Monday 22 December 2008

Roasty toasty goodness (in Summer - we're crazy!)

Hey guys!
I actually did try out Vegan Dad's awesome roast!
Here's what I put in the stuffing:
1/2 cup cooked wild rice (I cooked the whole packet and then measured the rice afterwards)
1 cup cubed sweet potato
1 sliced leek (it's still around!  WOOOOO!!!)
2tsp garlic
Thyme and Rosemary (it was either that or Thyme and Oregano - I can't remember!)
1/4 cup water
1 cup walnuts cut into teeny tiny pieces
2 T olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.
Method: Fry up the potato, leek and garlic in olive oil.  Once it's starting to brown add in everything else.  Cool and stuff into the roast as per Vegan Dad's directions.
This will fall apart, but it is tasty!
Naked:
Naked Roast
Drowned in gravy:
Drowned Roast
It was pretty good.  I'm going to tweak the roast - I can't find poultry seasoning (the original recipe calls for this), so I'm going to try some of the Massels 'chicken' stock.
What's everyone else planning for Christmas lunch/dinner? 

Saturday 20 December 2008

We're alive (we're just on holidays!)

Howdy!
Yes, I've neglected you blogosphere, but it's all been for a good cause.  Relaxation!
I've been doing way too many crafty things of late!  I've taken up sewing (I'm working on a dress and a top at the moment) and I made little Oliver (a friend's 1yr old) a birthday mobile out of my crazy little creatures!
Blue armless ghost
This was meant to be a ghost (like my purple kitchen assistant)...
Blue Hamster
Hamster
Blue Octopus
Octopus (this was my favourite - it's a bit of a pain to do the legs, but it looks the best!)
Green bunny
Why is it that all the bunnies/hamsters I make look like deranged serial killers?
Green tadpole
Mr Tadpole (now this was an appropriate colour to use!!!)
Mobile of the dead stuffed animals
I didn't get a chance to get the "Oliver's view" pic.  But you get the idea!  Isn't it adorable?  I think I'll definitely be making this again!
FOOD!
I think Woolworths has finally worked out that they have vegan customers!  As I mentioned last time, they've increased their range of Fry's products (thank you thank you!!!).  We also found a new range of Australian gourmet burgers!
Package of Mexican Burger
Syndian make these burgers.  They're pretty tasty.  We found best results from cooking on the health grill (I think they'd fall apart if you did them in a frypan).
Mexican flavour was tasty (also these are pretty mushy - which was good when I was recovering from tooth surgery!):
 Mexican Burger
I've also been on a bit of a pasta kick (you're really surprised, aren't you? HA!).  I made some sort of mystery pasta a while ago:
Pasta - I don't remember what kind
Looks like some sort of bolognaise?
Continuing on my obsession with silverbeet, I made silverbeet and cashew ricotta cannelloni with extra silverbeet on the side.  I want silverbeet at every meal dammit!
Silverbeet and Cashew Ricotta Cannelloni
Yummo!
And....... I made gnocchi again.  I seriously could eat this stuff everyday!  I made a ginormous batch, so we had no less than four bags of frozen gnocchi.  SOOOOOOOO tasty.  I pan fried it after boiling with dairy free pesto from Mrs Flannery's.  Not original but delicious!  I topped with the dairy free parmesan we've been overusing for the last few months (it's like crack, but good for you?).....
Pan Fried Gnocchi with Pesto
This week I'm intending to try out Vegan Dad's roast to see if I can get it to work for Christmas Day.  And we finally found Sweet William choc chips, so there'll definitely be cookies in the future!
Hope everyone's enjoying summer/winter.  I'm seriously jealous of Teresa's trip to Melbourne!