I have just watched the movie Julie and Julia and I loved it – has fired me up and I have cooked each night this week – has been fun – my favorites have been  a potato tortilla ( so easy and really tasty) and an apple tarte tartin – a sort of upside down apple pie…  I think I need to blog more and I have just found the inspiration… although I have to say that was a LOT of recipes no wonder Julie nearly went crazy…

I think you should start the year off the way you mean to finish  learn to be more independent this year… these are my 5 reasons you need to ‘ get some cooking skills’…

Now this is odd…

Last week my little brother was stopped by an older kid to say she had just spent over an hour in her external Home Economics exam writing about me!!??? At about the same time I started getting texts from younger kids at school and frankly I couldn’t understand what they were about… all was revealed when we finally worked out that National NZQA Level 1 Home Economics exam paper (our national examinations for Year 11), had a whole unit analyzing  how I had influenced teenage eating habits.

WOW – sitting NZQA (Level 3) exams myself, I can tell you it felt very odd that some kids had to write about me… gotta say this was a huge honor – not to mention a bit humbling.

So to all the kids who stressed out when they saw the paper and who had to write about me - sorry  – I knew nothing about it and didn’t see  until a day later than you guys who sat it!!

Anyway, exams are over now and it is so good to chill out… I am having a bit of a break but am starting working on some exciting new projects for it’s My Turn To Cook Tonight for next year…

That's my little brother William on the cover with me!

If  your parents are thinking you should learn to be food savvy  - here is the thing I have co-wrtten a book for parents  with my mother.  My mother looks at the serious things ( nutrition, self esteem, eating too much junk food, food skills etc )  - I bring her back to earth so she remembers how kids think and operate…Together we have something that is really realistic!

 Life love food kids is a book is about a couple of journeys…

 There is my mother’s food journey – from when she was a little girl to now. It’s about what happens when childhood memories, the science of nutrition and the teaching of cooking get mixed up with family and life. 

 My part in her journey is about me getting ready to leave home and wanting to know enough about food so that I can look after myself. 

My favorite saying is ‘a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step’. This is really true about food – each time I have learnt a fact or how to do something has been a step towards my independence.

I think the lessons from our differing perspectives will help your parent to  help you travel along the same path as I have. It feels good to know I know enough about food to take good care of myself. 

Claire

PS – it will be on sale in about 4 weeks – watch this space!

Think burgers and you often think fast food – a sad little meet patty, a slice of tomato and pickle squashed between a soft sort of bun – an  on-the-run sort of thing…

Well time for a re-think – I now think burgers and I think succulent beef between stunning bread with a scrummy sauce and some fresh tasty vegetables. I was lucky enough to judge the Best Burger Competition and when they say best – they mean best!!!! What inspiration – the competitors went all out and created some stunning burgers. And actually  most of these ideas you could do too!!!

Just had to share that I have done my first half marathon… as you probably know I love sport but this is the first time i have tried this sort of thing and it feels GREAT to have done it!! ( I’m not showing you a photo cos I looked so hot and sweaty!!)

This really tests my new 20/20 tricks…… 20/20 food and 20/20 move!  I’ve  had such good feedback on my blog with my 20/20 trick that I have thought up another related to moving… ( not that the marathon was only 20%  more than usual  - it’s amazing what you think about on a long run!!??)

20/20 food = take 20% more fruit and vegetables and 20% less everything else.

20/20 move = move 20% more and spend 20% less time sitting on your butt!!

What do you think????

Saturday night and I had 10 girls over for dinner so I decided a roast of beef is the way to go because once I worked out how long to cook it for all I have to do is shove it in the oven and let it go.

No effort by me so I could relax with my friends… We  watched the All Blacks beat France in the Rugby World Cup – I was so impressed with  my cooking buddy Richard Kahui  - a star of the game!!! (he’s the All Black I did a series of cooking programs with on the Small Blacks)

Timing was the key for my meal  - and the only bit I had to pay attention was is weighing the meat (or reading the label to see what it weighs) and doing a quick bit of maths. My roast was a topside cut, it weighed 1.2kg and I like it rare, but I think some of my friends will prefer it medium so I  cooked it at 160^oC  for  1 hour and 15 minutes then rested it for 10 minutes before I cut it.  Here’s the link to get detailed roasting info . There is a chart which shows you  how long and how hot  - but relax – this was a doddle!!

I knew my vegetables (a mix of potatoes, gold kumara (sweet potato), yams, onions and peppers)  were going to take around 45 minutes to cook so I added them 45 minutes before the end of cooking. I didn’t muck around with  hot green vegetables or gravy (which is seriously easy but I wanted something a little different) so I just served the meat on a bed of leafy greens and drizzled it with some quince dressing which was totally yummy!

For starters I offered a choice of stuffed mushrooms (with pesto, a slice of tomato and  camembert cheese) or crustini topped with avocado and smoked salmon.

I wanted to honor the French  so I made  some creme brulee - but they knocked us out of the Rugby World Cup last time so I didn’t want to honor them too much!!! The creme brulees tasted stunning, I served them with fresh strawberries and they were perfect.

So all in all – a dinner for 10 was easy – I got into the kitchen at about 4.30 and had the food totally sorted, the table set and all under control before any of my friends arrived. My advice if you are cooking for a crowd – pick simple and easy food (like roast beef)  that you can prepare in advance and take attention to your timing.

PS:  I really want to help my Canadian friends because the All Blacks verse Canada  this coming  Saturday night – and you might be in trouble on the Rugby field – so this is my way of keeping you out of trouble in the kitchen!!! So for special Beef Canada help follow this… there is a short  little video that gives you a few valuable tips…

I am a dreamer so it sort of follows that I dream, or visualize, about food too.

When I think about my meals I sort if hold an image in my mind about what to eat.    I ‘see’ my plate as being half fruit and vegetables or salad,  quarter protein (meat, fish, eggs or poultry ) and quarter carbohydrates or grains (rice, pasta or breads – here’s the good part  - I love potatoes and depending on who you listen to they can fit in two categories – veg or carbs!?)

When I put this image in mind I find it easy to help me choose how much of what to eat… it’s kind of fun trying to ‘untangle’ foods like fried rice too. It’s easy to fix if your plate gets distorted – sometimes the quarters look more like thirds –  ’cos lets face it, it is usually the fruit and veg half that gets the nudge – just eat a carrot, tomato, orange, apple or a handful of grapes and your picture gets ‘right’. (According to the health guys, about 2/3′s of us don’t get the half bit right – so that is why they are always going on about it!?! )

The other day I learnt another cool trick – it’s 20/20. As you are taking your food stop and and consciously take 20% more fruit and vegetables and 20% less of everything else. I gotta say 20%  more and 20% less isn’t hard at all – doesn’t make much difference to your meal but does to your skin and jean size!

So there you go – see a picture of a plate and play 20/20 – both easy…

PS:  No matter where you live,  you’ll have heard it –  mix it up, 5 to 10 a day,  go for 2 & 5, more matters or 5+ A Day - whatever your country is banging on about  my two tricks will just help you get there!!!