Cooking Session 25
Texas Caviar Dip + Black Eyed Peas From Scratch + Full Weekly Meal Prep
It is officially Spring here in Australia. But it feels like winter on most days with a nagging humidity that refuses to leave, sudden bouts of torrential rain and flooding. But when the sun is out, the air is cool and crisp, it is glorious! The markets are flooded with beans, asparagus, leafy vegetables and early-season mangoes! Hurray!
I have included the last meal prep session in today's newsletters. I have been receiving dozens of emails every other week requesting the last session. This session was a simple one and perfect for you if you wanted to try your hand at a classic Cook Republic meal-prep session (1.5 hours, 7 full healthy recipes prepped for the week, 5 colours targeted)
And finally, Thank you for your continued support and all your wonderful emails/messages telling me how adventurous you are getting with meal prepping. Please keep cooking and don't forget to SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER with your friends.
TEXAS CAVIAR (also known as the viral COWBOY CAVIAR) (vegan / gluten free)
My current obsession! If you haven't cooked or eaten black-eyed peas, you are missing out. I think they are one of the most delicious beans out there. And this (super well-researched and tested 13 times!) recipe for Texas Caviar (a delicious bean dip from Texas) will become an instant family favourite. Only takes 10 minutes to make from canned black-eyed peas, is full of crunch and texture and has the most ridiculously yummy salad dressing (with a secret ingredient or two!).
I can sit with a large bowl of this and a spoon or a handful of corn chips and polish it off myself. Question is, can you too?
HOW TO COOK BLACK-EYED PEAS (vegan / gluten free)
If you've never cooked black-eyed peas at home, I got you! You can cook them in an instant pot, pressure cooker or simply in a pot on the stove. In my opinion, cooking them on the stove is the best way to cook them. Not only is it super easy but you will never have mushy beans .. just perfectly cooked al dente beans that will lift your salads and soups.
Just follow my simple instructions and make this part of your weekly meal prep (so many health benefits too... read all about them) ...
Cooking Club News
Can you believe the cooking club is 8 months old?? It is now 830 members strong and growing slowly and surely. I love seeing everyone's cookbook shelves, their latest cookbook purchases, their favourite recipes and of course all the beautiful pictures of the meals they share from the cookbook of the month.
This month we are continuing to cook from Tom Walton's beautiful cookbook More Fish, More Veg. November 2022 cookbook has been announced and it will be my lovely friend Hetty Mckinnon's fabulous new cookbook Tenderheart.
So grab your copies, your aprons and come and cook with us. It is free, it is fun and it is fabulous!
Join the Cook Republic Cooking Club
Kitchen Sense
Keep pots from boiling over!
When boiling something in a pot with a lot of liquid (for me, it is pasta or beans), place a wooden spoon across the top of the pot to prevent overboiling and the contents from spilling over. Wood is not a good conductor of heat, so the liquid moves away from the spoon and hangs just below the surface.
Meal Prep This Week
RECIPES PREPPED / 7
Green - Green Pineapple Smoothie
Orange - Miso Roasted Carrots / Orange Lemon Immunity Juice (Recipe below)
Yellow - Oven Baked Aloo Palak
Brown - Vegan Miso Ramen Broth / Chocolate Apricot Marble Loaf
Purple - Blackberry Chia Overnight Oats
*****
Recipe // Orange Immunity Juice
10 navel oranges, cut in half and juiced on an orange juice press ( This cheap Kmart Juicer has good reviews and looks like my 20-year old Phillips Citrus Juicer)
2 large lemons, cut in half and juiced on an orange juice press
large pinch of Himalayan Pink salt
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
pinch of crushed black pepper
Add juices and spices in a 2-litre capacity glass jug/bottle along with half a cup of ice. Stir and mix well. Enjoy straightaway or store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
*****
legend / easy solo lunches & lunchboxes
Miso Roasted Carrots go really well with a piece of steamed fish. (IDEA ALERT!! I do this by bringing water to boil in a shallow wide chef's pan/saute pan. I add a piece of fish to a small porcelain/stoneware pasta bowl and place that bowl in the water-filled larger pan over an upturned steamer basket. Grate some ginger over the fish, add a dash of soy sauce and cooking sake. Cover with lid and steam for 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle with shredded nori and sesame seeds)
Oven Baked Aloo Palak makes a delicious Kathi Roll. (IDEA ALERT!! Drizzle a few drops of olive oil in a cast-iron frying pan. Add a store-bought tortilla/wrap/roti. Whisk an egg and pour over the tortilla. Cook for a minute and flip it over to finish cooking egg. You now have an omelet-crusted tortilla. Lay it egg side up. Add Aloo Palak, sliced raw onion, chutney, greens, a dash of yoghurt and hot sauce. Roll it up and enjoy or wrap in baking paper/foil for lunchboxes)
Things To Do This Week (Thursday & Friday)
1. Print out all the recipes you plan to cook
2. Make a shopping list of things you don't already have and buy them before the weekend.
WEEKEND MEAL PREP SESSION (1 hour 35 minutes)
>> Before you begin, get a large plastic/enamel tub to catch all your scraps and rubbish (multiples if you are saving scraps for chooks/compost). I cannot stress how much time you will save and keep the bench tidy if you are not going to the rubbish bin every few minutes.
>> For Part II of the meal prep, I make sure the kitchen sink is clean and empty. This allows me to quickly wash my Vitamix and citrus juicer which are easiest to clean right after making the smoothie. I also have 4-6 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.
Part I
1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Prepare Chocolate Apricot Loaf cake batter and pour in tin. Pop in oven to bake (10 minutes)
3. Prep carrots for Miso Roasted Carrot. (10 minutes)
4. Prep Veggies for Oven Baked Aloo Palak (10 minutes)
5. Make dressing for Miso Roasted Carrots. Mix and spread on baking tray (5 minutes)
6. Mix spices for Oven Baked Aloo Gobi. Mix and spread on baking tray (5 minutes)
Active Time - 40 minutes
BREAK 10 minutes - Time for a break. Make yourself a cup of tea/coffee or pour a glass of wine. I like to load the dishwasher with mixing bowls, put away ingredient jars and wipe down the counter at this point to reduce my work later.
Part II
7. Make Blackberry Chia Overnight Oats / Blend blackberry liquid + mix everything in a glass container (5 minutes)
8. Check and remove loaf from the oven. (5 minutes)
9. Miso Roasted Carrots cook at 220°C for 25 minutes and Aloo Palak cooks at 200°C for 25 minutes. For efficiency, I cook both at 200°C for 25 minutes.
10. Pop both veggie trays in the oven to bake. (5 minutes)
11. Saute onion, garlic, mushrooms for Vegan Ramen Broth (10 minutes)
12. Add liquids to the broth and simmer as per recipe (5 minutes)
13. Make Green Pineapple Smoothie and Oranje Juice (10 minutes)
14. Check roasted veggies, remove from oven. Cool then pack away (5 minutes)
15. Finish up with Vegan Ramen Broth (10 minutes)
Pack away loaf, overnight oats, roast veggies, smoothie and broth.
Active Time - 55 minutes
FINAL CLEANUP - Have a long drink of chilled water. Meal Prep is thirsty work. Wash and wipe the last bit of the prep. Make a list of all the RECIPES you have cooked and allocate days to when you will use them up.
Well done guys!!
And finally …
Food In Prose
"I loved the feeling of working the big wooden spoon through the cake batter, of pouring it, thick and glossy, into the pan. I was scared but fascinated by the blast of the heat from the oven, and hid behind Joyce's legs when she put the cake in to bake. I thought about the cake both during my reluctant bath and while Lucy was putting me to bed. In the morning, there it was sitting at the kitchen table, a Victoria sponge with strawberry jam in the middle and icing sugar on top. It seemed like magic, how it came together like that. Light like fairies' fingers, under the oven's glare. It still does."
~ Sophie Dahl (Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights)