Sushi lunch box

P and I have our first 'parenting' class this evening. We were supposed to start last year, but had to postpone the classes because neither of us were in Canberra. Today's class is about 'normal' labour (we get to hear about complications next week - yay!).

Since I am incapable of going for more than a few hours without food, I thought that I would pack a snack. I also thought that I would go overboard simply to keep having fun with making creative 'lunch boxes'.

And so I present you with brown rice sushi, baby tomatoes, mango and a gingerbread person.


I hope that you all have a lovely evening.

Pasta salad w/ cannellini beans

Last night I made one of my favourite summer meals - pasta salad - and it was made all the more exciting because we were able to use our own freshly ripened tomatoes, basil and chilli from our little balcony on the garden.



Ingredients
250g wholemeal penne
1 tin of organic cannellini beans (well washed)
3 fresh tomatoes (finely diced)
large handful of baby spinach (torn into small pieces)
large handful of rocket (torn into small pieces)
large handful of fresh basil (torn into small pieces)
juice of one large lemon
2 cloves garlic (finely diced)
1 fresh chilli (finely diced)
extra virgin olive oil



Cook the penne in boiling water until it is al dente. Drain and set aside to cool.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and one of the cloves of garlic. Stir for about a minute and add the cannellini beans. Heat over medium/high for about 5 minutes. Take out of the pan and set aside to cool.

Combine 2/3 tablespoon of olive oil with the lemon juice, garlic and chilli in a small jar and shake to combine.

Combine all the ingredients in a large salad bowl.

Serve and eat.

p.s. I hope you like this little corner of our balcony. We are pretty happy with how our plants are coming along - particularly since we face West.

Rice paper lunch box

Ingredients:
Rice paper (from an Asian grocer, or the supermarket)
1/4 pack of Vermincilli rice noodles
150g Firm tofu (sliced into narrow strips)
1 cup small button mushrooms (quartered)
1/2 bunch of shallots (chopped finely)
1 carrot (cut into thin julienne strips)
1/2 bunch baby buk choy (chopped finely)
1 cup mung bean sprouts (washed well)
1 clove garlic (diced finely)
small square of fresh ginger (diced finely)
1 fresh chilli (diced finely)
vegetable oil
sesame seeds

Sauces:
sesame oil
lemon juice
fresh chilli - diced finely
Braggs (or soy sauce)


Brush a wok or pan with a small amount of vegetable oil and heat over medium. Add half of the garlic, ginger & chilli. Stir for a couple of minutes and add the mushrooms. Raise heat and fry for up to five minutes adding some Braggs or soy sauce towards the end.

Repeat this process with the tofu.

Cover the carrots with a small amount of lemon juice and sesame oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Fill a wide bowl or serving dish with about an inch of cold water and slide in one sheet of rice paper. Remove after about 30 seconds, it should still be a little stiff (it will soften afterwards). Lay flat on a clean surface and place a small amount of each of the ingredients in a narrow strip along the centre, leaving space up the top and bottom of the strip.


Dribble a teaspoon of the sauce over the ingredients so that you don't have to dip them later for flavour (this makes them more portable).

Fold the top and bottom over and then pick up one side and bring it over the strip to lay on to the other side, before rolling the remaining package into a roll.


Set aside and repeat the process.

Christmas gingerbread

Ingredients
4 cups of plain flour
1 & 1/3 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of allspice
½ teaspoon of cloves
1/3 cup of vegan margarine
2/3 cup of brown sugar
2/3 cup of molasses
1/2 cup of water


Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves together. In a separate bowl, cream the brown sugar, molasses, and 1/4 cup of water into the margarine.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and add enough of the remaining water so that it all forms a dough that holds together without being sticky. Break the dough in half and roll into two balls. Place each ball inside a plastic bag and put them in the fridge for an hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 180º C. Grease a few baking sheets with margarine and cover with a thin layer of flour.

Cover (part of) your kitchen bench with flour and roll out the dough, one ball at a time, on to the surface. (A rolling pin makes this easier, but you can also just use a glass jar.) The dough should be fairly even and a little under 1-cm thick. (If it crumbles in place, rub a small amount of margarine into the crumbly area to help smooth it together).

Use 'cookie cutters' to cut the dough into your preferred shapes and peal away the excess dough from around the edges. Use a butter knife to help remove the cut dough from the bench to avoid breaking your baby cookies.

Place cut dough on baking sheets (leaving around 3-cms between them so they don't stick together) and put into over for around 6-10 minutes (depending on how hot your oven is - mine only take 6 minutes). Check them regularly because they can burn easily.

Remove the gingerbread from the oven when it is firm to touch and place on a cooling rack to cool down.

Once cool, decorate your gingerbread with icing, sultanas, lollies, or leave them plain because they are yummy just as they are.
I hope that everyone had a lovely day on the 25th!

Vegan Chocolate Pie

This was such a simple recipe that I didn't really have very high expectations, but I must say this pie was simply delicious!


Ingredients
1/4 cup spelt flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
water
500g silken tofu
150g dark chocolate (preferably organic and fair trade)


Mix flour, almond meal and oil together and add water until you get the right consistency - it should stick together without being sticky. Press the pastry evenly into a pie dish or a shallow cake tin with the pastry and bake in oven for around 8 minutes on 180 celcius. (I placed some chickpeas on the base for the last few minutes to stop it from rising up too much)

Melt the chocolate and then combine with tofu in a blender. Blend the mixture together and pour onto baked pie crust. Place in fridge for at least two hours while it hardens.

Serve with strawberries or other yummy fruit.

Chinese eggplant and greens

Chinese Eggplant

Ingredients
1 whole eggplant chopped into cubes of about 5 cm2*
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil (or veg oil)
1 tablespoon soy sauce (or Bragg's)
Water
Sprinkle of sesame oil to taste
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
*[Several chinese eggplants would also work here if available]


Heat a heavy-based pan over medium high. Add oil, chilli and garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add the eggplant and stir so that the ingredients mix together well.

Allow the eggplant to start to brown, add soy sauce and stir. Add sesame seeds and stir through. Turn up the heat to high and add a small amount of water, and stir as the water steams off and then add some more. Repeat several times allowing the bitter juices to evaporate.

Add a small amount of water, turn down heat to medium and cover with lid. Remove lid every now and then to stir and make sure that it is not sticking. Remove from heat when mixture is goey (but still has some shape).

Sprinkle small amount of sesame oil to taste.

Greens

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
Small bunch of shallots, diced (remove ends)
1 small red chilli, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Ginger, finely sliced
Button mushrooms, chopped in half or quarters
1 tablespoon soy sauce (or Bragg's)
Asparagus, chopped in thirds (remove botton end)
Snowpeas, chopped in half (remove ends)
Baby buk choy, chopped coarsely (remove base)

Heat wok over a medium heat. Add oil, shallots, chilli, garlic and ginger and stir together for about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and stir until lightly brown.

Add soy sauce, asparagus and snowpeas and stir for a few minutes. Add buk choy and turn off the heat.

Mix the ingredients together and serve.


Serve over brown rice.

Lunchtime Pitta Pizza

Not sure of what to have for lunch today, I decided to make a quick pizza on pitta bread. Since it turned out to be quite yummy, I thought that I would share it with you.


Ingredients:
2 x pitta bread
2 large tablespoons of tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
2 small red chillies, diced
5 sprigs of spring onions, diced
150 grams of firm tofu, crumbled
teaspoon of Bragg's
teaspoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 tomato, sliced
A few slices of red capsicum
4 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
6 kalamata olives, pitted and halved

Preheat oven to about 180 degrees Celsius.

Fry half of the garlic, chili and spring onions in olive oil for about a minutes over medium heat before adding crumbled tofu. Let it brown and add Bragg's and nutritional yeast (optional, it would be yummy, but I had run out and didn't use it). Set aside.

Spread tomato paste evenly over the two pitta bread pieces. Top with remaining garlic, chili and spring onions - spread them around. Cover based with baby spinach, top with mushrooms, olives, tomato, and capsicum (I only used this on P's - I am not a capsicum fan). Sprinkle tofu mix on top and put into the oven for around 8 minutes.

Slice into quarters and serve.


Can I just add that the little one in my tummy appears to like the pizza very much. S/he is kicking up a storm right now...

Vegetarian Dumplings

I mentioned recently that I have been craving dumplings lately and had come to the realisation that I was going to have to make them myself if I was to be able to satisfy my craving. So, last night we did just that and I thought that I would share the recipe with you.


Ingredients:
250gms firm tofu
a dash of vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped or minced
a dash of soy sauce (or Braggs)
2 teaspoons of finely minced or grated fresh ginger [or less if you are not a big ginger fan - it does give the dumplings quite a bite!]
1 small red chilli finely chopped
one small bunch of spring onions finely chopped
small bunch of fresh coriander finely chopped (we didn't have this and it didn't matter too much, but it is yummy)
1/2 cup carrot (grated or cut in short, thin julienne strips)
half a bunch of baby buk choy finely chopped (including lots of the stalk)
one stick of celery finely chopped
small bunch of enoki mushrooms (or button if you prefer) finely chopped
a decent dash of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soy sauce (or Braggs)
40-60 small dumpling (wonton) wrappers [available at most asian grocers for around $2)
a bowl of cold water


Tools:
a wok (or fry pan)
a pastry brush
a teaspoon
a large mixing bowl
a small bowl
a bamboo steamer (or metal if that is all you have) and fitted saucepan

Wash the tofu and then chop into very small squares (about 1/2 centimeter sqaured) or just crumble it. [We chopped it and would crumble it next time - it is easier to use.]

Heat the wok over a low/medium heat and then add the oil and the garlic and stir. After a minute or so, add the tofu and turn up the heat to medium high. Keep stirring and add the soy sauce as the tofu starts to brown slightly. Stir in for a couple of minutes and remove from heat and allow it to cool for a little while.

Combine the ginger, chilli, spring onions, coriander, carrot, buk choy, celery, enoki mushrooms, sesame oil, and soy sauce in a bowl.

Add the tofu once it has cooled a little and stir it all together.

Place one wonton wrapper on a plastic chopping board and cover the rest with a damp cloth. (This is faster if you have a few people doing the wrapping.) Use the pastry brush to dampen the edges of the wrapper with water. Place a small amount of the mixture into the middle of the wrapper (about one level teaspoon, any more and it will be difficult to get the edges to stick together). Fold the wrapper in half and use your fingers to press the edges together. (You can try trickier shapes too, but I would start with this one.)

Place the dumplings into the bamboo steamer, making sure that they do not touch each other. You may only be able to steam 10-12 at a time unless you have several steamers. Brunch the steamer(s) with a little oil to prevent the dumplings from sticking.

Place the steamer over a pot of boiling water and leave to steam (covered) for around 15 minutes. (We tried steaming them over the wok, but the steam wasn't concentrated enough and we had to transfer them to a fitted saucepan.)

Serve the dumplings in mini courses or keep them warm in the oven while you wait for them all to finish. A mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice and minced chilli makes a nice dipping sauce.

ENJOY! They are yummy

Moroccan chickpeas

This is one of my favourites recipes and, like the minestrone, I learned it from my Mum.


Ingredients:
1 tbl of olive oil
½ an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 small fresh red chilli, diced
2 teaspoons of harissa spice
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp hot chilli
6-8 button mushrooms, diced
1 quarter of a preserved lemon, chopped finely
1 tin of chickpeas (or equivalent of dried beans soaked overnight), rinsed thoroughly in boiling water*
2 medium tomatoes, diced
8 baby tomatoes, quartered
Several handfuls of snowpeas, chopped into thirds
Lemon and/or lime juice to taste
Couscous or basmati rice to serve

*I also take off some of the skins so that they are softer, but this is probably unnecessary.

Heat the olive oil over a medium low heat. Add the onion and stir until translucent (5-10 minutes). Add garlic and chilli to the onion and stir together. Add spices, ensuring that they remain moist.

Add the mushrooms, stirring thoroughly so that the mushrooms get coated in spices and a little oil. Raise the heat slightly and add some of the tomatoes and the preserved lemon to avoid the mixture becoming dry. Stir for around 5 minutes.

Add chickpeas and stir for around 5 minutes. Add the rest of the diced tomatoes and a little water to create a sauce. Finally add the baby tomatoes, snowpeas and lemon/lime juice.

This should be served on couscous, but I am avoiding wheat at the moment so we used basmati rice instead.

Minestrone

This is one of my favourite recipes - particularly when it gets cold outside.



Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 onion
4 large cloves of garlic
3 small red chillies
8-12 button mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
2 zucchinis
1/2 a head of broccoli
4 small/medium carrots
1/2 a bunch of celery
1/2 sweet potato
1 tin of mixed beans (or soaked dried beans)
1 tin of kidney beans (or soaked dried beans)
1 tin of tomatoes (blended)
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 litre of water

*You can also add potato or pasta to this recipe, but it makes it a little heavier.
*A blend of fresh basil and olive oil also makes a really yummy side dish to stir in at the end.





Heat a heavy-based stockpot on low-medium heat. Dice the onion and add to pot with the olive oil. Stir over the heat for 3-5 minutes so that it starts to go translucent. Dice the garlic and chillies and add to the pot and stir. Dice the mushrooms and add to the pot with the chilli powder and stir. Peel, wash and dice the sweet potato and steam separately. Wash and dice the remaining vegetables and add to the pot with a small amount of water. Stir and turn up the heat to medium.




Wash the tinned beans and add to the pot. Blend the tinned tomatoes and add to the pot. Stir together. Add in the steamed sweet potato and stir. Slowly add the vegetable stock and the remaining water. Cover and leave to simmer on medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes.




Remove 3 cups of the soup (mostly the solids) and blend. Add the blended vegetables back into the soup and cover. Leave to simmer on low heat until ready to eat.