OOMPH!

Our Canadian friend H brought some Cafe Artesanal Mexican coffee over with her on her recent visit.

The coffee is low caffeine 'Moka', so as you would imagine it had very little oomph to it, but was certainly not unpleasant in taste. Now H and I like a coffee with a bit of oomph so the next time we made a brew, we decided to mix it with a fully caffeinated coffee - this one:

So now we had flavour, but also, and most importantly, we had OOMPH!

But wait there's still more!

While G was looking at my last post I suddenly remembered I'd forgotten to mention our other fridge!!! So at the risk of boring you all silly.....here it is:

As you can see, we mainly use it to store a lot of fruit as we buy in bulk from a good green grocer (Huanui Orchards in Glenbervie, near Whangarei).

What's in my fridge/pantry?

Laura at Our Wee Farm showed everyone what she had in her fridge and pantry, so I'd thought I'd post a few of pics here of mine:

Main fridge - looks a bit sparse doesn't it!! - has milk, jug of filtered water, bread, mayo, chutneys, my preserved lemons and baking stuff (apricots etc), seeds in boxes at top. But wait, there's more:

The door has my jams at top, sauces, verjuice, jars of chilli, ginger, mustard, Asian curry mixes etc. Eggs, greek yoghurt, cream, milk, fruit cordial, Heinz tomato ketchup.

Pull out meat draw has bacon and delicious home-made pork pate from neighbour (thanks D!).

Other draw has cheese and butter stash, no marg in this house thanks! I do lots of baking hence all the butter in case you're wondering...

Pull out veg drawer currently looking good with Rangpur limes (the orange fruit top left), a Rocoto chilli in need of eating, some wild onion also needs eating, Brussell sprouts, carrots, parsnips, a swede, a leek, some corn and some of our own squash.

The pantry has spices in elegant ice-cream containers (keeps them fresh), oats, puffed rice, honey (complete with Pooh Bear to guard it..for my 3 yr old son!), almond butter, cans of beans, corn, tomatoes, tuna, rice, dried pasta, couscous, corn chips, pulses, popping corn etc

These shelves have crackers in boxes, baking stuff, my homemade vanilla essence, yoghurt raisins, orange and rose flower water, flour, sugar, tins of more baking stuff, dried fruit, decorations for cupcakes, cookie cutters etc

PHEW! looks like quite a lot of food eh!

Beware - Best Foods mayonnaise contains GMOs!

I was interested to find out whether my favourite mayonnaise - 'Best Foods' brand, contained any GMO ingredients, so sent off an email via their website. I got the following reply:

Hello Bridget,

Thanks for writing!

It is our policy that any of our products which may contain ingredients created through the use of biotechnology, be proven that their safety to consumers and the environment is fully established.

Biotechnology has the potential to help meet the demands of people for everyday products that are more environmentally friendly; that involve less processing; that are more functional; that taste better; that last longer; that provide added nutritional benefits; that are customized to an individual's lifestyle; and that are currently available. Biotechnology is important to Unilever (Lipton etc,) because it helps our mission as one of the world's largest consumer goods companies to continue to deliver innovative products that our consumers tell us they want. Products resulting from biotechnology have been used successfully and safely for many years - for example: in the pharmaceutical industry.

We are also committed to the provision of the best possible information to the consumer. The FDA has had a sound labeling system in place for biotech foods since 1992. Under that system, biotech foods must be labeled if they are found to be significantly different from their conventional counterparts, or if they contain allergens. This is the same basic program that safeguards the conventional food supply in the United States.

Since there is no difference between plants or foods derived from biotechnology and those not derived, there is no clear reason to label either respectively. All of our products are labeled in accordance with the rules and regulations of the federal government.

It is our responsibility at Unilever - and a responsibility we take very seriously - to make certain all of our ingredients are safe. We
believe biotechnology is already significant and that its development will continue to bring major benefits to society as a whole.

Thank you for your interest.
Your friends at Unilever Bestfoods


What a load of old horse manure! So basically I can take it that the answer was YES! and not only yes, Unliever obviously doesn't believe we the consumer need to be told whether a product contains ingredients that have been genetically modified! AMAZING! But then again, if they indicated as such on their packaging, then maybe consumers wouldn't buy it and that's probably what they are worried about.

Of course, the Best Foods mayonnaise is probably only one product out of many products on our supermarket shelves which already contain GMOs. I think one has to take the assumption that most or all soy would be GE'd and probably most canola oil. Unfortunately these 2 ingredients are put into many pantry items these days darn it. It makes me really angry all this fiddling with our food.

The best things in life are free

yes that's true, but what about chocolate???

This is not the first brand of chilli chocolate I've tried, but unfortunately it's not a 'flavour' very commonly available in the stores and I've been looking out for it for some time.

So I was very pleased to see that Lindt now make a chilli chocolate.

Fortunately G does not like it so I have the whole bar to myself. Even so I want to eek it out for as long as possible, rather than scoffing the lot in a hurry I've been savouring one square each evening!

Baked zucchini stuffed with red rice

Yes zucchini is still on the menu......!

This is a recipe I made up with what ingredients I had on hand, mainly some big zucchini which got away on me (not quite marrows but bigger than I prefer to cut them as zucchini), also some red 'Carmague' rice which I had in the pantry and was keen to try.

3 large zucchini sliced lengthways, flesh scooped out and reserved
1 red onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
Some roasted red and green pepper, skin removed (about 1/2 capsicum, but you could use more)
Fresh thyme
Sea salt & cracked pepper
Some cooked red rice (I used about 150g)
Grated cheese

In a frypan, fry the onion and garlic in a little oil until soft. Add the chopped up zucchini flesh. Fry with a dash of water until soft. Add the chopped peppers, and thyme leaves, season to taste.

Cook the rice, it takes quite a long time (similar to brown rice in texture) about 40mins all up. Add to the above mixture, adjust seasoning.

Put a dash of olive oil in an oven dish and line up the zucchini. Fill zucchini with the mixture, top with grated cheese. Add 1/2 cup water to the dish. Cover with tin foil. Bake for about 50mins at 180 deg C. Remove foil, bake uncovered for further 10 mins.

I've seen a similar recipe including beef mince which sounds tasty, but this dish was just fine for dinner and was surprisingly filling.

Maple syrup

Here is the bottle of genuine Canadian maple syrup, all 1 litre of it, a present from my friend H who is here in NZ for a holiday. YUM! None of that artificial flavoured stuff masquerading as maple syrup, this is the real mcoy. The last bottle she gave me ran out a few months ago, so I've been substituting golden syrup on my waffles, pancakes etc but it does not really measure up. What a treat.