New recipes

I’m home alone again for a few weeks, but this time I’m trying to avoid the unhealthy laziness (and busy-ness) that took over last time Andy was away.

At the same time, I am fairly busy, and it’s stinking hot here... so I don’t want to spend heaps of time in the kitchen. So I’ve been trying out a few new recipes that don’t take much effort—I’ve found La Dolce Vegan a key resource for this style of cooking.

To use up the baby wombok from the fridge, I flipped through cookbook indexes until I found La Dolce Vegan’s Tomato Cabbage Soup. It was too hot for soup, so I left out the stock and served it over rice. I also added 5-spice powder, because I was using chinese cabbage and it just seemed appropriate. It was good, and took about 10 minutes on the stove.

With the leftover rice and the other half of cabbage, I put together a variation on Indonesian-Style Rice with Tempeh from Vegan Planet. Instead of tempeh, I crumbled up some seitan from the freezer. Topped with cucumber, this was a perfect meal for a hot day.

Cooking for one, at least for me, means constantly trying to keep up with using veggies before they go off. Somehow I ended up with about 12,000 potatoes (maybe I exaggerate) so to use them up I tried a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance—Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy. Instead of tofu, I used more seitan, and I added some corn to the mix as well. I expected this to be a very heavy meal, but I was pleasantly surprised. The combination of white wine, thyme and miso makes for a delicate and tangy gravy.

Expect even more new recipes in the weeks to come, as I've been taken on board by Urban Vegan as a tester for her upcoming cookbook!

Oodles.

Noodles are a quick and easy foundation for a meal, which can be done without turning on the oven and hotting up the house, or even much time standing over the stove. Here are three ways we’ve had noodles recently.

This is a quick stir fry of onion, zucchini, green capsicum, mushroom spinach, and corn mixed with rice noodles. These noodles are soaked in boiling water for 3 minutes and then drained and they’re ready to go, so they’re a great ingredient when you want food fast. The flavour in this stir fry comes from chilli and some leftover sunflower-miso salad dressing.

This is an adapted version of the ‘Green Bean, Asparagus and Tofu Stir Fry over Couscous’. The main change, obviously, is that I subbed more rice noodles for the couscous. I also added black sesame seeds for pizzazz. This was a really yummy way to use some fresh, springy asparagus.

Finally, the quickest kind of noodles yet. I came home from an animal rights meeting to a lovely raw lunch made for me by Andy. Zucchini ‘noodles’, fresh spinach from the garden, and tomatoes were the base of the salad, and the dressing was probably technically not raw but had Bragg’s, miso, chilli, rice bran oil, sesame oil, and lots of ginger. I think this meal was inspired by a recipe in the recent food issue of VegNews, but don’t quote me on that.

I love noodles!

They're back...

Longer-term readers of this blog will know that Andy and I are kind of obsessed with mangoes (see all my mango-tagged posts). So we’ve been watching the mango blossoms turn into tiny mangoes, and waiting for the days when they get big enough and ripe enough to eat.

Well, the time is here. I saw a sign advertising Cheap Bowen Mangos outside a barber shop so I went in and got four littlies for $2. We waited impatiently as they ripened on the benchtop, picking them up daily to sniff them and feel for the tell-tale tenderness.

When they finally ripened, we didn’t bother with recipes, juicers, or any fuss whatsoever—we just cut them open and ate them plain, juice dripping down our hands as we went.

It’s still early in the season, so cheap mangos are few and far between, but expect to see more of them over the next few weeks and months.

The funny thing is – it was only a few weeks ago that we used up the last of the mango in the freezer from last season.

My fridge and freezer.

I had a hard time keeping up with everyone’s VeganMoFo posts, but a post I saw doing the rounds was the “in my freezer” post. I like it, so now that I’ve got a bit more free time I thought I would let you peek into my fridge and freezer.

Andy and I got our fridge from a guy who sells refurbished second-hand appliances, and we haven’t had a problem with it in the nearly three years we’ve had it. The outside is covered in photos, takeaway menus, postcards, a free movie ticket, heaps of magnets, a budget for November and the bit of paper on which Andy asked me to marry him.

Sitting on top we have: our wok; regular soy sauce; dark soy sauce; balsamic vinegar; a roll of paper towels we never use; cooking salt; and our oils—olive, rice bran, homemade chilli, and sesame.

Continuing down from the top, our uppermost freezer shelf houses: 2 tubs of ice cream—one nearly empty chocolate, and one nearly full vanilla chai (post on this coming soon); a bag of tater tots; a Tupperware of roasted pumpkin; reduced to clear noodles; a jar of farmer’s market coriander (a bit of an experiment; it freezes fine, fyi); organic broccoli we bought on special and chopped and froze; chicken-style seitan, cut into meal-sized pieces; a bag of green broadbeans; 2 jars of cooked fava beans (we pressured cook big batches and store the leftovers in jam jars in the freezer); 2 containers of mango-flavoured silken tofu; a package of puff pastry; a jar of cooked chickpeas.

In the bottom shelf of the fridge you can find: Filo dough, chopped spinach, carrots (cut and frozen by Andy); a blue ice block; a jar of coffee; pizza dough; sliced bread; reduced to clear bread rolls; 2 bags of green peas; about 6 blocks of firm tofu; a jar of cooked white beans; a jar of coriander pesto; and more reduced to clear noodles.

In the freezer door we keep: ground LSA mix; ginger; chillis from the garden; yeast; a jar of cat treats; and some gross fish food.

Down in the fridge, the top shelf keeps: soy milk; a brita filter; a bowl of bread waiting to become crumbs (that’s not usually in there); a few jars of jam; a few jars of olives; and a can of redbull I was given on the very first day of my PhD that I have yet to drink. We usually have a litre of soy yogurt in there as well, but on the day of the photo it was out becoming yogurt.

In the middle fridge shelf, which is a bit bare right now, we have: granny smith apples; a jar of dill pickles; apple sauce; nuttelex; and a bag of jelly beans my parents sent last easter.

The bottom shelf of the fridge is where we keep: a bottle of Yellowtail Pinot Grigio; two bottles of homebrew beer; a cucumber; and a rockmelon.

The fridge drawers are also usually more full, but at the end of the week they had: apples; potatoes; oranges; and a wombok.

The fridge door is where we keep lots of condiments to make dinner taste good, like (top to bottom): fresh rosemary; ginger; garlic; limes; lush lotion (Townsville is too hot for handmade cosmetics); Tandoori paste; tamarind puree; pickled ginger; four types of curry paste; probiotic capsules for yogurt-making; the leftovers from a tin of pineapple chunks; plum sauce; minced garlic; chilli capsicum deli spread; sunflower butter; miso; a block of chocolate; a box of nerds my parents sent at christmas; a bottle of white wine for cooking; basil oil; hoisin sauce; and reduced to clear juice.

Phew! Who knew it was possible to squeeze so much stuff into a relatively small space? And this is when it's on the empty side...

Pulping

Ever since we got our juicer, Andy and I have been drinking various combinations of fruits and veggies. But juicing feels so wasteful, even knowing that the leftover pulp goes into the worm farm and makes us good dirt. The first pulp-recycling experiment (pulp nuggets!!) was a success so we decided to try some more...

These are stuffed mushrooms. The stuffing is made from onions, spinach, and the pulp from (I think) carrot, sweet potato, and zucchini. The picture looked alright on my laptop, but here at uni the screen is different and it seems really dark. Hopefully you all have better monitors than I do!

This was a yummy dinner of baked tofu (marinated in hoisin, plum sauce, and a few other surprises), roasted green beans with kalamata olives, and broccoli-chickpea casserole. The casserole sauce is a simple white sauce--turned purple with the addition of beetroot and carrot pulp (Andy's idea). While I thought this was a very yummy way to use pulp, the colour threw Andy off a bit.

Finally, we have some more stuffed veggies. This time, Hawaiian-stuffed zucchinis. The stuffing is made from pineapple and carrot pulp, flavoured with tamarind paste, chilli oil and a few other things. With the zukes we had roasted radishes and beets, and a yummy salad of baby spinach and marinated portobella mushrooms.

Does anyone have suggestions on how else to use some of the pulp produced by the juicer?

Can you believe it?

I was being very unproductive last week, so I banned myself from blogging--even reading other blogs--until I had completed a draft of my conference paper. I wrote the last sentence yesterday at lunchtime, but rather than blogging, it was time for election results to start coming in!

So I ran over to the uni club, where a big screen was set up with the local news (who was going back and forth between CNN and NBC coverage, with a little Aussie flavour thrown in every now and again). It was so cool to be surrounded by other Americans, Canadians, Australians, Jamaicans, Africans, and people from just about every corner of the globe. We all cheered every time a new state was announced for Obama. Then we sat in shock as Obama was announced president. We sat smugly as John McCain conceded defeat, and we shouted "Yes We Can" along with Barack Obama gave his deadly acceptance speech.

Up until now (well, yesterday) I refused to get my hopes up. To be honest, I didn't have enough faith in the American public to do the right thing. I would rather be cynical than crushed if Obama had lost. So when CNN showed footage of everyone screaming and cheering--no commentary, just excitement for about 2 minutes--I didn't quite know what to think. I pretty much couldn't believe it as I listened to Obama's speech. I really liked what he had to say. I am hopeful for America, and the world, for the next few years.

So now, paper done and Obama elected, I've finally got time to catch up on all your blogs, and then get down to posting some of the many photos I have sitting around on my camera! See you soon!

Gifts and other surprises

I’ve been a bit spoiled lately.

Just before I left for Brisbane, I got an email saying I had won last month's contest at aduki and I would be getting a book in the mail. It was waiting for me when I came home.

I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever won anything. Needless to say, it was exciting to get my free book and I look forward to a mythical future day when I have the time to read it. Thanks aduki!

Then Andy’s parents came up, and brought with them gifts from some of Andy’s aunties at home. A set of six wine glasses means we have enough to offer if we ever have guests (a big step up from our previous set of two mis-matched glasses). Likewise, a new towel set means that people who stay at our place don't need to use beach towels when they shower. And before they left, Andy’s mum and dad got us a juicer.

We ended up getting the last one on the shelf, which was missing its box and paperwork but had all of its parts—and it was $100 cheaper than it usually is. We downloaded the instructions from the internet and have been juicing all week.

Our first creation involved beetroot, carrot, orange, rockmelon and ginger. It was yummy but I forgot to take photos. Our next batch was similar—orange, beetroot, carrot, sweet potato, mint and ginger (though I don’t think the mint juiced very well).

In order to not waste the pulp from this batch, we decided to make Pulp Nuggets. Before they cooked, I thought they looked a lot like raw mince.

These are basically the recipe for chickpea cutlets, with pulp instead of chickpeas (we picked out most of the clump of orange pulp). Flavoured with korma paste and then formed into nuggets and fried, these were a really yummy way to use the extras from our juice, especially alongside some lime and coriander potato salad, and a mixture of raw corn, tomato and cucumber.

Our latest juice was very different from the others. Half a bunch of celery, a cucumber and two apples made for a very green juice. Andy didn’t love it, but I thought it was pretty good. Another apple probably would have made it a bit sweeter.

And and and, I checked the mail last week to find not one but TWO gift certificates from my family. For my birthday, they’ve treated me to two sessions at Plant Essentials, a vegan and organic spa in town. Wahoo!

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In-laws

Andy’s parents have just left after visiting for a week. Whether we were the destination, or just a stop on their trip is debatable—they’re taking two months to drive up here and back, about 3,000 kilometres each way. We were off our feet for a few days showing them all the sights in the area.

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On the first day of touring, we went north. From Ingham, we went to the coast at Lucinda to see the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere (I didn’t take any photos because we’ve already been). You can’t go out on this jetty—it’s only for moving sugar cane out to giant ships. We stopped for a cuppa and some jack fruit from the Sunday market.

Then it was back inland, 50 kms west of Ingham and up a steep and windy road. The temperature dropped 5 degrees as we climbed. The destination? Wallaman Falls—the longest single-drop waterfall in Australia.

We got a bit rained on, but the rain plus the heat made for some cool fog.

From Wallaman Falls, we went back to Ingham and headed south to the turn-off for Jourama Falls. After a steep and long-ish hike (3 kms return, which left the oldies a bit puffed), we got to the lookout and saw the many little falls that make up Jourama.

We also detoured off the main path down to the rock pools to see some cool little rapids.

We came home exhausted, ate takeaways for dinner and went to bed early. The next morning we had a bit of a sleep in before heading south. We turned off the highway into Alligator Creek, unsure if there would be water or not in the dry season. We found it lower than when we’ve been before, but still flowing.

We enjoyed the view for a few minutes before heading back onto the highway and further south, to Ayr. We stopped at a bakery for some fresh bread, and then drove out to the coast at Alva to have a picnic lunch. Vegemite, tomato and lettuce, plus rockmelon (cantaloupe) and bananas were easy and satisfying. Then we ventured out onto the sand, which was super-exposed thanks to the lowest of tides.

Back to Ayr, we were advised to visit the Burdekin Bridge, which is a LONG silver structure which apparently has no foundations. The cement pylons go 30 metres into the sand where they “float”.

Then it was out to Home Hill (the town across the river from Ayr) and up Mt Inkerman for some hazy but interesting views.

Close to Inkerman is Charlie’s Hill, where we had a look at some “igloos” leftover from WWII (they were used as radar stations).

After Charlie’s Hill we headed back to Townsville, where Andy and I cooked his parents a feast of chickpea balls (to which his dad said “I didn’t know chickpeas had balls”), roasted veggies, and spinach salad (no photos).

Throughout the week we did some other fun things with them, ate at lots of asian restaurants, cooked them a few meals, went swimming and otherwise enjoyed their company.

It was nice to see them, but to be honest, I’m glad Andy’s parents have continued on their journey. With a real estate inspection this week, a paper to write in the near future, and tutoring to be done, I prefer to have the fewest distractions possible.

Finger bling

We went to pick up the engagement ring yesterday.

We were pleasantly surprised when it came up at the register with a 50% discount.

Then Andy's parents took us for dinner at a yummy Thai restaurant. We got spring rolls, vegetable salad (like Thai Beef salad but with sauteed veggies instead of dead cow), and tempura-battered veggies with peanut sauce. It was all very good--I think we've found our new favourite Thai place in Townsville.