Life is good

I feel like I either blog about food or rant when life is a bit shitty. So this is kind of the opposite. Lately life has been really awesome for a number or reasons like:

• I got a secondment role which means an awesome opportunity to take a break from the role I have been doing for the last 3 and a half years and working with some different clients. The new role will be in Collingwood so am looking forward to having lots and lots of vegan options.
• Mr T recently learnt how to ride a bike and we have slowly been exploring some short bike tracks around us. It has been so amazing to see him getting more confidence, learn to maneurve the bike and get more and more exicited about riding. It's kind of like rediscovering something through new eyes, or like watching children get excited about things, it's kind of contagious. I really enjoy riding slowly with him and chatting and just taking in our surroundings.
  
• The weather has finally started to get a little milder and I now have some boots (from target) and mittens which makes the cold weather so much easier to tackle.
• I have the found the greatest traditional chinese practioner ever. I have seen lots of good chinese doctors but this one is perfect, she has the cutest clinic ever, it is in Brunswick and she managed to help me getting rid of my horrible cough in like 2 days. I have a pretty shit immune system and it normally takes me at least a week if not weeks to fight viruses. I have been enjoying getting cupping I even think the bruises look kind of cool, and last time I had acupuncture I had this amazing floating feeling, it was aweome.
  
• She has encouraged me to try Qi Gong which I'm super exicted about, but just need to find a good school.
• I've been enjoying lots of dinners at friends places, and have really been enjoying the company and the awesome culinary efforts.
• Button has been super affectionate lately.

• 

Ok I'm probably making you sick with all this 'oh my life is so awesome....' stuff so I'll stop now.

Pancake weekend

A couple of weekends ago I had to knuckle down and spend a weekend working on my thesis, to try to make me feel better on sat morning I made these 5 minute pancakes. I didn't have regular soy milk but had choc and then made Vegan Dad's easy blueberry sauce.

The pancakes were super easy, slightly sweet, and yummy although I probably wouldn't recommend using choc soy milk. The sauce was delicious and well kind of healthy too.



The next morning, I made them again with regular soy milk, and served them lemon and icing sugar. Mr T said that he had never had them with lemon and sugar before. I think it is my favourite way to eat them and you can also eat them with your hands when there is no sauce or sticky maple syrup.


I will be making this quick pancake recipe again and again and again.


5 Minute Pancakes

• 1 cup flour
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup soymilk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  

1. Set out all your ingredients.
2. Set a stove element with a pan to medium heat.
3. Combine the 4 dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in a bowl.
4. Add the soy milk and vegetable oil to your mixture.
5. Mix until smooth.
6. Now the pan should be ready for your batter, so spoon one pancakes' worth of the mixture into the pan.
7. Flip [carefully] when you see bubbles in the middle of the pancake, or if the edges are looking stiffened.

Nan's choc sauce for ice cream

Both my nan and mum used to make this yummy choc sauce that was only ever served on ice cream, and I asked about it recently and found that it was super easy to veganise.

This is best served on vanilla ice cream. It is gooey and almost fudge like and makes me feel better about eating ice cream in winter.


1 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tbsp of cocoa

• Melt margarine, add sugar and cocoa and stir until sugar starts to dissolve
• Add soy milk, bring to boil and cook for a minute (be careful here if you cook it for too long it will become too hard like toffee)
  
• Take off heat and add vanilla essence
  

This makes too much for just 2 people, even people who eats lots like us so next time I will half the recipe. I didn't have regular soy milk but had vanilla soy milk so I just used that and left out the vanilla.

Thanks Nan, you rocked!

Oh my god, vegan omelets!

Ok so go and buy vegan brunch right now! I have only tried one recipe but already the book is worth it's money for vegan omelets.

These are amazing and quite easy to make too!

Here is my soy sausage, broccoli, cheesy sauce and sun dried tomato one

and my not so pretty one with cheese (from tart n round) and sun dried tomatoes.

I got some some black salt from the indian supermarket on sydney rd but only used half because it was too eggy for me, but Mr T loved it and sprinkled some on top of his.

Lindyloo has already posted the recipe so I guess it is ok if I also post it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 garlic cloves


• 1 lb. or 450g silken tofu, lightly drained (not the vacuum-packed kind) or soft tofu


• 2 T. nutritional yeast


• 2 T. olive oil


• 1/2 t. turmeric


• 1 t. fine black salt, plus extra for sprinkling (optional)


• 1/2 c. chickpea flour


• 1 T. arrowroot or cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

Chop up the garlic, if using, in a food processor. Add the tofu, nutritional yeast, olive oil, turmeric, and salt. Puree until smooth. Add the chickpea flour and arrowroot and puree again for about 10 seconds, until combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides so that everything is well incorporated.

NOTE: The original recipe also has a note in case you use soft tofu, and it's essentially that you will need to add/adjust water to your mix. Start off with 1/4 cup and test it out by heating up a skillet and cooking up 1-2 T. of it according to the directions below. If it spreads and congeals as it cooks, you can move on to the big versions. If it doesn't spread at all but just sort of sits there and doesn't congeal, then add up to 1/4 cup more water. I didn't add any it was fine.


Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease the pan with cooking spray. Also, make sure that you use a large skillet, as you need room to spread out the omelet and to get your spatula under there to flip.

In 1/2 cup increments, pour the omelet batter into the skillet. Use the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula to spread the batter out into about 6-inch circles.

Let the batter cook for about 3 to 5 minutes before flipping. The top of the omelet should dry and become a matte yellow when it's ready to be flipped. If you try and it seems like it might fall apart, give it a little more time. The underside should be flecked light to dark brown. Flip the omelet and cook for about a minute on the other side. Keep warm on a plate covered with tinfoil as you make the remaining omelets.

Fill omelet with the filling of your choice, then fold it. Once the omelet has been filled, sprinkle with a little extra black salt, since some of its flavor disappears when cooked.

Makes 4 omelets.

Tart 'n' Round cheese

On my second visit to Tart n Round I noticed that they sell their own cheese I decided to buy a container but was quite skeptical looking at the jelly-ish texture.



But I put some on toast and grilled it and it was yummy. The texture was quite similar to how I remembered tasty cheese grilled on toast, the 'cheese' was kind of crisp on the outside and soft in the inside. Flavour wise, it is quite mild but you can definitely taste the cheesiness mixed with herbs.


And I asked about the choc tops, they are coming!!! At the moment they have a few tubs of their own home made ice cream and lots more savoury dishes like pizza and soup.