Chilli & Lime Spaghetti

My goodness! I've been slack and haven't posted in ages. I thought I'd get things back on track by posting my lunch today. I felt like something with limes and chillies. It's such a tasty combo. So refreshing. And since I'm fighting off a cold that I may be getting I added some garlic. If you make this recipe you probably don't need to add as much as I did. :) Anyway here is the recipe.

Chilli & Lime Spaghetti

Serves one hungry person (aka me today) or two for a light meal.

Spaghetti (a bunch about the diameter of a 10 cent piece)

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Olive Oil

3 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped

2 Chilies, deseeded & finely sliced

Zest of one Lime

1/3 Rocket, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp Pine Nuts

Juice of one Lime

Salt & Ground Pepper to serve

Parmesan Cheese to serve

In a medium sized pot bring water to the boil, once boiling add 1 tsp of salt then the spaghetti. You want to cook the spaghetti until al dente, about 8-10 minutes.

While the spaghetti is on, in a frying pan heat olive oil on a medium heat, add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Add chilli and cook for a further 30 seconds. Turn off heat and add the zest of one lime and rocket. Mix through to combine all ingredients.

When the spaghetti is done, drain thoroughly and add to frying pan. (which is off the heat).

With tongs thoroughly coat all of the spaghetti then add it all to a serving dish.

Reheat the frying pan on a medium heat and roast the pine nuts until golden, about 1-2 minutes.

Top the dish with the pine nuts and squeeze over the juice of one lime.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with parmesan cheese.

How to Eat a Hug ...

Eating a hug ... that's the best way I can describe these treats :) Yum! I've made them countless times so I thought I'd better share the recipe.

They are fairly ... actually in my book they are VERY guilt free! Dairy free, vegan, gluten free, and hold the phone they're sugar free too! Well sort of ... I found a loop hole, there is a bit a maple syrup in there for sweetness.

I don't have a name for them so they can just be coconut/ cocoa/ almond/ date-ish ball things for now. I'd love some name suggestions. :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

400g Dried Pitted Dates

1/4 cup Psyllium Husk*

1/4 cup Rice Bran Oil

2 tbsp Maple Syrup

1 tsp of Vanilla Bean Paste**

1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Salt

1/2 cup (50g) Fine Desiccated Coconut

1 cup (160g) Blanched Almonds

+ a second measure of 1/2 cup (50g) of coconut for coating them at the end.

Either fine desiccated or shredded. I prefer shredded, it's a little fancier.

*Can substitute the psyllium husk for wheat germ, LSA mix or whatever is in your cupboard of the same texture and taste.

**Use essence if you don't have paste, but keep in mind that paste is so much better!

(for this recipe you need a food processor)

Method

Put all the ingredients except the coconut and almonds in a food processor, blend/pulse until the mixture resembles a paste like texture.

Transfer the mixture into a large bowl.

Put the almonds in the empty food processor and pulse until they are roughly chopped, add to the bowl with the first measure (1/2 cup) of coconut.

At this point you'll have to get your hands in there to combine the mixture evenly.

Once you've got a good consistency you can divide and roll the mixture into small balls (2 cm diametre).

Use the second measure of coconut to coat the balls. (I like to toast the coconut slightly before coating them).

Put them in the fridge in an air tight container for a few hours before eating to allow them to set. If you can refrigerate them overnight, even better!

Then eat!!

The Start Of My Zero Waste Addiction.

The zero waste home blog. I came across it here only a few weeks ago at Danelle Bourgeois' tumbler. She posted the above video which lead me to the blog. The zero waste blog is written by Bea Johnson. Five years ago, she (and her family) decided to move into a smaller home. They downsized their belongings and took on a zero-waste style of living. The above video explains it all. She has got so many great tips on her blog for reducing waste, I've taken on most of the ones I've read so far, like she says in the video, it's very addictive. In the past two weeks I've been occupied with de-cluttering, reducing, reusing and shopping in the right places. I've donated three station wagon boot loads full of house stuff that I don't need anymore to second hand stores. I've made a compost bin for food waste. I've put up a much needed 'No Junk Mail' sign on the letterbox. I'm shopping at markets where I can get my own bags and containers filled no problem (laundry mesh bags for mushrooms, beans, loose lettuce etc). Refilling my egg trays. Using a canvas bag for bread at the bakery which tastes better and is fresher anyway. At the supermarket I'm opting to buy things that last in bulk rather than buying small bottles and jars, that is until I have more jars/bottles to refill etc. Phew! Like I said ... it's addictive. We've already reduced our rubbish and recycling by half. I had been wanting to do something about the sad state of our overfilled rubbish bins (recycling included) for a while now and Bea Johnson's blog seemed to kick it into gear.

I decided to make this post for people living in Melbourne as a resource for great places to buy produce from. Please do comment if you have more links to add.

Ceres Organic Market and Shop

Queen Victoria Markets

Organic Supermarket in Brunswick

South Melbourne Market

Footscray Market

Prahran Markets

Melbourne Community Farmer's Markets

Markets at Melbourne Showgrounds

and of course check out the zero waste home blog. :)

http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com/

What if the hokey pokey is what it's all about?

Yesterday I made ice cream and it was a success. Surprisingly! It's a lot easier to make than what I thought. It's pretty much just like making custard and freezing it. I made hokey pokey ice cream for nostalgic reasons. It's a bit of a New Zealand favourite.

To make it I grabbed a basic vanilla ice cream recipe online and used the old faithful Edmonds Cookbook for the hokey pokey. Since I don't have an ice cream maker I googled around for the how-to and found this guys blog post - david lebovitz. I've come across him before and definitely sounds like a bit of an ice cream expert. He makes it sound pretty easy, and turns out it is!

Recipes are below...(I added the hokey pokey about half way through freezing the ice cream)

Basic Vanilla Ice-Cream

(adapted from taste)

Ingredients

300ml thick cream

300ml milk

2 tsp vanilla bean extract

6 egg yolks

175g caster sugar

Method

Place the cream, milk and 2 tsp vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then turn off the heat and set aside for 10 minutes to infuse.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer until pale.

Carefully pour the milk over, then return to a clean saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring, for about five minutes until it is slightly thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

(Keep the heat very low as you don't want to scrabble the egg yolks)

(This simple custard forms the basis of a classic ice-cream recipe.)

Set aside to cool, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place custard in a plastic container in the freezer until frozen at the edges (about an hour). Remove from freezer. Beat with an electric beater. Re-freeze. Repeat this process two more times.

Leave until completely frozen, for best results leave over night.

(Alternatively, churn in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer's directions.)

Makes 1 Litre

Hokey Pokey

Ingredients

5 Tbsp of white sugar

2 Tbsp of golden syrup

1 tsp baking soda

Method

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

Heat the golden syrup and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat.

Melt mixture and stir occasionally. Bring to the boil for 3 minutes -- make sure you stir continuously so the syrup doesn't burn.

Take the pot off the stove and stir in the baking soda. The mixture will froth up and become pale. Use a spatula to scrape and pour the mixture onto the baking paper.

Allow the honeycomb to set for 30 minutes.

Once set, wrap the honey comb loosely in parchment paper and use a rolling pin to break it into small pieces.

I have to say that home made ice cream surely is a whole lot better than store bought. Delicious! If you've never tried hokey pokey before then have a go at this recipe. Next time I'm going to make maple and walnut!

Cauliflower and Vanilla Soup

This soup makes a satisfying starter for any autumn dinner party with friends. A delicious flavour combo which not many would have tried! Surely a crowd pleaser.

I wrote these recipes for the Ceres Fair Food recipe page, which you can find here...

http://www.ceresfairfood.org.au/recipes/

Spiced Pear Tart.

Pears come into season just as the autumn cold hits us, so what better way to enjoy them than in this warm baked dessert!

I wrote these recipes for the Ceres Fair Food recipe page, which you can find here...

http://www.ceresfairfood.org.au/recipes/

chocolate chocolate chocolate...

So I figured since I haven't posted any sweet treats yet, chocolate would be a good start!

Just last week I did a shoot for a friends company called Koko Deluxe. They sell hot chocolate. So delicious! If you live in Melbourne, Wellington or London you might spot it in a cafe. If you do I suggest to get one! Anyway I photographed a lot of chocolate. Hot chocolate, powdered chocolate, grated chocolate, solid chocolate ... I think you get the point. Once I had finished the photos I found myself left with a 2.5 kilo block of amazing quality (you guessed it) chocolate. Oh what to do with it! After much deliberation I decided to make homemade brownies. With my quality control team standing by impatiently, I managed to snap a couple of photos without fingers in there before it got eaten! It was very yum.

For the record I used up about 200g of the block ... I'm sure you'll be seeing more of it soon in some form or another. So lets just say 'to be continued' for now.