Christmas! - lunch #1 - pre-christmas!

December hits, and the eating season is upon us! Now that it is infact January, and I have had a small break from all the eating, I think I can manage to revisit some of the meals enjoyed over the festive season!

Christmas Lunch number one was actually held prior to Christmas, think of it as training for the stomach :-)




My contribution was this couscous, chickpea and pumpkin salad.  Its a made up recipe - I think I used half a cup of couscous. To this I added 1/2 cup of boiling water, a couple of teaspoons of "Christine Manfield Harissa" and the zest of an orange. Put a lid on it and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Once the cous cous was done, I fluffed it with a fork, gave it a squeeze of orange juice and a splash of Olive Oil and tossed through a tin of chickeas, some roasted pumpkin (simply roasted in the oven), some diced red capsicum and some chopped baby spinach. DELICIOUS!!





We also had this tomato, basil & yoghurt cheese salad, dressed with balsamic vinegar,




a tossed green salad,





This chicken that looks like it was run over (it comes mostly deboned and marinated from the butcher),



and some stuffed roast beef.





For dessert I made Nigella's "Gleaming Maple Cheesecake" from Nigella Lawsons "Christmas" book.  I have wanted to make this ever since I first set eyes on it when I first read the book! There is a copy of the recipe over at not quite nigella . I was very happy with the way the cheesecake turned out! Tasted mighty good also :-)

Dinner at home - Vegie not-Burger!

This is one of my favourite dinners at the moment - super easy too - mixed salad leaves from a bag (that includes grated carrot and grated beetroot), tossed together with some chopped tomato and drizzled with a little mayonaise and topped with an oven baked Sanitarium Not-Burger and some onion. (the onion on this one went a little crispy in the oven - oops!)

Happy Birthday Janet!

Janet turned 40 on the weekend, and we had a "Young at Heart" party for her.  This has kept me rather busy cooking over the past few weeks!!

We were expecting about 40 people, so I made lots of food - I cooked most of the finger food in advance and froze it.

We started with lots of different nibblies.....

Cheese, dip and crackers

Chippies!!

Cheezles!!

and of course some lollies!

The "healthy plate" - I made a big bowl of hommus. In fact, I am still eating it now :-)

Then we moved onto some hot finger food....

a pile of sausage rolls

I made 3 different kinds of meatballs - mexican beef, sweet chilli turkey & honey, rosemary lamb

I also made a batch of corn fritters, 2 kinds of puff pastry pizza scrolls (bbq meat lovers & roasted vegie), and Nigellas Ritzy Chicken Nuggets

We had a wonderful gang of waiters to help hand the food around - thanks kids!!

and because it was a "young at heart" party, we also had to play a few party games - we "pinned the nose on the koala" and also played "pass the parcel!!!

And then we had dinner!

I made 2 rather large lasagne's - one meaty and one vegie (I forgot to take a photo until after they were outside in the dark)

My Mum made this delicious salad, and there was also a potato salad from Chevonne, that I neglected to photograph! Garlic bread too!!

YUM!!

Then, there has to be some desert......

We did have a fruit platter, but we kind of left it in the fridge. oops

every kids party needs fairy bread!!

the jelly cups were a big hit!

Pam made these fairy cakes

and Janet specially requested chocolate crackles, so Chevonne & her kids made these snazzy looking ones!!

And of course, no birthday is complete without a cake..... Janet selected this one from the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake book, and I made it for her.....

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY!!!!

Lunch at home - Salad Sandwich

We bought some sliced white bread from the bakery, so I just had to make a delicious salad samdwich for my lunch - this one had Baby spinach, onion, grated carot, tomato, beetroot, not bacon and Spring Gully Green Tomato Pickle. YUM!!!

A Wedding Feast

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Simon & Kristy's engagement party was a Mad Hatters Tea Party at New Farm Park. There were many fancily-dressed people! Most impressive with the costumes.... and the food was extremely plentiful!.....

cupcakes!

Lollies!!

There was even Fairy-bread!

many many delicious fresh sandwiches - Janet loved the chicken ones.

mmmmm. marshmallow, strawberry & chocolate kebabs!!

Fruity kebabs for a healthier choice (yummy!!)

A most spectacular looking chocolate cake

This was the biggest pile of pikelets I ever saw in my life..... we were wondering who had spent so many hours cooking them, until Kristy told us they were from Coles. They were delicious!

mmmmmm jam & cream...

Pavlova!!

I think the Ibis may have been a little confused by the flamingos