All about... (vegan) food!

Change our URL to your feeds

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:08:00 +0000

If you still haven't done that!

We've moved to http://foodinmylife.com/

Hope to see you there ;-)

New home!

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:29:00 +0000

We have a new home, check it out:

http://foodinmylife.com/

Hope to see you all there!

All about.. Rewild

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:08:00 +0000

After three weeks in Rome me and Matteo finally had the chance to go to Rewild, the only vegan restaurant in Rome. It's said to think that a 5 million people city has just one vegan place to eat. Well, better than nothing. They open just for dinner and it would be too late to go with baby boy - and we're still fighting to get him a new routine after the moving out of Ireland - so we asked them if we could go earlier and they agreed to open the doors like two hours before to have us ;-)

The place is not that close from city center but you can get there by subway, so it's all good. It's a nice and big salon and people are the nicest. Their menu is huge, from starters to deserts and they have the classic Italian way of eating: starter, primo, secondo, dolce. And we wanted it all!

I have to apologize for not having good pictures but I only had my phone and it was dark there. But I'll go back - as many times as it's possible - and I promisse a good photo shoot in the future.

First me and Matteo ordered two sandwiches, with different types of burgers. Both delicious (and huge!). Than for primo(usually some kind of pasta) we ordered lasagna and raviolli (and these pictures aren't nothing close to show how good they were). We could stop here and just ask for dessert but we asked for secondo (usually meat). I asked for a kamut seitan and vegetables medallion and Matteo got a sliced seitan thing. I didn't taste Matteo's one cause it was time to breast feed little boy but mine was a piece of heaven!

To close the night - yes, we had more - we asked for the veganisu, or vegan tiramisu, of course. It was great that I could order it for two reasons: it's made with orzo and not coffee (and I'm not having coffee) and it doesn't have liquor (to attend their straight edge audience)! I have just one thing to say about it: I could it a piece of this veganisu every day of my life.

So, if you come to Rome - better, when you come to Rome - don't worry about seeing the Pope but go to Rewild!

When in Rome

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:43:00 +0000

I'm probably not doing as the romans do for most of the time but I'm eating pizza bianca and pizza rossa everyday and gelato three times a week, so life is good!

You can find ice cream in every supermarket

Gelarmony - My favourite place in Rome

From the local market

Mother's Day lunch

my first mother's day with a lovely lunch cooked by Matteo

Brunch at Il Margutta RistorArte

Not even close to coffee but I really like it

Baby boy enjoying the sunny days (L)

Sweet end to (vegan) Sweet

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:16:00 +0000

Sometimes we see the end of things like a bitter end but this is not the case. Since baby boy was born I decided to not take orders to Sweet for a few months to dedicate myself 100% to him and I was happy about that. And then life gave me a few surprises which took me to a decision: it is the end of Sweet in Dublin.

I'm not saying I won't bake sweet treats anymore but I have no idea about when I'll be able to get back on taking orders and making other vegans happier. Sweet last 3 years and I'm very happy about all the cakes and cupcakes I've baked but life now has other plans to me and my family.

I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone who ordered from me, enjoyed my cakes and spread the world about Sweet all this time. It was a pleasure and I'm happy that I could find in vegan baking something great and inspiring to do here in Ireland.

(Pic by Greg)

We are the vegans

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:28:00 +0000

Posted this at my Facebook page and thought it was worth it to share also here.

Making your house cleaner

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:59:00 +0000

Here I am after many weeks of my last post. It's not that as a mother of a 2 months baby boy I don't have time to write here, it's just that it's still being hard to organize my time. I should be sleeping when baby sleeps (doesn't happen at all expect for the nights). And now that I'm recovered from the emergency c-section I have tons of things to do at home too.

I am still not cooking that much and making a good use of all the pre-made meals I can find in Dublin. And I'm extremely grateful for all my friends that are visiting us and bringing us food or cooking here, it's the best help we can get. But today I won't write about vegan food but about vegan cleaning products. I always think that cruelty-free and vegan house products and personal care products are harder to find than vegan food. And I'm always trying everything I can find in the market. So today I'm doing some free publicity for Bio-D, an UK company.

We've being using their product for a few months now and I'm really happy with them. Quality products with a decent price. I'm using even their Nappy Fresh for baby dirty clothes and it's great.

In Dublin it's possible to find their products at Nourish (Wicklow Street). And if they don't have something you want on stock you can ask the staff there and they will order.

Which are your favourite house cleaning products?

New life. More love. Less cooking

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:55:00 +0000

Our Italian-Brazilian baby boy arrived on the 28th of January and we couldn't be happier. We're now adjusting to the new life, filled with the biggest love ever.

Of course there's not too much cooking going on and Matteo is doing most of it but this week I ate Amy's Dairy Free Rice Macaroni and Cheeze and it was an amazing surprise. Matteo got it in the health store at Dundrum and the only thing I wish is that it was cheaper (it's imported), but it's worth to have it from time to time and it's really practical.

And now that I'm a vegan mom, any tips of good blogs to follow?

Getting practical

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:11:00 +0000

If you were wondering if I already had my baby the answer is not ;-) But I'm not cooking or doing anything special in the last weeks besides trying to get as much rest as I can before the big day and that's why I'm not blogging too.

But today I'd like to share two Redwood products that we'd bought recently and are really good:

Celebration Roast: this is a Cheatin' Turkey Roast with Vegetarian Rashers. Matteo bought it thinking about Christmas but we ended up eating it a few days after and it is really good. Easy to prepare, soft and tasty.

Mixed Meat Free Sausages: this set is great for snacks and part of it was gone during a football (soccer) game last week with my mum here (she's staying 40 days with us). Once again, soft and tasty - and you can also eat with your favourite sauce (we've eaten them just with mayonnaise).

We found both products in The Health Store (located at Dundrum Shopping Centre). One more useful tips for vegans in Dublin.

Yesterday night we had friends coming over for dinner and Matteo prepared his almost famous cotechino servito con polenta e lenticchie (sausage served with polenta and lentils) and pizza and the guys brought chocolate and vanilla Swedish Glace ice cream and chocolates. It was a funny night and it was amazing for me to have friends around before the baby arrives.

Vegan job? I wish!

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:16:00 +0000

As you can read in my bio here I love to cook and to write and it's great when I can do both. Lately I'm not cooking that much (well, I'm cooking basically everyday but nothing special or fancy, just regular meals to give me energy and everything I need in the end of the pregnancy) but in the last months I've started to write more.

Having a vegan job is like a dream to me but it's not my priority now considering that soon I'll be a full time mom for a while! But from time to time I write articles to vegan or vegetarian magazines about vegan subjects and this really makes me happy. In December I got my first freelance article for the biggest vegetarian magazine in Brazil (called "Revista dos Vegetarianos") and I wrote about vegan paradises around the world (not places to eat, but new initiatives such as supermarkets). I was pretty happy with the final result, it's a four page article mentioned in the cover and I was even happier when the editor said I could keep sending suggestions. And now I'm finishing the second one, which will be published in their February edition :) I really hope I can find time and energy too keep doing this even after baby is born.

Also, a while ago I've written an article for the Canadian vegan magazine T.O.F.U. and the issue came on line a few days ago. It's an article about how to be vegan in Brazil and where to eat in Sao Paulo (the biggest Brazilian city), with tips from my last trip there, in May 2011. You can download the magazine here!

Let's see if 2012 brings me more writing about veganism ;-)

The simple life

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:37:00 +0000

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you all had an amazing end of 2011 and are ready for this brand new year. I was always a big fan of New Year's Eve and I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's summer time in Brazil and I always celebrated it with friends and family. But since I'm in Europe I'm not going to big celebrations anymore (went one year and that was it) and this year wasn't different. But this year I've made a very conscious decision to spend the NYE at home with just Matteo and his mother who is visiting us. And this decision has all to do with my only resolution for 2012: to live the simple life. I think the most important thing pregnancy have taught me is to take it easy and enjoy simple things. And it worked pretty well for me in 2011 so I want to do it more and more in 2012.

For our NYE we decided to have simple (here ya go!) food and not any kind of complicated meal. We'd have just appetizers and alcohol free drinks (both me and Matteo don't drink alcohol at all). Matteo would help me with the preparation and we'd play cards. We ended up having Tomato Rosemary Scones from Vegan Brunch, Sun-Dried Tomato Dip from Veganomicon, pistachio nuts, hummus (this was the only thing we didn't make ourselves) and a lovely Capers Dip which Matteo came up with the recipe from his mind while he was preparing the other dip. Everything was delicious and 2012 arrived just like that: simple and bringing us happiness.

Here's the recipe of the Capers Dip:

Ingredients:

1 cup white beans, drained

1/4 cup capers

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoon water

salt

1 tablespoon French's mustard

Put the white beans, capers, mustard, olive oil and water in the food processor or blender and mix it until smooth. Add the nutritional yeast and salt and blend it again. Check if it's salty enough to your taste.

Cover and chill for at least half an hour. Serve it with crackers or slices of fake meat or vegan cheese.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:15:00 +0000

And why not go vegan in 2012?
Start trying it for a week or a month or the whole year or for a lifetime.
It is worth it ;-)

A very special Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:28:00 +0000

After reading posts and seeing pictures of Christmas meals I have to say my Christmas wasn't that special or creative this year. But at the same time it was a very special one cause it's the last month of my pregnancy and it made everything a little bit different for me. I wasn't feeling that much into the Holidays as I've said here before and I got many cupcakes orders to delivery on the 22nd so just after everything was done I was able to think about the food for the weekend.

Matteo's mother and sister were here one more time and it's really nice to spend the Holidays with them. Can't describe how excited my mother-in-law is to become a grandma! To make things easier for me we decided to keep both menus (for the 24th eve and 25th lunch) simple and Matteo did most of the cooking this year (yes, I have the best husband in the world).

A Brazilian friend of mine is in Dublin for the Holidays and I invited her to come here on Saturday afternoon cause she couldn't come for the eve. So I baked some vanilla and almond biscuits based on this recipe. We ate them with vegan nutella and they were really good.

For dinner we got some snacks for starter and Matteo made mac'n'cheese. It was cool cause it's not an Italian dish even being done with pasta and it was appreciated by the Italians in the house. We had a vegan panettone from Vegusto afterwards and it was a really nice surprise (my sister-in-law said it tastes like the regular ones). We closed the night opening the presents.

For Sunday lunch I baked these "cheesy" crackers (the only difference is that this time I've used nutritional yeast and Redwood Soy free Cheezly cheddar style and not parmesan) and we had lots of appetizers prepared by Matteo that included guacamole and hummus, between other yummys. For the main dish he did cotechino servito con polenta e lenticchie (this dish became very popular in the house) and we got more panettone for dessert.

As you can see, nothing fancy or difficult or even new, but it was perfect. We had a great time and spend quality time at home with people we love. I missed my family a lot again and thought about my grandma a lot too, but it's the bad side of living this far from them. Anyway I was able to Skype them on Sunday morning and this completed my Christmas.

Now I'm preparing myself for a quiet New Year's eve. What are you doing next weekend?

Happy Vegan Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:38:00 +0000

"A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral." (Leo Tolstoy)

Wishing all my dear readers a lovely and cruelty-free Christmas and wishing that in 2012 more people decide to stop using animals.

Baking time

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:32:00 +0000

This week I started baking for Christmas orders. If you're new to this blog, you don't know that I bake vegan cakes and cupcakes for vegans (and also non-vegans) in Dublin. I've started doing this in 2009 and this year I wasn't being able to bake that much cause of my Master but since September I'm back on track!

It's great being able to bake for people that many time don't get treats at their parties and I really enjoy doing this. I'm getting tired faster cause of the last month of pregnancy and after any small effort I feel breathless but I will bake while I can.

Yesterday I delivered some chocolate with peanut butter and lemon with coconut cupcakes for a birthday vegan girl and tomorrow I'll delivery more for a Christmas party (and next week will be all about baking, making decorations and frosting and I'm glad Matteo can help me with the deliveries). I'm not that much into Christmas this year (and this is a shock for me cause I really like the holidays) but the house is set up and gifts are under the tree, so I'm good.

If you want check my vegan cupcakes and cakes, like Sweet page on Facebook or visit the Flickr page :)

Saint Lucy's Day

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:49:00 +0000

Yesterday, December 13, was Saint Lucy's Day (in Italian, Santa Lucia) and it brings to my husband many childhood memories. "St. Lucy is also popular among children in some regions of North-Eastern Italy, namely Trentino, East Lombardy (where Matteo is from), parts of Veneto, parts of Emilia-Romagna and all of Friuli, where she brings gifts to good children and coal to bad ones the night between December 12 and 13".

It's hard to me to remember the date cause we don't have it in Brazil (and it also should be related to kids, you know?!). But to please my lovely husband and dad-to-be I decided to make him some of his favourite treats: chocolate-white-chocolate-chips cookies.

It's nice to make an adult happy as a child sometimes, isn't it?

Vegan Christmas Bingo in Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:44:00 +0000

Last Sunday evening me and Matteo went to the first Vegan Christmas Bingo Night in Dublin, organised by Vegan Ireland. It was their second social event this year and I had an amazing time there. It was great to see not just some familiar faces but new ones too. Even better seeing non-vegan people attending the event.

The evening started with Bingo (me or Matteo didn't win anything but I was happy to see non-vegan people winning and choosing vegan cookbooks or DVDs as prizes) and after it was served some samples of Vegusto vegan cheese for all the guests, followed by sandwiches and a table of salads from Cornucopia. It was plenty of food for everybody and everything was delicious. If you live in Europe, UK or Ireland I'd suggest you to order some Vegusto vegan cheese, it's the best vegan option for cheese I've seen around here!

With the belly full of amazing vegan food, the event wasn't done yet and people could choose playing more Bingo, board games, poker or just chill out and chat. We've decided to play some poker - no money involved cause just Matteo knew how to play it properly - and it was a good craic too.

It's very nice to see more and more people showing to this kind of event and supporting Vegan Ireland. I'll not stop saying how important the group is and that they deserve our support. Ireland kills a lot of animals every year and we need to be the voice of them.

If you want to know more about Vegan Ireland, check their website and also their page on Facebook.

Lemon and avocado (vegan) cupcake

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:02:00 +0000

I've been craving for avocado and today I decided to treat myself with this lemon cupcake with avocado frosting. It's delicious and this mom-to-be deserve it!

PS. And how cute is this case and decoration?

Vegan treats - Christmas gift ideas

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:07:00 +0000

With my sweet tooth I can't deny how much vegan treats always make me happy. And I gave up on avoiding sweets during my pregnancy a few months ago (I'm not eating them as a crazy person but I'm still eating some stuff in a regular basis). Having said that, I will suggest some amazing vegan treats for those who live in Dublin!

1. Sweet cupcakes: well, have to start with some shameless self promotion. I'm taking orders for this holidays and if you want to gift someone with cupcakes, please contact me at dublin.sweet (at) gmail (dot) com. I'm organizing my schedule and won't take last minute orders.

2. Choice chocolates: this brand have some amazing dairy free options, including Caramel Flavoured Choices, an awesome box of 12 foil wrapped choc's with a 'caramel' soft centre, Choc'n'Orange Bar, Choc'n'Crispie Bar and Choc Bar. You can find them in the The Sweet Life store at George's Street Arcade. Have to say that the caramel chocolates are one of the best vegan choc's I've ever eaten since I've become vegan.

3. Celtic Advent Calendar: Celtic has some dairy free options, which include this calendar and this is the second year I'm buying it not just for me but also for some friends. They're lovely. You can find them in the The Sweet Life store at George's Street Arcade.

4. Natasha's Living Food: the best option for raw treats in Dublin. You can contact her for private orders or you can check in the website where to get her products. They're really delicious and raw chocolate is great and rich in iron and magnesium too.

5. Nakd bars: I've been eating these bars since I've got pregnant to avoid sugar and solve my cravings for sweets. The "nudie" bars are great and also the "oatie" ones. Most of the health shops in Dublin have them and I think you can also find the "oatie" ones at Tesco.

That's it! Hope you can put together a nice package of threats for your vegan loved ones. A gift full of compassion and respect for the animals :)

And taking about Christmas, today we bought Cheatin' Roast Turkey for the first time (there's no Tofurky in Ireland) and I can't wait to try it and see if it's good!

Last minute bruschetta

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:27:00 +0000

Yesterday Matteo decided to do some bruschetta for us for dinner time and I wouldn't complain about it, love all variations of this Italian food. As usual he doesn't have a recipe for what he cooks, but I'll share how he made it with you. It was delicious!

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 ciabatta bread

7 or 8 sliced mushrooms

2 medium shopped tomatoes

1 shopped onion

2 garlic gloves (1 sliced and save the other one)

2 tablespoon shoyu or any similar soy sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable margarine

2 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)

herbs

salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Slice the ciabatta bread in two and put them in the oven until they get golden on top and a little bit crispy on the edges (about 5 to 6 minutes).

Fry onion and garlic until golden (use a teaspoon of vegetable oil if you want or just fry them with water). Add the mushrooms and let them fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Add salt, herbs and soy sauce and let it cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes (if you want you can let them out of the filling and add them raw on the top just before eating) and let the mix cook for another minute. Add the margarine and nutritional yeast and cook until the margarine melts and create a creamy sauce.

Rub some garlic in the bread slices and place the mushroom sauce on top of each slice.

Vitamin D, veganism and information

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:14:00 +0000

When you're vegan you can't assume things. Searching for information is a endless "job" and I'm still impressed about how many things that are present in what we consume that we don't know what exactly they are or where they come from. In Brazil we have even less information and it's not easy to figure things out but this is one more reason to keep searching for information, writing companies, asking questions.

This week two facts about Vitamin D came to my knowledge. The first one is related to a soy milk product in Brazil, from a company called Yoki. They have a line of soy milk, with different flavours, and I read on line that the Vitamin D they use to fortify their soy milks has an animal origin (D3 and not D2, which is vegetable). This was a shocking news for a lot of vegan friends that used to consume their products to avoid consuming Ades (a popular brand that's owned by Unilever).

The second news was about Kellogs corn flakes. I read that Kellogs used to have Vitamin D2 on their cereal and recently it was replaced by D3. I don't consume them but I know vegan people who do - and one of their reasons if because these cereals are fortified with vitamins while organic ones are not.

The biggest issue for me in cases like that is that the consumer is not informed and if you don't keep reading boxes and asking for information all the time you will end up consuming something that's not suitable for vegans. I know this is a risk that everybody is dealing with when consuming "regular" products that are "accidentally" vegan, mainly because these companies don't care about veganism, they just want to reach more parcels of the consuming market. But I still believe that consumers have the right to know everything about what they are consuming.

About the Vitamin D, I'm not an expert but make sure the products you're consuming have D2 and not D3 (fortified products are the main source of Vitamin D for vegans -and also sunlight). And don't forget to check your blood from time to time to see if you need any supplements (you'll find vegan options for sure).

Nando's in Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:13:00 +0000

I have to say that I'm not a big fan of going to places that also sell meat products or meals but sometimes we have to face reality. Dublin has no vegan restaurants. Really. And just a few vegetarian places. And because me and Matteo cook at home every day sometimes all we want is to go out and have a good time outside. The only place we used to go that is not at least vegetarian is Rotana Cafe (and they have the best falafel in town). But yesterday things changed and we found out a new option.

I've heard about Nando's many times before. First cause a lot of my friends from the UK use to go there and second because a lot of my friends from Dublin use to go there too. But I always thought they wouldn't have anything suitable for vegans (they're a Portuguese chain specialized in spiced chicken) until a few weeks ago, when I read Hannah saying something about the place. So I decided to check the website and in their FAQ's they have a question related to options for vegans (just type "vegan" in the question box and search). So yesterday me and Matteo decided to go to the Dundrum Town Centre unit to see how things were for real.

Before we got a table Matteo asked if any of their burgers were suitable for vegans and the waitress said yes and told us they had a list of ingredients too. She brought us the menu and also a kind of brochure which has all the meals' ingredients and also marks for "suitable for vegetarians" and "suitable for vegans". I've seen in the website before that the veggie burger is suitable for vegans if you ask without mayonnaise and this was confirmed too. So we asked for a hummus starter to share and two veggie burgers with no mayonnaise and plus fries. They are also very clear about they way they prepare veggie food:

"Please note that Nando’s are not vegetarian restaurants and do not imply in any literature that we are. However we do take specific steps to segregate our vegetarian product from chicken products as follows: A separate area of the grill is defined for the exclusive cooking of vegetarian and bean burgers; Separate utensils are always used with vegetable products; Separate bottles of the Nando’s bastes are used exclusively for basting the vegetarian products." (from their FAQ's)

The food was really good and also the atmosphere of the place. Staff was also very friendly. One other positive aspect is that they've opened a new location in town and they're open until late (23:00), which is rare in Dublin too.

One more vegan pregnant in this world - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:37:00 +0000

As you know I was very late to write about the first trimester and decided to not to the same with the second one (well, I'm a little bit late again, have to admit...). Everybody says the second trimester is the easiest one and I have to agree with that even considering that my first one was really calm.

What exactly changed during this period? Not too much I have to say in regards to my diet. I kept taking my supplements and in the end of the sixth month I started to feel hungrier so I was eating more but I was still feeling great. I'm still not drinking coffee and limiting my ingestion of caffeine in general (just drinking some organic cola from time to time and chocolate, can't stop eating it). But I'm not doing that great with sugar. It doesn't mean I'm consuming that much of it but I was craving sweets a lot during the fifth month.

I've tried to add flax seed oil to my meals but it makes me feel a little bit sick so I'm trying to keep it at least for two meals a week, not that much but still a great source of Omega 3.

The biggest change is that this is the time when you actually see your belly growing and start to feel your baby movements and that's why I think it is such a special period. Also, I started with Pre Natal Yoga classes and they are great. A huge preparation to labour day (through breath techniques and poses to help you to keep moving your pelvis during pre-labour and labour) and an important exchange of experience. It's amazing to be surrounded by moms-to-be once a week.

Sometimes I think if I'm overdoing with all this supplements and I know a lot of vegan moms-to-be don't change anything in their diets and don't take any supplements too but I don't know I just prefere to sin by exaggeration than by the lack in this case. But as I've written before every pregancy – and every person- is a different experience. All I can say is this is working for me. The combo of eating well + taking supplements + keep exercising as much as I can is being the base of a quiet pregnancy and my blood tests are all good.

I'm now getting close to the end of this journey and get ready for the next fase of my life and I feel good. I don't feel like I'm pregnant forever like some moms-to-be feel and I'm glad I still have some weeks to prepare myself for the big day. Day by day I'm getting ready for the arrival of my little boy.

(vegan) Pumpkin white chocolate chips cookies

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:52:00 +0000

As you can see I had enough pumpkin to make a few recipes! I've done the pie, cupcakes for the World Vegan Day and cookies (made them twice and still have pumpkin to one more batch!). I was inspired by this recipe from the blog have cake, will travel - one of my favourite blogs ever. I hadn't regular chocolate chips and decided to try the white ones, even not being sure if they would suit with pumpkin. And I really enjoyed the combination and also Matteo, who has eating most of the cookies!

I didn't follow the recipe and decided to try something new, so here's my recipe:

Pumpkin white chocolate chips cookie

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegan margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin purée

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Cook the pumpkin and when it's cold, dry the water and mash it. Using your stand mixer, cream together margarine and sugar. Stir in pumpkin and vanilla until combined. Add flour, nutmeg, salt and baking powder and mix. Stir in chips. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, place on parchment pape and flatten your cookies. Preheat oven to 180°C and bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until golden on top and around the edges. Wait 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin and chocolate cupcakes for the

World Vegan Day event in Dublin

Pumpkin pie

noreply@blogger.com (All about... (vegan) food) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:06:00 +0000

Most of my friends (mainly the vegan ones) love to cook and this is great. From time to time we exchange recipes, tips and even products (I enjoy sending food gifts). Cinthia is one of these friends. She lives in Brazil and I sent her a while ago a box that had, between other stuff, nutritional yeast (we can't find it in Brazil). She made a recipe called "Escondidinho de abobora e PVT" (it's really hard to translate this cause "esconder" means "hide" but "escondidinho" has nothing close to it in English as far as I know... but "abobora" means pumpkin and "PVT" is "TVP", texturized vegetable protein). A few weeks ago Matteo got me a huge pumpking and I really wanted to try some new recipe and I went for this one. It looks like a pie but it also sounds like a potato/pumpkin pure.

Well, let's get down to the recipe so you can figure it out what it is! And thank you Cinthia for it ;)

"Escondidinho de abobora e PVT"

Ingredients:

- 1 kg pumpkin

- 2 medium potatoes

- 1 tablespoon vegetal margarine

- water

- 180g of fine texturized vegetable protein (TVP)

- 2 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 small onion

- 1 teaspoon minced garlic

- 340g ready tomato sauce

- Salt, pepper, nutmeg, sweet paprika, fresh basil, fresh oregano to taste.

Preparation:
Peel the potatoes and pumpkin and cut into cubes. Cook them separately in water, because they have different cooking times. When they are really soft, remove from heat. Squeeze the potatoes with a masher (or a fork). Try to dry the pumpkin first with your fingers to squeeze out excess water. In a saucepan, combine the potatoes and pumpkin, add the margarine and salt to taste (and if necessary water). The puree can not be too much soft (got to have a firmer consistency). Keep stirring it constantly until the desired point. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, soak the soy protein (with warm water). In a heated pan add the olive voil and fry the onion and garlic. Add the TVP. Lower the heat and add the tomato sauce and a cup of water. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, sweet paprika, fresh basil, fresh oregano, and with the pot half-covered, let the sauce ascertain. Once you are done, remove from heat. Take a rectangular bowl. Place a first layer of puree, then the protein with the sauce and, finally, another layer of puree. Sprinkle nutritional yeast on top and bake in the oven temperature to 200 ° C from 20 to 30 minutes.
PS. I've added a layer of spinach leaves between the sauce and the second puree and it tasted delicious.