Sunday 16 September 2012

Pumpkin, corn and feta salad and my weekend

I bought my first ever packet of hemp seeds yesterday.  Then I set about finding some recipes to use them.  I decided to make a version of Angela's Speedy Summer Hemp Power Salad.  I roasted pumpkin, used whatever was in my fridge and forgot to add hemp seeds.  It didn't have much resemblance to Angela's salad but it was tasty.  Before telling you about it, here is a little wander through my weekend.

Yesterday we went to Fitzroy Market.  As we boarded the train, I did a headcount and found that Dolly was missing.  E hopped off at the next station and travelled back to find her at the station master's office.  Dolly came along to the market and had her face painted.

Sylvia and I had a vegetarian sausage in bread and a cupcake.  Sylvia chose a pink iced cupcake and I had the last vegan oreo cupcake.  (But not the last vegan cupcake.)

We listened to a choir and the ukelele collective.  We met friends.  Sylvia's friend Amelia came along.  They played hide and seek and ran around the stalls at the speed of light.  I wandered around the stalls with Heather and picked up a few trinkets.

Later we went to Pastry Art Design in Smith Street for a snack with Heather.  I had a chocolate bombolini.  Very nice (though not as good as those at Sugardough).  Then we hurried home for our house has needed a considerable amount of attention this weekend.

Last night we had to change a lightbulb (sounds simple but not when you have to wrangle with a 1960s fitting that had me heading out to the hardware store for tools) and put together a flatpack set of shelves.  This meant that this morning we could shift around furniture in Sylvia's bedroom and organise her toys in the ever-present quest for more storage space.

Re-organisation usually means chaos before order reigns.  A lunch break at Little Deer Tracks was just what we needed.  The courtyard with its colourful painting is conducive to relaxing time-out.  I had the carrot and haloumi fritters with tzatziki and an avocado and cucumber salad.  Sylvia had the baked beans and a hash brown.  E had the nachos.  All good food.  As I feared Sylvia was not keen on the home made version, preferring her baked beans from a tin.  My fritters were crispy and puffy but I prefer them more dense.  E loved his nachos, which were rather substantial.

After the big lunch, I was glad to have some leftover pizza for dinner.  It just needed some vegetables.  Last night when I made pizza, we had some vegetable sticks with hummus for an appetiser before the pizza.  Tonight, I whipped up a salad with some old pumpkin and feta from the fridge.  If I had had tomatoes and green leaves, I might have added them. 

The pumpkin roasted while I cleaned up and E played with Sylvia outside.  I didn't have an avocado for my dressing like Angela so I made up the dressing.  It didn't have quite the tartness that I was after but the spring onions gave some bite.  The salad was put together without much reference to the recipe that I was supposedly following.  Hence my omission of the hemp seeds.  I am looking forward to trying them out another time.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: If music be the food ...(reprise)
Two years ago: PPN Pea lasagne
Three years ago: NCR Lemony Mediterranean Salad
Four years ago: Hobart Highlights

Pumpkin, corn and feta salad
serves 2-3

1 cup roasted pumpkin chunks
1/2 cup corn kernels (mine were tinned)
1 cucunber, diced
1/2 large green capsicum, diced
2 spring onons, finely sliced
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp raspberry vinegar
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp seeded mustard
sprinkling of crumbled feta cheese

Mix everything except feta.  Taste and adjust flavours.  (I didn't add any seasoning but it may be required.)  Serve scattered with feta.

On the stereo:
(Michael Winterbottom's) Wonderland soundtrack - Michael Nyman

18 comments:

  1. we both posted about hemp seeds tonight. The salad looks great!

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    1. Thanks K - great minds think alike :-) love your hemp seed ideas

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  2. Sounds like a busy weekend - I don't know how you manage to pack so much in! I keep meaning to try more vegan cupcakes/muffins - the one's I've had have been really good.

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    1. Thanks Caroline - I keep meaning to make vegan cakes - I have a few recipes on my to do list but they keep getting bumped

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  3. Unsweetened vanilla hemp milk is heaven, heaven, heaven in coffee (or chai, which is more your thing! :P ) and I had hemp seeds served on my salad tonight. Good luck using yours! I know you'll make magic with them.

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    1. Thanks Hannah - my milky drink of choice at the moment is smoothie - we have been drinking lots with soy milk - and i have been putting a few hemp seeds in - but imagine if I could make hemp milk

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  4. I agree with Hannah...I wish we could get hemp seeds here in Tassie! We can buy semi-rancid milled meal that has to be sold as "Pet Food" in our local health food shop for $80 a kilo imported from Canada if we are really keen...why can't we get the Victorian stuff? Anyway, I would make hemp seed milk out of it and would make some amazing hempy hot chocolate! YUM! Now that the son and heir lives in Melbourne I might have to head over there to invest in some hempy goodness. Tasmania is still an island full of prisoners... vegan prisoners!...sigh...

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    1. Thanks Fram - I was really surprised to see hemp seeds for sale as I had thought they weren't for sale here either - I read somewhere that they are still illegal (despite not being from the same hemp plants as cannabis) but can be sold for skin care. Actually the seeds I bought are Australian but not terribly cheaper than your Canadian import - not sure I will keep buying them at this price but I wanted to try them. At least the bags in Wholefoods were smaller than the northcote packages I saw!

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  5. You always have the grandest adventures, with beautiful treats along the way! :-) Love roasted pumpkin...

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    1. Thanks Astra - I can't get enough of roasted pumpkin - esp before the weather gets too hot to be roasting it all the time

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  6. Sounds like a fun weekend was had by all. Lucky you noticed Dolly was missing otherwise there may have been tears!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - indeed it was lucky we found dolly quickly - imagine if she had missed the face painting :-)

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  7. You guys always have such busy weekends! Love how everything is dotted with little stops for food :D

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - weekends have been busy lately but yes we always find time for food :-)

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  8. Just adore the hemp seeds. I get them in bulk from Nutiva off of Amazon.

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    1. Thanks GSGV - I am not keen on buying food online if I can buy it at a shop - though I suspect it might be cheaper online

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  9. What a great weekend (except for the storage space challenges, I share that difficulty despite having theoretically enough - I just expand into it!) :) Melbourne seems to do wonderful vegan cupcakes and I am thrilled you found hemp seeds. Can't wait to see what else you make!

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    1. Thanks Kari - I know that even as it feels like we have done well in creating more storage space, that we will fit it and more before long! I haven't eaten many vegan cupcakes when out in Melbourne (but I don't tend to buy cupcakes much at all)

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