Greek Cheese Pastries - (I Quit Sugar - well nearly )

Got more than I bargained for when I decided to try and take sugar completely out of my diet. Massive headaches, migraines, blurred vision and nausea - but that was a long time ago. My doctor at the time told me I was too crazy; "get some fruit into your body and the pains will stop", he told me - and he was right of course.

But now there are new ways to quit sugar and I've realised that if I do it slowly and readjust some of my recipes, it may not be THAT bad. But I've got to thinking what drives us to eat such sweet meats? From what I've read it appears that once you start eating something sweet, the high you get from that tells your brain to eat more, so you get onto that vicious cycle - the more you eat, the more you want.

So I'm trying to do it bit by bit - yes I still have the occasional craving for a sweet treat and sorry Sarah Wilson I will continue to eat the odd fresh date, but I am trying to rid myself of the cakes, biscuits, ice cream, chocolate and hidden sugars in any packaged foods. I'll just have to go back to my kitchen and try out new ways of cooking without sugar or honey.  I hope you will stay with me for the journey.

So when I long for a piece of cake - I just dip into the Hummus instead! Bwahhhh!

Now these incredibly tasty pastries have no sugar, so I am happy to start with these. I've served them with a fresh Greek Salad (minus the Feta) and I think they make a delicious meal. Hope you enjoy them.

Anyone got cake recipes without sugar or honey???

GREEK CHEESE PASTRIES

Ingredients - Makes enough for 4 people

2 tablespoons of butter, melted

1 lemon, zested

1 tablespoon lemon juice

5 sheets filo pastry

200g feta cheese

250g cottage cheese

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

1 egg beaten

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbls plain flour

grated nutmeg

1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

2 tbls finely chopped coriander

Vegetable oil

Mix together feta and cottage cheese, yoghurt, egg, garlic, flour, grated nutmeg, lemon zest, juice and coriander. Keep a little coriander for serving.

Take 5 sheets of filo pastry and brush with melted butter.

Divide the mixture between the sheets of filo, spreading it on the long side of the rectangle of pastry. Leave enough at the ends to roll up, tucking in the sides.

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

In a non stick fry pan heat oil and fry each pastry until nice and brown, turning over once. This will only take a few minutes. Now cut each one into 2 pieces and serve with a wedge of lemon and a sprinkling of chopped coriander.

  

Chick Peas - Spicy Soup and Hummus

I have a confession to make - I love chickpeas! I love spicy food! Would you have ever guessed this? Apart from their protein value Chick Peas are high in fibre, iron, folate, phosphorus, low GI and they are very, very versatile.

A couple of weeks ago I posted my fav Chick Pea Soup recipe, but with the winter chills continuing I really wanted some more warming soup. Also to make it even better, my local supermarket was selling tins of my favourite brand of chick peas brand for only $1 per tin, so I stocked up and just couldn't resist making this.

I have a really fast recipe for making Hummus too, so while my husband made me a some toast the other morning I whipped up a batch of hummus. It took me the same time to make it as the toast took to be made and buttered.  So today I am treating you to two recipes - Spicy Lentil Soup with Chickpeas and Fast Hummus. I suppose the best way to enjoy these would be to make some toast, slather it with Hummus and dip it in to the hot soup - Ok even I may find that too weird. Enjoy!

Spicy Lentil Soup with Chickpeas 

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic
1 tin of cooked chickpeas 400g net weight (Annalisa is my favourite brand)
fresh ginger 2.5 cms coarsely grated
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 fresh red chilli finely chopped
pinch saffron soaked in 3 tbls boiling water
1 cup red/orange lentils
400g tin crushed tomatoes
1 litre of vegetable stock or use water and stock cube
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tbl olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large saucepan, heat oil over low heat and add onion, cook stirring for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, chilli, coriander, cumin. Add saffron and water, lentils, tomatoes and stock. 
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add chick peas, salt and pepper and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. 
Stir in fresh coriander and parsley. Serve immediately.

There is no need to add anything else to this dish, it is perfect by itself. A piece of sour dough bread for dunking is optional.

Fast Hummus

I have made this Hummus many, many times. It will turn out well each time, but you have to adjust it to suit yourself. Maybe you prefer a little more lemon in yours or less garlic. This is up to you to perfect it to your personal taste. This is a good place to start.

1 tin cooked chick peas 440g net weight
2 large tbls tahini
2 cloves garlic
4 tbls lemon juice
3 tbls olive oil
salt and pepper
sweet paprika

Place all of these ingredients except  1 tablespoon of oil, salt and pepper and paprika in a food processor. Blitz until all the ingredients are well combined. I like to have mine with a little texture, but if you prefer it to be smooth then keep processing until you reach the consistency that you like.
Spoon out into a dish, add salt and pepper.
Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over the top and add a good pinch of paprika. Serve.

This should keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, but I only ever manage to keep it a few days!

Lemon Curd

As promised, here is my recipe for Lemon Curd. This is very easy to make and is truly delicious. It makes around 500 grams which is about one and a half jars. It made enough to make 6 individual cheesecakes (see recipe under Fast Lemon Cheesecake).

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup of caster sugar
80 grams unsalted butter
zest and juice of two lemons

This is all you need

Keep whisking until it thickens

• In a medium saucepan whisk 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks with caster sugar until light and smooth.
• Add butter,lemon juice and zest, and heat over a low flame beating continuously until it thickens. This will take between 5 - 8 minutes. 
• strain the curd through a sieve and then bottle in a clean sterilised jar. 
• Cover and refrigerate. This will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge -  if you have will power.

I use the curd to fill sweet pastry cases too. yum!

Fast Lemon Cheesecake

I think lemons are the most amazingly versatile fruit. Do you agree? Can you think of another fruit that you can use in so many different ways?

This is the first time for many years that I do not have my own lemon tree and I get quite cross when I see how much one lemon costs in the shops, when you are sure that there are lemon trees in the neighbourhood that have unwanted fruit. (I just have to find them) I probably used 4 or 5 lemons a week, either for their zest or juice, so if I can find a local supply, I would be happy to swap something from my garden for a few extra lemons.

Lemon Festival at Monterosso al Mare, Italy

The annual Lemon Festival in Italy, usually in May is quite small and is very localised. All the shops and businesses in town decorate their places with lemons and sprays of lemon flowers and anything yellow they can get their hands on. It is very nice to visit at this time because everyone is happy, the weather is excellent and the streets are adorned in yellow and the smell of the lemon blossoms is superb.

In France there is an annual Lemon Festival, Fête du Citron, in a town called Menton in the Alpes-Maritimes. They have been growing citrus since 15th century and the festival now attracts visitors from around the world. It's on my bucket list!

A couple of days ago I needed a quick dessert which my guests would love so I decided to make this Lemon Cheesecake. It is quite straight forward. Basically you can buy everything and just assemble it and everyone who has tasted it loves it. However, if you want to make it that bit special, make your own Lemon Curd.

(I will post the recipe for the Lemon Curd later in the week)

I have great childhood memories of thick slices of bread and butter with a topping of sticky, yellow, sweet lemon curd. It was a real treat then, now it's a reminder of my family back in the UK and how it used to be. So, before I shed a nostalgic tear, let's get back to the recipe.

Fast Lemon Cheesecake

You will need 4 glass tumblers or something similar for this recipe.

Ingredients - Makes 4

1 Tub of Mascarpone Cheese
1 tblsp caster sugar
Jar of lemon curd either bought or home made
10 ginger biscuits or digestive biscuits
100g unsalted butter
50 grams of blanched almonds or macadamias
1 tsp vanilla essence
Punnet of raspberries or strawberries fresh or frozen
Chocolate to make shavings 

1. Smash up the biscuits and the nuts together either using a rolling pin or a mortar and pestle. Don't make them too fine because you want to retain some texture.
2. Melt butter in small saucepan and add the nuts, vanilla essence and biscuit crumbs. Mix well and divide this between your glasses. This is the base of your cheese cake.
3. Sprinkle raspberries or chopped strawberries on to the biscuit crumbs.
4. Add 4 tablespoons of thick, delicious Lemon Curd.
5. In a small bowl mix caster sugar, Mascarpone and place a good swirl on top of the curd.  Level it so it looks nice and neat.
6. Grate Chocolate and sprinkle over the Mascarpone, or make some shards of     chocolate.
7. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve. You don't need to serve anything else with because it is rich and sweet enough.

If your guests don't say that they would like some more I would be very surprised!

Here's one I prepared earlier