Relish day

Have I mentioned how much I love not working on Fridays? I really do. This morning, I went to the markets and bought a whole load of fresh fruit and vegies. It was sunny and warm, and on a day that I don't have to work - spring has finally arrived!

I'm not meant to be adding new foods today, because Ben and I are going out to a public service grad ball tomorrow, and I put the full SCD list as my dietary restrictions, so I'll probably end up with some advanced foods in there, and feel awful the next day, and I shouldn't be making it worse before I even get there. Ho hum.

But I always find that I struggle with the diet more at the markets than anywhere else.

Today was no different, people handing out slices of mango and pineapple, oranges and kiwifruit. I gave in and ate a slice of mango, and then bought 3 (3 for $4, how could I say no?). And a pineapple. When I got home, I blended the ripest mango with a good splosh of yoghurt and some cold water. It was like dessert in a glass, for lunch, and satisfying enough to keep my going for my planned cooking exploits for most of the rest of the day.

I'd almost run of tomato sauce and needed to make more, and wanted to try a sweet chilli sauce and also to play with mum's zucchini relish to make it SCD legal. I also ended up making curry paste and the orange and date chutney from the CCCIBS cookbook, and orange creamsicles. Now my cupboard is fully stocked with tasty treats again. Man, I love Fridays!

I'll write up the zucchini relish once I know if it worked (I decided to try gelatine to thicken it, instead of cornflour... could be interesting...).

In the meantime, here's my cheats SCD tomato sauce recipe.

Tomato sauce

1 red onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1tsp cloves

1tsp black peppercorns

1tsp whole allspice

2 x 690g bottles of crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves

½ tsp Ground ginger

½ tsp Cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

200ml white vinegar

¾ cup honey

Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until they start to turn golden.

While this is cooking, tie the cloves, peppercorns and allspice in a piece of muslin.

Add the remaining ingredients, apart from the honey, and simmer for an hour.

Add the honey and simmer for another hour, or until the sauce is about half its original volume.

Pour into sieve and grind through with a pestle into a sterilised jug. Pour into sterilised jars and store in the fridge.

Enjoy! My favourite at the moment is a rissole, with a slice of cheese, tomato sauce and dijon mustard. The idea was from McDonalds cheeseburgers (I really do need to do something about some pickles), but executed oh so much better.

27 days...