Vegan MoFo 2010 - Mushroom and Chickpea Stroganoff

Yesterday saw me trying a stroganoff for the first time since becoming vegan. I was a little excited about this and skeptical that the homemade sour cream would do the trick. I needn't have worried.

Verdict: I'd make this again too! I've been having great successes with 'Passion For Pulses' and I'm really impressed. Next time I'd watch the last 10 minutes cooking time more closely (when the sour cream gets added) or add more than 1C of sour cream so it would be a little bit more thinner than it was.

Mushroom and Chickpea Stroganoff adapted from Passion For Pulses compiled by Nancy Longnecker

2C cooked chickpeas
2T oil
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2t paprika
2C mushrooms, chopped
1T tomato paste
1 large tomato, chopped
1C sour cream (vegan homemade recipe to follow)
1t dry mustard
1t dried dill
1T chives, chopped
1/4C parsley, chopped
1t honey (I used agave)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic and oil. add paprika; cook for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms, cook for a few more minutes. Add tomato paste with the remaining ingredients, including chickpeas. SImmer gently, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Serve with brown rice or wholemeal noodles.

Almost Sour Cream (p. 10) from Hot Damn and Hell Yeah 


1 1/2C silken tofu, squeezed and drained
1T canola oil
2t cider vinegar
1/2t salt
1t sugar
2t lemon juice

Blend until smooth and thickened up. Refrigerate.

On another totally non-related, non-food note, I want to share what has been happening in my life for the past few weeks. I found out I was pregnant about 4 weeks ago. Things were going well until I woke up last Thursday and found that ALL of my pregnancy symptoms had completely stopped. Concerned, but telling myself it was all in my head, I waited until my Saturday appointment to see the Dr. After the pregnancy formalities, I expressed my concern to the Dr, who took some bloods and instructed me to come back the following Tuesday for follow up test. The blood tests were to check my hormone levels, which are supposed to at least double every couple of days. Yesterday I went for the results and my hormone levels had actually dropped. I was sent for an ultrasound today and my suspicions were confirmed when the radiologist could not find a heart beat and declared the baby was about a week younger than my actual dates. This is called a missed miscarriage, or a missed abortion. I think the next step is to go to the hospital for a D & C to remove the foetus. We will find out for sure tomorrow.
As sad as I am, I believe these things happen for a reason and maybe the timing wasn't right. I already have 3 gorgeous children and I am eternally grateful for them.
Why am I sharing so publicly on my blog? Because it's my bloody blog and I'll write whatever the bloody hell I want! But also, I find it a real shame that these sort of topics are taboo. It's bad enough that pregnant women fear telling ANYONE they are pregnant until at least 12 weeks, but women lose babies all the time and it seems that once this happens, they are left to deal with it themselves. I want this out in the open. I want this pregnancy remembered, and the baby, barely out of cell dividing stage but my baby nonetheless, to be discussed openly especially within my family. My children know about the baby (we've given it a new name each week, relating to the size of it - this week it was 'Prune') but have yet to be told about the loss (this will probably happen tomorrow when we find out what the next step is). They have been so helpful to me while I was stuck in bed with morning sickness. They are the best children in the world - regardless of what members of my extended family believe.

Goodbye angel baby, may we meet in another life.

Tahn

Vegan MoFo Day 1

And so starts another VeganMoFo!

This week I am taking all of my recipes from the book 'Passion for Pulses' Compiled by Nancy Longnecker.

I've had this cookbook for quite a while, but usually forget about it! I decided to use this book for the first week as pulses are really something that lacks in my weekly cooking and I need to cook with them more often. I'm excited for this week as I'm trying things I might not usually pick from this book, including Lentil Cookies and Chickpea Cookies.

Tonights dish was Persian Bean Casserole (ARSH)  (pg. 68).  I loved the idea of using 3 different pulses (chickpeas, kidney beans & cannellini) and throwing in some pasta is always a winner with kids.

My verdict: Quite a bland dish, but the kids liked it. Next time I would double the fried onion garnish as I really liked the taste of the onions in each mouthful - it added a little bit needed flavour.

Persian Bean Casserole (ARSH) in Passion for Pulses

Serves 8 (actually, it was just a perfect amount for the 2 adults and 3 kiddies in this family)

(use tinned or precooked peas and beans to save time)

1C (200g) dried chickpeas

1C (140g) dried kidney beans

1C (180g) dried cannellini or haricot beans

1T oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1t dried mint

10C (2.5L) water

2 1/2C pasta shells

2 bunches (4C) fresh English spinach, rinsed and chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped

salt and black pepper

plain yoghurt for garnish (I DID NOT use this. Not a fan of soy yoghurts.)

1C fresh coriander, chopped

Soak chickpeas and beans overnight. Drain. In large pot, fry onion, 1 clove of garlic and mint in oil. Remove from pot; set aside. 

Put chickpeas and beans in same pot. Add water. Bring to the boil; simmer for 1.5 hours or until beans are tender, adding more water as necessary.

Add pasta and return to the boil. When pasta is nearly cooked add spinach, parsley, salt, pepper, and the second clove of garlic. Cook for 10 minutes; remove from heat.

When arsh has cooled slightly, top with a dollop of yoghurt, and garnish with fried onion mixture and fresh chopped coriander.

Tahn

Oh How I Love Thee, Summer Fruit:Peaches 3 Ways

Last week I bought a heap of peaches cheap at the markets and once I got them home my thoughts turned to how I was going to use them up.

I flicked through my cookbooks and found a chutney and a relish in 1000 Vegan recipes. I would never have thought about making them pre-vegan. Hot, cooked fruit? No way! (especially sultanas!). But I put my prejudices aside, gave these a go, and was very pleasantly surprised.

Firstly I made Spiced Tomato and Peach Relish. (pg. 570). It recommends Chickpea and Vegetable Loaf (on pg. 265) as a fantastic dish to have with the relish as an accompaniment. So I had to make that, too!

Then I made Ginger-Peach Chutney (pg. 564). This was the winner hands down! We had these with Kebabs (post to come later) but they just ROCKED as a spread on bread with Macadamia Cashew Patties (p. 119)!! It was like an orgasm in my mouth! Amazing!

Lastly, I stewed up the rest of the peaches and added them with some puff pastry to my pie maker with some Vegan Whipped Cream (p.501) on the side for an awesome, quick dessert.

My family are really enjoying my urge to cook!

Tahn

Unofficial Recipe Tester

I've been thinking today (oh yes, it does happen) and I think I have been lying to myself. As silly as this sounds, I don't believe I am a true food blogger. I mean, I NEVER make up any of my own recipes, find out what works and post my successes on here. In fact, I ONLY work from a recipe - someone else's recipe! So, in actual fact, I am just a recipe tester.

I'm ok with this title. Unofficial Recipe Tester. I'm even going to change my 'About me' to reflect this. I have really come to grips with cooking and eating healthy and vegan in the last, say, 10 months (if you remember I posted about how I was a REALLY unhealthy vegan for the  first 12 months). I am sure in time that I will be able to create some wonderful dishes without the help of someone else's recipe as I am slowly learning what goes with what and what doesn't work. The more recipes I 'test' the more I am learning. But until then I am just as happy being an Unofficial Recipe Tester!

Here's a recipe I tested tonight. It was Maple Baked Beans from 1000 Vegan Recipes. Way better than tinned, store bought baked beans. My only criticism would be that it was quite sweet (even for my sweet tooth). It used 1/4C of maple syrup (and we all know how much maple syrup costs on this side of the world!) and I would probably reduce this amount by half and try that. I used cannellini  beans instead of the Great Northern Beans the recipe stated 'cause I learned today, through the wonderful medium the internet, most white beans are interchangeable. I teamed the Maple Baked Beans with some chickpea cutlets. Delish! They are so fast to make it is almost a crime!

I'm in love!

I am soo in love with my new cookbook 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.

Here's what I have made while I have been ignoring you:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (soo damn good!)

Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew

Sunset Fruit Pudding (oh, so good! Can you tell I have a sweet tooth!!) It's raw, too - just fruit.

The salad is Roasted Cauliflower and Rice Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette. And thanks to Brisvegan's quiche post I was inspired to try Isa's Broccoli Quiche. I actually found the recipe on the PPK website. I used a basic pie crust recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes. And DAMN it was good! Will definitely make this for the vegan xmas potluck I'm going to next Saturday (although I will splash out and purchase a pie tin - all I had was a square one). I wanted to have a test run on it first. Amazing! I also thought I would take some sushi as a starter and some sort of dessert to the pot luck. I'd better do some test runs on some desserts! Just in case....

Friday night Tweenie asked if we could watch the sunrise on Saturday morning. So we got up bright and early the next morning and walked up the road to the park. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy out on the east side of the world(and wouldn't ya know it - clear everywhere else!!). The kids still enjoyed it and it fostered some great discussions about the earth's rotation and the role of the sun. We hope to do it again on a day not so cloudy, although it did make for cool pictures.

Tahn

Can I have some more broccoli, Mum?

OMG! Who's kids say that?? Certainly not mine BEFORE we became vegan!

This is what we had for dinner. SO SO SO very sorry about the crappy photo again - we were all chowing down when I suddenly remembered I needed to take a photo of all my hard work! Luckily YM is a slow eater, so I took a photo of his plate (chip on the side and all!) of food. He chose not to put the mushroom sauce on the cutlets or the special broccoli sauce on the broccoli which is why it is sitting separate to his plate.

Chickpea cutlets with Mushroom sauce & Mashed potato and Kumera with caramelised onions & Borlotti beans with Silverbeet & Broccoli with Garlic butter and Cashew

What a feast! It may not LOOK particularly appetising, but it was delicious!!

I had never made the chickpea cutlets before and I will definitely make them again! I got the recipe from here. Next time I might try baking them. I made two batches and they are all gone! That's me and four small kids!

I found the recipe for the mushroom sauce in Vegan a Go-Go by Sarah Kramer. Pretty basic.

Mushroom Sauce

6 Button mushrooms, chopped small

2T marg

1C vegetable stock

3T flour

1T Nutritional yeast

Pepper

1t Braggs

In a pot, soften the mushrooms up in the margarine. Add flour, yeast, Braggs and pepper and stir briefly. Add stock 1/4C at a time and stir continuously until thickened. Either blend or leave as is.

The mashed potato, kumera and caramelised onion dish is just as it is said! Too easy.

My new favourite way to cook silverbeet is the next recipe. I remember silverbeet as being a boil sloppy mess on my plate when I was a kid, but this dish rocks!

Borlotti Beans and Silverbeet

1 bunch of silverbeet, greens, chopped, washed

1 tin borlotti beans, rinsed

2T tomato paste

1 carrot chopped small

1 onion, diced

Put beans, tomato paste, carrot and onion into a pot and just cover with water. Cook for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, boil the silverbeet. Add silverbeet to beans mix when beans and carrots are cooked. Cook an extra few minutes and serve.

I also love this next recipe. It's from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. The first time I made it I had no marg (so I used oil) and no cashews and it still was fabulous.

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

Broccoli cut into bite size pieces

3T Nuttelex

2 cloves garlic, minced

1T brown sugar

2-3T Braggs

2t rice vinegar

1/4t black pepper

small handful cashews, chopped small

Steam broccoli. Meanwhile melt marg and add garlic, sugar, Braggs, vinegar and pepper. Bring to the boil, allowing it to thicken up a bit. Remove from heat and stir in cashews. I usually serve it in a separate bowl so people can add as little or as much as they choose, otherwise toss it through the steamed broccoli and then serve.

mmmm mmmm mmmm

Well today we went for another bike ride. The plan was to head past CERES to watch 'Derrick' the litter trap on the Merri Creek being emptied. There was a little sign up that said he was to be emptied at 11am Oct 2. Today. So we got there, and waited and waited. NOTHING. How disappointing. I was interested to see how it worked. But all was not lost. I met a lovely lady there  who turns out she and her two gorgeous kids are raw vegetarians! So we got talking, exchanged email (now where did I put her email address??) and I am looking forward to having more contact with her. She said she would give me some raw kid 'treat' recipes which I am really looking forward to.

Then we headed back my way, with the intention of heading to Moomba Park a few more kms away. We kept riding and riding and riding. It is not very nice much further past Coburg Lake. :(

Baby said 'This reminds me of the leech walk' (A disastrous Tasmanian walk that should have lasted only 2 hours but turned into four where the children were eaten alive by leeches, it was raining heavily and was very, very unpleasant!)

And I thought, yeah, she's right. This is not fun anymore. So we turned around and came home. Almost 4 hours later and the kids were knackered (which is why I am able to post this so early - they have crashed out!) I don't think we will go past Coburg Lake again. Heading in towards the city is nice, though.

You may be wondering why I always tell what we have done for the day? Shouldn't I just post about food?

Well, a few reasons why I tell more. I hope Popeye will get some time to read this, so he can see what we are up to while he is away. It's not all about food for me, it's about family. I think it is nice to read what others do, and to realise we are quite normal after all! It is also like a diary for me. One to be able to read back through at any time and reminisce.

D & M over, have a great weekend!!

Tahn