More vegan delights

Alright, here's what I've been up to lately:

Delicious Vegan Capsicum-Cashew Lasagne




Looks a bit unhappy :-). It's layers of polenta, tomato puree and pesto all baked in the oven. Didn't quite stick together but tasted good :-)


Vegan Kebab: Lebanese pita bread, lots of lettuce and other salad stuff, falafel and vegan aioli (made with silken tofu)

My first vegan pizza: used pita bread for base, then tomato puree with salt, pepper, oregano and a splash of olive oil. Topped it all with rocket, mushrooms, zuccini, tomatoes, corn, avocado, pickled capsicum and vegan mozzarella. Delicious!

Study Group Breakfast

Today some friends came over for a study session but first we had breakfast :-)
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the really yummy oatmeal pancakes we had. They were soooo good! They tasted healthy but still delicious and not "wholesome alternative vegan" as some Omnis might thinks :-). Recipe further down.

So we had a "variety of bread" including the gluten-free bread from yesterday, as well as some wholemeal rye bread and some hot cross buns. We also had fruit salad, muesli and of course the pancakes. With yummy maple syrup and homemade rhubarb and fig jam.


There's the homemade toasted muesli :-). with heaps of yummy nuts





Here the recipe for the pancakes:

Mix 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of raisins, 1 tblsp maple syrup and 2 1/2 cups of oat milk and let it soak for 15 min.
In a bowl sift together 1 tsp egg replacer (or enough to replace 1 egg), pinch of salt, 1 cup wholemeal flour (or whichever one you like), 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tblsp baking powder and about 2-3 tblsp of raw sugar.
Then add this dry mixture to the milk mixture and combine well.
Beat in 3 tblsp of sunflower oil.

Then fry in batches.

Tastes delicious with a bit of margarine and a generous splash of maple syrup :-). Or jam :-)

Easter Dinner Photos

Here last night's dinner results:

Gluten-free sun-dried tomato bread with sunflower seeds and walnuts

tomato hummus (in the front), home made sundried tomatoes (left) and little nibbles (back)

Home-made banana, date and tamarind chutney

gluten-free rice and nut cake (needs some experimenting with the recipe though, the crust was a bit dry but the nut part was delicious)

Glutenfree Adventures

Tonight my friends are coming for dinner and one of them is gf. So this morning I made gluten-free bread with sun-dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds and walnuts. Will take a photo later when I cut it. I also made a rice and nut cake which will be served for dessert together with some coconut ice cream.
It's not too difficult to cook and bake gluten-free, I find and I would really love to cut more wheat out of our diet. I make an effort to use only whole grain products and flour in my usual baking or pizzas or so, but in the future I will try to substitute a little more often and cut down the gluten-containing products. For health reasons.

So tonight we'll have an entree of antipasto platter. I'm the only vegan so it's a mix of bread, cheeses, pickels, chutneys, fruit, dips and hummus. For the main we'll have roast potatoes, steamed veges, a green salad and some yuckie meat for the others :-).
For dessert it's the rice cake with coconut ice cream.

I'm really looking forward to it. It'll show my darling BF again that there are tasty vegan foods and that gluten-free isn't the end of the world :-).

On a completely different note, I am totally stressed out with uni and sometimes just thinking of the assessments ahead makes me have little panic attacks. Well I should get over it. I'll try

Carnivore or Herbivore?

Check this out

Easter Brunch

Today my darling boyfriend and I enjoyed a late and lazy Easter brunch.
This included vegan hot cross buns (recipe from the vegetarian society), vegan carrot cake (recipe from recipezaar but I used 1 cup of apple sauce - it turned out nice and moist), store-bought oat knots (buns), fruit salad, jam, muesli (BF had toasted muesli which is also vegan) and also vegan cream cheese, tomato, avocado and sprouts for the savoury bread.

It was delicious and afterwards I was absolutely stuffed :-).
Here some pictures (the evil cow's milk is BF's hehehe)



BF was very sweet and went out yesterday especially to get my an Easter treat. He asked what kind of chocolate I was "allowed" these days :-). There were no vegan-friendly chocolate eggs so he got me this very yummy dark chocolate. It's a very sweet gesture (literally) because he's quite keen on omni-food so I really appreciated it.

The toasted muesli:

3 cups of oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup oat bran
2 tblsp each sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and linseed
plenty of nuts (I use walnuts, cashew, almonds and peanuts)

2 tblsp vege margarine
1/2 cup brown/raw sugar
1 tblsp maple syrup

1 cup dried fruit (raisins, apricots, whatever you like)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a pan or saucepan, heat margarine, sugar and syrup over low heat until sugar dissolves. Stir this into the dry ingredients and mix well until all is combined.
Spread the muesli onto a large baking tray and bake in the preheated oven at 150 degrees C for 45 min, stirring every 10 min.

Remove from oven and stir in dried fruit. Delicious! :-)


Hot X Buns, Carrot Cake loaf, Oat knots

BF's giant Easter egg and creme eggs

Getting started

After becoming a vegan 5 1/2 weeks ago, it is about time for me to start my own vegan food and cooking blog.
I have found so many great vegan blogs and website and am astonished by all the creativity when it comes to cooking and baking.
I have managed to create some pretty nice dishes myself, such as vegan carrot cake with icing, a super-energy fruit loaf as well as really yummy hot cross buns.
I will make an effort to upload photos as well.

Just some infos about myself:
I am a 22 year old student, doing a Commerce and a Science degree (in my 2nd year).
In my spare time (haven't got much of that at the moment) I enjoy running, exercise at the gym, reading, meeting friends, going out for dinner, dancing, and of course cooking and baking.

I live in a lovely little apartment with my boyfriend who is an absolute meat lover. It's not always easy with us when it comes to dinner because I now have to make some arrangements to cook for us both without having to cook 2 separate dishes.

The result of last night's spag bol was basically spaghetti with tomato sauce and separate meat balls for BF. I had bought some vegan mozarella (NZ$12.50!!! what a rip off!) and it was surprisingly tasty. However, considering the price, it will stay an occasional treat.

Now here's the first photo: