I forgot to say

I've been listening to some GREAT music lately...

Newest addition to the collection has been Serena Ryder's If Your Memory Serves You Well.....

She's an awesome singer - it's great for the treadmill (except it's hard to sing along when you're jogging, but that doesn't stop me trying!!)...

Favourite tracks: Just Another Day, Boo Hoo, My Heart Cries For You...

Give it a try.....

I'm a lazy, lazy blogger

A lovely friend of mine invited me over to her place last week for dinner, so I took my camera - I left it at her place. Ha! I have an excuse for being lazy.. ;)
Anyway, here's the food we've been eating for the last couple of weeks:

Last night: Malaysian Curry (made by my boyfriend)....
In the words of Elmo (I think) this is definitely a 'sometimes' food. Laden with Coconut Cream and generous quantities of canola oil, this one's for when you've been v. good with your food! So tasty though (just had a bowl for breakfast!!!!). Perhaps the brown rice makes up a teeny weeny bit for the fat??? LOL.. We got this recipe from the lovely people who owned ID Cafe in Fortitude Valley. I really miss their laksa (although now I have the recipe!!!).... :(

According to the photo properties we had this on April 3 - I've posted a pic of this one before - Ginger Miso Tofu Salad. It's incredibly fresh tasting (but you do get slightly wierded out (is that even a word???) by the tofu - it comes off the grill looking like Chinese BBQ pork). The miso ginger dressing is so tasty. I think we may have gone overboard with the sesame seeds.....

I seem to be posting lots of meals that my boyfriend has cooked of late - he's making up for a few weeks ago (he took GAMSAT & I did all the cooking, etc so he could study). I'm meant to be catching up on my thesis - it's going VERY slowly.....

Anyway, here's another Vegan Monkey creation:


I believe this recipe is from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. It was very good. It reminded me of the delightful curries you get from Krisha restaurants - very fragrant, but not too heavy......

I couldn't go a week without making cupcakes, I actually had a few left over when I took them to work - everyone's either been off sick or on holidays...... These ones are the basic vanilla and basic chocolate cupcakes 'marbled' together with Peanut Butter icing (from VCTOTW). I've gone on a health kick (I've started running on the treadmill - I did 5kms in 38mins 30secs on Friday). Anyway - here they are in all their unhealthy glory:


I'm drooling just looking at them.... How very Homer Simpson of me.....

And finally, a silly picture I took at my friend's place. She forgot to take the screw cap off the wine bottle before pouring..... Here's our silly reconstruction:


I'll be a little less lazy this week I think!!! Enjoy your vegan food everyone!!!! xxooxxx

Vegan Easter Egg!!!!

I don't normally blog specifically about products on here, but I found this easter egg at Target in the Myer Centre (Brisbane) on Friday. It appears that not only is the easter egg vegan, it's also ethical!!! They're not cheap though (but Vegan Monkey certainly enjoyed it!!!).......

Maybe it's a Vegan Easter Not-Egg?????? LOL.... 

Cupcakes - the vegan's secret weapon

Every time I make cookies or something sweet & take to work, everyone appears to be my newest friend!!!

Anyway, I made these last week (Wednesday) to celebrate finishing a project. Above are Mucho Margarita Cupcakes (p133-4 Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World). And below are Mint-Chocolate Cupcakes (sans icing) (p73-4 Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World).

The cupcakes took less than five minutes to disappear & everyone loved them...... Surprise surprise.... ;)

Malaysian Dumplings (again)

I've made these dumplings before, but I forgot to add a completed picture!!!!
So tasty (so fattening!!!).....

Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Soup, with Assorted Focaccias

With the change of seasons (and my flu/cold this week) I decided that we should have some soup. Making this reminded me of growing up with my family - my mum would usually make pea & ham soup out of the Xmas ham bone (frozen for the three months prior) & we'd eat it for an entire weekend.

However, now that I'm vegan, I don't want to go killing innocent piggies for tasty soup, so I turned to another family recipe - pumpkin soup. Here's my variation on my ma's recipe:

Ingredients: Pumpkin (get the quarter pieces from the supermarket), 1 large sweet potato (I think I got gold, but I'm not really au fait with the different varieties of this vegetable), 1 (at least) bulb of garlic, olive oil, 1 tablespoon vegan margarine, 2 tablespoons corn flour, cup (or so) of soy milk, vegan chicken stock powder & salt.

How to make the thingy: Cut & roast the pumpkin, sweet potato & garlic bulb (don't peel, just drizzle with olive oil) in olive oil in the oven at around 180 degrees (Celsius) for about 45 mins to an hour. Make a roux with the marg & corn flour & add the milk to make into a white sauce/pasty looking thing. Add in the roast veggies & top up with about half a litre of water and 2 tablespoons of stock powder (go for your own taste here). I puree with a potato masher, but you can puree with a blender or something else if you want a professional finish. Simmer for about 5 minutes until thick (or however you like it). I like to add chopped basil on top to finish.

I served with two focaccias I made using the breadmaker......

Olive and Sea Salt:


Mushroom & Sun-dried Tomato:


Now all we need in Brisbane is some really cold weather & I can make more!

Ginger Hoisin Noodles (Special guest cook: Vegan Monkey)

So I could attempt to get some work done on my thesis this week (fat chance - I got the flu and spent most of the week in bed and on the couch) Vegan Monkey (my boyfriend) took over the cooking duties.

One of the dishes he made were these noodles (p126-7 The Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton).

They tasted pretty good!!!!

Also, first person to think of a better blog name for the boy, other than Vegan Monkey gets.... my eternal gratitude..... Add to the comments below..... :)