Vegan MoFo Day#12 More leftover high jinxery

Is high jinxery even a word? Well it should be because it describes tonights dinner perfectly. For many many many years, the best part of a roast dinner for me has always been the meal that you make the next day with all the leftover veggies - namely Bubble and Squeak.

Now I know I've blogged about this before so it's nothing new but the best thing about this dish is that not only is it packed with lots of awesome veggies but it is quick and simple too.

HURRAH!

I served this with a Garden Salad, steamed Corn on the Cob and a simple Bean Salad.

The Bean Salad was a mix of Flageolet, Cannelini and Kidney Beans with olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh parsley and mint and sliced olives. It was a satisfying and delicious meal.

GO VEGAN!

GO MoFo!

YAY! FOOD!

Don't fret people - I have been cooking and eating fantastic vegan food during The Big Move and I promise I have not withered away to nothingness (haha as if!). I am thoroughly enjoying my new kitchen - there is just soooo much room it's AWESOME! So as you know exactly what I'm talking about and appreciate my elation without thinking I've lost the plot completely - here is a photo of my old kitchen You see that thing under the yellow toaster? That was my oven!! It was smaller than a small thing and it always amazed me that I managed for so long with that heap of shite. The two small work surface areas you can see were THE ONLY work surfaces! And to think I rustled out Christmas dinner with all the trimmings in that tiny space! Now.....behold my lovely new kitchen Isn't it AWESOME!!! I can dance around when the notion takes me, heck - I can do the freaking can can AND have room for my friends to join in too! And can you see my lovely new MAHOOSIVE oven? I frequently stroke it. Now "ONTO THE FOOD" I hear you cry. What with the gorgeous hot weather here on The Costa Blanca, Salads have been playing a big role in our evening meals. I quite happily eat Salad all day every day when the sun is shining so I'm always concocting up new ways and ideas to eat it. My latest creation is Curried Rice and let me tell you - it's GOOOOOOOD! Curried Rice Salad serves 4 Ingredients 1 Cup Brown Rice cooked in 3 cups water for 20 minutes, drained and left to cool +/- 1 teaspoon Cumin +/- 1 teaspoon Curry Powder +/- 1 teaspoon Salt half teaspoon Black Pepper Sprinkling of Turmeric Sprinkling of Garam Masala Sprinkling of Garlic Powder 4 Dried Apricotes, diced Handful Sultanas Handful Roasted Cashews Method Fork the Rice (giggles) regularly whilst it's cooling to prevent it from sticking. When it's cooled completely add all the ingredients mixing really well after each addition and Bob's yer uncle! How easy is that! Don't be shy to add more of the Spices and taste it regularly to check how it's coming along and just season it to your taste really. This is so versatile and the possibilities are endless so don't be scared - experiment with it. This will keep in the fridge a few days and is even better the next day too.

Here it is served with a green Salad, Chickpea Cutlets, grilled Asparagus, New Potatoes and homemade Mayo. YUM!

Other meals in the treehugger household this week have been

Seitan Satay - recipe can be found here

Here it is served with a green Salad and more Curried Rice Salad. Über YUM!

Tofu Breast served with Caeser Salad and grilled Asparagus! Über Über YUM!

Asparagus is in season here and is super cheap so we do tend to eat a lot of it at this time of year because we can actually afford it. It is one of my favourite vegetables and my favourite way to cook it is drizzled in Olive Oil, sprinkled with Salt and Black Pepper with some Fresh Lemon squeezed over the top and grilled for 5 mins. Hell YEAH!

GO VEGAN!

Well rested and Raring to go!

Oooh it was weird not typing vegan MoFo as the title.....it felt so natural to do so.

Well it's November chaps and chapesses and the days are getting as short as they are cold. Nature tends to kick in and take over our bodies through the Winter Months - making us crave stodgy foods that will help keep us warm with some extra insulation. I don't know about anyone else but I am amply insulated enough as it is and after MoFo all my body was craving was SALAD!! Yep - you heard me - nice crisp green Lettuce Leaves with a juicy red Tomato and LOADS of Cauliflower Salad to boot. Boy was it ever good and I'm going to have the same for lunch today as well. It's interesting to note that it is all raw too!

RAWR!

And as promised prior to Halloween, a photo of the Spider Cake I made.

He looks good but I wasn't impressed with the Cake mixture and would NOT make this again. I only own Veganomicon and Vegan with a Vengeance cook books so I rely heavily on the interwebs for recipes - if anyone has a tried and tested and LOVED Sponge Cake recipe you could share with me I would be truly grateful. Thankfully everyone was well inebriated when he got sliced up and failed to notice what I noticed - maybe my taste buds are more sensitive than omni's anyway? Who knows! I didn't like it and that is enough for me, or maybe EVERYONE didn't like it but were all too polite to say!! Maybe I have scarred them against Vegan Cake for life!! Oh the paranoia has set in!!

Today I are mostly Panic Buying Tofu

For anyone who has been to Spain you will appreciate my predicament on how hard it is to buy vegan products here, excluding Madrid and Barcelona. For those of you who haven't it is bloody hard and I deserve a medal. To my sheer delight (and the delight of the other thousands of British expats who live on the Costa Blanca) Iceland have opened a store in my town. AND IT IS FREAKING AWESOME! Not that I ever shopped there when I was in the UK, but having lived here for 7 years I do miss certain British foods - you know like Branston Pickle and stuff like that. I visited there for the first time last week and you can imagine my delight when I espied silken tofu on the shelf. I can buy the unsilken type quite easily from my local health food shop (which has been my saving grace) but I have NEVER seen the silken type. So I bought some to try. Now it is vacuum packed which isn't ideal but hey - beggars can't be choosers right, I used it in the Ceaser salad recipe in Vcon which requires silken tofu and OMG!! It is AMAZING!!

Gratuitous shot

If you haven't tried this recipe I implore you to - it is in my top favourite recipes EVER!! And I notice that most desserts require silken tofu so I am quite excited about all the yummy recipes I can now make with my new found supply of the silken stuff. I'm now planning on going to the store today to buy ALL the packs they have on the shelf because I'm frightened that if a product doesn't sell well they will discontinue it - and that would destroy me - so hence why I am panic buying tofu.