Vegetation

I know, I know! I've been slack again. Sometimes I get disheartened and sad about all the things I can't eat and the things I refuse to eat and it ends up feeling like there's just not much to eat at all!

On top of that, I've been having more testing done. After finding out my Aunt has thyroid problems and so does one of her daughters and them finding out that it runs in the family I decided, given my health problems, that a check up might be necessary. All came back normal however (as usual) aside from my iron levels being slightly down again (nothing new there, they're still higher now than they ever were when I was omni).

But anyway. Food. That's why you're here!

I did some more gluten free experimenting. None successful!

I made some Blueberry Lemon Muffins that were rather heavy and the taste wasn't so great. Although it was maybe partially me, Mr Unveg said they were allright and 2 of the 3 Unvegettes said they were great.
I tried a recipe for gluten free brownies. Unfortunately I had no Barley flour so I got it into my head that grinding Pearl Barley in the coffee grinder might work....yeah...not so much. My brownies came out like chocolate flavoured grit spackled concrete (although when heated up Mr Unveg, the Unvegettes and my Unvegerific Dad all polished them off rather quickly).
I spent the other day making up some wheat free flours (and some gluten free flours) which I will blog about once I have used (and hopefully they will work!) Otherwise, I'm feeling a little disheartened with gluten free baking for now.

On the positive side, I found this article, which gives me hope that one day, us soy free folk, may just have a chance at some tofu or soy milk! (I know I have blogged an article before about them being able to remove the allgergenic component of the soy bean to create allergy free soy but this is different!)

On the dinner side of things there's been a couple of new recipes, but none were blog worthy and some were downright scary, but I finally got my rear end in order and decided to make something yummy. I have been wanting to try the Leek and Bean Cassoulette from Veganomicon pretty much since I got the book, but given my digestive problems with beans couldn't decide what to make. Then browsing through a magazine the other day in search of Unvegful ideas for the Unveg family, I came across a turkey and leek casserole with dumplings (the Aussie name for what I suspect Americans call biscuits~oh and blech but anyway) and got an idea. I would attempt this casserole with some minor changes to eliminate the beans and the green peas (cannot make myself eat green peas, no matter how many times I try or what I do with them!) and so I made Chicken Seitan Cassoulette with Biscuits.
The girls ate all the biscuits off the top and deemed the filling not so great, but I liked it, although I think I used just a little bit too much seitan and if I make it again I'll use a little less and bump up the veggie content.

I was a little put off making this because I'd read it was a fair bit of trouble but I found it fairly easy once all the chopping was done (but I prepare almost everything I eat from scratch these days so maybe my perspective is slightly skewed. I wouldn't want to be making it after a long day at work, that's for sure!)

Posted by Vegetation at 4:37 PM | 9 Remarkable Remarks Links to this post    

Labels: Casseroles/Stews, Gluten Free, Mains, Seitan, Sweet Stuff, Vegan, Veganomicon, Wheat Free

So as I said a few weeks ago, the plan was to cut out wheat. Well I fail. Totally. Well, no, that's not quite true either. I half fail? For the most part I am managing.

Except the other day I found my tin of Jackfruit in the pantry and decided it was time to stop being scared of it and make the pulled pork sandwiches that went around the PPK a while back (excuse the flash, winter, dark, white food, blahdy blah) and I just HAD to have it on a wheat roll (well okay, I didn't have to, but I really really wanted to, is that the same?):
It was okay. I'm not a huge fan of bbq sauce and it was soft, it looked like shredded meat but the texture was wrong. I pretty much opened a tin of green young jackfruit in water (it has to be the green stuff, if it's ripe and in syrup it won't work) and simmered it in water for about 2 hours until it started to shred. Then I helped it along with my fingers, poured in a bunch of bbq sauce and heated it up in a saucepan and poured it on the roll. I probably won't bother to make it again, but I'm glad I tried it once.

On top was Celery Remoulade which I saw on another blog linked from the PPK but which I cannot find now (so if it was yours tell me so I can fix that problem!). I did a bit of googling and found 2 main contenders. This one was the one from veganyumyum. I loved it and so did my (omniverous) Dad.

It was a teeny tiny bit too mustardy though (and I'm a mustard lover). Next time around I based it off this recipe. I shredded the celeriac finer, used 2 Tbsp of Mustard instead of the 1/4 cup and I also used half mayonnaise, half sour cream (but I think I liked it better with all mayo) and last but not least I used Verjuice instead of the vinegar, just because acidy stuff doesn't always sit so well with me. I like it better with the larger shreds to be honest. This is going to be a definite summer time favourite (too bad about the fat content however, sigh).
Today I got organized early and prepped for the Almost All American Pot Pie from Veganomicon. My kitchen smelled heavenly for hours after making the filling, although I had to add more liquid because for some reason my gravy kept disappearing (and even with extra liquid it doesn't look very gravyish but anyway, maybe it was because I halved the recipe). This isn't wheat free either (damn delicious crust!):
and of course..the money shot:
Oh! This was seriously the best thing I've eaten in weeks (I think!) and even Miss Unveggette (K my 9 year old) ate up 2 servings (she's in a "I wanna be a vegetarian phase after seeing Babe 1 and 2 this week).

I tried to redeem myself with the gluten/wheat this week, however. I baked Celines Gluten Free Fudgy Brownies (yum yum! And the best bit? They're totally healthy..you know...cause they have sweet potato in them and stuff.....sorry about the photo though, we were down to the last 2 little pieces when I realized no photos had been taken and they were melting my ice cream and it was about 9pm so it had to be a quick flash photo!):
I made Celines Crispy Seitan Bacon again (minus the charcoal. Ohhhhhh sooooo gooood) and had it with rice fettucine and Tofu Moms cashew alfredo sauce cooked my way from here (let there be no mistake about it, this pasta was good, but completely devoid of any nutritional content what so ever so not something I'd eat every day...white rice flour, potato starch and a bit of water from memory!):
And I made some cookies, loosely based on Terry's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Veganomicon. Mine however were
Choc Chip Quinoa Cookies

1/4 cup Grape Seed (or other mild) Oil
1/6 cup (or 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp) Brown Rice Syrup
1/6 cup Rice Milk
1/4 plus 1/8 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Gluten Free Flour
1/6 cup (again 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp) Vanilla Almond Meal (or regular would work too)
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Quinoa Flakes
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 150C and lightly oil a cookie sheet.

In a large bowl combine the rice syrup, oil, milk, sugar, vanilla and beat until smooth. Sift in the flour, almond meal, baking powder and soda and add the spices. Stir unti combined and fold in the quinoa flakes and chocolate chips.

Take a small bowl and fill it with warm water. Dip your tablespoon measuring spoon into the water, scoop out roughly a tablespoon of cookie dough, roll it and put it on the tray (don't bother to squash it flat, although I guess you can if you want). Repeat with remaining dough (the dough is also a little easier to work with if you leave it in the fridge for about half an hour before using).

Cook for 8-12 minutes depending on how you like your cookies.

I did some for 8 minutes, some for 10 and some for nearly 15, it didn't make a whole lot of difference the next day, some were firmer.

Please not that these are somewhat of a cakey biscuit but they melt in your mouth and were liked by the kids and both my parents (and Mum NEVER eats cookies or sweets).


Makes about 14 cookies.

Posted by Vegetation at 4:03 PM | 17 Remarkable Remarks Links to this post    

Labels: Baking, Gluten Free, Mains, Pasta, Seitan, Vegan, Veganomicon, Vegetarian, Wheat Free

Yes, you read that correctly. I am spam.

If you have a blog and you are in my list at the left then I just want to say I am there reading faithfully every day (and if you're not I've either not found you yet or I have added you since I last updated my list)! It seems that particularly with wordpress that I cannot leave comments. I try, it doesn't show up but if I try to re-submit the comment it tells me I already said that.

Either that or it tells me to log into blogger (even though I am already logged in) and then tells me that I don't exist (ahem, I appear to exist to me thank you very much!).

I've written to a couple of you about it but Celine was the one who happened to notice that some of my comments at least, were going to her spam box, ugh.

Anyway, just wanted to say I'm there reading, but can't comment :(

I do wonder however if I have something weird going on with my blog. I had someone do a strange search for some kind of trojan or worm or something and it sent that person to a comment on my blog through google. Maybe I'm just suspicious but it seemed strange.

Anyway, onto food! I've been on a real spinach binge lately, eating it pretty much every day for the last week. This one was baby spinach sauteed in a non stick pan with a bit of olive oil, garlic and some pine nuts (you can't see them for some reason) stolen off a Gordon Ramsay show I was watching (heh, yes Gordon, the dreaded vegetarians watch you too!). It was supposed to also have a little chilli but I don't eat chilli so left it out. I served it with a White Bean and Sage cutlet, creamy mashed potatoes and I think there was some baby corn hiding in between the spinach and potato. This is our new favourite way to eat spinach, even Mr Unveg gave it the omni tick of approval.
One night I had Puttanesca sauce on polenta. I wasn't keen on this. I don't know what I did to my polenta but it was like orange rubber! I still love the sauce but I'll stick to having it with quinoa and pasta!
Another night we had mixture on toast (which I've blogged about before). I used Celines crispy seitan bacon. I sadly burned it (my fault) but it was delicious all the same (even the bits of charcoal were like delicious bacon-ey charcoal). It's definitely going to be a favourite around here. I made some more for tonights dinner....sans charcoal. I'll confess, this has dairy cheese on it, not vegan cheese. Basically, toast your toast, scrape it with vegemite, top with tomato slices and cheese and grill until the cheese melts. Top that with bacon slices and some fresh mixed lettuce. Great for lunch or an easy dinner and delicious too (although it sounds somewhat scary).
I deglutanized some Banana Oatmeal Muffins. They were good. But not great, they were a little on the heavy side which I'm finding is pretty common with my gluten free baked goods (still not sure what I'm doing wrong). I want to fiddle a bit more before I share. Here's a pic anyway :P

Posted by Vegetation at 6:05 PM | 12 Remarkable Remarks Links to this post    

Labels: Baking, Lunch Stuff, Seitan, Soy Free Substitutes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Since discovering I could make awesome risottos in my rice cooker with minimal stirring (lazy cook, remember :P) I have been absolutely addicted! They are super easy, super yummy and the best bit....super easy and they're ready in just half an hour (give or take 5 minutes, once again excuse the flash, winter, dark, blahdy blah):
First up is Green Risotto adapted for the rice cooker from "Rices and Risottos"

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Aborio (Risotto) Rice
4 cups Chicken Style Stock
75ml White Wine
400g Baby Spinach
1 Tbsp chopped fresh Basil
1 tsp chopped fresh Mint
4 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese, finely grated (optional of course!)

Set your rice cooker to the cook setting and heat the oil. Fry the onion until it begins to soften then add the rice and stir to coat it. Add the stock and wine, put the lid on and let the rice cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes stir in the baby spinach, replace the lid and allow to cook for a further 10 minutes.

Stir in the fresh herbs and cheese if using and allow to sit for 10 final minutes on the warm setting of your rice cooker.

Stir, serve and enjoy (I had mine with a chickpea cutlet and steamed baby corn).

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Then a number of nights later (because I am slack with my blogging) I made some Roasted Fennel Risotto, taken from here with a minor change, I gently fried the fennel first rather than roasting it.
Fennel Risotto

1 Onion, finely chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 glass of White Wine
280g Aborio (Risotto) Rice
Pinch of Saffron
1 Ltire (4 cups) Vegetable Stock
Salt and Pepper
1 bulb Fennel, trimmed and chopped
1 tsp Ground Fennel or Fennel Seeds (I didn't have the seeds so I used ground)
1 tsp dried Tarragon
1/2 tsp dried Dill

Heat the rice cooker on the cook position, add the oil and gently fry the onion and fennel until it starts to soften. Add the garlic and cook about 1 more minute.

Add the rice and stir to coat. Add stock, wine, saffron, fennel seeds (or ground fennel), tarragon and dill. Season with salt and pepper, stir well, place lid on cooker and cook for 10 minutes.

Stir, cook a further 10 minutes, stir once more and let sit for a final 10 minutes on the warm setting and serve.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Once again (as you can tell) I had it with a chickpea cutlet (I've also been on a cutlet bender recently :P) and no, I didn't drink that glass of wine, it was leftover from the cooking but it made me feel sophisticated to pretend I was going to have it with dinner!

Posted by Vegetation at 4:15 PM | 11 Remarkable Remarks Links to this post    

Labels: Gluten Free, Grains, Mains, Vegan, Vegetarian

I have been so unbearably slack with my blog. I just seemed to lose steam the last couple of months and the excitement I felt combined with being busy, tired and uninspiredmade me lazy and I have been relying heavily on easy favourites such as:

Rice Pasta Shells with Coriander Pesto (my latest addiction) and baked eggplant slices. I ate this like 3 times in a week, then got really sick of it...temporary I'm sure!
I had some of the leftover Spinach and Fennel Soup which was just as good 2nd time round. This time I made wheat free (but not gluten free) biscuits using 1/2 Rye Flour and 1/2 gluten free flour. This worked really well. They puffed up deliciously.
And last but not least, Lolo's Italian Rice and Beans with extra Balsamic, semi dried tomatoes, white rice instead of brown (because beans and brown rice is just too much fibre at once for my system or something) and a splash of vegan worcestireshire . Oh and red kidney beans instead of great northern. I will never tire of Lolo's Rice and Bean dishes. Initially I liked the Lemon Tahini one better but I think this just came in as my favourite (but it could be because I always eat the Lemon Tahini one!)
So for those of you who have perservered with reading what little I have posted a really big thankyou :)

Today it was raining and in a bid to get my experimentative (what? I have warned you on several occasions I like to make words up :P) chefs hat back on my head I headed into the kitchen. I had forgotten how much fun experimenting can be when something comes out right. There's nothing like repeating disasters over and over to turn you off even trying anything new.

So I went through my gigantic list of things I want to make (usually found on the internet, most of them belong to you dear bloggers :D) and decided to de-glutanize (did I make that one up too?) some White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies I found on Baking Bites. I'll repost the recipe only because I made a couple of changes, but go take a peek, there are some serious yummies over there!

I will say that I used Orgran All Purpose Flour which has Gluten Free Gluten (scroll down) incorporated into it. If you can't get this I recommend adding about 1 tsp of Xanthan Gum to the mix (or your favourite "gluten replacer").
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

3/4 cup All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
1/4 cup Almond Meal 1 tsp Baking Powder (gluten free)
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup White Sugar
1/8 cup Macadamia Nut Butter (*edited don't use all oil, use almond butter if you don't have macadamia butter, oil makes them too oily and they burn)
1/8 cup mild tasting Oil
1/3 cup Maple Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste
1/4 cup Macadamia Nuts, chopped fairly fine (but you still want chunks!)
1/3 cup White Chocolate Chips (I used dairy because I couldn't find vegan soy free ones but if you can use those!)

In a medium/large bowl sift together the flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In a smaller bowl whisk together the macadamia nut butter, oil, maple syrup and vanilla.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed. Fold through macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips and if possible refrigerate for an hour to firm the mix up (it works if you don't but it's much easier to handle if you do).

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Spray a cookie sheet with non stick spray and using a wet tablespoon plop or roll tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes for a chewy cookie (I'm guessing 15-18 for crispy but I didn't try that because I like mine chewy) or until set on top.

Cool on tray for 4-5 minutes before carefully removing to a rack to cool completely with a spatula (be careful, these are a little crumbly).

Try not to eat them all :P

Notes: *I can't tell that these are gluten free, but it's been nearly a month since I ate wheat so maybe I've just forgotten what cookies are like, either way, they're delicious!

*From what I have read you should bake gluten free goods at 150C and bake them for longer otherwise you end up with a crunchy inedible cookie/cake/muffin. I had the temp at 140 because I used my toaster oven which you are supposed to reduce by 20-30 degrees anyway. Just keep an eye on them.


While I was baking the cookie and staring through the glass front of the toaster oven like a hawk I decided to be constructive and made some rice cheese. I have had the recipe since about week 4 of going vegetarian but kept putting it off. I won't add a photo because for some reason the agar didn't gel it properly and it's more like a soft pate' than a solid block :P If you want to try it though:

Rice Cheese

1 cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes
2 Tbsp Tahini (I had to use almond butter on account of the fact I found a drowned fly in my tahini upon opening. EWWWWWWWWWW!)
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Yellow Mustard
1/4 cup Margarine or Oil
1/2 tsp Onion Granules
1/4 tsp Garlic Granules
1/2 cup Rice Milk
1/4 cup Rice Milk Powder (I used Rice Flour, I can't get rice milk powder)
1 cup cooked Rice
1 1/2 cups Water
8 Tbsp Agar Flakes (here's where I likely went wrong, I only had powder so halved the amount)

Spray a small container with oil spray.

Put everything except the agar and the water into a blender and blend until smooth (this was impossible, the mixture was too thick).

Put the water and agar into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to med-low and simmer, stirring constantly, until agar has dissolved.

Pour the agar into the blender and blend the mixture until smooth, scraping down sides often (I couldn't get it 100% smooth, there were teensy rice chunks).

Pour mixture into prepared container and place uncovered in fridge to firm up. Once firm, cover. Chill for several hours before serving.

Keep refrigerated or freeze. Partially thaw frozen cheese to slice it.

It will keep approximately 10 days in the fridge.

Last but not least in a bid to stop neglecting Veganomicon I made the Curried Carrot Dip. I bought a 1kg bag of carrots the other day from the market for a mere $1.60. This dip is DELICIOUS! And I can tell already it's going to become a staple in my fridge! I really should try out the dips and spreads more often, for some odd reason that even I don't know I tend to shy away from dips and spreads.
Look at that brilliant colour!

Posted by Vegetation at 12:18 PM | 22 Remarkable Remarks Links to this post    

Labels: Baking, Gluten Free, Vegan, Veganomicon, Vegetarian, Wheat Free