Potluck preview...

I'm bringing these here cookies to the Yahoo! Scottish Vegans' group potluck tomorrow which I've just finished baking, and, more importantly, taste-testing!

On the left are the more grown-up sparkled ginger cookies, from Vegan with a vengeance, and on the right, the kids can have first dibs on the strawberry jam thumbprint cookies, also a variation on a VWAV recipe.

When I was baking these I was a little concerned they were going to go disastrously wrong but, hurrah, they pass the taste test! The thumbprint cookies turned out just fine, however, they were sticking to the greaseproof paper sheet and I accidentally broke a few trying to remove them- I think I'll just grease a baking tray if I make these again! The ginger cookies did not crack on the top so quickly as usual, perhaps it was the hot weather, perhaps the fact I used a measuring cup instead of scales, I don't know, so I left them in the oven to bake a little longer than usual, and so they are quite hard rather than chewy, but they're just like ginger nut biscuits so it's all good! They'll be ideal for dunking in a cuppa! :o)

I've still not got any batteries for my camera(sorry guys!) and a food meme

I'm not gonna bother tagging because I'm lazy, so open invitation to do this on your own blog to all my readers :)

Your three favorite spices, oils, or food flavorings:
1) cinnamon
2) coriander
3) vanilla

Your three favorite dishes, baked goods, etc. that you make:
1)my tofu quiche
2)tofu ricotta and mushroom pizza
3) lasagne

Your three favorite foods you buy at the store: (as in, already made, not whole foods)
1) zest vegan pesto
2) redwoods' cheatin' rashers
3) nakd cocoa loco raw food bars

Your three favorite meals to order in a restaurant:
1) big mono burger
2) tofu "cheese"cake
3) vegan sushi

Your Three Favorite Vegetables:
1) broccoli
2) bell peppers
3) aubergine

Three Favorite Fruits
1) Apples
2) Pineapples
3) Grapes

Three Places You Most Often Buy Food:
1) Morrisons
2) Holland and Barret
3) Grassroots

Top Three Things You Consider When Buying Food: (I left this the same because I do the same)
1) is it vegan?
2) use by date
3) price

Three Things You'd Probably Want me to Make For Dinner, if you came to my house??
1) my lentil and tomato soup with garlic bread
2) my tofu quiche with sundried tomatoes mushrooms and broccoli, with a side of baby potato salad and leafy greens
3)vwav coconut heaven cupcakes with cherries on top

I need batteries for my camera, and when can you feel good about eating cupcakes??

Yep, sorry, no photos today till I get round to putting the new batteries in the camera.

Cupcakes may not be the healthiest things in the world with all that oil and sugar, but they're certainly one of the tastiest! I must be one of the few vegans who haven't bought the Vegan Cupakes take over the world book yet (FWIW- of the cupcakes I've featured on here, some are from Vegan with a vengeance, The Cake Scoffer booklet from Animal Aid, and my own adaptions of recipes, veganised!) but I still get through my fair share!

I tried out the recipe for chocolate cupcakes from How It all Vegan last week, and I love it! The recipe says it makes 6, but actually it makes a generous 12 with plenty batter to spare/lick out the bowl while you bake! I iced it with the maple butteresque icing(also from HIAV). Delicious!

So what's better about these than your average cupcake? Well, they have a cup of blackstrap molasses per batch, which is bursting with iron (a whopping 3.5mg per tbsp!), so you're not just eating empty calories- if you want a chocolate cupcake, these are one of the best options to go for since they contain some nutrition in there too! Ideal for that time of month when we have choccy cravings and need an iron boost, ladies ;) You could serve them with some fruit or fruit juice for vitamin C for maximising iron absorbtion too. But do of course eat sensible food too and not just cupcakes!

Food for the Scottish vegan freaks meetup tomorrow!

No, I didn't! I've kept them safe for you!
Anyone tempted to come at the last minute and get some of these? ;) Above, peanut butterless ginger sesame cookies from Veganomicon. One of the vff-ers has a peanut allergy so I replaced the peanut butter with tahini (disclaimer-now, he's fine with seeds but not all nut allergy sufferers are, so do check with people first if you're cooking for them the nature of their own allergy). Because the tahini is runnier than PB I used 1/4 cup more flour to balance it out.

I also had no vegetable shortening so I simply used Pure sunfloer margarine, and no brown rice syrup so I used agave nectar. But I taste tested one and it's absolutely fine like this. The rest have been safely hidden away in my tin so there are some left for everyone else so I'm not gonna be like the lol kitteh when I arrive on Saturday!

And here's some Thai Red Curry, same one as a few posts ago, all tupperwared up in the fridge and ready to go...

Banana-ginger-bread with recipe!

2-3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1/4 cup sunflower oil

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup crystallised ginger, diced into cm-ish pieces
2 tbsp brown sugar

-preheat oven to 180 C
-grease an 9x5 loaf tin
-sieve flour salt and baking soda in a bowl then set aside
-mash bananas, then stir in sugar, ground ginger, nutmeg, molasses and oil
-add dry ingredients from bowl and mix into a dough, then mix through the crystallised ginger
-transfer to loaf tin, then sprinkle the 2 tbsp brown sugar over the top
-bake for 45-55 min, checking with a skewer to see if done
-leave to cool then slice and serve!

Thai red curry, and I've been tagged!

Last night's yummy dinner was Thai red curry (using Geo organics Thai red curry paste and the recipe on the jar, with tofu, brocolli and bell peppers) alongside the coconut rice recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

DJ over at the Skint Vegan blog just tagged me, so, in keeping with the rules, I'm going to do as follows:
1) Tell you 5 things about myself
2) Tag 5 others and let 'em know via this blog and theirs.

So here's my 5 interesting facts.

1) I have 5 tattoos, which are chinese writing on my tummy, a fish/eye optical illusion on the small of my back, a cat silhouette and moon on my shoulder, a unicorn on my thigh and the UK vegan society's sunflower logo on my ankle.

2) Before I went vegan, I could barely cook at all- I lived on vegetarian ready meals and about the only things I could cook were omelettes(NOT VEGAN!) and stir fries! Now I'm vegan and I blog- yay!

3) Once upon a time I was a wannabe art student and did a portfolio prep course at college- it wasn't quite what I imagined it to be, so I quickly gave up on pursuing an artistic career.

4) When I first went vegan, I had never met any other vegans IRL- I was the only one I knew! Thank goodness for the internets!

5) My starsign is Virgo, and my Chinese starsign is the Monkey. Not that I actually believe in any of that!

And my tagees will be: vegan bear, weeg @ comically vegan, dangeroushabits, John @ John's Blog and Reverence Lily @ Element Fun.

Tomato-ey tahini pasta sauce with recipe!

I made this for lunch this morning adapted from various recipes... it only takes about 15-20 minutes(serves 2-4)

250g pasta (I used wholewheat fusilli)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
optional 250g sliced mushrooms (I used button)
4 tbsp light tahini
5 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp yeast extract (ie marmite, vegemite, etc)
400ml boiled water
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
pinch of ground black pepper
optional nutritional yeast or vegan "parmesan", to taste

-cook pasta according to instructions; while waiting for it to boil...
- saute the onions (and mushrooms if using) in olive oil over medium-high heat for5 minutes, stirring often
-remove pan from heat for a moment while you add tomato puree, tahini and the boiled water
-return pan to hob, then add yeast extract, herbs and pepper, and bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for a few more minutes
-drain pasta, add to sauce and stir in, then serve! Sprinkle with nutritional yeast or vegan "parmesan" if desired