Bob Graham wrote an excellent picture book called How to Heal a Broken Wing, the book follows a pigeon with a broken wing and the boy who helps it. There's a very vegan message of empathy, respect, and kindness towards all creatures and I highly recommend you check it out.
As you would have noticed, I have been absent from blogging for quite some time. The reason for this is that after 6 years together, Jeff and I split up. As I'm sure you can appreciate, this has been devastating and heart-wrenching for me, so I hit the pause button on my life and went to curl up by myself for a bit. I'm just starting to emerge back out into the world now, but the sadness and the grief is still there, and I'm still completely heartbroken.
Bob Graham writes that a broken wing can sometimes heal with rest, and time, and a little hope. But how does one heal a broken heart? Not with Breakup Pudding from PETA's Vegan College Cookbook, that's for sure! In my happily coupled-up days, I'd always wanted to make this recipe but never got around to it. Then when I found myself alone and facing suffocation under an ever-increasing mountain of snotty tissues, I thought yes, now's the time.
This pudding is not for the faint hearted. It contains 10 tablespoons of sugar and though it professes to feed 4, I dispute that claim. This is 10 tablespoons of sugar for 1 person. Along with the entire sugar stocks of Australia, the pudding also requires a whopping 8 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 pack of silken tofu, 2.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Then you simply blend it all until smooth and chill. The end result comes out like this (please excuse the poor quality of the photo, I was not in a good state of mind):
Is it possible to feel worse after your life partner has just abandoned you, you know you're going to be alone forever, and you find yourself curled up on the lounge watching 500 Days of Summer while wearing a jumper that says 'I Like Cats' and crying into your breakup pudding? Well, no, but it is possible to feel very very sick on top of that. Was it eating my own weight in sugar? No, I don't believe so, though that did cause my heart to race at an extraordinary speed. Was it eating a pudding made for 4 people in one sitting? No, that's not really out of the ordinary for me. No, it was the absurd amount of cocoa, I'm talking so much cocoa that it burns the back of your throat as you're eating it. The problem is, the ratio of cocoa to water was, well, non-existent. This meant that the cocoa created a sort of thick gel in my stomach and couldn't continue down into my small intestine which resulted in terrible nausea and a great amount of vomiting. On the plus side, the relief that one experiences post-vomit was probably the emotional highlight of my day.
So if you're ever heartbroken, I suggest that you ignore PETA's advice and do not eat their breakup pudding, even though sugary, chocolaty gloop is exactly what you feel you need. I think Bob Graham is probably on the right track, the only things that really heal a broken heart are rest, time, and a little hope.
Happy (not) eating...and here's to hope.
When I was little, this dessert was one of my favourites. Frogs eggs! With a name like that, how could anyone not be intrigued? The look and the texture really was just what I imagined frogs' eggs to be and it absolutely delighted me. However, it was a rare treat as my mother always said that it was too much work to make. Recently though, I remembered frogs' eggs and discovered that it is actually quite easy to make! Hmm... my mother has a lot to answer for... Go on, leap in and give frogs' eggs a try! I also dare you to find a child who won't eat it, or at least try it (and sometimes that's a victory in itself!)
Here is my veganized recipe for frogs' eggs, known to most people as sago pudding. Sago are small, white starchy balls that can be purchased from the supermarket or a health food store. They're also known as tapioca pearls and turn clear when cooked.
Serves: 2 large serves or 4 smaller serves
1 cup sago
3 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
4 tbsp castor sugar
1. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the sago, stir well, and reduce heat to low. Leave to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
2. Add the coconut milk and sugar, stir well, and heat back to a simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until sago balls are completely clear.
I like to eat this dessert hot, but it will actually become a solid jelly-ish substance if chilled in the fridge. This makes it great for moulding and means that it can be made ahead of time and presented in a really impressive way. When cold, it's nice with fruit or any number of syrups and is perfect for a summery dessert.
Happy eating! :)
Ok, I know that this looks really gross but hear me out... it's not.
Now anyone who reads this blog will know that I'm a big fan of chocolate and comfort foods, so of course chocolate comfort foods are the highest tier of deliciousness in my book. This recipe is one that I dreamed up recently and it is a new favourite to eat snuggled on the lounge with a blanket and a movie. I like to think that this dessert is also a healthy dessert... it does have bananas in it after all... that makes it healthy, right?
Serves 1
1 large banana
Vegan choc-chips (I use Sweet William)
1. Cut banana in half length-ways and arrange in a bowl like a banana split.
2. Sprinkle with choc-chips and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
3. Stir and enjoy.
Happy eating! :)
Greetings one and all! I have not posted for quite a while as I have been working on a research project. However, I now find myself with a couple of hours free and so I thought I'd make up for my absence by posting an amazing chocolate cheesecake recipe slightly adapted from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's fabulous and never-fail cookbook - The Joy of Vegan Baking.
Makes one 23cm cheesecake
For the filling
Egg replacer made up to the equivalent of 4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 cup vegan 'milk' chocolate chips (I use Sweet William brand)
690g soy cream cheese (at room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the base
1 cup crushed vegan cookies (I use Ogran Outback Animals Chocolate Biscuits which I get from Coles/Woolworths and use a food processor to crumble them)
1/4 cup Nuttelex, melted
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and lightly oil a springform cake tin.
2. In a bowl, mix together the cookie crumbs and melted Nuttelex until will blended. Firmly press mixture into the bottom of the cake tin. Set aside.
3. Using a food processor, whip the egg replacer and the water together until it's thick and creamy. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and egg replacer mixture until smooth and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Melt the chocolate chips either in the microwave or using a bain-marie. Add melted chocolate and vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture and blend thoroughly.
6. Pour mixture into the springform tin with prepared crust and bake for 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Transfer to a serving plate, cover with cling-wrap, and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, though preferably overnight.
7. Eat, and eat, and eat that absolutely delicious cake!
Happy eating! :)
One of life's great joys is making a batch of pancakes for breakfast on the weekend, I mean, when else is it socially acceptable to have a dessert for breakfast? This is my favourite pancake recipe, veganised from Eat Well, Stay Strong: a nunga cookbook for healthy living. It works every time and has very little sugar - though you wouldn't know it! I like them topped with strawberry jam, cinnamon and sugar, lemon and sugar or, of course, the classic maple syrup.
Makes: 2 large or 4 smaller pancakes
1 cup self raising flour (sometimes I use half white self raising and half wholemeal self raising and then tell myself that they are healthy pancakes)
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup soy milk
Egg replacer made up to the equivalent of 2 eggs (I use Orgran brand)
Vegetable oil
Nuttelex
1. In a bowl mix together the four and sugar.
2. Make a well in the centre, and then add milk and egg replacer. Whisk until batter is smooth.
3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add a small knob of Nuttelex. When the fat is hot, spoon batter into the frying pan (I find it best to use a soup ladle).
4. Cook until bubbles form on the top (a pancake ready to flip looks a lot like a crumpet) and then flip and cook the on other side.
Happy eating! :)
Having trouble getting little ones to eat food that's good for them? Or maybe it's your own mouth you're wanting to trick. Either way, these chocolate muffins are yummy AND good for you! Perfect for lunch or a snack.
Makes 12
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 1/2 cups wheat bran (not flakes or pellets, just regular bran)
1 tbsp cocoa
1 1/2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp soy milk
1 cup prunes
1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C and grease a 12 hole muffin tray with a little vegetable oil.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, bran, cocoa, bi-carb, and sugar until thoroughly combined.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the vegetable oil, vinegar, soy milk, and 1 1/2 cups of the water. Mix until just combined.
4. In a food processor, process the prunes and the remaining 1/2 cup of water until smooth. Add to the bowl and fold in.
5. Spoon mixture into muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, but with a few crumbs still clinging to it.
6. Leave to cool in the tray for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on an airing rack.
Happy eating! :)
Being a woman, once a month my body loudly demands offerings of chocolate. Its preferred form is brownies. Before I was vegan, I had a simple solution to this: single serve packets of triple-choc 'microwave brownies'. Sometimes I would eat three in one day. Since going vegan though, I now just eat a lot of Cottees chocolate ice-cream topping because the last thing I feel like doing while moping on the lounge with my hot water bottle is baking a batch of brownies... then doing all the dishes created by making said brownies.
But lo! I have discovered a delicious and pretty effortless solution! Enter.... the microwave mug brownie! I saw this recipe as an image on Facebook, I'm not sure who originally created it, but the image I saw can be found on this website. It takes 2 minutes to make, 1 minute and 40 seconds to cook, creates almost no dishes, and superbly satisfies the bodily demands for sugar, fat, and carbs. Truly, the food of gods.
Serves: 1
1/4 cup white self raising flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp water
1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mug.
2. Add oil and water and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Cook in microwave on high for 1 minute 40 seconds.
4. Eat as is or top with chocolate topping.
Variation: add 1-2 tbsp vegan choc-chips (such as Sweet William) to dry ingredients at step 1 for a very chocolaty chocolate brownie.
Happy eating! :)
This chocolate mousse from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is absolutely heavenly! I made if for my family Christmas dinner and it was a big hit. One of the very picky children (who once cried when he found out that there were carrots in the carrot cake) even said "This is delicious! You can't even taste the tofu!". If that's not a compliment then I don't know what is! This is now my favourite dessert by far!
Note: you may have to halve the recipe and blend it in two batches - unless you have a massive blender in which case, carry on!
Serves: around 10
2 cups nondairy 'milk' or semisweet chocolate chips (I use Sweet William brand)
680g silken tofu
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1. Heat the chocolate chips in a microwave until melted, stirring at regular intervals.
2. Put the tofu, melted chocolate, soy milk, and vanilla extract in a blender or food processor and process until completely smooth - stopping every now and then to scrape down the sides of the blender or food processor and under the blades.
3. Pour into a large bowl or into individual serving bowls and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.
Happy eating! :)
These peppermint creams always go down really well, especially with children! The recipe can be found at The Very Good Bakery.
Though the recipe says it will make 30 peppermint creams, I found it only makes around 20, though maybe I'm just very generous in my servings! I don't bother rolling the dough and cutting it either, I just spoon it into patty pans.
Happy eating! :)
I made this cake for Jeff's birthday this year and, as Portal so aptly put it, it was so delicious and moist. This recipe comes from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's excellent recipe book, The Joy of Vegan Baking. Her recipe for the accompanying frosting can be found here.
Makes one 23cm cake or 8 cupcakes
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp bi-carb
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 cup water
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and lightly oil cake tin.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt, bi-carb, and cocoa in a bowl until thoroughly combined.
3. Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the vanilla, oil, vinegar, and water. Mix until just combined.
4. Pour into cake tin and bake for 30 minutes (15 minutes for cupcakes) or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Cool completely before frosting.
Happy eating! :)
I made this chocolate frosting for Jeff's birthday cake this year and it was amazing. The recipe comes from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Joy of Vegan Baking, and says that it will make enough for a 23cm cake or 8 cupcakes. Well, Colleen must absolutely PILE on the frosting because I ended up with a hell of a lot! However, it does say that you can store the frosting in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, just re-whip it before using it. So if you have lots birthdays coming up, that could be very handy.
1/2 cup Nuttelex
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp soy milk, or more as needed
1. With an electric hand mixer (and trust me, you WILL need one!), cream the butter until smooth.
2. With the mixer on low speed, add the icing sugar and cream for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the cocoa, vanilla, and milk. Once the ingredients are all fairly well combined, turn the mixer to high speed. Beat on high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1-2 tbsp milk if it's too dry.
Happy eating! :)
The dessert pizza is a concept that was introduced to me by a restaurant a few years ago. Like all pizza, it's very versatile and you can put just about anything on there.
Some ideas for toppings include chocolate spread, chocolate, ice-cream, whipped cream, banana, strawberries, mixed berries, yoghurt, toffee, coconut, soft lollies, and ice-cream topping. I use a pre-made store-bought base.
1. Cook your base for around 5-10 minutes in a 200 degree oven, until it goes a bit hard on the top.
2. Pile on your toppings!
The pizza pictured below is one I made using Sweet William Chocolate Spread, Sanitarium So Good Ice-cream, Cottees Chocolate Topping, and Sweet William Chocolate Bits.
Happy eating! :)
Day 23 of vegan challenge.
Breakfast
Strawberry jam on toast. Looked less like tomato paste on toast than this picture:
Brunch
I surprised Jeff with some little chocolate pastries, of which I ate many. They were really easy to make, the large one is just a Sweet William chocolate bar encased in puff pastry, and the long thin one contains a mixture of Sweet William Chocolate Spread, crunchy peanut butter, and a bit of Nuttelex (so it's not too dry). I would love to provide a recipe for these but really, the ratios of different ingredients depends on personal taste. I just kept adding more of each until I was happy with how it tasted. The little hearts are just leftover pastry with some sugar sprinkled on top. Anyway, these chocolate pastries are DELICIOUS! What are you waiting for? Go make some!
Lunch
I went to a gathering and didn't want to look like a weirdo photographing everything. So here is a, surprisingly good, drawing of what I ate. There were lots of Arnott's Jatz biscuits, some plain salted corn chips, carrot sticks, celery sticks, sliced orange, and sliced banana.
Dinner
Toasted rye bread with Nuttelex, a cup of ginger tea, and veggie mash made with potato, sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, corn, and peas.
Snacks
A spoonful of Sweet William Chocolate Spread.
This fudge is delicious, addictive, and very bad for you! Enjoy!
3/4 cup Nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)
1 cup peanut butter (either smooth, crunchy, or both)
1 1/3 cups icing sugar
Little bit of extra nuttelex for greasing
1. Put the nuttelex in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, or until mostly melted.
2. Stir in the peanut butter right away, while the bowl and nuttelex are still warm.
3. Add the icing sugar gradually using a sieve, mixing well.
4. Pour into a greased tin and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Cut into squares or just spoon it out and enjoy.
Happy eating! :)
