Recipe Round-Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

Here are some more recipes I have enjoyed from '1000 Vegan Recipes'.


Up the top of the plate you can see some slices of Millet and Amaranth Load, which was delicious served with some Miso-Tahini Sauce. The sauce is great, but keep an eye on it because if you let it boil it will go a bit grainy. I also served it with some Thyme-Scented Sweet Potatoes with Black Olives and Garlic and some steamed broccoli. The sweet potatoes were nice, but I found that you need to keep a close eye on them, I found them a bit smooshier than I would have chosen following the cooking time suggested.


Sesame Soba Noodles are outstanding, just so yummy you won't want to stop eating them! I served them with some tofu slices marinated in the Lemony White Miso Vinaigrette and then baked. I finished it off with some roasted asparagus.


Double-Sesame Tofu with Tahini Sauce was served alongside some Za'tar Spiced Flat Bread and some steamed broccoli for a great dinner full of calcium. I have had issues previously getting coatings to stick, so I slightly deviated from the tofu recipe by coating it in cornflour first, then dipping in soy milk, then coating in a cornflour/sesame seed mix. The tahini sauce was yummy and, as you can see, very thick! For the flatbread I used one teaspoon of spice for each flatbread, and turned the heat down when I was cooking the side with the spices to stop it from burning.


I think this was one of my favourites! Three-Seed Seitan with Vegan Aioli, baked sweet potato strips (from VWAV) and lightly blanched green beans. The seitan was delicious, though I couldn't make it go super crunchy like the blurb suggested it was intended to be. But I care not - yum! And the aioli was amazing. I used four cloves of garlic instead of three because I like my garlic strong, and boy was it! I made the aioli for my mother a few weeks later to serve with some non-vegan food at a party she was making, and it was a hit.


Chinese Noodles and Broccoli with Spicy Black Bean Sauce was very yummy, though I could have added more broccoli! I couldn't find any egg-free Chinese noodles, so I made it with linguine as suggested. I served it with tempeh marinated in Ginger Soy Vinaigrette, and used the leftovers as dressing for the green salad. The vinaigrette makes a good marinade, but is amazing on salad!


This was also fantastic, especially back in the cold months of June when I made it (I have a huge backlog of photos to share still!). Seitan and Scalloped Potatoes Casserole is a very yummy and satisfying dish, just right for winter. I served it with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon and Capers, both excellent vegetable sides, and smothered it all in scrumptious Bearnaze Sauce. Any left over sauce also thickens up as it cools and makes a fantastic dip for veggies!


Another tasty combination that I made in wintery June. Three-Bean Cassoulet is perfect winter food, with three sorts of white beans and a delicious oven aroma. I served it with Creamy Cauliflower and Braised Celery with Black Olives. The braised celery was really nice - I don't often eat cooked celery as the main star of the dish and it was very subtle and pleasant. The real star was the amazing cauliflower though, which is a delicious low-carb take on mashed potatoes.


Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew was just right served with some Coriander-Sunflower Seed Flatbread. Be careful with the heat when you are cooking the flatbreads so the seeds don't burn. I also found that once I had them in the frying pan it helped to use my spatula to really push the seeds in so they didn't just all off when you turned them over.


Italian Rice with Seitan and Mushrooms served with Spicy Sauteed Broccoli Rabe was a spicy, earthy combination. I made this one night when I was cooking just for me, and I found that both recipes really only made enough for two servings, which was great because I kept the leftover serving for the next night I was home late from work. With the broccolini, I added extra garlic and I also chopped and then steamed the broccolini rather than boiling and then chopping it.


Bok Choy and Ginger-Sesame Udon Noodles were yummy. It says to use a large head of bok choy, I used a whole bunch and I could have added more! Whenever I make udon noodles, I like to used the dried ones as I find the texture of them so much better and chewier compared to the packaged ones, which go smooshy. I also added the suggested shiitake mushrooms - yum! I served this with my trusty go-to Soy-Glazed Tofu and some roasted asparagus.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post

This gorgeous girl was a kitten we were rehoming. Believe it or not, we were having no luck finding a home for this beauty, so we took some glamour shots and put up some posters for her and her brothers. Needless to say, someone came along soon after to give her the home and love she deserves.

(% '1000 Vegan Recipes' Blogged: 8.1%)

And for those who didn't see them on my last post, here are the links if you would like to donate to help people and animals affected by the Queensland flood disasters.

Premier's Flood Relief Appeal

RSPCA Flood Appeal

I spent some time yesterday helping clean out someone's ruined house that had been completely flooded, it was a heartbreaking (and muddy) experience. The amazing spirit of Brisbane's community is showing though, with so many people volunteering to help out that they are even having to turn people away! I am also very happy to learn that the clinic I work at will be one of the clinics helping the RSPCA out by providing free veterinary care to shelter animals while they are rebuilding their own facilities.

On a serious note...

Just a very short and picture free post today. Many of you know this, but for those who don't I live in Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, which is in Australia. Over the past few weeks, much of Queensland has been subjected to massive flooding, and this week Brisbane itself flooded - something that hasn't happened since the horrific floods of 1974. Huge parts of the city were submerged, and now the flood waters are dropping leaving people's lives in ruin. So far 16 people and countless animals have lost their lives, with many still missing. It is not over yet, as flooding continues in the southern part of the state and into northern New South Wales.

Thankfully I live in a part of Brisbane than has not been touched by flood waters, something I am incredibly thankful for. I thank all of you who sent texts, emails and tweets to make sure I was OK.

I'm including two links here if you would like to make a donation to help, no matter where you might be.

The Premier's Flood Relief Appeal is raising money to help Queenslanders affected by the flood. Many people have lost their homes and their businesses, and these people are starting the long and heartbreaking process of cleaning up and rebuilding. Emergency accomodation, food, clothing, cleaning... all things that your donation can help with.

The RSPCA Queensland needs funds on two fronts - on the one hand they are raising money to help animals affected and injured in the floods on the wider community. However, the RSPCA's main animal shelter in Brisbane was destroyed during the floods. Thankfully all the animals were evacuated to safety, but there is a long road ahead before they can get their vet clinic and animal shelter housing back up and running.

If you have any spare change to donate, we would all be very grateful.

Some information on the floods from Brisbane's newspaper.

A sombre post. Will be back with more food and kitties soon.

Recipe Round Up: 1000 Vegan Recipes

Happy New Year everyone. I know blog posts at the moment are full of resolutions and retrospectives, but I am living in the now and I am not really making resolutions this year. I actually slept through the new year. After two long and sometimes rather intense days at work (there were a few kitties who thought that maybe it was time to leave this world, two were brought back, one sadly departed) I ended my year with some take-away Chinese from Huo-Fo and some West Wing episodes with the kitties, and I was out like a light by 10.30pm. I hope everyone else had a great time, doing whatever it is you like to do to celebrate the new year. :)

But back to business. I have a lot of photos to share. Masses. It's ridiculous. Here are some more recipes that I have made from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.


Sesame Baked Vegetables is a delicious, amazing and wonderful recipe, I strongly suggest you go and make it! Think chopped veggies in a rich tomato-soy-tahini gravy topped off with puff pastry. Nom. I used the full 3 tablespoons of soy sauce suggested in the recipe. I served this with Italian Marinated Tofu (from Vcon/VWAV), salad and a bread roll.


I was not so wild about the Spinach Soufflé, which never seemed to quite set into any texture other than a bit smooshy. However, the side dish of Asparagus Dijon was delicious. I roasted the asparagus instead of steaming it, because that's what floats my boat. I also served it with some roasted potatoes with rosemary.


I really enjoyed the Ginger-Peanut Tempeh, which was delicious served with brown long-grain rice and Sherry-Braised Baby Bok Choy.


Tofu Pizzaiola is fried tofu slices topped with a delicious tomato, garlic, oregano, kalamata and caper sauce. I served this with a very simple recipe, Spaghetti with Olive Oil, which is from Vegan Italiano. And lots of salad greens.


A similar recipe and combination was Sicilian-Style Tofu served over Angel Hair Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic, a pasta recipe I have come back to a few times. For the pasta I only used half the amount of oil and pasta but I doubled the amount of garlic in the recipe, which was delicious and provided more than enough infused oil for the recipe and more than enough pasta for four people. The tofu recipe suggests chopping it up if serving over pasta, but I really liked the pasta slices over the pasta instead.


Tempeh with Lemon and Capers served with Fennel and Garlic Mashed Potatoes The tempeh is delicious, I am really into capers, white wine and lemon juice as a combination at the moment. Very nommish! The potatoes were also incredibly smooth and wonderful.


My mother and I loved this combination one evening. Tempeh with Maple, Mustard, and Balsamic Glaze is absolutely delicious! Served along with Corn Fritters (which are so good you could marry them, or at least at them with anything, or on their own) and some broccolini stir-fried in some bottled garlic sauce. With regards to the tempeh, the recipe really made closer to three serves than four serves I thought, though maybe that is just my hungry belly!


Tempting Tempeh Chili was a really nice, filling dinner. I added some defrosted frozen peas in the last 10 minutes of cooking and left out the green capsicum at the beginning. I served it with Cornbread.


The star of this meal was the Shiitake Snow Pea Stir-Fry, which is so delicious. I made a double batch of the recipe to have enough to feed four people. I also added in some thinly sliced carrots in place of the red capsicum, which gave the dish the colour it needed and was a delicious substitution to boot. I served it with Soy-Glazed Tofu, which has become my go-to quick and tasty tofu recipe (I will give it its own post soon) and some long-grain brown rice.

Well, that is a few recipes and photos blogged about now... still so many to go!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Part of being a vet is constant studying. Sometimes it is reading up on new journal articles and techniques, sometimes it is reading up on my old notes or textbooks to brush up on some physiology or the like. Every vet knows that the most important study aid one can have is a cat. Here, Gizmo demonstrates how helpful she can be, by sitting on half of my notes and thoughtfully pointing out some of the finer points of liver disease.

(% '1000 Vegan Recipes' Blogged: 5.8%)

Feast of Christmas Past

It occurred to me yesterday that I never did post last year's Christmas feast. So here it is, one year later. I took a lot more photos last year compared to this year, so it's a bit of a picture heavy post.


Christmas Eve dinner was Basic Scrambled Tofu from Vegan Brunch with Creamy Coleslaw from 1000 Vegan Recipes and olive and thyme sourdough bread.


Christmas Day breakfast was Perfect Pancakes and Tempeh Bacon Revamped, both from Vegan Brunch.


I made my own cranberry sauce for the first time. It is Traditional Cranberry Sauce from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. Delicious! Jarred sauce pales in comparison.


My brother made this delicious and refreshing watermelon, olive and red onion salad.


A festive cucumber and tomato salad. Just right in summer!


A delectable fruit bowl.


Potato and Mushroom Galette. I have made this most years for a long time, it was one of the first recipes my mum started making at Christmas once I went vegan. I didn't make it this year (2010) though.


The Rosemary White Bean Salad from Donna Hay again.


Marinated and baked tofu. I don't remember what I had marinated it in.


Rustic Quinoa and Yam Salad from The Garden of Vegan.

This year the leftovers were nibbled up in a few days. Last year they lasted for a little bit longer, in many tasty variations...






YUM!

Cute Kitty Photos of the Post

Here's how the kitties celebrated Christmas 2009...


Last year I made Christmas cards with my cats as the stars. Here is a Dim Sim card.


Possum got his reindeer antlers on.


Gizmo visited Santa Claws!


And Sahara dressed up as well. She totally wanted to do this. I promise.

Phew. Those posts were meant to be a series last year I think, so thanks for bearing with me as I just unloaded them all off in the one post.

Christmas goodies.

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday season! I have been having a great time - I have five days off over Christmas this year so I am feeling quite relaxed and happy. It has been good, because initially I seemed to have lost my Christmas spirit this year... I didn't bake any holiday goodies for the kids at work, and I was just not quite feeling merry or bright. But thankfully that has all changed!

Our family eating traditions begin on Christmas eve. While the omni family tradition is prawns (eww and ick) with mayo and white bread, I am in the habit of making something fun and new each year. I was working Christmas eve until 5pm as well, so something that could be made ahead or pulled together quickly was in order.


Here is my plate. I enjoyed Potato Salad with Artichoke Hearts and Grape Tomatoes, basmati rice, grilled portobellos with Lemon-Basil Sauce and leafy greens. The salad and the sauce were both from my trusty tome 1000 Vegan Recipes. The salad was great, and the colours made it quite Christmas appropriate! I made it the day before Christmas eve and it kept really well in the fridge for a couple of days (I just finished off the left overs yesterday). The sauce I was also able to make ahead and reheat that evening. It was delicious! Tangy and sparkly but also very rich thanks to the vegan butter stirred into it. Great over mushrooms and rice, as suggested by the book.


Christmas morning dawned and our breakfast table was spread. For the last few years I have taken to making pancakes and tempeh bacon for my Christmas breakfast. All washed down with fresh orange juice provided by my brother (who miraculously made it home from England - his flight was only delayed 90 minutes out of Heathrow while there were still people who had been waiting days... lucky star!). The pancakes this year were Cranberry Pancakes with Orange-Maple Syrup and they were served with a side of Tempeh Bacon... and yes, both of these recipes were from 1000 Vegan Recipes. The pancakes were wonderful. I had made the batter the day before and stashed it in the fridge overnight. The batter included silken tofu, so maybe that was why these pancakes were so darn filling! With soaked dried cranberries in the pancakes and topped off with a rich orange-maple syrup... yum! I also really enjoyed the tempeh bacon recipe. It didn't require any marinade time, just pan-fry the tempeh and then splash on the flavourings, and for something so quick it was delicious. Definitely a keeper recipes for those times you must have tempeh bacon but don't have the time for a marinade.


After breakfast it was time for presents! A break in tradition, normally we did presents before breakfast but we were all just getting too hungry in previous years, so we swapped it around. I am happy to report that Santa was good to me this year. My main present (combined with my birthday) was a new camera! It is a Canon something or rather Powershot, with a 35x optical zoom... just because. I didn't want an SLR because I am just not that into photography to spend the time to learn to use it, but I needed something better than my poor old little Olympus point and shoot. This is a great compromise, and I have taken some nice photos of the kitties with it thus far. It should make my food photos a lot better too! I also got the DVD of Scott Pilgrim, a beautiful Japanese vegan cookbook, some vegan skincare from London and lots of vegan noms - including some Booja truffles and some Montezumas vegan truffles from London (I loved these at the Brighton Vegan Fayre last year). Apparently there are some other DVDs on the way as well. The kitties got a new water bowl, a Santa string toy, some Christmas meece, a feather ball and some Greenies.


After presents we broke into our traditional parents vs. kids Trivial Pursuit game. This year I am happy to report that kids won! Hurrah! Apparently I sometimes have strange but accurate knowledge. Also sometimes I am good at psychically guessing things. Here is our winning wheel, all full of chips, in the centre after the winning question (the answer to the question, sadly, was cheese). Greg and I are always the pink wheel, which is very nice of him, because pink is my favourite colour.


And finally, Christmas lunch. Mum and I decided to keep it simple this year, and I was glad for that. This tasty vegan plate included (from the top and working clockwise) sauteed mushrooms (they were meant to have peas as well, but I accidentally maybe may have put the peas in to defrost for 20 minutes instead of 20 seconds, thus rendering them shrivelled little nuke balls), cucumber and tomato salad, Soy Glazed Tofu from 1000 Vegan Recipes with tamarind chutney, Rosemary White Bean Salad (from Donna Hay Magazine #44) and roasted vegetables.

I have since then eaten through most of the vegan leftovers, not to mention started nibbling away at my stash of vegan treats!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas, however you celebrate it or whatever it means to you, or at least a fabulous few days off work if nothing else.

I was going to end this post with photos of the kittens dressed up in their Christmas outfits, but they escaped that indignity this year. So just imagine it, or look back to this post to see just how cute my girls are all dressed up!

(% '1000 Vegan Recipes' Blogged: 4.3%)

Vegan NoFo and 29.

Well, it has been quite a while since I have blogged! I have been quite busy of late with holidays and working and research and having a social life and procrastinating. I think I have been inspired back to the blog by VeganMoFo. I am not participating this year (obviously - it's half done and this is the first post I have made) but I have been enjoying reading all the amazing contributions. I have not imported the entire blog list to my Google Reader like I did last year, because I know I can never keep up with it all! Instead I am following my regulars and also trying to visit a few new-to-me blog each day, maybe I shall find some new regulars to follow!

Not that long ago, on the 7th of this month, I celebrated my birthday and turned 29. I had quite the lovely day, with many lovely eats, which I shall share with you now.

My morning was very dull - I had vegemite and avocado and toast and then I went to the gym! But it was all in preparation for lunch - vegan yum cha at Easy House Vegetarian Restaurant down at the Gold Coast! It was my first time going here, and I was so excited. I went with Shelley and Heather, two friends from work. I wish I had some photos to show you how darn amazing it all was, but I was too busy pointing and eating to remember to take any pictures! So I shall try and describe. There were steamed dumpings - bok choy and chinese parsley, rice paper rolls (with a SUPER chilli sweet chilli sauce!), steamed BBQ 'pork' buns, bean curd skin rolls, sesame spring rolls and my favourite - tofu in black bean sauce. This is amazing, hollowed out fried silken tofu stuffed with glass noodles and vegetables in a black bean sauce. Out of my mind good! Then on to the sweet stuff - lotus paste steamed buns (my favourite!), crispy sesame balls filled with red bean paste and, to finish, a coconut jelly (which also had some sort of lentil in it, which was OK but a bit strange). And I know I am forgetting something that I ate here. And that wasn't even all of the range we sampled! As we were leaving I saw the fried yam cakes come out, and I was sad I missed them! I will definitely be going back here. It is an hours drive away, but that seems worth it for amazing vegan yum cha. The only thing not vegan are the custard tarts - they have egg in them (gross... also, why?), so steer clear of these if you are heading down. I can't wait to go back! I shall take photos next time.

After lunch we headed back to Brisbane and had an impromptu and hilarious game of Catopoly. Considering it was a cat vet and two cat vet nurses playing, we had an extra fun time giggling with our own cat-related jokes. It was a fun game, and I am happy to report that I won! Hee!

During the year, for birthdays or other special events, I will cook a three course meal in a family member's honour. The last two years my mother and brother have taken to doing the same for me, which is lovely. Sadly, my brother is in London now (but did surprise me with a phone call in the morning!), but my mother took control of the situation, and masterminded a surprise three course dinner for me!


First course was this amazing pumpkin dip. I don't know all the ingredients, but it did involve pureed pumpking, curry powder and soy mayo. It was so delicious, I could have just kept eating the whole thing. As it was the following day I demolished the leftovers, which I were closely guarding for my own person eating. Great with pita chips! It was an online recipe, so I will share the link once I find out what it was from my mum.


Main course was spaghetti with a sauce made from tomatoes, basil, capers and olives alongside some marinated garlic eggplant antipasto and a green salad. The marinated eggplant was a little on the oily side, but goes great with some acidic tomato flavours. I used the leftovers on bread and in burgers. The pasta was really nice too, and kept me in lunches for a few days so I didn't have to make food for work on my birthday.


Finally, dessert was a berry compote with a brown sugar crust. After this photo was taken, I applied some vanilla soy ice cream and ate with delight! Thanks mum for a fantastic birthday dinner. :)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


My Sahara loves being involved with things. Here she is during my birthday dinner, she loves to jump up onto an empty chair at the table and join in. And who wouldn't want such a cute little face joining them at dinner? Just be careful if you have any broccoli on the table - she'll join you ON the table to get her paws into it!
I'd also like to mention that Sahara just had a check up at work, and that her physical exam, blood and urine results were all A-OK. Even with a mini-kidney. Go my bear!

Ten years of awesome!

This month I have celebrated a fantastic milestone - ten years of being a vegan! It has been an amazing decade since. I've posted somewhere on here about my journey to vegan, but here is the short version: I became a vegetarian in high school, but after a couple of years the ramifications of supporting dairy and egg industries became too important to ignore. I have to admit I had a couple of false starts. But one day in September 2000 I had to go away for two weeks on prac work, so I packed the soy milk (I was determined to learn to love it) and that was it, I was a vegan. I don't have an exact date or moment, but just sometime this September I went from thinking 'I've been a vegan for almost ten years' to 'I've been a vegan for ten years!'.

It has been a fantastic ten years. When I started I was not the food obsessed girl you find before you today. But going vegan lead to me to start my cookbook collection, and eventually I started to cook from them, and then I started taking photos of the things I cooked, and then I got more cookbooks, and took more photos, and got more cookbooks, and so on. And on the way I started this blog, made some great friends and have been loving the benefits of being a vegan. I could never imagine not being a vegan now!

I didn't have an 'official' celebration or anything. But around the time I did have some friends over for dinner, so I thought I would share that with you - because I did make something exciting! All the recipes below were made from 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.


I started with Lemon and Garlic Marinated Mushrooms, which was great as I had to work the morning of the dinner so I could make these on my day off the day before and leave them to marinate in the fridge overnight. It makes a fairly small amount, so I also served them with tomato-stuffed green olives and balsamic and rosemary kalamata olives that I bought from our awesome local deli.


Sicilian Penne with Tomatoes and Eggplant is a great, simple but delicious dish. I had forgotten my serving size brain and actually did use a whole 500g packet of penne (the recipe calls for a pound) and it was enough to serve at least eight people, not the four the recipe claims to make! But it worked out OK because I had lots of leftovers. Next time I would make it with just half the amount of pasta though. I also added a tin of chickpeas for some protein.


Now, here is the exciting part! I made Vegan Tiramisu, which was actually the first tiramisu of any persuasion that I have ever made. First you make the Vegan Pound Cake (which I found needed an extra 15 to 20 minutes of baking to cook through) and then cut it up and make layers of cake, coffee and the cream. The delicious cream! This serves 6 people, however it is very rich!


Here's the inside shot. The longer this sits the better it gets, I was eating leftovers in tiny amounts for a week. The recipe says to make it extra decadent you can top with vegan whipped cream, but to be honest I think this would be overkill. I did take them up on the suggestion of topping it with chocolate curls as well as cocoa, which was just delicious!

I'd also like to send a big thanks to River over at Wing It Vegan, for choosing this blog for her first ever weekly Blog Love column! It was lovely, especially given the timing with my veganniversary. If you haven't already seen River's blog, get there at once! It is full of delicious recipes, adorable themed food (and with Halloween around the corner, I can't wait) and quirky fun.

I'd like to thank everyone who has been part of my vegan journey so far - here's to the next ten years, and the years after that. :)

(1000 Vegan Recipes blogged: 3.8%)

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post


Behold the amazing sight... Gizmo and Dim Sim are sitting on the same cushion... and they aren't trying to fight each other! Normally these two are at it like cats and other cats who don't like the first cats. Dim Sim has never gotten over the disruption of her only cat existence. Perhaps there was a bird outside the window?