Brown Rice & Vegetable Rolls

A rediscovered recipe, scrawled on a piece of paper and found languishing between pages of a rarely-used recipe book, reminded me of a lovely version of sausage rolls that I haven't made for a good twenty years of so!  Instead of a meaty filling, these rolls are filled with healthy brown rice and lots of nutritious vegetables. They are most lovely, warm from the oven and with a dollop of fruity chutney on the side. 

Delicious!

Brown Rice & Vegetable Rolls

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked brown rice 

1/2 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup grated carrot

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 capsicum, finely chopped

1 cup grated tasty cheese

1 Tablespoons fruit chutney

2 eggs, beaten

3 sheets puff pastry

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 210C.

2. Combine all ingredients, except pastry sheets, in a large bowl to make the filling.

3.  Spoon filling along  one edge of each puff pastry sheet.

4.  Roll up the filling inside the pastry and seal by pressing pastry ends together.

5.  Cut evenly into individual rolls.

6.  Glaze with a little egg or milk before baking. (You could sprinkle with sesame seeds too.)

7.  Bake for approximately 30mins or until pastry is golden.

8.  Serve with some extra fruit chutney.

Ingredients for a meat-free meal.

These rolls are a delicious alternative to everyday sausage rolls and have lots of extra goodness wrapped up in them from the brown rice and the vegetables. It certainly won't be another twenty years before I make them again!

Meg

Making Meals in my Kitchen

I grew up eating my mother's homemade food. It was rarely anything fancy but it was good and filling and nourishing and there on the table every day. Now I cook for my own family. The food I make isn't that fancy either but it's fresh and wholesome and there on the table every day. 

This past week there was one roast dinner and lots of salads among other homemade deliciousness. I planned out our meals for the week, substituted what I did have for what I didn't have, shopped for what I needed and made the most of the ingredients I bought. Nothing was wasted; the compost bin got the peelings and my enthusiastic Labrador "supervisor" got the tidbits with roast chicken and leftover gravy being one of his favourites ... among his many favourites!

A lovely roast dinner.

On the one cooler evening we had this past week, I roasted a whole chicken (I had one left in the freezer that I did not cook up for Christmas lunch) with lots of roasted vegetables and made pan gravy from all the goodness stuck to the bottom of the roasting tray. We had leftover chicken wraps for lunch the next day too. Yum!

An oven baked frittata filled with roast veg.

From the leftover roast vegetables, I made an oven-baked frittata for dinner the next night. It stretched to lunch, accompanied by a summer salad, the following day.

Mmm ...  Macadamia & Mango Rice Salad

Salads are on our plates often during these Summer days. They are quick to make, full of revitalising colour and healthy goodness, taste amazing and there's always leftovers if you make a big enough bowlful to begin with. 

This Macadamia and Mango Brown Rice Salad is full of flavour and crunch! I bought the mangoes and raw macadamia nuts from Aldi and I have enough of both to make another big bowlful of this over the coming weekend. Besides roasting the macadamias and cooking the rice, there's very little else other than chopping up some fresh veg, throwing in a handful of currants and whisking up a two-ingredient dressing. So simple and so good!

Macadamia nuts roasted in my oven.

I roasted beautiful macadamia nuts for the salad while I was toasting a batch of homemade granola. Granola, or toasted muesli is so simple to make and so versatile. I added dried cranberries and chopped almonds and shaved coconut to this one. My husband loves coconut-everything (me, not so much) but you can add in your own favourites be it coconut or dates or dried apricots or pecans or sunflower seeds. That was breakfast taken care of!

Toasty homemade granola.

While the oven was on, I baked a lovely lemon slice using more of the rolled oats I bought for the granola, a tin of condensed milk I had in my pantry and some lemon juice I had in the freezer. I should have photographed that slice before putting it out for afternoon tea because it was gone before I remembered ... and I don't think the aforementioned Labrador had anything to do with that!

Meg

Zucchini Slice Muffins: Freeze For Later

Simple and nourishing, good 'ole Zucchini Slice is on the menu here regularly. It's usually baked in a tray but I make it into muffins because I freeze them individually. They are perfect for discovering in the freezer on busy nights when you've forgotten to defrost something for dinner. (Ahem! Yes, I do that more often now that I work outside of home a lot.)  A quick reheat and served with salad, they can be a saviour!

A quick and delicious meal for busy nights.

My Mum taught me to make Zucchini Slice and she never used a recipe. The recipe I use now for these muffins is based on the one from Stephanie Alexander in her cookbook, Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids. (Great for teaching children to cook!) I have fiddled very minimally with the recipe, namely changing from self-raising flour to spelt flour.  Here's how I make them in my kitchen:

Healthy ingredients for muffins.

Zucchini Slice Muffins

2 medium zucchini, finely grated

1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

1/2 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup chopped ham (*optional)

5 small or 3 large eggs

1/3 cup olive oil

150g white spelt flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

black pepper

tomatoes

1.  Put sifted spelt flour & baking powder, cheese, corn and ham (if using) in a large bowl.

2. Wring moisture out of grated zucchini by wrapping in a tea towel and squeezing over the sink.

3. Chop grated zucchini finely and add to other ingredients in the bowl.  Slice tomatoes.

4. Make well in centre of these dry ingredients.

5.  Whisk eggs and olive oil in jug or separate bowl.

6.  Add to ingredients in bowl and mix until just combined.

7. Put spoonfuls of mixture into muffin pan being careful not to overfill.

8. Place a slice of tomato on the top of each muffin.

8.  Bake in a 180C oven until risen and golden.

9. Eat when warm from the oven or freeze individually (and then thank your organised self when you 

   take them out of your freezer on nights when you've forgotten to defrost something for dinner!

Some with and some without tomato.

I was so very glad to find my stash of Zucchini Slice Muffins in our freezer this past couple of weeks. With a trip to the hospital's allergy clinic, carpets being ripped up and floating floors put down (half my house is still in my lounge room) and a boy on crutches, I was beyond happy to find them there!

Do you have a recipe that you learned to cook when you were young and that you still make today?

Meg

Little Potato & Haloumi Cakes

Anything made with chewy, salty haloumi cheese, has me hooked before the first mouthful. So it was with these little potato cakes. 

Delicious!

The recipe comes from The Art of Nourishing, by Therese Steele, which is one of my favourite cookbooks. Therese is a local woman who sought better health for her family through food and other changes to reduce or eliminate chemicals we can all be surrounded by in our modern lives and homes. There are so many delicious, healthy and gluten-free recipes in this cookbook as well as many tips for reducing chemicals in our daily lives. 

This is a very simple recipe really. I have omitted the salt from the recipe because I find haloumi to be salty enough on its own.  I also used olive oil instead of the grapeseed oil from the recipe. (I don't have grapeseed oil.)  Here's how I made them:

Little Potato & Haloumi Cakes

4 large waxy potatoes (A variety like Desiree is a good choice.)

100g haloumi cheese

2 large eggs

paprika & pepper

parsley *optional*

olive oil

1.  Coarsely grate the peeled potatoes on top of a clean tea towel. Bunch up the tea towel around the grated potato and use it to squeeze out as much moisture from the grated potato as possible.  Place grated potato in a mixing bowl.

2.  Coarsely grate the haloumi cheese and add it to the grated potato.

3.  Beat the eggs and add to the potato and haloumi mixture. *Add chopped parsely if using.*

4.  Season mixture with a generous grind of pepper and a sprinkling of paprika.

5.  Cover the base of your frying pan with olive oil and bring up to a medium heat.

6. Place little spoonfuls of potato and haloumi mixture into frying pan and even out thickness with the back of a spoon.

7.  Fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove from frying pan and sit on a piece of kitchen towel to soak up excess oil. 

8. Serve with a scrumptious chutney or chunky sauce and a generous side salad.  

Yum!  These little potato and haloumi cakes are so moreish that I don't recommend you make them all the time. While infinitely healthier than, say a hash brown cooked in palm oil at your local takeaway, eating batch after batch of them might still be overload. Once in a while though ... 

Meg

p.s. This is a rosti recipe I am very keen to try. Jamie Oliver's Giant Veg Rosti sounds amazing and full of goodness.

A Rainy Weekend at Our Place

While the rain intermittently poured down outside, and drizzled in between those downpours, we remained (mostly) inside, all dry and cosy. I think there's something quite indulgent about wet weekends like this. They are the perfect "excuse" to eat comfort foods and sip warm drinks, snuggle under covers with good books, watch your favourite shows (having dragged those same covers to the lounge) and finish off a project or two. Here's a snapshot of the our rainy weekend:

Our rain soaked front verandah.

Raindrops on the olive trees.

Freshly baked Zucchini Slice Muffins.

Blanket stitching around a little felt brooch.

Cooking homemade minestrone soup.

A bunch of flat leaf parsley for the soup.

Pots of zucchini in the garden.

Little chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven.

(The delicious smell of them wafted through the house.)

 

A cucumber plant soaks up  the rain.

Washing drying inside.

A warm drink & a library book.

A saturated back yard.

Hmm... quite a bit of comfort food there. 😊 I'm sure the homemade lasagna and sticky toffee pudding we shared with friends who came for dinner on Saturday night would also be classed as comforting too. It seems I cook and bake (and eat?) a lot when it rains!

What's your favourite way to spend a rainy day?

Meg

Meat-Free Shepherd's Pie

Although balmy Springtime days are here, our evenings are still quite chilly so the wonderful warmth of a delicious Shepherd's Pie, topped with buttery mashed potatoes, is still most welcome on a colder night. 

Delicious and nourishing Cottage Pie.

Unlike a traditional Irish Shepherd's Pie, made with a lamb, this delicious pie filling is made with lentils and vegetables and herbs. Of course, it's topped with creamy, buttery mashed potatoes. It's a meat-free meal that is so tasty and nourishing and filling. 

I came across the recipe in the book, Grown & Gathered, by Matt & Lentil which I borrowed from my local library. It's also available here. I tweaked it a little to match what I had to use. I used a tin of organic puy lentils I had in the pantry instead of preparing and soaking lentils overnight. (Lazy??) Also, as suggested in the recipe, I used vegetable stock rather than making the filling with a lamb or beef bone and water. This makes the filling a vegetarian version. I also chose not to make the pastry and so topped it with just simple mashed potatoes rather than the mash, made with potatoes, sweet potato, carrots and turnips, suggested in the original recipe. It's a lovely recipe however you make it!

 Lentil & vegetable filling full of goodness.

Creamy mashed potato topping. 

Ready for the oven.  

Piping-hot pie!

This version of shepherd's pie is a 'keeper' that I know I'll make many times over because it's so versatile. You can soak those lentils or use tinned lentils. You can throw in whatever herbs you've got growing in the garden. You can make your mash however you like! It's great when you find a recipe you can put on repeat!

What's your favourite recipe-on-repeat at your place?

Meg

p.s. Did you know that a meat-less Shepherd's Pie is sometimes called a "Shepherdless Pie". I found that out, among other things, at this link to Jamie Oliver's 10 Things You Didn't Know About Shepherd's Pie. 

Stuffed Sweet Potato Boats

On a quiet night, where it was just me for dinner, I made myself some scrumptious stuffed sweet potatoes. Piping hot, cheesy and full of nutritious veg, they were so delicious!

 Simple and scrumptious!

I 💗 the flavour of roasted sweet potato and it is the roasted skins of this very versatile veg that form the hull of these scrumptious "boats". I just tossed a few in the oven and baked them until they were cooked through. Once they were cool enough, I halved them, split them lengthwise and scooped out the tender orange sweet potato inside. 

Bake and halve sweet potatoes. 

After that, I deviated from the original recipe a bit. Feeling lazy, I voted (there was only me so it was unanimous) not to saute onion and broccoli for the filling but to instead use up the leftover steamed veg from the night before. So, into the mashed sweet potato from the hollowed out "boats" went leftover cauliflower, peas and beans, a big blob of sour cream and a grind of pepper. All mixed together and it was ready to go back into the roasted sweet potato skins.

Refill the hollowed out sweet potato skins with generous scoops of filling.

Generous scoops of this lovely creamy vegetable mix filled up the hollowed out skins. All that was needed then was some grated mozzarella cheese. Then, back into the oven long enough for mozzarella to become all melt-y and stretchy. Yum!

Top with grated mozzarella cheese.

So simple and yummy! Not only are they full of healthy veg, they are quick to make once the sweet potatoes are baked. You could very easily bake a few sweet potatoes, if your oven is on earlier in the day cooking other things, ready for a quick dinner that evening. Served just as they are, or with a side salad, these stuffed sweet potato boats are a great meat-free Monday (or any other day) meal, a yummy way to use up leftovers and a pretty healthy option too.

Of course, because I was the only one for dinner, I got to eat them all up but you might have to make extras though if you have to share. I think they'd disappear quickly from the dinner table. They are so scrumptious!

Meg

p.s. I used sweet potatoes I grew in the garden here. No sprays! 

Scrumptious Silverbeet Parcels

While the broccoli has amounted to not much at all, and the kale is being munched on enthusiastically by creatures unknown, the silverbeet is leafy and abundant as always. Until I started growing silverbeet myself, my only memory of it came from a Nana who would boil it 'til it was limp and a sludgy kind of greeny-grey. Ugh! Luckily, I now know that silverbeet does not need to be like that and it's become a firm favourite as an easy-to-grow and versatile veg. There's a lot of silverbeet ready in our garden now and so I've been picking it regularly and making some scrumptious savouries with it.  

Scrumptious Silverbeet Parcels

These flaky filo pastry parcels, filled with silverbeet, spring onion, feta and herbs, are a version of Hortopita.  Hortopita is a type of traditional Greek pie. I was inspired to make these parcels after seeing them featured on a cooking segment of Gardening Australia recently. Here is the video segment and the recipe is written out underneath. The only change I made was to use chopped spring onion, instead of brown onion, because that's what's growing in my veg patch right now. 

These Hortopita parcels were a great way to use the silverbeet from our veg patch. Here's how they came together in my kitchen:

 Washed  silverbeet fresh from the garden. 

Warmed & wilted silverbeet and herbs with spring onions and feta.

Buttered layers of filo pastry.

Folding triangles to encase the filling.

Golden and delicious parcels from the oven.

Piping hot, flaky and absolutely delicious. A scrumptious way to eat what we grow, to use what's abundant and in season in the veggie patch. 

What are you growing right now and what are you cooking with it?

Meg

Roasted Carrot & Quinoa Bake

I adore roasted carrots and I'm fond of fluffy quinoa so I was always going to love this delicious dish. A flavourful and nutritious bake, all roasted in the one tin, makes a perfectly simple meal just as it is or a lovely side dish. Leftovers most definitely make for a healthy lunch salad the next day too! 

Simple & delicious!

There are roasted parsnips along with carrots in Rukmini Iyer's original recipe from her cookbook, "The Roasting Tin:  Simple One Dish Dinners". While I don't mind parsnips, I didn't have any so I just roasted plenty of delicious carrots instead! Here's how it came together in my kitchen:

Carrot & Quinoa Bake

4 - 5 large carrots

2 cloves garlic

fresh rosemary, 2 sprigs 

2 bay leaves

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon honey

salt & pepper

120g quinoa, thoroughly rinsed 

350ML boiling water

lemon

1.   Preheat oven to 180C.

2.   Peel carrots and halve lengthwise then cut into long chunks.

3.   Put carrots in a roasting dish with crushed garlic, chopped rosemary, bay, olive oil & 

       honey. 

4.   Toss together with your hands so carrots coated in herbed & honeyed oil. Season with

       salt & pepper.

5.   Bake, uncovered, for approximately 40minutes. 

6.   Remove from oven. Carefully mix in rinsed quinoa and boiling water making sure you 
      loosen all the caramelised goodness from the bottom of your roasting tin.

7.   Cover with foil and return to the oven to roast for further 20minutes.

8.   Remove from the oven and lift off the foil. Fluff up the quinoa with a fork and then leave
      for a further five minutes. 

9.   Serve with a wedge of lemon so it's lovely juice can be squeezed over the top. 

This beautifully simple bake can be served with peppery rocket, as it is in the cookbook, or you could mix in some baby peas, bright green and sweet, instead.  Either way, it's delicious!

Meg

Two Salads for one Yoghurt Dressing

We eat salads year round here. In Winter, warm salads made with baked and nourishing veggies and in Summer, as it is here now, fresh and simple salads are a staple. With our Summer salads, I like dressings that are light and tangy. My favourite is a very simple yoghurt dressing that I use as an alternative to mayonnaise.

Light & tangy yoghurt dressing.

This dressing works really well with homemade potato salad and coleslaw too.  It takes just a few minutes to whip up. All you need for a small salad is 1/3 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt, 1 teaspoon of seeded mustard and 1/2 to a full teaspoon of raw honey. Salt and pepper too if you wish.  

Homemade coleslaw with yoghurt dressing.

Homemade Coleslaw:  Wash and finely shred cabbage. Chop spring onion, capsicum and celery. Grate carrot. Mix together with yoghurt dressing and chill.

Homemade potato salad with the same yoghurt dressing.

Simple Potato Salad:  Wash, chop and steam potatoes until tender but not too soft. (Leave the skin on for extra nutrition and fibre.) Rinse under cold water and drain. Mix through yoghurt dressing. Add some chipped spring onion or chopped chives if you have some. Chill until ready to serve. 

On warm Summer evenings, homemade salads made with a tangy and refreshing dressing like this one are perfect  for lazy dinners and barbecues. What's your favourite Summer salad or dressing?

Meg

Summery Bean Salad

We are currently harvesting crispy young beans by the handful from our garden. They are so fresh and crunchy! I always aim to use something from our garden in the meals I make so I thought a light and Summery bean salad would be a beautiful way to eat our homegrown beans.

Beautiful fresh beans from our garden.

The recipe I was inspired by, for Green Bean & Almond Salad, comes from Georgia Harding who develops nutritious and delicious recipes over on her blog, Well Nourished.  I decided my buttery yellow beans would be just as lovely as green beans and that the haloumi cheese I did have would be just a nice as the feta I didn't have.  This salad was so good! Just the thing for homegrown beans picked on a Summer morning.

For exact quantities of ingredients, you can click on the link above to Georgia's recipe. I just added amounts I felt worked with the handfuls of beans I had.  After all, I don't think there's such a thing as too much haloumi (not if you love cheese like I do!) 😉

Summery Bean Salad

Top & tail your fresh beans. Steam them lightly so they remain crisp.
(Plunge into icy water to stop them cooking!)

Toast slivered almonds in a dry fry pan.

Fry some little cubes of haloumi cheese until golden.

Mix ingredients together in a bowl with handfuls of dark green baby spinach.

Pour over dressing before serving & toss until evenly coated.

For the dressing:  Whisk together 2Tablespoons olive oil, 1Tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, sea salt and pepper. 

Beans are one of my favourites in the veggie patch. I love snacking on them just as they are (many don't make it upstairs to the kitchen) but this salad is so delicious that I'll need to make sure I leave enough beans to make it at least once more before our Summer ends.

Meg