Not being sniffy

We all know how lovely using essential oils can be, and as someone who often puts a few drops of rosemary on a tissue tucked inside my bra whenever I need to concentrate, I was delighted to discover this Go 2 Focus inhaler stick. It contains rosemary, peppermint and lime essential oils, all to help you focus on whatever you’re doing.

There are four sticks in the range; Focus, B.Calm, Sleep and Energy, so pretty useful for most things in life. They are all made with pure, high quality essential oils, blended together to give you all the benefits of oils known to help whichever feeling you need. In a convenient inhaler stick, they’re perfect for popping in your bag. And they all smell absolutely fantastic! So, as they are currently on offer, 4 for the price of 3, and UK shipping is £1.00, it seems like a great time to treat yourself, or pick up some stocking fillers. https://thego2brand.com/

Tofish Fingers

Today is not only World Vegan Day it’s also Friday which, traditionally, is fish day, so the perfect day to make Tofish Fingers. This is another really simple recipe that tastes utterly delicious.

Ingredients

400g block of firm tofu
1 tablespoon mixed peppercorns
1 teaspoon pink peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt (I like to use coarse Himalayan pink salt, but it’s not essential.)
4 tablespoons cornflour
2 sheets of nori (optional)
Rapeseed oil (approx 6 tablespoons)

Method

First of all press the tofu. Take it out of the packaging and wrap it in a clean tea towel. Put something reasonably heavy on top. (I use a couple of cartons of orange juice.) Leave it for at least half an hour.

Meanwhile either crush all the peppercorns and salt together with a mortar and pestle (or a bowl and the end of a rolling pin), or blitz them in a blender.

When the peppercorn and salt mix is crushed to your preferred texture, mix it with the cornflour.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. You’ll probably need to fry them in two batches – if not, just use more oil.

Slice the tofu into 8 evenly sized fingers. At this stage, if you like the taste, you can add a piece of nori seaweed cut to size onto either the top or bottom of each tofu slice. Dip the nori into water to help it stick. Personally I’m not that keen on the taste of seaweed, so I don’t usually bother, but it does make them taste more ‘fishy’. Dip each tofu slice into a bowl of clean water then press into the cornflour/salt and pepper mix.

Fry over a low heat for 4-5 minutes, then turn them over, adding more oil if necessary. Fry for a further few minutes until golden and crunchy on both sides.

My favourite way to serve these is with sweet potato chips and peas.

Stuffed Butternut Squash

How did that happen? I’ve just got through the whole festive season with not a stuffed butternut squash in sight! Time was when they were THE thing to make if you knew there was an alternative to nut roast, but times have moved on and now there’s a huge choice of festive vegan mains. Nevertheless, it’s nice to go old school sometimes, and since one of my New Year resolutions is to avoid food waste, and I had a butternut squash sitting sadly in the fridge, today was the day.

Butternut squash is a beautiful veg. It has the most gorgeous colour, it keeps for ages, it’s pretty versatile and it doesn’t involve a lot of faffing to make a delicious dish.

Ingredients

1 Butternut squash

2-3tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

200g mushrooms, finely chopped,

6 cloves garlic, crushed or very finely chopped

400g can chickpeas, drained

1 red or yellow pepper, chopped into small pieces

1tsp chilli powder

1tsp cumin

1tsp garam masala

1/2tsp smoked paprika,

pinch of salt

 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C or gas Mark 6.

Chop the butternut squash in half. Scoop out and discard the seeds. (If you’re cutting food waste, you can rinse off the stringy bits and roast them in a single layer for about 20 minutes on a baking sheet. You can nibble on them, or I like to add them to home made bread, particularly when I’m serving pumpkin soup.) Brush the cut surfaces with olive oil then pop it into the oven for about 50-60 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the rest of the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and let them soften for a couple of minutes. Then add the mushrooms. Sometimes mushrooms release quite a lot of water, so continue to saute until the water has evaporated away.

Add the remaining ingredients and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

When the squash is cooked, take it out of the oven and fill the seed space with filling. You’ll probably find you have more stuffing than space, so you can either pile it on, or carve out some of the pumpkin flesh for more space. (Removing the flesh after it’s cooked is a) easier, and b) means you have some pre-cooked butternut squash you can chuck into soups, or stews, or add to mashed potato.)

Another great thing about stuffed butternut squash is that it’s quite time-flexible, so you can either serve it immediately, or pop it back into the oven, sneak off for a quiet cup of tea, then serve it up when you are good and ready. 🙂

 

 

 

Beet Greens with Walnuts

 

It’s not usually a good idea to buy fresh beetroot with the leaves attached, as the leaves make the beetroot lose water more quickly than if they were removed. However, yesterday I happened to find some at a nearby health food shop that looked as if they’d just been pulled out of the ground that morning. The leaves were turgid and upright, and far too nice to just chop off and bin, so here’s the recipe I used. Leave the stalks attached to the leaves, their gorgeous purple-red colour means they’re full of anthocyanins, so very healthy, as well as great contrast with the dark leaves.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 bunch beetroot leaves, chiffonaded

50g walnuts, chopped

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

 

Heat the oil in a saute pan, then fry the onion until translucent. Add the mustard seeds, the Dijon mustard, the sliced beetroot greens and stir thoroughly.Cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped walnuts and nutmeg, then cook for another couple of minutes to warm them through.

Serve as it is, or stir through a tablespoon of soya cream for a more indulgent dish.

 

 

Smoothie maker

I finally succumbed to the temptation of buying a smoothie maker, after years of telling myself it’s better to eat the fruit/veg as it comes. I was watching a programme on BBC2 where they tested cheap smoothie makers against the £100+ ones on the market, and the Salter Nutri Pro apparently blends as well as the expensive ones do. The show said it cost £40, but I could only find it at that price at Wilko. Guessing that despite the 750 they had in stock, that if everyone heard about the review on the show they’d run out quickly, I ordered one and picked it up this week.

I’m so glad I did. I’ve only tried three recipes so far, and they were all lovely, but my favourite one is the one I just made up this afternoon, and here it is:

Apple and cinnamon smoothie

• 1 eating apple, cored
• 1 banana , peeled
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, powder
• Approx 250ml cashew milk

And you just blend until smooth! Delish. I used cashew milk this time because I happened to have some in the fridge I wanted to use up, but I’m guessing that with oat milk, and perhaps a tablespoon of oats it will taste even better!

 

 

 

Cooking the Books

This gallery contains 6 photos.

The Vegan Bible by Marie Laforêt In an attempt to justify the number of cookbooks I can’t resist buying I have decided that I’m going to pick one occasionally, and review it by cooking a selection of recipes from it. First … Continue reading →

Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup with cumin and ginger

This soup is deliciously thick, warm and filling. It is one of the few soups I’ve ever had that didn’t make me feel hungry afterwards if I didn’t eat it with bread. Consequently it is fantastic for these cold winter days when you really need something filling, but still haven’t succeeded in losing all that Christmas weight!

1 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
500g carrots, topped, tailed, scrubbed and roughly chopped
500g sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
1 litre vegetable stock
2tsp ground cumin
2tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp minced ginger or a walnut sized chunk of fresh ginger, chopped
400g can chick peas, drained

Heat the oil in the bottom of a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and cook for about 10 mins until softened and translucent. Throw in the chopped carrots and sweet potato and stir around for a couple of minutes before adding the stock. Bring to the boil and add the cumin, coriander, ginger and chick peas. Lower the heat and simmer, covered for about 20-30 minutes. (It depends how roughly you’ve chopped the carrots and sweet potatoes. the smaller you cut them the faster they will cook.)

When the veg are soft, put the whole thing through a blender. Warm up before serving if required and garnish with a few fresh coriander leaves.

Lemon Cookies

I have to admit here that these are not my favourite cookies. However, every time I make them people seem to really love them and find them quite moreish. They are really simple to make, so they get my thumbs up from that point of view. 🙂

 

100g margarine

100g shortening (e.g. Trex)

150g sugar

½ tsp lemon extract or zest of one lemon

Juice of two lemons

300g plain flour

 

Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees C, Gas Mark 5. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Cream together the margarine and shortening in a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the sugar, then add the lemon extract or zest and the juice. Add the flour and mix thoroughly until you get a nice, mouldable dough. Add more lemon juice if necessary to get the right consistency.

Roll into 24 small golf balls. Flatten slightly as you arrange them on the baking trays.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges start to go brown.

Cool on a wire baking tray.

Spicy Parsnip and Apple Soup

This is a lovely, warming winter soup. One of the things I love about soup is that it doesn’t usually create much washing up, one pan and a blender, and sometimes not even the blender. Served with crusty bread, preferably home made, this is delicious for lunch.

2tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2tsp ground coriander
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp turmeric
600ml vegetable stock
500g parsnips, peeled and chopped into about 1cm chunks
2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into chunks
250ml soya cream
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion until soft and translucent. Add the spices to the pan and cook for one minute.

Add the stock, the parsnip and the apple. Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Blend the soup to a smooth puree. Return to the saucepan to reheat, and stir in most of the soya cream, retaining a little to swirl on top when it’s in the bowl. Season to taste.

Let’s go Retro Chocolate Cheesecake

I haven’t put the recipe on here yet, but I have a penchant for a really simple chocolate pudding and today I thought I’d have a go at tarting it up into a retro 70s style chocolate cheesecake, complete with gaudy glace cherries. I don’t like biscuits very much – well, that’s not strictly true. I DO like biscuits, what I don’t like is the fact that once I’ve opened a packet I can’t resist eating far too many, so I don’t buy them very often! I thought this would be a good way of making sure I didn’t dunk the whole packet when I opened a packet of delicious Dove’s Farm Digestives I’d picked up from Birmingham Vegan Fair.

Ingredients

150g digestive biscuits
75g vegan margarine
25g cocoa powder
100g icing sugar (you need two lots of 50g)
25ml soya cream or milk
225g tub Tofutti Cream Cheese, Original
400ml can Coconut cream
20g vegan chocolate, grated
6 glace cherries, halved

Cut a circle of baking parchment or greaseproof paper and line the bottom of a shallow 7″ cake tin (preferably with a loose base).
Crush the digestive biscuits. The easiest way to do this is to put them in a polythene bag and just whack them with a rolling pin. (I don’t want to get political, but imagine they are Owen Paterson and you are a badger!)
Melt the margarine. This takes about 40 seconds in my microwave. You only need the margarine to be liquid, it doesn’t need to get hot, and the cooler you keep it, the quicker the base will set.
Stir the melted margarine into the crushed digestives then spread evenly in the cake tin. Pop this into the fridge to cool while you get on with the rest of the cheesecake.

Put the cocoa powder, 50g of the icing sugar and the soya cream into a bowl and stir. It will be very dry at this point, but I find doing it this way helps keep the clouds of icing sugar away when you stir in the cream cheese, which is what you do next. Beat the cheese in thoroughly, until the filling is evenly coloured. (This section is the simple chocolate pudding I mentioned in the introduction.) Spread over the cold biscuit base.

If you’re doing this recipe in warm weather it might be a good idea to put the can of coconut cream in the fridge for a few hours before you start this, because you need to make sure it’s NOT well mixed. Open the can and scoop the solid layer on top into a mixing bowl and pour the liquid into another container to use in another recipe – it tastes deliciously coconutty, but isn’t any good for whipping. Add the remaining 50g icing sugar to the solid coconut cream in a bowl and whisk with an electric whisk.

Slather (Love that word 🙂 ) the whipped coconut cream over the chocolate filling. Finish by sprinkling the grated chocolate over the top and adding the glace cherries. And for a really retro feel, serve on a paper doily.