Simple fare.

One of these days I'm going to take note of my bread recipe as I make it. It's one of the recipes in my arsenal that I use most frequently, and therefore I do it by feel. I always use spelt flour these days, for two reasons. My mil is gluten intolerant and so it's easier to always use a flour she can tolerate so that I don't get confused. But I also think spelt is just easier and more gentle on the digestive system, and as a diabetic, I find it has a much more tolerable affect on my BGL. 

I mix spelt flour with yeast, rapadura sugar and tepid water, mix until a dough forms then leave to rise. Then, I knock it back, shape it and leave it to prove again (beneath a clean, dry tea towel). I got this going while the kids ate Brekkie, popped it in the oven about an hour before I wanted to serve their lunch. Forty minutes later it was done, and they were enjoying avocado on freshly baked bread. Warms my heart!

Party Time

The virtue of having a nephew with a birthday in early January is that we are almost always visiting as a hangover from NYE, and therefore get to celebrate with him. This year, his mum talked him down from his request of a batmobile birthday cake and delightedly urged him towards a storm trooper head instead. My nephew is quite the foodie and for the second year running he requested a raspberry and ricotta cake to make the shape... Love him. There were also Star Wars cookies that we made (using spelt flour and minimal sugar), and "death star" bliss balls. I do love a good party.

Morning Muesli

We just spent a week with one of my sisters and her family. It's always amazing to see how children grow and mature when they're put in the hot house environment of concentrated family time. My sister has three boys, two of them older than my two, and one younger, so you may be able to imagine the sheer volume and exuberance of the play!! My three year old now has a healthy obsession with "trashies" and "skylanders". It's adorable. In addition to this prep-aged toy indoctrination, my children are obsessed with muesli. Not just any old store bought mix of oats and nuts, either.  My sister and her husband make their own muesli and it packs an extreme nutritious punch. I had no option but to get their recipe and scoot out to the shops the day after we returned so that I could whip us up a batch. Oats, LSA, additional linseed, white chia seeds, amongst other things, topped with organic yoghurt and diced poached apples, it is a delicious way to start your day. And end it, too, for that matter - we've substituted this as our dessert and it is just a heavenly treat to look forward to. 

Left-over Christmas Ham pasta

Tonight, I cooked for my two little guys and my utterly edibly adorable biggest two nephews- and couldn't have imagined how tasty the combination of a Gouda cheese sauce with shredded organic leg ham and wholemeal fettuccine would be! 

Corn & Asparagus mornay

This is a meal that falls squarely into the comfort food category. Especially for me. I remember my mum making this on rainy afternoons, and now, even the smell soothes my soul. I grew up in one of those picturesque, mountainous type places where the smallest fog would make it seem like you were living amongst the clouds. To have a meal that evokes memories of a place and time so touched by magic is in and of itself magical. 

Ingredients

1 tin of asparagus

1 tin of corn ( make sure there's no sugar added)

75g butter

1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese

1/2 cup breadcrumbs/rice crumbs

3 free range eggs, hard boiled

Make a white sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan, then adding the flour and stirring until combined. Add the juice from the tinned asparagus and stir until combined, then slowly add the milk. Once it's lump free and slightly thickened add 3/4 of cheese, then asparagus, then the DRAINED corn. 

Transfer to a casserole tray. Top with sliced egg, the reserved cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake in a preheated oven at 160'c for twenty minutes. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Ps 

 A word of warning- when sourcing your canned goods, take care to buy as locally sources as you're able.

Makeshift Okonomoyaki with Salmon

I made a spicy salmon salad for my lunch today. The salad consisted of shredded ice berg lettuce, diced apple and cucumber, sliced onion, and finely julienned snow peas. The dressing had shed loads of mint, coriander, vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice, and I topped it with a grilled piece of salmon.

Being an Economy of Scale kind of cook (that is to say, I always make enough to feed am army), I had a fair whack of leftovers. After lunch, I set about constructing a gingerbread house for my husband's grandparents...and we all know royal icing means- leftover egg yolks. 

Abhorring waste, I decided the perfect use for all these delicious byproducts of my culinary gusto was-- okonomiyaki. Actually, I just decided to throw it all together and then vaguely remembered a Japanese pancake made with shredded cabbage which totally justified feeding my children a mad experiment in frugality. 

The result was surprisingly yummy. 

I served these guys with a lemon yoghurt dressing, parsley seeds and leftover cold salmon. Little miss 1 gobbled it up. My son took my bribery to approach it properly but he did an acceptable job. Though no doubt he would have preferred butter on toast.... (Ah, the palette of a toddler!!).  

Smoked Trout Risoni

I've always been a bit sceptical of Risoni. I mean, it's pasta, shaped to look like rice. Pfft. What's the point? Why not just stick to basmati?

 Well, I'm not too proud to admit that I've completely changed my mind. My Grocer had some organic whole wheat Risoni on sale this week and so I ignored my scepticism and bought a bag. As those hipster gen Y's say, "YOLO"! 

I have discovered that my children absolutely love it. And I do, too. It's so easy to cook. I've taken to making a white sauce with good quality full fat milk and butter, and spelt flour, then adding in the Risoni and cooking for around ten minutes until al dente. At the last minute, I've been incorporating whatever flavours I want. Tonight, it's locally smoked ocean trout and greens from my garden. This is, perhaps, the most exciting to me. That asparagus was just plucked from our veggie patch, and then there's the parsley and spinach leaves too. A good cup of Parmesan right before serving and voila! There are no leftovers when I make this!