6 month anniversary and PIZZA

Sorry I have been neglecting the blog - camera went MIA for a little while and so although I was cooking a fair bit, I didn't take any photos of it.

But I am back - welcome to 2009. I am going to try and be a little healthier in my cooking for the next little while (trying to shed xmas festivity weight).

But first - today Nat and I celebrated our 6month wedding anniversary!!! The time has just flown by.

I asked Nat what he wanted for dinner to celebrate and he wanted pizza. I had never made pizza before - and I had the recipe from VWaV so I decided to give it a go.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!!!
For all those people like me who think that pizza is too hard its not!! I don't like any of the soy cheeses available in Aussie and so I didn't think it would be so good without cheese - it was so yummy.

It is easy and so SO worth it. We are going to be eating pizza a lot more in this house (at least once a month) - and once we have got a few nice pizza combinations going we are going to have a pizza party!! I need to get another pizza tray first though!!




I used the VWaV pizza dough and sauce recipes and then topped it with the following:
sundried tomatoes
olives
onion rings
pineapple
kittee's seitan, cubed
capsicum
vegan parmesan cheese (I don't think this is necessary for a good pizza - we just had some in our cupboard)
BBQ sauce
mushrooms

The finished product - isn't it awesome!!

I would love to hear your favourite topping combinations for pizza (especially if you don't use fake cheese).
Have a great 2009

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.

Fat Free vegan Quesadillas - Quick and easy yumminess!!

As it is the weekend, my husband was at home for lunch today (yay!!) and so when it came to lunch I decided to make one of his favourite meals which we have aptly named zucchini-beany quesadillas.

This recipe started out as an attempt to creatively use up leftovers (extra stuffing from a stuffed zucchini recipe to be exact). But it has been honed down, both because of my laziness when I cook lunches and because I haven't always had the ingredients on hand. What we have now is a quesadilla that is easy and cheesy (without the cheese) and upon presenting it to nat at lunch today he proclaimed it to be his most favourite dish for lunch. High praise from someone who is really only learning the many textures and flavours of vegan cooking.

And the best thing is... it is SO damn easy... it takes a max of 20mins to prepare and most of that is sitting and waiting for the zucchini to cook (and that can be left to its own devices really - I only give it maybe one stir during cooking).





Zucchini-beany quesadillas.

serves 4 - prep time 20mins

1 medium-large zucchini diced (optional - peeled - it will give the filling a smoother texture, but I am lazy and leave the skin on).
1 onion - diced
1 clove of garlic - minced
2 tomatoes diced (or equivalent canned)
1 cup cooked kidney beans
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (the more you use the more cheesy it becomes)
dash of hot sauce
salt to taste
4 tortillas

1. Sauté onion and garlic in oil or water until browned.
2. Add tomatoes and zucchini and simmer (on low-medium) until they are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated.
3. In a bowl, mash the kidney beans. Add the zucchini mixture, nutritional yeast, salt and hot sauce. Mash until it forms a paste (peeled zucchini will make a lot smoother mixture).
4. Heat tortilla in a non-stick frypan. Once it is soft spoon about 1/4 of bean mixture onto the tortilla and fold in half.
5. Cook on both sides until the mixture is heated through and the tortilla is a little crispy.
6. Serve on its own or with a salad (I usually eat serve them with chopped avocado and tomato).