Beef, Vegetable and Feta Medley

This week we were aiming for low carb healthy dinners to help us fight the rising waistline situation we have going on around here. I was planning to make my old favourite side salad which I haven't had in yonks with various meats for the week. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy all the ingredients. Then I couldn't face a cold side salad on a Winter's night.  This meal eventuated out of slowly changing my mind about what I wanted to make (multiple times along the way), and oh my gosh it ended up so yum.  I've made it twice now, and found it is equally tasty making it a simpler way in the second attempt. First go I had two nights worth of cheap steaks and had decided to cook up a veggie side stew. Then I chopped the meat, sealed and stirred it through toward the end. Second time around I just bought a 500g pack of diced beef and added it just after the onions and garlic. Of course the steak meat was a little tastier (and medium rare) but it was much simpler to just throw everything  in early on and leave it go.  Plus the meat is tender and slow cooked this way.  As much as this sounds like a hodge-podge meal from how I am describing it, let me assure you that this meal made on instinct is absolutely fabulous. It is totally healthy - just meat and veg and seasonings. Plus it is low cal, high protein, low fat and low carb. What else could you hope for? Of course you can serve it on rice which will add carbs and make it last six rather than four serves, but we were more than happy with this as a stand alone dish. This is a new regular!

Curried Sausages: Traditional Australian Dinner

Ask any Australian of my generation what their Mum used to make them growing up, and a lot of them will include curried sausages with Keen's curry powder in their list.  It is a nostalgic Australian classic.  Every family has their own recipe, and the official Keen's recipe is here.  Mine differs from Keen's because I use stock and no cream, no peas (yuck) and include more veggies.  It is beautiful.

To be honest - unlike half of Australians, I stumbled upon this traditional recipe as an adult.  My Mum did her best to get me interested in food as a child, but (and this may sound odd given my diverse and expansive taste now) I didn't really like food growing up.  My poor Mum had very few meals she could tempt me with, and I was routinely sitting at the table for who knows how long (it felt like forever as a child but was probably not that long) after everyone else finished, pushing my partially eaten cold food around my plate disinterestedly, waiting for permission to leave the table.  Peas were the worst. The WORST.  I will occasionally eat peas now but only if it is in something really worthwhile.  My own favourite food memories of childhood were Spaghetti Bolognese, cheerios and baked beans (a real treat meal combo), and something Mum called a "picnic" which was a sliced apple, a slice of cheese, a boiled egg, ham and something else (fuzzy memory of Sunday nights).  Mum tried all sorts of other meals but I didn't eat much.  Poor thing had a terrible time making me eat.

But all that has changed now - perhaps too much!  Now I love pretty much everything, barring a few specific items.  Despite not having grown up with this beautiful dish myself, I adore it as an adult as ultimate comfort food.  Who could not? You know it is Australian - because after we finished I found myself saying to the Dragon - "It was bloody good wasn't it?"