Vegan Mofo Day 29/I Bought A Book: Vegan Pizza

Day 29 of Vegan Mofo and I'm slowly coming to the realisation that being hot and cold all the time and tired and having sniffles may actually mean I've got a cold. Possibly being slow on the uptake is another symptom. Anyway in what I expect is the last review of Vegan Mofo I'm going to take on Vegan Pizza by Julie Hasson.

I bought the kindle copy because I'd heard there weren't really any pictures inside. It's true, apart from the cover all you get are a couple of stock photos. For me that's not a deal breaker but it made me decide I'd rather not pay extra to get it in paper.

The book starts with recipes for your pizza parts: base, cheesy sauces, and meaty stuff. The remaining five chapters are recipes for how to turn them into fabulous pizzas, creatively topped with everything from peperoni to broccoli. There's a lot more actually but peperoni and broccoli being my favorites I didn't really take it in.



I was slightly disappointed in some of the pizza recipes though. The meatball pizza (which I'm desperate to try) calls for '1 (16-ounce) bag frozen veggie meatballs' which is disappointing, especially because they seem to have disappeared from the shops at the moment. When cheese is called for it's mostly 'shredded vegan mozzarella-style cheese' which is discussed as being optional and you can sub in one of the cheesy sauces but it makes me sad that an entire chapter is devoted to the cheese sauces when the recipes suggest store bought. Much more helpful, I think, would have been a discussion about which cheesy sauce would have gone best on each pizza.

So then I made a pizza. I started with the base. I went for the Easy-Peasy Pizza Dough. I didn't find it as easy as advertised. Possibly I left it to rise too long (but within the 2-3 hours the recipe suggests) or perhaps I don't get on with no knead dough but it was sopping wet. I needed so much flour rolling it out. Admittedly out of the oven it was crisp as anything and really delicious.

For my creamy layer I went with the Cheadery Cashew Cheese which was delicious and added some lovely flavours and textures. Definitely more comparable to american cheese then the extra strong cheddar we favour but that's not a bad thing on a pizza. The rest of the toppings came from the recipe for Mushroom Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza. The overall effect was fabulous.

My overall impression was that Vegan Pizza isn't quite as comprehensive as I would like - there is no deep dish pizza for example - and for that reason I'd be hesitant to suggest shelling out for the print version. At only £5 on kindle though (on 29th October 2014 at least) it's a good deal. Pizza lovers (everyone, in other words) should treat themselves.

Vegan Pizza: 50 Cheesy, Crispy, Healthy Recipes

Vegan Mofo: Lunchbox School Lesson Four

It's the last friday of Vegan Mofo and the last lesson of lunchbox school. This week we'll be talking about the somewhat less glamorous topics of planning and preparation.

Lesson 4: Plan and Prep

The two things that make all lunchbox making endeavors go smoothly. This week I've made two boxes out of the same four key ingredients while less than ten minutes cooking time each morning.

Think Before You Buy

At the moment I make lunches two days a week, thursdays and fridays but I start thinking about lunch on a monday. I'm not an incredibly organised person or anything and I don't spend long thinking about it but as I draw up my shopping list I like to have a decent idea of what type of things I'm going to put in my box. It means I can make sure I buy all the food I need. This week I bought tofu, french beans, grapes and rice.

Leftovers, Overlap, Freezing Portions

Leftovers in your lunch box is a good option. In this box I used leftover curry. Think too about side dishes. If you are making glazed carrots the night before why not make a few extra for the box.

Overlap is another very handy thing. I knew that both days this week I was going to use the same ingredients so I was able to prep all in one go. The beans all got chopped at the same time. I boiled the rice one day and stir fried the leftovers the next.

You can also freeze things in lunchtime portions. If you only want two tablespoons of something like hosin mustard tofu (like this) then why not make a full batch and freeze the rest for next week.

You want to make fabulous, attractive, diverse lunches without doing all the work of making four or five tiny dishes each morning.

The Morning After The Night Before

So to make it easy for yourself you want to wake up in the morning knowing roughly what to put in your lunch and to have some of it leftover or prepped from another meal. You also have the option of getting things ready the night before though. In both these boxes the tofu was started the night before. The teriyaki tofu was put to marinate and the red hot saucy tofu was fried. In the morning I fried the teriyaki and put sauce on the fried tofu and done.

Nothing left to do but halve the grapes. Two lunches in ten minutes with the same four key ingredients: rice, teriyaki tofu, green beans and grapes, and fried rice with red hot saucy tofu and grapes.

Hope you enjoyed lunchbox school, it's possible a bonus lesson will come before the end of Mofo...

Pittsburgh Steak Sandwiches

For lunch today I grabbed my copy of Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day and a hunk of its Moo-Free Seitan and made these fab Pittsburgh Steak Sandwiches.

Marinated steak strips, avocado, garlicky mayo and salad greens made an amazingly good meal. And I took the time to flip through Vegan Sandwiches again. There is so much in there that I haven't tried yet. I'd love to know what you recommend.

Vegan Mofo Day 22: Altella, again.

I think I've posted about Altella before. It's a gorgeous spread, an almond variation on nutella and the recipe is from Hearty Vegan Meals For Monster Appetites or Home-Cooked Vegan Comfort Food as it's now called. In fact this one recipe is well worth the price of the book.

And I think it's well worth a second post. I was ever very happy with the first picture anyway. Hopefully tomorrow my stomach will have settled enough for some more adventurous food.

Vegan Mofo Day 20: Lunchbox School Part 3

Everyone settled in? Good. It's lesson 3 of lunchbox school. I apologise for my unauthorised absence yesterday I was feeling a ill and I didn't want to sit up for any length of time. Today we're going to talk about keeping your lunches fresh and tasty. The opposite of me right now.

Lesson 3: Good 'til Lunch

Keeping your food happy and fresh until lunchtime can be a bit of a challenge. Especially in summer. We've all had days of wilted salad and soggy bread. How can bento help you avoid it? Well coincidentally all those little ideas for packing a cute lunch really do have a practical application...

Ice and Water

By far the easiest way to keep everything fab and fresh to pack it at the right time. Putting cooked food in a lunchbox while it's still warm can lead to condensation. So where possible I like to put everything in cool or at least wait until it's as cool as it can be before putting the lid on. I like to prep my lunch first thing in the morning but only cover it as I'm heading out the door.

Another super simple freshness tip is to grab yourself an icepack. In summer especially they are necessary to keep everything cool in hour bang. I tend to carry one strapped to my boxes but you can get mini ones to go inside.

Separate Your Flavours

I'm not suggesting you stop all of your food from touching. If that's your thing then go for it but I like a snuggly box. There are some things that get along better when they don't mingle though. Check out the box above. I have lettuce and grapes touching but the broccoli is sectioned off. Why? Well the broccoli is roasted, it's coated in oil and salt. Exactly the flavours I don#'t want to seep out onto the fruit. Or the bread. That would be one soggy sandwich.

You may also notice that this time I left the grapes whole. Halved grapes may be a space saver but they do add moisture to the equation. The skin of fruit is it's own protective packaging after all.

Play With Your Food

If you pack a sandwich exactly as you want to eat it, with all the sauce and all the lettuce the bread will be moist and sad. Putt he dressing on the salad before you leave home and lettuce wilts. Drape the sauce onto the pizza bowl and everything turns into a soggy mess before you can get to it. Packing things in separate containers and assembling at lunch avoids the issue. And it's fun. It won't take all of your lunch time to assemble things if you prep them at home but it will make a big difference in texture and flavour.

Next week is the last lesson of lunchbox school (or is it? I haven't decided yet, do you know?) and we'll be talking about efficient prep for a speedy packed lunch.

Vegan Mofo Day 18: The J Cake

Today was the last day of one of my fellow volunteers and I asked if they would like a vanilla or chocolate cake. I tried to come up with an impressive and elegant design but I settled on something simple instead.

I made a chocolate sandwich loosely following the Happy Birthday Cake from Chloe's Kitchen but with 1/3 cup less flour, 2/3 cup cocoa powder and a smidge of chocolate extract. In between the two layers is some plain vanilla buttercream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. On top I dusted over a hand cut 'J' stencil. (it's their initial, not just for funsies)

The volunteer who was leaving provided another cake, this one shaped like a penguin, and some of the staff brought cakes and cookies. I'm on a total sugar high. I'm not playing favorites here so I'm not going to tell you my cake was best but I will tell you it was delicious.

Vegan Mofo Day 17/I Bought a Book: Keep It Vegan

Rules are made to be broken. It turns out they are especially made to be broken when they are rules about buying cookbooks. I had said to myself that I would buy no more general, basic, 'this is what a vegan is' cookbooks.

Well unless it was written by someone awsome, or it had a really good recommendation from people I trust, or lists things in the ingredients like '400g can of...'

And it was that last one that lead to me buying this because as much as I love my American cookbooks it's amazing to read something where the author shops in the same units of measurement that you do.

Aside from the metric there is plenty of shelf appeal. This is a bright, cheerful, relaxed book full of lovely pictures. The recipes a simple but yummy looking. And yes there was one mention of detox but I just pulled a face and moved on to the recipes...

Yep, that's my lunch from last week. And in there is Sweet Potato and Spinach Sushi. Pretty yummy, I didn't opt to do any inside out rolls because I could barely get a right side in roll working that morning. Made a nice lunch dish.

Then I went for the Breakfast Brownie with a Strawberry Bottom. I'm afraid I didn't like this one. wasn't really sugary enough, the portion was huge, it was dry. In the tip bubble it says you can top with more almond milk or agave. I think you really, really need to.

But I didn't let that put me off breakfast. I turned instead to the Breakfast Burrito which turned into a breakfast taco because I only had small corn tortillas rather than the giant ones I like for a well stuffed Burrito. They were delicious though. And I have leftovers. How dangerous.

I'd recommend giving this one a flip through, especially if you are in the UK. There are some good, simple recipes in here, see if anything makes your mouth water.

Keep it Vegan: 100 simple, healthy & delicious dishes

Vegan MoFo Day 16: Supper on The Beach

It's coming to my attention that summer is nearly over. IT's getting harder and harder to chuck myself into the sea for my weekly swim. Sometimes I find myself closing windows or putting on a jacket. The tourists are mostly gone. The kids are back at school. It's getting dark at eight! I wanted to do something summery before it was too late so I bought myself a packet of these:

Taifun sausages just taste like summer and nostalgia to me. We also had lemonade, rolls, barbeque sauce and crisps. It was a hastily put together picnic and I threw it all in my bag and went to pick Stephen up from work. We found a spot on the steps by the beach and lit up the gas.

Stephen was worried because barbeques aren't allowed on this beach but I maintain that this is not a barbeque, it's a gas cooker. And I'm happy to repeat that line to any members of the constabulary that come knocking.

What is there left to do after your thrown together supper, cooked on the beach? Well if you look carefully you can see that dot in the sea there is actually me.

Vegan Mofo Day 15/ I Bought A Book: Salad Samurai

Terry Hope Romero's latest book was released back in June but please don't take my silence on it so far to be a lack of enthusiasm. Truth is that I was sold on this one sight unseen but as I'm still lacking that unlimited budget it had to wait until now. But haply it was worth it.

I'm not in general a salad person. Most salads I get served are sad, pathetic, wilting afterthoughts served with a side of no imagination. I like big flavours, big portions, big protein hits. All the things that the salads in my life have been lacking. Until I opened this book.

And bless Terry Hope Romero because vegan salads needed some rehabilitation and someone awsome running their PR campaign. And they've got it. This is a stunningly designed book with fabulous pictures and - above all - incredible recipes.

So, what have I made?

This one had it's sneak preview at Lunchbox School on Friday. It's the Smokehouse Chickpea 'n' Greens Salad. That's a spinach base with carrot and avocado add ins (I've taken some stuff out due to personal taste/availability from the two salads I made from recipes here) with a topping of delicious smoky barbeque chickpeas. In a moment of weakness I doubted this recipe. After I took the chickpeas out of the pan I had a tased and thought they could do with a shot of hot sauce. I resisted and I'm glad I did because the heat from the dressing was fierce and when it was draped over the salad everything came together perfectly.

Next up was the Almond Falafel Crunch Bowl. Stephen wanted to see if he'd like the almond falafel and as a result he got the plate without greens. His verdict was that there were too many new flavours at once but he's happy to try this one again. My verdict was not to be hard over furious chewing. I already knew I was a big falafel fan but turns out I'm a big sumac fan too.

The last recipe I wanted to try for this blog was the Red-Hot Saucy Tofu. I served it on a bed of little gem, with some of those dried crispy onion things and the lemon tahini dressing from the falafel salad to cool it all down. It was bliss. Red-Hot Saucy Bliss.

There is nothing in this book that I don't want to try. I'm considering seaweed. Excitedly. The salads in here are perfect for eating at home or packing in my beloved lunchboxes. There are tips on what is good cold, how to pack things in a jar. One even has bento in the name.

I'm excited by everything I've made and the things I've yet to make. I feel that this book revolutionise salad like 'Vegan Sandwiches...' revolutionised the Sandwich or 'Vegan Cupcakes...' revolutionised the cupcake. I need this on my shelf and I think you should check it out.


Salad Samurai: 100 Cutting-Edge, Ultra-Hearty, Easy-to-Make Salads You Don't Have to Be Vegan to Love

Vegan Mofo Day 14: Battle of the Truffles!

Shopping in Totnes yesterday we found some lovely vegan treats and we had a small debate over which we should buy. Stephen likes white chocolate and almonds, my favorite is dark chocolate and hazelnuts (and I hate white chocolate) We chose a pack of truffles each and this is what we thought. Other than mmmm chocolate that is.

Stephen: 

We spotted these vegan chocolate balls in Sacks Wholefoods at the top of Totnes High Street. They're made by Le Paradis Du Chocolat, who are based just north of Totnes in the village of Dartington. The owners, Zeljko and Ana Bozic, are from Belgium and Switzerland. 

 Like all of the company’s products, these white chocolate almond balls are raw, vegan, and organic, and use coconut sugar rather than cane or beet sugar (which may be healthier). As with true white chocolate they use just cocoa butter and no cocoa mass. The dominant flavour is the almond, and they taste much like a raw almond spread, with a pleasantly sweet aftertaste.

Clare

I went for Booja-Booja truffles which are probably the most well known vegan chocolate truffles in the UK so I don't get obscurity points and they are made in Norfolk so I don't get local points either. But they are delicious and decadent. Beautifully dark with a sophisticated cocoa powdered edge and a middle of chocolate and hazelnut that is just bliss.

In Conclusion

The only moral to this story is that you should eat vegan truffles.

Vegan Mofo Day 13: Fat Lemons Cafe

It's the weekend and asthma exists so I'm going easy on myself today and letting someone else do the cooking. Other than Stephen I mean.

We went out to Totnes (a must for the middle of MoFo as it's practically wall to wall health food shops) and had lunch at Fat Lemons Cafe a cute vegetarian cafe with a mediterranean bent.

The cafe, on the adorably named Ticklemore Street, is small but the space is used so cleverly. The seating is over two floors with one of the most gorgeous outside areas I've ever seen. Everything is bright, clean and just a little bit quirky.

I had one of the specials, the falafel, which is often token vegan option but this is a mediterranean place so no complaints from me. The falafel came with a delicious fresh salad with baby greens, sprouts, tomatoes and cucumbers. Remarkably well put together for something that other cafes often write off as a garnish. The falafel is served alongside pita and hummus, incredibly delicious, and a small tub of olives. The only let down on the plate was the sauce which could have done with a bit more flavour. But that's really nit picking.

It was a lovely lunch and really reminded me why Fat Lemons is in my regular Totnes lunch rotation.

Vegan Mofo Day 12: Lunchbox School Part 2

Welcome to our second session of Lunchbox School. In our metaphorical school day we've just had morning break and we're waiting eagerly for lunch. Of course when we get to lunch our choice is between packed lunch and school dinners.

The benefits of the packed lunch are huge. It saves us money (most of the time), we can make sure we get a full balanced meal that fits with our dietary requirements. Oh yeah. No more cobbled together meals in the staff canteen of 2 poppadoms, a spoonful of rice and mango chutney.

Admittedly though lunch made by someone else can be exciting, tasty, hot, and - my favorite - cooked by someone else. Which is why I like to pack pretty boxes. Because I have been know to pack lunch, leave it in my back and eat something other than my sad leftovers in a boring box.

Lesson 2: Looking Good

Bento boxes are our friends here. We can pack them up so that we're excited to eat them rather than disappointed that we have to. So how do we make a lunch that looks so good that we're excited to open the box? And how do we keep it looking good until lunch?

Pack It Full

Was that one for the main tips in the least lesson? Yes. Totally. It's an important one. This week we're packing our lunch boxes full because it makes them look vibrant and awsome and fit to burst. A box full of food makes you want to eat it. A box full of air makes you feel deprived.

Packing full, both to the sides of the box and the top, also helps you to keep everything in place and looking perfect come lunchtime. Lean from my mistakes. See how the lunch box above wasn't packed right to the top? Well by lunch I had broccoli bits on my grapes. I picked them out but I got a bit grumpy doing it.

Use All Your Colours

In posh Japanese cooking there's the idea of putting all of the five colours - red, black, green, yellow and white - on a plate. I'm not doing Japanese haute cuisine here but I like to keep that principle. It doesn't happen in every box. I construct them a little after six after all If you look above I have white in the rice, green in the avocado, veg and grapes, black in the grapes and nori, and red carrots and sweet potato. It makes things look considered and delicious.

Extra Touches

I'm not into constructing elaborate scenes or putting cute faces on things. Well I am but again 6am. I'm not really away until 10:30, I just have my eyes open. I do like to make things look good though. Edible embellishments like these flower are fabulous. If you don't grow edible flowers think about herbs, a final grind of pepper, some sesame seeds.

You can, of course, always but things. Bento picks, little sauce bottles, mini cases. If you can't find things sold specifically for bento then look at cupcake accessories. Silicone cups and pics are common in the cucupcakes world too.  And the little fish bottle that comes with sushi? Pocket it when you are done. Of course don't forget to check out things like tupperware and lunch boxes. The above salad box, with it's sauce bottle, was bought in Torquay. Not all the pretty things are imported from Japan. 

So we've gone over picking our box and ways to stuff it full of food to keep us full and happy. Now we've learned a little about making that food look good. Next Friday we're going to talk about keeping it all fresh. Until then MoFo continues as usual. If you're interested in the food in this week's boxes I'll be reviewing the recipe books I nabbed them from. 

Vegan Mofo day 11: Chive Rolls

You could say that I'm a bit of a chive collector. I can't get rid of a chive plant, or say no to a free one. I've had one on the balcony since I've had a balcony and in the two years I've had an allotment I've managed to gain three onion chives (the regular kind) a garlic chive and a siberian chive. They're pictured from left to right up there. There is very little that chives can't improve but today we're going to make rolls with them. This recipe uses your everyday onion chive and makes just enough for two people but can be doubled quite easily.

Chive Rolls
(makes about eight)

175g of strong white bread flour
3.5g of dried yeast (that's roughly a teaspoon)
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoon of chopped onion chives. Feel free to heap those teaspoons.
1 tablespoon of olive oil
105ml water

Mix everything together in a big bowl. Knead, either by hand or by mixer, until the dough is lovely, elastic and happy.

Shape into a round and leave to rise, covered, for around an hour and a half or until doubled in size.

After the bread has risen pre-heat your oven to 190c and oil a tray for the rolls.

Gently knock back the dough and divide into eight pieces.

Roll those pieces into snakes, about 3cm thick, and tie in a knot. Leave to prove for 30 minutes or so.

When they are ready place them in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Enjoy hot or cold.