After a couple of fairly slack weeks, I have completed another challenge.
This week I used fish - gurnard was available at a reasonable price, and looked fresh so that was the fishing done.
I smeared a paste of basil, coriander and chilli onto the fish, and wrapped it in rice paper rounds that were soaked in water to soften them. These rolls were then fried in a little oil, until the fish was cooked, and the rice paper lightly golden.
We had these served on stir fried greens (cabbage, broccoli and bok choy) and drizzled with a sauce made of sherry, soy sauce, ginger and sugar simmered together until thick.
The meal was extremely tasty, and low fat as it turned out! The kids loved it, and asked for more - so I think this meal gets a 5/5 from us. Even better, the whole meal cost about $20 to serve the 5 of us.
For dessert, I made a recipe that I fist made several years ago, and then forgot about. It is called apple couscous pudding. Apple juice, raisins and cinnamon are brought to the boil, and couscous is then added. This mixture is layered with sliced apples, and finished with more sliced apple, and sprinkled with a little raw sugar. The pudding is then baked until browned. It was really tasty - alas no photo of this one. The kids loved this too, and again it is a very cheap dish - total cost about $5 for the whole dish!
So, an economical and well liked dinner. A win-win situation I think.
I have been having a bit of a bagel making session today, after making a batch of 12 yesterday that the kids practically demolished, leaving only 2 in the freezer for school lunches.
Bagels are very expensive to buy, at around $4 for 4 bagels, but very cheap to make as I worked out yesterday. The cinnamon and raisin bagels work out to about $2 for 12 regular or 16 smaller bagels, and the plain ones at around $1.50 for the same quantity. So they are well worth making if you like to eat them.
I made three slightly different batches today. One plain, one cinnamon and raisin, and one wholemeal cinnamon and raisin.The dough for the cinnamon and raisin batch was made in the breadmaker, and the other 2 batches were done in the Kitchen Aid mixer. Both machines coped fine with what is really a fairly stiff bread dough.
Here are the bagels shaped, and waiting to be boiled.On the left and half of the back tray are the plain bagels, with the cinnamon and raisin at the front, and the wholemeal cinnamon and raisin variety on half of the middle and back trays. I made 16 of each - they are slightly smaller than bought ones. A batch of 12 gives a bagel more the size of a typical bought one.
After the bagels rise for around 15 mins, 
they are dropped into a pot of boiling water with a tablespoon of molasses added to it. They are only boiled for around 30 seconds on each side. They puff up a bit during this stage, and look sort of lumpy when you take them out.
This is what they look like after boiling, ready to go into the oven.And the final product:
Back left is the wholemeal cinnamon and raisin, Back right is the regular cinnamon and raisin, and the Plain Bagels at the front.
Needless to say, the kids were very pleased to see them when they arrived home from school. We gave a lot of the plain ones to Sandra and the kids for their lunches, and Jordan,Zach and Jayna were all very impressed and happy to try one straight away.
Having never been a cross country runner myself, I am continually amazed that all 3 of our kids manage to perform very well in this sport.
This year has been no different.
Last term, Lauren's syndicate at school had their cross country, and Lauren placed a very impressive 2nd place in the year 4 girls race. A great effort.
Earlier this term, Kyla and Braden's syndicates had their cross country races. Braden placed 2nd in his, and Kyla 3rd in hers. We were very impressed!Last Monday saw the Kaipara Schools Cross Country being held at Woodhill Sands. This is an event which has about 8 schools participating. Both Kyla and Braden went to this, and did well there too. Braden placed 5th, and Kyla 4th.
Thursday last week was the Norwest Cross Country, involving schools from Kaukapaka down to Swanson and Massey - around 22 schools this time.
Braden placed 11th in his race, and Kyla an impressive 2nd place!!!
We were very proud of them both,
and look forward to seeing how Kyla does at the Auckland Champs on 2nd September.
We had these served on stir fried greens (cabbage, broccoli and bok choy) and drizzled with a sauce made of sherry, soy sauce, ginger and sugar simmered together until thick.
