Lucy Speaks

Christmas is a time of family and friends and joy. But it is also a time of suffering for the many animals that are imprisoned in factory farms across the globe.

Billions of animals suffer needlessly each year. Animals Australia have put together the Lucy Speaks radio campaign. These ads are getting played across Australia in prime time slots to try to highlight the plight of pigs.

I would encourage you to go to the website and listen to the ad.

Please spread the word and share the ad with your friends and family (post it to your blog or facebook page).

You can also donate to the campaign to get more ads played on the air. Nat and I are thinking that we will give a few ads as Christmas presents. Maybe if you are looking for a present for a difficult to buy person you could do the same??

An award

Tara from The Snowy Vegan gave me an award.

Here's a little info about this award:

"This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Tara (who used to author the blog Married Vegan Yogi) is a blogger who started blogging about the same time that I did and I have thoroughly enjoyed the blogging relationship that has developed. Her new blog is awesome and I think you should all check it out.

So I am now going to choose 8 bloggers that I have learnt a lot from and really enjoy reading their blogs.

Jessy from Happyveganface
Allularpunk from Awesome.vegan.rad
Jess from Cupcake Punk
Ricki from Diet Dessert and Dogs
Marni from La Vegan Loca
Tami from Vegan Appetite
Nicole from Sweet Potatoe
Miss V from Miss V's Vegan Cookbook

Sorry for my absence

Hi all, I realise that I haven't blogged here for ages - things have just been crazy.
I started work at the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The people are all really lovely which is nice - what wasn't so nice was that on my first day of work I had to go to a work lunch and there was NOTHING vegan on the menu apart from "lettuce leaves with citrus dressing". How embarrassing to only be able to eat lettuce (thus perpetrating the image that vegans only eat rabbit food). So because I didn't want to eat only lettuce I ordered some sourdough bread which came with butter - so I ended up spending a forking fortune for some lettuce and a few pieces of bread. I was really angry and rather embarrassed. Next week is another lunch - and as I know about it before hand I got the menu - and once again all I can eat are the side dishes of salad or vegetables (and once again I will be paying about $10 per side dish). I hate eating out in Hobart :(

Nat and I have been eating (which is a good start) - but at the end of the day I have just been too tired to take a photo of what I make - Nat and I also had Nat's mum down for two nights and then my brother down for one night and so we have hardly had any time to breath - let alone cook and blog.

I just thought I would show you a few pictures of some dishes that we have had over the last fortnight. Then I think I will go and have a nap - I am so tired (I worked at the Organic Market Stall from 5.30am this morning and only just got back home). Tara nominated me for a blog award- but I think I will do that a bit later tonight.

So onto the eating!!

Pumpkin Oat Patties (made up recipe that needs
a lot of tweaking before I post it), wedges and green beans.

Zucchini Mozzarella Sticks from Happy Herbivore. These were really good. A healthy snack - I was a little lazy and didn't crush up the bread crumbs as much as I should have but it still worked well.

Chickpea and Spinach Curry from VWaV. I thought this was nice. But I have simpler chickpea spinach Marsala recipe that I enjoy much better.

I don't know how often I will be able to blog until Christmas - but I try to be a little bit more diligent. I hope you stay sane over the Christmas period.

Sparkled Ginger Cookies are SO good

VWaV Sparkled Ginger Cookies

Oh My Goodness - if you have not made these cookies then you do not know what you are missing out on!!! I made these three days ago and I think that these will be the cookies that I bake for Christmas parties and Christmas day snacks. I used to love an awesome ginger cake that my friends mum (the owner and chef of the restaurant where Nat and I got married) used to make - this had that flavour.

They were a different texture to a lot of the cookies I usually make. I made them quite large and they pillowed up and looked very pretty. They had a beautiful soft texture. mmm..... they will not last as long as I thought they might. Oh well - I am not upset because they were so ridiculously easy that it will take no time to make them again.

VWaV kicks some cookie arse once again!!

Oh - does anyone know of a good ginger cake recipe?? I would love to make one.

Our Walk in Southwest National Park

Today its been a week since I had my teeth out - it all went really well - the stiches will fall out in a day or two and then I go back to the surgeon in a couple of weeks for the final checkup. It really helped my recovery that the last few days of spring and the first few days of summer had rubbish weather!!

Yesterday was the first beautiful day of summer and nat and I both had the day off (YAY!) We decided to go for a bushwalk in the South West National Park. Because I have been rather slothful for the last week (and the last few months due to winter and study) I was a little nervous going for a big walk. We decided to walk to the hut just below Mt Eliza. The walk was steep and oh my goodness the views were to die for! We decided to not climb to the sumit because although I am not too bad going up steep rocky things I (and my knees and ankles) really struggle coming down. So we gave it a miss this time.

For those who are interested here are some pics from the day:

Me and Nat - just heading out on our adventure (actually we are a little way up the mountain)

Mt Anne is the peak - the Mt Eliza walk continues onto Mt Anne - it is the toughest day walk in Tasmania (according to what Nat has read)

Me trying to get a splinter out of my finger. (That is what used to be Lake Pedder in the background before the Hydro Electric Commission Flooded it - its still pretty)

I got the splinter out!!!

At the hut just about to eat our lunch. We packed sandwiches with kittee's seitan, vegan mayo (recipe to come in a day or two), BBQ sauce (nat's only) and home grown salad greens. We also had WVaV ginger cookies and a fruit and nut mix. Mmmmmm... food tastes so good when you have just walked up a mountain.

Can you seen the ribbon of track on the two rises - it was so pretty to watch the track unfold down to our car.

Finally blogging about our indian feast

Clockwise from top: Tamarind Lentils, Chickpea Masala,
Aloo Mutter Gobi (Spicy Pea Potato and Cauliflower Curry), brown rice.

Well I was going to blog about this meal a while ago but I have been rather busy recovering. Who would have thought that I would sleep so much?!?!?! Granted the pain killers I was taking initially totally knocked me out - they also made me feel very nauseous - so I stopped taking them. I am still spending the majority of my time in bed or on the couch.

Before I tell you about this meal I want to apologise for not commenting on all of your lovely blog posts. I have been reading about all of your thanksgiving festivities but have not really had the energy to type much.

So the night before my surgery I had a group of friends over for dinner (8 friends to be precise). I thought that an Indian meal would be an easy way to serve so many people.

I served the curry with brown rice and this garlic naan. The whole meal all went down a treat. I personally loved the chickpea masala and the lentils, however most of my guests thought that the best dish was the Aloo Mutter Gobi when I found that to be the blandest of all the dishes - it goes to show how people's taste buds are different.

I finally made the Tamarind Lentils from VCon. They are so GOOD - I can't believe that it took this long for me to make them - they are easy and tasty.

Chickpea and Spinach Masala (adapted from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook).
Preparation : 15 mins
Total cooking: 30mins
Serves: 4

2 onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2tsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground corriander
4 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 tins) - drained
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tsp garam masala
150g frozen spinach

1. Heat oil in a large pan, add onion and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring until soft.
2. Add the chili powder, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add chickpeas and undrained tomatoes, stir until combined. Simmer, covered over low heat for 15minutes, stiring occasionally. Add spinach and garam masala and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Serve over rice or wrapped in chapattis or naan bread.
   

Aloo Mutter Gobi (Spicy Potato Pea and Cauliflower curry)
Cooking Time: 45mins
Serves 4
800g potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp olive oil
1 brown onion - diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
900g cauliflower florets (approx. one small cauliflower)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garam masala
400g (1 can) diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup frozen peas

1. In a large pan add oil, onions and garlic and cook until soft.
2. Add potatoes and spices and stir until the potatoes are covered. Add the tomatoes and vegetable stock and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add cauliflower and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes until cauliflower and potatoes are tender. Add peas and continue to simmer uncover until the peas are tender and all the liquid is absorbed.

Beetroot dip and the removal of my teeth

Well I have survived getting all four of my wisdom teeth out. The night before the operation, I had a bunch of friends come round for dinner. We had an awesome feast of which I will blog about later (when I don't feel more sleepy) but I needed to make a dip for everyone to snack on before dinner.

As I was going through the vegetable box in my fridge I found 2 small beetroot in the bottom that I had forgotten about. What was I going to do with them? They were going a bit soft and were probably not going to last until after my teeth were better - so I decided to boil them up and see what sort of beetroot dip I could make.

While peeling the beetroot (after I cooked them), I vowed I would never buy beetroot again - it squirted all over a tshirt and the bench and everything was tinged pink. Everyone loved the dip so much though (and it wasn't hard to make) that I may have to rethink my "no beetroot" decision.

So here is my version of beetroot hummus - it was devoured by everyone (even the more skeptical omni's that made up my dinner guests). This dip does not require any extra oil. Using warm chickpeas creates a smooth texture without the addition of any extra oil.

Beetroot Hummus
2 small-medium beetroot
2 cloves garlic - peeled
1 1/2 cups cooked WARM chickpeas
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp tahini
1 tsp cumin
reserved chickpea cooking liquid OR warm vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beetroot in a saucepan of salted water until tender (mine took about 1/2 hour). Allow the beetroot to cool and then peel and chop into largish chunks.
In a food processor, process the garlic. Stop, scrape down the sides and process again. Add the chickpeas, beetroot, lemon juice, tahini, cumin and enough reserved chickpea liquid to allow the mixture to blend easily. Add salt and pepper to taste and add more liquid to achieve desired consistancy. **The dip will firm up a lot when it cools so make it runnier than you think you need to**
Scrape into a serving dish or container and allow to cool completly in the fridge before serving.
Garnish with parsely.

And here is me a few hours after my surgery
with an ice pack on my face.

Tangy Tempeh with Green Beans and Peanut Sauce

Well tomorrow morning (7.30am) I go into hospital to have all 4 wisdom teeth out. Tonight I am having a bunch of friends around to our unit for a sort of "last supper" of sorts. I am going to be doing a bit of an indian feast so I am a little excited.

Anyway - what I really wanted to blog about is an awesome tempeh recipe. Tempeh is quite expensive around here and so I very rarely buy it - and when I do buy it I usually make the same recipe - because I know that it is nice and I don't want to waste good tempeh on a bad recipe.

Anyway I had some tempeh, but none of the other ingredients in my other good tempeh recipe. So I went on a bit of a hunt. I was almost going to make tempeh bacon from VWaV - but I wanted to make a dinner that wasn't too shabby (the amount of potatoes we have consumed in the last week in the form of fries, mashed potatoes and potato salad is quite disgusting).

I found this recipe on the net. I changed it slightly so I will put in my changes - but I am sure that the original recipe would be just as nice. This served 2 very hungry people and it will be something that I will be making again because it was so quick and easy!

Tangy Tempeh and Beans

1 block of tempeh (mine was 250g) - cubed
2 tsp olive oil
4tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp apple juice concentrate
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic - minced
1 1/2 cups green beans - sliced into 3cm lengths (or any other green vegetable you fancy - broccoli would be particularly good).

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used one that is solely made from ground peanuts)
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp fresh ginger - minced
1 cloves garlic - minced
1/4 - 1/2 cup hot water (depending how runny you want your sauce - I used closer to 1/2 cup)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, concentrate, water and garlic together and pour over tempeh cubes that are in a medium sized saucepan and marinate for at least an hour - flip tempeh occasionally.

Put saucepan on the stove and bring the marinade to the boil. Simmer, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes add the green beans and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Uncover and simmer until the tempeh is almost dry.

Place remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy, adjust the amount of water and salt and pepper to taste.

Place tempeh and beans over a bed of rice and then pour peanut sauce over the tempeh. Enjoy!

apple cabbage and spinach salad and Pumpkin oat cookies

Apple, red cabbage and spinach salad. Yuuummmmm.

Well today was a (relatively) busy day for me. I am on holidays but I had a few pre-employment things to sort out. I had to go and get a pre-employment medical done (all clear!!) and then I went to do some op-shopping for some work clothes. I found 4 really nice shirts and one skirt and it all came to under $15 (I think it was $14 exactly). I am trying to walk everywhere so as to help lower my carbon emissions and also reduce the amount of money that we pay for transport.

By the time I got home I was pretty hungry. I initially ate a piece of corn on the cob (it was raw and beautifully sweet). Then I decided to whip up a salad inspired by The Café Fresh Cookbook. It was so simple and easy. I just thinly sliced some red cabbage (local and organic) and some baby spinach leaves (local and organic). I then added a small handful of sultanas and 1/2 a diced jonagold apple (which was the only type of apple I had on hand - this apple is crisp and has a bit of a bite to it but is still quite sweet). I then made a dressing from the juice of 1/2 orange and 1 1/2 tsp of apple juice concentrate and poured this over the salad. It was just divine - I had to stop myself from having seconds.

Pumpkin Oat Cookies

Two days ago I made VWaV's Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies. I cooked and pureed my own pumpkin because you can't buy canned pumpkin here and I added the flaxseeds, used coconut oil instead of canola oil and used sultanas instead of raisins. I also used spelt flour which seemed to work fine.

I found it a little difficult knowing when these cookies were cooked - they do firm up a LOT when they come out of the oven. They tasted a lot like ANZAC biscuits. I took them to a staff meeting and everyone loved them (and thought that they were ANZACs). I will be making these again but I have notes in my VWaV that these are still REALLY soft when they come out of the oven.

Easy Pea-zy fried rice

First of all, I want to apologise for the crappy photo - I had a hungry husband and both of us had had a long day and frankly this smelt SO good that it didn't hang around for long on the table getting photographed. I have never made fried rice before, but after having Nat's mum and brother and sister in law over for dinner a few nights ago, Nat and I found ourselves with a lot of leftover rice (I over estimated how hungry people would be!!)

Anyway - I had to go to a staff meeting and end of year party yesterday and Nat was working all day so by the time both of us were home it was late and I didn't have anything prepared. I looked in the fridge and the rice was staring back at me and so I decided to make fried rice.

Fried Rice is SO easy if you have left over rice - and while I don't usually cook with so much oil - it was nice for a treat. Although the ingredient list looks long, this meal was whipped up in under 30 minutes, and I was going slowly - I could have had it on the table in much less time if I had really been bothered. I used a recipe that I was given in grade 7 cooking class - but I modified the amount of oil and the spices and ingredients other than the rice. You can modify the ingredients with what you have on hand. Other veggies could include - cauliflower, corn, broccoli, finely diced cabbage, capsicum, asparagus - just make sure that everything is chopped quite small.

I used little pieces of Kittee's Seitan (which I think is marvelous!!) chopped up - but you could also easily use chickpeas, cashews or re hydrated TVP.

There should have been leftovers for this dish but we were both so hungry (and it was so Delicious) that it only fed the two of us (Nat went back for seconds). So I would say that this dish serves 2 hungry very hungry people, or 2 moderately hungry people with some left-overs for the next day.

Easy Pea-zy Fried Rice

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion - diced
3-4 garlic cloves - minced
1 stalk celery - diced
2-3 medium carrots - chopped
2 spring onions - chopped
2 medium sized mushrooms - chopped (I used the normal white button mushies - any mushroom would do though)
1/2 cup seitan/re hydrated TVP*/chickpeas
4 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 cups of cooked rice (I used medium grain brown - use whatever cooked rice you have on hand)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup water

Pour about 2 tbsp of oil into a large (non-stick) frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough (a piece of onion will cause bubbles in the oil when dropped in), put in the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Stir for 2-3 minutes
Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce and then the spring onions and mushrooms. Continue to stir until the onions are almost done (they will become opaque).
Scrape all the vegetables to one side of the frying pan and then add the cooked rice to the cleared side. Press down on the rice using the back of your wooden spoon (or stirring implement) and then pour 1 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of soy sauce onto the rice. After a minute stir the rice and then pat down again.
Add the spices and mix rice again.
When rice is heated through - mix it in with the vegetables. Add the peas and then cook until peas are heated through. Serve.

Raw carob chews

Well here is another raw recipe that I learnt from the raw food demonstration that I went to a few weeks ago. I brought home a lot of the stuff for Nat to try and he loved the sweet treats. One that he particularly loved were these raw chews. Now I didn't tell him that they had carob in them until after he declared them to be good as he has a bit of an aversion to carob. I have made these once since the presentation - but I didn't take any photos and I didn't bother wrapping them up because I thought it was a waste of cellophane. So these photos come from the demonstration day. Gosia kindly said that I could share this recipe with you - although if you are interested in yummy raw food recipes you should check out her website.

Carob Chews *when I made this my processor was smaller so if you have a smaller food processor halve the recipe*

Just under 1 cup almonds
Just under 1 cup walnuts
Handful raisins
4 Tbsp carob powder
40 dates
40 dates

Process the almonds in a food processor, then add the walnuts and process until really smooth (the mixture should be quite oily when done). Add the raisins, carob and 40 dates and blend and then add the remaining dates and blend till chewy.

Turn out onto a clean surface and shape into a square (or place in a square container). Cut the mixture into squares.

Cutting the mixture

The mixture once cut

If you want you can wrap each square in cellophane and make lollies out of them.

All wrapped up

More Bread Baking - Moroccan Seed Loaf

Well Nat has had a few days off and so I haven't really needed to do any baking. He started back at work this morning and when I asked him what type of bread he would like he replied with "Surprise".

I looked through The Big Book of Bread and found a recipe for the Moroccan Seed loaf. This is a white loaf which uses honey and milk instead of sugar and water. It also includes sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds.

To veganise, I used agave for the honey and a 50:50 mix of warm water and this soy milk. This bread didn't rise quite as much as I thought it should have and actually sank a little when it went into the oven - I also had to remove it about 10 minutes before the end of the recommended baking time or it would have been burnt to a crisp. I was a little worried that the loaf would be dense as it doesn't have any oil in the dough (aside from a little soy milk) and the fact that it didn't rise, but as you can see it turned out really well. Nat was really impressed and ate about 3 pieces with avocado (our favourite bread spread) yesterday afternoon.

Next time I will reduce the temprature a little and double the amount of seeds as they were quite dispersed throughout the bread. But definitely a loaf with lots of potential that I will make again.

Pot-luck fun and food

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately - I have been pretty vague since the end of exams and through sheer vagueness I have had a few too many kitchen disasters since I last posted - the sheer number of brain-farts I have experienced has been astounding... for example - I made hummus and totally forgot the lemon juice!!! What is hummus without lemon juice??? And that is just the beginning of the disasters - but I don't want to dwell on those because today I went to an awesome potluck for the group Vegetarian Tasmania.

I knew that there were some raw foodies going and so I decided to make a raw dessert and then I complimented it with a fresh (and easy) salad because another brain-fart made me think that I had an extra hour of preparation time up my sleeve and so I wasn't able to make the other raw main dish that I was going to make - so I settled with the simplest quickest salad in the world. Looks fresh and appatising and also is able to be thrown together in 10minutes with minimal effort (shouldn't every meal be like that sometimes??

This simple bean salad has frozen green beans and corn that have been lightly steamed and then rinsed. A can of 4bean mix, about a can of chickpeas (I had some that I had cooked and left in the fridge), some celery, cucumber, red capsicum and spring onion or red onion. I just sprinkled the salad with a little salt water but it is also really good with any of your favourite french or italian dressing.

For dessert I made raw bliss balls. They were so good - I really had to stop myself from eating the mixture while making the balls because it was SO good. They were a hit with the poeple at the lunch and the lady who gave the raw food demonstration and her husband were really impressed and wanted the recipe. That is a sucess in my book :)

Lady's Raw Bliss Surprise

5 dates - soaked in water for a few hours or overnight
110g dessicated coconut (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 tbsp raw cacao powder
enough raw agave syrup to bind the mixture into balls (between 1/4 and 1/2 cup)
almonds (optional)

Drain the dates and blend in a food processor with the oil, coconut and cacao powder. When processed quite finely, add 1/4 cup agave syrup and process for about 30 seconds. Stop and grab a ball of mixture and squeeze gently to see if it sicks together. If it holds together well the mixture is ready. If not, add a little more agave, process and then test the mixture again.

Once the mixture is ready you can either roll the mix into balls or you can use an almond as the centre of the ball and form the mix around the almond. I was able to take these straight to the potluck and they held together well, but the 3 that I kept for Nat in the fridge were much firmer and really nice.

Nat after he bit through his bliss ball.

It makes 20-24 balls - depending on wether you use almonds or not.

The "I have to make biscuits and be out the door in half an hour" recipe

Sorry for the long title. It sets the scene beautifully though. Apart from my US friends might need biscuits to be translated to cookies.

There I was last night happily thinking that I was going to spend the evening just chilling and watch a movie with Nat, when I get a txt from a friend saying that she was picking me up in 1/2 an hour to go to dinner at another friend's house... I TOTALLY forgot about the dinner and I had said I would bring some post dinner munchies.

Well - with there being nothing in our cupboards that was able to be taken (well there were plain crackers but I didn't have any dip) - I realised that I was going to have to bake something... and something really easy. One of the people going to the party has an intolerance to sugar - so I also had to make it sugar free.

I did a quick search and found this recipe here. It was so simple. I made a few substitutions - I used agave instead of sugar and I also used coconut oil and white spelt flour.

They came out really well. This is the second batch (that I made so that nat would have some for lunches at work) and they got a little burnt because I was running around getting ready and not paying too much attention.

I couldn't believe how good they were for how simple the recipe was. It was a little too sweet for me but everyone else thought it was just right.

asparagus, chickpeas and pesto

Nat was away for work last night. He had an overnight trip to Cradle Mountain. I hadn't really thought of organising anything to do for the night because my mind was focused on exams and by the time I got round to thinking about it - all my friends were busy. Oh well - its nice to have a quiet relaxing evening sometimes.

Because I was tired and feeling lazy I whipped up the easiest thing I could find in the fridge. I found some chickpeas that I was going to use for a hummus that I never got round to making, some yummy organic asparagus that was never going to see itself in a proper meal if I didn't use it up soon (I was nibbling on one stalk at a time and it was slowly depleting), some fresh basil pesto that I made which was loosely based on this recipe, and some left over quinoa.

I just sautéed the asparagus and chickpeas in the chickpea water. The asparagus was pretty young and so it didn't need much at all. I threw that on top of the quinoa and put the pesto on top (once the photo was taken, the pesto was mixed in with the other stuff - but it didn't look quite as appetising then.

It was yummy and hit the spot perfectly (you can't really go wrong with asparagus though).
mmmm....

I have decided that it would be really hard to find the motivation to cook healthy meals if you were only cooking for yourself every night. I am glad that I hardly ever have to do it.

It is a wonderfully sunny day today and the weather forecast says that it is going to get to 28degrees (yay!!)

I am going to go for a walk in the sunshine.

7 random things about me

I haven't really been cooking/eating anything of significance so when Allarpunk from Awesome.Vegan.Rad tagged me I thought that I would share some facts that you probably don't know.

Rules:

Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.

Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. My pet name from Nat is Lady (hence the title of this blog) - it started out as "little lady" when we were younger (As in "hey there little lady") but when I turned 18 he decided that I was now just lady. (I think he just got lazy!)

2. In 2006, I spent six months volunteering in Uganda with the organisation Students Partnerships Worldwide (SPW). I was on a Community Resource Program teaching sustainable organic farming techniques to farmers and environmental education to school students.

3. When I was about 10years old I ate so many kiwi fruits that I vomited in the car. I couldn't look, smell or eat a kiwi fruit for years. Now they are one of my favourite foods.

4. I donated blood about 4 hours ago. The guy who was in the chair next to me fainted and hit his head pretty bad. :(

5. My parents thought that I was going to be a boy and so upon my arrival, my dad exclaimed "my god, he's a girl!!"

6. I LOVE drama and performing in musicals. I haven't been in one since last year but some I have been in are: Cats (2007), Oklahoma (2004) and Carousel (2003).

7. I lost 20kgs in the 8 months after I came back from Africa. Some of it (about 7kgs) I put on while I was over there (they only eat refined carbs and fried beans - you do not want to know how many litres of oil and kilograms of salt we went through in 6 months... it was disgusting!) I did that loosely basing my diet on the Eat to Live diet.

Now I am supposed to tag 7 people - but I think the majority of you out in blogger land have been tagged already - so any of you reading this that haven't been tagged - I tag you - shoot me a comment so I can read it. :)

Cooling cucumber and corn salad

Before I get onto talking about my yummy lunch I just want to proclaim to the world that as of 10.15am this morning I FINISHED MY UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE!!! I had my last exam (survey research and statistics) this morning and now I am done. It is also a beautiful day outside. Nat is working and rode his bike to work (he left at 6am this morning) and so he won't be home till about 8 tonight I would imagine - so I am going out for a coffee with one friend and then a few drinks with a few others and then come home and have a late dinner and crack open a bottle of wine and watch a movie or something.

So... the long and the short of it is that... pending passing all my exams - I will have a month of holidays before starting work in my graduate position at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Anyway - onto my awesome raw lunch that I am munching on right as we speak.

Cucumber, corn and celery salad

I am really trying to make an effort to include a lot more raw foods in my diet. I am eating a lot more fruit - especially the fruits with higher concentrations of water - and I am trying to eat raw food right up until dinner. It is not a big effort as my body is craving simpler, lighter and cooler foods. (I do sometimes miss my occasional bowl of muesli, but I really want to give this a crack to see whether I notice any difference in my health, energy, mood and skin condition. I am expecting my body to go through a period of detox first though. I don't want to give up on cooked food altogether - I love preparing food and having people over for dinner and going out for dinner with other people. I am going to try and keep my cooked meals simpler but I will still cook food for Nat and when people come over. This is really just a trial.

Anyway - onto my new favourite salad. I am able to eat this salad without any dressing, but if you wanted to it would be nice with some balsamic or cider vinegar or braggs amino acids. Nat doesn't like the idea of raw corn - so when I make him some I usually steam it for a little bit and then dunk it in some cold water before throwing it in.

Cool corn and cucumber salad
Serves 1

1 fresh cob of corn - kernels removed from the cob
1/3 continental cucumber - cubed
1/2 stalk celery - sliced finely
1/2 spring onion or a small amount of red onion diced finely
any other fresh herbs or vegetables you feel like - I like parsley and basil.

Yummy raw food demonstration

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go to a raw food preparation demonstration/workshop. It was put on through the organisation Vegetarian Tasmania. We had two demonstrators, Gosia and Heather. I have only briefly met gosia once before, but I know Heather quite well. She has been "raw" for about a year and ahe has a 10month old baby. The baby is 100% raw and I have never seen a healthier or happier mother and child. They are just incredible. The baby LOVES tomatoes and mangoes... but he eats just about any raw food that he is given.

Gosia looked at raw food that could be used during the transition to raw and also food that could be used for dinner parties or potluck dinners. Heather's recipes were more about simplicity and she showed us some simple salad dressings so that we could add a bit of variety into the raw diet.

Over the next few weeks I plan to make a lot of the food myself and when I do that I will share the recipes. In the meantime you can check out Gosia's website or youtube videos.

I was really REALLY annoyed when my camera battery died early on in the demonstration. But one of my friends will hopefully send me her photos.

With Gosia we made smoothies, ice cream, fruit jelly, chewies, the most amazing carob cake, cinnamon rolls and pizza. My favourites were the ice cream and the pizza. It was just divine! I will share the ice-cream recipe with you today as it is SO simple!!

I will be posting photos of the cake and the pizza - but for now I will leave you with the one decent picture that I got before my battery died:

Raw Banana and Raspberry Ice-cream
topped with raw cacao powder

Raw Ice-cream
recipe: Gosia

Peel bananas and freeze them. Process them in a food processor with optional ingredients until creamy. Serve immediately.

Variations:
Add some dates/nuts/carob/cacao during processing
Use some frozen raspberries or blueberries, or both.
Decorate the ice-cream with fresh strawberries.
Top the ice-cream with some carob/cacao powder and agave.

The best job in the world and another successful seitan recipe!!!

In between cooking for another dinner party last night and studying, I realised that I didn't have anything for Nat to put on his sandwiches. So I decided to make Kittee's seitan log - as it just looked good and Kittee told me that it was pretty much fool proof - she was right. It took a little bit of time but I found that I could caramalise the onion while also chopping the veggies and cooking the moroccan stew that we had for dinner last - so it all worked out well. My pressure cooker has a steamer basket and so I used that (without bringing it to pressure) to cook the seitan.

The texture is good - it is chewy, but not in a hard way - it is just right. It slices really easily and I find that I can slice it much thinner than I could with the Seitan O'Greatness. The flavours were really good, even though I didn't have the creole seasoning and couldn't be bothered making some up so I just threw in a tiny little bit of basil, some onion powder, garlic powder, lemon grass and freshly ground black pepper.

I give Kittee's seitan the BIG thumbs up!!!

I also whipped up an awesome mayonaise which works out at approximatly only 11 calories a tablespoon - which is pretty good!!! Next time I make it I will work out the exact quantities and then post the recipe - as I think I am on to a winner. Vegan mayo here is expensive and frankly I have yet to find one I like - so to be able to make one quite cheaply is awesome!

Yesterday was market day and it was my first day working on the most awesome stall for the company The All Organic Farm. It was great, I only worked for a couple of hours but the people were awesome and the vibe was really cool - I can't wait to go back next weekend.
What was even cooler was that one of the other girls on the stand had brought in her own homegrown kale. Kale is never for sale here and I have never even seen Kale seeds for sale. I have never tasted Kale and so I just had to buy a bunch of this awesome looking green. Now I don't really know what to do with it... any suggestions?? I was thinking something simple to start off with so that I get to taste the kale.

Chocolate fudgy brownies - don't tell them it has tofu!!!

Well last night one of Nat's high school friends was down from South Australia as his fiancée was at a conference. They came to stay at our place for the night. The last time we had seen Nat's friend it was at the wedding and we really hadn't been able to spend too much time with anyone that day.

So I thought that I would let Nat pick what I made for dessert. Of course he went for something chocolaty... and so I thought brownies would be something that could be had for dessert and also for snacks if the boys got hungry.

I used the ppk recipe and it was good - you have to give this plenty of time as you have to chill te tofu mixture.
I used sweet william chocolate buds for the chocolate chips and Loving Earth Raw cacao powder**
Well they went down a treat!! Until Nat said (halfway through their first piece) that it was made of tofu!! His friend looked at it (and I thought that he wasn't going to eat it) but said "cool" and kept on eating. I informed nat that usually when a dessert is made out of tofu - don't tell the omnis until after they have finished eating.

Anyway - a sucessful (yet not very healthy) recipe and I think that Nat will be requestion this one again some time.

Tonight my cousin and her husband are coming for dinner - also haven't seen them since the wedding so I can't wait to catch up.

** Loving Earth is an awesome company - you should check out their website which shows their products, their projects and their philosophy. I met the guy who started it and helped him to make his chocolate when dad was wondering whether they should distribute the products - its my favourite chocolate in the whole world!! If you live in Australia I would highly reccomend you try some - its worth it!!

Creamy Pumpkin Quinoa

This morning, I had every intention to make one of my favourite quinoa dishes - Susan V's farmer's market quinoa. I would highly recommend this dish to anyone - I have made it numerous times.

As the day progressed, however, I began to feel like pumpkin. I still wanted quinoa but I also wanted pumpkin. This dish just progressed from there. I used Susan's recipe as a guide but made a sauce of roasted pumpkin, red capsicum and soy milk. The result was really good - a lovely creamy quinoa dish. The flavours were quite mild - but it really hit the spot for me. I think it would be really easy to adjust the spices and have a few totally different tasting dishes. I will put a few ideas below the recipe.

Creamy Pumpkin Quinoa
800g pumpkin or butternut pumpkin (squash)
1 red capsicum - halved (dice one half and leave the other half for roasting)
1 onion - diced
2 medium zucchini - chopped
1/2 green capsicum - diced
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
1x400g tin diced tomatoes
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tbsp basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar or agave
2 cups cooked quinoa

Directions

Preheat oven to 180degrees Celsius. Slice the pumpkin into wedges and place on a greased baking tray. Place a red capsicum half on the baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and take the capsicum off the tray and flip the pumpkin before putting it back in the oven for another 20-30 mins or until tender. Place the roasted capsicum in a paper bag or wrap in aliminum foil until it is cool - then remove the skin.
Remove the pumpkin from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool, remove the skin and chop into 2cm cubes.
In a large heavy bottomed saucepan or wok, saute the onion for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, zucchini, green capsicum, the uncooked half of the red capsicum, and half of the pumpkin cubes.
Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently but keeping the dish covered in between stirring. Add a little water if it is starting to stick.
While the vegetables are cooking, place the other half of the pumpkin cubes, the roasted capsicum, the spices and the soymilk in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Add the tomatoes and pumpkin mix to the vegetables and stir to combine. Add the quinoa and stir until mixed through. Serve immediately.

**I didn't serve mine immediately - so when I reheated the dish when Nat came home I added another 1/4cup soy milk to moisten it up again**

Some possible variations:

Possible Additions: green beans, eggplant, chickpeas, tofu cubes

Possible Spice combinations that I will be trying in the future (I will use them to taste- if you want to use them, have an idea about what quantities usually go into dishes):
Curry - cumin, corriander, turmeric.
Moroccan - tomato paste, cinnamon, bayleaves, raisins, turmeric, corriander, cumin.

Chickpea cutlets, exams and a new dawn for America

Chickpea cutlets with lemon drizzled potatoes,
green beans and corn kernels.

So tonight I finally got round to making chickpea cutlets from Veganomican. I have been wanting to make these since I got the book - but just when I planned to make it Nat got sick - but last night his appetite was back (and with a vengeance!) So after my exam (which went better than I thought possible - I remembered things that an hour previously I thought I was never going to get) and walking out of the exam and turning on my phone to get a text message from nat saying "president Obama", I rushed (well walked quickly) home and was there just in time to watch his victory speech. I had tears in my eyes - there is hope for the world yet.

I was in such a good mood that I thought that chickpea cutlets should be for dinner - and they were FANTASTIC. After reading a number of blogs and the PPK forums I saw that people like them better if they are baked - which is good for me because I am a fry-a-phobe. I was going to make some lemony roasted potatoes, but I ran out of time and I also thought that lots of oil might not be good for Nat's tummy - so instead I just steamed some potatoes, green beans and corn kernels and then drizzled them with lemon juice and seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

My stomach didn't feel like anything as heavy as a cutlet - but I did take a bite out of Nat's and it was good. I just had the veggies and they were simple and hit the spot.

A great dinner to finish a stressfull (from exams and election waiting) but very good day.

Chocoloate Thumbprint Cookies

Thanks for all your well wishes yesterday - Nat is feeling a lot better. However now I am the poorly one. Yesterday I got my first exam out of the way - this afternoon I have my second one (which makes me annoyed because Nat has the day off and will be sitting at home watching the election coverage and I will be slaving unknowingly in my own little world for a few hours). Yesterday's exam was ok - but after I walked home (about 40mins) I was hot and fairly dehydrated and felt really ill - so instead of studying or going to a farewell party for a fellow committee member of Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania, I was lying on the couch with the most excruciating stomach pain ever. When Nathan came home he covered me with a blanket and went to the chemist and got this herbal stomach relaxant. Then, because I was not able to study on the computer - he got my notes and tested me and read through them with me - I hope some of it stuck - I am rather nervous and will be studying pretty hard for the next few hours.

Anyway, for the farewell party that I didn't end up going to, I needed to take something that was very quick and easy to make - as I was also trying to study. I found the Chocolate Thumbprint Cookie recipe in VWaV and decided to make that.

I didn't make many changes (as I was going to be serving them to other people) but I did replace the peanut oil with tasteless coconut oil and used a little bit less sugar.

They turned out really well. They were soft but not fudgy. I will be making these again - however I will start to experiment with agave syrup and spelt flour. I will let you know how it goes when I ever get round to it.

Now off to study *groan*

Simple Dinners - baked tofu with spinach

Nat has been fighting some stomach bug over the past few days and so he hasn't really been feeling like eating. Consequentially, I have been living off frozen leftovers from all the cooking I did during Mofo.

Last night Nat felt like something simple. I ran through all simple things to see if anything sounded like it would agree with his stomach. We settled on tofu and greens. I have been wanting to try a breaded tofu - but I was happy that Nat was feeling like eating at all and so I settled on using this simple baked tofu recipe from vegweb.

I omitted the oil from the marinade and marinated the tofu for about 2 hours. Then I baked the tofu. I then stir fried some spinach in the marinade and served it atop the spinach.

It was really good (for a really simple meal). I will make it again but when nat is feeling better I will bulk it up by boiling some potatoes, sweet potatoes or pumpkin and mixing it in with the spinach when stir frying.

I have my first exam at 1pm today -Social Problems and Social Policy - wish me luck!!!

Feeling like raw - and this hits the spot!

Carrot salad with grated apple, celery,
sunflower seeds, walnuts, pepitas and sultanas.

Well summer is defiantly approaching and my body is starting to crave a lot more fresh alive foods and meals. I am going to have to look into finding some nice simple raw recipes for summer.

At the moment I can't get enough of my grated carrot salad... I make it differently every time depending on how I am feeling. So I will give you a run down of basic ingredients. In the photo I put most of them in just to show you - usually I use a little less of the "toppings".

Basically I grate a medium-large carrot.
I grate some apple as well (how much apple depends on how sweet I feel like - today I used less than half an apple, some days I use a whole apple).
Any other vegetable I desire: celery (chopped finely), ginger (finely minced)
Then I add desired toppings: nuts (chopped almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, coconut flakes or shreds), seeds (pumpkin and sunflower), dried fruits (sultanas, raisins, chopped up dates)

Then I devour!! It is raw heaven - believe me!!!

When I was a kid an after school treat that mum used to make was grated apple and sultanas... that is another dish if your body is craving sweet things.

**Edited November 4th - I was thinking about other yummies that would rock in this salad I came up with: grated beetroot, grated parsnip, chopped pineapple, orange segments or orange juice... the list goes on... mmmmm***

Pita Pockets with hummus, baby spinach and falafel

mmmm... is there anything better than pita pockets stuffed with yummy fillings. I remember loving it when my mum bought pita bread for our school lunches. When I saw Jessy's post about her awesome pita/hummus/falafel meal I just couldn't help myself. I had to learn how to make pita bread and then devour it.

I used this recipe as the base for my pita bread. I modified the recipe a little and so here is my version of pita pockets:

1 cup white spelt flour *
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour*
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp raw sugar
2 tsp instant dried yeast
1 1/4 cup water (room temp.)
2 tsp olive oil
*you can use 3 cups of any flour you want really.

1. In a large bowl - mix the yeast, flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. If necessary add more water so that all the flour is incorporated into the dough.
2. Once all of the ingredients are combined, place the dough on a work surface and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for about 90 mins until it has doubled in size.
4. When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place a baking stone or upside down cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven.
6. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin and roll the dough into a circular shape. It should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
7. Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Here is half a pita with hummus , falafel (from VWaV) and baby spinach.

Another keeper - Spaghetti and Beanballs

Well its the day after Vegan Mofo - but technically I cooked this last night which was during Mofo.I have been trying to make better use of my cook books and with Veganomicon it is not hard to find really yummy looking new recipes. I feel a bit guilty as I have not had pasta for a few months (I just haven't bought any). I know Nat loves spaghetti and so I got some spelt spaghetti from my parents business with the intention to finally try spaghetti and beanballs. Well its taken a little while but I finally got round to making this beauty of a recipe.

I defrosted some kidney beans but they weren't quite enough to make the full recipe. So, after I ate some of the kidney beans before and during the mashing phase (whoops) I realised I should probably half the recipe. The only substitution was that I used cornflake crumbs instead of bread crumbs (after my horror of a discovery).

I have read that other people have found that their beanballs were a bit mushy. I think my disregard for following recipes and the fact that I wasn't sure when Nathan would come home from work saved this from occurring for me. I added extra gluten flour (half because I forgot I was halving the recipe and half because the mixture looked a little wet). I also baked these balls using olive oil cooking spray. After I had cooked them and turned them and cooked them again I realised that Nat wasn't going to be home for a while. So I let the balls cool in my toaster oven until Nat came home. Then I completed the baking of the balls by adding the spaghetti sauce. I think this helped the balls to stick well together - they weren't going to fall apart at all.

I didn't use the marinara sauce from Vcon, instead I used a spaghetti sauce recipe that I use for lasagne's. Basically, I sauté some onion and garlic in broth (or oil) then add 800g (2 cans) diced tomatoes and tomato paste, basil, thyme, oregano, a bay leaf, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. I won't bother posting exact quantities for two reasons; 1. people tend to have their favourite pasta sauce and 2. I often adjust the seasonings to taste instead of following a recipe - pasta sauce is a good recipe to start this practice.

We loved these balls -but don't be fooled - they taste nothing like meatballs (which is probably better for me) but Nat thought that it would be cool if I could find a 'meatier' texture for the meatball (he also really wants me to make these again though).

So... what would be a good meaty texture?? I was thinking TVP or some sort of seitan creation... does anyone have any suggestions or good recipes??

Delightful Olive Bread

Well - its the last day of Vegan Mofo *sniff*. I have really enjoyed the challenge and loved reading all the awesome blogs. I also posted every day this month... YAY! (Being a student who loves to procrastinate has helped a lot).

So for my last post of the month (and incidentally my 50th post) I wanted to bake something special. Or at least something that I had been eyeing off for a while but was a little scared to try. As I also had to bake some bread for nat to take for his lunches I thought I could attempt a more daring loaf.

A few months ago we were having lunch at a friend's place and we were served some olive bread. It was delightful, especially spread with avocado and topped with a number of yummy salad toppings (including avocado, sundried tomato, salad greens and fresh herbs). On the way home from that lunch I remember nat commenting that it would be nice to have some of that bread sometime.

This loaf was a (very successful) attempt at recreating that olive loaf.

I based this recipe on one I found in The Big Book of Bread. It turned out so well - crusty on the outside and a perfect soft texture on the inside. I will be making this again!! Nat is in heaven - he had some while it was still warm and then had to be reminded that dinner was not too far off (I think he probably could have devoured most of the loaf if left unchecked).

He has taken it to work today for sandwiches with avocado, seitan, a vegan Mayonayse that I whipped up using this recipe and some salad greens from our little vegetable box on the balcony.

Next time I think I am going to use more olives.
I have just discovered that American and Australian measuring cup sizes are different Grrr... so to help stop confusion I have put the weights.

**I was able to cook this in my little toaster oven with no ill effects. It just fit diagonally onto my 20cmx20cm baking tray. **

Olive Bread
1 cup whole black olives (or equivalent seeded/diced black olives) - use more or less to taste.
500g white spelt flour (or plain white flour)
2 tbsp gluten flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
approx 250ml warm water

1. Remove and discard the pips from the olives and roughly chop the flesh.
2. Sift flour and salt into a bowl then stir in the yeast. Make a well in the centre and add half the chopped olives, the oil and enough water to make a soft dough.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
4. Grease or lightly flour a baking tray and set aside
5. When risen, tip dough back onto floured surface and press the centre of the dough with your palm to knock out the gasses. Gently stretch the dough and fold the ends into the centre, rotate 90degrees and repeat the stretching and folding into the centre.
6. Roll the dough out to form a rectangle, scatter the remaining olives on the surface and then roll the dough up (like a swiss roll) starting from one of the shorter sides. Pinch either end of the roll to seal the ends.
7. Place the rolled loaf on the baking tray (With the seam facing down). Cover and leave to rise again until double its size (about an hour).
8. Preheat the oven to 200degrees Celsius. Dust the loaf with sifted flour. Bake for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 190degrees Celsius for a further 20-25 mins until the loaf is golden and hollow when tapped lightly.
9. Transfer to a wire rack.

VWaV Date-nut Diamonds

So I should be studying for my last ever exams for my undergrad degree... (I have three more exams over the next two weeks) - but I have been procrastinating - well getting the house into shape and baking stuff for Nat to take to work (he has 4x12hr days in a row!!!). Although I have found a few really good bars for Nat to take to work - for Mofo I have been trying a lot of new recipes - and here is another.

I have been eyeing off the Date-nut diamond from VWaV for a while now. I thought that if I didn't make them now I would probably not make them for a long time (if ever). As usual I changed the recipe a little bit so here are my modifications:

I used white spelt flour instead of the all purpose flour
I used about a cup of dried dates
I reduced the sugar to 1/2 a cup and used raw sugar (rather than brown sugar)
I used about a 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
I used arrowroot flour instead of tapioca starch.

I also baked the diamonds in a 20cm square Pyrex dish which is smaller than what the recipe called for. This worked out really well as I almost had trouble making the top layer spread this far - It wouldn't have covered a bigger dish.

The bars burnt a little on the edges but hold together nicely and are really different to the other bars that I have made. Nat really likes them so I will make them again. As they are higher in fat than his other work bars I will probably make these a little less than he would like ;)