New Stuff

Just a quick one to say that i've been busy doing other vegan related things which don't relate to blogging but will be back soon and to let you know about a few new things I've been up to:

* Remember the accidentally vegan product or ninja vegan post, well that led to me creating a facebook group called 'Aussie Vegan Food Updates' a few years ago. Well I've finally got around to transferring it to a community page on facebook. The major advantage of having a community page is that it updates to your news feed so you don't need to keep checking it to find out the latest vegan goss. This time I'm teamed up with a few other vegans so the plan is to have a more communal style sharing community page. Click here or on the link on the sidebar to like the group, there is some goss about restaurants moving/opening etc. I promise to try to keep the updates to a reasonable level so your not flooded by updates!

* Xgfx has launched, so you can now start to see gluten free AND vegan products reviews, recipes etc.  I've submitted my one review and hope and to work on a few more. So great that gluten free vegans can find all sorts of info in one place, it's a great time to be gluten free and vegan!

* I've also been recipe testing for Leigh Drew's new vegan pastry themed cookbook which is extremely gluten free friendly. You may know Leigh from her first vegan dessert cookbook called Vegan Indulgence. I'm so amazed by her creativity with the recipes and her thoughtfulness around trying to cater for us gluten free folks too. I'll post some pictures once it's closer to being released.

Will catch up on reading blogs and blogging soon but right now have to attend to one messy house and an attention seeking cat which have both been slightly neglected.

Just a quick one to say that i've been busy doing other vegan related things which don't relate to blogging but will be back soon and to let you know about a few new things I've been up to:

* Remember the accidentally vegan product or ninja vegan post, well that led to me creating a facebook group called 'Aussie Vegan Food Updates' a few years ago. Well I've finally got around to transferring it to a community page on facebook. The major advantage of having a community page is that it updates to your news feed so you don't need to keep checking it to find out the latest vegan goss. This time I'm teamed up with a few other vegans so the plan is to have a more communal style sharing community page. Click here or on the link on the sidebar to like the group, there is some goss about restaurants moving/opening etc. I promise to try to keep the updates to a reasonable level so your not flooded by updates!

* Xgfx has launched, so you can now start to see gluten free AND vegan products reviews, recipes etc.  I've submitted my one review and hope and to work on a few more. So great that gluten free vegans can find all sorts of info in one place, it's a great time to be gluten free and vegan!

* I've also been recipe testing for Leigh Drew's new vegan pastry themed cookbook which is extremely gluten free friendly. You may know Leigh from her first vegan dessert cookbook called Vegan Indulgence. I'm so amazed by her creativity with the recipes and her thoughtfulness around trying to cater for us gluten free folks too. I'll post some pictures once it's closer to being released.

Will catch up on reading blogs and blogging soon but right now have to attend to one messy house and an attention seeking cat which have both been slightly neglected.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Gluten Free Vegan Community

Some of you may have noticed recently this new symbol on the side of our blog recently. If you click on the picture it will lead to a new web community of gluten free AND vegan bloggers called xgfx. I'm so excited to be one of the sites listed. Those of you have been reading my blog for a little while will hopefully know that blogging for me isn't some egotistical boost but is all about that sense of community with bloggers and other veg*ns more generally. I have met some of my best friends through blogging and just love sharing and learning from everyone!

If you haven't already you should go check out the other awesome blogs on the site. The site will expand at some stage to feature recipes and gluten free vegan tips.

In other gluten free vegan news, I've added a google map of places that we have reviewed which feature gluten free vegan options in Melbourne. I'm slowly sorting through all of the reviews and adding more.  I hope this is helpful for other gluten free vegans or even just coeliacs who want some veg food.

Some of you may have noticed recently this new symbol on the side of our blog recently. If you click on the picture it will lead to a new web community of gluten free AND vegan bloggers called xgfx. I'm so excited to be one of the sites listed. Those of you have been reading my blog for a little while will hopefully know that blogging for me isn't some egotistical boost but is all about that sense of community with bloggers and other veg*ns more generally. I have met some of my best friends through blogging and just love sharing and learning from everyone!

If you haven't already you should go check out the other awesome blogs on the site. The site will expand at some stage to feature recipes and gluten free vegan tips.

In other gluten free vegan news, I've added a google map of places that we have reviewed which feature gluten free vegan options in Melbourne. I'm slowly sorting through all of the reviews and adding more.  I hope this is helpful for other gluten free vegans or even just coeliacs who want some veg food.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

News about this Blog

It is going to be 100% gluten free starting today!

I figure the first day of the month is a good time. I've kind of been thinking about it for a little while, but there is an exciting new vegan and gluten free blogging community that I want to be part of that kind of forced me to think about it. More on that later.

Yes this blog was going to be mostly gluten free anyway but I felt bad since this is a joint blogging venture with Toby who is obviously not gluten free. I felt bad since he would be eating gluteny meals out and not being able to blog about it. But there are plenty of vegan blogs and not that many gluten free vegan blogs, we really are a minority! Also, it's nice to think that if some other vegan coeliac comes along that they can find plenty of recipes and ideas for eating out here without haven't to see pictures of food that they can't eat.

I'm going to keep my old reviews and recipes of course. Although I need to find a way to change my labels so that it easier to find gluten free restaurant reviews and restaurants. At the moment I've been labelling things as 'gluten free dessert', 'eating out gluten free' but surely there is an easier way. Any suggestions?

Button with the neighbour's cat Esmay.

It is going to be 100% gluten free starting today!

I figure the first day of the month is a good time. I've kind of been thinking about it for a little while, but there is an exciting new vegan and gluten free blogging community that I want to be part of that kind of forced me to think about it. More on that later.

Yes this blog was going to be mostly gluten free anyway but I felt bad since this is a joint blogging venture with Toby who is obviously not gluten free. I felt bad since he would be eating gluteny meals out and not being able to blog about it. But there are plenty of vegan blogs and not that many gluten free vegan blogs, we really are a minority! Also, it's nice to think that if some other vegan coeliac comes along that they can find plenty of recipes and ideas for eating out here without haven't to see pictures of food that they can't eat.

I'm going to keep my old reviews and recipes of course. Although I need to find a way to change my labels so that it easier to find gluten free restaurant reviews and restaurants. At the moment I've been labelling things as 'gluten free dessert', 'eating out gluten free' but surely there is an easier way. Any suggestions?

Button with the neighbour's cat Esmay.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

EBC Breakfast

We went to the East Brunswick Club (EBC) with Troy and Bec when I was still eating gluten. EBC is an omni pub with has been doing a large variety of vegan options for a while, including the famous vegan parma which apparently Pink ordered. They started doing breakfast recently which Vicki has blogged about twice.

I couldn't resist the Elvis pancakes, with fake bacon, peanut butter, maple syrup, banana and ice cream. Crazy right? But keep in mind that they don't open til 12 so it's really lunch! Excuse the blurry phone pics!

The fake bacon went surprisingly well with the sweet pancakes, I suspect because they fried it with maple syrup. I loved this, but it did make me feel quite sick at the end. That might have been all of the sugar or all of the gluten or both. I'm glad I got to try it though. The pancake texture was awesome, I really need to perfect gluten free pancakes!

Toby tried the big vegan breakfast, which included scrambled tofu, fake bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach and some toast. The tofu was quite garlicky but we enjoyed it. Size wise though it was disappointing, it wasn't really big at all.

Troy got the breakfast parma which comes with scrambled tofu, bacon, tomato and chips and salad on the side. He enjoyed it and allowed us to pinch some of his chips.

East Brunswick Club
280 Lygon St
East Brunswick
9388 9794



I wanted to get this post done today because I want to start the new year with this blog being mostly gluten free. We will no longer post gluteny recipes or dishes we make at home since our home will thankfully be g/f. So the only gluteny dishes featured will be the occasional ones Toby samples when we go out.

We went to the East Brunswick Club (EBC) with Troy and Bec when I was still eating gluten. EBC is an omni pub with has been doing a large variety of vegan options for a while, including the famous vegan parma which apparently Pink ordered. They started doing breakfast recently which Vicki has blogged about twice.

I couldn't resist the Elvis pancakes, with fake bacon, peanut butter, maple syrup, banana and ice cream. Crazy right? But keep in mind that they don't open til 12 so it's really lunch! Excuse the blurry phone pics!

The fake bacon went surprisingly well with the sweet pancakes, I suspect because they fried it with maple syrup. I loved this, but it did make me feel quite sick at the end. That might have been all of the sugar or all of the gluten or both. I'm glad I got to try it though. The pancake texture was awesome, I really need to perfect gluten free pancakes!

Toby tried the big vegan breakfast, which included scrambled tofu, fake bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach and some toast. The tofu was quite garlicky but we enjoyed it. Size wise though it was disappointing, it wasn't really big at all.

Troy got the breakfast parma which comes with scrambled tofu, bacon, tomato and chips and salad on the side. He enjoyed it and allowed us to pinch some of his chips.

East Brunswick Club
280 Lygon St
East Brunswick
9388 9794



I wanted to get this post done today because I want to start the new year with this blog being mostly gluten free. We will no longer post gluteny recipes or dishes we make at home since our home will thankfully be g/f. So the only gluteny dishes featured will be the occasional ones Toby samples when we go out.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Soy Curls

After entering countless blog competitions I finally won something-soy curls from the generous Miso for Breakfast. While i've read about soy curls on various blogs I'm never tried them because they aren't available here in Australia.

First we tried them in some bean nachos, we simply added the soy curls to the pot of bean chilli mid way through cooking.

The texture was quite interesting kind of like soggy seitan, but I discovered that most of the recipes consist of frying them first.

So we tried frying them and then added it to a mixture of fried noodles with some fry's strips and vegetables. This was much better, the texture was still similar to seitan but less chewy, also it's gluten free!

Overall, we enjoyed them and Toby loved the protein factor. Although I'm not sure if we have fully adapted to the texture or managed to cook them properly. We won't rush out to order them from overseas but would buy them again to experiment further if they were available in stores here.

After entering countless blog competitions I finally won something-soy curls from the generous Miso for Breakfast. While i've read about soy curls on various blogs I'm never tried them because they aren't available here in Australia.

First we tried them in some bean nachos, we simply added the soy curls to the pot of bean chilli mid way through cooking.

The texture was quite interesting kind of like soggy seitan, but I discovered that most of the recipes consist of frying them first.

So we tried frying them and then added it to a mixture of fried noodles with some fry's strips and vegetables. This was much better, the texture was still similar to seitan but less chewy, also it's gluten free!

Overall, we enjoyed them and Toby loved the protein factor. Although I'm not sure if we have fully adapted to the texture or managed to cook them properly. We won't rush out to order them from overseas but would buy them again to experiment further if they were available in stores here.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

2010 in Review and Xmas Dishes

It's been both a  great year and a hard year in many ways personally:

• I finished my thesis and studying finally and started working in my field
• I got an article published in a journal
• Toby become injured, had an operation and spent some time in hospital. He is thankfully ok but will never be able to do martial arts or contact sport again.
• Between the two of us we lost 3 grand parents this year.
• I paid off my car loan
• I spent most of the year with some sort of minor illness or just feeling really blah.
• I started jogging and yoga and ended up stopping due to the above.
• It was recently Toby's 5 year anniversary of moving to Australia, it's gone so quickly!

Food wise:

• I spent most of the year trying to figure out whether I had coeliac disease and alternating between being g/f and eating gluten and then finally found out that I had it.
• Tart N Round- g/f vegan restaurant closed and while i've managed to find lots of g/f options I still miss having a place where I can eat everything. 
• There was several new vegan or vegan friendly restaurants open including my fav disco beans cafe. As well as Mamasita, Chan house, Yong's green foods,  Gasometer,  and New Day Rising.
• Toby managed to veganise chinese radish cake and a few other Chinese favourites.
• My two favourite potlucks were the ice cream potluck and the g/f picnic potluck.
• We had a fun Sydney holiday that centered solely around eating and rocked my world.
• I paired up with Cindy and cooked/baked some incredible tasty and pretty dishes like the penguin love cake.
• We blogged everyday for a whole month for vegan mofo in November.
• My fav meal out this year has to be the incredible french toast at monk bodhi dharma and fav dish at home was probably the vegan vanilla slice.
• Toby's fav meal out was the artichoke dish at Movida Aqui and fav dish at home was the  frozen margarita pie.

We are planning on eating out less next year and looking forward to making lots more yummy meals and conquering some g/f adjustments to my favourite dishes.

--------------

Here's what we made for xmas this year:

After sampling the little fruit fudge puddings that Cindy made, I decided straight away that I had to make them for my family on xmas day because they were both cute and delicious.

I made a few adjustments by accident that ended up working quite well. I added a more orange juice and I used a combination of the gingernut biscuits and the orgran itsy bitsy bear biscuits. This resulted in some of them being more fudge like and they had slightly less ginger flavour. Also I skipped the cherries and oil and only used currants.They were gobbled down quite quickly by family on xmas day and I don't think any of my dark chocolate hating family detected the dark chocolate.

Xmas pudding bites (which were originally sourced from here)


1 cup raisins, chopped (I used more currants)
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup of orange juice or rum (I used orange juice)
1/2 cup dry roasted almonds
300g vegan and gluten free cookies
200g dark chocolate
100g white chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil(I skipped this)
pistachios and cherries  to garnish

In a small saucepan, stir together the raisins, currants, brown sugar and orange juice.  Simmer the fruit for 3 minutes, then set it aside to cool.

Blend the almonds to a coarse meal in a food processor.  Mix them together with the biscuit crumbs in a large bowl, then stir through the cooled fruit mixture.  Gently melt the dark chocolate and add it to the bowl, stirring to combine.  The mixture should have formed a firm and slightly crumbly dough.

Roll inch-diameter balls from the pudding mixture, place them on a lined tray and refrigerate until firm. (I skipped this and just added more orange juice til they held together a little better)

Finely chop the red and green garnishes.  Gently melt the white chocolate and oil together so that they're silky and quite liquid.  Drizzle the white chocolate over the pudding balls and sprinkle over the garnish.  Refrigerate until the chocolate has set, and continue to store them there until serving. 

And I made a g/f free version of our family Vegemite Gravy recipe, I found a similar looking recipe here which I copied.


    2 tbsp margarine
    2 tbsp plain flour (I used orgran gluten free flour)
    500 ml stock, heated (I think I may have used a little less)
    1 Tbsp Aussie mite (g/f version of vegemite) (start with 1 teaspoon and taste)
  
   1.  Start your gravy in a saucepan by melting the margarine. Sprinkle margarine with flour, and stir over a gentle heat to colour it, but be careful of burning. When it is really grungy-looking, after about five minutes, add the hot stock slowly, stirring quickly to incorporate the cooked flour.
   3. Add the Aussie Mite and stir well. If it's too thin, continue to simmer and reduce in volume. If it's too thick, add more stock or water. At this point, taste for salt and pepper. If it's just right, strain and serve in a warmed sauce boat.

I had issues with lumps as you can see but the flavour was pretty similar. Don't be deceived by the aussie mite (or vegemite) it adds a depth of flavour without being obvious.

It's been both a  great year and a hard year in many ways personally:

• I finished my thesis and studying finally and started working in my field
• I got an article published in a journal
• Toby become injured, had an operation and spent some time in hospital. He is thankfully ok but will never be able to do martial arts or contact sport again.
• Between the two of us we lost 3 grand parents this year.
• I paid off my car loan
• I spent most of the year with some sort of minor illness or just feeling really blah.
• I started jogging and yoga and ended up stopping due to the above.
• It was recently Toby's 5 year anniversary of moving to Australia, it's gone so quickly!

Food wise:

• I spent most of the year trying to figure out whether I had coeliac disease and alternating between being g/f and eating gluten and then finally found out that I had it.
• Tart N Round- g/f vegan restaurant closed and while i've managed to find lots of g/f options I still miss having a place where I can eat everything. 
• There was several new vegan or vegan friendly restaurants open including my fav disco beans cafe. As well as Mamasita, Chan house, Yong's green foods,  Gasometer,  and New Day Rising.
• Toby managed to veganise chinese radish cake and a few other Chinese favourites.
• My two favourite potlucks were the ice cream potluck and the g/f picnic potluck.
• We had a fun Sydney holiday that centered solely around eating and rocked my world.
• I paired up with Cindy and cooked/baked some incredible tasty and pretty dishes like the penguin love cake.
• We blogged everyday for a whole month for vegan mofo in November.
• My fav meal out this year has to be the incredible french toast at monk bodhi dharma and fav dish at home was probably the vegan vanilla slice.
• Toby's fav meal out was the artichoke dish at Movida Aqui and fav dish at home was the  frozen margarita pie.

We are planning on eating out less next year and looking forward to making lots more yummy meals and conquering some g/f adjustments to my favourite dishes.

--------------

Here's what we made for xmas this year:

After sampling the little fruit fudge puddings that Cindy made, I decided straight away that I had to make them for my family on xmas day because they were both cute and delicious.

I made a few adjustments by accident that ended up working quite well. I added a more orange juice and I used a combination of the gingernut biscuits and the orgran itsy bitsy bear biscuits. This resulted in some of them being more fudge like and they had slightly less ginger flavour. Also I skipped the cherries and oil and only used currants.They were gobbled down quite quickly by family on xmas day and I don't think any of my dark chocolate hating family detected the dark chocolate.

Xmas pudding bites (which were originally sourced from here)


1 cup raisins, chopped (I used more currants)
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup of orange juice or rum (I used orange juice)
1/2 cup dry roasted almonds
300g vegan and gluten free cookies
200g dark chocolate
100g white chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil(I skipped this)
pistachios and cherries  to garnish

In a small saucepan, stir together the raisins, currants, brown sugar and orange juice.  Simmer the fruit for 3 minutes, then set it aside to cool.

Blend the almonds to a coarse meal in a food processor.  Mix them together with the biscuit crumbs in a large bowl, then stir through the cooled fruit mixture.  Gently melt the dark chocolate and add it to the bowl, stirring to combine.  The mixture should have formed a firm and slightly crumbly dough.

Roll inch-diameter balls from the pudding mixture, place them on a lined tray and refrigerate until firm. (I skipped this and just added more orange juice til they held together a little better)

Finely chop the red and green garnishes.  Gently melt the white chocolate and oil together so that they're silky and quite liquid.  Drizzle the white chocolate over the pudding balls and sprinkle over the garnish.  Refrigerate until the chocolate has set, and continue to store them there until serving. 

And I made a g/f free version of our family Vegemite Gravy recipe, I found a similar looking recipe here which I copied.


    2 tbsp margarine
    2 tbsp plain flour (I used orgran gluten free flour)
    500 ml stock, heated (I think I may have used a little less)
    1 Tbsp Aussie mite (g/f version of vegemite) (start with 1 teaspoon and taste)
  
   1.  Start your gravy in a saucepan by melting the margarine. Sprinkle margarine with flour, and stir over a gentle heat to colour it, but be careful of burning. When it is really grungy-looking, after about five minutes, add the hot stock slowly, stirring quickly to incorporate the cooked flour.
   3. Add the Aussie Mite and stir well. If it's too thin, continue to simmer and reduce in volume. If it's too thick, add more stock or water. At this point, taste for salt and pepper. If it's just right, strain and serve in a warmed sauce boat.

I had issues with lumps as you can see but the flavour was pretty similar. Don't be deceived by the aussie mite (or vegemite) it adds a depth of flavour without being obvious.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

G/f Blogging rant

I've having my biopsy finally tomorrow to find out if I have coeliac disease which reminds that I have wanted to talk about the gluten free blogging community for a little while. When I first g/f I started reading loads and loads of g/f blogs around the world, not just the ones on my tool bar! However, I'm continually surprised and disappointed that there doesn't seem to be quite the sense of community that I find in the veg blogging world.

It really really gripes me when people don't link to other blogs when they have visited a cafe/restaurant that others have blogged about. I know I'm not alone in that thought, Lisa has talked about being a good link citizen  and fitzroyalty has talking about in regards to blogging ethics. I think it's pretty rare in the Aus veg blogging world at least but g/f bloggers never seem to do it which I personally think is rude.

I've also noticed that many g/f bloggers don't even have links to other blogs on their side bar or if they do it's just the super famous ones generally from overseas which is another pet gripe. It also made it hard for me to find heaps of local g/f blogs when I first started. Whereas, if you find most veg blogs you will generally find a large number of links to other local and non-famous veg blogs.

There are a few exceptions to g/f sense of community like Book of Yum's adopt a g/f blogger but I really haven't come across much else.

Why do you think it is? Has anyone else noticed it? I'm happy to be proven wrong and discover that there is a real strong g/f blogging community which I haven't come across yet. I have met other coeliacs in life and been excited to share info and tips with them so I don't get it. Is it because being vegan or vegetarian is a choice and g/f isn't?

On a g/f food related note, I am addicted to these g/f pretzels and actually prefer them to regular pretzels now, I particularly love them covered in chocolate.

I've having my biopsy finally tomorrow to find out if I have coeliac disease which reminds that I have wanted to talk about the gluten free blogging community for a little while. When I first g/f I started reading loads and loads of g/f blogs around the world, not just the ones on my tool bar! However, I'm continually surprised and disappointed that there doesn't seem to be quite the sense of community that I find in the veg blogging world.

It really really gripes me when people don't link to other blogs when they have visited a cafe/restaurant that others have blogged about. I know I'm not alone in that thought, Lisa has talked about being a good link citizen  and fitzroyalty has talking about in regards to blogging ethics. I think it's pretty rare in the Aus veg blogging world at least but g/f bloggers never seem to do it which I personally think is rude.

I've also noticed that many g/f bloggers don't even have links to other blogs on their side bar or if they do it's just the super famous ones generally from overseas which is another pet gripe. It also made it hard for me to find heaps of local g/f blogs when I first started. Whereas, if you find most veg blogs you will generally find a large number of links to other local and non-famous veg blogs.

There are a few exceptions to g/f sense of community like Book of Yum's adopt a g/f blogger but I really haven't come across much else.

Why do you think it is? Has anyone else noticed it? I'm happy to be proven wrong and discover that there is a real strong g/f blogging community which I haven't come across yet. I have met other coeliacs in life and been excited to share info and tips with them so I don't get it. Is it because being vegan or vegetarian is a choice and g/f isn't?

On a g/f food related note, I am addicted to these g/f pretzels and actually prefer them to regular pretzels now, I particularly love them covered in chocolate.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Mofo Quiz and links- Day 19

I'm finding it challenging to come up with daily posts and keep up to date with reading all of the your posts. But I'm really enjoying coming across all of these new ideas as part of mofo, so far I love the look of:

• the  'meat cake' that Mo Betta Vegan made
• the quinoa lasagna and zucchini in place of lasgana sheets that Vicki blogged about
• the queso that Melomeals made with chickpea flour
• the vegan cheese reviews on nice things

I'm also had some lovely new bloggers around the world comment on this blog like Phoenix Dreaming and OMgosh I'm Vegan. I suspect many of the new commenters and traffic come from the two mentions of our blog (for the choc honeycomb and the spice organising posts) on the vegan mofo blog. The vegan mofo blog along with the  new commenters has allowed me to come across so many new blogs (including most of the ones listed above). My favourite part about blogging is that sense of community and vegan mofo has been great for broadening that community, so thanks! Shellyfish talks more about that sense of community on her mofo post.

Speaking of bloggers, my friend has started a new vegetarian blog called veg in the west with loads of yummy and interesting things like chocolate zombie brains and vegan strawberry tart, you should go check it out and show her some comment love.

Mandee inspired me to do the mofo quiz which is going around:


What is one food you thought you'd miss when you went vegan, but don't?

Bacon. Fake bacon is awesome and the whole idea of eating pigs really disgusts me now.

What is a food or dish that you wouldn't touch as a child, but enjoy now?

Brussel sprouts, my mum would make them boiled and I would dry reach when she made us eat them, but now wish dishes like this, I love them.

What vegan food or dish do you feel like you should like but you don't?

Tahini it's quite an awful aftertaste that I can't stand, I do like the watered down version in Lebanese restaurants though

What beverage do you consume the most of each day?

Herbal tea- mostly rooibos.

What dish are you famous for bringing to gatherings?

cupcakes or cakes

Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?

I'm really obsessed with not putting food down on surfaces eg: work desk, table at restaurant etc. 

What's one food or dish that you eat too much off when it's in your home?

Ice cream.

What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available repackaged?

popcorn

What ingredient or food is worth spending extra money on to get the good stuff?

Fair trade and organic Chocolate

Are you much of a snacker? What are your favourite snacks?

I'm a huge snacker, normally chocolate, g/f pretzels and nuts.

What are your favourite vegan pizza toppings?

satay ones at Plush

What's your favourite fruit and vegetable?

mangoes and asparagus

What is the best salad dressing?

I hate lettuce salads so this is a hard question but I guess something fruit based

What is your favourite thing to put on toasted bread?

avocado (and with either lemon plus salt and pepper or marmite)

What kind of soup do you turn to on a chilly day or when you don't feel well?

Lentil soup

What is your favourite cupcake and icing flavour?

choc with peanut butter icing

What is your favourite type of cookie?

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

What is your most-loved weeknight meal?

Matthew's Tofu with rice or noodles

What is one food or dish you enjoy but can't get anyone else in your house to eat?

refried beans from the can

How long on average do you spend in the kitchen each day?

Not that long since Toby does most of the cooking, but then I have other days where I spend hours

I'm finding it challenging to come up with daily posts and keep up to date with reading all of the your posts. But I'm really enjoying coming across all of these new ideas as part of mofo, so far I love the look of:

• the  'meat cake' that Mo Betta Vegan made
• the quinoa lasagna and zucchini in place of lasgana sheets that Vicki blogged about
• the queso that Melomeals made with chickpea flour
• the vegan cheese reviews on nice things

I'm also had some lovely new bloggers around the world comment on this blog like Phoenix Dreaming and OMgosh I'm Vegan. I suspect many of the new commenters and traffic come from the two mentions of our blog (for the choc honeycomb and the spice organising posts) on the vegan mofo blog. The vegan mofo blog along with the  new commenters has allowed me to come across so many new blogs (including most of the ones listed above). My favourite part about blogging is that sense of community and vegan mofo has been great for broadening that community, so thanks! Shellyfish talks more about that sense of community on her mofo post.

Speaking of bloggers, my friend has started a new vegetarian blog called veg in the west with loads of yummy and interesting things like chocolate zombie brains and vegan strawberry tart, you should go check it out and show her some comment love.

Mandee inspired me to do the mofo quiz which is going around:


What is one food you thought you'd miss when you went vegan, but don't?

Bacon. Fake bacon is awesome and the whole idea of eating pigs really disgusts me now.

What is a food or dish that you wouldn't touch as a child, but enjoy now?

Brussel sprouts, my mum would make them boiled and I would dry reach when she made us eat them, but now wish dishes like this, I love them.

What vegan food or dish do you feel like you should like but you don't?

Tahini it's quite an awful aftertaste that I can't stand, I do like the watered down version in Lebanese restaurants though

What beverage do you consume the most of each day?

Herbal tea- mostly rooibos.

What dish are you famous for bringing to gatherings?

cupcakes or cakes

Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?

I'm really obsessed with not putting food down on surfaces eg: work desk, table at restaurant etc. 

What's one food or dish that you eat too much off when it's in your home?

Ice cream.

What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available repackaged?

popcorn

What ingredient or food is worth spending extra money on to get the good stuff?

Fair trade and organic Chocolate

Are you much of a snacker? What are your favourite snacks?

I'm a huge snacker, normally chocolate, g/f pretzels and nuts.

What are your favourite vegan pizza toppings?

satay ones at Plush

What's your favourite fruit and vegetable?

mangoes and asparagus

What is the best salad dressing?

I hate lettuce salads so this is a hard question but I guess something fruit based

What is your favourite thing to put on toasted bread?

avocado (and with either lemon plus salt and pepper or marmite)

What kind of soup do you turn to on a chilly day or when you don't feel well?

Lentil soup

What is your favourite cupcake and icing flavour?

choc with peanut butter icing

What is your favourite type of cookie?

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

What is your most-loved weeknight meal?

Matthew's Tofu with rice or noodles

What is one food or dish you enjoy but can't get anyone else in your house to eat?

refried beans from the can

How long on average do you spend in the kitchen each day?

Not that long since Toby does most of the cooking, but then I have other days where I spend hours

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Vegan MoFo

We have been a little slack with posting at the moment, and have a huge backlog of posts. But I figure I'm saving up all of my energy to participate in Vegan Mofo which starts on November 1st.

The idea of Vegan Mofo is to write as much as you can about vegan food for one month. MoFo: stands for month of food.

Yes, we normally write about vegan food, but it's different. Last year a small group of us Australian and New Zealand blogger made up our own OZ Vegan Mofo one month earlier and I managed to blog about 25 times in a month which is far more than my average. Since there are now two of us blogging I figure we should be able to do even more this time.

Head over to the Vegan MoFo blog for more details and check out the other 360 bloggers participating around the world.

We have been a little slack with posting at the moment, and have a huge backlog of posts. But I figure I'm saving up all of my energy to participate in Vegan Mofo which starts on November 1st.

The idea of Vegan Mofo is to write as much as you can about vegan food for one month. MoFo: stands for month of food.

Yes, we normally write about vegan food, but it's different. Last year a small group of us Australian and New Zealand blogger made up our own OZ Vegan Mofo one month earlier and I managed to blog about 25 times in a month which is far more than my average. Since there are now two of us blogging I figure we should be able to do even more this time.

Head over to the Vegan MoFo blog for more details and check out the other 360 bloggers participating around the world.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

We have moved...

We started blogging here over 6 months ago (and moved all of the old food posts over), but I noticed that lots of people are still linking to the old blog instead of this one. So can you please update your links, pretty please with a cherry on top.

We started blogging here over 6 months ago (and moved all of the old food posts over), but I noticed that lots of people are still linking to the old blog instead of this one. So can you please update your links, pretty please with a cherry on top.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad