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.

Maple crunchola breakfast

It's no secret that breakfast is my absolutely all time favourite meal. Especially when bacon is involved. Sadly though, my body rebels when I eat bacon every day. I know. I don't know why either. Pesky extra kilos. Grrr.

So in my attempt to shed a bit of bacon-induced flab and to get a few more nuts, seeds and grains into my bod, I'm eating this a couple of times a week for my break-the-fast meal.

mmmm breakfast mmmm

I first had a version of this when hubby and I had a romantic weekend at Coolum about 4 years ago. We stayed at The Dome House, an absolutely sensational B&B near the base of Mt Coolum. We had a few gorgeous weekends here, and Di and Pete were fabulous hosts. Sadly (for us, not for them) they packed up a couple of years ago to go travelling, so The Dome House no longer operates as a B&B.

But I digress.

Breakfast each morning was a total smorgasbord of delight. The type I always say I'll make at home on a Sunday but never do. This however, I have made many times. And it's always a winner.

I've always thought this was gluten free, but was horrified to read that the packets of a few ingredients "may contain gluten" when I made it recently. I can only assume that is from processing on machines that have wheat through them. Luckily I'm not a coeliac, although I have fed it to a few who are. SORRY if you had any horrible side effects...

In this version I used:

• 2 cups puffed corn
• 2 cups puffed kamut
• 1 cup puffed millet (this was a new addition this time - DELISH!)
• 1 cup rice flakes
• 1 cup pepita seeds
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 2 cups macademia nuts (or any mixed and unsalted nuts)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup (none of that fake horrible kind! And definitely NOT the sugar free kind! ICK. WHO buys that? and why.......)

Preheat oven to 180c.

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl, adding the maple syrup last, mix well.

all in the bowl

and now with the maple syrup...

Spread out on a baking tray (I use the grill tray as it's a bit deeper and can hold the whole amount) covered with a silicon mat or baking paper. Bake for 5 minutes, give it a stir, bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

after baking

The baking makes all the ingredients lovely and crunchy.

Store in an airtight container for up at a month. If it lasts that long.

Variations:
I have used all sorts of nuts in this, and I normally use at least 2 types - other favourites are pecans, unsalted cashews and almonds.

I have also used rice puffs or any other type of puffed cereal. And if you don't have maple syrup or it's too exxy, use honey instead. Or golden syrup.

For breakfast I have it on top of plain yogurt (my current favourite is Tamar Valley - have you had it? Just sensational!) with a bit of fruit - berries, mango, banana or whatever you like that is in season. It is soooo good! While I normally have a larger serving than the one pictured above, you don't need a lot of the crunchola to get the flavour and texture.

What is your favourite breakfast that doesn't involve bacon?

Veggies for breakfast - my scrambled-omlette

I have a few friends who will recoil in horror from this post {no need to name names - you know who you are!} as they believe veggies are disgusting. Well, I don't. But like many, I certainly used to! When I was a kid. And yes, there are still a few that make my stomach churn. But that's a topic for another day.

Back to veggies for breakfast. I'm really lucky to work from home, which means I have the luxury of taking a bit of extra time to make breakfast. As I don't have to bolt to the train while scoffing that second piece of Vegemite on toast. Because I'm late. Again.

One of my favourite breakfast foods would have to be eggs. These little protein pellets fill my belly in a way toast or cereal never could! Especially when cooked with a few veggies. AND this helps my eat my 2+5 every day.

One of my favourite breakfasts is what I like to call a scrambled-omlette. I'll never be a chef as the perfect looking omelette has ALWAYS eluded me. Hence my scrambled-omlette.

This was todays version. And yes the photos are terrible, but I was STARVING. And it was cold this morning and I wanted to eat my breakfast while it was hot!

Feeds 1.

What you need:

• small blob of butter (I love Lurpak*!) or spray of olive oil
• half a zucchini, sliced thinly 
• 3-4 mushrooms, sliced (depends a bit on size - I used button mushies today)
• 1 egg
• splash of milk 
• 3 teaspoons of cottage cheese
• parmesan cheese for grating
• salt and pepper

What you do:

Turn the stove onto a medium heat. Spray your small skillet with olive oil or melt the butter and saute the zucchini and mushrooms until soft, stirring often.

While they are cooking, mix the egg with a splash of milk {about the amount that would fill 1/2 an eggshell at the MOST}, mix in a taste of salt and pepper. Once the veggie mix is cooked {this normally takes 3-4 minutes}, turn the stove down to low, add the egg mix, plop about 3 generous teaspoons of cottage cheese on top and cover until cooked {this takes 1-2 minutes, depending on how hot the stove is and how runny you like your egg}.

Once it's cooked, serve it up and grate a bit of parmesan on top! Add extra cracked pepper and/or salt {although I find the cheese gives it enough of a salty taste}. You could have it with some toast, but I normally just have it on it's own.

Scrambled-omlette with zucchini and mushroom. Yumbo!

A few variations - I often add red capsicum instead of zucchini, or a bit of bacon, or whatever veg I have in the fridge. If I'm extra hungry I'll use two eggs {but I'm trying to limit my eggs to only 1 most days as my cholesterol doesn't like me to eat more than about 6 eggs a week ...}.

What's your favourite way to incorporate a few veggies into your breakfast?


* DISCLAIMER: I'm a Friend of Lurpak, but I've loved their butter for a long time. Especially on toast with Vegemite. Check out The Lurpak Challenge - entries close soon!

Home made baked beans

OK. It's confession time. I've never liked baked beans. There. I've said it. Ick. No, double ick. Which was unfortunate growing up because they were loved by a particular member who used to "encourage" me to try them in the belief that sooner or later my tastes would change.

Well, the good news is that my tastebuds now DO love baked beans, but only the homemade variety, not the ones out of a can. Sorry Mr Heinz.

The first time I tried proper baked beans was when I lived in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada {I won't be surprised if you haven't heard of Brandon - it's a small city in the middle of Canada. Freezing in winter, very hot in summer. I loved it.}. I was there on a Rotary Exchange after high school, and one of my host mums {moms} was from Quebec where baked beans are revered.

I'm sure you can imagine my "delight" when I came home from school one afternoon to be excitedly told by my host sisters that we were having baked beans for dinner.  All I could think of was "gee, yum" {insert appropriate sarcasm levels}.

Well, I was SO WRONG. They were AMAZING. Made from scratch {soaked, cooked beans and all} and baked for at least 8 hours in the oven.

My baked beans recipe below is quite a bit spicier than I remember Odette's being. I also cheated and used tinned beans, and cooked them on the stove top rather than in the oven - it was a hot day in February rather than the -30c it was in Brandon! So it took about 2 hours not 8.

Simmering on the stove - I used a flattish casserole dish

What you need:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 red onion, peeled and chopped into smallish pieces
• 150g bacon, rind and fat removed, diced {or chopped into smallish pieces as per my description above when my brain forgot the word I was looking for...!}
• 3 tins cannellini beans
• 1 tin crushed or chopped tomatoes
• 1 chipotle chilli in adobo sauce, chopped finely {optional, but try and find them as they add a gorgeous smokey heat to the dish}
• 3 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbs golden syrup
• 2 tbs tomato sauce {ketchup}
• 1 tbs Worcester sauce
• salt and pepper

What you do:

• In a large frypan or casserole dish heat the oil {using a medium heat}, then add the onion and bacon. Cook, stirring every minute or so, for about 5-6 minutes, until cooked
• Add all the other ingredients {in the order listed above} and stir gently. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat all the way down to low so the mixture is simmering slowly. 
• Cover with a lid and let it simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring every 15-30 minutes. If it looks like it is drying out, add some water. 
• My favourite serving option is to have it with a poached egg for breakfast. You could also serve it with crusty bread or a salad. 

If you are a vegetarian or don't eat pork products, just leave out the bacon. And if you require gluten free, just make sure the bacon and the sauces comply.

Makes enough for a crowd. Or breakfast everyday for a bit over a week. The next batch I'll be portioning and freezing.

With the perfect poached egg on top - a completely sensational breakfast that keeps me full for ages!

I'll be making these again this week, as the aforementioned family member is coming for a visit. Let's hope he loves this version as much as I do.