Work Barbecue

It's really been barbecue weather recently so on Friday our bosses treated us to a barbecue and free booze-up! It was great - they even let me go and buy my own vegan burgers! I'd never tried Dee's Organic Homemade Spicy Bean Burgers before and have heard people rave about them online, so I thought I'd give them a go. WOW they were good! For €3.99 for two, I'd definitely get them again. They didn't fall apart on the barbecue and actually had a really nice texture and held together in the bun really well, along with some tomatoes, lettuce and onion. All the sauces we had were (luckily) vegan, so I put some spicy tomato relish onto the burger and marinaded them in red pepper sauce before cooking them.

As I was coming back from the shop with my burgers this kitty spotted me and I spent 10 minutes tickling its tummy. I could spend days tickling kitties' tummies!

Bagel Mania!

I've been having a couple of bagels here and there recently. Tesco's own value bagels and Weightwatchers bagels are surprisingly low in calories and make an excellent alternative to a plain old bun or sandwich. The other day I made a lovely rocket, cucumber, sweet pickled pimento pepper and beetroot bagel. It was so unexpectedly good, that by the time I thought I'd better document it for the blog, it was actually all in my tummy!

Today however, I made another one before heading to the gym to burn it off! I pan-fried some left over Polenta that had been marinading in BBQ sauce. I added some BBQ seasoning powder while frying it in olive oil. It was a bit unhealthy looking by the time it had cooked, but it was damn tasty! I put this in a bagel with a pickled pimento pepper and some lovely Irish tomato relish. It was heavenly!!! I'd have added some rocket if I'd have had any left in the fridge...

I guess I should have put the relish on the top half of the bagel so it could be seen in the photo as it looks a little plain here. I was a little too rushed to eat it before it got cold to faff around taking photos - but you get my drift! ;)

Tempeh-ting!

HOW have I LIVED without Tempeh in my life?! Thanks to my new friend from Germany, Lutz, I am now addicted to Tempeh. I just know that when I've almost finished the block I'm going to have a little panic attack until I get my hands on some more before the junkie-type withdrawal symptoms set in.... can't be fun having to go cold-tofurkey!!

For those of you who do not know what Tempeh is:

"Tempeh, or tempe in Indonesian, is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy-foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in China or Japan. It originated in today's Indonesia, and is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamin. It has a firm texture and strong flavor. Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue."

So here are a few photos of my Tempeh experiments. Being very new to all this I kept it quite simple. First is fillets of Tempeh marinaded in barbecue sauce and grilled on the George Foreman, with curly kale that has been cooked and then tossed in sesame oil.  

Lutz recommended that I tried frying up some tempeh in soya sauce and then glazed it with agave nectar. It's so easy and simple but the taste is just SO good! I think it really brings out the nuttiness of the tempeh's taste and texture, and cutting them into bite-sized cubes meant that they could mix well into the quinoa I made to go with them. All I did there was cook the quinoa for about 15 minutes and stir in some fried pepper, onion and garlic, then seasoned with some Chinese five-spice.

Here is a simple Thai Green Curry that I made with coconut milk, Tesco's own green curry paste, spring onions, red peppers, lemongrass & lime juice. Mmmmm, it was good!

If any of you can read German check out Lutz's activism website kreaktivisten.org to get the low-down on how to make graffiti stencils, stickers, buttons and much more to raise awareness against animal cruelty. Good work, man! :)

Barbecue!

Today we went and bought a barbecue, seeing as the weather this weekend has been like Summer for the first time. I love it when washing dries on the line within half an hour and you can bask in the heat of the sun. We've been doing a bit of work on the garden this weekend while the sun lasts, and I even planted some seeds: cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, courgettes, cabbage, baby corn, oregano, coriander, beetroot & spinach for a start. I've never done this kinda thing before, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I can't wait!

Here's a photo of my lunch tomorrow - barbecued veg skewers with a side salad. They are marinaded in Reggae Reggae BBQ sauce, which my boyfriend assured me is vegan! On the skewers were cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, baby corn & onions.

And here's a photo of the BBQ in action - the obligatory meat for the omnivores, as well as some corn on the cob & a tofu burger wrapped in slivers of aubergine. Mmmm!