Vegan Month of Food

So, this year I will be taking part in Vegan Month of Food, which will (hopefully) involve a significant increase in my blog-activity (blogtivity? No.). The idea is that you post every week day in praising and celebrating vegan food...I think I can do that. More info available at: http://kitteekake.blogspot.com/

Q: Can you make a convincing peanut butter brownie with self-raising flour?

A: No.

Q: Did I try anyway?
A: Yes.

Q: Despite how terrible it looked, did it taste amazing?
A: Yes!

Q: What have we learned from this?
A: Flours - don't mess.

The Year Of The Flood

Now, I know this is a mainly a food-y blog rather than a book-y blog, but this book deserves a special mention. It's called The Year Of The Flood, and it is by Margaret Atwood. It has a number of themes that will appeal to vegan/eco people, and is also seriously good.

Set in the near future, the book follows a group of 'God's Gardeners' through the mysterious 'waterless flood', and tells of their journey and history. The book is gritty, funny, tender, shocking, compulsively readable. Atwood's characters are as complex as her themes and subject matter are expansive. Covering ecological and humanitarian disaster, this book is extremely relevant and bang up to date.

It follows Atwood's earlier book 'Oryx and Crake' (which I loved!) and expands on alot of the ideas it contained.

I'm not much of a reviewer, I know, but check out the website for a feel of it http://www.yearoftheflood.com/ . The website is full of resources and information on a number of broadly 'green' topics, and very interesting.

Richmond Photos

Yesterday I went walking around Richmond. It was so nice to get (almost) out of the city and see some greenery. Here are some of the better photographs I took. I was going crazy with the camera on my phone, zapping and clicking like mad.

Q: Why does everybody like the mushroom?

A: Because he's a FUN GUY!

Chips and Satay Beans

I had no idea what to make for dinner tonight, so I went with number one fallback plan chips, and green beans. I did the green beans is a sauce made of soy sauce, peanut butter, garlic, and a little orange juice. It thickened up beautifully, and this meal really hit the spot. Thumbs up, and it was done in half an hour from scratch.

Resolutions

Of late I have become pretty...I don't know, maybe apathetic or something like it. I feel pretty disconnected, maybe less passionate, and I want to remedy that. I am at my happiest, I think, when I feel active, and involved, and like I'm part of a bigger cause. So I'm going to make some resolutions to right some of the things I'm doing wrong.

1. I am going to give up drinking pop for (at least) one week, starting today.
2. I am going to cook something fresh and delicious every day for (at least) one week, starting today.
3. I am going to do something creative every day for (at least) one week, starting today.
4. I am going to read more on the issues I am interested in.
5. I am going to post here twice a week for (at least) one month, starting today.

Maybe I've just gotten lazy of late. Hopefully this will give me a kick up the bum, and get me going.

In food related news, I had the BEST salad for lunch. I had lettuce and grated carrot, with fried red onions, pumpkin seeds and apple slices, all with balsamic vinegar, hummous and pitta bread. It was delish!

Two Sketches

Just things I've been doodling.

Mish mash lunch

There was pretty much nothing in the house to make lunch from, so this happened. It was surprisingly good, comprising of broad beans, butter beans, spinach, bussels sprouts, arrabiatta sauce from a jar, tomato puree, soy sauce, tandoori powder, curry powder, garlic and cream coconut. Actually, it was nearly miraculous that it tasted good. I ate it with couscous and pickle, and hoummus too.

Crochet works in progress, and pie'n'mash

I've been going mad for crochet at the moment after my grandma gave me a million old patterns - people dressed really badly in the 70s and 80s, and knitwear was a huge part of it.

This is the beginning of a scarf I'm making for my brother - it's growing with alarming speed.

And (another very similar pattern) this is going to be a little drawstring holdall.

I've got about ten projects going at once, but they're all getting reasonabe amounts of attention so it's ok. Had a linda maccartney pie for dinner as part of the new weekly 'Vegan pie and mash night'. My boyfriend did the cooking - we had pie, broad beans, sauteed greens with garlic and soy sauce, mash, and this mushroom and mustard gravy that he made up on the spot. It was a definite winner.

Boyfriend Bolognese

Long time no update. Now that life is less hectic, I'm hoping to get back into the kitchen. For now, here is a rubbish picture of the dinner my boyfriend made me - macaroni bolognese. It was so delicious! I questioned him about it, and he said he made the sauce with onion, garlic, aubergine, courgette, lentils, pearl barley, worcester sauce, basil and pepper. It was very hearty and very tasty!

Berk

I'm a big fan of 'The Trapdoor', and I made this stuffed-toy Berk as my latest project. It was fun to make, and surprisingly quick and easy. My sewing machine has developed an inability to sew, so I hand sewed this, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would. It was a good distraction from revision anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkN_gPM9SWU - Click here to see Berk in action.

Pizza!

I made pizza for lunch yesterday! I made a pizza base out of brown bread flour, with garlic and herbs in it too. I rolled out a base, then cut it in half so my boyfriend could top his half with cheese. I left it to rise for about 45 minutes, because I was too hungry to wait any longer. It's topped with red onion rings, garlic, tomato sauce, pesto, barbecue sauce, and some 'bean balls' - leftovers from a disastrous attempt to make bean sausages, which were tasty, but fell apart.
It was so good. The photos don't really do it justice, but it looked smart. Oh, also it had some 'Parmezano' on the top, which didn't really add much.

Knitting and a Flower

Here is my current knitting project. When it's finished it will be a small pillow case. Then, I am going to make a little pillow to go inside it. I want to stuff the pillow with something re-used. At the moment I'm thinking lots of little squares cut from plastic bags, but maybe I'll go with scraps of fabric.

Here is a dandelion! I know they're weeds but I still think they're pretty.

Cauliflower and Macaroni Mustard Yeast

This was SO good. I served it with some roasted vegetables, and it was a delicious meal, and very filling. The vegetables were roasted in a mixture of garlic, thyme, cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil, which was stupidly easy to make. The cauliflower and macaroni was made up pretty much as you would make a macaroni cheese, but with soya butter and milk, and nutritional yeast and mustard instead of cheese. Oh, and I added a little tumeric to give it a healthy yellow colour, as it was looking a little pasty before.

Mustard potato bake, cumin fried peppers, cheesish garlic scones

This is what I made for lunch today, it was fantastic. I was really pleased with how the potato came out, and the scones were brilliant!



Potato and Green Bean Creamy Mustard Bake

4 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp wholegrain mustard

400 ml soy milk

4 big potatoes

handful of green beans

salt to taste

maple syrup



- chop the potatoes into cubes, and boil for 15-20 minutes.

- heat the oven to 200C
- make a roux - melt the butter in a saucepan and stir the flour in.

- gradually add in the soya milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

- add the mustard and simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes or so.

- drain the potatoes and green beans, then put into a casserole dish. Pour over the sauce.

- put in the oven, on a low shelf, and cook for 12-15 minutes.

- Eat!



The scones involved nutritional yeast (finally got hold of some - very exciting!) and garlic powder, and were very nice.