Pumpkin bread with walnuts & cranberries

Hello :) This is going to be part of a series of sugar free baking. I've been inspired to eliminate sugar from my diet for a little while, particularly by Sarah Wilson, who recently wrote a "quit sugar" e-book as well as bloggers (here & here). I know everything in moderation and all that jazz, and I'm not cutting it out for good (hello Christmas!) but more as an experiment to see how I feel, and to try baking lots of sugar free delights!


My first sugar free baking attempt: Pumpkin bread with walnuts & cranberries. Here's a link to the recipe :)

I did change a few ingredients depending on what I had. I replaced the pecans with walnuts, the extra virgin olive oil with grapeseed oil, the fresh cranberries with dried cranberries and I used a small butternut pumpkin.

Mine didn't look as moist and light as hers, although I think it's because I used a bit less oil & maple syrup. But it was still really delicious! And topped with a spread of butter...yum yum!

I've already bookmarked lots more delicious sugar free baking recipes. How fun!

Hannah x

Paris mash

Hello :) Doesn't this dish sound so...elegant. Paris mash. When I told my mother I was making it she remarked "are you going to chop up the Eiffel tower"? Don't worry I am not & my sense of humour certainly did not come from her (I hope)...

Moving on. Why is this dish called Paris mash? I'll let Sophie Dahl explain:

"Paris mash was named from when I used to visit my great friend, the brilliant artist Annie Morris, in her apartment on the Rue Guisarde in Paris when we were both about nineteen. We would go late to the local supermarket and buy a strange mix of Puy lentils, salad, garlic, onion and herbs. I suppose it was like a student stone soup, originally made from whatever was in the fridge. The mash would be cooked willy-nilly, accompanied by a lot of red wine, and usually us gazing stupidly at an assortment of pretty French boys, but for some reason it was always utterly delicious" 

Recipe: Paris mash (adapted from Sophie Dahl)
Ingredients- 
1.5 cups of Puy lentils
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
125mL/1/2 cup red wine
30g/1 cup spinach
A generous handful of parsley and coriander
salt and pepper
Ingredients I added-
handful of dried cranberries
seeds of half a pomegrante
Ingredients I left out-
1 cup fresh vegetable stock
1.5 cups of Puy lentils
1 tablespoon pf creme fraiche
2 handfuls of mache lettuce/lamb's lettuce

Method- 
Place the lentils in a pan and add just enough water to cover. Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, then drain. In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and add the onion. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the lentils with the red wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the spinach with around half a cup of fresh vegetable stock (I skipped this step) and cook for another 5. If the liquid gets low, add some more stock or a bit more wine as the consistency should be slightly soupy.

Stir in the creme friache (if using) and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put the lamb's lettuce in at the end and cook for a few minutes. Roughly chop the herbs and scatter them on top. Season to taste and serve as is. Sourdough bread can be used to mop up the juices.

I didn't use the vegetable stock, as I felt it didn't need anymore liquid & didn't have any fresh bread to accompany and mop up the excess liquid. I left out 1.5 cups of Puy lentils as I thought the initial 1.5 cups were enough (the lentils expand a lot, so there was probably 2 cooked cups in the end). I also added dried cranberries & pomegrante seeds which I think gives it a nice sweetness and pop of flavour!

What a delightful dish! I love recipes with stories behind them...and am now imagining myself in a Parisian apartment serving up this dish to a few friends over a glass of red wine or two. 

But for now I ate this whilst flicking through Sophie Dahl's cookbook. You can see my purse I found at Finders Keepers, which is rather handy to store by lipbalm/lipstick etc when I go out. You know, all those essentials! 

Have a lovely week everyone! I'm going to be seeing the ballet Romeo & Juliet at the Opera House on Wednesday, which I'm super excited about! Let's hope I can get some tips for my ballet concert later this week ;)

Hannah x

Lemon cakes

Hello :) After a very busy Saturday, it's nice to have a quiet Sunday. I decided this morning to make these little lemon cakes, aren't they oh so cute! I shall get straight to it & share with you the recipe...

Recipe: Lemon Cakes (adapted from "Afternoon Tea" by Frankie Magazine)
Ingredients- 
125g butter
1 cup caster sugar, plus 1/4 cup extra
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup almond meal
Grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon

Method-
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream butter well. Add 1 cup caster sugar, and beat again. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sifted flour and salt. Add milk, almond meal and lemon rind and fold together.

Grease a 12-hole cupcake pan and divide mixture evenly between holes. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

Combine lemon juice and extra sugar in a saucepan. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour syrup over cupcakes while hot.

Makes 12 

As you can see, mine made 9. They were wonderful and I loved the crisp buttery edge & the syrup was just...well delicious and lemony. 

I think the rest of my day will include making a quinoa salad for lunch, cleaning my room, watching Changeling & perhaps finishing my novel "Playing with Grown Ups" by Sophie Dahl. It's a very charming book so far :) 

Did anyone go to the Finders Keepers markets this weekend? I went on Friday evening for a little while and came home with a Marilyn Monroe bookmark and babushka printed linen coin/makeup purse. Quite lovely!

Hannah x

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