Vegan Gourmet Caravan

ROASTED POTATO & FENNEL SOUP

2012-01-25T12:31:00.000+01:00

I've never been that big on fennel. It always seemed to me a cross between some liquorice and celery that didn't work. A bit watery and not a lot of flavour. A disguised celery stick. So naturally I haven't cooked a lot of recipes that require fennel. That was until I had it roasted. And OMIGOSH does the flavour change. It becomes full of fennel liquorice flavour but sweet and yummy. I can't believe how much I like it roasted and how different the flavour is. Much better than any other form of fennel I have tried before. I love food surprises! We ate this soup for lunches for a week and I adored it, although I was a little sick of it at the end of the week. I have a very low food repeat tolerance threshold. This soup is also super simple as all you need to do is roast the vegetables and the process them in the food processor. You can find this recipe on the PPK.

My tips:

I didn't use two fennel bulbs as the recipe states as they were a bit expensive. I would definitely use two next time when they are cheaper. You can get by on one large on though. I would probably add some more onion too.
To boost that liquorice flavour I also added a small amount of dried tarragon. I also added a small dash of All Spice to the soup, as you would nutmeg to Pumpkin Soup, to give it a little more flavour due to the lack of fennel.
I didn't warm my soy milk as I returned it all to the pot to reheat, with the dash of All Spice.
I used my food processor and left the soup a little chunky.
I like to serve this with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Scones but any nice bread would do.

BAKED BBQ BLACK-EYED PEAS & PAN-FRIED GRIT CAKES WITH CARAMELIZED SPRING ONIONS, GARLIC & THYME

2012-01-16T07:00:00.003+01:00

After watching a lot of Top Chef: Masters/Normal/Desserts/Every Other One Ever Made; Mike and I realised we don't eat enough Southern cooking. In fact we wouldn't even know where to start with Southern Cooking. Not something that is all that common where we grow up. It was around this time I decided to buy Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry to see what it was all about. I bought this book at the end of the year in 2011 and by the time it arrived Mike and I were back into travelling and gearing up for Christmas, so the book sat on the book shelf until last week. When I first got the book, I flicked through it and knew that one of the first recipes I wanted to make was the Pan-Fried Grit Cakes with Caramelized Spring Onions, Garlic& Thyme. I had always liked the look of grit cakes but never made them. The next challenge was to find something to go with these cakes. I flicked through and landed on the Baked BBQ Black-Eyed Peas and knew they would be perfect. I served Green Beans in Bread Crumbs as a side but they weren't needed. The Grit Cakes and Baked Beans were filling enough.

Pan-Fried Grit Cakes with Caramelized Spring Onions, Garlic & Thyme

These cakes were yummy. They were creamy in the centre and crisp on the outside. The addition of the Caramelized Onions gave them such a nice flavour. They take some time to make, since you have to let the mixture sit overnight, but the steps are pretty easy and they are worth it. The recipe can be found here.

What I did:

I used Dried Thyme instead of fresh. I'm sure fresh is probably better but I don't have any fresh herbs at this time of year so dried worked fine.
I used minute Polenta to make my cakes. I cooked it to the packet instructions rather than what was suggested in the book. It worked out fine. I also used Polenta which is pretty much the same as Grits. I think the major difference is that they can be made out of different types of corn and sometimes Grits is made from Hominy. Both are good to make cakes from though.
I baked mine in the oven and brushed them with a little oil.

Baked BBQ Black-Eyed Peas
These beans were amazing!! So yummy and so chewy. They went a nice smoky, BBQ flavour - and there was so much flavour. The addition of some Tofu was a great idea. It became so nice, chewy and flavourful. This recipe takes a long time to cook though as you cook the beans from scratch (which I usually do any way) and then they bake for 2 hours. All up your looking at a total cooking time of 3 hours plus the beans should be soaked overnight. This meal needs some planning. This recipe can be found here online.

What I did:

Instead of Tamari I used 1/2 Soy and 1/2 Dark Soy Sauce
Instead of adding the 1 cup of bean water I added the extra bit of Tomato Pasta sauce I had left in the Jar, which is why mine is not as 'liquidy' as other version might be.
I used Tomato Pasta Sauce and not Canned Tomatoes, again maybe reducing the liquid content.
I used 2 onions and a whole Green Capsicum (I'm not a fan of when recipes use 1 cup of a veggie - I just used the whole thing so there is no waste).
I used Tofu instead of Tempeh, as I don't really like Tempeh.
I didn't cook the beans for a whole 2 hours (probably 10-20 minutes less) - just as long as we wanted.

Mike and I really, really enjoyed this meal. We felt it was really simple and full of flavour. Simple ingredients and simple cooking techniques. Just plain, good, down to earth cooking. I can't wait to try more from this book as we have been super impressed so far.

These recipes are from:
Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine
by Bryant Terry
Recipes can be found online

JAMAICAN VEGETABLE MEDLEY

2012-01-11T07:25:00.000+01:00

Cooking is a funny thing. I love, love to cook but sometimes I can't be bothered! Sometimes it's a fun adventure and other times it's a chore. This week has been no exception to this. After travelling to Switzerland on Friday (we got up at 4am to catch the 5:30am train and arrived home at 1:30am the next day) I was exhausted. Not only didn't' cooking interest me over the weekend but neither did eating. It's at these times I need easy, fast meals. I turn through the pages of cook books not liking anything I see as it either takes to long, creates too many dishes or requires too much preparation. Lucky there are a few books out there with time and energy on their minds.

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One book I picked up recently was The 30-Minute Vegan and, although, I haven't made many recipes out of it yet it seems pretty good. The first dinner recipe I made was the Jamaican Vegetable Medley. All it is, is tofu and veggies mixed in a jerk marinade and then broiled under the grill/broiler. How easy is that?

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Since moving to Germany the only thing I have used my top heating element in the oven for is to melt vegan cheese on something. Surely it has more uses than that, right? Well it took this recipe for me to find out. I loved the way the tofu came out. It was browned with a nice smooth inside. All the veggies had a nice char on them. All and all I think it was a success and I recommend giving your broiler a workout next time you're not in a cooking mood! The only disadvantage is the size of your baking tray. As you need the veggies to be directly underneath the broiler you are limited to how much you can cook at one time. So if you need to feed a large horde of people then you either have to do it in batches or bulk up your meal with sides, which is what I did. I served this with plain Quinoa but would probably serve it with some Coconut Rice next time, as the dish was not overly saucy. I used the jerk sauce recipe in the book, which was yummy, but any good jerk sauce could be used in place of this.

This recipe comes from:

The 30-Minute Vegan: Over 175 Quick, Delicious, and Healthy Recipes for Everyday Cooking

by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER 2011

2012-01-02T12:11:00.003+01:00

Christmas is a small affair for us as we are in a foreign country and all our family is back in Australia. We don't fly home and visit them over Christmas like many people do, as it is too expensive. Our family is very small too. If you got our immediate family from both sides in a room together there would be eight people, plus four dogs and a cat. Not a big affair! My family hasn't ever really gotten too much into Christmas. We did when my sister and I were little but now that we have both grown up, Christmas has become a mild celebration. Mike and I don't even decorate. I have one little Christmas Tree candle holder decoration, which comes out at the first of advent. I also really enjoy getting the advent calendar tea selection from Sonnentor, which gives you a new tea everyday leading up to Christmas. But that is about as Chrismassy as I get. The streets here are usually covered with lights and Christmas Trees pop up everywhere, so we figure that's enough to make it feel like Christmas for us. On Christmas Day we Skyped my family and then went for a walk and visited the big decorated tree in the Old Town Square and did some window shopping. It was a good day! I was amazed at how many people were out and about but it reminded me that not everyone is with their family at Christmas and some people have small families too.

But on to the food! One thing we do like to do now we are away from Australia is cook a big meal for Christmas Eve. This meal is only for two and usually lasts a couple of days afterwards but is worth the effort.

The Main
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Seitan Roast Stuffed with Wild Mushrooms and Leeks
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This year Mike wanted to make a home-made roast after he saw this one posted on the Post Punk Kitchen. We can't get items like Tofurky here in Germany and there are only a couple of places online you can order vegan roasts for Christmas, so we decided to make our own. This roast was super, super yummy. I didn't make many changes to the recipe except to remove the Shiitake Mushrooms - I can't eat them, I had some at a stressful time in my life where I had an ulcer. After this I associate them with pain and even now I think they give me stomach aches. They probably don't, but the mere thought of them sends my stomach into knots. I used a mixture of Button Mushrooms and canned Porcini Mushrooms. I was going to use dried Procinis but found some canned ones for less money. I think the saltiness of these went really well in the roast and because of this I didn't over salt the roast with stock as Isa suggests. I also probably had more filling than the recipe recommended as I had two really large leeks but I think this worked out well. I think I prefer it with a little more filling.

I stored the roast in the fridge once it was cooked and it reheated really well. To reheat it I cut off the individual portion sizes and wrapped them in tin foil with a few teaspoons of water to keep it moist.

This was a great roast and I think we will definitely be having it again for Christmas next year!
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Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy
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To go with the roast we had to have a gravy. My go to gravy is the Mushroom Gravy from Veganomicon but I like to use that with Chickpea Cutlets (as you could see from my last post). I like to keep meals whole and together. So I won't use a sauce for two recipes - I have so many cookbooks I can find another! So I decided on Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy (recipe can be found at Google books) from Vegan with a Vengeance. This gravy was so good, Mike loved it. It went really well with the roast and was quite filling being made out of chickpeas. I think it was perfect for the roast as it added a lot of extra flavour. I again stored it in the fridge and added a little bit of water to loosen it up when I reheated it.

(The gravy is under the roast - can you see it????)

The Sides
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Sautéed Green Beans with Mushrooms
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This was my least favourite part of the meal. This recipe also came from Vegan with a Vengeance and can be found on food.com. I found this dish a little too salty (there are 4 teaspoons of salt in it!) and 'winey'. It wasn't bad just not great and I would have preferred something else as a side. I still think green beans will be a perfect side for the roast and potatoes but next year I will be hunting for another recipe!

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Rote Bratkartoffeln
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This recipe came from Vegan for Fun and was super easy and really tasty. It made a wonderful side! Brat Potatoes in German generally means to boil them first, then let them cool and peel them and then fry them in a pan with your choice of additives (butter, onions, sauce etc). It gives the potatoes a lovely soft inside but crunchy outside. I couldn't be bothered peeling them so I left that step out. Lots of people cook the potatoes the day before and let them cool over night. I forgot to this so just stuck them outside and let them cool. The flavourings for these Bratkartoffeln were Onions, Pine Nuts, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Tomato Paste. This was a really nice version of Bratkartoffeln and I really liked the addition of Sun-Dried Tomatoes. The recipe recommends using dried Sun-Dried Tomatoes without oil but then adds Olive Oil. My favourite Sun-Dried Tomatoes come in oil so I used a combination of the oil from the tomatoes and Olive Oil.

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The Dessert
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Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream
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During Vegan Mofo 2011 I won a copy of Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale. I knew that I had to make something out of it for dessert. When I opened the book I immediately went to this recipe. I used to love Sticky Date Pudding as a non-vegan (the tacky Sara Lee kind you put in the microwave - classy!) and couldn't wait to try it. It would be a perfect replacement for the usual Christmas Fruit Pudding (which I never liked anyway). I made the Ice Cream the weekend before Christmas using this recipe featured on my blog from The Vegan Scoop. The pudding itself was dense and tasted lovely warm or cold. It tasted best with the caramel sauce. I made triple the quantity of this sauce (cause it's Christmas and everyone must put on at least 2kgs right?) as I didn't think the recipe made enough. I wanted to let it soak into the cake and then later heat it up and pour it on the cake and ice cream. My sauce didn't really soak through the cake so I was glad to have some sauce to pour over each individual slice. This cake is rich, fatty and sugary, so it's definitely a Christmas treat. I'm not sure how you would serve this pudding at a bake sale but I am so glad it was included in this book!

CHICKPEA CUTLETS with MUSHROOM GRAVY

2011-12-21T11:33:00.000+01:00

There are some meals that you cook again and again because you love them. I was thinking the other day that I have so many cookbooks that I wouldn't need to repeat a meal for a really long time. When I said this to Mike he said “yeah, except for chickpea cutlets right, we would have them sometimes.” This is a really a very simple dish but it is so good and probably our favourite meal. Mike and I celebrated a Wedding Anniversary not long ago and this is what I made for dinner. I call this our German meal because it’s a schnitzel (kind of) and I pair it with heated red cabbage (Apfelrotkohl from a jar) and mashed potatoes with a little horseradish. All the parts go really well together!
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My tips:

So, to make my cutlets, I like to really flatten my cutlets out so they are quite thin (you may not be able to see it that well in the photos due to the generous amounts of gravy on the plate). My cutlets are more like a thin schnitzel than a patty/cutlet. I don’t like them when they aren’t really flattened out and found once they were a bit soggy in the middle.
I always bake the cutlets, brushed with some oil (not too much as I find this can make them soggy too). I much prefer baking stuff to frying so if there is a chance I might be able to bake it – I always will. This gives them a lovely crispy texture and a well cooked inside. You definitely need a knife to cut them!

What tops these little babies off is the mushroom gravy. I wouldn’t have any other gravy/sauce with them ever. The Mushroom Gravy just goes so well. It also goes well with the mashed potatoes and red cabbage. It’s a delicious gravy and again really easy to make. I would use it for other dishes but prefer to keep it specially for these guys.

Both these recipes come from:

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
You can find both the recipes on the PPK . In the recipe for Chickpea Cutlets Isa says to leave out the lemon rind, which I think is a real shame. I love a teaspoon of lemon rind chucked in and always have some frozen in the freezer for cutlets.
Mushroom Gravy can also be found on the PPK.

TRAVELLING VEGANS: Travelling with your cat

2011-12-21T10:26:00.001+01:00

When Mike and I travel, we take Skadi with us. As you may know a few weeks ago we went to Venice – all of us. It takes approximately 10 hours by train to get to Venice from Frankfurt with one train swap. It’s a long journey but Skadi handled it like a pro, but she’s had plenty of practice. Skadi has been to:
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Paris

(looking on to the streets of Montmartre)

Berlin (twice)

(Hanging out in the safe – it is where we keep our valuables after all)

Ingolstadt, Amsterdam, Basel, Zurich and Bruges. In fact Skadi has probably been to more cities than some people. Skadi has also been on lots of modes of transport: car, bus, train, subway, tram and plane (when she flew here from Australia). She is yet to tackle a boat but there is plenty of time for that.
Now I bet a lot of you (like a lot of people) can’t believe we travel with a cat. But we have some very good reasons why we do it:

Firstly cost is the biggest. It doesn't cost anything for Skadi to travel unless we make her a 2.50 euro seat reservation – which we don’t. We’ve only been charged by one hotel for her stay, most don’t mind. It would cost us a lot more to find a cattery, get her to the cattery (we don’t have a car) and have her stay there. Europe makes it really easy to travel with a pet.
Secondly we don’t want people in our house we don’t know. We don’t want to pay someone to feed her. Skadi is also used to having people around her. She is an indoor cat and we have no other pets. I think she would get a little lonely if someone came here for an hour and then left.

Reasons aside there are some times when you need to travel with your cat. Now I know some cats are not travellers and freak out completely but here are some of our travelling tips that might help you through.
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Before you travel
Planning is the key.

Choose the right carrying medium: Unless you are travelling by plane, what you choose to carry your cat in can make a lot of difference. We used to carry Skadi in a caged box. When we went to my parents we would pack her in the car in it and she hated it. She would cry all the way and not settle. When we moved to Germany we bought a bag to carry her in. I think this bag is meant to carry small dogs but works for small cats. Skadi loves it and we’ve had much better results. Here are a few reasons why this bag works. I carry it on my shoulder so Skadi is closer to my body and higher up. When I have my hands free I can hold it closer to me which might make her feel more secure. The bag also closes in around her making it dark, warm and cosy. It has flaps to open if need be, but I usually don’t open them. When we’re on the train I can open or close the bag easily and Skadi can stretch out how she pleases, yet still be encased in her bag. It works, she feels safe in it. If she’s out of it on the train stretching her legs as soon as something happens she runs straight back into it. It may take a couple of goes to find something your cat likes but it will be worth it.

(Also has pockets for carrying things, like rollers, and small blue whales)

(There’s a cat in there…..)

Familiarisation with the travel Medium: If you picked me up and shoved me in a bag that I had never seen before after strapping me in a weird harness that might as well be some kind of torture device – because I AM FREAKING OUT – then yeah I wouldn’t be stoked. Cats are creatures of habit. Sure they are curious and inquisitive but it’s all on their terms. If you want your cat to travel then start weeks, months before hand. Set the travel medium out for them to explore, play in, sleep in, transfer their scent to. My trick was to put the bag in a warm spot that Skadi liked to sleep in. She spent hours in it before we made the trip to Venice – actually she spends so much time in it, it has a permanent slant to one side where she’s flattened it out. After seeing her sleep in it four almost 12 hours straight I knew she could make it to Venice. Get it out long before you intend to travel and leave it out long after you get home. Cats are good a recognising patterns so if the bag/box/basket is something that is just always lying around they are less likely to freak when they see it.

(This position?…..)

(….. or maybe this?)

Familiarisation with the restraints: This is the same as the points above. If you travel for long distances with your cat you are going to need to let them get out occasionally to stretch and curl up into another position. The only safe way to do this is with a harness and lead. If you travel internationally throughout the EU you may also have to present your cat and her passport when crossing borders – we never had to but we are prepared should we need to. It took a while (and Skadi still doesn’t like the lead) but she is comfortable with the harness. We did this through practise. First we put it on for a little while and then we increased the time. Yes she rolled over and tried to work out how to get it off but eventually she worked out it was useless. We kept at this until was happy to sleep in it. This needs to be done before you travel anywhere because the harness will signal travel.
Practise with short trips: Just before we took Skadi to Venice we had to take her to the vet for her rabies shot (should we need to get her back into Australia she has to have one every year) and then for a blood test (Australian requirements are once a year), it was a disaster. Skadi was so scared at the vet when the shaver came out that she shook. We had to take the blood from both legs and it takes a long time to drip out her leg. It took four of us to hold her down. Traumatic! We didn’t want that to be the last thing she remembered about her bag and travelling. To counter this, every couple of weekends after the vet and leading up to Venice we took her on a short tram ride and then home again. If you do want to go on a long trip with your cat then build up to it. It’s also a good idea to go somewhere and then straight home so they get tricked into thinking this bag ride will probably end at home.
Test any medication before you go: We don’t need to drug Skadi. She sleeps fine on the train without anything but if you do, then test it before you go. Drugs effect individual cats in different ways and the last thing you want is an aggressive, doped up cat on your hands. Know what it will do before you need it.
Know your legal obligations: It goes without saying, which is why I won’t spend any time on it, but if you are travelling throughout Europe know where you can and can’t take your cat. Be up-to-date on your rabies shots and vaccines and always have your pet passport easily accessible.

Travelling
So now you’re all ready to go.

Choose your hotel carefully: Skadi has stayed in several hotel rooms and there have been winners and losers. We can usually tell cause Skadi starts whinging and basically telling us she wants to go home. If you are staying a couple nights then it isn’t as important but there are still a lot of things to think about. If you are staying for longer than a few nights look for a bigger room that allows your cat to run and play. A room with a good view is also important. Skadi gets bored in rooms that don’t have views. It doesn’t have to be a stunning view but it is better if it is a view of a busy street or somewhere with a lot activity. Something they can watch – no scenic views. Check out the photos of the hotel carefully for any traps or cat no’s. Air-conditioning is also a must in summer as most windows in hotels in Europe don’t have fly-screens and open fully. Lots of hotels don’t have air-conditioning so make sure yours does so your cat doesn’t overheat.
Know your check-in and check-out times: You can’t leave your cat with the staff on the day you check out while you continue to see the sights. Nor can your carry it around until your room is ready. So make sure you know when you can check-in and plan your arrival to that time. Know when you can check-out and depart at the same time or earlier. Try to negotiate with management for something appropriate. If you arrive too early or leave too late scope out the train station and find somewhere comfy and quiet to wait. Another bonus of first class is that you may have a lounge to wait in. Yes it is a pain but we don’t mind.

(Skadi chillin’ in her bag on the train)

Choose your seat carefully: Travelling by car is a little easier as there are no other people, stops or things you can’t really control. If you are travelling on public transport, and you want to travel far, often and successfully with your cat, be prepared to think about going first class. If you plan ahead you can get good deals. If you have a % off card (Bahncard in Germany) you can get more savings. Luckily in Europe first class doesn’t cost much more than second class. Even if you are not travelling first class think about where you will sit and pay for the reservation. Sit in a quiet area. For us we travel first class which gives us more room and Skadi more room. It is quieter and has fewer people. On a long 10 hour trip we will sit in a cabin where we might get it to our selves the entire way. This is important because we took Skadi’s food and some water for her to have (not that she did) along the way. The extra space gave her room to stretch and feel comfortable. If travelling second class I would recommend travelling in a cabin and reserving your cat a seat so you have somewhere to put them that is out of the way. We did this when we went to places which were only 4 hours or less away. ALWAYS SIT or rest your carry bag on the case. You may be an expert in the train and tram groove while standing but your cat will appreciate a more steady base.
Know where the vets are: Store the details of at least two vets in your phone which are close to your hotel. Know where they are on the map. Be prepared, if you need one you don’t want to have to hunt for one.
Minimise the time spent waiting: Try not to get to the train station too early. The worst part of the trip for us is the train station. There is so much noise, so many people, so many smells, it sends Skadi into overdrive. We try not to get there too early and when we do we always go to a book shop or somewhere quieter to wait. If you are waiting choose a corner out of the way where it is less noisy – not on the platform, that is the worst – those brakes screech.

(Packing of cat incorrect)

Know what signals travel to your cat: Skadi knows we are going to travel as soon as the suitcase comes out. It doesn’t matter if we get it out the day of travel or weeks before she is always going to hide when we leave the house. Monitor your cat when you travel and see if you can eliminate any cues. Even cut out using the word travel if you’ve used it often when travelling.
Prepare you medication: We took some cat drugs with us. We didn’t need them but we had them in case. And no we didn’t try them beforehand so we could have had a disaster but I was pretty sure we wouldn’t need them.

(Skadi’s Stash – It’s just cat tranquiliser I swear)

Play, feed early or not at all: We can’t play with Skadi before we travel as she’s usually onto us. But if you can, wear your cat out before you travel and there is more chance they will sleep. Get up early and feed them early so they can have any bowel movements before you go – if you’re cat is like Skadi, its body will shut down into hibernation until you reach your destination, so it won’t be a problem. If leaving early give them an extra snack at night before bed so they can eat during the night.
Break or no break?: Decide whether it would be better to break-up a long trip or just get it over with. It is stressful being shoved in a bag continuously so we opted for get there as soon as possible with no breaks. Skadi sleeps the entire way anyway. Your cat might appreciate a overnight stop somewhere to break-up the long trip. You will know by doing shorter trips with them and seeing how they handle those.

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Arrival

Once you’ve made it and it’s all over there are a few things to do before you let the cat out of the bag.

Check for traps, annoying hiding spots and other cat no’s: Before you let you cat out look around the hotel room. Remove anything that might be dangerous. Remove anything they may knock over. Move tables, chairs or items that may let them jump up onto something you can’t get them down from. Use blankets or spare pillows to remove hiding spots you can’t get to. Check under the bed for slack vacuuming and traces of food, plastic wrappers anything that may harm you cat. As so as you let your cat out it will hide and explore. Make sure there are no spots left that it can get into that make it hard for you to catch them when you need to pack them up again.
Set up your cats items: Make your cat feel more settled and at home by setting up the kitty litter, drink and food bowls, favourite toys and SCRATCH MAT (always pack a scratch mat unless you want to pay for hotel furniture). As soon as your cat jumps out of its bag it will explore so finding things from home will give it some reassurance. Once they’ve done a round of the room show them where their food bowls are and where the litter is, make sure they know.
No room cleaning: Get the hotel to bring you spare towels when you’re there. Don’t let them clean your room when you’re not. We never do. Don't freak your cat or worse risk it escaping through an open door. Make sure you always have the do not disturb sign on or make sure you clearly tell management.

(Skadi relaxing after he long train ride in Venice)

Travelling with your cat gets easier as you do it, ok maybe not all cats but hopefully it will with yours. Not only do they get more used to it but you get to know their signals and issues with travelling. Once you have done it a few times, hopefully, you’ll find it fairly easy.
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Post reviewed by Skadi.

TRAVELLING VEGANS: Venice

2011-12-16T08:03:00.001+01:00

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A few weeks ago Mike and I went to Venice for a long weekend. We took the train, which took 10 hours through some of the most beautiful scenery. The time passed us by as we watched movies and caught up on a few TV series. We were also lucky enough to have a cabin to ourselves so we could really stretch out.
Venice was beautiful. It is such a different place to anywhere I have ever been before. The alleyways are just that, small winding alleyways. There are no cars or roads. Everything is so old. There are no new shiny high-rises or brightly lit supermarkets. Everything is tucked away into old buildings. It would be a very unusual and different place to live. It is magical to walk through the alleys at night which are so quiet and maze-like.
Although Venice is beautiful, it is full of tourists, I think half the population at any one time is made up of tourists, which means almost everything in Venice is geared towards a tourist. So as you can imagine the food isn’t gourmet. As Venice is set on a Lagoon, seafood is one of their specialties – not so great for a vegan. This doesn’t mean it’s not tasty, it’s just noting fancy. We ate pizza most of the time we were there. Mike would eat pizza for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner so it was no struggle for him.
Two nights we ate at a pizza chain called Ae Oche. This was pretty good. The pizzas were reasonably priced and there was big selection.
This was a pizza we had at a small place on the island of Burano – all the pizzas look the same!
A different take on a pizza I had was at Il Profeta/Pizzeria Al Profeta, where I ordered a vegetarian pizza (no cheese) and it came closed up (like a Calzone). It was super yummy and by far the best pizza dish I had in Venice. I loved how the dough that was enclosed had gone stretchy and chewy giving the effect of melted mozzarella. Mike stuck with the traditional pizza and ordered another wild mushroom pizza. He thought it was the best pizza he had in Venice.

The only non pizza meal we had was at GAM GAM Kosher Restaurant, the only Kosher restaurant in Venice. This restaurant is fantastic and the starters were amazing. I’m a big fan of having lots of little dishes to try and there were plenty here. I then had a Mushroom Pasta for dinner and it was really nice. I had saved some of the chilli dip starter and mixed that through my pasta for some extra kick. It was really nice. You definitely have to book on a Saturday night as this place was packed and there was a serious line up.

If you do travel to Venice remember that some focaccia breads and other bread products are made with strutto (pork fat ) - yuck. As we were leaving Venice we also had another falafel for lunch, just before we hopped on the train. It was so good! It seems that Venice makes awesome falafels…… who knew.

PENNE with SUN DRIED TOMATOES & ROCKET

2011-12-06T07:56:00.001+01:00

It seems that I am into simple pasta dishes at the moment. This is the third one I will be blogging in a row! As I said a few posts ago, last month Mike and I went to Venice and leading up to that we ate pretty simple meals. Ironically, we were about to travel to the home of pasta and all I could be bothered cooking was pasta. Pasta is one of those simple meals that doesn’t require much effort or ingredients and this dish is no exception. It comes from Vegan Italiano and I love it - one of my top pasta dishes.
So the only things you need for this recipe is onions, garlic, chilli flakes, sundried tomatoes, rocket, stock and salt & pepper. It cooks in the time it takes to cook the pasta – 10 mins. First fry the onions, garlic and chilli flakes till soft, then throw everything else in and cook to your liking. Good sundried tomatoes are an absolute must for this recipe and I would recommend using ones in oil. I always drain and pat some of the oil out of the tomatoes with absorbent paper towel but using a tiny about of the oil gives the dish so much flavour. YUM!!

This recipe comes from: Vegan Italiano: Meat-free, Egg-free, Dairy-free Dishes from Sun-Drenched Italy by Donna Klein.

PASTA CARBONARA

2011-11-28T09:38:00.001+01:00

In another examination/investigation into vegan creamers we also made this pasta from Vegan for Fun. This is a veganised version of the meaty, ‘eggy’, creamy Pasta Carbonara. It uses soy creamer to mimic the sauce and smoked tofu for the bacon. I never ate Carbonara when I was a meat eater, as I haven’t ever really liked eggs, but Mike used to enjoy it. In it’s traditional form it is pretty full of fat, dairy and eggs; it isn’t very healthy! This recipe isn’t exactly low fat either with the addition of soy creamer and some margarine but it’s much better than the original. In this pasta I decided to use soy creamer as I thought the oat one would be a little to strong. The oat one worked well in the Quiche but I wanted something milder for this recipe. There isn’t much to this pasta but, soy creamer, margarine, smoked tofu, onion and parsley. Cook and combine those together with cooked pasta and you have it. So it is really, really simple. We both enjoyed it but I don’t think we were blown away, we enjoyed our Autumn paste more. I definitely will make it again though when I need a quick pasta dish and feel like something creamy.

This recipe comes from:

Vegan for Fun: Vegane Küche die Spass macht

by Attila Hildmann

Language: German

FRENCH ONION SOUP

2011-11-24T13:01:00.001+01:00

This recipe is all about three ingredients – onions, sage and garlic – and we use all in abundance. We try to use as many different onions as we can find. It's a great recipe for when onions are on special.
It usually comes down to red onions, brown onions, leeks and shallots. All up you need around a kilo of onions in some form. To this we add about 8 cloves of garlic and about one handful of sage leaves or a few teaspoons of dried sage. You could also use thyme if you prefer it.
The secret to this recipe is to cook the onions slowly which means cooking them for about 50 minutes, with the lid ajar. In the last 20-30 minutes remove the lid to give the onions that nice brown colour. Make this when you have plenty of time to let the onions cook slowly to retain their sweetness. But firstly you cook the garlic and sage in a whole lot of olive oil.

Once the onions have reduced down and gone soft there isn’t much more to do. All we do is add some stock (around 2 litres) and let it boil for 15 minutes. Done! This recipe uses lots of good basic vegan ingredients - extra virgin olive oil, onions, garlic, stock, sage, simplicity and time. It is truly a rewarding recipe, as it’s so easy and yet so hearty, everything a good vegan recipe should be.
To top it off we accompany this with some organic Turkish bread that has oil drizzled over it and baked in the oven. The oil is infused with fresh crushed garlic from the time we start cooking. Another way I like to serve this is more traditional with fried croutons (large slabs of fried bread) and melted vegan cheese on top.

AUTUMN PASTA

2011-11-22T08:42:00.001+01:00

We’re very lucky, we live in a great location. Almost right outside our front door there are three fruit and veg sellers and just down the road is a Bio/Organic Supermarket. Everything is within walking distance and the underground subway is almost on our door step too, which is great because we don’t have a car. Every night Mike walks past the fruit and veg stalls and reports back on the nice mushrooms they have and what he would like to eat. This week he said they had really nice King Brown Mushrooms (also known as King Oyster Mushrooms or Kräuterseitling in German) and I decided to use them. This recipe was inspired by a recipe in My Kitchen by Pete Evans, a book I also managed to pick up at the book fair – pretty sure the sellers were pocketing the money as they weren’t meant to sell them. Of course his recipe was not vegan so I tweaked a few things.

I love simple pasta dishes. This is super simple and doesn’t take much longer to cook than the pasta takes to boil. This is a really earthy pasta. It is hard to describe the flavour. The mushrooms and rosemary give it a really, grounded, forest, Autumn flavour – if you can imagine that. We also use a Multigrain wholemeal pasta, which would add to this flavour. The mushrooms provide a nice chewy texture, similar to squid, but don’t overcook them as they can go a little sour. They are not overpowering and the smokiness of the tofu comes through nicely. We really enjoyed the simple flavours of this pasta and will be cooking it again when the mushrooms look nice.

Serves 2 – easily doubled to serve 4

Ingredients

2 tsp oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 block (250g) smoked Tofu, cut into thin cube/strips
3 large king brown mushrooms, cubed
75g vegan margarine, splint into 2 equal portions
30g pine nuts
Salt and Pepper
1-2 sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped
200g linguine (we love Rapunzel Linguine Multikorn)

Directions

Cook the pasta to the instructions on the package.
Heat the oil in a fry pan over low heat and sauté the onion and garlic for 5-10 minutes. Add the smoked tofu, mushrooms and half the butter, continue to cook for 10 minutes or until the tofu and mushrooms are cooked. Season to taste.
Once the pasta is cooked added it to the mushroom mixture and stir well to make sure the pasta is coated in the mushroom sauce. Divide into 2 bowels.
In the same pan used to cook the mushrooms and the remaining butter, once it stats to bubble and forth add the rosemary; cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour this over the bowls of pasta and mix through. You can also cook the butter, add to the pasta and sprinkle the rosemary over the top, without cooking it. Serve with some more cracked pepper.

LEEK QUICHE

2011-11-15T07:46:00.001+01:00

Mike and I went to Venice last week and I meant to blog this post before I left but ran out of time!

This is another recipe from Vegan for Fun we both wanted to try as soon as we saw it. I haven’t made a quiche/tart in so long that I thought it was time to fix that. This quiche is a little different to many vegan quiches in that it uses vegan cream (oat or soy based) as the sauce and thickening agent. I was really interested in the quiche for this reason, there are quite a few vegan creamers here; oat, soy and rice based. I haven’t used them for any purpose other than ice cream so I was interested in giving them a go in different meals. Where I can, I try to reduce soy products so I tried the oat creamer this time round. Using the creamer means it stays gooey and doesn’t have the same consistency a tofu based tart would. This quiche holds together nicely but is a bit runnier than most vegan quiches – that may also be because I used too much leek. The addition of the cream made the quiche quite rich but lecker. I served it with a side of Nutty Greens.

My favourite part was the addition of smoked tofu. The smoked tofu we get here is so nice and it went really well in the quiche. I think the trick is to not over do the tofu though. The chilli also gave it a nice touch of heat. Apart from the pasty, creamer, leek, tofu, chilli and seasoning there wasn’t much else in the quiche, so it was quick and easy to prepare.

The pastry was really easy to make and didn’t require blind baking – score!

Mike and I reheated this the next day after storing it in the fridge which I think gave it a firmer consistency. It was great on both days and fairly simple to prepare. I think I will be making this one again when I feel like a creamy, indulgent tart for dinner!

This recipe comes from:

Vegan for Fun: Vegane Küche die Spass macht

by Attila Hildmann

Language: German

PINEAPPLE BAKED TOFU with SEARED PINEAPPLE, NUTTY GREENS & COCONUT RICE

2011-11-02T06:40:00.001+01:00

Every Saturday Mike and I sit down and make a shopping list. I usually plan the meals in advance but find it easier to have him read the ingredients out as I try and work out what I have in the pantry and write the list. This usually leads to him flicking through the pages of the books and demanding 100’s of recipes at once; “Can you make these?”, “Look at these, don’t they look good”, “Mushrooms, you know how much I love mushrooms!”, “I haven’t had biscuits in so long, when are you going to make me biscuits?”. Let’s just say it can take a while and his meal choices for a week night meal aren’t always practical. When we sat down this week to write out the shopping list, Mike found this recipe on the way to another recipe and said “Oooo pineapple; I like pineapple, we should try this!”.

This recipe was pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of pineapple and don’t really like it in meals (me and sweet and sour are not BFF’s), but it went really well with the baked tofu and marinade. I didn’t have any old bay seasoning, and although I could have made some, I decided to use Creole Seasoning, as the recipe didn’t use much. The Creole Seasoning worked well but it probably would have been better with Old Bay Seasoning. I haven’t tried Old Bay Seasoning, so it’s hard for me to say. I also served it with Caribbean Coconut Rice from Vegetarian times. The recipe suggested serving it with just plain brown rice, which I though was a little boring – who doesn’t put coconut and pineapple together? Madness!

The biggest problem with this recipe is it does use a lot of dishes. First you baked the tofu in the marinade and then you put the tofu on a baking sheet and bake for longer. You then make a sauce, rice and sear the pineapple and cook the spinach. In total you use about 5 cooking pots/dishes to make one meal. Not a problem on the weekend when you have some one to help you clean but a little overwhelming when you’re on your own on a week night. I also have a tiny kitchen and very limited bench space (my kitchen is smaller than a display model at IKEA) so 5 dishes is a bit of a nightmare (unless you’re cleaning as you go, which isn’t possible in this recipe as the timeframes between each step are short).

The best thing about this dish? Nutty Spinach! I certainly haven’t been over using this side dish. All you do is wilt the spinach and chuck in some chopped nuts, my favourite is almonds. It’s so easy and tastes great. I am super amazed by it.

This was a nice dish but I’m not sure it was worth all the effort. Next time I think I’ll forget about making the sauce and just let the tofu cook in the marinade for the whole 40 minutes. I definitely think we will make it again when Mike gets a pineapple craving.

This recipe comes from:

Vegan Yum Yum: Decadent (But Doable) Animal-Free Recipes for Entertaining and Everyday
By Lauren Ulm

Recipe can be found here.

SNICKY BARS

2011-10-26T07:32:00.001+02:00

Frankfurt Book Fair
A couple of weekends ago Mike and I went to the Frankfurt Book Fair. The International Book fair invites publishers (mainly, I think) and other book industry people along for a week long trade fair. On the last weekend it is open to the public, and lets just say I don’t really get why people go. I seriously felt like I had landed on another planet (and it wasn’t because all the German youth turn this into a dress up Comicon event). It cost 15 euros per person for a day and 21 euros for a weekend pass and quite frankly I should have put that money towards more books. Here’s my issues….

Firstly, you couldn’t buy books at the fair. If you arrived on a Saturday or too early on Sunday the publishers were not selling books. Even if they did start selling them after 2pm on Sunday they weren’t going to sell them at a discount. The strange thing was that a lot of publishers had books shrink-wrapped and ready to go. One publisher had about 30 Jamie Oliver books all ready to sell. I’m sure there was a good reason, like it was too much trouble, there would be too many line ups etc. But really with some careful planning and thought I’m sure they could sell books the whole way through.
Secondly, authors did readings and interviews in aisles. Some publishers had organised authors to come for book signings, readings and interviews. Great right? Nope. One author we passed was right in the middle of an aisle next to the publishers stand. We and 1000s’ of other people had to push past her and the small crowd that had gathered to listen. Another author came to a publishers stand for an interview and the crowd went through the aisles, into other publishers stands and basically anywhere someone could stand, but you had no chance of seeing the author. Why didn’t someone set up a place for these people to conduct their readings and for a crowd to sit/stand out of the way? If you thought you were going to see your favourite author that day, chances were slim.
Thirdly, everyone was carrying show-bags but no one was giving them out, what were Germans collecting in these magical show-bags? My guess brochures, catalogues and rubbish – ever heard of the internet? Pretty sure you can find all the information in those catalogues on the internet. As there was no one giving out show-bags near us my guess is that they were more shopping bags given to people as they collected too many brochures. No one offered Mike and I one. To go with this lack of show bags lots of publishers were giving certain individuals (their friends and relatives) drinks and nibbles. You also had to have vouchers to get food or other items from some stalls. Where did you get these vouchers from? Who the hell knows.

Germany has some really lovely and impressive book stores, I totally love them. They are Twice/Thrice the size as of the ones in Australia and a lot more inviting with cafes and reading areas. I can’t understand why someone would pay 15euros (the book fair averages around 300,000 people a year) to go to the book fair when it doesn’t offer as much functionality as a book store where entry is free. The only thing that saved it for us were the International English publishers. Some of the stall holders at publisher stands were selling the books heavily discounted (and keeping the money on the side –maybe :) ) and one publisher gave Mike a book that he really, really wanted for free because they weren’t selling their books (he was a really nice man).
ANYWAY!!!!

Snicky Bars

At the fair we did see this book, Vegan for Fun, and after I went to the book store (like everyone else – I knew, cause they were all carrying show bags) to buy the book. The bookstore was making a killing that day. I was really frustrated at the book fair as I had felt a bit ripped off, but this book made it all better. The pictures are lovely and everything looks really yummy. I also wanted to buy a German cookbook to try new “local” ingredients.

The first recipe Mike wanted to try were the Snicky Bars, randomness was out the window this week for a more direct approach. These were really nice (if you like peanut butter). They taste just how they look. Sweet biscuit bottom, sweet sticky peanut centre and melted chocolate on top; don’t count the calories. This recipe isn’t hard but does take a while to complete. Firstly you have to make the base by making pastry and letting it sit in the fridge, then you need to bake and cool it. So you need a good afternoon to get this one done.

I was also pleasantly surprised to be proved completely wrong when it came to a cooking technique. The recipe stated that you needed to roll out the peanut butter mixture between to pieces of baking paper in order to get it on to the base. “Never”, I thought, “the peanut butter will run everywhere!” But I was completely wrong. It was actually the only way to get it on to the base!

These were a really easy, uncomplicated, yummy snack! Two thumbs up!

This recipe comes from:

Vegan for Fun: Vegane Küche die Spass macht

by Attila Hildmann

Language: German

JERK SEITAN with COCONUT RICE, SWEET POTATO & SWISS CHARD

2011-10-20T08:24:00.001+02:00

To get back into the swing on blogging regularly I needed a theme or idea. I also needed something realistic. For a while there, I had lost my way. Vegan Mofo 2010 was great but I think I burnt out and then was overwhelmed by how many blogs there were. I got to a point where I was worried that my photos weren’t good enough, that I wanted better light than my tiny kitchen has for perfect photos all the time, who was reading this anyway, would people get bored, I make too much stuff from a cook book, it’s a hassle – all of that just made me give up for a while. Then it occurred to me that it didn’t really matter. The internet is full of stuff and I need to make my little section, my tiny blog, fun for me. I really appreciate the few people who may read my blog, it is amazing to think people take time out to read something I have written, but there aren’t many – I’m too small and quiet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun!
Anyways, after perusing a lot of vegan blogs going crazy for Mofo I found this awesome idea on Vegan.In.Brighton – randomness, picking a random cookbook and a random page number. What a great idea? It would be exciting each week to see what numbers came up and would be a good way to go through some of those books I have forgotten! I decided that I would do this for one meal a week on a Sunday. Sunday is the best day, as I have Mike to help with the dishes and I have all day. So I can do any kind of recipe whether it be snack, cake or meal. Also, during the week our schedule can be a little random so I need to be able to plan meals in accordance with that.
So all excited I created a spreadsheet to generate random cookbook numbers and page numbers. With high anticipation Mike and I sat down on Saturday morning and pressed F9 (calculate) to see what would come up……..

Randomness Wk 1

The Book: Vegan with a Vengeance
The Page Number: 156
The Recipe: Seitan
The Meal:

Jerk Seitan
Coconut Rice
Jacket Baked Sweet Potato (on Monday though, I cut it into chips and roasted them, quicker but still yummy)
Swiss Chard with Raisins and Capers (Viva Vegan!)

Seitan

I have decided not to post recipes here as they can be found somewhere else on the web. Just Google it and you will find them easily. A modified version of the seitan recipe can also be found on the PPK.
This recipe boils the seitan rather than steaming it. I haven’t tried to boil seitan before and was a little unsure of how it would work. I absolutely love the seitan in Viva Vegan and was a little worried about the texture of this one. As the recipe, made 1.3kg of seitan I decided to halve the recipe, which may have messed around with the consistency a little, but it still worked. The seitan actually came out really nicely. It was a little mushier than steamed seitan but went fabulously well in the Jerk Seitan. I think, as it was a little less firm in consistency, it soaked up and held the marinade a little better than streamed seitan. A perfect seitan mixture for full flavoured, saucy marinades and stews. It also can be made and eaten in the same day, whereas the steamed seitan is better if left to rest in the fridge overnight. That being said, this takes an hour to cook, so you will most likely prepare it in advance on the weekend or a day you have at home.
Note that I didn’t take any photos of the seitan…….. it is pretty ugly:)

Jerk Seitan

This was yummy. I’m not sure why we haven’t tried this recipe before cause it is really nice! The marinade is easy to make and doesn’t need any exotic ingredients. My knowledge and experience with Caribbean cooking is limited. All I know I have learnt from Vegan in the Sun and Caribbean Cooking Made Easy, but when any recipe has All Spice in it I immediately think Caribbean, so to me this tasted and smelt like a quick and easy Jerk marinade. I made only a few changes to the recipe, a) red capsicum rather than green, b) Chilli flakes rather than cayenne powder, c) 1/2 tsp of nutmeg rather than 1 tsp (I swear the ground nutmeg packet I bought must have been made from nutmegs on steroids – it’s so strong).
The only down side is that it needs an hour to marinade. Not a 30 minute meal, but it takes no time to cook after this. I’m guessing you could marinade it overnight though or process the marinade and leave it in the fridge so it’s ready as soon as you get home.

Coconut Rice

This rice was really nice and went well with the seitan. It’s lightly flavoured and easy to make. I used Basmati Rice, instead of Jasmine Rice, as I have a lot in the cupboard at the moment. It probably wasn't the best rice to use as it has a ‘strongish’ flavour and wasn’t subtle enough for the other flavourings. It still tasted good though. I also make a Caribbean Coconut rice from Vegetarian Times which I think I like better. The recipe from Vegetarian Times takes more work, with the addition of ginger and garlic, so the VWAV one is great for when you have multiple dishes on the go or can’t be bothered. The VWAV rice also uses an entire can of coconut milk so there is no waste.
It’s a little funny that the random generator bought up a book that we use a lot. This was one of the first books I bought as a vegan but I only go to it for a few favourite recipes. It was great to try something new and I think I’m a big fan of these two! If you own this book and you haven’t tried it, put it to the top of you ‘thing to try next’ list. So far randomness has been a success!

These recipe comes from: Vegan with a Vengeance,

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Recipes can be found on the web.

KOPPS – VEGAN RESTAURANT & BAR (BERLIN)

2011-10-12T12:35:00.001+02:00

Last weekend we did a quick dash to Berlin. We arrived Friday night, spent Saturday catching up with friends sight-seeing and were gone Sunday midday. It was great. While there, we decided to try out a new, recently opened vegan restaurant, Kopps - Vegan Restaurant & Bar. Managed by Björn Moschinski (one of Germany’s most noted Vegan Chefs) and partners, we were hoping for good things!
So we arrived early, as we always do, and prepared for a night of sitting, chilling and eating. As we walked into the restaurant it still had a faint smell of paint and newness, which just made the anticipation all the more exciting! The decor and seating was lovely. I’m not a fan of vegan places that don’t invest in good furnishings and decor. Not every vegan is a hippie that wants to eat in a place with old miss matched furniture that looks like student accommodation. We don’t eat out often, and when I do I want it to be special – not like I’ve just turned up to a hostel. Kopps get an A+ for decor and furnishings. We had a window box/seat, which gave us a private little area all to ourselves. It was perfect for a group of four. After looking at the yummy menu which included soups, salads, starters, mains and desserts, we decided that we were going to make this a four course meal to be had throughout the night. I don’t think the waiters were initially prepared for our “we will order one course sit for a while and order three more courses”! But they got the idea quickly.
First we ordered drinks and ate our d complimentary bread and dip – which I forgot to take a photo of. I started off with a non-alcoholic beer (my new favourite thing), of which there were three, and every one else had soft drinks and alcoholic beer. We then moved on to a bottle of wine, and there were so many wines to choose from! I was surprised at how long the list was. Anyway, after my wine I went on to sparkling water – part of my new diet is less sugar, caffeine and alcohol (all for another post).
Now on to the important part – food and photos (I only had my only little camera with me, so the quality is not the greatest!).

Starter one

Fresh Mushrooms in crispy, aromatic crust with creamy lemon-rémoulade and bread
These were great and probably my favourite dish of the night. Fried mushrooms, what is there not to love? The creamy lemon-rémoulade was great too. It went so well with the mushrooms.

Starter two was

Beetroot ravioli with cashew nut-herb filling on wafer-thin fennel salad and balsamic dressing
This was my least favourite dish, purely because I don’t like beetroot. I thought I would give it a try and I could have easily eaten the whole dish but I wasn’t going to waste tummy space on it (I had more dishes to come and Mike loves beetroot, so I handed it over!). Other people at the table who do like beetroot loved it, so I think it was good – it was just me. The beetroot was subtle but I still wasn’t a fan. It was beautifully presented though and definitely one for a beetroot fan.

2 mains, 4 individuals

Braised soya roulade with red cabbage, potatoes and tasty gravy

Mike absolutely loved this dish. I think he was having a real moment with it. It reminded him so much of what his mum used to make and informed us the flavours were “spot on”. I said I would have preferred mashed potatoes to be shot down with “pft they are for the week day meals, this is for special occasions”. But I have to agree it was really, really good. The roulades were a fantastic consistency and the gravy was so good. I also love German red cabbage and this was the best I have had in Germany.
Celery schnitzel with light dill sauce, fresh cucumber salad and mashed potatoes
Maybe I wanted mash potatoes because a friend got this dish and told us they were some of the best mashed potatoes she had ever had – and yes after stealing some I can agree, they were yummy. I also tried a bit of the celery schnitzel with the sauce and it was so so good. Again it all fitted perfectly together.

1 photo, 2 desserts, 4 individuals

Cake of the day – a deconstructed Black Forest Cake

Dessert time! As soon as I heard what the cake of the day was, I knew I had to try it. Three people on the table had this dessert and we all agreed it was the perfect size to finish off the meal. The other dessert ordered was the chocolate mousse (which I forgot to take a photo off, but just imagine a perfect quenelle of mousse on a decorated plate – yum), which according to the person eating it, was awesome.

All in all we were there several hours and enjoyed a really great meal. I would definitely give this restaurant a go if you are ever in Berlin. Plan to make a night of it, relax and enjoy. The decor is beautiful, the prices are very fair, the drink list is extensive and above all the food is super yummy.

KOPPS, Restaurant und Bar
Linienstraße 94
10115 Berlin
Tel: 030 43209775
www.kopps-berlin.de

GINGER JAM AND MOCK DUCK PIZZA

2011-08-21T07:40:00.001+02:00

One of my favourite products at the moment is the mock duck from Vantastic Foods. It’s odd cause I have never been a huge mock duck fan and I have never been a huge fan of duck. If you asked me what duck tastes like I wouldn’t be able to explain it to you. I have no idea, I can’t remember. I find many brands of mock duck too strong in flavour, so overpowering that by one bite I’m over it. The flavour of this mock duck is a lot more subtle and, therefore, goes with a lot more meals and options (I think).

Before I went vegan one of my favourite duck dishes was a duck pizza. I also loved the mock duck pizza we were served when we stayed at a resort before travelling to Germany. Wanting to relive these memories I went on the hunt for the ingredients. When it comes to pizza I have a “thing”, it must be easy. Pizza to me is a ‘fast food’ (when I say fast, I don’t mean junk, I mean simple and quick) and when I make it at home (actually we always make our own) I want to be able to put the toppings on and in the oven. No precooking this, no large amounts of chopping, and especially no large amounts of mess and cleaning. The most I’ll do is blanch a veggie. Pizza, to me, is not extravagant. I even buy premade bases half the time cause I can’t be bothered with the prep of making my own. Quick, simple, easy, no fuss, I don’t want to be in the kitchen fast food. Luckily this is premade mock duck so it fits with this philosophy perfectly.

So on my premade base I spread a premade ginger jam, mock duck (undrained, straight out the jar) and chopped a spring onion. I put this in the oven to cook for 10 minutes at 200c.

I then took it out and added a couple of handfuls of prewashed (by me when I got it home earlier that day) rocket and grated some vegan mozzarella on top. All this went into the oven for another 5 minutes. Done!

I also used Teese Mozzarella on this pizza as I hadn’t tried it before. I still like Vegusto No-Muh-Chäs Melty the best. It doesn’t melt as well but has I nicer flavour (I think). Teese reminds me too much of ‘plastic’ cheese slices and I was never a great fan of those.

JUMBO CHOCOLATE FUDGY OATMEAL COOKIES

2011-08-12T11:08:00.001+02:00

I haven’t been into blogging much lately. I’m not sure why but I haven't had a lot to say about cooking and the like. I recently went on holidays so that might have something to do with it a little!
Anyway I thought I would put up these cookies I made the other day, which come from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Doing a Google search you can find the recipe all over the web so it must be good!

My tips/changes

I made less cookies and doubled their size. I also had to increase their cooking time by 10 minutes or so – but don’t hold me to that as I took them out when they were firm, trust me – you will know.
I used rolled oats instead of quick-cooking oats….. I think. The major reason was because I had these on hand and not being an oat connoisseur I don’t really know the difference. A quick bit of research told me that the difference was minimal. I also searched for the German equivalent and wasn’t entirely what it was or whether my organic store would have them. From my understanding rolled oats are not as processed and so contain more nutritional value. They do, however, have a chewier texture than quick-cooking oats. Most people on the internet suggested that they are easily interchangeable and to try both to see which texture you like best. The oats I used were fine leaves so they could have been quick-cooking for all I know, living in a foreign country can be so confusing!
I also removed the hazelnut essence (cause I hate the stuff) and added more vanilla. Someone on the net also added coconut but I just wanted a simple cookie. I didn’t add any dried fruit for the same reason, nothing fancy about these Jumbos.

Ingredients

2 cups whatever oats you feel like
1 2/3 all-purpose flour
2/3 cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp ground Flax seeds
2/3 cup non-dairy milk
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1.	Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.	In medium bowl, stir together first six dry ingredients.
3.	In large bowl, whisk together sugar, flax seeds and non-dairy milk until smooth. Add oil and vanilla, beat until well mixed. I used my stand mixer for this (because I am lazy).
4.	Add dry mixture to wet mixture in halves, making sure to mix well before adding more dry ingredients. Just at the end, fold in the chocolate chips.
5.	Place about 2 heaped tablespoons of dough about two inches apart on baking sheets. I made about 16 cookies and they all connected together, but were easy to pull apart. You can gently flatten each cookie with wet fingers or the back of a wet spoon.
6.	Bake for 20-22 minutes or until firm. Let rest on sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Needless to say they were Jumbo, fancy free and so yummy!

This recipe comes from:

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats

by Terry Romero and Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Recipe can be found at multiple blogs.

YAKITORI (WITH MOCK DUCK)

2011-06-07T09:15:00.001+02:00

When I found this recipe I knew I had to make it. I found Wagashi Maniac mentioned on Seitan is My Motor and the recipe that popped up after I clicked on the link was this Yakitori recipe. It was pretty much all over after that. I ordered myself some mock duck from alles-vegetarisch and set the weekend aside for grilling. Wagashi Maniac is in German but with the help of Google Translate I was able to decipher most of it (plus Mike could read what I couldn’t understand). It is a really thoughtful and pretty blog though and I spent a lot of time skimming through the recipes and photos.
With the weather being absolutely perfect for grilling Mike and I got out our electric grill and set it up on the balcony. Even if the weather had been terrible I was way too set on grilling to change my plans. I was really excited because it was the first time we were going to use our grill and the first time we were trying the mock duck. I only made the dipping sauce and marinade for the mock duck as there is only two of us. I also made a couple of changes to the recipe,

I substituted Shao hsing wine for the Sake in both the marinade and dipping sauce, as I didn’t have any Sake in the cupboards but I did have a big bottle of wine. Both are rice wines so it was an easy swap.
I used dark soy sauce rather than tamari.
I used brown sugar for the sugar component of the dipping sauce.
I also didn’t fry the onion before chucking it in the pot (I didn’t read the recipe) however it worked fine.
I also marinaded the duck over night.

The recipe was great and we absolutely loved it. We were impressed with the mock duck by Vantastic Foods.

It had a food texture and crisped up nicely on the grill while staying juicy on the inside. I did drain the oil off of it so it could take up the flavours of the marinade. It also didn’t have an over powering star anise/aniseed flavour that I find some mock ducks have. The flavour was subtle but definitely tasted like mock duck. The marinade fit this flavour so well and the dipping sauce was also fantastic. The dipping sauce was a nice additive for some of the smaller pieces of duck that dried out a little. While it was marinading in the fridge it smelt so so good, our mouths watered every time we gave it a stir. I will definitely been ordering this mock duck again to try in different recipes (a pizza may be next!) and will be making this recipe again……….. and again.

HOT CROSS BUNS

2011-05-09T20:45:00.003+02:00

So it is a little late to be writing about Easter but time has just slipped away from me! Anyway, when I think about family traditions, my family has very few. We don’t have many occurrences that I would call traditions. One thing that I would say is a tradition, though, is hot cross buns. We always have hot cross buns at Easter. My Mum loves them and used to buy them as soon as they arrived in the shops (that was until they started arriving in the shops in January). We always had hot cross buns for breakfast over the four day Easter period. When we were younger and lived at home my Sister and I, as cheeky as we were, used to ring mum from our mobiles to get her to put the oven on and the buns in so we could get up and have hot cross buns waiting for us as soon as we rolled out of bed. Something Mum never complained about doing! So when I woke up on good Friday all I wanted was hot cross buns! It was a real lust for something remembered from home! Nothing else would do and I would have been a little sad if I couldn’t make them. I hadn’t thought about making them so I had to go with what was in the cupboard. Luckily I have a pretty well stocked cupboard. I used this recipe from VeganDad with a few tweaks.
You can find the recipe here at VeganDad.
My tweaks were as follows:

First I don’t drink orange juice so I used pineapple juice (tasted great).
I left out the sour dough starter as I didn’t have any and I probably wouldn’t bother using any next time either. They were perfect without it.
VeganDad used citrus peel rather than candied mixed peel because he hates it and frankly so do I, it’s horrible. But I also used less quantities of lemon and orange peel than he suggested, as I really wanted the spices to come through and it to be a subtle tasting bun.
I left out the currents cause I always ate sultana/raisin-less hot cross buns.
I also only made the bun part without the glazing and icing cross (so not traditional) because traditionally in Australia (well in my family anyway) we eat these buns warmed (hot) in the oven. I wasn’t sure how the sticky glaze or sugar cross would hold up after being in the oven. Not that the buns needed this decoration as they still tasted like the real deal.

These buns tasted great but they smelt amazing. Suddenly my whole house smelled like Easter and it was exactly how I remembered. Joy! So, so comforting when you are so far away from home and your family. I was so pleased with the result and I think baking hot cross buns may just become a new tradition for Mike and myself.

Newly Discovered, Now Loved (no less that the others in Pt 1.)

2011-04-02T09:32:00.002+02:00

When I was writing the Newly Discovered, Now Loved post it kept growing! I usually don’t like to over do it with the blog posts and make them too long because I know when I look through my Reader and there is a really long post there, sometimes I can’t be bothered reading it! And this way I’m getting two posts for the price of one – don’t be hatin’, I told you I was broke and unmotivated.

Home Made Ice Cream

I have put up a lot of ice cream posts in the last year! As I have said before I have no idea what inspired us to buy an ice cream maker. It was an online impulse purchase where we were like, ‘we like ice cream lets buy an ice cream maker!”. At this point, some sane people would just go buy a tub of ice cream but we are wary of the vegan ice creams, as some of them have ingredients that should feature in a science lesson. After buying our maker and an ice cream recipe book I can say that it was an impulse purchase that paid off. We love our home made ice cream and it is so simple. The stuff that comes out of our fridge is by far some of the best ice cream I have ever had. YUM!

Fleur de sel - Flower of salt

I am a sucker for salt. I would take savoury over sweet 90% of the time so it is a wonder I have never tried this before. It’s probably because it’s not cheap and I thought it was “just salt” but after tasting it, I was wrong. Fleur de sel is a hand-harvested sea salt collected by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. It tastes salty but not overpowering and has a moistness to it. I love sprinkling it over finished meals (leaving salt out of the cooking where possible). Being a salt fiend it elevates my meal to the next level.

Mukka Express

One night Mike and I were watching a documentary on coffee and it occurred to us that we could be getting more out of our coffee experience, Mike and I really shouldn’t watch documentaries. So we hopped on to the internet, Mike and I shouldn’t really be allowed on the Internet either, to see what we could find to enhance our coffee experience but not cost thousands of dollars. Hunting around we came across the Mukka Express by Bialetti. It is an espresso maker that also heats and froths milk (works great for soy milk) to makes a rich creamy cappuccino or a latte. We absolutely love this guy. It makes a great coffee. I can see that some coffee connoisseurs may not like it but for our price range and the amount of space in our kitchen it is perfect.

Vegusto No-Muh

I did a review of this vegan cheese a little while ago and I have fallen in love with it more since. It is expensive so we have to ration it. It is so full of flavour thought that a little bit goes a long way. My favourite type they make is the Melty, I melt it on everything from pizza to sandwiches. It is creamy and rich without being overly oily. Mike also loves the classic one which is also great melted on something.

Jogging

I’m not a jogger. I’m not into exercise. I’m not fit at all. I’m not built for running. I have boobs, a belly and other things that bounce and probably shouldn’t when I run. BUT I thought Mike and I should do something to change this. Being broke, gym membership and a lot of other fitness classes are out of the question. I also can’t speak German so am not confident enough to join a class of anything. Jogging along the river , in the morning under the cloak of darkness (where the only things that would giggle at us were the ducks), sounded like the best option. So being the nerd that I am I asked my BFF the internet for advice, again (the internet has featured prominently in this post). There is one thing I have learnt about myself after being on the planet for nearly 30 years – I need a plan. If there is no plan I will practically fail at anything I try to do. And it has to be a well thought out plan. The only way I lost weight a few years ago was on the CSIRO (not vegan) diet. It was a 12 week plan and I stuck to it and I lost weight (lots of it). So I needed an exercise plan. So surfing the net whilst sitting on the couch I decided we should commence the The Couch-to-5K ® Running Plan, after all I was already at the starting point. Mike and I went out and bought some running sneakers – yes we didn’t have sneakers, that is how unfitness orientated we were. We also picked up some Nike Sport Bands so we could upload and track our runs (+ Mike loves gadgets) to keep us motivated. It was tough at first, cold, windy and sometimes it rained on us (really testing the motivation there) but it got easier. I am now up to week 7 (Mike had to drop out due to work commitments and injury) and still find it really tough but I persevere hoping at some stage it will get easier. Now that spring is here and the sun is coming out I think I/we will start to enjoy it even more. Ready for the river to look like the photos below again! We aren’t ready to join the half marathon runners who ran past our apartment the other day but I am proud of our efforts so far.

Newly discovered, Now Loved

2011-03-21T08:11:00.001+01:00

Usually I post about food and recipes but this time I thought I’d post something a bit different. Still about food of course because basically my life revolves around it! So to also commemorate our one year anniversary in Germany I thought I’d do a ‘Things discovered and Loved’ themed post. Now there have been a lot of discoveries and a lot of changes in our lives since moving half way across the world. Before coming to Germany there wasn’t a lot of time for discovery. Work seemed to take up a lot of that time. When we first arrived however we had lots of time. Then quit my job as it turned out to be not what I was after and Mike had to wait 5 months for his work permit – so more time!

I can hardly believe we have been here for nearly a year!!! We’re getting used to the different culture and I’m trying to get used to not going to work. It’s hard to wrap my head around the sudden lack of pressure, as I have been working and studying for as long as I can remember. It’s the first time in my life I’ve actually been able to stop and think about what I’m doing. This also explains why the blog has been a bit neglected lately. I have lost motivation to do a lot of things as I no longer have that overriding stress of failing or being fired. I don’t have to do anything and so that’s what I have done when it comes to the blog. Hopefully we can turn that around as I settle into the routine of Mike going to work everyday.

Another great motivator is that right now we are fairly broke and money just flows out of our account like a leak in a dam. It probably has something to do with the fact that we’re not great at saving – kind of like asking two unskilled labourers to fix the dam leek with an UHU stick of glue and sticky tape (ok maybe not that bad – try super glue). I still like to buy organic (it’s not much more expensive here in Germany) and try new things, which also doesn’t help in the savings area. Each month we do the same rhetoric “we must not spend” and at the end of the month we still have spent it all…… how this happens is a mystery!

BUT this was meant to be a post about ‘Newly discovered, Now Very Much Loved’ things! So without further ado, here are some of our top discoveries for the year, in no particular order!

Quinoa and Amaranth

Who would have thought some little grains could bring so much joy (and health)! Before moving to Germany we hadn’t tried Quinoa, not sure why, but now it is a breakfast staple. I love its nutty flavour and it goes with anything. My favourite way to serve it is in the morning with cinnamon, raspberries, toasted hazelnuts and some maple syrup. The recipe can be found at 101 Cookbooks, substitute any nuts and berries you like. Delicious!

While I haven’t cooked any Amaranth yet, one of my most loved brands here is Allos, who make a range of products with Amaranth in them. I am addicted to the Salted Amaranth Corn Thins and Bircher Müesli! Which brings me to another new and loved item Müesli (below)! When people leave a country and think of food that they’ll miss there won’t be much for me as traditional German cuisine is very meat and dairy heavy but I would certainly miss this stuff if we left Germany.

An amaranth planted in a garden near a Rose-Tree, thus addressed it: "What a lovely flower is the Rose, a favourite alike with Gods and with men. I envy you your beauty and your perfume." The Rose replied, "I indeed, dear Amaranth, flourish but for a brief season! If no cruel hand pluck me from my stem, yet I must perish by an early doom. But thou art immortal and dost never fade, but bloomest for ever in renewed youth." - Aesop's Fables

Müesli

In a few posts I have mentioned that I wasn’t not much of a breakfast person. I have changed this though and now I do eat breakfast everyday! Some of those breakfasts, though, have required a bit of cooking. Now that Mike has gone back to work though I don’t have time for too much preparation and cooking. Breakfast needs to be prepared quick and possibly even portable if necessary. Enter the hero to save the morning meal, Müesli! I love this stuff. I love this stuff with Amaranth in it. I love that I can put it in the fridge the night before with some vanilla soy milk and it’s ready as soon as I get up. I tastes so good with fresh banana. Muesli was introduced around 1900 by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital, where a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables was an essential part of therapy. Maybe in the back of his mind he also thought about 21st century house wives and the struggle it can be to provide breakfast in the morning, he was forward thinking after all.

Seitan

In the past year we have been trying out meat substitutes. I have never liked the look of supermarket seitan. There is just something about how wet it looks and the liquid it sits in. It just turns me off completely. I don’t know why I never tried to make my own, probably something to do with the lack of time I’ve mentioned but also lack of recipes. Well my life changed when Viva Vegan! arrived on my doorstep. I absolutely love the recipes for seitan in this book! I had to go out an buy a new Wok to steam it in and have to order the gluten flour online, but it has been so worth it. I am also getting much better at making it, +1 bonus to seitan making! I can see how seitan could be pretty bland which is why I love the two recipes in this book. The Pièce de résistance of my seitan adventure has been the Everyday Ham in Caribbean Vegan. That stuff is gold after being glazed in the oven. Unfortunately my seitan isn’t photogenic and prefers not to be photographed (although check out Vegan in the sun for some Top Model shots of Taymer’s Vegan Ham), so you’ll just have to try it yourself (unless gluten is your arch-nemesis).

Caribbean Vegan and Viva Vegan!

From the last ‘newly discovered’ item it is only fair that my favourite cookbooks of 2010 get a mention to. I have loved discovering these new two cuisines and I love these cookbooks. Both have seriously yummy recipes and I have loved discovering new techniques of cooking, new ingredients and new flavours. Both of these books try to be as authentic and true to their cuisines as they can and I absolutely love that about them. I have already reviewed Viva Vegan in a previous post and I have more photos to come! I will also hopefully get a review of Caribbean Vegan posted soon. The flavour combinations in these books got us through our first European Winter too!

Well I think I will wrap it up there, although there are more things that should be on this list. Maybe I’ll highlight them in the next post.

I don’t usually leave questions for readers but I am very interested to know of anyone has discovered something new lately that has rocked their vegan world! So have you?

This post uses material from the Wikipedia article Amaranth, Muesli .

MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

2011-02-20T13:20:00.001+01:00

So Mike started work this week and everything is going well. We finally got his work permit! It was a bit of a frustrating time as the lady handling Mike’s work permit was not acting professionally but there is no one you can call or report this to. Fortunately for us she became ill (and I know how terrible that sounds) and someone else took over. They fixed the mistake in a week, it really was an easy one. So here we are! Income is heading our way and we’re feeling so much more secure in Germany. Time for cupcakes right????

I made these cupcakes from VCTOTW for a friends birthday. They were having burritos and cake but are not vegan so I thought I should take something along for us. These cupcakes were yummy. I don’t think I put enough chilli powder in as they didn’t give the heat punch I was looking for. So I will be upping that next time. But I had to play it safe to start with! They did, however, have a fantastic texture. I loved the grittiness of these babies. The almond meal was such a good touch. It’s not a smooth chocolate cake and it makes them all the more exciting. This makes them interesting and perfect for when you don’t have time to ice a cupcake or you want them to travel easily.

Ingredients

1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp ground linseed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp corn flour
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Topping

powdered sugar
cocoa
ground cinnamon

Directions

1.	Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with paper cases.
2.	Whisk together the coconut milk and the ground flaxseeds. Allow them to sit for 10 mins.
3.	Sift the flour, cocoa, salt, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, ground almonds, cinnamon and cayenne.
4.	Whisk the sugar, oil and vanilla essence into the coconut milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Fill liners.
5.	Bake 22-25 mins, until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool fully on a rack.
6.	Mix some powdered sugar with some cocoa powder and ground cinnamon.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Recipe can also be found on scribd.com

BANANA, CHOC CHIP AND COCONUT FLAPJACKS

2011-01-21T13:58:00.001+01:00

I haven’t been much into blogging lately. Just not feeling in the mood to take photos and write up. After MoFo I think I’m a little burnt out. I also feel like I’m not cooking anything too exciting. So what have I been doing? Well Mike and I are in saving, budgeting mode. Mike is still waiting for his work permit and we have no idea when it will be approved (and can’t get updates). That being the case we could look in the mailbox tomorrow and it’ll be there or we could get to April with no news. It’s been four months so far so we’re hoping it’s sooner than April. It’s a little bit annoying as Mike is Australian and in IT so in Germany these are considered ‘privileged’, and the process should take 6-8 weeks. Unfortunately due to an error made by the Visa Application department when submitting a form to the Work Approval Permit department we have been stuck in this long process of waiting, where no one appears to be doing anything. So money is very tight as we have to watch every cent less we may have to pack up and return to Australia. With this in mind I have been working on a budgeting spreadsheet. I have always had a budgeting spreadsheet (being half accountant) but I have made enhancements! I have been looking at prices at different supermarkets and entering them in so when I make a shopping list it will show me where the cheapest item is. I have also been learning to shop from a catalogue and make meals based on weekly specials. Taking advantages of specials takes a little bit of planning when there is only two of you, how do I use up 4kg of potatoes! Anyway that’s just an update of why I have been missing from the blogging world, twitter and the like.

On to the food! These are what I made for Christmas Morning Breakfast. On Christmas morning we were up early to make these little beauties and Skype Australia. So in PJ’s with breakfast and a coffee we had a 3 hour video call with my family. These Flapjacks (modified from Vegan Brunch) were a fantastic Christmas morning breakfast and very,very filling. According to the Wiki a flapjack is a thick small pancake often served in a stack with syrup and butter, which is exactly how we served them (minus the butter). Sweet and comforting with lots of maple syrup, they were very perfect for a special occasion.

Ingredients

2 very ripe medium bananas
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup almond milk (or your favourite non-dairy milk)
1/2 cup water
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 cup all -purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
Pinch ground allspice (optional)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

1.	Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl with a fork. Add the oil, milk, water, vinegar, and maple syrup and mix well. Add the ﬂour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Mix until there are very few clumps left but don’t over mix. Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.
2.	Preheat a non-stick skillet or crepe pan (I flick water on my crepe pan and wait for it to sizzle and dance around, which tells me it’s ready). Either spray some oil onto the pan or brush a little bit of oil over the pan, just enough to provide a thin coating. I like to make small flapjacks so pour a small amount of batter onto the pan. You should be able to fit two or three on the pan at once (depending on how big your pan is). But really you can make any size flapjack that you can handle. Cook until the top looks somewhat dry (about 3 minutes). Flip over and cook for another minute.
3.	Transfer to a plate covered with tinfoil to keep the ﬂapjacks warm while you prepare the others.

This recipe is modified from:

Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For--From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

This recipe can also be found on Google Books and uses material from the Wikipedia article Pancake.

BASIC TOFU SCRAMBLE WITH EXTRAS

2011-01-04T16:29:00.002+01:00

So I’m not much of a breakfast person but lately I have been trying to change that. I guess I usually haven’t bothered with breakfast as the last thing I wanted to do or could even manage was cooking a breakfast before going to work. If it was a choice between more time sleeping or in the kitchen cooking that awesome breakfast, sleeping would win every time. Things change though and I am no longer in that rush to work attitude in the mornings. Mornings are slower and I can actually cook something. I still have to make myself but I think I’m getting the hang of it. The trick for me is to make sure that I prepare as much as I can the night before. This even includes getting the pans out and putting them on the stove ready to go and lining up the ingredients on the kitchen counter (except those that need to be in the fridge of course!). Any task that can be done the night before has to be done before I go to bed so that when I get up in the morning I can get started even when my brain is not firing on all cylinders. This may sound completely nuts but I haven’t missed a breakfast yet since I started this new craze.
gap
Anyway enough of that! Here is one of the meals I have discovered for breakfast. It’s a basic tofu scramble that is adapted from Vegan Brunch with my extras. It is quick to prepare and really yummy, I could eat it for any meal. I like to add onion, red capsicum and spinach as the vegies but you really could add anything you like. I don’t chop anything with precision, so whatever style you can cope with is fine, just cook the vegies until they are soft before adding the tofu. I also add a little bit of truffle oil at the end because………. well I can and it gives it that little bit of decadence and increases the overall roundness of the meal, but it is totally optional.

Serves 2 or double to serve 4

Ingredients

1 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons water
3 garlic cloves, minced (or more, to taste)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1 small bunch of spinach, rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
200g firm tofu, drained
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Fresh black pepper, to taste
A drizzle of truffle oil (optional)

Directions

1.	First mix the spices, salt and water together in a small cup. Bring a large pot (or one big enough to hold the spinach) to the boil.
2.	While waiting for the water to boil, preheat a large a pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the garlic, capsicum, onion in olive oil for about a minute. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent and the capsicum is soft. When the water is boiling add the spinach and cook for 30 seconds. Rinse the spinach in cold water to stop the cooking process. Squeeze as much of the liquid out of the spinach as you can. Chop and set aside.
3.	Crumble the tofu (I like to have mine fairly crumbly with a few remaining chunks) and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring often until the tofu has browned. If your tofu looks a little dry at this stage add a small quantity of water.
4.	Add the spice paste and mix trough. Then add the nutritional yeast and spinach, mixing to combine. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or so until everything is cooked to your liking. Serve warm on bread with a small drizzle of truffle oil, if desired.

Prepare the night before (cause if you’re like me you’re a member of The Walking Dead cast (not the good ones) in the morning)

Combine the dry spice mix
If you have a 400g block of tofu (I usually make this for two breakfasts in a row) cut the tofu in half and put it in a container so all you do is grab it out the container – no cutting into packaging, draining etc
Get out your instruments, chopping board, pots (frypan and saucepan) and place them on the stove.

This recipe was modified from:

Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For--From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Recipe can also be found at Savvy Vegetarian.

TRAVELLING VEGANS: Basel, Switzerland

2010-12-29T15:19:00.001+01:00

Just before Christmas we travelled to Basel, Switzerland intending to meet up with friends from London and see the traditional Christmas Markets. Unfortunately due to the snow our friends flights out of London were cancelled and they couldn’t make it sotThat meant Mike and I were left to explore Basel on our own.

Basel is an interesting town as is right on the border of Germany and France yet it has its own unique style and accents, which let you know you’re not in Germany anymore. The old town is also very steep and alleyways will turn a bend and you’re suddenly hiking up a massive hill, not so great for high-heels in the snow.

Basel is also the only town with access to a port with the river Rhine going straight through the middle of it.
But enough of the travel information and on to the food!!!!
Surprisingly Basel has a good selection of food for vegans. There are only a couple of places but considering the size of the town this is more than we could have hoped for (considering we live in Frankfurt am Main, which is approximately 6x as big with no vegan restaurant, cafe’s or well… anything!).

Tibits

Before we travelled to Basel we did some research and found this vegetarian restaurant chain that has several restaurants across Switzerland. Basically you pick what you want from the buffet and pay on the weight of your plate. So we emailed them to see if they also do vegan options and got this amazing response, which sums up their offerings perfectly:
‘The heart of tibits is our food boat with over 40 hot and cold dishes, freshly cooked every day. All the ingredients in our products are clearly declared. On the labels at the food boat and on the counter the following abbreviations tell you about specific ingredients: V = vegan, O = egg, L = lacto, N = nuts, S = celeriac, G = gluten. About 90% of our cold dishes are vegan. The hot section consists of 12 different menus, snacks, side dishes and vegetables of which four to eight are vegan every day. Besides fresh fruit we have a small but exclusive selection of four to five desserts. Apart from our freshly baked vegan Apple Turnover you will find two guaranteed vegan desserts on our food boat.’
They are open every day from early morning to quite late which is great fro travellers! As you can see from the photos below we had a range of options available. Our favourites were the pakoras, onion rings, tofu salad, lentil salad and wild rice salad. They also have a beautiful Rooibos tea with vanilla, which we bought a packet of to take home with us!!!

Hirscheneck

We found this place on Wiki Travel and decided to check it out even though it is not vegan or vegetarian exclusively anymore. They do have a couple of organic meat options on the menu but are primarily vegetarian and always have vegan options of their daily changing menu. It was described on Wiki travel as a Traditional left-wing / punk-run restaurant. This place was packed all weekend long and the meals were pretty good!

Night One

Entrees

Giant Mushroom with oven vegetables

Borschtsch (white cabbage beetroot soup with pureed smoked tofu)

Mains

Filo pastry triangle with sweet and sour sauce
Seitan schnitzel with mashed potato, red cabbage and cognac sauce

Night Two

Entree

Hummus and roasted eggplant wrap

Mains

Avocado and chickpea patties with vegetable rice and tomato currant chutney

Sour Lentils with spätzle and tofu wieners

Choco.loco

Another shop we discovered on Wiki Travel was a specialty dark chocolate shop. I knew we had to go! Here is a photo of our tasty loot!

Christmas Markets

There isn’t much on offer at traditional Christmas markets for vegans but we did manage to find these babies. Organic Marzipan and Viennese/German nougat (which is essentially a chocolate and nut, usually hazelnut, praline and vegan…. and 100% yum).

	tibits Basel Stänzlergasse 4, 4051 Basel http://www.tibits.ch/e/restaurants-take-away/basel/
	Restaurant Hirscheneck Lindenberg 23 4058 Basel http://www.hirscheneck.ch/das-restaurant.html
	Choco Loco Spalenberg 38a, 4051 Basel http://chocoloco-shop.ch/

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

2010-12-12T15:49:00.001+01:00

Mike has been asking me to make a cheese cake for a while now. Unfortunately vegan cream cheese isn’t easily available here and I have to order it online. The other catch is that it is expensive. A 225g tub of Philadelphia like cream cheese costs 4.49€, it’s expensive stuff! I know a lot of people just use silken tofu but I like the cream cheese flavour this product gives. Anyway I bought some cream cheese and decided to make a chocolate cheesecake. I was going to try this recipe again before posting it but the more I ate of my cheesecake the more I liked it. I modified this recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking as I didn’t have and couldn’t afford the amount of vegan cream cheese required. To be honest though, the cake is so rich, I think a thinner layer of cheesecake is actually a plus (I know less cake = better, I must be nuts). It allowed you to enjoy a reasonable slice without it becoming too heavy. I also served this with Vegan Whipped Cream (that the online store sent me for free) which was a nice touch as it added a lightness and sweetness to the cake.

Did you know:

Cheesecake was already a popular dish in ancient Greece before Romans adopted it with the conquest of Greece. The earliest attested mention of a cheesecake is by the Greek physician Aegimus, who wrote a book on the art of making cheesecakes. So Mike is not the only cheesecake fanatic who ever lived.

Ingredients

100g vegan cookies
1/4 cup melted vegan margarine
2 tsp cocoa powder
3 tsp egg replacer
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips
1 tbsp dark chocolate spread (optional)
450g non-dairy cream cheese
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Directions

1.	Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and lightly oil an 8 inch springform pan.
2.	In a food processer crush the cookies until they resemble fine crumbs. Once crushed add the cocoa powder and stir through. Now add the melted butter until combined. Spread and press into the prepared springform pan. This makes just enough to cover the bottom of the pan so go slowly and gently to make sure the bottom is fully covered.
3.	In a small bowl combine the egg replacer and water and whip until light and fluffy. I do this by hand but you could use an electric handheld beater. Set aside.
4.	Melt the chocolate chips the way you like. You can use the microwave or a double broiler but I just bring a saucepan of water to the boil and place a heat proof bowl on top. Make sure the bowl does not get too hot. Stir until the chocolate is melted, then stir in the chocolate spread.
5.	In a eclectic mixer bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, and egg replacer mix. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the edges when necessary. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla essence and blend thoroughly.
6.	Pour on top of the prepared base. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the centre barely jiggles when tapped. You could bake it for a little less but I like the chewy crust that forms. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. Transfer to a serving plate (I remove the sides of the pan), cover and place in the fridge to cool for 1-2 hours.

This recipe was modified from:

The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets

by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

This post uses material from the Wikipedia article Cheesecake.

CHERRY RIPE CUPCAKES

2010-12-05T12:42:00.001+01:00

Now that MoFo is over I still want to get into a routine of posting. I think I will aim to post at least once a week, maybe twice a week (I’ll try). Anyway, to start off my new posting regime I made these cupcakes. I used to love Cherry Ripe Chocolate bars! Dark chocolate with cherry and coconut, yum, can’t really go wrong right?

In creating these cupcakes I had to make some decisions. I needed to combine all those flavours the way I remembered them without one flavour out shining the others! With that in mind I went with a coconut cupcake rather than a chocolate one. When I looked on the web it seemed that everyone went with a chocolate cupcake but I didn’t like this for two reasons. 1) it seemed too much like Black Forest Cupcakes; 2) if I used a chocolate cupcake how was I going to make the coconut stand out against that dominant chocolate taste? I also thought that if I used a coconut cupcake I could use a Dark Chocolate Ganache for the chocolate component. That way you get that authentic chocolate taste like a cherry ripe, which wouldn't be achievable with a sweet chocolate frosting. For the cherry component it was easy. I was going to shove the coconut cupcake full of a sour cherry jam. Sour cherries were my choice to offset the richness of the dark chocolate and sweetness of the coconut cupcake. So all the elements were there – sweet, rich and tart. YUM.

These cupcakes turned out incredibly moist (like a cherry ripe) and delicate, so you need to serve them in their wrapper or wait a few hours for everything to set.

Coconut Cupcakes

(Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance)

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp coconut essence
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup shredded coconut

Directions

1.	Preheat oven to 180°C degrees. Line a twelve-cupcake tin with paper liners, set aside.
2.	Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
3.	In a separate bowl combine the oil, coconut milk, sugar, coconut essence and vanilla essence.
4.	Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until smooth. Fold in the shredded coconut.
5.	Evenly fill each muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes; the cupcakes should be slightly browned around the edges. Remove them from the muffin tin and place on a cooling rack. Allow to fully cool before filling and topping.

Sour Cherry Ripe Filling

This is my go to fruit filling formula (adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) for any fruit filling in a cupcake.

Ingredients

140g frozen sour cherries, thawed
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp arrowroot
3 tbsp water

Directions

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine thawed cherries and their juice, and sugar. Stir till mixture starts to simmer. Whisk together arrowroot and water in a small bowl, steadily pour into the cherries, stirring constantly. Keep stirring; the mixture will rapidly thicken. Remove from heat and allow to fully cool.

Dark Chocolate Topping

(from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy milk
120g dark chocolate (at least 70%), chopped
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions

1.	Bring the soy milk to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. Immediately remove from heat and add the chocolate and maple syrup. Use a rubber heatproof spatula to mix the chocolate until it is fully melted and smooth. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

Cherry Ripe Cupcakes

Ingredients

Fresh Cherries
Coconut Cupcakes
Sour Cherry Ripe Filling
Dark Chocolate Topping

Directions

1.	Make all the components separately, allowing the cupcakes and filling to cool completely and the chocolate topping to cool to room temperature.
2.	With a small spoon or knife gently dig out a cone from the top of each cupcake, leaving a hallowed out centre. These cupcakes are delicate so be careful. The cone will crumble so you can either throw it away or eat it, I’m pretty sure you know which option I went for. Fill each cupcake with as many cherries as you can, at least 1, from the Sour Cherry Ripe Filling. There is no need to put a cupcake top back on as the chocolate ganache topping will act as the ‘lid’.
3.	Spoon a large dollop of chocolate topping on top and use the back of the spoon to spread the topping over the cupcake. Gently press a fresh cherry on top into the topping to hold when the chocolate sets.

This recipe was created by Vegan Gourmet Caravan combining and modifying recipes from:

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

VEGAN MOFO 2010: DAY 30 – The Finale Post and The Survey

2010-11-30T11:18:00.004+01:00

So today is the last day of Vegan MoFo 2010 and therefore this is the last post…. aw *sheds a little tear*. I have posted something every day which has been a challenge! I have had overseas visitors most weekends and needed to prepare a lot of posts beforehand. It has been lots of fun though. I have had a great time finding new blogs and book marking a lot of new recipes that I will get around to making one day! I have enjoyed getting comments from people and have really felt part of this very big vegan community, which at times can seem very small when you’re walking the streets of Germany. My next challenge is to get through all the items in my reader!!! I think that will take me all of December and there will be a lot of late comments popping up on blogs. I also need to come up with a regular blogging schedule – once a day is a bit full on but maybe once a week!
In honour of the passing month I thought my final post should resemble the post I started with – something about me. I couldn’t think of any recipes that would be good enough and my stock pile of food photos has dwindle down to nothing so I decided to do the Vegan MoFo 2010 survey.
Alright then lets proceed!

What is one food you thought you'd miss when you went vegan, but don't?
I was a vegetarian before I was vegan so nothing meat related. I guess it was cheese I thought I would miss the most. Now though I only buy good quality vegan cheeses for their melty quality to add more texture to something. White chocolate might be the other thing I thought I’d miss! But to be honest I can’t really remember so I can’t be missing it that much anymore!

What is a food or dish that you wouldn't touch as a child, but enjoy now?
Broccoli! I hated the stuff as a kid but I absolutely love it now. Others include mushrooms and olives!
What vegan food or dish do you feel like you should like but you don't?
Tempeh and too much nutritional yeast (a little goes a long way).
What beverage do you consume the most of each day?
Water and sparkling water. Most days I also have an organic cola!
What dish are you famous for bringing to gatherings?
A lot – I go overboard. But I usually supply a dessert.
Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?
Raw and cooked separate. Even though it doesn't matter in a vegan world I still won’t chop something cooked on a board I chopped something raw, even though I might throw them into the same salad.
What's one food or dish that you eat too much off when it's in your home?
Potatoes

What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available repackaged?
Almost everything but I guess the main thing I always make rather than buying is bread, pasta (unless the shape matters) and seitan.
What ingredient or food is worth spending extra money on to get the good stuff?
Avocados, vegan cheese (why bother otherwise), chillies.
Are you much of a snacker? What are your favourite snacks?
No I’m not but when I do snack (usually in front of the TV or a movie) I like home popped warm popcorn with a little bit of vegan margarine and salt……..mmmmmmmm
What are your favourite vegan pizza toppings?
Mike’s Mediterranean Madness and Caramelised Onion
What's your favourite fruit and vegetable?
Tough one!!!! I love onions, potatoes, chillies, raspberries, coconut, avocados.
What is the best salad dressing?
When I make a small salad as a side it is usually to cleanse the palate and freshen things up a bit. Consequently I’m lazy and just like putting a little bit of White Balsamic Crème over everything. Otherwise it’s a meal in it self and needs a specific dressing.
What is your favourite thing to put on toasted bread?
Hands down my Avocado Spread. I’m addicted to it.
What kind of soup do you turn to on a chilly day or when you don't feel well?
On a chilly day I love the Chilli Sin Carne Al Mole from Vegan with a Vengeance, it’s so hearty. When I’m sick I usually make nothing because I can’t be bothered but when Mike is sick I always make a Chinese Vegetable Noodle Soup full of lots or ginger and garlic.
What is your most-loved weeknight meal?
Brooklyn Pad Thai from Vegan with a Vengeance.

What is your favourite cupcake and icing flavour?
Coconut everything all the way!
What is your favourite type of cookie?
Hmmm well I’m not a cookie person so that’s tough. I like anything with a filling or that melts in your mouth! Or the Magic Coconut Cookie Bars from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.
What is one food or dish you enjoy but can't get anyone else in your house to eat?
Nothing, I’m the fussy one. I am blessed with a husband that will eat anything I cook for him even if he doesn’t really like it and will follow me on any diet or culinary decision I make.

How long do you spend in the kitchen a day on average?
Another tough one. Some days almost all afternoon, other days no time cause I cooked so much the day before. Some days the bread has run out. On average though probably 2-3 hours.
So that’s it everyone!!! Thanks so much for all the lovely comments left on my blog during MoFo too!! What will my next post be? Until then here is a photo of Skadi all rugged up to survive her first European winter.

PRODUCT REVIEW: Vegusto No-Muh Melty

2010-11-29T12:21:00.006+01:00

Ahh vegan cheese….. you are either addicted and spend your entire vegan life searching for cheese that resembles cheese you used to have on your pizza or you you’re not really fussed by it and may buy it on a whim occasionally. As most vegans will tell you – vegan cheese is not the same as real cheese and there are very few products out there that come close, although the selection has vastly improved over the last few years. I’m in the not so fussed category. I like vegan cheese as it adds another element to a pizza when melted but I can take it or leave it. However when a new cheese becomes available we like to try it!
We buy our vegan cheeses online and purchased Vegusto No-Muh Melty for the first time last week after eating it at a vegan café in Köln. I thought it would be best to write a product review by comparing it to Cheezly because Cheezly is a brand most vegans know, have tried and is available more widely than other vegan cheeses, for example Daiya (we can’t get that here in Germany). Now I rarely do product reviews for two main reasons:

I like to make my own versions of things and only rely on processed products when in a hurry or for convenience. Therefore those meals are not worthy of a blog post.
People who read this blog could be located anywhere in the world and may not be able to source the reviewed product.

But I thought it might be nice to do a full examination of this cheese! I have created a scoreboard based purely on what I look for in a product and created a scoreboard to track which product I thought won the category and then deeper analysis on why that product came out on top. So you don’t need to read the entire post!
Just to clear some things up before we start this is based solely on my personal opinion and I bought each product with my own money, nope no free samples or independence issues here. I am also comparing the products that I can obtain here in Germany and therefore they may vary slightly from country to country. So my Cheezly may not be exactly the same as your Cheezly. Alright here goes!!!!

The Scoreboard

Category	Winner
Ingredients:	Tie
Uses/ Usability:	Vegusto No-Muh Melty Tie
Taste:	Vegusto No-Muh Melty
Price &Value for money:	Vegusto No-Muh Melty
Company	Tie

OVERALL WINNER: Vegusto No-Muh Melty. I recommend you try this cheese next time you’re purchasing a vegan cheese and see what you think. We will be buying more and trying the other products in the Vegusto cheese range.

Ingredients

Note I have added the e codes and explanation for some of the ingredients in pink so you can look further into them if you wish!

Vegusto No-Muh Melty	Pural BIO VEGI-CHEEZLY Mozzarella
Water, vegetable oils and fats, starch, yeast, nut butter, rock salt, wheat fibre (gluten free), rice flour, flavouring (vegetable), carrageenan (E407 - seaweed Stabilizer - vegan alternative to gelatine), spices, citric acid (E330), colour (turmeric (E100))	German version (on packet, translated): water, vegetable oil , tofu, soy flour , sugar , wheat starch , thickeners: carrageenan (E407 - seaweed Stabilizer - vegan alternative to gelatine)* locust bean gum (E410), salt, yeast, vinegar , calcium carbonate (E170), natural flavours, yeast extract ( = from certified organic)
Nutritional value for 100g: Energy: kcal 1038 kJ / 249, Protein: 4.5g, Carbohydrates: 18g, Fat: 17.7g	Nutritional value for 100g: Energy: 1184kJ/283kcal, Protein: 5.1g, Carbohydrates: 6.3g, Fat: 26.1g
Other: gluten free, cholesterol free, dairy ingredients, lactose, casein and any materials of animal origin free Contains no artificial colours and additives are not tested on animals As this is a Swiss based product it contains no GMO ingredients, as the Swiss population voted to initially prohibit the use of genetically modified animals and plants until 2010, which was extended for another 3 years in February 2010.	Other: Cheezly is also free from hydrogenated fats, gluten*, artificial colours/preservatives, cholesterol and GMOs.

Opinion: Both products seem pretty good with no nasties hidden in the listings (note though that I am reviewing Bio/Organic Vegi-Cheezly). Both are gluten free and from what I can tell No-Muh Melty is soy free too so it is better for people with allergies, although it does contain nut butter. I always choose an organic option if available so I like that Cheezly offers a Bio option and also states that they do not use GMO ingredients.
Winner: So I think it is a tie for this round with Cheezly maybe sneaking ahead due to the organic option.

Taste:

No-Muh Melty

Pural BIO VEGI-CHEEZLY Mozzarella

This cheese is full of flavour and super creamy. It’s pretty rich for a vegan cheese. It is so flavourful you could eat it on it’s own on a cracker. It must be the nut butter that gives it this creamy melty taste and feel. What I like about this cheese is it doesn't conform to a type of cheese, for example Mozzarella, and therefore isn’t limited by trying to achieve a certain taste. This is super tasty and super creamy.

Cheezly has a mild taste. It is perfect for when you want a mild flavoured cheese melted onto something, however the cheese taste isn’t that great on it’s own. I certainly wouldn’t eat it unless it was melted on something and that something would have to be pretty flavourful. So really this is a melty cheese for texture and I don’t think it adds a lot taste wise.

Winner: Based on taste it is definitely the No-Muh Melty.

Uses / Usability:

Both of these cheeses are considered melty cheeses perfect for pizzas and well anything you want melted cheese on!

No-Muh Melty	Pural BIO VEGI-CHEEZLY Mozzarella
This cheese is a lot softer than the Cheezly and consequently not as easy to grate. However it does appear to melt better and the end result is very creamy. Due to the taste being more creamy and rich it can be used in more ways. We used it as a Bocconcini-style cheese in a tortilla pizza and as a Mozzarella-style cheese on a pizza. Overall this cheese is more versatile.	This is a harder cheese and is easier to grate. Unfortunately though I can’t see many more uses for it other than grating it on something to melt. The taste isn’t overly strong and the texture isn’t all that creamy so I probably wouldn’t use it for anything else other that a pizza. It also doesn’t melt that great. I mean it’s ok but I think it gets a little dry.
Photos:
Bocconcini-style: Tomato Basil Flatbread Bruschetta
Mozzarella-style: Caramalised Onion Pizza Before

After

Winner: No-Muh Melty.

Price & Value for money:

prices were obtained from alles-vegetarisch.de as indicative prices only

Vegusto No-Muh Melty	Pural BIO VEGI-CHEEZLY Mozzarella
Price: 4,59€ Quantity: 230g Per kilo: 19,95€	Price: 3,15€ Quantity: 190g Per kilo: 16,58€
This cheese is more expensive but has more uses.	The usage of this cheese is limited.

Winner: Based purely on numbers and price it’s Cheezly but based on value for money it’s the No-Muh Melty. Although the No-Muh is more expensive you can do more with it therefore I think you get greater value from it. Cheezly’s usage is more limited so I think it is really only an ingredient for one type of meal, for us that is pizza. Therefore I think this winner of this round is No-Muh Melty.

Company:

Vegusto No-Muh Melty	Pural BIO VEGI-CHEEZLY Mozzarella
Vegi-Service AG is a Swiss family company developing since 1997, only 100% plant foods.	Owned by Heather Mills.
No reported incidents.	No reported incidents.

Winner: Tie

AVOCADO SPREAD

2010-11-28T09:39:00.001+01:00

It is a little bit of a crime to call this a recipe, as there is not much to it and I’m sure anyone could have come up with it in an instant, but this is my most favourite spread. I love avocados and this is so simple with everyday ingredients that I can make it anytime I want without planning and preparation. I’m sure every vegan has a list of these little gems that they throw together when they’re really hungry and need something quick that doesn’t involve chopping or a lot of cleaning afterwards. This isn’t a fancy spread but I have served it at lunches and people love it. I think this comes from how simple it is and how present the avocado is. This is a perfect little combination of creamy (avocado), nutty (avocado), sweet (sweet chilli sauce), tangy and sour (lime), salty (salt and pepper) and hot (depending on how hot your sweet chilli is and whether you add the hot sauce).

My favourite avocado is the hass avocado and the one I use in this recipe (how common!) but I think it has a nuttier creamier taste. This recipe is all about convenience, so considering Hass avocados are today the most common and produce fruit year-round which accounts for 80% of cultivated avocados in the world, it’s pretty convenient.

Did you know that:

All Hass avocado trees have been grown from seeds (or were grafted from the cuttings) of a single tree which was grown from a seed purchased in 1926.
The mother tree died when it was 76 years old and was cut down on 11 September 2002 after a ten-year fight with root rot.

This is best served liberally in a big heap on your favourite piece of fresh homemade bread.

Ingredients

1 hass avocado (or avocado of choice)
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
Small dash of hot sauce (optional)

These are suggested quantities but really it’s best to add and taste till you get the flavours you want. Just remember to go little by little as avocado has a subtle taste which you don’t want to loose by adding to much lime juice or chilli sauce.

Directions

Scoop out all the flesh from the avocado into a bowl. Mash the flesh with a fork (you could also use a potato masher but I like to use a fork so there are still some chunks of avocado left). Mash until it is the consistency you like and then add stir in the sweet chilli sauce and lime juice tasting as you go. Then add and stir in the dash of hot sauce, if using and season to taste.

This dip can be served on bread, a cracker or anything. It is a great dip or spread for when you can’t be bothered or have no time to make guacamole!

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 28

This post uses material from the Wikipedia article Hass Avocado.

TOFU AND RED PEPPER CURRY

2010-11-27T19:15:00.001+01:00

Just a real quick post again as I have been out all day and am exhausted. This recipe comes from La Dolce Vegan and is on the quick and easy list of meals I go to when I have no time to cook but need to eat. This is a really tasty dish that can be thrown together in minutes. You can serve it with brown rice and chapatis (home made of course) or white rice because it cooks quicker! Simple, quick, and super good – a winner in my book!

Serves 2

Ingredients

200g firm tofu, cubed
1 onion
1 tbsp oil
2 red capsicums
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp garam masala
1 large tomato

Directions

1.	Chop all the veggies and tofu. Sauté the tofu and onions in the oil on a medium high heat until the onions are soft and the tofu starts to brown. Add everything else and reduce the heat and simmer/ cook until the veggies are cooked.

I serve this with brown rice and some chapatis but you can serve it with whatever you have handy.

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 27 recipe comes from:

La Dolce Vegan!: Vegan Livin' Made Easy

by Sarah Kramer

This book is the go to for quick meals!!!

BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM

2010-11-26T13:38:00.001+01:00

Another post about ice cream! I know you must be sick of them but as you can see I am not over my ice cream maker. When spring arrived in Germany so did all the berries (or maybe it was that we had an apartment and started to settle in, rather then running around like maniacs trying to organise things, and actually had time to notice the berries) and they arrived in abundance. We had not seen so many fresh berries! All the fruit and veggie stalls had so many different berries and a large quantity of each. So of course we ate a lot of berries. I don’t really eat much fruit (I don’t really snack unless I’m watching a movie and at that time I like to eat junk) unless it’s prepared in some way. I think it may come from the fact that in Australia sometimes the fruit selection (especially in the country when I was a kid – it has some way to travel!) can be pretty poor or expensive. So your options can be an apple, nope not for me, raw apples and I are not friends as I can get a stomach ache from them, orange, nope too messy, banana, hmmm nice but I wouldn’t walk over hot coals for one. So yeah not really a fruit person, although I love trying exotic fruit. But anyway raspberries are the exception to my distant relationship with fruit. They are my favourite berry and we made smoothie after smoothie. So you’re wondering why a blueberry ice cream then? Well blueberries are Mike’s favourite berries! So we made some ice cream. This ice cream was not my favourite but Mike enjoyed it!

Yields approximately 600g

Ingredients:

Ice Cream Base

Vanilla Ice Cream (this is the base used for many flavoured ice creams)

Flavour base

1 cup blueberries
Splash of lemon juice

Directions:

1.	Mix blueberries, 1/4 cup sugar from the vanilla ice cream ingredients, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Heat until boiling and some blueberries have burst. Set aside.
2.	Make the Vanilla ice cream mixture with remaining 1/2 cup sugar (steps 1 to 3). Then add blueberry mixture, stirring to combine.
3.	Refrigerate mixture until chilled, approximately 2 to 3 hours. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Vegan Mofo Day 26 recipe comes from:

The Vegan Scoop: 150 Recipes for Dairy-Free Ice Cream that Tastes Better Than the "Real" Thing (Paperback)

by Wheeler Del Torro

If you’ve liked all the Vegan MoFo ice creams this month you really should buy an ice cream machine and this book – it’s fantastic!!! Check out the website here.

SUN-DRIED TOMATO & PINE NUT SEITAN SAUSAGES

2010-11-25T09:24:00.001+01:00

When I saw a link to these babies pop up in a Vegan MoFo blog (I can’t remember which one as I have become totally overwhelmed with all the action going on) I knew I had to make them and I had to make them soon. I never ate sausages when I was a meat-eater as I never liked the crappy meat they use in them. It always scarred me what could actually be in that sausage. So yeah free sausage sizzles at Bunning's did nothing for me. These on the other had sounded great! Sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and my new found favourite, seitan, what could be better. None of the ingredients were overpowering and the sausages fried up beautifully in the pan with a crisp brown skin. Served up with some homemade pasta and a simple tomato sauce and a little balsamic crème these made a perfect meal. Now that I have braved these ones I will have to come up with a few flavours of my own.

This yummy recipe comes from Veggie num.num. Although not 100% vegan I recommend you check it out to see what other wonders you can find!!

Makes 4 large Sausages

Ingredients

For the sausages

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 a red onion
1 red chilli
75g sundried tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
250g gluten flour
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
4 x pieces of cheesecloth 30×30 cm each
8 x pieces of kitchen twine

For the cooking broth

6 cups vegetable stock
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 bay leaves

Directions

1.	By hand or in a food processor finely dice/mince the toasted pine nuts, red onion, chilli and sundried tomatoes.
2.	Whisk the stock with the olive oil and tomato paste until smooth.
3.	Combine the gluten flour with the dried thyme, paprika and processed pine nut/sundried tomato mixture in a large bowl. Slowly add the stock mixture to the dry mixture, combine until you have a smooth, elastic dough.
4.	Divide the dough into four equal portions, roll out each portion to form a sausage, place each sausage onto a piece of cheesecloth, roll tightly and tie off each end securely with pieces of twine.
5.	Bring the stock, garlic and bay leaves to boil in a deep-sided pan, add the sausages, side-by-side and turn down the heat, allow to gently simmer for 45-50 minutes until the sausages are firm to the touch.
6.	Once the sausages are cooked remove from the pan and allow to cool before carefully removing the cheesecloth. {Sausages can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week in an air tight container with the cooking liquid}
7.	Sausages can then be fried in a pan until golden and added to your favourite recipes.

I served this with Homemade Pasta and Fresh Grape Tomato Sauce from Vegan Yum Yum

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 25 recipe comes from:

Veggie num.num

Check out Trudy’s beautiful blog for another serving suggestion and more photos.

BASIL-TOFU RICOTTA RAVIOLI with SUN-DRIED TOMATO–MINT PESTO

2010-11-24T12:50:00.003+01:00

I love dumplings and after making pierogi for Mike a little while ago we decided to buy a ravioli/pierogi maker for a couple of Euros. I know it looks more rustic if you do it all by hand but my little maker shapes them easily, and as someone that would eat dumplings daily if she could, I love this little contraption. So with my ravioli maker all ready to go I wanted to make some! I wanted to make tofu ravioli so I hunted on the internet for recipes. How do I make it? Do I cook the tofu first? Well due to the absolute magical awesomeness of Vegan Mofo I managed to stumble upon Nice Things post where Ditte examined vegan cheese recipes. Her post mention that the Basil-Tofu Ricotta from Vegan with a Vengeance was perfect for a ravioli filling. I have that book, sounds good with one minor modification, lets give it a try! So with my filling chosen I needed to find a sauce. After reviewing the filling I could tell that it would be fairly mild so I wanted a strong sauce to pack a punch. I also wanted something quick and easy because the folding of the ravioli would take me forever. So I flipped through a couple of cook books and came across this pesto from Vegan Italiano. This pesto was really good. Usually I worry about sun-dried tomatoes, as I find them a little strong and I don’t like tomato that much, but the mint helped freshen this pesto up so well. It also worked really nicely on fresh bread! As the pesto was a little thick, we served it on the side so people could take as much as they wanted with each bite. The ravioli carried the pesto nicely and the Basil-Tofu Ricotta filling would be perfect in any ravioli with a strong sauce.

This recipe makes about 20-22 ravioli.

All together you need:

1 batch of Basil-Tofu Ricotta
1 batch of Sun-Dried Tomato – Mint Pesto
1 batch of Simple Pasta Dough

Basil-Tofu Ricotta

Ingredients:

400g firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp lemon juice
1-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 shallots, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
Dash of fresh black pepper
Handful fresh basil leaves, finely chopped (ten leaves or so)
2 tsp oil
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, mash tofu with hands until crumbly.
2.	Add lemon juice, garlic, shallots, salt, pepper, and basil. Mash with hands until mixture reaches the consistency of ricotta cheese.
3.	Add olive oil; stir with fork.
4.	Add nutritional yeast and mix all ingredients well with a fork.
5.	Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

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Sun-Dried Tomato-Mint Pesto

Ingredients:

1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained but save some of the oil for the pesto
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
2-4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.	Combine the tomatoes and liquid, walnuts, mint, oil, tomato paste, garlic. salt and pepper in a food processor fitted with the knife blade or hand held blender. Process until smooth.

gap

Simple Pasta Dough

Ingredients:

250g all-purpose flour
125ml mineral water
1/2 tsp ground tumeric (optional, but this makes the dough a lovely yellow colour without changing the flavour)

Directions:

Pour the flour into a bowl and create a well in the middle. Add the water and stir until it is combined with the flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until it is completely pulled together and consistent. If the mixture is too dry, add some water, if too sticky, add some flour. A good mixture should be soft and moist but never stick to your fingers.

gap

Assemble

1.	Divide the dough into three pieces and knead for a minute. Follow your pasta makers instructions. I found that rolling out the dough to thinness No.4-5 is about as thin as you want to go. At this stage the dough is thin enough to wrap around the filling and still look nice after boiling. Stage 6 makes it a little thin but still workable. Once it is rolled out it’s ready to be cut into 10cm circles.
2.	Use a ravioli maker with a cutter or a 3-4 inch glass to cut circles out of the rolled out dough. Place 1- 1.5 tsp of filling into the centre of the cut out circle. Wet one half of the edge of the circle to help it stick when you fold the circle. Fold the circle in half to make a ravioli (half moon) shape or bring the sides of the ravioli maker together. Press down to seal. You can use a fork or your ravioli maker may do it for you to crimp the edges.
3.	When you can no longer fold anymore ravioli get a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, cook the ravioli for 10-12 minutes. Test one to make sure it is cooked to the consistency you like.
4.	You can serve the pesto warm or cold. I like to heat it in the microwave for a minute.
5.	Serve the ravioli and spread the pesto over the each ravioli or serve the pesto on the side so people can have as much or little as they like.

	Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 24 recipe combines recipes from: Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock by Isa Chandra Moskowitz This recipe can also be found on Food.com
	Vegan Italiano: Meat-free, Egg-free, Dairy-free Dishes from Sun-Drenched Italy by Donna Klein This recipe can also be found on Spark Recipes

BLACK FOREST CUPCAKES

2010-11-23T09:47:00.001+01:00

Dessert has always been my responsibility at family gatherings. I’m more into cooking and baking than the rest of my family so the responsibility of producing a cake or dessert was my job. I say was because Mike and I are living in Germany right now so there will be no family lunch for us this year. But I love cooking cakes/desserts and a family gathering lets me be more extravagant than I would just cooking for Mike and myself. I baked these Black Forest Cupcakes for Christmas last year and they went down a treat. The thing I love about vegan cupcakes is that no one would ever know they were vegan unless you told them. It’s the perfect “this is what we eat and it ain’t so bad”. But back to the cupcakes. These take a bit of work but are so yummy and impressive. The chocolate and cherries are perfect for Christmas, with the cherry liquor or brandy glaze giving it even more of a holiday punch. I’m not sure if alcohol in desserts is a usual Christmas thing but we always have brandy sauce on Christmas pudding (which I hate so I have it on ice cream) so these fit nicely into the dessert offerings. The red and white of the cupcakes is also a nice ‘in theme’ touch.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cake

Basic Chocolate Cupcakes
1 tbsp Cherry brandy or Cherry liquor

Vegan Fluffy Butter Cream Frosting

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted if clumpy
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup soy milk or soy creamer

Filling

1 (10 ounces/250-280g) bag frozen cherries, thawed
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp arrowroot
3 tbsp pomegranate juice or water
1 tbsp Cherry brandy or Cherry liquor

Glaze

3 table spoons cherry brandy or cherry liquor
1 tbsp sugar

Directions

Make the cupcakes

1.	Make the cupcakes as directed in the my Basic Chocolate Cupcake with Coconut Pecan Fudge Frosting post, but add 1 tbsp Cherry brandy or Cherry liquor when you add the vanilla essence. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before icing and filling.

Make the fillings

In saucepan over medium heat, combine thawed cherries and their juice, and sugar. Stir till mixture starts to simmer, about 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk together arrowroot and pomegranate/water juice in a small bowl or cup, the steadily pour into the cherries, stirring constantly. Keep stirring; the mixture will rapidly thicken. Remove from heat and add the brandy/liquor, allow to fully cool.

Make the Vegan Fluffy Butter Cream Frosting

1.	Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and soy milk, beat for another 5-7 minutes until fluffy.

To assemble

1.	With a large spoon or knife dig out a cone from the top of each cupcake, leaving a hallowed out centre. Set the cones aside.
2.	Make the glaze by combining 2 tbsp water, brandy/liquor and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, simmer for 2 minutes, remove from heat to cool. Use on cupcakes warm.
3.	Drizzle warm glaze into the centre of the cupcakes and brush glaze onto the top of the cake. Fill the centre of the cupcakes with 2-3 cherries and sauce. Add a small dollop of frosting on the top of the filling and place the tops back onto the cupcakes. Pipe another dollop of frosting onto top of cupcakes and sprinkle with shaved chocolate and a glazed cherry. These cupcakes taste better if allowed to sit for an hour before serving.

Vegan Mofo 2010 Day 23 recipe comes from:

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Recipe can also be found at Google Books.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: CULUX

2010-11-22T09:49:00.004+01:00

Mike always needs to research. Before we do anything he needs to do some research. We can’t just buy the first washing machine we see or move to another country without massive amounts of research. Ok so buying a washing machine and moving countries are a little different in the scale of life decisions, so yes when buying a washing machine research is absolutely necessary, joke. So before we moved Mike did lots of research, partly to be prepared and partly to deal with his anxiety of moving out into the unknown – Mike is risk adverse, which can be tough cause I’ll just go lets do it and work it out. Part of his research included where we would eat when we first arrived. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to eat at the hotel restaurant, Mike marked out where we could eat dinner and buy ingredients to make sandwiches and stuff. The very first place we ate at was Culux and we ate there once a week the first month and sometimes twice a week before we had moved into our apartment. As this is the quintessential German fast food, so is a must for all visitors to Germany, this is the place we take all our guests for lunch when they come here, they’ve all loved it and our friends aren't vegan so it’s nice to have a place everyone can eat. It’s a nice relaxed atmosphere with friendly staff and the currywurst is great. Vegan currywurst yum!!! This is not a vegan/vegetarian restaurant though so if you have a problem eating in a restaurant that also serves meat then expected to do a lot of self catering while in Germany. But if you don’t mind this is a great place. The tofu sausage is really good and so is the sauce but their chips are the best!
So the deal at Culux is:
1. You choose a menu meal like a sausage, chips and salad or sausage, potato salad and chips.
2. Then you choose your sausage, in our case the vegan tofu-wurst (make sure you ask for vegan tofu-wurst specifically as the vegetarian one has egg protein in it).
3. Then you choose your sauce, the only sauces are the curry sauce and the fruity curry sauce.
4. And then lastly you chose your spiciness level!
And here are the photos!!!!

Vegan Tofu-Wurst with Curry Sauce, Salad and Chips

culux.Frankfurt
Oeder Weg 34
60318 Frankfurt
Phone: 069 - 95 92 94 95
Fax: 069 - 95 92 94 95
Mail: frankfurt@culux.de
Website: http://www.culux.de

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 22

MINIATURE NAPOLEONS WITH EGGPLANT CRÈME

2010-11-21T12:02:00.001+01:00

Vegan Yum Yum’s blog was one of the first blogs I started reading after becoming vegan. I loved her food and her photos so when I saw she had a cookbook coming out I knew I was going to buy it. Lucky I did cause it is one of my favourites. All the recipes from her book look delicious and taste just as good. I made these guys for a lunch we were having with a vegan friend. I was a little nervous as I had never cooked for another vegan before. I cooked for my non-vegan family but that was about it. So I was worried my food might not be up to vegan standards. I made these as the entrée portion of the lunch. They were so good. The eggplant cream was amazingly good and fitted perfectly with the roasted vegetables. This was a fairly simple dish to prepare too but looks impressive. I could have eaten these for the entire lunch!

Makes 12 Miniature Napoleons, with leftover crème
Further instructional photos for this recipe can be found at Vegan Yum Yum (check it out!).

Ingredients

Roasted Vegetables

3-4 Plum Tomatoes, sliced thickly (at least 12 slices, between 1/4″ and 1/2″)
1 Zucchini, sliced thickly (at least 12 slices)
12 Cremini Mushroom Caps, de-stemmed and brushed clean
Tamari or Soy Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Dried Italian Herbs (your choice!)
Spray Oil

Eggplant Crème

2 Eggplants
2/3 Cup Raw, Unsalted Cashews
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Dried Italian Herbs (your choice)
2ish tbsp Oil
Garlic, to taste, if desired

Garnish

Basil
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Directions

1.	Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300º F. Slice the tomatoes and zucchini and place them on baking sheet with a baking mat, similar to a silpat or foil or parchment. Spray with oil to coat (or brush if you don’t have the spray stuff). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and herbs. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the veggies look dehydrated and smaller.
2.	Place the mushrooms on the same baking sheet, upside-down. Fill the centres with a little tamari, no more than 1/2 or 1 tsp. Spray them thoroughly with spray-oil and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender, at 150ºC/300º F. Remove and let cool with the over veggies.
3.	While the vegetables are baking, cut the ends off the eggplants and remove the skin. Cube the eggplants and place them on a large dish on top of three paper towels. (You’ll probably need to do this in batches). Microwave the eggplant on high for about 8 minutes, until the eggplant is soft and the paper towels have absorbed a lot of the moisture. This will prevent the eggplant from absorbing so much oil while cooking.
4.	Heat a seasoned wok or a non-stick pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the eggplant and sauté for 5-10 minutes over medium-high heat, until very soft and browned. Add the eggplant to the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the salt, cashews, herbs and garlic (if using) and process for several minutes until smooth. Season to taste, if needed.
5.	To assemble: Start with a little dot of eggplant crème on the plate where you want the napoleon to be. This will act as an anchor. Either use a spoon or place the eggplant crème in a piping bag or a plastic baggie with one of the corners cut off. Place a tomato on top of the anchor, and spoon/pipe more eggplant crème on the top. Not too much! Add a slice of zucchini, then another layer of eggplant cream. Top with an upside-down mushroom cap, and place a dab of eggplant crème where the stem was. For garnish, add a small piece of roasted tomato and a basil-leaf crown. Put a thin layer of olive oil in the bottom of the dish, surrounding the napoleons. Dribble balsamic vinegar into the oil, and you’ll get pretty little contrasting dots. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 21 comes from:
Vegan Yum Yum: Decadent (But Doable) Animal-Free Recipes for Entertaining and Everyday by Lauren Ulm
This recipe and further instructional photos for this recipe can be found at Vegan Yum Yum.

SPINACH KOFTA

2010-11-20T12:18:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post on the weekend. It’s day 20 and blogging fatigue is starting to set in – it’s hard work blogging everyday!! It’s also a challenge keeping up and commenting on blogs everyday! This is a meal that was 50% success and 50% fail. We made these spinach koftas a while ago when we first got our deep fryer. They were meant to be served with a yogurt sauce that we tried to veganise but it was a disaster. The kofta though were great served with just plain yoghurt mixed with some herbs and spices. I also served it up with some chickpea onion bread which is a little heavier than normal chapattis!

Ingredients

1 bunch spinach (about 450g leaves, no steams or 500g frozen spinach, thawed and drained)
170g chickpea flour
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 ripe tomato, finely chopped
2-4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp parsley

Directions

Blanch the spinach in boiling water fir 1 minute and refresh in cold water. Drain, squeeze out any extra water by wrapping the spinach in kitchen cloth and pressing between two plates. Finely chop the spinach and combine in a large bowl with remaining ingredients. Add 60mls of water slowly to make the mixture soft but not sloppy. Shape about 1 tbsp of the mixture into a ball and continue with the remaining mixture.

In a deep fryer or large sauce pan or wok heat enough oil to deep fry the kofta. Heat the oil to 180°C. Lower the kofta gently into the oil and fry until cooked though and golden brown (approx 7-10 minuets). Fry in batches to avoid overcrowding. Shake of excess oil and drain on some kitchen towel. Serve immediately.

I served these guys with onion chickpea bread and a garlic mint yoghurt dipping sauce.

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 20 recipe comes from:

The Food of India: A Journey for Food Lovers (Food Of Series)

by Priya Wickramasinghe

ORANGE DRAGON FRUIT ICE CREAM

2010-11-19T10:47:00.002+01:00

I love the drama and flamboyance of dragon fruit. From the look to the colour and the name, dragon fruit has it all. It is a fruit that won’t go unnoticed. I love looking at them in the markets as the grocers always cut some in half showing the bright white or deep red flesh of this attention seeker. It is the fruit of several cactus species. The plant species blooms only at night; the large white fragrant flowers of the typical cactus flower shape are among those called "moonflower" or "Queen of the Night". The taste of a dragon fruit will not blow your socks off. It kinda tastes like a sweet kiwi fruit and I’m not that good at describing flavours. Dragon fruits are not cheap either so they need a purpose and wouldn’t just be eaten in your daily fruit quota – they ain’t apples - beauty not the substance. This ice cream though brings out their flavour and combining it with orange gives them a really citrusy exotic flavour. It’s a mix of a kiwi and orange flavour that works really well together. I bought two dragon fruits as suggested in the recipe and ended up with about twice as much ice cream as the recipe said it would make. I’m not sure if my fruits were bigger or extra juicy either way it was fine by me as the ice cream will last longer and I really like this flavour combination!

As you can see from the photo I used the Costa Rica pitaya which has red-skinned fruit with red flesh because I loved the colour and it made a beautiful looking ice cream.
Yields approximately 600g

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk, divided
2 tbsp arrowroot powder
2 cups soy creamer
3/4 cup sugar
2large navel oranges
2 dragon fruits
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup soy milk with arrowroot powder, and set aside.
2.	Finely grate 2 tbsp zest from oranges, then halve the oranges and squeeze 1 cup juice.
3.	Cut dragon fruit in half and remove flesh from skin, add to a food processor or blender, and process, until smooth.
4.	Combine zest, orange juice and dragon fruit purée, creamer, remaining 3/4 cup soy milk, and sugar in a sauce pan over low heat. Once the mixture starts to boil, remove from heat immediately and add the arrowroot mixture. The liquid should thicken noticeably. Add vanilla extract.
5.	Refrigerate mixture until chilled, approximately 2 to 3 hours. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

Vegan Mofo 2010 day 19 recipe comes from:
The Vegan Scoop: 150 Recipes for Dairy-Free Ice Cream that Tastes Better Than the "Real" Thing
by Wheeler del Torro
This post uses material from the Wikipedia article Pitaya.

PEPPERPOT STEW WITH SPILLERS DUMPLINGS

2010-11-18T15:11:00.002+01:00

This year has been all about new cuisines for me. I have a lot more time to cook than I ever have before and therefore am getting the chance to cook and learn about different foods and cuisines. We discovered Latin American cooking this year through the magic of Viva Vegan and are now venturing onto Caribbean cooking. Cupcake Kitteh recently mentioned on her blog a BBC series called Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots so we decided to watch it and see what Caribbean cooking is all about. It sounded pretty good and some of the recipes seemed fairly easy to make vegan. Usually I would just buy a cook book on the topic but Mike’s work permit has had some hiccups (German Government departments have been making errors all over the place) so we have been without an income. That means no extra cash!! So you can only guess how excited I was to find our during Mofo I won a copy of Caribbean Vegan!!! Not wanting to miss out on our Caribbean adventure Mike picked a recipe and we ‘veganised’ it. The recipe he picked was the Pepperpot stew. The original recipe uses beef, which I replaced with mushrooms, and beef stock, which I replaced with vegetable stock. So there wasn’t much vegan skill needed. The only thing to remember was that the mushrooms cook a lot quicker than beef so the cooking time needed to be varied. The mushrooms held their shape really well though and were a nice addition! This stew recommends 2-4 Scotch Bonnet chillies so we only used 2 deseeded Habaneros (we can’t get Scotch Bonnets but these are in the same family and about as spicy) and it wasn’t as hot as we like it so next time we’re chucking in more!
So now our plan is to beat winter blues and combat our first European winter and the first time I have ever seen snow, with food that comes from places that are hotter and sunnier than this one at the moment!

Ingredients

For the pepperpot stew

600g button mushrooms, large ones halved, small ones leave whole
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
6 allspice berries
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, peeled, finely chopped
10cm/4in piece root ginger, peeled, very finely sliced
1 onion, peeled, chopped
1.2 litres/2 pints vegetable stock or water, mixed with 2 tsp yeast extract
salt and freshly ground black pepper
450g/1lb yam or potato, peeled, cut into 3cm/1¼in pieces (I used yam – for the first time ever)
400g/14oz sweet potato, peeled, cut into 4cm/1¾in pieces
450g/1lb pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, cut into 4cm/1¾in pieces (I used pumpkin)
4 large spring onions, trimmed, lightly crushed with the edge of a knife
2-4 Scotch bonnet chillies, finely chopped
1 x 400ml/14fl oz can coconut milk
1 x 400g/14oz can butter beans, drained and rinsed (I cooked my own beans)
150g/5½oz spinach or callaloo, leaves only, washed, shredded (I used spinach)

For the spillers dumplings

150g/5½oz plain flour
pinch salt
4-5 tbsp cold water

Directions:

1.	For the pepperpot stew, place the mushrooms, thyme leaves, allspice, bay leaf, garlic, ginger, onion and stock into large, heavy-based, lidded saucepan. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
2.	Add the vegetables, Scotch bonnet chillies, coconut milk and butter beans to the pan and stir well to combine. Return the mixture to a simmer and continue to cook, covered, for a further 15-20 minutes.
3.	Meanwhile, for the spillers dumplings, in a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Add the water, little by little, stirring until the mixture comes together as a smooth dough. Set aside.
4,	After the stew has cooked for 20 minutes, add the callaloo or spinach, stir well, and continue to simmer the mixture for 4-5 minutes.
5,	Meanwhile, pinch 20-24 small pieces from the dough and roll each into a ball (on the show they make more of a cigar shape so we did this), using up all of the dough. Add each dumpling to the pot immediately after rolling it and replace the lid. Continue to simmer the stew and dumplings for 8-10 minutes, or until the meat and vegetables are tender, the sauce has thickened and the dumplings are cooked through.

Vegan Mofo 2010 Say 18

The original recipe is featured on BBC Food from the series Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots.
A non-vegan book has been released to accompany the series: Caribbean Food Made Easy

SWEET BASIL PESTO TAPENADE SCROLLS

2010-11-17T14:41:00.001+01:00

I often want a savoury snack around 4pm but I can't really eat chips or any of those junk food items as I find the flavourings to strong. They can leave me filling a bit ill and my quick naughty snack comes back to haunt me. So I decided the other day that I needed to make my own snacks for when an afternoon snack attack hits. I used to love cheesy, pesto scrolls before I was vegan and thought I can make those. I can make them vegan, that’s easy. So that’s what I did. I found a recipe for Sweet Basil Pesto Tapenade in Veganomicon and thought it would be perfect for a scroll. I was worried that a lot of pesto shoved in a scroll may make my snack to acidic, so the use of maple syrup to sweeten it up was a perfect solution. I used my herbed pizza dough recipe to form the scroll and changed the dried herbs in the recipe to compliment the pesto. These turned out great. The sweet pesto worked wonders and I left some of the walnuts chunky which added lovely depth to the scrolls. These are great warm or cold but most importantly perfect for snack time. Although I am eating one for breakfast right now.

Sweet Basil Pesto Tapenade Scrolls

Ingredients:

Sweet Basil Pesto Tapenade (recipe below)
Herby Pizza Dough with 1/2 tsp dried basil and 1/2 tsp dried tarragon instead of the other herbs

Directions:

1.	Once the dough has risen, punch down and leave for 10 minutes. Make the filling by mixing together ingredients above for filling.
2.	Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll/press out dough to form a 12 by 18 inch rectangle. Spread half the pesto (or more) onto the rolled out dough. Try to get the pesto right to the edge. There is no hard and fast rule here. Cover the dough with as much pesto as you would like, to make either a light or heavy flavoured scroll.
3.	Roll from the long side. Go slowly and get it as tight as possible, using a little water to pinch the seam together and seal.
4.	Oil or spray a 11 by 13 inch baking sheet with raised edges (I didn’t have this size so I just used what I had which was bigger), cut the roll into 12 pieces. To cut into 12, cut the roll into quarters and then each quarter into thirds. Place cut side down on the baking sheet giving them room to breathe. Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 to 45 minutes; the rolls should look not quite doubled in size.
5.	Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C . Bake 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned and puffy. Serve as soon as you can or let cool and store in an air tight container for a delicious snack.

Sweet Basil Pesto Tapenade

This recipe makes enough pesto tapenade for two batches of scrolls.

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
150g walnut pieces (or chopped halves)
2-4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup walnut oil, or just more olive oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp grated fresh lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
Black pepper

Directions:

Set aside about 25g walnut pieces. Chop the basil, garlic, and most of the walnuts in food processor until chunky, stopping often to scrape the sides. Add oil(s), maple syrup, and lemon zest, and process until thick and creamy. Stir in reserved walnut pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Can be stored in a glass jar with a thin layer of olive oil on top until ready to serve.

Vegan MoFo 2010 Day 17

The Sweet Basil Pesto Tapenade recipe comes from:

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

FOCACCIA

2010-11-16T16:12:00.001+01:00

Bread, I can’t deny it, we love bread! A few days ago I told a friend we’re baking a lot of our own bread and he didn’t look impressed. I should have elaborated, we’ve been baking totally awesome bread! Focaccia is one of those very awesome breads, a yeast based flat bread very popular in the Mediterranean and it not only makes a stunning side, but can also be a meal in itself!

It goes great as a side to pasta or soup, or one of our favourite snacks, dipping with high quality virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and/or a dukkah! If you haven’t tried it before, put a small amount of high quality balsamic vinegar (aged Modena for instance) at the bottom of a small bowl, then cover with the olive oil. Now dip to get a bit of each. Its superb!

Ingredients:

1 packet of active dry yeast
1/2 cup of warm water
1 tsp granulated sugar (optional)
3 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tbsp dry rosemary leaves, or 2 1/2 tbsp of fresh
5 tbsp olive oil (divided in the instructions)
2 tsp coarse salt

Directions:

1.	Dissolve the yeast in water. You may need to add 1 teaspoon of sugar to help activate the yeast. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
2.	In the bowl of your mixer (or by hand), add the flour, two teaspoons of sea salt (not the coarse salt you use for sprinkling later), rosemary and 2 tablespoons of the oil. Start to mix with a dough blade if you have one, and add the yeast while mixing. Add more water as needed to create a smooth looking ball of dough.
3.	Knead the dough for about 10 minutes (5 minutes in an electronic stand mixer), until it’s smooth and elastic. Coat the sides of a bowl with some olive oil, turn the dough once to moisten all its sides and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it sit in a warm spot so it can rise. It should double in size in 2 to 2 ½ hours.
4.	Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead it again for a few minutes. Press it into an oiled 10 inch cake pan, or a 12x16 inch baking sheet. Create small depressions in the surface of the dough by poking it with your fingertips.
5.	Cover the pan with plastic wrap, and leave it in a warm place to rise for another hour. Preheat the oven to 200°C, remove the plastic wrap and brush the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil over the dough. Now sprinkle it with coarse salt. You can also sprinkle on some more fresh rosemary if you like!
6.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until it’s a golden colour. Carefully remove it from the pan to cool on a rack. It’s so good fresh but apparently freezes well, and as we know toasts nicely a couple of days later too. This recipe makes 1 loaf.

Vegan Mofo 2010 Day 16 recipe comes from:

The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets

by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

RESTAURANT REVIEW: COA

2010-11-15T09:45:00.003+01:00

Eating out in Frankfurt isn’t always easy for a vegan. It’s not like Australia where in many places a vegetarian option can be made vegan without too much trouble and a chef will have no problem with it. German cuisine is all about meat. Every dish is centred around meat and vegetables are an after thought, a real meat and veg culture. If a dish is vegetarian here it is usually covered with cheese or cream and unfortunately those two ingredients make up an essential component of the dish, making them irremovable (unless you just want a boiled potato). The other problem you run into is butter. Butter is often used to fry with, so if you order a plate of mushrooms chances are they have been fried in butter. Egg mayonnaise based sauces are also popular and will drench asparagus and other vegies of the season. So unlike Australia you can’t just go anywhere and hope they can do something for you. We haven’t attempted making a reservation and asking 24 hours in advance whether a vegan option can be created. Germany just doesn’t seem like the place! BUT there are still a few options for us Vegans. One of the main sources of vegan cuisine in Frankfurt comes from the Asian restaurants and bistros. Although you have to be careful as some Asian bistros are German-Asian cuisine which means covered in sauce, huge servings and something you would expect in a bad food court. We hate it but there are some good ones.
We stumbled upon Coa after just arriving in Frankfurt. Life was frantic as we had to find an apartment, register and then set up bank accounts, get mobile phones, etc. It’s a challenge starting in a new country and this was one of those days we’d run around organising things. We were in My Zeil and starving. We went to the top of the My Zeil and came across this restaurant. It was packed – good sign. We looked at the menu and I saw rice noodles and tofu, it was a done deal. Since then we have been back numerous times. The food is flavourful without being overpowering and so it's a delight to eat any time. The serving sizes are just right too. The only downer is that it can get a bit crowded at lunch and dinner. Coa advertises themselves as Asian Feel Good Food and I think they are right!

Avocado Papaya Salad

Avocado and yellow papaya with watercress, crumbed peanut and spring onions with a fruity mango-chilli dressing refined with sesame oil.
I had never really thought of putting avocado and papaya together in a salad but it works really well. This dish is good as an entre or dessert as it is sweet and refreshing.

Energy Dim Sum

Four steamed dim sum with an energy-packed vegetable filling.
Pretty sure these are the same dumplings we used to find the freezer section of a shop in Central Markets in Adelaide. I think you can get them here at Junvin Asia Supermarkt in the freezer section too but I like to have them at Coa as I just like a couple with dipping sauce! They are nice bite size bursts of flavour.

Chinesische Nudelsuppe mit Gebackenem Tofu

Energy-rich noodle soup with fresh vegetables, marinated tofu strips and shitake mushrooms.
This soup is one of Mike’s favourites but can vary in intensity. We like it at it’s most intense with lots of garlic and a strong broth. It has a nice variation of vegetables and is a large serve. Be sure to ask for it with rice noodles as it usually comes with egg noodles.

Thai Style Reisbandnudeln mit Gebackenem Tofu

Thai style rice noodles with homemade tamarind sauce, spring onions ~~and fried egg~~, served with crumbed peanut, lime and fresh soya shoots and tofu.
This is my favourite dish. I’m a real sucker for thick rice noodles so I always get this dish. If you have made Brooklyn Pad Thai from Vegan with a Vengeance then this is what this dish tastes like. It could almost be the same as it has the same ingredients (visually, minus the egg) and tastes very similar. Maybe that’s why I love it so much!!! Make sure to say “ohne ei” to get it without the egg.

Melon Ice Tea

Love this tea! Very refreshing.

Coa can be found in Frankfurt at:
1. The Willy-Brand Platz
Address: Kaiserstraße 29, 60325, Frankfurt am Main
Phone: 069 97698287
Opening times: Monday - Saturday: 11 am - 11 pm
2. My Zeil
Address: Shoppingcenter MyZeil, 4.og, zeil 106 – 110, 60313, Frankfurt am Main
Phone: 069 21657824
Opening times: Monday - Saturday: 10 am - 23 pm and Sunday: 12:30 pm - 20 pm
3. Near the Old Stock Exchange
Address: Schillerstraße 4, 60313, Frankfurt am Main
Phone: 069 92039966
Opening times: Monday - Saturday: 11 am - 11 pm and Sunday: 1 pm - 10 pm

Website: http://www.coa.as/feelgoodfood.php

Vegan Mofo d2010 Day 15

Vegan Gourmet Caravan

ROASTED POTATO & FENNEL SOUP

BAKED BBQ BLACK-EYED PEAS & PAN-FRIED GRIT CAKES WITH CARAMELIZED SPRING ONIONS, GARLIC & THYME

JAMAICAN VEGETABLE MEDLEY

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER 2011

CHICKPEA CUTLETS with MUSHROOM GRAVY

TRAVELLING VEGANS: Travelling with your cat

TRAVELLING VEGANS: Venice

PENNE with SUN DRIED TOMATOES & ROCKET

PASTA CARBONARA

FRENCH ONION SOUP

AUTUMN PASTA

Ingredients

2 tsp oil 1 onion 2 garlic cloves 1/2 block (250g) smoked Tofu, cut into thin cube/strips 3 large king brown mushrooms, cubed75g vegan margarine, splint into 2 equal portions 30g pine nuts Salt and Pepper 1-2 sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped200g linguine (we love Rapunzel Linguine Multikorn)

Directions

LEEK QUICHE

PINEAPPLE BAKED TOFU with SEARED PINEAPPLE, NUTTY GREENS & COCONUT RICE

SNICKY BARS

JERK SEITAN with COCONUT RICE, SWEET POTATO & SWISS CHARD

Randomness Wk 1

Seitan

Jerk Seitan

Coconut Rice

KOPPS – VEGAN RESTAURANT & BAR (BERLIN)

Starter one

Starter two was

2 mains, 4 individuals

1 photo, 2 desserts, 4 individuals

GINGER JAM AND MOCK DUCK PIZZA

JUMBO CHOCOLATE FUDGY OATMEAL COOKIES

Directions

YAKITORI (WITH MOCK DUCK)

HOT CROSS BUNS

Newly Discovered, Now Loved (no less that the others in Pt 1.)

Home Made Ice Cream

Fleur de sel - Flower of salt

Mukka Express

Vegusto No-Muh

Jogging

Newly discovered, Now Loved

Quinoa and Amaranth

Müesli

Seitan

Caribbean Vegan and Viva Vegan!

I don’t usually leave questions for readers but I am very interested to know of anyone has discovered something new lately that has rocked their vegan world! So have you?

MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Ingredients

Directions

BANANA, CHOC CHIP AND COCONUT FLAPJACKS

Ingredients

Directions

BASIC TOFU SCRAMBLE WITH EXTRAS

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the night before (cause if you’re like me you’re a member of The Walking Dead cast (not the good ones) in the morning)

TRAVELLING VEGANS: Basel, Switzerland

Tibits

Hirscheneck

Night One

Entrees

Mains

Night Two

Entree

Mains

Choco.loco

Christmas Markets

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Directions

CHERRY RIPE CUPCAKES

Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

Directions

Sour Cherry Ripe Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Dark Chocolate Topping

Ingredients

Directions

Cherry Ripe Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 tsp oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 block (250g) smoked Tofu, cut into thin cube/strips
3 large king brown mushrooms, cubed
75g vegan margarine, splint into 2 equal portions
30g pine nuts
Salt and Pepper
1-2 sprigs of Rosemary, finely chopped
200g linguine (we love Rapunzel Linguine Multikorn)

1 batch of Basil-Tofu Ricotta
1 batch of Sun-Dried Tomato – Mint Pesto
1 batch of Simple Pasta Dough

400g firm tofu, pressed
2 tsp lemon juice
1-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1-2 shallots, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
Dash of fresh black pepper
Handful fresh basil leaves, finely chopped (ten leaves or so)
2 tsp oil
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
Directions:

1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained but save some of the oil for the pesto
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
2-4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

250g all-purpose flour
125ml mineral water
1/2 tsp ground tumeric (optional, but this makes the dough a lovely yellow colour without changing the flavour)