I've always wanted a juicer!

I made 'vegan takoyaki' for dinner last night. We had them with mayonnaise drizzled on top, with a side of stir fried vegetables (brocolli, carrot, cauliflower, mushrooms, onion, garlic) in a peanut butter/soy sauce/miso paste sauce. It was a little bit salty but really good. Next time I'll put less miso in, I went a bit overboard.

Miso/Peanut stir fry sauce

Serves two

About 2 large tbsp crunchy peanut butter (or whatever peanut butter you like best)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tbsp miso paste (I used white miso)

Mix together until it's a paste/liquid. Add to vegetables which have already been cooked a little bit and stir. Add water until it's the consistency you want. (I made mine a bit too watery last night, I ended up finishing it as a soup, sort of). Serve vegetables as a side, on top of rice, on top of noodles, whatever :)

I found the recipe for vegan takoyaki here. They aren't exactly like real takoyaki, but then again, I haven't eaten real takoyaki for a long time now so who am I to say? Anyway, they are really really good! Even though they are deep fried (well, I deep/shallow fried them - I don't have a proper deep fryer) they don't seem too oily and heavy. The tofu batter sort of comes away from the mushroom to form a kind of puff. Totally awesome. Except you need to use a knife and fork at first because when I bit into it it kind of exploded hot liquid. They are a little fiddly, but totally worth it when you have time. They could be made earlier I reckon.

I blended the tofu in my food processor to make it as smooth as possible, and I used white flour because it's all I had. Next time I'll use wholemeal, I think it'll taste even better. :)

I found this gem at the local salvation army. Actually, I found about 3! I've always wanted a juicer but they are just too expensive. I never thought of looking in op shops, I've always been a bit wary of buying electricals from them. However, this one was only $10 and I figured if it didn't really work or exploded, I wouldn't lose too much. There were other newer models there but this one actually looked the best and still had all the bits.

I tested it yesterday and it works fine! Only thing is, every couple of carrots the pulp blocked the whatsit (no idea what to call it) and the motor would stress out and...spark a little. So I figure I've just got to stop it as soon as the thingee gets blocked, and unblock it! So it's probabaly a little more time consuming than a brand new one, but I just want to try it out. I guess that's why it was donated.

I made carrot and ginger juice first. I put way too much ginger in though, but look at that orange!

I've been thinking of doing a short juice detox one day soon. Maybe when it gets a little warmer. Just to rid the body of any toxins :) Alcohol, sugar, etc. I shall see.