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!!!

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.

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 :)

Vegan MoFo #5 - What we have for breakfast - fat free wholesome banana pancakes

I have been looking at other vegan mofo blogs and there has been a bit of discussion about breakfasts. Now I LOVE pancakes and I made some fantastic ones this morning (recipe and photos further down the post), but first I thought I would show you what nat and I have on a 'normal morning' (when nat doesn't have to be out of the house before 6.30am). Fruit Salad!!! At the moment we are able to get apples, pears, kiwi fruit, strawberries, grapes, bananas and oranges. Top it off with some soy yoghurt and its heaven in breakfast!!!



Well it was a lazy morning yesterday - neither of us had work and I had the perfect opportunity to procrastinate from writing my last assignment by making pancakes for breakfast. Now I have a couple of pancake recipes - some have worked better than others. This one I created as I really wanted some wholesome fat-free pancakes (breakfast is, after all, the most important meal of the day!!) The results are AMAZING!! Yummy moist pancakes. I tried the first lot without putting maple syrup in the batter and I liked them a lot - Some people who like sweeter pancakes might like to put a little bit of syrup in the batter - however I think that if I am going to eat them with maple syrup they don't need it at all!!

Fat Free Banana Pancakes

1 1/4 cups wholemeal spelt flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 banana's - mashed
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or normal vinegar - I only have apple)
1 1/2 tbsp applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

1. Combine soy milk and vinegar a sit to the side for 5 minutes
   
2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix banana, applesauce, vanilla and soymilk together until fairly smooth (I still had some small banana lumps which were really nice)
4. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined
5. Leave to sit for 15mins. (During this time I make some fresh orange juice)
6. Mix in enough water to reach desired batter consistancy (I added about 1/4 cup more - the pancakes were still rather thick)
7. Spray a non-stick frypan with cooking spray - pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan - I can comfortably fit 3 small pancakes into my pan.
   
8. Flip pancakes when bubbles appear on the surface. Cook another 1-2 minutes until pancakes are golden brown on both sides.
   
9. Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil - cook more pancakes.
10. Serve with maple syrup, sliced banana or whatever you want!!

Home alone with Zucchini soup

Well my boy has gone away to work for the weekend. Last night was my first night alone in our house since the wedding - so it was a bit weird trying to work out what to eat. The wind has been wild and crazy lately and I felt like something warming but not too heavy. I had found some cheep zucchinis at the market yesterday and so, without too much thought, I opted to make another of my favourite "mum" recipes. This soup is so easy and if you have the zucchini, all the other ingredients are staples in my house. The flavour is very mild - but I like that. Its very different from the curries that I often consume.

I made enough so that I could have some for lunch today. Ahhh the joys of leftovers.



Mum's Zucchini Soup

3 medium zucchini (about 1-1.5kg) chopped
2 stalks of celery - chopped
1/2 piece wakame, broken into smaller pieces (optional)
1tsp dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh
1 large onion - dices
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
enough water just to cover the vegetables
salt to taste

1. Fry onions, garlic and celery in water or oil until soft
2. Add zucchini, basil and wakame, cover with water and bring to the boil
3. Reduce heat and simer until zucchini looks cooker, approx 5-8 mins
4. Blend gently and season with salt and pepper.

Spring, showers and pumpkin soup

I have been thinking about starting up a blog for some time now. Don't ask me why I have started now... I think the main reason was that the camera was sitting on the kitchen table while I was cooking tea... so I took a few photos and here I am. I was lucky enough to grow up in a vegan household and mum was always cooking wonderful creative recipes. Dinner tonight was one of "mum's recipes". Its a pumpkin soup. I have another pumpkin soup recipe that is much heavier (which I will post here when I next cook it), but this one is lighter and perfect with some freshly baked bread. My husband and I prefer a little more spice than what mum used to use so I added a few extra things.
Mmmmmmm...

Mum's Pumpkin Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp curry powder (I use a madras curry powder)
1 tsp sambal olek (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1.5kg pumpkin, chopped (about one medium sized butternut pumpkin)
1 1/2 litres water
1 tbsp chicken STYLE stock powder
fresh herbs to garnish (optional)
hot sauce to taste (optional)

• saute onion in oil or water, add spices when onion is soft.
• Add remaining ingredients (except garnish). Bring to boil and then simmer until pumkin is tender (about 30mins)
• Blend the soup until smooth.
• Serve with fresh bread

Mum's Homemade Breadmaker Bread
2cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 cups white spelt flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
420ml water

Place ingredients in breadpan in the order that your breadmaker specifies. Set cycle to rapid with a light crust.

Makes 1kg loaf