***Closed***A Giveaway...

***The Giveaway is now closed***
Note: Sorry, but I think it is fair that the last comment will not be counted in as it has been left after the closing time.

A while ago, I hosted a giveaway for a rice cooker from CSN Stores. And I did promise some more giveaways coming your way! Well, guess what? CSN Stores are back and this time, you get to choose your product with a US$40 gift card! You can browse or peruse their websites that sell anything from lights to furniture, baby essentials to fitness products, housewares to outdoor products. You are bound to find something you like; their stores are just massive!

To participate :
Just browse their stores and leave a comment here about what you would like to get with your gift card. Please leave your comment on the blog http://www.veganlovlie.com/ not on the Facebook page/feed!
Make sure you leave an email address or a link to your blog (with contact details of course!) so that I can contact you!

You will get 1 additional entry for each of these:

• Join my Facebook group (leave a separate comment here saying you did this, if you are already a member of the group then leave a comment as well)
• Like my Facebook Fan page (leave a separate comment here saying you did this)
• Follow me on Twitter (leave a separate comment here saying you did this)
• Blog about this giveaway on your own blog with a link to this post (then come back and leave another comment here saying you blogged about this)

This giveaway is opened for US and Canadian readers.
You have until Friday 30th July till 11.59pm to enter.

Winners will be chosen by a random number generator.

So, what are you waiting for?

Why don't you treat yourself to one of these suggestions:

Feel sexy in the kitchen with this Flirty Apron in Sweet Sunshine.

Or, something I've quite been looking forward to adding in my kitchen is a cookbook holder and this one seems like the perfect one!

Maybe a tart pan?

A waffle maker?

These are just a few suggestions from me to inspire you although the stores are in themselves a great inspiration! You can pick something completely different from kitchenware. The choice is massive!

Good luck to everyone!
Winners will be announced on Saturday 31st July.

I know this giveaway is only opened to US and Canadian readers but did you know CSN have opened a UK store recently? Check it out: http://www.csnstores.co.uk/
Have a look, there are some pretty good bargains on there!

DARING COOKS JULY 2010 CHALLENGE: NUT BUTTERS

When I first saw this challenge, I thought oh no! Not a nut challenge! I am allergic to both nuts and seeds, although I do cheat and eat them from time to time in small quantities and hope that I don't fall sick! Haha! Ok, it's not funny when I do fall sick!

Anyway, I did not want to take any risk. Then, I saw that this challenge allowed fruit butters as well for nut allergy sufferers! I could have made a bean butter with chickpeas but I used this for a previous challenge to replace nuts in a satay. So I thought I'd try a fruit butter instead.

Fruit butter is similar to making jam except that it doesn't require any jellying agent and uses much less sugar. However, it is cooked for 2 hours. I was short of time. So, I only cooked it for 1/2 hour and it was fine. I only made a small quantity and did not add any extra liquid to the fruits, so it dried up quicker.

The July Challenge is brought to you by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies.

DARING COOKS JULY 2010 CHALLENGE: NUT BUTTERS

This was a pretty quick challenge to make. I decided I would use my fruit butter as a dressing for an Asian salad. I made the fruit butter a few days before and had used half of it by the time I took the photo!

Apple and Pineapple Fruit Butter

I am not providing an exact recipe for the fruit butter as I can't remember the quantities I used! But I don't think quantities matter that much as basically the fruits are pureed, sweetened a little bit, water added, then cooked for 2 hours. In my case, I only cooked it for half an hour.

So, I took 2 apples, peeled and cut them into small pieces. I used about 1/2 pineapple, peeled and also cut into small pieces. Place all fruits in a blender and process to a puree (a hand blender is also fine for this). Add 2-3 tablespoons sugar and place in a thick bottom pan. Cook on low-medium heat for 30 minutes or until thick enough to use as a spread.




Asian Salad

I don't have an exact recipe for the quantities of the salad ingredients as I just picked and tossed in what I had on hand. Roughly for 2 persons, here are what I used:

200g Sweet potato noodles (boiled until soft, then rinse in cold water to prevent them from glueing with one another)
1 medium sized carrot (finely sliced with the vegetable peeler)
Mixed peppers (sliced)
150g frozen broad beans (immersed in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drained)
4-5 radishes (sliced)
70g raw green beans (sliced with the bean slicer)

Toss and blend everything together in a big salad bowl.

Fruit Butter Asian Salad Dressing

1 tablespoon fruit butter
1 teaspoon wasabi paste
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) fine chili powder
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fruit syrup (or maple syrup/agave nectar)
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour on salad just before serving.