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!

This was meant to be a ghost (like my purple kitchen assistant)...

Hamster

Octopus (this was my favourite - it's a bit of a pain to do the legs, but it looks the best!)

Why is it that all the bunnies/hamsters I make look like deranged serial killers?

Mr Tadpole (now this was an appropriate colour to use!!!)

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!

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!):
 
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:

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!

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?).....

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!

Malaysian Dumplings

Brisbane readers may remember the ID Cafe in the Valley. We have been fortunate to go to Clement's cooking lessons & were taught this during the second lesson. So tasty, so delicious. This makes about 100 dumplings. You can find most of the ingredients at any Asian supermarket.

Ingredients:
3 cups Wong Bok
2 3/4 cups Dried Mushrooms
2 cups Textured Vegetable Protein
7 heaped tsp Chinese Mahogany Sauce
Dumpling Wrappers
1/2 to 3/4 tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Vegetarian Mushroom Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce
1-2 Tbsp Sesame Oil (for filling) Sesame Oil to taste (for dipping sauce)
1 tsp White Pepper

Steps:

1.Rehydrate mushrooms with hot water, drain and chop finely with a food processor.


2. Tear the wong bok into rough strips and chop finely with water in a food processor. Firmly press the water out of the chopped wong bok when done.



3. Fry the textured vegetable protein and chopped mushroom in a fry pan (I like to use a wok).


4. After about 5 minutes, remove heat and add the wong bok, white pepper, sesame oil, Chinese mahogangy sauce, vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce and salt.

5. Use this as filing to make dumplings from the wrappers. Seal the dumpings with a little water around the edges of the wrappers.

6. Gently boil the dumplings in a mixture of water with a little oil. As the water starts to boil hard, add a little cold water to reduce the temperature to a low boil. Repeat this boiling cycle three times. The dumplings are done when the wrappers become nearly transparent and the filling is clearly visable. Strain the dumplings and toss in a bowl with a little sesame oil.

7. Serve with a sauce made from sesame oil and soy sauce.