Secret project revealed!

Hello everyone! I'm excited. Are you excited? Well, if not I'll add some excitement to your day by revealing the secret project I've been working on for the past week now. (Mentioned here and here in previous posts)

Ready?

Are you sure?

Drum roll please.......

Yep.
I made Zumbo's fairytale gingerbread house again! And it was just as challenging as last year!
Obviously the hardest part being sticking it all together. This thing is like 40-50cm tall and the 'glue' is simply melted chocolate (one of the reasons why I would not assemble it a couple of days ago when it was 39 degrees celius= 102 degrees fahrenheit- hello disaster!)

 Whilst assembling this house, I did have a lot of doubts (and needed a few extra hands- thanks mum!)

 As well as cups and candles.  But once that chocolate set, it was set good and somehow the ginormous gingerbread house stayed upright! (please excuse the sprinkles and chocolate scattered across the entire table... it was messy work)

 So I am pretty happy with how it turned out, the fact that it's still standing as we speak and the smiles it brings to those who see it.

 It's gonna be hard to break it apart on Christmas day that's for sure!

 All nicely wrapped up with a very large amount of cellophane and some pretty ribbons:

 This just happened to be the day when I went on my more exciting (and tiring) run, did some Christmas shopping, then some grocery shopping, then cleaned my sister's car... why did I decide to add a whole lot more stress and tiring-ness to my plate? I dunno- but when that house was wrapped up and positioned nicely (and safely) on our hall table... I collapsed on the floor :)

Which is why I was sort of surprised when I managed to work up the energy to not only cook dinner but make something really tasty!

 That, my friends, was two stuffed portobello mushrooms- stuffed with a chunky tomato, capsicum, eggplant and quinoa sauce-thing, with lots of spices etc. and a side of mixed veggie hash browns with a side salad of spinach dressed in lemon juice and topped with greek yoghurt.

 The hash browns were mixed vegetables grated- 1/2 a potato, 1/2 carrot, 1/2 small sweet potato, 1/4 grated beetroot, 1/2 parsnip with a couple tablespoons chickpea flour and 1 tablespoon olive oil all mixed together. Then with a heated pan on medium heat, pick up 1/4 mix, squeeze out excess juice and flatten onto pan- continue with rest of mixture and then place in oven (180 degrees celsius) for 15 mins.

Firstly I put the mushrooms in the oven for 10-15 mins to cook a bit then I sort of just chucked a bunch of stuff in a saucepan to make the tomato filling but I can tell you what it was- cherry tomatoes, capsicum, fresh basil, eggplant, onion, garlic, quinoa, tomato paste, chili flakes, pepper and cayene pepper with a bit of water and cooked until quinoa is ready (15 mins)

Topped with nutritional yeast and then placed in oven for 15-20 mins.
But seriously- if you're going to try anything from this dinner- try the hash browns wit the lemony spinach and greek yoghurt- such a great combo! Would make a brilliant side dish for anything! I promise you you'll thank me after trying this!

After dinner? Yep, I collapsed once again. Permanently.

Have you ever made a gingerbread house from scratch?
Do you hate sticking them together as much as me?
Do you like hash browns? I never really thought I did as a kid, but using all the different veggies make them taste soooo good!

Bye for now folks! :D