Tamarillo confessions

        

Tonight's Mystery Box ingredient embodied what the Mystery Box is all about. A new ingredient.

A new ingredient that has been heard of, but never purchased and most certainly never cooked with.

Tamarillo!

Did you know? A tamarillo is an egg shaped edible fruit, also known as a tree tomato, that is high in potassium and low in sodium. Native to Peru and Chile, and now grown in abundance in New Zealand, the tamarillo can apparently be eaten fresh, or poached, fried, grilled or baked.

Confession Number 1: before I decided what to make, I first had to google tamarillos to find out what they looked like and what they actually were! But, once I had that information, I was able to identify them at my local greengrocer (with cautious confidence) over the weekend, and return home with a couple in hand.

But what to make?

I had all the fixins' for a fresh salad this evening, somewhat resembling a nicoise salad (one of my all time favourites). And, given that fruit generally works well in salads, I decided to make a tamarillo salsa salad topper.

I started by soaking the tamarillos in boiling water for 2 minutes, plunged them into cold water…

and then peeled off the skin (which my sources tell me should not be eaten) as best as I could.

Chopped and combined with diced onion, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar...

And our tamarillo salsa was complete.

So very vibrant and colourful…

The only problem????

Confession Number 2: It tasted horrible.

Too bitter and tart, even with extra brown sugar. I don’t know whether that is just how tamarillos taste, or whether perhaps I chose ones that were not ripe, but they were not to my liking at all.

Sigh -  I guess the Mystery Box cant provide a winner all the time. Oh well, at least it looked pretty.

And at least the salad I had planned to serve the salsa with was tasty.

Mixed lettuce greens with beans, potatoes, capsicum and tinned tuna.

Topped with a hard boiled egg.

    

And finished with tamarillo salsa a simple vinaigrette to bring it all together.

Delish!

What about you? Are you a fan of tamarillos? Where did I go wrong???

Pregnancy Update – Week 21

What a productive day it has been. Breakfast with family, meeting our friends’ 6 week old baby, lunch, ordering a new couch, baking a lasagne and even managing to do my taxes (finally)!

And, its also time for another pregnancy update :)

How far along? 21 weeks 4 days

How big is baby? This week baby BBB has grown to the length of a banana.

How I'm feeling? Physically, I am feeling a lot better than last week. My headaches have lessened, and only seem to come on if I have let myself get tired. Note to self – don’t get too tired lol! One thing that I have learned over the last 21 weeks is that ‘baking’ a baby is surprisingly hard work. My energy levels during pregnancy are far certainly inferior to the energy levels I had pre-pregnancy, and I find myself getting tired even after what I would have previously considered to be a relatively quiet day.

Weight? Don't know.

How I'm changing? The bump continues to grow and take shape, and baby BBB’s little flutters seem to get stronger with each day. I am yet to feel them ‘outside’ when I place my hand on my tummy, but am so excited for the day when Mr BBB can feel his daughter kicking too. Hopefully this special moment is not too far away :)

What I miss? Lying on my tummy! I think those days are well and truly over. Well for a while at least.

Symptoms? I was relatively symptom free this week, aside from some light headaches and also backache if I sit for too long.

Cravings? Nothing springs to mind.

Highlights this week? This week’s highlight was definitely the good news that we received during a follow up scan to check some ‘markers’ that had been present in the 20 week scan.

  

I am still on a high, and feel as if I can start to relax. Even if it is ever so slightly :)

A lovely little laksa day

What a wonderful Saturday it has been.

Starting with pre-natal yoga, grocery shopping and some gorgeous fresh blooms.

Followed by an afternoon blogger meet up with the super sweet Brooke from Tea and Tofu, over a delightfully appropriate pot of Rooibos tea at Adore Tea House (and wishing I hadn't forgot my camera).

And, although tonight would have been a good time to sit down and do my taxes, or perhaps some odd jobs around the house, the temptation of a tasty dinner and some cuddly time with my furry felines while watching Wall-E, quite easily won my vote.

But let’s rewind to that tasty dinner shall we?

Our chicken, pineapple and tofu laksa. Thrown together rather quickly with the help of three items…

Rice vermicelli noodles….

Laksa sauce…

 

And my favourite….fried tofu puffs.

All I had to do was slice some veggies…

Open the can of laksa sauce…

Boil the dried rice noodles…

 

Throw the veggies, laksa sauce and some sliced chicken in a pot.

  

Then layer.

Starting with the noodles…

Laksa mix, bean sprouts and fresh coriander.

And dinner was served.

Perhaps not as fragrant or flavoursome as the variety served at our local laksa place…

 

This was a rather tasty attempt at home nonetheless.

The tofu puffs were, as always, my favourite part – and I love how they act as little sponges and soak up the flavoursome broth.

Next time, however, I am going to take the long route and make my own laksa paste.

 

Delish!

What about you? Have you ever made your own laksa paste?

Friday night stroll

First, thankyou all for your kinds words  following our recent scare. I am slowly learning that I should never hesitate to share these stories, as the outpouring of support is always so heart warming. And, to the ladies that are currently (or have recently been through) something similar, I am sending you lots of positive vibes for happy news.

Tonight Mr BBB and I took advantage of daylight savings and the mild temperatures and headed out for our evening stroll.

And while out and about, our rumbling tummies and the lure of our local Thai restaurant (and its super delicious GF pad thai) were too much to resist. So a lovely walk, followed by a tasty Thai dinner and a stroll back home, kick started our weekend just perfectly.

We are rather lucky to have a good choice of restaurants, as well as  a couple supermarkets, all within walking distance. This was actually a big factor in our decision to knock down / rebuild our old house, rather than sell up and move to a new suburb.

And since giving up running for 9 months or so, I have grown quite fond of our evening walks, which allow us to catch up on the events of the day without distraction. Even if at this time of year I flinch every time I see a magpie lol.

But now, its time for a little R & R. I am positively exhausted after a big week at work and am most certainly looking forward to the weekend ahead.

What do you have planned for the weekend? Mine is shaping up to be quite the weekend indeed. Pre natal yoga, some home office planning / shopping, a blogger meet up, brunch, cleaning out the 'nursery'....the list is growing already!

Oh….and did I mention that I still have to do my taxes ugh.

Quite the scare…

As you may recall, we recently had our 20 week morphology scan which, aside from giving us the wonderful news that we are having a baby girl, allowed our doctor to check that baby BBB was growing on schedule and that everything looked ok from an anatomy perspective.

On Tuesday, I found out the results of that scan. And they were not what I was hoping for.

Instead of hearing "everything looks fine" (as I honestly expected to hear), I heard:

• "bilateral choroid plexus cysts" aka - fluid cysts in baby BBB's brain.
• "mild pyelectasia" aka - a dilation of her renal pelvis / kidneys

Neither of which were apparently necessarily concerning in isolation, but both of which were soft markers for chromosomal abnormalities. Including down syndrome.

And so my heart sank. And I felt alone, scared and overwhelmed, and rued the fact I had told Mr BBB there was no need to come to this 'routine appointment' as everything would be fine.

As I sat in my doctor's office in a stunned silence, he attempted to reassure me that he believed everything would be ok, and that the issues might correct themselves. But to be sure, a more detailed morphology scan through the Fetal Medicine Unit (a scary title don't you think?!) should be conducted. Soon.

Perhaps it was avoidance on my part, or a refusal to accept that something might not be right, but I was determined to focus on the positive things my doctor had to say...

• First, that he was not at all concerned about the cysts.
• Second, that our previous NT results were great, and that the pyelectasia may correct itself prior to baby BBB's birth or shortly thereafter.

And I had an instinct. An instinct deep down that everything was, in fact, ok.

But even with a fluttering baby to be, and a positive mind, I arrived at the hospital yesterday for the more detailed scan in a distracted daze. So much so that I may have scraped the bumper of my car on a wall when I was parking (?!). A purple wall.  Just maybe.

My heart was more than racing as I slowly walked towards the maternity unit, and I could feel tiny beads of doubt begin to make their way into my mind. For what if everything was not ok??

Luckily, I had the most open, friendly and helpful doctor, who was more than happy to answer my multitude of questions. She also explained what she was doing throughout the ultrasound, and why, as well as the the measurements and results taken along the way.

And within a matter of minutes, we had our answer.

 

Baby BBB looked perfectly fine.

The kidney dilation had corrected itself over the past week, one cyst had gone and the other was tiny (and likely to go soon).

(fist)

Her heart looked beautifully healthy, as did her measurements, and the doctor was not concerned in the slightest. She said baby BBB looked wonderful.

(foot)

The  relief that washed over me was immense, and I practically skipped out of the hospital. I cant help but feel that modern technology is a wonderful yet terrible thing - particularly when it comes to expectant mothers with a tendency to worry lol. The doctor herself mentioned that the improvements in ultrasound technology means that they are able to see a lot more these days, most of which are harmless (for the majority), but that certainly cause a lot of worry. Either way, we are so very very grateful and relieved that the markers identified in the first scan had corrected themselves, and so quickly, and I feel as if I can finally let go of the breath I had been holding in for days.

And, do you want to know a strange thing? Ever since receiving the initial results, baby BBB has been fluttering more than she ever had before. Perhaps she was reassuring me - not only that she is still there, but that everything would be ok.

So here's hoping baby BBB offers no more scares over the next 19 weeks. For I am not sure how my heart, head or car's bumper bar could take another fright....

Return of the Mystery Box

Remember when I had a trusty little dinner inspirer, affectionately referred to as the Mystery Box???

And then remember when this happened, and this happened, and somehow the Mystery Box was pushed to the back of my cupboard, to be replaced with holiday snaps and baby bumps?

Well, lovely people, the Mystery Box has returned.

And it has returned with a vengeance, providing a delicious ingredient as inspiration for tonight's dinner.

Chickpeas!!

Did you know? Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) are an edible legume rich in protein and fibre. Popular in dishes such as hummus and falafel, chickpeas are an ancient crop that is believed to have been cultivated for over 7000 years!

When I drew out this ingredient, I was initially tempted to make falafel - one of my all time favourite dishes. Then, however, I came across this recipe for a 'falafel loaf', which appeared both healthier and easier than its deep fried counterparts, and, well,  I was sold.

The loaf itself, took no time at all to throw together.

Chickpeas, onions, herbs, spices, eggs and oil.

Combined with grated carrot.

Poured into a lined loaf tin...

Topped with chia seeds...

And into the oven for 1 hour.

Resulting in a golden brown chickpea loaf.

Recently I have had quite the thing for GF kebabs served with with mild chilli tahini sauce. With that in mind, I decided to jazz up the recipe's tahini sauce to make it more akin to the mild chilli variety I have been loving of late.

And, to be honest, it could not have been simpler. Just tahini, lemon juice, water, sweet chilli sauce and a sprinkle of extra chilli flakes. Combined, resulting in a spicy creamy sauce.

For dinner, I served generous slices of the loaf, with a good dollop of the mild tahini sauce.

   

On the side - a steamed corn cob.

And some oven roasted kale (that I had sprinkled with olive oil and nutritional yeast).

The corn and kale were ok. The falafel loaf, on the other hand, was quite the treat indeed!

The loaf remained moist, the fresh herbs added some wonderful fresh flavours and I loved the crunch of the chia seeds on top.

Not to mention being gluten free, vegetarian, versatile and a dish that could very easily be made in advance. 

Falafel loaf with mild chilli tahini sauce (adapted from here)

(serves 4 - 6)

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 eggs
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbs ground cumin
• 1 tbs paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 bunch, coriander, chopped roughly
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 tbs chia seeds
• 4 tbs tahini
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2- 4tbs water
• 1 tbs sweet chilli sauce (or more or less to taste)
• pinch chilli flakes

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Grease and line a loaf dish with baking paper.
2. Process chickpeas, eggs, onion, garlic and baking powder until smooth. Add the spices, herbs and salt and process until combined. Stir through grated carrot.
3. Pour into the prepared dish and sprinkle with chia seeds. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Set aside to cool to room temperature in the pan.
4. When ready to serve, remove the loaf from the pan and slice into 8 slices. Top slices with a dollop of the tahini dressing.
5. To make the sauce: Combine the tahini and lemon juice. Add water, chilli sauce and chilli flakes, stirring until you have reached the desired consistency (you may need to add some extra water).

What about you? What is your favourite way to use chickpeas?