Summer BBQ days - with mushrooms

As much as I would love to say I have always loved mushrooms, that would be a big fat lie. Because I haven’t. In fact, they used to be right up there with the dreaded Brussels sprouts - I had to be bribed to eat them. Even to try them. Then one day, not tooooo many years ago, I did. And WOW! What a revelation! What had I been missing all those years! 

Now I just can’t get enough of them! I happily eat a few mushrooms nearly every day - for either breakfast, lunch or dinner. Yes, that’s right. For breakfast. One of my favourite mushroom breakfast dishes is my “scrambled-omelette” - quick to make, gorgeous to eat. 

The most amazing array of mushrooms I have ever seen was when I went to the Fisherman's Wharf Farmer's Markets in San Francisco a few years ago. The variety was just incredible: lobster, hedgehog, oyster, wood ear and so many more! 

Amazing array of mushrooms - all colors, shapes and sizes...

As one of my food goals for 2012 is to eat less meat and more vegetarian meals, I suspect mushrooms will be making a lot of appearances on my menu! 

Lucky for me, mushrooms are also one of those foods that are really good for you! A 100g serving of mushies has more dietary fibre (2.5g) than 100g of celery (1.8g) or a slice of wholemeal bread (2.0g). And also more protein than most other veggies. And let's face it. Mushrooms are soooo much yummier than celery sticks! 

But the real kicker for me is that 100g of raw mushrooms only has 100kj. Yes, you read that correctly! Only 100kj! Or less than 24 calories. Which, when you love cheese and butter (two foods that go brilliantly with mushrooms by the way...) as much as me, is a REAL bonus! 

I made this for a quick and simple lunch the other day - despite it being a MISERABLE day, I fired up the BBQ, but you could just as easily cook it on the stove. 

Mushrooms on toast with haloumi. Boring name, mouthwatering flavours!

All you need for 1 person is:

• 1 slice of sourdough or other gorgeous bread
• 1 clove of garlic cut in half
• 1 slice of haloumi (yes, yes I know my pictures have 2 pieces. And yes, I ate them both...)
• about 100-125g mushrooms, cut into halves or quarters (I used Swiss brown but you could use flat, button or whatever else you fancy)
• 1 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 
• 1 tbs olive oil
• squeeze of half a lemon
• sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Pop the mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, lemon juice, s&p into a small bowl, mix together and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. 

Rub the slice of sourdough with the piece of cut garlic (I then chopped this up too and added it to the mushroom mix - according to my beloved, I REEKED of garlic that night. And the next morning. Oh well. It tasted AMAZING!)

Heat the BBQ - you need the flat plate. I use a silicone mat on our BBQ flat plate as it is easier than constantly cleaning the plate! Plus, ours is a bit rusty and manky. It's also non-stick, so you don't need to add extra oil.

Once the plate is hot, add the mushroom mix, the haloumi, and pop the bread on the grill (the grill section doesn't need to be turned on as there should be enough residual heat). TURN THE BBQ HEAT DOWN so nothing burns (learnt this the hard way the first time I cooked haloumi!). 

On the BBQ

It all takes about 5-8 minutes to cook - I normally take it off when the haloumi is cooked - you want it to look a beautiful golden colour.

Cooked haloumi

Once cooked, serve it up! This is gorgeous for a quick breakfast too, especially when entertaining. 

Instead of haloumi you could add a fried egg - the beauty of the silicone mat I used is that you don't need to use oil, so your fried egg is actually healthy. 

A few variations to this:

• use thyme or basil instead of rosemary
• add some chopped red onion 
• add some bacon or proscuitto
• pop some butter on the BBQ to cook the mushrooms (I don't think it needs it, but many disagree!)

What’s your favourite way to eat mushrooms?

Big thanks to the Australian Mushroom Growers Association for sponsoring this post and recipe as part of their Summer Mushrooms campaign. Check out these sites for many more gorgeous summer mushroom ideas.

2012 food goals

Every year at about this time my beloved and I sit down to work out our goals for the year - individually and jointly. This year is no different - in fact, it's happening tonight. Hence this post, which is helping me work out what I want some of my goals to be this year. Specifically my food-related goals.

Oh, who am I kidding! I can turn any goal into something food related. The general themes we use are around our finances, health, professional development and work, personal development and our relationship with each other as well as with family and other loved ones. Typically they include saving $$; getting fitter and healthier and eating less junk; spending more time together including date nights, holidays, long weekends; etc etc...

But what do these have to do with food? I'm getting there...

For a long time I have hated our kitchen. Actually since we bought our house. There is nothing hugely wrong with it - the house was only a few years old - but it is small with limited and very pokey storage that fits a small fraction of what I have, deep cupboards so you can barely find out what is behind the first layer, an awful electric stove, bad lighting and not enough powerpoints.

The good news - the reno is happening in 2012! Kitchen designers are being spoken to AS WE SPEAK {yippie-yi-yay!!}.

Horrible pantry with deep shelves - and yes it's messy... 

So onto the goals:

In anticipation of the kitchen reno and having to pack {but financial as I'll be saving $!}:

• stop buying stuff that gets shoved in the pantry and forgotten! As soon I'll need to pack all this, my #1 goal is not to buy ANY pantry goods but to eat our way through what we have - including the 12 tins of salmon, 8 tins of sardines, packets of couscous, quinoa, crackers, many jars of yumminess, wild rice, dried fruits and SO. MUCH. MORE. 
• eat our way through the freezer - it has a similar look thanks to a few not-really-necessary visits to SuperButcher to stock up on some of their incredible beef/pork/chicken bargains, the generosity of Silverwood Organics {I won a lamb pack at a charity fundraiser in October}, and more general over-shopping
• so all I am allowing myself to buy food-wise between now and the kitchen reno is fresh fruit/veg, dairy, bread and fresh fish. Of course, I may have to get the occasional chocolate bar as today I sadly discovered this house is chocolate-free :(

Kitchen benches like THIS will soon be a thing of the past!!

Food experiences {this is really health to get fitter and feel better}

• eat more locally grown and produced food, and support more local small food biz
• cook more at home. Especially since Kerry Heaney @eatdrinkbeKerry so kindly {note the sarcasm here...} told me of a study that shows women who eat out more than 6 times a week tally up the kilojoule equivalent of 1 kilo a month. I gained 10kg in 2011. Mostly because I ate out A LOT...
• entertain more at home and have more friends over for a casual mid-week meal
• eat more fruit, more veg and less meat - aim for one vegetarian day a week
• visit more markets and different types of food shops, especially when I'm on holiday {this is just part of the exercise bit - walking around markets for cardio, carrying my purchases for strength!}

The rest {including education, personal development and fun stuff!}

• blog more! 
• try new foods and cook with new ingredients
• read more food books - and not just cookbooks! 
• try more new restaurants, not just the old favourites - and use Brisbane Budget Bites a LOT MORE!

Anyway, they are some of mine for 2012. What goals - food or otherwise - do you have?