The Perks of Being a Foodie

Goodbye blogger and Hello wordpress...

A much as I have enjoyed blogging on Just Eat It, I have decided to take blogging a bit more seriously, and felt that a change was needed.

From now on I will blog on perksofbeingafoodie.com.

I would appreciate it so much, if you follow me over to me new home. I hope you will enjoy! :)

Edith

In my Lunchbox

There is beet in my lunchbox. Beet. That weird red stuff that I have refused to even smell for 19 years.
And it gets even crazier...it is paired with spinach!!!
My mum would probably High Five me by the sight of this....

I have never been a picky eater. Well, I don't eat meat, haven't eaten it for seven years, and don't plan on eating it ever again. But apart from that I'd like to think that I am an adventurous eater and there wasn't a lot of food that I wouldn't eat as a kid. On that list were:
Beets
Spinach
Mashed potatoes
Brussel Sprouts

And look at me now, stuffing beet and spinach in my face by the handfuls. Oh hasn't my palate developed beautifully! :D
(But I'll still never ever go near brussel sprouts or mashed potatoes, which is just really degrading abuse of a beautiful vegetable)

This is a beautiful refreshing little salad, that keeps really well in a box and won't go soggy and blehh even after a couple of hours.
Thanks to the barley it also fills you quite a lot and gives you the necessary energy to make it through a stressful day!
If you don't have pot barley on your hand, quinoa, cous cous, or rice would make a nice substitute as well.
Don't leave out the cranberries or walnuts, in my opinion they really make the salad!

Beet and Barley Salad (1 serving)
1/2 cup pot barley
1 tsp salt
2 cooked beets
A handful of spinach (approximately 1 cup)
1/2 cup roughly chopped leek (optional)
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (to taste, you might want to add a little more)
A dash of dried parsley, or a couple of leaves of fresh parsley
1 minced clove of garlic

Cook the barley in 1 cup of  salted water for about 15-20 minutes, until the barley has absorbed the water and has become soft. You might have to add a little more water as you go.
When the barley is cooked, you can either let it cool or make the salad right away.
Roughly dice the beets, add them to the barley together with the spinach, leek, cranberries and walnuts.
For the vinaigrette just combine all the ingredients and taste because you might have to adjust the flavours by adding more honey or more vinegar, depending on how sweet you prefer your dressing.

Let's talk curry

I am not Indian, and I am by no means pretending to be.
In fact, cooking Indian food used to seem so intimidating and scary to me, I much rather left the challenge of getting the spice balance right to the boyfriend.
Oh how I wish I had the curry making skills like Kumar from Masterchef Australia...
Wasn't he the most adorable thing ever? To be honest, Season Three didn't have the best cooks though, much preferred Season One, because, you know, Julie is a legend...

Anyways, I am scared no more. Curry, I owned you!
I got my spices out, I opened the can of coconut milk, I threw a few veg together, I did a bit of stirring, and I celebrated a triumph.
Veni, vidi, vici. Take that curry!

However, besides all the success-talk, I honestly couldn't tell you if this dish is even remotely authentic to what you would get in India.
It had a few Indian spices in it, it tasted absolutely unreal, does the rest really matter?

Shrimp, Green Bean and Chickpea Curry (1 serving)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 finely diced garlic clove
1 finely diced chili (optional)
2 tbsp diced onion
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
3 smashed cardamom pods

1 handful of green beans (I used 12)
1/2 cup of frozen shrimps (I used 6)
1/2 cup boiled chickpeas
2 diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt

1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup almond meal
1 cup spinach (optional)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

Stir all the spices and the olive oil together in a large pot or a deep pan. Let them sweat for about a minute on medium heat but be careful not to burn the spices.
Add the beans, shrimps, chickpeas, spinach and tomatoes. Salt the vegetables to your liking and let them cook for about 3 minutes while continually stirring them.
Add the coconut milk, almond meal, spinach and lemon juice. Turn the heat down to a low and let the curry simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the shrimps are not raw anymore.

OMG Is it already October?!?

Autumn is here!!!!!!!!

Well not technically, and not that you could notice a difference between summer and autumn in Ireland anyway...

But it is here and I am totally down with all the autumn food that's available in an abundance now. Gimme apples and mushrooms and pumpkins (oh how I wish one could get hold of pumpkin puree here) and chestnuts and beet and cabbage.

And let's make soup with it. Because cold, miserable days only require a bowl of hearty goodness to become a winner. 

Soup is so on my autumn bucket list...

Edith's Autumn Bucket List

- Make soup. All the soup. 

  I especially got my eyes on Joy the Baker's Carrot Apple Ginger Soup,

  Sprouted Kitchen's Lentil and Coconut Milk Soup,

  A Thought For Food's Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup.

  Tasty Kitchen's Sweet Potato and Quinoa Soup, and

  Peachy Palate's Peanut Butter and Chickpea Soup

- Accompany the soups with homemade bread rolls. If I can make bread, I should be able to make rolls. Right?

- Purchase real, proper boots. Because refusing to wear boots in winter even tough it is snowing because that would mean winter has won the battle with you, seems a bit childish at the age of 19. These boots from Topshop are gorgeous me thinks!

- Rock the scarves. Any shape, any colour will do. A warm neck is my priority this autumn.

On a completely different note....I missed the Foodie Penpal reveal day. I am sorry, I only have procrastination to blame.

My Second Foodie Penpal Box

Last time was so much fun, I just had to take part again.

The blogger I was assigned to was Anna from Grow Your Own Food, and I tried my best to send her a parcel full of things she and her family would enjoy. I think I succeeded....

In return I received a generous and lovely box from Kris Stone. Thank you Kris!!! You absolutely hit the spot, you ledgebag!

In my box there were....

- Chinese tea. It is delicious, I already had a cuppa :)

- Black Cardamon. Kris let me know that this is an ingredient in Vietnamese Pho, a dish I am dying to try!!

- Harissa Paste. It seems very, very spicy.....me likey!

- Jamie Oliver Stuffing. Ugh. Jamie, marry me already.

- Homemade Egyptian spice mix. I have yet to use this in a dish, but I totally had a teaspoon full of the nuts and spices...without anything else. God, this is good!

- Lavender Sugar. I have never ever heard of this before. I am excited, it looks and smells so nice.

Also, adored the Alice in Wonderland tags, thank you so much Kris!

(In case you are wondering what the Foodie Penpal thing is all about, this button will take you to its origins.)