Baked Golden Nugget of Bliss.

Little pumpkins. How amazingly cute are they? When I see them I just want to collect them up and put them on display or stroke them or kiss them or something ridiculous like that. But if you run around kissing tiny pumpkins you will get some unsavoury glances, so maybe we should cook them instead huh!

This is a Lee original, so you can feel free to change up the ingredients to suit  yourself, but I gotta say, this one was pretty darn delicious (Oh, and I cooked them in tiny casserole dishes as I accidental cut a hole in the bottom of one of the nuggets... whoops).

Recipe:
2 x Golden Nuggets(or more to suit)
Filling:
1 cup of cooked Quinoa
1/2 cup of cooked French lentils
3 Mushrooms chopped small
1/4 Carrot chopped small
1/4 Zucchini chopped small
1/4 Massle cube in 1/2 cup boiling water
few drops sesame oil
few drops of Tamari
1 ground clove of garlic

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 C. Chop top off the Nuggets and remove the seedy guts. Put aside.
Filling: In a saucepan add all ingredients. Cook on medium until everything is smooshy and cooked. You may need to add more water if mixture is getting too thick. Once Mixture is cooked fill the nuggets and put the lid on top. Bake in the oven for approximately 20-30 minutes. When pumpkin is soft it's good for eating! Serve with some steamed greens, like Broccolini and Cabbage. You gonna be happy it's Winter so you can eat this allllllllllll the time! So lucky!

NB. You will probably have loads of mixture left over. You can use this in savoury pies (tastes strangely like chicken), over mashed potato or in pasta. Go crazy!

Vegan Laksa surprise!

 Laksa. The idea is a scary one, no? It must be soooo hard to make! Well sweetheart, I'm here to tell you that indeed, it is not! It's one of the easiest dishes I've made, even if there was some therapeutic mortar and pestle repetition, I felt good making it and even better eating it! I love food that has hidden surprises, don't you! I got some inspiration from this Vegan Laksa recipe(thank you) but I modified it to suit my taste(ahem, my disregard of onions and coriander) so feel free to check out that recipe if you want an unbiased ingredients list.. Let's get Grinding!

Recipe for the Paste:
3 cloves of garlic.
3 red chillies.
1 tsp of cumin, ground.
1 tsp of ground turmeric.
1/2 tsp of ground cardamom.
1 tsp of ground fennel seed.
3 ground cloves.
1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
1stalk of lemongrass that has had the outer layers removed, so that you are left with the soft inside flesh of the stalk.
1 Tbsp of minced ginger.
1/2 tsp of salt.
1/2 cup of water.
20 or so leaves of Thai basil.
1/4 cup of cashews.

Method:

I found that listening to Nirvana's 'Bleach' really helped with the making of this paste. Give it a try! If your spices are not already ground, ground them all together in a Mortar and pestle. It's fun! Once all are ground, Blend all of these ingredients in a food processor(I have a miniature one which is great for this paste), scrape the sides down often so as to form a paste. Add the water a little at a time. When paste is as smooth as you can get it it's done! Paste will keep in a container in the fridge for about a month... Though, I bet it won't last that long!

Recipe for Laksa Soup:

2 Tbsp of the above paste.
2 cups vegetable stock.
250 mls of coconut cream or milk.
As much sliced fried tofu puffs as you like 

1 medium bunch of Two bunches of bok choy, cleaned and chopped into three or four parts.
3 or 4 mushrooms, sliced.
A handful of bean sprouts.
8 snow peas.
A serving of Rice vermicelli - Prepare as per instructions and set aside.

Method:

In a sauce pan, place the paste. Add the tofu, mushrooms and stock and simmer for about three minutes, until the tofu is looking a little on the cooked side. Add the coconut milk and heat through. Bring to the boil and simmer for about two minutes. You don't want to cook it too long because if you do, the fats in the coconut milk will break down and it won't be so creamy. 

Take two bowls. In each one, add half the bean sprouts, half of the noodles and then all the veggies on top of the noodles. Pour the soup mixture over the veggies. The heat from this soup will cook the veggies just right.

Take a soup spoon and some Chopsticks and get to work. Now, you tell me that you do not feel like you have just ridden on a rainbow after this toothsome dish! Mmm hmm!

Quinoa Sesame Pats.

Do you ever look in the fridge and say 'well... What do I do with this Jumble of unrelated food stuffs?'.. Do you ever wish you could just throw it all together and it would turn out delicious? Well, I'll tell you, wishes CAN come true! These little joys are protein and calcium rich, gluten free and super amazing! You can make a whole stack and have left overs for lunch tomorrow! Sounds pretty good to me...

Recipe:
1 cup of cooked Quinoa
1/4 Cabbage
1 Carrot
1/2 Zucchini
1/4 average sized Daikon
1/4 cup Sesame seeds (+ more for sesame crumbs)
1 Tsp Chia seeds
Few drops of Sesame oil
Few drops of Tamari
1/4 massle cube (dissolved in 1 Tsp boiled water)
A little Gluten free rice crumbs(or Breadcrumbs or cornflake crumbs) 

Method:
Put all ingredients into food processor. Mix until ingredients become a gluggy chunky goo. Take a Tsp of mixture and shape into a flat pat. Pat the flat pat into a combined mixture of Rice crumbs and sesame seeds for a nice crispy coating. Fry on medium heat in a little olive oil, flipping at 5 or so minutes. You want both sides to be nice and golden.

We had these little joys with a large serving of steamed vegetables. But you can have them how you like. With veggies, with salad, for breakfast or lunch. Maybe even increase the patty size and you have a burger! WOW! Trust me, after you get this in your belly, you will invincible!

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!