Cupcakes designed to solve all of the world’s problems!

Maybe not ALL of the world’s problems, just the little things, like cheering up friends!

Chocolate cupcake with Peanut Butter Icing from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
In other happiness inducing news… pickles!  (insert quotes from Scrubs here…)

Oh Fry’s Burger with Tofutti American Style Cheeze melted on top with pickles, tomato sauce, american mustard and finely diced brown onion, how much do I love thee?
Finally, I’ve been cracking (ha) out Hot Damn and Hell Yeah! by Ryan Splint because the recipes are simple and CHEAP (and supporting a vegan Australian is ALWAYS a priority).
 Mmmmmm – enchilladas with cheeze (not shown, guacamole).
Up next: Vegan Cupcakes take over the United Nations – Switzerland stops being neutral on the cupcake issue… :)

Cam's Indian Restaurant

We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night, and by Jeebus, he outdid himself!  (You can commence drooling now):

Mung Bean Dahl.  Need I say more?

Cam's favourite Savoury Chickpeas.

Amy's favourite Potato and Cauliflower Curry (he added Coconut Milk this time - it's a nice addition!).

Indian Salad.

Mushroom and Pea Curry.  This one was HOT but good!

Why are there never any leftover Chilli Potatoes?  Grrrrrr.

The whole shebang.
We followed all that spice with Spiky cupcakes!

They were the Toasted Coconut ones from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World topped with Chocolate Buttercream.  I made too much icing (on purpose).  Oh the joy of raiding the fridge for icing!!!!

(The diet started yesterday - I'm of course ignoring the English muffins below!).        

Catching up on tastiness!

So here's what we've been eating of late!
Leftover stuff from my birthday party:
Malaysian Curry and Spanakopita (I froze a lot of leftovers – I only put out a half batch – they are a really good and easy snack!)


I made a double batch of the Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse for cupcake filling. It was awesome!


I found a donut maker for $18 the week before my birthday. I used the recipe from VeganYumYum to make mini donuts!


And here they are topped with chocolate:



Money shot...


I got around to trying the Tamari Roasted Chickpeas from Eat Drink and Be Vegan. We've made them about three times in salad!

Yummy Italian Bread that we had with salad one night.



Leda makes Mintons. They're super yummo!


Money shot...


I made another batch of chilli. I put a million veggies in this one!

Finally, I made tofu BLTs. "Bacon" recipe is the Tempeh Bacon recipe from VWAV modified to use tofu. I also used the Cashew Ricotta from Veganomicon as a spread. Drool!

Happy Birthday to me (for Monday)

I've been busy with my first week of law school (yay!), so here's a quick pic from my birthday party on Saturday night (my birthday was on Monday, so alas I had to party early):



Cookies and Cream cuppers and the Hazelnut Choc Mousse filled Hazelnut Cuppers from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. So yummy. These provided me with the energy to sing karaoke for two hours. Best. Birthday. Party. Ever.

I'm free!!!

Hey y'all - I've finally finished my thesis. Woo hoo! Just needs printing and binding. So happy (and nervous as hell)!

As previously promised, here's a few things we've been cooking lately. We went to a cooking class this morning, so I'll show a few things we made in the next few days (we'll post recipes when we've had a wee play with them).

Firstly, on the 10th October (has it been that long since we posted?), I made a tofu salad. Tofu recipe is Italian Marinated Tofu from Vegan With a Vengeance.


It was very tasty (we also crumbled in some Cheezly - I think it was the garlic and herb one). Doesn't the tofu look a little like it was barbequed? I love the idea of baking tofu over frying it - will definitely do this in the future!

Next, BBQ Pomegranate Tofu from Vegan With a Vengeance. This recipe is not that healthy. The sauce is scrumptious though. Another baked tofu <3 .="." span="span">


I found some cheap veggies with noodles @ the supermarket that arvo to have with it - I just gave them a quick stir fry. This one's probably a nice fancy one to do when we have guests.

After we bought the Cheezly Cam wanted to make his own. The recipe is the Colby from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. It was good, but we're having agar issues. I got some fancy loaf tins the last time I was at Big W - aren't they cool? They're about 12cm long. I made my favourite Zucchini and Apple muffins in these last week. But I digress!

Waiting to set:


After it was set:


Sliced up!


We made an antipasto lunch - it was very civilized!

From the left we have: Semi-dried tomato stuffed green olives, Semi-dried tomatoes (yummo), Tartex pate, Kalamata olives, Chris' brand hummus, Sliced herb and garlic Cheezly, Sliced Sanitarium luncheon. We had it with crusty bread! 10/10.

I insisted upon making Squash, Fennel and Apple Soup from The Voluptuous Vegan again, 'cause it was so damn rad. Herb and olive focaccia on the side.


I kinda wish it wasn't getting hotter here - soup is healthy and yummy. And fennel! Who knew it was this tasty?

On the 21st (October) I went to a baby shower. It was nice! (I had too much champagne - everyone knows I'm not that excited about kids) The mum to be is an awesome chick that I work with, so I was happy to go to this one! On her request I made....

Oreo cupcakes (I couldn't resist making "baby" sized ones!) from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.


As I recall, the rest of the packet of Oreos was consumed one night while I was struggling with chapter two!

I also made the Hazelnut Cupcakes. I couldn't be bothered making the ganache, so I just piped the YUMMY mousse over the top. Le sigh....


I think this decoration is quite effective. What do you think?

I couldn't in conscience waste half a pack of tofu, so I made a double batch of the mousse! Dessert the next day.....


When I die, can I be buried in this? (Just in case I'm not dead, so I can eat something!)

I tried my hand at Lolo's (VeganYumYum) Cappellini in Fresh Tomato Cream Sauce one lunch. It was good, so I used the rest of the sauce for dinner. I added a tin of lentils. I'm such a genius like that....


This woman is a genius! Go order her book now!

I made some potato things for lunch one day (study requires fatty food - believe me, the diet starts tomorrow). I got the idea off the PPK boards (but seeing as they're down, I can't link it!). Basically the idea is this:
1)Grate one large potato into a bowl.
2)Chop up a spring onion/green onion/whatever the hell you call it.
3)Add in about a tablespoon of plain flour.
4)Add in some salt - maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon?
5)Add in oil - I used Olive - about 1 teaspoon.
6)Mix together
7)Spoon onto a greased tray - I made about 5 from one potato.
8)Bake in a hot oven (200C) for about 10 or so minutes. Flip and cook for 5 or so more minutes until crunchy. This isn't really precise. Just don't burn them!


I served with Tofutti Cream Cheese & Sweet Chilli Sauce. Heart attack-tastic!

Um, what else? Oh yeah! We had a roast the other night (the usual Sanitarium one) and we only had red onion. I had to take a pic - Pink Onion!


We made pizza to use up some Cheezly (I insisted that we buy Cheezly expressly for this purpose, so....). The sauce is the Pizza Sauce from Vegan With a Vengeance and the base is my usual one. Toppings were chilli, Seitan O'Greatness, Mushrooms and Nooch.


Lastly, from Cam, we have Malaysian Curry! I was at my sister's new house last weekend & I had to give half of my leftovers to my nephew. Even 2yr-olds love this stuff.


What do I do now? I have all this free time. Oh wait - I have to go to work on Tuesday. Dammit! Hope everyone's good!

Update 28th August

Here's a selection of what we've been chomping on for the last few weeks!

We went out to dinner about two weeks ago for family birthdays (my brother is born on the 13th and my sister and dad are born on the 14th of August!). We went out to a really yummy restaurant called Olivetto's. It's really fancy (we had real table linens and napkins - you really don't get that in the cheap vegan cafes!).

This was all that I remembered to snap (I was unable to after 4 glasses of Pimms!). It was a mushroom and potato thing... Don't remember what it was called. Do remember that it was AWESOME and I wanted MORE! This isn't from a vegan restaurant, but isn't it funny that "normal" chefs can produce excellent quality non-meaty food!


Next, we had our friends Kath and Adam over for dinner. I was studying that day (surprise, surprise), so Cam made an Indian feast!
Chickpea Curry:


Potato Dahl:


And Indian Flatbreads:


As I recall, the Chickpea Curry and the bread came from our normal Indian reference text. Potato Dahl was (I think) a Cam original. I'll check & let you know! My contribution was VWAV Gingerbread Apple Pie. It tasted good, but it really sticks to the pan!


Speaking of Cam originals, I present, Mushroom & Pea Curry! Our local Indian restaurant makes a recipe exactly like this one. So good!


We've also made La Dolce Vegan Stroganoff (I found portabellos on special!!).


As inspired by PPK Food Porn, I made Scalloped Potatoes, which we had with "chicken" nuggets from the chinese supermarket & random vegetables (they're buried UNDER the gravy!).


Tony, who gets to share an office with me at work (isn't he lucky?), had his 55th birthday on the weekend, so on Thursday night I made Pistachio and Rosewater Cuppers from VCTOTW. I ate too many (and I'm now sick of rosewater!).


Checkout my lame decorating skills!


And the reason I was so excited about making cupcakes - I got a proper cupcake carrier!


And finally, Susanna, a lovely girl that I work with, bought this for me! She's heard me go on and on about how much I LOVE Hello Kitty! She's so awesome (I need a new adjective)! It's a lunchbag (yes, I'm a 26yr old who has a pink Hello Kitty lunchbag - I rock!).


Hope everyone's doing well. I sent off chapter two to my thesis supervisor yesterday, so I'm onto chapter three. I have ten weeks (from yesterday) until it is due! I don't need sleep to live, do I? LOL... Peace Out!