Some like it hot... but some are spice wimps! Plus PB cookie and pasta recipe!

Apologies to Jay, but I'm going to have to ruin my boyf's macho image by telling you he's a spice wimp and doesn't like his chilli quite so burn-the-roof-of-mouth-and-make-eyes-water hot as I do. So the solution to this, as you can see in the pic above, is to move his milder portion of the chilli to a seperate pot once I've cooked it, then add extra spice to my own. ;)

I've also made another variation to my usual recipe for chilli(see under main meals in my archives) by adding a tablespoonful of molasses (Jay can't have it since he's diabetic, so another reason for seperate pots, but it's actually loaded with minerals like iron and calcium so it's surprisingly healthy for non-diabetics) inspired by the chilli recipe in Vegan with a vengeance and this makes the chilli nice and rich to boot so I'll be using it again.
This pasta dish is an Asparagus (only there wasn't any asparagus in the house so I used a head of broccoli instead :P) and Sun-dried tomato Pasta with Pesto, from a Viva! "Recipes from the Inredible Veggie Roadshow" free leaflet. It says it serves 3-4 but I made 2 big platefuls for us and Jay declared it delicious and ate all the leftovers from the pan to boot. :)

Since the leaflet was being given away free I'm fairly sure the lovely people at Viva! won't mind if I post their recipe here, but if there's a copyright problem, please contact me and I'll remove it asap. :) Here are more recipes on their site- http://www.viva.org.uk/recipes/index.html

250g fusilli pasta
1/2 pack sundried tomatoes(pre-soaked as instructions on packet) chopped into bite-size pieces using kitchen scissors
1 tin asparagus(or a head of brocolli like me if you don't have any ;))
8 garlic cloves, finely chopped(don't crush, cos it'll clump together)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
100g vegan pesto(I used Zest)
2 tsp dried herbs such as basil or oregano, OR a handful of chopped fresh coriander(I used the former)
pinch of ground black pepper and sea salt

-cook pasta as intructions on pack
-drain, and add olive oil to prevent sticking
-heat asparagus and add to pasta
- add herbs and sundried tomatoes
-in a saucepan, heat olive oil, add chopped garlic and fry till lightly browned
-add oil and garlic to pasta mix, add pesto, and stir in carefully but thoroughly
-add salt and pepper, then serve

Vegan junk food alert! Redwoods cheatin' vegan "bacon" rashers in a sandwich(I'm even using naughty fresh white bread! :o) with vegenaise. Unhealthy, sure, but delicious nonetheless!
I've been tweaking a peanut butter cookie recipe by looking at various recipes and created something that works beautifully. Makes about 13...ish.

115g smooth peanut butter
85g sugar
4 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

55g flour
1 heaped tsp cornflour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt(don't bother if your PB is salted already)

-preheat oven to 180C
-cream together wet ingredients
-in another bowl, sift dry ingredients, then add to wet and mix til combined
-flatten tablespoon sized blobs of dough onto a greaseproof papered baking sheet, then bake for 12 minutes
-leave about half an hour to cool, then eat.

For your drooling pleasure, here's the pic...

Maple walnut brownies

This is the recipe from How it All Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard, and it is absolutely gorgeous and decadent. It's quite pricey to make since it uses nearly a whole bottle of maple syrup and bag of walnuts (I finished my bag off by decorating the top with walnut halves too) but well worth it in terms of taste.

Aside from vanilla essence and optional apple juice, the maple syrup is the only sweetener used in this recipe, so I'm wondering how well it might work using rich agave nectar instead, to make it diabetic friendly for Jay. I'll work on that project soon and let you know how it goes.

healthy salad, and "cheese omelette"- veganised and pwned!

Here is a really easy and healthy mixed beans and greens salad, it's half a tin of Morrisons' own brand mixed bean salad atop watercress, spinach and rocket leaves, drizzled in a little viniagrette.

And, I've managed to find a recipe to veganise omelettes here- http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/09/vegan-omelette-for-one.html. I used cauldron tofu since I didn't have any silken stuff in the house, with a little extra soyamilk, it was a bit floppy yet it tasted great, but would definitely would work far better with silken tofu (like mori-nu) as advised. I've used cheezly mozzarella and onion as my filling- lurvely!

Red food and pesto review

I knew vegan pesto in a jar existed, and after much searching, I finally came across Zest's vegan pesto in Grassroots(an independent veggie healthfood store in Glasgow). It's a bit pricey at £2-35 for a wee jar, but it does taste lovely, with a strong nutty flavour. I've served it on wholewheat pasta here, but it'd be nice on a pizza as well. A handy cupboard standby :) 4/5

Tonight, I had a very red-themed dinner, red curry, with red onions, red bell peppers(and tofu, green bell peppers and brocolli) atop red quinoa. I had a few of Patak's mini poppadoms on the side to dip in it.

Stuffed shells in nooch sauce

I came up with this combination for tonight's dinner and both myself and Jay were pretty impressed by it! I've used up last night's leftover tofu ricotta and stuffed the shells in the same way as I did here- http://crueltyfreekitchen.blogspot.com/2007/10/step-by-step-stuffed-shells-with-recipe.html
except that I've covered them with a "cheesy"-style nutritional yeast sauce(coming up!), sprinkled more nutritional yeast over it all, then baked them in the oven at 220C for 25 minutes. To make the sauce...

60g vegan margarine

28g cornflour

125ml hot water

250ml unsweetened soya milk

1 tbs soy sauce

20g nutritional yeast flakes(sold under Engevita brand name in health food stores)

pinch of sea salt and black pepper

-melt marge in a large saucepan

-add cornflour, water and soya milk, keep stirring (so it doesn't go lumpy!) over a low heat till thickened and bring to the boil

-add soya sauce, yeast, salt and pepper

Really easy lentil soup and french bread pizza- with recipes!

First up here's my super-easy tomato and lentil soup with italian herbs. It's hearty, filling and healthy using a whole tin's worth of green lentils and chopped tomato, and... oh, here's the recipe!(serves 2-4)

1 1/2 pts vegetable stock
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin of green lentil, rinsed
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch of basil, oregano and thyme
pinch of sea salt and black pepper

-saute garlic and onion
- add stock, lentils, tomatoes and herbs and simmer for 20 mins, then serve

~Alternatively, you could try adding other vegetables, for example bell peppers or courgettes to this if you like. Just saute them along with the onion and garlic~

Next up, baguette pizzas, inspired by Lelly's recent post- http://lellyskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/09/ciabatta-pizza-now-with-go-faster.html

I sliced the ends of an enormous baguette to dip in the soup for the starters, and then sliced the middle of it horizontally to make 4 "pizzas". I've used(about a third of, I have leftovers!) the tofu ricotta recipe from vegan with a vengeance, yet again(can you tell we like it?) and my own recipe for the easiest pizza sauce in the world(coming up!) and baked it at 240C for 10 minutes. Okay, pizza sauce recipe, as promised...

6 tbsp tomato puree
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp garlic puree
1/2 tsp of each, oregano, basil, salt, and crushed black pepper
pinch of thyme

-just mix it all together in a bowl and that's it!

(Oh, and then spread it on your pizzas, covers about 2 12 inch pizzas or a baguettes worth) No carry on with any blenders or any of that nonsense! :D

Steamed, but not angry vegetables, and rainbow cookies

Here we have some nut cutlets, and roast baby new potatoes with whole cloves of garlic, (which you've seen before a few posts ago) along with Alternative Vegan inspired "steamed, but not angry vegetables", a tasty way to jazz up steamed veg. There's broccolli, cabbage, leeks and spring greens in there.
I'm nibbling on one of these tasty rainbow cookies as I type... mmm!!! I've used (half, because I don't want to get too fat!)the chocolate chip cookie recipe from Vegan with a vengeance and 2 50g bags of Allergycare's Whizzers dairy free chocolate beans instead of the chocolate chips. I've also not bothered to half the quantity of molasses in the recipe, because it just makes it all the more tasty and moist! Mmmm...!!!

mmm red quinoa

Yum! This stuff's even tastier than the regular kind methinks. Served with my coconutty korma(recipe posted under main meals in archives) with tofu and loadsa veggies, making it pretty healthy and nutrient-loaded :)

More and better posts coming soon, promise, but I thought I'd better posting something to prove I'm still alive!

mmm chocolate...

In the bowl are some oaty chocolate treats from Easy vegan cooking by Leah Leneman. These are really easy to make, and taste pretty darn good... in fact, I keep going back to the kitchen for more nibbles!

Beside them, a cup of Yogi Choco tea... yes, chocolate flavoured herbal tea! And before you think "eeeewwwww!", try some, it really is surprisingly good. And tastes too nice to be healthy, but it is! Great, if like me, you're trying to lay off the caffeine but like a lovely hot, sweet drink. 5/5

I've served it in Jay's funky "Don't mess with the animals" mug from Viva!'s shop- http://www.viva.org.uk/shop/ The piggy on it reminds me of Leo from The Meatrix cartoon- http://www.themeatrix.com/

Quick Quinoa salad with recipe

Apologies for the recent lack of posts, but there's been little new and exciting cooked in the cruelty free kitchen of late, just the same old tried and trusted favourites you've already seen posted previously, since I've been rather busy with overtime lately.

But I've finally managed to come up with something I haven't already posted, a quick quinoa salad, made using about a cup's worth of leftover quinoa from a previous dish. Just add a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of cider vinegar(or lemon juice if you prefer a milder flavour), a few dashes of salt and black pepper, parsley to taste(either fresh or dried will do), a sliced onion(I've used a red onion but most onions will do, and spring onions are particularly nice and mild), plus optionally, veggies like sliced bell peppers or celery etc, and nuts or seeds. Leave in the fridge for up to a couple of days.

PS, you don't have to use quinoa either, other grains will work to, ie brown rice, millet, cous cous etc...

Healthy dinner, and not-quite-so-healthy cookies!

First up is a fairly healthy dinner, breaded baked tofu from the wholefoods diabetic cookbook, which I've adapted by adding olive oil to the tamari, and more nutritional yeast and garlic powder, less wholewheat flour, and a bit of sea salt and black pepper to make it considerably tastier ;) (if a tad less healthy...)

I've served it with baked potato wedges in olive oil, rosemary and thyme, and some (frozen, cheap and a great standby ;)) brussels sprouts, peas and sweetcorn.
Next up, crunchy peanut butter and oatmeal cookies from Vegan with a vengeance.... now I was slightly wary of how these'd turn out after the disaster that was the crispy peanut butter cookies on the next page, which crumble to the touch(yet taste good, I still ate the crumbs! :P) but apparently these were a disaster for everyone I know whose tried that recipe... anyhoo, I digress, lightning didn't strike twice and this peanut butter cookie recipe was a success :)

Step-by-step stuffed shells, with recipe

Here are all the parts before I assembled them-

10 shells of Lumacomi pasta in the colander,

250g of Tofu-basil ricotta from Vegan with a vengeance, half in the tupperware tub, and half of it mixed about 2 cups of cooked broccoli in the blue bowl to make the stuffing. I didn't have any fresh basil in the house so used a heaped tsp of dried stuff instead, which works just as well :)

In the pan, an Italian-style tomato sauce, this is a recipe I come up with myself and am quite pleased with, I think it'd work in many pasta dishes, or even a ratatouille with the addition of other veggies, it's made by
- sauteing in 2 tbsp olive oil, a chopped onion, 4 crushed cloves of garlic, 6 sundried tomatoes and one red bell pepper, finely diced
- add a can of chopped tomatoes, about 70g of tomato puree, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp black pepper, a pinch of sea salt, and stir, bring to the boil, then simmer for about 15 more minutes.



Here are the shells once stuffed. Don't skimp on the filling, there's enough there so they'll be truly stuffed!































Pour the sauce over the shells in a casserole dish, then cover with the remaining tofu ricotta, and bake at 220 C for about 20-25 mins, or until tofu ricotta is a nice golden colour like in the photo. Serve! This is pretty filling for two people, and could serve about 3 with garlic bread on the side.

For everything you ever needed to know about veganism

I am part of a blogspot project known as vegan FAQ ( http://veganfaq.blogspot.com/ )with other vegans from all over the world, again posting under the username Miss Kris Dove. Here is a synopsis of the project-

We are vegans, from all over the planet, with unique perspectives on life. We come from different countries, races,
socioeconomic conditions, ages, and viewpoints. Aside from our commitment to helping animals, we are all as unique and varied as the animals we care for.

Daily, we get endless streams of questions about our veganism. Here we hope to share the way we did respond, the way we would have wished that we'd responded, or the way we should respond in future! Rather than linking to a bunch of websites written by other people, whose rhetoric we may or may not fully agree with, we'd rather share our voices, and do it in our own terms!