Hi everyone,
Rather than recommend a single recipe this week I'm recommending a whole recipe book with my first ever Recipe Book Review!
Annabel Langbein: "A free range life - everything you need for a great summer!".
I've had this recipe book for a good few years now and it's brilliant for summer and Christmas ideas so it seems the perfect time to share it with you. And yes, since I can't go back to NZ for Christmas, I'm bring a kiwi book to you!
It's one of those recipe books where you have your tried and tested favourites that you turn to time and again and then every so often you'll scroll through and find something new and delicious. We tried two recipes on the weekend that we'd never tried before and they were both great - Mediterranean Salad based on roasted eggplant and red capsicum with a super simple basil dressing plus Seafood (or in my case Tofu) Skewers with a delicious marinade. Hubby reckons this would work with chicken too!
Other recipes I love and use repeatedly are:
Espresso Spice Cake - a chocolate ganache on top makes it even more scrummy and a bit more fancy for a dinner party
Pea and Spinach Frittata - delicious hot and cold
Roast Vege and Chorizo salad - vegetarians substitute olives for chorizo
Greek-style Lamb (Tempeh) salad - just add boiled baby potatoes and dinner is done!
Grilled Summer Fruit - delicious with a dollop of cream or coconut yoghurt
Pea, Mint & Avocado Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing - I often serve this on Christmas day as it seems to compliment all the other Christmassy goodies
Greek Zucchini Salad - a great way of using up zucchinis if you have excess!
There are lots of different types of recipes too - breakfast ideas, finger foods for drinks and nibbles with friends, fun recipes for kids, Christmas leftover recipes, simple home-made mayo and spice rubs for the barbecue...you get the idea - a real all-round recipe book.
It's also a normal recipe book in that it's not specifically vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free or anything else. However I've found it easy to substitute where you need to e.g. use gluten-free flour in the baking such as Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour, substitute sugar with rapadura sugar, and use tofu, tempeh or beans to make recipes vegetarian.
As it's a few years old, I've struggled to find it on Australian websites but you can order direct from the NZ website. It's a great price on special at the moment at $14.95 NZD. They do state it may take 3 weeks for orders to arrive in Australia so order now if it appeals because...umm...it's only 4 and a bit weeks until Christmas! Annabel has plenty of other recipe books that are available in Australia if you prefer that option and going by this one I don't think you'll go far wrong. She has a very down to earth, family orientated style of cooking - nothing too fancy, just great flavours.
Happy summer cooking!
Carla :)
P.S. If you have any recipe books (or other health related books) that would be good to review and share let me know.
