How to avoid doing the groceries and still eat well!

Have you ever been ”that” parent in the supermarket? You know, the one whose kid is not doing the right thing and you feel like all eyes are on you? My problem with taking Hospobaby for grocery shopping is that she has a list of ingredients of her own that is quite different from mine. She will add mandarins, ice cream, yogurt or anything else that catches her fancy into our trolley. Not to mention the L word (lollies). So in order to avoid doing a big shop with the 2 year old food-shopping expert, I decided to try Nadia Lim’s My Food Bag. We ordered the gourmet bag for two, that comes with four meals for the week and enough left over ingredients to whizz something up for the weekend.  

Hospobaby was delighted to see the van deliver our produce and helped me put everything away. It was a big relief to not have to think about what we were going to eat that week and not have to shop or run back to the shop for a forgotten ingredient. The first week we had fish, brocollini and walnut stir-fry, then parmesan, ricotta, silverbeet and eggplant involtini, followed by roast chicken with Indian pickle, peanut salad and naan and finally steak sandwiches with carmelized onions and horseradish crème fraiche. Zoya loved the involtini and the roast chicken most of all. The following week we cooked Baked duck legs with winter remoulade, a caramelized baby leek and butternut tart, Turkish lamb kofte with tabouleh and tahini yogurt and finally smoked salmon, butternut and cavolo nero pasta. Hospobaby helped me shape the kofte and couldn’t wait to get into them at dinner-time. For a family that usually doesn’t cook fish at home, as I always worry about over cooking it, hospobaby couldn’t get enough of the salmon and butternut pasta. I enjoyed the duck legs the most.

Often people ponder that being married to a chef I must eat fancy meals each night. Reality is quite different, Sid cooks maybe once a month at home, he comes home at 1 am most nights and so obviously doesn’t make dinner, I do.  My food bag made me feel like I had something more interesting to eat as I often get stuck into a rut with cooking the same recipes. I have been inspired to make the steak sandwiches and roast chicken again this week.

Here is a link to My Food Bag if you wish to try it for yourself.

http://www.myfoodbag.co.nz

 If you don’t mind someone deciding what you eat and if you are keen to try anything this is the answer to your time issues and supermarket phobias.

After eating healthy with Nadia’s help all week we decided that we could reward ourselves and made mac and cheese on Sunday. With winter here it is really comforting and very indulgent. Skip it if you count your calories, as it is not as healthy as any of Nadia Lim’s My food bag recipes.

Hospobaby’s favourite Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

1 pack of dry macaroni

1 teaspoon olive oil

Smoked pancetta (leave out if you are vegetarian)

500mls cream

3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 teaspoons English or French mustard

Hand full of breadcrumbs

Half a cup grated cheddar

Half a cup grated parmesan and a little more for sprinkling

Salt and pepper

Truffle oil

Method

Boil water in a pan and cook macaroni as per packet instructions. Drain and set aside

Dice the pancetta if using and add to the pan with some olive oil.

Once the pancetta is cooked take it out and set aside. Turn off the heat on the pan.

In a saucepan slowly heat the cream, be sure not to boil it.

Finely chop the garlic cloves and put into a small bowl. To this bowl add the paprika and mustard and mix

When you see small bubbles appearing in your cream turn it off and take it off the heat. Stir in the garlic, paprika and mustard mix into the cream. Now add your grated cheese into the cream to make a cheesy sauce. Season to taste.

In an oven proof dish mix your macaroni and cheese sauce. Top with a handful of breadcrumbs and grate some Parmesan on top. Grill in the oven till the top is crusty and serve with a generous lashing of truffle oil.