In My Kitchen - April

For those of you who follow my blog, you may have noticed I have taken a bit of a break lately.
We have lots going on for us so I just needed some down time, and that meant time away from the computer.
I have plenty of recipes lined up to share in the coming weeks, but to get back into things I thought it would be a good idea to share what has been happening In My Kitchen so far this year. 

When life gets busy we find that we fall back onto easy meals. Well, to be perfectly honest the large majority of what we eat is easy, basic meals. But in busy times that means relying on some family favourites.

From Top left:
Red Lentil and Spinach Sauce with roasted potatoes and green beans, Veggie Pizza, mashed potatoes with steamed veggies and thick Mushroom Gravy with spinach added, Salad with Potato Waffles and Lentil Burgers, Red Lentil and Spinach Loaf with corn and potatoes, Rice & Veggie Bake, Eggplant Bean Sauce over roasted potatoes with corn, Lentil Meatballs with potatoes in tomato sauce and steamed veggies. 

Easy doesn't mean that dessert is forgotten! 
We often have banana ice-cream, or mini "puddings" that are made with just fruit, dates, applesauce and oats. I often throw together things like this without following a recipe. However when I made these raisin sweetened brownies my family gave me strict instructions to write down exactly what I had done and make them again and again! Recipe coming soon so stay tuned!

Below is a new family favourite that we are working out how to tweak it to be just right. The problem is, I have been slack with writing down exactly what I do, so no 2 batches ever end up the same!
But this is so good that my husband has made up a little song to go with it!

 
I love seeing all the colours as we are cooking our meals :-)
They are just so inviting!

I have been putting our pressure cooker to good use and making large batches of legumes. 
Sometimes though...... it all goes horribly wrong! 

I find that I am still getting used to the exact number of 'minutes' that I should set the cooker to, in order to get perfect legumes. This batch of fava beans that I put on were clearly overdone and they had completely crumbled into a big blob! So instead of being able to use them in a ratatouille like I had planned, I ended up doing some experimenting! I must admit that it brings me much joy to just experiment in my kitchen and not have to bother with precise measurements!
I made several dips and a batch of mini pita breads to go with them. I took this into work for a meeting and everyone really loved both the dip and the pita bread.
These stuffed foldovers were loved by my family too. They were filled with the gone-wrong fava beans, spinach, carrots, peas and corn. Of course, baked til golden brown (not shown).

Talking about baking, there is rarely a week that goes past without our oven producing wonderful aromas.
We made these animal cookies for a "vegan teddy bears picnic" we went to. They had a wonderful texture, quite true to 'cookies' even without the use of vegan butter replacements. I intend to master this creation and blog the recipe soon. However, since they do contain nuts, it is a rare occasion that we eat nuts at home so it may be a while before a final recipe eventuates! 
The "kale" cake shown is the recipe from the new Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, which I finally caved in and purchased! 
Also shown below is a pile of super yummy oat pancakes which we devoured for breakfast one morning. And one of my daughter's favourite after school snacks recently - apple nachos. Sliced apples, piled with goji berries, homemade chocolate sauce, coconut and a sprinkling of walnuts. 

Here's a glimpse of a few of her lunches lately:

More colourful items. She is really enjoying hommus and salad wraps/rolls at the moment. Pictured is also pita bread, banana loaf, fruit wrap and strawberries.  

I bought a new gadget recently - an air-fryer! I am in love with it! Not only does it NOT totally heat the whole house up (like the oven does) but it cooks my potato chips in less than half the time. It is also great for warming up leftovers for school lunchboxes and also makes wonderful crumbed mushrooms (even if the photo looks wrong, I promise you they were delicious! I used oyster mushrooms on this occasion).

Other new items in our kitchen:

PB2 (Powdered Peanut Butter)- Yes, yes I know - processed food! But alas, I just HAD to try this when I saw it in our health food store recently. And with much less fat than peanut butter it ticks the box for an occasional treat.
I bought these curry paste's to try and they are the only oil-free ones I could find. I have only opened the red one so far and it was HOT HOT HOT! So the other three-quarters of the container is still in the fridge!
These relatively new "flats" - available in Woolies and other stores, are made from veggies or fruit with the addition of seeds and/or nuts. They are dehydrated to become crispy. They are quite tasty. Again, not something I would purchase regularly but none the less a great product for when those occasions happen that we need something to snack on and are caught out unprepared (I'm thinking those days when you end up caught back at work for 2 hours!).
Also shown are these White Corn Tortillas. I pictured these because I have been asked about wraps that are oil-free. These are the only ones that I have had any luck being able to find regularly. To be honest, they don't fold real well and are best used in cooked items such as Mexican Pie.

And to finish off this post - here a few items "out" of my kitchen.
Enjoying a delicious Bean & Potato Salad under the Harbour Bridge just before day-light saving ended.
And an amazing oil-free vegan pizza that was made especially for me at a friends birthday party! I felt so blessed! :-)

It's nice to stop and enjoy the little blessings when life gets busy and the weight of everyday things are getting us down!

Question of the day:
What is something that you can stop and be thankful for lately?

Tell us what's been going on in your kitchen this month! And don't forget to add your link at Fig Jam & Lime Cordial. Thanks for hosting Celia! :-)

In My Kitchen December - Vegan Eating in New Zealand

I have been meaning to post this for several months now, but this year has just escaped me wayyyyyyyyyy too quickly!
So I thought what better inspiration than to link this post up to the last In My Kitchen for this year!
Thank-you to Celia for being a wonderful host, as always. 
Link your post with bits and pieces from your kitchen at Celia's blog Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

VEGAN EATING IN NEW ZEALAND

We spent 3 weeks overseas earlier this year during winter. What a cold time of year to be exploring New Zealand!
My husband and I went to New Zealand 4 years ago and loved it. We were always busting to take our daughter back, and also to re-explore ourselves. 
So this year when the opportunity arose for us to do that, off we went.
Though traveling as a vegan isn't always easy. Thankfully we found it quite ok in New Zealand, I'm sure not all travel destinations would be quite so easy! Most places had vegan options, even written on the menu without special requests.
And although we did have kitchens in each place where we stayed, we also enjoyed several meals out. 

Here's our vegan kitchen adventures in New Zealand:

When traveling our breakfast is always quite simple. We rarely ate breakfast out. Overnight soaked oats featured frequently, sometimes with the addition of cocoa powder. We bought a bag of ground flax seeds on our first day & that lasted us throughout the trip. Breakfast also was the time when we got to experiment with various non-dairy milk options that were available. I can't say I'm a fan of any of the new ones we tried in particular, and definitely still find Vitasoy to be my favourite. Mine you, we didn't really try too many as we usually soak our oats in water anyway. Other breakfast options were yogurt & various fruit bowls that were available. I noticed that most of their produce was imported from overseas. I can't imagine they can grow too much in the colder months there.

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking in various traveling kitchens! It's always so much fun for me to see what supplies are provided.
Here's a few meals that we had that were easy to make & also comforting favourites.

Red lentil sauce (now made with the addition of corn)- affectionately known as "gloop" in our home. 

We have this every week without fail at home, and on holidays was no different. 

Often featured over bread or baked potatoes if an oven is available. 

This is a great stove top meal that can be made with one pan & all the ingredients are items that can be bought with no leftovers needed to be stored, so great for traveling.

 Another favourite at home is a Mexican meal, and that also featured on holidays.

I made the most of having an oven in this location and chopped and roasted potatoes with mexican spice mix. The addition of microwave rice with frozen corn & salsa meant we were well and truly satisfied with this meal. A basic red kidney bean & veggie mix was served in wraps, with a very handy sealed pack of mashed avocado that we found in the grocery store. 

A truly satisfying meal that didn't take too long to create...
And thankfully we not only had a oven but also a dishwasher in this hotel ;-)

We made these cheeseless pizzas (minus the nutritional yeast but they still worked out awesome) when we had a 'microwave oven'. 

I don't know how to explain this machine - it looked like a microwave but it cooked like an oven! It was awesome! 

We had this one evening when we had a late lunch & weren't particularly hungry by dinner time. A small jar of Italian herbs was another of the basic items we purchased on our first grocery shop and it traveled with us for the duration of the trip.

We used wholemeal pita breads to create this quick & easy dinner that was so warm & comforting on a freezing cold winter night!

And now for dessert! We aren't big dessert eaters and if we have dessert at home it's usually just blended frozen fruit. However, since we also celebrated my birthday overseas that meant it was hugely important to make cake! 

Thankfully, vegan versions of cake mix are fairly easy to find - and with the addition of our 'breakfast' flax seeds turned into an egg replacer we made a marvellous birthday cake. Complete by being topped with coconut cream that was set in the fridge overnight!

Another dessert was simply a can of pie apples topped with oats, flax and cinnamon (another item that traveled with us), baked in the oven to mimic apple pie.

And now for the eating out part:

Mad Mex is a favourite of ours at home, and on holidays it was no different! Unfortunately we only found it in Auckland though, but it was our go-to lunch option for the few days we were there.

We found a fantastic health food store in Devonport where we enjoyed a treat of date balls and vegan smoothies.

Last time we travelled to New Zealand we were delighted when we found Burger Fuel. We had only come across it on the last few days of our trip. So this time, we made the most of this with their 2 vegan options for burgers. These burgers are totally delicious. It was both the first & last meal of our holiday! 

We prefer the  V-Dub burger (vegan option available), however the Tofu Combustion burger is also vegan. I remember enjoying the Tofu burger tremendously last time however this time I definitely preferred the V-Dub burger.

When we came home last time we raced out to Newtown to enjoy the only Burgerfuel restaurant in Australia. Sadly it hasn't spread too far and now there are only 2 stores in Australia. I sure hope this chain will grow in Australia in the coming years.  

If for no other reason than to again see this sign that gave me a great chuckle ;-) 

I was looking forward to our time in Wanaka, as I have very fond memories from our first trip of Red Star Burger shop.

This place honestly has the BEST VEGAN BURGERS I have EVER eaten.
Thankfully they didn't fail to impress again this time.

Firstly - they have vegan options on the menu - TICK.

Secondly - they actually taste good - TICK.

Thirdly - you aren't looked at like a freak when you actually request those items - TICK.

And the people who serve you are polite and helpful. 

Honestly I cannot speak highly enough of this place!

I thought I was in paradise when I got the lentil pattie burger, but then when we returned the next day to again indulge in a burger for lunch I ordered the felafel burger and my taste buds simply did not know what to do with themselves!!! Bliss in a burger for sure!

BEST BURGER I'VE EVER EATEN!!!!
If you head to Queenstown - take a drive out of your way and get a burger here! You won't be disappointed.

Also in Queenstown we found a fantastic Mexican restaurant Sombreros - again with vegan options stated on their menu.

They were more than willing to cater to our dietary requirements and we enjoyed our first evening meal there so much that we returned again the next day!

 Other eating out options were Italian restaurants - cheeseless pizza with extra sauce is great, and there's always a pasta dish with a side salad with balsamic as a dressing, no oil!!! ;-) We found a range of both good and average Italian restaurants throughout both islands.

And now to mention some products that are vegan friendly that we found there, that we don't have here in Australia:

Yes we have Whittakers here in Australia. But nothing like the range they have over there. Of course with a few vegan options to choose from we had to have a treat of dark chocolate a few times.

I have never seen this 'custard' or anything like it in Australia! I thought it was so smooth & delicious. And although I wouldn't usually purchase products like this at home anyway, it was a nice treat while travelling.

A few tasty goodies that I picked up from a health food shop, again in Wanaka. 

The hazelnut and orange cookies were absolutely delicious. The chocolate cookie.... neither me nor my hubby were particularly a fan. My daughter was delighted that she got the remainder!!!

And OH MY OH MY OH MY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I MUST share with you about Nice Cream. 

We were walking in Wellington when I saw a health food shop and said I wanted to pop in for a look. We each came out with a different flavour of this coconut ice-cream...... and from then on each time we saw it we bought some. Also available in large tubs in regular grocery store!!!

It is so so delicious.

 

And last but not least on my product list is a magazine that I enjoyed reading and some cruelty free laundry liquid that travelled with us, nice to see cruelty free household liquids like these available and easy to find in other countries.

It's funny to me to look back on my pictures from our holiday. I have a coffee in my hand in many of the photos and I happy snapped these pictures because I find jokes about coffee quite funny. I have since given up coffee, so now these provide double the laugh for me! 

 

So there you have it!
I finally got around to doing my travelling in New Zealand post! I hope you enjoyed this "out of my kitchen" post.
When you travel do you prefer to make your own meals, or use that time to treat yourself to meals out?

In My Kitchen - May

In My kitchen May

If you follow my blog you may have noticed my lack of posts lately....

To be honest, I'm just enjoying being creative in the kitchen without having to measure items or take the time to photograph them!
Of course that doesn't mean I'm not spending much time in my kitchen, in fact I'm probably spending more! 
I have had fun using many of the new items that I posted about in my February edition of In My Kitchen.

I have also had the chance to try a few recipes that I had tagged as "to try".

Here's a few that I've really enjoyed:

Chocolate peanut butter jelly bars

 These are very rich! I would rather these with a jam spread in place of the peanut butter layer. But what a fancy looking dessert for when visitors pop over! They are so easy to make!

Chickpea flour omelette 

Totally DELICIOUS! This will be a regular for our lunches now!

 

Raw buckwheat porridge 

Addicted to this! To be honest I am a bit over eating oats and was in hunt of a different breakfast alternative so when I tried this I was in a state of pure bliss!

 

 Gingerbread granola

My hunt for an alternative breakfast found me this. I quite enjoy cold cereal sometimes but don't like to buy processed varieties. I omitted the oil from this recipe and also halved the sugar.

Cheddar cheeze spread 

I wasn't so keen on this when I first made it, however after sitting in the fridge it thickened up and the flavours blended together deliciously! Then I was a fan!!!

 

I have also enjoyed cooking from my cookbooks! 

This orange and poppyseed cake from Skinny Bitch Bakery was AMAZING!

And I also enjoy experimenting in my kitchen without recipes :-)

 

This burger was made with a tofu omelette & quinoa and lentil pattie.

 Individual shepherds pies.

Soaked chocolate oats with cherry cream.

 Scroll pie with mexican bean mix.

Curried chickpea patties with roasted sweet potato chips on salad.

Banana and berry ice-cream with chocolate chips.

 

I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.... ;-)

Especially in the form of baked apple (oat crumbs on top) and banana ice-cream!!!

 When I think of time spent in the kitchen I think of bread. I don't know why - perhaps because its just one of those items that get made only when I have a lot of time, perhaps its the rising time needed. We don't eat a lot of bread so thankfully I don't have to worry about it too much!!!

I am not one who has mastered the art of home-made bread. I need to find a way to make home-made wholemeal bread work out better. Mine always seems so dense. I need to discover the difference between bakers flour & regular flour I think!

Anyone want to enlighten me???

However, I have thoroughly enjoyed making this focaccia - twice!!!

Once as a regular herbed focaccia and the next time as a focaccia filled pizza. This went down particularly well with my family!

 

A few chocolate treats always delight as well!

The one on the left is a freezer 'fudge' made using bananas, coconut flour, and cocoa powder. The one on the right is a peanut butter oat slice that set in the fridge without baking. I blended soaked dates and prunes with oats and peanut butter and then stirred through puffed rice. Sorry I don't have quantities to post an official 'recipe' - they are pretty versatile to make - just pop ingredients into a food processor and blend til smooth then spread into desired tray and refrigerate or freeze.

 

Sadly these okara currant cookies sat in our kitchen too long!
I had made them on a Friday afternoon and because we were out all weekend instead of leaving them on the counter top I put them into the cookie jar. And well..... you see, our cookie jar is usually empty so they sat there unnoticed by my husband and when I went to pop them into my daughters lunchbox on Monday morning they had mould on them.

Such a shame - they were so so tasty and moist. I really do love currants.

Talking about lunchboxes, Term 2 here has recently started and I do love packing lunchbox meals!

This is couscous salad with ryvita crispbread with the above mentioned 'cheese spread', grapes, strawberries and roasted broad beans.

Sadly these cakes were not in our kitchen very long at all!

I had baked them all for a fundraiser and I am pleased to say they went down VERY well! 

I did also make a cake for my family to nibble on while the oven was on baking these treats as I did have several comments about all the delicious smells coming out of the kitchen!

 

Our little home garden continues to deliver us the occasional goodie. 

This week we picked our very first eggplant! 

I had never seen an eggplant tree before and am pleasantly surprised at how pretty the flowers are. 

We haven't grown any zucchini yet but I think this little guy from the shops seems happy enough about it if you ask me!!!!!!!!!

And last but not least I wanted to share this sign with you!

It is obviously not in my kitchen - however I think I need one of these for our kitchen!

It was at a cafe we visited over Easter! 

My kind of cafe that's for sure!!!

What's in your kitchen this month?
Link up your kitchen to Fig Jam & Lime Cordial blog.