Organic Vegetable Stock

I haven't tried this but I surely will !

Organic Vegetable Stock 

You don’t need to buy any extra vegetables to make your own vegetable stock (salt free if you like!) - just keep the peels when you peel potatoes, carrots, onions, etc in a zip tight freezer bag, since it's frozen you are in no rush to use them.

Add about 4 cups of peels to a generous amount of water, season with salt, pepper and any herbs you like (you can use the slow cooker for this). Let it simmer for a while, and you will have great organic stock without needing to buy anything extra vegetables and re-using the peels from the ones you use.

Recipe #62 Cottage Pie

Shopping list

• 1,200 kg potatoes
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons dry parsley
• 1 can tomato
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 big onion
• 1/4 cup chopped leek
• Vegetable stock cube
• 100 gr chopped mushrooms
• 300 gr Mince Quorn
• soy milk
• 3 tablespoons of vegan butter
• frozen peas

Method

In a food processor chop the carrot, onion, garlic and leek.
Peel the potatoes, cook them in salt water for about 20-25min or until they are soft.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the vegetables and the mince quern. Season and add the tomato can, use this can as measuring glass.
Add 1 and 1/2 cans of water and the stock cube. 1 can of frozen peas. Let it cook for about 5min and add the mushrooms. Let it cook on medium heat for about 15min.

Mash the potato and add 1/4 of can of soy milk, 3 tablespoons of vegan butter, salt, black pepper and nutmeg.

Place the quorn mix in an ovenproof dish (be careful with adding too much liquid), cover with the mash potatoes and place it in the oven for 15min on 180o C.

Recipe #61 Fresh Guacamole

Ingredients 

1 very ripe avocado,

4 mini plum tomatoes,

1/4 onion (or less, if you don't like onion taste),

1 tablespoon of lemon juice,

1/2 teaspoon sea salt,

1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

Blend everything in a food processor. Serve with tortillas or Doritos ! Cheap, easy, healthy and fresh ! :) enjoy!

Recipe #60: Black Bean Burger

Similar to recipe #22 -  Falafel

Shopping list

• 100gr of soaked chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4-5 tablespoons of flour
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 can black beans
• 2 cloves of garlic
• cayenne pepper
• sunflower oil (2 -4 tablespoons)

Method

Place the dry chickpeas, half the can of beans (drained), the olive oil, the lemon juice, the seasoning, the onion, the garlic cloves and half of the flour into a food processor. Chop until it's a smooth (grey) paste. Now add the remaining beans and flour.
Place this paste into the fridge for some hours so it doesn't fall apart when you try to mould it into burgers.
Sprinkle some flour onto a dish and spoon some of the bean paste into the shape of a burger - I used a cookie cutter to help. Sprinkle the top with flour again (or flour and sesame seeds).
In a pan heat some sunflower oil and fry slightly the burger on both sides (1-2 minutes per side should be enough).

Serve inside a burger bun, with salad (picture), fries... whatever you like. 

Recipe #59: (vegetarian) Quorn Farfalle

Shopping list

• 200gr Pasta (here I used Farfalle)
• 3 tablespoons Olive oil
• 1 package of Mince Quorn "meat"
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 200ml of vegetable stock
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Dry parsley
• 150gr baby spinach leaves

Method 

Cook the pasta: bring 1litre of water to boil, sprinkle with sea salt and throw in the pasta. Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes and drain the water. Keep about 2-3 tablespoons of the water in the pasta so that it won't get sticky - this way you'll have perfectly cooked and loose pasta.

For the sauce: chop the 1/2 onion finely and in a saucepan heat it in some olive oil. Add the frozen mince Quorn and season well. (2 teaspoons of black pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper, 2 teaspoons of powder garlic, 3 teaspoons of dry parsley).Stir well till the Quorn isn't frozen anymore.

Add the can of chopped tomatoes and use this as a measuring glass: fill about half of the can with water and add it to the sauce. Now add a stock cube (like mentioned before I use Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot). Stir well, cover and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes on medium heat.

Add the washed baby spinach leaves and the pasta and let it cook on high heat about another 1-2 minutes.

You can serve like this or sprinkled with parmesan.

You will impress your guests with vegan pasta that looks and tastes like meat !

Because it's Friday #fridaymeme

                  

 

Vegan Sushi

I never liked sushi. Never. The idea of raw meat is something that doesn't really make me salivate. Now, not eating meat at all, gives me a great excuse to not even to there. But I found vegan sushi, and oh it's good... Really good. I leave you with some pictures: avocado, tofu and cucumber sushi, cucumber and wasabi sushi and strawberry sushi covered in chocolate. The chocolate sushi is nice but it's somewhat strange to eat rice with chocolate, it's different but nice to taste the sweetness of the strawberry inside the sushi.

If you are in Ireland, pay them a visit at RAW - Sushi in the Sky

JamieOliver.com, about the Vegan 30-day-challenge

You can read the full article here

 I am now vegetarian every other day – not consciously, but because lots of my favourite meals are meat-free. I have also learnt lots of new techniques as I work around the limits of reducing dairy and meat products. I make cakes without eggs, burgers without beef, and pastry without butter. I try to drink vegan beer (thankfully almost all beer is vegan anyway) and refuse to buy any animal product that doesn’t have a guarantee of quality such as Freedom Food, free range or organic status. 

And you will find 7 recipes at the end of the page. Yum ! We need more Chefs to be a role mode for veggies and more vegetarian options at restaurants.

So, whatever your diet, celebrate vegan month, consider what you eat and whether it’s good for you and for the environment. Remember that what we sit down to at each meal affects a lot more than how hungry we are; small changes like meat-free Mondays or going vegetarian or vegan one month of the year can make a huge difference, and may even change your life.

Recipe #58 Mushroom and Vegetables Stroganoff

Shopping list

• 3/4 cup of basmati rice
• 4 tablespoons Olive oil
• 1/4 cup of wild rice
• (optional) 1/2 finely chopped red paprika or medium chilli 
• 350 gr mixed mushrooms ( chestnut mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and white mushrooms)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 small package of vegan cream (I used Alpro soy cream)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Dry parsley
• 150ml white wine
• 1 cup of peas ( frozen ones work well)

Method 

For the rice: add 2 cups of water and get it to boil. Add a pinch of salt and the cup of rice and lower the heat. When almost all the water has evaporated, turn off the heat and cover the pan. Please note that the black grains of the wild rice usually take longer to cook and might be more al dente than the rest. If you don't like this, place the wild rice first into the boiling water, let it cook for 5min and then add the basmati rice.

For the stroganoff:

Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan or wok (big enough for the mushrooms) and fry the onion till it's golden. Throw in all the mushrooms cut in different shapes (some in quarters, other sliced etc) so you have nice texture in the stroganoff. Season the mushrooms and add another 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir and after 2-3 minutes cover them with the wine and season well again. Let this cook on medium heat for about 10min so it makes a nice sauce.

Now add the cream and the parsley and let this thicken for another 10min (add 1 tablespoon of cornflour if needed, but it shouldn't need if you let it long enough on medium/low heat). Near the end add the peas to bring color and texture to this dish.

Serve on a bed of mixed rice.

Vegan Christmas Dinner Ideas

Celebrating our first vegetarian Christmas this year ! :)

We agreed to have Vegan food throughout the holidays except for maybe a little cheese platter as a starter.
So I have started brainstorming some Christmas dinner recipes and so far I thought of these:

Starter:
- Falafel Skewers 
- Home made lime & chilli hummus
- 3 colour bites starter 
- Olive Tapenade

Main course:
- Champagne asparagus Risotto
- Asparagus in Cheatin' Ham Slices
- Mushroom Stroganoff

Side Dishes:

- Roasted courgette slices in sweet soy sauce
- Caramelized Butternut Squash
- Carrot & Butternut Squash
- Mash potato
- couscous cold salad

Dessert:
- Chocolate Brownies
- Fruit salad served in Pineapple, topped with soy yogurt and nuts
- Almond Cookies

Happy-Pigs Ham

I am so happy I found these. I didn't know what to expect, I really don't like "fake meat" stuff but I gave it a go.

And it's very good, it tastes like the Luncheon Roll slices made of pigs, but this is made of soya and vegetable oils.

I'm yum and one of my cats, the fussy eater, is crazy about them so they must be good ! lol

Milk and cream alternatives

People are more and more aware of lactose free, plant based, crueltryfree free, cholesterol free alternatives to cows milk such as soy milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk, rice milk, hemp milk, oats milk, coconut milk; and their many flavours: roasted, chocolate, strawberry... Yummy ! Prices range from 0.85-2.69€ per litre Alternative to cream too from soy or almond. Prices range from 0.99-1.39€ Per 200ml.

Happy days !

100 Days today

VEGETARIAN

Recipe #57 Red Lentil & broccoli Curry

Shopping list

• 1 cup of basmati rice
• Olive oil
• 1 broccoli
• 3 chopped carrots
• 1 1/4 cups of dry red lentils
• 1 onion
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 2 1/2 cups of vegetable stock
• 2 cups of water
• 3 tablespoons of tomato passata
• Array of spices (I usually mix: 3 teaspoons mild curry, 1 teaspoons of pepper, pinch of sea salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1  teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoons of powder garlic)

Method 

For the rice: add 2 cups of water and get it to boil. Add a pinch of salt and the cup of rice and lower the heat. When almost all the water has evaporated, turn off the heat and cover the pan.

For the curry: In a food processor chop the carrots and the onion. Add olive oil to a saucepan and the chopped mixture let the onions get golden. Add the vegetable stock, the lentils, the drained chickpeas, the tomato passata, the seasoning, and let it cook for 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and let it cook on medium to low heat for 10-15min. Add the broccoli around 5-7min before the end.

Recipe #55 Bean Pot

Similar to recipe #26

Shopping list (4 portions)

• 1 can mix beans in water
• 1 can red beans in water
• 1 tomato passata
• 200 ml hot water
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 medium fresh tomatoes 
• Handful of fresh coriander
• 2 medium carrots (optional)
• Sprinkle of sugar
• Sprinkle of chilli flakes (optional)
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method 

Chop the vegetables and open the cans, get everything ready.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and ass the onion and garlic (I leave them whole so I can take them out before serving but you can chop the garlic and leave it in, it's up to you). When they are golden add the peppers and tomatoes and stir well. Add the beans, passata, coriander and water (sprinkle the sugar). Season with salt & pepper.

Cover and let it boil for 10-15 min to thicken.

In another saucepan heat 2 cups of water and sprinkle with salt. Let it boil and add the basmati rice. After 10-12 min turn off the heat and cover so that the rice can finish.

Serve the beans on a bed of rice and decorate with coriander and bell peppers.

Vegan Cake Helbeh (or Fenugreek Cake)

This is seriously good. I haven't baked it myself but I have tried it and it is superb.

Navigate to Pancake Drama for the full recipe ingredients and method.

Recipe #56 Vegan Quiche

Shopping list (6 portions)

1 Puffy pastry (I bought it ready made)

Vegetables (i used onion, mushrooms, chickpeas and tomatoes)

1 block of tofu

3/4 cup of plant based milk

dry parsley

1 tablespoon of olive oil

salt & pepper

You'll need a food processor

Method 

I spread the puffy pastry into an oven proof dish and pierced carefully with a fork the base of the pastry.

In a food processor mix the tofu (doesn't need to be drained), plant based milk, salt, pepper, parsley, olive oil, and blend till it's an even and creamy consistency.

Cut the vegetables into the pastry, cover with the tofu cream and decorate with tomato slices and/or onion slices. If you like you can cover with cheese or sheese.  

Thermomix bimby vorwerk Red lentil bolognese

This recipe has instructions for the thermomix Bimby, see recipe 46 for the regular recipe.

Ingredients:

• 175gr dry red lentils
• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
• 250ml vegetable stock
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oregano
• 1 onion
• 3 carrots

Method: 

Place the onion and the carrots in the bimby at speed 7 for 30 seconds

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil at speed 1, at 100 oC for 3 minutes.

Add 200 gr of lentils, the canned tomatoes, the vegetable stock and seasoning. Program to 100 oC, at speed 1 for 20 minutes. Be careful they will be HOT when the program is over.

While the lentils are cooking, boil the pasta according to the package instructions (al dente), separately, drain the water (reserve 2 tablespoons) throw the pasta back in with the reserved water and drizzle olive oil and oregano. Shake well.

Serve the lentils on a bed of pasta.

Recipe #54 Sweet potato and coriander soup

Shopping list (6 portions)

• 250 gr sweet potato
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 1 garlic clove
• Saffron
• Sea Salt 
• Black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Handful of fresh coriander (chopped)
• Around 8gr fresh ginger
• Handful of orizo pasta

Method 

Let it boil for 30 min, check if the vegetables are cooked and pure it. Add water if the soup is too thick for you. Add the orizo pasta and let them cook off the heat ( the soup should be hot enough to cook them), and you can stir in more coriander.

Recipe #53 Roasted chestnuts

This is a very popular winter snack in Portugal. Or you can serve as a side dish by peeling them after roasting.

Take your chestnuts unwashed and cut them open, they don't need to be open but require a bit cut in the middle. Now wash them, drain the water and leave them as wet as you can. Cover them generously with sea salt. Place them on an oven proof tray and roast for 30 min on 220 oC. They will roast and open slightly and pop easily out of their skins.

Recipe #52 Roasted Sweet Potato [Side dish]

Recipe from She Knows

Shopping list:

• 1 big sweet potato
• salt & pepper
• drizzle of olive oil

Method:

Peel and cut the sweet potato into thin stripes. Placed them onto baking paper and drizzled olive oil and salt and pepper.
Bake for 30min at 200 oC.

Recipe #51 Vegan Crispy Sticky Tofu

Recipe from Onion Cloute

Shopping list (3 portions)

• 1 tofu block
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup white rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (you can cut down a bit to 1/4 if you don't like sweet things)
• Ginger piece the size of a teaspoon, crushed
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• salt, pepper, chilli flakes
• handful of flour
• 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method:

Prepare tofu placing it between 2-4 paper kitchen towels, and weigh down with something heavy. I do this 2 or 3x times.

Then i cut it in half horizontally and each half carefully in strips. Be careful or else it will fall apart.

In a saucepan combine, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, garlic and ginger for approximately 12 minutes, to thicken and melt the sugar.  Turn the heat off, then add the sesame seeds, white pepper, a pinch of salt and a pinch of chilli.

In a pan heat the sunflower oil and olive oil. Roll the tofu in flour and fry it in the pan on medium-high heat until crispy.  Then drop the pieces into the Sesame sauce and allow sauce to soak in on both sides.

Serve with rice, or potato or salad.

Recipe #50 Vegan Almond Cookies

Recipe from SheKnows.com

Shopping list:

• 1/3 cup vegan butter
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 1 cup white whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons vegan milk
• loose almonds for decoration

Method:

In the mixer fitted using the paddle attachment, combine butter and sugars and beat until smooth. Add almond extract and milk (i used oats but almond or soy is fine) and beat. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and blend together. If the dough is particularly dry, blend in the almond milk. 

Cover an oven proof tray with baking paper. Make little balls out of the dough, place them on the tray and flatten them slightly with your fingers. BEWARE they will expand a lot in the oven so leave plenty of space in between the balls.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes on 180 oC. 

Holidays - meatless holidays

My first great challenge: holidays.
Holidays in Portugal and Spain where the culture of food is either fish or meat, or meat or meat was hard.
I had to eat a lot of pizza and I found out that people will accept it better if they think you are sick and intolerant to certain foods than when you don't eat them out of ethical choices.

Sometimes I just could not avoid cheese and milk and even eggs in batter.
I'm new to this so i believe it is all a process of adaptation and also getting used and learning where to go out to eat.
I found two lovely vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Lisbon: Terra and Tibetanos which made my delights on 3 occasions.
I also found out that apart from olives and crisps there is NOTHING vegan on the flight menu, which put me a bit down. But i learned, next time i'll bring my own snacks on board. Also i felt like me not eating certain foods was an inconvenience, not for me, but for others. I had to politely refuse certain dishes saying i don't feel like eating that now, or I don't like that. People around me were always worried about what I would eat, much more than I was. Some people i know think this is a phase, others think it's silly... I know this is right and morally correct. People accept easily if you say you don't eat meat and milk but find it difficult to accept when you say you don't eat fish, eggs or yogurts. "But isn't fish good for you? You should eat fish at least" "But have a yogurt it's good for you, and this is even lactose free"
When I did struggle to find food or refusing food I always chose to refuse eggs over cheese. I still eat cheese now and then. So i guess i'm a practical-vegan for now, it's part of the adaptation phase and learning to find new tastes and new bread spreads to substitute the cheese.
There was my mom's birthday party, which at my suggestion was at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant and I ordered vegan cupcakes to match. (I ordered them from Sofia, Cakes & Cookies) I don't think people missed the meat as much as they thought they would. :D
In portugal there is a special dish which is called Leitao, basically it's a small pig roasted for a long time. Usually it's roasted in one piece and you see the head and everything. Now, i find it very disturbing and I started calling it "baby pig" and not Leitao. My mom says now she cannot eat it anymore because it reminds her of me calling it Baby Pig ...

Today is day 93 and I feel good and peaceful with my choices. I am preparing for my first veggie Christmas and I am happy to have found soy milk flavored  with chocolate and strawberry :D I've also tried the Alpro yogurts which are as good or better than the regular cow's yogurt.
Venturing myself now in recipes with lentils, beans and more tofu mixes.

Animal friendly Handbag

I'm so happy with my new handbag: made out of Cork !

Water resistant, super soft, great colors and animal friendly. Great alternative to leather.

Recipe #49 Tofu Fried Rice with Vegetables [vegan]

Shopping list (4 portions)

• 1 medium onion
• 1 mug of basmati rice
• 1 carrot
• a big slice of white cabbage
• 125gr mushrooms
• 1 block of tofu
• broccoli (150gr)
• teriyaki sauce
• soy sauce
• sesame oil (2 tablespoons)
• peanuts
• Salt, Pepper & cayenne pepper

Method:

I cheated on this recipe, I used ready made Amoy sauce (teriyaki and sesame) but you can easily mix teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and some ground peanuts, ginger paste and lemon zeist.

To start I cooked the mug of basmati rice in 2 mugs of boiling water with salt. Covered and turned off the heat.

I drained the tofu block (i bought firm tofu) with some kitchen towels and weight on top. Diced and placed on a oven proof tray. Seasoned with salt and pepper and baked for 25 min on 200 oC.

Sliced the carrots and mushrooms and chopped the cabbage and onion.

In a wok I heated some sesame oil and soy sauce (2 tablespoons of sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce). I placed the vegetables in and let them cook for some minutes, and seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Then added the tofu for another 1-2 minutes and added then the rice.

Sprinkle with soy sauce and add the teriyaki mix. Stir and mix well to get all the flavors in. Serve with peanuts.