Moussaka update

When I have time on my hands and I'm in the mood for eating it, I really do love making moussaka. It takes a while to put together the way that I am accustomed to making it, yet I don't want to change the process as I have found that shortcuts are detrimental to it's overall taste. Last year I posted my initial vegan moussaka recipe which I was quite happy with at the time. This recipe has now fallen into the category of a few other recipes of mine where it has evolved into something different so I figured it was time for an update.

The main differences between my latest version and the earlier recipe are the bechamel sauce and I usually don't bother with a feta cheese replacement crumbled into the layers as it is flavoursome enough without it. I made a batch of Johanna's baked almond feta last week so I did add this to one of the layers only because I had it on hand. Another area where I have always fluctuated in the making of this meal is the method of precooking the vegetables. It used to work best with a BBQ hot plate and grill but ours hasn't been in working order for years so I have found that the next best thing to use is the grill function in my oven (with a watchful eye). Precooking the vegetables is the most time consuming part of the moussaka preparation and I believe this is a crucial step as it allows the potatoes and zucchini to soak up the flavours of the sauce whilst baking and gives the eggplant a wonderful smoky flavour.

The bechamel replacement that has become my standard is adapted from the moussaka recipe in Veganomicon. I wasn't attracted to the entire moussaka recipe as it doesn't contain enough eggplant and there is too much potato for my liking although I was very interested in the pine nut crema that is used in the topping. The greatest part about this crema is all of the ingredients are whizzed up in a blender so there is no need to fuss over the stove worrying about getting lumps in your sauce. After I tried out the crema, I made some changes as the standard tub of silken tofu I buy is 300g and the recipe calls for 450g. Silken tofu is one of those things that can linger in my fridge if it's not used immediately so I made some changes to the recipe after I grew tired of wasting leftover tofu. I found that 300g of tofu with half a cup of soy milk and some extra cornflour does just as good a job.  

Another wonderful thing about moussaka is that it makes a large quantity and the leftovers taste fantastic. It's a fantastic dish to take along to gatherings as it can be baked ahead of time and reheated when required.

Moussaka with tomato lentil sauce and pine nut crema (Crema adapted from Veganomicon)

Olive oil spray
1kg eggplant, sliced into 1-2cm thick pieces
500g potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
500g zucchini, sliced thinly
150g baked almond feta, crumbled (optional)

Tomato lentil sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 ½ cups cooked brown lentils or use a 400g tin, drained and rinsed
700ml jar tomato passata
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
¼ cup water

Pine nut/cashew crema

½ cup pine nuts or raw unsalted cashews
300g silken tofu, drained
½ cup soy milk
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons cornflour
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
pinch nutmeg

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set aside for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, spray the potato and zucchini slices slightly with olive oil and cook under a griller until slightly browned on both sides. Alternatively, the slices can be fried them in a lightly oiled pan or baked in the oven on tray lined with baking paper until browned on both sides.

After the eggplant has rested for 30 minutes, place the slices in a colander and rinse well. Pat dry with a tea towel or paper towel and grill, fry or bake the eggplant slices until browned on both sides.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat and cook the onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the chilli flakes (if using), oregano, lentils, passata and salt. Rinse out the passata jar with the water and add this to the saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

Place the pine nuts or cashews, tofu, soy milk, garlic, cornflour, lemon juice, salt and nutmeg in a blender or food processor and blend until it is completely smooth and no lumps remain.

Preheat the oven to 200C. In a 30cm x 20cm casserole dish, spread out about a quarter of the tomato lentil sauce. Place a third of the eggplant, zucchini and potato slices on top, followed by another quarter of the tomato lentil sauce. Crumble the baked almond feta on top, if using. Repeat the vegetable and sauce layering two more times, then pour the contents of the blender over the top as evenly as possible. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes, the top should be firm and starting to brown.

Easter beans

Easter is normally associated with indulging in chocolate and hot cross buns, this year I went against the norm and switched my focus to beans! Over the long weekend I turned into a bean prepping machine in an attempt to diminish my reliance on tinned beans. Last year I was in a wonderful habit of planning out my meals for the week which meant that I would be organised enough to prepare beans from scratch more often than not. I still plan meals to a certain extent although I don't have a hard and fast rule about what we are going to eat on a given night. This provides more flexibility to cook what I feel like on the day but tinned beans have been the only viable option when I decide halfway through the day that beans will be on the menu that night.

Preparing beans from scratch has always given me a lot more satisfaction than simply opening a tin and rising off the brine. The process never fails to fascinate me, particularly observing the vast amount of water the little dried beans manage to absorb after the initial soaking period. Dried beans have several benefits over tinned ones as they are a lot more economical, use less packaging and there is no concern about controversial toxins like BPA in tin linings leeching into your food.

I've read about freezing batches of cooked beans before and with some spare room in my freezer it was the perfect time to make it happen. My plan was to cook up five batches of beans; kidney, pinto, black, cannellini and chickpeas. I ended up cooking an extra batch of kidney beans because we ate most of them straight away and I also prepped a batch of black-eyed beans when I found some hiding in the pantry.

Preparing a batch of beans takes a bit of time from start to end although very little of it requires any interaction. After rinsing the beans, leave them to soak in a bowl filled with plenty of water overnight or at least 8 hours. Rinse the beans in a colander with fresh cold water, place them in a pot and cover them up with about 5cm of cold water. Bring them to the boil and after a couple of minutes scoop off as much of the white foamy stuff as possible with a spoon. Turn the heat back to low, pop the lid on and let them simmer away. The time they take to become tender varies between the type of beans as well as their age. I usually start testing after they have been simmering for about an hour by removing one that looks firmer than the others, allowing it to cool slightly and then biting it in half. If the bean isn't totally soft and tender, I continue the cooking process and retest in another 10-15 minutes.

Many beans were consumed over the course of the long weekend too. We enjoyed kidney beans in chilli non carne, curried tofu scramble and a Thai red lentil chilli stew from PPK (this was the recipe that taught me a lesson about US chilli powder last year but this time around I didn't find the stew spicy enough). I also cooked up a saucier version of cheater baked beans from Veganomicon, a black-eyed bean hummus adapted from Appetite for Reduction and still wound up with the equivalent of more than 20 tins of a variety of beans in the freezer.

Easter wasn't totally about healthy eating as I did enjoy revisiting Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe's hot cross buns recipe which only needs a couple of simple ingredient substitutions to make them vegan. Even though the crosses didn't work out as well as the batch I made last year, I was thrilled with how delicious they tasted.

Black-eyed bean hummus (Adapted from Appetite for Reduction)

1 x 400g tin black eyed beans
2 tablespoons tahini
juice of half a lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped roughly
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch cayenne pepper
chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Place all ingredients (except the parsley) in a food processor bowl and pulse until combined, scraping the ingredients down the sides a few times. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve garnished with parsley.

Chilli bean crepes

Some leftover chilli beans were found hiding in the fridge just before Father's Day which gave me an idea for Sunday brunch. I would reheat the chilli beans, make some guacamole, grate some cheezly and serve all of this in crepes!

We were smitten with savoury crepes a couple of years ago, first made for us by my sister in Cairns and then at a market stall she recommended when we headed over to Darwin. My sister's crepes were filled with goat's cheese and tomato which was a variation of her feta and tomato market stall favourite. Another type of crepe we sampled from the market contained chilli beans, cheese and sour cream which was another delicious combination. After we arrived home, both varieties were on our weekend brunch menu for a while before other things took over and they were forgotten.

I hadn't really thought about making crepes after going vegan, mainly because our beloved fillings had been so heavy in dairy products. The time had come for our weekend brunches to have a shake-up, tofu scrambles and baked beans had been standard fare for a while and were becoming a little mundane. After looking through several cookbooks, I decided to try the savoury crepe recipe from Veganomicon.  

The mixture is simple to prepare although like many other crepe recipes, the batter needs to sit for a least an hour before it's ready for making crepes. Our growling stomachs couldn't quite wait for an hour to pass (we made it to about 45 minutes) but this had no detrimental effect as the crepes still turned out perfectly. It was a different way to use up left over chilli beans and we also managed to consume one or two crepes topped with lemon juice and sugar as well!

Savoury Wheat Crepes (Adapted from Veganomicon)

3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup water

Place the flours and salt in a bowl and combine well. Pour in the soy milk and water and whisk until a smooth mixture results and no lumps remain. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Prior to making crepes, give the mixture a quick stir.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high and lightly brush with melted dairy-free margarine. Pour about 1/3 cup of the mixture into the frying pan, swirling the pan to ensure that the batter spreads out into a thin layer. When the mixture has set, flip the crepe over and cook for another minute. Remove the cooked crepe and repeat the process until the mixture has been used up.    

Chilli beans

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red capsicum, chopped
2 teaspoons chilli seasoning mix (based on this recipe which I'm constantly tweaking)
1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1 x 400g tin kidney beans, rinsed and drained
salt, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until soft. Stir through the garlic, red capsicum and chilli seasoning mix and cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes and kidney beans and simmer for about 10 minutes until the capsicum is tender. Season with salt and serve.

Chilli bean crepes

For each crepe, add spoonfuls of the chilli beans onto one half of the crepe. Sprinkle with grated cheezly and add dollops of guacamole and/or vegan sour cream. Fold over and serve!

VOTM - Cauliflower

When my idea for VOTM was developing in May and began with a post about about my love for brussel sprouts, I knew straight away which vegetable was going to feature next - cauliflower. It is a vegetable that many people (including myself until recently) primarily associate topped with a bechamel and cheese sauce and then baked in the oven. Although it may be rather tasty in this fashion, my love for this vegetable has intensified since I have been experimenting further...

A couple of the recipes that I began my cauliflower exploration with were Ashley's Pan-Roasted Cauliflower and the Red and White Cauliflower bake from Vegan Yum Yum. The combination of cauliflower with mustard, lemon, pine nuts and spring onions is so tasty and moreish, which makes Ashley's recipe a keeper and this has become one of my favorite ways to serve cauliflower as a side dish. The VYY red and white cauliflower bake is a very popular menu item at home with both the man and son being huge fans.

Carla's roast vegie cheezy pie and the Lentil, vegetable and quinoa stew from Fat Free Vegan that I blogged about recently have all been repeated several times. Although cauliflower is not the main ingredient, it is an essential inclusion in my book. Something that hasn't been made again yet is my Creamy cauliflower and tofu bacon soup although this will definitely get another showing as it was so delicious and disappeared in a flash. 

When I looked through my bookmarks of recipes to cook I was astounded at the quantity and diversity of cauliflower recipes that have been stowed away. Spicy dishes such as Vegan Dad's Tandoori Cauliflower, 101 Cookbook's Spicy Cauliflower with Sesame and Robin Robertson's Gobi Manchurian have all caught my eye. Some more unusual but intriguing things I would like to try are Cauliflower Couscous from Where's the Beef and Ground "Meat" from Diet, Dessert and Dogs.

Some other reasons behind this VOTM concept were not explored in my initial post. One is for a chance to discuss a seasonal vegetable and the many methods and recipes in which I like to enjoy it which is also an opportunity to share some blogging community spirit around. Another objective is to share a basic but hopefully interesting side dish that could otherwise miss out on being posted. So here is my recipe for this month, a simple side dish that was invented one evening and loved so much that it has been repeated countless times and is always greeted with a smile. 

It's a simple stir-fry that makes use of two or three vegetables which are totally interchangeable. Sometimes it can be broccoli and cauliflower florets, other times brussel sprouts, carrots and this time around I even used a choko! We enjoyed these stir-fried vegies with lemony roasted potatoes from Veganomicon (aka. lemony snickets around here) which were posted about here and Cindy's awesome vegan sausage rolls that we never seem to get enough of!

I make this side dish when I'm not really in the mood for roasted vegies or feel like adding a bit of spice to a meal. My latest trick has been to serve these stir-fried vegies alongside some lemony snickets when I'm trying something new out on the troops. That way if they aren't keen on my latest experiment at least they will be thoroughly satisfied with the other parts of their meal.

Mixed vegetable stir-fry with garlic and chilli

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced into strips
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 small carrots, julienned
1 choko, peeled and cut into strips
1-2 tablespoons vegan oyster mushroom sauce

Heat a tablespoon of peanut oil in a wok over high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, add the garlic and chilli flakes and stir-fry for about 10 seconds. Add the cauliflower, carrots and choko and stir-fry for about a minute. Stir through the vegan oyster mushroom sauce and stir-fry for a couple more minutes. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Some more pot pies...

Pot pies!!! Cold drinks!!!

OK, it's pretty cheesy but that's how I announce dinner is ready when pot pies are on the menu. Anyone who has attended an AFL game would be familiar with the youngsters prowling up and down the aisles, spruiking "Hot pies, cold drinks".

Pot pies have become almost a weekly meal of late as they are always devoured by the boys. I just love the simplicity of making the filling, topping up the ramekins and dropping a lid on top. It's so much easier than fiddling around with the pastry in a pie dish. Although we have been eating lots of pot pies, I am yet to repeat a recipe and still have plenty more on my list to try.

TVP is something I rarely cook with, however I purchased a few packets some time ago and noticed they were nearing their best before dates. Rather than let it go to waste, I used some in pot pies inspired by Cindy's recipe with a few chopped mushrooms added to the mix. My only gripe was that I used too much soy and worchestershire sauce in the gravy so they turned out too be rather salty. The boys didn't seem to mind the salt factor, in fact the man was more concerned about them being too peppery (of which I added very little) as he has an extremely sensitive palate to pepper. Nonetheless they went straight to the top of his pot pie list and came second on my son's. 

These rankings were quickly surpassed by the next pot pies which did not surprise me in the least. Carla posted a roast vegetable pie recipe last year using the cheezy sauce from Veganomicon. I made this several times last winter as it was adored so much. I was slightly amused that with all this recent pot pie making, no-one had requested it. It had been in my mind to do for some time and when I declared that these were to be the next pot pies, there was genuine excitement all around. This recipe also works very well as pot pies so after my pot pie experiments are finished (if that's possible) I can see this one going onto a regular rotation over the colder months to come. 

Pot pie experiments

Pies and pastries are something I love to play around with although the vast majority of the time I freely admit that I cheat and use ready-made puff pastry sheets. When we moved back in after renovations, one of the few things I purchased for the kitchen were some ramekins as pot pies were high on my to-do list.

When choosing recipes for my Planet VeGMeL week I found a couple of pot pie recipes that almost made my selections and have been made since. The first one I tried was sweet potato and corn pot pies with adobo sauce from Where's the Beef (originally from 101 Cookbooks) which weren't really my cup of tea although I'm not really a sweet potato and corn kinda gal anyway. The next ones to get a try were tofu, mushroom and spinach pot pies from Vegan about town. These were a lot more down my alley and although I loved the combination of the tofu, mushroom and spinach, the gravy was not thick and strongly flavoured enough to totally win me over.

My next trial was using the tofu, spinach and mushroom combination again substituting the sauce/gravy from the cauliflower and mushroom pot pie with black olive crust recipe in Veganomicon. When the sauce was almost ready, I had a taste and wasn't pleased. There was a distinct floury taste and the dried thyme was a tad overpowering. I can't recall what was hastily added in an attempt to make these more appealing but I certainly wasn't going to stick to the recipe. They turned out to be passable in the end but not something I would repeat. 

As the Vegan about town recipe was my favorite of the three I decided to remake it with slight adaptations. They turned out to be the best so far as the gravy was thick and delicious and had a lovely flavour. They will be repeated this way again, however I would still like to experiment with more pot pie fillings...

Tofu, mushroom and spinach pot pies (Adapted from Vegan about town)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried majoram
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
250g firm tofu, pressed and cut into small cubes
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
4 large portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon gravy powder
1/2 cup water
100g baby spinach leaves
salt and pepper, to taste
1 puff pastry sheet
soy milk, for brushing
sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 200C. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry the leek until softened. Add the garlic and stir for a minute, then stir through the dried basil, oregano, majoram and smoked paprika. 

Add the tofu cubes and mix gently until well covered. Stir through the tomatoes and mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes until the mushrooms have softened and begin to release their juices. Mix the gravy powder with water until it becomes a smooth paste and add the paste to the saucepan along with the soy sauce. Stir continuously until the gravy thickens then add the spinach leaves and cook until wilted. If the gravy is too thick, add a little more water. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon mixture into 4 ramekins until each one is 3/4 full. Place each ramekin on the puff pastry sheet and cut out a circle of dough around the base. Cover the mixture in each ramekin with a puff pastry circle, then brush with soy milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the pastry has browned. 

A day of breakfasts...

Saturday turned out to be a day of two breakfasts, a mid-morning one and the other in the evening. Our weekend breakfasts tend to be tofu oriented more often than not so it was time to branch out and give something else a shot. The man has always been quite partial to baked beans so I wanted to provide him with some beans that had fresh ingredients and none of the crappy preservatives that are added to the tinned variety.

The night before I had made preparations by simply soaking some dried navy beans in water. The next morning, the beans only required a quick simmer for 30 minutes in which time the sauce to cook them in was being prepared. After that it was a matter of combining the two and placing the pot into the oven for an hour. The recipe that I used was adapted from Cheater Baked Beans in Veganomicon and after reading Cindy's post I adjusted the amount of sweetener (golden syrup in my case) to a little under half and threw in some smoked paprika to give it a smoky flavour.

This was my first attempt at home-made baked beans and I was thoroughly impressed with how they turned out. A dash of liquid smoke could also be a good addition next time around to give them even more delicious smoky flavours.

There has been a block of smoked tofu in my fridge for a couple of weeks and the way that I like to use it most is in a scrambled tofu. Several times recently my plans to make this haven't come to fruition so I decided to make a scramble on Saturday night for dinner. Tofu scramble more often than not is a brunch item for us although there have been a few occasions where it has made it to the dinner table.

Tofu scrambles are rarely made the same way twice as I usually incorporate vegies that need using up along with whatever other flavours take my fancy on a given day. Half a batch of seitan was looking for a home so this was fried up in chunks and then sliced into bite-sized pieces. A tin of kidney beans was thrown in to give this meal an extra protein boost.

After this wonderful day of breakfasts, there was no cooking required the following morning. A simple reheat of left over beans and scramble meant that both were on the brekky menu with no effort required...

Smoky baked beans (Adapted from Veganomicon)

200g dried navy beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
1/4 cup (scant) golden syrup
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 bay leaf

Place the navy beans into a bowl, cover with water and leave to soak overnight. Drain the beans, rinse thoroughly, then place into a saucepan with fresh water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the olive oil in a medium casserole dish, add the onions and sauté for about 10 minutes or until slightly browned. Add the garlic and stir through for a minute. Mix in the tinned tomatoes, golden syrup, mustard powder, salt, allspice, smoked paprika and allspice and simmer for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes are softening.

Drain the beans when they have finished cooking and add them to the tomato mixture. Cook in the oven for an hour, stirring once about half way through.

Serve on toast with tofutti cheese slices or with fresh parsley or other fresh herbs of your choice.

Tofu scramble

Olive oil
1/2 batch steamed red seitan (from Viva Vegan)
2 spring onions, chopped
1 small red chilli, copped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
300g smoked tofu, crumbled
125g firm tofu, crumbled
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 small carrots, grated
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Heat some oil in a large frying pan and cook the seitan in batches on both sides until browned. Allow to cool a little then chop into bite sized pieces.

In the same frying pan, add a little more oil and fry the spring onions, garlic and chilli for a minute or two. Add the tofu, soy sauce, smoked paprika, cumin, carrots and zucchini and cook, stirring until the vegies have almost cooked. Mix through the kidney beans and cook for a minute or two more.

Planet VeGMeL week (Part 7) - In the Mood for Noodles Lemon Tofu "Chicken"

When I came up with the idea of Planet VeGMeL week, Lemon Tofu "Chicken" from In the Mood for Noodles became an immediate inclusion as I had been longing to try it for ages. I wanted to end the week with a bang which is why it was saved for last.

Deep-frying and shallow frying is something I don't partake in often. I'm sure my boys wouldn't mind if I did more of it, however I try to make healthy meals more often than not. My past experience with frying tofu hasn't been ideal with bits of oil spluttering over me but after tonight I'm putting that down to not using a wok (as I never had room in my previous kitchen for one) and not pressing enough moisture out of the tofu.

As the tofu needed to be cooked in batches plus I wanted to stir-fry some greens to have with it, I decided to cook the tofu first and leave it in a warm oven. My fear was that the tofu might lose it crispiness however the greens only took a few minutes to complete and the tofu came out with pretty much the same delicious crunchiness.

The tofu tasted fantastic with the lemony sauce over the top, after I finished the plate of food in the photo I stuffed myself full of more until I was ready to burst as it was soooo good. The greens are pak choy with crispy shallots and toasted sesame seeds from Veganomicon which were previously posted here.

Now that I have completed Planet VeGMeL week and cooked some fantastic meals from the featured blogs, I'll post a quick summary tomorrow to round it up!

Planet VeGMeL week (Part 6) - Vicki Vegan Eggplant Gratin

Part of my inspiration for Planet VeGMeL week was based upon the Vegan MoFo month of blogging and Vicki Vegan was a blog that I enjoyed reading a lot last during this period. There were a few recipes that Vicki posted within her A-Z of dishes that I bookmarked to cook at a later date and never got around to it so this was a perfect time to select one and the dish that appealed to me the most was Eggplant Gratin.

Eggplant was never part of my childhood and I don't think it made much of an impression on me the first time I ate it as an adult. A few good eggplant experiences later had me hooked and now I can't seem to get enough of it!

The eggplant gratin was very simple to put together and there was only adjustment made to the recipe. I didn't have any fresh basil on hand but there was still some of my last batch of pesto in the fridge so this was added to the sauce instead. As there were other items baking in the oven, I felt the temperature needed to be bumped up a bit but this still didn't result in the silky smooth eggplant I was hoping for. Perhaps my slices were too thick or maybe I should have covered the baking dish for a while.

Nonetheless, the gratin was tasty and the meal was completed with some Lemony Roasted Potatoes from Veganomicon, roasted pumpkin and steamed broccoli.

Well this week has gone by rather quickly and only one more blogger to go tomorrow. I'm quite excited about this one, tune in tomorrow to find out all about it!

Planet VeGMeL week (Part 1) - GGG Walnut and rice nutroast with a mashed potato crust

Several times I have attempted to recall the first time that my recipe searching brought me to a blog on Planet VeGMeL and I'm almost certain it was when I was searching for a nut roast recipe a couple of years ago. I was totally amazed with the variety of recipes when I stumbled across Johanna's nut roast round up and it was quite a tough decision to pick one to try from the list. If my memory serves me right it was the cheesy nut roast that I selected and thoroughly enjoyed on more than one occasion.

Johanna's posts are always an enjoyable read, full of colourful photos and inventive recipes. Some other recipes I have tried from GGG are Zucchini Koftas (which became when our favourite zucchini recipe a year ago when I had an enormous supply in my garden), Mushroom and chocolate risotto, Mexicali Pie and more recently a veganised version of Broccoli Burgers. There are still plenty of recipes I have bookmarked to try including Haggis, Pea Pate, Chickpea, lemon and mint soup plus many more.

Through GGG I have also discovered other bloggers around the world that I now read regularly and enjoy recipes from such as Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen, Eat me delicious, Diet, dessert and dogs and Fat Free Vegan.

As the first recipe that brought me to VeGMeL was a nut roast I decided one of Joanna's nut roasts would a perfect way to kick off my Planet VeGMeL week. After some deliberation I selected the walnut and rice nut roast, the mashed potato topping was the selling point as I had a feeling it would fare well with my audience.

This was a fairly straight forward meal to bake especially given my walnuts were already shelled, unlike Johanna. There were a few ingredients that needed to be modified in order to make it vegan so the eggs were replaced with a flax seed and water mix and the milk and butter in the mashed potatoes were subbed with soy milk and nutritional yeast. The other minor addition I made was to add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic to the onions when they were almost ready. I was a little concerned with the consistency of the filling as it was quite sloppy and I don't have a 20cm square tin so it was placed into a 24cm round Pyrex dish instead. When it came to serving, it still wasn't as robust as I would have liked, but I did find that it had firmed up lot more by the time I went back for a second helping.

The Nut Roast was served with Mushroom Gravy from Veganomicon and some roasted carrots and steamed broccoli. The nut roast was a very hearty filling meal and the mushroom gravy was a nice complimentary partner although some other people were more interested in trying it with tomato sauce. It probably wasn't my favourite nut roast I have tried however my taste buds have been dampened somewhat due to an annoying case of the sniffles.

During the day I had some thoughts about this week of cooking and the ways it could backfire and realised that it may not be easy after all. For starters, what if I totally stuffed up the recipe and then had to take a photo and blog about something that hadn't worked. And the other more pressing concern I had was, what if I don't like the recipes that I make as the last thing I was intending to do with this week of blogging was to post a negative review about someone's recipe. One thing I didn't anticipate was the issue that just happened which was technology based. The memory card for my camera has been a little flaky recently and it chose last night to cease working. Just as I was finishing off my post and about to upload a photo. How typical!!! So I decided to hold off publishing until my technology woes were rectified and the post was complete with picture in tow.

This week of blogging may not turn out to be quite as easy as I first thought, however I will remain committed to seeing it through to completion... Who's up next?

Quick update: The man didn't try this until lunchtime today and really loved it so I must try this again when I have my full senses back!

Pizza and the week ahead

When pizza was mentioned as a potential dinner option I was presented with an interesting topping idea by hubby who shall from now on be referred to as "the man". He suggested that my gnocchi pasta sauce would taste nice on a pizza and I thought to myself it could work actually and decided to give it a shot. There was a bit of confusion between me and the man as he didn't just mean the sauce as the topping but some gnocchi as well. There just wasn't enough time to pull this off in a timely manner but it might get a guernsey one day.

The first pizza had a layer of tomato pizza sauce with garlic and herbs, red onion, mushrooms, red capsicum, chorizo, cheezly and a drizzle of Veganomicon BBQ sauce and the second pizza had a batch of my creamy pesto pasta sauce and some cheezly. Both pizza were very tasty however my favourite tonight was the creamy pesto pasta sauce pizza. The bases tonight weren't the best I have made so I won't bother posting the recipe used. 

In other news, I have decided to set myself a little challenge for this week in an attempt to keep my blogging momentum going and in doing so will be paying homage to some of the Planet VeGMeL bloggers who have inspired me over the last couple of years. My simple rules for the week are that I will make something from a Planet VeGMeL blog every day that I haven't cooked before. I figure that this won't be a terribly time consuming task from a blogging point of view as I won't need to write up the recipes. Tomorrow will mark the first day of Planet VeGMeL week, I'm still wondering who should be first on my hit list??? Stay tuned...

Lemony Roasted Potatoes, BBQ Baked Tofu plus more for a birthday dinner

About a week prior to my son's birthday I asked him some very important questions, and they had nothing to do with presents! What would you like to eat for your birthday dinner? What sort of cake would you like me to make for you?

A little bit of thought went into the dinner and as there was no immediate definitive response I encouraged him to look through the expanding index of meals I have cooked. BBQ Baked Tofu became the first request, followed by Lemony Roasted Potatoes and also my sister's roasted vegie mix. The cake was a no brainer - plain chocolate.

BBQ Baked Tofu was a cinch as there is still an ample supply of home-made BBQ sauce from a couple of weeks ago. The roasted vegie mix that has been featuring lately is diced beetroot, sweet potato, red capsicum and red onion cooked with olive oil and salt. This was introduced to us at Christmas time with extra additions such as a tin of chickpeas tossed through the vegies at the end and fried haloumi for the non-vegans. I was a little disappointed with this last night as my beetroot weren't as juicy as they have been on previous occasions which made an impact on the final result.

After purchasing Veganomicon, Lemony Roasted Potatoes was a recipe that I initially bookmarked. On several evenings whilst preparing dinner and intending to make this, I either got the timing of preparing this with other dishes wrong or had more than enough food for the night so I didn't bother. Until about a week ago... I re-tried the Chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon which are just OK for me but not really a stand-out (and that's after trying them baked and fried). After flicking to the recipe and noticing that they pair well with Lemony Roasted Potatoes, I decided to give these babies a go. I must admit that I was a little tentative about making them after the Green Pea and Lemon risotto failure a few weeks back as lemon flavours around here can be a hit or miss. Goes to show that you should keep trying new things though as hubby and son both loved them as did I!

So this being the second time around making these tasty spuds, I made a couple of minor adjustments to the recipe. Both times I have halved the amounts as it's plenty for the 3 of us. This time I omitted the stock as there seems to be enough marinade without it and also upped the salt quantity slightly to compensate. I tried to keep a close eye on cooking times for recording purposes as the recipe seems to understate these and also increased the oven temperature a little.

The finished plate above consisted of BBQ Baked Tofu, Lemony Roasted Potatoes, roasted beetroot, sweet potato, capsicum and red onion and some steamed spinach with home-made pesto tossed through. To sum it up, this was another delicious dinner with differing elements that worked well together and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

I have mentioned before that I'm not really much of a sweets person and haven't done a lot of baking over the past few years. From memory, the catalyst was two failed birthday cakes in two successive years. That was enough to dampen my confidence in this department, until recently...

The attitude I have adopted of late is to try out as many new things as possible, broaden the range of vegetables I use whilst keeping them seasonal, and face my cooking fears so the latter has meant that cake/muffin baking has been back. This simple vegan chocolate cake popped up in my google search and turned out pretty well, nice and moist from the olive oil but not too rich and heavy. 

Birthday dinner was a success - phew!!!

Lemony Roasted Potatoes (Adapted from Veganomicon)

3 medium-sized potatoes (about 600g)
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon tomato paste (or sauce)
Ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200F. Peel the potatoes and chop into wedges.

Combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, oregano, salt, tomato paste and pepper in a large baking dish. The dish should be large enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer. Mix the potatoes though the sauce ensuring they get a good coating. Cover the baking dish with foil, place in the oven and cook for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are becoming tender. During this period, remove the dish from the oven a few times to give the potatoes a good stir.

Uncover the dish and bake for a final 20-30 minutes until the sauce has evaporated and the potatoes are browning on their edges.

BBQ Baked Tofu and Bok Choy

Sometimes I have a clear idea of what I will be cooking for dinner, other days I'll resort to searching through blogs, cookbooks or my pile of "recipes to cook" that is always growing looking for some inspiration. Some days when I hunt around a recipe will jump out pretty quickly and then there are those days when it's too hard to make a decision because so much is appealing. Today was one of those days...

After going back and forth and changing my mind a million times I decided to ask my son what he would like for dinner. I was planning to show him a couple of recipes however he was sold on the first - BBQ Baked Tofu from Veganomicon. It wasn't that surprising given he loves BBQ sauce with anything and he also loves happens to love tofu. The next question posed to him was "What should we have with it?" After a very short pause he came back with Bok Choy. A quick scan of the Veganomicon index and Baby Bok Choy with crispy shallots and sesame seeds was deemed to be the pairing dish as well as some steamed rice.

The BBQ Baked Tofu was made almost to the recipe apart from a minor reading mishap with the sauce ingredients. Only 2 teaspoons of sugar was added instead of the specified 2 tablespoons. It didn't seem to matter as the flavour of the sauce tasted pretty nice anyway so I left it. Other meals featuring BBQ sauce will have to be on the menu in the near future as I probably used about 1/4 of the sauce on the tofu. I have never been a fan of commercial BBQ sauces before however this one was surprisingly tasty.      

The Baby Bok Choy with crispy shallots and sesame seeds was modified slightly and also simplified by using pre-fried shallots purchased from the Asian grocer. Baby bok choy was unavailable at the shops so I used normal bok choy and also decided to add some shitake mushrooms into the mix. This turned out to be a very tasty side dish, the addition of the fried shallots and toasted sesame seeds took those simple greens to another level.

Bok choy with crispy shallots and sesame seeds (Adapted from Veganomicon)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 inch piece ginger, chopped finely
1 bunch bok choy, washed
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
15g dried shitake mushrooms, soaked for 30 minutes
Some fried shallots
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Chop the bok choy stems into bite site pieces and place in a bowl. Roughly chop the green tops of the bok choy and place in another bowl.

Heat the peanut oil in a large saucepan or wok, add the ginger and fry for 15 seconds. Add the bok choy stems and stir fry for 2-3 minutes and mix through the mirin, soy sauce, boy choy greens and shitake mushrooms. Stir fry for another minute or two until the greens have wilted. 

Transfer to serving plates and top with fried shallots and toasted sesame seeds. 

Rum Balls and Risotto

For my first Christmas as a vegan I really wanted to veganise my standard rum ball recipe to bring along to the family dos. Two days before Christmas that dream was shattered as a trip to my local health food store found the stocks of Soymilke had been depleted and were not going to be replenished for a few weeks :-(

After poking around at Vic Markets last Saturday I dropped into Global Green Vegetarian across the road to pick up a few bits and pieces and was delighted to find some Soymilke on the shelves!!! So last night I trialled some vegan rum balls with great success - better late than never...

Dinner for me and hubby was risotto which he normally loves but this one didn't hit the spot. I choose the Green Pea and Lemon Risotto with Roasted Capsicums from Veganomicon which turned out a tad overpowering on lemon front. Pretty sure this is my first fail from Veganomicon, it's not a recipe that will be repeated.

Edited to add: Peppermint and orange essenses can be substituted for rum to give these chocolately balls a totally different flavour. If this sounds more like your thing, take a look at my posts about choc-mint balls and jaffa balls.


Vegan Rum Balls
250g packet Arnott's Nice biscuits
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
330g can Soymilke soy condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essense
1 tablespoon light rum (or 2 if you prefer a bigger rum flavour)
Extra desiccated coconut, for coating

Place biscuits in a food processor and process until biscuits are a fine powder. Add the cocoa and 1/2 cup coconut and pulse a few times. Transfer mixture to a bowl then add the soy condensed milk, vanilla essense and rum and mix together until everything is well combined.

Place mixture in refrigerator for about 30 minutes which gives it a firmer texture and makes it easier to roll the balls. If the mixture is too soft, it gets very sticky and difficult to roll properly and the rum balls will not hold their shape.

Place extra coconut in a bowl. Roll spoonfuls of mixture into balls with your hands, and then coat in coconut. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.