Showing posts with label Recipe Book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipe Book. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

vegie garden and thinking of going vegetarian.

Many years ago I used to be vegetarian. I made sure I ate a balance of foods to try to make sure I got the vitamins needed. I obviously lacked in something though as I was comepeting in competitive sport and a few times I passed out after competing! Not good. I also found I craved steak, yes bad, but its always been a food i really love. I could live without all other meat happily if i could eat steak occasionally.

So anyway. Lately we have been making more and more vegetarian meals. Joey and I eat out for lunch once or twice a week and we almost always choose vegetarian options now. We found a fab little cafe in upper ferntree gully called Tastee Az that has the most yummy vegetarian meals (they serve meals with meat also) and we now go once a week to make our way through there very tastee menu! I highly recommend anyone in the area to go and eat there you won't be disappointed, plus the food is reasonably priced.

So in all this I have been thinking about taking the step back to being vegetarian once again. For me it would be primarily for health reasons, secondly for the environment and thirdly for the animals. Is it unethical if I chose to eat meat on the rare occasion? like when at visitors who just find it too hard? at social events when there is no other option? and once in a while to curb my steak cravings? Give me your thoughts :)

Now on to a yummy recipe.
I made a vegie quiche this week which was soooo yummy!

Here is the easy easy recipe I did this time.

I used a square baking tin.
Put down a sheet of puff pastry.
then layered in the cut up vegies
Tomato
mushroom
silverbeet
red onion
red capsicum

then some crumbled marinated fetta

then relayered the vegies again
then topped with more marinated fetta and some asparagus and grated cheese.

then mixed 4 eggs with a little milk and cracked black pepper and poured over the top.
bake in the oven til risen and firm and brown.

then eat!!!

It was really yummy!

This is it with just the vegies layered in. I got busy and forgot to photograph the rest!
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the garden is booming along out the back. I need to retie the tomatoes and transplant a few of them.
I posted apic just after planting about 2 motnhs ago, they sure are doing well here!
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Int he pic above you can see the main tomato bed at the front which also has some basil, chilli and parsley in it. All growing well.
Behind that is a bed with more chilli, spring onions, cucumbers, beans and some lettuce. also tomatoes that have sprouted from previous years seed in the soil that I need to transplant this weekend.

to the left of the picture not in the built up beds I have zuchini growing and pumpkin and parsley and mint. to the right I have strawberries and another pumpkin (the pumpkin is a smaller variety that wont take over the garden hopefully! Its already flowering too.)

the back bed is the main lettuce bed which also has carrot and parsnip growing now and more silverbeet and radishes.

I'm really disappointed about the front beds, everythign is still not growing and just dying off :( I figure I am just going ot kep adding to the soil and keep trying. I probably should buy and do a ph test to see what is up with it.

Oh I picked and ate a snow pea yesterday. I was lamely excited by it :) pity the plant is out the front and joining the others in dying off so not sure if I will get much more thsan the one pea off it!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Recipe Book

Today I helped a good friend wiht a bit of packing as she is moving into their first home!

In the mormning I got up and decided to clean up a bit before going and then figured I'd cook too.

Yestrday I missed the osso bucco due to Joey being out for the night so we did take away.
So today i cooked it.

I photographed as i went along as i am thinkig I will make a recipe book for the kids with all my fav recipes for them.

This is Osso Bucco.

Brown Osso Bucco in a pan and lay in baking dish.




dice up
-1 carrot
-1 onion
-2 cloves garlic
-2 sticks celery
- 1/4 red capsicum

In a pan, cook diced vegies until slightly softened.
-add around 1 cup of wine (choose a wine you like whether its red or white, amke sure you at least likethe tatse!)
-1 chicken stock cube (or 1 cup of chicken stock)
-1 large tin chopped tomaotes (or fresh tomatoes if you have them)

Cook for around 10 minutes on a medium to high heat.


Pour mixture over Osso Bucco and cover with foil and bake. Preferably ina slow oven for many hours, if not ina medium to high oven for 1 hour (ours today had 4-5 hours in a slow oven)

serve with mashed potatoes and steamed greens (we had silverbeet from the garden, about the only thing currently growing !)
FREECYCLE is cool :)
Check out these gorgeous cannisters I picked up today! They are like new and are really lovely! I also picked up 2 dripper hoses yesterday form freecycle for my vegie garden.
I also went op shopping today and yesterday! I picked up this great little enamelware/cast iron pot. Its made in poland (or so it is stamped) I initially bought it to use a pot for a plant outside (have been collecting enamelware pots for this in different colours) but now I am not sure if i want to keep it in the kitchen instead!


I picked Liam up some dinaosaur activity books which he will love as he is dino mad!I also bought myself a heap of different books over my travels.
I LOVE hunting out books in op shops. i am drawn to cookbooks, gardening books, sometimes novels, books that I had in childhood etc. I love reading, love researching, love learning and books fulfill all of those things!

Some of the titles i bought:
The Australian heritage Cookbook
Australian counrty style -country rooms
The complete gardener
Natures super foods
and many more!