Easy Rosemary Roast Potatoes and Pumpkin, Chickpea and Zucchini Burgers

Once again I am sorry for not posting very often. Full time work is taking up a lot of time.

But enough of that - For christmas I got given Now Vegan by Lynda Stoner. I had seen the cookbook before but had not really had a good chance to have a look - until now. It looks awesome. I haven't had much of a chance to cook much out of it (I plan to over the next month or two) - but the photos are beautiful - the recipes look easy but also very presentable to dinner guests and she even has gluten free and sugar free recipes.
Last week I was having some friends over and I planned to make Veganomican's Lemony Roasted Potatoes (as this has been a hit every time I make it) - but I didn't have any lemons. I remembered seeing a recipe for Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Potatoes - and within 40-50 mins they were done. All my dinner guests went back for seconds and Nat requested that I make it again very soon. Two nights later I made it again (so I could take a photo and for Nat to enjoy). I served it up with some Pumpkin, Chickpea and Zucchini Burgers. This recipe was annoying and I had to make a lot of alterations. The finished product was wonderful though.

Rosemary and garlic roast potatoes with pumpkin,
zucchini and chickpea burgers

The changes I made to the burgers were: replaced the egg with Organ No-egg egg replacer. I also added about 2 tbsp of ground flaxseed and about 1/2-1 cup of flour because the mixture was just WAY too runny. Next time I make them I think I will roast rather than boil the pumpkin.

Anyway the meal was a lovely one. More posts soon - I promise!!

Sparkled Ginger Cookies are SO good

VWaV Sparkled Ginger Cookies

Oh My Goodness - if you have not made these cookies then you do not know what you are missing out on!!! I made these three days ago and I think that these will be the cookies that I bake for Christmas parties and Christmas day snacks. I used to love an awesome ginger cake that my friends mum (the owner and chef of the restaurant where Nat and I got married) used to make - this had that flavour.

They were a different texture to a lot of the cookies I usually make. I made them quite large and they pillowed up and looked very pretty. They had a beautiful soft texture. mmm..... they will not last as long as I thought they might. Oh well - I am not upset because they were so ridiculously easy that it will take no time to make them again.

VWaV kicks some cookie arse once again!!

Oh - does anyone know of a good ginger cake recipe?? I would love to make one.

Easy Pea-zy fried rice

First of all, I want to apologise for the crappy photo - I had a hungry husband and both of us had had a long day and frankly this smelt SO good that it didn't hang around for long on the table getting photographed. I have never made fried rice before, but after having Nat's mum and brother and sister in law over for dinner a few nights ago, Nat and I found ourselves with a lot of leftover rice (I over estimated how hungry people would be!!)

Anyway - I had to go to a staff meeting and end of year party yesterday and Nat was working all day so by the time both of us were home it was late and I didn't have anything prepared. I looked in the fridge and the rice was staring back at me and so I decided to make fried rice.

Fried Rice is SO easy if you have left over rice - and while I don't usually cook with so much oil - it was nice for a treat. Although the ingredient list looks long, this meal was whipped up in under 30 minutes, and I was going slowly - I could have had it on the table in much less time if I had really been bothered. I used a recipe that I was given in grade 7 cooking class - but I modified the amount of oil and the spices and ingredients other than the rice. You can modify the ingredients with what you have on hand. Other veggies could include - cauliflower, corn, broccoli, finely diced cabbage, capsicum, asparagus - just make sure that everything is chopped quite small.

I used little pieces of Kittee's Seitan (which I think is marvelous!!) chopped up - but you could also easily use chickpeas, cashews or re hydrated TVP.

There should have been leftovers for this dish but we were both so hungry (and it was so Delicious) that it only fed the two of us (Nat went back for seconds). So I would say that this dish serves 2 hungry very hungry people, or 2 moderately hungry people with some left-overs for the next day.

Easy Pea-zy Fried Rice

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion - diced
3-4 garlic cloves - minced
1 stalk celery - diced
2-3 medium carrots - chopped
2 spring onions - chopped
2 medium sized mushrooms - chopped (I used the normal white button mushies - any mushroom would do though)
1/2 cup seitan/re hydrated TVP*/chickpeas
4 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 cups of cooked rice (I used medium grain brown - use whatever cooked rice you have on hand)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup water

Pour about 2 tbsp of oil into a large (non-stick) frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough (a piece of onion will cause bubbles in the oil when dropped in), put in the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Stir for 2-3 minutes
Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce and then the spring onions and mushrooms. Continue to stir until the onions are almost done (they will become opaque).
Scrape all the vegetables to one side of the frying pan and then add the cooked rice to the cleared side. Press down on the rice using the back of your wooden spoon (or stirring implement) and then pour 1 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of soy sauce onto the rice. After a minute stir the rice and then pat down again.
Add the spices and mix rice again.
When rice is heated through - mix it in with the vegetables. Add the peas and then cook until peas are heated through. Serve.

Chocolate fudgy brownies - don't tell them it has tofu!!!

Well last night one of Nat's high school friends was down from South Australia as his fiancée was at a conference. They came to stay at our place for the night. The last time we had seen Nat's friend it was at the wedding and we really hadn't been able to spend too much time with anyone that day.

So I thought that I would let Nat pick what I made for dessert. Of course he went for something chocolaty... and so I thought brownies would be something that could be had for dessert and also for snacks if the boys got hungry.

I used the ppk recipe and it was good - you have to give this plenty of time as you have to chill te tofu mixture.
I used sweet william chocolate buds for the chocolate chips and Loving Earth Raw cacao powder**
Well they went down a treat!! Until Nat said (halfway through their first piece) that it was made of tofu!! His friend looked at it (and I thought that he wasn't going to eat it) but said "cool" and kept on eating. I informed nat that usually when a dessert is made out of tofu - don't tell the omnis until after they have finished eating.

Anyway - a sucessful (yet not very healthy) recipe and I think that Nat will be requestion this one again some time.

Tonight my cousin and her husband are coming for dinner - also haven't seen them since the wedding so I can't wait to catch up.

** Loving Earth is an awesome company - you should check out their website which shows their products, their projects and their philosophy. I met the guy who started it and helped him to make his chocolate when dad was wondering whether they should distribute the products - its my favourite chocolate in the whole world!! If you live in Australia I would highly reccomend you try some - its worth it!!

Banana bars with butter cream frosting - La Dolce Vegan

What is this delectable creation you ask?? Well if you are only interested in hearing about healthy vegan food than I suggest that you stop reading now - as this, apart from having banana in the base, is quite possibly the most unhealthy sweet thing I have cooked for a while (I have probably cooked worse in my pre-vegan days).
It is just divine though - so if you feel like splashing out and making something a little decadent but still ridiculously simple - than this is the thing for you.

This my friends is Wolffie's B'nanner Bars from La Dolce Vegan. It is topped with their Butter Cream Frosting (which was the recommended frosting for this bar). As I was taking this to a housewarming (and therefore would not be able to try it before giving it to anyone else) - I thought I should stick to the recipe to be on the safe side.

For the bar I followed the recipe and used a flax mix as my chosen egg replacer. When the bars came out of the oven - they looked moist and wonderful. However I decided to proceede with my plan and frost them.

Thats when I met Trouble!

I assumed that the frosting in the recipe would set - I was wrong. I don't know if its because we don't have Earth Balance here - I just had to use Nuttalex which is our non-hydrogenated margarine spread.
It was still REALLY runny by the time it came to frosting the bars. And even after I put the whole dish into the freezer for a while it still hadn't set. So off to the potluck I went with what was now more like a pudding than a bar.

Despite my frosting issues everyone LOVED this dish. Although there weren't many of us at the housewarming and mountains of food - most of the 'pudding' got eaten. When Nat came home from work he was glad that I had saved him some and he thinks it is fantastic.

So I give this recipe the thumbs up - but beware with the frosting ;)

Ok - not the best photo - but you get the idea of how it turned out in the dish after I got home.