A posy of spinach...

Some girls get flowers, me, well give me a posy of spinach any day!

This home grown, organic spinach is a sight to behold. Picked from the veggie patch today, this spinach almost has to be seen to believe its actually real. With little input from Tarian Pantry's green thumb, this spinach has looked after itself to produce dark green leaves bursting with nutrition and flavour.

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Never too young....

We here at Tarian Pantry whole heartily promote growing your own vegetables or buying from your local produce market. You should be mindful about how far your produce has travelled, how old it is and its country of origin.

Buying Australian, buying local and buying organic will ensure you are supporting our farmers and consuming the freshest produce, with the highest nutritional value.

Tarian's resident gardener recently told me that a child had said that 'he couldn't believe you could do that' meaning...he couldn't believe you could eat vegetables from the garden.

A child shouldn't be surprised about where food comes from. We need to ensure we educate our kids from the ground up, not the supermarket up! From small things big things grow, so start planning and planting out your vege-tarian garden now.

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San Choy Bow

Sunday dinner's are not all about a roast, gravy, potatoes and steamed vegetables. Tarian Pantry's Sunday dinner went against the grain - we created our vegan version of the San Choy Bow.

Here is an image of what we created and devoured this evening!

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Sweet as Agave

Agave (pronounced ah-GAH-vay) is best recognized as the plant from which tequila is made however we at Tarian Pantry best know Agave as an ingredient in food.

The taste of agave nectar is comparable to honey and maple syrup. There are two types of agave: a light and a dark. The lighter syrups undergo less heating and a more thorough filtration to produce a more mildly flavored product and the darker syrups are filtered less, and the solids left in the syrup make for a stronger nectar.

Agave is an ideal substitute to cane sugar and is used here to marinate these Portobello mushrooms. Mixed 3 tbsp agave syrup with with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 crushed garlic garlic, fresh chilies and thyme and oven roasted for 1 hour. The taste and texture is sweet but subtle, tender and truly delightful.

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Roasting tomatoes - Now that's special

As posted on an recent update, making the most of 'quick sale' items from your organic grocer or convenience store can certainly work in your favour. Tomatoes during this time of year can be expensive, around $11.00 per kilo so if you see a quick sale bag half the price, snap them up and start roasting!

Roasted tomatoes are the perfect ingredient to have on hand in the fridge. They can be used in pasta sauces, lasagne's, curries even stir fries. The most time consuming part of roasting tomatoes is waiting for them to cook but while your waiting you can catch up on Tarian's blog or start planning your new vegetable garden - see who said cooking takes up too much time.

Tarian's guide to roasting tomatoes:

Cut tomatoes in half and place cut side up on a baking tray. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the tomatoes. Place in a pre heated oven, 180 degrees for 1 hour.

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Pizza - Hold the cheese

Half the appeal of a pizza is the melted cheese that oozes the moment you pick up a piece however can all that cheese be good for your health? Cooking a pizza minus cheese can be just as satisfying, you just need the right toppings!

The secret ingredient here in the Toffuti cream cheese. Available from all good Organic & Health food stores this is a welcome addition to any vegan pizza.

Tarian Pantry's vegan pizza consists of:

Homemade pizza dough

Tarian Pantry's Basic Tomato sauce

1 onion, sliced thinly

4 brown mushrooms, sliced

12 olives

1/2 pineapple, cut into pieces

2 sausages, sliced thinly

4 basil leaves, torn

1 red chilli, sliced thinly

2 tbsp tofutti cream cheese

Method

Roll out the pizza dough and place on a pizza tray. Spread the tomato sauce on the base and add the toppings: onion, mushrooms, olives, sausages, pineapple, basil, chilli then place evenly the tofutti cream cheese.

Bake in a moderate oven, 180 degrees for 20 minutes until cooked.

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Not all sausages are made of meat.

I am the first to say, there are some bad vegan/vegetarian sausages on the market. After tasting a few of the brands available in our conventional supermarkets, I believe these products are what gives vegetarian food a bad name!

Whilst living in London, I discovered the Redwood vegi deli Lincolnshire vegan sausage and much to the delight of my taste buds, they are readily available in Australia, hoo-rah!

These sausage can be eaten straight from the packet or heated up and added to a pasta meal, just like I have done in the recipe below.

Ingredients:

1 brown onion, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

1 garlic glove, crushed

1 broccoli floret, steamed

8 spinach leaves, washed and chopped

10 kalamata olives, pitted and halved

3 tbsp olive oil

3 Lincolnshire sausages, sliced

1/2 chilli flakes

salt & pepper

1 packet pasta, Kamut spagetti used in this dish

3L water

Method

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan according to packet instructions. In a large fry pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil, add the onions and garlic and fry for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add sausages and chilli flakes and fry for 5 minutes until the sausages have browned. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and return the pasta to the saucepan and add the ingredients in the fry pan. Stir through remaining olive oil and serve immediately. If you don't follow a vegan diet, add parmesan cheese now.

Bon Appétit!

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Vegetable burger & homemade chips

Friday night is always burger or pizza night and if we are having burgers, you always have chips. The chips are not from a packet plucked from the freezer, they are from real potatoes!

A home-made burger meal is guilt free, quick, easy to assemble and the perfect TV dinner. You can always make the burger using ingredients such as tofu, oats & peanut butter or you can purchase already made burgers from organic stores. For this burger we used Bounty Burgers (www.bountyburgers.com.au).

Recommended burger ingredients:

• Wholemeal sourdough roll
• Tomato relish
• Grated beetroot
• Grated carrot
• Broccoli sprouts
• Alfala sprouts
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Sliced tomato
• Mayonnaise
• Fresh salad leaves such as cos lettuce, rocket

The only hardship about this burger is getting your mouth around it!

www.tarianpantry.com.au