Midweek Munchies

After all this time with all this backlog, I am starting to catch up to all my munchies! Shocking! At the moment I've only got enough left to share for a few more posts! But don't worry, I am committed to continue on munching, so I can continue sharing these posts. It's a burden, but one I accept.

Everyone wants to make a nugget. These Earth Chicken Crumbed Bites were a recent one I tried, which I got from the freezer section in Woolworths. They are adequate, a good vehicle for sauce. Still not as good as the Fry's green box ones.



FOLLOW YOUR HEART IS BACK BABY! Oh yeah! When I was just about to leave The Green Edge after eating there in my last post, my friend who works there grabbed me to let me know they were just unloading a fresh shipment of Follow Your Heart. It has been unavailable for ages, and it is the best mayo and the best grated cheese! She scavenged through the boxes to find me this little haul, and I have since been back to get some cheddar shreds as well. Hurrah!



I saw a couple of people posting about salad sandwiches on Instagram, which gave me a craving. There is something great about a nice salad sandwich. I made one with Tofutti Cream Cheese, baby spinach, carrot, tomato, cucumber, and avocado. On some soft light rye bread. So good!



I thought pear and cinnamon chocolate would be nice. And it would have been, if it had tasted like pear or cinnamon. Instead it tasted vaguely like banana, and the chocolate wasn't that great either.



Vegan Pumpkin and Ricotta Canneloni! Even with gluten free pasta, this was pretty nice. It is quite expensive though, so not something I'd buy very often. I served it with some bady spinach and FYH parmesan.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

I was getting some stuff out of the back of the cupboard the other day, and left the door open. Turned around and I guess Boo thought she migh have a look and help herself!

Eating Out: The Green Edge

Christmas 2019. My gift to my mum was that I would take her to lunch at The Green Edge. The beginning of 2020 was a bit hectic, and then.... well, you know what happened then. Needless to say, eating out was off the cards. Once things became a little safer, we planned to do our lunch a couple of time, but something always came up. But finally... FINALLY... we were able to get there at the end of last month... so only 21 months later. But, we did it! The Green Edge is of course Brisbane's vegan grocery store with a cafe attached. They also do bake sales and hold other events. You can see other posts I've made about them here.

The Green Edge used to have the grocery store and cafe contained in the one space, but they have expanded so now they have a separate dining room (as well as outdoor seats). Because I avoid sun at all costs, we sat in the newish inside dining area, which is quite lovely.



For drinks, I got one of their Biscoff Lattes, which are delicious and not as sweet as you would think. And there is no coffee in it, which is good for me. Mum got a hot chocolate.



We also ordered a bowl of their delicious hot chips to share.



For lunch, we both ordered off the specials board. Mum had the Korean BBQ Pork Bowl, which had rice, broccoli, BBQ 'pork', pickled vegetables, and kimchi. She really enjoyed it. I tried a bit of the pork an it was good.



I ordered the VFC Burger, Southern-style fried chicken with cos, tomato, and dressing on a mylk bun. It is not something I would normally order, but I had a sudden urge. It was huge. I need to remember that I have a dodgy TMJ and stop ordering burgers. Unfortunately, the fried chicken had a weird oily texture to it, and the coating didn't have and flavour. I was expecting some sort of herbs and spices in it.



Because the burger left me feeling a little blah, I raided their fridge and picked up a delicious Berry Rose Water Kefir by Buchi, which was delicious! If you ever see this flavour, you should definitely get it!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sahara, being a perfect cinnamon scroll. She was such a good one.

Midweek Munchies

Who is hungry?

I made some burgers! Using the Fry's Big Fry Burger. These are sold in the freezer section, but I only found out as I took them out of the freezer at home to make them that they are meant to be thawed before cooking. Ugh. Anyway, thankfully I was able to defrost in the microwave, then cook. They were OK, but they have this slightly distinct taste that a lot of the beefy Fry's products seem to have (like the mince and the beef strips). To make it into a cheeseburger I used some Tofutti American Style slices. Tofutti slices were the second vegan cheese I ever found (the first being that ubiquitous tube of Kingland vegan cheese in supermarkets in the early 2000s), and I still have a soft spot for them. They are exactly like those individually wrapped Kraft cheeseslices I had as a kid. I hadn't seen them for years until stumbling onto a pile at The Green Edge one day recently. I finished it up with a Fry's Brioche bun and some Coles Cheeseburger Sauce.





A papple! A new fruit sensation, according to the sticker. It's an apple pear hybrid, and was like eating a crunchy pear.



I bought these Teriyaki Munchies ages ago because they sounded good and also the nuts in it are 'activated' with kombucha, which tickles my silly food bone. These were totally delicious!! However they are extremely expensive, so I will only be buying them in the future as a sometimes food.



Picked up some Ginger & Lemon Kombucha from Coles and it was good! Nice and dry, not too bubbly, no stevia!



I have shared some Plantry Frozen Meals before, mostly I eat their lasagne. However I decided to try the Pad Thai after confirming that it didn't have any chilli in it. It is really yummy for a frozen meal, and is now my favourite of the bunch! It does have a bit of capsicum in it, but not much and it is on the top so it is easy to pick them out. I really like this one.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sharing more of my precious girls with Gizmo, all curled up.

Eating Out: Wild Spice Kitchen at Paper Moon Coffee House

Hello friends! My roster has been a bit silly lately, with working almost all the days except for an occasional single day off over the last weeks and continuing in to the next week and a bit. I'm tired. Here is a quick little post about a quick little lunch I had one day a while ago! Wild Spice Kitchen is a food truck associated with Paper Moon Coffe House. I've posted about them once before.

The Paper Moon aspect of it is the seating and the cafe, it has drinks and also stocks some vegan baked goods! I ordered a chocolate and banana smoothie, which was nothing outstanding but was exactly what I was after.



Wild Spice is a food truck located right next to it, so you can go and order food from there. They are all vegan, and have a savoury menu as well as a few pastries. I ordered The Amelie, which was a croissant, tofu scramble, roasted tomatoes, aioli and hash browns. Also a pile of rocket because Australian cafes just cannot get enough of rocket, a shame because I don't love it. Anyway, this was pretty good, though the scramble could have done with a bit more flavour.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I know everyone is hanging out for Abby and Boo news, but I also want to keep honouring my three heart cat here. They are a part of me forever, and they were my soulmates. So here is Dim Sim, when she was all curled up like a perfect little charcoal brioche bun!

Midweek Munchies

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means... munchies!

Here are some snacks I got from a random health food store. The shiitake jerky was the star of the show, very mushroomy. I also enjoyed the dried fruits. They were soft dried, and the paw paw wasin strips. The bananas were basically whole bananas dehydrated, so they were tiny. Dehydrated banana gets so sweet!



Another beautiful Treat Dreams care package, this time from my friend Michelle in Sydney. It included two blocks of the limited edition Wear it Purple bar, that was fundraising for trans youth services. It is a milk chocolate bar with rice crispies and freeze dried passionfruit, and the top is coloured metallic purple. The tang of the passionfruit balanced out the slightly too sweet of the milk chocolate. The milk chocolate peanut crunch bar is also amazing, because peanut and chocolate are a match made in heaven! I also love the strawberry bears as well. Thank you Michelle!



More and more vegan lollies are becoming available these days, including a lot that are vegan versions of childhood favourites. I am not a huge lolly person, but the one I have been yearning for is a good strawberries and cream! These were my favourite then, and my favourite now. The Green Edge started stocking this brand, which has a huge range, but I was all about the S&C. I saw they had coconut oil in them, so I only bought one bag. Big mistake, as this type have been sold out every time I've been there since... obviously because they are the best. They are just like what I loved as a kid! I only eat a few at a time, so this bag has lasted me a while. Next time I see them on the shelves I'll be sure to grab a few!



Bangers and Mash, again. This version had the Unreal Co Chicken and Chives sausages. They were OK. But why do companies insist on puting vegan casing on so many sausages these days, when most of the time it just sticks and sheets off when you are cooking? I also tried the Plantasy instant potato and carrot mash... and it made me realise that I don't love dehydrated carrot. I topped it with some more of the Plantasy vegan gravy mix, which I tried to make taste better than last time by using beef-style stock instead of water and also increasing the amount of gravy powder... I still didn't really like it. Oh well.





Finishing it up with this fun water kefir I found! Feijoa flavoured! It also had vanilla in it. It tasted kind of like a slightly fruity creaming soda, and was very nice.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Abby, giving me a little bit of side eye. How are things going with the cats?? Slowly. Abby is much happier now that her confinement is in my bedroom rather than my study, though she is still a bit mopey. I let her come out for a bit if Boo is in the catmax. Trying to get them both eating on either side of the closed door at the same time can be tricky. Also, if Boo notices Abby under the door when there isn't food, she will hiss. But it has gone from a big hiss and growl to a quite to moderate hiss, so that is some progress!

Recipe Round-Up: But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan

The final part of the three part recipe round-up from But My Family Wound Never Eat Vegan, by Kristy Turner. I hope you all at least enjoyed seeing the pictures. These round-ups take a bit of effort, because I have so many recipes to share! And working my way through the books in alphabetical order is slow going. But today we finish the Bs! Next full recipe round-up, we move into the Cs. Very exciting. It will be back to some shorter posts after this one for a bit. As always, you can see previous posts about this book here.

Fruit Pie Oatmeal: A final oatmeal for you, this one has fruit added to the oats while you cook, then they are topped with the same fruit and nuts if you want. I used strawberries, which are my favourite fruit, and used some pepitas rather than nuts.
Rating: :)



Roasted Carrot & Wild Mushroom Ragout: These next four meals are all from the comfort food chapter. And it kicks of with this lovely combination. I made a half recipe for two serves. The carrots are lovely and sweet, and pair well with an earthy mixture of mushrooms (portobello, oyster, and rehydrated porcini). Served over some creamy cheesy polenta.
Rating: :)



Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie: I feel like a lot of vegan cookbooks love using sweet potato for their shepherd's pie. This one was tasty, but I didn't get the typical shepherd's pie flavour from it. The filling of beans, mushrooms, vegetables, sundried tomatoes and green olives is very herby and tangy. The mashed sweet potatoes on top are sprinkled with pepita parmesan. I made a half recipe, and got three serves out of it.
Rating: :)



Lasagna Soup: This recipe uses that herby macadamia ricotta I mentioned in the last post that I used for the zucchini manicotti. This isn't really lasagne soup, because I used bowtie pasta instead of broken lasagne noodles. Using what I had! It also has chickpeas, zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, and basil in the tomato broth. It makes a lot! The ricotta is so good with it.
Rating: :)



Cauliflower Parmigiana: Ding, ding, ding, this is a winner! I loved this seasoned crispy coated cauliflower steak, roasted until crunchy on the outside and wonderful on the inside. It is topped with Sun-Dried Tomato Marinara (remember I mentioned that in the first post? Guess what, this is STILL not the recipe where it is made!), cheese sauce (I used some CFS vegan cheese sauce), and basil. You can serve it over spaghetti, but I had just had a huge lunch so was looking for a lighter dinner, so I just served mine over some wilted baby spinach.
Rating: :D


Perfect Roasted Potatoes: This is from the picky eater chapter, because I guess everyone loves potato! These are par-boiled, smashed, coated in vegan butter or oil, and seasoned before baking. They go crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside.
Rating: :)



Chickpea Croquettes with Dill Yoghurt Sauce: This is from the special meals for fancy get togethers chapter, not to be confused with the previous impressive meals for your in-laws chapter. I guess there is a distinction. The croquettes are made sweet potatoes and chickpeas. I took the baking option, and you can see they didn't quite go golden, but they tasted good. I left out the cayenne. I made some small croquettes and also one larger burger patty size so I could make a leftovers sandwich with it. The dill sauce was wonderful and tangy. In a shocking twist, fresh dill (my favourite herb) was no where to be found, so I had to take the dried dill option. I used a lot.
Rating: :)



Cheesy Roasted Sweet Potatoes: From the holidays chapter, this is simple and delicious! Just toss sweet potatoes with nutritional yeast, paprika, and garlic and roast. So simple, so delicious. Add extra nooch.
Rating: :D



Sun-Dried Tomato Linguine: At last, we have arrived at the origin recipe for the Sun-Dried Tomato Marinara you have been hearing about these last few posts. This is from the romantic chapter. Is this a date night mood setter? Beats me. Maybe ask someone who isn't acearo. But it tastes good! The marinara sauce has sun-dried tomatoes, fresh cherry tomatoes, tinned tomato sauce, and tomato paste, so it is all tomatoes all the time. It has a lot of flavour, and also makes a ton. So it is good to make all those other recipes with afterwards, you'll have some leftover! I used half the amount of pasta and made it up with a tin of kidney beans. This also has green olives, as you can see, as well as capers. Are capers romantic? Who's to say. Anyway, this is a good recipe.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Don't worry, Boo is fine. This is just a flashback photo to her in her cone. She wore it so well! Much fashion. I've scheduled the last couple of posts to be released, so I will update you on the Boo-Abby situation in my next post. Fingers crossed things around going a bit smoother. It is going to be a long, slow process.

Recipe Round-Up: But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan

Part two of this round of round-ups from But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan by Kristy Turner! See part one, and other posts about this book, here.

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal: Heading back into oatmeal territory from the breakfast chapter with this classic combination. The oats are cooked with extra cinnamon, raisins, and molasses. And topped off with more raisins and chopped peanuts. I find raisins to be incredibly sweet, so I was a bit sparing with them compared to what the recipe calls for.
Rating: :)



Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal: Another classic combo, I just love PB&B! This has sliced banana and peanut butter cooked with the oats, and is topped with more of the same plus maple syrup and crushed peanuts. With all the peanut butter, this makes this breakfast extra filling! I should mention that the base recipe of this starts with a cup of rolled oats for one serve, so they don't skimp on the serving sizes.
Rating: :)



Smoky Shroom Sausage and Red Potato Goulash: Back to the homestyle cooking chapter with this offering. The mushrooms are sauteed with sausage-style seasonings before being roasted. I could have used extra mushrooms, and it ended up a bit dry, but the flavours were good. Especially with the optional sour cream on top! I used a silken-tofu based sour cream recipe I had leftover from another cookbook.
Rating: :)



Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage Butter: This is from the impressive meals chapter, designed to impress your inlaws apparently. It is a wonderful autumny-risotto, using roasted butternut to give a wonderful flavour. Ths sage butter and crispy sage on their own I wasn't a fan of, but they go great with the flavours of the risotto. I also sauteed some Field Roast Apple Sage sausage, and also used some Pepita Parmesan from the book on top as well. Served over baby spinach, I got three big servings from this recipe (it says it serves 6). And I think it looks pretty!
Rating: :)



Kung Pao Cauliflower: This is a quick sautee style recipe, with an easy to make at home kung pao sauce (I skipped the sriracha though, so I guess it is not really kung pao anymore). I also left out the chilli flakes and I used celery rather than capsicum. Tis made three serves. I didn't bother to cut the green parts of my scallions into fancy thin strands, because I wasn't trying to 'impress' anyone with the appearance. Sorry, Dad.


The Portobello Philly Reuben: Remember that smoked gouda cheese and mushroom I opened the last post with? That was for this recipe. I hope I can be forgiven by reuben afficiandos for making this on regular bread, but it was what I had to work with. This has a lovely made at home russian dressing, and uses grilled mushrooms. I just used normal field mushrooms, as I couldn't find portobellos. All topped off with a bunch of sauerkraut, these were great.
Rating: :)



The Avocado Melt: This great sandwich used up some of the leftover gouda sauce and sauerkraut from above. It also had tomato and mayo in it. The combination of the avocado and the gouda was quite rich, so it definitely needed the sauerkraut and tomato in it to help cut through that.
Rating: :)



Lemongrass Tofu Banh Mi: I love a banh mi! This one was a wonderful marinated tofu (I let mind marinate for a little bit longer), which is worth making on its own even without the rest. After marinating, the tofu is cooked and then glazed in the left over marinade. I strained the marinade first, as it still had lots of fibrous strings from the lemongrass. There is also a quick pickled carrot and daikon salad, which is very nice. I left out the sriracha in the aioli, making it into just a regular aioli, and I also left out the jalapenos from the sandwich itself. The crusty roll was also stuffed with cucumber slices and fresh coriander (aka cilantro for my US friends).
Rating: :)



Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies: Moving into the vegan baking isn't all hippy chapter. I made a half recipe of these cookies, and got 16 cookies using a 20mL scoop. The recipe calls for apple sauce of mashed banana, I used the former so there was a subtle flavour from that. The peanut butter flavour itself was also fairly subtle. But these were a nice cookie.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Boo loves sitting on the windowsill getting the sun and watching out for anything that might be moving around out there.