World Egg (Free) Day

Today I found out, thanks to Animals Australia Unleashed, that the egg industry plans to celebrate eggs by having a World Egg Day on Friday.  I'd like to know what exactly they think they are celebrating. 

The confinement of 11 million battery hens?

Or maybe the deaths of 12 million unwanted male chicks?

So this Friday, instead of celebrating World Egg Day, celebrate World Egg-Free Day and share some awesome cupcakes with your friends!  Check out some of my recipes or VegWeb.

Interested in helping out the chickens some more?  Why not adopt a battery hen?

Carrot and Orange Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Blueberry Cupcakes

Strawberry Cupcakes

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.

Moving House

Moving house can be a real pain.  Not for me though!  Most of the stuff I own is actually my craft materials and plushies!

This is what a suitcase full of felt looks like!

I'm almost all packed and hoping the move will go smoothly.  I'm just lucky to be sticking with my housemates; they're really good people :).

Here's hoping a new environment brings new ideas with it!

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.

Animals Australia

I donate 10% of my sales through Kommoner to charity and have mini bake sales at the Suitcase Rummage (although I usually end up giving the last of the vegan cupcakes away for free).  When I have the time and money, I run auctions and fundraising events too.  I believe that making a difference starts with yourself.  In a year, I have raised over $2,500 for various charities :).

Last month, I asked people which charity they preferred and the winner was Animals Australia.  So far I have raised $20.75.

This is how pigs are 'factory farmed' in Australia.

Animals Australia is most well known for their campaigns against live export, sow stalls and factory farming.  They are a relatively new organisation however they are having a big impact in helping to raise awareness about non-human animal rights issues and environmental issues.

Where do your eggs come from?

I first found out about them when I was searching for places to discuss vegetarianism, back in 2009.  I met a lot of awesome people on the Unleashed forums, who I now interact with through facebook.

I have helped out at Animals Australia stalls at Green Earth Day and Soundwave and have had a lot of fun (asides from the one guy at Soundwave who wanted to discuss the 'purpose' of non-human animals with me).

I am glad to be helping out such an awesome organisation this month!  Do you do anything like this?  Let me know!  I love hearing inspiring stories and knowing that I'm not alone.  I'm also trying to decide on which charity to donate to permanently so if you have any tips on how to make a decision, let me know haha.

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?

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Creator Profile - Sailor Mouth Soaps

I recently got to interview the awesome brains behind the all-vegan and all-awesome Sailor Mouth Soaps.   I absolutely love her creative, colourful and sometimes creepy soaps.  Read on to learn more about this amazing person!
 

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Aliya and I'm the woman behind Sailor Mouth Soaps. I live in Brisbane with my fiance, our two dogs, Herman the Pug and Gomez, our rescued mystery dog. I also foster dogs through Animal Rescue QLD and help find them a forever home. I'm a huge Sci-Fi nut, in fact, I have Doctor Who apron that I wear whenever I'm in the soap kitchen! I love to read, go on long nature walks and listen to music while I work. I'm also a huge fan of tv shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Office, Torchwood and other mystery/funny shows.

What do you create?

Soap is my favorite medium. I've dabbled in all sorts of crafts and really enjoyed them but nothing makes me spring out of bed like soap does. If you had have told me 10 years ago that I'd end up being a soap maker, I would have laughed! It sounds so random but it's the most fulfilling thing I've ever done. I love the artistic outlet and practical nature of soap. Having special little soapy treats around the house makes me smile. I'm a big clean freak so making and using soap suits me perfectly.

How long have you been making things?

I've been making soap for over 2 years now but my journey into naturally based skin care started when I was much younger. I used to make my own scrubs, shampoos, cleaners and toners straight from old fashioned recipes and marveled at how many modern skin care treatments were based on ancient wisdom. I've have a deep appreciation for nature and when I found an artistic way to make soap, I jumped at the chance! The first soap I ever made was fairly ugly, it had Calendula petals which are brilliant for your skin but boy, it was an ugly duckling. I don't have any photos of that *cough*.
 

Where do you get your inspiration?

Absolutely everywhere. It can come from music, books, quotes, food, nature, design and fragrances. I've based entire soaps around childhood memories and the scent of wild untamed places.
 

How can people contact you?

You can find me at:

http://www.sailormouthsoaps.com 

www.facebook.com/sailormouthsoaps

www.etsy.com/shop/sailormouthsoaps 

www.madeit.com.au/sailormouthsoaps
www.twitter.com/Sailormouthsoap
www.sailormouthsoaps.blogspot.com

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.

Suitcase Rummage - October

Today was windy!  Apparently the winds hit over 20km/hr at one point...  It was making it very difficult to keep my plushies arranged nicely and I couldn't have my pretty bunting out on display which was a bummer.  The trees were bending crazily too which was a bit scary!

I had chocolate cupcakes out for 'sale' (people could make a donation to Animals Australia in return for a yummy cupcake).  Unfortunately I only got $9.75 for them.  Sometimes I wonder if the word 'vegan' scares people away.  Or maybe I should try carrot cupcakes?

I got to hang out with Ella from Little Lala's Jewellery all day which was awesome, but we both ended up heading home early due to the weather being so cold and terrible.

I also got to talk to Natalie from By Natalie Jane who makes these awesome Scavenger Bags from upcycled materials such as bike tubing and canvas.  Hopefully I'll be able to interview her in the future to add to my creator list.

I also bumped into someone that I had met at a previous Suitcase Rummage who was there with some friends to raise money for their TAFE exhibition, Breaking Heads, which looks awesome.

Also thanks to the lovely lady from 3things who stopped by to say hi and take a Mickie home ^_^.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Photo by Mimi's Photography

Ingredients:
*1.5 cups Orgran self-raising flour  $1.30
*1 cup chunky peanut butter            $1.10
*3/4 cups raw sugar                          $0.19
*1/4 cup vegan butter                       $0.43
*1 tsp vanilla
*1/2 tsp baking powder
*1-2 tbsp oil

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 200C.
2.  Mix all ingredients  together except oil.
3.  Add enough oil to get dough consistency.
4.  Roll into balls, flatten on baking paper on baking tray.
5.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes:  About 16 cookies.

Total:  $3.02 or $0.19 per cookie.

Note:  When I used normal flour, they ended up fine, but with gf flour, they were hard on the bottom and gooey on top.  Still delicious and this could be to do with my oven.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Jam Drops

Photo by Mimi's Photography

Ingredients:
*1/2 cup Nuttelex                     $0.85
*1/3 cup raw sugar                   $0.08
*1 tsp vanilla
*1.25 cups Orgran plain flour  $1.06
*1 tsp baking powder
*2 tsp soy milk^
*1/2 cup strawberry jam          $0.76

^use rice/almond milk to make soy free

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Mix all ingredients together except jam.
3.  Roll into balls and flatten onto cookie tray.
4.  Make dents in the cookies and spoon jam into them.
5.  Bake 15-20 minutes.

Makes: 12 cookies

Total: $2.75, or $0.23 per cookie.

Variations:  Try different types of jam.

 Find out more about Vegan Month of Food.

Jam 'n' Beats

Pretty excited about going to these markets!

There will be music, barefoot bowls, bongo playing, fire twirling...  Lots of awesome stuff!  Click on the picture for a bigger image :).

Creator Profile: Bakker Beyond

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Katie Aakala Bakker.  I'm 35, divorced and a mother of three.  My middle name Aakala is an indigenous word for parrot, I love birds!  I have 3 pink and grey galahs, an alexandrian parrot, a sun conure parrot, an australian ringneck parrot, lots of budgies and 2 weiros. They are my babies!
 

I live in the Chittering Valley in Western Australia on 10 acres, surrounded by bushland and native animals, no neighbours, no traffic, no rush!
 

What do you create?

I create fantasy, fey, realistic and strange creatures and sculptures, wearable art, and functional pieces using polymer clay.
 

How long have you been making things?  What was the first thing you made?

Below is a photo of the first little Fairies I made.  They are air dry clay, which I don't like to use! It's very brittle and I am way too impatient to wait for it to dry. I moved onto polymer clay after these.

I started using polymer clay in February of 2011 and I started the facebook page in April or May 2011, when my Mum and my daughter thought I should try to sell what I was making.  It took off big time! I had so many orders and still do!

"Forest Floor"

  
The page continues to grow, the orders continue to keep coming in, but I have had to start refusing them. I really need time to continue gaining experience and creating whats in my imagination.  I am an artist first and a business woman second. I want to continue to love what I am doing for a very long time :).

Where do you get your inspiration?

I love to create!  This has been my year of knowing I can express myself through my arts and crafts.  I use mostly polymer clay, wire and beading in my work.  I am still very new to this and have a lot to learn.  I create the things I like in my life; animals, nature, myth and fae.  I love colour and love to use it!  This started for me as an escape from my anxiety and depression; art therapy.  I'm not cured but much happier, more centred and balanced.

How can people contact you?

I have a page on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/BakkerBeyond