birthday dinner

Last night we had a belated birthday dinner with the in-laws.

A few weeks ago i discovered a vegan restaurant in the 'burbs, close to their home and tagged it into the memory bank for future reference.

Fountain Vegetarian Restaurant is located in the Hills district and has a great vegan menu.

Don't let all the spelling mistakes on the website put you off, the food is top notch!

We chose the Satay BBQ Sticks and Spring Rolls as the entrees, Crunchy Squid Fish with Chicken Nuggets and Lemon Chicken as the mains with Indian Fried Rice on the side. All this fed 4 people quite well but of course there was room left for dessert and their vegan chocolate cake did not disappoint.

test cupcakes. i'll call these ones poopie

agave cupcakes
Originally uploaded by for_esme

simple vanilla and agave nectar cupcakes with thick chocolate fudgy frosting from VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

RSPCA CUPCAKE DAY

A good excuse to bake batches of cupcakes.

All proceeds go to the RSPCA.

VEGAN around the house

We all know how boring cleaning the house can be but it's a chore that has to be done.

You can go down the old fashioned tried and true path of using bicarb soda and vinegar to clean everything but there are other products on the market that are cruelty and animal free.

NATURES ORGANICS are Australian Owned, CCF Accredited and vegan friendly. They have several lines of product including haircare, skincare, bath/shower and household cleaning.

EARTH CHOICE have over a dozen products to help you make the house shine from top to bottom. Dishwashing liquid, cream cleanser, window spray, shower cleaner, laundry detergent and fabric softeners all kill germs without killing the budget. Affordable and available in most national supermarket chains.

After all that cleaning there is always time to pamper yourself. Why not try any of these items...

NATURES ORGANICS SPA SHOWER MILK is a PH balanced bodywash with 4 different scents. My personal favourite of the CREME BRULEE.

For the more masculine vegans there is also SPA FOR MEN aqua energising shower gel.

Don't forget the kids. They can splash around the bath with FUNTIME BUBBLE BATH

ORGANIC CARE hair care range's shampoo and conditioner comes in a plant based packaging and contains NO sles, sls, ales, parabens or petrochemical cleansers. Your hair will thank you for the lack of chemicals you're putting in it and will come off looking healthy and shiny.

Don't forget to look after your skin by cleansing and moisturising every day. The Natural Skin Care Range has a few great products. The face wipes are my favourite. All ingredients are plant derived and perfect for sensitive skin.

Who would have thunk cleaning the house and yourself could be so animal and environmentally friendly?

my top 5 VEGAN essentials

We all know how hard becoming a vegan can be, especially in Australia. Most Vegan cookbooks are from the US and ingredients are listed by brand rather than product a lot of the time. In Australia not many products are labelled as "VEGAN", so a lot of label reading has to be done and unless you know almost every non vegan food additive you are bound to make a few mistakes along the way.

Being Vegan isn't a competition and i'm not the vegan police but just remember to be the best vegan you can be.

So, my lovely vegan friends I shall list you my top vegan items.

Number One and by far the best source of vegan "milk" is BONSOY.

If you're really lucky your local cafe will make you a delicious soy latte with this stuff. Tastes nothing like it's nutty counterparts and doesn't leave that weird coating in your mouth. Can be used in all kinds of baking or just enjoy a glass with a nice choc chip cookie.

Number Two and an essential to every VEGAN kitchen is the non dairy spread, NUTTELEX.

Also gluten free, soy free and nut free. Perfect for baking or just spreading on some toast. Nuttelex has a few different varieties - Original, Lite, Kosher, Olive and Pulse. All of which are found easily in the cold food aisle near butter and milk.

Number Three will satisfy your VEGAN sweet tooth. SWEET WILLIAM are a dairy free, VEGAN friendly company intent on saving all our VEGAN treat cravings. They come in Bars, Spreads, Blocks, Multi Packs, Cooking Chocolate and even Easter Bunnies and Eggs.

SWEET WILLIAM are also Dairy, Nut and Gluten Free, Kosher and Halal. Available at most national supermarket brands and found in the health food aisle.

My personal favourite is the cooking chocolate. Perfect for making cookies with.

Number Four is perfect for making those delicious "cheese" sauces in Lasagne, Macaroni Cheez, Pasta, Casseroles, Nachos and Gravy. SAVOURY YEAST, not to be confused with Brewer's Yeast, is packed full of those wonderful B Vitamins and gives a delicious savoury cheese flavour without the cholesterol. This is usually found in Health Food Stores in the Yeast section.

Number Five is a delicious treat used in a lot of my baking. MAPLE SYRUP comes in pure or imitation form. I use the PURE on pancakes and pikelets and the IMITATION in cooking, especially when a recipe calls for 1/2 cup or more. Pure MAPLE SYRUP is expensive but it's imitation tastes just the same in baking, so save the good stuff for topping crepes and waffles.

Maple Syrup can be found in the baking aisle near golden syrup and treacle.

Of course there are plenty more VEGAN Essentials but these are the items that i use on a weekly basis and are an important part of all my cooking. I hope this helps you find brands in your local store and even if you aren't Vegan these are all still great products to use in your cooking.

Coming up on the next installment of VEGAN HELP-

Stace's favourite VEGAN cookbooks.