Vegetarian Faerie In The Kitchen.

Dumpling noodle soup... your own version!

2012-03-04T11:00:00.001+10:30

SOUP.
I used to hate the stuff.

Maybe hate is too strong a word...
I just thought it was a fake meal.
All liquidy & no substance! What a waste!

Thanks to Muffin, North America, South East Asia and my palate.. I am now a soup lover!

(I've always been a curly straw lover)

Sometimes when you're home alone, you make dumpling soup whilst listening to Lady Gaga and Beyonce really loud.. then later you eat 2 chocolate bars in a row and instantly feel really sick...

SOME people do that... I mean.... So I've heard..
so they say..

This soup is good for*:

families

couples

children

fussy people

monkeys

cats

dogs

sloths

stick insects

(*some of these are untrue)

The base soup is simple and then you add your own special flavours in the bowl.

That's right - RIGHT IN THE BOWL, I SAID.

This idea works for many reasons.

One example could be that you personally LOVE the taste of sesame oil,

heck, you would wear it as a perfume if you could...

but unfortunately your boyfriend is all sesamed out from the past 4 years of forced consumption.. he has now become bitter towards you and your relationship with sesame.

~ So he passes you the sesame oil (and seeds!) and he goes without (such a shame).

Again... so I've heard.

This is more about ratios than recipes, really.

It's about your own taste buds.. Mine goes something like this:

1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 Tablespoon black vinegar

1/2 teaspoon chilli sauce/hot sauce/sriracha

1/2 teaspoon vegetarian oyster sauce

1/2 teaspoon black bean sauce

1/2 teaspoon pickled ginger liquid & 2 pieces sliced ginger

few drops sesame oil

sprinkle toasted sesame seeds

1 birdseye chilli, sliced, seeds removed

But hey... I'm a complicated bug.

plain broth, before seasonings

delicious broth, after added seasonings

Noodle & Dumpling Soup.

Broth
1 cup water
1/2 cup uncooked chinese noodles (or 2 min noodles)
1/2 teaspoon stock powder
2 chunks ginger

Bring water, stock and ginger to the boil. When your vegetables are almost cooked through, add noodles until cooked.

Vegetables (1 cup ANY mixed vegies. I used...)
1 Tablespoon oil
1 Tablespoon sliced onion
5 broccoli florets
1/4 cup diced eggplant
2 big handfuls chopped chinese greens
1/4 cup frozen soy beans

3 frozen vegetable dumplings

Heat a frying pan and throw in oil, onion, broccoli and eggplant. Season with salt and pepper.

After 5 minutes, add in 1/4 cup broth and chinese greens, soy beans and frozen dumplings.

Place lid on top until dumplings & soy beans are entirely cooked through, shaking pan throughout, about 5 mins.

Discard ginger from broth.
Transfer broth and noodles to a big bowl.

Top with vegetables and dumplings and season to your liking with sauces, chilies etc!

Eat it with someone special, feeling glee, joy and pure happiness.

More than just a flatbread recipe!

2012-03-02T09:59:00.000+10:30

Sometimes you find that perfect cafe.
Sometimes you find the perfect dish on that cafe's menu.
Sometimes you go there on a weekly basis with one of your best friends and joke that you don't know what you're going to order this time.....

"x2 flatbreads with a berry smoothie and a chocolate milkshake....

Extra ice cream, please.

Extra aioli, please."

Sometimes you meet a boy and fall in love.
Sometimes that boy lives on the other side of the globe.
Sometimes you move there with him.
Sometimes you dream of that flatbread and cry yourself to sleep at night.

BUT DON'T BE SAD.

Because one day your mum will email you a recipe*.
THEN YOU WILL REALISE THAT IT IS A MAGICAL RECIPE.

You will test said recipe...
and just to make sure you will eat 5 flatbreads in 3 days.

And you will feel bloated.

(actually what my kitchen generally looks like)

But you will know that it was the right thing to do.

For reals, guys, I know this all sounds crazy, but if there's ONE recipe you make on my entire blog.... make it this bread.

You can use it as a sammidge like I have, or you can just use it as a side.. like naan bread! Or as a snack! Heck, even breakfast!

lettuce, tomato, zucchini, capers, pickled ginger, hoi sin, mayo, dijon mustard, hot sauce.

So simple. So soft. So full of love.

An excellent vessel for anything your little heart desires.

SERIOUS.

Flatbread.

Makes 8 flatbread.

1pkt dried yeast (7 gm or 1.7 teaspoons)

1 tbsp sugar
150ml lukewarm water, add as needed
600gm plain flour (2.5 cups)
1tbsp sea salt
1tbsp olive oil
200gmGreek-style yoghurt
Oil for cooking

Put yeast, sugar and 50mL of the warm water in to a small bowl and stir lightly.

Leave to activate in a warm place for 10 minutes or until frothy.

Place flour in a mixer and create a well in the centre.

Add salt, yeast mixture, olive oil and yoghurt and combine until mixture comes together and there is no flour left.

Add in the extra water if it needs it - the mixture shouldn't be sticky.

Mix on medium speed (or knead by hand) for 5 minutes, the dough should be soft and spring back when ready.

Leave to rest for 15 minutes - THIS IS IMPORTANT, do not skip this step.

Heat a frying pan and add oil of your choice.

Roll out dough in to thin discs (it will puff up) and fry in pan for 4 minutes on each side, until brown and bubbly.

Serve with whatever your soul desires! The combinations are endless!

*I have no idea where it is from

zucchini, tomato, wilted greens, mayo, dijon mustard, hot sauce, fresh chili, sesame seeds.

a carrot cake a day keeps the blues away! (vegan!)

2012-02-21T09:50:00.000+10:30

Guess what?

The sun is shining and there are cupcakes in my oven.
(Boy, does that sound like some sort of creepy metaphor!)

This is what my happiness looks and smells like.
Sunshine, cinnamon and love!

Why yes, yes I am emotional maniac this weekend. Thank you for asking.

Yes, I did visit the rocky mountains and cry at how beautiful they were.
Yes, I did cry when I read the card my boyfriend gave me.
Yes, I did cry when listening to a sad song whilst doing the dishes.

And then I baked these delicious morsels of cupcakes. Ninja Vegan Carrot Cupcakes!

There is nothing more therapeutic for me than baking.
Maybe running... but that's just a guess, because I'm not a runner.
But I'm sure I'd love it.
If I was fit.
And didn't have asthma.
And owned running shoes.
And tried running.
Yeah.
I bet I'd LOVE it.
I can just tell.

LETS GET OUR BAKE ON.

Vegan carrot cake cupcakes.

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup apple sauce
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups self raising flour
2 cups grated carrot

Preheat oven to 180C (375F).
Beat together sugar and oil until combined and thick.
Add apple sauce, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda and mix.
Add flour and mix until all combined.
Stir through carrots.

Spoon in to muffin tray, 3/4 full (I put mine in cute patty cases... it's what we aussies call them!)
Bake for 15 minutes until light brown in colour, but still soft to the touch.
Leave for 10 minutes and take out of baking tray to cool.
Top with cream cheese icing or tofutti cream cheese icing.

Icing

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup cream cheese

1 cup icing sugar

zest 1 lemon

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

tiny dot yellow colouring (optional)

Whip butter and cream cheese until light and creamy.

Add sugar and lemon, colouring and mix until combined. Taste and adjust cream/sugar/lemony - ness!

Then convince your boyfriend to come with you whilst you take a big box of them and drive around to visit all of your friends and give them 1!

A breakfast monster.

2012-02-16T15:22:00.000+10:30

Breakfast:

You gotta eat it.

Some people don't.

Those people are IDIOTS. (personal opinion of course)

When I wake up, my mind says ones thing:

"GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE! You've been not eating for 8 hours - GET ON THAT SHIT."

Although, my mind is not usually that angry towards me.

For me, breakfast is the most fun meal of the day and I usually feel pretty excited to eat it!

I usually start the day with a glass of water and a big green t.

Green t is where it's at - I am a firm believer in the goodness of green t - it makes me feel amazing!

Sometimes (usually on weekends) I'll do a big fry up as an ode to my British roots :p Tomatoes grilled with thyme and olive oil, mushrooms fried in rosemary, grainy toast with hummus and baked beans.

Nobody will ever understand my love of beans.

Very rarely I'll go a plate of french toast, this one was coated in crushed cereal for a crunch!

Sometimes... (actually just once) because I'm a pretty crazed gal, I'll have a big bowl of mac and cheese and half an avocado! But it's healthy because I wash it down with a glass of water..

An even healthier option is that of a coffee and a massive vanilla coconut cupcake - don't worry, this one took me 2 attempts to finish.

An ode to my Australian bean love, goodness I miss them!

Sometimes I'll pull out a miniature frying pan and get a little egg on vegie action going.

Lately I have been ALL about the bagels. On the side is vegies, egg and sriracha!

Sometimes I'll make the most colourful breakfast possible.

Sometimes I top a bagel with ricotta cheese that I've spiced up with herbs and delicious goods (76382x healthier than cream chz) then I top it with mushroom and avocado and tomato and then I EAT IT!

Sometimes it ends up just a tad too big (that's what she said) and thus out of focus!

Sometimes I am too hungry whilst cooking and think I can eat far more than I actually can.

Sometimes I make smoovies!

Actually, all the time I make smoovies.

Sometimes I eat my home made cinnamon muesli with berries and dried fruit and yoghurt and grapes and almond milk!

What about choo? What's your favourite thing for breakfast?

Are you as crazy about it as I am?!

The perfect vegetable pie.

2012-02-10T07:05:00.000+10:30

It's pie time.

Delicious wintery goodness pie time.

I made this pie and then saw many many other bloggers make pies quite similar.. I guess this is just what the Northern Hemisphere's Winter does to us all! (makes us fat)

Sometimes you don't want to toot your own horn.. But seriously guys - this pie was amazing.

Do you know what happens when you make an amazing pie and then leave to go adopt 2 kittens from the animal welfare?

Well, you have to message your boyfriend and tell him to bake the pie himself. And then you get home and realise that he's not like you... and *GASP* he hasn't photographed it.

And then you feel like a bit of a psycho as you say

"you didn't take any photos of the whole thing?"

to which he says

"no... sorry, I was hungry. I guess I should have known.."

And then you say

"no no no, it doesn't matter" whilst you consider making another pie just so you can photograph it in all its glory.

THUS. No photos of the whole beautiful pie ;)

Springish Vegetable Pie:

shortcrust pastry:

1 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold cubed butter

1/4 cup cold water

1 Tablespoon butter

1 large onion, finely sliced

3 garlic cloves, finely sliced

3 carrots, roughly chopped

1/2 zucchini, roughly chopped

1 cup broccoli florets, roughly chopped

1/2 eggplant, roughly chopped

1 cup cooked spaghetti squash (or pumpkin)

1 cup peas

1/4 cup flour

2 big sprigs rosemary

3 bay leaves

1 Tablespoon capers

1 Tablespoon horseradish

1 Tablespoon herb and garlic cream cheese

2 cups stock

s+p

eggwash or oil

sesame seeds

Pastry:

Pulse all ingredients in a processor until they pull away from the sides.

Pour out and form a disc.
Wrap in cling wrap and set in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Mixture:

Heat butter and fry all vegetables (except peas) with whole rosemary sprigs in a large pot until cooked. When browned, add flour and mix until combined.

Add bay, capers, horseradish, cream cheese, stock and season with salt and pepper.

Cook until the desired consistency, you want it too be a little too runny as it will firm up once it cools.

Add peas at the last minute. Ideally leave mixture to cool, but if you must you can use it warm.

Preheat oven to 180°C

Remove pastry and cut in half. Using a rolling pin, roll in to two 10" circles, the dough will be quite thin.

Line bottom of 8"springform pan with 1 circle of pastry. Remove rosemary from vegetable and add vegetable filling to the pie. Top with second circle and tuck in edges, forming a seal.

Eggwash or oil and top with a sprinkle of salt and sesame seeds.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden.

EAT IT!
(it's pretty good)

I made sushi and it was delicious!

2012-02-04T07:52:00.001+10:30

Sushi! Sushi! Sushi!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for sushi!
......That's the saying, right?

how about THAT photo editing?!

Yeahhhh.
I'm just a little excited for sushi.

Whenever I'm THIS excited, I take a lot of photos. Don't say you haven't been warned!

I've made sushi once before.
This time round I successfully managed to make sushi unhealthy... how did I do this?

TEMPURA IS HOW!

Now I'm not saying that you also have to use tempura... it's just that tempura pumpkin is ALWAYS my favourite sushi filling. The crunchiness against the soft rice is divine!

Don't knock it til you try it, Bucko.

I also did a little tempura mushroom - honestly, not so delicious.

This time I did my rice in a rice cooker (click this link for how to cook rice on the stovetop).

2 cups of uncooked rice will make 4 large sushi rolls... withthatsaid.. Mine somehow made 6 rolls. YES - SIX.

That's a lot of sushi in a 2 person household.

Vegan Sushi:

500mL sushi rice (2 cups)

600mL water

75mL rice vinegar

10mL sugar

5mL salt

nori sheets

vegies for the filling, thinly sliced:

cucumber

avocado

mushroom

pumpkin (pre cooked)

sesame seeds

sushi mat (I used a place mat!)

sushi buddy

Entirely cover sushi rice with water and leave to soak for half an hour. Strain and add more water, this time moving the grains around slowly with a cupped hand. Rinse one more time and notice the rice is now very very white.

Place in rice cooker and turn on! Once cooked, leave on warm for 15 minutes.

Heat rice vinegar, sugar and salt together until all dissolved - then set aside to cool.

Empty rice in to a large bowl or tray; wooden is ultimately best, but I used glass (anything other than metal, as it will affect the taste).

Using a rice paddle, sprinkle the vinegar mixture over all of the rice and slowly move rice around whilst your sushi buddy fans it for you. Be gentle as you don't want to break the grains.

Continue this until your rice is room temperature, sticky and tastes right.

Tempura:

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup corn flour

1 cup cold cold cold water

1 t salt

1 t baking powder

1 ice cube

1 cup oil for frying

Use chopsticks to roughly combine all tempura ingredients. Drop in an ice cube to make sure the batter stays cool.

Heat oil in a pan, it is hot enough when a drop of tempura batter bubbles instantly.

Add vegetables to tempura mix and drop in hot oil until crisp and browned. Drain on paper towel.

LET US FORM SUSHI:

Get your nori sheet and lay it shiny side down on your sushi mat, with the smaller side facing you.

Using wet hands place 1/4 of the rice on your sheet and spread it out evenly, pressing it down hard and leaving 5cms at the top for rolling/sealing.

Layer your vegies in the centre of the rice.

Wet the opposite end of the nori a little to help it to stick to the roll. Using the sushi mat, roll the nori over the filling and pull back to form a tight circle. Proceed to roll the nori all the way to the end and squeeze to seal.

Make sense?!

Leave in the fridge for half an hour before eating. Slice with a very sharp knife, or a bread knife.

Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

and obviously be pretty impressed with yourself..

More soup for you!

2012-01-31T10:59:00.003+10:30

Ok.
So it may just so be that I am obsessed with pumpkin soup.
Or, to be honest, all things pumpkin.

Can you guess the one vegetable that Muffin just really hates?
Yeahhh......... that would be pumpkin.

(I know, what a weirdo.)

THUS, I naturally make variations of this soup fairly often! He (doesn't) loves it!

I love soups that start out with a roasted vegetable base, because I think it adds a lot more concentrated flavour than just boiling the be-jesus out of them.

You can easily make this soup in 1 hour, chuck everything in the oven and then blitz together in one big pot!

Who doesn't love that?!

Spicy yellow pumpkin soup.

1 Tablespoon garlic & chili paste
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 medium butternut squash, chopped roughly
4 carrots, chopped roughly
1 bulb garlic, sliced horizontally once

1 large onion, chopped roughly
2 Tablespoons thai yellow curry paste

1 tin coconut milk
1 tin vegie stock
1/2 cup milk/soy
yoghurt to calm and garnish
s+p

Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix together garlic chili, oil, cumin, squash, carrots and salt in a big bowl, toss to coat.
Wrap garlic, flesh side down in foil.
Pour everything on a baking tray and bake in oven until tender - about 40 minutes.

Fry curry paste and onion in large saucepan until tender.
Add in coconut milk and stock.

Squeeze out garlic and add roasted vegetables.

Blitz with a stick blender and taste, if the curry flavour is too pungent then add more milk or water.
Every batch is different and in this batch I added almost 1 extra cup of liquid to balance out the flavours.

Season with salt and serve warm with drizzles of cold plain yoghurt.

For extra excitement, I like to bake the pumpkin seeds with a oil and a sprinkle of cumin and salt until crunchy and brown - about 10 minutes. Sprinkle on top... or just eat them like popcorn :D

Delicious home made cinnamon muesli/granola.

2012-01-24T12:50:00.000+10:30

Muesli.
Granola.
Cereal.
Breakfast.

Whatever you happen to call it... I made some. And guess what? It was delicious!

Muffin and I don't really buy cereal because you never know WHAT'S in it and it is inevitable too sweet for my liking anywho.

Growing up, we were never allowed cocoa pops and my dad ate bran every day... Like, really dark bran that he would cover with soy milk and then eat an hour or so later....... in paste form :|

I didn't even make that story up.

Needless to say, I was never too much of a cereal fan!

I can (and do) eat this muesli for any and all meals of the day.

Breakfast is better for dinner anyway.

With that said, eat this at breakfast and it will fill up for many many hours to come.

Most of these ingredients you will probably have laying around the house - SCORE!
Does it get any better?!

It also happens to be way cheaper than any cereal you will find at a supermarket.. and with less preservatives.

Essentially, this muesli will change your life and warm the cockles of your heart. THERE, I said it.

Home made muesli.

3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup nuts (I used almonds)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/4 cup sesame seeds (just try it - it's amazing)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar (I top mine with honey when I eat it, so this additional sugar may be omitted)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or enough to coat)

1 cup dried fruit, chopped (I like apricots and prunes)

Preheat oven to 150C

Mix all ingredients except dried fruit in a big bowl.

Spread evenly on a baking tray.

Bake for 45 minutes or until brown, make sure you mix the muesli around every 15 minutes for even browning.

AND THAT'S IT - HOW EASY IS THAT?! Minimum effort, maximum result!

see Marilyn?

Top with dried fruit, berries, grapes, yoghurt, honey and almond milk!

Well.. there are no rules, but that's how I like it!

green pea minty pasta and vegetable dreams!

2012-01-20T15:06:00.000+10:30

Ah, ye olde humble pea.

Peas are up there as one of my favourite vegetables... TOP 5 AT LEAST!

This dish happily brewed away in my mind (whilst watching Oprah - gosh love her) and then came together all lovingly, peacefully and perfectly in the kitchen afterwards.

Yes, it's pasta - which isn't exactly great for you, BUT, it's fulla green vegies and everybody knows they are amazing for you!

RIGHT?
Right.

I used a mixture of rotini and conchiglie, because I'm pretty out of control like that.

Speaking of out of control peas.. how about some adult pea costume action over here?!

Quite possibly one of the best things I have ever seen!!

Although my mum will attest to the fact that I've always been a fan of the humble carrot costume..

Check out that leg flip!

This is amazing.

I think I need one.

ALRIGHTY - back to cooking!

Minty green pea pesto pasta.

3 cups your favourite pasta (uncooked)

2 cups frozen peas

3 peeled garlic cloves

2 Tablespoons horseradish or wasabi (or half each!)

1 handful mint

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

salt to taste

1/2 onion, sliced

1/2 zucchini, sliced

1 cup broccoli florets

3/4 cup chopped eggplant

1 handful green olives, roughly chopped

1 Tablespoon capers

Cook pasta to packet instructions, keeping 1 mug of hot starchy pasta water aside.

Cook peas and garlic in boiling water for 1 min - do not overcook them - overcooked peas are the bane of my existence!

Strain and set into a blender. Add horseradish (and/or wasabi), mint, lemon juice, salt and a dash of either water or oil. Blitz until smooth, but still thick. Taste and season (you want it to be a little too lemony, salty and spicy - it will mellow in the pasta).

Fry all the rest of the vegetables until brown, tasty and evenly cooked.

Add strained pasta to vegetable mix and slowly add in spoonfuls of pea mixture (I didn't use all of mine). Add in hot starchy pasta water now to thin it out to desired consistency!

What are you waiting for, punk?

EAT IT!

Spinachy spinach pie with spinach.

2012-01-14T07:01:00.002+10:30

Well Winter has hit on this side of the globe, and thus so has the flu.

Bastard.

I'm turning in to a little hermit who pre-makes meals for the freezer. In essence it will stop late night pizza ordering or chip eating (for serious, you can order until 3am here! Nobody needs pizza at that time!)

In reality, maybe I will just eat more because it's available in the freezer? I may have already eaten half of this pie...

This be the type of pie to knock out that Winter sickness from your body! I upped the garlic to help Muffin get on the road to mending his little strep throated man cold soul.

I shouldn't complain, Canada has been unseasonable warm this year. Christmas was 5C and when I was here 2 years ago it was -30C! (yes, that's a minus!) Ahhh, global warming, warming my soul*!

Serve hot with fresh salad or leave to cool and slice at a beautiful picnic with wine and cheese and hummus and sesame seed crackers! Hey, I can dream that it's Summer....

spinach pie

3 packs frozen spinach

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

olive oil

1 teaspoon vegeta (or seasoning salt)

1 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

2 Tablespoons tomato pasta sauce

250g cottage cheese

1/2 cup grated cheddar

1 egg (optional)

2 Tablespoons flour

2 sheets puff pastry

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Heat frozen spinach in big pan with the lid on until completely defrosted.

Transfer to colander (or clean tea towel) and press excess liquid out.

Heat olive oil in same pan and soften onion and garlic then add to large bowl.

Mix in vegeta, pepper, oregano, pasta sauce, cottage cheese, cheddar and flour.

Add whisked egg if the mix appears too wet (optional)

Place in fridge until cool.

Preheat oven to 190C (375F) and line a 9" spring form pan with 1 sheet of puff pastry, resting any excess pastry over the top edge.

Add cooled mixture and spread evenly.

Add 2nd sheet of pastry on top.

Tuck top pastry into bottom and squeeze slightly to seal.

Brush the top with either egg wash or olive oil and sprinkle on sesame seeds.

Bake for 45 minutes, covering half way if it is browning too quickly.

I serve mine with Thai sweet chili sauce.. is that weird? I always associate spinachy things with sweet chili. Am I the only one?! A freak of nature, I guess.

Merry Happy Spinach Days everyone.

*just jokes.

Burger Inn; aka the best burger in cow town.

2012-01-09T12:26:00.000+10:30

"Cause we be chillin at the burrrgerrr innnnnn", is generally what I sing on the way to get a burger. Muffin doesn't really enjoy it, but I know he'd miss it if I didn't do it. So for the grace of the world, I continue.

Burger inn specialises in pretty out of the ordinary meat patties, like emu, elk, ostrich, buffalo, boar, salmon... So it is obviously somewhere that draws a vegetarian in! Amiright?!

The thing is, Muffin is emotionally attached to this place, he's been going since high school.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, they serve ... I'm gonna say it.. are ya ready? ok....

THE BEST VEGIE BURGER I HAVE EVER HAD.

I know, that's weird isn't it? You wouldn't expect it, but it's truuuueeeee.

So you walk in, you're gonna see a man behind the counter who looks a little grumpy, and then he's gonna ask you a series of questions in his own little blunt manner.. and THEN you're gonna realise that he's really just like a big teddy and actually very nice and polite!

What can I get ya?

Brown or white?

Loaded?

With fries?

Want a drink?

That'll be $___

This place is super cheap, the decor is plain, the seats not the most comfy, BUT ketchup, salt, pepper and vinegar are all free! Coming from Australia, the land of 'lets charge 50c for 1 portion of tomato sauce' .. I love this!

The patty comes out a little charred and is served on a brown bun, loaded (meaning with tomato, onion, lettuce, pickles), with mustard and ketchup and mayo.

If you order fries on the side, be prepared.

In fact, be pre-prepared and don't eat at all before going there. Because your serving of fries is gonna be.... massive. Like. Massive.

If you decide to order poutine (which you always should), eat it all REALLY REALLY fast before your stomach realises this is just way too much to fit in 1 belly.

This burger is beyond delicious. I can barely even tell what it's made of, but its compact enough that I can tell it's not lentils or beans, more likely wheat gluten with added herbs and extra deliciousness. The char is what makes it. It has a dense crispness, with a moist (I'm sorry, I hate that word too) interior.

Basically, this baby is THE BOMB FOOLS.

Stop reading poste haste and hall your patootie to burger inn! (and sing the song!)

Fried morning glory.

2012-01-08T09:19:00.000+10:30

Ever since traveling Asia I have become obsessed with greens of the Asian persuasion.

GREEEEENS!

my first fried morning glory in Thailand.

I tells ya what, once you have perfected these puppies, you'll be making them every day.

They're so easy.
They're so cost efficient (thats a polite way of saying cheap) ; )
They're so delicious.
They're so nutritionally amaze balls.
They're pretty much the bees knees.

All over Thighland and Vietnam I saw this elusive thing called 'fried morning glory' on the menus, once I tried it, I was hooked.

see it? (there's also a lady boy in the mix there!) :D

After researching recipes I realised that I possibly unknowingly consumed a lot of oyster sauce in this dish while traveling :S I now obviously make it without this and it tastes just as good. I also don't use the salted beans because I like just soy sauce better.

more morning glory in Thailand.

The key to this dish is speed. Prepare everything ahead of time and get your wok/frying pan smoking hot.

Use the back of your knife to crush both the garlic and chilis, you can also slice them in halves if you prefer. They are basically there to flavour the dish, you don't necessarily have to eat them.

(like so)

I do, because I am a garlic LOVER.

Fried morning glory.

1 bunch morning glory, stems and leaves separated (or any other similar asian green)

4 garlic cloves, just crushed
birds eye chilis, just crushed (I use 2 or 3)
2 T soy sauce
1 T oil
1 T water
1 t sugar

few drops sesame oil
____________________________________________

Mix all ingredients except morning glory in a bowl and set aside.

Once your pan is super hot, throw in the stems and pour sauce over the top.

Continue moving and tossing vegetables around and after about a minute, add in the leaves.

Add extra water if the mix seems too dry.

Stir fry for one extra minute and you're done, remove from pan and serve immediately.

Top with sesame oil if you're obsessed with it like eye yam!

I secretly threw in some snap peas and black bean paste in this one!

serve with simple noodles, chilli and crispy shallots.

alternatively serve with rice, crispy baked tofu and pickled ginger. YUM!

AWW, GREAT! Now I'm hungry!

kit kat colourful birthday cake!

2012-01-03T18:13:00.000+10:30

So, I'm guessing after Christmas and New Years the last thing you want is cake? But what if it's your 21st birthday on January 1st?

WELL THEN YOU GOTTA HAVE CAKE.

This cake came about by trying to out-do the ugly kit kat cake I made for the same birthday LAST year!

It's super easy and has popped up everywhurrr in the blogisphere.

I knew I wouldn't fancy baking when hungover on Jan 1st (I'm only human) and thus made the buttercream icing in advance and cheated with a box cake mix for the rest.

I used x2 8" round baking tins and needed 8 big kit kats and 1 bag of regular m&ms and 1 tube of mini's .. ya know, to fill the cracks!

This cake is ridonkulously sweet and when slicing you should do max 2 kit kat slices per person.
It is thick.
It is sweet.
It's pretty delicious too!

Lets go:

THEN. GET IN TO YOUR SNUGGIE AND EAT, rubbing your belly with a sly smile on your face.

Twill need:
1 cake almost as high as a kit kat
8 kit kats
1 1/2 bags m&ms
ribbon
love
joy
tummy space!

Happy New Year everyone.

sunny brekkies.

2011-12-19T06:24:00.000+10:30

we have a real vase now ;)

One of many things I realised while traveling was how much I am obsessed with cooking.

It's in my blood. Really. Ask my boyfriend - I seriously annoyed him with how much I talked about baking!

And when suddenly you are spending 3 months without access to a kitchen and your own ingredients - all hell breaks loose!

Well. I mean, not really, but it was, like, a bit sucky n stuff.

Hence beautifully homemade breakfasts surrounded by sunshine and flowers in Canada now.

Ah, life. I'm so lucky!

iced tea. baked beans. wholegrain toast. zucchini. capsicum. olives. tomato. tofurky italian vegie snossage.

Tis good to be back in the kitchen. Many recipes to come :D

Your favourite blogger is back.. and hungry!

2011-11-28T22:46:00.000+10:30

Oh haiiiiii there! Fancy seeing you guys here!

Welcome back to my home, which for now is Calgary, Canada! We made the big move from Australia to Canada, (again) safe and sound.

a bug in Canadian snow.

Since July 31st I've been on the craziest, most amazing, whirl wind, mind blasting, life changing 3 month long trip. We did Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, England and Wales. I am slightly overwhelmed( 3839 photos kind of overwhelmed) as to where to even BEGIN telling you all!

So the plan is this.. split it into 4 HEALTHY SIZED posts, separated by country, expressing my utmost joy and enviable experiences for you all to see :p Who am I kidding though, my travel stories are likely to pop up in every post from now on. You'll want to stick around for them though, because I tasted some incredibly delicious things on my travels :D

I really can't wait to start planning and saving to do it all again! We're thinking Africa next :D

So.. come on, out with it, did ya miss me?

Travel post #1: Thailand and Vietnam food finds!

2011-08-09T20:27:00.002+09:30

xin chào from Vietnam!

So I guess I couldn't stay away long! Just a quick post to show you what I've been eating for the past 10 days.

Armed with an open mind, a phrase book, a 'veggie passport' app and a big smile, I haven't encountered too many problems at all finding vegie food in Asia! Everyone has been more than happy to accommodate me in both Thailand and Vietnam. (Especially in Bangkok.)

My very first meal... Mmmm they forgot to bring a vegie meal for me!

A sideways view of the best red curry I have ever had in my life in Bangkok!

Miscellaneous grilled animal goods in Bangkok.

Hot and sour tofu soup in Bangkok.

INSANE pad thai stalls everywhere along Khao San Rd, Bangkok. Just point and tell them what you want. For less than $1!

The best meal I've had so far, in Bangkok. Spicy coconut sauce with vegetable and tofu. I am loving all of the pickled chillies and condiments on the tables over here :D

A favourite go-to meal. Stir fried morning glory with chilli and garlic in Bangkok!

Fast forward to Vietnam - Da Lat to be specific. Found THIS little gem of a restaurant last night.

ALL VEGIE! Me + bun + new silk scarf bought straight from the maker.

Tofu with mushrooms in pepper sauce, spring rolls, chrysanthemum tea, pak choy with mushrooms and fried rice. (last 2 not pictured)

DELICIOUS fresh fruit available everywhere in Vietnam.

For a bit of a Western fix, nori flavoured chips!

This was actually my first meal in Ho Chi Minh.. a plate of rice, and a side of lettuce, mint and coriander. I spiced it up with some chillies, soy sauce, pickled garlic and love. To be fair.. it was only 25c!

Vietnamese iced coffee - the best I've ever tasted.

After a 7 hour bus trip and not having eaten all day long, we managed to find vegie pizzas in Da Lat! Pineapple, mushroom, capsicum, onion and cheese. Just what I wanted!

The spread of breakfast included in our room deal at the Thien An Hotel in Da Lat. AMAZING. This alone is worth getting out of bed for!

Fresh baguettes (they're so good here), avocado, tomato, cheese, banana, pineapple, dragon fruit, watermelon, passionfruit, peanut butter, VEGEMITE - YES!, marmite, strawberry jam, yoghurt, tea, coffee and passionfruit juice! OH MY GOODNESS.

and last but obviously not least, this amazing beauty we went to see yesterday.

Perfection.

*Most of the vegetarian food we found in Bangkok was surrounding Soi Rongmai, Chao Fa Rd, Phanakhon. Or anywhere near Khao San Rd really. We were lucky to have two vegetarian street stalls right opposite our hotel. Pure bliss!

*I've been using Trip Advisor and Happy Cow to find me specific restaurants if I'm not in the mood for altering a dish in a meaty restaurant.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions of places to go/foods for me to try in South East Asia or Nepal?

A life snippet and a Bon Voyage!

2011-07-25T22:52:00.000+09:30

My final installment of food snippets whilst in Adelaide:

Soooo this Sunday we leave for a 5 month trip of a lifetime!

Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Europe (in general!) NYC, then moving to Canada for a year (or two or more or who knows, so don’t ask me!) :D

So this blog will do one of two things..

a) slow down a little while I enjoy my actual LIFE and can’t be bothered with this cyber world

b) feel bad and put some posts up for my family and friends

c) continue on it's merry way because I will miss it

a&b&c) a slittle of all

Once moved to Canada this blog will change from “in the sunshine” to “in the snow” and will feature more scarves, boots, beanies, poutine and burgers than ever before! I tried to refrain last time I was over there but it was just too too hard for my weary chipsngravy loving soul!

So. Thus. Finally. To conclude. In conclusion.

Bon voyage! Wish me good times, new food experiences and I’ll see ya soon! Don’t you go anywhere now, ya hear?!

Much love,

your vegie bug.

tomatoey lentil pasta.

roast goodies.

nom nom roast vegies.

pickle burger!

cookies before.

cookies after!

tandoori vegies.

3 best spreads ever.

spicy pumpkin soup.

tea with my favourite cookies!

piggy just had to go!

GIANT tin of beans! wee!

hash, beans, eggs, sauce.

burger station with mah brosef.

ambience.

DELICIOUS mushroom burger.

pesto pea pasta!

pie pie pie.

my going away cake at work! A SWIMMING POOL! EEEEE!

bubyeee!

Just coz.

2011-06-28T13:39:00.000+09:30

hehehe.

Vego & Loven It - an Adelaide institution.

2011-06-22T17:41:00.001+09:30

Date day!

Adelaide is full of cute, quirky, little cafe's - the thing is that you just have to know where to find them!

Vego & Loven It; "Vego's" to the locals, is one of those very places. Although being placed on one of the busiest streets in Adelaide - it is hidden away up a tiny staircase. The only sign of life up there (which to be honest is pretty hard to read anyway) is a cracked mosaic sign!

But once you find this place... once you try it's delectable goods... you are a lover for LIFE! For life, I tells ya. The decor inside this tiny cafe is a mash up of kitsch, old hollywood, hippie, hoarded cluttered goodness! This little gem is one of the things I'll miss the most when I leave Adelaide.

I can never go past their vegie burgers, but they sell salads and soups as well, which look equally as amazing. A full burger costs $11 (possibly $12?) or you can order a half size for $7.5.

BLOODY BARGAIN.

A warning to you: don't eat at all before heading there (or expect to be able to function afterwards!) - these burgers are MASSIVE and will fill you up for the rest of your day. Amazing value and so so delicious. I'm pretty certain all burgers are also vegan - but I've never asked. They make everything in house and all ingredients are always fresh.

This time around I ordered the Curry N Lovin It burger and Muffin ordered the Mexican Burger (he loves/misses his Canadian nacho fix).

His is a soft vegie pattie, tomato, lettuce (and I'm not sure what else) on a dark rye bun, covered - AND I MEAN COVERED in a "cheese sauce" and then swirls of chilli sauce, served with a jymungo side of corn chips.

Mine is a more solid chickpea pattie, cucumber, carrot, avocado, tomato, sprouts, lettuce, brinjal pickle and mango chutney served on a dark rye bun. It is spicy and delicious, the contrast of the pickle and the chutney make me wanna just eat more and more and more!

cross section!

We manage to finished them (well Muffin left a bit of bread! Shock horror!) and then we stumbled to a park bench in the sunshine to digest and discuss the nap we would have when we got home! Hahaha.

Vego & Love'n It on Urbanspoon

Adelaide - I love you <3

Vego's - you're partly the reason why!

Damn straight I made sushi..

2011-06-12T22:33:00.000+09:30

Sushi seems to be my go-to cheap lunch for work days. Orrr non-work days really. hehehe.

Truth is, I used to hate sushi. I actually had a gag reflex whenever I tried it. BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT!

Now, somehow, I love it, am possibly obsessed with it and spend too much money on it. Thus, came my desire to make my own! :D

I watched lotsa youtube movies and read many recipes to come up with my own. It really is super easy and the options of fillings are endless. I opted for easy cucumber, avocado, capsicum this time; but tempura pumpkin is my favourite! Check out this blog post for sweet ideas!

Here goes:

500mL sushi rice* (2 cups)

600mL water

75mL rice vinegar

10mL sugar

5mL salt

nori sheets

vegies for the filling, thinly sliced

wasabi

soy sauce

sushi mat

sushi buddy

THE RICE:

Rinse rice in a colander for a good five minutes until the water running off is entirely clear. Leave to drain for 1 hour.

In a heavy saucepan, place measured water and rice and bring to a boil.

Once boiled, turn down to lowest setting, place the lid on top and set the timer for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, turn off the heat but DO NOT OPEN THE LID! Let the rice steam for another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together your vinegar, sugar and salt and microwave for 30 seconds until all dissolved.

Now grab a big bowl (wooded is best, but I used glass), dump the rice in and spread it out with a wooden spoon/sushi paddle and get your sushi buddy ready with a fan (we used a placemat)! Carefully spoon the vinegar mixture all over the rice as your sushi buddy fans and you cut and move the rice around - being careful not to break up the grains or damage any of your hard work!

Continue to fan/move rice until it reaches room temperature - about 5 minutes (depending on how good your sushi-buddy's fanning skills are).

LETS ROLL:

(mmmm.. don't put this much filling!)

et voila!

Roughly divide your rice into four parts - this will make 4 large sushi rolls.

Get your nori sheet and lay it shiny side down on your sushi mat. Using wet hands place 1/4 of the rice on your sheet and spread it out evenly, pressing it down hard and leaving 5cms at the top for rolling/sealing.

Rub a tiny squeeze of wasabi across the middle of the rice for extra joy. Layer your vegies in the centre of the rice.

Make sense?!

NOW:

Invite all of your friends over for a sushi party and as you place your sushi platter on the table scream "I MADE THIS, GUYS, I MADE THIS!" ; )

Tipstips:

*The only thing I would change for next time would be to buy real Japanese brand sushi rice, as mine was expensive for how much I actually got in the end.

Also, mine tasted more like authentic sushi after a few hours in the fridge - the nori was still quite dry and crispy before that allowed time.

Cookies! Perfect ones!

2011-05-25T16:25:00.000+09:30

Remember our world travels?

WELL.
We are extending our Asia part of the trip by 3 weeks!
For Muffin this is mainly for the joy he feels towards Asia.
For ME this is mainly for the panic I feel towards the price of 2.5 months in Europe!
This means 2 weeks each in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos :D

The stress of saving money is only really helped by one thing.. damn straight that that thing is cookies.

Whether they be choc chip, peanut butter, white chocolate pistachio or cappuccino cookies!

My cookie making has come far and with lots of research (and cookie eating.. for research) I think I have made the perfect peanut butter cookie!

EXCLAMATION!

The Perfect Peanut Cookie.

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (114 grams) softened butter

1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (crunchy>smooth)

1 egg (or egg replacer)

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

dark chocolate to melt (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C

Cream the butter until it appears light and fluffy. Add the sugars, cream for 2 additional minutes.
Mix in the peanut butter and egg.

In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients and whisk out any lumps.

Stir this into the wet butter mix until combined.

Using a dessert spoon shape the dough into balls (wet your hands if it's too difficult and sticky).

Place cookies on a baking tray about 6 cm apart.

THIS IS THE TRICK NOW.. smoosh them ever so lightly with the palm of your hand. When I say smoosh, I think I mean slap! Mine made a slapping sound one after the other.

Leave them about 2cm thick and they will melt down to ultimate cookie width! Trust me!

Place the trays in the fridge for 5-10 minutes so they are cool to the touch.

Bake until slightly browned, 9-10 minutes.

Cool on baking trays until not soft anymore and then transfer to rack to cool completely.

If desired, melt dark chocolate and drizzle over cookies when they are completely cooled.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

NOM.

spicy coconut punkin soup to kick sickness’ butt!

2011-05-19T17:42:00.003+09:30

I AM SICK! Why am I always sick?!

My Muffin and I spent a lovely week in Tasmania visiting my best friend one last time before our world travels. Twas a lovely week apart from the chest/ear infection I gained about 1 day in! Gahhhh.

Thus, today was the first day I had strength to stand and cook anything and this was what I was craving.

I feel better already!

I packed in the garlic in this soup and had dessert of 2 oranges plus my antibiotics AND a glass of flat lemonade (my mum always said this cures sickness?!) - so surely I will be in tip top shape again soon! Don't you worry your little cotton socks.

spicy coconut punkin soup to kick sickness’ butt:

1 Tablespoon red curry paste

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried chilli

1 onion

2 spring onions

6 cloves garlic

1 leek

1 carrot

1/4 cauliflower

1 small butternut punkin

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup desiccated coconut

2-3 cups vegie stock

2 Tablespoons natural greek yoghurt

salt

pepper

love

oven roasted seeds from pumpkin (optional)

Chop all vegetables to similar size.

In a large saucepan fry onions, garlic and leek and when starting to soften add in curry paste and spices.

Fry until paste is fragrant.

Add in the rest of the vegetables and stir until all coated.

Pour in the coconut milk, stock and coconut and let boil until vegetables are able to be blended. About 20 minutes.

Add yoghurt and blend soup until smooth. Add more stock/water if it is too thick.

Serve with crunchy oven roasted salty pumpkin seeds and swirls of yoghurt!

Eat with crusty bread and hope that the bugs that have given you a chest AND ear infection bugger the hell off :D

My Best Pasta! (spicy roasted red pepper)

2011-05-04T15:21:00.006+09:30

I'm a pasta lover.

Who am I kidding.. I'm a CARB lover.

This pasta recipe was slowly brewing in my brain.

I took inspiration from The Pioneer Woman and her quest for pasta perfection. I've added in every element that I love in pasta:

Creamy sauce; but not too creamy
Sweet roasted capsicum
Delicious mushrooms
Fresh spinach
Spicy chilli
Cold avocado and crunchy nuts on top
PURE YUM.

and THIS, my friends... is as close to personal pasta perfection (hehe) that I have ever reached!

Now, with these final three words, (nom nom nom) I give you:

The Best Pasta. (like. ever.)

(serves 3 .. or 2 starving souls)

2 cups (uncooked) pipe rigate* pasta

150 grams semi sun dried tomatoes

1 whole roasted red capsicum, peeled (do this under the grill or straight on the flame)

a few black marinated olives

1 Tablespoon olive oil (or sun dried tomato oil)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 small onion, sliced

5 large swish mushrooms, sliced

1 small zucchini, sliced

1/2 cup dry white wine

100 mL light cream (or soy milk)

1 big bag baby spinach

Juice of 1 small lemon, zest of just half

1 Tablespoon dried chilli flakes or fresh sliced chilli (I like life hot and spicy! Ha!)

to serve:

small handful almonds/cashews

toasted sesame seeds

a few slices of avocado

Ok, go!

In a blender, blitz together tomatoes, capsicum and olives. Add a tiny splash of water if you’re having trouble blending it - try and get it very very smooth. Set aside.

Put the pasta on to boil in a big pot. Cook due to packet instructions.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan heat oil.

Fry garlic, onion, mushrooms and zucchini until browned. Turn heat up high and when the pan is very hot - deglaze with white wine and reduce.

Add in the tomato/capsicum sauce, cream, lemon, chilli and season with salt and pepper.

Drain your pasta and at the last minute add the pasta and spinach to the sauce. Stir to combine and serve.

Top with avocado, sesame seeds, nuts and share with someone you love!

(Drink wine and eat bread with it if you’re feeling particularly naughty like I was.)

*I feel like a nut, but I’ve only JUST realised in all of my pasta eating years of life that this pasta is squished closed at one end to trap the sauce in. DID EVERYBODY KNOW THAT?! i thought I was just looking at faulty images online before I actually checked mah bag of pasta and was blown away!!

I'm back! with more rainbow food!

2011-04-27T10:37:00.000+09:30

It sure has been forever and a day.

I've been cooking - I promise!

I've even been photographing!

(just not posting anything.)

More importantly - I've been working and saving and WE BOOKED OUR FLIGHTS TO EUROPE!

Funnily enough, our mainly Europe trip has ended up consisting of:

5 weeks in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam
2 weeks in India and Nepal (my heart flutters for Nepal)
2.5 MONTHS in Europe
3 days in NYC (hehehe - this is solely for us to ice skate at Rockefeller Centre at Christmas time!)
and then back to Canada to live for a year or two or 5 million, who knows.

So throw any food/restaurant/cafe ideas my way for any of those extremely vague travel plans I have given you!

To keep your tummies rumbling, here's a little of what I've been up to lately..

Moroccan Chick Pea and Vegetable Curry. Served with cous cous and yoghurt.

A sneak peak into my quest for the perfect flatbread! Tomato, Basil, Onion, Caper and Cheese Flatbread.

Chilli Soy Hokkien Stir Fry.
(I work near an Asian cafe' and have been stealing stir-fry tips to get the smokey flavour!)

Pizza pizza maaaaan!

What you will need...

FOR THESE RAINBOW CUPCAKES!

Creating some artwork with food colouring and a handy-dandy toothpick!

Fresh outta the oven.

Rainbow Delights!

Both cupcake AND icing recipe are from JoyofBaking.com - I'm really enjoying this website, it's so easy to find good basic recipes. Everything I have tested from it has turned out great!

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE.

Nom Nom Nom Nom.

pssst, this is mah new do. Ya dig?!

Rainbow birthday cake - ie best birthday, cake +picnic ever.

2011-03-25T23:31:00.001+10:30

It was my birthday a little while ago and all I asked of Muffin was to bake me the greatest cake in the world.

THAT'S IT!

Now.. he is a trained chef, so it wasn't too much to ask, but this was quite seriously the first cake he had EVER baked at home.. (Which I personally find hilarious!) He even photographed the whole process so I could blog about it! Naww! This one's a keeper.

So, did he fulfil his task? .... well you take a look and judge for yourself!

(ps, the answer is hell yeah)

Muffins cake-a-makin space.

Rainbows coming into action.

Holy colour - fresh outta the oven. (blue caused him issues!)

He chose to do a tiered cake because he is a maniac and likes a challenge. He also chose to individually flavour most layers, red was berry, orange was orange (duh!), yellow was lemon and green was lime.

THEY WERE DELICIOUS

and each layer worked well on it's own and with the others!

WHAT WHAT! a girl cant slip in a photo of the picnic sammidge she made?! hahahaha.

ooohhhhh - ahhhhh.

to be honest, the bread I chose wasn't crusty enough and this went soggy.

Soggy-town = not ok in my books.

Cake = quite ok in my books.

Cake decorating time and the anticipation was killin me!

My family came together to create the best picnic ever for me :D
On the menu was mah picnic sammidge, pasta salad, roast vegetables, cheeses, dips, sour dough bread, coleslaw, stuffed mushrooms, inari, honey joys, chocolate crackles, muffins and sooo much mooorreee! Actually amazing.

MAH CAKE! JUST YOU WAIT...

I love this photo. That's my Muffin and me! <3

Lookie here! everyone literally gasped when I cut into it and my young, tiny relative yelled "HOW'D YOU GET A RAINBOW IN THERE?!" awwwww.

Filled with love and more love (and a rainbow).

I was clearly a little excited!

The end to a lovely picnic, a lovely birthday and a lovely cake.

Peace out alfalfa sprouts!

cake, burger, salad, laksa, mini scalloped potatoes!

2011-03-18T22:19:00.000+10:30

I realised that I never posted photos of my beetroot cake after I cut into it!

Nor did I ever mention that it was seriously the greatest chocolate cake I have ever made (and I make cakes VERY OFTEN)!

Imagine the most moist, chocolatey, sweet, perfect cake ever - and you're a little close to what it tasted like :p

After I ate my first piece I was just in shock from the beauty of it!

so moist!

Now.. some food I've made lately:

Burger of doom. Cracked wheat rissole on a toasted turkish bread roll, with tomato, avocado, mushrooms and baby spinach. BIG!

A big fresh salad with a cuppa vanilla t, and crackers spread with pesto, olive tapenade and walnut "pate".

Spicy soy hokkien noodles for mah muffin.

Home-made laksa for the bug (muffin isn't a lover of coconut like me! hence his soy noodles)

Side by side dinners. I fried the tofu, onion, garlic, lemongrass, chili, capsicum, tomato, mushroom etc all together and then separated the noodles and made the soy sauce in one pan and the laksa in another -

THATS HOW KIND I AM!

TWO DINNERS!

(just kidding, my mum used to do that allllll the time hahaha)

The beginning of perfect tiny scalloped potatoes in my perfect tiny pots.

Perfect pots baked fresh outta the oven!

Just like popart!

Perfect mini scalloped potatoes.

Makes four mini pots.

3 large dirty taters (starchy ones), sliced super thin

1 small onion, sliced super thin

1 sprig rosemary, finely smooshed

1 vegie stock cube

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup (ish) skim milk

1 Tablespoon cold butter

S+p

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Preheat your oven to 200C.

Rub cold butter around the edges and bottom of your ceramic pots.

Slice taters and onion super thin. I used a food processor with a slicing attachment, although a mandolin or a knife would do!

Heat the water and stock cube in a saucepan until dissolved. Add milk, rosemary and salt and pepper - bring to the boil and switch off.

Layer your taters and onions alternately and top with a little extra butter and the grated cheese.

Pour the hot liquid into the pots, don't worry if it doesn't fill it - half way is fine.

Put the mini lids on and bake until soft (but not mooshy) ... about 45 mins... to be honest I didn't pay attention and just baked with mah nose and sense of smell! You'll know.

EAT!

Nom. Nom. Nom.

cappuccino choc-chip cookies and more noms.

2011-03-02T11:19:00.001+10:30

Working too much.
Working too hard.
In transit every hour of every day (almost).
No time for grocery shopping.
No time for cooking.
Saving for the Greatest European Adventure ever adventured.
Eeeeeep!

Thus, recent food photos are not the most exciting foods ever eaten.

BUT FEAR NOT - STILL TASTY!

everyday brekky! baked beans (beans of the gods) with fried vegies and a glass o juice.

Mmm - sauceless pasta. Best with home-grown ingredimots.

So colourful!

lame-ass cheese and home-grown tomatoes on tortilla thing-o.

choc chip coffee cookies!

The cookies are a Joy The Baker recipe (click for recipe!). I luff her blog. It makes me chuckle.

Do my cookies look like hers? NO! They don't.

Mine are all skinny on the edges and I dislike that.

Dear baker friends, what do I need to do to get a cookie the same width the whole way through?

Things I need to create the perfect cookie:

mini ice cream scoop
perfect large flat cookie tray (no ridges)
endless supply of choc chips
egg replacer that works (this is how my mind works: egg=ew)
floral apron (not imperative)
all the time in the world

Have a lovely day, my lovelies.

love me do beetroot cake!

2011-02-12T23:54:00.000+10:30

Baking really does make my day.

I feel like somewhat of a housewife... but I really do love to get into mah polka dot playsuit, don an apron and get my bake on!

less this.

more this!

And that's just what I did today! Muffin and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary on Thursday so I guess this is more so for that than for Valentines Day.

Or to be honest, more so just for the sake of baking than anything else; as it's what I love!

This was my very first serious go at piping my icing and I sure as hell did enjoy it. My dream would be to be a pastry chef! I just love it. I can't explain it.. but every thing cakey and cute is right up my alley :D

(with that said.. theres only so many cute-cupcake-themed things you can receive for birthday - yaknowwhatimean?!)

This cake I have baked before with both success and failure. I think today was a success.. but I haven't eaten it yet - it just looks pretty! (I always end up cooking it for about twice the amount of time the recipe says however..)

I watched many videos and found them super helpful for my icing-confidence-building.

I went with this icing recipe and it worked perfectly for piping. I still had some left over at the end too! I added beet juice as dye and a little red food colouring for the writing at the end.

Anywho. Bliss. What a day. Enjoy your Valentines, peeps!

Yellow vegetable curry and many other delicious goodies.

2011-01-26T22:48:00.001+10:30

An update on my food intake this week:

avocado, home-grown tomatoes and cheese melted on fabio's home-made rye bread! and home-made chilli pickle and cheese on fabio's home-made rye bread! where would my life be without my dads cooking?! A SHAMBLES!

fruit salad.. yummy yummy! check the link... its a song, i'm not crazy.

normal salad - also quite yummy yummy.

JYMUNGO lasagna made for lunch/dinner at work for the week :D

why yes... yes those are crinkle cut cucumbers.. YES, I DID RECEIVE A CRINKLE CUT KNIFE FOR CHRISTMAS. Let the joy begin.

jymungo salad plus jymungo lasagna equals quite a nice nap.

Recipe time:

Yellow veggie curry.

1 teaspoon each:

cumin

turmeric

nigella seeds

mustard seeds

paprika

chilli flakes

ginger powder

1 pinch asafoetida

1 heaped teaspoon vegie paste (mine was home-made my a neighbour! or a stock cube mixed in with the water)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

2 roasted garlic cloves, sliced

1/4 small butternut pumpkin

1/4 cabbage

1/4 cauliflower

1 zucchini

1 cup peas

3 tomatoes

1 mixed handful ground almonds, peanuts, sesame seeds.

LETS GET STARTED THEN!

Combine all spices in a bowl with enough water to create a paste. Fry off in vegetable oil until the paste is fragrant and beginning to separate from the oil.

Chop all the vegies into big bite sized chunks.

Add in garlic, pumpkin, cabbage, cauliflower and zucchini. Mix until all coated with spice mix. Crank up the heat until there’s lots of delicious dark goodies on the bottom of the pan!

Pour in your coconut milk and add just enough water to almost cover everything.

Give it a good stir, pop the lid on and leave it for up to 10 minutes. It’s pretty much ready when the pumpkin is cooked - as its the most solid vegie of the lot. Add in tomatoes and peas and quite a bit of salt for the final 2 minutes of cooking.

To thicken and add richness add in the whizzed up nut mix - its pretty delish when some are whole and you get a crunchy nuttiness against the creaminess of the curry.

EEEEEEEEAT with rice and pappadams and possibly splurge on some naan bread too!

..or just do what I did and eat it on it's own, out of a bowl with a spoon :D

Peace out brussel sprouts!

Ying Chow.

2011-01-18T22:17:00.002+10:30

For an anniversary dinner you generally want somewhere romantic, right? Mood lighting? Ambience? A certain… je ne sais quoi.

Well Ying Chow is anything BUT any of those traits.

However, the food is effing delicious! So what’s your decision? Je ne sais quoi or the kind of deliciousness that makes you squeel when you think about the left overs that you have in that tiny container in the fridge for lunch tomorrow?!

- Oh you’d better believe we picked Ying Chow.

Noisy, cramped, usually lined up out the door, fast paced. As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into then it’s a blast.

Vegetarian Bean Curd Soup

BBC!

An institution at Ying Chow. Everybody orders it. Literally every table will have a plate of this on it. Even a meat-obsessed Serbian at my work confessed to attempting to create this dish at home.

chinese green vegetables - completes every asian meal.

some ribby things for the carnivore boyfriend. Hey, i don’t discriminate :D

and rice, of course. steamed, perfect, plain (in the nicest possible way) white rice.

Personally Muffin and I like the kind of service you get in Asian restaurants. It’s to the point. No chit-chatting, no time is wasted!

Have a seat. What do you want? Here’s your tea. Here’s your food. Here’s your bill. Thankyouhaveagoodnightbyeseeyoulater! < the owner really does talk like this! I heart it.

Speakin oh service.. it’s worth going just to witness the waiters carrying 5 plates on one arm. ON ONE ARM!!!!

(my only qualm was that half way through the meal I had a weirdly severely tingly tongue?! Did i burn it? Was it a weird MSG reaction? Too much soy sauce? I really have no idea… but that’s never happened the 82203746 times I’ve been there before, so perhaps i am just odd!)

Also.. Happy anniversary to my lovely Muffin man <3

Well, vegetarian food of course?!

2011-01-14T11:27:00.001+10:30

My goodness, I've been gone a while.

FEAR NOT YOUNG BLOGGERS (also slightly older) - I HAVE RETURNED!

New years resolution: keep my posts short sharp and shiny! More pictures, less words yo.

Where have I been you ask? You've missed me so much? you cried a little when you realised just how long it's been?

I've been off gallivanting in Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Ocean Rd with my Muffin's Canadian famjam for the past ever!

Did I get spoilt and receive a freaking MACBOOK for christmas? WELL YES I DID.

My carb-free livin was going relatively well... until.. well.. here's some little tidbits of my recent times and recent foods:

before holiday... note healthiness?!

lapping up the sun at Manly Beach.

lookie what I found!

I fell entirely in love with Grigons & Orr in Melbourne.

how could I not?! I was like a kid in a candy store.

Glee!

Sydney was a bit hit and miss with good food. THIS was the best gnocchi of my life. And I love gnocchi. It was at The Rocks Cafe.

note the healthiness beginning? Best chips in Victor Harbor!

attempting to create a veggie main meal in posh places..

essentially the greatest picnic set ever.

I've heard on the grapevine that I throw at EXCELLENT PICNIC!

seasonal garden pasta dyed pink with beets!

nachos in a cake tin ala bug.

christmas lunch #1.

christmas lunch #2 (different day - different house.... stop judging me).

BEST. BEST. BEST. another tea infuser. and BEST new tea cup! Perfection.

the kind of meal that makes you drool when you think about it 2 weeks later. Vegie lasagna with fresh salad and dressing.

ahhhhh maaaan I could eat about 76 more of these bowls.

making a few new friends.

The most Australian dessert ever. Lamingtons, fruchocs and tim tams. Heart Attack.

Delicous breakfast field mushroom noms at ETC.

and what a way to end. We woke up to this guy standing this close to our room along the Great Ocean Road.

I squeeled with delight.

Who doesn't love a llama?!

love and blueberries to ye all!

Cookies, brownies, cookies and Canadians!

2010-12-09T10:29:00.004+10:30

Prepare yoselves for plenty of pics and plenty of sweets! and by sweet I mean cookies and brownies. MORE SPECIFICALLY, I mean choc chip peanut butter cookies, pistachio and white chocolate cookies and chocolate almond brownies! (click the links for recipes)

What do you do when you're expecting a certain Muffin's father to arrive from Canada and his flight is delayed a day? WHY YOU BAKE OF COURSE. . . and bake I did.

I'm usually more prone to baking cakes and such, so I was pretty excited when I realised I could actually whip up an entire batch of cookies in about 6 minutes! They're so simple - too simple my hips may say! These two cookie recipes I used were really great, even if I did adapt them a little.
____________________________________________________

For the choc chip peanut butter cookies, I halved the recipe as I didn't really feel like having 72 cookies on hand! I also added the peanut butter to it as the recipe was just plain choc chip cookies. Obviously adding the peanut butter added extra fat to the cookie dough and a result was a VERY well-spread-out cookie! Still super delicious with a nice slight crunch.

For the pistachio and white chocolate cookies I only added 1 cup of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of pistachios as opposed to the 1 1/4 called for in the recipes. These babies are super sweet and very very much like the consistency of Subway cookies! I personally think they would be way better with macadamias - but muffin disagrees ;)

The brownies are my go-to recipe from the Kids Cookbook from my childhood. The only difference was this time I added in 3/4 cup chopped almonds for a nice crunch!

choc chip peanut butter cookies

pre-baked choc-chip peanut butter cookies.. notice the small size?

the size after baking!! holy hell.

piled high!

nom nom nom.

pistachio and white chocolate cookies

is this not the best table you've ever seen?!

what a beautiful plate!

chocolate almond brownies

the brownies out of the tin - looking like velvet!

sliced to perfection.

sticky inside view of fudgey-wudgy almond brownies!

and last but not least, a delightful photo of me stuffing my face with an oversized cookie I baked. That's right - that's my face! I know you were just dyyyyyyyyying to see it. WELL THERE I AM.

and what a pleasant face it is..

glorious food for the beginning of Summer!

2010-12-02T22:26:00.002+10:30

what I have been eating lately, by vegiebuglet herself...

delicious pizza of za'atar.

oh em gee kind of amazing. The kind of simple food that you throw together when you're starving and only realise how amazing it truly was when.. half an hour later... you could eat another. and THEN, in the morning you make one for breakfast.
GET IT? GOT IT? GOOD.

simply mix za'atar with oil and spread on tortilla-style base, grill and top with fresh salad of tomato, cucumber, onion and mint. (the dinner one I fried some vegies for - but fresh vegies the next day was way better) Delicious AND cost efficient ;)

dinner plate of ultimate health. Fo sure.

Dill and caraway cabbage, vegie snossage, steamed beans to perfection, salad of beet, tomato, cucumber and home grown lettuce. Plus plus! top of an avocado, with the hole filled with salad dressing.

In primary school my best friend used to bring 1/2 an avocado to school, pour salad dressing into the hole and eat it with a spoon.... i used to mock her for it. Whose the winner now!? (we both are... with avocados in hand)

Filo veggie parcel with garden spinach and ricotta (said in an Italian accent ala Muffin).

I wasn't too keen on this recipe (which I made up through the art of winging it..) but Muffin said it was a keeper. Kinda like when Goldmember says it.. ew :D

and THEN a plate of roast delights, as by now you must know I am obsessed with roasted potato or pumpkin or any kind of root vegetable that becomes crisp, hot and able to be dipped in gravy!

Chunky chips, roast pumpkin, roast garlic (i eat these cloves whole and Muffin looks away in disgust!) vegie snossage, steamed peas and deliciously simple-and-without-preservatives-or-icky-chemicals-home-made-mushroom-gravy! A good meal to take a long nap from.

And last but not least a break from my carb-free livin.. what I like to call my garden pasta! Fresh tomatoes, thyme, zucchini and spring onion from the garden.

The flavour of fresh ingredients really is unbeatable.

Garden Pasta.
This pasta is amazing because of the fresh ingredients - use whatever is fresh and in season and it will shine as much for you as it did for me!

any type of pasta for 2.
2 tomatoes, diced
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon glug good olive oil
green part of 1 spring onion, roughly chopped
salt
pepper

1/4 capsicum, roughly diced
1/2 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
white part of 1 spring onion, sliced
1 handful green beans, chopped
1 handful roasted cashews
1 teaspoon chilli jam (or chilli sauce)
good amount of seasoning - salt and pepper.

1/4 avocado to serve.
parmesan to serve

In the bowl which you will serve the pasta, put tomato, thyme, olive oil, green onion and season. Leave for the flavours to combine and some liquid to be drawn out. Delicious simple natural sauce.

Put pasta on to boil.

In a saucepan fry capsicum, zucchini, garlic, white part onion and beans until softened. Season well and at the last minute add in chilli jam and cashews. (my dad made a sweet jam and a spicy jam and ended up combining them = delicious)

Pour the fried vegetables into the big bowl with the tomato mix, then toss in the hot, drained pasta and mix to combine well.

Top with chunks of avocado, sprinkles of parmesan cheese and a heavy grind of fresh pepper. I love the way velvety avocado becomes warm and falls apart in your mouth after being tossed through pasta.

YUM.

peace out brussel sprouts!

Thanks-mas ideas and hot weather food.

2010-11-25T21:28:00.000+10:30

I am thankful for American Thanksgiving and the fact that it is right around the corner from Christmas! Not because we celebrate Thanksgiving down in little old oz, but because it gives me great meal ideas for Christmas lunch :D

So far I’ve been spoilt for choice! It all began with VegNews’ amazing list of Thanksgiving blog posts and from there the hunt was on!

My belly is thinking C’est La Vegans Holiday nut roast. I’ve had a bad experience with nut roast.. my mumma made one one year and it was godddddddddd awful. Hilarious at the time because she had put so much effort into it and we all tried to smile past the mouthfuls but soon we cracked and all laughed about how terrible it tasted! (Note: Not her fault – just a bad recipe!)

Bianca over at Vegan Crunk put up a delicious array of choices and made me wish I could get a tofurky here.. Can I?! I’ve never seen them and the website has no Australian listing..

And the stuffed cornbread stuffing over at Vegan Latina actually made my mouth water. I whole heartedly love me some pumpkin so I would make this dish every month of the year!

But to be honest, my crown of all Thanksgiving/Christmas menu ideas MOST DEFINITELY has to go to The Ordinary Vegetarian (which is actually anything BUT ordinary). OHMYGOODNESS would I want to go to that dinner party. What a spread! So much choice! And the thing that makes her a winner… the choices of 4 pies of course!

Please oh pretty please won’t you link me to your favourite Thanksgiving/Christmas ideas?

I really want to find a great “meat” kind of main dish to make for myself amongst other things :D

Back to me now! This week we have seen some crazy weather, from 36 degrees to 20 and pouring with rain – and everything in between. Needless to say I almost passed out at the start of this week because my body was confused as to what the HELL was going on!

So one night we had the most perfect hot weather food for dinner!

A vegie pattie, a vegie snossage, salad, coleslaw and fresh corn from the cob. Deeeeeeeeelish! Super easy to whip up and no need to heat the house up with pots, pans or an oven for very long :D Nom nom nom.

roley poley eggplant thingy.

2010-11-18T22:03:00.002+10:30

3 tomatoes, chopped

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup water

3 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 t wooster

1 t apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

1/4 cup home-made basil pesto*

1 big eggplant sliced lengthways
1 zucchini sliced lengthways
1 handful sliced mushrooms
1 handful cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 200C

In a saucepan, fry tomato and garlic, add water, reduce the shit out of it for 15 minutes until thick. (i had no tomatoes or tinned tomatoes - yet this worked surprisingly well!)

* Blitz together 2 cups basil, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup raw almonds, a good glug of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and salt.

Individually fry vegies until soft and slightly browned.

Lay out a slice of eggplant, spread 1/2 t pesto on top, followed by 1 zucchini slice and either; a few slices of fried mushroom or a cherry tomato, roll and place with the rolled side down in baking dish. Continue with rest of ingredients until the baking dish is full.

Pour tomato sauce over the top, add a liberal amount of black pepper and optional cheese.

Bake in 200C oven for 30 mins. (this would be amazing with breadcrumbs on top but I was fairy** ingredient-less tonight!)

Serve with lightly blanched asparagus with a teensy bit of butter, lemon juice and salt. DELISH.

**I did mean fairly, but fairy sounds MUCH BETTER.

it's safe to say I am obsessed with roasts and breakfast.

2010-11-08T22:41:00.000+10:30

I'm still rockin relatively carb-free-livin. This dinner was JYMUNGO compared to my meal sizes now. (as was the breakfast to follow!) BUT SO WORTH IT.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love a good roast.

ROAST DELIGHTS: simplified!
1 bag baby spinach, fried with butter, salt and lemon juice.

peas boiled then added to butter, salt and mint.

green beans, steamed yo.

asparagus, blanched for 2 mins, topped with tiny bit oh butter, lemon juice and fresh cracked black!

carrots and punkin cut thin, with fresh thyme and oil and s+p, roasted at 200C for 15 minutes.

tiny potatoes steamed for 10 minutes, transferred to hot frying pan with oil, rosemary and salt and pepper. then into 200C oven for further 15 minutes to crisp up!

graaaaavy. 1/2 cup leek rounds, softened in butter for 5 minutes, add 2 Tablespoons flour and mix until all coated, throw in 1 cup vegie 'beef' stock and simmer. I added 1/2 t of apple cider vinegar and a ton of cracked black pepper. Simmer and reduce to desired thickness!

and that is it! Delicious.

BG (before-gravy)

AG (after-gravy)

Muffin and I have almost been together for 3 years and until recently I could probably count the number of meals he has made me on 1 hand! AND HE'S A CHEF!!!!!!!!!!!! (really, he is.)

anywho. The past few weeks he has made me brekky on a Sunday and it has been diiiiiiiiviiiiiiiiiine. I think breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. And a giant full english (vegie style) is probably the best. Ya know, the bomb diggity!

Without further adieu , I present ... OUR BREAKFAST!
sliced avocado, roasted tomato, rosemary mushrooms, vegie snossages with HP sauce and baked beans! So full after this bizzo.

I know, I'm a lucky gal.

Shepherds pie, feminist style ;)

2010-11-05T23:39:00.002+10:30

The other night I wanted something hearty for dinner and so I decided on a lentil and sweet potato shepherds pie. However, I have decided to call it a Shepherdess pie, as I only ever think of males when I hear the word Shepherd - and I'm suuuure there are female shephards too!***

Shepherdess Pie:

1 large carrot, diced

1 celery stick, diced

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic

2 bay leaves

3 mushrooms, chopped

1/2 eggplant, diced

1/2 zucchini, diced

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups vegie stock

1 teaspoon sriracha

1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

salt

pepper

1 tin lentils

Top:

2 big sweet potatoes

1 normal potato; steamed and mashed.

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon soy milk

1 teaspoon salt

to serve:

1 bunch asparagus

butter

lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a big saucepan, fry the carrot, celery, onion and garlic on a low heat until softened but not browned. Add in the bay leaves and the rest of the vegetables. Cook them for another 5 minutes unti they are softer and then add in the tomato paste. Stir it until it is throroughly combined and then add in everything else apart from the lentils. Stir and lower the heat and leave to thicken and cook fully through; about 10 minutes. Take off the heat and add in the lentils (so they don't overcook).

In a big casserole dish pour in as much lentil mix as will fit, I kept aside about 1 cup - it would be great as a pasta sauce too! Top with the combined mash mix of sweet potato, normal potato, butter, milk and salt. Rough it up with a fork and bake in the oven until golden and crisp on top - about 20-30 minutes.

Blanch asparagus in boiling water for about 2 minutes, overcooked asparagus is the WORST. While still hot, place on plate and top with a tiny amount of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice and freshly cracked black pepper. ASPARAGUS SERVED THIS WAY IS THE ABSOLUTE BOMB SHIZNIT. eat eat eat eat.

Another night we had the leftovers as a side with a lentil pattie and some cabbage fried with caraway and dill. NOM NOM.

** I googled it. There are. Hahahaha. Here I was thinking I made it up!

Carb-free! (ish)

2010-10-27T18:52:00.002+10:30

Comfort food..

It's a very personal thing. In the past, comfort food to me has been giant (i mean giant) bowls of pasta, even more giant plates of pierogis, fresh tiger loaf slathered with cold butter, and of COURSE absolutely massive turkish bread sandwiches and vegie burgers with poutine!

Didyanotice that that is all carbohydrates?! Thus my problem! So I am cutting down on me carbs! I do actually already feel a lot better already, 1 week into it. It is too easy to whip up a meal around carbs, so it definitely takes some brain power to steer clear of them.

I haven't cut out wrap bread though, as I am a wrap-lover and would probably cry without them ;) Its been pretty easy to snack on fruits and nuts instead actually. For the time being I've also cut out anything overly sugary, such as energy drinks/high-suger juices and chocolate. (the chocolate I miss already!)

One night this week Muffin and I shared a lovely salad plate. We ate it with a few multi-grain vita weats (my favourite bikkie), but essentially just filled up on vegie goodness.

And my most delicious meal this week was actually just a tofu scramble! I shouldn't say just because you should never underestimate a good tofu scramble! This one was more of a dinner edition than a brekky edition though. So easy and SO delicious!

1/2 zucchini, sliced
3 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 red capsicum, sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
1 carrot, grated
1/4 cup cooked spinach, chopped
1/2 block tofu
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon sriracha
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 avocado
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds.

Add all vegies into a hot frying pan and fry for a couple of minutes until starting to colour. Crumble in the tofu and break down as much as you desire. Add in the rest of the spices and fry for about 5-10 minutes until it is relatively dry and toasty in colour! Serve with fresh avocado and sesame seeds sprinkled on top!
I ate this with beet hummus, rocket pesto and avocado spread onto corn thins.

Another night I made a sort of pizza but used a super thin whole-wheat wrap bread instead of white hunks of dough.

I dry-fried the wrap bread on one side and then topped it with some rocket pesto and a mixture of fried zucchini, mushroom, eggplant and spinach. I added fresh diced tomato, some salt and pepper and a little bit of cheese. I grilled it in the oven and the whole process took about 15 minutes! To serve I dolloped on some beet hummus, avocado and sriracha. Yuuuuuuuuuuuumm.

So fresh and so clean, clean!

2010-10-20T21:58:00.000+10:30

Yes, I was going for the fattest cold roll in the world record! And I think I got pretty close to winning ;)

I make these all the time, and no, I still don't know how to make small ones! I get so carried away because they are delicious. I always serve them with two sauces;

The peanutty one is actually only 1/2 teaspoon of peanut butter to about 1/4 cup of coconut milk and a squirt of sriracha. SO SIMPLE!

The soy one is 1 chinese spoon sweet soy, 1 chinese spoon dark soy, 1 chinese spoon light soy, 1 chinese spoon rice wine vinegar, 1 chinese spoon water, 1/2 chinese spoon sriracha, 1 chinese spoon toasted sesame seeds. EAAASSSSYYY.

Tonight was bbq weather. I knew this because it was sunny, and not windy = perfect.

and now, with titles! ("ooooh")

the grilled corn I just threw on the bbq til it blackened a little.

Guacamole was 2 avocado's, mixed with a little spanish onion, lime, tomato, coriander, salt, pepper and chilli (and actually not very nice, the avo's had no flavour!) sad face.

beet hummus had 2 tins of chick peas, 1 Tablespoon tahini, 1 Tablespoon lemon, 1/2 cup beet (i used tinned - fresh would be better), 1 teaspoon salt, 1 garlic clove, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika.

pesto was made with 2 cups rocket and about 1 cup of mixed nuts (such as walnuts, almonds, cashews), 1 clove garlic, good glug oil, salt and pepper! Blitz.

bbq veg, I skewered and bbq'd until cooked. No marinade, just simple :D

polenta flowers, cook polenta according to packet instructions and at the end add in 1/2 cup grated zucchini, 1 Tablespoon parmesan and salt and pepper. Pour mix into greased cake tin and leave to cool. Cut shapes out of solid mix and fry or bbq for a few minutes on each side until crisp! VERY YUM.

sweet potato rosti, literally just grated sweet potato thrown on the hot plate of the bbq. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

stuffed mushrooms, take large swiss mushrooms and scoop out the middle 'gills', place in a bowl with 2 Tablespoons bread crumbs (you could use nuts) a splash of oil and 2 Tablespoons of your pesto. Mix and refill the mushroom caps. Grill for about 5 minutes.

I also made fattoush:

1 cup mixed gourmet lettuce

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2 cucumber, sliced

1/2 celery stick, sliced (this is not traditional!)

1/2 red capsicum, diced

1 handful marinated artichokes

1 handful black olives

1 handful mint

1 handful parsley

dressing:

5 Tablespoons oil

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

salt + pepper

1 spinach mountain bread

1 teaspoon cape malay seasoning (I got this from Oxfam. It's a spice mix of coriander, salt, cumin, pepper, fennel, chilli, mustard seed, cinnamon and turmeric! If you can't find it, just use a pinch of the first 5 spices.)

Lightly oil the mountain bread and sprinkle with cape malay seasoning. Grill until brown, leave to cool and break up into pieces.

Add the bread and dressing to the salad right before serving so nothing goes soggy!

WARNING: THIS SALAD IS SO FRESH AND DELICIOUS.

pumpkin - meet pie!

2010-10-13T18:01:00.041+10:30

when pumpkin met thanksgiving..

a polka dot pumpkin pie was born!

A few days ago was Canadian Thanksgiving, and so in true Australian style we celebrated with a thanksgiving bbq! The only similarity to the Canadian Day was that there was pumpkin pie and we were thankful for it :D

I read billions of recipes to come up with this one and found it difficult to find one without tinned pumpkin puree. I'm not a great fan of tinned moosh when I can make it myself so easily.

First things first, I chose a Japanese Pumpkin because I think they are sweeter than the others and I can't get sugar pumpkins here in Australia (I wish I could - they are so cute!)

Polka Dot Pumpkin Pie:

For the crust:

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup plain flour

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

3-4 Tablespoons cold soy milk

In a large bowl, add both flours, sugar, cinnamon, salt and mix together. Add in cubes of butter and mix together with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add in small amounts of the milk until your dough forms a ball.

Shape it into a disk and wrap in cling wrap. Chill in fridge for a few hours or over night.

Remove from fridge and roll out between two sheets of glad wrap until it is about 5mm thick. Transfer to a pie dish, prick the base with a fork and crimp the edges. Bake in a 180C oven for about 10 minutes or until slightly cooked but not browned.

For the puree:

1 pumpkin, roasted, pureed (you need 2 cups of puree)

egg replacer, to the equivalent of 3 egg whites, whipped

1 & 1/4 cups cream

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

Cut pumpkin into chunks and roast in a 180C oven until soft. About 1 hour. Remove and wait until slightly cooled, peel and mash. Then use cheesecloth or a tea towel to squeeze the puree to remove the excess moisture. Add in the rest of the ingredients and season to your taste. I like extra cinnamon :D

Pour puree into pre cooked pastry and bake in a 170C oven until the filling is firm, about 40 minutes.

weeee also had another pie. Yes, two pies in one day. This one was Banoffee Pie! Amazing, super simple and super sweet and delicious!

Smoothie town, population: jar.

2010-10-12T12:49:00.001+10:30

What's the best kind of smoothie? (well berry of course)

SMOOTHIE IN A JAR!

I love drinking out of jars. Then again, I think I love everything kitsch.

One thing I always loved about Canada was ordering an iced T and having it arrive in a glass jar with a handle : D Most of the time that was my reasoning for ordering iced T.

I love smoothies. They are a meal in a glass (jar).

In this one I put raspberries, strawberries, a banana, a passionfruit and a splash of orange juice. I freeze my strawberries so there's no need to use ice!

Don't worry folks. A Blag about actual food tomorrow! Cause pie counts as food right?!

Have a lovely day.

THE Best Moussaka.

2010-10-06T18:43:00.001+10:30

Contrary to what my absent blogging may lead you to believe, I have actually been cooking quite a bit. Most of it has been un-blog-worthy or Carla's recipe tests!

See? see? Photo proof!

As far as my own recipes, this week I made a vegie stir fry with hokkien noodles.

I didn't write down a recipe, just threw in whatever vegies we had and added ginger, garlic, lemongrass, soy, sesame and chilli! Voila. It was pretty tasty, but even better the next day.

TODAAYYYYY I made the tastiest moussaka ever! Well. Possibly a little exaggerated, but it was my first moussaka attempt and it is pretty damn tasty, if I do say so myself. It's one of those recipes that seems like a lot of effort - but once you get going you can do everything as something else is going along... ya know!? Try it, it's worth it.

Bug's First Moussaka:

2 large eggplants, 1/4 inch slices (yet again, I don't work in inches but this sounds about right!)

1 large zucchini, 1/4 inch slices

1 Tablespoon Cape Malay Seasoning*

Salt + pepper

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 brown onion, sliced

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

3/4 cup passata

2 tomatoes, diced

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon dried chilli flakes (i like spice :D)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

salt and pepper

1 cup blacked eyed peas, cooked

1 tin lentils

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

500-750mL soy milk (depending how thick you want it)

1/4 cup grated cheese (optional)

white pepper

salt

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup parmesan

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

OK, GO!

Preheat oven to 200C.

Roast eggplant and zucchini with spices and oil until soft. About 20 minutes for zucchini, and 40 minutes for eggplant.

Fry mushrooms in olive oil until brown. Remove and set aside.

In a big saucepan, fry garlic and onion until softened. Add in tomato paste and passata and let reduce for 5-10 minutes. Add in the rest of the sauce ingredients (except lentils and peas), stir and season to taste. Remove from heat and add lentils and peas at the last minute so they don't over cook.

Make your bechamel by melting butter in a saucepan and adding in the flour. I use a whisk to combine and let the flour cook out a little. Make sure your pan is quite hot and add the milk a little bit at a time at first - and then all in one go. Whisk like crazy at first and then let thicken and whisk not so often. It shouldn't take any longer than 10 minutes. Add the cheese and seasoning at the end and season to taste.

To assemble:

Lay half of the breadcrumbs on the base of your baking dish. Make a layer of eggplant, then zucchini, then mushroom.

For the next layer pour all of the tomato bean mix and spread evenly. It will look like quite a lot but the eggplant will suck it up.

Add the rest of the breadcrumbs, top with your bechamel.

Finish with a sprinkling of parmesan, sesame seeds, salt and white pepper.

(if you would like to be awesome like me, then also top with 3 pretty eggplant flowers!)

Bake until browned, about 40 minutes.

* I got this from Oxfam. It's a spice mix of coriander, salt, cumin, pepper, fennel, chilli, mustard seed, cinnamon and turmeric! If you can't find it, just use a pinch of the first 5 spices.

Lunch-breakfast-lunch-dinner.

2010-09-29T19:06:00.001+09:30

Breakfast for dinner is probably better than breakfast for breakfast.

I've been busy working long hours, testing carla's recipes and taking care of a sick, sick muffin. So today I had english baked beans, spinach, hash browns, tomatoes, rosemary mushrooms and toasted turkish bread with mushroom 'pate'. Yum yum yum. delish.

More recipes coming soon when I have the time and muffin has the guts to eat! I'm seeing a mushroom pie in my future....

Salad City - population: my stomach.

2010-09-16T20:34:00.000+09:30

What do you do when you wake up looking like the elephant woman? (For serious, I woke up with a lip the size of my nose!)

Well you obviously go to the doctor first and get a magical cream to fix your disfigured hideous face ... AND THEN when you can't go to work (for obvious reasons, such as scaring customers off of their food), you stay home and make about a billion salads. When you realise a billion is probably a little much to fit in your fridge, you settle on six. Just six. . . of the best salads of your life.

These are:

soy soba noodle salad
rosemary lemon potato salad
pesto pasta salad
balsamic bean salad
chargrilled vegetable salad
meditteranean cous cous salad

soy soba noodle salad:

this could easily be made super spicy, but I like to taste and enjoy the flavours of the noodles themselves. Also, hold back on over saucing the noodles as they will get sloppy < this is not good.

2 rounds soba noodles

2 T soy sauce

1 T sweet soy sauce

1 T vinegar

1 t sriracha

1 t sesame oil

1 t fresh ginger, grated

1 T toasted sesame seeds

Capsicum, 1/4 cup thinly sliced

Cabbage, 1/2 cup thinly slices

Cook soba noodles for a couple of minutes in boiling water, remove and dunk into cold water to give them their chewy slurpy texture and stop the cooking process.

Mix together all other ingredients to form the sauce. Toss noodles in sauce and leave the flavours to infuse for at least half an hour.

rosemary lemon potato salad:

this one would be delicious with something green like spring onions, but alas I had none. I feel like the extra roasting of potatoes at the end gives them a better texture than usual mooshy potato salad, which I dislike.

10 baby potatoes, cut into bite size pieces, par boiled

2 T olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 brown onion, thinly sliced

1 T fresh rosemary, finely diced

1 T lemon juice

1 t salt

1 t pepper

Par boil the potatoes until almost cooked through.

In a big frying pan add oil, garlic, onion and rosemary. Cook until onions are translucent. Add in potatoes, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking tray and bake in a 180C oven for about 15 mins or until slightly golden. Remove. Cool in fridge. EAT!

pesto pasta salad:

I mean honestly, is anything bad with pesto? When basil is not in season you can use rocket and save on money - and probably the taste of bad out of season herbs!

2 cups mix of rocket, basil and spinach
2 garlic cloves
1/2 red chilli
1/2 cup cashews
good glug of olive oil
squeeze lemon juice
salt

Blitz!

1 tomato, finely diced
1 avocado, finely diced

Cook 2 cups spiral pasta until al dente. Drain and while still hot add about 2 Tablespoons of the pesto, extra salt and pepper. When slightly cooled add the tomato and avocado and mix through. Serve cool.

balsamic bean salad:

This salad will bring you great joy and make you as strong as Popeye! Even though there is no spinach in it... It's simple and full of things that you can just throw in from your pantry. Excellent!

1 tin mixed beans

1 T olive oil

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1/2 t horseradish

salt

pepper

5 marinated artichoke hearts, chopped

cucumber, 1/4 cup finely diced

Add oil, balsamic, garlic, horseradish, salt and pepper in a bowl. Rinse beans and mix through, add in artichoke and cucumber. Let flavours combine for at least half an hour.

chargrilled vegetable salad:

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SALADS EVER. Fo real. It sounds really strange with the sweet marinade, but it brings out the earthy flavours in the mushroom and eggplant. The Asian flavours don't come through in a strong way in the end, just the flavour of ohmagoodnessdeliciousness.

10 swiss mushrooms, small and roughly the same size

eggplant, 1 cup, diced roughly the same size as mushrooms

pumpkin, 2 cups, diced roughly the same size as mushrooms and eggplant! (see a theme?)

1 T sweet soy sauce

1 T sweet chilli sauce

1/2 t sriracha

1 t water

7 marinated green and black olives

1 cup rocket, chopped

Roast mushrooms and eggplant at 180C on a tray for about 10-15 minutes or until cooked and soft.

Roast pumpkin on a separate tray at 180C for about half an hour or until cooked and browned.

In a bowl whisk together sweet soy, sweet chilli, sriracha and water. When mushrooms and eggplant are still hot, add to this mix and coat well. Leave them soaking in this until the pumpkin is out of the oven. In a big bowl add the rocket, olives, pumpkin, mushroom and eggplant mix. (there was some sauce left over in mine and i opted to save it to dress the salad later if it needed it.)

meditteranean cous cous salad:

Yum yum yum! The flavours in this dish are delightfully balanced and Moroccan. I love me some Moroccan flavours. You can use any dried fruit, but I tested a couple and found apricots to be the best. It really does round off the flavours nicely, and therefore I banish you from removing it!

1 cup cous cous

1 cup water

glug olive oil

1 t smoked paprika

1/2 t za'atar

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground coriander

1 t dried chilli flakes

1 t salt

1/2 cup grated carrot

1 handful roasted, unsalted mixed nuts

5 olives, quartered

1 T dried apricots, very finely diced

Oil for extra body

In a saucepan bring 1 cup of water, olive oil, smoked paprika, za'atar, cumin, coriander, chilli flakes

and salt to a boil. Add in cous cous, stir quickly with a fork, cover and leave for 5 minutes until cooked. Pour into a big bowl and fluff with a fork. Add in carrot, nuts, olives, apricots and extra oil if the consistency is too dry.

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This seems like a crazy amount of salad (it does make a LOT), alas, it only took me about an hour and a half to create. Stick some funky tunes on and get chopping. The crazy thing about all of these flavours is that they all work together! Nothing really overpowers anything else and it is a nice harmonious mix in the belly (and head) :D

* T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon.
Just incase...