28/05/2009

Happy Vegan Veggie Burgers and some RAD Onion Rings

Like a lot of you, I suspect; I have a list of recipes to make from all you awesome vegan bloggers as long as my arm. When I have the ingredients to hand is what determines when I make afore mentioned recipes and I was delighted to discover I had all the ingredients to make Jessy's Brown Rice Veggie Burgers
They were totally AWESOME AND I stuck to Jessy's most excellent recipe EXCEPT (haha) I added some mashed up Pinto Beans because I just can't help myself. To accompany these Burgers I also made Onion Rings. Recipe here. I used White Wine instead of White Wine Vinegar (close?) because I have just about every other Vinegar imaginable except this one - and I always have White Wine cooling in mah fridge. I also used Water instead of Apple Juice (see previous sentence). Let me tell you they were eeen-cred-eeee-bul!! The Batter is so super tasty and coats the Onions perfectly and fry's up really nice and crunchy, and I'm sure this Batter would be perfect for anything. Feast your eyes and enjoy. Licking of screen not advised.
All served up with a green Salad and homemade Coleslaw
I also made some Flapjacks
see
But I wasn't paying much attention to the amounts so I will make these again (the sacrifices I make....) and be a good vegan blogger and write down exactly what I did. But for now I will just tease you all. Mwahahahahaha!
GO VEGAN!

18/05/2009

Inspired by an alien and Cauliflower Uncheese

I've owned Hot Damn and Hell Yeah for a few months now but have, until now, not made anything from it. I am a bit of a sucker for seeing photos of recipes to give me a kick up the pants to try them but for some strange unexplained reason a lot of vegan cook books are sadly lacking in the photo department. I know that vegan cook books pack a lot of recipes into their pages but if I'm not gonna be inspired to make the recipes without some visuals then personally I'd prefer a few less recipes and more photos.
Anyhoo - this sounds like I'm moaning and I'm not - so ONTO THE FOOD!
Sal blogged about the Country Tofu recipe on her ace blog - Alien on Toast and it was seeing her gorgeous photos that made up my mind to give this recipe a try. I kind of winged it with the spices too but let me tell you - this recipe is DELICIOSO!
here it is served with some baked new Potatoes, Green Beans and Fried Onions. YUM!
And tonight I made a corker of a recipe that I wanted to share with you all right away. I give you Cauliflower Uncheese. So simple and so delicious.
Cauliflower Uncheese serves 4 Ingredients 1 Large-ish Cauliflower, cut into florets and steamed 400g cooked Chickpeas 1 Clove Garlic 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil +/- Half a cup of Soya Milk or other non dairy milk (though I've only tried this with Soya) 1-2 teaspoons Dry Mustard Powder Salt Black pepper 1 cup of fresh Breadcrumbs Method Place the cooked Cauliflower into an oven proof dish. Whizz up the Chickpeas, Garlic, Olive Oil and Soya Milk with a blender or stick blender. Add the Mustard Powder and season to taste. Add the Sauce to the Cauliflower and coat well. Cover with tin foil and bake in a hot oven for 30 mins. Take off the tin foil and sprinkle on the Breadcrumbs and finish off in the oven so as the Breadcrumbs turn a nice golden colour. Serve and scoff!
Served with Green Beans and Onion and Potato layer
I have also been super busy in the garden this past week and a half but I think that deserves a whole blog post all to itself, so watch this space.
GO VEGAN!

07/05/2009

Lasagne/Lasagna

Not sure on the spelling of that as both seem to be used willy nilly.
I made a roasted Vegetable and Spinach Lasagna - it was delicious. I didn't follow a recipe I just made it up as I went along (it's the magic of my new kitchen I tell ya!). I always make this Tomato Sauce though and I always make a big batch and freeze it up for easy convenient use later. This is enough for two Lasagnas or two Moussakas or two of whatever and each portion serves 4 people - so you can divide it up according to your own preferences
Tomato Sauce
serves 8 Ingredients 1 tsp Olive Oil 1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced 1 Large Onion, diced 2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed 2 x 400g Canned Tomatoes 5 fl oz Red Wine or Vegetable Stock (Red Wine is soooo much better!!) 1 Bay Leaf 1 Tbsp Fresh Basil, diced 1 tsp Dried Oregano Salt Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Method In a pan add 1 tsp Olive Oil and fry the Carrot and Onion for 10 mins stirring regularly. Add the Garlic, Tomatoes, Red Wine (or stock), Basil, Oregano and Bay Leaf and cook on a gentle heat for 20 mins. Take out the Bay Leaf and whizz with a hand mixer or in your blender. Season to taste.
Easy Peasy!
For the Lasagna/Lasagne I roasted a combo of veggies - Onion, Peppers, Aubergines, Courgettes, Garlic etc etc and I sauteed some Spinach and added some Roasted Garlic, Salt and Pepper to the Spinach then I layered up the dish starting with a layer of Tomato Sauce, then Lasagna, then Roasted Veggies, Tomato Sauce, Lasagne, Spinach, Lasagna, Tomato Sauce, Roasted veggies then topped it with my new creation which I shall call Chickpea Sauce. This is basically a Hummus recipe but with the addition of Soya Milk which makes it perfect for topping Lasagna with. It is seriously delicious and I was very happy with the result - so much so I wanted to share it with you right away. :) Chickpea Sauce 2 cups cooked Chickpeas 2 Cloves Garlic, diced 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil 2 Tablespoons Tahini About a cup of Soya Milk (more or less depending on how thick the consistency will be) Salt to taste Black Pepper to taste Squeeze fresh Lemon Juice Method Whizz up the Chickpeas, Garlic, Olive Oil and Tahini with a blender or stick blender. Gradually add in the Soya Milk to get the right consistency - you're after a thick dollopy kind of Sauce (you know what I mean, right?) Add the seasonings and adjust to your preference. And TAHDAH!
here it is served with a Green salad It was even better the next day where we had it with good old oven Chips :)
Cooking to Kasabian - Fire. Seriously GOOD CHOOOOON! GO VEGAN!