Plant Essentials

I don't go in for paid advertisements or anything like that on my blog, but I wanted to take a minute to rave about a local shop that I love.

Plant Essentials in Townsville city is a natural beauty store, and they also sell a bit of food, including excellent raw chocolates. They carry lots of vegan and organic product lines, but they also make their own, which is what I really like.

The ingredients are straightforward, mostly organic, and all plant-based.

And they are made locally, which I love.

They even sell their own mineral makeup which is far more affordable than the other aussie brands I was using before.

Last time I was there I grabbed some stainless steel waterbottles for Andy and I, which I've already plastered with my Edgar's Mission sticker.

They have an online shop if you're interested (but seriously, I'm not advertising or getting anything in return for this plug).

I'm also a fan of their spa because they use all vegan products, and it's cheaper than many of the other spas in town. Andy and I dropped in before christmas for a massage -- a great way to relax before the craziness of christmas!

Jammin'

Back when we bought our breadmaker, one of the features that the annoying salesperson chirped out to us was the jam setting. At the time, I was irritated and just wanted a moment without someone in my face to decide about the purchase, so I brushed it off as something I wouldn't need.

Flash forward 18 months when I was trying to think of handmade christmas presents I could give to people this year. I thought of all the tropical fruit we have at this time of year and wondered if you could make mango jam. A quick google indicated that you can, and then I had a lightbulb moment when I remembered the jam setting. That sealed the deal -- we were making jam for christmas presents.

We got packets of fruit pectin that make jam from 1.5 kilos of fruit, but that was too much for the bread pan. So first, we mixed 1 kilo of chopped mangoes with 500 grams of chopped pineapple, a kilo of raw sugar, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a packet of pectin.

Then we cooked the jam in two batches. The bread maker stirs for 5 minutes.
Then it cooks for an hour.
I stirred with a wooden spoon every five or ten minutes, and then simply poured into sterilised jars.

To seal, I used these plastic covers.
The idea of boiling jars kind of scares me, and these were really simple to use.
Then we made labels for our "Pango Jam".
Of course, 1.5 kilos of fruit makes a lot of jam.
So we had extras leftover for our own use. Anyways, we had to check for quality before we give it away, right? It's good on bread.

It's good on english muffins.

So good Andy couldn't wait to get to the table before he started eating.

How Nacho beats the heat.

By laying in a very ungraceful and shameless manner on the tiles or in the garage.

Salad Days

The day after I got back from Sydney, Andy got back from his field trip, so the past week has been spent lounging at home, running errands around town, but mostly taking a holiday from uni. But it's also been a bit hot (especially compared to Sydney). And, given that Andy has spent the last two months eating food that gets shipped to the island on a barge, fresh veggies have been a big part of our recent menu.

First up, a pile of salad featuring lettuce, basil, tomato, cucumber, and lightly sauteed carrots, onion and zucchini, topped with a Fry's vegan chicken schnitzel. The dressing on the salad was my favourite sunflower butter and miso combination, and it was so morish. Served with a giant piece of bruschetta, this was a light but very filling and satisfying dinner.

We love mexican-inspired food, so even though it isn't authentic, this Mexican-ish salad was super yummy. Lettuce, the crunchy bits from a wombok, some spinach from the garden, capsicum, lightly sauteed carrots, zucchini and onion, topped with a spicy and tomatoey refried beans and a fried green tomato salsa. Yum!

And finally, Asian Cole Slaw--wombok, grated carrot and grated sweet potato with a sesame oil and five spice dressing. Served with broccoli with peanut sauce, and Andy's invention of rice croquettes. This whole dinner was delicious.

Vegan Chicken

I often don't bother looking too closely at the freezer section in the grocery store, because the vegan pickings are slim and I try to avoid (expensive) packaged food products. But the other week I was at Woolworth's in Hermit Park and they carry several products I've heard mention of from Aussie city bloggers. Fry's veggie burgers, Syndian veggie burgers, a Fry's cottage pie, and chicken schnitzels. I wanted to buy them all but showed some restraint and decided on the schnitzels.

They are really easy to make, and totally awesome. Much less oily than Sanitarium Not Burgers. Went well with my baked sweet potato + sunflower butter.

Hermit Park Woolie's also carries tofutti cream cheese, so even though it's a bit further away, I may have to bike up there for groceries every few weeks!

Sydney

One of the things I love about being in academia is taking advantage of conferences to explore new places. Last week I headed to Sydney for an anthropology conference, and while I'd spent a few days in Sydney before, it still felt like a very unfamiliar city. So, we (a few other postgrads from my uni and I) planned our trip to give us a few extra days to look around.

Monday afternoon we were met at the airport by the generous and amazingly friendly Mandee of Cupcake Kitteh. She dropped us off at our fantastic accommodation in Kirribilli, on the north side of Sydney Harbour. After dumping off our stuff, we took a quick stroll through the neighbourhood and got about ten metres before being greeted with this view.

That evening we headed back out with Mandee to Basil Pizza in Newtown for some vegan feasting. We were joined by a few other Sydney vegans, a Vegan Freak Forum friend from Wollongong, and one my friends from Townsville. The table was full of pizza (and a pasta dish), all of it vegan. It was a glorious sight. I got the potato and rosemary pizza, with cheezley. It was fantastic. (Mandee's photo.)

Tuesday morning we took full advantage of free breakfast at the hotel, sitting in the garden and filling up on toast, baked beans, cereal and tea.

Then we took the ferry across the harbour to Circular Quay...

From there we wandered up through the city, looking in shops and just being in a city. Mid-morning we stopped for bubble tea, black tapioca pearls in the bottom of a mango-green tea.

It was very refreshing, as were the views in Town Hall Square where we stopped.

After a bit more shopping I met up with Andy's brother for lunch, a gigantic roasted veggie sandwich which we ate in Hyde Park surrounded by birds and business people. Tuesday afternoon was a bit of a disappointment. I met back up with my JCU friends for a trip out to Jura Books in Petersham, an anarchist collective/book shop. When we got out there, it was closed--despite the sign indicating we were there at the right time. We looked longingly through the windows at all of the anti-capitalist and animal rights books, but instead retired to a nearby pub for consolation. Tuesday night was a very interesting lecture, followed by dinner at an Indian place and then a long wait for the ferry home. At least the harbour is pretty at night.

The next three days were dominated by the conference, out at Macquarie Uni and a bit far from good vegan restaurants. But for me, part of the novelty of being in a city is being able to easily find vegan (or veganisable) items in a standard restaurant. I got noodles, falafels, roasted veggie salads, and soups. And the conference dinner started with a really tasty roast veggie stack, was followed with a weird but yummy (though a bit salty) mushroom rissole-type thing with mango chutney, and ended with a boring but good enough fruit plate. But to be honest, I didn't go to the conference for the food -- the papers were mostly really interesting, I caught up with some friends, met lots of new people and did some proper networking with hopefully future employers.

Saturday was my last day in the city, but rather than scheduling an early morning flight I left plenty of room to get brunch. It was back out to Newtown with Mandee to Naked Espresso with another bunch of Sydney vegans. (Mandee's photo)

I got the hot chocolate to start, which was literally melted dark choc and Bonsoy milk. So rich, and so good. (Mandee's photo, because I was slack with my camera.)

I followed it up with the Aussie Vegan Feast-- baked beans, sour dough toast, roasted pumpkin, grilled tomato, spinach, smoked tofu and mushrooms. I managed to eat nearly all of it, and it was amazing. (See Mandee's post for a full recap of both brunch and pizza.)

I also got a takeaway pie to eat on the plane. I went with Primal Pie's mad mushroom flavour, and it was the yummiest pie I've eaten (not a hard competition, since I've only ever gotten one takeaway pie before this, from Ykillamoocow in Brisbane). The filling with chunky and had a great texture, with a deliciously spiced gravy. The pie made the flights bearable, as did being bumped up to premium economy for both flights. But I was definitely very happy to get home!

Thanksgiving?

Since moving to Australia, one of the things I have definitely not missed is Thanksgiving. To be honest, I was never a huge fan of the holiday, even before going vegetarian. I know that the meanings behind the holiday are nice, and giving thanks for people we appreciate is something that we all need to do more often. But the idea of celebrating overeating, when so many people in the world--and even in America--go hungry, just never really felt right. I blame the sociologist in me: I can't do anything without critiquing it. (Ask Andy. When we were just starting to get together I couldn't even watch Shrek 2 without a racial analysis of the characters.)

My lack of love for the holiday, coupled with being home alone, meant that not celebrating was a no-brainer.

But... in my lazy week which involved not much time at uni, I watched a few episodes of the show Pushing Daisies, which I kind of love. If you haven't seen it, you should. I won't rehash the plot here, but the main character is a pie-maker and a lot of the story takes place in his pie shop. All of the pies in the show gave me a serious craving for pie. And, reading all the blog posts and facebook updates about Thanksgiving from my US friends confirmed that the pie I was craving was pumpkin.

Townsville is currently too hot for successful pastry-making. The ingredients can't stay cold for long enough to make a good crust. So instead, I made a half-batch of oatmeal-raisin cookie dough, and pressed that into the bottom of a springform pan. On top, I poured my pumpkin pie mixture, then popped it all in the oven for an hour.

The result was delicious (especially with a bit of chocolate ice cream), and something I will definitely be doing again in future.

Asian grocery goodness...

On Monday, I typed the final paragraphs into my conclusion chapter, leaving me with .... a complete first draft. It was like a beacon of light shone down on me, and a chorus was singing in the distance. In the life of a PhD student, a complete draft is A Big Deal. I've spent just under three years so far working on this, first researching my face off and then writing for months on end. Now my drafts are up with my supervisors, which means a short reprieve before revisions start with a vengeance. There's plenty of work I could do in the meantime, but I basked in the moment and took both Tuesday and Friday off from uni.

So on Tuesday, I headed up to the Asian grocery shop, something I've been meaning to do for weeks, and stocked up on some supplies.

I often complain that in Townsville we lack many of the luxurious ingredients that city dwellers and North Americans take advantage of without a second thought. Things like more than one brand of store-bought veggie burger, vegan cheese, and vegan restaurant food. But for all my complaining, my basic needs are met -- the Asian grocery store carries lots of vegan staple foods.

My recent trip saw me purchase about 7 kilos of food, which made riding home a bit arduous but totally worth it.

I got: sesame seeds, azuki beans, tapioca pearls, dried shiitake mushrooms, miso paste, cannellini beans, ground cumin, loose leaf green tea, sumac, chickpea flour, gluten flour, and stinky tofu. Of the products which are available in the mainstream grocery stores, these are much cheaper -- because the Asian grocers buy in bulk and pack most things themselves. They have tons of spices and dried herbs, rice of all varieties, beans, nuts, seeds, tinned mock meat, and noodles galore. They've also got a fair bit of fresh produce, including lots of fruit and veg that you can't get in the supermarket. In short, I love it there.

The other thing I bought on Tuesday which had made it to the fridge by picture-time was a block of fresh tempeh. At $5.50 a cake, it ain't cheap, but it's approximately 12,403 times better than the tempeh we can get in the supermarket.

For me, tempeh and peanut sauce were made for each other, so I stir-fried my tempeh with broccoli and carrots and smothered everything in a curried peanut sauce.

The fresh tempeh was firm and textured, with a deep, almost mushroom-y flavour. Served with bulgur, this was a great post-yoga meal because it was so ridiculously quick to throw together.

Note to Townsvillains - I shop at the Asian grocery store in Aitkenvale. I've been to the Hermit Park shop once and wasn't super impressed, and since I'm a creature of habit I'm happy to stick with the one I know and love.

Another use for eggplant.

One of the great features of Urban Vegan's new cookbook is the Italian recipes. They are quick, full of fresh ingredients, and fairly simple to put together, letting fresh herbs and good olive oil shine as flavours.

You can check out my other attempts at UV's recipes here, but take a look at this yummy spaghetti dish. Spaghetti alle Melanzane translates as 'spaghetti with eggplant', and the simpleness of the title belies how delicious the meal is.

The flavour comes mostly from cooking the eggplant for a ridiculously long time before adding the rest of the ingredients. Although this was on the stove for nearly an hour, it was an hour I spent mostly out of the kitchen, returning every few minutes for a stir.

If you haven't got this cookbook yet, well, what are you waiting for?

Sydney...

Hey, Aussie vegans, I'll be spending a week in Sydney in December, and I have a grant to pay for my food - yippee! So, I'm looking for restaurant suggestions. My accommodation is in Kirribilli, and I'll be spending most of my daytimes at Macquarie University. Aside from the conference dinner, there are no meals included with the conference, so if you have any recommendations I would love to hear them!

Also, is anyone interested in a meet-up of some kind? Perhaps for a Saturday morning brunch that I have drooled over on so many other blogs, before I fly back to Townsville?

Soup Weather

It's pretty much summer again here in Townsville, which means gorgeous blue skies, a bit more humidity and 30+ temperatures--which I love. But in the past few weeks we have had several 'unseasonably cool' days, some with rain. I realise that my perceptions of cold days are what others would consider balmy, but a high of 26 during the day is my idea of soup weather. Or at least, I realised it's the closest I'll get to soup weather for several months, so I may as well take advantage of it.

Soup weather + spring vegetables coming from the southern states = Potato-Asparagus Soup, from Vegan with a Vengeance.

This is a really satisfying recipe. It's thick and rich, but without any soy or even much fat. The creaminess comes from a potato, which gets blended. And the flavour comes almost solely from two very delious ingredients: asparagus (from Victoria) and dill (from my garden).

I think I was even wearing sweatpants while I made this.

Ice Queen.

That was the not-so-endearing nickname given to me in high school by a group of girls who wanted to date my boyfriend. The relationship didn't last longer than a year, but these days I'm embracing the name. Let me explain.

Regular readers of this blog probably know that I am, shall we say, frugal. I am also comfortable describing myself as a tight-ass, a miser, a penny-pincher, etc. I have a hard time buying things that are not on special, and those reduced-to-clear stickers on grocery store shelves set my heart aflutter.

But this kind of lifestyle has the potential to stifle a diet full of variety. When your grocery focus is on sale items, you end up with a glut of one or two things for a few weeks, and then you wave goodbye to that item until it is in season again. Part of eating cheaply and locally is getting used to that. But, there is a partial remedy--become an Ice Queen (or, king).

It is amazing what you can get away with freezing for later. Yesterday I saw broccoli for $3 a kilo, so I got four heads and chopped them up, popped them in a plastic bag and stuck them straight into the freezer. I regularly freeze baked goods, and you can't keep bread for more than two days here without freezing it--the humidity means it goes mouldy very quickly. Vegetable stock, pumpkin (cooked and raw), capsicums, fruit, bread crumbs, minced herbs, beans--all are stored in our freezer.

I recently experimented with lemons, which we got 6-for-$1 from the markets. I know you can freeze the juice for later use, but I was curious about the zest. Before juicing, I zested all the lemons and filled up a few jars, and yesterday I used some of the frozen zest with good results. Now there's no need to ever leave fresh zest out of recipes.

Life would be much easier if we had a big chest freezer, but since we rent a small unit, we are confined to our little top freezer, but with a bit of planning it's amazing what you can squeeze in.
My freezer a year ago-- ice cream, tater tots, roasted pumpkin, fresh noodles, minced coriander, chopped broccoli, seitan, broadbeans, pressure-cooked beans, tofu, puff pastry, chopped spinach, diced carrots, coffee, pizza dough, bread rolls, and green peas.


My freezer this year -- bananas, ice cream green peas, raw pumpkin, capsicum, leftover chilli, leftover baked beans, jars of beans, lemon juice and zest, muffins, puff pastry, and a space for a loaf of bread.

A few tips:

Before you freeze, prepare everything. Chop vegetables, peel bananas, slice bread, etc. In terms of packing, there are two options. One is to wrap things in single-use sizes, for instance freezing lemon juice in ice cube trays or keeping chopped veggies in sandwich bags. The other is to put them into one big bag and take out a little bit as you need it. To do this successfully, close the bag off loosely for the first few hours, so that your veggies or baked goods don't freeze into one big clump. For things like stock, beans, hummus, pesto and bread crumbs, use empty jam jars--just make sure to leave a bit of space for liquids to expand as they freeze. Try not to leave anything for longer than three months, so you're eating it fresh and also to make room for your next batch of freezer items.

So embrace your inner Ice Queen and enjoy good-as-fresh, homemade food even when it's not exactly in season.

Polenta Pie

This dinner is a few weeks old, but I really liked the way it looked so I'm posting regardless of my failed timeliness.

About two months ago, Andy or I made a pumpkin pasta that was fairly meh. It didn't taste bad, just... meh. Instead of trying to suffer through leftovers straightaway, we put a tupperware in the freezer to revisit at a later date.

When that later date came around, Andy was struck by a lightning bolt of creativity and took over the reincarnation of the pumpkin pasta. He cooked up a batch of polenta, spreading most into a pie pan, thus making a thick crust. In went the pasta, all pumpkin-y and punctuated by broccoli and chickpeas. On top, he crumbled the remaining polenta, which had set too much to spread as a proper crust. That looked fairly good, but he upped the ante with sauce swirls and olives.

This all went into the oven, and a little while later we chowed down on a much prettier version of a pumpkin pasta fail. The result was marginally better than the first time, in my opinion, though Andy quite liked it. I loved the top part, where the pasta met the olives and sauce. But I am not really a fan of polenta. Still, I am a fan of having beautiful dinners created for me, so I'm not complaining!

Bananas, part two.

Continuing on from my last post, I have the final installment of my fresh bananas. There are still a bunch in the freezer, but I will use those up a bit more gradually.

For a vegan picnic in the park (which was lovely and full of loads of delicious desserts), I made a batch of Banana Split Pudding Brownies from Vegan with a Vengeance. These were really good, the sweet banana topping offset the rich chocolate layer. As I cut these, I worried they might be too cakey, but when I bit in I found that my fears were unfounded. These were thick and densely fudgey, and the batter was delicious.

And finally, I cut into my Banana-Peanut Butter Pie. This is strikingly similar to the recipe from Vegan Planet for Banana-Swirl Cheesecake, but I have changed it up a bit so I will post here. It is ridiculously easy, but it had a few omni friends raving.

Banana Peanut Butter Pie

1 package vegan gingernut biscuits
5-6 Tablespoons vegan margarine
2 x 300 gram packs of silken firm tofu
8 ripe lady finger bananas (roughly 4 large)
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 T. sugar
handful vegan chocolate chips

Heat oven to 180 (350f). Crush biscuits with a mortar and pestle, or a food processor, until they are fine crumbs. Using your hands, mix in margarine until all the crumbs are incorporated. Press this mix into a lightly oiled springform pan, using your hands and the bottom of a cup to pack it down, and up the sides.

In a medium bowl, blend bananas with one pack of silken tofu until smooth.

In another medium bowl, blend peanut butter, sugar, and one pack of silken tofu until smooth.

Bake empty crust for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, pour in banana mixture. Next, pour in peanut butter mixture, spreading evenly across the top. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Return to oven, bake for 45 minutes. Pie should no longer be wobbly. Turn oven off and leave pie in the hot oven for 30 more minutes, then remove and cool fully.
This isn't even that bad for you. There is almost no added sugar, lots of healthy tofu, and loads of fruit. So eat without guilt!