WOW! I am one super busy girl at the moment. I’ve been meaning to blog for a while but I really haven’t had the time (or energy). This picture demonstrates my recent activities - a lot of eating on the go and a lot of reading. I’ve had some beautiful home cooked meals but nothing fancy; tonight was spelt pasta with a vegetable sauce that I made in minutes by throwing whatever I had on hand in a pot with some chilli and fresh basil.

University is going to be a super big commitment (yes, much more than I realised) and that means that for now, until I get into the swing of things, I won’t be visiting here all that much. I’m sure I’ll make an odd post here and there but has been a big change for me and a lot is out of order! You’ll see me back here within a couple of weeks/months.

Here is a simple lunch recipe that I made this morning to take to uni. Enjoy and take care. See you all soon!

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cooked quinoa

large handful of olives, chopped

1 carrot, grated

2 medium sized potatoes, boiled and cut into bite sized pieces

185g can of tuna (in springwater)

1/2 avocado (for garnish – i ate my bit before i took the picture!)

METHOD

Mix through and serve! Too easy!

spicy pumpkin, split pea & rosemary soup

March 5, 2012

low fodmap, mains, soup

10 Comments

I had a great night tonight. I got some reading done in preparation for my first day at university tomorrow and I went out with a group of my friends to catch a movie. I hadn’t laughed like that in a minute and I had a wonderful time. I’m really lucky to have so many great friends. I was feeling a little nervous about tomorrow and it was great to let out some tension with laughter. Tonight I made this soup and enjoyed it with some spelt bread. Pumpkin is cheap at the moment, so I am using it a fair bit. If you don’t like cinnamon all that much, remove the stick after around 30 minutes, so you’re not overwhelmed by the flavour.

Serves around 6 people

INGREDIENTS

1/8 cup olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp crushed chilli

1 cinnamon stick

large nub of ginger, thinly sliced

1 tbs whole cumin seeds

5 carrots, washed and coarsley chopped

1-1.5 kilo of pumpkin, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup yellow split peas

4 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped

METHOD

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat and cook the garlic, stirring for around 1 minute. Make sure it doesn’t stick to the pot. Add the chilli and spices and stir for around 30 seconds. Add the vegetables and peas and stir to coat in the spice mixture.

Add 1.5 litres of later and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 50 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir the rosemary through and remove the cinnamon stick. Blend the soup in small batches for only a short amount of time – you don’t want it to be too thin. (I like my soup a little chunky though).

Serve, garnished with some more rosemary, if you like.

buckwheat, date & chia muffins

March 5, 2012

baking, breakfast, cakes & sweet things, gluten free

2 Comments

One day until I start ‘big school’. I’m experiencing all sorts of feelings at the moment but I won’t bore you with them right now and it’s probably best I have a break from my thoughts! I wanted to share this gorgeous recipe. I’ve been feeling far better since eliminating wheat from my diet. I’ve had slip ups and when eating out, it’s really hard to stick it out. The small changes have been positive though. I have been curious about buckwheat flour for some time and was excited to find this recipe. The date paste idea is fantastic; I plan to use it in other recipes that call for sugar. I was tempted to throw some fresh pineapple into these muffins but I think I’ll try that next time.

Makes 9 cupcake sized muffins.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup fresh dates, chopped

1 cup milk (non-dairy or dairy is fine)

1 tsp baking soda

2 free-range eggs

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup raw almonds, chopped

3 tbs chia seeds

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a muffin tray.Place chopped dates, milk and baking soda in a small pot. Bring to boil, then let simmer for another couple of minutes. Take off the heat. Let cool a little. Then blend to a paste in a food processor.Beat the eggs. Whisk in vanilla and olive oil. Stir in the date paste until well combined. Finally add buckwheat flour and chia seeds, and mix until just combined. Transfer batter to prepared muffin tin. Top each with some chopped almonds.Bake for 25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool completely on wire rack.

(Adapted very slightly from Anja’s Food 4 Thought)

quinoa, olive & parmesan salad

March 2, 2012

light meals, lunch, salads

3 Comments

I’m doing some sorting and reading at home today and thought I’d take a quick break to post this very simple quinoa salad recipe. Good on its own but you could also try putting it into a pita round with chicken or chickpeas, or serving with some grilled fish. I hope you all have a gorgeous weekend!

Serves 2 as a main, or 4 as a side salad

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (or use cous cous if you like)

large handful of pitted black olives, chopped roughly

1 cup of parsley, chopped

large handful of capers

2 small-medium sized carrots, grated

1 small cucumber, chopped finely

a couple of tbs of olive oil

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

pepper

METHOD

Mix all of your ingredients and season well. Serve!

tomato & vegetable curry

February 29, 2012

gluten free, low fodmap, mains

11 Comments

I keep forgetting this blog exists, with all of the stuff I have going on right now! Job interviews, meetings, welcome lectures, driving here and there, cooking, cleaning, bill paying and budget sorting – it’s been non stop. I haven’t had time to check my favourite food blogs or do as much reading as I’d like. Somehow, things are getting done and coming together though.

In under a week, I start ‘big girl school’ aka university. I’m nervous, proud and all sorts of things! At 26, it finally seems that I am starting to get a better idea of how to live day to day (though I slip quite a bit). I’m living healthily and doing my best to look after myself, I’m much happier than I have ever been in many ways and I’ve managed to shake the past and get myself into uni. I am in constant disbelief about it all, lately.

It’s going to be SO hard. But I’m SO excited now. Today I attended a meet and greet lecture for my course and I am impressed with the staff at the university. They are passionate and kind and I am looking forward to their lectures. I also had a meeting this evening that addressed all of the issues one might face as a mature age student, which was helpful. I just need to remember that I can do it, that I’ve done other things similar to this now and that I won’t fail if I try my best.

I’ve been living pretty tightly recently. Not working full time has been challenging and I feel overwhelmed by the financial responsibilites I have and how I’m coping with part time work. My loan and bills are a little more of a burden, to say the least! As such, I’ve been working on eating on a budget. Which means no fancy ingredients! Vegetables are cheap, which is great as it forces me to eat more. This particular meal cost me around $5 to make, which I am pretty happy about. Next time I’ll throw some spinach in and I thought raisins would go very well, although I didn’t have any. Garnish with coriander if you wish to do so! I love using spices and I am starting to feel like I have a better idea of what works well together. I really liked this particular blend.

Serves around 3.

INGREDIENTS

garlic infused olive oil

1 large red capsicum, chopped

2 medium potatoes, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 heaped tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground cloves

large pinch of cayenne pepper

large pinch of ground coriander

large pinch of turmeric

cooked brown rice, to serve

METHOD

Steam potatoes & carrot until just soft. Drain.

In a large frying pan, heat some garlic infused olive oil. Throw in the spices and cook for around 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Throw in the vegetables and tomatoes and cook, stirring, for around 5-10 minutes (depending on how you like your veggies).

Serve atop some brown rice.

pumpkin, green lentil & parsnip soup

February 22, 2012

lunch, mains, soup

9 Comments

Wow, what a disaster I had in the kitchen last night! It was just ‘one of those days’, where things didn’t come together too easily. I took ages to actually prepare any food, burnt myself a few times, broke my most valuable/expensive piece of cookware, then forgot to put the blender on while puréeing the soup and made a mess. I finally sat down to dinner at 11 and although the soup was lovely, I was glad the whole cooking ordeal was over! Does anyone ever have days like that in the kitchen? I tend to every now and then and it feels like such a relief to get it over and done with! Either way, this gorgeous soup was worth the fuss and mess and the toasted pumpkin cumin seeds were a good treat. I also loved the colour of it.

Today was a good day. I worked at the farmer’s markets selling organic produce (dips and muesli) and then spent my sunny afternoon studying with friends. I got a lot of reading done, although I worry about my ability to absorb information sometimes. I can spend 20 minutes or more reading one page over and over, simply because it’s not processing. I seem to eventually get it, though I wonder how much I’ve actually learned because sometimes when I reread things, I can’t remember the words! Right now, the thought of taking on 4 subjects for my first experience of university gives me butterflies. I really hope I can pull it off! 2 weeks until I find out, I guess.

One batch of this soup will feed 6 people.

INGREDIENTS

1.5kg of pumpkin, diced into 1cm cubes

2 large parsnips, diced

1 cup french green lentils

saffron strands (optional)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 litre salt-reduced chicken stock

1 cup boiling water

1 litre water (to add later)

pepper

pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin

1 tbs cumin

olive oil

METHOD

Pumpkin Seeds

Place seeds under the grill. Coat with cumin. Grill for a couple of minutes or until you hear a bit of pre popping noises.

Soup

Preheat oven to 180.

Put the pumpkin, parsnip, garlic, saffron, stock and water into a heavy baking dish.

Cook in the oven for 40 minutes, ensuring the stock doesn’t get all soaked up and dry.

Remove and put in a stockpot with the extra litre of water and lentils. Reboil.

Cook on a simmer for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft. Season well.

Place in a blender for a short while to get a soup that is a nice mushy texture.

Serve and garnish with roast cumin pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of olive oil.

(Adapted from Low GI Cooking)

mushroom, caper and parsley pasta

February 21, 2012

mains, pasta

11 Comments

I had some mushrooms handy and wanted a flavoursome pasta sauce. I skipped the creamy sauce recipes I found; this recipe looked so simple and it was. A perfect combo of flavours too. I served it on spelt pasta and garnished it with some delicious parmesan. I have been craving cheese so much lately! I had toasted cheese on spelt bread for breakfast and this for dinner. I’ve also been gawking at the Camembert cheese in the fridge for 5 minutes at a time each time I open the fridge. This is a good recipe if you couldn’t be bothered with effort.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

2 tbs olive oil

1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced

30g drained capers

200g cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

3/4 cup roughly chopped fresh continental parsley leaves

finely grated parmesan, to serve

pepper

wholemeal spelt pasta, cooked to packet directions and set aside

METHOD

Melt oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and capers, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the parsley, pepper and remove from heat.

Heat through pasta with hot water, drain and place in bowls.

Top with sauce.

Sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

(Adapted from Taste)

flourless banana & blueberry dessert cake

February 20, 2012

cake, cakes & sweet things, desserts, gluten free, Uncategorized

10 Comments

Today has slipped by quickly and I haven’t done as much reading or cleaning as I like but I plan to catch up on my book tonight over a cup of tea. I just got back from a weekend of camping. I am feeling really happy to have gotten away. I loved having dirty feet and it was great spending the weekend swimming, jumping off rocks and hanging by a fire, chatting and laughing. As was listening to the rain patter down on the tent as I fell asleep in my sleeping bag. On the way back, we stopped at a great pub in Lithgow for a chicken schnitzel and then before I knew it, I was home on the couch, listening to the storm and watching a movie. A perfect weekend.

Lately I’ve been keeping a daily gratitude journal. It’s been interesting, given that I have a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of things, rather than positive. Setting 5 minutes aside to focus on one particular thing and all of the wonderful things about it has been great, so far. It really perks up my mood and helps me to appreciate my day that little bit more. I plan to do it each day for a month at this point but I don’t want to forget to take time to be thankful each day because it feels important to me at this point in my life. So much to be grateful for.

Today I felt like baking, so I threw this together with whatever was on hand in the kitchen. It is a super moist cake, that is PERFECT warmed up – would be great served with ice cream or custard.

Serves 10

INGREDIENTS

150g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten

2 ripe bananas, peeled, mashed

2 cups almond meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup water (or milk, if you prefer)

1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup blueberries (or berries of your choice)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease base and sides of a loaf pan and line with baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar until pale. Add egg in 2 batches, beating well after each addition.

Stir in banana. Sift almond and baking powder and spices over banana mixture. Add water. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Fold in blueberries and coconut. Spoon into the pan and smooth out the top.

Bake for around an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Cool in the pan for a bit before tranferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cut and serve!

vegetarian lasagna with capsicum, ricotta and spinach (gf)

February 14, 2012

mains, pasta

chicken noodle soup (gf)

February 9, 2012

lunch, mains, pasta, soup

2 Comments

I love chicken noodle soup. If I’m feeling at all under the weather, it always picks me up! This is a pretty easy recipe to get together. You can use whatever noodles you wish – I used tini amaranth and rice penne, which I thought was a perfect addition to the meal. If you feel like a bit of extra kick, add some crushed chilli. Enjoy!

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

olive oil

2 small stalks celery, chopped

2 small carrots, diced

6 cups of chicken stock

300g noodles of your choice, cooked and drained

1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded

two large handfuls of parsley

1 tsp crushed chilli (optional)

METHOD

Heat oil over medium heat, adding the celery and carrot. Season well and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to get soft.

Pop in your stock and bring to a boil. Throw in the noodles, chicken and parsley and once heated through, serve!

—Scrambled Megs

a temporary goodbye + potato, quinoa and tuna salad

spicy pumpkin, split pea & rosemary soup

buckwheat, date & chia muffins

quinoa, olive & parmesan salad

tomato & vegetable curry

pumpkin, green lentil & parsnip soup

mushroom, caper and parsley pasta

flourless banana & blueberry dessert cake

vegetarian lasagna with capsicum, ricotta and spinach (gf)

chicken noodle soup (gf)

Follow “Scrambled Megs”