Raw Cheesecake

I was in the library the other day and saw 'Eat Smart Eat Raw' in the cookery section. It seemed like a very colourful, interesting book so I borrowed it for a few weeks.
 

At the same time my parents have been visiting.  My mum currently has cancer and, as an additional consequence, diabetes. She is doing really well and is making every effort to combat it with diet.  She has been vegetarian for years but over the last few months has chosen to improve this further by going dairy free.  In addition she eats apricot kernels, which have been shown to have cancer fighting properties.  Whether it is coincidence or not, her most recent results show she is now in partial remission and now moving in the direction of no longer being diabetic.  This has strengthened her resolve to continue making these dietary choices and I want to do everything I can to support her in this.  

Everybody enjoys a treat though and with this in mind I wanted to find a dessert for my mum which was obviously not only vegan but also contained minimal sugar.  Flicking through 'Eat Smart Eat Raw' I happened to rest on the Raw Cheesecake recipe on page 115.  It was perfect and better still, I already had all the ingredients.  With the addition of a strawberry and blackcurrant sauce, made from my dads strawberries and our blackcurrants, my mum loved it.  It was definitely the kind of sweet treat she deserved and I look forward to trying more of the recipes in this book before I have to return it.  I will no doubt end up buying it in the end!

'Eat Smart Eat Raw' Cheesecake

6oz almonds (soaked 4-8 hours)
6oz dried dates
2 tsp cinnamon (actually I only used 1 1/2 tsp)

8oz cashews (soaked 4-8 hours)
4oz coconut oil
4 tbsp agave syrup
1 tbsp vanilla powder (I used organic vanilla paste)
8 fl oz water
1 tbsp baobab powder (optional but I definitely wanted to use it!)

Topping of your choice (details of what I did below)

My shortened version of how I made it - 

Grind up the soaked almonds and then add the dates and cinnamon and grind up further until it starts clumping together (I did add a touch of water to achieve this). Push the mixture into a 9" tin or baking tray to the shape you desire.  I didn't grease the dish and it all came out just fine.

Put the rest of the ingredients in the blender (I didn't wash it up in between and the world didn't self destruct) and blend, blend, blend until relatively smooth.  It did still have some slight graininess to it but I didn't mind that.   Scoop onto the top of the base and smooth down.  Bung it in the fridge to set (it was all good after about an hour).

Top it with wonderous creative toppings as desired.  I decided to make a pour-able sauce to accompany it.  I took some home grown strawberries and blackcurrants (can't give you the measures as I just kind of 'did it'),  added a touch of agave syrup and a splash of water and blended). My mum said it was just right to accompany the cheesecake!

Enjoy!

Tomatillo Salsa Time

A visit from my mum and dad brings with it bucket loads (literally) of home grown and foraged produce from marrows, tomatoes and chestnuts to cob nuts and tomatillos. 

Our favourite are always the tomatillos as you just can't buy them anywhere.  My dad has grown them for us for the last two years in his greenhouse; the first year from seed we bought and then sent to him and this year from seed he got from one of last years fruits, so that almost makes them even more of a bonus!  And what a bumper crop it was! We grew some last year but they are never as good as the ones my dad grows.

We have frozen some to make various warming Mexican dishes as we move towards Autumn and Winter (although at the moment with the weather as it is that hopefully looks a way off yet!).  However we couldn't resist making some more salsa with the rest of them and this year incorporated in some of the bucket loads of tomatoes. For a purely tomatillo salsa check out last years recipe.

Tomatillo Tomato Salsa

10 medium size tomatillos halved

10 medium tomatoes halved or quartered

3 red chilies (or according to your heat preference) halved and deseeded

1 garlic clove peeled and chopped roughly

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1 spring onion roughly chopped

Juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp coriander chopped

Put the tomatillos, tomatoes, chilies and garlic in a baking tray and drizzle over olive oil to coat.  Sprinkle over salt, pepper and oregano and mix in.  Pop in the oven at about 200 degrees C until it all looks nicely roasted and the juice is running out (about 30 minutes or so).  

Let it cool for a few minutes before tipping it all into a blender.  Add in the spring onion, lime juice and coriander and blend until it is the consistency you desire.  Pour into a jar(s) and keep in the fridge if you don't consume it there and then.  It should keep for around 7-10 days.

Enjoy!

Vegan TV Snacks #2

Ahh.....popcorn; the old but now 're-trending' snack,  if the supermarket shelves are to be believed.  You seem to be able to get any manner of different flavours in the pre-made packed popcorn market these days.  

However, just opening a packet in front of the TV doesn't quite cause as much satisfaction as the pop, pop, pop........pop of making it yourself.  Besides the supermarket stuff seems full of unnecessary and often non-vegan stuff.

Make it yourself and you get all the drama and all the wonders of creating your own flavours.  Here is one idea I tried last night.

Chai Coconut Popcorn

Melt some coconut oil to cover the base of a pan that is big enough to handle your full grown popcorn.  Add in some chai type spices (if you can't find it ready made then experiment with ground cardamon, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, black pepper, etc).  Add in a little sugar if you like (but I held off on that this time).  Then add in your un-popped corn and give it a real good coating before putting the lid back on and waiting for the popping drama.  Give it a good shake from time to time.  Wait for the popping to stop (I dare you to take the lid off before hand!) and there you go; lovely warm and coconut chai spicy popcorn.

I think when I make it next time I will go a bit heavier on the spicing and the coconut and try it with a little sprinkle of sugar.  Experimentation is the way forward!

Enjoy!

Vegan Cheesy Sauce

Ironically after posting yesterday about the Polenta Veggie Bake I fancied making another one today and this time it was with polenta from scratch, but then I had a little more time to stand over the stove stirring it.  This time I again used a courgette, but on top of this added leek and mushroom, sun dried tomatoes and vegan cheesy sauce with a few slices of vegan cheese on top.   

With the above recipe in mind, it had occurred to me that I had never posted about making vegan cheesy sauce.  As with all my cooking, the recipe varies most of the time according to what we have in the cupboard and what taste I'm 'feeling' on that particular day.  What better time therefore to make another cheese sauce and this time write down how I made it!

Below is a photo of the resulting sauce on top of today's polenta bake before it went in the oven.  Today I decided to make it with cashews hence the slightly textured look of it.  This sauce (in it's different guises) has many and varied uses beyond the polenta bake.  I use it with lasagna or pasta in general or on top of baked spuds just to name a few.

 

Today's Vegan Cheesy Sauce

1 cup cashews
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon dried shallots or onions
2 teaspoons miso (I like Source Foods Hemp Miso - see photo above)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 cup water

Blend the cashews, nutritional yeast and dried shallots until fine.  Add in the miso and give it a quick whizz before add in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce and given it yet another spin.  Finally add the water and give it a major whizz until smooth.

Enjoy!

Sunita Polenta Veggie Bake

Making polenta from scratch really isn't terribly hard at all and so I very rarely buy it ready made.  However, for some reason the other day I felt compelled to buy some and I'm so glad I did as it turned into a really quick, tasty and cheap meal.  The packet of Sunita Organic Polenta I bought even had a recipe on the back which resembled what I had in mind to make that night.  So all I had to do was follow it (with a few adjustments along the way like I do!).  Even easier!

Veggie Polenta Bake

Add a glug of olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish and then slice and lay the polenta in the bottom of the dish covering as much as you can.

Coarsely grate a large courgette (of which we had plenty in the garden!) and spread over the top of the polenta layer.   Add a pinch of salt if you fancy.

Chop onion, peppers, basil and olives and spread evenly over the courgette layer. You could of course put any vegetables you fancy on top according to what you have at hand.  The recipe on the package suggested artichokes but we didn't have any.

Add a good glug of tomato passata or sauce of your choice on top of all of the above. I then used some home made cashew miso cheese sauce we had left over, mixed with a bit of caramelised homous and put this on top of the passata swirling to mix in slightly. It wasn't in the recipe but I just fancied it.  On top of this I then dotted around halved cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of homemade vegan parmesan (again not in the original recipe but I just can't help myself!).

Back to the original recipe!  Then bung the whole thing in the oven and bake till golden brown and sizzling (I cooked it for about 40 mins on 200 degrees C).

Relax and leave cooking whilst you wander off and do something else.

Enjoy!

Real Vegan Cheese?

Hmmm, I'm really not sure about this. Biohackers in California are engineering bakers yeast to become 'real vegan cheese'.

It all sounds very scientific.  They are managing to engineer real milk proteins (caseins) in processes using synthetic biology, genetic sequencing and DNA blueprinting. These milk proteins are then combined with water, vegan sugar and oil to make a kind of milk which is then made into vegan cheese in the same way that traditional animal milk cheese is made.

I must admit when I was sent this information by a non vegan friend I thought it was an early April Fools joke.  If you scan through the information on Indiegogo (Crowd Funding site) some of it seems a little kookie (especially the perks offered including the Curd Nerd Jewelry) but no, read between the lines and it seems these guys are serious about this project.

I do applaud their ethos as far as the ethical, environmental and health responsibility to discontinue the use of animals in the manufacture of cheese but I'm just not sure I'm convinced by the laboratory approach to growing food. For me veganism is all of the above reasons and more, including going back to nature as a food source. Sure, I'm far from perfect when it comes to just using unrefined food stuff and I'm sure there may be stuff I eat that perhaps originated somewhere along the line in a lab but I'd rather try and best avoid it if I can.  When it comes to producing food, Mother Nature knows best and I think this concept of 'real vegan cheese' may be a step too far; for me at least.  Besides, what really defines 'real vegan cheese'?  Is it the fact that it comes from an animal at source that makes it real, or can you also get 'real vegan cheese' by fermenting various other plant based sources of protein such as in the book Artisan Vegan Cheese?

That said, I am also a believer in people making their own choices and if this project takes off and provides an alternative that people consume instead of real dairy cheese then who am I to argue against the benefits to the animals at least.

Read all about the project  at Real Vegan Cheese! or watch the video below.

Cheerful Cornish Choughs and Distant Dolphins

For atmospheric purposes - have a listen to this whilst reading! 

With the crowds of tourists pretty much returning up country now is the time to really enjoy the quiet beauty of Cornwall. It is an added bonus that, despite summer being officially over, the summer weather seems to have not realised that and we continue to be blessed with warm, dry weather.  With this in mind we didn't falter in taking advantage and headed off west in Miles the camper van at the end of work on Friday.

We ended up in West Penwith; a mere pasty's throw away from Lands End.  We had two amazing TV free, phone free, internet free, news free evenings nestled in a parking spot in a beautiful valley right next to the beach. Each night, governed by the fading light, we were lulled into sleep with the lapping waves (okay the wine we sampled also helped!).  However, the serenity was just one beautiful part of our Stay-in-Cornwall-Cation. Taking off along the beautiful cliffs and valleys we saw many wonders along the way; dodder (an alien looking parasitic plant growing on the surrounding coconut scented gorse), deliciously flavoured blackberries (many of which we sampled), the ancient beauty of moss and lichen, the majesty of towering cliffs, the momentary sculptured wonder of waves, the mystery of distant lighthouses and so much more that is beyond description if you are fully open to every sense that nature offers.

However, when it comes to wonder nothing competes in my mind with the sight of a rare Cornish bird and the wonder of dolphins. Wonderfully and magically that is exactly what happened within a 10 minute time span of walking along the Cornish coast.  Three Cornish Choughs flew past, in their wonderfully squawky clumsiness, in one direction swiftly followed by a graceful school of dolphins in the other (sorry but no photographic evidence as too far away). The choughs even graced us with their presence the next morning with an alarm call in the very cove we slept in.  How very very wonderful. 

Garden Zanzibar Curry

Phil hit the kitchen this evening for some of his curry magic.  When it comes to spice boxes, Phil's is extensive and varied but it wasn't just the spicing that caused a culinary stir this evening. It was also the vegetables he used as they all came from our garden; squash, tomatoes, aubergines, French beans, broad beans, courgette and peppers.  What a delight!

Garden Zanzibar Curry

2 tbsp oil
1 onion
2 tsp Seasoned Pioneers Zanzibar Curry Powder
1 medium aubergine
1 medium courgette
1 pepper (red/green)
1 cup French beans
1/2 cup broad beans
2 cups squash (ours was Uchiki Kuri) chopped
1 tin coconut milk
Splash of water
1 cup small tomatoes halved
1/4 cup chopped coriander

Fry the onion until soft then add the spices and fry for a minute.  Add all the rest of the vegetables and saute for a few minutes.  Add the coconut milk and a little splash of water and continue to cook for 20 minutes.  Add the chopped tomatoes and coriander and stir, then let sit for a few minutes before serving.  We served ours on rice with fried shallots and nori seaweed sprinkle on top.

Enjoy!

A Well Travelled Spider

As we approach late summer and early autumn we also approach what I refer to as 'spider season'; a season that puts me on edge slightly.  Don't get me wrong I love spiders; they're amazing creatures and an essential part of our world.  I am however stupidly nervous of them, or in the case of the ones that scurry across the floor wearing clogs, I turn into a girly squealing mess that requires 'rescuing' by Phil, who has no such problems in scooping them up gently and re-homing them. 

There are exceptions to my inappropriate behaviour; 'kitchen corner of the window' spiders and 'car' spiders (both of which tend to be on the smaller size).  Pretty much ever since we have owned Miles, our camper van, he has held residence to a car spider, whom I have affectionately named Winston.  

Everybody has a car spider, clinging inexplicably to the outside recesses; the wing mirrors being a favourite location.  You become strangely protective and affectionate towards them in their fast moving world of survival.  This is very much the case with me and Winston as he has travelled quite a number of miles with us in the last couple of months.  He has accompanied us on trips to Dartmoor, Totnes, Glastonbury, Salisbury Plain and most recently up to the Lake District.  He clearly makes a good living from his location and it seems to offer him good protection from driving wind and rain (literally!).  To ensure his continued survival we just have to remember to avoid washing that section of the van.

We are rather hoping he survives the winter and joins us on our annual trip to Spain and Portugal in the spring.  In the meantime I am also hoping that the annual influx of large house spiders try and refrain from displaying their presence too often whilst I am around to witness it!