Healthy recipes...

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.

Home grown... home made refrigerator pickles!

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.

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!

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!

Gnocchi in Creamy Carrot Sauce...

Gnocchi in creamy carrot sauce.

I have a confession to make, I loved gnocchi.  You know, I even love the packaged gnocchi that you get at the deli.  It's so quick to make and it's often my fall back dinner dish because it's quick, tasty and filling.

The carrot stash in my vegetable crisper has been getting bigger and bigger and I've been trying to think what to cook that would use up a bunch of them.  I often make a gnocchi with a pumpkin sauce and I thought "Why not try it with carrots?"  This recipe is super simple and tasty.  You can also play around with the flavours and seasoning to your own taste too.

Gnocchi with Creamy Carrot Sauce.
Ingredients:

• 1 packet of potato gnocchi
• about 6 medium carrots
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 large rashes of bacon chopped
• A good handful of rocket for each dish
• white wine
• 1/2 cup of milk.
• olive oil

1. Peel and chop carrots into about 2cm sections, simmer in water until softened.
2. Once cooked, drain carrots and add a little milk.  Using a stick blender, blend until smooth.  Continue to add the milk until it is at a thick sauce consistency.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside on a low heat to cook milk and also to keep warm.
3. Cook gnocchi to the packet instructions.  (Usually while I wait for the water to boil, I start cooking the bacon, onion and garlic!)
4. Cook bacon, onion and garlic in a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil until onion is soft.  De-glaze the pan with a splash of white wine.
5. Add the carrot mixture to the bacon and onion mixture.  Drain gnocchi and add to sauce.  Toss gnocchi to coat in sauce.
6. Serve with a good amount of grated parmesan cheese, top with fresh rocket.  Add a little sprinkle of olive oil to the rocket and season to taste with salt and pepper.

This dish is quite pretty, the combination of the orange from the carrots with the bright green of the rocket is lovely.  Enjoy your creamy carrot gnocchi, you may need a spoon to get the last of the sauce out of your bowl!

For the love of Maha, St.Kat's & the Delia!

Maha cookbook by Shane Delia

Maha restaurant in Melbourne is one of my favourites.  It's combination of Middle Eastern food and some traditional Maltese treats make it something pretty special.  The decor too is amazing and you feel like you've entered another world, stepping down into the richly decorated restaurant and bar.

Miss Mardi with the lovely and talented Shane Delia at St.Katherine's.

When Shane Delia, owner and creator of Maha released his cookbook by the same name, I was super excited!  This was an opportunity to give some of his recipes a try at home.  I was glad to see some of my favourite dishes from Maha in the book, including the amazing Turkish delight filled donuts - yum!

A special dedication...

One of the things that I love about the book are the beautiful stories of how Shane came to cooking, his inspiration and some of the photos of his family and also him when he was younger!  I love this style of cookbook where it invites you into the chef's family and life and you come out the other end feeling like you know them personally.

Partners in Crime, George Columbaris and Miss Shannon.

I rarely gush about restaurants and chefs but I have to say that the gang from Maha, St.Katherine's and the Press Club (all of them are in cahoots with each other!) they never fail to impress.  I am confident that I will be given some great dishes, I never leave hungry and there's always a dish that makes me go 'wow'.

The photography in Maha cookbook.

Although I haven't had a chance to make anything from the book as yet, I think that I will be trying my hand at some of the recipes over the Christmas break!  It's a beautiful book, take a look if you get a chance!

The Cure Cocktail...

The amazing healing powers of The Cure...

I posted this little cocktail recipe over at www.fringeclub.com.au and thought I would share it with my Dine Wine and Martini readers too!  It's a super refreshing cocktail, however if you don't had any vodka or gin to it, it is also a great non-alcoholic drink to rehydrate you in the Summer.


The Cure Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber
• 1 bottle of sparkling mineral water
• a knob of fresh ginger
• vodka
• ice

You will also need:

• a tall glass
• drinking straw
• muddler

How to!

1. Slice up about 2 cm of fresh ginger into large slices and pop into your glass.
2. Slice the cucumber down the length to get a long, yet thin slice of it - this is to garnish and for extra flavour.
3. Slice some of the remainder cucumber into chunky cubes and add with the ginger into the glass.
4. Using the muddler, gently mush/muddle the ginger and cucumber to break it up and also to release the ginger aromas and flavours!
5. Add some ice to glass and fill with the sparkling mineral water.
6. Add your long sliced cucumber, drinking straw and enjoy!
7. You can add some vodka to this cocktail for a 'hair of the dog' or for a refreshing Summer cocktail too!

Enjoy!

It would be quite easy to make this up in a pitcher to serve for guests as well.  Just modify the quantities to taste.


Enjoy!

Gingerbread Spiced Granola...

Gingerbread spice mix courtesy of Two Swedes Cooking.

I am a huge fan of granola!  I just love it for breakfast and over the last year or so, I have experimented with a few different recipes and can easily adjust the ingredients now to make a pretty delicious concoction.

I guess that I am pretending that I am in a Winter Wonderland at the moment and I am embracing the delicious 'festive flavours' of spices and sweet potato and cranberries and all of that.  When I went to make my latest weekly batch of granola yesterday, I spied my Swedish Gingerbread Spice mix and thought "I wonder how a Gingerbread Spiced Granola would turn out?"  I can tell you now - delicious!!!

Breakfast time! Gingerbread Spiced Granola with yoghurt and pears.

Using one of my basic granola recipes, I exchanged the cinnamon for a good dose of this Gingerbread Spice Mix and cooked as I normally would.  This spice mix adds a complexity of flavour to the granola.  You will also feel pretty festive eating it as it smells just like gingerbread!  My spice mix is courtesy of Two Swedes Cooking and the lovely folk at Nord Living in Melbourne stock it!