This is the second of the recipes I’m making from that vegan cooking book. It’s a vegetable paella and I chose it because it brings back memories of a wild holiday Adriano and I took through Spain some years ago. I say wild not because we partied like teenagers but because we thought Adriano’s bright green Renault bomb of a car could get us all the way from Italy, through France, right around Spain and back home again in one piece. It didn’t happen as smoothly as we had imagined. The car betrayed us several times and then we were robbed in a camping ground just outside Madrid so we gave up and limped home. That makes it seem like a miserable holiday and it was anything but. As we cruised down the eastern coast of Spain through the steaming heat in a car without air conditioning, we would stop for lunch at any appropriately cheap-looking, non-touristy eating hole and order paella and the local wine. Laden down like beasts of burden with bellies double the size and a slightly foggy … [Read more...] about Vegetable Paella
Caramel Granola Bars – Gluten-free
You would think by now I had run out of new granola bar recipes and it could definitely happen. There are only so many dried nuts and fruit out there and the binders must be limited too but so far I have never repeated one. Adriano and Dario now expect to have the tins (Tupperware container, actually) full so they can stick their hungry hands in there whenever they want and find something to appease their appetites. Last week I made those granola bars filled with caramel and topped with chocolate. That was a mistake – they were all gobbled up by Wednesday because they were too delicious. I was brought up on a farm where visitors were offered a cup of tea when they dropped by. But never just a cup of tea. The tins were always full on a farm and out would come something sweet to go with the tea. Biscuits, cakes, scones, buns. A cup of tea was never consumed in isolation – unheard of. You might wonder how we weren’t all as big as hippos, but calories are consumed at a much faster … [Read more...] about Caramel Granola Bars – Gluten-free
Sautéed Slivered Brussels Sprouts over Wild Rice Cakes – a vegan meal
A while back there was a discussion on a Facebook food bloggers group I belong to about some recipe books to review so I tootled on over to the website and filled in a form. There was a good selection that I could choose from and I chose a vegan recipe book and a cupcake book. Balance in all things, I say. All healthy makes for a dull life with no glimmering highs, and all decadent makes for a short life. Anyway, I figured they probably didn’t mean for bloggers from the other side of the world to apply and promptly forgot about the aforementioned recipe books. As a food blogger, I always seem to be filling out forms and accumulating passwords to a myriad of websites that help us on our way as well as sidetrack us off our paths. I have six pages of an A5 exercise book filled with usernames and passwords. I used to use the same one for everything until I realised the fallacy of such a shortcut. A hacker gets into one account, they get into everything. Really smart. So now I have a … [Read more...] about Sautéed Slivered Brussels Sprouts over Wild Rice Cakes – a vegan meal
The Whoopie Pie Mania
So, remember that food show I mentioned we went to on Sunday? The one were I got all sorts of freebies? Well, one of the stalls was a little more exciting than the others - the one with the whoopie pies. In the US, these are common place but here in New Zealand we are just starting to discover them. I have already made a couple of whoopie recipes on this blog - my carrot cake cookies and my blueberry oatmeal cream cookies, both of which were actually whoopie pies. So, I was rather surprised when I saw this stall of whoopie pies, and they had some damned good-looking ones too. I spoke to the gentleman behind the counter and mentioned my blog. He handed me over a couple of his pies and I said, thank you muchly. Now, I wanted to photograph them, which meant I couldn't eat them and that took a lot of fortitude of character. I let them sit in their pretty container all evening and in the morning, they were still there on the bench looking at me so I had to act fast. I distracted myself … [Read more...] about The Whoopie Pie Mania
Mexican Tortilla Stack
I am still on a wraps track since I have more packs to use but I couldn't do the same thing again or I would get bored with myself. So I flicked around the web a bit and saw the classic Mexican meal of refried beans and mince meat in tortillas with enchilada sauce or something similar. I have made stacks of tortillas before with cheese, ham and tomatoes so why not with the usual Mexican suspects. This is the result. This is not a low Fodmap recipe. Mexican Tortilla Stack Print Author: Suzanne Perazzini Ingredients 1 x 400g can of refried beans 500g mince meat Mexican spices 2 tomatoes 1 cup grated mozzarella 1 cup enchilada sauce 4 whole wheat tortillas Method Preheat oven to 250°F/180°C Fry the mincemeat in a little olive oil. When browned, add some Mexican spice and fry a little then add some water and sprinkle with a little flour to thicken the sauce. Heat the tortillas in a dry hot frying pan on both sides. Heat refried beans in the microwave for 1½ … [Read more...] about Mexican Tortilla Stack
Sliced Meat, Feta, Tomato and Pesto Wraps
At the food and wine show we visited on Sunday we saw a stall which claimed to have wraps that didn't split when rolled. I was intrigued because every kind of wrap I had ever used split if even slightly mishandled, sometimes even when treated with kid gloves. They demonstrated in front of us and showed a myriad of innovative ways to use a wrap and there was not a tear in sight. If we bought three packs - all different flavours - we got an instruction manual full of beautiful pictures to go with them, so buy them we did. Tonight I used the spinach wraps and pulled out everything I could find from the fridge. They all contained either salami, pastrami or pork - Dario buys sliced meats for lunches but never finishes any of them. They all also contained tomatoes, salad, feta or mozzarella, avocado, bean sprouts and a choice of chutney, pesto or mayonnaise. As you can see, our fridge was full of bits and pieces. Now it is much clearer and our tummies are full of all sorts of goodness. Oh, … [Read more...] about Sliced Meat, Feta, Tomato and Pesto Wraps
