Vegan Grasshopper Pie

♥ White Chocolate Creme de Menthe Pie with a Chocolate Cookie Crust ♥

♥ Today is our 4 year Veganniversary!! I would like to say I made this for such a special day but it was made days ago and is now long gone!! ♥

This was amazing!! And yes, the "eating less white sugar" resolution has taken a little holiday ;-) I have been wanting to make a vegan grasshopper pie for ages now as it was always one of my favourites growing up, such a classic North American pie, I mean who doesn't love chocolate and mint together?

While I am sure there are plenty of vegan grasshopper pie recipes out there I knew I didn't have to look far for one as I figured my White Chocolate Grand Marnier Mousse recipe swapping the Grand Marnier for Creme de Menthe would do the trick. This is my standard mousse recipe that you have seen many times on the blog:

Chocolate Frangelico Mousse Tart

White Chocolate Grand Marnier Mousse

Peanut Butter Mousse

Double Chocolate Mousse Layer Cake

Chocolate Frangelico Mousse Gateau

White and Dark Chocolate Mocha Hazelnut Layered Mousse

Chocolate Mousse Dome Cake

Yes. I like my mousse ;-) 

The recipe is almost always the same: soya whipping cream, chocolate, liqueur and icing sugar. It worked out perfectly as a grasshopper pie but I am SO glad I had some green food colouring in the house. You would think as creme de menthe is so vibrantly green it would turn the mousse the same colour. No. In fact when you add it to soya whipping cream and vegan white chocolate, which is more of a beige colour than white, it turns the mousse a pale grey colour. It was seriously unappetizing looking. I would have happily left this white or even a very pale pastel green but grey? No, so in went the food colouring. 

As for the base, traditionally grasshopper pie is made with an Oreo cookie crumb base. The Oreo's here are not vegan so I had to come up with a homemade chocolate cookie crust. This one worked perfectly and is so amazing I'm thinking of making bars with it. The chocolate flavour is just right and with that minty mousse it was like eating a Viscount biscuit - amazing! Altogether that crust with that mousse is heavenly.....

BUT...

...I wasn't going to blog this. It tastes amazing but let me explain, I screwed up making this as a pie. I was going to put it all into a loose bottom cake pan but decided to be "traditional" and make a pie. Big mistake. The slices were almost impossible to get out of the plate resulting in the not so pretty looking crust you see on my slice there. I was kicking myself afterwards that I didn't simply double or triple line the plate with cling film as this pie isn't baked it wouldn't be a problem, then I could have just lifted the whole thing out.

So I thought I would make it again before blogging to make sure this would work but now I cannot find the Granovita Soy Whipping Cream anywhere. The one I used to make this I bought before Christmas. As this pie tasted perfect and I know making it in either a loose bottom cake pan or lining the pie plate or lining a springform cake pan with baking paper WILL solve the removal problem, I decided to go ahead and blog this one. After all, if you follow my food diary you'll know I've been having this pie for afternoon snack for quite a few days now. It is heavenly - just please, do as I say and not as I did and line a loose bottom cake pan instead!

Vegan Grasshopper Pie:

300g carton soya whipping cream, chilled

4 Tbsp Creme de Menthe*

4 Tbsp icing sugar

300g vegan white chocolate

1/4 tsp green food colouring, of course, "check it's vegan", I *think* green generally always is.

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150g digestive biscuits (1 1/4 cups crumbs)

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 Tbsp caster sugar

50g vegan butter ( 1/4 cup + 2 tsp)

100g chopped dark chocolate ( 3/4 cup)

Base:  process the digestive biscuits in a food processor until they are fine crumbs. Tip into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and cocoa powder. Place the chopped chocolate in another bowl with the vegan buttter. Place this bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate and butter have melted together. Scrape this into the bowl of crumbs and stir well.

Now. Line a high sided, loose bottom cake pan, anywhere from 6" in diameter to 10" in diameter, the smaller the cake pan the higher your pie will be, with cling film, I would give it about 3 layers. Or line a springform pan with baking paper.Tip the crumb mixture into the pan and press it in, just the base, I wouldn't go up the sides. Keep pressing until it is even. I'm guessing you can still do this in a pie plate like I did, but please, line it first! Place it in the fridge to chill and harden.

...and it looked so good at the time! 

Filling: Take the soy whipping cream out of the fridge and empty into a large bowl. Add the icing sugar and give it a really good whisk. Melt the white chocolate, I use Sweet William White Chocolate Buttons, yes, this does mean using 12 bags!! It's not a cheap pie this one ;-) You can buy bars of Sweet William but unfortunately not in Ireland that I know of. I placed mine in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. When it is all melted remove and transfer the melted chocolate to another bowl so it will cool quicker.

Leave the chocolate to cool to almost room temperature, stir it now and again so it cools evenly. If you add warm chocolate to chilled whipping cream it may seize up on you. When the chocolate is close to room temperature slowly pour it into the whipping cream whisking quickly as you do. It helps if you have someone else to pour it in whilst you whisk here. When all the chocolate is added give it another good whisk to make sure it's all even then start adding the Creme de Menthe one tablespoon at a time whisking really well after each addition. Now you'll notice the colour problem I was talking about, not nice is it? Add the green food colouring and give it another good whisk until all even in colour.

Take the shell out of the fridge and scrape in all the mousse, level off the top and pop it back into the fridge to fully set, at least 4 hours, I would leave it overnight.

Remove from the fridge and as you learnt from my mistake and made this in a loose bottom cake pan, or a springform pan lined with baking paper, remove and decorate as you like. In the above photos I just drizzled melted chocolate back and forth, whatever you do, keep it simple as this pie is SWEET! It doesn't need much else going on.

Here it is prior to the chocolate drizzle with some Tesco Mint Thins (they are vegan!) I was going to stick them in the pie all over but changed my mind when I realized how sweet the pie was. 

* Creme de Menthe: I knew I was going to need this to make the pie and wasn't sure if it was going to be vegan. A quick search online brought me to Steven's blog, Lustrous Musings, of course... should have been the first place I looked!! ;-) He has confirmation that De Kuyper brand Creme de Menthe is indeed vegan, so cheers for the info Steven! 

Nutritional Information: based on 1 slice out of 12

Calories: 337

Protein: 2.5g

Fat: 18.6g

Sat Fat: 8.1g

Fibre: 2.7g

Carbs: 37.8g

Sugar: 26.1g

Sodium: 90mg

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Grilled Mediterranean Couscous Wrap with Balsamic Glaze

♥ Couscous, Avocado, Black Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, Red Pepper, Spring Onion, Fresh Basil and Toasted Pine Nuts with a side of Balsamic Glaze ♥

So, if you follow my new food diary blog you'll know I've been having this for lunch for a few days now. It's a variation on the Couscous Houmous Salad Wrap which is one of our absolute favourite wraps and this one is now right up there with it! Everything just goes so beautifully together and that balsamic glaze is essential, you can add the glaze inside the wrap if you prefer, I liked to dip into it as you have more control over how much sauce you use.

I've used a flavoured "Mediterranean Herb" wrap here which goes perfectly, if you can find something similar, like a pesto flavoured wrap, do use it as it's perfect for this. Obviously, "check vegan" ;-) Like the other wrap you don't have to grill this one and if you put the glaze inside the wrap it then packs really well if you are out and about.

Sorry for the lack of quantities here but you really don't need it, for the tomato mixture just make sure you have an even amount of tomato, pepper, olives, spring onion and pine nuts. I use about half a large avocado per wrap and about 3 - 4 Tbsp of couscous per wrap.

Grilled Mediterranean Couscous Wrap with Balsamic Glaze:

Mediterranean Herb or Pesto Flavoured large wraps

Avocado, 

Smoked Sea Salt - or regular, or garlic salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Cooked Couscous - cook in stock, I use Kallo Organic Tomato and Herb stock cube

Cherry Tomatoes, quartered 

Red Pepper, diced

Black Olives, sliced

Spring Onion, chopped

Pine Nuts, toasted

Fresh Basil Leaves

Balsamic Glaze, I just used store bought here.

For the couscous I like to pre-make some beforehand so that it's cooled and I'll have extra in the fridge to whip this up quickly. I measure out 50g of dry couscous into a large shallow bowl, bring 100ml of water and 1/4 of a Kallo Organic Tomato and Herb Stock Cube to the boil, make sure the cube is dissolved. Pour this over the couscous, stir, then quickly cover with cling film and let sit for 5 minutes. Uncover then fluff up with a fork. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool, make sure you fluff it now and again so it doesn't clump together. This will make enough for about 3 wraps.

Toss together the tomatoes, olives, peppers, spring onion and toasted pine nuts in a small bowl. Heat a wrap gently just so it is more pliable. Mash half a large avocado with a pinch of smoked sea salt or alternative as mentioned and some black pepper.  Spread the avocado mash down the centre of the wrap then top with the cooked couscous, about 2 - 3 tablespoons then spoon the veg mixture down the side:

Top with lots of fresh basil leaves:

Then fold the ends over then roll up tightly, making sure it all stays inside! Now place on a very hot grill pan and gently press down until grilled on both sides. Remove, slice on the diagonal with a serrated knife and serve with a balsamic glaze.

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 wrap with glaze, approximately - will depend on brand of wrap used  and how much you stuff it ;-)

Calories: 436

Protein: 9.6g

Fat: 20.7g

Sat Fat: 3.4g

Fibre: 7.3g

Carbs: 49.7g

Sugar: 6.9g

Sodium: 675mg

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Pan Fried Chive Gnocchi with Sun-Dried Tomato Coulis

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Oh my this was good, and  it would make a great Valentine's meal, especially with some homemade Garlic Bread ;-) Or any day of the week as it's been kid approved too - my son loved this and he's never liked store bought gnocchi, so yay for homemade!

I do love gnocchi and you can buy vegan ready made gnocchi in the shops, at least I was able to in London when we lived there and here in Ireland Super-Value's own label gnocchi does just happen to be vegan. But I've always wanted to make my own and was inspired here from watching Catherine Fulvio make this Spinach Gnocchi on her fab cooking show awhile back.

Not only did she make it look so easy but I loved the idea of adding chopped spinach to the dough and I really loved the way she just cut them into rustic diagonal shapes as opposed to the traditional forked orbs you usually see. It might just be me, but as much as I love gnocchi that look and shape always made me think of bugs and it put me off slightly! I think this is a much more pleasing shape and look :-)

As you can see I opted for chives instead of spinach here, I love spinach but chives and potato are just such a classic combination. The further step of pan frying was just a thought I had, I think I must be missing pierogi's (common in British Columbia) because I was craving that slightly crisp buttery outer layer you get when you fry them in butter after boiling.  Delicious!

I debated for a long time what kind of sauce to serve this with, I already have some great sauces on here that I thought of using like the Creamy Tomato Sauce or the Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce would both be great but not one to pass up an opportunity to create a new sauce, made this one up. It does go really well with the chive gnocchi with rich tomato and subtle sun-dried tomato flavours and I love the smoothness of it. 

A good tip here is to make the sauce in advance, either the day before or earlier in the day then it simply needs heating up once you fry the gnocchi. If the sauce has thickened up too much just add some water, it has so much flavour in it it can take it!

Pan Fried Chive Gnocchi with Sun-Dried Tomato Coulis - serves 4

600g potatoes, about 4 large, I used regular white mashing potatoes here of uniform size.

150g '00' pasta flour or 1 1/4 cups

1 Tbsp potato starch (can use cornstarch)

1 Tbsp water

1/8 tsp salt or more to taste

freshly ground black pepper

10g or 1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped (I've also used finely chopped spring onion)

~ vegan butter to fry ~

Place the potatoes, whole and unpeeled into a large pot and cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook until the centres are tender, I tested with a knife, this took about 30 minutes but will depend on the size of your potatoes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Drain and then peel the potatoes while hot. This is easiest done with a fork to hold them and a knife, unless you have unfeeling callous prone hands! The skins should just fall off.

Place the potatoes into a oven safe dish and just break them up a bit, cover the dish with foil and place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. I have added this step to Catherine's recipe as it's recommended by Giorgio Locatelli in his gnocchi recipe to help dry out the potato. It's also good to finish off cooking the centres of the potatoes if they are not quite cooked after boiling.

Remove the dish and foil and mash really well. The Giorgio Locatelli recipe said to push the potato through a sieve but I know from experience this takes a long time and arms of steel. Thankfully Catherine's recipe didn't say to do this so I was happy to omit it.

Measure out 500g of the potato and place in a large bowl (I cook 600g to make sure I end up with 500g as you will lose some while cooking, peeling and mashing.) Mix together the potato starch and water (this will replace the egg as a binder in the recipe) and add it to the potato with 100g of the flour (about 3/4 cups) or enough to make a dough . Mix well then add the salt, pepper and chives. Taste and season as you see fit and transfer to a flour dusted surface (using some of the remaining flour.)

Knead the dough adding more of the remaining flour until you have a pliable dough, you will most likely need all of the flour stated. Divide this dough into 4 equal pieces:

Using your fingertips roll each piece out to a rope about 2" thick (sorry, didn't get a picture at this stage!) Then cut the rope into about 2" size diagonal pieces and keep on a floured surface, don't let them touch each other too so they don't stick.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and drop the gnocchi in, give it a stir then let them boil for about 3 minutes or until they float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon and either place in a pot with sauce and stir to coat OR get a non-stick frying pan hot then add some vegan butter, when it melts add the gnocchi and fry, tossing the gnocchi about by shaking the pan until they are golden and crisp on both sides. Note: if you don't use a non-stick pan and grease it these will stick!

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Sun-Dried Tomato Coulis

400g passata ( 1 3/4 cups) this is sieved tomato sauce

3 Tbsp or 60g sun- dried tomato puree

60g shallots, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 Tbsp chopped garlic, about 2 large cloves

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Gently fry the shallots and garlic in the olive oil with a few grinds of black pepper until the shallots are soft and the garlic is fragrant. Add the passata and sun-dried tomato puree, stir, then simmer on a low heat with the lid on for about 10 - 15 minutes. Let cool slightly then scrape it all into a blender and blitz until super smooth, transfer back to the pot and either use right away or let cool to reheat later.

Notes: First, the sun-dried tomato puree I use comes in a tube, it's by Epicure and has salt, chilli, oregano, capers, garlic and oil added. Second, the passata I use also has salt added, because of both these I haven't added any salt here as it didn't need any more. Depending on your brand of passata or puree you made need to add salt, just go by taste.

To serve, spoon some of the Sun-Dried Tomato Coulis onto a plate and place the gnocchi over top, scatter with fresh chives and serve. We found this a satisfying meal on it's own but my Garlic Bread would be a lovely side to this, especially to mop up some of that delicious leftover sauce!

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Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving out of 4, fried gnocchi and sauce.

Calories: 380

Protein: 9.6g

Fat: 12.1g

Sat Fat: 1.3g

Fibre: 4.7g

Carbs: 60.7g

Sugar: 7.4g

Sodium: 413mg

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Cumin Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Wrap with a Chilli Lime Yogurt Dressing

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So I don't think I mentioned it but I got a lot of great foody gifts for Christmas this year. People know me so well ;-) I got Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible Cookbook, which I can't wait to delve into, The Flavour Thesauraus which is very interesting, a spice grinder, the waffle maker of course and "Plate to Pixel"  a book on food photography by Helen Dujardin who blogs at Tartelette. It has fantastic tips in there that I am already utilizing and I will hopefully get my photos as best I can with a point and shoot camera. Oh DSLR one day you will be mine!

As well as being a great reference book there are a few recipes in it to accompany the photos and one of them was a sweet potato and black bean wrap. Of course being a book on food photography it just looked stunning and as I had a huge bag of sweet potatoes to make my way through I instantly set about veganizing and making it my own.

This was so delicious and satisfying, I absolutely loved the cumin roasted sweet potato in there with the black beans - which might just be my new favourite bean (watch out Mr. Flageolet!) They both went beautifully with the Chilli Lime Yogurt Dressing which is basically soy yogurt, lime juice and zest and a bit of this spicy inferno chilli sauce by Mic's Chilli - an Irish company, yay!

I just love the bottle - how cute is that label?!?! As you can see, I bought the 'lite' and OMG it is still fierce!! I dare think what the full strength is like, but then again, I'm not the strongest when it comes to spice ;-) This sauce went so well in this as I definitely picked up flavours of cumin in it, it's very 'Mexican' flavoured but as this specific sauce will be hard to find for those outside of Ireland any spicy chilli sauce would do, possibly even Tabasco.

Cumin Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Wrap with a Chilli Lime Yogurt Dressing: 

makes 1 wrap

1 small sweet potato, about 100g peeled

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/8 tsp salt

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1 spring onion, chopped

40g drained and rinsed tinned black beans, about 1/4 cup

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50g soy yogurt, about 3 Tbsp

lime zest

1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp chilli sauce

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1 large wholemeal wrap

Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F. Peel and dice the sweet potato fairly small, remember this is going in a wrap so you don't want them too big.

Place the sweet potato in a small bowl and toss with the olive oil, cumin seeds and salt. Spread onto a baking tray and roast for 15 minutes, tossing them once. They should be fork tender and some edges turning golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Make your dressing by simply whisking everything together. Cover and chill in the fridge if you have done this beforehand. The soy yogurt does make this fairly runny, using tofutti sour cream would give you a thicker sauce but I'm trying to use ingredients these days that more people can buy, and I'm hoping soy yogurt is more readily available than sour cream. That being said, both will work here.

Take your wrap and heat it gently on a dry non stick frying pan, just until warm as this will make it more pliable to wrap.

Lay it out and place your sweet potato (make sure you add any wayward cumin seeds) down the centre and leave a space at the bottom for wrapping. Lay the beans beside the sweet potato then spoon over some dressing and finally sprinkle over the spring onion.

Fold the end over then roll the wrap up and enjoy! I had mine with some extra dressing near by to spoon over as I ate simply because I love that dressing ;-)

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Nutritional Information: approx based on 1 wrap, will vary depending on brand/size of wrap and how much dressing used.

Calories: 391

Fat: 13.5g

Sat Fat: 3.7g

Fibre: 10.3g

Carbs: 58.1g

Sugar: 5.6g

Protein: 11.2g

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Healthy Wholemeal Waffles with Bananas, Pecans and Maple Syrup

♥ Ok, if these don't get you up and going in the morning nothing will! ♥

Well, as you know I got a waffle maker for Christmas and have been loving it, I've been making loads of plain waffles and freezing them, great for my son in the mornings as they can just be popped in the toaster for a quick and yummy breakfast. However, as mentioned at the start of the year I have also been aiming at eating healthier this year, mostly with less sugar but also really cutting back on the white flour and white sugar.

So I thought I would have a go at making my standard waffle recipe healthier and it turned out fantastic. These contain all wholemeal or whole wheat flour, are sweetened only with maple syrup (in the batter as well) and I have replaced the vegetable oil with extra virgin coconut oil. I'm sure there are healthy fat free waffle recipes out there but I'm not part of the fat free brigade, although that's probably a blog post on it's own so I'll leave it at that!

The waffles are delicious. They are sweet enough and although I thought the wholemeal flour would be weird here it's not at all. They don't taste of coconut either from the oil but simply have a wonderful flavour and texture. To up the nutrition I always serve these ones with slices of banana and some chopped pecans or walnuts and a minimum amount of maple syrup on top, less than you see in the picture here - more poured out while I was trying to get that classic "syrup pouring over top of waffles action shot" ;-)

Healthy Wholemeal Waffles: makes 4 rounds from a 6" waffle maker

280g wholemeal or wholewheat flour, that's 2 cups

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

300ml dairy free milk, I used soy here

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil, in solid state

1 tsp vanilla extract

120ml sparkling water

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan add the milk and coconut oil and heat gently together until the coconut oil just melts then stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract and remove from heat. Pour this and the sparkling water over the dry ingredients and whisk until it all just comes together. Do not over mix, little lumps are ok - overmixing will yield tough, rubbery waffles.

Using a scoop pour onto your pre-heated and lightly greased waffle iron and cook according to your waffle makers instructions. The batter here is quite thick so don't be worried you've done something wrong. Once cooked remove and then you can spread them with a little vegan margarine or solid coconut oil, top with slices of banana, chopped toasted pecans or walnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup and you'll be more than set up for the day!

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Nutritional Information: based on a serving of half a round, just waffles.

Calories: 219

Fat: 8.2g

Sat Fat: 6.1g

Fibre: 4.4g

Protein: 5.3g

Carbs: 32.8g

Sugar: 7.4g

Sodium: 301mg

Calcium: 180mg - depending on brand of milk used, mine is fortified.

Greek Style Orzo, Spinach and Almond Feta Bake

Well, I couldn't go far into 2012 without a recipe featuring the blessed almond feta could I? :-) This was a complete experiment but turned out so well and is a MUCH quicker and easier way of using the almond feta - no straining and no cheesecloth - you can use it immediately so it doesn't take days to make, just the same amount of time as any pasta dish would. After blitzing all the feta ingredients in the blender you just mix it with cooked orzo and spinach, also some fresh oregano and spring onion, spread it into a buttered casserole dish and bake it, skipping the straining step altogether. Brilliant.

The end result is something that tastes remarkably like spanakopita but with orzo instead of phillo and I almost called this an Orzo and Spinach Quiche as you slice the end result, it's not a saucy pasta dish, more like one of those pasta quiches, sans pastry ;-) Whatever you want to call it it's absolutely delicious and so super easy to make. You get pretty conservative servings out of this, mostly as it's rich and although the almond feta is pretty healthy it's also pretty calorific, so I cut 6 servings out of my 8" square baking dish. That being said both my husband and I were full and satisfied after this.

To balance the richness I served this with a simple fresh side salad, just crisp lettuce and tomatoes with this amazing mustard dill vinaigrette we've been loving lately. It's quite sharp - that's how I like it and goes absolutely perfectly with the pasta dish. 

** Update - this recipe is proving to be very versatile, read the comments to see changes others have made. I just made this again swapping the spinach with grated zucchini and the oregano with lots of fresh basil and it was just as good! I added the raw grated zucchini and basil to the cooked orzo and poured the sauce over then baked as per instructions. A delicious variation, somewhat light and "summery" :-) **

Greek Style Orzo, Spinach and Almond Feta Bake - serves 6

200g or 1 cup orzo, dry weight

200g chopped fresh spinach

4 spring onions, chopped

1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1 recipe Almond Feta:

150g ground almonds or 1 1/2 cups

60ml lemon juice or 1/4 cup

125ml water or 1/2 cup

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Get a large pot of salted water on the boil for the orzo and cook according to package instructions. Mine said to boil for 17 minutes and I cooked mine for 15, it was just al dente which is perfect as it'll get another cooking in the oven. Good thing about orzo is it seems to be pretty difficult to overcook ;-) When there is just a couple minutes left add the spinach and cook until it just wilts, it'll only take a minute if that. Drain it all together.

While it's cooking make the almond feta by simply placing everything in a blender and blitzing until super smooth.

Tip the orzo and spinach back into the pot and pour over the almond feta, add the chopped spring onions and fresh oregano and stir well. I added a splash more water here to make sure everything was coated and creamy, actually I added some water to the blender and turned it on to make sure I got all the feta stuck to the sides of the blender ;-)

Vegan butter up a casserole dish, any size that will look like the pasta will fit in will do, I used an 8" square dish. Sorry I got no photos of this, it's too dark at dinner time to take photos this time of year - you're seeing the leftovers for lunch here! Spoon the pasta into the dish, level off the top and pop into the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes. It won't really change colour but the top will look dryer and it will be 'set', crucially what happens when you bake it is that graininess the almond feta has when first made goes away when baking, otherwise I would say just eat it without baking!

Slice into 6 servings, or less - up to you, but we found this a satisfying serving with the salad and I do highly recommend the mustard dill vinaigrette here, the sharpness and flavours of dill and mustard go so well together.

Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette:

2 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp salt

couple grinds black pepper

chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill

Measure the olive oil into a small bowl then slowly add the vinegar whisking all the while until the mixture is emulsified. Add the dijon, salt and pepper and whisk until thick-ish and creamy, there should be no specks of dijon left. Whisk in the dill. 

I opted for simple fresh lettuce here, you want something really crisp, romaine and butterhead would be a nice combination, add some chopped tomatoes and spoon over some dressing. The rest will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Source: Dressing based on Tea and Cookies Blog's brilliant ratio advice.

Nutritional Information - Orzo bake only, 1 slice out of 6

Calories: 341

Protein: 10.5g

Fat: 19.7g

Sat Fat: 2g

Fibre: 4.7g

Carbs: 33g

Sugars: 2g

Sodium: 519mg

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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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