Saturday 6 September 2014

September 2014 In My Kitchen - Vegan MoFo edition

It that time of the month when I give you a peek into my kitchen.  As it is Vegan MoFo let's start with a visit to the Cruelty Free Shop in Fitzroy.  I didn't get to Vegan Day Out.  Probably for the best as I  prefer to browse when it is quieter.   It is always such a pleasant place to shop.  Such great vegan products.  A tyranny of choice.

I bought the Rhubarb and Custard nakd bar on the recommendation of the guy behind the counter.  It was very good, despite there being no rhubarb in the bar.  What I loved about the packaging was how large the ingredients were.  So often ingredients are so tiny they are a challenge to read.  As if the company has something to hide.  The Seed and Bean Coconut and Raspberry chocolate is just lovely too.  I am yet to eat the bean soup.  Too busy eating bio cheese on toast!

Yes I am in love with Biocheese.  If cheese was the only thing stopping me going vegan, Biocheese could possibly solve that problem.  It is so melty and yummy on a cheese on toast.  I have added it to bakes and pizza and it works brilliantly.  As others have noted, it is not really intensely flavoured and it doesn't seem to crisp up the way cheese does but it is the texture of cheese that I find most difficult in vegan dishes.  If you want more information, you could check out Veganopoulous' Biocheese review.

I managed to get along to Coburg Farmers Market a few weeks back.  The bagels went quickly, as did the Cocoa Rhapsody mint chocolate, beetroot dukkah dip and apples.  You will see the cute little squash soon.  The oranges and purple carrots are still in the kitchen.

I have had fun experimenting with the strawberry vinegar.  Great in a salad dressing.  The chilli sauce has been left to E.  We had found the jar challenging.  In fact half the sauce ended up on the floor after one particularly frustrating night trying to open the lid!

I have lots of vegan puff pastry in the freezer after buying it to make sausage rolls for a recent party.  Any suggestions are welcome.

I also bought these gluten free oats for the sausage rolls.  It is rare to see gluten free oats in Australia so I was surprised to see them in the supermarket.  I prefer rolled oats but bought quick oats because I wanted to make gluten free sausage rolls.

My mum often makes a contribution to my kitchen.  Here is an apricot jam she made from dried apricots - great with scones.  Also some apples she bought me from Newton farmers market and a kiddie mosaic craft set.

I was interested to see a new range of Fry's vegan goods in the supermarket.  We are yet to try the hot dogs.  I like the idea of them but it is not a regular meal in our house.  I bought them because my mum used to make us hot dogs for lunch quite regularly on weekends when I was little and little hot dogs were a staple of kids parties.  I hoped they might give give nostalgia value.

I was really curious about the polony.  Yes it is a vegan baloney.  I thought it might make a similar sandwich to the German sausage with sauce that I used to have a lot as a child.  I was not keen.  However I fried up the polony and added it to some split pea soup.  It was delicious.  I was amused at how much it looked like there were chunks of ham floating in the soup.

Here is one of Sylvia's lunches: sushi rice in nori, carrots, roasted chickpeas, porridgies, dates and dried apricots.  It was a day when we didn't have any fresh fruit but this time of there there have been a lot of apples in sylvia's lunch box.

Regular readers will know that Frozen fever has hit our house.  Sylvia just loved this frozen plate, bowl and cup set.  Pink, princesses and flowers.  What more could a little 5 year old girl want!

Lastly here are our blueberry plant a week or two ago.  A lot of blossom has already fallen off and I am less hopeful of growing blueberries.  No doubt the birds are keeping an eye on them.  Last year they ate most of the blueberries.

Everything in this post is vegan as I have written it as part of Vegan Month of Food September 2014.  This year for Vegan MoFo my theme is The Letter S.  

Today is S for the September edition of Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial's In My Kitchen even.  Head over to join in and/or check out what is happening in other bloggers' kitchens.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2014 Vegan MoFo posts. 

25 comments:

  1. My blueberry plants look similar and I have to say I'm holding my breath a little to see if the blueberries form. Last year so many lovely little flowers but not so many berries. Fingers crossed!

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  2. I gave up on my blueberry plants, the birds just won that round over and over! I decided against the Fry's polony because it's just too much left for me if nobody else in the family eats it! Thanks for linking to my blog, I'm looking forward to trying the new Biocheese flavours when they come out.

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    1. @veganopoulous - after trying polony on a sandwich I was worried I would never get through it as not so keen on it cold but liked the idea of frying it and would buy it again if I had some soups and stews that could do with meaty chunks. didn't know there are new biocheese flavours coming out - will have to try them

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  3. I always love these posts of yours Johanna. I guess because i'm nosy and like a little peek into the "behind-the-scenes" of people's kitchens! I've (somehow!) run down my dark chocolate stash so I think I might pick up a couple of bars of Seed & Bean to try. Their flavours are always intriguing. I love that you can buy fresh bagels at your farmers' market. It's hard to find bagels here that don't have a million and one ingredients so I never buy them but it would be a lovely treat to pick up one with wholesome ingredients now from the farmers' market now and again.

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    1. @emma - I guess you would really like the coconut and raspberry chocolate given the name of your blog :-) I have made bagels before and they were vegan - but I made them with a friend and never got organised to make them alone at home. The bagel guy said he bought more along the other week so they must sell well - the are delicious

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  4. What fantastic markets you must have! Oh to have that variety of lovely food available! One question - how can a rhubarb and custard bar not contain rhubarb??!

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    1. @elizabeth - I guess it is in the flavouring - and it is a flavour rather than tasting like you are eating a mouthful of rhubarb

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  5. My nieces would love that Frozen plate!

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  6. Frozen fever here too! Even I am getting into it :) we love those frys products too. Great idea to use polony in a soup. Really keen to try that biocheese now!

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    1. @kate - I quite like frozen and am relieved it is something I can cope with hearing on repeat and watching over and over

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  7. I'm loving BioCheese too. It's really the most like dairy cheese that I've tried. I haven't tried it on toast yet though - and now I'm almost out and need to re-stock. Goodness knows how much stuff I'll come home with!

    And no rhubarb in the rhubarb bar? Ha!

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    1. @linda - biocheese is probably the most dairy like I have tried too - as I still eat dairy cheese I am quite aware of it when they are not at all like dairy - but I would happily eat this on toast rather than the dairy cheese

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  8. I need to let my vegan sister-in-law know about your blog, her diet is so plain and repetitive and you show it obviously doesn't need to be!

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  9. Boo to the birds taking over your blueberry stash!!

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  10. I do love those Nakd bars (common here) but haven't tried that flavour. It is the miminal ingredient lists I love - although they do make me think I should just make my own bars!

    Sorry about your berries :S

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    1. @kari - I think the same with nakd bars but it is so convenient to buy one sometimes rather than to make them

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  11. Goodness, that is some good lookin cheeze there, looks so melty and delicious! Where is Biocheese based in? I hope to try this while in Melbourne! Sylvia’s lunch is so cute - they remind me of bento boxes, hehe, you should get her one :)

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    1. @rika - biocheese seems to be available at a few stores - it is at the cruelty free shop which is probably one of your main places to visit for vegan groceries in Melbourne

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  12. i love flavoured vinegars, and usually have a couple of different ones in the pantry. i am using blackberry at the moment; so delish on salads. I didn't know you could get vegan frozen pastry. it is amazing what is available these days.

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  13. Have a fabulous vegan month! So many interesting foods! And your haul from the markets looks wonderful - especially those purple carrots and the squashes, which are really very cute as you say.. :)

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  14. G'day! Thank you for allowing me to learn something new re ingredients and foods!
    Thanks for this month's kitchen view which I enjoyed today too!
    Cheers! Joanne

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  15. Fun kitchen finds! Did your mom make the jam for you? How nice =)
    Sylvia is the same age as my niece - she also LOVES Frozen. Are you tired of the songs yet ;p

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    1. @Kimmy - I am very lucky that my mum often makes lovely food for me - last weekend she made me vegetarian lasagne. And strangely enough I am not sick of frozen - I really like the movie and the music (and there is so much worse out there)

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  16. Some very interesting sounding ingredients there! We are extremely limited on choice here in Alice Springs, so it's nice to see what else is out there. Thank you for the post!

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  17. I just bought bio-cheese yesterday! Though I prob won't try it myself, just for my daughter! I'm trying to convince myself that one bit of oil is ok just to test taste hehehe but I doubt I'll give in!
    I will have to get her some of the new fry's range too - they will be handy for school mornings when I don't have a lot of time to prepare anything!

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