Vegan MoFo Day 13 - Mushroom and Butternut Squash Omelette

Here's what a Vegan MoFo'er has for her lunch.

Vegan omelette with roasted butternut squash and mushrooms.

The sweetness of the butternut squash goes together perfectly with the saltiness of the omelette.

Omelette was made by whizzing together 400g silken tofu, half a cup cashews, teaspoon onion powder, teaspoon garlic powder, teaspoon Coleman's Mustard, teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon white pepper.

Pour batter into a hot oiled frying pan and smooth down the top, cook for 5-8 minutes then place under a hot grill for 10-15 minutes. Whilst omelette is grilling, slice and saute the mushrooms, add a pinch of salt, few twists of black pepper and the roasted butternut squash. Keep warm until omelette is ready.

SCARF!!!

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 11 - Mini Carrot and Squash Roasts

Mini Carrot and Squash Roasts

makes 12

Ingredients

Half a butternut squash, roasted and mashed with salt and pepper to taste

450g (3 cups) carrots, peeled and sliced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

100g (2 cups) mushrooms, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

quarter cup diced red pepper 

half teaspoon dried rosemary

12 scrapes nutmeg

half teaspoon smoked paprika

Good knob of vegan margarine

175g toasted hazlenuts (sorry, forgot to measure cups)

100g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs (forgot to measure this in cups too! It's about 4 slices) 

8 twists of black pepper

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon soya flour

1 Tablespoon arrowroot

Method

Heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (350 fahrenheit). Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.

Place the carrots in enough water to cover them and simmer until soft.

Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan and fry the mushroom, onion and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring every so often. Add the salt and cook for another few minutes then add the red pepper, rosemary, nutmeg and smoked paprika. Cook for a few minutes more then take off the heat.

When the carrots are cooked, drain, reserving the liquid, and mash with the margarine. Add the mashed carrot to the sautéed vegetable mixture along with the lemon juice, hazlenuts, breadcrumbs and black pepper.

Mix the soya flour and arrowroot to a thin paste with 2 tablespoons of the cooled carrot water and mix into the rest of the ingredients and give everything a really good stir.

Place a tablespoon of mashed squash in the bottom of each muffin hole and smooth down with your finger, then top up with the sautéed veg mix and smooth down with the back of a spoon.

Bake in the oven for 45-50 mins.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins.

I roasted the seeds from the butternut squash and used some to decorate the tops. The rest of the seeds are in mah tummy.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Pumpkin Ziti with Caramelised Onions and Sage Crumb Crust.....

....or something like that. Firstly I didn't have any Pumpkin and secondly I didn't have any Ziti (which is a type of Pasta doncha know!!) but as if those two minor things would stop me from making something I want. This recipe is of course out of Veganomicon and it's the first time I've made it, though I've had my eye on it a while, especially after having seen a fair few bloggers post about it. Two Vegan Boys Vegan Deliciousness

To name just two ('cos I can't remember where I saw the others!!)

First let me introduce you to my Butternut Squash

It was blinking HUGE. I wish I had weighed it now, but ohh well...lah dee dah. This was the only one I managed to grow this year - and it was a total fluke at that. Let me explain. When my compost bin is full I have the habit of chucking my Veggie scraps over our wall. "WHAAAAT!" I hear you cry. "Your poor neighbours!!" Well fret not - I don't have neighbours on the left of me - what I have instead is a patch of waste land that is used as a walk through. The bit right next to our wall is off the path and is left to go wild. At some point last Autumn some Butternut Squash Seeds were in the Veggie scraps and a Plant was born. Cool Huh! I accidentally pulled this beaut off the stem when I was turning it over to get the sun on the underside - but there was no need to panic as they will carry on ripening off the Plant. It has been sat in my kitchen for MONTHS and today was the day to eat it up. I cut it in half and baked one half of it still in it's skin (this is by far the easiest way to do it - have you ever tried peeling a Butternut??Not easy) and used this to replace the Pumpkin that the recipe called for. I had loads of Puree left over so that has gone in the freezer (I reckon it'll freeze OK) and I still have half a Butternut in my fridge which I'll probably end up just roasting. YUM! Anyhoo - here's the result

Let me tell you this was totally scrumpalicious!!! Lots of work involved (especially if you're doing your own Pumpkin/Butternut puree) BUT it was so worth it.

I did change the Cashew Ricotta recipe a bit as well because I don't know if it's the brand of Tofu I use or what - but it always has a slight Banana taste to it - honestly - I'm not going mad (going??!!) Mr treehugger said the same thing (about the Banana taste not me going mad - pay attention!!). So this time I omitted the Lemon Juice, Dried Basil (only cos I didn't have any - I used Oregano instead) and I added some Nooch and Marmite. Let me tell you - I'm gonna make it like this all the time now - SOOOOOO much better.

And I have managed to find a really nice Vegan Bread that was pretty similar to the one I used to buy but without all the nasties natch! YAY! Catch ya laterz y'all - hope you're all keeping warm and well. xxx Todays song is the theme tune from Bod - I can't help it - it's what's in my head.