In My Kitchen September 2015

This month we welcome spring with its reinvigorating warmth.  September is the time to dig out the school hat for Sylvia to wear in the playground (or buy a new one as the case may be), for lengthening evenings that smell sweetly of jasmine, and to head off on holiday at the end of the month. 

This year is the first year in 5 years that I haven't participated in Vegan MoFo.  I decided that this year's MoFo list of themes wasn't for me but it was a relief not to have to find the time.  However I hope to still be posting some great vegan food on my blog (though some will be lacto-ovo vegetarian too).  Above is a vegan parmesan I made for a pasta dish that I will share soon.  It was delicious.  I photographed it in this lovely salt and pepper set that I bought at a trash and treasure sale as a child.

As I have mentioned before I have done some recipe testing for Leigh Drew's new vegan cookbook.  August saw me taking a break from recipe testing but towards the start of the month, I made these amazing sweet potato fries with pineapple sauce.  Not only were they very moreish when eaten like this, we also loved the fries and sauce in a wrap with salad.

We have been eating wraps more regularly lately.  When I have been busy I have been making sourdough flatbreads to keep my starter going.  I have also been making them as after school when Sylvia has brought home a friend each week after netball this term.  This wrap was made up of some spinach cauliflower fritters from the freezer, spinach, roast pumpkin, tomato and hummus.  So good!

Moving away from vegan light meals, I made this cheese on toast for lunch recently.  I piled some spinach and cherry tomatoes onto sourdough bread before topping with cheese and putting it under the griller.  It made for a lovely meal.

I was interested to see that the new Coles supermarket in Coburg North had a vegan/vegetarian/gluten free section including Amy's rice and beans burritos.  I bought one out of curiosity.  It was really delicious with some yoghurt, spinach and cherry tomatoes on the side.  However I don't tend to buy these sort of meals regularly.

I found these lovely dessert bowls in an op shop.  I'd been looking in other shops for something that is not too big.  So many bowls these days are a big as chamber pots.  These are just right for us.

Not technically the kitchen, though it does seem to find its way in, is Sylvia's new detangler brush (as recommended by my sisters).  It is the pink one on the right.  The bristles are a soft rubber unlike her more traditional hair brush.  I can't even bear to think of all the tears and screams I have endured brushing her hair every morning.  This new brush has made mornings so much easier.

More kids stuff.  Here is a SpongeBob SquarePants ice cream which looks nothing like the picture on the packet (or the cartoon).  Sylvia was most pleased to have it but then she only ate half and the other half sat in the freezer for another week before she finished it off.  The flavours were banana and chocolate with bubble gum eyes.  I have a 5-minute-and-spit-out rule with any sort of chewing gum for Sylvia though I prefer to avoid it altogether.

These goodies are from the new(ish) The Source Bulk Foods in Sydney Road Brunswick.  I finally got there to make those hard choices about what to buy. purchases there.  I was most excited to find it was a good place to buy coconut flakes (for facon and muesli).  I also bought macadamias, dark chocolate bullets (liquorice) and dark chocolate covered dried bananas.  So yummy.

In the nut shop in Coburg's Victoria Street Mall, I recently found that the smoked paprika was $2 for a 100g tub compared to $2.95 for a 50g packet in the supermarket.  Must remember this next time I need some.  I use a lot of smoked paprika.

E bought a bottle of Coburg Lager a while back because he was intrigued by a local beer.  We don't drink a lot of beer in our house, especially in winter.  Weeks later it is still sitting in the fridge waiting to be opened.  You can see why he only bought one bottle!

Our garden is already showing signs of spring.  The lavender is in bloom and we have some buds on the blueberry plant.  Although we have had a cold winter, it has been fairly dry so I hope spring and summer are kind to the gardens.  We need lots of heavy spring downpours for which Melbourne is renowned.

I was out shopping for leggings with Sylvia.  If she is not constantly getting them dirty, she is putting her knee through them.  We didn't find the leggings but we were both smitten with this cute pineapple mason jar.  It looks so perfect for smoothies but is actually rather big for them.  We are getting some use out of it though.
 

My sister Fran gave me some of these grapefruit from her in-laws' tree.  I was tempted to bake a cake or experiment with grapefruit juice in a tofu marinade but I went the easy route. We put some into our regular banana and strawberry smoothies.  It worked especially well with older sweeter bananas.

Lastly here is another smoothie I enjoyed.  It tasted all the better because Sylvia agreed to have some spinach in her orange, pineapple and banana smoothie.  Baby steps.  Baby steps.  I am way beyond baby steps so I stuffed more spinach in my smoothie once I had poured hers.

I am sending this post to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for her In My Kitchen event.  Head over to join in (by 10th of each month) and/or check out what is happening in other bloggers' kitchens.