Vegan Sausages – VeganMoFo Day 18

These next two days of VeganMoFo are leftover days…well, today is the beginning, where you make food, and tomorrow is the day where you use the leftover food. While leftovers can just be, well, leftovers from whatever you made, it’s an even better idea to plan your meals with leftovers in mind. Make a meal, and intend to use the leftovers for another meal. That’s what these sausages do!

These are actually, I think, my third sausage recipe on this blog. I have tomato and basil sausages, and pizza sausages! These ones are more traditionally flavoured, I think, and work great in hot dog buns with some fried onions! Once again I used Isa’s recipe as a base, but altered it a fair bit too.

Sausages made from seitan aren’t perhaps the most attractive of things, which makes them a little difficult to photograph, but they really are delicious! I actually use cups to measure this recipe out, because it all goes in the food processor so it’s easier than weighing.

Seitan Sausages

• Servings: 11 sausages
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Ingredients

• 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cold vegetable stock
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp marmite
• drop liquid smoke
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• several cracks black pepper
• 1.5 cups vital wheat gluten

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients, except for the vital wheat gluten, in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Add the vital wheat gluten and pulse until combined and forming a dough.
3. Roll the dough into sausage shaped pieces – they’ll expand as they cook so make them smaller than you want them!
4. Wrap each sausage in tin foil, making sure it’s all sealed in.
5. Place the wrapped sausages in your steamer (you may need to do this in two batches)and steam for 40 minutes.
6. Use how you fancy!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – VeganMoFo Day 17

Carrying on with the budget theme for VeganMoFo, today we’re all about “Super Cheap Sweets”. Now, anyone who knows me will know I never skip the sweet food (OK, I’d eat sweet over savoury if I had to pick) but if you’re buying fancy vegan cakes and chocolates, it can get more expensive. Thankfully, it’s easy to make cheap and tasty sweets by yourself, like this banana bread!

Bananas are a great fruit to bake with cheaply, because the older they get, the better they are for baking – and the cheaper they are! To make banana bread, you want bananas with plenty of brown spots, and I often find these discounted in supermarkets. Using bananas, you don’t need anything like eggs in baking, which makes it even cheaper (and of course vegan).

Chocolate chips added to banana bread make it even tastier, but you could sub them out for any add ins you like – walnuts are nice, or dried fruit if you like it! Just check your chocolate chips for milk ingredients before you use them.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

• Servings: 1 loaf
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Ingredients

• 4 medium bananas, mashed
• 225g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• large pinch salt
• 110g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 75ml sunflower oil
• 100g chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170C/340F
1. Begin by mixing the mashed bananas, sugar, salt, oil, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
2. Stir in the flour and baking powder to form a smooth batter.
3. Add the chocolate chips and mix.
4. Pour into a lined loaf tin.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Leave to cool in the tin (or eat warm!).

Spicy Pasta Soup – VeganMoFo Day 16

It’s the beginning of Week 3 of VeganMoFo 2018, and this week is Budget Week – where we aim to create meals that are both delicious, and budget friendly. A common criticism against veganism is that it’s expensive – and it’s true, if you’re constantly buying artisan vegan foods and treats, it can get expensive. But I’m of the opinion that the same is true of a non-vegan diet too – you could easily spend a lot of money on fancy food there as well! Veganism itself can be affordable and still tasty, and this week will aim to show that!

For the first day of this week, the prompt is “Storecupboard Meal” – making a meal with ingredients commonly found in your cupboards, without having to go to the shops to buy things. I made this spicy bean soup – it’s similar to my borlotti bean soup recipe, but with kidney beans and spices. The addition of pasta in the soup makes it a nice hearty meal and gorgeously warming on cold evenings! If you want it more soupy, just add more water, but I prefer my soups to be really thick.

Spicy Bean and Pasta Soup

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoky paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp stock powder
• 180g dry pasta
• boiling water

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until fragrant and translucent. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the spices, and cook for a minute.
3. Stir through the tomato puree, stock powder, and kidney beans.
4. Using a fork, mash the kidney beans a little until broken up.
5. Add the pasta, and pour over the boiling water until it covers the pasta by about an inch.
6. Bring to a simmer, and cook for approximately 10 minutes, until the pasta is done.
7. Serve and eat!

 

Low FODMAP chocolate biscuits – VeganMoFo Day 15

Have you ever heard of the low-FODMAP diet? It’s an elimination diet mostly aimed at IBS sufferers, but can also be used for other chronic conditions. FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligo-saccharides Di-saccharides Mono-saccharides and Polyols) are carbohydrates that have been found to contribute to irritation in the gut in some people – basically, they’re things that people with IBS are often intolerant to. The low-FODMAP diet gets you to eliminate all FODMAPs for a certain period of time, and then slowly reintroduce them, one at a time, so you can figure out what your body can handle. It is a really boring elimination diet – I’ve been on it myself and it wasn’t fun! Here is a list of high, and low FODMAP foods. For today’s VeganMoFo, I made chocolate biscuits that are acceptable on a low FODMAP diet!

These biscuits are made with oats, rather than wheat flour, as wheat is a high fodmap food. If you use certified gluten free oats and baking powder, these biscuits are also gluten free. I used vitalite vegan butter for these, which I believe is low Fodmap, but around the world vegan butters may vary!

Low FODMAP Chocolate Biscuits

• Servings: 12
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Ingredients

• 250g oats
• 100g vegan butter (i used vitalite), melted
• 60g golden syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g white sugar
• 30g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Directions

1. Begin by pulsing the oats in a food processor until they are finely milled and flour-like.
2. Meanwhile, mix the melted butter, golden syrup, vanilla extract, and sugar together in a large bowl until well combined.
3. Stir through the oat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda.
4. Place in the fridge for half an hour at least (you can make the dough a day in advance if you prefer).
Preheat the oven to 180C/355F
5. Take the dough out of the fridge and form into walnut size balls. Place on a lined baking tray and flatten slightly.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until they’re a little browner.
7. Leave to cool on the baking tray.

 

Balsamic Tomato Pasta – VeganMoFo Day 14

Today’s VeganMoFo prompt stumped me for a minute – it asks us to make a meal full of flavour, but low in salt – and as someone who has never had to cut down on salt I had to think a bit. It’s important though, I think, to learn how to cook for different requirements, so I gave it a go!

I made pasta with a herby balsamic tomato and white bean sauce. The balsamic vinegar and herbs bring strong flavours which mean the salt isn’t so necessary, and roasting the tomatoes really emphasises their savoury flavour.

I posted roasted chickpeas yesterday, but white beans (or canellini) are another bean that is really good roasted. I often put them in with vegetables to roast as they taste so good!

Balsamic Tomato Pasta

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

– enough pasta for two, cooked
– 400g cherry tomatoes, halved
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– handful of fresh rosemary and thyme, roughly chopped
– 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
– 3-4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
– 1 tbsp oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C/355F
1. Place the tomatoes, cut side down, on a lined baking tray.
2. Spread the beans, garlic, and herbs over the tomatoes.
4. Drizzle over the oil and balsamic vinegar, making sure to cover evenly.
5. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
6. Stir through the cooked pasta and enjoy! Great hot, or cold as a pasta salad.

Mushroom & Chickpea Curry – VeganMoFo Day 12

Today’s VeganMoFo prompt asks us to do spicy food, without chillies. Some people can’t eat chillies, others don’t like them…either way, it’s good to be able to make tasty spicy food without the heat!

I think that sometimes curry can be nice when it’s not hot and spicy, but instead fragrant and flavourful from the mix of spices used. Which is what I did with this creamy mushroom and chickpea curry.

It would appear that I only have one photo of this curry currently, excuse me for that as I am having Internet problems – if I remember I’ll update in the future!

Mushroom and Chickpea Curry

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

– 1 onion, chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– 350g mushrooms, sliced
– 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
– 1 tsp ground cumin
– 1 tsp ground coriander
– 1 tsp turmeric
– 1 tsp garam masala (make sure your mix doesn’t have chillies!)
– 2 tbsp tomato puree
– 1 can coconut milk

Directions

1. Begin by frying your onion and garlic in a large pan until golden.
2. Add the sliced mushrooms and continue to fry as they let their moisture out and begin to brown.
3. Add the chickpeas and stir.
4. Stir through the spices and cook for a minute, stirring.
5. Add in the tomato puree and coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
6. Cook for ten minutes, season to taste, and serve!

Chocolate chip cookies (vegan & gluten free) – VeganMoFo Day 10

I’ve posted a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes already. Ok, maybe just one or two, but still. How many cookie recipes does a girl need? The answer is most likely, an infinite amount.

These cookies are slightly different though, as for VeganMoFo 18 day 10 we’re going gluten free! As always with making allergen free food you need to check with the person you’re making it for about what they can/can’t eat, and what level of cross contamination is ok for them – I’d classify these cookies as having “no gluten ingredients” because my kitchen is full of wheat products so I can’t guarantee them to be 100% gluten free, but if you made them somewhere without that, they would be!

I wanted to show how easy it is to make tasty gluten free food. I have eaten gluten free in the past when doing elimination diets for my stomach issues and I found that often, gluten free ready made flour works really well in recipes you already have! For this, I used Lidl’s own gluten free self raising blend, which is one of the cheapest, but any pre-made self raising flour would work.

The recipe is mostly based off my regular cookie recipe and it works pretty much the same, although I find the gluten free cookies have to bake a few minutes longer than my usual ones. They are so good that my husband even specifically requests them!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Servings: 14
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Ingredients

– 130g vegan butter
– 80g brown sugar
– 80g white sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 tbsp golden syrup
– 250g gluten free self raising flour
– 100g dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 175C/350F
1. Begin by creaming the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
2. Next, add the vanilla and golden syrup and mix thoroughly.
3. Stir through the flour to form a stiff dough.
4. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips.
5. Place walnut size balls of cookie dough on a lined baking sheet, leaving space for them to rise.
6. Place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
7. Leave to cool on tray.

Chickpea Chips – VeganMoFo Day 8

Today’s VeganMoFo prompt is about Food Flops. Taking inspiration from things you’ve made that didn’t turn out so well. I actually have a post about my own flops, but this won’t be about any of them, instead about last year’s Polenta Chips. Now, there’s actually no flop in that recipe, because it’s nice and tasty…but along the way, I realised that my body isn’t actually a huge fan of polenta, so I can’t eat them anymore! But they were nice, so I wanted to find something similar. Enter…chickpea chips!

Chickpea chips are made in a similar way to polenta chips, only with gram/chickpea flour instead of polenta/cornmeal! You can get something similar under the name of “panisse” in France, but those are fried and I baked these for ease.

You have to make the mixture of these in advance – it’s done by mixing a chickpea flour & water combination on the stove until thickened, and then pressing it into a tray, and leaving to cool. This forms a block, much like polenta, which you then cut into chips and bake.

Chickpea Chips

• Servings: 1 tray
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Ingredients

• 250g chickpea flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp stock powder
• 500ml cold water

to bake

• salt and pepper, to season
• spray oil

Directions

1. Mix your sifted chickpea flour with the salt and stock powder. Slowly pour in the water, mixing constantly, until thouroughly mixed (as lump free as you can get it!)
2. Pour the chickpea flour mixture into a large saucepan on low heat, and whisk continually for 5 minutes until very thick.
3. Turn out the mixture onto a lined baking tray, and spread until about half an inch thick. Leave to fully cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
5. Turn the cooled mixture out onto a chopping board, and cut into “chips” – you can be creative if you like but make them similar sizes so they cook evenly!
6. Place chips on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper, and spray with oil.
7. Put them in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
8. Serve immediately.

Rainbow Pizza – VeganMoFo Day 7

You may notice that I skipped a day! Oops! Actually no, I won’t be posting every single day this month – just most days. Thirty days of non stop posts is a lot to get through! Though I know there are many fellow MoFo-ers who are doing it, and much respect to them.

Today’s prompt is about “colour” – be inspired by colour in your food. We’ve had colour themes before – red food (twice) and I’ve even done a beige day! But today I’ve gone multicoloured. And put it on pizza, because why not?

Pizza is such a versatile food, and most certainly not one you have to give up when you go vegan! I have several pizza recipes on here, and so I thought I’d add another one. This uses a variety of vegetables in rainbow colours (but if you’re not going for the rainbow look, just use what you like the taste of best) and Tesco’s Free From cream cheese – but again, any cream cheese you like the taste of would work great!

If you wanted to use premade pizza dough you could – check the ingredients to make sure it’s vegan – but I’m including the recipe for my own pizza dough too. You have to knead it, which can be a little tedious, but put on a nice playlist and take it all ought on the dough as you knead!

Rainbow Pizza

• Servings: 1 pizza
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Ingredients

For the Dough
• 250g strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200ml hand-hot water (water should be hot enough to hold your little finger in without wincing)
For the toppings
• 1 pack vegan cream cheese
• Veggies of your choice, cut into bitesize pieces. I used black olives, purple radishes, red onions, red, yellow, and orange tomatoes, red, green and yellow peppers, and green courgettes.

Directions

1. Begin making your dough. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and olive oil together.
2. Slowly pour in the warm water, mixing until a dough is formed.
3. Knead the dough for approximately 8 minutes, until it is smooth and bouncy.
4. Cover with a tea towel, and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in size – at least an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
6. Roll your dough into a large circle ready for topping.
7. Spread the cream cheese evenly over the pizza base.
8. Get creative and place the vegetables on top of the cream cheese in a rainbow pattern!
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until the dough is golden and firm.
10. Slice and enjoy!

Isa’s Chickpea Cutlets – VeganMoFo Day 5

Day 5 of VeganMoFo asks us to talk about cookbooks that have inspired us. There are a lot more vegan cookbooks out there now than there ever have been, and you’re spoilt for choice when looking for one! But the one cookbook I always go back to is the Veganomicon. First published nearly eleven years ago, there’s now a tenth anniversary edition which I don’t have, but both versions are amazingly good! There’s a plethora of amazing vegan recipes, ranging from basics to fancy and all the way inbetween. Including one of my all time favourite recipes – chickpea cutlets.

Ok maybe they’re not the prettiest of meals to photograph, but they are amazing, seriously, well worth making. And they’re really easy too – I use the oven baked method (I think that’s often regarded as the tastiest way to make these!) and they turn out brilliant every time.

The cutlets use vital wheat gluten, which I wrote a bit about in my post on seitan last year, and they’re a great protein source what with that and the chickpeas. They’re honestly good however you choose to serve them – with salad, with roast potatoes, or in a sandwich!

The recipe for chickpea cutlets can be found either in the Veganomicon book or on Isa’s website, here! Her recipe online is for a double batch, which is well worth making as you’ll want as many as you can get.

Enjoy!