truffle oil?

I bought some today.  Haven't a clue really what to do with it.  My only 2 references being its vague use in recipe books and on the Iron chef.  ooooh Truffles.  So i put some on my spiced pumpkin pizza tonight.  Does it taste any better?  haven't a clue.   but it tasted good.  So if anyone knows the specifics of Truffle oil, i would love to know.  

The best chocolate cake ever

I just have to say that the best chocolate cake I have ever had is the one I made last week.  The Raspberry Blackout Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance is wonderful.  I accidentally bought mulberry jam so it was a slight modification to the recipe, but still turned out great.  It was also the easiest cake I have ever made.  How wonderful not to crack eggs, it was a simple add the wet ingredients to the dry and that was that.  I bought the book based on a review of this recipe and I was not disappointed.  I also made the vegan corn fritters that night which got dh's approval.  

I'm not going to put the recipes up here as I really do think people should buy the book.  

no pic, but i do have a pic of the home made rhubarb pie i made about a month ago.  If you would like the recipe please ask.  It was a fly by the seat of my pants pie that turned out very nicely, especially since I have never made a rhubarb anything before.

Vegan with a vengeance

I bought this book and received it a couple of days ago and so far so good.  I am very interested in becoming vegan rather than just vegetarian and this book was recommended to me.  So far so good too.  I just tried my first real vegan recipe.  obviously i have had vegan food, everyone has, ie. asian noodle etc, but this recipe was for cupcakes.  Usually you need lots of butter.  The vegan version was so much easier to make and quite tasty.    

I look forward to doing some more cooking with this book.

a warning about fake meats

Its been a big week. To sum it up and i don't want to rehash, here are some dot points.

-  sterilising toothbrushes on the stove = 2 firetrucks and toxic smoke saturated house.

-  same night - nasty, nasty head cold developed

-  early that day - nasty rash on upper torso develops

-  3 days later discover our cleaner (brought in because of the toxic smoke) has ripped us off and damaged household items.

its all done now thankfully, many lessons have been learnt and the cleaner is due for some Karma.

So onto the topic of this post.

I developed a rash on Saturday morning and couldn't place why.  It took me 2 days to figure out why and in the meantime i continued to do what caused the rash.  It took a google image search of about a minute to discover that I had 'Ribo rash'.  This is a rash caused by an allergy to the food additive 635 (and sometimes the related 631 and 627).  It took me another 10 minutes of searching food labels in the cupboard(of which i found just one offender), then i clicked to the real offender.  Sanitariums Vegie Delights range uses 635 quite commonly I discovered after reading their 635 disclosure page.  geez.  sanitarium says there is nothing wrong with 635.  Don't think because you have eaten them and had no issue that you are in the all clear.  I have been eating them for the last 3 yrs, but had excessive amounts this week.  according to the website www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info  this is common.  you can be fine eating it once a week, but go over your bodies limit and you'll know it.  I had itchy swollen eyes, earlobes and neck.  aswell my upper torso.  I've put it on my no no list.  its the first thing on my no no list as i have never had a problem with allergies before.   i figure if too much causes a rash then any amount is probably bad for me.  

In the midst of looking at label in my home i was appalled to find MSG in the powdered vegie stock(vegeta) i have used for 5 yrs.  i was shocked.