Vegan MoFo Day 2 - Cooking Frenzy

Day 2 saw us cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Here in Melbourne, it's a public holiday for Melbourne Cup Day racing. We boycott the races in this house, so instead spent part of the day cooking lima beans, baking biscuits and cake and making a yummy dinner.

Almost all of the food (except the cake) came from the cookbook I'm cooking from for the week 'Passion for Pulses' Compiled by Nancy Longnecker.

After soaking 500g of dried lima beans overnight, I cooked them for just over an hour first thing this morning to make sure they'd be ready for dinner. I've never cooked nor eaten (to my knowledge) lima beans before, so was a little apprehensive. More on the lima beans later.

Next I cooked and cooled a small amount of green lentils for the Lentil Cookies (p. 25). I managed to convince Tweenie to do the rest of the cooking for these cookies, which really isn't that hard as she REALLY LOVES to bake!

These turned out quite well. I loved the inclusion of dried apricots, sultanas and sunflower seeds and there is no taste at all of the lentils. These cookies remind me of the recent cookbooks dedicated to hiding healthy vegetables in not-so-healthy foods so kids will eat them! 

Verdict - Really yum! Kids liked them although Tweenie preferred the cake. I'd make them again.

Lentil Cookies from Passion for Pulses compiled by Nancy Longnecker


1/4C dried green lentils (1/2C cooked)
1/2C butter
1/2C packed brown sugar
1/4C vegan sugar
1 egg (we used egg replacer)
1t vanilla
3/4C white or wholemeal flour
1/2t bicarb of soda
1/2C chopped dried apricots
1/2C raisins
1/2C sunflower seeds
1T honey (we used agave)
1t mixed spice (we used cinnamon)

Rinse lentils, put into pot with plenty of water. Bring to boil, them simmer gently for 30 minutes until lentils are tender. Drain and cool.
Cream butter and sugars; add egg (replacer) and vanilla, mixing until fluffy.
Stir in flour, and bicarb; add lentils and remaining ingredients.
Drop by teaspoon onto greased baking tray, press flat with a fork.
Bake 10-12 minutes in 180c oven.

Next I made a Blueberry Breakfast Cake from Fat Free Vegan. It's not a sweet cake, but very nice! No need for my amateur picture, check out the link!

Tonights dinner used 2 different recipes from Passion For Pulses. First was Lima Bean and Potato Casserole (p.33) and second was Himalayan Mung Bean Fritters (MU WO) (p.73). Both of these recipes were great! The kids couldn't stop eating the fritters and YM even went back for seconds of the casserole!

Verdict: I'd DEFINITELY make both of these again. The mung bean fritters were ONLY soaked then pureed mung beans! As odd as the puree seemed and as doubtful as I was that they'd work, they did work and they tasted great dipped into some sweet chilli sauce.

How good does that look!!

Himalayan Mung Bean Fritters (MU WO) from Passion For Pulses

2C mung beans (green gram)

1-2T soy sauce

1t cumin powder

1t salt

oil for frying

Soak mung beans overnight. Drain well. Grind or puree mung beans with soy sauce (worked well in my blender). Add cumin and salt.

Shape into fritters in the palm of your hand (my puree was WAY too sloppy for this so I just dropped spoonfuls into the oil to shallow fry).

Fry until brown, serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Lima Bean and Potato Casserole from Passion For Pulses

2 1/2C (500g) dried lima veans

1T oil

2 large onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2t plain flour

2C vegetable stock

6 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4C tomato paste

1/2t each of basil, thyme and oregano

1t sugar

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 stick celery, chopped (I NEVER use celery in ANY of my cooking - blerh!)

5 potatoes (400g) sliced 2mm thick

15g butter, melted

1/2t cumin seeds

Soak lima beans for at least 6 hours. Drain. Add to large pot and cover with plenty of water. Bring to the boil for 15 minutes; gently simmer for 1 hour. Drain.

Saute onions and garlic in oil until onions are soft.

Add flour. Stir until combined.

Gradually stir in stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, thyme, oregano, sugar, carrots and celery.
Simmer covered until carrots are tender; stir in lima beans.
Put bean mixture into ovenproof dish. Top with tomato slices, brush with butter and sprinkle with cumin seeds.
Bake uncovered in 180c oven for about 40 minutes or until potato slices are tender and browned.

Enjoy,
Tahn

Just For Fun

This is today's lunch.

We used the spiraliser to make a heap of curly fries, some plain and the other lot with paprika sprinkled on them. We also cooked the potato 'cores' which look like little mushrooms.

Just for fun.

Tahn

Cake and Curry

Another recipe from the Supercook website. Tonight we tried Peas, Potato and Eggplant Curry.

It was really yum and even fussy Baby liked it tonight! Added bonus! I needed to cook it for a little longer than it suggested to make the potatoes soft. Maybe a nuking in the 'wave before hand?? Either way, it was quite nice.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with eggplant. I cut it into little cubes and covered it in salt in a colander and left it for an hour or so. Then I rinsed it off and used it as required. This is the second time I have tried to salt eggplant and I believe it has helped it to taste better, even though I have read on many blogs/recipe sites that putting salt on eggplant is not necessary. It is something I will continue to do.

Again we tried the 1 Pan Fudge Cake to see what happens when we cook it for the required 25 minutes and it really was a complete failure :( Delicious, but under cooked this time! The kids will still eat it, though! Having said that, Tweenie made a passing comment when I cut them a piece to take to school tomorrow that she actually preferred the raw treats! Imagine that! So I'll try to make some for her tomorrow (I gotta stop being so lazy! It's just that without a food processor it takes sooo long!!) I feel more comfortable with the healthy food choice that is the raw date balls, instead of cake like this 1 Pan Fudge Cake that requires 3/4C of OIL! Not good!

Anyway, til tomorrow

Tahn

Silverbeet, Potato and Tomato Curry

More work today, more cute kids.

Yesterday, on my day off, I did a heap of cooking and I made tonight's dinner which made things A LOT easier when I got home from work.

I needed to use the mortar and pestle (or pestle and mortar) that Popeye bought me ages ago. I needed to post a photo to prove it!

I made a Silverbeet, Potato and Tomato Curry which I really liked but Baby decided she didn't like it, then asked if she could have a piece of fruit! ("I don't think so!" was my answer, in case you were wondering!) I made her stick it in the fridge. Maybe she can have it after school tomorrow, when they all seem to be starving!

I have prepped tomorrow night's dinner also! How on top of things am I??!! Almost all of the Date, Almond and Coconut Balls I made yesterday for school snax are nearly gone (man, they are sooo yummy I can't control myself!!) so I will have to make another batch tomorrow. I just wish I had Popeye's food processor - what should only take 10  minutes takes me about half an hour! (And just as long to eat them!)

Random:

Here is a picture of the brooch I wore to work today. My sister made it for me for my birthday. How cute is it?!!!

More cute kids tomorrow.

Tahn

Friends for dinner and Boo-nanas for dessert

I had the day off today so I decided to do a bit of cooking to make up for last night's lack of enthusiasm. When I had settled down at the end of it, just before the kids got home from school, I thought about Popeye's sister, G, who had just returned from QLD visiting her army b/f and I knew she would be feeling low. So I rung her up and invited G and her 2 gorgeous boys - V, 5 and JA, 3 (I hope I got the ages correct!) over to help us eat dinner.

My cooking day started with FUDGE!!!! OMG!!! G, I totally forgot to tell you about the fudge!!!

Look at that!! So delicious!! Very sweet, didn't quite set (like 'real' fudge - but enough) and so I need to eat it with a spoon. I am not sure where abouts on the WWW I got this recipe from.

FUDGE

6T margarine
31/2C icing sugar
1/2C cocoa
1t vanilla
1/4C milk (I used rice)
1C chopped nuts (optional)

Spray a baking tin. Place all ingredients (except nuts) in a heatproof mixing bowl. Place the bowl over simmering water and stir until smooth. Add nuts. Pour mixture quickly into tin. Chill thoroughly (overnight is best). Cut into squares.

Next I made Spanakopita from this recipe.

It was really good! I'd definitely make this again! It's like a spinach and ricotta strudel. I made it with FRESH silverbeet from my garden! So good!

I tried an Aloo Palak recipe (spinach and potatoes). I liked it although the kids thought it was a little too spicy for them.
Here is what our dinner looked like:

After I invited G and the boys for dinner, I quickly made a dessert for them that was called 'Boo-nanas'.

How cute do they look?? Like little ghosts! The kids gobbled them up. Even I had one and they were yum!

Boo- nanas
Bananas
shredded coconut
sultanas
orange juice (I actually had no OJ, so I used a pastry brush and brushed maple syrup on them)
popsticks (I used skewers)
Stick a skewer up the length of the banana. Sprinkle bananas with OJ (or similar), press in coconut and gently push in sultanas as eyes. Eat immediately or freeze (freezing them ROCKS!!)

I made tomorrow night's dinner also, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that!

Tahn

Still Monochrome But Better

For dinner tonight I enlisted the help of Tweenie. I put her in charge of Nut Butter Potato Croquettes. I, meanwhile, took the easier job of Garlic Roasted Cauliflower. Tweenie organised the mash potato and kumera, then prepared the rest. When the potato was done, she mashed it then stuck it all into her bowl but it was waaaaayyyy too much spud! So the Nut Butter Potato Croquettes didn't really work out but was ok, maybe something to try again at a later date. I would cook the onions first next time, as I am not a big fan of raw onion, and Tweenie had chopped it up quite large. Never mind, it was a good effort. Meanwhile, I temporarily forgot about the cauliflower, so it was a little 'brown' in places but delicious! We have never had roasted cauliflower before and I will definitely do it again. Again, it wasn't until I took the photo of tonight's meal that I realised the monochrome colourings (again!). Could have done with a nice large salad, but didn't - for 2 reasons. 1. Lazy. 2. Not much left in the fridge (vege run tomorrow). Mostly it is because I am lazy :)

Also, on the raw side of life, I found this recipe from the Choosing Raw website for Zucchini Hummus. I halved the recipe and it still made a shite load!

It was nice, different. I only had a few dips, but I could get used to it. Tweenie loved it but she loves everything! YM wouldn't even try it, and Baby didn't like it at all.

Well I went around to my local schools today and I hit the jackpot with one school! Most schools go through an agency, which I am not keen on doing. But the last school I went to find their own CRT's and out of the next 15 teaching days I am already booked for 10 days with this one school! Scored! First day back, Monday, Preps - my favourite!!

73 days to go...

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