January 2022 Review

 

My three goals for January were to lose 3kg, make or remake an item of clothing, and to try a new vegan recipe.

Losing weight was 3kg.

My new skirt is rather missing. The pattern was created, and as I was going to cut out the pieces I realised the fabric had been sun-bleached, and so wasn't suitable. The plan for this fabric is to set it aside, and use it for a straight skirt when I have lost more weight. I'll make 2 items in a month later on.

We are enjoying the Spiced Parsnip soup, the lemon and poppy seed muffins, and also the onion and walnut savory cake. The pumpkin falafels were a pile of 'meh'. One of the local shops has falafels, and they are rather nice, we've been eating them instead. 

Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredient

250g self-raising flour (Dove Farm Flour for gluten-free)

100g white sugar

20g poppy seeds

1Tsp chia seeds

3Tsp water

240ml apple juice or oat milk

90ml vegetable oil

1 lemon

icing sugar

Method

Prepare muffin tin with paper or silicon muffin cases. 

Preheat the oven to 190-200°C.

Put the chia seeds and water in a bowl, leave the seeds to swell.

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix.  Grate the rind of the lemon into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the chia seeds. Mix the contents of each bowl.

Combine the wet with the dry, mixing thoroughly, but quickly.

Divide the mixture between the 12 cases, and bake for 22 minutes.

 

Whilst the muffins are cooking, use a lemon reamer to extract the juice from the lemon. Strain the lemon juice. Slowly add icing sugar to the lemon juice, stirring as you go. This will be about 3Tsp of icing sugar. Combine it well. This is the lemon glaze.

When the muffins have cooked and are still hot, spoon a little lemon glaze over each one. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes, and then place on a cooling rack.

The muffins freeze well, but they are best served warm. 

Onion, Spinach and Walnut Savory Cake

Ingredients

Onion marmalade

2 Tsp olive oil

4 large sweet onions, thinly sliced 

3 Tsp balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 Tsp light brown sugar

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme

Cake

1 1/2 cups plain, gluten-free flour

1 Tsp baking powder

1 tsp  salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp medium curry powder

2 Tsp chia seeds

6 Tsp warm water

1/2 cup  yogurt (vegan)

5 Tsp olive oil

1 cup spinach (coarsely chopped)

1/3 cup toasted walnuts, (chopped)

Method

To make Onion Marmalade: Heat oil. Add onions, and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar, brown sugar, and thyme, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 40 minutes, or until onions are caramelized. Cool.

To make Cake: Preheat oven to 175C. Line loaf pan with parchment paper.

Mix the chia seeds and water in a bowl. Then measure, and chop, ingredient. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in bowl. Mix chia seeds, yogurt, and oil in separate bowl. Stir the wet mixture into the dry. 

Fold in the spinach, walnuts and 1/2 cup  of onion marmalade. Spoon into the loaf pan, and bake for 45 minutes.

Notes

This would be great for a buffet or picnic.

Christmas Under the Stairs

 

Whilst the Beloved was taking the decorations of the Christmas tree, I was busy under the stairs decluttering, organising and tidying.  This large cupboard is used to store the Christmas tree, all the decorations, the recycling boxes, cake decorating supplies, and a number of  small kitchen appliances. 
The space has been re-organised - the items used most frequently are now most easy to reach.  

The Christmas tree and decorations have been decluttered and put away too. 

A Vegan Cook

 

A new person , F, came along to Shut Up and Write. She is a friend of MJ and also DH. As well as being friendly, she is a vegan cook, and works in one of the local cafes. She has given me some tips and pointers for falafels.

F suggested using a bit of cinnamon, and some curry powder to bump up the flavour, and agree with the addition of onion and the need for more fresh herbs. She also said pumpkin and butternut squash were to soft and squishy. Grated carrot would give a better texture.

Something I am finding is vegans are incredibly supportive of others learning to cook vegan foods. They are patient and kind.

Second Day Falafels

Oh my goodness! The difference a day (and an onion) can make. 

A quarter of the falafel mixture was left in the fridge overnight, and this morning, half a grated onion was added. The falafels were shallow fried, and placed on top of my lunchtime salad, along with some garlic cream cheese (vegan).  So much better! SO MUCH!

It was still too sloppy, but there are plans in place. Next time, I'm going to use a couple of sweet potatoes. These will be roasted in their skins whilst another meal is being cooked. The spices will be bumped up, as will the parsley and garlic. A grated onion will be added too.

I'm also wondering about whether it would be worth trying to deep fry them instead of baking or shallow frying.

My plan is to experiment with the new falafel recipe on Saturday, and to leave it overnight in the fridge. This has the potential to create a really quick and easy meal if the work can be done the night before, rather than straight after I come in from work. 

Pumpkin Falafels

 

I tried a recipe for pumpkin falafels, and it achieved a rating of 'meh', but interesting also 'has potential'. 

My new blender is not a suitable bit of kit for this recipe. It wasn't able to blend everything, and there were huge chunks. Water was added to try to enable blending. It worked (sort of), and naturally made a very sloppy mixture. The potato ricer worked far, far better. 

The plan is to switch to sweet potatoes, and roast them in their skins in the oven whilst cooking another meal. I'll also increase the spices, and the parsley to see if that makes a difference.

I'm generally reckoned to be a pretty good cook, and it's weird learning to cook in a new style, and finding practise is most definitely needed.

Spiced Parsnip Soup

Ingredients

4 Tsp olive oil

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp ground cumin

0.5 tsp ground turmeric

2 large onions, cut into chunks

8 parsnips, diced

4 large carrots, diced

1 Tsp chopped garlic

2 litres vegetable stock

1 tsp dijon mustard

2 Tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 220C.

In a large bowl, mix together the oil, coriander, cumin, and turmeric  Add the onion, parsnips and carrots. Mix well. Spread over a heavy baking sheet, then roast for 30 mins. Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.

Put the veggies, stock, mustard and lemon juice into a blender and process until smooth. This will need to be done in batches. 

Bring the soup to a simmer, and check seasoning.

January Goals

• lose 3kg
• make or remake 1 item of clothing 
• try 1 new vegan recipe

The excess me created during lockdown has gone, but there's more of me to go. 3kg a month seems like a very achievable goal.

After the year of buying no clothes, I had a very hard job finding clothing I actively liked. The result was 10 new identical (bar colour) tops, and two pairs of trousers. The linen trousers could not stand the strain, and the crotch has gone. I'm going to remake the remaining fabric into a skirt, and use a bit of the left over material to patch my navy cord skirt. 

The vegan mushroom soup was not a success, but I'm hopeful other recipes will be better.