I had hoped to upload this one last week as I had some recipes directly relating to what I did with the end of my Mixed Medium box – but I was thwarted by  the full moon – but I’m sure the people who know me are truly tired of me blaming everything on the full moon while maintaining my own personal immunity (moon in Aquarius – SHAZAAM!).  So here is a recipe I made on New Years Day, but is even more relevant now:

Roasted grapes and beetroot salad with pistachio encrusted chevre

It was hot, hot, hot in Melbourne and because my sweet little daughter won’t let us go to things like Peat’s Ridge Festival on account of her age (4 months at the time), we opted to sit in my 4 year-old’s backyard pool, douse unsuspecting passer’s by with water and dine al fresco on our aging Italian patio.  This was the day that my son started eating lettuce leaves with gusto – he grabbed a piece of lettuce, took a bite and exclaimed, “So sweet!  I love lettuce!”  Quite a pleasant surprise for me since I didn’t touch a vegetable until I was 30. Incidentally, I blame the boy’s love of lettuce on the fresh, seasonal, organic produce he gets each week.  He quite often eschews restaurant food and proclaims that the food at home tastes better.  I seem to have cooked myself into a corner….

In the end, anyone who is game can realise the beauty of roasting grapes –  and why not roll some of our very own Meredith chevre in pistachios to create a truly marvellous easy meal.  This is heavily adapted from The New Vegetarian cookbook by a wonderful cook, Robin Asbell in California, who calls this a winter salad, but doesn’t really seem to cook seasonally.  They probably have different seasons in California…..

The other night, just as I was about to go to bed, I found my lovely and beautiful naturopath partner sitting at the kitchen table peeling, deseeding and chopping the tomatoes from our box and garden in order to make a summer tomato sauce.

As it was 4 hours past her bedtime and only 2 hours past mine (I’m not breastfeeding anyone – what do I need to sleep for?) we decided I would finish it off.  2 hours later, we had a beautiful summer tomato sauce which we put into 2 pizzas the next day.

As I was waiting for the sauce to cook – I also ended up making two different batches of muffins and a stir fry….I know, crazy, but I’m considering it a personal day of transcendence…I will no longer purchase any poor excuse for a muffin, stir fry or pizza when I know I can do better at home.  Let’s start a revolution!