Mmmmmmmm veggies......

I'm pretty damn proud of the recipe I'm sharing today - I made it up all on my own!!!! It's a polenta, but there's veggies and beans mixed into it before setting. Yummy.

Make the polenta as directed. While you're doing that saute about two to three cups of mushrooms. When the polenta is almost cooked, add in the cooked mushrooms, one tin of cannellini beans, half a chopped capsicum, mixed italian herbs, 2T nutritional yeast. It'll need to cook for a bit longer (the veggies will let off a bit of liquid), once it's a nice porridge again, turn off the heat. Add the baby spinach in handfuls and quickly stir through (you don't want the spinach to wilt - it ruins the cool texture. Pour into a glass dish and refrigerate for at least three hours. Then grill at will. It's pretty low in fat and super yummo. Voila!



Also - here's a salad we made with the Tamari Roasted Chickpeas from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan and grilled marinated tofu.

Hope your weekend is going well - I've finally properly started on my scarf (my friend Melissa helped me cast on and select wool yesterday). I'm looking forward to a day of watching Buffy/Grey's Anatomy and knitting!

Soup or stew (or dip)?

I've often wondered to myself whether Cam's lentil soup is actually a soup or a stew. For that matter, what is the difference between soup and stew? When it's this tasty, does it really matter?

I bring this question up because Cam's in the middle of writing us some software to write down recipes (so we can post them on the site!), and he's changed the name of his Lentil Soup to Bean and Vegetable stew. I object. But seeing as I can put it on crackers (above is actually torn up pieces of Mountain Bread baked in the oven topped with the previous night's soup), is it a fancy-schmancy dip?

Anyways, despite the introspection, it was really tasty (as evidenced below - can you tell I'm missing academic writing?)....


On the fake meat front we have these 'chicken' kebabs. They're basically the fake chicken nuggets from the chinese supermarket baked in the oven (we're avoiding frying like the plague) on kebab bread spread with hummous, and topped with lettuce, tabbouleh, tomatoes, mushroom, the chopped nuggets and topped with vegan mayonnaise. Cam surprised me with this for dinner after an awful day at work. Jealous?


One of the joys of winter is leeks. They're not available all year round - so they're extra special when we can get them! I've made this Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Veganomicon many times (I think I've posted pics at least once before). It's ridiculously good. I always add mushrooms just before it goes into the oven. I love how they explode in your mouth when eating. Drool!!!!


Last, but certainly not least (really? I had to go there? How cliched is that!!!) we found WHITE CHOCOLATE!!!!!
This is one of the vegan holy grails (if we were religiously inclined) apart from cheese that melts (thanks Teese, it's really not a tease at all seeing pictures of your cheese all over the PPK!!). We've found this at two Coles supermarkets in Brisbane thus far (Sunnybank and Redcliffe), so it's not that hard to find!!! You really must try it!


I'm hoping that Cam will have the recipe application done soon, we've got at least ten recipes that we can post (in pdf) so you don't have to read my rambling!

Never fear, we're still here!!!

As you can see from the title, I use my Arts degree quite a bit these days (not). So we survived the first semester of law/medical school. And we're EXHAUSTED!!! I had my last exam on Monday & Cam had his ONLY exam the week before (I had 4!). So now it's back to cooking exciting things and blogging about nothing of excitement.

We've got food pictures on the camera (but that's so far away in the kitchen), so here's a picture of geeky medical students playing Operation:


We're planning a trip to Magic Wok (or as we like to call it Leader Wok Magic Bowl) tomorrow night & I'll embarrass myself for the sake of pictures.....

And thank you to everyone for your kind comments on the last few posts, sorry I haven't had time to comment on your awesome blogs!!!!

Potatoes

Hey everyone. I've been mega busy lately (with assignments & attempting to study for end of semester exams)! Surprise surprise.

A few links and then piccies!

HellOnHairyLegs - I wish I was like this blogger when I was in high school. She's an Aussie high school student who's an avowed feminist. Her last few postings have been nothing short of genius.

Feministing - I read this about three times a week. I wish I was brave enough to create an Aussie Feminist blog. But, alas, the legal fraternity is a fraternity and being an outspoken feminist online would severely decrease my job opportunities.

Lastly this opinion piece from the Sydney Morning Herald (alas, in Brisbane we lack a decent newspaper). I know that many of my generation, who didn't do biology at school, did not get any decent sex-ed. And people wonder why we read Dolly magazine? Yes, it was full of crap that made us feel bad about our bodies. But, it gave us information about what was happening to our bodies! I really wish that our parents generation had spoken to us more about stuff like this.

And now, potatoes!

Gnocchi with Spicy Lentil Pasta Sauce.

Gnocchi with Mushroom Olive Sauce (and nooch!)

Sunday roast with Roasted Onion, Garlic and Potatoes!

Thanks for your lovely comments last time. I'm collecting them like a squirrel collects nuts (is that right? We don't have squirrels here) for the long cold winter of assignments and exam study. Oh yeah, the gnocchi recipe is from Vegan With A Vengeance. I've made it every Saturday for the last four weeks. Yummo!

Food and a rant

Or should I say a rant and food pics? I'll get to approximately three weeks worth of food porn momentarily but first a word from our sponsor.

Feminism. Is it really a scary word? Despite the new cultural angst over the idea of feminism, I identify myself as a feminist. The problem? I'm doing a first-year law course (I would name it, but to save myself the heartache....) with basically the intent to persuade the students of their responsibilities to act morally and their duty to help others in society. This is a very "leftie" agenda. I, as one who celebrated Kevin Rudd's victory with a smashing hangover, think this is a great idea (as do many of the students, conservative or not!). However.....
This week's topic was "Gender and Race" - basically an analysis of access to justice/legal assistance from the perspective of women and non-white people. I was surprised to find that I was the only person (other than our awesome female tutor) that identified themselves as a feminist (most of my class is under the age of 20). They didn't seem to think that feminism was really required anymore. One fellow classmember actually listed the reason that they didn't identify as a feminist was that "the boys laugh at feminists. They think they're dikey lesbians". !!!!!! Notwithstanding the utter disparity in this statement, I want to say a few things....
We need feminism for everyone. Feminists don't hate men! They want equality for everyone! This means equality in pay and treatment. We're not going to get change unless we push for it.
I know I'm not the most articulate when I'm angry, so here's a video that you must watch (thanks to my favourite feminist website Feministing for the link):


And now, as advertised, food!

I think this may have come from Vegan Fire and Spice? Sorry Cam, I remember it was tasty though! I call it "Cam's chickpea dish with mashed potatoes and hummus". I do remember that I put nooch and smoked paprika in the potatoes!

Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Soup. This did come from Vegan Fire and Spice. Yummers.

An awesome photo of my Dad slicing Veggie Roast with his fancy knife. I heart this knife. Check out the wafer thinless of the slices.

Cam's been making lots of Indian curries (as always they're awesome). So here's a small selection (there's a bit of a theme here!):

Chilli Potatoes (These burn for me, but gosh (did I just say gosh? When did I turn into a polite person?) they're tasteeeeeee!)

Chilli Potatoes with Spinach and Chickpea Curry (Also delectable)

Chilli Potatoes with Mushroom and Pea Curry (Cam said that he'll have a recipe for the Mushroom and Pea curry soon!)

Leeks are finally available in Brisbane!!!! I've been waiting for Leeks to become affordable since getting Veganomicon.

Firstly, a Leek and Potato soup from La Dolce Vegan (it has carrots in it, thus the orangey goodness):

THE Leek and Bean Cassoulet from Veganomicon. So. Damn. Good.

And onto my particular favourites, the non-savoury things!

Choc-chip Blondies with Rasperries from Vegan With a Vengeance!

Fancy Mushroom and Red Wine Scrolly Bread. It was a bit tough, but still AWESOME.

Ginger Pear Muffins (overripe pears equals incredibly smooth batter equals yummy goodness):

I attempted some apple scrolls based on Bittersweet's Pizza Scroll recipe. They just weren't sweet enough (more sugar is required in the dough!):

Finally, I'd had a crap morning at work and raced home for lunch before uni in the afternoon.... Someone was nice enough to leave me the last of the "middle" of the bread (I hate the end/crusty bits)! So I had the ultimate in convenience snacks: The (vegan) luncheon sandwich.

Thinly sliced Sanitarium Lunchon is sandwiched between two slices of High Fibre White Bread from Baker's Delight. Spread with Nuttelex, this sandwich will fill the needs of vegans on the run....

Yeasty goodness!

No, not beer - bread! After my success last weekend with the Cinnamon, Sultana & Craisin Bread, I made two savoury bready thingys.

Firstly, Calzones. The recipe is "Zucchini and Tofu Calzones" from Vegan Vittles. I added Mushrooms as well (and a bit of olive oil to the pizza dough for ease of manipulation). I served it with VWAV Pizza Sauce.




And secondly, and completely awesomely, Bittersweet's Pizza Rolls! OMG. Seriously. The. Yummiest. Thing. I've. Ever. Made. The variation is from the VEST article (V'con Cashew Ricotta and Lachesis' Seitan O' Greatness).



Up close (and yummy):




I actually made these scrolls twice today. I have to run, otherwise Cam will eat them all!

My name is Amy and I'm addicted to buying vegan cookbooks

Hey guys! Just a quick post to say holy crap I have a lot of cookbooks! (And I still have my eye on a few, particularly Yellow Rose Recipes....)
New ones include:
Cozy Inside by Jonie Marie Newman (which may include a reference to Iron Chef Vegan?). Am I famous now? (It's in the list of blogs to look for. I screamed out to Cam when I saw it!)
My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky. Jeebus. This book is just worth it for the pictures (and to be honest, that might be a little more healthy!). I've made the Peanut Butter Bombs. SOMEONE ate most of them. I had one. It was yum!
Soy, Not Oi! edited by Joel Olson. This is just an entertaining read. The recipes do look good though.
Hot Damn and Hell Yeah! by Ryan Splint / The Dirty South by Vanessa Doe. I'm learning lots, particularly about tex-mex & Mexican food, from this one.
Vegan Fire & Spice by Robin Robertson. Cam's already made Moroccan Chickpea and Lentil Soup. Pictures to come!
Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak. I've already earmarked two recipes from this!
Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. This book is HUGE! (It only arrived today with Vegan Vittles - the Australian postal system is so good (not) - expect recipes from this tome soon!)
The updated list is on the sidebar. What to buy next? I believe a certain Australian is coming out with a cookbook soon?
Hope everyone's week is going well. I'm up to my ears in the Tort of Negligence. Woot!