renee anne // art. love. food. life

[images via forty-sixth at grace]

just like ben folds* once said, there is always someone cooler than you. not that I think that is a bad thing. but seriously, how amazing is nikole's tutorial and free printable recipe. I sort of want to print it just so I can frame it. one day I will make those cookies and they will be amazing. until then, I will stare at nikole's amazing photographs and dream of days when I will be cooler (than you) (just kidding).

Recipe time again! Before I get started, I must say that I am not by any means a “good cook”. I fail more than I succeed, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to try. I would happily eat the same meal every night, but for some reason it has been instilled in me that we can’t really do that. Well I am sure I could. But you know what I mean.

Anyway, because I am a bit snack/desert crazy I like to have nice light dinner options, that make me feel like I am eating a big comforting meal, without all those uncomforting calories! Enter zucchini pasta! What a wonderful invention this is. I love pasta/Italian style meals, however I find it hard to be good with portion sizes, so when I heard people talking about replacing the pasta with zucchini, I thought what a fabulous idea! All the hearty Italian fun, without that heavy bulky feeling at the end of the meal.

Here are the instructions for you, I know they are not very precise, but I really don’t think they need to be. I am hopefully just showing you an alternative way to prepare zucchini to help you lighten up those pasta dishes. Feel free to experiment with toppings, and be sure to let me know if you do!

You will need
> julienne peeler
> bowl
> fry pan (optional)

Ingredients*
> 3-4 large zucchinis
> olive oil
> sea salt

Method
Wash zucchinis and cut off the ends. Lie a zucchini on your chopping board and run your julienne peeler the length of the zucchini, creating a long thin strip. Repeat this process for the whole zucchini, you will get used to the technique as you go. Try and slice the whole length in one swoop so you get nice long strips.

Once sliced, place in a large bowl. Cover with some olive oil and sea salt (I used 2 tbsp for 3 zucchinis but you might like more or less). Toss to coat and let sit for a few hours to marinate (optional).

Decide on your ‘topping’, just go with what you normally like on your pasta. At this point, you can either serve with the raw zucchini, or you can warm/soften it slightly.

If cooking, take your fry pan and toss in the zucchini strips. After a few minutes they will begin to soften up. Add your pasta sauce (try homemade tomato sauce with mushrooms and onion) give it a stir, and then serve! Again, if you like cheese, extra seasoning, add that too!

You will have to judge serving size. 3-4 large zucchinis should make enough pasta for 2 people or 4 as a side.

**please also note :: sorry if you can spot the typo in my printable download. that is so so terrible of me. I did try to fix it but I am stupid and flattened my .psd file. what an idiot. don't hate me.

Thought I would share a little recipe with you today! There has been a lot of talk lately about raw food, and while I am not a total raw foodist, I do love and enjoy a lot of raw food recipes. Often they show you ways of making yummy delicious food, that can still be considered "healthy". Take ice cream for example, I love love love it but I can't really tolerate a lot of dairy (and neither can my thighs), however there are loads of raw vegan "ice cream" recipes out there and now I can enjoy my favourite treat, guilt free.

Anyways, I thought I would share with you an easy one today. I am a HUGE snacker and I am always on the look out for healthy, organic snacks that are easy to make. I came across this recipe after a quick google search and decided to give them a try! Turns out they are super easy and extra delicious. I have the recipe for you below, and also in fancy PDF form for download, should you feel obliged.

If you are keen on the raw food thing, check out my super talented friends website Bee Raw. They are super raw foodists and share some easy to follow recipes over on their site.


you will need

> a food processor or blender
> measuring cups
> two bowls
> a tray that will fit in freezer

ingredients

base
> 2/3 C macadamia nuts
> 2/3 C cashews
> 2/3 C shredded coconut

chocolate mix
> 1/8 C raw honey
> 1/8 C cacao powder
> pinch of salt
> splash of water

vanilla mix
> 2 Tbs raw peanut butter* or almond butter
> 1 Tbs vanilla extract
> pinch of salt
> splash of water

method

Put all the base ingredients in a food processor and blend until slightly chunky. Separate evenly into two bowls. Add chocolate mix to one bowl, add the vanilla mix to the other and mix well (use hands). Using hands or spoon, form into little balls and place on tray. Refrigerate or freeze to harden. Serve on pretty plate and enjoy!

Makes 15 balls.

Download a PDF of this recipe here

*my peanut butter is just raw peanuts grounded into butter

Disclaimer :: according to some raw food purists, this may not be considered raw. I am not sure. But it is raw enough for me anyway. hehe.

What do you think of the raw food movement? Do you "eat raw"? Do you have any recipes you would like to share?

when all you need is a brand new global chef's knife. Oh am I so so glad I decided to make this purchase. Finally. I cannot believe I waited this long. I mean seriously, I was using a blunt steak knife to do all my cutting/chopping/slicing/dicing. Anyway. What is done is done.

So tonight I celebrated by cooking this. And oh. was. it. amazing. I can't wait for tomorrow so I can eat the left overs. Yum. Thank you smittenkitchen.com. Thank you.

I rant on from time to time about fresh produce, eating locally, buying chemical and additive free.

I often hear back "oh but how do you afford it, isn't that more expensive to eat that way?"

well possibly yes. or you could go to your local farm or farmers market and buy all this for $20. "how much?" I hear you gasp. yup, twenty bucks. all super fresh, hardly any chemical sprays used (if at all), and 100% local.

well I was all set up on my boyfriends laptop, about to write a blog post titled "#TECHNOLOGYFAIL", because for the last hour my laptop has not been working.

but it suddenly is now, so all is fine. I don't know how it happened, but it is not up to me to question the almighty mac.


instead, I shall blog about something more visually exciting. the beginnings of a new series I am working on. working title shall be.... "chemical cocktail". but that will probably change.

so here we are.

and thank you to a lovely flickr person - (who actually turns out to be rebecca murphy![sweet artist!] for passing on this hilariously relevant (and not to mention cute) clip.

oh dear. sometimes with my addiction to the internet I forgot to nurture the raging love that I have for books. before this crazy kids phase known to some as "blogging", I used to spend hours, jealously pouring over books in the MCA or in big fancy book stores in the city.

I think we can all consider ourselves extremely lucky to have access to amazing images and inspiration pretty much whenever we want it. But it is also important to remember that other senses will feel neglected if we just use our eyes all day long. It is hard to go past the feeling of the weight of a book on your lap, or the smell of a brand new (or even old) book.

I tend to make it a rule to have no computer before breakfast. or during. I like to read while having breaky, usually magazines, sometimes books. And I think my shelves need some lovin'. wishlist time!

I cooked this for dinner last night to celebrate the viewing of the Masterchef final here in Australia. Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking, "You and ten million others, I couldn't care less what you cooked last night". But. I want to tell you why it was so good (hmm even thought boyfriend didn't really like it, he is just fussy).

I use the best ingredients I can afford and get my hands on. And at every opportunity I can I buy local. I thought I would share with you how I do that, for Sydney readers. And for everyone else, it just gives you an idea on where you can start.

***

I start locally at a farm around the corner from me. I realise that this is not suitable for everyone, but I guess I am lucky that even though I live in a built up area, there are still big properties and farms close by. Buying direct saves me a whole lot of money, and I get the fruit and veges literally moments after they have been picked. These are not certified organic, but I have had many chats to the owner, and he tells me exactly what he does and doesn't spray, and how vigorously.

What I can't get from the farm I order online from Lettuce Deliver Organics (cute name hey!). They deliver to most suburbs of Sydney twice a week. If you check out their website, you will see that they have such a huge range of things. Amazing F&V but also meats, groceries, breads, drinks and household items. They are such a lovely family business, and you seriously won't be disappointed. My mince for my Kofta, came from there, as well as some of the other ingredients.

***

There are obviously always going to be things that you can’t buy from these three sources, and so there are times when I do make a quick dash into a supermarket. But, as long as you check the labels of what you are buying, to see where you product is coming from, and making sure there isn’t any weird added nasties (preservatives and strange chemically sounding ingredients), then you should be ok. You can also check out this amazing resource for the low-down on the environmental and social record of companies behind common brand names. It might not always work, but if I am buying something from a supermarket, eg tomato sauce, I try going for the one that is right up high with only one or two facings as opposed to the 500 bottles of the same brand that are staring you in the face.

***

So, as I am sure many of you are inspired to get cooking after huge success of Masterchef Australia, I hope that you can also be inspired to choose the best ingredients you can. You body will certainly thank you. And so will the environment.

***

teenytinyturkey.

Oh yes, I put my recipe following and cooking skills to the test last night and had a crack at this yummy looking salad from one of my favourite food blogs VeganYumYum. I chose the second version of the potato salad; Potato Salad with Herbed Dijon Vinaigrette

So why not review my own cooking??

Well I should have taken my own photo because the lovely featured image is from VeganYumYum's post (the main reason I love that blog is for the photos!), but in all seriousness, mine looked pretty close to that, without all the fancy lighting and sweet photography.

It was SUPER easy to cook, and fail-proof in my books, and I do fail quite a bit in my cooking experiments (must remind myself I am only learning!). It uses what I call cupboard staples, so you generally don't need to buy anything extra, and it was very quick to make.

The verdict?
Me; YUM! And YAY there was some left over because now I have a yummy lunch!
Boyfriend; Yeahh not bad, maybe a bit strong.

(ok yeah it was a TAD strong, and I don't know what the "strong" element was.. maybe the Dijon? Which was "Extra strong Dijon" because it was the cleanest Dijon I could find when shopping.)

But I shall try again and I will try the other version too!

I am always up for clean healthy natural recipe suggestions too if anyone has any fail-proofies!

Oh a relevant note, who watched Master Chef Australia?. I thought it was a tad over the top but I do love my reality shows that are "Idol" themed and I do love my cooking shows, so I think it will be a regular viewer!

I love good. I really do. Today at the Good Food Affare I was tasting homemade jams, beautifully tasting organic breads, smelling freshly picked fruit, and basically just witnessing (and tasting!) natures natural ingredients in their best form. When I came home and made my lunch of freshly baked organic Sonoma's sourdough bread, with freshly picked mushrooms and amazing free range eggs, and again later when I was enjoying a sweet afternoon tea of Hank's delicious Peach and Strawberry jam and the best fruit spelt bread I have ever tried (woah long winded sentence!) I thought to myself that this must have been bad for me because it tasted so damn good. I love food, but its funny how your mind tricks you into thinking that in order to "treat" yourself you should be eating fast food or something unhealthy. Whole natural food. You really can't beat it. 

I would hardly call anything I do or like boring!! (only joking) Anyway, the lovely Honor Bowden aka GalaHouse has tagged me to share six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself!

So here goes it. (I am always jealous of the super fancy taggees (eg Honor!) who can make their tag details look so fun and image filled)

1. I still live at home so I am always roaringly jealous when I read my favourite blogs about home decorating. For one I don't really have the funds to support an entire home reno, and two, well, Mum is probably not really into my style!

2. Having said that, I think I am a massive 'house wife' at heart. I love food shopping, and don't mind a bit of cleaning. My most recent obsession is learning how to cook from scratch (thank you Jamie!). I think I go ok.

3. Gosh am I only at 3?? Oh why not. I love Australian Idol.