Monday 30 July 2007

Catch up food porn... Yeah baby - work it!

Hi everyone! I finally got the complete draft of chapter one done (5500 words later!), so here's what we've been eating.

Cam's been cooking lots (not that he doesn't cook a lot anyway)... Most of the mains below are his - I think I can only take credit for the desserts in this batch! Oh the joys of having a vegan boyfriend who can cook...

To the porn...

Cam made lentil soup last weekend (I think). It was super yummy!
Cam's Dahl

He tends to make enough to feed an army (it's really good when you're tired to have lotsa lentil soup in the freezer! This pot is HUGE! The recipe is his own - I believe that you soak whatever lentils & pulses you want (we tend to add chickpeas) and boil, add in onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc and spice it up. Maybe I'll just get him to write it down for me next time. :)
Enough dahl to feed an army

Next, I believe Cam made Chicken (mock) and Sweet Corn Soup. The recipe came from an ABC website, but do you think I can find the link (but I did!)? Very easy to veganize - just sub vegan margarine and vegan "chicken" (we used the "chicken nuggets from Burlington in Fortitude Valley - great asian supermarket). Warning! This soup is souper (yes, very funny) fatty. You don't need butter on your crusty bread for this one!
Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

Chickpea and Spinach Curry from Vegan With A Vengeance. Truly Isa is a god in the kitchen...
Chickpea and Spinach Curry
The flavours were so delicate in this one. Just perfect.

This one I can take credit for - pizza! Our usual square base with veggies and SoG. Delectable....
Pizza

We also made polenta - I crave this frequently:Polenta and Baked Veggies

And finally, Cam made Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy from VWAV. We didn't have vegan white wine, so we made it with red. Awesome!
Miso Stewed Potatoes and Tofu

And now for the sweet things! I went to My Heart Garden @ St Lucia a few weeks ago (I go to UQ) and had lunch with a friend. This cafe is awesome! The food is tasty curries, burgers, salads, etc. They also do awesome desserts. I had a conversation with the chick that runs it - she's also a huge Isa fan! She had some cupcakes from VCTOTW, which I had with lunch, but I brought home this Pumpkin Maple Cheezecake for Cam and I. So yummy!Pumpkin Maple Cheezecake
If ONLY I had the recipe for this - I would have to run 10km a day instead of 5km!

Finally, Cam requested that I make pumpkin pie. I've seen a few recipes around, but I made the nut granola base from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook and used Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe (I found it here). Yummy! I've made it once since (and we've been having it for dessert every night). While it is pretty low in fat (1/4 cup of oil for the entire pie), it's loaded with sugary goodness......
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie with Ice Cream

It's been pretty smoky in Brisbane over the last few days (I think they've been burning off on the BrisVegas outskirts - 'tis awfully dry from the damn drought). I took this pic from our front porch before we headed off to work. Views like this make me want to be a better nature photographer.
Awesome Sunrise

10 comments:

Amy said...

Ooo! Are those chicken nuggets soy based? And if not what brand are they? (dies in anticipation).

And YUM! I want pumpkin pie! I've never had pumpkin pie before and yours is making me want to try some really badly!!

And I hear you on the nature photography. We get some of THE most awesome sunsets and storm clouds here and my photo's never quite display what I'm going on about. Yours looks great though. I loathe smoke but it makes for a beautiful landscape!

Caty said...

So much delicious food, I would love a slice of that pumpkin pie!

Theresa said...

Pumpkin pie... I made some at Xmas time for Andy's fam, but I think his grandmother was the only one who really liked it. I think it's a much more American thing than Australian. But it's so good!

I love the look and smell in the air when they're burning around here. It reminds me of camping.

You're lucky to have such a wonderful, cooking boyfriend! It's nice when you get busy, to just sit back and enjoy a vegan meal that's been made by someone else!

Julie said...

The food looks awesome! I would looove that lentil soup recipe :]

Anna said...

Wow, everything looks fantastic, but I'm especially taken by the cheesecake and the pumpkin pie. That pie looks PERFECT. I have a butternut on top of the fridge and now I think I know what to do with it!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Looks like you've certainly been eating well the last few weeks! Those pies look super yummy and I can't wait till it's a bit cooler here so we can eat soup again, I miss it in the summer! (plus I miss how easy it is)

Ruiyi said...

wow! that looks so amazing! i´m insanely jealous, especially the pumpkin pie and the curry, oh yum!!!

i´m seriously craving good vegan food over here. in Ecuador, almost every single meal i eat has rice and/or potatoes. and it took me 30 minutes to find vegan chocolate biscuits. on the other hand, i´ve managed to convert someone else (another volunteer). she´s going to try to be vego, yay! we´re slowly taking over the world!!

Anonymous said...

looks awesome!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Mmm, everything looks delish! I need to make some polenta for a party next week, I hope it's easy!

Tofu Mom (AKA Tofu-n-Sprouts) said...

Interesting, I think maybe pumpkin pie IS indeed more of "an American thing"... One of those things we take for granted. I mentioned it to a fellow Blogger a few weeks back and they had never even HEARD of it... It's one of my family's favorites, but we aren't quite so "normal" being that we eat it for breakfast often... Hey - it's got some protein (well, my recipe uses rice milk) and lots of fiber and vitimins... MUST be a good breakfast food, right?

Anyway - What a wonderful blog! I will DEFINITELY be back!