EZE CHEEZEEE Tatterbake!

If you tell me you hate potato bake, you are a liar liar, pants on fire and you owe me $10! Potato bake, I believe, is one of the worlds most comfortiest of comfort foods and it makes any meal become a little more mealier. Becoming a vegan I kinda let myself believe I could live without the delights of creamy, cheesy potato bake, but time proved to me that I cannot and food imagination showed me I do not have to! We all need a little food hug sometimes.

So I made up my own recipe. It is cheesy(ish), warm and delicious. You are going to wish it were Autumn so you can eat it all the time! Oh wait! It is!


Recipe: 
2-3 Large potatoes
1 cup rice milk
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp French onion soup powder + 1/2 Tbsp for topping
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes + 1/2 Tbsp for topping
1 tsp sweet paprika

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Peel and slice potatoes, about 3mm is probably a good thickness. Put them in a casserole dish. In a blender mix the rice milk, oil, french onion soup powder and yeast flakes. Blend until it is an even consistency. Poor mixture over the potatoes and stir a little to get an all over coverage. Sprinkle the remaining 2 x 1/2 Tbsp of soup powder and yeast flakes and the paprika on top. Pop on the lid and place in the oven for about 35-60 minutes(depending on your oven), or until it is nice and golden on top.

Serve with some steamed veggies and maybe some fried Tempeh.

Mmm. Hmm.. And If you do not find a loving culinary hug in this bake, I'll give YOU $10!

Pierogi! Ahem, Pyrohy!

Oh. God. Pierogi's. My heart. Melts. Just thinking about you.. I was introduced to these little bundles of pure sunshine many many moons ago by one of my greatest friends Talia; a Ukranain who once swore to me that she would attempt to eat at least 'one of every Animal in the world'.. Oh boy, I miss that girl. And so, in her honour I have created a vegan perogi, or as she would say, Pyrohy(pronounced, Pe-ra-hair).

(nb. Making pierogi's takes hours! So, I recommend making at least 100 per sitting)

Recipe:

- Mashed Potato

4-6 large potatoes

1/2 cube vegetable masell

1 large garlic clove

Milk and nutelex as required

- Dough:

3 cups plain flour

3 TBsp coconut oil

3/4 cup of water(or more)

Method:

 - Mash:

Boil the potatoes with crushed garlic until tender. Drain the water, add stock cube, nutelex, and “milk” to the potatoes, and whip everything until smooth. You want to get it nice and creamy, so try to work out all the big lumps.

- Dough:

Stir together flour, water, and oil until you get a workable dough. Knead for about three minutes, keeping your fingers wet to keep the dough from drying out.

- Assemble your pierogi:  

Grab a handful of dough and Roll out onto a floured surface using a floured rolling pin. The dough should be spread thin but sturdy enough to maintain without ripping. Cut circles in the dough using a egg round or a glass. Take about tablespoon of the filling and place it into the center of the dough. Fold into a crescent and pinch closed. You can use a fork to compress the seal if you like, it's all a matter of personal choice, either way, make sure the seal doesn't have any gaps, as this will keep the pototo from escaping during cooking(and leaving you with a limp dough sack). Set each one aside on waxed paper until you have all completed.

- Once all pierogi's have been assembled you can either Freeze them for later use (gently layer within waxed paper so they do not touch, freeze over night. Once frozen you can transfer them to plastic bags or containers) or COOK THEM!

 - Cooking your pierogi: Boil a pot of water, then add the pierogi. Boil for about five minutes, or until each pierogi floats to the surface of the water. Scoop out or drain off water. Add a kind dose of butter and leave it to melt for a minute or two. You can now chose to eat your little joy drops straight up (Maybe with some vegan cheese. Onions. Fakon. Soy sour cream etc) or you can Fry the suckers (gently until golden brown on each side).  Serve with some greens or other colours and INHALE! 

How many can you do?

The New healthy eating plate.

The new Healthy eating plate courtesy of Harvard School of Public Health

The new healthy eating plate was released by the Harvard school of Public Health recently and it endeavours to show you a quick and easy guide into how each meal should be planned. The general healthy eating guide is 1/2 Vegetable(including a small amount of fruit) 1/4 whole grains and 1/4 protein. It also advises to limit red meat and avoid bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats and replacing unhealthy saturated fat with healthier unsaturated vegetable oils. Also not making a huge showing is Milk and dairy, in which you are also advised to limit... Interesting stuff huh! I have been trying to follow this general plate rule since becoming a vegan (thanks to the Kind diet) and find that it is so much easier to have a guide to go by.

Following you will see the new healthy eating pyramid as well as the age old eating pyramid. Noticing the changes that are being observed and recommended by such high nutritional authorities makes me pretty happy that people are starting to realise that animal and animal bi products are not necessary! All awareness is success!

New Healthy eating Pyramid

Previous USDA Food Pyramid

Magic Mixed up Mash!

 

Leftoverssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! And laziness. Could well be a recipe for disaster, but instead I'm finding it a recipe for healing protein Magic Mash! While recovering from some sinus surgery I'm finding easy is best and if I can get in my proteins and greens quick and simple, I'll do what I have to, even if it means eating food that looks like something it shouldn't. No elaboration required.......

Magic Mixed up Mash!: (measurements are approx)

1 cup millet

1/2 cup quinoa

1/2 cup french lentils

1 cup leftover mixed mashed potato, yam and butternut pumpkin

2 Tbsp chia seeds

1/4 vegetable massel cube   

a few sprays of Braggs

2 tsp Olive or coconut oil for cooking

Method:

Mix all leftovers, seeds, massel cube and braggs in a bowl until nice and moshy(as usual, you can mix and match your grains and beans here. The variety I'm using is especially gentle, good for getting over colds, surgery and broken hearts!).  Heat oil in a large pan to medium-high heat, dump leftover goodness into pan and fry up until somewhat browned and crisp in places. When browned and crisp in places you are good to eat it as you please, directly from the pan or maybe serve it up with ume vinegar fried bok choy and zuchinni like I did and sit back and feel the magic healing hit you from the inside! Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Millet and Kale Krunchers!

 

So tell me, who doesn't like a little Krunch with your millet? Well I know I do and if you think about how good Millet is for you and how good Kale is for you, it only makes sense that they would embrace to make an amazingly delicious krunchy pattie for you to adore and treasure..

Millet and Kale Krunchers Recipe:

1.5 cups cooked millet

1 cup of chopped raw kale

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 vegetable massel cube

Tamari to taste

Coconut or Olive oil to cook (2 Tbsp or so)

Method

Mix ingredients into a lovely mosh. Heat up oil to middle medium heat and dump large spoonfuls of the mosh onto the pan. Flatten the balls somewhat and leave to sizzle and cook until the edges start to brown, around 7 minutes. Be sure to wait for the browning of the edges as the patties are prone to separating if not crisped up enough. Flip krunchers and cook other side for another 7 or so minutes. Drain on paper towel a few minutes before serving! I served mine up with a seaweed, carrot and daikon salad. This meal is so tasty, you will definately forget that it is stupidly good for you too!

Holy Macaroni!

"So. What do you miss most, being a Vegan?".. Oh. nothing at all really...

Yeah! Sure!  Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. I miss it. I don't need it. I don't want it. But I miss that flavor. And I love mac and cheese and I don't care how unsophisticated that makes me. It is seriously special comfort food and you cannot tell me otherwise. Well, you can, but I ain't listening! On the net you will find a plethora of 'quick and easy!' 'Super amazing!' 'You can't tell the difference!' Vegan macaroni and cheese recipes. But who are we kidding, you can tell the difference, and I've tried a lot of those recipes and I always found they were too rich, too complex or too chunky. So what do you do when you have no answer? You make one up! So I made up a recipe which I love the most and I promise it really is 'Super amazing quick and easy Mac and cheese'! Also it contains no soy! Wow!

Holy Macaroni Recipe:
2 cups of gluten free macaroni or pasta (or normal pasta if you are so inclined!)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 massel vegetable stock cube or a tsp of the powder stock
1 Tbsp Coconut oil
1/3 - 1/2 cup of rice milk (or equivalent soy milk if you like)
Salt or Tamari to taste if needed

Method:
Cook pasta as per instructions. If it is gluten free, remember to rinse, as sometimes it can be coated in weird 'glut-free' gunch. Drain and place back in saucepan. Add all the ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until it is nice and creamy. You may want to add more or less Nutritional yeast, depending on your taste. I don't like it too tangy so I use a little less. Also, depending on how creamy/liquidy, feel free to add more or less 'milk' also.

And that's it. Takes about 3 minutes after the pasta is cooked and now you can put it in your Belly!

Okonomiyaki is your friend!

I love okonomiyaki. I would live on it if I could be bothered making it and didn't mind living on a fried food diet. But the thing about the little Japanese pancakes is that you really can experiment with the ingredients! The one above had a subtle Indian feel, thanks to the 1/2 tsp of curry powder that I shook in. So don't be conservative with this recipe! Go buck wild!

Okonomiyaki Recipe:
4 small purple Sweet Potatoes (Or 1 large sweet potato or Yam.)
1 large Carrot
4 inches of a large Daikon
1/8 Cabbage
1/2 cup of peas(I used minted. It's all I had.....)
1 cup plain flour (I used Gluten free)
1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 - 1 cup water
1/2 to 1 Tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
2 tsp Mirin
Coconut oil for cooking
Condiments: Mayonnaise(Praise 97% fat free creamy is vegan!) and Terriyaki sauce

Method:
Using a food processor with grating attachment (I got one for Christmas. Thanks Mum!), Grate sweet potato, carrot, daikon and cabbage. Transfer to a large bowl and add peas, flour, baking soda, tamari and mirin. Slowly add water until it is all nice and juicy but not too watery. Heat up a large saucepan on medium with a little coconut oil. Dump a large amount of the mixture onto the saucepan, flatten until about 1/2 inch thick with a diameter of your hand. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until crispy around the edges and like a normal pancake, you see small bubbles in the mixture, Flip. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Serve with Mayonnaise and terriyaki sauce. In restaurants they smother the pancakes with the stuff, but I like to have 'sauce choice' so I put the sauce on the side.

Eat up my friends!