Ve-ghurt.

Guys guys guys! I found another epic vegan recipe!

I made vegan coconut yoghurt! And its freaking amazing!!! Seriously: Even the kids love it!

And this stuff is SO. EASY.

I found the recipe at Chocolate and Zucchini, and pretty much followed it to the letter, using 3 x 400ml tins of full fat coconut milk, and 1/2 cup No Udder coconut yoghurt (From Woolworths) as a starter. Whisked it all together, divvied it up into the little jars in the yoghurt machine. Turned on my little yoghurt maker and left it alone for 24 hours. PRESTO!

Easy as! (Think of all those amazing gut bacterias!)

You gotta get yourself one of these little yoghurt makers - I got mine from Aldi for about $20. I bought it to make conventional dairy yoghurt when my kids were little, and we just could not get it to set! We tried all kinds of things! Fail after fail after fail. So its basically been in my cupboard doing nothing for about 3 years.

I whipped it out to give this a go, and BOOM! PERFECT YOGHURT. First go. Coconut yoghurt ROCKS.

This morning I had it with 3 chopped fresh strawberries and a level teaspooon of coconut sugar. AMAZING.

So look, there really is no excuses for me not to be vegan now! 'What do I miss out on?:

Yoghurt - nope. Making as much as I want!
Milk - soy (ALDI organic!) or Pureharvest Oat milk
Cheese - Bio Cheese FTW! (Coles)
Ice Cream - Soy Good Soy Icecream, in moderation!
Eggs - I do eat the odd egg from our lovely free range back yard chookies, but there's TONNES of substitutions! (Right Maxine? x) Chia, avocado, oil and vinegar....
Meat - berk. Try tofu, kidney beans, peanut patties, vege snags and i had the best burgers this week, by substituting a beef pattie with a GIANT, FAT grilled mushroom. Took up the whole bun! OMG drool.
Butter - Coconut oil in recipes, and Nuttelex spread on toast.
Bacon - gimme a break... #facepalm

Did I miss anything? ;)

This is not about how I look anymore. This is not about weight loss. I ate for weight loss for the last 20 years and it made me freakin MISERABLE. And I still got fat anyway! This is eating for how I FEEL. This is love through food. My tummy feels good, my head feels clear, and my heart is happy.

Go on - make the yoghurt. Its a game changer x

The recipe you've all been waiting for...

OMG this cake.

This. Cake.

Ben took it to work. His workmates devoured it. Then he told them it was vegan, and ran a guessing competition what was in it. NONE of them got it!

This is the best choccie cake recipe I've found. Note I didn't say 'the best vegan choccie cake recipe'. That wasn't an accident! So easy, so healthy, and YUM.

The original is here, but I've tweaked it a bit. So here it is:

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Pre heat oven to 170 deg C (150 deg C if fan forced!) - thats 350 deg F for you guys, USA!
Spray-oil and line 2 x loaf tins with baking paper.

In a big bowl, combine:
3 c plain flour
6 T cacao powder
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Set aside.

In another bowl, combine:
1/4 c coconut oil (melted)
1 ripe avocado (mashed)
2 c water
2 T apple cider or white vinegar
2 t vanilla extract
Whisk these together, then whisk in:
2 c coconut sugar.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until well-combined.

Pour 1/2 mix into each lined and greased loaf tin (YEP - YOU GET TWO CAKES!!! One to take to 'that-thing-you-said-you'd-take-a-plate-to', and one for the kids for afternoon tea! BONUS!)

Bake 45 min.

If you want an impressive and also vegan choccie frosting for it, use a stick mixer (or hand mixer, or your ENORMOUS POP-EYE ARM STRENGTH) to mix: 
2 ripe avocados,  
1 cup icing sugar, 
1 t vanilla extract, 
4 T cacao powder.
And use this to ice it when it's cool.

OM NOM NOM. Who said vegan food had to be all spinach and mung beans?!

A branch came down.

Meant to be cold this week! We're prepared!

Any sun peeking through is a chance for us to get out and play outside! To throw off Will's rugs and let Lennon & the ladies stretch their wings. 

The mud is taking over, but it's only for a few more weeks. 

Meanwhile, Bluebell has settled right in to Hill Shadow Farm life.

Hard to imagine people try to have Collies in suburban blocks! They're so full of energy and mischeif! Blue thrives on the space and activity here!

Off to eat an apple pie. It's a tough life ;)