Eating Out: The Green Edge

A bit of a photo heavy post today, but lots of goodies and I'll keep the text light. I've been back to eat at The Green Edge, Brisbane's vegan grocery store and cafe, a few times lately. Let's start off with the savour meals! (You can see my other Green Edge posts here.

They have a sit down area, of course, but they also have a cabinet of things that you can pick up if you are on the go. My favourite thing is their Chicken Caesar Salad. It is so fresh, loaded with Lamyong Salty Crispy Chicken, bacon chunks, and croutons, and has a delicious dressing.



Of course, if you want to eat in they have a lot of options on the menu. Like this Double Bacon Double Cheeseburger.



They also have a breakfast menu, and my favourite thing is the Bacon and Egg MockMuffin, with a side of chunky chips because breakfast should have potato.



They have a large drinks menu. The frappes and shakes all use coconut ice cream, so if I am looking for something refreshing I will order off the juice menu. The Clean Dream is a mix of watermelon, apple, and strawberry.



They also have a range of baked goods and treats in their cabinet. While some of these come from other local vegan businesses, they also have got their own in house baker who makes amazing treats! I have sampled many of these when I was stopping in for groceries. So please enjoy this parade of photos.

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie



Peanut Butter Blondie (my favourite!)



PB&J Blondie



Giant Cookies (This is just half of one, and it is the size of my face. It is chocolate cookie in the middle, surrounded by chocolate chip cookie, and the dough from the chocolate cookie spreads out in between the other dough for a bit, and it is so good.)



Berry Crumble Slice



PB Marshmallow Blondie



The Green Edge - Shop 2b 229 Lutwyche Road, Windsor, QLD - (07) 3861 1132

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I've been thinking a lot about these two little love bugs lately. I miss them always.

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day

I love sandwiches. They can be simple, or they can be fancy, but hopefully they will always be tasty and satisfying. If you are looking to up your sandwich game, Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes has you covered. This book has a huge range of sandwiches (and interpretations of the sandwich theme) that will keep you enjoying the best use of sliced bread. You can see previous posts about this book here.

Hot Brown Sandwiches: These sandwiches originated in 1926 from the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky (the book has some cool sandwich history for some recipes). The original had turkey, bacon, and cheese sauce. This version has a garlicky sauce, with broccolini and smoky tofu bits. For sauce calls for 12 cloves of garlic. As I don't do as well with garlic anymore, I used four cloves and 1 tsp of garlic powder. I also subbed in soy milk instead of coconut milk. This is from the 'topless' sandwich chapter, so it only uses one bit of bread. Topped with a slice of tomato, broccolini, sauce, and tofu bits and then baked until everything is hot and bubbly. It was a nice combination, but I would suggest also putting sauce on the bread underneath the tomato as well. The bread itself was a bit dry. You can see I had some leftover broccolini and sauce, which I served on the side.
Rating: :)



Retro KFC-Style Sandwiches: This sandwich as written has cornflake crusted seitan, with a special sauce and salad on a bun. I took the tofu variation, as I always have tofu on hand and to be honest I just prefer it. I was only making 2 sandwiches, so I used a 300g block of tofu, cut in half widthwise, and then I used a large scone cutter to cut the tofu into circles. The seasoned cornflake coating was so nice and crunchy on then, and the mayo based sauce was very yummy. I'd put the lettuce on the bottom next time, because it just kept falling off the patty. This is a fun sandwich.
Rating: :)



Peanut Butter Banana Bacon Sandwiches: I'm assuming this was Elvis inspired. It is a fun combination, and pretty easy to make. The star or the show is the chickpea bacon, which is exceptionally delicious. I thankfully had made a full batch of the chickpea bacon, even though I was only making one sandwich, and so I used the extras for snacking at to make a BLT baked potato (included as a bonus picture here).
Rating: Overall sandwich :), chickpea bacon :D





Asian Eggplant Sandwich: Think a delicious sauteed eggplant in sauce, on a bun with mayo and salad. The sauce has ketchup and peanut butter, as well as some other bits, so you know it is yummy. I left out the sambal oelek, and served the sandwiches with sriracha if people wanted some heat. I also changed the fresh veggies from a slaw to a salad, using shredded cos (romaine) instead of cabbage and leaving out the raw onion. I served these on Vietnamese baguettes. This was really nice, but not very filling.
Rating: :D



Apple Tempeh Triangle Dippers: This book does have a broad interpretation of what a sandwich is. I made a half recipe of this, which would make 8 mini triangles for dipping. Instead I made four triangles, using a 10 x 10 inch sheet of vegan puff pastry. The filling is a mix of apple, tempeh bacon, and pomegranate seeds. It was nice, but at the end of the day I am just not that fussed of pomegranate seeds. It is served with a tasty sweet and sour dipping sauce made from pomegranate juice, maple syrup, and lemon juice. I also served this with some steamed broccoli, which was very nice with the sauce.
Rating: :)



Fruit Roll-Ups: From the sweets section, this is a lovely snack or light dessert. The secret is a delicious spread, based on peanut butter and pumpkin puree. I don't know how to describe how amazing it is, but trust me. The tortillas also have bananas, dried cranberries, and chopped peanuts in them (you can mix and match your own ideal combination). It is served with vanilla sauce or vanilla yoghurt for dipping, I went with Impressed Almond Vanilla Yoghurt.
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Unlike her mother, Dim Sim loves basking in sunlight. She loves spending some time behind the blinds in the sunroom in the morning, just soaking it all in.

Midweek Munchies

More random food things.

I've been sick a few times this year, which is annoying. One day I made these instant noodles for lunch. They were pretty nice, though a bit on the salty side.



Over winter I was definitely into toasted sandwiches. This is a classic, with Daiya and Tofurky Ham. I always have some ketchup for dipping as I eat.



You know me and my silly drinks! But this actually was very tasty. They suggest you can use it as a salad dressing or in other dishes as well, but I just drank it straight.



Winter was also a great time for soup. I miss winter, it is hot and sweaty now. But I did have a fun time exploring the slowly expanding range of vegan-friendly soups on the supermarket shelves. Like this Pumpkin Soup from La Zuppa. It can be quite hard to find pumpkin soup that doesn't have dairy in it, so this was lovely. I served it with a bit of leftover tofu sour cream I and some leftover coconut bacon I had that needed to be used up.



Bringing together two great things - toasted sandwiches and soup! Coles brought out their own range of soups, some of them vegan friendly. This Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup with Cashews was fine, it was nice and creamy, but definitely needed some more seasoning. Nothing some salt and some nooch can't fix. With a grilled Daiya cheddar sandwich.



The final thing for this post is these Black Sesame Mochi ice creams. I've seen people posting about them, but got really keen to try them after reading this post by Jennifer. When I saw them in Woolworths, I was so excited! But cautiously so, as they are coconut based. But the good news is that I can eat one or two with no problems, and they don't have that heavy coconut fat taste or texture. I got the black sesame flavour, but they also had green tea. These were so good, and a perfect quick little cold sweet treat for hot days.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Holding paws with my baby girl.

Eating Out: Pitstop Pizza

I have some friends who are totally down for early dinners, which is great. I love a place that is open so that if I finish work at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon, I can meet up with them for a 4.30 dinner and then get home for a nice early night. The most recent of these dinners out was at Pitstop Pizza, which conveniently does not close between lunch and dinner. While not all vegan, they have a vegan menu. It focuses on vegetables, with no mock meats, but does have vegan cheese. Plus some vegan desserts! I have been there once before, and you can read about that here.

I was called to the Vegan Melanzana Pizza, which had homemade pizza sauce, vegan cheese, eggplant, fresh tomato, onion, capers and garlic. This was lovely and fresh, and I loved the tangy bursts from the capers.



One of my friends ordered the Vegan Bruschetta Pizza, with homemade pizza sauce, fresh tomato, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, Kalamata olives, vegan cheese on top.



And I didn't get an individual photo of the pizza my other friend had, but you can see it in the back of this photo. It was the Vegan Marinated - homemade pizza sauce, vegan cheese, marinated roasted capsicum, zucchini, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts.



Finally, I tried a bit of my friend's apple pie. Really, their pie is more like strudel.



Another friend of mine went the following week with her partner, and she brought home some vegan peanut butter baklava that I tried. Very sweet, but very nice! No photo though, sorry.

Pitstop Pizza - 1/433 Old Cleveland Rd, Coorparoo, QLD

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Another sleepy Dim Sim photo, this time on her pinky. Her pinky, for those who don't know, is a folded up pink generic brand Snuggie that is placed on top of a cushion. Years ago I got the snuggie for me to wear during winter. Foolish, foolish human. It was almost immediately claimed by Dim Sim. If I even think about using it to keep myself warm, I get a very shocked and angry look from Dim Sim!

Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Richa's Everyday Kitchen

This is the first round-up for one of my newer cookbooks: Vegan Richa's Everyday Kitchen. I was excited to get my hands on a copy of this, as I had heard many good things about it. The book is divided into themed chapters, originally focusing on sauce types (such as peanut butter & coconut, sweet & sour, etc) and recipes to make using them, and then also has some chapters focusing on types of foods (such as bowls, burgers, sweets, and more). I've had a lot of fun using this book so far!

Red Lentils in Peanut Butter Sauce: This is a fast recipe, where red lentils are cooked and then mixed with a peanut sauce and vegetables. The Peanut Butter Sauce recipe is very quick and easy to make, just blend up a bunch of things and then use as directed in the recipes. The lentils in the recipe ended up being a bit too smooshy when cooked according the directions, so they sort of melted into and thickened the sauce. For the veggies I used shallot (instead of onion), carrots, zucchini, broccoli stem (instead of green capsicum) and peas (added because I like them). I didn't add any extra water when I added the peanut butter sauce, as there was enough liquid in it already. I served this over some basmati rice and baby spinach, and got 3.5 serves.
Rating: Lentils :), Peanut Butter Sauce :)



Peanut-Sauce Fried Rice: This recipe is quick (as long as you have cooled rice on hand and the peanut sauce) and delicious. As always, I decreased the amount of rice a bit (I used a blend of plain and basmati rice), and increased the vegetables. For the vegetables I used a big carrot, lots of broccoli, and I left out the capsicum. I also used some Soyco Japanese marinated tofu instead of plain tofu. I left out all the spicy ingredients, but did serve with sriracha for those who wanted to add some heat.
Rating: :D



Chickpeas in Peanut Butter Sauce: This does not use the peanut butter sauce recipe, but instead has it's own peanut butter blend. For this, I decreased the amount of chickpeas from two tins to one, and increased the vegetables. I used two zucchinis, a carrot, peas, and broccoli, and no capsicum or spicy seasonings. This is quite a rich and thick sauce, with lots of spices. I fot four serves over rice and spinach.
Rating: :)



(Orange Sauce) Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry: This recipe appears in the book as Kung Pao Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry, but I took the suggestion to try it with the orange sauce. This is a nice mix of tofu, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, and broccoli (you can use whatever veggies you want) over jasmine rice and spinach. I only got two and a half serves out of it. As for the orange sauce, OMG it is so good!
Rating: Stir-Fry :), Orange Sauce :D



Hoisin Mushroom and Tofu Stir-Fry: I love hoisin sauce, so was curious to try making me own. The recipe for the sauce is OK, I found it quite salty on its own, but once it was cooked into other things it mellowed a bit. The sauce uses nut butter in it to make it creamy, so of course I used peanut butter, but not what I consider a regular hoisin. But it was still good when added to a veggie and mushroom stir-fry. I used a 500g block of tofu (rather than 596g), and added some broccoli along with the mushrooms. I only needed to add 1/2 cup of water and the cornstarch to the mix at the end to get it to thicken up and coat well.
Rating: Stir-Fry :), Hoisin :)



Vegetables and Chickpeas in Orange Sauce: I was keen to enjoy more of the orange sauce! This is a veggie heavy recipe with carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and baby spinach. I added in extra greens because that is how I roll. The sauce thinned out a lot in cooking with the lid on, would maybe be better with the lid off for the end to keep it thick and glorious. I got three serves.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



LOOK AT THIS CUTE PRECIOUS SLEEPY BABY! All tucked in to bed while I am reading my book beside her.

Midweek Munchies

It's that time of the week again!

A while ago there was a massive special on Daiya Mac & Cheese at The Green Edge. In general, bought mac and cheese just never quite hits the spot. But I feel like Daiya is the best one of the bunch, with their alfredo being the best. I hadn't tried this variety before. It was fine, I didn't get much of the herbs and it is really hard to know what 'four cheese' really brings to the flavour.



I found this fun pear, and I don't remember what it was called. But I liked the look of it. I liked the taste of it too!



I love baked potatoes, but I don't like how much time they take to cook. This winter, I rediscovered the joys of the potato button on my microwave. I am mere minutes away from a cooked whole potato. Sometimes I just smash it, top it, and eat it like that. But other times I will open it up and pop it under the grill (broiler for my US friends) to get a bit crispy. This one was topped with spinach, baked beans, avocado, and bac'n bits.



This was a blueberry bagel that I toasted for breakfast one morning. One half is spread with peanut butter and cinnamon, and the other half has some Fenn smoked sesame cheese on it. I love the combination of fruity bread and cheese.



Another lovely breakfast I made was another baked potato covered with scrambled tofu (no recipe, using up a Cruelty Free Shop scramble seasoning I have), spinach, ketchup, and bac'n bits. Also with a lovely persimmon, and a glass of oat milk.



Finally, some jerky snacks I saw at one of the many Asian grocery stores near me. I didn't buy any (yet), but it was cool to see them labelled vegan.



What have you been putting in your beautiful mouths?

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I go to personal training once a week, and my PT currently has her dad's cat staying with her. My normal training session is too early for miss Singlay to be out and about, but last week I had to change days and to a later time, so I finally got to meet this lovely girl.

Imbolc and Ostara 2019

As I've posted before, I've been trying to mark the sabbats but making some appropriate food. If you are wondering why I am doing this, check out this post for their significance to me.

Imbolc (1st August, 2019)

Imbolc is a sabbat that celebrates the end of winter (or whatever winter you might have, not much here in Brisbane). It has also been associated with the Celtic goddess Brigid. While I don't believe in gods and goddesses, I have always been very drawn to the symbolism of Brigid, so this sabbat always has a special place in my heart.

Linguine with Purple Cabbage from Colour Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick Goudreau: I needed something quick and easy to make, using what I had on hand. Despite my best efforts, Imbolc snuck up on me this year. Colcannon is a traditional dish associated with Imbolc, and as you can see I didn't make that. But I did take the winter vegetables cabbage and onion to make this pretty purple dish. It was very simple to make. It tastes lovely, but is definitely best to eat ASAP. I freeze leftover for lunches or dinners on work days, and this did not do well being frozen and reheated.
Rating: :)



Pomegranate Granola from Vegan Desserts: The colours red and white are associated with Imbolc, as are seeds. This granola seemed perfect to make, with a mix of nuts and seeds as well as oats. This has three types of pomegranate in it - juice, molasses, and dried arils. I couldn't find dried arils, so I subbed them for dried cranberries. I also realised when I was making it that I was out of pistachios, so I used pepitas. Same colour, close enough! This recipe is, not surprisingly, quite tart, which I enjoyed, Great served over some plain yoghurt (bringing in the colour white).
Rating: :)



Ostara aka Spring Equinox (September 23rd, 2019)

While all my northern hemisphere buds are celebrating the start of autumn, we are in spring here in Australia. Spring officially starts here on the 1st of September, so the equinox means nothing in terms of the calendar seasons here. Many aspects of Ostara have been incorporated into the holiday of Easter (which in Australia is in Autumn).

Tofu Scramble from Just Add: Eggs are a bit part of the spring festivals, but as a vegan I don't want to eat or support that! Why hurt chickens when you can have tofu instead? This scramble seasoning was another tester for the Just Add Vegan Products brand, which has a few new products in the works! I loaded mine up with spinach, cheese sauce, ketchup, tomato, and avocado.



Carrot Cashew Loaf from Whole Grain Vegan Baking by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes: Spring, bunnies, carrots, carrot cake. Rather than a traditional carrot cake, I made this lovely carrot quick bread. The liquid comes from a blend of cashews, orange juice, raisins, and milk (I used cashew to continue the theme) all blended up (plus some other stuff), and it is a mix of oat, barley, and whole wheat pastry flour. Of course with lots of shredded carrot mixed in. I didn't have any orange zest (I was using some of my frozen stash of OJ), so I added a bit of orange extract in with the liquid. This loaf was lovely, not too sweet, and made a great snack. Excellent with some Nuttelex, peanut butter, or strawberry jam spread on it. There was the option to either dust with icing sugar, or drizzle with a lemon glaze, but I like my stuff nekkid.
Rating: :)



Speaking of Brigid, here is a little photo of my altar. I use this more as a calming and meditative area, rather than for any sort of ritual use. The candle in the middle is a Brigid candle (meant it was lit from a candle that was lit from the Brigid flame in Ireland), and there is a Brigid cross there as well. The wooden box has some crystals in it, and there are some cute pins on there as well. The coloured tea candle holders represent the four colours of the directions/elements. I like it. It is pretty and very me, and something nice to look at to clear my mind.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Of course, my familiar. I know I mentioned previously that black cats are still considered spooky by some people, and they have lower adoption rates in shelters. But with October 31st coming up, black cats will become a theme. Black cats are not just for the holidays, black cats are forever! Also, if you do have cats that go outside please keep them in around Halloween because some people are terrible. Keep those black babies safe!