Safe from the bats

The mango tree is safe protected from the bats. The fruit is growing so well. We have covered it just in time. A small green mango fell off in my hand so I cut it open it had the most amazing mango smell but with an almost lemony zest to it.  I havehad green mango from the store and there wasn’t much flavour. This was so good I went looking for another one to put in a salad.  There isn’t one yet but i’ll keep checking.  The only thing to watch out for now is fruit fly.             
Tee-Jay my lovely daughter cooked a beautiful chicken pie for dinner which we ate with some leafy green salad and aioli.

Gardening is like life…

You have to get the foundations right.   So the beds have to be prepared, soil has to be good, it is far more about what the seed goes into than the seed itself.

When we put good foundations into our lives,  our lives will flourish no matter what twists and turns life throws into our path.

Today I kept thinking about the passage in Jeremiah 29.  Speaking to those in slavery – God says “build houses, plant gardens, and eat what they produce, marry and have sons and daughters.”  I am not in slavery I have so much in my life that is wonderful and I am grateful for. But I am not where I thought I would be or doing what I expected. Life has happened with its twists and turns and so here I am planting gardens and eating what my garden produces, raising my children and living a good life.

It’s a good place to be.

Today I planted lots of seeds. Carrot, Beetroot, Vegetable Spaghetti, Calendula, Anise & Nasturtiums. I also planted tomato seedlings. Staked the beans. Cut down the Bougainvillea which was a bit sad as it was looking beautiful. But it did cast shade on the carrot seeds and it was heading over the roof of the garage.

On every meal now we can add something from the garden.

Last night was dinner at a friends house it was great to take a salad of every leafy green vegetable and edible flower in the garden. It made a lovely big salad with a few radishes tossed in for colour.

The first time I tasted a simple vinaigrette was in a french class at school. The teacher sliced tomato put a little oil, vinegar, salt and pepper on and passed it around for us to taste. I fell in love it was so delicious and so simple. Why would you buy Salad Dressing from the Supermarket when all you need is oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.  Yesterdays dressing was a little more complex,  a number of garlic cloves, 2 sprigs of Rosemary whizzed up in the blender with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. A small coffee jar full of very tasty dressing. Venessa liked it so much we left it behind.

Tonight a simple meal, Gnocchi, a meat sauce and beetroot leaves cooked with the Gnocchi.

Kale, Radish, Mung beans and a Paw Paw for breakfast.

I am glad that I am the only person in the house who likes Paw Paw, because the Paw Paws on my tree are not very big.  Perfect for one person. It would have been beautiful with Bircher Muesli only I had forgotten that I had finished the Bircher Muesli yesterday. Check out the link above for my very favourite breakfast.

Kale, radish and mung beans with dinner tonight. Kale is considered one of the most nutritious vegetables in the world with powerful antioxidant properties.

It is a member of the cabbage family and closely related to wild cabbage. It is a real heirloom vegetable having been eaten for centuries.   Check out the excerpt from Wikipedia below on its health benefits.

“Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties.^{[citation needed]} Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming, microwaving, or stir frying do not result in significant loss.^[2] Along with other brassica vegetables, kale is also a source ofindole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells.^[3][4] Kale is also a good source of carotenoids”

My second planting of Kale is starting to grow nicely and I think that when I make the next garden bed I will be planting more.  Its has lots more flavour than white cabbage.

Spinach and Eggs

I have been cooking this dish for years, I’m not sure where it is from, it is  Eastern European perhaps Turkish or Armenian if you know then you can let me know. Wherever it is from it is delicious and is great for a light lunch.

Saute a large sliced onion, when soft add a bunch of spinach or silverbeet leaves. Cover and let spinach cook down. When cooked down add a handful of diced feta cheese.  Using a large spoon or soup ladle make dents in the spinach. Break a whole egg into each space, Cover and cook on a low heat till eggs are cooked.

The cheese melts, the liquid comes out of the spinach and all combines. Served with only crusty bread it makes a delicious lunch or a light meal. The rest of my family ate pies tonight but I can’t or maybe won’t eat them anymore not good for cholesterol. Better to eat eggs and spinach.

One of the spinach plants is going to seed. I am watching it carefully to see if I can collect the seeds ready for planting next year.

Cooking Greens Italian Style and the Secret to the Tastiest Pasta.

When you see older Italians on TV shows talking about food and the Nonna starts to cook  pasta, she throws the greens into the pasta and water.  Nobody talks about it, its simply what she does when she cooks the pasta. I love it, its the perfect solution for busy mums.  At the last minute of cooking toss in the greens, and there it is pasta, greens and only one saucepan.

But that is not the best secret for the tastiest Pasta. For beautiful tasting pasta this is what you do.  When the Pasta is cooked, tip it into a colonder. Pour a good slug of Olive oil or a good slab of butter  into the bottom of the pan. When its heated add 3 or 4 chopped cloves of garlic. Cook until just turning brown toss the pasta in quickly before it burns. Stir through and taste 🙂 My favorite is butter but being a dairy free household we normally use olive oil.

When I was 13  I went to France on an exchange trip for three weeks. The food was amazing every night we ate the most wonderful noodles I always had seconds it was so good. I couldn’t eat enough of them.  Then one day years later I cooked pasta,  melted butter added garlic tasted and Viola I was back in France this was the noodles Brigettes  Maman used to make.

Happiness Pasta, Garlic, Butter, Olive Oil, & Leafy Greens.

I have a confession to make…

I love fried sausages.

So if you are going to eat sausages you have got to put lots of healthy stuff with them.  This is where Chick Pea Sprouts and Rainbow Chard come in.  Another late night home meant dinner had to be quick again.

So cooked rice adapted with a Middle Eastern flavour. The Egyptians have a rice, lentil and pasta dish called Koushari.  It is an “oil” dish that can be eaten when fasting from animal products. It often contains chick peas.

A simple Koushari using cooked rice and 2 minute noodles and sprouted chick peas took about 10 minutes to cook.

Cover the base of a large pan with olive oil, Saute a large onion till soft but not coloured, add sprouted chick peas cook through to flavour the oil and the chick peas with the onion.  Cover 2 min noodles with boiled water throw the seasoning in the bin, after 2 mins drain the noodles.

Toss the rice through the onion and chick peas. Warm the rice then stir the noodles through so everything is  covered with the oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Koushari is usually topped with a tomato sauce.

Another sliced onion sauteed in olive oil, 2 or 3 crushed cloves of garlic. Throw in the roughly chopped tomatoes and about a cup of passata.  Cover and cook until the tomatoes soften and break down.  When you are ready to dish add the Rainbow Chard (silverbeet) to the pan. Cover and cook till wilted.

English Spinach, Garlic and Thyme Potatoes.

English Spinach picked from the garden needs hardly any cooking.  Place it into a heat proof jug pour water just off the boil over it, then tip it into a colander and pour cold water over. Thats it.

Last week I made Tabouli with mint and parsley from the garden.  We had quite a bit left so on my cooking night last Friday I tipped the leftover tabouli into the beef mince stirred through an egg. Formed the meat into balls.

Tabouli Beef Patties 

Because this is busy mum’s food it is prepared now. Each ball is placed on a piece of clingwrap, fold the clingwrap over the top of the meatball flatten the ball into a pattie wrap it well into the clingwrap.  When all the patties are well wrapped place them on a tray and into the freezer.  Keep them flat and separate freeze over night. Then put all your frozen patties in their clingwrap and put them into a large ziplock bag for a quick meal when like tonight there is not much time to cook.

It’s the same with potatoes, I never cook one lot of potatoes. So tonight in a hurry late home from work, tossed a sliced onion and crushed garlic into olive oil once it softened I  threw in the cooked potatoes and left it to brown nicely.

The leaves of fresh thyme stirred through gave a fresh flavour.

In 30 mins  The patties are cooked, popped  on top of the spinach and served up with the potatoes. Some raw carrot sticks and a little mayonnaise. Quick easy and lots of fresh food out of the garden.

Cooking baby Choy Sum

Choy Sum is full of flavour, it is a delicious vegetable. It grows very easily and some of the choy sum in the garden was a bit close together. So I pulled out the middle two and lightly cooked them for dinner.

2 tablespoons oil, 1 chopped clove of garlic, 1 chopped small birds eye chilli, about 1/4 thin sliced purple onion, 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts.

Heat oil, saute garlic and chilli till garlic starts to colour. Add walnuts and onion stir through oil. Add Choy Sum cover with a lid that tightly seals.  Turn off heat and let sit for a few minutes.

Check to see if Choy Sum is wilted,  Serve as a vegetable side dish with rice and a main course.

Tip: When cooking garlic in Asian Recipes cook until lightly browned.  In Thailand they cook lots of garlic in oil until it is brown and then put it in a container to use as a topping or additive to their food.

Growing, Growing, Growing and Making Mayonaise.

Carrots and Homemade Mayonaise

Everything is growing. When I got back from Sydney the beetroot are coming up, five of the English Spinach are showing. The radish, the Mizuna lettuce, the silverbeet all flourishing. We didn’t buy lettuce this week there is enough in the garden and the lettuce we pick fresh daily has taste and flavour.

Silverbeet is my alltime favourite leafy green,  tonight I sauteed an onion a couple of cloves of garlic, the silverbeet and a handful of blackeyed peas. With a couple of eggs dropped in. Lovely and very healthy.

Making Mayonnaise,

Beat egg yolk with a little mustard. Add oil very very slowly.  My recipe was one egg yolk and 500 mls of oil. The first batch I made separated, the way to recover the mayonnaise is to simply re-do it using another egg yolk.  Beat an egg yolk  and add the separated oil.  Same problem too quick, it separated.  I am determined to work this out.  Another egg yolk, this time I added the separated oil teaspoon by teaspoon. It worked perfectly I added a good squeeze of a nice juicy lemon and a clove of crushed garlic made it into an aioli.

The secret is slowly slowly slowly add the oil. The finished mayonnaise was thick creamy and tasty.