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Soups, Salads, Snacks

Spring Onion Hommus – Waste Not, Want Not

You say hummus, I say hommus. You say spring onion and I say shallot… either way, we should definitely not call the whole thing off. This extremely easy recipe for Spring Onion Hommus was borne of a desire to make use of the leftover green tops from a bunch of spring onions. I often roughly… Read more

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Filed in: Reduce Your Footprint, Soups, Salads, Snacks

Coconut Curry & Lentil Soup – Recipe in a Jar

I wanted to give a birthday present to a friend who is very much into reducing her footprint and zero waste. I decided to have a go at a making a recipe in a jar. Something that could be cooked with little effort, one evening after work. Simply add oil and water and you’re done… Read more

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Filed in: Reduce Your Footprint, Soups, Salads, Snacks

Cashew & Red Pepper Dip – Accidentally Vegan

I recently started working in a different team that includes a vegan co-worker. I’m well versed in the world of vegan cookery but it appears that at least some of my colleagues are not. Contributions at a recent morning tea included dishes were thought to be vegan friendly but included ingredients such as egg and… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

How to make Toasted Wattle Seeds

Over Christmas I visited Tasmania for a food filled extravaganza. On one of our day trips, we stopped to take a look at the jetty on Peppermint Bay when I spotted some coastal wattles with seeds pods ready to burst. I collected the seed pods and brought them back to Brisbane to toast and use… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Celery Top Pesto – Waste Not, Want Not

We’ve been on holidays for a couple of months, travelling far and wide. I’ve eaten some wonderful meals and tried lots of new dishes but I didn’t do any cooking. Gosh, how I’ve missed it. So now that we’re back home, it’s time to get back into the kitchen. It’s also time to pull our horns… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Regular readers will know that a large group of us hold a Eurovision Party every year. New readers are probably wondering ‘why?’. The easy answer is ‘why not?’. It’s a chance to get together, celebrate all that is good, bad and ridiculous about the song competition as well as enjoy the food of the host country… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Ajo Blanco – Spanish Chilled Almond Soup

I have wanted to make Spanish Almond Soup for the longest time. It perfectly suits the steamy weather we are having and my current ‘no cook’ philosophy. The nearest you will come to heat is boiling the kettle. Finally, the stars aligned and I was able to buy some good quality almonds to use in… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Coronation Mango Chicken

Summer can be oppressive in Brisbane. By 8am, it is often already over 30c and it stays that way until well into the night. We live in a sub-tropical climate year round but come January, the heat is combined with energy sapping humidity and the last thing you’re thinking about is cooking a meal. Over the… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Tamari Spiced Nuts

There’s no two ways about it. It’s December and the festive season is upon us. Suddenly you are going out to drinks on a Sunday afternoon, a Monday night and Wednesday lunch. It’s perfectly Ok to have 45 minute coffee catch ups with long lost colleagues and eat your weight in rum balls. Routines are… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds – Waste Not, Want Not

Who doesn’t love a snack with their pre-dinner drink? Oven roasted pumpkin seeds are perfect. They are quick and simple to make and all the more enjoyable for knowing you are using something that would typically be a food scrap. We have a worm farm and a compost heap for some of the tougher items that… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Potato Salad – Tastes of Wide Bay-Burnett

As you drive along the highway from Brisbane into the Wide Bay-Burnett region of Queensland, the rural sprawl gives way to small communities and farmland. Pineapple plantations and cane fields line the road and as you creep closer to Bundaberg, the soil colour changes from brown to rich red. That fertile volcanic soil means the region is a… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks, Travel

Regular readers would know that I don’t like to waste food and am the master of re-purposing and up-cycling leftovers and food scraps. Whilst I hold back many of our veggie scraps to boost the flavour of home made stock, broccoli stalks don’t make it in. Regular readers would also know I’m not a fan… Read more

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Can A Parrot – Eat A Carrot & Cumin Dip?

Can a parrot eat a carrot standing on his head? If I did that my mum would send me straight upstairs to bed. Spike Milligan Despite being a big fan of the inimitable Spike Milligan and his witty poems for kids and kids at heart, I’m not such a big fan of carrots. Nope, not a fan… Read more

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Going…. Going… Gone…. Well, that was the kitchen that was. When I was asked* by Barbeques Galore to create a recipe for the barbeque, the timing couldn’t have been better. We are now living off pre-prepared meals from our freezer and what can be produced in an electric frying pan and barbeque. Let me tell you… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

We’re blessed with fantastic weather in Brisbane. Sure, it’s sometimes a little too sticky in summer but winter is utterly fabulous. Blue skies, temperate climate and if we are very lucky, a chill in the evening air. When I was invited by Genie from Bunny Eats Design to join the monthly Our Growing Edge link… Read more

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Broad Bean & Feta Salad – ‘Bring a Plate’

As we know, December and January are times of celebrations great and small, parties, picnics, feasts and fun. We all join in and contribute a dish to help the hosts and share the load. In Australia this is called ‘bring-a-plate’. It’s similar to a ‘potluck’. On occasion, this has led to confusion when those unfamiliar… Read more

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Crunchy Granola

‘Bada duh duh duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh….’ When you read the title of this post, was the guitar riff from Neil Diamond’s Crunchy Granola Suite reverberating in your head? If not, why not? Listen to it here whilst you read this post. A few weeks ago I visited an organic grocer in the… Read more

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‘New year, New book’ is the challenge for Random Recipes this month. After a busy Christmas packed with food and fun, Dom from Belleau Kitchen challenged us to randomly select a recipe from our newest cookbooks. With a pile of books looking at me dolefully from the shelf, I was very good over the last… Read more

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…And All The Lovely Extras – Honey Soy Walnuts

Remember those walnuts I bought from the local community centre in Angaston? They were sitting on my bench making the kitchen look very rustic but had yet to make it into a recipe and the situation was getting urgent. Not only did I need my bench space back but with summer just around the corner… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks

Spring is just around the corner. Can’t you feel it? Balmy, sunny days. One less blanket on the bed. The first rebellious fruit trail-blazing in the garden. Technically it’s still winter in Australia but the mercury is already tipping 24c on a regular basis in sub tropical Brisbane. So, the recipe I selected for this… Read more

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Filed in: Soups, Salads, Snacks