Artichokes, lentils and Hysteria

I have always loved artichokes, especially on pizza and in rissotos but I have never tried cooking them at home. 
I recently found fresh ones at the store and of course I had to buy them.

They looked very different to what is served at a restaurant.

I bought four of these but kept them in the fridge, having no idea how to prepare them.
Eventually I watched a couple of youtube videos and finally attempted cooking them.

Cleaning artichokes is a bit of a chore, you have to cut off all the inedible bits and at the end you are left with a very small piece of artichoke.  It is well worth the trouble, though.

Here is an easy to follow video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF78n_DvMWE

I boiled the clean artichokes in some salted water in which lemon juice and olive oil has been added.  It was delicious and looked like this:

I also made some soup using a mixture of lentils and barley:

Isn't that pretty?

I watched a very funny movie last week.  It is called Hysteria and is about the invention of the vibrator.  Maggie Gyllenhaal's character was charming and the movie was light hearted and entertaining. 

Coffee

I usually take my tea and coffee without milk or sugar, but the other night I  had a strong craving for sweet,  milky coffee.  I added some spices to it and it was amazingly good.

Spiced Coffee

2 teaspoons coffee
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon coffee creamer
milk (according to your taste)
dash of nutmeg
1 small stick of Cinnamon
water

Place coffee and a piece of Cinnamon into a cup and pour in boiling water.  Add the nutmeg, honey, coffee creamer and milk, and allow to steep for a minute or two.
Remove the Cinnamon stick and enjoy! 
For more  increased decadence, I will add a tot of brandy next time.

Roasted Vegetables, lentil and vegetable soup and Yoga

After my success with the patty pans, I decided to try roasting other vegetables.  I have also been too busy to mess about with the steamer  - cleaning it is a bit of a hassle.  

Assortment of Roasted Vegetables

250 g brussel sprouts
250 g butternut pieces
1 large red onion, sliced
3 small cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
splash of lemon juice
fine salt
pepper

Coat the brussel sprouts in some olive oil and splash with vinegar, coat the other vegetables in oil, (I used my hand) and place in a roasting dish, making sure that the onions are at the bottom of the dish. Season generously with fine salt and pepper.  Roast for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.
They were delicious and the brussel sprouts were especially nice.

Lentil and Vegetable Soup

1/4 cup soup mix (peas, barley lentils and groats)
1/4 cup red, yellow, brown and green lentils
250g baby marrows, slice
250g eggplants, sliced
250g green beans, quartered
1 medium red onion
1 medium white onion
2 large cloves of garlic
6 medium tomatoes
2 hot jalepeno peppers
1 tablespoon oil (I used olive)
2 tablespoons hot sauce (I used bandito's habenero sauce)
Aesfoetida powder.
1 tsp oreganum

In a large pot, boil the soup mix and lentils once and add 200 g baby marrows, 100g eggplants and all the green beans. The green beans I used was quite tough and that is the reason why added it at the beginning. Boil for 30 minutes.

In a seperate non stick  pan, cook the onions, garlic, remaining baby marrows, eggplants, tomatoes and jalepeno peppers in water  until the tomatoes have cooked down, about 20 minutes. Add the oil and oreganum from the top and allow to cook for 5 more minutes. 

Add this mix into the soup mix, add salt according to taste, hing, hot sauce and simmer for 30 minutes. 

This soup can be refridgerated for up to a week. I found the soup mix in the store and it seems to be popular because it is always available. I have posted a variation of this recipe before, but that was the winter version.This soup is high in iron and light enough for summer. I love it.

I have been attending yoga classes regularly, not sure if I am more flexible or if my chakra's are being balanced.  But it certainly relaxes me.

Patty Pans and Rainbow Plates and Tarot Update

This week I decided to have rainbow plates,  veggies of all colours in one plate.  I used the usual purple cabbage, butternut etc. 
In the past, one ingredient I stayed away from is Patty Pans.  I have always found them to be bitter and nasty. 

However, yellow veggies are not that easy to find so I confronted my fear and triumphed:)

Oven Roasted Patty Pans
Olive Oil
Powdered Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Wash the patty pans thoroughly and coat with olive oil, sprinkle with nutmeg, salt and pepper.   Place in a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Roasting the patty pans decreases the bitterness and it has a lovely caramelised flavour. I just added nutmeg on a whim and it was not a bad choice at all.

I also found a diluted version of tahini sauce and harrisa sauce at the store and they go great on sandwiches.

So I have been making good progress with tarot and have been reading tarot for people. I  am now getting referrals.  So fun!

Home Made Pizza

I made a tasty vegetarian pizza.  The base was a little thick. Next time, I will make more pizza’s with the same amount of dough.

·         1 cup grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)

·         2 cups mushrooms

·         1 cup sliced peppers (green, red, yellow)

·         1 onion sliced

·         2 cups whole wheat flour

·         1 package active dry yeast

·         ¾ tsp salt

·         1 cup hot water

·         1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·         1 tablespoon sugar or honey

·         tomato sauce (onions, oregano, salt, chilli flakes and  tomatoes fried in 1 tsp oil)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

To prepare the pizza dough combine flour, yeast and salt.  Blend in the water, oil and honey or sugar.  Stir vigorously until all the ingredients are well mixed.  Place the dough in the bowl, cover and leave aside to rise for about 30 minutes.

Roll out dough into pizza shape, about 3 mm, place in the greased  pizza pan or round baking dish, and press the dough down. Add tomato sauce and decorate the pizza with the remaining ingredients and bake for 15 – 20 minutes   or until the crust is golden brown.  The remainder of the dough can be used to make more pizzas or refrigerated for a couple of days.

Banana Bread and Disaster

I recently tried making a proper Thai Green Curry and it was an unmitigated disaster.  The reason for that, of course, was that I could not bring myself to use coconut milk in a dish.  The thought of all those calories freaked me out, but I will try again with some sort of reduced fat coconut milk.

I did manage an  awesome eggless banana bread.  I sneaked in some mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and linseeds) for added nutrients.

Banana Bread

2 cups sugar

125 g butter/margarine

4 mashed bananas (over-ripe ones are preferable)

½ cup mixed seeds

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups self-raising flour

½ cup lukewarm water

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease a loaf tin. Cream the butter and sugar well. Add the the mashed bananas mixed seeds, lemon juice and salt and mix well.  Fold in the flour.  Mix the bicarbonate of soda into the warm water and add to the mix once it has reached a doughy consistency.  Load the dough into the loaf tin and smooth out the surface.  Bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

Cashew nut balls and spaghetti and an assortment of vegetables

I love devising my own recipes using ingredients that are in my fridge.  In its original form this would have been some sort of stir fry type thing.  I am a fusion cook :-D .  I decided to use both the fresh veg and some frozen veg and used up the last of the thai green curry paste that I  had in my fridge for ages.

2 teaspoons sunflower oil

8-10  cashew nut balls and/ soya prawns

1 medium onion, sliced

2 baby marrows, sliced fairly thin

1 radish, sliced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 chilli, sliced

1 medium tomato, diced  

250 grams of frozen mixed veg (I used an Asian stir fry which consisted of carrots- julienned, cut  baby corn,  sugar snap peas,  sliced red peppers and bean sprouts)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon hing

25 g of thai green curry paste

Salt to taste

1 cup boiled spaghetti

 

Fry the cashew balls in a non-stick frying pan using 1 teaspoon of oil and leave aside. 

Fry the onion in one teaspoon oil until the onions have browned.  Add the baby marrows, garlic, radish, celery, chilli, and tomato and cook for about 5-7 minutes.  Add the frozen veg, and cook for 10- 15 minutes and then add the cashew balls/soya prawns, hot sauce, mixed herbs, pepper, hing and salt.  Stir in and cook for 2 minutes .  Add the spaghetti and thai green curry paste and cook for a further 5 minutes.

While preparing the vegetables, boil the spaghetti in a big pot of fast boiling water in which you have added a big handful of salt and a tablespoon of oil.

Next time I will try this with Chinese noodles and substitute the thai green curry paste with  soy sauce.   

 

 

 

Bread and Betroot Chips

Fresh Bread

Last night I decided that I wanted my home to smell of freshly baked bread. I made brown whole wheat bread and  not only did my house smell great,  but I  also have some healthy bread in my cupboard.

500g brown bread flower
about 300 ml warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons barley/poppy sees/sesame seeds

Mix the dry ingredients together and then add water until the dough has a craggy consistency.  Add the oil and knead the dough until smooth.  Cover the dough and leave to rise for an hour in a draught free area.   Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Once the dough has expanded to about twice its size, shape the dough, and place in a loaf tin.  Firmly place the seeds of your choice on the bread and allow to rest for a further 25 minutes in a warm place.
Bake for 30- 40 minutes.

Beetroot Chips

During the week, I had an awesome  version of burger and chips using a soya patty and betroot chips.

3 medium beetroots
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. Slice the betroot as thin as possible and coat in olive oil. Add salt to tase.  Place on a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes and turn over to bake  for another 10 minutes.  Be warned that they burn easily so keep a close eye on the chips. The betroot chips tasted wonderful but I didn't slice it as thin as I would have like to achieve a very crispy texture.  I am now convinced that I need a mandoline slicer.  Any  combination of winter vegetables can be used. I will try butternut and carrots next.

Cabbage, low iron, LOTR and bonus: poem

Recent events in my life have served as a sharp reminder of why I started this blog.

I got really sick, super - can’t stand up, my life is ending sick.  At first, I thought it was a serious case of the sads.

 

 due to an emotional and unexpected break up and other stuff.  

After some time I decided to see a doctor who prescribed happy pills.

 

I reluctantly tried them but they were no help at all and I got to a point where it was an undertaking just to get out of bed and shower. 

 

 

So I went to a second doctor who in one go  - did a blood test and saved my life.  Turned out my redblood cells count was really low. I got sick because I wasn't paying attention to my food and that, for a person who doesn't eat meat, is apparently life threatening! After getting injections and taking the iron tablets I immediately felt better.

In fact I feel so much stronger that the awful feeling of depression and  fatigue seems like a distant memory. It was only two months ago.   I feel so fine that somebody asked me if I am on Prozac.

I guess this means that I will be updating more often now that I have been (rudely) reminded about the importance of a balanced diet. Right now I take an iron supplement every three days and I add a teaspoon of boiled methi seeds, which is supposed to be very high in iron,  to all my meals. 

Cabbage and Potato

1 small cabbage, sliced

1 potato, quartered

1 small onion, diced

1 teaspoon oil

2 dried chillies

half a teaspoon of methi seeds

1 small tomato, diced

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

Salt to taste

Fry the onions, mustard seeds, methi seeds, dried chillies in oil until the onions are quite brown. Add the cabbage and the potatoes, allow to cook for 5 minutes then add the tomato. Allow to cook for 20 minutes you may add some water if you need to. Cook until potaotes are softened and all the water has dried out .

During my illness, all I would do is watch movies and I have become a huge fan of anything Lord of the Rings. It all started after I watched the Hobbit and fell in love with Gollum who reminds me that we all have a piece of him inside us. I then watched the trilogy attentively, loved it and I even ended up reading the books. More on that in another post.
 

Here's a little poem:

 

You said, then I said, then you said.

You got the final word though.

I fell down,

then I got up.

I grew my garden

The peppers were good that year.

I looked around,

I don't know where you went.

 

Chicken Curry with Saffron

I made chicken curry recently but got a little bored of using the same old recipe. At the Indian spice shop (to which I went for kajal) I found a small bottle of saffron and fresh chillies. 

 

1 small chicken, cut and skinned

1 medium potato, peeled

1 medium onion, diced

I bay leaf

1 piece of cinnamon

1 piece of star anise

1 clove

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon garlic, crushed

2 tablespoon masala

1 tablespoon oil

Pinch of thyme

Pinch of mixed herbs

3 chillies (depending on taste)

3 strands of saffron

 

Place the onions, bay leaf, cinnamon, clove, and star anise into a pot and turn on the heat. Once the onions have heated up add the oil until the onions are golden brown. Add the garlic and fry for a minute then add the masala.  Allow everything to fry and then add the chicken and potatoes.   Let it cook for a few minutes and then add the salt,  thyme, mixed herbs and chillies. By this time the curry would have dried out a bit. Place the saffron strands into some boiling water for 3 minutes and add to the curry. Allow to cook for 40 minutes. The curry is ready once the potatoes are soft. I served it with a pepper, cucumber and onion salad and fresh rotis.