choc-orange self-saucing pudding recipe

Yummmmm. I was craving jaffas this week but as a vegan who doesn't eat chocolate, I can't have them. So instead I invented a jaffa pudding. I have shown you the mainstream ingredients but my vegan carob version is given in brackets.

Sauce
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa (or carob) powder
1 cup boiling water
juice of 1 orange

Place all ingredients in a greased, high-sided casserole dish and stir until the sugar is melted.

Pudding
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa (or carob) powder
a pinch of salt
grated rind of 1 orange
2 Tablspoons melted butter (or dairy-free margarine)
1/2 cup milk ( or soy/rice milk)

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Pour pudding mixture into casserole dish on top of sauce.
Bake for 45 mins at 180C (350F).
Serve warm or cool with icecream.

knitted fruit and vegetables

In preparation for Olive's birthday (it's not until the 12th of April but the plan is to induce her little sister around the 31st of May, so I'm guessing I won't have much time closer to the date), I have been busily knitting. She always plays with the plastic play food at playgroup and childcare but I couldn't bring myself to buy any of that plastic crap so I have been making knitted versions instead. The best thing is, with thanks to Ravelry, I was able to find all of the patterns for free.

So, with an excited little drum roll, here are the results!



Pear, apple and lemon patterns were from Peachcake Knits. And the orange was made by adjusting the apple pattern.

The banana was made using Allison Judge's Baby Fruit & Veggie Rattle patterns. The shape is great but it is remarkably small compared with Australian bananas.

The three strawberries are from PezDiva. So very, very quick to make!



Corn and mushroom patterns are by Kimberly Chapman.

The carrot, cucumber and eggplant were all made using Allison Judge's Baby Fruit & Veggie Rattle patterns. I love the cucumber and eggplant but the carrot is in definite need of a bit more tapering.

Pumpkin pattern is available as a Ravelry download by Jan Lewis.

The cute (but giant!) pea pod is courtesy of Hannah Kaminsky. Although I did lengthen the pod by an extra 10 rows so that I could fit in an extra pea.

The teeny tiny summer squash is by Gerwerken. Don't miss the correction, too.

The avocado is just a dark green pear as above but wihout the stem and leaf.

And lastly, the tomato was my own pattern.


Perhaps I am a little crazy for having knitted so many of these, but I am sane by comparison with the contributors to the fabulously funny Why would you knit that? My pick for the craziest knit is the placenta, but I have to admit that I find the knitted dissected lab rat and frog strangely beautiful ...

free knitted egg pattern

This pattern was originally based on curlypurly's colourful egg but I had trouble understanding the instructions so I made my own then adjusted them, adjusted, and adjusted until finally by my sixth egg I had something that I'm happy with.

Materials
Yarn: I used 8 ply (DK). Only a very small amount is required.
Needles: 4.0mm (US size 6) dpn's
Stuffing
Darning needle

Gauge: Doesn't matter, just make it tight

Abbreviations
CO = cast on
K = knit
K2tog = knit 2 together
Kfb = knit into front and back of next stitch
st = stitches

Instructions
CO 6
Tuck tail upwards so that it will be hidden inside the egg.
round 1: [K1, Kfb] to end of round (9 st)
round 2: [K2, Kfb] (12 st)
round 3: [K1, Kfb] (18 st)
round 4: [K1, Kfb] (27 st)
round 5: K
round 6: [K8, Kfb] (30 st)
rounds 7-12: K 6 rounds
round 13: [K8, K2tog] (27 st)
round 14: [K7, K2tog] (24 st)
round 15: [K6, K2tog] (21 st)
round 16: [K5, K2tog] (18 st)
round 17: K
round 18: [K4, K2tog] (15 st)
round 19: K
stuff
round 21: [K3, K2tog] (12 st)
round 22: K (12 st)
round 23: [K2tog] (6st)
Cut off and run thread through stitches, pulling tightly. Hide tail inside egg.

free knitted tomato pattern

Yay!! My first ever knitting pattern!

Materials
Yarn: I used 8 ply (DK) in red and green. Only a very small amount is required.
Needles: 4.0mm (US size 6) dpn's & crochet hook
Stuffing
Darning needle

Gauge: Doesn't matter, just make it tight

Abbreviations
CO = cast on
dpn = double pointed needle
k = knit
k2tog = knit 2 together
kfb = knit into front and back of next stitch
st = stitches

Instructions
CO 6 stitches onto a single dpn
round 1: without turning (as if making an i-cord), kfb every st onto 3 needles (12 st)
Tuck tail into centre.
round 2: k
round 3: k1, kfb (18 st)
round 4: k
round 5: k2, kfb (24 st)
round 6: k
round 7: k3, kfb (30 st)
round 8: k
round 9: k5, kfb (35 st)
rounds 10-16: k 7 rounds
round 17: k5, k2tog (30 st)
round 18: k
round 20: k3, k2tog (24 st)
round 21: k
round 22: k2, k2tog (18 st)
round 23: k
Stuff.
round 24: k1, k2tog (12 st)
round 25: k1 in green, k1 in red
Cut and tie off red yarn and tuck into centre.
round 26: k2tog in green (6 st)
Cut off green yarn, leaving long tail.
Using darning needle, thread tail through remaining stitches and tie off.
Thread yarn through centre of tomato to base and back again to give an indentation at the top. Knot again.
Crochet a chain of about 5 stitches to make a stalk.
Using darning needle, thread yarn back down stalk and into tomoto. Cut off.
You're done!

vegan apple cinnamon drops recipe

More baking. I have been sick for the last few days and still can't stomach anything fancier than toast but couldn't stop myself from baking all the same. Crazy.

These Apple Cinnamon Drops are my own invention, designed to use up some of the apple sauce left behind by the meat eaters who came for Christmas.

Ingredients
1/2 cup non-dairy margarine
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons egg replacer
120ml soy or rice milk
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
apple sauce

Method
Preheat oven to moderate.
Cream the margarine and sugar.
Gradually add the milk.
Add the sifted dry ingredients, mixing well.
Roll into small balls and place onto a greased tray.
Press an indentation in the centre of each biscuit and spoon in a little apple sauce.
Bake for 15 minutes.

vegan gingerbread men recipe

These gingerbread men are a veganised, easier-fied version of the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Unit recipe. I made them for a playgroup Christmas party and they were very popular with the kids but unfortunately the dog liked them too, and the kids hadn't learned how to defend themselves yet. Ah well.

Ingredients
1/2 cup soy or non-dairy margarine
2 Tablespoons golden syrup
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon powdered egg replacer
100g soy or rice milk
315g SR flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
decorations (eg currants, glace cherries, candied peel, sprinkles, icing, whatever!)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C
2. Melt margarine and golden syrup in mixing bowl in microwave
3. Add sugar and soy milk.
4. Add sifted flour, salt, ginger and egg replacer. Mix well.
5. Knead lightly and roll out to 1cm thickness on a floured board.
6. Use cutter to shape and place on a greased tray.
7. Decorate with fruit.
8. Bake 15-20 minutes
9. When cool, add icing if desired.

Slice for Siew

I promised the wonderfully honest and funny Siew that I would share my easy apple slice recipe and thought that you might be interested too. Particularly as it serves as an update to my fig dilemma. So here we go...

EASY FRUIT SLICE
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup rolled oats and 1/2 cup coconut.
Add 185g melted butter.
Press 3/4 of the mixture into a small lined slice tin.
Spread 400g stewed fruit on top. I usually use canned pie apple but today it was stewed figs instead.
Crumble the remaining pastry mixture on top.
Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes.
Serve warm as a dessert (with vanilla icecream!) or cold as a slice.

soup di loop

Pip of Meet Me at Mikes has put out a call for soup recipes and I am up for the challenge! I am a major fan of soup when it comes to cooking - one pot wonders that taste even better as leftovers and freeze with ease - and yet I never order it when eating out. Maybe because I know I can cook it easily at home? Except the amazing soups at Bo De Trai, including the full moon special, "beep soup". It's really fake beef and noodle soup, but their sign has an unfortunate misspelling.

My soupy contribution for the evening is (drumroll....)

Indian Spinach soup
Start by frying up the spices: A teaspoon of mustard seeds, your desired strength of chilli, a tablespoon of fesh ginger ginger and 2 bay leaves. I also use asoefetida powder but just as a substitute for onion, which I guess you are more likely to have in the cupboard.
Next add the spinach: one packet of frozen or bunch of fresh. Cook for a couple of minutes until the spinach has wilted.
Add a paste of one tablespoon of flour mixed with a cup of cold water, then quickly add a can of coconut milk. Stir until it comes close to boiling then simmer for ten minutes.
Add salt to taste and you're done!

While I'm on the topic of cooking, I guess I may as well show you some dessert too.

It's just apricots and a dob of thick custard on little squares of puff pastry. Nothing special but very easy to make, good for little snacks and I like the way they looked all lined up on the tray.

this is ... Sunday lunch

This is a tricky "this is" for me because lunch is very much a do-it-yourself deal in our house, and usually ends up being leftovers or a series of snacks. This week, though, we managed to get to La Panella Hot Bread shop on High street in Preston, where they have a good range of cheap and delicious vegan hot foods and sweet snacks. So today's lunch is fake meat pies. Mmmmm.


While I'm on the topic, I may as well mention some of our other favourite vegan suppliers. Not that I'm out to convert anyone - it's just in case you're curious or having trouble feeding your veggo friends.

A great fake meat supplier is Vincent's Vegetarian Supermarket in Footscray. They have a huge range of frozen, foil-packed, canned and dehydrated mock meats - even vegetarian intestines!

We are blessed with lots of Buddhist vegetarian restaurants in Melbourne - perfect for vegans who on't eat garlic and onion. A few of our faves are:
* Vegie Mum at 27 Village avenue in Doncaster. The complete package.
* Bo De Trai at 94 Hopkins street in Footscray. A unique dining experience - not exactly lavish but great value and always delicious, even on those days that they bring you the wrong dish. But be warned - they close early (about 8pm).
* Enlightened Cuisine in Southbank. The closest we get to a fine dining experience.
* White Lotus at 185 Victoria street North Melbourne. The tamarind fish is my favourite dish ever!! and the owner is extra friendly.

And for dairy-free sweet snacks and desserts, you can't go past the kosher grocers like Alex's at 831 Glenhuntly Road in Caulfield South or Kraus foods at 62 Glen Eira Road in Elsternwick.

overload

The figs are ripe. Which is great, except that the tree is yielding enough to fill a whole shopping bag each day. I have eaten them raw. I have made jam. I have made baby food. I have made fruit cobbler. I have given them away in ridiculous quantities and am considering putting up a "free figs" sign at the front of the house.
Does anyone out there know of a good use for figs?