Saturday 29 April 2017

Veggie Hash

Being honest here, this experiment was pretty much based around what I had in the fridge that needed using up. You'll need a good non stick pan for the potatoes not to stick a bit. 

Veggie hash

Serves 2

Ingredients
3 potatoes, cubed
1 celery stick, sliced
1/2 courgette, sliced
2 small onions, roughly chopped
12-14 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup, finely chopped mushrooms
4 asparagus spears, sliced
good handful wild garlic, roughly chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 tbsp oil
Salt and pepper to season.

Method
Heat the oil in a deep sided frying pan over a medium heat, add the onions, potatoes and thyme, stir to coat in oil then cover with a lid and turn down the heat. Cook covered for 10-15 minutes until potatoes soften.

Add all thee other ingredients excluding the wild garlic and asparagus, stir and cover again for a further 5 minutes.

Add the wild garlic and asparagus and season to taste. Stir and cover again for a final 5 minutes

Serve with whatever sauce or other condiments you fancy. I opted for a big dollop of homemade beetroot and chilli ketchup.


Friday 28 April 2017

Berry, Mint and Maca Smoothie

Berry, mint and maca smoothie

Ingredients
2 bananas
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 cup mixed frozen berries
1/2 tsp matcha powder
1 tsp maca powder
1 tbsp chia seeds
Small bunch mint leaves
1-2 cups coconut water

Method
Throw everything in a blender and whizz until smooth. Adjust quantities to taste.

Sunday 23 April 2017

Smokey Red Lentil Soup

Before I was vegan I used to make bacon and lentil soup fairly regularly. I honestly never missed the bacon but I did miss the smokey flavour that it added. Hence this soup was born, slightly hotter than the non vegan counterpart but that's never a bad thing to me! 
It's quite a thick soup which I like but it could easily handle and extra cup of stock being thrown in if you wanted to thin in out or make it stretch further.

Smokey red lentil soup

Makes 3 good bowls, 4 if made thinner.

Ingredients
2 carrots
1 onion
5 cloves garlic
1 cup red lentils
1 400 tin chopped tomatoes
3 cup veg stock (4 if you prefer it thinner)
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp smoked paprika 
1 tbsp maple syrup

Optional toppings:
Oatly creme fraiche 
Toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds
Vegan smoked cheese

Method
Rinse the lentils in a sieve and set aside.

Fry the onions and garlic in a saucepan in little oil over a med heat and fry until soft.

Add the paprika and cayenne and stir through.

Add the carrots and and fry gently for a minute or 2.

Stir in the lentils followed by the tinned tomatoes and stock and liquid smoke, bring to the boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 20-30 mins.

Add the maple syrup, season to taste and blend. 

Toast the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a frying pan for a couple of minutes and serve on top of the soup along with the creme fraiche and some grated vegan cheese.  


Saturday 22 April 2017

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

This is always a hit in my house.  For breakfast, or dessert or even just an evening snack. It's hard to feel guilty when this is how I get my chocolate fix. Plus it tastes amazing!

Chocolate avocado pudding

Ingredients
1 banana
1 avocado
1-2 tbsp peanut butter
8 dates
2 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder

Method
Throw everything in the food processor and whizz until smooth.

Adjust quantities to taste, add a splash of sweetener if that's your preference.

Eat as is or top with fruit, nuts, granola etc.


Pink Smoothie

Another colour based smoothie request from my son. Pink and green ones seem to be his favourite at the minute!

Pink Smoothie

Ingredients
2 bananas,
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen pomegranate
1 tsp chia seeds
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tsp maca powder
2 cup Coconut water

Method
Throw everything in the blender and blend until smooth!

Friday 21 April 2017

Wild Garlic, Pea, Mint and Lemon Risotto with Asparagus Spears.

I love risotto and I love wild garlic so it was about time the two joined forces. I'm really enjoying the arrival of spring and eating all the green foods I can get my hands on.

Wild garlic, pea, mint and lemon risotto with asparagus spears

Serves 4

Ingredients
1/3 cup per person risotto rice
5 cups hot veg stock
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
8 mint leaves
Bunch wild garlic
1/2 cup frozen petits pois
5 asparagus spears per person
1 lemon
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Oil of choice
Salt and pepper

Optional:
Sub 1/2 cup stock for vegan white wine.

Method
Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry over a medium heat in a little oil.

Stir in the rice then add 1/2 cup stock (or wine) and simmer, stirring continuously until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Keep adding the stock 1/2 cup at a time and stirring until the stock has been used and the rice is soft and creamy (or whichever comes first).

Finely chop the mint leaves and roughly chop the wild garlic. Add these to the pan when you add the last 1/2 cup stock along with the nutritional yeast and peas. 

Stir in the juice of half a lemon and the salt and pepper before serving. 

Fry the asparagus spears in a little oil with salt pepper and a squeeze of lemon and serve with the risotto. 

Thursday 20 April 2017

Sesame Pak Choi And Spicy Soy Buddha Bowl

Pak choi roasted in sesame oil is pretty much the only way I want to eat the leafy green wonder. The sesame pak choi is the foundation that I built this bowl on, that was what I really wanted to eat and the other ingredients just showed up to the party.

Serves 2

Sesame pak choi and spicy soy buddha bowl

Ingredients
1 pak choi
1 red pepper
1/2 block pressed tofu
2 rice noodle nests
Purple sprouting broccoli
Small piece of ginger
1 red chilli
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
Oil of choice
4 spring onions
Sesame seeds
Salt and pepper

Method
Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Chop the pak choi in half length ways, rinse and place on a baking tray with the sprouting broccoli,  drizzle with a little oil (I used coconut), the sesame oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes.

Cover the rice noodles with boiling water, cover for 3 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Cube the tofu.

Mince the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry in a little oil, add the cubed tofu and a tbsp of the soy sauce. Add the 2nd tbsp once the pan dries and fry your tofu to your desired crispness.

Thinly slice the red pepper and chop the spring onions.

Serve the noodles with all the other components and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Sunday 16 April 2017

Smashed Avocado And Peanut Butter

This right here is my favourite avocado toast (or giant crumpet as is the case in the photo) topping. Don't get me wrong, I like my avo toast in all sorts of varieties but this is the one I make and enjoy the most. So much so that it definitely deserves a mention so it can be enjoyed by all!
I prefer to use a good quality (100% peanuts) crunchy peanut butter but go with whatever your favourite is! Use this combination to top whatever you fancy, toast, rye toast, crumpets or anything else you can think off, I've tried them all and they're all good!

Smashed avocado and peanut butter

Ingredients
bready goods of choice

For the smashed avo:
1 good sized avocado
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 spring onions
pinch of chilli flakes
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper to taste

Other toppings:
peanut butter
peanuts
soy sauce

Method
Set your bread (or whatever) off toasting.

Whilst that's toasting away scoop your avocado out of its skin and into a bowl, give it a good mash with a fork, I like to try and keep it a bit chunky but mash it totally smooth if that's your preference.

Finely dice the garlic and spring onions and add to the avocado along with the salt, pepper, chilli flakes and lime juice and mix to combine.

Once your toast is done spread on some peanut butter, however much you like, then a generous dollop of the avocado mixture.

Throw on some peanuts (with or without skins, you can blanch the peanuts in boiling water for 60 seconds or so to remove the skins if you prefer) and drizzle with soy sauce and you're good to go.

Enjoy!


Friday 14 April 2017

Green Smoothie

My little one requested a green smoothie this morning so that's exactly what he got!

Green smoothie

Ingredients
2 bananas
2 kiwis
1 stick celery
Big handful of kale
Small piece of ginger
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp Matcha
Juice of half a lemon
1 cup + Coconut water
Ice

Method
Slice your fruit and veg and throw it all in a blender. Adjust amounts to suit taste and/or change how thick it is. 

Sweeten if desired.

Wednesday 12 April 2017

Jerusalem Artichoke And Carrot Soup

I've been getting a weekly veg bag for a few months now (I'm going to do a actual post about them soon) and every so often I get a vegetable that I haven't used before. Jerusalem artichokes are one of those vegetables! They're not from Jerusalem and they're not even artichokes so go figure. Anyway, I don't think I've ever even eaten them before! So I made soup and it was pretty damn good. I was going to go for a straight up Jerusalem artichoke soup but I didn't have loads so chucked in the carrots to bulk it out a bit. I used a couple of yellowstone carrots (another veg bag veggie) hence why the soup doesn't look particularly 'carroty' (read: orange). But yea, so now I want more of these tasty veggies to try out more ways of eating them!

This recipe makes 2 good sized bowls or 3 smaller bowls of soup.

Jerusalem artichoke and carrot soup

Ingredients
1 & 1/2(ish) cups Jerusalem artichokes (peeled and chopped)
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
2 celery sticks
3 cups veg stock
oil of choice
salt and pepper

optional: 
Oatly creme fraiche 
1/4 cup roasted hazelnuts.

Method
Chop all your veg and heat a little oil in a pan. Gently fry the onion and garlic until soft. 

Throw in the rest of the veg and cook for a few minutes. 

Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes until all the veg is cooked and soft. 

Whilst the soup simmers you can roast the hazelnuts (if you want them), Stick your hazelnuts on a baking tray and pop in the oven on 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 for 5-10 minutes. When you get them out, put them a tea towel and rub them between your hands to get the skins off then roughly chop.

Blend the soup and serve as is or top with a generous dollop of Oatly creme fraiche, some of the hazelnuts and serve with crusty bread.

Thursday 6 April 2017

Banana Porridge

This breakfast recipe is super simple and as long as you use a good quality peanut butter (I'm a Meridian crunchy peanut butter fan) doesn't contain anything nasty which is great for the little ones! I defrosted some frozen berries (about 2/3 cup of mixed frozen berries from Lidl) to top mine with this morning but go wild and try some different things.

This recipe makes 2 bowls of porridge.

Banana porridge

Ingredients
2 bananas, riper the better
1 cup oats (could use GF if desired)
1 1/4 cup plant milk
1 tbsp peanut butter
toppings of choice

Method
Mash the bananas and chuck them in a pan with the oats and your milk of choice (hemp for me).

Heat gently until cooked and serve immediately.

Top with whatever you fancy!

Sunday 2 April 2017

Chocolate Smoothie

So what I said yesterday about not being into brown smoothies, well that was a massive lie. I am in fact really into brown smoothies as long as they taste like chocolate!

Chocolate smoothie

Ingredients
2 bananas
1/2 cup oats
5-10 dates (how sweet do you want it?)
1-2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder
1 tbsp cacao nibs
1+ cups coconut water
Ice (I forgot to freeze the bananas)

Method
Throw everything in the blender and blend until smooth, adjust quantities to taste.

Saturday 1 April 2017

Mock Duck Sushi

This was my first time trying Linda McCartney's hoi sin shredded duck and it certainly wont be the last! It's the bomb! I bought it weeks ago as I don't live near anywhere that sells it and I finally pulled it out on Tuesday to make this!
Apologies for not having any photos of how to actually roll the sushi but have a look on pinterest and I'm sure yo'll find the answer. Maybe I'll film it next time!
You're going to need a bamboo rolling mat for this but they can be picked up for next to nothing.

Mock duck sushi

Ingredients
For the rice:
2 cups sushi rice
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups water

For the sushi:
1 packet of Linda McCartney's shredded duck
Nori sheets
1 sweet red pepper
1 avocado
3 sprig onions
1 carrot
A wedge of red cabbage

Optional extras:
soy sauce
wasabi paste
pickled ginger
sesame seeds
other sauces suck as sweet chilli

Method
Start with the rice, I make this in the morning usually so I don't have think about it until I'm ready to make sushi. Rinse your rice really well until the water runs clear. Put in a pan with the 2 cups of water and bring to the boil. Once starting to boil cover and simmer for 15 mins. Turn of the heat but leave rice covered for another 10 minutes. 

Mix together the vinegar, salt and sugar and warm until it's all dissolved. Stir through the sushi rice and leave to cool until you're ready to get rolling!

The duck gets cooked according to the packets instructions, stir fry in a little oil for 7-8 mins, add 50ml water half way through. Set aside to cool.

Cut all of your veg into thin strips, as thin as you can manage but no need to get stressed about it.

Lay out your bamboo mat, place a nori sheet on top of it, shiny side down. Get yourself a bowl of water to dip your hands in to stop yourself getting covered in sticky rice. Use your fingers to spread a thin layer of rice on the sheet, leaving a space at the top off the sheet, roughly the top 1/4.

Lay out your veg and your duck in a line across the sheet, you don't want to fill it too much as it'll get hard to roll, you soon figure out a good amount of filling as you go.

Take the edge of the bamboo mat closest to you and tightly roll the sushi away from you.

Wet the clear strip of nori sheet to help stick it down and give it another roll.

Repeat until you've made enough as you'd like or until you run out of nori.

Slice into pieces or eat like a sushi burrito and enjoy with soy sauce, wasabi and whatever else you fancy!



Cacao, Mint And Matcha Smoothie

Expect to see lots of smoothies appearing on the blog. I make them most mornings and tend to change it up quite a lot in terms of colours and flavours. I make smoothies based on colour rather than nutritional value (I'm not saying this doesn't enter my head at all but it's not my top priority). You could had me a smoothie with 10 fruit and veg in it, seeds, nuts, powders, magic sprinkles, unicorn farts, whatever but if it's brown then I'm not interested, even if it tastes amazing! So with that in mind, lets continue!

Cacao, mint and matcha smoothie

Ingredients
2 frozen bananas (add some ice if you forgot to freeze the bananas like I often do)
A big handful of spinach
Mint leaves (I used a whole pack from Lidl but I love mint so you might not want as much)
1/2 cup cashew nuts
2 tbsp cacao nibs
1 tsp matcha tea powder
1 cup or so of coconut water

Method
Chuck it all in a blender and whizz until smooth! That's it! Add more/less of any of the ingredients to suit your own taste.