Faux Ham

This is another attempt at homemade seitan. The recipe (from La Dolce Vegan) is for faux ham. The gluten is pretty easy to make if you have access to high gluten flour (I use Lotus brand). Making it with ordinary flour is no fun at all.

The gluten is then cooked in a broth flavoured with nutritional yeast, soya sauce, dried sage, black pepper and boy was it salty! A little too salty for my liking but there you go.

La Dolce Vegan's BLT Brunch Casserole

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while now but never had all the ingredients. But recently I paid a visit to USAFoods in Moorabin and was able to pick up such gems as "Bac-os"(partially visible in photo), Jack Daniel's honey Dijon mustard and life's non essentials in the form of Bisquick, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and dill pickle flavoured Pringles.

The casserole was like a giant vegan serve of scrambled eggs on toast meets a BLT. I thought it was fabulous. (And who knew Bac-o's were so darn tasty?!)

Lemon-lime self saucing pudding

I LOVE self saucing puddings!

Sometime in August we celebrated "lambstravaganza" (A meal with three types of lamb.)

I deliberated over making dessert but decided to go for it and try out a recipe from sfi "lemon self saucing pudding". As usual some amendments were made. Usually when I try out recipes I leave the quantities as is but because it was for a larger gathering I doubled the ingredients. Also, with the availability of fresh limes, I made it a lemon-lime self saucing pudding. The result was a lovely light citrus scented sponge floating atop a luscious lemon lime sauce. Superb!

"Simple" Chocolate Cake

This is Nigella's version of a simple chocolate cake. While I agree it was incredibly easy to make (I love my food processor) the result was quite spectacular. In particular, the icing which became quite fudgey on cooling.

Speedy Cheesy Quesadillas

These cheesy quesadillas came taste.com.au in a supplement for the Herald Sun. Smother the tortilla with pasta sauce, sprinkle with cheese and repeat, forming three layers. Place in an oiled griddle-pan and fry until you have nice grill lines and the cheese has melted. Cut into wedges and serve with salad. Yum!

Apple Pancakes

These apple pancakes were a real hit. I got the recipe off a "wheel&barrow" card for a "Special Mother's Day Breakfast". Needless to say it wasn't Mother's day when I made them but that's irrelevant.

The recipe card suggested frying a slice of apple and then pouring the batter over it and frying as normal, then use this pancake as a garnish. But why have only one? I fried an apple into each and result was fabulous: slightly crunchy and nicely sweetened apple pancakes.

Nigella's Love Buns

I made these cute cupcakes for a party and was quite pleased with the result. The icing got a bit goopy and was far too sweet for my liking but they looked adorable!

Chocolate Date Cake

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This almost vegan cake is a real winner. The dates add texture to the cake and are delicious when added to cocoa and hot water to form the icing. What I like about this cake is it contains no refined sugar. It is perfectly suited to my taste, as it is not too sweet, and the silken tofu adds an interesting texture, as well as providing the binding agent (there are no eggs used in this recipe).

Strawberry Ricotta (or more accurately, Cottage Cheese and Mixed Berry) Muffins

These muffins are a testament to the fact that if you don't have the correct ingredients, don't bother. This especially applies to flour. Plain flour with baking powder added is not and never will be self raising flour. While they look lovely they were dense, almost rock-like. Once I get over my stupidity, I hope to make these again, but with the correct ingredients next time.

Chargrilled chicken with spinach and raspberries

Wednesday nights dinner was another gem from cool food. Like its predecessors, it was tweaked slightly. Here we have "Chargrilled chicken with spinach and raspberries (and avocado)". Some butterflied chicken breasts were purchased in the morning and were marinaded with some lovely flavours. We used vinegar, crushed garlic, dried oregano, white sugar, chilli sauce and olive oil. They were then grilled on the George Foreman. I am really pleased with how fast they cooked - about 3 mins - and were still moist and juicy, unlike most whole chicken breast can be.

After cooking, the chicken was rested for 5 mins and the sliced into strips. A dressing was made by combining vinegar, oil, oregano and wholegrain mustard together and drizzling it over the spinach, avocado and raspberries. Then placing the chicken on top and drizzle with the remaining dressing. A filling, refreshing meal.

Tofu Fajitas

Here we have Tuesday night's dinner - Tofu Fajitas from cool food once again. The recipe looked interesting so I thought I'd give it a go. There are a few componants to the dish.

1) Tofu - in the pic they look like fish sticks. These are marinated in a mixture of crushed garlic, soy sauce and black pepper. They they are fried in a little oil until crisp and placed on some paper towel to prevent sogginess.

2) Tomato relish - the recipe calls for tinned tomatoes but we had the equivalent in fresh, slightly soft ones which I used instead. I diced these with a small red chilli (seeds removed and chopped finely) and 1/2 a large onion diced. These were blitzed in the food processor until reasonably smooth. Season and transfer to stove, bringing to the boiling and then simmering for 10 mins or so.

3) Guac - 2 avos, a couple of spoonfuls of leben, a good squeeze of lemon and a large pinch of salt & mash together.

4) Vegies - slice some yellow capsicum and spring onion (from our garden - very easy to grow).

Assembly: While the book recommends 15cm tortillas, the best I could find was 30cm flatbread/pita. I placed fillings down the centre and wrapped it like a burrito.

It was extremely filling - possibly because there was twice the amount of bread than what was called for. A really flavoursome, enjoyable meal.

Note: We use leben - an unflavoured natural yoghurt in place of sour cream in most recipes. It has a nice zing and doesn't taste too rich.

Salmon Patties and Mango Salsa

This was Monday night's dinner care of Cool Food. Salmon patties with mango salsa. I altered the recipe slightly to suit what I had on hand. The patties were very easy to make. Finely dice half a red onion and place in a food processor along with a peeled clove of garlic and 415g tin of red salmon (skin removed, bones can stay - a very good edible and non dairy source of calcium). Blitz until everything is mixed. Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup cornflake crumbs. Blitz again. Scoop out tablespoonfuls, shape into patties with clean hands. Cover with glad wap and place in fridge for 30 mins to firm up.

Salsa: Peel and dice 1 mango. Peel and dice half an avocado. Squeeze over half a lime.

Fry patties until browned (3-4 mins each side, but you can tell when they're cooked.) Serve with last night's leftover rice (reheated), chopped coriander and sweet chili sauce. A fresh, light dinner.

Christmas Cupcakes

Here we have my version of xmas fare - minty xmas cupcakes from family fun. I was actually quite impressed with how these turned out. The base is a white cupcake made with mini milk choc chips and sour cream - very rich indeed. It did not follow the ordinary method for cupcakes - ie using an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar, but rather it was a muffin method (mix wet, mix dry and combine). This made it so easy.

The icing is where the mint comes into action in the form of peppermint essence. Butter is beaten with a wooden spoon until soft, then icing sugar is sifted in and beaten into the butter. Mint essence and milk are added and then spread onto cooled cup cakes. The decorating is done with gel pens from the baking section at the supermarket. The close up is meant to be holly berries and leaves but looks more like a pair of cherries.

Side note: These cooked quickly as they were baked in mini muffin pans. The pan is very important. I do not recommend just using the patty paper in a baking dish as you will end up with boot shaped cupcakes (which is fine if that's the look you're going for...)

Behold the Tofu Roast!

Okay, first blog of 2009, but this was made Oct 2008. Here we have tofu roast from La Dolce Vegan. Two and a half packs of tofu crumbled into a large sieve lined with clean unused chux cloths. The tofu bowl is then filled with delectable homemade stuffing, some remaining crumbled tofu is placed on top and pressed down with some tins. After a good while in the fridge to firm up, it is placed flat side down into a foil lined baking dish and basted with a soy based sauce. Roast until brown, basting during cooking and served with roasted potatoes and a green salad. This was so delicious and far more filling than your average roast.