Taste!

My tastebuds are slowly making a comeback, however I will not be doing anymore recipe updates on this blog.  It will still be here as an archive, but any real winners I make for dinner will be posted as pix on my twitter account.

I still hope to get my recipe book published one day, but for now it’s fulltime motherly duties.  : )

Closed and Archived

Just to let you know, I have had a very big life change lately and that has included losing the full use of my tastebuds, so there will be no more posts in this blog.  It will be kept for archive purposes only from now on, so you wont miss out on being able to use it as a reference.

Thank you to everyone for their support.  It has been an interesting exercise and has taught me a lot about myself, others and life in general.

If you would like to know more about the author of this blog, please visit:

http://marylou.eu

Eat Like a Bird…

Usually I DO eat like a bird but yesterday,  I went a little crazy.  I’m putting this up as a post because we were asked in the course that I’m doing at Suzan Johnston, what I ate the day before… which wasn’t much, but then there was Monday…

3 bowls of veggie soup.

2 Sushi rolls that were made with brown rice.

1 smiley face cookie.

half a twin pack of cranberry biscotti – shared with a classmate.

1 roast veggie and feta wrap- from the city 7/11 on Burke Street.

Finally I got home and ate a box of vegetable samosas.  I think there’s about 20 small cocktail size ones in there…

Needless to say I needed a Buscopan afterwards…  Lol.

If you’re hungry…Eat!

Raw Donuts…

I have been wondering what these things would taste like for ages and also wondered how complex they would be to make.  My verdict is the only similarity is the shape when you’re done.  The taste is nice but not the same as a cooked donut.

Here’s my recipe, which is not unlike other raw versions from other raw food blogs around the world.

Ingredients:

1 cup of raw almonds – processed

1 cup of dried mango – chopped and processed

1 cup of dried pitted dates – soaked, chopped and processed

5 tablespoons of grated coconut

few drops of vanilla essence

Mix ingredients with clean hands, shape into a donut, put some icing if you wish, then eat.

Wheat Free Banana Bread

Is a sweet bread, also known as a “quick bread,” because it’s a recipe developed to make bread without yeast, which takes time to prove etc.  It’s so popular it has it’s own Facebook Fan page and Australia celebrates it every February on the 23rd.  Who knew? 

This one of course has to be wheatless and I thought I might challenge myself a little and make it vegan as well.  It turned out sweet, moist and chewy.  Yum.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas mashed

1 banana whipped in the food processor

1/4 cup of maple syrup

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 cup of rice flour

1 teaspoon of xanthium gum

1/4 cup of oatmilk or soya

1 tablespoon of vegan butter

Method:

Mix wet in with dry ingredients, put into an oven dish: (25.5 by 13.6 cm Tin)

Grease tin, put in oven for 45 minutes on 180C in a gas oven.

Oven Steamed Veggie Quinoa

Now this dish might look suspiciously similar to something made a few weeks ago and you’d be right, it is similar, but not the same.  It’s completely improved.  It’s all in the steaming of the Quinoa and Veg in the final stages of cooking the dish.  That’s why there is an extreme close up of this dish to show you the fluffiness of the Quinoa. (This dish is worth the time and effort, the results are melt in your mouth.)

This is what’s on the menu for dinner tonight.  : )

1 large zucchini chopped

1 large clove of garlic minced or chopped finely

1 cup of quinoa

2 1/2 cups of veggie stock

1/2 cup of grated soy cheese

1 cob of fresh corn shaved

1 can of asian veg (cos I feel like all my veggie dishes need extra crunch in them.)

1 table spoon of vegan butter

2 tablespoons of canola oil to cook.

Garnish with a handful of coriander leaves or whatever you like as a garnish.

Method:

Start off  by cooking the dish on the stove in  a wok.  Sweat off the garlic, add the quinoa and chopped zucchini and then the veggie stock.  Boil until the stock has been three quarters evaporated.  Add the rest of the veggies, stir through and then put ingredients into an oven dish which has it’s own lid or put some tin foil over the top.  Make sure you sprinkle the cheese over the top before you put  the cover over and just for your information I added a little oatmilk to add to the creaminess of the dish.

Bake in a gas oven of 200C for 25 minutes.

Wheat Free Zucchini Fritter

These little fritters went so fast.  This is another recipe straight from my mum’s kitchen.  What can I say, Turkey has  a lot of great vegetable dishes that just happen to taste great, are comforting and non-fat.  Too  good!

Recipe:

1 cup of wheatless flour

1 cup of oatmilk

1 cup of grated zucchini

some veggie salt to taste

2 eggs

1/2 a cup of canola oil or olive oil to cook with.

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together, shallow fry in hot oil.  Cook till golden brown, serve with some sweet chilli sauce.  Eat and be merry.  x

The Truth About Too Much Pasta and Too Many Cupcakes…

The truth is…  Even if they are made with Wheatfree flour etc…  Too much of a good thing is still going to make you gain weight, so don’t count these last few recipes as slimming ones.  They are the most guilt free I could find but at the end of the day, even if you eat these everyday, they’re going to make you gain weight, so I always make sure they are still a treat.  They’re the healthiest versions of these recipes I could find or make up myself.

Here’s what I do when I’ve had too many cupcakes and pasta… Please excuse the lack of editing and production on this little vid, I’m just getting used to doing video stuff on my own and thought I might see what my new Blackberry was capable of. 

Guest Cook!

It’s my mum!  Both my parents are Turkish, so I grew up on Turkish cuisine and this dish was one of my favourites as a kid.  It’s dead simple and really tasty. 

Pasta in Garlic Sauce:  The sauce is just plain yoghurt mixed in with some crushed garlic.

She puts around 5 large tablespoons of plain yoghurt into a large bowl that the pasta will be served in, then she puts the pasta in.  She tosses this together before she prepares the rest.

 The smashed garlic with the veggie salt goes into a fry pan and is cooked up with 2 large tablespoons of tomato paste and 2 large tablespoons of vegan butter, then this is poured over the pasta and stirred through.  Too easy, very yummy, very comforting.  What more could you ask for?  (Oh! And don’t forget to cook the pasta.) 

The pasta I use these days, because of my wheat intolerance is by BuonTempo or if that’s not available I get the one by Orgran.  They both use rice and quinoa to make their pastas with.

The ingredients and the method are a bit haphazard because that’s how my mum makes it.  All without measurements, at the last minute and all by memory and experience.

Banana & Date Slice

This recipe is inspired by, Jody Vassallo’s Apple Date slice.  I’m not the hugest fan of apples and there just happened to be lovely ripe bananas at the local grocer, so that’s what’s on the menu.

My recipe:

1 cup of pitted dates, soaked and chopped

1 cup of soy or oat milk

1 cup of gluten free plain flour

1/2 cup of slithered almonds

1/4 of a cup of maple syrup

1/2 tspn of almond essence

2 ripe bananas creamed in the food processor.

1 tablespoon of vegan butter, melted.

Method:

Mix dry ingredients with wet and then place in an oven proof dish that has been greased.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a gas oven on 180C.

When it comes out of the oven it will be very soft.  Leave it out to cool on a plate then cut it up and serve cold.  It will have a chewy texture, which I love.  Enjoy.