Vegetarian Chatter

[luna moth]

Good luck with your felafel m2mm!
Last night we had gnocchi with heaps of garlic, fresh tomato, zucchini and pinenuts. I cooked the gnocchi in water, took it slightly further than normal. While that was on, I fried up the garlic, added zucchini (2, chopped finely) then the tomato (2, chopped finely) and pinenuts, then drained the gnocchi, added that to the pan and stirred it through on really high heat, with a splash of balsamic. It was SO good!

[*Ash*]

Hi everyone,

SB, you're gnocchi sounds delish! And, I tried out your choc mousse recipe tonight. I haven't had mine yet, but DH and DD loved theirs (Poor DS couldn't stay awake any longer, and will have his tomorrow). We don't often have dessert, so it is a nice treat.

Mum2mm, How did your felafel-making go?

Welcome Caz1971, it annoys me too when a favoured product is discontinued or a supermarket stops stocking it.

Vintrar, sounds like you have found a good vegan substitute for lollies. There is an online store, the crueltyfreeshop that sells vegan versions of traditional lollies, like gummi bears and smarties. We don't really eat lollies here, but I did buy a pack of the gummi bears for my kids, and they loved them.

We had minestrone soup for dinner (lots of different legumes, tomato, pumpkin, potato, pasta, parsley, garlic, pepper, vegie stock) with sourdough bread. I'm off to try my mousse now....

[luna moth]

How did your mousse go, Ally? It is sooooo rich, so you really need something tart to break it up a little bit! But I love it.
One day this week I will get around to making passionfruit and macadamia muffins. Or I might just add a tiny bit of vegan white chocolate to make them extra decadent
Got my first taste of vegan hospital food tonight - yerchh. Salad sandwiches (yay - a fave) but on gluey white bread (gross) Come on! Last time I was in hospy it was the San in Sydney, where it's ALL vegetarian (I think there might be some fish) Luckily I had a stash in my handbag.

[luna moth]

Pet peeve of the week:
The "I quite like vegetarian food" meat eater.
Mostly to be sighted at buffet style meals, this person is very open minded to vegetarianism, but terrible at maths. Thinking that they will perhaps win over the affections of vegetarians around them, they help themselves to a good sized serving of the vegetarian option at the table, looking up for approval as they do so, but failing to notice that it is the ONLY vegetarian option at the table and that they are eating your lunch! This does not endear them to the vegetarians at all.

This has happened to me a lot. At a recent staff meeting, I ordered 50% vegetarian food (noodles - used to order 20%) and noticed that it was finished before anything else, due purely to this phenomenon.
At a work breakfast once, our cook did up hash browns for the vegetarians, since we weren't having the bacon. We vegies, being the caring and giving types, helped out in the kitchen, only to find that by the time we got to the food, all the hash browns were gone.

Sigh.

Nachos for dinner. Comfort food. Also, we had some Brazilian black beans soaked (!!) that really had to be used.

[Rouge]

As a meat-eater and entertainer this ANNOYS me too! We have quite a few Veg friends, and generally when we have any gathering I always make vegan and vegetarian food. So me having seen this happen the first 10 times I hosted anything, I now tell all the vegetarians to go get food before anyone else, even before feeding the kids because it gives me the irrits.

And I also get annoyed at all the stories my kids godfather gives me about work functions, like how many times can you serve mushroom risotto or vegetable stack LOL! So yeah. I hear ya, and as an entertainer and someone who loves to cook for all it annoys me to no end LOL!

[luna moth]

I can't wait til I get to come to your house

And lol at the function food - with the exception of a golf course in Sydney where I went to a wedding last year, and we got an incredible vegan menu, the highlight being dessert - summer berries in a champagne syrup and it was divine. Beats the lame-o fruit salad every day. One day, just once, I'd love for someone to roll out a vegan cheesecake, or pudding. One day...

[*Ash*]

Hi SB,

I can soooo relate to your pet peeve of the week!

The mousse was delicious. I had it with gluten free coconut crunch biccies, blueberries and a scoop of vanilla soy ice cream. Yum. I have the ingredients to make your beetroot dip too....Made babaganous on the weekend - yum.

Tonight, I cooked spelt pasta and alfredo sauce. Steamed broc and cauli on the side. I usually do tomato based sauces, so I wanted to try something different. I enjoyed it and it passed the toddler test. Pretty rich though (has a whole tub of vegan cream cheese).

That reminds me, I haven't made vegan cheesecake in ages...mmm..might have to do that on the weekend.

[Cherished]

OK, I've cracked! Thanks for encouraging me to come back girls and yes, I know what my intentions were and that I am not a nasty person

Aliash I only use spelt flour at home and make the yummiest bread and pasta with it... For creamy sauces I add natural organic whey powder, it has heaps of protein and is not as rich a creams and it thickens things up too iykwim.

Snugglybean I love those function too.... Food without meat in it does seem to be a phenomenon it's stgrange that they don't realise that they can have a vego meal every day and all they need to do is 'take the meat out' Another fav thing about functions is realising that they have cooked the vego food on the same grill as the meat or fried the hash browns in the same oil they just took the fish out of, or put it on the same plate as meat (maybe on the other end but it all merges at some point)

I haven't read back through all the posts but I will later today, as you know I have losst 1.3 kgs in the last 2 weeks and am mega inmpressed with myself! YAY.... The break from BB and the goings on in here that made me feel like crap have truly been a blessing in disguise as I have been reminded of my integrity and strength and I have put the focus back on me and my health and my awesomely awesome vego lifesytle wooohooo... I will start to share my recipes too. Thanks again girls xoxoxo

[Vintrar]

My absolute #1 favourite time to be a vegetarian is when I go on a plane. I get served a good half-hour before everyone else, always get way more food than the meat eaters, generally get some delicious pasta dish instead of the dodgy looking stroganoff everyone else is having - it's awesome!! I love the surprise meals, I never know what I'm gonna get, they just bring out a massive platter of amazing vegan food, something different every time. They seem to put so much more effort into the vegie options than they do the meat versions.

[*Ash*]

yes, Vintrar, so true. I have had great vegan food on international flights (I'm going back 10 years and it was good then). And you feel really special being served first!

Welcome back Cherished 1. I would love a recipe for spelt bread if you are happy to share one...I just might get in to baking bread! Great weather for it in my neck of the woods.

We had a vegie and tofu curry with brown rice and pappadums tonight, oh and a yummy homemade chutney that I bought from our farmers market (just like your nanna would make!).

My DH is in the process of making custard (from a packet) to have with apple pie and soy ice cream. He has such a sweet tooth, but he doesn't put on weight. I might make a hot chocolate instead....

[luna moth]

Oh, Amen to vegan airline food. I lvoe how you even get the little sachets of Nuttelex. I think I need to get Qantas chatting to our local hospital.
Ally- they are exactly the biccies I use! Although at Christmas my ILs got one with egg in it - they had to buy all the ingredients before we got there from a list I emailed down, they had tried so hard and I didn't want to hurt their feelings, so I just let it slide, then told them that the other brand "were much better"
My ILs are adorable. They went from attacking me when we first made our decision to now calling us up, proud as punch, every time they have a vegetarian or vegan meal. They eat completely vegan when we visit, and they work so hard to support us.
We had a hodge podge of leftovers tonight - enchilada, handful of corn chips, black bean nacho mix, avocado and big dollop of tofutti.
DH is just putting finishing touches on his gingerbread starship that he's building for a party tomorrow night.
Nerds

[*Ash*]

SB, your IL's sound great! My MIL is one of the best vegan bakers that I know, and she isn't even vego...When I met my DH all those years ago, his mum rang the vegan society and asked them for recipes so that she could make vegan food whenever I visited! I was so touched. Whenever we visit her is Sydney she has the fridge and cupboards stocked with vegan 'basics', soy milk, chocolate, tofu etc. AND at least two baked goodies - a cake and some type of biscuits. She knows how to make at least a dozen vegan meals. I am so lucky. She has never tried to intentionally feed our kids non-vegan food, and even her other grandchildren enjoy many of her vegan recipes.

I like your response to your IL's re: the biccies with eggs. When people genuinely make an effort the last thing you want to do is crush their spirit.

Also, to contrast pet peeve of the week, I am going to mention my positive vegan moment of the week -

My DD's preschool teacher had her birthday this week. She mentioned to me that she wanted to make a birthday cake with the children the following day (when my DD was also attending). The teacher said that she had a recipe for a coconut cake, and she told me the ingredients (flour, sugar, dessicated coconut and soy milk). I was very touched, as she emphasised that she wanted my DD to be involved. The next day, when I picked DD up, I even got a piece of the cake AND the leftover carton of soy milk that had been used for the cake (it was 3/4 full).

[luna moth]

Yums on the coconut cake! That sounds great!

I love when people send you home with a carton of soy, we have friends who do it. My ILs are classic too, in that they buy a new Nuttelex every time we visit, so there's like 5 cartons in their fridge now
Haven't managed to get the message across yet though that we don't actually like chocolate soy! Working on it subtly...

[Cherished]

Morning girls

Aliash I also had curry last night but I do feel like I 'missed' a protein component to it this morning as I woke up hungry, which I find happens when I haven't had protein with the evening meal, I think they should have put tofu in it. I went out for dinner with a girl friend and I was really impressed with the curry! it was veg tikka masala and the vegies were really fresh, bean shoots, snow peas a yummy sweet mango chutney and big crunchy popodums, I was surprised because I hadn't eaten at cafe lemonde for years! I have 3 spelt loafs that I love and they are all bread maker recipes. One is a smaller loaf and more dense and you can cut it really fine, one is bigger and it has flaxseeds in it so it looks totally YUM and the other is soft light and fluffy on the inside with a crunchy crust (like a crunchy roll from the bakery)... Here's the flaxseed one...

1 1/4 cups pure water
2 TBSPS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSPS maple syrup (can substitute)
2 TBSPS Soy milk (can substitute)... I used organic Oat milk
1 tsp sea salt I used regular table salt
1/2 cup organic flax seeds
3 1/2 cups of organic spelt flour (unbleached as finley milled as possible) I use 1/2 wholemeal spelt and 1/2 white spelt flour
1 1/4 tsp yeast

Put it into the bread maker in the order listed, I cooked it on the wholemeal setting, medium crust and 1000g loaf size

Vintrar we still take our own food onto a flight... We kinda like to know where and how the food is being prepared.. I know it's a bit pedantic! but it's great to know that if I am hungry I can get a vego meal

Snugglybean & Alisha how great are your IL's My dh's dad and partner have been vego for like 20 years or something and we loooooove going to their place for meals (they live about 20 mins away), dh's mum on the other had wouldn't have a clue! She is a lovely lady but not idea on vego food she even bought us pumpkin soup for morning tea one day and I started eating it and dh asked how she made it and she had used chicken stock! I ate the soup (I didn't want to offend her and I'm not as strict as dh but I would never purposely order or cook anything with meat stock in it) but dh didn't eat any, his mum was shattered but I guess she will get over it.... I mean he has been vego for about 15 years maybe she should pay some attention to the fact that he doesnt' eat meat and consider that CHICKEN stock is not vego My parents on the other hand are crazy my mother is anyway! They were here for only 3 days, the 1st night we went out for dinner so they had meat, the 2nd night we had all 6 parents over for dinner and we cooked a hug feast of home made pizzas etc and then on the 3rd night we were gonna make a curry and my mother said she was going to faint because she hadn't eaten anything SOLID I said "what the F@#K" what do you call 'soild'..... "The meat and 3 vego you raised me on" it's not like we were feeding them only fruit juices and vegatable puree or something. Dad on the other hand loves all food bless him

I'm also off to markets this morning, going to pick up some dwarf trees, mandarine, blueberry, avo, mango and macadamia YAY

Have a great weekend everyone xo

[christy]

I can't wait til I get to come to your house

And lol at the function food - with the exception of a golf course in Sydney where I went to a wedding last year, and we got an incredible vegan menu, the highlight being dessert - summer berries in a champagne syrup and it was divine. Beats the lame-o fruit salad every day. One day, just once, I'd love for someone to roll out a vegan cheesecake, or pudding. One day...

Hun I roll out vegan cheesecakes all the time!!! However, we are a dairy free house so thats easy for us. I use the tofutti better than cream cheese..... It is wonderlicious!!

I top it with a dairy free dark chocolate too and use the ginger nuts from Leda that are wheat free, dairy free, egg free.... as the biscuit base. Yum! I may have to make one next week. If you are nearby, you can come over for some vegan cheesecake & free trade coffee....

[luna moth]

Hey christy - I do love a good vegan cheesecake and my mum lives in Turramurra, so I'm in your area pretty frequently - be careful what you offer!
There's actually a great cafe a few kms from my place where they always have a vegan cheesecake available. And other cakes. Yums.
Dinner... hard. DH has gone to his ginger party with soem sesame ginger baked tofu and a crunchy noodle salad, and his gingerbread starship. I decided to stay home. Need to sort out some sort of dinner for one. Have leftover black bean mix (still!) one head of broccoli, the usual pantry stuff. Hmmmm...
Maybe brown rice mixed with bean mix and a bit of tofutti? (I'm just thinking "aloud" now)

[*Ash*]

Christy, do you just use a 'regular' cheesecake recipe and substitute ingredients? I have a vegan one that uses silken tofu but I have always intended to try one with tofutti cream cheese. Also, I have used McVities biccies for the base, but I am going to try gingernut or coconut crunch next time.

Thanks cherished1 for the recipe. I am glad you gave me the flaxseed one, as we are always looking at ways of incorporating flaxseed in to our diets. And yes, I just love how some people think chickens are vegetables! The comment about solid food made me laugh. It's funny, my Il's used to say that staying with us for a holiday was like going to a health farm and they always expected that they would lose weight as they didn't eat meat for the duration of their stay.

[christy]

Congrats mum2missm!

Aliah - I'm a bit of a cook.... so I sometimes replace ingrediants with alternatives, or sometimes I tweak things depending on the recipes. When I make sweetened condensed milk, I prefer using rice milk to soy or to blending silken tofu, I reckon the flavour is better