Thursday 21 May 2020

Midweek Munchies

Before we get into some the food, how about some more animal friends? Birds like to sign in the mornings, that is fact. My new bedroom (well, I've had it for well over a year now, but compared to my old room) faces the front of the house on the second story, so I do get some birds talking in the trees out the front. But when it rains, it seems extra loud. So one rainy morning, when I was hearing some birds just belting it out, I had a peek outside. I have a balcony with sliding doors in my room, but I also have a long window high up above my bed, and outside this is an awning. I had a look and, sure enough, some happy singing bird friends perched snug under the awning singing their little bird hearts out!

Rainy Day Singing Friends


Rainy Day Singing Friends


But onto food! I found some So Delicious natural almond yoghurt at Woolworths! It is not a true natural yoghurt, it is sweetened, but much less compared to the Wise Bunny natural yoghurts. Anyway, this is very nice and creamy and good with granola.

So Delicious Natural Almond Yoghurt


I got some mini vegan spring rolls on super sale. I am not always the biggest fan of spring rolls, too oily and fried and they go soggy fast, but I was lured in by the sale price. And these were fine, but ultimately too oily and soggy. Also because they were mini there was not enough filling to pastry ratio. But I have bought them again since on sale, so they can't be too bad. They make a good vehicle for delivery plum sauce into your mouth.

Mini Vegan Spring Rolls


Here is a great toasted sandwich I made, with some leftover marinated tofu (I don't remember which recipe), tomato, basil, and some Made From Plants Herby Seseame Cream Cheese.

Toasted Sandwich with leftover tofu, tomato, basil, and Fenn herby sesame cheese


Baked potato time! And scrambled tofu time! I always have the ingredients (a potato and a block of silken tofu) on hand. This scrambled tofu has some scrambled tofu mix, spinach, and mushrooms mixed in, topped with some ketchup, avocado, and bacon bits.

Baked Potato with Scrambled Tofu with spinach and mushrooms


I tried this risotto I got from the freezer in Woolworths. It was actually pretty good tastewise! I added a bit of nutritional yeast, but it was fine without it. It had white beans and mushrooms in it, as well as broccoli. Unfortunately it was just a tiny serve for dinner, but it made a nice part of dinner.

Ruffi Risotto


Sigh. My favourite yoghurt of all time was the Impressed Almond Yoghurt. They had a natural one that was not sweet, but also not super sour and was just so smooth. Plus a vanilla and a strawberry one. I present to you the very last Impressed Almond Yoghurt of my life. Earlier this year, they discontinued them as they said there wasn't enough demand. Hello, I was buying a lot of them! But I guess not enough. I will miss their natural yoghurt forever in particular.

The last ever Impressed Yoghurt


Four'N'Twenty meat pies are very well known in Australia, but very not vegan. Until now! They have released a vegan one! It was initially only available in the pie heaters of certain service stations, which is where I got this one. But now is also available in four packs from Coles. It is pretty good! I mean, meat pies are not exactly gourmet fare to begin with, so it hit that nostalgia spot quite well. I ate this with loads of ketchup, as all pies should be eaten. Remove pastry lid, squirt a whole bunch of sauce into innards. Mix up and eat with spoon, eat pastry case, put more ketchup on pastry lid and eat that. That is how you eat a pie.

Four N Twenty Plant Based Meat Pie


Finally, some microwave pasta? You know you can get microwave rice, which I do like to keep on hand, but pasta? I had to try this. You microwave it for two minutes, and you know what, it was OK. I used it to make a small serve of mac and cheese for a scaled down recipe from a cookbook I'll talk about in another post. But all things considered, kind of handy to have around, especially if you are in a situation where you don't have access to a stove. Hard to find though, I have only seen these in IGA supermarkets.

2 Minute Microwave Pasta


2 Minute Microwave Pasta


Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

2008_11_01_Gizmos12thBirthday1


I've been thinking a lot about my girls who are no longer with me in these days of staying in. What would they think about me being home all the time? What would it be like with all of them to look after during these times? Gizmo was such a grounding, healing, caring cat. She knew when you were upset, and would come to be with you and her purr and fuzziness would make things at least a little better. I was thinking about how when I would wake up in the middle of the night with a bad headache, she would sleep on my pillow pressed against my head and purr, and that was so soothing and made the pain ease and I could sleep. She was such a generous cat, while also being the boss cat of the household.

8 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you lost your favorite yogurt. That's really frustrating!

    Strange how being at home all the time makes us think about things like the cats we used to know. She sounds lovely.

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    1. She was so lovely. I always miss her and Sahara, but being at home all the time, I think of all the snuggles we would be sharing. Of course, Dim Sim is very happy to be the only cat now.

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  2. I'm sorry about the yogurt. It's so hard to find a good vegan yogurt. I always wish we knew in advance when something is going to be discontinued, so you can try and stock up!
    With all the potatoes I've stuffed and eaten, I've never filled one with tofu scramble, and now I have to fix that!
    My Dylan sounds a lot like your Gizmo. I used to say he knew how to purr me back to sleep!

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    1. Yes! Though I couldn't have stocked up too much, because they had a shortish expiry date, but I could have bought more to eat right before then! It was calcium fortified as well, which none of the others are, so that is a sad loss.

      Dylan sounds like he was a sweetheart. <3

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  3. That's too bad about the yogurt. It's always disappointing when beloved products get discontinued.

    I'm not familiar with meat pies, so I had no idea a person would put ketchup in them. I imagined they would be more like pot pies. But is it more of an enclosed burger experience?

    I know what you mean about different cats having different strengths/attributes. I really miss Jezebel's hugs. She gave the best hugs. She'd wrap her little arm around mine. Then she'd groom my shoulder for hours. I still have so many sweatshirts that have pilling on that one shoulder because she was so serious about her grooming. It was endlessly relaxing.

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    1. Oh Jezebel, how very sweet! <3

      Savoury pies definitely seem to be an Australia/UK thing rather than the US, which seems to mostly be sweet pies or pot pies. So pastry case with a pastry top (it is a flaky pastry, or it should be!) with a hot savoury filling. The classic is the 'meat pie', which is mince and gravy. But you can put anything in there!

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  4. Cute birdies!
    Your toasted sandwich looks delicious, and that's great that you got to enjoy the nostalgia of a meat pie!
    That's such a beautiful memory to have of Gizmo helping heal your headaches <3

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    1. She was a very healing kitty. So gentle and so intuitive.

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