Vegan MoFo 2014 - Review: Brass Monkey Leith

I'm pretty sure everyone's aware of the results of the referendum, so you're probably not surprised that I didn't blog yesterday.  I actually hadn't intended on doing so today, but I had to get my laptop out to order pizza (for Mike's birthday, yay!), so I thought I might as well.

Yesterday evening I met a lovely Aussie PPKer for dinner at Brass Monkey in Leith.  I keep hearing that they have great vegan options, and they do have a really good booze selection, so we decided to give it a try.  I hadn't been there in years, and last time I only managed to get bread and olives to eat, so I figured anything had to be better than that.

First, the booze:  Both their food and drink menus are online, so you can have a look at them.  Like I said, they have a lot of good options for vegans.  My concern, of course, was the cider selection, and it doesn't disappoint.  They have Thistly Cross, which is made somewhere in the Lothians and is fantastic, as well as Jeremiah Weed (which I don't really consider cider but I guess it's not really classifiable).  I went with the Jeremiah Weed Sour Mash, which almost tastes like alcoholic root beer.  So good.  Beer-wise, they have Brew Dog and Innis & Gunn, amongst others that may or may not be sfv.

For dinner, I had the falafel burger, and Michelle had the veggie chili.

So, the falafel burger.  As you can see, the bun to burger ratio is about 3:1 (if I'm being generous), and the bun was really floury.  The burger itself wasn't great - mushy, bland, and unseasoned.  It was really only edible with the chips (which were pretty decent).  I'll note that I specifically asked for the bun to come out dry (it usually comes with some kind of onion jam and a chutney or something), so maybe they're hoping the condiments will serve for flavouring.  But you shouldn't have to rely on condiments to make something edible.

Michelle's chili, on the other hand, was actually pretty good (sorry, no pic).  I had a bite with one of the accompanying tortilla chips.  I probably wouldn't have enjoyed a whole bowl of it (British chili is just not really chili to me), but it was infinitely better than the burger.

So, a mixed bag, but only 2 entrees.  We didn't have any starters, and I didn't even bother to see if they had any vegan desserts (I doubt it - very few places do unless they're actually veg*n).  I wouldn't suggest avoiding the place because maybe that burger was off.  They also have a falafel sandwich that might be good (like, possibly actual falafel, not a slab of mashed chickpeas with veg and coriander mixed in).  And, you know, they try - they actually have quite a few vegan or veganisable options.  Ultimately, it's a pub, so if you go in expecting pub food, even if you have a bland burger, you're still gonna have a better experience than in most other pubs.  And even if you have a bad food experience, they'll getcha drunk (and much more cheaply than a lot of other pubs - I'm pretty sure I spent £2 more for the same drink at a different place).

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Review: Pizza Express

I may or may not have reviewed Pizza Express before, but I’m not bothering to check.  I mean, since Mike introduced his dad to the Pizza Express near our flat, it’s the only place we ever go when he’s in town.  Ever.  So I’ve eaten there a fair few times, which means I might have written about it before.

The reason I’m (re-)reviewing now is twofold:  a) They now have a pizza that’s specifically vegan, and 2) On our last visit, they told me which wines are vegan, and since they all have the same wine list, this information is pertinent to everyone.

So, the wine list:  We took my bff Eva to PE for one of my birthday dinners in August.  They’d sent me a voucher for a free bottle of Prosecco, so I asked the server if she knew whether or not it was vegan.  About 5 minutes later, we got tired of waiting and looked it up*.  While we were in the middle of that, the manager actually came out and gave us the full list of wines that are suitable for vegans.  Well, actually, he gave us the list that *aren’t* sfv.  So here are the vegan wines:

Pizza Express vegan-safe wine list
Red:
Nero d'Avola Syrah, Sicily, Italy
Merlot, Sicily, Italy
Barbera d'Alba D.O.C., Piemonte, Italy
Chianti Riserva D.O.C.G., Tuscany, Italy

White:
Grillo Chardonnay, Sicily, Italy
Trebbiano, Marche, Italy
Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
Gavi, Piemonte, Italy

Rosé:
Merlot Rosé, Veneto, Italy

Or for ease, the ones that aren’t sfv are the Montepulciano and Valpolicella (red), Moscato (white) and Pinot Grigio (all varieties).

Onto the food.

As I said, Pizza Express now has a specifically vegan pizza (which most of you probably knew).  For those of us who were asking for vegan cheese, unfortunately, that’s not how they played it.  Yes, it’s a bit nonsensical that they would create an entirely vegan pizza by just making a new veggie one without cheese, since nearly any veggie pizza ordered without cheese is vegan.  So I don’t know if they were trolling us or throwing us a bone (not vegan) by creating the Pianta.  At least they kinda paid attention to the vegan request, just not exactly what we asked for.

That said, I actually like the Pianta, though I do have to modify it a bit.  I’m allergic to pine nuts, so those have to go, but I replace them with olives.  I like a bit of extra garlic oil on mine too, because if I have to forgo cheese, I have to make my pizza deliciously greasy somehow.  They go a little heavy on the rocket, but otherwise it’s really quite good.  It’s now my usual every time we go (because I’m also a creature of habit and stick with things I know are good).

I’ve heard that you can bring in a sealed bag of shredded vegan cheese and they’ll use it on your pizza, but I’ve never tried it.  Maybe I’ll do that next time.

*We never really figured out if the Prosecco was sfv.  We couldn’t find the specific one they were offering online, but all the ones we could find that matched generally (Prosecco from that particular region) were coming up vegan.  We took a chance on it, but I’m not necessarily advocating that everyone else do the same.  Please let me know in the comments if you happen to know one way or the other if it’s sfv.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - PSA: coffee and milk

I was thinking about not posting tonight because I'm super tired and just made Linda McCartney sausages and hash browns for dinner. But then Mike asked me to make coffee, and I thought of something to blog about - how to make coffee without curdling the milk.

It's pretty easy with regular coffee. If you're brewing coffee, you just put the milk in the mug first. And you pretty much do the same with instant, but you put the coffee in the milk and give it a good stir before pouring the (not boiling) hot water over it.

It gets a bit trickier with decaf, which is a recent problem. Mike and I both discovered that regular coffee upsets our stomachs, so we've had to switch. The first couple of times I made decaf, I did my normal method and the milk kept curdling. After some trial and error, I realised that the milk mostly doesn't curdle if it's heated before adding the water. It's slightly annoying because the point of instant is to eliminate all those steps and the time it takes to do things, but at least I can just pop it in the microwave while the kettle boils.

Oh yeah, I should mention that I use soy milk exclusively. I've tried a lot of different types of non-dairy milk, and I keep coming back to soy. As long as it's cold, it has the best mouth feel and flavour, and it has the best consistency for things like tea/coffee and cereal. I'll use other stuff in baking/cooking (unless it needs to curdle - I've found nothing else really curdles like soy) if I've decided to experiment and need to use it up. Obviously any recipe I post can use any non-dairy milk (apart from the hot chocolate, which requires soy for idealogical reasons, though someone kicked up a fuss about almond milk so you could use that too). I guess I just am who I am, which means I find what I like and stick with it. And it doesn't hurt that soy is about 70p cheaper (usually) than the next cheapest non-dairy milk, so I'm saving £7+ per month.

Do you have any tricks for making coffee? Seriously, I need to figure out this curdling biz.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Newsday Tuesday: Cookin' Crunk Breakfast Lasagna

It's Newsday Tuesday!  I can't remember if I explained why I chose to do my food experimentation on Tuesdays.  It's not just because it rhymes.  Mike works late on a Tuesday, so I have more time to make stuff without someone else constantly asking me when dinner will be ready.  He's usually home at the weekend, so Tuesday is pretty much the only distraction-free day I can do stuff like this.

Today's recipe cuts two carrots with one knife as it's also part of my project, Cooking Through Cookin' Crunk.  If you're new to the joint, I'm attempting to make all of the recipes in Cookin' Crunk before I turn 40.  When you think about the time frame (I started last year and have another 5 years to go), it doesn't seem very ambitious.  But having this project has helped get me out of a cooking slump a couple of times, so it's better than letting my cookbooks moulder on the shelf while I eat 18p ramen all the time.

I almost didn't make tonight's recipe - I've been sleeping really badly lately and got home exhausted and already hungry, which is a terrible combination for cooking something with this many steps.  It has so many steps!  You have to

1. make cheese sauce
2. peel, slice, and cook the potato
3. slice and cook the sausage
4. make tofu scramble
5. layer and bake everything

But if you overlap some steps (make the sauce while the tatties cook) or make stuff ahead of time (the recipe kinda assumes you've already made the sauce), it actually comes together pretty quickly.  It's not a regular weeknight meal (OK, technically it's breakfast), but it's not a half-day project.

As you can see, we had this with some garlicky asparagus on the side.  I figured we needed something green.  Obviously this isn't really pretty, and, as per usual, it's dark and shadowy.  Sorry 'bout it.

For those of you in the UK, I used the Fry's slicing sausage/polony.  It probably affected the taste because it doesn't taste anything like US breakfast sausage, but it was still tasty.  And that was the only substitution I made!

So, yeah, this was super delicious and totally worth the effort.  I would absolutely make this again, and from the way Mike was all but licking his plate, I think he'd be OK for me to make it again.  Plus, now I have 2 days' worth of breakfast and I was able to use the leftover cheese sauce in the burritos I made for my lunches (leftovers from taco night, woo!).

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Filthy Toxic Hot Chocolate

Last night, Mike wanted to make hot chocolate. I'm not the best at remembering ratios and stuff for how I like my hot chocolate, so I looked up some recipes to jog my memory. And boy howdy did I not like what I saw. Yes, there was a how to that took 10 steps even though it called for hot chocolate mix and a microwave. But then I saw a recipe that called for cashews (with an hour+ soaking time) and dates. And then I saw some of my most hated words - paleo, no refined sugar, clean eating.

Nope.  Nope nope nope.

Friends, these are not words and ingredients to be used in connection with hot chocolate.

Hot chocolate is a treat. It should have sugar. It should not have dates. And it sure as shit wasn't around in the palaeolithic era.

Instead of my righteous rant against food policing and woo peddling, I give you a recipe for hot chocolate rich in most of the things that are freaking people out right now (I don't have any MSG so couldn't include everything).

Filthy Toxic Hot Chocolate

Serves 2

Handful of chocolate chips

1 c soy creamer

1 c soy milk (more/less depending on how you like it)

1/4 c cocoa (I used Hershey's to make it extra dirty)

1/4 c sugar (more/less to taste - probably less for most people because I like mine super sweet)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Mini marshmallows

Place the chocolate chips and a couple tablespoons of the creamer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and stir until melted. Slowly stir in the remaining creamer. In a separate small bowl, make a paste of the cocoa powder and sugar with some of the soy milk.  When it's as lumpless as possible, add it to the pan along with the rest of the milk. Add in the salt and heat to your desired temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Pour into two mugs and top with mini marshmallows.

I used the new Freedom micro mallows, which contain both carrageenan and hydrolysed soy protein! In case you're keeping track, that's non-organic processed soy, fat, sugar, salt, and carrageenan all in one delicious cup of hot chocolate. It was like drinking a melted candy bar.

Sorry about the terrible picture - it was late when I made it.

If you're even remotely familiar with me, you know that I'm all about comfort and convenience foods, so this ramping up of food shaming (which, let's be realistic, is mostly aimed at and hurts women, and disproportionately restricts non-animal foods) is really pissing me off.  Luckily I'm not the only one.  PPKer MissMuffcake's theme is about vegan finds at Target and was spurred by a series of posts about food shaming.  And really, the PPK is great for calling out food policing and woo.  Because veganism is about the animals, first and foremost, and restricting yourself until you have almost nothing to eat doesn't help the animals (especially when you decide that veganism is the problem and go back to eating them).

So, fuck food shaming.  Eat what you want and do the least harm possible.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - MoFail and a review of Mono

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted for a couple of days.  Here's what happened:

Wednesday, I expected to go out to dinner, but I came home to find out that wasn't happening.  I was exhausted (I did a lot of traveling for work and slept badly the night before), so once I bothered to cook, I couldn't be bothered to get my laptop out and write a blog post (if I could've even figured out what to write).  And yesterday, I was out all day, got home later than I expected, and again couldn't be bothered getting out my laptop and writing.  I should mention that my laptop is on its last legs, so I've been using an iPad for general internetting, and I don't like using it for blogging.

So, there you go.  On to the review.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day out in Glasgow.  We were supposed to have lunch around 12, do some stuff, and then I was meeting up with a friend for dinner at 5.30 (after Mike got the last pre-rush hour train home).  We ended up not even getting to Glasgow until 2.30, which meant just the eating (and checking out one cute new shop called GeekABoo).

We had lunch at Mono.  I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Mono - well, maybe not hate, more like frustration.  Sometimes the food is just outstanding, and sometimes it's a bit poo.  We go there a couple of times a year, and it seems to go in waves where every other year is poo, and every other year is great.  Well, unfortunately, it was great last year.

I had the same stuff I always order - hummus to start, and the seitan burger for my main.  Normally I would get the sundae for dessert, but knowing how little time I had between meals, I skipped dessert this time.

The hummus itself was alright - it's pretty hard to mess up hummus.  But I realised after a few minutes that the "flatbread" was a flour tortilla.  Yes, technically a tortilla is a flat bread (of a sort), but it's not flatbread the way most sensible people understand flatbread.

Then the burgers came out, and I had a sad.  They didn't even look as good as usual.  They were at least 1/3 smaller than last time (last time they filled the bun, this time, nowhere near).  They were also overcooked, dark and crunchy on the outside.  It was really disappointing.  But at least the chips were good (though where they got their concept of skinny fries I don't know, because they were proper chips).

I'm not gonna stop going to Mono (which might be part of the problem - complacency), but I'll probably give them some time to sort themselves out.  There are other places to eat that have equally good or better food, and some places I've not been to before, so I'll give them a shot before going back to Mono.

Newsday Tuesday – Waitrose soffritto passata

It’s Newsday Tuesday, where I make/have food that’s new to me!  For a minute I thought I’d failed at it – I forgot that I actually have made the recipe I was gonna talk about.  But then I realised that one of the components is new to me, so it worked out!

I was at Waitrose the other day stocking up on frozen stuff (I got garlic and ice cream, but they didn’t have shallots) and happened upon a new item – jarred soffritto.  I quickly scanned the ingredients for anything non-vegan, not bothering to note the bizarre stuff some British person decided was supposed to go into sofrito, and, seeing that it was safe, bought a jar.

It wasn’t until I got home and had a good look at it in comparison to a recipe in Viva Vegan! that I realised that this is some kind of Euro-sofrito.  Sorry, soffritto.  It contains carrots and celery instead of peppers*.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  Regardless, I used it in a couple of recipes, and it was actually pretty good.

I made the Viva Vegan! Latin Baked Tofu with it, but due to the lack of Latinness, I added a bit of cumin to it before I poured it over the tofu.  I also made the Cuban black bean soup, which saved me a ton of time standing at the stove (but not much in the actual cooking process, which took FOREVAH).

Mike and I really liked it over the tofu, and we really liked the soup, so I can’t really say it’s a terrible product.  It just wasn’t what I expected.  But I guess I should’ve known, since I got it at Waitrose and not Lupe Pinto’s.  Still, I would give it the seal of approval – even though it was different, it was still tasty!

And since I don't have a picture of any food, here's a kitty tongue:

*A quick search tells me that this is Tuscan-style soffritto.  So I guess my Latin baked tofu was actually Italian baked tofu.

Vegan MoFo 2014 - Intro and NYC Trip

Welcome to Vegan MoFo 2014!  If you’re new to the joint, Vegan MoFo is the Vegan Month of Food, when vegan bloggers from around the world blog about vegan food for a solid month.  I think this is my 5th year to participate, but I could be wrong.

I have a few things planned for this month, but it’s not quite as plotted out as last year.  I’ll be doing Sunday baking, which I think I did two years ago, as well as Newsday Tuesday, where I’ll be making something new to me every Tuesday.  I’ll also continue my quest to cook through Cookin’ Crunk.

There are a couple of big deal things happening this month, namely the Scottish Independence Referendum followed two days later by Mike’s 30th birthday!  So I’ll be doing something to mark both of these occasions.

Speaking of occasions, my 35th birthday was in August, and I treated myself to a trip to NY in July to celebrate.  Well, the July part wasn’t exactly a treat because it was hotter than the devil’s balls.  But the timing was a concession to my family – my grandmother’s 80th birthday was in July!  I spent a weekend upstate with my family.  We had a BBQ at my uncle’s house, and since my cousins are GF and dairy-free, we had a vegan cake to go with the non-vegan cake!  Woot!

After that, I was in NYC for almost a week.  I ate so much, but I don’t think I photographed everything (for which you’ll thank me).

My first stop in NYC was Yonah Schimmel Knishery, which was right next to my hotel (though I only ate there once – sadness).  I got a spinach knish and a root beer.

I had Groupons for Vegetarian Paradise 2, so I ate there thrice (the only Groupon option was 3x $20 for $10, and I wanted to get my money’s worth).  But I must have gotten tired of taking pictures of all my food because I only have one meal’s worth of photos plus one starter (you’re welcome).

Collard green rolls

Spinach “crab” dumplings

Texas fried “chicken” and tots

Death by Chocolate Cake

Portobello pub fritters

I also hit up V-Note, mostly because I had a Groupon for there as well.  The big draw there was the tiramisu, which didn’t disappoint.  Actually, it was one of the best tiramisus I’ve ever had (including pregan).

Black-eyed pea cake

Seitan cordon bleu (or possibly Seitan Piccata)

Tiramisu

I hit up John’s of 12^th Street, which has a really impressive vegan menu, and had the seitan parmigiana.

I also had cannoli, but I didn’t take a picture of that.

The only other photo I have is of the vegan soft serve I got at The Ice Cream House (the Williamsburg location, I think), which is a kosher ice cream parlour with loads of vegan options.  Seriously, if I’d had a freezer while I was in NYC, I would’ve spent half my money there.

Vanilla soft serve in cookie crumb-coated cone

To round things off, as if this post wasn’t pic-heavy enough, here are some gratuitous tourist photos:

The Seinfeld café

Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park

One of the lions outside the NY Public Library (no free-floating vaporous apparitions, though)

Pavement art outside 8 Hook and Ladder

8 Hook and Ladder with the Ghostbusters 2 sign

Despite the heat, I absolutely loved NYC; I wanted to go back almost as soon as I got home.  I went to several museums and still missed out on a ton of stuff.  There were loads of restaurants that I didn’t get to just because I had to be so selective due to both time and monetary constraints.  NYC is HUGE, but it’s somehow still comfortable for me where other big cities (I’m looking at you, London) aren’t.  Maybe it’s because people in NYC are generally as uninterested in dicking about as I am.  I wish I could go back next year, but unfortunately/luckily I’m going to TX instead (for Vida Vegan Con, woot!).  Maybe I’ll go back for my 40th birthday but spend the full two weeks (instead of just 8 days) there and upstate (and maybe finally get to Lagusta’s!).

Sundae Sunday - We're gonna need a bigger bowl.

Today is the final Sundae Sunday of Vegan MoFo 2013, so I thought I'd make it a pretty epic sundae.  My inspiration was classic glutton Homer Simpson.  In the episode where Homer intentionally gains weight to get on disability, he and Bart are at the diner.  Homer has a banana split, and Bart tells him to eat around the banana - it's just empty vitamins.  So tonight's sundae is a banana-less banana split!

Sorry about the shadow - I had to work fast before the toppings oozed off the ice cream.

The components of this sundae are:  Swedish Glace vanilla ice cream, homemade chocolate ice cream (using my variation of the V'con chocolate), raspberry jam ice cream (using the method I mentioned in this post), fudge sauce left over from making the Dublin Mudslide, Lyle's Squeezy Syrup butterscotch syrup (which has "suitable for vegans" right on the label!), marshmallow sauce using this recipe and Sweet Vegan marshmallows, and zero bananas.

I think traditionally a banana split would have strawberry rather than raspberry ice cream, but I hate all things strawberry (with the exception of Rekorderlig Wild Berry cider because the strawberry is sufficiently masked).  And, obviously, it would have a banana.

I have to admit, my sundae was a bit sad.  The marshmallow topping was a complete failure - I spent  £3.49 on the biggest, fluffiest, most delicious marshmallows I think I've ever eaten (I took a bite of one) and wasted it all on this gross, gloopy, chewy sauce.  The flavour was alright, but the texture was awful.  I actually pulled the whole thing off of my ice cream.  Speaking of which, the chocolate ice cream was also kinda naff.  I think my chocolate kinda seized up when I put it into the mixture because it was really bitty.  So basically that third of the triumvirate was a bit crap.

The rest of it was delicious.  I still love Swedish Glace vanilla ice cream.  I even prefer it over the French vanilla I made for Mike's birthday party.  I've never eaten a better vanilla ice cream, and I anticipate I never will.  I also love that butterscotch syrup, and I love Tate & Lyle for making it vegan.  The raspberry jam ice cream was good, and the fudge sauce worked well with it.

I have loads of ice cream and sauces left, which is probably the best part!

Southern Saturday - sweet potato hash

It's the last Southern Saturday of MoFo!  I can't believe it's almost over (and almost October).  Since I'm nowhere near finished cooking through Cookin' Crunk, I might keep blogging about my experience.  I've at least liked everything I've made so far, and I've loved quite a lot, so I'm looking forward to the rest of it.  A lot of it is stuff that takes advanced prep, multiple steps, or loads of ingredients (some of which I might not be able to get here), so it might not come as thick and fast as the recipes I've made for MoFo.  That said, I have to make food for a work potluck at the end of October, so I might take a range of stuff to that (since I can usually only eat the hummus and bread).

I meant to do more today, but I was out and about and hauling things around a lot, so I just made one dish for brinner - Sweet Potato Hash.  I didn't take a picture because, frankly, it ain't pretty.  I honestly can't remember if I'd ever had corned beef hash pregan.  Surely I must have, but maybe I blocked all occurrences of it from my memory because of that time my dad fed us dog food and told us it was corned beef.*

Mike and I both loved this, so much so that we finished it all off before it even got cold enough to reheat.  I thought I'd have to use it up as leftovers tomorrow, but it was gone pretty quickly.  I used the ground TSP beef from the book, so I did all the prep and the beginning stages of cooking while that cooked.  Apart from grating the sweet potatoes, it was pretty easy.

I would absolutely make this again.  It was super delicious and really homey and comforting.  In fact, I still have some TSP beef left, so I might make a personal-sized serving while Mike's at his game!

*Unfortunately, true story.  Or so I'm told.  Apparently, dad could only afford a potato and a can of dog food.  I was probably too young to have understood what corned beef was and that dog food was different and not to be eaten, but maybe he felt the need to lie to us in case mom asked what we'd eaten and we told her dog food (even though none of us could've read the label at that age - my now 32-year-old sister wasn't even on solids yet).

Granny's Corn Casserole

I went to my local hfs, Real Foods, and spent ages trying to decide if I wanted to buy any delicious, delicious processed convenience foods because I could not figure out what to make for dinner.  I had already decided to buy some cream cheese (Sheese brand, fwiw), nooch (finally replenishing my stock), and marshmallows (more on those at a later date), but that obviously didn't help with dinner.  Then Mike called to ask me something, and while we talked we figured it out.

We decided on chickpeas and broccoli - I already had frozen chickpeas, and he bought broccoli.  When I got home and started cooking, I decided to use the cream cheese I'd just bought to make Granny's Corn Casserole from Cookin' Crunk.  It turned out super quick and easy - apart from chopping the roasted red pepper that stood in for the pimento, there was almost no work required.  It took about 5 minutes to throw together, which is always a bonus.

It tasted alright, but I think that was down to using a lesser cream cheese.  I bet it would've been great if I'd bought Tofutti, but the only one they had was the herby one (which probably would've been fine).  I liked it, but I think I would've preferred the version she mentions in the intro.  I might see if I can recreate that one myself!

Lazy day - pizza for dinner

Today was payday, I got an email for 2-for-1 + 7.5% off* pizza from Pizza Hut, and I was feeling lazy.  Guess what we had for dinner!

Pizza Hut pan pizza crust is vegan (at least in the UK).  Also, if you order online, you can do all your additions (+shrooms and olives for me, +onions and mixed peppers for Mike) and subtractions (-cheese for both of us) without having to speak to a person!  As you might imagine, I love ordering from the Hut.

I had some of the Tesco smoky cheese left over from taco night, so I grated the rest of it and had just enough to lightly cover both pizzas.  If I'd had it, I would've thrown something chick'ny onto my pizza (my pregan favourite was chicken pan pizza with extra cheese), but I didn't.  It was good!

*There's a thing here called VAT Parity Day, which is the day on which food and drink business owners cut their prices by 7.5% in some kind of protest at the fact that you have to pay VAT on restaurant food but not on food you buy at the store.  I'm not entirely clear on why this is unfair or whatever.  There are a number of reasons why people don't eat out as much as they make their own food, and while cost comes into it, I don't think anyone would really notice if restaurants paid 7.5% less tax because they'd probably leave their prices as they are anyway.  And even if they reduced their prices by 7.5% if they didn't have to pay VAT, it would still be more expensive than cooking my own food, so I would still eat at home about as much as I do now.

Southern Saturday - Mike's birthday party

It's Southern Saturday - yaaaay!  Mike's birthday was yesterday, but no one could come round then, so we had people over today.  I made Tofu Scramble Enchiladas, Caramelized Cabbage and Onions, Un-fried Corn, and Buttermilk Ranch (as a dip) from Cookin' Crunk, and French vanilla ice cream from "A La Mode" to serve with the yella cake I made yesterday.

I served the ranch with carrot batons and crisps, but no one ate the crisps.  I don't even know if anyone other than Mike ate the ranch because I was busy in the kitchen making the rest of the food.  I did get to try it, and it was really tasty.  There's loads left, so I'll get to try it with the crisps tomorrow.

I made the enchiladas with Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food enchilada sauce, Viva Vegan! tortillas, and Tesco smoked cheese.  They fell apart a bit, but they were super tasty.  If I make these again, I would probably use store-bought tortillas just to avoid the hassle.  Because some of my tortillas fell apart before we could fill them, I still have filling left!  I might have to make a mini batch of tortillas and have breakfast tacos at some point.

I really, really liked the corn.  It was nice and creamy with a good balance of sweet and salty.  I usually don't get to eat corn as a side because Mike isn't a huge fan, so I try to make it when I'm feeding multiple people.  Having made this, I now really want to try the corn casserole.

The cabbage was OK, though I'm not a huge fan of cabbage at the best of times and usually only eat it in stir fry.  However, it was so stupid easy to make.  This would be a great side for a weekday meal.  I would maybe use a bit less sugar and just let it caramelise on its own if I made it again.

The ice cream was a bit of a mission.  I didn't read the recipe through and realised after I'd already put some of the ingredients together that I didn't have margarine.  I had the coconut oil mentioned as a suitable substitute, but it was solid!  So I boiled some water and melted the oil enough to pour it out, but I put it in the mix at the wrong stage.  In spite of all the setbacks, it was really good and was the perfect accompaniment to the cake.

Everyone seemed to like the food, and we had almost no leftovers.  And because of the dishwasher, I was able to clean as I went, so the rest of the cleanup won't be too bad.  Woo!

Yella cake

Today is Mike's birthday, but we're celebrating tomorrow.  But it's no birthday without cake (except my birthday because I didn't make my own), so I made his birthday cake tonight.

Of course, I made the Yella Cake with Fudgy Frosting from Cookin' Crunk because it's well suited to birthday cake.  It looks like the kind of cake you'd make with a box and a tub!

I almost had a disaster when I went to make the frosting - I didn't have enough icing sugar or margarine!  I supplemented somewhat by adding a bit of Speculoos, but it would've been fine without it.  As with most frosting recipes, I still had more than enough even when I didn't have enough ingredients.

I really liked the flavour of this, but it was a bit denser than I was hoping for.  I wonder if maybe that's because it doesn't have any baking soda.  I was tempted to add a bit, but I wanted (for once) to follow the recipe.  It was still tasty, just not as fluffy as I expected.

I'll be doing loads of recipes from this book tomorrow.  Or at least, I hope I will - I might end up getting lazy and/or running out of time.

Lazy day post - cheap but delicious eats from Lidl

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I were trying to buy ramen at Tesco, and we couldn't find any flavours that were vegan.  I learned shortly after this trip that Lidl has these tarts that are vegan, so I decided to divert to Lidl on my next shopping trip (since we have a Lidl on our way home from the Tesco we usually shop at).

So, this is what the tarts look like:

These consist of a shortcrust pastry, seedless raspberry jam, some type of cream filling, and a raspberry fondant.  They're so freaking good!  They also have pineapple, which aren't as good but would do in a pinch.  A pack of four small tarts is 99p (or if you're lucky, they'll be a little smashed and only run you 69p).

Lidl also have packets of ramen for 18p each, and the ones I looked at were vegan.  Now, I can't vouch with certainty for every flavour, but the ones that are vegan are labeled as such.  Score!  The chicken and barbecue beef flavours are definitely vegan, and they really hit the spot.

My dinner tonight was the chicken flavour with an extra bit of miso and some frozen peas.  It was great.  One of these days I'll use the noodles to make some decent ramen a la Mo.

Lidl has a few other bargains.  I found organic carrots for £1, and they have a big jar of red peppers for £1.79.  I mean, all of their stuff is cheap, but some of it might be worth making the trip for (especially since the trip for me is a couple of steps out of the way).

Bean and Broccoli Pie

 After making the Latke Breakfast Pie and the baked beans, I still had about 2 cups of beans left to use up before they got funky.  I also had that light puff pastry crust to use, and a head of broccoli that was getting a little sad.  So pie was a pretty obvious choice.

I used the bean, leek and mushroom pie (I'm too lazy to look at the actual name of it) from Vegan Brunch as a guide.  Instead of walnuts (I'm allergic), I used almonds (not allergic and had them to hand), and I used broccoli in the filling instead of leeks and mushrooms.

Bean and Broccoli Pie
with thanks to Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Ingredients:
1 pie crust, ready made or homemade*
1 medium-large head of broccoli**
1 c roughly chopped almonds
2 c cooked haricot beans (navy beans in the US) with liquid***
1/4 c nutritional yeast
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic granules (or powder)
1/2 tsp onion granules (or powder)
extra water as needed for blending

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/gas mark 5.  Press your crust into a 9" or larger pie plate (I have a 10 or 11" plate, so you might have some leftover filling if yours is 9").

Chop your broccoli into smallish pieces and steam for 5-10 minutes.  Make the filling while the broccoli steams.

Blend the almonds until they're finely ground and sorta sandy.  Add the beans and bean liquid and blend until relatively smooth.  Add a bit of water if they don't blend easily.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until incorporated.  Pour the filling into a medium bowl and fold in the broccoli, then pour the mixture into the prepared pie plate.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is browning and the filling is relatively firm.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  This will allow the filling to set a bit more.

I served this with green beans cooked relatively similarly to the garlic green beans in Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations.  Mike liked it so much that he actually suggested I make it again, though with a different vegetable.  He thought it tasted like chicken pie, so I bet it would be even more like chicken pie with some soy curls or light TVP chunks soaked in chicken-flavour stock.

I had some leftover dough, so I mixed about a tablespoon of Vitalite, 3 tsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 2-3 tbsp of chocolate chips, put it in the middle of 2 scraps of dough, rolled them up (sorta), and baked in the oven after the pie came out.  And it was amazingly delicious.  I'm actually a little impressed at how great today's evening meal turned out.

In that spirit, what was the best meal that you made up on the fly?

*If you care about crustiness, you might want to blind bake the crust for 10 minutes or so before adding the filling.
**I just used the florets, so if you use the stem, you could get away with a smaller head of broccoli.
***Because you include the liquid, it's probably best to use homemade or tinned organic beans.

You'll need a tray

I just started a new medication which, apparently, makes me really sleepy.  I came home exhausted, and I need to finish this post before I fall asleep.

I decided to make Penne Arrabiata because I'd promised Mike I'd make it at some point.  We were at the store buying food, and he decided we should buy the 39p Tesco Value penne, but I refused to buy the value sauce (it was mostly tomato paste).  So I told him I'd make arrabiata if we could buy the non-shitty sauce.  Also, pasta is so quick (especially compared to the other stuff I was thinking of making).  Just to make it a bit healthier, I threw in some chickpeas and frozen spinach.

Here's a shot of my pasta:

 

In case it isn't obvious, 39p penne isn't great.  It wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't buy it again.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to do a decent post, but I'm so sleepy I can barely keep my eyes open.

Omelets and Injuries

Day 2 and I already have a cooking-related injury!  More on that later.

Keeping with my budget theme, today's dinner used several pantry/freezer items - chickpea flour, frozen spinach, jarred roasted red peppers, and frozen chopped shallots and garlic.  I'm actually gonna have a post about some of my favourite convenience foods, so I won't go into how much I love those things.  Anyway, I also finally used a bookmarked recipe that I'd been thinking about making for ages - Chickpea Flour Omelets from Vegan Richa.

The recipe calls for fresh veg, but I'm lazy and used the aforementioned frozen/jarred veg.  I defrosted the spinach in the microwave, then threw the shallots and garlic in with it to heat up a bit before dumping everything into the batter as directed.  I also threw on some Tesco smoked cheese near the end of cooking.

The directions on the recipe aren't very clear, but once I figured out what to do, it came together pretty quickly.  I served with buttered toast because I was in the middle of another project while I made dinner.  I really liked these, but Mike ... well, he said I didn't have to make them again, which is his way of saying never ever make this again.  So I guess I'll save it for a day that he's not here, because I thought they were delicious.  Luckily, I made a double batch, which made 3 decent-sized omelets, so I'mma make a sammich out of the leftovers for my lunch tomorrow.  Woo!

On to the other project and my injury!  In line with my Sunday theme, I decided that, rather than make straight-up coffee ice cream, I'd make hazelnut latte ice cream.  So I decided to make my own hazelnut syrup.  Everything went fine - I toasted and skinned the hazelnuts and cooked the mixture down with no mishaps.  Well, there was a slight mishap in that I accidentally overcooked it and ended up with candied hazelnuts and a chunk of hazelnut-flavoured sugar or something - I'm not even sure what it is.

You know when you make something, and you want to taste it - it was hot, but you think it's cooled off enough.  It hasn't cooled off enough.  I stuck my finger in molten sugar (essentially).  It burned like hell, and despite running my finger (my little finger!) under cold water for ages, I still have a wee blister right on the pad.  So I'm kinda typing with my fingernail to avoid touching the blister.  It could be worse, but I still feel pretty stupid for doing that.  And that's why I don't have pictures - I was trying to minimise my injury (also it was already pretty dark when I finished cooking).