Cold Weather Cravings
The cold weather that’s been consuming Auckland over the past week had me craving some heartier meals over the weekend. And with a few recipes air marked in the last few issues of mEAT magazines I knew this was the perfect time to give them a go.
After the crystal clear blue skies we experienced on Saturday, I thought it a good idea to ask my partner to light the outdoor fire that night so we could cook pizzas over it and pretend it was Summer. Luckily the fire pumps out the heat so we could all enjoy cooking whilst huddled around the fire to keep warm. I’m a big believer in ‘the more the merrier’ way of thinking when it comes to piling on the pizza toppings, however the pizza of choice Beef Pizza with Blue Cheese and Caramelised Onion is all about simplicity and proved to be an absolute winner. Homemade caramelised onions are combined with tender beef and blue cheese sauce and, as there was no rocket to be found in our garden, I used baby spinach to finish it off. Everyone was so impressed and claimed it to be the new favourite. We finished off all the pizzas that night including the two we had reserved for lunch the following day so my tip to you? Be prepared to have no left overs.
Come Sunday lunchtime, I still desired something fulfilling for dinner and I was hanging out to use my new slow cooker. Having read Lisa’s blog last week about how delicious the Pulled Beef Nachos were, I thought it the perfect choice. They also got the tick of approval from my carb conscious partner, who wanted something lower on the carb front after eating so much pizza on Saturday. I chucked everything in the slow cooker and let the sweet and spicy aroma fill our house. The delicious smells teased our senses all afternoon and by 6pm we could not wait to fill our plates. I swapped out the nachos for authentic corn tacos and paired the beef with mesculin, corn, guacamole, lots of spicy sauces and natural yogurt. This is now a new favourite recipe that my partner has requested feature on the weekly dinner menu. Monday lunch time left overs were the best!