Some simple dishes we have been eating

Recently I have been so busy/so exhausted I have not had the time, nor the motivation, to try new recipes or do anything experimental. The main aims have been simple but delicious nutritious meals for me, OH and my growing bump. Here is a sample of 3:

Shepherd's Pie, or what we decided to call it "Animal-Rescuers Pie" full of vegetables with gravy and a mashed potato topping.

 Brocolli and Pasta Bake with a "cheesy" (nutritional yeast) white sauce and topped with melty vegan cheese.

 A Rainbow Risotto- lots of colourful vegetables in this simple recipe risotto.

Over the coming weeks I am going to be looking for more easy recipes which will be much easier to cook once our new little vegan is born! Preferably ones that can be cooked in big batches and frozen!

Any suggestions very welcome!!

Our Full Vegan Breakfast

My OH mentioned a while ago how long it had been since he had eaten a cooked breakfast (there's no particular reason for this it just hadn't happened). Today we were both going to be in all day (studying hard) so I thought it would be a nice break and treat to have a cooked Sunday breakfast (but for lunch as I had to work my hunger up).

And here it is:

Simple breakdown:

• Linda McCartney Sausages
• Redwoods "Bacon"
• Scrambled tofu + vegg
• Herby grilled tomatoes
• Garlic Mushrooms
• Doorstep Granary Toast
• Spaghetti hoops (I hate these but OH had them and his plate looked better!)

Banana and Cranberry Bread

The last few days I have been a bit of a cooking machine...mainly when taking breaks from my research project. I have got a few things to post about but the only photos I have prepared are for today's creation- Banana and Cranberry Bread. Those of you who have had banana bread before will know it is more of a cake really and I think this one turned out even cakier than usual! The main resemblance to bread is the shape as I make it in a bread tin and perhaps the colour. I adapted a recipe from about.com; changing a few ingredients and quantities to suit my needs.


Ingredients

1/4 cup oil (I used sunflower)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 really ripe bananas (the browner the better!)
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used hazelnut as that is what was open)
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g dried cranberries (sorry for the change in measuring system- it was just the size of the packet. i reckon it was probably at least 1/2 cup but use as many as you want)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Mix the sugar and oil together
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
4. Mash the bananas. It can be quite nice to leave this quite rough and have some pieces in the cake to bite into.
5. Mix in the bananas and all the rest of the ingredients. If it is a bit stiff (it should be a little bit sloppy rather than a stiff dough) then add some more oil
6. Pour into a lined/greased bread pan
7. Cook in the oven for around 50 minutes. A knife should come out clean when stuck into it.
8. Enjoy!

Damn, the picture looked better on my camera!

Mint Choc Chip Cookies

It's been quite a while since I posted! I am now in my third trimester of pregnancy and it (along with trying to carry on my studying) has been taking it out of me; well it's a very good excuse for a daily afternoon nap. Because of this I haven't been trying out many new things; tending to stick to known favourites to cook. I visited my parents in Cornwall for a week and did do some cooking there including a very successful Broccoli, Cauliflower and Pasta bake but I forgot to 1) take note of quantities and 2) take a picture so I won't blog about that. My dad also made some AWESOME vegetable tempura with cauliflower, mushrooms and sweet potato but again no pictures and no specific recipe so I will have to get him to do it again!!

While I was in Cornwall I had a dream about making Mint Choc Chip cookies including how I'd do it (recipe and methods) which was a bit random and to be honest I wasn't that keen on the idea of mint choc chip in a cookie (I love the ice cream though so I'm not sure why I was apprehensive about these) but if it came to me in a dream I HAD to make them....and I'm so glad I did! They turned out really delicious and look impressive too! I am just hoping that my OH's family will like them as we are visiting this weekend.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Cookies:
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup oil (I used sunflower)
1/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tbs cornflour
4 tsp peppermint flavouring/extract
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-1 cup of chocolate chips (depending on how many you want/have!)

Topping:
200g dark chocolate
4 tsp peppermint flavouring/essence

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Mix together the sugar, oil, milk and cornflour. This needs to be done for a few minutes to get a really good smooth consistency and let the sugar and oil bind properly together.
3. Add the peppermint essence
4. Mix in the flour and salt (it sometimes helps to mix in the flour half at a time)
5. Add the chocolate chips and mix until well dispersed
6. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto lined baking sheets and smooth out to cookie shapes. I made 10 large cookies with this mixture but do whatever size you wish (cooking times may vary though so make sure you check regularly). Make sure there is space between the cookies as they will spread out a little when they cook.
7. Bake in the oven for 8-15 minutes (mine took 15, smaller will take less) until starting to brown all over
8. Remove from the oven to cool completely.
9. Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Once melted add in the peppermint essence and mix well.
10. Take each cookie and dip it in the chocolate. Use a spoon to get the chocolate to cover half of the cookie. Set aside on some baking paper to set. Putting in the fridge for an hour can speed up this process!!
11. This makes too much melted chocolate really but it is hard to cover the cookies is you make less. I put satsuma pieces in the left over chocolate and mixed until they were covered then put them in the fridge to set. Delicious!