Can I have some more broccoli, Mum?

OMG! Who's kids say that?? Certainly not mine BEFORE we became vegan!

This is what we had for dinner. SO SO SO very sorry about the crappy photo again - we were all chowing down when I suddenly remembered I needed to take a photo of all my hard work! Luckily YM is a slow eater, so I took a photo of his plate (chip on the side and all!) of food. He chose not to put the mushroom sauce on the cutlets or the special broccoli sauce on the broccoli which is why it is sitting separate to his plate.

Chickpea cutlets with Mushroom sauce & Mashed potato and Kumera with caramelised onions & Borlotti beans with Silverbeet & Broccoli with Garlic butter and Cashew

What a feast! It may not LOOK particularly appetising, but it was delicious!!

I had never made the chickpea cutlets before and I will definitely make them again! I got the recipe from here. Next time I might try baking them. I made two batches and they are all gone! That's me and four small kids!

I found the recipe for the mushroom sauce in Vegan a Go-Go by Sarah Kramer. Pretty basic.

Mushroom Sauce

6 Button mushrooms, chopped small

2T marg

1C vegetable stock

3T flour

1T Nutritional yeast

Pepper

1t Braggs

In a pot, soften the mushrooms up in the margarine. Add flour, yeast, Braggs and pepper and stir briefly. Add stock 1/4C at a time and stir continuously until thickened. Either blend or leave as is.

The mashed potato, kumera and caramelised onion dish is just as it is said! Too easy.

My new favourite way to cook silverbeet is the next recipe. I remember silverbeet as being a boil sloppy mess on my plate when I was a kid, but this dish rocks!

Borlotti Beans and Silverbeet

1 bunch of silverbeet, greens, chopped, washed

1 tin borlotti beans, rinsed

2T tomato paste

1 carrot chopped small

1 onion, diced

Put beans, tomato paste, carrot and onion into a pot and just cover with water. Cook for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, boil the silverbeet. Add silverbeet to beans mix when beans and carrots are cooked. Cook an extra few minutes and serve.

I also love this next recipe. It's from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. The first time I made it I had no marg (so I used oil) and no cashews and it still was fabulous.

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

Broccoli cut into bite size pieces

3T Nuttelex

2 cloves garlic, minced

1T brown sugar

2-3T Braggs

2t rice vinegar

1/4t black pepper

small handful cashews, chopped small

Steam broccoli. Meanwhile melt marg and add garlic, sugar, Braggs, vinegar and pepper. Bring to the boil, allowing it to thicken up a bit. Remove from heat and stir in cashews. I usually serve it in a separate bowl so people can add as little or as much as they choose, otherwise toss it through the steamed broccoli and then serve.

mmmm mmmm mmmm

Well today we went for another bike ride. The plan was to head past CERES to watch 'Derrick' the litter trap on the Merri Creek being emptied. There was a little sign up that said he was to be emptied at 11am Oct 2. Today. So we got there, and waited and waited. NOTHING. How disappointing. I was interested to see how it worked. But all was not lost. I met a lovely lady there  who turns out she and her two gorgeous kids are raw vegetarians! So we got talking, exchanged email (now where did I put her email address??) and I am looking forward to having more contact with her. She said she would give me some raw kid 'treat' recipes which I am really looking forward to.

Then we headed back my way, with the intention of heading to Moomba Park a few more kms away. We kept riding and riding and riding. It is not very nice much further past Coburg Lake. :(

Baby said 'This reminds me of the leech walk' (A disastrous Tasmanian walk that should have lasted only 2 hours but turned into four where the children were eaten alive by leeches, it was raining heavily and was very, very unpleasant!)

And I thought, yeah, she's right. This is not fun anymore. So we turned around and came home. Almost 4 hours later and the kids were knackered (which is why I am able to post this so early - they have crashed out!) I don't think we will go past Coburg Lake again. Heading in towards the city is nice, though.

You may be wondering why I always tell what we have done for the day? Shouldn't I just post about food?

Well, a few reasons why I tell more. I hope Popeye will get some time to read this, so he can see what we are up to while he is away. It's not all about food for me, it's about family. I think it is nice to read what others do, and to realise we are quite normal after all! It is also like a diary for me. One to be able to read back through at any time and reminisce.

D & M over, have a great weekend!!

Tahn