Great Places To Visit.

We spent a lovely weekend (again) at our holiday cottage in Tocumwal.  The Murray River was beautiful in the warm Autumn sunshine, and the nights were lovely and cool for snuggling under the doona. No wonder we brought a house here for breaks out of "the big smoke".  So peaceful, tranquil, and scenic.  I never get tired of walking along the banks of the beautiful Murray River.  The giant Murray River Red Gums have always captured my heart, especially when the colours on the trunks are so vibrant as they are in autumn.  The local bakery is always one of our first stops for beautiful home style breads, pies, and cakes/desserts/slices.  The diet goes out the window up here!  One of the 4 local pubs in town is literally around the corner and down the street from us, so we walk down of an evening and have dinner there. Great food, generous servings, true country hospitality.  Arrrggghhhh..........feel the serenity! "Big Murray". The fibreglass Murray Cod l

Chilli beans and rice. Never thought I would eat the stuff. Tried them. LOVE them!!! Who knew? Goes to show you should have an open mind until you try something new.  Anyway I'm converted. Now I cook this dish regularly. As it serves about 4-6 and I'm the only one who eats it (hubby won't) I've thought up ways to use the left overs.  Generally speaking, once it's cooked, I halve the recipe and freeze half of it. That still gives me about 2 - 3 meals.  Firstly here is the recipe for the chilli beans.  Then I cook brown rice and Quinoa (Quinoa is a grain that is high in protein).  I place the chilli beans on the brown rice mix and stir them together.   Next day for lunch I re-heat the chilli beans (no rice) and warm a wholemeal tortilla. I cut up a fresh tomato and finely slice some lettuce.  I spread my warm tortilla with Tahini paste (sesame seed paste, nutty flavour), then top with chilli beans, tomato, lettuce and lastly a good squeeze of lemon, roll up and e

Roast Pumpkin & Mushroom Risotto. Decided I wanted a risotto for dinner that tasted great and was good for me. Mmmmmm, so that means, oil is out, dairy is out, gluten is out, fat is out, meat is out.  Geez, what's left? Let's check out what's in the refrigerator.......Pumpkin, celery, red capsicum, Portobello mushrooms, red onion, garlic, vegetable stock, white wine, etc mmmmm. Ok, in the pantry I've got risotto rice etc. So, I made up this recipe below. Hope you like it as much as I do.  Sorry about the photo.  I started eating before I remembered to take a photo, it smelled so good. I had already mixed in the baby spinach and rocket although you can't see them in the photo, I think they went to the bottom!  Anyway, I enjoyed it, so even though the photo isn't as pretty as it could be, the proof is in the eating. Give it a go. Ingredients: 450g pumpkin - cut into cubes and roasted with a sprinkle of water and then Mexican seasoning.  Set aside

Caffe Strada - Ivanhoe http://www.caffestrada.com.au/ Looking for that somewhere a bit special? Want to eat delicious Gluten Free Food all made on the premises? Want a specialty Gluten Free loaf of bread to take home with you? Then look no further than Caffe Strada , 197 Upper Heidelberg Rd, Ivanhoe. Oh and here's the phone number: 03 9497 4875 , you'll need that to reserve your table. The menu changes, regularly, constantly surprising you with it wonderful choices.  Anything you order is beautifully presented and prepared with loving care. Today for lunch I ordered the semi-dried tomato and corn fritters. The first photo tells the story of how wonderful it looked and the second photo will tell you how good it tasted! The coffee here is also so delicious, it's hard not to order a second., or perhaps you prefer a tea, of which there is a good variety to choose from. If you have a sweet tooth, then there are an assortment of cakes etc to choose from. Today f

The Giddy Goat Cafe - Yarck  As I was recently returning to Melbourne from a few days away, I decided to come from Benalla via Bonnie Doon (to check out the lake) and then through Merton, Yarck, Alexandra onto the Maroondah Hwy back to Melbourne. Nice drive, beautiful weather, great day out.  When we got to cute little Yarck, we spotted this amazing looking little cottage/cafe called: "The Giddy Goat Cafe" . Intrigued by the name and the rustic looking little cottage with gardens on one side and tables & chairs we voted for a coffee stop. What a fantastic idea that turned out to be!!! The Giddy Goat has the best home cooked food, I'm talking sponge cake, slices, biscuits, oh and if you want there is hot food to die for as well, freshly cooked.  The coffee was lovely, and hot, and the slices of cake (naturally we had to try the passionfruit sponge) were large. We should have shared one between us, but, well, that didn't happen! There were 3 of us and we e