~Mild Curry Pumkin Soup YUMO~

Monday just gone was yet another Meatless Monday! Yep im posting it late only because i had so many other YUMMY recipes to share! We skipped meatless monday the wk b4 as i was sick in bed and neither of the guys would have followed threw with making a MEATLESS meal LOL..

So here it is this simply delish dish is not only tasty but SUPA DUPA easy!

~Mild Curry Pumkin Soup~

2 Onions cut chunky!

1 butternut squash(one of the ones from my local fruit n veg stand!)
1 Sweet Potato

1 Sweet Dumpling squash

1 Sweet Potato squash

Salt and Pepper

2 Tablespoons of Garlic Powder

1-2 Tablespoons of Mild English Curry Powder
Olive Oil (enough to coat the veggies for roasting)

2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream

2 roasting pans!

Preheat your oven to 370 degrees, skin your squashes and wash :) cut the onion up chunky and divide up into the 2 pans. Coat the veggies in some olive oil enough so that they dont stick to the pans while roasting! Sprinkle with S&P to taste, then sprinkle evenly over the 2 dishes your garlic powder and curry powder! You will want to roast these babies until they are good and soft so you can mash them easily! I think mine baked for about an hour. At that point i pulled the pans out and began mashing them in their pans with a eggflip type spatular! Then i added the cream to each pan and continued to pour the mashed goodness into a big bowl :) so i could use my hand blender to cream and smooth out the rest of the soup! If its to thick dont worry you can always add stock to it! But we like it nice and thick as its extremely filling that way (according to my boys!) You can put sour cream onto or freshly grated cheese to garnish as well but in this house we like it just like that with a nice thick slice of crusty sour dough bread!

~Pesto Beef and Creamy Fennel Veggies~

~Pesto Beef~

Couple pounds of thinly sliced beef, 1 large onion, 2 tablespoons of garlic, 3 heaped tablespoons of pesto, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste.

Heat your skillet/pan up nice and hot add a lil olive oil make sure its nice and hot b4 tossing the onions and garlic in! Once they have cooked a lil sprinkle some salt into the mix to help the onions release some of their liquid. Now i used home made pesto that i froze in the summer so i broke off what "looked" like 3 heaping tablespoonfuls of pesto it cold have been more! But we love pesto in this house so more is GOOD! Let the pesto cook in with the onions and then add your sliced beef! Add your stock once the beef has sealed put the lid on your pan and walk away! Make sure your pan isnt to HOT otherwise we might have problems when you return to stir it :D Let the meat and onions cook down for a good 20 or so mins! If you find that it is sticking to the pan you might want to add some more stock! Keeping the lid on helps the meat cook nicely into the sauce! The longer you cook it the stronger the flavor i found! Goes really well with the Creamy Fennel Veggies and pasta!

~Creamy Fennel Veggies~

Gather around your fav veggies or even once you dont like for that matter as this will surely make them tasty!

Pictured here in my mix is

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Sweet Potato Chunks

Cabbage

you will ofcourse need;

Onions

Garlic

Ground Fennel (1-2 heaped teaspoonfuls)

Heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon of butter

Some S&P

and Olive Oil

Heat your pan add your oil and butter then toss in your onions and garlic, let them saute a lil then add your sweet potatoes toss them threw, now slowly adding your heavy whipping cream keep it moving so it doesnt thicken n stick to your pan making a terrible mess! Once the cream has been added i started sprinkling the gorund fennel into the sauce!

I added my shredded cabbage next so that it cooked down! Once it had cooked down i added the rest of the veggies making sure there was enough sauce coating everything! I then turned the pan to simmer and put the lid on and cook for another 5-10mins as my boys are not fans of MUSHY veggies :) i served these tasty veggies with the pesto beef and noodles BIG HIT with my boys!

~Spicey Seafood Noodles and Sweet Soy Green Beans and Cabbage~

YUP thats what was for dinner sunday nite!

Doesnt it look fantastic?!

It was SO spicey but OH SO tasty!

~Noodles~

Onions, Chilli paste, Garlic, Miso paste, Salty Soy Sauce, Few cups of your fav seafood! This mix had mussels, crab, fish, octopuss, squid, shrimp and scallops!

Get your wok out :) heat it up good n hot with a couple tablespoonfuls of oil, when nice and hot throw your sliced onions, garlic and chilli paste! Dont forget the chilli will take your breath away once it hits the hot oil! Once its sizzling away in the wok toss your seafood in! Mix it up good threw that spicey sauce, add a couple of tablespoons of miso paste now the liquid from the seafood should help water down the miso paste if its still a lil thick pour a few spoonfuls of your salty soy in! It wont take long at all for the seafood to cook now dont forget do NOT cook your seafood to long specially when it comes to scallops, squid and octopuss! IT will get really TOUGH quickly if you over cook it! Turn the wok off and now add the noodles of your choice! Toss it thew and let it sit there while you get your veggies ready!

MMMM Doesnt that just make our mouth water!

~Veggies~

Green Beans cut up to your liking! Cabbage cut up thinly so it cooks quickly! Sweet Soy.

Take you wok heat some oil in it toss the cabbage in add a little sweet soy so the cabbage cooks down into the sweetness of the soy, then toss your green beans and cook till your liking :) we like then anyway in this house hold whether they are still crunchy or cooked down a lil! Make sure theres enough sweet soy to cover the beans as well! Serve them on top of the spicey noodles! When it comes to spicey food i always serve sliced cucumbers it helps with the spice factor!

~Sweet and Spicey Green Beans~

This is one of the simplest side dishes you could EVER whip up :)

Im wondering if any of you own woks? Woks are awesome things :) I actually have 3 of them! I have a really expensive and 2 cheapy ones that i got from Ikea! (LOVE that store!)

Anyway my point is if you like asian cooking/food you should own a Wok!

Now onto this super easy recipe!

~Ingredients~

Green beans cut bite size or sliced however u like :)

Garlic

Chilli paste

Sweet Soy Sauce

Oil of your choice

~What to do with this stuff!~

So heat that pan/wok up good n hot with your oil in it!

Toss your garlic and chilli paste in! Dont stand to close the chilli will take your breath away! :)

Throw your beans into the mix toss em around in that spicey mix :) when they are to your liking

add your sweet soy stir it up and serve!

These super easy beans are pictured here with the Spicey Coconut Chicken!

~Spicey Coconut Chicken Similar To Malaysian Rendang~

Generally Authentic Malaysian Rendang is done with Beef and Coconut :) and just a few other things (; heh

This is my version of a recipe that my fathers mother taught my mum when she lived in Malaysia! This by no means is a tradional version! Like i said this is my take! My mum has the recipe that was taught to her im pretty sure i have it in one of the books that she wrote for me BUT its not mine to hand out :) this is just as tasty and its alot quicker! Tradional Rendang is a recipe that takes along along time to prepare and cook :)

~Spicey Paste~

So i made up a nice spicey paste to start off with which consisted of chillies, shallots, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and a little bit of galangal root.

I mashed it up good REAL good until it was a smooth paste. This is when those 1 cup food processors actually come of good use! Or you can do it the old fashioned way with a mortar and pestle :)

~What to do with the Spicey Paste~

In a hot pan i throw in some sliced onions and garlic make sure the oil is nice and HOT then i added in my bite sized pieces of boneless skinless chicken pieces! To ensure my chicken is going to be spicey enough i added a couple of tablespoonfuls of chilli powder to the chicken! Once it was almost cooked i added a few tablespoonfuls of the spicey paste to the cooking chicken, make sure the heat isnt to high at this point as you wont want it to burn the paste and chicken! Once the chicken is nicely coated in the paste i added a cup of desiccated coconut to the chicken and paste. I let it cook for awhile at a simmering temp if it starts to get to thick and dry to the point its sticking to your pan, add a little bit of coconut milk BUT you dont want it to be runny/soupy this dish is thick! :)

It is pictured served with brown ric and sweet and spicey green beans! Recipe for that will come soon :)

Sorry for my lack of updating my blog post since Valentine's Day... But i have become sick again..i know i kow excuses excuses! :) Im hoping to kick this thing tho.. I am so over being ill...

~HAPPY VALENTINES DAY MY LOVELIES~

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT TODAY! THAT MY HUSBAND COULDNT HOLD OUT ANY LONGER HE JUST GAVE ME MY VALENTINES DAY PRESSIE!!!! AND AWWW MAN DID HE DO AN AWESOME JOB THIS YEAR?!?!

Sorry for the caps but i am super super super excited *INSERT SQUEELING HERE* The rest of the day is still a suprise which i dont know how much sleep im going to get laying here looking at my rings!

In the Begining :)

Its always meant to be :)

Dear Bestest Hubby in the world,

there was a time in our relantionship were we both hated Valentine's Day because we were so FAR away from each other....So many ppl said we wouldnt make it and that what we had was just something silly over the internet...BOY did we show them! 12years we have been together and 8 of those years we have been husband and wife! And i love you even more now then i did when i first stepped off the plane in detroit and met you face to face for the first time! Its been an amazing journey and we have so much more to come! I am so madly deeply crazy head over heels for ya baby! Your still the one!! Happy Valentine's Day baby!

xoxoKiraoxox

I will post recent pics of us 2morro after our day out!

~Something Tasty To Warm The Cockels Of Your Heart!~

Ok so the last few wks threw out all the sickness spreading threw our house.. I wasnt up to parr persay with the whole cooking thing... So the crockpot was my friend! Oh how i LOVE my new crockpot! I got it at the christmas sales real cheap and i have only used it a couple of times and from what i can tell it doesnt MATTER how or how long i let it cook the meal NEVER dries out!

So i ransacked the freezer and found a lovely chuck roast...I layed it out and let it defrost the night b4. So i heated up my old heavy skillet nice and HOT! Took the roast and rubbed it with olive oil then sprinkled it with garlic powder, then i seered it nicely on all sides and around the edges making sure it was well sealed! Then i placed it in the crockpot. At this point the pan had some crusty stuff in it so i added about hlf a cup of water to the hot skillet along with this i added a few tablespoonfuls of worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon of rosemary a couple of shakes of good ole onion powder and a lil more garlic to the watered down mixture in the skillet! I heated it up till it was boiling turned off the pan and poured it over the roast in the crockpot! Lid on and i set it for 8hours and left it alone for a few hours....

Next time i checked on the lovely smelling crockpot i added about 4 handfuls of fresh mushrooms i sliced up thinly and about 2 tablespoonfuls of homemade gravy mix!

I sliced up a few spuds(potatoes) red skin with their skins still on ofcourse :) and let it simmer away for the reminder time. Before the boys got home from work i added some frozen blanched carrots from the freezer!

Sliced up some home made bread toasted it and served a heaping pile of this scrummy yummy meat!

Boys were very impressed and LOVED it alot!

After eatting it for a few days i turned it into Beef and Noodles :) added some corn and served broccoli with it!

~Best Soup I EVA Made!~

OH MAN! This soup was bloody beautiful!

So filling and choccas full of good stuff!

Its amazing how your taste buds change as you get older :) never in my life would i have imagined putting hlf of the stuff i put into this soup :) Now with age i have grown to LOVE so many healthy just down right good for you stuff!

Whats in the soup?

Lamb

Onions

Garlic

Tomatoes

Chicken Stock

Baby Spinach

Kale

Carrots

Kelp

Rutabaga

Sweet Corn (from our local veggie stand! back in summer!)

Yellow Lentils

What a hearty Delish soup this turned out to be! I stewed the lamb for a while in onions and garlic and home canned tomatoes! This made for extremely tender meat! And then the rest went in and it simmered for a few hours!

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately...besides my son being sick i got really sick as well...Ive been on bed rest and today i am starting to fell much MUCH better thank goodness....

~Food Inc.~

Im just wondering how many of you out in bloggy land have taken the time to watch this eye opening movie?

I watched it with my bestie Angie when it first came out on Dvd! It wasnt as eye opening for us as we were aware of a good amount of what does happen, but non the less we did discover what they do to fillers in general...which is disgusting! In my personal opinion i would love for this Dvd to be played in every school so children are aware of exactly what they are putting into their bodies... While i was sorting threw a bag of magazines from my mother in law i came across a fantastic article that i shared with my guys over breakfast last friday...they were not to impressed that i read this to them while they were eatting there meat heavy breakfasts but still! It was in TIME magazine... Its called " The Real Cost of Cheap Food" please click the link and read it if you have a few mins!

~Spicey Fish & Hoisin Veggies~

So when we are sick in this house we usually have one or a few spicey dishes to kill off what ever it is we have :)

So sunday night i made really really REALLY spicey fish!

~Hoisin Veggies~

Hoisin sauce, cabbage, onions, garlic, ginger(fresh or minced), bok choy, mushrooms (any kind of veggies u want really it doesnt matter they will taste nummy by the end anyways!)

Oil and a wok!

cut everything up the way you want, slice your onions though :) YOU always slice your onions from top to bottom in asian cooking! Heat your oil in the wok, when hot enough toss in your onions garlic and ginger! Let em sizzle for a few mins then start adding your veggies everything is going to cook down alot so dont worry :) Depending how well you like hoisin sauce depends how much i would reccomend adding if you arent to sure just add 1-2 tablespoonfuls at first! REMEMBER you should always taste your cooking (sauces, veggies) to make sure it doesnt need something else! Cook your veggies and serve with your main meal!

~Spicey Fish~

Fish of your choice :) oil, onions, garlic, ginger, chillies(powder/minced/fresh your choice), coconut milk, salt.

Slice your onions, i used an electric skillet for this that way i could steam like the fish in the sauce while i was doing the veggies! Heat your oil in a pan make sure its good and HOT toss in the onions, ginger and garlic, sprinkle a lil salt over them to draw out the moisture in your onions. After a few mins add your desired amount of chillies to the mix i added about 4 full tablespoonfulls of really really HOT minced chillies! Add to your onions stir threw, when the chillies have sauted a little add your fillets of fish to the pan, cover the fish with the onions and chillies doesnt have to be perfect :) you just want the flavors to simmer into the fish nicely, pour your can of coconut milk over the top just enough so that the fish has a nice covering! Place the lid ontop and turn down to a nice low simmer and let it sit for awhile dont take the lid off you want the fish to cook all the way threw. I did not tunr my fillets over just for the sheer fact they were not THICK slices and they would fall apart thats why i cooked them in a steam like way with a lid on!

I served this fish with the hoisin veggies, brown rice, sliced cucumbers and fresh sliced pineapple!