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.

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.

Fake Orecchiette & Stuffed Zucchni flowers

A few days ago, I saw this post on twitter. I love making homemade pasta, so I started to do some research on how to make Orecchiette, which translates into little ears, however look more like little shells to me :)

I thought, "Super easy!!!" after watching a parade of nonnas on youtube making these little gems with ease. Alas, when it came to it, mine would just NOT turn out. I tried a few different shapes, and when I was just about to give up and make spaghetti instead, I thought of cutting them with a circle



cutter and pinching the sides.

I made the dough with aqua faba as I thought it would be better than just water. I am not really sure. The dough was fabulous, but having never made it with water it is hard to make a comparison. I will try just water next time.

I went to the market this morning and hubby requested zucchini flowers. I have never made them before, actually I have never eaten them before either!
But I bought them, and thought of stuffing them with something and chickpeas. So with this meal I used a whole can of chickpeas including the brine (aqua faba).

I hope it is not too confusing. Let me know if it is, and I will separate the recipes :)



Ingredients
1 425gm can of chickpeas
1 red onion
250 gms of sweet potato
300gms semolina (coarse)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 handfulls of green beans (Ends cut, and cut in half)
1 bunch of asparagus
1/2 a bunch of basil
1 tsp dry thyme
1 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
10 zucchini flowers
3/4 cup of spelt flour
3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of pine nuts
3 tablespoons vegan parmesan
5 shitake mushrooms
Olive oil for frying fritters

Method

1. Drain the chickpeas, and reserve the liquid(aqua faba). Set both aside.
2. Place the semolina in a bowl, and add 135gms (9 tablespoons) of aqua faba.
3. Knead to make a smooth dough. Wrap with glad wrap and set aside.
4. Cut sweet potato into small cubes and boil until soft. 
5. Cut the red onion in half. Cut half of it in slices, and set aside. Chop the other half finely, and place in a bowl with the sweet potato.
6. Add 100gms of the reserved chickpeas to the sweet potato mix and mash all of it with a fork.
7. Add thyme, oregano and one crushed clove of garlic. Add salt to taste. This will be the filling for the zucchini flowers.
8. Gently remove the stamen from the middle of the zucchini flowers, then wash the zucchini making sure that the two don't come apart.
9. Using your fingers, fill the zucchini flower with the sweet potato mix. Set aside.
10. Cut the dough into six pieces. Work with one piece at a time, covering the rest while you work. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin or a pasta machine. Cut with a round cutter. If you like you can press the dough on a gnocchi former to get some lines, then pinch one two sides to form a shell. Repeat until all the dough is used up. Leave the pasta on your bench to dry up whilst you finish with the zucchini flowers and the vegetables that go with the pasta.
11. Heat a large frying pan, and add one tablespoon of oil. 
12. Sautee onion and 2 cloves of garlic.
13. Add, sliced mushrooms, green beans & asparagus.
14. Chop basil and add to the frying pan. Season with a little salt, and set aside.
15. Cook pasta for about 10 minutes in boiling salted water, drain and mix with the vegetables in the frying pan. 
16. In the mean time, in a bowl, place the remaining AF. Whisk until frothy. Add garlic powder, salt, and flour. Add some of the water, until you get a batter thick enough to coat the zucchini flowers.
17. Fry in hot olive oil, turning over once. Drain on kitchen paper.
18. If you have any of the zucchini stuffing left over, add the reaming chickpeas, mix and form into balls. Dip into remaining batter and fry till golden.
19. Re-heat pasta, add pine nuts & vegan parmesan and serve.

Hello and welcome!

Welcome! I just wanted to add a little note about the purpose of this blog.
I have been vegetarian for the last 16.5 years. I always looked at vegetarians as some strange species of people, and had never imagined that something may touch me one day and make me become one.

I was never an animal lover per se. There were animals I liked, some I loved and some I loathed.
In 1999 after meeting my husband (Boone), who is a Buddhist and a meat eater, we had several conversations in regards to spirituality and the value of life. His flatmate and his then girlfriend were talking to us one night and telling us about an amazing lecture they had heard on the radio about animal intelligence. Boone's flatmate had a 19 year old cat which ruled the house.

The whole chat made something in my brain click. Then I realised that there was really no difference in the value of life from one animal to the other. If I was not prepared to kill my dog or cats for food, why was it OK for me to pay someone to kill a cow, or a sheep, or a pig for me to eat. The answer was simple. It was not OK.

For the whole time that I was a vegetarian, I did not consider the egg or dairy industry. I thought that vegan was extremism, and that there was no real reason to go there.

In 2003 I met a vegan girl, who wrongly told me that sugar was not vegan. Wrongly because sugar has been vegan friendly in Australia since the 90's when the usage of bone char in the processing was stopped. I had no idea this was not true. At the time I was tinkering with cake decorating, and had started thinking of running my own cake business from home. Veganism was not considered again.

It never really occurred to me to go and do research on the subject, I just didn't think there was anything wrong with the consumption of eggs and dairy.

I can't remember for what reason, maybe ten years ago, I tried to give up eggs and dairy. I lasted three days. I did no research and had no one to ask questions. The one thing that remained with me from those days was drinking milk, I swapped cow's milk for soy, and from then on, could not stand the taste of dairy milk.

Five or six weeks ago, I joined a vegan cooking group, as I love inventiveness in cooking. The Facebook group is about experimenting with using an egg substitute that is easily available. A meat eating friend had told me about. I started to experiment and found some vegan groups through some memes that people had posted. I joined one said group.

A person in that vegan group had posted and article debating that oysters could be classified as vegan .The person was asking for opinions. I said something along the lines of as a vegetarian, I wouldn't eat oysters as it was killing another being. Then one guy asked me, what about all the chickens that die in the production of eggs. Another posted a few stats in regards to half of all chicks (males) being killed as they had no usefulness in the industry. Also highlighted that calves are removed from their mothers when they give birth, and the cows cry for days afterwards looking for their babies. That is so heartbreaking!!!
Not only that, the majority of the calves are killed for veal not long after. It became clear that although I had not consumed meat for over a decade, I was still responsible for the suffering and murder of innocent animals. I went away to process it all. I started by saying to my husband that I would commit to cooking vegan dinners for a week, by the third day I had been eating vegan meals the whole day, and by the third day of vegan eating, I knew there was no going back. As the saying goes "What's been seen cannot be unseen".

I started making meals and sharing them in the Vegan group I had joined. I started to get asked for recipes, and thought that having a blog to document my experimentation and conversions would be good, even as a diary for myself.

Ooops this was supposed to be a "little" note, hahahaha.

Anyway, here it is, if you're reading this, and you're not me, Enjoy!!!
:)

Noodles with Stir Fried Veggies and Seared Tofu

Ingredients

250gms packet of spelt noodles

For the stir fry
280 gms spinach leaves (washed)
1 large carrot (peeled and cut into matchsticks)
1 onion sliced
1 small capsicum sliced
1 thumb piece size of ginger (grated)
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1 tbs tamari
1 tbs olive oil

For the tofu & marinade
500 gms firm tofu cut into thick slices
3 tablespoons Japanese style Worcester Sauce
1 tablespoon  light agave
1 tablespoon organic apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil



For the mushrooms
350 gms button mushrooms
1 tbs olive oil

Method

1. In a bowl mix the worcester sauce, agave, veinagar and sesame oil.
2. Place tofu in a tray large enough so that each piece has space around it.
3. Drizzle with marinade, and let it sit for a couple of hours, turning over every half hour.
4. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms, then in a bowl toss them (whole) with a tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.
5. Heat your grill (I used an electric one), and place all the mushrooms on it. With the one I used, because it is also a sandwich press, there was no need to turn it over. Remove when nicely seared on both sides. Repeat with the tofu. Reserve tofu marinade.
6. Cook noodles as per packet instructions. Set aside.
7. Heat a medium sized wok, and place 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
8. Place onion, carrot, capsicum, garlic and ginger and stir fry for a few minutes. Add spinach and stir fry till wilted. Add tamari, stir well and remove from heat.
9. To serve, place the noodles on each plate, top with a mound of veggies, then two pieces of tofu, and a few mushrooms. Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of reserved marinade. Can also sprinkle with dry chilli flakes.

Potato Gnocchi with Eggplant Ragu

Ingredients for Gnocchi

840gms of mashed potato (approx. 4 large potatoes, peeled and boiled whole)
150gms gluten free flour (I used "Free From - Gluten" sold at Woolworths)
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
5 gms of salt
(Serves 4)

Method for Gnocchi

1. Place the mashed potato in a bowl, then mash in the salt and nutritional yeast using your potato masher, until well combined.
2. Add the flour, to the potato, mix with a fork until combined. Empty out the contents of the bowl onto a floured surface and knead until it all comes together.
3. Grab small balls of the dough and roll out into sausages.
4. Cut into 2cm (3/4 inch) pieces (you can then boil them after this step)
5. If you have a gnocchi tool, which will allow you to do the ridges, go ahead and press them through this tool, a fork can work as well, but not as neat. 
6. Place them into boiling salted water in batches, they are done when they float to the top.
7. Serve with the eggplant ragu (or other sauce of your choice) and a touch of vegan Parmesan. 

Ingredients for Eggplant Ragu

1 large eggplant (Chopped)

10 button mushrooms (Chopped)

2 small onions (Chopped)

1 large capsicum (chopped or blended)

1 tsp Thyme

700ml bottle of passata

water

salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat a large non stick pan. Place oil and sautee onions.
2. When onions are caramelised, add the capsicum and cook until softened.
3. Add the mushrooms and eggplant. Sweat them out until they become translucent.
4. Add passata, then fill half the bottle with water, shake it to remove any remnants of passata and add it to the sauce. 
5. Add salt, pepper and thyme, and simmer on low heat for 30-40 minutes.

This sauce is enough for two meals or 6-8 people. I normally make it for the family and freeze the leftovers for another meal.

We had this with a rocket, pear and pomegranate salad. Delish!!!

Eggless Chocolate Macaroons (Vegan)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of almond meal
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup of Aqua Fava (Water from a can of chickpeas)
4 tablespoons of cocoa 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar









Method

1. Preheat oven to 145 degrees celcius.
2. Cover two cookie trays with baking paper. Set aside.
3. Sift flour, almond meal and cocoa together, and set aside. The purpose of sifting is to remove any lumps from the cocoa and to mix all the ingredients together. Do not discard the larger bits of almond meal that are left in the sieve, put them in the mix also.
4. Place aqua fava in the bowl of a stand mixer with the cream of tartar.
5. Beat on low until it gets foamy and increase the speed. Beat until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla at this stage.
6. Start adding sugar to the meringue one tablespoon at a time, ensuring it is well mixed each time.
7. Remove bowl from mixer and add all of the dry ingredients, fold them in until well incorporated.
8. Pipe them onto the cookie trays using a large piping tip or place them on the tray with a tablespoon.
9. Bake for 25 minutes, they should not brown.
10. Set aside and cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the tray.
11. Store in an airtight container.
12. Enjoy with a nice cuppa!!!!

These macaroons improve once stored in an airtight container for a few hours. They become more chewy. This recipe was an experiment. I think that next time I make them I will reduce the sugar amount by about 1/4 cup, as they can be a little sweet. But oh my!! they are delicious and moorish!!

Aqua fava is all the rage at the moment in the vegan world after it was discovered that it can be used to make lovely meringues.

For more information and recipes join the Vegan Meringue - Hits and Misses! group on facebook. There are hundreds of people on there sharing their recipes using AF (aqua fava), their failures and successes.

This is really great news for not only vegans but for people that have egg allergies.

Enjoy!!!