A New Year - Time for Salads

Happy New Year to you all. A big THANK YOU, to everyone that has been so supportive over the last 12 months especially my family and friends and the many visitors and comments from people I do not know. 

Winners of the Birthday Celebration Cook Book Give Away are: -

Diana from Geelong, Victoria - the 'Organic Book' is on its way and Malcolm from Plympton, South Australia - just posted 'Spain,' to you - enjoy! Thanks to all of you that entered, it was fun selecting winners!

I hope you had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, festive holiday or just plain absence from work. Are you enjoying the sunny summer in the southern hemisphere or skiing, log fires and Gluhwein in the north? Either way I hope you have safe and happy holidays and a great 2015!

I spent a lovely Christmas with my family in the mountains near Sydney - it was hot, rainy, foggy and cold ,all in one day! Here's a few photos showing how lovely the area is. We stayed at this place, nice, comfortable and plenty of room to spread out.

 Foggy start to the morning, Blue Mountains

Echo Point, Katoomba at dawn

Dawn, Echo Point, Katoomba 

Sunlight on a Banksia

Planning 2015 things to do! Do you make a list every year, month, week? I love lists, they keep me focussed. I haven't yet got into lists of lists, but maybe one day I will get that crazy!

In 2015, I plan on spending more me time with my cameras. Time to play, explore and have fun.

The gym will also be seeing me a lot more - gosh, that sounds like a chore - but it isn't really!  Then there is food! Yes of course I will be spending more time testing out ideas and recipes. But I am back into a 5:2 fasting period, so I will be posting a few photos of what I eat on my 500 calorie days.

But enough about that. We needed a salad in a hurry over Christmas, this is what I came up with. - It has great flavour,  easy to prepare and very low in calories. A good salad to start off the New Year!

Roasted Cauliflower and Chick Pea Salad

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 brown onion, finely sliced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
handful of pine nuts
3 tbls basil, chopped
1 400g tin of chick peas
dash of olive oil
knob of butter
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon

Pre heat oven 180º fan forced/350º degrees.  

Take one cauliflower and slice across it into 4 or 5 slabs and place into a baking dish. I used about 3/4 of  large cauliflower. Add a sprinkling of olive oil, salt and pepper and cinnamon and roast until it has a nice golden colour, approximately 30 - 35 minutes.

Take out of the pan and let it cool.

While the cauliflower is roasting, dry fry the pine nuts until golden and set aside.

Add knob of butter and olive oil to fry pan and add onions and garlic and cook on a very low heat for around 20 -30 minutes or until the onions are golden and caramelised. Set aside.

In a large serving bowl, add drained chick peas, basil, onions and garlic, pine nuts. Break up the cauliflower and add this to the bowl. Adjust seasoning. Add lemon juice, so the cauliflower is pretty tangy.

Add a sprinkling of olive oil and toss thoroughly and you are ready to serve.

Serves 6 as a side salad.

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!

Cold Weather Comfort

I was first introduced to this soup over 20 years ago by my friend Terri, when we began to experiment more with beans and pulses. I was pretty excited about the flavour even then and put it in my 'favourites' bag. I hadn't visited that bag for a long time but returning to a wintery Adelaide from Europe last week gave me a very good reason to check it out. Besides, I spent so much money that it is time to be a little more budget conscious. (The chick peas cost me $4.20, so this is very economical to make).

Chick peas are very good value in terms of nutrition and price. They have a lovely nutty flavour, high in fibre, protein and the trace mineral Manganese. And of course they are the low GI. Chick peas are used in many middle eastern dishes, Tajines, stews, hummus, falafel and a variety of curries. You can buy chick peas dried or tinned and I often used tinned when I am in a hurry to cook something, but I do prefer, when possible to used dried ones. If you are cooking for a large crowd then buying dried chick peas is much more economical, even though you need to add the extra soaking time.

For this recipe, use dried chick peas.

CHICKPEA AND ROSEMARY SOUP

Ingredients

800g dried chick peas soaked in water overnight
1 brown onion chopped
2 large cloves garlic
3 tbls olive oil
1 or 2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary chopped
pinch rock salt
freshly ground black pepper

• Soak the chick peas in cold water, enough to cover by about 5cms, and soak overnight. Wash the chick peas and discard the water.
• Take a large saucepan, add chick peas a good pinch rock salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cover with cold water.
• Bring chick peas to the boil and simmer until cooked. Around 30  mins.
• In a fry pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, roughly chopped onion, rosemary and chopped garlic and cook until the onion is beginning to brown.
• Drain chick peas, retaining the liquid for stock. Add chick peas to frypan and cook stirring occasionally, for approximately 15 minutes. This will get that nice rosemary flavour to the chickpeas. Slowly add a little stock, and get all those nice crunchy bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Put the chick pea mixture into a large bowl and blitz with a hand blender or put into a blender, adding the retained liquid a little at a time until you reach the consistency that you like. I prefer it to be thick,chunky and hot! Check seasoning, add extra salt and some black pepper to taste.
• If you prefer a thinner soup, just add extra stock. 

Reheat and serve with some yummy bread!

Serves 6