A (biased) wedding meal to die for

I feel like I've soooooo much to play catch up on it's like I'm talking to a girlfriend who I havn't seen in MONTHS!

So, the reasons for my absense from blogging in a week and a half... there's the moving out of ONE home, BACK home to mums for a week then into the NEW home with Brock. All in 2 weeks. It's been stressful, busy, EXCITING, fun, and we're still unpacking and getting everything in order. I'll be sure to post some pics up when it's all pretty and complete but here's one of our sunny backyard -


Then there's work - at the health food shop I love - my boss came back from her 2 month honeymoon so I got a well deserved break last week (which beautifully coincided with moving house so not really a break), but back to work this week - 7days straight too! But I can't complain; if I wasnt working I'd probably be visiting the girls to say hi :)

College is back so I've been trying to organise myself there. I've got clients, assignments, presentations and weekly work to keep up with. Seeing the girls again is awlays nice. I LOVE our class - we've become a sisterhood who know one another upside down and inside out. Like family :)


And then last Friday, Brock, Berry, and my sisters Nikki and Lisa all piled into the car for a 6hr ROADTRIP out to Narromine in north west NSW for our step-sisters wedding. It was out at our step-dads pub/hotel which meant we were the ones organising it all. GREAT FUN but alot of work. Although it was kinda cool laying out table settings and blowing up balloons knowing you were the ones who would be appreciating it all a few hours later.
The same with the food. I was preparing the meals for Brock and I. Which meant we could have anything we wanted and that it was gonna taste UNREAL!

And so, my creative juices were flowing for a few weeks prior. What to make? Of course DESSERT got me the most excited but let's start at the beginning...

Mum was the one to come up with an entree idea as she made me a quick, easy, delicious one for Xmas in July. And so she replicated it -

Sliced cucumbers topped with an avocado mash, tomato and onion relish and alfalfa, garnished with zucchini strips, black pepper and drizzled with olive oil.


Our main dish was an Asian-inspired salad. Brock and I wanted something different to what we would normally have and after discussing ingredients, I came up with this -

Shredded cabbage, carrot, corn, cauliflower, snow pea sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, cashew nuts, coriander, and chilli flakes mixed with a dressing of olive oil, soy sauce, fresh lime juice, salt, and pepper.


Perfect textures and contrasts of salty and tangy with sweet corn and carrots.

And then DESSERT... usually my speciality if I do say so, and even this time, I impressed myself. I kept it simple so I didnt have to take too many ingredients away with me, and made a DELICIOUS, smooth, creamy, SOFT, sweet layered parfait pudding I'd like to call...

Choco-Coco-Nana Pudding.


I began with sliced bananas, then a banana and cacao blend. Topped with a date and almond crumble, then a coconut layer (made from coconut flesh, coconut water, soaked cashews and coconut oil). Ontop of that I layered more banana slices and fresh blueberries, then a chia-coconut water mix. More banana-cacao mix, more coconut mix, more bananas, blueberries, and cacao nibs.


It was AMAZING! Brock and I did get a few looks from other guests as to what we were so thoroughly enjoying. Wedding fruit cake was dessert for the rest of the troops. Not so exciting.

The wedding was alot of fun; after a black out and disappearance of photos from the photographers memory stick... we all danced the night away singing and laughing before happily hitting the hay after a very long day.

Ooh, one last thing, the buckwheat pizza Brock and I had almost 2 weeks ago that I promised to show you guys photos of...


Topped with fresh rocket and avo, with side salads to boot! We ate it on the carpet in front of the fire watching a move on TV.



Next post - who knows what I'll write about but I promise it wont be far off!

Create Love In The Kitchen

I've been in the kitchen alot in recent weeks HAVING A BALL trying new recipes, creating my own, making huge salads, dips, sweets and even brekkie cereal. Playing with it all gives me my time to get cREatiVE, centre myself, ESCAPE, eXpLoRe, muCK around, and most importantly HAVE FUN! Here's a bunch of my Art Works, and one amazing recipe for you to try.


Sunflower Seed Pate with crudites

1 cup soaked sunflower seeds (at least 4hrs soaking time)
1 small red chilli
1 clove of garlic
3 tbs fresh lime juice
Less than 1/4 red onion - that's all I had and it worked really well
1/2 cup coriander

Blend really well until smooth (my blender blade is in need of replacement so this time my pate had a little more texture to it). AMAZING!!!


Italian pizza topped with spinach, tomatoes, sweet juicy corn, olives (not raw), mushies, zucchini spread and tomato salsa. Buonappetito!


Banana Sundae - banana sorbet, banana/maca/cacao sorbet, choc-coconut fudge and crunchy walnuts. Drool!


Apple Granola - almonds, sunflower seeds, buckwheat, apples, dates, goji berries, coconut, maple syrup (not 100% raw but I was out of agave syrup), and cinnamon...


ready to eat... minus the milk...


A different granola recipe I wanted to try - buckwheat, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, dates, apple, cinnamon, sultanas...


... after dehydrating and ready to eat!! Crunchy bite sized morsels of goodness!!


Dessert at Dads one night - nectarines, strawberries, blueberries, mango, watermelon, grapes, pineapple, passionfruit... I ate 90% of the platter I think!


Easy lunch one rainy day; raw guac, tomato curry salsa, zucchini homo, and a cheesey-red-capsicum-chia-chilli dressing/salsa/sauce with my bok choy


My Mexican Inspired Salad - greens, red capsicum, corn, coriander, avocado, lime juice, chilli flakes


Co's Super Super Balls - I call them this as my nick name has been C-o for a few years now and these babies are PACKED FULL of super super goodness!! I mixed ground raw organic goji berries, ground sunflower seeds, raw organic cacao, raw organic coconut oil, chia seeds, coconut, vanilla bean, lucuma and water and they went down a treat!


Asian Kelp Noodle "Stir Fry" - capsicum, carrot, greens, kelp and a marinade of which I cant remember... lemon or lime, sesame oil, maybe garlic? maybe tamari? most probably some chilli...
If you've never had or heard of kelp before - you're in for a real treat! Kelp noodles are simply raw kelp and water, in the form of a soft noodle. RAW NOODLES? You bet! They are low in carbs and calories, contain NO fat or gluten! They have a really neutral flavour which makes them easy to work into any dish - soup, salad, un-stir fry, or as pasta with any sauce or topping, and are always in my pantry!


Raw crackers with zucchini hommous


Asian Greens with mushies and sesame - marinated in a mix of tamari, organic cold pressed sesame oil, lemon, and a touch of miso


Fruitty Nutty Carob Bark - so hard to stop at one piece


Salad with spaghetti veg and pepitas - leafy greens, carrot, corn, mushies, avo