15

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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21

Lazy weekend breakfast

If I’m not going out for breakfast on the weekend then I like to spend a little bit of time and make something extra special.

It doesn’t have to be a large meal or use lots of ingredients, it just has to have one luxurious touch. In this case, porridge gets jazzed up with caramelised pears.

Other times I’ll make a compote with seasonal fruit like rhubarb or splurge by using truffle salt on scrambled eggs. They’re only small things but they make a big difference.

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22

You know the best thing about this recipe? Actually, there’s two things; you don’t need an electric mixer and you only need one bowl.

So there’s no fancy cooking instruments and less washing up. Sounds like heaven to me, how about you?

My husband adores banana bread and banana cake and raw bananas. Yes, he’s a banana fan. I like sliced banana on my porridge because that’s two healthy things together, although the spoonful of brown sugar probably negates them slightly – but (for me) is a necessary evil.

I don’t have much of a sweet-tooth, but I do have a butter-tooth. Therefore, I indulge in my hubby’s craving for banana bread so I can serve it hot with lots of good quality butter; Harmonie Organic Butter being my current favourite.

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15

My first attempt at hot cross buns!

Thank goodness for other food bloggers. I thought this year I would have a go at making hot cross buns and even though I’d never made them before I wasn’t nervous about finding the perfect recipe.

I trawled through my RSS feed for my favourite ‘baking’ bloggers and found quite a lot of them had hot cross bun recipes!

In the end I decided to go with Bron Marshall’s recipe because she makes them every year and wrote so lovingly about her family tradition of making and eating them. How can you go wrong on a recipe that’s been made that many times?

You can’t. I found out. See picture above for proof!

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9

Summer greens with fresh tomato sauce

It’s the last month of Summer in Australia and as someone who loves to eat seasonally, I (literally) push to grab the last of the crisp green beans and shiny zucchinis at the farmers market.

I really get a buzz out of selecting what I deem the best vegetables from what’s available. I think it’s got something to do with having mini-obsessions with cleanliness and perfectionism.

Note: if you see me at the market, run! I’m obviously slightly nutty.

I really love greens simply steamed or quickly stir fried with lots of black pepper and drizzled with grassy olive oil or nutty sesame oil. Although this recipe is for those who like to eat their greens with a sauce.

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13

Sorry it’s been so long between posts!

I’ve been very cheeky recently on Twitter and Facebook by posting:

Hi, my name is Christie and it’s been 10 days since my last blog post #bloggersanonymous

If you’ve got a blog (or any social media account), do you ever feel guilty for letting real life get in the way of your digital life?

I do, but then again it’s very important to have a good balance, and we all know that our lives aren’t going to end if we mark all as read in our RSS reader. In fact, I find it lifts a weight off my shoulders – I feel less stressed having a clean inbox and I can get on with my day.

Anyway, I’ll stop waffling and get onto today’s recipe…

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