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

Mushroom pies and tofu spinach salad

Baby decided yesterday that she would like to make mushroom pies. I asked her how she was planning on doing it and her idea was to just chop up the mushies, chuck them in some pastry and wack them in the pie maker. Err, mmm, no. Good try, Baby!


So I was on a mission last night, as a good **cough, cough** mother, to find a mushroom pie recipe that Baby would like.
I found this recipe (scroll down to heatherq's recipe)and this morning I made the mix and left it to cool. Because I made the pieces of pumpkin and potato quite small, I didn't need to cook it in the oven for 30 minutes tonight. Instead I put them in the pie maker and made little individual pies.

I thought we would need some protein with this meal, and in my quest to try (and love) salads I made a tofu spinach salad. It was quite nice, although I would use baby spinach or mixed salad leaves next time as the spinach (all that I had in my fridge) had a slight bitter taste.

On Tuesday, my mum went down to Seaford to stay with my sister for the night. We met them at Mordialloc Beach which was nice. Here is a photo of my nephew, R. Tweenie, Baby and YM buried him and Tweenie drew a pair of boobs and a g-string on him!

When we wanted to come home we got to the train station at 9.05pm and had just missed the train by 5 minutes. It was a 25 minute wait for the next one. When it finally arrived, a few stops later we had to wait for some dickhead to stop forcing the doors for 10 minutes! The Epping line at Flinders Street Station was then 10 minutes late and we had to go by way of the city loop adding ten minutes to the trip. We finally opened the door of our house at 11.15pm! My poor babies feel asleep on the train! Gotta love public transport at night!


So the next day I kept them home. Tweenie already had an orthodontist appointment to get her plate fitted anyway. We did some learning about Remembrance Day and the kids wrote a poem. Here's YM's (he used my computer so that is why I have access to put it on here!):

Remembering The Dead

Poppies covering the grave

The dead under the crosses

People screaming, getting shot 

Sadness for the dead     

The blood of the wounded people

There should be no wars.

Anyway, so on the way to the orthodontist, Baby found a REAL poppy which they thought was great.

After we went to the Art Gallery again and completed the water trail before stopping off at the AC/DC exhibition at the Arts Centre. The kids rocked out with the guitar!

It's my birthday tomorrow! We are heading out to Shakahari so expect a heap of photos on my next post with my friends and family celebrating with me. I am so looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner!

Tahn

Tofu and Vegetable Pie

This afternoon I sent Tweenie into the fridge to see which vege she wanted as the main ingredient for tonight's dinner. She came back with 'Cauliflower'. Hmm, not my favourite, although I am learning to love it through the fantastic recipes I have been trying in the last 6 months.

So I googled, and I Supercooked and I googled some more. I wasn't finding anything that tickled my fancy. Nearly gave up and thought about telling the kids to make toasted sandwiches! Anyway, thought I'd have to rethink the main ingredient. And I came up with a Tofu and Vegetable Pie (I wanted to use the fresh tofu I picked up at the Asian Grocer), plus I used up the rest of the corn on the cob and steamed some cauliflower and add the Instant UnCheese-it.

The kids really liked it and it was nice, but a little boring tasting - like it was missing a little something (I didn't use the 'chicken' seasoning, maybe that was it??). I liked the taste of the fresh tofu though!

Ages ago, my friends A & C ( who took us out for lunch at Soul Mama) lent me The Uncheese Cookbook. That's where I had made up the instant uncheese. I made it up in a snap lock bag and it has sat in the cupboard for a while. I pulled it out tonight and realised that I couldn't remember how to make it so I just boiled some water in the kettle and added a few tablespoons to it. It worked out well, and Tweenie even steamed herself some more cauliflower in the microwave so she could have some more cheese sauce.

Yesterday I posted that I had four days work this week. I went in today, and after school I got a call saying that they didn't need me for the rest of the week as they had finished all the testing they needed me for. Shame :( Was looking forward to that cash. I have also picked up something from the germy kids and I am feeling like absolute CRAP for the FIRST time this year :(
I may just spend the day in bed tomorrow. I wish Popeye was here to look after me - I am really missing him tonight.

Tahn