Friday, April 27, 2012

Easy Peasy Meals & Giveaway Winners



Lately, we've been tweaking our night time routine a bit in order to get Sophie down earlier, to make bath time quicker and to give Paul and I some quiet adult time before we turn in for the evening.  Our new routine leaves us with two options - we eat at the earlier time of six or wait until around seven thirty.  Whichever way we go means I need either a meal I can prepare earlier in the day and simply heat up or a meal I can whip up in under twenty minutes.

So, I've been flicking through my recipe books, trying to find ideas which fit these categories.  Tonight we're having Fettuccine Carbonara - a recipe which with a tiny bit or preparation can literally be cooked in the time it takes the pasta to boil and for which I usually have most ingredients.  Here is the recipe I use, adapted from several different ones over the years...


Fettuccine Carbonara 

(Serves 2)
  
200g pasta (I never measure this, I just grab the amount of pasta I see fit for two serves)
3 rashers bacon (shortcut bacon)
1 egg yolk (at room temperature)
1 egg (at room temperature)
¼ cup cream (single pouring cream)
⅓ cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp minced garlic (or 1 clove crushed)
125g chopped button mushrooms (optional)
parsley (handful finely chopped)
salt (a generous pinch) and freshly ground pepper


Cook fettuccine in a large pot of boiling salted water.  Meanwhile, fry bacon, garlic and mushrooms with a drop of olive oil.  Whisk egg, egg yolk, cream, ¾ of the parmesan, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  When cooked, drain pasta quickly and return to pot. Over very low heat, add bacon, parsley and egg mixture.  Toss through quickly to heat. Remove as soon as the sauce begins thickening and serve immediately with remaining parmesan and cracked pepper.
  

I'd love to hear which meals you would suggest for either the 'make it earlier' or 'whip up in twenty minutes' category if you'd like to leave a comment and share your ideas below.


Also, I finally got around to drawing my giveaway today.  Thank you to everyone who entered.  The winners are:

A cross-stitch pattern from Sewing Seed... Jane of Planet Baby
The cute mushroom mobile from The Quirky Bird... Michelle of Jarrah Jungle
My patchwork squares of pretty fabric... Bron of Maxabella Loves 
A clothbound version of The Secret Garden...  Megan of Silver Threads Of Happiness  


Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead.  I'm off to the '3 in 1 Market' at the Claremont Showgrounds tomorrow morning.  Hopefully I'll have some nice finds to share with you all on Monday...

20 comments:

  1. My 20 min recipe is actually a cheat. I pick up a BBQ chicken on my way home from work and just add veges. Easy to reheat, everyone likes chicken so no gripes and there are usually left over. Bonus. Enjoy the markets tomorrow.

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    1. In summer we often have hot chicken and salad too :)

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  2. your house is just lovely! I too love fettucini carbonara - so indugent!

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    1. Thank you! I use low fat cream and I figure 1/4 cup between two of us is not that fattening :)

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  3. Thank you Amanda. I'm thrilled to e one of your lucky winners.

    As for a 'whip up' meal, you can't beat Zucchini Slice... freezes well too. x

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    1. Love zucchini slice - anything that freezes is a bonus easy peasy meal!!

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  4. Oooh congrats to the lucky winners :)

    We're at the same stage Amanda with either an early dinner or a super late dinner....we go the early option as it means we can eat at the same time as Ella...and then the kitchen is all cleaned up & I can relax from 7:30pm onwards!
    I love using the slow cooker...and usually do most Tuesdays as this is when we're at ballet until 5pm. Quick whip-up meals here are usually crumbed chicken & vegies or turkey mince stir-fry or tacos :)
    x

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    1. What sort of things do you do in the slow cooker. I love ours too, so good having dinner cooking away first thing in the morning. I don't have a bit repertoire of slow cooker recipes though.

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  5. Mmmm, craving carbonara now! Ross is the chef here mostly and he has some great whip up meals. I will have to get him to write the recipes out for me sometime! Have a lovely weekend. xx

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  6. Same here: it's either cook something in the afternoon for the boys and something quick for us when they're in bed, or cook something when they're napping like a stew that will do for us all. I did a beef and carrot stew a couple of days ago. Long and slow. So nice to have the boys in bed knowing there's dinner already made. But then, some days I leave it all to the last minute, in which case it might be noodles in a quick chicken stock with broccoli, leftover chicken and soy. Congrats to all your winners!

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    1. I must go out and buy a new wok as I had to ditch our last one when the coating started coming off, but stir fries which things like noodles are definitely a quick meal to whip up, so long as the ingredients have been prepared earlier which I could do while the girls are napping.

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  7. Thank you so much Amanda! I'm very excited to reread that book :)

    Check out Frog, Goose and Bear blog, Emma has a whole section on Easy Peasy Dinner Winners, she did a linky on it for a while. My current favourite easy peasy (that I even had tonight) is fish fingers and salad. So unsexy for an adult dinner for two though... lucky I only have it when it's just me and I don't feel like cooking!

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  8. Hi Amanda,
    I have just realised I sadly forgot to come and enter your giveaway. I read your post on the run and thought, I must come back for that, but time got away from me. Oh well, congrats to the winners :)
    I'm not good at cooking things to heat up later and nothing quick is springing to my head. I suppose a pasta meal of some description would be it for me, but I just make them up as I go. I'm not much help to you!
    xx

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  9. Thanks so much, Gorgeous! You know how much I will treasure that cross-stitch pattern ☺. J x

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  10. Thanks Amanda Im so excited to have won the mushy mobile woo hoo!
    My quick and easy meal is also a pasta - cook some pasta shapes or spagetti, meanwhile put a pot on the stove and warm up a tin of tuna, fresh parsley, squeeze of lemon and bit of grated lemon rind and lots of cracked pepper then once warmed through toss through the cooked pasta with a bit of reserved cooking water and drizzle of oil to keep it moist. Its a 15 minute meal and about the only way I can get my partner to eat tuna without him calling it cat food :)

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  11. I love Donna Hay, we always have Carbonara from her 'Fast, Fresh, Simple' book. A quick easy dinner we always have is a BBQ chicken with pumpkin and chickpea couscous (or quinoa) with added feta: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/23395/roasted+pumpkin+couscous
    So simple and yummy! xx

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  12. I've been culling my recipe list to only include the easy peasy too. I keep a little list of the goodies inside the pantry door and add to it as I discover new ones - I find that helps with meal planning...I mainly eat vegetarian though, so not too sure if your Paul will appreciate tofu stir frys, quinoa burgers and the like!?
    x

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  13. I love how you always sound so wonderfully organised Amanda! I wish I was half as organised as you : ) I recently got some fresh eggs from my uncles chickens and didn't even think of making carbonara, it would have been the perfect dish to use them in. I hope you had a lovely weekend x

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  14. I'm a bit the same - we do try to eat together and Andre isn't home until after 6 usually so I have to have tea on the table right after he walks in. With one toddler nearing the end of their tether and a baby wanting feeds or cuddles I try to get as much prepared in the afternoon (while the toddler is sleeping) so all I need to do after 5pm is turn the oven on, or stir a pot on the stove. Tonight it's pot roast chicken with vegies in the oven. Last night was a chicken/bacon/apricot hot pot with rice. I also try to make double of anything freezeable to make things easier another night!

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  15. Congratulations to all those lovely and very lucky ladies for winning in your giveaway:) I would have to say spaghetti is a quick meal that I often make and on my blog I have a few slow cooker recipes I have shared. Just the other night I made Chicken Goulash where you put it all in the slow cooker and 4 hours later dinner is ready and it's quite tasty too. x

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