Food for thought

There are lots of ways I indulge my love of food, apart from eating it, of course.

I used to collect cookbooks, until I channelled that (expensive) compulsion into buying some of the many first-rate food and cooking magazines now on the market. (Here in Australia, my addictions of choice are Australian Good Taste, Table, and Super Food Ideas, with the occasional ABC Delicious. Recently, Woman's Day Everyday Food has caught my attention...oh, but, no more...bad, bad girl!)

Seriously, I should stop spending money on magazines etc, and just dive online. Blogging has provided a perfect and natural platform for foodies and fans - there are just as many eager to read and drool over delicious recipes and eye-catching photographs as there are eager to share the results of their culinary journeys. Part of my interest in blogging came through my explorations of cooking bloggers, usually begun by searching for a particular recipe or a special ingredient.

I am thrilled every time I find a new "gem" - that perfect marriage of the visually engaging, verbally entertaining, and mouth-wateringly tempting. Some are a source of recipes and inspiration for me; some are just pure escapism (I'm never going to put that much effort into my cooking, but I love to watch someone who does.)

Here, ranging (in no particular order) from the sublime to the suburban are some of my favourites:

TasteSpotting - "Feed your addiction" - what more can I say?

Exclusively Food - Simply and beautifully photographed Aussie food blog shared by Amanda & Debbie

Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit - There is something weirdly compelling about this blogger's exploration of flavours (eg. Adzuki Bean Paste Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Matcha Green Tea Frosting) - and they look stunning.

Milk and Cookies - Another great Aussie food blog, with gorgeous photographs.

Smitten Kitchen - A new find - she makes me laugh, she makes me drool - it's got it all.

The Virtual Kitchen - Wholesome hearty fare and a lovely network of food-loving friends.

The Food Traveller - Gastronomic delights from the kitchen of a European couple (he's Italian, she's Belgian), spiced with photographs of their travels.

Hey Mum, I'm Hungry - Kim from All-Consuming cooks a mean recipe blog, too, served with plenty of laughs.

And then there's lovely Red Dirt Mummy, who I found on a recipe search, and stopped to read and share and smile (her blog is not all food, but she's got some real keepers in her recipe files)...and...no, I have to stop.

It's late, and I'm now reaaaallly hungry, and should go to bed where I can dream in glorious technicolour of jewelled fruit tarts and sculptural cupcakes and aromatic curries and...

One for the road

The Big Feller is going away for a couple of week's work tomorrow, heading off on a 10 hour drive first thing in the morning. So, naturally, the wee man and I have to provide some necessary sustenance for that long drive, and a little taste of home. We'll make this very-moreish and incredibly easy chocolate slice, which I downloaded from the Taste website and comes from the April 2005 edition of Fresh Living. I can see all sorts of ways this can be enhanced (spices like cardamom and cinnamon, sultanas, roughly chopped macadamias or walnuts), but the boys like it just as it is so I haven't got around to experimenting with it yet.


Chocolate & Coconut Slice
Prep. Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes 24 pieces

Ingredients:
3 wholewheat breakfast biscuits (eg VitaBrits)
1 cup (85g) dessicated coconut (I use shredded coconut)
1/2 cup (120g) caster sugar
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa
150g butter (I use Nuttelex margarine, dairy-free)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups icing mixture
Extra 1 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp hot water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 16 by 26 cm baking pan and line with baking paper.
2. Break up biscuits into large bowl, add coconut and sugar. Sift over flour and cocoa and stir.
3. Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat, pour over dry ingredients, add vanilla and mix well.
4. Spoon mixture into prepared pan and press down to level. Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked.
5. Sift icing sugar mixture and cocoa into a bowl, add hot water and stir well. Ice slice while still hot.
6. Allow to cool in pan, then remove and cut into squares to serve.




Ps. One of my regular readers let me know she was having difficulty publishing comments here without a Google account. I've changed my settings now, so that shouldn't be a problem, but if anyone else is having similar problems let me know (as she did) through my BUMPzee account (see sidebar). I was feeling a bit lonely here the last few days, so hopefully it was only a technical problem *grins*

Let's Talk About Lunch

I've realised a few things about this blog, especially since I've been thinking about it in the context of other blogs I love, and with the shadow of NaBloPoMo looming over me (see here - actually I'm really looking forward to it, on a number of levels).

I haven't talked about food yet.

Since there are still a lot of things you don't know about me yet (there's a few more subjects for posts yet to come..!?), you can be forgiven for not knowing how much I love making and enjoying good food. Discovering the world of food blogs was one important aspect of my renewed love-affair with blogs and bloggers - if you look at my list of fave bloggers on the right there, you'll notice a certain bias towards people who are into talking about/writing/about/eating good food (though not exclusively - my magpie collection of a mind covets all sorts of fine and glittering objects).

But when I think back on the sort of content I'd envisioned for my blog when I started it, food, cooking and recipes were certainly high on the list.

Sorry it's taken me so long. That old devil Procrastination again, perhaps. I keep thinking of how certain things are going to look as a blog post, I take the photos, I read other bloggers and think "Yeah...I've got a great one you'd probably like..."...and it's taken me till now. Ah, well...

I made these for dinner last night, served them hot with creamy mashed potato and a green salad. Today, I ate them cold for lunch, with the mixed salad of fresh vegetables from our wonderful local markets, and the scrumptious Peri Peri Sweet Chilli Sauce with Lime.

The recipe is from the November edition of Super Food Ideas:

Vegetable Rolls
Serves 6
1 red onion, halved
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 medium carrots, peeled
2 small zucchinis, trimmed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 corn cob, kernels removed
3/4 cup cottage cheese (I didn't have any - substituted ricotta cheese)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 tsps dried mixed herbs ( I used za'atar, the yummy and versatile Middle Eastern herb blend)
3 tsps hot chilli sauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 sheets frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, partially thawed
1 tbsp sesame seeds

1. Using a food processor with a grater attached, coarsely grate onion, garlic, carrot and zucchini.
2. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add grated vegetables and corn. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until veges are just tender. Drain liquid and transfer to large bowl.
3. Add cheese, oats, herbs, chilli sauce and half the egg. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
4. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Cut each pastry sheet in half. Spoon on-sixth of the mixture down 1 long side of 1 pastry half. Brush opposite edge with witha little of the remaining egg. Roll up pastry to enclose filling. Cut roll into thirds. Place on prepared trays. Repeat with remaining mixture and pastry. brush tops of rolls with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve with salad leaves and sweet chilli sauce.


Couldn't get the wee man to eat them last night (I think he had too much involvement in the preparation, and knew too well what was inside!), but the Big Feller liked them, and he's taken them cold for lunch, today, too.

I finally had broadband connected last week (actually, using dial-up is probably one of the reasons it's taken me so long to get my own blog-thang happening...I just don't have that kind of patience...!), and I'm loving the way it has increased my use of the internet as an everyday resource (I know, I know - I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted here...).

I have a sudden glut of over-ripe bananas and a new food processor, so I chucked those elements in a Google search and found this amazing, highly-commented-upon banana cake recipe - and a great new foodie blog for my collection. The cake is cooling on the bench at the moment, and I have yet to ice it. Smells fantastic...

Guess what I'm posting about next...?