Lego StarWars Prep..

I accidentally invited all of the kinds from the yr1 contact list... so here's hoping most are on holidays! :)

So far we've trialed, lego crayons, biccies (such a shame that my natural home made green colouring didn't stay through the cooking - poor yoda :) and R2D2 water bottles.

Onto the light sabers and death star pinata this week. Wish me luck! (No, I'm not going to say, 'May the force be with me'.. c'mon!)

 So onto the Jedi Juice, lego cake and Jedi training exercises. It should be fun! 
... now just to figure out where to have it... let's hope it's not too windy to have it at a park.

Sick of bad seasoning?? Solution!

Just make it yourself! I know, I know, it sounds time consuming and risky.
Who has the time to do that? How do you know the recipe you follow is even going to work out for your family?

I'm sick of the taco seasonings that just taste like salt and chilli. Mission brand was the nicest but still too much salt, so I made my own. Here's an "inspired" version, not traditional to any type of food but an easy base for family dinners.

So I used it as inspiration and made up one myself. Here it is, the Mexican/Moroccan/Indian Versatile Spice Mix:(inspired, not traditional!)

Step 1: Dehydrate
6 large capsicums (Red, green or yellow doesn't matter, I like red and yellow)
9 medium tomatoes

When they're ready they'll look super dry but will be a bit bendy. Leave them to the side for a few minutes and they'll crisp up. They are OK for safe storage when they snap like a cracker. Soft will spoil.

Step 2: Coffee grinder/food processor
Grind the dehydrated veg to a fine powder

Step 3: Shop and mix
From the store, get: Powdered garlic, oregano, sea salt, dried minced onion and white pepper. Mix to the following amounts:

1 cup capsicum powder
1 cup tomato powder
25g garlic powder
25g cumin
3T oregano
1 1/2 T sea salt
1 tsp white pepper
25g of dried minced onion.
Store in airtight container

Step 4: Cook with it!
Use 2-3 tablespoons of this spice mix with 500g of either meat/cooked beans then add some extras:

For Moroccan  add cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne to taste.
For Mexican add fresh coriander stalks finely chopped, bit of parsley and cayenne to taste.
For a quick Indian dish add 2 tsp of your fav curry powder (I get mine from the local Indian grocer) with extra coriander and fresh curry leaves if you have them.

Above is my Moroccan version of the spice (with added veg stock cube) mixed with mince and cooked pasta stars then stuffed into capsicums to roast. Hubby loved it though I would have preferred beans and quinoa I think. :)

The dried veg base makes ALL the difference to taste without using salt, yeast extract and all the other junk in store bought spice mixes.

Enjoy!
x