Halloumi and cabbage stir fry - the long-winded way - Now with pictures!

Halloumi and cabbage stir fry - the long-winded way

I was looking in my fridge the other week trying to decide what to eat that wasn't pancakes or sausage and pasta. Neither of those are very low on calories.

I had a bag of fresh, lovely Brussels sprouts, onion, apples and mushrooms that started to look sad. I also had a block of halloumi cheese.

I started by dicing up the onion and dumping it in a non-stick pan. I added some liquid margarine  just to get it going.
While it fried I cleaned the sprouts and halved them dumping them in as they were ready.I put a lid on and let it steam. Sprouts are delicious but not if they are too uncooked - and also not if they are over cooked.

Then I diced the mushroom straight into the pan and stirred some more. Finally an apple - peel (absolutely not necessary), core and dice. Toss it in and stir to cook.

Add some salt and pepper - go easy on the salt as the cheese is quite salty. Curry is nice with the apple but don't mesh very well with the cheese - decide for yourself.

When the sprouts are almost done dice the cheese and toss it in. Shift the veggies to the side in the pan to give the cheese a chance to brown and crisp up a little before stirring it all together.

Serve it all in a huge bowl/soup dish with some sweet balsamic reduction. I get one made from Figs and Date balsamic vinegar.

One slice of bread to mop up the juices once you're done.

Sit down and stuff your face with it! But don't do what I did and have this for lunch and dinner three days in a row. Your mouth will love you, but your stomach will hate you and we all know who wins out in that contest?

If you use a lot of veggies this dish is incredibly filling. Don't hesitate to add other kinds of veggies too - carrots, broccoli, leeks - also change it up with different kinds of cabbage. I made it with Savoy cabbage once and that was great too.
Using different varieties of apple changes it too. I prefer a tart kind that's not too sweet.


WeightWatcher calculations

The best part is if you go without the margarine in the beginning you only have to count points for the halloumi.
I use 100 g for this dish (the cheese comes in 200 or 250 g blocks here) which adds up to 8 or 9 points. None of the veggies add points and the balsamic I use is free too - but check your own to make sure. Don't forget to count the bread.

Enjoy!

That's how the cookie crumbles ...

I love crumbles! Rickard is a lot less thrilled about it. But a rhubarb crumble is an absolute must at least once a year. Even more so if the garden has a patch of the lovely pink stems that are only mine (ok ours).

Our rhubarb patch isn't big yet so I had to save the stems in the fridge for about a week before there was enough to make this pie.

I never use a recipe for a crumble. It's more of the stand back and throw method for me.

I cut up the stems then transferred the pieces back to the bag where I had saved them and put in two spoons of potato starch and a large helping of sugar.
Then I shook the bag to mix it all before I dunked it all in the pie tin.

I chopped up a bag of almonds - skin and all - at first I tried doing that by hand but ended up using my excellent mixer instead.
I wanted a few large pieces as well so I didn't run the mixer for too long.

Then the almonds were mixed with some whole wheat flour (we call it graham flour) and some light muscavado sugar.
Some liquid shortening mixed in and finally it had a coarse sandy texture. Some butter would have worked well too.

I spread the crumble on top of the rhubarbs and sprinkled some white chocolate chips on top.

35-40 minutes in the oven at 200 C (400 F).

Served it with some home shaken vanilla sauce/custard made from powder and milk - I know, I know, but we had nothing else at home.
I did try it with some vanilla sour milk and that was lovely too but I suppose harder to come by if you're not living in sour milk country. Yoghurt's just not the same.

We ate it all - not a crumble left.

The rest of the rhubarbs will have to grow bigger and then I'll make rhubarb soup/gravy for Rickard. He loves it warm with vanilla ice cream.

Secret Agent on the loose

I've been pretty occupied lately with taxes and book keeping and other financial issues that made me want to wash my eyes out with bleach.

I've not permitted myself to sew much of anything until the taxes were handed in and once I got used to not sewing it was kind of hard to get started again.

But then Oliver + S released their new patterns and there was this adorable trench coat, and at the same time they stared up a new show on children's television in Sweden with Agent Lycra where they invited kids to send in pictures of them dressed up as spies or secret agents.

And well - it all resulted in this:



A very small and very cute Secret Agent Sofia ...



She'll hide out behind an advertising leaflet with cut outs for the eyes to keep an eye on the neighbourhood.



Then she'll take notes to make sure nothing is forgotten.



Nothing escapes Agent Sofia!

Sewing notes: This is an Oliver + S Secret Agent Trench Coat in size 7. Made from a tan cotton twill I found at my local fabric store. Seams are bound with pink and white striped bias tape. I added a back yoke to it by drafting my own pattern piece using the back panel as a template. Buttons were bought at a haberdashery in town. Button holes sewn up in purple thread that I also used for top stitching. Hems are all sewn as two seams.

Long weekend ahead ...

... after an even longer week.

Rickard left on a business trip on Monday afternoon and is due to return on Friday night.

The class he teaches should end at 3 pm but then he has packing to do and it's a 4.5 hour drive home. Plus I suppose he'll have to stop for some dinner.

The girls miss him as do I but we manage.

Saturday is hike day for both girls. Sofia's only away for 90 minutes but Isabel's away from 9:30 am until 4 pm.
This weekend though, we'll have to fetch Isabel in the woods because my grannie's invited us for dinner at 4 pm and Isabel has to shower before she's fit to see people other than us after a day of hiking.
They usually have a camp fire going and grill some hot dogs so she smells of wood smoke.

Sunday is a regular Sunday with swim classes in the morning.

Monday is Walpurgis Night and I have a short day at the office. Most of my co-workers are taking the day off but I have quite a lot to do. I hope to get it done from home though.
Since it's a semi-holiday Isabel is off school and we decided she'd be home from after-school care as well.
I asked my parents to mind the girls and they gladly said yes. They'll take the girls to the bonfire on Monday night and on Tuesday they'll bring them to the park to join in the May Day demonstrations and festivities. Then we'll all meet up in town for dinner out.

Rickard and I are going to the movies on Tuesday. We're seeing Avengers. I am very excited.

*hysterical laughter*

Not to boast or anything, but I have always regarded myself as an above average intelligent person. I can make heads or tails of fairly complex logical processes and I'm also more than a little tech savvy due to having worked in the field for 15+ years.

But nothing reduces me to tears quicker than having to deal with economics or financial issues.

I mean, I can balance my checking account, no biggie but doing the books on the tiny little company I run. No way.

The lady who is the CEO at work has helped me, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how she puts it all together.
And handing in my taxes, just blindly relying on her telling me what figures to write? It goes against the grain of my whole being.
I need to know what the numbers mean.

Although if I cannot figure it out during the day, sitting at home mulling it over at 11 pm won't make it any easier.

And I hate asking her again and again about the same figures. Almost as much as I hate feeling stupid.

Weekend Travel Bag

 

This is what an Amy Butler Weekend Travel Bag looks like when all the pieces are cut out. What's not present in this picture are the huge Timtex pieces I had cut out for the sides and the outside pockets and bottoms.

I cut the Timtex pieces out around Christmas and they have been cluttering my sewing room ever since.



I started the bag just after Easter and although it was a bit fiddly there were no difficult steps.



I finished the shell of my Weekend Travel Bag last weekend and today I got the lining done.

I wanted to add some pockets to the lining. Pockets are good. Love pockets. But it took longer than I had thought. I kept getting interrupted.

This morning though, after we finished tidying up Sofia's room (note to self: Never let it go this far again!) I sat down to finish the it.

What is left now is to tack the seam allowances of the bag to the lining's and then to slip stitch around the zipper on the inside.

I hope to start that tonight.The false bottom is also prepared and only needs some slip stitching to be finished.

I bought a set of bag feet for the finished bag but I've been looking all over for them without any luck. I'm going through my shelves in a bit and hopefully I'll find them before tonight.

Wish me luck!

We saw a movie!

We went to see Pirates! Band of Misfits on Thursday. I made a vlog about it instead of writing ...