Darkside of Knitting

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Meanwhile at the food pyramid of doom....

I'm having a bit of a freezer purge at the moment, trying to eat up all the good food I had squirreled away to make room for more "new" good food to be squirreled away. My capacity to eat the same happily ever day is well documented, but there comes a time when even I need a change. Also this....

I think the books are breeding when I'm not looking, those are just the vegan books. Some of them I have never cooked from yet, some I have cooked one thing from and Appetite for Reduction has got a phenomenal workout. My most used cookbook ever I think. And as you can see round the edges there are even more cook books, the non-vegan collection. I think I might need to have a bit of a purge of those, if for no other reason than to make more room for the vegan ones. Probably if I have never cooked out of the non-veg ones by now, I never will and they might be the first candidates to be rehomed. Although I'm tempted to just rehouse them in another book case, some fond memories and a lot of passion is tied to those books. Not to mention the food magazines...yeah I'm a food ho! I am slave to food porn, celebrity chefs and worship at the specialist kitchen stores. Truly I am beyond help, there is nothing left but to save yourselves! :)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A little bit of lots of things

On Gaining Health: I had a visit to the Doctor's and we assessed all the numbers, looked at the blood test results and you know what? We have good numbers all around plus the numbers have also come down since we last checked all the numbers. [Numfar does the dance of joy]

[Doctor dosen't do the dance of joy] We had a brief discussion about lapband surgery, again. It's less do or die now, it's more like it'd be the quickest way of losing the last of the weight now. I still don't think it's the option for me, changing my lifestyle has been a slow process but I've come along way from how things were. I think I can finish this, keeping a positive mind set.

Gaining Health Props I Love:

My much used copy (the post-it markers show when on the shelf among my other books this is also my most used vegan cook book) of Appetite For Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, to borrow a qoute from the back cover "Only 200 to 400 calories per serving".

While the book has no breakfasts or sweet stuff, it's all soups, salads and other mains & sides. The food is delicious that I have made so far and it's also very filling, I find myself not riffling the kitchen in search of snacks after I've eaten. A very good thing in my case as this was really my downfall in the past, not eating enough at meals and then madly scrambling through out the day for unhealthy snacks - overly processed, high fat, loaded with refined sugars and while calorie dense not really all that nutrient dense.

I think the Low Fat recipe selection on Isa's website the PPK can give you some idea of the kind of recipes in this book, a few of them are actually in the book but the majority aren't. My top reccomendations Hottie Black Eyed Peas with Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Apples, Marbled Banana Bread and Eggplant Bacon.

My Food Diary! It's been abandoned, I got really slack about taking photos and posting them, might have been a bit less slack about some of the stuff I'd eaten recently if I had been doing this. Oh well. We can but start over!

And a little app I love Zombies, Run! It's kind of quirky, very fun and really the only kind of fitness app I ever want to own. Basically it plays a little story out, "missions" are unlocked as you complete the stories so as your walking, jogging or running imbetween your music you get little bits of story, post apcolyptic world with zombies so you get updates from the people back at base camp. As your moving you gather supplies which after you run you can distribute in your camp to help it grow so kind of also a game as well. Growing your base also unlocks more "missions".
The best bit? It has optional zombie chases, giving you the option of turning it into interval training. This alone sold me on this app. :)

And the newest addition, just arrived so I haven't had time to try anything out of it yet, Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson. As the cover says "Every Recipe Has Fewer Than 350 Calories Per Serving!".

This has everything breakfast, soup, salad, mains and sides, dessert and drinks. All of it looks delicious, I think I'm going to have to start with the Cheese Steak on the cover, I have been coveting it ever since the cover was unveiled.

Although running a close second is Chilli Cheese Fries, I haven't eaten them since, I can't remember when. The only time I had them in the past was when I frequented the local Creole restaurant. A little haven of Americana food adventures. Miss it. :(

If I have to make a short list of must try's Seitan Cheesesteak, Chili Cheese Fries, Butter Pecan Ice Cream, Home-Brewed Ginger Ale, Crispy Risotto Cakes and Sticky Bun Popcorn.

Gaining Health ideas that baffle me:
Paleo diet, I don't quite get the excitement.
Running, everyone's all into running now, running is the it sport at the moment and everyone is either running their way to health or running their way to run a marathon.
Fat/Oil-free, I'm always perplexed by fat free. What are you eliminating exactly? All fat both good and bad? Or just bad fat? Are you still eating avocados and nuts? Oil free is a bit more specific, but having been down that road myself in the past, just no.

Final answer? It's back to 1200 calories and daily exercise, it's winter rolling around so maybe I should join the gym. Decisions decisions!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

My food pleasures.

My first ever attempt at a Chinese Pancake, could have been rounder. (From Chloe's Kitchen)

Moo Shu Vegetables with Homemade Chinese Pancakes (from Chloe's Kitchen), they mighn't look like much but they were delicious.

I've had the Vetta Teddy Bear shaped pasta in the past which has been fun, so I was super excited to discover Dinosaur shaped pasta today while out shopping. I believe Orgran brand do an Outback Animals shaped one but I've not seen it yet.
Also I thought I had a picture of the Vetta pasta, which I was going to include here, apparently I don't. Next time.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

We've only got 20 minutes

Not quite as catchy as the Justin Timberlake and Madonna song is it? No sadly not. :(

What we have is 20 mins while the tofu gets pressed Darkside style...

I've heard epic tales of a thing called a Tofu Xpress but I've yet to see one, I suspect one of the local health food stores might hold such a treasure but were making do.

Tonight I'm mkaing Moo Shu Vegetables and (with my skills allowing) Homemade Chinese Pancakes from Chloe's Kitchen.

Some of the things I've made from the book so far are...

Cinnamon-Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

(A horrible photo of) Penne alla Vodka - I've been meaning to make a version of this for years, so good!

Some things I've made from Chloe's blog that have made it into her book (I'll have to search for the photos).
- Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnuts
- Vegan Mac 'N' Cheese (In the book the recipe is baked but otherwise it's the same)

Other things I've made from Chloe's website (for which I will also have to search for photos) which so far have all been good!
- Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles
- Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
- Harvest Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
- Witches Fingers Cookies

I borrowed Knits for Nerds from a knitting friend, I love this book! Eventually I'll have to have a copy of my very own for my collection but for now I have a lend.
My two top picks for thing I must make first go to Aim To Misbehave Jacket (a femine take on the "Browncoats" from Firefly) and Big Bang Girl's Sweater Vest. The vest might be the lower effort and therefore quicker to make but that jaccket is beautiful. And I'm really excited as they both go up to Large and a Large that will actually fit me. Squee!

Speaking of things fitting me, moving into the Gaining Health, I still have underware that's 3 sizes too big. I've bought smaller underware as I've shrank but not completly replaced what I have so I've been making do. One of the 3 sizes too big pairs, I put them on yesterday and the crotch was down around my knees. I figured I'd just pull them up higher, didn't work they migrated down and I had knicker crotch around my knees again.
In the end I took them off and threw them away, it was ridiculous! I need new jeans/trackpants/skirts as there all gettting a fraction too big. Which is easily fixed with the skirts because I can just roll the waistband and make them shorter. This does not work with pants. :(

On a happier note this can mean only one thing, new clothes! :) This has to be a happy thing, might have to do the op shops over and which on the upside should strech the clothing budget quite far provided I can find anything suitable. It really is lucky dip.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mastering Menu Planning

It's been awhile since I menu planned and I have been sort of cooking on a whim and eating a lot of peanut butter sandwichs.

My family have this notion that I eat complicated food, I cook in my parents kitchen. They have an actual kitchen as opposed to a kitchenette, plus their actual kitchen has a dishwasher. Downside to this is their in my way while I'm trying to cook, asking questions, making faces (alright this is limited to my Dad) and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Really how many times do you need to come into the kitchen and make a cup of coffee? Apparently 10 times more when I'm trying to cook.

And I think they percieve my cooking to be time consuming and complicated based on the fact that I'm always chopping up a bunch of fresh vegetable. Since what I eat is nearly all vegetable, that's a fair bit of veg for each meal.

Task #1 - Make my food look less complicated.

Then there's my own little goal. Alright so this is more a ginormous goal.

Task #2 - Cook from the umpteen dozen cookzines I have, plus the cookbooks I've never used.

Then comes the big one, since I've started photographing all my food I'm eating, this is only day three. It's been kind of shaming all ready. Definite room for improvement.

Task #3 - Cook and eat more healthy food!

#3 is a big one, as I'm still very much on the road to "gaining health". The Roller Derby Workout has had an annual challenge for the last 2 years now? This will be year 3 if I'm couting right and I belive there is talk of a vegan meal plan this year. I'll be interested to see what they come up with.
Sadly my library dosen't have any of Brendan Brazier's books which I have seen reccomended. I will admit I am a little uncertain about how they would fit with where I am, my primary focus is to strip away the fat, from a vanity point of view I'll worry about shaping what's underneath later. Maybe it would be more time wise to think about shaping what's underneath the fat now as well as stripping the fat?
Does a book on fitness really fit what I'm trying to do? I'm unsure if there is a definate link between me now and how I see me later.

Fitness is the key overall issue here, whatever derby once was, it has very much evolved into a very competitve sport. Derby girls are now athletes, I want to be a derby girl, so I have to be an athlete? Maybe there is more of a connection to this "fitness".
Trial and error I suppose, I'll get there eventually. I hope?

Onwards to the menu planning!

From Sunny Days in Texas cookzine
Jackfruit Brisket - A quick one pot dish, that I'll only need to chop an onion for. Low effort!
ETA photo!

From Appetite For Reduction (Low-fat cooking, hopefully clean up my eating a bit more.) -
Broiled Blackened Tofu, Butternut Coconut Rice & Jerk Asparagus
Chilli-Lime Rubbed Tofu with Pasta de los Angeles
Tamarind BBQ Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes
Masala Baked Tofu with ??????? (Possibly cauliflower dish of some description.)

Sunday, January 08, 2012

New Year, New Look

I've done a little tweaking of my blog, revamp it for the new year. And also new for the new year, I have started an additional blog - Darkside Knitter's Food Diary (in Colour!).

Basically this new blog is an experiment, I was reading about how people trying to lose weight in some study, lost more weight when they photographed everything they ate as opposed to people who didn't.

Based on that I've decided to dedicate a blog to being a photographic food diary, I'm sure it will be incredibly dull for other people. We'll see how it works out.

But from this morning, this was my breakfast...even the cat enjoyed a shred of pancake.


Banana Pancakes with strawberries

This was from one of my new cook books I got for Christmas.

Alicia who wrote this one, has a soon to be released Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food , might be more appropiate with the current years goals.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Start as you intend to go on.

My New Year Day's dinner, Hottie Black Eyed Peas with Ginger Sweet Potatoes & Apples from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Inspiration, taking it where you find it.


gnocchi with spinach, roasted zucchini and basil pesto (vegetarian)

I ate this out and what can I say? The roasted zucchini was a winner, I've been thinking about it ever since. I've also been thinking about gnocchi ever since as well, just before this I had a vegan gnocchi dish out that has made me totally rethink my stance on gnocchi. I love gnocchi! Now.

There was this recipe on the PPK for Pesto Soup with Gnocchi, Beans and Greens, which I thought I'd try at home and add in some roasted zucchini of my own to the mix.

Friday, December 23, 2011

After Christmas...

Here it is! Terry has posted her recipe for the black cake, I shall have to make it after Christmas at this stage along with her Coquito Bonito.

And Xmas dinner, well, debate has raged and now the tofu and noodle salad is cancelled. So it's a peanut butter sandwich after all. I have my blender, but I will have a poke in the supermarket later to see if I can find a ready meal that is vegan and I can simply heat and eat. Baked beans maybe???

And the family wonder why I object to Xmas with them, probably hinges on the fact I'm bored stiff and hungry!
Cue the same conversation 1001 times, endless cups of teas, and a distinct lack of alcohol. Christmas should be illegal without the insulating intake of alcohol.

I think of Nigella talking about in her Christmas book, in reference to her lychee martini putting it into a water bottle and taking it the the children's school concert with her.
This sounds like a plan, nothing as exotic as a lychee martini, and just Xmas with the family as opposed to a school concert, I don't have that joy. Yet.

Maybe a Salted Caramel Martini? I know I have a bottle of Butterscotch Schnapps in the back of the cupboard. Do these things ever go off?? Ah well one way to find out.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Christmas Weekend Menu revised...

Christmas Eve Lunch with Family - A BBQ. Oh really now?
What I'll be making for myself Orange Ginger Baked Tofu with Noodle Salad with Peanut Mmmm Sauce

Christmas Day Lunch(?) with the same Family. Again. - Lunch? Or maybe not, it's now all up in the air.

How it orginally looked what I was making:
- Pull-Apart Rolls from Vegan Brunch
- Seitan Roast from the PPK
- Scalloped Potatoes from the PPK
- Steamed asparagus and sweet potato

Only now on Xmas day, were taking a cold lunch to see my grandmother in the nursing home, only who and what exactly were doing for this lunch is a mystery. As were meant to be going back home to have our hot lunch. My mother making the arrangements with the extended family is very vague on the what/when.

The potatoes take an hour to bake, so since I don't have a time frame, and I have no idea if were all eating or not at the cold lunch. Since I don't know when were having the hot lunch I have a new plan.

- Peanut butter sandwich to take to the cold nibbly/lunch.
- Probably make a smoothie after we get home, or eat leftovers from the X-Eve lunch.
- On Boxing day when not seeing anyone or doing anything else, then make the full cooked lunch I was planning for X-Day. Or not, see how enthused I feel.

Lines of communication run like this in my family, my mother is getting the turkey roll and cooking it ready to serve and eat cold on the day. Right, simple you'd think? Especially seeing the extended family have been told of this. My mum has bought two turkey rolls and is thawing them to cook in advance, the extended family have also bought a turkey roll and are thawing it ready to cook and serve cold on the day.
Yes, that's 3 turkey rolls. Cauliflower cheese and whatever salads the macrobiotic vegetarian/ pescertarian is bringing to the lunch. The other pescertarian in the family will "eat meat if it's there".
Lines are very blured in our family!

That PB sandwich and smoothie is suddenly looking mighty tempting. At least it'll be vegan. And quickly prepared.

What I've cooked lately...

Seitan roast pre-baking...

Seitan roast after baking

Mama Pea's Gravy

Seitan roast, Mama Pea's Mash and Gravy and steamed broccolini

Almond Shake from TrishStratus.com

My first attempt at pastsy, single crust from Veganomicon

Strawberry & Rhubarb Crumb Pie unbaked

Strawberry & Rhubarb Crumb Pie baked

And it was delicious!

Pea and Lemon Risotto from the Veganomicon

French Puff Muffins from ........

Shitake Risotto from Potluck Mania #2

Mushroom filling from Chef Chloe's Oyster Mushroom Tacos

Garlic White Wine Mushrooms

Soaking the fruit for Black Cake

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Coming soon...

I'm in the process of uploading another huge photo update, I'll finishing naming everything and publish it later.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Four things I plan to do with dark rum:-
1. Wine Drenched Fruit for Caribbean Black Cake from veganlatina.com
2. Rumnog Pecan Cookies from the Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
3. Eggnog Spiced Nuts from peasandthankyou.com
4. Drink it!

Guess what I bought today huh??? (Edit to Add: Dark rum!)

And since apparently some campaign got started at some point about coming to the Darkside because we have cookies...well it's a campaign I am certainly willing to get behind. Our houses are made of gingerbread too you know, with candy stain glass windows. Come on over and chow down!

Cookies I'm hoping to squeeze into the baking rotation before that day arrives:-
No Bake Snowball Cookies - I love the accompanying description with these "These have nearly half the sugar of the traditional version and just a fraction of the fat." - Mama Pea
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cups - I'd also really like this is someone else made me these. Hint family! Big hint! Apparently the big hint I dropped about Eggnog Spiced Nuts has been picked up, maybe I'll be lucky?
Christmas Cookie Dough Balls - Probably with candy canes.
Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookies - I have a gingerbread man wearing a santa hat cutter.
Pie Plate Shortbread from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar - Since it's moulded into a tart tin and turned out to bake, I thought I might try this in my shortbread mould.
Sugar Cookie Smoothie - Alright so this last one is not actually a cookie per se, can you blame a girl?

I'd also like to try the vanilla fudge from Hannah Kaminsky's Wicked Treats e-book, but probably cut out with Xmas shaped cutters as opposed to ghost ones. Although I'd totally appreciate ghost shaped fudge at Xmas. If I'd been more organised I'd have ordered a set of Gingerdead Men and made them. Maybe one year I'll make the gingerbread house but make it a haunted one.

Christmas lunch looks like this for me - Seitan Roast Stuffed with ah...mushroom and maybe onion?, scalloped potatoes (minus eggplant bacon, one less step on the morning) and vegan gravy - either made from scratch (Mama Pea's was good) or Massel instant, I've had their Supreme Gravy but I have seen a Turkey one as well. All Massel's stocks and gravies are vegan so yeah!

And the Raw Strawberry Cheesecake, I'm wavering on logisitics now of this, it needs the cashews soaked at the very least 3 hours. It might be late Xmas Eve before it gets into the fridge to start chilling.

Something else I'm wavering about is I had a sudden thought about how much fun it would be to make fresh bread or more likely rolls on X-Day. It was this Olive Oil Bread niggling at the back of my mind that did it, then I thought about the Poppyseed Pullapart in Vegan Brunch only without poppy seeds as I really don't like them, maybe sesame instead? I could make it the night before and pop it in the fridge overnight ready to get out and bake in the morning.

Breakfast on the day. French Toast? Strata? Muffins? Pancakes? Cocktails? Oh yes, cocktails for sure.

Friday, December 09, 2011

Are you in or are you out?

I've been trying to come up with answers to both my own questions and other people's, are you vegan or vegetarian?

And to which the obvious answer is vegetarian, but I am disappointed in this answer. I've come to see it as a failing on my part; I was always happy with vegetarianism and always expected vegans to be a "bit weird".

Vegans are far from weird; my brief experience has shown me they are intelligent, funny, rational and extremely passionate.
I really envy them their passion, I sort of fell into veganism. I didn't come to it through the moral high ground; I came to it from the food perspective. Come for the food, stay for the saving of the animals!

Which brings me to that very infamous quote from that even more infamous movie:

"Do or do not... there is no try." - Yoda, Star Wars

I'd eat 90% vegan (everything I cook myself) and probably about still 10% vegetarian (when I'm out). Cruelty free/environmentally friendly products have always been a huge deal for me, ah you found me out, and I’m secretly a tree hugger!

The big word here is TRY, I'm trying to live a more compassionate lifestyle. Food has become a lot easier, but I will admit to being still quite a noob when it comes to cruelty free non-food products.

Something that once again came home to me when I attended an info session for the local roller derby league. I had reiterated what I'd already learned, a leather boot is the best kind of skate boot. There are loads of synthetic versions available, usually cheaper than the leather versions and there are starting to come on the market 100% vegan skates.

When I first became interested in derby the whole leather v non-leather skates wouldn't have been an issue, now, I couldn't comfortably buy leather skates, no matter how much better they might be.

While there may be no try, I feel I may be doing in a fashion, I think I may be "doing" for some time to come before I'm actually happy with the result.