In My Kitchen - June

Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial hosts a great link up where people around the world share the new things happening in their kitchen each month. I always enjoy checking out new ingredients, tools, utensils and ideas and if you like those things too I recommend you check it!

Here is what is happening in my kitchen this month:

Oranges:

It was limes last month and this month the oranges are looking good.  We have more fruit this year compared to last year so that is exciting.  I'd love to make a flourless orange cake with oranges from our tree.

New Ingredients:

I've been reading Sarah Wison's 'I Quit Sugar for Life' and one of it's recommendations is to eat more fermented foods.  Pickled veggies are also everywhere in the food world at the moment so I thought I 'd give sauerkraut a go.  I like cabbage so why not?  Any suggestions on the best way to eat it? 

I've used xylitol once before as a sugar-free sweetener in baking and liked the taste better than stevia so I got some more last week.  I'll be trying it out in some upcoming healthy baking - I'm thinking brownies?

Mother's Day Gift:

This is a pinboard with personalised bottle top pins that MJ made at kinder.  It's not quite functional but I love it anyway.  On the card he says that I am 30, that I go to the gym every time he is at kinder and that I like to eat dinner - one out of three ain't bad!

Jars:

I don't drink coffee, but my mum does and she happily passes her jars along so I can get my pantry organised.  This last lot of jars helped me get the back corner of my pantry back into shape.  I still need more Mum, so drink up!

Soup pot:

Salads for lunch are out and soup is in.  I made my own vegetable stock for the first time using vegetable scraps that I collected as I went and stored in the freezer.  It was really easy and the stock worked out well. 

I used it to make Scandi Foodie's Spicy Pumpkin, Red Lentil and Cauliflower Soup.  It has already been made twice and I love that one quick cook up results in lunch for a week.

The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook:

I'm going down this route for JJ's introduction to solids.  I'm liking it at the moment, it is messier but easier all at once.  The recipes are fairly basic but I like a couple of their oat and healthy muffin recipes.  It's more useful for guidelines it gives about what food to give when.  So far JJ likes toast, weet-bix, watermelon, cucumber, penne pasta and corn on the cob the most.

What's cooking in your kitchen this month?

Keep smiling

Dani