Vegetation

It's funny, I keep thinking I have absolutely nothing to blog. Then I decide I have something, upload all the photos and realize there was way more than I thought I had cooked!

First up this week I decided I wanted muffins. But we seem to have hit a patch where I'd run out of a lot of my pantry staples and every recipe I decided on I was missing something (and it was generally one of the main ingredients or something I couldn't really sub). Anyway, I stumbled upon my Vegan Vittles and because I've never made anything out of it before, decided it really was time to crack it open.

What I came across was some "Muffins that taste like donuts" (yes, that is what they are called) so I decided we could all use some vegan donut-ness in the house. The only thing I did different was put them in mini muffin holes instead of regular ones.

They came out a teensy bit dry....problem solved real quick!

My belly has been acting up so I've been looking for some recipes that are pretty much everything free but veggies and grains. I remembered I'd been eyeing off the Butternut Vindaloo from Vegan with a Vengeance and because it was cold decided to give that a go. The only thing I did differently was to cook it in the slow cooker instead of on the stove/in the oven. It was yummy!

I served it with rice and some of the flat breads I made the other day, only this time I threw the Kalonji seeds into the dough instead of rolling them in at the last minute.
The night after I decided to finally try General Tao's Seitan. I got the recipe from the PPK forums but I'm 99% sure that it was originally the one from vegweb minus the green onions (which I'll put in next time) and without the sherry option and this one had like 1/4 cup white wine vinegar which I didn't like at all, next time I'll try it with the 1 Tbsp! It was okay, but not wonderful, not helped by the fact that it was cold so I had to reheat it and then it got chewy instead of crispy :P It sort of reminded me of sweet and sour pork without the pork.
Last but not least, I made some home made pizza. I decided to make the dough using the recipe from the book that came with the bread machine. I ummed and ahhed and threw in a Tbsp of milk powder. Serves me right, stick with vegan pizza dough! I ended up with a bread bin full of sticky goo that couldn't be saved so I started again using Isa's recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance (see link above) and it came out perfectly.

Nothing special on this one, tomato pasta sauce, pizza cheese (yes, I still haven't got past cheese on my pizza), green capsicum, onion, mushrooms, kalamata olives, pineapple and I threw on some capers at the last minute because I used to love anchovies on my pizza (they're about the only meaty thing I really miss other than bacon, in theory anyway, I don't think I could actually eat either now). It turned out great, the salty baby capers were perfect!