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  1. Banana and Apricot Muffins

    June 24, 2008 by Victoria

    Banana is a wonderful egg replacement. Every time I bake relying on oil and rising agents it scares me a little, especially as I still do a lot of guess work when it comes to the length of time that something takes to cook. This means there is an inevitable point where I have to open the over door and take a peak, or poke a knife in. All the while losing precious heat and rise. This is probably the first muffin recipe where I have just pulled together the bits and bobs in the kitchen to create something. Something easy as well, as I only used one bowl for mixing (usually I make a terrible mess ^_^)!

    Ingredients:

    • 2 large ripe bananas
      The best bananas to use are those that have gone completely black on the outside but are still nice and yellow inside with no visible bruising.
    • 1 cup loosely chopped dried apricots
    • 1 cup flour
    • 1/4 cup rapeseed oil
    • 1/4 cup soy milk
    • 1/4 cup maple syrup
    • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

    Directions:

    Make sure to heat up your oven to gas mark 4 and put some muffin cases in tins first. Mash up the bananas in a large bowl. Once mashed, move to the sides so there is a hold in the center. Toss in some apple cider vinegar and the soy milk. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix well. Then sift in the dry, and add the apricots. Mix until “just done”. Fill the cases just over half way an put in the oven for about 25 minutes. Make sure that you poke the muffins with a knife at the 25 min mark to see if it comes out clean. If not, give them a few minutes longer.

    Banana and Apricot Muffin

    Category baking, ommnomnom, recipe, snack | Tags: ,, | 1 Comment

  2. Rhubarb Tart

    June 9, 2008 by Victoria

    This was the first time I’ve made a tart, I used to just buy them and stick them in the microwave, but most tarts, even if they don’t contain milk are glazed with it, or eggs. It was about time I started making my own. This is Nick’s absolute favorite dessert, thanks to his granny who used to bake them for him. It’s funny, I always see grannies as the type to bake tarts but mine never did. I wonder where I got that stereotype from? There are loads of vegan rhubarb tart recipes out there, but this is just what worked for me. One that I want to try in the future contains not just rhubarb but strawberry (yum yum) over at the Rural Vegan blog

    For the rhubarb and sugar filling, I added some flour as I made a peach crumble from La Dolce Vegan a while ago, and the flour/sugar seemed to form a wonderful syrup. The rhubarb came from my fathers garden, so now I have tonnes of the stuff. It’s immense, particularly the leaf which he stripped off for me, it’s was pretty much as big as me!

    Rhubarb


    Anyone have any suggestion of how else to eat it other than tart, and stewed rhubarb with custard (I have yet to try the vegan custard I found in Tescos)?

    Directions:

    Filling:
    4 large stalks of Rhubarb
    3/4 cup regular sugar
    1/4 cup flour
    3 tablespoons lemon juice

    Chop up the rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces and mix with the rest of the filling. Leave it to sweat.

    Pastry:
    2 cups plain flour
    Pinch of salt
    1/2 cup margarine
    1/5 cup water

    Mix the flour and margarine with your hands until crumbly. Gradually add water (you may not need it all) until the dough sticks together when you squish it together. Roll out roughly and put in cling film. Leave in the fridge for about a half hour before rolling out two circular pieces. Place one in your pie dish, add the filling, then place the other on top. Crimp the edges and poke a few holes into the top. You can then glaze the top with a little bit of soy milk. I cooked my tart for about 75 minutes at gas mark 4 (Thats 350 degrees folks) but cooking times vary from oven to oven. Leave to sit for a few minutes before cutting a big slice to have with a large mug of tea. The tart was lovely, it left the house smelling great for a few hours and our tummy’s nicely satiated with a good combination of bitter and sweet.

    Rhubarb Tart

    Category baking, dessert, humor, ommnomnom, recipe | Tags: | 5 Comments

  3. Easy Vegetable Paella

    May 14, 2008 by Victoria

    I haven’t updated in about week, but I have made so many dinners in that amount of time that I just wish I had time to take photos of them all! For one, using the tofu ricotta recipe in Veganomicon I made a roasted toasted lasagna that went down a treat with all the omnivores at a bar-b-que last weekend. If only they knew there was tofu in it! It’s so funny that sense of fear I have seen in a number of omnivores when it comes to eating tofu. That particular bar-b-que/party went on until the next morning and I offered to throw together some scrambled tofu to go with the breakfast for the masses. I altered between telling them it was tofu scramble and just getting them to taste (what they believed mostly consisted eggs) and they all loved the stuff! There were a good number, who on hearing it was tofu point blank refused to eat it. It’s a strange mentality. Mmm, I also made a sun-dried tapenade, also from Veganomicon that was eaten well before the bar-b-que even got started, so I’ll make sure to repeat that recipe again and post up the results.

    Easy Vegan Paella with a Slice of Lemon

    Today’s recipe was last nights dinner – Paella. We had made this once before, so this recipe is pretty much ad lib. There are several places where you can find vegetarian paella recipes on the net,and they all tend to be vegan. I think of it as similar to cooking risotto, except you just add all the stock at once. This is probably going to feature largely in my kitchen this summer as it’s a light and amazingly full of flavor dish. That and it’s super easy to do, especially because you should have most of the ingredients on hand. Nick and I threw together a large pot of Sangria to go with our Paella that kept us going all night. It’s amazing how good a cheep bottle of wine can taste when mixed right. Sooo good. omm.

    On to the Ingredients: Paella with Artichokes

    • 250g / Half a bag of Paella Rice (You can use other types of rice if you can’t find paella rice)
    • 1 cup vegetable stock
    • 1/4 cup Olive Oil
    • 1 large onion diced
    • 4/5 cloves garlic loosely chopped
    • 1 red and 1 yellow Bell Pepper sliced
    • 1 courgette chopped
    • 6 large Mushrooms sliced
    • 1 cup frozen peas
    • 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
    • A pinch of Saffron (You may substitute Turmeric if you don’t have any saffron)
    • Salt and Pepper to Taste
    • 1 lemon
    • Optional. You can get a tin of artichokes to garnish, but I wouldn’t eat enough of them to make it work buying the tin so didn’t bother.

    Man in the Kitchen 131/366

    Directions:

    In a large pot heat up the olive oil and then add the onions and garlic. You can of course do all this in a large frying pan and serve the pan to the table. Just make sure you don’t loose many ingredients when you stir! Cook these until the onions are translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables, and cook for about 5 minutes then add the peas. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
    Add the tin of tomatoes, rice and safron and mix well. Then add the stock. Cook for about 15/20 minutes stirring often and adding small amounts of water if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste.
    Serve with lemon slices and a large glass of Sangria

    Easy Vegan Paella with a Slice of Lemon

    Category alcohol, book, dessert, mains, ommnomnom, recipe, review | Tags: ,,,,, | 13 Comments

  4. Vegan Jager Bomb Cupcakes: Round Two

    May 1, 2008 by Victoria

    Vegan Jager Bomb Cupcakes

    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: Red Bull red&black Cupcakes
    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.

    Red Bull red&black Cupcakes

    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.

    Production of the Jager Bomb Cupcakes

    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.

    Insides of Vegan Jager Bomb Cupcakes

    Category baking, ommnomnom, recipe, snacks | Tags: ,,, | 24 Comments

  5. Peach Crumbcake from La Dolce Vegan

    April 28, 2008 by Victoria

    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.

    Peach Crumb Cake
    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.

    Peach Crumb Cake

    Category baking, book, dessert, ommnomnom | Tags: ,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  6. Cauliflower and Chickpea Paprikash

    April 23, 2008 by Victoria

    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.

    Cauliflower and Chickpea Paprikash

    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.

    Cauliflower and Chickpea Paprikash

    Category ommnomnom | Tags: | 3 Comments

  7. Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas from VegWeb.com

    April 21, 2008 by Victoria

    Vegan Enchiladas
    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
    • 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

    Vegan Enchiladas

    Category mains, ommnomnom, recipe, review | Tags: ,, | 2 Comments

  8. Peanut Butter Chocolate Cups

    April 20, 2008 by Victoria

    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.
    Peanutbutter Cups
    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.

    Peanutbutter Cups

    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

    Peanutbutter Cups

    Category dessert, ommnomnom, recipe, snacks | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  9. Falafel & Hummus Wrap with Bean Sprout Salad and a Cayenne Salad Dressing

    April 15, 2008 by Victoria

    Falafel & hummous wrap, garlic mushroom and a bean sprout salad with cayanne dressing

    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.

    Bean sprout salad with cayanne salad dressing

    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

    Category mains, ommnomnom, products, recipe, salad | Tags: ,,,, | 5 Comments

  10. Spud Snacks and Tescos

    April 11, 2008 by Victoria

    Pure organic soya butter and SpudsOne 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

    Category ommnomnom, products, snack | Tags: ,, | 1 Comment

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