Overnight Oats Round-Up

Oats continue to be a mainstay of my breakfast routine. I like oatmeal, I like granola, I like overnight oats. Oats are just very, very good. This is another little round up of some fun overnight oat recipes I have tried in my travels, all of these came from different websites.

Mango Overnight Oats with Banana and Coconut from The Throbbing Eggplant: My friend Amber recently rebranded her vegan recipe blog with this hilarious name! I made these amazing oats using some frozen mango. I also decreased the oats to 3/4 cup, and added a handful of frozen grated coconut to the oats before soaking. I sprinkled with some hemp and LSA, added some cashew butter to serve, and topped with some fresh strawberries, more mango, and shredded coconut. This was very filling!
Rating: :)



Maple, Brown Sugar, and Cinnamon Overnight Oats from Evolving Table: These are definitely an afternoon tea or dessert oats for me due to their sweetness, no surprise given they have both maple syrup and brown sugar! Personally, my stomach rarely enjoys super sweet things for breakfast, but that is just a me thing, and these can be eaten any time of the day you feel like! I made a third of the recipe, for a small serve, and I topped it off with some peanut butter, pepitas, and chopped fresh pear.
Rating: :)



Blueberry Pie Overnight Oats from Chocolate Covered Katie: There are a bunch of different recipes for making oats on this page, and I have made a lot of them, but this is focusing on the blueberry pie one. I used some So Delicious blueberry yoghurt, added some chia seeds before soaking, and used frozen blueberries in the oats themselves. I topped it off with some fresh blueberries, almond butter, and slivered almonds.
Rating: :)



Overnight Oats with Blackberries, Pistachios, Basil, and Coconut from Living Non-GMO: First up, this recipe just happened to turn up in a search I was doing for overnight oats with basil. Personally, I have no problem with a lot of GMO foods, humans have been genetically modifying foods for centuries, and some recent GMO advances have made huge and important differences. Of course, as with anything, some companies have decided to use them unethically, but to say all GMO foods bad is painting with very broad strokes. Hmmm... I wasn't expecting to get a little bit political in this post, but here we are! So, the oats. These were a fun combination! I used frozen blackberries, both in the oats and to top them off the next day. I increased the oats to half a cup, and added some chia seeds as well. I also used a mix of a tiny bit of leftover light coconut milk with oat milk for the liquid. Served with the thawed blackberries, almond butter, coconut flakes, pistachio, and fresh basil.
Rating: :)



In two days from now, I am having some surgery. I am going to be in the hospital for at least one night (I hope not more), and then I'll be home but may not be quite up to blogging for a bit... but I have to have a 4-6 week recovery time off work, so there will be lots of blogging once I am feeling better and just endlessly bored. I am having a hysterectomy, which I am super excited about, because my uterus is a jerk and I cannot wait to be rid of it. Very thankful to have found a gyno and a surgeon who respect my autonomy over my own body, because this can be very hard for a lot of people with uteri to access. So, I'll see you on the flip side!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Breaking my random photo from the archive plans to give you a little Boo update, speaking of hospitals. Earlier this week, Boo was very sad and not eating, which made us very sad. I took her in to work for blood tests and an ultrasound, which were all OK... well, aside from the IBD that we know she already has. She spent a night in hospital to stay on fluids (even though she pulled her drip out overnight... even with the cone on... cheeky Boo), and is now back to her old self! I'm sorry to say that she has now given herself a reputation of being a naughty girl in hospital!! This is a photo one of my colleagues sent me of her in hospital overnight. Look at that cheeky little face!

Eating Out: The Green Edge

I think this is my second last post I have saved where I actually ate out, in those blessed in the middle times, between Delta (which thankfully never really took off in QLD) and Omicron (which is now everywhere). And it was at my old favourite, The Green Edge. I stopped in there for a late breakfast before heading off to work, which was very fun to do. You can see my previous posts about The Green Edge here.

I was there to eat off their new breakfast menu. I really wanted to try the Smoked Salmon Rosti Stack, which had two rosti, smoked salmon, poached egg, and a dill and caper sauce. Or rather, I wanted to try the rosti stack part, but I am not a fan of the smoked salmon (they use Sophies). So I asked for it with bacon instead, and got some wilted greens on the side. This was a winning combination, and one I highly recommend!



I also got a PB&J smoothie, which is peanut butter a smoothie. While not as beautifully presented as the last time I had it, it was still just as delicious!



I got a snack and a salad to take with me, planning on having them while I was at work. But that breakfast really filled me up a lot. It wasn't until I was almost at the end of my shift that I was feeling a bit peckish. So I snacked on the Flour of Life Vegemite and Cheese Scroll I have picked up.



And I had my salad for dinner after I got home! It was my favourite Chicken Caesar Salad. I bought one a while ago that just wasn't as good, which was sad, but I a, happy to report that this one was back to their original glory.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



While this photo was randomly chosen from the archives, I did want to make sure I had Sahara on the post today. Today, the 17th of February, is the fifth anniversary of Sahara's passing. I cannot believe it has been so long. I want to be with my girls again.

Midweek Munchies

Hello friends. Hope everyone is holding in there, we can only do the best we can. Let's look at some snacks.

A while ago when I got that Seaweed Chocolate, I also got some of these seaweed snacks. They are unfortunately fairly meh. Lots of seeds, held together by what tastes like mostly coconut oil, with just a hint to seaweed. The chocolate one is better, just because the cocoa masks the coconut flavour a little bit. In each pack is four squares, but they are very soft and hard to get out of the packet without just mushing it and the seeds breaking apart. Give these a miss and stick to the chocolate.



Battle of the Strawberry Pistachio chocolates! The Pana one had a great dark chocolate taste, but the chocolate had an oddly too soft texture and there wasn't much in the way of strawberries or pistachios. The Maleny Chocolate Co one had excellent amounts of strawberries and pistachios, but the chocolate was too sweet. I need to combine the two of them for the ultimate strawberry pistachio chocolate bar.



Picked up this packet of Vegan Gyoza at Woolworths. You can either microwave or bake them. I tried both ways, obviously baking them was the best. However, as you cook from frozen, I found that the instructions for both ways left some with cold middles. So be sure to give them some extra time when heating.





This silly drink was refreshing, and tasted mostly like lemon. I guess the purpose of this drink is to decrease inflamation and increase vitality. It did neither of those things, but it was nice to drink.



Let's finish off this post with these sadly limited edition Hot Dog flavoured Thins potato chips. They mostly tasted of mustard, with a little hint of tomato sauce. But they were really really good. The need to become regular edition because I would definitely buy these again if I could.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Today would have been Dim Sim's 22nd birthday. I miss her so much. I cannot listen to the Taylor Swift song 22 without crying for my baby girl. This is a photo from the randomly selected archives, showing her as a full little loaf when she was but a youthful 12 years old. Happy birthday my love, I miss you.

Recipe Round-Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

It's been a while since I've done a mini round-up of my huge backlog of recipes from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson, so let's take a minute to dip back in and see a few things. All tempeh all the time in this round-up. You can see my previous round-ups here.

Teriyaki Tempeh: This recipe uses a teriyaki marinade that you make from scratch, before pan-frying the tempeh and then simmering down the rest of the marinade with it to make a thick glaze. This teriyaki was good, but on the salty, I prefer a bit more sweetness in mine. Served with rice and some steamed broccoli.
Rating: :)



Barbecued Tempeh: You need to make your BBQ sauce first for this recipe, but it is very easy. I left out the capsicum from it. The BBQ sauce has a nice flavour, with molasses and mustard involved. Once you have made the sauce, it is added to pan-fried tempeh and simmered further to really get that flavour in. I served it over brown rice with a salad.
Rating: :)



Orange-Bourbon Tempeh: I don't drink these days, but I was able to source a small amount of bourbon to make this recipe. The tempeh is simmered in a marinade to really get the flavour in, before being cooled and coated in flour, pan-fried and simmered with the orange-bourbon sauce. The orange and bourbon went very nicely together, it is certainly not something I would have thought about making. I have drunk bourbon once upon a time, and it made me really really sad. I am glad to report that this did not have a similar effect!
Rating: :)



Tempeh Cacciatore: This photo is particularly atrocious. Some of these recipes have been sitting in my blogging backlog for over a decade now, so I can only plead the ignorance of use. But, photographic atrocities aside, this was a delightful dinner (thank goodness I keep notes of everything I make!). Very simple, with onion nad carrot, and diced tomatoes, white wine, and some herbs. I left out the capsicum. I served it over some spinach fettuccine, along side some steamed broccoli.
Rating: :)



(% 1000 Vegan Recipes blogged: 33.5%) - Just over one third now!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Continuing our month of random photos from the archives, today turned up this cute photo of Possum having a snooze on the deck chair!

Midweek Munchies

Munch monch.

Finding a fun new drink always makes me happy! This is ginger and rose water kefir. It was lovely, but I wish the rose flavour was a bit stronger. It definitely had a good kick of ginger!



In the pre-omnicron times, my friend and I had a fun day of bao and baked and we watched Encanto, which is a wonderful movie that I love! We tried the Pam Pam mushroom buns, which were quite nice. And of course vegan BBQ buns are always required. Delicious! We also tried some of the Earth products, heating up some Porkless Spring Rolls and Chickenless Money Bags. The flavour of these were fine, but even baked they were just too oily for me to eat more than a few without feeling a bit sick.









With supply chain issues being all over the place, sometimes I have not been able to get my favourite Vitasoy Oat Milk. So one week I got a variety of others to try. The Minor Figures Barista Oat Light was gross, it was watery and too sweet and had a weird after taste. Plus I realised after I bought it that it didn't have any calcium. The Coles Organic Oat Milk Unsweetened was not bad, though had a bit of an after taste. It was calcium-fortified at least! The best was the So Good Oat No Added Sugar, which is very similar in taste and consistency to the Vitasoy. As well as having calcium, it also has B12 added. So this is now my go to if I cannot get my Vitasoy Oat Milk.



Let's finish on a sweet note, with these Love Raw treats. Shockingly, their peanut butter cups are actually pretty great! I say shockingly because I am notoriously picky about peanut butter cups. The best are Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, which I can't get here. These are not on the level of excellence that Justin's is, but they are not too sweet, and have a good chocolate to peanut butter ratio. Success! The cookie butter cups are also a fun time. The wafer bars are filled with a hazelnut cream. They are crispy and light, and a fun treat, but are very sweet.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This post's random kitty archive photo is this blurry but cute photo of Dim Sim! The older cameras really struggled with taking photos of black cats.

Eating In: Mexican, Chinese, Ramen

Some more things that I either took home or had delivered.

Sometimes you just want something fresh and light, and that is where getting a burrito bowl from Zambreros delivered. I got the IQ bowl, which has black rice, pinto beans, cos, guac, and salsa. Getting it vegan means you get extra rice and beans, and most importantly extra guac, no charge! I always get it with the zesty and non-spicy trezigo sauce. I added some vegan sour cream and cheese for fun, but given the cost of these additions, how much you get, and what they bring to the flavour, I wouldn't bother next time. One day I will try their vegan nachos, and the vegan sour cream and cheese will have their time to shine.



Woka Woka is a group of Chinese restaurants near me, and they recently added a Woka Woka vegetarian delivery option. I got some dumplings, and a Buddah delight. They do have some mock meat dishes as well, but I was feeling basic. Let's be real, I am often feeling basic when it comes to things like this. I just love a big stir-fry of mushrooms and vegetables! I only wish it had a bit of tofu in it.





Guzman y Gomez is another Mexican-inspired chain, and they recently added some a Chimi Shredded Mushroom option to their rotation. This is msuhroom meat ala Fable. I also love chimichurri sauce. These had the mushroom meat, lettuce, tomato, salsa and their vegan chimi mayo. I had to pick out the raw onion from the salsa, but other than that these were very lovely. Unfortunately I think they were only limited edition, as I don't see them on their regular menu online.



Finally, some ramen! The vegan ramen from Ramen Danbo, with extra tofu. I also added the baby spinach once it arrived, because I had some in the fridge that was about to go off. While this isn't my favourite vegan ramen available in Brisbane, it is my favourite vegan ramen that I can have delivered to me!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Next up for the randomly selected kitty photo is this cutie patootie photo of when Sahara suggled herself into a little cave in a basket of blankets. She looks so snug.

Lammas 2022

The year keeps on going, the wheel keeps on turning. As each sabbat occurs, I continue to celebrate through food.

Lammas (2nd February, 2022)

Lammas is a harvest festival, especially celebrating grains such as wheat and oats, and occurs at the height of summer. Here our summer just never ends! Traditional foods include wheat, bread, grains, corn, fresh fruits and vegetables, and berries. Especially blackberries. Here's what I made!

Overnight Oats with Elderflower Cordian, Yoghurt, and Melted Berries from Bowls of Goodness Grains & Greens by Nina Olsson: I started my day with some lovely oats. Blackberries are traditional lammas berries, and people often drink elderberry wine as well. I don't drink wine, but I do have some elderflower cordial from Ikea in my fridge! This was a lovely way to start the day. I didn't heat the oats up in the morning, because it is hot here. But I did accidentally add the extra water that you are meant to add when cooking to the oats the night before, so they were a bit runnier than I would normally have. Topped off with the melted blackberries (very easy to make), fresh blueberries, peanut butter, and cocoa nibs.
Rating: :)



For dinner, I made a few different recipes to make a really nice plate of food.



Mexican Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado (Esquites) from Salad Samurai by Terry Hope Romero: This lovely salad was the perfect way to celebrate corn during a hot time of year. The corn is grilled on the cob in a grill pan, before being added to coriander and celery (I used celery in place of jalapeno and raw sacallions) and doused in a lovely cashew based dressing. It is topped with avocado and tomato, though I ended up mixing the tomato through the rest of the salad. I sprinkled it with some smoked paprika rather than chipotle powder. I made a full recipe of dressing, but only a half recipe of the salad, so I had a bit of dressing leftover. I used it as a spread on a salad sandwich the next day.
Rating: :D



Balsamic Grilled Zucchini from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen by Chloe Coscarelli: I had my grill pan out for the corn, so this was a good way to get some more use out of it. This recipe is so easy, you just grill slices of zucchini, then drizzle with balsamic vinegar!
Rating: :)



Miso-Garlic Cheese Bread from Epic Vegan Quick & Easy by Dustin Harder: Bread is a traditional lammas food, but rather than making my own from scratch I used a delicious sourdough bagette roll I bought from Coles to make this amazing bread. Just sliced the roll in half, score, and spread with miso/butter and mozzarella (I used FYH). I realised I forgot to put the Italian seasoning on top, but no matter. This stuff is delicious! I made a half recipe because there were only two of us eating. It's a super easy recipe to scale up or down. The recipe calls for a long baguette, but as you see I used a roll and you can really use any bread you want.
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Doing a thing where I just go into my saved photos and open a random one to share with you. Here are Sahara's perfect paws.

Midweek Munchies

Still tired. Still here.

I tried out the new Nature's Kitchen Mushroom Carbonara ready meal, only realising after I bought it that the sauce is based on coconut cream. Though it wasn't too overpowering or gross, which was a surprise. Otherwise is was a pleasant enough dinner (with some baby spinach, of course), but nothing outstanding. Needed more mushrooms and mushroom flavour.



I had a sourdough crumpet left after buying some at the markets, just handing around in my freezer. I make indian spiced fried crumpet with it, which I saw a friend do on their IG one time and I googled up. Just chop or tear up your crumpet into smaller pieces, and fry with some oil or vegan butter and whatever spices you desire. I used garam masala, garlic power, cumin, and coriander. I served it just with some sauteed spinach and mango chutney. A few way to do something different with crumpets!



I love pickles, and was intrigued when I found these carrot and daikon pickles with mandarin yuzu. They are lovely pickles, with large thin slices of carrot interpersed with a few slices of daikon. They are great to put as is on sandwiches, or slice up to sprinkle over sushi bowls. The only small let down is I was looking forward to a very citrus forward pickling juice, but it is pretty subtle.



An easy dinner using some packaged tofu, frozen vegetables, and the Passage to Asia satay sauce. The sauce on its own does have a bit of a spicy kick, but maxing through the vegetables and tofu and serving over rice helped cool it down. I had spent so long checking the ingredients on the back to make sure there was no chili, I didn't notice that it has a half chili coloured in on the front. I guess chili goes under spices or something in the ingredients. I also added some leftover baby corn I had in the fridge to go with the rest of the vegetables.





Finally, my friend gave some some of these Fancy Plants chia pudding. I am not a huge chia pudding person, I have issues with the texture. I had all these plans to do this and that with them, but I ended up just eating them out of the tub. Texture issues aside, the flavours were good.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Boo treating herself to some hot stone acupressure in the cat max. Why do some cats insist on lying on rocks and stones? Who knows. They are wonderful mysteries sometimes!