Meat Free Everyday

BLT - Vegan Version

2015-10-29T16:48:00.003+02:00

BLT - Vegan Version

Vegan BLT sandwich

Back at home in our wonderful kitchen at last!

We have had a wonderful time travelling but making healthy food and blogging has not been
easy, and I must apologize for not posting for a while.

On our travels we were fortunate enough to attend the London Vegfest.

So encouraging to see the number of new vegan products available.

Veganlife mags

While there we discovered a new magazine - VeganLife -

Full of excellent recipes and interesting articles.

One of the articles was about avocados, and included a BLT sandwich.

I had to try this.

Of course the interesting bit is the bacon:

Very simple in concept, but it does need a few hours marinading and dehydrating.

Layering the BLT sandwich

The result was delicious.

Ingredients:

1 C coconut flakes
1 T maple syrup
1 T tamari
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T liquid smoke

Next layer

Method:

Marinade the coconut flakes in a bowl in a mixture of the other ingredients for a couple of hours.

Spread the marinaded flakes out on a solid dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for about 8 hours till crispy. (or you could dry them in an oven at very low temperature)

While running the dehydrator, we dried some halved cherry tomatoes. This really intensified the flavours.

To assemble the BLT -

Use your favourite vegan bread.
Spread some vegan mayo on the slices.
Layer the lettuce (or kale), tomatoes, avo slices and sprinkle on the 'bacon' bits.
Add a twist of black pepper, close the sandwich and enjoy!

Note - The 'bacon' flavour was really good, but next time I will add some tomato paste into the marinade to give a more pink colour to the 'bacon'

Bon apetit.

Fool proof bean burgers

2015-09-11T21:30:00.000+02:00

Fool proof bean burgers

Karen's bean burgers

Over the years we have had many attempts at vegan burger patties with varying success, the main problem being getting them to stick together.

Still on our boat, Karen came up with these -

Guest post by Karen:

Have you ever seen a yummy looking recipe for a bean burger? And your attempt was a resounding flop? Yip, happens to us too.
Really annoying when the burger falls apart or crumbles and you end up having to eat it with a spoon. Bean burgers are cheap to make and a great protein source.
I want to feel confidant making them so was determined to make one that didn't fall apart.

I'm by no means a recipe expert but two things occurred to me.

First thing was not to have too much liquid. I drained the can of beans well.
I also used oats ground in a coffee grinder to soak up any extra liquid.

Second thing was to add ingredients that would well and truly bind the beans to make nice firm burgers.

Googling vegan egg substitutes and binding ingredients yielded a few options. Among them were ground flax seeds and Orgran brand No Egg.
I had flax seeds and a half a box of No Egg.
No Egg lists the ingredients as - potato starch, tapioca flour, calcium carbonate, citric acid, vegetable gum stabiliser and methylcellulose.
If you can't get No Egg, perhaps try a mix of potato flour and tapioca flour.

Burgers in pan

So here's how I made them -

1 large can Beans - any beans - rinsed and well drained
1 small tin Tomato paste or 4 Tablespoons Tomato paste
2 Tablespoons Soy sauce or Tamari
1 small bunch fresh herbs - any herbs - Parsley, Basil, Coriander

Mash the all the ingredients - except the herbs - together with a potato masher until they are well blended.
Chop the herbs reasonably finely with a piar of scissors and mix into the bean mixture.

2 Tablespoons Flax seeds
2 Tablespoons Rolled oats
2 Tablespoons No Egg

Grind the flax seeds in a coffee grinder. Then grind the oats in your coffee grinder. Mix these them together well with the No Egg.
If you're using a regular size can of beans then reduce these quantities.

1/2 Tablespoon Pink salt
1/2 Tablespoon Black pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Garlic powder or Onion powder
1/2 Tablespoon Mixed herbs

This is your flavouring. You can add any seasoning really. Veggie stock powder, Garam Massala, chilli, etc. Mix the above into the dry oats and flax seed mixture.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and again mix well. Allow to stand for at least half an hour.
Shape into balls, flatten and fry in a little oil in a non stick pan.

Serve with vegan mayo, guacamole, chutney or anything you fancy. I was fearful I may have gone overboard with the binding and the burgers would be heavy but they weren't.
And they held together perfectly.

Galley (kitchen) on board

Again - thanks to Karen - excellent job seeing we are still on the boat.

Vegan cheeze

2015-08-27T15:31:00.000+02:00

Karen's vegan cheeze

I must apologize for not posting for a while!

Karen and I are on the European inland waterways on our motor cruiser Shangri La,
on a trip from Netherlands to France.

I am somewhat preoccupied with running the boat and all that goes with such a voyage.

Read about our boating here

Galley (kitchen) on board

However, the boat has a well equipped galley (kitchen) and Karen has been producing the most amazing vegan food.

We have been wanting to make vegan cheeze for a while now, and Karen has done it!

Here is Karen's guest post on this -

Vegan cheeze

The thing about vegan cheeze is well, why bother. Cheese is highly addictive with casomorphins
And it tastes so good.
Cheese is a big hurdle for wannabe vegans. It was a tough one for us. We were told that we would get over cheese but I never believed it for a second.
But you actually do get over cheese. I think eating cheese is a habit. Not helped by the fact that there is so much of it in food all around us.
Once we started buying alternative things to eat - veggie pates, hummus, other bean dips, guacamole, salsas, pestos, tapenades, etc cheese
kind of dropped from our minds.

We do try vegan cheeze substitutes when we find them. They are unfortunately very expensive. I've been wanting to make a vegan cheeze and
my first attempt was a bit of a flop. This attempt was a whole lot better. And I made it on the boat - no less.
We had Internet at one of the stops and I watched this video
Anja shows exactly how to make this cheeze and what texture to expect.

Her key tips are - Simmer don't boil the cheese.
Cook the Agar-Agar for a full 10 minutes to make sure it's activated and will set.
And get it in the moulds pronto as it sets while you are pouring it

Tricky ingredients like Agar-Agar and Miso are available from most Asian food shops or Health Food shops.

Her recipe is written underneath her You Tube video. I was careful to follow it more or less but I made a few tiny tweaks to accommodate what I had on the boat.

Here's the recipe -

1/2 C Soaked Cashew nuts/Macadamia nuts
3 Tablespoons Almond flour/Ground almonds
1 + 1/2 C Soy milk
3 Tablespoons Mild flavoured vegetable oil
1 Tablespoons Lemon juice/Apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons Miso paste - any colour or kind

1 Teaspoon Vegetable stock powder/Onion powder
1/2 Teaspoon White pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Himalayan salt

2 Tablespoons Agar-Agar soaking in 3/4 C boiling water for 10 minutes

I also added -
2 Tablespoons Nutritional yeast
1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric

You can add other flavours. Think along the lines of Garlic powder, Dried herbs, Liquid smoke, Smoked salt, Smoked paprika, Tomato paste, Mustard, Beer, Tamari, Soy sauce.

Here's how you make it -

Boil the kettle and soak the Agar-Agar for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile mix all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. I only have a stick blender on the boat and it worked fine. Check the taste and add more flavourings or salt if needed.
Add the Agar-Agar to the cheese mixture, and again, blend well.

Now add the mixture to a pot and bring it to a simmer.
Do not let it burn or boil.
Keep it at a simmer for 10 minutes stirring constantly and scraping down the sides of the pot.
After 10 minutes, remove pot from heat and quickly pour into a heat proof mold. Allow to cool at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator.

So the question you may ask - is it like cheese? I don't think so. But I like it. The closest I can compare it to is a really firm savoury mousse. It slices nicely. The flavours are up to you. You can add more or less of what you like.

Vegan cheeze on bread

It's perfect for a cracker biscuit or a slice of bread. With some pickles or a relish? Maybe mustard or vegan mayo and a slice of tomato? I loved this particular cheeze but I'm definitely going to try different flavours.

And it packs a protein punch with nuts and soy milk as the main ingredeints - which is always handy for vegans.

Thanks to Karen - and it was absolutely delicious!

Melty vegan cheeze

2015-07-09T21:01:00.000+02:00

Melty vegan cheeze

Melty cheezeburger and salad

Working is one of those unfortunate necessities of life, and I've been working offshore for the last 6 weeks.

The last posts were all prepared well in advance.

I am now travelling, in betwixt and between, but happened to be in London at the time of the:
Free from/Just V/Love Natural Love Organic show at the Olympia exhibition centre.

Really tasty melty vegan cheeze

It's so encouraging to see the number of new vegetarian, vegan and organic products on the market.

Some are better than others, but
its great that they are trying.

As I have mentioned before on this blog, usually it is cheese that is the hardest to give up when going vegan.

So I was thrilled to fine quite a few vegan cheezes now available.

I tried a sample of the vegan Cheddar Shreds and it was pretty good. Naturally I bought some.

So the point of this post - no particular recipe, but just that there now ARE lots of vegan cheeze options out there which are very tasty and (the all elusive feature) melty.

The main pic is a store bought vegan burger and salad, but the melted cheeze on the burger is the vegan Cheddar Shreds.

A very tasty, nourishing and healthy meal!

Bon Apetit.

Another Fermented Nut Cheeze

2015-07-02T20:11:00.000+02:00

Another Fermented Nut Cheeze

Fermented nut 'cheddar' cheeze

As promised, here is Karen's 'cheddar' nut cheeze:

See my previous post for the basic recipe.

Remember the basic recipe makes 2 cheezes, so halve your basic mixture, and flavour with the following ingredients:

(Oh - I've introduced our measurement - the Knifepoint = the pointy end of a chopping knife heaped along about a cm of the blade, if that makes sense?)

Whole selection of ingredients

1 Knifepoint smoked paprika
1 Knifepoint turmeric
1 Knifepoint mustard powder
1 pinch smoked salt
2 heaped t miso paste
1 heaped T nutritional yeast

Mix all ingredients in very well.

You can taste and add more of anything if you wish.

Makes a great cheezeboard

Press the mixture into a 7 cm x 7 cm round mould.

Dehydrate for about 6 hours, so the rind starts to form on the top.

Ease the cheeze out the mould and put back in dehydrator till a rind forms on the outside.

Bon apetit.

Fermented Nut Cheeze

2015-06-25T22:24:00.000+02:00

Fermented Nut Cheeze

Garlic and Onion - fermented nut cheeze

Giving up cheese is one of the hardest aspects of going vegan, but these fermented nut cheezes are really great.

Of course, the inspiration and basic recipes for these come from my raw food guru - Deborah Durrant. Check out her website
at Deliciously Raw.... and if you are ever in a position to do one of her hands on raw food courses - Go For It!

That's where I learnt about these cheezes.

Basic fermented cheeze ingredients

So you need to make a batch of the basic nut cheeze, ferment it overnight, and then flavour it as you wish.

If you are making a harder cheeze, you can dehydrate it to make a sort of rind.

Here is a basic fermented cheeze recipe -

2 C raw cashews (soaked)
1/2 C water
1/2 t probiotics (use powder from 3 acidopholus capsules)

Blend all above together in a high speed blender, but add the probiotic at the end.
Put the mixture into a cheescloth and drain.
Leave to ferment for at least 24 to 36 hrs.

Still for the basic mixture,

Mix in:

1/4 t salt
1T nutritional yeast
1 T lemon juice

This basic mixture will make 2 standard size cheezes, so split the mixture into 2 and flavour accordingly.

For my garlic and onion variation, add the following to one half:

1 t garlic salt
1 t onion powder
2 t nutritionl yeast

Now either roll the mixture to form a log and refrigerate, or put in a mold and dehydrate for about 8 to 12 hours to form a rind.

Next week I will give you Karen's 'cheddar' variation.

Bon apetit.

Smoked Tempeh Bacon

2015-06-18T22:14:00.000+02:00

Smoked Tempeh Bacon

Smoked Tempeh 'Bacon'

Last week I used smoked tempeh 'bacon' in the stir fry recipe, and here is the promised tempeh smoking recipe.

But before I do that, there is one aspect I must touch on -

Carnivores often ask why us vegetarian/vegans keep making 'meat look-alike' dishes.

On the one hand, they are right and it is pointless.

Tempeh rounds, sliced

On the other hand, we eat with our eyes and minds as well as our mouths,
and also what better way to convince carnivores that it is not necessary to use animal products to create tasty and healthy meals.

Having got that off my chest, on to smoked tempeh.

By the way, tempeh is basically fermented, cooked soy beans.

You can make your own tempeh, but it is much more readily available at health shops these days.
I used 2 store bought rounds of tempeh.

Ingredients for smoking

So, ingredients:

2 rounds tempeh
1 T maple syrup
1 T tamari
1 t apple cider vinegar
large pinch smoked paprika
pinch smoked salt

and method:

1 - Slice the tempeh as in the picture
2 - Mix all other ingredients to make a marinade in a large bowl
3 - Put the tempeh slices in the marinade, ensure all pieces are well coated, and leave to marinade for several hours, or overnight.
4 - Remove the slices and smoke in either hot or cold smoker. (I use the cold smoking gun - see this post on using the smoking gun

Serve up however you want - in a stir fry, in a salad, in a burger, etc etc....

Final product - smoked tempeh

One big word of caution - re the salt. In this batch, I was a bit too heavy handed with the smoked salt. I was concentrating on the smokey aspect, and rather forgot the saltiness. And remember, tamari is pretty salty on its own.
Rather use more smoked paprika, or cold smoke for longer.

The above ingredients a rather a guideline, and you can adapt to your taste.
For example if you want a sweeter result, up the maple syrup a bit.

Anyway - enjoy experimenting, and the result.
Bon apetit.

Vegan Stir Fry

2015-06-11T22:30:00.000+02:00

Vegan Stir Fry

Smoked Tempeh and veggie stir fry

I seem to think stir fries were originally the domain of carnivores - it was a good way to quickly cook a meal.

But our vegan stir fries are one of Karen's favourite meals.

I'm not going to give a specific recipe, as you can stir anything you like.

Rather I will give a few basic guidelines and tips.

Basic stir fry ingredients

In the meal and pictures for this blog, I used a supermarket veggie pack, extra onion and garlic, tamari, coconut blossom sugar, black pepper and coconut oil.

For the 'meat' or protein bit I added some home smoked tempeh 'bacon' (Recipe coming up next week).

Ghastly as this is, I need to explain how a meat stir fry was made (but briefly I promise)!!
Heat the oil in your wok, stir fry the small strips or pieces till they are browned. Remove them and keep them aside. Add the veggies to the wok, sprinkle with whatever
sauce being used, stir fry till almost done, add back the meat and stir fry till all warmed through.

The difference with a vegan stir fry is the protein element does not have to be cooked first as it only needs to be heated through.

Great garlic grating tool!

So - some general tips -

For the liquid or sauce:

I like to use a mixture of Tamari, Water and Coconut Blossom sugar.

You can also use a sweet sherry to give the syrupy sweetness.

Veggies - spinach is great, but it wilts down to almost nothing, so use enough.

Veggies - If you use harder veggies like butternut cubes, pre-steam them for a short while first,
otherwise everything else will have turned to a mush by the time the butternut is cooked.

Veggies - if not using a pre-bought pack, chop your veggies relatively finely.

Veggies - Fresh or frozen peas, or corn, are great for flavour and colour.

Protein - There are numerous Fry's or Quorn "meat style" strips you can use. Alternatively smoked or plain tofu cubes, but whatever you use, take them out the fridge or freezer in advance so they warm through fairly quickly.

Garlic and Onion - Whatever else goes in, I always start off with a finely sliced onion and one large grated clove of garlic.

Oil - The original meat stir fry required high heat and lots of charring. Not necessary with a vegan stir fry, but yes some heat. I like to use coconut oil.

And most important - it's a STIR fry, so stir/toss with a large spatula continually. This ensures it heats/cooks through evenly and doesn't become a stew!

So - the basic concept:

1 - Warm the oil in the wok. Just to smoking point, and then reduce the heat.
2 - Add the onion and garlic and stir fry for a short while, without burning the garlic.
3 - Add in the veggies, harder ones first,
4 - Pour in the liquid or sauce of your choice.
5 - Continue STIR frying, adding more liquid or tamari if needed. You don't want it to dry out completely.
6 - When nearly done (probably only 10 mins or so) add in the protein, and continue to stir fry until heated through.
7 - Sprinkle in a pinch or two of cracked black pepper and mix in just before serving.

Another great idea is to add in either some halved cherry tomatoes, or fresh herb such as coriander, right at the end.

Good luck!
And bon apetit.

Thai green curry - Raw and Vegan

2015-06-04T22:00:00.000+02:00

Thai green curry - Raw and Vegan

Raw vegan Thai Green Curry

Finally got around to making this raw vegan Thai Green Curry again.

I first discovered it on the FEAST and TASTE raw food courses run by Deborah Durrant of Deliciously Raw.

There are a couple of differences from her original recipe as I didn't have all the required items.
But it still tasted wonderful.

Ingredients:

Vegetables -

4 C cauliflower florets
1 C broccoli florets
2 C courgettes, finely diced
1 C red pepper, finely diced
1 C carrot, finely diced
olive oil
lemon juice
pinch salt

Sauce -

1 ripe avocado
1 C coconut milk
1/2 C spinach leaves
1 T fresh grated ginger
2 T lime juice
2 green chillis, seeds removed
1 inch fresh lemon grass
1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 t tamarind paste
2 t agave nectar

Method:

1 - In a bowl, marinade all the vegetables in a little olive oil and lemon juice for about 1/2 an hour.
2 - Spread the vegetables onto a solid dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 deg C for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
3 - Before the veggies are ready, put all sauce ingredients into the blender and blend till smooth.
4 - Transfer the veggies to a bowl and pour the sauce over, stirring in well.
5 - Return the bowl to the dehydrator for a short while to warm through.

Serve sprinkled with fresh coriander.

Vegan Creem Cheeze

2015-05-28T22:00:00.000+02:00

Vegan Creem Cheeze

Vegan creem cheeze

Karen found this slightly modified and very easy vegan creem cheeze recipe.

We use this when we cannot get Toffutti.

It makes a pleasant, mild creem cheeze that is great for toasts or snacks.

Don't be put off by the seemingly strange ingredients.

Vegan creem cheese ingredients

Ingredients:

1 block silken tofu, rinsed and drained (+- 300 grm)
2 T white miso paste
3 T cashew nut butter
1 t coconut oil, unflavoured
1 t agave nectar
1/2 t xantham gum
1/2 t guar gum

In the Blendtec

Method:

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend till smooth.

For this we found the Blendtec Twister Jar very useful.

This mixture is also quite thick and takes a bit of time to get smooth, with frequent scraping down to keep the mixture in the blades.

Guacamole

2015-05-21T21:00:00.000+02:00

Guacamole - raw and vegan

Guacamole

In a previous post I mentioned cheeseless snacks, and here is the promised guacamole recipe.

Ingredients

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados
1 large clove garlic
juice and pulp of 1 lemon (no pips)
salt to taste
chili flakes to taste (optional)

Method:

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend till smooth.

Some notes and suggestions:

The lemon prevents the avo from oxidizing and turning brown.
For a chunkier texture you could just mash all the ingredients together, but then you run the risk of the lemon not being fully mixed in and the oxidization occurring in patches.
You could add finely chopped tomato and onion for something different.

Bon apetit.

Chickpea Hummus

2015-05-14T22:00:00.000+02:00

Chickpea Hummus

As promised, here is Karen's chickpea hummus recipe. Never really sure of the correct spelling for 'hummus', but that close enough.

Chickpea hummus ingredients

Ingredients:

1 tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 - 2 large cloves garlic
1/2 t ground cummin (optional)
juice of and pulp of 1 lemon (no pips)
1 T tahini
salt to taste

Ingredients in the blender

Method:

Add all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend till the desired smoothness.

It is quite a thick mixture so it might take a while and you will need to scrape down the sides quite often to get the mixture to blend.

Some other ideas:

You could add sundried tomatoes, or fresh herbs like basil or coriander for a variation.
You could also use a different type of bean instead of the chickpeas.

Bon apetit

Who needs cheese!

2015-05-07T22:00:00.000+02:00

Who needs cheese!

Cheeseless snacks

It seems getting over cheese is the hardest part of going vegan.

Here are a couple of examples of quick and easy cheeseless snacks to get you through the day.

In this picture is vegan creem cheeze on beetroot toast, humus on onion bread and guacamole on onion bread.

The spreads are quick and easy to make, with the recipes coming up in the next few posts, or you could use the store-bought versions.

The onion bread and beetroot toast does require a bit of preparation ahead of time, but you could just as well use your favourite vegan bread or other vegan cracker biscuits.

If you are getting more deeply into raw and have a dehydrator, see one of my previous posts for the onion bread recipe and go to Deliciously Raw for the beetroot toast recipe.

Bon apetit.

Raw lemon, ginger and mango cheezecake

2015-04-30T21:30:00.000+02:00

Raw lemon, ginger and mango cheezecake

In case you hadn't noticed, raw desserts are among my favourite things to make.

Here is another raw vegan tart that was posted recently by Deborah Durrant from Deliciously Raw.

Check out Deborah's website for more fabulous raw food ideas

As usual I have made a few amendments to the original recipe.

The main reason is, from a cost point of view, I have decreased the amount of
nuts in the base and replaced them with sunflower seeds which are much cheaper. Sunflower seeds do not have a particularly strong flavour so do not
affect the tasted adversely, and seeds are also healthy.

And again from a health point of view I try to cut down on the oils and sugars.

So here is my version -

Crust:

Ingredients

1 C dry raw almonds
1 C sunflower seeds
2 T ginger powder
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 C soaked (pitted) dates

Method

1 Put the almonds, sunflower seeds, ginger and vanilla into a food processor and process until the nuts are well broken into small pieces.
2 Add in the dates and pulse until the mixture is a bit dough-like.
3 Press the mixture into a 23 cm spring form tin lined with baking parchment and put in fridge to firm.

Filling:

Ingredients

2 - 3 C fresh ripe mango, cubed
3 C raw cashews, soaked
1/2 C agave nectar
3/4 C lemon juice
1/3 C almond milk
2 T lemon zest
1 t vanilla
3/4 C coconut oil melted
2 T ginger powder
2 T soy lecithin

Method

1 - Scatter about 2/3 the mango cubes over the crust. Keep the other 1/3 aside.
2 - Rinse the soaked cashews well.
3 - Put all remaining ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
4 - Stir the remaining mango chunks into the mixture, and pour over the base.
5 - Put in fridge and chill till firm.
6 - You can decorate the top with thin mango slices if you wish.

Bon apetit

Crumbed mushrooms - raw and vegan

2015-04-23T22:00:00.000+02:00

Crumbed mushrooms - raw and vegan

This is another delicious and oh so easy accompaniment to a main meal, inspired, naturally, by the TASTE raw food course with Deborah Durrant.

Her recipe is a slightly more spicy version.

I chose a sort of Mediterranean flavour.

Choice of spices is yours.

The bread-crumb mixture

Ingredients:

6 to 8 Porto Bello mushrooms, wiped and halved
olive oil
lemon juice

1 C ground flax seeds (brown or golden)
1 T dried oregano
1 T dried rosemary
1 T dried sage
1/2 t ground black pepper
pinch salt

Method:

1 - Toss the mushroom halves in oil and lemon juice so they are well coated and leave to marinate for an hour.
2 - Mix the ground flax seeds with all the spices so it looks rather like breadcrumbs.
3 - Coat the mushrooms with the crumbs
4 - Dehydrate for 3 to 4 hours.

I found that these taste great while still warm and straight out the dehydrator.

Bon apetit.

Check out Deborah's website at Deliciously Raw for more great raw food ideas and recipes.

Coco pine smoothie

2015-04-16T21:00:00.000+02:00

Coco pine smoothie

It never occurred to me till the other day to put pineapple in a smoothie.

But I came up with this tropical sounding pina-colada style concoction. And it was delicious!

Coco Pine smoothie ingredients

Ingredients:

1 pineapple
2 bananas
1 C coconut flakes (soaked overnight)
6 to 8 pitted dates (soaked overnight)
1 + 1/2 C almond milk
1/2 C oats
1 heaped T protein powder (see note below)
1 heaped T baobab powder
1 heaped T lucuma powder
1/2 t vanilla extract
a few drops stevia liquid to taste

Peel pineapple and bananas.
Put all ingredients in the high speed blender and whizz till smooth.

Makes about 2 x 500 ml glasses as in the picture.

Enjoy!

Note on protein powder:

We use either hemp or pea protein powder.
There are vegan protein powders which are a mix of all sorts.
Just remember, whey protein is of course NOT vegan.

Lemon sponge, lemon creme dessert - Raw and vegan

2015-04-09T17:31:00.000+02:00

Lemon sponge, lemon creme dessert - Raw and vegan

Lemon sponge

I mentioned this absolutely amazing lemon sponge dessert we made while doing the Deborah Durrant TASTE raw food course.
See this post

Finally got to make it again at one of our dinner parties, and of course it was a hit!

So thanks to Deborah for all these stunning ideas and recipes!

Sponge base -

Ingredients:

3/4 C almond pulp
1/4 C almond flour
1/2 C coconut flour
2/3 C agave nectar
1/2 t lemon extract
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 T lemon zest
Pinch salt

Method

1 - Gently fold together the almond pulp, almond flour and coconut flour in a lrge bowl.
2 - Mix in the remaining ingredients.
3 - Divide the mixture into 6 individual 7 cm round moulds, and press down very firmly. I do this on a piece of baking parchment on a small chopping board.
4 - Put in fridge to firm.

Lemon Creme -

Ingredients:

1 + 1/2 C raw cashews, soaked
3/4 C coconut meat (We cant get that here so I use coconut flakes that have been soaked in warm water overnight)
1/2 C lemon juice
1/4 C agave nectar
1 T lucuma powder
2 T nutritional yeast
1 T lemon zest
1/2 C coconut oil
3/4 t soy lecithin

Method:

1 - Blend all the ingredients together until smooth in a high speed blender, adding coconut oil and lecithin last.
2 - Pour over the chilled sponge bases and return to fridge to set.

Note - You might have to add a little extra lemon juice or liquid to get the blender going as it is quite a thick mixture.
Probably need quite a bit of blending to get the required smoothness. You definitely get a smoother result using coconut meat.

To serve:

1 - Gently ease them from the moulds onto plates.
2 - I had made a fresh raspberry coulis or sauce, which I poured over.
3 - Sprinkle a few nuts on top.

Thanks again to Deborah Durrant for all the inspiration.

If you are in the UK, I can heartily recommend Deborah's FEAST and TASTE courses. Find out about them at her website Deliciously Raw.

Breakfast Mix - Raw, vegan and healthy

2015-04-03T21:00:00.000+02:00

Breakfast Mix - Raw, vegan and healthy

Healthy breakfast mix

I must apologize for not posting for a few weeks now.

I have had other things on my plate - pardon the pun.

But I have been eating a hearty healthy breakfast every day!

Along with a green juice or a smoothie, I always have a scrumptious bowl of oats and a whole collection of superfoods.

Ingredients

It might differ every now and then depending on what we have on hand, but this is my mix at the moment.

Ingredients:

2 C organic rolled oats
1/2 C sunflower seeds
1/2 C coconut flakes
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C seedless raisins
1/2 C raw walnuts
1/4 C chia seeds
1/4 C pumpkin seeds
1/4 C sesame seeds
1/4 C ground flaxseed
1/4 C hemp seeds
1/4 C dried goji berries

The mixture

Mix the whole lot together and store in an airtight container.

Before you go to bed, put a couple of spoonfuls of the mix in a bowl, cover with soy milk, or almond milk or whatever you have, and
allow to soak overnight.

In the morning, you might have to add a bit more liquid, and then chop up a bit of fresh fruit on top -

And enjoy!

This will set you up for the day.

Of course, use organic produce and ingredients whenever possible.

Bon apetit.

Veganaise - or egg free mayo

2015-03-06T22:00:00.000+02:00

Veganaise - or egg free mayo

Our veganaise on our burgers from previous week

This is something we have being trying to get right for some time.

Both Karen and I have had a good few flops.

The taste is generally good, but the texture and consistency has never been right.

Non dairy recipe book

The one recipe that Karen actually got to work came basically from the 'Non-Dairy Formulary' by Skye Michael Conroy, with a couple of minor differences.

Our version -

Ingredients:

1/2 C plain soymilk - chilled
1T plus tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar - chilled
2 tsp organic sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sea salt
pinch ground white pepper
pinch paprika
1 and 1/2 C mild canola or sunflower oil - chilled

Our veganaise

Method:

There seem to be loads of different opinions as to when to add the vinegars,

and as to what sort of blender to use.

The one thing everyone seems to agree is that you have to add the oil very very very slowly.

We used the small Twister Jar attachment on our Blendtec blender - at speed 1 to 2

Also we found it is important to have the liquid ingredients chilled.
So -

Put all ingredients EXCEPT the oil into the blender.
Start the blender and very, very slowly drizzle the oil in through the removeable cap.
It seemed to take for ages, but probably about 7 minutes.
If you get to the desired consistency before the full amount of oil is added, then that is also fine. You can just stop. The more oil - the thicker.

This time we achieved the ideal consistency.

The other thing - once you have the desired consistency, stop! Over blending seems to make it separate out again.

Good luck - if you get it right, the result is wonderful. Definitely much better than regular mayo.

Onion Tart - Vegan

2015-02-26T22:00:00.000+02:00

Onion Tart - Vegan

Vegan onion tart

We have not done much vegan baking at all but Karen wanted to try this dish as a starter at our last dinner party.

The original idea also came from the Leafy Green Cafe recipe book by Antonia De Luca, but we also needed to make this one gluten free.

After much research on the internet, Karen came up with this gluten free version, and it worked pretty well.

Onion Tart

Pastry Crust

Ingredients:

1/3 C almond flour
1/3 C soy flour
2/3 C tapioca flour
3/4 t guar gum
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup cold vegan butter
1/1/2 t apple cider vinegar
3 - 5 T cold water

Method:

Whisk together all the flours, guar gum and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add the apple cider vinegar and water and stir gently till the mixture comes together to form a dough.
Roll out the dough in the usual way and press into a pie dish with removeable base.

Ingredients for filling

10 onions chopped
1 1/4 C water
1 T corn flour
1 T caraway seeds
1/2 t marmite
salt and black pepper to taste
cherry tomatoes for the topping.

Cook the onions in 1 cup of the water till soft.
Stir in the salt, pepper, caraway seeds and marmite and cook a bit more.
Mix the cornflour in the remaining 1/4 water, stir in and let it bind.

Pour the mixture into the pastry crust.

Halve the cherry tomatoes and decorate the top as you like.

Bake in the oven at 220 deg C for about half an hour.

Quite different and delicious.

Bon apetit!

Vegan Burger patties again

2015-02-19T21:00:00.000+02:00

Vegan burger patties

I made these vegan burgers again -

( see this post) - with a few changes.

Firstly we had a guest who was gluten intolerant, so instead of the raw oats I used about 3/4 C of coconut flour.

Secondly, instead of fresh mushrooms I used dried shitake mushrooms which had been soaked in water overnight.

They are just so much more flavoursome.

And thirdly I processed the mixture a bit more so it was not so coarse.

I liked these ones better.

Bon apetit.

Raw Valentine's Day cake

2015-02-16T11:54:00.000+02:00

Raw Valentine's Day cake

Raw vegan Raspberry Cheezecake

I haven't made a raw cheezecake for ages.

Our latest favourite recipe books is 'Leafy Green Cafe' by Antonia De Luca.

She has some delicious raw desserts there.

I made my version of her Strawberry Cheesecake.

Apparently strawberries are among the worst crops for being heavily sprayed with pesticides, so I rather made it using raspberries, and a few other minor changes.

Slice of Raspberry Cheezecake

For the crust -

Ingredients:

1 C raw almonds
1 C raw cashews
1 t vanilla extract
3 T agave nectar
1 T coconut oil melted
pinch of salt

Method:

Put all ingredients into a food processor and process till smoothish.
You want to retain a bit of crunchiness.
Press into the bottom of a 23 cm springform tin.
Keep in fridge while making the filling.

Filling -

Ingredients:

3 C cashews, soaked for a while
1/2 C agave nectar
about 4 stevia tablets in 1/4 C water
1/2 C coconut oil melted
1 1/2 cups nut milk (or soy milk or rice milk)
3/4 C lemon juice
3 T lecithin powder (soy based)
pinch of salt

About a cup of fresh raspberries
A few more raspberries for decorating.

Method:

Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the raspberries into a high speed blender and whizz till really smooth.

Pour half this mixture onto the base in the tin, for the first layer.

Add the cup of raspberries to the remaining half in the blender and whizz up again till smooth.

Pour over the first layer.

Decorates the top with the remaining raspberries.

Keep in fridge to set.

Enjoy.

Berry smoothie - raw and vegan

2015-02-05T22:00:00.000+02:00

Berry smoothie - raw and vegan

Now for my berry smoothie.

You can of course use any berries you want, and whatever you use will of course create the colour of the smoothie.

This time I have used some soaked goji berries, among others, which give it the almost orange colour.

Ingredients:

My berry smoothie ingredients

1 banana
about 6 pitted dates, soaked
1 C raspberries
about 2 T each goji berries, white mulberries and cranberries, soaked in a little water overnight.
some stevia tablets or stevia liquid
1 T pea protein
1 T camu camu berry powder
1 T baobab powder
1 C water

Berry smoothie

And blend together in a high speed blender for about 40 seconds.

Pour and enjoy.

See Last chocolate smoothie post for general notes on smoothies.

One particular note for berry smoothies though, is I have found blueberries don,t work very well.
The taste is great but they cause the smoothie to separate, with one half becoming very liquid and the other very thick and almost gelatinous.

Bon apetit

Chocolate Smoothie - raw and vegan

2015-01-29T21:00:00.000+02:00

Chocolate Smoothie - raw and vegan

Chocolate smoothie

Smoothies and juices are rather the staple diet of a raw foodie.

I have done posts on smoothies before, but we have improved, and I decided to share
our favourite smoothies and juice over the next few posts.

Also, we had Karen's parents staying with us for three weeks over the festive season.
Whether they wanted it or not they got well smoothied and juiced up, and seemed to love it and thrive on them!

Chocolate smoothies

Our four favourite smoothies are - chocolate, berry, melon and a green one, while our favourite juice is a green juice.

This week - the chocolate smoothie, with some variation suggestions.

Of course you do need a good high speed blender.

Chocolate smoothie basic ingredients

Ingredients -

2 bananas
about 6 pitted dates, soaked overnight
1 1/2 C soy milk
some stevia tablets or stevia liquid
1 1/2 heaped T raw cacao powder
1 T mesquite powder
1 T maca
1 T cacao nibs
1/2 t cinnamon powder
a little extra water

Blend all ingredients together in the blender, pour and enjoy.

Some variations -

Use a different milk - eg almond or rice milk or any nut milk of your choice.
Use a different superfood instead of the maca - eg lucuma or baobab powder
My favourite is to add a spoonful of peanut butter
A dash of vanilla adds a little 'something'
Increase the creaminess by adding a lump of cacao paste
If you do not need to be vegan, use honey as a sweetener instead of stevia.

Couple of other notes -

Keep a bowl of pitted dates soaking in the fridge.
You can freeze bananas - when they are ripe, peel and cut into about 5 pieces. Lay out on a chopping board and freeze. When frozen, take the pieces off the board and store in the freezer in a bag. (this way they don't freeze as a great big lump).

Bon apetit.

A different smoothie next week.

Veggie rice paper wraps - vegan and raw

2015-01-22T22:00:00.000+02:00

Veggie rice paper wraps - vegan and raw

Rice paper wrap ingredients

One of Karen's specialties is these rice paper wraps.

We have now served them up at dinner parties a few times, and they have always gone down well, particularly as a starter.

Soaking the wraps

The rice wraps should be available at most Chinese stores.

They need to be soaked in water to soften, but the trick is not to soak them too long so they break - usually just under a minute.

Ingredients on wrap

You can use anything you like for the filling, but here Karen used spinach, carrots, shredded cabbage, and peanuts for crunch.

Rolling the wrap

They do need a dipping sauce and again it's up to you what flavour you make. We usually make a mild chilli sauce.

Almost done

But a TIP - Make them just before serving or the wrap can go a bit rubbery.

Enjoy.

Some completed wraps