Happy March!

It seems that Spring is a million years away here on the Costa Blanca and the glorious day we had a while back was nothing but a big tease. I so can not wait for it to warm up a bit. I know lots of you are still having severe weather, like wingraclaire for instance, so I feel a bit of a fraud for saying what I'm about to say BUT this winter has just dragged on and on for me. I'm not a sufferer of SAD by any means but my body so needs to come out of hibernation mode and get some serious amounts of Vitamin D into it. Lots of exciting things to report anyway - we put a deposit down on our house last week so if everything goes according to plan then we should be moving in by the end of March! Mr treehugger keeps telling me not to get too excited as nothing is guaranteed as yet but I can't help myself, I've mentally decorated the rooms and dug the vegetable patch already! I have also started clearing out a lot of junk too. Isn't it amazing the things we accumulate over the years. When we first came to Spain we had a tiny little Bedford van full of our belongings - and here we are seven years later with a three bedroomed house full of stuff. So I feel like I'm in limbo at the moment - but in a good way. Neither here nor there - which is what some people would say to describe me anyway! LOL! February the 28th saw my first Veganversary! A whole year! I have learned a heck of a lot in this first year and 99.9% of it has been from you awesome bloggers! I guess I can't call myself a noob anymore and I only hope I can help the next noob who comes along as much as you guys have helped me. BIG VIRTUAL HUGS TO ALL YOU AWESOME BLOGGERS! Food wise we are still eating lots of Soups and Stews and stick to the ribs food to help insulate us but I do have an awesome recipe to share with you. Since my Follywood Biryani escapade I have been wanting to make Biryani again, never one to shy in the face of disaster that's me! I'd had my eye on Vegan Dad's Recipe but I didn't have all the ingredients and couldn't be bothered to go to the supermarket, so I did a bit of critical googling to come up with this little corker - it really is YUM! Vegetable Biryani serves 6 Ingredients 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 large Potato, peeled and cubed 2 Large carrots, peeled and diced handful of Mushrooms, cut into quarters 1 large Onion, sliced 1 litre hot Vegetable Stock 3 tbsp hot Curry Paste (or your regular one that you always use - we use a HOT one) Pinch of dried Chili Flakes Large pinch of Saffron 2 tsp Mustard Seeds 500g Basmati Rice 1 head of Brocolli, broken into small florets Cup of frozen Peas Salted roasted Cashew Nuts Method Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7/fan 200C. Pour the oil into a large roasting tin or ovenproof dish and put in the oven for a couple of minutes to heat through. Add all the vegetables to the tin, except the Peas and Broccoli, stirring to coat them in the hot oil. Season with Salt and Pepper and return to the oven for 30 minutes until beginning to brown, you may want to give them a swirl round halfway through. While the Vegetables are roasting, stir together the Stock, Curry Paste, Chili, Saffron and Mustard Seeds. Mix the Rice, Broccoli and Peas with the Vegetables in the tin, stir them round well to coat them in the Olive Oil then pour over the Stock mixture. Lower the oven to 190C/gas 5/fan 190C. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake. Now, in my cruddy oven this took 50 mins to cook but I suggest you check after half an hour anyway and give everything a good stir. When it is ready, stir in the Cashew Nuts, check the seasoning and serve. You'll be glad you made so much because this is even better the next day for leftovers! (I'm so glad for Firefox because I can never remember how to spell Broccoli!) One final word goes to Chocolate Covered Katie and her awesome Chocolate Give-away! Head on over there to be in with a chance a of winning this amazing chocolaty prize, you have until the 19th March to enter and the competition is open to anyone anywhere in the world! GO! GO! GO! Thanks to Carla for giving me the heads up about this.