7 Weeks til end of semester exams and we'll be back in business!! Stay with me...
Hope everyone is happy and healthy, perhaps I should post an essay?

Music to Study too. Music to croon too.

Music to keep you company. Music that feels.

Music to make you think. And smile.

Music to rev you up. Get your dance on.

Music to wind you down. Sweet sweety.

Music that makes you feel that you are not alone.

Simple Satay
My blogging attendance has been very tardy of late, but who knew doing 6 units per semester at uni would be so time consuming ha!

So when it comes to meals there is generally a lot of stir-fries, brown rice concoctions or Japanese takeaway. The satay sauce in this recipe really added some excitment to what was becoming "ho hum stirfry again".


The satay sauce recipe was sourced from taste.com with a few tweaks (in red).

1 x cup each of
thinly sliced sweet potato
sliced zucchini
sliced red capsicum
chopped komatsuna (asian green that I happened to see at the market)
half a brown onion sliced
enough organic udon noodles for 2
1 Tbs evoo

Sauce
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small brown onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 small fresh red chilli, finely chopped
70g (1/4 cup) organic crunchy peanut butter (Greenacre's Organics)
125ml (1/2 cup) water
1 tbs fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp brown sugar

Make up sauce and put to side, keeping warm. Prepare udon according to packet instructions. Put the oil in the wok or frying pan and add the onion and sweet potato, stirfry for a few minutes and then add zucchini and capsicum, lastly add the komatsuna (or bok choy, choy sum, gai lan etc) after a minute or so add udon and satay sauce.
Would also taste great with tofu or what ever veggies you have on hand.

Simple, easy, quick and most importantly yumaliscious.

It's been a long time between posts, I don't have any excuses, I have been on uni holidays for 5 weeks and just haven't posted. I have been taking some photos with good intentions, but alas however well meaning I just haven't come through with the goods.
Since it is not the photographs fault that I am tardy I have decided to post the photos on their own as a bit of food porn :)

Roast Mushroom Ragu from stonesoup best meal of the year so far.

Field Mushroom soup................

...................picked from here.

Pumpkin and balsamic onion and mushroom, spinach and feta tarts

Roasted beetroot and cashew dip

Zucchini, squash, lentil and haloumi warm salad

Dessert I had at a friends wedding, mmmm.

From Soup to Stew to Salsa
A friend of mine, G, emailed me a recipe with “I found a recipe on Anjum Anand’s website for Spinach and Lentil curry – but the flavour was too “raw” for my taste. I’ve played with the recipe and the result I think is a bit richer and gentler at least for my palette. It’s now one of my favourite soups."

To be honest I have been hitting the soup pretty hard lately, so I figured this would probably work as a stew as well, the first change begins...the changes I made are in red.

Spinach and Lentil Curry Soup

1 small onion, finely chopped

8g fresh ginger, finely chopped

3 green chillies, finely chopped (or whole for a more subtle flavour)

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

150g split red lentils (250g)

900ml chicken stock (can substitute vege stock) (800ml vege stock)

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes (whole tin)

200g baby spinach leaves (350g Home Grown Organics Frozen English Spinach)

salt to taste (optional)

1 tsp cumin

3/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 rounded tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

1. On a medium heat, heat oil in saucepan and fry onion until translucent
2. Add chopped chilli, garlic and ginger, turmeric cumin, coriander and garam masala and fry to release aromas (2 min) – Note: if leaving chilli whole do not add at this stage
3. On a medium heat, heat oil in saucepan and fry onion until translucent
4. Add chopped chilli, garlic and ginger, turmeric cumin, coriander and garam masala and fry to release aromas (2 min) – Note: if leaving chilli whole do not add at this stage
5. Add tin of tomatoes and fry for another couple minutes stirring regularly
6. Add vege stock and lentils (and whole chilli) and bring to the boil
7. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes (by this time the lentils should be mushy... you may need to add more water at this stage if the soup is too thick)
8. Add spinach and allow to return to the boil
9. Add salt to taste
10. Serve hot.

The stew (or dahl) was delicious, really, really extra tasty.
The next night I wanted to do something different with it and had wanted to make nachos at some stage, so decided to put 2 and 2 together and use the dahl as the 'salsa' with some organic cheese on top.

Well what another tasty supprise this was. Mmm mmm success stories and full tummies all round.

Thanks G!!