non-boring non-alcoholic drinks

Goddess save me from yet another cranberry juice, at an exorbitant price, sipped on in a stylish bar! There are so many other booze-free options on offer.

Whether you’re signed up for FebFast, Dry July,  OcSober, are pregnant or just want to take a break from the booze, you don’t need to feel like you're missing out or have to rely entirely of sugar laden drinks. I’ve bought together the best of my booze-free resources into one neat package so you never need to thirst again.

Get (alcohol-free) drinking!

A good bar person can whip you up something special. This was "citrus, fruity and not too sweet thanks"

All new recipes are on my naturopathy website, check out the resources section for my recipe archive.

pina colada iceblocks

The long heatwave has not been conducive to cooking or writing. Though it did appear to be the perfect time to moan about the weather.

But long hot spells are an appropriate time to do a bit of a pantry cleaning and make ice blocks.

Not just any kind of iceblock (icy pole, Popsicle – call it what you will) but pina colada ice blocks. 

Inspired by this recipe (which was altogether too fiddly, boozy and you know what I think about agave), the pantry haul included a can of coconut water (that had added sugar so never drunk), a tin of pineapple in juice bought for my father’s recent visit (his habitual morning repast of tinned fruit and cornflakes) and a dash of Malibu from a long, long time ago in lieu of coconut essence. I would have added the cornflakes if I could.

Combined in a large jug, whirled together with the stick blender, this made more liquid than could fill the 10 moulds I own. The leftover large glassful was equally delightful and the dash of grog had little or no effect but added perfectly to the flavour.

Frozen, these beauties have been a dream on these 30c nights. Providing the perfect after work reviver or post salad treat. And while I feel dirty even mentioning the word 'kilojoule' on this blog, they would have to be significantly less calorific than the original recipe. 

So you can have two!

Glad I’ve got a few left, as despite the wintry change there’s promise of almost hitting 30c again this week.

how a gadget reclaimed my heart and the war on clutter was lost

Why is it that the process of decluttering tends to cover more surfaces with mess than it clears up? Or perhaps I’m the only one who begins chores, only to loose interest half way through. The sad reality is that my kitchen is invading the rest of my small home. From cookbooks to preciously hoarded jars (yes, instant entry to old-womanhood), there are only so many things that can be shoehorned into a tiny house.

Something’s got to give.

While a few cookbooks have been culled (and a pile of less-used-but-still-can’t-be-thrown-out sit on the table awaiting banishment to a high shelf) and the aforementioned recycled jars are on notice, my small handful of kitchen gadgets got the once over.

The mini-food processor is used so often it’s won bench top squatting rights. A week doesn’t go by without a batch of nuts being ground to sprinkle on breakfast or a quick curry paste blended from scratch.

A bigger version hunkers in the cupboard, rarely touched since I fell in love with its dwarf twin. But the promise of whizzing up a batch of scones in the wink of an eye gains it a stay of execution.

In frequent use is the stick blender. I worship this invention and thank the day it superseded the old-fashioned jar blender. Who could forget attempting to blend molten batches of soup in the 80s? It’d take at least two or three blender-fulls and a couple of pots to transform a chunky liquid into a smooth soup. And the mess! Not just all the washing up but at some stage the inner lid would blow, creating an unwanted art installation on the (inevitably) white kitchen and the risk of second degree burns.

With the delightful combination of warmer weather and arrival of affordable bananas, my stick blender and favourite jug are in regular service. I’m loving summer fruit blended with rice milk and a touch of either pomegranate molasses or a spoon of coconut sorbet.

So it was with a heavy heart that I eyed up my long neglected juicer. Purchased almost-new for $12 at a garage sale in 1990, she’s done great service. I figured the carrots, celery sticks and apple quarters that gadget’s seen in the name of detoxifying had surely earned a dignified retirement?

But a watermelon bought with the intention of becoming another summer of love salad became my undoing.

“Watermelon juice!” I thought. And oh how right that notion was.

Watermelon juice three ways

Watermelon smoothie: blend juice with a small banana and a handful of strawberries. No milk or added sweetener required. The banana gives it added body and creaminess.

Summery watermelon cocktail: shake together 3 parts juice, 1 part Cointreau and a dash of rosewater and pour over ice. Not sure how I dreamed this combo up but I promise you the hint of orange from the liqueur and the fragrance of roses marries with the watermelon perfectly. And it’s pink!

Au naturel: or mixed 50:50 soda water to extend the loveliness.

So after three weeks of “decluttering” – the kitchen table’s still missing in action, cookbooks have been relocated (making space for my burgeoning jug collection) and the juicer is fighting the jam jars for space in the cupboard.

...and a former ambivalence for watermelon has been transformed into a new seasonal crush.

making stuff is fun!

'Tis the season to be jolly, so they say. I reckon you don't need an excuse to have fun in the kitchen and make stuff.

For a change I'm remembering to keep some of the bounty for myself. The batches are small, no massive all day assembly line productions, just exploring some new (and old) recipes and making sure there's a spare or two to share.

It began sedately in November with preserved lemons, spiced prunes (organic Australian prunes bathed in cointreau and spices) and homemade vanilla essence.

This weekend I stepped up the challenge, playing with some ideas that I've had for a while. Here are a couple of recipes to add to the collection.

Lemon cordial

Equal quantities of fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup (sugar syrup = equal quantities of sugar and water, bought to a simmer til the sugar melts).

Yes, it is as simple as that! A touch of citric acid will extend the shelf life, you only need 1/2 tsp per 500 mls of cordial.

Update: Cindy was spot on wither her comment - a dash of rose water really lifts this cordial and all subsequent batches have had a generous capful of rose water.

Serve with chilled mineral water (and a dash of clear spirits if you desire).


Vegan chocolate Truffles

2 parts good quality, dairy-free dark chocolate
1 part coconut cream
a dash of your favourite liqueur (optional)

cocoa powder for dusting

Roughly chop your chocolate then blitz in a food processor until granular (I borrowed this method from Delia Smith who uses the description "granular like sugar"). I then measured my ground chocolate to determine how much coconut cream I needed. I used 2 cups of ground chocolate and 1 cup of coconut cream. Heat your coconut cream til it starts to bubbles. It's quite thick so it tends to boil like a Rotorua mud pool - fortunately it doesn't smell like that. Pour half of the hot coconut cream into the chocolate that you have returned to the food processor and blitz. Add the rest of the hot coconut cream and give it another blast. The resulting ganache is glossy and inviting. I've read a good tip, if the mixture splits just add some cold coconut cream.

You can leave the mixture as is or fortify it with your favourite booze. I used about 3 tablespoons of my spiced cointreau that the prunes had been marinating in - as the cardamons, cinnamon and cloves combined with the orange flavour of the liqueur was delightfully festive. It's best to add a small amount, mix, taste and add more as needed rather than pour the lot in at once.

Pour the ganache into a tray or tub to firm up in the fridge or the freezer. It only needs an hour or two in the latter. Once it is firm but not too hard to roll get ready for the fun.

Remove your rings, scrub your hands, have a bowl of ice water and an old hand towel ready. If your hands are warm dunk them into the chilled water and then dry them. Use a spoon or a melon-baller to scoop up a small amount of the firm ganache and roll into a ball. Set aside. Repeat the process, dunking your hands to cool them off as need be.

Once you've finished rolling your balls, place some cocoa powder in a bowl or cup and using two forks to handle them, drop the balls in the cocoa and toss 'til they are covered. Place on a rack so any excess cocoa can fall off. I must admit my balls were far from perfectly shaped but after a dunk in cocoa they didn't look so bad. Keep the truffles cool and consume within a week.

The truffles are rich and luscious, with that melt in the mouth feel that makes you crave more.


Enjoy the season!

cheers!

As a tribute to the end of the tomato season in my inner-city garden, I made a fitting drink.

I mean, what else could I do? I’ve been up to my eyeballs in lycopenes for weeks (a full tomatoey round up is coming soon) and now it was time to farewell the lovable nightshade with appropriate aplomb.

The Bloody Carlton

Take a dozen Tommy Toe tomatoes straight from the garden and run through a juicer.

Combine with:
a nip or two of good quality vodka
a tsp or two of Organic Worstershire Sauce
a generous shake of Tabasco Sauce
a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Add ice, garnish with a stick of celery.




Stir, sip and give thanks to the goddess of small gardens.

journeys with my thermos

With all this talk about lunch lately – I thought it was time to discuss essential gadgets for eating on the go. When it comes to food on the run, my one and only is the humble thermos flask.

You may have noticed that not a single recipe on the site uses the miraculous “kitchen TV”. I have not been taught to salivate, Pavlovian like, at the ping of at microwave. I don’t like what they do to the texture of food nor wish to trust my health to one for the sake of so-called convenience, let’s leave it at that.

So, enter the thermos. This simple device keeps food and drinks hot or cold. It means you can eat when you are out and about without a power source or any other equipment. It is the ultimate recyclable food or beverage container.

Here are a few notable uses of mine:

Thermos porridge: Think cooking oatmeal conventionally takes too long or is too messy to clean up? Try this simple recipe I got from a hippy book written in the 70’s.

Before going to bed, first warm your thermos with some boiling water for about 10 minutes. Take 1/2-1 cup whole rolled oats and twice as much boiling water (or boiling milk of some kind) and pour into a wide-mouthed thermos. You can add sultanas or dried cranberries if you like, a little cinnamon or nutmeg – whatever accoutrements suit your palate. Screw the lid on well. You can wrap it in a towel too if you want extra insulation if it is somewhere cold.

In the morning – wherever you are – simply pour out the contents (into the handy bowl/cup that sits on the top if you are away from home). Voila – porridge. A healthy, warm, sustaining breakfast of champions.

Soup in the snow: I used to go out with a snow bunny. I will be forever grateful for him taking me on my first trip to Lake Mountain. For a kiwi who’d only skied downhill before, cross country skiing amongst the gum trees, on a blue skied winter's day was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had in Australia. What made it even better was the trusty thermos.

The night before I made a pot of hearty bean and vegetable soup. Getting up at the crack of dawn, I heated the pot on the stovetop while I showered the sleep from my eyes and donned my thermal clothing. Once again I warmed the thermos, poured in the aromatic soup and headed off in the car a few hours out of Melbourne to the snow. I can assure you that after a morning of falling on my derriere, soup has never tasted so good! He did his part by carrying one of those blue thermal mats for us to sit on and we dined amongst the snow gums. The perfect winter picnic.

Some people have even be known to take soup to work for lunch.

Pre-theatre drinks: In the final days of the docks before it became an artificial city, some of the old buildings that once stored cargo were put to a good use as a venue for dance parties and theatre. One spring evening I caught the tram down to see a performance with a friend and sat on the edge of the old docks with a flask of perfectly cool cocktails – brandy, freshly squeezed orange juice and ice. Very pleasant and ultimately more memorable than the show.


The thermos was invented in 1892. I wonder if the microwave oven will be so widely used and loved 115 years on from it's inception?

rose petal cordial

Reading an old travel diary I came across the recipe for one of the most beautiful drinks I have ever had. I drunk it high up in the mountains on a summer’s day. Try it, at least once, before you die!

Ren’s Rose Petal Cordial

Pack a clean jar with freshly picked roses. Choose blooms that are fully opened, almost about to drop. Pluck each petal and pack them vertically in the jar. Cover with vodka. Once a day, for 3 days, strain the vodka and discard the petals. Replace with fresh petals and cover once again with the same vodka. Sweeten to taste with sugar syrup.

I’m still waiting for a good supply of organic roses, grown away from the city air – to make it myself. For those of you in the North lucky enough to have roses in bloom, enjoy!

Detox Diaries - day 6

Dreams returned to their usual meld of non-food related items. Wake up feeling AOK.

Juice for a change to help face the new day.

Pear Zinger Juice
1 pear
1 apple
1 lemon, skin removed
ginger root, 1/2-1 inch, depending on your zing tolerance!


Parts 1 and 2 of breakfast were taken around a dentist appointment. I have to say that in the 20 odd years since I stopped eating meat I’ve never had a new cavity.

The reward for the never entirely relaxing visit to the dentist was a punnet of blueberries. I know they are “good” for you but most I have tasted have been ho-hum. However spurred on by the euphoria of the big organic grocery store (which lacked any other fruit that excited me) I parted with the big bucks for a cupful of organic berries. I am now a convert. They are sensational! Sometimes you really do pay for what you get.



Having started the working day late I didn’t have a lot of time to face the lunchbox challenge. I always buy my lunch, but I knew without the one saving grace in the city being open I’d have to pack my own today. I’d bought some good quality babaganoush, fresh with no additives and scooped some into a small container and hastily chopped up some veggie sticks. In a ziploc bag I threw in some ice to keep it from going off. Some almonds and a big bottle of filtered water completed the preparations. Oh yes, am still downing 2-3 litres a day of that precious fluid in various forms!



Lunch tasted great, but I still like the ritual of eating outside of the office. There is always the threat of the phone ringing or someone coming in, to upset the digestion. I’ve got to say I’m looking forward to going out to eat other people’s food next week.

The other downside is that although the detox is less extreme since the weekend’s fruit fast, I hadn’t really tested myself. Energy was better than expected and I hadn’t suffered any big crashes, but in reality I had done very little for 3 days. But today all that changed. By 5pm, despite nibbling on a few almonds, my brain shut down. Blood sugar had plummeted and I couldn’t add up numbers. Fortunately I’m not an accountant, but I feel like an idiot stumbling over simple sums in front of clients. By the time I got home I was literally running in circles, knowing I needed to eat (some blueberries helped, but not enough) but not being able to decide on what. The plan was to make veggie stock for some lentil soup. Dumb plan when it is 6pm, you’re hypoglycaemic and dinner will take 2 hours to cook! I chased my tail for a while and after reading lots of recipes took ideas from 3 different ones to come up with my own.

Bean salad with parsley pesto

The pesto bit
Combine: parsley, pistachios, 1-3 cloves of garlic, a little grated lemon zest and some lemon juice in a food processor and blitz til smooth. Then add 1-2 avocado and blend briefly. (Non-detoxers could add a slurp or 2 of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.)

The bean salad bit
White beans (cooked from dried would have been better but a can of well rinsed organic beans can be a lifesaver sometimes) and diced salad vegetables..

Mix the pesto through the salad and you have a well balanced, 10 minute meal!

The pesto in particular was fabulous – thanks to Flip Shelton’s idea to use pistachios. I’m still waiting for her recipe to go up on the RRR’s Breakfasters site, but I know it also had mint and basil. The avocado came from a Golden Door recipe book, it extended it and gave a little creaminess. It would be great on steamed greens or a chunk on top of a vegetable soup, as it is half way between a pesto and gramalata.

Planning is the key to a successful detox I reckon. To avoid tonight's problems, instead of resting I spent the night making vegetable stock (from all those dag ends of celery etc that I have been gathering) and eventually a no-fry, red lentil and vegetable soup - so there is something for dinner when I get home late from work tomorrow.

Tomorrow – and I thought today was tough! How life’s little crises can threaten a detox, will she make it or won’t she?

indulgent medicine

Stat Counter is working again* and I think I am not going to get any worse, health wise, so after a day in bed will attempt to face the world again. I seem to have been getting a rise in hits from Canada – so hello to all in the true North of America. Especially the hapless googler with this request:

www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=food recipes for very bad sore throats%3F&meta=

From my experiential research yesterday I recommend:

Lemon and honey

Take the juice of 1/2 a large, or 1 small, lemon
1-3 teaspoons of honey

Mix with boiling water and stir. Sip slowly under the covers with an obliging feline for company. Food podcasts or a good book optional.

The Full Monty

Not for the faint hearted – this takes the classic lemon and honey drink to a whole new medicinal level.

Lemon juice
Honey
Grated root ginger
Fresh chili
1-2 cloves of crushed garlic.

Combine the ingredients with boiling water. Sip while in the bath or in a warm bed. Classic texts suggest you should have a “hot brick” at your feet, but a hot water bottle or heat bag is a good substitute. The herbs will cause sweating, aiding the body to get rid of toxins.

The combo doesn’t taste as bad as it sounds. Quantities are up to the tolerance of your taste buds.


I was also served a lovingly made soup that contained: Garlic, ginger, onion, turnips, sweet potato, potato, parsnips, chicory, broccoli, carrot, eggplant and a few fresh tomatoes (and perhaps more vegetables that I have now forgotten). Cooked in the pressure cooker with some vegetable stock.

I spent the rest of the day on the couch going through my archive of recipes clipped from magazines or copied by hand over the years. It included the remains of an exercise book, cover long since disintegrated, started almost 20 years ago. It contained tried and true recipes that I then made regularly or concocted by various housemates, as well as dishes I dreamt of making. There was a great cake that had come from the newspaper with the notation “replaced rum with brandy, raspberry for apricot jam – tasted great” scribbled in my handwriting on the side. Instantly I was flooded with memories of a celebration long past.

There was also Betty’s spinach roulade, made for me in my dairy eating days in London, by a sadly now deceased friend of my father’s. It brought back memories of staying with a kind, but very proper couple in their town and country homes. My favourite food experience with the pair was on the drive to their place in Suffolk stopping for lunch en route. Betty, in true ex airhostess style, produced three lovingly prepared, individualised trays worthy of a first class meal on a plane. Each compartment contained an appropriate entrée and main, with a cheese course to follow. Her husband offered half bottles of red or white wine. For an Antipodean used to staying in hostels and eating on the cheap, memories of this lunch on the road will always bring a smile to my face.

It is amazing what just a single recipe can conjour.

I can see many happy meals ahead.



* comments still much appreciated

and now recipes without pictures

I am camera-less for the duration. The lens of my lovely little canon A70 has decided to not retract. If you are interested in the saga of the dreaded E18, catch up with the story here.

In the meantime you will have to just imagine.

It’s a chilly night. Body and soul needs some warming. What better time to mull some wine?

Impromptu mulled wine

Take some red wine. Something on the hearty side, not a delicate pinot noir. There is debate as to quality – but if you start with ‘rough as guts’, you’ll just end up with ‘spicy rough as guts’. If in doubt grab a cab sav, in the lower teens dollar wise.

Pour the wine into a large pot. Add slices of organic oranges. Now raid your spice cupboard. Cinnamon is a must – sticks or the chunky bark. A little nutmeg is fine, just the right use for the nobly end that you have been grating on your porridge. A small sprinkle of cloves, maybe some star anise. A slice or 2 of root ginger is nice. You don't have to add all of these, just use what you have on hand.

Put on the lid. Let is simmer gently. If making ahead of time, turn the heat off and let it steep to bring out the flavours, otherwise just simmer for at least 20 minutes. Add some sugar, enough to slightly sweeten without it becoming sickly.

If you feel cheated that the heating process may have robbed you of the full alcohol content, stir in a few splashes of brandy*. Keep the lid on and either place the pot on a heat diffuser mat or store in a prewarmed thermos (perfect for autumnal excursions).

Serve in heatproof glasses and sip til your heart feels gladdened.


* Be warned, even without the brandy this drink can pack a punch.

smooth operator

The cool change has come, but the house is still hot. Fitful sleep punctuated by a fan whirring and a cat skipping in and out of the bedroom window, I awoke groggy and dry. The fruit bowl had been picked over. The mangoes used up yesterday in a spectacular breakfast of wholemeal pancakes*, maple syrup and slices of juicy, ripe mango. The heat had begun to knock the expensive white peaches around (I was saving them for a work morning treat) and the lady finger bananas were ‘eat now’ ripe. It all spoke of the perfect, morning liquid meal.

Fruit smoothie

(per person)
1 lady finger banana
1 peeled peach (nectarines would taste almost as good), sliced
A splash (1-2 tsp) pomegranate molasses
Milk of choice (for me, malt free soy)
Ice if desired

Place ingredients in a beaker or jug and whiz with hand blender (I love my kitchen magic wand!). Sit in the garden under the grape vine and sip.

*Wholemeal pancakes
1 cup organic, wholemeal flour
2 organic eggs
Enough soymilk to make a pourable batter

Blend ingredients in food processor til smooth. Allow the batter to sit for 15 minutes. Heat a medium sized non-stick fry pan, add butter, turn heat down so it is hot but won’t burn. Ladle in some batter and swirl around pan. When the mixture bubbles on top, flip and you will find a browned under belly. Remove from pan when cooked, add a small knob of butter and a generous amount of good quality maple syrup. You may form a stack of them if desired. Top with slices of mango. Consume with the finest black coffee available.

The pancakes are more a flapjack than a crepe. The wholemeal flour is not too dense and the combination with the soy made it taste almost coconuty.

And yes, I use butter but don’t eat cow’s milk. Something about extracting the whey (protein?) makes butter digestible to me, but not other dairy foods.

Life is...

Cherries are Christmas to me. As kids we would awake on December 25th to a bowl of cherries and sweets beside our bed. That and the small sack of presents at the base of our bed was meant to be a bribe to keep us quiet so our parents could stay asleep just a little bit longer. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen!

In Melbourne they come in a month earlier, so perhaps don't hit such a luxurious punch to the savvy kid about town. Whether it is because of the Christmas associations or just because they taste so good - cherries have always been special to me.

Other than eating them as quickly as possible the only other thing I have done with cherries is the Famous Cherry Vodka of 2003. In December this fine brew was laid down. Later the next month it was consumed in numerous shots with the neighbouring Tango Evangalists, who spent a whole afternoon teaching us how to dance. A good time was had by all.

Cherry Vodka

Clean and dry a batch of ripe, luscious cherries. Discard any that could be even slightly dodgy looking. One bit of mould will spoil the whole batch.

Prick them gently to allow the juices to mingle.

In a sterile glass jar, place the cherries and a generous handful of sugar, then cover with vodka. I use Stoli or Absolut, because I like it. Make sure the cherries are well covered. Screw on the lid tightly.

Store out of direct sunlight for a minumum of two weeks.

Watch as the liquid turns ruby red.

Adjust sweetness to suit your palate, just add more sugar or sugar syrup* if needed.

Strain and rebottle.

Best drunk accompanied by singing and dancing.

* I'm sure you know how to make sugar syrup. For a heavy syrup use heat 1 part water to 1 part castor sugar, stir until dissolved.



if you really don't like the taste cherries, they make nifty earings as well

Holy Medusa

Coffee by Chris Phillips of Flavours of Lakhoum, 175 Swan Street, Richmond.
Photo: Rebecca Hallas pinched from The Age


This post is fuelled by caffeine. My usually drug free body is zinging. My brain feels like it is attempting to repackage itself in a rhomboid shaped cranium.

I love coffee.

I hate coffee.

I used to romance my cup of roasted goodness in bed, on those leisurely mornings when demands of the day were less pressing. I would sip and read, or write inspired thoughts. Coffee was my friend. If I courted her with a little care, keeping her to just one a day our relationship remained easy.

Most years I would take a little holiday from my addiction. Just to prove I could. It started in London in the 80’s where the coffee was almost uniformly crap, strange brown liquid out of suspicious looking urns. I found some beans and a grinder in my adopted home in Stoke Newington, only later to discover they were kept for the sole use of not sipping with pleasure, but sluicing out the intestines as an enema! That crystallised to me the relationship Brits had with coffee at the time.

So a couple of years ago in my annual ‘I can give up caffeine’ drive, I extended it longer and longer, til I no longer missed her.

That’s when the problems started and my friend turned into an unpredictable foe. Just one cup could now make me shaky. A sip or two too many could rearrange the contents of my head, squeeze it, make it hurt. But most of all – fill me with unease.

Sometimes its ok and I get that sweet pleasure I so fondly remember. But those times are getting rare.

I miss her. Want her back. But realise that sadly this is a relationship I have out grown. But sometimes, on mornings like this, nostalgia gets the best of me and I fire up the kettle, grind the organic beans and make the tiniest little plunger full. I sit and take a deep sip and wait and see where the journey will take me.

sweet cheeks

Mangoes herald spring, the return of sunshine, lazy days, sweet times. They make me feel patriotically Australian, one of the finest fruit found in my adopted land. Growing up in New Zealand I never saw a mango. I was a teenager before the exotic avocado hit town (and how bland and strange we found it!). Stone fruits were the taste of summer and the only tropical fruits of note were the occasional pineapple and herbaceous banana.


There is no simpler breakfast than a mango cut into cheeks and consumed in exquisite bites.

They also go well with:
A squeeze of fresh lime juice
Blended in a smoothie
Organic strawberries (nothing lesser will do)
Strawberries and a splash of grand marnier, but perhaps not for breakfast
Daiquiris (ditto)

But ideally they are best consumed simple, nude, luscious, dripping…