Food of the Spicy Variety

Gary's in Glasgow and usually when that happens I end up not wanting to cook proper meals just for myself, but today I felt in dire need of decent food. Gary also doesn't like spicy food, so I took this opportunity to cook myself some spicy food.
I made this kidney bean curry with seasoned rice to satisfy my craving. I also made some spiced flatbread thingies. There was no recipe for anything, I just used stuff i had lying around. Brilliant.

Aerogrow - Week 1

The Aerogrow was all set up a week ago so I thought I'd post the progress. I may do this every Wednesday, or I may get bored. I make no promises. Anyhoo, the italian and purple basils, dill and chives are sprouting up nicely. The chives appeared in like an hour and seem to be growing bigger by the second. Not that I sit and watch it or anything, not at all... The mint has sprouted too but not enough to remove the lid thingy yet. The coriander and parsley aren't due to sprout until the 8-15 day mark, so it could be tomorrow, it could be next week. I know I'm on the edge of my seat!

Tofu and Cookies

Vegan staples right there (not really, obviously).

I made the Tangerine Baked Tofu from the Veganomicon for dinner tonight I pretty much followed the recipe except I used whisky instead of rum (coz I'm Scottish, duh), and I fried them with some cooking spray after the baking because they were all floppy.
I'd been hearing a lot about these potato squasher things in Dreena's new book. I don't have the book, but I, like most people was annoyed not to have thought of it first. I also thought 'how hard can it be to squash a potato without a recipe?', so here's my interpretation of the recipe. I parboiled the potatoes and then roasted them until they were nearly done. I took them out, squashed them a bit and brushed them with a spicy oil mixture (oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne, etc) and put them back in the oven. I think they turned out rather well.
The stuff on top of the tofu is a carribean chutney I picked up in the shop ages ago and had been waiting for something to use it on.

Oh, I promise to stop eating meals that consist of tofu and potatoes. Even I'm getting bored of it.

I made some cookies earlier today, so here are said cookies:
They're the Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies from Veganomicon. Isa totally lies when she says that they don't spread out. They totally do, and as a consequence I got a few oddly shaped ones from where they attacked each other/the side of the pan. Oh well, they were tasty so who cares.

I also made some ice cream sandwich cookie thingies (it's an American thing, we don't do this here), with these and some raspberry ice cream.
Like I said, I've never made ice cream cookie sandwich thingies so they're a bit messy, but again very tasty, so who cares.

All of todays pictures were taken in front of my Aerogrow. It has a lovely level of UV light that's so much like natural light it takes a good picture. Yet another reason why I love my Aerogrow.

Balsamic Tofu with Hasselback Potatoes and Sweet Onion Sauce

Yum. The tofu was marinated in a balsamic (and stuff) mixture for the best part of a day and then baked and fried. Has anyone else heard of Hasselback potatoes? I've made them before, but I went to google them to check I was spelling it right and there were no results! Weird! Anyhoo, you take potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise, par boil them, and then make a few scores into them. You then roast them and when they're very nearly done you take them out and put some breadcrumbs, and parmezano on them and roast them until crispy. The sweet onion sauce started out being the one from Veganomicon, but I got bored of that one and went my own way. It's just how I roll.

The Aerogrow Is Here!

Isn't she purdy? It came ridiculously quick, and I literally just set it up 5 minutes ago. I set it up myself which just shows how foolproof it is. I should apparently have my basil sprouting in 3 days, and everything else not long after. I've got purple basil, italian basil, coriander, chives, dill, mint, and parsley. How very exciting! Once the herbs are done (they'll apparently grow for 4-6 months) I think I'll be getting the salsa pack which has tomatoes and peppers. That is, unless they bring out something more exciting before then!

I will of course be providing periodical updates on the progress of my herbs, because well, I'm sad like that.

And now I give to you... A token Tofu Tikka Masala.

Leek and Bean Cassoulet

From the Veganomicon. To be honest, I found this a little bit bland. Once I'd tasted a few bites I found myself reaching for the salt, and then the red pepper flakes, etc. I would definitely add more garlic next time (even though this time I already doubled the garlic), and I would also add some herbs to the dumplings.

Nonetheless, it was filling, fairly healthy, and it looked pretty. Here it is served up.

In other news, I recently ordered one of these for my incredibly poorly lit flat. I'm very excited about growing my own fresh herbs, and then tomatoes... Mmmm... I am not your average 22 year old.


Oh, and in case anyone cares, the answer to the question in my previous post was "Two plain bridies, and an onion one as well". I did love herbstsonne's answer of "There were plenty of bridies and singing a song togethaaaaa.". Brilliant! It really should mean that...

Cullen Skink Tofu Bridies

What's Cullen Skink? What's a bridie? What's tofu?! Two of these three questions shall be answered. One shall not.

Cullen Skink is a traditional Scottish soup. It usually contains smoked haddock and cream and all sorts of nastiness. I veganised it using smoked tofu and soy milk etc.

A bridie is a type of pie. It's similar to a cornish pastie but has a shorter crust.

Hence, a Cullen Skink Bridie is a bridie filled with Cullen Skink! Huzzah! You come to Lelly's website and you learn something. I'm just good like that.

I liked these, the filling was smoky and creamy like it should be. I meant to get a picture of the bridie cut open so you could see the filling, but clearly I forgot. I think I need to work on this recipe a little, yes, indeed, it needs a little bit if tweaking. Gary also liked it. I made four of these and I had the one in the picture. Gary came home from work and ate three before he'd even said hello to me. Not surprising really.

Oh, if anyone can tell me the meaning of "Twa plenn bridies an ingan ane an aa" without looking at the wikipedia page, you will earn the title of 'person who Lelly thinks is cool'. It's an honour, believe me.

Nominominominomicon Stuff

Yup, I got my Veganomicon last week and I have mainly been cooking from that. It's kinda weird having a Cookbook that's bigger than my Ecotoxicology textbook but there you go.

The first thing I cooked was the spaghetti and beanballs.
It was really quick and easy to make and the recipe yielded 40 gagillion beanballs (which was fine by us, we had the beanball sub for dinner the next night). It tasted quite healthy, but really, really filling too.

The next thing I tried to make seemed doomed to failure. Quite simply, the vegan gods did not want me to make this dish, but I perservered.
I was trying to make the Pasta with Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe. First of all, my trusty health store was mysteriously out of tempeh, and the shops were out of broccoli rabe. I ended up making Pasta with Spicy Tofu and Plain-Old-Boring-Regular-Broccoli. Because of subbing the Tofu, I had to adjust the method a little bit. I baked the tofu in the marinade for about 20 minutes before frying it. It didn't really matter anyway, because this turned out delicious. The tofu was strangely melt in your mouth, and the flavours worked perfectly. It really reminded us of a similar dish we got at a vegetarian restaurant in Prague (Clear Head).

Yesterday morning I was awake at the crack of dawn (not unusual) and bored so I decided to cook me and Gary a big American style Brunch.
I made scrambled tofu, toast, sliced tomatoes, and the Diner Style Home Fries from the nominominomicon. I thought us Scottish folk had mastered the art of the fried potato for breakfast (tattie scones), but these were also pretty damn good. I'd definitely make them again. Even Gary hoovered his up and he's a crazy non-potato lover. Also, because I'm actually the nicest person in the world, I made Gary some garlic mushrooms for his brunch, even though I have the mushroom fear.

Stuffed Tofu... Again.

Yep, third appearance now, but this time with recipe and tutorial, yay!


Stuff you'll need for the filling:

• 4 tbsp margarine
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 4/5 cloves garlic (I like my food really garlicky, reduce this amount if you don't share my passion)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Handful basil leaves, chopped.
  

Stuff you'll need for the coating:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard

And obviously you'll need a block of tofu! You'll want a really firm tofu, with no cracks or holes in it. This is the kind I use:

What you do:

1. First make the filling by mixing together all the filling ingredients in a bowl. Simple as. This is what mine usually looks like:
2. Now drain your tofu and pat it dry. Cut block of tofu in half like this:
3. Now, using your sharpest knife score a rectangle into one of the sides. Keep scoring deeper and deeper. Go quite far into the tofu, but not too far, as you don't want the tofu to split open.
4. Scoop out the insides of the tofu. Set aside some of the scoopy out bits.
5. Put filling in tofu. Don't overfill it, you don't want the filling to explode the tofu.
6. I sometimes put a little basil leaf on top of the filling, it probably doesn't do anything, but I'm strange like that. Put some of the scooped out tofu in the end.

7. Brush some of the remaining filling onto the outside of the tofu and cover in foil. Leave to marinate, anything over an hour is great, but it tastes fine with no marinating too.

8. Now it's time to bake. I've baked it standing up, and on it's side. It's okay on it's side as long as it's tightly wrapped in foil. This time I baked it standing up. I leave the top of the tin foil open, and wrap and excess round the back of the pan to keep it upright. This probably isn't making any sense, so here's a picture:
9. Bake at around 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it hasn't fallen over.

10. Take tofu out and leave it to rest until it's cooled down a bit. Why? Well the easiest way to do the next bit is with your hands, and right now, that filling is like molten lava. I did it with tongs tonight, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

11. Right, now put the remaining mustard on a plate, and mix the flour and nutritional yeast together (on a separate plate if you like, I just use a big plate)

12. Turn on your frying pan and put some oil in it. You want to let it get really hot before you put anything in it.

13. Dip tofu in mustard, and then dredge in flour mixture.

14. Fry for a few minutes on each side. Should be nicely browned.

Eat!
Got any leftover filling? Cook your vegetables in it!

Seems like a lot of instructions, but most of it involves waiting for things to happen so it's not too bad.

Some Stuff What I Eated Recently

Yeah, that was me trying to do lolcatz speak. I fail at life sometimes.

As I anxiously await the arrival of my Veganomicon, I thought I'd make something from Vegan with a Vengeance that I'd never tried before. So, I give to you, Tempeh and White Bean Sausage Patties. I had four of these babies in some lovely organic pitta bread. Then I went to bed and when I woke the rest of the patties had miraculously disappeared! Funny how that happens sometimes.

Sometimes Gary cooks. When this happens it's always chilli. Sometimes I complain that I get bored of chilli. Sometimes Gary listens and makes things other than chilli. This was one of those times. He took some gorgeous ciabattas and scooped out the insides and stuffed them with roasted vegetables, cheezly, and probably all sorts of other lovely stuff. As I didn't make it, I'm not sure. He also roasted some tomatoes, and toasted the scooped out bread and served it with some garlic olive oil. It was all highly delicious.


I made this soup today and it was the best tomato soup I've ever eaten (even if I do say so myself). It's lovely and rich, and chunky, and flavourful. It also has some cannelini beans in it for some protein (coz you know, none of us are getting enough). It's served with some toasted organic bread I got at the health store, which is spread with lovely garlic and herb butter.

So, I Perfected That Stuffed Tofu Recipe...

... but I'm being a total tease and not posting the recipe yet. Why? Well because I have a tendency to not measure anything when I'm cooking, but I promise I'll measure stuff next time I cook it. In the meantime, here's a picture of it, in all its oozy glory.
Gary says it's the best thing I've ever cooked and offered me 50 quid if I would surrender my portion right then and there. I politely declined.

So, on Sunday we had a small vegan brunch at our flat. It was fun. So, I give to you... brunch food!
Balsamic Bruschetta
Tomato Tarts
Aubergine Pomodoro

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff.

Indeed.

I started back uni which kind of explains my absence. I have been cooking and taking pictures, just not posting, whoops!

Anyhoo, we had a potluck a few weekends back, so I thought I'd post some of the stuff from there.
Chocolate Chip Cookies from VwaV. Always a hit.
Raspberry Blackout Cake also from VwaV. First time I've made it, and I only had one tiny slice, but it was good.
These were brought by our friend. She hand made the tortillas without a tortilla press! They were delicious. Inside them was a mexican beany mixture. Fantastic.
I'm not entirely sure what to call this. The inside of the tofu was hollowed out and stuffed with various things (I would say what, but I'm still working on the recipe), and then sealed over with some of the scooped out tofu. It was then marinated and baked wrapped in foil. I then dipped it in the remainder of the marinade and dredged it in a flour and nutritional yeast misture and fried it. It was really really good, but the recipe needs a little bit of work.
That's an action shot of the stuffing.

Ciabatta Pizza - Now With Go Faster Stripes.

I spent most of yesterday clearing junk out of our bedroom coz we're moving a few things around, so when it came to dinner time, I wasn't in the mood for anything complicated. Ciabatta pizzas to the rescue!
On the pizzas are stripes of basil tofu ricotta and pesto (from a jar). Hit the spot, it did.

The Chinese Supermarket is Fun!

I love the chinese supermarket, I really do. We went there yesterday and looked at all the cool vegan junk food (it's there! you just have to look). We ended up with a ridiculous amount of junk and not enough vegetables.
Amongst our haul is yam cookies, black rice mochi, weird looking vegetable and fruit muffins, veggie ham, and weirdly enough, a bottle of Irn Bru (not pictured). Indeed.

With all the wonderful stuff we got, I made the Hongshao Doufu (I think that's how it's spelled) from Please Don't Feed The Bears. It was delicious. Gary took some leftovers to work today and I have just been informed that it was much tastier the day after, but it was plenty tasty just cooked too!


In an unrelated note, I sometimes like to make things. When I make things I sometimes like to show them off. So that's what I'm going to do.

Behold! The amazing D10 earrings and necklace!
I love these so much! They're so simple but they look quite impressive when I wear them. They're basically three D10's (ten sided dice) wrapped in wire. Brilliant. Love em.

I made this bracelet two days ago and went out to the pub wearing it, where it was officially named "The Bracelet What Would Make Mozza My Friend". Apparently it's hard to become his friend, and I decided this bracelet would impress him enough to form a life long friendship.
In case you can't tell, that's the vegan society logo. This bracelet probably breaks all kind of copyright laws, but I'm not selling it or anything! *looks scared* You have to catch me first!

Mr Blobby...

Is who I'll look like if I eat too much of this:
Ever have one of those days where you feel like you need to eat something with an ungodly amount of fat in it? For me, yesterday was one of those days. New Farm Mac and Cheese to the rescue! Well kinda. This is without a shadow of a doubt the best vegan mac and cheese recipe out there (and it was published in 1988!), but sweet jeebus there is so much fat in it!

I used whole spelt penne (that makes it healthy, right?) instead of mac, and served it with wholemeal garlic bread (I think I ate one bit).

Gary went back for seconds whilst I rolled onto the couch wimpering and having cold sweats.

Penne Arrabiata

I've blogged this meal before, so sue me! I'm allowed to cook the same meal twice you know! Anyhoo, this is whole spelt penne with arrabiata sauce and meatballs (recipe from New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook), served with wholemeal garlic bread. We couldn't eat it all, but it was yummy.
In slightly unrelated news, I'm totally loving being unemployed! I get to cook good food every day, bake stuff, craft stuff whenever I want, and the flat has never been so consistently tidy! It won't last long though, I'm back at uni soon, and I've spent most of the morning today sending my CV off to anyone who'll take it. Anybody in the Tayside area looking for an amateur vegan cook/baker? Part time? No? Didn't think so.

Barbecue Ribs

This is that baked seitan recipe from Fat Free Vegan that's been doing the rounds in blog land. It is absolutely amazing. Gary demanded I make another batch right there and then, to which I said "shut up, you fat pie", but you know, I probably could've eaten another batch too.

Living in a tiny flat I don't have a barbecue, so I cooked them on my cast iron griddle pan and it worked out just fine. If you haven't tried this recipe yet, you have to try it!
Oh, it's served with the leftover vegetables from the other night.

Tofu and Veggies

Sounds dull, doesn't it? It really wasn't. The tofu is marinated and baked, in a random assortment of things I had at hand. Let's see, there was soy sauce, basil, oregano, thyme, lemon, lime, agave, mustard. It was yummy. The potatoes were tossed in a similar sort of mixture before being roasted. The brussel sprouts were roasted with some garlic and sea salt, as was the purple sprouting broccoli. Yum.

Some cakes I didn't eat.

I've noticed a strange phenomenon every time I bake cakes. I rarely eat any. I don't know why, I just like baking them to give away. Plus I usually eat some of the batter, which makes me feel sick.

I baked these to take in on my last day of work. First up are cinnamon buns. This is a recipe that was posted on the Vegan Freak Forums. One girl at work said that these were the best thing she'd ever put in her mouth. Praise indeed.
Next up are Orange Pudding Cupcakes which I made on the request of one of my colleagues who'd absolutely loved them the last time I brought cakes in. They're based on the VCTOW recipe, but I've been tweaking it a little, coz I'm like that.

Dinner O' Citrus!

Lemon-Herb Tofu and Lemon-Rosemary Potatoes. Both from Vive le Vegan. Both unbelievably delicious.

Tomorrow I'm going to be baking lots of cakes etc to take into work on Friday. Why? Because Friday is my last day at work and I thought I'd be nice. Oh yeah! Last day of work and back to studentdom soon. Bring on the daytime telly and afternoon drinking... Umm, I mean long nights in the library, and stuff...