cooking from your pantry (and fridge)

Somewhat of an ambiguous title for a post, but I couldn’t think of a better way to say “using all that stuff in your fridge and pantry that you bought once for some recipe (since forgotten), that you never used, and now is just sitting there”.

I often plan my menu for the following week on the Friday before, however often things pop up during that week which means I don’t end up cooking as I planned. So the ingredients that were went to make that dish end up sitting in my pantry and remained unused. This has left me with a stack of ingredients that I really need to get using! The plan will be to try to minimize any food shopping in the next three weeks (it helps that I am away two out of the three weekends) to just any fresh ingredients (fruit & veg) and perhaps only the extra piece or two that will be used up to make a dish (which is using up all the other ingredients).

After a quick peruse through my pantry and fridge yesterday, I have the following bits & pieces that need to be consumed:

• Kidney beans – somehow I have three cans of these? And one can of four bean mix.
• Tortillas – I think I counted over four packets, apparently I am paranoid about running out.
• Polenta – I have had this packet for a while now, need to find some use for it.
• Poppadoms - over two packets of these.
• Macaroni pasta – I made Mac & Cheese a while ago now, but haven’t found a use for the rest of the packet.
• Vermicelli noodles – I think I bought these for some Vietnamese spring rolls, but I discovered I liked them more without them. Perhaps I can make a salad of sorts – I had an amazing vermicelli salad at MissChu recently.
• Sundried tomatoes – I had these for a pasta dish, but only used half the jar.
• Jalapenos – I bought a massive can of these (thought it was a good deal), but have used only one or two of these.

I probably have a few more, but I think getting through the above will be enough for now. Do you have any ideas of how to use these up (doesn’t have to be all at once)? Preferably recipes without too many other ingredients – so I won’t have to be buying much to make them.

I am hoping after the three weeks I will have a much less packed fridge/pantry – and perhaps get myself more in the habit of cooking what I actually buy.

revisiting pomona

One of the best things about people coming to visit, bar them actually visiting, is you have the perfect excuse to eat out! My go-to brunch place of choice is fast becoming Pomona, a small cafe in Preston that I have mentioned visiting here, here and here.

Although I have been quite a few times now, this was perhaps the first visit I strayed away from my usual order of the Do you speak french? (the most amazing french toast), and went for the green eggs & ham (but swapped out the ham for the peppers) – it was a good move, the meal was amazing! There was perhaps a bit too much beetroot to get through, but otherwise it was just scrumptious.

If you are in the Preston area, I would recommend seeking this little cafe out. It just improves every time I head along.

taco pizza

What do you do when you have left over beans from tacos, but don’t feel like eating more tacos? Make taco pizza of course.

I didn’t realise taco pizza was a ‘thing’ until I was doing some googling on  pizza topping options and came across a taco pizza recipe. The idea is pretty simple, beans and cheese on a pizza base, and popped in the oven to melt. Then adding fresh taco type ingredients on top – I went with lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream. The result was a rather delicious pizza – it may be my new favourite way to eat tacos.

What are your favourite slightly unusual pizza toppings – anything I should try?

back with cupcakes

So it seems that I haven’t been taking photos of anything interesting lately, and thus I have had nothing to blog about.  Life since my last post (April 16 – gah! So sorry), has been chugging along nicely. April turned out to be a very busy month indeed – between flying around for work, a quick trip back to Perth, and also the Comedy festival, I didn’t seem to have much time for my blog. Add onto this getting sick, probably from stretching myself too thin, it has been a while since I have posted something of substance. It is looking like I will be back to normal this month – so hopefully I will get a bit more posting done.

In the meantime, I have posted above the little treat I bought myself whilst in the city over the weekend. They are all miniature cupcakes (not fully sized thankfully) and they were all delicious – I would definitely recommend Little Cupcakes in Degraves St.

Hope everyone had a great April – can you believe it is nearly the middle of May already? Crazy I say.

eggplant rolltini

This photo was from a few weeks back, and I must have just forgotten to tell you about it!

I have been discovering the multitude of uses that Eggplant has, and ever since my trip to Coffs Harbour, I have been wanting to try a homemade Eggplant Rolltini. I found the recipe over at The Passionate Parsley - and she even uses Tofu instead of ricotta, so it is completely vegan. There a few components of the dish to prepare, but none of them are difficult.

Straight out of the oven the dish is beautiful – although next time I  may put the grill on for those last few minutes to get a bit more crunch. I even had a few of the rolls for lunch the next day, and they still kept their shape whilst being microwaved.

I think you could have a lot of fun mixing up the filling for these rolls, might need to have a think of what to put in next.

alice springs and surrounds

Apologies for the massive absence the past few weeks, life has got a little bit in the way. I am always slightly sad that blogging seems the first to go when I get busy – but back to it!

For the past week I had the great pleasure to head up to Alice Springs and Uluru for a work trip – and although I spent almost 14 hours asleep yesterday catching up, it was an amazing experience. I had never been to the NT before, and was absolutely blown away by the landscape and culture. I have gone a bit overboard on the photos below, hopefully you don’t mind.

Being greeted at Alice Springs Airport with an Olive Tree snake.

On the road

Our first tour bus

At the camel farm

A sleeping dingo

A very photogenic camel

The Thorny Devil

Spot the devil

Time to get throwing

Let’s see if we can get this to come back

I don’t think I would have killed anything!

Uluru

Uluru

and Uluru again

Didgeridoo playing

Dinner under the stars

Taking in the views

The night’s fire

Watching the sunrise

Aboriginal dancing

Uluru up close

Uluru, me and a hat!

On the road again

Our campsite for the night

Roasting marshmallows

King’s Canyon

Up, up and away!

I could go into a full essay on what I did on the trip – but thought I’d just leave it to a few highlights:

• Being greeted at the airport by a very friendly Olive Tree snake
• Finding a Thorny Devil on the road, and giving him a pat (gently)
• Seeing Uluru – it was just breathtaking.
• Attempting to throw a Boomerang (it came half way back)
• A four course fine dining experience under the stars
• Camping out in swag
• Viewing the amazing gorges, gaps, mountains and craters that are scattered across the countryside
• Viewing the sunrise from a hot air balloon

It is amazing that I have lived in Australia for over 17 years and I hadn’t visited sooner. 5 days definitely wasn’t enough to get all the adventures in, and I am hoping I will get to head back to see more of the area.

Have you been to Alice or the Northern Territory?

ceres cafe, brunswick

I had a friend over from Perth just the past week (hi Katie!), so it was the perfect excuse to head out to a meal (or three). I only ended up taking photos at one, the Ceres Cafe in Brunswick.

Ceres is a community environment park that also has a fresh food market, organic shop, farm land with growing vegetables and chickens and multiple other sustainable projects. The cafe is nestled to the back of the park, with most of the seating outdoors amongst the trees. It was a very peaceful atmosphere to spend a Saturday morning, especially as we were both slightly worse for wear from the night before.

It was getting close to midday when we arrived, but we still went for the breakfast options:

my baked beans with fresh goats cheese and sourdough toast

Katie’s dukha eggs with bacon

Both were very well received. I am definitely going to head back to Ceres, the peaceful outdoor atmosphere was just perfect for a lazy morning breakfast.

perth trip: food

I had two meals out whilst I was over in Perth – and I was pleasantly surprised with both.

The first was a dinner out with all the family (well all the family located in Perth) and we chose an Indian restaurant with plenty of vegetarian options in Wembley, Varq. We booked for a table fairly early in the evening, and arrived to a fairly quiet atmosphere. Much to our surprise, it was bustling when we left.

We ordered:

Onion Bhaji and Roasted Cauliflower for starters.

Paneer Curry and a Dahl for our mains.

I also sneaked a dessert, but apparently I was so excited to eat it I forgot to take a photo.

The last morning before I headed back, my mum and I decided to find somewhere new for brunch. I found The Pearfect Pantry on urbanspoon and we decided to give it a go – oh boy I am glad we did.

I had the most amazing vegan burrito with cashew cream – I hardly got through half of it, but the vegetables were just beautifully fresh for the morning. My mum had the fresh Bircher Muesli - and she seemed fairly happy with it. It is a definitely a hidden treasure. We were some what put off by the off street appearance, but don’t let that fool you – it was amazing!

Loving the new eateries in Perth – definitely getting more options around town.

perth trip: Scuptures by the Sea

As per usual, my follow-up on my Perth weekend is slightly late. Apologies.

I have decided to break down the trip into two sections – the Sculptures by the Sea exhibit, and then the food (as you know, that deserves an entire post).

When planning my weekend in Perth, I didn’t even realise that the Sculptures by the Sea were on – but luckily my parents were clued in, and suggested we head down early on Sunday morning. I took a million and one photos of all the amazing, and somewhat quirky art works, but below are my favourites.

 

I think they have done something similar in Melbourne before, but if you’re in Perth I would definitely recommend heading down to Cottesloe beach – even if it’s just to pose next to ‘The optimist’ (the guy with the clouds).

a quick note

I got back from my long weekend away in Perth late last night and I am struggling this morning. Long weekends are great, but  coping with the time difference and getting back into work always takes some adjusting to.  I had a great weekend back with my family, and I have some good photos to share, but it may be a few days before I get them up as I catch up on life.

On a more somber note I have been struggling with some anxiety the past few weeks and I thought I would share some advice I was given, coming on five years ago now, which I try to remember every time I end up back here:

Focus on the fact that you were good for so long, not that you have fallen momentarily.

Perhaps capturing that advice on here will make me take it on. Any who hope you all had a good long weekend (if you had one) – and I promise I’ll have some wrap up posts in the coming days.