Eating Out: St Coco Cafe

Vegan options abound in Brisbane and adjacent-area cafes. St Coco Cafe is one such cafe. Technically in Logan, it is also very close to the Daisy Hill national park if you feel like some hiking or trying to spot some native wildlife. They have three or four vegan options on the menu, and while they are not exactly breaking any barriers (think avocado toast, acai bowls, tacos, salads...) I have enjoyed both my visits there a lot. They certainly do well with flavour!

The first time I visited for lunch, and I tried the Sweet Potato Tacos. I loved these! The sweet potatoes are marinated in a sundried tomato sauce, but are cooked almost like large sweet potato wedges, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. They are topped with greens, coriander, and a lime coconut paste... I know what you are thinking. But the coconut paste was delightful and not too coconut fatty at all! This was such a delightful combination.



Most of their drinks are either vegan, or can be made vegan. This includes the milkshakes (they use a coconut ice cream, so I haven't tried one). They have a few smoothies on offer, and I went for the Cherry Ripe. Despite the name, it has strawberry puree in it, not cherries. Regardless, it is absolutely delicious!



I went back a second time recently to have breakfast with a friend I hadn't seen for awhile. Once again, I got the Cherry Ripe Smoothie... how could I not when I love it so much? I also got that perennial vegan stalwart - the avocado on toast. Their version has avocado wedges with pea and mint, macadamia ricotta, semi-sundried cherry tomatoes, and balsamic glaze on toasted sourdough rye. It was a lovely interpretation, the pea and mint was very unique! I could have done with some more of the macadamia ricotta though. Cheese me up! I also got a side of housemade sauerkraut. This was unexpectedly warm, more like a stewed red cabbage, but it was totally yummy. Highly recommend.



My friend was after something lighter, and picked the vegan special of the week - a Mango Passionfruit Coconut Float. This smoothie had mango, coconut milk, passionfruit and ice, and was topped with coconut ice cream and passionfruit pulp. She really enjoyed it.



St Coco Cafe - 3 Cupania Street, Daisy Hill, QLD, 07 3299 3264

Note: The cafe is located in a little shopping complex. When you drive in, you will see the IGA but not St Coco. Keep on driving, the carpark extends down past the initial little complex, and St Coco is back there!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Three little kittens, looking for a home. Though Avril (in the little scratcher thing on the window ledge), just went to her new home today! Bowie (on the top of the scratching post) and Jimmy (in the basket) are still looking for homes.

Recipe Round-Up: Isa Does it

Isa Does It ties with Appetite For Reduction as my favourite book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I just love it, and I have cooked from it extensively. Recently, I joined Jenny-Marie in her cookbook challenge, and dipped back into a month of making as much as I could! Some of the recipes you see today will be from that, and some will be from the large backlog of things I have made that I am yet to blog! I highly recommend this book. You can see other recipes that I have already blogged from this book here.

Farmer's Salad with Chive Vinaigrette and Garlicky Thyme Tempeh: This green salad, which is full of soft potatoes, crunchy snap peas, and juicy sauteed king oyster mushrooms, would be lovely on its own. But to take it up to dinner status, I added the suggested tempeh. For the salad, instead of using baby rocket (we are not rocket/arugula fans in our house), I used a mix of baby spinach and soft salad leaves. I only made a half batch of the beautiful green dressing, which was more than enough. For the tempeh, I only had 150g (rather than 350g), so I just made a half recipe of the marinade (I marinated it for 24 hours). It was a great savoury and juicy grilled tempeh wedge.
Rating: Salad :), Tempeh :)



Meaty Beany Chili and Cornbread Muffins: This is a large recipe, so I halved it and got 2 dinners and one lunch, served with the muffins and some spinach. The full recipe uses a mix of kidney beans and black beans, but as I halved it I just used the kidney beans. I let out the capsicum and jalapeno, added just the slightest sprinkle of chili powder, and used regular oregano (I have never seen the Mexican one here). I did need to add some extra water, about 1 1/2 cups, during the simmering process. The cornbread muffins were super easy, and were a nice addition. I made a half batch of 6, and made 4 in the regular fashion. For the remaining two, I took the suggestion to add some blueberries and lemon to make them into a sweet treat - which was lovely!
Rating: Chili :), Cornbread Muffins :), Blueberry Cornbread Muffins :)



Chicky Tuna Salad Sandwiches: I love chickpea tuna salads, this one was OK. Not bad, but not one of my favourites. It has sunflower seeds in it, which was an new addition for me! Tragically, I discovered that my celery was off. I love celery in tuna salad, and I definitely missed its crunch. I also added some grated carrot, and left out the raw onion. I used the hand chopped method rather than the food processor, which was a bit more effort, but not too hard. The recipe says it makes 6 sandwiches, but I only got 3!
Rating: :|



Ancho-Lentil Tacos: These were SO GOOD! I love Isa's way of making the meaty lentils, it is so easy and they are so delicious. I haven't ever seen ancho chili powder here, and to be honest I wouldn't be using 2 teaspoons worth if I did. Instead I used some regular paprika with pinch of chili powder to add into the spice mix. I also left out the hot sauce! I served mine in crunchy taco shells, and they took me back to the taco nights of my youth. I also stuffed mine with some shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, avocado, coriander, and salsa.
Rating: :D



Pesto Risotto with Roasted Zucchini: This is a lovely green risotto, very savoury and satisfying. Isa's Bestest Pesto recipe includes walnuts, pine nuts, basil, coriander, and thyme, among other ingredients, which was really nice. The full pesto recipe said it makes 2 cups, and I only needed 3/4 cup for the risotto. I halved the recipe, but ended up with only 1/2 cup! It still worked. I had to add extra stock to my risotto to get it to cook up creamy, but my aborio rice was admittedly pretty old. My zucchini took forever to brown in the oven, but eventually they came to the party. This says it serves 6, but I got 4 servings over some baby spinach.
Rating: Risotto :), Pesto :)



Acorn Squash Risotto: Acorn Squash is not something I have found here, so I used some butternut instead. One of them had some slimy seeds, so I ended up with a bit less butternut than called for. Whichever squash you use, it is roasted first for extra flavour. This risotto is made creamy by the addition of some coconut milk, and I found it made it pretty soup. I followed the option to add a touch of maple syrup, though I found this made it quite sweet, so I added a fair bit of salt. On its own I found it a little too sweet, even served over spinach, but I think some nice marinated tofu would round it out nicely. I must also admit to sprinkling a fair bit of nooch on, which was great.
Rating: :)



Seitan & Wild Mushroom Stew: This is thick, satisfying, and savoury - perfect for a wintery day. Though living in Brisbane, I just have to imagine a wintery day! This says it serves 6-8, but I got 4 decent serves. Do I have an unusually large appetite? I used dried chanterelle mushrooms, but I also had a few swiss browns kicking around. I chopped and added them after the onions, for an extra mushroom boost. Can't have too many mushrooms. I enjoyed that the vegetables didn't get too mushy, they were perfectly cooked.
Rating: :)



Lentil-Quinoa Stew: Lentils, quinoa, and kale... almost as vegan as you can get! This stew is absolutely delicious! Though after cooking down all the kale (which took quite a while, the chopped leaves of two bunches to get 1lb), the stew became pretty thick, with not much liquid. Again, this said it serves 6, but I got 4 serves... granted I loved it so much that I wanted to eat as much as I could in a sitting!
Rating: :D



Dilly Stew with Rosemary Dumplings: I have never heard anything other than rave reviews about this stew, and with good reason - it is amazing! The stew is thick with vegetables, navy beans, and lots of dill (it calls for 2T, but I am a dill fiend so I always add more). I found the dumpling dough to be quite sticky, not really wet as the recipe describes. You are meant to get 14 dumplings, I accidentally made them a bit small and got 18. Serves 6-8? More like 4!
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I am quite taken with this gorgeous photo I took of Dim Sim and her reflection, enjoying some sunshine. How perfect is she?

Eating Out: Tea Master

Tea Master has been a Valley fixture for many years, and yet I had never been there. I was so busy going to my favourite Kuan Yin that I never quite had time for it. Even after Kuan Yin closed, I still didn't make it in there for ages. Until the end of last year. I was going to a cat comedy show with a work friend, and it all lined up for us to try it out. She is an omni who had never eaten mock meat or in a vegan restaurant before, but she was excited to try it out. The best attitude!

They have a large selection of exciting drinks at Tea Master, so I started with a Passionfruit Bubble Tea with added Lychee Jelly (as well as pearls, of course). The jelly was a bit off, it was in a large piece rather than in little bits, so I had to stab it a lot with the straw to break it up so I could drink it. But very refreshing!



We decided to share a bunch of dishes, which meant we got to sample a lot of entrees. Not everything there is vegan, but everything that is vegan is very clearly marked on the menu, so there is no confusion. Hannah jumped right into the mock meat world with some satay chicken skewers. We also got some spring rolls, and some steamed dumplings, because you should always get dumplings!







I was excited because they had two of my favourite things on the menu - radish cakes and beancurd rolls. Unfortunately, neither were what I was hoping. The radish cakes were small and weirdly fried. And the beancurd rolls were filled with some sort of mock stuff, and were small and hard and not saucy enough. Regular readers will know what I mean when they see them, given the number of times I have posted perfect beancurd rolls on here.





We also shared a main, the Roasted Duck Noodles. I am not normally one for vegan duck, I find it too oily, but this had come recommended by Jojo, and I trust her judgement. It didn't fail, being a tasty savoury dish. And yes, the duck was a bit too oily as I knew, but the flavours made up for it.



I ended sweetly with another drink, this time a Strawberry Bubble Tea, with pearls but no extra jelly.



I enjoyed the visit to a new to me restaurant, and I was happy that Hannah enjoyed her first vegan restaurant as well. Overall I am still a little mixed on Tea Master (the ruination of radish cakes and bean curd rolls sits heavy with me), though it definitely has some tasty dishes. I have been back a couple more times since then, and I will share those visits in due time.

Tea Master Vegetarian Cafe - Shop8/115 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley - (07) 3257 0038

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



My sleepy miss had a check up last week to make sure her bloods were stable, and I am happy to report that they are. Her liver enzyme is still a little elevated, but the nature of her sort of inflammatory liver disease in older cats is that it is a chronic issue. As long as she is clinically well, which she is, that is the main thing.

Recipe Round-Up: Hearty Vegan Meals

Hearty Vegan Meals For Monster Appetites, by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman, is now sold under the name Home Cooked Vegan Comfort Food. Whatever title you have it under, it is full of decadent and filling meals. I've already done a few round-ups from this book, so be sure to check them out for more recipes that I have made. Today's post starts with a salad, but then is pretty much all about dessert! As I wrote this, I realised that all but one of the desserts have marshmallows. There was a time when I had a bunch of marshmallows and marshmallow creme that I brought home from the US to use up. I guess this was that time!

East Cost Meats West Coast Pasta Salad: This salad is packed full of tofu, artichokes, red onion, broccoli, olives and tomatoes. I left out the pepperochinis. The dressing uses quite a lot of oil, I always sub some out for water mixed with guar gum otherwise I feel a bit icky, but is tanky (lots of balsamic and Dijon) and makes for a lovely salad. I used half the amount of pasta, but the same amount of vegetables (you could even use more), and decreased the dressing quantity a little. Rating: :)



S'more Pie: This is a very rich treat - a biscuit crust (I used Digestives as graham crackers are not a thing here), with a chocolate/tofu/cream cheese/marshmallow cream filling. Oh my! The base was a bit crumbly, especially up the edges, so might need a touch more melted butter to firm it up. The base is baked, then cooled, then the filling is added and it is chilled in the fridge. The final touch is to top with more marshmallow cream, and then caramelise it using a kitchen torch. I have a torch, but it doesn't work, so I took the option of using the grill (which is what we call the broiler in the oven in Australi), but I wouldn't recommend it as the filling also started to melt a little!
Rating: :)



Grasshopper Pie: I am not a huge fan of mint myself, but I made this for a mint-mad friend. A buttery Oreo base (we don't have Newman O's here, so Oreos it is), filled with a cream cheese and marshmallow filling. Unlike the S'more Pie, this one uses melted marshmallows rather than marshmallow cream. The filling has one teaspoon of peppermint extract in it, which was very pepperminty for me. But I still enjoyed a small piece, plus then I had minty fresh breath after.
Rating: :)



Sugar Rush Cereal bars: These look a little ugly, but they are a gooey and sweet treat. The cereal in question is a crispy corn cereal, suggested is either Cap'n Crunch or Gorilla Munch. The Cap'n has never made it to our shores, but I was able to find some Gorilla Munch. The box was a little less than the 12 ounces required, which probably added to the gooey-ness! As well as cereal, these have butter, marshmallows, and chocolate clips.
Rating: :)



Red Eye Treats: These have coffee in it, so I was making them for a friend. I only tried a bit, as I don't coffee, and I did find the coffee taste to be quite strong. Though I didn't have any coffee powder, only coffee granules, so they may not have melted into the mixture quite as well. I didn't want to buy coffee, so I just used whatever Mum had in the cupboard. This also had peanut butter, puffed rice, and lots of syrups.
Rating: :| (but my friend liked them, I just don't like coffee taste much)



Graham Cracker Cake: Well, really a Digestive Biscuits Cake, but whatever. Delicious! Biscuit crumbs are part of the cake mixture, which is then topped with Dandies and baked. The recipe says to bake for 30 minutes, the I needed 50 minutes. The Dandies came out of the oven puffed up and quite hard, but then they softened overnight. An excellent treat.
Rating: :D



Peanut Butter Rocky Road Pound Cakes: I made these for a bake sale, and they were well received! The recipe says it makes 8 mini-loaves. I only have 6 mini-loaf pans, so for the rest I used a Texas-style muffin tin (which took the same quantity of batter)... and I still got 12. 8 loaves would be pretty big! There was meant to be dandiesin the batter, but in a tragic twist something ate into my bag of Dandies. Devestation, so I had to leave it out of the batter but was able to put some on top of each portion. The muffins took 35 minutes to bake, and the loaves 30 minutes.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim is shocked. Shocked, I tell you. This photo was taken shortly after I manually removed some calculus from her tooth (read, cracked it off using my thumbnail), and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it!

Eating Out: Brisbane Vegan Markets April 2018

Another second Sunday of the month, another morning Brisbane Vegan Market! I couldn't eat too much this time, as I was having some appetite issues due to some medication. But I still tried my best!

Starting off with my beloved Green Street Foods! They had a new menu item, The Aussie Burger. A homemade bun (that is GF), beetroot ketchup, lettuce, tomato, caramelised onion, a Veef patty, cheese, and pineapple relish. It was delicious! The only logistical problem was that the ketchup soaked through the bottom bun and it broke in half pretty quickly, so I had to finish eating it with a fork.



I also got a large Apple, Mint, Ginger, and Lime juice from a lemonade stall there.



I wasn't feeling too hungry after that, so I went straight for dessert at I Should Coco. The special of the month was 'Cloudy With A Chance of Sprinkles' - white chocolate, marshmallows, and sprinkles. I asked for mine with regular chocolate sauce, so I have dubbed it 'Stormy With A Chance of Sprinkles'.



I rallied a little bit after that, and had some Tofu Satay Skewers from Malaysia Nonya House.



My friends also ordered from Green Street Foods, including two favourites - Mac and Cheese, and the Krabby Burger. Tracee also got some bao from Nonya House - one satay, and one 'super vegan'.







For my take home treat, I deviated from the norm. I am not normally one for cupcakes, but I do like supporting new vegan businesses. Pippa's Pantry was having their first markets, and had a lovely array of cupcakes. I picked a Jam Doughnut, and it is the best cupcake I have had in a long time... maybe ever. The cake part was sweet, vanilla, and moist. The icing was not too sweet, and balanced by the jam and a perfect coating of crunchy cinnamon sugar. Delicious!



I won't be going to the May markets, because that is the same morning as Eurovision. So I will be up early, live tweeting, and ready to vote for that! But I should be back to the markets in June.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



She has a bit of a curious face on because of the camera, but before I took the photo this little chocolate delight was a silent ball of rage, disgusted at the fact that she had to stay in boarding and was not at home. So cute in her fury! She mellowed out by the end of the two days she stayed with us.

Cruelty Free Shop April 2018 Vegan Mystery Box

This is the second last box of my 6 month subscription, time goes so fast. Can you believe that we are in April already? You can order your very own box here. Let's see what was in the April box!

• Go Organic Chocolate Ginger Chews: Pretty excited for these, and they are pretty great! Chewy with a nice blend of chocolate and ginger flavours, including that ginger heat that I love.
• Melinda's Chocolate Fudge Mug Brownie: I've had these before, and they are nice. A very quick dessert when the craving hits!
• Nature's Charm BBQ Jackfruit: Now I don't even need to cook jackfruit before I add it to a sandwich! The future it now.
• Nakd Berry Delight Bar: I have been a big fan of Nakd bars for several years. This is my second favourite flavour (the first is Rhubarb Custard).
• Happy Caramel Popcorn: Regular readers will know that I am not a huge fan of either popcorn or caramel, however the caramel flavour on this comes entirely from brown sugar, and I do like brown sugar.
• Coconut Choc Chip Clif Bar: I am a die hard peanut butter fan when it comes to Clif Bars. The other flavours are just always too sweet and not quite what I want them to be. Another reason I stick to the peanut butter flavour is that the chocolate chips in Clif Bars are not FEP approved.
• Sweet William Easter Bunny Face: I just hate Sweet William chocolate with a fiery passion. I gave this too my dad.
• Riega Veggie Fajita Seasoning: We got the Dal version of this in last month's box. I am planning on cooking up some veggies for a lunch with this at some point, hoping that the chili in it is very mild!
• Moo Free Easter Bunny: I am meh on this brand of chocolate, but at least it is FEP approved!

So, definitely not as good as last month's box. Though that was one of the greatest boxes ever! Still, a couple of things I am happy for, the rest I am a bit meh on. I hope next month finishes up strong!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sometimes at work, we make our own fun.

Recipe Round-Up: Greens 24/7

How about some more greens? I do love greens! I was pretty excited to find a copy of Greens 24/7 by Jessica Nadel on sale for $10 at one of those book stands in the middle of shopping centres. They actually had quite a few vegan cookbooks there, which was nice to see! And I had a nice chat to the sale person about vegan food. So all around good. This book is filled with recipes highlighting greens, with chapters including Smoothies and Breakfasts, Green Sides and Small Bites, Green Soups and Salads, Green Main Meals, and Green Cakes and Desserts. I have made a lot of the smoothies, of course, so I hope you will indulge me with this post that is half smoothies!

Tropical Green Smoothie: This is sweet and tropical, with mango and banana. The liquid is meant to be a mix of pineapple juice and water, though I used a blend leftover juice from some tinned pineapple and coconut water.
Rating: :)



Chocolate Superfood Smoothie: This smoothie needed to be colder and thicker for my preference, the only frozen thing in it was banana. It gets its name from raw cacao powder, cinnamon, chia, maca, and a sprinkle of raw cacao nibs.
Rating: :)



Cherry-'Kale' Quencher Smoothie: I used spinach instead of kale, I am just not a huge fan of a lot of kale in smoothies. This is a tart and refreshing smoothie, and perfectly cold and thick if you use frozen cherries like I did/ I reduced the amount of avocado in it to 1/4, rather than a 1/2, because too much avocado in smoothies makes me feel a little queasy. This uses coconut water and pomegranate juice as the liquid, making it an excellent post hot yoga breakfast.
Rating: :)



Back to Basics Green Smoothie: This is pretty much similar to my regular smoothie mix, though using strawberries instead of mango. I used all frozen fruit, to make it cold and thick.
Rating: :)



Peachy Keen Green Smoothie: This smoothie was so yummy! Peaches, celery, cos, and banana make a creamy and sweet delight. The recipe needs a small amount of apricot juice, and I didn't feel like buying a whole big tin of nectar, so I just soaked some dried apricot in water overnight and added that. I could taste the lettuce a bit in the aftertaste, but overall it was superb.
Rating: :D



Bubble and Squeak: This is a mix of mashed potatoes in cabbage that is fried, baked on the stove, and then grilled. Mine didn't really get firm or crispy enough to slice and serve, I had to scoop. Though I don't have a cast-iron pan, which may have contributed. I would have liked some more cabbage in it, but I will never complain about lots of potato! It said is serves four, I got three serves as a side to some scrambled tofu.
Rating: :)



'Spicy' Peanut Noodle Bowl: Of course, I left out most of the spicy, using just a small bit of sriracha to bring a gentle heat. I also decreased the amount of soba from 450g to 180g, and added 200g of Japanese marinated tofu, which gave 3-4 serves. I changed the order of events a little. I blended the sauce before cooking the noodles, then stir-fried scallions and tofu, added the cooked noodles and greens (broccoli, snow peas), added the sauce, and then cooked through to head.
Rating: :)



Ginger Bok Choy and Sweet Peas with Miso-Glazed Tofu: This attracted my attention immediately - miso and tofu are two of my favourite things. The tofu is smothered in a miso and mirin mixture, then grilled. It is meant to be 450g tofu sliced into 12 slices, though I found I only had enough of the glaze to cover 8 or 9 slices, so I made some more. The end taste is subtle, but nice. I couldn't find snap peas, so I used snow peas, and I served it over an ancient grains blend rather than just quinoa.
Rating: :)



Creamy Spinach Curry With Tofu Paneer: This is so simple and fast to make, and very tasty. The saucy sauce is a mix of pureed tinned tomatoes, light coconut milk (the recipe called for full fat, but given my coconut fat sensitivity I only ever use light), and spices. Tofu cubes (I used a medium-firm tofu, and 250g rather than 175g) are simmered, before spinach is added. I couldn't find any bunches of spinach, so I used all baby spinach leaves. Served over brown basmati rice, that soaks up all the sauce.
Rating: :D



Moroccan Tagine with Apricot Couscous: This is a big mix of vegetables, chickpeas, and spices that is served over couscous soaked with diced dried apricots and cinnamon. I had to add some extra water to the vegetables for the simmering time to get everything soft. It was a lovely combination of ingredients, though I wish ths sauce just had a little bit more depth.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



This sweet girl is a boarder at work. She loves to go 'blep'!