Dal.

I love Indian food, but it often gives me heartburn, though I find that with a lot of tomatoey dishes. This is my tomato-free Dal. It is so good, yes, I know I am biased, but it truly is! (: And I promise it tastes a LOT better than it looks ;)

Ingredients: 

• 400g tin lentils drained and rinsed
• 400mL coconut milk, plus extra IF required
• 1 tsp Garam Masala, cumin, ground coriander seeds
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 3 cloves/tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• 1/4-1/2 tsp salt
• Sugar as needed if too salty
• Splash of Braggs (optional, but worth it)
• 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• (I've given measurements, but really all the spices are to taste.)

Method: 

1. Melt coconut oil in a saucepan. 
2. Add diced onion and sauté gently. 
3. Add garlic, ginger and all other spices and allow them to ft off a little. 
4. Add lentils and coconut milk. Allow to simmer until thick, about 30-40 minutes. If it gets too thick thin out with a little more coconut milk. 
5. Serve with steamed rice, roti and veggies, or as part of a banquet. 
6. Enjoy (:

Strawberry Sauce

At work we have a rule that on your birthday you have to bring in the cake. I kinda think that's a bit mean, but being vegan I find it easier to cater for myself anyway. Plus it gives others a chance to see that vegan food isn't just "rabbit food". My go to special occasion cake is "my" (not my recipe) Chocolate Mousse Cheezecake  I made it yesterday for my birthday today. It's great with berries on top and that was my plan today, but when I looked at my punnet this morning they were a bit squashed and bruised. I decided I couldn't possibly serve them like that so I whipped a batch of strawberry sauce instead.

Ingredients:

• 1 punnet of strawberries (or other berries or soft fruit, thinking mango next time) 
• Agave nectar or white/raw sugar to taste A little water
• Corn flour 

Method: 

1. In a saucepan squish fruit with a masher or fork and add a little water. Heat up on medium heat slightly. 
2. Transfer to blender, food processor or use a stick blender to liquify the fruit. 
3. Transfer to a metal sieve and strain to remove any seeds or pulp. 
4. Put back in saucepan and heat gently, add nectar or sugar to taste. 
5. You can leave it as a runny syrup or mix up a little cornflour or arrowroot (about a tablespoon) with some some water and add to the mix. Heat gently until it has thickened. 
6. You can now serve it hot/warm or allow it to cool. 
7. Store in the fridge, but it will go quite thick, so you will have to let it come back to room temperature if you store it in a thin mouthed bottle like I have, or just scoop it out with a spoon if in something wider. 

I plan on making this next time I make scones too.

Enjoy! (:

Hummus

I have never really been a hummus fan and I realised on Monday, after having some totes amazeballs hummus, that's because I'd only ever had shitty store bought stuff. The hummus I had on Monday came from a gourmet deli (Alps and Amici I think, for those in Launceston) and it was just so good that I wanted to eat the lot! I was asked if I had ever made it. I hadn't because I didn't think I'd like it, but upon realising I had all the ingredients in my pantry I figured why not?!

So here is my hummus recipe. I hope you like it :) It may not be quite as good as Alps and Amici, but I think it is pretty damn good! ;)

Ingredients:

• One can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
• Juice of 1/2-1 lemon
• Salt to taste, about 1/4-1/2 a teaspoon
• A couple of flags of olive oil
• Shake of paprika (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of tahini
• 1-2 small cloves of garlic

Method:

1. Put garlic, chickpeas, juice of half a lemon, one good glug of oil, tahini, salt and paprika in bowl of food processor, whizz until everything sticks to the side of the bowl. 
2. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whizz again to get it smooth. Keep scraping and whizzing as required. 
3. Add extra oil, lemon juice, salt or even garlic as required or to taste. 
4. Once you have the desired flavours and consistency pop the mix in a jar or other air-tight container, drizzle with a little extra olive oil and a dash more paprika. 
5. Store in the fridge or just serve and eat it straight away. I love it on bread rolls! :)

Cheeses (plus pizza and chocolates).

I think the response I hear most when I tell people I'm vegan is "I could never give up cheese"! I get that, cheese is mighty tasty. I loved eating cheese too and found it hard to give up, and most vegans I speak to say that cheese was the last thing to give up. I have tried various (vegan) cheeses, mostly the Cheezly varieties, some are better than others. Recently I tried the Vegusto Melty, everybody says it's great, not me! I thought it was ok, again, better than some others, but not *that* good. And the other 2 that aren't *too* bad are the Tofutti American and Mozzarella, again, ok.

So I decided to bite the bullet and shell out a shitload of cash to try the 4 cheese varieties I have heard everybody rave about: Daiya, Notzarella, Bio Cheese and The Loving Hut Aussie Vegan Cheddar. 

I have tried all of them raw.

The Daiya was not great raw, and despite it being soy-free I felt it smelt quite soy-like.
The Notzarella didn't really taste like anything, which I thought was good as mozzarella doesn't really have much of a flavour.

The Bio Cheese was fairly good, still had a mild soy taste, but much better than most others. I can see why people have been going crazy over it. I really liked the way it cut, it is nice and firm and that was a nice change.

An finally the Loving Hut Aussie Vegan Cheddar. this one I was the most skeptical about, but I found it fairly decent actually. Not as firm to cut as the Bio, but not much softer.

All blocks grated fairly well, especially the Bio, the Notzarella was a bit soft and more difficult to grate, but that didn't really surprise me.

The Bio and Loving Hut cheeses will be pretty good in toasties and on crackers, so that is a win and the Daiya was much better cooked than raw, though I was disappointed that it didn't melt that well and did not go stringy as promised on the pack. The Bio seemed to melt the best.

So to test all of these guys I made pizzas, something I'm not normally that in to, but in the interest of testing new products I figured this would be a great way to do it. The Daiya was definitely my fave in this regard. Now I will have to find some other cheesy recipes to test and use all of them before they go off.

Now for the chocolate.
Go Max Go chocolates are some of the best I have ever tasted, vegan or not, I love them!! Cleo's are peanut butter cups, Jokerz are a Snickers style and the Thumbs Up are a Butterfingers style, my favourite! The others I like of theirs are the Twilight (Mars bar) and Buccaneers (kind of like Milky Way). At around $4 per bar they aren't cheap, but they are so incredibly worth it! The only problem is I just want to eat them al, NOW!!

I got this haul form Vegan Online, my favourite online vegan store. They do ship cold products over night express which costs around $27, again, not cheap, but worth it if you REALLY want stuff!

If you live in the Launceston area and shop at The Organic Grocery Store on Hobart Road at Kings Meadows they order vegan produce from Vegan Perfection and these guys have started stocking Go Max Go Bars (YAY!), the Organic Grocer will order in stuff from VP for you so you don't have to pay for shipping (DOUBLE YAY!!). VP were going to stock Daiya, but so far this hasn't happened, hopefully they will start stocking that and Bio Cheese, this is my hope :)

Cheese overload pizza.
Top left: Daiya
Top right: all 4
Bottom right: Notzarella
Bottom middle: Bio
Bottom left: Loving Hut

Notzarella and Daiya with mushrooms, capsicum, pineapple and onion.

Evandale Markets

For those of you in Northern Tassie, you no doubt know about Evandale markets. Lots of great food (especially if your not vegan :-/ ), plants, bric-a-brac, video games, hats, clothing, etc, etc. Also a couple of great vegan goodies. Goodies such as Sudanese doughnuts.

And today Higher Taste Bakehouse had a stall and they are planing another before Christmas, depending how swamped they get with orders in the lead up to then. I grabbed 2 bags of cookies today; Chocolate Fudge Brownies and Sticky Date. They are so yummy!! And the great packaging makes them great gifts too, and they have a farm sanctuary also! (:

You can check out Higher Taste Bakehouse on Facebook or online here. And she does post around Australia! (:

"Bounty" Slice

Yesterday I made these gorgeous fingers/bars by Karly at Clean Eating Survival Guide. They taste so much like Bounties it is crazy!
It's not my recipe so I won't publish it, but here is where you can find it, on Karly's Vlog.

I will say that I used agave as my sweetener and I didn't have enough dark chocolate, only about 40g, so I topped up with Sweet Williams choc chips which was fantastic!! 

ChocNana Bliss Balls

I got a new food processor today and I am stoked, it means I can finally make all sorts of awesome new treaties! Its first job: bliss balls. 

I have found various recipes that I like on the intertubes, but I decided to wing it today, not something I normally do when I haven't ever made something before. So I came up with ChocNana Bliss Balls. I realise banana might be a little odd, and you can totally leave it out if you want, but I had it lying around after my little dude decided he wanted one and then promptly decided that actually he didn't! *facepalm* So I just whacked it in too. 

SJ's ChocNana Bliss Balls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of pitted dates (mine were pretty dry, so I soaked them in boiling water for about 2 minutes)
• 1 C rolled oats
• 1 C raw nuts, I used cashews, but whatever you want
• 1 banana
• 1/2 C coconut, I used moist flakes, plus extra coconut for rolling, I used dedicated. 
• 2 Tbs vanilla protein powder, optional
• 1/4 C cocoa

Method:

1. In food processor roughly chop the nuts and oats.
   
2. Add and chop the dates, banana and coconut. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as required.
   
3. Add protein powder and cocoa. Mix until everything form together in the bowl.
   
4. Scoop out tablespoons of mixture and roll into balls. Roll the balls in the extra coconut or you could use extra cocoa or chopped nuts.
   
5. Place balls in an airtight container and leave to firm up in the fridge for one hot before eating. Store in airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. 

For a GF option take out the oats (or use GF oats) and use extra nuts.  

I popped the recipe into My Fittness Pal and here is an approximate nutritional analysis from the mix. My mix made 17 balls. 

Approximate nutritional value per ball based on 17 balls.

Pot Luck

A couple of weeks ago I went to my very first Pot Luck picnic. It was lovely. The weather was great, I met some new people and the food was fantastic!

My contributions were "Hedgehogs", an old family recipe that is kind of like a little potato rosti, and a beany pasta salad. Both of these recipes are perfect for a BBQ, picnic, or a party (maybe not a fancy party in terms or the hedgehogs).

I'll start with the salad first.

Sooo much vegan goodness!

Even the locals liked it ;)

Beany Pasta Salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 tin of mixed beans (or any legumes of your choice) drained and rinsed
• 350-500g of pasta your choice of pasta,  (I used 500g, but next time I'll only use 350-400g)
• 1 tin or 3 fresh chopped tomatoes (I prefer to use fresh for this recipe)
• 1 red onion (optional, and not used this time)
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 C chopped basil leaves
• 200g (or more) of baby spinach leaves
  

Method:

1. In a large pot Boil enough salted water to cook a whole bag of pasta. Whilst water is boiling/pasta is cooking do everything else. When ready drain pasta and pop it back in the pot, set aside off heat. Cover with lid until ready to use.
   
2. Whilst the pasta is doing its thing chop tomatoes and onions, if using them, drain and rinse the legumes, wash and spin the spinach leaves.
   
3. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and gently sweat down the garlic, and onion if using, and basil leaves.
   
4. Add beans and tomatoes to just heat up a little bit and to get some of the garlic, basil and onion flavours. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
5. Once the beany mix and pasta are both ready combine the two gently, being careful not to mash the beans or tear the pasta. Drizzle the pasta with a little extra olive oil.
   
6. Add the spinach last minute, just before serving or walking out the door, so as to prevent it from wilting too much.

The salad is lovely warm or cold and great to take for work/school lunches also.

Hedgehogs

Ingredients: 

• 4 large potatoes
• 1 brown onion
• Replacement for 3 eggs, I use Orgran's No Egg
• 1 C frozen corn
• Plain white flour to mix (this could be substituted for a GF flour)
• Oil for frying, enough to submerge the Hedgehogs in
  

Method:

1. In your food processor or by hand, grate the potatoes (peeled or not is your choice) and the onion. If you don't have a food processor grating onions sucks big ones, so I recommend slicing fairly thinly instead. If you are doing it by hand use a large bowl, if doing it in the food processor make sure your chopping blade is not in there.
   
2. Heat your oil, either in the deep fryer or on the stove, keep an eye on it!
   
3. Mix in the No Egg and frozen corn kernels.
   
4. Mix in enough flour to bring everything together. Start with about 1/4 C at a time. How much you will need depends on how wet your potatoes are. You could squeeze the liquid out of them just after gating, but I have never worried about that. Don't mix in too much as you will probably need to add more to soak up the moisture from the mixture as you are cooking as the corn will start to defrost.
   
5. Now get your hands into it. Scoop out handfuls, if you have big hand make the little handfuls, mold them together by gently, but firmly squeezing them until formed.
   
6. Place in your hot oil and cook until golden brown. I don't have a deep fryer so I just cooked them on the stove. I found about 2 minutes on each side (I flip them over) worked fairly well, but the first batch took longer, despite the oil being hot *shrugs shoulders*
   
7. Drain on paper towel and enjoy! 
   

These are great hot or cold, sprinkle with salt, squirt on some tomato sauce, whack 'me between two slice of "buttered" bread and totally eat the shit out of them!! These are also frickin' awesome as a hangover food, vegan, greasy, amazeballs, hangover food. They are also great to eat with beer. They just friggin' rock no matter what your doing!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

I love cream cheese frosting, it can be a bit zesty if you like, either way it is super easy and super yummy! This makes a large quantity, when I made it last I frosted a 30cm round banana cake and 12 cupcake/mini muffins, and had enough to do at least 12 more!! So you may want to halve the quantities (:

Cream Cheese Frosting 

Ingredients:

• 1 tub of Tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese"
• 1/4 cup Nuttelex
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract/lemon juice/orange juice/lime
• The zest of 1 lemon/orange/lime (optional, but recommended if using citrus juice instead of vanilla, which is what I usually do).

Method:

1. Allow cream cheese to soften on the bench for a little while before you are ready to make the frosting.
2. Place all ingredients in a bowl/bowl of mixer/bowl of food processor and mix until combined. Done! You may want to add your flavourings according to taste rather than quantity.
3. If you aren't using the mix immediately transfer to an air tight container and pop into the fridge until ready. It can be stored like this for a few days or so. 

Mini Carrot Muffins/Cupcakes

I have been finally get back into the swing of baking again, but I have terribly neglected my poor little blog!

I have never been a fan of carrot cake, it always seemed like a "grownup's" cake because I never found it very sweet, it never had pink or chocolate icing and the grownup's would alway have it with coffee. That was all terrible to me, and now if I was offered a slice of carrot cake I would still turn it down as I hate walnuts, which always seem to make an appearance. 

I stumbled across this cupcake, or really mini muffin, recipe a while back and I've been tweaking it to my tastes. 
So here are my carrot cake muffins, I  hope you enjoy them (:

Mini Carrot Cake Muffins

Makes 12 mini muffins/cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup raw/white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 225g grated carrots
• Zest of 1 orange
• Subsitute for 2 eggs 
• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour, white/wholemeal or a mix
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 55g sultanas
• 1/2 cup milk of choice, you may need more or less so start slow. I use soy or oat milk.
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Method: 

Basically I just chuck everything, except the milk, in my mixer and go for it. I then just add the milk whilst it is mixing through until it looks right. But I'll give you the proper version as well ;)

1. Preheat oven to 200oC/400oF
2. Sift flour into a bowl/food processor bowl or bowl of mixer
3. Add all other ingredients except for the milk. Gently mix until almost all combined.
4. With the mixer/beaters/food processor on low speed, slowly add milk until the mix has just come together and looking smooth. If you are doing it by hand just keep going until done. Remember; try not to over work the batter or the "muffincake" will go tough. 
5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes (give or take).
6. Cool completely on a wire rack.
7. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Can be stored in a air tight container unfrosted for a week or for about 3 days frosted in the fridge.

Veggie Lettuce Cups

Sang Choi Bow isn't usually the most vegan friendly dish in the world, but I have had Chinese restaurants create a veto version for me, which still normally costs more than it should. So I like to make it at home. Sometimes I omit the lettuce cup part and eat the mix with rice instead, also good. Being in the middle of summer things are starting to heat up, in Tassie anyway, the rest of the country is already sweltering. And after an afternoon in the sun and having a dip in the pool at the gorge (Launceston cataract gorge) we only felt like something light and fresh for dinner. So lettuce cups it was.

This is the kind of dish I just through together with whatever I have on hand. Last night it was beans, capsicum, carrots, spring onions and tofu puffs. 

Ingredients

Whatever veggies you want

Whatever protein you want (tofu, tempeh, TPV, whatever)

Lettuce cup (Sang Choi Bow) sauce. I used Lee Kum Kee brand, but you could make your own with soy sauce/tamari, Chinese five spice, garlic, mirin, some chilli if you want. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Iceberg/Cos lettuce to serve

Rice to serve if desired

Method

Chop veggies and protein very small, no bigger than 1cm pieces.

Stir fry veggies and protein.

Add sauce, stir fry some more.

Serve when cooked with prepared lettuce and/or rice.

Simple and tasty!

Enjoy (:

Banana Wholemeal Pancakes.

"I wanted to wake up and want pancakes for breakfast." That's what I told my hubby, he replied with a suitable quizzical expression and then asked "What's it like being you?" whilst patting my shoulder in a patronising fashion. Fair call really, I am quite odd! 😝 

When I saw a had some VERY overripe bananas I decided I should couple them with my idea of wanting pancakes. I jumped onto taste.com.au and checked out a recipe that needed modifying and here is what I came up with.

Ingredients

1 ripe banana

1 1/2 cups wholemeal self raising flour

1 1/2 cups soy milk

1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons of rice syrup (or your fave honey substitute)

2 'eggs', I use "No Egg"

Method

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. It may seem silly to sift wholemeal flour, but I do it to aerate the flour and then I add the bran back into the bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour.

Add vinegar to soy milk and set it aside.

Mash banana in another mixing bowl or large jug.

Prepare egg replacer. 

Add egg replacer, soy milk and honey substitute to the banana and mix well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the flour and and whisk until smooth. Set mix aside for 10 minutes.

Heat pan and cook as you normally would, about 1-2 minutes each side, depending on how hot your pan is. Just like regular pancake cooking, watch for the bubble to appear on the surface, but be aware that this is a bit of a dense mix so it doesn't bubble very much.

I used Nuttelex to cook them in after my first few got burnt when I used cooking spray. The Nuttelex worked very well! 

These are good hot or cold (that's how I am eating them today for afternoon tea). Serve with jam, yoghurt, ice cream, extra banana, berries, drizzled with honey substitute, or just eat them plain like I do.

Enjoy (:

MMMMMM FOOD!

Isaac, my pride and joy, love of my life, 4 month old baby boy is starting on foods other than milk! Such a fun, cute and messy time :) I love watching him trying to feed himself, little Mr. Independent he is!
What were some of your baby's favourite foods? So far we have had rice cereal and then tonight tried that with a carrot, sweet potato and apple purée, it was a hit!

Look What I Got.....

I was so happy the other day, I actually remembered to go op-shopping and was very happy to score 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and a skirt for $50, which considering they were all basically brand new, some still with the original tags still on them I was pretty happy.
Yesterday I took hubby around to a couple of second hand stores yesterday and I found this great cork board, reduced to clear for $10!! I thought it was a real find! :)

A Spot of Autumn Cleaning.

I've recently been thinking that I need some new Tupperware, but on further inspection of my pantry I soon figured out that was not the case! I am disgustingly ashamed with myself at the state my cupboards were in, I even found containers full of dried lentils and chickpeas that I bought, and thought I had used, a year ago!I also found a heap of old glass jars from things like pasta sauce, I thought they we all currently being used or that I had run out, evidently not. I have decided to recycle these for storing my lentils in, as they are glass they won't absorb that horrible plasticy smell that my other containers leech out, plus it will stop me buying more than I can use! 

I have a spice rack, but it too is a mess, I have always bought my spices in glass jars, which I always throw in the recycling bin when done. Recently, though, I bought reusable glass jars that I just label and refill as I need too. I think they look a lot cuter than the little bottles you get at the supermarket.

I finally have total order in my pantry and hubby has been threatened with pain of death if he ruins said order, so we came up with the OCD-sounding idea of labeling the shelves, lets hope it works!!

"Steak" Sandwich.

I had a craving for a "steaky" kind of sandwich for lunch a little while ago, so I did what any good little vego would do, bought some Swiss browns and grilled them! I then added some sautéed onions, lettuce, spinach, bread and BBQ sauce and I got my "steak" sandwich.

So easy and SOOO YUMMY, totally satisfied my craving for something to just bite on in to! (:

I'm not sure how I made this background so black and the sandwich so shiny,
the wonders of my iPhone 3 I guess :-p

NB: Obviously if you want this GF make sure you bread and condiments are.

Happy St. Pat's Day (Kinda).

My contribution to St. Patrick's day was broccoli, broccoli wrapped in pasta (:

Friday was one of those nights that I just hadn't planned anything for dinner, I hadn't been shopping and I didn't know what was in the fridge or pantry! I opened them up and found my ingredients and a meal came to mind.

Now obviously Friday was not St. Pat's day, but I had left overs for Saturday night which I took to my Mum's house. I shared mine with my pasta obsessed niece and nephew whilst everybody else chowed down on stuff you don't want to know about!
(BTW omni hubby liked my meal MUCH better, I love that over time he is starting to see that meat makes you feel heavy, a bit sick and generally gross).
So what was this delectable delight I created? It goes by the "very imaginative" name of:

Broccoli Pasta

Omni hubby said "WOW, that looks so vegan!"
Funny that :-P

Ingredients:Quick note: there are few measurements because I didn't really measure anything, I just chucked it all in!

• Pasta, I used high fibre white pasta, but you can use what ever you like, spinach pasta for that extra St. Patty's day kick or of course wholemeal or GF.
• Garlic, I used granules 
• Salt
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• juice of one lemon
• 1 ½-2 heads of broccoli
• Sesame seeds
• Olive oil

Method:

1. Boil water in a large pot.
2. Whilst water is boiling cut broccoli into florets.
3. Add pasta and some salt (if desired) and garlic to water.
4. Juice the lemon and add the juiced halves (NOT the juice, just the left over skins and pulp) to the water.
5. When pasta only has about a minute to go chuck the broccoli and chickpeas in with the pasta.
6. When broccoli is cooked drain the whole lot and put it back in the pan.
7. Drizzle with some olive oil, pour in the lemon juice and toss on some sesame seeds. Give it a good stir and there you have it, broccoli pasta!

The first night we had this with (Woolworths Homebrand) garlic bread, which is my new obsession, but please don't forget about my main obsession to bring Lord of the Fries to Tasmania.

The second night I had 2 Redwood Lincolnshire style meat-free sausages and BBQ sauce with it, both nights it was great!

So go on and enjoy a very tasty and nutritious meal on me (: 

My First S'mores.

So because I'm not American S'mores aren't something that I have ever eaten, except for in the form of imported Pop Tarts in my previous non-vegan life.
In my recent trip to Melbourne I decided to stock up on Dandies Marshmallows, for two reasons: 

1. 'Cause I could.
2. 'Cause I thought I would like to try these American camping snacks.

Tonight was just the kind of night that I thought I would like to indulge in such gooey, sugary treats, even though desserts are not something I tend to consume, so I got out my little toaster oven and away I went!

S'mores

Ingredients:

• Digestive biscuits
• Dandies marshmallows
• Lindt 70% dark chocolate

Method:

1. Get as many biscuits as required depending on how many everybody wants e.g. there are 2 of us so I used 8 biscuits. However, Carl only ate one S'more, I ate two and there is still one left over, not sure I can do anything with that.......
   Anyway grab your biscuits.
2. Put a few dandies on biscuits, I probably used to many, but do what feels right :-P
3. Heat under the grill, or the top element of a toaster oven, whatever ya got. Heat until melty and gooey and a little browned.
4. Put a square of chocolate in the middle of the melted marshmallows, leave under the heat until it melts a bit.
5. Get them out from the cooking device and squish another biscuit on top. And there you have it, S'mores.

WARNING TIME: In case you have never cooked before, or if your of the raw food persuasion,  which is totally cool (no pun intended, I swear!!), then you will have to know that this comes out EFFING HOT!!!!! So watch your fingers and your tongue, be warned!!!

The verdict? Wow, cool, using dark chocolate was good as I wouldn't want an overly sugary chocolate for this, but it was the first time I had had dark chocolate in quite some time, so it was a bit bitey.

So much fun though and I think I will be satisfied for quite some time!!

Enjoy the rest of your week
SJ (: 

Another long time between posts!

OK so yet again I have been busy as all hell! I started 2 new jobs in as many days and LOVE them both! I am SOO much happier than I was when I was working at the shelter. I have now returned to veterinary nursing and also started teaching animal studies at TAFE. Both of these jobs keep me really, really busy and I have been putting in A LOT of long hours at nights and on my days off to keep up with my workloads. Seriously not at all complaining, I never thought you could really be truly happy at work, but now I know you can! (:
AND a week ago my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew moved down to Tassie as well, they join my folks in muscling in my mine and hubby's "territory", at least the live like 40 minutes away!!!

So with all of this wonderful craziness going on I have really not had time to cook, let alone blog! Thankfully though hubby has kept my belly full as until last week he has been unemployed since Christmas, just one of may casualties from the Tasmanian state government not being able to budget properly. Luckily he now has a part-time job at one of the local collages, which is awesome because it it super close to our house and he's only entering his 3rd teaching year and and we expected about another 7-17 years before he got such a position. So, yay for us, we both have income, something really handy when you have a mortgage! And him only being part-time (at this stage) means I still get a house-hubby for half the week, SCORE!! :-p

We were, however, able to take a mid-week weekend recently to Melbourne. It was awesome, I had never been before and really I had never before had any desire to go to Melbourne, why would I when I had previously lived 1-3 hours south of Sydney? Plus Canberra, believe it or not, had plenty of advantages, and after they got a DFO there was even less reason for me to care about Melbourne!
So what was the reason for this life-changing (stay tuned) trip?

SYSTEM OF A MOTHER EFFING DOWN!!!!!!
At Rod Laver Arena

Oh man I loved this gig, I was head banging like I was a good 10-12 years younger than I am, and even though I'm only 28, I found out the next day that I was WAY out of practice for such activities! I didn't care though, I also didn't care that I screamed and threw my right arm around so much that I was barely audible and my shoulder was competing with my neck for sympathy! 

Now it wasn't just  SOAD that had me all excited, since going vegan I have wanted to visit Melbourne, and in the end I was actually getting more excited about food than I was the band! This was actually the 2nd time I saw SOAD, but only the first time that I had gone to Melbourne, and as a vegan at that!
A couple of days before I left I asked "the Facebook vegans" where I should go for meals and to stock up on vegan junk food to bring back.

I was directed to some great places, THANK YOU to everyone who made suggestions for me, including one of my fave places in Melbs: 

The Radical Grocery Store

I spent $100 here on junk such as Dandies, various Bonbarr chocolate bars, jelly, toffee, coconut ice, tofutti cuties, AND:

Mister Nice Guy Cupcakes
This was a Peanut Butter Cup and it was SOOO moist and chocolatey
and peanut buttery!!

I also ate at Enlightened Cuisine where we had:

Crispy Duck with Plum Sauce.

And

Kung Po Lamb.

AND on my way back to my plane I made my way to Chan House where I had:

"Honey" "Chicken" with Steamed Rice and Veggies.

We also visited the Australian Centre for the Moving Image which was really great AND FREE! Well worth a look if your hanging out around Federation Square.

But I think the place that got me more excited than ANYTHING else was visiting Lord of the Fries my new favourite place on earth, SERIOUSLY, I'm even spearheading a campaign to bring them down to Tasmania, not just for me, but we NEED more veggie choice down here!
LOTFs was my first stop on my whirlwind trip and then I had breakfast there the next day for breakfast as well. 

This was my breakfast meal, a big original burger and fries with vegan cheese and gravy
I have recreated these fries a few times over the past few weeks with
Redwood's cheezly and Redwood's vegetarian gravy, YUM!!!

Nuggets, onion rings and fries munch box with BBQ sauce .

Mini original burger

The best OJ I have ever had!

Now I can't wait until the next time I get to go to Melbourne, and I plan on spending more than 36 hours there!

Stay well,
Love SJ (:

Happy First Anniversary (To Me).

Today is my 1st anniversary of being vegan!

I am so proud and happy with myself and all of the changes I have made this year, not just with my diet, but the way my thinking has changed as well. I feel I have always been a compassionate person, but over the past 12 months I think I have become more compassionate. This isn't to say that I have turned into a weepy sissy, just more understanding. And I haven't become weaker, just the opposite, I have become physically and mentally stronger. Actually this image sums it up nicely I think :)

Now there have been a few amazing changes to my health as well, the biggest being in remission from Hyperthyroidism (that 1 year anniversary will be next month). When my Hyperthyroidism was coupled with my old lifestyle I think it's amazing I didn't have any worse health issues. From the time I was 24 (I'm now 28) I had high blood pressure, 145/90, and a high resting heart rate, 100-120 bpm. These numbers have been gradually falling, I think I started documenting them at some point, but I have no idea where. On Monday, however, I went to  my GP for a check up and and found out that my BP was 103/76 and my HR is 76bmp! I cannot believe how dramatically this has changed!
And of course I have lost weight, something else my doctors are more than happy about. From Christmas 2010-Christmas 2011 I lost 18kg (39.68 lbs). Unfortunately since then I have gained 1.5kg which pisses me off to no end, hopefully that will fall off again soon!

Now my weight loss would have been a lot more, as I am still overweight, if I hadn't been so frickin' lazy!! I didn't feel the need to exercise very much, or at all, as I have a very physical job (excuse number 1). I was also seeing such great results just by the changes in my diet that I didn't feel I had to exercise very much, or at all (excuse number 2). So I didn't.
For some reason, however, I have decided that I need to exercise, which has turned into "I have to exercise or else I am a fat, lazy slob!". I understand that in writing that may send alarm bells off in some people's minds thinking "Whoa,this chica better watch out she doesn't do anything stupid or dangerous!" whereas what it actually means to me is "itchy feet". I am finding that if I walk for an hour or do a Zumba class after work I feel more relaxed, happier, less stressed and I sleep better. I know those of you who are regulars to this exercise thing would be thinking "Well duh!!", but it takes lazy peeps, like me, longer to figure these things out! So now I am loving exercise, just annoyed that this 1.5kg came back whilst I'm doing it! >:-/

Back to the anniversary. To reward myself for everything I have achieved I made my favourite meal. This is something that like my Lentil Bolognese is a childhood favourite that I had a lot of fun veganizing!

NOTE: This isn't a quick recipe, you probably want about an hour or so just to let the mix simmer on the stove, so allow 2-2.5 hours prep/cooking time. The ingredients and methods lists look huge, but don't be discouraged, it's totally worth it. I do recommend the use of an apron!

SJ's Lasagne.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 brown onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 1 400g tin brown lentils
• 2 zucchinis 
• 2 carrots
• 250g mushrooms, I prefer button or Swiss brown or a mix
• 100g (or so) frozen spinach
• a nice big bunch of fresh basil, as well as fresh oregano, rosemary and thyme to taste
• 3-4 fresh tomatoes or a 400g tin
• 200-300g firm tofu
• 750g bottle pasta sauce of choice
• ½ cup red wine, I've been enjoying the Yallumba Y Series Merlot for both cooking and drinking :)
• 6-8 lasagne sheets of choice (regular, GF or even tortillas!)
• If you wish TVP (1 cup), veggie mince (1 cup) or crumbled up veggie burgers (about 2 home or ready made) are also nice editions.
• 1 Tbs sugar (optional) 
• salt and pepper to taste

Cream Sauce:

• 1 tub Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
• 1 tin Carnation soy milk
• 2 Tbs (or to taste) nutritional yeast/Parmazano/"Motzarella" or a combo of all
• 1 tsp nutmeg

To Serve:

• Garden Salad
• Garlic bread (recipe at the end)

Method:

1. Slice and press, or just press, tofu.
2. Drain and rinse lentils, set aside.
3. Top and tail and chop the zucchinis, carrots (peeled or not) and mushrooms, set aside
4. Finely dice the onion. Heat a little oil in a nice big deep pan or large pot, through in onion. Gently cook on medium to medium-high heat until translucent, stirring occasionally, do not brown. When ready crush garlic into pan, stir.
5. When garlic becomes fragrant add tomato paste and allow it to cook off for a minute or two, gently stir every now and then.
6. Add zucchini, carrot, frozen spinach, tomatoes and lentils, mix well.
7. Add pasta sauce and red wine, mix well.
8. Crumble in tofu. if using veggie mince or burgers now is the time to add them as well. If you find that the mix is getting to thick you may want to pour a little water in, or maybe just simmer for less time, you be the judge.
9. Tear the leaves of the herbs of the stems and stir them into the mix.
10. Now add the mushrooms, sugar, salt and pepper.
11. Turn the heat down to medium low, stir very well to ensure all the ingredients are combined. Allow the mix to simmer an bubble away for up to 1 hour, just keep a close eye on it and stir semi-regularly.
12. Whilst the mix is simmering away prepare your cream sauce. Combine the Tofutti cream cheese, Carnation soy milk, nutritional yeast/"cheese" and nutmeg. To do this I usually just use my immersion blender or use a medium sized bowl and good spoon or spatula. The process is easier if the Tofutti is at or close to room temperature.
13. When The mix on the stove is at a consistency you are happy with preheat the oven according to the directions on the pasta box (usually about 180^oC and 30-40 minutes cooking time). 
14. Get a LARGE baking dish and assemble your lasagne. I layer pasta, veggie mix (make sure it covers the pasta well) and cream sauce until dish is full. I do pasta, veggie mix (3-4 ladles worth) and ¼ of the cream sauce. Repeat this once, then top with pasta and remaining half of the cream sauce. On top of this I sprinkle extra nutritional yeast. If you have a REALLY LARGE baking dish you may just need more layers.
15. Pop in the oven for bout 30-40 minutes, it should be nice and golden and bubbly, just like a "real" one.  
16. Now is a good time to make your salad and start preparing your garlic bread, recipe bellow).

Ingredients:

• Woolworths "Bake at Home" Dinner rolls, however many is required for the amount of people you are feeding.
  My garlic bread is super easy, but NOT GF so if that is something you require ensure you have GF bread rolls.
• olive oil, about  ¼ cup 
• 3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed

Method:

1. When the lasagne only has about 10 minutes left to go, pop the rolls in the oven until they are half cooked.
2. Mixed the desire amount of garlic and oil together. If you like a more subtle garlic taste use only a little, if you like it more robust use more.
3. When ready pull the rolls out of the oven, cut them in half lengthwise and using a teaspoon pour the garlic oil onto the rolls, rub the mix in to ensure decent coverage and not just a clump. Depending on the size of the rolls you may need to repeat this.
4. Once covered in garlic oil pop the rolls back into the oven until they are golden brown around the edges. Once ready pull your rolls and lasagne out of the oven and serve.

Just be warned, this amazing tasty garlic bread gives you seriously gnarly garlic breath the next day, consider yourself warned! :)

I know this seems like a lot of steps and a lot of time in the kitchen, but trust me, it's not that bad. The only person I have served this to that didn't like it was my dad, and that is only because he doesn't like zucchini or carrot, oops! Other than that EVERYBODY loves this, even omni hubby told me that he likes my vegan lasagne better than he does my mum's traditional lasagne, a he truthfully wasn't sucking up!
If you find you have a ton of veggie mix left just pop it in the freezer until next time, it won't be enough mix for a huge one, but you could definitely getter a smaller one out of it.
I also find that this makes fantastic left overs for my lunches.So go on, give it a go, as I said at the beginning this is one of my favourite dishes. If I could be bothered I would make it every week, but eventually I would get sick of it and I do not want that!!

Enjoy :) 
xo