Vegetable Crumble

I was after a change and in need of some delicious winter comfort food without the guilt.  This recipe is absolutely delicious on it's own or with a roast!

Ingredients:

2 large parsnips

1 sweet potato

2x cloves garlic

1/2 tin coconut cream

2 cups vegetable stock

1/4 cup red wine

1 tbs butter mixed in 1 tbs cornflour for thickening

Crumb Mix:

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup parmy cheese

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Boil parsnips and sweet potato in vegetable stock until tender.

3. Remove parsnips and sweet potato.  Remove half of the liquid mixture.  

4. Add wine, and butter/cornflour and reduce mix. Add coconut cream just before taking off the stove. Pour mix over the top of the vegetables and diced garlic.

5. Place breadcrumb and parmy cheese (that has been pre-mixed together) on top.

6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until brown on top.  

Healthy Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Bake!

I was craving potato bake for dinner a few nights back and I figured it probably wasn't going to be a good move if I ate it too.... sooo.... I made an alternative!

It is a little runny when you first take it out of the oven, but I guess you could add some cornflour or less veggie stock into the liquid mix, it's up to you! Take into account that overnight the veggies will absorb any liquids! This recipe serves 4 and I'll get calorie count up shortly.

All you need is:

1 cup chopped cauliflower
1 large sweet potato (or two smaller ones)
1 tub of low fat cottage cheese (or ricotta)
1/2 purple onion or 2 shallot bulbs
1/2 cup low sodium veggie stock
tsp curry powder
tsp paprika
tsp nutmeg
light sprinkle pepper
tbs garlic
cheese for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
chop cauliflower into smaller pieces and thinly slice sweet potato and onion.
In a separate bowl, combine the cottage cheese, veggie stock, garlic and spices.
spread out a layer of cauliflower, sweet potato and onion, top with a light layer of liquid. Keep doing this until all is used up (you should get two layers).

Sprinkle with light cheese.
Place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and potato is cooked.
Tastes EVEN better the NEXT day!!! Om nom nom! 

Vegetarian Lentil Loaf

I admit that one of the things I miss a little bit since becoming vegetarian is meatloaf and roast night.  I wanted to make something where I don't feel left out and I'm left with some yummy leftovers for work. I did follow this recipe from "About Vegetarians" and it's really nice, but now that I'm on holidays, I'm going to experiment with quinoa, brown basmati rice and wild rice.  I'll put another post with the results.... stay tuned! I used french and red lentils and it turned out quite nice :-)

This is also really yummy served with a side salad with an extra squirt of sauce! 

P.S: Preparation is the key to effective time management in this recipe! 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups lentils
• 3 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups pre-cooked rice (basmati works the best and is less gluggy)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup ketchup or barbecue sauce
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large soup or stock pot, simmer the lentils in water or vegetable broth until cooked, about 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly then mash the lentils until they are half mashed.

Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft.

Combine the onions, garlic and olive oil with the mashed lentils and add the rice, salt, ketchup or barbecue sauce, sage, and Italian seasoning.

Gently press the mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan. Drizzle a bit of extra ketchup on top if desired.

Ready for the oven! 

Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool slightly before serving, as this will help the lentil loaf to firm up.

Served with salad.... YUM!

Makes six servings.

Tomato, Leek and Spinach Pearl Barley Risotto

Winter is upon us..... well 'comfort food' season is upon us.  This year has had it's share of wet cold days, so what a perfect time to cook up a yummy stew, soup or even risotto!

Personally, I am not the biggest fan of rice based risotto, so I wanted to find a rice alternative that tasted great.  This is when I came across pearl barley!

I have a basic, yet satisfying risotto recipe that is easy to make.... you can even make it while you're tending to your chores around the home. This recipe serves 4.

Pearl barley: Great and healthy alternative to rice and pasta!

Ingredients


2 cups of washed pearl barley
1 leek
2 shallot bulbs OR 1 purple onion chopped finely
1 small packet of spinach
1x 450g tin of chopped tomatoes
1L liquid stock
1 cup of white wine or water
1 tbs crushed garlic
1 tbs olive oil

Method


1. In a dry and heated pan, place the pearl barley and stir around until lightly toasted (about 5 minutes). Put to the side.
2. Heat oil in same pan and place the garlic, leek and shallot bulbs and stir until golden.
3. Add the pearl barley and stir to combine.  Add spinach, liquid stock and wine/water and give a gentle stir.  Add more water or wine if required (the water should be completely covering everything). Bring to boil for a couple of minutes then bring down to simmer.

Simmering away....

4. Continue to simmer and stir occasionally until almost reduced.
5. When almost reduced, add the crushed tomatoes and stir.  Continue to simmer until reduced.
6. Serve with a sprinkling of parmy cheese.

Pearl barley risotto served with a side of garlic brussel sprouts (optional)

From Scratch Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Total preparation and cooking time is about 1 hour 45 mins

Ok so I was ‘accidently’ (well jokingly and I took it seriously) set the challenge to make bread from scratch.  I’d done it once before and it turned out nice so it was time to give it another go!

I was pretty keen on a healthier and preservative-free version of raisin bread that was easy to make.  I found a great recipe online but I reworked it to suit what I was after.  It also gave me an excuse to go shopping at my favourite organic shop in town, Sprout (LOVE it there). 

This recipe is so yummy warm with a little spread of butter/margarine/ jam or a small drizzle of honey. Or even toasted…. Mmmmm…..

The biggest pointer I want to give with this recipe is it can be adapted to suit your taste.  In brackets I will write alternatives you can use. I am going to experiment with gluten free options over the coming weeks so keep an eye out for a gluten free version of this recipe!

Ingredients

3 ¼ cups of wholegrain bread flour (any bread flour is fine)

1 cup (or 3 small boxes) raisins or sultanas

1 ¼ tbs coconut palm sugar (or raw sugar/ honey)

1 sachet of yeast

4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

3 tbs olive oil

1 cup of almond milk at room temperature + 1 tablespoon to glaze (or oat/dairy)

1 egg lightly beaten (you can get away with not using an egg)

1. Grease and lightly flour a 13 × 23 cm loaf tin. Sift the flour and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl, Stir in the yeast, raisins and sugar, and make a well in the centre.

2. Combine olive oil and almond milk in a bowl and pour into the well in the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg. Mix together to make a soft dough.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a rectangular shape and place in the prepared tin. Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a clean tea-towel and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

4. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 220ºC. Uncover the loaf and brush with the remaining milk to glaze and sprinkle with chia seeds (if desired).

5. Bake for about 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow when removed from the tin and tapped on the base. Cover the loaf with foil towards the end of the cooking time if the top is browning too much.

6. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool. The bread can be kept, wrapped in foil, for 2–3 days.

From Scratch Veggie Pizza

One of my favourite foods to eat as a child was pizza (well don't all children love pizza???).  I remember my Father and my Nonna making it as a child and getting all excited because it was pizza night.  Dad made an awesome marinara pizza with a thick crust and Nonna always made a margarita one on a thin crust with all the Italian trimmings.


So basically this recipe can make up to four servings depending on how you like your crust.  I love a thick  crust so I got two slices.  You can multiply this batch as required.  I also encourage you to go overboard with your veggie topping!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!


So before you start, set your oven at 200 degrees and grease your pan.  I used a bread loaf to get my two slices, so if you want more make your mix to suit the tray.  I suggest tripling the batch to fit a flat bikkie tray.

BASE:
1/2 cup of oat flour
1/2 cup of quinoa flakes (or quick oats, it's up to you)
1 tbs of LSA
1 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of curry powder
2 egg whites
extra oat flour (as required)

TOMATO BASE

4 tbs of canned puree tomato (helps moisten the base)

1 tsp crushed garlic

½ tsp crushed chilli

TOPPING

-       2 cups of mixed chopped veggies (I love to use purple onion, capsicum, yellow squash, zucchini and spinach).

-       Cheese to top (how much you want to use depends on how cheese you want your pizza.  I do just enough to lightly cover the top.

INSTRUCTIONS

1.    Mix all BASE ingredients in a bowl. 

2.    Add extra oat flour if base is still really wet and sticky.

3.    Place onto greased pan and flatten out.

4.    Top with tomato base and topping.

5.    Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or top is golden brown.

6.    ENJOY 

Clean Pumpkin & Spinach Mac & Cheese

Back when I was a broke University student, Mac and Cheese was my saving grace on those off-pay weeks.  It tasted awesome and was cheap(er) than chips.  For the first time in at least 12 months I had mad cravings for an old favourite.  So in true style I wanted to find a way to make it yummy AND healthy! I came across a blog called "Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body" and found the perfect recipe to suit my appetite.  Just a couple of personal amendments and I was set! This dish serves 3-4 and takes about 45 minutes to make.

So basically all you need is:

1 cup of brown rice macaroni (most organic stores sell it). 

1 cup of mashed pumpkin

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 tsp crushed garlic

3/4 cup of oat or almond milk

1/2 cup cottage cheese

2 decent handfuls of spinach

1 tablespoon LSA 

2 tbs pinenuts (optional)

1. Boil your macaroni as per packet instructions.  Drain and set aside.

2. While macaroni is cooking, heat up milk in a saucepan until warm.  Add pumpkin and stir for about two minutes on low heat.

3. Add macaroni, nutmeg, pepper, garlic, cottage cheese and spinach and stir until combined.  Pour into a small baking dish.

4.  Sprinkle with LSA and pinenuts (if using them).

5. Place in oven for about 15 - 20 minutes.

6.  Allow to sit and settle for about 5 minutes before eating.

ENJOY!!!!