Category: Vegetables
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Silverbeet & Parmesan Fritters
This is a super-easy recipe made with the most underrated leafy vegetable that will delight your taste buds and leave you wanting more. Silverbeet (swiss chard) is a nutrient-rich vegetable widely used in Mediterranean cooking. It’s used in all kinds of dishes, much the same way as spinach. As a child, silverbeet was one of…
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Mexican Bowl
You know you’ve done something right as a parent when your son and daughter-in-law invite you to their home for a mid-week dinner and cook you a sensational meal! Apart from experiencing delicious food, it was so great watching how well my son and his wife worked as a team – one prepping while the…
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Spring Green Salad with Peas and Broad Beans
This Spring Green Salad with Peas and Broad Beans not only looks like Spring, it also has the aroma, flavours and crispness of a Spring morning. It’s a light, fresh, tasty salad that goes perfectly with fish, chicken or meat. The hero of this salad for me, are the homegrown broad beans that I lovingIy…
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Baked jacket potato with spinach, bacon and a poached egg
If there’s one vegetable that I always have in my cupboard, it would have to be potatoes. And when I feel like some comfort food, baked jacket potatoes would have to be one of my favourites. The best thing about baked potatoes is that they’re so simple. Just pop them in the oven for an…
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Simple Greek braised green beans
If I had to choose a vegetable dish as my favourite, it would undoubtedly be braised Greek style green beans with carrots and eggplant. This is a dish I grew up on that my mum used to make with home-grown green beans and sweet ripe tomatoes from our garden. It’s a simple dish with complex…
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Halloumi, chickpea and green bean salad
This salad is not only a great accompaniment to any meal, it’s delicious and hearty enough to eat on its own for lunch or a light dinner. There is such a great contrast of flavours and textures in this salad with the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes and capsicum, saltiness of the halloumi, crispiness of…
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Zucchini salad with chilli, pinenuts and feta
It’s been such a long time since my last post and the more I thought about getting back into it, the harder it seemed. But, thanks to the encouragement from loyal followers, here I am again. This would have to be one of the easiest and most delicious summer salads I have made. I discovered…
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Week’s End Salad
What do you do when you stagger in the door on a Friday night after a long week and can’t work out what to have for dinner because all you have in your fridge are some eggs and leftover pieces of vegetables and salad? I’d say most people would order takeaway. Personally, I prefer to…
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Lentils & Roasted Eggplant Salad
Hi Reader I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m not posting as frequently as I used to, so I thought I might explain why. It’s quite simple really – not enough time 😦 Six months ago I took on new employment (unrelated to food, unfortunately) which has kept me extremely busy and left very little time to…
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Cabbage & Brussel Sprouts with Tahini Dressing
Who would have thought that brussels sprouts could become a family favourite? Like many people, brussels sprouts have not been a vegetable that I would seek out intentionally, that is, until I discovered the way they taste when they are baked. Baking, rather than boiling brussels sprouts (which is how I was taught to cook them),…
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Greek Bean Soup
“Mum, do I really have to eat this soup?”…was the question I would always ask, when my mum put a bowl of ‘fasolada‘ in front of me, which was pretty often 😦 Fasolada (or Bean Soup) is one Greek dish that my mother insisted on cooking on a regular basis and one that I would…
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Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Pepitas
How do I describe this soup? It’s sweet, spicy, velvety, rich, flavoursome and hearty, with a touch of crunchiness – YUM! I don’t know about you, but this Roasted Pumpkin Soup has everything I need to warm up on a cold winter’s day. To be totally honest, I love this soup any time of the…
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Roasted Cauliflower Soup
When I walk into my greengrocer during the cold winter months, and see heads of beautiful bright white cauliflower encased in tender green leaves on the shelf, I get the undeniable urge to make a pot of silky Roasted Cauliflower Soup. Roasting the cauliflower transforms it from a delicate, mild to a more robust earthy…
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Maria’s Yemista
A while back, I posted my recipe for my GREEK YEMISTA (or stuffed capsicums & tomatoes) which is a delicious vegetarian dish with fresh fragrant herbs, pinenuts and tiny sweet currents. Now I have another version to share with you. This is one my mum used to make that I loved as a child. Yemista was a…
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Sweet Potato & Quinoa Cups
What’s not to love about these Sweet Potato and Quinoa Cups! They are sweet and savoury, soft and crispy, all at the same time. The flavour and texture combination makes these savoury cups very delicious and the ingredients make them a really healthy snack, hot or cold 🙂 I especially love the creamy tangy flavour of …
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Cabbage & Potato Bake
Cabbage and Potato Bake would have to be my family’s favourite vegetable dish. It’s a dish they wouldn’t get sick of, even if I made it every week for Sunday dinner! This cabbage and potato bake is one of those comfort foods that people crave for on a dreary cold winter’s day, because eating it makes…
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What goes great with falafel? Tabbouleh of course!
Since I posted my FALFEL recipe, I’ve been looking for a great tabbouleh recipe to make for our Sunday family dinner, but found most I came across used bulgar wheat. Now, if you follow my blog, you will probably know that Sunday dinner at our place is usually a gluten free meal and, if you’re…
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One Pot Fragrant Chicken Stew
I love my One Pot Fragrant Chicken Stew even in Summer for two reasons. Firstly, the vegetables used in this dish are my favourite summer vegetables. They add so much flavour, sweetness and delightful colour to this dish – they make it look so appetising. Oh, and did I mention how good the aroma from the vegetables…
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Yemista – Summer on a Plate
Also known as Tomatoes & Capsicums Stuffed with Rice & Herbs Yemista is one of the most traditional of Greek dishes made all over Greece, but there are many variations depending on the region. This version is one of my favourites.To me, Yemista is summer on a plate! The vibrant colours of the vegetables drizzled with a little extra virgin…
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Spring Pasta with Asparagus
What do you cook for dinner on a warm Spring night that doesn’t require slaving over a hot stove? PENNE WITH ASPARAGUS, PANCETTA & CHERRY TOMATOES – what else! If you’re like me and you want to provide a great tasting healthy dinner for your family, but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen…
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Special Dinner for Two
Hello again, Recently I shared a post with you about a wonderful dinner I had with my son Anthony. It was one of those special moments that I got to spend one-on-one time with one of my boys. “Gee, it must be great now that your 3 boys have all grown up and are independent.…
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Asparagus with Shaved Parmesan and Aged Balsamic
Hi Reader, Here is another asparagus recipe as part of my Spring series that I know you and your family will enjoy. This is a ‘no brainer’ dish to make during the working week when you come home after a long day at work and need to cook something quick and easy for dinner. This…
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Asparagus, Ricotta and Feta Tart
This is another dish that celebrates Spring! This delicious tart has a creamy filling and light buttery pastry. It’s one of those recipes that you will go back to again again because it’s easy to make and so delicious to eat. It makes a perfect lunch served with my BABY LEAVES & HERB SALAD on…
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Grilled Asparagus with Toasted Walnuts & Feta
I came up with this dish recently quite by accident and I loved it so much that I decided to share it with you as part of my series of asparagus dishes. But, there is a story behind this dish. It was last Friday when I had gone shopping to pick up a few things,…
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Asparagus – an impressive vegetable
You don’t need to do very much to asparagus to make it any more delicious than it already is. Simply lightly grilling it on the BBQ or baking it, then drizzle over a really really good extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar and sprinkle a little sea salt, brings out the unique earthy…
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Good Food for Little People – Veggie Fritters
Getting children – big and small – to eat more vegetables is a never-ending challenge for parents. And like many parents, I spent a lot to time and effort trying to encourage my sons to eat vegetables by serving them in creative ways and as a result, they grew up to love most greens and…
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Tip for Busy Parents: Waste not, want not!
For years, I would discard the stalks from leafy greens such as silverbeet, spinach, chicory, broccoli and even parsley, until I saw my mum use the stalks of spinach to make a simple but very delicious salad. My mum would cut off the spinach leaves and use them to make ‘spanakopita’ (a Greek spinach and…
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Summer means green beans!
With Winter behind us, I”m thinking about the great vegetables that will soon be in season and all the dishes I will be able cook for Sunday dinner. A summer vegetable that is always a family favourite are green beans, which is great because green beans are a rich source of vitamins A, C, and…
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Is pumpkin a vegetable or fruit?
Although pumpkin is often referred to as a vegetable, technically, it is a fruit. Pumpkins belong to a family of plants known as the Curcurbita, which includes zucchini, squash and cucumber. Pumpkin is an incredibly healthy addition to anyone’s diet, rich in all kinds of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Not only is Pumpkin good for…
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Brussel Sprouts – a new favourite
Brussel sprouts have become a new favourite for my family which is great, because it’s one of those vegetables that have many health benefits (like cabbage), but are hated by most people – including me. That is until recently, when I saw them at my green grocer.
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Simple but delicious!
A healthy lunch does not have to be difficult to make or expensive, but it must taste great, so here’s what it could look like! A crisp green salad made with fresh lettuce, baby rainbow silverbeet leaves, rocket and mint (picked from my vegie garden) dressed simply with a little sea salt, extra virgin olive…
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Cabbage – hate it or love it…
Hate it or love it, the fact is that cabbage is a vegetable everyone should eat to stay healthy! Cabbage is one of the few vegetables that I hated as a kid, but have learned to love as an adult. I’m not sure why I didn’t like it, but it may have something to do…
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Silverbeet (chard) – nutritious, delicious and easy!
Silverbeet (or chard) like many leafy green vegetables, is rich in an array of minerals and vitamins essential for good health for all ages. Silverbeet comes in a green and rainbow variety and has a slightly bitter flavour. It’s very a versatile vegetable and popular in Mediterranean cooking. It can be used in salads, pies, soups, risotto or casseroles.…
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What makes a Greek Salad great?
You haven’t had a great Greek salad until you’ve eaten a Greek salad in Greece. And you haven’t had an amazing Greek salad until you eaten one made from tomatoes grown in the garden of a house in a village in Greece. Once you eaten a tomato in Greece (or Italy for that matter) you…
Meatballs and Muffins 