Sunday 4 October 2020

In My Kitchen - October 2020

The year just gets crazier and crazier.  While in the northern hemisphere many places are  having a second wave of covid, in Melbourne we are looking forward to ending months of our second lockdown.  We have had an inquiry into hotel quarantine that was the source of covid in the second wave.  The outcomes were a carnival of forgetfulness, creeping assumptions and the resignation of our state health minister.  Of course it seems far crazier in the USA where the last week has seen an embarrassment of a presidential election debate followed days later by Trump being diagnosed with corona virus.  At home the weather is warming as the  diagnoses get smaller, I got my first sunburn of the season on a walk with friend yesterday, we have been robbed of an hour with daylight savings starting today and my computer is acting up!

There is a lot of craziness in lockdown.  Some of you might think that it is crazy to eat pumpkin scones with vegemite but they were rather good.  The only crazy part was that I bought the scones from the supermarket.  Everyone knows that home made scones are the best.  I just haven't had a lot of kitchen energy lately. So today the meals I am showing are quick and easy.

 I took two weeks holidays in September and thought I might find some energy for cooking but we had some pretty basic meals.  Above is one of my favourite lazy meals.  Baked beans on toast.  However it wasn't completely easy because I baked the sourdough bread.

Even easier were these veg fast food that we picked up at the supermarket.   Sylvia chose the caramelised onion and cheddar cheese quiches but was not keen.  I have been enjoying the chickpea, spinach and caramelised oniion pastry rolls.  Not quite as good as my favourite sausage rolls but not a bad light meal.  My favourite of the lot are the broccoli and cheese bites which are great comfort food.  The broccoli makes it sound a little healthier but when you see how little green is in it, you know you are kidding yourself.


These pastries are what a friend once described as "beige food".  The only way to feel good about it is to surround it with fresher veg such as coleslaw and baby spinach for some colour.  This was a work lunch last week that I quite enjoyed.

Before the holidays Sylvia and I were excited to get this free Kid Corner cookbook at the supermarket when we bought 2 tubs of cream cheese.  It has lots of fun recipes.  I thought we might try out one or two during the holidays but sadly we never got that organised.

When shopping after work on a busy day I decided to try a freezer meal.  Sometimes they look so good.  This one with a sri lankan curry.n  The vegies were pretty impressive at keeping their bright colour but it just wasn't quite as nice as dinner made at home and I hated that it was easier to eat from a plastic bowl and ... well ... unnecessary plastics!  I don't think I will be tempted again for some time.

I had a lovely sunny walk around Princess Park with a work friend and while cycling home, I was passing by Pacha Mama on the corner of Sydney Road and Barkly Street in Brunswick.  It had been a while since I had some fancy products so I stopped.  (On our last trip to the farmers market it was a sunny day and there was a queue so we decided to give it a miss.)  While their stocks were reduced, there were still many temptations.  I really enjoyed the crisps with avocado oil, sea salt and cracked pepper.  The damona brie is still waiting for its moment.  The freeze dried strawberries were bought for Syvia's baking but she just munched most of them straight from the packet!  And I enjoyed the vegan rocky road, though would have preferred it without coconut oil.

Luckily, even though I don't get to fancier shops often, the supermarkets have more and more to intrigue.  Recently I bought some vegan aioli and some vegan fysh sauce.  Neither have been opened but they seem just the thing to spruce up some spring meals.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event, that was started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial,  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog and visit more kitchens.

6 comments:

  1. You have tried quite a big variety of vegan ready-made meals and ingredients. It's unfortunate that your own cooking makes them all look slightly disappointing. I think the emphasis on meat means the food industry doesn't try as hard with vegetable products, but that at least here in the US that's changing as more people reduce meat consumption.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  2. Sometimes quick and easy meals are the best. Those ready meals look quite interesting. I would also like to try the broccoli and cheese bites.

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  3. Beige food certainly is comforting and has a special place! Glad you all are going into warmer weather- here we are headed for an epic fall and winter that promises to be crazy-making.

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  4. hi johanna
    thanks so much for joining in this month. lovely to see you. yes i sometimes lose my kitchen mojo, so we eat out or hubby cooks. well truthfully he cooks quite a lot anyway:-) mm must try those broccoli and cheese bites. the avocado oil crisps sound interesting. i am not a fan of coconut oil for several reasons including the disgusting mouth-feel!! Eek! keep well and safe
    cheers
    sherry

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  5. I hope you continue to stay safe, and healthy! Our figures are slowly getting lower and lower and I am waiting for the Western Cape to drop below 3000. I have seen freeze dried strawberries so will buy some next time I am shopping :)

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  6. We are in our second lockdown, but for me it hasn't changed the way i have been living since the initial locakdown. Your kitchen is so much more interesting than mine this month, i have hardly any new things from the outside world. I miss mooching about the shops. i'm all for easy meals too, but sometimes i find the energy or spurred on..by a ingredient or someone - like you. I like the sound of the pumpkin scones with vegemite. The avocado oil crisp interest me, esp as they are kettle style.

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