Pandemic and Packaging

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Posted on May 19, 2020

As Plastic-Free July looms on the horizon, perhaps it is time consider one of the little-discussed ‘victims’ of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

For well over 20 years I have worked on reducing the packaging that comes into our home. I take my own containers to buy dry goods (flour, nuts etc) from bulk bins. I have been able to take my own bottles to the local Co-op to get them refilled with apple cider vinegar, tamari and olive oil. The local IGA supermarket and butcher accepted my own containers for meat, fish and deli items including sun-dried tomatoes, olives and feta cheese.

However, everything changed as COVID-19 arrived. I can still buy dry goods in my own jars as long as they are scrupulously clean and have no remnants of previous contents. We eat very little meat so I have not been to the butcher since the pandemic began. Neither the Co-op or IGA are accepting containers to refill at the moment. Will this change back when things settle down? Will it become the new normal and the years of action on single-use packaging be unravelled by one virus? Only time will tell.

These changes have forced me to reconsider my shopping habits. The item which has been impacted most significantly is olive oil. I used to take a litre bottle to the Co-op for it to be refilled but now I am obliged to buy a new 750ml glass bottle for $2.95 each time I wish to buy the local, organic olive oil.

This bottle will simply be refilled from the drum of olive oil as required now. No more bottles.

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We use a significant amount of olive oil so my interest was piqued when I saw a sponsored post on Facebook from Nuggety Creek Olives. After a bit of reading I discovered that I could buy a 20 litre drum of olive oil for $180.00 delivered to my door. The extra virgin olive oil is produced from olives grown without chemicals and I believe the farm is currently being audited for organic certification.

The Nuggety Creek olive oil arrived safely and is now stored in a cool, dry cupboard. I even made a drip catcher from an old dip container and a piece of wire salvaged from the shed.

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20 litres may sound like a lot of oil but I will be sharing it with at least 3 friends. Thinking outside the box has allowed me to continue to minimise the packaging that we generate.

Bottles filled and ready for distribution to friends.

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I have not bought any of the other items I mentioned as yet but my next project is to look into a bulk source of olives. While I understand that all foodstuffs must come in some sort of packaging or container, unless you produce it yourself, I am keen to buy in larger quantities, and therefore, minimise the impact.

Have you considered changing your shopping habits since the pandemic began? Would community bulk-buying be an option for at least some products?

Isolationism or Self-Reliance

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Posted on May 18, 2020

I have seen the following text and similar being shared in various posts on Facebook over a number of weeks.

Two can play that game China
Threaten our economy
All products from China will be left on the shelf !
Who’s With Me

However, there never seems to be any commentary from the person sharing the post as to how they actually propose to achieve this goal of not buying products that are made in China.

I believe that wherever possible we should be buying food produced in Australia. Fresh and unprocessed food are generally the best nutritional option. Additionally, packaged food may be produced in Australia but presented in packaging from China or elsewhere. It is highly unlikely that you would be able identify where the packaging was sourced.

Food is not the only thing that most of us buy. There are clothes, shoes, homewares and hardware supplies. When was the last time that you checked where your purchase was manufactured? Does it matter?

In my opinion, it is more important to be a conscious consumer generally rather than targeting goods from one particular country. Buy only what you need (not want), understand what is ‘enough’, care for and repair what you have and source pre-loved items where possible as ways of stepping away from over-consumption.

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Over-consumption means that we are drowning in ‘stuff’ that is cheaply mass-produced in countries such as, but not exclusively, China. Become a conscious consumer and you will immediately significantly reduce the products you are buying from China.

Your thoughts?

Not Only Food

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Posted on May 17, 2020

The past couple of days have focused on food recipes but those are not the only recipes on the blog.

You may have seen a recent episode of ‘Gardening Australia’ which featured a recipe for making an exfoliating hand scrub/balm with lemon and rosemary. I have lemons growing and access to a source of rosemary from a friend so it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Here are the details in case you missed them.

Lemon and Rosemary Hand Scrub

1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Rind of 1 lemon
Sprigs of rosemary

The ingredients and utensils assembled.

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Finely chop the rosemary and lemon zest.

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Add the chopped ingredients to the sugar and combine.

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Add lemon juice and oil. Mix thoroughly.

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Transfer to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator.

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This could make a great gift for a keen gardener.

This recipe is indexed on the tab ‘Recipes – Other’ along with other non-food recipes.

Refreshed and Updated

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Posted on May 16, 2020

It is now over 9 years since I began this blog. There have been some hiccups along the way which included losing photos from the early blog posts. Some have been restored and others have not.

After some time, I decided that an index was required as the recipes could be difficult to locate. I created this but it was incomplete and certainly not up-to-date. I have worked to rectify that but it will be an ongoing project. The index contains hyperlinks to the posts containing recipes. You will find the index under the tab labelled ‘Recipes – Food’ at the top of the blog.

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In an effort to make it easier for users to peruse the index, I have created various categories and listed the recipes in alphabetical order.

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There are over 70 recipes currently listed and include some which have been handed down through several generations as well as more recent acquisitions from friends and the internet and some of my own creations. Many of the recipes are gluten-free or are able to be adapted to gluten-free as I began to eat a gluten-free diet early in 2012.

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In addition to the recipes I have also updated the blogroll on the right-hand side of the blog. These are a selection of blogs that I find interesting and which have some similar themes to my own. Blogs come and go so I have removed several which are no longer relevant or active and added others which have captured my interest more recently. Please feel free to drop by and check them out.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

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Posted on May 15, 2020

As promised, here is the recipe for the sweet chilli sauce.

A couple of weeks ago my sister gave me these chillies. They are milder than our birdseye chillies and she assured me that they are just perfect for making sweet chilli sauce.

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As always, I consulted Google for a recipe and found this one. It is from the Australian Women’s Weekly and it was refreshing to find an Australian recipe that I did not have to interpret or substitute either ingredients or measurements.

I had enough ingredients for a half quantity so this is what I used.

Sweet Chilli Sauce

125 gram fresh long red chillies
375ml white vinegar
250ml water
1 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, crushed

Remove green stems from chillies, chop chillies coarsely with their seeds. Process chilli until finely chopped.

Combine vinegar, water, sugar and salt in large saucepan. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Add chilli, boil, uncovered, 20 minutes.

Add garlic; boil, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 3 cups (375ml). The sauce will thicken on cooling. Stand sauce 10 minutes.

Pour hot sauce into hot sterilised bottles, seal immediately. Cool, refrigerate.

NOTE:

I probably boiled mine a bit too long. I think the cooking times need to be reduced for the reduced quantity. It looked and tasted wonderful when I poured it into the bottle but the seeds and skin were too hard and chewy.

I left it for about a week while I considered my options.

Yesterday I removed it from the bottle and added about another 125ml of water. This all went into my high-speed blender which effectively blitzed the skin and seeds. I then simmered it for about 5 minutes before re-bottling it.

We had Zucchini and Corn Fritters last night and the sweet chilli sauce was the perfect accompaniment. It is rather more opaque and smooth than the commercial varieties but the taste is second to none.

Simply Delicious

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Posted on May 14, 2020

Tonight I made zucchini and corn fritters for our dinner. I checked out several recipes via Google and this is what I came up with.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters

350g potato (cooked and mashed)
1 and 1/2 zucchini (grated)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1/3 cup chickpea (besan) flour
1 clove garlic (crushed)
Fresh rosemary and coriander (finely chopped)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Black pepper and herb salt

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Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Add spoonfuls to a hot frying pan with a little oil (I used coconut oil). Cook on both sides until browned. Remove to a warmed plate to serve.

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The quantity made 8 fritters. We had 3 each for dinner served with beans from the garden and some homemade sweet chilli sauce.

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I will post the recipe for the sweet chilli sauce tomorrow.

A Late Lunch

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Posted on May 11, 2020

We were out and about for several hours today and since we did not start early, this included lunchtime. Rather than stop for takeaway food, we opted to continue our quest which included buying timber and hardware as well as ordering a garden shed.

So, it was almost 3.30pm when we arrived home so I decided to make a main meal. I am not sure whether to label it as a late lunch or early dinner but we had a delicious mushroom and bok choy risotto.

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Risotto is one of those wonderful one-pan meals that you can make using pretty well whatever ingredients you have on hand to add to the arborio rice mixture.

Here is a recipe based on what I made today but you can be as adventurous as you like when it comes to the flavours.

Mushroom and Bok Choy Risotto

Ingredients

1 cup arborio rice
1 onion, finely diced
Oil
6 medium mushrooms, sliced
1 large bok choy
2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Water

Lightly saute the onion in a small amount of oil in a large pan (I use a wok). Add the dry rice and toss until coated with oil/onion mixture. Add stock powder, paprika and 1 cup of water. Gently simmer, stirring occasionally and add more water as it is absorbed – about 1/2 cup at a time. The rice will become cooked and somewhat creamy in consistency.

Meanwhile, separate the stalks from the leaves of the bok choy. Finely slice the stalks and saute in a separate pan. Finely shred the leaves. When the rice is almost ready add the mushrooms, bok choy stalks and leaves. Stir to combine and add seasoning as required.

Serve in bowls. The risotto can be topped with shaved parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast for a vegan option.

NOTES: I generally only add a maximum of 2 ingredients to risotto otherwise the flavours can be overwhelmed. Other options include pumpkin and spinach, green bean and sundried tomato but you are only limited by you imagination. You may choose to omit the paprika and substitute a can of crushed tomatoes instead of some of the water.

Gifts From the Garden

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Posted on May 9, 2020

When you have a productive garden, there is frequently more available than you can reasonably use. So, we are often giving away produce to family and friends.

It is not all a one-way street and we are grateful for goodies which are gifted to us in return.

My sister and brother-in-law recently gave us a large pumpkin and some chillies. The pumpkin was put to good use and you can read about it in this earlier post. I used the chillies to make a bottle of sweet chilli sauce.

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A few days ago we visited my brother at his newly-purchased inner suburban unit. I hardly expected that we would come away with fresh produce when he had been there for barely 3 weeks. However, I was surprised to find myself returning home with a container of macadamia nuts which we had collected from the back lawn of the unit block. This bounty is falling from a tree overhanging from a neighbouring garden.

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Also, some friends gave us a quantity of rosemary. We have planted some cuttings so that we can add this to our own garden and I stripped the leaves off the remainder and dried it in the dehydrator. Once it was dried, I ground it and then mixed the ground rosemary with Himalayan salt and I now have a jar of rosemary salt which will be be perfect for seasoning. I am looking forward to trying it on some oven-baked potato chips.

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I was watching Gardening Australia last night and saw a segment about making your own Lemon and Rosemary Hand Scrub. I am going to get some more rosemary from my friend and try that one out. The recipe and details will be a future blog post.

Cooking Day

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Posted on May 4, 2020

Today I cooked. I was inspired by the large pumpkin I was given yesterday as well as the chickpeas I had cooked yesterday.

The first job was to pack up the baked beans I had cooked overnight in the slow-cooker. I had some for breakfast as well as these 3 jars to go in the freezer and half a jar which are in the refrigerator to be used in the next few days.

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I then cut up the pumpkin. The 2 trays of sliced pumpkin have been basted with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic syrup. These will be used on pizzas. Some of the larger pieces will be cut up and added to the chickpea and vegetable curry while the remainder will be become pumpkin soup. I pre-roast the pumpkin as it is easier than peeling it and I find that it also enhances the flavour.

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Meanwhile I moved onto the curry. As well as the chickpeas and pumpkin this also had stalks of choy sum and half an eggplant diced. I ended up with a total of 8 serves (4 meals for GMan and me).

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I had other plans for the choy sum leaves and the other half of the eggplant. Using this recipe for Eggplant Lasagne Rolls as inspiration, I made a dish of lasagne using the finely shredded choy sum leaves mixed with half a tub of ricotta that I had in the refrigerator layered with the sliced eggplant and a rich, herbed tomato sauce. This is ready to be baked for dinner tomorrow night. I will add a mixture of flaxseed meal and parmesan cheese to the top when it is almost cooked.

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One pizza was for our lunch today which we enjoyed. The other one is ready for the cheese to be added, cooked and eaten another day.

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All of these dishes were made using a combination of ingredients I had on hand in the pantry and refrigerator with produce I had been gifted and what was growing in the garden. One of the most important aspects is to ensure that nothing goes to waste.

Finally, I made some more spreadable butter blend.

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Although the title of this blog post is ‘Cooking Day’, it occurred to me when you have access to fresh produce from the garden (either your own or kind friends) there is always something to do.

More about my other food adventures another day.

Winter Beds

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Posted on May 3, 2020

Although we live in a temperate sub-tropical zone, there are still distinct seasonal variations and we respond accordingly.

Two nights ago we experienced our first cold (for us) night when the temperature dropped to 6C (43F).

The prospect of this temperature was enough to convince me that the very lightweight summer doona would not be sufficient. I retrieved the feather doona from the wardrobe in the spare room. For me, it is not only about the physical warmth of the feather doona but the colours I use which reflect the cooler weather.

During the summer the bed is made up using light blue and white bed linen and I love the fresh, cool effect that this brings.

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Although the fabric is no heavier, the darker coloured linen makes the room feel cosier as the weather cools. I changed the bed yesterday and substituted the winter bedding.

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My bed was not the only one that noticed the effects of the cold night.

The cucumbers were planted late in the summer but we had been fortunate to have a great harvest. However, overnight the vine went from being lush and green to looking quite shrivelled in parts. It does not like the cold nor the accompanying strong westerly winds.

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