Spinach quiche with a twist!

Hello :) Can you believe it's the 1st of December & the beginning of summer already!? Even though it wasn't a hot summer day, it was the perfect weather in my opinion. Sunny, but not too warm and with a slight chill. I was actually lucky enough to have a 1 hour massage this afternoon, as I had a gift voucher from my birthday. I felt amaaaazing afterwards and my posture ever since has been wonderful, especially at ballet tonight which was very helpful :)

Ok, now onto this spinach quiche with a twist! And what is the twist? Well unlike regular spinach quiches, that have a buttery pastry base, I decided to make a brown rice base. Just like the brown rice tart with tomato and feta but with a different topping. Don't get me wrong, pastry occasionally is divine but this is a lighter & healthier option. Fun!

For the brown rice base-
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup cheese, grated
1 egg

1. Cook brown rice (1:1 ratio rice to water. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat down to a very low simmer & put the lid on... "absorption method". This should take around 15-20 minutes)
2. Mix cooked brown rice together with the grated cheese & egg
3. Spread onto a quiche or tart dish and cook in a preheated oven for 15 minutes

For the spinach quiche mixture-
I followed this recipe, although I made up the cream cheese measurements & used about 3/4 of the block in my picture below. I also added about 2 tablespoons of chopped dill and didn't use the cheddar cheese in the topping, as I already had cheese mixed into the base.

4. Take the brown rice mixture out of the oven after 15 minutes
5. Spread over topping and cook for about 25-30 minutes, until it is slightly golden or until everything has set
6. Cool for 10 minutes, then serve!

All of the ingredients (except the milk). I feel a bit like a food stylist!

And onto the finished result :) As you can see, I had to photograph the quiche at every angle! 

I really, really loved this quiche! Cream cheese and parmesan are both quite rich and heavy, so having the brown rice base was wonderful. I really loved having the dill in there too! And it was a big hit with my family, which is really the most important thing :) 

I just...love cooking. 

Hannah x

Black bean chilli cherry cookies

Hello :) I had actually intended to create these delicious (and they really are!) cookies on the weekend, however was missing a few essential ingredients so they get a post all to themselves! Choosing to make this recipe was really quite simple. I saw it on My New Roots and wanted to make them straight away, like all her fabulous recipes. Black beans in cookies? Oh yes.

Here's a link to the recipe :)

Now these cookies are quite marvellous. Not overly sweet, they're soft from the black beans and have a delicious, intense chocolate taste. And after a few seconds you get a kick from the cayenne pepper and a touch of sea salt. So many flavours! I used dried cranberries instead of cherries, which were soft & sweet. They're one of those fabulous recipes that taste oh-so-indulgent, but are really very healthy!

Perfect with rooibos tea...

And a nectarine & good book...

Hannah x

Lots of weekend snaps!

Hello :) Time for a recap of my weekend so far!

Saturday...
Started off with a bowl of quinoa & oat porridge, this time topped with flaxseeds and chopped nectarine and kiwi fruit.

A fresh vegetable juice, I hadn't made one in ageeees! I also added an orange and spinach. Don't worry though, I didn't add all of that ginger!

Lunchtime. I made French onion soup for the very first time after seeing this scrumptious recipe :) The smell of the onion & garlic with the butter was just amazing...! Next time I might add some balsamic vinegar at the end when the onions & garlic are cooking, and possibly add some herbs too, but otherwise it was simply wonderful! 

After an afternoon ballet rehearsal I walked up and met my parents for a light dinner at Sabbaba in Newtown. We shared this falafel plate as well as wholemeal pita bread, corn chips & guacamole and vine leaves. Seriously delicious! And for a sweet treat afterwards we shared medjool dates stuffed with halva and walnuts. Soooo tasty! 

Then...it was off to the Seymour Centre for my sisters dance concert. She was wonderful of course and now I have a sudden urge to learn hip hop, even if it was inspired by 5 year olds dancing to "Whip my hair" by Willow Smith....

Sunday...

Curried soft boiled eggs on toast with alfalfa sprout was an exciting way to start the day! 

All this rain has been excellent for our garden, so guess where these gorgeous looking tomatoes are from? Yep, they're homegrown! I can't believe how many we have (there's a lot more!), and they actually taste really good :) 

Well I better go enjoy this sunshine! I think the rest of my day will involve reading, handing in resumes (did I mention I need a job?) & swimming laps later on at the Ian Thorpe aquatic centre. 

And a quick "Happy Birthday" to Tara, who celebrated her birthday in Brighton yesterday :) :)

Hannah x

Scrambled tofu with cumin & shiitake mushrooms

Hello :) Well Sydney residents, hasn't the weather gone pear shaped! I was just starting to enjoy going swimming & frolicking in the sun until the rain decided to go little crazy. I have decided to embrace the rain & slight chill though, which I've realised make the perfect doona days.

So today I did just that... lazily woke up around 10 and spent the morning in bed with a big bowl of muesli, several cups of tea and some books I'd borrowed. The book I'm currently reading is 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith. I also borrowed Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami because I thought Norwegian Wood & 1Q84 look interesting, so I might see how this novel is first.

About lunch time I decided it was time for...lunch (funny that). Sophie Dahl's cooking to me represents perfect rainy day, delicious comfort food so I trawled through her cookbook for inspiration. I decided to make some scrambled tofu which I found a recipe for & braved the rain to buy some shiitake mushrooms.

Scrambled tofu sounds even to me a bit weird but it's a great vegetarian protein source so I decided to be adventurous. Turns out this dish is a lovely, light lunch! I didn't have any sesame oil, so cooked the tofu in grapeseed oil and topped with some soy sauce to give it that extra oomph! And I substituted the thyme for spring onions.

Recipe: Scrambled tofu with cumin & shiitake mushrooms (adapted from Sophie Dahl). Serves 2
Ingredients- 
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
75g/1 cup of shiitake mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper
150g/1/2 a block of firm tofu
1 heaped teaspoon of ground cumin
1 tablespoon of fresh chopped thyme, plus extra to serve (optional)

Method-
Heat the oil in a pan and pan-sear the mushrooms. Season and put to one side. Add a little more oil to the pan and crumbled the tofu with your fingers and cook until it looks like scrambled eggs (I cooked mine for 5-7 minutes, until it was slightly golden). Stir in the cumin and thyme with a wooden spoon. Make sure the tofu is evenly coated.

Spoon it onto two plates and pour the mushrooms on top. Serves 2. (although I used similar measurements and had made it just for myself...)

Well that's that! Now I think this evening is going to include cooking zucchini, pea & parsley spaghetti, watching the final of Spicks & Specks (oh my!), and perhaps having a nice foot bath and painting my nails. Fun fun! 

Hannah x

Mushroom risotto

Hello :) I'm just going to put it out there and say, sometimes it's quite difficult cooking vegetarian food my meat eating boyfriend Adrian likes! ....."You don't like quinoa?!"

So when he came over for lunch today I contemplated what to make. And then bam! Mushroom risotto it was. I'd actually made this for him once before and he loves mushrooms, cause lets face it they're kind of 'meaty' looking! Perfect. Risotto isn't something I'd usually make, but occasionally the mix of arborio rice, white wine & parmesan sounds quite scrumptious & comforting! Add in some onion, parsley, vegetable stock, a heap of mushrooms and a touch of butter...yum :)

Easy Mushroom Risotto (adapted from Jamie Oliver)
Ingredients-
approx. 500mL of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g arborio/risotto rice
50mL dry white vermouth or dry white wine
knob of butter
handful of parmesan
a few handfuls of chopped mushrooms (any kind)
1 small handful of parsley
1 small handful of thyme (optional)
sea salt & pepper

Method- 
1. Heat the stock. Then in a separate pan heat the olive oil, add the shallot or onion and a pinch of salt, and sweat for a few minutes (...the vegetables, don't go & exercise!). After about 3 minutes add the garlic and stir for another 2 minutes. When the onion and garlic have softened turn up the heat and add the rice. This begins to fry the rice. Keep the rice moving and after 2 or 3 minutes it will begin to look translucent as it absorbs all the flavours of the base.

2. Add the vermouth or wine and continue to stir. It will sizzle around the rice, evaporating any harsh alcohol flavours and leaving the rice with a tasty essence.

3. Once the vermouth or wine seems to have cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a highish simmer (you don't boil the heck out of it, because then the rice will be cooked and fluffy and the inside will be raw). Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take about 15 minutes.

4. When the rice is soft but with a slight bite, remove from the heat and add the butter and the parmesan and stir gently. Serves 2-3. 

Ta-daaaa! The risotto was a hit, and was a very comforting lunch on a rainy day. I should really get more creative with risotto though, as I've seen recipes using wild rice, brown rice & all sorts of wonderful grains! 

Do you like making risotto? 

Hannah x

Nectarine Tart

Hello :) I have just had the most loveliest day! It started with a ballet class, which I'm so glad I can now attend twice a week since I don't have uni. A very nice way to start the week. We're working on our concert performance (exciting!), and it's quite tiring running through the dance over & over again I must say! Afterwards I met a wonderful friend (I <3 you Sabeth!), and we had a late brunch at a place called Silverbean on Enmore Road. It was a very cool cafe, and the staff were just so friendly. We also browsed along King St for a little while, how fun it was to be out...on a Monday!

Going back a day to Sunday, and I was in the mood for baking (well when am I not?). I thought I'd attempt making pastry for the very first time, with a recipe that caught my eye straight away in the Good Living a week or so ago. A Nectarine Tart. I'm so in love with nectarines at the moment actually, they're my go to snack! The recipe is actually gluten free too, although I used regular white flour instead of quinoa flour as suggested.

Nectarine Tart (adapted from Rowie Dillion, in the Good Living 08/11)
Ingredients: for the pastry
65g (1/2 cup) quinoa flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
65g unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
for the topping
6 large nectarines, halved, stoned and sliced
1 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
80g (1/4 cup) apricot jam, warmed

Method-
Grease & line a baking tray. To make the pastry, combine the flour, cinnamon, egg yolk and water in a food processor and pulse for 15 seconds until the dough just comes together. Shape into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface into a two-millimetre thick rectangle to fit the size of your baking tray, leaving a two-centimetre edge.

Place on the prepared baking tray and crimp the edges neatly using your fingers. Return to the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. For the topping, cover the pastry with the nectarine slices, leaving a smidgen at the edge uncovered.

Sprinkle with sugar, dust with cinnamon and bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden. Cool slightly and brush with the jam. Serve warm. Serves 6. 

Yummmmm! There's something so rustic & fulfilling about making pastry. I was very pleased with how it turned out! It tasted like crumbly delicious shortbread & I like how the sweetness came from the nectarines and touch of jam. Spreading apricot jam over the top is quite genius! 

A fabulous recipe to test out pastry making skills :) I think I'd like to make a sweet pie next perhaps or a spinach & feta quiche. I'm keen to find a recipe without too much butter (like this one). 

Does anyone have a great recipe using pastry? 

Hannah x

Coconut & chia pudding with raspberries

Hello :) I'm loving these holidays so far! Today the weather was gorgeous, and I went swimming at Coogee beach with a few friends and had a delicious vege burger from a cafe nearby. We also walked around and went swimming in Gordons bay, on the way to Clovelly. Sooo nice! I think my friend and I plan on living there this summer and next time taking cider, books, delicious food etc to make a fun day of it! Shall be grand...

Well yesterday evening I decided I wanted to make something light & healthy for dessert. That is when I remembered I'd bookmarked a recipe that was exactly that! Coconut & chia pudding with raspberries. I came across the recipe via Wellness WA, when Annette had done a healthy cooking class with Michelle. The recipe itself is so simple, all you do is mix the ingredients (coconut milk, chia seeds, agave and vanilla extract) and leave it for one hour. I'm sure you could substitute the agave for honey or maple syrup etc. The chia seeds expand in the coconut milk, it's really quite cool!

Without raspberries...

With raspberries...

Yum! I was so impressed with this, and everyone in my family liked it too, score! Such a super healthy, light, and creamy dessert. 

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend :) I better go and get my brown rice tart out of the oven!

Hannah x