In my kitchen - July 2014

I am linking this post in to Celia's monthly In My Kitchen event at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

It seems a long time since my June In My Kitchen post. My Australian kitchen has been replaced by a new space, new foods and new utensils.

I have re-started my tea collection. So far I'm up to Chai, 
Early Grey, lemon and ginger, and liquorice.

As some of you may have spotted on Facebook, one star feature in my kitchen this month is a new NutriBullet. My Australian blender was not a very powerful machine, to the extent that I basically never used it and made smoothies in my food processor instead (not really ideal).

With my food processor coming by sea, I knew the move would provide the perfect opportunity for a new blender. It didn't take a lot of consideration to settle on the NutriBullet. It does everything I'd hoped for and more, and I suspect smoothies will feature regularly for the next few months.

My kitchen also features new plates. You may have spotted them in my recent food photos. We have four large and four small, and they will tide us over until our white dining set arrives.

In addition to one saucepan and one non-stick pan, I also now have a John Lewis casserole dish that can go from stove top to oven with no difficulty. I have never had a dish like this before, but I am loving how versatile it is, and that it comes with a lid. As I don't have any mixing bowls yet, it has also served as an impromptu mixing bowl on occasion!

Moving on from non-edible items, there are, of course, plenty of edible things happening too. Do you remember me waxing lyrical about my love of yogurt coated banana chips? The yogurt variety still contain dairy, but I was delighted to spot these dairy free chocolate coated banana chips. They're not the healthiest treat out there, but they are delicious!

(Incidentally, did you know that Australians spell yoghurt with an h, while the British spell it yogurt? I'm trying to adapt.)

Another 'occasional' treat comes in the form of these vegan creme caramel desserts from Tesco. Creme caramel was a favourite before I abandoned dairy and gelatin, and it was exciting to see this version. They aren't quite like the traditional variety, but they come close.

In my kitchen, there are signs of hybrid Australian-British tastes. In other words, we have Vegemite and Marmite. These are largely Mr Bite's, for spreading on bread / toast.

I have tried several commercial wraps over the last month. One area of surprise in comparing Australian and UK foods is in wrap bread. Most of the UK brands carry rather long ingredient lists, with plenty of preservatives and numbers featuring in the list. The Food Doctor brand is better than most, but I think I may pursue homemade wrap bread if I can manage it.

We did enjoy some falafel balls in said wrap bread, for an easy dinner in our early weeks when we were eating on the floor!

 My baking supplies are starting to come together. I now have plain flour, spelt flour and chickpea flour, as well as coconut sugar (a new buy for me) and coconut oil. The image below also shows a brand of coconut milk that I loved in coffee.

In my kitchen, there have been recipe successes and some, well, non-successes. This spiced chickpea and potato dish was in the latter category. The flavours weren't quite right, and Mr Bite ate his serve with a very large helping of mango chutney.

More successful was this 'everything' salad I threw together for lunch. With spinach, pepper, carrot, tofu, almonds, berries, a drizzle of balsamic and a side of salt and vinegar rice cracker, it was a little random but nonetheless delicious.

What is happening in your kitchen this month?

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