When? May 1, 2008
Some of you have probably already seen my first attempt at these cupcakes. I made these as a birthday present for one of my friends who has is obsessed with Jager Bombs. He even introduced me to the concept about a year ago, and ever since, we always have one if we’re out in a night club (Which is not that often anymore, I guess I’m getting old. That, or because I’m broke most of the time ^_^).
The first time around: I though that the cupcake bun was too sweet, because I used the regular amount of sugar even though I swopped milk for Red Bull (packed with sugar). I also thought that the goo was rather dull, I used a green agar agar and found that it didn’t look too apatising against the dark cupcake. Finally, the creamy goo seperated when I added some red bull, giving it a shiny quality. With those aspects in mind, here are my
Ingredients:
Cupcake: 
1 can Red Bull
1/4 cup of milk
1 1/4 cup plain Flour
1/3 cup sugar
Red and Black Food color
Jager Cream:
1/4 cup Jagermeisger
4 tablespoons Agar Agar
2/3 cup Soya Milk
1 tablespoon Cornflour
Green Fool Coloring
Butter Cream Frosting:
1/2 cup Margarine
1 1/2 cups Icing Sugar
Yellow Food Coloring
Directions:
Turn on the oven to Gas mark 3, and line bun tin with cases.
Pour the Red Bull into a cup and then top off with the soya milk. Whisk briskly in a large bowl. Add the sugar, then sift in the flour. Whisk until creamy. Split up the mixture into two separate bowls and add either red or black to each. Pour a bit of the red and black mixes into each case until it is half full. Put into the oven for 25 minutes or until a knife comes out clean
While the cupcakes are in the oven, you can make the Jager Cream. Put the milk into a pan and let the agar flakes soak for about 5 minutes. Turn on the heat at a low temperature and stir the mixture at intervals until the agar is nearly dissolved. Mix the cornflour with a small amount of soya milk until it forms a paste. Add this to the agar, and mix in well. Add the Jagermeister. At this stage you may wish to taste the Jager Cream to see if you want to add more Jagermeister. Mix well with the green food coloring and leave aside to cool. I found that there were usually a few bits of undissolved cornflour when I made this, so I sifted it into a second bowl to cool.
Once the cupcakes are done, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool. They must be completely cool before you top them with the butter cream.
To make the butter cream, mix the icing sugar and margarine until it forms a stiff consistency. You may add more sugar or margarine to suit your own taste. Mix well with the food coloring.
When the cupcakes are cool, poke a small hole in the top of each and use a teaspoon to fill with Jager Cream. Then pipe the icing on top. Try not to start your icing right over the Cream, because it will not stick correctly to the cupcake.
Category: baking, ommnomnom, recipe, snacks | 11 Comments
When? April 28, 2008
La Dolce Vegan was one of the first vegan cook-books I bought. I found it in Hodges Figes an immediately picked it up. There are some mixed reviews on amazon but I’d say it’s a good buy for anyone new to veganism and a pleasant read. Sarah Kramer has included some neat cooking tips and a crafty section at the end, and the book is packed with extra comments for a more personal touch.
The Peach Crumbcake is I guess what we’d call a Peach Crumble. Remember those Apple Crumbles that the sold in the school canteen. Usually soggy and full of bitter apples and a couple of canteen lady hairs. *Gah* Luckily, the only thing that Kramers Crumbcake has in common is the crumblyness. My very critical of new things boyfriend tested the cake for me and said that it is better than any of the pies his granny has ever made for him. I’m pretty sure that if something competes with grannys cooking it has to be good.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Vegan Margarine
- 3/4 cup Soya Milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Egg replacer to equal 2 Eggs
- I used 2 teaspoons of “No Egg
- 1 1/2 cups Peaches, finely chopped
- I used canned peaches, this meant the mix had more liquid and took slightly longer to firm up in the oven
- 1 tbsp Sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F (Gas mark 4). Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the margarine and combine with your hands (I love this part, it’s really satisfying ^_^), until it resembles a coarse meal. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture for later.
Add the soya milk, egg replacer, vanilla, and peaches to the remaining dough and stir until “just mixed”. (I actually replaced some of the milk with the juices from the peaches can and left out the vanilla). Spoon into the cake pan and spread the reserved mixture evenly over top of cake. Sprinkle top with 1 tbsp of sugar and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Category: baking, book, dessert, ommnomnom | Leave a Comment
When? April 23, 2008
I love paprikash, but have never managed to keep my sauce creamy when using tofu. It tends to scramble slightly. This recipe was a bit of an experiment, you know when you don’t know what to make from the odds and ends in your press, but want to try and be healthy.
Ingredients:
- 1 large Onion sliced
- 2 cloves of crushed Garlic
- Cup of frozen Cauliflower
- Small tin of Sweet-Corn
- Tin/Cup of Chickpea
- 1/2 cup Flour
- 1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
- 1 1/2 cups Water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons Paprika
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- Pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large pot heat your oil and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. While these are cooking, use a second pot to mix the nutritional yeast, flour, paprika and water. Turn on the heat and keep mixing until the sauce starts to thicken. When this happens pour over your onions.
Add cauliflower, chick-peas, sweet-corn, salt and pepper and mix well.
Turn down the heat to a simmer (I use about Gas mark 3) and leave to cook for 20 - 25 minutes stirring occasionally.Add more pepper to taste and serve. I added some vegan mozzarella on top and a good grating of pepper.
Category: ommnomnom | 2 Comments
When? April 21, 2008
I can’t believe I haven’t posted about this recipe yet. This is a stable in our house, eaten at least once a week. My boyfriend would have this every second day if he was allowed! Unfortunately, the only vegetables that we use in this recipe are onions and jalapeños. It is however a great source of protein and tastes fantastic. *yum*
VegWeb.com was a life saver when we first went vegan and were recipe book-less. It’s a great source of recipes and tips for cooking. These cheesy bean and cheese enchalidas are one of their top 10 recipes, with over 80,000 views and 125 reviews. There are tonnes of photos sent in by the users. I have ctrl+c and ctrl+v the instructions from the site and take no responsibility for it’s AWESOMNESS. Make this, you defiantly won’t regret it. 5 ommnomnom *s
Ingredients:
- 1/2c flour
- 1/2c nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 4 tablespoon margarine
- Or soya butter
- 10 tortillas
- The Old el Passo Salsa Tortillas are perfect for this
- 2 small cans enchilada sauce
- I use the 10 minute enchilada sauce from AllRecipies.com
- 3 cans beans (white kidney, pinto, black), drained
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 can olives, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1/2 cup salsa (optional)
- Tried this once, don’t bother adding these now
Directions:
In medium-large saucepan, combine flour, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder. Add water and mix thoroughly. Heat on medium heat until bubbling and thick. Remove from heat and add mustard and margarine. Set aside 1/2 cup of cheese sauce in separate container. Add onion, beans, olives, cilantro and salsa to sauce. Mix it up.
Pour a 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Place a tortilla in pan and cover in enchilada sauce. Spoon in filling. Roll and push to one end of pan. Continue until all tortillas filled. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce on top and then spread reserved cheese sauce on as last step. Bake at 350 until brown, 30-45 minutes.
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 45 min
When? April 20, 2008
Reeses cups used to be one of my favourite sweets before I went vegan. At first I used to have cravings for milk chocolate products like Toffy Crisps and Starbars, and other such tasty badness.
Now that I have gotten over my addictions to those things, I usually crave something savory instead, or satiate my need for sweet things with home-made buns. But I still oogle the Reeses cups in the shops, so I had to try and make something similar. There are dozens of recipes on the internet, so I just took the basic ingredients available to me and tasted as I went along. I don’t recommend this method to you although. I felt quite ill after consuming far too much cooking chocolate, sugar and peanut butter! Anyways, on to the recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 bar dark cooking chocolate
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup sifted icing sugar
- 4 teaspoons soya butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
Directions:
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water
Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. It should form a stiff texture that is mailable with your hands, and doesn’t leave them sticky.
I recently bought some silicone bun cases in Dunnes Stores. They’re a great product, suitable for the oven, microwave and freezer.
- Line these with a teaspoon or two of the melted chocolate
- Roll a ball of the peanut butter mix in your hand, and smooth it out into a cylindrical shape that will fit into your case
- Pop it into the case, and top with more melted chocolate.
- Put into the freezer until nice and hard
- Serve with a cup of tea, you’ll need it to wash down the chocolaty peanuty goodness
Category: dessert, ommnomnom, recipe, snacks | Leave a Comment
When? April 15, 2008
Firstly, I have to admit that I’ve never made a falafel in my life. These falafels were made form a box. You know the “just add water” types. However, they were amazing and quite cheap, about three quid in the the Asian Market on Drury St.. They bake in the oven for about 10 minutes either side. I would like to try and make these from scratch, if anyone has any good recipes let me know.
I put them in a wrap with some lettuce, hummus, vegan mayonnaise (That is available in the Tescos “free from” section), and some bean sprouts and shoots.
On the side, is a tossed salad with more sprouts and shoots and a spicy salad dressing. This was a bit of an experiment. Usually I make my dressings using mustard, but we accidentally bought mustard with honey, and that definatly wasn’t going on my salad.
Ingredients:
- About 4 rough tablespoons of nice olive oil. You know when you let the oil keep pouring as you measure out the next spoon
- To two tablespoons white wine vinegar
- A teaspoon of cayenne
- Teaspoon of celery seeds
- Which have been used to mild anxiety and agitation, loss of appetite, fatigue and coughs
- Teaspoon lemon juice
I threw the whole lot of this into a jar and shook. This was so tasty that we’ve had it twice since. Drizzled on salad, it’s in small enough doses that I can handle the spiciness.
The mushrooms are classic garlic mushrooms. I use about a clove and a half of garlic for each mushroom, blended with a large teaspoon of soya butter and the stalks of the mushrooms. These are baked for 20 minutes or so, but sometimes I like to bake them for an hour until the mushrooms are a tasty garlic mess.
Edit: Tuesday 15th 20:30 vegan.com has blogged about my falafel photo. They say I had my first pita and falafel sandwich shortly after I began transitioning to a vegetarian diet, and my first thought was, “Wow, this tastes so much better than hamburger!” and boy is that so true. A falafel with tasty sauce is so much more satisfying that any of the hamburgers I’ve had in the past. nomnom
When? April 11, 2008
One of my favourite left-overs is boiled spuds. Growing up I picked up a few spud habits from people around me that have stuck. For one, soup and spuds. Thick vegetable soup with a dollop of mashed potato (cold) is fantastic.
Another favourite was boiled spuds in a bowl with a good layer of milk and absolutely tonnes of pepper. I picked that one up for my granny, who rarely ate sweets unless there were visitors, but loved to pick out her peppery spuds. Since going on the soya milk, I haven’t quite enjoyed this as much. I have yet to get the taste for soya milk on it’s own, but now I’ve got something new: Spuds with soya butter and tonnes of pepper.
Awesome, in particular because the soya butter was bought at tesco! Up until a few months ago, all of the olive oil of other non-dairy spreads contained buttermilk, and thus were not vegan. This meant that we had to buy our soya spread in a health food store at about twice the cost. Now tesco sells Pure, regular and organic dairy free soya spread, and it’s fantastic. Quite creamy and salty, which is the perfect combination for a tasty vegan snack. Developed for the lactose intolerant, but enjoyed by vegans 
According to the website the Pure brand was developed for people with food sensitivities in mind, particularly those who have an allergy or intolerance to dairy. It’s free from:
- Dairy
- Artificial colourings & preservatives
- Added flavourings
- Gluten
- Hydrogenated oils
- GM ingredients
When? April 3, 2008
After my last post about teese vegan cheese, I sent an e’mail inquiring about the possibility of postage and the costs it would incur. The guys over at teesecheese.com got back with a speedy reply as follows:
Sorry Vicki.. . too much paperwork, too much $$. You MAY be able to through veganessentials.com… who will be carrying it within the next few days.
Over at veganessentials.com they have added teese cheese to their shop. It’s going on sale on the 7th of April. The page also says:
This item can be shipped outside of the USA, however, it must be done at the risk of the customer, as we cannot guarantee that it will arrive in perfect condition if you live in a very hot climate. Most likely the item will be fine, however, as noted above, this is shipped at your own risk.
I’ve been wanting to try out the dairy free white chocolate chips for a while, so I think a test order might be called for after my next pay day. mmmMelty.
Category: ommnomnom, products | Leave a Comment
When? March 26, 2008
The folks over at My Urban Garden is telling us to forget the bbq and frankly I’m excited.
While these bad boys aren’t available in Ireland, you can buy them online at UnitedSolarEnergy.com
A feature that I find strangely awesome is that it floats!
That photo from USE looks strangely dated, according to their site they have been doing solar research since 1977. Personally, I’m going to get in touch with the old man and see if his solar installation-abilities could be used to manufacture a home-grown version. Bring on the Summer, and roasted toasted veggies!
ommnomnom
Category: ommnomnom | 2 Comments
When? March 21, 2008
First post so I’ll direct you to my profile. So what does a vegan eat in Dublin? Honestly, I’m still learning. Since making the change, I have learned about the contents of the food that I once took for granted, some decent recipes, and a passion for vegan cookery books. I want to document this journey. What better way to document something than through food and photos.
And now for tofu the vegan zombie dancing to thriller:
