Midweek munchies

These are all things from a while ago, but are all potential things that could be bought and stored in case of needing to self quarantine. So I'll consider this post doing my public duty. ;)

I love Hawiian Pizza and was excited to find this frozen pizza in a shop... very expensive but at least I got it on a 20% off day? I had high hopes, as it seemed to be made out of the same address as an excellen vegan pizza shop in Melbourne. But... it was meh, sad to say. The crust was underwhelming, and the topping was just fine. Save your $$$, there are better frozen pizzas around.





Want chips in a hurry but don't want to turn on the oven? Why not a box of these microwave chips! They taste kind of like what you would expect microwave chips to taste like, and they were not exactly crunchy. But I guess in desperate times, you might take potato in any form you can.



Here is a microwave roasted sweet potato, stuffed with curry scrambled tofu and finished off with some BBQ sauce. I love shelf stable blocks of silken tofu, they can be used at a moment's notice!



I found this chickpea fettuccine lurking in the fresh pasta section, helpfully labeled vegan. I had it with a creamy sauce (see here), and it was pretty nice. Heavier than regular flour fettuccine, as you'd expect, but very satisfying.



I was curious to try these Vegie Delight's Meatless Meatballs You bake them in the oven before serving, I served mine of some spaghetti and tomato sauce. They are tasty, but not really meatballs. They have a more falafel kind of texture to them.





Some Daiya Cheddar Mac and Cheese. Sadly my stash of Daiya mac and cheese is all gone, so I won't be eating that if I need to stay in. But on the other hand, it is very expensive and I don't love it that much. I mixed through some baby spinach and peas here, and topped it with some sauteed Field Roast breakfast links.



And finally, some ice blocks. I was excited about strawberry ice blocks, but turns out these are not worth getting excited about. The flavour is not very strong, and the paper wrapping often stuck to the ice block so much that I would have to rince the ice block under warm water to scrape it off! But don't worry, I'll have some good strawberry ice block news in an upcoming post!



Stay safe my bubs! Here is a nice photo from the end of last year of our Christmas Bush in bloom.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sitting on my pillow of a morning, getting herself ready for the day. She had just emerged from under the covers.

Eating Out: The Green Edge

Hello friends. It is some ancious making times at the moment. I hope everyone is staying safe and taking whatever precautions you need to for your own health, both physical and mental. So.... probably I won't be eating out much in the near future. But because I am far behind on blogging, I still have weeks of eating out content to share with you.

Some more delicious meals at Brisbane's most awesome vegan grocery shop and cafe, The Green Edge.

A while ago The Green Edge revamped their breakfast menu, including some housemade poached eggs. I don't miss eggs, I don't like really eggy things, and yet I keep trying vegan eggs at cafes. I started off with the Eggs Benni, and I am happy to say that the eggs are great! They are fun and have an oozy yolk in the middle, but do not have that super eggy taste or texture that I don't miss. So if you are after a super realistic egg experience, no. But for me, yay! As well as the eggs, it had avocado and ham on English muffins, covered in a lovely Hollandaise sauce. And I got a hash brown on the side, of course. And a turmeric latte. A wonderful breakfast!







On my next visit, I was keen to try out their Croque Madame special. Ham and cheese sourdough smothered in a delicious cheesy sauce and served with an egg. This was savoury and decadent. I finished it off with a lovely iced chocolate with soy whip, and got a delicious housemade cinnamon bun to take away.







If you can't stay to eat, but still need to grab something for later, they also have some salads and wraps in their cabinet. My favourite is the Chicken Caesar Salad, which has salty chicken, bacon, croutons, parmesan, and an amazing Caesar dressing.



Back to eating in again, one day it was raining but hot and steamy. I don't like this, I want it to be cool when it rains. Thankfully, The Green Edge has great air conditioning, so I could sit inside watching the rain outside and pretend it was a chilly day. And what better on a chilly, rainy day then a hot chocolate with marshmallows and some mac and cheese? With the most amazing Jam Doughnut Blondie for afterwards.







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

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



In these shitty times, please enjoy this photo of Dim Sim with her crossy paws.

Recipe Round-Up: Yellow Rose Recipes

Another Recipe Round-Up debut! Yellow Rose Recipes, by Joanna Vaugh, is a cookbook I picked up many years ago when I was in Portland, I had never seen it anywhere else. I don't think it is print anymore (though you can buy used copies on Amazon). I have only featured one recipe from here on the blog before. Another book that has suffered some neglect, but then I brushed it off and went to town!

Penne Alfredo and Cajun Crusted Tofu: The alfredo has some cashews in it, though is thickened with a roux. The instructions are to mince the cashews as finely as possible, I just blended them with some of the soy milk to get them smooth. This has a lot of fresh parsley, and then the option for fresh or dry rosemary or dill, I used dried dill for mine. 250g penne was the right amount for the sauce. The sauce was a little sweet, it needed som emore salt added, but it was pleasant and creamy. The tofu was a bit of a letdown. The recipe tells you to make a whole batch of cajun spice (I left out the cayenne and decreased the pepper), but then you only use 2 TBS of it for the tofu (one in the soymilk dip and one in the cornmeal coating), which basically meant all the flavour was lost. The picture in the book shows it nice and red, but as you can see mine were pretty pale. I think you need a much higher spice to cornmeal ratio to get some flavour in, you'll have plenty of spice mix!). I also baked it rather than broiled it, and it ended up a bit dry. I think more flavour in the coating, and pan frying it in plenty of oil will make this a lot better.
Rating: Alfredo :) , Tofu :|



Cherry Almond Granola: I used to buy this Apple Crumble granola that I loved, but I've recently become tired of it so I am embarking on a granola making quest. I made a half batch of this granola, which still made heaps! This is a protein-packed granola, if you are into that sort of thing. You melt down brown sugar, soy milk powder (or protein powder if you prefer, it also specified vanilla but my soymilk powder was plain), some sweetners and oil, and mix it into the dry stuff. It is a fun blend of rolled oats, amaranth (which makes it super crunchy!), pepitas (which I used instead of whole flax seeds, I know they are completely differen), cherries, and almonds. I also used vanilla rather than almond extract. Even though this was a half recipe, it still filled my whole baking sheet and was quite thick. This is baked at 190dC, which seems higher than other granolas, and even with stirring by the time it got to the end of the suggested cooking time it was a touch overdone, though thankfully not burnt, so I would say go careful with the baking time and temperature on this one! I guess if you made a full batch (which surely would need more than one pan?) it would need the longer time. Great with yoghurt and berries.
Rating: :)



Taco Salad: I love a taco salad! This one uses a wonderfully seasoned TVP mince (I left out the chili and upped the paprika in the seasoning mix), and also has kidney beans - so it will fill you up! All the usual suspects are there - lettuce, tomatoes, olives, coriander, avocado. And topped with some Tofutti sout cream (there is also a sour cream recipe in the book if you like). Not pictured, but also served with some corn chips on the side because those are the rules of taco salads.
Rating: :)



Sesame Green Beans: This is a lovely, simple side dish. I made a quarter of the recipe as I was just serving myself, along with some rice and some tofu. The sesamy comes from both sesame oil and sesame seeds (I used black because I had some to use up and also I think black sesame seeds look super pretty). I left out the optional cayenne, but used the option almonds. I would suggest that the almonds are absolutely not optional, as they added a lovely crunch and flavour.
Rating: :)



Pasta e Fagioli: I am always a fan of this simple pasta and beans dish. This has some lovely flavours, with a great tomato based source with loads of seasonings and herbs. White beans are the 'fagioli' component, and also it has some baby spinach mixed in. Topped with some vegan parmesan (recipe in the book), or in my case, just some nutritional yeast.
Rating: :)



Thai Bowl: Unfortunately the sauce for this bowl was overwhelmingly lime-y, all the lovely peanut butter and other flavours were lost. The bowl itself was a nice mix of rice boodles, vegetables (I used carrot,zucchini, broccoli, no cucumber because I don't like warm cucumber and I was serving it hot initially, bean sprouts), and some Japanese marinated tofu that I added. If making yourself, I would suggest increasing the peanut butter and decreasing the lime juice in the dressing so it isn't so one note.
Rating: :|



Sloppy Joannas: There are all sorts of ways to make a vegan sloppy joe, but my favourite ones are always the ones that use TVP. TVP is awesome! I didn't have any tinned tomato puree, so I mixed some tomato paste with warm water, and added a splash of ketchup as it was salt-free so was a bit bitter. I served these with some sweet potato fries. They were tasty, but definitely a lunch rather than a dinner as they didn't fill me up for long.
Rating: :)



Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Bars: I made a half batch of these in an 8 x 8 inch pan. These are based mostly on brown rice flour, with a few other gluten free friends through in. I made these for a bake sale, but I don't remember when! My major change was I used vanilla soy yoghurt instead of blended silken tofu, and decreased the amount of vanilla essence by half. They were a tad on the soft side, probably due to this, but were still lovely.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Over the last couple of months, I have had the anniversary of both Gizmo's and Sahara's passing. And I know when I posted about them I mentioned lighting a candle. I thought I might show you that candle. It is a rose quartz candle holder, so when you light the candle it glows beautifully warm and pink. I light it every year on their anniversaries, and their birthdays. Sometimes I light it for other kitties as well. If you ever want me to light it for your cat (be it for an anniversary, or for good thoughts if they are ill), let me now and I will.

Cruelty Free Shop March 2020 Vegan Mystery Box

Another month, another delivery of my CFS Vegan Mystery Box! Let's take a peek.

• LoveRaw Butter Cups - Cookie Dough: Always lovely to see something raw without coconut oil! I've already had these and they were nice, but peanut butter cups forever.
• Happy Turtle Organic Cotton & Bamboo Cotton Buds: Compostable cotton buds! I had a box from a different company that was almost empty... the day that I got this box I had just been and replaced them. And then I got home to more cotton buds! Anyway, very happy to have more and I am now well stocked for cotton buds.
• The Carob Kitchen Vegan Banjo Bear: Can people stop trying to make carob happen? Just gimme chocolate. Look, I did eat this and to be fair it didn't taste like mud. However that was because it was full of so many other sweeteners and weirdness that it just tasted... like empty sweetness. Blah.
• Nature's Charm Banana Blossom in Brine: Thankfully they included a recipe for a paella using these, because I still have the tin in my cupboard that they sent in a mystery box last year! Most recipe I have found involve deep frying them which I just do no want to do. Has anyone had much experience with these? I've used them once to make a bowl from Wicked Healthy, but nothing else.
• x50 Cauliuflower Chips - Sea Salt: Yay for savoury snacks!
• Go Organic Fruit Chews: These look like little vegan Starbursts (though I think Starbursts are vegan somewhere in the world)? Anyway, chewy fruity fun.
• Gluten Free Food Co Mac N Cheez - Chilli: Gave this to my mac and cheese loving friend who doesn't mind chilli.
• Koja Peanut Butter Bar - Choc Chip Crunch: I haven't had this year, but as it is peanut butter I have high hopes!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Another family portrait! This one was a commission by Mighty Pigeon Art, who does wonderful portraits like this, as well as amazing individual pet portraits! Check her out.

Eating Out: Dominos

Technically this is an Eating In, because all of these pizzas were either picked up or delivered to eat at home. Pizza! Yes, Australian pizza places are falling over themselves to have vegan options these days. It started with Crust and Pizza Capers, though their use of coconut-oil heavy BioCheese meant that I wasn't a fan. Then Dominos made their vegan range, blessedly offering my very favourite Follow Your Heart cheese. The one thing about Dominos is that you couldn't customise the vegan pizzas, they come as is. But you can make you own pizza using vegan cheese, which I did once before.

Their initial range of vegan pizzas were vegetable based, and there was only one that I could have (ie, no capsicum or chili, seeing as I couldn't customise the pizza to remove it), and that was the Margherita. But I like a Margherita, so that was still a good option. Particularly if work was ordering pizza for lunch, that was what I would get. Additionally, while their garlic bread has been vegan for a long time, they introduced a Cheese Garlic Bread that is the bomb.



Then they took the step we needed, that no other mainstream pizza company had done, and added plant based meats. THANK YOU! So, the plant based meat pizzas can be either vegetarian or vegan, so you need to make sure you specify that you want vegan! Of course I had to race off to try the Hawaiian (pineapple on pizza forever!) and the Loaded Burger. I love Hawaiian Pizza, though I prefer it with black olives added because that takes it to the next level. Trust me and try it. But the Loaded Burger ended up being my favourite! Vegan beef, cheese, red onion, and tomato, topped with a special sauce.





The above two pizzas I picked up, because delivery was somehow more than twice the coast of pick up. WHAT? Yuck. But then Dominos had a special for $15 delivery of any pizza, including the vegan range. So I ordered the Vegan Plant-Based Beef and Onion. This is a simple pizza, with BBQ sauce, vegan beef crumbles, red onion, and cheese. But it was so delicious. We also got some of their vegan cheesy bread, of course.





Dominos is definitely kicking it out of the park for vegans. Recently, Pizza Hut started offering vegan cheese as well (stay tuned for that post), but Dominos remains my favourite. However I noticed looking at their menu online, it is very hard to find the vegan options, and seems to only list the cheese bread... and now they only seem to have a few of the plant based meat ones available as vegan... I am not sure why you cannot just switch the cheese to vegan cheese? I shall investigate and report back! This is their current vegan options page.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Harriet and Billy Bob... this photo is not any better than the last! Silly kitties!!!!

Recipe Round-Up: World Vegan Feast

World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan is one of those books that I bought and then it languished on my shelf for years, unused. In fact, I have only blogged about one recipe from it before! Why? Possibly in part because some of the recipes are fairly involved? But since I dusted it off last year and challenged myself to cook from it, I don't know what took me so long. There are loads of amazing recipes! Here's some of what I have been enjoying.

Multi-Grain Sushi Salad: This uses a blend of short grain rice (it said brown rice, I just used regular white sushi rice) and toasted millet as the grains. I cooked these int he rice cooker for ease. The rice is tossed in a mix of vinegar, salt,and sugar (I left out the optional vinegar), and the book gives a huge suggestions for additions. I added some grated carrot, chopped cucumber and celeray, and some Japanese marinated tofu. Topped off with some pickled ginger, soy sauce, and nori strips. Served over chopped cos, this was a lovely and refreshing dinner.
Rating: :D



Fresh Pineapple-Noodle Stir-Fry: This is a mix of portabello mushrooms, seitan or tofu (I used a 200g pack of Japanese marinated tofu), silverbeet, and of course pineapple. The noodles in question are spaghetti. I left out the sriracha from the sauce, which also had a lot of ginger and some molasses and lime. The sauce was a bit of the too sour side, and needed some sweetness added to it.
Rating: :|



Singapore Noodles: I love Singapore Noodles, but a lot of places make it too hot with the curry powder for me to eat it. At home I can control it myself. This recipe is based on vermicelli rice noodles, and has broccoli, carrot, zucchini, celery (which I used in place of capsicum), and green onions in it. It also calls for seitan/tofu/soy curls and also some smoked tofu/vegan seafood. I used a 200g packet of Japanese marinated tofu and some thick slices of Just Add... Vegan Ham. I changed the order of stir-frying to go sliced spring onions, then I added ginger and garlic, then I added all the veggies, then I added tofu. I also decreased the curry powder from 2 tsps to 1/2 tsp of mild curry powder. Served over baby spinach, I got three serves.
Rating: :)



Japanese Pan-Fried Noodles: Yes I like noodles! This is a version of yakisoba, the fried Japanese noodle dish. It uses soba noodles, carrot, cabbage, and seitan/tofu/soy curls. Can you guess what I used? Yes, a 200g packet of Japanese marinated tofu. I love that stuff. The sauce uses vegan worcestershire sauce, and there is a recipe in the book for it, but I just used some I had bought. I found it a bit bland overall, some added soy sauce certainly perked it up.
Rating: :)



Peruvian Squash and Vegetable Stew: I made a half recipe of this, which gave me 2-3 serves, and only needed a shorter 15 minute simmer to be ready compared to the full amount. I used butternut squash, and the stew is also filled with tomatoes, corn, and peas. I took the option of adding some shredded cheese (I used FYH mozzarella), and topped it with some black olives. I also added some baby spinach into the stew itself, because greens. Served over some rice. It has a really lovely flavour. I am just a bit confused by its inclusion in the Beans Around The World chapter, because there are no beans in it!
Rating: :)



General Tso's Stir-Fry: I made a half recipe of this to serve two people, but really it was more like one serve. I'd say a full recipe would serve two, not four. I used some of my precious soy curls stash in my freezer for this. Once reconstituted (I used some chicken style stock for that), they are marinaded in a mix of cornstarch, sherry and mushroom oyster sauce (there is a recipe for this in the book, I used bottled). They are stir-fried with some ginger and garlic (I left out the chile), and then soy and vinegar based sauce is added. I served this over some rice and spinach. The taste was good, though I would have preferred a bigger serve!
Rating: :)



Crispy Tofu with Olives and Corn-Tomato Relish: This takes one of the base recipes for the book - crispy marinated tofu slices - and turns it into a lovely summery meal.The tofu is marinated, coated with seasoned flour, and fried until crispy. It is topped with a lovely summery relish, which includes a lovely dose of fresh basil and salty olives. The corn and tomatoes are broiled/grilled to give a great flavour. I made a half recipe for this, which gave two small serves. It says you can serve it hot, room temp, or cold, I went with hot and served it with some smashed baked potatoes and roasted zucchini.
Rating: :)



Braised Baby Bok Choy and Shiitake Mushrooms: I turned this side dish into a main dish by adding, you know that I love it, a Japanese marinated tofu. This uses dried shiitakes that you reconstitute, which is nice if you can't get fresh ones. I chopped my baby bok choy rather than slicing it, and I cooked the stems with the mushrooms and added the greens at the end. This is a simple dish, but very tasty. Served over rice.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Several weeks ago, I shared a photo on here of two sweet little grey and white adoption kittens, sleeping angelically. I wanted to get a photo of them a bit more grown up for you. Hahahahaha. They say they do not sit still for the camera! I would try and sneak up on them sleeping, but as soon as they caught wind, hello! Please enjoy a blurry photo of Harriet (white and grey) and Billy Bob (grey and white).

Midweek Munchies (Supermarket Edition)

A bit of a different one this week, more a photo dump of some vegan things I have seen at supermarkets. A while a go I posted a photo dump of fun things available in Coles. Woolworths was dragging behind, but they have since caught up big time. So most of these photos are from Woolworths, with a couple from Coles and one from IGA. And since I took these photos, there is even more available!! I'll put the supermarket where I saw them, but some are available at multiple places. Enjoy this random quick vegan tour through the Australian supermarket shelves!

Woolworths



















Coles







IGA



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Incase you were wondering, clinic boy Jed is still living his best life, legs in the air and belly up.