Welcome back to regular programming here at ISPP HQ! I hope the holiday period treated you well and that 2016 has started well for you. I had a lovely little break with family & friends and I’m feeling somewhat refreshed and ready to face the year ahead!
I went out for tacos before Christmas and one of the vegetarian versions came with pineapple salsa. It was so delicious that I knew I had to have a play in the kitchen and make some for myself! It’s sweet, savoury and mighty tasty!
If you’d told me a few years ago I would be happily making recipes that not only include mushrooms but feature them heavily I would never have believed you, but clearly times do change as here I am with a mushroom stir fry for you today! This dish is full of flavour and best of all is ready in no time at all, making it an excellent mid-week meal when time and enthusiasm are low!
I’ve gone a bit Vietnamese food crazy lately, with pad thai, rice paper rolls and the like making regular appearances in my kitchen. This tofu vermicelli bowl has also been a part of the mix and I’ve been loving the mix of fresh, crispy vegetables, lightly fried tofu and lots of herbs and chilli.
The other day I was perusing the aisles of the health food store near my work (please tell me I’m not the only one who does that!) when I spotted some black rice on sale and decided it needed to come home with me. I had seen a few recipes using black rice but had never eaten it myself, so after doing some research decided the first way I wanted to try it was in a salad. I picked the brightest coloured vegetables from my veggie delivery, and away I went!
I’ve discovered a strange quirk with my veggie boxes lately in that if I haven’t used up one particular vegetable it always shows up in large quantities in the next box as well, leaving me with a huge pile of something that needs to be used up quickly. It happens occasionally with tomatoes, but luckily they are easy to cook up in a big batch to make tomato sauce, which can be frozen to be used later. That’s what I did with this batch, and the best part is the sauce is really versatile. I like to keep it chunky for simple pastas and blend it up nice and smooth for pizza bases. I like mine with a good kick to it so use a whole chilli, seeds and all, but you can reduce the spice to your own taste.