Not all vegans are weird

I have only just come to that conclusion. I've been vegan for 5 years and I've only started to make some vegan friends. It's not that I haven't tried. When I first turned vegan I attended various veg*n social things and was put off and almost embarrassed by the vegans that I come across. I found quite a few that gave vegans a bad name and apart from meeting Mr T I stopped trying. Maybe it is because social groups tend to bring some of the strangest types of people together, people perhaps who are isolated for other reasons. Maybe it's also because annoying vegans tend to be louder and drown out the quieter nicer vegans. I'm also perfectly happy with my friends who are quite open minded and are so thoughful to cater for Mr T and I for different events. They don't try to get into arguments or question my lifestyle and I don't question theirs. So I didn't particularly feel the need to associate with other vegans.

However, it has been nice to have have that myth gone in my head and to come across vegans like Mr T and I who don't like to shove veganism down peoples throats and who aren't rude to others and are not angry against the world and have other non-vegan, non-animal rights interests. I just wish I come across more of them and I guess I'm not including people out there in the blogworld who are lovely because I haven't actually met you except for cristy who is just as lovely in real life.

You win, you lose some

My biscuits were a big hit. All 35 were gobbled up really quickly in fact before lunch several of my family members decide to sample them secretly and the teenagers didn't stop despite having several other desserts to choose from.

Unfortunately my cake was not so popular and I understand why. I decided to bake a cake just so I use my Santa tin. I almost made the trusty vanilla cake from how it all vegan with the maple icing but instead stupidly opted to make the maple cupcake recipe from vegan cupcakes take over the world. I saw the nutmeg in it and decided to add a little less but it didn't matter. The cake just tasted like nutmeg which is great if you love nutmeg but I don't and neither do my family. It's also a waste because there was quite a lot of maple syrup that went into the recipe. It was edible but far from great.


Here is a pic of the vegan cheesy cauliflower and broccoli. My mum marked it with a V with paprika so she could tell them apart. My brother has finally excepted that dairy makes his asthma worse and so decided to eat it this year instead of the dairy based one that he normally eats and even he thought it was great. My mum is the greatest!

Mrs Fields eat your heart out

These cookies are incredibly chewy and almost brownie like just as Isa promises. They are quite rich and have filled our tiny apartment with the best smell ever. I have eaten about half dozen just to test each batch to make sure they are ok and Mr T just got home and has tested a few too just to be on the safe side and we have about 35 left.

Poor Man's Paella

With Claire commenting about making paella for Christmas and her recently making it for us, it was fresh in my mind when we menu planned this weekend and Mr T decided to give it a go. Unlike other paella recipes though it doesn't have saffron because we are too poor to buy it. We also decided to use brown rice because it more filling and better for you. I'm sure it is not traditional at all but it was yummy and very simple to make. The only problem was there wasn't enough for leftovers tomorrow.

4-5 tablespoons of Olive oil (we like our olive oil and our pan is not Non-Stick)
2 cups brown rice
1 large Onion; chopped
2 large Garlic cloves; crushed
6 cups Vegetable Stock (we use Swiss Nature because it is worth the extra price)
1 Lemon; cut into wedges and rind grated
1 large green capsicum, chopped
1 can of artichokes; drained and quartered
1 can of kidney beans; drained
1 can of butter beans; drained
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika-adjust to your liking (we actually forgot to add it and it was still yummy)

Heat the oil. Add the brown rice, capsicum and onion and stir until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic, stock and rind. Bring to boil. Add beans. Bring to a boil again. Cover with a lid and simmer for 30-40 minutes minutes. Add artichokes and paprika and then turn off and let it sit covered for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve with lemon wedges.

Serves 2 and a half (Mr T eats a lot)

Do you like our fancy use of the newspaper?

Vegan Lazy Xmas Thoughts

Normally my amazing mother makes plenty of roasted vegetables with gravy and broccoli and cauliflower with this cheezy sauce. She makes a special batch for Mr T and I which is made with soy milk and is amazing.

And then I bring a long extra things. This year I really can't decide though. In the past I have made lots of things and found myself the day before or on the day quite stressed or upset when things don't go to plan for example last year Mr T accidentally dropped my 50-60 mini cupcakes and peanut butter cups on the floor and they all landed face down. So this year I plan to try to take the easy way out as much as possible and trying to bring along purchased food where possible and just make a couple of easy things.

In the past I have brought along a nut roast like the Cashew Nut Roast with Sage and onion stuffing and I was toying with the idea of bringing the Sanitarium veggie roast or some other type of mock meat from Vincents vegetarian food. But then I realised that the oven is going to be so full that there won't much room for extra things.

Mum always tries to encourage Mr T to bring along something Chinese to try and so we thought about bringing dumplings either the normal ones we get from the Asian supermarket or ones they sell frozen at Camy's dumpling house. That would be easy and wouldn't take up any more oven space but just seems so out of line with everything else. Dumplings with gravy anyone?

I also thought about bringing along some type of salad since there will be no salads there. Possibly a rocket (arugula) salad with pear and nuts.

For drinks, I was thinking of making sangria especially since I now have Claire's tried and tested delicious recipe. But I have since heard that my brother's girlfriend is making mulled wine and I figure it will be too much wine so I'm now having second thoughts. For an easy option option I might bring mango tango for the kids since I'm sure that most of my cousins wouldn't have tried it.

For desserts, I was originally thinking of making cupcakes. Possibly chocolate or cookies and cream ones for the kids/teenagers and coconut and lime ones for the adults. But since someone else is bringing two cakes I'm now thinking of bringing biscuits instead. Possibly Maple Syrup Drop Cookies and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Any suggestions?

For dinner there will probably be lots of leftovers or we may go to one of the many Chinese veg restaurants that are open on xmas day. Breakfast I can't think of anything special. Everyone else normally has ham on toast. I guess we could have our very weird but very yummy avocado and Vegemite on toast.

What are you planning on making or buying?