Creamy Lemon Barley Salad with Asparagus and Peppered Almond Feta

(First, a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me in The Vegan Woman's 2013 Food Blog Guide!! Second place is such an honour and there was such lovely things said there. Makes it all worthwhile. Thank you.)

Now - Finally! A new recipe!! I should say that I haven't been completely inactive on the blog front, if you follow the daily blog you'll know I've been revisiting a lot of my older posts and trying different variations of things and updating those posts accordingly. 

I made things like....

 ...Kahlua Chocolate Mousse from the Triple Layer Mousse Dessert in individual cups...

 ....a gorgeous pizza loaded with roasted veg, toasted pine nuts, black olives, rocket and drizzled with balsamic vinegar...(ok, that's not an updated recipe but it was so good I had to show it here!).....

 ....these salad rolls by Rawthentic but made my own spicy nut butter dip (stunning!!).....

.....a variation of my Crispy Fried Tofu in Spicy Teriyaki Sauce for my tofu hating husband replacing it with sugar snap peas, asparagus and chick peas...a wonderful option for the tofu haters!.....

For Easter dinner I made these bunny rolls using my Light and Fluffy Pull Apart Rolls recipe - ok, they turned out a little bit like bunny/kitty hybrids but they're cute so we'll forgive that!

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So, I have been busy updating the blog, there's just not been a NEW post for awhile....until now! 

Back to the feature post  - Creamy Lemon Barley Salad with Asparagus and Peppered Almond Feta. This is a lovely salad: cool, creamy and zesty with perfect hits of peppery almond feta, crunchy pine nuts and fresh mint and featuring my all time favourite veg - asparagus, now in season :-)

I opted for barley here as I love it but only have one other recipe on the blog using it - the Barley Hotpot so I figured I was well due a barley post. Then I saw this barley salad on The Kitchn and was inspired to make a salad with it. You can of course use any grain you like here if barley isn't your thing - couscous, bulgher, quinoa, rice, even orzo, but we both really liked the different texture barley brings to this.

The shining star here is the peppered almond feta. It is just that - the almond feta with a lot of coarsely ground black pepper added and I love it so much I honestly think I might just always make it this way from now on! It's not an overpowering amount of black pepper, just a nice gentle hit of it which naturally goes beautifully with the lemon flavours in this.

The dressing is a slight adaptation of this Creamy Lemon Dressing but I replaced the sour cream with the "yogurt cheese" from Miyoko's "Artisan Vegan Cheese" cookbook. It sounds complicated but it literally is just drained soy yogurt. Draining the yogurt off makes it much thicker giving you a really creamy dressing. This does mean that this recipe requires making 2 homemade vegan cheeses and thus takes a couple days to do but nothing is complicated, just a bit of waiting. Just note that you'll need to start this a couple days before....

Creamy Lemon Barley Salad with Asparagus and Peppered Almond Feta
serves 4 as a main salad

• 200g / 1 cup pearl barley

• ½ cup or more of the Creamy Lemon Dressing (recipe follows)

• 150g asparagus, ends snapped off and sliced into 1 inch pieces

• 2 shallots, sliced or chopped

• 25g / 2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts

• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

• some Peppered Almond Feta (recipe follows)

Creamy Lemon Dressing - note this makes extra!

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (generally the juice of 2 large lemons)

• zest of 1 large lemon

• 3 cloves of garlic, pureed (I use a fine microplane grater)

• 2 tsp dijon mustard

• 2 tsp syrup sweetener *

• ½ tsp sea salt

• ½ cup olive oil

• ½ cup yogurt cheese (recipe follows and makes extra)

* I love to use Sweet Freedom syrup here which is vegan but tastes so much like honey it's unbelievable....but you can use light agave or maple syrup here.

First make the yogurt cheese - line a sieve with 3 layers of cheesecloth, place it over a bowl and add 500g or 2 cups of plain (not sweet) soy yogurt:

Fold over the overhanging cheesecloth to gently cover the yogurt then leave it out to drain at room temperature for 24 hours.

The next day you should have quite a bit of liquid drained off - see, that's the stuff you don't want watering down your dressing!!

....and you should have a much firmer amount of yogurt:

Tip this into a bowl, cover with cling film and chill until needed. I highly recommend getting Miyoko's cookbook as she has great cheese spread recipes using this stuff. Makes better cream cheese than Tofutti's!! I like to add some salt, dried dill, onion and garlic powder for a great bagel spread with the leftover yogurt cheese here.

To make the salad dressing, add the lemon juice, zest, garlic, dijon and salt into a medium sized bowl and whisk well. Slowly start adding the olive oil whisking all the while until fully incorporated. Add the ½ cup of yogurt cheese and whisk well. Now add the sweetener to taste - I used 2 teaspoons. Keep in mind the dressing might seem quite strong in lemon flavour at this point but it mellows a LOT in the salad. This is definitely one of those salad's where everything only comes together taste wise at the very end :-)

Peppered Almond Feta:

Just make the Almond Feta as per the recipe on the blog here but add ½ tsp of coarsely freshly ground black pepper while blending. For me that was 40 grinds with my pepper grinder set on coarse. It should look nice and speckled like this:

Follow the instructions as stated, draining overnight in the fridge then baking it off the next morning. I also baked mine slightly longer for this one as I wanted a more crumbly feta in the salad - 45 - 50 minutes instead.

NOW the Salad!

Wash the barley very well under several rinses of cold water. Place in a large saucepan and cover well with cold water. Bring to the boil then simmer covered for about 1 hour, stir now and again. (Alternatively you may just want to follow the instructions on your pack of pearl barley as I have found every pack I buy says something different!)

Drain and rinse the barley under cold water, shake off any excess water then place in a large bowl.

Boil the asparagus in salted water until just fork tender, depending on how thick the asparagus is this may take 3 minutes or 6. Have a bowl filled with ice water ready, drain the asparagus, run under cold water then plunge them into the ice water. This will stop them cooking and help them retain their bright green colour and crispness in the salad. Once cold drain then tip onto a clean tea towel and pat dry with paper towels just to remove any excess water as you don't want that watering down the salad.

Add the asparagus to the barley with the shallots, toasted pine nuts and fresh mint. Pour over about ½ cup of the dressing and fold it in with a rubber spatula until well mixed. 

Now, I don't add the feta at this stage as when you mix it in it will turn creamy and disappear a bit. I prefer to crumble the feta onto my salad just before eating and gently mix it in with my fork while eating to keep it chunky. That being said my husband actually preferred the feta stirred in until creamy and if you are making this salad for a buffet then just make it easy for yourself and add the feta now. I haven't given an amount of feta here, just eyeball it,  you won't need all the feta but do use a good amount, it's those hits of peppered feta that MAKE this salad!

Cover the salad with cling film and chill well - I found this salad best the next day when the flavours have more time to mellow and infuse.

To serve, add another little drizzle of dressing then crumble over a good bit of peppered feta (unless you added it earlier) and a sprig of fresh mint. 

Sorry there is no nutritional information for this one but it was impossible to calculate as the dressing and feta amounts are random.

NOTE - click here for some ideas on what to do with all the leftover salad dressing, yogurt cheese and feta - including spreads, pizza and salad!

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You Might Also Like:

Mediterranean Couscous
Salad with Almond Feta

Roasted Red Pepper and Asparagus
Flan with Almond Feta

A Plethora of Granola!

Ok, well, I've decided I can "blog as I learn" regarding this camera. For some reason these pictures look much better on my computer than when inserted into blogger...I'll look into why later, for now here's a few happy and healthy granola recipes for you :-)

If you read the daily blog you'll know that I really overdid it over the holidays, have put on a bit of weight and am trying to eat lighter and healthier. Both these recipes fit the bill perfectly and are so easy to make. They are based on my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Granola recipe but are even easier as these ones use maple syrup instead of requiring you to make brown sugar syrup first. Further like that recipe none of these are overly sweet which is nice as you can add a bit of chocolate, guilt free ;-)

I should explain to UK/IRE viewers that Almond Joy is an American chocolate bar - just think of a Bounty Bar with almonds and I was inspired by that here. It's a simple maple sweetened granola with toasted coconut, toasted flaked almonds and dark chocolate chips. Absolutely lovely and goes perfectly with some ice cold coconut milk (the tetra pak kind like Kara brand, not the tins) and sliced bananas on top.

Almond Joy Granola

• 300g oats ( 2 3/4 cups)

• 150ml maple syrup (2/3 cups)

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

• 50g desiccated coconut (2/3 cups) can be sweetened or unsweetened

• 50g flaked almonds (1/2 cup)

• 80g vegan chocolate chips (1/2 cup)

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. In a small saucepan heat the maple syrup and coconut oil until the oil melts. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add the oats to a large bowl and pour over the syrup. Stir well until everything is well coated. Spread out on a large or 2 med/small baking sheets lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes. Give it a good stir then pop it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Tip it back in a bowl then add the coconut and almonds, stir well, spread it back onto the baking sheet and pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes. Stir then return to the oven for a final 5 minutes. Let cool fully then stir in the chocolate chips. Store in a ziplock bag or airtight container.

I used these Belgian chocolate drops in mine as they were a cute little button shape and appear to be vegan BUT I don't actually recommend them. They just don't taste that great. I can see them being perfect for decorating with but you want a really good tasting chocolate in this so use a dark chocolate bar that you really like and chop that up or use chips you know you like :-)

Nutritional Information: based on a 1/2 cup (60g) serving, using unsweetened coconut, no banana or milk.

Calories: 293
Protein: 7.2g
Fat: 13.6g
Sat Fat: 7.6g
Fibre: 5.3g
Carbs: 37.5g
Sugar: 13.6g
Sodium: 4.1mg
Calcium: 42mg (162mg with fortified dairy free milk)

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Furthermore, I made a ridiculously simple Maple Cinnamon Blueberry Granola. Simple, but delicious. I often find a lot of granola out there has way too much going on. Like manufactures have tried to jam in every nut, seed and dried fruit there is in them. I prefer to keep things simple making sure the flavours compliment each other. Maple, cinnamon and blueberry are 3 flavours I love together, especially with oats, that being said some almonds would also go great in this. I prefer this one with rice milk.

Maple Cinnamon Blueberry Granola

• 300g oats (2 3/4 cups)

• 150ml maple syrup (2/3 cups)

• 2 Tbsp vegan butter

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• fresh blueberries to serve.

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. Heat the maple syrup and butter in a small saucepan until the butter melts. In a large bowl mix together the oats and cinnamon. Pour over the syrup and stir well until well coated. Spread out onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes. Stir then bake for another 15 minutes. Stir and if it feels like it needs it bake for another 5 minutes (I usually do) it should be getting lightly golden brown and feel crisp. Let cool and store in either a ziplock bag or an airtight container. Serve with your favourite dairy free milk, I love rice milk with this one, or some soy yogurt and fresh blueberries.

Nutritional Information: based on a 1/2 cup (60g) serving with blueberries but no milk.

Calories: 283

Protein: 6.4g

Fat: 5.8g

Sat Fat: 1.1g

Fibre: 6g

Carbs: 53.1g

Sugar: 18.2g

Sodium: 32.8mg

Calcium: 50.6mg (168mg with 100ml fortified rice milk)

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Lastly, I made this Raspberry Almond White chocolate Granola as I love those 3 flavours together. Like the previous granola's this isn't overly sweet either so don't fret about adding a little bit of chocolate to it. I've gone for vegan white chocolate buttons here snapped in half but dark chocolate chips would equally go nicely here, and of course, it's still good without the added chocolate! You could also use dried raspberries here, I just preferred the texture of soft fresh raspberries against the crispy granola. Also, this one goes perfectly with almond milk :-)

Raspberry Almond White Chocolate Granola

• 300g oats ( 2 3/4 cups)

• 150ml maple syrup (2/3 cups)

• 2 Tbsp vegan butter

• 1/2 tsp almond extract

• 50g flaked almonds (1/2 cup)

• 80g white chocolate, buttons snapped in half or a bar chopped (1/2 cup)

• fresh raspberries to serve.

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. In a small saucepan heat the maple syrup and vegan butter until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and stir in the almond extract. Add the oats to a large bowl and pour over the syrup. Stir well until everything is well coated. 

Spread out on a large or 2 med/small baking sheets lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes. Give it a good stir then pop it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Tip it back in a bowl then add the almond flakes, stir well, spread it back onto the baking sheet and pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes. Stir then return to the oven for a final 5 minutes. Let cool fully then stir in the white chocolate chip. Store in a ziplock bag or airtight container. Serve with fresh raspberries and ice cold almond milk.

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Nutritional Information: based on 1/2 cup (60g) serving with raspberries but no milk. 

Calories: 305

Protein: 7.9g

Fibre: 7.5g

Carbs: 46.6g

Sugar: 17.5g

Fat: 10.6g

Sat Fat: 2.8g

Sodium: 24.8mg

Calcium: 55.2mg

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Pan Grilled Chive Polenta Wedges with Sizzling Garlic Mushrooms

So, this is the dish that finally won my husband over when it comes to polenta. Up till now I've been the only one in the house who liked it and as such never got to have it that much, as you can see, this is the first polenta dish on the blog! To be fair I could probably add sizzling garlic butter mushrooms to any dish and he'd be won over but I'm glad it was this one ;-) It took a couple goes to get the quantity of polenta right here and to learn how to get the grill marks without the polenta sticking like glue to the pan (patience, you just need patience!) But it's all come together now. The crispy fried polenta with that garlic butter soaking in is heavenly, and don't be too alarmed by the amount of vegan butter in this, it's actually still a calorie wise dish :-)

Pan Grilled Chive Polenta Wedges with Sizzling Garlic Mushrooms

Serves 4 as a light meal.

150g polenta
600ml vegetable stock
2 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped (or 4 tsp dried)
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400g whole mushrooms
80g vegan butter
4 cloves garlic, pureed
1/2 tsp dried parsley or 1 tsp chopped fresh
salt and pepper

(Note - you will need to follow the instructions on your pack of polenta here as they vary wildly. The polenta I use is a "quick cook" variety, ready in 1 minute for soft or 5 minutes for firm polenta. I'll give the instructions for mine anyway in case you have the same type, otherwise just follow package instructions adding the chives during simmering. As for the vegetable stock, I use Marigold Vegan Organic Bouillon and add 2 1/2 tsp to the 600ml water.)

Mix the polenta and chives together. Bring the vegetable stock to the boil then add the polenta in a slow steady stream, whisking all the while. Once all is added, swap to a wooden spoon and stir all the while for 5 minutes. Transfer to an 8" round cake tin that has been greased with olive oil and press in well using a square of baking paper. Put aside to set for about 1/2 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms but keep (I now roughly chop these as well). Arrange the mushroom caps in an oven safe dish and scatter the stalks around. In a small bowl mix together the vegan butter, garlic, parsley and a couple grinds of salt and pepper. Fill the mushrooms caps with the butter mixture and dot any extra around. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes giving the dish a shake a couple times. If at any point the mushrooms are looking dry, dot a few blobs of butter around the dish - the water content in mushrooms can vary hugely and I sometimes have to do this.

Back to the polenta: run a knife around the edges of the tin then turn over onto a chopping board and tap the bottom, the polenta should pop out. Slice into 8 wedges. Note - you can wrap up the wedges now and refrigerate to fry up when you like.

Preheat a grill pan till hot then brush the wedges on top generously with olive oil.  Place oil side down onto the hot pan and grill. Now. This takes longer than you think it will, if you are impatient and try to flip the wedges you'll find they stick to the pan. Just wait until the grill marks form a crust then they should be easy to flip, although, you still may need to loosen them slightly with a knife. (Alternatively, if you are not fussed about grill marks, you can just  fry these in a greased non-stick frying pan with no stickage at all!)

Place 2 of the wedges onto a plate then place some of the mushrooms over top and scatter some of the stalks. Spoon some of the garlic butter left in the pan and drizzle over the wedges. Serve with a lemon wedge and some fresh parsley. Squirt the lemon wedge over the dish just before eating, it goes lovely with the flavours in this.

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Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving

Calories: 271

Protein: 7.1g

Fat: 12.4g

Sat Fat: 2.7g

Fibre: 3.9g

Carbs: 34g

Sugar: 2.1g

Sodium: 752mg (will depend on stock used)

You Might Also Like:

Pan Fried Chive Gnocchi with
Sun Dried Tomato Coulis

Chive Cornmeal Waffles with
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and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes.

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Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Couscous Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Layered bowl of seasoned couscous, roasted veg with toasted pine nuts and black olives and mixed leaf served with a balsamic dressing.

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This plate is from the next day when I made it again. Used only red peppers this time and was out of black olives so used chopped green instead. Still lovely :-)

O.M.G - this salad was stunning! And quite the heavyweight, don't let the salad tag fool you here. I could barely walk after this, beaten by a salad I was! Of course, you don't have to eat the massive portion I did that you see there, I certainly had better intentions at the time but it was just too good and before I knew it, all gone.

I got this idea from Delia's Vegetarian Cookbook which I have had for years and this layered couscous salad has always caught my eye. I've completely changed the recipe to suit my tastes here but the basic idea is the same: couscous, roasted veg then salad and a dressing. The couscous and dressing will need precise measurements but for the roasted veg you can use whatever you like. Normally I would always use zucchini in my roasted veg but didn't have any so I used green pepper instead. I didn't have any aubergine/eggplant but that would go nicely too. Just use what you like - that layer is very forgiving :-)

Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad with Balsamic Dressing:

100g couscous, dry weight (that's 1/3 + 1/4 cup)
1 tsp vegetable stock powder, I used Marigold Vegan Bouillon Powder.
200ml water (3/4 cup + 4 teaspoons)
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1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced large
8 cherry tomatoes, peeled
1 small red pepper, diced large
1 green pepper, diced large (or halved zucchini slices)
200g mushrooms, quartered
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
black pepper
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3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, pureed
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
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Mixed salad leaves of your choice, rocket is lovely in here!
30g pine nuts (2 Tbsp) toasted
10 black olives, chopped
Fresh basil, about 2 Tbsp chopped

There are quite a few steps with this salad but as they are all needed cool or room temperature you can do these in stages earlier on to make it easier.

First, roast the veg. Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F. Peel the cherry tomatoes by slicing a small X on the bottom of them and place in a bowl then cover with boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes, drain then plunge into cold water. The skins should easily peel off now, any bits left on just use a paring knife to remove. In a large roasting tin add the tomatoes, onion, peppers, mushrooms and or whatever veg you like!

Drizzle over the olive oil, then sprinkle over the salt and a few grinds of black pepper and toss it all together with your hands until well coated in oil. Pop it into the oven for about 1/2 an hour, give the pan a shake a couple times during cooking and stir the mixture near the end to ensure even roasting. When there is no more liquid and the veg are tinged brown at the edges they are done. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until golden then transfer to a small bowl to cool down. Add these and the chopped black olives to the cooled veg.

Measure the couscous into a shallow bowl - a bowl with a large surface area is best to ensure even cooking of couscous, I use an 8" square glass baking dish. Heat the water with the veg stock in a saucepan until boiling. Pour this over the couscous, give it a stir then quickly cover with cling film and leave for 5 minutes. Remove the cling film and give it a fluff with a fork then transfer to a large bowl to cool down. Make sure to fluff it up with a fork now and again as it cools to stop it clumping.

To make the dressing, add the olive oil to a small bowl then slowly add the balsamic vinegar, whisking all the while until fully emulsified. Add the Dijon and whisk until all the little mustard dots are gone - it should be completely smooth. Whisk in the pureed garlic, salt and pepper and set aside.

When everything is cool or room temperature, tip the couscous into a large serving bowl. Top with all the roasted veg/pinenut/black olive mixture then top with the mixed leaf.

To serve, first take some of the leaf and distribute equally amongst plates (2 for a massive meal or 4 for smaller meals) then take a large serving spoon and spoon over the veg and couscous. Lastly drizzle over the dressing then serve immediately.

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Nutritional Information: based on a more reasonable 4 servings ;-) Or you could just eat half of it like I did....

Calories: 313

Protein: 7.1g

Fat: 20g

Sat Fat: 2.6g

Carbs: 29.3g

Sugar: 4.9g

Fibre: 3.9g

Sodium: 600mg

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Almond Feta

Spiced Quinoa and Sweet Potato Cakes with Lemon Mint Yogurt and Black Bean Salad

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These turned out so well and made such a lovely healthy meal with the salad and sauce, some lightly steamed broccoli or asparagus on the side would be a nice addition too. I rarely cook with quinoa, in fact I think this is only my second post using it, but have to say a cake or patty is a great way to use it. I also don't normally have sweet potato about, buying it only at Thanksgiving for some reason but found myself with a large bag of sweet potatoes recently and thinking what to do with them.

Everyone seems to love sweet potato and black beans together and we have been having some really nice spicy sweet potato, black bean and kale stews lately but I wanted to try something else and came up with this. The cakes are quite simple and just spices, onion, sweet potato and quinoa, I was going to add the black beans to them but thought a simple black bean salad on the side would be nicer. I'm glad I did as I absolutely love that salad and will be making it again on it's own, another great addition to the salad repertoire!

The sauce is simply soy yogurt, lemon juice and zest and fresh mint and goes perfectly with the spiced cakes. The idea though was that it would be a coolant to what was supposed to be a spicy cake but in the end mine were quite mild. Next time I would double the amount of chilli flakes and cayenne but I will post the original recipe here as they were still delicious without the heat and you can adjust to your own tastes.

Spiced Quinoa and Sweet Potato Cakes - makes 4 large cakes

100g quinoa, dry weight

500ml water

1 stock cube, I used Kallo Organic Vegetable

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1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and grated - I had 200g once grated

1 large onion, diced fine - about 150g

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp red chilli flakes

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp salt

fresh parsley, chopped

Rinse the quinoa really well and bring 500ml of water and the stock cube to a boil. Add the quinoa, stir, cover and reduce to a simmer for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the stock is almost all absorbed, you don't actually want to cook the quinoa 'properly' here, it's essential it's slightly overcooked and dare I say, mushy? Reason being it's this mushiness that helps the cakes bind, the second time I made this I did cook the quinoa properly, so that it was fluffy with separated grains and the cakes did NOT hold together like they did this time, bit of a nightmare flipping ;-)

Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes then stir with a fork. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool, give it a stir now and again so it doesn't stick together.

Wash and peel the sweet potato then grate. I used a food processor with the grating attachment but you can do this with a hand grater. I then swapped the grater attachment for the blade and pulsed the sweet potato a few times just to chop up the strands, it makes it easier to make the cakes later if they are not so long, again, you can do this by hand with a knife. Finely chop the onion, mince the garlic and measure out your spices.

Heat the olive oil in a large wok and add the sweet potato and onion, fry over medium to low heat until the onions are soft and transparent and the sweet potato is soft and cooked, they should also change colour to a softer yellow, about 10 minutes. When they are cooked add the garlic and spices and fry gently for 2 minutes. If you find the mixture dry and you have some spices cooked on the wok, add a splash of water to deglaze. 

Add this to the quinoa with some chopped fresh parsley and give it good stir, the mixture should be thick but fairly wet, something you won't think you can make patties with but it's ok, we're doing the bake then fry method here ;-)

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Fill a 1/2 cup measure with the mixture, patting down slightly then invert onto the baking sheet. Using a fork gently press down on the mound to make a 1" thick large patty.  Repeat with the remaining mixture, you should get 4 large cakes out of this. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, remove and carefully flip over, they will still be soft at this stage but you should be able to flip them, albeit carefully. Bake for another 15 minutes for the other side.

**Note, this is the same bake and fry method I have used for the Gardenburger recipe and there are step by step photos in that post for it. I also used the same method for the Curried Carrot, Zucchini and Almond Feta Fritters. It's a great method to get egg-less burgers to hold their shape and be fried :-)**

Now that they can hold their shape you can fry them, of course you can eat them now but they both taste and look better fried. Heat 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and simply fry on both sides until crisp and golden. They are already hot and cooked, you just want to crisp up the outside.

That's it! We loved these with the lemon mint yogurt sauce and the black bean salad but I also had a leftover cake, gently reheated on a dry non stick pan, sliced in half and placed in a wholewheat pitta with the yogurt sauce and baby spinach and rocket - delicious!! (They would be nice in a wrap too but would be too soft for a burger bun.)

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Black Bean Salad - serves 2 or 3

150 - 200g drained and rinsed tinned black beans (for me it's one 400g tin)
1/2 onion, diced fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 whole clove
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lime or lemon juice
little lime or lemon zest
freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl add the olive oil then slowly add the vinegar, whisking all the while until it is emulsified, add the lemon or lime juice and whisk well, then add the salt and zest and mix well.

In a frying pan heat up a little olive oil, about a teaspoon and add the onion, bay leaf, clove and a grinding of black pepper until the onion is soft and transparent. Add the ground cumin and garlic and gently fry for another minute. Remove the bay leaf and whole clove.

Transfer to a bowl and add the black beans, give the dressing another whisk then pour over, toss well then leave to marinade and cool down in the fridge for a couple of hours.

**Edit: I just made this salad again with lime zest and juice instead of the lemon and a shallot instead of onion, all fantastic changes and stuffed the salad into a warm wholewheat pitta with some baby spinach - beautiful!**

Lemon-Mint Yogurt Sauce

130g plain soy yogurt, about 1/2 cup
2 tsp lemon juice
bit of lemon zest
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

Simply whisk all together.

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You know, recipe development isn't always straightforward!

~Click to Enlarge~

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Nutritional Information: 

Spiced Quinoa and Sweet Potato Cake - based on 1 cake prior to frying as it will vary depending on                               how much oil you use.

Calories: 192

Protein: 4.8g

Fat: 5.1g

Sat Fat: 0.7g

Carbs: 30.4g

Sugars: 3.7g

Fibre: 3.8g

Sodium: 478mg (depending on stock cube used)

Calcium: 37.8mg

Black Bean Salad - whole recipe

Calories: 270

Protein: 9.7g

Fat: 14.6g

Sat Fat: 2g

Carbs: 32.1g

Sugars: 3.5g

Fibre: 8.8g

Sodium: 1102mg

Calcium: 81.7mg

Lemon Mint Yogurt - this will pretty much just be the nutritional information on your brand of soy yogurt.

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Other Blogger's Recipes - Part 2

So, this is a continuation of the blog post I did back in May of this year of other blogger's recipes. Something I do not do as often as I should!  One is from a blog that is no longer available and the other is from a restaurant's website. Both are amazing and we now have them regularly - well, maybe not the brownies regularly ;-) Honest!!

Super Fudgy Brownies  - originally from the (now gone) blog "Not A Rabbit" reposted at "Cooking Vegan Food Up North"

♥ Aaaah, look at that perfect crackly topping!! ♥

♥ RECIPE ♥

I have so many people to thank for this recipe. First, the original author of the blog "Not a Rabbit" - unfortunately I had never seen this blog and it's now gone, sad, because if this brownie recipe is anything to go by it must have been a good one! Second, Fanny at "Cooking Vegan Food Up North" for saving the recipe and reposting it, and third, Julia at "Snarky Vegan" for tweeting about this recipe and providing the link to it.

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have this recipe in my life. You may have noticed that despite having over 250 recipes on this blog I don't have a basic brownie recipe. This is down to me searching for the perfect one, I tried so many, and to be fair they were all good. I mean a brownie can't really be bad can it?!? But I really wanted that crackly thin skin topping ALL good brownies should have, as well as a really dense super fudgy texture bursting with full on chocolate flavour. This one ticks all those boxes. So the search is over and this one is so perfect in every way I'm not even gutted I didn't come up with it!! It really is the BEST brownie recipe. EVER!

I hope this is ok but as the original blog is gone I'm also going to post the recipe here because I have converted the one posted at Northern Veg there into grams and ml's for those of us on this side of the Atlantic. I also didn't have vanilla sugar so added some vanilla extract. Just click on the recipe link above to get the original in cups if you prefer.

Super Fudgy Brownies

150g granulated sugar - must be this type, not caster

60ml vegetable oil

125ml chocolate soya milk 

160g dark chocolate

80g plain flour

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Line a 7 or 8 inch square baking tin with baking paper, mine was actually 6 inch, and preheat the oven to 180C.

Place the sugar in a blender and whizz until it's a fine powder and tip into a large bowl. As the original poster states, do not omit this part, it's what gives the brownies their crackly topping. I also thought I would just omit this step and use caster sugar instead but I'm glad I didn't. Granulated sugar blended comes out somewhat in between caster and icing sugar so I'm sure this step is essential, at any rate it's dead simple!

Mix together the flour and sifted cocoa powder and set aside.

Pour the oil, chocolate soya milk and vanilla into the sugar and mix well.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and quickly whisk into the oil/sugar mixture.

Quickly stir in the flour/cocoa mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon until it all comes together.

Pour/scrape into the prepared tin and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Mine took 20 minutes in a fan oven.

Leave to fully cool then refrigerate for a couple of hours before cutting. It wasn't explained why this is but I think if you try and cut them whilst warm they might just fall apart. I did as told and they came out perfect, once I cut them though I stored them at room temperature. 

Cut into whatever size you like, I got 16 small squares out of this as even though they are small, they are 140 calories per square ;-) SO worth it though!

♥

Slow Roasted Red Peppers with Chickpeas, Smoked Paprika and Fresh Sage by Demuths Vegetarian Restaurant

♥ RECIPE ♥

Demuth's is a Vegetarian restaurant in Bath, England who also have a blog. Sadly despite living in England for 12 years we never got the pleasure to eat there. Thankfully I follow them on twitter and one day they tweeted a link to this recipe on their website. I knew I had to try it right away as it had all my favourite flavours there and just sounded amazing!

This is absolutely delicious, so simple, versatile and now on our regular dinner rotation. Once, I had no cherry tomatoes but had mushrooms so added those instead, it was equally as good. So good in fact I now add both mushrooms and tomatoes on most occasions. They recommended a side with it and I opted for a lemon couscous which I think goes lovely with the flavours in the slow roasted peppers.

What's really nice in this is besides the deeply roasted peppers is that the chickpeas in the peppers stay soft but the ones outside of the peppers get all roasted crispy providing a different taste and texture in the dish. Sometimes I use fresh sage, sometimes dried, like I said, it's very versatile. Their recipe called for sweet paprika but I used smoked as I'm sure most of you who have followed me for awhile it's hands down my favourite spice :-)

♥ Before going in the oven ♥

So there you go, a couple more outstanding recipes found online, mostly thanks to twitter! 

I keep looking at these two recipes here thinking, damn, that would make a fine meal, roasted red peppers and couscous and brownies for dessert :-) Being vegan is fantastically tasty!

This photo is from Feb. 2013 - we are still loving it! As you can see we have a reduced portion these days though, just half a pepper each. I also now use wholegrain couscous which works just as well.

♥

Perfect Gingerbread from Kake's Vegan Cookery Site

♥ RECIPE ♥

Please excuse the rather boring photo here, I took this last year in a rush and haven't gotten around to taking better photos of this. Regardless, I have been making this gingerbread for years now, ever since we became vegan and it really is perfection. The flavour and spices are spot on and look at that texture! It's absolutely heavenly and fills your kitchen with the most amazing wintry spices. I've served this to many omnivores who have also raved about it. The cream there is my rummed up vegan whipped cream I like to serve with my Marzipan Mince Pies, they go really well together :-)

♥

I was also very honoured to be given a 'Liebster Blog' award by Sophia over at 'What Your Momma Didn't Know' (BEST Blog name EVER!!) :-D  Thank you so much!

Here are the rules if you would like to participate:

1. Show your thanks by linking back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Choose 5 of your picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Enjoy the blogger love!

I've decided to use this opportunity to pimp some great Irish Vegan Blogs, here they are!

1. Adventures in Veg

2. All About....Vegan Food

3. Velove Vegan

4. Full Irish Vegan - sadly not sure this is updated anymore :-(

...and I think that's it! If I am missing any Vegan Irish Blogs here, please let me know, would love to connect!

♥