All posts tagged: vegetarian

Smokey hummus and roast veggie trumpets (and a giveaway)

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This post was made possible thanks to the folks at Lisa’s and Farrah’s , who know a thing or two about quick and easy meals. Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter the giveaway. I love hummus. My absolute favourite way to consume chickpeas. Who’s with me? I love hummus slathered, spread, dipped or dolloped. I have absolutely eaten hummus with a spoon. Lisa’s is a beloved name in dips and their latest creation is the new Lisa’s Smokey Hummus. Delicately pair Lisa’s Smokey Hummus with the savoury and sweet flavours of roasted vegetables, honey and miso. I’m so pleased with how these turned out. I tested this recipe out on two hungry men who devoured them with glee. Super easy to assemble, hearty and full of flavour, this recipe is sure to be put on rotation at your house. I’ve used Farrah’s wraps which are generously portioned. My recipe uses one wrap, cut in half and cone folded to form two cute trumpets. You will need a microwave for this recipe meaning …

Vege Wonton Noodle Soup

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This post was made possible thanks to MAGGI 2minute Wholegrain Noodles – They are made with the goodness of wholegrain and are 99% fat free. Available at all supermarkets. Do you have a favourite meal? Is it comfort food? I am all about comfort food. As stated on my ABOUT page, wonton noodle soup is my favourite meal. I grew up on wontons and back in the day, I folded many, many wontons for our Chinese take away. Unpretentious. Easy to portion to suit your current appetite. Easy to digest. While I love the Cantonese classic of pork and prawn, I decided it was time to reinvent this old favourite to be vegetarian-friendly. Perfect for spring, this light yet satisfying meal is a hug in a bowl. I make no claims on the authenticity of this recipe. It is fusion at best. Win! MAGGI 2minute Wholegrain noodles come in Chicken or Beef 5 packs, are baked, not fried and are 99% fat free. Thanks to MAGGI’S 2minute Wholegrain Noodles I’m giving away a set of …

Around the world with Lisa’s World of Flavours (and a giveaway)

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I haven’t eaten EVERYTHING…but it’s on my list. Food tourism is on the rise and eating one’s way around the world is a legit pastime. New flavours, ingredients, and cooking techniques are my favourite travel souvenirs to bring home. I love being inspired by cuisines from around the world and until my next overseas adventure, I bring little slices of the world into my kitchen through food. Lisa’s new World of Flavours range takes iconic flavour combinations and re-imagines them as dips. Lisa’s Hummus is already a household name in NZ and the new range is made with beans instead of chickpeas and is gluten free and vegetarian. These dips make it easy to add an exotic touch to some of your favourite meals. There are 3 flavours in the World of Flavours range (so far): Greek Yoghurt Dip – lightly creamy with the fresh taste of mint and lemon. Great on sandwiches or burgers, as a spread or topping, perfect for summer barbecues. Thai Sriracha Dip (my favourite) – with sweet chilli and roasted capsicum, this …

Burrata for NZ Cheese Month

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Happy NZ Cheese Month! I was over the moon last month when I joined a bunch of cheese-loving media on a NZ Cheese road trip. We visited some great local cheese makers, tasted some amazing and some polarising cheese and even met a lovely herd of water buffalo north of Auckland in Whangaripo. One of our stops was at Il Casaro, located in Glenfield in an unexpectedly industrial area proving that cheese needn’t be made out in the countryside to be good. Here we witnessed Italian cheese maker and co-founder Massimiliano make mozzarella by hand as he explained the process and treated us to freshly made cheese. New Zealand cheese is nothing short of phenomenal. The quality and creativity of our cheese is absolutely good enough for the world market, but many small producers can only meet the demand of our local appetites. This means that our very best cheese actually stays in the country. A win for us. In honour of NZ Cheese Month this month, I had the pleasure of trying this organic …

Freestyler in the Kitchen: Throw-together recipe #3

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  Being able to chuck a bunch of ingredients together and create something delicious isn’t so much a skill as a way of thinking. When cooking, I enjoy getting creative, using recipes only for inspiration. I find sticking to recipes tedious and restrictive and always find myself deviating. Understanding your own cooking style can help make your kitchen time more enjoyable and efficient. When I took Fisher & Paykel’s online quiz WHAT’S YOUR COOKING STYLE? I was branded the Freestyler. Find out what type of cooking style you have by taking the quiz quick here. Thanks to Fisher & Paykel, I’ve created a series of throw-together recipes that celebrate the Freestyler approach to cooking. If you enjoy this recipe and this style of cooking, please check out the other recipes in this series. Throw-together recipe #3 This is a easy, naturally gluten-free omelette for one that is good for any meal of the day. I make this style of omelette at least once a week and I like how each one can be customised without fuss. We’re …

Freestyler in the Kitchen: Throw-together recipe #1

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Hey guys, I have a confession… Even though this blog is FULL of recipes, I am NOT a good recipe follower. I use recipes as inspiration – a starting point to leap from and aside from recipe testing, I seldom stick to the script. I like to make things up as I go along, eyeballing quantities, changing it up with whatever ingredients I happen to have. I season to taste or mood. I am not the kind of girl to cook an exact dish twice. What’s your cooking style? So, when I took Fisher & Paykel’s online quiz WHAT’S YOUR COOKING STYLE? I wasn’t surprised that I was branded the Freestyler. Freestylers have mastered the basics and enjoy pushing the boundaries, putting together flavours and textures that complement each other. They also enjoy going “off-piste”. I shall wear the Freestyler badge with honour. The quiz was designed to help you get the most out of your time in the kitchen and results in eight distinct personalities. Understanding your style can help you to choose ingredients, …

Balsamic garlic mushrooms

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We are obsessed with mushrooms at our house. I disliked mushrooms as a child but now I don’t go more than a couple of days without eating mushrooms. I love that mushrooms are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner and you can bet that I have eaten them at all times of day. In fact, I have distinctly awesome memories of eating mushrooms from The Burgerie on K Rd late, late at night (or is that early hours of the morning) after a night out. If you haven’t had those mushrooms before, they are dangerous morsels of delicious molten lava. You have been warned. Four mushrooms or a handful is considered a good daily dose to reap all the benefits mushrooms offer. Mushrooms can be eaten raw or cooked, raw is healthier, cooked is tastier (in my opinion). It doesn’t take much time to prep mushrooms and even The Koala can rustle up some tasty mushrooms. Thanks to Meadow Mushrooms I have a mushroom prize pack worth $25 to giveaway to one Auckland mushroom lover. …

Pumpkin Soup for Pumpkin Haters

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I know I sound childish and not at all like a sophisticated foodie when I say, “I hate pumpkin”. Maybe hate is too strong a word, but I have a strong dislike for it. Whenever we get roast dinner takeaways (best hangover food) I transfer my pumpkin pieces onto The Koala’s plate. The Koala loves pumpkin so he accepts it happily. I say pumpkin, you say squash Before I go further, I should mention that here in New Zealand, we call all things in the squash and pumpkin family simply, “pumpkin”. So when I say, “I hate pumpkin“, elsewhere, I would say, “I hate squash“. Anyway, I know it’s good for you and when it’s in season, it’s everywhere. Since The Koala loves pumpkin and pumpkin soup, and since pumpkins keep appearing in our Foodbox, I’ve been experimenting with pumpkin soup recipes. This recipe is for the pumpkin haters among us. Spices I’ve used garam masala and cinnamon, feel free to also try turmeric and ground coriander. Spices make pumpkin palatable. A little cream doesn’t hurt either. …

Tasty questions with Alessandra Zecchini

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Alessandra Zecchini is one of Auckland’s longest standing eatood bloggers, emerging mid 2008 and still regularly updated. Alessandra writes about baking and desserts, Italian cuisine, vegetarian/vegan recipes and travel. As a recipe developer, food stylist and writer, she writes for 6 blogs, regularly contributes to food magazines and has written 3 cookbooks. Below are her answers to the tasty questions I cooked up for your enjoyment. Describe your blog: This was my first blog, so it is a bit of a mixture: recipes, travel photos, some news. Unfortunately I don’t have much time to blog these days, but it is fun to do, and I am a happy blogger. I also list just recipes in three more blogs (links below): Only Recipes for Vegetarian and Vegan recipes. Vegan Recipes, only Vegan Recipes, and Cooking with flowers: flower recipes. What is the most popular post on your blog? Asparagus and onion weed-soup with 302300 page views to date. Name your favourite comfort food: Crescentine, the traditional food from my village. What did you have for breakfast? Soy latte – I don’t eat breakfast, I …

Honey grilled figs with prosciutto and blue cheese

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The following post is part of a series of recipes celebrating figs which are currently in season.  From my investigations into figs and ways to eat them, a prosciutto (pronounced: pro-SHOO-toh) and blue cheese combo seemed very popular. Most recipes I saw didn’t specify quantities and since I’d never bought prosciutto before, I bought way too much. Prosciutto is expensive and a little goes a long way. About 50 grams (just under 2 oz) will be enough for 10 figs. Similar quantities for the blue cheese. I used Mahoe Blue (pronounced: MA-ho-ee) which is an organic, semi-firm farmhouse blue with a sharp flavour but a creamy texture. I did consider Marin Blue which is a super creamy buffalo cheese, mild with only a hint of blue. These are award winning New Zealand blue cheeses, so use whatever local cheese you can get your hands on. With blue cheese, buy the best quality blue cheese you can afford. I made a version of this without the prosciutto for my vegetarian friend. It was still delicious. Honey grilled …

Figs with soft goats cheese and balsamic syrup

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The following post is part of a series of recipes celebrating figs which are currently in season.  I visited Sabato in Mt Eden for advice on cheeses to go with figs. There were a few recommendations but I was sold on the value of the Pico Affinė, a soft goat’s camembert with a yellow rind from France. You could substitute this for chèvre or regular cow’s camembert. This recipe is gluten free, refined sugar free and vegetarian. Out of the four dishes at our four course fig feast, this dish was my favourite. Please check out my tips at the end of the recipe for alternate options.  = Figs with soft goats cheese and balsamic syrup Makes 20 pieces Ingredients 10 figs, halved 2 tablespoon butter 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons honey 100 grams (3½ oz) soft goats cheese Preparation Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). Melt butter in a sauce pan and add balsamic and honey. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes until syrup is thickened. Line a baking sheet with parchment …

Gong Hei Faht Choy!

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It is Chinese New Year today and it is the year of the goat (a.k.a. sheep / ram). My Chinese parents are both born under this year. It is custom to eat only vegetarian food on this special day. Avoiding meat on the first day of the year is believed to give you a long life because idea that nothing should be killed on the first day of the year promotes Buddhist beliefs and traditions. If you’re in need of an extra karma boost, say no to bacon, steak, chicken wings and ribs for just one day. In honour of this meat-free tradition, here are are a few of my favourite vegetarian recipes. Click on the images to view the full recipes. 1. Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms 2. Spiced Carrot and Coconut Soup 3. Caprese Salad 4. Eggplant Misocheese 5. Jubilee Rice 6. Grilled Cabbage Wedges with Lemon Thyme Dressing 7. Cumin Hash Browns 8. Halloumi with Balsamic Reduction 9. Beetroot and Goats Cheese Risotto 10. Tzatziki with Chunky Turmeric Vege Chips   Wishing you a wonderful Chinese New …

Mr Fancy Cabbage Pants

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The Koala enjoys cabbage boiled, I prefer it cooked quickly on high heat. We both eat cabbage either way. Sometimes, I tease The Koala about how white people smell like milk and cabbages. It’s not true. I love milk and cabbages just as much as the next girl, maybe even more than the next girl. We don’t smell like milk and cabbages (unless we’re immune to the smell). Kale was fashionable in a big way, then came brussels sprouts. I think cauliflower tried to knuckle in (particularly with cauli rice and cauli crust pizza) but it’s time for the humble cabbage to make a comeback. Of all the brassicas, cabbage is the most affordable by weight. A dependable, good value vegetable. It’s time to get creative with cabbage. Very Pinteresting I kept seeing grilled cabbages on Pinterest. To be more precise, cabbage wedges with a special dressing. I browse Pinterest quite a lot and grilled cabbage food porn kept popping up as different bloggers posted variations of the recipe. It came with glowing reviews like: “I don’t really like cabbage, but I fixed this recipe …

Jubilee Rice

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First world problems: Too many cashew nuts. It all started off around National Nut Day when I had heaps of cashew nuts sent to me. I made a delicious Coriander and Cashew Pesto and Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts which were both winners, but I wanted to try something else.

Grilled prawns with cashew coriander pesto

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Since I was diagnosed with Graves disease earlier this year, I’ve been eating more whole foods and incorporating nuts into my diet. I replaced the instant noodles in my desk drawer with a box of mixed nuts. Brazil nuts come highly recommended for Graves disease patients because they contain high amount of selenium so I always make sure there is a generous quota of Brazil nuts in my mix. The Nation’s Nuts National Nut Day falls on Tuesday 21 October 2014 and is a day which celebrates the humble and nutritious nut. Nuts are great for you and the NZ Nutrition Foundation recommends a handful of nuts per day. With vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein, nuts make a guilt free, low maintenance snack. Thanks to Alison’s Pantry, I get to experiment with cashews this month. Alison’s Pantry offer a bulk food range in New Zealand supermarkets. Great if you just want raw ingredients without the fancy packaging. Alison Holst is the “Mother of New Zealand Cooking” and growing up, every mum in New Zealand follwed her trusted …

Clean Eating in Auckland

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IMPORTANT: This article was published in 2014. Details may have changed.  I love dining out, but it can be hard to make healthy choices when dining out so I often view dining out as a chance to indulge in rich foods. It doesn’t have to be this way! Luckily, there are a few places in Auckland who are making huge effort to offer delicious healthy options. What I also love about these places is they can be great inspiration for cooking at home too. Most of these offerings are easy to recreate at home using fresh ingredients. I’m not a health nut, but with my health issues this year, I’ve been looking at what I eat more and focusing on clean eating and whole foods.

18. Ima Cuisine

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In celebration of Auckland Restaurant Month, I will be posting 31 quick-fire reviews on 31 restaurants and cafes in the Auckland CBD and city fringe. The atmosphere is… Warm and cozy. Bookshelves full of books, a welcoming mural, beautifully patterned lit ceiling and low light make for lovely ambience. On the quiet end of Fort Street, once you are inside you feel like you’ve stepped into another world. The smallish dining area can feel a bit noisy and full though so be prepared if you’re looking for a quiet night out. Come here for… Middle Eastern, Israeli and North African inspired healthy and hearty food. Ima means mother in Hebrew and family-style dining is celebrated here. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The most interesting thing on the menu… Brik – North African delicacy. A crisp fried parcel with fresh tuna preserved lemon and a soft cooked egg The range of vegetarian sides Unexpectedly wonderful… Mezze – especially the spice roasted cauliflower Arab rice – lentil pine nuts almonds pistachios and caramelized onions I would come back to try… …

Make Tzatziki

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Have you heard of Tzatziki? Tzatziki is a thick yogurt and cucumber dip that works with range of dishes. It’s cooling and lovely and surprisingly easy to make. Tzatziki has been on my foodie bucket list for a long time. I put it on there because The Koala was obsessed with Delisio Greek Tzatziki flavoured chips. He’s since moved on but the Tzatziki remained on my list. Had I known how easy and versatile it was to make, I probably wouldn’t have waited all these years. Below is a recipe for Tzatziki and a bonus 2 recipes that complement it. Tzatziki Recipe adapted from Nici Wicke’s recipe here. Makes about 2 cups Ingredients 1 cup Greek yogurt* 1 cup grated cucumber, squeezed of excess liquid ½ teaspoon salt 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon chopped mint 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon lemon juice Preparation Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. Chill prior to use and stir before serving. Use as a dipping sauce, a side …

Cumin Hash Browns

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The Koala’s favourite brunch spot in Auckland is a local cafe in Sandringham called Okra. Even though they have changed hands (staff bought out the owners), much of their menu is the same and their big breakfast which includes a cumin spiced hash brown has been consistently good for a decade. Okra’s hash brown is a mashed and fried variety but I have grated these as it is quicker than mashing. Hash browns are a great gluten-free toast alternative for breakfast and since I’m watching my gluten intake, we had these babies instead of toast. This is my interpretation of Okra’s cumin hash browns. This recipe makes 2 good sized hash browns but can easily be double or tripled if you have more hungry mouths. Cumin Hash Browns Makes 2 Ingredients 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano) 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 medium potato 2 tablespoons oil for frying   Preparation In a bowl, beat egg and add the cumin, parmesan and seasonings. Peel and grate …