sandwich cake - smörgåstårta

So, mostly it is a ghost town on this site - I can explain! 

It's not that I don't want to be posting, it's just that I've been flat out with work and the impending birth of our daughter. Somehow that doesn't seem like a good enough excuse, but it's all I got.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to have a baby shower with friends and family. It was a fantastic day and I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of those wonderful people. I worry that I'll never be able to show how much I appreciate every ones gifts, love and support.

Anyways, for the shower I finally tackled something that I've been wanting to make for such a long time - Smörgåstårta! Basically it is a Scandinavian savoury cake that often pops up at celebrations.

Honestly I couldn't believe how easy it was to put together and the best bit by far was the alternate decorating. Usually with cakes you use sweets or icing to decorate but for this, you have to keep it savoury which means you get to be creative.

You can fill it with whatever you want, like deli meats, tuna, egg, smoked salmon, etc - but I've kept it vegetarian.

iced teas

the spread

Smörgåstårta

Ingredients

1loaf of wholemeal spelt bread (homemade or otherwise)

1 lemon, juiced mixed with 2 tbsp water

500g natural organic yogurt, drained for 2 hours or so

1 cucumber, finely sliced

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes

400g cream cheese (reduced fat is okay)

green leaves, herbs, edible flowers, other veggies - for decorating

Method

Cut the crusts off the loaf, then slice length ways into 3.

Arrange one of the slices on your presentation dish.

Using a pastry brush, brush the top of the slice with 1/4 of the lemon juice mixture.

Arrange 1/2 the cucumber slices on top, then spread over 1/2 the yogurt. Top the yogurt with the remaining slices of cucumber.

Next, stack other slice of bread, brushing the under layer and top with another 1/4 (each side) of the lemon juice.

Place the sun dried tomatoes and remaining yogurt in a food processor and blend for about 20-30 seconds.

Spread over the slice of bread and top with the remaining slice of bread (brushing the underside with the remaining lemon juice).

Cover and place in refrigerator overnight (with a weight on top, a plate works fine) to allow flavours to infuse.

About an hour or so before serving, decorate the cake. 

Spread the cream cheese over the loaf and decorate it to your hearts content.

I've used marigolds, parsley, chervil, mint leaves and lettuce leaves. Also, the day before I peeled a fresh beetroot and carrot, rolled them to look like a rose, securing the bottom with a toothpick.

as of late

I’ve been so busy lately. Understandably it is that time of year when things get a little crazy, but coupled with a move and some thrilling news that we will be expecting our first little bub in early May 2013, things seem to be rolling along quicker than I’d like!

Yes! We are expecting a little girl – currently 19 weeks along – and am so in love with her already. We’ve been enjoying her movements and kicks for a couple of weeks now and the feeling is just so beautiful (I know I say this now, when she’s only 250g).

She’s our little miracle. It took two years of trying, surgery, drugs and being told we’d never conceive naturally to get to this point – but here we are, a natural conception. I will do a couple of follow on posts about our story, how I healed my PCOS naturally and how ‘giving up’ can sometimes be the best thing.

So, what I have been up to lately:

Moving house.

 

Making a chicken coop – I’ve been an assistant to Joel the builder as he constructed his designed from scratch coop. Hopefully we get the chickens this weekend!

 

Growing a baby – she’s just gorgeous!

Setting up the house for Christmas – the tree has be up since the 2^nd week in November, normally it’s earlier but we were moving.

Making Christmas wrapping decorations.

Starting Christmas presents – home-grown and dehydrated lemon myrtle spice.

Amongst the above, it has been sweltering heat and I have been loving the abundance of mangos. This cooling smoothie has been just perfect snack/breakfast in this 2^nd trimester where all I crave is fruit.

Ingredients

(serves 1)

150g natural yoghurt

1 mango, flesh of

A handful of ice

Combine all ingredients in a blender and whiz until thick and smooth. Pour into a glass and top with homemade muesli if desired.

Enjoy.



orange almond cake

Finally on the mend and back at work with only a lingering cough. Being sick is just the worst, and I was definitely very miserable.

Feeling better means I'm back in the kitchen but still feeling like something pretty simple and basic, I whipped up this orange almond cake. I can't take any credit for the recipe as I picked it up in a cookbook somewhere, the name and place evades me.

I found this cake to be just so moist and flavoursome, holding its form perfectly even with no flour. I shared with my family who was also surprised at the moistness of the cake.

I didn't have almond meal, but had plenty of almonds on hand, so I processed 200 g in the food processor until fine.

Ingredients

(serves 8-10)

2 oranges

1 1/2 c almond meal (or 200g almonds ground)

6 eggs, lightly whisked

1 tsp bi-carb soda

1/2 c raw sugar

Heat oven to 160 C and line a spring form cake dish with baking paper

Place oranges in a pot and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 45 minutes, drain and cool.

Place in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Fold in almond meal, eggs, sugar and bi-carb gently.

Pour mixture into the tin and place in oven to bake for 45-50 minutes (until firm).

Remove from oven and cool.

Serve and enjoy.

pick-me-up breakfast smoothie

My goodness we had some hot days here last week. It was so nice not being wrapped up in layers upon layers of clothing.

The only downside was that with the sudden heat came that feeling of utter lethargy. The unwillingness to move around too much in fear of melting.

So, on days like those, I like to whip up a smoothie to cool me down. In this one I included malt extract, deemed as natures pick-me-up as it is full of important B vitamins, essential for energy.

Ingredients

(makes 1 - large)

1 banana, roughly chopped

4 ice cubes

1/4 water

2 silverbeet leaves, roughly chopped

1 tblsp malt extract

1 tsp mixed spice

2 tsp chia seeds

4 strawberries, green left on

1/2 c yoghurt (or alternative)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth (30 seconds or so).

vegetable quiche

This is just a quick and easy recipe (bar the cooking time), that you can whip together in no time and leave in the oven to cook away.

I've used a variety of vegetables in this because it's so important to keep your diet varied with the vegetables and grains that you use. Each have a unique makeup of vitamins and minerals, so it really is vital that you vary what you eat so that you can get all the beneficial nutrition. If there is a vegie that you haven't heard of before, maybe consider trying it, if you're not sure ask around to see how others add it into their diet.

This recipe made enough to feed a family, but, with just the two of us at home we had a few leftovers. Making meals that are a little bigger is great for a quick lunch the next day or a meal stored in the freezer. This recipe is certainly no exception as it made the perfect healthy lunch for the next day, both cold and warmed up.

Ingredients

(makes 8-10 slices)

4 zucchinis, grated

2 potatoes, grated

3 carrots, grated

2 brown onions, grated

4 eggs, whisked

100g goats cheese, crumbled

¼ c nutritional yeast flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 150 C and grease a medium baking dish with olive oil.

Combine all ingredients well and press into dish.

Bake in oven for 1-1 ½ hours.

Remove from oven, cool for 5 minutes and serve.

garden breakfast juice

The weather is certainly getting warmer here and with it comes the desire for lighter and refreshing meals.

This also means that it is time to bust out the juicer and make it a permanent home on my bench top.

Before Joel ducked out to the markets to pick up groceries, I raided the refrigerator for what remnants of fruit and vegetables we had left to make a super breakfast juice. Talk about quick and easy breakfast! It’s just the clean-up that can be a bit of a fuss.. but it’s worth it.

I fed all the components through the juicer and poured it into a tall glass. Then went outside to sit in my garden to check on my summer seedlings and watch the little red-browed finches build a nest in the ficus tree next to our table and chairs.

Ingredients

(makes 400 mL)

2 carrots

3 oranges, skinned

1 grapefruit, skinned

1 inch piece of ginger

¼ bunch celery

1 medium beetroot

Wash all ingredient thorough and feed through the juicer.

Enjoy!

herbed chickpea salad

Absolutely love chickpeas and it has been too long between friends.

Like, seriously, way too long. I even expressed to Joel how excited I was to be having chickpeas for dinner. He sarcastically responded by saying, ‘that’s great honey’.

As you may have read in the last post, we did a whole lot of gardening on the weekend and I had to harvest all my herbs. I don’t really like using up all my crops as I feel safer with still some sitting there. It’s like, but what if I want some fresh mint later in the week? What will I do then! I even get a little precious and won’t use as much as I like, just so there is always something filling the pots. It makes me feel wealthy in a very green way.

Anyways, with the massive influx of herbs in my kitchen, I have been throwing them into everything. Handfuls of mint in some mineral water, chives in my cabbage wraps for lunch, parsley on EVERYTHING.

Chickpeas are so tasty and make an awesome protein packed ‘throw together’ salad-like meal. And best of all, they are inexpensive. Joel and I lived off legumes when we travelled Europe. They were the most filling, affordable meal addition for us vegetarians/pescatarians, on a very tight budget. 30 Euro cents (40c in Aus) would get you a 500g jar of pre-prepared beans, peas, lentils etc and would easily stretch 2 meals each.

You can get super creative with chickpea salads. I’ve just thrown in whatever I felt like when digging through the refrigerator, but any fresh vegetables will work.

Ingredients

(makes 4 serves)

1 ½ c dried chickpeas, soaked for 6-8 hours (or 2 drained and rinsed tins)

1 spanish red onion, finely diced

1 cucumber, diced

½ c of complimentary fresh herbs (mint, chives, parsley etc)

½ lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

If you are using dried chickpeas, place them in a pot of water and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Drain and set aside to cool.

Add all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss well to combine.

Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes - 1 hour for flavours to infuse.

Serve and enjoy.

citric vitamin water

A trip to the dentist has left me feeling completely sorry for myself and a little tender. I don't have much to share other than it's nice to have polished teeth again.

Luckily a little pre-thought had me make up a jug of this vitamin water. Mainly because I knew I wouldn't be racing home to eat nuts or crackers, but would want something cool and soothing.

The flavours, vitamins and minerals have leached out of the fruit into the water, creating a beautiful refreshing drink with barely any calories.

So after a long day today, I have just sat down to enjoy a tall glass full of this simply tasty vitamin water and share it with you. It would make the most refreshing summer evening drink, something to keep in mind as these spring days get warmer.

Ingredients

(makes 2+L)

1 large grapefruit, sliced into 1/2 cm rounds

1 medium orange, sliced into 1/2 cm rounds

2 inch knob of ginger, finely sliced

water

Add fruit and ginger to a large jug (2 or more litres) and cover with water.

Sit in refrigerator for 4-6 hours to allow flavours to infuse.

Pour over ice or just as is.

Tip: you can top up the water as you go, will last for 2-3 days.

fresh pea citrus salad

Fresh peas will forever take me back to my childhood.

My Grandfather has always had a vegetable garden, even now when he is in his mid-eighties he is growing turmeric, ginger, squash, kohlrabi, passion fruit, tomatoes.. and the list goes on.

When I was younger, I would always raid his fresh pea vine.

Seriously, whenever we visited I would strip the plant of all it's juicy peas and devour them on the spot. Slowly making my way along the fence that the vine grew, I was like a pacman.

Not much has changed since childhood though.

Because whenever I visit now, I ask Granddad to take me straight to his garden and show me what he's been growing - although, I don't eat anything without permission these days.

But, if I'm super lucky, he'll pack me up some of his treats and send me on my way.

Ingredients

(makes a side for 2)

1/2 c fresh peas, shelled

1/2 c snow peas, diagonally sliced

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tsp lime rind, finely grated

5 basil leaves, finely sliced

2 tsp olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss well.

Serve.