Mexibowls - a dinner of firsts!

Last night I decided to try a delicious-looking recipe for a 'mexibowl' which I found here on Vegan Eats and Treats (the second one).

As shocking as it may sound for me to admit this, this was the first time I had ever cooked quinoa (apart from an instant packet one once) and it was the first time I ever cooked using dried beans. Yes, I know! How have I got to this stage in my life and never done either of those things? The answer is because I was scared. I was scared that it would be too hard, it would take too long, and I might mess it up.

To cook the quinoa, I found some great instructions at The Kitchn and followed them religiously! I cooked it in Massal Chicken Stock (which is vegan, obviously), and it was the best quinoa I've ever had! I could have eaten a whole bowl of it just by itself.

I was planning on just using a tin of black beans, as suggested in the recipe, but I couldn't find them anywhere, tinned or otherwise! After having a look online, it seems that tinned black beans are near impossible to get in Australia, and dried ones are hard to find as well. After looking around a couple of supermarkets, I instead settled for dried adjuki beans (also known as azuki beans). Having never cooked with dried beans before, I thought it would be a really drawn out experience, but after researching how best to cook them, everything fell into place.

After soaking the beans for 2 hours (and going away and reading), I boiled them for an hour (and read some more), then just cooked the rest of dinner as if I were using tinned beans. It was so much easier than I had imagined. I mean, yes it does take more time, but when I'm home anyway, it doesn't inconvenience me at all.

After years of avoiding cooking with these two very popular foods, I now don't know what I was so afraid of! Dinner was delicious and I will definitely be cooking quinoa again, and using dried beans!

PS - another first: the recipe suggests using lime juice in the guacamole, I've never done this before so I tried it and it was yummy.

Happy eating! :)

Sweet and sour chicken recipe

Sweet and sour was something I'd always disliked, until I gave this recipe from No Meat and Three Veg a try. Wow. While it takes a little while to prepare, the finished product is well worth it! As Jeff said, "A++, would eat again", I totally agree with him. The whole time we were eating it we just couldn't stop raving about how delicious it was! I also took leftovers to work for lunch the next day and it was just as good.

Happy eating! :)

Savoury muffin recipe

I discovered the recipe for these little gems here on an excellent blog called No Meat and Three Veg. I really love this blog and as well as having heaps of yummy, quick, and easy vegan recipes, it's also Australian so all the ingredients are easy to source.

These muffins are similar to quiche in many respects and are great for lunches or picnics. They are amazingly tasty but what would you expect from a recipe modified from Play School? I won't post the recipe here as you can find it on the link above. I do make some changes though when I make them; firstly, I use a small tin of corn rather than corn on the cob, secondly, I use regular white vinegar rather than apple cider vinegar, and lastly, sometimes I don't use fresh herbs. The only reason for these changes is that is suits my individual pantry and shopping habits.

I highly recommend you pop on over to No Meat and Three Veg, I know I have a few more recipes from there waiting to be tried out!

Happy eating! :)