Rice paper rolls and New years eve

We made rice paper rolls tonight. These are Mr T's ones, mine were not wrapped quite as well. We made it from a vegan lunch box cookbook recipe with apple pieces, lots of coriander, baked and marinated tofu, spring onions, and cabbage. They were good and very easy to make and the peanut sauce that went with it was also very good. Mr T's made his with some sauce in it and I think I will make them all that way next time. I will certainly be making rice paper rolls again but trialing other ingredients next time.

Had a great new years eve. Went along to a BBQ with the intention of having dinner there and then going off to another party but we were having so much fun that we didn't leave til about 1.30am. It was excellent. There was probably about 20 people there and yet no meat, no boring typical questions like 'what do you do' and all sorts of interesting people. Lots of alternative creative individuals as opposed to yuppie creative types. Most people bought food along and there was lots of great vegan food. We chatted to lots of people about food, art, music, travelling and lots of other things and ate and ate and ate. It almost felt like I walked into this cool underworld gathering of creative and interesting people many of which were vegetarian. Don't get me wrong many of my friends are creative and amazing but this was different. It kind of inspired me to do something creative unfortunately it didn't help with my desire to work on my thesis. I have to start doing some serious work on it. Any words of wisdom from those who have actually finished a masters thesis when they initially struggled with motivation? I've completed a honours thesis but it was so long ago and I don't actually remember struggling with motivation.

Peanut butter Cups


Here is one of the peanut butter cups I made from How it all vegan. They are super easy to make and very good, although a little rich. Sorry for the crappy pic, I always seem to forget to take pics of food until the last minute when it is dark and I rely on synthetic light and then am left with perhaps not the most appetising pic, so you will just need to trust me that these rock.

I took them to work to share because I am the world's best colleague and everyone fell in love with them including one co-worker who said she hated peanut butter.

The recipe asked for graham cracker crumbs which we don't have in Australia, so I just used some vegan biscuits I had lying around. Anyone know the closest thing to graham cracker crumbs here? I actually think you could probably make it without the crumbs, I didn't notice them after it was all put together. The great thing about this recipe is that apart from the cookie/biscuit crumbs you most likely have everything lying around. The other good thing is this recipe doesn't actually require turning on an oven.

Now I just need to decide whether I should make another batch of these or some sort of cupcakes for xmas day.

Food faces

I took this one last week, the pic doesn't quite doesn't do it justice but I had to show it anyway. It's quinoa salad with chickpea eyes and nose, coriander eyebrows and mango mouth. It doesn't look great but tasted amazing.


This next one is made by Mr T it's a couscous salad with red onion eyebrows, asparagus nose and edamame eyes and mouth.

Tiffin, Tiffin, Tiffin

I have a tiffin courtesy of ebay. It's smaller than I thought as I opted for the small size. I will trial it tomorrow packed with food and see if I am left hungry.

here's tomorrow lunch:



It consists of a noodle salad with smoked tofu and a dodgy carrot flower on top made out of love hearts (I'm new at this), salted edamame and lotus root slices.

I bought frozen lotus root slices and then discovered there was no cooking instructions on the packet. After searching for recipes with frozen lotus root slices and finding nothing I eventually gave up and made it up. I washed the frozen lotus root slices in water to defrost a little then stir fried with a little sesame oil, Braggs (soy sauce), and rice vinegar and sprinkled with sesame oil. It was quite good, I will make them again.

More variety thanks to menu planning



No its not dessert its a soup with beets in it, yes you read right. I saw the recipe called beauty and the beet borscht in La dolce vegan and thought sure I feel like something different and it payed off. It was great, tasted like tomato soup with a nice beet flavour. On top is vegan sour cream made from a recipe in the same cookbook. I have to admit I was dissapointed with this cookbook after trying one recipe but its starting to look better with these recipes and the lentil and quinoa stew.



Next, one of my all time fav recipes savoury shepherds pie with sunflower seeds on top from how it all vegan but in mini form thanks to these new tins my mother purchased.



Now the dessert: super fruit tart from Dr Fuhrman's April Menu minus the blue berries on top. This rocks and I was very proud of myself because its more effort than I'm used to. Next time I won't even bother with the extra fruit on the top. It's great by itself.

Baked tofu

I can't believe I have been vegan for so long and only just tried baked tofu.

I used a recipe from Vegan planet and marinated it overnight in a mixture of water, braggs (soy sauce), lemon juice and sesame oil and then baked it for almost an hour (flipping once).

I made it this evening in preparation for tomorrows sandwiches but ended up eating quite a bit.

Fellow veg*ns and other tofu lovers go and try it if you haven't already. Its amazing!

Now I just need to explore what else goes well with in a sandwhich.

Wish I could post a pic (but still haven't got a replacement voucher from insurance company)

Grocery shopping

Last night I finally sat down and did a realistic budget (using one of the excel templates) and found as I expected depressing news, with the projected rent (that I'm not yet paying) and other expenses I will be left with about $20 each month to my name. I also did one for Mr T, and he will actually be in debt each month (don't ask).

That got me thinking about grocery shopping. By shopping mostly at the market and trying to cut down on expensive food items but stll enjoying a varied healthy diet I think my weekly shopping will be about $75-$100 (for 2 people) so today I spoke to everyone at work to see how much they spent. It ranged from $35 to $200. How much do you spend? (if you don't mind sharing). The $35 a week is the woman I sit next to, who does actually eat relatively healthy and she eats meat which I would imagine adds another expense. I can't believe how little she spends I really don't how she does it, she did however start to give me a few ideas to cut down:

* Buy dried beans instead of canned (yes I know they taste better but they also take a lot more time and organisation)
* Cut out expensive snacks (no more garlic bagel slices and pretzels)
* Buy in bulk nuts and rice. Any suggestions on where to get cheaper nuts and come to think it i'm not sure that i've ever seen bulk brown rice?
* Shop at an Asian grocer ( I already do this with tofu since its saves over half the price)

Anyone else have any other suggestions?