{recipe} Chickpea Tabouli, Keftedes (Greek meatballs) & Pita

This is my 3pickles version of tabouli. Simple, tasty and easy to make from ingredients found in the pantry & garden.

Just toss together, finely chopped parsley, halved or quartered cherry tomatoes, chopped red onion, finely chopped mint & a tin of drained chickpeas. Season with salt and dress with extra virgin olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. I like to let the flavours develop for a bit before serving.

 I love this salad with Greek Meatballs (keftedes), wrapped in homemade pita bread, then drizzled with Tzatziki or yoghurt and some sweet chilli sauce.

To make the pita bread, just use my Farmer's bread recipe, found here. Instead of placing dough in a bread tin, divide into 8 portions, roll flat onto a floured surface and "dry" pan fry (or use BBQ hotplate). The bread will puff up after about 30 seconds, flip over and continue to cook the other side. Easy.

To make the meatballs, combine beef  or lamb mince, finely chopped onion, finely chopped parsley, crushed garlic, a dollop of tomato paste, an egg, breadcrumbs and about 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Season with salt & pepper if you like. Roll into little meatballs (about one heaped tablespoon of meat mixture each). Place meatballs on a plate ,cover with clingwrap and leave in the fridge for at least half an hour to set (so they don't fall apart when you cook them). Shallow fry (I like to use rice bran oil), or if your really good you can place them on non stick baking paper and bake in a moderate oven till done.

Till next time.........

Linking to

Cold frame gardening

So, tomorrow is the first day of Winter here in Australia and it's been really cold in Melbourne (for a while).We still want to grow some veggies over winter, so we thought we'd try using a cold frame. I saw them advertised at Bunnings, so off we went.

Mr 3P only took a few minutes to assemble this and 2 will fit just nicely on each garden bed, although we only got one for now, just too see how it goes.

Of course, I have to take weird photos of a cold frame!

But I did plant some seeds too! Over one half, I planted rocket, which I absolutely LOVE and on the other half of the cold frame I planted winter spinach.

OK,  I can't help my self with the weird shots of condensation. I can sit and stare it it for ages .

While I was out in the garden this morning in ballet flats of all things ( I must get some gumboots), I thought I'd get a few shots of some things that are still kicking on in the cold. I planted these succulents, which I got from the kids school fete earlier this year,  in the old water feature. I just filled it with a sandy potting mix and some soil (Mr3P drilled some holes in the bottom of the water feature for me), then popped them in randomly with a few rocks.

Please don't ask me what type of succulents they are, 'cause I don't have any idea.

But they are very sweet, don't you think?

These guys have already spread and multiplied, so that's good.

Parsley really kicks on here in winter. I make a mean tabbouleh ( recipe coming soon )

And of course if you plant mint anywhere near a garden tap it will go nuts! Mixed amongst our mint is also some lemon balm and soon (fingers crossed) some chocolate mint, which I saw at Bunnings the other day and have to go back and get!

This little dude is holding on and growing very slowly, but it's still growing. We planted this orange tree about 6 years ago and Mr3P will not give up on it. This is the first time it has shown any fruit. 

Any advice you can give me on winter gardening or using a cold frame would be greatly appreciated. Till next time....

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http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com/

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