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Friday 26 June 2009

The Good The Bad and the Fugly

I haven't blogged in a while so I have lots of pics. This week has been a weird one and a lot of it has SUCKED! but there have been some good parts too.

Bad - I'm a gimp!! I got a blister on the ball of each foot, no word of a lie, an inch long each one!! I never knew that blisters could be so painful. This is not run of the mill pain - this is my entire foot and some of my leg is sore and I can hardly walk!

Work has been rather shit this week.

Also I get up this morning, get in the car, put on the radio and hear the sad news about Michael Jackson! I am a big fan of his music and have been since I was a little girl. I got really tearful when they played Beat It on the radio this morning and then nearly busted out crying at work when I watched Jermaine's press conference on the internet. It's so sad. RIP Michael.

But onto the good stuff - I saw Eagles of Death Metal Live on Wednesday night. They are just so awesome, great live and Jesse is the shit. I lost count of the number of times he shouted CAN YOU DIG IT! It's a good thing I'm single or I'd be trying to convince the man in my life to grow a Mo like Jesse!! (I know they sound scary but they're not so if you are not familiar with their music go download Death by Sexy now, like right now!! then download Peace, Love, Death Metal & Heart On after that.)

The other good stuff? My PPK swap package arrived from the very awesome Vijita from Canada. she totally made my crappy day good - I got a buttload of swag....


So onto the food. I had a go at making some raw bars and they're good but they were a little too soft and fell apart a bit. I need to try again. They had dried apricots, cranberries, sun-dried bananas, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, brazil nights, walnuts, peanut butter and maple syrup. So technically I dunno if they are really raw - does maple syrup count???


When I was younger, mum had this recipe for pasta with roasted peppers and bacon and mushrooms. It was good and we used to make it a lot. So I thought I'd have a go at veganising it. I couldn't remember all the ingredients and I so I added some stuff I know wasn't in there. But it was really good and even better cold for lunch the next day! Recipe at end of post.


This was dinner on saturday night for me & my friend and it was seriously rad. Guava's post about pot pies had me craving pie and the idea of a mushroom pot pie was just genius. So I gave it a go and it was awesome. I don't have the recipe 100% yet but when I do i'll post it.


Dinner on Monday for me & my friend was this mixture of veggies, tomatoes and white beans - I served it over wholewheat rotilli pasta.


And also I made some garlic knots to go with it.


Dinner on Sunday night had to be quick, because it was 8ish by the time I got back from the gym. So I went with a Sunday Soup & Sarnie. I made a quick hummus with white beans and dijon mustard.


And I made my fast pea soup.


The last couple of days, because of my feet, my food has been spectactularly un-interesting and some of them - down right FUGLY!! Mainly because I can't stand up for very long. This was some brown rice cooked with tomatoes and some nooch sprinkled on top.

I found these in Holland & Barrett and thought I'd try them. They have a weird texture, like most fake meats do. They need a bit of frying to make them a nicer texture. Overall they're not bad but I wouldn't buy them often.

Inside shot...
I threw in some peppers, courgette, spring onion and some jarred salsa.

Then threw it on a wrap with some guac and sour supreme. Not bad, not great either.


Last night, my feet were particularly sore, so all I could manage was throwing some basmati in a pan with peas, sweetcorn, tomato puree and some spices. It was surprisingly not bad for such a lame effort.


Today, my feet felt marginally better so I made some mac n cheeze and threw in some peas & sweetcorn too.


Ooh and I just had to share..... It's been a long time but on Sunday, I made some soap! I know it's not the prettiest soap in the world, but serously it's been about 2 years since I made soap. It smells like a piece of heaven though - I scented it with dreamsicle fragrance oi. Up close it's pretty and shimmery too because I added some pink and gold mica to it. I am looking forward to getting back into making some products again!


Here it is in the moulds....


And here it is cooking away in my crockpot! (don't worry, I have a separate one for soap!!)


OOh I almost forgot. Here's the recipe for the pasta dish:
'Bacon', Mushroom & Roasted Pepper Pasta
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 pack mushrooms (about 125g/1.5 cups), sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp water
1 cup of roasted red and/or yellow peppers (if you're roasting them yourself, about 2 big peppers*)
About a cup of vegan bacon, cooked, in bitesize pieces**
Salt & Pepper to taste
100g (1.5 cups) pasta - cooked according to package instructions

Method:
Start by sauteeing the onion for about 5 minutes over a medium heat till it starts to get transluscent. Then add the mushrooms and cook down for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoe puree and thyme and cook for around a couple of minutes. add the wine and scrape up all the bits off the bottom of the pan until the wine reduces till pretty much gone. Then add the water and mix well.

Add the peppers, 'bacon' and pasta and heat through for a couple of minutes, then season to taste and serve.

*The peppers - if you're doing your own, spray them lightly with oil, put on a baking sheet and bake at 250C/500F, basically the highest your oven will go for about half an hour till they are good and black. Then chuck 'em in a bowl and cover them with clingfilm. When cool enough to handle, the skin should peel off pretty easily.

** The bacon - up to you what you use. I used the marinade for the tempeh bacon recipe in VWAV but used thinly sliced tofu instead, cuz I can never find tempeh. I marinated it for about an hour, then fried it in a dry frying pan for a few minute until lightly browned on each side. You could use veggie rashers too but I personally think they're repellant! I used one 200g block of taifun tofu and I put the whole lot in the pasta.

I know i've been shit at commenting on blogs this week too - sorry! I have been reading though, so I'm off to do some catching up.
Laterz.
xXx

19 comments:

  1. I want those garlic knots :P

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  2. i like the garlic knots. and i'm totally jealous of your care package. i've submitted my willingness to be in that exchange once, but no one ever got back with me. feh.

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  3. send me some soap!! that is awesome!

    that rice looks great and sounds tasty even if you think it is fugly! =)

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  4. the food and soap all looks great!!

    re: the rawness of your bars - was the PB raw? and maple syrup isn't raw, but some raw people use it. regardless, they look great!

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  5. Yummy, that pasta with the bacon sounds great, I'll definitely give it a go soon! Also garlic knots...yum!

    Your soap sounds great and it really does look pretty good too, making your own soap's pretty impressive too - nice one!

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  6. There's so much interesting stuff here, so I'll just say, 'Sorry your feet are so sore; the food looks great; that soap looks lovely - I wish I could smell it!'

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  7. Your poor feet! I hope they start getting better soon. Even driving must be agony if it is the balls of your feet. :(

    At least you got a big box of vegan goodies to brighten your day up a little bit!

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  8. Awwww Sal - blisters are bloody painful! Have you got new shoes?
    That Pasta dish looks and sounds scrummy - I've tried that Chorizo style sausage and I liked it - it was good in a Spanish Stew.
    Your Soap looks great too and what an AWESOME package swap.

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  9. i LOVE eagles of death metal! so jealous you got to see them. michael went once and wouldn't take me with him because it was a boys only trip and i didn't speak to him for days afterward. sorry bout your feets, hope they feel better soon! your food looks yummy, regardless. and soap! so cool!

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  10. I love your big posts! So much goodness...
    Guava also has me thinking about pot pies now...but it's finally summer & hot, so I'm going to wait on them for a while.
    I think you're so cool for making your own soap! Would you ever share your recipe? As you know, I love making stuff from scratch, but I've never made soap before.

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  11. Nice swap package! Makes me want to get in on the action, too.

    And some of the best food is the ugliest, don't you know. ;)

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  12. Poor Sal :( I hope your feet heal up quickly.

    And maple syrup isn't really raw but it's used in lots of raw recipes and I too would use it in a raw recipe, plus it's delcious!

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  13. oh man, i'm sorry your feet are hurt'n and work is crap, Sal! that stinks! but i'm glad things are look'n up - and i'm sending hugs your way!

    i think your foodz are look'n awesome! they've got me hungry, fo 'sho! that's one helluva sweet swap - i see those ginger-peanut chews! mmmmmmmmmmm! they're sooo addictive! yay! hooray for the pink homemade soap - so bad ass! the pea soup, pot pie, garlic knots, hummus white bean sammie, and raw bars all look oh-so glorious! thanks for the pasta recipe too, Sal! ooooooh, i cannot wait to make it! w00t!

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  14. uck sorry you're having such a bad go at it lately Sal! I hope you took a nice long bath with your new soap! I've been wanting to do a spa products class but realize I better go about checking if it's vegan... anyway hope your feets get better but your comfort food still looks nummers!

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  15. That is a RAD swap! Ooh, garlic knots. Chorizo style Redwood mock meat?! whoa.

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  16. chorizo chunks and garlic knots!?? i'm in heaven!

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  17. I saw you commenting on a couple blogs that I read too, so I figured I'd come over and say hi. I totally wasn't expecting to find a link to an AWESOME band. Seriously, I actually did download that album, they rock!

    And that pasta sounds so good. I'll have to give it a shot one of these days. Very cool that you make your soap.

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  18. woo right on Gina! EoDM rock hard!!

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  19. you have the coolest looking meals, in my opinion. I smile every time I see your spotted bread - it's so cute and tasty looking.

    I think if I made soap, it would all be pink. probably not, but that's what I'd want. and sparkles. to match my toes.

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speak to me, yo!