Penne with White Beans and Greens

I was looking for something different and a bit more protein-y than pasta usually is, so I tried this. I used butter beans instead of haricots, and put a couple of spoons of balsamic vinegar in it at the end, but it was lovely. I like the 'Students Go Vegan Cookbook' because it's designed for kids that can't cook, and I tend to cook from it when I can't be bothered to put too much effort in.

In other news, why does the US call beans by different names? White beans? Navy beans?! I had to look these up on Wikipedia before I could work out what this recipe was going on about. Garbanzo beans?!?! Madness!

I've not been cooking much new recently, eating alot of bubble and squeak and chilli. I've gotten into a bit of a breakfast rut too, so I'm going to make breakfast cooking my February mission.

Peanut Biccies and Baked Tofu

With great joy I can report two and a half successes today!
The first is Peanut Butter Oaties from Easy Vegan Cooking by Leah Leneman.
I love biscuits but I find them annoying to make and rarely have the patience. These are cooked in a tray and then sliced up afterwards, so the recipe is super simple.

Recipe
55g margarine
55g Peanut butter
pinch of salt
1/3 cup sugar - I used dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbs water

Method:
- beat margerine and peanut butter in a big bowl
- add salt and cream in sugar. At this point I added cinnamon because it goes with anything and everything
- add flour and oats and bicarb and water. Mix it really well with a fork.
- turn it out onto a greased baking pan and press it down firmly.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes at 190 degrees.
- slice, cool and serve.

These were very tasty. I left them on a plate in the kitchen, and between my housemates they went in about four hours. Definitely a repeater!

My Second success was Baked Tofu from the Students Go Vegan Cookbook by Carole Raymond. I like this book alot because the recipes are simple, and they use cheap and easy-to-find ingredients.
Recipe
1 pack firm tofu. I had a pack lying around and wanted to use it up - this was the inspiration for making this!
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil (I used the oil from a very oily jar of tahini!)
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs water
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tbs minced ginger (I didn't have any ginger in, so I used paprika instead)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (again, not used.)

Method: this sounds complicated but actually isn't.
- Press the tofu between two plates with a heavy weight on top. I completely messed this up! I don't quite know how, but I scared the tofu into disintegrating a bit. The result was a sort of scrambled mess, so I had to do things a little differently.
- Press for 20 minutes and drain liquid
- Cut tofu into 1cm slices
- mix the marinade ingredients (everything else) in a large glass baking dish.
- put the tofu slices in a single layer. Cover and refrigerate for three hours, turning the tofu after 1 hour.
- Put the tofu on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake at 175 degrees centigrade for 30-45 minutes. Turn after 30 minutes. The longer it's cooked the chewier it gets.

I probably cooked mine for an hour, so the tofu pieces came out very small. They were really delicious though, and I ate a big portion in a pitta bread, with grated carrot, grated parsnip and hummus. It was really delicious!

I get very stuck for sandwich ideas, so I'm definitely going to do this again.

And for my final half success: the sprouted chick peas are growing! I feel like a proud parent.