Greek Yoghurt Banana Bread

  
 INGREDIENTS

• 115g butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup banana pulp mashed (about 3 ripe bananas)
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup almond meal

For Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

• Reduce sugar to 1 cup
• Add 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add vanilla extract, banana pulp, and Greek yogurt, mixing well after each ingredient.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt to combine.
4. Gradually add flour to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined on low speed.
5. Mix in almond meal until well combined.
6. Pour batter evenly into lined loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

For Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1. After the dry ingredients are added to the wet ingredients, fold in chocolate chips.

 
Adapted from: http://lovelylittlekitchen.com/greek-yogurt-banana-bread/

'Three to Sixer' - Guacamole and Fish Tacos

Our little one is now 18 months old, and our social life is practically in the graveyard - but life is still beautiful! A few months back my husband's boss (who has 3 kids of his own) invited us over for a 'Three to Sixer' - that is a mid-afternoon, early meet up with other families that ends at around 6pm so the little ones can get home for bath and sleep. At the end of it I felt renewed! So, in 2015, I'm hoping to do a few of my own.
Here is my first menu, of course it needs to be fresh and simple:-

CLASSIC GUACAMOLE

Ingredients

• 4 avocados
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

 Method

In a medium bowl, lightly mash avocados, then stir in lime juice, tomato, jalapeno, garlic, red onion, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper, serve with corn chips.

Note: This is a large serving, I find a half serving works well for our needs.

From: http://www.marthastewart.com/872700/classic-guacamole?xsc=soc_pin_classicguacamole_08152013&crlt.pid=camp.RYGdSRGF8IWl


SPICY FISH TACOS WITH SLAW AND FRESH CREMA

Ingredients

• 900g snapper fillets
• salt and pepper
• 2 tsp paprika*
• ½ tsp cayenne*
• 1 tsp garlic powder*
• 1 tsp ground cumin*
• 2 tbsp canola oil*
• For a quick fish seasoning I just use the 'taco seasoning' freshly made at Green Valley Spices

Slaw

• 4 cups (loosely packed) shredded cabbage (I use chinese cabbage as its a smaller size and convenient to slice)
• ⅓ cup chopped coriander
• 2 green onions, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white sugar (I use coconut sugar or even maple syrup)

Crema

• ⅓ cup sour cream
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• salt, to taste
• warmed tortillas, for serving

Method

1. Season fish with spices.
2. Heat grill pan or bbq (I use the Weber as it's nice and smoky) on medium-high heat. Add half of the fish and cook until the edges are opaque, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until fish flakes easily with fork, and is just ever-so-slightly translucent (it will finish cooking with the residual heat). Transfer fish to a plate and repeat with remaining fish.
3. You can warm the tortillas on the bbq too! Just spray lightly with olive oil.
4. To make cabbage slaw, toss all ingredients together in a large bowl.
5. To make crema, whisk all ingredients together and season to taste with salt.
6. Serve fish in warmed tortillas with cabbage slaw and a drizzle of crema.

Adapted from: http://foodess.com/9032-spicy-fish-tacos-with-cabbage-slaw-lime-crema.html