Uncheese fun and a Pot Luck Picnic

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

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

I heart the Preston Markets

The usual Saturday event occurred today. Lunch from La Panella Bakery followed by a visit to the Preston Markets for our weekly fruit and vegetable shop.

This is what we got today:

All for only $40.15!

This is what I got:

1/2kg grapes

5 sweetcorn

1kg carrots

2 zucchinis

1 continental cucumber

300g snow peas

1 whole butternut pumpkin

1/2 seedless watermelon

6 red capsicums

8 corella pears

10 mandarins

16 assorted apples

300g baby spinach

1 whole cauliflower

2 pineapples

2 punnets blueberries

5kg potatoes

2.5kg bananas

20 onions

All for $40.15 

 Not bad, I reckon! Being vegan is sooo cheap IF you stay away from all the processed crap!

And here is lunch:

 Baby and Nephew chose the plain 'pie', Tweenie had the 'pastie' and YM the 'sausage roll'. I had the mushroom 'pie', but I usually fight the mobs getting the bargains on the fruit and veges while the kids eat and so I eat mine at home. They had run out of apple slice today :( so I got an apple pastry, but it's not the same. I like the sweet apple slice the best.

This morning, as we were all heading out for a jog I noticed this sign on my fence.

I was so angry that they had put this sign up on my fence with out my permission!! How dare they!!!!
Silly I know, but I really felt annoyed! As soon as we got home I had to un-ban the use of the telephone and I called the local police to see where I stood. Next I called the local Ray White office only to be told that they didn't think it was them. I don't care who it was, get it off my fence! Apparently the owner of the local office was going to drive past my house and look at it. Well, 4 hours later, and on returning from the markets it was still there and I hadn't even been contacted about it again. So YM went out with a screwdriver and took it off. I know I should have just done that in the first place, but I wanted Ray White to know how totally inappropriate I thought that was! Oh well, it's off now, but still annoying!

I've also had just about enough of the school holidays. I am going mental being surrounded by kids all day with no adult interaction. Not sure how I will go when I return to relief teaching next term :(. That is one of the reasons why I was trying to give it up...I used up all my patience on the kids at school and then came home with none for my poor babies! At least I will get some adult conversation in the staff room (unless I get stuck with ALL the yard duties- which usually happens for a relief teacher!). Anyway, can't wait for them to go back to school. May just spend the whole of Monday in my pyjamas, tucked up in bed, alone and child free.

Tahn