Not leaving the house!

OK, I may have gone to the neighbour's to "borrow" a bottle of wine.

My husband had to go on a work retreat, leaving me home alone with the tots to feed and entertain them. Entertainment was planting stuff in the garden, but feeding them was another issue. I didn't want to get in the car and go to the store just to buy a few missing ingredients for dinner. That would have meant dressing them up (they have taken to wearing their pijamas all day everyday), brushing teeth, hair and washing the morning's peanut butter and jam off their faces. Instead I turned my attention to what I did have. 

In the freezer I had some chopped veg that I had been saving to make stock and in the fridge a bag of organic sweet bell peppers, (just like me) beginning to show their age. So I pulled the veg out of the freezer dumped some water on them, added a couple bay leaves, salt & pepper, fresh celery (it too was showing its age), some fresh parsley and simmered away! With the peppers, I washed them fired up the BBQ. And slowly roasted them! 


hot n'sweaty

 all fired up and ready to go
 basking in the glory
 a party in a bowl

A roasted Red Pepper kinda day Soup

• 6 capsicum peppers, wash and leave whole
• 1 med onion roughly chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, diced and chopped
• 2 medium stalks of celery, sliced an chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid
• 6 cups stock, chicken or vegetable (preferably home made).
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• balsamic vinegar reduction & olive oil to drizzle (optional but really good)
• grated parmesan cheese

First I made my veggie stock and roasted my peppers. 

To roast the the peppers I grilled them on a medium BBQ, turning and rotating until black and brown on all sides. Set them in a bowl, covered with cling wrap and set aside to steam. Meanwhile chop and prepare the remaining ingredients. After 15-30 minutes (or as long as it takes to get other stuff done), slit the peppers, removing the seeds and ribs, peel the skin and roughly sliced. Set aside.

Heat the stock and keep warm.

In a stock pot heat the oil at a medium heat, add the onions and garlic and sweat with the lid on until tender and translucent. Add carrot and celery again sweat with the lid on until just barely soft. The goal is not to brown them, but some of the smaller bits may get some colour. Salt, add roasted peppers, stir and heat through, add red wine and scrape any bits that may have stuck to the bottom. Add tomatoes and liquid stir and bring to a boil. 

Add in warm stock and return to the boil, once at a boil turn down and simmer for 30 mins or until everything is falling apart and the tomatoes are breaking up. Cool down and transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender and combine until smooth. Return to heat. Add in Balsamic vinegar and taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed.

To serve Drizzle with the fancy shmancy olive oil and reduced balsamic vinegar... as I did for the adult version or for the kids version microplane parmesan cheese on top! Or just do it all, slip and slurp crusty bread and have a fresh cucumber salad!

While I was taking my photos my daughter insisted I take on of her fork!

                                     Kid version!








photos by me...

Fermented Black Bean Drumsticks *warning this post is NOT vegetarian friendly*

My children are carnivores at heart. I know this, I accept this, so I do the best I can with this. Such as buying local, hormone & antibiotic free, free run birds. We usually buy whole birds that way we can make stocks and have different cuts, but my children have been showing a preference for the drumsticks. They're easy to hold, they can eat them directly of the leg and are convenient little servings of protein. So I bought a family pack of 12 drumsticks, figuring that I was going to divide them up.... but I didn't and had to cook them all in one go. As it turns out that was fine. Organic birds are usually a bit smaller than their industrially force fed counterparts. So really 2 or 3 legs is a reasonable serving size for two hungry toddlers. The remaining meat can be cleaned of the bone and used for leftovers.

Fermented Black Bean Drumsticks 

(or other chicken parts) 

Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

• 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
• 12 drumsticks or about 3 lbs bone in chicken parts, rinsed and pat dry with paper towels
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fermented black beans, rehydrated in  just enough water to cover and drained.
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup water
• salt & pepper
• juice of one lemon

While preparing all the ingredients, soak the black beans in water. Heat large lidded skillet on medium heat for a few minutes, add oil  and coat. Add chicken brown quickly on each side. As this is being done drain black beans. *It took me about 3/4 minutes each side. Plenty of time to combine the drained black beans, soy sauce, honey  and water in a bowl.

Turn skillet off and remove from the element. Remove the chicken parts and pour off all but a tablespoon of fat from the pan. Put the skillet back on the element and reheat to medium and add the garlic. Cook garlic until soft, about a minute. 

Add chicken back in, pour combined soy sauce, water mixture over the chicken. Salt and pepper to taste,  turn to coat drumsticks and cover with lid. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, turning a couple times during the cooking process.

Make rice according to package instructions or your favourite method, this is mine (but I left out the onion and cumin seeds).

Serve over rice, drizzled with the black bean sauce and finish with lemon juice.

photos of carnage by me.

My name rhymes with Vegan.

I was talking to my husband's cousin today; I guess by extension my cousin, and was telling her I eat a mostly vegetarian diet. She is a vegan, so she asked me if I had ever thought I should go vegan? I gave her two answers.

 "The short answer to have I ever thought about it?: A lot of the meals I make for me lean towards vegan, but because of my name I could never have become one. The long: For me personally I try to eat a balanced healthy diet. Sometimes that includes dairy and eggs and bottom feeders (seafood). It was the diet that I developed for myself when I was 16 and it just kinda works for me. I know most of the arguments pro and cons and I have never been truly convinced that veganism is for me. I am a strong believer in the environment (as Jeff and I learn more we have even gotten a bit hippyish), animal rights, nutrition and local food. Even though Jeff and the babies eat meat, I make sure it is hormone and antibiotic free, as well as knowing the source and farm. I drive restaurants crazy because in this day and age I expect them to know where IT comes from. If they don't I don't order it. So that is part of the long answer. I know by definition this does not make me a vegetarian, that is usually why I say a mostly veg diet"

Here is a vegan recipe for my cousin.

Mark Bittman's Simplest Dal, with Celery Root

 from "How to Everything Vegetarian" 

• 1 cup dried red lentils, washed and picked through
• 2 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 cardamon pods (yes they made a huge difference)
• 2 cloves (also made a difference)
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds (I used dark)
• 1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
• roughly 1 1/2 cups peeled and 1/2" cubed celery root
• salt
• 2 tbsp peanut oil (optional)
• chopped fresh cilantro for garnish.
• lime wedge

Put all the ingredients up until salt (salt goes in when done),  in a sauce pan large enough to hold everything plus water to cover by an inch and a half. Simmer until Dal is soft about 30 minutes. Add salt and oil when done and check seasoning.

I serve it over cumin flavoured basmati rice, a hefty squeezed of lime juice and garnished with chopped cilantro leaves.

photos by me with help from my assistants, Billie & Elijah.