Summer Salad

The nights are getting longer and a little bit warmer so I am always looking for simple meals to eat outside.  Something that means belly's are full without ending up feeling like a blow up ball.  I am a total fruit nut so I immediately fell in lust with this summer salad.

For the dressing just squeeze the juice of one lime then add, very finely cut a piece of Spice Girlz preserved lemon, swish (highly technical term!) around in a small cup.  The slice up some watermelon and strawberries, you could probably add mango too. Place on the the first plate you can find, pour dressing over it, dress it up with some fresh mint and a couple of slices of mint and you are good to go back outside and have a glass of wine and/or watch the kids run around!

Enjoy x

P.S.  If you would like to order any of the Spice Girlz products you can get onto the website at http://www.spicegirlz.com/ and if you need any assistance or can't find what you are looking for just give Bron a call or email and she will help you out!  Easy as this salad :)

Pumpkin Salad with Preserved Lemon dressing!

My new favourite, that I have even been able to get Miss just turned 5 and rules the world to try, is Pumpkin salad with Preserved Lemon dressing ...tonight I served it with a few local lamb chops.  Very basic, fairly quick and totally healthy.

I slow cooked the pumpkin and the chops, in separate pans in the oven, both just drizzled with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  I love my meat really cooked , no baaa left, so I leave it all in  the oven for a while. 

The next step is to make the mayonnaise.  At the moment, due to my current eight months of pregnancy, I don't use my usual homemade mayonnaise recipe as it has raw egg.  So I just bought some organic mayonnaise to use as a base.  I then added some chopped up chives and the very finely chopped skin of two pieces of Spice Girlz preserved lemon.  Now if you haven't tried these preserved lemons they are to die for! Maybe it has been too long between drinks for me but you open the jar and it is like inhaling a margarita! Divine!

Anyway...... mix up the mayonnaise mix and leave it in the fridge.  On a plate I put a pile small handful of baby spinach, danish fetta, roasted pumpkin then place the lamb chops and drizzle the preserved lemon dressing wherever you want!

Fabulous....even if I do say so myself!

Preserved Lemons are a product you can grab if you want to head down to Willunga Farmers Market tomorrow.....come and say hello!

** Just a note...it isn't Bron that did this post but Katy .....so it's just me that's pregnant!**

Platter time

With summer heading our way , in Australia at least, sometimes a heavy meal just isn't the way to go.  Combine heat with daylight savings - no one wants to be stuck inside cooking a three course meal when you can throw a few things on a plate, open a bottle of bubbles (or in my case ginger ale!) and relax outside. 

This is what we did the other night and this is where Moroccan Jam is fantastic.  As you can see in the photo some, cheese, strawberries, antipasto mix a few others and in the middle some cream cheese topped with Moroccan Jam makes a brilliant dip.

So have some fun......it's platter time!

The Zulu - lu sandwich

The fantastic thing about our products is they don't have to be used on complicated dishes.  They can but they certainly don't have to.  Often between work, kids and well, life there is not often time to make huge culinary delights. So this is how this one came about ..... really what is more simple than a sandwich!

All I used was;

Rye bread

Spiced Gouda cheese

Baby spinach

Organic ham

Butter

Zulu - lu as the sandwich spread

It's healthy, it's simple and bears no resemblance to the dodgy school yard soggy tomato sandwiches of childhood!  It's also a fab desk lunch if you have a whole day of bonding with your computer ahead.

Don't forget that Spice Girlz will be at Willunga farmers Market and Victor Harbour farmers market this Saturday and Adelaide Showground farmers Market as well as Meadows Country Fair this Sunday so we would love to see you there! 

Chicken& Garlic Ravioli

I would love to say that I made this recipe as authentically or exotically as it sounds.  But I do have to be honest....it is a great Friday night simple meal.  The sort of meal you can put together when you really, truly, thought about take out but ewww.  Yes, I will also post some recipes with other products - but I do love some Jamato!

Anyway, this is how it goes....

Go to the supermarket and grab packets of ready to cook chicken and garlic ravioli.  I do tend to go for the Latina one but if you have a favourite one go for it.  Grab as much as will feed you and/or some others! I had enough for two adults (with leftovers).

Once your home, because doing it at the supermarket would be a little weird, put the ravioli in a saucepan of cool water with a dash of olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Bring to boil and then let simmer for a minute .  You'll know when they are cooked - they puff up.

Drain ravioli.

In a separate pan fry up some onion and garlic add two chicken breasts, diced fine.  Stir until cooked then add two cups of jamato with one cup of plain pasta sauce.

Stir sauce through drained ravioli.

Put the ravioli into some fabulous bowls and dress with baby spinach and mozzarella!

Enjoy xxx

P.S. As always come and see us at Willunga Markets on Saturday morning for some great produce, beautiful products.....and the people and pretty good too!

Fish Patties with Jamato

Ingredients:

2 fillets of white fish or two cans of tuna

1 zucchini (grated)

1 carrot (grated)

1/2 cup of peas

1 cup of sourdough bread crumbs

1  organic egg

5 medium organic potatoes

*you can add chia seeds or LSA mix if you need extra protein*

Jamato

- Dice and then boil potatoes in a saucepan of slightly salted water.

- Turn oven onto 150 degrees and add a baking pan with approx 2mm of olive oil or canola.

- When soft drain them and in a bowl add some butter, salt and pepper and mash away!

- When mashed add either the drained cans of tuna or cooked white fish (whatever you prefer).

- Add the peas, grated carrot & zucchini - the added veggies are up for grabs - this recipe is a great excuse to use up the leftover veggies in the fridge! Now add cheese!

- Add the egg & the chia seeds or LSA mix and - I have added both and neither the Mr nor the resident four year old were any the wiser.

Once mixed well grab some day old sourdough bread and mix in the blender to make bread crumbs.  Then get the mixture into balls (whatever size to suit you!) and coat with some breadcrumbs.

- Pop the patties into the heated oil and flatten a bit.

- After about 10 mins check & flip them then give them another 5 - 10 mins or until golden then remove and drain on paper towel.

Then are a great last minute meal and a meal to use up items just hanging around the fridge.  Serve them with Jamato as a dipping sauce and they absolutely rock! My little person loves cut up carrot and cucumber with them (top photo) and the Mr tucks them away with some homemade fries and coleslaw.  Using the Jamato as a dipping sauce gives a meal that could be 'beige' a fair bit of  flavour!

Would love to know what you think!

Perfect Peninsula Picnic Day!

Looking for something to do tomorrow?

Family friendly and/or a foodies delight then head down to Goolwa! 

Go to Neighbour Reserve at Goolwa and partake in some of the finest gourmet food and wine the Fleurieu has to offer......

Go and check out the Spice Girlz very own Bron doing the cooking demo.....

(All info taken from the Perfect Peninsula Day flyer)

2nd October 2011

Licensed from11am—7pmLRY!

As part of the ‘Goolwa Alive’ festivities..

Perfect

Peninsula

Picnic Day

Make your day super exciting…!

Buy a raffle ticket and go in the

draw to win a WARBIRD AEROBATIC

FLIGHT at 4pm on the day!

Tickets $5

Event Information

Cadell St

Dawson St

Porter St

Live Music by...

Railway Tce

Neighbour Reserve

Corio

Hotel

Food & Wine

Sample the Fleurieu Peninsulas finest Food and Wines

in a gourmet market atmosphere.

Cooking Demo’s by the Spice Girlz

Bronwyn of Spice Girlz fame will let you in on some

of her recipe secrets using Spice Girlz famous

sauces, pesto’s and chutneys!

Ciaram

Granger

engaging

upbeat

indie folk

duo

Rotunda

Tane Curreen

soulful vocalist

and songwriter

Just a stone’s throw from GOOLWA ALIVE!

www.fleurieufood.com.au

Road Trip, Field Day & why we do what we do!

(A bit of our set up from the regular markets!)

Early this morning we started on the road to  Paskeville Field Day, Yorke Peninsula, Monday 26th. We are lucky enough to be sharing a marquee with the Eyre Peninsula Farmer & Fisherman's Market.  Road trips are a great way to sort out your thoughts and after being asked a fair few questions about this business and the products we create.....this is what I came up with.....

What makes Spice Girlz products so different to many of the other condiment style products out there?

Well, they have serious flavours you can taste and their uses are only limited by your imagination.

So many times I have bought a product somewhere that sounded delicious and was beautiful looking but left me bitterly disappointed, not onlybecause of the lack of flavour but when you have paid out $15 for a lime pickle you expect to be able to taste the lime! In this day and age there is nothing worse than feeling like you may have wasted time and money on a product.

Having had this experience, and not wanting to put anyone else through it, I am therefore very confident (and proud) that our range won't have consumers feeling that way-we wouldn't be marketing it if that was the case.

I am certainly no 'pushy salesman' as far as the products go & don't need to be. At the Farmers Markets the range are all out for tastings so people can decide for themselves if they like them or not.  Once they have tasted it, and like it, we do our best to offer as much advice as possible on how to use the product, which in the end is pretty much the only encouragement needed to buy it.

The uses for the range are becoming endless. Besides the delicious serving suggestions and recipes on the website, and now this blog,  we are constantly getting new ideas from Farmers Market customers with many making a 'bee line' to us to let us know of an amazing dinner they have made during the week with the Moroccan Jam etc. I must say there has been the odd one that I have cringed at, like Cor Blimey or Moroccan Jam on toast (which my pregnant cousin loves!)for breaky-each to their own I guess!

There are many customer serving suggestions that we haven't had a chance to try ourselves (some I can't imagine working) like Jamato (a sweet tomato & ginger relish) with pasta but when you get three or four people saying 'the Jamato makes a delicious pasta sauce with extra tomato added, even my fussy kids
love it' you can't help but think that it must be OK. 

People often ask why we are still at the Farmers Markets every weekend when the range is now readily available in so many of the Foodland and gourmet food shops throughout SA. Apart from  being where Spice Girlz began, and the wonderful eclectic atmosphere and 'genuine foodie' morals, it is the perfect
opportunity to educate people on the products and to receive direct customerfeedback AND WE LOVE IT!

Fabulous Takeaway

Don't feel like cooking Saturday night? Don't feel like stodgy dodgy takeaway? Well come down to Willunga Market and see us.  We have some fabulous, if I do say so myself, takeaway available.  A different kind of takeaway that you can eat that day or freeze for that one night you just can not be bothered cooking.

Morrocan Chicken with preserved lemon
Zulu-Lu Chicken Laksa
Hakuna Matata Red Lentil and Pumpkin Curry
Roast Pumpkin and Almond Dip with Hakuna Matata

The Roast Pumpkin and Almond dip with Hakuna Matata is just a bit brilliant on a platter with a few wines too!

See you there!

Want to do something...check out our events!

We are always cooking, creating and heading off to different events - everything from the local farmers market to rural field days.  Here is a list of our up and coming events.....

- Spice Girlz back at the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market
  September 25th
  Great market, great produce, great people - come and say hello!

- Yorke Peninsula Field Day
   27th to 29th September at Paskerville.
   Site 519 Bute Road

   We will not just be selling our own range but also the Thistle Be Good Dukkah range as well
   as Talinga Groves award winning infused garlic, lemon, lime and chilli olive oils along with
   their fabulous body products!

- Fleurieu Food Perfect
  Perfect Peninsula Picnic Day
  (Part of the 'Goolwa Alive' festivities)
   2nd October

- Meadows Country Fair
  16th October
 
  Everything from an udder tug to regional wine & produce!


There is so much more to come ! As always we will be at the Willunga Farmer's market every Saturday....don't forget to check our facebook page (link on the right of this page) to see what takeaways will be available there too!

I don't feel like cooking...pass the wine please!

Friday is cooking day for the Spice Girlz.  We are all mums of kids that range in age from little to big and we have all felt the dread when asked the question 'What's for tea?' and it's even worse if the kids are out and it's the resident husband asking! Some nights you just can't do it and some times those unexpected visitors turn up and one wine leads to a fair few more and it's just rather hard to concoct a gourmet dinner after a few too many chardonnays!

That is how Spice Girlz takeaway was born.....

Only at the Willunga Farmers Market we sell takeaway meals on a Saturday morning.

This week we will have;

Moroccan Chicken with preserved lemon.
Zulu - lu poached chicken laksa
Hakuna Matata pumpkin and Red Lentil Curry


Great for meals that will be eaten that day - or to freeze for an unexpected wine night!

Zulu - lu curry in a hurry

You will need: Spice Girlz Zulu-Lu	1 400ml coconut milk
2 chicken breast fillets or 1kg prawns or 800g white fish fillets	2 handfuls of fresh bean sprouts
1 large bunch of bok choy	1 bunch fresh coriander
Basmati rice or hokkein noodles (I used rice)

In a medium sized saucepan, combine Spice Girlz Zulu-Lu and coconut milk. Simmer gently until
almost boiling.
Add your choice of chicken, prawns or fish fillets and simmer gently for 5 minutes, or until the meat is almost cooked.
Add the fresh bean spouts, bok choy, sliced or torn into pieces and half the chopped coriander. Stir and briefly heat through.
Spoon over cooked basmati rice or warm hokkein noodles. Garnish generously with remaining coriander.
You can add  thinly sliced red capsicum for colour.

There was more than enough for the three of us and a couple of meals to freeze for those nights when I just can't be shagged cooking!

I actually had it as as  a laksa- style soup instead of serving with rice but the
Mr had it with rice

Farmers market ....sixties style!

Check this out http://youtu.be/oFcc1Fu4zFE (I tried to embed it and couldn't!) but it shows a farmers market in the sixties.


A farmers market in the sixties.....not actually that much different....oh maybe the prices!

Shows that shopping for local, healthy produce has been around for a while!

Welcome to the Spice Girlz Food Blog

Welcome to the Spice Girlz Food Blog

We make gourmet condiments like  Morrocan jam , Zulu-lu, Cor Blimey and much much more!

This blog, like everything is a work in progress , is a way of us sharing ideas, recipes, specials

 and , as always, finding out if any of you have any ideas for us!