Yule 2021

Here in Australia, we celebrate the winter solstice in June. While all my US friends are welcoming summer, we are having our shortest day. You can see my other posts about celebrating sabbats here.

Yule aka Winter Solstice (21st of June, 2021)

Traditional Yule food is similar to what might be considered a typical Christmas dinner, given that in the Northern Hemisphere Yule was coopted into Christmas. Food might include roasts, winter vegetables, apples, dried fruits, nuts, warming spices, and certain baked goods (like fruit cake and yule log). But for me these days, Yule food is about cozy winter warming.

Mushroom Miso Barley Soup from Power Plates by Gena Hamshaw: This recipe is easy to make and just perfect for a dark winter night. I always soak my pearled barley overnight to help it cook quicker. This recipe has onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and tofu in it (I used some Soyco Japanese Tofu), as well as barley (or course) and greens (the recipe called for kale, I used baby spinach). I made a half serve, which gave two big servings.
Rating: :)



Apple Butter Drops from Whole Grain Vegan Baking by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes: Winter is made for filling the kitchen with warm baking smells. I meant to make these as the apple ginger variation, but I forgot to add the ginger at the start, so mixed it in to the dough before baking. But I couldn't really taste any ginger. These make big cookies, and they are quite soft. They are not very sweet, so they are great for a snack any time of the day. They are filled with apple butter, and then another dollop of cookie dough is put on top to partially cover.
Rating: :)

Isolation Brunches

Going back in time to those two months I spent on leave from work, isolating away in our house. One of the things I did to try and bring some struction and fun into our lives was a weekly brunch. This also meant, as you will see, that I dug out my waffle maker and had a mighty fine time! I keep forgetting that waffles are so easy to make with this waffle maker. It was also a nice time to get to make some of these sweeter brunch-type recipes that I hardly ever have a good time to make. Since heading back to work, I haven't made brunch once! I need to try and at least find a fun time to do it occasionally.

Old-Fashioned Chelsea Waffles and Brown Sugar Peach Coulis from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: These was so easy to make, and they make a lot. I used half the recipe and got 6 nice fat waffles and one mini one. They are not overly sweet, but I really enjoyed that. I served them with some Brown Sugar Peach Coulis, which allowed me to use up some frozen peaches in my freezer because it certainly was not peach season. I also drizzled it with a bit of sweetened rice cream.
Rating: Waffles :), Coulis :)



Peanut Butter Waffles and Blueberry Ginger Whole Berry Sauce from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: Peanut butter everything! These waffles are filling, and also a bit crunchy because you use crunchy peanut butter. Again, I made a half recipe for 6 waffles. These had a nice peanut buttery flavour, and were not too sweet (again, hurrah!). Served with the Blueberry Ginger variation of the Whole Berry Sauce recipe, which used frozen blueberries and fresh ginger. The fresh ginger gave such a lovely sparkle to the sauce.
Rating: Waffles :), Sauce :)



Raised Waffles with Baked Cinnamon Apples from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: I thought I'd try my hand at these yeasted waffles. You have the option of making them in the morning and letting them rise, or making them the night before and doing a longer rise in the frige overnight. I took the first option. Again, I halved the recipe and got 6 waffles. Mine got very dark on the outside with this recipe, which is different from how they look in the book. It didn't do anything bad to the flavour though. When I pulled these out of the waffle iron, they still seemed a bit soft compared to the others. But once out the crisped up on the outside and have a lovely fluffy inside. I served these with some nice and easy Baked Cinnamon Apples, also from the book.
Rating: Waffles :), Apples :)



Tempeh Bacon from Baconish by Leinana Two Moons: Pancakes, bacon, and fruit, which a combination. The tempeh bacon from Baconish is easy to make and delicious to eat. I had a packed of Melinda's gluten-free pancake mix from an Vegan Mystery Box that I needed to use up, and I am sorry to say that it was not a good time. They tasted funny, the batter was so thick but also so fragile to flip. Thankfully the bacon, some apple slices, and maple syrup saved the day!
Rating for Tempeh Bacon :D



Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton: These pancakes were a bit of a miss, they were quite crumbly and hard to flip. I wonder if my cornmeal was not fine enough? The recipe itself I noted had no sweetener in it, however it did call for vanilla soy milk which is normally sweetened. I didn't have any of that, so I used a blend of plain oat milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract to make my own. I used a 1/3 cup measure as a scoop, and got 6 pancakes. I served this with some Maple Cream, another recipe from the blog that I have made a few times before, and some fresh strawberries.
Rating: :|



Hearty Pancakes with Buckwheat and Blueberries from Power Plates by Gena Hamshaw: These also gave me a bit of trouble with the batter, as it was very thin and if you made the pancakes too big then it would tear when you flipped it. But I found using a 1/4 cup measure as the scoop just perfect. These had a really nice flavour and texture, thanks to the mix of spelt and buckwheat flour. I served these with some runny peanut butter, maple syrup, and sliced strawberries.
Rating: :)



This final brunch, which was actually the first brunch we had chronologically, did not involve any recipes. On my last day of work before I went into isolation, I stopped by Naim to pick up some vegan raspberry croissants. When I got home they went into the freezer and there they stayed until we decided to get brunching! These were lovely. Dusted with a raspberry poweder and filled with raspberry jam, they were a big hit. We happened to have quite a few types of fruit in the house that day, so I mixed up a quick fruit salad with banana, apple, raspberries, grapes, and pawpaw to have with it.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



As well as sleeping with my bamboo contour pillow for bad necks, I have to sleep with a little cushion tucked next to the right side of my head to stop my head from flopping to the side too much while I sleep, thus ruining my neck more. Chronic pain, it's so unfun. But one morning Dim Sim decided that sitting on a little cushion on top of the pillow was the ultimate in comfort. She stayed there for quite a while! Thankfully she doesn't try and take it from me when we are sleeping, because you know I would let her have it no matter the consequences for my neck.

Granola Round-Up

Hello friends, this is a recipe round-up with a difference. Instead of rounding-up recipes from a single book, I am instead rounding-up a type of food from several books. In this case, granola. I have really been on a granola kick of late. I just love me some oats! I started off buying this apple crumble ganola that I loved, I would eat it so often with yoghurt. It was really really good. And then one day, I just didn't enjoy it anymore. *shrug* So I started making my own granola from my recipe books, which is really super easy! I generally halve, third, or even quarter the recipe (some of them make huge amounts) because I have been wanting to try lots of different onces. Granola making and eating has become something I have really been enjoying since I've been isolating. I normally will eat it with yoghurt, fruit, and sometimes a big blob of peanut butter. Also, sorry in advance, I am not very inventive when taking photos of granola.

Macadamia Yoghurt Granola from 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: This is a very subtly flavoured granola, oaty and nutty with a slight sweetness. It is good for using on stronger flavoured yoghurts. I halved the recipe, which made three serves (a serve for me is normally a heaped half cup measure), and I replaced the coconut oil with canola oil.
Rating: :)



Maple Cinnamon Granola from Power Plates by Gena Hamshaw: This is a delicious granola, it is buttery and maply and salty and sweet crunchy and all things good. I made a half recipe, which fit perfectly onto a single baking tray. There are a few options for ingredients, I used wheatgerm (but raw, not toasted), a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, and dried cranberries.
Rating: :D



Fruit-Sweetened Chai-Spiced Granola from Big Vegan by Robin Asbell: This is sweetened using apple juice concentrate, though I only had apple juice, but there is the option to add brown sugar (which I did). I quartered this recipe, for three serves. It has a lovely blend of spices, including black pepper for some warmth, and also has pecans.
Rating: :)



Easy Homemade Granola from 350 Best Vegan Recipes by Deb Roussou: Alas, a disappointing granola. The problem may have been that it had no sweetener, other than orange juice, and it seemed to have far too much liquid when I mixed it all together and then it stayed soggy and pale in the oven for too long. It had a 90 minute baking time, I ended up increasing the heat for the final 30 minutes to get it to brown and crisp up. Also, because it was just orange juice and no sweetener, it didn't get that nice sticky coating. Thankfully I had only made a half recipe of this, because it was underwhelming. It had the usual suspects of almonds, sunflower seeds, and pepitas in it. The spice was cardamom, which was nice, and it had dried blueberries as well.
Rating: :|



DIY Granola from Veganize It by Robin Robertson: This is a nice mix of almonds, coconut, pecans, dried cranberries and blueberries, and spice. It was meant to be cinnamon, but I unexpectedly ran out so I used a mixed spice that was mostly cinnamon with a bit of nutmeg and allspice in it. I made a half recipe of this (which was still 4 cups worth of granola!), and it was done a bit sooner than the baking time if you were making the whole recipe. I think the key to granola is always just to regularly check it in the oven so it doesn't burn.
Rating: :)



Peanut Ginger Berry Golden Oats from The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: This was a lovely warming recipe, thanks to a hefty dose of ground ginger! It is sweetened with brown rice syrup, though I used rice malt syrup, and I also used crushed peanuts as that was what I had on hand (also it is nicer eating smaller bits of crunch I think). You can add any dried berry to it, so I added cranberries. Quite a festive granola with ginger and cranberry. I made the whole recipe of this, as it only made two and a half cups, and I am glad that I did. I did have to bake it for a bit longer in the oven to get it to go nice and brown.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Yes Dim Sim, this looks like a very comfortable way to sleep. But she's got the crocheted blanket, so she is very happy.

Mabon and Samhain 2020

I realised I never got around to posting Mabon, and now Samhain has been and gone, so I will post them together. If you don't know what they are, they are sabbats. And I like to mark them as they occur by making a lovely themed meal. You can see what I have been doing here. You will notice a lot of butternut and apples in both these meals, it is the time for harvest after all!

Mabon aka Autumn Equinox (20th March, 2020)

Mabon may mark the autumn equinox, but it was still pretty summery here. Thank goodness for salads!

Butternut Squash Salad with Quinoa and Pumpkin Seeds from Power Plates by Gena Hemshaw: This lovely salad was autumn in salad form. Roasted butternut is always a huge favourite of mine. This called for red quinoa, which would have looked prettier, but I had a lot of white quinoa so I used that. I made one third of the recipe, which was just a nice serve for dinner. It also has baby spinach (well, technically arugula, but I used spinach because much better), dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. The dressing is a tangy and sweet combination of lemon, sherry vinegar, and maple. I used some water and guar gum instead of oil in the dressing, and I left out the raw shallot.
Rating: :)



For dessert, I took the easy route of microwaving one of these handy vegan apple pies that Nanna now makes! They are very nice, and I love that I can just heat them up from frozen in a couple of minutes to have a delicious pie. The sticky toffee part is not very strong, so it is not too sweet. I jazzed mine up for fun by putting some Miyoko's Smoked Farmhouse cheese on top for a lovely sweet/savoury combination.





Samhain (30th April/1st May 2020)

Years and years ago, when I was Susan the teenage witch, I painstakingly wrote out the sabbats in the Southern Hemisphere, and at the time my research (in the very early ages of the interwebs) advised me that Samhain in the Southern Hemisphere was the 30th of April. But I noticed in more recent research this year it seems to mostly be celebrated on the 1st of May (which is Beltane in the Northern Hemisphere). On the one hand, it makes sense for it to correspond directly to the swap with the Northern Hemisphere, on the other hand Samhain seems to me like it should be at the end of a month, not the beginning. Anyway, it is all symbolic to me so either or. Samhain in the Northern Hemisphere is the 31st of October - which is the night of Halloween! Samhain is consider the new year of the sabbat cycle, and it is also a time for honouring those that have passed. This year, I lit my candle by Sahara and Gizmo's photos. Traditionally you would set an extra plate at the table (and then put it outside for nature to enjoy), and observe the meal in silence. I did eat in silence, but I didn't set an extra plate (and setting an empty plate seemed wrong), as I can just imagine it would have ended up being an ant mound in the morning and I don't think possums and geckos should eat curry.

Pumpkin and White Bean Curry from The Australian Women's Weekly Vegetarian Stir-Fries: This delicious, sweet curry has roasted butternut pumpkin (I'm a fan!), cannelini beans, and uses ready made korma paste (that has no chilli in it, but still has some spice). It called for asparagus, but it is not really the season for that so I used some frozen peas, as well as some baby spinach and some basil (I used some frozen stir-in basil). I served this over some basmati rice, and it was just really nice.
Rating: :)



Autumny Apple Spelt Loaf from Whole Grain Vegan Baking by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes: I didn't make a dessert as such, but I did bake this lovely apple bread. It has apple juice (I used cloudy apple juice in place of apple juice concentrate or apple cider), applesauce, and chopped dried apple, is sweetened with maple syrup, and all the flour is spelt. This has a lovely flavour, and the spelt flour gives it a really nice texture. Great with some peanut butter and cinnamon!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I cannot think of pumpkin without thinking of my sweet pumpkin belly, Sahara. Last year for my birthday, Mum had a beautiful portrait of Dim Sim commissioned and drawn by Papadore Art, and she followed it up with portraits of the rest of our cats as well. This is Sahara's.

VeganMofo 2018 #4: Recipe Round-Up: Power Plates

I have a lot of cookbooks! These days, I am trying to use my current books and be mindful of new books that I purchase, instead of just purchasing whatever new shiny book is coming out. So I didn't get Power Plates (by Gena Hamshaw) straight off the bat. But once I saw some people posting about it on Instagram, I knew that I had to have this book! And I am so glad I did. It is full of so many delicious, beautiful recipes. I've only had it a few weeks, but have already made a bunch of stuff. And I have so many more marked. So let's see what I've been up to.

Curried Tomato Stew with Chickpea Dumplings: I made a half recipe of this, as I was only serving two people, and I indeed got two serves from it. I cut way back on the curry powder, using half the amount (and a mild one at that), so the flavour of it didn't really end up coming through. I could have put some more in, it was mostly a strong tomato flavour. This could also definitely have more spinach added, I ended up serving it over some wilted spinach as well. As well as tomatoes, this stew has lentils to bulk it up. The chickpea flour dumplings are very dense, but make a fun and filling addition.
Rating: :| (should have added more curry powder)



Millet Pilaf Bowls with BBQ Tofu and Braised Greens: The greens here are meant to be collard greens, but I can't get them here so I used kale instead. I just tore it up, and braised it for 5 minutes (rather than the 7-10 minutes the recipe said for the collards). The BBQ sauce that coats the tofu is quick to make, though has quite a strong tomato flavour. But it all goes beautifully with the pilaf. I decreased the amount of millet from 1 cup to 3/4 cup as I prefer a higher tofu/veggie to grain ratio. The pilaf has carrots and toasted almonds through it, the almonds gave such a lovely crunch. I also only had a 375g block of tofu, rather than a 425g one, but that was fine.
Rating: :)



Macro Bowls with Adzuki Beans and Miso-Glazed Squash: This was such a lovely combination. I cooked my short-grain brown rice in the rice cooker for ease, and although there are multiple components they came together easily. A few parts call for optional mirin, mirin is never optional in my book! The rice is seasoned, the pumpkin is baked with a miso/tamari/mirin glaze, and the tahini miso dressing is so yummy. It is also served with some kale (I sauteed mine rather than steaming) and adzuki beans (I warmed mine on the stove quickly before serving). Topped with the sauce, some nori strips, and some sauerkraut.
Rating: :)



Green Goddess Bowl: A farro and chickpea pilaf, broccoli, spinach, avocado, and of course a tahini green goddess dressing are the components of this bowl. I cooked the farro in the rice cooker, then added the rest of the pilaf ingredients and left them in there to warm up once it was done. I also decreased the farro from 1 cup to 3/4 cup. The dressing was green and so lovely, using fresh basil and parsley from my herb garden. I used powdered garlic in the dressing instead of fresh, as raw garlic doesn't sit well with me these days.
Rating: :)



Spinach and Gnocchi with White Beans: This comes together so quickly with store-bought gnocchi. Spinach (I used extra), sundried tomato, and white beans are sauteed before the gnocchi is added. Finished with a drizzle of balsamic (I only needed to use one TBS, and I didn't need to use any extra pasta water), and topped with some optional (but not really) cheesy hemp topping, it was a tasty and fast dinner. My gnocchi was 400g rather than 450, and I got two small and one big serve out of it (rather than four).
Rating: :)



Coconut and Scallion Rice with Glazed Tofu and Bok Choy: Another lovely combination. Once again, I made the rice in the rice cooker. I left out the lime zest from the finished rice, as I was just too tired to zest a lime and I had frozen lime juice in the freezer. The tofu is glazed with a mix of tamari, maple, vinegar, and garlic (I left out the red pepper flakes), and is so delicious! I had 6 small bok choy (rather than 4), which was enough for four servings. Topped with some toasted coconut flakes, and some sriracha if you like some heat.
Rating: :)



Dinner Toast with Savory Mushrooms, Chickpeas, and Greens: Toast for dinner? Why not! This is a quick and easy recipe, which makes for a satisfying dinner. Shiitake mushrooms (I only had 200g rather than 285... I had initially planned on using some regular mushrooms, but shiitake were on sale), chickpeas, herbs, and spinach (I used about four cups torn baby spinach) are sauteed, then served with toast. I got three serves out of this, rather than four.
Rating; :)



Black Bean Enchiladas with Roasted Butternut Squash: A large pan of 12 baked enchiladas will make enough for Sunday dinner and some leftovers for the working week! They are filled with a roasted butternut, black bean, and spinach (subbed in for kale), and baked in a very easy to make enchilada sauce. I left out all forms of chili in all steps! I was super impressed that this made the perfect amount of filling for the tortillas, none left over, and no tortillas with scant fillings!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



With snapping group photos of kitties, you roll the dice with what you get. Will they be snuggling sweetly? Posing elegantly? Do they just happen to be sitting near each other? That still counts! Sometimes, they are just funny. I am not sure what Gizmo was doing here, I suspect that she was lying under a blanket, that Possum then decided to sleep on top of. Whatever it is, it is cute.