Green Gourmet Giraffe

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Pumpkin, almond and quinoa soup, days out and a bird's nest

Life is as up and down as our recent weather. There are many unfortunate stories happening around me in which I only have a bit part and feel they are not mine to tell. We have also been busy with some interesting events as well. All in all, it has been crazy busy without so much time in the kitchen. I am more likely to throw together a quick meal than follow a recipe or take notes to blog it. I am glad I captured this pumpkin soup. It almost flew under the radar.

Before telling you more about the soup, I will share a little about the good things in life. Sylvia's school held an Art Show recently. It was lovely to see all the artwork that the children have produced. Sylvia showed us this wattle tree she had helped to make.

On the weekend, we went to The Garden Fiesta at Peppertree Place in Coburg. It was a lovely local event. There was music, food, friend, workshops, floral garlands all with a relaxed welcoming vibe. I was pleased they were selling excellent vegie burritos and vegie tacos.

We also met up with my parents and three nieces to visit the Labassa open day in Caulfield. It is an amazing ornate nineteenth century mansion (1862) that was made into 10 flats in 1920 and saved from demolition in 1980. The old house has amazing stories.

As we walked through the many rooms, alternately marvelling at the detailed decorations and wondering at the flaking paint, E struck up a conversation with a self titled "living remnant". The previous tenant was playing music and happy to talk about his days living in one of the flats. We stopped for scones with jam and cream and a glass of cordial. The temporary tea room was empty so we sat in a little pavillion in the grounds. It was very relaxing.

This soup came in a week that was in need of comfort. While I wont go into lots of details, I will say that it was too full of bad behaviour, bad luck and bad sleep. Spectacles disappeared, there wasn't enough vegetables in my life and one of my favourite radio presenters, Richard Stubbs - who has brought much humour and compassion into my life - announced he was leaving.

I was grateful for a reflective moment in the midst of chaos. Sylvia should have been reading her reader and practicing her ukulele. Instead we lay on the grass and looked up at the clear blue sky and sought images in the twigs of the hedge and as we looked we discovered a bird's nest within the hedge. Seeing the little baby birds in the nest was quite something. It reminded us that there is often more happening in this world than we ever see.

I was also grateful for a simple soup that used up a wedge of pumpkin that had been lingering in the fridge. It wasn't one I planned to blog but I loved it so much that I am sharing it. It was inspired by this asparagus, potato and quinoa soup. Rather than using potato for creaminess, I used almond butter. It is very different from my idea of a good pumpkin soup that I posted years ago. Yet you can't have too many pumpkin soups.

I had a bowl of this soup on an evening when I was feeling very tired. It was very rich and creamy with a satisfying texture from the quinoa. Even the warm orange colour was comforting. I loved the soup but was not happy when I put the empty bowl beside me on the couch and the cat started to lick the bowl. I guess even cats love this soup!

I am sending this to Lisa (and Jac) for No Croutons Required, Kimmy for Healthy Vegan Fridays #72, Jac for Meatless Mondays, Janie (and Karen) for Tea Time Treats, and Corina for Cook Once Eat Twice.

More pumpkin soup recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Classic pumpkin soup
Japanese-style pumpkin, sprouts and tofu soup
Pumpkin, corn and wild rice chowder
Pumpkin facon soup
Pumpkin and tofu laksa
Smoky pumpkin and corn soup

Pumpkin, almond and quinoa soup
An original recipe by Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves 4-6

1/2 cup quinoa
1-2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
750ml stock
800g pumpkin, trimmed and peeled
3 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tsp lemon juice
sriracha and herbs, to serve

Put on quinoa with 1 cup of water. Cover, bring to the boil and then simmer on low for 20 minutes. Once cooked, leave lid on until ready to use. While quinoa cooks, begin making the soup.

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Fry onion, celery, parsnip, carrot, capsicum and garlic until softened - approximately 5 to 10 minutes. (I added mine as I chopped them, in the order as written.) Add stock and pumpkin. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until pumpkin is soft. Mix in almond butter, yeast flakes and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.

Stir in quinoa. Check and adjust seasoning. Serve with a drizzle of sriricha and fresh herbs, if desired. I used thyme.

On the Stereo:
Set List - The Frames

Saturday, 7 November 2015

In My Kitchen - November 2015

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, October was the "most abnormally dry month in records going back to 1910". It was a month that sped by here with low energy, a hospital visit (not for me) and lots of other draining moments. Though I continued blogging, I only posted 3 recipes. Hopefully November will be a more productive month in the kitchen and on my blog.

Meanwhile, I have been returning to quite a few favourite recipes. Above is another stab at potato and cheese pasties. Sylvia requested them for a school event. I had planned to buy her something from the freezer section of the supermarket but she would have none of that. The pasties worked really well with pre-rolled puff pastry when shaped in square. No pesky off-cuts. Everyone was very happy with them

I have been fascinated at the explosion of interesting vegan and/or gluten free products in the supermarkets. Here are a few. (1) Kale and quinoa popcorn. Sylvia was initially horrified at the idea until she realised it was salted pocorn with so subtle green flavouring. (2) Nudie coconut yoghurt. Sadly just as rich and creamy as Coyo's yoghurt. I am still seeking a vegan yoghurt that has more of a cultured tang. (3) Condensed coconut milk. Amazing find. Short ingredients list. Yet I am still to use it. (4) BBQ fava beans. A nice variation on a favourite snack.

We loved making lemonade with lemon juice, sugar and water. On a whim I tried it with coconut sugar recently. It was so brown that Sylvia has told me it is like coke. (Better than "murky".) I had to add some agave to achieve enough sweetness. It is nice but has a bit more flavour than regular sugar.

I have a few baking goodies from the supermarket. Muffin papers, fudge chunks and popping candy. We have only used the muffin cups so far (for the ghost cupcakes). I am planning on using the rest in some choc chip cookies.

I made frugal freezer stock recently. I love having a freezer with lots of stock. (I guess you might call it well stocked - ha ha!) It always makes me enjoy making soup when I have a good home made stock.

I finally used up my puy lentils in a harrira soup from Isa Does It. I love that cookbook and keep planning to write about it. Don't the lentils look beautiful?

Finally some of the finer things in life (just think of the lack of focus as a sentimental patina). Gifts of home made candles and home grown broad beans. Plus a little luxury purchase of blood plum balsamic vinegar. As Christmas approaches gifts are on my mind. Doesn't it feel like we are heading for the festive season at some rate! Before we know it, the end of the year will be upon us.

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.

Thursday, 5 November 2015

Vegan mozzarella and spiderweb pizza

I recently tried Vedged Out's vegan mozzarella. It was amazing. The cheese crisped up on the outside and was gooey and cheesy on the inside when baked on a tart or melted on toast. But we don't stand still in the rapidly changing digital world. I saw a similar vegan mozzarella recipe which used aqua faba. I tried it, incorporating some of the Vedged Out components. This was even better because it had strings!

Yes strings! Strings are the ultimate in vegan cheese. Finding the taste is not so hard but finding the texture is so hard. And to be honest, I have never been a big fan of the taste of mozzarella. It is a bit bland. But I love the strings. You can see by all the pictures I took of strings below that I was pretty excited. I also had to check it worked in melted cheese on toast. And I am happy to report: affirmative!

My first experiment with the mozzarella was to try it in a tomato, zucchini and corn galette (based on Joanne's tomato and corn galette). It was good but the zucchini just would not soften. I quite liked the mozzarella spread on the base of the pastry and some more dotted on top. In fact I have revisited the amazing galette pastry with beetroot and will share that soon.

A week or so later I made the mozzarella again for pizzas for our Halloween lunch. I found the idea on Vie de la Vegan where Kyra made spider web pizzas. As soon as I saw it I wondered if the vegan mozzarella would work. In fact I was a little nervous when I tried it as I was not sure how much it would spread. Turns out it holds its shape well. I just piped it using a zip lock bag snipped at the corner.

Sylvia insisted she would not eat vegan cheese. So I made a pizza for her and the children. Fortunately the adults all loved the vegan cheese pizza. I used some sourdough starter in my fast track pizza for the bases. Leaving the mixture for a couple of hours made for a thick airy base. I whizzed up some pumpkin hummus in with tomato paste, a tin of tomatoes and some extra seasoning to make the sauce.

So with the search for a vegan mozzarella over (until the next viral trend), you can relax as I tell you a story about spiders. We bought some plastic spiders and cotton wool spider webs for the Halloween lunch. A couple of nights later I looked up and asked who had put the spider up high on the window. We all looked at each other puzzled. And [cue spooky music] then the spider moved.

I will make the bold claim that this vegan mozzarella would be as cunning as the plastic spiders in standing in for the real thing. And it is can be piped in shapes which make it even superior to regular mozzarella! And did I mention it uses ingredients I always have in my pantry (the nutritional yeast flakes can be optional if they are hard to find.) I am in love with the stuff.

I am sending this pizza to Kimmy for Healthy Vegan Fridays #72, Jac for Meatless Mondays, and Lucy and Lauren for Fabulous Foodie Fridays #76.

More fun pizzas on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
(How many of these would be great with this mozzarella cheese for decoration!)

Vegan Mozzarella
Adapted from Vedged Out and Avocados and Ales
Serve 2-4

1/4 cup cashews*
2/3 cup aquafaba (chickpea brine)*
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp tapioca flour (starch)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp refined coconut oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste*

Blend all ingredients in a high powered blender. It will be a really thin liquid. Pour into a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring fairly frequently. (Ideally stir frequently but I was cleaning my blender at the same time so you can get away with a break every now and again.) The mixture will become lumpy on the way to becoming smooth. Just keep stirring and have faith. It will take a few minutes. Once it thickens and becomes smooth and pulls away from the pan while stirring it is good to use. The mixture can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.

*NOTES: I have a high powered blender. If you do not have such a blender you might need a little less water and also need to drain the blended ingredients to take out any chunks. I used the water drained off a can of chickpeas. If you use the water drained off home cooked chickpeas you might need more salt. If you want to grate the cheese, you can add some agar and set it in the fridge in a ramekin. It might be easier to grate if frozen.

On the stereo:
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit: Courtney Barnett

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Halloween ghost cupcakes (vegan with aqua faba)

At our Halloween lunch, the cakes were the main event. Sylvia and I planned to make the ghost cupcakes way before we had any other plans for the lunch. I was excited to see Wallflower Girl had made ghost cupcakes with aqua faba marshmallow fluff.

I am not even sure what marshmallow fluff is but I am fascinated by Aqua Faba (the chickpea water that has been drained off tins or batches of cooked chickpeas until the vegan world recently discovered how versatile it is.)

Before I even made the marshmallow fluff I was using it instead of an egg replacer in the chocolate cupcakes. They were highly recommended by Janet of the Taste Space but I never buy egg replacer. (I am not vegan. I just dislike eggs.) I trued aqua faba and the cupcakes were brilliant. They were moist and rich and tasted fresh the next day.

I have made meringues out of aqua faba earlier this year so I wasn't quite as nervous about the marshmallow fluff. It is very similar to making meringue mixture but not baking it. My problem was that it was incredibly sweet. The sweetness made me forget to worry about any lingering beany taste.

However I still get amazed that the mixture beats up to be so stiff that it can be loaded onto a spoon that is held upside down and it will not slide off.

I tried to prepare as much as possible the day before the lunch. Chocolate Covered Katie said it could be made up to 24 hours in advance. So I put it in the fridge overnight. The next day it was like beaten egg whites that have been set aside while preparing the cake. They take on a jellied shape with a slightly wet exterior. I beat it to stiff peaks again and wondered if it had been worth beating it the day before if I still had to beat it the next day.

I had originally planned to pipe the mixture in peaks like little ghosts. It seemed a lot of marshmallow. A lot of sugar. A lot of work. And I could see they were not going to last. We did a few of the little cupcakes. Sylvia ring fenced these for the kids table that she was setting up for her friends. When they arrived the kids ate the cupcakes first and I felt quite irresponsible.

As you can see on Sylvia's kids table, the ghosts did not keep their peaks. (Was it because it was in the fridge overnight? Would some guar gum or xanthum gum help? Mixing marshmallow into buttercream like this one?) So instead I spread the marshmallow fluff over the cupcakes and made the faces on this thin spread (see top photo). I much preferred this option because that was quite enough fluff on them. I am not keen on lots of icing or frosting but even E, who likes a lot less than me, said he preferred less of the fluff because it was so sweet.

As the marshmallow fluff did not set, I had to keep it out of the way or it was on my arms or packets of food. And it was very very sticky. However it did make for very white spooky ghosts and they were enjoyed by everyone, especially the kids.

Find more Halloween food on Green Gourmet Giraffe.

Ghost cupcakes
From Wallflower Girl

Vegan chocolate cupcakes (see below)
Marshmallow fluff (see below)
Dark chocolate chips

Pipe marshmallow fluff onto cooled cupcakes. Either pipe mountains with peaks or just pipe enough to spread over the top. Arrange 3 choc chips as eyes and mouth.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Aqua Faba
Adapted from the Leafy Cauldron via the Taste Space
I made 12 large cupcakes and 24 mini muffin sized cupcakes

2 cups plain flour (I used half white, half wholemeal)
2 cups sugar (I used half raw, half coconut)
3/4 cup cocoa (not Dutch process)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp coffee granules
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp aquafaba (chickpea brine)
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp water
1 cup rice bran oil, or other neutral oil
1 1/4 cups plant milk (I used sweetened soy milk)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 170 C and line 2-3 cupcake trays with papers.

Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, coffee and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Lightly whisk aqua faba until bubbly in a medium sized bowl (my 2 cup jug was too small). Mix in water, oil, milk, vinegar and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until combined.

Fill cupcake papers about two thirds to three quarters. The mixture is very funny (oops I meant runny) so a ladle or small cup measure helps to do this. Bake for about 30 minutes or until cooked to touch and a skewer inserted in the middle counts out clean. NB I cooked the large cupcakes on my highest shelf and the mini muffins in the middle shelf and they all took the same amount of time.

Leave in tins for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.. If desired spread below marshmallow fluff on the cupcakes or use a frosting of your choice.

Marshmallow Fluff with Aqua Faba
Adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie and Seitan is My Motor

1/2 cup chickpea brine
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup castor sugar

Beat chickpea brine, cream of tartar and vanilla until bubble (about 1 minute). Add sugar and beat for about 8-10 minutes until the mixture will make stiff peaks and not fall off a spoon if held upside down. (NB I don't have very powerful electric beaters. Other recipes suggested anything from 5-15 minutes.)

The mixture can be made the day before and kept in the fridge overnight but will need to be whipped again the next day. It took me about 3 minutes to get my mixture back to stiff peaks.

On the Stereo:
Uke can play super easy ukulele: Mike Jackson

Monday, 2 November 2015

A Halloween lunch with a watermelon monster

In our house, Halloween is a time when death is uppermost in our minds. We held a lunch yesterday, as we do each year, to remember the day that our twin boys, Alex and Ian were stillborn. It used to be a quieter affair but their younger sister now treats it as another birthday party. And Halloween is becoming the theme each year. Sylvia loves the fun food and so would her brothers.

When we decided to make broomsticks with pretzels, it seemed a good opportunity to revisit the white chocolate and pretzel spider webs we made a few years back. The ones we made back then had dodgy chocolate spiders in the middle and really wobbly webs. Sylvia jumped at the suggestion. She even had a go at piping the chocolate webs. As you can see above we had mixed results.

Some of the webs were far better and I have been able to include an updated photo on the original post. However we had a problem with the chocolate not setting. It set in the fridge or freezer but not at room temperature. So I left them in the freezer overnight (the fridge being too full). Sylvia decided to take them out this morning. I had balanced them carefully but a 6 year old was not to know this.

When she opened the door they fell out and shattered all over the kitchen floor. We were able to rescue and snack on a few pieces but most of it ended up in the bin. I was a bit sad but the white chocolate is so sweet that perhaps it was for the best to admire but not eat too much.

We were busy tidying the house and cooking leading up to the lunch. The roses in the garden are all beyond their best. Sylvia was keen to find some flowers. We managed to pick a few that were less overblown then the rest.

Sylvia was very keen that we made cheese and pretzel broomsticks like last year. I had memories of making them by wrapping swiss cheese around a pretzel and tying it with a spring onion. It was fiddly. This year we found the string cheese that other people have used and it was so easy that I was able to leave Sylvia to do it without supervision. We did leave out the little detail of the chive or spring onion tied around it but there was much else to do. The string cheese was much easier but I think we all preferred the taste of the swiss cheese to the plastic stuff.

E was quite keen on a jack o lantern themed food. I had chickpeas leftover from using aqua faba (more on that later) and decided to make pumpkin dip. I served it in a ramekin with a face cut out of nori. (Those with a keen attention to detail might notice that I forgot the nose.)

One of the dishes I was most excited by was the watermelon monster. I was originally inspired on pinterest. I bought an 8kg watermelon the day before and was quite proud of it. Sylvia was fascinated. Unfortunately it was really too heavy for her. So when she picked it up to cradle it like a baby she dropped it. The watermelon split and bled on my rug. Boo hoo!

I am not a huge fan of watermelon and only bought so much watermelon just for the fun of doing the monster. So it seemed like a waste. I put the huge watermelon in the fridge, shuffling lots of food around to fit it.

I avoided the huge cracked watermelon in the fridge as long as I could. Once I took it out and gave it a searching look, I discovered I had been unduly pessimistic. No, my watermelon would not look just like the picture but it would do very nicely as a scary monster with lime halves and dried cranberries attached with a toothpick for eyes. In the end it was very simple and looked impressive.

As I made the monster it at the end, I only chopped up some pineapple to go with the watermelon despite having other fruit to include. The kids loved having the watermelon and were not at all deterred by the proper black pips. (I bought it at a local fruit and veg shop rather than the supermarket that had no watermelon on the day and usually sell the anaemic type with not much in the way of pips or colour.) I gave some to my mum and plan to make juice with a lot of the rest.

I was just finishing making the watermelon monster when my parents and a couple of Sylvia's friends and their families arrived. We had lots of crudites, swiss cheese, bikkies and chips to serve with the pumpkin hummus and broomsticks. I also made spider web pizza and ghost cupcakes. These last two both deserve their own post. I will be back with more Halloween fun soon.

Find more Halloween food on Green Gourmet Giraffe.

Sunday, 1 November 2015

Remembering Alex and Ian 8

As another birthday heads around for Alex and Ian, our sons who were born and died on this day in 2007, I yet again have to shift my wondering about how their lives might have been. Eight seems so old for these boys that we only ever held and gazed upon as tiny babies. Eight long years without them. As always we miss them and wish they were here to celebrate with us.

Instead we will eat cake in their memory. (More on that soon) And I share a few links I have come across over the past year that relate to stillbirth and loss:

Angel Gowns - an organisation where people donate old wedding dresses to be used to make outfits for stillborn babies.

Why I talk about my stillbirth - Alana Rosenstein in the Huffington Post

Losing Iris: the quiet despair of a child stillborn - Sarah Hughes in the Guardian

Pregnancy loss cards by Jessica Zucker. When someone experiences preganancy loss, family and friends often don't know what to say. These cards have thoughtful messages for such occasions.

A bed for my heart - website for parents who have lost a child

Everything doesn't happen for a reason posted in The Adversity Within