Planet VegMel picnic

It has been aaaaaaaaaaaaages since I last blogged due to slackness, tiredness due to non sleeping toddler & general life stuff getting in the way but am feeling a bit inspired at the moment so am going with it!
Today was the Planet VegMel picnic (also world fingerpainting day - who would have guessed??) & it really reinforced why I started blogging.  To sit in the sun eating amazing food with fantastic people who I would not have met otherwise is a pretty awesome thing.  I remember when I was thinking about going vegan & I used to read all these blogs & read about potlucks & it sounded like an amazing little community that I wanted to be a part of & now I am a part of it & it really is an amazing & supportive community.

So on to the food.  I decided to make rice paper rolls with a peanut dipping sauce after Mandee mentioned them during the week & I could not get them out of my head!  Unfortunately these were really bland &  boring & I was generally pretty unhappy with them & didn't even take a photo. 
My dessert on the other hand, I was really happy with.  I wanted to make something peanut buttery & when cleaning up my bookmarks I came across an incredibly easy recipe for peanut butter balls so decided to make them.  Yum!  They were like peanut butter cups in ball form but did end up a bit melty at the picnic.

Peanut butter balls (adapted from The Kitchenarian)

Ingredients

•  3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
•  7 tbsp almond meal
•  3 tbsp maple syrup
•  Dark chocolate (I used about 3/4 of a Whittakers block)
  

Method

1. Mix peanut butter, almond meal & maple syrup together until well mixed.
2. Roll into balls & refigerate 
3. Melt the chocolate
4. Roll pb balls into the chocolate & refigerate until set.

And this is what happens after you eat too much & are all tired out from trying to grab food & chase after birds, aka, post potluck nap.

Vegan MoFo - Ice Cream

Day 9 & my first fail!
I decided to try making an ice cream & don't have an ice cream maker so when I stumbled across this recipe I thought it would be perfect & nothing sounds more delicious than peanut butter, coconut, maple syrup ice cream. I used regular soy milk rather than soy creamer & when I was putting it in the blender I did wonder if half a cup was too much & I should try a lesser amount but decided to live on the edge & use the full amount.  I shouldn't have.  This came out so, so runny!  It tastes divine but it is pretty much a milkshake rather than ice cream.  I have put it back into the freezer to see if it is ok when it freezes up, but as of now - this is what it looks like.

ETA - It froze up super hard so we waited until it softened & then ate it &it was sooooo good.  It got a bit icy but not too bad.  It was so delicious that I would make it again for sure.

Vegan MoFo - Apple & Strawberry Crumble

I don't often make crumbles because my mum makes the best crumbles ever & mine pale into comparison, but it is a very quick & easy to veganise dessert option & you can mix it up by using different fruits or putting different nuts & spices in the topping.

Apple & Strawberry Crumble 

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 apples peeled & diced
• 10 strawberries, halved & stems removed 
• Juice of half lemon
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup nuttelex

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Place apples in frypan or saucepan over medium heat with the lemon juice & a couple of tablespoons of water
3. Cook apples until softened, keep adding water when it dries up
4. As the apples are cooking, add all the rest of the ingredients to a medium sized bowl & rub together until well mixed & resembling breadcrumbs
5. Transfer apples to a baking dish & top with the strawberries, or if you have cooked your apples in an oven proof saucepan like I did you can use that as your baking dish
6. Top the fruit with the crumble mix & place in the oven until browned (about 15 minutes)

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake Slice

For my dessert to take to Carla's Winter Warmer Potluck at the last minute I decided to make a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake in slice form.

I based it on this recipe & de-glutened it by making the base from crushed Leda choculence biscuits mixed with melted nuttelex.  But then I stupidly used a soy milk that isn't gluten free in the cheesecake.  This was alright but it wasn't as amazing as I hoped it would be.

Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes

I am pretty sure that it is the law that you have to eat cake on your birthday so for Greg's birthday I decided to make chocolate mousse cupcakes.  I was going to make a whole chocolate mousse cake & cover it with ganache but was concerned about how we would go eating an entire cake so thought that cupcakes would be more manageable.

I made the chocolate cake recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking which is ridiculously easy & also made the chocolate mousse recipe from the same book.  I thought the mousse tasted a bit tofu-y to start with but added a bit of maple syrup & once it chilled for awhile didn't taste like tofu at all.  I then just cut the tops off the cupcakes & scooped a little hole into each cake which I filled with mousse.  The mousse didn't set as well as I had hoped so it came out the sides a bit once I put the tops back on.  But after sitting the cakes in the fridge for a couple of hours the mousse set more.  I had originally planned to make a ganache to cover each cake with, but had heaps of mousse left over so served the cakes topped with a dollop of mousse.  These ended up being delicious, but verrrry rich.