Loose Ends

Today my sweet little girl turns 5 months old. Wow how time flies!

I was realising a couple days ago that I have been uploading a number of photos and not using all of them. So I’m tying up some loose ends and collectively posting their randomness with some stories interspersed. They are mostly food ones from our Lenten suppers.

Spencer was helping Andy to shovel. The yellow item in the pictures is his shovel. Instead, he ate ‘popcorn,’ which is just snow. By the handful.

We made homemade pizza for supper a couple of weeks ago (Feb 22nd – Feast of the Chair of St. Peter!). It was heavily laden, so we took a measurement. Approximately 2.5″ in height. It was delicious!

Two weeks ago yesterday: Penne with Chickpeas, Spinach & Roasted Asparagus. We always augment the recipe to what we actually have.

4 cups penne
10 stalks of asparagus
3 tbsp. oil
salt & pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, shredded
1/2 cup fresh basil, sliced
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, re-hydrated & sliced
1.5 cups chickpeas (not a dry measurement)
1.5 cups baby spinach, sliced
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated.
– preheat oven to 450; cut asparagus into 1″ lengths (discard woody bits)
– toss with 1 tbsp. oil and a dash of salt and pepper; spread on baking sheet and roast for about 8 minutes
– heat remaining oil in large pan, add garlic and cook, then add onion and carrots, then add basil and salt, saute.
– stir in sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, spinach and stock; bring to boil, lower temperature and simmer 5-10 minutes
– toss hot pasta with cooked veggies; stir in pepper and cheese; add roasted asparagus and toss well.

This particular day we used green beans instead of asparagus. I wouldn’t recommend it. Zucchini works much much better as a substitute. We hardly have Parmesan around anymore, so we use whatever cheese is in our fridge. I really love this recipe.

Chickpeas + grain (pasta) = protein!

Spiced Lentil Coconut Soup. (This is supper tonight 🙂 )
1.5 cups green lentils, washed
4 cups chicken broth
1.5 tsp. tumeric or curry powder
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 stalks lemongrass, 1″ chunks and bruised
1 tsp. sea salt & some more to taste
.5 tsp. cardamom
.5 tsp. cinnamon
1.25 cups coconut milk
3 tbsp. citrus juice (lime, lemon or orange)
handfuls of spinach, kale or swiss chard, sliced
dash nutmeg
1 cup shredded coconut, toasted
cilantro, chopped (optional)
– add lentils, broth, thyme and turmeric to large pot; bring to boil, turn down and simmer 20 minutes
– heat oil in new pan, saute onion, add lemongrass, salt, cardamom, cinnamon & nutmeg – saute
– add this mix to lentils, continue simmering
– add coconut milk and greens, simmer 5 minutes
– season to taste, finish with cilantro, coconut and citrus juice

a) we never have coconut milk around. Andy’s sister Heather introduced us to the magic of Pure Creamed Coconut, which when added to hot water makes basically the same taste, but it lasts longer.
b) I add the whole of the shredded coconut to the soup at the end. It makes it much more stew-like – I’ve added water to thin it, but the taste is really amazing. I’ve started telling Spencer it’s called Coconut Stew.

When served with some bread, it’s a whole protein! (lentils + grain = protein!)

I may have mentioned a few weeks ago that I made marzipan chocolates for Valentine’s Day. They were delicious. Recipe is dead simple, though I imagine most western-minded people will cringe. You can watch the video on youtube that I watched if you want.

Equal weight ground almonds and icing sugar (250g) and one egg white. I think I doubled the recipe. I also ground my own almonds (blanched variety), but you can just purchase them ground as well. Next time I’ll have to grind them longer I think.

I needed to add extra almond; I don’t know how much, but it was waaaay too sticky for my taste

There are ways of making marzipan without raw eggs, but I haven’t yet looked into them. I think there’s one that might use custard powder instead, but I can’t remember.

I told him he could only bring one car downstairs for nap.

It was one car. Just stuffed with 3 others. Cheeky kid.

Crazy brother shot.

Aunty Heather – you should be proud of your nephew – he had it down by the end of the first bowl of pasta, so I gave him cheerios. He conquered it no problem!So we ate supper with chopsticks that night. He did really well. Though…Sometimes the rice got to him.

And this – this is how I kill supper. Or at least delay it. Significantly.I have two more pictures of recipes, but I’m gonna save those for another day. Apparently it feels like too much work 🙂  Hope you found something to enjoy!

Related posts:

Recipe Thursday…on Friday…. Recipe Thursday! Recipe Thursday (a little late) Recipe Thursday