January 27, 2012
0
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 4
If you’ve been following Like a Vegan for a while, you would already know that I don’t like summer. At all. Because of this I constantly have to do things to make summer more bearable. For my birthday recently, a great friend of mine made me an extreme Italian vegan feast and did a fantastic job. The least I could do was take a beverage along for the crew to enjoy so I took this Pink Lemonade. You don’t have to make it alcoholic but it is a premo cocktail if you’re that way inclined.
Ingredients
- 2 lemons, sliced
- 1 packet of sherbet
- Ice
- 4 tablespoons grenadine syrup
- 4 shots vodka
- 1 large bottle of lemonade
Method
- Grab four tall glasses and run some of the lemon around the rim.
- Tip the sherbet onto a plate and press the rim of each glass into it to line with sherbet.
- Fill each glass with some ice and lemon before adding the vodka and grenadine. Save 4 lemon slices.
- Top up with lemonade.
- Cut a slit in the remaining lemon slices and place on on the rim of each glass. Throw in a fancy straw and serve!
Tags: grenadine, lemon, lemonade, pink, refreshing, sherbet, summer, traditional, vodka
January 17, 2012
0
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 4
We all know nachos are great, it’s a scientific fact. An unfortunate fact is that nachos can also be a calorie-fest. While the occasional Mexican fiesta pig out is definitely warranted, it’s nice to know that you can still enjoy nachos without the guilty “I just ate way too much” feeling afterwards. Baking tortilla chips is such a good solution to the corn chip dilemma and fresh avocado in lieu of guacamole means cutting out the cream substitutes!
Ingredients
- 10 tortillas
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Olive oil spray
- 4 tomatoes, diced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups of corn niblets
- 1 1/2 cup 5 bean mix
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 green chilli, finely sliced (optional)
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C and spray 4 oven trays with olive oil spray.
- Cut each tortilla into 8 pieces and lay out evenly on the trays.
- Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with paprika and salt.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden and crisp, be careful not to burn.
- In a large bowl, combine the tomato, onion, corn, beans, garlic, lime juice salt and pepper.
- Spread out the tortilla chips on 4 plates, leaving some space in the middle.
- Spoon the tomato mixture into the hole. Top with avocado and chilli.
- Serve immediately.
Tags: avocado, beans, corn, fresh, healthy, mexican, summer, tomato, tortilla
January 12, 2012
2
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Serves 4
It looks like summer has finally hit, which means it’s time for more salads! The salad is nice and simple to make way for the star of the show; the crusted tofu! With a slightly cheesy and herby twist, this crispy tofu really livens up any basic salad. I’ve included the recipe for my Wholegrain Mustard, Lemon and Agave dressing as well, that’s just how nice I am. You don’t necessarily have to use this tofu in a salad either, serve it wit vegetables or couscous or rice or with some sauce on its own, it’s really that good!
Ingredients
- 1 500gram block hi-protein firm tofu
- 3/4 cup soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons dried mixed herbs
- 2 tablespoons Parmezano (if not available, nutritional yeast will do)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 handfuls rocket
- 1 1/2 cups baby beets, cut in half
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 red onion, sliced finely
- 1 lebanese cucumber, julienned
- 1/3 cup macadamia nuts
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon seeded mustard
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons agave syrup
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Cut the tofu into chunks, you can either make small cubes or larger pieces- I trust you.
- Mix together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a shallow bowl, set aside.
- In another shallow bowl or dish, combine the breadcrumbs, herbs, Parmezano, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Mix well.
- One by one, coat your tofu pieces with the soy milk before transferring to the breadcrumb mixture. Coat well with the crumbs and then place on the baking tray.
- Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes before turning the tofu to bake the other side for another 10 minutes or so. It won’t brown too much, don’t stress if it doesn’t!
- While the tofu is baking, combine the salad ingredients either in a large bowl or on individual plates.
- In a blender or food processer, whizz up the mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and agave. Dressing is done!
- Add the tofu to the salad ingredients, mix through and drizzle with the dressing.
- Chow down.
Tags: agave, beetroot, cucumber, fresh, light, macadamia, parmesano, red onion, rocket, salad, summer, tofu, tomato, wholegrain mustard
January 5, 2012
0
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 4
Don’t let the picture fool you, this dish is DELICIOUS and one of my all-time favourites for Christmas lunch. Mum says it’s so easy she couldn’t believe anybody would even want a recipe but the easiest recipes can be the best! You can get the mock duck breast from Asian groceries or your local mock meat emporium. The grocer I go to has this brownish looking one and also a reddish looking one, go the brown one for this recipe. I know I’ve been saying I’d post a guide to mock meats, and I will, it’s just taking a little longer to compile than I expected… Let’s try for 2012 ay?
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 3 dried shitake mushrooms
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 packet of mock duck, thawed and sliced into strips
- Enough of your favourite vegan gravy powder to make 4 cups of gravy
Method
- Overnight, soak the shitake mushrooms in the water. Squeeze out all of the liquid from the mushrooms into the water. Discard the mushrooms and set the liquid aside.
- In a large wok, heat the oil and add the “duck”. Heat until crisp and brown before removing from the heat and keeping warm
- Using the same wok you used to cook the “duck”, put together your gravy using the shitake liquid.
- Once the gravy is ready, stir through the “duck” and serve hot with vegetables and/or salad.
Tags: Christmas, dinner, gravy, lunch, mock duck, mock meat, mushroom, shitake
January 2, 2012
0
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 6
First things first; CHEESY JUNK RULES! Secondly, this is barely a recipe. Despite this, I decided to share because it was darned delicious and sometimes it’s nice to hear about super easy things to make when you can’t be bothered with a huge dinner production. You can add whatever you want to this really, the options are endless. I served mine with a side of greens but you could easy make this a tasty component to any meal.
Ingredients
- 1 litre water
- 4 cups dry macaroni
- 1 packet Angel Food – Vegan Cheesey Sauce Mix
- 3 cups soy milk
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup chopped facon bits
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Boil the water and add the macaroni, cook until al dente.
- While the macaroni is cooking, prepare the Cheesey Sauce according to the packet instructions.
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan before frying the onion and facon bits.
- After about 2 minutes, add the macaroni and stir through the Cheesey Sauce.
- Add the salt, pepper and parsley. Serve hot!
Tags: Angelfood, cheese, easy, facon, mac n cheese, onion, pasta, quick, vegetables
December 18, 2011
1
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Makes 125 small cookies
Last Christmas I was living in Sydney and making trips back to Newcastle every weekend. I was also hating on Sydney so wasn’t feeling particularly festive. This year I’m home and have plenty of time to make the Yuletide gay. Last weekend I whipped up a huuuuge batch of gingerbread cookies and went on a covert mission to secretly deliver them to my dearest friends.
I was lucky enough to find that Queen cachous doesn’t contain gelatine so this comes in handy for decorating. All the food colouring I use is from non-animal origin, this site is really helpful if you’re unsure if what colours are suitable.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons egg replacer
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 cup Nuttelex
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 1 cup golden syrup
- 6 cups plain flour
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 2 teaspoons bi-carb soda
- Extra flour
Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 180°C and line 4 trays with baking paper.
- In a small bowl, mix together the egg replacer and water, set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat the Nuttelex and brown sugar until creamy.
- Throw in the vanilla essence, egg replacer mixture and golden syrup and beat until combined.
- Sift in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bi-carb soda.
- Lightly flour a flat surface and knead the dough until smooth.
- Cover with plastic and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Separate the dough into 4 even portions. With each portion, roll to about 5mm thick between two sheets of baking paper.
- Use cookie cutters to make shapes of dough. As you cut, place each cookie carefully on the tray, leaving about 2cm between each cookie.
- Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. Cookies should be slightly brown.
- Leave to cool on the tray for about 10 minutes before allowing to cool completely on a tray.
- Decorate, serve or box up as a gift to your friends and family!
Tags: Christmas, cookies, decorate, family, festive, friends, gift, gingerbread, holidays, vegan, Yuletide
December 10, 2011
1
Difficulty: Medium
Serves 6
When I was a school-aged carnivore, I used to love getting “pizza roundas” from the canteen. They were always a delicious lunchtime treat but I hadn’t really thought about them until my recent trip to Melbourne. While at Las Vegan Nirvana in Smith Street, I was taken back to my childhood with their Hawaiian calzone (I’ll post more about that soon). When I returned I was eager to replicate the meal. So I did.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 7 grams dry yeast
- 3 cups fine Italian flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 block mozzarella Cheezly
- 1/2 cup pineapple pieces
- 1 cup Redwood facon bits
- 1/3 cup tomato sauce
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- In a large bowl, stir the yeast into the water and mix until dissolved.
- Sift in the flour and stir through before adding the salt and oil.
- Knead until smooth and form into a ball. Place back into the bowl and cover for 45 minutes to rise.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine pineapple, facon, tomato sauce, garlic, mixed herbs, salt and pepper.
- Crumble the Cheezly into the bowl and mix through.
- Remove the dough and knead for a further few minutes.
- Separate the dough into 6 equally sized balls before rolling out to be about 5mm thin.
- Spoon the filling onto one half of each piece of dough before folding in half. Roll the edges in and pinch to seal.
- Place on a lined baking tray and cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Serve hot with salad and/or chips.
Tags: calzone, canteen, Cheezly, dinner, facon, nostalgia, pineapple, pizza pocket, school, snack
November 26, 2011
0
Difficulty: Easy
Serves Four
Don’t let the taste fool you, this salad is so unbelievably easy to make! Everything can be tossed together in advance but make sure you leave the noodles til the very last moment or they’ll go soggy. Chinese Cabbage & Noodle Salad is the perfect accompaniment to any meal but especially a summer vegan barbecue.
Ingredients
- 1/2 Chinese cabbage, shredded
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup slivered almond and pine nut mix
- 1 packet fried noodles
- 1/3 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Method
- Combine the cabbage, spring onion, and nuts together in a large bowl.
- Mix together the vinegar and caster sugar until sugar dissolves.
- Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and olive oil to the vinegar mixture and stir.
- Pour the dressing over the salad before tossing through the fried noodles.
- Serve immediately.
Tags: barbecue, Chinese cabbage, easy, fresh, salad, simple, spring, summer
November 19, 2011
0
Difficulty: Medium
Makes 12
Lately I have been thinking about fun snacks to make for summer and I stumbled across some pretzel recipes that looked relatively easy to improve and veganise. Last night I went for it and the result was so dope that it could possibly be one of the best things I’ve ever made. No joke.
Now these aren’t too difficult to make, just a bit fiddly and time consuming because you have to knead the dough and let it rise. This is actually a really fun and wholesome thing to bake, especially with kids as they can make the pretzels into all kinds of whacky shapes.
I’m hooked on these things now, so stay tuned for a million variations! I’m thinking something sweet next…
Ingredients
- 7 grams dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons dried mixed herbs
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 3 cups plain flour
- 2 cups bread flour
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons bi-carb soda
- 2 tablespoons Nuttelex
- Coarse sea salt
Method
- In a large bowl, combine the yeast, brown sugar and salt before adding the first lot of warm water.
- Once the yeast has dissolved, add the nutritional yeast, mixed herbs, garlic and onion powders before sifting in the flours.
- Knead on a floured surface until a nice smooth dough is formed and shape into a ball.
- Spray another large bowl with olive oil and roll the ball around in it before covering and allowing it to rise for an hour.
- Preheat oven to 230°C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Separate the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll out to be about the thickness of your index finger and about 30cm in length.
- Twist into a pretzel shape by bringing the two ends together, twisting in the middle. Then cross the two ends over and press into the bottom of the shape (or just make whatever shape you want!)
- Mix the remaining water and bi-card soda in a shallow dish. Gently dip each pretzel into the solution before place on a baking tray.
- Leave the pretzels to rise on the tray for 10 minutes before baking for 10 minutes.
- Remove the pretzels from the oven and melt the Nuttelex.
- Brush the Nuttelex over each pretzel and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Best served warm!
Tags: carnival, garlic, holidays, mixed herb, pretzel, snack, vegan
November 9, 2011
0
Difficulty: Easy
Serves 4
I love it when you get a good vegan Tofu Cashew Nut at a Thai place so I thought I’d give it a crack myself. I had some friends over for homemade Thai recently and made so much food that I had no need to make this, I still had all the ingredients so I made it the next night for my family and it was very well received!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 gloves garlic, crushed
- 1 brown onion, chopped
- 1 750 gram block hi-protein firm tofu
- 1/2 red capsicum, cut into strips
- 1/2 green capsicum, cut into strips
- 3 tablespoons kecap manis
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
- 3/4 cup cashew nuts
- Fresh basil and coriander to serve
Method
- In a small bowl, combine the kecap manis, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce and set aside.
- Cut the tofu into cubes about 2cm x 2cm.
- Heat the olive oil in a wok, before adding the onion and garlic.
- Add the tofu and cook until it begins to brown a little.
- Throw in the red and green capsicum and toss around for a couple of minutes before adding the sauce you prepared earlier.
- Tear up some of the fresh basil and coriander and add to the wok before tossing through the cashew nuts.
- Serve hot with rice and enjoy.
Tags: cashew nut, dinner party, stirfry, Thai, tofu
