Liebster Blog Award

I got an award!  I feel so loved.  Thank you for giving me this award Stuff About Stuff!  What a wonderful person.  If you're interested in vegan food and especially vegan parenting check out her awesome posts.

“Liebster” is German and means ‘dearest’ or ‘beloved’.

The idea behind this award is to bring attention to bloggers who have less than 200 followers and show your support during VeganMofo!

The rules of winning this award are as follows:

1. Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal 5 of your top picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog. 
4. Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the internet!

My top picks:

1. The Compassionate Cook
2. Hobby and More
3. Christine eats gluten free and vegan 
4. OMGosh I'M VEGAN
5. Vegan4Life

I'll admit to not knowing how many followers some of these blogs had, so I went by the number of comments on their posts :).  If you're interested in vegan food or animal rights at all, do give them a squizz and a follow.

Six Simple Sexy Smoothies

So in a bid to get healthier, I have decided to ditch vegemite toast as my breakfast of choice and replace it with a smoothie.  As I hardly ever touch fruit, this will help to make sure I get some decent vitamins in my system too.

Peach and Apple
*1 apple, peeled and chopped     $0.90  (I used Granny Smith)
*8 pieces tinned sliced peaches  $1.15  (or 1 peach, peeled and sliced)
*1 tbsp maple syrup
*3/4 glass of soymilk                  $0.65

Total:  $2.70
Source - veganised

Peach and Banana
*8 pieces tinned sliced peaches  $1.15 (or 1 peach, peeled and sliced)
*1 banana, sliced                        $1.98
*3/4 glass of soymilk                 $0.65

Total:  $3.78

Apple and Strawberry
*2 apples, peeled and chopped   $1.24  (I used Pink Lady)
*125grams fresh strawberries     $1.24 (half punnet from Coles) 

Total: $2.48
Source

Strawberry, Apple and Orange
*2 oranges, juiced                       $1.22
*125grams fresh strawberries     $1.24 (half punnet from Coles)
*1 apple, peeled and chopped     $0.62  (I used Pink Lady)

Total: $3.08

Apple, Ice and Orange
*1 apple, peeled and chopped $0.62
*1 orange, juiced                     $0.61
*10 ice cubes


Total: $1.23

Banana and Strawberry
*2 bananas                        $3.45
*1/2 punnet strawberries  $1.24
*1/2 glass non-dairy milk $0.65

Total: $5.34

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Breaded Tofu

Inspired by a photo that Sarah posted on her facebook page, I checked out her recipe for breaded tofu.  And then I made some and I REGRET NOTHING!  Seriously, delicious.

Ingredients:
*1 block tofu (500gm)
*1/4 cup flour
*2 tsp paprika
*1/2 tsp chili powder
*1 tsp each garlic powder, turmeric and ginger powder
*pinch each salt and pepper

Method:
1. Put all ingredients except tofu in container.  Shake.
2.  Cube tofu, put in container.  Shake.
3.  Either bake at 180C in oven or fry in frypan til brown.

Note:  I ended up with a lot of leftover breading stuff, so maybe halve it :).

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Charity Event - Kisschasy, Movie and Animals Australia

Sunday afternoon and night, I spent my time volunteering for the wonderful organisation Animals Australia.

The event is sponsored by Ben and Jerry's unfortunately so it's not a vegan friendly event by any means (although a representative told us about how they have won awards for their practices).  However, Kisschasy, the headlining band, got to choose the charity that money would be raised for and they chose Animals Australia, which I think is pretty damn awesome of them.

Janelle brought along some rad vegan cupcakes that she invented the recipe for (hopefully she shares it!).

The other bands that played on the night were Hungry Kids of Hungary and Glass Towers.  There was also an awesome movie, Life in a Day that was played, the trailer for which is below.  Unfortunately I left after being there from 4-7 so I didn't get to see it :(.

All in all, the day was pretty chilled.  We sold a few badges, but most people were there for the music, not to talk to us about animals.  Hopefully the event helped to raise some money for Animals Australia so that they can continue to do an awesome job!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:
*16 large mushrooms
*1 onion, diced
*2 tomatoes, diced
*1/3 cup breadcrumbs
*2 tsp garlic
*1 tsp parsley
*1 tsp paprika
*salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Remove stems from mushrooms and chop.
3.  Chop the onion and fry together with mushroom stems.
4.  Mix together with spices, breadcrumbs, tomatoes and herbs in a bowl.
5.  Spoon into mushroom cups.
6.  Roast in oven for 15-20 minutes or until mushrooms look cooked.

 I definitely will have to try making stuffed tomatoes next time!  Mmmmm.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Pizza - Mushroom and Spinach

Pizza.  Delicious and easy and meal of champions.  So versatile and open to anything new.  Here is my plain old boring contribution to the pizza world :p.

Ingredients:
*9 mushrooms, sliced                     $2.00
*9 cherry tomatoes, halved             $1.24
*half an onion, diced                      $0.16
*handful of fresh spinach leaves    $0.50
*pizza base/pocket bread                $0.62     ($2.14 for gluten free, depends on brand)
*BBQ sauce
*garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Fry up onion and mushrooms.
3.  Put base on alfoil on tray.
4.  Put BBQ sauce on base, then layer toppings as desired; I went spinach leaves, mushroom and onion, tomatoes.
5.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until spinach leaves are sufficiently wilted.

Total: $4.52 ($6.04 for gluten free).  I eat the whole pizza, every time hehe.

Variations: Use three cut up veggie dogs, some capsicum, pumpkin, grated carrot and/or Toffuti cream cheese.  Even try different sauces :).

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Eggplant and Tomato Casserole

I've never made a casserole before. Yes, I know, I lead a sheltered life haha. I found this recipe for an eggplant and tomato casserole over at This Vegan House thanks to Randomofo.

The dish that I used was a bit big so it ended up being a bit shallow. Unfortunately I don't have any no-egg or nutritional yeast so I made do with what I had and it still tasted delicious.

Below I have copied the recipe with my alterations and the costs of ingredients.

Ingredients:

*1 large eggplant, peeled, cubed $1.49

*500g tofu, cubed                       $5.23

*2/3 cup gf breadcrumbs            $1.50

*1/2 onion, finely chopped         $0.27

*3 tomatoes, sliced                     $1.14

*salt, pepper
*1 clove garlic, crushed

*2 tsp oregano

*1 tsp chili powder

*1 tsp dill

*1 flax egg (1 tbsp flaxseed meal + 2tbsp water)

Add any other herbs or spices you want.

Method:

1. Bring eggplant and tofu to boil in salted water, simmer until eggplant is soft.

2. Mix breadcrumbs, onion, herbs and spices together.

3. Make the flaxseed egg.

4. Drain and mash eggplant and tofu when finished, mix everything together except tomatoes.

5. Layer tomatoes on bottom of dish, place mix on top, layer top with more tomatoes.

6. Bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Makes: 6 serves

Total: $9.63 or $1.60 per serve.

Calories:  1134 or 189 per serve

Protein:  81.1g or 13.5g per serve

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Cauliflower & Tofu Curry

Well this was my first time trying to make a curry.  I think that next time I'll ditch the tofu and add some coconut milk to thicken the sauce so it seeps all through everything...  Mmmm...  Below is the recipe I used from various recipes on the net to make this.  Let me know what you think it needs or point me in the right direction for curries as I love the curries I buy from Vege Rama!

Ingredients:
*1 onion, chopped               $0.35
*3tbsp ginger and garlic    
*500g frozen cauliflower    $2.66
*1 can chickpeas                 $1.00
*2 tsp garam masala
*1 tsp turmeric
*1 tsp chili powder
*1/2 cup water
*500g tofu, diced               $5.02
*1 tbsp lemon juice
*1 cup of rice                     $0.70
*pepper

**Take cauliflower out to defrost before you start this!**

Method:
1.  Put rice on to cook. 
2.  Fry onion and tofu in a bit of oil and the spices (if you didn't defrost the cauliflower, chuck it in now).
3.  Add cauliflower, water, chickpeas and lemon juice.  Let simmer to ensure flavours get in to the tofu.
4.  Serve with the rice.

Total: $9.73 or $2.44 per serve (makes about 4 serves).

I tweaked this recipe as I like things to be simple and it didn't have enough of a punch for me.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Restaurant - Vege Rama

After lounging around drawing on my friend while he was on the phone, then seeing him off to work, it was time for lunch.

I don't normally eat out as I'm trying to live off about $70 a week for food, transport and any other miscellaneous things that might crop up, but I had failed to pack myself a lunch so could not resist the siren call of vegan curry.

Brown rice with white chickpeas curry - $7.00 – And yes, I ate it all.

Vege Rama is located in the food court of the Myer Centre at Queen Street Mall in Brisbane. They serve all vegetarian food, with vegan and gluten free options available. There are pizzas, cakes, salads, curries and snack foods.

The staff is always friendly and you can ask them if you're not sure about the food that is available. I come here often and always love it.

Chocanana Muffins

My mum used to make me chocanana muffins all the time and would freeze them to be taken to school as a snack.  Here they are, veganised!

Ingredients:
*1 packet chocolate chips         $3.21  (I used Sweet Williams)
*4 medium bananas, mashed   $7.92
*1/2 cup vegetable oil              $0.58
*1/2 cup raw sugar                   $0.10
*1 cup SR whole wheat flour  $0.11
*1.5 cups SR flour                   $0.17
*1 tsp cinammon


Method:
1.  Mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork.
2.  Mix all ingredients together.
3.  Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes.

Makes:  6 muffins.

Total:  $12.09 or ~$2.01 per muffin.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:
*1 cup brown rice, cooked
*1 cup frozen peas and corn
*10  mushrooms, sliced
*soy sauce
*chili powder
*2 cloves garlic
*ginger
*pepper
*1/2 packet of tofu, crumbled
*1 onion, chopped

Method:
1.  Cook the rice in a pot.
2.  Fry up onion, tofu, mushroom, spices, soy sauce and frozen peas and corn.
3.  Mix rice and vegetables together and serve.

Makes:  4-6 serves.

Variations:  Add carrots or marinated tofu cubes.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Strawberry Cupcakes

I had a lot of strawberries left from smoothie making (turns out I'm not that keen on strawberries) so I decided to fiddle with the blueberry cupcakes recipe and see if I could make some yummy strawberry cupcakes.

Ingredients:
*1/2 cup raw sugar         $0.10
*1 tsp salt
*2 tsp vanilla
*1 tsp cinnamon
*1/4 cup veg oil              $0.29
*3/4 cup dairy-free milk $0.36
*1.5 cups of SR flour      $0.17
*1 punnet strawberries    $2.00 (on special)

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 190C.
2.  Blend strawberries.  I used a stick blender and a large container.  Don't worry if there are some chunks.
3.  Mix all ingredients together.
4.  Bake for 20-25 minutes (check with a skewer).

Makes:  6 muffins or 12 cupcakes.
 
Total: $2.92.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Roasted Chickpeas

I've been wanting to try this for a little while and I finally had the opportunity when I had some friends over for movies and was making cookies.

Photo by Mimi's Photography

Ingredients:
*1 can chickpeas    $1.00
*2 tbsp oil
*1 tsp paprika
*1/2 tsp ginger
*1 tsp mild curry powder
 
Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 170C.
2.  Create spice mix.
3.  Rinse and drain chickpeas, coat in spice mix (I put it all in a bowl).
4.  Place on a tray and bake for 40-60 minutes, or until hard and crunchy (good excuse to snack while waiting).

Total:  $1.00.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Pancake Perfection

Whenever my friend is over, I make them pancakes in the morning.  They're really easy and simple and I think you'd probably be able to add various fruits to it if you wanted, to mix it up.  Bluberries or bananas would be delicious!

Ingredients:
*1/4 cup self raising flour   $0.03
*1/4 cup soy milk               $0.12  (use a different milk for soy-free)
*pinch of salt
*dash of vegetable oil
*dash of raw sugar                 (I always put in a lot extra for my friend haha)

Method:
1.  Preheat a pan to medium heat.
2.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a fork.
3.  Pour mix into pan.  Wait for bubbles to form, then flip over.

Makes:  One medium pancake.

Total:  $0.15.

Ideas:  Serve with lemon and raw sugar, jam, fresh fruit or maple syrup.

 

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Mushroom & TVP Pie

I was missing the pies that they normally have for sale at my university's co-op so figured, why not make my own? Inspired by this recipe by Like A Vegan, I made myself a mushroom and TVP pie.

I have copied the recipe below with the changes that I made and prices.

Ingredients:
*200g TVP                               $2.90
*2 cubes Massell's beef stock  $0.40
*1.5 tbsp of Massell's gravy    $0.35
*1 onion, finely chopped         $0.54
*300g mushrooms, chopped    $3.15
*2 sheets puff pastry                $1.43
*1/2 cup bbq sauce                  $0.81
*1 clove garlic, minced
*2tsp chili powder
*2 tbsp parsley
*1 tbsp thyme
*1 tbsp dill
*1 tbsp ginger
*salt and pepper

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 220C.
2.  Fry up mushroom, onion and garlic.
3.  Prepare TVP as per instructions, add the beef stock.
4.  Prepare the gravy as per instructions.
5.  Add TVP, gravy and bbq sauce to mushroom mix.  Add spices, heat through.
6.  Place pastry in dish, fill with mix, cover with more pastry.
7.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until pastry is golden brown.


Makes:  Two smaller pies, or about 6 serves.

Total:  $9.58 or $1.60 per serve.

My omni friend absolutely loved this and it's very easy to make.  Give it a go!

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

This was the first quiche that I have made since going vegan nearly two years ago.  I think that next time I'd use puff pastry and stick it in the oven for 10 minutes before putting the filling in as this pastry wasn't the best.  I think I may have overcooked it though - I don't yet have the hang of gluten free.  I think next time I'd also maybe add some nutritional yeast and a bit more flavouring.

Ingredients:
Filling
*1 onion, chopped                         $0.54
*15 (or so) mushrooms, chopped  $3.15
*100g fresh spinach, chopped       $2.50
*4 tsp ground garlic
*2 tsp basil
*1/2 tsp thyme
*1 block firm tofu (500g)             $5.02
*1 tsp turmeric
*1 tbsp lemon
*2 tbsp water
*salt and pepper to taste

Crust
(you could just use a sheet of frozen puff pastry instead - $0.72)
*1.5 cups Orgran plain flour    $1.30      (normal flour - $0.17)
*pinch of salt
*1/2 cup Nuttelex                    $0.86
*water

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Make the crust by mixing all ingredients except the water together. 
3.  Add water slowly until it has a dough consistency.  Roll out and place in quiche dish.
4.  Fry up mushroom and onion.
5.  Wilt spinach in some hot water on the stove.
6.  Crumble tofu into a blender (or large container and use a stick blender like me), add water, lemon and spices.
7.  Mix it all together and put in the crust.
8.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until firm.

I got the crust recipe from here.

Total: $10.87 for gluten free.
           $9.74 for not gf.
           $8.71 if you use pre-made pastry.

Variations:  Use puff pastry, cut out circles using an egg ring and make mini quiches using a cupcake tin!  My mother used to make me mini quiches when I was younger.  If you have some vegan cheese or nutritional yeast, add that in as well :).

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo taken by Mimi's Photography

Ingredients:
*1/2 cup vegetable oil       $0.58
*2/3 cup raw sugar            $0.13
*3 tbsp water
*1 tsp vanilla
*1 cup Orgran SR flour     $0.87  (Normal SR flour: $0.11)
*3/4 tsp baking soda
*1 packet chocolate chips  $3.21  (I used Sweet Williams)

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another.
3.  Mix together.
4.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until still a bit squishy, they will harden when you take them out.

Makes:  About 16 cookies.

Total:  $4.79 or $0.30 per cookie (gluten free).
            $4.03 or $0.25 per cookie (not gf).

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Blood Orange Cake

My friend brought me a whole bunch of blood oranges, which I had never had before.  So I made a yummy blood orange cake with blood orange glaze using this recipe by Ramblings of a Vegan Man.  My housemates all loved it and ate it in just two days!

I have copied the recipe below with the changes that I have made and the cost of ingredients.

Ingredients:
Cake
*1/3 cup vegetable oil     $0.39
*3 blood orange, juiced   $2.85
*1 cup soymilk                $0.48 (for soy free, use a different vegan milk)
*1 tsp white vinegar
*2 tbs corn flour
*1.5 cups SR flour          $0.16
*3/4 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp baking soda
*1 tsp ground nutmeg
*1/2 tsp cinnamon
*1/2 tsp salt
*3/4 cup + 2 tbs sugar
*2 tsp vanilla
*1/4 tsp almond essence

Glaze
*1 blood orange, juiced $0.95
*3/4 cup icing sugar      $0.45

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Combine milk, vinegar and corn flour.
3.  Mix blood orange juice, oil, flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, almond essence and salt together in a bowl.
4.  Add milk mixture.
5.  Pour into pan or cake tin, bake for 25-30 minutes.
6.  Mix glaze ingredients together to put on cake when cool. 

Total:  $5.28.

Eight more blood oranges to use...  What should I make next?

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Apple Pie

I've only ever had apple pie once before in my life and I was at a friend's place over two years ago.  This time, I made a vegan version and it smells sooo good!  You can't really go wrong with apples, cinnamon and nutmeg.  I think though that I should have used plain flour instead of self-raising, as the pastry puffed up *quite* a lot.  The apples didn't go as soft as I would have liked either so I may heat them in a pan first for a little bit before adding them to the pie.

Ingredients:
Pastry
*2 cups of plain flour      $0.22 (Orgran gf flour $1.74)
*2/3 cup of vegan butter $1.14
*pinch of salt
*4-6 tbsp of water

Filling
*5 apples, chopped      $4.40
*1 tsp lemon juice
*1 tsp cinnamon
*1/2 cup raw sugar     $0.10
*1/2 tsp nutmeg
*pinch of salt

Method:
1.  Mix all pastry ingredients together to form a dough.  Refridgerate for an hour.
2.  Peel and chop the apples up.  Mix with all other filling ingredients in a bowl.
3.  Heat the oven to 180C. 
4.  Use half the dough to make a base in your container.  Heat for 10 minutes.
5.  Put filling in.  Cut rest of dough into strips to decorate.
6.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, until pastry is brown and apples are soft.

Makes:  About 6 serves.

Total:  $5.86 or $0.98 per serve.
            $7.38 or $1.23 per serve.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Spring Rolls

Ingredients:
The rolls
*1/2 onion, finely chopped    $0.16
*6 mushrooms, chopped        $1.26
*1 shredded carrot                 $0.34
*10 rice paper wrappers         $1.20 (I used 16cm)
*1/2 cup sprouts                     $0.60
*1 shredded zucchini             $1.36
*1 tsp salt and pepper
*1 tbsp each ginger and soy sauce

The sauce
*1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
*2 tbsp lemon juice
*2tsp garlic
*1 tbsp soy sauce
*hot water

Method:
1.  Fry up the onion and mushroom.
2.  Prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Mix all together in a bowl.
3.  Prepare rice paper wraps as per instructions on packet.
4.  Spoon filling into middle and wrap.
5.  Mix the sauce ingredients together except water.  Add water slowly until the desired consistency is reached.

Makes:  About ten.

Total: $4.92 or $0.50 each (not including the sauce).

Variations:  You can put just about any vegetable you like in this, feel free to experiment! 

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.