April 15, 2008 by Victoria
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
Category mains, ommnomnom, products, recipe, salad | Tags: dinner,products,salad,sauce,wrap | 5 Comments
April 11, 2008 by Victoria
One of my long time friends is having a birthday meal next weekend. A few weeks ago I promised him some special cupcakes as a birthday present. Special because they are going to be vegan Jager Bomb cupcakes ^_^ I did some googling to see if it could be done, and so far one person, over at ecupcake.blogspot has tried. They looked like they held up alright in the oven, so tonight I had a test run to make some vegan jager bomb cupcakes.
I’m not going to post the recipe this time around. I am going to tweak the recipe next weekend and I want to see which batch turns out better.
In essence, the bun is died with liquorice and ruby red food coloring gel, and I used a mix of soya milk, rapseed oil and red bull as the wet ingredients with colored butter-cream red bull icing and gooey jager innards. I haven’t been able to eat a whole one yet as they are fantastically rich! However, according to my boyfriend, who is pretty critical of new foods, they taste great. Like a tasty sweet and mild jager bomb. You can taste both the red bull and the jager. The one thing that I find quite odd is the smell, usually fresh cupcakes are sweet and enticing, not alcoholic and enticing. I can’t wait for round two!
Category alcohol, baking, dessert, recipe | Tags: | 7 Comments
April 9, 2008 by Victoria
Here’s another recipe inspired by my nutritional kick. Quinoa and lentils with any sort of vegetables and a good lashing of stock makes a super comforting food to curl up with but can also be a great source of protein and vitamins. There is a similar recipe over at eatpeacepleaserecipes.blogspot.com, but they have made theirs quite spicy. My spicy threshold is pretty low, and I try to avoid it as it gives me itchy ears!
For this one, I really wanted to sneak in some of vegetables that are good for you but a lot of people hate, in particular my boyfriend. I used celery, cauliflower, and even carrots, probably three of the vegetables that he dislikes the most, but the stew went down a treat!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa rinsed
- Quinoa is a great complete food. It has a very high protein content, a balanced set of amino acids, good source of fiber and iron and phosphorus and magnesium as well as being gluten free
- 1 cup red lentils
- Like I said in my Sweet and Spicy Lentils, these guys taste great and are a good source of protein and dietary fiber
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- Good if you are interested in weight loss because it is a negative calorie vegetable. It is high in dietary fiber, vitamin A, C, K, Potassium, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus
- 1 cup frozen baby carrots
- 1 cup frozen cauliflower
- Has a high nutrient density. It is low in fat and high in fiber and vitamin C. There are claims that it improves liver function as well as slow or prevent cancerous tumors in the breast and prostate.
- 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
- Good for the heart and high in antioxidants.
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon fennel
Directions:
- Heat the oil in a fairly large pot
- When hot, add the onions and cook until translucent then add the garlic
- Add the rest of the vegetables, the tomato, and spices and give a good stir until everything is coated
- Add the stock, lentils and quinoa and stir
- Cover and simmer until the lentils are soft
- You may need to add more water as the stock is absorbed
- Once soft, blend to the consistency you prefer. I like to blend the whole lot, but you can do half and half if you like a chunky stew
- Serve with a large slice of bread and soya butter
Category mains, recipe, stew | Tags: lentil,main,quinoa,stew | 1 Comment
April 3, 2008 by Victoria
I was in hospital back in October for some scans, everything came back clear, but I got the impression that some of the doctors were not necessarily happy about my vegan diet and signed me up for an appointment with a nutritionist. I didn’t realise until the appointment letter came in the post, but figured that it was probably a good idea. I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive at first. My boyfriend has had one GP tell him that he should do back eating liver (*yuck*), but the lady was lovely. She herself was a vegetarian and she even managed to root out some information about the levels of calcium and iron in vegan foods. Awesome.Pretty much what she was telling me I knew already, but hadn’t been putting into practice. It was just the boot up the butt I needed to start experimenting more in a more healthy way. My obsession with vegan enchiladas (Recipe coming soon) must end!
To sum, I need get back on the vitamin tablets, in particular iron, B12 and calcium. I also need to be more conscientious about my protein intake. Meat is a whole protein and is absorbed into the body very quickly, whereas in nuts seeds and pulses it is released more slowly so it is necessary to incorporate some carbohydrates into each meal.
So I came up with this, the reasoning behind some of the ingredients are listed after them 
Ingredients:
- 1 onion.
- I pretty much put and onion in every dinner. They do contain antioxidants, which lower the risk of heart and neurological disease.
- 1 pepper (Whichever you prefer).
- I can’t eat too much peppers, the seem to irritate my stomach, but they are a good source of vitamin C
- 2 garlic cloves.
- I love love love garlic, but I don’t use it enough. It’s good for cholestoral and high-blood pressure
- 1 can chickpeas (or about a cup if you are soaking them)
- Taste great, good source of protein and carbohydrates
- 2 cups of cooked red lentils
- Protein and good dietary fiber
- 1 can tomatoes
- vitamin A & C and a whole bunch of other good things, tasty too ^_^
- 1 tablespoon chilli powder
- 1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon tumeric
- 1 tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons of molasses
- This portion contains 400mg of calcium, which is more than a cup of collard greens
- 1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
- Protein, reduces cholesterol, reduces the chances of heart disease and even cancer
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Rice or pasta to serve
Directions:
- Pour the oil into a pot and let it heat
- While it is heating, chop up your vegtables and crush the garlic
- Add all three to the hot pot, and cook until the onion is translucent
- Stir in the mustard and all of the spices
- Add the lentils, chick-peas, tomatoes, molasses and peanut-butter
- Mix well, and leave to simmer on a low heat for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally
- Serve with some rice or pasta
This makes two massive servings, so there will be plenty left over for lunch. It was inspired by a recipe called Sloppy Lennys sandwich spread that I found in one of my favourite vegan cookbooks: Vegan Vittles. Oh, and even though I’d recommend this with brown rice, the picture above is with mashed potatoes, some soya milk and nutritional yeast flakes. Nick wanted some comfort food the night I was cooking so I did mash instead, and it tasted fab too. A big pile of spuds doesn’t fair as well on the healthy scale although ^_^
Category mains, recipe | Tags: health,lentils,main,neutrition,recipie | 3 Comments
March 31, 2008 by Victoria
A quick and tasty sauce that will turn regular fried vegetables into ommnomnom
Ingrediants:
- 1 cup hot water
- 1/2 a veg stock cube
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon dark soy
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
Directions:
- Stir everything together in the cup
- Add to veg about 2 minutes before you are ready to serve
- Tip: If you’re using tofu with your veg, throw in a good dash of the sauce to get it started
Category recipe, sauce | Tags: recipe,sauce | 1 Comment
March 25, 2008 by Victoria
Ingredients:
For the Salad:
- 2 tablespoons dried Wakame kelp
- 1/2 cup cold water
- Cucumber, peeled and julienned
- 3 chopped Spring Onions
- Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
- Daikon, boiled and julienned (These are even tastier if you stew them in a Konbu stock)
For the Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons of light miso
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup good olive oil
Directions:
- I used dried pre-cut wakame from the Asian Market on Drury St.
- You need to reconstitute the wakame in the cold water for about 6 or 7 minutes
- Meanwhile you can make the dressing. I usually keep a few empty jars around the house for sauces. The easiest way to make this is to throw all of the dressing ingredients into a jar.
- Make sure the lid is tight and shake vigorously
- Shake the wakame dry and toss with the other salad ingredients
- When you are ready to serve drizzle the dressing over your salad
Category recipe, salad, side-dishes, starters | Tags: | No Comments
by Victoria
Proof of my mac fan-girl-dom and <3 love of tasty tasty buns
Ingredients:
- 2 cup flour
- 2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 cup coca powder
- 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup rapeseed oil
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped vegan dark chocolate
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Icing-sugar to sift
- Cardboard and a Sissors
Directions:
- Turn on the oven at Gas mark 5. It should be hot by the time you have finished mixing the ingredients.
- Sift flour, coca and baking powder into a large bowl
Add sugar and salt
Whisk in the water and oil
Add chopped nuts and dark chocolate
Mix in the molasses and peanut butter with a wooden spoon until gloopy
- Dollop the mixture into each bun case; they should only be about half way full.
- Pop in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, until they are soft, but the knife comes out dry.
- You can either eat them now, or wait for them to cool down and make a cardboard stencil for the mac-tacular effect ^_^ Tastes better with HB Soya ice-cream
mmmMac ^_^
Category baking, dessert, recipe | Tags: brownie,chocolate,cupcake,mac,recipe,vegan | 9 Comments