Quick Rice and Beans

1 cup brown rice - cook in 3 cups water
1 can tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans
1-2 tsp onion flakes
seasoning to taste - smoked garlic seasoning or salt and pepper
few drops of hot sauce

I just added the other ingredients to cooked rice and reheated it. Served in a bowl with steamed broccoli it made an appetising, quick and cheap meal. ( I used onion flakes because I couldn't be bothered chopping and sautéing an onion to add but that would work just fine).

Tahini salsa dressing

Serendipitous discovery - there was leftover salsa & a little bit of leftover tahini dressing in the fridge - mixed them - magic!

Tahini dressing - can be as simple as tahini mixed with lemon juice and thinned with a little water, I think I had added some mustard and maple syrup to that one. 

Italian inspired stir fried rice

My food choices at present are dictated by a couple of things - my fridge is virtually useless and things are keeping very poorly in there and have to be used up quickly and secondly my planned shift in a few weeks means I am trying to empty my freezer.

today I had leftover brown rice, 1/2 chopped onion and 1/2 courgette& 1/2 a capsicum (bell pepper) in the fridge to use and a packet of frozen spinach - there were also sundried tomatoes, olives and capers jars in the fridge and half a pot of "gloriously garlic hummus"  & I had discovered several jars of dried mushrooms in my pantry ... so here goes

soak the 1/4 cup dried mushrooms (mine were chanterelles) in hot water

saute 1/2 chopped onion

add chopped capsicum & courgette, sauté until onion brown and caramelised 

1 tsp of crushed garlic (or 1-2 gloves chopped fresh garlic) 

add 1-2 tbs chopped sundried tomatoes

4-5 chopped black olives 

1-2 tsp of capers

stir in 1 cup of thawed frozen spinach

add 1 cup of cooked brown rice

season with tuscan seasoning and truffle salt (if you have it) and fresh ground black pepper

warm a tortilla, spread with gloriously garlic hummus and fill with the rice mixture

or serve the rice mixture in a bowl topped with the garlic hummus

or both!

New Year's Dessert

A variation on Banana Nice Cream
Banana, Cranberry & Rum Nice Cream

1 frozen banana                         }Blend
1/2 cup frozen cranberries         }

then add:

few drops vanilla essence
1-2 tsp Rum
Plant milk - a dash at a time & keep blending until it is the right consistency

Photo doesn't do it justice - it looked really pretty - scattering cacao nibs on top would have been nice if I'd had some but this tasted wonderful as is.

Leftovers Salad with Savoury dressing

Summer is here. Tonight's salad. Brown rice, spinach, baked kumara, steamed broccoli, sauerkraut, tomato & sliced artichoke. Savoury sauce/dressing of blended tofu, salsa, soy milk, nutritional yeast, vinegar, & mustard.

Red bean slaw

My working lunch today

Cabbage 1 c chopped
Celery 1 stick chopped
1 red pepper
2 tbs ruby red raw sauerkraut
1/2 c Farro cooked (brown rice would do)
1/2 c red kidney beans

1 portobello mushroom chopped and sautéed with 1/4 onion & 1 tsp garlic granules
1 tbs pumpkin seeds for garnish

Dressing: (blend together) add just enough to moisten the salad
1/2 tsp roasted garlic hot sauce
3 tbs vinegar
2 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs maple syrup


Mm the colours, the flavours, the crunch

Holiday Chickpea & sweet potato soup

Self catering on holiday in UK & whipped this up. There were chickpeas needed using and I had some marinated semidried tomatoes which inspired me.


(Serves 2)

1 Sweet potato / kumara
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 red pepper chopped
2 stalks of celery finely chopped
1/2 carrot sliced
handful of marinated sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 c vege stock
1 tsp italian herbs
1/2 to 3/4 can chickpeas (drained)

Saute the onion in a little water, add celery and pepper and carrots and deglaze with water as needed. Add the stock and then the kumara and chickpeas, season with herbs. Simmer 20 minutes. Remove 1 1/2 cups of soup and mash with potato masher and/or fork (blend if you have a blender) and return to pot - stir in and serve with whole grain roll and hummus (or your favourite soup accompaniment).

You could garnish with parsley and or nutritional yeast and freshly ground pepper if you have any.

You could try this with a morrocan spice blend instead of the italian herbs - i was going to do this but couldn't find this at the local supermarket.