Saturday 3 October 2015

In My Kitchen - October 2015

We are back from our Echuca holiday with October heralding that Spring is well and truly here.  It is 30 C today.  Hot enough for suncream, for the garden to need watering and for our white cat to need to stay indoors.  My cooking mojo is low with the post holiday slump.  However term 4 starts next week.  Once we are all back to school, to work and into routine, I am sure more cooking will be happening here!  Meanwhile let's see what has been happening in my kitchen.

Recently, I made Mars Bar Slice.  It has been a long time since we indulged and how I missed this slice.  It was a wedding anniversary treat.  I used a mixture of milk and dark chocolate on top and managed to overcook the chocolate.  It still tasted great but the chocolate didn't look as glossy and smooth as it should.

I made these crackers with some leftover sun dried tomato butter from recipe testing.  The butter had been in the freezer for ages so it needed to be used.  I had about 1/2 cup of butter, added almond meal, wheatgerm and self raising flour until it got a little crumbly.  Then I added a tbsp or so of water until I could bring together and briefly knead into a ball.  Then I rolled it out and cut it into squares.  I baked it at 180 to 200 C until golden brown.  They were so good that I wished for a proper recipe.  They were short, a little crumbly and full of flavour.

This is my favourite eggflip (spatula).  It is made of melamine and I am very attached to it.  When it cracked I kept it.  E recently dropped it and one of the prongs has broken off but I have not yet had the heart to stop using it or throw it out.  I have one or two alternatives but I need to look out for another like this.

When I visited the new Coburg North Coles with E and Sylvia there was very little holding back in the chocolate aisle.  The banana jelly blast chocolate was disappointing because it was not terribly good milk chocolate and I didn't find any decent sized pieces of banana lollies that I had expected.  The grape twists were ok but I have always found grape flavour quite odd and overpowering ever since tasting hubba bubba grape bubble gum as a kid.  E took the orange chocolate to work and of the little chocolates I much preferred the jam doughnut one.  They had unexpected creamy fillings.

I was swayed by the combination of sesame, poppy, sunflower and mustard seeds in a rice cracker.  Just my sort of thing.  They were very lightly seasoned.  I thought it would be too many seeds for Sylvia but she enjoyed it just as much.

I bought a bag of sweet potatoes and baked them up with good intentions of making Kari's Stuffed sweet potaotes with tahini, sun dried tomatoes and paprika.  Time got away from me and I used them up in sandwiches, stews and pasta.

We had paper chains around the house from our Christmas in July lunch but when Spring arrived, we needed some decoration to welcome the warm weather and made these daffodils out of egg cartons, yellow paper and green pipe cleaners.  They are up around the loungeroom window but we need more so I consider it a work in progress.  As we haven't bought eggs for weeks I haven't had any cartons but now that a neighbour has given us some, we will need to make some more.

Once day I will write more about the amazing Smith and Deli but for now I will just share my Foghorn Legless sandwich with crumbed tempeh, facon, tomato, lettuce and dressing.  I was such a fan of a chicken schnitzel many years ago before I became vegetarian that I was really excited about this.  Until I found the crumbed tempeh was cold.  So I took it home, fried the tempeh and bacon, toasted the sandwich with some biocheese and it was really truly amazing!

This was a recent lunch.  Leftover beetroot stew (made with quinoa), toasted bread, and salted caramel popcorn.

I had lots of cheap strawberries before we headed off for holiday in Echuca.  I had a notion to make strawberry jam but I was too tired and many of the strawberries were past it.  However I made a simple strawberry sauce.  It was really good with yoghurt and muesli the next morning.  Sylvia had some with her ridiculously sweet three grain cereal.

We couldn't finish the sauce before our holiday so I mixed it with vanilla yoghurt and froze it.  Mixing strawberries and vanilla yoghurt has been a great way to save quite a bit of yoghurt and berries from the bin.  Most have gone into icy pole moulds and are a great healthy snack for Sylvia.

While on holiday in Echuca, E bought four different fudges.  (Jam doughnuts, chocolate and caramel, malteser and butterscotch.)  I think this is the reason that the packaged steamed puddings he bought were never used and still are sitting in our kitchen.  This fudge is so sweet but rather good.  We really enjoyed eating it on a seat in the Port of Echuca.

I couldn't resist this Victorian floral plate at one of the second hand shops in Echuca.  The shopkeeper estimated it came from the 1880s.  I'd love to know its story.

Finally here is some of my shopping from this morning at Preston Market.  As it is the school holidays, we don't have gymnastics this morning and I had a notion to go to a Farmers Market.  There were none near me that I could find online so I went to Preston Market instead.  It is a market I could probably get used to if I was a regular but as I have only been a couple of times before, I find it very overwhelming.  I did love the bread with its name on it though.  I came home with lots of lovely fruit and vegies which we need after being away.

I am sending this post to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for her In My Kitchen event.  Head over to join in (by 10th of each month) and/or check out what is happening in other bloggers' kitchens.

40 comments:

  1. When I first went to Preston market it was very overwhelming but my friend (the regular) gave me some tips. Basically the tip was "be prepared to be pushed and shoved but be prepared to push and shove back"! Something like that, because we went close to closing time on a Saturday when all the cheap boxes of fruit and veg come out. Did you get hot jam donuts (they're vegan!) because they are so good from the market van! And would you believe I had planned to go today but changed my mind!

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    1. I am a Preston Market frequenter also, but I haven't experienced pushing and shoving and I wouldn't recomnend this approach.

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    2. Thanks Francesca - I used to go the queen vic regularly and found it could be pushing and shoving in places but it never was my sort of thing.

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  2. Thanks Faye - you were with me in spirit - I was very tempted by the jam doughnuts but I really had hoped to find the vegan cheese toasties and finally checked your blog and was very grateful for your update that they are no longer selling - I was disappointed but at least I was not searching futilely

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  3. What great items Johanna! I love your new plate and the various holiday treats would be beautiful on it. The fudge flavours are very intriguing and the chocolate products nicely interesting even if the banana block didn't live up to the packet. I like the sound of those rice crackers too and ditto that sandwich!

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    1. Thanks Kari - I think you would enjoy the rice crackers and the sandwich. We loved the fudge place because it had such a wide range of flavours.

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  4. I bet that beautiful plate has so much history. It's hot in Sydney too which is a bit of a shock after it's been so cold for so long. I love mars bar slice! It looks like you can get great produce from the Preston market xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - melbourne is the same - it was 35 today which is a shock to the system after such a cold winter. Preston market is a bit overwheming with the prduce

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  5. Loving the Mars Bar slice. I like your berry/ yoghurt icy pole idea. E's fudge looks very decadent.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - the fudge was decadent - which made the speed at which it disappeared a little fast :-)

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  6. What a great post. That plate is a real treasure - just gorgeous. The fudge looks so good too - who would choose packaged pudding over those?! I don't know why it has never occurred to me to make yoghurt ice blocks. No more throwing out nearly-expired yoghurt here! Thanks for the tip!

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    1. Thanks Lisa - I was quite pleased to see the plate on the sale table as some of the ones inside the second hand shop were far more pricier. Freezing yoghurt for icy poles has worked well - I even had a giggle one day when I let Sylvia have one for breakfast and she thought it quite indulgent :-)

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  7. Love the spatula! Plenty of time and uses left in that I think. :)

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    1. Thanks ATMT - I had thought it would go when it broke but I agree that it is quite useable like this

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  8. Those crackers sound really tasty. I love it when a recipe just kinda comes together. Wonderfully fresh looking haul from the markets too.

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    1. Thanks Kirsty - I love it when a recipe comes together too - and I think I need to celebrate my ability to create on the run rather than to regret not noting it down for another time

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  9. Lovely plate! And I make strawberry stew when I have too many strawberries and mixing it with yogurt and freezing it as popsicles is a great idea!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - mmm strawberry stew - it does make them go a little further - we even just mixed some strawberry sauce and yoghurt and put it in a tub as "ice cream" which sylvia and I fought over because it was so good

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  10. Wow, many great things in your October kitchen Johanna! Thanks for the tip on frozen yoghurt - no more waste here :-)

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    1. Thanks Ania - I am glad too because I hate throwing out old yoghurt and sylvia has been less keen on her yoghurt lately

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  11. Johanna, your homemade crackers sound as good (or better) than the rice crackers, but I'm tempted to try both! LOVE the photo of your Foghorn Legless sandwich and how you "reconstituted" it. :) Wish I could offer some history on your Victorian plate, but all I can do is sit back and admire it... SOOOO beautiful. (Great find!)

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    1. Thanks Kim - I was very pleased with the plate - glad I didn't hesitate too long while I carried it around the shop deciding if I would buy it :-) And I must make more crackers soon - they are so good warm out of the oven (oops perhaps that is why I haven't made them too often!)

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  12. H Joanna, lovely sweet things post. The Preston market is a gem- best to choose a quiet day like Wed morning. I love going there- the Indian shop and the middle eastern shops are good.

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    1. Thanks Francesca - I am struggling to find time to go there during the week but it sounds like a good time to go

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  13. Yummy, I love baked sweet potato! So much you can do with it! xx

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    1. Thanks Lizzie - if I was organised enough to bake sweet potato ahead regularly I would be a happy woman :-)

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  14. That plate!! No wonder you couldn't resist it, it's just lovely. I also love a trip to the market. It usually ends up with my baskets straining at the handles and my fridge bursting at the sides. When I have leftover sweet potatoes make soup. I throw then in a blender with some vegetable stock, any other left over vegetables, a sprinkle of ground cumin and smoked paprika and a little piece of bread, blitz till smooth and heat it in a pan.

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    1. Thanks Milk and Honey - I try to take green bags to the market and so often still buy more even when I go in with a clutch of them! Sweet potato and lentil soup is one of my favourite ways to use sweet potato - now it is summer I should try substituting it for white potato in salads

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  15. The last 3 things are my favourites (chia bread, plate & fudge). Very cool that the plate is estimated to be so old. Very antique =)
    The mars bar slices & sandwich also look very good!

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - glad you got happier as you read through the post:-) I love the last three too

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  16. I also made Mars Bar Slice {although for my son's first birthday party - not something we actually allowed him to eat - birthday cake was enough sugar for the day}. It didn't live up to my childhood memory, I think I needed to add more Mars Bars.

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    1. Thanks Shari - I never had mars bar slice and find with the chocolate on top it is quite rich enough for me but I am sure there would be no hard to add more Mars Bars - sounds like your son might have a taste of a revised Mars Bar slice one day in the future :-)

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  17. What a lovely plate - will you use it with food or just display it as a treasured decorative item?

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    1. Thanks Seattle Dee - I don't have space to display the plate so it will have to come out to hold food - maybe a nice cake or scones

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  18. Love the daffodils and the plate! So sad about your eggflip, I hope you can find another like it. I hate it when your favourite most used things die.

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    1. Thanks Caeli - it makes me sad when favourite things die and there is no way to replace them - it just has the right angles and strength

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  19. I know what you mean about the egg flip. I have a pair of tongs like that. Despite the spring been gone and the pin coming out, I just can’t part with them. Those crackers look great. I think I will have to give them a go!
    Lovely floral plate by the way…

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  20. the rice crackers look great. i haven't tried the aquafaba thingy yet. it seems like such a weird thing but it obviously works. yes hard to throw away old faves even when they are broken.

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  21. It's so hard to find the perfect spatula isn't it Johanna? I had the same thing a few months ago where I'm attached to my spatula from when I first moved out of home. To find one with the same feel in the hand is quite difficult. I'm now collecting spatulas until I find my perfect replacement :)

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  22. Johanna, that plate is beautiful! As are you gorgeous homemade daffodils - how much fun it must have been to make them! Sorry to be so late commenting - it's been a crazy month! xx

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