Christmas eats

Happy everything everyone! I hope you all had a great last couple of weeks, however you celebrate or not. I had a reasonable christmas (it is always sad without Gizmo, and this year we were also missing Possum and Spock), but there was some good food involved to make things brighter. I'm breaking my Christmas posts into two, otherwise it would be very long.

This year I was feeling a little in the spirit, so I did some holiday baking before to share around.

Hilarious Fudge: I had a bag of old Dandies to use up and Panda Without Cookies suggested making fudge with them. I didn't have any recipes in my books for this, so I Googled around and found this recipe. I didn't have any frozen rhubarb, so I used frozen raspberries, which was probably a mistake as this fudge never really set very well and having sloppy raspberries in it made it even sloppier! I took this to a picnic and it totally melted, so I ended up reshaping it and freezing it. It was delicious, but a complete disaster in terms of presentation! I also used almonds instead of cashews.
Rating: :)



Norah's Lemon-Lemon Cookies from Isa Does It: I made these for a friend, and of course sampled a few. To be honest, I would prefer this as a single lemon cookie - the extra lemon comes from a coconut-oil containing glaze that does not float my boat. But as I was giving these to a friend I made them as is. I left a naked cookie for me and this was great. I would make these again but decorate just with some sugar crystals and lemon zest, I think. The recipe says to scoop out 2 tablespoons (about 30mL) of dough per cookie, but I used a 20mL Australian tablespoon for each one and didn't get as many as the recipe stated. I made a half batch and with 20mL scoops it made 9 cookies instead of 12. I used Nuttelex in the dough instead of icky coconut oil. I also only made 1/4 batch of the glaze for 1/2 recipe of cookies and it was more than enough.
Rating: :) for cookies, :/ for glaze



Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies with Chocolate Chips from Isa Does it: This recipe is meant to have white chocolate chips in it but I hate white chocolate so I used regular semi-sweet. This was a really yummy recipe! It is meant to make 24 cookies and says to use walnut sized scoops of dough. I clearly still do not know how big a walnut is because I got 37 cookies instead. But as I was giving them out as gifts to work colleagues that meant there was lots to go around. These are great.
Rating: :)



Lemon Biscotti from Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats: On Boxing Day I was going over to my friend Sarah's house for dinner and to watch the Christmas episode of Doctor Who (I really enjoyed the episode). Sarah makes amazing dinners, and I offered to bring the sweets. She is gluten free, so I thought I'd finally try my hand at these biscotti. They were very easy to make. I made a half batch, so I just had one log to shape, bake, cut and bake again. I got a bit confused about cutting the loaf on the diagonal, so I ended up cutting them a little too thick. But a few minutes longer in the oven and they went nice a crunchy. The recipe says that it is best to eat these a few hours after cooling, so I made them that morning. I would agree with this, because by the time dinner was done and we were eating them they had started to go a little soft again.
Rating: :)



For Christmas Eve my parents traditionally get some poor dead prawns to eat, but they delayed that this year until my brother gets home (he gets home tomorrow!), so I made dinner for everyone. I had planned to make some vegan crab cakes and some salad, but for some reason we were so full still at dinner time that I just made the salad.

Corn, Red Bean, and Blueberry Salad with Mango Dressing from Quick-Fix Vegan: This super refreshing salad was so tasty! The only thing would be next time I would use more mango - mango chunks in salad are the best! For the dressing I squeezed the mid-section of the mango after slicing off the cheeks to get the juice and puree required. I served this with some very yummy baked potato and chive bread from the supermarket.
Rating: :)



Christmas Day dawned and I went for a walk and had a green smoothie for breakfast, which maybe isn't totally in the spirit but was what I felt like. Afterwards we opened presents (I got some new DVDs, books, cookbooks and a Cruelty Free Shop Gourmet Feast Hamper), and then it was on to making lunch.



Warm Mushroom Salad with Cranberries from Appetite for Reduction: I have been wanting to make this for a holiday dish for a couple of years, and this was the year. I have never seen fresh chanterelle mushrooms here, so I ended up using a blend of swiss brown and oyster. I also couldn't find mache greens, so I used a small bag of green leaf lettuces and a few handfuls of baby spinach (Isa suggests rocket, but I prefer spinach). The greens are tossed with a lovely, tangy Creamy Horseradish Dressing and sweetened dried cranberries, which was a great combination.
Rating: Salad :), Dressing :)



Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Cumin-Coriander Tahini from Oh She Glows: Oh She Glows in a new book for me, but one I have been enjoying. I love roasted carrots at Christmas, and this sounded like a good one. I couldn't find rainbow carrots, and I was a little confused about how big the carrots were meant to be. She said you can use regular carrots but there is no way they would have cooked through in the time. I used two bunches of cute orange Dutch Carrots and two full-sized purple carrots cut into quarters for some colour. The sauce was great, but thickens up very quickly, so I tried to thin it before drizzling with some hot water but it might have been a bit too hot and it separated. Still tasted great though!
Rating: :)



I went super simple for the roast this year, and just got a little Sanitarium Vegie Roast. It's nothing fancy, but still pretty good. I didn't use the horrible orange rosemary-mint glaze, but just rubbed with some olive oil and tamari. Served with cranberry sauce of course. I have recently found a new source of frozen cranberries, but I had a jar of cranberry sauce in the cupboard that needed using.



And I always make Dreena Burton's Potato Squashers from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan, I've blogged about them a few times before. Christmas nearly got cancelled after my dad got big potatoes instead of small potatoes, but I ended up cutting them in half and baking cut side down and then continuing with the recipe. They were still good, but not quite as awesome as they were missing the second crispy side.



Group shots!





I had for dinner what I was planning on having for breakfast before my green smoothie urge struck. Ideal Crumb is a new business in Brisbane that has started supplying vegan croissants to The Green Edge. I had been in the week before to buy some as my family normally eats croissants for breakfast on Christmas Day, and popped them in the freezer. They defrosted and reheated great! I sliced them, filled them with slices of Tofurkey Smoked Ham and Tofutti Cheese Slices and reheated them in the oven for about ten minutes. Amazing!



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



The only time I subject my cats to dress ups is at Christmas (though I do have some inflatable unicorn horns that will one day be adorable!). Dim Sim cunningly spent the day lying in front of the window in the sun room, so her photos this year have a very glaring background! I couldn't close the blinds without her running off.



Sahara was a little more in the spirit, mainly because I snuck up on her while she was having a serious post-prandial snooze after lunch. Look at that cheeky little face.

Recipe Round-Up: Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food

Thank you to everyone who left kind words about Spock either here, or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. They were greatly appreciated.

I've posted about how much I love Appetite For Reduction, so I was excited to get Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson, figuring that it would be full of quick, fresh, low cal interpretations of favourite comforty foods. Not so much. In fact with many of the recipes I've made it seems to be fairly high-cal (I haven't made it yet, but the alfredo recipe has half a cup of oil in the sauce!), but with teeny tiny serving sizes. This doesn't really work when you have a decent appetite! Also I don't really find this all that quick and easy, several recipes require ingredients that need to be pre-made. Oh well. I have still made some nice stuff from here.

Chickpea Cacciatore with Sesame Broccolini: The cacciatore was fantatic, with a sauce full of all sorts of herbs. I used peas instead of capsicum, and there was also carrot and onion. I also added a few tablespoons of red wine that I had kicking around. This made about 4 servings, rather than 6. I used four small bunches of broccolini for the side dish, which are served with a sauce of sesame oil, balsamic, orange juice and Braggs, which gave 4 servings, rather than 6. Served over brown rice.
Rating: Cacciatore :D, Broccolini :)



Cincinnati Chili and Five-Minute Garlic Spinach: This chili has TVP and kidney beans in it, as well as liquid smoke, cocoa powder and lots of seasonings. Traditionally served over spaghetti, this versions lacks the cheesy sauce that I have made in other recipes. I missed the cheesy sauce. I only used 8oz of spaghetti rather than one pound, so got 5 servings rather than 10, but if I had made it with the full amount of pasta there would have been a tiny amount of the chili itself for each servings. The spinach comes together very quickly.
Rating: Chili :), Spinach :)



White Bean Cassoulet: This was nice, but lacked the flavour that I love in a cassoulet, Leeks, carrots, celery and white beans are the main parts of this. I got four servings out of this, rather than 6.
Rating: :)



Indian-Spiced Chickpeas: This comes together very quickly, and is a bit bland in that tasty kind of wayI served this over basmati rice and baby spinach.
Rating: :)



Kung Pao Tofu: I have come to very much enjoy kung pao tofu recipes, the sauce is just lovely, especially with the rice and broccoli to serve with it. I forgot to press the tofu, but it was still fine. I also pan-fried the tofu in a little peanut oil rather than bake roasting it in the oven for speediness. I got three and a half servings out of this, rather than 5.
Rating: :)



Chick'n Curry: This recipe calls for a defrosted package of MorningStar Farms Meal Starters Chick'n Strips, which we don't have here. Instead I used some Fry's Chicken Style Strips. I cooked the strips according to packet directions first, then followed the seasoning and baking directions, otherwise they end up with a strange texture. The was OK, though a bit bland.
Rating: :|



Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream: This simple ice cream has only five ingredients (including some Tofutti cream cheese), and has a lovely flavour. It is especially great with strawberry cupcakes, and makes a great sundae.
Rating: :)



Pepita Smoothie: I was intrigued to try this raw pumpkin seed based smoothie. It said it makes two servings, but a half recipe made a very small serving! There is richness from the pepita, but the liquid is water, which left it with a faint watery aftertaste. I was expecting it to be green, but the mango and strawberry gave it a lovely pinkish hue.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sahara toes.

Goodbye Spock

Everyone knows me as a cat lady, they know about my cats, how I work with cats and how I have my cats. I also have a bird, a cockatiel named Spock (after Star Trek). Only now I must say that I had a bird. Yesterday evening little Spock departed this world after 21 years.

I got Spock when I was 12 years old. I desperately wanted someone to be my very own (we had a family cat) and I somehow came to the idea of getting a cockatiel. I scrimped and saved my pocket money until I had enough for a bird and what a bird needs. I went to the pet shop and looked at the birds, and there was a handsome 6 week old pearly cockatiel that I loved. They had pre-trained cockatiels, but I was dead set on training my own, so Spock was a rather spirited young man. But I persevered at home with him and I ended up with a bird that was... kind of trained. He certainly wasn't shy of the odd nip! Though he would stand on my finger (sometimes after a nibble) and sit on my shoulder and let me pat his little head. We also taught him how to wolf whistle, sing a few songs (he merged them all into one super awesome Spock mega-mix) and to say 'Hello' and, on occasion, 'My name is Spock.'

Spock stayed home in Brisbane while I was studying my first degree in Wagga Wagga, but after I moved to Sydney for vet school he flew on a plane down to come and live with me, Dim Sim and Gizmo. He was able to come out and sit on my shoulder and walk around without any grief from those two (always under strict supervision, of course!), but once I got Sahara that had to change. Sahara is a natural hunter, and one of her first activities when she got home was to jump up on his cage and bring everything down! So he didn't get out very much anymore while she was around. With less coming out, he became less willing to be handled, but still enjoyed being whistled to. I tried to buy him toys, but he mostly refused them, except for the mirror I bought him a few years ago. He loved looking at himself in that mirror.

He escaped and flew away once while I was in Sydney. He was out overnight, and I spent the entire afternoon and following morning putting up posters around the neighbourhood and doing letterbox drops. Miraculously, I got a call from someone to say that had found him in their yard. They had three cats and two dogs, but thankfully were home off work that day and noticed him sitting there, looking rather confused.

My feelings about having Spock were somewhat complex. Obviously in my journey from a 12 year old to a 33 year old vegan and animal rights advocate, keeping a bird caged began to not sit well, especially in a house with cats which further limited his ability to be out and about. But done is done, so I tried my best. With work and my pre-occupation with the cats, I know it wasn't enough. I have a lot of guilt over much of his life.

Last week Spock turned 21 years old. Apparently that is quite impressive in cockatiel circles. Yesterday morning I said goodbye to him before I went to work, he was sitting in front of his mirror looking a little hunched, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I came home from work and was getting dinner started, and my mum went to close the blinds on his window and found that he had passed away. I hate that we didn't know, that he was on his own when he went. I hope he wasn't scared. I hope it was peaceful.

Here are some photos of this little man. You will note in the first one, taken back in 1994, he looks very different. That was when he had his pearly markings, turns out that they often change to regular grey after a year or two! But I didn't mind.















The last photo was taken just last week, on his 21st birthday.

There will be no more birds for me, and I will be donating his cage to a wildlife rescue for temporary housing of rescued birds. I know it was not an ideal life, but he seemed to find joy in many things and I hope that was the case. He can now fly free in little bird heaven. Goodbye my handsome little one.

Recipe Round-Up: One-Dish Vegan

Some more from One Dish Vegan!

Korean Hot Pot: Wombok, carrot, shiitakes, tofu, scallions, enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts and ginger are cooked in a yummy broth and served over hot rice. It is as good as it sounds. Everyone serves themselves from the pot, and the remaining broth can be served in small cups or bowls (though I ended up putting some back over my food in the bowl as well).
Rating: :)







Vegetable Etouffee: Based on a Cajun stew, I shameless ignored the so called 'trinity' of vegetables and ditched the capsicum in favour of extra celery in peas. Kidney beans, tomatoes and seasonings make this a tasty dinner, served over brown rice.
Rating: :)



Black Bean and Two-Tomato Stew with Quinoa: Fire-roasted tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes are the two tomatoes here. I left out the red capsicum in favour of some diced carrot. This was yummy, but from a visual perspective next time I would make it with red, rather than white, quinoa. For some reason I was expecting it to look a lot redder! I got 3.5 serves out of this.
Rating: :)



Hot Salsa Pinto Beans and Rice: I made these not so hot by decreasing the chili, and I also used peas instead of capsicum. Served over brown rice, this was like a fun burrito bowl. Especially food with the crunchy lettuce and sour cream.
Rating: :)



Risotto with Artichokes and Mushrooms: I love making risotto, I find the stirring very zen. I used a whole 200g box of mushrooms (rather than 4 ounces) and a whole tin of artichoke hearts (rather than just a cup), so I didn't have left over bits and pieces and because I like a high stuff to rice ratio. The recipe calls for 4 cups of broth, though says you may not need all of it, but I did. I served this over spinach and with some Tofurkey Chicken and Apple Sausages.
Rating: :)



Tunisian Chickpeas with Sweet Potatoes and Greens: This is satisfying, and served over brown rice gave four good sized servings. There is an option of the greens to use, and I used chopped English spinach (as opposed to kale or silverbeet).
Rating: :)



Szechwan Tempeh and Green Beans: This is so delicious, even my tempeh suspicious father enjoyed it. I used a 300g packet of tempeh, rather than 250g, so I used the larger Australian tablespoons to mix up the sauce of the tempeh to make sure there was plenty to go around. The tempeh was salty, but there was also a sweetness and freshness from the beans. Served over rice. I got about three serves out of this, rather than four. You will want to eat it all!
Rating: :D



One-Pot Cheesy Mac: This was one very saucy pasta dish! I used 250g of pasta (tube macaroni, I couldn't find elbow macaroni), and I only had enough for 2 cups of broccoli (rather than 3), so I filled it up with peas and spinach. It is a pretty tasty little mac and cheese, with cashews and white beans in the sauce. I used the leftover beans from the tin to add to the rest of the pasta as well.
Rating: :)



Ziti with Sicilian-Style Tomato Sauce: Sometimes I can always find ziti in the supermarket, so I use penne instead. This sauce has onion, eggplant, tomatoes, lots of garlic and capers. Also capsicum, but I just left that out. I also added in the option chopped sausages, using the homemade sausages from Isa Does It. I found this was lacking a complex flavour, it just needed a little something extra, but I am not sure what.
Rating: :)



White Bean Cassoulet: I love cassoulet, and this recipe did not disappoint. Red onion, carrots, parsnips, white beans and sausages (optional, but as if you would leave them out - I used the ones from Isa Does It) make one heck of a delicious dinner, that smells amazing in the oven. The sauce involves some miso, which is always a good thing in my book! I used panko breadcrumbs for topping.
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim is waiting for her water bowl to be filled up (even if I have just filled it, she demands it be filled fresh to the top every time she wants a drink!), and she has posed herself right in front of one of my Maryanne Oliver prints, her little face is actually over the face of the black cat in the print, super cute.

Recipe Round-Up: More Quick Fix Vegan

More Quick-Fix Vegan has been an amazing book with my often busy days. While I do love spending time in the kitchen putting together complicated recipes, sometimes you just need something that can be out on the table with minimum fuss, but that doesn't compromise on yumminess.

Balti Bowls: I love balti curry, so this was high up on my list to try. There is an option of seitan, tofu, chickpeas or soy curls, and I used chickpeas because that was what I had easily to hand. It says to use 2 cups, I used one 400g tin which is about 1 1/2 cups, and I got just over 3 servings. I served over basmati rice rather than with naan, because I couldn't find any vegan naan and I didn't feel like making any. If you have any leftovers they are great mixed with some rice and peas!
Rating: :)



Tempeh Reuben Bowls: To my knowledge I had never had a reuben before I went vegan, and I have really only just recently started exploring the many recipes in my books! I made a half batch of this recipe (though I made the whole amount of the sauce), which gave me just over a single dinner, so I guess I like my reuben bowls pretty hearty. I couldn't find pumpernickel bread anywhere, so I just used some rye for the toast triangles, and I spread avocado on them because why would I not. I also served this over spinach and with potato wedges and a dill pickle on the side.
Rating: :)



Polenta with Tuscan Kale and Cremini Mushrooms: I always forget how much I love polenta, and then I eat it again and become obsessed with its creamy deliciousness. I much prefer the curly kale to Tuscan kale, but I enjoyed the Tuscan in this dish. Though I needed to buy three bunches of Tuscan kale to get enough, which was a little on the pricey side! But a very satisfying dinner.
Rating: :)



Manchurian Chickpea Bowls: I have never had Manchurian cauliflower, which this dish is based on, but I agree with Robin's assessment of the flavour - it is indeed intoxicatingly delicious. This has potatoes in it as well, but I served it over rice anyway because I love all the carbs. Also over some baby spinach for greens.
Rating: :D



Mexi-Cali Quinoa Bowls with Pintos and Corn: This has some really satisfying flavours - quinoa, corn, tomato, spinach, pinto beans and avocado. I also subbed chopped carrot for capiscum. Yum. I also added black olives, at Robin's suggestion, then topped it with nooch (my suggestion, I love nooch). Served over more spinach.
Rating: :)



General Tso's Tofu: I have only ever once ordered any sort of Tso's, which was the vegan Tso's chicken at Bamboo Garden in Seattle, and I was a little horrified by the deep-fried of it all. This pan-fried tofu is much more on my level, and doused with a sticky sauce. The sauce is quite sweet. It says to use 14-16 ounces of tofu. I used a 375g block, which made 3 big servings. Served with brown rice and broccoli.
Rating: :)



Fiery Korean Stir-Fry: Fiery does not sound like my kind of fun, but I turned this into a not-so-fiery dish, and I loved it. I used the suggestion of using some gochujang rather than chilli because there was some in the fridge. I used 1 teaspoon, and it was the right amount.
Rating: :D



Moroccan Bistilla Pilaf: I have never made an actual bistilla because filo pasty is not my favourite and I am deeply suspicious of any main dish that has icing sugar sprinkled on top. This pilaf gives me the fun flavours without the fuss or suspicious sugar. Even though it has apricots and raisins, it is not too sweet, and and the almonds add a perfect crunch. Over baby spinach gave me three and a half serves.
Rating: :)



Unstuffed Cabbage: Stuffed cabbage is another thing I haven't made, I will one day when I have time. But this quick version apparently gives all the flavour with minimum time. I used sugarloaf cabbage here as I couldn't get regular green. I actually would have liked a bit more cabbage! It gives the option of using TVP, crumbled tofu, chopped seitan or chopped tempeh, and I used TVP.
Rating: :)



Spicy Ginger-Lime Portobellos and Broccoli: I served this over quinoa, and really only got three servings out of the recipe. I had bought two bags of smaller portobellos at the markets (I couldn't find big ones), but the second one ended up being just regular white mushrooms. So annoyed! But it was still good.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Sahara sleeping on the laundry bag I left lying on the bed. Because any extra layer that you can get underneath yourself will greatly improve your comfort.