Zucchini & Corn Muffins - Revisited

I first made these muffins in April last year. I made them quite a few times after that, as they are yummy, and versatile, as in you can add lots of different veggies.

I had forgotten all about them, until this week someone in the "Australian Vegan Foodies" facebook group posted their own version of yummy savoury muffins and reminded me about them.

I set out to make them again, but this time, I wanted to add a little extra protein to them, in the form of a plant based protein powder.

They seem to have worked, warm, they are delicious. The test will be tomorrow morning when they have completely cooled. I will post an update then.

Nutrional Panel Source
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/industry/npc/Pages/default.aspx

Ingredients

1/2 (140 gms) grated zucchini -
1/2 (55gms) a sliced red onion (I cut the onion in half then quarters, and then sliced the quarters thinly)
1 cup of fresh (175 gms) corn kernels
Handful of parsley (15 gms chopped)
Handful of chives (10 gms chopped)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tsp (15 gms) baking powder
2 cups (305 gms) of white spelt flour
3 TBS (45 gms) Orgran No-Egg
1 tsp (5gms) salt
1.5 cups (375 gms) of light soy milk
1/2 (95 gms) cup of olive oil
2 TBS pumpkin seeds
1 TBS sesame seeds
1 TBS sunflower seeds
35 gms natural protein powder
1/4 cup (70 gms) coconut yoghurt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Prepare a 12 hole cupcake pan by greasing each hole with vegan butter or a little oil. Set aside.
3. Place all dry ingredients (including only 1 TBS of the pumpkin seeds) in a bowl including the veggies, mix with a fork to combine.
4. Place milk, yoghurt and oil in a cup/jug and mix well.
5. Pour milk/yoghurt/oil mix over the veggie/flour mix and combine with a fork. (do not over mix)
6. Place in the pan, sprinkle with pumpkin/sesame/sunflower seeds and bake for half an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These are delicious as an afternoon snack or for breakfast. Each muffin has 7.9gms of protein, the regular ones I made previously, had 5.6 gms of protein if made the same size.

Sticky Maple Sesame Tofu

Please note that the suggested amount of thickener for the sauce is 1 to 1.5 teaspoons. Start by adding only 1 teaspoon to the sauce, and only add the extra 1/2 teaspoon if you find it is too thin and it requires further thickening. The tofu from Aldi is the perfect texture for this.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

500gm block of firm tofu
2 tablespoons of maple syrup (40mls)
2 tablespoons Thai seasoning sauce
1 clove of garlic sliced
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1-1.5 tsp tapioca or corn flour
2-4 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons rice bran or other low flavour oil (for stir frying)
1 tablespoons of sesame seeds

Method

1. Place the two tablespoons of maple syrup in a 1/3 size measuring cup, then fill the rest up with water.
2. Cut tofu into cubes. 
3. Place all ingredients except for tofu, sesame seeds and rice bran oil in a bowl. Process with a stick blender.
4. Add tofu and gently mix through. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes.
5. Heat a large wok, and add oil.
6. Stir fry tofu until it has become a nice golden colour.
7. Add marinade and allow sauce to thicken.
8. Adjust sweetness or saltiness and serve with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Fisherman's Eggplants

Fisherman's eggplant is one of my all time favourite dishes.
The way I make it is not at all authentic, but the flavour is pretty close to the delightful dish I first tried at "Ant's Bistro" on Little Bourke Street.

Here is my version

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant
1 medium red capsicum
4 cloves of garlic (finely sliced)
3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of oil (I used olive)
2 tablespoons of light soy (I used a Thai soy which is very flavoursome and less salty)
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 cup of water
1 tsp of tapioca flour (cornflour will also work)
1 large red chilli (finely sliced) *optional

Method

1. Cut eggplants and capsicum in thin strips. (Should be slightly thinner than what I have in the picture below, otherwise they take too long to cook.
2. Heat up a large wok, and add oil.
3. Stir fry eggplants and capsicum together for a few minutes, until the eggplants caramelise slightly.
4. Add all other ingredients and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the eggplants are soft, and the sauce has thickened. Stir every few minutes to avoid sticking. If the sauce has dried considerably and your eggplants are still not soft enough, add a bit more water, and continue to simmer. 
5. Serve with steamed rice.

Iced Vovos - vegan

I have been having some fun veganising some classic sweets in the last few weeks. Using aquafaba (the juice from a can of beans, mainly chickpeas), sweets with marshmallow have been fairly easy to make.

Iced Vovos have been on my list of things to veganise for some months, I got the final push when a lady (a member of Australian Vegan Foodies) mentioned a lovely story about her granddad and how iced Vovos reminded her of him. 

So here is my first attempt. I think the cookies are a bit on the dry/crunchy side. They probably could do with less cooking at the start and letting them dry out more once the marshmallow icing is drying in the oven. I baked the cookies for 15 minutes but seeing the final results I think that 8 minutes would be sufficient.

Ingredients

For the cookies

90gms of nuttlelex (or other vegan butter/margarine that is able to be creamed)

200gms of raw caster sugar

80gms of aquafaba

370gms of flour

2 tsp baking powder

For the icing

120gms of sugar

70gms of aquafaba

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp vanilla extract

Queen pink food colouring (optional)

To assemble

150 grams of finely grated dessicated coconut
300gms of raspberry jam

Method

To make the cookies

1. Sift flour and baking powder and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
3. Prepare two cookie trays by lining them with baking paper.
4. With hand mixer, cream the nuttelex until it turns pale. 
5. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, and keep mixing on high with the hand mixer until all the sugar is incorporated.
6. Add one tablespoon of aquafaba at a time, while continuing to mix on high.
7. Once all aquafaba is incorporated, add the flour mix, and using a flat knife, mix it with the butter mix.
8. Turn out the mix onto a floured surface, to make a soft dough. Do not over knead, just enough to bring the dough together.
9. Roll out the dough between two pieces of baking paper, roll it to approximately 4 millimeters.
10. Cut the dough into rectangles using a cutter or with a knife. 
11. Place on a baking tray covered with baking paper, and bake for 8 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

To make the icing/marshmallow

1. Place aquafaba in the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. Mix initially on low speed and turn it to high when the mix is frothy.
3. Mix for approximately 10 minutes until stiff peaks form.
4. Add one tablespoon of sugar at a time, and continue mixing, until all sugar is mixed in.
5. Add food colouring if desired.
6. Add the xantan gum and mix for two more minutes.

To assemble

1. Place the mashmallow mix in a piping bag with a small star tip.
2. Pipe stars all long each long edge of the cookie, and cover imediately with coconut.
3. Once all the cookies are done, shake off any excess coconut and place in the oven at 100 degrees celcius for 20 minutes. This will allow the marshmallow to set.
4. Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool.
5. Heat the raspberry jam in a pot on the stove. When it has become runny, strain it using a fine mesh metal strainer.
6. Spread the hot strained raspberry jam down the middle of the cookie and allow to cool.

Store in one layer in an airtight container.

Makes 24.

Alfajores de dulce de leche cubiertos en chocolate

I love love love alfajores. I do not make them often, and I've never made them covered in chocolate before.

But here they are, they are easy, and yummy!!!

I used Callebaut dark chocolate buttons, but you can use any vegan chocolate of your choice.

Ingredients

120gms Plain flour
120gms Self Raising flour
125gms Nuttelex (or other vegan butter/margarine that can be creamed)
100gms raw caster sugar
4tbs (60gms) aqua faba

To assemble

1/2 a can of soy "dulce de leche"
300gms of vegan dark chocolate

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with baking paper.
3. Sift flours together and set aside.
4. Cream the nuttelex with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
5. Start adding sugar to the nuttelex whilst mixing, ensuring that it stays light and creamy.
6. Add the aqua faba,  one tablespoon at a time, whilst you continue to mix. Ensure that each tablespoon is fully incorporated before adding the next. This will ensure that the nuttelex/sugar/aquafaba mix stays light and fluffy and doesn't separate.
7. Using a spoon add all the flour to the mix and then gently fold in.
8. Scrape all the contents of your bowl onto a well floured bench.
9. Lightly knead, until the dough comes together. Do not over knead of the dough will become tough.
10. Roll out to about 5 millimeters between two pieces of baking paper.
11. Cut with a round cutter, i used one that was about 4cm in diameter (about one inch), and place on the prepared cookie trays.
12. Bake for approximately 8 minutes. The cookies should not brown.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
14. Once cool, spread about 1 tsp of "dulce de leche" on a cookie, and press another cookie to join together.
15. Once sandwiched all the cookies with the dulce de leche, melt the chocolate.
16. Dip each cookie in the chocolate, and remove using two forks. Place on a cookie tray to set.

If you can't get dulce de leche, you can fill these with anything you like, but it is traditional to use the caramel. You may also like to try making a caramel with dates. 

Enjoy!!

Edited 6 Nov 2016
After posting this recipe, I was given this link by Katrina Stuart of Plantified, for a vegan soy condensed milk which can be turned into Dulce de Leche.

Yesterday I tried it, I doubled the recipe and did not add the butter. I ended up simmering it for three hours. It is superb. So for those who cannot get dulce de leche ready made, then this is the best option. Actually, it is the best option hands down. I will never buy the ready made dulce de leche again. This one is too good. I want to play around with the sugar used to get a more carmelly flavour, but the texture is amazing. Thanks Katrina!!!

For those in Australia, I used 2 litres of Soy Milky, and raw organic sugar from Woolies.

Donuts

Weeks! It's been weeks since I've been  meaning to try making donuts again. The first time I made them, a few months ago, they were too heavy. I figured that making the dough with the breadmaker would help. AND IT DID!!! Plus I found a better recipe.

It is so simple, probably can be done a lot quicker than what I did. But I just wanted to make the dough the previous night, and then cook them in the morning. I combined a few different methods that I read about.

Some notes on the ingredients. You may be wondering why I used psyllium husk, ginger and citric acid. Or you may not, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

I few weeks ago, when I started baking breads, I read about bread improvers. I used a commercially available one which I thought was vegan, but then the manufacturer confirmed that one of the ingredients was not. So that ingredient was abandoned.

A lot of people who are not in Australia were also asking where to get a bread improver, so I did a little bit of research and found a home made one which I have been using a variation of,  in all my bread making.

This is the article about it. It uses lecithin granules, ginger, citric acid and wheat gluten. However I did not have lecithin granules, and I had read in another article that psyllium husk was a good bread conditioner. So I used that.

*Psyllium husk is quite coarse, so I blended a cup in a nut grinder (but you can use a blender) and have stored it in an air tight jar. I use it whenever I make breads now. I have also started using it for cakes, all recipes in experimental stage.

For those of you with little kids, psyllium husk makes a really great easy to do slime. My five year old loves it, and it's a lot better than the nasty chemical filled ones you can buy from the shops.

**************************************************************
Update - 16/10/2016
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I originally had the thickness of the dough at 1/4 inch, however this morning I tried it at 1/2-3/4 inch and it is a lot better. I have edited the recipe to that thickness.
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Ingredients

8 TBS aqua faba (from chickpeas)
1 cup of warm soy milk (I use Soy Milky)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of sunflower oil

Sift together
4 cups of plain flour
4 TBS wheat gluten (vital gluten)
2 tsp psyllium husk powder*
1/8 tsp of ginger powder
1/8 tsp of citric acid

3 tsp yeast

Rice bran oil or other oil without strong flavour for frying.

Method

Breadmaker

1. Place ingredients in the breadmaker in the order listed above, starting with the aqua faba, and finishing with the sifted dry ingredients, and the yeast on top.
2. Start the dough setting, let the dough rise. The breadmaker I have mixes and kneads (30 minutes) and then rises (1 hour).
3. Remove dough from breadmaker. (if you want to make them right away, then go to step 5)
4. Punch down the dough, form into a ball and place in a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
5. Lightly flour your bench/table and place dough down. Punch dough down and roll out to about 1/2-3/4 inch in thickness. 
6. Cut into desired shapes and place on a baking tray lined with non stick paper. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise for an hour.
7. Heat oil in a deep pot or frying pan. You need enough oil so that when the donuts are placed in, they are floating and not touching the bottom. Pinch a small piece of dough and place it in the oil, if it floats to the top, with bubbling oil around it, the oil is ready for frying.
8. Place your donuts in the oil, and cook them on each side for a few minutes. If they start to brown too quickly then the oil is too hot.
9. Remove from oil, drain on kitchen paper, and then dust with sugar or fill as desired.

Hand Method

1. Place milk, sugar and aqua faba in a jug. 
2. Add yeast, and mix, set aside for 10 minutes to proof.
3. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, and pour in yeast/milk mix, add vanilla and oil. Mix together to form a dough.
4. Knead on a floured surface for 15 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. You can do this on a stand mixer, as the dough is quite firm.
5. Place dough in an oiled bowl to rise in a warm spot for 40 minutes.
6. Follow steps 4-9 above if you are not making them right away, otherwise steps 5-9.

These can be filled with caramel, raspberry jam or rolled in caster sugar with cinnamon. I only fried half of the dough this morning, the rest of the dough is in the fridge for tomorrow. I will ice those with aqua faba icing, and put some sprinkles. I will share pictures when done.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Enjoy!!!

Dairy Free Croissants

I love croissants. I haven't had one for close to a year. I have been vegan since January, and haven't had one since, and probably for some months prior to that.

I have seen some lovely croissant recipes, but they take days to make. I am a very impatient person and I also do not have the time to spend days on a recipe. It would mean not cooking anything else hahaha.

So I went in search of a recipe that could be done within a day and then set on veganising it.

When I was making challah last week, I came across "The Bread Kitchen". The lady that owns the channel is so charming, and although it is not a vegan channel, she has quickly gained me as a fan.

I watched a few recipes from other channels, and got some ideas from those also. Titli Nihaan's recipe is done by hand. I wanted to make mine in the bread maker, so that when I was making the dough, I could also work on something else (seitan steaks).

So it is 100% possible to make this by hand, the bread maker is absolutely not required.

I will explain the recipe as I made it, and then you can see Nihaan's method for making the dough by hand, although those of you that make bread, the method is the same.

1. Warm the milk, add the yeast, mix and let it sit for 10 minutes until frothy.
2. Sift all dry ingredients together set aside.
3. Add aquafaba to yeast/milk mixture.
4. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, and pour the milk/aquafaba/yeast mixture in.
5. Knead to make a nice elastic dough. Rest for 10 minutes.
6. Follow from step 7 in the Method below.

Some notes on the ingredients.
I decided to try a homemade Bread Improver as per this recipe. This is because the commercial bread improver is hard to find, and even harder to find a vegan version. I also thought that making it from scratch would make it a lot easier for everyone to follow the recipe.

Now the improver recipe calls for lecithin, and I didn't have any. I had read in another recipe that the baker used psyllium husk as a bread improver. I decided to use psyllium husk instead of Lecithin. I find that psyllium husk is quite coarse, so I have put a cup of it in my seed/coffee grinder, and ground it up to a powder. I use that whenever a recipe calls for psyllium husk. You can blend it in your blender as well.

I used Nina's Vegan butter made with aquafaba. I would suggest that you make that first, as it does take time to set. I made it as I was making the dough and in between other things, so it was quite soft when it came to put it on the dough. It obviously still worked, but I don't think it is ideal.

I recommend making the butter with deodorised coconut oil. I didn't have any, and the coconut flavour is very noticeable. The taste overall of the croissant is great, but they would be better without the coconut flavour through it, as it would taste more legit.

When you make the butter, do not set it in a container, spread it onto some parchment paper on top of a baking tray or a plate. Spread it to a large square size, about 1/4 inch thick. Cover it and put it in the freezer. Then set to making your dough.

I didn't use apple cider vinegar in the butter recipe, but citric acid. I don't think this makes a difference. I also didn't add any colouring (tumeric) as the butter was for the croissants and it didn't really matter what the colour was.

Ingredients

400gms plain white flour

250mls soy milk

60gms caster sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp yeast

6 TBS aquafaba

Bread improver

Homemade Bread Improver (Adapted from this recipe)
1/2 tsp psyllium husk powder (Blended up psyllium husk)

3 TBS Gluten Flour (or Vital Wheat Gluten)

Pinch of citric acid

Pinch of powdered ginger

2 x Nina's Aquafaba Butter

Method

1.  Make Nina's butter. Do not put it in the fridge to set. Instead spread it on a piece of parchment paper on top of a plate or baking tray. Make it about 1/4 inch in thickness. Cover with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. If you're making the butter the day before, then there is no need to set it in the freezer. The fridge will be sufficient. If the butter is rock solid, let it come to room temperature before you go on to step 8 below.
   
2. Sift all dry ingredients together except for the sugar and yeast.
3. Place the milk, aqua faba, and sugar in the bread maker.
4. Place the flour mixture on top, and then add the yeast.
5. Set your bread maker to dough setting, stop the bread maker once it has kneaded the dough, you DO NOT want it to rise.
6. Take the dough out of the bread maker and wrap it in plastic and rest it for 10 minutes.
7. Roll out the dough to a rectangle, double the length of the square of butter you made previously. Place the square of butter in the middle of the rectangle, and fold the dough over to cover the butter. Pinch the sides to seal in the butter.  Fold it in half again as pictured, Place dough in a plastic bag, and put in the fridge for 45 minutes.
   
8. Take dough out of the fridge, and roll into a rectangle, fold as pictured, and place it back in the bag and into the fridge for 1 hour.


9. Repeat step 8 one last time and leave the dough in the fridge for one hour.
10. Take dough out of the fridge and roll out into a rectangle. Cut in half, and cut each half into triangles. I didn't measure, I just did it by eye. It is not an exact science unless you want each of your croissants to be the exact same size. In the "Bread Kitchen" video it is recommended to make a small cut on the short side of the triangle to make it easier to fold into a crescent shape. Stretch the long side of the dough as pictured and roll into a crescent shape.
    
11. Place your croissants on a tray and let them proof for up to three hours on the kitchen bench. Alternatively (as I did) you can place them in the fridge overnight (cover your tray with plastic wrap). When it comes to baking, leave them on your kitchen bench for up to one hour so they can come to room temperature.
    
    
12. Preheat oven to 180C-350F.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they've reached a nice golden colour.
14. Place on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes. They can be eaten warm or cold. I prefer them cold.

Snowballs

Yesterday after I got home from work I decided to make two dinners. One for that day, and one for tonight.

So I made a stew with dumplings for last night's dinner, and an eggplant, chickpea and sweet potato curry for tonight.

That left me with the juice from one can of chickpeas. Of course, it could not be thrown out. I had to do some experimenting. Although I have used aquafaba for so many things in the past, I have only made meringues once. I have not tried marshmallow, or macarons.

I decided to just start with the meringue, not sure at the time what I was going to make. I then decided to add some xanthan gum to see what would happen, and then one thing lead to another, and voila!!! Vegan snowballs :)

I had been thinking about making snowballs for a long time, but these were really not planned.

Please note that I have never worked with xantham gum before, so I have no idea if they really need baking or they would set on their own. To err on the side of caution, I would make them again, exactly the same way :)

I must say, I never imagined that they'd be so easy. It takes long because of the waiting for them to cool, but if you know how to work with xanthan you may find that you don't need to do all the waiting or baking. Let me know please :)

Ingredients

2/3 cup aqua faba ( I used the juice from one can of Macro Organic Chickpeas from Woolworths)
1 cup caster sugar
1 pinch of cream of tartar
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1-2 tbs strawberry flavouring (I used Queens, but any flavour you want to use is fine, just as long as there is no oil in it)

1 block of vegan chocolate (I used Whittakers Dark Ghana, however found it a bit too bitter, I would prefer the Coles Dark Chocolate or another brand)

2-3 TBS of desiccated coconut

Method

1. Pre heat your oven to 100C (212 F).
2. Prepare two cookie trays by lining them with non stick paper.
3. Place aquafaba in your stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. Add cream of tartar and set to whisk on high until light and fluffy. Start adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time until it is all incorporated. Keep whisking.
4. Add flavourings, and mix well. Then add xanthan gum, and whisk for a couple of more minutes. The mixture will start to pull away from the sides.
5. Let it sit for about 10 minutes then, place it in a piping bag with a large piping tube. Preferably round, however I only had a star tip (Loyal No 17) so that is what I used.
6. Squeeze the bag, until you get the size you want, then twist the bag around, pulling up, until you are able to detach the tip from the marshmallow. Repeat until all the mix is used up. You do not need to space them more than two or so cms as they do not expand.
7. Place them in the oven for 30 minutes, or until they feel dry to the touch, they should not stick to your fingers. You do not want them to be crunchy or to have any color. If they start to color then your oven is too hot. Leave the door ajar and leave them until the oven is completely cool. I left mine overnight.
8. Using a double boiler, melt your chocolate. One block is able to cover most of the marshmallow. I used a plastic glove to grab the marshmallow and dip it in the chocolate, making sure all sides were covered, then placed on a piece of non stick baking paper. Once you have one tray done, sprinkle lightly with coconut.

Try not to eat them all at once. They're really good!!!!!

Almond & Spelt Cookies

A few months ago, I made my first batch of almond milk. It was a revelation, after years of hating the stuff, I realised, that I only hate the store bought almond milk. The homemade version, is absolutely heaven!!!

However, after making almond milk, you are left with an almond sludge. Some people use it as almond meal. I haven't made anything with almond meal for a long time, so the stuff just goes into the freezer waiting for me to get inspired to make something, anything with it.

Last weekend, I made two batches of almond milk. It was delicious. Also, it's all gone. I had quite a bit of almond sludge left over. It stared at me sadly from a bowl ont he counter, knowing that soon it would join it's brethren in the depths of my freezer, soon to be forgotten.

I couldn't take it, and in about half an hour or so, I had a batch of almond cookies made up.

Warning, these are a little bit too sweet. I will give you the recipe as I made them, however, the next time I make them, I will reduce the sugar but at least 50gms.

Nevertheless, they are awesome with a cup of chilled almond milk. These are soft cookies.

Nom noms, enjoy!!!

Ingredients

285 gms of almond sludge (leftover meal from making almond milk)
150 gms coconut nuttlex
200 gms raw organic sugar
100 gms spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Break up the almond sludge, until it's crumbly.
2. Sift flour and baking powder together.
3. Cream sugar and nuttlex until light and fluffy.
4. Add almond and flour mix to the nuttlex mix. Fold in gently, to form a dough. You want to keep as much of the air beaten in as possible.
5. When thoroughly  mixed, either place the mix into a piping bag with a large star tip (Loyal No 17 has approximately 2.5cm wide star) and pipe stars or roll into 2.5 cms balls and slightly flatten.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, do not allow to brown too much.
7. Cool on a rack and store in an air tight container.

Polenta con tuco - Polenta bolognese

I belong to a "Vegan Foodies" group on Facebook. Each week a theme is set,and members are invited to post foods within that theme. It is just a bit of fun, and completely optional.

This week's theme is Mushrooms. Probably the easiest theme we've had since I've been a member, given that I put mushrooms in so many things :)

So here is my Polenta Bolognese. This is how we eat it in Uruguay, well except that this is my vegan version.

My whole family adores this!
The sauce below can be used for polenta or with pasta. I make a big batch and freeze leftovers.

Ingredients

1 large onion chopped
10 button mushrooms chopped finely (mine were the size of a 50c piece)
1 red capsicum (pureed or chopped)
1 small zucchini, finely chopped or grated
1 and 2/3 cup of TVP
1 large garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons of oil
2 cups of tomato puree or passata
3 cups of water
1 TBS mixed Italian herbs (thyme & oregano are great with this, however I use this this. )
Salt to taste
2 TBS chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan, and add onion, sauté until translucent.
2. Add mushrooms and stir for two minutes.
3. Add garlic, zucchini, capsicum and cook for two minutes.
4. Add TVP, passata, water and herbs. Add salt to taste.
5. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
6. Serve on top of polenta.
7. Garnish with chopped parsley.

NOTE: Cook the polenta as per packet instructions, if the polenta is too firmed when cooked, add a little water, you want it to spread out on the plate when served.

Smokey Breakfast Beans

I made a potato with breakfast beans and lime cashew cream this morning. The whole combination was delicious, but the beans were the stand out. I am sharing the recipe for the beans as they would be absolutely delectable on toast as well, or in a wrap, or on nachos.

This recipe makes enough for four people, and some leftovers. We will be having the remainder for brekkie tomorrow with toast :)

Smokey Breakfast Beans

Ingredients

1 425gm can of cannellini beans

1 425gm can of red kidney beans 

1 onion finely chopped

1 TBS olive oil

1 cup of tomato puree

2 tsp mixed herbs

2 TBS coconut sugar

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Salt to taste

Method 

1. Heat oil in a pot, add onions and sauttee until tender and see through.
2. Add beans, PLEASE DO NOT DRAIN THE BEANS. You add the whole can, liquid and all.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer on low until thickened (about 30 minutes).
4. Serve on toast, or a roast/steamed potato. Top with avocado and cashew cream.

Lime Cashew Cream

Ingredients

2/3 cup of raw cashews

1/3 cup of water

Pinch of salt

Juice from half a lime

Method

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth. Adjust amount of lime/salt to make it more savory or tangy.

Chocolate Cupcakes (Take II)

I made these a few weeks ago, but went a bit overboard with the vinegar. I have updated the recipe because I now know it works with less. This is my first attempt.

The changes I made from my previous attempt were, to swap the type of flour used, to change the type of vinegar used (I figured that rice wine vinegar would be a lot milder than apple cider), and the type of oil used. You can really use any type of mild flavoured oil for this.

The other crucial bit that I changed was to use melted chocolate instead of cacao powder. The icing came out so silky and it tasted amazing!!! Enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

300 gms white spelt flour
225 gms raw organic sugar
30 gms organic cacao powder (you can also use cocoa)
11 gms baking powder
90 gms rice bran oil
30 gms rice wine vinegar
375 gms oat milk


Method

1. Prepare 2 x 12 hole cupcake tray with cupcake cases, and set aside (this makes 18-20).
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
3. In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients, wisk and set aside.
4. In a glass jar, mix together the wet ingredients, whisk.
5. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and gently whisk together until combined.
6. Divide the mix into the 18 cupcake cases, and bake for 20 minutes or until done when tested with a wooden toothpick.

Chocolate Icing Ingredients

100 gms Nuttelex(or other vegan margarine) 150 gms icing sugar 100 gms semi sweet chocolate (vegan) Method Melt the chocolate in a bowl and set aside Using a hand mixer, mix the nuttelex until it is creamy and light. Add the chocolate one tablespoon at a time making sure well incorporated. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, until all combined.  Ice cupcakes as desired. I use a No 17 Loyal icing tip.

Zucchini & Corn muffins

Today I took my daughter on a play-date. The girl's mum made these gorgeous zucchini & corn muffins for lunch. She just threw them together and they cooked in no time at all. They were delicious!!!

She didn't use any measurements, just threw things in, but for the purpose of sharing a recipe, I re-made them and measured everything. I also added a few other bits and bobs :)

The girl's mum used a regular sized cupcake pan, but I used a large texan muffin pan. The recipe below makes 6 large muffins, or 10-12 small ones.

Ingredients

1/2 grated zucchini
1/2 a sliced red onion (I cut the onion in half then quarters, and then sliced the quarters thinly)
1 cup of frozen corn kernels
Handful of parsley (chopped)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups of white spelt flour
3 TBS Orgran No-Egg
1 tsp salt
1 cup of oat milk
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 TBS pumpkin seeds
1 TBS sesame seeds

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Prepare a 6 hole (texas) cupcake pan by greasing each hole with vegan butter or a little oil. Set aside.
3. Place all dry ingredients (except seeds) in a bowl including the veggies, mix with a fork to combine.
4. Place milk and oil in a cup/jug and mix well.
5. Pour milk/oil mix over the veggie/flour mix and combine with a fork. (do not over mix)
6. Place in the pan, sprinkle with pumpkin/sesame seeds and bake for half an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These are delicious as an afternoon snack or for breakfast.

Cashew Mini Dessert Cakes

Ingredients For Base

50 gms dates
50 gms dessicated coconut
50 gms walnuts
25 gms raw organic cacao powder
15 gms maple syrup

Ingredients for Filling

205 gms soaked cashews (1 cup soaked overnight)
75 gms coconut oil
95 gms coconut cream
90 gms agave
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
45 gms frozen raspberries (slightly thawed)

Method

1. Prepare a 12 hole cupcake tray by putting a circle of cutout baking paper on the bottom. Cut a small strip of paper and place it underneath the circle. Picked up this tip from Minimalist Baker.
2. Place all the ingredients for the base in a food processor and process to a fine crumb.
3. Place one tablespoon of the mix in each hole. Press lightly with the back of a teaspoon, and then, place a baking paper circle on top and press with the bottom of a flat glass. As pictured.
4. Rinse the cashews and place in the food processor.
5. Place all the remaining ingredients (except for the raspberries) in the food processor along with the cashews and process until smooth.
6. Place one tablespoon of the mix in each cupcake hole, and smooth with the back of a teaspoon.
7. Place it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.
8. You should have about half of the mix left over in the food processor. Add raspberries and process until smooth.
9. Take tray out of the freezer and place one tablespoon of raspberry mix on top of the vanilla mix and smooth out.
10. Place in the freezer until set, allow it to defrost slightly for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

You  have the option to decorate them however you like. I happened to have chocolate ganache from a cake I was making so I put a swirl of chocolate ganache on top of each one.

Enjoy!!!

Leek & Corn Quiches

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 sheets of puff pastry (I use Borg's Extra Flakey which is vegan)
2 leeks (white parts only, thinly sliced)
1 large onion (thinly sliced)
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp vegetable stock powder
3/4 cup cooked chickpeas
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup besan (chickpea) flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 small tomatoes (optional)

Method

1. Heat a non stick frypan and sautee the onion and leeks with the olive oil until wilted.
2. Add corn, stir and set aside.
3. Line the holes in a 6 hole muffin pan with puff pastry. Set aside
4. Place the chickpeas, milk, onion powder, besan, stock powder, and baking powder, in a blender and blitz until smooth.
5. Divide the onion/corn mix between the six muffin holes, then add the besan flour mix.
6. Top with a slice of tomato if desired.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

I served these with sweet potato chips and rocket salad. I loved them, the texture is not like egg at all, but it keeps all the ingredients together, and it really tastes gooooood.

Enjoy, would love some feedback if you make them :)

Waffles, not the prettiest but very yummy!!!

Every year my team at work has an "Evil Santa" gift exchange instead of Kris Kringle. I bought an animal shaped waffle maker. I figured that if no one wanted it, I would be happy to take it home with me.
Alas! It was very popular and several people stole it off each other. I decided to buy another for myself, as the holidays were coming and I thought my daughter would like some waffles.

It was the first time in my life to make and eat waffles. I made them with eggs and milk, as I was vegetarian at the time.

This morning my daughter asked me to make her waffles. I had read in the Vegan Meringue Hits & Misses facebook group that people had successfully  made waffles with Aqua Faba (water from a can of chickpeas.

So vaguely remembering the omni recipe, I started with my conversion.

The mishap that I had with these was that I forgot to oil the waffle maker until it was hot, and then it was too hard to get the oil into the grooves, and the waffles stuck a little. Yet they were crispy and delicious. I highly recommend them being made in a regular waffle maker which has been properly oiled before heating.

Ingredients

90gms aqua faba
90gms spelt flour
90gms oat milk
1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
20gms maple syrup

Method

1. Oil and heat your waffle maker.
2. Place the aqua faba in a bowl or in a jar so that you can beat it to stiff peaks. I have a stick blender with a whisk attachment, so I had my aqua faba in a tall plastic cup.
3. In a bowl mix all the other ingredients to form a thick batter.
4. Add two tablespoons of the stiff aqua faba to the flour mix, to loosen it a little.
5. Add two more tablespoons but be a lot gentler this time, continue two tablespoons at a time until it has all been incorporated. The mix will be light and bubbly.
6. Cook on your waffle maker as per instructions.
7. Serve with syrup, fruit or chocolate sauce.

Mushroom Wellington

Ingredients

4-6 Sheets of Borg's Extra Flakey Puff Sheets
1 small onion finely chopped
8 Swiss Brown or Large flat mushrooms
2 tbs olive oil
200gms cashew cheese*

 Method

1. Cut off the stalks from the mushrooms and set aside.
2. Brush the tops and bottoms of the mushrooms with a little olive oil and grill on each side. I use a sandwich press which has grooves on it, and they come out beautifully.
3. Chop the mushroom stalks and sautee with the onion until the onion is translucent. Allow to cool. Mix with cashew cheese. Set aside
4. Once the grilled mushrooms are cool, you can start assembling.
5. Cut large circles, (larger than the mushroom) out of the pastry, each sheet should give you 4 circles. You will need 16 circles for the 8 mushrooms.
6. Place a tablespoon of the cheese mix in the middle, press down with the grilled mushroom, and put another lid of pastry on top of the mushroom. Seal the sides.
7. Brush the tops with your preferred vegan "egg" wash. I used 2 tablespoons of aqua faba (chickpea water), 1/2 tsp tapioca starch and a pinch of tumeric.
8. Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden and crispy.
9. These can be frozen. There is three of us at home, so I make them, freeze them and take them out and re-heat as needed.

I served these with sweet potato chips and grilled asparagus. To make the asparagus you cut the woody part of the asparagus off, put a pinch of salt, three or four tablespoons of nutritional yeast on top, and a splash of olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. This is a family favorite :)

In regards to the cashew cheese, I make mine by boiling some cashews, drain and rise. Then blend them with oat milk, then add a bit of salt, some citric acid, and nutritional yeast.

The lattice is time consuming but worth while if you like making pretty things. I have also made these with plain tops. You can decorate them with pastry hearts cut out from the pastry offcuts :)

Enjoy