Autumnal food porn

After not properly cooking for myself for a long time after surgery, today i decided i need to get back into it. I prepared a autumnal feast. Im so full, i should not have eaten it all..

Woo, so I made a quinoa-stuffed acorn squash! (pumpkin if yr an aussie)

Acorn roasted with garlic, rosemary, nutmeg, pecans, cranberries, pinenuts, coconut oil and coconut nectar sugar.

I had the idea to roast it with the coconut nectar sugar as opposed to the common roasting with brown sugar. Ive been trying to experiment with this sugar alternative and have only had one other oppertunity so far, with baking. Same goes for the coconut oil. Its new to me, but it turns out the coconut flavs really went well with the squash, giving it that sweetness without being overbearing.

Stuffing was red quinoa, and tempeh, with some pecans and crans.

kale on the side.

holyy hell, this was ridiculously delicious. will certainly make again.


frying up the tempeh and nutz

roasting

key west

I went to Key West, FLORIDA the other weekend. Tagging along on my parents weekend getaway, I went off on my own to walk the cute streets, go to the state park, and found a vegitarian spot that served VEGAN FRENCH TOAST !!!! ahhhhh whaaaaaaatttt



they also serve a parfait with HOMADE coconut yogurt (vegan!) fruit and granola. STFU. I was totes gunna try their yogurt but they were unfortunately out for the day.

yum yum. the place was called Help Yourself.

Breakfast of Champions

What Im doing with the yogurt I made:

Parfait timez.
Blueberries, gurt, muesli

YOGURT !

I attempted making yogurt for the first time ever. Fermentation yeah!

I made coconut milk yogurt. For my first time, i think it was a success. I started with 3 cans of full fat coconut milk. and instead of buying those expensive probiotic starter pellets, i decided to try using a vegan yogurt as a starter. I researched on the internet, and no one had done it, but suggested that if you use a gurt with active cultures (even if its not dairy) it should work.

I used an unsweetened soygurt made by Wildwood. I told myself it would be a better idea than using the Plain flaved silk stuff, but now im not sure. Because the wildwood has alot of guargum in it, its supersuper thick. and the silk is nice and yogurty. Next time ill try the Silk. Also, lots of people called for putting in sweetener in the fermenting process, and I didnt, and I wonder if its important for the probiotics to make the yogurt.

Anyway, I let it sit for 24 hrs in 100 F heat. When i took it out I thought I failed. But a couple hrs after it being in the fridge it did thicken up, and tastes sort of yogurty. Im not really sure how its supposed to taste, its still heaps coconutmilk flavoured.. I guess Ill just keep experimenting!

Pairs

Speaking of happy pairs...

What did I do with the overbrewed, way too vinegary first batch of kombucha?

Mixed it with bundy gingerbeer. What is that you ask?, YES, I AM a genius. Absolutely excellent combo.

buchabeer

MAKIN BABIES

Happy accidents cont.

A week and a half later. ITS ALIVE !!!!!!

My guy has birthed a baby. This much is obvious. I taste it to see if its made kombucha, and the words "holy shit" come splashing out of my mouth. YES, it made kombucha, and I overbrewed it. It was practically vinegar. A slight misstep, but hey, its KOMBUCHA! So I made a fresh pot of tea and made up a batch in a larger jar. Ive now got 2 cultures and a personal supply of free kombucha.




This whole thing is totally hilarious and ridiculous and amazing. Like some sweet 8th grade experiment gone way better than the kid ever anticipated. I accidentaly created a kombucha culture from leaving a tiny sip of kombucha in a sealed store-bought bottle, and forgetting it in my room for days.

Brilliant.

Happy accident

I LOVE kombucha (delicious fermented tea drink thats heaps good for yr health!).
Back when I had a stable home, i brewed my own kombucha at home. Ever since being in this transient state, ive been looking forward to the day i have a semi-permanent home again so that i can brew again, especially since living in australia where you cant get store-bought bottled kombucha, and is nearly impossible to find a mother.

I generally dislike flavoured kombucha drinks, i like it in its original form, with the exception of one flavour. High Country's Wildroot flavour. is like a mash-up of rootbeer/sarsaparilla and kombucha, and oh, its a happy marriage.



ANYWAY, I had one a few weeks back, and was in recovery from surgery, so was doing a poor job of cleaning my room. I left an empty bottle of wildroot bucha with just a sip left sitting on my nighttable... for a week, or more. opps. So, I got up the energy to clean one day and brought all my recycleables downstairs, and was emptying all the liquids into the sink before putting them in the bin. When i got to the bucha bottle I tipped it over and heard a THUNK. whaa? I looked inside and there was a thick white think inside. Being familiar with kombucha cultures, my first thought was, oh my god, its a culture. It was definetly NOT there when i drank the bottle. So, I fished it out of the narrow opening that took some coaxing, but i got it.

At this point I was not 100% sure it was an alive culture. I mean, Ive never seen a mother just create itself out of nowhere. You need a kombucha mother to make babies. And furthermore, i was always under the impression that FLAVOURED kombuchas couldnt produce cultures. So, I quickly put the guy into a bowl, and luckily had some GT brand NON-flaved bucha in the fridge, so I bathed my dude in some for a starter, I made up a pot of tea, and I got a jar and made my bucha set-up.

Fingers crossed that in 2 weeks, it proved to truely be a culture, and not some old ass mold growing in a dirty bottle.