Crepes with sweet red bean paste

Azuki beans are one of those things I've never really attempted to cook with before, this recipe came about after an attempt by my housemate and I to make mochi, however after we discovered that we had no rice that idea was pretty much moot. Not wanting to waste our red beans we came up with this instead!

Sweet bean paste:
250g azuki beans soaked over night
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water

Place azuki beans, and sugar in a small saucepan, add water and bring to the boil. Simmer with a lid on for 40 minutes or until beans are soft and mashable. Check regularly and top up with more water if it gets too dry. Once soft, mash with a potato masher until beans resemble a smooth paste. If too dry add water in small amounts

Crepes:

1 cup plain flour

pinch of salt

2/3 cup soy milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp melted margarine
2 tbsp golden syrup

Mix all ingredients together to form a thin batter, if your batter is a little thick and water in small increments. Use a large non-stick crepe pan, that is well greased. Over a high heat, pour some crepe mixture in and roll your pan to cover the bottom evenly with batter. Remember you want them to be thin! Once bubbles come to the surface of your crepe, flip it and cook for a further 30 seconds - 1 minute on the opposite side.

To bring together;

Place 1 - 2 tbsp of bean paste in the centre of your crepe and wrap around the 4 sides. To serve add a dollop of ice cream and drizzle with golden syrup.

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Sweet and Sour "Pork"

I'm not really a fan of faux meats, but I made this for the novelty, and it actually turns out really tasty. I used 'vege rib' I buy it in sunnybank at Yuens Market where they have a gigantic aisle of the stuff. If you can't get vege rib just use firm tofu, it's equally as good.

Firstly take your vege rib and tear it into useable chunks; then set a pot of vegetable oil to heat for deep frying.


Batter:
9 tablespoons of cornflour
9 tablespoons of plain flour
1 tsp of baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup of water

Mix all ingredients together to make a smooth batter, you can add more or less water depending on how thick you want your batter. Add chunks of vege rib and coat evenly; fry in batches in hot oil until golden brown, and then allow to drain on paper towel.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

Half a cup of tomato sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp of sugar
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup water
2 tsp corn flour
2 shallots cut into thin strip

Mix tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and water in a bowl. Fry off your garlic and ginger for 1 -2 minutes in a small saucepan over a moderate heat, add the tomato sauce mixture and bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Add shallots and allow to simmer for another couple of minutes.
Mix the cornflour with 1/4 cup of water, and stir through sauce; allow to thicken for another minute or two (if sauce becomes too thick just add more water).

To Serve:
I serve this with some quickly stir fried veggies and steamed rice.  The best way is to pour your sauce over the deep fried vege rib right before serving so that they're still lovely and crispy when you eat them.

Enjoy Xx

Mushrooms Campagnola

My mum used to make this when I was a kid, although she used veal, the flavour combination is awesome and field mushrooms work fantastically in this recipe.

What you'll need:

1 Brown onion - Diced
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 400g tin of diced tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
250 g chopped spinach - defrosted and drained if frozen
4 large flat field mushrooms
Vegan cream cheese (or mozarella if your making a vegetarian version)
Basil
Tarragon
Salt
Pepper

Using a large shallow pan fry your onion and garlic for 2 minutes until fragrant, add tomatoes and tomato paste, salt, pepper and herbs to taste and simmer with a lid on for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile cut the stems off your mushrooms and fry on a low heat until just cooked.
Place your mushrooms, cup side up in your tomato mixture and cook for another 5 minutes with a lid on. Split up your spinach and place in mushroom caps, then take a few teaspoonfulls of cheese, flatten it slightly and place it on top of the spinach till the spinach is mostly covered.
Turn your pan to a low heat and cover continue cooking until cheese is melted and spinach is warmed through.

Serve with garlic bread

Stuffed Banana Chillies

2 Large Banana Chillies
400gms cream cheese
4 large mushrooms chopped
1 tomato chopped
half a red capsicum chopped
1 small zucchini
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/2 small onion
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 cup chopped baby spinach
fresh chopped parsley, thyme and basil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Fry onion and garlic for 2 minutes, add tomatoes, sambal,  spinach, capsicum, zucchini and mushroom and fry for a further 5 minutes or until veggies begin to soften. Take them off the heat and allow to cool.
Take your chillies and carefully cut around the stalks, remove and scrape out seeds using a sharp knife or teaspoon.
Add herbs, salt and pepper and cheese to cooled veggie mixture and stuff carefully into chillies using a teaspoon. Once filled cover in olive oil and roast for 20 minutes.
Enjoy Xx

Melon Brain

Melon brain = awesome...
they look so effective and cool, I did this one for friday 13th this year
cut a water melon in half and peel off the green skin, leaving the white behind
cut brainy patterns with a sharp knife....ta da!

I also attempted to make some brownies so I could cut them into little head stone shapes....but unfortunately I accidentally somehow managed to get a plastic handled knife in the oven whilst they were cooking and it melted and filled the oven with acrid plastic smoke....so just imagine their awesomeness. Xx

Coffee Triumph Cake with Poached Pears

Why triumph cake? Cause this recipe actually worked...although perhaps coffee procrastination cake is more appropriate as I really should be studying for my exams right about now. This was one of those occasions where you just kind of throw things together and hope for the best, and against all odds, it totally works. This cake is moist, spongy and super yummy! This makes a big cake, for a layer cake halve the mixture into two tins or halve the recipe for a smaller loaf tin. I cooked in a 30cm round spring form tin.

Coffee cake

What you'll need;

1 cup soy milk

1 tbsp vinegar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 heaped tsp instant coffee

2 tsp vanilla essence

4 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar (yes its a lot)
2 tsp baking soda (bicarb)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Mix soy milk and vinegar together and sit for a minute or two till it curdles, add  few tsp full of hot water to your instant coffee to dissolve and add along with all other wet ingredients to the milk mixture.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients until combined then add to wet mixture and beat well until there are no lumps. Place mix in a greased cake tin and bake for 45 -50 minutes or until centre is cooked.

Icing

Half tub of tofutti cream cheese
1/2 cup of milk
1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in water
1/2 cup icing sugar

Mix all ingredients until well combined and refrigerate until cake is ready to be iced. When cake is cool ice and place poached pears on top

Poached Pears

I got these awesome little mini pears the other day cause woolies had a fill a bag for $2 trolley full of (in my opinion) perfectly fine fruit and vegetables. You could do it with large pears, just serve them on the side.

6 mini pears - peeled
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp orange marmalade
4 strands saffron
2 tsp all spice
2tsp cinnamon (or one cinnamon stick)
2 tsp whole cloves

Put all ingredients in a small heavy bottomed saucepan and cook over a very low heat until pears are soft, may take 10 -15 minutes.


When cooked remove pears from the poaching water and reduce it over a high heat for a further 2-3 minutes. Brush some of this liquid over the cake while still hot. Cut pears in half and place on or around cake once iced. Enjoy Xx

Creamy Mushroom and Broccoli Pasta

Yay Pasta!
I hope that didn't sound forced...generally when I make 'pasta' sauce, I leave out the pasta and eat it on bread...partly cause I'm obsessed with bread and partly cause thats the way I roll.
But this is good, even for a self admitted pasta avoider.

What you'll need:
2 cups pasta, any kind I used the tricoloured swirls
1 small onion finely diced
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 cup sliced broccoli florets
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/4 cup white wine
2 heaped tbsp tofutti cream cheese
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp freshly chopped chives
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
nuttelex for frying

Put your pasta on to cook.
You can use olive oil for this but I think nuttelex gives the mushrooms a nice flavour,
Melt a tbsp nuttelex in a hot fry pan and add onion, cook for 2-3 minutes until transparent stirring regularly. Add mushrooms and garlic and fry for another minute or two, add broccoli and wine and leave to simmer.
Place cream cheese, milk, herbs and some salt and pepper into a jug and whisk until well combined (heating will help this process microwave for 30 seconds or so) add this mixture to your fry pan and mix thoroughly. Cook for a further 5 -7 minutes or until broccoli is cooked to your liking.
If sauce starts to get to thick just add a small amount of water, don't worry if you add too much, it will evaporate off.
Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to sauce and mix through. Sprinkle with some more fresh parsley and some cracked pepper and enjoy Xx

Punkrock chickpea gravy and beer battered chips

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF CHICKPEA GRAVY? 
No seriously, why? I can't even begin to describe how super awesome it really is! I have a burnt tongue to prove it, it's straight-out-of-a-pan-with-a-spoon-without-bothering-to-wait-until-its-cool-enough tasty.


While I am ecstatic to now be able to eat this whenever I want, I am also a little sad as I really didn't need another excuse to binge on carbs. I'm a carbo-holic.
The original recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, which I don't own....so I accessed it here http://www.food.com/recipe/punkrock-chickpea-gravy-304633 


Now I only realised after I started making this that the ingredients I didn't have were pretty close to the number of ingredients I did so...I had no mustard seeds, so I just used 2 tbsp of mild american mustard, no lemons, so I used half a lime, I also only had smoked paprika and no nutritional yeast or coriander...oh and I used fresh thyme and rosemary...but even with all these changes it was still super tasty, so when I actually get my hands on the real ingredients I'm sure it'll knock my frilly socks off.


As I was shovelling spoonfuls of gravy into my mouth, I realised that it was a little sad, so I needed something for it to accompany, it being 1 pm on a monday means its time for beer so.. Beer battered chips were the obvious choice!


You'll need;


2 - 4 washed potatoes with the skins on
1 bottle cold beer (I used Tooheys Extra Dry)
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying


Put your oil on to heat


Cut your potatoes into long strips


Pre-steam or boil potatoes until they're just turning soft, and I mean just, you still want them slightly firm (Approx 7 minutes)


Meanwhile mix flour and paprika together, whisk through beer until a light fluffy batter forms.


Dip potato pieces in batter until well coated and fry in batches until golden brown, drain on kitchen paper and serve with chickpea gravy! 
Enjoy Xx

Roast Pumpkin Soup

Hooray! It's soup weather! The best damn weather you could ask for...productivity is low but desire to eat soup is oh so high!


What you'll need;
1 medium sized butternut pumpkin peeled and chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
1/2 sweet potato peeled and chopped
1 large onion finely diced
4 cloves garlic
fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups vegetable stock


Preheat oven to 180 degrees, placed chopped pumpkin, carrots and sweet potato into a roasting tray cover in olive oil and some salt and pepper and roast for 45 minutes or until veggies and soft and beginning to brown. After 15 minutes have elapsed throw whole un-peeled garlic cloves into the tray as well.


Once your veggies are cooked fry your onion in a soup pot with a little olive oil, once translucent add your roast veggies. Squeeze garlic out of the skins, it should be nice and soft, and add to the pot.
Add fresh thyme, about 2-3 teaspoons should do.


Add your 8 cups of stock and bring to the boil, allow soup to simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes, after this time mash/process the mixture till it is smooth, allow to cook for another 10 minutes with the lid off, or until desired consistency has been reached. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with some fresh crusty bread!


I like my soup nice and chunky so I just mash with a potato masher till there are no large chunks. This dish can be made without pre roasting the vegetables but it is just so much sweeter and has a greater depth of flavour if you pre-roast them. but if you are short on time just throw them all in the soup pot and let them cook for about 30 minutes or until soft.
Enjoy Xx

Daal and Chapatis

Ah daal, the poor students staple, it costs about $1.20 to make and can feed you for a week, and the best part is that it is so versatile. What ever you've got it can probably go in daal.


You'll need


2 cups lentils (I used brown)
1 brown onion roughly chopped
1 tomato roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
4 tsp cumin
4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp biryani seasoning
Salt to taste


Rinse lentils well and remove any that are discoloured. Place lentils into a saucepan and cover with 4 cups of boiling water.
Add a few pinches of salt and place a lid on the saucepan, boil for 10 -15 minutes or until lentils begin to soften. Adding more water if necessary.
Once lentils are softened fry off onion in a saucepan until browned.
Add the lentils to the onion, add tomatoes, garlic and ginger and cook for  minute or two.
Add spices and simmer for another 10 minutes or until lentils are fully cooked, if the mixture begins to dry add more boiling water.
I like to taste the daal throughout the cooking process and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Chapatis


2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
2 tsp olive oil


While the daal is simmering you can prepare the chapatis.
Place flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Add half the water and the olive oil and mix together.
Add the rest of the water slowly until you form a soft dough.
Roll the dough into small balls and then roll flat using a rolling pin on a well floured surface.
Cook one at a time in a hot frying pan. Cook for 2 minutes on either side and serve warm with daal.


This recipe is just a guide, honestly you can put any mix of vegetables and spices into it and it will still taste awesome! Enjoy Xx

Shiitake Miso Soup

This is probably the easiest simplest thing to cook....ever.  And it's tasty


A handful of dried shiitake mushrooms sliced
2 pieces dried black fungus
Pinch sliced dried seaweed
2 teaspoons white miso paste
2 spring onions sliced.
2 cups boiling water


Re-hydrate the fungus and shiitake in some boiling water for 10 minutes or until soft (if your shiitake mushrooms are whole this will take longer).
Place miso paste in small heavy bottomed sauce pan and add a small amount of the water from the mushrooms to mix through.
Add water then mushrooms and spring onions and cook over a medium heat until boiling, reduce heat and add seaweed.
Allow to simmer for 1 or 2 minutes.
Rest for 5 minutes and then serve


Variations: Cubes of silken tofu are also really good in this dish, I just didn't have any on hand. Also fresh mushrooms can be used and some grated ginger...other ingredients which I don't currently have.

Mushroom and Snow Pea Salad

This salad is really simple, it seems too simple, but comes out incredibly tasty. You can add any vegetables you want but this is the traditional way my mum makes it. Play around with the dressing, all measurements are approximates, this is something I generally do by sploshing the ingredients together until it tastes good. Some fresh cucumber or steamed  and cooled broccolini would also be great additions.


Salad
250 grams button mushrooms - sliced
1 red capsicum  - cut into strips
500 grams snow peas - topped and tailed
Dressing
2 tsp fresh ginger - grated
2 tbsp sherry
1 red chilli - finely chopped
1 tbsp sweet soy
1 tbsp light soy


Arrange snow peas around the edges of a serving plate


Combine dressing ingredients and mix well.


In a bowl toss mushrooms capsicum and dressing.


Place mushroom mixture in the centre of your serving plate.


Top with freshly chopped coriander (optional)

Crumbed Mushrooms

So simple and sssssssssssoooooooo tasty. We had some friends over for drinks last night and having about $20 between us needed cheap and simple snacky food to feed them. This recipe has everything you could possibly want...
Crispy deep fried goodness? Tick
Mushrooms? Tick
What else do you need?
You can also add any flavourings you like to the crumbs, I used some fresh herbs but you can experiment with chilli's, curry powder, really anything you want.


What you'll need...


Button mushrooms....as many as you want...less is NOT more!
Plain flour
Soy milk
Panko breadcrumbs
Mixed fresh herbs ( I used parsley, lemon thyme and garlic chives)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil for deep frying.


Put your oil on to heat.
Chop up your herbs finely and add to bread crumbs, you can use any breadcrumbs but I really recommend Panko, they are extra crispy! Mix through a few tsp of salt and pepper.
You'll need to make a little production line, have  a plate of flour, a bowl of soy milk and a plate of the crumb mixture set up.
Brush any dirt off mushrooms and trim of any long stems.
Dip your mushrooms one at a time into soy milk, coat in flour, re-dip into soy milk and then roll in crumbs. Set aside until all are crumbed and ready for frying.
If I can stress anything it would be make sure you flour them first! If you just directly crumb the mushroom all your crumbs will float off as soon as you put them into the hot oil.
I test my oil by putting a cube of bread in, if it floats and bubbles your oil is hot enough.
Lower the mushrooms carefully into the hot oil and cook in batches until all are golden and crisp, should take about 2-3 mins per batch.
Drain on some paper towel to soak up any extra oil.
Serve warm with a few beers and some good friends!

Banana and Fig Cake with Passionfruit Icing

Hey hey!
The Rocklea markets have reopened for the first time since the  Queensland floods and I am able to purchase lovely fruits and vegetables once again. The price of fruits and vegetables in the supermarkets has been exorbitant, eg $10 a kg for tomatoes, where as when I went to the markets yesterday they were selling better looking tomatoes for 99c a kg, makes me wonder how the supermarkets can justify that kind of price.
They were selling huge bags of banana's for $1 and fresh figs for only $5 a kilo so I ended up with a surplus.
This cake is really moist and fudgey. I like to eat it warm but it also keeps well in the fridge. 


You'll need;


3 Ripe bananas - mashed
3 ripe Figs - mashed (you can leave these out)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup of plain flour
2 eggs worth of no egg replacer
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
2/3 cup soy milk


I also added a handful each of chopped dates and walnuts that I had left over from making my christmas cake.


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius
Cream sugar, bananas and figs until creamy then add egg substitute and mix until just combined.
Stir in half of the flour and the cinnamon until combined, add soy milk hen stir in the remaining flour and vanilla essence.
Place into a greased loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before icing.




For icing you'll need
1 passionfruit
1/2 a tub of vegan cream cheese
1/3 cup of icing sugar


Combine ingredients until smooth and creamy then pour over cake, if the icing seems too runny add more icing sugar or chill for one hour before icing your cake.

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Sticky Berry Scrolls (aka ugly buns)

I felt like baking today, it's still raining and I am really beginning to run out of things to do. I made these up on a whim, but they sure are delicious, you've got flaky doughy parts, gooey fruity parts, and yummy sticky parts, all of which get the thumbs up in my book.
These are kind of like a cross between a sticky bun (they're really very sticky) and a fruit scone. Try them, seriously.


For the buns;


Self Raising Flour - 1.5 cups
Dairy free margarine - 2 tbsp softened(I use nuttelex)
Cinnamon - 1 tbsp
Soy Milk - 1/2 cup


Place you flour in a bowl and rub through your margarine pinching with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs.
Add cinnamon and then milk and combine to form a soft dough.
Dough should be soft but not overly sticky, if too sticky add more flour.
Knead for a minute or two and leave somewhere cool until ready to use.


For the filling;


Mixed Berries - 1.5 cups (I used a frozen mix of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
Caster Sugar - 1/2 cup
Dairy free margarine - 1 tbsp
Golden Syrup - 1 tbsp


I used golden syrup because I didn't have any brown sugar, if you do use it instead of caster and leave out the syrup.


Melt butter in a small saucepan, add sugar, berries and syrup and mix until sugar begins to melt and the mixture becomes thick and sticky (should only take 1-2 minutes) remove from heat and set aside.


Bring it all together;


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a muffin tin (I used a large texas tin and made 6, if you only have a smaller tin cut your portions smaller to make more)
Flour a clean surface and roll out your dough into a rough rectangle shape at least 30cm long and 15 cm wide.
Spread your berry mix over the dough leaving a good gap near the edges.
Roll up the dough so you get a long roll, don't worry if some mix spills out.
Slice the roll into portions to fit your muffin tray. Scoop up any berries that fall out and put them on the top of your scrolls.
Cook in middle of oven for 15-18 minutes until scrolls are golden and sauce is bubbling. I recommend putting a lipped tray underneath you muffin tray as the sauce is prone to bubbling over.
Let the scrolls rest in the tin for 5 minutes then remove. Flip them when you remove them from the tray so that the flat berry soaked side is on the top. Scoop out any remaining sauce and berries from the tin and drizzle over your scrolls.
They're not that pretty but they sure do taste good! Also they are this fantastic rich purple colour, not enough foods are purple in my opinion. Enjoy Xx

Serve warm and sticky!

Ok so they're not that ugly...

Vegan Lasagne

So it's been raining for days...it's cold and windy and miserable, nothing to cheer you up like a gigantic portion of saucy, yummy, cheesy, tomatoey lasagne-ey goodness!

Make up a big portion of your favourite tomato based pasta sauce...or use the one below

You'll need

Brown Onion - 1 large diced

Garlic - 4 cloves crushed

Sliced mushrooms - 1 cup 

TVP - 800 g, I use the tinned casserole mince

Tomato Paste - 4 tbsp

Baby Spinach - 2 handfuls

Pasta Sauce - 1 jar

Mixed Herbs

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Fry onion for 2 minutes then add sliced mushrooms cook for a minute more then add garlic and stir well.

Add all other ingredients and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add what ever herbs you like, I used fresh parsley and thyme and dried oregano and basil.

While it's simmering make your Cheese Sauce 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and prepare your lasagne by using alternating layers of lasagne sheets, pasta sauce and cheese sauce (Buy instant lasagne sheets they are so easy to use). Cover the top in cheese sauce and sprinkle with fresh parsley. Cook for 40 minutes so top is nice and brown.

Easy Tea Cake

Ok this recipe is kind of a cross between a cake and a bread...perhaps easy tea loaf is a more appropriate name....either way it is delicious! It is awesome by itself, warm with jam or even toasted in a sandwich press. Seriously it's the bomb and probably the easiest thing you'll ever make.


What you'll need


Earl grey tea - 1 cup brewed and cooled (any black tea will do)
Self raising flour - 2 cups sifted
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Sultanas - 1 cup
Cinnamon - 1 tbsp
Nutmeg - 1/2 tbsp


Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius
Place sugar, sultanas and spices in a bowl and combine.
Add tea and stir.
Add flour and combine well.
Place mixture in a greased loaf tin and cook for 20 - 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.


Thats it and it really is that simple. It's also a great recipe to play around with, add some nuts, or choc chips, what ever you like. I recommend lathering the top of the cake with vegan butter and sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar whilst still hot.


I love this toasted the next day with lots of butter for breakfast! Yum!

Peanut butter white choc chip cookies!

Yes they really are as awesome as they sound! They're also as awesome as they are quick and easy to prepare!


You'll need...


White sugar - 3/4 cup
Golden Syrup - 2 tbsp
Non-dairy spread - 1/2 cup melted
No egg replacer - 1 eggs worth
Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup
Self Raising Flour - 1.5 cups sifted
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Vegan white chocolate - half a block chopped up into small pieces


Preheat your oven to 160 degrees.
Mix together white sugar and golden syrup in a bowl.
Add melted margarine and egg substitute and stir till combined.
Add peanut butter and vanilla essence, mix through peanut butter well so mixture is fairly smooth with few lumps.
Add flour and white choc pieces and mix until you form a smooth dough.
Place teaspoon sized drops on a greased baking tray and flatten slightly with a fork.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

My sister gave me some awesome 'ninjabread men' cookie cutters for xmas so I though I would try them out. I melted the other half of the block of white chocolate to decorate the cookies. The ninja bread men come out soooooo cute! Plus they are awesome to play with cause they keep breaking which means you have to keep eating them!  Xx

Vegan cheese sauce + cauliflower and broccoli gratin

Yes it's vegan! Yes it's cheesy and delicious!

I grew up having cauliflower cheese at my grandmothers every Christmas, it's just not christmas without it. The creamy cheesy sauce is just so delicious. I first made this cheese sauce for a potato bake, it works fabulously and browns on the top in the oven, it's creamy, it's cheesy, it's everything I desire!
I know people probably hear this a lot, but honestly, you feed this to someone and they will have no idea that there is no dairy in it and they will flat out refuse to believe you that it's vegan, it's just that good!
To make the cheese sauce...


First you need to make a roux, melt a tablespoon of non-dairy margarine (I use nuttelex) in a small heavy bottomed sauce pan, to this add 2 - 3 table spoons of plain flour and mix to form a soft paste. 


Cook for 1-2 minutes over a low heat stirring constantly. 


Then pour in a small amount of soy milk (about a 1/4 of a cup) and whisk the butter and flour into the milk until it's smooth and there is no lumps. 

Over a medium heat continue stirring, as the sauce beings to thicken add more milk gradually stirring it in, I generally end up using about two cups, but you'll need more or less depending on how much you want and what your using it for.


Then take 2/3 of a tub of vegan cream cheese and mix it into the sauce whisking until it has dissolved continue adding milk until the sauce has reached a desired thickness ( like mine about the consistency of custard, it should be thick but easily pourable) add salt and pepper to taste (you may need more or less depending on how sweet the cream cheese you use is).


The result is a creamy cheesy sauce that you can pour over virtually anything. Bake it or place it under a grill and it will brown and bubble on top.

Over christmas I used it to make a cauliflower and broccoli gratin, it was awesome!

because it was xmas and I had limited time I sliced up a head of broccoli and half a head of a large cauliflower into florets and then microwaved them until soft (steaming would be ideal) I then placed them in a baking dish and covered them in the cheesy sauce. I crack extra pepper over the top and then bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbly and voila! A delicious cheesy bake! This sauce is also ideal for lasagnes. There is only a picture of half of it because it was pounced on the minute it was removed from the oven and there were large spoon holes in the other end. once you try the sauce you will realise why Xx

Vegan French Fruit Toast

We've just gotten back from camping for new years and there is only sad looking food left in the house. What better time to try a recipe from one of my xmas gifts 'Vegan Brunch' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. We had a very stale loaf of fruit bread and some squidgey bananas so 'Banana rabanada' (brazilian french toast) was the answer!
Because I am unable to follow a recipe without changing it I added an extra banana and some golden syrup to my 'banana custard' mix and we used large thick slices of fruit bread. This was delicious! Thank you Isa!
I also fried some banana slices till they were just caramelised and served them on top with some cinnamon and drinking chocolate and lots of golden syrup. My non stick pan is no longer entirely non stick so I found the key to this recipe was using a heap of oil, but if you have an actual non stick pan I'm sure it'll be fine.


Heres Isa's fabulous recipe, unchanged!


2 very ripe bananas
1.5 cups non dairy milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stale baguette sliced diagonally (1 inch pieces)


Blend bananas, milk, cornstarch and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Spread baguette slices in a single layer on a backing pan. pour banana mixture onto bread and flip slices to coat. let sit for 10 minutes then flip over and let soak for 10 minutes more.
Preheat a large non stick skillet over medium heat. spray with cooking spray and cook soaked bread for 5-7 minutes on one side and about three minutes on the other.When ready the toast should be golden to medium brown and flecked with darker spots...when ready to serve mix together some cocoa powder and cinnamon ad use a small sifter to sprinkle generously over each serving.

I would definitely recommend doing this recipe with fruit loaf, it was absolutely delicious and sooooooo rich. It would also be great with ice cream. Enjoy Xx