Food Gardeners Alliance

I came across a local campaign attempting to lobby the Victorian Parliament to recognise that relaxing the current water restrictions on vegetable gardens will, in the long run, help the environmental problem, not hinder it.

The organisers behind the campaign share a similar ethos to our good selves, so take a look!

www.fga.org.au

C is for carrots

I've never been much of a fan of raw carrots I must confess. Carrot juice even less so. But baked carrots are definitely the bomb!


Baked Carrots
Ingredients :

4 cups of carrots, sliced.
½ cup of water.
6 tablespoons of butter.
2 tablespoons of sugar.
1 teaspoon of nutmeg.
1 teaspoon of salt.

Instructions:

In a casserole dish, mix the sugar, nutmeg and salt with water.

Add the carrots and dab them with butter.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.

Allow to rest for 3-4 minutes.

Serve.

Carrot soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leek, halved lengthways, thinly sliced
• 6 carrots, peeled, chopped
• 4cm piece ginger, peeled, grated
• 2 cups salt-reduced vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• light sour cream, dill, and toast, to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek, carrots and ginger. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until vegetables start to soften.
2. Add stock and water to saucepan. Cover. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until carrots are very tender.
3. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool slightly. Process or blend soup until smooth. Return to saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with sour cream and dill. Serve with toast.

Super Food Ideas - April 2004 , Page 30

Recipe by Alison Roberts


Vegan Carrot Cake

Ingredients

- 200 g grated carrots
- 200 g whole grain flour
- 100 g brown sugar
- 1 handful of walnuts or hazelnuts
- 2 tablespoons of raisins
- 1 tablespoons of baking soda
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- nutmeg
- ground cinnamon
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1/4 cup of mild olive oil
- salt
Instructions:

1. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add a pinch of every spice listed and a bit of salt.

2. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until homogeneous.

3. Place it on a baking tray covered with margarine or baking paper

4. Bake at 170 ºC for 45 minutes.

5. Decorate with chocolate shavings or powdered sugar. Let it cool down before you slice it.

NB-I've had several bunnies living with me over the years and the whole carrot thing is a bit of a myth. Buns shouldn't be fed carrots except as an occasional treat, they are far too high in sugar. My buns favourite veggies were parsley, celery and asian greens.

Do you like chocolate?

The Chocolate Ride - Saturday 9th of August
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11am (for 11:15 start)
All Nations Park, Dennis St Northcote, (Mel 30 G7)

Indulge your love of cycling and your love of Chocolate with a ride that
takes all the Chocolate Cafés between Northcote and the City.
This will be a ride at social pace via quiet back streets and off road
paths that takes in Coco Loco (High St Northcote), San Churro (Brunswick
St Fitzroy), Coco Black (Lygon St Carlton), Frau´s (Victoria St North
Melbourne) and Max Brenner (Melbourne Central CBD).

It will be a decadent day that would make Augustus Gloop proud.
And for the truly gluttonous there´s always the option finish up at the
Chocolate Rush Festival at Abbotsford Convent
http://www.chocolaterush.com.au/ (but that costs money to get in.)

organiser: bikenerd

Are you gardening with concrete? Weekly container gardening spotlight!

Some of my favourites:

Sick of waiting for hard rubbish to throw out those broken drawers? Here's an idea:





I've always loved these big olive oil tins as pot plants.
You can often find empty ones at the back of restaurants.

And these boots are just cool: