VeganMoFo 2017 #4: That's not how you cook tofu.

4th: Catering – Improve on the worst catered meal (wedding, party, conference, etc) you’ve been served.

The year is 1999, the place is Wagga Wagga, the occasion is the South Campus residence dinner (not held on South Campus at all, which was old and terrifying, but held on the main campus of the university). I was a vegetarian at the time (vegans are so extreme... can't live without cheese... etc, etc etc), but I did try to only eat the animal rennet free cheese and only free range eggs, so when I went to events I requested vegan to avoid any suspect eggs or cheese. This was back in the day of old school film containing cameras, so there is no photos of the food (it was expensive to get photos printed back then, you had to think about it!), but it is just as well.

I was served vegetables and tofu... doesn't sound too bad right? Oh, did I mention it was over-steamed vegetables with over-steamed firm tofu and no sauce of any description? The tofu just absorbed all of that flavourless steam, it was not good. When one is a vegetarian flirting with the idea of veganism, but is not sure about tofu, this is a sure fire way to turn them off off off. I was convinced after this that tofu was terrible, and this was one of the reasons that I could never go vegan (I know the logic in that is extremely faulty... you can be a vegan and not eat tofu).

Thankfully, I got over it and discovered that tofu is good, you just need to know what to do with it. Of course now I LOVE tofu, it is one of my favourite things, and I would probably eat it steamed no issues. In fact, when I am out at Asian-style restaurants, I normally will pick the tofu and veggie dish over the other mock-meaty dishes. Because I love it.

If you are thinking about serving tofu and vegetables to a vegan in your life, it is not hard to improve on the meal described above. Might I suggest a nice saute or stir-fry rather than steaming? And, you know, adding some SAUCE! Flavour is good. I personally will give my tofu a quick sautee or bake in the oven with some peanut oil and salt to get it nice and crunchy before adding it into a stir-fry. You can also marinate and bake tofu, and then cube that to add in. Or, if that is all too much effort, buy some marinated tofu. My favourite is Soyco Japanese Marinated Tofu, it is great! You can eat it straight from the packet!

Anyway, in honour of how far I've come, here are a couple of photos food I have eaten that revolves around tofu and vegetables!









Tofu is your friend, but know how to treat it!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



It's Sahara in her basket again! But in a different location, and an older Sahara. Sahara continued to love this basket her entire life, and when she got sick this is where she wanted to spend her time.

VeganMoFo 2017 #3: Recipe Round-Up: The Great Vegan Protein Book

3rd: But where do you get your protein? – Make a protein packed meal.

I'll be doing quite a few recipe round-ups during MoFo where the book fits the prompt, however I will be making them mini for this month. Instead of the usual 6-10 recipes I round up in a post, I'll just be doing four for each book. We all have a lot of reading to do this month!

If you are looking for a good source of protein-filled recipes, you can't go past The Great Vegan Protein Book by Celine Steen and Tamasin Noyes. They have you covered! The book is divided into sections based on the protein source - legumes, nuts and seeds, tofu and tempeh, and seitan. It also doesn't require any protein powders. You can see what else I have made from this book here.

Mujadarra: This is one of my favourite comfort foods. At once savoury, yet bland in the best way, soft and hot. I just love the mix of lentils, rice and caramelised onions. This recipe calls for cooking lentils and brown jasmine rice in the rice cooker. I can't find brown jasmine rice here, so I just used regular, and I also soaked my lentils for about 8 hours prior to cooking. I wasn't convinced they would cook at the same rate as the rice in the cooker. Everything turned out perfect doing it like this. I also didn't have quite enough lentils (only by a tablespoon or so), so mine was ever so slightly skewed towards the rice. The onions are a mix of leek and white onions. My leek was very large, and I couldn't find any white onions, so I ended up using more leek than required and only half the amount of yellow onion. I also left out the cayenne.
Rating: :)



Sesame Berry Squares: Sweets can be protein-filled as well! I made these for a family dinner last year when my brother was here. Strawberry jam is mixed with chia to form the middle layer. The crust and crumble has hemp and tahini in it. They were a lovely, not too sweet end to a meal. The recipe says it makes 16 squares in an 8x8 inch tray. I cut them into eight bars instead, and we had two each, so between the four of us there were no leftovers and we could have had some more.
Rating: :)



High Brown Hash: This recipe is in the tofu section, but I think they meant it for the seitan section. There is no tofu in it, but there is some sausage. The recipe calls for using some of their Smoky Sausage (another recipe), but I had a Tofurky kielbasa kicking around and it filled the brief. It also has potato, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, shallots (I used some scallions as well) and mushrooms. I ended up adding 1/2 cup stock during the potato stage, and another 1/2 cup during the cauliflower stage, to make sure that everything cooked through and didn't stick. I also used double the cauliflower, because I love cauliflower, and instead of chives and thyme for the fresh herbs I used chives and dill. It was a great dinner (especially with some ketchup, which all hash loves), and my mum was a particular fan.
Rating: :)



Green Beans with Peanut-Tofu Sauce: This recipe is meant to be made with shisto peppers, but I don't do peppers or spicy, so I replaced them with seared green beans served with some jasmine rice and baby spinach. The sauce is based on silken tofu with peanut butter. It has 2 tablespoons of tamari in it, and I found it to be quite salty so I might use less if I made it again. I warmed the sauce slightly to serve, so it wouldn't be cold. Left over sauce is also good as a dip or sandwich spread.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



A young Sahara in her basket. That looks comfortable, right? She had that basket since she was a kitten, and it was delivered to my house with her when she came to live with me. She loved it so much!

VeganMoFo 2017 #2: Eating Out: Bake & Burger

2nd: Junk food forever! – It’s not all kale chips and chia seeds being a vegan – show us your fave vegan junk food.

There are SO MANY amazing vegan food places in Brisbane, my list of to go to places is huge, my list of to go back to and try new things places is huge, my list of favourite places to go back to and eat my favourites... huge. While we maybe don't stack up to some of the other Australian cities, Brisbane is definitely a pretty great place to be vegan these days.

One place that had been on my list was Bake & Burger, a vegan friendly burger place. It is only open from Thursday to Sunday, and runs in a pop-up style. They have a set menu of regular non-vegan things, but they have ever changing specials, which includes three vegan savoury options every time. They also have an exciting array of sweets in their cases - and they are all vegan! So cool!

It is a bit of a strange little place to get to. You drive down the M1 highway, take an exit, pull into a 7-11 petrol station that has a row of empty storefronts... and tucked into a corner is Bake & Burger. It is small, though they do have some seating out the front. And while the outside may lack ambience, they do a good job of making the inside very cute.

We headed down on a Friday for lunch, and these were the vegan specials that day. They always seem to include a junk gems, and either two burger or one burger and a bowl (the week after we went they had a fried mac and cheese ball bowl).



We got both the burgers, cut in half so we could each try one. I liked the patty in the falafel burger, it had big chunks of sweet potato. And the BBQ jackfruit burger was good (though as you can see had slaw rather than potato salad). They make their own cheese. These were very mess and fun to eat!







Of course we had to get some junk jems! The toppings were similar to the filling of the jack burger, but served on crunchy potato gems (aka tater tots for my US friends).



All of the food!



And of course we had to get some sweets! We got them to take away, so please forgive the crappy kitchen bench photo. They had quite a few options, we picked the fudge slice, peanut butter oreo pretzel blondie and the carrot cake. They were all really good, but the blondie was my favourite - it had a nice layer of salty peanut butter on it. Peanut butter is always the way to my heart.



I really loved Bake & Burger, and will be heading down there again. I think it definitely fits the 'junky' brief for today's MoFo prompt, but it does so without relying too heavily on processed vegan foods. Don't get me wrong, I love processed vegan foods, but it is nice to see places making their own from scratch!

3/2 City Road, Beenleigh, Queensland 4207

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



Sahara was 18 months old when she came to me. She was an adoption kitty who needed a home because her person was going into a retirement village. Although a purebred Abyssinian, her one eye meant that interest was low. What is wrong with people? Well, my incredible gain. She lost her eye when she was a kitten after a nasty bout of cat flu, but it never slowed her down or stopped her from catching things. She had incredible hunting instincts. She is pictured here with her birthday present - a zoom around the room catnip mouse that she loved!

VeganMoFo 2017 #1: The Dreaded Veggie Stack

1st: Re-inventing the veggie option – Think of a boring, bog-standard veggie option like nut roast or risotto and give it a makeover.

There is one stock standard veggie option that I cannot stand. It is often boring, often not pleasant... the veggie stack. A tragic stack of often oily and either overcooked or undercooked veggies... often including my nemesis the capsicum. And mostly offered as a main... in what world does this pile of plant matter resemble a filling dish? On this year's season of Masterchef Australia, a contestant decided to make a veggie stake IN AN INVENTION TEST (it wasn't vegan, it had cheese) and I was against him from that moment on. When he finally went home, I may have cheered. Is there anything less inventive than a poorly done veggie stack?

So it seemed like the natural choice for this challenge! And I knew just the recipe I wanted to try. A friend gifted me Vegan Yum Yum a few years back, and it has a very pretty little stack of veggies on the front cover! Lauren talks about her own veggie stack reservations, often fearing the poorly cooked eggplant (so true, I love eggplant but people abuse it so much), so she created an eggplant creme layer in her adorable little stacks. They were naturally capsicum free as well!

Miniature Napoleons with Eggplant Creme: I made just three these cuties as I was cooking for one, so using three small flat mushrooms (cremini and portobello mushrooms were unavailable). I made half a batch of the eggplant creme, which is cooked eggplant pureed with cashews and spices. I did need to add a couple of splashes of water to get it smooth. It made too much for what I needed, but the leftovers are good for spreading onto bread, using as a dip, or mashing into rice and lentils! The tomato and zucchini are roasted at a low temperature for a long time, so they get juice and sweet, and then the mushrooms are roasted with tamari, bringing in a yummy salty umami flavour. I skipped using a piping bag for the eggplant creme, and just plonked it on with a spoon. I garnished them with sundried tomato instead of more roast tomato and basil. I also skipped serving them on a plate covered in olive oil and dotted with vinegar, as that just seemed messy.
Rating: :)



These were lovely, and a bit more filling that your average veggie stack thanks to the cashewy eggplant creme, though not really enough for a dinner. She also had an interpretation of risotto, so why not. I generally don't mind when risotto is the vegan option (at least it is filling), but often in non vegan restaurants it can be quite bland. I have made lots of yummy risottos in the past. This risotto inspired recipe uses tomato and barley, and involved very little effort.

Creamy Tomato Barley Risotto: I made a half batch that led to one big serving. I soaked my barley for a few hours first, and that helped it cook up perfectly right on time. I did find it a bit salty overall, it has miso in it so I would skip the added salt next time.
Rating: :)



I served them together with some steamed baby spinach for a nice dinner.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



Everyday, a photo of my sweet bear. For new people to the blog, hi! I always end every post with a cat photo. This month will be dedicated to my beautiful Sahara... she passed away earlier this year and I miss her every day. I will share a little bit of her life every month. This is her in one of her beds. It actually was Gizmo's bed, but once Gizmo passed away Sahara claimed it as her own. She loved it.

Eating Out: July Brisbane Vegan Markets

Do you know what is more amazing than Brisbane having a monthly vegan market? Brisbane having TWO monthly vegan markets. In July, Brisbane Vegan Markets debuted a second, twilight market. Of course it did ridiculously well, so now we get the morning markets on the second Sunday of the month, and the afternoon markets on the fourth Sunday of the month. Pretty amazing, right? Since July, I have been to every single market!

First up, the regular morning market. I headed in straight after a bikram yoga class, so this pretty and refreshing drink was very lovely. I can never remember the name of the stall, but it is some sort of pea flower tea and mine was peach flavoured.



I also got to try my first and only Vurger... They only did the markets for one month! We are all sad they are gone (though they are now doing a weekly pop up event, hurrah!). This burger was SO GOOD. Like the most amazing cheeseburger. The patty and bun and sauce were all made from scratch. I want it back!



I also tried some sweet potato gnocchi from Gatherers. This was nice, but I wish it was a bit less oily. It has mushroom and sage in it as well.



And of course, we had to get ice cream from I Should Coco. My friend got the Cookie Wookie (warm choc chip cookie dough and caramel sauce), and I had the PB&J (with amazing, salty, smooth peanut butter).



I also picked up a beautiful Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes from Cloverly Cupcakes. Katie started Cloverly a few years ago, and she really brought vegan baked goods to the mainstream in Brisbane. While I am not the biggest cupcake fan (you know my frosting issues), this was Katie's last stall ever, so I couldn't pass up one last chance. This chocolate cherry cupcake was lovely, and happy to report that the frosting was not too sweet at all.



I also attended the first ever Twilight markets, though I got there when they opened at 12pm to avoid the crowds. For my beverage, I picked up a yummy strawberry cashew milk from Nutsy. So good! They also give you a fifty cents back if you bring back your bottle, and then they are able to sterilise and reuse them. Perfect!



I picked up a couple of things from one of my favourite stalls, Green Street Foods. First up, their Mexican Street Corn Taco, which is a lovely mix of avocado, jackfruit, roasted corn and pickled onions. They also had a BBQ Mac and Cheese Burger, with BBQ jacfruit, so of course I had to get that as well! I was so yummy! The only thing is that they are all GF, so the GF bun was not quite as good as a gluteny one would have been, but everything still tasted great.





My friend got some dumplings from the Tibetan Momo Cafe stall, and I snacked on a couple.



And of course, I ended with a cone from I Should Coco. This time I got my favourite off the regular menu, the Cherry Merry (cherries, chocolate, coconut).



I also snaffled a couple of cheesecakes to take home from Koko Cakes. They are cashew based and baked, though do have a bit of coconut oil in them, so I shared them. The Vanilla Berry was nice, but my favourite was the Chocolate, Pistachio, & Pear one.



Tomorrow I am heading off to Sydney of OzComicCon (there will be some future post on Brisbane and Sydney OCC eats), and when I get back it will be October. And October means VeganMoFo time! I will be participating following the monthly prompts. I have some posts ready to go out for while I am in Sydney, and I have been doing a lot of planning for it over the past couple of months. Can't wait to see what everyone is doing for it!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sometimes Dim Sim just tucks herself into bed beside me if I am reading.

Recipe Round-Up: Cookin' Crunk

Today we are delving back into Cookin' Crunk by Bianca Phillips. I've followed Bianca's blog for a long time, and I had the absolute delight of spending time with Bianca at VidaVeganCon in Austin two years ago. Her cookbook is a lot of fun, full of very satisfying and delicious food. You can see what else I've made from this book here.

Baked Tofu Fish Fry with Hush Puppy Corn Muffins: Tofu is marinated in a slightly fishy marinade (it has dulse flakes) and then is breaded (also with dulse) and baked, making yummy and crunchy savoury triangles. I didn't taste much fishy in the finish product, but it was still great. I appreciated that the breading mix made almost the right amount - there was not much waste (unlike a lot of other recipes calling for breading). The tartare sauce is a simple max of mayo, horeseradish and pickle relish, and was lovely. Bianca suggests serving with the corn muffins. These are fun, using tinned creamed corn in the batter. I made a half batch. I found that the batter seemed a bit dry when I was putting it in the muffin pans, but the finished product wasn't dry at all. I also skipped the minced onion and used some onion powder, which may have made the batter a little dryer as well. Served with some broccoli.
Rating: Tofu :), Muffins :)



Sausage Gravy with Sage: I unearthed a tube of Gimme Lean Sausage from my freezer that I have brought back from the US to make recipes from this very cookbook. In order to stretch the tube across all the recipes, I made a half batch of this. This gave me two serves, with some biscuits and a side of cheese kale. This gravy is so savoury and rich!
Rating: :)



Breakfast Lasagne: This was another Gimme Lean recipe, and again I halved it. I got three servings from it this way. I still used a whole medium potato though, because I like a thick potato layer. This has layers of potato, tofu scramble, sausage and cheesy sauce. I just made each layer in order, put it in the casserole, and then started on the next one.
Rating: :)



Sweet Potato-Sausage Balls with Cheesy Dipping Sauce: These are so much fun! This used the last of my Gimme Lean, and again I hlaved the recipe. The dough was quite sticky and quite soft, I found it easier to roll with slightly damp hands rather than floured hands. The balls sort of flattened and spread a little while baking, so they are more bites or patties, kind of like a mini-scone. Instead of the Spicy Cheesy Sauce, I made it a smoky cheesy sauce by mixing in some smoked paprika rather than chilli powder. All served with some rice and broccoli.
Rating: :)



Cauliflower Creole: This is a nice, comforting, vegetable stew. My cauliflower was huge, and I used it all, so perhaps it should have been a but more saucy, but I liked it this was. I left out the capsicum and the hot sauce.
Rating: :)



Hopping John with Sausage and Brown Rice: This recipe uses Gimme Lean as well, but I didn't have any left, so I just three Fry's sausages that I cooked and chopped and it was really nice. The recipe starts with dried black-eyed peas, but I had cooked, so I changed it up a little. I used 1 1/2 cups cooked beans, 3/4 cup of water, 1 bay leaf, and thickened for about 15 minutes, then continued with the recipe. I also threw in some grated carrot that needed using. Served over brown rice and some baby spinach, I got three big serves.
Rating: :)



Holy Mole Chocolate-Chile Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream: I made these for a bake sale (that I wasn't organising), and they are quite lovely. The recipe calls for grinding ancho chiles, I used a TBS of chipotle powder in the liquid mix and added a sprinkle of hot chili powder when mixing, and it gave a lovely gentle heat. The frosting was not too sweet, and made the perfect amount to frost all the cupcakes with a decent swirl from the piping bag. I used a blend of wholemeal spelt and white all purpose flour. I actually got 13 cupcakes out of this, so a perfect dozen for the bake sale and one for the cook!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



The good news is that little Aurora is doing wonderfully in her new home. But we are very excited that she will be coming to board with us for a few days next week. I miss her sweet face! Here is a photo from when she still lived here. One day we put her in my hoodie and she loved it!

Eating Out: Brisbane Vegan Markets (March and April)

The Brisbane Vegan Markets debuted in November last year, and have quickly become a regular event. I blogged about attending the first one, but it was a couple of months before I went back again. That first one I went to was on a very,very hot day, and it was so crowded with very little seating on shade. But I am happy to report that they have addressed those issues that they can, and now that it is a regular event the crowds are a little easier (though I still always get there early before they build). The weather they can't control, which I think is why I missed the next few during the particularly oppressive summer months. I've been back now many times (it's become a regular event for me in the last couple of months), but today I will share with you my eats for March and April (I know, I am way behind).

In March I discovered that the nice thing about the morning markets is that I can do a yoga class, have a quick shower at the studio, then it is just a short drive down to West End! Unfortunately for the March markets, the night before I had eaten had a huge, greasy meal that wasn't so great and sat heavily in my stomach even the next morning, so I was not able to manage much. Thankfully they had some light options for me. I picked up a refreshing Green Tea Soba Salad from the September 18 stall, and a passionfruit lemonade from the Get Vegan with Jadda stall.



This was also the only time in history that I did not get an I Should Coco Ice Cream... I just needed something a bit less indulgent. My poor tummy! I was going to skip dessert all together, but they did have these ice cream sandwiches from a place called Nice Slice, though I haven't seen them there since. I got the strawberry vanilla. While it did have a bit of coconut cream in it, it was mostly cashew based so didn't make me feel gross. And it was nice and not too sweet.



The April markets came around and I still wasn't all that hungry... don't worry, in future markets I will make up for it! I was craving something with veggies, and they had a nice Ethiopian stall called Mother Africa (I think) that had a selection of non-spicy stews served on a 'sour bread pancake', so injera. The stews were pumpkin and coconut, lentils, and vegetables. It was really nice, though I haven't seen them there lately. Which is a shame.



Here's a bonus shot of my friend's bag of fried stuff from September 18 - some of their chicken drumsticks, and something else on a stick.



With my veggies and lentil urge sated, I was definitely in the mood to hit up I Should Coco for some ice cream! I got the Mallow Out, which was their special for that month, with chocolate syrup, mini marshmallows and ground hazelnuts. Due to a tragic mouth burning incident on some too hot soup the day before, the thought of a hard and crunchy cone seemed perilous, so I had to make do with a cup. Still good.



Flour of Life, my favourite vegan bakery, also had a stall. I got my very favourite strawberry custard flan. These are LIFE!



As mentioned, I've been several more times, and I will share those adventures in a later post. We get into some serious eating, so be prepared!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Nose and toes.