One Pot Lamb and Spinach

Some weeknights call for a one pot meal that requires a minimum and chopping and slicing and generally allows you to be lazy but get great results.

One of my fallbacks is a dish that I learnt from Mr Canbella's mother that was originally called Shepard's Spinach. It's easy, delicious and pretty wholesome. It's not a light dish, speaking in terms of fat and calories, so it pays to keep portion size small to moderate.

I've made a few ingredient swaps to suit our tastes and what we keep in the pantry, but it's basically the same dish. I like to serve it with a homemade white bean and garlic dip to add a different temperature and texture to the dish.

One Pot Lamb and Spinach
Serves 4

20g Olive Oil Nuttelex

20ml Olive Oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 brown onion, diced

1 red onion, diced

2 Tbs Morroccan seasoning mix

1 Tbs low sugar ketchup

1/2 cup tomato juice from canned cherry tomatoes

250g lamb mince

120g short grain rice

250ml water or beef stock
Zest of one lemon

1 packet baby spinach

Lemon wedges to serve
4 Tbs parsley, to serve

White bean and garlic dip ingredients

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup lemon juice

2 tsp morroccan seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. In a large pot (I used our french oven), heat olive oil and saute onions and garlic on a low heat.

2. When soft and translucent, add seasoning mix, ketchup and tomato juice. Stir to combine.

3. Turn up heat and add lamb mince. Use a wooden spoon to stir and break up the mince, ensuring no lumps form.

4. When lamb mince is browned, add rice and cook for 1 - 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Add water or stock and cover, gently simmering for 20 - 30 minutes until rice is cooked and mixture thickens.
6. Meanwhile, put all ingredients for white bean dip into a food processor and pulse until texture is smooth. Spoon into a serving bowl.

7. Once meat and rice have thickened, add lemon zest and spinach and stir through mixture.

8. Remove from heat and serve with chopped parsley, lemon wedge and a dollop of white bean and garlic dip.

Enjoy!

Ella xx

Keeping it light and colourful

I've been enjoying including more seafood and vegetables in my evening meals. I try to include oily fish in my diet regularly due to the health benefits of Omega3 oils, which I was reminded of this week when I heard a story on Radio National You can listen to the story here, about how Omega3 has been linked to muscle regeneration in older people. Of course, I'm not yet a senior citizen, but the news seems to be all good for Omega 3.

We had some excess cucumber and red cabbage in the fridge this week so I grabbed some salmon and came up with this healthy salad.


Salmon with Tri-Colour Salad and Soba Noodles
Serves 2

Ingredients
Dressing
2 Tbs sesame seeds
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 Tbs sesame oil
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs sushi vinegar
1 Tbs light olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice

1 fillet of Salmon, skin on
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1/8 red cabbage
2 Tbs chopped coriander (cilantro)
1/3 packet soba noodles



Method
1. Crush garlic into a small glass joug or bowl. Toast sesame seeds in a small pan. Add toasted sesame seeds to garlic, and then add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Set aside.
2. Slice salmon fillet in half lengthwise, place in a bowl and cover with 1 Tbs of dressing. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
Peel cucumber and carrot.
Use a peeler to make long strips of cucumber.
Use a julienne peeler to make strips of carrot.
Thinly slice cabbage.
Finely chop coriander (cilantro).
Cook soba noodles according to directions, rinse briefly under cold water. Place in a bowl and coat with 2 Tbs dressing.
Grill salmon on a barbecue skin side down until cooked to your liking. I use a Weber Baby-Q and cooked my salmon on a medium heat for about 15 minutes with the hood down.
Remove the salmon from the barbecue by sliding a spatula between the skin and the fish fillet and removing the fillet.
Serve by layering noodles, salad vegetables and fish and then drizzling with dressing and sprinkling with coriander.

We made enough noodles and vegetables for 4 people and packed the leftovers for lunches for the next day. it was a delicious cold salad lunch that I would prepare on it's own for lunches in the future, and it looked great packed in the lunch boxes!

Enjoy!

Ella xx

Chocolate Coconut Brownies with Fluffy Maple Topping

This week's adventure in baking is Chocolate Coconut Brownies with Fluffy Maple Topping.

As I've mentioned in previous baking posts, I enjoy experimenting with different ingredients, especially those that enhance the healthiness of my baked goods.

This week I decided to make brownies and include one of my favourite ingredients, coconut oil. Coconut oil is apparently full of health benefits, I definitely find that it fills me up and gives an energy boost that is felt pretty soon after consuming. I usually include coconut oil in my breakfast smoothies during summer.

Chocolate Coconut Brownies with Fluffy Maple Topping

Brownie Ingredients
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup Nuttelex olive oil spread
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 Natvia for Baking
4 eggs
1 small tub SPC apple puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup almonds

Topping Ingredients
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup Nuttelex Olive Oil spread
3/4 cup icing sugar
2 Tbs maple syrup

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 celcius (fan forced)
2. In a large glass bowl melt coconut oil and Nuttelex in the microwave.
3. Add cocoa, sugar and Natvia and use a whisk to combine.
4. Add eggs, apple puree and vanilla and whisk to combine.
5. Sift in flour and whisk to combine.
6. Add chocolate chips and almonds and stir to combine.
7. Pour into a greased square brownie tin (about 20cm square).
8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cooked to your liking (I  like my brownies a little gooey in the middle)
9. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes in tin before turning onto a wooden board.
10. Cut into 25 even squares.

11. To make topping, use electric beaters to beat together all four ingredients until light and fluffy.

12. Serve brownies with a dollop of topping.

Enjoy!

Ella xx

Date Night Outfit

This year has been very hectic. With a move to a new city and a new job with many responsibilities I have been on the go all the time. I believe that it is important to make sure that you make time to enjoy special occasions with your loved ones, especially when you are really busy.

This weekend I drove up to Sydney to see the amazing graduation show for Ev+Bow on Friday night. I got to reconnect with my dancing buddies and see the amazing talents of some of my ex-students. It was uplifting and inspiring. But it meant a night away from home.

So, I decided to make Saturday night special by booking dinner at a nice restaurant and planning a "date night". I really enjoy the conversation and laughs I always have with Mr Canbella when we take time out to have a special meal together.

Date nights also mean a great reason to make an effort with your appearance and outfit. I did so, wearing a brand spanking new dress and actually blow-drying my hair for the occasion. I've been loving a smokey bronzy/browny eye for make-up lately so I went with this for the night out.

To start, we ordered cocktails and I had one of my favourites, a bellini. As you can see, I was very pleased with it. We had so much to talk about and it was great to spend a night out feeling glamourous together. To anyone living or visiting the nation's capital, I highly recommend Ox Eatery for a very pleasant night out!

After dinner we headed home and watched another Bond movie on TV, in preparation for the release of Skyfall next week. It was a nice low-key end to the evening, especially after I had stuffed myself full of delicious goodies at dinner.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Ella xx

Cupcake of the Week

Most weeks I make cupcakes or brownies as a Monday treat for my colleagues. I usually try a brand new recipe which utilises various baking treats and ingredient swaps to reduce the saturated fat and sugar. I can't remember exactly what possessed me the first time I was crazy enough to think Sunday night experimental baking was a bright idea, but now it has become a tradition and I must oblige the hungry masses.

Or else.

Seriously, a few weeks ago I didn't make cupcakes for the Monday, and by Friday, my desk looked like this:

So, this week my chosen experimental cupcake recipe goes like this. (I didn't try to make the frosting healthy this week, it's actually pretty toxic, so avoid it if trying to be angelic.)

Vanilla Apple Cupcakes with Musk Frosting
Makes 16 cupcakes

Cakes
1/4 cup Nuttelex Olive Oil Spread
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Natvia for Baking
2 large eggs
3/4 cup fat free plain Chobani yoghurt
1 tub SPC apple puree
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbs vanilla essence
1/4 cup water

Frosting
1/2 tub Betty crocker Vanilla frosting
1/2 tsp rose pink food colouring
1 Tbs rose water essence
3/4 cup soft icing mixture

Musk stick lollies (candy) to decorate

Cakes
1. Pre-heat oven to 180C
2. Place 16 cupcake patty pans (the cardboard kind) on a baking tray.
3. In a large glass bowl use a mixmaster or electric beaters to beat Nuttelex, brown sugar and natvia together.
4. Add eggs, Chobani and apple puree and beat to combine.
5. Sift flour, bi-carb soda and baking powder together into the bowl. Use the beaters to mix together a little while they are turned off, then turn on and beat together until smooth.
6. Add vanilla essence and water and beat again. NOTE: You need to judge how much water to add yourself. I only added a 1/4 cup and I had a thickish mixture for cake. It should hold together well so you can scoop it out easily to add to the patty pans.
7. Use two dessert spoons to spoon mixture until cupcake patty pans until they are 3/4 full.
8. Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes, until the cakes spring bake when touched and a skewer comes out clean or with a few crumby bits.
9. Cool on tray for 5 minutes. Transfer to an oven rack and allow to cool completely.

Frosting
1. In a mixing bowl or mixmaster combine frosting, colouring, essence and icing mixture. Use electric beaters to beat together to a smooth, thick consistency.

2. Place a piping bag with a large tip in a glass or mug and stretch bag out over the edge of the glass. Fill bag with frosting. Refrigerate until needed.

To Decorate
1. Remove frosting bag from fridge for about 10-15minutes.
2. Slice musk sticks into small pieces.
3. Optional: Use a small serrated knife ( a tomato knife) to cut the domed tops off the cakes to make an even surface for piping the frosting.

4. Pipe swirls of frosting onto cake from the centre outwards in a circular motion.

5. Add pieces of musk sticks to finish.

Enjoy!

Ella xx

Panzanella for Canbella!

The weather is starting to warm up and the sun is shining for longer each day. With the change in weather comes a change in appetite. We have been craving light and fresh flavours for our nightly meals. Today we decided to make a panzanella salad, which left us sated and happy.

Panzanella Salad 
Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Italy
(Serves 4)

Ingredients
1 kilo of tomatoes - (I used 1 small punnet grape tomatoes, 1 small punnet grape kumato tomatoes and 4 roma tomatoes, heritage tomatoes would be amazing in this dish)
1 red onion
150 grams buffalo mozzarella or bocconcini cheese
1/2 cup roughly chopped basil
1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
1/2 cup roughly chopped mint
1 yellow capsicum
1 red capsicum
3 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs baby capers
2 Tbs Red Wine vinegar
10 Tbs Olive oil
3 ciabatta bread rolls

Method
1. Chop the tomatoes into 2cm cubes, if using grape tomatoes, halve them.
2. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, drain in a sieve over a bowl. Reserve the liquid for your dressing.
3. Place drained tomatoes to a large mixing bowl.
4. Thinly slice the onion and add to the drained tomatoes.
5. Tear the cheese into 2cm pieces and add to the tomatoes.
6. Add chopped herbs to the tomato mixture, leaving some aside for garnishing.

7. Char grill the capsicums on a barbeque or grill.
8. Cool the capsicums, then peel the skin off and slices into ribbons. Add to the tomato mixture.

9. Quickly roast the garllic cloves on the barbeque or grill. Use a garlic crusher to extract the roasted garlic from the cloves. Place in a jar.
10. Add baby capers, vinegar, olive oil and reserved juices from drained tomatoes to the jar. Add salt and pepper to taste, secure lid and shake to combine.

11. Tear bread rolls into 3cm pieces and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray. Dry in a low oven for 5 - 10 minutes. Don' t allow the bread to toast, it should just be slightly dried out.

12. Place bread on serving plates. Drizzle with dressing and leave for 5 minutes.
13. Top with tomato, capsicum and cheese mixture. Add additional dressing and garnish with herbs.

Wine Notes
We enjoyed some Chateau Tanunda Eden Valley Riesling with our salad and it's light flavour complemented the salad beautifully.

Enjoy!

Ella xx

Haul and Review - Wholesale-dress.net

Confession: I love online shopping. I love being able to dispassionately look at all my options from the comfort of my wardrobe and then leave the cart for a couple of days before purchasing only those items that I must have. I love ASOS, Shopbop, Topshop, CottonOn and the one that got me started, Forever21.

So now that you know my dirty little secret I can share my latest adventure in online shopping. I read about online wholesalers on a few blogs and was intrigued. I then went and watched some youtube haul videos to see what people had to say.

There are a great variety of asian wholesale clothing sites to choose from. Some are much more reputable and offer really great quality items. Others... not so much.

For my first foray into asian wholesale shopping I went with one of the more "risky" stores: wholesale-dress.net. I don't like to do things by halves, so I ordered heaps of stuff, risking it all being crap. Insert nervous laugh here.

So my order went through ok. A couple of the things I ordered were out of stock (more on this later) so the amount that I payed for the items and shipping for them was credited to my store account.

My order arrived about 3 or 4 days after the site said it was shipped, which was fine by me. It was shipped and delivered by Fedex.

This is what the box looked like when it arrived.

All of the items were packed into separate sealed bags inside the box. 

The first packet that I opened contained these gorgeous peep toe heels. They look exactly like the photo from the site. I normally wear a size 38, but I ordered up a size to a 39 and these fit perfectly. They are also really comfortable. Win!

The next item was this cool skull decorated bag. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at first because the straps weren't attached and they were super hard and frustrating to attach AND one of the little skull beads fell off straight away. But I've since worn the bag out a few times and received compliments, so = win!

This military coat was the item that really pushed me over the line in ordering, I've been looking for one with leather sleeves for awhile. The PU used for the "leather" sleeves of this jacket is quite thick and comfortable. I ordered a large (I'm an 8 - 10 or small in Australian clothing) and it fits ok, but I probably could've gone with a medium. Overall I'm very happy with this item.

This spotted dress is really cute and not too short. I order a large, but as with the jacket I probably should have gone with a medium.

This t-shirt was really cheap ($6 maybe?) and I'm rather happy with it. It has a nice retro feel and the fabric is thick and durable.

I also ordered two pairs of tracksuit pants, a skull print t-shirt, a black top with crochet trim and a grey marle jacket. The pants are both size large and fit great. The tops were free size and are great as well.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, some of the items I ordered were out of stock. The site has really quick turnover of items and anything that's been up for more than a few days or a week might be "out of stock" but you won't know until after you order. My advice is: Don't order anything that has a stock amount of less than 30 or so. Ideally, only order items that are in the first few pages of the new arrivals and say that they have stocks of 100 or more.

So, my final verdict is that wholesale-dress.net is a great site to order from if you need some inexpensive items to bulk out your wardrobe, but don't expect quality above that of a really basic high street store like H&M, Valleygirl or SES. The quality is not as high as Zara, Topshop or Sportsgirl, but neither are the prices! You get what you pay for.

Good Luck and Happy Shopping!

Ella xx

Shellac! Don't Do It!

NOTE: The title of this post is intended to be read to the tune of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Go ahead, listen while you read, here.

Anyway.... Getting on with it.

I love nail polish. I love manicures. I passionately believe that painted toe nails make a significant positive contribution to my happiness.

But I've not really a "go to the salon" kind of gal. I think it's just my busy-ness combined with my innate thriftiness that keeps me away. 

I guess this quote from one of my favourite books sums it up:

I hate handing over money for what I could just as easily do myself, it makes me nervous.  ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 5

So, this is why I am so late to the party with Shellac manicures. When one of my lovely girlfriends invited me for a manicure and lunch date I was happy to have the excuse to try something new. And really, I can't do this at home so it doesn't count as part of my usual avoidance strategy.

I was very nervous heading into the nail salon and went with a classic red as I wasn't sure I was ready for the commitment to sparkly purple for two weeks. I felt like a newb for the entire time I was there and had to keep looking at my friend to work out what I was supposed to be doing with my hands. Which was oh so amusing for her. Haha.

The grossest and most disturbing part of the whole adventure was when the manicurist trimmed my cuticles. Now. This was revolting. So much skin. Eeew. Ick. And then a couple of days later I read an article by Zoe Foster that tells me I'm not supposed to let anyone do this to me. I feel violated. In a very privileged, first world way.

At first I was very pleased with my newly polished and invincible nails and with myself for being brave enough to venture to the salon.

But then. But then.

After about a week my nails had grown about 1 -2 mm and I could not help but push back my now rapidly growing cuticles. Consequently the edge of the polish was taunting my picky picky tendency. Long story short, I couldn't help myself and ended up scratching off all of the shellac.

This left my nails in a sad and sorry state from which it has taken about a month to recover.

So, if you possess fast growing nails and a need to pick at everything as well as flippant taste in nail colours then I would advise against shellac manicures.

If you are a normal adult woman, go for it. They look great and feel really fancy.

Good Luck!

Ella xx

The Ultimate Comfort Food

We all have them. Those foods that we crave when we are tired and down and need a food hug. This does not have to be a bad thing. Most of my comfort foods are homemade, nutritious and good for the soul all at once.

My all-time favourite comfort food is one that my partner first prepared for me when I had a leg injury and was feeling pretty blah. I suppose my love for this dish is all wrapped up in the experience of having him prepare this for me, with love and care, at that time when I felt really down.

Eggy Pasta

Serves 2

160g large shell pasta or casarecci
4 eggs
1 Tbs mild flavoured olive oil
4 Tbs extra finely grated (using a Microplane) parmesan cheese
2 Tbs white truffle oil
Salt and pepper

1. Cook pasta to al dente according to instructions (about 8 minutes).
2. In a separate large pot bring water to the boil and add a dash of white vinegar. Poach four eggs and drain well using paper towel.
3. Drain pasta,  add olive oil to lubricate. Arrange on plates/bowls.
4. Top each bowl of pasta with two eggs, half of the parmesan and truffle oil.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve with love.

NOTE: If you can get your hands on some truffle infused eggs they elevate this dish to an extraordinarily beautiful food moment. I promise.

Enjoy!

Ella xx