Daring Bakers: Rich Flourless Chocolate Cake and Saffron Coconut Ice Cream

February, a month that really raced passed us! It was a bit of a busy month for us and as I knew there were plenty of things that needed my attention this month I decided to tackle this month's Daring Bakers' challenge quite early in the month. Here we are - the last day of February already and it's time to reveal the decadent creation this month.

Celebration Cakes: Coconut White Chocolate Mousse with Strawberries on Coconut Joconde

What would a party be without a decent cake?

As we started this party week to celebrate 3 years of What's For Lunch, Honey? on a healthy note with a power wholegrain breakfast, we can now indulge in decadence without too much guilt!

Celebrating 3 with a Power Breakfast: Wholegrain Porridge with Goji Berries and Cashew Nuts

7:45 AM - Weimar: I've just dropped Soeren off at school and am on my way to work. I turn up the radio as my favorite band, Coldplay rock to the sounds of "Viva La Vida". My usual trip to work always cheers me up. It's the same everyday but everyday I discover something new. At this hour the streets of Weimar are already alive and wide awake.

Lime Kale with Beans and Dill and Garlic Tomato Rice

Always in search of new ways to enjoy good and healthy meals in a fun an innovative way, I decided to bring back a much forgotten vegetable into my kitchen - kale. In Germany kale is eaten quite often as a side to hearty meat dishes, however, my eating experience of kale here was mostly a squishy slop of green tasteless mush. It was not until a few years ago that I decided to bring this superfood into my kitchen and experiment with it.

HHDD: And the Winner Is ...

I'm back and logged on quickly to give a lucky one some good news.

I am sure you all enjoyed the HHDD Roundup for grilled fruit on Mil Postres and for satay on WFLH. All the participants went away for a while and voted for their overall winner on both creations.

We do have a winner and I am really pleased to announce that she contacted me quite early in the event and asked:

"I make a satay shrimp pretty frequently for my daughter. It has some of the ingredients as the original recipe, some more but not exactly the same. ... i was wondering if I make Shrimp satay the way I do it, will it be a valid entry?"

Sure you can do it your way, I said and guess what? Her way won!

Soma of eCurry made a delicious Shrimp Satay with Almond Satay Sauce for her daughter and she became the outstanding overall winner.

Congratulations on this one, Soma. You are our next hostess for the next Hay Hay Donna Day event. Folks, help me applaud Soma for the winning entry!

Come back tomorrow as I share a some great news and a slightly different kind of vegetarian dish with you!

Hugs!

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Monthly Mingle: Caribbean Cooking

For this session of the Monthly Mingle I am taking you away to a lovely destination. Pack your bikinis and bathing suits because we are heading on over to the wonderful Caribbean Islands. Beaches, sun, sand, sea and palm trees are all synonymous with this wonderful destination and we'll definitely have it all. The only thing missing is food and drink!

So, I need your help to lay out the festive party table and fill it with delicious food and spectacular cocktails. Let's enjoy a feast of Caribbean flavors and indulge in the mouthwatering plethora of colorful dishes the Caribbean Islands have to offer. From Antigua to the Virgin Islands, this region is known for it's fresh products and exotic ingredients. The cuisine is a fusion of African, Indian, French, Dutch and Spanish flavors so your creations promise to be exciting.

I have invited my dear friend Cynthia of Tastes Like Home to help me with this mingle. Home for Cynthia is the beautiful island of Barbados and her blog depicts not only Caribbean cooking but also her energy and love for her cuisine. Cynthia shares her love for this cuisine and put together a few grand recipes in her first, recently published cookbook My Caribbean Cookbook. She has been kind enough to give away a copy of her cookbook to one lucky winner.

How do you qualify to win? Simple, you just send us your Monthly Mingle Caribbean Cooking creation and Cynthia will pick her favorite dish after the roundup. This person will be the lucky one to receive Cynthia's My Caribbean Cookbook!

Turn up the Caribbean rhythm and get cooking on your Caribbean dish, then bring it on over to the party by 9 March 2009. Make an appetizer, soup, salad or a cocktail. It can be vegan, vegetarian or not! What it has to be is full of Caribbean Cooking flavor!

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a dish that fits the Caribbean Cooking theme as described above.
2. Post about it on your blog from now till 9 March 2009 (entries must be in English, please).
3. Your creation must exclusively be prepared for the current Monthly Mingle theme and cannot be submitted to any other blog event.
4. You must provide a link to this post and/or the official Monthly Mingle page.

Once you’ve posted your dish, please fill the Monthly Mingle form to send me your entries.

Note: The Monthly Mingle form is the new way to send all your MM entries to me. This ensures that I do not miss your submission if it lands in the spam folder. Please fill out the form carefully filling out the required fields (those marked with *). Upload your image - 300px and below 1 MB - and click on the submit button.

Please do not send me the entries via email. You can easily access the form via the submission button on the sidebar under the section "Come Mingle With Me" or via the official Monthly Mingle page.

If you have any questions, queries or issues drop me an email at blogmeeta[AT]gmail[DOT]com.

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Superfoods: Goji Berries

Goji Berries [pronounced: go-gee ber-reze] are the current rage right now. Although these delicate berries are being increasingly hailed as a superfood and Hollywood starlets and celebrities seem to have found the berries' anti-aging benefits, goji berries have been eaten as a nutritionally rich food in China for around 2000 years.

Lime Chicken and Vegetable Farro Risotto

A new life sized poster of the very hot Jonathan Rhys Meyers stared down at me as I walked into the perfumery. "Anywhere in your Element" proclaimed the new Hugo Element Ad. I closed my eyes and was instantly transported to a day dream for a few seconds.

"Delicious!" I smirked as I came back to the real world. Heading towards the cashier I could hardly wait to bring my day dream to real life!

HHDD: Satay Roundup!

 

It's the great Hay Hay Donna Day roundup!! This time we are having all sorts of firsts for this event. Two winners, two blogs, two different Donna Hay creations and two languages.

I shared the honor with another lovely blogger, Tartasacher of Mil Postres and together we came up with two Donna Hay creations for you to select from. Tartasacher selected a delicious sugar grilled fruit and cinnamon yogurt, while I went for chicken satay skewers.

Over here at the satay side of HHDD we had a lovely cozy gathering with a mixture of seafood, poultry and meat. Lovely ideas and great flavor combinations.

So without much fuss let me take you all over to the HHDD - Satay roundup! The picture gallery for the Satay roundup displays all the photos with mouthwatering details.

1. ecurry: Shrimp Satay with Almond Satay Sauce
2. La cocina de Zaira: Chicken Satay whit green peppers and cherry tomatoes
3. 80 Breakfasts: Chicken Satay Skewers
4. Fruit Art: Chicken Satay
5. Bron Marshall: Prawn Satays with Peanut Sauce
6. Home Gourmets: Turkey Mushroom Satay Skewers
7. What's For Lunch, Honey?: Coconut Cashew Chicken Satay Skewers

That was it! Now it's time for all the participants to vote for their one favorite entry. Check out the roundup for the sweet Donna Hay entries over at Mil Postres, who will be posting the roundup a little later, then select your one favorite creation. Once you have decided, please send in your votes to Bron over at bron.marshall[AT]gmail[DOT]com.

The winner will be announced on February 19th. All the best!

I'll be back tomorrow with a delicious healthy family dinner. Stay tuned for that and in the meantime have a great weekend!

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Nutella Flakey Swirls

I had a great time reading all your comments for yesterday's post. You folks really made me laugh with some of your ideas and thoughts. It just confirms my belief that besides being suckers for something sweet, you always make me feel good. I love spending time with you.

I'll cut the suspense as I know everyone has been eagerly awaiting these Nutella treats. Actually these treats were my bribe ... er ... barter treats for Soeren!

Nutella Day!

It's World Nutella Day tomorrow! Time to indulge in some decadence. How do you enjoy your Nutella best?

Come back tomorrow and indulge in some Nutella flakiness with me! In the meantime have a lick of this ;-)

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Fettuccine with Spicy Lamb Sausage Meatballs in a Piquant Tomato Sauce

Never mess with a classic dish! But I can't help myself sometimes. It's difficult not to allow imagination and creativity to have a say. Let's take the classic pasta and meatballs. I love it, Soeren loves it and Tom loves it too. We are probably amongst several thousands who enjoy this simple yet delicious classic dish. There are as many different recipes for a pasta and meatballs dish as there probably are cooks that make this.