Been busy!

Just a quick note to say that I'm very busy at the moment with work and home. I'll be posting again properly soon. I have been taking blog photos for the last few weeks, but don't have time to do a full post.

Another salad lunch

Hot weather and cheap salad greens inspired this lunch from last weekend.

We went to Aldi on Sunday, to pick up a few things. While I was there, I saw salad greens for 99c for a big pack. I also got a Turkish bread, to put with some hommous I had at home.

I made this salad. It was mixed salad greens, grape tomatoes, 6 mushrooms sliced and grilled, some chopped cucumber, a spoonful of capers and some mustard dressing. The dressing was actually left over roumalade sauce from Vegan brunch, with a few tablespoons of cider vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar. (Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, by heating it in the microwave.) It would also be good with the maple mustard dressing from Veganomnicon.

At the back, there is some toasted Turkish bread with hommous on it.

As an aside, I quite like shopping at Aldi. Many of their items are actually labelled "suitable for vegans." It takes a lot of the guess work out of shopping.

Noodle lunch

I was shopping the other day and decided to grab a few things for lunch. I made these noodles, which really hit the spot. I used the vegan oyster sauce which is available from the Cruelty Free Shop.

Lunch Noodles with Vegan Oyster Sauce

Serves 2

2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil (I used rice bran oil)
300 g tofu diced into 1-2 cm squares
1 cm knob ginger
2 chopped spring onions, sliced into 4 cm lengths
1 packet Heinz frozen steamed vegetables for one (cauliflower, broccoli and carrot)
200g ready to use udon noodles
3 tablespoons vegan oyster sauce
3 tablespoons water

Method

1. Fry the tofu squares in 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet or wok.
   
2. Once the tofu is lightly browned, add the remaining oil, ginger and onions. Cook for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
   
3. Refresh the noodles in boiling water, while waiting for the ginger to cook.
4. Add the frozen vegetables to the pan and stir fry until hot.
5. Drain the noodles. Add the noodles, sauce and water.
6. Serve hot.
   

They were also great reheated for lunch at work the next day.

Apple and Sage Sausages and Caturday

Tonight we had homemade apple and sage sausages with mash, vegetables and gravy.

The sausages were a variation on Isa Chandra Moskowitz' cherry and sage sausages from Vegan Brunch. I replaced the dried cherries with a grated apple. I used powdered sage, despite Isa's instruction not to do it. I also replaced the all-spice and cloves with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, because for some reason I was out of both all-spice and cloves. I really should check my spice cabinet before I cook.

It was really good. Even M, who is not a huge seitan sausage fan, liked these.

Caturday

Sisterly love!

Just Caturday

I am heading to a birthday party today, so this is just a quick cat picture.

Caturday

Who is that kitty in the window?


Switch enjoys sitting in our front window and watching the world. There is the added bonus of being hidden from children, if she is not in the mood for more enthusiastic cuddles.

Curry #3

Maybe this should be Curry #2 1/2. I used some of the frozen mushroom chunk rendang (from my last post) for this meal. I made up packet dosai mix, which happened to be vegan. The dosai were delicious with this curry. As you can see, I also did a quick tomato, cucumber and herb salad. There is also lime pickle and chutney for sambals plus a couple of spring rolls.

The spring rolls were a concession to M, who does not like curry. She had dosai, vegetables and spring tolls, hold the curry.

Tomato, Cucumber and Herb Salad

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients

1 small red onion (optional and not included due to Mr BrisVegan's aversion to raw onion)
2 tomatoes
1/2 small cucumber
1/2 bunch of chives
2 teaspoons diced coriander leaves (cilantro)
1 teaspoon diced mint
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
pinch each salt and pepper

Method

1. Dice onion, cucumber and tomato, into 1/2 to 1 cm dice.
2. Finely dice herbs.
3. Mix all ingredients in a salad bowl.
4. Refrigerate for 1/2 to 1 hour then serve.
   

Curry #2

Another curry. This is a big pot of mushroom stick rendang that I made a while ago. It was made with a bottled curry past and tinned coconut milk. The mushroom sticks are quite "beefy" and are a big favourite with my family. I replaced the traditional potatoes with other vegies to increase the vegetable quotient of the meal.

For this one I sauteed onions in a little oil. I then browned the mushroom chunks. I removed the onions and mushroom sticks and fried the curry paste until it was fragrant. I then added the onion, mushroom sticks, vegetables, coconut milk and some water. I simmered the curry until the vegies were cooked. I made it fairly mild, so that Z, a new curry eater, would enjoy it.

As you can see, I made a big wok-ful for several meals. Curry always freezes well. Frozen curry in the freezer means that I can boil some rice, heat the curry and have dinner on the table quickly after work. It helps us to cut down on takeaway meals, save money and have quick, but healthier versions of our restaurant favourites.