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

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

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