Breakfast @thebeansblog

 

Breakfast was straight off the vine this morning ...

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Homegrown Pomegranate

 

i realize I've been m.i.a for a week or a bit more ... we went on a little long weekend getaway ... just me and my husband !  it was the most amazing time and lots of what we did revolved around eating amazing food.  i will share some of that with you.  i'm just trying to get through this week first !  

but just so you know i'm not ignoring you, here's a little something that i picked out of our garden yesterday.  it was yummy yummy yummy !  if only it wasn't the only one on the plant ! i tried to look on instagram to see how long it took this one to grow and all i could see was that the first photo i posted of the little fruit was 18 weeks ago .... so, i guess it's going to take a while to grow another one, especially since there aren't even any flowers on the plant at the moment.  i guess it took everything it had for my little plant to grow this big piece of fruit ! 

see you soon.  i'm hoping to have time on the weekend to sit and blog.  we shall see ...

Fruits of the Forest Streusel

I saw a Blueberry Crumble recipe on line the other day and wanted to try it. But, I didn't have all the ingredients, blueberries being one of them and the crumble topping seemed a bit weak. So, I decided to make something up. Sort of. I used the filling recipe from the recipe I'd seen ... but substituted for the blueberries and then used the streusel topping from that magnificent apple cheesecake streusel

Here's what I did :

Filling:
1 box frozen Forest Fruits - no, I didn't bother to thaw them, I just used them frozen
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
a drizzle of lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Mix together ingredients from above and set aside.

Base and Topping:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup butter, softened

Mix together all ingredients. Push 1/2 (or maybe not quite half) of the streusel mix into the bottom of a springform pan, forming a very thin base. Top with berry mixture and then the rest of the streusel mix.

Bake in preheated oven on 180 til fruit is bubbling through the top edges and streusel topping is golden brown. I wasn't sure how long it would take so didn't set a timer and forgot to look at the clock .... but my best guess is that it was between 40 and 50 minutes.

Let set for a bit before trying to remove it from the pan !

Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream. (no sugar, just a spot of vanilla needed in the whipping !)

Fruit Salad a la Alia

The other night Alia (6) made this fruit salad for dessert. I helped her take the skin off the kiwifruit and I segmented the orange. She did EVERYTHING else on her own ! I was so impressed. I bought the neatest little gadget last time we went strawberry picking that helped her with slicing the strawberries ! I'll do a post on that little beauty soon ... but beware, you are all going to want one !

This fruit salad contains one punnet of strawberries, one orange, two kiwifruits and one banana. There are also red and green apples on the side so we could add whichever one we have a preference for ! Isn't she thoughtful ?? :)

Fruit Salad For Lunches

I remember, years ago, thinking that a friend of mine was brilliant because she made a fruit salad at the beginning of the week and she and her husband ate it all week long. I have finally started doing it from time to time. I'm not sure why I don't do it every week because I love it when I do !

Especially when there is such a wide variety of yummy yummy fruit available !!

I just chop it up when I'm making lunches on Sunday night, store it in a big tupperware and each night when I make lunches, I scoop it into our individual tupperwares for taking. One time I stored it in the individual tupperwares on the Sunday but it took up way too much room in the fridge ...

Icy Poles ~ Peach, Nectarine and Apricot

What kid doesn't like Icy Poles ? Popsicles ? Ice Blocks ? Whatever you want to call them ...

My two love 'em.

And I don't mind them having them ... when I make them at home.

These ones were a bit of accidental discovery made in an attempt not to waste food.

I bought a box of seasonal fruit that included peaches, nectarines and apricots.

It's the end of the stone fruit season and they weren't all that great.

Some were not ripe. Some were over ripe.

Not one of the appealed to my eye ... or my appetite.

So ... I just chopped 'em up (skin and all), threw 'em in a pot of water and boiled away.

Then I took that whole pot, poured it (water too) into my blender.

(almost burned myself to death because the blender was too full ... be careful of that !)

Blended 'til smooth.

And then poured into our icy pole molds.

I had heaps of the mixture left over though

so I put a couple inches of the mixture into plastic cups, added half a straw,

covered with press and seal and froze those.

A couple minutes soak in hot water when ready to eat and they slip right out of the cup !

Dessert {Pizza} Experiments

We had dessert pizza at our friends place ... made in a wood fired oven ... a while back. The kids rave about it still so I thought I'd give it a go ! My pizza dough recipe actually makes four thin crust pizzas. I just roll one smaller one and three equal size ones. I use the smaller one for the dessert ...

For the blueberry and nectarine ... I just spread thickened cream on the base. Added frozen blueberries, slivered fresh nectarine, and then sprinkled with our nut/oat mix. Drizzled with a bit of maple syrup and into the oven. 400F/200C - still on from the dinner pizzas (!). 15 minutes or so ... but watch so the oats don't burn ! I drizzled with thickened cream to serve.

The second experiment was actually with a different dough (you can see it in the previous post if I forget to come back and link it !) that I like even better. The toppings were 1 cup mango - blended with a couple tablespoons of thickened cream and 5 dates. (I just threw those three things in my hand mixer and whizzed 'em into a thick paste) Spread that paste onto the dough. Sprinkle with same oat/nut mixture ... except that we've now added sultanas (raisins) and goji berries to the mix. 15 minutes in the 400F/200C oven and dessert is served. You could probably top with cream again but we didn't. This one was even better than the blueberry one !! Can't wait to try more ....

Healthy Muffins {Take Two}

So ... I tried THE MUFFINS again and these were a huge success. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. We didn't need butter on them at all ... We'll keep making these and trying different fruit variations !! Again ... this made 24 muffins !! And they are perfect for lunches !!

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups whole wheat spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup milk
3 granny smith apples
1 cup frozen mango squares
1.5 cup frozen blueberry/cherry mixture
1 frozen banana (I chopped it, Rory reckons mash it next time ...)

Put your muffin papers in your tins.
Peel and chop apple, add 1 or 2 tsp water and cook in microwave about 5 minutes. Smush 'em up.
Combine dry ingredients.
Combine wet ingredients, minus the fruit.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.
Fold in fruit. ( I make 12 berry ones and 12 mango/banana )
Put in muffin tins.
Bake on 180C/350F for 20/30 minutes. Mine took about 30 ...

Not For Beginners ...

I made this green smoothie this morning. I was just adding as I went and tasting. I got to this very green stage, had a taste and was surprised by the fact that I LOVED IT ! But, it was VERY GREEN tasting and probably not good for a beginner green smoothier !! I know I wouldn't have liked these a few months ago ... But easing into it with fruitier ones has gotten me here !!

I'm at the end of the week ... need to shop today or tomorrow,
so I pretty much just dug through the fridge and did a big cleanout into the blender !



I used ... a very little bit of mango off the seed that was (oddly) leftover.
One peach.
One nectarine.
A spoonful of homemade peanut/cashew butter.
and a lot of snow pea sprouts !



I blended that up and then added all of the baby spinach I had left in the fridge.
Added about 1/2 a cup of water and whizzed it up again !
DONE !



I poured my glass, then added a cup of frozen blueberries to the remaining mixture, whiz whiz whiz and we're done ... kid approved green smoothies !!



Yum Yum !

My First Green Smoothie ...

.... was so NOT green !!!

I'm not sure why ... I had lots of spinach in it. All picked from our garden, I might add ...

We'll see how today's goes !

Here's what I put in the NOT green smoothie ...

1 frozen banana
handful frozen blueberries
handful frozen raspberries
a squeeze of agave nectar
a bit of vanilla
a couple scoops of the fruit salad I had in the fridge
(it contains rockmelon, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi fruit)
a cup or a bit more of water
and then the spinach

It was yum.
A bit tart though.
I'll use less raspberries next time ...

Menu Plan Monday - Bonnie - 19 January 2009

I'm loving pomegranate season !!

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Here's what's on the menu this week ...

Friday - Udon Prawn Salad

Saturday - Eggs on toast

Sunday - Lamb Kabob with Spicy Mango Chutney & Whipped Feta with Naan

Monday - Greek Pizza & Salami Pizza

Tuesday - Black Bean Sliders

Wednesday - Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

Thursday - Tortilla, with Foccacia

This post is part of:

(click on picture to see more menu plans)

Scones

The other day I was feeling like Strawberry Shortcake ... the way my Mom used to make it. Unfortunately, I have no idea how she used to make it and the time difference wasn't helping me at that particular moment ! So ... I had to improvise. I remembered these amazing scones my sister in law, Gina, taught me how to make. Topped with fresh strawberry's and freshly whipped cream. Delish !

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Here's how you make 'em :

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The Ingredients:

3 cups self raising flour

1 cup of thickened cream

1 cup of Sprite

The "how to's":

Put flour in bowl. Add cream. Add Sprite. Knife through ... you want the mixture mixed but don't work it too hard. Line cookie sheet with non-stick baking paper. Scoop mixture out of bowl onto cookie sheet. Spread around. ( it will rise in the oven !! ) Put into hot oven ( I have a fan forced oven so I did it on 220C ... that's about 430F ) The recipe said 15 minutes but mine was done in 10 !!!

That's it ! When it's done you will have a giant scone !! Cut it into whatever size pieces you want. Top with whatever you want ... jam, cream, fresh fruit ...

A Quickie Fruit Platter

I made this for a morning tea we went to this morning.
I forgot we needed to bring a plate,
so an hour before we were meant to be there,
I hit the shops.
This was the result.
Rock melon, strawberries, kiwi fruit, blueberries and bread.
Sour dough.

Torn up and topped with nutella.

Raw ...

Don't judge this before you try it ! I made it tonight and it is delicious !!!
I got this recipe from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen website. Actually, Shay told me about it (surprise, surprise !!) first but I lost the paper I wrote the recipe down on ! The other day I stumbled on it here.
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Here's the one I made tonight !
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All-American Apple Pie from pg 211 of “Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen”

makes 1 pie

ALMOND PIE CRUST
2 cups almonds, dry
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups pitted dates

SYRUP
1/2 cup pitted dates
1 orange, peeled and seeded
splash of water, as needed

FILLING
5 cups apples, peeled, seeded, thinly sliced, about 5 or 6 apples
1 cup raisins and/or cranberries
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

Ok ... watch this little video I found on YOU TUBE and then I'll tell you the rest of the instructions.

Ok ... so first thing you need to know is that you need to soak the almonds over night and then let them dry for the day before you make this. I dried them til about 3:00. They were still a bit moist but it worked.
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Put the almonds in the food processor and process til well processed. I didn't leave any chunks. Set aside 2 cups of the processed stuff and pour the rest into the bottom of your pie dish (like she did in the video) Put the 2 cups back into the processor and add 2 cups dates. Process til doughy. Press into pan (again, refer to video) You did watch it, right ?
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To make the syrup you just blend all the syrup ingredients together.
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Add to the bowl where you've mixed the filling ingredients together. Speaking of the filling. I found 1 cup of raisins way too much. Next time, I'll do 1/2 cup only.
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The rest should be self explanatory after watching the video ...
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Give this a try ... I think you will like it ! If not, drop it off at my place ... I'll eat it !!!
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Apple-Dijon Chicken

For the low-carb crowd!

4 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Salt and pepper

2 T butter

1 medium tart cooking apple (such as Granny Smith), thinly sliced

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 T Dijon-style mustard

1. Butterfly cut each chicken breast half by cutting horizontally from one long side of the breast almost to, but not through, the opposite long side of the breast. Lay the breast open. Sprinkle both sides of chicken breasts with salt and pepper.

2. In a large skillet cook chicken, half at a time, in 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat until no longer pint (170 degrees F), turning to brown evenly, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm with aluminum foil.

3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to skillet. Add apple, cooking and stirring 3 minutes or until tender. Add whipping cream and mustard to skillet. Cook and stir until heated through and thickened slightly. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Serve sauce and apples over chicken.

Note: My kids don't like the Dijon, so I remove their serving of apples and cream before adding the Dijon.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 342 cal., 16g total fat, 142 mg chol., 407 mg sodium, 6g carbo., 1g fiber, 40g protein

Janelle

Peach crumble

The addition of a surprising amount of lemon juice perks this up wonderfully.

INGREDIENTS
-8 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced (I used drained canned peaches, they were a little soft but tasted fine; I will try this again with fresh ones)
-juice of one lemon
-1/2t ground cinnamon
-1/4t ground nutmeg
-1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
-1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
-2T cold butter cut into small chunks
-1/4 cup rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly spray a 9" pie pan with cooking spray.

Arrange the peaches in the pan, sprinkle with lemon juice and spices.

In a small bowl, mix together flour and brown sugar. With your fingers, crumble the butter into it (it's OK to leave the butter a bit chunky). Stir in the oats. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the peaches.

Bake till the juice is bubbly, the peaches soft and topping browned, about 30 minutes. Makes 8 smallish servings.

If you double this recipe, bake it in a 9x13 pan, and bake for 45 or so minutes.