In My kitchen May
To be honest, I'm just enjoying being creative in the kitchen without having to measure items or take the time to photograph them!
Of course that doesn't mean I'm not spending much time in my kitchen, in fact I'm probably spending more!
I have had fun using many of the new items that I posted about in my February edition of In My Kitchen.
I have also had the chance to try a few recipes that I had tagged as "to try".
Here's a few that I've really enjoyed:
These are very rich! I would rather these with a jam spread in place of the peanut butter layer. But what a fancy looking dessert for when visitors pop over! They are so easy to make!
Totally DELICIOUS! This will be a regular for our lunches now!
Addicted to this! To be honest I am a bit over eating oats and was in hunt of a different breakfast alternative so when I tried this I was in a state of pure bliss!
My hunt for an alternative breakfast found me this. I quite enjoy cold
cereal sometimes but don't like to buy processed varieties. I omitted
the oil from this recipe and also halved the sugar.
I wasn't so keen on this when I first made it, however after sitting in the fridge it thickened up and the flavours blended together deliciously! Then I was a fan!!!
I have also enjoyed cooking from my cookbooks!
This orange and poppyseed cake from Skinny Bitch Bakery was AMAZING!
And I also enjoy experimenting in my kitchen without recipes :-)
This burger was made with a tofu omelette & quinoa and lentil pattie.
Individual shepherds pies.
Soaked chocolate oats with cherry cream.
Scroll pie with mexican bean mix.
Curried chickpea patties with roasted sweet potato chips on salad.
Banana and berry ice-cream with chocolate chips.
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.... ;-)
Especially in the form of baked apple (oat crumbs on top) and banana ice-cream!!!
When I think of time spent in the kitchen I think of bread. I don't know why - perhaps because its just one of those items that get made only when I have a lot of time, perhaps its the rising time needed. We don't eat a lot of bread so thankfully I don't have to worry about it too much!!!
I am not one who has mastered the art of home-made bread. I need to find a way to make home-made wholemeal bread work out better. Mine always seems so dense. I need to discover the difference between bakers flour & regular flour I think!
Anyone want to enlighten me???
However, I have thoroughly enjoyed making this focaccia - twice!!!
Once as a regular herbed focaccia and the next time as a focaccia filled pizza. This went down particularly well with my family!
A few chocolate treats always delight as well!
The one on the left is a freezer 'fudge' made using bananas, coconut flour, and cocoa powder. The one on the right is a peanut butter oat slice that set in the fridge without baking. I blended soaked dates and prunes with oats and peanut butter and then stirred through puffed rice. Sorry I don't have quantities to post an official 'recipe' - they are pretty versatile to make - just pop ingredients into a food processor and blend til smooth then spread into desired tray and refrigerate or freeze.
Sadly these okara currant cookies sat in our kitchen too long!
I had made them on a Friday afternoon and because we were out all weekend instead of leaving them on the counter top I put them into the cookie jar. And well..... you see, our cookie jar is usually empty so they sat there unnoticed by my husband and when I went to pop them into my daughters lunchbox on Monday morning they had mould on them.
I had made them on a Friday afternoon and because we were out all weekend instead of leaving them on the counter top I put them into the cookie jar. And well..... you see, our cookie jar is usually empty so they sat there unnoticed by my husband and when I went to pop them into my daughters lunchbox on Monday morning they had mould on them.
Such a shame - they were so so tasty and moist. I really do love currants.
Talking about lunchboxes, Term 2 here has recently started and I do love packing lunchbox meals!
This is couscous salad with ryvita crispbread with the above mentioned 'cheese spread', grapes, strawberries and roasted broad beans.
Sadly these cakes were not in our kitchen very long at all!
I had baked them all for a fundraiser and I am pleased to say they went down VERY well!
I did also make a cake for my family to nibble on while the oven was on baking these treats as I did have several comments about all the delicious smells coming out of the kitchen!
Our little home garden continues to deliver us the occasional goodie.
This week we picked our very first eggplant!
I had never seen an eggplant tree before and am pleasantly surprised at how pretty the flowers are.
We haven't grown any zucchini yet but I think this little guy from the shops seems happy enough about it if you ask me!!!!!!!!!
And last but not least I wanted to share this sign with you!
It is obviously not in my kitchen - however I think I need one of these for our kitchen!
It was at a cafe we visited over Easter!
My kind of cafe that's for sure!!!
What's in your kitchen this month?
Link up your kitchen to Fig Jam & Lime Cordial blog.
Wow, what a jam packed kitchen and post! There is definitely a lot of deliciousness coming out of your kitchen, and I love the sound of your recent creations. That pizza filled foccacia is really impressive! I'm delighted you liked the raw buckwheat porridge too :) Last but not least - I too would love that sign in my kitchen, and indeed would love to see it out and about.
ReplyDeleteOliver's real food is only new here & there isn't any yet in Perth. New one just opened up in Melbourne.
DeleteSo exciting when cafe's make an effort to cater for vegans!
So much food, looks like you've been having fun with delicious experimenting - super impressed by how productive you are!
ReplyDeleteAw thank you :-) I have enjoyed being in the kitchen more that's for sure!
Deleteyou have been busy - I am in awe of your fundraiser baking - and the wrapping - I have done a bit of baking for cake stalls but always wonder how to wrap the bakes - and I love those little shephard's pies - how beautiful do they look. Love that sign too.
ReplyDeleteYes I must admit as I made a bunch of cakes without icing they did look rather boring - amazing how a bit of patterned celophane can make all the difference ;-) lol
DeleteWowzer, you have been super busy in the kitchen and some of those bookmarked recipes in your kitchen are now my BOOKMARKED recipes to tr such as the Chickpea Omlette, the Gringerbread Granola, and your Scroll Pie looks good too. By the way nice to meet you through IMK
ReplyDeletelol that is so cool - I hope you enjoy those recipes as much as I have!
DeleteShe's back! Hooray! :) You HAVE been busy, so many new and interesting dishes Sandy! Lots to try there, but the chickpea omelette really caught my eye! Re the flour - bread/bakers flour has a higher protein than regular plain or wholemeal flour, which is what's needed to work with the yeast to make the bread rise. I don't use wholemeal, but if you want to, I'd suggest seeing whether you can buy a dedicated wholemeal bread flour at the supermarket. Alternatively, you could get some white bread/bakers flour and mix it 50/50 with your wholemeal.
ReplyDeleteI have missed it!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteTHANK YOU for the flour tip :-) I will have to see what I can get. I vaguely remember reading that you could add something to regular flour to help make the protein level higher - perhaps gluten flour...... My bread making continues then I guess!!! :-)
Thanks Celia xxx
Wow, what an amazing variety of delicious and healthy food. Very inspiring. #IMK
ReplyDeleteThank you :-)
DeleteWow what an incredible array of goodies you've been cooking up! It's lovely to hear how much you've enjoyed being in the kitchen this month. That orange & poppy seed cake looks seriously spectacular!
ReplyDeleteIt sure went down really well amongst my work friends too :-)
DeleteSometimes it's great to create without pressure. I must try my buckwheat! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteYes indeed it is!!!! I have really enjoyed it!
DeleteSandy, one of the things I enjoy about IMK posts is the never-ending supply of recipe ideas and links to them (thank you for yours!) Enlightened eating and cooking... ahhhhh.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog! It's always nice to meet fellow IMK lovers :-)
DeleteGlad to hear you enjoyed the recipe links.
Stumbled across your blog and was cruising through your old posts when I saw your request for help with bread-making. Last year I read an interesting book about a man's quest to make the perfect loaf of bread. Title is "52 Loaves" and author is William Alexander. (Amazon has it.) If I remember correctly, he said something about baker's or bread flour containing a small percentage of malted barley flour and when he tried making his perfect recipe with French flour that did not contain the barley flour, it did not come out well.
ReplyDeleteI have not experimented with this yet, but my plan is to try making bread with my wholegrain wheat flour and add some liquid barley malt to the recipe. An alternative would be to sprout whole barley until it has a tiny tail, dry it, and grind it. I've done this with wheat berries to make wheat malt so it seems like it would be relatively easy to make barley malt.
Have fun experimenting!
Wow thanks so much for this info! I will def have to see how I go with it. I have a sprouting kit :-)
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