Catch up recipes from 2013 - some good ideas, craft and heatwave

Maple roasted carrots with chickpea pilaf and greens

Occasionally I made something that I love.  I wish I had taken better notes, I use some leftovers that make it unlikely I would be able to repeat it or I just want to remember an idea rather than a recipe.  Here are a few meals or ideas I have loved but they are not quite bloggable for various reasons.

Above is a meal that delighted me with its vibrant colours.  I was pleased with the maple syrup roasted baby carrots but can't remember how I did it - probably just olive oil, maple syrup and a pinch of salt.  Served alongside leftover chickpea pilaf (made with purple carrots), steamed broccoli and pan fried asparagus.  So simple.  So delicious.

Pumpkin, white bean, quinoa pie with a tofu topping

I made a delicious pumpkin, white bean and quinioa soup.  It was quite thick.  I had some leftover pastry from stargazy pie that had been in the freezer for a couple of months.  I was quite pleased to make a yummy pie with the pastry using the soup as filling and some tofu, tahini, nutritional yeast flakes and lemon juice for the topping.  I rolled, pricked and baked the pastry for 20 minutes at 180 C and then added the filling and topping and baked a further 30 minutes.  

Sweet potato fritters with lentils and rice and fried leeks and spinach

My first recipe from Otteleghi's Plenty was an idea.  I really liked the look of his sweet potato fritters but didn't have the ingredients so I used what I had.  Mashed sweet potato, parsley, egg white, fried onion gravy, cumin, smoked paprika, seasoning, and self raising flour.  Fried until golden brown.  Served with some rice and lentils and fried leeks and spinach. The fritters were so delicious I ate some cold for lunch the next day.

Sweet potato galettes with Mexican bean stew and broccolini

Another success with sweet potato that I loved but felt was made on the hoof rather than with much method.  Again it was inspired by an Ottelenghi recipe - this time for Sweet Potato Galettes.  However in my galettes I used smoked cheese and walnuts instead of goats cheese and pumpkin seeds.  It then was even more different because I had some pesto mixed with cauliflower puree and yoghurt (which needed using).  I spread it on the puff pastry before layering the sweet potato, smoked cheese and walnuts.  It was so so so good.  Served with some leftover Kidney bean (and corn) stew and a pile of broccolini.

Cranberry sauce ice cream

After Christmas I saw Ricki's recipe for Cranberry ice cream.  Her ice cream was creamy and pink.  However I was a little wary of the stevia and thought I would try it with some condensed milk. Wrong!  It was so sweet. ( (Using 1 jar cranberry sauce, 1/2 tub cream cheese, 1/2 tin condensed milk and 165ml tin of coconut milk.) However it was cold and creamy.  I enjoyed it with some overcooked jam tarts (forgotten while chatting to the neighbour) made with mixed berry jam and chocolate pastry.

  Chocolate pizza with berries and coconut cream

A more successful sweet experiment was using up coconut whipped cream that was leftover after baking cashew butter scones. Sylvia is a big fan of chocolate and berry pizza.  I think it might have been made with one of my attempts at a sourdough pizza base.  The coconut cream worked well here.  I was glad to use up some of it.  Most of it was a bit neglected, I regret to say.  Sylvia was delighted with the pizza.

Home made merry go round

As this post is an eclectic one I thought I would include some craft and some reflections on the heatwave.  The craft merry go round was Sylvia's and my brain child.  It was made of paper plates (painted), toilet rolls in the middle, straws, sticker horses etc and some sticky tape.  It is not perfect but was lots of fun.

Our wilted plants after the heatwave

And finally a few notes on the heatwave last week:

• Our plants didn't fare too well with the heat.  I moved the tomatoes and blueberry plants into the shadier part of the yard but moved them out again when it rained and then forgot to return them to the shade. Our  few tomatoes are gone and what blueberries were left by the birds are now burnt to a crisp.  It is a sad and sorry sight compared to this.
• Going to see the Angelina Ballerina musical at the air conditioned Arts Centre was a nice way to escape the heat.  (If only the show was more entertaining and less stuck in gender stereotypes!)
• E spoke to someone whose family saw dead possums dropping out of the trees so the father was spraying water on any live possums he saw to help them cope with the heat.
• Dinner outside - vegies drizzled with this Caesar dressing - was bliss after the cool change broke.
• After the lethargy brought on by the heat, I was full of energy on Saturday with the cool change.  Not only did I bake sourdough bread but I also thoroughly cleaned a section of the kitchen bench and the appliances that live there.  It had seen a lot of action lately.

This is Part I of three catch up posts.  Stay tuned for Part II on recipes and Part III on places to eat out.