Carrot, coconut, pineapple & macadamia nut cupcakes

Every good vegan loves "VWaV"..
I really, really want to love it.. I try hard.. and although I like a lot of the recipes in it.. I'm not smitten..
But, there is always at least one exception to any rule..
And for me, these are it..

These cupcakes make me overlook my overall VWaV noncholance, and testify to it's fabulousness..
I swear I would buy the cookbook, just for this recipe :D

Every vegan and non alike, I feed these too.. comes back for another, and another.. and finally the recipe..
My sister-in-law to be, had heard about them, because my brother had been pestering her to make them..
He was in town for a few days, so I made a batch, and gave him a box to take home to share with his finance.

I swear the addition of pineapple, takes these above and beyond..
They are just little parcels of tropical goodness! :D

So make these- and try adding the pineapple chunks..
[Fresh would be nice.. but usually I just use a whole tin of chopped pineapple.. ]
And tell me these aren't some of the best little cupcakes you've eaten :D

Italian Beans

Hello. Hello little blogland :D

I've been on staples for the past couple of weeks.

All the tins of organic stewed tomatoes are now gone, same goes for all our pasta.

Yes! there has been a lot of pasta in the house of veganini lately..

Lucky I'm so fond of it.

This recipe idea came from Tessa's "Apples for Jam"..

It was nice as a side dish, although I'm not sure what would make a nice accompaniment.. ideas??

Ingredients

1Tbs olive oil

1/2 red onion

1 large clove garlic, chopped finely

1 tsp dried basil

1 tin stewed whole tomatoes

1 tin cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

Salt & pepper

Method

1.Place onion and oil in a fry pan on medium high heat. Cook until golden and translucent.

2.Add garlic, and cook until fragrant.

3.Add remaining ingredients, and cook, stirring occasionally until tomatoes have reduced and are nice and thick.

Pumpkin Risotto

If you want the recipe I can supply it..

But right now, I'm typed out..

So I offer you instead, a photo of the end result..

La Pizza Rossa - Take II

I have been cooking.

I just don't have anything (photos) to show for it- oh, that is unless you want to come over and eat the old leftovers, still in my fridge!? :D

Last night, cucciolo mio was out go-karting, so I made La pizza rossa again..

I feel like saying "Hello love!", when I take the tray out of the oven..

Just baking it, makes the house smell soooooooooooooooo good!

Cleaning up after making the dough isn't so wonderful.. but this pizza, is definitely worth it!

This time I put baby spinach, olives, onions & pine nuts on top..

Tre Colori Pasta

It has been a while. I'm sorry for neglecting you little blog. I swore I wouldn't.

I need the cactus of the blog world. One that seems to actually prosper from ill treatment.

There was a flu, a trip inter-state, and the beginning of a new course..

Lot's of soups, eating out.. and more recently, sandwiches to go.

[My new little college's cafe is vegetarian/vegan!

So far I've only sampled the vegan banana bread.]

When I was inter-state, visiting my brother, he took us to the local Italian supermarket (huge).
I bought this charming pasta, with not much of an idea, what I would actually use it for.

I may need to have my brother send up some packets for me- as it was so delicious, this is bound to go quick!

Again I'm in dire need of a big food shop, but rather lacking in the funds, so every meal is a take on bubble & squeak right now.

Thus was born, tre colori pasta- three coloured pasta.

Ingredients:

1/4 onion, chopped finely

1/4 red capsicum, cut into thin strips

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp chilli paste

1/2 zucchini, cut into ribbons

Method:

1.Put your pasta water on to boil, and cook pasta as per directions. Heat olive oil in fry pan, and add onions and capsicum. Saute until soft.

2.Add the garlic and chilli paste, and stir well.

3.When you can smell the garlic, add the zucchini. Cook until tender.

4.Drain pasta, turn out 'sauce' mixture into empty pasta pot. Add drained pasta, and a lug of good olive oil. Stir over heat for a couple of minutes.

5.Serve with salt and pepper.

La pizza rossa

Oh man- what can I say about this pizza?

Last night before I went to sleep, I was muttering to cucciolo mio, about my plans for adapting the recipe to suit every meal of the day..

"You know.. I could do dessert pizza.. like pizza hut's 'apple pie' pizza.. except not disgusting.. in fact yummy.. with apples.. and cinnamon.. and oh!.."

For me, this was pizza dough nirvana.

Squish the baked pie between your fingers, and it slowly rises back to it's original fluffy shape.

And it was quick to make too. I have been searching for this here recipe, for a long time.

I was intending to use the recipe straight out of Tess Kiros' "Apples for Jam" book, but after starting, saw that it called for much more rising time than I was prepared for..

So.. I winged it..

Tessa was right on, when she said:

The dough must be sticky (this is what gives a nice texture to the cooked pizza), so don't feel you've done something wrong or be tempted to add any more flour.... It takes about five minutes to get the dough unstuck from my hands and find my ring.

Recipe for one large pie

Ingredients

Dough:

1 3/4 cups warm water

10g dry active yeast

1 tsp agave or honey

1 Tbs olive oil

600g (1LB 5oz) flour (I didn't use all of this)

Tomato Topping:

4 Tbs olive oil

1 large garlic clove, pressed and minced

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

3 basil leaves, chopped, or a liberal sprinkling of dried basil

Method:

1.Put the water, yeast, agave, olive oil and 3 fistfuls of the flour in a the bowl of a food processor.

Mix until smooth. Cover and leave for about 15 minutes, or until it has a nice layer of froth on top.

2.Place olive oil & garlic in a medium sized frypan, on medium-high heat, and cook until you begin to smell the garlic. Add the tomatoes and basil, and reduce heat slightly.

3.Add flour, in small portions at a time, mixing well in between. Continue adding flour, until dough gets a good consistency- it should be still super sticky.. Mix for a good 4 minutes.

4.Remove dough, and place in a well greased (olive oil) large bowl, and cover with a cloth. Leave in a warm place to rise (about 20 minutes).

5.With well floured hands, and some flour on hand to add to dough, if too sticky.. Turn out dough onto a lined, pizza baking tray. Squish out, until it meets the edges of the pan, and is uniform in thickness. Leaving a nice width crust, use your fingers to make indentations over the remaining pizza.

6.Pour tomato sauce over pizza dough (saving space for the crust). Place pizza in a pre-heated 200C (350F) oven, for about 15-20 minutes, or until crust is nice and golden brown.

Purple food

This past weekend I went to one of my favourite food stores-

Had some delicious lunch- pumpkin & dahl casserole, with brown rice, and bought some organic goodies.

Among the goodies, were a few purple potatoes. I'd never even heard of them, they didn't look that purple on the outside, still the thought of purple potato was too intriguing to pass up..

What a shock of intense purple, that greeted me, as I cut them in quarters!

They taste quite similar to regular potatoes though.

I simply steamed them, and tossed them with chopped parsley, sea salt & olive oil.

I also picked up some purple cabbage.

My brow chakra must be screaming for attention, me thinks.. all this purple.. and wasn't there that grade school tagline- liking purple meant you were sexually frustrated?? hmmn

I made Tessa's cabbage on sourdough toast recipe, from twelve.

Her recipe calls for the use of numerous different cabbages, I just stuck with the purple one.

You basically infuse a fry pan of evo with rosemary. Add garlic & chilli. Some water. The cabbage. Cook, cook, cook & serve on sourdough slices.

I don't know how something so simple can taste so damn good, but this is the best thing I have eaten in a long time..

The salad is a staple favourite of mine (seasonal)..

I love the contrast in textures and flavours it provides.

Baby spinach, avocado, walnuts, dried cranberries, and olive oil.

Spinach Canneloni

Ahh how frustrating- I just wrote the post, and suddenly, it was gone.
Ahh well. In it, I confessed that I hate measuring. That even when I follow a recipe, there is a lot of eyeballing & guesstimation. And that I'm sorry, if you've made one of my recipes, and what I said was 1/2 cup of water, was actually 2 :D

So this was one of my own inventions.
Where I just put enough ingredients, til it looks, about right..
Last night I had a girls night in, with my mum & grandma. I made spinach & tofu stuffed canneloni, and a mixed green salad, with apples, walnuts & pine nuts.
We ate it, and watched "Johnny Stecchino".

So there's some: tofu, spinach, 'fried' onion & garlic, nutritional yeast, and pepper in there..
All stuffed in pre-cooked canneloni shells, and then smothered in pasta sauce and baked..
YUM :D

Patent for a Pig

Yesterday, just hours after receiving an email from Greenpeace, urging me to take action on GE foods, I watched a startling documentary relating to the problematic issue of bio-technology.

The email talked about research, which showed kidney and liver issues arising in rats fed GE food. The researchers deduced that GE food was not safe for rats consumption, and yet Australia has allowed foods containing GE ingredients (with no labelling laws), into our market, and is considering allowing the production of GE crops.
The production of GE crops in America, and other parts of the world is already prolific.

George Bush, a big Monsanto fan and ally, believes that quite directly, those that oppose bio-technology are baby killers, and preventing food from entering the mouths of babes.
Clearly, this is not a production issue though. The world already has enough food to feed the world, and too, if anything GE crops produce a smaller yield than regular crops.

Monsanto, the multinational bio-technology giant behind the massive push(and it has come to shove) towards GE food, began making pesticides. They realised, if they simultaneously engineered crops that would be more resistant to the pesticides, they could at least double their money. So they did.
Their self claimed goal, is to control the global food supply.
This is not a movie, as far as I know, Austin Powers is not planning on saving the day.

I knew a lot of this, but the documentary strung it altogether, illuminating how insidious the deception and greed is.
I felt sick to my stomach. And cried out many times to a bemused cucciolo mio- Those bastards! How do they sleep at night!? How can they get away with this!?

They have already patented the gene maps of their particular crops.
They sell the seed to farmers, and the farmers actually have to pay Monsanto each year, to sow the seeds produced from the previous years crop! -Monsanto sets the price each year.
Further more, the farmers that hold out against Monsanto, and do not buy their seed, are being threatened by cross contamination from GE farms. Monsanto is subsequently suing these guys, for patent breaches, because their crops contain the patented genes!!?
They are planning to patent a pig soon.

The other worrying thing, when taking a pig gene, and placing it in a corn pool, or a jellyfish gene into a cows gene pool- you never quite know how it will turn out.
In cotton as an example- whole new, never seen before proteins have been found.. I don't quite understand the science of it- but it sounds bloody alarming to me!

Monsanto has also been waging a vicious campaign against it's opposition.
People are quickly sacked, silenced or sued.
So the real concerns with GE food are just not getting out- so people can't even make up their own minds!

There is strong anecdotal evidence of animals fed GE feed, suffering fertility issues.
The conception rate has been showed, to often go down to just 30% , with some farmers claiming their entire stock became barren and sterile.

So what to do..
With Monsanto and such businesses being so aggressive and calculating, it can seem like a losing battle..
Their reach and clout, so big, that it seems impossible to escape it's influence altogether..

Buy organic/non-GE (there are hardly any non-GE soy beans crops, globally today)
Support small,independent & local (organic/non-GE) farms
Support organisations fighting against GE food
Write to your Politicians urging for change
While you're at it- vote to impeach Bush & Cheney (hey it couldn't hurt)
Write to companies using GE ingredients, urging change (I know Hormel does!)
Write to Monsanto & tell em where to stick it!
Spread the word!-
Tell anyone that will listen, that you don't eat GE foods, and why
Hey, you could even host your own True food party like I did (this years one is coming soon!)

Orange cheesecake with chocolate base

I got the idea for this from one of Tessa Kiros's books (again!)..

I think it was Twelve.. She had a recipe for a blood orange ricotta tart, with a chocolate base.

The combination of chocolate & orange, while not new, appeals to my senses-
The contrast of colours, smells & of course tastes..

I didn't want to use any vegan cream cheese, hydrogenation and all that..

I've never made a tofu baked cheesecake before.. so I looked to"The New Farm" vegetarian cookbook for the basic structure of one.

So far as the base, I basically winged it.

This is tasty- the orange flavour intensified with cooking, while the chocolate softened, overall a lovely combination..

Out of the oven, the tofu went pancake thin though!- next time I'll probably 1/2 the base recipe, and double the cheesecake one. Anyone else had similar problems with tofu cheesecake?

Recipe for one small cheesecake

Ingredients:

2Tbs earth balance margarine or similar

4Tbs maple syrup

1/2 cup plain organic flour

3Tbs unsweetened cocoa

Teeny pinch of salt

Dash of vanilla essence

2Tbs orange juice

1 cup silken tofu

2Tbs granulated raw sugar

2Tbs orange juice

Zest of one orange (zest the orange before juicing it!)

1Tbs canola oil

Method:

1.In a medium mixing bowl, cream together margarine and maple syrup.

2.Add remaining ingredients, and beat well to combine.

3.Spoon in to a greased pie dish, and put in a pre-heated 180C(350F) oven for about 10 minutes. Remove and place in the freezer until cool to the touch.

4.Meanwhile place all cheesecake ingredients in a food processor, and process until smooth and creamy.

5.Pour cheesecake mixture over cooled base, and return to oven for about 30 minutes.

Lentil & Bean Stew

My Mum came home today, after four months away.

Not much of a welcome, thick and constant rain and about 17C(62F).

The classic story of- if only you'd have been here yesterday!

We were going to go out to lunch, but her car battery died.. so house bound, I made lentil & bean stew.

She bought me gifts from Papua New Guinea, South Africa, India, Madeira & the U.K!? :)

Recipe Serves 4

Ingredients:

1Tbs olive oil

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 carrot, peeled and chopped finely

1/4 red capsicum, chopped finely

12 basil leaves

1 tin organic peeled tomatoes

1 tin organic borlotti beans

1 tin organic cannelini beans

1/2 cup red lentils

1 cup water

Chilli paste

Salt n pepper

Method:

1.After browning the onions with the capsicum and carrot, put all the ingredients in a pot and cook for about 30-40 minutes.

Lentil soup with homemade rye bread

I made this a while ago, but forgot to post it.

I made the soup ala my recent lentil and carrot pasta- adding more lentils & water.

The bread was made with rye & spelt flour.

It was ok, but I'm such a lazy kneader, and thus my bread is usually quite leaden!

Cucciolo mio remarked "You could kill someone with that thing".

I'm not sure if he meant by feeding it to them, or hitting them over the head with it!?

Either way, he was probably right. Still the soup, the soup was delicious..

Vegetable Tagine

I love this dish.

I'm so pleased I braved making it the first time -many, many months ago now..

To a certain extent, I generally stick to that which is familiar- cinnamon sticks in cooking, was not..
Still, I persevered, and it was a taste sensation. I made it many times last winter, and intend to do the same this year.

"Vegan with a Vengeance", labels it a spring vegetable tagine, but I think the warming spices and hearty lentils lend it to autumn or winter fare..

Oh, and did I mention it has sultanas in it!? Any savoury dish with sultanas in it, pretty much wins me over. I love when they get all plump & juicy..

So far as the herbs and spices, I pretty much follow VWaV to the letter.

With the vegetables I tend to use, whatever I have on hand- Last night there was broccoli, cabbage, green beans & carrots.

Eggplant in tomato

I remember eating this dish growing up. It's generally served as a side-dish, but we always had it over rice, as a one-plate-meal. Small meatballs done in the same way, were often served for lazy sunday lunches- you could use veganballs.

Last night I had this as a side, with a simple basil pesto pasta. Today, for lunch over rice.

(Yes, I am running out of ingredients and need to go to the store! :D )

For such a simple dish, it is surprisingly tasty!

Feel free to add herbs, I've used basil & oregano at different times.

Recipe for 4 side serves

Ingredients:

2 skinny eggplants, sliced about 1cm (1/4inch) thick

(The 'skinnies' are usually the same length as regular eggplants)

1 clove garlic, minced

2tsp olive oil

1/4tsp chilli paste

1Tbs red wine (optional)

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1.Lay slices of eggplant in a baking dish evenly.

2.In a bowl combine tomatoes, chilli paste and garlic, mix well.

3.Pour bowls contents over eggplant.

4.Drizzle wine & olive oil over the top.

5.Bake in a pre-heated 200C(350F) oven for about 20minutes.

6.Give everything a good stir, and return to oven for about 10 more minutes.

Where's the hole donuts!?

Tempted by Vegan Yum Yum's delicious looking mini-donuts, I decided to make my own.

I don't have a cute lil donut baking pan like her, so I went with this weird flying saucer like, pan I have- no holes.

One of my favourite donuts, was always the classic cinnamon- especially hot from the fryer.. oh yeah!

It has been many years since I've had one of those.

I used unbleached spelt flour, instead of regular flour- I am really liking the spelt!

Canola oil instead of margarine- reduced by 1Tbs.

For the topping I simply put 4Tbs of raw granulated sugar in a food processor, with 1tsp of cinnamon. Then, hot from the oven, dunked my little discs in the mixture..

Yum! These, like the 'real' thing, are very addictive..

Lentil & Carrot Penne

I made up this recipe the other night, because I had a hankering for lentils.

I wasn't sure what I was going to serve them with, ultimately I went for penne.

I later discovered, the sauce makes for a much more tasty, stand-alone soup.

Recipe for 2 serves of pasta + 1 soup OR 2 serves of soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry red lentils

2Tbs olive oil

1/4 green capsicum, chopped finely

1/2 onion, chopped finely

2 small carrots, grated

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup water

8 basil leaves, chopped roughly

1 cup stewed tomatoes (I use organic tinned)

3Tbs tomato paste

Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1.Saute onion & capsicum with oil, in medium saucepan, on medium heat. Cook until golden.

2.Add carrots & garlic, and cook until fragrant, but not browned.

3.Add lentils, and stir well to coat. Add remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste.

4.Put lid on saucepan, reducing heat slightly, and allow to cook until lentils are tender- about 20 minutes.

5.Give small whizz with blender-stick-thinga-ma-jigga, retaining some of the chunk.

6.Serve as soup or over pasta- I say soup is best!

General Tso's Vegetables

I have a new lazy dish. For those days when you're already hungry, and you haven't even thought about cooking yet.. The recipe's sauce qoutient is definitely for 4 serves though!-

Use it with veggies for 2, at your peril.. Your veggies will be swamped in chilli goodness :)

It was a gorgeous, sunny 27C(80F) yesterday, so I took my lunch outside..

Sweet Potato & Mushroom Curry Puffs

This is another recipe from my friend Amanda. I remember she made it with her sister, when I was 16. At that stage, my veggo repetoire basically only covered stir-fries, so I was well impressed.

We ate these, curled up on the couch watching "Northern Exposure". Almost falling into swoon induced comas, from watching Chris.

Rain usually makes me feel mellow: curl up in a corner time, slow down, smell the furniture. Today... it just makes me feel wet. What is it about owning things? Why do we feel the need to own what we love, and why do we become such jerks when we do? We've all been there, you know: we want something; we own it; and by owning it we change it. When you finally win that girl of your dreams, the first thing you do is try to change her. That little thing she does with her hair, the way she wears her clothes, the way she chews her gum. Until eventually, what you like, what you don't like and what you change all merges into one. Like a watercolor in the rain.

-Chris Stevens

This is also great as a simple curry over rice.

Recipe serves 2

Ingredients:

1Tbs oil

1/2 onion, chopped finely

1/2 sweet potato, diced

3 large button mushrooms, sliced

Curry to taste (I use about 2 tsps)

1/4 cup lite coconut cream

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (thawed)

Method:

1.Saute onion in oil, in a large frypan on medium heat. Cook until golden.

2.Add sweet potato & mushrooms, stirring to coat.

3.Add curry, stirring well, before mixing through coconut cream.

4.Cover pan, and leave to cook, until potato is tender (about 10 to 15 minutes). You may need to add some more coconut cream, if mixture is a bit dry, or sticking to pan.

5.Cut pastry in 1/2, and spoon mixture on each piece. Cover 1/2 the pieces, leaving the edges uncovered. Fold over uncovered pastry halves, to cover mixture, and press down edges with a fork to seal.

6.Cut a few slits in the top of the pastry. And bake in a preheated 180C(350F) oven, until pastry is golden- about 15 minutes.

Ribollita

Although the weather still isn't that cold, I'm in autumn mode.

The ocean is still a luscious 23C(74F), so really I should be surfing.. except, I feel like curling up under the doona and watching DVDs instead.

We got: "Art school confidential", "The departed", "Little miss sunshine", and another one I can't remember the name of.

I feel like eating lentils and rice at the moment.. warm, hearty & satisfying food.

So I made my own version of Tessa Kyro's- ribollita (from "Twelve"), and served it over basmati rice.

Perfect.

Recipe for about 4

Ingredients:

2Tbs olive oil

1/2 large red onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed and minced

1 carrot, finely grated

1/4 small green cabbage, coarsely chopped

1 can (10 1/2 oz) cannellini beans, drained

1Tbs tomato paste

1/2 stewed diced tomatoes (I use tinned organic)

1tsp chilli paste (fuoco d'amore)

water to cover

Salt & pepper to taste

2 slices stale bread

Method:

1.In a medium-large saucepan, saute onion in olive oil, on medium heat, until golden.

2.Add garlic and carrots, and cook until fragrant, but not browned.

3.Add remaining ingredients, except for bread. Fill the pot with water, to cover ingredients.

4.Lid pot, and turn down heat slightly, leave to cook for about 20 minutes.

5.Depending on the size of your cabbage pieces, they should be almost tender by now.

Remove lid, and return heat to medium. Cook until cabbage is tender.

6.You may have to add a little water, if it has mostly been absorbed already.

7.Add bread, and allow to absorb water and become soggy. Whiz briefly with a hand-held mixer, being sure to get the bread. It's nice if you can leave some beans and cabbage whole though.

8.Serve plain or over rice.

Choc Chunk Cookies

The store was out of cucciolo mio's favourite 'fresh' cookies.
Last night he was craving a sweet hit, so I offered to make something his style, from scratch.
When I mentioned Betty Crocker white-chocolate-chunk-macadamia-cookies, he said yes please.


I got the cookbook as a wedding gift from his great-aunt, and while I have a soft spot for Betty, she's just not my style. But last night, I sought her out.
I followed the recipe faithfully- with organic butter and vegetarian fed, free range eggs..
But I drew the line with the sugar, and reduced the called for amount, so there was an equal flour sugar ratio (I mean comeon', more sugar than flour!!?)

As they were baking I thought I would probably like a rice milk dunking buddy too-
So I made dark-chocolate-chunk-cookies, based on the recipe from 'Sinfully Vegan'.
They weren't amazing, but they were SO quick & easy.


Sadly & peculiarly, cucciolo mio only had one cookie.. saying they were ok, but nothing great..


Me: You mean not sweet enough?
Cm: I don't know.. just bland
Me: Okay, but if they had more sweetness they'd be better?
Cm: I don't know.. probably.. they just taste flour-y..bland


Recipe makes about 1 dozen
Ingredients:
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup (overflowing cup!)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2/3 cup dark choc chips
2 1/2 cups spelt flour


Method:
1.Pre-heat oven to 180C(350F).
2.Place canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla essence and choc chips in a mixing bowl, and stir to combine well.
3.Slowly add the flour, and mix well.
4.Drop spoonfuls of mixture, on a lined baking tray, and press to flatten.
5.Bake for about 10 minutes, or until just browned on their bottoms.