Pretzels

This was based on this recipe from http://www.kitchenproject.com/german/soft_pretzel_recipes.htm

Instead of egg for a glaze I just brushed some olive oil on it and when brushing the butter on after cooking just substitute vegan margarine.

Potato Salad with curry vinegarette

A quick lunch that my girl loves is based on the principles of my dad's potato salad but minus all the eggs and bacon and exchanging them for curry powder and chickpeas.

This is enough for a small salad.

Potato Salad with curry vinegarette

1 large potato, un peeled and cut into bite sized pieces

A handful of pre cooked chick peas or any other beans/peas you have, (the one pictured uses some chick peas and some red kidney beans).

Some chives or a spring onion sliced finely

2 Tablespoons oil

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

pepper and curry powder to taste

Method:
Cook the potato until tender

Whilst cooking mix all the other ingredients together except the chickpeas.

Heat the chick peas

Mix the potatoes and chick peas together

Pour the dressing over the top

Mix through

Best served cold as the flavours have had a chance to infuse, but it is still good if you let it cool off a little. Will keep in the fridge ok for a few days.

Vegan brownies

This was a last minute dessert made while re heating some lasagne I had made from a week ago that I freeze (I will post the recipe).

This is the link to the recipe: http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/desserts/brownies-peppermint-frosting.htm

Vegan Brownies

For the icing I made a chocolate frosting which was 1/4 cup cocoa and 1 cup icing sugar, a splash of vanilla, and tablespoon of vegan margarine-melted and enough boiling water to get the required consistency (which is not as much as you might think, pour in a bit at a time).

You can do a similar one for a pepermint incing, just take out the cocoa and add a few drops of peppermint essence.

A quick vegan dinner

Here's a quick vegan dinner that even a 15 month old loves!

Couscous with mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli

1/3 cup quick couscous
1/3 cup boiling water
splash of olive oil
seasonings of your choice (eg pepper, basil, rosemary)

mushrooms- cut in half then sliced
asparagus- cut into bite sized pieces
broccoli - cut nito bite sized pieces and pre steamed
shallots, chives or basil - chopped

Put the couscous and seasonings in a bowl and add the oil and boiling water.
Give a quick stir then cover and stand for 5 mins (or as per the directions on the packet)
While the couscous is standing heat a frypan and add a little olive oil and the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes
Add the asparagus and cook until the mushrooms and asparagus are a golden brown colour
Add the broccoli and the herbs and mix
Finally add the couscous and turn off the heat. Mix well.
Serve with a garnish of basil or chives

Feel free to exchange the veges for what you like, I've even found that just tossing in some olives and sundried tomatoes with some fresh basil into the couscous is delicious and even quicker.

Today's bake

Welcome to the Vegan food, knitting and crochet blog.

Today I have made two delicious recipes thanks to a couple of websites with a few slight alterations.

The first is: Black olive focaccia rolls from www.vegalicious.org

I didn't have special bread flour so I used 1 1/2 cups plain white flour and 1 1/2 cups plain wholemeal flour.

I added some sundried tomatoes with the olives and when they were finished baking, I brushed them with a little olive oil mixed with some dried basil and rosemary. My little girl loved them!

I think that next time I will add some dried basil and rosemary in with the flours before making the dough to add a little more flavour to the bread itself.

Secondly I made

MICHAEL'S PERFECTED INDISTINGUISHABLE (VEGAN) CHEESECAKE

from http://www.invinciblemuffin.org/vegan_cheesecake.html

I like to dust it with icing sugar when it's still a little warm and then put fresh passionfruit on the top. It makes the fridge smell sooooo yum!

My non vegan sister had this when she visited a month ago and she loved it too!