19 February 2013

Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts

I was recently introduced to this amazing site called TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, which houses a bucket-load of the most interesting and thought-provoking talks I've come across. This one resonated with me particularly, but I've only just started exploring...so I'm sure I'll come across many more. Check it out for yourself. Man what an inspiring site(!)



06 February 2013

Jelly Donut Cupcake Heaven [a la Veganomicon]



I'm gradually overcoming my fear of Veganomicon and working through it a little at a time. I made these Jelly Donut Cupcakes a while ago and they were YUM!  

Ingredients

  • 1 cup soy milk
  • a tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch (in SA: Maizena)
  • 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil 
  • 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 12 tsp strawberry / raspberry / grape jam
  • icing sugar for sprinkling 
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Pour the soy milk, vinegar and cornstarch into a measuring cup and set aside. 

Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper cupcake liners. 

In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Create a well in the center of the flour to pour your wet ingredients into. 

Stir the soy milk mixture with a form to dissolve the cornstarch (which will be hard and stuck to the bottom of the cup) and then pour into the flour mixture. Add the oil, granulated sugar and vanilla. Stir until well combined. 


Fill the cupcake liners to just under three-quarters full with the batter. Place one teaspoon of jam onto the center of each cupcake (don't push the jam into the cupcake as the dough will rise to cover it and don't put too much jam on each cupcake, otherwise it will sink to the bottom). 

Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool. 

Sprinkle with icing sugar over the cupcake and serve. 

The cupcakes actually tend to be better the next day as they get harder and the sugar gets a bit old and crusty like those cheap donuts you had when you were a kid (or not a vegan)...only now you're making a fancy-pancy cupcake that's posing as a cheap donut. Ah, the irony. 




Cheater's Cottage Pie


I always keep a stock of the ingredients for this super easy dish in case 1) it's month-end and there is nothing else to eat in the house; 2) it's almost month-end and, while there is still something to eat, we need leftovers for lunch; or 3) it's nowhere near month-end and Ric asks for it. 

You can put everything together in 15 minutes flat and then pop it into the oven and relax on your lazy, cheating bum for 30 minutes until it's ready. 

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 tbsp oil 
  • 1 packet Fry's vegetarian mince (plus the little seasoning packet that comes in the box with it)
  • 1/2 big packet or 1 small packet frozen vegetables (I use the carrot, sweetcorn and pea/green bean mix)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 packets Smash
  • 4 cups liquid i.e. water or milk or stock (depending upon how rich you want your Smash)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp vegan margarine optional)
  • vegan Parmesan cheese optional)
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the veggies and mince until they start to get soft. If you find that the ingredients are getting a bit dry and starting to stick to the bottom of the pan then add about 1/2 cup of water to moisten the mix. Add the Fry's seasoning packet and continue to fry the mix for about 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside. 

Empty the two packets of Smash into big bowl and stir in about 4 cups of the hot liquid of your choice (i.e. water, milk, stock etc). Stir until the Smash is smooth but not too runny (it should still stick to the spoon when you scoop it out). You can also add a big of margarine if you want it extra creamy. 


Spoon the mince mixture evenly onto the bottom of a relatively large (25 cm), flat oven-proof dish and then layer the Smash over that. Top with some vegan Parmesan, salt and pepper and place into to oven for about 30 minutes or until the Smash starts to brown. 


VFood: Purveyors of Quality Vegan Food

I received an e-mail yesterday from my friend Ann who has an amazing knack for sourcing new vegan foods on the market and convincing retail outlets to stock vegan-friendly foodstuffs (such as Wakaberry who, I've been informed, is in the process of developing an option for vegans).

VFood (Pty) Ltd imports and distributes fine quality vegan foods. Dave of VFood states as follows: 

"We are going to be running trials in the following Dischem Stores, Centurion, Nicolway, Fourways, Park Meadows and Norwood,  to see how well [the products] do before (hopefully) they open it up to more stores.

The shipment arrives next week and it’ll take about 2 weeks after that before they are on the shelves.

You can stay in touch via FB or Twitter to see exactly when they’ll be available as well what other products we’ll be launching in the next couple of months (assorted gourmet biscuits, rusks, cake mixes for carrot, chocolate, milk tart and malva pudding and protein bars, all vegan)."

For a more comprehensive write-up and listing of the products that VFood intends making available to consumers, have a look at the South African bible on all things vegan- Carciofi Rosso.

*E for Excitement!*

04 February 2013

Society6

It was Ric's birthday recently and, as part of his present, I ordered him a print from the U.S based online shop, Society6.

I discovered this awesome shop when I was looking at one of my favourite blogs, Hard-boiled Wonderland, and I saw that the girlfriend-blogger had bought her boyfriend (who guest appears in the blog) a Royal Tenenbaums t-shirt created by Nan Lawson, entitled "Secretly in Love". I, in turn, fell explicitly no-holds-barred in love with the t-shirt and set about surfing the net to try and find its distributor. The search eventually led me to Society6's website. 

They have such cool art there, and although it is mass-produced and commercialised, you can pretty much have any print made into any picture, t-shirt, pillow or tote bag that you want. It's also an amazing source of inspiration, if you're into creating your own pieces of art.


I ordered myself the t-shirt and Ric a (*cringe*) Halo print (you'll know what this is if you play games or, worse, if your significant other plays games...Ric and I actually have house-rules in place for this). The print will go into an inconspicuous area of the house that only he makes use of.  

The goods aren't badly priced but of course the postage costs cause the end price to spike. 


The parcels finally arrived about a week ago (so you're looking at about three weeks' delivery time) and I joyfully made my way to the post office to collect them...only to be informed that I had to pay customs duty on the t-shirt and print as well. Least to say that, while I LOVE my t-shirt, the total price I ended up paying for it turned out to be pretty steep (and totally messed up my monthly budget!) 

I do, however, think that the prices of the art prints are really reasonable and the postage costs and customs duty on the prints tend to be quite a lot lower. If you simply order the prints and have them framed over here then it's a great deal.


I mean who doesn't want an old-school, gentlemanly Chewbacca staring at you 24/7. I don't even watch Star Wars and I went ape-shit for this print!   

Le chick c'est chic




So one of my New Year's resolutions was/is to stop eating potato chips (yup. I'm aiming high this year).They say you should never quit something cold-turkey but rather replace one habit with another, so that's what I've done. 

In order to achieve my lofty goal, I've replaced the potato chips with copious amounts of roasted chickpeas. To date, I haven't eaten any chips (this excludes popcorn- I draw the line there). 

These chickpeas are so DAMN FLIPPIN' good and I've got my kitchen cupboard stockpiled with cans...just like those "Doomsday Preppers" on the Discovery network or, even better, those "Extreme Couponing" people...just without the coupons. 

They're pretty simple to make and you can spice them up with just about anything that you have (and like) in your spice rack. 

My preferred ingredients are as follows: 

  • 1 can chickpeas, drained
  • 1 tbsn olive oil
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds / cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or if you don't like things spicy, then 1 tsp paprika)
Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius. 

Spread the chickpeas onto an oven-proof dish and coat with the remaining ingredients. 

Place the chickpeas in the oven for about 20-30 minutes (depending on how crunchy you want them) and then proceed to...


*MUNCH*