Slow roasted tomatoes seem to be everywhere! Fine dining has found a newest best friend – and after eating these – I can see why. My sister in law kindly described them as “life changing” though I am not sure if the champagne they were served with had something to do with that! The certainly [...]
Winter recipes
Baba’s Blitva
November 23rd, 2009
My brother’s fiance Annaliese sent me this recipe months ago, and we finally had the time to try it recently: with the perfect accompaniment, a delicious smoked salmon pie! I do prefer spinach to silverbeet, but the garlic in this dish, and the soft, broken up potato pieces make this a creamy and wonderful delicacy. [...]
Healthy chicken and red bean quesadillas
November 11th, 2009
A very cost effective old favourite from University days, my housemates used to make this for me, and I loved it! Of course, back then we used to pile on the cheese, and I reckon we might have even added a slice of butter for good measure — it surprise me though, to find that [...]
Ginger and apple upside down cake
November 8th, 2009
Reminiscent of gingerbread, but with a delightfully fruity twist on top! I was hoping the mashed banana/ milk/ maple syrup combo would do the trick that brown sugar normally does for an upside down cake (no way I was using half a cup of sugar) — It didn’t caramelise in the way I had hoped. [...]
Lunchbox cherry granola bars
November 4th, 2009
A tasty and nutritious mid morning snack which well and truly satisfies the mid morning craving for something filling and a little bit sweet. These muesli bars are very high in fibre and healthy fats (Nuts are high in Omega-3 fats). Much like eating a handful of nuts and fruit – only crunchy, and soooo [...]
Balsamic & blood orange marinated skirt steak
October 18th, 2009
This neglected cut is unexpectedly flavoursome – and cheap to boot! Skirt steak is the cut used to prepare fajitas, Chinese stir fry, and is often prepared in restaurants for the kitchen staff – it is cheap, delicious, and if you marinate it first, it does not remain tough. I recall rump steak being the [...]
Peanut butter and banana toasties
October 3rd, 2009
Can it get any better for comfort food? Or any simpler? Sanitarium produces a product labelled “Natural Peanut Butter” which is 100% dry roasted nuts, containing no sugars, salts, or added oil. This product is a little cheaper than the health food store versions, but if you are having trouble sourcing it, nearly all health food [...]
Nonna’s red lentil & lamb stew
October 2nd, 2009
Real comfort food – my nieces loved this stew that “Nonna” (Mum) makes for them – and has made for us for decades with different variations. Dan just discovered it on a recent family holiday, and we made our own version at home with the baby carrots that came from our garden. This dish is [...]
Passionfruit ricotta cupcakes
October 2nd, 2009
Passionfruit from the garden, delicious coarse wholegrain & wholemeal stoneground flour, and cashew nut butter combine for mouthwatering bite sized treats. Freeze them in individual packs and take them to work with your lunch — by morning tea time they will have thawed and be perfect with coffee or tea, or serve after dinner with [...]
Passionfruit curd & the Agave syrup story
September 28th, 2009
What to do with winter’s last gift to us: piles of passionfruit from the vine, ready to eat? I was inspired by a recipe for passionfruit butter on Souvlaki for the Soul. I replaced the caster sugar with low GI dark agave syrup. Agave syrup is higher in fructose than glucose, which is why it [...]
Pork and black-eyed-pea meatballs in tomato sauce
September 9th, 2009
This recipe was inspired by some quick, cheap and tasty black-eyed-pea balls at an African restaurant called Le Kilimanjaro recently. Black eyed peas have a low GI (38-52) and a carbohydrate portion of 30g per 150g. They are high in fibre, magnesium, folate, iron and protein. I found a recipe for the traditional African version [...]
Chocolate souffle
September 6th, 2009
I have adapted this dark chocolate souffle recipe I found on a website titled “Cooking for Engineers“. The author of this site has a very interesting approach to recipe blogging – tabulating each recipe into a grid which can be printed. To make it from the “good” fats, I skipped the butter and added an [...]
