I turned 28 on Monday... :O

Which makes me feel old. :( But I did get some lovely prezzies, including a few kitchen-related ones which I'll blog about on here! :) These included what must be the cutest kitchen tool in the world, ever- a G'Rabbit pepper grinder!

I also got a couple of cookbooks, The New Farm Vegetarian cookbook and The Garden Of Vegan! I already have, and love, How It all Vegan by Garden of Vegan's authors, Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard. This sequel looks pretty impressive so far, and there's loads of things I'm looking forward to try out! Like it's prequel, it has a chapter on homemade toiletries and cleaners, which includes a recipe for making your own bath bombs! Can't wait to try that one out...

I'd already been introduced to the New Farm's legendary macaroni cheese recipe by Lelly at a potluck and made this recipe myself, so on the merit of that alone I was already impressed! This book was written way back in 1975, so it's even older than me, believe it or not. And it has photos of hippie-looking people too! Being re-published so many times you can still buy a copy now 33 years later says a lot! While it's vegetarian, rather than completely vegan, it does not actually have any dairy or eggs listed as ingredients in it's recipes, and the only non-vegan ingredient it lists is honey, and that can easily be substituted with agave nectar, golden or maple syrup anyway to veganise it!

It has a recipe for melty cheese for topping pizzas which I tried out with these mushroom pizzas, pictured below. It was yummy, although probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but I'd definitely make it again for a treat anyway! The cheese is also great on tortilla chips... which I ate before I remembered to photograph, sorry!

Vanilla "cream" sandwich biscuits recipe at last

For the biscuits...

2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar (Tate and Lyle brand is vegan)
1/2 cup margarine (I use Pure)
1/2 cup sunflower oil
2 tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla extract
a tiny drop of almond extract

-sieve flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
-in another large bowl, cream together the rest of the ingredients
-add dry ingredients and mix well
-spoon tablespoonfuls onto 2 baking sheets covered in greaseproof paper(makes about 30-ish) and flatten to about 1/2 cm thick, or alternatively roll out with a rolling pin and cut into shapes
-bake at 200C for 12-15 minutes or until nice and golden, then leave to cool

For the "buttercream" filling

1/8 cup Pure marge
2 tbsp soya milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups icing sugar

-mix together the marge, soya milk and vanilla, then gradually add the icing sugar until it's mixed through

-spread "buttercream" on just half of the cooled biscuits, then sandwich another biscuit on top, then serve! :)

-for a coconut variation, as photographed in my last post, add 1/2 cup of dessicated coconut to the cookie dough, and another 1/4 cup coconut to the "buttercream", and (optional)replace soya milk with coconut milk

Tasty things!

First up are my experimental homemade coconut sandwich biscuits! I made coconut biscuits then sandwiched them together using a buttersque icing made from icing sugar, Pure vegan marge, coconut milk and vanilla esssence. I'll post up the recipe once I perfect it, it still needs a bit of tweaking!
Next up is Stromboli, from a recipe shared by friends from the Scottish Vegans group, after they'd brought their delicious creation to our potlucks and got everyone hooked! Here's the money shot below- and don't worry, there's no real meat or cheese, I've used Redwoods' Cheatin' ham slices and their mozzarella Cheezly.

A tribute to Sophie :(

I am sorry to say my parents' guinea pig friend, Sophie, above, passed away yesterday. She had been unwell so was promptly took to the vet, who found she had an enlarged kidney, likely to be a tumour. My parents were forced to make the difficult decision to end her suffering. :(

Rest in peace, Sophie. :(

The vegan hundred!

I got this from http://twoveganboys.wordpress.com/ Apparently there’s the omnivore’s hundred out there and there should be a “vegan’s hundred” too! When it says something like "haggis" it means "vegan haggis" as there are vegan equivalents to these foods out there!

1) copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.

2) bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.

5) pass it on!

1. natto
2. green smoothie
3. tofu scramble
4. haggis
5. mangosteen
6. creme brulee
7. fondue
8. marmite/vegemite
9. borscht
10. baba ghanoush
11. nachos
12. authentic soba noodles
13. pb&j sammie
14. aloo gobi
15. taco from a street cart
16. boba tea
17. black truffle
18. fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. gyoza
20. vanilla ice cream
21. heirloom tomatoes
22. fresh wild berries
23. ceviche
24. rice and beans
25. knish
26. raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. dulce de leche
28. caviar
29. baklava
30. pate
31. wasabi peas
32. chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. mango lassi
34. sauerkraut
35. root beer float
36. mulled cider
37. scones with buttery spread and jam
38. vodka jelly
39. gumbo
40. fast food french fries
41. raw brownies
42. fresh garbanzo beans
43. dahl
44. homemade soymilk
45. wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. stroopwafle
47. samosas
48. vegetable sushi
49. glazed doughnut
50. seaweed
51. prickly pear
52. umeboshi
53. tofurkey
54. sheese
55. cotton candy
56. gnocchi
57. piña colada
58. birch beer
59. scrapple
60. carob chips
61. s’mores
62. soy curls
63. chickpea cutlets
64. curry
65. durian
66. homemade sausages
67. churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. smoked tofu
69. fried plantain
70. mochi
71. gazpacho
72. warm chocolate chip cookies
73. absinthe
74. corn on the cob
75. whipped cream, straight from the can
76. pomegranate
77. fauxstess cupcake
78. mashed potatoes with gravy
79. jerky
80. croissants
81. french onion soup
82. savory crepes
83. tings
84. a meal at Candle 79
85. moussaka
86. sprouted grains or seeds
87. macaroni and “cheese”
88. flowers
89. matzoh ball soup
90. white chocolate
91. seitan
92. kimchi
93. butterscotch chips
94. yellow watermelon
95. chili with chocolate
96. bagel and tofutti
97. potato milk
98. polenta
99. jamaican blue mountain coffee
100. raw cookie dough

Clearly there's loads of vegan foods out there I've never even tried yet! I'm pretty much up for trying anything so long as it's vegan!

From The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen

I've been trying out recipes from my new cookbook, Donna Klein's Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen and I'm quite impressed so far! The tomato-rice soup photographed above was gorgeous, and I'll definitely be making it again! It's a great book for pretty much everybody, from beginners to pros, it uses fairly easy to find ingredients for most of the recipes, and no fake meats etc, just traditional foods that happen to be vegan, so it's also good for any vegans who don't like omni-subs, or if you're cooking for omni guests who are a little freaked out by the whole idea of tofu! I give it a 5/5, and I'll be posting up some more pictures soon, so watch this space!
This here is a variation on the Enraged Penne, I've added a drained can of cannellini beans and some broccoli to make a balanced meal, and used extra-healthy spelt pasta. I thought this was absolutely delicious, but Jay found it a little too spicy. Spice wimp... :P
Last but not least, this isn't from MVK, it's an experimental chilli I made using tamarind and marmite instead of my usual chocolate, cocoa or molasses to add flavour, and it worked quite well indeed. :)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped,
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 cup frozen Vegemince
4 tbsp tomato puree
1 can red kidney beans, or other beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp marmite
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp crushed chillis

-saute onion and garlic in olive oil until transparent

-add tin of chopped tomatoes, vegemince, tomato puree, chilli flakes, tamarind, marmite and curry powders
and bring to the boil,

- add beans, then simmer for 20 mins and serve!

I've been eating lots of ethnic-inspired food lately...

First up is the mushroom and chickpea curry recipe from the vegan society's new recipe leaflet which I got with my copy of The Vegan magazine. It was gorgeous, yet really simple. I just tried to look for a link for a PDF for it, but seemingly it's not up yet. But seeing as how it's a leaflet they wish to be distributed as widely as possible, I'm sure they won't mind if I copy the recipe(with my commentary and variations in brackets!) on here for my readers!

1 large onion, chopped (I used 2 red onions!)
2 tbsp vegetable ghee, or oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used 3!)
2 large tomatoes, chopped (I used half a tin of chopped tomatoes instead!)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
chilli powder, or finely sliced red chilli to taste(I used chilli flakes)
1 420g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
500g mushrooms, sliced (I only had a 250g punnet, so that's all I used)
2-3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped (I used 2 tsp dried coriander leaf instead)

-fry onion in oil over medium heat until soft, then add garlic and tomato
-after 2-3 mins, stir in salt, spices, then add chilli, chickpeas, shrooms, and 2 tbsp water
-simmer with lid on till shrooms are soft(about 10-15 mins)
-mix half the coriander leaves then sprinkle the rest on top before serving. If you prefer more sauce add some tomato puree with a little vegetable stock and adjust the seasoning.



Next up is the tamarind lentils from Veganomicon, served here with coconut rice inspired by Alternative Vegan. This was delicious! It's the first time I've tried cooking with tamarind, but it definitely won't be the last! I planned to eat the leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, but... there weren't any! :P
These things here are rambutan stuffed with pineapple (and they're from a tin, which I bought from Tesco's exotic foods section). I first tried (and fell in love with!) rambutan in Wah Wah's Thai Noodle Bar, when I was in Blackpool. This was the first time I've spotted them available to buy anywhere since, and these tinned ones are absolutely lovely. It's hard to describe rambutan, but do try it, it's delicious!