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Thursday 10 September 2009

JAM JAM here comes the man, hot damn!

So a couple of weeks ago, my mum had this big bag of damsons and as she was off on holiday, they found themselves in my sticky mitts. Hurrah. Of course, me being me, they sat around the flat for a good few days and so some were unusable but the rest went into JAM!

I've never made jam before so I wasn't sure how well it would come out. I had about 500g of plums in the end, so into my pan they went with 500g of unrefined sugar (I've heard that jam sugar is not worth the extra money!!), 125ml of water and the juice and zest of a lemon. Then I just boiled it up until it reached the right consistency. I only know this from watching Delia, but basically you put a plate in the fridge, then drop some hot jam on the cold plate, leave it to cool a minute and then push it with your finger. If it goes wrinkly it's ready. If not, boil some more.

It took about 40 minutes altogether and the result was really good! I got 2 jars of jam out of my batch - lucky for me, cuz I only had 2 empty jam jars. I had visions of making the Vegan Brunch scones to put it on but instead, I have mostly been eating it on toast, with peanut butter!



Maybe I'll get around to making those scones one day.

This post is lacking in green!! hahah. I try to mostly eat healthily during the week but the pics are usually a bit boring so I don't bother posting them. Sometimes on Fridays, my diet goes to shit! Case in point.... Hot Damn & Hell Yeah's Country Fried tofu, with a garlic knot, mash and sweetcorn.

And Sunday brunch. Tempeh bacon, seitan sausage, bread roll, roasted tomatoes and tofu scramble. I took a leaf out of Vegan Dad's book and left out the veggies. I also added some black salt, but only a pinch. I think it could have done with a bit more.


This was dinner one night this week. I was hungry and so it had to be quick. I cooked some rice with some leftover tomato sauce that I made out of a big bag of tomatoes my mum gave me. I added some fresh coriander and made some baked tofu to go on top. Pretty good for a quickie!


This one was dessert for when my friend came over for dinner on Tuesday. It was supposed to be 2 of them but one was ill, which means I still have half this pie in the fridge! It is a work in progress, I haven't got it right yet and I'm not sure the flavours go perfectly yet. It was a ginger snap biscuit base with a banana filling (the 'nanas turn it brown, ick) with dried banana and stem ginger to decorate. It was ok, I burnt the base though!


oh and this is what happens when Maz serves up seconds while I make tea.....


I didn't take a pic of dinner, it was a stir fry. I wanted something light and low cal as we were having pudding. I kind of wish I did take a pic though as there were loads of veg in it and it was pretty. Ah well.

I still had half a block of tempeh left after making the bacon. So I dug out Veganomicon. You know, I've had this book ages and have only made 2 or 3 things from it. So I decided on the hot sauce glazed tempeh and corn-jalapeno gravy. Although it was actually just corn gravy as I left the jalapeno out, also, i only added 3/4 of the corn before blending and the rest in afterwards cuz I love the crunchy texture of corn.

I have to say, glad I left the chilli out of the gravy because holy cow, this tempeh is one hot spicy mama!! I left the cayenne out of it as well - thank god!! I dunno if the hot sauce in the US is a different thing to over here, or if I'm just a big wuss?? But I used sriracha and man it was soooo hot!!

I like spicy food but I think next time I make this I'll cut the hot sauce back a bit!

That's all for now. Tomorrow I'm off to Brighton for my best friend's hen night and I'm sooo excited. I'm on cupcake making duty so expect pix of those next time, along with dinner pix from Terre a Terre! Squeeee!!
Laterz
xXx

9 comments:

  1. cupcakes! have a safe trip to and a great time in Brighton, Sal.

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  2. Mmm...that spicy tempeh is one of my favorite recipes! I use Frank's Red Hot for that because, though it's spicy, it's not sriracha hot. I can imagine with sriracha that it would burn my mouth...but in a good way. :-)

    Also that fried tofu plate looks delectable! Who needs green when you got all that goodness. Hot damn!

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  3. Your food looks so yummy, it always does!

    I am so excited for you and jealous of you that you are going to Terre a Terre. When I think that I may never get to go back there. *sniffles* Takes lots and lots of photos of the food!

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  4. Ooooh I LOVE making Jam, haven't made any this year though :(
    I´m the same about Veganomicon ya know. Had the book a year and have only made 4 things out of it!! The fact I can`t get Tempeh round here bugs me as I so want to try it. My local health food shop sells this bottled stuff (in Brine for goodness sakes!!) and it is FOUL.
    Have an awesome time in Brighton as I know you will. If there´s anyone to be in charge of Cupcakes then you da gal!
    Happy Hen´s Night.
    :)

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  5. Nice work on making your own jam! Jam and pb is one of the best combos, EVER!

    And I loved that tempeh, yours looks yummo!

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  6. i always say that weekends are for breaking the old diet regime. otherwise i get too bored!

    i've never heard of that hot damn book before, but i'm up for some country fried tofu!

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  7. hooray for plum jam, Sal! mmmmmmm! i never knew making jam wasn't some crazy all day affair and hard as hell to make. i don't know why, but i've always been intimidated by it and never tried making my own. i totally need to make some. i love that you ate a lot of it on toast with peanut butter - that's my favorite way to enjoy jam - well, with pb or almond butter. mmmmmmm!

    i can't believe i've never tried veganomicon's hot sauce glazed tempeh. it sounds perfect for dan, and you're not weak - sriracha is hot as fuck! i used to not be able to use much or it at all, but over the years i've gotten a little immuned to it. ahahahaha! i bet before you know it you'll be putting it on & in everything from 'fu scramble to mac 'n cheeze. and while i'm talk'n about 'fu scramble - hooray for such a delicious brunch! from friday - sunday i eat a lot of whatever i want, and brunch yummies are the best! nice plate 'o awesome you got go'n on!

    i love that your quickie meals are way more delicious looking & sounding than mine. quickie meals for me usually consist of a roasted veggie with some ketchup & a bowl of cereal. ahahahhaaha!

    i need to try that fried tofu - dayyyyuuuum! i'd also be mucho interested in your pie recipe once ya get it where you love it the most. the combination of ginger snaps & bananas has got to be yummers!

    can't wait for cuppy pictures & photos of delicious dinner eatz! happy weekend timez, Sal! yay!

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  8. as usual, your food looks amazing.

    you're making me feel lazy because I haven't done any canning this year (I think I do it once every few). mmmmm... fresh jam.

    hot sauce in the US is hot stuff just like the UK. I love it!

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  9. Mmmm I love jam and there's nothing better than home made jam! PB and jam is how 99% of my peanut butter and my jam gets consumed!

    Have a safe and fun trip!

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