Kohl - Slaw

That's coleslaw made with kohlrabi - get it? ;-) Rick Stein did this carrot and kohlrabi salad, prepared much like the one above but then added fried cumin seeds in oil poured over the top. I tried it and it was very good but all I could think was how much the salad itself was like coleslaw. As kohlrabi is part of the cabbage family it makes sense. It also has a great texture, crisp and juicy like apple yet has the taste of cabbage, albeit mild so is perfect for coleslaw. So I made it again with a coleslaw type dressing and it works, love this!

Salad:
1 kohlrabi, topped, tailed and peeled, about 150g
2 carrots, about 200g
1 small white onion

Dressing:
1/4 cup vegan mayo (4 Tbsp or 60g)
1/2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
few grinds black pepper

For the salad - feed everything through a food processor with the shredder attachment on, or grate by hand. For the dressing simply whisk everything together and pour over and toss well, adjust seasoning to personal taste and serve :-)

Nutritional Information: per 100g
Calories: 100
Fat: 7.3g
Sat Fat: 0
Protein: 1.3g
Carbs: 8.2g
Fibre: 2.6g
Sugar: 3.5g
Sodium: 229mg

♥

German Style Potato Salad

Got this recipe from BBC somewhere. It's fantastic, I've never been a huge fan of mayo based potato salads anyway and as this one includes my favourite tastes of dill, gherkin and mustard figured I would love it - and do - it's so good.

316g (approx.) of cooked, cooled baby new potatoes
2 small shallots or 1 large, finely chopped
2 Tbsp corn oil
1/2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
25g gherkins (dill pickles) not the sweet type, you want this 'sharp'
bunch of fresh dill, chopped
black pepper

Dice the potatoes into a large bowl - leave the skins on. In separate bowl, combine shallots, oil, vinegar, dijon, salt and pepper - whisk well. Fold into potatoes with a rubber spatula then fold in mustard seeds, pickles and fresh dill. Chill.

Otsu - Version 2

New and Improved recipe here!

Just a slight variation on the dish below. Omitted the spring onions as they didn't work and replaced the cucumber with avocado which goes with the dressing beautifully. The cucumber worked too, anything cool and refreshing to counter the heat of the dressing will work. Think I probably prefer this version, the avocado being just too good. Either way, they are both fantastic.

Otsu

New improved recipe here!

Otsu is a cold soba noodle salad with cucumber, spring onion and pan fried tofu in a fiery ginger sesame dressing. I highly recommend going to one of my favorite blogs to read about it as she sells it very well: here . A few other people who have made it and blogged about it are all in agreement -it's amazing. The only thing I would maybe change is the spring onions - couldn't really see the point of them, and I think avocado would be really good in it. It's the dressing that makes it really, I've included the whole recipe for the dressing, it makes a lot but will keep in the fridge and I think I'll be pouring this stuff onto everything for the next few days....

Ginger - Sesame dressing:

zest of 1 small lemon
43g cleaned ginger, thinly sliced (I thought this was going to be way too much but it works)
1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp canola oil (rapeseed)
2 Tbsp sesame oil

In a food processor (or with mortar and pestle) combine lemon zest, ginger, sugar, cayenne, and salt and process to a smooth puree. (note - mine didn't get smooth using my food processor, it's too big, mortar and pestle might do a better job). Add lemon juice, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Blend well. Slowly add the oils until well combined.

Salad: Serves 2

115g dry soba noodles, cooked, drained and rinsed in cold water till cool.
1/2 pack cauldron foods tofu, pressed a little and cut as you like - best to use previously frozen and defrosted tofu for texture.
1 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 spring onion, sliced thin
1/4 cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced into half moons
sesame seeds for garnish - I used black sesame seeds because I had some and thought they would look nice with the dark noodles.

Add tofu to a large non stick skillet without any oil and toss over high heat until all the water has evaporated; add canola oil, reduce heat to medium high and fry, tossing frequently until tofu is firm and bouncy; beware of splattering. Drain on paper towels. In a large mixing bowl combine drained, rinsed soba noodles, spring onion, cucumber and about 160g of the dressing. Toss well; arrange salad in centre of plates and top with fried tofu. Garnish with sesame seeds.

also - original recipe called for chopped cilantro tossed in the salad - personally can't stand the stuff so omitted it.

Warm Puy Lentil Salad with Baby Spinach and Watercress

Serves 2

125g dry weight lentilles verte du puy (puy lentils)
1 clove garlic, pureed
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
5-6 grinds black pepper
1/2 red onion, sliced and halved
75g baby spinach leaves
45g watercress

Wash and rinse lentils. Place in saucepan and cover with cold water - do not add salt. Bring to boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes with lid on. Reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes with lid on. Add more boiling water if needed during cooking. Whisk garlic, mustard, oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl then slowly whisk in vinegar. Set aside. Toss together the spinach, watercress and red onion. Drain lentils well then toss in the dressing. Spoon lentil mixture over top the salad and serve immediately with fresh french bread.

Nutrient info per serving: Calories 369, fat 18g, carbs 35g, protein 18g, calcium 144mg, iron 8mg.

*that's the total daily intake of iron for a man (half for a woman) and a third of the daily intake of protein*

Garlicky Pak Choi and Chickpea Rice

Note: this was only created to make use of leftover chickpeas and pak choi that needed using but is very good, replacing the pak choi with spinach would also be nice.

Serves 2

100g basmati rice, dry weight
200g pak choi
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil
60g onion
5g garlic (about 2 large cloves), pureed
100g canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed and peeled

Slice the pak choi by seperating the stalk from the leaf, slice both parts into strips, keeping them seperate. Start cooking rice - do not add any salt to cooking water. Heat oil in a wok and fry onion till soft. When there is 5 minutes left on the rice add the pak choi stalks; when soft - should only take a few minutes, add the garlic, chickpeas and the pak choi leaf. Stir well then add cooked drained rice and soy sauce. Stir well - serve.

Garlic Bread Baguette or Individual Rolls

This recipe is an absolute staple for us, I always make it when we are having a 'special' pasta meal. Sometimes I make it with a whole baguette and sometimes as individual rolls - both are great. You can also make ahead and freeze, just wrap in foil and place in the freezer when ready to cook just put it straight in the oven for about 10 minutes then remove foil to brown up for another 5 minutes.

3 par bake rolls or 1 par bake baguette
1 large clove garlic, pureed
50g vegan margarine
2t chopped flat leaf parsley
few grinds salt

Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Slice rolls in half or the baguette into 10 slices but do not cut all the way through. Mix garlic, parsely and salt into the margarine until well blended. Spread onto cut rolls on one side, shut rolls then spread a bit more over the cut part to seal. Wrap each roll or the baguette loosely in foil, place on baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and open up parcels to expose the rolls then put back in the oven (still on the foil) for another 5 minutes or until golden and crispy on top.

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Fluffy Vegan Buttercream Frosting

From: Vegan Cupcakes take over the World.

Notes: Recipe calls for canola oil which is rapeseed oil here. I used a vegetable oil which is 100% rapeseed. For the vanilla extract use a really good quality real extract, not an imitation one. This is important in cakes that have no eggs or butter as the flavour of the extracts really come through. For the thickener, I used arrowroot as that's what I had but recipe said you can use cornstarch (cornflour). Also I used rice milk which turned out great, the soy will curdle with the vinegar more but the rice milk works just fine.

For the frosting, I have halved the recipe as it makes so much, if you want to have piles of frosting like in the picture you may want to double the amount but this will frost 12 sufficiently. Also, I didn't need nearly as much 'milk' as the recipe called for.

Watercress, Houmous and Sun-Dried Tomatoes on Rye

This has become one of our favourite sandwich recipes, it's so delicious and very simple. The combination of spicy dijon, creamy houmous and sun dried tomatoes just go so well with the nutty bread and peppery watercress. It's very easy and really packable, great for lunches - just wrap it up!

Watercress, Houmous and Sun-Dried Tomatoes on Wholegrain Rye Bread: makes 1 sandwich

2 slices German wholegrain rye bread
5g dijon mustard
40g houmous
15g sundried tomatoes in oil, sliced
15g canned chick peas, drained, rinsed, skinned and sliced in half
10g watercress

Of course you can ignore the gram quantities here, they are mostly for me and my calorie counting ;-) Just make sure you are generous with the houmous/chickpea filling. Easiest way is just mix some halved chickpeas into houmous, spread one slice of the rye bread with dijon, top with the houmous/chickpea mixture, sprinkle the chopped sun dried tomatoes on top then top with watercress. Place the other slice of rye bread on top cut in half and enjoy!

♥

Spicy Pepitas

Apologies for the terrible photo here! These are one of our favourite snacks, great with beer or just on their own, and don't forget how insanely good for you pumpkin seeds are! As for the chilli powder I use a seasoned mix here, something like a fajita or taco seasoning mix would do.

Spicy Pepitas:

50g pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp mixed chilli powder

Simply toss all together until well coated. Place in a hot dry non stick frying pan and heat until the start to pop and lightly brown. You can also do these in the oven, about 200C until again, the pop up and are golden. Let cool slightly as they will be lethally hot at first!

♥

Red Thai Curry

100g new potatoes, diced
170g mushrooms, halved and sliced
80g frozen petite pois
100g carrots, sliced and halved
45g fresh baby spinach
30g plain cashews
1/2 can reduced fat coconut milk
1Tb red thai curry paste
1Tb vegetable oil

Heat 1/2T vegetable oil and fry mushrooms until soft. Remove. Heat the other 1/2T of oil and briefly fry paste on low heat then add potatoes, carrots and peas. Fry gently for 3 minutes then add coconut milk. Stir well and simmer with lid on for about 10- 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in mushrooms, cashews and spinach and cook until spinach wilts. Serve with rice.

Udon with Shiitake Mushrooms and Kale in Miso Broth

click on picture!

Edited to add: have since made this with shiitake mushrooms as the original recipe stated and it was very good, better in fact. Used 10g dry shiitake mushrooms rehydrated according to package instructions. Actually, we have a new front runner - sliced portobello mushrooms! Best yet!

From: Veganomicon
Notes: Didn't have shiitake so used chestnut mushrooms.
Only had sweet white miso so used that, recipe said to use more if using the sweet white so did.
Added more soy sauce, mostly for colour.
Would either cook the kale longer next time or steam it first, then add.
Otherwise perfect.

Pesto Pizza with Sundried Tomatoes, Black Olives, Red Onion and Mushrooms

Base - own recipe
Pesto from Vegan with a vengeance

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

From: Vegan Cupcakes take over the World - a chocolate mint cake with mint frosting and chocolate ganache topping...

These were absolutely amazing, reminded me of a 'pep' bar, and quite possibly made the best tasting batter in the world, Finn and I were fighting to lick that bowl I tell you! Next time for the frosting I will add all the colour and extracts first before the 'milk' as they added enough liquid that I didn't need nearly as much 'milk' as the recipe called for. Otherwise, just perfect...