Too many ham hocks!

I've always wanted to cook with ham hock but the only recipe that comes to mind is pea and ham soup. Does anyone have good ham hock recipes to share as I bought an extra hock?

Recipe from the McKenzie's Green Split Peas 500g packets
Ingredients
500g green split peas (washed)
3 carrots, diced
3 celery sticks, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 smoked ham hock (fat removed)
1 reduced salt chicken stock cube (I didn't use any)
12 cups water
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste


1) Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cover and simmer for approximately 1-11/2 hours or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
2) Remove hock and prepare by removing skin, dice the ham and set aside. Discard bay leaf.
3) Puree soup in blender.
4) Add ham back into soup and stir through.
5) Season to taste :) 

Mr Hippo loved it. Next time I'll definitely shred the ham smaller as I wasn't a huge fan of the chunks of meat in my soup!

Morning and Evening

Farmer's market - Bundoora


Who loves waking up nice and early, walking out the door with no makeup and being surrounded by food, food and more food!. I do. 
This was my first time at Bundoora Park farmers market and I loved it! There's around 40 stalls and unlike some markets, there's plenty of free parking. There is however a $2 donation fee for every adult as you walk in :)


First up, coffee :) 
($3.50 each and an extra $0.50 for soy milk)

Followed by a breakfast of Dutch pancakes in maple syrup ($6), a steak and mushroom pies and a steak and pepper pie (pictured later).

There are also other breakfast options including gourmet sausages, bacon and egg sandwiches, meat pies, scones and noodles. 
We did a grocery haul yesterday at Preston Markets so we didn't really need to buy much. Below is what we left with. Both cheeses are amazing and the Blue Bay stall also sell their own yoghurt, milk drink, many other types of cheeses and they had fig paste this week. The rye loaf is from a lovely lady with two dogs sitting outside her stall (I forgot the name of the stall) but I'm definitely going back there for more bread next time.  

If anyone's going, please make sure you look for the stall with these two cuties outside.

Bundoora Park Farmer's Market is located on Plenty Rd in Bundoora and are on the 1st Saturday of every month.

Lasagna 

I have a confession. Don't hold your breathe. Nothing dramatic. Just that, I've never been the type to measure any of my ingredients for cooking, unless its a cake. When I do use recipes, its more as a guide. 

Anyway, the first lasagna I made was from Jamie Oliver's, Jamie's dinners cookbook. The lasagna was incredible!! Everyone loved it. That was almost 1 year ago. I felt like lasagna the other day and keeping up with the healthy theme, decided to pack as much vegies into the lasagna as possible as Mr Hippo is a carnivore and doesn't eat as much veggie as I'd like him to. 

Below is a photo guide (not everythings pictured). 

First brown the garlic and onion followed by the beef. Then add 2 jars of passata, rosemary, parsley and some stock/water. Throw in whatever vegies you have lying around. I used mushroom, brocolli and carrot. Season. I think lasagna is a great way to get rid of unused vegetables. 

 Also I loved how Jamie uses roasted pumpkin in his lasagna. It made the whole lasagna taste even more amazing!

After simmering the beef for around 1-2hours we can begin layering in the following order - beef -->fresh lasagna sheet-->beef -->zucchini-->eggplant-->spinach-->beef -->lasagna sheet-->pumpkin-->beef--etc until we reach the final sheet of lasagna. 

Add the remainder of the beef mix and top with the bechamel sauce. For the bechamel sauce I followed Jamie's recipe of creme fraiche thinned with some milk, pepper and parmesan. Finally add some cheese.  

Bake in a preheated oven at 220degrees for 40 - 45minutes. 

Yummmm!!!!! XD

Vegan 

I've been stalking reading a few vegan food blogs for a few years and it inspires me to eat healthier (sometimes). It was also through these blogs that I was introduced to oat milk, rice milk, almond milk, cashew butter, tempeh etc.


I went through a phase where I tried to eat vegan (lasted roughly less than a week) but I've never actually been to a vegan restaurant until now.


Met up with a friend who suggested we go to The Vegie Bar which serve vegetarian, vegan and raw food. Don't be confused by the most obvious door at the corner of Brunswick and Rose because you'll realise after a minute of pushing and tugging, it just doesn't open and everyone in the restaurants just sitting there staring at you. Oops! Instead walk to the next door which opens to reveal a bustling world of people clearly enjoying their meat free meals of choice. The furniture consists of bits and pieces of mismatched tables, chairs and benches. 


My friend ordered a fresh juice whilst I ordered a raw cocoa nibs smoothie with almond milk. It was quite grainy and slightly bitter but I guess I shouldn't of expected it to taste like a chocolate milkshake. 

For lunch my friend ordered the Mexican Burrito, can't remember what went into it but it looked really good.

Myself ordered the Raw Stack. It was a stack in the following order - mushroom, pesto, zucchini, carrot, spinach, dehydrated slices of tomato and a side of more lettuce with two stripes of some dehydrated vegie thing which tasted quite good. I definitely felt really healthy after that lunch and will definitely be back. 

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Hi !

This isn't my first blog but I do intend on sticking to this one. Thank you to the dear people who helped me come up with a name and anyone who knows me also know that I'm completely hopeless with technology so I will come up with a more interesting page layout later...just give me some time to figure things out.

Woke up to a typical Melbourne Day and couldn't find a single umbrella in the house! We drove to Brunswick St for lunch because I wanted to check out the shops with Mr Hippo and his sister. Cafe Nova appeared to be one of the more popular cafes on the street so in we went.

Very nice decor.

They also have an upstairs area.

Soy lattes

Pesto Spaghetti -Looks like a salad but there is plenty of pasta and rich pesto hidden underneath the mountain of  greens.

Steak with REALLY nice potatoes

Black Mussels, serving was much bigger than we imagined but I'm not complaining :p

Nachos, wouldn't recommend Nachos as the sauce was cold and tasted like something out of a jar.

We were eyeing the cheesecake the table next to us ordered the moment we sat down and the serving was huge! Unfortunately, even Mr Hippo couldn't stomach anymore. Waiters were really nice and friendly, food is your typical cafe food although the nachos was a big disappointment.

Took a few photos wandering around the area before going home to get ready for another session of boot camp! Also managed to pick up a grey cardigan and a weaved basket bag.

The following were my attempts to take a good photo whilst the car was still moving.

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Cafe Nova, 307 Brunswick St