In My Kitchen: November 2016

November is a crazy month.  It starts with a birthday lunch and ends with Christmas well and truly on the way.  This year I am participating in Vegan MoFo (as introduced yesterday) and so my blog is only featuring vegan food all November.  In my kitchen is lots of interesting vegan purchases and home cooked food, a little Halloween and the welcome return of stone fruit!

I start with a batch of vegan meringues (above).  Sylvia had to take something to Show and Tell at school under the theme of The Science of Cooking.  I baked this batch of meringues for her to take in and ask kids to guess what was in them.  No one got it.  (In fact no one even guessed egg white that is traditionally used in meringues!)  She then told them a bit about the exciting recent discovery of using aqua faba instead of egg whites.

I think I was more excited about aqua faba and she was more excited about taking meringues to give out to her class.  But I still feel it a great thing for kids to know about.  Oh, and I learned that I need to make sure not to pipe the meringues too close together, even if I am very tired.  

As it is Vegan MoFo (where bloggers around the globe post often about vegan food), I thought I would post some of our favourite vegan food.  We regularly have these items in our house: hummus, rice crackers, roasted fava beans, seaweed crackers, biocheese, bba sausages, tofu, and Fry's schnitzels.

A new vegan item in my kitchen is this packet of smoked chipotle sausages.  I haven't tasted them.  They are from the freezer section so I keep forgetting about them.  I love anything smoky but am hoping they aren't too spicy.

I have been making an effort to eat my vegies and loving how pretty they look.  Isn't purple cabbage just gorgeous?  I ate it with dal and rice.

Another recent meal was these Coconut Black Eyed African Beans.  It is a favourite stew with coconut cream, tomato passata and black eyed beans.  When I make favourite dishes that I blogged years ago, if time permits I take a nice photo to improve the look of old posts.  My photography skills still need much work but I have improved since I started blogging in 2007.

I am quite fond of Australia's native wattleseed but have run out of my stash and it is not something I have been encountering in shops recently.  It is good to see energy bars featuring wattleseed.  I like this Macadamia and Wattleseed version from The Bar Counter.  And the packaging is so pretty too.

We made some purchases at the preserves stall of the recent school fete.  E chose the fancy Orange, Grapefruit and Cognac Marmalade.  I bought some corn relish and also a jar of crabapple jelly (not pictured) for my mum.  We haven't opened any yet. 

The fruit bowl is looking better than it has for a few months.  The last of the apples are hanging in there.  I went to the newly opened South Geeelog Farmers Market with my mum and bought some very nice oranges.  Most excitingly, we have Aussie peaches back in the shops.  Not at their peak but it is so wonderful to eat peaches.  You might also see in the background that we have flowers on the lime tree.

Sylvia was very excited to see the Halloween designs on some Kelloggs cereals boxes.  Here is the rice bubbles (also known as rice krispies in other countries).  I also caved into pester power because the Coco Pops have a spooky box too.  They are so sweet that they are not an everyday breakfast.

Sylvia has been very excited about Halloween.  These plates, serviettes, bags and mini Halloween pumpkins would not be in my kitchen but for pester power.  Which is not to say that I didn't have fun doing a little carving.

And finally, here are a few of my extravagant purchases that have be used in making Halloween treats.  Blue multigrain tortilla chips, vegan marshmallows, black tahini and a truckload of chocolate.  Stay tuned to see how I used them. (Check out the black tahini in biscuits)

I am sending this post to the In My Kitchen event, that invites bloggers to share a peek into their kitchen.  Started by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, it is currently hosted by Lizzy of Bizzy Lizzy's Good Things.  If you would like to join in, send your post to Lizzy by 10 November .  Or just head over to her blog to check out some fascinating kitchens.

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in November 2016.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2016 Vegan MoFo posts.