and bells on her toes

Don't forget to make your Christmas Cake!

2011-11-29T12:13:00.001+01:00

Now is a good time to do it.
see here

I made 2.

Calling all Vegans & Vegetarians

2011-11-24T17:10:00.001+01:00

A good friend of mine is currently a final year student underaking a human nutrition degree at the University of Westminster and is busy working on his final year project.
The project is investigating the advice given out to vegetarians and vegans surrounding supplementation of their diet and to identify why they do or they don't take supplements.
He needs our help to answer his questionnaire.
It will only take a few seconds AND you'll be enetered into a prize draw for a vegan cookbook.
YAY!
All information will be treated with the strictest confidence and no personal details will be shared to other parties.
Please head on over here and help my friend get his degree.

Vegan MoFo Day 31- Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:04:00.000+01:00

Happy Halloween to all my Vegan MoFo buddies - it's been a fun crazy ride. See you next year!

Vegan MoFo Day 27 - The Tempeh Conspiracy and Other Stories

2011-10-27T20:55:00.000+02:00

Yes I think there is a tempeh conspiracy against me. The first time I ever tried it was this bottled stuff in brine and it was minging.
Yet so many trusty vegans I know of declare their tempeh love on a daily basis so I've been determined to give it another go. I was pretty impressed when I spotted some fresh tempeh at my local supermarket, so I bought some. That was about 2 months ago. Afore mentioned product has been sitting in my fridge keeping the lone pickled onion company ever since. I didn't know what to do with it and there was that little bit of trepidation based on my last (and first) experience that was also playing a big part in my reluctance.

I PPK'd, I MoFo'd, I even Googled (I know, so primitive right?).

I had enough tempeh teasers in my brain that I felt confident enough to attepmt to cook with it today.

What had I chosen you're all dying to know?

Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes from the AWESOME Isa.

So I opened the package, started to crumble the tempeh only to stop after 2 seconds, slightly confuzzled 'cos this tempeh shatang looks very similar to tofu. I grab the package, double check the label......hmmmmm........tofu sukiyaki estilo al japones is apparently not tempeh but, umm.....well......just tofu.

Determined not to abandon my plans (bearing in mind I'm now craving some fishy fried bredcrumbed goodness) I went ahead with the recipe anyway. I followed it step by step instead I didn't use red pepper and I used regular coarse homemade breadcrumbs.

These came out a cross between a Maccy D's filet o' fish and a fish cake.

They were so so good. So so fish like. If I hadn't of made them with my bear [sic] hands I'd be screaming that someone had tried to poison me.

Think I'm exagerating?

I'm not.

Pretending that I'd been cleaning out the freezer and found a bit of cod that needed using up, I gave peskytarian Mr treehugger 2 of these for his lunch.

When asked if they were nice his only comment was; "There's too much lemon juice in them."

Well I laughed because there's no lemon juice in them at all! He meant vinegar (he's a wuss with acidic things, they weren't too vinegary for me).

So I asked him if the cod tasted alright or if it had been in the freezer too long and he said "No, the fish is lovely".

RESULT!!

He would not believe me when I told him they were vegan.

I would still like to try the original recipe though, the way they were intended, but this really was a very happy error on my part.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 26 - Mashed Carrot and Swede

2011-10-26T20:25:00.000+02:00

Or rutabaga to my American pals.

This is one of my favourite side dishes and is a sure sign that winter is looming.

Boil some carrots and swede, drain then mash with some salt and freshly ground black pepper and a HUGE knob of vegan butter.

Seriously simple but seriously good.

Save the water for making soup or gravy.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 25 - Vegan Yorkshire Puddings

2011-10-25T20:24:00.001+02:00

I have my Canadian buddy Felicity to thank for the heads up on these little beauties.

They say necessity is the mother of invention and it was necessity, or rather running out of regular flour to be more precise, that made me reach for the strong bread flour.

These came out AMAZING!

I will be using the bread flour to make Yorkshire Puddings from now on.

Yorkshire Puddings

makes 8

Ingredients

4 oz strong bread flour

1 heaped teaspoon chickpea flour

1 teaspoon salt

half a pint soya milk

Vegetable oil

Method

Mix the flour, chickpea flour and salt together in a bowl and gradually pour in the milk whisking really hard.

Put to one side and go about your business. Every 20 mins or so give the mixture another good whisking, do this about 6 or 7 times in the next couple of hours.

Preheat the oven to 230C (450F). Pour about a teaspoon of vegetable oil into each muffin pan hole and place in the oven for about 20 mins - the oil needs to be smoking! Seriously.

Whisk the mixture again and pour into the hot muffin tins, about two thirds of the way up.

Return to the oven and cook for 20 minutes.
Don’t open the oven door to check them as the oven needs to stay really hot. If you need to turn the pan round just do it as quickly as possible without causing a serious accident.

These Yorkshires pop out of the tin really easily.

Serve alongside your usual roast dinner gubbings and lashings of gravy.

Deeeeee-lish

Not sure what a Yorkshire Pudding is?

Check out the history here.

And check out Cat's Yorkies too.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 24 - Christmas Birthday Cake

2011-10-24T20:45:00.000+02:00

No your eyes do not deceive you, this was a birthday cake request. It somewhat resembles a South Park character but that wasn't intentional. This was a sponge cake minus the cherries, sliced in half and filled with strawberry jam and buttercream then covered in more buttercream and decorated with fondant icing.

The Christmas and Birthday hating friend was delighted with it.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Liebster Award - Sharing the lurrrrve

2011-10-24T19:19:00.001+02:00

Sharing the vegan love makes me happy. Being nominated by three truly awesome bloggers makes me happy too.

Big thanks goes out to:

Tales of a Vegan Food Fetishist
Vic from The Life
Veronica at Veggie V's Vegan Adventure

So the rules are as follows:

Show your thanks to those who gave you the award by linking back to them.
Reveal 5 of your top picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Post the award on your blog.
Enjoy the love and support of some wonderful people on the interwebz!

I'm going to pass this on to five more great blogs that I really love reading

My MoFo blogging twin Sock Monkey

Sal at Alien on Toast - because I just love her and she's been poorly. x x x

Johanna at the Green Gourmet Giraffe - 'cos her recipes are amazing and I LOVE giraffes.

The Stripey Cat - 'cos I really love her blog and she bought Orange Chocolate Cashew Cheesecake into my life.

Andy at In My Vegan Life - because she's an AWESOME person with an AWESOME blog :-)

Vegan MoFo Day 21 - Apricot Fruit Cake

2011-10-21T18:49:00.000+02:00

This cake is wonderfully moist and flavourful. Goes perfectly with a cuppa tea.
Apricot Fruit Cake

Ingredients

75g dried apricots, roughly chopped

75g dried prunes, roughly chopped

75g sultanas

225 ml apple juice

200g plain wholemeal flour

25g soya flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon mixed spice

75g soft brown sugar

100ml sunflower oil

Juice of half a lemon

2 Tablespoons of jam (apricot, gooseberry...whatever)

Method

Soak the apricots, prunes and sultanas overnight in a bowl with the apple juice.

Pre heat oven to 170 degrees (325 fahrenheit).

Sift together the flours, bicarb and mixed spiced.

Stir the sugar into the soaked fruit then add the oil, lemon juice and jam. Add this to the flour mixture and mix together really well.

Pour into a greased 8 inch cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 55-60 mins.

Test to see if the cake is cooked by inserting a tooth pick into the middle of the cake. If the tooth pick comes out clean the cake is ready.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 20 - Creamy Pumpkin Pie

2011-10-20T20:05:00.000+02:00

Another AWESOME recipe from Vegan Vitality

Next time I'm gonna leave out the sugar 'cos this is a bit too sweet for me even though there's only 100g in the entire recipe.

So I'll just have to make another one to make sure it'll taste OK.

Oh the sacrifices I make

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 19 - Golden Crumb Treacle Tart

2011-10-19T21:28:00.000+02:00

Golden Crumb Treacle Tart
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry:
200g plain flour
100g vegan margarine
2 teaspoons sugar
pinch of salt
a little iced water (about 2 Tablespoons)
For the filling:
2 cups coarse breadcrumbs
Juice and rind from one orange
8 Tablespoons golden syrup

Make the pastry by mixing the flour, sugar and salt together and rubbing in the margarine until the mix ressembles breadcrumbs, add a little cold water until the dough is smooth but not sticky then place it the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven at 200°C.
Make the tart filling by mixing the breadcrumbs in a bowl with the orange zest and juice and the golden syrup. Mix to incorporate all the ingredients.

Once the pastry has been in the fridge for 30 minutes, take it out and roll it out onto a floured surface and line a greased 25cm tart tin.
Pour the golden syrup mix into the tart tin and place in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes and then 180°C for 10 minutes.

Scrummy with custard.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 18 - Curried Apricot Rice Salad

2011-10-18T20:47:00.000+02:00

This is a simple but very tasty dish, great as a side, as a snack or for parties and picnics.

Curried Apricot Rice Salad
Ingredients
1 Cup Brown Rice cooked in 3 cups water for 20 minutes, drained and left to cool
+/- 1 teaspoon Cumin
+/- 1 teaspoon Curry Powder
+/- 1 teaspoon Salt
half teaspoon Black Pepper
Sprinkling of Turmeric
Sprinkling of Garam Masala
Sprinkling of Garlic Powder
4 Dried Apricotes, diced
Handful Sultanas (or raisins)
Handful Roasted Cashews

Method

Fork the Rice (giggles) regularly whilst it's cooling to prevent it from sticking. When it's cooled completely add all the ingredients mixing really well after each addition and Bob's yer uncle!
How easy is that!
Don't be shy to add more of the Spices and taste it regularly to check how it's coming along and just season it to your taste really. This is so versatile and the possibilities are endless so don't be scared - experiment with it. This will keep in the fridge a few days and is even better the next day too.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 16 - Iron Chef Challenge #2

2011-10-15T15:32:00.001+02:00

This weeks ingredients are bananas and coffee.

Thus the ugliest cake in the world was born...people - I give you the Coffee Banoffee Cake.

This is a basic sponge with 4 teaspoons of strong coffee and muscavado sugar added.

I would have decorated this cake with a buttercream topping but I had no icing sugar and ~~couldn't be bothered to nip to the shop~~ I made an agreement to myself that I would participate in the Iron Chef Challenge ONLY if I had the ingredients in the house already. I would not participate if I had to buy something in. Whilst that is true, I would have bought icing sugar because it gets used A LOT round here but well.......I really couldn't be arsed to go to the shops.

The banana cream topping didn't go quite as planned, though it tastes fricking AWESOME it is not very pleasing to the eye. I think lemon juice was needed to prevent the bananas from going brown. The addition of a teaspoon of turmeric sent it a day glo green colour.

Who knew!

So it got covered in smashed up muesli to lessen the eyeball attack.

I will make this again for sure, but it needs a few tweaks so therefore I ain't posting the recipe.

here's a pretty picture to make up for the optical onslaught of the previous picture and to prove that there is nothing wrong with your monitor OR your eyesight.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 14 - Hump day baby!

2011-10-14T19:02:00.002+02:00

Give me an H
Give me a U
Give me an M
Give me a P
What have ya got???
Halfway through the awesomeness that is Vegan MoFo that's what!

And what better way to celebrate than by giving a big shout out to one of the best performers and raddest vegans around - Leslie Hall.

Click on the above image to hear Leslie's brand new, never released VEGAN SONG and get shimmy-ing round the kitchen using your whisk as a microphone and your nooch tub as a maraca.
You know ya wanna.

Lyrics:
I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you. But if it’s raised in a cage, and it can’t even move, if it’s hormone filled and in a bad mood. I’m gonna pass on that. Reach for something better. The only milk I’ll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they’re cooked and grown with love. So give a chef who knows what’s up a hug. Momma just can’t seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I’m much healthier, they just say that it’s all lies. But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly. Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed. Don’t take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger. I like it! We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies. ‘Cuz I wouldn’t want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age. Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces. Never met my mother, raised by machines. Never get sunshine never get green, but that’s just me. [That girl loves fruit leather.] So ask us what we’re eating. Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice. With a slice of tempeh, yes, I’ll have that twice. Don’t forget the legumes!

Thanks have to go out to Kittee as well, my life will never be he same after discovering the zany world of Leslie Hall.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!
Go Leslie Hall!

Vegan MoFo Day 13 - Mushroom and Butternut Squash Omelette

2011-10-13T19:32:00.000+02:00

Here's what a Vegan MoFo'er has for her lunch.

Vegan omelette with roasted butternut squash and mushrooms.

The sweetness of the butternut squash goes together perfectly with the saltiness of the omelette.

Omelette was made by whizzing together 400g silken tofu, half a cup cashews, teaspoon onion powder, teaspoon garlic powder, teaspoon Coleman's Mustard, teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon white pepper.

Pour batter into a hot oiled frying pan and smooth down the top, cook for 5-8 minutes then place under a hot grill for 10-15 minutes. Whilst omelette is grilling, slice and saute the mushrooms, add a pinch of salt, few twists of black pepper and the roasted butternut squash. Keep warm until omelette is ready.

SCARF!!!

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 12 - Carrot Cake

2011-10-12T18:36:00.000+02:00

This is another recipe inspired by Vegan Vitality (still on sale at Amazon from 1 pence!!!).
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
225g wholemeal self raising flour (or add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to plain flour)
2 teaspoons All Spice
225g grated carrots
50g raisins
75g margarine
2 Tablespoons sunflower oil
75g muscavado sugar
4 Tablespoons Golden Syrup (maple syrup would work just as good)
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 Tablespoon soya milk.

Method

Heat the oven to 180 ceslsius (340 fahrenheit).

Grease a loaf pan.

In a big bowl sift together the flour, all spice, grated carrot and raisins and mix together really well.

In a small saucepan gently heat the margarine, sunflower oil, sugar and golden syrup. Bring to a boil and immediately take off the heat. Add the mashed bananas then mix everything into the flour bowl. Add the soya milk and give everything a really good mix.

Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 65-70 mins.

Cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Leave as is and serve with lashing of vegan butter or decorate with orange butter cream made from margarine, icing sugar, fresh orange juice and grated rind of an orange.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 11 - Mini Carrot and Squash Roasts

2011-10-11T19:39:00.000+02:00

Mini Carrot and Squash Roasts

makes 12

Ingredients

Half a butternut squash, roasted and mashed with salt and pepper to taste

450g (3 cups) carrots, peeled and sliced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

100g (2 cups) mushrooms, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

quarter cup diced red pepper

half teaspoon dried rosemary

12 scrapes nutmeg

half teaspoon smoked paprika

Good knob of vegan margarine

175g toasted hazlenuts (sorry, forgot to measure cups)

100g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs (forgot to measure this in cups too! It's about 4 slices)

8 twists of black pepper

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon soya flour

1 Tablespoon arrowroot

Method

Heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (350 fahrenheit). Grease a 12 hole muffin pan.

Place the carrots in enough water to cover them and simmer until soft.

Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan and fry the mushroom, onion and garlic for 5 minutes, stirring every so often. Add the salt and cook for another few minutes then add the red pepper, rosemary, nutmeg and smoked paprika. Cook for a few minutes more then take off the heat.

When the carrots are cooked, drain, reserving the liquid, and mash with the margarine. Add the mashed carrot to the sautéed vegetable mixture along with the lemon juice, hazlenuts, breadcrumbs and black pepper.

Mix the soya flour and arrowroot to a thin paste with 2 tablespoons of the cooled carrot water and mix into the rest of the ingredients and give everything a really good stir.

Place a tablespoon of mashed squash in the bottom of each muffin hole and smooth down with your finger, then top up with the sautéed veg mix and smooth down with the back of a spoon.

Bake in the oven for 45-50 mins.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins.

I roasted the seeds from the butternut squash and used some to decorate the tops. The rest of the seeds are in mah tummy.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 10 - Upside Down Peach Cake

2011-10-10T20:09:00.000+02:00

Ingredients

2 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced into segments

1 Tablespoon muscavado sugar

8 scrapes nutmeg

3 cups of self raising flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 of a teaspoon of salt
1 and a half cups of coconut milk

half a cup of soya milk

2/3 of a cup of sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Method

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a 9 inch cake tin (deep one).
Place the peach segments in a bowl, add the muscavado sugar and nutmeg and mix gently. Set aside.

Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. In another bowl stir together the coconut milk, soya milk, oil and vanilla and add to the flour, sugar and salt. Mix until you get a smooth batter. The consistency will be quite thick for a cake batter but this is good, don't be tempted to add more liquid.
Arrange the peach slices in the base of the cake tin and just before pouring the batter into the cake tin, stir in the cider vinegar.

Bake for about 1 hour 30 mins (check after 1 hr 15 mins) until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Don't be tempted to open the oven for at least an hour or it will sink!
Cool in the tin then invert onto a plate. You might need to slice the top of the cake to get it even, depending on how much it has risen.

This is good as it is or with lashings of warm custard.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 9 - Mango Fool, fool

2011-10-09T19:56:00.000+02:00

It is not lightly I make this next statement but mangoes are my favourite fruit.

Sorry bananas. Sorry raspberries. Sorry kiwis.

Whilst I love and appreciate you all I just don't have the same feelings for you as I do towards mango. It's my fault, nothing you've done, we're just going in different directions that's all...OK I'll stop now.

I firmly believe that the harder you have to work to get to a fruit the more delicious it is (actually, this has just come to me now, I've not thought long enough about it to work out whether that's true or not.....)

Mangoes do play hard to get, if you want to see the easiest way to get to that fleshy juicy goodness then watch this video.

This recipe makes one HUGE serving but you could split it up into two smaller servings, that glass is the only pretty glass I have but this would be AWESOME for sharing if you're planning on a romantic meal for two.

And bearing that in mind I have decided to name this recipe........

It Takes Two to Mango

serves 1 or 2

Ingredients

Half a tin full fat coconut cream

2 ripe mangoes, peeled and cubed

Mint leaves for decorating

Method

Chill the tin of coconut in the fridge for 2 days. Chill a metal bowl in the freezer for an hour before making.

Purée all except a couple of spoonfuls of the mango. Chop the remaining mango into teeny tiny chunks.

Spoon half the puréed mango into a serving glass.

Open the chilled coconut cream and pour half into your chilled metal bowl.

Whisk until it thickens, which surprisingly took about 10 minutes.

Fold the remaining mango purée into the coconut and spoon into the serving glass.

Top off with the mango chunks and garnish with mint leaves.

DEVOUR!

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 8 - Iron Chef Challenge: Chickpea Fritters

2011-10-08T13:14:00.001+02:00

There was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't participate in this weeks Iron Chef Challenge.

1. I have the day off

2. the ingredient is chickpeas

3. this can be orange-ified

What better way for me to pay homage to my all time favourite thing than to get creative in the kitchen with my all time favourite thing.

We made some sweet sweet chickpea lurve together, bouncing ideas of eachother.

"What's that Chickpea?, you'd like some ginger added? OK!"

"What's that chickpea? You'd like some peanut butter too? OK!"

Who was I to question the chickpea juju that was occurring.

Moments of culinary inspiration are not new to me but usually a recipe needs a tweak here and there. Not this one - it's perfect! AND I wrote down EVERYTHING as I was doing it.

Some chickpea miracle has occurred!

Having the day off meant I could spend as much time as I wanted/needed to take a nice photo. Seeing as y'all are experiencing this with your eyes and not your taste buds I really really wanted the photo to do it justice and make you all want to make this recipe so as we can all join hands and sing chickpea praises together.

I hope it worked!

Chickpea Fritters
makes 8
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium mushroom, diced up small
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, diced up small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
quarter cup onion, diced up small
1 and a half cups of cooked chickpeas
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
third of a cup grated carrot
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley
8 twists of fresh black pepper
Oil for frying

For the batter (modified from this recipe)
Half a cup of flour
Half a cup of fresh breadcrumbs
8 twists of black pepper
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
Half a cup of water (maybe a little less)

Method

Make up the batter by combining the flour, breadcrumbs and pepper in a bowl and whisking in the liquids. Add the water gradually until you get the right consistency.

Whisk it a few times during the next stage.

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan. When the oil is hot add the mushroom, ginger and garlic, stir and turn the heat down.

Add the salt and stir.

Add the onion and chickpeas and cook through for about 5 minutes stirring every now and then.

Add the peanut butter and take off the heat. With a potato masher, smoosh all the ingredients together, you still want chunks of things so don't go atomic on this.

Add the carrot, parsley and black pepper and stir together to combine.

Using an eighth of a cup as a measure (or whatever you have to hand, even your hand!) form the mixture into 8 balls.

I was a bit concerned that this was going to be a bit sticky so I had a bowl of chickpea flour on stand-by. It wasn't needed at all.

I don't own a deep fat fryer so these were fried in a small saucepan, one at a time in about three quarters of an inch of oil.

Heat the oil. Coat the balls in batter and gently plop into the hot oil, cook until golden brown and drain.

Sprinkle with salt.

There was a bit of batter left over so I coated up a couple of mushrooms and fried those too, it would have been rude not to!

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 7 - Vegan Cowboy Baked Beans

2011-10-07T22:11:00.000+02:00

'Cos all good cowboys are vegan right?

Baked Beans

Serves 8

Ingredients

400g dried haricot or cannellini beans

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp dark muscovado sugar

3 Tbsp cider vinegar

480g can of plum tomatoes, smooshed up

150ml water

Method

Soak the beans overnight.

Drain and place in a pan, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil over a medium heat.

Cook for about 45 minutes-1 hour until tender.

Remove from heat and set aside for 30 minutes.

Drain well.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and cook for 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of mins then add the salt.

Stir in the sugar, vinegar, tomatoes, and water, then tip in the beans. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 1½-2 hours, stirring occasionally, until you have a thick sauce and tender beans.

Wearing of cowboy attire is entirely optional.
These will be awesome on a jacket potato which is exactly how I intend to eat them tonight.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 6 - Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Soup

2011-10-06T22:28:00.000+02:00

Roasted Carrot & Parsnip Soup

serves 6

Ingredients

350g carrots, peeled and chopped

160g parsnips, peeled and chopped

140g turnip, peeled and chopped

310g diced yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, cut in halves

half a cup chopped leek

half a cup celery, sliced thinly

2 Tblsp olive oil x 2

1 tsp salt

1 and a half litres of good stock

Method

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a roasting pan in a medium/hot oven for 5 minutes. Add the carrot, parsnips, turnips and onion. Roast for about an hour turning every 20 minutes or so. Twenty minutes before roasting has finished add the garlic.

Heat the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a big pan and fry the leek and celery for 8 minutes. Add the salt and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the roasted vegetables and stock.

Simmer for 5 mins then whizz with a stick blender (or whatever fancy equipment you normally use).

Season with freshly ground black pepper and go and warm your tummies.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo day 6 - Tree Cats!

2011-10-06T14:57:00.000+02:00

So this isn't a food post but they are eating food and one of them is orange!

OK OK so this totally fails as a Vegan MoFo post but LOOK! KITTENS!

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo day 5 - Chocolate Orange Cashew Cheese Cake

2011-10-05T23:12:00.000+02:00

HOLLER!!

I was inspired to make this by The Stripey Cat an AWESOME blog that I really LOVE reading and following. Take a look at her recipe here.

My only comments to add to this is that the oranges I used produced 150ml of juice and if you're microwaving the chocolate THE BOWL WILL BE BLOODY HOT! Serves me right for doing it the lazy way which 99.9% of the time I never do.

I don't have the same size cake tin (it's on my list) so I made a bigger one with less height.

I thought it would be nice to decorate with candied orange slices which were really easy to make and so pretty....but in all honesty I'd skip this next time (and there will be a next time) and just decorate with chocolate.

Candied Orange

Ingredients

1 and a half cups of water

half a cup granulated sugar

1 big orange sliced into quarter of an inch slices

Method

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the orange slices and cook over a medium heat,for about 20 minutes, turning them a couple of times. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for another 10 minutes or so, until the syrup is thick and the slices are tender but still intact. Turn them a couple of times during this process.

Transfer the orange slices to a rack to cool, after about 2 minutes turn them over then after 5 minutessprinkle with granulated sugar on both sides.

These can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Now excuse me while I go and fill mah face.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo Day 4 - When Life Gives You Lemons

2011-10-04T19:14:00.001+02:00

....and oranges, MAKE MARMALADE!!!!

YAY!

Orange and Lemon Marmalade

makes 1 medium jar

Ingredients
Juice of 4 oranges
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
7 oranges
Peel from 2 oranges, cut into long thin slices (or chunkier if you like it like that)
8 ounces granulated sugar

Method

Squeeze the juice from 4 oranges and I large lemon and put in a jug – add 1 teaspoon of bicarb.
Peel the oranges and cut in half horizontally, this makes taking out the pips easier. Remove pips and cut away any white pithy bits. Chop into small chunks. Put the oranges and peel in a heavy based saucepan, add the juice mixture. Bring to boil then simmer for 1 hour (after 40 mins you will have to keep a real good eye on it all as it starts to thicken and reduce down – you don’t want it to burn!)
Add the sugar and boil rapidly for 15 mins stirring all the time.
Place in clean sterilized jars, seal and let cool.

Keep refrigerated.
This makes enough for one medium sized jar – so just double or treble the amounts to whatever you want.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!