G’day there all you foodie followers!

I would really love to know if any of you guys out there are as tired as me.  I am always so EXHAUSTED.  I think if you all assured me that you were too, it would make me feel slightly better about life in general.  I am preparing a blog on “Mummy [well actually Parental – but I am a mummy, and it is from my point of view] guilt” for next Monday and I got to thinking about what I do each week and how it relates to how freaking tired I am all the time.

I work, actually physically AT work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Mondays and Fridays I “work from home” – meaning I try to get my admin done, make a few phone calls and check letters etc, in between wrangling 2 children (although I do admit I have our wonderful nanny to help me; but often the kids just want me (face plant) ), cleaning the house, watering and cleaning up the yard, doing the grocery shopping, attending medical appointments (usually for Nicky), running errands for Troy (today it was to find him a new iron as our decided to pack it in this morning) and of course lately – Christmas shopping for both families (ie 18 people in my immediate family and 6 in Troy’s, plus around 15 work colleagues, and usually a gift each for my 5 closest friends (+/- spouses and children) and Troy’s closest friends and spouses, neighbours etc).  On top of this, I have been trying to lose weight (after finding out I could not get into either of my 2 Cue suits that I bought 12 months ago, having gained 14 kg in 18 months), meaning I set my alarm clock for 4.10am, get out the door by 4.30am and run for 45 min before I get home, shower and get myself and the kids ready for the day.

So some days… bless… probably MOST days, I need to make a QUICK dinner, that is tasty, and healthy enough that it does not induce more guilt on top of the ever-present “mummy guilt” that I will blog about next week.

So I must totally admit guys, today’s recipe is a bit of a cop out!  Rather than being a “real recipe” it is one that would change every time I make it – depending on what meat and vegies were in the fridge.  Oh and not all the pics in the gallery are mine 😉

For dinner tonight I actually cooked the fish curry I blogged about last week (and can I say it was flipping, ridiculously delicious!!  Although admit that this might have sometime to do with the fact that I have been on a diet for the last 9 or so weeks, meaning this is the first real meal I have had in ages) so I had to pull a rabbit out of a hat for today’s recipe!  This is a very simple recipe that you can adapt to pretty much anything in your pantry.  It basically consists of:  cook your noodles and your vegies, cook your chicken (or beef or lamb, or fish or WHATEVER protein you want) and stick it on top.

AND I guarantee it will be tasty.

For that “restaurant feel” you can also pan fry the noodles after you’ve prepped them with boiling water (per pack directions) to make them crispy, and I do actually do this when I am prepping noodles for an occasion.  But for every day, I still think the healthier option is to not fry the noodles.  It will only be a subtle textural difference overall.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tab vegetable/canola oil
• 200g thin egg noodles
• 5 cm ginger – sliced into matchsticks
• 1 small-medium brown onion diced finely
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 birds-eye chillies (optional)
• 500g of Asian green vegies (eg wom bok, bok choy, gai larn) OR if you don’t have these, spinach/baby spinach substitutes in really well.
• ~4 tab hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup light soy
• 1 tab sugar
• For the chicken:
  • 6 chicken thigh fillets – sliced into strips
  • 2 eggs, beaten with a fork
  • 1 cup of rice flour
  • 2 tsp of Chinese 5 spice powder
  • a good pinch of salt and pepper
  • enough vegetable/canola oil to shallow fry

METHOD

1.  Prepare the noodles as per the packet instructions, drain and set aside
2. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat.  Fry the ginger, garlic, onion and garlic (and chilli if you choose to add it) for 2 min – until aromatic
3. Add your Chinese greens, hoisin sauce, soy and sugar and cook until the vegies are tender (around 3-4 min). Turn off heat.
4. Dip the chicken pieces into the egg and toss in the rice flour combined with the Chinese 5 spice powder, salt & pepper
5. Heat enough oil in your wok to shallow fry, and cook until golden.  Do not over fill the wok or the oil will cool down too much and the pieces will end up soaking up oil rather than being crispy.  Best to do in batches.
6. Serve up the noodles and greens and top with pieces of crispy chicken.

 

I noticed also recently, on the FB page I asked for suggestions of potential blog topics – or things you want to hear about… I had about 40 Kid’s Health suggestions, but no food suggestions.

Hit me with them please!  I can’t guarantee I will HAVE a recipe for what you are wanting, but it might give me some ideas at least.  The blog does take up a lot of time (that I have very little of) but I do love it, and I don’t seem to reach nearly as many people for the food posts compared to the health ones.

So, please send me your suggestions and hit SHARE on the posts to help me reach more people and make it worthwhile to continue blogging!

 

Hope you enjoy this recipe and until next time,

 

Happy eating!!