A-Fooding-We-Will-Go

What a week! I spent 3 days over last weekend,  in the South of Western Australia – staying in Albany and Pemberton. The motel in Albany was AWFUL – built in the 60s and hasn’t been touched since. On the other hand, the Forest Lodge in Pemberton was lovely, very relaxing and quiet, with parrots everywhere and a couple of kangaroos visiting us in the early morning.

I don’t really have to say much about the lovely meals we enjoyed – the pics tell it all!  The best was lunch at the Denmark Tavern – $21.95 for a 2 course lunch, and it was not your usual “roast of the day”, “fish of the day” type choices but proper gourmet options. Such great value, when you think that the main courses were from $24-$34 each. I had spring rolls but tried someone else’s squid with lemon aoli – divine. All three of us had the prawn & smoked salmon salad, and it was simply stunning, both to look at and to eat.

 

It’s a hectic time! After being away there has been a ball on Monday night and a luncheon on Wednesday, more last minute Christmas shopping yesterday with visitors, and I worked today. We’re all ready for Christmas Day, and tomorrow I will be cookign the turkey and pork, making the stuffing, getting the table ready, doing a last minute cleanup, and making the Christmas pudding, which I do in the microwave. I will send others out to pick up the fresh prawns, booze and any last minute ingredients that I am pretty sure I already have but find out tomorrow I’ve forgotten!

Generally it’s going to be pretty relaxing on Christmas Day itself, as I plan to get most things done tomorrow, and there will only be 8 of us at the dinner table, which we will set up outside but in the shade (31C expected).

And we’re starting off with a champagne brekky with friends at the beach – fresh strawberries, cherries and cheeses to start the day – can’t get more relaxed than that.

I hope you all have a wonderful and very special day, full of lots of Happy Christmas Fooding!

Vegetarian Fajitas

I really like the flavour of soy mince – there are various types and brands available, but the one pictured below is the one I can easily get here in Perth. As well as being vegetarian, it is also gluten-free, low-fat, cheap, and has no artificial nasties in it. It also tastes like meat, so you can serve this to a meat & non-meat eating audience quite happily and please them all.

For the easy and very quick vegetarian fajita mixture pictured above, I simply stirfried a chopped brown onion, half a green capsicum (cut into strips), and 2 stalks of celery (chopped, including the leaves) in a tablespoon of olive oil.  I then added the reconstituted soy mince (follow pkt directions – in this case it was just put it in a bowl, pour over stipulated amount of boiling water, leave for 5 mins then use as desired) and a packet of fajita seasoning (or any other spicy flavourings). Stir fry for about 5 minutes, stirring and adding water, bit at a time, so that it doesn’t stick to the pan.

That’s it really – I served this with tortillas and various accompaniments – choose whatever you like – guacomole, rice, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, yoghurt, cucumber, refried beans, chopped chillies…..then wrap up and eat.

For a gluten-free version of the wrapped end result, use GF tortillas or wraps (Mission brand makes good ones).

Happy Fooding!

This is the fake mince I use