Caribbean Rice, Squash and Peas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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