In My Kitchen is a monthly blog link up that is currently being hosted by Lizzy at Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things Blog. I’m submitting this blog post of mine for December 2016. While not a vegan-specific event, anyone can join in and you can also discover new blogs, recipes, products, etc!

I will apologise again in advance for not leaving comments on some blogs as for whatever bizarre reason there are some blogs through Blogspot usually that I can’t comment on. My comments don’t go through or I get “that comment could not be posted”. Some times I have to switch browsers to get comments to work, or other times I’m asked to log in to WordPress (even though I moved my WordPress blog to my self hosted domain) etc. Total pain in the bum stuff.

I wish I could have a lot of Christmassy things for In My Kitchen December, but decorations and such aren’t really a good idea because our cats demolish them in two seconds flat. The only thing we can manage is this little tree (found at the op shop for a couple of bucks) and Lego trees. But even these get knocked over and chewed on:

So In My Kitchen we have the little can of fishless tuna, which I received in a vegan box swap. I never liked tuna or fish so vegan fishy foods don’t appeal to me at all so I will give this away. The white balsamic was one of those purchases where I absolutely had to have for one recipe (which I promptly misplaced). I was really pleased to find white balsamic as I have never seen it in the supermarkets or stores I shopped at. When I came home and put it away, I found another bottle I clearly desperately needed some time in the past.

I have these two blocks of mint crisp Cocolo, my favourite vegan option for a mint chocolate. Unfortunately Cocolo are shutting up shop so I’ll enjoy these while I can:

In My Kitchen is a Lucky Iron Fish! When I first heard people recommending a ‘lucky iron fish’ for iron related issues in the diet, I admit I thought it sounded like something scammy. I have had iron related issues for a quite a long time now, despite monitoring what I eat, so when I finally looked up the Lucky Iron Fish website and saw that it was not only legit but also a wonderful initiative, I purchased one right away. Please have a read of the Lucky Iron Fish website to see what it’s all about. You can also buy an iron fish and have one donated too. Fishykins here is easy to use. You just pop it in some boiling water with citrus for about ten minutes, take fishy out then use the water to cook your food. I made pasta like this and could detect a metallic kind of taste but when I mixed it all with pasta sauce you couldn’t tell. The veggies don’t taste iron-fishy either.

I have some new cookbooks! As if I don’t have enough already. I’ve made the decision to part with the cookbooks I rarely look at. They take up too much space and I never use them. I’m really loving But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan! by Kristy Turner, author of the Keepin’ It Kind blog and the But I Could Never Go Vegan! cookbook (another cookbook I really enjoy leafing through). I’ve made a few recipes and I’ll put them up on the blog soon.

I also have Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s latest book The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Book. Not shown is the new Smith & Daughters cookbook:

I recently went to lunch at Juanita’s Kitchen here in Melbourne and Juanita gave us some packets of tea and chai. I chose these two varieties and have been enjoying them, especially the chilli chai while I’ve been a bit sick with a cold:

And not In My Kitchen but in my back yard, as I like to call it, some Melbourne scenes.

I hope you all have a fantastic holiday period full of good food and good times!