Amanda Brooke

Meat Free Meals- Veggie Crepes

I was seeking some cooking inspiration today with a handful of vegetables and I asked my followers on Instagram for their input. One of the suggestions was 'Ratatouille' which surprisingly I have never knowingly made. I looked up my cookbooks for some ratatouille inspiration and I found a recipe for Ratatouille Crepes (Women's Weekly, Fruit and Vegetable cookbook) but I decided to adapt it using what I had on hand. I didn't end up using the carrot (as pictured) but I think you could use most veggies in this recipe using up what you have in the garden or the kitchen. The key is to cut/grate them small enough that they will cook through in around 25 minutes.

 

VEGGIE CREPES

(Serves 4 adults)

CREPES

1 cup of plain flour

Four eggs (beaten)

1 1/2 cups of milk

2 tb of olive oil

1. Place flour into a bowl, make a 'well' and add 1/4 cup of milk and remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth and then add the remaining milk slowly until you have a thin batter.

2. Pop batter in the fridge for 30 minutes. While you are waiting for the batter to settle we'll start on the vegetable filling.

THE FILLING

1 x onion sliced thinly

1 clove of garlic - crushed

1 tb oil (I used rice bran oil but olive oil is fine)

1 x zucchini chopped roughly into small pieces

1 x red capsicum sliced

2 x yellow squash chopped roughly into small pieces

4 x button mushrooms sliced

1/2 tsp mixed herbs

1/2 bottle of Passata sauce or a tin of crushed tomatoes

1. Heat oil in a heavy based saucepan and add onion and crushed garlic. Cook until the onion has softened.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for around 20 minutes or until the veggies you have used are cooked through.

MAKE CREPES

1. Remove batter from fridge. Heat a frying pan with a little butter and pour in enough batter to make a small dinner plate size crepe. Allow the crepe to brown then flip to other side. Stack cooked crepes on a plate.

EAT

2. To serve spoon enough mixture on each crepe to cover 1/4 of the crepe and fold in half then half again. Stack two filled crepes on each plate. OPTIONAL: Sprinkle with a little cheese and some herbs to garnish.

3. Serve and enjoy!

These are truly a fresh and delicious way to serve some veggies that need using up and it would make a filling lunchtime meal also.These are definately going onto my meat free recipe list!

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

P.S If you are wondering why the crepes are yellow looking it's because I have used our chookies eggs!

Basic Muffin Recipe

I almost forgot to post my muffin recipe here this week. Here it is, my favourite recipe that never gets made the same way twice. It is only limited by your imagination!

BASIC MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups of Self Raising Flour

1/2 cup of plain flour

1/2 cup of sugar (This varies depending on other ingredients)

1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I use rice bran or olive oil and sometimes only use closer to a 1/4 cup)

1 cup of milk (soy works well too) or make it up to a cup using some raw yogurt

1. Sift dry ingredients together.
2. Add oil and milk.
3. Add any other ingredients.
4. Stir until ingredients are just combined.
5. Fill 12 hole muffin pan 2/3 full. I like to use paper cases as my pan is a real pain to clean.
   
6. Bake at 180 degrees in pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
8. Eat warm, cold or freeze and use within 3 months.

To this base add one of these variations or come up with your own combinations:

1. 1/4 cup sugar & 1 cup of blueberries or raspberries
2. 1/4 cup sugar & 3/4 cup choc chips
   
3. 1/4 cup sugar & 3/4 cup of dried fruit
4. 1/4 cup sugar & 3/4 cup of fruit and nuts
5. 1/4 cup sugar & 1 small banana or grated raw apple
6. 1 cup shredded tasty cheese PLUS herbs, cooked bacon, seeds (carraway or fennel), sundried tomoatoes or something savoury. No sugar.

I often make these using wholemeal flour and sometimes add oatbran, oats, wheatgerm or whatever I have on hand. You can make them as healthy or naughty as you like.

Hey there's one missing...it wasn't me...

...okay maybe it was...these are good!

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

 

 

Veggie Boost Bread Rolls

Some of my favourite memories growing up and staying over at my friends home are connected  to homemade bread. I can remember buttering warm rolls straight from the oven and filling the rolls with thinly sliced granny smith apples. I can still feel the warm butter dripping down my chin, hear the crunch of the apple slices and smell of the distinctive aroma of the doughy rolls. These are childhood memories I love and adore.

Over the years I have shown you pics of bread and rolls baking here, but I have never shared my recipe with you. That's not very nice of me, is it? This recipe has been adapted from the original recipe of my best friends mum. She passed it onto my mum and my mum passed it onto me. I make it in my bread machine, but you can adapt the recipe if you like. I would like to share it with you as it is a good basic bread recipe, lovely and light and it freezes well. I even find that it tastes just as lovely the next day. Yes it's true!

Jenny's Bread Rolls

(Adapted for a bread machine)

2 cups of very warm water (this can vary...sometimes I only need/use 1 3/4 cups)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (I use olive oil or rice bran oil)

1 dessert spoon of salt

4 1/2 cups of bakers flour

1 tb of bread improver

1 tb yeast

1. Place all ingredients into your bread machine (as recommended by the supplier). 
2. Use a dough setting and allow the machine to run the cycle.
3. Remove dough and cut into 12 to 16 pieces....depending on how big you like your rolls! Shape into rolls.
4. Place on a floured oven safe tray and brush with a little oil.
5. Cover the rolls entirely with glad wrap and allow to double rise for 45 minutes in a warm place. (I use my oven on a low setting in winter or put the tray in the car in the warmer months)
6. Remove the glad wrap and bake for 15 minutes in a HOT oven.
7. Remove from the oven, slide rolls onto a wire rack and allow to cool...I can't wait though...I LOVE these rolls warm!
   

ENJOY!

I often tweek this recipe and add ingredients like polenta, an egg, milk powder, cheese, dried fruit and spices, nuts or seeds etc to change it around a little and to keep things interesting. But yesterday I really 'souped' it up!

I replaced the water with V8 Vegetable Juice!

This idea was inspired by a bread recipe in the Feeding Fussy Kids book. (More about this book in another post) Using V8 Vegetable Juice created sweet little apricot coloured buns with a lovely mild veggie flavour. The addition of the juice is a great way to boost the nutritional value of bread rolls, making them ideal for fussy kids! I used 1 1/2 cups of vegetable juice (heated gently to warm it) mixed with a 1/4 cup of warm water and I also used less salt due to salt being already present in the juice.

The kids LOVED them and we did too. They make a lovely change to plain rolls.

I am wondering now...how do you think these would go using freshly squeezed juice?

Thanks for visiting,

P.S The Pioneer Woman cookbook in the background was a gift from my husband who has returned from overseas. Aren't I a lucky girl? This is her second cookbook and I think I am going to love it as much as the first! Ree Drummonds blog is one of my favourite blogs in the whole world...and if I ever travel to Oklahoma I would dearly love to visit her ranch, eat at her table and ride into the sunset...one can dream!

 

Muffins, books, flowers & chooks

I'm enjoying small vases of cut daisies. We have a few varieties here and they fill up pockets of the garden with sunny blooms and happy memories of my grandparents garden. I don't feel the need for fancy bouquets, just a simple selection of blooms or herbs plonked into a vase makes me smile.

I love their sunny centres and their delicate petals.

Yesterday little hands helped me create blueberry & banana muffins from my favourite family recipe. I will share this recipe soon. It is a basic muffin that you can add your own ingredients to based on what you have on hand, what's in season or whatever you fancy! The kids love these and they freeze well making them handy for school lunches and afternoon snacks.

Since the passing of our chook this week I have been reading up on chook books and thinking about adding more hens to our family. This means building a new pen, so that is on my mind too. The book at the bottom is called The Contented Chook and it is a new release that I picked up at our local book store. It features 60 examples of 'real' chook houses from around Australia and it's great for inspiration and ideas. Even if you aren't new to chooks it is still a great resource. We have four hens now. Two Sussex and two Australorp crosses. If you would like to recommend a breed for whatever reason, please feel welcome to in the comments.

Thanks for visiting,

Amanda x

Pumpkin Glut

What do you do with 8 pumpkins?

I came home to these on our front veranda the other day. After recalling my neighbour saying they had 60 pumpkins in their patch, I knew straight away where they had magically appeared from. I've been browsing my books for recipes using this yummy vegetable, but my books only refer to meals that use small quantities. I do often make pumpkin soup (recipe to follow), which I can freeze, but I would love to try something new!

I'd love some pumpkin recipe inspiration! What's your favourite recipes or suggestions for pumpkin glut?

Simple Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

1/2 pumpkin (chopped into small chunks)

1 leek finely sliced (optional)

2 cups chicken stock

1 knob of butter

1 tsp curry powder (optional)

Cream (optional)

Place pumpkin, leek, curry powder and knob of butter into a medium pan. Saute for a few minutes. Add the stock and heat until simmering. Allow to simmer until the pumpkin is soft. Remove from heat and puree with a stick mixer until smooth. Add a good dollop of cream if you like, mix and ladle into soup bowls. Serve with crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting,