I Love Pho

Ok so not a vegan restaurant but I Love Pho in Crows Nest had a few vegan options and everything on the menu was gluten free. There were two vegan entree & main options.
I had something I never thought I'd be able to have in a restaurant...Salt & Pepper Tofu...YUM

...and gluten free 333 Beer

Plus there was live music which I don't think you see enough in restaurants these days!

Sweet Iced Tea

One of my favourite drinks that was introduced to me as a teenager when I lived in the south of the USA was homemade sweet iced tea. Depending on strength you might decided to use loose leaf or bags. If you use bags you can adjust the strength, with loose leaf you'll get stronger tea. The sweetness will depend on you, if you usually like 2 teaspoons of sugar in 1 cup of tea then use that ratio.

Sweet Iced Tea

Ingredients

Ratio (for once cup);
1 cup water
1 tsp loose leaf tea/tea bag
1 tsp sugar


Method

I use a large container cause I like to make a 2 litre batch at a time.
In your heat proof container add tea and sugar and pour over boiled water.
Leave to cool before transferring to bottles, straining if using loose leaf.
If you want peach or lemon iced tea then just add slices of fresh lemon or peach to the mixture while hot and remove once cooled.

Mango Banana Smoothie

Love coming back into Summer when mangoes are back to being affordable! My favourite mango treat is a mango banana smoothie - so easy and so yummy.

Mango Banana Smoothie
(serves 2)

Ingredients

2 banana
1 mango
2 cups non dairy milk (I used rice milk)
2 tsp Maca powder (optional)


Method

Place all ingredients into a blender and blitz for 30 seconds. YUM

Cherry Hazelnut Tea Cake

I'm not sure what this is actually called, my grandma just called it "tea cake" but it's a Hungarian cake slice that is full of yummy goodness. It always reminds me of being a kid at grandma's house where baked goods were always waiting!

Ingredients

600g Pitted morello cherries (drained)
1 tsp lemon or orange zest
4 egg replacers
1 1/2 cups vegan caster sugar
1 1/2 SR flour (I used G/F)
1 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (hazelnut meal)**
200g vegan margarine (room temperature)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract


Method

Preheat over to 180C and grease cake tin (putting a layer of baking paper underneath stops it sticking).
Beat egg replacer and sugar together until white.
Add in margarine, vanilla extract and zest and mix.
Mix all dry ingredients together.
Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture continuing to beat.
Stir cherries in gently.
Pour mix into cake tin and bake for 40mins or until brown on top.
The inside should still be moist like a brownie.

**If you can't find hazelnut meal just grind your own hazelnuts in a coffee grinder.

Vegan Primer

I finally caved in and started buying more expensive brands of vegan makeup. I'm quite liking Paula's Choice, Inika and Adorn. I like that Inika is Australian, organic and can be tested at Myer stores. I hate buying expensive makeup online when you can't even test it (and certainly can't return it).

Paula's Choice cream concealer is $30 compared to Adorn's cream concealer which is $59 and honestly I think they are both great concealers. I haven't used the Inika concealer but it's a liquid concealer and $40.

However, when it comes to primer I have to say that Adorn is really the best and worth $59. I bought both Inika & Adorn's primers which were the same price and Adorn is definately the best primer I've used. I found it very similar to Laura Mercier's primer which was my favourite before I went vegan. I had read some great reviews on Adorn's primer but hadn't talked myself into paying $59 for it until I was really ready for a new one. Very much worth it!

Adorn Skin Primer

 

Inika Certified Organic Pure Primer 



L'Occitane Perfume

L'Occitane has become one of my favourite brands of perfume. Almost all of their scents are vegan, there's just a couple that have honey. They can email you a list of vegan ones or if you visit in store they can look it up in their system for you. They have a good selection of women's and men's fragrances.

My favourites at the moment are;

Fleur Chérie/Sweetheart Flower Eau de Toilette (Orange Blossom)

Top notes: neroli and cassis
Middle notes: orange blossom absolute and orange blossom water absolute  

 Cherry Blossom Eau de Toilette

Top Note: sweet & juicy with Cherry and Freesia
Middle Note: Floral and Feminine with Cherry Blossom and Lily of the valley
Base Note: Warm and Woody with Amber and Musk.

I bought this one for my fiancé and it is soooo good!

Eau des Baux Eau de Toilette

A sensual and mysterious alliance of cypress and incense. 

Pumpkin & Pea Risotto

I just made this up last night and it was yummy, very Autumny.

Pumpkin & Pea Risotto

Ingredients

1/2 Buttnernut Pumpkin, peeled and chopped into small chunks
1 white onion, chopped finely
2 Tbls olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cups aborio rice
4 litres veg stock
1 cup peas
Handful of english spinach
Tbls Fresh Thyme, stalks removed chopped
Tbls Fresh Sage, chopped
salt & pepper to taste


Method

In a large pot add oil and heat to medium.
Fry onion and garlic until onion is soft and clear.
Add rice and mix well to coat in the oil.
Add pumpkin and 2 litres of stock, turn heat up to high.
Once stock is boiling turn heat down to medium and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently.
Add peas, herbs and 1 litre of stock and simmer until liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently.
Add last litre of stock and stir until evaporated to 1/3.
Add salt and cracked black pepper to taste.