Eurovision and comfort food

It’s seems like I’ve been missing in action for the last few months. It’s been crazy! I had a milestone birthday, left a job I’d been happy in for 11 years and started a new job working longer hours.

And that was just me! My daughter left school and started a fantastic new course and our dog had some health problems and needed lots of vet visits and special care (he’s fine now).

Throughout that time I had lots of ideas for blog posts, but I just never had the time or energy for writing, until now.

Quick quesadillas and Great Earth

Monday was hot and steamy and very busy for us. We were all tired, and desperately needed something very easy, but delicious for dinner. I had a heap of broccoli and some mushrooms to use up, so when I found Nava Atlas’s recipe for Quesadillas with black beans, broccoli and portabellas I thought I’d hit the jackpot, because I also had tortillas and two cans of black beans in the pantry. This was going to be a breeze!

Burgers, chips and banana splits

Yesterday the sun was shining again. We walked the dog, and then I felt all inspired to do homey things. I started by sweeping leaves and then planted some new lettuces. That was enough outdoorsy stuff for me! I retreated to the kitchen to find something delicious to make for dinner.

Quick dinner for MOFO Madness!

Things have got a little bit crazy here over the last few days. With B (my husband) working his usual crazy long hours, me working longer hours than usual, and the kids having exams this week, we’ve kind of ‘let ourselves go’.

Don’t drop in! The place is a mess, and you’ll only find me hunched over a screen writing MOFO posts or drooling over the fantastic food all you other bloggers seem to be eating. Last night it got to 7.30pm and I hadn’t even thought about dinner.

Melbourne’s Vegan Day(s) Out

It’s already Wednesday and I still haven’t written about Melbourne’s inaugural Vegan Day Out last Saturday! There’s a lot of deliciousness to report on, and my memory is fading by the day, so I’d better get on with it.

What I did with my free afternoon

I felt a bit like a the naughty kid wagging school today. I’ve been working longer hours than usual while we finish off a big project. I turned up at work today (which is normally my day off), only to find that by midday there was nothing further I could do for the day. Colour me gone!

Daiya and Please Like Me TONIGHT!

It’s an exciting night for me!

ABC2 are showing all the episodes of the first season of Please Like Me back to back tonight, before the new season starts on Tuesday.

But that’s not all…I also managed to get hold of the second last packet of Daiya mozzarella at Mad Cowgirls  this morning.

And H has made a cake. Banana and chocolate with cream cheese icing.

Delicious simmer sauces

We look forward to the first Saturday of every month, because its Bundoora Farmers’ Market day. The May market was a couple of weeks ago now, but I have a reason for writing about it so late. I needed to test out a few lovely products I picked up, BEFORE I wrote about them – and tonight I’ve finished.

Mad Cowgirls: vegan goodies close to home

Mad Cowgirls vegan grocery shop in Preston is a treasure trove of vegan goodies. The big advantage of this shop over the Cruelty Free Shop (for me) is that I can drop in quickly to grab something for dinner – because I can easily park nearby (with no parking metres!). They stock everything from Botanical Cuisine nut cheeses to chocolate-coated honeycomb (no honey, of course) to cute vegan jewellery and t-shirts, and even humane mousetraps.

Update: Palm oil free Panko breadcrumbs

Just a quick update on my What’s that ingredient? post from last week.

In the post, I mentioned that the Nisshin Seifun Panko breadcrumbs contained palm oil. I hadn’t realised that until I got them home, and thought I’d have to search far and wide to find palm oil free Panko breadcrumbs.

Coincidentally, a couple of days ago I heard that there is another brand that is readily available in Australia, which doesn’t contain palm oil. Hooray!

Kook A Krumb (above) use canola oil instead. I found them in my regular supermarket, in the baking section.

That sick feeling

I’ve had a big weekend, and have a couple of new posts on the go…but I’ve had hideous computer/iPad problems today and…well, I don’t want to go into it, because I get that sick feeling. I’m sure you know the one. 

Hopefully it’ll be sorted soon, because I have to report on all the food I bought and/or ate this weekend. And there was some really good stuff! 🙂