In My Kitchen is a monthly blog link up hosted by Maureen at The Orgasmic Chef. I’m submitting this blog post of mine for May 2016. While not a vegan-specific event, anyone can join in and you can also discover new blogs, recipes, products, etc!
With my favourite season here (it’s autumn!) comes the slight feeling of panic where I think it’s nearly halfway through the year and so many plans I had for things to have achieved by now have just pretty much gone noooowhere. My blog is a little on the neglected side lately and the plans I had for it have had to take a backseat for the time being. There’s so much stuff that needs doing around the house that it has sapped a fair bit of my energy. We have some major plumbing work that has to happen and I’ve been procrastinating a bit there too.
But because it’s autumn, and I have cats, everything is otherwise groovy. In My Kitchen I have a big pumpkin and a big pumpkin shaped cat. The pumpkin will form the base of some stews and I see a fair bit of veg and chickpea curries in my immediate future.
In My Kitchen are these beautiful apples I picked up at the Coburg Farmers Market on the weekend. I blogged about that visit here. These apples are from the Three Bridges Apples stall:
I also picked up these chestnuts and plan to roast them. I did briefly consider purchasing a chestnut roasting pan, because I’m a sucker for things like that but life experience has shown me that such a pan would be used once. So I’ll just poke some holes in foil or something instead:
I visited the Coburg Farmers Market a fortnight ago too but it was a quick visit. I picked up some jams and a relish at the 2&5 Foods stall. Bad camera focus:
In My Kitchen are some vegan products sent to me from the US. I participated in a Vegan Box Swap and received a bunch of goodies including Cinnamon Bun and Peanut Butter flavoured Oreos. I’ve only ever tried the original flavour here in Australia and the chocolate, plus the orange flavoured Halloween special last year, but not really a fan. I love anything cinnamon bun and peanut butter and so these were much nicer than the flavours I’ve tried:
I also got these peanut butter flavour Nutter Butter bites. I’m glad it was a small packet, I’ve seen big packets of these and would have had a hard time not eating them all quickly. I don’t like peanut butter sandwiches but I love peanut butter anything-else:
My swap partner also sent me this maple bacon flavoured Kettle popcorn. I love smoky maple kinds of flavours so this was great. I want to learn how to make my own smoky maple seasoning for popcorn. The Cracker Jack caramel coated peanuts and popcorn was another favourite, I rarely have caramel popcorn and keep it for a special occasion but this was eaten in one go:
I loved these sweet Maui onion macadamias. The seasoning tasted exactly like those sour cream and chives chip flavours that sadly aren’t vegan so I’m going by memory. Sour cream and chives, or sour cream and onion was always my favourite chip flavour. The Skinnygirl water enhancer is like a syrup that you add to water to flavour it. I haven’t tried it or the bubblegum yet:
I asked my swap partner for a bottle of Hampton Creek Just Mayo, which isn’t sold in Australia. It’s really nice, out of all the bottled vegan mayos I’ve tried this is the nicest. I only found out this week we have these Tasty Bite microwave meal pouches in Australia but I’d never actually seen them, I always make dal from scratch but some days I have a craving for it NOW but never have any handy. I’m also looking forward to trying the two little cans there, one is a taco filling and the other a fishless tuna:
In My Kitchen is this garlic salt I picked up from the Coburg Farmers Market two weeks ago. I’ve been using it over plain pan fried tofu:
Not In My Kitchen, but out on the street is a neighbour’s olive tree with a worried olive on it:
Quite a bit of stuff in my kitchen this month (though most of the treats have been eaten). I’ll be tackling that pumpkin tomorrow!
What a great swap partner! WOW!
Did the fishless tuna come from the US as well? I think I’ve bought it at the CFS, if you like it.
yep, the fishless was from the US. Thanks for letting me know about it at CFS!
Fun stuff in the swap. We use Tasty Bites chickpeas frequently as a quick lunch. The kids really like them. A worried olive…haha.
It’s funny how I never heard of Tasty Bites then that same week someone said they were on sale in a supermarket here!
Apples, pumpkin and chestnuts – it’s definitely looking like autumn 🙂 I’m glad you liked those Oreos too. Bizarrely, we can buy US peanut butter Oreos in the US section of big supermarkets here, and they are vegan but also expensive, whereas the UK makes peanut butter Oreos that aren’t vegan but cost much less. I’ve yet to find a reason to justify buying the imported dairy free ones but hearing that you like them may provide such an excuse!
I think I preferred those Nutter Butter bites, but chocolate-peanut is always a winner too so it’s hard for me to really choose. I have to roast those chestnuts today instead of watching YouTube videos for the best way to do it!
I am a huge fan of kettle chips, so am very curious about the maple bacon popcorn.
It was very moorish, if you love smoked things this would be really nice. I liked seeing the words ‘mais souffle’ on it too 😀
what a nice post! It’s spring here, so it’s fun to see your autumn musings. Aren’t international swaps fun? I love sending and receiving them!
yep the swaps are fun! My family had requested Oreo flavours we don’t get here 😉
So much interesting stuff this month in your kitchen – love the photos of your cat with the pumpkin! so cute! I’d love some maple bacon popcorn – though it is the sort of thing I pass over the stores as I assume it has meat. And that birthday cake gum both repulses and tempts me. Good luck with the pumpkin and the plumbing 🙂
ha thanks! The cat was funny with the pumpkin, just cocking his head this side and that!
Super fun swap package. 🙂 I am keen to try the Just Mayo at some point, but I love love love Vegenaise, so I am pretty happy with the current circumstances.
I haven’t tried Vegenaise! I don’t really eat mayo but wanted to try this one 🙂
Your kitchen looks delicious! So many great foods! I tried the the nutter butter bites when we were in America YUM!
Thanks so much for sharing
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
you’re welcome! When I go to farmers markets I look at stuff and think oooh that can go in next month’s IMK 😉
Those Tasty Bites pouches have been around forever girl – where have you been? They are a regular standby lunch for me at work. Do you think you will get some of your neighbour’s olives? They look very plump and juicy. I think I can leave the birthday cake gum!
haha! Now everyone is telling me about the Tasty Bites and how they are staples in their homes! I have my own olive tree but don’t do much with it, my parents take the olives 😉 I don’t eat olives straight up but love them in bread or pasta!
Oh my goodness Faye! Your photos make me want to move to Melbourne….The Oreos with PB I do believe is unique to Australia. And you certainly capture the essence of autumn…and the cuteness of your cats! We’ve got 2 cats…We’ve also got plenty of vegan fare in Santa Monica…Happy to introduce you to yummy vegan mayo and other treats if you are ever in town =)
ooooh I would love to travel, it’s funny how when I think about traveling I want to centre it somewhat around vegan food 😉 And cats are just so brilliant 😛
I love the idea of vegan canned meats, but so far they are so expensive when I find them. T__T Are those just an Australian brand?
I don’t think so, because they (the tins) were sent from the US but apparently they’re available here. I’ve never tried a canned vegan meat, I mean to have the taco filling one for Cinco De Mayo but didn’t have tortillas or fresh greens!
The swap partner is such an awesome idea!
it’s great! Especially when you see products on overseas blogs you can’t get in your country 😀
Love the cat photos, so cute.
thanks! Cute and lazy too.
Faye, what a happy mix of IMK goodies you have this month! Your apple photo is spectacular (all of them are — even the plum jam — “soft” photos have that vintage look — plus I’m hungry for plum jam. 🙂 Still smiling about your pumpkin-shaped kitty, too! Recently tried “Just Mayo” and I love it — glad you found some.
thanks! Those apples were so good, I definitely have to return to the farmers market this week for me. The kids loved them but when I’ve bought supermarket apples they’re not so keen. Supermarket produce is often awful!
oh wow what fab things you ended up with. yum to anything maple and bacon flavoured! i am salivating over those beautiful apples and chestnuts. it is always lovely when autumn harvest time comes around and we can get fresh apples for a short time. those Oreos look interesting too.
I”m looking forward to more of the apples but unfortunately only about three of the chestnuts were edible, the rest were all rotten 🙁