Friday, May 02, 2008

Variety is the spice of life.

To continue on my Andy-less breakfast binge I made muffins, an item that Andy does not like for breakfast. Since I had some carrots that needed using, I made Spicy Carrot Raisin Muffins from Vegan with a Vengeance. Instead of just raisins I used dried mixed fruit.

These muffins were tasty, but there was more carrot than batter—I think because my carrots were slightly larger than the ‘medium’ carrots the recipe called for. I hate that in recipes… I would much rather have measurements that I can choose not to follow than something so broad as ‘one small pumpkin’. Those are arbitrary. Anyways, the spices in the muffins were really good, but my silicon muffin cups mean I’ll never get big crunchy muffin tops.

For dinner that night I had a spicy southwest meal. I cooked up a batch of black eyed peas and turned them into ‘Spicy black eyed peas and rice’ from The Vegan Gourmet. This recipe was such a let down. It was just brown rice, black eyed peas, caramelised onions, and black pepper. It did, however, make a good base for some sautéed veggies smothered with ‘Mexican Chilli Gravy’ from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah.

Just spicy enough to make my nose run without leaving me too sweaty, this chilli is another winner from one of my favourite cookbooks. The Vegan Gourmet, however, has been a bit of a let down—though the appetiser section is really, really good.

Now, onto non-food things. The wonderful Alice (in Veganland) has passed along a blogger excellence award. Thanks, Alice! It's good to be appreciated! Now I get to pass along the award. There are so many excellent blogs out there, but I'm going to give the award to two deserving women...
  • The Little One of The Potato Vine blog. Her political posts say exactly what I'm thinking but more, or they give me information I wanted to know. Her training posts are inspiring. And her vignettes about teaching confirm my future plans. No matter how busy I am, I check her blog regularly. Keep it up, The Little One!
  • Amy from Iron Chef Vegan. In addition to posting photos of delicious looking food, both savoury and sweet, and in addition to being a lovely person who shared her favourite Chinese place with me, Amy's recent anti- anti-feminist rant was awesome!
And here's an infuriating article... Peta is negotiating with Australian wool farmers. If they phase out mulesing and breed bald-assed sheep in future, Peta will stop convincing people that wool is bad. Peta! Stop being so lame! Negotiating with the cruelty industry is not what we want! People need to stop using animals for our wants and desires (they're definitely not needs anymore!) and let animals exist for their own selves. Fuck.

But on a happier front, a really good new song has been released in Australia. It uses parts of Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations, and a few other big-deal speeches in recent Australian history. It's a remake of a 1992 song by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, which is also very moving. Both versions give me goosebumps! Watch them, even if you're not Australian. They are good.

16 comments:

Lovlie said...

I like the song a lot. And the muffin look nice even with too much carrot!

Amy said...

Aw, thanks Tez!

I'd like to wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments about that great song. It's great to finally have a country I"m proud of (yes, I'm getting emotional about it)!

Also, any blog that has the tag "political" followed by "vegetables" gets three gold stars!

Anonymous said...

I should be receiving my copy of vegan with a vengeance today!! Those cupcakes will definitely be something I try. =)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Congrats on the award; your blog definitely deserves it for your drool-worthy recipes and your kind heart.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Those muffins sound perfect to me!! Especially since I love carrots :0)

Hooray for the well-deserved blogging award!!

urban vegan said...

Andyless. Funny. I do the same thing when Omniman is away. I make raw foods!

the little one said...

Ah, shucks! Thanks so much Theresa! You're the best!

On PETA - do you know they also just came out in support of test-tube meat creation. Strange.

Sam said...

That's the third post I've seen about those carrot muffins. I'm going to have to make them, as they look so good!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

mmm, black eyed peas!

Amy said...

I have that same problem with my silicone muffin pan. It sits in my drawer while I use my non stick one ::blush::

I haven't tried those muffins yet but you make them look really yummy so I think I'm going to have to put them on my list!

Vaala ◪ said...

Great song...I still can't get over how long it took for the government to apologise about the Stolen Generations. I remember seeing Rabbit Proof Fence several years ago and being shaken at just how recent it went on. When we watched Kevin Rudd's speech on the news I think I had tears in my eyes...and I'm not even Australian.

Bianca said...

That veggies and gravy dish looks awesome! I love anything smothered in gravy!!!

Unknown said...

I'm a big Paul Kelly fan- I recently got a hold of One Night The Moon- a must see Australian musical with Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody songs. Its hard to find so give me a shout if you want to borrow it.

Alicia said...

There's not such thing as too much carrot! hehe
I was sure you were going to help me discover more great vegan blogs. But just a note, the link to Amy's blog Iron Chef Vegan is wrong and linking to my blog, not hers!

Theresa said...

Thanks Alice, I've fixed it now! I don't know how that happened...

Vegan_Noodle said...

Glad you are getting your fill of breakfast treats while Andy is gone!
And congrats on the award! Your blog is very deserving of it, as well as The Potato Vine and Iron Chef Vegan (two great choices!).

Oh, and Peta is infuriating sometimes, aren't they? They are definitely a welfare activist group... I don't think they really fight much for animal rights. Too bad.