A Deviation from the Theme

Tonight Popeye decided he was going to cook dinner, as he usually does on the weekends (that's the only time he is home!). Awesome! I decided to alleviate some of my boredom and check out some new (to me) vegan blogs. One of the blogs is posting 30 days of gravies for Vegan MoFo which I thought was pretty cool. I planning on making her cashew gravy, and I'll post a link to her blog once I have made it. Another new to me blog pointed me back in the direction of Vegan Dad's blog (not new to me - I love his blog!!) and more specifically his post for vegan boneless chickenless wings from 2008. They were just what I felt like and I thought they would go well with Popeye's planned fried rice meal (which turned into a nasi goreng type dish - that's how he rolls).  As a bonus,  I had all of the ingredients except the required amount of panko crumbs (I only had 3/4C of panko and topped it up with some bread crumbs from La Panella).

They were really quick to make and tasty to boot! I think I'll have to make a double batch next time as we all had 2 each and the kids were looking for more! If I didn't run out of energy at this point, I would have made an awesome sauce to go with it.

Vegan Dad's blog has a link to a chicken style broth recipe but the link is broken. I found this one which someone in the comments suggested the original may have been from.

Now I need to go through my next cookbook to see what I'll be making next week (guaranteed I WON'T be making anything Monday night - I've got day surgery planned). I've been quite impressed with Passion For Pulses this week, I hope the next one is just as good.

Happy Mofo-ing,

Tahn

Seitan Kebabs

I had a go at making seitan the other day (well, technically I made it once before as a roast for Christmas) and turned into Kebabs (1000 Vegan recipes).
I made the marinade and left the veges and seitan in for a while to soak up the flavour. Turned out really nice, but YM was not a big fan. We used the peach chutney on the side (that chutney was soo good!)

It was such a lovely night we decided to eat it outside. The tent was up in our usual eating spot so we had to set up further down the back of the yard. Unfortunately, it was just far enough back to keep getting massive wafts of car wash wax which was spoiling my dinner (I have a car wash on one side of me - can get quite annoying at 3 in the morning on a Friday/Saturday night when pissed people want to wash their cars- noisily! Who the fuck washes their car at 3 in the morning, I ask you??!!)

Anyways, the salad was a couscous salad which was actually called Golden Couscous Salad (1000 Vegan Recipes, Pg. 86) and used all things yellow-ish only I didn't have any yellow capsicum. So I put in red capsicum and we called it sunset salad - which we think is a far better name!

Today we went for a bit of a play at the park, as we do a few times a week. It was heaps of fun (it always is) but we often compromise our dinner meal. Or we have it REALLY late. But I had a brain wave tonight (and I am sure lots of other people do this - but as usual I am only just getting it now!)

Previous to this thought, I decided that I want to get up earlier and do heaps of stuff rather than stay up really late, do nothing but watch the box, and struggle in the morning. On that really hot day I was awake at 4am and up at 5am. I pottered really slowly around the house, cleaning up and generally having some time to myself - but productive time. So this is what I am slowly going to aim for when I get back from Bali. By that time, Popeye will be back at work and commuting back and forth from Cerberus every second day or so and will have to leave VERY early in the mornings to get back to work so it will work quite well I hope.

Anyway, the thought. Usually after late arvo exercise no one really wants to eat a huge meal, let alone cook one. So I am hoping to change our meals around (from the way I have been brought up - we tend to follow that example, don't we??). So, I will (hopefully) get up early, make a BIG breakfast, have a MEDIUM sized lunch (stuff we would usually have for dinner), and after the kids do some homework, we can go out for some fun and exercise and come home, shower the kids and have a LIGHT dinner such as a smoothie in summer and a thin soup in winter. I hope it works.

I get my hair-brained schemes from my mum! She is always coming up with something, reading something, or trying something. Not all things stick, though! Some things are just great thoughts!

We'll see how we go! It sounds good in theory...

Tahn

Christmas, Christmas

Thank fuck that's over!

Seriously! Popeye and I decided last night that we would not be attending a family gathering next year. We will try to save our pennies, buy no presents (except santa, of course- but I can't control what the big fella brings the kids!) and hopefully go overseas for christmas - to somewhere that doesn't celebrate it like we do here in Oz. Maybe Cambodia (a suggestion from my sister).

I don't know why I get sucked in every year. I'll blame it on the kids. How can you not get sucked in when you have kids? I'm not even religious. In any way. I'm not even christened (neither are my kids FYI).

Wow, I'm really venting here. Despite lots of reasons to vent today, only one I will make public (and the rest I will hold unhealthily inside!).

We went to Popeye's Mum's today for lunch. Sitting at the table, YM said 'What's that?' and pointed to some sliced meat.

I said, 'Well, that's a dead pig and'

I got cut off by R, Popeye's (step) Dad who angrily said, 'Let's just say what it really is. That is ham and that is turkey.'

I said, ' I think I did just say what it really was.'

And that was about all he said to me all afternoon.

It made me so annoyed. I may sound mental I know, getting worked up over nothing, but I get annoyed when people want to cover up the truth. And I was speaking to my son. I wanted him to know what poor animal had suffered and unknowingly given its life to feed people who turn a blind eye (or whatever reason they choose to give for their omni status).

Ok, enough. Breathe. Ahh, better.

Despite my username as Seitahn, I have actually never tried, let alone cooked seitan before. So what a time to try it! Thankfully it turned out fantastic.

I made a Stuffed Seitan Roast (from 1000 Vegan Recipes) and it was surprisingly simple. I was a bit skeptical before putting it in the oven as it looked like a giant turd!

But it looked fabulous when it was carved and tasted great. I made a Basic Brown Sauce (1000 Vegan Recipes) to go over the top.

I also tried another recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes that I had never done before (shows how much faith I have in this cookbook! Making something untried on Christmas Day!).

Chocolate-Macadamia Cheezecake Truffles

Ok, so this was the last one, and this one I rolled in crushed nuts (the others were rolled in ground macadamia nuts) but MAN they were good!! (NOT good FOR you, mind you!). Little balls of heaven!

The kids had a great time today, and they really seemed to enjoy their gifts. They are just at the right age, too. They really showed their appreciation. It was lovely.

Hope you all had a fab xmas! Can't wait to read what you all got up to today!

Tahn