Mum's Zucchini and corn stew

I have for you all another of those 'mum' recipes. There are recipes that my mum used to cook all the time and are tried and true and just yum. This is the first time I have made this since I moved out of home (about 3 years ago) - I don't know why I haven't made it for Nat yet - I guess I have had other things to make - or never had all three main ingredients (kidney beans, zucchini and corn) on hand together. My kidney beans were a little different in colour to what you find in cans (more purple) but they are still wonderful.

I served the stew over some quinoa but it is also wonderful over rice or cous cous. Nat cleaned up his plate and by the time I was home from work the next day he had also devoured all the left overs.

The copy of the recipe that I have is handwritten and I don't know where it came from - so apologies for not giving credit where credit is due (that includes if mum is the creator)

Mum's Zucchini and Sweet-corn Stew
1 onion - chopped finely
2 cloves garlic- crushed or minced
3-4 medium zucchini's - sliced (mum had written 450g of zucchini)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cummin
1 cup sweet corn kernels
2 cups (or 1 can) red kidney beans - drained and rinsed
1/2 large or 1 small red capsicum cut into 1cm cubes
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 - 1 tsp chili paste (to taste)
sea salt to taste

1. Heat a small amount of oil (or water) in a large saucepan and saute onion 5-10mins until soft and transparent.
2. Add garlic, spices, red capsicum and zucchini and cook for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans and chili paste.
4. Simmer for 10-15mins.
5. Serve over rice, cous cous or quinoa.

Beetroot dip and the removal of my teeth

Well I have survived getting all four of my wisdom teeth out. The night before the operation, I had a bunch of friends come round for dinner. We had an awesome feast of which I will blog about later (when I don't feel more sleepy) but I needed to make a dip for everyone to snack on before dinner.

As I was going through the vegetable box in my fridge I found 2 small beetroot in the bottom that I had forgotten about. What was I going to do with them? They were going a bit soft and were probably not going to last until after my teeth were better - so I decided to boil them up and see what sort of beetroot dip I could make.

While peeling the beetroot (after I cooked them), I vowed I would never buy beetroot again - it squirted all over a tshirt and the bench and everything was tinged pink. Everyone loved the dip so much though (and it wasn't hard to make) that I may have to rethink my "no beetroot" decision.

So here is my version of beetroot hummus - it was devoured by everyone (even the more skeptical omni's that made up my dinner guests). This dip does not require any extra oil. Using warm chickpeas creates a smooth texture without the addition of any extra oil.

Beetroot Hummus
2 small-medium beetroot
2 cloves garlic - peeled
1 1/2 cups cooked WARM chickpeas
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp tahini
1 tsp cumin
reserved chickpea cooking liquid OR warm vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beetroot in a saucepan of salted water until tender (mine took about 1/2 hour). Allow the beetroot to cool and then peel and chop into largish chunks.
In a food processor, process the garlic. Stop, scrape down the sides and process again. Add the chickpeas, beetroot, lemon juice, tahini, cumin and enough reserved chickpea liquid to allow the mixture to blend easily. Add salt and pepper to taste and add more liquid to achieve desired consistancy. **The dip will firm up a lot when it cools so make it runnier than you think you need to**
Scrape into a serving dish or container and allow to cool completly in the fridge before serving.
Garnish with parsely.

And here is me a few hours after my surgery
with an ice pack on my face.

Pot-luck fun and food

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately - I have been pretty vague since the end of exams and through sheer vagueness I have had a few too many kitchen disasters since I last posted - the sheer number of brain-farts I have experienced has been astounding... for example - I made hummus and totally forgot the lemon juice!!! What is hummus without lemon juice??? And that is just the beginning of the disasters - but I don't want to dwell on those because today I went to an awesome potluck for the group Vegetarian Tasmania.

I knew that there were some raw foodies going and so I decided to make a raw dessert and then I complimented it with a fresh (and easy) salad because another brain-fart made me think that I had an extra hour of preparation time up my sleeve and so I wasn't able to make the other raw main dish that I was going to make - so I settled with the simplest quickest salad in the world. Looks fresh and appatising and also is able to be thrown together in 10minutes with minimal effort (shouldn't every meal be like that sometimes??

This simple bean salad has frozen green beans and corn that have been lightly steamed and then rinsed. A can of 4bean mix, about a can of chickpeas (I had some that I had cooked and left in the fridge), some celery, cucumber, red capsicum and spring onion or red onion. I just sprinkled the salad with a little salt water but it is also really good with any of your favourite french or italian dressing.

For dessert I made raw bliss balls. They were so good - I really had to stop myself from eating the mixture while making the balls because it was SO good. They were a hit with the poeple at the lunch and the lady who gave the raw food demonstration and her husband were really impressed and wanted the recipe. That is a sucess in my book :)

Lady's Raw Bliss Surprise

5 dates - soaked in water for a few hours or overnight
110g dessicated coconut (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 tbsp raw cacao powder
enough raw agave syrup to bind the mixture into balls (between 1/4 and 1/2 cup)
almonds (optional)

Drain the dates and blend in a food processor with the oil, coconut and cacao powder. When processed quite finely, add 1/4 cup agave syrup and process for about 30 seconds. Stop and grab a ball of mixture and squeeze gently to see if it sicks together. If it holds together well the mixture is ready. If not, add a little more agave, process and then test the mixture again.

Once the mixture is ready you can either roll the mix into balls or you can use an almond as the centre of the ball and form the mix around the almond. I was able to take these straight to the potluck and they held together well, but the 3 that I kept for Nat in the fridge were much firmer and really nice.

Nat after he bit through his bliss ball.

It makes 20-24 balls - depending on wether you use almonds or not.

asparagus, chickpeas and pesto

Nat was away for work last night. He had an overnight trip to Cradle Mountain. I hadn't really thought of organising anything to do for the night because my mind was focused on exams and by the time I got round to thinking about it - all my friends were busy. Oh well - its nice to have a quiet relaxing evening sometimes.

Because I was tired and feeling lazy I whipped up the easiest thing I could find in the fridge. I found some chickpeas that I was going to use for a hummus that I never got round to making, some yummy organic asparagus that was never going to see itself in a proper meal if I didn't use it up soon (I was nibbling on one stalk at a time and it was slowly depleting), some fresh basil pesto that I made which was loosely based on this recipe, and some left over quinoa.

I just sautéed the asparagus and chickpeas in the chickpea water. The asparagus was pretty young and so it didn't need much at all. I threw that on top of the quinoa and put the pesto on top (once the photo was taken, the pesto was mixed in with the other stuff - but it didn't look quite as appetising then.

It was yummy and hit the spot perfectly (you can't really go wrong with asparagus though).
mmmm....

I have decided that it would be really hard to find the motivation to cook healthy meals if you were only cooking for yourself every night. I am glad that I hardly ever have to do it.

It is a wonderfully sunny day today and the weather forecast says that it is going to get to 28degrees (yay!!)

I am going to go for a walk in the sunshine.

Cooling cucumber and corn salad

Before I get onto talking about my yummy lunch I just want to proclaim to the world that as of 10.15am this morning I FINISHED MY UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE!!! I had my last exam (survey research and statistics) this morning and now I am done. It is also a beautiful day outside. Nat is working and rode his bike to work (he left at 6am this morning) and so he won't be home till about 8 tonight I would imagine - so I am going out for a coffee with one friend and then a few drinks with a few others and then come home and have a late dinner and crack open a bottle of wine and watch a movie or something.

So... the long and the short of it is that... pending passing all my exams - I will have a month of holidays before starting work in my graduate position at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Anyway - onto my awesome raw lunch that I am munching on right as we speak.

Cucumber, corn and celery salad

I am really trying to make an effort to include a lot more raw foods in my diet. I am eating a lot more fruit - especially the fruits with higher concentrations of water - and I am trying to eat raw food right up until dinner. It is not a big effort as my body is craving simpler, lighter and cooler foods. (I do sometimes miss my occasional bowl of muesli, but I really want to give this a crack to see whether I notice any difference in my health, energy, mood and skin condition. I am expecting my body to go through a period of detox first though. I don't want to give up on cooked food altogether - I love preparing food and having people over for dinner and going out for dinner with other people. I am going to try and keep my cooked meals simpler but I will still cook food for Nat and when people come over. This is really just a trial.

Anyway - onto my new favourite salad. I am able to eat this salad without any dressing, but if you wanted to it would be nice with some balsamic or cider vinegar or braggs amino acids. Nat doesn't like the idea of raw corn - so when I make him some I usually steam it for a little bit and then dunk it in some cold water before throwing it in.

Cool corn and cucumber salad
Serves 1

1 fresh cob of corn - kernels removed from the cob
1/3 continental cucumber - cubed
1/2 stalk celery - sliced finely
1/2 spring onion or a small amount of red onion diced finely
any other fresh herbs or vegetables you feel like - I like parsley and basil.

Yummy raw food demonstration

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go to a raw food preparation demonstration/workshop. It was put on through the organisation Vegetarian Tasmania. We had two demonstrators, Gosia and Heather. I have only briefly met gosia once before, but I know Heather quite well. She has been "raw" for about a year and ahe has a 10month old baby. The baby is 100% raw and I have never seen a healthier or happier mother and child. They are just incredible. The baby LOVES tomatoes and mangoes... but he eats just about any raw food that he is given.

Gosia looked at raw food that could be used during the transition to raw and also food that could be used for dinner parties or potluck dinners. Heather's recipes were more about simplicity and she showed us some simple salad dressings so that we could add a bit of variety into the raw diet.

Over the next few weeks I plan to make a lot of the food myself and when I do that I will share the recipes. In the meantime you can check out Gosia's website or youtube videos.

I was really REALLY annoyed when my camera battery died early on in the demonstration. But one of my friends will hopefully send me her photos.

With Gosia we made smoothies, ice cream, fruit jelly, chewies, the most amazing carob cake, cinnamon rolls and pizza. My favourites were the ice cream and the pizza. It was just divine! I will share the ice-cream recipe with you today as it is SO simple!!

I will be posting photos of the cake and the pizza - but for now I will leave you with the one decent picture that I got before my battery died:

Raw Banana and Raspberry Ice-cream
topped with raw cacao powder

Raw Ice-cream
recipe: Gosia

Peel bananas and freeze them. Process them in a food processor with optional ingredients until creamy. Serve immediately.

Variations:
Add some dates/nuts/carob/cacao during processing
Use some frozen raspberries or blueberries, or both.
Decorate the ice-cream with fresh strawberries.
Top the ice-cream with some carob/cacao powder and agave.

Easy Asparagus and tofu yumminess

I love asparagus - but it is SO expensive here (you usually pay $3+ for about 7 stalks). But our little local shop had some for $1.49 a bunch. I couldn't help myself. I bought two bunches.

Trouble is - when I buy something that you love and you know you are not going to get it very often, I don't know what to make with it. I mean there are heaps of recipes - but should I stick with an old faithful or should I try something new - should I make sure that it is the centrepiece of the dish - or let it just sit in the background. Well tonight I was going to be home late for dinner (I was at a Tai Chi class) and so I thought a quick veggie stirfry would be in order. So in between coming home from university and going out to the class I quickly pressed some tofu and whipped up a marinade. I let the tofu sit in the marinade while at class (about 2 hours).

When I got back I realised that I didn't really have any stirfry veggies but I did have the asparagus. And so this dish was created. It was simple and so yummy and satisfying.

I probably broke every "how to make a proper stirfry" rule and you will all shun me from the bloggosphere - but I was tired, lazy and heck - it turned out really well and I will be making it again.

I didn't want to use any oil or waste any ingredients. So after marinating the tofu, I poured the marinade into the wok and let it boil down to a thicker consistency, then I added the asparagus and tofu.

Easy Tofu Asparagus Stir-fry

1 block extra firm tofu
2 bunches asparagus

3tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4cup soy sauce
1 tsp sugar (I used grated palm sugar)
2 clove garlic - crushed
1/2 red onion - chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
Water
1tsp arrowroot flour mixed with cold water (optional)
2tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce (or stirfry sauce of your choice)

Directions

1. Press Tofu and cut into triangles (I press my tofu using a tea-towel not paper towel)
2. Mix the vinegar, soysauce, sugar, garlic, onion, ginger together.
3. When tofu is pressed, place in marinating dish and pour marinade over. Add extra water to just cover tofu. Leave for 1-2 hours.
4. When tofu is ready, pour the marinade into the wok and let it boil down so that it is thicker.
5. Add asparagus and tofu and stirfry until asparagus is done.
6. Mix the arrowroot flour with a little bit of water and then pour it into the dish to make the sauce a little thicker. (optional)
   
7. Add the stirfry sauce.
8. Serve immediately over rice.
   

VeganMoFo - It must be eggplant season... that makes me a happy lady

Eggplants are cheap!! But they are not just cheap compared to how much they cost during the rest of the year... they are cheaper than most other vegetables at the moment. Now I love eggplant... but Nat is taking a little longer to warm to this versatile vegetable. However he did love this dish.

Dahl with eggplant and spinach

1 or 2 medium eggplants
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tsp madras curry powder
1 tsp chili paste
1 1/2 cups lentils
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups water
About 50g frozen spinach, thawed (I would have used more but I only had one cube left)
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste

Directions
Preheat oven to 200ºC, pierce the eggplant with a fork a couple of times and put on a tray on the middle rack for 30 minutes. When done, cool and then peel off the skin and place in a food processor. Add the spinach.

While the eggplant is roasting, fry the onion and garlic in oil or water until brown. Add spices and seeds and continue to stir for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.

Add the lentils, salt and the water to the pot. Bring them to a boil and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the water is almost gone.

When the lentils are cooked, add half the lentil mixture to the food processor.
Add the spinach, tomatoes and tomato paste and process the ingredients on low. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the unblended lentils.

Serve over your choice of rice with naan or pappadams.

**I am going to make my first ever seitan tonight*** WATCH THIS SPACE*** I am super excited... and a little nervous.

Vegan Mofo #6 - Palak tofu - a combination of some awesome recipes

Well, I have never had Palak Paneer so I can't compare... but this was pretty damn good. It was the first time I made my own vegan paneer... I used the recipe from Vegan Feast Kitchen. It was great... however I wasn't too sure whether to use firm or extra firm tofu. I used extra firm, but it seemed too dry. WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY to dry. I was getting rather nervous but added about another 1/4-1/2 cup of water and another tsp of agar agar. So I think that the Bryanna's recipe is for firm (not silken and not extra firm). Well it turned out REALLY well. So lovely.

Next, I based the recipe on a dish created by Susan from FFV. I made a few substitutions, I used silverbeet instead of spinach and a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh. I used the curry powder and ommitted the fenugreek.

The result - well the paneer 'melted' a little and the final dish had lots of little tofu bits all through it... but it was really lovely. Both Nat and I enjoyed it and will probably make it again.

Home alone with Zucchini soup

Well my boy has gone away to work for the weekend. Last night was my first night alone in our house since the wedding - so it was a bit weird trying to work out what to eat. The wind has been wild and crazy lately and I felt like something warming but not too heavy. I had found some cheep zucchinis at the market yesterday and so, without too much thought, I opted to make another of my favourite "mum" recipes. This soup is so easy and if you have the zucchini, all the other ingredients are staples in my house. The flavour is very mild - but I like that. Its very different from the curries that I often consume.

I made enough so that I could have some for lunch today. Ahhh the joys of leftovers.



Mum's Zucchini Soup

3 medium zucchini (about 1-1.5kg) chopped
2 stalks of celery - chopped
1/2 piece wakame, broken into smaller pieces (optional)
1tsp dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh
1 large onion - dices
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
enough water just to cover the vegetables
salt to taste

1. Fry onions, garlic and celery in water or oil until soft
2. Add zucchini, basil and wakame, cover with water and bring to the boil
3. Reduce heat and simer until zucchini looks cooker, approx 5-8 mins
4. Blend gently and season with salt and pepper.

Broccoli Dahl and a Friday night at home

Well last night it felt like the wind was going to take off the roof of our unit. We kept the curtains open last night so we could see the trees being whipped around outside. It was wonderful (ok, I am one of these people who LOVES thunderstorms - so in lieu of not having one since we have been in this new house, this came a close second).

My partner and I felt like something simple for tea last night and so we reverted back to one of my favourite foods, dahl.

We did, however, have some broccoli to use up so I thought I would chuck that into the mix as well.
It was a wonderful warming dish. The spice combination was a little different to my normal dahl recipe (I had run out of garam masala and so I played around a bit). I am a bit of a lazy cook when it comes to cooking for just the two of us. If I was to serve it to someone else I might steam the broccoli and then add it into the pan just before serving so it retains its bright green colour.


Broccoli Dahl

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 1 cup red lentils - rinsed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3 cups chicken style broth
• 2 medium heads of broccoli, chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)
• salt to taste
• 1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped (optional)

1. Saute onion in water or oil until softened
   
2. Add chili powder, pepper, cumin, coriander and turmeric and stir for a minute.
3. Add lentils, lemon juice and broth.
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes (if mixture is too thick, you may need to add a little hot water).
5. Add broccoli to the saucepan (or steam in a seperate saucepan until it is done to your liking and set aside until later).
6. Cook for a futher 15-20 mins, or until broccoli and lentils are tender
   
7. add salt, coconut milk and cashews (if using). (Add broccoli if you decided to steam it seperatly).
   
8. Simmer for 5 minutes.
9. Serve over rice and serve with your favourite Indian condiments (we like pappadams cooked in the microwave so as to limit our oil consumption).