I'm back! (But just to tell you my new address.)

It's been almost exactly a year since I posted here. A year that started off incredibly sad and then got incredibly happy!
Anyway, I'm now blogging at my website.
I hope you'll visit me there, and sign up for our monthly newsletter and even join us on Facebook!
Very best vegan wishes,
Alice

Meringue buttercream frosting goes vegan

I try to be helpful.
So when Daphne from Singapore saying she wanted to make Italian meringue buttercream for her vegan friends, and would Angel Food meringue mix do the trick, I scurried off to the kitchen to give it a whirl. Or should I say, a whisk.

And I am very grateful I did!
The resulting recipe is heart-meltingly gorgeous. It's firm enough to pipe, and not as sweet or as fatty as regular buttercream.
Go on, give it a whisk.

VEGAN MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup water, divided
1 tablespoon meringue A powder (from the Angel Food vegan meringue mix)

2 1/2 teaspoons meringue B powder (from the Angel Food vegan meringue mix)
2 tablespoons Instant Clear Jel
3/4 cup dairy-free margarine
1 - 2 teaspoons liquid flavouring of your choice (2 tablespoons instant coffee powder is delicious too)

Directions
1. Mix the sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. 2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. Allow to simmer (no need to stir now) until it reaches 121 celsius (250 farenheit).
4. Turn the heat off and allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes.
5. Put 1/4 cup water and 1 tablespoon meringue A in the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment.
6. Whisk until thick and fluffy, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary.
7. With the mixer running, pour the hot syrup slowly into the fluffy mix in the bowl.8. Add the flavouring. Continue mixing until it is fluffy and pale. (This could take 10 to 15 minutes.)
9. Mix the ICJ and meringue B in a small bowl, sprinkle them over the mixture in the bowl, and quickly whisk again (before it has time to form lumps!).
10. Finally, add the margarine and whip again until it is all blended and fluffy.

Please note this is still a work in progress. I've never made or tasted 'real' meringue buttercream, so do let me know if you can think of improvements to this recipe!

Marshmallow round-up

Our marshmallows are delicious in their plainest form, but they really shine when you get creative with flavours and textures. Here are a few of my favourite variants. Sing out if you need more details on any of them!

1 teaspoon each of brandy essence and coconut extract instead of the vanilla in the recipe; coated in unsweetened cocoa.

Black bean + beetroot = delicious combination

I love beetroot but often put off using it. Silly, huh? I think the stained fingers puts me off. So when I buy beetroot, I make myself peel it and grate it (thanks, food processor). What I don't use straight away goes into the fridge for future salads or into the freezer for future cooked dishes.

For dinner last night for Billy and I, I defrosted some grated beetroot (from a massive 1kg beetroot from our food co-op) and cooked it up with some black beans. I figured they'd suit each other, with their earthy flavours, and I was right. The only seasoning was a little garlic stock powder and a dash of balsamic vinegar (to tame the sweetness).

I served it on top of quinoa, and with a side of pan-fried asparagus and capsicum strips. It'd look better if I'd cut the capsicum the same width as the asparagus, but I was in a hurry. (How unusual!)
The flavours, textures and colours were all gorgeous together - and that's gotta be a heapin helpin of antioxidants and other phyto-nutrients.

Culinary challenge: bamboo shoot

We recently signed up for a weekly vege box from Ooooby. This week's bundle of vege joy included a fresh bamboo shoot. Or it may have been a dinosaur's claw.

Once I'd cut a few centimetres off the base and the tip, and peeled off many layers of sheath-like leaves, this is what I got:

I boiled the pieces for 30 minutes until the top section was tender, and boiled the other piece for another 20 minutes. It didn't get tender.... and didn't get eaten: too tough!
I roasted the pieces with some other less-glamorous veges from Ooooby - kumara, pumpkin (cut with my fancy corrugated knife!), onions and capsicum.

The verdict? It's a lot of work for a small amount of food. But the piece that got cooked properly was delicious. At first it had a strong potato flavour, followed by a mushroom flavour. I'd definitely give them another go!

Sometimes simple is best

Pearl barley, topped with black-eyed peas, topped with fresh dill. Easy and delicious.

Usually I add a lot of different flavours to our meals. And this dish proves that isn't always necessary.
The fresh dill was from our local farmers' market. And the lemons (which look like they're relaxing against the side of a hot tub) are from our tree.
We added white salt and black salt at the table, and that was it.

Orange custard cups

Mack and I enjoyed these for afternoon tea yesterday, sitting on the lawn in the sunshine, with Tui Cat rubbing up against us.

I came up with this recipe because we had some custard powder sitting on the shelf and I thought it would be good to use it up. Also, oranges are my favourite fruit right now.

ORANGE CUSTARD CUPS
Crush a couple plain sweet biscuits into the bottom of a tall glass.
Add the juice of half an orange, and moosh it all together with a fork (trying not to mess up the sides of the glass).
Make one cup of your favourite custard, with the addition of the zest of half an orange.
Add half the custard on top of the cookie/juice mix.
Sprinkle on some chocolate drops.
Allow the custard to cool slightly before carefully adding small pieces of orange. (I didn't think of this until later, but it would look good if you managed to stick the orange pieces to the inside of the glass!)
Top with the rest of the custard, more pieces of orange, more choc drops and a final sprinkling of orange zest.
Enjoy it warm or cold.