Mandarin Melon & Mint Granita

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YOU NEED

300ml of fresh mandarin juice

100ml of melon juice

1 loose cup of fresh washed mint leaves, leaves put through a juicepresso or alternatively blended into the mandarin and melon juice.

4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

 

YOU DO

Whisk all ingredients together.

Pour the mixture into a chilled tray and place it into the freezer onto a flat surface

After an hour, use a fork to scrape the edges of the mixture that have started icing up and push it into the centre of the tray. Continue doing this every 20-30 minutes until all the mixture is completely flaked.

Serve in chilled glasses.

 

Serves: Serves 2

Time: Prep time is only about 10 minutes. Then simply allow for the freezing process.

Freeze: YUP

Notes: If you are not serving your granita straight away just place it into an air tight container in your freezer until you want to use it.

Vanilla Plum Granita

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YOU NEED

400ml of fresh plum juice

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

 

YOU DO

Whisk all ingredients together.

Pour the mixture into a chilled tray and place it into the freezer onto a flat surface

After an hour, use a fork to scrape the edges of the mixture that have started icing up and push it into the centre of the tray. Continue doing this every 20-30 minutes until all the mixture is completely flaked.

Serve in chilled glasses.

 

Serves: Serves 2

Time: Prep time is only about 10 minutes. Then simply allow for the freezing process.

Freeze: YUP

Notes: If you are not serving your granita straight away just place it into an air tight container in your freezer until you want to use it.

Red Pear & Ginger Granita

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YOU NEED

400ml of red pear juice

fresh ginger to taste

4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

 

YOU DO

Whisk all ingredients together.

Pour the mixture into a chilled tray and place it into the freezer onto a flat surface

After an hour, use a fork to scrape the edges of the mixture that have started icing up and push it into the centre of the tray. Continue doing this every 20-30 minutes until all the mixture is completely flaked.

Serve in chilled glasses.

 

Serves: Serves 2

Time: Prep time is only about 10 minutes. Then simply allow for the freezing process.

Freeze: YUP

Notes: If you are not serving your granita straight away just place it into an air tight container in your freezer until you want to use it

Strawberry & Orange Pops

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YOU NEED

200mls of fresh strawberry juice

200mls of fresh orange juice

 

YOU DO

All you need to do is combine the strawberry and orange juice and and pour the miture into small paper baking cups and place in the freezer.

Wait until the pops have almost frozen through and/or a firm enough for you to be able to place a paddle pop stick into each then pop the sticks in the middle of each pop and allow them to freeze completely and serve.

 

Serves: Made 4 pops.

Time: Prep time of 5 minutes plus freezing time.

Freeze: YUP

Pineapple Basil Pops

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I struggled to stop myself drinking this it was so delicious!!!  I did however have some left to freeze into pops.

Basil is not everyone’s thing but its mine and combined with pineapple it’s a match made in heaven.

These would be perfect served at a finger food event or at the end of a dinner party for a fun finish on a warm day.

 

YOU NEED

400mls of fresh pineapple juice

fresh basil leaves to taste. I easily used a very loose ¾ – 1 cup because I LOVE basil. I suggest you do this to taste.

 

YOU DO

All you need to do is place the pineapple juice and basil into a blender and blend until they are well combined and the basil has broken down. Then place some baking cups onto a small tray and pour the pineapple and basil juice into the cups and place the tray in the freezer.

Wait until the pops have almost frozen through and/or a firm enough for you to be able to place a paddle pop stick into each then pop the sticks in the middle of each pop and allow them to freeze completely and serve.

 

Serves: Made 4 pops.

Time: 5 minutes of preparation. Plus freezing time.

Notes: If you have a juicer that presses, you can just pop the basil leaves into the juicer, as you juice the pineapple and it will press the basil beautifully. Otherwise simply blend the basil into the pineapple juice as the recipe explains and then even strain the mix if you don’t want any “bits”.

#Note that I had a VERY sweet pineapple so if your pineapple is not SUPER sweet your results will be different and you may need to add a little agave or pure maple syrup.

Zucchini & (not Bacon) Chowder

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Zucchini & (not Bacon) Chowder

 

Today was the 4th time I played with this and I’m glad I did. I made it once then lost the recipe which happens because I scrawl them down on scrap paper as I work. It turned out to be a good thing though. I made it again to re write the recipe up as I went but wasn’t quite happy. The 3rd time I decided to grate the zucchini and the result was much nicer than the original dice I had been doing. I also played with the amount of water and seasoning. In my 1st recipe I didn’t use any corn but the 3rd time I threw some I had in the freezer in and it added so much more texture that I decided to make it a part of the dish.

I got thumbs up for this one from my husband too which is so very rare J So I am happy with that.

 

YOU NEED

1-2 tablespoons of rice bran oil

1 large onion, peeled and finely diced

1 teaspoon of minced garlic

500ml of water

250ml of Bonsoy soy milk

1 teaspoon of salt

plenty of fresh ground pepper to taste

1-2  teaspoons of liquid smoke (available at well stocked deli’s and the American Store, which is also online)

6 teaspoons of Massel vegetable stock powder (available in most supermarkets where the stocks are)

4 generous cups cubes (approx 2 large potatoes) of brown potato, peeled and cut into small

4 generous cups (approx 4 medium zucchini) of grated zucchini

2 cups of corn kernels

 

YOU DO

Heat the oil in a large pot on a low to medium heat. (I tend to sauté my onion in just water mostly these days unless doing a dish like this that would normally be quite meaty and would contain some fats). Sauté the onion gently until browned. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.

Add the water, Bonsoy, salt, pepper, liquid smoke. stock powder and potato and bring to the boil. Once the water has boiled, turn the heat down to a very gentle simmer. (You don’t want to reduce the stock too much so you don’t want a furious boil at this stage.) Cook until the potato cubes are about half the way cooked through.

Add half the zucchini and pop a top on your pot. # The soup will look like it needs way more water when you do this and you will be very tempted to add more liquid at this point. DON’T, because zucchini contains a ton of water. Just continue cooking for a few minutes and when the potato is on the cusp of being ready. Turn the heat off.

Using a ladle, scoop out half the soup into another container. Try to ladle a lot of the liquid into the container as well as potato and zucchini. Blend the mixture in the container until it is  smooth.  Add the blended soup back into the pot with the unblended soup and gently stir to combine. #You want to try not to break up the lovely potato chunks as you do this. Throw the rest of the zucchini and corn in, bring the soup to the boil and serve immediately.

Enjoy with your favourite crusty bread.

 

Yields: 2 FABULOUS serves or 4 more polite serves.

Time: Takes about 30 minutes.

Freeze: I wouldn’t

Notes: I like bold flavours so if you don’t just use the stock and part of the liquid smoke and check the seasoning at the end and decide as to whether you would like the salt and extra smoke.

This is best served straight away. If you have left over’s it may need extra seasoning when you reheat it because of the high water content of the zucchini.

Garnish with some thin slices of red capsicum or long red chilli for color like I have if you wish.

Zucchini, Corn & Mint Fritters

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Zucchinni Fritters 2wm

Zucchini, Corn & Mint Fritters

I was playing with corn fritters a few months back but wasn’t quite happy with the result. Then today I was standing in the kitchen once again looking at the 2 gigantic zucchinis I just got from my father in law and a load of corn in the fridge that needed using up. I then wandered through the vegie patch for some inspiration and realised I have not 1, but 2 mint patches and so decided to have another crack at these fritters.

It only took 1 practice batch and then another batch with a little less of this and a little more of that and I have ended up with a cracker fritter.

Not only are these delicious but they are super easy to make, garlic free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free and easily made low fat

 

YOU NEED

1 cup of grated zucchini

1 cup besan flour (also known as chickpea and/or garbanzo flour and is found in most health food and Indian grocer shops)

1 cup (2 cobs) corn kernels, cooked

¾ cup of water

1 cup fresh mint leaves, washed and pat dried with a tea towel

¾ cup spring onion (also known as scallions), finely sliced

1 teaspoon salt

Extra salt for dusting

Pepper to taste

 

YOU DO

Strain all the excess of water out of the grated zucchini using a nut bag, chux or tea towel. Discard the water that comes out of the zucchini and set the zucchini aside.

Sift the besan flour into a large bowl and whisk the 3/4 cup of water into, it until you have a smooth batter.

Add the remaining ingredients, including your zucchini into the batter and stir well to combine.

Heat a pan with a little bit of oil and cook in batches. Drop a generous tablespoon of the batter into the pan. Cook until browned and turn to brown the other side. I find the trick is to have the heat slightly higher at the start so you get a nice colour and the fritters don’t soak up a load of oil and then once both sides are nicely browned, turn the heat down a little and cook a bit further, so that the insides are cooked through.

Drain on a clean tea towel. Lightly sprinkle a little salt over each fritter, while they are still piping hot.

Serve warm with salad and chutney.

 

Yields: 12 fritters.

Time: 15 minutes preparation. 5 – 10 minutes cooking (if frying)

Freeze: I wouldn’t.

Note: Don’t use canned corn. You get a much more plump and sweet corn kernel, if you cook a couple of cobs and cut off the kernels.

Be careful when cooking your fritters as the corn can pop!

# I tested a couple out in the oven for a fat free version on 175c for about 15-20 minute and they worked out fine. The texture was obviously a little different but they still had a nice crunch.

Fresh Apricot Pops

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YOU NEED

1 overflowing cup of fresh apricots that have had the stone removed and cut into chunks

1 cup of your favourite vanilla plant based ice cream

1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup (I used this because I wanted the sweetness to be highlighted once the cold had dulled it down slightly during the freezing process).

 

YOU DO

Put the apricots into a blender and blend till smooth. Once they are smooth scrape the puree into a 1 cup measuring cup. You want the puree to equal 1 cup. So if it doesn’t just put the puree back into the blender and add a couple more apricots to top it up and blend till smooth.

Soften a little vanilla soy, cashew or coconut ice cream. Measure out a cup and put it in the blender with the apricot and blend till smooth.  Add the maple syrup  and pour the ice cream mixture  into your icy pole moulds and place in the freezer till solid.

Eat fast because they melted fast!

Serves: I used Tupperware moulds and this gave me 5 ice – creams

Time: It took all of a few minutes aside from the freezing time. My husband LOVED them. My toddler was sadly suspicious because they weren’t “white ice cream” 😕

Note: By blending frozen banana and fresh apricots along with a couple of soaked dates you can also create raw ice creams.

Not Egg…Nog

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I was first introduced to egg nog when I lived in Canada many years ago and I loved it. So when thinking about Xmas recipes this year, I was determined to create a dairy and egg free nog.

I researched how people were doing it and found some used avocados, some bananas, or vanilla pudding mix and also tofu. My first shot at it I tried using silken tofu to mimic the thickness, but I ended up with a really earthy flavour. Second time I simply made custard and added maple syrup to sweeten it. It was lovely, simple and I am thrilled!

Next time I am going to make it with a non gluten free custard powder though and may even use a little more so it’s slightly thicker but I tell you…I drank my weight in this yesterday at our xmas lunch.

YOU NEED

4 tablespoons of custard powder. (I used Orgran gluten free Custard Powder which I get from the health food shop. I simply followed the instructions on the packet)

1 litre of Bonsoy. (Bonsoy is available most anywhere these days. The price varies drastically though so shop around. The cheapest I have found it to date is at my local organic grocer where if you buy a slab of 6 they work out to $4 each.)

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds removed. Don’t stress if you don’t’ have a vanilla bean. It just makes the nog a little more special.

1/4 cup of maple syrup (or sugar, or agave, or brown rice syrup)

2 shots of brandy

2 shots of rum

cinnamon & nutmeg to taste

 

YOU DO

Make the custard as per the packet, using the 4 tablespoons of custard and the litre of Bonsoy.

Then whisk in the rest of your ingredients. Allow the mixture to cool, then refrigerate.

When you serve  the cooled nog dust it with some cinnamon sugar.

# If you want it to also be soy free just use a different plant milk 🙂