The recipe comes from Shugary Sweets and can be found by clicking here. I substituted nuttelex olive lite spread and light soy milk, and as usual I didn't add any salt, and it turned out moist and tasty. It got the thumbs up from our favourite bobcat driver when he stopped to have morning tea with us.
Yes, another Pinterest find! I bought too many bananas the other week and put the excess in the fridge to save them just that little bit longer. I also have a heap of macadamia nuts from my daughter that I needed to use, so finding this recipe that included macadamia nuts was great. It did, however, mean that I was down in the shed cracking macadamia nuts in the vice. But the end result was definitely worth it and we enjoyed it for morning tea for quite a few days. The recipe comes from Shugary Sweets and can be found by clicking here. I substituted nuttelex olive lite spread and light soy milk, and as usual I didn't add any salt, and it turned out moist and tasty. It got the thumbs up from our favourite bobcat driver when he stopped to have morning tea with us.
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I spend way more time than I need to looking around all the wonderful pins on Pinterest and have amassed quite a few recipes that I need to really get in and try out. I was intrigued by the sound of a wild mushroom and artichoke pasta that I had pinned and was after something new and different for dinner. And believe it or not, I had a jar of artichoke hearts in my pantry - bought for some recipe that never got tried - and I also had fresh parsley and thyme. So I was good to go. The daily prompt for this day was gathered so I decided to get the ingredients together and take some photos for the CY365 gallery. I used a few different perspectives: from above and then from the side, just for something different. The great thing for me about doing all this preparation for the photo meant that putting everything together when it came time to make the meal was super easy. So back to the wild mushroom and artichoke recipe which can be found here. As I was making this I kept on wondering how it was going to turn out, and what it would taste like. I don't think I've ever heard of chickpeas in a pasta dish, and I don't think I've eaten artichokes very often. So it was going to be an interesting experiment. I didn't have fettucine so I used organic pasta spirals and I didn't have this product called 'Braggs' but a google search suggested using soy sauce in its place which I did. I also had to replace the Herbs De Provence, a french style mix, with Italian mixed herbs. We no longer eat cheese or other dairy products at home so that meant no parmesan to put on the pasta (which we haven't done for awhile). However, I had come across some recipes to make one's own vegan 'parmesan' and decided to give that a try as well. And yes, I had nutritional yeast in the panty and plenty of cashew nuts. The recipe is one I found on the Veggieful blog here. The end result - wow! We both agreed it tasted wonderful and the 'parmesan cheese' worked a treat. Definitely a meal that will become a regular.
Oh dear! Once again it's been awhile since I've posted anything on the food blog. And yes, I have made some new things, but if I'm not happy with the recipe I don't upload them. Lately I've been seeing a few recipes that involve soaking cashews. It seems to be to create a creamy sauce without using dairy products. Because we don't eat any dairy (at home) it's been tricky to try out some vegetarian recipes as they often include milk, cream or cheese. The original meaning of vegetarian was basically no dairy or egg products, however it appears to have evolved to include dairy products. Anyway I decided that I would try one of these cashew type recipes last night for something different for dinner. I found this one on Pinterest. The food blog it comes from has a lot of really nice looking things, so I'll get to more of them … sometime. The recipe can be found here at veggieful.com. It really tasted yummy and had lovely flavours in the sauce and it was creamy. Next time I would soak the cashews for much longer and probably process them longer as well. The instructions say to put the cloves of garlic and the piece of ginger into the processor, however I would mince the garlic and grate the ginger first next time. The sauce is a lovely base to add whatever vegetables you want. I would put a little more milk in and probably add in either lentils or chickpeas for the protein boost. Very tasty!
I've been planning on having a go at some homemade muesli bars for the last few weeks. I thought they would be nice for Steve to take to work, instead of the usual processed variety that we buy. And always a good excuse to make something new. I looked at quite a few recipes and finally settled on this one here from She Sows Seeds which I found on Pinterest. There were a number of reasons I chose this recipe over the many I looked at the main one being that I had all the ingredients - always important. Another reason was its simplicity and because I was looking for a recipe that was cooked. So I gave this one a try. A few changes were made along the way; I added sunflower seeds and used sultanas as I didn't have any dried apricots. But surprisingly I actually had some spelt flour which I used as suggested. I can't remember why I have spelt flour in my pantry - I must have bought it for a recipe at some point in time, but never got round to making it. Not so long ago a friend of mine used one of those mezzaluna chopper type thingies to cut her herbs and I thought it was a great idea. After going into several kitchen/homeware shops and having no luck finding one, I eventually found one in Big W. I decided to have a go using it to chop the nuts. It worked a treat. Now I wish that I had taken a photo of it. So this is the end result after coming out of the oven and being cooled in the pan. I added the extra coconut on the top just after I took it out of the oven. And ready to go for afternoon tea. I did have trouble getting the lovely straight edged cut that featured on the website, but they still tasted pretty good.
I really couldn't resist making these. And for some reason I felt like baking this afternoon. I mean, who puts zucchini in cupcakes? Seriously? I just had to give them a try. Of course I have all the usual difficulties when it comes to deciding to try a new recipe on the spur of the moment - matching the ingredient list with what I actually have on hand. Lemons? Not a problem - two trees in the backyard, however, they weren't quite ripe. I managed to find a few small ones but they didn't look very promising. Next issue; the recipe, being vegan, calls for the use of egg substitute. Hmmm I don't have that, as we use our own free range eggs. How many eggs do I use to replace a tablespoon of powdered egg replacer? Not really being able to get a sensible answer from google, I went with one and crossed my fingers. I didn't manage to squeeze out four tablespoons of lemon from the ones I got off our tree, so tossed in a little lime juice. I also used wholemeal flour. I think I followed everything else pretty closely though ... After waiting the 30 minutes or so, it was time to see if one egg was going to work. And yes, it did. So it's safe to say that instead of using a tablespoon of powdered egg replacer you can use one egg. I just love the cute red Valentine's Day patty cake cases I bought the other day. I made a quick frosting (not the one in the recipe) and topped the cupcakes with that and some desiccated coconut. I'm still not sure why there is zucchini in them but they tasted good! Morning tea for tomorrow is sorted.
The recipe can be found here at Vegan Mother Hubbard. I've been looking for recipes to try that will use up some of the eggplants that I have from the couple of bushes I planted a few months ago. This eggplant and tofu ratatouille looked quite easy - always a huge plus for me. And it didn't look like it would take me forever just to prepare all the ingredients. So I decided to give it a go tonight and to actually take some photos along the way. I found this recipe on Pinterest - the ingredients and directions can be found here at Earthy Feast. I had just a couple of problems with the recipe. Probably the main one being I didn't have any tofu. As I went along I also discovered that I really need to buy another lot of ground cumin - I only had about half what was required. I also wasn't sure just how much eggplant I needed as they are all a different size, and I do tend towards OCD when it comes to amounts. I guess this is good for me and I just went with my largest eggplant. And I only have ordinary basil, which apparently is quite ok to substitute. Here are my very own homegrown basil, tomatoes and eggplant (and yes, there were more tomatoes than in this photo - not quite the three cupfuls, but enough). I decided to go with adding a tin of chickpeas in place of the tofu as I wanted to keep the protein and fibre in the dish. I also had a small piece of broccoli left which I cut and put in, as well as about 1/3 cup of frozen peas. Well the packet was almost empty so I thought it was a good chance to maximise the veggie component. I also added in a good shake of cayenne pepper which gave it a really nice bite. I must admit that recipes where everything ends up in together, is covered and allowed to simmer, is my idea of cooking! So pretty much it's about 10 minutes simmering once the basics are done, and then another 5 minutes after stirring through the cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil and red wine (just as an aside - I don't like having to share my wine with a recipe). I put the chickpeas in at this point, but think maybe if I put them in earlier they would soak up the flavours; although I thought it all tasted pretty good. Lots of nice textures with the food and a delicious layer of flavours and spices. And enough left over that it will make a meal for Steve and myself later - that is, if I don't have it tomorrow night while he's at work … This could easily be a main dish as I've had it tonight, but also could be a great side dish. Salud!
Don't be put off by the "vegan" part of this recipe - all that means is that they are dairy and egg free. Even the covered chic chips are dairy free.
I've always been curious about sweet recipes that have strange ingredients in them like avocado or zucchini. In themselves they aren't strange, but I just couldn't get my head around having them in baked goodies. Anyway I decided to give this one a go. The recipe can be found here at Milk and Honey blog. I'm really not a cook, and not at all comfortable with making up recipes or straying too far from what is written down. However, I have gotten to a stage that when I don't have exactly the right ingredients I will substitute where possible. Of course, that does involve a bit of googling. I didn't have any avocado oil, so I used macadamia oil, and the only white vinegar I had was a white wine. Apart from that It was all pretty much as written, and easy to make. And yes, they tasted great! Morning tea for today and something for Steve to take to work, but the rest might have to go into the freezer for safe keeping (along with the pudding). In preparation for Christmas I had pinned quite a few recipes onto my pinterest board which I thought I might try out for Christmas lunch. This savoury log was one of them but I decided not to run with it just in case it didn't work out. It was also a bit fiddly and I didn't want to be spending all morning in the kitchen. So, last night for dinner, I figured it was time to give it a go - especially seeing I'd bought extra mushrooms specifically for this recipe. I'm not sure what time I started but it took me ages! Mainly because the bowl of my food processor is broken (Steve ordered a new one online as we were trying to work out how to do the food processing, without a food processor). I ended up using the blender and just doing little bits at a time. This was for the stuffing component of the recipe. You should have seen the kitchen bench ... Anyway it finally came together and in the oven and we were ready to eat by 8:20 - well a bit later because after Steve had sliced it I remembered that I wanted to take photos for this blog. I need to prepare for the photos a bit better and have whatever props I want ready to go. This was more like, quick, where's a white plate, how am I going to get enough light, where's the rosemary ... and Steve is just wanting to eat. It actually worked out really well and tasted great. Worth the effort? Yes, I think so, especially when I have the right tools for the job next time. And it would be so easy to add different things to this recipe. I didn't have hazelnuts, so just used the walnuts I had at home. I also decided against cooking puy lentils, and used tinned lentils. Next time I might add a gravy to it - and veggies. The recipe came from Mouthwatering Vegan Recipes blog which has some amazing looking recipes on it. I think I'll be trying some more from this site and putting them up. The Double Stuffed Savoury Christmas Log can be found by clicking here. (Clicking on the more button will bring up the recipe)
I planted a rhubarb plant. No idea why, as I don't recall ever having eaten rhubarb. However I had seen it listed in many menus, so I decided to go ahead and plant it. It grew really well, and I kept waiting for the stalks to go red like I see in the supermarket. When they didn't, I turned to google to find out why. It turns out that not all rhubarb stalks are red. Ah, well that explains it.
So now that I had this plant that had grown really well I needed to use it in some way. Once again I looked up recipes for rhubarb on the internet and came up with a zillion hits. I had to trawl through them until I found a recipe where I actually had all the ingredients at home. This was it - a rhubarb and coconut cake. It was really easy and tasted great! The recipe can be found here on the ninemsn food site. |
Food Photography & Recipes
FOOD BLOGSMilk and Honey Lots of yummy recipes and great food photography
Taste.com.au Lots of recipes and the great thing is you can import directly into the Recipe app Mouthwatering Vegan Simply a huge number of vegan recipes in every category you could think of with lots of photos. Olives for Dinner Another site with vegan recipes and food photography Earthy Feast This looks to be a fairly new food blog, with an emphasis on vegetarian and vegan foods (her hubby is vegetarian). The recipes that I've looked at look delicious. Leslie Durso Veggie Dreamgirl This website is more than just recipes - go ahead and have a look around. Veggieful This food blog is run by two young Australians and has some amazing looking recipes and wonderful photos of said recipes. I do love that they have posted the nutritional information with the recipes! Archives
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