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!!!

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!!!

Most of us love chips or fries (whatever you call them – sort of depends where you live) but you know they have a bad reputation. Well here is the inside scoop (haha I am just studying for English and that is a good pun ?!?)

1. When a potato comes out of the ground it is just about fat free.
2. By time it leaves the processor it is around 3-5% fat.
3. By time gets on your plate it can be around 9% for wedges or thick cut ones and around 17% fat for skinny ones.

(But let’s keep this in perspective here – we need some fat. Even the skinny ones have less that most pies or chocolate cookies and neither of them have any Vitamin C  - so chips don’t deserve to be so maligned – problem  is we eat so many of them though!)

So it’s not the potato that is the problem – it is how they are cooked… but there are a few things to help …

• Go for chunky or thick cut – these have about half  the fat of skinny ones. Lots of the skinny ones can give you a big bum if you eat them too often – more than a few times a week. If there are only skinny ones then just go for small size  so you can still enjoy the yummy taste.
• Making chips at home can be great – there are lots of packets you can buy that are around 5% fat or less so that is a good choice. Read the label. They taste good too.
• And better still (cheaper and even lower fat) you can make your own wedges or roast potatoes – these are really easy  and seriously delicious.

So with bought chips and fries just make a decision to eat a little less so you can still enjoy them – my trick is to eat them slowly so you enjoy every morsel – that way you don’t feel deprived – if you feel deprived you’ll only pig out later…

But if all goes wrong,  your will-power does a runner and you succumb to a big serve – there is redemption. Go easy at your next meal, have a glass of milk and an apple, plus do a bit more exercise  to swing back into balance. Do that and it will all work out in the end and your jeans will still fit!?!?

PS; it’s the same strategy you need for chocolate.

Remember my foodie rule No 1:

All food is ok, but don’t do binge or excess – it’s how much and how often you eat a food… two or three chocolate biscuits are ok – a packet isn’t… a can or glass of coke is fine – 2 litres is over the top… Watch out for ‘portion distortion’ – a serve should be about the size of your fist.

A quick message for all you who have been participating and all those who are still participating…

As the Rugby World Cup gets nearer, rugby gets more fever pitch… just thought i’d let you know i am doing my bit to get all the kids excited about Rugby on my weekly Small black TV Show where I assist All Black Richard Kahui. in Cooking with Kaks.

Check out these two … Scrum Time potatoes – perfect to serve with a steak and some stir-fry vegetables …

Centers Chicken Wedges!