Vegan Family Vs Omni World

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

2011-03-08T21:56:00.000+11:00

Wow! How slack! Over two months between posts!

It's not like I haven't got anything to share with you - it's finding the time!!!

Anyway, this one's worth waiting for!

We were invited to attend a home school park day meet up that included celebrating an 11th (i think!) birthday.
On a private chat, I spoke with the mum of the birthday girl (also a friend) about the celebration. It went something like this:

Friend: There'll be cake!!
Me: Vegan??
Friend: Vegan cake?
Friend: NO EGGS????
Me: Yup!
Friend: NO MILK???
Me: Nut milk!

Clearly, I believed my friend could not grasp such a concept! But I was up to the challenge! I made Triple Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Lunch Box AND BLEW THEM AWAY!!!!

The cupcakes are moist and delicious. My friend's comment was 'I can not believe there are no eggs in this'.
Other people tried them and were also impressed. So much so, I promised to write this post and blog the recipe.
Here it is! Try it!

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 24

3C all purpose flour
1/2C cocoa powder
2t baking soda
1t salt
1C sugar
1C packed brown sugar
2C water
1C canola oil
1T vanilla
3/4-1C vegan choc chips (optional - I did not use these)

Preheat oven to 180C. Spray 24 muffin cups/cupcake liners with non stick spray.
Sift the flour, cocoa, soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add sugar and brown sugar, water, oil, vanilla. Mix with electric beater until well combined and smooth.
Divide batter evenly between the 24 muffin cups (about 1/4C each). Sprinkle the top of each cupcake with some chocolate chips (opt).
Bake 25-30 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting with Chocolate Vegan Buttercream.

To make a cake: divided the batter between 2 9-inch round cake pans that have been sprayed with non stick spray. sprinkle each layer with half the chocolate chips (opt). Bake at 180C for 40 minutes. Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Vegan Buttercream
(makes perfect amount for 24 cupcakes or the cake option)

3C icing sugar
1/2C cocoa powder
1/2C marg
3 1/2 -4 T rice milk
1 1/2t vanilla

Sift together icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add marg, milk and vanilla and beat well with an electric mixer until frosting is smooth.

Just try to stop yourself from eating toooo many!

Tahn

Twenty Eleven Resolutions

2011-01-02T21:39:00.001+11:00

Wow, it's been a while!

After much thought I've come up with 4 resolutions I want to work on in 2011.

Avoid consumerism for the whole year.
I'm not sure how I will go here, buying second hand and freebees all allowed, but being addicted to books....(I have purchased a kindle, so I'll try downloading and reading the free ones this year) I have allowed only ONE unnecessary purchase per month, if I need it, so I REALLY have to think about it!
I also have some great ideas regarding birthdays and xmas under this resolution too! No 'STUFF'!!

Avoid refined sugar
Nuff said!

Return to raw food living
Not to be anal about it though - raw breakfast and lunch, plus part raw dinner should do it.
I did this for 6 weeks last year and the weight just fell off me and I felt FANTASTIC!!!!
Considering that I have just purchased (Dec) 3 new raw books (waiting for arrival) I want to try at least one new raw recipe and blog about it. (I've done one tonight! Blog post and pics coming soon)

Return to a healthy weight and love my body
I think the above two resolutions will definitely help me with this one.

I really really hope this year is WAY better than last year for me!

Rock on 2011!

A Deviation from the Theme

2010-11-06T21:27:00.000+11:00

Tonight Popeye decided he was going to cook dinner, as he usually does on the weekends (that's the only time he is home!). Awesome! I decided to alleviate some of my boredom and check out some new (to me) vegan blogs. One of the blogs is posting 30 days of gravies for Vegan MoFo which I thought was pretty cool. I planning on making her cashew gravy, and I'll post a link to her blog once I have made it. Another new to me blog pointed me back in the direction of Vegan Dad's blog (not new to me - I love his blog!!) and more specifically his post for vegan boneless chickenless wings from 2008. They were just what I felt like and I thought they would go well with Popeye's planned fried rice meal (which turned into a nasi goreng type dish - that's how he rolls). As a bonus, I had all of the ingredients except the required amount of panko crumbs (I only had 3/4C of panko and topped it up with some bread crumbs from La Panella).

They were really quick to make and tasty to boot! I think I'll have to make a double batch next time as we all had 2 each and the kids were looking for more! If I didn't run out of energy at this point, I would have made an awesome sauce to go with it.

Vegan Dad's blog has a link to a chicken style broth recipe but the link is broken. I found this one which someone in the comments suggested the original may have been from.

Now I need to go through my next cookbook to see what I'll be making next week (guaranteed I WON'T be making anything Monday night - I've got day surgery planned). I've been quite impressed with Passion For Pulses this week, I hope the next one is just as good.

Happy Mofo-ing,

Tahn

Vegan MoFo 2010 - Mushroom and Chickpea Stroganoff

2010-11-04T22:08:00.000+11:00

Yesterday saw me trying a stroganoff for the first time since becoming vegan. I was a little excited about this and skeptical that the homemade sour cream would do the trick. I needn't have worried.

Verdict: I'd make this again too! I've been having great successes with 'Passion For Pulses' and I'm really impressed. Next time I'd watch the last 10 minutes cooking time more closely (when the sour cream gets added) or add more than 1C of sour cream so it would be a little bit more thinner than it was.

Mushroom and Chickpea Stroganoff adapted from Passion For Pulses compiled by Nancy Longnecker

2C cooked chickpeas
2T oil
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2t paprika
2C mushrooms, chopped
1T tomato paste
1 large tomato, chopped
1C sour cream (vegan homemade recipe to follow)
1t dry mustard
1t dried dill
1T chives, chopped
1/4C parsley, chopped
1t honey (I used agave)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic and oil. add paprika; cook for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, cook for a few more minutes. Add tomato paste with the remaining ingredients, including chickpeas. SImmer gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Serve with brown rice or wholemeal noodles.

Almost Sour Cream (p. 10) from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah

1 1/2C silken tofu, squeezed and drained
1T canola oil
2t cider vinegar
1/2t salt
1t sugar
2t lemon juice

Blend until smooth and thickened up. Refrigerate.

On another totally non-related, non-food note, I want to share what has been happening in my life for the past few weeks. I found out I was pregnant about 4 weeks ago. Things were going well until I woke up last Thursday and found that ALL of my pregnancy symptoms had completely stopped. Concerned, but telling myself it was all in my head, I waited until my Saturday appointment to see the Dr. After the pregnancy formalities, I expressed my concern to the Dr, who took some bloods and instructed me to come back the following Tuesday for follow up test. The blood tests were to check my hormone levels, which are supposed to at least double every couple of days. Yesterday I went for the results and my hormone levels had actually dropped. I was sent for an ultrasound today and my suspicions were confirmed when the radiologist could not find a heart beat and declared the baby was about a week younger than my actual dates. This is called a missed miscarriage, or a missed abortion. I think the next step is to go to the hospital for a D & C to remove the foetus. We will find out for sure tomorrow.
As sad as I am, I believe these things happen for a reason and maybe the timing wasn't right. I already have 3 gorgeous children and I am eternally grateful for them.
Why am I sharing so publicly on my blog? Because it's my bloody blog and I'll write whatever the bloody hell I want! But also, I find it a real shame that these sort of topics are taboo. It's bad enough that pregnant women fear telling ANYONE they are pregnant until at least 12 weeks, but women lose babies all the time and it seems that once this happens, they are left to deal with it themselves. I want this out in the open. I want this pregnancy remembered, and the baby, barely out of cell dividing stage but my baby nonetheless, to be discussed openly especially within my family. My children know about the baby (we've given it a new name each week, relating to the size of it - this week it was 'Prune') but have yet to be told about the loss (this will probably happen tomorrow when we find out what the next step is). They have been so helpful to me while I was stuck in bed with morning sickness. They are the best children in the world - regardless of what members of my extended family believe.

Goodbye angel baby, may we meet in another life.

Tahn

Vegan MoFo Day 2 - Cooking Frenzy

2010-11-02T21:45:00.000+11:00

Day 2 saw us cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Here in Melbourne, it's a public holiday for Melbourne Cup Day racing. We boycott the races in this house, so instead spent part of the day cooking lima beans, baking biscuits and cake and making a yummy dinner.

Almost all of the food (except the cake) came from the cookbook I'm cooking from for the week 'Passion for Pulses' Compiled by Nancy Longnecker.

After soaking 500g of dried lima beans overnight, I cooked them for just over an hour first thing this morning to make sure they'd be ready for dinner. I've never cooked nor eaten (to my knowledge) lima beans before, so was a little apprehensive. More on the lima beans later.

Next I cooked and cooled a small amount of green lentils for the Lentil Cookies (p. 25). I managed to convince Tweenie to do the rest of the cooking for these cookies, which really isn't that hard as she REALLY LOVES to bake!

These turned out quite well. I loved the inclusion of dried apricots, sultanas and sunflower seeds and there is no taste at all of the lentils. These cookies remind me of the recent cookbooks dedicated to hiding healthy vegetables in not-so-healthy foods so kids will eat them!

Verdict - Really yum! Kids liked them although Tweenie preferred the cake. I'd make them again.

Lentil Cookies from Passion for Pulses compiled by Nancy Longnecker

1/4C dried green lentils (1/2C cooked)
1/2C butter
1/2C packed brown sugar
1/4C vegan sugar
1 egg (we used egg replacer)
1t vanilla
3/4C white or wholemeal flour
1/2t bicarb of soda
1/2C chopped dried apricots
1/2C raisins
1/2C sunflower seeds
1T honey (we used agave)
1t mixed spice (we used cinnamon)

Rinse lentils, put into pot with plenty of water. Bring to boil, them simmer gently for 30 minutes until lentils are tender. Drain and cool.
Cream butter and sugars; add egg (replacer) and vanilla, mixing until fluffy.
Stir in flour, and bicarb; add lentils and remaining ingredients.
Drop by teaspoon onto greased baking tray, press flat with a fork.
Bake 10-12 minutes in 180c oven.

Next I made a Blueberry Breakfast Cake from Fat Free Vegan. It's not a sweet cake, but very nice! No need for my amateur picture, check out the link!

Tonights dinner used 2 different recipes from Passion For Pulses. First was Lima Bean and Potato Casserole (p.33) and second was Himalayan Mung Bean Fritters (MU WO) (p.73). Both of these recipes were great! The kids couldn't stop eating the fritters and YM even went back for seconds of the casserole!

Verdict: I'd DEFINITELY make both of these again. The mung bean fritters were ONLY soaked then pureed mung beans! As odd as the puree seemed and as doubtful as I was that they'd work, they did work and they tasted great dipped into some sweet chilli sauce.

How good does that look!!

Himalayan Mung Bean Fritters (MU WO) from Passion For Pulses

2C mung beans (green gram)

1-2T soy sauce

1t cumin powder

1t salt

oil for frying

Soak mung beans overnight. Drain well. Grind or puree mung beans with soy sauce (worked well in my blender). Add cumin and salt.

Shape into fritters in the palm of your hand (my puree was WAY too sloppy for this so I just dropped spoonfuls into the oil to shallow fry).

Fry until brown, serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Lima Bean and Potato Casserole from Passion For Pulses

2 1/2C (500g) dried lima veans

1T oil

2 large onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2t plain flour

2C vegetable stock

6 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4C tomato paste

1/2t each of basil, thyme and oregano

1t sugar

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 stick celery, chopped (I NEVER use celery in ANY of my cooking - blerh!)

5 potatoes (400g) sliced 2mm thick

15g butter, melted

1/2t cumin seeds

Soak lima beans for at least 6 hours. Drain. Add to large pot and cover with plenty of water. Bring to the boil for 15 minutes; gently simmer for 1 hour. Drain.

Saute onions and garlic in oil until onions are soft.

Add flour. Stir until combined.

Gradually stir in stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, thyme, oregano, sugar, carrots and celery.
Simmer covered until carrots are tender; stir in lima beans.
Put bean mixture into ovenproof dish. Top with tomato slices, brush with butter and sprinkle with cumin seeds.
Bake uncovered in 180c oven for about 40 minutes or until potato slices are tender and browned.

Enjoy,
Tahn

Vegan MoFo Day 1

2010-11-01T20:21:00.006+11:00

And so starts another VeganMoFo!

This week I am taking all of my recipes from the book 'Passion for Pulses' Compiled by Nancy Longnecker.

I've had this cookbook for quite a while, but usually forget about it! I decided to use this book for the first week as pulses are really something that lacks in my weekly cooking and I need to cook with them more often. I'm excited for this week as I'm trying things I might not usually pick from this book, including Lentil Cookies and Chickpea Cookies.

Tonights dish was Persian Bean Casserole (ARSH) (pg. 68). I loved the idea of using 3 different pulses (chickpeas, kidney beans & cannellini) and throwing in some pasta is always a winner with kids.

My verdict: Quite a bland dish, but the kids liked it. Next time I would double the fried onion garnish as I really liked the taste of the onions in each mouthful - it added a little bit needed flavour.

Persian Bean Casserole (ARSH) in Passion for Pulses

Serves 8 (actually, it was just a perfect amount for the 2 adults and 3 kiddies in this family)

(use tinned or precooked peas and beans to save time)

1C (200g) dried chickpeas

1C (140g) dried kidney beans

1C (180g) dried cannellini or haricot beans

1T oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1t dried mint

10C (2.5L) water

2 1/2C pasta shells

2 bunches (4C) fresh English spinach, rinsed and chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped

salt and black pepper

plain yoghurt for garnish (I DID NOT use this. Not a fan of soy yoghurts.)

1C fresh coriander, chopped

Soak chickpeas and beans overnight. Drain. In large pot, fry onion, 1 clove of garlic and mint in oil. Remove from pot; set aside.

Put chickpeas and beans in same pot. Add water. Bring to the boil; simmer for 1.5 hours or until beans are tender, adding more water as necessary.

Add pasta and return to the boil. When pasta is nearly cooked add spinach, parsley, salt, pepper, and the second clove of garlic. Cook for 10 minutes; remove from heat.

When arsh has cooled slightly, top with a dollop of yoghurt, and garnish with fried onion mixture and fresh chopped coriander.

Tahn

Gaia - A New Find

2010-10-26T18:05:00.000+11:00

On the weekend I went to an expo and discovered (actually, Popeye discovered and he shared his find with me!) Gaia Skin Naturals Australia.
ALL of their products are vegan (and are labelled as such) with the exception of their baby skin soothing lotion (which is like a nappy rash cream) which contains beeswax. I spoke with Michelle, the lovely owner of the company, and informed me that they are yet to find a vegan friendly, chemical free ingredient to soothe the nappy rash on a baby's bottom (other choices on the market include petrochemicals or lanolin. Sometimes, for the health and well being of baby, the lesser of the three evils needs to be chosen).

I picked up a couple of things for myself at the expo and had the pleasure of trialling a few things today. I washed my face with Gaia's facial exfoliant that contains super finely crushed walnut shells, organic ingredients and essential oils. Only a tiny bit is required and it felt great on my skin.

I followed this up (after drying off my skin) with a spray of this refreshing toner and immediately after I rubbed in some facial moisturiser, both of which my skin LOVED and soaked it up in no time!

I also have this foaming cleaner which I haven't tried yet.

Lastly, while at the expo, I felt some of their bamboo baby wipes, which look quite thin but are really, really tough and extremely smooth.

I may well be preaching to the converted, but since I was unaware of these wonderful vegan products, I assume others may not have heard of them either.

Gaia products (including mens and pregnancy) can now be bought at Priceline stores, Coles, pharmacies and more. Check out this list of Australian stockists.

If you haven't tried Gaia, I recommend you check them out. If you already use Gaia, I'd love to hear what you love (or not like, for that matter) so I can look into trying them too!

Tahnea

Vegan MoFo

2010-10-26T12:23:00.001+11:00

Hi there!

I've decided to break my posting drought by participating in this years' Vegan MoFo. I'm thinking I'll pick four of my cookbooks and cook for a week out of each one and blog.

So, that's my theme. What's yours?

Tahnea

Today's Tasty Foods

2010-08-17T19:18:00.001+10:00

Looking for a tasty dip (not sure what I wanted, but I thought it would jump out at me when I saw it) I stumbled across a raw cheesy dip that sounded ok, but with only 4 ingredients I didn't know how well it would go.

Let me just say this - TRY IT!

WOW. It really does taste like cheese! It tasted FANTASTIC with the broccolini stalks I picked up for cheap yesterday, although the kids loved it with red capsicum sticks, and carrots.

(in case you were wondering and couldn't be bothered clicking on the link to see what the four ingredients were, they are: cashews, nama shoyu, red capsicum and lemon juice)

Tonight, I had left over salad for dinner (actually, the curried carrot salad that I love) so the kids and I made Cauliflower Yellow Capsicum soup.

The kids loved it. Again, having not tasted it, you'll just have to take their word for it!

Once again, photos are so crap, apologies! I am really, really, really lazy and usually grab the closest thing to me to capture the food before it (the food) gets munched!

Tahn

FYI Cheap dates!!

2010-08-11T18:58:00.000+10:00

Love fresh medjool dates? Coles has them on special for only $9.99kg!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to share....

Tahn

Oh, and I found a yummy raw goddess salad dressing here.

Curried Carrot Salad

2010-08-06T19:20:00.000+10:00

This is by far one of the best salads I have had yet! (yes, it's the same bowl - it's the only good one I own!)

Again the recipe is from goneraw.com and can be found here. Well worth a look!

Tahn

More Raw

2010-08-04T18:58:00.000+10:00

From the dehydrator - chilli corn tortillas (or, what's left of it!!)

Apples and banana slices with fruity dip

Fruity dip

1 avocado

3 dates, pitted and soaked

1 kiwi

5-7 strawberries

a small amount of date soak water

In the food processor blend avocado and dates (with a little date water). Add kiwi and strawberries and process until smooth.

Recipe is from here!

I loved this dip best with apple slices but the kids preferred it with the banana.

Another awesome recipe from goneraw.com (my favourite recipe site at the moment!)

This is cauliflower rice from this recipe. Rather than chop it and then mix by hand, I processed the cauliflower in the food processor until it looked liked rice then placed it in a bowl. I added the rest of the ingredients (red capsicum, tomato, fresh peas, fresh corn, mushrooms, grated carrot, splash braggs, dash nutritional yeast) to the food processor and whizzed it up. Then I mixed up both lots and let it sit for a bit to let the flavours meld.

one last photo of the chilli corn tortillas being used as a scoop for my cauliflower rice.

Deeee-lish!

Tahn

Raw foods we've been eating

2010-08-02T21:54:00.000+10:00

Coconut Chia Pudding Shake

Meat and water from 1 young thai coconut (BTW these are so cheap at Coles for $1.69 each right now!)

1T Chia seeds

1/2 t vanilla

2T agave

1/2C ice

Blend

This is by far THE BEST way to open a coconut. Check out this:

Tonight's dinner - an almond cream with marinated mushrooms on zucchini pasta - toooooo good!

The recipe is here - Take the comment advice and halve the cream.

Watermelon Kiwi Cooler

3C Watermelon

3 Kiwi fruit

3 fresh or frozen strawberries

juice from 1/2 lime

Blend

Raw corn salad - awesome

I've been making a delicious salad for me and the kids and then adding a little something cooked for them like a burger or eggplant fritters (1000 Vegan Recipes). Apparently they were good - I'll take their word for it!

I've been raw for 13 days today and I feel FANTASTIC. I love it!

In the dehydrator - Spicy Corn Tortillas

Tahn

Teriyaki Noodles

2010-07-25T19:03:00.000+10:00

Know I know this photo just looks like a pile of zucchini noodles, but it is drenched in a teriyaki sauce from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Essentials book.

I had some spiralised zucchini left over from the other day so making this was a cinch. After adding the sauce, I let it sit for a little while before eating which made the zucchini nice and soft. I ended up eating the whole lot myself!

I will definitely be having this again. It's a keeper!

Tahn

Tropical Smoothie

2010-07-25T17:57:00.000+10:00

I had purchased a couple of thai baby coconuts at the markets the other day and decided this morning to use them up in a smoothie.

Tropical Smoothie

Coconut water and meat from one thai baby coconut
3 handfuls of fresh or frozen pineapple
3 bananas (fresh or frozen)

Blend in a high speed blender for 30 seconds until smooth.

Sorry, no photo but you just have to TRUST me on this one!

Raw...Again

2010-07-22T19:12:00.001+10:00

Ok, I know I have said this before, but this time I mean it! For some reason I really feel like I have my head into it this time! Today is day three, and I am having a blast!

Last time I tried going RAW I mostly had issues with the kids - cooking for them especially, which in turn made me crave their hot food. Well, not this time. I cooked for them day one and two (no cravings), but today I really tried to include them in my meals. After Tweenie came home from school today I gave them all a green smoothie and stirred through some cacao nibs (I have had these around the house for a while now, but today was the first time I tried them. AND THEY ROCK!!!!!!). Then I made some cheesy cauliflower popcorn (small cut cauliflower, shaken with nutritional yeast, and pinch cayenne pepper. This can then be dehydrated, but we chose to eat it straight away.YUM) - all gone.

For dinner I spiralised some zucchini and made a different tomato sauce to go through it (I have previously made a red capsicum sauce to go on the zucchini). This was very nice also. Baby spiralised some apples and is still picking at that as I type.
I have joined a cool website/forum called Raw Food Rehab which has a mountain of information, recipes, advice and answers lots of questions.

I found a few Aussies on the the forum and I found the recipe for raw zucchini pasta with tomato sauce through one of them (thank you!)

You really should try it.

If you know of other Raw food sites/forums that rock, let me know!

Tahn

Ethiopian Stew and Injera Bread

2010-07-15T21:00:00.001+10:00

I had a shit load of tomatoes to use up and found this delicious recipe on the PPK site for Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew and completed the meal with injera bread from Vegan Lunchbox cook book. The injera bread lists teff flour as an ingredient but I just used more all purpose flour and they were still good.

As a habitual slack arse, I could not be bothered to get my camera and so used the closest thing to me...my phone. It does take pretty crappy photos, but in a competition, no photo vs crappy photo, I'd put my money on crappy photo (but then again, I'm not a betting woman...). Having said that, no photo wins at the moment until I work out how to blue tooth it to my Mac and then add it here (this HAS been achieved before).

(There, easier than I thought!!)

Tahn

And just because I can, a pic of my kitties playing in a plastic bag, just because they can!

Shorts

2010-06-07T22:08:00.000+10:00

At a BBQ Saturday night:

Daughter to father: What's that? (pointing to a couscous dish I made)
Father to daughter: It's a rice dish, I think.
Me: It's couscous.
Father to Daughter: Oh, you won't like it.

(It was actually surprising to watch who ate the couscous, and who chose to eat the standard BBQ food of coleslaw and potato salad).

Host to Me (we've never met): So what made you go vegan?
Me: Well...(insert usual banter here)
Host: (actually the host must have decided that I was quite boring and turned away and appeared to not be interested in the question that SHE asked!)

Sigh,

Tahn

Taking a short break

2010-06-04T09:07:00.000+10:00

I know I have been rather behind on my food blogging of late. It's about to get worse! I've got a new focus starting TODAY and it involves weight loss (you can read about it on my other blog Fat Chance). Since weight loss is the main theme, I doubt very much whether I will have any scrumptious foods to share with you (if I do, you'll be the first to know!!).

So, wish me luck, maybe leave me some encouraging comments on my Fat Chance blog where I have vowed to post daily (albeit briefly) about my progress. I shall return in no time - a new, healthier, more confident Tahnea.

I'll be back.

Tahn

Photo Post

2010-05-30T13:27:00.000+10:00

Reinforcing the concept of lift at Scienceworks.

Scienceworks

More about aerodynamics

Art and Craft show - refashioning a pair of pants

This lady was such an awesome help.

Embellishing a jacket

This is where his love of the sewing machine began

The final product - a bag made from a tee shirt. The only thing YM didn't do was sew the zip

A wasabi peanut competition - who could eat the most at one time!

It was a hoot! (I didn't join in!)

I think we got to 15 wasabi peanuts at one time!

Organ Pipes National Park

Climbing up quietly to see what was in the box

Jackson's river (I think from memory) at the NP. We got to see some fairy wrens we had previously learnt about which was pretty exciting.

Asparagus and Edamame Bisque

2010-05-20T21:59:00.000+10:00

Tonights dinner was dee-lish! It came from 1000 Vegan Recipes (p. 167).

I LOVE soups. Mostly because I am lazy and love to just throw everything into one pot and sit and wait. Yesterday we had Corn and Potato Chowder (p. 165) and I've got another 3 soups planned (I already have the ingredients which makes things even simpler) for the next few meals.

Baby has been playing with the camera. Sometimes the kids manage to get a good photo.

I've also been playing with the camera. It happens every now and then. (Isn't my lil man handsome!)

We were all outside enjoying the Melbourne Autumn sun doing some homeschooling. LOVING homeschooling!

Tahn

It's here!

2010-05-18T10:33:00.000+10:00

My copy of Ani Phyo's new book 'Ani's Raw Food Essentials' has arrived this very morning!

It was $19.98 from The Book Depository (with FREE delivery!). Don't pay more than that, fellow Aussies (it will be interesting to see how much they put the price up here!).

Will let you know what I think of it soon (no chance to do more than flick through it as homeschooling comes first!- I liked what I saw when I flicked!)

Tahn

I'm a proud mama!

2010-05-17T23:00:00.001+10:00

I've got two new babies! I'm very happy! It has been a while since we have had any pets and I just LOOOOVE kittys!

So this proud mama is very, very proud to introduce our new members of the family:

Biggles

Trim

Aren't they beautiful?? Ok, so like any parent, I may just be a little biased!

We chose them from Lort Smith Animal Hospital on Sunday. They were in a cage together and I didn't want to split them up so we took both! (Poor Popeye is allergic to cats, but we are hoping that he will get used to them). I was under the opinion that they were brothers, but I think I must have made that up as their DOB differs on their documents.

Popeye named Biggles, after the famous literary aviator. We all agreed on Trim's name. One of our homeschooling stories was about Matthew Flinders' cat, Trim, who was a very intelligent cat. We are hoping our Trim is as smart as the cat he is named after. So far, he is very shy. He jumps at the slightest noise. Biggles, on the other hand, is very friendly and loves the attention. It's good to have that balance of pussy personalities I think.

Fortunately for us, both cats are toilet trained. They will also be exclusively inside cats mainly because we live on a VERY busy road with a VERY busy car wash business as our neighbour. Cats and cars are not a good combination. Also, I have a bit of an issue with cats killing wildlife outdoors. so inside cats they are.

Baby can't keep her hands off them!

YM can't wait for them to settle into our house so he can play with them!

Now having two gorgeous additions to our family has produced a DILEMMA for me. As a vegan, I am having a hard time having animal products in my house for the first time in over 2 years. I do realise that cats are not really made for vegan eating but I would love some ADVICE from my fellow vegan blogging cat owners - What do you feed your cats?

My initial, uninformed thoughts that I should continue feeding my kitty's on kitty food until they are 1. Then I was hoping to be able to introduce a bit of vegan food into their diet and maybe mix it in with their food. Something to research.

On a change of topic, my two home educated babies (the human kind not the kitty kind) have started a blog page called 'Adventures of our homeschooled superheroes'. Their first post was about the kittens and it is fabulous for their writing skills. I'm sure they would love it if you checked it out and left an encouraging comment (this will also help their understanding of writing for an audience).

Meow for now (oh, I feel a Super Troopers moment coming on meow)

Tahn

My new book and a COOL comment

2010-05-07T17:51:00.000+10:00

Today 'Ani's Raw Food Kitchen' arrived! It is funny that 2 days ago I was frantically writing out recipes before returning the book to the library in case I had a long wait from The Book Depository. But they get the books out to you so fast. I am excitedly waiting for her new book 'Raw Food Essentials' out in a few weeks.

I got an awesome comment yesterday from Ani Phyo herself!!! (well, ok, so maybe it was one of her 'party' but I feel good thinking it was really her!)

This is what she had to say about my blog post yesterday:

Seitahn, thanks so much for enjoying my books and for the post and photos! I'm so happy you're having fun making easy raw recipes. hope you'll enjoy the new one, out june 1...unless you're in LA. first event is tomorrow (3 weeks early!). more recipes and info on my website, along with cooking videos: http://www.AniPhyo.com. thanks again for the post and your support doll.

How cool is that!

Chuffed,

Tahn

Ani Phyo - Portobello Steaks on Brazil-Broccoli Mash with Mushroom Sauce

2010-05-06T21:31:00.000+10:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had ordered a couple of Ani Phyo's raw cookbooks from The Book Depository. Excitedly, I received one today, Raw Desserts. Obviously from the title of this post this recipe did not come from my new acquisition. But I was lucky enough to borrow her Raw Food cook book from the library without too much of a wait. It was due back today, but I was unable to renew it as there is a bit of a list of people wanting to borrow it. So I quickly wrote out a few recipes to keep me occupied while I sit and wait patiently for my own copy to arrive!

Tonight I made the Marinated Portobello Steaks, which was really simple - the hardest part was waiting the 1-2 hours for the mushrooms to marinate and soften. The mushrooms sat on top of a bed of Brazil-Broccoli Mash. Another simple dish. A quick throw in the food processor. And lastly, the mushroom sauce - just a momentary mix in the blender. Voila!

It was delicious! The Brazil-Broccoli Mash was an interesting flavour. Definitely one that needed 'something' to go with it and it was perfect with the mushrooms. The kids did not like it by itself, but as a part of the combination it was great. The mushroom sauce around the edge was tasty and I ended up adding quite a bit more to my plate. I am really looking forward to trying a lot more savoury raw meals as I tend to stick to the sweet stuff.

Other recipes from her book I have tried are the Almond Mylk which is so easy and delicious and no straining required. A couple of her 'puddings' were yummy, 'Luscious Lemon Pudding' and 'Almond Pudding' usually we ate them at lunch and they kept me full for a good three hours.

I also made her 'breakfast pancakes' made primarily with flax seeds. I made the blueberry syrup she recommends and topped it with bananas. Very nice and filling.

Can't wait for my copy of her cookbook to arrive, especially her new one out VERY soon.

Enjoying the RAW,

Tahn

Cheap Books, FREE Delivery!!

2010-04-28T19:17:00.001+10:00

I may already be preaching to the converted but I am sure there are some of you who were 'out of the loop' just as I was!

The Book Depository is awesome! It has FREE delivery WORLDWIDE! WOW! That's huge!! (I find the postage for overseas such a killer!)

And they have an awesome range of books. I've just ordered

For $17.98 (remember free delivery!)

for $18.08

and her new book out in a couple of weeks time:

$19.98

So Cheap!!

I had a look at some of the books I already own and I have found the cost to be about HALF PRICE compared to what I have paid in Melbourne! Can you believe that???

For example:

I bought

For $29.95 in the city but it is only $14.98 on Book Depository! (FREE delivery!)

This one cost me $29.95 also here but is only $13.48 on Book Depository!

Do I need to go on??

Make sure you change the currency selection to Australian Dollars (only if you live in Oz, BTW!) and see whether you can control yourself!

In case you are wondering, I have actually ordered from them before and have not had any problems with delivery. In fact, it was quite prompt.

And no, I am not getting any commission for the review (although that would be nice!)

Tahn

Nachos from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah

2010-04-25T20:30:00.001+10:00

We've all tried making nachos of some description before, but tonight I wanted to try the recipe from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah by Ryan Splint and Vanessa Johnson. This cool cookbook arrived on the day I was leaving to go to Bali in January so I didn't have time to have a good look at it.

The nachos recipe (p. 34) consists of a few different recipes and I used the Taco and Burrito Fill (p. 33) - except I used a tin of Sanitarium Casserole Mince (I have a heap of them lying around!) instead of TVP. I also wanted to try the Cheese Sauce (I'm always up for a new variation of recipes I usually use), p. 5 and Almost Sour Cream (p.10). I had a jar of salsa, so I used that and topped it with spring onions.

The nachos were delicious! All the kids scoffed them up even though they had a little bite to them (not nearly as much as the recipe calls for, though!) - they must be getting used to it! Time to turn the heat up a bit!

For dessert I whipped up the rest of the silken tofu (that I used for the sour cream) into a whipping cream and a peach crumble, both recipes from 1000 Vegan recipes. mmmmmmm

New foods, homeschool fun and a birthday

2010-04-18T22:25:00.000+10:00

Wow, have I been busy of late! New recipes have been tried, not photos have not been gotten. I'll be honest and call it as it is - laziness! Here's a meal we had just the other night that I did take out 5 minutes to click away before stuffing it lovingly into my gob!

Country Fried Tofu with Golden Gravy (1000 Vegan Recipes, P. 285) with Szechuan String Beans (Vegan Planet, P. 196) and of course, sweet, sweet corn!

Well, officially we started home schooling one week ago. We are having so much fun. One topic, which began with a reading book called 'Granny Grasshead' ended up with us making our own grassheads. We had a ball making these on the back lawn with a heap of supplies. A few weeks later here is what they look like:

Tweenie's grasshead

YM's grasshead

Baby's grasshead

And, yep, even I made one! The best thing about homeschooling is learning shoulder-to-shoulder with my kids!

Recently it was Baby's 8th birthday and she wanted a chocolate cake. 'No problems,' I said as I picked up my favourite go-to book '1000 Vegan Recipes' by Robin Robertson and I came across the perfect cake for her.

This is the most delicious 'Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake' (P. 445). It has three different sections - the cake, the mousse in the middle and a chocolate ganache on top. Ch Ch Chocolate overload!

Happy birthday my beautiful baby girl. Why do you have to grow up so fast?

Tahn

I've been censored!

2010-04-16T22:17:00.000+10:00

Not in a major way, just enough to annoy.

On a forum I have recently joined (nothing to do with food/veganism etc - miles away from this topic) someone posted a rather yummy sounding vegetarian wonton recipe. The only thing not suitable for vegans was the inclusion of a single egg.

So I posted a comment saying how yummy it sounded but suggested that people replace the egg with no egg replacer because the egg wasn't used as a binder and in brackets I wrote "It's a chicken's period, people!!" followed by two emoticons - one of a green 'sick' face and the other of someone covering their ears saying lalalalala.

Nothing but the truth, right? Seems this was taken as offensive and before long a moderator had taken down "It's a chicken's period, people" as well as the two following emoticons. The rest was left.

Now, I gotta tell ya, I was pissed. There is another thread started by someone letting people know they are going to be buying a bulk lot of some sort of animal (pig I think) and asking if anyone was interested in buying the meat from them. Why isn't this censored? I don't agree with the topic, and it is against my beliefs but did I put in a complaint? What annoys me the most is that I don't feel there was anything offensive about what I said, rather it was the truth and I find it frustrating that people are trying to hide the truth.

I think the 'censorship bar' must be set REALLY low if this is what they feel they have to censor.

And to quote Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe 'I actually feel more comfortable with people eating meat if they can face up to what they are doing than those who can't bear to think of the poor animals they are eating.'
Well said, Johanna - I couldn't agree more!

Reminds me of the issue I had at xmas.

I feel better now, thanks for letting me vent!

Tahn

A New Dehydrator and Old Food Photos

2010-03-21T00:10:00.000+11:00

A few weeks ago I splashed out and bought a 9 tray Excalibar dehydrator! I was so excited, it was a purchase I that had been on my wish list for a while. We have put it to great use, drying mountains of apples, zucchinis, pears, peaches, grapes and more. It has pride of place in my kitchen - I have moved my almost unused microwave and put the dehydrator in its place!

apples with cinnamon sprinkled on. Mmmmm

zucchini chips with moroccan seasoning. Too good.

The following are some old photos (when I say old, only from when we returned from Bali! So not that old really.) Just trying to catch up.

A crepe from Vegan Brunch, if my memory serves me!

Walnut bikkies from 1000 Vegan recipes

A tiffin lunch for the kids. On the left is a spaghetti sauce I spent AGES making.

The sauce.

Semolina Potatoes for breakfast.

An absolutely DELICIOUS burger! The patty was out of 1000 Vegan recipes and I made the bun.

I made peach jam!!!!! My first jam ever, and so good! I gave some to the next door neighbour and Popeye's mum with a loaf of freshly made bread. Oh and the same to my vegan friends in Frankston.

A raw breakfast. It ROCKS! It's called Raw Porridge. Soak a couple of handfuls of nuts (I like peans, cashews and almonds) overnight. Soak a handful of sultanas for 20 minutes, then place nuts, sultanas and chopped apple into food processor. I topped it with chia seeds and ground flaxseeds. Very filling.

A raw school lunch.

Raw Chocolate! Not bad, quite fudgey. I chopped it and add it to our banana icecream. 1T coconut oil, 1 -and-a-half T of agave, mix. Add 1t vanilla, mix. Add 2T cocao, mix. Pour into a small container lined with glad wrap and put in the freezer for a while. Mmmmmm

My raw 'diet' went really well for about 9 days. I was really enjoying it and feeling great. I have had a LOT of difficulty keeping up with making different meals for everyone - cooked for the kids and raw for me. The kids ate a lot of raw too, but I was still making them a cooked meal once a day (for lunch). By the time I had cooked their meal, I couldn't be bothered making something raw for myself. So now I am still about 60-70% raw. I would love to go more, but I think I need to go a bit slower, to slip the kids into this way of life. I think Baby does better on a raw diet. She often complains after a meal "feel how hot my tummy is. Feel my head." When she was eating a lot of raw with me she did not complain. Maybe with them homeschooling things will be a bit easier, because I can just make us all a smoothie or something. It's a bit tricky to send a fresh smoothie to school with them!

Speaking of homeschooling, Steph asked why I decided to homeschool my kids. There a a lot of reasons, and I will jot them down on my next blog entry. I have really noticed an improvement with Tweenie and her attitude and love towards her sister. (she hasn't committed to h/s yet, but I hope she does!) Tweenie, as lovely as she is, is often in trouble for her pre-teen attitude towards us, and everything else. Also she rarely has the time of the day for Baby, often stating that she hates her. She has little tolerance for Baby's differences and is always being quite nasty to her. Well, for the week or so Tweenie has been home she has been an ABSOLUTE DELIGHT!!! I'm not over exaggerating! She has played amazingly well with Baby, helping her with her work and including her in everything! Just goes to show how much crap she brings home with her from school. (so there is reason number 1 for homeschooling!!) Here is a picture of Baby and Tweenie working together to make a yummy fruit smoothie. They blended each fruit up individually and wanted to layer it.

Oh the joy!

Tahn

Freaky Family

2010-03-18T08:42:00.000+11:00

So much has been going on 'round here! For the most part, though, I have been able to keep up with everyones blogs - just haven't had time (or the inclination, really) to keep up with mine!

I've decided to add another freaky factor to our already freaky family (we already are viewed by others as 'a bit weird' because we are passionate vegans). I am going to homeschool my children.

Officially we are starting next term and the children are to finish off this term at school (Popeye's suggestion). Unofficially, we have started and they kids have stayed home here and there during the last few weeks.

It is totally legal in ALL states in Australia, and particularly easy to register in Victoria. You only need to send off a form for the Government to keep track of you and your children. No checks, no planning to show, no home visits, nothing.

Yesterday all three kids stayed home and we had a fantastic day. We watched a doco about hippopotamuses (which the kids loved! They now have an amazing fascination with documentaries!). Tweenie took notes and we discussed it all the way through. They had a couple of questions they wanted answered, so Tweenie wrote those down as well. When it had finished we wrote the questions on the whiteboard and they all chose one to research. Then they made little hippo books and wrote some hippo facts into it. This will be the start of our 'animal' themed lapbooks.

Then we went out to the shed. Popeye had a couple of boxed shelves he bought ages ago but never put together. Tweenie and YM were told to work together to assemble one, and Baby and I worked on the other. Baby and I worked really well - actually she did most of the work, I just facilitated. Tweenie and YM eventually got there, and learnt a lot along the way about working as a team, trying not to get frustrated, reading instructions carefully!

Next we went inside and worked together to make some lunch and do the dishes followed by watching another doco (this one on the giant octopus). After lunch Tweenie worked on her school project and YM and Baby individually read to me (Growing Granny Grasshead) and then they wrote directions on how to make a grasshead. Today I'll try and get the materials needed and they can make it themselves.

We watched yet another doco (I told you they loved them!) about black bears. Then I read a chapter of 'The Wishing Chair' By Enid Blyton (I just love how the children speak in those old books!!). Lastly we all went to the park (Popeye had made the long journey home to see us last night) and played a couple of games - S.P.U.D -which we changed to P.O.O to make the game go quicker; hospital tag; and dodgeball tag. So much fun!!

What a day! So much learning! So much fun! And our family is learning to love, respect and appreciate each other more. I love it!

Changing track a bit...I decided to go RAW for 90 days about 9 days ago. I have been going great guns! Not feeling hungry or left out. Lost 2 kgs. Yesterday, when the kids and I were making lunch I really just felt like some cooked food, so I had a bit of the lunch followed by a heap of lollies :( Oh well, back on track today. I don't feel bad about the cooked food - I figure I can have that whenever I feel like it- rather the lollies. I haven't even had any cravings for sugar all week. I think it was the all or nothing mentality. I ate cooked, so why not eat some other forbidden foods too!

Never mind, today is a new day!

Tahn

Bali Part II

2010-03-08T18:23:00.001+11:00

Boy have I had it with Blogger! I was very tempted to turn to Word Press today, although when I tried to download the zipped file (for Word Press) I couldn't work it out (in my defence we were on the way out, so I didn't spend to much time on it!). My issue with Blogger is still the photos issue- it won't recognise newly uploaded photos from iphoto- even if I turn it off and restart it! Grrr! This is why I have not posted so much! So I just worked out a L-O-N-G way of getting them to be able to be uploaded. So annoying, but they are here!

Here are the rest of my Bali photos. I am going to overload you with photos today, hope you don't mind! They are my favourite ones - some about food, others about fun. I hope you enjoy!

This is one of my meals at an Indian restaurant BEFORE I discovered where the locals eat! It was nice, just not very exciting.

As you know, I rarely include photos of myself (I HATE photos of myself!) but I just HAD TO include this one! The Buzz Lightyear backpack was what I was using to carry my stuff around Bali. After making a couple of purchases at this market stall, the lady asked if she could have the backpack for her son who was starting his FIRST day of school the next day. It didn't take long to convince me (how could I deny that request??) and I unloaded all of my stuff into the big black plastic bag she gave me. Little did I know that I would not be able to find a new backpack that I liked (for quite a few days actually!!) and I had to carry ALL my stuff from Poppy's Lane back to our hotel a few hours later!

Here we were at Water Bom Park which was directly across from our hotel! (We ended up coming here twice!). Tweenie had ordered Gado Gado once before and liked it, so she thought I would be a good veg option here. Unfortunately this version was waaaaayyyyyy too hot for her (and they had mixed in egg to it). As you can tell from the look on her face she did not enjoy it!

Snakefruit

Rambutan

Mangosteen

Tamarillo

Tweenie trying some fruit. There was also mangos, passionfruits among others

These photos are all at the start of the BEST day I had in Bali. We were picked up and driven out of Bali for about an hour before we stopped here. This was only the first stop for the day. There was coffee and hot cocoa testing (which I didn't try because I hate hot drinks) before we moved onto this section where we could taste all of this amazing fruit and then purchase it for about $A1 per kilo! The range was amazing and exotic! I ended up purchasing quite a few kilos of fruit which we happily munched on for days!

On the ground near the fruit were these chilli's drying in the sun. Such brilliant colours.

They also sold this AMAZING chocolate! All VEGAN! I bought 2 blocks (and didn't take long to gobble it all up!).

We were then taken to the restaurant at the bottom of the volcano for breakfast. It was here that I discovered Pineapple Jam! One of the workers raced up to the local mart and bought me 2 jars of it (which I ate before we left Bali - it was a delicious addition to the hotel's breakfasts).

The main event of the day was a couple of hours bike ride through some local villages. My whole family and a couple of my aunt's friends went along for this adventure (there were 13 of us all together). It was sooooo much fun! The bloke who runs it uses locals to help out when they have a big group. The business was called Celebrity Cycling Tours and I highly recommend them. Riding through the little villages with children waving and shouting 'Hello' to us was great! It was the 'culture shock' I was aiming for with my kids. They loved it too and had no trouble with cycling for that long (it does help that our bikes are our main source of transport here!).

This was THE highlight of the day. We completed the ride by stopping at the tour owner's house where his mum and sister had cooked a feast for us. When we booked (the cycling tour) we let them know that 4 of us were vegan and they said it would be no problem catering for us. I was AMAZED at the wonderful array of vegan food available to eat - it was at least 50-50 with omni food (I was preparing myself for rice and a veggie dish). The other bonus was that a lot of the others didn't like the fresh coconut so I gorged myself with fine food and extra coconut milk. If you ever go to Bali, go on this cycling tour! I can't recommend them highly enough!

Ugg! Sorry for the direction of the photo! Mongoo chocolate from the department store next to the hotel (we stayed at the Bali Garden Resort) as recommended by Lisa.

Awesome local food parcels by the pool of the hotel! This is what we lived on for lunch and dinner once I discovered where the local food was! Each parcel was less than $A1!!!!!!!!!

This was at the monkey forest. Sooo cute!! I was a bit reluctant to go here, thinking it was some sort of exploited zoo, but it turns out that they are free. There were so many monkeys!

After the monkey forest (which was after the wood carving place- they are amazing carvers!) our driver took us to Tanna Lot. It is a fascinating temple built in the ocean that can only be accessed during low tide. We wanted to get there for sunset (as did a million other tourists!) as the sun sets directly behind the temple providing a beautiful backdrop.

Although the picture quality isn't the best, I love this photo! It is of us with my Aunty Tina, Uncle Mike and their grandson Dylan (who they care for full time). They are my favourite relations and were my rock when all the shit blew up with my (ex) family. Love you all!

So there you have it....the best pics of my time in Bali. Of course there are a million and one other photos (I WAS there for 12 days) but rather than bore you with them (like a grandma with baby photos!) I have chosen the ones that mean the most to me. Hope you enjoyed them.

Tahn

Bali Part I

2010-02-28T00:12:00.002+11:00

Seems like ages since I posted! Every now and then blogger doesn't recognise any of the new photos that I upload and I have to restart my computer. But to restart my computer means I have to close the million and one web page tabs that I have opened! So that's why I haven't posted. Good enough reason?

Anyway, finally a post about Bali. As I've gone to type this I have remembered that half of the photos are on the little netbook that I took with me (I missed my Mac though!) so I'll have to get my act together and transfer them onto my Mac and post again.

When we first arrived in Bali it was early in the day and we needed to wait until the afternoon to get into our rooms. What better way to waste a day than in the pool around the bar! The girls were itching for a coconut drink and spend their first rupiahs on one.

Next door the the hotel (we stayed at Bali Garden) was a restaurant that had vegan food specifically labelled on the menu.

Both of these dishes were very nice but it was expensive and not local food. The downfall of the restaurant (well all of them in fact) was that smoking was allowed at the tables. So my inconsiderate sister and B-I-L decided to chain smoke between dishes (and thoughtfully shared the smoke) and I found that really disgusting! Not only were my 3 children there, but also my nephew (my sister's boy), my second cousin (who's about 5) plus my mother and myself who are non smokers! So very rude I thought!

A few days after getting there we found the delicious and cheap local food and gave all the deep fried Western food a miss (sorry, most photos on the netbook!). Eventually we found this amazing fruit salad, which cost well less than $A1!

Jump forward to the last day and the girls decided to get their hair plaited before we left. We also got manicures and I got a pedicure. YM just got bored!

Don't think that YM missed out! He and I spent a few hours together surfing!

Mum and son time!

Sorry that it is such a jumbled post! I took 2 cameras with me - a little point-and-shoot as well as my good camera. I started off with my good camera but I found it way too much trouble to carry it around in the heat and changed to my little camera. That's why the photos are a bit higglty pigglty but I'll fill in the gaps on the next post.

Tahn

Hearty Breakfasts

2010-02-11T23:49:00.001+11:00

I recently told you about how we are having a hearty breakfast in the mornings, a good-sized lunch and a small dinner. It seems to be working really well and the kids are loving the lunches that don't involve sandwiches!

Here are some breakfasts we have been enjoying.

This was amazingly delicious! I was inspired by Green and Crunchy's breakfast sundae post and made it for us all. So good! This will definitely be on our regular rotation. Very sweet - just the way I like it!

This were called Johnny Cakes and they come from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. They were made with polenta and were good! Robin suggests drizzling them with maple syrup, but I had none, so I sprinkled them with coconut sugar.

I like breakfast muffins. These again came from Robin Robertson's creative mind and were Banana and Walnut Breakfast Muffins. I had no walnuts so I used almonds. And I actually forgot to add the sugar into them and they were still good.

This morning I made 2 giant batches of pancakes - one lot of Flaxseed Blueberry and the other was Spiced Banana, both from Robin again but this time from her Vegan Planet book. I didn't take a picture because I was running a bit late as I was heading off to my first day back to work.

Notice a theme here? They are all sweet! We do actually have savoury types of breakfasts, like scrambles, but we much prefer the sweeter side of life.

On another topic, Girl on Raw has a giveaway from Living Raw Magazine Australia. Go check it out if you want to win!

Tahn

Tempeh Shopping

2010-02-10T10:14:00.001+11:00

Last weekend I wanted to test out a dish that I am hoping to take to Steph and Danni's Chinese New Year's Eve vegan pot luck (is that still on???) and I needed tempeh. I was sure that last time I purchased said product it was from the Wooloworths/Safeway down the road. Obviously not!

Panicked, and wondering where the hell I got it from, I called on my old friend, the internet. Nothing came up locally (there MUST be more than 1 decent health food shop in my locality!), but I was inspired to jump in my car (seriously! I NEVER use my car!) and head to Vincent Vegetarian Food in Footscray.

My trusty GPS showed me the way and before I knew it, I was staring at freezers and shelves lined with mock meats! Now, I have had this discussion before somewhere, but my take on the whole mock meat thing is this: I am not trying to replace anything that I 'gave up', rather I find it fascinating and exciting that we have the ability to create some really amazing foods. I don't even dwell on the fact that it is supposed to represent meat in any way, I just enjoy the novelty (which is another point about processed foods - it is something we do very infrequently). So what I am trying to say is DON'T HATE.

Anyways, I picked up a couple of things (how could I not, especially after driving there) as well as the mysterious tempeh.

I made a rather tasty coconut cream dish with the 'seafood' and also tried out the pot luck dish (which was a keeper, too). I bought the packet of BBQ Char Siew (Siu) to try as Steph tried the one I usually use and said it was average. And since I am definitely NO expert on Char Siu, I thought I would try another brand!

Can anyone tell me of a closer place to purchase tempeh and other goodies instead of having to use my car to go to Footscray? I'm looking at Preston, Northcote, Thornbury, Brunswick, even Fitzroy areas (as a matter of fact, I can go as far as the city, I can ride my bike that far!). I know there are plenty out there, but because I am relatively new here (BTW how long can I get away with saying that? I've been in the Northern Suburbs for a year now and Melbourne for two years. Is it time to stop the helpless newbie victim talk??) I do not know where they are and which ones are good. It is usually only by the roll of the internet that I stumble across anything.

Now I know you are waiting for my Bali post(s), but the truth is that I am putting it off because of sheer laziness! I have to transfer the photos from my little net book (so no disk drive) to my Mac and although it probably will be quite quick and simple, I haven't got my head in that space yet. Nearly...

Tahn

First Tiffin Lunch and First Day Back to School

2010-02-05T09:45:00.001+11:00

Hey all! We are back!

We got back very, very early Wednesday morning and I have spent the last few days catching up on some sleep (and washing!!). More about Bali, our holiday and their food next time.

Today the kids went back to school. They really wanted to go yesterday but they were still up and down at all hours of the night before that, so I let them sleep in and they didn't wake up until well after 11am!

I got up early this morning to prepare some lunch, then breakfast for the day. For lunch I roasted some cauliflower, steamed some broccoli and made a batch of mac 'n cheeze to put in their tiffins.

YM's tiffin is made up ready for school in the back and Baby's tiffin has been pulled apart to show the contents.
As it is the first time we have used them, I am not sure how warm they will keep the food (although my kids will eat this stuff cold anyways) nor do I know how secure the tiffins themselves are (fingers crossed for no mess in school bags!). If it doesn't keep the food at least a little warm, then it isn't really much better than individual containers (except that I am not using plastic). I'll keep you informed.

I briefly met the kids' teachers this morning. I mentioned to Tweenie's teacher that I would be back in in a week or so to have a chat to him. He said that parent/teacher conferences were coming up in a few weeks anyway. I said that's fine, but I wanted to discuss stuff other than education such as our veganism and I got an odd look! The look said 'I have no idea what you are talking about'!! At least it wasn't 'bloody crazy hippy'! so there is a little hope!

Well, I still have a lot of housework catch-up to do around here. Back to it.

Tahn

On Holiday

2010-01-21T01:36:00.000+11:00

I lay here, in Perth, Victoria Park, at my Aunties house, next to Tweenie, bleery eyed. I'm knackered from my flight here yesterday, lack of sleep and in less than 3 hours I need to be up again, organising kids, jumping in a taxi to the International Airport, off to Bali.

Nothing to complain about, really!

So very excited!

Tahn

New routine

2010-01-18T07:40:00.001+11:00

Since I posted about changing our meals around (BIG breakfast, Medium cooked lunch, very small dinner) we have been keeping up with the new routine and are enjoying it.
A typical day looks like this:
Breakfast - cooked- tofu scramble, modge (don't ask - Popeye's concoction!),pancakes (chocolate chip, berry), French toast

This is Very Vanilla French Toast from 1000 Vegan Recipes (p. 519). Delicious!
We are still coming up with large breakfast ideas, but with my new cookbook I recently purchased 'Vegan Brunch', I am sure we will have heaps of ideas.

Lunch: We have had big cooked meals such as pasta and sauce, Edamame Donburi (1000 vegan recipes, p. 263)- sorry no photo of this, it was eaten too quickly!, fried rice. It's been a sit down affair because everyone is on holidays and we can. Afterwards (and before the dishes) we've played a family card game (such as one of our million packs of Top Trumps, or Monopoly Deal - our favourite card game at the moment). On Friday I found some tiffins at the shop next door to La Panella Bakery (who are closing for a holiday in the middle of February in case you were unaware - from the 17th I think) which I was very excited about. I had tried finding tiffins in the Indian grocery stores previously with no luck. When the kids return to school, they will be able to have warm lunches instead of boring, boring sandwiches.

Dinner: No photos here either, but we have just been having smoothies! At about half five, we have all gone up to a local park to play games, relays etc for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours (the adults are burning 500-700 calories!!). It has been so much fun!! Great bonding, great exercise! So far our favourite game is one we adapted from a website. We have called it 'Catch a Sneak' although Tweenie is determined to get us all to call it 'Sneaky Buggers' which is a pretty cool name too! It is a great laugh!
When we get back the kids run through the shower (more calories?? haha), and I get out my favourite kitchen appliance, the food processor, and throw in a heap of fruit, some flaxseed oil/ ground flaxseeds (depending on the flavour of the smoothie), sometimes pea protein powder, last night was fresh coconut and milk (oooo, the small chunks were delicious!). On Saturday I went to the market to grab a heap of fruit that could be frozen specifically for our smoothies. So our freezer is chock full of passionfruit, peaches, nectarines, oranges, bananas, apricots, strawberries etc.
Sometimes I have given a handful of almonds to have with the smoothie, or a raw ball. After dinner is another game, followed by dishes, teeth and bed.
Things have been working out well on our new routine. Not sure how it will go later, after a holiday in Bali and then we come back to school and work, but we are going to try. I'll keep you updated.

And now for something completely different:

There is some E.A.T World (eating around the world) action happening here, if you are interested.

Tahn

Balls, Balls and More Balls

2010-01-17T22:11:00.001+11:00

Every since Popeye gave me his food processor I haven't stopped whipping up a batch a balls every couple of days. They usually don't last out more than 2 days around here with all kids on holidays, Popeye home and me - the worst culprit!!

Some I have just thrown all sorts together to make healthy raw balls

Others have been planned a little better

Both of these are from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. On the left are Chocolate Macadamia Clusters (p. 512) and on the right are Date and Cashew Nut Truffles (p. 513). Both are good, but my favourite is the orange looking ones on the right - they are rolled in ground cashews. Yum, yum, yum!

These delicious balls are Apricot-Walnut Balls from 1000 Vegan Recipes (p. 444) also by Robin Robertson.
There have been countless other 'freehand' balls that didn't quite make it to be photographed.

And now for something different:

Our first harvest of plums! Some more are still baking on the tree and should be ready (along with a MOUNTAIN of grapes) when we return from Bali. We are all very excited! (For Bali, and the grapes). We are off to Perth on Tuesday, and leave for Bali early Thursday morning. I've never been to Bali, and it is the first time the kids have been overseas! Exciting times ahead!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

2010-01-15T22:09:00.000+11:00

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes...

Need I say more?

Tahn

Honeydew Coconut Tapioca

2010-01-14T21:07:00.000+11:00

This is the first time we have ever tried tapioca. It's a little bit interesting! The kids took a dehydrated ball outside and said it was bouncy! It was really filling.

I served mine in my Warnbro Primary School (W.A) glass I got when I when left teaching at that school.

It's from Vegan Yum Yum (pg. 232)

Tahn

Seitan Kebabs

2010-01-13T22:23:00.000+11:00

I had a go at making seitan the other day (well, technically I made it once before as a roast for Christmas) and turned into Kebabs (1000 Vegan recipes).
I made the marinade and left the veges and seitan in for a while to soak up the flavour. Turned out really nice, but YM was not a big fan. We used the peach chutney on the side (that chutney was soo good!)

It was such a lovely night we decided to eat it outside. The tent was up in our usual eating spot so we had to set up further down the back of the yard. Unfortunately, it was just far enough back to keep getting massive wafts of car wash wax which was spoiling my dinner (I have a car wash on one side of me - can get quite annoying at 3 in the morning on a Friday/Saturday night when pissed people want to wash their cars- noisily! Who the fuck washes their car at 3 in the morning, I ask you??!!)

Anyways, the salad was a couscous salad which was actually called Golden Couscous Salad (1000 Vegan Recipes, Pg. 86) and used all things yellow-ish only I didn't have any yellow capsicum. So I put in red capsicum and we called it sunset salad - which we think is a far better name!

Today we went for a bit of a play at the park, as we do a few times a week. It was heaps of fun (it always is) but we often compromise our dinner meal. Or we have it REALLY late. But I had a brain wave tonight (and I am sure lots of other people do this - but as usual I am only just getting it now!)

Previous to this thought, I decided that I want to get up earlier and do heaps of stuff rather than stay up really late, do nothing but watch the box, and struggle in the morning. On that really hot day I was awake at 4am and up at 5am. I pottered really slowly around the house, cleaning up and generally having some time to myself - but productive time. So this is what I am slowly going to aim for when I get back from Bali. By that time, Popeye will be back at work and commuting back and forth from Cerberus every second day or so and will have to leave VERY early in the mornings to get back to work so it will work quite well I hope.

Anyway, the thought. Usually after late arvo exercise no one really wants to eat a huge meal, let alone cook one. So I am hoping to change our meals around (from the way I have been brought up - we tend to follow that example, don't we??). So, I will (hopefully) get up early, make a BIG breakfast, have a MEDIUM sized lunch (stuff we would usually have for dinner), and after the kids do some homework, we can go out for some fun and exercise and come home, shower the kids and have a LIGHT dinner such as a smoothie in summer and a thin soup in winter. I hope it works.

I get my hair-brained schemes from my mum! She is always coming up with something, reading something, or trying something. Not all things stick, though! Some things are just great thoughts!

We'll see how we go! It sounds good in theory...

Tahn

Pasta and home made parmesan

2010-01-13T08:19:00.000+11:00

Having a few eggplants sitting on my bench for a while, I wondered what I was going to make with it. I'm not a huge fan of eggplant but I do like trying to find new things to do with it. I found Roasted Eggplant and Caramelized Onion Marinara in Vegan Yum Yum (p. 267). Anything with the words 'Caramelized Onion' in the title is going to be good! And it was! And really easy to make.

I had seen a home made parmesan cheese recipe in 1000 Vegan Recipes so I quickly whipped up a batch of Parmasio (p. 193). This stuff is really good! It adds a fantastic flavour to the pasta. I doesn't overly taste like parmesan, but MUCH better IMHO.

I quickly made half a batch and it has lasted well in the fridge.

Tahn

Guest Post by YM : Pancakes

2010-01-11T17:57:00.000+11:00

I made pancakes
and they were yumy
I made them by my self.

Lonan

A Day of Fun and Food

2010-01-10T23:14:00.004+11:00

We've all had such a fun day today!
This morning Popeye said to me, "What do you want to do today?' I said, "I want to play games with my kids all day.' And that's what we did.

First Baby wanted to make breakfast pancakes (and she is still learning to cook, read recipes, use the hotplates etc, so that usually means I get to cook!). Instead of doing the trusty pancake recipe that Tweenie and YM make (by themselves) I can't help myself and I have to try a different recipe.

I chose Spiced Apple Pancakes from 100 Vegan Recipes (p. 515) which turned out to be a long process (mostly because Baby was 'making' them, so it always goes slower!).

It was well worth the wait. Very, very nice. The apple topping was good!

Then we decided to have a game of Earthopoly (which is like monopoly but focuses on the earth). The whole game is earth-friendly. The board, money and cards are printed with soy inks. The game pieces are recycled bits and bobs. And you collect Carbon Credits instead of houses. Very cool.
Normally when we play we use the 1 hour game rules to make it fast, but today we played the WHOLE game from start to finish! It was well past 6pm when we actually had a winner (Popeye was declared the overall winner - he kicked our butts!).

We stopped for lunch and I made some burgers with left over bits and pieces in the fridge. After a short break we resumed play.

Just near the end, when I finally got out, I decided to make us all banana icecream with a delicious Fudgy Chocolate Sauce (From 1000 Vegan Recipes, p. 498).

Amazingly good, and so quick and easy to make! I finished making it just as Popeye and Tweenie finished battling it out for the winner's title (it was always going to be Popeye, though!).

After eating the icecream we had a sudden urge to go for a bike ride after being inside all day. Popeye put his bike back together (after dismantling it to get it home from Sydney) and off we went. We stopped at the Velodrome in Brunswick and ended up having fun competing against ourselves in 'time trials'. Popeye's back brakes got stuck on and he had to ride it all the way home like that!

We didn't feel like much for dinner and I wished I had made another batch of Uncheese so we could have toasties (I thought of this because I was flicking through The Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak trying to find a G/F recipe to take to the next potluck with a 'cheese' theme for Kristy who has just discovered she is coeliac). I came across Gooey Grilled Cheez (pg.141) which was a really quick recipe to make a gooey filling for toasties. Very cool.

The kids are still all sleeping in the tent (I had told them the tent pulling-down day was today, but after hearing it is going to be 43 degrees (that is, F@*K'N HOT) I left it up just in case I can't sleep in the house tomorrow night). I think they are all stuffed (as are we!!)

Tahn

PS:For Johanna
Tomato and Peach Relish (from 1000 Vegan Recipes)

1T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1T maple syrup or agave nectar
1 pound ripe tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
2-3 sweet peaches, pitted and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4C dark or golden raisins
2t grated fresh ginger
1/2t ground cinnamon
1/4t crushed red pepper

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and add onion and cook until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat, covered, for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The tomatoes and peaches should be tender but not mushy.
Taste, adjusting the seasonings if necessary, then simmer, uncovered, over very low heat for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature before serving. If not using right away, cover and refrigerate until needed. Properly stored, this relish will keep for 2-3 days.

Oh How I Love Thee, Summer Fruit:Peaches 3 Ways

2010-01-09T21:09:00.000+11:00

Last week I bought a heap of peaches cheap at the markets and once I got them home my thoughts turned to how I was going to use them up.

I flicked through my cookbooks and found a chutney and a relish in 1000 Vegan recipes. I would never have thought about making them pre-vegan. Hot, cooked fruit? No way! (especially sultanas!). But I put my prejudices aside, gave these a go, and was very pleasantly surprised.

Firstly I made Spiced Tomato and Peach Relish. (pg. 570). It recommends Chickpea and Vegetable Loaf (on pg. 265) as a fantastic dish to have with the relish as an accompaniment. So I had to make that, too!

Then I made Ginger-Peach Chutney (pg. 564). This was the winner hands down! We had these with Kebabs (post to come later) but they just ROCKED as a spread on bread with Macadamia Cashew Patties (p. 119)!! It was like an orgasm in my mouth! Amazing!

Lastly, I stewed up the rest of the peaches and added them with some puff pastry to my pie maker with some Vegan Whipped Cream (p.501) on the side for an awesome, quick dessert.

My family are really enjoying my urge to cook!

Tahn

Banana Icecream - You just gotta try this!

2010-01-08T22:29:00.004+11:00

I have quite a few posts backed up ready to tell you about as I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. But this one just HAD to jump the queue!

Recently I posted about getting Popeye's food processor when he came home and a couple of days ago he brought it here for me to use. So FP has become my new best friend and I've been using her at least a couple of times a day since then (making the raw balls is sooo easy now!!)

Anyway, ages ago I stumbled across a post by Gena from Choosing Raw entitled 'This Post Will Change Your Life'.
It was about Banana Icecream which looked delicious but I couldn't attempt it at the time without a food processor. Well today was the day. And let me just say THIS POST CHANGED MY LIFE!!! I am serious! I have made it TWICE today (it is bloody hot here today). It shits on soy icecream! I am never buying soy icecream again (I can't, in all seriousness, actually back that up!). Here's what it looked like (the first batch was lunch for us all).

We had just gotten back from a walk to the markets and to stop the kids (well, Baby) whinging about having to carry a bag (of bread!) home (or should I say 'croutons' by the time it made it home!), I promised them I would make Banana Icecream (it worked). I had picked up a big bag of passionfruit for $1 and I knew I would top the icecream with it.

Oh man, so very, very good!

If you haven't already, you just have to try this one!

Tahn

Quiche and Salad

2010-01-07T20:49:00.001+11:00

Having loved Isa's broccoli quiche, and recently buying Vegan Brunch, I really wanted to try the cauliflower and red capsicum version of the original.

It was delicious, and can I say, possibly even better than the original (if that is at all possible!!). I really love this quiche the next day, straight out of the fridge.

The salad was also nice. I made Petite Pasta Salad (I have a mountain of cucumber to use up) from Vegan Lunch Box with cute little star pasta. Today at my local Foodworks I found some tiny alphabet pasta that I can't wait to try with something like a salad that really showcases the cuteness of the pasta shape.

Chocolate Pudding Parfaits

2010-01-06T20:38:00.000+11:00

I am really loving holidays (ok, so I didn't work too much last year, but technically it is holidays for me. I'll be working my butt off this year hopefully). So much time free allows me to make and bake and I am spending a heap of time in the kitchen.

For my first recipe out of my new book, Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson, I made Chocolate Pudding Parfaits. So rich and so good. A decadent dessert!

Tahn

Oh How I Love Thee, Summer Fruit:Blueberries

2010-01-05T22:11:00.000+11:00

Blueberries. I absolutely LOVE blueberries. As does Popeye. Come to think of it, YM has a 'thing' for them too, as he is constantly in and out of the fridge snacking on them.

So recently, when the blueberries were at a reasonable price, we grabbed quite a few punnets. Sunday morning rolled around and I knew EXACTLY what to make!

Banana and Blueberry Pancakes with a Blueberry Sauce.

Both recipes are from 1000 Vegan Recipes. The pancakes had 2 punnets of blueberries in them (I doubled the recipe) while I halved the sauce recipe and I used 1 punnet of blueberries in that. I was concerned that there wasn't going to be enough sauce for 2 lots of pancakes shared between the 5 of us, but we totally had it covered (sorry, I've got 'White Chicks' on the TV in the background and every second word is 'Totally'!).

So, I am technically home alone tonight. Popeye spent the day down in Hastings organising his flat, and didn't get finished so he is staying there tonight. The kids and I put up the tent in the back yard this afternoon, so unless the ghost stories scare the shit out of them, I'm going it alone.

Oh and I cleaned up my back room and lounge room today, so I'm enjoying the minimalist look (I guarantee you it will not last!!).

Tahn

Yum Yum Fun

2010-01-04T22:15:00.001+11:00

I decided to test out one of my new cookbooks on New Year's Day and I made a couple of dishes from Vegan Yum Yum. I made Corn Fritters as well as Candied Lime Sweet Potatoes. I also made Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Dillweed from 1000 Vegan Recipes (although minus the dill as I didn't have any and Popeye suggested that I use some lemon pepper seasoning).

The meal was really nice. The corn fritters were a little dry (the last few I have made have been a little dry also) but the excess syrup from the sweet potatoes added moisture and flavour. Ulm (the author) suggests 2 sweet potatoes for the candied lime recipe although I only used one large-ish one (I'm not sure what size sweet potatoes are in the US, but 2 was definitely WAY too much).

My memories of brussels sprouts are as a kid, with a boiled or steamed mess of mini cabbage-like green balls on my plate, being forced to eat them, sitting at the table for hours until I had, blocking my nose with one hand while nibbling and gagging on the sprout in the other, and eating cold, disgusting mush (we weren't allowed to reheat them). Two things have ultimately come out from those bad childhood experiences:
1. I never make my kids eat anything they don't like (although we have a 'two bites without a fight' policy. This means that they must take at least 2 decent bites of anything before they decide they actually don't like it - more often than not they actually do like it - they tend to be put off by the look of food. Having said that, my 2 fussy eaters - Baby and YM - are really no longer fussy since becoming vegan. YM was just telling me the other day that he loves anything I cook!) Opps, sorry, I digressed!
2. I have NEVER eaten brussels sprouts as an adult...

until now! They were really delicious! The best thing about becoming a vegan is all the new, exciting and wonderful food that I am eating. It's food I would never have considered as an omni. We really are lucky with the amazing food choices we have available to us, without the harm of a single animal.

Proud to be vegan

Tahn

Just a pretty pic

2010-01-03T20:40:00.001+11:00

I finally found the picture of the Macadamia-Cheezecake Truffles I made on christmas day (I included a photo with only one truffle left - this one looks far prettier). Sorry in advance - it's from a phone camera. The recipe can be found here.

Isn't that pretty??

Tahn

Cheezes

2010-01-02T22:11:00.000+11:00

We've been finishing off the rest of the Colby and Mostarella uncheese around here the last couple of days. Today I made some basic cheese toasties in the sandwich maker. I had the left over Colby and Vegemite, Popeye had Mostarella and tomato and Baby had Vegemite and Mostarella. I actually liked the taste of the Mostarella in the toasties. I used it like a thick spread. Very delish.

I know Miss T was interested in the recipe, so I thought I would share. These are from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Colby Cheez

1 1/2C water
5T agar flakes OR 1 1/2T agar powder
1/2C roasted red capsicum (seeds & skin removed) OR 1/2C cooked carrots OR 2-3t paprika OR 2T unsalted tomato paste (I used the paprika option)
1/2C chopped raw cashews
1/4C Nutritional Yeast
3T fresh lemon juice
2T tahini
2t onion powder
1t salt
1/4t garlic powder
1/4t dry mustard

Lightly oil a 5-cup plastic container and set aside. Combine water and agar in a small saucepan and let sit for about 10-15 minutes to soften the agar (I left it for a couple of hours while at the shop and it worked a treat). Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring often until agar is dissolved (about 5 - 10 minutes). Transfer to a blender and add remaining ingredients. Process for several minutes until completely smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Pour into plastic storage container and cool uncovered in the fridge. When completely cooled cover and chill several hours or overnight. To serve, turn out of container and slice. Store leftovers covered in the fridge. Will keep 5-7 days.

CHEDDA Cheez - add 2T light or chickpea miso prior to blending
OLIVE Cheez - replace dry mustard with 1T Dijon mustard. After blending stir in 3/4C chopped black olives.

Buffalo Mostarella

2C water or plain soy milk (I used water)
1/2C Nutritional Yeast
1/3C quick cooking oats
1/4C tahini
1/4C kuzu, arrowroot or cornstarch (I used cornflour)
3-4T fresh lemon juice
1T onion powder
1t salt

Lightly oil a 5-cup pan or container (depending on what shape you want your slices).
Combine all ingredients in a blender until completely smooth ( few minutes). Pour into a saucepan and cook and stir over medium heat until very thick and smooth. Pack into prepared container. Cool uncovered in fridge. When completely cool cover and chill overnight. To serve turn out of the mould and carefully slice with an oiled or water moistened knife (the cheese will be very soft and a bit sticky). Store leftovers covered in fridge. Will keep 5-7 days.

Give them a go. Happy cheese making

Tahn

A new year

2010-01-01T22:24:00.000+11:00

Happy new year, peeps!

What did you all get up to last night? Popeye, the kids and I travelled on a rather packed train (after having to dodge an overly drunk dude throwing up on the path outside the station doors - it was only 8pm!) to the MCG and the family friendly event held at Yarra Park. It was WAY too hot to go any earlier but we knew we would be in time for the kids fireworks. There was thousands of people there! Everyone was having a good time, as it was an alcohol-free event. There was a band rocking out for us to enjoy and we did! Tweenie stayed at a friend's house so there was only 4 of us. We all jumped about 'dancing' to the music. Heaps of fun (and rather silly looking!). Then it started to piss down! But still we kept dancing (there is something special about playing in the summer rain). Lots of people took cover under trees, but not us! The time for the fireworks rolled around and they had to be postponed and we weren't even sure they would happen because the sky was so black and the lightning so amazing. Popeye and I decided we should head back to the train station and go home, as we thought the fireworks would be much later. As Murphy's Law has it, JUST as the train rolled into the station the loudspeaker announced the fireworks was about to start. Shame. We jumped on the train with a million other families and we were able to see most of the fireworks on the train (with ooo-ing and arrrr-ing from all of the kids on the train - funny!). I know it is not the same as being there, but there is always next year. Once we got home we raced up to LotF as we hadn't eaten dinner.
We got there just as they were closing and I convinced them to make me more than just chips. Unfortunately they stuffed up the order and this keeps up the 'I've never been to Northland LotF and they have gotten my order correct' fact! Nonetheless, it filled our empty stomachs.
Baby and YM managed to stay awake until midnight and we lit a couple of sparklers and hid under the eaves out the front of my house to watch the fireworks from the city (lucky me, I have a direct view of the city scape from the front of my house - nice!). The next door neighbours we out too and we chatted with them. After sending the kids off to bed, I curled up in bed to play on my computer and watch Monty Python on ABC.

A few days ago we all started discussing our NY resolutions. Mine were the same old, same old. You know, lose weight, eat better, use my gym membership. But every year these go by the wayside. Then I stumbled upon 6 changes. They talk about choosing only 6 things to work on in any one year and working on one at a time, each for a two month period. The aim is to start of REALLY low key and increasing each week in a small way so by the time 8 weeks has rolled around, you are at the point you would like to be with that particular thing, you have been doing it regularly for eight weeks, and you can maintain it while you start on a new area to work on for the next 2 months.
I think I am going to try this. I don't think I have 6 things yet. This is really the first time I have thought much about it, so I can add on to it as time goes by.
I have already started the first of my changes. I want to work back up to a high fitness level and since I am not moving now, when I feel a lot better about my own body I want to start PT-ing again - this time for money!

So the changes look something like this:
1. Exercise daily/high fitness level/weight train/use gym membership etc.
Week one :I am starting off by walking every day this week (to the shop)
Week two:Continue daily walk, add another block
Week three:Add a daily body part to train

You get the picture. Mine are still a work in progress!

I'd like to work on (in no particular order)
1. exercise
2. getting up earlier
3. cut out sugar
4. keeping up with housework
5. drink more water
6. playing more with the kids/turning the bloody tv off!

Now I need to break each thing into 8 doable weeks and hope that they become habits and part of my daily life. I'll let you know how I go!

Tahn

More Uncheese Fun and NEW COOKBOOKS!

2009-12-31T09:32:00.000+11:00

I finally got to taste the Buffalo Mostarella uncheese from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. Popeye's sister H and her partner M joined us for dinner (after a long ride on the 112 - they live in St kilda - it takes close to an hour!).

We had a few drinks (wild turkey and coke - mmm) while we waited for the pizzas to cook. So, guess what? Photos forgotten!! There was left overs this morning, and although it is not the same, I have taken a photo of them.

Shitty photo. So shoot me. Anyway, my pizza is loaded with caramelised onions, sweet potato, roasted capsicum, mushrooms, baby spinach, and Mosterella (others had semi dried tomatoes, but I'm not a fan. Nor am I a fan of hot pineapple, which they also had - so clearly this was NOT my pizza). The Mosteralla was REALLY yummy! The only downfall was that is makes quite a bit, and although all 7 of us had large clumps of it all over our pizzas, there is still a shit load left. Now I'll need to find something else to eat it with (darn).

Yesterday we headed into the city. We stopped at the casino to watch the christmas display (which was really good!) before heading to Borders to return a couple of books that Popeye had given me for christmas. I had casually mentioned to him that the reason I turned vegan was the book Skinny Bitch and that I had lent it to a colleague last year who never returned it (it would have been ok if she had turned vegan and kept it, but alas, no). So he LISTENED (wow) and bought it for me for christmas. Except that he got me Skinny Bitchin', which is like a blank journal with little motivational quotes throughout. I'm not much of a journal writer - I'd get excited for a few days and write lots, then put it down and never pick it up again! He also gave me a tapas cookbook, but after looking through it, I found that there would not be much I would make as a lot of it seemed unadaptable, with meat as a focus. I told him that I didn't think I would ever use it and could we change that too (I only suggested it AFTER he said I could swap whatever I wanted. I am not an ungrateful gift receiver).

So I swapped the books for Skinny Bitch (which is the one Popeye wanted to get me)

and Vegan Planet (because as you know I love her other book!).

I was really after one of Ani Phyo's raw cookbooks (does anyone have it they could lend to me?) but Borders really only had 2 raw cookbooks and they both seemed overpriced and crap. I was well over budget (as VP was $50 at Borders, yet only $36 at Readers Feast) but Popeye loves me and paid the extra anyway. I was struggling to find anything else I wanted at this book store. I've since found (from Miss T's blog) that Dymocks on Collins is THE ONE to go to for vegan cookbooks (like I need more vegan cookbooks). I also like Reader's Feast, but they had no raw cookbooks. I was determined to only buy Ani's cookbook at Reader's Feast if they had it but walked out of there with

and

Naughty, naughty.

I REALLY wanted a raw book because one of my NY resolutions is to include a raw food day into our diets next year (more on that and other NY resolutions later). I'll have to rely on Google for a while, gosh darn it.

When Popeye's sister came over she brought cupcakes. I also forgot to take photos of those but they were delish! H is planning on transitioning to veganism (from vegetarianism) next year and she has a new love for VCTOTW. She brought VCTOTW and The Voluptuous Vegan with her for me to peruse (so much to read/try/eat, so little time!). Popeye bought a copy of 1000 Vegan Recipes for her yesterday also and she was a tad pleased!

So I have 5 new-to-me cookbooks waiting for me to get stuck into. Which one do I start with first?

Tahn

Uncheese fun and a Pot Luck Picnic

2009-12-29T22:47:00.003+11:00

Yesterday I mentioned that I had made some cheeze from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook that I borrowed from my friends A & C.

I made two different lots, a colby uncheese and a mozzarella type uncheese (laziness prevents me from telling you the exact name of the recipe - I'm in bed and I'm not moving, not even for you!).

We have only tried the colby, we had it on grilled toasties for breakfast. It looked like this when I took it out of its container this morning:

And then like this after a stint under the grill:

I smooshed one to see if the different texture mattered. Turns out it didn't! To me, anyway! Baby preferred it smooshed, but she wasn't keen on the plain tomato sauce without cheeze. The kids wanted tomato sauce under their cheeze, Popeye had his plain, and I had good old vegemite.

It was really good! Then we had a slice or two in our sndwiches for lunch today. Mmmmm. Popeye said it tasted like American Cheese, but since I have never tasted American Cheese before I'll take his word for it! I really liked it. The cheeze lasts 5-7 days in the fridge and is really easy to make. I'm thinking that I will make it on a Sunday night so we can have it during the week for lunches. The cook book gives many variations of this cheeze to try, so we are going to try them all and see which we like best.

The mozz is for pizza, which I am planning to have tomorrow night. So I'll tell you about it then.

I attended a really fun potluck at the park tonight. There was so much yummy food! And really great company! I didn't take any photos, except of my own before I left. I took:

Roasted Capsicum Wraps (which went a bit softer than I expected, but in a yummy way) from The Vegan Table

A Fruit Platter

Chocolate Banana Bread (which also has walnuts in it and it rocks) from 1000 Vegan Recipes

I'll link to the other great blogs when the photos go up (and I'm getting tired and even more lazy).

Thanks for the invite guys, we had a great night (the kids didn't even want to leave!!).

Tahn

Good news!

2009-12-28T22:26:00.000+11:00

I have good news!

But you can wait til the end of the post! (It's only short, I promise!)

A while back my friends A & C gave me a heap of different animal/vegan supporting pamphlets/postcards/stickers/leaflets/business type cards to letterbox drop around the area. Today the kids and I took a couple of handfuls around the local area and the kids had a ball putting them into letterboxes as we walked to the shop.

We headed to the shop because I wanted to get onion powder and some more mustard to make some uncheese from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. They are in the fridge and you'll have to wait until tomorrow's post. They tasted great freshly made, so I am looking forward to trying them tomorrow (I've got uncheese toasties and pizza planned for tomorrow!).

Ok, my good news (I told you my post was short today!).
So most of you would know that I was planning on moving to Hastings with Popeye VERY soon. The truck had been booked for Monday the 4th of January. The real estate had been notified and was due to take photos of my place to put on the internet for rent.

Did you notice I 'spoke' in past tense??

That's right!!! I'M NOT MOVING!!!!!!

I'm so happy! We decided that it was not fair to move four of us (me and the kids) to one person (Popeye). There were so many pros to staying here as opposed to the pros of moving to Hastings (they outnumbered about 20 to 2!) that we really could not justify moving. Popeye is going to move here, and try and come home more than just on weekends.

There is so much to say about the topic, but I won't bore you. Except to say I'M NOT MOVING!!!!!!
I am so happy here - I heart Preston. I heart my house. I heart Popeye!

Tomorrow we am going to try and make it to the pot luck that Kristy invited us to (see, another reason not to move to whoop whoop!). I'm looking forward to it. Now, off to work out what to bring...

Tahn

Chocolate-Macadamia Cheezcake Truffles

2009-12-26T20:44:00.000+11:00

Yesterday Kristy commented on the truffles I made for christmas and I thought I should share the recipe with you instead of searching the internet - I know this one is good! (you never know with some of the recipes on the internet!)

Chocolate-Macadamia Cheezcake Truffles from the fantastic cookbook, 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson

2C vegan semisweet chocolate chips (I used Sweet William)
1 container vegan cream cheese
2C confectioners' sugar
2T pure vanilla extract
1C ground macadamia nuts (I also used crushed nuts, or anything else you wanted to roll the truffles in)

Melt the chocolate chips.
In a food processor, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and process until well mixed. Add the melted chocolate and blend until well mixed. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours (I did this overnight).
Roll the chilled mixture into 1-inch balls and place them on an ungreased baking sheet.
Roll the balls in the macadamias (or whatever you like), turning to coat. Transfer truffles to a serving platter, refrigerate for 30 minutes and serve. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers (not that there will be any!!!)

Enjoy!

Tahn

Christmas, Christmas

2009-12-25T23:09:00.002+11:00

Thank fuck that's over!

Seriously! Popeye and I decided last night that we would not be attending a family gathering next year. We will try to save our pennies, buy no presents (except santa, of course- but I can't control what the big fella brings the kids!) and hopefully go overseas for christmas - to somewhere that doesn't celebrate it like we do here in Oz. Maybe Cambodia (a suggestion from my sister).

I don't know why I get sucked in every year. I'll blame it on the kids. How can you not get sucked in when you have kids? I'm not even religious. In any way. I'm not even christened (neither are my kids FYI).

Wow, I'm really venting here. Despite lots of reasons to vent today, only one I will make public (and the rest I will hold unhealthily inside!).

We went to Popeye's Mum's today for lunch. Sitting at the table, YM said 'What's that?' and pointed to some sliced meat.

I said, 'Well, that's a dead pig and'

I got cut off by R, Popeye's (step) Dad who angrily said, 'Let's just say what it really is. That is ham and that is turkey.'

I said, ' I think I did just say what it really was.'

And that was about all he said to me all afternoon.

It made me so annoyed. I may sound mental I know, getting worked up over nothing, but I get annoyed when people want to cover up the truth. And I was speaking to my son. I wanted him to know what poor animal had suffered and unknowingly given its life to feed people who turn a blind eye (or whatever reason they choose to give for their omni status).

Ok, enough. Breathe. Ahh, better.

Despite my username as Seitahn, I have actually never tried, let alone cooked seitan before. So what a time to try it! Thankfully it turned out fantastic.

I made a Stuffed Seitan Roast (from 1000 Vegan Recipes) and it was surprisingly simple. I was a bit skeptical before putting it in the oven as it looked like a giant turd!

But it looked fabulous when it was carved and tasted great. I made a Basic Brown Sauce (1000 Vegan Recipes) to go over the top.

I also tried another recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes that I had never done before (shows how much faith I have in this cookbook! Making something untried on Christmas Day!).

Chocolate-Macadamia Cheezecake Truffles

Ok, so this was the last one, and this one I rolled in crushed nuts (the others were rolled in ground macadamia nuts) but MAN they were good!! (NOT good FOR you, mind you!). Little balls of heaven!

The kids had a great time today, and they really seemed to enjoy their gifts. They are just at the right age, too. They really showed their appreciation. It was lovely.

Hope you all had a fab xmas! Can't wait to read what you all got up to today!

Tahn

Just For Fun

2009-12-24T18:57:00.000+11:00

This is today's lunch.

We used the spiraliser to make a heap of curly fries, some plain and the other lot with paprika sprinkled on them. We also cooked the potato 'cores' which look like little mushrooms.

Just for fun.

Tahn

The Man is Back

2009-12-21T09:33:00.001+11:00

He's ho-me! Finally. And I am sure you can understand my absence on this blog! It is nice to be able to wake up, roll over and be able to cuddle something other than my pillow!

I flew to Sydney to watch his graduation parade. All very exciting! It was a two-part affair. The first part was the actual giving of their badges and promotions for those who were being promoted to the new rank. The second part was the parade, complete with marching band, to present themselves to some high-up official (sorry, couldn't take my eyes off my man to actually listen to the ceremony!).
Here is a photo at part of the parade. Popeye is third from the right, front row.

Ahh, men in uniform!

This is one of us after the whole thing was over, back in his rooming area. There are better ones of us, of course, although you know how much I hate photos of myself so this is the best you get!

I haven't really done too much noteworthy cooking since we have returned home (we drove home the following day). Except this...

Both of these are from 1000 Vegan Recipes (of course!). There is Quick Apple Crisp and Vegan Whipped Cream. Both were delicious! The 'Whipped Cream' I think is more like a pouring cream as opposed to whipped, but delicious nonetheless. It is a lot faster to make than the cashew creme, mostly because I only have a little spice grinder to make the cashews into a powder. The Whipped Cream is silken tofu, agave (or maple), vanilla, 1T canola oil. Very easy. The only time required is to refrigerate for a while before serving.

Now I need to get a definite idea of what I am making for christmas day and at least write up a shopping list!

What's everyone else making for Christmas Day?

Tahn

A taste of the RAW life

2009-12-13T22:07:00.002+11:00

I have posted once before about my cool vege spiral machiney thing that I purchased at the World Vegan Day. Only that time when I made awesome vegetable curls, I forgot to take a photo of them. Here it is in action:

YM holding up a zucchini curl, while eating the left over 'core'.

Tweenie showing how long they can get.

The kids search through their food to try and find the longest curl!

This is our dinner (of raw zucchini, carrot and beetroot) before we added the sauce.

The sauce was a capsicum creamy sauce and it was delicious.

I got the recipe from www.raw-pleasure.com.au. I signed up for their newsletter and I got a link to a free e-book that was about 100 pages long and FULL of delicious looking raw foods. Well worth the 2 seconds it took to sign up! I will definitely be trying other recipes from the e-book.

Sweet Pepper Cream Sauce

By Mama Raw of the Raw Pleasure forums

Ingredients:

2 large red capsicums, seeded & chopped

1 clove garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoons flax oil

1⁄2 teaspoon marjoram

1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

1 cup cashews

juice of 1⁄2 a lemon

Method:

1. Blend the first 7 ingredients to a liquid.

2. Add cashews and juice, then blend until smooth.

Serve at room temperature over spiralised zucchini. This can also be used as a dip or a salad dressing.

I bought myself a new blender on Friday (you may remember that Baby smashed mine to tiny little pieces the other week). I have been without a blender for about 2 weeks and it was killing me! I was missing my daily green smoothies! So I used the already over-extended credit card (it is christmas!) to buy me a new one. I don't know how long this $70 one will last but at 900w, it is much faster than the last blender. It really makes my smoothies smooth (as opposed to little green bits floating around). So I suppose Baby breaking the last one was a blessing in disguise (but I won't tell her that! - She is NOT allowed to touch this one!!)

I have a busy few days coming up. I've got to make cupcakes tomorrow for YM's birthday on Tuesday. He wants to take oreo cupcakes to school (27 kids, thanks very much!). YM's 9th birthday Tuesday. On Wednesday night I am flying to Sydney to see Popeye (I'm very excited! It's been 3 months!!). He is graduating from his course on Thursday. So on Wednesday I need to make 3 lots of school party foods (of COURSE they are all having end-of-year parties on the same day!). Two kids want Cindy and MIchael's sausage rolls, and one wants cupcakes. I also have chosen to pre-prepare Wednesday and Thursdays dinners for my babysitters (Popeye's sisters have kindly donated their time, so I will repay them by feeding them and making sure they don't have to do much except be there!). I still have a few christmas gifts to get, but especially Popeye's - I'm thinking a home brew kit. Thursday is Popeye's graduation parade (all those HOT navy men in their crisp white ceremonials uniform (especially mine - 3 months is a long time!). Then we are jumping in his car and driving back to Melbourne, while it is the last day of school for the kids. Not to mention a bit of personal grooming - waxing, tanning, toe nail painting (It HAS been three months, did I mention??) and all this adds up to 5 VERY busy days! Phew, I'm exhausted just from typing all that!

Better get some rest,

Tahn

Cake, salad & (no) sausage rolls

2009-12-11T00:08:00.000+11:00

After reading a post from the blog "Cooking From 1,000 Vegan Recipes" (I've found a bunch of vegans who love this book as much as I do!) about Sour Cream Coffee Cake, I was inspired to make it. The author said 'I found THE BEST RECIPE in the entire book!' and I really wanted to try it for myself!

Doesn't it look yummy?!! The ripple is a mixture of walnuts, sugar and cinnamon. This cake was really nice, although I would not go as far as naming it the best recipe in the book. It is so full of sugar (2 whole cups!!) it's not funny. (Did I just say that?? I think my sweet tooth is starting to mature!). It's definitely delicious, but not one that I would probably make again (it is a bit fiddly, too.)

This morning I made a salad for the kids for school. I had made extra rice last night (we are eating freezer foods at the moment, trying to get rid of the bits in my freezer in preparation of 'the move') with the full intention of using the left over rice in a sweet rice dessert tonight but instead I used it to fill out this salad.

Really good! Even the kids' lunch boxes came home empty! I have decided that I DO like salad - but only if I make it! Then I know what is in it and what is not (especially celery - I HATE celery!) I know this salad looks/is simple - but remember that I don't like salads (ok, last time I say that! I DO like salads, I DO like salads) and I am only just learning!

Tonight I made vegan sausage rolls from Where's the Beef?. I have seen their sausage rolls mentioned a few times on local Melbourne blogs raving about them and seeing them again on Miss T's blog I decided I just MUST make them!
Even with the rave reviews, I must admit, after seeing the ingredients list I was still not convinced. Pecans? In sausage rolls? But I was determined to put my prejudices aside and have-a-go. Even after making the mix I was still skeptical. But, let me just say WOW.

You MUST try these!!!!! Every now and then I would get a little bite of a pecan nut. Pure pleasure! These are so good! They will definitely become part of my recipe file. We even enjoyed them cold! Give em a go.

I got a bit more christmas shopping done today. My mobile phone battery is almost dead so I purchased a supposedly unlocked cheapo phone today for $40 to stick my sim card in. But it doesn't work! So disappointed! I hope they give me a refund because I really couldn't afford the $40 (I had to pay my rego today too! It's actually due christmas eve - how shit is that!) especially after I made sure I asked them If all I had to do was stick in my sim card. :(
Not many gifts left to get. I REALLY need to find a pressie for Popeye, but I have NO idea! I hate buying gifts for blokes! Any ideas?

Tahn

Caribbean Rice, Squash and Peas

2009-12-07T21:53:00.002+11:00

I know we don't call them squash here in Australia, but that is the name of the recipe in the book (1000 Vegan Recipes). This is my first time actually using black-eyed peas ( I cooked my own, too!). It was basically B-EP's, pumpkin and rice so I didn't really expect too much from it. It was surprisingly really nice!

YM and I made some biscuits called Peachy Thumbprint Cookies although ours were Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies as we used strawberry jam. This were not too sweet and hardly used any fats (only 2T of margarine). It did have 1/2C of icing sugar, but that was about it for baddies. I was hoping to have some for the kids' lunches tomorrow, but unfortunately they are all gone!

We also made a couple more loaves of bread, as we ate the other one today and it was so good.

Yesterday's Pecan-Lentil Burgers (1000 Vegan Recipes) were a big hit here. Here's the recipe:

11/2C cooked brown lentils (I used 1 tin)(make sure they are really dry - dry fry them in a pan for a few minutes. It is, apparently, the key to firm burgers)

1/2C ground pecans

1/2C oats

1/4C dry unseasoned bread crumbs

1/4C Vital wheat gluten

1/2C onion, finely chopped

1/4C fresh parsley

1t dijon mustard

1/2t salt

1/8t pepper

2T olive oil

In a food processor combine all but the oil. Pulse to combine, leaving some texture. Shape the lentil mixture into 4 to 6 burgers. Heat oil in a large frypan over medium heat. Add the burgers and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side.

That's for you Brisvegan :) Enjoy!

Well, I finally attacked my room today. Took me damn near ALL DAY! But it was worth it! I still have a laundry basket full of books and paperwork that I couldn't work out what to do with, but I'll get to that tomorrow. Only 3 more rooms to bog out (top to bottom, wall to wall.)

Maybe I'll get to one tomorrow.

Tahn

Baking bread

2009-12-06T21:22:00.001+11:00

Thinking about school lunches tomorrow, it suddenly dawned on me that I had no bread in the freezer. Hmm, I wonder if I should make my own. Surely my new favourite cookbook would have a recipe or 20 to cater for my needs in this area. The very first recipe in the breads section was the Basic White Bread.
It turned out like this:

and left an awesome smell throughout my house. Years ago I used to make my own bread with a bread maker, but never in my own oven. So good. The kids can have fresh bread with the left over burgers from tonight's dinner...

Pecan-Lentil Burgers and home made wedges. We covered the wedges in paprika and nutritional yeast. We made the burgers this shape because we put them into flat bread as a wrap.

We even had home-grown lettuce in it! Very nice.

I didn't even get close to cleaning my room today! After about 4 hours playing on the computer (and Tweenie feeding me blueberry pancakes for lunch) I decided that the kids and I would ride up to the Leisure Centre and go swimming. Then by the time we came home it was time to get ready for dinner and the rest. Way to procrastinate, eh?

Tahn

Vegan Christmas Dinner

2009-12-06T10:54:00.001+11:00

Last night we went to our first Vegan Christmas Dinner held by my good friends A & C in Frankston. I met a few other wonderful people there, who all had brought a vegan dish to share. One lovely couple are omnis, but absolutely love vegan/vegetarian food. Great food, amazing company!

I took the dishes I said I was going to - sushi, broccoli quiche, crunchy sesame slaw, apple tart with walnut crust and cashew creme. All of my food was well received, and thankfully too, as I had spent a few hours in the kitchen preparing it!

It was all scrumptious, but I so have to say there was a LOT of salad! (To my new wonderful friends - please don't be offended. I just feel there is more to vegan food than salads.)

I had some great conversations about all sorts of topics. I even found some people who LOVE board games as much as I do!!! Now I am looking forward to the move to Hastings, for the chance to have board game nights! The game lovers all live in the SE suburbs.

During my cooking session yesterday I had time to make an awesome smoothie. I had some avocados left that desperately needed to be eaten (or into the bin they would have had to go!). I made Indonesian Avocado Smoothie from, do I need to say it, 1000 Vegan Recipes.

All I can say to this is WOW. Wow, wow, wow!!! I substituted the recommended coffee with cacao powder (because I HATE coffee) and it made a fantabulous, chocolately thickshake better than any thickshake I have ever tasted! Email me if you want the recipe! It was that good!

Do you remember the picture of my little vege garden that I had started? Well look at it now:

Look at all that greenery! One of the bok choy's turned to seed straight away (anyone know why? I'm new to this). There is zucchini, lettuce, leek, silverbeet and carrots. We've even been eating some of it! So rewarding! It reminds me of my grandparents in NZ. My grandad grew broccoli as big as your head. Maybe he is my spirit guide, and that's why my veges have grown so well. I hope so, it's a nice thought isn't it?

My plans for today - clean up my messy room! It'll take me all day, too!

Time to get scrubbing,

Tahn

Sesame Spinach Noodle Pie

2009-12-04T22:49:00.000+11:00

This what I made for dinner tonight from, yep you guessed it, 1000 Vegan Recipes! It wasn't bad. We ate it with a fork like we do with normal pasta dishes and it wasn't until just then that I realised its name - pie. I think we would have enjoyed it better with a knife and fork, cutting off small chewable pieces instead of throwing a whole gobful in with a fork and munching. A side salad would have been nice too.

So far it is the only thing I have found that is average. Nice, but not great.

Tahn

So much to cook, so little time

2009-12-03T23:33:00.000+11:00

The day started with Baby complaining of a sore stomach and asking if she could stay home. She complained that if she went to school and went to the sick bay they would just send her straight back to the class room. She's right. She also was complaining last night too, so I let her stay home. Turns out all she needed was one gigantic turd (!) and she was back to normal. Pity it was too late to send her to school!

I wanted to get a couple of pie tins today so Baby and I jumped on our bikes to head to the shops. I had a letter 'RTS' to post and so we went a different route near the school. Low and behold, who should we see walking towards us was the deputy and principal of her school and Baby yells (and I mean YELLS!) "Hello Mr. ___. Hello Mr. ____!" I could have died! She has NO idea, that child! Too innocent for her own good!

Anyway, the reason I wanted a couple of pie tins was to 'try' a dessert for taking to the vegan christmas dinner we are going to in Frankston on the weekend. More on that soon.

For dinner I really wanted to try polenta. We have only ever had it as a sort of crumb on tofu cutlets. I wanted to make it properly. From '1000 Vegan Recipes' (again, all of tonight's recipes are!) I made the basic polenta recipe, poured it into a loaf tin, threw it in the fridge for a couple of hours and then sliced and fried it up. On top of it I made the Spicy Tomato Ragu (which wasn't spicy because I left out the crushed red pepper), which also consisted of a homemade Marinara Sauce (also from 1000 Vegan Recipes). I had also marked Crunchy Sesame Slaw to make for the kids' lunch tomorrow, so I decided to have that with the polenta.

The Crunchy Sesame Slaw was a HUGE hit!! The kids want me to take this to the christmas dinner and it was so easy I think I will oblige them. The polenta was yum too! I'd like to try it straight into bowls next time and see which texture I prefer.

So the dessert. As I mentioned, I wanted to try whatever dessert I decided to take to the dinner early to make sure it is what I wanted to make. This morning I thought I would like to take a simple apple crumble and I found a recipe (in 1000 Vegan Recipes!!!) for an Apple Tart with Walnut Crust and I couldn't resist! It's a little bit more involved than a basic crumble, but SO worth it!
This all started by me thinking about riding my bike with Baby to The Radical Grocery Store in Brunswick for a can of whipped soya cream to take. It got me thinking about making my own and I'm glad I did. I made Cashew Creme (1000 Vegan Recipes) and it was to die for!! Beats the pants off any dairy whipped cream I have EVER tasted! It looked like this:

It even tasted way better than it looked! OH SO GOOD! I will be definitely taking this to the dinner (especially the creme!!).

So this is what I have decided to take to the Christmas Dinner:

Sushi
Crunchy Sesame Slaw
Broccoli Quiche
Apple Tart with Walnut Crust
Cashew Creme

I know it seems like a lot but there are 4 of us to feed so it wouldn't be right just turning up with one dish to share. Also, I can't help it - I want to show off my culinary skills! I love to see people enjoying the food I have made!

Got to start tomorrow!

Tahn

Unofficial Recipe Tester

2009-12-02T23:13:00.000+11:00

I've been thinking today (oh yes, it does happen) and I think I have been lying to myself. As silly as this sounds, I don't believe I am a true food blogger. I mean, I NEVER make up any of my own recipes, find out what works and post my successes on here. In fact, I ONLY work from a recipe - someone else's recipe! So, in actual fact, I am just a recipe tester.

I'm ok with this title. Unofficial Recipe Tester. I'm even going to change my 'About me' to reflect this. I have really come to grips with cooking and eating healthy and vegan in the last, say, 10 months (if you remember I posted about how I was a REALLY unhealthy vegan for the first 12 months). I am sure in time that I will be able to create some wonderful dishes without the help of someone else's recipe as I am slowly learning what goes with what and what doesn't work. The more recipes I 'test' the more I am learning. But until then I am just as happy being an Unofficial Recipe Tester!

Here's a recipe I tested tonight. It was Maple Baked Beans from 1000 Vegan Recipes. Way better than tinned, store bought baked beans. My only criticism would be that it was quite sweet (even for my sweet tooth). It used 1/4C of maple syrup (and we all know how much maple syrup costs on this side of the world!) and I would probably reduce this amount by half and try that. I used cannellini beans instead of the Great Northern Beans the recipe stated 'cause I learned today, through the wonderful medium the internet, most white beans are interchangeable. I teamed the Maple Baked Beans with some chickpea cutlets. Delish! They are so fast to make it is almost a crime!

Beans Bourguignon

2009-12-01T21:32:00.000+11:00

Tonight for dinner we tried yet another recipe from new favourite cookbook (1000 Vegan recipes).

Beans Bourguignon

I made a few changes, well actually just one. It needs red wine and I didn't add it for 2 reasons - 1. I always find that red wine in cooking is quite overpowering, especially because I don't drink it or like it. I thought that the kids would not like it either. 2. I was actually going to put a quarter of what it asked and the rest stock, but I looked at the back of the bottle of red wine that I was given when I bought this house (I think) and it said it was made with eggs and gelatine. I past it straight to Tweenie and got her to tip it down the sink.

Even without the key ingredient, the bourguignon was delicious. I served it with couscous, mostly because I was unsure what bourguignon is usually served with. Is it pasta? Regardless, it was good and Baby even asked for leftovers for school lunch tomorrow (and Baby is usually the one who doesn't really like stuff - her young palate is still getting used to the mountain of flavours I have been dishing her up).

Another recipe from the book that I made for the kids' school lunches was Sesame Udon Salad with Azuki Beans and Baby Spinach.

So easy and so delish. The people who know me should be so proud of the amount of salads I have been making AND eating AND enjoying!!! **pats self on back**

Recently, on the World Wide Web, I found a recipe for Sugar-Free Breakfast Cookies. If it is your recipe, please let me know and I will give you the credit for it you deserve.

YM is making them here in this picture, ready for baking. They are so quick and easy and healthy to boot! My girls usually have porridge for breakfast with apple sauce and sultanas so this really is just another way to eat those ingredients. Best eaten soon after cooking.

Sugar-Free Breakfast Cookies

Makes about 18 cookies

2 bananas, mashed

1/4C apple sauce

1/2t vanilla

1/4t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1/3C sultanas/raisins

2C quick oats.

Preheat oven to 180C. Combine all ingredients in the above order. Place tablespoon mounds on a cookie tray (they don't spread so you can put them pretty close). Cook for approximately 15 minutes.

I give my kids a piece of toast or two with about 4 cookies (they NEVER get toast for breakfast - I don't believe it fills them up for school enough- so they LOVE this breakfast!).

18 days until Popeye is home!

Tahn

I'm in love!

2009-11-29T21:50:00.000+11:00

I am soo in love with my new cookbook 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.

Here's what I have made while I have been ignoring you:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (soo damn good!)

Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew

Sunset Fruit Pudding (oh, so good! Can you tell I have a sweet tooth!!) It's raw, too - just fruit.

The salad is Roasted Cauliflower and Rice Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette. And thanks to Brisvegan's quiche post I was inspired to try Isa's Broccoli Quiche. I actually found the recipe on the PPK website. I used a basic pie crust recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes. And DAMN it was good! Will definitely make this for the vegan xmas potluck I'm going to next Saturday (although I will splash out and purchase a pie tin - all I had was a square one). I wanted to have a test run on it first. Amazing! I also thought I would take some sushi as a starter and some sort of dessert to the pot luck. I'd better do some test runs on some desserts! Just in case....

Friday night Tweenie asked if we could watch the sunrise on Saturday morning. So we got up bright and early the next morning and walked up the road to the park. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy out on the east side of the world(and wouldn't ya know it - clear everywhere else!!). The kids still enjoyed it and it fostered some great discussions about the earth's rotation and the role of the sun. We hope to do it again on a day not so cloudy, although it did make for cool pictures.

Tahn

Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy

2009-11-25T23:01:00.000+11:00

**slightly off track*** We all ate the sushi I made last night for lunch today and it was so so so good! The flavours worked so well together. And usually I am not a big fan of sushi, so that is saying something about how good it was! Just incase you forgot what it looked like...

For dinner tonight I tried the Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance. Another success!

YM gave it 10 out of 10, Baby wanted to know why we weren't marking it out of 100 (and ended up giving it 100-out-of-100) and Tweenie gave it six-and-three-quarters! I rated it about 7 (which probably influenced Tweenie's scoring slightly!)

I went to work today and a few of the teachers had trouble recognising me with my hair cut short (and very curly!). I noticed the Principal kept on walking past the class where I was teaching and having a puzzled look on her face (sort of like she didn't know who I was!). Eventually she must have clicked, because she stopped in the door and asked why I was curly today. I told her that I was trying to embrace my curls after 35 years of self curl-hating. She nodded a few times and as she turned to walk away she quietly said 'It looks nice' as an afterthought. Not convinced. I've had that most of my life. I get the feeling a lot of people find curly hair messy and unruly.
At lunch time another teacher in the staff room said 'Wow, you've cut off all your hair and permed it.' I get this all the time too!!! People ALWAYS think my hair is permed (my question - who would PAY for a bad 80's perm???).
So you can see with reactions like this, it is not hard to understand why I have hated my curls most of my life. But a few weeks ago, I decided to ignore what people say and learn to love my curls. I'm actually pretty happy with my curls - they are becoming very well defined. I now need to find a magic potion to help my hair grow faster! (BTW - for anyone interested- I have started using the product 'Jessicurls' from USA. They have been stocked in Petra shops but unfortunately they are choosing not to stock it anymore :( It is not tested on animals and it is Vegan!) I have found some amazing websites that have enlightened me about how to maintain curls. I still have a little bit left on the ends of the dead chemical straightened part of my hair, so I will need to cut it again in a few months to be totally back to all mine.

Going a little curly...

Tahn

Christmas is just around the corner...

2009-11-24T20:52:00.000+11:00

With christmas gaining on us all very fast, we decided to put up the tree. We had planned to put it up a couple of weeks ago when mum was here but it didn't happen. The kids completed it by themselves with a jittery excitement.

I took a photo of the ornaments that we put on the tree. All of them have been collected in the last 18 months from different locations and have significant meaning to us. All of the other 'crap' ornaments are going to the op shop so we only have ones that are important and evoke wonderful memories.

From the back - Bagpiper from Scotland, Santa from Rome, tin santa and reindeer from London, soft santa with eiffel tower from Paris, Kiwi Santa and Reindeer from NZ (Popeye bought me this when he was working through NZ)

Second row- Bagpipe santa and scottish snowman from Edinburgh, parachuting santa from Tasmania, kiwi santa and chimney from NZ (Popeye, again), gold angel from Kensington Palace, London

Front row - Eiffel tower bauble from Paris, Santa, teddy and xmas tree bauble from Rome, Sydney Opera House from Sydney, santa and Eiffel tower from Paris, pink bauble from Paris.

We always put a few candy canes on our tree and have fun eating them in the days leading up to christmas. The kids wrote out a wish list for santa, so hopefully he has a bit more of an idea of what to get them!

Changing the subject...Last week YM was asking for sushi for lunch, but I put him off until after the wedding. So today I decided to grant his wish. I knew I didn't really need a recipe but I wanted to use my new cookbook - 1000 Vegan Recipes. The sushi I made had avocado, baked tofu, asparagus and grated carrot.

For dinner I made Snobby Joes from the PPK website. Isa's recipe asks for 3 tablespoons of chilli!!! Even a comment was posted about it possibly being a typo, but Isa said it wasn't. I'm not sure what type of chilli powder they have in the USA, but that is WAY too much chilli for my family! I only used 1 teaspoon and it gave a nice mild taste but the kids still needed a cold drink of water next to them! Occasionally one of them would fan their open mouths and pant to ease the heat! I would keep it to 1t next time as well.

I also made some oat-maple-walnut biscuits from my new book. That's lunch snacks sorted for the week - if I can keep my little mitts out of the container!

31 days til Christmas, 25 days til Popeye is home!

Tahn

Leshani and Josh's Wedding

2009-11-23T22:40:00.000+11:00

The happy couple

I had a wonderful time in Perth. The wedding was beautiful (with a little bit of quiet controversy, as all good weddings have!). Shani looked gorgeous, and Josh a little nervous!

After all the formalities had occurred, we were directed out the back of the lodge for drinks and nibblies. I asked one of the waitresses if there was anything vegan (Shani had assured me that I was going to be catered for). She didn't come back for about another hour and a half - just before dinner started. She said 'Did you ask me for vegan food? The chef doesn't know anything about it! She was told there were vegetarians, but not vegan. She has vegetarian food prepared. Will you eat it?'

Of course I said NO. She returned and told me that the chef would definitely make me something. This is the yummy entree I was given:

Everyone else had creamy pumpkin soup. For dinner I was given a vegetable stack which was delicious!

When the dessert was offered, there was nothing for me. So I asked the owner if there was anything for me. Nothing was organised, so I asked for a plate of fruit. I spoke with my Aunty (Leshani's mum) and she said that the owner had CALLED the chef when they were arranging the menu and the chef said she would cater for me with no problem. Aunty was there when they called! I think the chef totally forgot about me, or thought I would eat the vegetarian food. I was made to feel like the chef was doing me a HUGE favour making sure I had food to eat on the spur of the moment, when in all reality, she was well aware months ago! Never mind. The food WAS great!

We stayed in the hotel with other family members. I shared a room with my mum and my other aunty, Vicki (who is only about 5 years older than me) and her partner of 24 years Justin, who had both flown in from NZ for the special occasion. We had to pay $100 each (!) for the room and I got a fold out bed! Ripped off! Nice room though! Vicki, Justin and I smuggled in a carton of beer (we had been warned that no outside alcohol was allowed). Later in the night, Vicki needed to be let into the room (there was only one key between the four of us) and asked one of the managers to let her in. He found a heap of empties on the bench top and then confiscated about half a carton! Shame! (We got it back the next morning, though).

When the night ended and the party returned to the bridesmaids room, there was not much left to drink! Our beers would have been well received! Not sure what time I got to bed, but add on three hours (Perth is 3 hours behind Melbourne, in case you didn't know!) and remembering that I had to get up at 4.30am Saturday morning to get to the airport and you can begin to imagine just how tired I was!

It was a fantastic night, though and I am glad I made it (and I am really happy that there does not seem to be any weddings coming up! They are a costly, costly adventure - even for the guests!).

Congratulations Leshani and Josh. May your lives be full with love and happiness. xxx

Tahn

Aunty Vicki, mum and me - I look like a giant next to my short, short family! I am not a giant, but they sure are short!

I've been a bad, bad girl!

2009-11-20T16:17:00.000+11:00

Can I call it a belated birthday gift to me??????

Why do I find it so hard to resist???

Tahn

Gingerbread men and Zucchini muffins

2009-11-19T23:28:00.001+11:00

So hot today! Too hot for baking, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

I spent some time today looking for good recipes to make for this weekend. I am so lucky - I get to attend my cousin's wedding back home (W.A) this weekend WITHOUT children!!! The kids are going to Popeye's sister's place. G is a single mother like me, so I don't think it is fair that she has to feed 3 extra mouths out of her own pocket. So I was looking for easy food to make for dinner and lunch for Saturday and Sunday. While admiring all the food porn on the internet I came across 2 recipes I wanted to try. Gingerbread cut out cookies and Zucchini Cake are both from the ppk.

I made both of them while the kids were at school, but left it until they got home to cut out the shapes of the cookies (Popeye bought me some cookie cutters a while back and this is the first time we have been able to use them!). I waited until later still to turn on the oven. Once the biscuits were cooled, the kids set about having some fun icing them.

They are delicious!

It's funny because a few days ago I told the kids that we weren't going to be baking like this anymore because there are so many raw healthy options we can choose and YM made a point of reminding me of this! I needed to explain to my nearly 9 year old (going on 29) that I had made them to take to G's house - which, it turns out, is fine by him!

The zucchini cake I turned into muffins. I thought these would be handy on the plane for my trip to Perth early Saturday morning. The rest can go in the freezer for lunches. The are not really sweet, but good for a breakfast muffin. I slightly changed the recipe and used a couple of heaped teaspoons of organic cacao powder instead of the chocolate bits. Also, in hindsight, I would not ground up the walnuts into a powder but rather leave the pieces chunky as I like that in my muffins.

I may not post for a couple of days and I will be enjoying the company of my small family (some rellies have even flown from NZ - most of my rellies still live there). Maybe I'll just take some photos and post them tomorrow of what I make for G and her 2 boys and my 3 ferals! I hope she survives the weekend in one piece :)

48 hours of freedom here I come...

Tahn

My day in food

2009-11-18T23:20:00.000+11:00

Breakfast! I discovered this Chocolate Avocado Pudding from Green and Crunchy (loving this site - still got so much to find!). Actually, it was more like brunch (about 10.30am) by the time I got to eat it.

Lunch. Tweenie and I found these section plates at the cheap shop next to La Panella (so sorry, world, for the plastic but I have found it tricky to locate stainless steel ones and the price was just right for me - about $2 each). Lunch consisted of left over pineapple, a spoonful of nut butter (ya know, I actually HATE peanut butter - even the smell - and refuse to make PB sandwiches for YM because of it, but this is soo very delicious), a mix of seeds, goji berries and dates and a sandwich of eggless egg salad from The Vegan Table which was yummy.

After school snack. Green smoothie. This one consisted of a few beetroot leaves and stems, water, ice, a couple of peaches, a couple of pears, cacao powder, freshly ground LSA(home made), 1 blood orange & 2 navals, and coconut. Thick, gluggly and delicious.

Dinner. Tonight's dinner actually consisted of left overs - choice of yesterday's lunch of cauliflower soup (sooo good!), or an Ethiopian Stew both from Vegan Lunchbox (last night's dinner of Ethiopian Stew also had Injera Bread - although I had no teff flour, so used plain- but none left today as it was awesome and eaten all up!). Before we all helped ourselves I was flicking through the internet (Planet VegMel) and copied the Tofu Balls from It Will Taste Better Tomorrow's post today (I'm going to try your couscous one day too, Amanda!). They looked delicious on her post and I thought- I have everything to make that, I'll give it a try. They WERE delicious! I actually just dipped a few balls into some sweet chilli sauce...mmmmmm. Next time I will try it with spaghetti and sauce (my kids love this!) and may put the rest into sandwiches tomorrow. Just a hint though, squish them into balls rather than trying to roll them. The original post is from PPK.

Dessert. We made these last night. We blended some fruit up and poured it in and froze it. Now a confession on how foolish I am! I have never eaten cherries before but yesterday I found a nice looking batch at Aldi (all their fruit and veges are so cheap but they are FULL of packaging!) and decided to try them to put into our smoothies. Little did I know that they required de-pipping and I just blended them up straight! Needless to say, we were picking out small chopped up cherry pips from both yesterday's smoothie and today's fruit icipole.

Lesson learned!

Tahn

Heellllloooo, remember me?

2009-11-17T23:56:00.002+11:00

It's been a while! A week, in fact. I feel like I have been avoiding you. Maybe I have...

Let me wrap up the week.

Last Friday, we went out to Shakahari for my birthday. Now, I booked this over a month ago. When I first rang, they told me that they could have no more than 20 on a Friday night, but nothing about having to split us up. Then on the Tuesday before I rung up and whoever I spoke to asked if I would like us all outside, that they would have to split up the tables a little, but we would have the whole outside to ourselves. I thought this would be a fabulous idea, especially having a few kids coming.

So I arrived and there we were, separated, inside, near the door. Hmmmm. I was not impressed to put it politely. I complained, but obviously, there was nothing they could do about it. So not a good start. I also found the place to be very noisy, from the first moment we walked in and it was like that for the whole time. I found it difficult to hear my guests speak. Because we were in the doorway, we had many people walking between the two tables (one had kids on it, the other, adults). Before our mains arrived, we were told that we could go outside but there was only enough room for 10 people. I'm not sure what they wanted us to do with the 7 kids ranging from 1 to 11. They didn't offer to babysit, that's for sure! So we declined the offer.
Our waiter was run off his feet. We got there for 7.30pm and didn't even get a drink order in until near 8pm. We ordered our food at half eight.
On the positives, the waiter was really good, especially with the kids (if you have kids you will understand this comment - it is important they treat the kids with respect, I think). The food was DELICIOUS!!!!!! Check out the food porn below.

My dinner choice - Lentil Parcels

Quinoa Croquettes

This was 'Something Medina' - I think it was ordered in honour of one of our home town suburbs!

Laska

Mushroom Pot Pie

Pumpkin Gnocchi

Avocado Rolls

My Dessert! Tofu Caramel with caramelised pistachio nuts )and something else - help me out Heidi!)

This was sooooooooooooo good!

So, all in all a pretty average night. I'd go back again for the food, although I wouldn't be rushing.

The next day the girls and I (YM stayed at my sister's house for the weekend) went to the city and watched the Myer Christmas Parade. It's our first. It was good - the girls got up nice and close to the action, and we didn't have to wait as long as I thought before the parade headed our way. It was pretty hot though and I'm glad we all decided to wear hats - many people didn't. Then we went to Crossways - we ALWAYS go here when we are in the city. You have to remember we are poor at the moment, so this place is perfect for us! I think it cost me $11 for myself and the 2 girls. The main is always vegan, the desert vegetarian and cordial, water or milk to drink. AND it is all you can eat. Can't beat that for value!

And finally, I found these shampoos/conditioners at Priceline in Chadstone.

They promise no sls, als, parabens or petrolchemical cleasers. They claim they are vegan, and cruelty free. They also use packaging that is plant based. WOW. Now, before you ask, no I haven't tried them yet. But when I do I will let you know. I really wanted to share my find. I didn't buy myself any shampoo. I am trying to embrace my curls and have started no-poo (ing). I'm also trying to get Tweenie to love her curls now, like my parents should have done with me, so she doesn't have to get to 35 before realising that one needs to work with what one has been given!

Oh, one more thing. You may have notice that I have DELETED my facebook account (one of my goals on the side of this blog). I know! Amazing, right? I decided that it was REALLY wasting my time and most of the people on there really couldn't give a flying f@*k about me anyways so why was I spending so much time on there? It is like a drug and I've already had to deal with giving up that before (nicotine).

Facebook gone, no nicorette patches required.

Tahn

Mushroom pies and tofu spinach salad

2009-11-12T23:34:00.001+11:00

Baby decided yesterday that she would like to make mushroom pies. I asked her how she was planning on doing it and her idea was to just chop up the mushies, chuck them in some pastry and wack them in the pie maker. Err, mmm, no. Good try, Baby!

So I was on a mission last night, as a good **cough, cough** mother, to find a mushroom pie recipe that Baby would like.
I found this recipe (scroll down to heatherq's recipe)and this morning I made the mix and left it to cool. Because I made the pieces of pumpkin and potato quite small, I didn't need to cook it in the oven for 30 minutes tonight. Instead I put them in the pie maker and made little individual pies.

I thought we would need some protein with this meal, and in my quest to try (and love) salads I made a tofu spinach salad. It was quite nice, although I would use baby spinach or mixed salad leaves next time as the spinach (all that I had in my fridge) had a slight bitter taste.

On Tuesday, my mum went down to Seaford to stay with my sister for the night. We met them at Mordialloc Beach which was nice. Here is a photo of my nephew, R. Tweenie, Baby and YM buried him and Tweenie drew a pair of boobs and a g-string on him!

When we wanted to come home we got to the train station at 9.05pm and had just missed the train by 5 minutes. It was a 25 minute wait for the next one. When it finally arrived, a few stops later we had to wait for some dickhead to stop forcing the doors for 10 minutes! The Epping line at Flinders Street Station was then 10 minutes late and we had to go by way of the city loop adding ten minutes to the trip. We finally opened the door of our house at 11.15pm! My poor babies feel asleep on the train! Gotta love public transport at night!

So the next day I kept them home. Tweenie already had an orthodontist appointment to get her plate fitted anyway. We did some learning about Remembrance Day and the kids wrote a poem. Here's YM's (he used my computer so that is why I have access to put it on here!):

Remembering The Dead

Poppies covering the grave

The dead under the crosses

People screaming, getting shot

Sadness for the dead

The blood of the wounded people

There should be no wars.

Anyway, so on the way to the orthodontist, Baby found a REAL poppy which they thought was great.

After we went to the Art Gallery again and completed the water trail before stopping off at the AC/DC exhibition at the Arts Centre. The kids rocked out with the guitar!

It's my birthday tomorrow! We are heading out to Shakahari so expect a heap of photos on my next post with my friends and family celebrating with me. I am so looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner!

Tahn

Tabouli and bean chilli

2009-11-09T23:15:00.005+11:00

Today is the day that Tweenie had her braces removed! She was so happy!

Check out my gorgeous daughter

She can't stop running her tongue over her top teeth! And SMILING!

Once we finally got home (we also did a bit of xmas shopping today) it was still stinking hot. I made the tabouli my mum wanted for dinner as well as a 'Three Bean Chilli' from The Vegan Table. I fried up some mushrooms and we each had a piece of mountain bread that we folded all of these wonderful ingredients into. (The tabouli recipe is from Now Vegan! by Linda Stoner)

I've never actually tried tabouli, and I quite liked it! I'm not much of a salad eater so I am making a conscience effort to try some new and exciting salads this summer.

Cheers to enjoying the heat! Clink Clink.

Tahn

Took a break, now I need to catch up!

2009-11-08T22:29:00.001+11:00

Wow, has a week gone past already?? I seriously needed the 'break' after posting for all 31 days of Veganmofo!

But now I am back!

This tummy-rumbling picture is a mixture of a couple of recipes I found. The tofu is sesame seed encrusted and it's resting on a bed of capsicum, broccoli, spinach and tomato. DELISH!

Most of our meals in my week off have been very boring.

My mum arrived from W.A today and we went to the South Melbourne Markets. I found Chia seeds and organic cacao powder. After we got home we walked to Woolies to get a few things. We specifically wanted some ingredients for tabouli and oaty burgers. By the time we got home we were stuffed so I ended up using my new toy from the World Vegan day to make some raw zucchini and carrot curls.

I then probably broke the rules of raw and added some heated pasta sauce over the top. Everyone thought it was delicious and I thought of some other wonderful ingredients I would add next time (including making my own pasta sauce!). It was scoffed down before I could remember to take a photo! I think this was a good introduction to partially raw for all of us. The kids were comparing the lengths of the curls to see who had gotten the most and longest!

After we cleaned up I made the kids a green smoothie. I used green grapes, spinach, flax seed oil, cacao powder, banana, chia seeds and ice.

The result was happy kids!

Stay tuned for the tabouli and oaty burgers. Tweenie gets her braces off tomorrow and is very excited. I wonder if I will feel like cooking...not if it is as hot as it was today!

Tahn

Melbourne Uncup Day Before

2009-11-03T22:03:00.001+11:00

Last night the kids and I headed to Fran-ghanistan for our first annual 'Melbourne Uncup Day Before' dinner party. What an awesome evening - the weather was perfect! C and I dressed up.

So did my kids.

Baby and YM

Tweenie and C & A's beautiful vegan bubba, O.

We all cooked some food and we had a really nice spread - with enough to feed us brunch the next day!

Onion Bhaji's from this recipe - baked not fried

Chai-spiced biscuits from The Vegan Table

C's couscous roasted vegetable medley

C's potatoes

I also provided pumpkin coconut curry and aloo gobi both from The Vegan Table.

A & C -Thanks for a GREAT night!

The next day R returned as our breakfast chef as she was having NO luck trying to cook some potato fritters for dinner. But it was perfect the next day!

R is new to vegetarianism - after A showed her "Earthlings" (I actually have never seen this!)

Baby had a ball with Eddie the dog (sitting on C's dad's knee). Poor thing was 'played' with all night and the next day! I'm guessing she wants a dog!

Had a fantastic day, but woke up this morning with massive sinus pain on the left side of my face. It was years ago since I had this pain and it sucks! Hopefully it goes away soon as I really don't want to visit the Doctor.

Tahn