Cake, salad & (no) sausage rolls

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

Gingerbread men and Zucchini muffins

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

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

Pumpkin Pasta and a Whale for Lunch

This morning, while everyone was getting ready for school/work, Baby was making her lunch. She came into my room and showed me what she had done to her sandwich.

She had drawn a face on the wrapper because she thought it looked like a whale! How cute! She also grabbed her mermaid blanket to show off the 'whale' in its natural habitat.

She's very creative, my Baby!

For dinner we had a very simple, but tasty and filling dish of Pasta with a Pumpkin sauce.
Apologies for the damn awful photo (I'll make it small!)

Last night, in preparation for tonight's dinner, I roasted three-quarters of a butternut pumpkin in the oven. Tonight I fried some garlic in a pot and then pureed the garlic and pumpkin and tossed it through the spinach fettucini. Basic, filling, even if it was quite boring. The other quarter of the pumpkin is for tomorrow night's dinner.

I also whipped up an apple cake from The Joy of Vegan Baking. It's fat free!

Tomorrow I don't have any CRT work planned, so unless they call me early in the a.m., I should be able to have a free day. I think I might hit my local op shop and try and find a dress to wear to my cousin's wedding back in Perth in November. I suck at buying clothes, actually. I am used to buying for my kids, not for me. So it should be interesting!

Fingers crossed for op shopping (although if I get a call I'll go in - I need the cash!)

Tahn