Vegan

No meat, dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products. Just pure veggie goodness.

I’m not vegan but I have friends and family who are and I know some of you, my readers, are too so I try my best to give you a good range of yummy treats, both meals and desserts.

Peanut butter & jelly smoothie

Posted on June 3, 2011

This is a play on the American favourite sandwich combination of ‘peanut butter and jelly’ – in a liquid version. It’s super quick, super yummy and sure to super-charge you for the day!

Of course the ‘jelly’ element is actually what we call ‘jam’ here in Australia. ‘Jelly’ for us is ‘Jello’ for Americans. Confused yet? (more…)

$2 pasta dish to support ‘Live Below The Line’

Posted on May 18, 2011

When I was approached to come up with a recipe for $2, I immediately panicked. What kind of ingredients can you get for that price?

After a long hard think, and some experimentation, I’m happy to report that it is entirely possible and can result in this delicious pasta dish.

And it’s all for a good cause.

The Live Below The Line campaign encourages people to attempt to live on $2 a day in order to get a better idea about how it feels to live below the poverty line. I hope you’ll join me in supporting this cause by eating a little more frugally this week and perhaps check out their website for more info or to make a donation. (more…)

Vegan chocolate panna cotta

Posted on November 3, 2010

Who thinks vegans can’t eat panna cotta? Wrong!

I’ve been experimenting lately with agar agar as a setting agent to replace gelatine.

Agar agar is derived from a form of red algae seaweed and comes in powder and flake form. It’s used extensively in Asia for both sweet and savoury recipes.

It’s a completely vegetarian/vegan alternative to gelatine which is, of course, taken from the insides of various animals skin and bones. Sorry if you didn’t want to hear that! (more…)

Orange braised fennel w/ roast pork

Posted on September 5, 2010

I just couldn’t resist a massive crunchy bulb of fennel at the market the other week. It seemed to be crying out ‘take me home!’.

Young small bulbs are irresistible sliced paper-thin and eaten raw, but the larger ones, like this one, are best suited to braising so the flavour mellows out and sweetens.

The addition of fresh orange juice adds another layer of sweetness and makes it a great partner for pork, which I sat on top of the fennel while it braised.

Click the button below for photos of the final result, to get the easy recipe and see a drool-worthy crackling shot! (more…)

Vegan pear crumble cake

Posted on May 23, 2010

I’ve been experimenting with baking vegan cakes for about a year but I’ve only made four or so in that time. None of them have turned out as good as this one!

I tried making a vegan vanilla sponge cake, but it wasn’t very successful. I made my famous orange and almond cake and thought it was vegan until I remembered I put three eggs in it. Doh.

I’d really like to try the orange one without eggs, and I’ve been wracking my brain for about three weeks to think of a suitable substitute to beat with the sugar in the first step. Any ideas? No fake egg suggestions please!

My fascination with trying to make the perfect vegan cake stems from the fact that my brother-in-laws girlfriend is vegan, although I’m really interested in the health (and environmental) benefits for myself and hubby too. Just try to forget the fact that I will probably enjoy the cake with a nice big dollop of whipped cream, ha!

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