In My Kitchen: September 2016, with a vegan reuben sandwich

Today spring arrives at last.  I spoke to someone this week about how mild the weather has been the last few days.  With typical Melbourne gloom, he replied, the bad weather is holding off until the school holidays later this month!  The house still feels a little odd without our Zinckie cat but it is nice to have sunshine.  September will be busy with a school play, the holidays, fathers day and lots of birthdays.  So let's have a peek into my kitchen.

Above is a new bag I bought recently.  I was first attracted to the bright designs and then I was fascinated to find that Lily Bloom's bags are made from recycled plastics (and are vegan).  It also has lots of pockets.  When I take this bag out in the morning, the fun design never fails to cheer me up.

Sylvia has been less keen on cheese lately.  We are not big on dairy in our house.  Without cheese I am concerned about her calcium intake and trying to encourage her to eat other sources such as yoghurt, almonds, leafy greens and oats.  When she eats cheese I am happy like in this snack that she prepared for herself with savoy dry biscuits, cheese and strawberries.

 

August saw some Olympic fever in our house.  (If that is name for trying to watch some gymnastics but often getting our timing wrong, so watching horse jumping and recoiling in horror at a horse doing a somersault and then trying to ignore the media berating Australia for lack of medals.)  One morning we made pancakes and Sylvia asked for a gold medal pancake!

Another recent Saturday morning brunch was pizza french toast which I made by topping some vegan french toast with pizza sauce and cheese at the end of frying.  It was hot enough that the cheese melted quickly.

As a cheese lover I also love vegan cheese and trying to incorporate it into my diet as well as dairy.  I was fascinated to see Swiss style Daiya cheese slices at Smith and Deli.  And I knew just want to do with it.

As soon as I found the swiss style Daiya, I looked around for some sauerkraut.  I like the idea of including more sauerkraut into my diet.  And I am fascinated by reuben sandwiches.  But they are not vegetarian.  A recipe from the Women's Weekly that I saw while browsing in a newsagent had inspired a vegan version.

The Vegan Beetroot and Apple Reuben Sandwich recipe started with rye bread so I bought a loaf.  Then I made a dressing of 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used Veganaise), some dried onion flakes, a tablespoon of tomato sauce (ketchup), a tablespoon of finely chopped pickle cucumbers and a small amount of sriracha.  I spread this either side of the bread and layered cheese, cooked beetroot slices, raw apple slices, saurkraut and another slice of cheese.  Then I put it under the grill (broiler) to cook.

The main aim was to toast the bread and melt the cheese.  Before serving I buttered the top of the sandwich.  It was a messy sandwich but really good.  I loved how the cheese melted and merged with all the textures and flavours.  Sadly, it is a bit fiddly to make this sandwich so since then I have had more with just dressing, sauerkraut and cheese.

Last weekend we got back to the Coburg Farmers Market.  Nothing like a bit of sunshine after some wet wintery weekends to encourage getting out and enjoying a market.  The apples are at the end of the season and I am looking forward to summer fruits.  I loved the Criollo Coconut from Cocoa Rhapsody (milk chocolate criollo with strawberry and coconut) that is like a really good coconut rough.  The bagels were lovely but needed to be toasted the second day.  And I will be back soon to tell you what I did with the edible flowers and some of the vegies.

Just outside my kitchen is this new(ish) planter that my mum has been populating.  So far I have managed to kill some lettuce but the flowers, strawberries and other lettuces are surviving.  I just need to remember to give my garden some attention.

And this weekend it is Fathers Day so at Sylvia's school they hold a stall for the kids to buy presents.  I helped out with making some small cards.  My favourite was the burger.

Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial started the In My Kitchen event for bloggers to share what is in their kitchens.  It has been hosted recently by Maureen of The Orgasmic Chef but she has not been well.  I hope Maureen is doing better and able to host the even this month as she had planned.