Reading and Recipes: August 2006

Recipe

Finally worked out why my refried beans have been going wrong all these years. I've been using the wrong sort of beans!!

Anyway - made this for tea last night.

Refried beans

1 tin pinto beans (in water sort)
2 small white onions
pinch cayenne
1/2 tsp pimento

Finely slice onion in half rounds, fry until softened. Add in cayenne and pimento and stir through.
Open can and add to pan water and all. Stir through the onion mixture and then start to smoosh down with a fork. You'll end up with a nice mash with some beans left whole and part whole. Let some of the fine smoosh catch slightly to the pan and then scrape it back off so you get some really fried bits it it. Let it stand a few moments before serving.

We ate this with some spinach stirred through the beans to just soften it, and over rice and peas. But you could also eat it with tortillas, avocado etc. if you wanted to :-)

Reading

Just finished Last of the Wilds by Trudi Canavan.

Follow up to Auraya of the White.

Slow start but by the middle of the book I was getting through it at a right pace :-) Now just got to wait for the third part :-) which is due to be published next year. Don't worry I'll have read this one a couple of times again by then.

DP was telling me today about a podcast by the Magician Jon Lenehan. Used to know him many, many years ago - and these podcasts are his fantasy-based story.... Will go and find a link and post it here. Yes I *know* that it isn't reading, but DP tells me that these are *really* good stories so they deserve to be out there a bit more :-)

Recipe

Made this the other day, very yummy. Worked out that it provided 8 servings of fruit/veg if eaten whole. On this occasion all ingredients were organicically certified. Mixed in a Kitchen Aid.

Carrot and Blueberry cake

300g shredded carrot (used a mandoline)
60g raisins
260g blueberries (the usable portion of a 300g tub)
500g wholemeal flour
1 cup sunflower oil
250g cane sugar
2 Tbs baking powder

Flour, baking powder in a bowl, mix through. Add in oil and mix to breadcrumb consistency. Add sugar, carrots, blueberries and raisins. Mix through and keep mixing. Mixture went a wonderful purple colour :-)

Baked in an 8 by 8 inch ish square tin at 150 ish degrees C for around 50 mins until a knife came out of the middle *just* clean, stand in oven for another 10 mins and then out *in tin* on side to cool.

Unfortunately the lovely purple colour gradually dispeared during cooking (went green first and then normal cake coloured).

Very very yummy. About 20 portions if sensible or a small child. Rather less if you are a hungry adult :~)

Recipe

And whilst I'm at it, this 'updating' lark, here is what was cooked for lunch today

2 small onions
1 medium potato
2 carrots
1/3 head savoy cabbage
1 handful oats
1 tin chickpeas in water
50ml - ish soya milk
3 tomatoes, diced

Chop onion small, dice potato, slice carrots and cabbage.

fry off onions in pan, then add in potato. Add the soya milk and stir then the oats. simmer for a little while. Then add in chickpeas inc. water (hence why *not* using salted can!!). Cover and cook out for a bit, stirring to make sure that oats don't stick. Then add in carrots, cook for 5 mins more, and then cabbage. Stir together well and add another bit of water if ness., but shouldn't be if all done over a fairly low heat. Turn off stove and stir in the tomatoes. Leave to stand for a bit (as is fairly heat retaining due to oats and soya).

Enough for a bowl each, and another half portion for me and the DDs. Cabbage barely cooked and the tomato still nice and raw :-)

For pudding we are going to have canned pineapple - in a real using things from the storecupboard mood today - and maybe a swirl of cashew creme for me.