Isolation Baking

During my two months of isolation, I did some baking. Not uncommon under the circumstances, as long as there was flour to be found! I didn't make bread, I stuck to baked goods. But I also didn't do that much baking, I ended up relying on store-bought biscuits and treats a lot because motivation was hard to come by. But still, this is a little post for the things that I did actually bake during that time.

ANZAC Biscuits from World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan: ANZAC day fell during my time at home, and one must have ANZAC Biscuits on ANZAC day. I decided to try this recipe, which was good. Instead of 24 little biscuits, I made 12 big ones and baked for a little longer. They came out chewy and tasty. The recipe says you can use agave nectar or golden syrup, but any Australian knows that golden syrup is the ONLY choice!
Rating: :)



Easy Applesauce Snack Cake from The Abundance Diet by Somer McCowan: In the early times, we were able to get grocery deliveries but they only offered a limited amount of products and they would automatically sub if they were out. So one day instead of getting my nice regular flour, I got some Coles brand gluten free flour. Sigh. I made this applesauce cake that was meant to be made gluten free, using my gluten free flour instead of making Somer's gluten free flour blend in the book. The Coles GF flour is not great, it is pretty much just rice flour, and definitely gives things a certain texture. This recipe also had a lot of baking powder, and I could taste it coming out of the oven. Let it sit overnight, it is much better the next day. I used sweetened apple sauce and a mix of date and maple syrups, and I left out the stevia because that stuff is gross. I also used mixed spice instead of cinnamon because I had run out - horror of horrors! This is good sliced thick and spread with peanut butter, and maybe a scoop of ice cream if you want to make it dessert-like.
Rating: :) (but leave it until the day after baking to eat)



Walnut Brownies from I Can Cook Vegan by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: Truthfully, I am not that big a fan of walnuts. But I am a fan of being able to buy crumbed walnuts that are ready to add into things without chopping. I vastly prefer pecans, but they need chopping and sometimes that is just energy one does not have. I made a half recipe of this brownie recipe in a 4 x 8 inch pan, and cut it into five brownie slices. Isa loves her damn coconut oil, but I used Nuttelex instead. This has melted chocolate as part of the batter, so you know it is going to be fudgy and delicious, even with walnuts!
Rating: :)



Bananana Cinnamon Swirl Muffins from I Can Cook Vegan by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: This recipe makes 6 jumbo sized muffins, so pull out your big capacity muffin pan. I only had enough spare banana to make a half batch, so three muffins. Again, I had to replace the coconut oil - this time with canola oil. The muffins are made by layering batter with the cinnamon swirl (again, I used canola oil for the cinnamon mix, not coconut), and then swirling. It was meant to have a total of four batter layers, but I found I only made three layers. Regardless, these are wonderful and the cinnamon swirl was a delight.
Rating: :)



Chocolate Tahini Quick Bread from 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman: Tahini provides the fat and oil content for this not-too- sweet bread. I used regular flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour and skipped the optional coconut milk powder. This rose very high in the 4 x 8 pan I used, I might look at using a 9 x 5 instead. It said to bake for 65 minutes, but mine was done after 55, which is unusual for my oven to be done ahead of time. I like the flavour of this, though I did find it a bit dry.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



More sleeping Dim Sim, such a sleeping beauty.

Yule 2020

Happy winter solstice! I know most of my blog friends are in the USA or other parts of the northern hemisphere, so will have just passed the summer solstice. But here in Australia, it is winter. And last week, we just celebrated the winter solstice, and our shortest day of the year.

Yule aka Winter Solstice (21st of June, 2020)

Yule fell over a weekend, and while I was working on the Saturday I had the Sunday off. For a few years, I used to mark Yule by making a huge feast. But the last couple of years time and energy have been against me, so I celebrated by making an easier but delicious wintery meal.

Deep, Dark Stew a La Sicilia from World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan: I knew I wanted to make this for Yule as soon as I saw it in the book earlier this year. This delicious stew uses TVP chunks (reconstituted in stock before you start the recipe), which are one of my favourite things. You can use cubed seitan instead, but TVP chunks are so much better. There is also carrot, mushrooms, and celery (I only had sticks, no leaves) in the stew, and I added some frozen peas as well because why not. The stew is made with an intriguing mix of ingredients such as sherry (though I used white wine), mushroom stock (I used the tip in the book of mixing porcini powder with vegetable stock for ease), cocoa powder, bacon bits, and yeast extract (Vegemite in my case), as well as a few other things and a blend of herbs. I got six servings, and I served it over mashed potatoes. The TVP chunks are coated in flour, sauteed, and set aside at the start of the recipe. I couldn't see where to add them back, so I did it about halfway through cooking time.
Rating: :)



Cranberry Apple Crumble from Vegan Casseroles by Julie Hasson: This is a lovely sweet and tart crumble. It uses granny smith apples and cranberries. While it called for fresh cranberries, that is not a thing here, so I used some of my very precious frozen cranberry stash, partially thawed. I also added a touch more cornstarch to the filling mix to make up for the extra liquid of using frozen cranberries. The topping is a nice cinnamon-laced mix of oats and flour, and I used melted Nuttelex as the fat. I would next time increase the amount of that from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, as the topping was a bit dry still, it didn't brown that well until I stuck it under the grill for a moment. I served this lovely winter treat with some So Delicious Snickerdoodle Ice Cream.
Rating: :)





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Speaking of winter and warmth, Gizmo was a master of finding snuggly places for napping. As she got older and had some arthritis in her lower spine and hips, we would wrap her up and give her a little heat pack for her joints during the colder days, which she really appreciated.

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).

Second Christmas!

My little brother lives in the UK, but he has just come home for his first holiday here in two and a half years. He got in late on the 2nd, so on the 3rd we had second Christmas. Yay! This was a lighter affair than first Christmas, but was still very yummy.

Fiery Fruit and Quinoa Salad from Salad Samurai by Terry Hope Romero: This was the centerpiece of the meal, and I think you can see why. It is a stunning salad! Quinoa, black beans, lots of herbs, grilled onions, grilled peaches, roasted corn kernels (these were meant to be grilled but I was just using a little George Foreman grill, so I cut the kernels off and roasted them) and a great Chipotle Chia Dressing. I only used about half the amount of chipotle in the dressing as called for, which gave it a nice smokey mild heat without it being anything scary. This was so delicious!
Rating: Salad :D, Dressing :)



Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Moroccan Spices from World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan: My brother mentioned he would like some sweet potatoes with lunch, and these sounded like they would go well. Whole cumin, coriander and mustard seeds are mixed with maple syrup and grated lemon peel. The seeds go wonderfully crunchy and sticky!
Rating: :)



Just some sauteed kale seasoned with Braggs and some garlic powder.



I also fried up some big mushrooms (just regular white field mushrooms, not portobellos) and then glazed them with some HP sauce. They were yummy! And of course some cranberry sauce. I was going to make some myself but we still had half of the jar left from Christmas day so I just used up the rest of that.



Group shot!



On my plate, shortly before heading to my stomach.



After lunch we played our traditional game of Trivial Pursuit - parents vs. kids. Sadly Greg and I lost this year, though we totally would have won if we hadn't talked ourselves out of so many right answers! Oh well.... To go with our trivial pursuit, I made some trifle.



The layers were (from the bottom up):

1. Strawberry Cupcakes from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: I had some leftover cupcakes in my freezer that I had been saving for this. I love these cupcakes!
   Rating: :D
2. Strawberry jelly from a vegan packet mix
3. Tinned peach slices
4. Custard made with Orgran custard powder
5. Tofu Whipped Topping from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: This was a lovely, sweet cream. It didn't thicken up that much with chilling, but it was still just right for this sort of thing.
   Rating: :)
6. Sliced toasted almonds and chocolate sprinkles

No action shots, because trifle always looks good assembled and then turns into a pile of kind of gross looking slush in the bowl. But it was damn tasty!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



A special Christmas photo of my beautiful Gizmo on her last Christmas in 2011. I miss her so much.