Day 5 - Friday Favourites

A few of my favourites today.
Let's start with breakfast - rice pudding.
I really enjoy having brown rice at breakfast - I don't really know why, I just do :-)
Really nice with vanilla soymilk, banana, raisins & a spinkling of cinnamon.

One of my daughter's favourite things to have for lunch is what we call "little boys"! I don't know where we got the name from, it just seem to have stuck.
Its just veggie sausages wrapped in bread with some sauce.

Little boys!

The rest of her lunchbox:

Banana for Crunch 'n sip snack.
Morning tea of salsa and water crackers and a muesli bar - of course which kid doesn't love muesli bars!!!

Because everybody needs a coffee to make everything feel ok.
Even better when you can sit in a resort style backyard with the sun shining :-)

The colours of lunch......

Didn't lunch start out looking amazing!!!!!!!!!!
I just mixed grated veggies with chick pea flour & egg replacer.
Well...... let me assure you it didn't all go so well. Phone calls meant I forget about things on the stove and my veggie frittata got burnt :-( as I scraped it off the pan if flopped and looked like a big coloured pile of mess!

And this is what is ended up looking like!
hmmm, tasted good though! Esp when smoothered with sweet chili sauce!
Better luck next time!

One of my favourite things to have for dinner is a veggie burger.
Today I made a 'chicken', mushroom & avocado one.
I love these vegemeal burgers. I buy them from our local health food shop. They are so easy to make. Simply mix with water & leave for 15 mins before forming into patties. They are really tasty.

Bean Bolognese

YUMMY!

To serve 2 You'll need:
200g spaghetti (or other pasta of your choice)
1 zuchhini
1/2 cup tvp
1/2 tin 4 bean mix
150g passata sauce (Italian tomato cooking base)
1 onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
fresh basil leaves to serve

Put the tvp in a bowl with 1 cup of bowling water & allow to absorb for 10 mins.
Bring a pot of water to the boil. Julienne the zucchini and add it to the bowling water along with the pasta. Boil for 12 mins or until al dente and then drain.
In a frying pan combine the chopped onion and the minced garlic. Saute until onion becomes translucent. Add the drained TVP and the beans. Stir in the oregano and the passata sauce. Lightly fry until all ingredients are warmed through.

Serve with torn basil leaves & a corn cob :-)
Very simple & very tasty.

Day 4 - Comfort Food

We all have comfort food don't we :-)
I love oats & pasta as my never fails.
So with that said, I bet you'll never guess what breakfast was today?!?!?!?

Oats cooked with half soymilk, half blueberry juice, a tablespoons flaxseeds & berries.
I love the mix of blueberry juice & soymilk.

Todays lunchbox:
Crunch and sip snack - grapes.
Morning tea - spinach crackers (I was told she didn't want dip with them!) and sesame snaps.
Sandwich - fresh tomato and basil.

Today's lunch salad was mixed baby spinach leave with capsicum, carrot & leftover lentil loaf :-)
Oh, i did top it with some hummus actually!
Followed by some grapes :-)  Enjoying the last of them before the season is over!

I made some water crackers with sundried tomato & roasted eggplant for afternoon tea.
I was reminded how much I love roasted veggies after my pizza last night!

As I mentioned earlier in this post, pasta is my favourite evening comfort food.

I made a bean and TVP bolognese for dinner tonight.

Does apple pie sound like comfort food? uh-huh!

Well for me, its better if its berry apple pie :-)

Day 3 - Fallback food

Wednesday's are my busy days. I drive into work - I work from home on other days.
This week it took me 3 hours to drive home!
I need quick and easy food, not only for dinner when I'm coming home late, but also for my rushed mornings.

A smoothie is so easy to make for breakfast & I can sip it while I'm getting files & other things ready.
This one is a berry green smoothie - I love the deep purple colour it comes out.
I blend blueberries, spinach, banana & blueberry juice. Very Tasty.

I like to take my own lunch to work as often as I can.
I usually make something simple that I can wizz up quickly in the morning.
This morning I make some dip & cut up some fresh veggies, served with strawberries & brazil nuts.
The dip is so easy - can of red kidney beans, mashed with a fork. Add 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder and a tablespoon salsa. Mix.

Making the dip

Today's lunchbox:
Strawberries for crunch & sip break.
Morning tea of banana muffin, and cinnamon roasted cashews.
Sandwich is mashed red kidney beans with tomato paste & corn.

So after my extremmmmmmmmmmmmely long drive home, we decided to have pizza! Who says you need to have cheese on pizza to make it tasty??!!??
The italian restaurant not far from us makes great pizzas. I always ask for a bit of extra sauce to make up for no cheese.
I was rather greedy & ate away without remembering to take a photo until it was nearly too late - proof it was so yummy!

Day 2 - A chocolatey sort of day

Let's begin today with breakfast - as that's where most days begin :-)

mmmmmmmmmmm muffins - complete with chocolate soymilk.

Ok, so I didn't really just have one muffin ;-)

Lunch I decided to indulge in some fresh produce & made myself a plate full of salad.
Quite tasty.

Nothing plain about a salad when you add enough flavour to it

Here's todays Lunchbox:

This is one of my daughter's favourite sandwiches - tofutti cream cheese, with strawberries and cinnamon.
To compliment the cinnamon she has a mini hot cross bun for morning tea & an apricot.


Now, be honest - if you were given all these gorgeous little friands - could you stop at just one?!?
I can't that's for sure!

For dinner I made my lentil loaf  with mushrooms. I used BBQ sauce instead of pasta sauce. Served with steamed green beans.

To complete the day I made a single serve chocolate microwave cake :-)

So easy to mix a few tablespoons of bits together.....

Awaiting its trip to the microwave

One minute later and its done!

 Smoother with chocolate sauce & devour..................

Vegans Eat Yummy Food Too! - Day 1

VEGANS EAT YUMMY FOOD TOO! :D

Breakfast this morning was a tropical fruit bowl - sliced pineapple, rockmelon & banana sprinkled with flaxseeds, sunflower kernels & coconut.

Simple, yet tasty - and surprisingly filling.

LUNCHBOX

Popper, Pumpkin okara burgers with BBQ sauce again. Dried pineapple & sultanas for a snack. Crunch and sip was a banana with some almond & date chocolate dip.

SOYMILK
I made fresh soymilk this afternoon.
I had experimented last year with doing it by hand but over Christmas I got a soymilk machine. It was on special - YAY everyone loves a bargain. I have made at least 2 batches each week & it has well been worth the investment.

I have been experimenting about with how much beans to add & what else to add.
I usually add a ratio of soybeans to barley 4:1. This seems to add a touch of sweetness, keeps the milk a bit thicker & adds a nice flavour. I don't need to add any sugar to the soymilk then. I usually still add a teaspoon of vanilla per litre of milk.
Even though the soymilk machine keeps the beans separate & strains the beans, I still put the finished product through a sieve. It seems to give an extra smoothness & not leave any 'bubbly' bit on the top then.

The soymilk maker having completed its job :-)

The milk will keep for about 7(ish) days however, most batches are consumed well before they are anywhere near going off stage!

Straining the milk

Fresh clear smooth soymilk :-)
YUMMY

This of course makes for a lot of leftover okara - so you're bound to see Okara recipes popping up here and there :-) I find the okara lasts in the fridge for about a week. I try to use it almost straight away though.

Leftover from the soymilk - "Okara"

So this afternoon's exercise in using up our okara was to make banana muffins.

I love these muffins - they are soooo moist.
Great way for using up old bananas too.
Or great way of using up 25c/kg bananas that we scored on the weekend! AMAZING! To think that only 6 months ago we couldn't find them for under $10/kg anywhere!

For dinner my amazing husband bought me an Iku Mini Pie Pumpkin & Tempeh :-)
I served it with some vegetables for a nice simple, quick & easy dinner.
I'm not usually this spolit every night.
They are so tasty. If you haven't had a chance to try one yet - then I definitely recommend trying one :-)

Mini Series!

Does it sound like I'm starting a TV show?!?!?!?
Well, I'm not!
But haven't we all heard "what do you eat?" when you've told someone you're vegan?!?!? I'm sure we all have.
So here goes.....
I'm going to do a "mini-series" on what I eat!
I had wanted to do it for the month of March but it seems to have half escaped me already. So I'll start out with 2 weeks & see how I go.
I can guarantee my meals aren't always the most amazing creations - but they are always tasty!
I will post as many meals as I can & also do a "lunchbox" series where I'll photograph my daughters box to give some ideas of what might keep childrens meals interesting too. We've all heard the complaint about another sandwich!???

I had taken some pictures on Friday before realising that it probably wasn't the best day to start as we were away all weekend. Then I ended up being sick in bed all weekend & that definitely put an end to it starting on Friday!
But none the less I have Friday's breakfast &  lunchbox snap shot below!

So here (kinda) begins my series....

"VEGANS EAT YUMMY FOOD TOO!"

Friday's lunchbox --A frozen popper - helps keeps all the other food cool & is defrosted by the time its lunch. I tend to only give my daughter a frozen popper on the days I'm sure it will defrost in time.

For lunch was pumpkin, carrot & sunflower seed okara burgers with BBQ sauce to dip them in.
Morning tea & snacks were blueberries, a piece of fresh coconut, & a little box of cranberries & almonds.
At her school they have a "crunch & sip" snack at 10am - which is a time when they are only allowed to have a piece of fruit or vegetables. I usually put that into a separate container for her so she doesn't have to get out her whole lunchbox for that time. She had pieces of cut rockmelon.

Breakfast
Chocolate smoothie :-)
I love how this sounds like something that is naughty even though it isn't.
It tastes divine.
Blend spinach, banana, blueberries, cacao powder, flaxseeds, and medjool dates with some soymilk.

YUM! Perfect way to start the day.