Cat's Pyjamas

I don't hang out here any more

2006-07-03T22:30:00.000+01:00

For anyone who comes here looking for me you can now find me over at http://www.gorgeousvegan.co.uk/blog. It's a much nicer place to be.
x

awwww. mmmm!

2006-03-07T15:47:00.000Z

I have got so excited about this dark chocolate Gold bunny. Every year I look at the Easter aisle at the supermarket in the hope that one year they have something exciting...and this year they have! Of course, as Easter is a celebration of fertility I have bought two bunnys (2 for £6. Not cheap but they are heavy) and I fervently hope that they breed! (I guess if they did they may look a little like these wee rabbits )

A fat feast

2006-02-16T21:01:00.000Z

So after yesterdays sugar blow out which has left me feeling drained and hungover I thought I would end today by feasting on fat. Delicious it was too.

So here we have lots of green leaf, a mountain-ette of grated carrot topped with sunflower seeds and with a pouring of flax oil and some lemon juice.

These are big wedges of toast with individual artichoke bakes (4 between 2 of us). These were easy as to make. Taken vaguely from the Garden of Vegan it is a mix of mayo, soya yogurt, cream 'cheese', english mustard, nutritional yeast, squeeze of lemon, pepper...oh and a can of chopped artichokes. Creamy, cheesy and very moreish they were bubbling and golden. There was just so much fat between the salad and the bake but I justify it thusly: The bake is full of bad hydrogenated fats and omega 9's which people in general get too much of in the diet and causes an imbalance of fats in the body therefore I was doing my body a favour by eating the extra flax oil as it gives my body the important omega 3 oils required to metabolise vitamins, minerals and bad fats, do a bit of converting chemical bits in my body and redress that imbalance. hurrah!

Mystery hangover

2006-02-16T10:26:00.000Z

I have a strange mystery hangover today. I have the headache, feeling slightly ill...feels exactly like a hangover but (and this is the mystery bit) I haven't been drinking! At all.

Do you think eating half a maple syrup and apple cake last night might have something to do with it? :/

xCat

A backward nation?

2006-02-10T18:55:00.000Z

I sometimes feel I live in a backward nation. SO far on the local news I have had to watch deer being shot as part of an "essential" cull in the Cairngorms. The excuse is that it is being done to conserve the area which in reality is agricultural and could be solved by putting up deer fencing. Instead they are flying in "professionals" to ensure clean killing. Instead I got to watch two deer being shot and stumbling around before finally falling. Not exactly clean.

Following on from that there was a story on how youngsters were being encouraged to fish as there has been a decline in angling (good) and that it is essential to fish for environmental reasons!!! (That was the report which stated this although failed to mention what was so environmentally friendly about all those discarded lines and hooks.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggh!!!

(couldn't find any links to these stories as the bbc don't have them up, if I find them I'll link to them)

chocolate mousse cupcakes

2006-01-24T19:28:00.000Z

Fluffy chocolate cupcakes filled with a light chocolate mousse and topped with a dark chocolate fudge icing. mmm. I got the idea from Cupcakes by Elinor Klivans. It's a beautifully illustrated book which I bough purely for inspiration as none of the recipes are actually vegan. I used a cupcake recipe from Vegan Lunch box which I played about with a little by removing the coconut extract and replacing almost a 1/4 cup of flour with cocoa powder. I used the whole recipe and got 12 large cupcakes although next time I would probably go smaller. All I did for the topping and mousse was adapt the recipes from the book. I put soya cream in the topping instead of cow cream and for the mousse filling I replaced cow cream with silken tofu blended very well with a little maple syrup.

I also ended up with some left over filling so I soaked some apricots in amaretto and blended them with the remaining mousse. tasty.

Those beautiful canals

2006-01-22T15:48:00.000Z

Coffee temptation

2006-01-22T15:40:00.000Z

No matter how I hard I resist it there is always another good reason for drinking coffee. This time it is the dinky coffee cups which I think would be just as beautiful full of a rich and alcoholic chocolate mousse.

Bombay and beans: Spoils from The Dam

2006-01-22T15:33:00.000Z

Homemade vegan bombay pate bought at the saturday market and chocolate coffee beans (what's left of them!).

Fushia fruit

2006-01-22T15:28:00.000Z

At 6 euro this is the most expensive, beautiful , bland tasting exotic fruit I have ever tasted.

Holland Days

2006-01-18T21:44:00.000Z

Have I really been away that long? Just back from a trip to Amsterdam (which only accounts for 5 days of my time) and it was a bit of a culinary trip...and by culinary I mean that I ate...LOTS. It is a city with such International flavours that I ate Thai, Indian, Ethiopian and Indonesian.

Highlights were Vada (semolina dumplinga) in sambar, giant dosa's, fresh fried chips with sate and sambal, falafel galore, soya lattes in Brandmeester after being at the Van Gogh museum and an Indonesian exhibition followed by a ten dish spectacular Indonesian rice table. Will have photos up soon.

Macaroon Bars

2005-12-12T18:38:00.000Z

Here is a recipe for vegan macaroon bars courtesy of Joyce Bryce a fabulous cook who braved the cold of Edinburgh' streets to sell her macaroon bars (and amaretto truffles) outside the Christmas fayre. For those who were there and enjoyed them she has very kindly given me the secret family recipe. For those that weren't there then make them! Now two final things. Firstly they are Scottish macaroons and are very different to the biscuity type of macroon and secondly don't be afraid of the ingredients!

1 potato (since posting this I have been trying out the recipe and I would like to say that despite any disbelief you may have just use a small potato otherwise youwill run out of icing sugar before a fondant is achieved.)

Icing sugar, seived (lots of it! I was amazed how much sugar was involved, and it must be icing sugar)

1)Cook the potato until soft and mash it.

2)The Sieved icing sugar is added to the hot potato until the mixture resembles fondant icing. This should be very thick, almost like a dough. It needs to hold its shape when drying out

3)You then take about approx.75g and you roll it in a ball. Form an oblong and lay on greaseproof paper to dry out overnight. Turn it a few times to evenly dry it out. (When i made these I sliced it and then dried the slices out too)
4)When dry they can be covered in chocolate.
5)Melt vegan chocolate in a bowl over boiled water. Cover in chocolate and roll in desiccated coconut or toasted coconut. Place on greaseproof paper to set.

Swedish Soft is back!

2005-12-08T18:28:00.000Z

Actually, Ive known this for a while but as I was looking for the old packaging I kept missing it. I bought two tubs earlier in the week and meant to take a photo but...to be honest they have been eaten and are no longer in the house. The tubs are now hexagonal/octagonal (didn't count how many sides!) and I found them in Sainsbury's. Its much cheaped than Toffuti cream 'cheese' and is perfect for making 'cheesecake.' mmmmm. There are Christmas recipes featuring Swedish Soft here if you're not sure what to make with it.
x

Easy chocolate mousse

2005-12-08T18:09:00.000Z

mmmmmm, the easiest and quickest chocolate mousse ever.

1 carton of soya cream (I use Provamel)
1 1/2 blocks of dark vegan chocolate, broken up into pieces.

Melt the chocolate, stir in the cream. Put into dishes. Chill. Eat!

While this is easy different flavours can be added: Cherry brandy, raspberry liqueur , freshly squeezed orange juice, make a maple syrup and hazelnut praline then grind it up and add it in. This is quite a bitter chocolate mousse. For something sweeter add some maple syrup or some icing sugar.

Christmas Fayre photos

2005-12-05T19:08:00.000Z

Me looking a bit quizzical over some tofu. I can't remember what I was doing or saying here. Obviously it was hugely important. The day went by in a bit of a haze and despite being surrounded by food I think all I managed to eat that day was a cup of black coffee and some chocolate. I did, however, get to eat leftovers for two days. Hurrah!

Lucy has more pictures and a write up about the Christmas fayre at the Vegan Family House.

Onion Marmalade and lime pickle potatoes

2005-12-05T10:13:00.000Z

Here are a few more recipes to add to the ones below. First up the red onion marmalade

Red Onion Marmalade
6 red onions, sliced into thin half moons
12 tomatoes finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
150ml balsamic vinegar
75ml light or dark muscovado sugar

Fry the onions in a litle oil (olive oil for the best flavour) over a gentle heat until soft. The best way to stop them burning is to salt them now so the juices are drawn out and put a lid on. I like to cook them till they are meltngly soft.

Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove lid and reduce everything til it looks like marmalade.

Lime Pickle roast potatoes
This recipe is taken from Feasts from the Place Below by Bill Sewell. It's a veggie not a vegan cookbook but it's a great book to get ideas from.

1.2kg potatoes (chopped into large chunks and par boiled or just cut into small cubes and not boiled)
4 tablespoons sunflower oil
3 heaped dessertspoons lime picke (I prefer the chunky kind for this)

Mix the potatoes, oil and lime pickle together in a bowl or in the roasting pan, spread them out in a roasting tin and bake at 230C for about 30-50 minutes until golden and crispy. I always check them after 20 minutes though as my oven is an inferno.

x

Christmas Fayre recipes

2005-12-03T09:31:00.000Z

As a temporary measure the recipes are here but they will be moved to another site hopefully round about Christmas. Sorry for the delay but I successfully managed to remove all internet settings from the computer after the fayre and it has taken me a while to get it sorted. There are a few recipes missing but they will be up shortly. I will include the red onion marmalade and the lime pickle roast potatoes.

Crispy herby marinated tofu triangles and avocado salad with a golden Dijon flax dressing.
Don’t be afraid!! This recipe looks more complicated than it actually is and most of it can be made a few days ahead. Also, don’t fear the tofu. It is full of Omega oils, protein and many brands are full of calcium too.
Marinade
Red wine
Tamari
Equal quantities of each although 1 part red wine and ½ part tamari is still tasty but less salty.
Tofu, cut in half lengthwise and then into triangles
Soya wash
250mls soya milk
1-2tbsp Dijon mustard
Coating
Plain flour 1 Cup
Polenta ½ Cup
Nutritional yeast (optional) ¼ Cup
Oregano, thyme (any dried herbs really) ½ tsp of each
Salt and pepper

A day (or even three) before mix the marinade ingredients together and put in the tofu. This is best left for a day or two to marinate but overnight will do. Then put the tofu on a baking sheet and allow to bake at 200C for 10-20 minutes. The little triangles shouldn’t take too long and should feel firmer to the touch. Again, this stage can be done a few days in advance as it all keeps well. Just store the baked pieces in the fridge.

In two separate shallow dishes make up the soya wash and the coating. Get the frying pan on to a medium heat and dredge the tofu first in the flour, then the soya wash and then back in the flour. Shake off any excess and place the floured triangles in the frying pan. Fry on each side until golden.

Meanwhile put your salad leaves on the plates and chop up some avocado and scatter that over the leaves. Place your tofu triangles on top while still hot and sizzling. Drizzle over some golden flax dressing (see below) and serve. I also like to serve this with some red onion marmalade.

Golden Dijon-flax dressing
Flax oil
Apple cider vinegar
Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
This one is easy. Mix everything together to taste. I like to add a good amount of Dijon mustard. If you don’t normally like flax oil then this may be for you as the pungency of the mustard hides the taste. Flax oil is a hugely important food for any healthy diet as it contains Omega 3 oils.

Spiced mushroom and kidney (bean) en-croute
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1-2 red chillies, finely chopped (depends on heat of chillies and what you prefer)
1-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Small handful fresh coriander (the stalks are particularly good here)
I onion, roughly chopped
White part of 1 leek, roughly chopped
3 or 4 large field or Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, as finely diced as possible as it cooks quicker
Can cooked kidney beans( or equivalent cooked from dry)
Nuts, of your choice. A good handful or two. Toast them in the oven first and chop if large.
Cranberry sauce
Puff pastry

Lightly fry the cumin, coriander, nutmeg, chillies, garlic and fresh coriander stalks in some vegetable oil until the spices start to brown. If they burn that is ok.

Add the onion and leek and allow to sweat gently. After a few minutes add in the sliced mushrooms, the carrot, kidney beans and toasted nuts. Use the juices from the mushrooms to scrape any burnt bits off the pan. These are tasty bits! Cook over a medium heat until the carrots are cooked and the mushroom juices have been absorbed. It should not be too wet a mix.
Place this mix in a food processor and blend. It should still be slightly chunky and not totally smooth. Set aside.

Roll out the puff pastry. For one large en-croute then cut puff pastry in half. Cut a lattice into one piece and leave the other as it is. On the plain piece of pastry spread cranberry sauce then top with the spiced bean and vegetable mix leaving about an inch around each side. Brush along these sides with a little soya milk or water and place the lattice cut pastry on top. Press down the sides to seal everything in. Put in the oven at 200C until pastry is puffed and golden.

Serve with:
Roasted brussel sprouts
Lime Pickle roast potatoes
Steamed carrots
Roast Garlic gravy

mousse update

2005-11-24T21:55:00.000Z

The good and gracious chocolate mousse fairy was certainly not watching over my mousse last night! It seperated out overnight so I thought all I needed to do was blend it up again to make it right. No, no, no, no, NO! WRONG! It turned into a liquid chocolatey drink. Very tasty though. I think I have managed to rescue it though but I will have to see. Hopfully all will be well for saturday. WHo knew there was so much to organise. I am trying to remember to take frying pans and rolling pins and spoons and knives... currently typing up the recipes to hand out but I think they are confusing.

Will post the recipes and some pictures on sunday. Until then...x

A vegan miracle

2005-11-23T21:24:00.000Z

I have, in my fridge, a miraculous vegan food. If everything goes right I will have a luxurious vegan white chocolate mousse!!! eek! I am so excited! Not being able to wait til tomorrow I have of course tried some. It is smooth, luscious and like liquid white chocolate. Tomorrow it should be mousse like. I feel, however, that I am tempting fate by blogging about it and in the morning I will have a separated runny mess. The recipe is from the Artful Vegan a wholely impractical yet gorgeous cookbook designed for people with sous chefs to prepare their meals. Wonderful though. Will update on the mousse progress tomorrow.
x

Imagine...vegan mars bar ice cream

2005-11-22T14:52:00.000Z

I have a theory that I can make mars bar icecream vegan. It involves caramel swedish glace ice cream and the toffee recipe on this page. So the recipe theoretically goes: Caramel ice cream squashed into the bottom of a deep metal tin and shoved back in the freezer. Make the toffee and allow it to cool slightly. Pour toffee onto ice cream and put back in freezer. Allow to go solid. cut into bars. Melt chocolate. Pour over bars or dip the bars in.

Clearly it is in everyones interest if I try these out.
x

Today has also involved finalising my recipes for saturdays cruelty free christmas fayre in Edinburgh. Have just had a three course christmas dinner. Feels very strange and I am getting the urge to drink lots of brandy and eat boxes of chocolates.Talking of chocolates Hotel Chocolat do the most amazing chocolates. I can highly recommend the Grand Chocolate Log which I got last year. It was so heavy I was convinced I was being given a steel bar. A bit expensive and extravagant but life is for luxury.

Also, bought a gorgeous cupcake cookbook. I must point out that not a single recipe in it is vegan but that does not disuade me. I shall take up the challenge and veganise those kitch and cute cupcakes. However, as cute as this book is it will never compare to The Chocolate Feast an amazing children's book which involves a banquet consisting entirely of chocolate. Chocolate soup, chocolate salad (yes really), chocolate soda and chocolate cake. mmmmmmm

2005-11-21T16:07:00.000Z

Watched a rather wonderful programme on marmite this morning. One factory in England supplies all the worlds marmite and it is open 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day. It was a schools programme and was looking at product development. The mad taste testers (who have to taste every batch made) have even made toffee apples involving marmite !! Now, I love marmite and think that it is food sent from heaven and I know other people think differently but this links to deranged marmite affectionado's with clearly too much time on their hands... and I love it! Particularly like the one site where someone claims that it cures night cramps and somebody else applied it to their haemorrhoids...thats got to sting!!

Chocolate... well now that has got your attention I will begin. Bit of a chocolate theme going on here at the moment as I have just purchased a chocolate scented Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (for myself) of which I will be a voyeur this evening. Also got a top secret package which I can say very very little about as it is to do with christmas presents and people who read this. All I will say is that involves chocolate and that can never, ever be a bad thing. Was accused of being obsessed with chocolate yesterday as during an aromatherapy class I described almost every essential oil as smelling like chocolate. oh except the one which smelled exactly like salt and black pepper Kettle crisps.

Ta DA!!

2005-11-06T22:03:00.000Z

Hail Seitan!

2005-11-05T16:21:00.000Z

As the lovely Lucy has mentioned making seitan and kindly linked to me I thought I would add in a little link to where to buy gluten flour in the UK. Veganstore do a seitan mix which is great for beginners but is way to pricey if you want to make it in bulk (it freezes well). I buy my gluten flour from the Flour Bin. The only downside is the minimum order is £10 but they have such a huge range of flours that it's well worth it.

I like to add red wine to mine. Oh and when I make seitan it doesn't look like brains...it looks like poo.

x

Getting creative with the herbs of death

2005-10-28T21:24:00.000+01:00

Ok so I didn't get my work done and I was still referencing text well into the afternoon today. (Somebody tell me why I don't reference until I have finished and can not remember where I got my information from!) This has meant that in order to do something creative I have combined it with my essay to create a cover sheet. Yes its a skull and yes flowers are coming out the eyeballs. They are some of the flowers which are restricted for medicinal use and can potentially kill. Unfortunately my choice of tissue paper as my creative medium has driven me to just not bother putting in complicated leaves but I may still do that as now I look at it here it looks a bit sparce.

Creativity also extended to making dinner. A rather flavourful and spicy sweet potato, mushroom and spinach curry (featuring the dangerous herb under the skull!).

Retro moment

2005-10-27T19:17:00.000+01:00

Bought some rather lovely retro fabrics a few days ago and if I am a very good girl and get my homework done tonight (2000 words on schedule 3 herbs) I am letting myself have a creative day tomorrow. hurrah! This has to be one of my favourite fabric swatches but I have no real idea what to do with them (spur of the moment purchase). The material is almost like paper so it may limit what I can do with it but I'll have a play with it anyway.

Vegan Christmas Cookery Demonstration

2005-10-24T13:30:00.000+01:00

Well it's finally happened. I am to make a spectacle of myself in front of potentially hundreds of people. I am doing a little cookery demonstration at the Cruelty-Free Christmas Fair in Edinburgh (FreeMason Hall, 96 George Street, EDINBURGH... Sat 26th November, 11am to 4pm... Entry - £1 for adults, under 16's free) which looks like being an exciting event in itself. There will be a variety of stalls and if you don't like what I cook then Hendersons will be there to provide meals and snacks.

If anyone has anything they would particularly like to see being cooked then let me know. If not then prepare for carnage in the kitchen vegan stylee.

Turnips of the world unite!

2005-10-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

I think its time those turnips did something about those pesky squash. This used to be their time of year! Yes, I'm referring to the good old turnip lanterns that were synonymous (at least in my childhood) with Halloween. I have been reminiscing about the difficulty of carving those turnips while using a small teaspoon, the use of large candles as there were no such things as tea lights and the smell the turnips made as the underside of the lid cooked. I really do understand why pumpkins are more popular but while they are easy to scoop out and carve I don't think raw pumpkin tastes as good as raw turnip. This year I am going to carve turnips and am going to use the easy tip from here so that the turnip is etched rather than carved. Anyone up for a great turnip challenge? The one problem I see is what to do with the scooped out turnip.

Turnip pie anyone?

A pile of Knit

2005-10-20T20:40:00.000+01:00

Having not knitted since I was in the Brownies (and even then Brown Owl had to do most of it for me as I was terrible) I recently got it into my head to start again. I know nothing. Less than nothing, but that hasn't detered me so far. Now, I haven't actually completed a project yet and thats partially due to me setting unreasonable high goals instead of starting with a nice simple scarf but I'm quite enthused about it all. So imagine my sheer delight when I found a knitting group near by. "Excellent," I thought and with knitting needles and cheap acrylic yarn in hand I boldly entered the little coffee shop where women were gathered in friendly chat. I gave a huge bright smile and a cheerful hello...and was ignored. I tried again and still... they ignored me! Never one to get a hint I went over to the only free seat and asked if I could sit there. A woman who had been chatting aimiably looked up, stopped smiling and said "no." okay hmm, I mean, what is a girl to do? The little voice in me told me to tell them where to stick their needles and yarn and was disgusted as I slunk out!!

Still I haven't been put off and I found this rather wonderful link to knitting and if you look around enough there are patterns for such things as knitted prosthetic breasts for women who have had masectomys and vegan fur fox.

Perhaps i shall incorporate knitting with revision and knit organs of the body. I can then take knitted spleens and kidneys (complete with veins, arteries and appropriate tubes) to the knitting group

Marvelous.

x

Preamble Ramble

2005-10-18T20:44:00.000+01:00

While vaguely linked to my Vegan Travel site this, in reality, will have very little to do with it. Here you will find all the things which are impossible to crowbar into a travel site such as my slight obsession with food, coffee and footwear.

I have been ...encouraged... to add more. I should point out that I an essentially lazy girl at heart and part of the reason I am even blogging is so I can send the link to friends and family and just have them check out what I'm up to this way. They will soon find out my life is not nearly as exciting as I usually make out. I used to be a chef in a veggie/vegan restaurant but am now studying again (and I have spent the whole day drawing pictures and describing how Ulcerative Colitis differs from Crohns disease and discussing the various merits of ointments, creams and poultices).

Todays coffee was strong and black. organic and fairtrade. made at home