Week 11 of the Cookbook Challenge

I'd completely forgotten there was an eleventh book to cook from but there is! It's Vegan Fire and Spice by Robin Robertson. I don't have this book but there are lots of sample recipes on her website and blog.

I have to admit that I don't feel like cooking many of them right now. A lot use soy sauce which I am trying to avoid and it's been a busy week for me so I don't feel like I have time to prep and cook.

But I decided to try making some as I didn't want to leave the challenge incomplete!

Vegan Fire and Spice Recipe #1 Vegetable Pancit - gluten & soy free

I left out the soy sauce and just added in a big pinch of salt. I used thin rice noodles and mushrooms in place of the tofu. It was quite quick to make, the vegetables get stir fried while the noodles cook and then everything gets thrown together with the sauce.

The flavour is quite nice and I like the combination of vegetables used but it wasn't a standout dish. If I have time I'll try another recipe over the weekend.

And then next week we're moving onto the Blog Recipe Challenge! We've created a list of vegan blogs and each week we'll cook from one of them, I can't wait!

Beet and Green Bean Toss

I decided I had to make one more recipe from Get It Ripe as I'd already bought the ingredients. I'd completely forgotten that there are 11 books in the challenge and therefore 11 weeks, for some reason I thought last week was it!

Get It Ripe Recipe #7 Beet and Green Bean Toss - gluten & soy free

This is super, super easy! All you have to do is steam some green beans and spiralise a beetroot. I was happy it gave me a chance to use my spiraliser and I'd neglected it over winter. If you don't have a spiral-making gadget you could just grate the beetroot.

This was a really light, tasty salad and you can change it up depending on what dressing you add. I think it will be perfect for Christmas due to the gorgeous green and red colours.

Cruelty Free Festival 2009

Happy World Vegan Day everyone! I celebrated today by volunteering at the Sydney Cruelty Free Festival that was on again at Belmore Park. I also donated a bunch of cupcakes to be sold at the Tea & Empathy stall.

Here's a look at the park once some of the stalls were set up

I got to see most of the regular Sydney vegan crew including lots of people we've met through the bake sales and I met some new vegans and vegetarians too :)

After we'd assisted with the set up we took a wander around. I picked up a chai and a slice of gf cake from The Chai Tree. I've only ever tried chai once and I don't think it was made properly. This was much nicer but I think it's a bit too sweet to be a regular drink for me. The cake was yummo.

Lunch was a difficult decision as there were so many options! This year there were more product and and food stalls but I eventually decided on gozleme as I'd never had one before. I chose the chickpea, lentil, tomato, onion filling. It was delicious and now I want to make a gluten free version of them at home.

It was a gorgeous sunny day and it was just so nice to sit in the park, listening to music and chatting about all things vegan. Sydney has an awesome vegan community!

And today marks the start of the 30 Day Easy Vegan Challenge. I sent my Mum and Dad when I originally heard about the challenge and to my surprise he immediately asked me how to sign up! So today, my Dad goes vegan for 30 days, woo! I will be helping him out by cooking a few meals for him and he has a copy of Vegan Planet if he needs some inspiration which he probably won't as he's always loved cooking and often did most of the cooking when we grew up. Good luck to my Dad and to anyone else participating in the challenge. YOU CAN DO IT! :D

VeganMoFo2009 - The End: Carmelised White Bean Dip & Rum Balls

I think I've found my new favourite dip!

Get It Ripe Recipe #6 Caramelised Onion Hummus - gluten & soy free

I used cannellini beans instead of chickpeas and cooked the onion for about 25 minutes.

This dip is so yummy! I made it yesterday and by this arvo the caramelised onion flavour had really developed.

Also, last night we did a snack-run and I found a few new vegan products including these Chocolate Rum Balls by Leda. They're gluten free too, woo! The rum flavour is not too strong and they're soft and chocolatey on the inside.

And today is the last day of VeganMoFo2009! This is my 28th post and I've really enjoyed posting so much so I hope I keep it up post-MoFo!

VeganMoFo2009 - Green Tahini Dressing

One of my favourite meal at Pure Wholefoods is their Pure Salad, it comes with a green, creamy dressing that is delicious.

I've been meaning to ask them what they put in it, I think it's basically tahini and herbs so when I saw this dressing I knew I had to try it.

Get It Ripe Recipe #5 Green Tahini Dressing - gluten & soy free

The base for this dressing is parsley and tahini and it's really quick and easy to whip up with the use of a food processor.

I served it with a salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrot and with a Lentil Veggie pattie from Pure.

The dressing is lovely and that's saying something as I really don't like parsley! The tahini and lemon balances it out. I think this will be one of my regular salad dressings from now on. And the Lentil Veggie pattie from Pure is so good, usually I have it as a burger with salad but it's just as filling with salad. While the dressing I made wasn't exactly like the one at Pure it was pretty similar, I probably need to add a few more herbs.

VeganMoFo2009 - Pesto White Bean Bowl

I combined two recipes tonight that resulted in a delicious and satisfying dinner.

Get It Ripe Recipe #3 Fresh Basil Pesto - gluten and soy free

This was really easy to throw together. All the ingredients go into the food processor and you have a lovely basil & pine nut pesto.

Get It Ripe Recipe #4 Pesto White Bean Bowl - gluten & soy free

Yesterday I soaked and cooked some cannellini beans as well as some brown rice so all I had to do tonight was mix the pesto and beans together and then add the layers to the bowl. I started with the brown rice, then some baby spinach and rocket followed but the pesto white beans and then some toasted pine nuts.

This is such a yummo meal. The pesto is perfect and really gave some flavour to the beans and rice. This is going to be a great meal for summer as you can serve it without having to heat it.

VeganMoFo2009 - Rocket, Apple and Walnut Salad

Today for lunch I wanted to recreate the salad I had 2 weeks ago. I used a bag of mixed rocket and baby spinach and a granny smith apple. For the dressing I mixed together: 3 T olive oil, 1/4 c champagne vinegar, 1/2 t dijon mustard and a pinch of salt.

The dressing was tangier than the one the cafe made but it was still nice. I love the combination of rocket, walnut and apples and can't believe it's taken me this long to realise how good it is!