Bolognese Risotto (Gluten Free!)

Hello from a very gloomy, rainy, cold and locked down Sydney. Yep, we're in lockdown thanks to the Deltra strain of COVID-19....

We started our weekend with a COVID test (Jesse - thankfully he had my cold and not COVID) and by Saturday afternoon we found out we'd be spending the next 2 weeks in lockdown - and by Tuesday Jesse was thankfully working from home too.

There's no toilet paper on the grocery store shelves, but it seems people have learnt a little bit from the earlier panic buying because I was actually able to get everything on my grocery list yesterday (woohoo!). 

At our house, lockdown looks like working from home, heaters running constantly (it is SO cold!) , warm lunches and hot chocolate breaks.... and I thought I'd share one of our current favourite lunch/dinners with you in case you're craving some warm, easy comfort food.

This Bolognese Risotto is SO easy to make (no hours of stirring at the stovetop) and seriously delicious too.

So let me share the recipe with you >> 

Recipe: Healthy Vietnamese Bun Cha Salad (Gluten Free!)

Let's get one thing straight; I'm not Vietnamese. I've never lived in Vietnam or any Asian countries - and I've only ever travelled to one Asian country. 

But I do live in a multicultural country and I do love Vietnamese food. Thus, when a reader sent me an email about my Easy Vietnamese Meatballs Recipe telling me that I needed to use them to make bun cha, I knew I had to try it. 

I set about googling and found that Bún chả is a Vietnamese dish of grilled pork and noodles that is thought to have originated from Hanoi, Vietnam. The pork is commonly served as meatballs or meat patties on top of a place of white rice noodles and fresh herbs with a side of dipping sauce. 

Whilst that sounds delicious enough, I'm ALL about the veggies - so I thought this would be the perfect dish to turn into a salad; and thus my bun cha salad recipe was born!

Combining fresh herbs, veggies, meatballs and an easy homemade sauce, this recipe is simple, delicious and SO full of flavour.

The meatballs can be made in big batches, cooked and frozen so you can make this at any time - just take some meatballs out of the freezer, reheat them while you're making your salad and you're good to go!

Simple, healthy and delicious! It's also a great make ahead recipe and can easily be taken to work or school - just separate the salad, dressing and meatballs and put them all together when you're ready to eat.

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Kofta Pitas with Tzatziki Dipping Sauce

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This is one of those recipes we struggle to name. At home, we call them lamb/beef pitas but when I describe them to someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, I never know what to call them. 

You see, they have a pita bread base and a kofta topping. 

They're kind of like a turkish pide, only with a whole new flavour set.

They're a little bit like a pizza - but maybe more of a pizzette. 

And then they're kind of like a lebanese pizza but grilled instead.

But whatever you want to call them, I promise they're delicious. 

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This is one of our favourite summer dinners. Originally inspired by a cooking class event I went to with Miguel Maestre, this is a super simple dish with a tonne of flavour. We either grill it on the barbeque or inside on a grill pan and serve it up with tzatziki dipping sauce and fresh veggies. 

I mean, who doesn't love dipping and dunking? 😜

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The other great thing about this recipe is that you can make it to feed a few or a crowd (I've shared the recipe for two but you can easily multiple it) and you can tweak and tailor it to suit your own tastes.

Switch up the seasoning mix and add in some Ras El Hanout (my Mum's favourite) for a morrocan style flavour or keep it simple with cumin and garlic if you don't want things spicy. 

But let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Meatballs in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

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We have a problem with just's in our family. 

Nope, not justice... not actions that are fair... just justs. 

Say whaaaaaaat, you say? Well, you see, when Jesse decides he wants to make something new, it has to be just this or just that. It could be just like so-and-so used to make it or just like you can buy at some shop/restaurant/cafe he visited, sometimes it's just a certain food on it's own and other times it's anything but just. 

Like these meatballs. 

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You see, this meatball combination was thrown together one night when I'd made a huge batch of meatballs. I'd told Jesse we were having meatballs for dinner and that's when the dreaded just came out. 

"Okay, as long as it's not just meatballs"

So I made a sauce and the rest was history. Now this dish is one of our favourites. It's simple but oh so delicious and whilst it's not going to win any awards to its looks, it'll certainly win hearts with its tastes. Best of all? You can use any kind of meatball - beef, chicken, turkey, pork - whatever!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Chicken Cordon Bleu Rice Casserole (Healthy & Gluten Free)

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There's actually a secret behind this recipe. You see, whilst Jesse thought this was another successful show of my creativity, it was actually the result of a serious inability.

You see, I really suck at stuffing chicken breasts. Chicken cordon bleu may be a classic dish - but it's totally a hit or miss for me. I either succeed with delicious results or fail miserably.

And in the words of my pal Kim "Sweet Brown" Wilkins...
Ain't nobody got time for that.

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When you have a husband who pretty much lives to eat and you love nothing more than delicious food, fail dinners are definitely no bueno.

So what do you do when you love the flavours of chicken cordon bleu but don't want to risk failure?

Why, you take those flavours and turn it into something even more delicious!

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And that, my friends, is how this recipe was born! Best of all? It's SO good that it's become a regular in our house - and no one will ever know that you chose the easy route either!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Korean Beef Stir Fry

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Before I say anything more, I should probably put a disclaimer here... I don't know if this Healthy Korean Beef Recipe is actually Korean-y in the slightest as I made it up, however it was inspired by a Korean friend of ours so I guess that kind of counts?

You see, when it comes to developing recipes, I like to follow the make it up and pretend it's a thing route. Also known as, Kristy throws together ingredients, hopes it works and then happy dances when it does - and this is exactly what happened here. 

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You see, I'd spoken with my friend about this delicious dish her family used to make with ground beef and a sweet/savoury sauce with soy, sesame and ginger flavours and I kind of forgot all about it until one night I really wanted a stir fry for dinner - but I had a problem. 

The only meat we had at home was beef mince and since I was feeding my manly man husband, a veggie stir fry wasn't going to cut it. I either had to make something different or I was going to have to use the mince. 

Knowing my fussy husband would think ground beef in a stir fry was weird, I remembered our conversation and thus my "Korean Beef" was born. 

You see, if you give something a name, Jesse forgets all about the weirdness (as long as it's not a name he associates with anything else) and usually gives it his approval as long as it tastes good - and now Korean Beef has become one of our all time favourite dishes!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Taco Quinoa Bake

If you follow us on Instagram or check out our weekly Recent Things series, you'd know that every Tuesday in the SIL house is Taco Tuesday. Well, it's either Taco Tuesday or Mexican Martes (Mexican Tuesday), but Tuesday night always involves some kind of Mexican inspired meal. 

Whilst Jesse would happily eat tacos all day every day for five hundred years, this girl gets a little bored of the same old same old. A few weeks ago I shared our Healthy Taco Spaghetti Recipe with you which I created to shake things up a little bit - and today I'm sharing another one of our favourite taco inspired meals; this delicious Taco Quinoa Bake Recipe!

Another reason why we love this recipe is because you can make it in advance. Lately my Tuesdays have been crazy busy and I don't get home until around 6:30/7pm, meaning I get home wanting food RIGHT THIS SECOND and don't have the patience to cook anything.

Luckily I have the chance to prepare things on Monday whilst making dinner so I often make up a batch of these so Jesse can pop them into the oven before he picks me up and once we get home they're ready to eat! 

They're especially good if you top them with guacamole too ;) 

So let me share the recipe with you! >>

Recipe: Nomato Spaghetti Bolognese

Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong country. You see, I really think I should have been Italian. I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee pasta and always have, I picked up the language like I'd known it from the day I was born (I spent 7 years at school learning Italian!) and I'd happily eat gelato every day for the rest of my life. 

But when you can't have tomatoes, your pasta loving life gets seriously limited. When I found out I couldn't eat tomatoes, I went from eating tomato based pastas at least twice a week to only being able to eat creamy sauces. 

I drooled over everyone else's Spaghetti Bolognese, Marinara or Napoletana sauces and longed for the day when I could eat them again.... but then I started making Nomato Sauce. All of a sudden I could eat tomato style sauces once again without curling up in a heap of pain an hour or so later.

When I came up with our Ultimate Nomato Sauce Recipe, those pasta dishes were taken to a whole new level. This is the closest alternative to tomato sauce and it makes the most delicious pasta sauce. It's so good that even Jesse loves it (and he hates beets but doesn't realise they're in there, haha!) - especially because it doesn't give you heart burn like tomato based sauces often can. 

This Nomato Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe is a healthy, allergy free version of an Italian classic that you need to try! Whether you spell it bolognese or bolognaise (which is the french version - but apparently that's the way most Australians spell it), it's always a delicious dinner option!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Healthy Taco Spaghetti

Every Tuesday is Mexican Martes (formally Taco Tuesday) in our house. 

It doesn't matter if we're sick with the flu, heading out for the night or have people over; at least some form of Mexican-related food must be consumed on Tuesday nights.... as enforced by Jesse. 

It's pretty much law in the SIL house. I mean, Jesse feels so strongly about Mexican Martes that he'd even give up pizza for it... and that is saying something!

But me? I'm not so fussed by the whole ordeal. In fact, I'm a little over tacos. Ever since Jesse moved here we've been having Taco Tuesdays and whilst in the past I've always happily participated; lately, I've found myself taking taco ingredients and turning them into something different. 

That, my friend, is why I'm sharing this recipe with you. You see, sometimes a girl just cannot face another taco/quesadilla/burrito and craves variety. That is where this pasta comes in. 

I still cook up the meat and beans the same way as I do for Jesse, however, instead of loading them into some kind or tortilla related vessel, I take said meat and turn it into something delicious. Taco Spaghetti!

It's quick, it's easy, it's healthy and it's oh so delicious. So delicious, in fact, that it's even convinced Jesse to sway from the usual tacos every now and again. 

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Asian Inspired Honey Glazed Meatballs

I was reading this article a few days ago which mentioned that the average person cooks an average of nine different meals on rotation every single week. They stick to their nine favourite recipes and cook them over and over and over again. 

Whilst I totally understand having your favourite recipes; I am someone who gets seriously bored with the same old same old - and Jesse does too. 

You see, we both came from households where we ate the same kind of thing over and over again. In my house it was spaghetti bolognaise, stir fry, beef stroganoff, curry and sometimes Mum changed things up and made something she saw in a Super Food Ideas magazine she picked up at the supermarket. 

I put the article into the back of my mind until I was at the supermarket with Mum and heard her bellyaching once again that she was bored with cooking dinner and the study popped into my mind once again. We live in a world where we have hectic lifestyles, fussy kids (or partners!), long days and limited time in the kitchen - but that doesn't mean we have to put up with boring dinners! 

That's why I've decided to set a new challenge for myself; to come up with as many delicious dinner recipes as possible this year to inspire you to get out of the "nine recipe rut", as we're calling it, and make dinner a little bit more fun this year. As well as being fun, we want to make sure it's healthy too - and easy as well. 

These dinner recipes are all designed to be super easy to make (because I too have a crazy schedule and limited time to cook dinner!), healthy and adaptable to suit a variety of food needs. So why don't you take the #SILDinnerChallenge with me? Let's shake things up and enjoy delicious dinners once again! Most of these recipes will also be made in smaller portions (usually 1 or 2) so they can be multiplied to feed a crowd or enjoyed alone!

But first, let me share the recipe with you! >>

Recipe: Healthy Baked Pretzel Chicken Tenders

They say that a way to a man's heart is through his stomach... and that's certainly the case with my husband. 

You see, I married a man who remembers movies by the foods featured in them. Who considers himself a little bit of a food critic and who can never say no to his favourite sweets - even if his stomach is bursting at the seams. 

I also married a man from the South. A man who grew up on fried foods. A guy who probably had oil and grease running through his veins. 

So what happens when a Southern gentleman marries a gluten free healthy living blogger from Sydney? Well, that girl just has to show off her culinary prowess ;) 

This Pretzel Crusted Baked Chicken Tenders Recipe was one of those times were I was definitely flexing my culinary muscles. When you marry a guy who lived off fast food for 20 or so years, you have to know that he's going to crave it every now and again. 

But instead of sending him off to the closest golden arches, I decided to come up with my own healthy fast food recipes so we could enjoy the meals together - and so they didn't necessarily have to be once in a blue moon treats. 

They're quick and easy to make but taste absolutely delicious! Whilst we have a bunch of different healthy chicken nugget recipes/crumbed chicken recipes, this is currently our favourite!

So let me share the recipe with you! >>