So yesterday I did the big Food Part 1 post, mostly focused on breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today we carry on with Part 2… this time focusing on snacks, treats and drinks.
I’m more of a savoury girl than a sweet one, so more often than not would opt for popcorn, pea flour crackers or walnut crackers over anything sweet. Sometimes even a fork full of kimchi! Proper Crisps have a couple of their chip flavours in home compostable packaging so on the odd, very rare occasion I get some for a treat. I used to be quite the chip girl but popcorn with a bit of melted olivani, salt and nutritional yeast on it satisfies those cravings.
Antony doesn’t like popcorn so I usually make an entire bowl just for me. We have a popcorn maker which is brilliant- doesn’t require any oil/ butter and no cleaning…. so much simpler than making it in a pot. We get the popcorn kernels in our own jar from Bin Inn or Piko Wholefoods. So pleased we refilled the week before lockdown!
The other thing that has saved me since going Zero Waste meant no more salt and vinegar chips or rice crackers… was learning how to make pea flour crackers. These are super easy, cheap to make with just a few zero waste ingredients. We are lucky to be able to source locally grown and milled organic pea flour in our own containers from the mill. I used to forage rosemary from a church garden but now have a little in my own garden… that is the key to their deliciousness. I also love that they are green 🙂
No prizes for pretty looking crackers but they are delicious! I sometimes make walnut crackers too but these have more ingredients, are more time consuming to make and you have to watch them like a hawk in the oven… From one second to the next they can turn from perfect to overcooked and awful. The pea flour ones are far more forgiving… the ones pictured above actually had a bit long as some were brown… but they still tasted fine. Here’s my latest batch of walnut crackers which are just perfect!
Then there’s oat crackers which are super easy and cheap but not very tasty! They are more a plain biscuit than a ‘cracker’ so are ideal if you have dips and relishes, hummus etc. They can act more like bread and will hold up to tomato on top or other toppings. All three recipes can be found on the Rubbish Trip website.
Sometimes I feel like a sweet treat and then I’d go for fruit, chopped banana topped with peanut butter, or something from the freezer… like Zucchini bread, a muffin, caramooli slice etc. I have also been known to have a bar of chocolate in my desk drawer. It can stay there for a good month though as I usually only like a square or two at a time.
I have learnt that Antony and I eat things at quite different paces… so when I went to the Supermarket I got us a few Lockdown treats. I bought 2 bags of Proper Crisps & 2 Fair Trade chocolate bars (all home compostable packaging) and 2 whittakers peppermint chocolate bars (sadly not zero waste but soooo delicious). I also bought Ants a bag of Cookie Time cookies (his fave). We divided it all up so we had one each of everything plus he got his bag of cookies… to eat at our own pace, no need to share. I explained this was for the next 3+ weeks of lockdown so he might want to make it last. Less than a week later you can guess who had already eaten all the cookies and both big bars of chocolate with only the chips remaining… and who has eaten the bag of chips but still has 1 and a half chocolate bars to go. 😉
I mentioned Caramooli slice above… it is one of the treats I almost always have in the freezer. It is a healthier version of a chocolate caramel slice but it’s dairy/ gluten and raw sugar free. If you aren’t familiar with the brilliant ability of the cashew nut to turn into a creamy delight when soaked then whizzed up, it’s the key ingredient in the creamy ‘caramel’ filling part of this treat. Dates, maple syrup and coconut oil also important. The base is ground almonds and dates and the topping raw cacao powder, more maple syrup and coconut oil. My recipe makes a lot and I cut it into bite size pieces and keep in the freezer. Usually one little bite size piece is enough to satisfy any sweet craving.
In terms of treats I can highly recommend this book…
My favourite recipes in here are just soooo delicious. While healthier than regular baking, they are still definitely TREATS… not intended as regular indulgences.
I haven’t made them yet this year so can’t share pictures of them but here are my 3 favourite recipes. The caramel nut bars and the Christmas fudge are at different times to be found in my freezer. The Caramel nut bars do not stay there for long I might add!
And this is just so delicious…
Drinks
I don’t drink alcohol except on very rare special occasions, like when the Black Caps made the World Cup final and the Green Party became part of the government. In both cases a cider was enjoyed very much. 🙂 Radler (beer with lemon- sometimes non-alcoholic or low alcohol) is a drink I enjoyed a bit when traveling overseas back in the day – so refreshing on a hot day.
Mostly I drink water – we have a filter on our tap so it’s not gross chlorinated Ashburton water we taste.
One of my favourite drinks is grated fresh ginger, fresh lemon juice and honey with hot water. So good when you have a sore throat. I’ve had lots of these drinks during lock-down.
I also like herbal teas. All kinds. I have lemon balm in the garden so sometimes take a sprig of that and pour hot water on it.
Or I make up a pot of tea with Heke Homemade Herbals loose tea. I like this because the ingredients are mostly grown at the top of the South Island and home compostable packaging is used for her loose tea. It’s sold at Simply Eco, the best shop in Ashburton. 🙂
Sometimes I make elderflower cordial with flowers I forage when in season and more often I make rhubarb cordial which is a pretty pink. You just boil up chopped rhubarb in water then strain it into a bowl with sugar in it and stir… then bottle. Very easy!
Alrighty that’s it for my final Food post. If there are any food questions you have for me don’t be shy to ask!