Mushroom and Vegetable Stir Fry

I have done this recipe one night when I didn’t know what to cook so I looked at the fridge and decided to put a few things together. Well in the end it tasted so nice that and I have decided to put it here so you can try as well.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic smashed
½ red onions chopped
1 courgette sliced
250g chestnut mushroom sliced
150 broccoli florets
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sake
3 sticks of spring onion chopped
1 vegetable cube
Salt
Black pepper

Method:

1 – Fry the garlic and onions until tender
2 – Add the courgettes and spring onions and stir for about 7 minutes
3 – Pour the mushroom , broccoli florets, black pepper and the vegetable cube and stir for another 10 minutes
4 – Add the soya sauce and sake and let in the fire for another 5 minutes.

It is extremely good with rice and salad. I know I say that a lot but what can I do... Enjoy!!!

Aubergines a La Parmigiana

I simply adore aubergines and since I became a vegan I was a bit sad as I wrongly thought I was never going to eat it a la parmigiana again. It was then that I came out with the idea of a tofu cream cheese (have a look at older posts for the recipe) and I have to say that the result was simply delicious!!  Eat it with rice and salad, it is perfect!!

Ingredients:

2 aubergines sliced
5 tbsp vegan cream cheese
1 jar of tomato sauce 
3 stick of spring onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic
½ onions chopped
1 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp sugar
Salt
Black pepper

Method:

1 – Boil the aubergines in salted water for about 15 minutes, until it starts to get translucide which means that is lost most of its water.
2 – In a separate pan fry the garlic and onions until tender.
3 – Add the tomato sauce, spring onion, mustard, sugar and black pepper. I normally add sugar on the tinned tomato sauce as they tend to be too acid for my taste.
4 – Place the aubergines in a baking tray and spread the cream cheese evenly.
5 – Pour the tomato sauce and bake it for 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180c.

Enjoy!!

Vegan Cream Cheese

This recipe it was a nice surprise as it can be used in sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, with crackers and any kind of recipe you need a creamy “cheese”. It doesn’t take longer the 5 minutes to do it and taste really good.

Ingredients:

250g Tofu

½ cup olive oil

½ tbsp salt

Juice of one lime

1 tbsp corn flour

1 tbsp water

Black pepper

Method:

1 – Blend the tofu and the olive oil

2 – Transfer the mixture to a pan and add the rest of the ingredients

3 – Stir in low fire until it is almost at boiling point but don’t let it boil

4 – Let it cool and it is ready to serve

Can you believe it was that simple? Enjoy!

Source – vista-se website

Grated Butternut Squash

I had a butternut squash at home and didn’t know what to do with it so I have decided to put it together with a few other ingredients and results was quite lovely. It doesn’t take that long to prepare and at the end you have a healthy and light meal perfect for a summer meal, at least it feels like summer in London now.

Ingredient:

1 butternut squash cut in small cubes

3 cloves of garlic smashed

½ onions chopped

1 vegetable cube

1 tbsp of sunflower seeds

10 cherry tomatoes cut in half

A handful of parsley chopped

2 tbsp of breadcrumbs

Salt

Black pepper

Method:

1 – Fry the garlic and onions until tender

2 – Add the butternut squash and the parsley and stir for around 15 minutes until the cubes are soft and tender.

3 – Include the rest of the ingredients and stir for another 10 minutes

4 – Pour the mixture on a baking tray and sprinkle the breadcrumbs at the top

5 – Bake it for 20 minutes at 150c

It goes really well with long and wild rice and salad. Enjoy!! 

Courgettes Crisps

This recipe is actually my mom’s. The last time I went to Brazil on holiday she made it for me and since then I have been doing it almost every week. It is the perfect accompaniment for almost every dish. I hope you like it as much as we do.

Ingredients:

3 courgettes

3 cloves of garlic smashed

Olive oil

Salt

Method:

1 – Slice the courgettes thinly in a multiprocessor if you have one, if you don't just try to do it as thin as you can

2 – Using your hands rub the smashed garlic on the slices of courgettes and spread them into a baking tray

3 – Sprinkle a small about of olive oil, you don't want it to be to oily
4 – Add the salt and bake it for 30 minutes on a pre-heated oven at 180c or until they start to look crispy and brown.

Enjoy

Baked Aubergines

I’m a big fan of aubergines and always wanted to try to bake the flesh inside the shells and the result was a lovely recipe perfect for a light spring meal. For crunchiness the breadcrumbs does the trick and it make the whole difference.

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

2 cloves of garlic smashed

½ onions chopped

1 tbsp pine nuts

10 plum tomatoes cut in half

4 tbsp breadcrumbs

Chives chopped

Black pepper

Salt

Method:

1 – Cut the aubergines in half and scoop out most of the flesh, leaving a 5mm border around the edge. 

2 – Chop the flesh and set aside

3 – Fry the garlic and the onions until tender

4 – Add all the ingredients apart from the tomatoes and the breadcrumbs and stir for about 10 minutes

5 – Add the tomatoes and stir for another 4 minutes

6 – Turn the fire off and add the breadcrumbs and mix well

7 – Pour the mixture in the aubergines shells and bake it for 25 minutes at 180c.

It goes well with rice and a spinach leaf salad. Enjoy!

Apple Strudel

I can not stress enough how good this recipe is. It is heavenly light and sweet. I've always thought strudel to be the most difficult desert to make but as I used a ready made pastry is really makes it a lot easier. I know is cheating but what can I say. J

Ingredients:

1 golden apple thinly sliced

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp light brown sugar

4 tbsp raisins

¾ tbsp all purpose flour

½ lime juice

½ sheet of vegan puffy pastry (I use Jus-Roll)

½ tsp vegan spread

Method:

1 – Defrost the pastry over night in the fridge

2 – In a bowl mix the apples, the lime juice and the raisins

3 – In a separate bowl combine the cinnamon, sugar and flour
4 - Combine the fruit with the dried ingredients 

5 – Place the mixture in a line down the middle

6 – Fold the dough over and tuck in the ends

7 – Brush the strudel with the melted spread and sand generously with sugar

8 – Bake it at 150c for 40 minutes

I used only half of one sheet of pastry, for a whole sheet double the ingredients. Serve it vegan custard cream, I use Alpro it is delicious. Enjoy!

Marble Cake

This is a delicious and light cake and the icing just makes it so chocolaty and yummy you won’t believe it. It might sounds complicated but is actually pretty easy and doesn't take much time at all.

Ingredients:

White cake

2 cups of self raising flour

1 cup of light brown sugar

½ cup of vegetable oil

1 ½ cups of almond milk

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

Brown cake

2 cups of self raising flour

1 cup of light brown sugar

½ cup of vegetable oil

¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ cups of water

Icing

55g vegan margarine

30g unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tbsp almond milk

140g sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1 – Combine the ingredients of both parts of the cake in separate bowls

2 – Grease and sprinkle flour on a tube pan

3 – Pour the white mixture first followed by the brown one and bake it on a pre-heated oven at 150c for 35 minutes.

Icing method:

1 – Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring them to the boil slowly, stirring constantly.

2 – Boil for one minute.

3 – Remove from the heat and beat until cold

4 – Let the cake cool completely and pour the icing on it

Enjoy!

Potato and Tofu Burger

I'm not a big fan of fried food as it always make a huge mess in the kitchen and leave the whole house smelly, well this recipe is no exemption but it is so tasty that I couldn’t resist.

Ingredients:

2 potatoes thinly sliced

5 tbsp flour

200gr tofu smashed

60g sundried tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

Chives chopped

Salt

Black Pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

1 – Mix all the ingredients together

2 – Make round small burgers with your hands and fry it.

Have it with rice and salad and you have delicious meal. Enjoy! 

In this series of posts I am going to talk about vitamins and nutrients, which is something that being vegan or not you should try to combine ingredients on your daily diet to get the correct level of it and consequently be more healthy.


Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is one of the eight B vitamins and is a water-soluble vitamin with a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system and for the formation of blood. Some people might not agree with me but when it comes to vitamin B12 and vegans the thing to say is - we need a supplement. As simple as that!

Vitamin A
Vitamin A plays a role in a variety of functions throughout the body, such as: vision, gene transcription, immune function, embryonic development and reproduction, bone metabolism, skin and cellular heath and antioxidant activity. Some people call it the sight vitamin.
Good source of vitamin A are: carrots, broccoli, sweet potato, kale, spinach, pumpkin, collard greens, cantaloupe melon, apricot, papaya, mango, pea.

Vitamin D
Vitamin D plays an important role in your health. It is the only vitamin that can be made by the human body from the exposure to sunshine (hence its nickname, the "sunshine vitamin").
Ten to 15 minutes of sun exposure, three times a week makes enough vitamin D. It can be stored for several months in the body. When your skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun, a cholesterol-like compound is converted to a vitamin D precursors and then to vitamin D3.
Mushrooms not only delicious but are a good source of vitamin D. Most soya products, nut milks, juices and cereals are fortified with vitamin D and additional nutrients. So next time you are in the supermarket have a look to find out if you favourite brand is fortified and invest in recipes with mushroom.

Protein
Vegans are bombarded with questions about where they get their protein. Proteins are essential nutrients for the human body. In nutrition, proteins are broken down in the stomach during digestion by enzymes known as proteases into smaller polypeptides to provide amino acids for the body.
Aminco acids are found in plant sources such as whole grains, pulses, legumes, soy, nuts and seeds so as long as you include those foods in your daily diet there is no reason why you won't have the recommended level of protein necessary to make you healthy.

Iron
Iron has several vital functions, including as a carrier of oxygen to the tissues from the lungs in the form of hemoglobin, as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and as an integral part of enzyme reactions in various tissues.
You can find iron in a lot of vegetables and grains among them are wholegrain, beans, kale, spinach and basil. To increase the absorption on iron always have vitamin C with your meals, that can be in a form of a small glass of orange juice.

I am personally crazy about spinach, what is your favourite source of iron.

Potato Salad

This salad is refreshing and perfect for a warm spring day. It goes well with leafs of any kind, I had it with rockets but you can choose the ones you prefer.

Ingredients:

500g mini new potatoes cut in half

5 tbsp raisins

½ onions chopped

35g carrots sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp mustard
2 sticks spring onions chopped

¾ cup of vegan mayonnaise (I use Tiger Tiger May-O)

Salt

Black pepper

Method:

1 – Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes

2 – Drain the water of it and let it cool

3 – In a bowl mix the potatoes with the rest of the ingredients and put it in the fridge for 25 minutes before serve

Done! Can you believe how easy this was??? Enjoy!!

Tofu minced meat

This recipe was especially made for the ones out there who say they don’t like tofu. Tofu on it’s on is a bit blunt but has an enormous capability to absorb the taste of anyhing you mix with it. On this recipe we freeze the tofu so we can 1) change the texture of it and 2) by defrosting it somehow enhances its absorption capacity. Don’t as me why it simply does. J

Ingredients:

500g tofu

2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

15g chives chopped

2 cloves of garlic smashed

½ onions chopped

10 plum tomatoes cut in half

70g pineapple pieces

Salt

Black pepper

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

1 – Freeze the tofu

2 – Take the tofu out of the freezer and leave it in the fridge over night

3 – Squeeze the tofu until you drain the water out of it, it should feel like a sponge

4 – Smashed the tofu until it get granulated

5 – In a bowl mix the tofu with the soya sauce, olive oil, black pepper, salt and set aside

6 – Heat the vegetable oil and fry the garlic and the onion until tender

7 – Pour the mixture to it and stir for about 15 minutes or until it starts to get brown

8 – Add the tomatoes, chives and pineapple pieces and stir for another 5 minutes

This is so good you won't believe you said you didn't like tofu before. Enjoy!

Aubergines Roast

I was cooking aubergines the other day and have decided to try to make a roast out of it and a few ingredients away and the results was a yummy roast and a new recipe. Try this with rice and salad and you’ll have a lovely tasty meal.

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

3 cloves of garlic

½ red onions chopped

120g sweet corn

3 sticks of spring onions chopped

5 cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 tbsp pine nuts

113g breadcrumbs

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Salt

Black pepper

Method:

1 – Slice the aubergines and boil it in salted water until it looses all its water, which is when it gets a bit transparent

2 – In a frying pan (those with a higher side) fry the garlic and the onions on the vegetable oil until tender

3 – Add the aubergines, sweet corn, pine nuts, tomatoes, salt and black pepper and cook it stirring for about 10 minutes

4 – Turn the fire off and add the breadcrumbs

5 – Pour the mixture on a greased baking pan and cook it for 25 minutes at 180c.

Chocolate Muffins

This recipe is as chocolaty and rich as it can get. Is soft and light and is one of those cakes you just can’t get enough.

To make it even better re-heat on the microwave for 30 seconds and serve it with slices of strawberries.

Muffins ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup of light brown sugar

½ tsp salt

1 ¾ cups of almond milk

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Icing ingredients:

55g vegan margarine

30g unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tbsp almond milk

140g sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1 – In a large bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and sugar

2 – Add the almond milk, oil, vanilla and the chocolate chips

3 – Spoon the mixture evenly into a greased muffin tins and bake it for 20-25 minutes at 200c or until a fork comes out clean

Icing:

1 – Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring them to the boil slowly, stirring constantly.

2 – Boil for one minute.

3 – Remove from the heat and beat until cold

4 – Let the muffins cool completely and dunk them upside down on the icing

Roasted Potato

I personally don’t know anyone who doesn't like a good roasted potato. This recipe is extremely easy to make and is the perfect accompaniment for most dished. Is one of those foods you just can’t get enough.

Ingredient:

500g mini new potato

2 tbsp vegetable spread (I use Pure sunflower)

3 sticks of spring onions chopped

Salts

Black pepper

Method:

1 – Cut the potatoes in half

2 – Mix the spread and half of the spring onions

3 – Using your hand mix the potatoes and the spread/spring onions mixture

4 – Sprinkle the rest of the spring onions, salt and black pepper

5 – Bake it in pre-heated oven at 180c for 40 minutes or until brown.

Try it with mushroom or aubergine roast, rice and salad. I can guarantee you’ll love it. Enjoy!

Mushroom Roast

I've been doing this recipe for over 5 years and it’s one of our favourites. I've tried adding the removing ingredients and it gets better and better. The pineapple for example gives a sweet taste that makes the whole difference. Serve it with rice and salad and you have a perfect meal.

Ingredients:

250g closed cup chestnut mushrooms sliced

3 cloves of garlic smashed

½ onions chopped

3 sticks of spring onion chopped

10 cherry tomatoes cut in half

A handful of chives chopped

1 carrot diced

227g pineapple pieces in fruit juice 

113g breadcrumbs

Salt

Black pepper

1 – Fry the garlic and onion until tender

2 – Cook the mushroom together with the garlic and onions for about 7 minutes stirring from time to time.

3 – Add the carrots, chives, tomatoes and the spring onions, salt and black pepper stirring for 5 minutes

4 – Pour the pineapple and the juice and keep stirring for another 5 minutes.

5 – Turn the fire off and add the breadcrumbs

6 – Pour the mixture into a greased baking tray and press it with your hands so it gets all together

7 – Sprinkle the Parmazano on top of it and bake it on a pre-heated oven at 180c for 35 minutes

I hope you like it as much as we do. Enjoy!!