I have bought sunflower seeds in bulk for several years now as they are one of the ingredients in my home-made gluten-free muesli. Additionally, I discovered that I could use them to make vegan ‘sour cream’. Personally, I do struggle a bit to see the resemblance to sour cream, however, it makes quite a nice savoury sauce/salad dressing.
Recently, I have begun toasting sunflower seeds to use. You do need to be careful and stir them constantly or they can go from raw to burnt very quickly.
I generally toast more than I need and store them in a sealed jar.
The toasted seeds add crunch and a pleasant nutty flavour to salads and savoury dishes.
I make a crunchy topping which is a mix of flaxseed meal, toasted sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast and seasoned with black pepper and garlic salt. Then I add a small amount of grated cheese but you could omit the cheese if you want an entirely plant-based topping.
Tonight’s dinner was a pasta casserole with the topping to add some extra interest and nutrients.
I knew that I had about 150ml of cream left over from something I had made to take to an event. Cream is not something that I buy routinely but I did not want to see this portion go to waste. So, I decided to make a quiche.
Because I eat a gluten-free diet I do not use regular pastry. I have made my own gluten-free pastry on a couple of occasions but it is hard work and uses a lot of butter so I opted for a quiche base which I have known about since long before I began to eat a gluten-free diet.
QUICHE BASE
2.5 cups of cooked rice 1 egg (lightly beaten)
Stir the egg into the rice while it is still warm. Spread the mixture to cover the base and sides of quiche dish or pan.
QUICHE FILLING
1/4 onion, finely diced 1 rasher bacon, finely chopped 2 mushrooms, sliced 3-4 florets of broccoli, lightly steamed then chopped 1/2 cup grated cheese 3 eggs 150ml cream Salt, pepper and smoky paprika to taste
Lightly fry the onion, bacon and mushrooms. Spread the mixture over the base of the quiche followed by the broccoli and grated cheese. Beat the eggs and add the cream and seasonings. Pour the mixture evenly over the other ingredients. Bake at 180C for 30 mins or until firm to touch in the middle.
This is the result.
I already had our meals planned for today so the quiche and some salad will be an easy dinner tomorrow when I have been out all afternoon playing Scrabble. The remainder will be portioned up and frozen for future meals
The ingredients I used were simply what I had on hand that needed to be used up. Quiche, like pizza, fried rice and a multitude of other dishes can be different every time you make them depending on what is available and/or in abundance. The principle is simply some sort of crust, a mix of suitable vegetables, cheese and possibly meat in what is essentially a savoury custard filling. When I do not have cream available I sometimes use milk with a couple of tablespoonful of milk powder to create a creamier consistency.
I do not often post our main meals these days as we mostly eat a selection of the meals already on the index. However, a couple of weeks ago I made a new creation which was a great success so tonight I photographed the steps when making it again.
CREAMY MUSTARD CHICKEN – serves 2
Ingredients
Half onion Handful of silverbeet 1 chicken breast fillet 1 medium mushroom 250ml cauliflower white sauce** (recipe here) or you could use regular white sauce 2 spoons of mustard mayonnaise
Method
Finely slice the onion, cut and finely slice the silverbeet stalks. Shred the silverbeet leaves and slice the mushroom. Cut the chicken fillet into small strips. Cook the chicken lightly until cooked but not browned. (I cook the chicken in the airfryer). Set the chicken aside.
Saute the onion and stalks, add sliced mushroom and chicken. Cook for 5 minutes. Add cauliflower sauce and mustard. Finally, stir in the shredded silverbeet and cook for a few more minutes until the silverbeet is softened and the mixture is all heated through.
I served the chicken dish with mashed potato, carrots and green beans. It works equally well with rice which I chose previously or pasta could be another option.
I think everyone has a personal favourite way of making lasagne.
Lasagne was my ‘go to’ dish in the early days of our marriage. In fact, so much so that GMan once commented that our impending dinner guests had eaten at our place previously so we would need to think of something else!
My version of lasagne has evolved noticeably over almost 45 years due to a changing culinary landscape and a variety of dietary considerations. I have reduced the proportion of meat in the dish, eliminated cream, use gluten free flour and pasta. The latest iteration actually replaces the pasta with thin slices of zucchini and the bechamel sauce is made with cauliflower rather than a roux of flour and butter. Interested? Read on for the full details.
LASAGNE
Meat sauce
250g lean minced beef 1 cup dried red lentils 1 large onion, finely diced 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 large carrot, grated 2 sticks celery, finely chopped 2 teaspoons beef stock powder 2 tins crushed tomatoes } – whatever combination of fresh, dried or frozen tomatoes 2 tablespoons tomato paste } you have on hand. More water may be required. Herbs (fresh or dried) to taste – I used a handful of fresh basil and 1 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs Salt and black pepper to taste
Method
Place the lentils in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 30 minutes. In a large saucepan fry the onion and garlic, add the mince and brown. Add the remaining ingredients including the drained lentils. Simmer gently until the lentils are tender. Add more water if the mixture becomes too dry.
Chop the cauliflower roughly. The stalk and small leave can be included in this recipe. Steam or microwave until tender. Place cooked cauliflower in blender and gradually add milk until the mixture is smooth and a suitable consistency. Add seasonings to taste. The quantities are only suggestion so add a bit at a time until it reaches your desired taste.
Set sauce aside until required. This sauce can be refrigerated for a couple of days or frozen if you have too much. It can be substituted in any recipe that requires a creamy white sauce. You can use plant-based milk if you choose.
Other
Zucchini, sliced thinly lengthwise Grated cheese, I use a mixture of cheddar, parmesan and nutritional yeast
Assembly
Layer the various components in an ovenproof dish. I usually do meat sauce, zucchini, white sauce and then cheese and repeat 2-3 times until the dish is full.
Cook in the oven until heated through and browned on top. Alternatively, it can be heated in the microwave and finished off under the grill to brown the top.
Makes 6 generous serves.
This is the only photo I have as I did not think of writing this post until after we had eaten dinner. We ate 2 serves and the remainder were packed up and frozen in 4 individual serves.
Before I begin on the actual content of today’s post, I have a bit of general news about the blog.
I have been absent for 3 weeks. Part of this was due to us being on holidays for a portion of the time but the remainder of my inactivity has been while I reassessed my general online presence. There are limited hours in the day and it is not all devoted to online activity. Therefore, I have decided to alter some of my priorities and this blog will be the main spot where you will be able to engage with me. The content will generally be shorter and more frequent – possibly daily. I look forward to your comments and interacting more fully with my readers. If you are not already following the blog, please consider doing so so that you don’t miss anything.
So, dear readers it is back to the real stuff that happens here every day.
This morning I whipped these 2 takeaway food containers from the freezer. One is vegetable curry and the other is rice. Therefore, dinner tonight is all ready to heat and eat.
My cooking style is pretty much a constant cycle of stocking up the freezer while using from it at the same time.
In that vein I have done a spot of cooking this afternoon. I always do more than one thing if I am turning the oven on.
6 gluten free pizza bases partly cooked and ready to freeze for later use.
Zucchini quiche which used the last of the packs of frozen zucchini from last summer’s harvest. I have about 3 different dishes I can use for making the quiche but this one that belonged to my mother is a new favourite.
The recipes for the pizza bases and zucchini quiche can be found checking the recipe index – click on the tab ‘Recipes – Food’ at the top of the front page of the blog.
Please share your prepared meals or glut of produce stored for future use. 🙂
Do you remember my recent post about making lentil wraps? You can read it here. We have used these predominantly for lunches filled with a variety of spreads and salads.
Last night I decided to use them as a main meal.
I made a filling, rolled the wraps and lay them in an ovenproof dish topped with grated cheese.
As with savoury pancakes, the choices of fillings are almost unlimited. Here is what I did.
FILLING
1 medium onion, diced 250g lean beef mince 1/4 cup tomato paste 1 cup water 1/2 cup refried beans 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon tomato sauce 1 teaspoon beef stock powder 1 teaspoon smoky paprika 2 teaspoons mixed herbs 1/2 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper
Fry the onion, add the mince and brown. Add remaining ingredients, combine well and simmer gently, stirring regularly until fairly thick. Remove from heat. I also added some chopped spinach. I stirred it through the mixture after it was cooked.
Divide the mixture between 4 wraps. Place filled wraps in ovenproof dish and top with grated cheese. This can now be baked in the oven or heated in microwave and finished under the grill to brown the cheese.
I served the meal with coleslaw and avocado slices.
This made enough for 4 servings so I have enough left for another meal.
I make my own gluten free pizza bases and often have slices of roasted eggplant as one of the toppings.
Last night I took a different path and used the eggplant as the bases. 2 separate events led me to try this option. In fact, this blog post could easily have been titled, ‘A Tale of 2 Julias’. In 2014 we were privileged to meet a fellow blogger, Julia Davis-Coombs from Creative Economy in the Kitchen. Julia lives on the other side of the world so it was a delight to meet her when we were on our travels. Our shared lunch included mini pizzas made with slices of a very large zucchini as the base. Although I have not re-created this dish, it is a meal I have not forgotten. The second Julia was a recent online encounter with Julia B. in a group when I was canvassing ideas for a vegetarian meal and I mentioned that one of the vegetables I had on hand was eggplant. While I did not use her suggestion that night, it seemed ideal when I came to make dinner last night.
EGGPLANT PIZZA
1 large eggplant
Sea salt
Olive oil
Pizza toppings as desired
Cut the eggplant into slices about 1 – 1.5cm in thickness. Place on a baking tray, lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 10 minutes at 160C.
Remove eggplant from the oven and add toppings. I used homemade tomato pizza sauce and mixed herbs then chopped mushroom and capsicum (bell pepper) and finally, sliced olives and cheddar cheese.
Return pizzas to the oven for about 5 – 7 minutes.
Serve immediately.
This was a light and tasty alternative to a traditional pizza and perfect for lunch.
NOTE: You do need a knife and fork when eating these.
This afternoon I posted the following question on a Facebook group.
When I was working I used to menu plan for a week at a time but not so much now.
I have no shortage of ingredients but not too much in the way of inspiration. We eat a predominantly vegetarian and also gluten free. I have eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, carrots, mushrooms and celery as well as all the usual pantry staples.
Ideas?
There were heaps of great suggestions, many of which I will save for another day but this particular one caught my eye.
I’d keep it simple. Roast the veges and toss with GF pasta spirals or chick peas, olive oil, seasoning and toasted nuts. If you’re looking for a flavour hit, Moroccan seasoning and fresh coriander is an interesting twist.
We do not eat a great deal of pasta but I do have some for occasional use. I don’t keep Moroccan seasoning but a quick Google search revealed that it is ground cumin, paprika, ground coriander, ground turmeric, ground allspice, ground cloves, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon. I had all of these apart from the coriander, however, I have an abundance of fresh coriander. I had cooked chickpeas in the freezer as well as the selection of vegetables I mentioned in my original question.
So, I set to work.
Zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and capsicum of a tray drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. I cooked them for about 20 minutes at 160C.
Chickpeas with Moroccan spices and 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes.
Once the pasta was cooked I tossed the vegetables and chickpea mixture through the pasta, added a spoonful of olive oil and served it topped with chopped coriander and toasted sunflower seeds.
This was really delicious and I will definitely be making it again.
It is difficult to believe but I reached a point in February where I felt as though I never wanted to see another mango. Fortunately, the feeling does not last and we we able to freeze some of the summer abundance. A few months later and it was time to dive into our frozen supplies.
Mango Chicken Curry
2 chicken breast fillets
1 large onion
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon oil
1 can coconut cream
2 fresh mangoes
OR
Frozen or canned mango
Cut onion into wedges and chicken fillets into strips. Heat oil in a large pan, add onion and spices and fry for a couple of minutes. Add chicken and fry until cooked. Add coconut cream and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes.
Add sliced mango and coriander, cook until heated through.
Serve with rice and vegetables as desired. We had stir-fried bok choy and snow peas.
Our dinner last night was a previously untested creation. GMan hailed it as a real success. While there are recipes for Eggplant and Mushroom Stroganoff online, mine is a variation on the beef version I used to make a number of years ago.
Eggplant and Mushroom Stroganoff
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1 medium eggplant, cubed
12 mushrooms, sliced
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
2 teaspoons beef stock powder
60ml Worcestershire sauce
125g ricotta cheese
500ml water
2 teaspoons arrowroot
Spread the cubed eggplant on a roasting pan, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast at 160C for about 15 minutes or until tender.
Saute onion and garlic in a frying pan. Add capsicum, mushrooms and eggplant. Add pepper, smoky paprika, beef stock powder, Worcestershire sauce and water. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add ricotta cheese stirring gently to combine. Thicken with arrowroot blended with a little water. Cook for a further 2 minutes.
Serve over pasta of your choice.
NOTES:
I added some finely shredded bok choy which I lightly sauteed before stirring into the stroganoff immediately before serving.
The ricotta cheese was used because it was what I had on hand. You could substitute cream or evaporated milk to create the creamy sauce.
I used gluten free penne pasta. Rice would be a suitable alternative to pasta.
organised castle 