+ vegetarian success! +

I am always on the look out for good vegetarian recipes that my meat loving boys may actually enjoy. While back in Australia I bought the 'A Taste of Vegetarian' Thermomix cookbook. Since being back in the U.S. I have browsing through it & this week settled on making the 'Tomato Pasta with Vegetables and Feta' (on page 72 for those of you with this recipe book). 

It came out looking quite gourmet, was easy to make & best of all, combines plenty of vegetables to make a great flavour. Danny & the boys gave it the tick of approval which is all I need to put it on the permanent rotation in my meal planning. 

It looks great!

I like it, Mum.

A messy Thermomix but it gives you the idea of how it came together. 

The best thing about this recipe is that it can be done on the stove as long as you have a few pots & pans & a steamer. I have found the recipe on the web here but for some reason they seem to have mixed up the Feta cheese with Parmesan. That might be worth trying too if you are feeling adventurous. 

Let me know how it goes!

:: raw food ::

My Mum & Sister-in-law, Lara, have been exploring the raw food movement for the last couple of months & Mum has been catching me up on some of the things they are learning over her visit. If you want to get the basics have a look at the page about Raw Foodism on Wikipedia.

I am interested & open to new ways of eating & cooking but have the challenge of catering to my husband, who prefers meat & 3 vegetables, & 2 somewhat fussy eaters. Some nights all 3 of them flatly refuse to eat what I have lovingly prepared, the last recipe being a vegetarian curry. I figure if all 3 of them claim that its inedible then majority rules & they can have toast. 

When a local friend found out that Mum was interested in raw food she mentioned Omar's Rawtopia, a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City. Mum was very keen to check it out so we decided to wait till a child-free day & then venture down. 

The menu was interesting. Although the meals had names that were recognisable, they looked very different when they appeared on the table. The first photo was of Raw Pasta on the left & Pizza on the right. I had a moment of feeling quite dubious when the meals appeared but pushed forward with bravery... and was well rewarded! It was on of the most amazing taste sensations that I have experienced. Different but not too different to be undeserved of being called a pasta dish. 

Mum loved it!

And finally... dessert!

A chocolate, vanilla Creme Pie with raspberry sauce & blueberries.

It was amazing!

So although I cannot say that I am an instant convert to the raw food lifestyle I had a very positive experience & will piggyback on any good recipes that Mum & Lara discover along the way. If I find an especially good one I might just share it here, ok?!

:: chilling wine ::

This is how we chilled our bottle of white wine for dinner tonight. 

Convenient hey?

:: three in the kitchen ::

For the first time in my mothering career I had two helpers in the kitchen this morning & it was challenging to say the least. Danny came up mid baking session to make a coffee & said it was the cutest thing he ever saw. There was no way that I had enough hands to take photos as well!

Yes Kael is balanced rather precariously on the stool there. It was ok when I was beside him but later he took a tumble. Oops. Hopefully the points I get for baking with my kids outweighs my demerit points for failing to catch my one year old when he fell off the stool. 

They both ate more cookie dough than they put on the trays but I guess thats expected as well...

The finished product - Choc chip & nut cookies! There are Grandad & Gran, Mummy & Daddy, kid & baby sized ones. Why is it that the kid wants to eat the Grandad ones? Cause they are so yummy!

Here's a cute video featuring a regular conversation that we have about the American & Australian words for things. I got a bit carried away with Kael being cute at the end. Hope you don't mind... By the way - the music playing in the background is Francis England. Aunty Lara sent it to Kael for his birthday & we love it!

The knitting tips were great!

Anyone have any baking with toddlers tips?

I know that it would have made more sense to have Kael sitting on the bench & Jamin on the stool... The beauty of hindsight.

< peanut butter >

After many weeks of procrastination & interruptions I finally got around to making my first batch of homemade peanut butter this morning.

It is a little bit of a lengthy process as I wanted to shell the peanuts first as they are fresher that way. This is actually the second time that I shelled a jar full of them & let me tell you that with 'help' it takes about 30 minutes. The first time I didn't get around to making the peanut butter & we proceeded to eat the shelled ones on our road trip.

The recipe is pretty simple - 200 grams of peanuts & 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil. I didn't have sunflower but did have Safflower so hopefully it substitutes well. Danny likes crunchy peanut butter so I only crushed the nuts for a few seconds on speed 6.

And the finished product! As you can see it only half filled the jar so next time I may need to double the quantities.