This year I’ve decided to join the monthly In My Kitchen posts hosted by Maureen from The Orgasmic Chef. It’s a lovely way to document the things that are happening on the food front, and it is always interesting to see what other people are up to. Usually the posts have to be done by the 10th of each month, so I’m obviously a little late for January, but I will pick up my game from next time now that I’ve got myself organised!
Santa brought me lots of lovely things for my kitchen. Everyone that knows me, knows that food is a massive part of my identity. Whether it be eating, cooking, or talking about food, it is a topic that dominates my personality and who I am. I often say that I really can’t be friends with someone that doesn’t like food!
Anyway, onto the crux of this post…
In my kitchen there are a lovely trio of jams and jellies. I love condiments, although I rarely buy them for myself, but I received this gift for Christmas from Jenny! I haven’t opened them yet, but it won’t be too long… That chilli jam is calling out to me!
We also received this Moroccan spice from Treeze. It is a blend of cumin, coriander, garlic, cayenne pepper and other delicious things, but I’m not quite sure what to use it on. I imagine the traditional use would be to sprinkle it onto some meat or chicken and grill it, but I need to find a vegetarian use for it! I’m thinking it may work on a tofu steak, but I will have to do some experimenting!
Jenny also gave me this fabulous cookbook from Emma Galloway, the author of the My Darling Lemon Thyme blog. I have often used her blog to find recipes, and this book follows in the same steps. There are some great ideas that take advantage of fresh produce and healthy (but tasty) eating, and I can’t wait to get cooking from it. There is a breakfast recipe of baked eggs in pits bread cups that I really want to make!
Whilst I try to make most of my food from scratch, there is the odd occasion when I just don’t have time, or I’m not feeling up to it. In such cases, the range of frozen Vegie Delights foods are a lifesaver. There are burgers, falafels and other mock meat products. I know that these are processed, and really not that great for you, but for the occasional emergency food they are brilliant, and I think they taste great! Coles had a big sale on them where the whole range was 50% off, so I stocked up, and the freezer is full of them! We’ve already eaten a box of the burgers for lunch, and we had chickpea falafel wraps for dinner tonight, yum!
And in stark contrast to the processed foods, I also have some super fresh produce in my kitchen. There are fresh eggs from backyard chickens, home grown lettuce, home grown cucumber and home grown basil. I love fresh produce, and when you eat it regularly, you can taste the huge difference.
I now always say that I have been so spoilt, that I couldn’t go back to store bought eggs. The backyard chickens (and ducks, don’t even get me started on how good duck eggs are) produce the best eggs with the yellowest yolks, that anything else just seems sub-standard. It is also important to me that the animals are treated well, and I know that this poultry is living the good life. Whilst supermarkets may make claims to stock free range eggs, a little research reveals that ‘free range’ chickens can be stocked with a density of 5 birds per square metre and up to 2500 birds per shed. It’s a far cry from the 4 acres that the 50 or so poultry that I get my eggs from have. I know that not everybody has the luxury to have access to poultry like this, but I think it’s important to be aware of what is going on, rather than turning a blind eye.
The fresh lettuce and cucumber will go into a salad, and I used a lot of the basil yesterday in a simple but delicious pasta sauce of garlic, cherry tomatoes and basil. These flavours combine well together, and this sauce tossed through some spaghetti and topped with freshly grated parmesan makes for a perfect meal.
And that’s about all from my kitchen this month! It’s heating up a bit now, so we’ll have to see what summer treats are happening in my kitchen in February!
Santa brought me lots of lovely things for my kitchen. Everyone that knows me, knows that food is a massive part of my identity. Whether it be eating, cooking, or talking about food, it is a topic that dominates my personality and who I am. I often say that I really can’t be friends with someone that doesn’t like food!
Anyway, onto the crux of this post…
In my kitchen there are a lovely trio of jams and jellies. I love condiments, although I rarely buy them for myself, but I received this gift for Christmas from Jenny! I haven’t opened them yet, but it won’t be too long… That chilli jam is calling out to me!
We also received this Moroccan spice from Treeze. It is a blend of cumin, coriander, garlic, cayenne pepper and other delicious things, but I’m not quite sure what to use it on. I imagine the traditional use would be to sprinkle it onto some meat or chicken and grill it, but I need to find a vegetarian use for it! I’m thinking it may work on a tofu steak, but I will have to do some experimenting!
Jenny also gave me this fabulous cookbook from Emma Galloway, the author of the My Darling Lemon Thyme blog. I have often used her blog to find recipes, and this book follows in the same steps. There are some great ideas that take advantage of fresh produce and healthy (but tasty) eating, and I can’t wait to get cooking from it. There is a breakfast recipe of baked eggs in pits bread cups that I really want to make!
Whilst I try to make most of my food from scratch, there is the odd occasion when I just don’t have time, or I’m not feeling up to it. In such cases, the range of frozen Vegie Delights foods are a lifesaver. There are burgers, falafels and other mock meat products. I know that these are processed, and really not that great for you, but for the occasional emergency food they are brilliant, and I think they taste great! Coles had a big sale on them where the whole range was 50% off, so I stocked up, and the freezer is full of them! We’ve already eaten a box of the burgers for lunch, and we had chickpea falafel wraps for dinner tonight, yum!
And in stark contrast to the processed foods, I also have some super fresh produce in my kitchen. There are fresh eggs from backyard chickens, home grown lettuce, home grown cucumber and home grown basil. I love fresh produce, and when you eat it regularly, you can taste the huge difference.
I now always say that I have been so spoilt, that I couldn’t go back to store bought eggs. The backyard chickens (and ducks, don’t even get me started on how good duck eggs are) produce the best eggs with the yellowest yolks, that anything else just seems sub-standard. It is also important to me that the animals are treated well, and I know that this poultry is living the good life. Whilst supermarkets may make claims to stock free range eggs, a little research reveals that ‘free range’ chickens can be stocked with a density of 5 birds per square metre and up to 2500 birds per shed. It’s a far cry from the 4 acres that the 50 or so poultry that I get my eggs from have. I know that not everybody has the luxury to have access to poultry like this, but I think it’s important to be aware of what is going on, rather than turning a blind eye.
The fresh lettuce and cucumber will go into a salad, and I used a lot of the basil yesterday in a simple but delicious pasta sauce of garlic, cherry tomatoes and basil. These flavours combine well together, and this sauce tossed through some spaghetti and topped with freshly grated parmesan makes for a perfect meal.
And that’s about all from my kitchen this month! It’s heating up a bit now, so we’ll have to see what summer treats are happening in my kitchen in February!
in my kitchen is a great event so I hope you have fun with it - the morroccan spice might be good in a hummus or other dips - and I would love more home grown vegies in our house - the ones we have are great. Also I could not find any vegetarian sausages in coles the other day - perhaps the sale was the reason they were sold out!
ReplyDeleteThose Vegie Delights are in my freezer too, I really like the red lentil kofta and my son likes the vegan fish cakes. When they're half price people jump all over them!
ReplyDeleteThat Moroccan Souk Spice has me drooling! I am so pleased you're a part of In My Kitchen!! I look forward to every post. I love peeking in other peoples' kitchens. :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome to In My Kitchen! So fun to see what's going on in your kitchen, the Moroccan spice blend looks fantastic and I imagine you'll find a good use for it. I am all about stocking my freezer as well, sometimes home cooked just doesn't fit into the schedule,
ReplyDeletehow lovely to have fresh produce in your kitchen. the spices and condiments look good too.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to have my own chickens and fresh eggs!
ReplyDelete