Vegan Ice Cream

My first visit to Wholefoods Market with stomach & vegan eyes. It was a completely different experience.
I bought many seeds for my cereal bar, flax seed to help iron intake, tofu and vegan sausages. But, I have to admit, the real objective of my Sunday morning walk to WFM was to find vegan ice cream!!!! I am found it! Life is good again.
It is still birthday weekend, so I will indulge slowly, enjoy each mouth full of delicious chocolate, cause I have been a good girl these last few weeks, and I deserve it. Who needs a bf when you have chocolate ice cream?

Best Fruity Breakfast Bar Ever

Guys, I give to you the best Fruity Breakfast Bar ever invented. Not by me, I can't take credit for that. I am not sure who was the lovely chef who created this recipe, but it works really well and it is delicious and healthy.

The recipe was given away at a nutrition course given at the company I work for, so if any of you BaxterStorey chefs want to take credit for you, by all means do it! I live on it, breakfast and snack!

270g Apple Juice

115g Chopped apricots

115g Raisins

250 ml Maple Syrup

25g Sunflower seeds

25g Pumpkin seeds

75g Oats

50g Desiccated coconut

25g Sesame seeds (optional )

25 g Cinnamon ( optional)

25g Cranberries ( optional)

• Preheat the oven to 200C or gas mark 6, line a tin with parchment paper.
  


• Mix apple juice, apricots, raisins and all seeds in a large bowl thoroughly .
  


• Add oats & coconut to the mixture and stir till evenly combined.



• Leave it to rest for about 30min so the oats can soak up the juice and like that you bar won't crumble.



• Put in to the preheated tin and bake it fro about 25 minutes or until golden brown and firm to touch. ( I don't follow this step, I use a silicone liner and it works fine.)



• Leave to cool and cut into bars
  

I promise guys, It is so healthy and full of goodness, that once you get use to have this as breakfast you will never want anything else.

Vegan Grilled Vegetables Lasagna

Here is another winner recipe. It is pretty much done on instinct, so bear with me, as I don't have all exact measures! I am totally rubbish at that actually! I never cook by recipe despite of having lots of recipe books.
All I've done here was slicing 1 large aubergine and 2 courgettes, length wise. Better if you have a mandolin. About 5mm thick. Grilled them, or quickly fry them on a non stick frying pan with a tiny bit of olive oil. Slice about 6 to 8 white mushrooms, or any mushrooms you fancy and fried them quickly. Reserve them to one side.
Mean while, prepare your tomato sauce. My tomato sauce is pretty traditional, I always do it the same way and it seams to work. I use 1 finely chopped white onion and about 3 cloves of garlic, fried them till soft in a bit of olive oil, than add 1 tin of peeled tomatoes, 1 celery, squeeze in half a tub of concentrated tomato puree, salt and pepper. I cook it for about 30 min, but the more you cook the better it is...
Next I prepared the white Cashew nuts and yogurt paste, this plays the part of a cheese substitute, although mine didn't taste like cheese, but it worked beautifully.
I used 200g of raw cashew nuts, 3 table spoons of soy yogurt, 1 small finely chopped white onion, 10 g freshly ground ginger, 1 tea spoon of whole English mustard, salt and pepper to taste. All blended together to form a nice paste. If necessary, add a bit more yogurt to make it smoother.
Now the fun part,get a deep square or round baking dish. I always make the first layer with tomato sauce, so the aubergine won't stick to the bottom of the dish.
Than layer the aubergine, followed by a layer of mushrooms, a layer of cashew paste, them courgettes, than tomato sauce, and repeat again each layer. I aways finish with a layer of tomato sauce. Put in the oven at 200C for aprox 20 min. Serve with salad.
Lovely! It is always nicer the next day!

Risotto de Pimentao e tomate seco

Esse ficou muito gostoso. Muito simples e rapido de fazer.
Os pimentoes eu assei separado antecipadamente, so no azeite de oliva, sal e pimenta.
Pra iniciar o risotto, usei uma colher de margarina ( Pure, sabor oliva), eh uma margarina 100% dairy free. Frita 1 cebola pequena, picada o mais fininho que conseguir, um dente de alho, amacado no sal, pra fazer uma pasta de alho, e o arroz de risoto ( 150g, ou o suficiente pra 4 pessoas). Dismanchei 1 tabletinho de caldo knoor de vegetais em 300ml de agua quente e vai regando o arroz aos pouquinhos, pra ele ir cozinhando em pouquinha agua, e criando uma liga do risotto.
Na metade do cozimento, eu acrescentei o tomate seco, re hidratado, 100g, picado em tirinhas.
Nos minutos finals do cozimento,eu coloquei 50 ml de vinho branco, uma colher de margarina, e adicional um pouco de pimentao ( 2 pimentoes eh suficiente pra essa receita) , reservando umas tiras pra decoracao de cima. No ultimo minuto antes de servir, piquei a cebolinha de adicionei no risotto. Confira o sal e a pimenta e ajuste a gosto.
Eh super simples,e deve ser apreciado com um vinho tinto level e apimentado.

Foodaholic has gone Vegan 2012

Dear all,
Here is wishing you all a very happy new year, and that 2012 be a wonderfuly innovative and creative year for all of us.
To give 2012 the chance to be the year which changed my life and health forever, I decided, after not much but serious consideration, that I am going Vegan.
Oh yes! You heard me right! Not veggie, VEGAN(the crazy animal lovers radical and opinionated group of people who don't eat any ANY animal products or by-products.
Being this strong minded but lovely person that I am, I decided that enough was enough and hypocrisy had no time or place in this wonderful new year ahead.
So here is my first VEGAN recipe of the year.
Butternut and Coconut Soup:
1 Butternut Squash
2 medium red onions
Cut into small chunks and sweat it off with a drizzle of olive oil.
3 garlic cloves finely chopped and smashed with sea salt to form a nice paste. Chuck it in the pot and fry with the rest of the stuff.
Add 1 tea spoon of cinnamon, 1 tea spoon of freshly grated ginger, 1 tea spoon of freshly grated nutmeg, 1 tea spoon of coriander, lots of black pepper ( I like a lot of it, but you can do it to your taste) and salt to season to taste.
Fry all the seasoning with the butternut and onion, and when it is all very nice and soft enough, add a can of Coconut milk.
Now it is time to blend it, and taste. Put everything back in to the cooking pot and see if you need to season any more. I reckon it should be just fine, but I normally add a little more nutmeg. Hummmmm

I made some croutons of brown linseed bread and it was perfect.

Enjoy it with a nice glass of VEGAN red wine... and smile!
Namaste!

Canapes

Patê de Gorgonzola

-250g de gorgonzola
-1 lata de creme de leite
-1 pote de requeijão cremoso
-pimenta-do-reino
-azeite
-3 a 4 dentes de alhos (descascado e bem picado ou
processado)
Uva roxa cortada em quartos e baby manjericão roxo pra decorar.

Amasse bem o gorgonzola com um garfo. Em seguida misture o creme de leite sem soro, o requeijão e o azeite e pimenta do reino e alho.
Um dos meus canapes favoritos, perfeito com um pinot noir.

Slow cooked lamb sholder and 2003 PRELUDE GRAND PUY DUCASSE

Ai ai! Mais uma semana, mais um vinhosinho. Hoje eu estou cozinhando um ombro de carneiro, na panela de ferro. Vai ficar uma delicia! E esse vinho ai, acompanha o carneiro melhor que tudo!
Ah, assando o carneiro na panela de ferro por 5 horas, a carne chega a derreter, desfiando... assando com bastante cebola, alho e rosemary(alecrim). E o segredo aqui eh adicionar bastante worcester sauce. Se for dificil de encontrar ai no brasil, acho que molho farrapo eh bem pareceido!
Ai que fome!