Back In The Kitchen!!!

I was horrified today to discover that it has been nearly 6 months since I last posted in The Puuurple Kitchen!!

The main reason for the delay was that I moved house, therefor a lot of my kitchen stuff was packed up early (and who wants to cook when you're packing up a house?!), and then there was the inevitable time it takes to unpack everything at the other end and decide where it all should go.

We have moved to a considerably smaller kitchen and there have been a few teething issues as I have learned how to work in the new space. We are a little short on cabinet space, and as my BF and I are both huge foodies we have a lot of random kitchen appliances and utensils to find homes for, as well as a lot of duplicates. Fortunately our garage has plenty of built in cabinets so there is plenty of room for the overflow!!

I have still been cooking (a girl's got to eat, right?!) but a little less often and any new things I have tried haven't quite been up to sharing standards, or were tasty but the kitchen was too cluttered to take blog worthy photos in.

The delivery of a few new cookbooks, ranging from healthy vegetarian to French comfort food to Peruvian cuisine, has inspired me to get back in the kitchen and it has been fun! Although I'm not quite ready to share the recipes just yet, here is a little sample of what you can expect to read about soon.

I made these breakfast tacos this morning and they were amazing! Lightly mashed black beans with bacon smeared on a tostada and topped with avocado, sour cream, cheese and a fried egg. These were the tastiest thing I have made in a while and I wish I had been organised enough to take photos as they were definitely blog worthy! Don't worry though, these are sure to be a regular feature on our breakfast rotation so you shouldn't have to wait too long for the recipe!

I had a bit of a soupathon on Thursday (because what else do you make in the summer in California?!) First I made a Moroccan chickpea soup, which I must confess is still in the fridge. The combination of spices was a bit harsh for my palate so I will definitely be playing around with that next time, but I'm sure a dollop of yogurt or sour cream will cool it perfectly so I can eat this batch.

More successful, though, was the Italian cannellini bean soup I made. Light and fresh with hearty vegetables, and topped off with some cubes of bread and a few decadent shavings of pecorino. This is another dish that will be in the regular rotation!

I have dusted off my favorite quinoa salad recipe and have been giving it a couple of new twists. I love quinoa but I suck at cooking it. Occasionally I get it right and have perfectly fluffy grains, but more often than not it comes out fairly mushy. I'm working on some different cooking methods and hopefully I should have it perfected soon. This is my favorite salad EVER and I always make a huge batch and eat it for days. Not only is a great side dish for most meats, add a wee fried egg and it makes a delicious breakfast or lunch, and by itself it makes a nutritious high protein snack.

My biggest disappointment was the bacon and potato casserole that I attempted. Don't get me wrong - it was really tasty! Sliced potatoes layered with bacon and leeks, doused with cream and wine and topped off with Gruyere cheese - yum! The problem came from following the recipe which called for the potatoes to be cooked before they were sliced. Sadly my potatoes came out overcooked and would not slice so it was more of a chunky mashed potato casserole. It was still unbelievably good so I will look forward to trying that again soon!

Well, that pretty much covers the most promising of my latest kitchen experiments. I look forward to perfecting them and bringing you more details soon, along with any other culinary (mis)adventures that may transpire!

Until next time .... (but hopefully not in another 6 months .....!)