Vegan Goodies

Like Mandee from Cupcake Kitteh, I recently visited the new Cruelty Free Shop on Glebe Point Road in Glebe (Sydney) and picked up some vegan goodies.

It is so exciting (and slightly dangerous) to go into a shop where I can buy anything! They have a fantastic selection of vegan food and other products and I really hope they do well and are supported by the community.

Here is our loot:

Soy chocolate milk for Sylvia, plain soy yogurt, cookies and cream ice cream made with coconut milk, white choc chips, chocolate bar, lip gloss and peanut butter cups (empty packet!)

We didn't quite manage to photograph everything before we ate it...
 

Empty packet of vegan ham

We also bought some raspberry jelly crystals, which I forgot to take a picture of. Sylvia had been asking for jelly for ages because a character in one of the stories we read eats a "big bowl of strawberries and red jelly". Funnily enough, she wasn't at all interested in trying it (maybe I overdid the excitement), but it didn't go to waste!

The ice cream made with coconut milk was divine. I like that it is soy free and doesn't have any nasty artificial things in there.

I was surprised at how much I liked the "ham" as I'm not normally one for the fake meats. It was great on sandwiches with mustard and pickles... or is that my pregnancy talking?

I used the white chocolate chips in these "Banana Everything Cookies" from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and they were delicious.

Does anyone have other ideas on how to use white chocolate chips?

Apricot Ripe Slice - toddler approved

I used to love Cherry Ripe bars when I was little. These bars reminded me a bit of them, except of course that I used dried apricots and they are reasonably healthy! 

These are so simple to make and we found them to be a great snack on the run. Sylvia absolutely loved these bars - partly I think because I called it "chocolate slice" and she loves anything chocolate. Whatever works! She's pretty picky with her food these days, so I was happy that she liked something containing dried apricots.

Apricot Ripe Slice (adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe's Apricot Delight)

250g dried apricots, chopped (I used organic)

3/4 cup boiling water

2-3 tbsp rice malt syrup (you can buy it at Coles)

1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut

1 cup vegan chocolate chips, melted

Place half the apricots, the boiling water and brown rice syrup in a small saucepan. Soak for about an hour. Bring to the boil and gently simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. 

Puree apricots in a blender and add the rest of the apricots and the coconut. Spread into a lined square cake tin. 

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove and spread over the top of the apricot mixture.

Put in the fridge or freezer until set and cut into bars.

  

We kept these in the fridge, but they only lasted a day or so!

Brown Rice Sushi

I overcame my irrational fear of the bamboo sushi rolling mat and made some brown rice sushi the other day. It worked, and it was delicious!

The thing I wish I had known about sushi before is that it still turns out fine even when you roll it pretty badly like I did. To think of all these wasted years that I haven't been making sushi! It is such a fresh, light and yummy dinner. And the filling options are endless.

I followed the tips here about seasoning the rice and making the ponzu dipping sauce. I also included the "sanctuary dressing" from Appetite for Reduction in the filling, made with silken tofu, a touch of mayonnaise and some other seasonings. It added a lovely tang if you like that mayonnaise-y taste in your sushi like I do.

Brown Rice Sushi

Brown rice

2 cups brown rice

4 cups water

1 tbsp mirin

2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar  

Filling

1-2 avocados, cut in strips

1 red capsicum, cut in strips

lettuce, shredded

2 cucumbers, cut in strips

a packet of shittake mushrooms, sliced and fried in a bit of oil
"sanctuary dressing" from Appetite for Reduction 

 Ponzu sauce for dipping 

3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp mirin 

Other stuff

5-6 sushi nori sheets

Bamboo rolling mat

Bring rice and water to the boil, then simmer until cooked (about 40 minutes).

While rice is cooking, prepare filling ingredients and make ponzu dipping sauce. 

Combine mirin, sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir into the rice when it is cooked and set aside to cool (my rice was still a bit warm when I made the sushi and it turned out fine).

Put a nori sheet onto the bamboo mat, spread a layer of rice over the sheet leaving a little space along the top edge, add fillings and roll the mat away from you, pressing firmly. Dab on a bit of water to seal. Repeat as necessary!

Tasty tales

As I mentioned in the last post, Theresa passed on the Food Stories blog award to me which asks that the recipient share some random facts about themselves as well as pass the award on to five other bloggers. So here are a few of my random facts...

Before Sylvia was born, I ran some community vegan cooking classes. It was such a rewarding and fun experience to connect with new people and share plant-based food ideas with them. I would love to do it again one day. 

I've always liked pretty unusual combinations of food. But now that I'm pregnant again I think my tastes are actually more subdued. Does this snack of apple, peanut butter, strawberry and sultanas seem odd to you?

At the moment, I'm enjoying Sylvia's imaginative games. Most of them are related to cooking and food, such as this "picnic" with "chocolate chip biscuits" made from play dough.  

I love cupcakes, making and eating them... need I say more? Here are some Christmas cupcakes we made at my cooking classes.

Here are the great blogs I'd like to nominate:

Cupcake Kitteh

Mama Shaz and Baby Pickle

The Little Clam 

Stuff About Stuff

Muma Veg

Birthday cake and recipe testing

Computer problems have stopped me from blogging for a while, but hopefully the technical issues are solved and my computer will cooperate from now on!

I've been looking for an excuse to make this cake for ages, and my partner's birthday was the perfect occasion.

I present the 'Beesting' cake, along with Sylvia's delicately placed candles:

It has an almond toffee on the top, a custard filling and the cake has almond meal in it. It looks pretty and is quite light, but still feels indulgent.

This is one of Leigh Drew's recipes from her book Vegan Indulgence. I've also volunteered to do some recipe testing for Leigh for her upcoming 'around the world' vegan cookbook.

It is so much fun trying these recipes, which have so far been mostly Indian and Pakistani inspired. They are quite different to the food I normally cook. I don't generally use chilli in our food because of Sylvia and I guess I haven't come across such exciting recipes for vegan versions of food from this region of the world. Eating these dishes is like having a night out in a great restaurant, not something that really happens with a two year old!

Here are the dishes I've cooked so far:

Baigan Bharta (Eggplant curry)



"Butter" Tofu

Aloo Gobi

Mamoul (shortbread stuffed with pistashios and walnuts)

Lastly, thank you to Theresa from the Tropical Vegan for passing along the Food Stories Blog award. I've been following Theresa's blog for years and I always love reading it, so it's a lovely surprise! I will be sharing some random facts about myself in the next post...

Sometimes you just need cake

And I mean cake. With the sugar, white flour and fat not replaced with healthier alternatives.

Here is the cake Sylvia and I made yesterday, for no other reason than that we felt like making and eating it:

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to make a cake for no particular purpose or occasion. Normally when I make cake like this, it's for a party and I can't really sit down, relax, cram a piece into my mouth and truly enjoy it. I love baking healthy breakfast-y things like muffins, but there's just something special and frivolous about making a cake with absolutely no nutritional value.

On the topic of cakes, I've had a lot of fun making Sylvia's birthday cakes over the past two years. I made this tiger cake for her first birthday: 

Of course, she was too little to request anything in particular, but she was born in the year of the tiger and has always loved toy tigers so that was enough for me. Also, it seemed like one of the few decent cakes I could make with my limited cake decorating abilities!

For Sylvia's second birthday, I made this cake:

I hope that you can tell that it's a rabbit! In case you're wondering, it has a bow tie. It does look slightly demonic. In the weeks leading up to her birthday, Sylvia alternated between wanting a rabbit cake and a 'moon and stars' cake, but finally decided on the rabbit cake.

I used the same recipe for both cakes, as well as the one we made yesterday. It's a chocolate cake because Sylvia loves chocolate. Like mother like daughter. I found it here online. It is a fantastic, simple recipe and always turns out very moist and delicious. Kids especially love it. I use the 'chocolate buttercream' from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. 

I also have to include a link to an amazing beetroot chocolate cake from Nuts and Seeds which I've also made several times. It's so nice not to have to use artificial colouring to make the pink icing - just add a bit of beetroot juice! I'll never use red colouring again.

It will be interesting to see what kind of cake Sylvia requests for her third birthday. With her will and determination growing stronger by the day, I am just hoping it's nothing that requires any engineering/construction ability!

Hungarian Cabbage Noodles

My mum is Hungarian so I grew up eating a bit of Hungarian food. It is quite a heavy cuisine - lots of meat, cream, butter and rich delicious cakes. It evokes lots of happy childhood memories for me, so I've tried to veganise a few Hungarian dishes over the years. 

I have to mention that my mum is a brilliant and versatile cook and has also veganised many amazing dishes for me, including an incredible chestnut chocolate freezer cake. I'll have to post the recipe up here one day!

Hungarian noodle dishes often blur the lines between sweet and savoury, combining onions, sour cream, sugar, pepper and cottage cheese. I created this recipe after I made the sour dressing from Vegan Deli, which immediately reminded me of these flavours. It was an exciting discovery because it is such a comfort food for me!

This may not be to everyone's taste, but I love the combination. I've made it at family gatherings and it is pretty popular.  I have also tried it out successfully on non-Hungarian friends! 

If the amount of sugar and pepper scare you a little, just add a bit at a time and keep tasting as you go. I usually add less pepper when I know Sylvia will be eating it.

Hungarian Cabbage Noodles

Sauce (Sour Dressing from Vegan Deli by Joanne Stepaniak)

1 1/2 cups silken firm tofu (I use a whole 300g packet)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

a pinch of ground coriander

2 tbsp canola oil

Cabbage noodles

Half a cabbage, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sultanas

1 tsp black pepper or to taste

salt to taste

pasta of choice, about 300g

Make the sauce by putting everything except the oil in a blender and processing until smooth. Slowly add in oil and mix until smooth. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Fry onion and cabbage on medium heat until slightly browning and soft, about 15 minutes. In the meantime, cook your pasta.

Combine the pasta and sauce in the large saucepan along with the sugar, pepper and sultanas. Heat on low heat for a few minutes. Stir to combine and serve!