It's my new favourite thing to do.
Make pastry from ground up nuts.
No gluten in sight.
Just buttery, crunchy and oh so tasty pastry that adds the jua de vivre to a yummy but otherwise simple vegetable tart.
There is no looking back for this little duck.
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These are the biscuits I want with my tea.
Simple and plain. Dry and sweetless (I know, not a real word!)
They are not a celebratory biscuit and they're not award winning, but they're a round circle of pure comfort.
In fact, they're not sweet at all, which is perfect for my taste buds and my cup of tea, but for others upping the syrup content may be your answer, or perhaps a switch to raw honey or pure maple syrup would be your prerogative.
Whatever your decision - eat them on the day!
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“She turned to the sunlight and shook her yellow head, and whispered to her neighbor: "Winter is dead.”
- A. A. Milne, When We Were Very Young
A Spring inspired dish to celebrate this beautiful season....
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2010 was the last time I was in New York.
Some days it feels like a lifetime ago, others, like yesterday.
Aromas and songs can transport me back to the moment we munched on ice-cream in Brooklyn, or to the cheese and olives we collected from the Garden of Eden Gourmet. However, the one memory that always springs to mind and that I didn't indulge in at that time....
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Flicking through Country Style magazine, as I do, whilst sipping my pot of tea, I came across a photo that struck something in me. A simple shot of someones home-office - with the most beautiful antique desk, double French windows, calming blue walls and natural light. Loads of natural light.
I couldn't stop staring.....
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Heather is the gardening and cooking guru behind the blog The Tasty Gardener which just happens to be my secret blog for this month's Secret Recipe Club.
One of the things I loved about wandering through Heather's blog was all the amazing tips and tricks she offers regarding both gardening and cooking from building a veggie patch through to cooking suckling pig. I was gobsmacked!
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Fennel: You're either a lover or a hater. I'm a devoted lover and have been for a very long time, and as I've been slowly learning about the health benefits of this brilliant veg...I'm even more head over heels in love.
Not only does it help in the relief of indigestion, flatulence and constipation, it's also brilliant in the treatment of anemia.....something that my mum is currently experiencing . Not only is fennel high in iron, but the amino acid (known as histidine) found in fennel helps stimulate the production of hemoglobin.
So from me to you mum....it's cooked and packaged up ready for delivery.....
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Perhaps chocolate is a more sexy choice for cupcakes and perhaps vanilla would be my normal, personal choice, but somehow the humble root vegetable known as carrot was all I could think about.
So on a glorious Saturday afternoon I grated, sifted, stirred and baked.
This recipe is gluten and refined-sugar free, but I didn't notice.
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Barley. A fibre superstar, with just one cup providing your body with over half of your daily recommended intake. However for me personally, my interested in barley is because of its high selenium content - an essential trace mineral that is lacking in many of our diets. Not only is selenium needed for antioxidant defense and immune function, it is also needed for your thyroid (and my thyroid needs all the help it can get!)
Selenium has also been shown to stimulate DNA repair in damaged cells.
I've been eating barley for years and was first introduced to it as a thickener in hearty Winter soups made by my mum and it was at her request, that I whipped this batch of soup up. I've always loved barley's soft texture and nutty flavour and would often eat it as a replacement to rice.
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Berries are on their way and I'm super excited. I know you can get them all year round, but there is something a little special about the fresh, in season ones grown locally. I could OD on them if I was that way incline....hold on a minute, I'm a Taurean! Obsessive is my basic human nature.
Maybe that also explains why I can't just make the ONE strawberry mousse? Hunh?
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Spring.
I certainly wouldn't class it as my favourite season, but it's still a beauty, don't you think? I love the very beginning of it, when the leaves just start to show themselves and splashes of colour can be seen everywhere you look as the flowers begin to bud. I love that I still need to carry a jacket with me and that I can still rug up under a blanket most evenings.
I also love that Christmas is not too far away!
But probably my most favourite thing about this season is all the yummy Spring vegetables that begin to show themselves. How can you say no to their petite size and beautiful colours?
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I'm in experiment mode...getting ready for a gorgeous little girl's 3rd birthday party in a couple of weeks.
The experiment is to find a strawberry mousse that's light and fluffy, easy to whip up in advance, but contains no raw egg white.
Mousse Part I = is super simple to prepare and contains only 4 ingredients. It turns out a very light and fluffy mousse (which ticks my box), however it does contain a bit of a "cheat" ingredient which I'm personally not 100% keen on (only because I don't eat them in normal circumstances).
But for a 3 year old birthday party...well, I'm guessing they'll be very happy....
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Food for Thought: Carrots.
Did you know that the second most popular vegetable (after the potato) can help promote beautiful skin? Being super high in Vitamin A and antioxidants, carrots help prevent premature wrinkling, acne, dry skin, pigmentation, blemishes and uneven skin tones. They can also protect us against macular degeneration of the eyes, some cancers and heart disease.
The Vitamin A will also help your liver flush out toxins from the body - which can only be considered a good thing in my book!
Maybe you're a smarty pants and already knew all that...but I bet you didn't know that the nutrition in carrots are encased in tiny little protein sacs that have to be broken for you to gain these benefits (this could be through cooking, grinding, juicing or plain old simple proper chewing).
I cooked AND pureed mine....
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We're slowly coming to the end of parsnip season here in Australia. Even though it's available all year round, it's at its best from Autumn to Spring (perfect for those of you in the Northern hemisphere!)
It takes only a handful of ingredients to make this wonderful soup, and I guarantee you'll love the aroma coming from the oven as it bakes, the burst of sweet roasted garlic as you puree it all together and then the taste once you dollop your sour cream on top. Oh my.
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Raspberries: Research has shown that these little red rubies can actually help with obesity, regulate your blood sugar levels, keep your digestive system nice and healthy AND help lower your risk of developing chronic disease. Geez....I simply ate them cause I loved the taste of them!
Did you know that just one cup of raspberries gives you a third of your daily intake of fibre, helping to keep you full for longer?
So with all of this information I’ve now put in your head, and the fact that I can tell you for a fact that they taste bloody good – the little recipe that I'm providing you with today is so worth trying.
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