Roast Pumpkin risotto....

I made roast pumpkin risotto for dinner tonight and it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! There were zero left overs as everyone (all 5 of us) ate the lot.

I don't make risotto's very often as there's a fair bit of measuring and ladelling out stock business that you must do or else it sucks.

Taking the time to do it right pays off as even the toasted pine nuts were done to perfection. Even the ridiculously cheap white wine i used was actually really nice ($1.85 a bottle from Dan Murphy's). I forced myself to try a glass of it after i had finished cooking....;)

I am a happy chef tonight....

new family member!!!

Meet 'Peaches'...she's coming to live in our love nest tomorrow night.....was due to be put down as she is only 1 and a half yrs old and was abandoned with her litter.....

her babies have all been found homes but she is in need of some super duper TLC and she will definitely get that from us.....

Cat energy! woo-hoo xxxxxxx

Satay tofu and vegetables (food fit for Angels)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup pineapple juice
2 tbs soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp honey (or agave nectar)
350g firm tofu, cut into (1cm) bite size pieces
1 tbs olive oil
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
1 small onion ( i add 1 tsp of chilli jam to mine as i love HOT satay)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tsp ground cumin
½ cup soy milk
½ tsp mild curry powder
½ cup reserved marinade
1½ tbs lemon juice
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
½ cup broccoli florets
Steamed rice, to serve

METHOD

Combine pineapple juice, soy, garlic and honey in a shallow dish. Add tofu and marinate (30 minutes).

Heat half the oil in a frypan. Add tofu, reserving half a cup of the marinade, cook until golden brown on both sides. Set aside and cover to keep warm.

Combine peanut butter, onion, stock, cumin, soy milk, curry powder, marinade and lemon juice in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring mixture to the boil; reduce heat and simmer, (5-6 minutes).

Whilst sauce is simmering, heat remaining oil in the frypan. Add carrot, capsicum, snow peas and broccoli, stir-fry (2-3 minutes) until tender.

Return tofu to the frypan add satay sauce, toss to combine and warm through. Serve immediately over steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Things...

You know what...i used to think that i needed so many things...so much stuff.....i always wanted more and more things and this constant wanting and wishing made for little actual happiness.

Now, when i think about those times it makes me smile. I have learned that it is not the things and stuff that we collect on our life's journey that makes us happy. It is disconnecting from the needs and wants and realising that what we have right here, right now is everything.

Knowing that we are loved and have adequate food and shelter, the basic needs of life....if we can meet these then we are truly blessed.

So many people on our planet have so little....why should we complain when the wine we ordered at dinner is not up to scratch or the new car is not the correct colour, when there are people without basic items in their lives...such as water and food.

Go hug a tree and re-connect with Nature and her bounty....turn off the tv and try to see that you do not 'need' the things that you are being told you do.

A kiss from your child, watching butterflies dance around in the Sunlight.....those things are priceless.

Greetings!

Tis day one in the land of my blog and i shall bloggeth about stuff....you see lot's of things are happening to you, me and everyone right now. Stuff that we can ride on through, ride along with, or we can chose to ignore it and it will bowl us over...it's powerful stuff...Universal ebbs and tides are taking us to places no man/woman/animal has never ventured before.

Kind of like Star Trek but with spirituality thrown in the mix.