Tooona mayo sandwich

Hey there,  soooo just cos were vegan or vegetarian doesnt mean we cant still have a yummy “tuna mayo” sandwich, but wait, tuna is a fish and the process of stealing them from the sea where they belong means that dolphins are killed and theres just no need for that an I dont particularly want to have a dead body in my sandwich……if we can survive and have a super healthy life without having to eat dead bodys then why wouldnt you?! Im living proof that anyone can be healthy and be vegan as I have a long history of illness in my life and iv not been in hospital since being vegan 2yrs ago, bearing in mind I used to be in hospital monthly!!!….being vegan doesnt mean you “miss out” on anything because absolutely anything can be veganized 🙂  when I went vegan about 2years ago I didnt think id be able to have a tuna mayo sandwich again but that didnt stop me I just put it out of my mind but I had been trying to recreate a tuna mayo style vagan sandwich filling to no avail none tasted like the sea, which is what I fancied tasting….then one day on a vegan page on facebook called “what fat vegans eat” a lovely woman shared her version of toona mayo and a light bulb went on above my head and I thought “omg why didnt I think of that it makes soooo much sense…” I cant find the post so I cant thank her by name but if your reading this then please comment so I can thank you in “person” you have rocked my world 🙂   so that secret ingredient I was missing was nori, toasted nori sheets are the seaweed that sushi is wrapped in, it tastes like the sea and is soooo good in this…..I can say with confidence that its very very very yummy cos my husband (who hates hummus and anything with chickpeas) loves this!  Pretty cool huh?!

Ingredients:

1can chickpeas drained
2 sheets of nori
1 large dill pickle (gherkin) or 4 small ones
Salt and pepper
1tbsp Apple cider vinegar
2tsp toasted sesame oil
Red onion sliced thinly
Wholewheat seeded bread
Spoonfull of egg free mayo
Cup of sweetcorn (cooked and cooled or drained straight out the can)

Method:

1-  place the chickpeas, torn up nori, vinegar,  salt and pepper, sesame oil and pickle into a food processor and pulse a few times till all combined then empty into a large mixing bowl (remember not to pulse too much u want a bit of texture)

2- add the sweetcorn into the bowl along with the mayo and stir to combine, you can add as much or as little mayo as you like.

3- now get your bread, thinly spread some vegan margarine one side of each slice (2 slice per person) then add the tooona mayo to one half of the bread then sprinkle with thin slices of red onion (you can use thin slices of pickled onion instead which is very yummy) then pop the other piece of bread ontop, cut into trianges or rectangles, whatever your heard desires hehe

The forth step is to eat it hahaha

Andalusian Seitan and Rice

hey there world 🙂   here i give you such a very special recipe,  in my opinion this recipe is very special, its a taste explosion and if you close your eyes you will just think your in spain 🙂    you cant really go wrong with sherry and lemons 😛    you may be thinking “what on earth is seitan and how do i say it?”  well seitan is pronounced say-tan, sometimes called wheat-meat, you prepare it the same kind of idea as bread but its nothing like bread (if you know what i mean lol) its got a texture like meat that chewy mouth feel without the death or trauma, its a win win kinda food 🙂   seitan is so versatile you can use it in pretty much anything, i make bbq “wibs” which is my take on bbq ribs, or gyros, cold cut sandwich meat substitute, stir fry, stews …….the list is endless 🙂  it can be quite daunting at first looking at a bag of vital wheat gluten thinking, “how am i goin to pull this off” well i was in that exact same position a year and a half ago and now i honestly dont know how i got by without knowing about this 🙂

   i mean…..yuuuummmm *drool* right?! lol 

 

Ingredients:

      1 lemon (unwaxed)

      6 tarragon sprigs

      2tbsp olive oil

      8 shallots, peeled and left whole

      4 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

      75ml dry sherry (make sure its vegan)

      150ml  vegetable stock

      2tbsp alpro soy cream (use whatever cream alternative you like)

      salt and pepper 

      steamed brown rice to serve

      ***seitan, ready made or make your own, cut into medallions about 4 or 5 medallions each person (ill give you a recipe too)

 

Method:

1. grate the zest off of your lemon (using a fine grater), avoiding the white pith, and set aside, half the lemon and squeeze out the juice into a cup and set aside.
2. heat oil in a pan and fry the medallions of seitan to brown the edges and just enough to change the colour then remove from pan and set aside.
3. add shallots and garlic cloves along with a touch more oil into the pan the seitan was in and fry slowly for 5mins, then add the sherry, stock, tarragon and lemon zest and give a good mix to remove and caramelized bits on the bottom and bubble for another 5mins.
4. season with salt and pepper and add in the lemon juice and seitan, now bring to a boil and then a low simmer for 5mins then remove the seitan again and keep warm (in a heatproof bowl with lid) the seitan should have soaked up some yummy flavours from the sauce…..now add the cream and stir on a low simmering bubble until sauce is reduced,  taste and add more seasoning if needs be and once its nice and creamy and coats a spoon your ready to serve….
5. place brown rice in the middle of a plate and assemble the seitan medallions alongside then drizzle the yummy sauce all over and serve with a wedge of lemon 🙂

                                                           

 

****thanks to barb at “that was vegan?” blog for the best seitan recipe ever…..http://www.thatwasvegan.com/2012/01/30/my-favorite-chicken-style-seitan-recipe/

***seitan recipe:

Ingredients: 

     1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour

     2tbsp olive oil

     1 1/2 cups cold vegetable stock

     1/4 cup chickpea flour

     1/3 cup nutritional yeast

     1tsp garlic powder

     1 1/2 tsp chicken seasoning

     1/2 tsp paprika

     1/2 tsp ground cumin

     1/2 tsp onion powder

     good pinch sea salt

     muslin squares (or use tin foil) 

     

Method: 

1. whisk stock and oil together and set aside then in a large bowl combine all the other ingredients together and make a well in the centre,  then pour in the stock mix.
2. stir with a spatula until the mix is pulling away from the bowl, now its time to wash your hands and roll up your sleeves and kneed the dough for 2-3mins, in a bowl for half then onto a clean worktop, then work it into the best rectangle you can muster, now let the dough rest for 10mins.
3. slice the dough into 4 equal shapes (kind of rectangle sausage shapes) place on your damp muslin squares (or tin foil) and wrap, leaving room to expand, and steam for 30mins.
4. remove and leave to cool for 30mins 
   

hope you enjoy 🙂  

 

happy birthday to me :)

hello……im soooooo super duper sorry for not posting in ages but iv been recovering from surgery on both my feet i had bones broken and pinned all over the place its been a pretty traumatic past couple of months 😦  honestly iv been through some crazy accidents and illnesses in my life but nothing compares to the pain i had post surgery 😦  buutttt im on the mend now (hopefully lol)  still very sore and still cant bend my toes but the worst is over and im back on the blogosphere (so long as my laptop holds up cos that died a few months ago and my husband managed to fix it) so this leads us up to today and why im posting now …….well, inbetween all the surgery and recovery was my birthday, i decided to grab my birthday with both hands and have a little shindig for myself and invite my girlfriends around for some good vegan buffet food and some drinks……but what about a cake? i hear you holler…..well instead of my usual carved fruit “cake”,  i made myself a 3 layer strawberry cake with strawberries inside and everything lol  It was a success ……duhh (kidding lol)

    iv had allot of interest for this recipe so this one is dedicated to everyone who asked me and had to wait a month (im truly sorry it took me so long) 

 

**note that i must give credit to a book that i adapted this recipe from “chloes kitchen” by chloe coscarelli, it was nearly right but just not quite…..it needed a little of my princess brain hahaha but i would advise everyone to get this book its such a beautiful book and everything looks so yummy 🙂

 

         me looking pretty high on loads of pain meds and my massive feet lol   who likes my wheels 😛

 

     THE BIRTHDAY CAKE FIT FOR A PRINCESS 

makes 3x  8inch cake tins

Ingredients:  

        3 cups plain flour

        2 cups caster sugar

        2tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

        1 3/4 cups rice milk (or whatever plant milk you prefer)

        1cup vegetable oil

        1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

        pinch salt

        1tbsp strawberry essence (i did try and add pink food colouring to the sponge also but it didnt work, boohoo)

 

Method:       

1. preheat oven to gas 4 / 350 degrees…..grease the cake tins with some butter (i use a crumpled up bit of left over grease proof paper to smoosh the butter around)  and cut out greaseproof paper to fit the bottom of each tin.
2. in a very large bowl (i say very cos i wasn’t prepared and had to use my big casserole pot lol)  add all the dry ingredients and mix to combine, then in a jug mix all the wet ingredients together, then pour the wet into the dry mix and either using big strong muscles and a whisk or do it like i do with an electric mixer (not very eco but im not the strongest of women lol)  until just combined (dont over mix) then pour into the cake tins
3. bake in the preheated oven for around 30mins, turning a couple times to insure even cooking until they are golden brown and pass the toothpick test (insert a skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out sticky then continue to cook, your looking for the skewer to come out almost clean with a couple crumbs)  
4. once cooked leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

 

pink strawberry buttercream icing:

 Ingredients:

          1 block foil wrapped stork butter (250g) (vegetable shortening) room temperature

          250g icing sugar

           1tbsp strawberry essence

           few drops of pink food colouring until it reaches the colour you desire

           couple tablespoons rice milk (just until the mixture is at a good consistency)

Method:

1. beat the butter to a creamy consistency using your hand mixer, turn the mixer to low and add in the icing sugar slowly then the strawberry essence and a tbsp of rice milk at a time until the icing comes together to a nice spreading consistency (how many times can i say that word haha) now turn the mixer up a little and whisk until nice and fluffy……..now it should be time to build the cake 🙂

 

to assemble and finish the cake:  best to do this on the day of the event to keep the strawberries fresh

**you will need a punnet or two of strawberries depending on how many you want to stuff in and how thick you slice them**

 

1. remove the greaseproof paper from the sponge and have your cake plate ready,  now place one layer onto the plate and spread over some icing, add sliced strawberries then another layer of sponge and continue to the top layer where you want to get your spatula and smoosh the icing all the way around in a very messy fashion if your me (lol) and make sure the whole cake is covered (if theres any icing left you can either lick the bowl or pipe a design on top then decorate the top with strawberries and your done……….see, it wasn’t that hard was it lol

 

 

this is a picture of me on my birthday, i thought i had to add it so you don’t think i look like a sick person all the time lol 

 

 

                                                                love and peace,  natalie ❤ xx