Imbolc 2022

I have so much to catch up on from the last couple of months! So let's start with Imbolc, one of the sabbats in the Wheel of the Year. Imbolc celebrates the midpoint of winter, though in Brisbane it is not such a big deal. Though this year we did actually have a few months of cold (by Brisbane standards) winter! It is also a celebration in parts of the Celtic goddess Brigid. I celebrated with food, as usual, though the symbolic food itself was sort of spread out over a couple of weeks just due to work and life. Traditional food for Imbolc includes dairy (or non-dairy in our case!), breads, seeds, dried fruit, winter vegetables, and the colour red.

Imbolc (1st August, 2020)

I started my morning of Imbolc with a breakfast of vanilla yoghurt, granola, and fruit. I used golden kiwi fruit and frozen blackberries, as blackberries are particularly associated with this sabbat.



The granola I used was this Rise beetroot granola I had bought on sale somewhere. It fit nicely with the theme being quite red! The granola itself was just ok. It was more like a muesli. I like my granolas to have crunchy clusters... isn't that what granola is? I ended up using the rest of it to make overnight oats with.



One Pot Mac and Cheese from the Delightful Vegans Blog: I was working late on the actual day, so I just had something frozen and reheated for dinner. The next time I was able to cook I made this easy cheesy pasta. This has a cashew based cheesy sauce, and is full of whatever vegetables you wish. I used the recommended cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and spinach (but I added extra spinach), as well as adding some peas. The recipe says don't bother draining the pasta, but I did (reserving a bit of pasta water) and I think that was definitely the right choice or it would have been so soupy and dilute. I just added a bit of pasta water back in to help the sauce loosen up with the pasta and veggies for a nice coating. I didn't use the option grated cheese, but I did add extra nutritional yeast.
Rating: :)



I also bought some of this blackberry jam to enjoy in different ways. I made some excellent almond butter and blackberry jam sandwiches. Or I used it to top ice cream.



PB & J Banana Muffins from Epic Vegan Quick & Easy by Dustin Harder: One of the things I also made with that jam was these muffins! I used GF flour because I was making them for someone who is GF, so the texture definitely relfected that flour choice, but the flavour was great. The recipe saus to use 1/4 cup of batter to get 12 muffins, but I only got 10. Obviously I used blackberry jam to top them! They were also topped with crushed peanuts, though I left that off a couple for my dad's personal preferences.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



All these new kitties, but what about Boo? Boo has had a bit of a rough time over the last month. She was quite unwell a few weeks ago with her calcium spiking up again, so we have changed up her medications and are also waiting on some additional test rests. She is mostly back to her normal self, thankfully.

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.

Christmas Eve

I worked on Christmas Eve, though the clinic closed a few hours early so I could get home in time for dinner. I have traditionally made nachos for the last few years, so I was after a quick and easy nacho recipe that I could throw together as soon as I got home.

Loaded Cheet-Pan Nachos from Epic Vegain Quick & Easy by Dustin Harder: These were a natural choice. Quick and Easy is literally in the name of the cookbook. These were very fast to throw together. Corn chips (I used a 250g bag of Mission Tortilla Strips), red cabbage, black beans, corn, olives and cheese sauce are baked in a pan, and then topped with salsa and sour cream. I used coriander for ganish rather than scallions, and left out the red capsicum and the jalapenos. I served some diced avocado on the side for me and Dad, as my mum is allergic.
Rating: :)



Vegan Eggnog from Cadry's Kitchen: It's been a long time since I have made anything nog-related, but this seemed like a good place to reintroduce myself to nog. I loved this recipe! I made it in the morning before I left for work, so it could sit and thicken as Cadry recommends. This was thick, creamy, and tasted great.
Rating: :)



If you are going to have milk (or nog), you must have some cookies! Sorry Santa, none for you. All for us! I made to types of cookies. One, the Sparkled Ginger Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance, I had made many times before. These are some of the best cookies you can make! But I also tried a new recipe.

Old-Fashioned Pie-Plate Shortbread from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero: I wanted to buy some vegan shortbread that wasn't gluten free, but had no luck finding any. I made my own, that were full of gluten! This recipe is very easy, though my dough never really went crumbly. I may need to add a bit more flour next time. But it all worked out, pressed into a pie plate with fluted edges to look fancy. They were some lovely shortbread!
Rating: :)



We had our nog and cookies while watching Love Actually. Yes, I know it is terrible when you think about it. So I just don't think about it while I am watching it. Problem solved! We also put out presents and stockings. I bought stockings for Abby and Boo... I may have gone a little overboard with presents.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



That year I got super festive and made Christmas cards to send out using this photo of me and Dim Sim.

Litha 2021

While I watch all my Northern Hemisphere friends go from cozy to chilly weather, over here in Australia we are sweltering. Hot hot hot. Thankfully, we just had our summer solstice, known as Litha to the pagan-inclined among us. The longest day of the year means that now the days will get shorter! Bring back the darkness! Go away sun, you burning menace!

Litha (aka Summer Solstice) (21st-22nd December, 2021).

I celebrated as I always do, with food! Summer foods, grilled foods, fiery foods, red foods. Let's see!

I didn't actually grill, I do have a BBQ outside that I really need to use because it has been long neglected, but for this easy Litha dinner I made burgers just on the stove. I just made quick and easy cheeseburgers, using the V2 burger patties, Sheese Red Leicester slices, Veganaise, and some Coles cheeseburger sauce. I couldn't get my favourite Fry's brioche buns, so I just made them with some regular burger buns from Coles. Served with some cucumber slices and salad.



Dustin's Favourite Summer Salad from Epic Vegan Quick & Easy by Dustin Harder: For the salad, I went with this sublime summery offering from one of my newest cookbooks. This is simple, but oh so delicious! Corn, tomato, avocado, and basil in a lime-juice based dressing. It is sweet and juicy and tangy and creamy in all the right ways.
Rating: :D



Ginger Lemonade from Cafe Flora Cookbook: I love making homemade lemonade! And this gingery concoction was just perfect for a warm evening. You make a simple ginger infusion, then dilute with lemon juice and water. It is very easy, has a lovely spicy ginger burn, and was very much enjoyed.

Rating: :)



Vegan Cranberry Muffins from Dianne's Vegan Kitchen: Tying together some lovely red and orange colours with the approach of Christmas, these muffins were a great way to end the meal. I made a half recipe, for six muffins. I just used regular plain flour, and I used defrosted frozen cranberries. These turned into wonderful tart little flavour bursts. The muffin includes some orange juice in the liquid, which gave a nice flavour with the cranberries.
Rating: :)



I hope everyone had a happy solstice, be it summer or winter.

Oh, BTW, my COVID test came back as negative. Just a cold. Though since we opened our borders our numbers have been jumping up hugely every day. And yesterday the Chief Health Officer said: 'Not only is the spread of this virus inevitable, it is necessary. In order for us to go from the pandemic phase to an endemic phase, the virus has to be widespread. We all have to have immunity, you will all have to develop immunity and there's two ways you can do that: by being vaccinated or getting infected.' So... cool cool cool. I have been waiting to get it, I know it is coming for me, and apparently now that it is a good thing? Also, being infected doesn't give immunity. Lots of people have had it more than once. Lots of vaccinated people get it. People will die. People will get Long COVID. So if you are waiting to see what the next fun mutation will be, it will probably be in Queensland! Let's cheer ourselves up with some cats.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Possum was the first one who had to suffer the indignities of dressing up for Christmas. Just look at him suffering through the indignity of this santa had and scarf.