Friday 21 September 2007

Blimey!

As in blimey, I'm becoming a lazy blogger. I think there should be a website that names and shames bloggers who haven't posted for ages. I might make one myself...I'd probably forget to update it though!

So, into the murky depths of my camera I plunge...

We start today with some of the lunches I packed for myself recently, featuring my groovy little Japanese bento box (which bears the legend "Natural Leaf: I love natural blessing"). I like to incorporate leftovers from other meals (mainly to save time, as otherwise I am liable to go off on a little cooking spree before school and miss my bus) and I am *trying* to keep prep time under 20 mins (Ha).



Buckwheat pasta mixed with leftover ratatouille with little cut out stars of Lemon-Herb Tofu (I love this stuff), plus a nectarine, cherry tomatoes and steamed cabbage with black pepper.



Mini pan bagnat (yummy pressed sandwich, usually made with slightly stale bread, filled with all kinds of things and left to soak in its juices for a few hours) on a homemade kamut roll, nectarine and salad with mushrooms and tempeh.



Peanut butter, grated carrot and raisins on a homemade kamut roll, with dried figs (source of calcium, people!) and some cherry toms and cukes (getting too lazy to spell whole wrds nw). Plus a yummy apple (English apples kick other
nations' apples' butts).



Homemade hummus with cayenne, cherry toms, pepper and carrots sticks and a wholewheat pitta (not in the photo). I give Dreena Burton the full credit for helping me to finally make hummus that doesn't suck!



Had a "vegetable day" the other Sunday. One of those days I don't want pulses or tofu or anything protein-y, just veggies and grains. So I made the best lunch I've had for ages. I got a big field mushroom and roasted it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, yellow cherry tomatoes (mmmm) and a whole load of garlic and thyme from the garden. Fab...



And all plated up, with Pie's latest crop of potatoes and some veggies.



Been watching a lot of food porn on the telly lately. My fave at the moment is Jamie (Oliver) at Home, in which he cooks vegetables from his incredible garden. The recipes are simple, but stunning and quite a lot are vegan or veganizable. We've already bought the book and I was really excited to try out the "Humble Home-cooked Beans". Here you can see the results. Unfortunatly they took forever to cook (I suspect because I used cannellini beans, although it said I could use them instead of the suggested borlotti beans) and never got really soft. The flavours were all there, though, and the roasted tomato bruschetta I improvised were delish, as the man himself would say.



Also on my telly has been Nigella Express. While I find her a bit annoying, her food is very nice. The pasta in this photo, with a side of Italian Tofu from Vegan With A Vengeance (which stuck to our rubbish griddle but was still yum) and broccolli, was inspired by something she made on her show this week. It's basically a speedy mushroom pasta with thyme, lemon, olive oil,mushrooms and parsley. My mum fried the mushrooms first instead of adding them raw like Nigella, because we only had oyster mushrooms, and I hate them raw. Too bitter for me! It was all dashed tasty.



Lastly, my favourite food: stir-fry. It's a shame it's the only food I can't make for myself (I always burn things, or add too much water). This one had loads of veggies and cashews with my homemade sauce (2 T shoyu, juice and zest of 1/2 a lime, 1-2 t tomato puree, 1-2 agave nectar and 1/4 t five-spice powder). I had it with brown basmati rice and it was scrummy.

I have to go now, as I'm dog tired and sense will soon making stop.

Hello!

2 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

my goodness, what a lovely variety of delicious meals you've got here!! That Buckwheat pasta with ratatouille and lemon-herb tofu looks especially enticing. I always enjoy reading about/seeing photos of your dishes - I do hope you will continue to post more often! :0)

Kate said...

You commented on my blog a while ago, but i lost your url in my favorites. I really love your food and adding you to my links.