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 ;)

Tried and True Mexican Chili Beans

Home again. Nat and I drove down a day earlier than expected so that he could catch up with a friend today. Once we arrived home and I had unpacked and put away everything from our trip it was quite late in the day. My parents own a organic wholesaler business and so I always home home with all the staples that I am running low on. This time I returned with Agave, red lentils, brown rice, dried red kidney beans and chickpeas, quinoa, dried dates, nutritional yeast, spelt spaghetti, kamut tubes, flax seeds, raw sugar, a box of soymilk, some chocolate samples that they had been sent (yummy) and probably lots of other things that I can't remember.

So - I was too tired to go to the shops to stock up on vegetables. On the way home we briefly called into a grocer and I picked up some celery and capsicum as being at home had reminded me of another of those recipes I grew up on: mum's mexican chili beans.

Mum and Dad decided to become vegan when my brother and I were very little. This was before the internet, and so mum's recipes were based on her cookbooks. For a little rural community in Tasmania, for mum to be cooking the weird and wonderful stuff she did was just awesome considering all of my friends parents cooked meat and three veg every night for dinner.

So - I consider myself very lucky - its funny now though - "mum's recipes' as my brother and I call them were so weird when we were growing up - we loved them. But now times are a changing and they are not so different to all the other recipes that you can find on the web. Each of those recipes still holds a special place in my heart (and tastebuds).

This recipe is DEAD simple. It takes no time and mostly uses staple kitchen ingredients (in my kitchen anyway).

Note to all parents reading this blog: I grew up on these recipes so they are pretty kid friendly (if the kid likes vegetables) - ie. they are not overly spicy.

This recipe one based on a recipe from a book that one of mum's friends made called Tried and True. I highly doubt you will be able to get a copy (as I can't even get one and I rely on photocopies of scribbled on cooking stained recipes) I feel that I should be able to share it.

Nat had these wrapped up in tortillas. I served mine over rice. I whipped up some vegan sour cream using this recipe I found on Tara's blog. My cream didn't come out as firm as I would have liked - my silken tofu may not have been the right type - I am not too sure. It was still really tasty!


Mexican Chilli Beans

2 cloves of garlic
1 onion - diced
1/2 green capsicum - diced
1 stalk celery - chopped
2 cups (or 1 can) kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
1 tsp chilli paste (optional)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 veggie bouillon cube (optional)

Brown garlic, onions, celery and capsicum in oil or saute in water. Add other ingredients, including a little liquid if necessary. Simmer until vegetables are cooked.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables and home style salad

Sweet and Sour Stirfry

Mum has been following the posts on my blog and was very excited when I said I would like to blog about our dinner last night. She said she had the perfect dish (ie. a new dish that I had not had before). So we set about cooking this dish together. The recipe comes from this awesome cookbook that mum bought from the New Internationalist - Quick and Easy - Vegetarian Recipes from around the World for the Western Kitchen. Unfortunately it is out of publication and I have been unable to get my own copy (very very sad about this). Due to the fact that you (or I) are not going to be able to run out and get a copy of this awesome book I will put our version of the recipe (we have changed a few things).

It was really yummy - I haven't really ventured into many sweet and sour dishes - but I really like this - and it was really easy - I chopped the vegetables as I needed to add them (to reduce the total time needed). We had this on the table really quickly.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables
Serves:4
Time: 20mins

600g chopped vegetables (we used 1 red and 1 green capsicum, 1/4 cauliflower, 2 carrots, 1/2 zucchini, 1 stick celery, 1/4 cup cabbage, 5 mushrooms and 1/2 cup pineapple - other possibiliteis could be baby sweetcorn, bok choi, bean sprouts, snowpeas).
1 onion - sliced into cresent moons
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 - 1 red chili - deseeded and chopped finely
450g extra firm tofu - cubed and marinated in a marinade (we were lazy and just used some tamari).

Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce (we used Muir Glen Tomato Ketchup)
2 tbsp pineapple juice
1/2 tsp cornflour

1. Saute onion in oil or broth until it begins to soften. Then add garlic and stir fry for another minute.
2. Add the vegetables that will take the longest to cook (like carrots and capsicum). Stirfry these for 3-4 mins.
3. Add the chili and the rest of the vegetables, stiring until they are cooked.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over vegetables. Add tofu and stir to coat everything in sauce. Leave for a few minutes so that the flavours can sink in.
5. Serve over rice or noodles (we served it over thin rice noodles)

**********
There are many different things that are exclusive to my parents home (where I spent the first 18 years of my life). One of these is the Vita Mix. I remember my brother and I convincing our parents to buy a vita mix at an Organic Gardening Festival in Penguin when I was about 10years old. I think we used the line that it would help us to eat lots of fruits.
Since then - every morning we would share a fruit smoothie (with banana, orange, apple, kiwi, avocado, and other fruits when in season - eg. pears, pineapples, berries etc etc).
Also - and this is a little more unusal - mum and dad would make themselve a whizzed salad. This is because dad's teath make it difficult for him to eat really crunchy vegetables. I used to frown upon this green smoothie - but now I really love sharing it with them when I come home - it tastes surprisingly good - it usually includes - beetroot tomato, carrot, different types of salad greenery, celery, parsley, capsicum, cucumber and a little bit of salt water. So as I am home - I thought I would document the making of the whizzed salad. It can't be called a green smoothie as the beetroot makes it pink at the moment.

The salad before it is whizzed.

The salad after it is whizzed up.

Charlotte's Web - Home with mum dad and my film star pigs

No food today - I am at home with my parents for a night or two and so I thought that I would like you to meet Rosie and Zoe - two of the pigs who starred as Wilbur's from the movie Charlotte's Web.


Mum and dad run their own business and they support a lot of organisations - especially animal welfare/rights groups. About 3 1/2 years ago Animals Australia contacted mum and dad and asked them if they would like to look after two pigs that had been used in the film Charlotte's Web (the one with Dakota Fanning). The producers were looking for good homes for the pigs and so we ended up with 2 of the numerous pigs that played Wilbur in the movie.

Here is dad in front of Mt Roland with Rosie and Zoe.

I love coming home. My parents live on 125 acres of land (a lot of it is bush) and so I enjoy just being able to go for wonderful walks whenever I want.

Here are Rosie and Zoe going for a walk with Playful, the canine member of our family who sadly passed away earlier this year from old age.

when they were little, Playful would watch over them in the paddock.

Rosie and Zoe are now MASSIVE - they are lovely but big and I guess our beautiful girls can sometimes forget how big they are. Mum and Dad feed them food scraps that are given to them by local businesses and friends and family.

Vegan Gluten Free Almond Macaroons

Yesterday was Nat and my nephew's first birthday/naming ceremony celebration.

I really wanted to help with the catering but as we were driving up that morning (they live in the north of the state) and I don't have any big containers for transporting things like cakes, muffins or cupcakes I thought I would make some cookies.

Just before Nat left for work the day before yesterday (when I planned to do my baking) he reminded me that I should make sure that the cookies are Gluten Free. I had forgotten that two of his siblings have a gluten intolerance (and I don't think nat appreciates the difficulty I have had cooking gluten free sweets and breads). So off to the net I went and I searched and searched - my biggest limitation being that the only gf flour I had was buckwheat and I wasn't able to get to the shops to get any more flours or gf ingredients.

Just before I gave up and resorted back to my original plan of pumpkin oatmeal cookies, I saw this recipe for Almond Macaroons. Of course it wasn't vegan, but it wasn't hard to veganize either. They are SO simple and took hardly any time - well they wouldn't have taken much time but I did have to blanch my own almonds.

These were really good!!! They were a hit for all who tried them. I made two batches (just to make sure the first ones worked before making the second lot. Nat tried one and it was difficult to convince him that he couldn't have any more before the party. The second batch I made, I didn't pulse the almonds quite as much as the first lot - they still held together but they didn't look as nice (so almond flour is the consistency that I want in the future).

***Beware, these are VERY soft when they come out of the oven - and they fall apart. But I let them cool a little on the tray and then transferred them to the rack after they started to firm up - best thing about them initially being so soft was that I could squeeze them back together if they fell apart!!

Everyone who tried them at the party loved them so through sheer easiness and taste I will be making these a lot in the future.

Vegan Almond Macaroons
Makes approx 16
Time: less than 45mins (incl. blanching almonds)

1 cup blanched whole almonds
1/2 cup raw sugar (or other granulated sugar)
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer (I use Organ no-egg)
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting (optional - I didn't use it)
approx 16 almonds

1. Preheat oven to 180degrees celsius
2. Blend almonds in a food processor (I pulse them to a flour as the cookies look better). When they are processed add the sugar and pulse to mix it through.
3. Add the egg replacer, water and vanilla extract and blend (I thought that the mixture would not stick together but when I grabed a small handful and pressed it together it did - if it doesn't add a little more water)
4. Roll mixture into 16 balls and place on lightly greased baking tray. Press the ball down and place an almond on the top.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 mins. Remove and allow to cook slightly on the tray (so that they harden up a bit) and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completly.
6. Keeps at least 4 days in an airtight container.

Parsnip and pear soup on a cooler spring evening

One thing I love about spring is that you get lovely days that provide hope that summer is on the way - but you also get the cooler weather so that you can occasionally have your favourite winter dish.

Last night was one of the chillier nights and so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try out another parsnip soup. (Actually I had a parsnip to use up before going up to see the parents today). Nat and I really enjoyed the parsnip and pumpkin soup - but we didn't have any pumpkin - so I went looking for inspiration and I found this recipe created by Ricki at Diet, Dessert and Dogs.

I didn't have any leeks but I had everything else (really simple easy recipe so there wasn't much else to need which is good because our fridge is pretty empty of vegetables). I altered the recipe a little so, while staying faithful to Ricki's recipe mine is a little different. It was lovely - sweet but with the lovely parsnip flavour (you could taste it but it was not overpowering which was good). It reminded me a bit of applesauce in consistancy (not in a bad way) and I can now understand how parsnips can be used in desserts, like in this recipe at the Vegan Feast Kitchen.

Thanks Ricki for a great recipe.

Pear and Parsnip Soup
1 onion - diced
1 large parsnip - cubed
1 stick celery - chopped
4 small pears - peeled and cubed
1 litre vegetable stock (I cheated and used bullion)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in a little water or broth for about 5 mins. Over medium heat, add celery, parsnip and pear and saute for about 15 mins, stirring constantly. Add vegetable broth and simmer over low heat for a further 15 mins. Turn off the heat and let the soup cool a little before pureeing it using an immersion blender or in batches in a blender.
Serve hot - we served ours with crusty bread.


I am baking some gluten free goodies for our nephew's naming ceremony/birthday celebration. Stay tuned people as I just realised I have no gluten free flour... this could be interesting!!!

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag with garlic naan

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag

Well tomorrow Nat and I are driving up to our parent's homes for a little under a week. It is our nephews naming ceremony tomorrow and as I am studying for exams nat asked if he could do a few tours to Cradle Mountain for his tour guiding company. So I am busy trying to clean out the fridge of veggies so we don't have too many nasty surprises when we get back.

The thing that I was worried about the most was the pumpkin, because I had been saving it to make some cookies to take tomorrow - but now have to find something gluten free to cook. Although it has been a little chilly lately, I still didn't feel like making pumpkin soup so I flipped through Veganomican and found the recipe for pumpkin saag. I didn't have any fresh spinach but I did have some frozen so I thought that this would be the dish of the night. I remember Jessy from happyveganface making some garlic naan a few days back and I thought that it would be a nice surprise for nat when he got home from work (he is a bread lover).

For the saag I pretty much followed the recipe - with a few additions. The dish was good - but not as flavourful as I would have liked.

I roasted and added some sweet potato with the pumpkin. I also used frozen rather than fresh spinach. I also added a little chili paste. The dish wasn't as moist as I would have liked - I think next time I will add a little vegetable stock and maybe some canned tomatoes or tomato paste. Also - if you want a spicey dish (and I think this would be good spicey) add more chili paste.
But I will definatly be making this again with those few more alterations.

Garlic Naan

What I am most excited about are these little beauties!!! Garlic Naan. I am not going to post the recipe because it is exactly like Jessy's which can be found here. It is WONDERFUL and easy though so I think you should try making it. From first bite nat commented on the wonderful garlic flavour and that it would rival indian naan (now he may have been stretching the truth a little there).

Lunch time and Jessy's AWESOME pickled cuc and onions

Today's lunch wrap - Spicy Pumpkin Dip with alfalfa,
capsicum, red onion and baby spinach

I am a grazer - I think I was a horse (or maybe more an elephant) in a previous life because I LOVE grazing. I love having a piece of fruit for breakfast and then having another one a little later... and then having another a little later. Same goes for lunch - I grab something from the fridge and have a little and then have a little something else a little later.

Anyway - instead of talking about grazing I am going to talk about my lunches while I am at home studying. During winter I would make a pot of whatever (usually lentils and whatever vegetables I had on hand) but during summer I don't often feel like hot stuff.

So what do you have for lunch thats healthy - but filling. I have found vegetable wraps are great because then I can graze later ;)

I always make them differently because I have different ingredients and varying levels of spare time. I usually have some form of dip that I use as a base then I pile on some home sprouted alfalfa, capsicum, cucumber, grated carrot, red onion, baby spinach leaves - roll it up and YUM!!

I saw an awesome quick recipe for pickled cucumbers and onions posted by Jessy at happyveganface. I love her recipes and I thought that this looked fantastic so I had to give it a go. Initially I was worried that I wouldn't use it up before Nat and I went to our parents place this weekend... how silly of me - I ate it within a day!!! It was fantastic!!


Because I wasn't thinking of keeping it for a while and because I am trying to not use extra oils/fats I ommitted the oil and sugar and just used rice wine vinegar (cause that is all I had) and salt and pepper. It was FLIPPIN AWESOME!!! I think that if your were not an oil-phobic like me you should definatly rock on to check out the Jessy' s recipe.

So I am sure that I will be posting more summer time lunches over the coming months. When I start working (and can only have one lunch) I am sure my lunches will be more substantial - so I guess these are really just a grazing snack ;)

Having my lovely husband cook me anniversary dinner

This morning I got woken up with Nat proclaiming "Happy 6year anniversary". So it was that 6 years ago Nat and I were sitting on the beach on the east coast when he told me he liked me (I can't tell you how happy I was that day until I ended up with the most severe sunstroke that night and had to go to bed at about 8pm with a fever). I had really liked him from the moment I met him (about 8 months previously) and so we started to date - for the first 5 years of the relationship we didn't live in the same city (and sometimes even the same country). On Friday it will be a year since Nat proposed. It would be lovely to do something for that but we will be travelling to the north of the state to celebrate his nephews first birthday the next day. Oh well.

So what did we do for our anniversary - not much really. It was pretty miserable weather here :( Typical spring weather in Tassie - 4 seasons in one day (and sometimes 1 hour). I am the treasurer of a local animal welfare group and we had a meeting this evening and so I had to prepare the books and go to the meeting. This meant that I didn't have time to cook dinner. Not to fear - when I came home Nat was cooking one of my favourite dishes - Ratatouille. The flavours are subtle - I think I like that sometimes. He served it with tri-colour cous cous.

I love the dish - but I realised that Nat had cooked it just for me because he doesn't really like it that much - so sweet (in more ways then one cause it means that I don't have to fight with him for the leftovers).

So without further ado - here is Nat's ratatoullie

Ratatouille Cous Cous

1 medium onion, sliced or diced (depending how chunky you want it)
2 cloves garlic -crushed
1 large red capsicum - chopped
1 large green capsicum - chopped
2 medium zucchini - chopped
1 medium/large eggplant - chopped
1 x 400g dices tomatoes
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups chickpeas - cooked (or 1 can)
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp fresh basil - chopped (or 1 tsp dried)
2 tbsp fresh parsley -chopped (optional)

2 cups boiling water
2 cups cous cous
salt to taste

parsley (or other herbs) to garnish

1. Saute onion, garlic, capsicum, zucchini and eggplants in oil or water, cook stirring until vegetables are lightly browned.
2. Add undrained crushed tomatoes, stock and dried herbs - bring to the boil, simmer covered for about 30 mins or until vegetables are tender- stir in chickpeas.
3. Combine water, cous cous and salt in a medium bowl, mix well. Leave cous cous until the liquid is absorbed, fluff with a fork and stir in basil and parsley.
4. Serve ratatouille over cous cous and garnish with fresh herbs.

Banana bars with butter cream frosting - La Dolce Vegan

What is this delectable creation you ask?? Well if you are only interested in hearing about healthy vegan food than I suggest that you stop reading now - as this, apart from having banana in the base, is quite possibly the most unhealthy sweet thing I have cooked for a while (I have probably cooked worse in my pre-vegan days).
It is just divine though - so if you feel like splashing out and making something a little decadent but still ridiculously simple - than this is the thing for you.

This my friends is Wolffie's B'nanner Bars from La Dolce Vegan. It is topped with their Butter Cream Frosting (which was the recommended frosting for this bar). As I was taking this to a housewarming (and therefore would not be able to try it before giving it to anyone else) - I thought I should stick to the recipe to be on the safe side.

For the bar I followed the recipe and used a flax mix as my chosen egg replacer. When the bars came out of the oven - they looked moist and wonderful. However I decided to proceede with my plan and frost them.

Thats when I met Trouble!

I assumed that the frosting in the recipe would set - I was wrong. I don't know if its because we don't have Earth Balance here - I just had to use Nuttalex which is our non-hydrogenated margarine spread.
It was still REALLY runny by the time it came to frosting the bars. And even after I put the whole dish into the freezer for a while it still hadn't set. So off to the potluck I went with what was now more like a pudding than a bar.

Despite my frosting issues everyone LOVED this dish. Although there weren't many of us at the housewarming and mountains of food - most of the 'pudding' got eaten. When Nat came home from work he was glad that I had saved him some and he thinks it is fantastic.

So I give this recipe the thumbs up - but beware with the frosting ;)

Ok - not the best photo - but you get the idea of how it turned out in the dish after I got home.

Roasted Asparagus, tofu and portabella mushrooms

Well - it happened again. I was at the local grocery store and I found two bunches of asparagus had been put into the quick sell box. They looked alright - and I just couldn't help myself - so I changed my plans for dinner and decided to try a version of a dish I had been eyeing off on Fat Free Vegan. Every one of Susan's recipes that I have used has just been amazing and this was no exception.

As it was going to be our main meal I added some Chinese style firm tofu (which is softer than the extra firm tofu that I normally buy). I was trying to work out how to cook this type of tofu and I found a website that talked about pressing, freezing or boiling the tofu. Well I have never boiled tofu and I was curious to try it so I boiled it in some left over broth from making seitan. The tofu didn't change much in texture but it did soak up the broth - so I just stuck the cubes in the oven to roast with the asparagus and mushrooms and that crisped up the outside just a little - it was quite nice - I don't know whether I would do it like that again - but it wasn't bad.

I also didn't have any horseradish - but I did have horseradish mustard - so I used that instead of the horseradish. I also just realised that I forgot to put in the pepper - it tasted fine without it. I suggest you check out Susan's original version of the recipe - it rocks.

The sauce was a hit as Nat immediately asked for some more after he tasted it as apparently I hadn't given him enough. That's as good enough as a thumbs up in my books!! The whole dish was easy, quick and really yummy!!

Roasted Asparagus, Tofu and Portabella Mushrooms with Horseradish Mustard Sauce
recipe: adapted from Susan from Fat Free Vegan
Serves 1-2

400g extra firm tofu
500g asparagus - trimmed
2 large portabella mushrooms - sliced
2 cloves garlic - minced

1 cup soymilk
1 tsp garlic
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp horseradish mustard
1 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in a little water.

Directions

If using extra firm tofu - chop into desired shape and marinate for a few hours in your favourite marinade. (If using Chinese firm tofu - either press and then follow the directions above OR cube and boil in broth for 10 mins.)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Place the asparagus, mushrooms and tofu in a large baking tray that has been lightly oiled (I sprayed it with cooking spray) and sprinkle with 2 cloves garlic. Roast, stirring every few mins for about 15mins or until the asparagus starts to brown.

While you are roasting, heat the soymilk in the saucepan, add the garlic, basil, salt, nutritional yeast and horseradish mustard. Stir the mixture until it boils then add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir until the sauce thickens.

Serve the vegetables and tofu over brown rice and drizzle with the sauce.

Finding the perfect moist Vegan wedding cake.

The awesome cake - decorated with flowers from a friends garden.

Nat and I got married in July this year. The wedding was pretty much vegan. Mum and I decided that we would design the cake ourselves. The fruit layer was not hard at all as mum has an AMAZING fruit cake recipe that is just awesome. The Chocolate Mud Cake (Nat's request) was a lot harder. I hate to think how many chocolate cakes I baked and how many samples my family and friends were presented with. (Do you know how hard this is when you are desperately trying to not put on weight before the wedding!!!) In the end I found the most incredible cake ever. It is NOT healthy - it is decadent and moist and chocolaty and fantastic. The whole cake was SOOOOO heavy - It was incredible!!

So without further ado - here are the recipes for our vegan wedding cake. I will slowly add other recipes from the wedding.

My Dark Rich Chocolate Wedding Cake.

Makes 30cm square cake - prep time 20mins - cooking time 4 1/2 hours

1.68kg - Dark Vegan Cooking Chocolate (I used Sweet William)
1kg - Margarine (I used Nuttalex - use one that has no transfat)
1/3 cup - dry instant coffee
3 cups - water
3 cups - brown sugar
4 cups - plain flour
1 cup - self-raising flour
egg replacer equivalent for 8 eggs (I used Organ No Egg mixed with required amount of water)
1 cup - coffee liqueur

1. Grease and line baking pan with one thickness of baking paper, bringing the paper 5 cm above the rim.
2. Combine chopped chocolate, margarine, coffee, water and sugar in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved. Transfer mixture into a bowl - cool for 15 mins
3. Stir in sifted flours, egg replacer and liqueur.Pour mixture into prepared pan.
4. Bake in moderately slow oven for 4 1/2 hours. Cover with foil halfway through baking if cake starts to become dark and crusty.
5. Cake will develop a thick sugary crust during baking: test for doneness by touching with fingers about 5 mins before the end of the baking time. Then test with skewer.
6. Cool cake in pan.
7. This cake will keep for one week in an airtight container or can be frozen for 3 months.

No - I am not going to stab him...

Wedding Fruit Cake - Sugar Free

Makes one large cake (2kg) - 20cm pan

INGREDIENTS
150g natural currants*
200g natural sultanas*
200g sun-dried diced peaches*
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
200g sun-dried pitted dates, diced
200g dehydrated pineapple pieces*
2 cups pure water
¾ cup cold-pressed vegetable oil
2 large very ripe bananas
80g almond kernels

METHOD

1. Pre-soak the currants, sultanas, and peaches in the water overnight for best result (or for at least 2 hours).
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours with the dates, pineapple and two thirds of the almonds chopped.
3. Drain the excess water from the pre-soaked fruit; retain 3/4 cup for use.
4. Add the pre-soaked fruit to the mixture in the mixing bowl.
5. Blend together the water, oil and bananas until smooth (half full speed for a quarter of a minute).
6. Pour the blended liquid into the mixing bowl with the fruit and flour and thoroughly mix in.
7. Line a 20cm-square cake tin with baking paper (or brush a little oil over the inside surfaces).
8. Pack the mixture into the tin, ensuring that no air pockets remain.
9. Decorate the top of the mixture with the rest of almonds halved.
10. Lightly brush a little oil over top of mixture.
11. Cover top with baking paper.
12. Bake at 135ºC (275ºF) in a pre-heated oven until cooked through (about 2 to 3 hours, depending on depth of tin).

*You can vary the dried fruit. Possible alternatives include figs, sun-dried apricots, nectarines, cherries, crystallised ginger, mango, pawpaw, and apples (all diced).

VCON sauteed seitan with mushrooms and spinach

And so my quest to discover the many faces of seitan continues... Let me just briefly say that personally - I don't go so much for the faux meats - I am much more happy with chickpeas and beans etc. I think Nat misses some of that stuff and so I have been doing a lot of experimenting on/for him. I guess that it will also be useful to show my omni friends that they don't have to go without meat if they don't want to.

So back to seitan...So far I have baked the seitan o' greatness and I steamed some seitan sausages (didn't look that pretty as I used cloth instead of al. foil - so I didn't bother blogging about it).

Today I tried boiled seitan. I used the recipe from VCON as it was titled 'Simple Seitan'. Out of all the seitans I have made this was NOT simple. I had to watch it and stress about it not boiling and also stress about all the failures that I have heard about this type of seitan.

Well, as it was cooking I was worried... really worried. It looked like one of those natural sponges that you find in the sea (all bobbly and holey and stuff). I accidentally let it boil (whoops - my stove is old and a bit temperamental - it was on the lowest setting for the 'simmer' but then it boiled).

Anyhow - I charged on with my plan to make another recipe from VCON, sauteed seitan with spinach and mushrooms. Except at the local grocery store I found some local silverbeet on special and so I decided to use that. Apart from that I didn't make many changes apart from omitting the wine and not adding as much vegetable broth as it called for as I found the seitan to be REALLY salty. I served the dish with mashed potato and sweet potato (just cause we had run out of rice)

When nat came home from guiding he couldn't believe that it was seitan (he had only seen the sausage type). He really liked the texture and said that it was nice and chewy. Mission accomplished.

Look at the vegan goodies I won!!!

I was super excited today - not only was it my last day of uni classes - but when I got home there was a little parcel slip in the letter box. I went down to the post office and I finally received my gift basket of vegan goodies from whyveg.com

I had submitted a few recipes ages ago as the website was just starting up and needed recipes.

Anyway last week I got an email saying I had won a thankyou gift basket. I really hadn't paid too much attention to the comp when I was doing the recipes- as I never win stuff like that. So today my goodies arrived. It was awesome to receive a gift basket and not have to give 3/4 of it away because it is not vegan friendly.

So... what did I get...

Well I am most excited about this:

Dairy free parmesan!!! I didn't even know it existed in Australia - I am so curious to see what it tastes like - I will let you know.

I also got some Green and Blacks Hot Chocolate...mmmmmm

Heaps of sweet treats

Some pesto instant Indian curry

More instant curry
some body lotion and air fragrance

and bath salts.

Easy Asparagus and tofu yumminess

I love asparagus - but it is SO expensive here (you usually pay $3+ for about 7 stalks). But our little local shop had some for $1.49 a bunch. I couldn't help myself. I bought two bunches.

Trouble is - when I buy something that you love and you know you are not going to get it very often, I don't know what to make with it. I mean there are heaps of recipes - but should I stick with an old faithful or should I try something new - should I make sure that it is the centrepiece of the dish - or let it just sit in the background. Well tonight I was going to be home late for dinner (I was at a Tai Chi class) and so I thought a quick veggie stirfry would be in order. So in between coming home from university and going out to the class I quickly pressed some tofu and whipped up a marinade. I let the tofu sit in the marinade while at class (about 2 hours).

When I got back I realised that I didn't really have any stirfry veggies but I did have the asparagus. And so this dish was created. It was simple and so yummy and satisfying.

I probably broke every "how to make a proper stirfry" rule and you will all shun me from the bloggosphere - but I was tired, lazy and heck - it turned out really well and I will be making it again.

I didn't want to use any oil or waste any ingredients. So after marinating the tofu, I poured the marinade into the wok and let it boil down to a thicker consistency, then I added the asparagus and tofu.

Easy Tofu Asparagus Stir-fry

1 block extra firm tofu
2 bunches asparagus

3tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4cup soy sauce
1 tsp sugar (I used grated palm sugar)
2 clove garlic - crushed
1/2 red onion - chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
Water
1tsp arrowroot flour mixed with cold water (optional)
2tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce (or stirfry sauce of your choice)

Directions

1. Press Tofu and cut into triangles (I press my tofu using a tea-towel not paper towel)
2. Mix the vinegar, soysauce, sugar, garlic, onion, ginger together.
3. When tofu is pressed, place in marinating dish and pour marinade over. Add extra water to just cover tofu. Leave for 1-2 hours.
4. When tofu is ready, pour the marinade into the wok and let it boil down so that it is thicker.
5. Add asparagus and tofu and stirfry until asparagus is done.
6. Mix the arrowroot flour with a little bit of water and then pour it into the dish to make the sauce a little thicker. (optional)
   
7. Add the stirfry sauce.
8. Serve immediately over rice.
   

The most ecclectic Zucchini Bread recipe ever

So... we have all these zucchini's - I got them cheap at the market a little while ago. When I was talking about what I could make, Nat thought I was joking when I mentioned zucchini bread.

Well, to enlighten him on the wonders of zucchini bread, I had to first find a recipe. I found a couple of lovely ones - particularly Lindsay at Happy Herbivore's fat free fruity zucchini bread and one on Vegan Food: More than Tofu and Sprouts which just looks so versatile.

I decided that the fruity one looked good - but that was too much for nat (he has an aversion to fruit cake and I think a zucchini loaf with dried fruit was just too way out there) so I settled for looking at the other recipe.

I changed the recipe quite considerably - sometimes because I didn't have enough of the ingredients (I ran out of sugar and apple sauce) and I did a few of my own substitutions just because I wanted to make it oil free.

The loaf was awesome - I used Tofu mum's recipe as a base - and forgot to look at how many loaves it made (which is two) - I don't have two loaf pans and so I made 6 muffins and one loaf.


The verdict. Nat loves them. I think I have dispelled his fear of a vegetable being the base of a sweet bread and maybe next time I will stick in a few sultanas or chopped dates... when he doesn't get a choice he usually finds out that he likes it.
So without further ado my version of the zucchini loaf.
Ecclectic moist oil-free zucchini bread

1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp water
300g silken tofu
1/4 cup applesauce
2 large ripe bananas - mashed

1 medium-large zucchini - grated
1 1/4 cup unprocessed sugar (cause thats all I use in the house)
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups unbleached spelt flour (just cause thats what I cook with)
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F)
2. Grease two loaf tins (or 1 loaf tin and 1 6x muffin pan)
3. Mix flax meal with water and set aside to expand
4. Place tofu, banana, applesauce and flax mix into a food processor and blend till smooth
5. In a large bowl mix zucchini with the sugar, vinegar and vanilla. Add the tofu mixture and mix well.
6. In a separate bowl, mix flours, salt, bicarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder.
7. Mix a little bit of the dry mix with the zucchini mix. Continue to add dry mix a little bit at a time until it is combined. (The mix will be very heavy - don't worry it worked really well for me)
8. Pour into loaf tins or spoon into muffin pan.
9. Cook for 30-40 mins (mine was done at 30) for the loaf and about 10-12mins for the muffins.
10. Let cool and then enjoy

Optional variations
choc chips
dried fruit pieces
you can replace applesauce or banana (or both) with oil - you might need a bit more sugar
use any egg replacer for 3 eggs (instead of tofu and flax)
use any vegetable or fruit in place of zucchini (I guess within reason - carrot would go well)

I just had to post straight away because this is GOOD!!

Oh my goodness - I got Veganomican yesterday and decided to slowly work my way into it by trying the cauliflower hummus. The little blurb at the start of the recipe talked about how absent-mindedly we can just eat way too much of normal hummus and then feel terrible after - thats talking right to me - I could eat bucket loads of the stuff. So this is a lower fat version.

Anyway - I had some cauliflower left over so I thought I would give it a go.
IT'S AWESOME!!! Good thing it is a lot less fat than normal hummus cause I ate SO much after making it - and I just had to blog about it straight away.

I made a lot of substitutions... partially because I wanted to reduce the fat - partially because I didn't have some of the ingredients. So here goes

I omitted the oil
I added red onion instead of scallions
I omitted the parsley and paprika
I salted the cauliflower when it was cooking so I didn't need to add any more salt.

I suggest you all go make yourself some right now because it is just to die for :)

Moroccan inspired foods - pumpkin dip and tajine

**Thanks to all the well wishers - Nat is feeling much better - he had a day off yesterday and was able to relax. Last night he was barely coughing at all and not so cloggy. YAY!!**

I love the subtle flavours of Moroccan foods. The sweet spices and fruity flavours just make me enjoy the food - even if it is slightly mushy and over cooked (like last nights dinner). Yesterday I ran out of hummus - so overnight I defrosted a container of chickpeas and today I made some spicy pumpkin dip - now - I know that its not moroccan. But it does have a Moroccan spice blend in it - does that count?? So here is my Moroccan inspired day.



Spicy Pumpkin Dip
- This is another of mum's recipes - she found it in a magazine and cut it out years ago - but didn't keep anything that let me know which magazine to credit. I have changed it a little bit to reduce the fat content.

500g butternut pumpkin - cut into cubes
1 clove garlic
400g chickpeas (rinsed and drained if from a can - reserve the cooking liquid if you cooked them)
2 tbsp tahini
1 lemon - juiced
1 1/2 tsp Moroccan Spice Mix*
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how hot you like your dips - I don't use much at all)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a baking tray with cooking spray - roast for about 40mins until soft
2. Process garlic in food processor (putting it in first means it gets chopped up enough)
3. Add remaining ingredients - season with salt and ground pepper.
4. Add cooking liquid (or water) to reach desired consistency. I found that this sets a lot, so if refrigerating it - make it runnier than you want - otherwise it will be a pate rather than a dip.
5. Devour!!!

*The ingredients in my moroccan spice mix are: salt, garlic (11%), cumin, paprika (10%), sugar, onion, tumeric (6%), pepper, citric food acid, parsley, red pepper, coriander (1%)


Moroccan Bean Stew
I got the flavour inspiration for this dish from the New Internationalist cookbook - Vegetarian Main Dishes From Around the World. I changed many of the veggies to suit what was in my fridge and so got a bit confused as to when I should add each vegetable in. The result was that my eggplant turned out quite mushy. Next time I will add it later. I have adjusted the recipe so that it will not be too overdone. You could really add any veggies that you wanted to - green beans, carrots and zucchini would all work really well.

This recipe was really comforting and damn easy (I still had some black eyed peas/beans in my freezer so I thought it would be a good dish to have.

Serves 4

1 onion - chopped
1 red capsicum - chopped
1 medium sweet potato - chopped
1 medium eggplant - cubed
4 tomatoes - chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
400g black eyed peas (retain the cooking water)
400g spinach - chopped
1/4 cup sultanas (or raisins)

1. Saute the onion in oil or water until it is transparent.
2. Add red capsicum and sweet potato and a little bit of the black-eyed peas cooking water. Cook about 10 minutes.
3. Put in the tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, nutmeg, peas and eggplant and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and then place the spinach on top. Add more reserved liquid and stew until vegetables are tender (but not mushy) - about 20 mins.
4. Serve over rice or cous cous

Vegan MoFo - Soup to cure sickness

You must think that all I eat is soup. Now I think soup is one of my favourite types of food. Especially over winter - but now the weather is warming up I am more inclined to make a bean salad than a bean soup. However, Nat got home from guiding two nights ago coughing and spluttering. After a pretty restless sleep he stayed in bed for most of the day. He wasn't incredibly hungry during the day but I asked him what he thought he would like for dinner. His unequivocal answer was soup.

Now soup was not really what I felt like as it was quite a warm day (it got to 20 degrees - which isn't hot but when you have had a week or so of 13 degrees I was in tshirt and thai fishermans pants).

Anyway - I borrowed a copy of La Dolce Vegan from the library and so I sifted through the soup recipes and I came up with cauliflower and potato. I tweaked the recipe a fair bit so I will put it here.

It was really good - I had to add some more of the spices (this is just an estimate of what I added - just use your own judgement). I think I am not the biggest fan of cauliflower soup - so I don't think that what I can say about it would really do this soup justice - I mean it was really nice, but I prefer other types of soup flavours.

Nat on the other hand, was thrilled with the soup and said that it was one of the best he's had. He is wanting me to make it again very soon.

So maybe if you like milder soups and cauliflower, this is for you. I will be making this again purely because Nat was so happy with it.

Soup with Cauliflower and potatoes

1 onion - diced
2 carrots - chopped
1 stalk celery - chopped
3/4 large cauliflower head - chopped
2 medium potatoes- chopped (didn't peel because it was organic)
1 medium sweet potato - chopped (I didn't peel this as it was organic)
enough broth to just cover vegetables
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup soymilk (I used fat free)

1. Saute onion, carrot and celery in oil or broth until onion is translucent
2. Add the cauliflower, potato, sweet potato, broth, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
3. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15mins until the potatoes are cooked.
4. Stir in milk and then blend the mixture with a hand blender to the desired consistency (I love chunky soups with bits of potatoes). You can also use a blender or food processor to puree half or all of the soup.
5. Return to the heat and its ready to serve.
6. We served it with crusty homemade toast.

Chunky Parsnip and Pumpkin Soup

Don't you hate it when you get home... have a fridge full of wonderful veggies but just feel like getting leftovers out of the freezer. Well, I have a horrible (but yet wonderful) habit of getting a little too excited when I go veggie shopping at our local market and ending up with so many fresh veggies that I really need to do something with. Well... at the moment I have broccoli, zucchini, organic parsnips (lots of parsnips), capsicum, pumpkin, celery, corn, cabbage, carrots and leek (yes I warned you that I got excited). What I was worried about using up most was the parsnips. I have not really used parsnips that much apart from in casseroles, vegetable soups and shepherds pie. But I had about 5 parsnips!!! So I did a little searching on the net and found this yummy looking soup by Mihl at Seitan is my Motor. So I had all the vegetables that were needed... but no panch poran. So I just added the spices that make up panch poran to the soup... then I added some chilli paste and then some red curry paste. It was THICK!!



As dinner was a lot later than it should have been - in my rush to get it ready I didn't blend it quite as well as I should have... so it had chuncky bits of parsnip and pumpkin - which actually was really nice.

So here is my version of the soup.

Roasted Parsnip and Pumpkin Soup

600g pumpkin - cubed
3 large parsnips - cubed
1 red capsicum - halved

1 onion diced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger - minced
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp chili paste (I use sambel olek)
1 tsp red curry paste
1 1/2 cups red lentils - rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
2. Spray two baking trays with oil and place the vegetables on the trays. Roast in oven for 40mins or until cooked but not mushy.
3. Meanwhile, spray the bottom of a large saucepan with cooking spray, chuck in the spices and stir for a minute. Add onion and ginger and pastes (and a little bit of water) and saute until onion is cooked.
4. Add lentils and stock. Cover and cook for 10-15 mins.
5. Add vegetables and cook a further 10 mins.
6. Blend with an immersion blender or blend in batches in a blender. Add more water if it is too thick - I liked it being thick - I was hungry!
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Serve with crusy bread.

Iron Chef Challenge #2 - Pear walnut and banana muffins with walnut crumb topping

So I have a vegan potluck to go to today - and, as there are mountains of bananas in my fruit bowl I thought some banana muffins would go down pretty well. When I looked at some other vegan blogs I found this pretty awesome recipe at vegan visitor.

But then this morning when I woke up and started checking my blog reader I saw that the Iron Chef Challenge for week 2 of Vegan Mofo used the ingredients pears and nuts. Now pears are becoming quite expensive here (as it is now spring in Aussie) but I did have two pears in the fruit bowl. As I needed to get cooking straight away so I could get to the potluck on time, I decided to create a pear and banana muffin and use the crumb topping from vegan visitors muffins.

The muffins were a BIG hit - everyone thought they were moist and the crumb topping really went well. I did have issues keeping the walnuts from falling off the top - maybe I need to press them down more firmly next time.

Pear, walnut and banana muffins with walnut crumb topping.

1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup whole meal flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 225g (8 ounce) tub plain soy yogurt
1 large banana mashed
1 1/2 cups pears –peeled and diced
Topping
1/4 Cup Walnut Halves or Pieces
1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Margarine
1/8 teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Finely grind walnuts using a mortar and pestle or a food processor.
Sift flour into a bowl; add baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in ground walnuts. Make a well in center of mixture.

Combine sugar, oil, vanilla, yogurt and banana in a small bowl, add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in diced pear.

Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Topping
For the walnut crumb topping I followed Vegan Visitor’s recipe here.

Bake at 180ºC on the centre rack for 18 minutes, until firm and golden or insert and remove a toothpick.
Allow muffins to rest in the tin before moving to a rack to cool.
Makes about 12 muffins.

Vegan Mofo #12: Breakfasts on the go - healthy breakfast bars

Nat is a tour/bushwalking guide. His job has its perks (ie. getting to go bushwalking around many pretty places in Tasmania and getting paid to do it) but it also has its drawbacks (a day trip starts by nat leaving before 6.30am and getting back well after 7.30pm). Having said that - some of his multiday trips require him to leave before 5am so I am not complaining too much about getting up at 5.45am for the day trips.

Because its way too early to have a decent breakfast I have been looking into cooking some breakfast bars for Nat to take. I was having trouble finding something that I thought looked nice and had almost given up hope (it either had too much oil or sugar or used banana or tofu so wouldn't keep for very long). But then as I was making myself a dandelion coffee (really good coffee substittue - I would reccommend it) I saw on the back of the soymilk container the perfect recipe... ok, well almost the perfect recipe. (It was a different soy milk that I had because I had run out of my normal one and the local shop only stocked this one)
I pretty much followed the recipe but veganised some of the ingredients and changed the nuts and fruit (ok -I didn't actually measure anything specifically - I just bunged it all in roughly according to the directions- I was really tired).

I was really pleased with the results. Its crunchy but not too crunchy - sweet but not too sweet and held together really well. And it was really REALLY easy. I will be making these a lot more often.


Breakfast on the go breakfast bars

2 cups rolled oats
1/3cup dried apricots - chopped
1/2 cup dried dates - chopped
1/4 cup almonds (chopped) or sunflower seeds
1/4 cup coconut flakes (optional - I was going to put them in because I thought they would be nice but I forgot when I was making it)
3 tbsp agave or maple syrup
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coconut extract (or vanilla)
1 cup soymilk
egg replacer for one egg (I used organ no-egg)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius
2. Place all ingredients in large bowl
3. Spray bottom of pyrex dish (20cm square) with cooking spray or line with baking paper
4. Press mix into pan and bake until golden (approx 30mins)
5. Let cool completely and then cut into bars.

*****************************************

Oh before I go - I got so SUPER excited yesterday. I was walking back from the city Library and I walked past a little store that I know sells foreign food (ie. American and British comfort food mainly). I have never had the need to go in there but I thought that now I see so many recipes online with american ingredients maybe I should check it out. Well what did I see... a few really gross things like marshmallow spread and peanut butter and jam swirled into a jar - "biscuit" mix (which I now realise to be scones) and lots of Hershey's chocolate products to name a few. But what got me super excited was that I found this:




LIQUID SMOKE!!
YAY!!!

I was hoping that this would be in there but I didn't want to get my hopes up. So now as the BBQ season approaches I will not feel deprived when I find recipes calling for this little baby. I am rather happy right now.