Lemon and Dill Salmon, Veggies and Rice

Hola! I am back! After an absolutely CRAZY few weeks I am glad to slowly be getting back into my normal routine in life and with feeding the missionaries.

On Friday 25th April 2014 I fed Sister Stewart, Sister Berati and Sister Maddocks. Transfers, (Very few missionaries are assigned to the same area for the entire duration of their mission. Most missionaries will work in one area for a few (or sometimes several) months until the mission president has them transfered to a new area. Each mission covers a very large geographic area and the mission president is responsible for placing missionaries where they work. - from lds.about.com) happened on Wednesday and Sister Ylisaari went back home to Finland as she finished her 18 month mission. Due to her departure and the arrival of new Sister Missionaries from the Missionary Training Centre, Sister Phermsin and Sister Maddocks were transferred back to the London Temple Visitors' Centre.

For some reason I have been craving fish recently, and as I had bought a Lemon and Dill sauce a few weeks back I decided to try it out on the missionaries. They are always up for something new!

I used salmon as I felt it would be the nicest fish to have with the sauce, and used courgettes, mushrooms, a red onion, green beans and garlic to bulk it up and make interesting. It was all served on a bed of long grain rice. And let me tell you...it was delicious. I am starting to impress myself with my cooking. So that must be saying something! 

This meal took 30 minutes to prepare and cook and it served 4.

Ingredients
1 pack of Schwartz Lemon and Dill sauce (or another if you see one)
4 salmon fillets (or more/less depending on size)
2 Courgettes (chunks)
1 Red Onion (diced)
4 Cloves of Garlic (sliced)
300g Closed Cup Mushrooms (quartered)
150g Green Beans (cut into inch long pieces)
One tablespoon Vegetable Oil
Long Grain Rice (one serving = 75g, so do the maths to work out how much you need)

Method
1. Turn on the oven to whatever temperature your salmon needs to be cooked at. Mine was 170 Degrees Celsius, but all ovens and some salmon fillets need different temperatures. 
2. Wrap your fillets in foil and place them on a baking tray in the middle of the oven. Cook for 25 minutes to half an hour.
3. Put a pan of water on the stove to boil ready for you to add the rice.
4. Whilst the salmon is cooking prepare all your vegetables. Cut the courgettes into chunks. Dice the onion. Slice the garlic. Quarter the mushrooms. Cut the green beans into inch long pieces.
5. Add the rice to the boiling water and follow the instructions on the packet.
6. Add one tablespoon of vegetable oil to a frying pan and heat. Once it is hot add the courgette, onion, garlic, mushrooms and green beans and fry for 15 minutes, or until soft and cooked.
7. When the vegetables have been cooked add the Lemon and Dill sauce to the frying pan, mix and heat on a low heat.
8. Once the salmon is ready, cut it into bite sized pieces and mix it in with the vegetables and the sauce.
9. Drain the rice and put in a bowl, ready to serve.
10. Pour the salmon and vegetables into another bowl and they are ready to serve.

And there you have it! An incredibly tasty and healthy meal.

Dinner Appointment Message
This message is MIA (sorry, I'm a failure). Tune in to my next post for some spiritual upliftment. For now, I will share this website and video. I implore you to click on the link and watch the video on the website. It doesn't matter what religion you are, or if you even are religious; It is just a beautiful video.

Because of Him

Love to you all,

Sister Nicki x

Apologies

So, I've been MIA from this blog for two weeks. Reason being? Last week I had the most ridiculous headache of all time for three days. It was then attributed to my sinuses courtesy of non stop colds (life of a nanny) and the lovely Sarahan desert pollution.. Luckily I am (almost) back to normal now. Then this week I have been working crazy crazy hours and have only just stopped today. Next week I shall be here, there and everywhere so am not sure if I will be feeding the missionaries. 

I know you all miss my blog posts...but it will be back with a vengeance in just over a week!

For now I shall leave you with a photo of myself with my two best friends, one of whom has been serving a Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has spent the last 18 months of her life in Switzerland and France and comes home on Tuesday. It has been the longest and hardest 18 months of my life without her, and I am SO incredibly excited for her return.

Megan, Michelle (the missionary) and Myself.

Over and out.

Sister Nicki x

A Little Bit of Salad

Salad. Whenever I hear that word, I think of lettuce. BLEUGH.

BUT...a salad can be so much more than lettuce.

On Wednesday the 26th March 2014 I had a lovely luncheon dinner appointment with Sister Ylisaari and Sister Jacob. They had asked a few days before if I could make a salad of some sort as they were turning over a new leaf. Pun intended? Possibly. I always ask the missionaries what they would like to eat and they always say that they don't mind. So considering they asked for salad, I wanted to make it a good one!

I have never been fond of salads. I find them boring and not filling at all. But then I realised if you add different types of vegetables into it, it becomes a whole new world!

For this salad I used some of my favourite vegetables. I had to leave some of the ones out that need preparing (potatoes, baby corn etc) as I did not have time to prepare them.

This meal was made in 10 minutes. Quick, simple and tasty!

Ingredients (to feed 3)
One bunch of spring onions, sliced to whatever thickness you desire.
8 baby tomatoes, cut however you want. (I quartered mine as I still don't like them being too big)
Half a medium sized cucumber, sliced and cut into halves.
One red pepper, sliced into cube shapes.
One orange pepper, sliced into cube shapes.
Half a round lettuce.
Half a pack of cooking bacon (unless you want normal bacon which can then be chopped up)
One standard sized pack of Greek Feta cheese cut into cubes.

Obviously, it's a salad and you can use WHATEVER you want. This was just what I used and what tasted incredible. I actually enjoyed it. Go figure.

Method
Cook the bacon in a pan.
Put everything in a bowl (apart from the lettuce) and mix all together.

It's that simple.

Dinner Appointment Message
So there is quite an entertaining reason why there was no dinner appointment message from this meal. The dinner appointment was originally meant to be on the Tuesday evening but had to be changed, so we decided on Wednesday lunchtime. As we were sitting at the table having just finished lunch I received a text from someone at church saying she was running a bit late. I sat, a little perplexed for a moment and then it dawned on me that I was meant to be Visiting Teaching. 

Oops. 

Here I was, 25 minutes away from the house I was meant to be at, already 15 minutes late.

I told the Sisters and they said they would clean everything up (bless them) and I should quickly go!

My memory is shocking. The whole 'situation' wouldn't have been so bad if I had not been the one who arranged the Visiting Teaching appointment! So there you have it. Another insight to Sister Nicki. I am the real life Dory.


Sister Nicki x

The Fish Pie of Epic Proportions

OH MY DAYS! My culinary skills that were once non-existent are now getting pretty darn good.

On Friday 21st March 2014 I cooked a fish pie for Sister Ylisaari and Sister Jacob (who are now companions following Sister Walmsley and Sister Watt being transferred). And this Fish Pie was made completely from scratch. Round of applause. I was craving fish and realised I hadn't had a fish pie in simply ages so decided to see if I could make one!

So, I may have cheated slightly and used the BBC Good Food Easy Fish Pie recipe to just help me on the right path. Now that I have made one though, I feel I can start being adventurous and do it 'my own way' as I now know the basics on how to make one.

Ingredients
1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and quartered.
Knob of butter for the mashed potatoes.
Splash of milk for the mashed potatoes.
25g butter.
25g flour.
4 spring onions, finely sliced
400ml milk
1x pack of fish pie mix (I used cod, salmon and haddock from Sainsbury's)
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1/2 of a 25g pack or a small bunch of chives, finely snipped
Handful of frozen sweetcorn
Handful of broccoli florets
Handful of grated cheese

The BBC recipe says to use peas, but as I do not like peas I decided to use broccoli. It worked very well!

Method
1. Turn on the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (on a non fan assisted oven).
2. Put a pan on water on to boil. Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters and add them to the pan of boiling water. Bring them to the boil again and let them simmer until they are soft.
3. Slice the spring onions and add the butter and the onions to a pan and mix them. Add in the flour once the butter has melted.
4. Gently and gradually whisk the milk into the spring onion, flour and butter mix whilst on the heat and keep mixing so the sauce doesn't go lumpy or stick to the pan. Bring it to the boil so the sauce can thicken.
5. Once the sauce has thickened take it off the heat and add in the fish, sweetcorn, broccoli, mustard, chives and some of the cheese then mix so everything is covered.
6. Pour the mixture into your chosen dish.
7. Drain the potatoes and add the splash of milk to help with the mashing. 
8. Once the potatoes are nicely mashed, add them to the top of the fish pie mixture and spread out evenly.
9. Add cheese to the top (and some Parmesan if you like it crispy) and put in the oven for 20 minutes to half an hour depending on the thickness of your pie. As you will see from the pictures mine was very deep so longer.

I served mine with Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Cranberry and Stilton bread which is the nicest bread I have ever had in my entire life; and a side salad.

The thing that I loved about this was that it was so easy. Yes, the title on the BBC Good Food website said it was easy to make; but how many times have you attempted to make something that someone said is easy and found it ridiculously complicated? Well done BBC Good Food. You have outdone yourself!

The beginnings!

The sauce, veg and fish before I put the mashed potato on

The state of the kitchen when I cook...

So much CHEESE!

The end product!

Dinner Appointment Message
Today's dinner appointment message was from Romans 8:28-29 and talks about how the Saviour, Jesus Christ is foreordained and predestined to be Christ and to be the Saviour of the world. But it also talks about how God knows us and predestinated us as well. We are all here having been given different talents and abilities in the premortal existence. Those things were given to us by our loving Father in Heaven.

In Romans 8:30-32 it says "if God be for us, who can be against us?" How amazing is that? I mean, seriously. How amazing is it that no one can really be against us as God believes in us and loves us and ultimately, is with us. And if we know that there are people against us, does it really matter? We all experience difficulties and hardships. We do not know beforehand what they will be. We do not know how to deal with them until they do happen. But what we do know is that God is on our side and we need to put our trust in Him and He will help see us through. As it says in Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-8, 

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high, thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."

We need to know how to use the Atonement in our lives. It is not only for sin. It is there to help us with the sorrows and grief we experience. The atonement is there for us. It is there to make us capable to do the things that we thought we could never do. The Saviour died for us. It is so important that we use the atonement to increase our personal strength.

"At times some may think that no one cares—but someone always cares! Your Heavenly Father will not leave you to struggle alone, but stands ever ready to help." President Thomas S Monson

It is amazing to know that we have a Father in Heaven who will walk by our side and support us whenever we need it. And even when we feel we don't need it. He is ALWAYS there for us to help us reach our full potential.

Challenge
The missionaries challenged me to pray about how I can better understand the atonement and apply it in my life. So I challenge you to do this too. Did you really realise it covers trials and difficulties as well as sin? I certainly didn't.

Sister Nicki x

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Creamy, Cheese, Chicken, Vegetable and Crouton Casserole

Look at that title. This is a meal without an actual name. Well, it kind of does.

This meal was made on Sunday 16th March 2014 as a surprise for Sister Walmsley! It was her birthday, and a month or so ago she said how cool it would be if I could make the meal her mum usually makes on her birthday for her birthday this year. I decided then that I would attempt to do it, but played it off to Sister Walmsley. I secretly emailed her mum and she sent me the recipe and instructions. I then set to work! 

So back to the name. Sister Walmsley's mum calls it 'Broccoli Chicken', but Sister Walmsley (and myself) do not think this name describes just how incredible it is. It is so much more than just broccoli and chicken. 

As this is a recipe I got from Sister Walmsley's mum, I don't feel comfortable putting it online for the whole world to see. This post is merely here to show you something that I managed to cook which tasted lush, and also how we do things in the London South Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We eat, have fun and build each other up spiritually. All at the same time.

L to R - Sister Stewart, Jacob, Berati, Walmsley, Ylisaari and Watt

Happy Birthday Sister Walmsley!

Sister Nicki x

Pesto Pasta One, Two, Three!

Pesto Pasta One, Two, Three is something I invented a few months ago. It came about as I could not be bothered to spend ages cooking with different pans and then have to wash them all up. Washing up...the one thing I hate more than early mornings.

I needed to use the chicken and vegetables that were in my fridge as they were going off. I decided to see what would happen if I just threw them all into a frying pan and covered it so it would cook as well as steam the vegetables.

It got to the point where I no longer cared how my food turned out and I would eat it anyway. When I came to that realisation, I suddenly found that cooking was easier than it had ever been and that it actually tasted good. Generally... If only I had known years ago that all I had to do was stop caring how food turned out and just accept what it becomes!

So, back to the recipe! The idea of this is that you can use ANYTHING. Literally. I have done it with broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, sprouts, onions, carrots, asparagus, baby corn, and beans/peas of different varieties. I've only ever done it with chicken but I guess different meats/no meat would work just as well. It's become my staple "oh no, my food is dying and I need to use it up" recipe.

I made this on Wednesday 12th March 2014 for Sister Ylisaari and Sister Watt and it went down well with them! Although they are missionaries so I guess it isn't too hard to impress them. It took me 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. So, here we have another meal in under 30 minutes!

Ingredients
Chicken or any other meat (amount doesn't really matter) For this meal today I used two medium sized breasts.
Vegetables (whatever you fancy, and once again amount doesn't really matter) For this meal today I used one medium sized broccoli and half a medium cauliflower.
Vegetable Oil to cook chicken and vegetables.
Spaghetti
Green basil Pesto

Method
Heat a frying pan with vegetable oil.
Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and add it to the frying pan to cook.
Cut up the vegetables into bite sized pieces and add all to the frying pan once the chicken is no longer pink and put a lid on the frying pan to allow the vegetables to steam as well as cook.
Whilst this is cooking, put a pan of water on the stove to boil.
Once the water is boiling add enough spaghetti for the amount of people you are feeding. The pack gives guidelines; or you could be like me and just guess.
Keep stirring the chicken and vegetables to ensure they get cooked equally.
When the spaghetti is ready, drain it in a colander and pour boiling water over it to remove any leftover starch.
Put the spaghetti into a serving bowl and add the chicken and vegetables once they are cooked. As with all meat, make sure it is cooked! 
Add in green basil pesto (as much as you want, it's personal preference) and mix all together. Then it is ready to serve!

Nicki's Pesto Pasta One, Two, Three!

So now you have read the ingredients and method, why did I call it Pesto Pasta One, Two, Three?

Because, there are only really three steps. 
1. Cook the chicken and vegetables.
2. Cook the Spaghetti
3. Add the Pesto, mix and eat!

There you have it; another missionary friendly meal that can be cooked in under 30 minutes.

Snow White and the poison apple I brought for 'dessert'

Dinner Appointment Message - Sister Ylisaari and Sister Watt

The dinner appointment message today was taken from the scripture in Alma 13:28-30 which talks about how we will not be given any trial that Heavenly Father knows we cannot handle. We must have faith, always listen to the quiet whisperings of the Holy Ghost and repent whenever we do something that requires repentance. Even though the trials we have will be hard and we may feel that we cannot bear them; we will be able to as long as we remember that Heavenly Father never gives us more than we can handle. Satan will tempt us but we must keep our faith and stay strong to what we know is true. 

It is so important that we do the things that Heavenly Father has told us to do. He has shown us the way and He tells us that we must become humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and long suffering. If we ensure we strive to be humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and long suffering, we will be able to come out of the tunnel during our trial. 

Sister Ylisaari then shared 10 points from an Ensign article called Living a Life of Peace, Joy and Purpose which was written by Elder Richard G Scott. They are as follows:

To Succeed in Life:

1. Establish principles to guide your life.

2. Don't make exceptions to your standards.

3. Be loyal.

4. Live so that the Lord can guide you.

5. Serve others.

6. Smile.

7. Don't complain.

8. Always have a Church assignment.

9. Worship in the temple.

10. Follow the Saviour's example.

This is so important, and you don't have to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to do 6 of the 10. So there is no excuse; even for those who do not believe in any kind of God. It is just how to be a good person.

There is no trick or magic thing to do to enable us to have successful lives. We have to do the little things that then amount to big things.

Whatever our trial is, we can overcome it. We are never expected to do it alone. There is no cookie-cutter perfect way of overcoming trials, but we will do it in our own way with the Lord helping us along the way; as long as we let Him.

Challenge. 

As the missionaries challenged me, I challenge you to write a list of 10 things that can help you in your personal life to help you achieve your full potential. It can be for anything; to get you through the tough week you are having, to get you to that job interview you have been longing, or to help you become closer to God. 

As I said earlier in the post, you do not have to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to do this. We are all good people who want successful and meaningful lives. Making a list of 10 things to help you will not do you any harm. You never know; it may be the building blocks you have been looking for.

Sister Nicki x

Chicken, Wraps and Potato Wedges...Oh My!

Aloha my friends, Romans and countrymen.

A meal for 4 in under 30 minutes.

I cooked this meal on Friday for Sisters Ylisaari, Watt and Stewart. It was the most entertaining dinner appointment we have had in a while as the cleaners had deep cleaned the chairs which meant they were wet! So we had dinner standing around the island in the middle of the kitchen. 

Sisters Stewart, Ylisaari and Watt

The beauty of this meal is that it is quick, tasty and can be enjoyed by all! Apart from vegetarians...obviously. It is something that I had at home with my parents for as long as I can remember.

As I was cooking for four I assumed it would average out on two wraps each and used an entire bag of potato wedges. Yes...I bought them. Remember; this is a meal in under 30 minutes. You can change the amount of ingredients to suit the amount of people you are cooking for.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying.

700g Chicken Breast meat.

Yoshida's Spicy Wing and Rib sauce* (Yoshidas-Spicy-Sauce-1304g-Bottle or can be purchased at Costco).

750g (a bag) Potato Wedges (I used lightly-spiced-wedges but any sort can be used).
10 cheese slices (any cheese).

Mayonnaise (or any other sauce. It doesn't need to be used, but I think it adds depth to the meal).

One onion, chopped.
Tortilla wraps (enough for at least two each).

*You don't necessarily need to use the sauce I used. You can use BBQ sauce, caesar sauce, spicy seasoning etc. Anything works!

Method

1. Turn on the oven to the temperature required for the potato wedges.

2. Set a frying pan onto the stove, add two tablespoons of vegetable oil and cook on a medium heat so the oil is hot for when you add the chicken.

3. Dice the chicken into small (dice sized) pieces and add to the frying pan and cook until lightly browned. This step usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes.

4. At the same time as you add the chicken to the frying pan, put the potato wedges into the oven. Remember to turn them every so often so that they crisp up nicely! NB: What time you put the potato wedges in depends on how long they take to cook. 

5. Whilst the chicken and the potato wedges are cooking; peel the onion and chop it into bite sized pieces. 

6. When the chicken looks almost cooked, add 4 tablespoons of Yoshida's sauce and mix.
7. Let the chicken and sauce cook for 5 to 10 minutes (depending on how long the chicken has been cooking) until you have a thick consistency*.

*If you are not using the Yoshida's sauce you can add the sauce of your choice at a similar time that I added the Yoshida's sauce. Unless it's caesar sauce, and then it can be drizzled on the plain chicken just before you close up your wrap.

When the chicken and potato wedges are cooked, you can serve them!

I always put them into dishes so whoever is eating can choose how much they want.

On the table I have tortilla wraps, mayonnaise and onion laid out; but it is entirely up to you how you do it.

When I make my own wrap, I put the mayonnaise on first, then the cheese, then the chicken and then the onion. Once that is all on, I fold it and eat it!

My finished wrap! I put potato wedges in this one.

It is quite possibly the most simple meal that I enjoy making, and it is one of the most delicious. If you decide to try this out, let me know how it goes! I definitely recommend it.

This meals dinner appointment message coming soon!

Catch you later,

Sister Nicki x