My new favorite thing to eat

I have quit the community garden. I can't give myself to the gardens without sacrificing my own mental health. Just not doing it. Head. Brick wall. That is all I have to say about that.

I am working towards a healthier me. Except for the wine. You will never take the wine. It might be my undoing, where my weight is concerned.

I have found a favourite thing to eat though. It is a quick and easy lunch solution, as long as you have a decent head of lettuce on hand.

What's more it is delicious and satisfying.

Firstly you need to fry some bacon. I know, BACON. This is a BLT like you will never find, plus mine has cucumber. You could make it your own, and add whatever you like. It doesn't have to be bacon. I have used grilled chicken and pesto mayo, and it's just as good.

While your bacon or chicken is cooking, lay out a couple of good large leaves of lettuce. Lay some slices of cucumber and tomato down the middle, and a lashing of mayonnaise.

Have you ever tried to make your own mayo? It is easy as pie. This is the way I make homemade mayonnaise ever since I saw it on Masterchef. Works every time.

Lay some bacon or chicken on top and wrap it up. Eat. You could even have two!

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Creamy pumpkin pasta

If you follow me on Instagram, you'd see me posting of my lunch quite often. If you haven't, search #onemotherkitchen and see all the yummy stuff for yourself. 

Nothing like making my own pasta in the morning, and eating it for lunch. Just have to knock up an easy sauce. This one is made in one dish(if you don't count the pot for cooking the pasta). 

Pumpkin creamy pasta 
400 grams pumpkin, cubed into 2cm pieces
4 or five garlic cloves
dried mixed herbs*
salt and pepper

1/2 cup of thickened cream
cooked pasta of choice( I used 400 grams of cooked spaghetti) A pasta like penne, would be great too to hold all of that wonderful sauce.

Place pumpkin and garlic in a baking tray. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and mix all together.

Sprinkle with dried mixed herbs and bake in a 190 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven. Grab a fork and press down on each cube of pumpkin. Some will collapse and some will still be a little firm. That's ok. You want the different textures.

Mash the bits of garlic with the fork, so it will incorporate with the sauce.

Pour the cream into the tray and stir to combine it through the pumpkin and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Put back in the oven for five minutes to warm through the cream.

Throw cooked pasta in the pan and stir through the creamy pumpkin sauce. Serve with parmesan and crusty bread if you like.

*Now is a great time to pick some herbs from the garden, hang them up somewhere like you're kitchen, it looks great. When they dry out, chop them finely and keep in a jar in the pantry. Try rosemary, thyme, parsley, sage, whatever you have. Even though I have rosemary in my garden already, I have just discovered rosemary growing in the carpark in our local Woolies. Sucked in to anyone silly enough to buy it in store!

Do you grow your own herbs? 

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Persian spiced veggies with lentils

I like to share my food on instagram. I just like to share my food! 

I am one of those weird people who sit down, take a photo, then proceed to eat, whilst instafaceytweeting what's on my plate.

Some people don't get it and sometimes I let that sway me. But in the end, I like to do it, so I keep posting.  I thought I would push it further and overshare here with how I make it. 

This spice mix is in my pantry. I use it to sprinkle on my veggies before I bake them for lunch some days.

Persian spice
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground rose petals*
2 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander

Mix all together and store in an airtight jar or plastic container in the pantry.

*I find the smelliest roses I have, take a couple of handfuls of the petals and place them on a baking tray. Dry them in a slow oven until they are dry, then crush them up. If you're not into eating your garden,  you can buy edible rose petals online or in specialty food delis, or just leave it out.

Baharat spice mix is good to use if you want instead of the persian spice.

Vegetables of choice, such as - pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, onion, garlic, beetroot, zucchini, capsicum. 
1 tin lentils, drained and rinsed**
half a tablespoon of persian spice
Olive oil

Chops veggies into 2cm cubes. Coat with olive oil and persian spice in a baking tray. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven at 200 for 15 - 20 minutes.

Tip and mix in a can of lentils, put back in the oven for another five minutes to warm through.

Serve as a warm salad with feta cheese and fresh herbs. I've used greek yogurt and mint in the photo above. 

**Instead of lentils, you could go in with whatever you like, brown rice, couscous, chick peas or quinoa. 

I've also made this with squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, onion and garlic. Instead of the spice blend, just used mixed dried herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. Baked for 15 minutes, add the lentils for 5 minutes and served with greek yogurt and basil pesto. So yum!

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Baharat Chick pea tagine

The last time Brett and I went out for tea(without kids, which was way too long ago), we went to an Egyptian restaurant.  It was here I first learnt about Baharat spice mix. The food was delish and it began a fire in me to explore more about spices, and cooking with them. 

Baharat Spice blend
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom

Stir to combine. Keep in a sealed jar or plastic container in the pantry.

I use it in casseroles, sprinkled on veggies for roasting, and in this tagine. I enjoy this for lunch every now and then. It's so tasty.

Chickpea tagine
2 tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons Baharat spice blend
1/2 roasted chilli*
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon coriander stems, chopped

Add oil to pan on a low heat.
Add onion and simmer until transparent.
Add chilli and baharat, and cook for a minute to release flavours.
Add chickpeas, tomatoes and coriander stems to the pan.
Add enough water(about 2 cups) to cover ingredients.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid and continue to cook until juices are reduced to a gravy consistency.
Garnish with some natural yogurt and fresh coriander. 
Serve.

*I used half a roasted green chilli. I am still using the ones I preserved in olive oil from last year. You could use a pinch of cayenne pepper, or a small fresh chilli, or a half a teaspoon of harissa paste.

This recipe has been adapted from the Maza gourmet foods cook book. 

   

Lunch at the pub with granny Wanda

Wednesday, the girls, my mum and I went out for lunch at the pub with my Gran, to celebrate her 85th birthday.

We all arrived at the Sportsmans. Mum went and fetched Gran from the pokies lounge.

She balked about how beautiful all her grandchildren were, and just quietly, she's absolutely right in doing so. I'm gorgeous. She was obviously talking about my girls and marvelled at them.

She talked about her age and how she was lucky to get to 85. Her legs are failing her, her health is sketchy. She counts herself lucky, as the women on her mothers side of the family generally died at an earlier age. 

Whereas the blokes on her fathers side lived well into their 90s.

She chuckled as she reminded me, that all her brothers were dead. All that remained were Nora(her sister) and her. God love her. Imagine being alive after most of your siblings had passed away. It would be like pieces of your heart had gone missing. I can imagine it would hurt.

I hope to reach such an awesome age and be still getting around and active, even with a wheelie walker, after your legs could not carry you properly anymore. How useful are those things?! Walking support, somewhere to sit and storage under the seat for your handbag! Sound like something anyone could use on a good night out at the pub!! 

As far as my mum is concerned, and rightfully so, poor old Wandy(no, that isn't a typo, that's our nickname for our granny Wanda), drives like someone who's been on a bender and should have her licence taken off her sooner than later! I don't know what the government was thinking when it cancelled the old age driving assessment! I don't think she would pass to be honest. 

When we lived on the corner of Enderby Lane thirty years ago, when I was a teenager, Mum swore she saw her go up on two wheels coming around the corner. It's always been a running joke and one we laugh about often.

We love her all the same and I am so thankful, so thankful, that my daughters can know her, go out for lunch dates with her, mum and me. Four generations, enjoying each others company, laughing and loving. 

She is the only close surviving grandparent I have. Boris, her husband died when I was 15.

My dad's parents I haven't seen since I was 8. They came over from Spain, I remember the trip to go get them from Tullamarine in Melbourne. They didn't speak a word of English, but the grandie cuddles were all I needed. I still remember the chunky woolly socks my Abuela knitted for me. She died a while ago, she had Dementia. My grandfather Daniel is still alive, but as distant to me as the seas that divide us.

Summer was a little shy, she doesn't see Wandy much, but she opened up. It makes me realise that maybe we don't drop in on Gran enough when she is at home. I have to change that, I have great memories of my Grans' house in Southend, where I spent a whole heap of time when I was a kid.

A glorious day by the sea, except for the dead thing

Boggy had an RDO on Monday, it was going to be hot, so we headed off to Beachport for a spot of takeaway lunch at Woolleys Rock, and a look around at the rockpools.

Hello my yummy friend, long time no taste :)

We drove to Southend along the beach, it was absolutely bloody gorgeous and much cooler than in town.

While cruising along we spotted something big(and dead) on the beach and stopped to have a look. We couldn't work out what it was, probably a whale. Whatever it was it must have been in the sea a while before it washed up. It looked like a huge turtle at first, but there is no way they grow that big!

We stopped further along the coast, closer to Southend and let the girls have a paddle. Sum LOVED it, we were finding it hard to keep her out of the water.