Midnight Pumpkin Mud

My new favourite breakfast also doubles as a handy late night snack. Yummy 'Snickery Pumpkin Mud Smoothie' from Sarah Wilson's 'I Quit Sugar'.

It's now just after 11.40 pm. The smallest offspring (SO) has been cluster feeding on and off since around 8pm. She's taken to a new habit of being relatively settled during the day, then partying late into the night - much like her parents' hazily distant youth. But after a couple of nights of this, combined with some busy days, my energy levels (and sense of humour) are depleting as midnight approaches.

Of course it's also super hot and humid, so no one is having any fun, and usually my go-to energy boost right about now would be chocolate - and lots of it. But I've discovered on my sugar free recovery that I can't really stop at a couple of bits of chocolate just yet, so it's off the menu for now.

Ransacking the fridge uncovered the leftover cup from yesterday's breakfast, so in between 'shushing' and rocking the SO, I've scoffed it. For me Pumpkin Mud covers all the bases for chocolate, cold, pudding, protein and veges.  The middle offspring loves this too, and shares a small cup with me in the morning.

Snickery Pumpkin Mud Smoothie (makes two serves)

Blend the following, add a small handful of ice to blender if you like it runnier or need it colder.

*    small handful of spinach leaves
*   1 1/2 tablespoons raw cacao powder (I use LifeFoods brand)
*    1/2 cup Greek yoghurt (or almond/coconut/any milk you like)
*   1 tablespoon vanilla protein powder
*   1 tablespoon peanut butter
*   3 wedges cold roasted pumpkin (organised types will have premashed and frozen this in portions)

It blends up to be a seriously unappetising colour, but that just means that no one round here wants to steal it. Apart from my middle offspring food adventurer, she's discovered it's yummier than it looks.

Quinoa - it's SO good!!!

I'm never one to shy away from trying new food, and I remember vividly trying quinoa in a past life a long time ago in Sydney, at one of those shiny fabulous lower North Shore vegetarian cafes. The salad was delicious, but on moving back to NZ quinoa wasn't quite such a thing, and I hadn't had it again until quite recently.

But, like many new foodie things, I somehow couldn't make the transition from ordering it at a restaurant, to buying it and cooking it myself. Which, if you've ever cooked quinoa, is quite hilarious, given that it's no more complicated than steaming rice.

Luckily Small Town has an excellent supermarket with brilliantly stocked bulk bins, so I got some quinoa (in experimental quantity only) and whipped it up for lunch.

How to Cook Quinoa

First, rinse the seeds (yep, it's a seed, but you can call it a grain - everyone does) to get rid of the bitter, soapy coating. Don't make a production out of this, just grab a sieve/colander/strainer (pick your nomenclature) and zhush those babies about under running water.

Then plonk them in a pot of water, 2 cups of water to every 1 cup of quinoa. Add salt if you like, cover, then bring to the boil. I have elements that retain the heat pretty well, so at this point I turn it off to steam, alternatively just drop the heat down to the lowest setting and steam until you can see holes appear in the top of the quinoa - about 15-20 minutes. Then just fluff it up with a fork and it's done.

I ate the first lot I cooked for lunch, making my favourite kind of salad-ey explosion - adding things to the bowl until I was satisfied with the look.  Tuna (in olive oil), feta, baby spinach leaves, capsicum, olives, a handful of roughly chopped mint and chives from the garden, lemon juice (remind me to do a post on our rugged lemon tree one day), olive oil, and a sprinkling of chopped almonds and cashews.

Last night I made a second batch for another salad explosion - this time using leftover slow-cooked rolled roast beef, spinach leaves, super slow cooked zucchini and onion (done in cast iron pan with loads of olive oil), roast pumpkin, feta and haloumi. Add some giant squeezes of lemon juice, salt and pepper, and it was good to go.

I'm keen to hear of more yummy ways with quinoa, so if you have a favourite, let me know.

Kitchen Time

Although this is 'the first post', I'm saving all that 'first post' blah blah for later. When I can write for a while knowing the smallest offspring is down for a proper nap, not her current sort, which is 'might be asleep, might not be'.

Yesterday was the first day of doing some industrial level (for me) sugar free cooking.  I've got myself a copy of 'I Quit Sugar: For Life' by Sarah Wilson, and read it in one hit cover to cover a couple of weeks ago, to help me revitalise my sugar free life, which has fallen by the wayside since the smallest offspring's birth at the end of November.  Inside the book I fell in love with SO many of the recipes, tips and ideas that I knew I'd done the right thing blowing the Christmas gift budget on myself.

Yesterday's makings included:

Homemade Cream Cheese

Had to sacrifice one of the Seahorse's muslin wraps for this, but SO worth it to see the creamy cheese forming. I'm sure you could use any old cloth really - even a clean tea towel would work. This is basically just labneh - same exact technique. I'm looking forward to experimenting with flavours - adding spices and herbs to jazz it up. But for now it's waiting in the fridge, along with the lovely whey that was strained off.

Berry Banana Ice Blocks

I modified these from the original which uses Mango - even though mango is one of my top five favourite fruits - as we had frozen berries and bananas already. Added the rice malt syrup as it's the first time making them, so I wasn't sure on the sweetness for the troops who are still keen on sugary treats. Be warned: you have GOT to love coconut cream if you make these! Additional note for any food styling types - plastic bear-face tops on ice blocks is very 'now'. Just saying.

Chocolate Co-Co Nutty Granola Clusters

Somehow I decided not (completely forgot) to roughly chop the nuts before toasting them in the oven, but nothing that can't be fixed by a large knife when I head back to the kitchen. I'm looking forward to eating this with thick Greek yoghurt, or grabbing handfuls when I get the chocolate munchies.

If anyone knows where to get 85% Cocoa chocolate in New Zealand can you let me know? I'd love to try some of the choc recipes in the book, but really, it's a bit like cheating if I use regular chocolate.