Sunday 3 August 2014

What's in my kitchen, August 2014

In my kitchen is... 

Undersized pumpkins that didn't realise pumpkin season was over and continued to grow on the vine that sprang from compost . Unfortunately, the poor vine couldn't cope with the change to winter temperatures and withered away. I picked the pumpkins before allowing Mr Fork to mow over the shrivelled and brown vine. I'm going to dry them out and experiment with them, but I'm not holding out much hope for their taste really.


In my kitchen is... 

An overflowing bucket of citrus. I planted my own citrus trees last year but they are failing to thrive as the grasshoppers love them. Not so my neighbour's trees, which are visible from my front yard and mock me with the loads of fruit growing on them. If I thought I had lots of citrus last month, this month is a veritable bounty! My neighbour kindly (and gratefully he says) shared some of the bounty so this bucket is full of local, organic oranges, mandarins, lemons and limes. All of them are sweet, juicy and delicious indeed! None of them made it into any baked goods this month as we pretty much devoured them in their whole state. I still have a freezer full of zest and juice from last month so we will be well supplied with vitamin C!


In my kitchen is... 

A whole lot of eggplant and tomato pasta sauces and stews, courtesy of a host of eggplants that ripened at once, fresh from the garden. Those babies were just asking to be turned into delicious 'meaty' stews and sauces, and who am I to deny them?

These were all toddler (and Attila!) approved and made for some good leftovers as well, on the nights I didn't feel like cooking. They are also very freezer friendly meals so a win all around.


In my kitchen is... 

A not-so-secret stash of protein bars. These are from the Coles Simply less range, and I make sure to keep them handy for moments where I simply can't wait to eat something more substantial or it's an inappropriate time to have a meal but I need to eat before I gnaw my own arm off (I blame pregnancy hormones). I generally have one in my handbag, one in my laptop bag and one in the car at any one time... and I'm just super impressed that these are vegan friendly and contain ingredients that I can recognise!! I've only found two flavours so far - Date, Sesame and Chia or Fruit, Oat and Quinoa, but they are both yummy.

In my kitchen is... 

Daiso dried mango. My aunt put me onto this stuff and I should never have started. It's delicious, more-ish and um... the baby wants it. Daiso is fabulous - everything is $2.80 and half of the things there I didn't know I needed until I saw them.



I am linking this post in with Fig Jam and Lime Cordial's monthly In My Kitchen event. Go have a peek through other kitchens around the globe!

What's in your kitchen this month?

24 comments:

  1. Can never have too much citrus! Those pasta sauces look good too.

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    1. I agree! I love fruit... but I think stone fruits are my favourites. Thank you for stopping by :)

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  2. Nice pumpkins and citrus, the basis of so many good things to make.

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    1. Thank you! Although now I'm thinking, how can I combine pumpkin and citrus in the one recipe to make something delicious....

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  3. how wonderful to have your own fruit and veg growing. sadly we have too many bush turkeys to make it viable. they love to dig up garden beds and pot plants if they can get them.

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    1. I have two fluff ball hounds, who, if left unchecked, will happily sit in my vegetable garden. While they have good taste in location I do prefer my vegetables upright and not squashed so it requires constant vigilance!

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  4. I liked those Coles bars :) I love your stash of eggplant meals too, and your lemon and pumpkin supplies. The pumpkins look good even if you aren't hopeful for flavour!

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    1. Thank you! Actually I roasted one of the pumpkins recently and it had a delicious sweet flavour so I think I got lucky :)

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  5. Love the citrus this time of year. I have been zesting and drying the zest to use in recipes later on, as well as freezing some ice block sized combinations of juice and zest, or just juice. All very useful. Thank you!

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    1. Oooooh! Brain wave! I'm thinking of citrus juice ice blocks now! Completely inappropriate for winter weather but sure to be delicious when it warms up... now to experiment!

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  6. How wonderful to have all that citrus. Dried mango sounds interesting.

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    1. Usually I find dried mango a bit bitter, but this brand is a nice mix of sweet and sour. Actually to my pregnant tastebuds I find it overly sweet sometimes, but I'm assured it isn't the case.

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  7. G'day! Would love to know what you do with the dried mango!
    Thanks also for this month's kitchen view too!
    Cheers! Joanne

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    1. You know, I never thought about what I could do with the mango besides eat it as is! I suppose you could rehydrate it and cook with it, but it would never last that long in my house!

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  8. I'm a Daiso-aholic. Love that place. Your citrus trees might need a little longer in the ground before they bare abundant fruit. My lime trees did nothing in their first year, now it's margaritaville at my house, year-round. Thanks for the tour.

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    1. That gives me some hope for the citrus. I'll keep lavishing them with attention for the moment then :)

      I love Daiso. It's so dangerous though - kind of like Ikea!

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  9. Another IMK, another thing I need to buy at Daiso. The mango looks great. Daiso is so deadly. It's just so easy to keep picking up things and think 'Oh, I need this'.... Thanks for the tasty tour!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! Daiso and Ikea are two stores I need very strong willpower to visit!

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  10. What a generous neighbour! And a great crop of eggplants - we don't have any in the garden at the moment, and you've reminded me that we need to get some in (a Spring/Summer plant here - Brisbane must be magnificently warm this winter!). I've found that under-ripe pumpkins work quite well in a veggie curry - they go a little bit potato-like when cooked like that!

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    1. I don't want to rub it in, but the weather in Brisbane this week has been about 21 degrees during the day... and perhaps 8 overnight? This QLDer still calls it cold though! Thanks for the pumpkin curry tip... I think that will go on the to do list for this weekend, while the weather is still cold (ha!) enough to enjoy a curry :)

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  11. I know that this is going to sound gross, but my nana use you catch and kill a few grass hoppers, put them her garden blender with some water and blend them and spray it on her citrus... I haven't been able to bring my self to do it, but it seemed to work for her... Apparently they don't like the smell of death... go figure! I had never heard of Dasio, so I am going to check them out now :) Thanks for sharing! liz x

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    1. I wonder if I could train my toddler to catch the grasshoppers for me? While I am a scaredy cat, she seems to have no fear. Hmm... :) Thanks for the tip! x

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