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.

Chai Latte Cupcakes

These were mental. I didn't have plain soya yogurt, so I used a peach alpro, and they turned out really really well. The peach overpowered the chai a bit, I thought, so next time I'll endeavour to follow the recipe. Also, I made up a normal icing glaze rather than just sifting sugar over the top. They were great though!

As you can see, I think I'll need alot of practice before I manage to ice anything nicely.

In other news, I discovered how not to make soup. I put a potato, a cabbage, a stock cube, and a tablespoon of Mayola! into a blender, then heated it. It looked amazing (well, luminous anyway) but tasted disgusting. My flatmates loved it, but it was seriously the worst thing I have made in months.

Carrot Cake Pudding

My flatmate cooked an amazing meal tonight - Stuffed Winter Squash from Student's Go Vegan Cookbook. It was amazing, and fancy too.

For pudding I made this - a carrot sandwich cake adapted from the recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, with chocolate buttercream in the middle, and lemon buttercream on the outside. I topped it with bananas and squigly icing for the sake of aesthetics. It was pretty nice, and overall a great meal. I love being cooked for!

Blender Cake

Today I improvised a cake, and did it in the blender to see if it would work. It did!

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup soya milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 banana
1 cap of vanilla essence
a few shakes of cinnamon and ginger

- blend everything but the baking powder and bicarb until smooth
- mix in the bicarb and whizz a little more
- cook a 200degreesC for 1/2 an hour.

I iced it with sugar and lemon juice, with some fresh ginger and pecan nuts on the top. Not bad at all.

Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake

As the name suggests, this recipse was really easy to follow. I iced them with a coffee-icing sugar concoction, and a plain icing suger glace for contrast. Very very nice. This picture doesn't really do them justice. Food photography is not my forte!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Getting the Vegan Cupcakes book has sent me into a frenzy of cupcake making. This is the second recipe I made from the book.


Here they are, nude, before being iced! I am terrible at icing anything, but these turned out alright. Maybe it's one of those 'improve with practice' things.


Iced, with a pecan nut and icing sugar snow on the top. They all squidged into funny shapes, because I cooked them at my dad's house, and he doesn't have a muffin pan. They tasted really, really great.

Fancy-Pants Pickle

Today I made a meal of Kidney Bean Burgers (from 'Easy Vegan Cooking' by Leah Leneman), with french fries from VwaV - these were so good, and too easy to be true. And to go with this I made pickle, because we have run out of ketchup and I wanted something fancy. I served it up all nouveau cuisine, which impressed my housemates very much.

Pickle
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp salt
3/4 cup sugar

- boil the vinegar and completely dissolve the sugar and salt. this won't take long
- add the onions and tomatoes
- boil for about an hour, stirring frequently. be careful not to spill any, as this mixture is extremely hot
- let it cool for a while before eating

I also made lemon gem cupcakes from vwav, in petits-fours cases. They were extremely cute, but I forgot to take photos. Derr...

Cabbage and green bean stir fry

School has started again and that means that I am busy. So while I'm still cooking, I'm cooking fast and simple rather than complicated and fancy. My favourite food of the moment is Cabbage, Green Beans and Noodles because it takes less than ten minutes to prepare, it's filling and has energy and green things in it, and (with bargain bin noodles) cost 20p per meal. Obviously you can jazz it up with better ingredients, and probably make it more nutritious; here is the basic method.

a handful of green beans
balsamic vinegar
soy sauce
1/4 cabbage, sliced up very thin
noodles of your choice, to serve one
clove of garlic
knob of fresh ginger

- start frying the beans, because they will take longest
- prepare your noodles
- add the cabbage to the pan
- add the garlic and ginger, both shredded up finely or crushed
- splash balsamic vinegar over everything
- cook for a minute. this mellows the vinegar, and makes it less tangy.
- splash soy sauce over everything
- cook for another minute
- add noodles, mix it all up, and fry it off for a little longer
- eat!

New Books and Trips Out

I had some very thoughtful christmas presents this year. Both my mother and flatmate bought me Vegan With a Vengeance, which I already had but lost, which was great. Like most of you I'm sure, I love love love Vwav, and I love love love http://theppk.com/, whch I'm sure you're familiar with (but if not, familiarise yourself now! You won't regret it!)

Also from my mother I got a copy of 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World', which is amazing in every way, and cute to the extreme. Also, she gave me lots of exciting baking things. So far I've made carrot cake cupcakes, peanut butter cupcakes, and basic golden cupcakes (I have photos, and will update when I upload them.) Seriously good.

My brother and I went out for high tea at the Pogo Cafe in Hackney http://www.pogocafe.co.uk I had cheesecake, which is something I've missed, and I was very impressed. If you're in London, definitely check it out.

Pasta and cabbage!

Someone cooked for me tonight, which was amazing! I was a little sceptical about the combination at first but it turned out to be delicious. Here is the recipe:

Pasta with tomato-tofu sauce and balsamic cabbage
You will need:
Enough pasta for everyone (penne is my favourite)

For the cabbage:
2 cloves garlic
1/2 a savoy cabbage
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce

For the tomato sauce:
pinch of basil
pinch of paprika
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp blended up tofu

- cook and drain the pasta
- the sauce is really easy, just mix everything together in a pan and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce is simple, but creamy
- cut the cabbage into really thin slices.
- fry in a big frying pan, with the garlic, for two minutes
- add the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce at the same time, and fry over a medium heat for another 3-4 minutes.

This looked really fancy, and tasted great - really flavourful and fresh.

New Stew and Dumplings!

I made up another batch of the super cheap stew when the other lot was finished. And to make it extra special I made dumplings!

Recipe
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
big knob of sunflower butter
cold water as required
seasonings/herbs etc

Method:
- mix flour and baking powder and salt and seasoning in a bowl
- mix in the butter with a fork until it's crumbly
- gradually add in water (do this REALLY SLOWLY - a tablespoon at a time at most) until you have a non-sticky dough. If it goes sticky, add more flour until it's normal again
- knead lightly and roll into firm balls
- put into the stew
- let them bubble away for 10 minutes or so

They were really really tasty. The first lot I made were a bit too salty, but still edible. The second lot were great!

Dinner and photographs

First off, catch-up photos. Here is the stew, in my big green soufrier. I was given it by my granmother as a going to university present, and I was sceptical about the chance of it getting used. For the first year I didn't touch it, except when the bathwater heater broke and I needed to heat up water on the stove. It got a little bit more use in the second year. Now I use it all the time (or whenever I want to make mass amounts of food). These photos are particularly crap quality, but they're still nice to look at.

I took photographs of yesterday's dinner because I was confused and delighted by it. It was a quick leftover meal because I was studying, and I felt like I needed to eat some more veg. So I had bolognese sauce, peas and potatoes with sunflower butter, and a pitta bread stuffed with grated parsnip and carrot with a hoummus, lemon and soy sauce dressing. It was a strange but delicious meal.

Bolognese-ish Sauce

Here's what I had for lunch:
1 can tomatoes
1 cup soya mince (t.v.p.)
1 clove garlic
1 can baked beans
1 onion
pinch basil
tsp soy sauce
olive oil for frying
1/3 cup red wine

Method:
- fry chopped onion, garlic and basil till lightly browned.
- Rehydrate soya mince. This will depend on the brand, but as a rough guide, cover with boiling water and leave to expand for 3 or 4 minutes. Add soy sauce and mix through.
- add to the pan and fry off for a little while.
- add tomatoes and brans, bring to just before the boil and simmer for half an hour.
- add wine, simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- eat with pasta, and fake cheeze if you wish. You might have to add a little salt, better to do this after you finish cooking.

It was yummy and quick!

In other news, the chick peas are growing well. I've been changing the water and spying on them pretty regularly, and I'm getting very excited!

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.

Stew, Crumble and Photographs

Here are some photos from my milk making experiment. I made up another batch yesterday and it went really well.

I put it in an old squash bottle.

I have two successes to report today. My first is making stew.

Recipe (this isn't strict - you can use any vegetables)

I used: 1/3 butternut squash

10 salad potatoes

3 carrots

3 parsnips

1/2 a dark green cabbage

3 fresh tomatoes

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans for people in the US)

1 can gungo peas

2 vegetable stock cubes

basil

medium curry powder

200g red lentils

salt

olive oil

Method: again, this is not strict.

- Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil, in a large pan. Add basil.

- Make up the stock with a pint of boiling water. Add to the pan.

- Chop and add the squash, carrot, potato, parsnip and carrot.

- Pour in the tomatoes and canned beans. Bring to the boil, then simmer.

- Add the lentils. They don't seem to get too 'scummy' on the top, but if lentil froth appears just skim it off with a spoon.

- Add salt to taste. Add more water if it gets dry, and let it bubble away for an hour or so.

Success munber two: Super easy apple and blueberry crumble

Recipe:

2 apples, cooking or eating will do

big knob of sunflower spread

2 spoons of sugar/agave nectar/maple syrup

1/3 cup blueberry juice

cinnamon to taste

a cup of oats

Method:

- preheat oven to 200C

- chop up the apple

- put the apple, juice, a spoon of sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon in a microwaveable bowl

- zap for 4 minutes, until the apple is soft
- mash the apple with a fork

- put the puree into the bottom of a loaf tin

- while the bowl is still hot, put the sunflower spread into it and stir it until melted

- cream in the remaining sugar and cinnamon

- add and mix the oats

- put the oats into the tin, on top of the puree. Lightly press it down

- bake for 15 minutes

Failures: the gluten was awful. I might have done something wrong with it, I'm not sure. It was fairly similar to tofu, but floury and went soggy very quickly. Not a repeater.

Today's experiment: sprouted chick peas

They've been doing their thing for a day now. I'm hoping to make raw sprouted hoummus with them. I'm trying to include more raw in my diet, but find raw vegetables pretty bland.