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!
love those melbourne photos and am interested in your iron fish – have never heard of it before. But I like any idea of being able to add iron to the diet. Now the vegan mofo is over I need to get into cookbook cooking but am still recovering! Perhaps next week when work slows down!
Cheeky kitties! Hehe
Oh, lovely Melbourne scenes 🙂 it looks so sunny there at the moment.
Lots of cool things in your kitchen. I need to track me down some white balsamic. The Lucky Fish has me curious but I can’t bare the idea of a metallic taste, appreciate you say it disappeared but it just puts my teeth on edge, but i will read more about it before i dismiss it. Envious of your cookbooks, we could always do with more cookbooks – bet you have some under the Christmas tree too? I know i do 🙂
Thank you for the kind shout out. Happy December to you.
Fishless tuna! How bizarre. I would try it for novelty but am more drawn to your delicious chai mixes and those cookbooks.
That fishless tuna is a bit weird, I agree!
I couldn’t bring myself to try it so I gave it away!
Some of us just can’t resist keeping all those useless or unconsulted cookbooks. You are disciplined!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
ha, I reversed my decision on getting rid of cookbooks I never use 😉
Wow that iron fish is interesting isn’t it? Never heard of it before but sounds useful:). Love these Melbourne scenes. The trams are fabulous. Happy xmas.
Happy Christmas to you too 🙂 My tram line gets the old clunky trams, not the new sleek trams or the old vintage ones!
I have never heard of the iron fish but I’m intrigued. Also, intrigued but more in an ‘ew, what were they thinking’ sort of way… fishless tuna?! Not my cup of tea either 🙂 The chai mixes sound good!
tuna fishless or otherwise doesn’t really appeal to me (which is why I never make vegan fish dishes from cookbooks)!
Those are some awesome cookbooks! I have been intrigued by the iron fish too so please let us know how it goes 🙂
Iron fish is pretty good, I just have to keep remembering to use it 😀