Things We Cooked on the Fire

I recently embarked on a road trip north! We camped, and hiked and saw lots of trees and bears and deer. It was great. 

LARABAR on a mountain

On the first night we cooked this pile of things on a tiny camp stove. Tomatoes, lentils and sweet potatoes covered in an Ethiopian spice blend.

The next morning the stove started leaking petrol. And then the leaking petrol caught on fire. And then we dumped a jug of water on the whole situation. And then we decided to not use that stove anymore.
So we cooked the rest of the things on the fire!
Here is sweet potatoes and onions cooking next to happily percolating coffee. We scrambled up some eggs with chipotle seasoning to go with it.

Another day we had roasted root vegetables with ethiopian spiced tofu. More importantly though, YUKON GOLD. 

MOUNTAINS:

Overnight Oats!

I recently made a variation of this recipe from Gena at Choosing Raw without lifting a finger!

And by that I mean, I linked the recipe to my mother and she made it. Magic! 

Our version had fresh raspberries, quinoa flakes, and ground flax as well as the oats and chia. It was all soaked overnight in vanilla almond milk. 

In the morning I put the mixture in a mason jar with sliced bananas and fresh blueberries. 

Also makes a really good afternoon/post run snack!

Advantages of overnight oats: 

• Soaking makes the chia and oats (and any nuts or seeds you add) easier to digest 
• Takes literally 25 seconds to prepare in the morning 
• A balanced start to the day 
• Doesn't heat up your kitchen on a hot summer's day 
• Om nom nom nom nom nom 
• Om nom nom 

Tortilla Lasagna!

Fast and a little bit Mexican! Yay!

My version is with tofu and kale, but here is an even quicker version from Vegetarian Times.

You Need: 

• four whole wheat tortillas 
• one package firm tofu 
• two big handfuls of chopped kale, chard, or spinach  
• one onion, diced 
• garlic 
• chipotle spice blend 
• two diced fresh tomatoes (or a can!) 

Optional: 

• daiya, nutritional yeast,  cheddar, or monterey jack 

How to: 

Preheat the oven to 350F. Saute the onions in olive oil for a few minutes. Crumble in tofu and add kale, garlic and spice mix. Saute until the kale is almost tender and then add tomatoes.

While this is all happening toast the tortillas in the oven for about 2 minutes each side.

Layer.

Bake for 30-45 minutes.

BOOM!

July has just started and fresh local produce is everywhere! This recipe utilized some kale that needed to be used up, so feel free to sub and experiment! I had this with some nice fresh greens from my neighbour's amazing garden and some sliced avocado.

Happy hump day!

Cleanse Friendly Almond Satay Sauce

I have really strong feelings about sauce. 

I don't know if I could live 12 days without satay, so I adapted this recipe from The Coup Cookbook, to comply with the restrictions of the Wild Rose Cleanse. It doesn't look much like the original recipe though, because ~10% of the ingredients are cleanse friendly. Whatevs, I say we do how we do, yo. 

Peanuts (have a natural occurring yeast) and Soy Sauce (fermented) are both no-nos, so I've substituted them out of the original recipe. 

WHAT YOU NEED

• 500ml Almond Butter (I used Raw, but regular would work just as well) 
• 500ml Water 
• 120ish ml Braggs
• Multitudinous cloves of garlic 
• 1 can coconut milk 
• Cayenne to taste (I actually forgot to put this in, which is weird for me because OM NOM SPICY!) 

WHAT YOU DO 

• Mix the almond butter and water together until smooth 
• DO NOT BURN THE ALMOND BUTTER 
• Add all the other things 

Above I smothered quinoa, tofu, and roasted sweet potato in the sauce and topped with sprouts and black pepper. 

DISCLAIMER: 

This recipe makes so much sauce you guys. SO MUCH SAUCE. I've eaten it thrice so far and shared it with 4 other people and I still have sauce left in my fridge. 

Ratio is really important though, and what am I going to do with half a can of coconut milk you know? 

Eating in Oceania; The Best Chai

I spent 9 months in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. It was crazy/awesome/expensive. During that time I ate some things. Actually, I ate A LOT of things. Here are the things that will live forever in my heart and cerebellum. 

Generally "chai" in Australian cafes involves some sort of powder with heaps of sugar, a little cinnamon, and no actual tea from what I can tell. I was misfortunate enough to waste 6$ discovering this at a late night in the Melbourne Airport. 

There are a few places that have good chai that I've found, one being the Lentil As Anything  

The BEST chai though, I found in Byron Bay, NSW. 

Byron Bay is one of those backpacker musts. It's not exactly far off the beaten trail.  Byron is famous for being a laid back, surfer, hippie town.

Theres lots of yummy organic food and art and chilled out people everywhere! It does however have an edge of commerciality, its like if disneyland made a "hippie surfer town" ride. 

I will always remember it fondly as: The Most Easterly Point of the Australian Mainland! 

YAAAAYYYYY

Anyways, one day I was walking the main street and some lovely granola-type people (or possibly actors paid by disneyland to play granola-type people) were setting up a chai booth!

This chai was by donation and came in a ceramic mug to be returned later instead of evil styrofoam.
The donation went to errrrrrrrr…… A worthy cause that I can't remember!

What I do remember though, is that it was delicious and warm and spicy and sweet.

I took my ceramic mug to a picnic table and drank it while I read The Hunger Games.

Choice! 

(Also: All the photos in the post were taken by, and belong to ME) 

Banana, Peanut Butter, Chocolate; Cakes in Cups

Banana + Chocolate = Delicious 

Chocolate + Peanut butter = Delicious 

Peanut butter + Banana = Delicious 

Thus by all laws of mathematics and logic the combination of the three should defy all previous expectations of what the word 'delicious' even means. 

If there is anything I've learned about vegan baking; it's Ask (the internet) and thee shall receive (a recipe).  

These cupcakes are an experience. 

Don't opt out of sprinkling a bit of sea salt on the top! It adds a lot of depth!  

Happy Monday Everyone! 

Eating in Oceania: SOUP AND TACOS SOUP AND TACOS

I spent 9 months in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. It was crazy/awesome/expensive. During that time I ate some things. Actually, I ate A LOT of things. Here are the things that will live forever in my heart and cerebellum. 

I LOVE BIG CITIES. I love that every weird niche and stoned idea can become an affluent business. 

I lived and worked in Melbourne for 4 of the months I was away and it will always have a place in my heart. 

Flinders St Station

Deep in the hustle and bustle of the CBD lays Desgraves St.

Desgraves is so iconically Melbourne that I encourage any travellers passing through even for a short time to check it out.

 Every possible surface is covered in constantly changing and evolving art. Thousands of people pass trough everyday. It's pedestrian only- no cars or bikes. 

Desgraves is fiercely competitive. Melbourne is famous for it's coffee (and coffee snobs!) Anywhere else in the city a soy latte will put you back 4-4.5$ but in Desgraves every cafe charges 3$. If they were to raise their prices they wouldn't survive. 

Everywhere you stand you feel like you're in the way. There is so much energy and noise and laughter and music.

Every vendor is always busy. Always. 

I love it!

It was here that I had the only good mexican-inspired thing in the whole of Oceania, at a place that sold only Soup and Tacos. They had 9 kinds of soup (only some are vegan) everyday in giant Harry Potter-esque cauldrons that a charming french girl dished out on request. 

It 35 degrees that day so natch I went for the Black Bean Tacos. They came with guacamole and salsa fresca. They also had fresh squeezed OJ in an ice bucket on the floor (apropos of nothing,) and I scooped up one of those as well. 

The whole thing set me back 9$ I think and I enjoyed my lunch on a dirty staircase. Next to me a guy in a batman mask sold ecstasy to an impossibly beautiful woman in impossibly tall heels. Across from me two businessmen talked over coffee. Further down the lane tourists excitedly took photos of the dumpsters. 

I loooovvveee big cities.