u/hunnbee

Today we celebrated my doggies 8th birthday. This isn't something we normally do, but we very nearly lost her very recently and the last year has had crazy ups and downs with her. 2 months ago we had to have her eyes removed and although she's in less pain, we don't know how long we will have with her because she has a lot of health problems. For now, she is happy, healthy and here so we are celebrating every day. I made vegan aperitivo and vegan cookies for the human guests, I also made a pastry but we forgot to take a pic before eating it lol. The dip I made by roasting aubergines and red pepper ❤️🎂🎈

We didn't think we would get to celebrate this day with her even just a few months ago, so the fact that we were has just made us feel so unbelievably grateful. Yenny had a little party with some of her aunties who adore her and her sister and even her new long noodle friend. We are so lucky to have her 🎈🎂❤️

Tomorrow Yenny girl turns 8. Normally we wouldn't do a party, but this year my best friends (her aunties) wanted to come round and celebrate with us as just a few months ago we didn't think she would make it to her birthday, so she's having a little celebration tomorrow and a special dinner and she will be the centre of attention (literally none of that is any different to any other day, but still).

We have a vet check up on Friday (weekly vet visits, yay), so we will take some cookies in for her lovely vet team, who without them (and a hell of a lot of money hahahah), she for sure would not have made it to this birthday, so we are so very grateful

1. On our evening walk. Me and her do between 7-12km most nights so she gets lots of sniffs and opportunity to walk a bit and I get some exercise. For a long time we had to stop big walks, something we used to do daily, so having the pram is a huuuuge help

2. Sometimes she is very dramatic when she's in pram jail. In this photo, she could smell burger king in the distance...

3. She knows how cute she is

4. I was sat playing enrichment games with her brother 🐇 and of course Yen had to be involved

Hands down the most ridiculous, unhinged, maniac of a dog I have ever met but we absolutely ADORE her. She is so clever and so naughty and gets herself into the most ridiculous situations. She is 17, deaf, doesn't see well and has only got 1 kidney, but none of that stops her. She zooms around everywhere like a puppy, she is naughty and stubborn and so very clever. She is the boss of our house and we are so lucky to have her. She makes us laugh so much every day and fills our lives and home with so much love and mischief and we are SO lucky to have her.

There is a bonus picture of her when she was a pup. I didn't know her then, she was dumped with my partner's family, so he remembers her as a little bab, but I only met her when she was around 9, and I decided she was coming home to live with us.

Even though she's 17, she just got her bloods back from the vet and everything is perfect. She sleeps a lot, and her favourite thing is to be snuggled up in her blankets snoozing, but for the time that she is up, she is somehow simultaneously a terror and a delight in all the possible ways. She has so many ridiculous little mannerisms and routines that she does and we just could not possibly love her any more if we tried.

She is a Spanish rat terrier, a bodeguero valenciano, and we absolutely adore her and are so lucky for every single day we get with her ❤️🐾

This week it's going to be her 8th birthday. We don't normally really do anything special to celebrate their birthdays because they literally get treated like every single day is their birthday (home cooked meals, lots of attention and special walks, endless cuddles, their favourite treats etc), but we were really close to losing her earlier this year, and we don't know how long we will get with her, so we are celebrating it this year.

Today she got her first ice cream of the season and a trip to the coast to see one of her aunties, so she's starting the week off well. Also her sister got bathed yesterday she didn't so her prolonged stinkiness also is part of the birthday celebrations ❤️🐾

There's a video too. If you're interested, I'll post that too 🐾❤️

Unfortunately, I am not able to raw dog tofu like some of our friends over at r/shittyveganfoodporn, and I only like it if the texture and taste is good. I've tested a lot of different ways to get it good and this is what I do.

1. I always freeze it first

2. I then defrost it in a pan of boiling salty water. Even if the tofu isn't frozen,.I do this step of boiling in salty water

3. then press it for as long as possible (several hours if you can). All of these above steps are important to get ready of the soy taste that I don't like that much

4. cut it up however you like, I prefer to do either think strips or really small cubes as the marinade and flavour soaks in more

5. then marinate it for a day or so I'm the fridge, shaking the tupperware every few hours to check all the tofu is getting covered evenly

6. then cook it up, either in a frying pan or a griddle pan until the outside has got a good crunch

7. store it in the fridge so I have it ready when I get home from work and don't have to go through the whole preparation quickly and end up with shitty tofu

For the marinade, I normally use spice packets, my favourite is Korean BBQ, but these aren't always available so sometimes I'll make my own. I just mix a bunch of spices in with either some oil or lately I've been using water (as I'm trying to lose weight), and making a thick kinda spice paste and then mixing the tofu cubes in with that in a tupperware and checking everything is covered and gets all the good flavour

A lot of you asked for recipes when I posted these last week, so I have tried to put it together. Really though, it varies every time I make it because I use up what I have in.

Below I have written the staples but really you can adjust any ingredients to what you like. I also added in some pics of how it looks in the pan before being cooked

I use coriander and an obscene amount of garlic in all 3 of the dishes because I can't get enough of it, but you can adjust to your own taste. Normally I spend a day on the weekend preparing a big batch of food for the week.

Today I made enough for about 22 portions because I've prepared some for my friend and her mum who she's taking care of. I think the cost of all these ingredients is maybe around 15€? So it's super cheap. It all freezes really well too, so I just chuck them in the freezer and defrost them for lunch each day. 

These could not be simpler to make, especially the chilli and the chickpeas. I genuinely throw all of the ingredients in one pan at once, and then start cooking. When I do this trio I normally put the chickpeas and the chilli in the oven and do the curry on the hob as depending on the ingredients maybe I add stuff later on (like today, the lentils). Only one pot required for each dish. 

I normally buy veg when it's on offer or reduced, or even just buy it in a bigger quantity and then chop it up and have it in the freezer ready to throw into anything like this. That's why the ingredients vary each time I make it. 

*Chickpeas*: Normally I start with some sun dried tomatoes (or I just make my own in the oven with some herbs as they're expenny) and cook them up with some onion and lots of garlic. Then I add some soya or oat cream and a jug of stock, add loads of sweet and smoky paprika (I live in Spain so we have really good paprika), then throw in the chickpeas, mushrooms, spinach (or whatever I have to use up) and leave it cooking and taste to test it. Add a load of lemon and voila, it's ready. I do this either in a pan or in the oven, depending how much stuff I'm making at once 

*Curry*: normally I make a tofu version, but cos I had to make a really big batch today I went for lentils instead. It's very simple, a bit of oil and onions, add curry spice and add in the potatoes, some tinned tomatoes, jug full of stock, good amount of garlic, at this point if using it, throw in the tofu and some spinach, normally a splash of soy cream or plant milk (whatever needs using up), some spices like ginger, cumin, garam masala etc and cover it and let it simmer til everything is cooked. Depending on what lentils you have, throw them in whenever. Today I had dry lentils but they were quick cook ones, so I added them in about 45 minutes before it was finished. Again, you can add mushrooms, chickpeas, lentils, whatever is available, chuck it in. 

*Smokey bean chilli*: this couldn't be easier, just throw everything in a pot together - onions, garlic, a tin of baked beans, a jar (or two, depending on portion size) of preferred beans. I love the giant beans so I always use them. Throw in a tin of chopped tomatoes and some sweetcorn, add salt, pepper and a whole lot of smokey paprika and cook. I do this in the pan or the oven depending what's free

Was hungry when I got home and trying to avoid snacking, so made myself some seedy bread with tomato and avo ❤️ feat my lovely little pirate girly ❤️🐾

1. Noodles, tofu and broccoli

2. Focaccia with guac

3. Brocolli with tofu

1. Bbq glazed tofu with broccoli

2. 3 bean chilli / Tuscan chickpeas / tofu, spinach and potato curry

3. Arroz con verduras (paella)

4. Close up of the bean chilli

5. Close up of the Tuscan chickpeas

Each of these are super duper easy to make, cheap, really adaptable and easy to make a big portion that can be split into smaller meals. I love spending a Sunday cooking in the kitchen, watching a series or listening to a podcast while preparing hearty vegan food for the week, and it means when I come home I don't have to worry about what to cook for tea and for lunch the next day, cos it's already sorted.

All of these are easily freezable too, so I usually have some on hand in th freezer too for when it's needed (apart from the tofu and broccoli)