Brussels Sprouts Fried Rice from Vegan with a Vengeance Cookbook

More than eight years ago, when I embarked into this vegan lifestyle with some slight trepidation, I did not have in view where all this would lead me nor what changes it would incur. I became vegan out of compassion after watching videos on animal abuse and crying myself to sleep on that night. The next day, I knew there was no going back. It was very hard for me to even finish the remaining animal products that I had in my fridge and pantry; I did throw some out. Before watching these videos, I had already been pescatarian (and dairy-free) for about six months. I really don't know what triggered this in me but I had wanted to be a vegetarian since I was quite young, when I was thirteen or fourteen. Still living with my parents at that time made it practically impossible. But had I seen these videos back then, I would have done whatever it takes not to eat animals. So, my only regret about becoming vegan is why had I not realised and done this before.

Meet My New Kitchen Friend: Fox Run Mini Cupcake Spatula

You know what the fun is to move into a new country again? You get to buy some new fun stuffs and gadjets for the kitchen again! The cost of bringing all my utensils from Ireland was proving to be quite pricey. I ended up selling a good number of them before leaving. Having lived on the move for the past years has got me buying things that are rather functional and on the cheap. I did have some good utensils but I never quite went for anything fancy; parting with them would have been too hard!

While I've already gotten most of the kitchen basics, I still had not yet bought a spatula when, quite by chance, I fell on this cute Fox Run Cupcake Shaped Spatula while browsing on amazon.ca.

I got mine on amazon.ca but you can also find these on amazon.com:



The price was good on amazon.ca and they come in three colours: pink, blue and green. I wanted the blue but the mini one was out of stock, so I got the green instead. Despite its fanciness, this spatula is actually really good; it is well made and does a good scraping job. I've used it already a number of times and I've found it to be particularly handy in mixing bread dough just before starting to knead. And of course, it's great for scraping cake batters too!



The mini one that I got is actually a decent size, although I might get the larger one as well next time I'm ordering something from amazon. These babies qualify for free shipping which is an added bonus; you know how sometimes you're just short of a few dollars in the cart to get the free shipping on amazon, I'll sure add the large one next time I need to make up a few dollars.



This cutie has definitely added a playful touch to the spoon holder; it's starting to feel cosy around now. I might just not leave the kitchen at all anymore.



After getting the spatula, I was curious about what other products was available in the Fox Run brand, so I had a peek at their website. They've got some quite nice kitchen utensils, containers and tools. I just wished they had an online store of their own because I not quite sure where to get some of them.

Full disclosure: I was not contacted by Fox Run or Amazon.com to write up this post. I liked this product and thought about sharing my experience of it with you. All opinions and reviews here are my own.

Break It!

I've been testing out some vegan chocolate in the Seed & Bean brand lately. So, I wanted to post a mini review.
I've found 4 flavours at my local Holland & Barrett store and these are:
Ginger
Mandarin and Ginger
Chilli
Lavender

My favourite is the Ginger one. It has tiny ginger nibs with the percentage of chocolate being just right for how I like it. And I love ginger chocolate in general. The Mandarin & Ginger is okay. The Chilli is not for the faint hearted. I ended up cooking it in a brownie mixed with some plain chocolate! Then the Lavender... hmmm! I was all excited about this one when I bought it but it turns out, I didn't like it at all. Maybe that's just me but I felt like I was eating a bar of soap.

So, the only one I'd purchase in this brand is the Ginger flavour.

And here's a funny quote that I quite like:

Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of those pieces.
~ Judith Viorst

Isn't that just true?

Granose Meat-Free Products

I mentioned the Granose Chicken Style Roast that we had for Christmas Eve dinner in my previous post. Here's the Burger mix that I had yesterday. I find these quite convenient sometimes; they only require water, shaped them into patties, then bake for 20 minutes or so.
Products available in the Granose range are :

Meat Free Lincolnshire Sausage Mix
Meat Free Burger Fix
Meat Free Nut Roast Mix
Meat Free Chicken Style Roast Mix
Sunflower, Lentil and Vegetable Roast Mix
Meat Free Falafel Mix
Soya Mince

In Dublin, I buy them at Holland and Barrett stores.

So far I have tried the Burger Mix, Sausage Mix and Chicken Style Roast.



I had some homemade baps that I had made the night before.



Added some salad.



And voilà! Yummy!

A Creamed Coconut Review

I've been using these Patak's Creamed Coconut for a while now and I've been meaning to post a review about them the very first day I've tried them. I kept forgetting to take a snapshot of them which is why this review is only coming up now. This is just my own review; I was not sent samples from Pataks for this review! I thought some of you might be interested in these very handy coconut sachets, coconut cream/milk being widely used in vegan cooking.

I found these in Tesco in the Patak's curry sauces section and it seemed to be a really handy ingredient to keep in the pantry. The ingredient is 100% coconut and there are no artificial colours or flavours. It is indeed really convenient and versatile. It comes in 4 easy-to-use 50g sachets that can be diluted in hot water to reconstitute coconut milk or coconut cream depending on how much water you add.

Ever since I came across these, I haven't bought any canned coconut milk at all. To make up 1 can (400ml), I use 2 sachets in 400ml of hot water. But most of the time 1 sachet is enough. What's good about them too is that they have a portion of coconut oil in the sachet. So you can choose to not use it together with the cream. I usually keep the oil for later use if I don't require or I just sautee some vegetables with it for example if I am making curry. You can also dilute it together with the cream but I try to reduce the calories if I don't need to use so much fat. The amount of calories per sachet which is 300! But then that goes for coconut milk in general. Having said that though, coconut oil is one of the richest dietary sources of lauric acid, a naturally powerful antimicrobial agent. Coconut oil have been found to boost metabolism and increase the fat burning capacity of the body.

Modern research seems to back up this bold statement. Once wrongly accused of increasing cholesterol levels, coconut oil is now actually being used by doctors in the treatment of a variety of disorders. Clinical studies have shown that coconut oil has anti-microbial and anti-viral properties, and is now even being used in treating AIDS patients. Studies conducted in the Philippines last year showed that coconut oil does indeed reduce the viral load in AIDS patients.*

I am using more coconut oil in cooking than vegetable oil. If you get a good brand of coconut oil, the flavour of the food is actually enhanced as compared to vegetable oil. A good brand would be hand pressed coconut oil retaining its white colour, light texture, and its mild fresh taste and scent of coconut.

Back to the Patak's Creamed Coconut, they are very economical as well. In Tesco in Dublin they cost 0.79 Euros (the box of 4 sachets) which I think is a great saver considering that one can of coconut milk usually cost 1 - 1.50 Euros depending on the brand. It also takes less storage space compared to cans!

If you haven't tried these yet, have a look out for them. I am sure you'll find them in the UK as well.

*Source: http://www.alternative-healthzine.com/html/0108_2.html

Gernika Peppers and a recipe review

My lovlie colleague friend (she is Spanish, from Basque Country she says!) brought me those Gernika peppers from her holidays to Spain. These peppers are unique to the region of Gernika in Spain. The best way to eat them is just shallow fried and sprinkled with some coarse sea salt. They were indeed very tasty and quite different in taste to any other types of peppers I've eaten before! If you happen to get hold of some Gernika peppers, they're worth trying! I really enjoyed them.



I also adapted this Nasudengaku recipe (Eggplant grilled with Special Miso paste) from the Now Vegan cookbook. This was so good! Well, I changed some of the spices and sauces but kept the idea of cutting and preparing the aubergine in the same way.



So that evening for dinner, we had Gernika peppers, adapted Nasudengaku with couscous, tofu (marinated in soy sauce then fried) and salad! It was a feast!

I finally bought it!

I haven’t had much time for blogging these days. Hopefully I’ll be more regular soon. (I keep saying that!)

Well, I’ve had a new addition in the virtual kitchen corner of my computer - Hannah’s Mission: Impossible Pies EBook.

I’ve been telling myself that I need to buy this for a while now and I finally bought it! I’ve only tried one of the pies so far and I am well pleased with it. Pumpkin Pie. I did make a few changes to the recipe but too minimal to post here. I also added raisins and some chopped almonds. It was nice with a mug of hot chocolate!