Tropical Smoothie

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!

A Day of Fun and Food

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.

Banana Icecream - You just gotta try this!

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

I'm in love!

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

Silverbeet Pizza and Chocolate Banana Mousse

WTF?? Is it midnight? Am I sick? How come I'm posting so early??

Actually, I'm not really sure why I am able to post so early today, as opposed to other days when it is almost midnight before I get a chance to write.
I'm just extremely happy that I can!

So earlier in the day I made some basic pizza dough and left it to rise. I found a recipe for swiss chard, onion and tofu pizza to use up the silverbeet I had. The recipe combination sounded weird, but I thought I would give it a go anyway.

The recipe requires the pizza bases to be pre-cooked for 15 minutes but I don't recommend this. Have a look why:

Mine blew up like a balloon and here in this photo I have removed the top and now it looks like a pizza bowl! Luckily I had two lots and I pre-cooked the other one for only 5 minutes.
The rest of the recipe was really easy. I like how it turned out. The kids enjoyed it also. It's a very interesting way to use up silverbeet!

Before I made the pizzas I made this Chocolate Banana Pudding. It needs about an hour in the fridge. It requires 2C of silken tofu. So after I picked up the kids from school we walked to Woolies (well, Safeway, but I'm from W.A and some things you just hold on to!) to pick up 2 pkts.
So I stick one packet into the blender, all fine and dandy. Then I go to put the other one in and it looked like this:

It didn't smell too good either! And it was FULL of water! Its expiry date wasn't until the 25th of November! This is definitely not right, is it?
Anyway, I chose not to add it to the blender, so our dessert only had about 1C of silken tofu. And lazy me didn't scrape down the sides of the blender and a lot of the cocoa was still dry on the sides. I didn't mind, though. I thought it probably balanced out the lack of tofu.

Tweenie and Baby had a couple of tinned mangoes on top. It was delicious and I would definitely make this dessert again. It was so quick. About 3 minutes!

I'm feeling a little better today. I did manage to get up and at 'em, although it was a bit later in the day. I organised for a real estate agent to come around and appraise my house for renting and I have another coming tomorrow morning. It's an exciting, yet nerve-wracking time for me. I know I have made the right decision but...

Tahn

Banana Loaf Cake and a lazy poorly day

OMG, I have had such a lazy day. I'm not sure whether me being a little poorly is any excuse!! I'm sure that if I had actually left my bed for other reasons except to pee, I would have not felt so bad! So, I have made a pact with myself, and I write it here for all to see, that no matter how bad I feel tomorrow, I'm getting showered, dressed and occupied! I need to because my house is trashed - the children always seem to take advantage!

So tonights meals was fried rice again. I used the sweet corn rice recipe that I used before and also added the vegetarian pork because the kids asked for it. (Note to self, I must see how much protein that stuff has). Tweenie organised the rice. The rest is so quick and simple. Remember when I thought I should have a fall back plan when I wanted to have take-away or can't be bothered cooking? I think I have found THE recipe! So very quick and pain free.

I was searching for a quick recipe for Tweenie to make after dinner and came up with Nancy's Banana Muffins. So easy, too!

She turned it into a loaf cake instead of muffins. I thought it would be quicker and less messy (it was nearly her bed time, too!).

It has no oil (which is a bonus because I have TOTALLY run out of every oil I use!) and only 1/3C marg. It is quite tasty. Tweenie is really good at making stuff! I LOVE this age! (she's just turned 11).

While lazing in bed reading blogs and playing on Facebook, I caught up with a friend from WA. She called me and we talked for soooo long, about an hour-and-a-half!! Hope she's reading this now - thanks for the chat K!

Vicki from Vicki Vegan blog is trying to organise for us all to catch up at the WVD this Sunday. Looking forward to that!

Tahn

Friends for dinner and Boo-nanas for dessert

I had the day off today so I decided to do a bit of cooking to make up for last night's lack of enthusiasm. When I had settled down at the end of it, just before the kids got home from school, I thought about Popeye's sister, G, who had just returned from QLD visiting her army b/f and I knew she would be feeling low. So I rung her up and invited G and her 2 gorgeous boys - V, 5 and JA, 3 (I hope I got the ages correct!) over to help us eat dinner.

My cooking day started with FUDGE!!!! OMG!!! G, I totally forgot to tell you about the fudge!!!

Look at that!! So delicious!! Very sweet, didn't quite set (like 'real' fudge - but enough) and so I need to eat it with a spoon. I am not sure where abouts on the WWW I got this recipe from.

FUDGE

6T margarine
31/2C icing sugar
1/2C cocoa
1t vanilla
1/4C milk (I used rice)
1C chopped nuts (optional)

Spray a baking tin. Place all ingredients (except nuts) in a heatproof mixing bowl. Place the bowl over simmering water and stir until smooth. Add nuts. Pour mixture quickly into tin. Chill thoroughly (overnight is best). Cut into squares.

Next I made Spanakopita from this recipe.

It was really good! I'd definitely make this again! It's like a spinach and ricotta strudel. I made it with FRESH silverbeet from my garden! So good!

I tried an Aloo Palak recipe (spinach and potatoes). I liked it although the kids thought it was a little too spicy for them.
Here is what our dinner looked like:

After I invited G and the boys for dinner, I quickly made a dessert for them that was called 'Boo-nanas'.

How cute do they look?? Like little ghosts! The kids gobbled them up. Even I had one and they were yum!

Boo- nanas
Bananas
shredded coconut
sultanas
orange juice (I actually had no OJ, so I used a pastry brush and brushed maple syrup on them)
popsticks (I used skewers)
Stick a skewer up the length of the banana. Sprinkle bananas with OJ (or similar), press in coconut and gently push in sultanas as eyes. Eat immediately or freeze (freezing them ROCKS!!)

I made tomorrow night's dinner also, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that!

Tahn

Lunch at Soul Mama

A while back my friend invited us out to help celebrate his footy tipping win. We were going to head to Shakahari, but his wife, who is a vet, returned to Saturday work recently. Unfortunately Shakahari are not open on Sundays, so we went to Soul Mama in St Kilda. I have never been there before either so I was looking forward to it (he was shouting so that was even better!).

The kids and I took a tram into St Kilda that took 1 hour. This apparently was quicker than the other couple invited - they drove in and it took them about 1hr and 15minutes! (Bumper to bumper on Punt Road) Yay, public transport! Anyway all 3 ladies chose the main meal/dessert option while the blokes went down the large 5 mains and rice without the dessert path. Our meal came cramped in a bowl with 4 small main choices with rice in the middle (I totally forgot to take a picture, even though I purposely kept the camera on the table! Doh!). The boys came on a tray that had separate sections for each of their large mains. I took a photos of A's just as he had started to eat.

This was a good idea as it kept all individual dishes separate. Although the food was nice, I felt that my bowl turned into one big mush pit, with all the flavours mixing in because they were not segregated. I also felt that the food was perfect for new vegetarians or omni's dipping their toes into vegetarian food. Without sounding like a food snob, I feel like I have made better dishes in my home. I was hoping for something that would blow my socks off I suppose.

For dessert the 2 other ladies chose sticky date pudding but I wanted something a bit different so I picked  Raspberry Truffle Cake.

AGAIN (!) I forgot to take a piccy, so I had to get one through the glass as we were leaving. Very nice, but VERY rich! I don't remember the raspberry that much either. I really liked the soy cream!

There was a lot of people there so the atmosphere was excellent (and what a fabulous day for being near the beach!). I found that it was really hard to hear each other talk and it seemed as though I was shouting to be heard. Near the end of the day (we were there for nearly 4 hours!!), people left and the place was getting empty, but the music got louder and I still had to shout!

Besides all of that, the food was good and the company was even better!

Anyway we came home and I started to get us ready for school/work tomorrow. I made us all a salad and crumbed some tofu in polenta and cooked it in the oven. We'll add it to the salad in the morning.

We also had blueberry banana sorbet that we made yesterday for dinner/dessert.

Yesterday after we made it, we stuck it in the freezer for only a couple of hours and I like the taste of that -soft and smooth. So 24hours later, and it was a lot more icy, but still delicious.

Blueberry Banana Sorbet

1C Blueberries
1-3 frozen bananas
1C milk/water/a mixture of both

Chuck it all in a blender and blend until well mixed. Can be eaten straight away; after a few hours in the freezer; or leave overnight to really freeze.

Well off to work for me tomorrow. Looking forward to it but a little nervous as I have stayed away from the classroom all of this year. I'm sure it is like riding a bike...

Tahn