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Wednesday 31 December 2014

Happy New Year!

Ahh, it's been like a month since Ive posted anything, but I've been busy. Planning the big move into our little Cave & shopping.

Louise and I are still doing our (almost weekly) cook offs and now I am getting much better at them. Woohoo.

 I've been too lazy to photograph everything but the last meal made was garlic prawns with garlic spinach and potato patties.

                    I love how with this recipe i was able to sneak in a fair bit of spinach into the patties.

INGREDIENTS
  • 1-pound potatoes (about 4 medium-sized potatoes), boiled, peeled and quartered
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 bag (8 to 10 ounces) baby spinach
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups panko crumbs
  • ¼ cup olive oil, for frying (add more as needed)
Optional
  • Yogurt
  • Sour Cream
  • Soy Sauce

INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Combine prepared potatoes and milk in a large mixing bowl; using a potato masher, mash the potatoes until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  3. Add chopped onions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
  4. Add spinach and garlic to skillet; season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for 2 more minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
  5. Remove from heat and add spinach mixture to the potatoes.
  6. Stir in cheese and lemon juice.
  7. Add egg and panko/bread crumbs; stir until thoroughly combined and smooth.
  8. Shape the mixture into patties.
  9. Heat olive oil in a large skillet.
  10. Working in batches, fry each patty on both sides until golden brown; about 3 to 4 minutes per side.
  11. Transfer potato patties to a paper towel–lined plate.
  12. Serve with yogurt, sour cream, soy sauce, etc...

New Years Eve was better this year then last year.. possibly because i feel like there is so much happening for me in 2015.. the cave, the trips and all that glorious leave from work... or possibly because we were close enough to see the fire works, but far enough to avoid the busy crowds. Albert Park Lake, Cheese platters and wine.






Wednesday 10 December 2014

Polenta & Herb Crusted Burramundi , roasted potatos

The Herb Crusted Burramundi with roasted potatoes and veg, super easy and so yum!

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  • Source for recipe 

  • I added Vegeta, Italian herbs and chives for taste into my polenta mix.
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Monday 8 December 2014

Olive Bread & Potato Soup ( Krompir Juha / Supa)

Louise and I made olive bread(rec here) and it was so very delicious and Louise suggested I use snap seed as I was complaining to her that my photos are lame and not blog worthy.. oh well.  These aren't that much better but who cares... look at the delicousness

My olive bread 
Louises Olive bread

My potato soup
(I don't have Louise's picture of it but I'm sure it looked similar)



Thursday 4 December 2014

Punjene Paprike - stuffed peppers - Balkan dish

Louise and I did another challenge, this time we made Punjene Paprike / Stuffed Peppers.

This is a traditional Balkan dish recipe here. Except this recipe is WRONG and the sauce needs to be doubled for it to work.

 I also cooked my meat first,  added the cooked rice and other seasonings, combined onion and garlic .. then i filled my peppers. I sealed them with tomato slices before placing them in the sauce.

Mine!


Louise.

IT WAS AMAZING


Next up, its my turn to pick a dish. Wait till she see's what I have in store for her.

Saturday 29 November 2014

Challenge update

Louise and I have done:
Roasted Cauliflower, Tomato and Goat Cheese Casserole

See my less glamours version below (still turned out amazingly yummy)
I decided to add 2 different types of cheese to give it a bit more taste and I'm glad I did. Goats cheese will not bind the ingredients as well. 

This is definitely going on my list of Paleo meals as its basically veggies and cheese.


and my version:

Paleo carrot cake


Monday 24 November 2014

To travel is to live

Remember this post : Travel blues

Well, I did something about it these blues and we booked an amazing trip for next year, which I will no doubt blog all about once the planning starts.

We will depart Melbourne in July and head for Japan. From Japan I will head to Europe where we will spend the majority of the trip and then from Europe we will go to Singapore and then back home.
Choice of stop overs did take a bit of time deciding, I was considering Dubai, but I have decided to leave Dubai for next time as its a more common and much easier stop over...and lets face it Japan is pretty awesome!

As it stands so far we have booked:


                                                                           Tokyo

Beautiful Zurich. We will no doubt visit the swiss alps, but more on that at a later stage.

      
Prague

        
Vienna

        
Singapore


Watch this space though, because this is only the surface of whats yet to come.

I am currently in the process of organising Tokyo so I will post more about that later :)






Tuesday 18 November 2014

Food glorious food

Still living.. but busy with food glorious food.

Louise will kill me that I am blogging about her if she ever finds out but we have been having cook offs and I've been so busy cooking.
Some of our meals include: (excuse the dodgy photos)


                                                            Our Quinoa dishes

Polish sausage pasta
Chard rolls
I made garlic and corn bread :) (Louise didn't know!)
Stuffed chicken rolls

We also made cinnamon rolls and next weekend we have a 3 course cook off.. stay tuned :)

Monday 27 October 2014

Mexican

                          Im always looking for someplace new to indulge in my love of food.
           
                            This weekend  we attempted a 9 course Mexican Degustation at El Sabor.
                                                      (and no this is not a sponsored post)

                                                      The food was simple but delicious
Don't forget the Sangria!



                                                  At this point, i got too full to take photos.

The verdict is, I highly recommend for those who like Mexican and are looking for a cosy joint with nice music and pleasant staff. The best part was the last course, Churros !!


Tuesday 21 October 2014

Whats for dinner?

One of the challenges of following the paleo diet is introducing variety.   Carbs are not allowed on the Paleo diet..that's right, no rice, no pasta, no bread and no pizza.  We eat this way from Monday-Thursday to maintain optimum health.

So this week, i experimented with cauliflower. One recipe, 3 different ways


                                         I made cauliflower pizza crust this week, finally... recipe (link)

It turned out awesome. I decided to make a healthy version with veggies and an less healthy cheesy version. Cauliflower pizza works and the crust ends up being nice and hard/crunchy and not only that, it's much much much healthier then consuming carb loaded pizza dough :)


                                                         Cauliflower mash with chives

                Made the same way as the crust but with added oils and cheese for cream factor. The potato alternative and the chives take a bit away from the cauliflower taste !

Cauliflower rice :)


Monday 13 October 2014

Cave Living

Cave progress:
She is officially locked up.

The weekend was busy but now I have a better idea of what the cave living area will look like and that my friend is super exciting. I'll talk you through it.

It started off harmlessly with wine & dinner on a friday night..

Cave man hunted the fish himself.


I was too busy to blog about it but earlier in the week purchased our couch (see pic below)

                                      except our couch/chaise is actually a beige colour.. similar to that rug. I know, I'm already having heart palpitations at the thought of someone spilling wine/coffee over it but never fear, 5 year warranty on all stains and smells is here :)

 Naturally, the next day we were on a hunt for a living room coffee table and entertainment unit. I have thought about my colour shame a lot and have decided to keep it light and airy. Our home will be full of light woods, light oaky floors, light kitchen...and i wanted some contrast so we finally agreed on *drum roll*


This.
It's a nice rustic timber with metal details as handles.

It will go nicely with the lamp I had purchased earlier in the year
I knew from the moment I laid eyes on this lamp that it would be mine.

We started talking about the rug but couldn't agree on a shade so we decided to compromise. The decision is yet to come!

On Sunday afternoon , the Caveman and I went to the beach as it was finally nice and sunny in Melbourne. See proof below:
 I know, I found it hard to believe as well. We did a good 5km and I decided that as of tomorrow (today), my 4 hour body diet resumes.  I just feel much more energetic and healthier NOT eating carbs and sugar .. more to come on this topic in the future



Sunday 5 October 2014

Living room inspiration

The cave is coming along nicely.

They have now finished all external work and have made somewhat impressive progress on the internals. With that in mind, I am thinking about living room inspiration.

We have chosen light oak floors, a beige 3 seater chaise and a 2 seater and lets not forget my awesome spot lamp:

Some inspiration I have been looking at for living rooms include:

         
loving the combination of cosy and rustic here... but perhaps with not as many cushions :)
Neat, but i don't like how brown is a dominant colour in this room (frames, cushions, floors)



Love the rug, the cushion colour scheme, the couch, not so much the blue walls and the coffee table


What we will actually end up with, its too early to say. In a couple of months, I will blog about it.. If I'm still blogging that is :)


Monday 29 September 2014

Its a floral kind of summer

I decided to sell some clothes and get some new dresses in exchange. This seasons additions include:

I love the lace detail on this floral baby.

Love.








Friday 26 September 2014

Travel blues


I am itching for another trip. Last year this time I returned from an amazing trip.. here are snippets of my favourite places

St Pauls village, along the French coast line .. it was like a fairy tale, tiny narrow streets, cafes on every corner and cave galleries.

Nice, France. Warm summer nights, a never ending street party on the beach

Novi Sad, Serbia.. where the ice cream is as good as in Italy.

 Florence, I loved it there the most. Everything about it was amazing. This place has heart

Rome! When i think of rome I think of pizza and cocktails.

Beautiful Venice. Getting lost in the streets of Venice at midnight and feeling safe despite the freakishly tall buildings and narrow streets.
Hong Kong.... the city of lights and interesting food. Made for an interesting stop over.
                                                  Where he asked, and where i said yes.


We saw a lot more and visited many more cities on this trip, but these are the ones that really stood out. Now that it has been  a year since our trip I am itching for another one. Where will my next adventure take me?