Sunday, 14th May, 2023. Every year we have a special dinner on Mother’s Day to honour, remember and reflect on our wonderful Mum’s who have both now passed. This year, 2023 was no different… Here’s a special Happy Soul Food post to share what we…

TUESDAY 25th, 2023, A beautiful Anzac Day to reflect and remember. Kicked off the day with Dawn Service at Ocean Grove, where a huge crowd gathered. It was really moving to see the support. This was followed by a stroll with the doggoes on the beach,…

MONDAY 24th, 2023, Yummy Dinner of Middle Eastern Style Chicken on Roasted Tomato and Olive Ragu This takes advantage of our very LAST few tomatoes from our wonderfully,bountiful tomato plants in the Veggie Garden this year… The chicken dish is served with yet again, a…

  MONDAY 24th, 2023, Love where you live 😍 Well, gotta love a long weekend – 1 day’s leave to gain 4 days off!!! And what perfect autumn weather we have been treated to. This post is a combination of happy soul food moments across…

Sunday Night Comfort Dinner ~~~~~ Cheesy Garlic Bread Creamy pumpkin, prosciutto and mushroom pasta Rocket and pear salad Cheesy Garlic Bread My cheesy garlic bread can be found here: https://happysoulfood.com/garlic-infused-evoo-garlic-bread/   Rocket and Pear Salad This is very basic and simple but delicious! Find yourself…

A friend of mine had a lot of excess home-grown garlic and turned it into crushed garlic that they frozein ice cube trays. We used it once on home made pizzas, mixed with a bit of oil – I think the texture was really mushy…

We are very lucky living down the Bellarine Peninsula ! We have access to great fresh local Whiting. One of our mates is often fishing and sharing his catches or it’s just a quick trip down to Queenscliff, to buy from a locally owned fishmonger,…

Well I know one of the last posts before going into Siesta Time was Paella so it is only fitting to relaunch Happy Soul Food with another variation – this time with Seafood – it’s not totally pescatarian as there is some chorizo in it…

We have had a SUPER bumper crop of tomatoes this year and have Passata overflowing in the freezer (yeay !!!!) but more on that another day… As we transition through Autumn and say a last hoorah to the milder weather, here’s a little celebration of…

Chief Taste Tester is currently doing the CSIRO Wellbeing Diet and it has some fantastic recipes in it – this is an adaption of one of the breakkie recipes that I made this morning and just HAAAAD to share because it was seriously YUMMO !…

Hello All, it’s been awhile with lots of things happening over the last few months impacting Happy Soul Food’s development. We have been moving house, setting up house and still have a bit to go. The Covid world is normalising inch by inch and so…

20-Jun-20: Time to have some winter warmers with Paella… We started this Sat evening with home made Negronis. Have started to enjoy these when out and thought when doing the supermarket shopping, with an “Uncle Dan’s” next door, “hmmmm I wonder how I’d go with…

17-Jun-20: I don’t often cook the traditional lamb roast. I think mainly because my dear mother was such a wonderful roast cook and they were our staple Sunday lunch for so long, I don’t think I ever get them quite as good. Plus whilst not…

15-Jun-20: You might remember from my “Sat night in” post from May that I mentioned that I didn’t quite get the self-saucing chocolate pudding to be saucy… Well tonight we decided we needed some Monday-itis comfort food and I did Chocolate Pud for dessert. This…

14-Jun-20: Another weekend to draw the curtain on in this funny old year with COVID. We finished this weekend with a yummy but easy Sunday dinner, with the most effort being stirring the risotto 😊 As per usual, menu is fashioned for two people. Miguel…

10-Jun-20: Mid week yumminess in the form of a quick crispy Asian style slaw (just a packet jobby from the supermarket will do) to which I added a cubed half an avo, fetta and a semi-runny poached egg. Sounds a bit weird but is yummy……

30-May-20: Today we started with an early beach walk on the last day of Autumn with a beautiful morning to greet us… For dinner, we had a French-Italian inspired menu, combining some yummy prosciutto and olives at the start, leading into a creamy, cheesy warm…

24-May-20: Well things continue to go ok with Covid, as we start to enjoy a little bit of freedom but the weather is turning, with the iminent winter starting to flex its muscle with a chilly weekend… so we haven’t gone too far this weekend…

17-May-20: Well we are allowed to socialise a little bit, with the virus being curbed and restrictions being eased. We are now allowed to have 5 people, plus ourselves at home… Woo hooo !!!! 🤩🥳🎉👯‍♂️ No sooner than that was announced, the Chief Taste Tester’s…

12-May-20: Being self-indulgent here – pure furry Happy Soul Food moment… love the girls – sprung playing!!!! They are very cute😍  

May 8-10-2020: This weekend was Mother’s Day weekend in lockdown. Unfortunately we have both lost our Mum’s and so every year on this weekend, we do a “tribute” dinner in honour and remember them. The weekend kicked off on Friday, as I took myself out…

6-May-20: It’s Hump Day evening and feeling like some comfort, easy to do pasta, to follow my weekly virtual drinks chat with two very dear friends – we are spread over Melbourne, Ocean Grove and Adelaide. Why on earth we waited until Covid to start…

3-May-20: Something easy to finish off what’s been a pretty good weekend for a lockdown weekend !!!! A one pot chicken dinner, based on a friend’s similar recipe that she sent me a photo of, which I tweaked with potato and chorizo to give it…

3-May-20: After last night’s effort, it was a decent walk along the beach this morning and then a bit of brunch. Nothing too fancy here but sometimes you just luck it in and cook the perfect poached egg – just set but still runny yolk…

2-May-20: So we’ve had our starters and feeling somewhat satisfied and relaxed. A little break whilst we cook main and time to finish off that magnificent Verdelho… and Yes ! Really taking advantage of the season with another version of mushroom risotto. This time “amping”…

2-May-20: Starting to get itchy feet but clearly not able to go out yet 😕  So with lots of time on our hands, the weather still quite nice, it inspired me to just grab hold of the joy of cooking and presenting an “in house”…

30-Apr-20: As the Covid “thing” began to hit, I had cooked up some food and froze – like many others. But I didn’t go overboard – just so we had some supplies in the freezer if things got really “locked down”. Given I also work…

27-April-20: After a big weekend, Chief Taste Tester Dazza decided he wanted something simple and delicious and offered to do “ye olde” Bangers and Mash, with caramelised onions. I thought best at least have some greens, to some level of protestation, so added lightly steamed…

26-April-20: Well after quite an emotional Saturday, Sunday night’s “end of weekend ceremony” was real comfort food ! We always like to end the weekend with some yummy food – maybe not as fancy, or as much effort as I might go to on a…

25-April-20: Today we celebrated Anzac Day in a very different way. I got up early along with many, many others and stood at the end of our driveway, candles alight. It was truly remarkable how the observance of Dawn Service at the end of your…

21-April-20: Today I revisited my “Quick and easy Frittata on the fly” for lunch but had been to the supermarket and so this time had the ricotta. Basically I made it the same way as the first one back on the 31st March but added…

19-April-20: So at the end of all that gardening, it would have been wonderful to go out, not cook and enjoy a beautiful dinner to celebrate all our hard work… sadly not possible with the COVID Craziness. Didn’t feel like takeway either, as wanted something…

19-April-20: To prove Happy Soul Food moments come from many different sources, this weekend we not only enjoyed some fabulous food and wine but “tarted” up our garden a treat… In our current house, we have a very small garden and are planning to move…

18th April-20: We go through little fads where we just hanker for good steak – it seems April is one of those times, so off to Benno’s again Friday morning for some lovely scotch fillet and other goodies for the weekend… Again the weather is…

15 April-20: Early in the week, we try and practise being good so can splurge later in the week but by “hump day” we are often hankering for some yummy food… The weather is magnificently mild, with another beautiful Autumn sunny day and it brought…

6th April-20: Back tracking a little as I nearly forgot to include this one and I thought I couldn’t let it pass… Monday evening before Easter was very chilly and we’d had a simple dinner (trying to be good early in the week 😄) but…

11-Apr-20: I have to say, whilst we don’t eat loads of red meat, it’s something I definitely do not wish to give up and also, whilst I did enjoy our wonderful Good Friday dinner, tonight’s dinner was centred around a very lovely piece of scotch…

10-April-20, Good Friday: Whilst not a practising “mick”, with both of us having grown up in that environment, long held traditions are hard to break… so no red meat today. Don’t’ know about you but I always find Good Friday one of the least exciting…

9-April-20, Easter Eve: Beach walk done, head clear, time to get some “yummy in my tummy”… We are very fortunate to have a great local butcher in Barwon Heads, Benno’s Meating Place, who has excellent quality fresh and smoked meat and does some great pre-pared…

9-April, Easter Eve: Easter is upon us and for everyone it’s a very, very different Easter. There’s quite a bit of tension in our local community as the lockdown hits. Given we live in a very popular holiday area, with many holiday homes, there’s a…

  These are bulbs are from the original stock my father, who loved his garden and which rubbed off on all his children, had planted for my wedding – many, many years ago now… The funny thing was, the Ballarat weather intervened and the gladi’s…

4-April-20: The autumn days are kicking in – milder days and that chilly bite to the evening but not too cold yet… just the inspiration to do a curry and I thought given I have plenty of time, make our own roti. I’ve made it…

3-April-20: It’s Friday – YEAY – and we were very excited this Friday, as in our local community Facebook page a couple of our favourite cafes, who have had to close down, are starting to do take away with either pick up or delivery. In…

1-April-20: Well, we were good Monday and Tuesday nights but it’s “hump day”, it’s been a glorious Autumn’s day, so don’t want anything too heavy… Hmmm we have that yummy left over Mushroom Risotto from Sunday night I don’t want to let go to waste.…

29-March-20: This is one of mine and the Chief Taste Tester’s favourite for comfort food on a chilly Sunday night – wild mushroom risotto. There are many recipes to follow out there, if you need a step by step guide but this is the basics…

31-March-20: I really love eggs and this particular day, whilst in the mood for googs, wasn’t in the mood for the usual – hmmm I wonder how quick Frittata is – I didn’t want flour and so did a quick bit of googling to find…

Late March 2020: We are settling into life with both of us home – the girls love it – they are being walked EVERY day and we are lucky we have to our own studies to retreat to and focus on our respective work lives.…

Well it is Mid-March 2020 and things are getting fairly serious, I’m still working in Melbourne but each day this virus situation is escalating. Lockdown is becoming a real thing, “social distancing” is quickly entering our vernacular and workplaces are contemplating shutdowns as the seriousness…