Summer vegetable minestrone soup

As much as I love fresh veg everyone gets to that stage in the month before payday where all you have left is some squishy tomatoes and a zucchini stuck to the back of your fridge, this is a perfect leftover veggie soup pretty much any veg can go in this. I pep my minestrone up with a quick homemade pesto as I always have a pot of basil going crazy in my garden.

What I used for the soup:
2 red onions, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6 carrots, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 zucchinis/courgettes, chopped into cubes
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cup of peas
Half a cabbage
3 cups of pasta (I used baby macaroni)
1L veggie stock

For the pesto:
1 big bunch of basil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove grated garlic
Half a cup of olive oil

• Lightly fry off the onions and garlic until soft then add the carrots and zucchinis and fry until starting to soften. 
• Add the cabbage and tomatoes and stir then add the stock and peas and bring to the boil then add your pasta and season, simmer for appropriately 15 mins until pasta is al dente.
• Meanwhile in a pestal and mortar mash up the basil, lemon juice and garlic and slowly add the oil until a pesto paste comes together. 
• Once pasta is cooked serve your soup with a dollop of pesto on the top and a chunk of crusty bread.

Vegan peanut butter and chocolate squares

 

Everyone loves a little vegan junk food now and again and generally anything that involves a whole jar of peanut butter will satisfy my cravings! Plus these are gluten free, cooking free and so simple.

You will need; 

200g dark chocolate (generally one large bar) 

150g soya butter (I used Pure Sunflower soya butter) 

250g digestive biscuits (most own brand supermarket digestives are vegan, Waitrose have the Vegan mark)

200g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g crunchy peanut butter (feel free to replace your fave nut butter)

• Chop the chocolate and melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt the butter in a separate pan.
• Meanwhile whizz up in a food processor the biscuits and sugar, then add to melted butter and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract
• Line a square tin with baking paper and spread the biscuit mix in to an even layer and then spread the chocolate on top and refrigerate for about 2 hours until set and slice into small squares with a hot knife.

And here's what Gregg Wallace and John Torode from Masterchef UK thought of them...

My Top 3 hot vegan breakfasts

Don't get me wrong I love my bran flakes and fruit, cashew butter on toast and porridge however there is nothing more enjoyable than a proper cooked breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning, as a vegan it's not quite as easy as chucking some eggs and bacon in a pan. However I have come up with three dishes that I think are quick, easy and really hit the spot if you've had a bit of a heavy night.

Boxty meaning 'poor-house bread' is a traditional Irish potato cake and everyone has their own way of making it, sometimes its even in loaf-form. I like to make mine like little hash browns, that way they get super crispy and have them with some spring onions (scallions) and plum tomatoes. 

1 large potato
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Olive oil 

Boil half of the potatoes until soft, and mash. Grate the remaining raw potatoes, and set aside in a colander to drain. Add the vinegar to the soy milk, let sit for a few minutes until thickened, and stir together the mashed potatoes, grated potatoes, flour, baking powder and salt.  Slowly stir in the soymilk and vinegar to form the consistency of a pancake batter. Cook on medium to low heat for about 4 mins on each side until crispy.

I absolutely love tofu omelettes there are so many different fillings that you can choose and different ways of spicing the omelette mix that almost every time I make them they turn out differently. The omlette in the picture is one of my favourite cobinations of garlicky omelette filled with spinach and mushrooms sauteed in a little nutmeg.

3 cloves garlic
1 packet silken tofu, lightly drained 
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chickpea (gram) flour
1 tbsp cornstarch

Add the tofu, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, turmeric and salt to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the chickpea flour and cornstarch and whizz until combined. Lightly grease a pan and ad a cup of the batter use the back of the spatula to spread the batter into a thin even layer and cook on medium heat for about 4 minutes then very carefully lossen the mix from the bottom of the pan and flip, cook on other side for another 4 minutes and fill with whatever you fancy!

Officially my favourite breakfast ever is curried tofu scramble with and on pretty much anything. I love the way its crisps up but stays soft inside... This is a really simple version but I do like to spruse it up ocassionally by adding some coriander and spinach.

2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp medium curry powder
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 block of drained firm tofu
Handful of halved button mushrooms

Crush the garlic cloves and add them to a little oil in a pan, then add curry powder and stir to form a paste then add the soy sauce, finally crumble in big chunks the tofu and mushrooms into the pan and stir lightly while cooking for 8 mins until crispy.

Basil & Olive Aussie Damper Bread

I'm definitely no known for my patience and this is probably one of the main reasons I don't bake bread very often. I know this is the beauty of the beast but it's something I will avoid if at all possible. So last week I was watching Lorraine Pascale's 'Fast, Fresh and Easy' cooking show and she made an Aussie Damper bread which had no rising time at all!

I made a few adjustements to my bread just so that it suited my taste more as I don't have rosemary in my garden but I do have a rather out of hand basil plant at the moment.

As Damper bread is a traditional Australian soda bread prepared by travelers and cooked in campfire ashes. It consists of very few and simple ingredients flour, water, salt and raising agent. It's quite a dense bread perfect for dipping in hummus or simply good olive oil.

You will need;
440g self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
Bunch of basil chopped (could also use any other fresh herb e.g. rosemary, parsley or corriander)
225 ml warm water
45g chopped olives (could also use sun dried tomatoes, caramelised onions or roasted garlic)

Grab a large bowl and pour the flour in, make a well in the centre and pour in the water, oil, salt and chopped basil, mix with hands until combined then pour dough out onto lightly floured surface and flatten into a disc and pop your chopped olives in the centre then fold the dough up around the olives and knead until olives are evenly distributed (don't knead for too long) then place on a baking tray and push a star into the top with the handle of a wooden spoon and bake in an oven pre-heated at 200C for 30 mins, when the bread is done but still warm brush some olive oil onto the top.

My Top 3 Vegan Summer Salads

For the sake of this post and my sanity I am for now going to ignore the fact that it is July and raining...sigh. However when it gets warmer I turn away from my soups and stir frys and look for a big, crisp wholesome salad.

Before I go ahead and tell you the recipes for the salads I have a couple of tips for best results;

•  If your using kale as the main leaf in your salad make sure you rub the dressing really well into the stalks to soften them. 

•  If you are using fruit or veg with seeds (e.g. tomatoes/cucumbers), scoop them out as it stops the salad becoming watery and losing its taste and crunch.

• Wait until the last moment to dress your salads, as soon as your dressing hits the veg it will start to wilt it. 

So there are three types of salad that float my boat - sweet and crunchy, savoury and spicy and creamy and sharp.

1. Chicory, White Grape and Apple Salad - Chop up the chicory into bite size pieces, grapes into halves and apple into small cubes. Meanwhile toast some pine nuts in a pan and whisk up a simple dressing of 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 2 tbsp of olive oil plus a squeeze of half a lemon. Mix everything together and munch!

2. Miso baked tofu, Kale and Edamame Salad - First drain your tofu, then mix 2 tbsp miso paste, 2 tbsp lemon juice and 2 crushed galric cloves in a small bowl then chop your tofu into large cubes and carefully coat them in the miso mixture transfer to a lightly greased baking sheet and roast for about half an hour turning once hal way through. Meanwhile mix up 1 tbsp rice wine venagr, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil and massage the dressing into your kale then add the edamame beans (you can also add shredded cabbage, spring onion, avocado, green beans, peppers) top with your crispy baked tof and finish with some sesame seeds.

3. Summer Slaw - Grate up 2 carrots, half a mild red onion, quarter of a white cabbage then mix up 3 tbsp of soya yoghurt and the juice of half a lemon then add a tbsp of capers and mix into your grated veg! (I love this with Linda McCartney vegan sausage rolls)

I'm back my Veganoid Bitches!

Sorry I have been so lame with updating the blog - work got crazy with a massive yearly exhibition we do. Then I went on a family holiday to the White Cliffs of Dover for awesome hikes and cycling along the seaside - I even had some chips with onion vinegar in the rain.

But of course it wouldn't be fitting to post about my holiday without showing you guys a couple of things I scoffed...

Curried scrambled tofu with a portobello mushroom on toast

Sweet baby peppers stuffed with garlic tofutti with locally picked mushroom risotto and a kale, beetroot and avocado salad.

j.viewz playing Teardrop by Massive Attack with vegetables

This is nothing but amazing, watch it and be astounded by the power of veggies, technology and of course a (kinda hot) super talented DJ.