Fake & Onion Pie

8th May 2010 Update: Thanks to Carmen for the winning suggestion for naming my Pie! Fake & Onion Pie it is.

People always say to me "what type of pie is it?" It's a meat pie style pie, but for obvious reasons I can't call it a meat pie! It has thick tasty gravy, thanks to Vegan with a Vengeances' Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy, and is based on an onion and mince (TVP) style filling to replicate the traditional Aussie Meat Pie.

Pie Filling and Gravy

Building Pie Step #1

Building Pie Step #2

Building Pie Step #3

Building Pie Step #4

The Finished Pie

RECIPE

Makes 3 pies of 3-4 serves each.

Preparation time = 1 hour
Cooking time = 35 minutes

You will need:

• 3x aluminium pie trays OR a large muffin bake tray for party pies
• Oven pre-heated to 200 degrees Celsius after filling mixture had been made (while you build the pies).
  
• Large skillet/fry pan or wok.
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups/spoons etc.
• Pastry brush

Ingredients:

• 7 sheets of frozen vegan puff pastry sheets (made with non-dairy margarine instead of butter, in Australia Woolworths/Safeway sell them) thawed.
  
• 1.5 cups TVP (textured vegetable protein)
• 2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
• 2x onions (diced)
• 5x garlic cloves (minced)
• Nuttelex (non-dairy margarine) (1/2 cup) - optional (and recommended if making for non-vegan eaters!) OR olive oil spray.
  
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup Savoury Yeast Flakes
• 3 cups chickpeas (mashed with a potato masher until no whole chickpeas remain, but not into a mushy paste)
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 teaspoons mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried Thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried Coriander
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Fresh cracked black pepper

Instructions:

1. Dissolve flour in 2 cups of water in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl dissolve 2 teaspoons veg stock power in 1.5 cups boiling water and stir in TVP.

3. Heat olive oil in pan/wok and add diced onions and mustard seeds, cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then add garlic, cook for 2 minutes more.

4. Add mashed chickpeas, stir through onions garlic and mustard seeds.

5. Stir through 1/4 cup of the Nuttelex (if using)

6. Add the herbs, spices (but not pepper), soy sauce and lemon juice, mix through well.

7. Lower heat and add the flour and water mixture and mix well until mixture thickens.

8. Add Savoury Yeast flakes and mix well.

9. Add the tomato paste and TVP and fold into gravy mixture.

10. Add pepper to taste.

11. Heat oven

12. Melt remaining 1/4 cup of Nuttelex in microwave in a cup and baste pie trays well, around all surfaces pastry will contact, with margarine using pastry brush. If not using margarine for lower fat version spray with olive oil.

13. Place thawed sheet of pastry into pie tray (or cut into size to fill base and sides of muffin tray) and press well into edges of tray and sides.

14. Fill pasty with pie filling to just below top of tray level, then place another sheet of pastry on top.

15. Pinch edges of pastry together well to seal, baste top sheet with more of the melted margarine, cut strips of another pastry sheet for lattice on top of pie and baste again.

16. Bake each pie for 30-35 minutes in oven. Serve with tomato sauce and baked veggies.

Enchilada Bake....stay tuned for the recipe

The finished product, ready for baking.
Final topping, a blend of home made hummus, avocado, cumin, and turmeric and paprika.
The 3rd and final layer, ready for sauce...
2nd layer
Building the enchilada - 1st layer of tortilla and filling
Enchilada filling cooked in the pan, ready to build the enchilada bake

A Sunday night dinner at my place....

On the menu:
- Chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon w' tahini and miso sauce
- Avocado Wasabi Salad from Vegan Yum Yum
- Potato Wedges seasoned w' Paprika, pepper and olive oil
+ extra greens of baby salad leaves.

Vegan Quiches - Sun Dried Tomato and Basil

Ingredients:

1 500g block plain firm tofu
1 cup vegetable stock
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup savory yeast flakes
3 stems shallots - diced
4 cloves roasted garlic - crushed and finely chopped
1 cup sun dried tomatoes (the oily type)
1 cup packed fresh basil
2 teaspoons paprika
Fresh black pepper
2 cups soy milk or rice milk
1 packet vegan shortcrust pastry (i.e. using veg oil based pastry, not butter)
Olive oil

Equipment:

large fry pan, preferably cast iron.
1 jumbo muffin tray
1 spray can of olive oil
1 blender
1 large mixing bowl
Oven heated to 180 degrees C

Directions:

In mixing bowl crumble the tofu well, using your hands to squeeze and crumble until no large chunks remain.

Heat olive oil in pan, and add shallots and tofu, cook until the tofu is browning slightly, for approximately 10 minutes. Add the stock to deglaze pan as required while tofu is cooking.

Stir tahini and savoury yeast flakes through tofu, then cook for a further 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let cool slightly.

In the blender, blend the sun dried tomatoes and basil a little, then add the cooled tofu mix.

Blend into a paste adding soy/rice milk a little at a time.

Shake in paprika and some fresh black pepper to taste.

Spray the muffin tin with the oil then line the muffin tin with a circle of defrosted pastry (use a cup the same size as the base of the muffin holes to cut out the base) then with two strips around the edges, overlapping with the base and with each other.

At the pastry edges press well so that there are no visible joins that can separate.

Fill each pasty cup with the tofu filling and smooth the top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then add a slice of tomato to each quiche before baking for a further 10 minutes.

Garnish with a sprig of basil and serve with tomato sauce, a salad or baked veggies and white sauce (recipe below).

Doing the numbers

I find it a little weird to be worrying about the numbers, since I am healthy and not deficient in anything, but people have this "but where do you get your protein" obsession, so I thought I'd start doing some number crunching....

The general consensus is that a sedentary 33 year old women needs 0.75 grams of protein per kg of body weight per day. For high activity you apparently make this 1gm/kg/day. So I'll work on the 1gm principle. That means I need 58 grams of protein per day.

Here's the values on some of the high protein vegan foods I regularly eat:

My breakfast is a total of 23 grams, so that's over a 1/3rd in one meal!

2 slices of Helga's bread = 12.5 grams
250ml Soy Milk = 7.5 grams
10 gram serve of vegemite (I like it thick) = 3 grams


Other protein quantities I regularly eat are:

1 serve of tofu = 16.25 grams

1 serve of savory yeast flakes (on my pasta, in soups, sauces etc) = 8.4 grams

Vegetable soup = 8.2 grams

Bean and lentil vege soup = 17.4 grams

1 serve of vegeroni pasta = 15 grams

1 serve of pasta sauce = 4 grams (plus I add canaloni beans/butter beans, and savory yeast flakes and other goodies to my pastas)


Plus I have a thing for nuts occasionally, and often add walnuts to things for some extra oomph.


So no protein deficiency here!

Try Veg's vegan nutrition page

Here's a great link to information about vegan nutrition on the Try Veg Australian website: http://www.tryveg.net/vegetarian_nutrition.aspx

I like their tables showing you the equivalent vegan food to eat to get your calcium, iron, protein etc, very user friendly.

Pizza!

Home made pizza, using the pizza base recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Apologies for the photo quality, no forward planning and night time makes for very unprofessional pictures.

My favorite toppings are fresh tomato paste and tomatoes, tofu basil 'ricotta' (from Vegan with a Vengeance) roasted pumpkin, roasted garlic, fresh basil and walnuts. Sprinkled with some savoury yeast flakes and drizzled lightly with tahini to finish.

Roast Pumpkin Lasagna

Serves - 4
Time - Preparation 30 minutes / Baking 60 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 large pkt lasagna sheets

1 large bottle of plain tomato pasta sauce

1 recipe of Vegan White Sauce
(http://veganmadeeasy.blogspot.com/2010/01/vegan-white-sauce-recipe.html)

4 gloves roasted garlic

1/2 small pumpkin - diced into small cubes and roasted

1 tin of lentils - well drained, or 2 cups fresh cooked lentils.

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, shredded.

1 350gm block of plain firm tofu

1/3 cup thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes

1/3 cup tahini

1/2 cup savory (nutritional) yeast flakes (plus extra for sprinkling on top before baking)

1 TBS lemon juice

Olive oil

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl, clean tea towel, lasagna baking dish, wooden spoon.

Directions:

1. Cube pumpkin and roast with a spray of olive oil, but only until still firm, don't over cook.

2. Roast whole garlic cloves in the oven, roasting time approximately 10 minutes, while the pumpkin is roasting, then crush with flat blade of knife.

3. Open tofu packet and wrap tofu block in clean tea towel to squeeze the water out of it, then in a large mixing bowl crumble the tofu with your hands until no chunks remain and it has the consistency of ricotta.

4. Mix tahini, yeast flakes, lemon juice and 1 TBS olive oil into tofu, then add sun dried tomatoes, basil leaves and roasted garlic and gently mix through with wooden spoon.

5. Add pumpkin cubes and lentils to tofu mixture then you are ready to build the lasagna.
6. Spray or grease lightly the lasagna dish with olive oil.

7. Build your lasagna - place 1 layer of pasta sheets on base of dish, then a scoop of the pumpkin- tofu mix, then pour over a portion of the tomato pasta sauce, ensure the pasta sheet is well covered with mixture and sauce, but only a thin layer. Repeat until you reach a final layer of pasta sheets on top.

8. Pour your white sauce evenly across the top layer of pasta, and ensure the pasta is well covered in a nice think layer of white sauce. Sprinkle some more yeast flakes on top of white sauce.

9. Bake in oven at 180 degrees for 45-50 minutes, then turn off oven and let sit for another 15 minutes before serving.

Vegan White Sauce Recipe

For potato bake, lasagne, cauliflower, creamy pasta, or anything else you can think of that needs a white sauce.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup soy milk
6 teaspoons cornflour (make into paste in 1/2 cup cold water)
2-3 gloves minced garlic (roasted garlic for extra yumminess)
2/3 cup savoury yeast flakes
1/3 cup Nuttelex (optional)
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon mustard powder (or 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard)
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
(I don't add salt as the vegetable stock is usually pretty salty)

Extra cornflour (dissolve in a little water first to adjust thickness if required)

Directions:

1. Slowly dissolve cornflour, one teaspoon at a time, in cold water in small mixing bowl.

2. In a saucepan slowly dissolve Nuttelex (if using), then lower heat and add the stock, then the flour and water mixture, keep stirring.

3. Slowly heat to the boil then immediately reduce, stirring gently but constantly, add soy milk, savoury yeast flakes and dissolve, add mustard, tahini and mix well, add garlic, paprika and pepper.

Laksa inspired tofu marinade.

Laksa Tofu (right) (and meat-less balls, left)

I love laksa.

I found laksa powder in the Asian grocery and made up this tofu marinade to have an easy laksa fix without the guilt of half a liter of coconut cream that comes with a great laksa.

Serves 2-3 as a side serve of tofu with a wombok salad. Or on jasmine rice with steamed vegies.

Ingredients:

1 x 375g block of plain tofu
1 x 275ml tin of light coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons of laska powder (3 if you like it spicier)
3 - 4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup hot water

Directions:

Press tofu well in tea towel to squeeze out the water so the tofu absorbs as much marinade flavor as possible. Then cut into 2cm cubes approx.

Prepare marinade by mixing coconut milk, laksa powder, peanut butter and hot water together in a tupperwear container until peanut butter and laksa powder have disolved and combined well. Using boiling water helps disolve the peanut butter.

Place cubed tofu in marinade and coat well, store in fridge over night or for as long as possible prior to cooking.

To cook: (In oven or on stovetop)

Oven bake - Pour marinade and tofu into pyrex baking dish or small lasagna dish and bake in oven at 180 degrees until most of liquid has been reduced, turning tofu occasionally and coating well in marinade. Bake until tofu has firmed and becomes slightly golden and some reduced marinade remains as a sauce.

Stove top - Pour marinade and tofu into large frypan or cast iron frypan and cook uncovered on medium-high, occasianlly stirring, until the marinade has reduced to a thick sauce and tofu has firmed and browned.

Potato Salad Recipe

Potato Salad (right) (with crispy noodle and wombok salad, left)

This is the same potato salad I made for the PPCR Camp in September, and I promised I would blog the recipe! Sorry it has taken until Christmas!

Ingredients:
10 - 12 small new potatoes (skin on) - cut into 1/4's
2-3 shallots - sliced very thin.
3 gloves garlic - minced
2-3 stalks celery - sliced thinly
2 TBS fresh thyme (2 teaspoons if using dried)

Dressing:
1 cup vegan mayonnaise (if unable to find Soy King brand mayo or don't want to make your own, the fat-free "Praise" brand is egg-free)
1/3 Cup pickle relish
1 TBS Dijon mustard (or 1 teaspoons mustard powder)

Directions:
Steam potatoes until tender, don't overcook, they should be a little firm still to not crumble when you mix the salad. Cool under cold running water when cooked.

Mix all dressing ingredients and garlic in large bowl. Stir with a fork to combine well.

Mix in celery, shallots, and thyme with dressing.

Add potatoes and mix with wooden spoon to coat well.

Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Christmas 2009

My family doesn't go overboard at Christmas, we're not very good at over-eating really, and part of the family was doing the big Christmas dinner thing, so it was a light lunch for us yesterday....and we still had leftovers!

So for our vegan lunch we had:

Meat-less Balls with tahini-miso sauce and my favorite marinated tofu, a spicy laksa inspired flavor, with good old potato salad and a wombok and noodle salad with roasted seaseame seeds, and a dressing of sweet chili, soy and sesame. The wine was Sav Blanc and the desert was vegan christmas fruit cake with rum and nutmeg frosting and cherries, mango and pawpaw.

Vegan Cookies at the Coast 2 Kosciusko Ultra Marathon

As I was unable to go to the Coast to Kosciusko Ultra this year as planned due to injury, I still sent along a vegan cookie care-package for some of my favourite people to enjoy on their 240km journey from Boydtown Beach at Eden to the summit, the highest point of Australia.

Here is Michael with one of my cookies at each important milestone of the race (I'm still blown away that he thought to take these shots for me!).....

At the Marathon mark, 42.2kms, of the race

At the 100km point....

At 100 miles.....

And Michael + cookie at the summit!

My cookies have made it to the summit before me, but my time will come!

Oh and if anyone is more interested in the cookies than the run, or wants to bake them to fuel themselves on their next adventure, I will post the recipes ASAP!

Meat-less Balls

Great Christmas finger food, or for any occasion needing finger food really!

I modified the recipe for Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon (http://www.theppk.com/nomicon.html) for these.

INGREDIENTS: If you are referring to the Veganomicon recipe this is 4x that with a few modifications.

2 large tins of chickpeas, drained (4 cups)
8 TBS olive oil
2 cups vital wheat gluten (also called gluten flour -buy this at a produce deli or order in at health food store)
4 well crushed wheatbix (easier than breadcrumbs to have on hand)
1 cup vegetable stock
4 TBS soy sauce
4 TBS vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (no anchovies)
6 garlic cloves , pressed or grated
2 tps lemon zest
2 tps dried thyme
2 tps Hungarian paprika
1 tps dried rubbed sage
1/2 cup of plain flour for rolling balls in.
Canola oil for pan frying.

DIRECTIONS

Mash (or pulse in blender) the chickpeas and oil until no whole chickpeas remain.

Add wheatbix and pulse until well mixed - Unless you have a huge blender this will need to be done in 2-3 batches to get a proper mix.

Put all blended ingredients into large mixing bowl.

Add remaining ingredients (but not flour!) to chickpea mix and knead for 3-4 minutes until strings of gluten have formed.

Form little balls about the size of cherries or slightly larger and roll each ball lightly in the flour.

In a fry pan heat about 1cm of Canola oil and fry balls in batches.

Serve with toothpicks to pick up each meat-less ball and dip in mustard sauce, sweet chili sauce or tahini-miso sauce.

Super bananary banana muffins

Adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen Recipe


Ingredients

DRY
3 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

WET
5 small (or 4 large) very ripe bananas, mashed well (or freeze ripe bananas, then when they thaw they turn very runny, perfect!)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
small container vanilla soy yogurt (180gms)
3/4 cup soy milk
2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions
Preheat oven to 180 C. Spray baking muffin tin with some canola oil spray.

In a large cooking bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients. Bananas should be pretty smooth but leave a couple of lumps. Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour in to muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes (I rotate tray in oven after 10 minutes). Cool on baking rack.

Additions can include chopped dates or walnut pieces, choc chips or coconut.

Can also make banana bread, but it can be difficult to get it to bake evenly through.

More photos from Plant Powered Camp '09

PPCR Garie Beach Vegan Food and Trail Running Weekend

Well the inaugural Plant Powered Cool Runners weekend has come and gone, and it was worth every second of the planning and cooking. It was so much fun that for 2010 we have decided to hold it on a long weekend over 3 days/nights instead of 2!

PPCR Garie Beach Weekend Information

PPCR Garie Beach Weekend Information Sheet

General information:

Dates: Friday 25th September - Sunday 27th September

Location: Garie Beach YHA in the beautiful RNP South of Sydney.

Cost: $55 per person (includes food and some alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages for the non-drinkers)

Starting on Friday afternoon, through to after lunch Sunday, however there is the option of just one day or night for anyone who needs this.

Location info: http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/garie-beach-yha/index.html

To secure your place please email bjm29377@gmail.com for the account details to pay into.

What you will need: Linen, pillow or sleeping bag, toilet paper, and personal toiletries, torch, insect repellent, bath towel, swimmers, running gear, board games/playing cards, musical instruments, etc. however, please note that everything you want to bring will need to be carried approximately 1.5kms (20 minutes walk) across a beach and up a single-track bush trail. I don’t recommend valuables be left in your car at the surf club car park over night either. Additional things that would be great include folding camp chairs, and if anyone has a hammock there is a good pair of trees just perfect to string one up.

Getting there:

From Sydney - Follow the Princes Highway to Sutherland and follow the signs to the Royal National Park and then to Garie Beach.

If you're driving into the park, you will need to purchase a National Parks and Wildlife Services vehicle day pass for $11 at the entry to the Royal National Park (prices as at January 2005). If the entry station is un-maned just drive on through and the rangers patrol the car parks the next morning and will put a notice on your windscreen, it’s a pretty easy-going system, so don’t stress about this aspect!

Please note that the gate to the entrance to the Garie Beach Surf Club is only open between 7am and 8:30pm. The gates are locked by the Royal National Park overnight, so if you are driving make sure you get there before 8:30pm, or you will be locked out, but in this case just ring me and someone will come and get you!

Check out www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au for park maps and gate times.

http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/garie-beach-yha/garie-info.pdf

If anyone wants to car-pool or needs to be picked up from Sutherland train station please speak up and we can arrange this.

Getting to the YHA from Garie Beach car park:

(approx 20 mins)

1. Walk past the front of Garie Beach Surf Club

and north along the beach for approx. 150 metres.

2. Turn left (before you reach the gulley between

two hills).

3. There are a series of rocky steps with a rusty

pipe heading up the hill.

4. Walk up these steps and follow the bush track

through the trees to the YHA.

Other info:

Bedrooms
There are two bedrooms (we have equal numbers of men/women also so this works well) that sleep 12 people in total. A bunk bed, single bed and double bed with single on top are available in each room. Blankets and pillows are provided but please take your own sleep sheets and pillow cases (or sheets/sleeping bags) as these are not supplied.

Lighting
As there is no electricity, lighting is powered by solar energy and set on a timer to turn on at 7pm in the Summer and 6pm in the Winter. There is a camp fire area and we will be buying decent firewood to make sure we have a good camp fire all weekend also.

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN TORCHES / HEADLIGHTS! And if anyone wants to bring a camping lantern for the outdoors table that would be great too.

Cooking and Drinking Water

- Please bring a few large bottles of water with you for your own drinking water, obviously these can be left in the car so you won’t have to lug litres up the hill, but it would be greatly appreciated if everyone had a personal supply of drinking water from home.

- Food will be provided and is included in the cost of the weekend.

- Please BYO alcohol (some beer will be provided if we have $$ left over after I have bought the food) but we do not have means for keeping things cold other than one esky for the provided beer. So

There is a small gas stove and pots, pans, cutlery and crockery are available. Water is provided by tanks outside the YHA, please ensure you boil this water before use.

Showers and toilets

An eco toilet in located on the YHA grounds. There are no showers at the YHA, but cold showers are situated in the Garie Beach car park as identified on the map on page 2 (providing there are no water restrictions in place). Please conserve water as this YHA is only on tank water.

Rubbish
Please think about the next guests and take any rubbish and recycling when you leave. There are bins provided at the Garie Beach car park for rubbish disposal.

Contact details:

Bethany – 0 4 2 1 3 7 3 4 8 7

If those confirmed could please let me know their ETA for the Friday over the next week or so that would be great – thanks

Mango Ginger Tofu

This is the most devine sweet and sour style tofu marinade ever from the Post Punk Kitchen

Mango Ginger Tofu

I served it up on Jasmine rice with lightly steamed baby squash, zucchini, broccoli and carrot with some soy and sesame sauce for the veggies. But as usual, no photos sorry, I'm terrible. I'll have to make it again just to take photos, not least because it is well worth making many times.

What your crumbled tofu should look like....

Here is a photo of some basil 'ricotta' tofu (recipe from Vegan with a Vengence cookbook) that I made for pizza, it's a good example of what your crumbled tofu should look like for the lasagna recipe.

Vegan Lasagna......at last

Here is my lasagna recipe, at last. The best bit about this recipe is the awesome white sauce! It has the feel and taste of really naughty white sauce but is very low in fat for such a thing, and it can also be used on potato bake, macaroni, or cauliflower!

I will add recipes for alternative fillings (as I make them!) in future, such as bean and tofu filling and TVP and lentil filling, which are more "mince" like for traditional lasagna lovers.

Ingredients

1 family size packet lasagna pasta sheets (6 serves)
1 medium eggplant - sliced thinly, 3-5mm thin.
1 large red onion - sliced
1 red capsicum - sliced
1 zucchini (or 2 small) - sliced
300 grams plain firm tofu - crumbled well to resemble ricotta cheese
1 jar plain tomato pasta sauce (or your favourite recipe)
2 tins crushed tomatoes (or 4 cups fresh diced roma tomatoes)
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic

(White sauce ingredients)
1 cup nutritional (savoury) yeast flakes
2 cups soy or rice milk
1/4 cup Tahini
1 tablespoon (approx) cornflour

Herbs: fresh or dry basil, oregano, black cracked pepper and sea salt, to taste, be generous with the oregano.
Balsamic vinegar
Spray olive oil

Equipment

1 family size lasagna dish (or will fit into two small pyrex dishes)
1 small saucepan
1 large saucepan
trays for grilling/roasting veggies
mixing bowl

Preparation

Slice eggplant very thinly, lay on paper towel or a tea towel and lightly salt for 10 minutes (lots of water will come out of them, but so will any bitterness, if your eggplant is very fresh this isn't needed)

While eggplant is salted, crumble tofu well between your fingers in a mixing bowl until it looks like ricotta cheese.

Instructions

Heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grill or roast lightly, eggplant, capsicum and zucchini slices, with a spray of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over slices. Put aside when cooked, for when ready to build lasagna.

In a large saucepan cook onion and garlic until onion softens.

Add crumbled tofu and mix well with onion.

Continue to cook tofu mixture for 5 minutes, then add pasta sauce and tinned/fresh tomatoes, and mix well, stirring through herbs, salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

Make white sauce (recipe below).

Build lasagna - starting with a layer of pasta sheets, top with a small amount of tofu and sauce mix and grilled veges, then repeat layers of pasta, tofu mix and vege mix until a final layer of pasta.

Pour white sauce mixture over lasagna and smooth across top, then sprinkle 1/4 cup savoury yeast flakes across the top to give a cheesy appearance.

Bake for 45 minutes.

White Sauce Recipe

Slowly heat 2 cups soy or rice milk until lightly steaming, do not overheat!
Stir in 3/4 cup of nutritional yeast flakes
Stir in 1/4 cup tahini, mixing well.
Slowly add cornflour and mix continually so clumps don't form.

Continue to mix until sauce thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Add more soy milk or cornflour if needed to adjust thickness.

Publication, Whoo!

Great new Australian Website from Action for Animals - TryVeg

http://www.tryveg.net/

And they have kindly published my recipes!

Recipe: Asian-style Soup with Tofu and Udon Noodles

Recipe: Pasta Bake with Cashew Cheez Sauce

On the "to make" list.....

Indonesian Coconut Rice (Vegan.com Top 10 Recipe, 2008)

Don't be deterred by long lists of spices in recipes, it's all about having a well-stocked pantry, and getting the hang of what works well together, making recipes like this is really good practice on how to use spices. Then most recipes become quick and easy when you get the hang of it and have everything on hand.

Yet another stir-fry sauce!

Oooo I have a great addition to my never ending obsession with stir-fry sauces!

This is for one to two serves:

1 TBSP Wasabi paste
(you will hardly notice it, it just gives a lovely flavour, I promise!)
2 TBSP Tahini
3 TBSP Light soy sauce
1 TBSP Mirin
1/4 cup boiling water.

Dissolve wasabi paste and tahini in boiling water in small bowl, add soy sauce and mirin and mix well, then pour over stir-fry veggies and tempeh a few minutes before serving, mix well and serve over basmati, or brown rice or Soba noodles.

Super Easy Recipe, with greens.

Lately I have been eating a lot of variations on 4-5 ingredients because I have been very busy with work and have been cooking for myself only for the past 10 days. Plus I have a thing about greens, and this recipe has 3 green ingredients, which is probably why my iron is so good for a female running vegan!

Here is an easy one that I had for lunch today (about for dinner about 5 nights out of the last 10).......

Ingredients

1. plain tofu, cubed
2. baby spinach
3. 2x shallots, diced
4. 1/2 avocado (or some small broccoli florets if you prefer)
Plus chilli powder/chilli sauce and sesame oil (I know, that's technically 6 ingredients!)

Instructions

1. place big pile of baby spinach in bowl
2. cook up cubed plain tofu with a little bit of sesame oil and a generous dusting of chilli powder (in the absence of my beloved chilli sauce)
3. toss 2 diced shallots to cook in the with tofu
4. add 1/2 small avocado sliced in on top of the baby spinach leaves, then add cooked ingredients when you are happy with how cooked you like your tofu.

When you put the cooked tofu and shallots in on top of the baby spinach the heat wilts it nicely without actually loosing any of the raw green goodness :)

If you don't love chilli (sacrilege!) you can place 1 tablespoon tahini with 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a jar and give it a good shake to combine, and pour that over the tofu.

Baby spinach goes especially well with chilli and tahini flavours I think :)

Stay tuned - Vegan Lasagna Recipe coming up!

My Mum's friend can't eat cheese and whilst staying with us for a week, and eating my vegan food, she told me that she would like a vegan lasagna recipe. So rather than just google a recipe for her, I told her I would come up with one of my own especially for her. I have my shopping list ready, and tomorrow is Sunday, a good day for cooking, so stay tuned for the out-come........

Cake! Vegan Mud Cake

Unable to go to my little brother's 30th birthday party, I sent a cake along in my absence. It was apparently a hit. The recipe is from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, and it's a super moist and very chocolaty mud cake style cake, and especially because for the topping I used proper dairy free bittersweet dark chocolate, as opposed to compound cooking chocolate. I really wanted to decorate it, but freaked out that I might just end up ruining it completely. I think some roasted nuts on top will definitely be my plan for next time.

Thai-style Curried Tofu

I had some red curry paste to use up, and my family like satay-style tofu stir fry, so today I came up with the following marinade.....

Ingredients:
1 TBS Red curry paste (fish sauce/shrimp paste free!)
1/4 Cup light soy sauce
1 Small tin of low fat coconut milk (165ml)
equal parts water (165ml)
4x shredded Kaffir lime leaves
1 TBS peanut butter
3 TBS satay powder

1 250g block plain firm tofu - cubed

Mix all ingredients well in shallow container and place tofu cubes into marinade. Refrigerate for as long as possible, best if made at lunch or the night before.

To cook:
Heat a mild oil such as Rice Bran Oil in wok. Scoop tofu cubes out of marinade (set aside) and brown well in wok, add veggies such as spring onions, broccoli, wombok or other Asian veggies, mushrooms and zucchini, stir fry for 3-4 minutes, add remaining marinade, heat well then serve over basmati or brown rice.

Plant Powered Cool Runners - The Gathering '09

So, this September I am going to be 'catering' for a few like minded runners, vegan food only, for 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners, in a fairly remote location with only a gas stove and no electricity, at "The Gathering '09", the inaugural Plant Powered Cool Runners weekend get-together. So I better get my thinking cap on!

For any Cool Running people who might read my blog, and may be interested in a weekend of vegan food, trail running and fun with the PPCR's here are the details:

PLANT POWERED COOL RUNNERS - THE GATHERING '09

A weekend away for any and every CoolRunner who is interested in eating yummy vegan food, and any and every combination your heart desires of trail running, relaxing, swimming, bush walking and general fun stuff with other like-minded CoolRunners.

Dates: Friday 25th September - Sunday 27th September
Location: Garie Beach YHA in the beautiful RNP South of Sydney.

Cost: $55 per person (includes food and some alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages for the non-drinkers)

Starting on Friday afternoon, through to after lunch Sunday, however there is the option of just one day or night for anyone who needs this.

Location info: http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/garie-beach-yha/index.html

To secure your place please email bjm29377@gmail.com for the account details to pay into.

What you will need: Linen, pillow or sleeping bag, toilet paper, and personal toiletries, torch, insect repellent, bath towel.
Optional: swimmers, running gear, board games/playing cards, musical instruments, etc.

Shopping List - Walnut and Beetroot Quinoa

Quinoa
Fresh Beetroot
Raw Walnuts
Garlic
Lemon (or 100% lemon juice)
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Mustard (smooth)
Coriander
Spring Onions
Red Capsicum
Carrot
200gm Packet plain firm tofu

(Quinoa is pronounced Keen-wa and is a South American grain that is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, high in amino acids (protein) and calcium. I usually buy it at Coles, or at Healthy Life health food stores).