WSC chocolate cherry cookies

Today was a day of backtracking.  We set out for Fitzroy Market and went home to get my camera.  We went for a walk in Brunswick Street and had to go back and find Sylvia's woolly hat.  We wanted to go straight to hospital to visit my sister and her new daughter but had to head first home for the gifts.  Finally after leaving Fran and Stella, we had to go back to their room to get Dolly who was left behind.  So it is perhaps fitting that tonight I am posting a recipe with dried cherries that I had to head back for after doing the shopping.

I bought the dried cherries at a local Middle Eastern shop.  Dried cherries aren't that easy to find in Melbourne.  I have bought them on a few occasions.  I couldn't see any in the shop but I asked just in case.  Yes they had them out the back.  When I got home I discovered that these cherries were incredibly sour.  Not so odd.  What was surprising was that they still had the stones in them.

I have never come across stones in dried cherries before.  Baking biscuits late at night to take to work the next day was not an ideal time to be pulling stones out of cherries.  At least it was better than a couple of weeks ago when it was so late that I made the mixture for tofu nut balls last thing at night and baked them the next morning before work.

I left the biscuits in the oven a bit longer because I was concerned that they were too soft (especially given that my oven can be a bit slow).  The next morning at work I worried they were too crisp.  The birthday girl that I had baked them for was full of enthusiasm for my baking as always.  Then at home I found the ones I had left there were pleasantly chewy.  I swithered about posting these as I feel I should experiment further but, as I have noted before, it can take me a while and it is useful to have notes. 

Unfortunately we had eaten all the biscuits before visiting my sister.  My experience of hospital food was so bad that I took some cheeseymite scrolls and finger buns from the local bakery.  We also took gifts along.  Sylvia's contribution was some of her "treasures" (see above in the yellow plate) which she wrapped in a serviette.  She also helped me make the below card.

The recipe was inspired by the We Should Cocoa challenge.  This month Janice of FarmersGirl Kitchen is hosting and the theme is cherries.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: CC Pumpernickel Rolls with Currants
Two years ago: SOS Chickpea, lemon and mint soup
Three years ago: Potato boston bun
Four years ago: Soup for the Leguminous Evangelists
Five years ago: The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Adapted from Anja's Food
Makes 20

1 cups plus 3 tbsp almond meal
1 tbsp white chia seeds (next time I might grind these)
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried cherries, finely chopped
2 tablespoons walnut oil
4 tablespoons honey (or agave or maple syrup for a vegan version)

Preheat oven to 160 C.  Line two medium baking trays with baking paper.

Mix dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Add wet ingredients and mix well.  Roll into balls the size of a walnut between your palms and then press  between palms to flatten. 

Bake for about 20 minutes.  I left mine in for another 10 minutes after the oven was turned off.  Half were too crisp and then other half (on the less hot side of the oven) was nicely chewy.  But next time I will just do 20 minutes.  Cool on the tray.

On the Stereo:
Der Jesuspilz / Muzik Vom Evangelium: Witthuser and Westrupp

NCR African Curried Coconut Soup

Last night I needed easy for dinner.  E was out, Sylvia was eating on go-slow and I was waiting to hear that a new niece had arrived.  I found an impressive looking recipe for African Curried Coconut Soup with Chickpeas on Joanne's Eats Well With Others blog.  She always manages to make heaps of vegies and protein look delicious.  With tinned legumes, pre-cooked quinoa, and some kale from my mum's garden, this came together quickly.

I also added a few leftovers from the fridge and have tried to reflect this in the recipe.  What is sometimes harder to reflect in writing the recipe is that I took some of bits and pieces out of the other ingredients to feed Sylvia.  I gave her some of the cooked quinoa to try.  She wasn't keen.  Too strange?  I was sneaky.  I'd hang my head in shame if it hadn't been such an inspired move.  I added some quinoa to some mashed potato and wholemeal flour to make amazing Tattie Scones.  We all loved them.  Great accompaniment to the soup.

Which brings me to the vexed question of soup.  E likes to tease me that a spoon can stand up in my soup.  When I first added all the ingredients (see second photo) I thought it was a really soupy soup.  I put Sylvia to bed and came back to have my dinner and found that the soup had thickened and the spoon was indeed standing upright.  So yes, I love soups that might well be stews in another kitchen.

I am sending this soup to Jacqueline for No Croutons Required.  This month the theme is coconuts.  And congratulations to Fran and John on the arrival of wee Stella!

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Potage St Germain
Two years ago: Florentines, salads and what's in a name
Three years ago: WHB Broccoli – brassica royalty
Four years ago: Lemony Dressing for a Quinoa Salad
Five years ago: Collingwood children’s farm – peppercorn trees and...

Hearty African Curried Coconut Soup
Adapted from the Tropical Vegan Kitchen via Eats Well With Others
Serves 4 

1/2 cup dried quinoa
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
1 medium red capsicum, diced
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp each curry powder, cumin, mustard powder, chilli paste
2 cups vegetable stock
400g tin of coconut milk
400g chickpeas, rinsed and drained
400g brown lentils, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, chopped
(I added a little leftover tomato sauce and roasted pumpkin - optional)
1/2 tsp salt (I forgot this)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
100g black kale, chopped
160g baby spinach

Cook the quinoa by cooking in 1 cup water, bring to the boil and simmer about 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a stockpot.  (I used a large saucepan which was a wee bit too small.)  Fry onion, carrot and capsicum for about 10-15 minutes or until soft.  Stir in garlic and spices for about a minute or until fragrant.

Add remaining ingredients except spinach.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.  Add baby spinach and cook another few minutes until spinach is wilted.  Serve warm.

On the Stereo:
Bismarck (Original Soundtrack) - Peer Raben

Fudgy Coconut Brownies

Lately I have had a hankering to bring together chocolate and coconut in baking.  Now let me make myself clear.  The more I look at the recipes of my childhood, the more I see how much they included coconut.  In these days, 'coconut' meant unsweetened dessicated coconut.  Nowadays, 'coconut' can mean coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut oil, coconut butter, or large coconut shreds or flakes.  When I say chocolate and coconut, I am referring to dessicated coconut.

Last week I went to visit my sister Fran and took along a chocolate coconut slice from Emily Rose's Have Your Cake.  I'd admired the picture so long but it was more slice than cake.  (I should have let it cool in the tin rather than turning it out like a cake.)  It was nice but not what I was after.  We ate it for dessert with ice cream.  Sylvia had sprinkles on hers, which she loved.

On Sunday night I tried again with some Fudgy Coconut Brownies. that I had seen at Chocolate Log Blog and Nip it in the Bud.  They were easy enough to fit in between Grand Designs and a documentary called Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired.  They are incredibly soft when they come out of the oven and need to cool down in order to be firm enough to cut.  The smell of chocolate wafting through the loungeroom was very very hard to ignore.

Last night E and I stayed up until 1.30am to watch the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympic Games.  While Olympics aren't usually our thing, the ceremony was all about British music, which both of us love.  It was fantastic entertainment.  From the raw emotion of footage of John Lennon singing 'Imagine', to the humour of Eric Idle singing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life', to the unabashed enthusiasm of the crowd singing along with Madness to 'Our House'.  I also admired the strength of Gary Barlow who sang with Take That, a week after his baby girl, Poppy, was stillborn.  We had bangers and mash for dinner, a crisp sandwich and brownie.  Not the most wholesome food but it fitted right in with the relaxed vibe of the evening!

I am in love with this brownie.  The texture of dessicated coconut is a bit more subtle than what I was after.  I've written a list below of other recipes to try from other blogs.  However the dense, chocolatey, fudgy brownie with a little bonus of coconut, is just heavenly.  According to Sylvia, wicked witches also love the brownie.

As I had bookmarked this recipe from both Chocolate Log Blog and Nip it in the Bud, I am sending these brownies to Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes, an event founded by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

More chocolate and coconut sweet treats from Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Cherry Ripe cake pops
• Chocolate almond rice bubble slice 
• Chocolate caramel slice 
• Chocolate crackles 
• Chocolate macaroons
• Grubs
• Hedgehog 
• Marshmallow weetbix slice 
• Mock turtle 

More chocolate and coconut sweet treats from other blogs:

• Chocolate and coconut bars - Chocolate Log Blog
• Chocolate coconut almond scones - Joy the Baker
• Coconut cake with chocolate chunks - Blue Ridge Baker
• Coconut chocolate chunk blondies - Brown Eyed Baker
• German chocolate brownies with coconut topping - Riches to Rags by Dori
• Gluten free coconut chocolate cake - Chocolate and Zucchini
• Gooey coconut chocolate bars - Mel's Kitchen Cafe
• Melt and mix chocolate coconut cake (Donna Hay) - Travels with a Gourmet
• Milk chocolate sandwich cookies (Kingstons) - Delicieux

Fudgy Coconut Brownies
Slightly adapted from BBC Good Food

• 100g cocoa
• 250g butter 
• 400g sugar (I used 3/4 brown and 1/4 raw)
• 4 eggs
• 100g self-raising flour
• 100g desiccated coconut
• icing sugar , to dust (optional) 

Preheat oven to 180 C,  Grease and line a 22cm square cake tin.

Place cocoa, butter and sugar in microwave proof mixing bowl.  Heat in the microwave until butter is mostly melted (because it will keep melting after it comes out - this took me about 1 minute).  Stir in eggs.  It will thicken slightly and look glossy and gorgeous.  Stir in flour and coconut.  Pour into prepared cake tin.

Bake for about 45 minutes.  Check after 30 minutes and cover with foil if it is browning on top too quickly.  I think the only way to know it is done is that the top is cooked but it will be so soft in the middle that I didn't bother with a skewer - after all brownies should be a bit gooey in the middle.  Cool in the tin.  Cut into squares.  Keep in an airtight container. 

On the Stereo:
The music of Ennio Morricone (A Sunday Times free CD)

In my kitchen and craft August 2012

We have spent most of the weekend at home after a week of illness last week.  In my kitchen I have been baking.  I was inspired to make Treacle scones by the announcement of International Scone Week by Celia, Joanna, and Heidi.  I used a slightly different recipe (by Ena Baxter) to my usual.  It needed more milk.  I need to learn to judge scone dough consistency.  So instead I am sending this post to Celia for her In My Kitchen Series.

In my kitchen are tins of beans I don't usually find canned.  Black beans.  Pinto beans.  Adzuki beans.  They were purchased at Wholefoods in Brunswick.  I am still deciding how to use them.

In my kitchen we have been enjoying snacking through pretzels, soy sauce rice crackers, chilli rice wheels, rice snacks, and fruit balls.  This is the best fundraising package so far from Sylvia's child care centre.  We sold a few but we enjoyed them too much to hawk them about much.

In my kitchen these La Zuppa soups are just passing through.  I take them to work to eat for lunch if I don't organise a packed lunch.  I used to be very good at making my own soups to have at work but I don't make them as much these days so I usually rely on leftovers or sandwiches if I like the bread we have about the house.

In my kitchen are many salts.  I was surprised at how many I had when I decided to photograph them together.  Saxa is the cheap supermarket salt.  Wild garlic salt (in the plastic bag) bought in Healesville.  Maldon salt is in the spice hog.  Australian Lake Salt is yet to be opened.  French Lavender Salt and Fumée de Sel (smoked salt) come from Gewürzhaus in Carlton (where I did a double take at $13 for a small bag of smoked salt).  I don't know how I became such a salt fiend!

In my kitchen is a new Gaspard and Lisa bowl that my mum brought Sylvia back from Paris.  Sylvia loves watching this cartoon on the telly.  Unfortunately the ABC seems to have been changing around a lot of kids shows and a few that she loves have been taken off the schedule.

My mum also brought back an icing pen for me.  I haven't used it yet but am looking forward to doing so.  I am sure it will be very handy for icing birthday cakes!

In my kitchen is ice cream.  This is odd.  We rarely buy ice cream.  Especially in winter.  Sylvia and E started drinking smoothies last weekend when they were ill and now they want ice cream too.  I haven't had this Skinny Cow ice cream before.  The caramel ice cream is creamy and had a nice flavour but the chocolate biscuits taste slightly plastic.  Nice for a change!

In my kitchen is a sumo mandarin.  It is one of the ugliest pieces of fruit I have ever seen.  I am not sure I can bring myself to eat it.  Yet I could spend hours just gazing at it in fascination.

In my kitchen are craft projects.  I was inspired by Brydie to knit this scarf.  I couldn't resist buying this wool of many colours.  I've promised a scarf for Dolly and George but haven't had the heart to pick up the knitting needles again since finishing this scarf.  I hope one day to do tassles on a scarf and learn to knit beanie hats.

Can you guess what our other craft project has been?  Emerald City?  Yellow brick road?  Why yes! Wizard of Oz characters made out of toilet paper rolls!  I wanted the witch's hair to be green but Sylvia insisted on red.  We used coloured paper, coloured foam sheets, googly eyes, wool, string, fabric, paper bags and foil.  By the time we got to the tin man, Sylvia had lost interest and my attention was waning but I wanted to finish it.  It was a fun activity.  I am sending these to Red Ted's Art Blog - lots of other craft ideas there!

WW Smoky lime split peas for a small world

Last weekend we finally watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony, a week late.  Sitting on the couch watching the ode to British pastoral, industry and pop music while eating pizza was probably the highlight of the weekend.  The next day Sylvia had a fever and needed the thermometer, medication and cooling smoothies. When she headed to bed unusually early,  I set to work making dinner using an accidentally opened can of creamed corn and some split peas that had been in the pantry far too long.

The creamed corn was destined for cornbread. My challenge was to find a split pea recipe that I could serve with it.  I don't cook with split peas that often.  Just the occasional soup.  I read a post by Janet of the Tastespace on Split pea dal with ginger and lime.  She posed the question: if you could only have 4 spices in your kitchen, what would they be?  Mine would be smoked paprika, cumin, mustard and cinnamon.  So it is perhaps a bit predictable that I went for the smoky lime flavours of Mexico for the split peas. 

As Janet found, the split peas are quite watery but they thicken as they cool.  I found the easiest way to serve them was in a small bowl on the plate.  Alternatively they could be served in a bowl with extra vegies on top.  I enjoyed dredging my cornbread through the split pea stew.  This made me think, it could even be eaten as a dip with vegies and corn chips.  If you are seeking a different sort of snack for watching tv sport.

We haven't been watching much of the London Olympics.  I meant to but either I am unenthused by the Channel 9 coverage or E is watching some old movie like Zontar the Thing from Venus.  So this year I haven't really seen much sport but watching a bit of swimming with Sylvia reminded me of what a small world it is when we are young.

According to Sylvia, the Olympians were swimming at our local pool.  She has also showed me where cartoon characters Gaspard and Lisa live in the next suburb to us, and when she was given playdough by a friend, she said that my mum must have made it and given to it to this friend for Sylvia.  Apparently she thought my mum is the only person in the world to make playdough.

I understand this feeling of the world being so small.  When I was a child, I remember thinking that Daryl Somers (a local television star) and Donna Summer (American disco diva) were related because their surnames sounded the same.  I even thought the kids up the road were our Prime Minister's grandchildren because they shared the same surname.  It probably wasn't so odd, given that anyone who shared a surname in our small town usually was related.  I even remember visiting the cemetery with a friend (as you do) and finding a gravestone with her name on it.  Turned out it was her great-grandmother.

Food these days makes the world seem small too.  On the night I made the split peas, I combined the Mexican flavoured stew and cornbread with some leftover Irish-style fried cabbage and brussels sprouts.  The second night I served the split peas and cornbread with the peas and roast pumpkin of my Aussie childhood. I'm pleased to discover that these split peas, like the Olympians, will readily mingle with other nations.  It is a small world after all!

I am sending these smoky lime split peas to Ricki for her Wellness Weekends event.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Besan Vegetable Frittata and a week of eats
Two years ago: Rhubarb crumble x 2
Three years ago: Walnut Brownies
Four years ago: WTSIM ... Beer Bread
Five years ago: SHF #34: Pumpkin scones

Smoky lime split peas
Adapted from Tastespace and allrecipes
serves about 4

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
1 yellow capsicum, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 cup yellow split peas
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chilli paste, or to taste
juice of 1 small lime

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.  Fry the onion, celery, parsnip and capsicum for about 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are softening at the edges.  (I add vegies in that order as I chop them.)  Add garlic, smoked paprika, cumin and allspice.  Stir for about 1 minute and then add in split peas, water, salt and chilli paste.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 1 hour or until split peas are cooked but not mushy.  Stir in lime juice and serve.

On the stereo:
The Best of Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield

Blogging resources

On my first blog anniversary I wrote a post called Planet of the Blogs which included a list of blogging resources.  I wanted to share these because blogging was such a mystery when I started.  After blogging for over 5 years, it is time to provide a more comprehensive list of resources I have found.

NOTES:

2012: Over these years I have found that these resources change and move so I will try and keep it up to date as much as possible.  There are many many more resources out there but these are ones I have stumbled upon and found useful.  

Update 2026 - I have now been blogging for 19 years and in a moment of procrastination have checked links up to and including the book databases heading.  I hope to get more time to do more soon.  So many crossed out broken links!  I will try and update the rest soon but my time is very limited! 

Useful posts from Green Gourmet Giraffe

• Kitchen notes, ingredients and substitutions
• Kitchen basic recipes and notes
• My ten rules for food blogging 
• Shoots, Eats and Blogs: 10 things blogging means to me
• My ABC of photography 
• Top 10 photos, Pinterest, Delicious and Eat Your Books (2012)  
• My reflections on installing drop down menus 

Advice for new bloggers

• Green Gourmet Giraffe (me) - My Top Ten Tips for Food Bloggers
• Will write for food - Dianne Jacob  
• How to get traffic for your blog - Seth Godin  
• Food Blog Alliance - if you have a question, this is an excellent place to look for an answer
• Dine and Dish - Tips for the Aspiring Blogger
• Choosing Raw - My Ten Top Tips for New Bloggers
• Sarah's Cucina Bella - Advice for New Bloggers (round up of her advice posts) 
• How to start a blog - a blog about starting a blog! 
• The write stuff (advice from a journalist and a blogger) - The Kitchen Maid
• How to blog by Tony Pierce - busblog (a good read with some good inspiration even if some needs to be taken with a pinch of salt) 
• Blogging tips: Blogger.Ed 
• The beginner's guide to successful blogging - first site guide

Copyright

• Australian Copyright Council info sheet on recipes: legal protection (2025)
• Defamation, copyright and blogging in Australia - Not Quite Nigella 
• Copy right issues (with useful comments) Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Law Geek Down Under - Law for Food Bloggers
• Seth Godin - Simple Thoughts about Fair Use 
• The Ultimate Guide to Copyright for Students - Who is Hosting

Writing Recipes

• Will Write for Food - 7 Most common recipe writing errors 
• Mad - On all the ways to write a recipe - by Christine Muhlke   
• Justcook NYC - Recipe writing cheat sheet
• Urban Vegan - Overused food writing terms
• Olive Magazine - How to write recipes: 23 top tips 

Writing blogs:

• 5 keys to writing excellent blog posts - Problogger
• My guide to writing totally awesome blog posts every single time - MackCollier.com
• Paying attention to your archival posts - Problogger
• Are you using blog images legally - skinnedcartree.com
• Before you hit publish - V3 integrated marketing

Australian ingredients
Useful links with comment discussion about the difference between Australian and American ingredients:

• James and Matt on Chilli powder in American recipes
• In the Mood for Noodles on Australian cooking conversions
• More useful cooking conversion info on my blog at Kitchen Notes and Baking Basics

Searching blogs

• Food Blog Search - a search engine that just searches blogs
• Veg Blog Search – a search engine that only searches vegetarian blogs
• Foodie Blog Roll – listing of over 1000 other food blogs

Blog event listings

• Food Blog Diary
• Events and Roundups- last updated 2017 
  
• Also see blog events listed on my blogroll

Bookmarking

• Pinterest - a visual pinboard of images from pages you like (eg food photos) that you can organise into pin boards. (See my post on pinterest, delicious and eat your books).  Louise has given a link to Remove "Picked for you" pins from Pinterest (after changes to Pinterest feeds in 2015).
• Get your site's Pinterest Pin Count
• Delicious - a great site where you can tag and organise your bookmarks.  Since Delicious closed suddenly and I lost lots of bookmarked recipes I have resorted to a Google Sheet for these bookmarks.  Sigh!
• Since Google Reader closed in July 2013, I have stopped using a blog reader and reverted to my sidebar blogroll.  See my post: Google Reader is closing... and I am not sure I am upset for more information and readers suggestions of blog readers.

Book databases

• Eat Your Books - this site is gradually indexing cookbooks (and some blogs) so if you sign up (for a nominal fee) you can choose the books you own and search your cookbooks by ingredient and other categories. (See my post on pinterest, delicious and eat your books)
• Good Reads - has a cookbook genre with reviews and recommendations.
• Cookbook Recipe Database - a free site that has indexed cookbooks 

Photography
There are heaps of posts giving advice on photography.  Here are a few that I have found useful:

• 6 Bittersweets - My Take on Food Styling and Photography (a lot of reading including good basic info about exposure, styling and lots of links)
• Food Gawker - Photography Tips
• Simply Cooked - Light box for staging food photography - step by step
• The Well Seasoned Cook - Tabletop Photography Tips for Green Beginners
• Mowie and Meeta - 41 food photography tips (quick notes from Blogger Connect event)
• Vegan Yum Yum - Food Photography for Bloggers
• Kalyn Denny at BlogHer - Helpful food photography tips from fellow bloggers 
• Serious eats - Guide to Food Photography (helpful explanation of white balance) 
• I Eat Therefore I Am - Food Photography Tutorial with Ewen Bell - Simple Tips to Dramatically Improve Your Photos
• Digital Photography School - 10 tips to improve your photography  
• Must check out the  Image Map Generator that Louise uses. 
• Pinch of Yum Artificial Lighting Tips for Food Photography 
• Profblogger: Where to Find Free Images Online

Statistics

• Google Analytics - free statistics software (if you are happy to share your data with Google).  It allows you to collect statistics over time.  (See How to Use Google Analytics at Social Media Examiner)
• StatCounter – statistics software - free if you just want to see stats for the last few days but costs to see stats in more detail.
• Technorati – I used to find out who was linking to my blog through Technorati but it changed and I found it harder to find info. I have also used Google Alerts s but it hasn't seemed so useful for this.
• Site Meter - an audience tracking tool - I have only seen it recommended but have not looked at it myself.
• Blogger and Wordpress also have blog statistics information as part of a blog account.

Design tools

• Canva - a graphic design site that will help you arrange photos in a collage or do lots of interesting graphics and texts on your images (free service as far as I can see but sign up required)
• Shabby blogs backgrounds - free backgrounds- I used this until recently but have been warned off them due to malware.  Am on the lookout for other backgrounds I really like.
• picmonkey - I use this a lot for collages.  It also can be used to edit photos.  It is free with no sign up required for a limited package or you can pay for more sophisticated design.
• Photosnack - I haven't used it but have seen Jac at Tinned Tomatoes using it for slideshows
• Snapseed - digital image editing app for photos on the iphone (I haven't used it).
• Fotor: free photo editing and collages - looks good 
• Fotojet - another free site for photo editing and collages

Technical stuff like html and Blogger

• Advice on adding Anchors (which are links within a post) - on my blog
• Blogger Tips and Tricks for those using Blogger
• Where's the beef - advice on Blogger back up
• Tinned Tomatoes - how to add code to a post as text 
• Rachel Cotterill - How to create a favicon  
• Bite Sized Thoughts - How to create a drop down menu in Blogger 
• My reflections on installing drop down menus
• html tutorial - w3schools.com
• How to easily create tables in Blogger using MS Word - MyBloggerLab 
• HTML table generator - tables generator
• How to add printable recipes in Blogger - Confessions of an overworked mom

Content theft

• What to do when your content is lifted - Food Blog Alliance
• Sample Copyright Complaint Steps (how to file a DMCA notice) - Host Gator
• Whois.net - a place to find who is stealing your content
• The Ultimate DMCA Guilde for Students - Who is Hosting

NOTE: While collecting links for this post, I found a useful list of resources at the Hungry Australian.

Update - I am adding a few new links here as I see them but I just saw the 150 links on How to be a Food Blogger by Recipe Girl - a great resource.

PPN Easy cauliflower cheese macaroni

Winter colds and coughs call for easy meals.  We seem to have had our fair share of snuffles.  Sylvia was sick all weekend and E has now succumbed to the same lurgy.  This Cauliflower cheese macaroni was made a few weeks back when we all had come down with the cold and our energies went into chasing tissues and Sylvia around the house.  I needed something simple for dinner.

This dish is quite similar to one of my favourite pasta dishes but the vegies are cooked with the pasta rather than roasted.  I wrote about Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food a few years back.  The recipes he was teaching people too cook seemed quite challenging for those who weren't in the habit of cooking. 

This recipe comes from one of his cookbooks that seems to be inspired by similar shows in America.  It is the sort of recipe that I would want to be given if I wanted good healthy simple recipes.  However, as I cook a lot, I changed it, added more veg and more flavours.  It was fantastic.

I am sending this pasta to Ruth of Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Nights #275.

On an unrelated note, I wanted to share a gratuitous photo of dolly and  a few things I have heard on the radio recently:

• Apparently the USA has a lot of high fructose corn syrup because it doesn't have access to cheap cane sugar but in Australia we do have access to cheap cane sugar.  This explains why I don't notice corn syrup in foods I buy here but hear a lot about it being a problem in the USA.  (I was also interested to I was interested to read Kari's note that in Australia white sugar is processed without bone char.)

• I heard a great discussions about why school students should (or shouldn't) study history recently.  Having studied history to postgraduate level, I was very interested.  I wholeheartedly agreed with those who claimed that history teaches analytic skills and an appreciate for context.  Others in the discussion argued that students should be taught job-related skills, but having seen so many changes to offices since my school days, I would argue the flexibility and an ability to look at the big picture are just as important. 

• Lastly, the talkback conversation that really made me gasp in disbelief some time ago, was the woman who rang to say that animal rights are far more important than refugee rights.  After all, she argued, an earthworm doesn't have a choice but refugees choose to board a leaky boat.  I was shocked because I am so used to people in the veg*n online community who believe that human rights are important alongside animal rights.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Canberra - of modern museums
Two years ago: NCR Carrot and Fennel Soup
Three years ago: Carrot Cake and the Lost Sock
Four years ago: Easy as Vegetable Pie
Five years ago: Rumbledethumps: death to the red hag!

Jamie's Cauliflower Cheese Macaroni
Adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution
Serve 6

1/2 a head of cauliflower, chopped small
450g dried macaroni (or other pasta shapes)
170g grated Cheddar cheese
140g grated vintage cheddar cheese
a small bunch of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
2 or 3 handfuls of baby spinach, roughly chopped
about 1/3 batch of tofu bacon, diced and fried in olive oil til crisp
about 1/3 cup sundried tomatoes
1 cup yoghurt
seasoning

Bring salted water to boil in a large saucepan (I think I used my stockpot with the pasta insert in it).  Place chopped cauliflower and macaroni in boiling water and bring to the boil again.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or follow instructions on the pasta packet.

When pasta is cooked, drain and return to the saucepan.  Add cheese and stir until melted.  Add remaining ingredients and stir.  The heat of the pasta and cauliflower should warm the dish.  Serve hot.

On the Stereo:
Spandau Ballet (freebie CD in The Mail on Sunday)