pumpkin and brown rice soup with walnuts

Hasn't winter kicked in! I'm one of those rare breed of people who actually loves winter.  I love the change of seasons and the excuse to snuggle inside with the heater on and recharge.  Days of constant sunshine and heat wear me down...I know, strange.  But true!

I've had the slow cooker out working for me so I can do my crochet.  Yep, it's official, I'm hooked on hooking.  I've finished a pretty blanket for my daughter and am now working on connecting one for me :D  

This pumpkin soup is nothing new, but the addition of brown rice is.  I just cut up 1/2 a pumpkin and add in whatever I have on hand ~ carrots, sweet potato, potato, celery, onion and garlic.  Plop it all into the slow cooker with a cup of well rinsed brown rice  with enough chicken stock to cover and turn the dial up to high for the next 4-6 hours.  

Blend and serve with crushed walnuts and a big dollop of natural yoghurt.

This is the easiest blanket as it's just a continuous granny square.  I just love this soft pink and green wool.

Now on to crocheting up my granny rug.

I think this is going to take awhile, lucky the weathers bad, no summer sun guilt here!!

What do you do to get you through a rough winter?

Ciao, Jan.

Kale, pumpkin and feta frittata

Kale, bit of trend setter at the moment, its the latest IT food, and I've caught the bug.  Even better than the taste is its one of the healtiest vegies going. I got my hands on a gorgeous bunch at the farmers market and made this easy but oh so delicious fritatta.  I had some leftover roasted pumpkin lurking in the fridge from dinner the night before so toasted some pinenuts to add some texture.  Fritatta is a wonderfully versitile dish, as long as you stick with the right amount of eggs you can add a multitude of combinations. Some times the simplier the better, goats cheese, mint and pea is a favourite as is mushroom and parmesan.  But let your cooking juices run wild.  Again, use good quality free range eggs at the least. I got a dozen for $3 from the market, so no excuses. I actually ran into a reader in the supermarket awhile back near the egg aisle.  He looked in my basket to check what eggs I had, organic free range, I think he thought I was all talk.  We went and he showed me what he normally buys....so disappointing!! But I firmly added free range into his basket. The funny thing is, his excuse was price, but I'm sure he is on a cracker of a salary and wouldn't even blink at spending money in the liquor department!!

So crack 6 eggs in a bowl and whisk well. Season generously with s & p.  Chop your kale up and steam in microwave for 5 minutes.  

 I love using this old Pie dish of my nan's but you can use a pan that can go into the oven or a quiche dish is great too.

In the dish lay the kale, then arrange the pumpkin, pinenuts then dot with feta and a sprinkle of herbs, I used mint and parsley.  Pour over the eggy goodness and put in a preheated oven at 200c for 35 mins

Wack it under the griller to give it a big more colour. Leave it to sit for at least 10 minutes before you cut and serve with a salad of lovely green, a spritz of lemon and well seasoned with s & p and a gernerous glug of your best extra virgin olive oil and lunch is ready.

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Now, about the decluttering challenge, how are you going? Its not too late to start, you can read about it here. I must admit to dropping the ball a bit with it last week but made up for it over the weekend. More mags, a few old books, some more shoes and I tackled the plastic containers and got rid of the ones without lids.  I need to do the pantry this week, well thats the aim.

Ciao, Jan

Bloody fussy eaters

Don’t even get me started on adult fussy eaters who only eat meat and 3 veg and love Mc Donalds and KFC, their existence baffles me and how  the hell they manage to get through each day a complete mystery…But I’m talking about kids really as my brain can understand them being fussy eaters. Who knew that a pair of self-confessed lovers of food would produce a child that only likes bland, white food. I’m forever trying to hide vegies into our dishes so she won’t detect the zucchini or broccoli.

Actually I’m being too hard, she is improving and growing our own vegies is really helping. She loves going out helping Dad in the dirt planting and eating the pod peas and carrots with the dirt still on, but cook them and put them lovingly on a plate, forget it.  But I’m hopeful.

Many years ago I came up with a cunning plan to get vegies into her. You see she will eat pumpkin soup so I came up with this recipe packet full of goodness and a little home-grown pumpkin.  They are in season at the moment so cheap as chips.

Don’t tell them its not pumpkin soup pumpkin soup

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

1 or 2 carrots

1-2 stalks of celery

1 zucchini peeled

1 sweet potato

1 potato

¼ of a pumpkin

1 parsnip

1 tin of chickpeas

1 litre Water or vegie/chicken stock

Cut all vegies into cubes, around the same size. Put all into a pot and just cover with water or stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer and skim off any skum that comes to the top. I don’t bother sautéing the onion or garlic when it comes to this kids version, they won’t know the difference or appreciate the extra effort. When all vegies are soft, cool slightly so you don’t burn yourself and blitz with a barmix wand or in a food processor. Hold back some of the liquid and change thickness as sometimes it thick and sometimes its thin. Dish it up with sour cream and chopped walnuts for the adults, add a toasted cheese sandwich and you can all be happy for different reasons. 

A gorgeous Queensland Blue from the garden

Ciao, Jan