Polenta and spinach lasagne

I bookmarked Susan's recipe for Polenta lasagne with Portabellas and Kale ages ago.
I have to laugh - I remember reading that she made it twice in the one week and I thought that it sounded like too much work - and then this last week I made it once and Nat decided that I had to make it again for a dinner party that we were having 2 nights later.

Oh my goodness this recipe ROCKS - it was so easy and so yummy. The photo isn't that great because the light isn't the greatest in our kitchen and its getting darker earlier. Also, this is the leftovers as I didn't want to be taking photos while everyone was waiting to eat. Susan has some beautiful photos though.

I made the quick microwave polenta using Susans directions and used frozen spinach instead of kale. I also used my own pasta sauce which is simple and very yummy.

This recipe was also great for the dinner party because I could make the marinara sauce, the cheese sauce and the polenta the night before and as soon as I got home from work I just put the whole thing together in no time flat!!!

I recommend this recipe to anyone!!! I think this is going to be a regular dish in our house from now on!!

Tangy Tempeh with Green Beans and Peanut Sauce

Well tomorrow morning (7.30am) I go into hospital to have all 4 wisdom teeth out. Tonight I am having a bunch of friends around to our unit for a sort of "last supper" of sorts. I am going to be doing a bit of an indian feast so I am a little excited.

Anyway - what I really wanted to blog about is an awesome tempeh recipe. Tempeh is quite expensive around here and so I very rarely buy it - and when I do buy it I usually make the same recipe - because I know that it is nice and I don't want to waste good tempeh on a bad recipe.

Anyway I had some tempeh, but none of the other ingredients in my other good tempeh recipe. So I went on a bit of a hunt. I was almost going to make tempeh bacon from VWaV - but I wanted to make a dinner that wasn't too shabby (the amount of potatoes we have consumed in the last week in the form of fries, mashed potatoes and potato salad is quite disgusting).

I found this recipe on the net. I changed it slightly so I will put in my changes - but I am sure that the original recipe would be just as nice. This served 2 very hungry people and it will be something that I will be making again because it was so quick and easy!

Tangy Tempeh and Beans

1 block of tempeh (mine was 250g) - cubed
2 tsp olive oil
4tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp apple juice concentrate
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic - minced
1 1/2 cups green beans - sliced into 3cm lengths (or any other green vegetable you fancy - broccoli would be particularly good).

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used one that is solely made from ground peanuts)
1 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp fresh ginger - minced
1 cloves garlic - minced
1/4 - 1/2 cup hot water (depending how runny you want your sauce - I used closer to 1/2 cup)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, concentrate, water and garlic together and pour over tempeh cubes that are in a medium sized saucepan and marinate for at least an hour - flip tempeh occasionally.

Put saucepan on the stove and bring the marinade to the boil. Simmer, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes add the green beans and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Uncover and simmer until the tempeh is almost dry.

Place remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy, adjust the amount of water and salt and pepper to taste.

Place tempeh and beans over a bed of rice and then pour peanut sauce over the tempeh. Enjoy!

Simple Dinners - baked tofu with spinach

Nat has been fighting some stomach bug over the past few days and so he hasn't really been feeling like eating. Consequentially, I have been living off frozen leftovers from all the cooking I did during Mofo.

Last night Nat felt like something simple. I ran through all simple things to see if anything sounded like it would agree with his stomach. We settled on tofu and greens. I have been wanting to try a breaded tofu - but I was happy that Nat was feeling like eating at all and so I settled on using this simple baked tofu recipe from vegweb.

I omitted the oil from the marinade and marinated the tofu for about 2 hours. Then I baked the tofu. I then stir fried some spinach in the marinade and served it atop the spinach.

It was really good (for a really simple meal). I will make it again but when nat is feeling better I will bulk it up by boiling some potatoes, sweet potatoes or pumpkin and mixing it in with the spinach when stir frying.

I have my first exam at 1pm today -Social Problems and Social Policy - wish me luck!!!

Sweet and Sour Vegetables and home style salad

Sweet and Sour Stirfry

Mum has been following the posts on my blog and was very excited when I said I would like to blog about our dinner last night. She said she had the perfect dish (ie. a new dish that I had not had before). So we set about cooking this dish together. The recipe comes from this awesome cookbook that mum bought from the New Internationalist - Quick and Easy - Vegetarian Recipes from around the World for the Western Kitchen. Unfortunately it is out of publication and I have been unable to get my own copy (very very sad about this). Due to the fact that you (or I) are not going to be able to run out and get a copy of this awesome book I will put our version of the recipe (we have changed a few things).

It was really yummy - I haven't really ventured into many sweet and sour dishes - but I really like this - and it was really easy - I chopped the vegetables as I needed to add them (to reduce the total time needed). We had this on the table really quickly.

Sweet and Sour Vegetables
Serves:4
Time: 20mins

600g chopped vegetables (we used 1 red and 1 green capsicum, 1/4 cauliflower, 2 carrots, 1/2 zucchini, 1 stick celery, 1/4 cup cabbage, 5 mushrooms and 1/2 cup pineapple - other possibiliteis could be baby sweetcorn, bok choi, bean sprouts, snowpeas).
1 onion - sliced into cresent moons
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 - 1 red chili - deseeded and chopped finely
450g extra firm tofu - cubed and marinated in a marinade (we were lazy and just used some tamari).

Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce (we used Muir Glen Tomato Ketchup)
2 tbsp pineapple juice
1/2 tsp cornflour

1. Saute onion in oil or broth until it begins to soften. Then add garlic and stir fry for another minute.
2. Add the vegetables that will take the longest to cook (like carrots and capsicum). Stirfry these for 3-4 mins.
3. Add the chili and the rest of the vegetables, stiring until they are cooked.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over vegetables. Add tofu and stir to coat everything in sauce. Leave for a few minutes so that the flavours can sink in.
5. Serve over rice or noodles (we served it over thin rice noodles)

**********
There are many different things that are exclusive to my parents home (where I spent the first 18 years of my life). One of these is the Vita Mix. I remember my brother and I convincing our parents to buy a vita mix at an Organic Gardening Festival in Penguin when I was about 10years old. I think we used the line that it would help us to eat lots of fruits.
Since then - every morning we would share a fruit smoothie (with banana, orange, apple, kiwi, avocado, and other fruits when in season - eg. pears, pineapples, berries etc etc).
Also - and this is a little more unusal - mum and dad would make themselve a whizzed salad. This is because dad's teath make it difficult for him to eat really crunchy vegetables. I used to frown upon this green smoothie - but now I really love sharing it with them when I come home - it tastes surprisingly good - it usually includes - beetroot tomato, carrot, different types of salad greenery, celery, parsley, capsicum, cucumber and a little bit of salt water. So as I am home - I thought I would document the making of the whizzed salad. It can't be called a green smoothie as the beetroot makes it pink at the moment.

The salad before it is whizzed.

The salad after it is whizzed up.

Roasted Asparagus, tofu and portabella mushrooms

Well - it happened again. I was at the local grocery store and I found two bunches of asparagus had been put into the quick sell box. They looked alright - and I just couldn't help myself - so I changed my plans for dinner and decided to try a version of a dish I had been eyeing off on Fat Free Vegan. Every one of Susan's recipes that I have used has just been amazing and this was no exception.

As it was going to be our main meal I added some Chinese style firm tofu (which is softer than the extra firm tofu that I normally buy). I was trying to work out how to cook this type of tofu and I found a website that talked about pressing, freezing or boiling the tofu. Well I have never boiled tofu and I was curious to try it so I boiled it in some left over broth from making seitan. The tofu didn't change much in texture but it did soak up the broth - so I just stuck the cubes in the oven to roast with the asparagus and mushrooms and that crisped up the outside just a little - it was quite nice - I don't know whether I would do it like that again - but it wasn't bad.

I also didn't have any horseradish - but I did have horseradish mustard - so I used that instead of the horseradish. I also just realised that I forgot to put in the pepper - it tasted fine without it. I suggest you check out Susan's original version of the recipe - it rocks.

The sauce was a hit as Nat immediately asked for some more after he tasted it as apparently I hadn't given him enough. That's as good enough as a thumbs up in my books!! The whole dish was easy, quick and really yummy!!

Roasted Asparagus, Tofu and Portabella Mushrooms with Horseradish Mustard Sauce
recipe: adapted from Susan from Fat Free Vegan
Serves 1-2

400g extra firm tofu
500g asparagus - trimmed
2 large portabella mushrooms - sliced
2 cloves garlic - minced

1 cup soymilk
1 tsp garlic
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp horseradish mustard
1 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in a little water.

Directions

If using extra firm tofu - chop into desired shape and marinate for a few hours in your favourite marinade. (If using Chinese firm tofu - either press and then follow the directions above OR cube and boil in broth for 10 mins.)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Place the asparagus, mushrooms and tofu in a large baking tray that has been lightly oiled (I sprayed it with cooking spray) and sprinkle with 2 cloves garlic. Roast, stirring every few mins for about 15mins or until the asparagus starts to brown.

While you are roasting, heat the soymilk in the saucepan, add the garlic, basil, salt, nutritional yeast and horseradish mustard. Stir the mixture until it boils then add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir until the sauce thickens.

Serve the vegetables and tofu over brown rice and drizzle with the sauce.

Easy Asparagus and tofu yumminess

I love asparagus - but it is SO expensive here (you usually pay $3+ for about 7 stalks). But our little local shop had some for $1.49 a bunch. I couldn't help myself. I bought two bunches.

Trouble is - when I buy something that you love and you know you are not going to get it very often, I don't know what to make with it. I mean there are heaps of recipes - but should I stick with an old faithful or should I try something new - should I make sure that it is the centrepiece of the dish - or let it just sit in the background. Well tonight I was going to be home late for dinner (I was at a Tai Chi class) and so I thought a quick veggie stirfry would be in order. So in between coming home from university and going out to the class I quickly pressed some tofu and whipped up a marinade. I let the tofu sit in the marinade while at class (about 2 hours).

When I got back I realised that I didn't really have any stirfry veggies but I did have the asparagus. And so this dish was created. It was simple and so yummy and satisfying.

I probably broke every "how to make a proper stirfry" rule and you will all shun me from the bloggosphere - but I was tired, lazy and heck - it turned out really well and I will be making it again.

I didn't want to use any oil or waste any ingredients. So after marinating the tofu, I poured the marinade into the wok and let it boil down to a thicker consistency, then I added the asparagus and tofu.

Easy Tofu Asparagus Stir-fry

1 block extra firm tofu
2 bunches asparagus

3tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4cup soy sauce
1 tsp sugar (I used grated palm sugar)
2 clove garlic - crushed
1/2 red onion - chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
Water
1tsp arrowroot flour mixed with cold water (optional)
2tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce (or stirfry sauce of your choice)

Directions

1. Press Tofu and cut into triangles (I press my tofu using a tea-towel not paper towel)
2. Mix the vinegar, soysauce, sugar, garlic, onion, ginger together.
3. When tofu is pressed, place in marinating dish and pour marinade over. Add extra water to just cover tofu. Leave for 1-2 hours.
4. When tofu is ready, pour the marinade into the wok and let it boil down so that it is thicker.
5. Add asparagus and tofu and stirfry until asparagus is done.
6. Mix the arrowroot flour with a little bit of water and then pour it into the dish to make the sauce a little thicker. (optional)
   
7. Add the stirfry sauce.
8. Serve immediately over rice.
   

The most ecclectic Zucchini Bread recipe ever

So... we have all these zucchini's - I got them cheap at the market a little while ago. When I was talking about what I could make, Nat thought I was joking when I mentioned zucchini bread.

Well, to enlighten him on the wonders of zucchini bread, I had to first find a recipe. I found a couple of lovely ones - particularly Lindsay at Happy Herbivore's fat free fruity zucchini bread and one on Vegan Food: More than Tofu and Sprouts which just looks so versatile.

I decided that the fruity one looked good - but that was too much for nat (he has an aversion to fruit cake and I think a zucchini loaf with dried fruit was just too way out there) so I settled for looking at the other recipe.

I changed the recipe quite considerably - sometimes because I didn't have enough of the ingredients (I ran out of sugar and apple sauce) and I did a few of my own substitutions just because I wanted to make it oil free.

The loaf was awesome - I used Tofu mum's recipe as a base - and forgot to look at how many loaves it made (which is two) - I don't have two loaf pans and so I made 6 muffins and one loaf.


The verdict. Nat loves them. I think I have dispelled his fear of a vegetable being the base of a sweet bread and maybe next time I will stick in a few sultanas or chopped dates... when he doesn't get a choice he usually finds out that he likes it.
So without further ado my version of the zucchini loaf.
Ecclectic moist oil-free zucchini bread

1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp water
300g silken tofu
1/4 cup applesauce
2 large ripe bananas - mashed

1 medium-large zucchini - grated
1 1/4 cup unprocessed sugar (cause thats all I use in the house)
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups unbleached spelt flour (just cause thats what I cook with)
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F)
2. Grease two loaf tins (or 1 loaf tin and 1 6x muffin pan)
3. Mix flax meal with water and set aside to expand
4. Place tofu, banana, applesauce and flax mix into a food processor and blend till smooth
5. In a large bowl mix zucchini with the sugar, vinegar and vanilla. Add the tofu mixture and mix well.
6. In a separate bowl, mix flours, salt, bicarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking powder.
7. Mix a little bit of the dry mix with the zucchini mix. Continue to add dry mix a little bit at a time until it is combined. (The mix will be very heavy - don't worry it worked really well for me)
8. Pour into loaf tins or spoon into muffin pan.
9. Cook for 30-40 mins (mine was done at 30) for the loaf and about 10-12mins for the muffins.
10. Let cool and then enjoy

Optional variations
choc chips
dried fruit pieces
you can replace applesauce or banana (or both) with oil - you might need a bit more sugar
use any egg replacer for 3 eggs (instead of tofu and flax)
use any vegetable or fruit in place of zucchini (I guess within reason - carrot would go well)

Vegan Mofo #6 - Palak tofu - a combination of some awesome recipes

Well, I have never had Palak Paneer so I can't compare... but this was pretty damn good. It was the first time I made my own vegan paneer... I used the recipe from Vegan Feast Kitchen. It was great... however I wasn't too sure whether to use firm or extra firm tofu. I used extra firm, but it seemed too dry. WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY to dry. I was getting rather nervous but added about another 1/4-1/2 cup of water and another tsp of agar agar. So I think that the Bryanna's recipe is for firm (not silken and not extra firm). Well it turned out REALLY well. So lovely.

Next, I based the recipe on a dish created by Susan from FFV. I made a few substitutions, I used silverbeet instead of spinach and a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh. I used the curry powder and ommitted the fenugreek.

The result - well the paneer 'melted' a little and the final dish had lots of little tofu bits all through it... but it was really lovely. Both Nat and I enjoyed it and will probably make it again.

VeganMoFo- Iron Chef Challenge - Vegan Mulligatawny

Well I only just realised that there was an Iron Chef Challenge - hence the second post today. This weeks challenge was posted by Katie - if you want more info you can get it here.

The ingredients for this week are Apple and Ginger. Now my Northern Hemisphere fellow bloggers are in Autumn and so they are in the heart of apple season - here - they are still around - but just not as nice as they are in say April or May.

I didn't really know what to do for the challenge - so I googled apple and ginger recipes and came up with Mulligatawny. It looked interesting - looked very different to anything I have ever eaten - so why not give it a try.

I have not yet ventured into the seitan realm so I thought that frozen tofu would be a perfect substitute for the chicken. Except I had no frozen tofu!!! This never happens. So I had to settle for extra firm tofu.

The results are awesome. Nat and I both love it and will make it for tea again very soon. I still think frozen tofu would be awesome to try - but I am not at all disappointed with this dish.

Vegan Mulligatawny

400g extra firm tofu (optional: freeze and then thaw/press out water)
1 inch fresh ginger - grated
2 tsp chicken style stock powder
400ml water
1 tsp sugar

1 medium onion - chopped
2 carrots - chopped
1 red capsicum - chopped
2 small or 1 large apple (I used jonagold - the recipe I found suggests Gala)
1 stick celery - chopped
1/2 cup green beans - trimmed

2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp curry powder (I used Madras)
1 tsp chili paste
1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp mango chutney
1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions

1. Cut the tofu into cubes - mix the stock powder with the water and add the ginger. pour the fix into a flat bottomed container and place tofu in to marinate - leave for a few hours.
2. When marinated, spray a heavy bottomed saucepan with cooking spray and fry the tofu for about 3-4mins - stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Remove tofu from the pan.
3. Saute onion, carrots, capsicum, apples, celery, and beans for about 5 mins.
4. Add flour, curry powder, chili paste and salt - stir to combine.
5. Add chutney and tomato paste - bring to boil and then simmer for about 10 mins.
6. Add tofu and serve over rice.

VeganMoFo #3 - How do you cook tempeh??

Well we are already into MoFo day 3 here in Aussie!!! I have been flat out with university over the last few days. I handed an assignment in yesterday and have one more to go before my exams (its my last undergrad assignment!!!!) The last two nights I had nats mum come and stay with us which was so lovely. She is one of those people who doesn't make you feel any different when she is staying - its lovely to have her here.

Anyway - I didn't really know what to cook and so I looked in the fridge and realised that somehow I had ended up with 6 capsicums (bell peppers to my US buddies). They were on special and I got a little excited. So from there I remembered a lovely tempeh recipe that I hadn't had for ages. I had a block of tempeh in the freezer and dinner was on.

This is the only tempeh recipe that I have cooked and thought that it is worth keeping. Tempeh is rather expensive here (about $5 for a 300g block - compared to $3.30 for a 500g block of extra firm tofu) so the recipe has to be pretty good for me to feel that I want to make it again.

The photo isn't the greatest as we don't have very good lighting in our place (and it was night) but the recipe is SO good. You can find it here.

I was wondering what other peoples fav. tempeh recipes are - if you have the recipe on your blog feel free to link it - or post the link of the recipe if it is elsewhere on the net.


Happy vegan MoFo'ing - I am LOVING the influx of vegan food posts around the bloggersphere!!!

What to do with left over silken tofu??

Well I had an assignment due yesterday and so I have spent today relaxing and looking at what in our fridge needs to be used up. I found some left over silken tofu from a package that I had to open a few nights ago. Since then I have been trying to use up the tofu including making a chocolate pudding for my hubby. I still had about a 1/2 cup left and so I looked through my cookbooks to get some inspiration. I found this recipe in a folder of recipies I have collected from magazines over the years and never cooked. I didn't have all the ingredients so what I have created is very different to the original (almost totally different - apart from the fact that both recipes had silken tofu, oats and sugar). These bars were a resounding success. They are chewy and a great protein filled energy bar. My husband came home from work and was immediatly after the source of the yummy smells wafting from our kitchen.

Easy chewy oatmeal bars

Prep time: 15mins

Ingredients

· 3/4 cup sultanas

· 1/3 cup walnut halves or pieces (optional)

· 1/4 cup white flour

· 1/4 cup wholemeal flour

· 1/2 tsp. bicarb soda

· 1/4 tsp. salt

· 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

· 1 cup rolled oats

· 1/2 cup silken tofu

· egg substitute for 1 egg (I use Organ No-egg)

· ¼ cup olive oil

· 1/3 cup brown sugar

· 1/3 cup maple syrup

· 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Spray a 20cm x 20cm glass baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Soak sultanas in boiling water and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. If using walnuts, spread in small baking pan and toast in oven until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. In a bowl, combine both flours, bicarb soda, salt, cinnamon and oats.
5. Drain sultanas and chop walnuts (if using). Set aside.
6. Blend tofu in a food processor until smooth. Add egg substitute, oil, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. Process until mixture is smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides with rubber spatula in the middle.
7. Add flour mixture, sultanas and walnuts to the food processor. Pulse on/off until all the ingredients mixed.
8. Turn the mixture into the dish and spread into an even layer.
9. Bake until light golden and firm to the touch, approx 30-35 minutes.
10. When done, remove from oven and cool in the pan. Cut into bars.
11. Bars can be kept in an airtight container for up to 5 days or in the freezer for many months.