Recipe Round-Up: Chloe's Kitchen

Hello! Everything is terrible but I have to keep on going, so how about we dip into the next cookbook to do a round-up of? The book is Chloe's Kitchen, but Chloe Choscarelli, and you can see more of my posts about this book here.

Pasta Alfredo with Roasted Lemon-Olive Oil Asparagus: The alfredo recipe is actually for Fettuccine, but I didn't have any long pasta so I used some spirals. This is a wonderful cashew based sauce, that thickens up beautifully for whatever pasta you are serving it with. There is the option to add miso, which of course I did. I don't know what it would be like without it but I would not leave it out! I made a half recipe of the sauce and mixed it with 200g of spiral pasta and some spinach for 2 serves. I served it alongside the roasted asparagus. The original recipe is for grilling, but I went with the roasting option. This is very simple but lovely.
Rating: Alfredo :), Asparagus :)



Lemon-Dill Dip: I love dill! And this sauce is delicious. It is based on silken tofu, and I definitely added extra dill. I did not have the energy to make the crispy potato-leek patties this sauce goes with, so I served it on top of some roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, and tofu. This sauce will be a star no matter how you use it.
Rating: :D



Roasted Cauliflower Curry with Cilantro-Tamarind Sauce: This curry is meant to be stuffed into samosas, but I didn't feel like making dough, so I just served it straight up with the dipping sauce over spinachand rice. If doing it this way, I recommend cutting WAY back on the mustard seeds, and adding more salt. The cilantro-tamarind dipping sauce was lovely and sweet and tangy, I left out the scallions.
Rating: Curry :|, Sauce :)



Apricot-Mustard Sauce: Again, another recipe where I made the sauce but not the rest! Rather than making wontons from scratch, I used some ready made gyoza. The sauce is super simple, just apricot jam and mustard mixed together. I used St Dalfours jam, which is sweetened with fruit not sugar, but even so the sauce needed way more mustard and a lot less jam. As written, it kind of tastes like dipping your wontons straight into jam.
Rating: :|



California Chop Salad with Agave-Lime Vinaigrette: This salad is full of seasoned black beans, lettuce, tomato, quino, and avocado. I left out the raw onion and added extra coriander. This was a lovely fresh combination, especially when combined with the slightly sweet, slightly sour agave-lime dressing. A full recipe of this claims to serve four as a meal, but it really serves two people for a light meal.
Rating: :)



Wasabi Sesame Noodle Salad: I love soba noodle salads when the weather is hot. This has a lovely dressing, though the wasabi flavour is pretty mild even after I left out the sriracha. Add more wasabi if you like it stronger. You can pretty much add whatever you want to this salad, I used the suggested cucumber and carrot, left out the scallions, and also added tofu and celery.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I don't think I've shared these yet, but a while ago I had some super cute little portraits of my girls done by the fabulous artist Cloris Creates. This was Dim Sim's portrait done in her very cute style.

Dad's Birthday 2022

It was my dad's birthday at the start of the month, and as always I made him a dinner of his choosing.

Cauliflower & Tofu Red Curry from The Australian Women's Weekly Vegan In 30 Minutes: Dad requested some sort of Thai curry, with the understanding that any sort of curry I make will be extremely mild. This was a very simple dinner to make! I still used some Thai red curry paste, but waaaayyyy less than the 1/3 cup called for, I used more like a dollop. I also used a mix of light coconut milk and oat milk rather than full fat coconut milk so I didn't get sick. This curry was full of tofu puffs, cauliflower, zucchini, and green beans, and I also added some baby spinach. Served over some jasmine rice, I got almost 6 serves from this.
Rating: :)



Mandarin Orange Upside-Down Cake from Celebrate Vegan by Dynise Balcavage: This cake uses tinned mandarins, drained very well, in a dark-sugar glaze as a fun twist on an upside down cake. The batter contains orange blossom water, which gives a lovely flavour. I did find that my glaze hardened up a bit as it cooled, but it thankfully didn't turn into a thick unbreakable toffe. I lovely flavoured cake.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Boo is not very good at staying still for the camera!

Eating In: An Assortment

Here's to more food that I have had delivered or got as takeaway!

Vapiano is an Italian chain that has some vegan options, so one night I tried the Vegan Bolognese. I got them to add some vegan cheese, which ended up being four shreds of something, so I added some FYH parmesan to it at home. This was a huge serving, I got two meals out of it, and was a very rich meaty bolognese sauce. I don't remember what they used for the bolognese, and it is off the menu now, but it was some sort of vegan mince.



This Tofu Bun (noodle salad) from Pho Hung Vietnamese looked great, but the tofu was way over fried so that it was nothing but a harsh serrated crisp that wripped up my mouth. It was very sad.



I love tofu and vegetables, and this is the Tofu and Vegetables with Fried Noodles from Kingsfood, a place we've ordered from a number of times before.



Sometimes you just feel like a big dinner of fried beige food! I had ordered from Parmi House before, which has several vegan options. This time I ordered the Vienna Schnitzel, which was meant to come with fries and large serving of kraut... there was no kraut! There was bacon and cheese. So who knows what they were thinking. At least it was all vegan still!



To finish off, here is something very different from fried beige food - a poke bowl! I love ordering from Cheeki! They have a couple of vegan bowls, or you can make your own! I don't even remember what I put in this except that it had tofu, marinated mushrooms, black rice, steamed greens (which came on the side because they couldn't fit them in the bowl), broccoli, avocado, and fried shallots. And undoubtedly a lot more underneath! I also always get a fun kombucha from them, like this Blueberry Sour. This brand does have stevia in it, blergh, but I cannot taste it, so yay.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



What are you looking so alarmed about Boo?? What have you seen??

Yule 2022

Here we are in winter in Australia, and actually having a period of reasonable chill here in Brisbane! So while my northern hemisphere friends are sweating through what seems like an atrocious summer, we are in our cold times. And June is the time for the sabbat celebration of Yule, the shortest day of the year. You can see my other posts about celebrating different sabbats though food here.

Yule aka Winter Solstice (21st of June, 2022)

You can easily serve a lot of what people would consider Christmas-themed food during Yule, as aspects of it have been co-opted into traditions of Christmas, but I like to celebrate with really good, hearty comfort food.

Winter Stew from One Pot: Three Ways by Rachel Ama: One of my newer books, that you will be hearing more from. But I knew I wanted to make this wonderful winter stew for Yule from the moment I saw it. A stew of carrots, shallots, mushrooms (I used shiitake as I couldn't get oyster mushrooms), tomatoes, and sweet potato with red wine and herbs. A quick prep on the stove, and then a nice long bake in the over!



Mashed Potatoes & Long-Stem Broccoli: The premise of this book is you make the base recipe, and then there are three different ways you can use it. I went with this classic winter comfort combo of serving it with mashed potatoes (made with butter, nutritional yeast, and seasoning), and sauteed broccolini. It was everything wonderful and comforting in a bowl.
Rating: :)



Rich Winter Ragu with Pasta: Slipping this in here, even though I made it a couple of days later. This is simply leftover stew simmered and served with pasta. The recipe calls for pappardelle, I used fettucini. I also added some chopped facon and peas to it. This was such a great way to make a quick meal after leftovers.
Rating: :)



Spiced Cider from Cafe Flora Cookbook: Bringing us back to Yule dinner proper, I made this wonderful warmed cider. Cloudy apple juice is simmered with whole spices, then allowed to sit for several hours for the flavours to meld. After straining, you can serve it hot or cold. I went with hot, given it was a cold night!
Rating: :)



Tamarind Apple Crisp from To Asia With Love by Hetty McKinnon: Apple crumble is a perfect winter dessert, and add in some tamarind? Delightful! I made a half recipe of this for three serves. The apple filling has a hefty dose of tamarind paste added, which brings some lovely sour tang to the rest of the sweet, and it is topped with a lovely oat crisp topping. I served it warm with the very last bit of my So Delicious Cashew Vanilla Ice Cream.
Rating: :)





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Boo continues to enjoy the sunroom on these colder days.

Midweek Munchies

Munchies for the midweek. This post I decided to focus on some recent easy convenience pasta options I have tried out.

I found this packet of creamy vegan mushroom sauce at a Japanese grocery store, and I made a quick dinner with it using a packed of microwave pasta. I added some spinach to the pasta and sauce, and served with some frozen microwaved vegetables and a sprinkle of FYH parmesan. Extremely easy!





I also got a packet of vegan bolognese sauce. I ended up serving this over some leftover brown rice and spinach. I added some peas to the pasta sauce, and again with the FYH parmesant.





An easy peasy dinner using some Coles Vegan Spinach Gnocchi and my favourite stir-through pasta sauce. And yes, FHY parmesan. I followed the direction to pan-fry the gnocchi, rather than boiling them, and this was a game changer! They were so chewy and delicious. I also added some baby spinach to it all.





Finally I tried this new vegan filled pasta from Coles, mushroom agnolotti. It was nice, though the texture of the filling is a bit odd, but a fun option. I basically served it the same way as above, though I added some peas to the mix as well.





Hope you are all hanging in there friends.

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



When you are a cat, everything can be a pillow. Including this cooled down wheat bag that Boo found quite comfortable.

Eating Out: Izakaya Midori

A few months ago a friend and I went down to Izakaya Midori, an amazing vegan Japanese restaurant at the Gold Coast. I like Izakaya Midori because it has covered outdoor seating, which is good when you want to be in a well ventilated area! We also went on a weekday right as they opened, so there were hardly any other people there. The things you need to think about these days. You can see my other posts about this wonderful restaurant here.

We shared the Agadashi Tofu and the Smoked Edamame. I've had the tofu before, and it is lovely. I hadn't had the edamame before because as much as I love them, I can't eat too many without getting gut pain. So it was nice to share them. These had a wonderful smokey sweetness that I adored.



We both go the same main, the Terichiki Don. Their terichiki is really remarkable and delicious! Put into a bowl with rice, salad, and dressing and it is such a wonderful meal.



My additional entree (that's appetiser for my US friends) of the Cheese Canape took a while to prepare, so it came out after the other food. Seared mozzarella with pickles and a miso sauce. The pickles offset the richness of the cheese (which I suspect was made out of a lot of coconut oil) very well! This was fun to try.



We finished off sharing one of the dessert specials, the Crystal Mochi Affogato. I'd been seeing this on Instagram for a while, and I was dying to try it! It had hojicha ice cream, sweet adzuki bean paste, three types of cyrstal mochi (black sesame, red bean, and matcha), and a black sesame latte (no coffee of caffeine, making it Susan friendly). This was amazing and delicious! I'm so glad I got to try it while it was still on the specials.





Of course no trip to a restaurant down at the Gold Coast is complete without stopping by Flour Of Life on the way home to pick up some treats for later (see other posts here). I of course got my favourite Strawberry flan, as well as a passionfruit tart, chocolate custard log, and my new favourite cinnamon sugar snail!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Tucked Boo in with my jumper while she was snoozing on the back of the couch, she was not sure about it.

Mother's Day 2022

Mother's Day is in May in Australia, and as per usual I made my mother a special dinner.

She requested meatballs in Rough Rider BBQ Sauce, a recipe from Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson. This was very easy to make, given that I used Meet Meatballs, cooked through in the pan, and then simmered in the BBQ sauce for a little bit. The BBQ sauce is also very easy to make, and one of the best BBQ sauces I've tried. I served it with some mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and wilted baby spinach for a very easy and lovely comfort food dinner.



For dessert, I made a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. My friend Leigh has been dipping their toe into producing some new mix and match cheesecake kits, so I have been doing some testing for them. They are super easy to make! You get dry mixes for the base, filling, and topping and then you just need to add a few things at home to bake them. You can choose from either ready made combinations, or choose your own! This one was a choose your own, and had a chocolate base, peanut butter filling, and chocolate creme topping.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I know you are here for the kitty photos, so here you go. A return to kitty photos. This is Boo in her favourite spot for winter mornings. The scratching post not only gets the morning sun through the blinds, but is also underneath the heater! Clever girl.

Midweek Munchies

It's wednesday, let's get munching.

I got these bacon slices from Coles. I like that they are square, which makes them very easy for putting on sandwiches! One of the sandwiches I made was a bacon, tofu egg, cheese, and BBQ sauce toasted sandwich.





I had some sauerkraut to use up, and I made this Tahini bowl that I found online. I don't know where though. But it had brown rice, roasted carrot, baby spinach, sauerkraut, and a tahini sauce. I know this was something I made not long after I got home from my hysterectomy, and I was really craving an easy bowl full of veggies and grains. It hit the spot.



Some sweet toasts I made for lunch one day. On the left is dark chocolate spread and fresh peach slices, and on the right is peanut butter and rhubarb vanilla jam. I don't often eat sweet stuff on toast, but this was a good reminder I should do so more often.



I used this Soy and Ginger Poke Bowl rice as a base to a bowl... I just don't remember what I used it with. It was a recipe from a cookbook, I know that. I think with tofu. But anyway, this rice was nicely flavoured and easy to make. One thing I didn't realise is that it is a smaller serving in the packet than the regular pouches of microwave rice you get, so it is pretty small if you are serving two like I was.



I am a huge fan of these Teriyaki Beef Style Gyoza. An even bigger fan when I found them on sale for $2 a box rather than $7! I bought a bunch. I love vegetable and mushroom gyoza, don't get me wrong. But it is fun being able to have a vegan meaty option. I went through a big phase over the warmer months of eating gyoza on top of salad.

Eating In: Noodles, Drinks, Tofu

I am still not doing great, no surprises. Are any of us? But I find that blogging is something I can make myself do, that is something to do, that isn't just staying in bed or dissociating in front of the TV. So here we are again! An assortment of food I either had as take away or got delivered.

This refreshing drink was an Oolong Lychee with Aloe from Gong Cha. It was on their Top 10 board, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was perfect on a hot day (this was a few months ago). I don't often get drinks from them if I am at Garden City, because the line is normally super long, but I managed to get them at a rare quiet spot.



Wok in a Box is a noodle place with vegan options that delivers. This the Vegan Teriyaki Ho Fun Noodles. The servings are HUGE! I wish there was a bit more in the way of veggies and sauce, but it is a good option and I always get leftovers.


A Lemongrass Tofu Bun from Bun, a Vietnamese place. I love their lemongrass tofu, and this is a refreshing option for the hotter months, of which we have many.



I've posted about getting delivery from Kingsfood Chinese before, but here are a couple of their vegan entrees (that's the appetizer, for my US friends). The spring roll is fine. But the fried tofu in garlic sauce is exceptional! A must get!



Kingsfood also has drinks! Here is a Plum Frappe I ordered. I love the sweet and tangy flavour of plum drinks.



Kitsune Udon from Mazri Kitchen is such a lovely bowl of chewy thick udon, tofu pouches, and wonderful broth. They don't always have this available, so when I see it I love to get it.



Another dinner from Wok in a Box. This time I got the black bean sauce, and I got it with rice rather than noodles. I love black bean sauce! Again, I just wish they had a higher proportion of veggies and tofu and sauce.