December Dates: Mum's Birthday and Litha 2022

A little catch up December post before we head in to Christmas.

Mum's Birthday:

In a shocking break in tradition, Mum picked something other than the usual Deconstructed Banh Mi Salad, and instead asked for a different salad! Several years ago, Mum and I had a stopover in Hawaii on our way home from Seattle, and we had lunch a the California Pizza Kitchen. Mum had a BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad that she loved, and she had since bought the CPK cookbooks. So I veganised the BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad for her! I used this for my chicken, and left the oil out of the marinade as this roast chicken was already very oily.



The salad has a lot of non-vegan ingredients, but thanks to the world we live in it was easy to veganise! For the garden herb ranch dressing I used vegan mayo, homemade buttermilk made from oat milk and lemon juice, Made With Plants sour cream, and vegan worcestershire sauce. Everything else in the dressing was herbs or spices. The salad itself has baby gem lettuce (rather than a mix of cos and iceberg), fresh basil, celery for crunch as I couldn't find jicama, chopped Sheese mozzarella, black beans, corn, coriander, and tomatoes. I scaled the recipe way down, as it was asking for huge amounts of ingredients! Even a halved recipe of the dressing had lots of leftovers! The salad is topped off with crushed tortilla chips (rather than homemade deep fried tortilla strips, which the recipe included), the chicken, and BBQ sauce as well as dressing.



Normally I would make a cake, but this time I was a terrible child and I bought one because I just didn't have enough time or energy. Woolworths has a Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Mud Cake. It is huge, a 1kg slab of cake.



You could defnitely tell it was store bough, as it had an overly sweet icing and the cake itself was a bit dry. But I enjoyed the leftovers with the icing scraped off and some chocolate ice cream. Next year I will definitely make one.



Litha aka Summer Solstive (21st of December, 2022)

The summer solstice has finally come! Which means at last the days can start getting shorter. Too much sunshine for too many hours. Bring me the dark, please. I had a super lowkey litha, I literally just made the salad I will talk about below and I ate a lot of lovely summer fruits - cherries, peaches, plums, and apricots are all in season. So good! I had planned on making more, but again I just was out of time and energy. So I am not stressing about it and will just show you my dinner!

Charred Zucchini and Sweetcorn with Basil Caesarish-Sauce from Tenderheart by Hetty McKinnon: Tenderheart was one of my birthday presents! And I am just realising I don't think I have posted about my birthday yet. I will eventually. I hardly ever get cookbooks anymore, but this one was a must get and it is gorgeous! I picked this salad for Litha because zucchini and corn are definitely summer produce! And while made on the grill,charring is grill-adjacent. The zucchini is first sliced and charred in a hot pan, before being drizzled in a tiny bit of red wine vinegar. I used frozen corn kernels, which are also charred in the hot pan. Then they are combined with fresh herbs and a lovely dressing. The caesar-ish dressing is based on tahini and has capers, basil, and more in it. You will notice that my dressing looks very soupy, which is because I am a doofus and accidentally put in double the amount of water required so then had to add in more of everything else. I served this with some fresh (from the bakery, not from me) olive sourdough slices.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Gizmo made a very fetching Santa Claws. This Christmas is going to be hard for myself and so many of my friends who have lost their furry loved ones recently. If you are grieving, leave space for that and be gentle with yourself.

Christmas in August!

Here in Australia, Christmas in July is something a thing people do because the weather is not five million degrees of summer like it is at actual Christmas. It's not an official thing, just something people sometimes do for fun. My brother arrived from Spain for the first time in three years in July, but his partner didn't arrive until August, so we threw a Christmas in August to make up for so many missed Christmas days together. The aim of this meal was to keep things extremely simple!

Our lunch spread was basic. I still had a Coles Christmas Roast in the freezer, so we made that along with the chutney it came with, some vegan sliced ham, cranberry sauce from a jar, and the potato squashers from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink & Be Vegan that we love. At this time, due to recent floods and supply chain issues, specific vegetables were not always easy to get. So I ended up grabbing a bag of Rainbow Stir-Fry mix, and cooking it up with some soy sauce, agave, and five spice.



All plated up! We got out our red table cloth and fancy dinner plates for the occasion!



Dessert was not traditional by Australian standards, but I have seen apple pies being a thing mentioned in some US Christmas menus. I got the vegan lattice apple pie from Woolworths, heated it up and served with some Alpro soy custard and I put a little bit more cranberry sauce on mine because FESTIVE.



We also had a cookie platter for snacking afterwards! I bought a few different types of vegan cookies from Coles and Woolworths, and made them look pretty.





We snacked on our cookies while playing Trivial Pursuit. This had been a tradition on Christmas Day afternoon for years when we were all together, a parents vs kids game. They almost always won. But this year, the three of us totally demolished them for a stunning victory!!



Then we watched Die Hard and went to bed wil very full tummies.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of full tummies, here is a foster kitten from work with a very full tummy! Don't fret, she doesn't have worms.

Dad's Birthday 2022

It was my dad's birthday at the start of the month, and as always I made him a dinner of his choosing.

Cauliflower & Tofu Red Curry from The Australian Women's Weekly Vegan In 30 Minutes: Dad requested some sort of Thai curry, with the understanding that any sort of curry I make will be extremely mild. This was a very simple dinner to make! I still used some Thai red curry paste, but waaaayyyy less than the 1/3 cup called for, I used more like a dollop. I also used a mix of light coconut milk and oat milk rather than full fat coconut milk so I didn't get sick. This curry was full of tofu puffs, cauliflower, zucchini, and green beans, and I also added some baby spinach. Served over some jasmine rice, I got almost 6 serves from this.
Rating: :)



Mandarin Orange Upside-Down Cake from Celebrate Vegan by Dynise Balcavage: This cake uses tinned mandarins, drained very well, in a dark-sugar glaze as a fun twist on an upside down cake. The batter contains orange blossom water, which gives a lovely flavour. I did find that my glaze hardened up a bit as it cooled, but it thankfully didn't turn into a thick unbreakable toffe. I lovely flavoured cake.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Boo is not very good at staying still for the camera!

Mother's Day 2022

Mother's Day is in May in Australia, and as per usual I made my mother a special dinner.

She requested meatballs in Rough Rider BBQ Sauce, a recipe from Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson. This was very easy to make, given that I used Meet Meatballs, cooked through in the pan, and then simmered in the BBQ sauce for a little bit. The BBQ sauce is also very easy to make, and one of the best BBQ sauces I've tried. I served it with some mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and wilted baby spinach for a very easy and lovely comfort food dinner.



For dessert, I made a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. My friend Leigh has been dipping their toe into producing some new mix and match cheesecake kits, so I have been doing some testing for them. They are super easy to make! You get dry mixes for the base, filling, and topping and then you just need to add a few things at home to bake them. You can choose from either ready made combinations, or choose your own! This one was a choose your own, and had a chocolate base, peanut butter filling, and chocolate creme topping.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I know you are here for the kitty photos, so here you go. A return to kitty photos. This is Boo in her favourite spot for winter mornings. The scratching post not only gets the morning sun through the blinds, but is also underneath the heater! Clever girl.

Mum's Birthday

Earlier this month it was my mother's birthday, and as per usual I made her a special birthday dinner!

Deconstructed Banh Mi Salad from Quick-Fix Vegan by Robin Robertson: And as per usual, she wanted this salad for dinner. She refuses to budge and pick something new. Thankfully, this salad is outstanding, so wonderful and fresh! I've posted it on the block a number of times before... because she always asks for it for her birthday!
Rating: :D



Flourless Soy Sauce Brownies from To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon: Normally I'd make a cake, but she had ordered one and sometimes there is just too much cake. So we settled for brownies instead. Completely different! This is a recipe she had previously marked as interested in when I got this cookbook, and it was agreed that they would make a wonderful cake stand-in! The recipe uses almond meal, and no flour, so is gluten free if you want it to be. It does require three large eggs, but I subbed in some Vegg Baking Egg Mix. These brownies were wonderful, and even better the next day after being kept in the fridge overnight. 10/10, recommend. On the night, I served them with some So Delicious cashew vanilla ice cream, and a candle stuck in the piece for the birthday girl.
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This photo may not look super Christmassy, but this was a quiet Christmas morning that Dim Sim and I spent together, before other people were awake. (Yes, her eye is runny. I also had to do a Christmas day trip to work to get her some ointment for conjunctivitis... not her favourite Christmas present!).

Father's Day

It was Father's Day last Sunday, and as always I made my dad a dinner of his choosing. This time he wanted to go back to his old favourite, Indian, and requested some sort of pumpkin curry with a vegan meat and also some Indian sweets. I decided to head online to the one and only Vegan Richa to look up some delicious vegan Indian food.

Pumpkin Curry: This curry hit the brief, with pumpkin puree used in the sauce (I used homemade butternut puree) and also butternut added to the curry itself. The curry is meant to be made with chickpeas, but I tried out some of the new Bird's Eye Plant Based Chicken-Style Strips. I decreased the amount of curry powder in it and used a mild version. For the vegetables I used butternut squash, zucchini, peas, and mushrooms, and I added some extra spinach. Instead of adding the chicken-style strips at the same time as you were meant to add the chickpeas, I had previously sauteed them to brown and I added them back at the end. I served this over basmati rice and with some mango chutney. Find the recipe here



As for those Bird's Eye strips, these are them! Bird's eye recently released a range of plant based meats in the freezer section. These are soy protein based, and have no coconut oil! I really liked them, they have a good flavout and a good texture. Maybe just a titch oily. But so good once sauteed up. You could use these in all kinds of things!





I also made a couple of Indian sweets. I made these the day before so that they had plenty of time to set, and because they were a bit fiddly. So it made the day of nice and easy, I just had to make the curry and then dessert was ready and waiting in the fridge.

Malai Ladoo (Cardamom Cream Fudge Balls): These delicious balls use cream cheese to help make them wonderfully creamy. I used Tofutti, still my favourite vegan cream cheese! At least of those that are available here in Australia. I realised that I hadn't really noted that it called for fine almond flour instead of meal, so mine were not quite as smooth. I used only ground cardamom. These have a lovely flavour, they are sweet and creamy without being too sweet. I did find them to be very soft and sticky though, I imagine the almond flour would have absorbed a bit more. But they still were lovely. Find the recipe here.

Mango Burfi (Mango Fudge Bars): These are very easy to make, and they set up really well. Because it is not mango season here, I used some tinned mango that I pureed up. The flavour was not quite as strong as it would be with fresh (or frozen, for that matter), and the mango was quite fibrous. I used some almond meal instead of grinding cashews, really just for ease, and for the same reason I used oat flour rather than grinding oats. I chose cardamom as my spice, to keep the theme going. You can find the recipe for these here

I served my sweets on a plate with some fresh strawberries, which made for a lovely after dinner selection!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I've been feeling super sad and missing my girls so much lately, so here is my Gizmo. She was the first to leave me. I know I have other cats in my life now, but I will never stop wishing my girls and I could be back together.

Dad's Birthday Dinner

My dad's birthday is at the start of July, and as per usual I made him a special birthday dinner. He surprised me with his choice of asking for something with couscous and lots of vegetables for the main, but I was happy to oblige!

Seitan Coriander Cutlets from Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero: The couscous recipe I picked out (from another book, see below) called for chickpeas, but I know my dad's favourite is seitan so I thought I'd make some to use instead. Seitan is something that always seems like an effort to make, but then once I make it I remember it is generally pretty easy. This was no exception. It has a lovely flavour from the cumin in it (there are also some other flavour variations you can try), and was easy to mix and knead. Cutlets are wrapped in foil and baked, and it ended up having a great texture. It made a bunch, so I had some leftover to freeze for other recipes.
Rating: :)



Seven Vegetable Couscous from Vegan Fire & Spice by Robin Robertson: Behold the couscous! The seven vegetables here are onions, sweet potato, carrots, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, and peas. I made it eight by also using some baby spinach. As mentioned, I added some chopped and browned seitan from the recipe above in place of chickpeas. The vegetable stew part itself was quite watery, I'd use less vegetable broth next time. You don't want to boil it off too much because the vegeteables will turn totally mushy. It is served over some couscous with sultanas and parsley mixed through, which was nice. This recipe is meant to be served with Harissa sauce, though we skipped that but, but that made it a little bit bland overall. If you are doing it chili free, like I did, I'd suggest upping the spices and salt a bit more.
Rating: :)



Finally, a birthday must have CAKE! My dad was wondering what other sorts of cake there were besides chocolate and vanilla. Ummmm.... like... a million different types. After I spent several minutes going through all sorts of cake flavours, he settled on apricot. Which was excellent because it meant I finally got to make a recipe I'd been eyeing off for ages...

Apricot Crumble Cake from Vegan With Bite by Shannon Martinez: I've been wanting to make this cake since I first got this book, especially after hearing so many other people raving about it. And it does not disappoint. It is a spiced cake, topped with apricot halves, then topped with a crumble and baked. The recipe calls for tinned apricots, making it super winter friendly. I did have to bake my cake quite a bit longer to get it cooked through. Instead of sprinkling it with icing sugar on top, I sprinkled it with some chair-spiced raw sugar I have for a great crunch and flavour. This cake was awesome! I served it on the night with a dollop of Vanilla Hazelnut yoghurt, and some of the leftover apricot halves. It also keeps well for a few days.
Rating: :D

Mother's Day 2021

Mother's Day came around again this year, as it always does, and I made a fun little dinner for my mum.

Smoky Maple Baked Beans from Kindness Community Vegan Cookbook: Despite the name, this recipe involves no baking. It is all done on the stove, and it doesn't take that long. The beans are a mix of butter beans and borlotti beans, and they are simmered in a mix of tomato, smoked paprika, maple syrup, and vegan Worcestershire sauce. They were quick and tasty. I served them with some roasted broccoli, potato gems, and some Rough Rider BBQ Sauce that I had made from Vegan Diner (another cookbook) to serve over the top as my mum loves that sauce. The recipe says it makes two serves, but we got three serves out of this, which worked well as there were three of us!
Rating: :)



Chocolate Fudgy Puddin' Cake from Cookin' Crunk by Bianca Phillips: Colder nights call for warmer desserts, and this was a pretty easy one. I love a good self serving pudding! The only issue I had with this was the recipe calls to cream room temperature vegan margerine with soy milk... I've had a couple of other recipes call for that as well and it never works, the butter just goes a bit chunky through the milk. So I added half the flour and continued to beat and it all combined nicely, then mixed in the rest of the dry. This baked up with a delicious warm chocolate sauce bottom, and was great served with vanilla soy ice cream.
Rating: :)





But wait... there is more! Well, a little flash back. My mum's birthday is early December, but last year that was only about a week and a half after Dim Sim passed, so I didn't make her a big special dinner, because I could barely feed myself. But I did want to do something, so I made a chocolate pudding cake... but a different one to the one above. It made my feel a little better to be able to do something nice for someone I loved.

Chocolate Puddin' Cake from La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer: This recipe was a little easier in that it didn't involve margerine so there was no beating involved. Just mixing. The only change I made was to replace the walnuts it called for with chocolate chips, to make it extra chocolately. Please enjoy a very similar photo to the one above, but it was a different recipe!
Rating: :)

Father's Day 2020

Hi friends, I had to take a little blogging break because I lost all energy and motivation. Still kind of struggling with that, but trying to get back into regular habits again. I am back at work now as well, which is not helping my energy levels!

But on to happier things. The first Sunday in September is Father's Day in Australia. So, as usual, I made my dad a special dinner of his choosing. He picked Mexican, but then as I dreamed about all sorts of delightful beans and rice and totillas I checked in and he was thinking more along the lines of the cheesy/sour creamy 'Mexican'. But also nothing he had to eat with his hands. So enchiladas it was!

Spinach and Bean Enchiladas with Cilantro-Lime Cream Sauce from Everyday Vegan Eats by Zsu Dever: These hit the spot of cheesy, while also allowing me to use some beans and even some spinach, yay! The enchiladas are filled with a mix of onion, tomatoes, pinto beans, baby spinach, and cheese (I used the Daiya mixed one). For the spices, I left out the chili powder and used a mix of regular andsmoked paprika instead. I have zero luck with corn tortillas, so I used some nice little flour ones and they rolled so nicely. So, technically this says it serves 4-6, but the three of us ate it all! It is served with a lovely cilantro-lime cream sauce, which is cashew based and super easy to make. The lime is not overpowering either. I needed to add an extra splash of soymilk to mine to loosen it up a bit enough for pouring. Because my mum is avoiding citrus, I served it on the side rather than pouring it onto the top of the enchiladas after baking. I also served this with a chopped salad (no green leaves, as per my dad's request), of grated carrot, cucumber, celery, tomato, and corn.
Rating: Enchiladas :), Sauce :)







Chocolate Mousse from Tofu 1-2-3 by Maribeth Abrams: For dessert he requested a chocolate mousse, which is what my mother wanted for her mother's day dinner as well. I need more adventurous people to make weird desserts for! Anyway, this time I tried a recipe from my Tofu 1-2-3 cookbook, which was that classic combination of silken tofu blended with melted chocolate. This is RICH! I served it topped with a scoop of So Delicious Vanilla Cashew Youghurt, and some sliced strawberries.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



The sun is coming up earlier every day, which makes for a very happy little black cat.

Dad's Birthday (Menu: Valentine's Day For Two from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen)

Yesterday was my dad's birthday - happy birthday Dad! As always, I made a special dinner based on his request. He requested Italian (which he also requested last year), and like last year I turned to Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen (see my other posts about this book here). After presenting him with some options, he picked a pasta dish that belonged to the Valentine's Day For Two Menu, though obviously it can be made anytime and the recipes make enough for however many you wish. The one thing that we changed was the cake. The menu has a red wine chocolate cake, but he wanted an orange chocolate chip cake. And what the birthday person wants, the birthday person gets!

Paremsan Topping: This was the first thing I made, as it was a component of the vegetable side dish. This recipe is... weird. It is almonds, nutritional yeast, and salt processed up... fine. But then it has... maple syrup? As Food For Dissertating recently experienced with a maple syrup heavy mayo, maple syrup in parmesan doesn't belong. It was too weirdly sweet for me, but my mum really liked it!
Rating: :|



Paremsan Roasted Asparagus: The parmesan was to go on this. This recipe is simple and classic. Seasoned roasted asparagus topped with a squeeze of lemon and parmesan. Next time I would use a saltier parmesan!
Rating: :)



Pasta in Pink Sauce: This is a lovely pink sauce based on crushed tomatoes and cashew cream. I halved the recipe as I was cooking for three, using only 250g of bucatini. Because I had such a small amount of cashews and water to blend, and my blender is regular size, I did puree it with a bit of the crushed tomatoes so there would be some more liquid for the blender to work with (it is high powered, but itty bitty volumes in it don't go the best... I wish it had a mini jug as well!). This is really simple but really lovely, and I love the thickness of bucatini as well.
Rating: :)



Herbed Garlic Toast: I went a bit rogue with the bread on this one. Instead of using thinly sliced baguette, I used a thick slices of a mini wholemeal stone baked batard. I cut a slice for each of us, and I made a half batch of the topping which spread over this amount of bread nicely. Instead of raw garlic I used garlic powder, as my silly body can only deal with fresh garlic if it is well cooked. This also has some nutritional yeast in it. This is salty, cheesy, garlicky, herby goodness.
Rating: :D



And here it is, all plated up.



And now for the cake!

Orange-Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake from Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: This recipe calls for a 12-cup Bundt pan, but I only had a 6-cup ring pan. So I figured I'd halve the recipe so it didn't explode everywhere in the oven, which I did. But it ended up one very flat little doughnut looking cake. So I am guessing that I could have used the whole recipe with my cake tin and it would have ended up looking more like a cake, less like a cake-sized doughnut. Regardless, it pretty cute and tasted pretty amazing - a great orange flavour through the cake. To fancy it up a little as it was looking a little tiny, I added a quick marmalade glaze (just simmered some marmalade with a smidge of water for a few minutes and brushed it over the cake), and topped it with some grated orange-infused dark chocolate.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim would like to remind you that after several posts of non-Dim Sim photos, she is still here and wishes to be adored. Here she is enjoying a little rest out in the cat max yesterday morning.

Mother's Day 2020

Last weekend was Mother's Day here in Australia. We don't normally go out for Mother's Day, so quarantine didn't really make much change there. I normally make a dinner of Mum's choosing, and this year was no different. Unlike my dad, who always picks things for me to explore new recipes, my mum is very much set in what she wants, and this year was no different!

Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy from Vegan With A Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: I have made this recipe several times before, and it is a favourite. It is so rich and savoury and good for cold nights. It is full of mushrooms as well. This time I just served it with some steamed broccoli, though in the past I have also served it over mashed sweet potato. I cut the tofu triangles a bit smaller compared to previous times, just for easier serving and eating. This recipe is always highly recommended.
Rating: :D



Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce: from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick Goudreau: This was a new recipe, though on a familiar theme. This mousse is that classic old school blend of melted chocolate and silken tofu. It had a lovely taste and texture, and wasn't too rich or too heavy. The recipe said it served six, but I split it into three serves in these ramekins. I also topped it with some raspberry sauce, which was so easy to make. Just defrost frozen raspberries, add some sugar, blend. It was a nice bright contrast to the mousse. Also finished off with some pieces of raspberry chocolate.
Rating: Mousse :), Sauce :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of mothers, here I am with my child. Who once again didn't get me anything for Mother's Day. But she herself if the best gift and blesses me every day, so I don't need anything else.