VeganMoFo 2019 #18: P is for Plant Crush (Blog)

Today I have another round up of some blog food to share with you. I love the recipes on Plant Crush - beautiful photos, lovely food, and a heft dose of five spice (my favourite spice blend). I've already posted a couple of recipes from this blog in some of my Midweek Munchies posts, and you can see those posts here, but for MoFo I made three all new to me recipes. I have a bunch more saved that I want to make as well, so be sure to look for them in the future! In the meantime, let's get hungry thinking about these recipes I already made.

Vegan Chinese Five Spice Beef Stir-Fry: This caught my eye because... five spice! Also because Ann uses dried TVP beef slices in the recipe, and I love them. They are my favourite to use for any sort of beefy stir-fry recipe. I was just serving two people, so I halved the recipe, but in retrospect you want leftovers because it is delicious. I marinated my strips (using boiling water for the stock) for about four hours, to let lots of flavour sink in. Once marinated, you just tip them into a pan to simmer off the extra liquid. I needed to vigorously simmer for about ten minutes before all of mine had soaked in. I served this as suggested, with some steamed rice and some fresh cucumber. It was amazing. My omni dad loved it too.



Shredded Tofu and Mushroom Banh Mi: I was late to the banh mi game, but I have since come to love them a lot. This is a fantastic one! It is pretty simple to make, the main component being the shredded mushrooms for the filling. I used portobello mushrooms, and tried shredding them with a fork but immediately stabbed myself so just shredded them with my hands. The tofu is dry fried, and Ann gives a simple guideline for making a fabulous paprika mayo (just mayo, smoked paprika, and garlic powder). I made some pickled carrots quickly using this recipe (from the Viet Vegan blog, and leaving out the daikon because I didn't have any). I made a half recipe of filling because I was serving two, and served it on the crusty Vietnamese rolls you can get fresh from Coles.



Bulgogi Fusion Tacos: This was the perfect chance to use up the rest of my packed of TVP beef slices. I only had enough of them left to make 1/4 of the recipe, which was the perfect amount for two of us. I soaked my TVP strips in some beef-style stock for added flavour. For the marinade, instead of using actual onion and garlic I used powdered, and added a few TBS of the leftover beef stock soaking water for liquid. I chopped up the beef strips a bit to be smaller to fit in my little tortillas better (I used mini ones). The filling also has onion and mushrooms in it, as well as the beef strips and marinade/ The recipe also includes some quick pickled radishes and cabbage, which were amazing. Once everything was ready to go, I served it with some baby spinach leaves, filling, and pickles, and they were wonderful. I had some leftover filling, which I took to work for leftovers with some rice and spinach for a quick bowl.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



At the end of last year we got a new sofa, and where was a while where we were all sitting on camping chairs between the old sofa going and the new one coming. Because the camping chairs were really saggy, I put Dim Sim's bed on one of the chairs to provide some support for me to sit on. Of course, she hadn't even looked at this bed in ages, but as soon as I was using it she had to perch awkwardly on it for a little while to remind us that it is hers even if she doesn't want to use it. She is glad we have the new sofa now!

VeganMoFo 2019 #14: L is for Lazy Cat Kitchen (Blog)

Continuing my efforts to try and make more food from blogs, rather than only cookbooks, I recently came across Lazy Cat Kitchen. Of course, put 'cat' in the title and I will be intrigued (yes, they have a kitty), plus the cute little cat icon in the corner of the open tab, plus lots and lots of gorgeous looking recipes... I bookmarked a lot of stuff. There are a lot of Japanese-style recipes on the blog, which greatly appeal to me. So, true to my word, I have made some of it!

Miso Mushroom Bowl: This was what first caught my eye, I saw this recipe and knew I had to make it. And you should too. Shiitake mushrooms are sliced, covered in a delicious miso glaze, and then baked. This was my first recipe that used the stems, and they were so good after baking. Chewy and delicious. And the flavour... so good. The recipe also makes a quick pickled radish, which is a lovely flavour contrast. Served with rice and greens. This is a must make dish.



Vegan Yakisoba: This is a super fast dinner to get together. First you make a quick yakisoba sauce, full of delicious ingredients like mushroom sauce, ketchup (an option given instead of sriracha), and seaweed powder (I didn't have nori powder, so I used dulse powder. Then pan-sear your veggies (I used the ones the recipe suggested except I used more carrot instead of the capsicum), add your cooked noodles, and mix with the sauce. The only change I'd make would be to double the sauce, as it cooks down fast and I wanted more of it!



Tofu Dengaku Bowl: I love eggplant dengaku, and the only way I can think of making it better is to take the delicious sauce and put it on my beloved tofu. I used a 250g block of tofu, rather that 200, so I cut my slices of tofu a little bigger. The glaze is very simple to put together, I left out the chili paste so mine is not the same colour as the photo on the blog, but it was super delicious. Served with pan-seared broccoli and Japanese rice. With extra sauce drizzled on top, and pickled ginger. Yes please.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sometimes, when one is gifted a new bed, one must spend some time thinking about it before settling down. Gizmo when I first put her in the new bed on her 15th birthday. She didn't think for long before she decided it was A-OK. True story about how sweet she was but how much she also loved this bed. She would be on the bed with me when I was going to sleep, then would quietly take herself to her bed for the rest of the night, but she would come back before my alarm went off, so I could wake up with her. How darling is that? Of course, sometimes she would be my alarm, and that occasionally involved licking my closed eyelids. That was less darling - ouch! But you can't be mad at that sweet face.

VeganMoFo 2019 #5: C is for Cadry's Kitchen

I read a lot of blogs, and I mark down a lot of recipes that I'd like to make. But I have so many cookbooks, and I much prefer cooking and planning from a physical book, that I am not very good and making anything from blogs. But this is something I am working on. Here are some recipes I have made from Cadry's Kitchen. If you haven't been following Cadry, you should. Not only does she make awesome recipes, but she is also a cat lady who loves Buffy. I was lucky enough to meet Cadry in VidaVeganCon back in 2015, and we have exchanged a few parcels since then as well. One day I am going to visit her and smooch her cats! In the meantime, we can all make yummy recipes from her blog!

Vegan Strawberry Milk (made with cashews): Strawberry milk is my favourite flavour of milk (I also love that is is pretty in pink), but it is hard to come by. Strawberry milk of my youth was a sugary affair, but as a vegan I fell in love with a local producer of nut products and their strawberry cashew milk. Creamy, with fresh strawberries, and not too sweet. Then they stopped producing, and I was sad. Thankfully, Cadry came to the rescue with this recipe. It tastes exactly the same! And I can now have it anytime I want, without leaving the house.



Cheesy Udon Noodle Bowl with Brussels Sprouts: This is a wonderful take and mac and cheese, and is pure comfort food in a bowl. It is important here not to use dried udon noodles, Cadry uses frozen ones. I used some from the fridge section, and it was a 550g bag but I just used all of it. The cheesy sauce is quick and so yummy, and there is something just so satisfying about those thick, wheaty noodles all covered in cheesy goodness. The sprouts are thinly sliced and sauteed, I doubled the amount because why not. Together, they make a wonderful meal.



Polenta Breakfast with Brussels Sprouts & Sausage: More Brussels sprouts! Cooked in a similar fashion the the recipe above, Cadry is a genius with them. This is such a super fast and simple meal. I had some Field Roast breakfast links in my freezer that I had been meaning to use, so it was perfect. The polenta is a bit cheesy, the sprouts are seared and a bit salty, and the sausage was smoky and sweet. I did try a drizzle of maple syrup as well, and it went so good. I used three sausages each, rather than just two, and I had some extra Brussels sprouts I added as well.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This adorable photo is of our old clinic cat Abby (now sadly passed), and one of our adoption kittens. Abby loved to hug kittens! This little boy is called Taco, and he now belongs to a vet nurse and is a very big boy.

VeganMoFo 2009 #3: Cutlets of GLORY!

Well MoFoers, I don't know about you but I have been a busy little bee reading as many blog entries as I can - and I have still only added blogs up to the letter D! I hope to add up to at least G tonight, wish me luck!

I'm on call tonight at the clinic, so just a quick post today. I thought I might talk about the wonders of a very simple creation - Vegetation's White Bean Cutlets with Sage and Garlic. One word - NOM! I love these so much. They are quick, easy, delicious and versatile. I can almost never find fresh sage, so I tend to increase the amount of dry sage and then add another fresh herb as well - parsley is really nice, I also added chives once for fun!

So... wanna see?





Very tasty! Very delicious. Above they are nestled alongside some Fusilli with Roasted Asparagus, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts from Vegan Planet. Leftovers are also amazing on burgers, in sammiches and even just on their own, bread free, next to some salad or rice or vegetables or all of the above!

These really do make an excellent accompaniment to pasta dishes to add a bit of protein and make dinner a bit more tasty. Here's another example:


Here they make a fantastic fried to some Fusilli with Beats and Sautéed Asparagus with Garlic from Vegan Italiano.

Seriously - make them!

What are your favourite patties, burgers or cutlets to make?

Cute Cat Photo of the Blog


Today we delve into the archives again - yes, that is a young Susan... again. But ignore me. Look at that little black cutie patootie is Max. Max was my second cat, following the tragic demise of Mo. We got Max from the Cat Protection Society as an older kitten. His mother was feral, and he was feral for the first weeks of his life. This really showed - he was not one for cuddling or smooching. Very much and eat and out cat. However, he did take time out in his busy schedule to play table soccer with me. I'm pretty sure he won - I suck at that game. All random swinging the players and no actual strategy! Unfortunately we only had Max for six short weeks before he passed away - suspect hit by car but we can't be sure. Dad and I found him dead on the driveway on Valentine's Day morning after a terrible storm. Poor Max!