Cook | Cashew Spread

Another delicious lunch.... I'm really starting to get into this lunch business now!

This week I found Happy.Healthy.Life and fell in love with the gorgeous bright photos and was impressed/surprised that vegan food could look so good!

I have wanted to try going vegan (I'm already vegetarian) for a while because I'm not sure that dairy really is that great for me.  Have you ever stopped to wonder why we are the only adults (including adult 'animals') that still drink milk, and that milk is from other animals (meant for their babies)? It's kind of gross really... imagine if your dog drank human breast milk..? Weird no? Also, I'm pretty sure there's been a few studies that show calcium from dairy is really hard for the body to absorb.

So, instead of using cream cheese or butter like I normally would, I tried out a version of Happy.Healthy.Life's Lemon Pepper Cashew Walnut Spread. I didn't have any walnuts or lemon so I just stuck with cashews. It was great! Better than my last attempt at almond butter that never turned into butter.....

FYI - Photo edited with VSCO Film 02

Cook | Spinach & Potato Salad

Sometimes (well.... who am I kidding, most times) I can't be bothered with lunch. It really annoys me! I hate having to cook double in a day, and I'm not a super huge fan of sandwiches. But I've been trying hard to eat healthy lunches and found the key to being motivated to eat lunch is simple food and pre preparation!

With this Spinach & Potato salad for instance, I cooked the potatoes and the eggs the night before while I was already cooking dinner, and put it in the fridge ready to be mixed with greens and hey presto - that's lunch!

This salad is simple and delicious... it doesn't really need much of an explanation but you can find the recipe below.

Spinach & Potato Salad

Ingredients

1 bunch baby spinach 

1 bunch watercress

3 hard boiled eggs 

6-8 baby potatoes, washed but not peeled

Salt to taste

Squeeze of lemon juice

Splash of olive oil

Optional extra - Labne

Method

Boil the potatoes whole until just soft, set aside to cool. Cut into quarters.

Boil the eggs, set aside to cool. Cut into quarters.

Rinse & drain greens.

Put all ingredients into a big bowl and toss with lemon juice, olive oil and salt.

Serve with some labne if you want. 

Cook | Lentil Fritters with Labne

I found this recipe in Delicious so I can't claim it's genius! I did make a few minor changes.

I will share it though because it's super yummy and pretty healthy.

Mint is pretty much my favourite herb at the moment. I really should plant some! And speaking of herbs, I've got some pretty exciting posts coming up which will be focusing on the traditional, medicinal uses of common herbs, and also tips on growing them.

LENTIL FRITTERS WITH LABNE

INGREDIENTS

Fritters
2/3 Cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of Cajun seasoning
1 tsp cumin
2 eggs, separated
150ml milk
400g lentils (canned is ok)
2 tbs parsley
1 tbs olive oil

Labne
400g Greek yoghurt
2 tbs finely chopped mint leaves

DIRECTIONS

Labne (*You will need to make this a day in advance*)
Mix yoghurt with mint and a little salt. Place in a fine sieve lined
with damp muslin or chux, place over bowl and cover with plastic
wrap. Leave in fridge overnight, until thickened to cream cheese
consistency.

Fritters
Sift flour, baking powder and spices into a bowl.
Whisk in yolks, then whisk in milk until smooth.
Stir in lentils, parsley, and season.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks, then gently
fold into batter.
Fry until golden on both sides - 1 tbs of batter for each fritter.

Makes about 16 fritters.

Serve
Topped with labne and a nice salad on the side.

Download the recipe card

Feed Me: Carrot Burger

I've been on a juice kick since I got my new juicer care of Veggie Mama & the Rocketfuel Media giveaway! Yesterday I made Apple, Celery and Watermelon juice and this morning I used Carrot, Apple, Celery and Mint.

The juice was delicious! Quite sweet considering it only had one apple.. and the mint gave it a nice kick. If you want to give it a try here's the quantities. It makes enough for almost 2 serves.

Carrots 3

Apples 1

Celery 1 stalk

Mint small handful

But who wants to throw out all the pulp... not me!!! And thanks to Meredith from Boss Report, I was inspired to use it. Enter: Carrot Burger!

I used the pulp, combined it with 

Egg 2

Kidney Beans 1 can

Onion 1

Garlic 2 cloves

Parsley small handful

Seasoning

Fry it up in some oil and serve on a toasted bread roll with tomato, cucumber, a slice of cheese  and a squeeze of tomato sauce (or what ever other burger toppings you love). The burgers will be a little bit crumbly but it doesn't matter at all.

//Yum!

This was so easy and delicious. I can see myself doing this a lot! 

Enjoy!

Days 9 & 10: Peg Magnets & Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake

So happy it's Friday today. Has been a looooong week. Too much work, assignments, happening! I need to write lists inside of lists and every day something new comes up. But it's Sabbath now... and no need to think about any of it! Yes!

Ok, Here is yesterday & today's creations.  I kind of did them both today but shhh, no one needs to know!

Today I made some magnetic pegs - I needed more magnets, especially useful ones that can hold stuff! So I decided to make these. I planned on spray painting them but of course, my spray paint was all used up. So I hand painted them. Didn't come up as nice as I hoped but still, they look cute. I kind of forgot my fridge was yellow so they blend in but if you've got a white fridge they would look cute :) 

If you want to make them, here are the easy peasy steps:

1. Take some wooden pegs (I stole these straight out of my peg basket!)

2. Paint any colour your heart desires

3. Take an old magnet and cut into strips

4. Glue to back of peg

5. Add any decorations you want to the front - I used embroidery thread which I had out from my friendship bracelets.

On the fridge

Today I discovered a few great blogs/websites that have stacks of vegetarian recipes! Perfect seeing I'm a vego. So I decided to try some out. Not completely creative but good enough I say! I tried the Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake from 101 Cookbooks and Rhubarb and Raspberry Costata from Lottie + Doof.  Both turned out really well and tasted delicious! 

This recipe used dill, which I am quite excited to say that I have growing in my little pot garden. It came up and I almost pulled it thinking it was a weed but then I crushed some and realised it was dill. Then I remembered planting some seeds that I had from left over dill. It tasted so so good. If you don't use dill regularly, I suggest you try it because it is one of the yummiest herbs I think! Maybe that's because I'm part Polish.... but... doesn't everyone like dill?  Do you like dill?

Delightful Dishes

Welcome, welcome! Step right up! Thursday's feature post is all about food... yummy, mouthwatering, delicious food! Each Wednesday I'll share a recipe for a dish that I have tried or really want to try.

Todays recipe comes straight from the Taste website. Last week I was feeling less than inspired and couldn't find anything I wanted to make for dinner. I asked Mr Peck to give me an ingredient to use (his first answer was something ridiculous like olives (not that they are bad, just hard to base a meal around ;) so we went on to his second choice - Pumpkin) and I did a quick search and came up with this beauty (which I adapted to suit what I had in my fridge)

Roast Pumpkin, Ricotta & Lentil Salad

Ingredients (serves 4 entrées or 2 mains)


600g Kent pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, cut into 5cm pieces
2 tbs olive oil
1 baby cos lettuce, leaves separated
1 x 400g can lentils, rinsed, drained
200g ricotta, coarsely crumbled
squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the pumpkin in a baking dish and drizzle over the oil. Season with salt. Toss to coat. Roast in oven for 20 minutes or until tender and golden.
2. Place the lettuce and lentils in a large bowl. Add the pumpkin, and toss to combine. Divide among serving bowls. Top with the ricotta and squeeze of lemon.

The original recipe included tomato and red onion, which I didn't have. But it still tasted great!

Banana Bread Recipe

Hola Blog.

Friday I had some cooking good fun and seeing as I had some bananas which were... let's just say passed their useby date... I decided to make some banana bread.

I have a recipe from Sanitarium's website (which is full of good recipes by the way).  But, while their recipe is good, I usually don't have exactly the right ingredients so I have adapted it to suit my pantry and it still turns out just a yummy...

So I'm gunna share my recipe with you guys! Hope you enjoy!

Don't forget to let me know if you make it!