In My Kitchen June 2014

In my kitchen is a wealth of food this month.  Lots of fun shopping excursions, home made sourdough bread and all sorts of cheeses (both dairy and vegan).

Let's start with the above packages of cheese biscuits.  We made these for a cake stall at a school fundraiser.  I also made a loaf of treacle gingerbread.  The cakes were sold for dessert after a bbq at a musical evening.  I was pleased to see mine were all sold.  I must confess Sylvia bought a few of the cheese bikkies and her friends weren't so keen when she offered to share them.

What really pleased me even more was my neat labels.  I printed out the ingredients, cut with crinkly scissors and pasted onto coloured cardboard.  Then I tied the labels on with string.  It was one of my better efforts. 

I haven't baked much sweet stuff over the last few weeks.  My friend Kathleen gave me the Herman the German friendship cake starter and I gave a little to my mum and used most to make a huge batch of cake that has been residing in the freezer.  Great for school lunches and late night snacks.  Delicious with yoghurt and stewed plums.  So good that I have just got some more starter from Kathleen. 

Sylvia has developed a love affair with cheese toasties.  We have a place that we pass on the way home from school that sells them for $1.  But there are days we get halfway to the mall, find I have forgotten the library books, turn back to get them and it starts to rain.  When this happened, I decided to make sourdough flatbreads, filled them with cheese, folded and fried til cheese is melty.  E and I were even more posh and added roasted cherry tomatoes to ours.  Sylvia was very happy.

The apples from the supermarket are so disappointing that I have been visiting farmers markets more regularly just to buy decent apples.  Above is the haul from a visit to the Coburg Farmers Market. 

Here is a closer look at some of the products from the Coburg Farmers Market.  The beetroot gnocchi was panfried with some spinach, parmesan and cherry tomatoes.  Home made crumpets are heavenly and disappear at some rate.

The new Pistachio Croquant from Cocoa Rhapsody (caramel roasted pistachios with almond gianduja) is amazing.  My mum loved the ginger spiced chocolate and we gobbled down our favourite salted lime chocolate.

I loved the fresh tortillas (which had such an enticing aroma when warm) and still have some Pat's Veg sauerkraut in the fridge.  The tortillas and sauerkraut were very good together with some apples and cheese in quesadillas.

It has been ages since I had some Thai curry paste in my kitchen.  It is always hard to find one without shrimp paste.  How many hours do I spend checking out the ingredients lists on these pastes.  We had a lovely red curry with coconut milk, tofu and vegies.  Must make it again soon.  Still not quite sure how to use the Nasi Goreng but am sure it will be used.

I had a shopping trip to Brunswick IGA supermarket.  They have such a different range from our local supermarkets that it makes me feel like a tourist in my own town.  Above are (clockwise from top left) Watsonia tasty cheese, parmesan, firm tofu, smoked tofu, pesto cheese, and won ton wrappers.

Also purchased at Brunswick IGA were Mayver's Hazelnut and Cacao Spread and a bottle of Bruce Cost Ginger Ale.  The hazelnut spread had no sweetener so I had to add a spoonful or two of honey.  It is delicious straight from the jar or spread on fresh bread.  I bought the ginger ale because I thought it was one I had liked at a markett.  It was quite sweet and very spicy.  I think it would be refreshing in summer but was a nice autumnal drop.

Mothers day came and went with presents and good food.  I really liked that some parents at the school got together to make presents and held a stall for the kids to buy presents (nothing over $5).  Sylvia bought me this handkerchief and a keyring.

I fell out of sourdough bread making during Easter when my sourdough starter was being used for hot cross buns.  In May I tried Dan Lepard's White Leaven Bread from The Handmade Loaf.  The result was a lovely soft loaf with an open crumb.  You may notice the interesting shape of the top of the loaf.  That is where the floured tea towel stuck to the bread dough.

I baked my second loaf of Dan's bread in my bread tin.  This meant no dough sticking to tea towels.  The bread was dense and moist but a closer crumb.  It was just lovely with my mum's quince jelly.  I grew up with my mum's quince jelly always in the cupboard, thanks to a family friend with a large quince tree.  It is now a great comfort food for me.

Yet another of Dan's loaves.  You can see my slashing is not improving.  I think I need a sharper blade.  I was very pleased to find this wire rack in an op shop for 50c.  It is a good sturdy rack and much smaller than my other racks.  Making it so it much easier to find it a place on a crowded kitchen table.  And a loaf of bread fits on it very nicely.

On a visit to the Cruelty Free Shop in Brunswick Street, I purchased two vegan cheeses: Vegusto blue cheese and Notzarella.  I will write more about these later but I was very pleased with the blue cheese.  The Notzarella was good on pizza, though I think I prefer the Vegusto mozzarella.  However it took me some time to get into the Vegusto so I am prepared to give Notzarella a go.

A trip to Yarraville saw me returning with Raw Materials wild garlic salt flakes and Amazon chipotle sauce.  I only bought the sauce because it said it was mild.  Mild and smoky sauce sounds good to me.  I have had the wild garlic salt before but I think I appreciate it more this time round.  It really does smell strongly of the wild garlic.

A Vitasoy hamper arrived on my doorstep last week.  I was excited to win it in a giveaway by Almost Skinny Vegan Food.  Vitasoy is our soy milk of choice - Sylvia loves it and it has added calcium and vitamin B12.  The generous pack contained 3 cartons of milk, a T2 mug, a keep cup, recipe cards, a Pete Evans Healthy Every Day cookbook, recipe cards, Global Cafe Direct coffee (not pictured) and a Coles gift voucher. 

It didn't take me long to go shopping at Coles (in Brunswick where there is more specialty food).  On the same trip I went to  Aunt Maggie's.  Above is a selection of goodies I bought.  I was excited to find Muir Glen fire roasted tinned tomatoes, Bionade and almond coconut yoghurt at Aunt Maggie's.  Those tomatoes are so so good.  Coles yielded sour cream and caramelised onion corn chips, roasted tomatillo salsa, harissa, tomato chutney, teas, crackers, and Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream (not pictured).  The Phish Food is amazing.  E now thinks the kitchen is not properly stocked without it.  I keep using words like treat and extravagance!

I am sending this post to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for her In My Kitchen event.  Head over to join in and/or check out what is happening in other bloggers' kitchens.