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Thursday 16 April 2009

Playing House .... erm I mean Flat!

Helloo there. ARRGGHHH I hate you blogger I HATE YOU!! I spent forever typing this post and blogger went out and it only saved half it!

But I'm over it now. And I promised pix of the flat so here they are.....

Bedroom - I didn't take one from the door, but it's quite a long room.

Make up and drawers! That mirror will be on the wall soon.
Patio doors in the bedroom onto the balcony.

Bathroom - it's nice to have a bathroom cabinet. My last flat didn't even have a mirror in the stupid ugly bathroom!!

Bath/Shower:

I took a dark one as well because the bath panel lights up (there's one above the sink too) - very nice for a relaxing bath!!

Night time view of the church from my balcony - spookeh!!

The balcony - well some of it anyway, this is what i could fit in the shot. It also goes around the side of the building, on the south side and that is where my veggie patch is going!!

Living room

Kitchen - I'm not a huge lover of that one blue wall! But I've got used to it.

Now onto the important stuff - the foodz.

Last night's dinner I was planning on making burgers with the cooked quinoa I had but didn't really have anything to go in with the quinoa. So I made the crash hot potatoes that Jessy keeps raving about. She's right - they're awesome. Mine are a bit more crash squished taters, but I'm ok with that. I also had some spicy italian sausage, some roasty veg and I made the Merciful Miso Gravy from La Dolce Vegan, cuz I was feeling saucy. Glad I did too cuz DAYUM! That stuff is rad. I used wholemeal flour instead of plain flour - I wasn't sure how that'd work but it worked perfectly and was yummy.

Brekkie at the weekend was french toast. Normally I have mine with ketchup - I'm English afterall! But I didn't have any so I tried the sweet variety. Hell yeah it was good! I added some orange zest, vanilla and cinnamon to the mixture and served with maple syrup. YUM.


Sunday Dinner - I fancied a good old roast dinner so I had mashed taters, roasted brussels & butternut squash, sage & onion stuffing and baked tofu. MMMMM!


I forget exactly what I put in this but it was veggies, tofu, tinned tomatoes, spices and a baked sweet potato. It was pretty good.


This was my favourite of the bunch, so there's a recipe! I veganised one of sainsbury's food for a fiver leaflets but as well as veganising, I added in some more veg, used fresh tomatoes, wholewheat pasta and decided not to deep fry the courgettes. Seriously, what did them poor courgettes ever do to sainsburys??? I used Julie Hasson's Spicy Sausages but the sauce is so good you could really leave this out, or just add in some more veggies!


I struggled with a name for this so ended up calling it....
Alien on Pasta (hee hee)
Ingredients (serves 2)
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped (about 2 cups / 300g)
¼ cup / 4 tbsp tomato puree
½ cup / 125ml water
2 tbsp pesto*
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp olive oil
1 yellow (or red) pepper, sliced into fine strips
2 shallots (or 1 small onion), finely sliced
1 medium courgette/zucchini shaved with a veggie peeler
2 fat cloves of garlic
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Salt & pepper to taste
100g (about 4oz / 2 cups) of dried wholewheat pasta
2 vegan sausages (optional)

Method:
Chunk up the tomatoes (seeds, skin and all - just cut out the white core) and throw them in the blender with the tomato puree, water, pesto and paprika in the blender. Whizz till smooth (I did this with a hand-blender and the beaker that came with it).

Throw the pasta in a big pan of boiling water and cook according to pack instructions.

Heat the oil over a medium heat and gently cook the onions and peppers (a pinch of salt helps) for 5 minutes or so until they start to soften. Add the courgette and cook a few more minutes, then add the garlic and cook for just about a minute, until it starts to get fragrant.

Pour on the sauce and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes (until your pasta's ready really). If you're using the sausages, just put them in the oven at 180/350 for about 5-10 minutes until they are warmed through and just starting to brown. Don't overdo it or they'll be dry.

Add the nutritional yeast and salt & pepper to taste. Serve over the pasta with the sausages on top if using.

*I had some pesto in the fridge that I'd made the day before, but you could use a good vegan jarred version or just throw in some basil leaves!


Lastly, I found this pic on my camera. It was a fairly unspectacular shepherds pie filling of TVP, tinned tomatoes, spices and veggies but the topping was magical! Mashed potato & sweet potato with some vegan margarine, soymilk and salt & pepper. Simple but oh so seriously tasty. I'll work on the filling!!

That's all for now. Ooh except my Mum said she was going to sign up for email updates so HI MUM!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and no the comments are not just for vegans - feel free to leave one!

25 comments:

  1. French Toastt with ketchup?! LOL that sounds so weird to me... but surprisingly, it sounds good too!

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  2. Your new pad is lovely Sal!
    And the foodz? Noooooooooommmmmmm!
    I'm just waiting for the grand reveal of the tat now, you have kept us waiting for soooo long!!

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  3. love the new flat! super awesome and i love that you have a super big balcony.

    that sauce sounds fresh and tasty!

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  4. gorgeous place you have!! and french toast with ketchup sounds BIZARRE!! well i don't really like ketchup so i can't judge fairly.... haha. food looks great :)

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  5. I love your new place!!

    I really can't fathom french toast with ketchup....but it must be good if others eat it!

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  6. You know, French toast with ketchup sounds strangely good to me. I would never think to eat it that way. I love cultural food traditions!

    Love the crib!

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  7. Love the new flat, your balcony looks massive! The kitchens gorgeous too, loving your pink toaster and kettle!

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  8. congrats on the new flat! very cool. I'm sure you'll learn to ignore the blue wall in no time. love the huge patio!

    the food looks amazing. I've never heard of ketchup on french toast. very odd :). I grew up in Vermont, the land of maple syrup, so I'm addicted to the stuff.

    the crash potatoes are calling me...

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  9. i love your new place!!!! the lighting in the bathtub is amazing! and i love your kitchen! you are so lucky!!!

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  10. your new flat is GORGEOUS! i have serious apartment envy right now. the balcony! the tub! the light beside the tub! the floors! you are one lucky girl, for sure.

    and so much yumminess coming outta your kitchen, as well. the pasta sounds so so good. i love peppers and onions and sausage and tomato sauce all together. super yum!

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  11. Hooray for a new flat, it looks great! And that French toast looks the goods, I still have never tried it, vegan or pregan!

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  12. I'm loving the new pad Sal - so many amazing things like a balcony and bath panels that light up!!
    Glad you're all in and settled. I'm almost nearly in my new place, but not quite. Got the electricity connected on Tuesday and the interwebs connected yesterday - have about 6 more car loads to do.
    Can't wait for it all to be over to be honest.
    Your food looks scrummy as always - I really like the look of that Pasta.
    YUM!

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  13. I love your new flat!!! Your kitchen is awesome, and I am sooooo jealous of your balcony! You'll be able to plant tons of things out there!
    I made crash potatoes today! I'm going to blog about them - and I totally agree - they are amazing!

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  14. sweet jeebus, Sal - your new flat is beyond awesome! hells yeah! i think i may have to move in and be your roommate! i'm imagining all the vegan yummies we could make - mmmmmmmmmmm! your balcony, kitchen, AND bathroom are all making me superjealousfaced!

    i'm glad you tried those crash hot potatoes - aren't they just the best?! i think yours look especially delish, fo 'sho! your roast dinner looks divine smothered in all that glorious gravy! and i'm gonna have to try your Alien on Pasta (love the name!) 'cause it looks so damn scrumptious! i love anything with shallots & garlic! mmmmmmmmm! i think your shepherd's pie looks like some seriously tasty comfort food & you better believe i want your recipe when you get it all tweaked!

    hope you have a super stellar weekend, Sal!

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  15. Love the new flat! Especially the balcony off the bedroom and I think the church looks pretty!

    Mmmmmm loving all the food too!

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  16. What a beautiful new place - enjoy! All your food looks outstanding.

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  17. Oh my gosh, your food is crazy gooooooooood!

    Love the kitchen! Blue wall isn't that bad! =D

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  18. Nice flat - love the mirror, btw - I need one like that for my WIP sitting room. Alien on Pasta sounds yummers too!

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  19. Your Sunday dinner looks great. I might have to pull up a seat. Have a great week!

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  20. What a delicious assortment on yumminess! Mmmmm, french toast...

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  21. our new flat looks great as does all the yummy food.

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  22. Sal,

    Thanks for doing PIF with me. It's going to be fun :). If you could email me your address, that would be great. sdcatvegan[at]gmail.com.

    ~Bethany

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  23. oh my goodness! can I come live with you there? and have you cook for me? wow!
    haha, french toast with ketchup? I'm a ketchup fiend, too! I even dip choc chip cookies in it!

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  24. hi! was reading the vitamix post on bittersweet and saw that you were looking/lusting for one :)

    in case you do end up ordering one, here's a coupon code to get free shipping ($25 US, $35 Cdn):

    https://secure.vitamix.com/redirect.aspx?index.aspx?COUPON=06-003915

    Please pass it on! :)

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  25. I was just going to say I thought the blue wall was festive! Oh well at least we agree that that vacuum cleaner is awesome! I just bought one (not nearly as adorable!) Ooh... and your tattoo looks great and your shepherd's pie inspiring! My best friend and I have been talking about a tat for awhile... and I've been meaning to do a half sweet potato/regular potato mash... I was trying to figure out how I could swirl them during the holidays!

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speak to me, yo!