RIP Michael Jackson

I woke up to the sad news that Michael Jackson died yesterday. How very sad for everyone. I hope his children are well looked after and supported. His music will forever live on. Hope he is now at peace.

Homemade pizza

I have been meaning to make a pizza for the past two weeks and finally got round to it last night. I usually make my pizza dough from scratch in the bread machine. This time I cheated and bought a packet of Co-op's pizza dough mix. It's very easy to make, you just need to add water to the mix and stir to form a dough. You then need to knead it for 5 mins and then roll it out onto a greased baking sheet. Cover for 30 mins.

I next added my toppings (always the best bit deciding what to have!). This time I opted for pesto on the base topped with pizza sauce. I then added a white onion, 125g mushrooms, 1 tomato, some tofu salad toppers in sun dried tomato flavour and some sheese smoked cheddar to finish it off. I baked it at 200c for around 30 mins.

Here is the finished item straight out of the oven. Yum...

Books glorious books

I have been craving new vegan recipes recently so naughtily ordered three vegan books off Amazon. They were: The Garden of Vegan, La Dolce Vegan and Vegan Brunch. I didn't really know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. The Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan are both written by Sarah Kramer. Each book was a paperback with no piccies of the food! I always like to see pics as it gives me an idea of what my dish is supposed to look like. More reason to cook them to see how they turn out! I love both of these books already. They are both thick and choc full of mouth watering recipes. I have already made three dishes from La Dolce Vegan (I only got it on Friday!). I attended a party on Sunday so made 3 different flavour muffins; double choc, maple streusel and banana and blueberry. All I can say is wow. All turned out perfectly and were just right. Not too sweet, good texture and appertising to look at. They went down a treat with all the non vegans. I think all that baking went to my head as I forgot to take any pictures of them! Doh..a good excuse to make some more : ) I have yet to make anything from Vegan Brunch but plan on doing so at the weekend starting with the first recipe, a tofu omlette. I will post a pic of how it turns out. This book is written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, famous for books such as Veganomicon and VCTOTW.

Since I last blogged I have also "discovered" Etsy! What an amazing site. It's the type of site I have been hoping existed. I love vintage, home made and anything unique. I wish I was a creative person so I could put my wares on to sell. The only creative thing I do is cross stitching. I have been doing this on and off for around 15 years. The only problem is it takes me so long to finish a piece it would never be worth my while selling them. I like to do them for family and friends to give as gifts. Here is the first thing I bought off the site; it's a scottie dog brooch! How adorable. Look at the cute packaging. I was dead chuffed with it.

This weekend I would like to buy a food processor. Alot of recipes require the use of a food processor so I thought it was time I got my ass into gear and got one. If anyone has any suggestions on what one to buy, please can you let me know. I know the cheapest one will probably not be the best but then again my pocket wouldn't love me if it will cost over £100. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks peeps. x

I love Fernie

This is Fernie. She is our cat. We were given her 4 years ago when her carer moved away. She is a little minx but is oh so loving when her food comes out. We think she is around 10 years old but cannot be sure for definite. We called her "Cat" for 3 years before finding out what her name was. She hates other cats with a passion. She loves lying on the bed and chasing light movements. She will only eat packet food of one of three brands. She moults like there is no tomorrow but absolutely hates being brushed. Twice when her coat was greasy we had to put her in the shower....I so wish I had my camera at those times.

I love my cat and my cat loves me : )

Rhubarb cake, magazines and car boot finds

I'm off sick at the moment with tonsilitis and a cold...boo. Due to this I haven't been doing much cooking. On Sunday I did manage to find enough energy to make the Strawberry and Rhubarb Coffee Cake from here.

Now mine doesn't look like the picture on the Tofu for Two blog but it really is delicious. G isn't too keen having rhubarb in a cake which means there is more for me!

The latest copy of the Cook Vegetarian magazine arrived on my doorstep on Thursday. I don't know if any of you guys read this but I absolutely love it. All the recipes and articles are vegetarian with some being vegan. Alot of the recipes can be veganised. This magazine can be bought from all good supermarkets/newsagents.

It rained here on Sunday so my local car boot sale was cancelled. I am very lucky as the car boot sale is held every Sunday about 5 mins walk from my house. I have been inspired to start buying black and white china after reading Coffee Talk's Blog. I love her style and thought it would be something stylish I can purchase relatively cheaply. Here are my latest finds...

6 x dinner plates - £1


Ceramic cheese pot - 50p

The cheese pot was empty by the way. I keep my stock cubes in them , I have a slightly bigger one (behind this one in photo).

So much food, so little time

I have been doing lots of cooking lately and plan on doing more this weekend. I bought a new vegan cook book the other day so plan on sampling some of its delights. I made some tacos the other day which were yummy. I love the dried TVP mince so try to cook with it as often as possible. These were alittle watery and kinda fell apart when I ate them but you are supposed to get messing when you eat tacos...right? In the background is a glass of chocolate soya milk which I bought reduced for just 19p for 1 litre.

I have been trying to snack more healthly lately just because I feel I should do being a vegan. I had an Alpro soya yogurt (strawberry and banana flavour which is my fav) and 1/2 tin of peaches and 1/2 tin of pineapple rings. Oh and two kiwi fruits. In the background is all my work...boo

Curry is always a meal I make whenever I have veg to use up. I usually chuck in whatever I have. I prefer white rice so served it with the curry and two poppadoms. I wanted naan bread but couldn't find any that didn't contain milk...grrr...

I try not to buy biscuits as making them is so easy. This week I made raisin and pecan cookies. G was eating them before I had even finished baking the 2nd batch. These were very quick to make and very worth it.

I have always wondered what a cobbler was like (I love crumbles and knew they were similar). I made this simple blueberry cobbler. Unfortunately I used a dish that was too big so my topping looks kinda sparse. Next time I will double the topping. It was great but doesn't match a mighty crumble.

Twitter

I am now a member of Twitter. If anyone would like to follow my tweets please click "follow me" on the following link: http://twitter.com/candyflossrock