the best tofu sandwich

Mmm. Best tofu sandwich ever.

It contains:

Grilled tofu

Avocado

Gerkhins

Grilled Zucchini and

Leek & tomato salsa

You could use any salsa, but this salsa I made with some fried leek, garlic, spices, herbs & tomato. And some sultanas. Yum!

Carrot Cake

Yum! I have eaten too much today though... so good and addictive, especially with the cinnamon icing! I don't remember where I found this recipe originally, but my copy has so many alterations, crossings out and resizing of ingredients it doesn't really resemble the original!

Carrot Cake
Makes 1 Cake

1 ½ cups grated carrot (approx 3 med carrots)
1 cup self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder *
2 teaspoons cornflour *
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup vegetable / olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
120 g crushed pineapple with juice
¼ cup chopped pecans or sultanas (or a mix of both)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (350 F)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add in the grated carrot and mix thoroughly until all the carrots are coated in flour.
Stir in oil, vanilla, pineapple and pecans / sultanas and mix well.
Pour into a greased tin (a loaf tin is the perfect size)
Bake for 45 mins – check with a skewer to make sure it comes out clean.

Ice with cream cheese icing, or my favourite – cinnamon icing (pictured). It’s just icing sugar, water and a pinch of cinnamon.

* you can substitute the cornflour and baking powder for 2 eggs - just beat in with the rest of the wet ingredients.

Healthy Tomato Soup

I was inspired by the recipe for Creamy Tomato Soup in my (recently purchased) Veganomicon cookbook - I am terrible at following recipes, I always think my variations will be better. I wanted to give this soup a bit of a health kick, so I added some lentils and other healthy bits and pieces, and it is fab! I made such a huge pot though, I ended up distributing to various family members. Here's the recipe (I actually made a double quantity but have halved it for you).

Healthy Tomato Soup
Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1sp chopped rosemary
couple of sprigs of thyme
pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup red lentils (soaked overnight if possible)
2 large potatoes, sliced thinly
1/4 cup white rice or buckwheat (or a mixture)
1 tablespoon ground almonds (optional)
2 litres stock / water *
100g sundried tomatoes (not the ones in oil, just plain ones)
1 x 810g tin crushed tomatoes (I like ardmona brand)
salt, to taste
fresh basil (optional)

Fry onion, garlic, herbs & pepper in the oil for about 5 mins, or until the onions are starting to brown slightly.
Add the stock / water, lentils, potatoes, rice & optional almonds. Boil for about 15 mins, or until the lentils are tender.
Add the sundried tomatoes and more stock / water if necessary and simmer on a low heat for 20 mins or until the lentils are soft and the tomatoes have plumped up.
Blend the soup well (a stick mixer works great), add the tinned tomatoes and blend again until smooth.
Add salt & pepper to taste, feel free to chuck in some fresh basil.

* I used water, but sploshed in some soy sauce for a bit of extra flavour

Bento Boxes

Tonights dinner was yummy Bento boxes! Chris's parents gave me these boxes, and I love them as I've always wanted bento boxes of my own.

In these we had

Okonomiyake,

Radish pickles with sesame seeds,

Salad of lettuce, tomato & pear, and

Rice with a leek & garlic sauce.

Leek & Garlic Sauce Recipe (too easy...)

Thumb sized lump of ginger (about 3cm x 1cm x 1cm)

1/3 of a leek

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Mirin - 1 tablespoon

Soy Sauce - 1 tablespoon

Slice the ginger and leek into very fine matchstick sized pieces. Stirfry the ginger in the oil for about 1 min, then add the leek. When they've both cooked and become a bit browned & softer, add the mirin & soy sauce and cook until the sauce has thickened. Serve on rice for a nice, special touch!

Huff Bagelry

I'm a bit of a Glicks fan, so when a new bagel shop opened near me it took awhile to visit. Huff Bagelry is a pretty swish looking operation, but when we got there in the early afternoon they'd run out of a lot of stuff.

We bought some savoury bagels, my favourite so far have sesame & caraway seeds baked on top (yum). Nice bagels, caraway seeds were a bit of a revelation, but Glicks is still my number one bagel shop.

My breakfast of champions:

Sesame & Caraway bagel, topped with homemade hommus, tomato, and pickles. It was pretty good. I think I'm a champion.

Welcome!

Do we need a welcome message?