Burritos!!! STAPLE

Oh yes this blog post is more than just yet another snack option (FINALLY) - it's our favourite meal of the moment *licks fingers* -

BURRITOS!!!

This has several components that you wrap up together - beans, corn salsa, guacamole and Jalepenos :)

You can buy the jalepenos in a jar and find my fabulous guac recipe here.

NADINE'S BEANS

Ingredients

1 brown onion

2-3 cloves of Garlic

1 TBS Olive oil

1tspn ground coriander

1tspn ground Cumin

1tspn chilli powder - adjust to taste

810g tin of chopped tomatoes

1150g (a 400g and a 750g tin) tinned red and/or black kidney beans, drained of their brine

Method 

Cook up the oil, diced onions and garlic until the onion goes transparent. Add the spices and cook until the onions are soft. Add the beans and tomatoes and cook until slightly reduced and perfecto!

CORN SALSA

Ingredients

2 or 3 fresh corn cobs steamed
1 red capsicum diced
1 handful of corriander leaves diced
a third of a cucumber diced
1 spring onion finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
a good dash of olive oil

Method
Cut the corn kernels off the steamed corn cobs into a bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix well.


Use whatever wraps you please to wrap the four elements altogether and CONSUME WITH PLEASURE XD

Alernatively, instead of wrapping it up into a burrito; have a burrito bowl instead - just have these contents in a bowl on their own, or with brown rice, a mexican rice, or corn tortilla chips

Warm tofu salad

Ingredients

2 carrots shaved into strips

125g Bean sprouts

Half a small red cabbage sliced

1 or 2 large pak Choy chopped into chunks

2 200g packets of BJ Garlic or chilli Tofu sliced into small bite size pieces

Marinade ingredients:

Juice of one lemon

2TBS Sweet soy sauce

2TBS Red wine vinegar

2TBS Sweet chilli sauce

1TBS Olive oil

1 large sprig of Corriander diced

1 spring onion finely chopped

2TBS Sesame seeds 

 

Directions

1. Combine the marinade ingredients and adjust amounts to taste. 

2. Heat olive oil in a wok or large pan. Add tofu and marinade and stir/toss for a minute. 

3. Add other ingredients to pan, (adjusting amounts to taste or availability) toss until combined and warm but not properly cooked.

4. Enjoy!!

Raw vegan carrot cake!!

Carrot cake is one of my favourite desserts - being a ranga and a lover of sultanas and pineapple and lemony icings, this only makes sense :D 

So vegan and healthy substitutes are a must and I just found this awesome recipe that I just HAVE to try!! 

RAW CARROT CAKE WITH CASHEW CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

THIS RECIPE IS :Dairy FreeKid-FriendlyRaw Vegan

INGREDIENTS

Cashew frosting

• 2 cups cashews, preferably soaked for a couple hours
• 1-2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• Water, as needed

Cake

• 2 large carrots, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour or buckwheat flour
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup dried pineapple (or more dates)
• 1/2 cup dried coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

PREPARATION

To make the frosting: blend all ingredients in your high speed blender until smooth, adding as little water as possible. Taste it – mmm. Put in a bowl and set aside.

To make the cake: cut the carrots into small chunks. Then throw all the ingredients (including the carrots) in your food processor and pulse until it’s all in really small pieces and sticks together.

Assembly: Press half the cake mix into the bottom of an adjustable spring-form pan, mine was about 6 inches. Then spread on about 1/3 of the frosting. Put it in the freezer until the layer of frosting is hard. Then press on the rest of the cake mix. I let it set in the fridge overnight, then frosted the whole thing, but you can do it right away if you want. Take it out of the pan and use the remaining frosting, cover with whatever garnishes you like. Enjoy!

Source: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/recipe-raw-carrot-cake-with-cashew-cream-cheese-frosting-2/

MYO Vegan burgers!!

Burgers are a versatile and delicious meal that vegans can enjoy as much as any carnivore! In fact I reckon we can enjoy them more as they're likely healthier and not at the cost for animals' welfare!!

You can really do whatever you like with your burger, even have it deconstructed or bread-less. And you don't need me to tell you your fave ingredients, but I'm going to suggest some options for a preemo vegan burger. 

There are lots of great ready-made vegan burger patties available which are a great, quick and easy option - try them out and find your fave!  Or you can make your own! This is my fave vegan patty recipe;

Chickpea patties (makes 8)

Ingredients
1 brown onion, diced
A dash of olive oil
2 carrots, grated
1 beetroot, peeled & grated
2 400g tins chick peas, drained, washed and mashed
1 Tbsp chia seeds  (ground is best but whole will work too) 
2 Tbsp water
ground salt and pepper to taste

Method
1.       Cook/fry onion in a dash of olive oil
2.       Combine Chia seeds into water and stir well. Leave for 5mins to allow chia to swell and soak up the water.
3.       Combine ingredients well
4.       Fry up like any patty! WOOOP WOOOOP!

This recipe was originally ovo-vegetarian and used an egg to bind it instead of the chia & water which is always an option if you're ovo-vego.

The best thing about burgers is the variety of filling options, including tomato, cucumber, mushroom (cooked or raw), capsicum (cooked or raw), pickles, spinach, lettuce, beetroot (tinned/pickled or grated raw), avocado, grated carrot, vegan coleslaw, tabbouleh, hummus, guacamole, relish and spring or red or caramelised brown onions.

Caramelising onions isn't as hard as is often thought: slice one brown onion, add a Tbsp olive oil and good glug of balsamic vineager (about an eighth or quarter of a cup) and a Tbsp brown sugar all together in a small saucepan with the lid on and slowly cook on a low heat, checking and stirring regularly until it's ALL DELICIOUS LIKE.

So choose your favourite bread option (or don't, or replace it with a wrap if you prefer the bread-less /low carb option) and fillings and put it all together (or don't if you're having it deconstructed!) and ENJOY!

A cheat's chocolate, almond, banana and chai pudding!

What are two things I NEED in my vegan diet? Chocolate and protein!! Hehehe

Well this pudding is easy to make and meets those needs plus is quite nutritious !

2 bananas mashed

2 TBS chia seeds

Half a cup of chocolate almond milk (my fave bend is Almond Breeze) 

Combine and leave in fridge for 4hrs to allow chai seeds to swell. Serve cold. 

Serves 2

You could easily use chocolate soy milk instead if you'd prefer too. 

This gives you all the goodness of bananas (potassium, vitamin B6 & C, Manganese, fibre), chia (protein, fibre, omega 3 & 6, calcium, iron, magnesium, antioxidants, potassium, ) and almond milk (protein, phosphorus, potassium and zinc plus anything it's fortified with) but is simply DELICIOUS and super easy to make!

Of course if you weren't cheating you could use plain almond milk and add your own sweetener (optional as bananas are already sweet) and Raw Cacao which would be even healthier, with it's amazing nutritional benefits of antioxidants and more. But that would change the name of this post! XP

HOLY MOLY GUACAMOLE

This is probably my favourite snack of them all! It's easy but impressive and delicious. The only down side is if Avocadoes are expensive at the time, but it's still worth it if you ask me and is also a good excuse to buy more to enjoy when they're reasonably priced XD

As always, vary to taste or what you have available - essentials are the avo, lemon juice, salt and pepper :)

Dani's Fave Guacamole 

2 Avocadoes mashed

2 Spring Onions sliced finely (or a small amount of finely diced red onion if you prefer but spring is best IMO)

1 ripe tomato diced as small or large as you like it

Juice of half a juicy medium lemon

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

COMBINE as you prepare and serve to share with plain/salt rice crackers or corn chips!! BLISS OUT

I've also enjoyed this on rye toast as a heartier snack or light meal :) it's pretty amazing as an addition to tacos or similar delicious dishes!

EDIT: Or try it in BURRITOS!!!

Alternatively, you could try this spectacular Guacamole recipe!

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/want-to-make-better-guacamole-step-1

STAPLE: eating out!

When you're vegan it can feel like eating out isn't a viable option but YOUR FEELS ARE WRONG! It's totally doable but worth a bit of forethought. Anytime we're looking at eating out we check if they have a menu available on their website or UrbanSpoon, but maybe that's just we get excited about what food we're going to eat more than for planning. :) You can call ahead if you're worried thier menu doesn't have much that can be made vegan, to ask what vegan option they could do, but we usually just ask once we're there.

Our favourite way to get a junk food fix eating out is to go to Jus burgers! They have several vego options and will make them vegan upon request (ie. no mayo). My fave option is the Vego (ie. MYO) with Avocado, mushroom, balsamic onion and roasted capsicum! Mmmmmmmmmm

I was going to post a photo of my burger but then I ate it before remembering to photograph it. Not surprising really :) So here's a photo of Nadine's new fave option, a chick pea felafel burger made vegan :)

Another easy way to get a vegan junk food fix is a vego pizza with NO CHEESE. Or many vego options at Thai and Vietnamese  resturants are vegan - but ask if they use any fish /oyster sauce and watch out for egg in some dishes. 

And of course there are plenty of

Places to eat out that specifically provide for vegans. Some of our faves are;

- Veggie Mama in Mt Lawley

- CNR Kitchen in Northbridge

- Source Foods in Northbridge

- Raw Kitchen in Fremantle

- Solomon's Cafe in Mt Lawley

Nomnomnomnomnom

STAPLE Breakfast smoothie

This one is definitely a staple breakfast for me - my day feels weird without it. It could also serve as a snack. :)

This recipe changes slightly everyday according to what I have, but this is a typical day's breakfast smoothie recipe;

Ingredients

1 small /medium banana

4/5 small /medium strawberries

1 kiwi fruit or small plum

3 leaves of silverbeet or spinach fresh from the garden

2 leaves of kale fresh from the garden

1 Tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 cup water 

Directions

1. Remove stalks from silverbeet ad kale leaves. Wash an peel fruit.

2. Combine all ingredients except the chia seeds, into you blender and blend to desired consistency

3. Add chia seeds and stir immediately and well. Enjoy! The longer you wait, the more swollen the chia seeds get and that is also delicious XD

Some days I replace the spinach an kale wit 1/2 a cup to a cup of baby spinach that you can buy in bags from the supermarket if my garden doesn't have enough, but silverbeet and kale are super easy to grow and well worth it!

I've used all different fruits - always the banana, but any two other fruits are good. Nectarines, mangoes, apples are all good in varied combos each other and the ones above. 

Here's the chia seeds I se as they're a local brand. Chia seeds aren't cheap but they work out at less than 50cents a serve and are definitely a healthy boost to this delicious morning smoothie!

STAPLE: Corn and Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

This is seriously one f our ULTIMATE Vegan Queery STAPLES!

Corn and Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

Ingredients
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion - finely chopped
1 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp Finely grated ginger
1 tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Corianda ground
0.5 tsp Tumeric
1 Cup quinoa, rinsed
2 Cups Water
300 g Brocolli, cut into small florets
2 Large corn cobs
2 Tbsp Corrianda chopped

Directions
In a saucepan heat oil. Add onion and cook until soft. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add quinoa and water. Bring to the boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
While the quinoa is cooking heat a griddle pan. Peel the corn and cook in the griddle pan turning frequently to char grill.
Add broccoli and return lid. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cut corn from the cobs and add to the quinoa. Sprinkle with fresh chopped coriander and serve.

Vegan Queery STAPLES SERIES: Nina's Energy Slice

Today at Freedom Centre where I work, a visitor at the centre asked me about how to eat vegan coz he'd been trying, but struggling. So I said I'd get him some basic staple vegan recipes for meals and snacks - ones that would ensure you get a balanced nutritional vegan diet. We got talking about what are essential foods to get in your diet to cover key nutrients that you need.

My favourite ingredients to include in my weekly diet to cover my essential nutrients are;

• Spinach, silverbeet, kale
• Chia seeds
• Quinoa
• Chick Peas, hummus, beans
• Walnuts, cashews, almonds
• Soy milk, Almond Milk
• Bananas, Strawberries, kiwi fruit, apples
• Broccoli
• Mushrooms, avocado, tomatoes
• Prunes, Sultanas, Dates

A couple of good websites with vegan nutritional info as well as recipes are www.peta.org.au and www.whyveg.com

So now I'm all motivated me to add more to this blog to share - hence this upcoming series of VEGAN QUEERY STAPLES XD

To Start, SNACKS. This blog already has a large proportion of snack options. Actually, I think all of it so far could classify as snacks. hahaha so here's another one! We made this for our friend Nina when she was a new parent of twins and had no time to eat!

Nina's energy slice

Ingredients
    •    3/4 Cup Sultanas
    •    1/2 Cup Dried apricots
    •    2 Cups Dates
    •    1/2 Cup Sesame seeds
    •    1/4 Cup Coconut oil
    •    1 1/2 Cups raw almonds
    •    1 Cup Raw unsalted cashews
    •    1/2 Cup Walnuts
    •    juice of 1 lemon
    •    1/2 Cup Unsweetened shredded coconut
    •    4 Tbsp Chia seeds


Directions
    1.    Combine nuts and seeds and pulse in food processor.
    2.    Add the rest of the ingredients and process
    3.    Flatten, compacting with your hands into a pan and refrigerate