Among this week’s pies are my two absolute favourites from testing so far! Try to guess which ones.

Blueberry ginger handpies

Lemon mousse pie

Coconut lime cream pie

Strawberry rhubarb crumb pie

I don’t want this weekend testing to end.

How do you know when you’ve neglected your blog for a little bit too long? When your mother calls to ask if you’re okay because it hasn’t been updated, that’s when. Oops.

Contrary to the rumours spreading like wildfire over the internet (I haven’t seen them, but the internet is a big place), I’m not dead. I’ve just been clocking up unholy amounts of overtime at work, then coming home to labour away at uni work. The Masters degree seemed like a good idea at the time. All of this has resulted in eating habits best left unshared. Hint- I may or may not have eaten nothing but tester pie for three consecutive days last week.

I should also confirm that I didn’t completely bail on the end of the cookbook challenge… just partially. So since these were the most acceptable-for-a-grown-up-diet meals made over the last couple of weeks, here they are.

Peanut butter waffles with chocolate drizzle

To finish off Vegan Brunch week, peanut butter waffles. These are by far the best waffles I’ve ever made- which isn’t difficult, considering my consistent rate of failure in the past. But with these, I managed to finally best my temperamental waffle maker in our ongoing battle of wits, and produce these perfectly crisp waffles. The peanut butter flavour wasn’t too prominent, but these were so rich and filling that we had to stop after one each. Luckily, they were good enough cold that they still didn’t last until the end of the day.

Toffalo hot wings, cool ranch sauce and smoky potato wedges

For free choice week, I chose The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions, which I’d just picked up the week before. I’d heard a lot from testers about the smoky potato wedges, so they were an obvious starting point. And one that lived up to my high expectations. These were great with the disturbingly chickeny-looking tofu hot wings. These things sent Chadwiko into rapturous throes of delight. I’m already planning on making these again soon. The only element I wasn’t thrilled with was the ranch sauce- this just tasted like mayonnaise, though that’s likely due to me buying the overpowering $2 mayonnaise as opposed to handing over $11 for a decent-tasting one. Again, I curse this country and its need for delicious imports.

I also made the red curry rice from Food Substitutions, which I could happily eat as a meal- and may have for lunch the next day. There are a lot of recipes here that I’m excited to try- the cheeses in particular. You can be sure to see my potentially laughable attempts at such pretty dishes here soon.

Tiramisu

Somewhere in the midst of my work- and self-inflicted madness, we found ourselves at a Godfather-themed movie and feast night at a friend’s house. We took along a lasagne al forno bolognese (not photographed this time, but good enough that I’ll be making it again soon) and this tiramisu, from Urban Vegan. This was my first time making tiramisu, and I thought I did reasonably well. It could have been prettier, but to eat while watching gangsters strangle each other? It’ll do just fine.

Chili and beansprout tofu scramble

And the rest of my meals have been at this level of laziness. During the blog hiatus we squeezed in a trip to Melbourne, where I had a glorious chilli, lemon and coriander tofu scramble at Soul Food. This was my two-days-later nostalgic recreation. This was pretty much just all my favourite ingredients thrown together- tofu, garlic, ginger, beansprouts and a whole lot of chilli. Whether it’s a scramble or a stir fry remains a matter for semantics, but all I know is that it kept me sane while desperately trying to catch up on uni readings.

There’s one thing that work and study can’t stand in the way of, though, and that’s pie. Stay tuned for some of my favourite tester pies yet. Coming soon- I promise this time!

Back in my dark, teenage days of working at Starbucks, I once had the pleasure of meeting an interesting young girl. With bloodshoot eyes and slurred words, a generally happy demeanour and a familiar fragrance about her, she stumbled up to the register and asked for ‘one of those giant cups, like, FILLED with whipped cream… please’. Bored on my late night shift and with no qualms about wasting resources, I obliged and watched, vaguely impressed, as she very nearly inhaled 600ml of whipped cream, before asking for another.

I recount this story because this week’s experience in pie testing rendered me in a similar state, without the ‘natural stimulation’. The culprit- rad whip.

Rad whip

It’s exactly what it looks like. Creamy, cool, and insanely delicious. I’m not ashamed to admit that far less than the contents of this bowl ended up on the pie I’d made to eat it with.

Cappuccino mousse pie

Put it on a pie, eat it with berries, pour it into a trough, stick your head in there and just go nuts… I’m not here to judge.

Recipe testing never tasted so good.

It’s been nearly a week since I made a pie. Experiencing withdrawals, hands shaking too much to type.

So here are some recent pies.

Peanut butter cuplettes

Cosmos apple pie

Raspberry lattice pie

Manhattan mud pie