Mushroom Stroganoff

This is from page 136 of La Dolce Vegan. I've replaced the Faux Chicken with Soy Nuggets (they're from one of our local Asian grocers). The meal contained at least a tenth of the fat of normal stroganoff - and it's cruelty free!!! I'm definitely looking forward to lunch tomorrow (YMCA - Yesterday's Meal Cooked Again).... LOL! 

Filo pastry - my new best friend

I'm a wee bit obssessed with eating raw pastry - it's one of my many food fetishes.... So when I discovered a vegan filo pastry, I knew I was in for trouble.

I did, however, manage to make two tasty meals outta filo before I ate the entire packet.

Filling one (no picture): Fry up about 2 cups of 'shrooms with an onion & a wee bit of onion. Once the 'shrooms release the liquid, turn off and add teaspoon or two of vegan gravy mix. Chop up some fresh asparagus and add to the mix. Roll up in filo pastry & bake for about twenty(ish) minutes - watch the oven though - burned filo ain't tasty.

Filling two (picture!): I took the leftover veggies from Saturday's polenta & added more 'shrooms..... I filled the filo & baked. This wasn't as awesome as the mushroom & asparagus, but still good! (see below for what the filling looked like)

Polenta with (tasty) grilled & roasted vegetables

I don't make this as often as I should (but my Mum made it last week and it was good!!).....
I slow roasted some tomatoes in the oven (with salt, pepper and italian herbs) for about 2.5hrs and they shrivelled and shrank to this:


Polenta's really easy to make - get about a litre of veggie stock & add 1 generous cup of polenta (you'll find it in the health food section of the supermarket) and stir like crazy for five minutes. (Watch out - it really burns if it splashes on you). Pour out into a greased container & chill until set (I stuck it on two esky bricks for about 20 mins and it was done). Brush with olive oil & stick on the grill or in a saucepan. The outside will be crunchy when done.

I added grilled eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and skinned capsicum (you know the drill - blacken, stick in a plastic bag for 5 min & then de-skin the kerjigger).

I like to serve with some balsamic vinegar dressing - here in Oz the Paul Newman low-fat balsamic dressing is vegan.....

The polenta is so tasty that I have to stop myself (and my boyfriend) from eating all the polenta before it's grilled!!!

International Women's Day

I'm not normally one to write about my political leanings on the internet (although my friends will surely die of shock - I'm quite opinionated) but it's International Women's Day today.

Visit the Amnesty International website
and see what you can do to help women all around the world....

From one female to every other female in the world - you're beautiful and much much more!!!!

Cupcakes!!! Chocolate with Peanut Butter Icing

These are soooooooo good. The recipe for the cupcakes & the icing comes from Isa & Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I ran 5.5kms this afternoon just so I could eat one of these!!!

But seriously, the Vegan Cupcake book is the vegan equivalent of housewife porn. I'm torn between reading this and the Ikea catalogue over and over.......

Malaysian Dumplings

Brisbane readers may remember the ID Cafe in the Valley. We have been fortunate to go to Clement's cooking lessons & were taught this during the second lesson. So tasty, so delicious. This makes about 100 dumplings. You can find most of the ingredients at any Asian supermarket.

Ingredients:
3 cups Wong Bok
2 3/4 cups Dried Mushrooms
2 cups Textured Vegetable Protein
7 heaped tsp Chinese Mahogany Sauce
Dumpling Wrappers
1/2 to 3/4 tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Vegetarian Mushroom Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce
1-2 Tbsp Sesame Oil (for filling) Sesame Oil to taste (for dipping sauce)
1 tsp White Pepper

Steps:

1.Rehydrate mushrooms with hot water, drain and chop finely with a food processor.


2. Tear the wong bok into rough strips and chop finely with water in a food processor. Firmly press the water out of the chopped wong bok when done.



3. Fry the textured vegetable protein and chopped mushroom in a fry pan (I like to use a wok).


4. After about 5 minutes, remove heat and add the wong bok, white pepper, sesame oil, Chinese mahogangy sauce, vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce and salt.

5. Use this as filing to make dumplings from the wrappers. Seal the dumpings with a little water around the edges of the wrappers.

6. Gently boil the dumplings in a mixture of water with a little oil. As the water starts to boil hard, add a little cold water to reduce the temperature to a low boil. Repeat this boiling cycle three times. The dumplings are done when the wrappers become nearly transparent and the filling is clearly visable. Strain the dumplings and toss in a bowl with a little sesame oil.

7. Serve with a sauce made from sesame oil and soy sauce.

Pasta - Pumpkin Ravioli with Tomato and Mushroom Spicy Sauce

The filling recipe also comes from Nonna's Italian Kitchen, but the sauce is an Amy Original.

Really easy sauce - fry up some garlic and two big handfuls of mushrooms in olive oil. Add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste & fry for a few seconds. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes & a teaspoon of chilli (I'm too lazy to cut up chillis, so I use the stuff in the jar). Also add some vegan stock powder & half a cup of water.

I like to make the pasta sauce first and let it bubble away while I'm making the pasta - tasty!!!! 

Pasta - Lasagne (Spinach and Ricotta teamed with Lentil and Tomato)

I had a fair bit of the Spinach and Ricotta filling from Sunday night's ravioli dish (which took about 3.5 hours from start to finish - including the "cheese").

So I made more pasta (it's like playdough for grown-ups) and made a quick "meaty" sauce by opening a can of lentils and mixing it with a bottle of tomato pasta sauce - I believe it was a Raguletto Venetian sauce.

I then layered this into a square ovenproof dish and topped with five slices (yes, that is a sh*tload of fat) of Tofutti Mozzarella "cheese" slices.

Bake for about 40 mins & finish off under the grill.

This stuff was so good, the omnivores at work were asking what it was!!!!

Pasta - Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli in a Tomato & Mushroom Sauce

I got myself a pasta maker last week and I've made three different pasta dishes so far!!!

This one's a Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli with a Tomato and Mushroom Sauce. Recipe for the pasta and filling comes from Nonna's Italian Kitchen by Bryanna Clark Grogan.

Very tasty!!!

Potato Salad

This is a REALLY easy potato salad:

Boil & drain how ever many potatoes you want (this was for a family BBQ so I did about 2 kilos). When cooled a bit, drench in your choice of vegan mayonnaise (I used Praise 97% fat free Dijonnaise for this) and top with sliced spring onions....

This one was enjoyed by vegans and omnivores....