Jammin' Jam Donuts

So here's the thing,

Ingredients;
160g Plain Flour,
7g dried yeast (this generally comes in packets of 7g)
½ tsp Table Salt
15g Raw Sugar, plus extra to dust
20g Nuttelex
65ml Soy Milk
45ml Water
1 tbsp Vegg mixed with 2 tbsp of water
Raspberry Jam (blender quickly so its a smooth consistency)
Vegetable Oil

Method;

Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. 

In a cup add nuttelex to milk and water, and nuke in the microwave for 30 seconds, and stir to melt butter completely into milk. Pour this into the mixing bowl, along with the vegg, and stir until it comes together into a dough: it should be firm, but soft.

Put dough into a mixer fitted with a dough hook, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Lightly grease a bowl and add dough, cover with a damp tea towel, and leave in a warm place (I put it outside in the sun) for about an hour.

Shape into 4, folding each side tightly into the centre in turn, turning as you go, then turn the ball over and put it on a lightly floured baking tray or board, spacing them well apart. Cover and leave to rise again for 45 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large pan. Cook the doughnuts for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden, flip in a bowl of sugar, and allow them to cool slightly. Using a skewer to make a hole that goes from one side of the donut to the other (without piercing the other side). Use a piping bag or in my case a giant syringe to inject a vein of jam. Eat while warm. BOOYA.

Bad lighting and iPhone camera = shitty Jam Donut photo.

I Made Cheese! I Made Cheese!

So I made cheese!
My very first cheese :)

This is how I did it:

Ingredients;
2 Cans of Coconut Cream
1 tsp Red Balsamic Vinegar
3 tbsp Agar Powder
4 tbsp Arrowroot Powder
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Vegg
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Tumeric


Method;
Bring coconut cream to the boil.Add vinegar, agar and salt. Whisk the lumps out and turn heat down to medium. Add the remaining ingredients, constantly whisking to avoid lumps.
In a plastic container line the bottom with baking paper. Pour the cheese mixture into the mould and cool for a few hours. The cheese will solidify the further it cools down. You can slice it like cheese, it melts, but doesn't get 'gooey', you cant win them all huh?

Things I would do different?
Nooch instead of Vegg, it just gives it that Vegg aroma that I cant handle - and I would double the amount. Also I would try adding some Braggs for a little umami? Maybe black pepper?
Now I have this basic recipe I am really excited to shake things up, once I have perfected the flavour it could be ok to be served with crackers? I coat the outside with parsley and crushed nuts, so many ideas, so little time!!!

Oh My, Chick'n Pie!

 Hola! Inspired somewhat by Cupcake Kitteh's post of Leek, Mushroom & Kale Pie I decided to rustle a little pie up for myself! This is the result:


Ingredients;
Enough sheets of puff pastry for 1 pie - defrosted (we use Borgs or Papas)
Olive Oil
1 Leek, sliced
1 Bag of Mushrooms, chopped roughly
1/2 Bag of Vegan Chicken, chopped into small chunks (we use Aroma Chicken found at Trans Emporium - our local Vietnamese superstore, )
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Bunch of Spinach, roughly chopped
2 tbsp Chicken Stock Powder (Massel!)
1 tbsp Thyme
1 tbsp Chilli Flakes
1 Pinch Nutmeg
3 tbsp Nuttelex
2 tbsp Flour
1 tbsp Tapioca
1 Cup Soy Milk
salt, to taste

1 tbsp Soy Milk
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Method;
Preheat the oven to 180deg.
Oil up a pie pan and line the bottom and sides with pastry, prick the bottom. Put in the oven and cook until light brown. It may puff up - don't worry about that :)
In a saucepan heat some oil.
Add garlic and leek, cook until soft and translucent. Add mushroom and cook until it releases it juices. 
In a separate fry pan toss in the chicken and fry until crispy.
In another pot melt the nuttelex, whisk in the flour, tapioca, chicken stock and soy milk.
Add the creamy mixture to the mushroom and leek, stir in the chicken, spinach, thyme (MUST rub between fingers first!), nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper to taste,
Tweak herbs & spices until just right. Pile the mix into prepared pie crust and smooth down. 
Top the filling with pastry lid and trim edges. 
In a small bowl combine soy milk and oil, and brush over lid with pastry brush. Prick holes in lid, pop in the oven and bake until golden brown.

I couldn't be bothered making a salad for the side so we served this with shoe string fries, and a mayo/sriracha sauce, but honestly the chips were good dipped in creamy sauce of pie!
I have mastered a nice little seasoning for oven baked chips too. I whisked together a tablespoon of salt, teaspoon of chicken stock powder and a teaspoon of cayenne chilli powder together, and coated the frozen chips. Once cooked I sprinkled some more on top and tossed through. Deeeeelish!

I think if I did this pie again I would add some chopped roasted cauliflower, it would go perfectly with the beautifully creamy sauce!

Maybe you should give it a try?
k

Socially Conscious Shopping

This post has been a long time coming. I haven't really been sure how to put into words my argument because I think its best talked about in conversation.
My partner Morgan and I have challenged ourselves to be more socially responsible with where we shop.
Basically there is a dangerous duopoly in Australia's marketplace. The two companies concerned are Woolworths and Wesfarmers. These companies boast some pretty impressive stats. Woolworths is the largest retail company in Australia and New Zealand, it is the largest food retailer, largest takeaway liquor retailer and largest hotel and poker machine operator in Australia. Guess who is coming second?

I don't know about you but I don't feel entirely comfortable about funnelling all of my money into the two largest companies in Australia, it just doesn't sit right, and you don't need to have a degree in economics to know it aint right.
Isn't it eery going into a small town (i could stop there) and noticing that there are no independent businesses anymore? The old bakery, butchers and grocery store have now been replaced with a coles express, the old bottle shop is now a BWS. The old fuel station is now a caltex. They are all uniform, no different to the Coles, BWS and Caltex in the next town over. They stock sub-par vegetables and mainstream alco-pops, but nobody cares because THEY ARE SO CHEAP! How are they so cheap? Because they have the market by its balls. They muscled out the competition and are now around every corner.
It's sad.

So, we have put a self imposed ban on all establishments owned by either of these companies, and I encourage you to do the same. Don't go to Woolies for your weekly grocery run, go to the Sunday markets, fresh, organic, cheap, Australian made and grown, and this is peoples lively-hood!

Below is a 'No Go' list we have compiled for your reference;

Bottle Shops

1st Choice

BWS

Dan Murphys

Safeway

Vintage Cellars

Woolworth Liquor

Dept Stores

Big W

Bi-Lo

Coles

Dick Smith

Kmart

Office Works

Tandy

Target

Woolworths

Hardware Stores

Bunnings

Masters

Coles Owned Pubs

Bentley Hotel

Civic Hotel

Glengarry Tavern

High Road Hotel

Leopold Hotel

Victoria Park Hotel

ALH Group Pubs

Albion

Balmoral

Belgian Beer Cafe

Belmont Tavern

Brass Monkey

Brighton Hotel

Brooklands Tavern

Bull Creek Tavern

Captain Stirling

Como

Dunsborough Hotel

Gosnells Hotel

Greenwood Hotel

Herdsman

Highway Hotel Bunbury

Hyde Park Hotel

Kalamunda Hotel

Lakers

Leisure Inn

Peel Ale House

Peninsula Tavern

Queens

Royal Palms

Sail & Anchor

Saint George

The Vic

Wanneroo Villa Tavern

Caltex

Give it a crack, we found when we were forced to look for alternatives we uncovered many gems! There is a great little bottle shop around the corner with loads of imported alcohol which has a better range and is cheaper than most places. We are spending less money buying bulk from Kakulas Brothers. We are eating better quality veg shopping at our local European grocers, when we ran out of a particularly hard to find light bulb we ended up finding an adorable family owned hardware store where the sales clerk was more than happy to assist us.

I think this is worth your consideration. Not only are you finding little gems that make your life easier, you are helping local independent business owners that need our patronage far more than these big companies do. When I explained what we were doing to a friend she said to me 'No offence Kelly, but you are just 2 people, what difference can you make?'. Every cent not spent at one of these 'fine establishments' makes a difference. And by spreading the word you can also make a difference. 

If you have a question, thoughts, or  even disagree please comment below, isn't it better to engage in conversation about it than to pretend there isn't an issue?

If you don't see any more posts in the future, Coles or Wesfarmers have put a hit out on me.

Peace
k

EDIT: Others probably could have put this more eloquently than me. Sorry.

Comfort Food - Crumbed Chicken Breasts with Veg & Gravy

I am rounding off what seems to be the longest week of my life. 
On the bus trip home I polished off half a packet of Leda Ultimate Choc Chip Gluten Free Cookies I found at my local health food store 'Good Life' which definitely helped, but M & I felt comfort food was necessary tonight. Our go-to for comfort food is always something that includes lots of potato, greens, gravy and something kick ass to tie it all together. Crumbed chicken breast would do quite nicely!

Ingredients;
1 1/4 c Gluten Flour
1/3 c Chicken Stock Powder (Massell!)
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Paprika
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 c Water
1 c Soy Milk
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Flax Seed
1 Half Lemon
1 c Panko Bread Crumbs
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder

Freshly ground salt & pepper to taste

Method;

Preheat oven to 180deg.

In a large bowl mix gluten flour, chicken stock powder, garlic powder, chilli flakes, paprika and a healthy grind of salt and pepper. Pour in oil and water and mix until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

In a separate smaller bowl whisk together soy milk, oil, flax seed and the juice of half a lemon. 

In a shallow bowl mix bread crumbs, garlic and chilli powder, salt and pepper.

Pull 'chicken meat' out of the bowl and on a chopping board form several small patties, and flatten them out with your hands. Dip into the milk mix, and then thoroughly cover in bread crumb mix, patting the bread crumbs into the meat to stick.

Placed on a lined baking tray and cook for 20 mins until chicken is a light golden brown.

Heat oil in a fry pan and fry the chicken breasts so they are a deep golden brown in each side.

We served these with boiled potatoes (slathered in nuttelex), steamed broccoli, peas and broad beans (blanched), smothered in a mushroom, onion and cracked pepper gravy. A perfect home cooked meal! I also couldn't resist a squirt of Srirachi my chicken breasts as well, that combined with the gravy was delish! 

Anyway we inhaled this meal so quickly we completely forgot about photos AGAIN. So before packing lunches for tomorrow I plated up left overs and took a few snaps:

Laters

k

No Fail Kale & Bean Soup

Large bunches of kale from Stirling IGA for $1.50! So cheap! This means I have had to get creative with different ways to incorporate kale into dinner!

Ingredients;
Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 Red Chillis, sliced
1 Carrot, chopped
3 Stalks of Celery, chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic
4 c Vegan Chicken Stock (we use Massel)
Bunch of Kale (leaveage ripped off the stem in 'bite size chunks')
1 Can of Butter Beans
1 Can of Kidney Beans
1 tbsp Dried Thyme
1 tbsp Dried Rosemary
Vegan Chicken Chunks (we used Formosa's Soy Aroma Chunk)
Sriracha
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method;
Heat oil in large pot.
Throw in onion, garlic, chilli, carrot and celery.
Toss through so oil is coating vegetables, and stir through herbs. Cook through for 5 mins until vegies are tender. Add in stock and kale, and stir through. Taste soup and season with salt and pepper as needed, add extra stock powder and water to taste.
Add rinsed beans, bring to the boil and turn down to simmer.
Whilst soup is simmering in a separate fry pan heat some oil. Add faux chicken chunks, cook until soft, smother in sriracha and fry up until crispy.

Again taste soup, adjust seasoning to taste. Serve topped with chicken.

Some Like It Hot - Tortilla Soup

Hey Sports fans, 
Tonight I needed something hot, fast and tasty. So I picked up my boyfriend Morgan. Afterwards I made tortilla soup!
Easily vegan adaptable, usually it is made with a chicken breasts, but we are fresh out of chicken in the Pitman-Lythe household. 
Heres how:

Ingredients;
2 Cloves of Crushed Garlic
1 Diced Onion
2 Diced Red Chillis 
1 Diced Paprika
1 Diced Yellow Capsicum
1 Can Red Kidney Beans (rinsed)
4 Cups Chicken Stock (we use Massel)
1 Can Diced Tomato
1/2 Cup Corn
3 tsp Ground Cumin
2 tsp Ground Paprika
2 tsp Celery Salt
2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
Pinch of Garlic Powder
2 Bunches Coriander (roughly chopped)
1 Ripe Avocado (sliced)
1 Lime
Tortillas

Method;
In an oiled pot, cook garlic, onion and cumin until the onion is translucent.
Add peppers and continue cooking until soft, add the chicken stock, canned tomatoes, kidney beans, bring to a boil, reduce and simmer for 15-20mins. Taste and season as necessary.
In a separate bowl, whisk together spices.
To plate up, spoon soup into bowls, top with a handful of corn, coriander, sliced avocado, and a squeeze of lime. Serve with tortillas (fresh or grilled for a few mins until crunchy) for dipping.

We ate this so quickly I didn't even have a chance to take pics before it was gone! So here is a picture from the internet:

http://www.thekitchn.com/

Enjoy! 
k