Recipe number two - dahl with spinach

As an undergraduate, I shared a house with someone with a passion for dahl. Whenever it was their turn to cook, we would be presented with this stodgy, oversalted yet curiously bland mass of lentils and rice. I have never recovered from this culinary assault and have thus avoided dahl for nigh on twenty years.

I decided to suck it up and prepare dahl with spinach from Delicious Magazine's July edition. Served with rice, yoghurt, fresh coriander and mango chutney, it was so tasty that I am officially recovered from my past dahl-phobia.

Recipe number one

Kicking off the holiday eating goals, I cooked Bill Granger's pumpkin and cinnamon muffins (actually, I was forced to cheat on my goal from the start, as I have made these before. I had planned another recipe then realised I'd missed a vital ingredient which will have to wait for a trip to the market on Wednesday).




They are very tasty and, because the pumpkin gives a lot of the sweetness, very low on sugar. They also taste great crumbled on my banana porridge.




If only I could work out how to rotate my photos in my iPhone blogger app!

Off to the gym now...

Holiday goals

Well, it's been a long time between posts. Work has been a bitch and I have only just managed to crawl over the finish line to 10 blissful days of annual leave. 'Work-life balance' and 'flexible working hours' are myths perpetuated by those who want to keep us switched on at all times. I am knackered! The good news is that, through all this, I have managed to continue with my commitment to exercise and good eating. Sixteen kilos down now :)

To celebrate time off, I plan to do a bit of everything I like. My holiday goals:

1. Cook a new recipe every day
2. Plant some stuff, prune some stuff
3. Go to the gym every day that I am home (having two nights away)
4. Read at least two crappy novels and one more serious one
5. Sleep a lot
6. See at least two movies

Hurrah!

Livening up a stir fry

This week at the Brisbane markets, I came across a perfect red cabbage. Stir fried along with pumpkin, spring onions, red capsicum, tofu and choy sum. A riot of colour and flavour :)

What to do with a glut of zucchini...

...make zucchini slice!

Tasty noodle soup

Sometimes after giving myself a flogging at the gym, I am overwhelmed by the need for lean protein, carbs and greens. Today's lunch is inspired by Chocolate Buddha, my 'go to' lunch place whenever I am in Melbourne's central business district. Green tea noodles, enoki mushrooms, and choy sum simmered in miso broth and topped with grilled salmon and spring onions. Heavenly!

For the love of veggies

I am obsessed with food, but I really can't understand why so many people have an aversion to vegetables. I just don't get it. Don't get me wrong, I am a total carboholic and am as easily seduced by a good piece of cake/bread/baked good as the next person, but who can look at the vibrancy of a wonderful plate of vegetable stirfry and not be excited...?


With some tofu and a hint of sesame seeds, this is the kind of lunch that really makes my day.