Update 24th September

Amy has been busy with uni work lately, so I thought I would do this post for her. I've never used a computer before, so this will be an experience for all of us. Hold on!

From oldest to newest:

4th September - Mushroom Stew with Herb Dumplings
Made by Cam
From Vegan pp102




8th September - Random Pancake Action
Made by Amy


8th September - Blasphemous Krishna Dahl
Made by Cam
From some shitty religious propaganda

Okay, so I may have put onion and garlic in a Krishna recipe, I honestly don’t recall, but it's likely. It probably made it taste better too. The real mystery is whether Lord Krishna is going to smite me with a fireball from the sky for the offence. Oh, Great Garlic, I would never forsake you for that false idol Krishna.


10th September - Seitan Pasta
Made by Amy


15th September - Moroccan Tagine with Spring Vegetables & Couscous
Made by Cam
From VWAV pp178


15th September - Strawberry Shortcakes with Macadamia Cream
Made by Amy
From VWAV pp240


Amy has tiny hands.


22nd September - Squash, Fennel and Apple Soup
Made by Amy
From The Voluptuos Vegan pp27


23rd September - Sexy Low Fat Cupcakes with Strawberry Gizzards
Made by Amy
From VCTOTW


23rd September - Simply Lovely Carrot Soup
Made by Cam
From How It All Vegan pp57


Those of you on the east coast of Australia will know that we had a lunar eclipse on a full moon recently. I went out with my telescope and camera into the front yard. All the pics I took of the moon sucked, so here is something else.






Oh and one final note. See that Squash, Fennel and Apple Soup above? Those spikes sticking out are sharp spikes of pure apple. Don't try this recipe if you're not hardcore enough. I drew a picture to show what would happen if you weren't hard as f*&k and you tried to eat it.



Without Bombs or Religious Glory
Cam

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!

A mixed bag of vegan goodness (plus a special visit from a friend or two)

Howdy. Hope everyone's doing well. We've been a wee bit boring of late. I've been doing lots of reading for my thesis (trying to make sense of Judith Butler & the notion of gender as performance - long story) & Cam's been doing pre-med study (I'm learning lots of new words).

I finally got around to making the Cookies 'n' Cream cupcakes from VCTOTW - I know, I should have made them earlier (but I'm seriously addicted to the Gingerbread ones). They were AWESOME! And FULL of fat! (The icing is 1/4 cup nuttelex & 1/4 cup copha)

So here's a mini photo essay, plus an idea of what you can do with leftover icing (you do not want to eat too much, I felt SO sick after licking the bowl out!)....


That's right people - a Super Stuffed Oreo cookie. It may not be that original, but dammit, it tasted good!


A batch of foccacia I made to go with Leek & Potato Soup:

I made some seitan on Sunday arvo (let's face it, Sunday afternoons are the best time for baking & seitan making). Firstly, with the recipe 'stolen' from Vegetation, I give you Bryanna's 'Chicken' Seitan!
I know it looks kinda gross, but it tastes good....

I also made a SoG, I mixed it in the food processor, so it was a lot smoother this time. I haven't thought of anything to put in it yet (but Cam's been snacking, so I better be quick about it!).

I'm an avid reader of Lolo's website & a few months ago she posted a recipe for Crispy Sweet & Sour Tofu. So I made Crispy Sweet & Sour Chicken. So tasty.....

Finally, I thought I'd take a few pics of our turtle tank!

Here's the mean gargoyle that protects the tank inhabitants (we have three bristlenoses in there that love to suck on him (that's a good thing))!

Snappy the Turtle (I named him):


Mr Turtle (Cam named him - guess who loves My Name is Earl?):


Theresa nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger, but do you think I could get the graphic to work? Arrgghhh...

And Vegetation, those 'chicken' nuggets from last post are made of soy, so sorry!

Ruiyi, glad to see you're having fun! When you get back we'll have to bake.

Peace out everyone!

Catch up food porn... Yeah baby - work it!

Hi everyone! I finally got the complete draft of chapter one done (5500 words later!), so here's what we've been eating.

Cam's been cooking lots (not that he doesn't cook a lot anyway)... Most of the mains below are his - I think I can only take credit for the desserts in this batch! Oh the joys of having a vegan boyfriend who can cook...

To the porn...

Cam made lentil soup last weekend (I think). It was super yummy!

He tends to make enough to feed an army (it's really good when you're tired to have lotsa lentil soup in the freezer! This pot is HUGE! The recipe is his own - I believe that you soak whatever lentils & pulses you want (we tend to add chickpeas) and boil, add in onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc and spice it up. Maybe I'll just get him to write it down for me next time. :)

Next, I believe Cam made Chicken (mock) and Sweet Corn Soup. The recipe came from an ABC website, but do you think I can find the link (but I did!)? Very easy to veganize - just sub vegan margarine and vegan "chicken" (we used the "chicken nuggets from Burlington in Fortitude Valley - great asian supermarket). Warning! This soup is souper (yes, very funny) fatty. You don't need butter on your crusty bread for this one!

Chickpea and Spinach Curry from Vegan With A Vengeance. Truly Isa is a god in the kitchen...

The flavours were so delicate in this one. Just perfect.

This one I can take credit for - pizza! Our usual square base with veggies and SoG. Delectable....


We also made polenta - I crave this frequently:

And finally, Cam made Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy from VWAV. We didn't have vegan white wine, so we made it with red. Awesome!


And now for the sweet things! I went to My Heart Garden @ St Lucia a few weeks ago (I go to UQ) and had lunch with a friend. This cafe is awesome! The food is tasty curries, burgers, salads, etc. They also do awesome desserts. I had a conversation with the chick that runs it - she's also a huge Isa fan! She had some cupcakes from VCTOTW, which I had with lunch, but I brought home this Pumpkin Maple Cheezecake for Cam and I. So yummy!
If ONLY I had the recipe for this - I would have to run 10km a day instead of 5km!

Finally, Cam requested that I make pumpkin pie. I've seen a few recipes around, but I made the nut granola base from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook and used Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe (I found it here). Yummy! I've made it once since (and we've been having it for dessert every night). While it is pretty low in fat (1/4 cup of oil for the entire pie), it's loaded with sugary goodness......



It's been pretty smoky in Brisbane over the last few days (I think they've been burning off on the BrisVegas outskirts - 'tis awfully dry from the damn drought). I took this pic from our front porch before we headed off to work. Views like this make me want to be a better nature photographer.