VeganMoFo 2017 #27: Menu: Child's Birthday Menu from Celebrate Vegan (+ I Made A Thing!)

27th: Meals for the young (at heart)

I've been pretty pressed for time this MoFo, but I am glad I got the chance to make at least one menu. This is the Child's Birthday Menu from Celebrate Vegan by Dynise Balcavage, and it is also the first time that I've used this book. Oh, bonus recipe for you at the end because I modified something so much that I actually made something new!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dip: I actually made this separately from the rest and had it for breakfast with some apple slices, which was lovely. I just made a mini-batch for one, using 1/4C peanut butter instead of 2C and scaling down the cocoa and agave as appropriate. I used normal cocoa rather than Dutch cocoa, because Dutch cocoa is expensive here.
Rating: :)



Orange-Soy Seitan Tenders: These are very good, and the sauce gets a very strong flavour. Instead of seitan chunks, I used some Lamyong Soy Nuggets that I had kicking around in the freezer, I defrosted them for this. The seitan/nuggets are marinated overnight before a long bake. I was a bit short on orange juice for the marinade, my oranges were weirdly dry when I cut them for juicing, but it was still good. I was worried that the Lamyong nuggets might end up getting tough or weird with the defrost and baking, but they were tender on the inside and a bit crispy on the outside - perfect! My mum particularly loved these. Should note I scaled the recipe down for three people, so I used three cups of nuggets instead of four and altered the sauce appropriately. Three adult people, I should specify. The book says the recipe makes 8-10 servings for kids.
Rating: :)



Baked Polenta Fries: I made a half recipe of these, which was enough for three people with the rest of the menu, but they are good so you might want to make more. Cheesy, herb polenta is set overnight, cut into strips, and baked. It is super quick and easy.
Rating: :)



Mushy Peas: The surprise favourite for me! I loved how sweet and creamy they were, a perfect counterpoint to the strong sauce on the nuggets and the saltiness of the fries. The full recipe, using 4 cups of peas, apparently makes 8 servings for kids. I had three adults, so made it with three cups of peas. We each got a nice big mound. I also just blitzed this in the pot with my immersion blender rather than putting it into a blender or processor. Faster clean up.
Rating: :D



And here is the plate with everything on it. I also added some ketchup right before eating for the polenta fries. Because I had set the polenta to set and the nuggets to marinate the day before, this came together incredibly quickly the next night. So I think it would be quite an easy menu to prepare for an actual party!



I Made A Thing: Not A Shirley Temple: Recipe time! The book also includes a recipe to make a big punch bowl of Shirley Temples, using maraschino cherries and their juice and some lemon-lime soda. This does not appeal to me at all, so I took inspiration from the basic flavours and made my own!

Add 25 mL St Dalfours Black Cherry Jam, 1 cup coconut water, 1/2 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 tsp lime juice and blend together. Serve over ice if desired. Makes 1 serve.

So good! It is a bit sweet, a bit tart, and very refreshing! I was feeling super lazy and just blitzed it with my immersion blender, so you can see how it separated out a bit. But if you wanted to go super fancy, blend it properly and then strain it to take out any little bits of cherry skin still in it, then it would look clear and pink and lovely! Unlike mine.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



Sahara and Gizmo actually really loved each other. They got on well. When we lived in Sydney, they used to spend a lot of time snuggled together, and grooming each other. Mostly Gizmo grooming Sahara, actually a dominance move on Gizmo's part, but a friendly one. When I moved back to Brisbane, to a much much bigger house, they had more options so they spread out a bit, but they always were friends. It was nice.