Superfood Cooking Class

I'd always been meaning to take some classes at my local cooking school, Orange Regional Cooking School. Recently I finally got organised and got myself along to two classes. Both were great.  The first class was a soup night, and the second of these classes was a superfood cooking class. While I generally think that superfood is an overused term, I get that it's being used to encourage people to eat nourishing natural foods, and that's a good thing.

A demonstration class, we have a lovely glass of wine, and sit back to watch someone else do all the work. And then we eat the spoils. For the superfood class Lesley Russell was joined by Lindl Taylor. Lindl used to run the fantastic Energize Cafe, sadly missed by all who ever went there.

There were many courses this night, all delicious.

Kale Chips

Mojito Smoothie, sadly without rum

Cauliflower, kale, anchovy and garlic

Freekah pilaf

Quinoa salad with roast sweet potato and orange vinaigrette
topped with lamb

Chia and coconut pudding

There was a soup as well- Roast garlic, faro and chicken soup- but I must have been in a frenzy and forgot to photograph it. It was a fantastic evening. I learnt so much. 

Even really simple things that I haven't done before
like chopping an orange- not in quarters

I've cooked quinoa before, and use it quite regularly, but learnt some new tips to try next time I prepare it. I've never cooked freekah, farro or kale before, and I felt empowered to give it a go at the end of the class. I was thrilled to learn how to make and cook cauliflower rice.

I've already cooked two of the recipes at home. I've made the chia and coconut pudding twice now- it's very delicious. And tonight I made the cauliflower and kale- I made a vegetarian version topped with tofu for Master Adventures and I- he rated it 7/10! A major victory.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking
a fabulous weekly meme at BethFishReads

Cinnamon Pumpkin with Chickpeas, Tahini and Candied Pumpkin Seeds

Sometimes inspiration comes in the most unexpected places. Like the Sunday papers. I found this recipe back in May in the Sunday Telegraph Body and Soul section. There was an excerpt of several recipes from a book called Community. I'd never heard of Community before I made this recipe- after I made this recipe I made sure to track it down at my local bookshop- it's chock full of delicious sounding recipes.

This is the best thing I've cooked this year.

My effort

1 large butternut pumpkin/squash (about 1 kg), peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1 red onion, cut into 5mm wedges
1 head of garlic
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
sea salt and black pepper
2-3 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tblsp tahini paste
3 tblsp Greek yoghurt
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 small clove garlic, crushed
2 cans of chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Candied Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds
3 tblsp low GI sugar
1 large eggwhite, beaten
1/4 tsp ground allspice
sea salt

Preheat oven to 220C. Toss pumpkin, onion, cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper with oil.

Spread on a baking tray and roast for 40 minutes or until golden. You may need to remove the onion first as it cooks faster.

To make the candied pumpkin seeds, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Spread on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 10-20 minutes or until seeds are golden and slightly puffed. Remove from the oven and season with salt. Stir gently, leaving some clumps. Allow the mixture to cool completely (it can be stored in an airtight jar for 3-4 weeks).

Whisk together the tahini, yoghurt, lemon juice, crushed garlic and a pinch of salt.

To serve, gently toss pumpkin, chickpeas, roasted garlic and coriander together. Place on a serve plate, spoon over tahini sauce and scatter over the candied pumpkin seeds.


Notes
Naturally I tinkered with the recipe.

Cook the onion separately it cooks much too quickly, and even keeping an eye on it it's quite easy to burn it before the pumpkin is done.

I don't like tahini all that much, so changed the ratios to suit. The original recipe had
4 tblsp tahini paste
3 tblsp Greek yoghurt
and the sauce was thinned with with 4 tblsp water- I can't remember if I did that or not.

I added a roasted a head of garlic with the other veggies as I had one in the cupboard.

I substituted coriander/cilantro for parsley, as I love, love, love coriander and find parsley a bit meh.

I found the candied pumpkin seeds a little troublesome, although I cut down the amount of sugar because it seemed too much. I will have to try that again.

Boiled butternut pumpkin/squash has a low GI rating of 51.
Tinned chickpeas are low GI at 40, while home cooked chickpeas are even lower 28 (and more delicious, but I used tinned for this).

How it looked in the paper

Vogel's Golden Baked Cluster Crunch

It only occurred to me quite recently that I had never mentioned my absolute favourite Low Gi cereal. This has been my go to cereal for several years. Indeed since I first tried it. I happily eat this cereal most of the year round. There's always a box in the cupboard. Of course in the winter I take a break and eat some fabulous porridge. Sometimes I make my own muesli. But I go back to eating Cluster Crunch.

There are a range of flavours but we only get the
Classic Cluster Crunch locally

It is crunchy and fabulous. Recently I went to buy some and they'd moved it on the shelf at the supermarket and I must admit to a bit of a panic until I found it. Hoping that it hadn't been discontinued, or just not being sold a my local supermarket. Happily I found it again. Crisis averted.

It's great plain, I try not to eat it straight from the box,
but it does make a nice snack

I often add seasonal fruit

Or some of my fabulous baked rhubarb with yoghurt and almonds

Spiced Quinoa Pilaf with Corn and Broccoli

I was inspired by this recipe in the Sunday paper recently. I've been buying sandwiches for my work lunch instead of making things. This one got me back in the low GI lunchtime groove. I really enjoyed it, although I was a tiny bit sick of it by day 5.

Quinoa is a low GI superfood. Gi 51. Corn and broccoli are both good for us of course. I eat a reasonable amount of corn, but don't usually search out broccoli, it was good to highlight it here. And I found a beautiful head of broccoli and two gorgeous cobs of corn at my local farmers market on the very day I was making this.

Broccoli isn't a carbohydrate source, and so doesn't have a GI value. Corn on the cob has a low GI value of 48.

Spiced Quinoa Pilaf with Corn and Broccoli

1 tblsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
150gm (1 cup) quinoa
500 ml (2 cups) water
300gm broccoli, cut into florets
2 large corncobs,  husked removed
2 tblsp chopped fresh coriander
Feta, crumbled

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic, ginger and spices. Cook, stirring for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in quinoa. Add water and stir. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and place broccoli on top. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to the boil. Cook corn. Remove corn from water. Set aside to cool. Cut down the corncob to remove the kernels.

Add corn and chopped coriander to mixture. Top with feta.

Adapted from You Are What You Eat
Sunday Telegraph 28/2/12

The original recipe used yoghurt as a topping. I didn't have any this week, so used a bit of crumbled goat feta instead. It is accidentally vegan if you leave off the cheese.

It also grilled the corn on the cob rather than boiling it. It was easier for me to boil it that day, so I did.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Salad

It has been a long slow cool start to summer in my part of Australia this year. The temperatures are starting to warm up finally and we can enjoy some salads, eaten outside in the evening. We enjoyed this one tonight. It went particularly well with a couple of glasses of champagne.

It's prepared in minutes, and totally non-cook. Always a bonus in the summer.

Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Salad

1/2 tsp low Gi sugar
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1tblsp finely chopped chives
1 tblsp finely chopped dill
1/4 cup cream
1 piece hot smoked salmon, flaked
1/2 cos lettuce
1 telegraph (long) cucumber, thinly sliced

In a small bowl lend together the sugar, lemon juice, chives, dill and cream. Add the salmon. Toss to combine.

Arrange lettuce and cucumber on plates. Top with the salmon mixture.

Serves 2.

Notes
Adapted from a recipe in Marie Claire Fresh (Michele Cranston). The original recipe used smoked trout, which works very well too of course. The original recipe also salted the cucumbers, this step made them soggy in the final dish, and I preferred just using plain sliced cucumber to keep it crunchy. The original recipe called for watercress, but we couldn't find any this week so used cos lettuce instead. I imagine it would be very tasty.

Cream is of course relatively high in fat, so is low GI by definition. But there is only a small portion of cream per person here. You could substitute for it if you wanted to make it lower fat.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Beetroot and Goat Cheese Salad

Recently as I was eating yet another beetroot and goat cheese salad (this last one in Texas), I realised that I had eaten this salad, in multiple countries around the world. So I thought a compare and contrast would be fun.

Texas style, Kenny and Ziggy's, Houston Texas, September 2011 (in case there are any doubts, this was HUGE, more platter size than plate)

Slightly more refined in Dublin, Ireland, June 2010, Marco Pierre White's Steakhouse and Grill. The thinly sliced beetroot almost visible under the greenery. This was sensational.

I know I've eaten this in Australia and New Zealand too, but sadly can't find any photographic evidence.

Do you have any meals that you will eat wherever you see them in the world?

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Autumn Power Porridge in Spring

It's not autumn, well not in Australia at least, but there I was no way that I could wait 6 months til it was autumn here again to try this porridge. After all it has multiple ingredients that speak to me. Pumpkin. Porridge. Pumpkin pie spice. Delicious flavours at any time of year.

Australians love pumpkin. We have it available fresh year round. And we cook it and eat it year round. It's not available here canned, and the idea seems rather odd to us. Pumpkin soup. Roast pumpkin. On pizza. In salads. I make a particularly delicious pumpkin pasta sauce.  But I'd never heard of or thought about Pumpkin Porridge- til now.

It's difficult finding the GI rating for pumpkin. Butternut pumpkin is listed as 51 in my Low GI Diet Shoppers Guide, and pumpkin generally as 66 on GI news, which is a wonderful go to source for GI information.

Porridge made from Uncle Toby's traditional oats seems to have a GI of 58. The range for porridge is quite vast, but essentially for the lowest GI options you should use traditional rolled oats or steel cut oats (these are difficult to find in Australia). The quick cook/microwave sachets are best avoided as they don't taste nearly as good, and they are high GI.

Quinoa is a low GI (51), gluten free superfood. It's become very available in the past few years, and is a common supermarket item now. You don't need to go searching in dusty healthy food shops to find it anymore. It's available in a range of colours, I used the white one today.

Autumn Power Porridge

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/4 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tblsp agave syrup
Dried cranberries
Walnut pieces
Milk of your choosing, I've been using oat milk recently, but have just learnt that it is (high) medium GI of 69

Combine oats, quinoa and water in a small saucepan. Cook on stovetop over low to medium heat until cooked, about 15-20 minutes. Stir through pumpkin and spices.

Serve in bowls, add cranberries, walnuts, drizzle with agave syrup. Add milk.

Serves 2

Notes

I simplified the recipe, just cooking the pumpkin before hand, and then cooking the oats and quinoa together. I adjusted the quantities too, as there was noone else at home this day to help me eat it- well, Mr Adventures refused my generous offer to share.

I was anxious about the quinoa in the porridge. I've only made quinoa into a porridge once before, and it was an Abject Failure. Awful. And there was a tonne of it. I ended up feeding it to the dogs! It was much better here, but I'd probably increase the oats to quinoa ratio for my tastes next time.

You could easily put in more pumpkin, and spices- but then I am rather heavy handed with the spices, I'd already increased the quantity from the original recipe. I used some of the pumpkin pie spice I'd made recently.

To me this recipe is crying out for maple syrup instead of the agave, but somehow I had none in the fridge! This situation can not be allowed to continue.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Something very exciting happened to me a little while ago. I won a book- simply by posting a comment on a blog! Australians never expect this sort of thing to happen to them. And if we were to win, we then wouldn't expect the book to be sent all the way down to the anitpodes. But Heather from Books and Quilts is a very generous person and very soon my prize was in my hot little hands. Heather is so generous that she included a number of other gifts in my parcel too. 

Over 200 smoothie recipes, and me with a new Thermomix!

The book is divided up into the usual sorts of sections

Apple

Banana

Berries

Strawberries

Tropical and Citrus

Vegetables

Juices

Of course I want to try things like Strawberry De-Lish Smoothie- basically a mango, a banana, some strawberries and ice. Who wouldn't? Or the Apple and Cinnamon Smoothie. Even the Apricot, Honey and Orange Smoothie. But for my first smoothie from the book I thought I'd push the envelope and delve into the Vegetable chapter. 

There are some recipes in there that are challenging to my mind- such as the Broccoli and Grape Smoothie. I don't know that I'll ever get to trying that one. And the Celery and Kiwi Smoothie will never get made in my house (I am yet to be convinced that celery is a food). I don't have a long history of drinking vegetable juice. I don't like tomato juice, and it was just last month that I was brave enough to try a green juice and a green smoothie for the first time. The green smoothie was delicious (lots of apple juice I suspect).

Delicious sweet potato chips, delicious green smoothie, meh green juice (timid attempt by me, too much celery) at
Field of Greens, Houston, Texas

So emboldened by such green smoothie success, I decided to make the Pumpkin Smoothie. Australians love pumpkin, I even had a wedge in the fridge, so I thought this would be a good place to start. 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

165mL/ 3/4 cup chilled pumpkin puree

165mL/ 3/4 cup chilled milk

110mL/ 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

1 tblsp agave syrup

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine all ingredients and blend til smooth. 

Made in a rush for dessert, so nighttime and not great lighting

So how was it? It tasted a bit like a slightly pumpkiny egg nog. I quite liked it. Mr Adventures was less keen, but still drank his share. I wonder what I'll try next?

Notes

I modified the original recipe a fair bit. I gave it the much better name of Pumpkin Pie Smoothie for a start. That sounds heaps better than Pumpkin Smoothie to me. 

I made my own pumpkin puree (mash). Simply steamed the chopped pumpkin in the microwave, and then mashed it, and chilled it. 

The original recipe used vanilla frozen yoghurt instead of icecream. Rural Australia didn't have any vanilla frozen yoghurt on the day I wanted it, (I'm not sure that we ever do actually) and since there was some icecream in the freezer I used that instead.

The original recipe also included 1 tblsp frozen orange juice concentrate. I'm not sure that frozen juice concentrate is available in Australia, if it was I wouldn't buy it, so I just left it out. 

The original recipe also used 2 tblsp of sugar. As a slight nod at trying to make this low GI I used agave syrup instead of the sugar. I've only recently started using agave syrup- its a very low GI (19) sweetener, made from the agave plant, a type of cactus, in Mexico. As it's sweeter than sugar I decreased the amount in the recipe. 

Pumpkin pie spice isn't all that available here. I just found a recipe on the internet, and made my own. I have quite a bit left over which I'm using up on my morning cereal. If it ever warms up, I might make a batch up pumpkin pie muesli. Oooh, yes, that sounds fab. Pumpkin pie muesli. Homer dribble......

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Red Lentil and Burghul Soup

I wasn't too sure what I thought of the notion of this soup. But I'd ripped it out of the newpaper (back in February!) and it was time to try it.

I like burghul (also called bulgur), but hadn't had it in soup form before. Of course it's most famous use is as a base for the middle eastern classic Tabbouli. I do like red lentils in soup- indeed some of my favourite soups contain red lentils now that I think about it.

Red lentils are an amazing nutritious, low GI food. GI 26.

Burghul/bulgur is simply whole wheat that has been hulled, steamed then cracked (which gives the other name of cracked wheat), and so it retains the wheat germ and bran. The GI for boiled burghul hasn't been measured, but when it is soaked as you would do for tabbouli it is 48.

Red Lentil and Burghul Soup

1-2 tblsp olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

2 sticks celery, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes

1.25 L chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup red lentils

1/3 cup burghul

2 tblsp tomato paste

2 tblsp chopped fresh mint and basil

Heat oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and saute onion, celery and garlic for 7 minutes, or until softened. Add chilli and cook for 1 minute. Add stock, lentils, burghul and tomato paste, stir and bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until grains are tender. Add a little extra stock if needed. Season to taste. Add mint and basil just before serving. Serve with a dollop of thick yoghurt.

Serves 4

David Herbert

Weekend Australian, February 26 2011

Notes

I omitted the chilli as I was making the 10 year old eat it for dinner.

It's a very quick and easy soup to throw together for a simple meal.

I wasn't sure I liked the appearance of the soup as it was- so I blitzed it in the Thermomix to make a smooth soup. The burghul then gave it a bit of a furry mouth feel. I don't know that I'd make this again, but it was interesting to try- and the 10 year old ate it with no fuss!

I will cross post this on my soup blog.

Potage St Germain (well nearly)

It's always great when a recipe combines several of your great loves, and this soup does that. Soup. Low GI goodness. France. And a friend's blog. Too good to pass up.

Split peas are a nutritional storehouse, with a fabulous low GI of 32.

I've never really been a fan of the traditional pea and ham soup, I find it too furry on the tongue, and the colour is usually unappealing. Here, we don't have the ham, and the soup is glammed  up by addition of fresh peas at the end to give it a great colour boost. So when my friend Hannah blogged this simple French potage, I knew I would have to give it a try quite soon. So I did. And it was fab.

Although it turns out this isn't really a traditional Potage St Germain, which is more a fresh pea soup made with stock, lettuce, onion and celery. I felt certain that Elizabeth David had a recipe for Potage St Germain in her book French Provinical Cooking, but I suddenly can't find it. The name of course brings to mind St Germain de Pres, a lovely but dilapidated church on the left bank of Paris.

2 cups green split peas (400g)
1 litre water
1 tblsp olive oil
1 large brown onion (200gm), coarsely chopped
2 trimmed sticks celery (150gm), coarsely chopped
1.25 litres chicken or vegetable stock
500gm frozen peas
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper


Soak split peas in the water in a large bowl for 3 hours or overnight.

Heat oil in large saucepan; cook onion and garlic, stirring, until onion is soft. Stir in celery, cook, stirring for 2 minutes.

Add undrained peas and stock, bring to a boil; simmer, uncovered, about 1 hour or until peas are tender (skimming the surface and stirring occasionally). Stir in frozen peas; cook, for about 10 minutes until peas are tender.

Blitz soup in high speed blender, until smooth.

Return soup to pan. Heat through. Season to taste, and garnish, with mint or garnish of your choice.

Pretend you're in Paris whilst you eat.

Notes

My 10 year old ate this without complaint- just the usual bribe of bread and butter.

I garnished with creme fraiche and chives, as that's what I had on hand.

I only noticed the soup was meant to be simmered uncovered when I typed the recipe here. I did it covered.

I'm cross posting this on my soup blog.

Better the second time round

I love the forced creativity that opening the fridge door sometimes creates. That simple act of opening the door focuses your thoughts on the contents of the fridge, and what you can do with them. Sometimes that doesn't go so well, and sometimes you surprise yourself. Like this day.

I had some left over cooked chicken. Chicken that hadn't really worked the night before. I used a recipe I'd made before but not for some time. It used to be fabulous, not quite sure what happened this night. A simple baked chicken with mustard powder, curry powder, butter and honey. Somehow I managed to make it really quite hot this time, when previously it was quite mild. The family didn't really like it, so I had leftovers...

And it made an absolutely delicious toasted sandwich the next day for lunch!

Curried chicken and mashed kumara toasted sandwich on rye

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Raw Vegan Low GI Chocolate? What the Hell.

Or more correctly, I blame Hannah IV

I have a history of blaming Hannah for some things. Like buying somewhat ridiculous and overpriced chocolates. And having any desire whatsoever to try raw vegan low GI chocolate, which is really not my thing. At all. And now I know why.

I was so overwhelmed with the flavours available that I ended up trying all of them. So many things I had no real idea about- lucuma, maca, camu camu and purple corn. How did they taste normally? And what would they be like in chocolate? And what are Activated Almonds? Why would you activate them? And how?

Activated almonds peeking through

You should always stick with your instincts about new chocolate flavours. After all I've been eating chocolate for quite a few decades now, I think I know what I like. I picked the Activated Almond and Purple Corn as the first flavour to try. It was the best in my opinion. Turns out Activated Almonds are raw almonds that have been soaked to deactivate enzyme inhibitors that apparently make raw nuts hard to digest, and then dried out again at low temperature to make them crunchy again. I'm not sure I really buy into all that, but the activated almonds tasted fine, and didn't upset my delicate digestive mechanism. However I was rather astonished at raw chocolate. It's chocolate Jim, but not as we know it. The texture is well, awful, and the taste, well, not as we know it. And since I'm not sold on the benefits of a total raw food diet, I'd rather eat cooked chocolate, because it's nicer.

The sour cherry acai was next. I was still struggling with the texture and taste of raw chocolate, which came to the fore more given the absence of activated almonds. The taste did linger on the palate for quite some time even after a small delicate nibble on just a few squares. The flavour elements don't seem to blend, and the berries stand apart somehow. This isn't the sort of chocolate to gobble greedily. Perhaps a good thing. But if you are going to eat chocolate, really, you want to enjoy it more than this I think.

I'm vaguely interested in eating things that I have to google first to work out what they are. Always up for a new experience, me.

Sadly a bit bloomed

Stupid computer won't let me rotate this one

Goji berries, ok. They've been a bit of a trend over the past few years. I know what they are. But Camu Camu, Maca and Lucuma? Absolutely no idea of what they are, or how they will taste. Turns out they are all South American plants. Which is ok I guess but makes me start to ponder food miles and the utility of all this. Then I discover that Camu Camu is apparently at risk of becoming an endangered species because people like me like novel chocolate flavourings that are allegedly good for us, and chock full of anti-oxidants. And then none of them seemed to taste all that much of anything. Well at least in this format. Lucuma is meant to taste like caramel, and is a popular icecream flavour in Peru. I didn't get any caramel notions here though.

I left the Crunchy Mint to last, expecting not to like it. I've never been all that keen on the crunchy type chocolates, with shards of sugary flavours.  But to my surprise this was probably the second best one. The mint flavour was quite pleasant. Although I still hadn't got used to the whole raw chocolate vibe.

I think that my raw chocolate career may be over. I guess if you're really into the raw diet ethos then these at least would be treats- and they're still much better than carob!

Kumara Hummus

I do love hummus. And it's so quick and easy to make hummus at home. Naturally home made hummus tastes much better than store bought.

Recently I found a fabulous blog post about variations on hummus, including the fabulously interesting kumara hummus. And I knew I had to make it sometime soon. I took inspiration from this recipe, and naturally fiddled with it a bit.

Kumara is delicious, and a fabulous low GI superfood. I've been trying kumara in a few new and different ways recently, and enjoying it very much. I commonly use it as a mashed vegie for dinner, but sometimes you want to try something new with an old favourite, or combine two trusted old friends.

Ras el hanout is another wonderful, aromatic spice blend. I have a wonderful pot of it that I bought in Melbourne last time I visited.

Kumara Hummus

450gm kumara
300gm chick peas
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tsp ras el hanout
2 tblsp peanut butter
2 tblsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 tblsp olive oil + an extra slurp if needed for texture
sea salt and freshly ground pepper


Peel kumara, and chop into even sized pieces. Microwave until tender (about 8-10 minutes).

Combine cooked kumara, chickpeas, garlic, ras al hanout, peanut butter, lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings in a food processor. Blend until desired texture. I like mine quite smooth, and not chunky.

Notes
I learnt to use peanut butter instead of tahini in my hummus last year. Nigella Lawson taught me. The peanut butter ratio I used here was probably a bit high, it almost came through as a separate taste. I was a bit distracted when I was making this, and had put more in than I wanted to before I quite realised. Plus my chickpeas didn't cook up into as much as I was expecting.

Because it's winter here and rather chilly at the minute I tried to think of some new ways to use hummus rather than just with crudites. Thus the evolution of the kumara hummus, roasted capsicum and ham pizza! Sadly no picture exists of this original treat. We have pizza and movie night every Friday night, and it made quite a nice change from the usual pizza toppings I use.

I was very excited to find these German crackers on a recent excursion to Sydney. I had originally seen them on a Chocolate and Zucchini post about peacamole. I was saving them for a special occasion, and naturally hoping to make my poiscamole to enjoy them with. Life, and kumara hummus intervened.

I can live with that.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.