Mini blueberry bagels

Flushed with success from my bagel baking on Saturday, I decided to have another go on Sunday. This time I made blueberry bagels (draining the very last of last summer's blueberries from our freezer) and I decided to make them mini.

I had to alter the recipe a bit in order to get them to work and so I thought that I would share it with you here (partly so that I don't lose it myself), because it must be said that they were utterly delicious!

Ingredients
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 & 1/3 cups warm water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 4.5 cups plain flour
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 2/3 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
• Extra sugar for topping (optional)
• Vegetable oil (for bowl)
• Plastic wrap (or some clean plastic bags)

Preparation time: Just over four hours. (Most of this is for rising, so you can be doing other things)
Baking time: About 14 minutes.

Method
Whisk together the yeast and water for a few minutes and leave it to stand for a few minutes.

Mix yeast & water together with remaining in the bread machine on pizza dough setting (or in a mixer with a dough hook for about 20 minutes; or by hand if you are cool and old school).

Remove dough and knead on a lightly floured surfaced for about 1 minute (until a slightly tacky -- but not sticky -- dough forms). Continue to knead dough for about 5 more minutes (adding small amounts of flour if necessary to make it not sticky) -- then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap (make it a bit big so that you can use it for another purpose later).

Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours (until doubled in bulk).

Divide dough into 20 equal pieces (each should weigh about 50 grams). Cover with a clean damp kitchen towel and leave it to rest for about 20 minutes.

Heavily grease two baking sheets with oil and set aside.

With lightly oiled hands (or floured hands if the blueberries have made the mixture a tad sticky), roll each piece of dough into a log. Then turn the log into a little ring, sticking the two ends together with a little bit of water and some rolling.

Place the bagels on a lightly floured chopping board (about 1 inch apart) and cover with that piece of oiled plastic wrap from earlier in the process, and let rest in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 260 C.

Fill a large stockpot (the wider the better) with water and bring to a boil.

Gently drop bagels into the water (as many as will comfortably fit without touching each other – I did four at a time and found that was enough to keep me busy with all the turning etc). After 30 seconds, use a slotted spoon to gently flip the bagels over -- simmer for yet another 30 seconds.

Then, using the slotted spoon again, remove the bagels from the water and try to drain as much water off them as possible before placing onto the greased baking sheets about 1 inch apart (I found that each baking sheet held 10 mini bagels quite well). Top them with sugar if you are feeling decadent while they are still wet (I did this while each successive batch were getting their first 30 seconds of boiling).

Immediately place sheets in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then flip the bagels over (before they stick), rotate the sheets and reduce the temperature to 175 C. Bake for another 4-5 minutes (or until starting to brown) and then rotate again if your oven is uneven in temperature (like mine). Bake for another 4 minutes or so (but turn off the temperature at this point, unless they are still looking a little pasty).

Transfer bagels to wire rack to cool or just leave them briefly and start eating them straight out of the oven.

They’ll keep well for a few days in a cotton bag, but store in the freezer for any longer than that.

Three! (or my adventures with veg jelly)

On Sunday Lily turned 3 and we had a party for her. Here she is with the 'pool cake' that she insisted on having.

I had a bit of drama making the 'jelly' in the middle. There is only one brand of veg jelly crystals in Australia that seem to make a lime flavour (none of them do 'blue') - Vitarium. However, Coles only stock their raspberry flavour and although Vitarium said that they would post me a sample of their lime flavour, it never arrived in the mail. So, on Saturday night I followed a recipe that P. googled for making jelly with agar agar (which, by the way, costs $18 for 50 grams!).

Can I just strongly recommend that you do not follow that recipe yourselves? When I followed the instructions to the letter I ended up with a few large lumps of solid agar agar jell suspended in lime cordial juice. It didn't look appetising (not that I find jelly particularly appetising, to be honest). So, in a small panic, I heated the whole lot back up on the stove and found, to my relief, that it did dissolve again. I then added some extra water to cover any that may have evaporated and (after it had cooled somewhat) popped it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning I got the 'jelly' out of the fridge to find that it was now a very solid lump. I let it warm up a little, but nothing changed, it was like a massive, bowl-shaped jelly baby. Ahhh!

So, in the end, I mashed it with a potato-masher and spooned it into the middle of the cake... Looks 'fabulous,' doesn't it?

On a more serious note, poor Lily got a fever on Sunday afternoon after all the guests had gone home and was quite sick until sometime on Monday night. She had had a pretty exhausting week at preschool (a week of no naps) and I think that the excitement of the party may have just all been too much for her. (Hopefully it wasn't the 'jelly'.)

I'm just glad that she was OK for the party itself, because she had such a good time.

Spinach & Potato Tart and Veggie Rolls

This evening a baked a potato and spinach tart that I thought was really quite yummy, and I so I thought that I would share the recipe with you. I have to warn you though it isn't vegan. Sorry. (The recipe for the veggie rolls below is though, so just scroll down a little...) I kind of made it up as I went along, and it was probably a tiny bit dense, and so I am slightly amending what I did last time to reflect what I would do next time...

Spinach and Potato Tart (not vegan)

Ingredients:
Pastry
250g flour
125g non-dairy margarine
large pinch of salt
1 stalk of rosemary
1 egg, beaten
splash soy milk

Filing
1 large bunch of silverbeet, stalks removed, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 Potatoes, grated
3 large free-range, organic eggs
1/4 cup soy milk
50g creamy goat's cheese
50g goat's feta
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Place the flour, margarine & salt in a food processor and pulse for 30 secs until crumbs form. Add the rosemary leaves, and pulse again briefly. Then add the egg and soymilk and pulse again until properly mixed together. Remove gently on to a floured surface and form into a ball without handle the mixture too much. Wrap in a clean recycled plastic bag and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Heat up your olive oil over a medium heat and fry the silverbeet (in batches as it wilts) for a few minutes. Leave it to cool.

Grease a tart tin. Roll your pastry flat and lay it carefully into your tart tin, pressing the corners in. Trim just above the top of the tin and put a few holes in the base with a fork. Put the whole thing back in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven for 190C.

Beat the eggs, then add the soy milk and creamy goat's cheese and continue beating. Add the oregano and some salt & pepper (and mix through).

Squeeze the grated potato and spinach in batches in order to get most of the liquid out of them.

Get the pastry out of the fridge. Sprinkle the spinach and potato over the base evenly and then pour the egg mixture over the top. Even it out with the back of a soup spoon and then sprinkle crumbled feta over the top.

Place in the oven until slightly brown on top (about 20 minutes).


Since the oven was on, I thought that I should make something to fill the other shelf and Theresa's recent blog post about 'sausage' rolls came to mind. I didn't want to risk looking up the recipe (lest I lose Lily's attention - she was being a wonderful 'helper') and so I made up my own. (Also, since we aren't using onions & garlic, I knew that ours would be a little different anyway). They also turned out pretty good. Lily LOVED them (which was lucky, because she wasn't a huge fan of the tart).

Veggie Rolls
Ingredients
2 puff pastry sheets, cut in half
2 cups TVP, soaked in boiling water (just enough to cover the granules)
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
5 stalks of celery, finely diced
4 medium-sized mushrooms, finely chopped
1.5 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon tamari
2 carrots, grated
1 tomato, finely diced
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Fry up the celery and mushrooms for a few minutes. Add the oregano, TVP, tomato paste, and tamari. Stir together and fry for a couple more minutes. Add the carrot and tomato and mix through. Add the salt & pepper.

Once it has cooled a little, spoon the mixture along one side of the pastry sheet (leaving about a cm on the side) and then roll the other half of the pastry around it to form a roll.

Grease a baking sheet, place the rolls (cut up smaller if you wish) on it and bake in the oven for around 15 minutes (or until light brown and crispy).

Serve with tomato sauce.

Eggplant, chickpea & ginger curry

OK, I promised to share this recipe with you and so now I am finally going to live up to my word. I did warn you that it isn't very photogenic. However, I can reassure you that it is truly delicious.

Eggplant, chickpea & ginger curry
(Adapted from The Vegetarian Cookbook, by Charmaine Solomon)

Ingredients
2 large eggplants
1 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight
4 cardamon pods
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 large tomatoes, roughly diced (or half a can of diced tomatoes)
vegetable oil


Cut the eggplants in half, brush them with oil and bake them in a medium-hot oven for about 45 minutes, or place (skin side up) under a medium-hot grill until the skins begin to burn and the insides go all soft and mushy. Remove and scrap out the flesh with a soup spoon, then roughly chop it up.

While the eggplant is baking (etc), cook the chickpeas and cardamon pods in a pan of boiling water for about 30-40 minutes, until really nice and tender. (If you are using canned chickpeas, then still boil them with the cardamon pods for about 20 minutes. it will make them nice and tender and infuse them with the cardamon flavour). Drain, rinse and remove the cardamon pods and any loose skins that are floating about.


Place the grated ginger in about 1 tablespoon of oil over a medium heat for a few minutes and then add the spices and stir for another 30 seconds. Add the eggplant flesh, tomato and salt and stir to combine. Turn down the heat and cover the pan. Leave it to cook for about 20 minutes.


Add the chickpeas to the eggplant, stir to combine and cover again. Leave to cook for another 30 minutes (or eat it straight away if you are too hungry to wait - the extra 30 minutes does make it yummier, but it is far from essential).

Serve over rice with a side of dahl or a mushroom curry.

Potato & rosemary pizza

Now that fresh tomatoes are a little harder to come by - and good fresh tomatoes even more difficult - we have a new Friday-night-pizza staple: potato & rosemary pizza. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first. The whole carb on carb thing seemed a bit much, but oh.my.goodness. it is really very yummy. We have crazy amounts of rosemary growing in our backyard and always have potatoes in the cupboard and tomato paste in the fridge and so this is a very easy dinner to throw together (we make our pizza dough in the bread machine).

The pizza in the photo above has spinach pesto on its base. It was nice, but I actually preferred the other one that we made sans spinach. The rosemary had more of a chance to shine in that one. We also added some artichoke hearts to it, which were really good. Artichoke pesto would make a good base actually...

Sunday

On Sunday we went along to the 2nd birthday party of one of Lily's friends, E. I made a little doll (based on Emily's - Inside a Black Apple - pattern) and a batch of cinnamon scrolls (recipe below). I was feeling all proud of myself for bringing along homemade goodies, but totally undid it all by gorging myself on the scrolls. I really have no self-control around cinnamon!


Lily had such a good time. The sun was shining and so we spend the morning outside on the grass. E got a trampoline for her birthday and Lily spent most of the party jumping on it. They also had bubbles, which are always a hit.


It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.

What did you do on the weekend?


(Bread machine) Cinnamon Scrolls*



Ingredients:
2 teaspoons yeast
3&1/3 cups flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup soymilk
3 tablespoons water
1 egg or 2 tablespoons soy yogurt
1/4 cup margarine

For the filling:
1/4 cup walnuts (ground)
1/4 cup margarine (melted)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
(You could also add 1/4 cup raisins/sultanas, or some finely chopped apple)

Icing:
1/4 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons soymilk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Instructions:
Add of the main ingredients into your bread machine (yeast first) and put it on (pizza) dough mode. When it is done, remove the dough from the machine and knead it for about 5-10 minutes. Let it rest for another 10 minutes and then roll it out into a even rectangle (about 37x25cms). Combine the filling ingredients together in a small bowl, mixing well, and then spread it evenly across the surface of your dough.

Roll the dough starting at one of the long edges and tuck in the edges when you are done. You should have a roll that is about 30 cms long (give or take). Slice your roll into about 12 slices (of about 2.5 cms wide) and place them on a pre-greased oven tray.

Cover the tray with a tea towel and leave in a warm, dry place for about 45 minutes to rise. Then bake in a pre-heated oven at around 175 C (350 F?) for about 18-20 minutes (or longer if you have an older oven). [Remove when starting to brown on top].

Drizzle the buns with the vanilla icing and then eat while still warm and gooey.

(If you have any left over then store in an air tight container in the fridge, but be sure to warm them up a little before eating them. They are nowhere near as yummy when cold.)

*If you don't have a bread machine then you might want to try Anna's recipe over here.

Spicy bean burgers

You might remember that I made some spicy bean patties on the weekend. Well, we ate them for dinner on Wednesday evening and I am happy to report that they were very yummy.

So, I thought that I would share the recipe with you.

Bean patties:
1 tbl olive oil
Half a red capsicum (red pepper), finely diced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon tumeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
a handful of button mushrooms, diced
1 can of kidney beans (or equivalent dried and soaked if you are far more virtuous and organised than I), drained and rinsed
one tomato, diced
2 potatoes, washed, diced and steamed
1 tbl tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped coriander
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbl wholemeal flour
Oil for brushing

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Heat oil over a medium heat and then add the capsicum. (Note: you could happily add some diced onion and garlic at this stage too. We just can't eat it yet, because it makes Lily sick.) Stir for a few minutes and then add the spices. Stir around to coat spices with oil and then add the mushrooms. Let them cook until they have browned a little and then add the beans and potato. Cook until the potato has slightly browned and then add the tomato and tomato paste. Stir for a couple more minutes and remove from heat. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Place the mixture into a bowl and mash. When there aren't too many lumps left, add the coriander and mix through. Shape into balls, roll in flour, and then place on a greased baking tray and flatten slightly. Brush lightly with oil.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until brown and slightly crispy (on the outside).

Tahini sauce:
2 tbl tahini
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
water

Place first three ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. It will have thickened considerably. Now add water and shake again. Repeat until it reaches desired consistency and then use to pour all over your burger.

For the burgers:
Sourdough bread (or bagel, or...)
Grated beetroot
Grated carrot
Rocket
Sliced cucumber
Sliced tomato
Mushrooms, fried in olive oil & sumac
Tahini sauce

Assemble and eat.

Bircher Muesli, soaking grains and fermented soy

Recently I have become more aware of the importance of soaking grains for at least 12 hours before eating them. Apparently grains are actually quite difficult to digest in their dry form and by soaking them for at least 12 hours and allowing them to begin the process of sprouting we are able to make them far more digestible. Here is an interesting article on the subject if you want to read more about it. (Here is another one).

Cynthia Lair (in Feeding the Whole Family) also argues that soy products should only be eaten in a fermented form or with a digestive (like fermented soy sauce or, preferably, miso). The reason for this is that the phytic acid in soy beans is also quite difficult for the body to digest and it is neutralised by the fermentation process. Ms Lair also points out that cultures that have traditionally eaten soy products have always followed these rules as well as eating a lot of sea vegetables. The relevance of the sea vegetables is that they are high in a number of essential minerals, such as iodine, that may be leached from the body when you consume high levels of soy products. (I'll write more on sea vegetables later. Here are a couple of other articles if you are interested. The first one seems a little extreme to me, but you may find it interesting regardless.)

Anyway, this is a long-winded way of explaining our recent decision to eat Bircher Muesli for breakfast instead of porridge. You see, although we could soak our porridge oats overnight, I am not fond of soy yogurt in porridge and I am trying to reduce my consumption of unfermented soy (like soy milk).

Melissa asked for a recipe and so I thought that I would share ours with you. However, I think that this will be a process of experimentation and so I may have to revisit this recipe when a bit more time has passed.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of rolled oats
water (or apple juice)
green apple (grated)
mixed nuts or LSA
soy yogurt
fresh seasonal fruit (such as strawberries, blueberries, mango or banana)

Soak the oats overnight in the water or apple juice (just cover them and place in the fridge if you are using apple juice). Some recipes recommend the addition of lemon juice, but I am not sure why...
In the morning mix in the yogurt, grated apple and nuts. Top with fresh fruit and enjoy.

You can also add a sweetener like honey or maple syrup if you want.

Vegan Apple & Blackberry Pie

A couple of lovely new friends invited us over to brunch the other weekend and so we decided to make a fruit pie to take along with us.

That morning at the Farmers Markets we picked up a punnet of lovely fresh blackberries and so we thought that it would be fun to bake a blackberry pie. We also had a few apples in the fridge and so we threw them in (along with a pear that we thought would add a nice sweetness to the mix).

The result was delicious. The apricot pie might still be my favourite, but really I'd put them neck and neck. The apples and pear were all warm and cinnamon-y, while the blackberries just exploded in your mouth with their tart sweetness. mmmm




Ingredients:
One punnet of blackberries
3 small apples (peeled, cored and chopped)
1 pear (cored and chopped)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/4 cup of almond meal (or LSA)

Pastry:
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup cold water

Essentially just make the pastry and roll it flat. Then line a pie dish and dry bake it for about 10 minutes on 200-220 C.

Then mix the apple and pear with the dry ingredients and place them in the baked pastry. Cover with blackberries and then make a lid with the remaining pastry - or chop it up into strips in order to make a thatched lid.

Bake for another 35-40 minutes on 200-220C (or until golden brown on top).

Here's a picture of the inside before we baked it:

Friday night pizza

Over the last few weeks P and I have decided that Friday night will be pizza night. This started on the same day that we realised how easy it was to make our own pizza dough.



Since then we have been experimenting with toppings and I thought that I would share a few of them with you.


Tomato paste, fresh basil, rosemary roast pumpkin, marinated artichoke hearts, kalamata olives and fresh tomatoes.

Tomato paste, fresh basil and baby spinach, green olive tapenade, marinated artichoke hearts, mushrooms, kalamata olives and fresh tomatoes.

Tomato paste, fresh basil, mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, kalamata olives and fresh tomatoes.

Yes, yes, I know that I ought to be more inventive, but when you like something...

Last weekend we did one with grilled eggplant, roast pumpkin, sweet potato & pumpkin, and most of the usual suspects, but I didn't get around to taking a picture.

Maybe this week I will be a little more radical.

Vegan Apricot Pie

Now that Summer is upon us, I am trying to focus even more on eating seasonally. And so, starting with the A's, we took advantage of the gorgeous apricots that are now well and truly in season (P picked up a 1kg bag of them for $3 at the farmers markets) and made a scrumptious apricot pie for desert last night.



INGREDIENTS

Pastry
1 & 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (or non-GM canola oil)
1/2 cup cold water

Filling
500g fresh apricot halves
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice


Preheat oven to 210C.

Start with the pastry. Sift the flour, almond meal, brown sugar and salt together. Knead the margarine into the dry ingredients until it is like bread crumbs. Add the cold water slowly and mix together. Hold back on some of the cold water to ensure that the mixture doesn't get too damp. Roll into two balls of equal size. Then flatten them and roll them into flat circles.

Place one pastry circle into a pie pan or an round oven-proof dish. Press in the corners and the edges so that it is evenly distributed across the base and the sides of the dish. Poke a few holes in the base of the pastry with a fork and place in the pre-heated oven for around 10 minutes or until slightly browned.

Now mix together the sugar, flour, almond meal, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl.

Place apricots in a separate large bowl and stir in the lemon juice. Add the dry mixture to the apricots and stir thoroughly so that the apricots are all coated.



Pour the apricot mixture into the partially-baked pastry. Place the unbaked pastry circle on top to form a lid, carefully squeezing down the edges to create a seal. Cut some vents into the top in order to let out the heat during baking.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

Leave to cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting or it will collapse on itself and be too hot to eat!

Turkish dinner

This post is dedicated to Isil who finally gave me the confidence to make İmam Bayildi - one of my favourite dishes in the world.




Since my Mum was in town, I also made Fasulye, a cannelini bean salad and couscous.



Cannelini beans may seem a bit odd, but it was supposed to be a chickpea salad until I realised that I had completely run out of chickpeas...



I make Fasulye a little differently from the recipes that I have seen online, so here is my recipe if you want to try it.



Ingredients
500g green beans (with ends cut off)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
4 tomatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup water

Heat the olive oil over a low/medium heat, add the garlic and stir for about a minute. Add the spices and stir again for 30 seconds. Add the beans and stir so that they get covered in the spice/garlic mix. Add the tomatoes and raise the heat to medium/high. Stir in the water and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

Turn down the heat to medium/low and cover. Leave it to simmer for about 45 minutes, checking periodically to stir and add water if it gets a little dry.

It should be really soft and melt-in-your-mouth-y when it is ready.

See Veggie Way for the Imam Bayildi recipe.

Ginger soy 'fish'

We had some of the soy 'fish' left over and so I decided to do a variation on the theme that P had done so successfully the other day. This time I did a ginger sauce, steamed some asparagus and puk choy, and made brown rice.

Ingredients

Ginger sauce
1/2 tblp canola oil (or any light vegetable oil)
2 tblp fresh grated ginger
1 tblp chilli sauce
1 tblp lemon juice
1 tblp soy sauce

soy 'fish' (2 or 3 per person)
asparagus
puk choy
brown rice


Cook the brown rice. (We use a rice cooker).

Heat the oil over a medium heat and add the ginger. Stir for about a minute and add the chilli, lemon juice and soy sauce. Stir for a couple of minutes and then lower the heat and let it simmer for a little. Add some hot water if it starts getting too thick.

Brush a fry pan with a small amount of oil and lightly fry the soy 'fish' on both sides.

Steam the asparagus and puk choy for about a minute (or until slightly wilted).

Serve all ingredients on to a plate and drizzle the ginger sauce to taste.

Soy "Fish" with tamarind sauce

Our favourite vegan restaurant in Canberra, Au Lac, does the most magnificent soy fish with tamarind sauce. I've been wanting to try to make it for ages and the other day I found the catalyst.

I was in one of the Asian groceries in Dickson looking for those delicious soy chicken nuggets that we're a little addicted to when I stumbled on a package of soy fish. This was quickly followed into the basket by a jar of tamarind paste and I was all set.



I looked online for a good sauce recipe and found a few different ones, some vegan others very fish saucy.

In the end we decided on the following for the sauce:

a couple of chillies
1 tablespoon tamarind
2 tablespoons say sauce
a small chunk of palm sugar
the juice of one lemon
a dash of vegetable oil
some water



heat the oil in a saucepan and add the chillies and let them fry for a couple of minutes. Toss in the tamarind, soy, lemon juice and diced palm sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved turn the heat down, add some water and let the sauce reduce.

Meanwhile, steam the fish (we tossed ours into a steamer basket on top of the rice cooker). Once it's heated through lightly pan fry it brushed with oil.


That's about that for the main dish.

We also tossed together a side of mushrooms and puk choy stir fried in a little soy with a dash of sesame oil added at the end.

It was delicious and surprisingly easy. The only problem is that it's getting harder and harder to eat out...

White bean & mint dip

The other day I decided to give Lily some cannellini beans for lunch and so I had to figure out what to do with the rest of the can (I know, I should use the dried beans, but I am simply not that organised at the moment). So, I grabbed a bunch of mint from the garden, added the juice of half a fresh lemon, a little salt and some olive oil and blended them all together to make a white bean & mint dip. And, it was really yummy.

It tasted really fresh and minty and just perfect for a sandwich of tempeh, tomatoes and lettuce (from the garden). It also made a good dipping sauce the next day when I was feeling snacky.

Rosemary roast pumpkin salad

Yesterday was hot hot hot and so we decided to have salad for dinner.
I roasted up some left over pumpkin with some rosemary from the garden. Added some mixed beans, a bunch of parsley (also from the garden), some tomatoes, snowpeas, asparagus and avocado and topped it with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and some Iku salad dressing. Yum.



Lily was quite taken with it, but had to settle for her own meal of avocado, butter beans and pumpkin.

Fresh tomato & basil soup

We bought a big bag of fresh tomatoes and a bunch of basil at the Farmers Market last weekend because I was going to make Bruschetta for the party. I ran out of time, however, and so I was left with having to think of something else to do with the food. And so we ended up with fresh tomato and basil soup.

I had forgotten just how delicious fresh tomato soup could be and so I thought that I would share the recipe with you. It is extremely simple.




Ingredients
1 kg fresh tomato, peeled and roughly chopped
a handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 tblsp olive oil
3 cups of boiling water
salt & pepper to taste
(a couple of cloves of garlic would be yummy too, if you can eat it).

Slice a cross in the base of the tomatoes and blanch them in boiling water to make it easier to peel them.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based stock pot over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes (or the diced garlic first if you are using it) and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the salt (I used about 1/2 teaspoon) and the basil and stir for a minute. Add the boiling water, stir and cover. Leave to simmer over a low heat for around 10-15 minutes.

Serve with crusty toast covered in pesto. (A dollop of pesto in the soup would also be tasty).

Eat outside, if possible.

Spring rolls

One of the foods that we served at the party on Saturday was a recent addition to our cooking repertoire, but it is fast becoming a party favourite. So, I thought that I would share the recipe with you.

Spring Rolls

Ingredients
One wombok (Chinese cabbage), shredded
4 medium carrots, chopped into matchstick size pieces
200g firm tofu, crumbled
1/2 cup of dried Shitake mushrooms, rehydrated & chopped
2 cups mung bean shoots
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 packet of spring roll wrappers


Preheat the oven to 180C.

Heat the canola oil in a wok (or fry pan) over a medium heat. Add the ginger and tofu and stir for a minute or two. Add the mushrooms and carrots, bring up the heat a little and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (except the sesame oil or wrappers!) and stir for a few more minutes (partially covered).

Take off the heat and stir through the sesame oil.

Once the mixture has cooled place it in the spring roll wrappers. Basically place a line of mixture along one edge (leaving some space above and below). Fold the wrapper down at the top and bottom and then roll.

Place the spring rolls on a oven tray (or two). Brush lightly with canola oil and place in the preheated oven for 15-25 minutes (or until lightly brown and crispy). [They will probably take at least 20 minutes, but do check them at 15 just in case... it is not like they need to rise or anything]

Serve to admiring guests with a dipping sauce of soy sauce, lemon juice, sesame oil, fresh coriander and diced fresh chillies. [Save a few for yourself or you may miss out]

Pesto pasta

The Walk Against Warming was on today and we were planning to attend. Lily even wore her "Save the Future for Me" t-shirt.

[Photo from a few weeks ago]

However, we had a family event to attend on the other side of town and arrived late (because Lily was napping) thus making us so late for the Walk Against Warming that it had already finished by the time we arrived.

Sad us.

Anyway, I had been planning to write about the walk and post our photos, but that was not to be. So instead I thought that I would post a recipe for our favourite pesto pasta dish.

Ingredients:

Pesto
1/2 cup basil leaves (tightly packed)
1/2 cup of rocket (tightly packed)
1/2 cup of walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
the juice of one lemon
1/4 tsp salt

The rest
Penne pasta
1/2 cup marinated artichokes (roughly chopped)
1/3 cup Kalamata olives (pitted & halved)
1 cup button mushrooms (cubed)
1 tbp olive oil
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped) [optional if your little one doesn't like garlicky milk - like Lily)

Boil water and cook the pasta.

To make the pesto place all the ingredients in the blender and blend together until smooth. If it is too dry then add a little more lemon juice or olive oil.

Heat the olive oil over a medium/low heat. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and stir for 4 minutes. Throw in the artichokes and olives and mix together. Add the pasta and stir through several large tablespoons of the pesto.

Serve with a dollop of pesto on top.

Eat.

A weekend of parties

This weekend we had two parties to attend - one for each afternoon.

The first party was a very civilized afternoon tea for Priya's birthday, for which I baked these yummy choc-orange cupcakes.




The second party was a Halloween Party for a woman in my mother's group and we were supposed to dress-up. I always love the idea of dress-up parties, but when it comes down to it I am quite lame and generally fail to actually get dressed up properly. However, this time I finally had someone else to dress-up and so I made Lily an Elf costume - well, a hat, really.




I have to admit that I am really quite ridiculously proud of this hat and how CUTE Lily looked in it. And so here are a thousand photos of her cuteness.