Jamie's Food Revolution

Again, the reason I'm doing this blog is from my inspiration from the TV show, Jamie's Food Revolution. If you haven't seen it, you should tune in this week. It has moved to Fridays at 9 pm. Also, you can get involved by signing the petition to support the Food Revolution. You can do that at: http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/sign-petition

British Beef and Onion Pie

3 medium onions
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp. English mustard (I just used regular as a substitute)
1 tsp. Marmite (I added extra Worcestershire sauce)
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp flour, plus extra for dusting
4 cups beef broth
2 x 9″ pie crusts
1 large egg or a splash of milk

Peel and finely chop onions, carrots and celery. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the vegetables, rosemary and the bay leaves. Stir about once a minute for ten minutes, or until the vegetables are softened and lightly coloured. Stir in the ground beef, breaking up large chunks. Stir in the mustard, Marmite, Worcestershire sauce and 2 tsp of flour. Add the beef broth and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer, covered with the lid slightly askew for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Take out your pastry shell and fill with the filling. Dust a clean work surface with flour. Roll out your top pie crust until it is big enough to cover the top of your pie plate. Carefully fold the crust in half and place on your pie. Trim the excess crust off the edge of the pie with a sharp knife. Push the edges of the pie together and seal with your fingers. Cut some slits in the top crust of the pie to let out steam. Brush the top of the pie with either beaten egg or milk. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Yummm!!! This was so good! And I'm not one to eat much beef, but this was delicious. Definitely a husband pleaser as well. I was kinda hesitant about it at first. Beef pie just sounds gross to me....but I was wrong!
My only issue while cooking is that the mixture was too watery after cooking it for an hour. But I turned the heat up and it cooked out pretty quick. He said "turn the heat down and simmer for an hour". So, I turned it down to the lowest setting. It would probably be better to simmer it on medium low, where its still bubbling a little. Just make sure to stir it often to it won't burn. Another issue I had was that I couldn't find 'Marmite' at Walmart. So I just cooked it without it, and it still tasted good. Also, it calls for 'English mustard'. I don't know what that is, so I just used regular (American) mustard. :)
This meal cost me about $8-9. And my Thomas and I ate for leftovers the next day. Also, I'm planning on making two more recipes this week using carrots, celery, onions, and rosemary. So, I'll save money there. I grow rosemary in my herb garden, so I saved money there too. (Definitely invest in an herb garden, if you don't already. It'll save you lots of money, they taste way better than dried herbs, and it's super easy. You can grow them outside in the spring/summer and bring them in for the fall/winter.)
So far, this is one of my favorite recipes so far! You should try it.

Baked French Potatoes

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 3/4 pounds potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
1 pound medium onions, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
Italian parsley, finely chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Butter

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Put chicken or vegetable broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

3. Peel and slice potatoes. Peel, halve, and slice onions and garlic.

4. Pick the leaves from a small handful of fresh Italian parsley and finely chop. Pour a couple of lugs [a "lug" is about one tablespoon] of olive oil into a large, hot pan with the onions, garlic, and parsley. Slowly fry for 10 minutes, until the onions are soft and lightly golden. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper.

5. In a large baking dish, place a layer of potatoes, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and a layer of onions. Continue, repeating until you've used everything up, but try to finish with a layer of potatoes on top.

6. Pour in the hot broth to just cover the top of the potatoes. Break up 2 pats of butter and dot over the top.

7. Rub some aluminum foil with olive oil, place it, oil-side down, over the dish, and seal tight.

8. Place in the oven for 45 minutes, then remove the aluminum foil, push the potatoes down, and return to the oven for 20 to 40 minutes until golden and crisp.

Serves 4 to 6

This turned out really bad! I don't know if I did something wrong or what. The potatoes were really mushy. The taste wasn't too bad, I think it was just the texture that ruined it for me. It definitely isn't worth the time put into making it. The only thing I did differently was I made my own chicken broth. But I don't think that would make a difference in the texture. Maybe if you didn't put as much broth in there. But I'm not going to waste my time trying it again. If you're curious, go ahead and try it, and let me know if it turns out any better than mine. :)

Broiled Trout (or Tilapia) Topped with Mustard and Oats

Serves 2

Olive oil
2 chunky trout fillets, skin on, scaled and bones removed (about 7 ounces each) (I used tilapia)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I used ground mustard)
2 handfuls of old-fashioned oats
1 lemon

To prepare your trout
Preheat your broiler to the highest setting. Drizzle a sheet pan with some olive oil and rub all over. Lay the trout fillets, skin side down, on the pan and season well with salt and pepper. Smear a teaspoon of mustard over each fillet. Put the oats into a bowl drizzle a little olive oil over them, and toss around to coat. Sprinkle a handful of oats over each fillet and pat down. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and give them another pat.

To cook your trout
Put the sheet pan under the preheated broiler for about 10 minutes, until the oats are golden brown and crispy and the fish is cooked through.

To serve your trout
Divide between your plates and serve with simple baby potatoes, use lemon wedge for squeezing over.

This was VERY easy, and pretty good. It wasn't the best thing I've ever tasted. But it was easy, cheap, and just a different way to cook fish. And it's pretty healthy too! I had it with a sweet potato and some homemade bread. Probably would've been better with some steamed veggies, or something like that, but I didn't have anything else. I usually have all of these ingredients on hand, since I buy my fish in bulk. So this will be my go to recipe when I haven't gone to the store, or if I'm in a hurry. Try this one!
~

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

(My picture below, Jamie's above)

Like I've said before, I use Jamie's Cookbook, 'Jamie's Food Revolution' for this blog. I try to find the recipes online at his website, so that I can copy and paste it on here for you guys to see. Well, for some reason, this recipe was written a little different online. This recipe turned out really bad for me. The issues I had, probably won't be the same for you, if you follow the one I am including below

Ingredients

• 2 skinless chicken breast fillets (I used chicken tenders)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 lemons
• 15 Saltine crackers (the book said 6. 15 makes more since)
• 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil (book said butter....definitely use oil)
• 8 sprigs of fresh Italian parsley
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg plus one egg white
• Lemon wedges, for serving

To prepare your chicken

Cut each chicken breast into 2 equal pieces. Put a square of plastic wrap over each one and bash a few times with the bottom of a pan until they are more or less the same thickness.

Peel the garlic and zest the lemons. Put your crackers into a food processor with the oil, garlic, parsley sprigs, lemon zest, and the salt and pepper. Whiz until the mixture is very fine, then pour these crumbs onto a plate. (If using a blender, leave out the oil and chop the parsley roughly and the garlic finely. Add the garlic and parsley after the crackers are pretty much blitzed and mix in the oil once you’ve dumped the mixture onto a plate.)

Sprinkle the flour on to a second plate. Crack the egg into a small bowl, add the white, and beat with a fork. Lightly score the underside of the chicken breasts. Dip the chicken into the flour until both sides are completely coated, then dip into the egg and finally into the flavored crumbs. Push the crumbs on to the chicken breasts so they stick – you want the meat to be totally coated.

To cook your chicken

Preheat your oven to its highest temperature (475°F). Place your chicken on a nonstick sheet pan. Cook for 10 minutes, flip the chicken and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, golden and crisp (no trace of pink at the center of the thickest part). You can check by making a small cut in a piece or two.

To serve your chicken

Either serve the chicken breasts whole, or cut them into strips and pile them on a plate. Beautiful and simple served with lemon wedges for squeezing over the top.


When I did this, I put 6 crackers, butter, garlic, parsley, and lemon zest into the food processor at the same time. Instead of being crumbs and powdery, it ended up becoming one big chunk because of the butter. I don't understand why the book says to do it that way. Maybe he got alot of feedback about it, so he changed his online recipe. So, I'm definitely going to try this again, following the recipe online (above). The flavor was really good, it was just the texture that was weird in mine. I really like the lemon zest in there, it gives it nice flavor, and it's different. I think this would be something good that kids would eat...and husbands. My husband liked it, even though mine turned out weird.
This dish is relatively cheap. I can't give you the exact dollar figure, because I had most of this already. The most expensive thing would be the chicken. I recommend trying this. I will try to fix it again soon, and I'll let ya know if the second one turns out better. :)

Spicy Moroccan Stewed Fish with Couscous

This recipe was okay. A little bit bland. But it could be because I didn't exactly follow the recipe. It calls for a fresh chile. The only thing I could find at Walmart was a huge bag of them, and I didn't really want to buy them. Also I'm not a huge fan of spicy things, so I just decided to omit it. Also, I forgot to buy the can of diced tomatoes, so I just chopped up some fresh ones, which I think that's okay to do. The cinnamon added a very unique touch. I thought it may taste weird, but you really wouldn't be able to tell it was cinnamon, unless you knew.
I already had frozen shrimp and fish (I used tilapia), basil (left from my first recipe), peas, cinnamon, and garlic. Here's how much I spent on everything else:
Couscous - $2.21
Cumin seeds - $2.78 (Only used a little, plenty left for later)
2 lemons - .76
So, I only spent $5.75. It probably wouldn't be super expensive if you had to buy the other things. I always buy frozen tilapia in bulk (about $10 for 10-15 fillets) and a bag of frozen shrimp is about $5, but you only use about half the bag.
So, this meal could probably be done for under $10. If you like spicy food, use the fresh chile, maybe it'll taste a little better than mine. I didn't love this recipe, but it wasn't terrible. I would recommend experimenting with it.

Baked Creamy Leeks

1.75 lb leeks
2 cloves of garlic
2 pats of butter
1 lug of olive oil
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

I had 2 leeks, and about a cup of heavy cream from my Chicken and Leek Stroganoff I made earlier this week. So, I saw this recipe and thought I'd give it a shot. This recipe makes a great side dish. I went to a friend's house, who was cooking chicken casserole, and this made a great side. The only thing I had to buy was Thyme (buy it fresh), and it was only a couple dollars (free if you have an herb garden). I already had the other ingredients on hand.
This was really good! Very creamy and cheesy. Definitely not a low fat recipe, with the heavy cream and cheese, but not too terrible since the ingredients are natural. It was a little 'liquidy', so I took a few spoonfuls of the cream out. It's probably because I needed some more leeks. He called for 1.75 pounds of leeks. I didn't have anything to weigh them, so I just used 2 leeks, not sure if that was enough or not. Jamie didn't give an exact pan size. I used a regular pie pan and it worked perfect. Just so you know, this recipe didn't make a whole lot, it's only about 1 inch thick. But it was enough for 4 of us.

Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
* 1 medium potato
* 1 head broccoli
* A large bunch of fresh basil
* Sea salt
* 1 pound dried tagliatelle (I couldn't find this pasta, so I used fettuccine...it looks similar)
* 1/4 cup green pesto
* 3 ounces Parmesan cheese
Wash and peel the potato and cut it into very thin shavings using a speed peeler. Cut little broccoli florets off the head and put them to one side. Halve the thin stalk lengthwise, then slice thinly. Pick the basil leaves and discard the stalks.
Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add the tagliatelle (or fettuccine) and broccoli stalks and cook according to the tagliatelle package instructions. Two minutes before the the tagliatelle is cooked, add the broccoli and potato slices. Drain everything in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water, and return to the pan. Roughly chop half of your basil leaves and add to the pan with the pesto and half of the Parmesan. Give it all a good stir and if the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of the cooking water to thin it out a bit.
Divide the pasta between your serving bowls. Sprinkle over the rest of the Parmesan and the remaining basil leaves. Serve it a lovely big bowl of salad.

I really enjoyed this recipe, and it was very easy and only took about 20 minutes. The combination of broccoli and pesto was delicious! My husband liked it too. It's always a good sign if he likes it! My mother in law and 9 year old nephew had some leftovers, and they liked it too! I thought it was kinda weird to put a potato in pasta, but it really added a good touch. I agree with Jamie's reasoning for it...it adds 'creaminess and texture'. I recommend this one!

Again, I bought all the ingredients at Walmart:
Broccoli and potato - cheap, I don't know exactly how much, probably about $1
Basil - (FRESH, not the dried spice) $2.88 (I usually grow my own basil, which of course would be much cheaper. You could probably buy a plant for about $3 or $4, then you'll have some for more cooking later...i just bought Basil plant seeds for $1)
Fettuccine - $1
Pesto - $1.98 (I only used half the jar...so more for something else)
Parmesan cheese - I bought a 6oz jar of grated Parmesan for $2.98. Definitely don't use the Kraft powdery kind, that doesn't taste as fresh and it has preservatives. I only used half the jar, so I have more for something later.
Total = $9.84 or $2.46-$1.64/serving
That's pretty darn cheap! Restaurant style pasta for about $2, compared to about $12 in a restaurant!

Chicken & Leek Stroganoff

Serves 2 (my husband and I both ate some, then I had leftovers for lunch)

Ingredients

sea salt
1/4 cup long grain or basmati rice (I used jasmine rice because we had some)
1 large leek
a big handful of crimini or oyster mushrooms (I don't really know what crimini or oyster mushrooms are, so i just got regular white ones)
2 chicken breasts (I used chicken tenders because I had some in the freezer)
olive oil
a pat of butter
a glass of white wine (I bought white cooking wine at Walmart)
freshly ground black pepper
a bunch of fresh parsley
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 lemon

Pour boiling water from the kettle into a 2 quart saucepan, place on a high heat and add a pinch of sea salt. Add your rice, bring back to a boil, then turn the heat down slightly. Cook for the length of time given in the instructions on the package.

Cut both ends off the leek, quarter lengthways, slice across thinly, then wash well under running water. Slice the mushrooms. Slice the chicken breasts into little=finger-size pieces.

Put a large frying pan on a high heat and add a good lug of olive oil and a pat of butter. Add the leek to the pan with the white wine, a small glass of water, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Let it bubble away for 5 minutes, covered loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley, stalks and all. Remove the foil and add the chicken strips, most of the parsley, the cream, and the mushrooms. Stir, bring back to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain your rice. Just before serving, cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice of one half into the stroganoff. Season to taste.

Spoon some rice onto each plate and top with the stroganoff. Scatter with the rest of the chopped parsley. Serve with the other lemon half, cut into wedges.


I bought all the ingredients at Walmart. I already had some of the products, but here's what I spent on what I didn't have:
Sea Salt - $1.18
Leek - the recipe calls for 1, but it only came in 3's for $2.48
Mushrooms - $1.88 (didn't use them all, so I can use the rest for something else)
White cooking wine - $2.44
Bunch of parsley - 0.88
Heavy cream - $2.18
Lemon - .38
So, I spent a total of $11.42 for this meal. Which is only $3.80/serving (for us) Not bad!

This recipe was very good, SUPER easy, and only took about 20 minutes to make. To be honest, before this recipe, I don't think I even knew what a leek was. And I've never cooked with wine before either. Needless to say, this is not my regular way of cooking. But I REALLY enjoyed it!
My husband and I had it with a roll and were very satisfied. You could probably serve it with some veggies or salad to go on the side.
I definitely recommend this one.

Introduction

I'm planning on cooking through Jamie Oliver's book, 'Jamie's Food Revolution', and blogging about it. Yes, I stole the idea from the book/movie 'Julie & Julia'. I'm a huge fan of Jamie and what he stands for. I bought his cook book, 'Jamie's Food Revolution', and I watch his show on ABC on Tuesdays at 8. I'm wanting to cook through the book, and share my thoughts and opinions on the recipes. And hopefully motivate whoever reads this to try the recipes as well. The purpose of his book is to show people that it is possible to cook simple, delicious, and affordable meals. His idea for the book is to for the reader to learn some of the recipes, teach it to 2 people, and those people teach it to 2 more people....and so on. Starting a revolution! I just figured I'd take it a step further and teach people via a blog. So, I hope you enjoy this and you cook along with me. I'd also love to hear your feedback and pictures of what you cook!