Wednesday 30 November 2016

Vegan MoFo 2016 - reflections and quicklinks

So that's it!  Vegan MoFo is over for another year.  I have enjoyed cooking and sharing lots of good vegan food.  Having said that, my life doesn't make this pace of blogging easy.  This is my 27th Vegan MoFo post and I am glad to slowing down to my usual pace.  As in past Vegan Mofos, I am finishing with a reflection on Vegan MoFo and a few random photos.

The Temple of Doom sandwich from Smith and Deli. 
Vegan turkey, cheese, cabbage, corn and jalapeno in a sandwich. 
A bit spicy for me but good.  I shared it with E.
Firstly I didn't like the idea of daily prompts last year but I really liked the weekly themes this year.  They gave me plenty of space for ideas and lots of inspiration.  I had many more ideas than I could blog but I did keep up with frequent posting by preparing ahead of Vegan MoFo.  Sadly this did not help me catch up with reading other blogs and I found myself feeling rushed by the almost daily posting,  Life is just too busy.  Especially when I managed to delete three posts and have to rewrite them.

Mac and cheese at Melbourne Vegan Eats Brew and Food Fest
I did not manage one post on eating out during Vegan MoFo.  Even though I did have some excellent meals out.  We went to the Melbourne Vegan Eats Brew and Food Fest.  It was small but still overwhelming with too much choice.  E got the mac and cheese which was really good.  I had a lovely smoked tempeh burger but wished I had chicken salad in a cone from Rays or the carrot hotdog in the charcoal black bun.  And we loved the Half Pint sausage rolls.  I also enjoyed meals at Juanitas, True North and Smith and Deli, all of which have some great vegan food.

Kat's Breakfast from True North.  I asked for no eggs or bacon and had buttermilk biscuits, polenta grits, red pepper jelly,  pickled radishes and vegan chorizo.  I forgot to ask if it was vegan but I know I think the waitress said it could be made vegan.  It was delicious but I wished it came on a plate.
Actually the Ultimate Bean Stack that I had at Juanita's had dairy cheese in it.  I would have loved to have eat it with the vegan cheese but it was not available when I ordered.  Which brings me back to life as a vegetarian.  November marks 25 years living as a vegetarian.  Over that time vegetarians have become far more accepted and vegans seem to now be the odd ones out.

While I do not plan to become vegan any time soon, I am happy to incorporate more and more vegan food into my diet.  Aquafaba has made this even easier and is no doubt one of the reasons I haven't had eggs in the house for months.  We only have soy milk in the house but still have dairy cheese and yoghurt.  I have found lots of vegan cheese I love but am yet to find a vegan yoghurt to embrace.  Caeli has suggested Miyoko's yoghurt and I plan to try it.

I have been fortunate to be loaned a few vegan cookbooks by Faye.  Sadly I have been too busy with Vegan MoFo to spend much time reading them.  And Vegan MoFo always leaves me with lots of recipes to inspire me.   Here are a few quicklinks:

Aloo Tikka Bagel - Allotment to Kitchen
Speculoos Truffles and Cinnamon Stars - Seitan is My Motor
Mung bean and smoked aubergine side salad - Flicking the Vs
Roasted Brussels, Sprouts Chickpeas and Rice - Rock Your Vegan Socks
Jackfruit tacos with charred corn, cabbage and lime cream - Little Vegan Bear
Thanksgiving blossoms - Vegan Dollhouse
Crispy Vietnamese Crepes - Olives for Dinner
Roasted Garlic Bread - Walks, Talks and Eats
Cherry Bakewells - Walks Talks and Eats
Gingerbread Cookies - My Darling Vegan
Christmas Tree Cheese Platter - Veggies Save the Day
Easy Deviled Potatoes - Brand New Vegan
Vegan Tuna Noodle Casserole - Neat and Nutritious
Vegan Cheesemaking Guide - Vegan Nom Noms
Cooking Vegan MoFo recipes - Herbivore's Heaven

The one recipe I have made from Faye's cookbooks are the Gingerbread People from Isa's Vegan Holidays Cookbook.  They were nice but not as nice as my favourite gingerbread recipe.  Now that Christmas is near, Sylvia wants to make gingerbread for presents so I might have opportunities to try more vegan gingerbread.  Meanwhile I am embarked on making gingerbread houses for a raffle.  So, as always in my blog, I have much more to say than I have time for.  And you have probably read enough.  So I will now save my energies for some decorating tomorrow.


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. 

Week 5's theme is Holidays. 

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for linking to my blog! I'm glad you've enjoyed MoFo this year :)

    I agree that aquafaba is an amazing ingredient. I have no idea how it was discovered (who thought to whip up chickpea juice?!) but thank you whoever did.

    Enjoy your gingerbread making!

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  2. Ah I wish I had a Faye near me, as I'd love to flick through those books. I have but I could never go vegan on my on and off wish list, still thinking about it. Loved reading your reflections and your VeganMofo posts, but I love your blog anyway x I have thoughts on VeganMofo too but may share later, but I think you managed more posts than me, i cheated a bit and combined some of the weekly themes like today. I don't want to describe myself as Veganish, but I am nearly there and wonder if I will ever take that extra leap.

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  3. I'm glad that aquafaba is revolutionising how you cook, that's really great to hear! I've enjoyed your posts this month so much, so even if you were struggling to keep up behind the scenes then please know it was worthwhile! I'm definitely looking forward to a break from blogging too!

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  4. It will be a relief to get back to your regular posting schedule I bet! I love Mofo but halfway through I struggle a bit so I was glad of the break this year. Well done on all your great Mofo posts-- quite a feat when you're a very busy person!

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  5. Love the look of your Temple of Doom sandwich. The gingerbread people are so cute. Congrats on surviving MoFo!

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  6. Congratulations on another great MoFo and thanks for the round up of links, as I haven't read widely this year. I have enjoyed your posts but am sure you'll be glad to go back to a more leisurely posting pace.

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  7. Another year almost over, another MoFo done! I love being able to binge-read all my favourite blogs (like yours!), but after getting sick and coming up to exams, I just couldn't hack the pace especially being able to read and comment on other people's posts. I'd still do it again, but prep as much as I can in advance maybe!

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