DON’T KNOCK IT, “ROCK”IT!

November 10, 2015Leave a comment

Karina’s Rocket Environmental Cooking Tip!

This will be a very short and sweet Environmental Cooking Tip, by yours truly, Karina.

If you have sprouting Rocket during spring, you can easily and quickly plant the seeds. All you need to do is wait until the middle of spring, or until you see pods or ‘bulbs’ growing out of your Rocket herb. Crack the rocket pod open, scrape all the seeds out of your pods, pant all the seeds directly into soil, then cover lightly with soil. New shoots will form within days!

You will be laughing with how much rocket you can harvest!

Happy Gardening all!

Have fun in the garden!

Karina x

THAT’S “SWEET”!

October 25, 20156 Comments

Karina’s Sweet Potato, Broccoli and Asparagus Low GI Pasta!

Ingredients:

250g cubed sweet potato
200g pasta
200g broccoli, cut into baby florets
2 birds eye chillies or 2 small red chillies, sliced finely
200g asparagus, tough bits snapped off and discarded. The remaining asparagus, boiled for 5 minutes, then pureed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Keep the tips of the asparagus whole.
4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
Juice from 1 fresh lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil for cooking
1 pinch black pepper

Garnishing Ingredients:

1 small handful of fresh dill, leaves kept whole and stalks sliced finely
1 small handful of fresh rocket, leaves kept whole

Method:

Cook pasta as per packet directions, strain water, then set aside in a large bowl.

Cook your sweet potato for 10 minutes in a pot of boiling water, then turn the heat to off. Keep the water in the pot, then take your sweet potato out of the pot. Cut your sweet potato into small pieces and place in the same large bowl as your pasta.

Using the pot of previously boiled hot water, whilst the heat is off, place your broccoli into this water, using the residual heat to continue to cook it for 10 minutes. Just make sure your broccoli are cut into very small florets to ensure quick cooking and saving electricity at the same time 🙂

Once your broccoli are cooked, strain, then place into the same bowl as your pasta and sweet potato.

Using the same pot you used to cook your pasta, turn the heat to medium, then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat for approximately 10 seconds. Add your garlic and chilli, then cook for 1 minute only, until aromatic, then turn the heat to off.

Once your chilli and garlic are cooked, combine your cooked sweet potato, cooked pasta, cooked broccoli, asparagus paste and asparagus pieces together using a wooden spoon, along with a pinch of black pepper and lemon juice. Mix well.

Compiling the Beauty:

Pile your pasta into three different plates, then top each with rocket and dill.

Serves 3

Enjoy!

Karina x

HOW HAVE YOU “BEAN”?

October 21, 20152 Comments

Karina’s Environmental Cooking Tips!

Above is a photo I took today of one of my many vegetables I’m growing at the moment: Beans. Since I’ve been gardening a lot lately, I can say with confidence, that I have “bean” great! How have you “bean”?

I would like to share some of my sustainable gardening tips for happy vegetables and an even happier planet, as below:

Use natural bamboo (as above) to use as a natural plant support framework, for when the plants would like to crawl up structures in order to grow. I have used natural bamboo grown over my neighbours fence, which had become a bit of a weed. Instead of buying plastic stalks, help the planet and your budget, by using natural bamboo.
If you don’t have access to natural bamboo, use any dead branch you may find which has fallen from trees. This will also help the planet and your budget, by using natural branches.
If you don’t have enough space in your backyard to have a garden, nor a few pots around your dwelling, then you can always join a community garden. You will receive similar benefits of growing your own vegetables, along with meeting like-minded green-thumbs. Win-win!
Try to take full advantage of your plants natural climbing abilities and try not to use garden ties, unless the plant needs them. By using either bamboo or dead tree branches, this will help the planet, your budget and your time 🙂

Have fun in the garden!

Enjoy!

Karina x