The Back Yard Lemon Tree

Vegetarian feast food for family and friends!

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Cakes, Cookies, Biscuits and Sweet Things, Recipes

Classic Swedish Ginger Thins Recipe for Christmas

I have a love hate relationship with Christmas in Australia. Pros are that it’s summer and we can go to the beach, eat mangoes and cherrries and have water fights in the back yard after Christmas lunch. Cons are that it’s summer, its humid and hot and we spend far too much time making and…
View recipe: Classic Swedish Ginger Thins Recipe for Christmas
Appetisers, Snacks, Dips and Spreads, Recipes

Easy Greek Goddess Dip Recipe for Parties

I recently watched the Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix and it made me nostalgic for those bacchanalian feasts of the eighties, whole wheels of brie, baskets of strawberries and tables of beautifully arranged vegetable crudites. The eighties was all about excess even if it was in the form of masses of vegetable crudites. On Sunday…
View recipe: Easy Greek Goddess Dip Recipe for Parties
Recipes, Rice bowl meals, Vegan

Tempeh Recipe: Satisfying Sticky and Spicy

I love tempeh. I first discovered this wonder food back the 1980’s when it was not widely available commercially in Australia. I was living in Cairns in far north Queensland and once a week I would ride my bike to a house in the next suburb and buy fresh tofu and tempeh from a retired…
View recipe: Tempeh Recipe: Satisfying Sticky and Spicy
Recipes, Salads

Homemade Japanese Sesame Dressing Recipe

Years ago, I used to go regularly to a Japanese restaurant that used to make the best avocado salad with roasted sesame dressing. This was the dish that I used to dream about and crave between visits. Of course, I tried recreating this salad at home with a commercial Kewpie Japanese dressing, but it was…
View recipe: Homemade Japanese Sesame Dressing Recipe
Recipes, Rice bowl meals, Tofu, Vegan

Quick and Easy Braised Tofu Rice Bowl Recipe

I love rice bowl dinners. I’m a big believer in the protein and two veg rice bowl for a balanced meal. This braised tofu is as close as I can get to a one pot meal, it has enough vegetables and protein to make a complete and satisfying meal. Best of all it is made…
View recipe: Quick and Easy Braised Tofu Rice Bowl Recipe
Appetisers, Snacks, Dips and Spreads, Recipes

Garlicky Beet Spread Recipe for Festive Snacking

This garlicky beet spread from Melissa Clark makes a wonderful side for latkes and all kinds of fritters. I particularly like it paired with these Turkish Swiss Chard Fritters from Ottolenghi, but it is also very good served with some warmed pita bread and vegetable crudites as a light appetizer and snack. If you’re not…
View recipe: Garlicky Beet Spread Recipe for Festive Snacking
Recipes, Rice bowl meals, Tofu, Vegan

Easy Korean Braised Tofu Recipe

I have a lot of braised tofu dishes on this site because, braised tofu is one of my standard dinners when I can’t think of what else to make. I go through various phases of which style of braised tofu I make but at the moment my go to tofu for a mid-week rice bowl…
View recipe: Easy Korean Braised Tofu Recipe
Pasta and Noodles, Recipes, Vegan

Vegetable Ragu: A Frugal Italian Delight

This vegetable ragu is known as fake sauce (sugo finto) and is a great example of cuisina povera or the frugal food of Italy. In this vegetarian ragu sauce, meat is replaced with vegetables. The flavor is layered into the sauce with a slow cooked soffritto of onions, carrots and celery, which is deglazed with…
View recipe: Vegetable Ragu: A Frugal Italian Delight
Preserves, Condiments, Sauces, Recipes, Vegan

Easy Biber Salçası Recipe: Homemade Turkish Pepper Paste

Biber Salçası (Turkish red pepper paste) is widely used in Turkish cooking in much the same way you would use tomato paste. Traditionally the peppers are sun dried before being ground into a paste. This simplified, homemade version of biber salçası comes from Ozlem Warren’s brilliant new cookbook Sebze. Red bell peppers are slowly simmered…
View recipe: Easy Biber Salçası Recipe: Homemade Turkish Pepper Paste

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Elizabeth Mars

About the Author

My name is Elizabeth Mars and I live in Sydney’s inner west with my partner and twenty- year-old son.

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