Dinner at Home - Spring Rolls & Sweet Corn Soup

So I was feeling brave and actually tried deep frying something.  I was planning on making rice paper rolls, but on reading the packet, saw that it had instructions for deep frying them, so I decided to have a go!  The filling was a basic stir fry of vegies, tofu and rice noodles tossed in some soy & sweet chilli sauce.  The deep frying was a little scary, and I probably won't be rushing in to do it again, but the result was some quite tasty spring rolls!

to go with the rolls, I made sweet corn soup - this was fresh corn cooked up in some vegie stock with some garlic and ginger, then whizzed with a stick blender.  I then drizzled in whisps of beaten egg. Delicious!!!

Dinner at Home - Tomato Soup & Cheesy Garlic Toast

mmmm tomato soup would be one of my favourites. I made this for a weekend dinner - a simple soup made by frying up some onions, garlic and fresh herbs, along with some red capsicum, before adding in a tin of tomatoes and whizzing up until smoothish. Add vegie stock or water to thin down if needed, and stir in some fresh basil before serving!

to dip in the soup - cheesy garlic toast - spread a little garlic onto a piece of bread, sprinkle with grated cheese and pop uder the griller until brown!

Out to dinner - Thai Emperor, Augustine Heights

We found yet another Thai Restaurant to try out..... this one is at Augustine Heights (just past Springfield Lakes).  Quite a small restaurant - they were making good use of the outside area to fit more people in!

Crispy Prawns

Spring Rolls (of the meaty variety)

I ordered crispy tofu as an entree, however was later told they had run out of Tofu, but could make me a vegie soup. When it arrived it had Tofu in it! I will assume that the crispy tofu was going to be made using silken tofu!  THis soup was quite bland - just vegetables and tofu in a plain vegetable broth - could have used some chilli or something to give it a bit more flavour! However, it was a huge serve and it would have done me as a main meal.

Chilli Basil Tofu - this was very tasty - a delicious sauce, and nice still crisp vegetables. I could only eat about a quarter of it though, since the soup filled me up!

Massaman Curry (Chicken)

Thai Marinated Chicken - Janet loved this - it was deliciously succulent chicken served with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Dinner at home - Roast Chicken & Minestrone Soup

I roasted a chicken - I marinated it in some lemon juice, soy sauce and garlic for a few hours before roasting it in a hot oven surrounded by some vegies.  I was very impressed with the way it turned out - nice and golden and glistening. Tasty too apparently!

for myself, I cooked up a big pot of minestrone soup, with plenty for the freezer to be eaten another day.  And because it was just for me, I put in some fresh asparagus, and some tinned beans to make it extra yummy!

Dinner at home - Veggie Soup & Garlic Pizza Bread

A good Sunday night dinner - and it uses up all the dare I say "old" vegies. We do occasionally call this mouldy vegie soup, even though it isn't really!!

To make, I simply cook off some onion, fresh herbs and garlic, before adding whatever vegies we have (generally pumpkin, sweet potato, tomato, cauliflower, potato, zucchinni) and covering with water & a litle vegie stock powder, or just a pinch of salt.  Once the vegies are all softened, I whizz it up with a stick blender and there you have it. Soup.

On this occasion, I also made up a quick pizza base, to which I kneaded in some garlic & fresh herbsm before smearing the top with some more garlic, and a sprinkling of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, which was then baked in a very hot oven until crispy and golden. Just right for dipping into the soup.

Dinner from a packet - Cream of Leek & Pasta Soup

We bought this packet of soup mix back from Canada way back in April 2008, so I thought it was time to actually use it. (we bought some for my Mum who had requested it as a Canadian friend had given her a recipe for dip using this soup).

So I made us a lazy weekend dinner with it....

I mixed up the soup as per the packet directions, and then threw in some cute little mini penne, which cooks in 6 minutes....

and there we go - soup with pasta. It was quite tasty in that made from a packet sort of way :-)