unbeatable roast potatoes

I make the BEST roast potatoes. Hands down. And here's how to make 'em. First of all, use small potatoes, I use organic baby chats. Put them in a pot of salted tap water and bring it to the boil. Boil them until they're almost cooked through, then put them on a tray and press down on them til they break open. Drizzle good olive oil over them and sprinkle fresh rosemary and rock salt (be generous). Roast in a hot oven for about 20 minutes - making sure they're cooked through and have that delicious brown crunchy crust. They're so moreish and are the highlight of a dinner party.  

radish summer salad

Today at my work there was a bag of radishes in the kitchen with a sign saying "PICKED FRESH THIS MORNING - PLEASE TAKE".

Well how could I resist? Here's a yummy salad I whipped up with them.

In the salad; radishes, red kale, carrot, beetroot, lentils

In the dressing; mustard seed, crushed garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice

Was so good - yay for work colleagues with abundant veggie patches!

chocolate ... aaaaaaaaah

My bestie Cara and her partner came round for dinner last night - and brought dessert. Oh what a dessert! I just polished off the last bit of it and thought I'd better share the love.

First of all, she found a vegan cake mix from 'Naturally Good'. It's called Deliciously Free Moist Chocolate Mud Cake Mix and is nut free, wheat free, gluten free and dairy free. It has a vegan option in the instructions where you can replace the 2 eggs with 1 tablespoon of golden syrup and 2 tablespoons of rice flour. If that's not brilliant enough, Cara in her wisdom, felt it necessary to add a handful of Sweet William choc chips to the mix too! Delish. 

Instead of icing she used a smear of Sweet William Chocolate Sauce and some fresh strawberries to top it all off. These things were AMAZING. She said they were like a self-saucing pudding straight out of the oven, and when they got to my place they had hardened up on the outside and turned into yummy brownies on the inside! Even today, after being in the fridge all night, the leftovers were fantastic.

Cupcakes are a good idea with this mix as it's super rich! I'm not usually a sweet tooth but I was dreaming of these things last night.

Thanks Cara xx

world vegan day cake

Happy World Vegan Day! I thought I'd share an amazing banana cake recipe in celebration. 

This is a variation on a friend's traditional family recipe. I've tweaked it a little and used that fabulous of fabtastics 'no egg' natural egg replacer (pictured). I found it at my local Coles, in the the health food section. It's in most health food shops so shouldn't be hard to find. You just mix 1 teaspoon of 'no egg' with 2 tablespoons of water for each egg in a recipe.

Okay, so let's get to the recipe! Preheat your oven to about 180 degrees celsius (a bit lower for fan-forced).

Here's what you need;
1 cup of sugar
125 grams of vegan margarine
3 mashed bananas
2 'no eggs'
2 tablespoons soy milk

Dry ingredients;
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

For frosting;
1/4 cup tofutti better than cream cheese
1/4 cup vegan margarine
2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Squeeze of lemon


Here's what you do;

1) Cream sugar and margarine together. Separately mash the bananas and add the soy milk and 'no egg' mix. Combine this with the sugar and margarine.

2) Sift the dry ingredients into the mix and beat with electric beater for a few minutes.

3) Rub margarine in to cake tin and then line with baking paper. Put the mix into the tin and put in the oven for around 50 minutes to an hour. When it's done, take it out and let it cool completely.

4) Mix your frosting ingredients together and put the mix in the fridge while the cake's cooling so it hardens up a bit.

5) Slather the frosting over the cake and EAT!