splendous simplicity

Hiya eKa Circle,

A lots happened since the last blog! Probably because I am learning to surrender to the unknown. Birthdays, horse rides, women’s circles, an event with ndis providers, divine interactions with clients sent & I planted a full moon winter garden because let’s face it fruit & veg (and fuel) are at a ridiculous price point now for splendous spend ups! As usual though I shall spin you a few positives I am noticing a result of this dilemma. Have you ever noticed that our environment reflects what is in our hearts? Cookie cutter society demanding cookie cutter food and plants? Botoxed, plumped and painted? Dump them if they aren’t the right cm? I mean isn’t it complete madness that we destroy crops  and people because they aren’t the right shape, have a spot or a bend in them. Bring back the non conformist fruit and veg + mindset. They are uniquely beautiful in every way. I used to think about this a LOT when I worked as a food stylist. Not everyone agreed with me clearly, a LOT of our world starves and we throw things out! Time to embrace our small imperfections and give thanks for ALL of them. In many ways I am also still planting for my new random adventure in everything! Rather expectantly- because life has its seasons and I have good times awaiting, as do you. What is your heart reflecting?

So here we are in Sydney iceberg lettuces are a mere $10 (LOL) due to the floods supposedly- there are many other thoughts around this situation though as it appears to be global. While I like iceberg – I never found it particularly filling or nutritious. I had to laugh at kentucky  fried chicken serving chicken burgers with cabbage, or so the rumour goes, is it fact? The amazing thing I have noticed online recently as a kickback to all of this is the education spouting on the humble wild lettuce that grows well pretty much everywhere – and it is FREE! Please also read my blog on cooking dandelion leaves. People are catching onto these things, getting back to foraging and educating on what grows abundantly, things that we all just thought were weeds. I will find one of these wild ones and pop it into the next blogpost if I can just in case you haven’t ever seen them. Not only can you eat it but you can make herbal medicine and guess what! It is SOOOOO healing and not gmo!!!!!

I refuse to pay $10 for any greens so decided to plant sturdier green plants in my small raised garden bed. I am learning new skills daily which is fun. I planted with a moon calendar, I am singing to my little plants (because frequencies) and reminding myself to water them with blessed water daily (because water is conscious).

Hubby has been shopping at local asian places and came home with this stunning purple cauliflower that he said was a nepalese cauli. Remember original carrots were purple too? What happened to these exotic beauties?? Why have we lost so many variants?

 

So here are some humble veg recipes for you. Keep it simple, fresh, local, seasonal, buy from neighbours and markets. Learn to store things well, buy more and share with friends or buy less and buy more frequently. I have a few tips on how to store cleverly such as my “acar pickled veg” recipe below. Now is a time to embrace the “NO WASTE” policy everyone’s been banging on about. Our food is precious. You will see I have also made another batch of my marmalade because I was gifted two different lots of organic local oranges. Remember gran used to stock the pantry for when things were slim. Yep – time to remember how all of that is done. Oh and if you splash out and buy a lettuce buy one that you can replant.

A few tips to store produce longer:

• Store fruit and veg separately, this prevents the fruit from ripening too fast.
• Most veg and herbs do well refrigerated in airtight bags or containers.
• Mushrooms prefer a paper bag.
• Wrap greens in a damp towel before popping into a container.
• Other veg is better dry before refrigerating, wash only as you need.
• Herbs do well in a glass of water on the bench.
• Potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic are better in a cool,dark cupboard.
• Save the ends of lettuce, bok choy, celery, carrots, green onions and many other vegetables and pop them into soil you might be surprised at how quickly they can grow.

 

Here is the marmalade recipe if you would like to try it?

Want to learn more about conscious living and eating? Please send me a message or book a conscious coaching session here.

love & light

M + E

Stir Fried Mixed Greens

A few bok choy seedlings that a neighbour gifted to me (funny story how I met him when my dog chased his goat!) This was last spring and the seedlings didn’t seem to survive. To my surprise a whole cluster of them started sprouting just after our winter rains. One cheeky plant must have seeded itself in my dormant garden bed. I got a little excited about that and purchased some new friends some herbs, kale, a red chinese cabbage and a few other things (see my video below for a peek). I also carefully transplanted a tomato seedling that grew by all by its clever self in another garden bed where I must have scattered some food scraps. All I bought for this recipe was a bunch of broccolini.

1 tbsp coconut oil

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

3 small green chilli, finely sliced

a grate of fresh ginger

1 bunch of broccolini, cut into pieces

2 handfuls of green leaves, bok choy, kale, tuscan kale or collards

1 tbsp of mushroom soy

1 tbsp fried eshallots

Heat the oil in a pan and stir fry the garlic, chilli and ginger for a minute. Toss in the broccolini and toss over the heat two mins Add the leaves and sauce and just warm through. Serve topped with fried eshallots for crunch.

Tamarind Chilli Red Beans

If you have time soak the beans overnight then boil them until tender and discard the water. This saves any unpleasant gas happening. Needless to say I skipped this step this week oh dear. Still tasted amazing. I learnt this recipe while living in Indonesia.

2 cups dried red beans

1 tbsp coconut oil

4 eshallots, finely sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 large red chillies, chopped

3 slices fresh ginger or galangal

1 tomato

3 green onions, chopped

2 tsp tamarind paste

2 tsp dark palm sugar

1 1/2 litres veg stock

salt and a pinch white pepper is a must

Prepare the beans by soaking them in warm water over night. Drain and then cover with water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer uncovered for about an hour or until tender. Strain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan and saute the eshallots, garlic, chillies, ginger and tomato for a few minutes. Add the green onion, tamarind paste, palm sugar and stock. Add the beans and simmer for 30 mins. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I served this with basmati rice and stir fried greens.

Red Lentil Curry

Always cheap and cheerful. Tastes even better the next day. Buy curry leaves in bulk and store them in the freezer.

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 dried chilli

7 curry leaves

2 lime leaves

2 carrot, diced

3 small potatoes diced

3/4 cup dried red lentils

1 litre veg stock

1 tsp tamarind paste

salt and white pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan and saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes or until softened. Add the curry powder, cumin, mustard seeds, dried chilli, curry leaves and lime leaves and toss over the heat for a minute or until fragrant. Add the vegetables, lentils, stock and tamarind. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through and the lentils have thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a dollop of cream or coconut cream if you like.

 

Roast Capsicum Salad

In ode to my step father. We bought a net of green capsicum on sale and this was absolutely delicious. Papa used to peel his blistered capsicum. I prefer to eat the charred bits. Either way this a  lovely recipe that keeps well in the fridge as leftovers so double it if you please.

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

7 capsicum, seeded and roughly chopped

a sprinkle of oregano, fresh or dried

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 120 deg C. Pour the oil into a heavy based metal roasting pan and toss the onions garlic and capsicum into the pan. Toss around so that they are evenly covered with the oil. Roast for 40 minutes or unto soft and skin is blistering. Sprinkle with the oregano and season with salt and pepper. Cover with a tray to create some steam and finish the cooking for another 10 minutes. Serve warm or cold. You can add a splash of vinegar if you like at the end but I don’t think it needs it.

Acar

Another Indo influenced recipe. This is amazing with rice, eggs or fish. Best thing is you an keep in the fridge in a jar for about a week. You can read a little more on the blog “food prep matters” on how to pickle produce for later as my husband did with the eshallots. Then you can buy them when they are at a great price and use them for later. We always have chillies, eshallots and garlic cloves in oil in the fridge just in case.

1/4 cup white vinegar

3/4 cup filtered water

2 tbsp sugar

salt and white pepper

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

2 carrots, sliced or diced

2 cucumbers, sliced or diced

4 eshallots, sliced (today I used a few vinegared ones because I had them you can also use fresh)

Heat the vinegar, water and sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the spices and the veg. You can serve immediately and store any leftovers in a large clean jar with a lid in the fridge.

 

Halloumi with Broccolini and Preserved Lemon

Remember my recipe for no waste preserved lemons. Yep I had squeezed them…these came out for this recipe. You won’t need a lot as halloumi is naturally salty but the lemon tastes amazing with this.

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 block of halloumi diced

1 bunch broccolini, cut into short lengths

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp preserved lemon finely chopped

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and toss the garlic and halloumi in and stir over the heat until it is fragrant. Add the broccolini, chilli flakes and oregano and toss over the heat until it is just tender. FInish covered for just one minute to soften the cheese up. Add the lemon and serve.

I served this with salmon for those that eat fish. I ate mine with some lovely turkish bread.

 

Cauli and Cashew Stir Fry

The colours are amazing and I would say yes the purple cauliflower does taste better.

1 tbsp coconut oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 green chillies, sliced

1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

1 bunch snake beans, trimmed into smaller lengths

1/2 purple cauliflower, cut into florets

2 carrots, sliced ( I never peel them I just give them a scrub)

2 tbsp veg oyster sauce

1/3 cup toasted salted cashews

Heat a wok over a high heat and stir fry the garlic, chill and ginger for a minute. Add the veg. Toss over the heat for 4 minutes then add the sauce. Finish with the cashews and serve this one immediately.