Get Your Food On Issue 20

Roasted Cauliflower With Honey & Halloumi + Lemon Myrtle Thai Green Veg Curry

Welcome to Week 20 of "Get Your Food On" - my weekly Meal Prep Newsletter. A big hello to all new subscribers. I can't believe we are at week 20! That is almost 5 months of meal prepping! Thank you for your continued support and all your wonderful emails/messages telling me how adventurous you are getting with meal prepping. I am slowly replying to you all as I find some time here and there. A LOT of you have written to me requesting past issues of the meal prep newsletters. I have sent out a couple of past issues manually to some people but am working on a more effective method of allowing access to the content without publishing it online. Stay tuned!

This Meal Prep Session will be the last for a while. I am working on something new and exciting which I know you are going to love!! Hence, the meal prep newsletter will be going on a break for a few weeks after Week 20. Don't worry, I will still be posting new recipes every week with my two weekly newsletters going out every week as well (just the meal prep part will be missing for the next few weeks as I dedicate that time on that new project) for your cooking pleasure so you can keep things interesting in the kitchen and have a wide variety of nourishing foods to feed yourselves and your families. 

I hope you have had a blast cooking along with me for the past 20 weeks. I hope it has filled your life with more veggies and fruit and that you have re-discovered your love for cooking and organizing and that it has given you the gift of time! Please keep cooking and don't forget to SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER with your friends. 

Sneh x
 
*****

NEW THIS WEEK

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER WITH HONEY AND HALLOUMI
 

Roasted Cauliflower With Honey Halloumi And Saffron is a celebration of beautiful exciting flavours coming together perfectly in a super easy dish. You won’t want to share, I promise! You will even sit down with a fork and finish it all in one session. It is that delicious!

An Exciting New Way To Enjoy Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower lovers! You are my people! And if you stick with me and my blog, I guarantee there will be an exciting cauliflower dish or two every month for you to explore, cook and relish.  This dish is inspired. I saw a recipe for a Baked Cauliflower With Burnt Honey And Halloumi by chef Ben Sears in delicious magazine. And I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It was a clever dish – honey and halloumi, sweet and salty! Right away I could see that it was going to be too sweet for my palate (and my family’s) because of the amount of honey used in it. But I persisted and made a batch and it was good but I felt it needed so much more and yet so much less at the same time.
 

The original dish had cauliflower, honey, halloumi, oil, salt and zaátar. A simple dish. That you might really enjoy if you were at a fancy restaurant, the ambience was enhancing everything and the wine was making you deliriously happy. But if you don’t add garlic to cauliflower, you shouldn’t speak to me! Wine or no wine! End of discussion.

I do admit that cauliflower is gorgeous just roasted, no frills! But any opportunity to not pack it with flavour is wasted in my opinion. So, I set out to test and create a dish that would make me happy. At home, in my kitchen wearing my ....

CLICK FOR RECIPE >>

*****

LEMON MYRTLE GREEN VEG CURRY

Out of all the Australian native bushfoods, Lemon Myrtle is one of my favourites. A beautiful Australian plant, lemon myrtle’s long slender leaves are prized for their intense citrus fragrance and flavour. That makes lemon myrtle perfect for flavouring Asian inspired dishes. Like my Green Veg Curry. Perfectly roasted winter veggies served atop a complex and beautifully aromatic lemon myrtle green sauce. Guaranteed to make your mouth water!
 

Lemon Myrtle – Endless Culinary Properties

I first discovered lemon myrtle leaves about a decade ago at a local market. The incredibly beautiful lemony aroma was what drew me to the market stall. I left that day with a small basket full of lemon myrtle leaves to make tea, some candles and ointments. When I first made lemon myrtle iced tea, it was a revelation. It was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. Fresh and crisp with an amazing cleansing feel on the palette. It became a favourite summertime drink in our home. Over the years, I graduated to experimenting with lemon myrtle in cocktails, cakes and Panna cottas. It was only recently when I was introduced to lemon myrtle leaf-cuts in different sizes that I was inspired to create beautiful savoury dishes with it.

The results were spectacular. Lemon Myrtle due to its fresh, clean citrus flavour is ideal for Asian-inspired dishes. A little goes a long way in the flavouring department. Stir-fries, salads and curries! And today, I am very excited to share a delightfully aromatic Lemon Myrtle Green Veg Curry. The cut leaf and powder add an amazing viscosity to the curry making it subtly thick and creamy. The lemon myrtle flavour pairs really well with creamy and slightly sweet root veggies like sweet potato and carrot.
 

The White Onion Paste Indian Technique For A Creamy Curry Base

For my curry base, I have adopted a unique Indian technique of boiling onion and macadamia nut to create a lovely smooth paste. This technique involves  ....

CLICK FOR RECIPE >>

---

Last week of Meal Prep Newsletter! It doesn't mean the end of meal prep. I will still be meal prepping and sharing my photos on Instagram and via this newsletter every week, but no session write-up for the next few weeks while I work on something exciting! I hope the last 20 weeks have given you plenty of ideas and inspiration to carry on the meal prep torch all on your own.

It is Spring! And I have 4 bunches of Rhubarb to get through this week. So I started by making my favourite 15-minute rhubarb jam. I also made a Rhubarb Traycake and will be making Rhubarb cordial and a golden, crispy galette (new recipes dropping every week!). I have also lightened the weekly menu with a nice green chimichurri sauce, light veggie pancakes, a juicy bircher for breakfasts and orange jellies for dessert!


RECIPES PREPPED (10)

• ROASTED CAULIFLOWER W HONEY AND HALLOUMI

• CRISPY SEMOLINA VEGGIE PANCAKES (recipe by Sunday)

• VEGAN CHANA MASALA

• GOOD CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

• ORANGE BIRCHER MUESLI (recipe by Sunday)

• ORANGE JELLY (recipe below)

• RHUBARB JAM

• RHUBARB TRAY CAKE

• VEGAN SALTED CARAMEL BANANA SMOOTHIE

• GREEN PINEAPPLE SMOOTHIE

• COOKED QUINOA

legend / the above meal prep yields the following for four people - 2 DINNERS + 2 LUNCHES + 1 DESSERT + 4 BREAKFASTS/SNACKS

extras & serving suggestions /

1. Top your Bircher Muesli With some Rhubarb Jam or fresh berries.

2. Add a dollop of coconut ice cream to your orange jellies for dessert.

3. Smear Chimichurri Sauce on a plate and top with Semolina Veggie Pancake and a slice or two of smoked trout for a light brunch.

4. Slice a Ciabatta bread. Slather each side with tahini sauce and hot sauce. Add a generous amount of the Roasted Cauliflower in between the slices and toast as a Panini.

5. Rub a piece of salmon with salt, pepper, ground cumin and garlic powder. Drizzle some oil and pan fry or grill for 7-8 minutes. Add this to your Chana Masala with the cooked quinoa for a satisfying meal.

6. Wash, rinse and drain canned lentils. Add to a bowl with the Chimichurri sauce, two-three large handfuls of salad leaves, a few halved cherry tomatoes and pan-fried halloumi slices. Mix and enjoy!

7. Boil a batch of small cocktail potatoes until tender. Add to a bowl and mix with the Chimichurri sauce for a light snack.

Things To Do This Week (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.

---

QUICK RECIPES

ORANGE JELLIES
Make 1 litre of freshly squeezed orange juice. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt. Mix well.

Pour half a cup of orange juice in a bowl. Add a tablespoon of powdered gelatine. Allow to bloom. 

Heat half of the remaining orange juice on medium heat. Remove and add the gelatine mix to the warm orange juice and mix well. Strain into a jug. Add the last of the cold orange juice to the jug. Mix well and pour in small jars. Chill and allow to set in the fridge for 6-8 hours.

---

WEEKEND MEAL PREP SESSION (1 hour 45 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 I of the meal prep, I make sure the kitchen sink is clean and empty. This allows me to quickly wash my Vitamix and Nutribullet which are easiest to clean right after making the smoothies. I also have 6-8 300ml capacity lidded glass jars ready.

>> Some essential oils bubbling away in a diffuser where you are prepping is a great mood booster. 



 Part I 
1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C. Prepare rhubarb for Traycake. Prepare Rhubarb for jam.(5 minutes)
2. Make cake batter and pop in Rhurbarb Traycake to bake.(5 minutes)
3. Make Rhubarb Jam.(5 minutes)
4.Gather ingredients and make Orange Bircher Muesli.(5 minutes)
5. Make Chimichurri Sauce. (5 minutes)
6. Make Orange Jellies.  (10 minutes)
7. Make Vegan Salted Caramel Banana Smoothie (5 minutes)
8. Make Green Pineapple Smoothie  (5 minutes)

Check on jam. Pack away smoothies, jellies, bircher muesli, chimichurri sauce, rhubarb jam. The actual smoothies only take a couple of minutes to make but I am allowing time for clean-up and washing of the appliances. I use my Nutribullet and my Vitamix to make the smoothies.
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, put away ingredient containers and wipe down the counter at this point to reduce my work later. 


 Part II 
9. Put on a pot of quinoa to cook.(2 minutes)
10. Make Roasted Cauliflower W Honey And Halloumi (10 minutes)
11. Make Vegan Chana Masala  (10 minutes) 
12. Make Crispy Semolina Veg Pancakes(20 minutes)

Pack away traycake, cauliflower, chana masala, quinoa and pancakes
Active Time -   42 minutes


BREAK 5 minutes - Time for a break. Refill your cuppa or glass. Stretch, close your eyes and get some sunshine or do some deep breaths.


Part III 
13. Feeling Extra And Want To Inject EXTRA Veggies in every meal? - Make this 5-Minute Turmeric Mushroom Pickle! Whip up this beautiful 5-minute Good Indian Raita packed with veggies and yoghurt. And lastly a 5-Minute Cabbage Stir-Fry for a warm spiced salad addition at every meal!

Pack away pickle, salad, raita.
Active Time -   15-20 minutes



FINAL CLEANUP - 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!! You are now set for the next 3 days!
 

---

" Cakes are like books: There are new ones you want to read and old favorites you want to reread. 

~  Ellen Rose

---

I have limited copies of my cookbook Tasty Express - a labour of love filled with over 100 of our family's most tried and tested and exciting 30-minute recipes inspired by street foods of the world. Mostly Vegetarian recipes that go from breakfast to quick dinners in a heartbeat. They make great gifts for you or a friend!

Buy Signed Copy (Australia)