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MicroSteamer - Ginger Shallot Snapper with Vegetables and Rice

Tonight I am excited because I just used a BRAND NEW piece of Tupperware, never before released and it has just amazed me!!!!!

Tupperware have just released the MicroSteamer!!!

Tupperware MicroSteamer www.tupperware.com.au

Now a very quick rundown of the product, I'm no longer a demonstrator so can't give you all of the facts but basically it is one of the first microwavable items in the world which contains metal. The base is made out of the same material as the Tupperwave Stack Cooker and that is where you put the water. The you have a deep steaming dish which sits in that, it is metal encased in very special tupperware plastic which stops and microwaves from getting inside. Then it has a shallow steaming dish which sits on top of the deep one and then a special lid on top.

I am pretty sure this is one of the only products out there which allows super fast true steaming in the microwave!

Tonight I tested out the MicroSteamer by making some very yummy ginger shallot steamed fish with steamed vegies and rice. I am proud to say that everything I used was made from Tupperware (yes I am a tuppaholic and own too much tupperware to fit in my cupboards) and goes into the dishwasher for easy cleaning.

Ginger Shallot Snapper with Vegetables and Rice

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Weightwatcher's Pro Points: 11 per serve

Ingredients:

2 x pieces of snapper (or any white fish suitable for steaming)

2cm piece of fresh ginger, cut into small matchsticks

1 x lime, cut into small wedges

1/2 bunch of coriander

3 x individual shallots, chopped finely

1 x carrot, chopped into sticks

1 bunch bok choy, roughly chopped

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp peanut oil

1 cup Jasmine rice

Method: 

1. Cut some slits into the fish and stuff with lime and ginger.

2. Place the fish in the shallow steaming dish on top of buk choy leaves.

 

Snapper on bok choy leaves stuffed with lime and ginger

 3. Place the corinander on top of the fish.

4. Place the rest of the bok choy and the carrots into the deep steaming dish.

Carrots and Bok Choy

5. Cook the rice, either using the Microwave Rice Cooker or on the stove.

Fluffy Rice cooked in the Tupperware Rice Cooker

5. Steam the vegetables for 10 minutes on 800watts in the Tupperware MicroSteamer as per the instructions.

6. Add the fish in the shallow steaming dish on top of the vegetables and Steam for 5-8 minutes on 800 watts.

7. While the vegetables and fish are steaming, mix the shallots, soy sauce and peanut oil into a dressing.

Soy Sauce, Shallot and Peanut oil dressing

8. Once veggies and fish are finished steaming, serve on a bed of rice topped with the dressing and bon apetite!

Yum Yum Yum!!!

Now fish may not be your thing so do not stress, when you get the Tupperware MicroSteamer it comes with a fantastic recipe book... I cannot wait to make some vegetable dumplings!!!

Recipe Book that comes for free when you purchase

I challenge you to all get creative in the kitchen, it is a great way to switch off and a fantastic way to share love with all of those around you.

If you are interested in purchasing any Tupperware products or hosting your own get together to get loads of free stuff, please get in contact with me because I know an amazing demonstrator!!

I highly recommend the Tupperware MicroSteamer but if you don't have one, you could modify the recipe and steam conventionally on the stove or in an electrival rice cooker if it has steaming trays.

Enjoy & I look forward to your feedback!

xx G

Gluten Free?

Hi guys,

Well this might come as a shock but I'm sending a shout out to the cyber world for some help...

I have always struggled with tummy troubles and lately a few different people (dr's, acupuncturist, friends) have suggested that I try going Gluten Free.

(http://www.nashvillescene.com/images/blogimages/2011/03/27/1301268201-gluten-free.jpg)

I have been tested for Coeliac in the past and have been given the all clear but I suffer from a bit of IBS so I thought if there are so many people swearing by the Gluten free lifestyle, I should at least give it a go.

Now I just don't want to jump straight into anything because I know that if I go too hard too fast that I will fall on my face.

Does anyone out there have any helpful links, books, recipes that might help me put together my plan of attack??

First place I was going to start was...

(http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Living-Gluten-Free-For-Dummies-2nd-Edition.productCd-0470585897.html)

Please email me or comment on my blog with any help or suggestions... much appreciated!!!!

xx G

Get some great music into you!!!

I love the Wombats and they were on Triple J with Tom & Alex yesterday morning.

The Wombats - picture courtesy of http://www.noofficialmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/The-Wombats-500x333.jpg

They played two songs live and acoustic... Their latest hit "Into the Fog" & a new Like a Version of "Price Tag".

Make sure you listen to this.. you won't regret it! Wombats Live on TripleJ if you want to miss all of the chat then just go to 4:35 and 13:07.

xxG

Winter Warmers

With the crisp weather imminently upon us, I thought it timely to post one of my favourite winter warmers.

I'm sorry this photo really doesn't give the soup justice

This recipe has a very funny story attached to it. Growing up (and still now) this was/is my second favourite soup, behind Matzoh Ball Soup, but my mother was not always honest about it's content.

As children, the G kids loved broccoli but hated zucchini (don't worry, I now love all vegies) ... so of course as all mothers do, Mumma G told us all it was "Broccoli Soup"... it wasn't until I was late in my teens that my mother slipped up and told me that it was actually made with zucchinis and that broccoli wasn't even an ingredient!

Never the less.. this soup is amazing.. I have never heard a complaint and it is one of the only times where my man will eat carrot or zucchini. This soup is extremely healthy with 4 types of vegetables and is served best with some crusty toasted bread. One serve is filling enough to have as a main dinner meal or to make it go longer serve a small amount as a starter.

Big shout out to Mumma G, hope you don't mind that I shared another amazing family recipe but I couldn't help myself!!

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 20 minutes

Serves 6

Ingredients

60g butter 

4 zucchinis, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 potato, finely chopped

2 leeks, finely chopped

3 tsp chicken stock powder (if you use Massel brand then the soup will be completely Vegetarian friendly and Gluten free!!)

3 ½ cups boiling water

2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

½ cup extra light thickened cream

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large pot and add the zucchini, carrot, potato and leek. Stir the vegetables for about 5 minutes until they are all covered in the butter 

step 1 - chopped vegies covered in butter

2. Dissolve the chicken stock powder in the boiling water and add to the pot and bring to the boil
3. Add the parsley, reduce the heat and simmer covered for about 15 minutes

Step 3 - brought to the boil and about to cover and simmer

4. Use a Bamix (stick blender) to puree the soup and stir through the cream just before serving

I love freezing all of the leftovers into individual portions for a really healthy meal on the go!!

ENJOY!

$0 to Rich

Now that I have your attention, I want to blog about something which should be meaningful to most people out there. Money is a very delicate topic and it's so easy to try and put the value of money out of our minds by telling ourselves that there are more important things in life but at the end of the day... money makes the world go around and how we earn, spend and value it can often define who we are as people.

I was very fortunate to grow up in a household where my parents held it in the highest regard to give me and my three siblings every opportunity to ensure that we grew up as well rounded individuals. They did an amazing job at this but not without lots of sacrifices. I personally struggled a lot when I first moved out of home because I got stuck in the trap of wanting everything that I was used to and not only did I just want everything, I wanted everything NOW. I fell into the trap of credit cards and basically excused away every single purchase, holiday or concert that I wanted.

Once I realised my problems, in typical style I immediately tried to fix things but unfortunately it takes a whole lot longer to repay thousands of dollars of debt than it does to rack it up. To this day I am still paying the price of my irresponsibility but have been determined to turn things around.

A real turning point for me was reading a book by a very smart and savvy Australian woman, Tracey Edwards.

$0 to Rich was the second book by Tracey and was very pivotal in my realisation that my habits had to change and that getting back on my feet wasn't going to be the impossible task that I had always made it out to be in my head. She helps you define what it means to be "Rich" as it doesn't always have to be about how much money you have. I would recommend this book to anybody, not just females (even though the bright pink cover may be a bit off putting for some), and even to people who may not be in financial trouble.

The most important message for people is to start now. Don't wait for that payrise or until after your next holiday... Spend the time now setting your goal and work out how to reach it.

Here a few tips of my own that I have worked out along the way:

• Always pay off debt first... If you choose to "save some" while you still have debt you are essentially tipping money down the drain because banks will always charge you more interest than they are willing to give you.
• Set yourself realistic goals... if you stretch yourself too far with your savings/debt repaying you will fall short and end up undoing all of your hard work
• Monitor what you spend your money on and then set a budget around that... The easiest budget out there is 33.33/33.33/33.33. This means 33.33% of your net wage goes to expenses, 33.33% goes to spending and 33.33% goes to paying off debt/saving.
• It doesn't matter how much you earn... the best pay rise you can give yourself in order to save more is to spend less!!!

A great place to start with spending less is budgeting. The government has a fantastic MoneySmart website which covers a lot of ground and is a free place to find all of the tools that you need to get yourself into a healthy financial position.

I hope some of the above has helped... I have been known to tailor some budgets and saving plans for friends so if you do want some more personal help just drop me a line!

xx Suzie G

Patty Cake Patty Cake Bake me a Cake!

Greetings my followers!

Sorry that I have been holding out on you. 

Alot of my friends/family always ask me for the recipe for my yummy (if I do say so myself) Vanilla Patty Cakes. This is such a versatile recipe for any occassion and once again it is probably the most basic recipe you will come across! Just let your creativity juices flow and custom decorate any way you please!

As you can see by the above photo, I most recently made these for a very special friend. I made the 40s myself with Regal Sugar Fondant (similar to marzipan but tastes sooooo much better). My favourite place for cake decorating supplies is Cakes Around Town at Westlake. They have a huge range and will even custom make things for you! A 250g pack of the Regal Sugar Fondant will only set you back about $4.50 and a packet that size will last and last and last!!! The trick is to roll it out with a rolling pin onto a little bit of Icing Sugar (not flour!) and use a very sharp knife or a cookie cutter to make your shapes. A handy hint is to make a stencil with baking paper and then place on top of the rolled out Fondant to cut out perfect shapes, words and if you're really brave you can make 3D creations like flowers! Then when you're finished put your left overs in an air tight container - Tupperware Modular Mates are amazingly airtight and will store your Fondant for months.

Now to the recipe! (from Australian Woman's Weekly COOK recipe book)

Preparation Time 30 minutes Cooking Time 20 minutes Makes 24

Ingredients:

Cup Cakes

125g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

⅔ cup (150g) caster sugar

¼ cup (60ml) milk

1½ cups (225g) self-raising flour

3 eggs

Vanilla Butter Cream

125g butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups (240g) icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

Method Cup Cakes:

1.    Preheat the over to 180º/160 º fan-forced. Line 2 x 12-hole patty tins with paper liners

2.    Combine Ingredients in a small bowl of electric mixer; beat on low speed until ingredients are just combined. Increase speed to medium; beat about 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth and changed to a paler colour.

3.    Drop slightly rounded tablespoons of mixture into paper cases. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire racks; turn top-side up to cool.

4.    Make vanilla butter cream. Decorate cakes as desired.

Method Vanilla Butter Cream:

1.    Beat butter and extract in a small bowl with electric mixer until as white as possible.

2.    Gradually beat in half of the sifted icing sugar, milk, then remaining icing sugar. Tint with food colouring if desired.

ENJOY! xx