Tuesday 2 May 2017

In My Kitchen: May 2017

May is feeling wintery.  I know we still have a month left of Autumn but chilly winds and lashing rains have been quite common lately.  I am leaving the house in the morning with more layers of clothing on and am drinking warm mugs of tea by the heater in the dark evenings.  Let's see what is going on in my kitchen.

Chocolate is always in demand but even more so when the weather is cold.  I have enjoyed trying the new Cadbury Cocoa flavours: Sea salt and pecan, Salty Liquorice, and Raspberry.  These are pleasing dark chocolate blocks with crispy chips of flavour.  I quite like the Salty Liquorice which is quite unusual and not too sweet.

E is quite a fan of Pringles.  So I bought him a tube of these Pringles Tortilla corn chips with a sour cream and onion flavour.  We all thought they were preferable to the regular Pringles.  While I like Pringles crisps they usually taste so processed that there is very little potato involved.  The corn chips taste more real and substantial.

I wanted to try a fried rice with scrambled tofu recently.  I took some guidance from Kitchen Treaty and really loved the results.  The tofu was seasoned and coloured yellow with a little turmeric.  It was eerily like egg in fried rice.  But so much better.  Excuse the poorly coloured photo that I took once it was dark.  The nights darken too early for much good food photography.  I must make it again and hope to blog about it some day.

We returned from visiting family in Geelong over Easter with a few extras.  My sister Fran gave us soy milk, lemons and apples.  My mum loaned me The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriatry.  (I've just about finished reading Scoundrel Days by Brentley Frazer and look forward to something a bit lighter.)  And Sylvia was given quite a few Easter eggs.  We still have some Easter chocolate around the house.

In my dreams, I would start each day with a breakfast that is savoury and filled with vegies.  Breakfast tacos fit the bill.  If only they were as easy as yoghurt and cereal.  I made the above breakfast tacos and another batch for dinner recently.  The ones above were inspired by Mary Ellen's Breakfast Tacos.  However I had chickpea scramble instead of tofu scramble, kidney beans instead of black beans and omitted the jalapenos.  I also added some biocheese.  They were good but not quick enough.  Perhaps a large batch of scrambled tofu early in the week with lots of vegies could make quick breakfasts.

I had a weekend past where I tried to catch up around the house.  I cleaned the shower (a thankless task as it is the original shower and is never clean enough), retouched some scratches on the car (another thankless task as any touch up makes the rest of the car look like it needs a paint) and cleaned the venetian blinds in the lounge room.  I found this Venetian slat cleaner for dusting and then I wiped each slat.  Very boring.  Thank goodness for some interesting podcasts (such as one on the ABC about diet and mental health).  I was really pleased to have clean blinds but filled with longing to replace them altogether.  Then I remembered that I still hadn't cleaned the blinds in the other rooms.  I will never catch up with everything that is needed around our house.

On the weekend we went to our local Pet Barn.  It is amazing how many cat accessories there are in the world.  We bought a red cat bed that is very popular with Shadow.  We also bought this Fresh Kitty Scratch Guard.  Shadow has a bad habit of scratching on the bed for attention in the middle of the night.  We have managed to reduce it somewhere by locking him in the bathroom on some nights.  Last night he was at it again so I stuck this tape the his favourite corners.  The scratching didn't last long.  Then he took up scratching at a paper bag.  Slowly slowly we make progress.

By the way, I think I mentioned that we had to put a lock on the bathroom because Shadow seemed to open the door when we put him in.  Sylvia and I watched him open the bathroom door the other day.  I was surprised at how easily he jumped up and held onto the door handle to lever it down.  

Today at the supermarket I could not resist these Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Super Nova special edition Doritos Lime and Pepper corn chips.  I have not opened them but I hope they are as green as they look on the packet.

Lastly I also brought these pretzels today.  They were for a recipe for Pretzel Dumplings in sauerkraut and mushroom gravy from But I Could Never Go Vegan by Kirsty Turner.  While it is very easy to find Turkish Bread and Pita Bread in my part of Melbourne, pretzels are not so common.  Occasionally we find them at the farmers market.  Today I found some at the supermarket.  There were only two so I had to supplement with a little sourdough bread.  It was a great warming winter dinner.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event, that was started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial,  If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 10 May.  Or just head over to her blog to peek into more kitchens. 

25 comments:

  1. You had so much going on for the past month! The tofu fried rice looks so delicious. I wish I had some right now. Thanks for the shout out on the breakfast tacos. :) I'm glad I could give a little inspiration. I agree, they're just a little too much work on a hectic morning - I've been making them on the weekend or a big batch on Sunday and just heating them up at work for breakfast.
    I kind of want those Doritos now!

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    1. Thanks Mary Ellen - maybe i just need to aim to make breakfast tacos on weekends

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  2. Gosh, you are good cleaning each blind slat. I am terrible at jobs like that (also cleaning windows). I hope you enjoy The Husband's Secret as I recently read it and it sparked off a burst of Liane Moriatry reading - I find her a light and fun read. And, I am so impressed at those Cadbury's blocks! Cadbury have obviously gone upmarket in my absence (and are beating UK options hands down). Are they dairy free??

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    1. Thanks Kari - I have been avoiding these blinds for too long and they were starting to bother me but I wish I did them more often. I loved Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty - I've been reading about people living intense lives of drugs and alcohol and look forward to some nice suburban drama. And I just checked the salty liquorice chocolate and it has milk solids - a shame that they are not vegan friendly.

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  3. Your cleaning device for the slats of blinds makes me feel guilty. I bought one but couldn't make any progress with the sticky dust that seems to show up on all the blinds.

    All your other kitchen things are very entertaining!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Mae - I had hoped that I could fix all the marks on our blinds with the slat cleaner but I had to get a microcloth to wipe them - so I understand if they don't work for you

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  4. I haven't seen those Cadbury bars in the UK as of yet, the salty licorice would appeal to D. I will look out for the dorito crisps, as I am a snacker but also out of curiosity. I have to admit, I was not a fan of the pringle Tortilla corn chips

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    1. Thanks Shaheen - I am much more likely to buy crisps out of curiosity about a new flavour than just because I want to buy crisps but E loves them so he is more likely to just buy them

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  5. You have some interesting things in your kitchen. I am curious about the venetian blind cleaner as I have lots of dusty venetian blinds!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - the blind cleaner is from Spotlight but maybe they have them in other places that sell blinds. I think it was good to get the dust off the blinds before I wiped them - and they have cleaned up nicely with some water.

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  6. Wow those chocolate bars look amazing. You are very good to tackle your blinds. Such a horrible job. I have a special cleaning implement for them but don't do it as often as I should. Those corn chips look so good. Were they as colourful? Love the idea of coloured tofu as egg 🍳. So clever. And probably tastes very similar. Cheers. Thanks for joining in this month.

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    1. Thanks Sherry - I think this is probably the best clean the blinds have had in 10 years - so I don't do them as often as I would like either (or as well as I would like) - glad to know I am not alone. Definitely recommend the fried rice with tofu.

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  7. I love a good pretzel. These look like they have the right amount of softness and chewiness. I dream on good quality savoury breakfast on the go too. Many times I have made savoury muffins packed with veggies but they are never as big as the ones you buy at the coffee shops and are a little disappointing. I too end up with yoghurt/cereal combinations as at least they are quick to make. I've had a break from blogging and reading blogs but am back and glad to start with a round of IMK.Cheers!

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    1. Thanks Fiona - nice to hear from you - I think savoury muffins are one of the best options for breakfasts on the go - I much prefer my own because I find ones from shops often too eggy and not enough veg for my liking.

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  8. Johanna, I very much appreciated your link to the article (and video) on the effect of diet vs. depression. I, too, believe that what we eat is connected to "what we feel." For whatever reason, I've recently become sensitive to "mass produced foods" -- FYI, I cook from scratch most of the time to avoid that -- my body knows best. LOVED your savory breakfast taco and fried rice ideas, xo. I also admired your housecleaning efforts! (My blinds need dusting badly...)

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    1. Thanks Kim - cooking from scratch is so much better for you and it is good if you can make a habit of it - I have got busier with work and notice that we eat a bit more processed foods as a result but I still really love my from scratch foods. And I'd love to often to dust your blinds but I struggle to get to mine :-)

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  9. Plenty of goodies in your kitchen, as always. People have been raving about the Cadburys.

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    1. Thanks Liz - the Cadbury's range has really grown on me - I was a bit wary when it first came out

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  10. I love breakfast burritos too, though they can take a bit of time to fix. The chocolates all look delicious. I keep a hidden stash or the boys would devour the good stuff before I had a chance to eat any. I just cleaned some of our blinds and somehow they look horrible again, so frustrating. Maybe I should go back to ignoring them!

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    1. Thanks Gretchen - I dream of preparing a batch of breakfast burritos and sticking them in the freezer but am not that organised. I sometimes let E know not to go near my chocolate because he can devour it. And I know the feeling with the blinds - sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss!

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  11. I've just realised I've never made a vegan egg-less fried rice - how wrong is that?! Now I know what to cook for dinner tomorrow! Lots of interesting things in this month's in my kitchen. Were the chips really that green?!

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    1. Thanks Joey - hope you enjoy some fried rice - I often love having leftover rice just so I can use it for fried rice the next day. Yes the chips were that bright - so weird and best not to think what was in them :-)

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  12. I'm intrigued with the Coco chocolate, I'll be looking out for that thanks Johanna as my doc says if I indulge in chocolate, I should be eating dark over milk. I do love a brekkie taco, I used to make them when my husband & I were on a fitness thing a couple of years ago, not vegan of course, but they're just so good! What breed of cat is Shadow? Do you have a photo, I'm a bit of a cat lover :) xx

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    1. Thanks Miss Food Fairy - we mostly have dark chocolate but this was a nice change with the Coco range - I get a bit tired of the same old flavours. I really loved the brekky tacos. Shadow was from a cats home so we don't know much about his background but you can see a photo at my last IMK - http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/in-my-kitchen-april-2017.html (being a black cat he is hard to photograph well)

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  13. I'm quite intrigued by the salty licorice flavoured chocolate. Yum!
    I used to like sour cream and onion chips in my pregan days, not so much anymore. I'm more of a salt and vinegar girl.
    I love the fried rice & scrambled tofu idea! I'll have to try that out.
    I'm finding many meals take too long these days. I've definitely been into making batches of things on Sunday. I haven't thought of making a batch of tofu scramble - that would make for a nice, quick breakfast during the week though.
    "I will never catch up with everything that is needed around our house."
    Tell me about it. Ah well. It'll still be there when we find time ;) Can't fret too much over it.
    Oooh those are the prettiest doritoes I have ever seen.
    Sounds like you have been keeping busy =) And still finding time for interesting kitchen adventures!

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