Succotash

Succotash has reminded me of Sylvester from the Looney Tunes cartoons and his famous catch phrase "Sufferin succotash" ever since I heard of this one pot wonder. This simple dish originated in New England, USA prior to becoming popular in the southern United States and it was also a common meal in the Depression era. Succotash is essentially a meal of corn and lima beans although there are variations aplenty with additions such as tomatoes, capsicums/bell peppers, okra, other types of beans, butter, margarine, lard, bacon, fresh and dried herbs.

With some freshly harvested broad beans (also known as fava beans) from the garden begging to be used and corn and okra in the fridge I decided to make a version of succotash. I didn't follow a particular recipe, instead my broad beans, corn, okra and tomatoes were plonked into a pot and stirred every so often. It had been a long day labouring in the garden and we were tired and hungry so I didn't bother with double peeling the broad beans to save on time. Finely chopped basil and parsley along with margarine and seasonings were stirred through in the final minute before serving.

We really enjoyed the succotash and I was particularly fond of the addition of basil in my version. I could envisage this becoming a semi-regular side dish over the summer months when corn is at the height of it's season. It was a perfect accompaniment for our extra spicy buffalo tofu and oven baked potato wedges. The leftovers were just as lovely when eaten cold the next day which leads me to believe that it would also work well as a salad.

Succotash

4 small corn cobs
1 1/2 cups broad/fava beans (or use fresh lima beans)
100g okra pods, sliced into 3cm pieces (optional)
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
12 large basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground cracked black pepper, to taste

Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and place into a medium-large saucepan with the broad beans, okra and tomatoes. Simmer over a medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the vegetables are tender. Stir through the margarine, basil and parsley then season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Vegan MoFo Day 19 - Tidy-up Thursdays - Mung beans for Hummus

In the past two weeks Tidy-up Thursdays has involved an obscure flour and some old tinned produce which had past it's prime. This week it was time to play with a legume so I selected the most neglected one in my pantry - mung beans. At the moment my pantry is home to 14 different varieties of dried lentils and beans - black beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, brown lentils, black lentils (urad dal), yellow split peas, red lentils, chickpeas, puy lentils, cannellini beans, soy beans, black eyed beans, Egyptian broad beans and mung beans. That's a lot of legumes! Most of them are used fairly regularly but I haven't been game to use mung beans since my fellows took a dislike to everything I made with them.

To be fair I didn't experiment with them broadly enough and only tried them in a handful of Indian curries. Curries are generally hits rather than misses so it was a bit disheartening that I was the only person enjoying these cute little green legumes. The mung beans were relegated out of sight next to the black eyed beans which are my least favourite. A recipe for Mung bean hummus posted on 101 Cookbooks caught my eye a few months back - there are heaps of different hummus recipes around using so many types of legumes but this was the first one I had seen using mung beans.

Mung beans are a lot easier to prepare than chickpeas as they don't require to be pre-soaked and only take around 30 minutes of cooking to soften so this hummus was pretty easy to whip up from scratch. Heidi's version didn't include cumin but I added some to mine and only used around half the amount of tahini as I was almost out of it. I also made a slightly larger quantity as I had cooked up a very big batch of mung beans. 

   

My fellows were none the wiser when I presented them with this hummus. They could tell that it was different to my standard chickpea hummus yet they had no idea what the secret ingredient was. It did have a slightly earthy flavour although it didn't taste anything like the mung beans we had eaten in the past. The hummus was spread on homemade pita bread along with falafels from Oasis Bakery that had been sitting in the freezer for a while to make falafel wraps. The remainder of the hummus disappeared rapidly mopped up with more pita bread and some baby carrots that had been pulled up from the garden. As this was so successful and I still have lots of cooked mung beans in the fridge I'll be whipping up another batch in the next day or two. Veganosaurus wrote a helpful post about sprouting mung beans a couple of weeks ago which is something I would like to try in the future too.

Mung Bean Hummus (Adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

2 cups cooked mung beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup tahini
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (or more) water
olive oil, sliced spring onions and smoked paprika, for garnish

Place the cooked mung beans in a food processor and process on high speed until the beans have broken down into a coarse mixture. Add the tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin, garlic clove and 1/4 cup of water into the food processor bowl and continue processing. Add 1/4 cup of water (or more) slowly while the food processor is running until the hummus reaches the consistency you are happy with.

Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with olive oil, spring onions and smoked paprika.

Vegan MoFo Day 16 - MoFo Mondays - Cheddar stuffed black bean burgers and Sindhi bhindi masala

Yesterday was the half way mark of Vegan MoFo, it was also the first day I have missed a post! Weekends are generally pretty hectic around here and as the one that just passed was busier than most, I couldn't find time to sit down and condense my growing bookmarks into a Summary Sundays post. 

This week for MoFo Mondays it was time to get stuck into some recipes from the last couple of weeks - first were Dawn from Veg-am's cheddar stuffed black bean burgers. As I'm not a big fan of commercial BBQ sauce and didn't have a homemade one on hand I switched it up and used Frank's Red Hot sauce to give the burgers a buffalo flavour. This change worked well for me and the other minor things I did differently was to use cheezly mozzarella in the burgers (as it was the only melting type of cheese I had in the fridge) and a little bit of rice flour when the burger mixture wasn't quite holding together. I was quite excited to discover that asparagus had come into season so the burgers were served with oven baked potato wedges and asparagus. These burgers had a great texture and I loved the buffalo flavouring but regretted not stuffing a larger quantity of cheezly into the centres. 

We have been right into okra curries lately and I've made a handful of different recipes over the past couple of months without being able to find a favourite. When I saw River from Wing It Vegan post about a gorgeous looking sindhi bhindi masala I simply had to give it a try. The recipe is posted at The Lotus and the Artichoke and includes a few handy tips about how the curry can be customised. This was just the sort of recipe I needed, after tinkering with it slightly it turned out to be the okra curry I've been searching for. The gravy was richer than the other recipes I've made and the spices packed a decent punch. I'll definitely be making this one every now and then to have on our regular curry nights.   

If you read last Monday's post which talked about a corned beef seitan you may recall that the seitan wasn't quite what I was searching for. More than half of the seitan was remaining as well as heaps of sauerkraut so I combined them with a cheesy sauce into a oven bake I named Reubenesque casserole. We enjoyed the seitan in this casserole more than we had in sandwiches and this casserole kept us going for a few meals. 

Vegan MoFo Day 12 - Tidy-up Thursdays - Green Chili Stew

This Green Chili Stew posted on Tales of a Vegan Food Fetishist a couple of MoFos ago was initially supposed to be a part of my first MoFo Mondays post. After scanning through the recipe I realised that it was going to utilise two sorely neglected ingredients in my pantry - tinned tomatillos and hominy. It's safe to say they had been sitting there unloved for a couple of years and although I did go through a period of cooking with tomatillos a while back I had never eaten hominy before.

I made a few substitutions to Leigh's recipe to suit the vegetables I had on hand and included cooked black beans in place of crumbled tofu. I wasn't sure about the quantity of tomatillos that was used in her recipe as the tin size wasn't specified but I'm tipping it was larger than my small tin which meant that my stew didn't end up with a green colour. On the other hand I had more than enough hominy in my giant sized tin and after doubling the amount there was still plenty leftover.

The man loved the aroma of this meal when he arrived home from work and enquired what I was making for dinner. I warned him that the meal contained quinoa as he isn't the biggest fan and cleverly marketed it as a "Mexican meal" rather than a stew to keep him interested. Stews are one of his least favourite kinds of meals so I always keep the liquid to a minimum as he really doesn't enjoy soupy styled dishes. I adored the strong smoky flavours from the ancho chilli and smoked paprika throughout this dish and also enjoyed the mild corn flavour and chewy texture of the hominy. The only bothersome aspect was that the meal contained a slight metallic undertone which was most likely due to using such old tinned ingredients.

Susan from Kittens Gone Lentil posted about recipe testing for Leigh Drew's new cookbok "Veganissimo! Beautiful Vegan Food" last week, which will be released on the 15th of November and can be pre-ordered from booktopia now. I couldn't finish a post about one of Leigh's recipes without mentioning her book as I was also involved in some of the phases of recipe testing. As well as many of the curries and tandoori cauliflower cheese that Susan mentioned in her post, I was most excited by the above dish - Tostada Tofu Rancheros with Scrambled Tofu, Blackened Tofu and Roast Potatoes accompanied by Mint Salsa Verde and Guacamole. This meal was amazing! For a sneak peek of other delicious foods from Leigh's new cookbook, make sure you check out Susan's post.

Vegan MoFo Day 6 - Free Fridays - Curried "egg" sandwiches and Beanatouille

Welcome to Free Fridays! As I couldn't decide on a single theme for Fridays I'll be mixing it up a little over the weeks - this time my theme is called Frugal Friday. It may sound a bit similar to Tidy-up Thursdays but instead I'm posting a recipe that utilises ingredients from my pantry I frequently use rather than things that have been laying idle. I also have a quick recipe to share that was dreamed up a couple of days ago to clear out some produce from the fridge.

A few weekends ago it was nearing lunchtime, the man and I were extremely hungry and he wasn't enthused with any of my food suggestions. After fossicking around in the pantry for a bit, I spotted a bag of besan (chickpea flour) and realised it had been a while since I had last made curried "egg" sandwiches. These faux "eggs" are one of the man's favourite things to eat and if there are any leftovers remaining from sandwiches he loves having them on toast as quick workday lunch.

I posted a recipe for chickpea "eggs" earlier this year which is a cut down version of a spicier Ethiopian fluffy "eggs" recipe from Vegan Eats World. These chickpea "eggs" are a perfect addition to to a mixed brunch plate and have proven to pack up nicely for travelling. In this post I made mention of a plan to build upon the recipe further by stirring through some curry powder and mayonnaise at the end which I have done a few times but on the last couple of occasions I've added the curry powder into the mixture at an earlier stage. This allows the curry powder to be more evenly distributed throughout the "eggs". I've also found that using a scant cup of besan makes the texture of the "eggs" a little softer than if you use a firmly packed cup of besan. Another thing I've simplified along the way is to omit frying some onions to stir through the mixture - instead I add some sliced red onion, spring onions/scallions or chives into the sandwiches. We have enjoyed these sandwiches the past two weekends in a row - the first one was a classic combination with lettuce and vegan mayo and last weekend I also included sliced tomato and Vegusto piquant cheese, our favourite vegan cheese.

I'm sure everyone else participating in Vegan MoFo can relate to being short on spare time at the moment. My usual meal planning has gone out the window so a couple of nights ago I was thinking about how to use up some vegetables that were in danger of heading to the compost in a speedy meal and came up with something I named beanatouille. Amongst these vegetables that needed to be used were zucchini and capsicums so my mind drifted to ratatouille which I haven't made in such a long time. To get away with preparing another time intensive dish to pair with the ratatouille I decided to throw in some cooked kidney beans to add some protein hence my naming of the dish. Eggplant is usually a part of ratatouille but as I didn't have any about, a large sliced mushroom took it's place.

The beanatouille was served on top of mashed potatoes and cauliflower (aka. caulipots) as there was a sad looking half head of cauliflower in the fridge too. Some baby spinach leaves were layered between the caulipots and beanatouille and for the initial scepticism the meal invoked it turned out to be quite a success.

Curried "egg" sandwiches (Adapted from Vegan Eats World)
Makes 4-6 sandwiches

1 cup besan/chickpea flour
1 2/3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder (or use less for a milder version)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon black salt (this provides the eggy smell and flavour)
½ teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
pepper, to taste

Cook the besan in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes or until the flour darkens slightly and smells toasty. Transfer the besan to a bowl.

Pour the water, olive oil, lemon juice, curry powder, black salt and sea salt into the saucepan. Start adding the besan into the saucepan a few tablespoons at a time, whisking all the time. After all of the besan has been added, use a spatula and continue stirring for a minute or two until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to pull away from the sides. Turn off the heat and allow the pot to cool down for 10 minutes.

Drag a fork through the mixture to break it up into small lumps resembling scrambled eggs. Season with additional salt if required and black pepper, to taste. Some chopped fried onions can be stirred through the mixture if you wish.

Construct sandwiches using the curried "eggs" combined with your desired combination of shredded lettuce, tomato, vegan cheese, vegan mayonnaise and chives/spring onions/red onion.

Any leftover curried "eggs" can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Beanatouille

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced into half moons

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ red capsicum/bell pepper, sliced thinly

½ green capsicum/bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 zucchini (250g), sliced into half moons

1 large mushroom (100g), sliced (optional)

1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1½ cups cooked red kidney beans or a 400g tin, drained and rinsed

Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a large deep sided pan and sauté the onion over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the red and green capsicum, zucchini and mushroom. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the vegetables have softened slightly.

Pour in the tomatoes and reduce the heat back to medium. Stir through the basil and oregano. Allow to cook for another 5 minutes then add the kidney beans and cook until they have heated through and the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Vegan MoFo Day 5 - Tidy-up Thursdays - Black Bean Dip for Taco Pizzas

Does anyone else have black bean flour in their pantry? I picked up a bag on a whim a couple of years ago and it's been collecting dust ever since. There was absolutely no reason for this impulse purchase (apart from the fact that I love black beans) as I had never seen it used in a recipe before. I've spotted the black bean flour during minor pantry clean ups and sighed about it's presence without giving much thought as to what I would ever do with the darn stuff.

When I decided to incorporate Tidy-up Thursdays into my weekly Vegan MoFo themes, black bean flour was the first ingredient that sprang to mind. After I dug it out of the pantry and inspected the packet I was excited to find a few recipes printed on the back - one of which was for black bean taco pizza and another for the bean dip to spread on the pizzas. Black bean taco pizzas were not a new concept as the delightful Cadry from Cadry's Kitchen introduced me to this wonderful concoction last year which have since become one of our favourite styles of pizzas to make at home - I posted about my love for them last year too.

My usual method of making a black bean taco pizza involves cooking up a batch of spicy black beans which are half mashed and mixed with some napoli sauce to spread on the base of the pizza. This time was a little different as I used the black bean flour to create an adaptation of the bean dip recipe on the flour packet. This had a nice smooth texture and was more ideal for spreading on a pizza base even though it didn't look very appetising. The main thing that concerned me whilst making up the bean dip was the extremely strong earthy flavour from the bean flour so I added more seasonings to try to tone the earthiness. The man really loves his black bean taco pizza and gets annoyed when I mess with meals that he adores so I was certain he wasn't going to be impressed with this version. This is a snippet of our conversation while I was assembling the pizza...

The Man: "You don't normally put refried beans on the taco pizza, do you?"

Me: "They aren't refried beans but this isn't what I usually do either. I'm trying something different for Vegan MoFo."

The Man: Goes into a bit of a rant involving some minor expletives about Vegan MoFo and how I shouldn't mess with perfection.

Me: Sigh!

Thankfully the bean dip on the pizza didn't spoil the experience and there were plenty of other flavours in the toppings to further tone down the flavour of the bean flour. After the bean dip was spread on the pizza base it was layered with minced garlic, sliced red onions, mushroom, red capsicum/bell pepper, olives, crumbled plain corn chips and cheezly. We always top our cooked slices with some hot sauce for extra kick too.

Only 3/4 cup of flour was used to create the bean dip of which I only used half to spread on a large pizza base. The remaining portion of the bean dip was successfully hidden in a big pot of chilli. There is still a heap of the flour remaining so I would love to know if anyone has used it before and can point me in the direction of some other recipes that use black bean flour.

Black Bean Dip (Adapted from Bob's Red Mill Black Bean Flour packet)

¾ cup black bean flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chipotle chilli powder

½ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups hot water

1/3 cup salsa (I used a Fonterra tomatillo salsa purchased from USA Foods)

½ batch Napoli sauce

Place the black bean flour, salt, chipotle chilli powder, cumin and cayenne pepper in a saucepan and slowly add the water, whisking constantly to ensure there are no lumps. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir through the salsa and napoli sauce. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes, the mixture will thicken further as it cools down.

Giving unpopular leftovers a second chance

I'm generally happy when there is leftover food from home cooked dinners as the man and I usually rely on these remnants for our workday lunches. The exception is when I have attempted a new recipe that hasn't been to our liking. After these scraps have sitting in the fridge for a few days and look like they are in danger of being tossed into the rubbish bin, my solution is to give these unpopular leftovers a second chance by turning them into burgers.

The most delicious burgers I've been creating recently have been the result of an original meal that was bland, the flavours were out of balance or it just didn't suit our tastes. These concoctions never make it onto my blog as I don't see the point in posting about the original recipe unless it was a hit with at least one or two of us. Instead of providing you with a recipe, here are my steps and a few tips for making fantastic "leftover burgers".

1. Retrieve leftovers from the fridge. Curries, stews, casseroles and even thick soups have all been successfully transformed into burgers by me so far. If the leftovers have been stored with a portion of a cooked grain (i.e. rice, couscous, quinoa), transfer as many of the grains as possible to a bowl. Place the non-grain portion of the leftovers in your food processor and pulse until they are thoroughly broken down.

2. Season the food processor mixture and taste test as you go. If the original meal was bland, perk it up by whizzing through additional herbs, spices, nutritional yeast, salt or stock powder. Your favourite sauces can also be tasty additions although I don't usually like to add much additional liquid if the mixture is already quite runny. Be mindful of the ingredients in the original recipe and try not to create flavour clashes with the added seasonings (A google search can be helpful if you are unsure about what will and won’t work).

3. Thicken the mixture, making it suitable for shaping into burgers. Whiz through some chickpea flour (besan), ¼ to ½ cup is usually a good benchmark - chickpea flour in larger quantities can be overwhelming as it has a strong flavour. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir through any reserved cooked grains that were separated in Step 1. If you don’t have any spare cooked grains on hand and the mixture is still too runny after adding chickpea flour, stir through some breadcrumbs.

4. Prepare and cook the burger patties. Shape the burgers into small, medium or large patties. Most veggie burgers are adaptable with how they can be cooked so it becomes a personal preference of pan frying or oven baking. Most of the time I find it easier to place all of the shaped patties on a tray lined with baking paper and bake them in the oven (baking for 20-25 minutes on each side at 180C). I find that pan frying in batches can require more attention although this is preferable on a hot summers day when you don't want to turn on the oven!

5. Enjoy the "leftover burgers" in rolls with salad toppings or served with salads, roasted or steamed vegetables. Have fun pairing your burgers with different sauces, you may even find they have more than enough flavour and can be enjoyed without any additional condiments.

These photos were from my most recent batch of "leftover burgers" which were enjoyed with some roasted vegetables. The leftovers resulted from an unsuccessful batch of thick white bean soup I had made for an around the world post. In my rush to make this soup at the same time as another dinner I mistook a jar of ground cinnamon for cayenne pepper (oops!). The soup never made it to our bowls as I hadn't been overly impressed with how it tasted prior to making the cinnamon/cayenne blunder and the man hadn't been enthused about the overpowering smell of cinnamon. This "leftover burger" mixture was on the runnier/softer side which could have been improved with the addition of some cooked grains yet I didn't have any at my disposal.

I have made at least six different types of "leftover burgers" and every single time the burgers have been more popular than the original meal. The man and young man have been halfway through devouring their dinners before I've mentioned that it's a make-over of the meal they weren't keen on a few nights earlier. A future goal is to recreate my best ever "leftover burger" recipe as just a standard burger recipe (i.e. not making the failed recipe first). These ones were the nicest and most interesting burgers I've made at home and rated amongst the best I've eaten.

With the amount of food wastage that happens in our society these days, I hope this post inspires some of you to give your unloved leftovers a second chance too!

Esperance and the drive home

Norseman marks the start/end point of the Nullarbor crossing, from this town there are two main roads leading to Perth. The first is via the historic mining town of Kalgoorlie which we visited on our way over and the other takes you through the seaside town of Esperance. Before commencing our long drive home we planned to spend two nights in Esperance at a caravan park until I made a last minute discovery of some moderately priced pet-friendly accommodation. After an eight hour drive it was great to be able to check-in to the studio unit and not have to bother about unpacking and setting up camp.

Although the unit was equipped with a kitchenette I was tired from the drive on our first night so once again we ate heat and eat curries. Different varieties of the Tasty Bite curries had been available at the majority of decent sized supermarkets, punjab eggplant had remained one of our favourites throughout the trip. It wasn't until Margaret River that I spotted a different brand called Maharajah's Choice. The range in this brand wasn't as diverse, dhal tadka and saffron rice were the only ones I was able to find that were vegan.

Before leaving Cowaramup I picked some silverbeet/swiss chard and spinach from the garden, cooked them together and sealed them in a snap lock bag. The greens were stirred through the dal to provide some additional goodness. I went slightly overboard with the greens as they dominated the dal slightly too much yet I was still able to determine that this brand had a more interesting blend of spices than the Tasty Bite variety. The saffron rice wasn't terribly exciting, it was nowhere near as good as the basmati rice and peas we ate in the Pattu range.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms set in overnight and the weather was still looking very glum the following morning. We had planned to tour around the Esperance beaches some of which have been voted as Australia's best. As the rain looked like it was going to stick around for a while, instead of checking out the local beaches we took an hour long drive to Wharton Beach in the hope that we would out drive the bad weather.

The rain and heavy clouds followed us the whole way although it started to clear a little when we reached Wharton Beach. We had some fun with Ollie on the pristine, isolated beach with the whitest sand I've even seen before hopping in the car and heading back to Esperance. The weather was clearing when we reached Esperance so we took a shorter drive along the coast to marvel at more stunning beaches (top photo - lookout over Blue Haven beach).

Twilight Beach was named Australia's best beach in 2006. The white sands combined with crystal clear waters and tranquil rock surroundings were simply breathtaking. It was one of the only beaches where dogs were not permitted which didn't matter as the beaches just around the corner were equally gorgeous spots where you could exercise dogs.

The man was exhausted after so much driving and given we had to hit the Nullarbor the next day I suggested that he have an afternoon nap while I did some final bits of food shopping, filled up the car with fuel and took Ollie for a last romp at the beach. This was my best solo decision of the holiday as I spotted a pod of dolphins surfing the waves about 50 metres offshore. I watched them in awe and neglected Ollie's ball game until they eventually disappeared. Even though the sky became full of heavy clouds once again, it was the most perfect ending to the trip!

For dinner we ate a big bowl of spaghetti with a bolognese styled sauce topped with grated Vegusto piquant cheese. I usually make this type of sauce with lentils but couldn't find any dried or tinned lentils at a smallish IGA so I bought a tin of 4 bean mix instead. The sauce also included carrots, mushrooms and zucchini with a touch of chilli. I made a big batch of sauce as I figured it might be an easy meal to eat while travelling home.

After departing Esperance we had three full days of driving to get home which also meant two nights of setting and packing up camp. In the afternoon we started discussing possible stop off points for the night and the man asked how I would feel if he kept on driving. The only concern I voiced was regarding wildlife, night driving in these areas is considered extremely dangerous as it's when the animals are most active. Colliding with kangaroos or wild camels has claimed the lives of many drivers. I probably haven't mentioned before now that the man drove the entire time we were away!

Without going into all of the details, we did continue driving and made it home the following evening. Just under 3000 kms in 36 hours and neither of us had a wink of sleep! It was a crazy thing to do and I wouldn't recommend anyone do the same. The drive had some harrowing moments such as almost running out of fuel because there were no 24 hour service stations on the Eyre Peninsula, passing a huge kangaroo on the opposite side of the highway in the middle of the night, big groups of kangaroos grazing by the side of the road in the night, peak hour traffic in Adelaide, long weekend traffic and road works between Adelaide and Melbourne and more peak hour traffic when we made it back to Melbourne. We did manage to have a lengthy stop in a nice park in Adelaide to stretch Ollie's legs as well as our own.

After such a long drive it was wonderful to be home, especially as we had the young man and our cat Monty waiting for us. The entire trip was such an enjoyable travelling experience which has fuelled my passion for further road trips around this vast country. Over the past month we saw kangaroos, emus, dingos, goannas, lizards, frogs, dolphins, turtles, sting rays, colourful reef fish, water birds, birds of prey, parrots and a beautiful owl in Kalbarri. The total distance we travelled was almost 13,000 kms.

That brings me to the end of my travel posts. The emphasis wasn't solely on food so I apologise for that and thank you all for reading along. More food focussed blogging will be back very soon!

Back through Perth to the Margaret River region

During our time in Perth a family friend kindly offered us accommodation at her property in Cowaramup near Margaret River, about 3 hours south of Perth. This had been playing on our minds during the camper trailer trip and after weighing up the logistics of where to go after Shark Bay we decided to head down south and return the camper trailer early. In order to make it back in time to collect the keys we endured a 10 hour drive which then gave us a rest day in Perth for cleaning up the camper trailer, eating out and enjoying a final swim at the lovely Perth beaches.

After heading back to PAWS for more food shopping and devouring another delicious falafel for lunch we attempted to go for a swim. Stingers (jellyfish with stinging tentacles) were littered across the shoreline of several beaches and clearly visible in the water which was odd as we hadn’t noticed a single one a couple of weeks earlier. As the weather was very warm, we braved the water momentarily to cool off although it wasn’t the relaxing swim we had been hoping for. A bushfire burning in the nearby Swan Valley sent clouds of smoke creeping over the otherwise clear blue sky.

We ordered take-away from Sri Melaka for dinner once again and had an alfresco meal in Kings Park. All of the meals on our first night in Perth were so good we wanted to eat them all again, even though we didn’t have the young man around to help us out this time. We couldn't resist trying some entrees and snacked on crunchy spring rolls and curry puffs. Along with main dishes it was way more food than we needed which didn't matter as the leftovers were devoured the next day. Pictured on my leftovers plate is "beef" rendang, mee goreng noodles and kangkong belacan. 

I’ll never forget our arrival at the Cowaramup property as it was like being in the lovliest dream I never wanted to wake up from. After meeting our friend at the front gate we drove down a long driveway with rows of grape vines on one side and a lake on the other. This wasn’t just any old property we had been invited to stay at, it was a huge vineyard with a tastefully decorated luxurious home overlooking an enormous  lake. Our friend showed us around the house and vegetable garden and then left it in our hands as she was staying elsewhere with family over the long weekend.

Ollie amused himself all afternoon trying to work out how to catch ducks and the hundreds of other resident water birds, thankfully without success. The man and I slowly unpacked and told each other a million times that the change of plans had definitely been our best holiday decision. When it was Ollie's bedtime we realised that his mattress had been left outside on the front verandah and discovered that a large frog had made it a temporary home. Ollie's fur is strewn across the front of it's nose.

Waking up to this view the following morning was rather surreal.

Followed by a leisurely walk around the lake and through the vines to sample some grapes.

It had been leisurely until Ollie spotted a young kangaroo! Ollie was right on the heels of the poor frightened creature at the beginning of the chase. They ran up and down the rows of vines until we lost sight of them for ages, eventually Ollie reappeared looking exhausted but very disappointed his fun game was over.

The walk worked up our appetites and it was inspiring to have an expansive kitchen at my disposal so I made a tofu and mixed veg stir fry for lunch. The sauce was thrown together from items in my portable pantry in addition to items at the house. From memory it contained soy sauce, garlic, sambal oelek, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil. Apart from being slightly too salty from an overload of soy sauce it was a fine meal and one I would like to replicate at home.

Lunch was followed up with a slightly less healthy dinner of pizza! We had been craving pizza ever since our disappointing one at Loving Hut. This was one of the main reasons we stopped off at PAWS, to purchase Cheezly and Redwood cheatin' pepperoni for pizzas. The man always loves a simple margherita and this one was enhanced with some fresh basil from the garden.

The other pizza was Mexican styled. I mashed a tin of Coles Mexican beans with some tomato paste and hot sauce to spread on the base and topped it with red onion, red capsicum/peppers, mushrooms, vegan pepperoni and cheezly. The dried out spinach on top that was procured from the garden was supposed to go on top of the bean layer but it was forgotten until the pizza was fully assembled and about to go in the oven. Regardless of my error, the pizza tasted great and the crunchy spinach provided a interesting texture.

A cooking relic in the house that captured my interest was a bean cutter. I have clear memories of my mum and grandma using these devices throughout my childhoood. Green beans are fed into the holes at the top and then you wind the handle whilst placing pressure on the beans. I don't think I ever ate a whole bean as a child, they were always sliced using one of these machines!

The days dwindled away quickly and we really hadn't seen anything at all in the region as we found it difficult to leave the magical property for long. The man suggested that we visit one of the nearby caves as he had fond memories of seeing them as a child and left it up to me to decide which one. I booked us in for a tour of the Lake Cave which begins with a descent down 300 steps through karri forest into a doline - a hole in the earth's surface.

True to it's name the Lake Cave contains a permanent lake in it's chamber. The main feature of the cave is called the "suspended table", an impressive formation which is the result of the fusion of stalagmites and stalactites and weighs several tonnes.

As we were due to hit the road again, our final meal needed to use up the frozen goods we had remaining. On my plate is a couple of Linda McCartney sausages with fried onions and gravy, mashed potatoes and some mixed frozen vegetables which were sautéed with garlic and a dash of soy sauce. 

Neither of us were ready to say goodbye to this beautiful place. Camping had lost its appeal after this comfortable instalment of our journey, and we weren't looking forward to the long drive across the Nullarbor back home either.