Friday, January 27, 2012

Healthy recipes...

Healthy cheesecake square
Healthy lemon cheesecake bite!


As a vague New Year's resolution, I've been trying to eat more healthy and keep my calorie intake under control!  I've been taking my lunches to work so I'm not tempted by unhealthy and huge portions that are served at the cafes, it also saves quite a bit of money too.

I stumbled across this website/blog and was excited to try some of the recipes.  I am not vegan/vegetarian, nor do I follow a gluten free diet but some of these recipes on www.damyhealth.com had lots of ingredients that I love so I thought I'd give it a go.

The recipe that I tried was the Healthy Lemon Coconut Cheesecake squares.  One of the things that I love about this recipe is that it is all done in a food processor - easy huh?!  I also have a bit of a thing for frozen cheesecake - weird I know.

I made up the recipe, I did alter the truvia (a natural super sweet sugar product) for a bit of agave syrup but I think that you could do it to your own taste.  I don't like things too sweet so the little bit of agave syrup worked for me.  I also used a bigger pan, only because I didn't have one the size suggested on the recipe but after trying this recipe I think I will invest in the size pan suggested as it was delicious!

Naturally this recipe is for a small sweet treat for those wanting to keep their calorie intake low but the result is delicious!  The base with the cashews and dates has a lovely texture and I will definitely be trying some of the other recipes on Damy Health.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Home grown... home made refrigerator pickles!

We discovered that we are growing cucumbers for pickling! They've been hiding in the tomatoes!
gherkin cucumbers out of the garden.


Our little veggie garden in our front yard is going crazy at the moment!  I even had a lady walk past yesterday morning and comment how much she loved watching our veggies grow, it made me feel quite chuffed! 

Over the weekend, my husband (and master of the garden) and I, as his helper, got out there and staked and sorted the maze of pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes.  It felt like unraveling a sweater and then re-weaving it on a loom, something that I'm quite good at.

It was at this point that we discovered that we were growing some Lebanese cucumbers and also some gherkin cucumbers for pickling!  I was so excited as we didn't think that they had taken off and that they had been taken over by the pumpkins and tomatoes.


Gherkins
pickle making process.


As we only had about 4 gherkins to pickle, we decided to test out the Martha Stewart Refrigerator Pickles recipe.   As we only had a few to pickle, we weighed the gherkins and then adjusted the recipe accordingly.  The result after 24 hours was delicious!

If you can't be bothered clicking on the link above, here is the recipe that is found on Martha Stewart's website, definitely has the Miss Mardi seal of approval!

Ingredients:
  • 2 pounds Kirby cucumbers, sliced 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal (about 8 cups)
  • 1 medium Vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced 1 inch thick
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal
  • Coarse salt
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seed
  1. In a colander set over a medium bowl, toss cucumbers, onion, and celery stalks with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Set aside to drain, 30 minutes, tossing occasionally. In a small bowl, combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed, and mustard seed; stir until sugar is dissolved.
  2. Divide cucumber mixture among clean jars or airtight containers, and pour vinegar mixture over. Refrigerate at least 8 hours (or up to 2 weeks).
Enjoy your pickles!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Grow Garden, Grow!

Our front garden is a wild mass of tomatoes and pumpkins! The best part is they have all sprouted all by themselves put of our compost.

I was pretty excited to see some baby pumpkins this morning and can't wait to cook up all kinds of delicious dishes with them! Yum!

You may also find this delicious!

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