Blue Bowl

I seem to have an incredible backlog of photos on my computer, so today I present you a mix of dishes which have all been served up in my favourite blue ceramic bowl.  We've only got one, so it's a bit dicey when Andy is home, trying to decide who gets it.  But we've recently acquired a nice big white bowl which holds about twice as much food as a normal bowl, so that's the one Andy usually eats from now...

First up, black-eyed pea dhal.  This recipe is from Alternative Vegan and it is fantastic.  Smoky and deliciously spiced, it makes me declare my love for black-eyed peas.

Here is a seitan-ginger beer stew which is a semi-original recipe.  Served with spaetzle and more ginger beer, this is a light and zingy flavour combined with a hearty dish.  Perfect for hungry summer dinners.

Look, I'll be honest about this -- I don't even remember what it is, or when we made it.  It appears to be some kind of red lentil and chickpea dhal, but I think I see shredded coconut in there as well.  Anyways, it was probably tasty.  With brown rice, because that's how we roll.

This is a barley bowl, kind of like a rice bowl that a lot of veggie restaurants have on their menus.  Sweet potato, carrot, and green peas plus a tomato-ey sauce to tie it all together.

Banana-rama

Last week I was very generously offered some backyard bananas by fellow Townsvillain Dee, of the blog Cycling Paradise. Of course I accepted, and quickly whipped up a batch of biscuits as payment. When she dropped them off, I was a little taken aback...

How on earth would I be able to use up 4 1/2 big bunches of lady finger bananas, especially given that Andy's away?

A week and a half later, I needn't have worried. I've eated a lot of bananas, in a variety of different forms. First, though, I peeled one whole bunch and put it straight into the freezer for later use.

I've been having lots of sliced banana on my morning muesli.

I had a banana split, with mango and crushed peanuts on vanilla soy ice cream.

Sunday I spent a while baking, to replenish the freezer with post-bike ride snacks and morning tea food. First, spiced banana empanadas. The empanada dough recipe is from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen, but instead of using pumpkin for the filling as she suggests, I used mashed banana mixed with cinnamon and crystallised ginger. Something about these is a little bit funny, texture-wise, but overall I like them.

I also used up some ripe mangoes for Hawaiian Mango-Nut Bread, from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen. Mango, banana, dates, and I used sunflower seeds. This is really yummy, and nice and crunchy on the outside.

All of that got me down to about half...

So I've also been indulging in smoothies. Plain banana + flax + soy milk; sorbet-ish mango + banana + orange juice; and my favourite, banana + chocolate + sunflower butter.

I couldn't let my wealth of bananas pass without venturing into experimental territory, though. I wanted a savoury dish that included bananas, and The Tropical Vegan Kitchen delivered for me. Indian Black Barley Pilaf with Bananas and Oranges, made with plain instead of black barley, and with the addition of spinach. This was an easy dish to make and really just involved dumping everything together and simmering before stirring the fruit in at the end. It was tasty, and the cinnamon and coriander of the dish was well-matched with the tangy orange and the sweet banana.

And just last night I made the "Banana Swirl Cheese Cake" from Vegan Planet. Except, I didn't bother with swirling, and the fact that there is no cream cheese in this recipe leads me to call it "Peanut Butter Banana Pie". This was very simple--make crust, blend tofu with banana, blend tofu with peanut butter, pour into crust and bake. And surprisingly, the tofu seems to have firmed up quite well even without any corn flour or other thickeners. The true test will be today when I take the sides off the pan and try to slice it, so stay tuned for an update.

With all of that, I still have about 10 bananas left at home. With a vegan picnic potluck coming up on Sunday, I'm thinking I have to bring something banana-y. I was thinking about Banana Split Pudding Brownies from Vegan with a Vengeance but am open to other suggestions, so if you know of any great uses for bananas please let me know.

Dinner with friends

Over the weekend I had a few people around for dinner--a friend from uni is thinking about going vegan, and it had been a while since I had caught up with the other Townsville vegans, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity for food. Of course, I forgot to take photos on the night but luckily there were leftovers.

I decided to try some new recipes, which is always a risky venture when you're cooking for other people but luckily it worked out (for the most part).

For starters, I made a batch of broad bean hummus (aka fava bean hummus), which is really just a pack of frozen broad beans, shelled and blended with some tahini, rice vinegar and oil. I've actually made this once before, so it wasn't new, and it wasn't based on a recipe. But this one is the anomaly.

One of the dishes that was a new recipe was Jamaican Cook-up Rice from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen cookbook, which I got a few months ago. Instead of beans, I used some rehydrated tvp, and I replaced the kale with silverbeet (chard). This was very yummy.

The side dish was another grainy one, Barley and Corn Salad based on a recipe from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen. I left the beans out of this one, to make it more side dishy, and opted not to serve it in cabbage cups. I left the corn raw, which gave this salad a lovely sweetness that complemented the mustardy dressing quite well, I thought.

Dessert was a veritable smorgusboard-orgusboard. I made Hawaiian Coconut Pudding from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen, only instead of pouring it into a square dish and then cutting pieces, I poured it into muffin cups. Well, this was a good idea in theory, but when I tried to serve the puddings they hadn't gelled up like they were meant to, so they were more like blobs of coconutty goo. They were tasty, and the three extras in the fridge somehow managed to set up the next day. I guess I need to practice this recipe again.

Matt brought a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing, very moist and fantastic.

Mel brought along some vanilla soy ice cream, as well as some fresh strawberries and some soyatoo topping cream. All delicious!

Sure, I was left with a sugar hangover the next day from all of that dessert, but it was well worth it. Food and friends--what else is there?

Training food

Aside from getting to set your own hours and doing work that you really love (most of the time), working at a university is great because of all the free stuff that comes your way. Art students hold free exhibitions and concerts, physio students hold a free clinic, including massage. One of the recent offers of free stuff was 8 weeks of personal training, with second-year Sports and Exercise Science students. I saw this email come through and disregarded it, but later decided to sign up. Why the hell not, hey?

So for the past two weeks I've been in training. Since I'm not trying to lose weight we're mostly working on strength training, and I am surprised at some of the things I've been able to do. There has been a bit of cardio, mostly on the bike, and overall it's been a lot of fun.

Since I'm working my body in ways it isn't used to working, I've been a bit more conscious of what I put in it. I've been trying, successfully, to drink loads of water during the day. And although I'm never worried that I get enough nutrients in my diet, I have been a bit more deliberate about my meals. My concern isn't protein, but carbohydrates.

Carbs are actually the food that you need to eat both before and after exercise, because the sugars reduce muscle fatigue. Complex carbs are good at least three hours before working out, and then again within two hours after finishing. Simple carbs are actually not a bad thing, particularly within 30 minutes after finishing training.

Because I eat leftover dinner for lunch, I have been trying to combine simple and complex carbohydrates into my meals, along with vegetables, protein, fat, and all of the other good stuff, so that I have enough energy no matter when I work out.

For instance, this chickpea cutlet is full of complex carbohydrates while the jacket potato has a higher Glycaemic Index. I'm not really sure about the sweet potato and salad, but they were very yummy, especially with the roasted garlic butter in the background.
This meal is baked chilli with cornbread topping, and is full of good stuff.Millet, potato, sweet potato, brown rice, navy beans and tvp bulked up the chilli, and it was delicious.

And I don't know where barley falls on the GI scale, but I felt good the next morning in the gym--satay tofu, barley with broccoli, and a raw beetroot-nori salad.
Of course, my favourite thing about training is being encouraged to eat cupcakes, muffins, or slice immediately after a workout. That's my kind of trainer! But you'll have to stay tuned for the sweets I've been using to boost my muscle glycogen levels...