How I Do Love Isa!

Any vegan would know who Isa Chandra is. She is a culinary vegan Goddess!!
Isa has a great website, and is the author of many fantastic books, one of which I gave to my sister-in-law last Christmas, before I know who Isa was.

The reason why I love her so much is that all her food is easy to make, you just need some cooking know-how and a good palate. As yet I have not purchased any of her books but I very much want her entire collection.

Tonight's dinner was Isa's Cashew Vegetable Korma, which was the first time I had ever made a curry from scratch. and it was DE-LISH!!

I have also made her Banana Bread, which is quite sweet, but I just adore it, especially with chocolate soy milk for morning tea. YUM!!

 

And of course the one recipe of Isa's that EVERY vegan knows is her Chickpea Cutlets. I love to serve these with mashed potato, steamed veggies and a mushroom/onion gravy. Also really good on a sandwich with BBQ sauce for lunch.

Veganizing My Childhood.

Whenever my Grandmother came to visit us she always had 2 jobs that must be performed:

1. Ironing, 

and

2. Making dog cakes!

Let me clarify that Dog Cakes are not food for dogs, they are (apparently) rock-cake-style-bickie-type-things! 

Dog Cakes

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups self raising flour
• Substitute for 1 egg
• 2-3 Tbs vegan margarine
• 1 cup sultanas
• little bit of soy milk for mixing and glazing.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180^oC
2. Mix flour, sugar and margarine in a large bowl with fingertips.
3. Add egg replacer and some milk to combine mixture. Use only enough milk start to bring the mixture together. Add the sultanas and anymore milk or flour if required.
4. Lightly flour a board/kitchen bench and roll out. Cut into circles with a smallish-mouthed glass, they do spread a bit. Ball up and roll out the remaining dough and repeat the cutting out process until you get to your last scrap of dough. This last bit is best eaten raw I've always found, otherwise you get a wonky bickie! (I don't like wonky, but I do like raw!).
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or 'til golden.

5 Month Vegan Anniversary.

Today is the fifth month of my new vegan lifestyle. :) :) :)

5 months might seem like an odd time to celebrate, but for me it is pretty big as it coincides with the purchase of my first house!!

Another great big milestone for me is the fact that since February 10th (2011), I have now lost 10 kilos!!! Meaning that I have now lost a total of 11.2kg since Christmas. I am one very happy, and much healthier, little vegemite, as proud as proud could be!

So today I am celebrating these milestones by unpacking boxes and cooking some wonderful vegan treats to share with my mother-in-law, who came for a little holiday from Wollongong, only to help us move house and clean, rather than relax!

Asian Food!

Tonight we will be having yet another stir-fry for dinner, I love them, plus I have some wombok and pak choy I have to use!

Fried rice and stir-fries have become very popular in my house since I became vegan. They are the kind of meals that don't take much time to whip up and are a great "I CBF'd cooking" meal, plus they are always tasty and filling, and make GREAT lunch leftovers!
 

I made a "Chicken" Fried rice a few nights back and wanted to share it, so here is my basic fried rice recipe. 

I haven’t worried too much about quantities, just make that up to suit yourself.

SJ’s Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• Brown Rice, steamed
• Frozen peas
• Frozen Corn
• Broccoli, cut into small florets
• Capsicum, sliced or diced small
• 2 rings of pineapple, cut into small pieces, plus a bit of the juice if you like
• Green beans, cut small
• Carrot, diced
• Zucchini, diced
• I’ll also add wombok, bean shoots, mushrooms, onion, spring onions, sugar snap or snow peas or whatever else I have that takes my fancy at the time
• Kecap Manis or Tamari to keep the dish gluten-free

THE NEXT 3 INGREDIENTS ARE OPTIONAL

• Organic Soybean "Chicken"
  (Not my most favourite thing in the world, my non-veg hubby likes this stuff more than I do, but it is great in Asian and Mexican dishes I find, and it is becoming a staple in my house. If I’m not using the “chicken” I may crumble in some organic firm tofu, I’m the hugest fan of tofu, but I love to crumble it into dishes so I can’t taste it, but still get extra protein.)
• Boiling water
• Massel Chicken Style stock powder

Method:

1. Steam rice in rice cooker.
2. Whilst rice is cooking prepare your veggies.
3. When rice is cooked leave it to sweat a bit whilst you prepare the soy bean chicken if using. Boil a bit of water, enough to cover the chicken and a little bit extra. Add the stock powder, as much as you like, to the water, then add the chicken. Allow it to boil for a bit, then you may need to reduce the heat slighting and cook it on more of a simmer, depending how much time you have. Just ensure its tender.
4. Whilst water/”chicken” is boiling cook your veggies. Heat a small amount of oil, if needed, in a pan and add the veegies. I cook the harder veggies for a couple of minutes first then work up to the softer ones. I chuck the corn and peas in still frozen, or maybe partially defrosted, I tend not to worry too much.
5. When the veggies are almost cooked add the rice, Kacap Manis/Tamari (to taste) and pinapple juice (if using, I like it a little bit sweet sometimes), stir to combine really well.
6. When the “chicken” is ready drain it and add to the rice, stir through, then serve.

Easy, healthy, and yummy! :) 

Winter Warmer.

This time of year it's only natural to want a meal that doesn't just taste good, but to also soothe you, comfort you, give you a culinary hug!
Well last night I did just that. I made potato and leek soup, and believe it or not, it was the first time I had ever had it, let alone made it before! It was a total hit.

Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients (serves 8):

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 leeks, pale section only, halved, washed, dried, thinly sliced (I only had 1 leek so I used a lot of the green as well)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1kg desiree potatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 1L (4 cups) chicken style stock
• 250ml (1 cup) water
• 250ml (1 cup) Carnation Evaporated Soy Milk
• Fresh chives, finely chopped, to serve

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek and garlic and toss to coat. Reduce heat to low. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 18-20 minutes or until soft.
   
2. Add the potato, stock and water to the pan. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, partially covered, for 25-30 minutes or until potato is tender. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool. (I didn't worry about cooling it much, maybe I should have(?)!).
   
3. Transfer one-third of soup to the jug of a blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a clean saucepan. Repeat, in 2 more batches, with remaining potato mixture. ( I just stuck my stick blender straight in).
   
4. Place the soup over medium-low heat. Add the Carnation and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. (Because I didn't let mine cool very much I didn't cook it any longer I just stirred it through and served).

The original recipe can be found here.

Enjoy :)

BOO-YAH!!!

Until I became vegan one of my favourite meals ever was my spaghetti bolognese, a dish I had perfected since moving out of home.

Well tonight I veganised it, veganised it good!!

Instead of mince I've used mixed lentils and a little bit of tofu.
Every time I lifted the lid on the pan during cookingI couldn't believe how AMAZING it smelt, just like the one I used to eat, and the flavour was pretty spot on as well.

This does yield quite a lot of bolognese sauce, which suits me just fine as I always ensure I have enough for lunch the next day and a heap to freeze for a CBF'd cooking day!

It was such a crowd-pleaser that even my omnivorous hubby was delighted with it, so it's one of those dishes where the meat is not missed and you definitely feel less gross after eating the meatless version, and if anybody is on your back about not eating enough protien or iron, whip this up for them to shut them up!

ENJOY :)

SJ’s Lentil Bolognese

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tsp olive oil, for frying the onion and garlic
• 1 small to medium brown onion, finely diced (depending on the size you may only need ½ the onion)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed (I like HEAPS of garlic so I may even use 4 or 5 cloves depending on size, so whatever you like)
• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 400g prepared or tinned lentils, washed and drained
• 400g tinned diced tomatoes
• 500g bottle of your favourite tomato based pasta sauce
• Red wine to taste (about ¼ -½ cup usually does me, but again whatever you like)
• 1-2 Tbs “Beef” stock powder or 1-2 cubes, I like Massel brand
• About 1 tsp dried mixed Italian herbs
• 2-3 bay leaves, again depending on taste
• A hand full of fresh basil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sugar to taste, usually about 1-2 tsp
• 200g good firm tofu, drained and crumbled
• Button mushrooms, I used about 5, so as many as you like as well as any other diced or grated veggies you may like to sneak in, I didn't as I wanted to keep the flavour more "traditional".
• 1 pack of your favourite dried pasta, I usually use spaghetti, but I ran out.
• Crusty bread (optional)
• Parmazano imitation parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:

1. Heat up oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and fry gently until translucent, about 2 minutes.
2. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook for just a minute or so.
3. Add the prepared lentils, tomatoes, pasta sauce and wine, let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. This next step is optional. I transfer up the mixture into a mixing bowl and give it a bit of a whizz with my immersion blender for a few seconds, just to make it a bit thicker and less chunky. Transfer the mix back in the pan.This can also be done in a bench top blender or food processor.
5. Now add the “beef” stock, herbs, bay leaves, tofu, mushrooms, any other veggies your using, salt (may not be needed, just taste first), pepper and sugar. Stir well and let simmer for as long as you like, 10 minutes would be fine, but I like to do it for at least ½ an hour.
6. And Viola! Serve with spaghetti or other pasta of choice (white, wholemeal or gluten free), bread and Parmazano if desired.

This mix would also be good as a lasagne base, but stay tuned, my lasagne is on the way!

Family Time.

Recently I got to spend a long weekend with my Mum and Dad, who currently live in WA, but are in the process of purchasing a property so they can move back to here to Tassie.
As this was the first time I have spent time with my parents since I became vego so, I really wanted to show them how well I eat, as I'm sure they were somewhat concerned.

Sunday night I made a huge lasagne packed full of crumbled lentil-veggie burgers, crumbled tofu, home-made Napolitana  sauce, mushrooms, spinach, onion, carrots and zucchini. Instead of a white/cheese sauce I used lashings of Tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese" on the top layer I mixed in nutritional yeast flakes with the cream "cheese" which worked really well. The whole meal was fantastic, and because of the crumbled tofu, burgers and lentils it had a great great chewy texture, and the omnivores didn't seem to miss the meat.

Monday, to me, was a bit more of a flop. I REALLY wanted dumplings so I made Vegan Yum Yum's "Pot Stickers" which were a huge hit, just not for me. I also made wonton soup, also not so great to me!

Then there was Tuesday, night of Mexican feasting! Oh, it was SOOO good!! We had oven baked seitan chimichangas, bean chilli, Mexican rice, Orgran cornbread and corn chips. Of course no Mexican feast is complete without cheese and sour cream, yes I have all vegan substitutes thanks again to Tofutti and Cheezly. Also Corona with lime, naturally!

Clockwise from top left: Chimichanga with enchilada sauce and Tofutti sour supreme, Mexican rice, vegan chilli with a knob of Cheezly white cheddar and sour supreme and lastly Orgran corn bread, garnished with a wedge of lime.

As payment for staying in the Chateau Sarah, the folkies bought me 2 AWESOME presents! A waffle iron, my new favourite toy and a huge new recipe book: 500 Vegan Recipes, which I am loving, I just need more time to go through it.

Plain vanilla waffles with sliced banana, agave nectar and Soyatoo soy whip.
This was an AWESOME breakfast!