VeganMofo 2013: Post 21–Super quick post of last night’s dinner!

Photo from my phone!  From the bottom right in clockwise direction: Fry’s Schnitzel with bottled Ariabiatta sauce and notzarella, leftover tempeh “fishsticks” from the Unfishwiches and green salad.  The Schnitzel parma was pretty damn good.

The ice-cream maker arrived!  I’m waiting for the bowl to fully freeze to make the first concoction.

VeganMofo 2013: Post 20–Healthy(ish) Italian!

Howdy everyone!  I made it to 20 posts in 24 days!  Who’d thunk it?  (is that how you spell that?!?!?)

Anyway, after consuming WAY TOO MUCH peanut butter fudge on Sunday (I needed the energy while I cleaned the house (for the first time since about April – the vacuum cleaner represses me by its very existence, ok?)) I thought it would be a good idea to make something vaguely healthy for dinner.  That, and I’d bought amazing basil and tomatoes on Saturday.

So I made bruschetta which was the very first recipe that I made for Cam on our first date.  Granted the bread I used isn’t as glamorous as the loaf of white bread I bought on a Saturday night from the BP, but it still is one of our favourite things to eat and be ridiculously romantic dorks.

Bruschetta – feeds two hungry vegans for an entree

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, chopped finely
• 3-5 cloves of garlic, minced (I use the microplane, so it’s practically pureed)
• 4 large tomatoes, chopped into 1cm or so pieces (they have to be GOOD tomatoes, I tend to get the ones on the vine in the supermarket for this)
• 1 large bunch o’ basil, finely chopped
• 2-3T of olive oil (never measured, just generally slug it in)
• 2 tsp salt (you may want less, or more – the more salt, the more liquid leaches out of the tomatoes – you want that)
• Fresh cracked black pepper

Throw it all in a large bowl – collect the juices as you go from the tomatoes.  Leave it sit for about half an hour.  You’ll end up with a soupy kind of dip.  We like it salty, but everyone has their tastes!

Serve on lightly toasted bread (preferably something fancy-ish).

The leftover dip/sauce is amazing on pasta.  Sure, your breath will stink, but you don’t want to be near any silly sparkly vampires, do you?

For mains we had Raw Vegan Alfredo Sauce with Zucchini Noodles.  I was inspired by Like a Vegan’s Raw Zucchini Pasta with Pesto, but thought that two basil heavy dishes in one night was a bit much.  Definitely on my to try list.  I love her blog! 

I’ve never been much of a fan of the raw vegan thing, but this was pretty damn good.  I want a spiralizer, but seeing as I just ordered an ice-cream maker, I think I need to wait!!!  Anyway, now that it’s getting warmer, I want to try a few more raw recipes to see what they’re like.  Any suggestions?

VeganMofo 2013: Post 19-Mac and Cheeze Monday–the Mac Daddy of the Mac and Cheezes

This is the fourth Monday we’ve had Mac and Cheeze.  I decided to go back and try something that I should have tried a long LONG time ago: the Veganomicon “Mac Daddy”.  This is a pretty damn healthy recipe – about 3T olive oil is all the fat in it (tofu has no fat, right?). 

It does use at least 4 containers though (two saucepans, whatever vessel you use for the tofu – I was lazy and used the food processor, and the final baking dish), as opposed to my normal mac and cheeze which uses a single saucepan.

My verdict?  Pretty freaking good.  The extra tofu makes me feel less guilty about eating pasta (the protein factor) and it’s got a lot less fat too.

Cam’s favourite of the month is still the mac and cheeze in the MacShroom.  But he isn’t the one who generally cooks pasta, so we know who's favourite’s going to end up being cooked more

The ugly photo (ugly because you can’t take good photos of mac and cheeze!!!):

Cam’s off for the next few days, so I’ve requested stuff from Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day.  Best find (in my bookshelf) of the mofo in my opinion!

VeganMofo 2013: Post 18-Breakfast, brought to you by the colour beige (and more info on last night’s dinner)

Last night’s dinner was delicious – I basically read the recipe and riffed off it.  I used dried seaweed strips because I didn’t have any kelp powder and I basically just put a lot of flavourings into the crumbs instead of adding it to the arrowroot powder (nooch, dried dill, oregano, dried garlic).  It just wasn’t fishy though.  I used to have a seaweed liquid thing that basically made things fishy, but I haven’t tracked it down.  The tartare sauce was freaking amazing though.  NOM!
Onto today’s food. 

On the left – Peanut Butter Fudge (this recipe).  Cheatin (Redwood) fake roast beef and rolls from Coles.  Super non-healthy breakfast.  NOM!!

VeganMofo 2013: Post 14 - Black Bean Burgers

These burgers are so good! I made them for dinner on Saturday and Sunday night. (I also made the raspberry chocolate blondies from VWAV wit strawberries but that was a complete disaster) Recipe is from Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day. I think we bought it in Portland last year but I don't think that we've made anything from it.
Seriously yummy. And I've used up two of my baggies of black beans! #win
Tomorrow's post: Mac and Cheese Mondays!!

VeganMofo 2013: Post 13-Lunchtime salad

Howdy everyone! This week has been crazy busy. I went to the Gold Coast on Tuesday afternoon and got Tian Ran takeaway. I should have photographed it when we ate, but we were starving!
On Wednesdays when I'm working in the city I like going to the markets on Queen Street. I usually go and get falafel, but the lines are loooooong and I just don't have time to take an hour for lunch at the moment. So recently I've been going to the Nom Nom Mobile Food stall to grab a salad.
It's not the most attractive photo, but we'll just have to deal. They always have a patty, a hummus, a grain salad and lots of greens with a spoonful of chilli jam.
It's delicious and well worth the $10.
(Posting this on my phone on the bus to work, isn't technology awesome?)

VeganMofo 2013: Day 2–the mac and cheeze-ening

Hi everyone.  Hope you had an awesome first day of Mofo! 
My theme for Mondays (and the official Monday theme for Mofo) is ‘Mac-and-Cheese Monday’.
I usually make a white sauce and add nooch to it for my go-to Mac and “cheese”.  It’s pretty much my favourite comfort food (and lazy food, happy food, I’m hungry food, I’ve had a shitty day food, etc).  Back when I ate meat and dairy it was still one of my favourite things to make.
So, today’s Mac and Cheese.
We used this product called Cherub Dairy-Free Cheesey Sauce Mix that Cam picked up ages ago from Green Edge.  Looks like it’s a product of Angel Food (NZ).  I think we still have a meringue sachet from this company in the cupboard.  I should see if that is still any good….
                          
I also used the novelty home brand pasta from Woolworths.  I buy the novelty shapes a lot.  Cam never seems to mind, so I don’t have a problem with it.  I have been known to use novelty shapes before.
I also added broccoli (I have this rule that I won’t eat mac and cheese without a substantial green vegetable – in my mind it makes up for the lack of healthiness of everything else in the meal).

The verdict?  Cam quite liked it.  We added a fair bit of salt to it (probably because we’re salt fiends) but it seemed a little too subtle for my taste.  Next time I make it (I have enough mix left to make a cup of sauce) I’m adding nooch and a little powdered mustard.
I’ve used a few different Mac and “Cheese” recipes in the past – the lower fat New Farm Mac and Cheese recipe from the original Get Sconed blog site was good (now the version online is gluten free).  There’s also my ye olde standby (bastardised from a scalloped potato recipe from long long long ago).  Now I tend to add a few drops of liquid smoke to that.
What’s your favourite Mac and “Cheese” recipe?  Or do you prefer to use a mix? 

VeganMofo 2013: Day 1!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my attempt to do VeganMofo for an entire month (for the millionth time).  I’m aiming for about five blog posts a week.
To prepare for Mofo-ing I did a whole lotta cooking yesterday.
I soaked and cooked 1kg of black beans – turns out that makes approximately 14 cups of cooked beans.

(12 cups of which are now in the freezer in 2 cup servings!) Beans – taste great, not so attractive sitting in the pressure cooker.
I also made a whole lot of sofrito using Terry’s recipe from Viva Vegan – we eat a LOT of burritos, etc (I’d call it Mexican, but I’m sure that it’s not very authentic).  That also went into the freezer in 1cup servings.  I spent a good 30 minutes chopping up onions!  Luckily no one was home to see how teary I got.
So, the first dinner of Mofo was Burritos!  And seeing as this meal was going to be my first Mofo2013 post, I thought I’d make some exciting extras: a fresh salsa and pickled red onions (the pickled red onion recipe is from Viva Vegan – OMG, so freaking good.  I frequently eat them out of the container). 

Pickled onions before and after.  Hot pink and so so good.
You can spy my salsa in the second pic.  It’s a variation on my usual bruschetta recipe: 3 tomatoes, 1 small red onion, juice of half a lime, 1 large handful of coriander, about 3tsp salt.  Chop up and mix together – it’ll be ready to eat after about 20 mins of sitting.  The juice is so salty but soooooo amazing.

Yum. 
The bean filling was:

• 1 cup or so of sofrito (basically whatever I had left after freezing the rest)
• 2 cups of black beans
• 1 tsp of smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano, cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 drops of liquid smoke
• 1 chipotle in adobo (it was the last of the tin, so I just added the 3T of adobo that was left to the mix)
• 1 red capsicum, chopped into 1cm square pieces (or so)
• 5 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• juice of half a lime

Heat up a deep frypan on the stove.  Cook up the sofrito.  Add the capsicum and mushroom and cook for about 3-4 minutes on high. 
Add in your beans (I used the measuring cup straight from the pressure cooker, so there was a fairly large amount of the cooking liquid in there). 
Lower the heat to medium and add in your spices, the chilli, liquid smoke and hot sauce.  Cook for about 15mins.  The mixture will want to stick to the bottom of the pan.  Don’t be too rough – you want some whole beans in there!
Once the liquid’s reduced, squeeze your lime juice in.  Turn it off and stuff your burrito. 
I tend to put about half a cup of beans on the bottom, then a large amount of pickled onions (or however much you like), and then top it off with salsa.  I frequently add Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, but we’re out :(

So that’s my go to recipe for burritos.  What’s your favourite recipe for burritos or tacos?
Tomorrow: Mac and Cheeze Monday!

Day 3: Los Angeles to Pismo Beach

On day 3 we headed out of Los Angeles into Santa Barbara.  We visited the Mission there (it was pretty cool - Mum and Dad, you should definitely visit - it has a religious retreat thingy and a Moreton Bay Fig!).

Breakfast that day was in LA.  We visited Trader Joe's again for Tofurkey.  Damn, even the cardboard was good.

After visiting the Mission, we stopped at Whole Foods to grab a few things for a picnic lunch.

Our heads may have exploded inside the store.  This is a few photos of the cold section:

WOW.

For lunch we had pizza from the in-store food area.  THEY HAVE VEGAN PIZZA.  FOR THREE DOLLARS. 

For dinner we had a selection of Tofurkey deli slices, olives, Daiya cheeze and yummy sourdough bread.  (We didn't get a photo of this spread).

We also headed to the Designer Factory stores at Pismo Beach.  Cam bought so many work shirts (he was excited 'cause now he can get away without ironing for more than two weeks at a time).

On Day 4 we headed to Santa Cruz.  Post to come shortly.

VeganMoFo - catchup!

EAR would like to welcome his new little nameless friend.  Anyone got any suggestions?  I think she's the cutest one I've made yet (I have a crab in pieces, but reading case law seems a little more important right now!).
But here's more exciting stuff.... Food!!!

Mmmmmmmmm gargantuan sandwich.........

Bittersweet's Pizza Scrolls with VCON cashew ricotta.  Yummo!

BTLT (Bacon Tofu, Lettuce and Tomato).  Can you tell EAR wants to run away with it?

EAR and the new toy are fighting over who gets to be in the picture! Tee hee.....
Hey guys,
I have exams in two weeks, so this is going to be my last post for a while.  Cam, on the other hand has already finished exams (grrrrr) so I'm handing over to him.  So here's my final catchup before my last exam in November!!!
Amy out.....

VeganMoFo - Chips around the world part deux

Poutine!  Greasy.  Delicious.

Someone was a little jealous of chips with cheezley and gravy!

VeganMoFo - I'm avoiding study again!!!!

To show you the fruits of my shopping labours!

From the bottom left (clockwise): Fried Tofu, Vegan Codfish pieces, Peach Tea, Vegan Roast Pork, Vegan Prawn, Vegan Beef Chunks, Vegan Soy Pieces, Vegan Chicken Nuggets, Lemongrass, White Miso, Hard Tofu (my favourite brand - all the other ones crumble too much).  This came to about $100.  It'll feed us for more than a month.  D'ya reckon you could do that with meat? :)

VeganMoFo - Tuesday 14th October 2008

Brinner!  And the return of our little friend....

As you can see I restrained him behind a specially designed metal bar to prevent him from stealing the feast of: baked beans, fried 'shrooms and spinach, ginger and apple waffles, tofu bacon and a hash brown.  I wussed out and ate the waffles separately (sorry - don't get the sweet and savoury thing).
The tofu bacon and waffles are bastardized versions of recipes from Vegan With A Vengeance.  Yum!

VeganMoFo - Thursday 9th October 2008

Now this was a meal I was proud of!

Tada!!


Vegan Parmigiana, Garlic Fried Silverbeet (that's Swiss Chard to our American friends) and parmesan mashed potato (NOTE: This photo is before I covered everything in the vegan parmesan)!



EAR was so excited to be in a photo that he was humping my fork.  You dork EAR!

I'm not a dork.  I'm the full strength Coke of evil!  I'm back bitches!!  My evil plan is almost at fruition, I ordered Amy to make me another evil friend.  Mwahahahahahaha.....  It will be unveiled this weekend!!!!!!

Well, I think voting finishes tonight & there's no way in hell I'm studying Constitutional Law on a Friday night, so after I make BRINNER (tee hee) I'll get started!!!!

VeganMoFo - Wednesday 8th October 2008

It was inevitable. I, the one who refuses to fill out surveys, have succumbed to the vegan survey doing the bloggy rounds. EAR made me do it? I've corrected the English!!!!
1. Name a song that involves food in some way.
Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off – only when it’s sung by Ella Fitzgerald though. One of the millions of things I picked up from my mum was a love of jazz/blues singers.
2. What criteria do you use when choosing a new cookbook to buy?
I constantly update my wishlist on Amazon. Probably every six months I buy about 8. And then they don’t get used! (Unless it’s Veganomicon)
3. What did you eat today?
Breakfast: Leftover cornbread with low-fat Nuttelex
Morning Tea: Dried Fruit and Nuts from the fruit stand @ uni
Lunch: Vegan Lentil pie from the new food co-op at uni. It was an interesting experience visiting their quarters. I suppose you’d say that these guys are REAL hippies.
Afternoon Snack: Icy Pole – raspberry flavour. It was HOT on Monday, so Cam and I got iceblocks!
Dinner: Why answer that and ruin a perfectly good blog post tomorrow? :)
4. Name a vegan food that you know exists but you have never tried.
Tings, Teese – see previous post
5. The Food Network just called and needs you to start your new show tomorrow. What will the title of the show be?
Eat the cupcake dammit. EAT IT!!!!
6. Favourite hot sauce or other spicy condiment?
Sweet Chilli Sauce, but when it’s completely watered down!
7. How old were you when you became vegetarian/vegan?
23 – Vegetarian 25 - Vegan
8. Favourite vegan cheeze?
Cheezley – the mozzarella one
9. Cutest baby animal?
Obviously turtles. They’re so cute when they fall over themselves.
10. Favourite type of jam/jelly/marmalade/preserves?
Raspberry Jam from Uncle Steve. Damn that’s good jam!
11. Do you take any vitamins/supplements?
2 x Calcium, 1 x Multi-Vitamin (for the iron) and 1 x Vitamin D (I don’t like the sun)
12. What food/dish most embodies the Fall season?
Um, it’s called Autumn dammit.
13. What food would you have a hard time living without?
Chocolate.
14. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
Coke Zero?
15. It’s 10PM and you’re starving. What do you eat?
Whatever asian vegan snacks I can find in the freezer
16. If you have an animal companion, what is his/her favorite food?
They love peas!
17. Worst injury you’ve gotten in the kitchen?
I used my mandolin without the cover – I still have my finger tip luckily!
18. When you have a food-related question, who do you call?
The PPK
19. Summer is ending- What food will you miss most?
Summer’s just starting! I will miss leeks over summer though!
20. What snacks do you keep in your purse/backpack/desk at work?
In the fridge/my desk – vanilla soy yoghurt/walnuts to put in the yoghurt
21. Favourite soup to make on a rainy day?
Tomato with either chickpeas or mushroom chunks (a beef analogue)
22. What’s your favourite combination of fresh vegetable and/or fruit juices?
Watermelon, Pinapple, Apple and Mint
23. Favourite brand of root beer?
Bundaberg Ginger Beer – what’s root beer?
24. Make up your own question!
Dear Strongbad, Why wear pants? Creepy pants all the time get some.
Vote early for the next blog overlord! I'd say vote often, but I can only get it to vote once (otherwise there'd totally be rigging going on!).
Otherwise...

(He's threatening you with my nail clippers. Isn't he adorable?!)

Vegan Mofo - Tuesday 7th October 2008

Hey guys, I don't have any new pics today - we've been into the studying, so food has been rather unadventurous (though I did give Cam a quiz on drugs - for uni!).
So I thought I'd do a vegan rant post.
Let me just say how jealous we Aussies are of the marvelous array of vegan items that the Americans can get their hands on. Some of the things I'm dying to try when I (ever) visit the US or Canada:

• Tings - what do they taste like?
• Teese. From what I've heard this stuff really is the vegan holy grail. And now Angel food in NZ has done marshmallows and someone else (or was it Angel food) has done vegan meringues, there really isn't much left to conquer!
• Decent Mexican food. All we have here is Old El Paso (and Cactus Jacks in Townsville - but the only vegan thing on their menu is margaritas as I recall). The PPK DIY task this week was homemade tortillas. Funnily enough I have masa in the cupboard (but there's no way I'll be able to find a tortilla press!) that I bought thinking I'd be able to make tamales, but I'm too lazy to get the whole cobs of corn and carefully tear off the husks. SO lazy I am!!!
• Vegan shoes - have you seen the prices of Aussie vegan shoes? I'm buying some when I finish law school, but that's the only time I'll be able to afford them! Until then, I'll have to be content with not quite so vegan plastic shoes from Big W and my tatty No Sweats!
• Peppermint flavoured soy milk - apparently this is an Xmas delight.

What vegan things would you like to try that are impossible to get in your neck of the woods? I might be persuaded to send extra large jars of Vegemite to people in the US in return for some vegan marshmallow spready stuff!!!!
Obviously I need to visit the Vegan version of Mecca (Portland, Oregon) one day!
Also - have you voted yet for EAR's friend? The whale is JUST in front.... Link here

VeganMoFo - Monday, 6th October 2008

Ha - that sounded like the opening to The Daily Show (thank jeebus I can watch online!).... I was busy this weekend writing TWO assignments - so glad that they're over so I can start revising for my exams (that start in a both). Yee haw.
Anyway, I had cause to bake on the weekend (there was a small disaster with a giant cupcake tin - you definitely need a faster baking recipe in this thing, Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes are WAY too dense) because of someone's birthday.... I also found vegan sprinkles (yes, I was in Coles and I said "oooh sprinkles" like Homer Simpson):

This was the second thing I baked (the first thing I baked ended up being a faaabulous batch of charcoal!). It was tasteeeeeeeeeee.

And because it was someone's birthday, I made him Oreo Cupcakes to take to uni. I had to use Copha for the icing. I'd read (somewhere) that it was a cool idea to grate the Copha for easy melting. It looked so rad that I had to share!

Of course someone else was stalking for cupcakes on the bench.
Quiet you! Not a peep out of you today!!!!!
Hi everyb
Hey - I won't make you another friend!
Okay, I'll be quiet (for once).

See our nice (quiet!) model with Cam's chips and Curry Sauce? The inspiration comes from here. Don't ask me how he came across it!!! He's planning a series of Chips and Accompaniments From Around the World. Stay tuned......
And compare that not so healthy dinner to my "chicken nugget" salad (thank you asian grocer!). This dinner was exactly what I wanted - a shiteload of veggies with balsamic dressing - it's Paul Newman dressing:(

So, seeing as I seem to be getting more hits because you all love EAR, how about you guys get to vote on what friend I knit him next. All the patterns I use are in "Little & Friends" by Jake Henzler.
I've added a poll to the main page, so vote!!! You have three days....

VeganMoFo - The Director's Cut

Someone escaped from the pantry and threatened me with sharp objects, so I guess I better let him have the limelight again... Sigh

Greetings.  It is I, EAR.  I have escaped from the cupboard to reveal the evil cooking secrets of Amy and Cam's meals past!  Mwahahahahahahaha.  Also - Amy forgot to take her camera to dinner tonight.  My revenge will be swift and spiky....

She claims these are Nachos.  But where are the Mexican hats?  And why isn't she drinking a margarita?  What?  Oh, you had a margarita with this?  I disprove of this meal - how am I meant to dip the nachos in the guac without opposable thumbs?

This appears to be some sort of bread based item.
It's pizza!
But how can it be Italian with pineapple?
Don't get me started, I let you out of the cupboard, just get on with the commentary!!!!
Fine fine....

Wow!  This looks restaurant quality.  Are you sure that you made this?
I was avoiding study!  for four hours.....
And what else did you do while avoiding study?

You knitted me friends?  Wow!!!!  I really am taking over this blog....  Tee hee!!!!
Meet Steve the armless overstuffed alien (thanks for the name Theresa!) and Teddy the tadpole!!!
Do I need a new gimmick yet? :)

It's not Vegan Cupcakes taking over the world.....

It's me! EAR! All of you bow down before me....

Mwahahahahahahahahaha
Oooh... what's this green stuff Amy?

That'd be Coriander EAR.
I must have some..... nom nom nom

Hey! Did you eat all the Coriander in the house?
Yes! Now I'm going to run away with your cheezley pizza. It looks so good and tasty.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Looks like I've inherited an ego maniacal rabbit, not just an evil acrylic one.
It's okay, I've put him where he can't cause any trouble......

Hopefully lack of opposable thumbs will stop him from eating my chocolate!