Saladness

When I make salads, I basically try and squeeze in as much tasty healthy goodness that exists in my kitchen. Which usually ends up looking like this...



It ain't pretty, but good god is it filthy healthy good.

This one is loaded up with available veg...
ie.
spinach
broccoli
beet root
carrot
tomato
aperagus

and then I top it with


I love these things.

Before putting them in the salad I roast them with a bit of vegan butter and hot sauce, for a bit of a buffalo sauce taste.

I then add hummus, balsamic vinegar, and hemp oil. Maybe a few seeds.

Salad... done.

Savoury goodness

I have no interest in eating meat. The smell of bacon has no luring effects on me, in fact it almost forces a "bleh" from my lips. But I do like a good fake "meat" in its own right.

Tonight I made myself some fake beef chunk things that I got from ASDA. Its the only fake beef I've come across over here, and its surprisingly really tasty. It comes frozen so you just chuck it in a pan and away you go!

I mixed it with some fried onions, green, peppers, and mushrooms, and stewed it in some veg stock and gravy granules. Rustic yes... but muchos yummy. I had it with steamed sweet potato, and asparagus, yellow/green squash, and sugar snap peas with some hemp oil drizzled over, and a bit of garlic powder and dried herbs sprinkled on top.

The batteries in my camera decided to die, so I didn't get a very good photo.



I'd eat it again, but I'd explode.

And now I'm back (from outer space)

Ok, so its been a while. I've been stupid busy doing a tour for a Dance production, but I did get to go to some nice places... Like Oban







And I made a stop by the Angel of the North







But anyway... here's what I've been eating recently

I may have taken the next step towards vegandom in that I've gone off eggs now... well I think I have - it wasn't really a conscious decision. But the result has been that I've been eating tofu scrambles nearly everyday now. These things are just amazing.
Here's my latest one - along with Diner Home Fries from Veganomicon



This one is full of summer squash, avocado, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, and greens topped with Basil. The home fries were really good too.

if you want to know how to make a basic tofu scramble there is a how-to video here:

http://www.everydaydish.tv/Videopages/vegetarian_tofuscramble.html

Ian got a proper Omelette with mushrooms and green and yellow squash and some veggie sausage on the side.




For brekkie this morning, I fancied something a bit different, but light, and there were avocados staring at me, so I made a big bowl of guacamole with quinoa and sprouts. Not bad.



and yes, its official, all I eat is tofu and vegetables...
Lunch was stir-fry


Back to silly lighting design stuff now... I leave you with the loveliest kitties in ze vorld.

Well deserved Chilli

So I went for a walk out to Holyrood Park this afternoon. I was losing the sun pretty quickly, but I managed to walk up "the crags". That's short for the Salisbury Crags.


This is the Radical Road, where men of the Scottish Enlightenment would walk for inspiration. It was paved by unemployed weavers after the Radical War of 1820.


It's me look

At the top of the Crags

Edinburgh Castle



Not a bad place to wander really...

but anyway... On to the food

and by food, I mean Chilli!


The perfect thing after a long walk in the cold air.
And what's chilli without...

Tequila!

Yes indeedy, my tummy is happy.

And on a completely unrelated note,
The sky was lovely tonight

Stop... Burger Time

Yesterday I fasted for 20 hours or so, and broke it at night with some soup and salad...

But today... today was Burger Day! Yes, our favourite Linda McCartney burgers have returned to the co-op shelves after quite a long burger drought. We don't have a great choice of premade burgers over here in the UK, certainly no Boca or Morning Star here, oh no. So small things like this bring us much joyness.

So without delay, I present to you... Burger.



oh and some salad. The burger was baked in the oven, and then placed on the bottom bun with mustard and lettuce. A mix of sauteed onions and mushrooms in vegan butter and garlic powder was placed on top, and back in the oven it went to bake a while longer. It was then topped off with mayo and ketchup and tomatoes and the top of the bun, and put back in the oven to toast the top... and there you go. One mean burger maaaan.

Ian's had cheese on it, and I made him some mac n cheese that my Mum sent over from the USofA. There's a whole lot of moo goin' on here.

Green Stuff... and a Sandwich

Here's what I've been eating on this lovely Saturday:

A quick salad of cos lettuce, red pepper, a tomato, and purple sprouting broccoli with hummus and oil and vinegar.



Then it was sandwich time. I realized that I hadn't actually eaten bread in weeks. I'm not sure if that's good or bad... oh well. This is a sandwich that I used to make in America.

First I fried Onions, Peppers, and Mushrooms in balsamic vinegar. Next I spread hummus on once side of the bread and placed the mushroom mixture on top. I then topped that off with some dairy free creamy dressing and rocket and placed the other piece of bread on top. I then drizzled balsamic vinegar and hemp oil over the bread and baked in the oven until lightly toasted. After that I flipped the sandwich over and did the same to the other side.

Toasted Balsamic Mushroom Sammich



Now I've been trying to get Ian to eat avocados for ages... and this recipe from Vegweb seems to have done the trick!

Avocado and Banana Pudding



And last but not least... I made some Broccoli Soup. Its broccoli season, so why not? No pretty garnish or croutons... just nice warming soup. I followed something close to this recipe, but I added some chopped spring greens that were coming to their end and I didn't peel the potatoes. I also added a bit of garlic powder, vegan parmasan, and more of that cheese powder that I used in my Sag Aloo. Then I blitzed it all up with my imersion blender.

Broccoli Soup



Green goodness!

Stir-Fry, Pesto, and Curry

So here's what I've been eating lately...

A quick tofu stir-fry, using the ingredients from my chinese supermarket trip



Fresh pesto pasta... yes, I made pesto. Woot! The jarred Vegan pesto is just not very nice and seems to always involve lots of vinegar for some reason...yeck!



And a loverly curry full of fresh veg



The best thing I've found for curry was something I learned by accident. I boil chunks of sweet potato until they are soft enough to mash, and mix it into the curry and it mashes up and adds texture to the sauce... yummers.

Sag Aloo

I get cravings for this every few months. I love spinach, and since I can no longer eat sag paneer, this is my replacement spinach curry.

It goes a little something like this...

Chop up the equivalent of 4 medium baking potatoes into square inch pieces.
place in baking dish
cover with 2 Tbsp oil - I used hemp oil.

Add:
1 Tsp cumin
1 Tsp coriander
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tsp chilli powder
dash salt/pepper

mix it all together and bake at gas mark 5 (190°C) for about 30 minutes.

I used fresh spinach, but I guess you could use frozen...
Chop 300-400 grams of spinach and wilt by stiring over medium heat for 30 seconds. You could use an imersion blender if you want a more saucy spinach mixture.

Add the spinach to the potatoes (after the 30 minutes of cooking time) and cook for another ten minutes.

During this time, I made up about 350 ml of this stuff:


chunks of cheese, or white sauce could be added instead if you do the dairy thing.

I added the creamy mixture to the potatoes and spinach and cooked for another 5 minutes.

And voila... spinach wonderment!

Serve with rice or quinoa, or on its own

Serves 3-4

Happy Shopping

Some people might think it sad or weird, but I love shopping for food. It makes me happy. So there.

Today I made my way out into the 70mph gales (that part I didn't enjoy quite so much, and I nearly lost my special hat) to traipse down Leith Walk to the Chinese Supermarket.

I haven't been there in a while, and I was out of soy sauce. There are always new things to wonder at, and sometimes, if I'm brave, to try. Here's me bounty...

Soy Sauce	Spinach	Bok Choy
Coconut Milk	Bean Sprouts	Noodles
Garlic Powder	Mild Curry Powder	Pressed Tofu
Preserved Chilli Tofu

All pretty standard Chinese Supermarket fare, and I did in fact get the giant bottle of soy sauce I was after...Hurrah.
The one odd thing I did pick up was the preserved tofu in a jar... I was curious. We shall see how that one turns out.

I also made my way to the green grocer, Tattie Shaws. This is a great little place that still manages to exist in a time of Superstore domination. Here's what I got...

Red leaf lettuce	Beetroot
Corgetts	Egyptian Potatoes
Peppers	Fresh Basil

oh and Purple Sprouting Broccoli - it's in season, and it's lovely

Horray for fresh veg!

Pesto Pasta and Green Stuff

Last night Ian came home from work around 9pm... a bit late for any kind of extravagant dinner. So I made up this pesto pasta type thing... I fried up some veggie sausage, onions, mushrooms, green beans, and spring greens; and chucked in some vegan pesto, dairy free parmasan, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. I then threw in some cooked pasta spirals and topped it with some fresh basil. Another tasty quick meal.
(apologies for the blurry photo)



This afternoon I fancied a bit of healthful green-ness which ended up in the shape of Seaweed Tempeh with veggies and sprouted beans...


Halfway devoured... and oh yeah noodles too!

Clear Out Ratatouille and My Thai Curry

I often run out of just about everything and am left with just a few random vegetables. Yesterday those turned out to be: a bit of an onion, half a corgette (zucchini), some tomatoes, 2 carrots and some spinach. At this stage I decided the best and most obvious thing to do was to throw it all in a pot and spice it up with some paprika, oregano, garlic power, mild chilli powder, and salt and pepper. Easy peasy... simple, pretty, yummy food. I served it with with couscous and half a baked sweet potato... delish!
note: if you eat cheese, this would have been even better with feta.

I also made my Thai Curry last night sans red peppers as I forgot to get some. This was a recipe I came up with after falling insanely in love with a vegetarian coconut curry I got from a takeaway while at work. I made it up using ingredients that are easily found, and it ended up tasting well nigh exactly the same! Sooo good.

Thai Coconut Curry with Tofu and Mushrooms

250g Firm tofu cut into cubes (1 packet)

1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 1/2 Tbsp minced ginger

1-2 Tsp hot curry powder (depending on how hot you like it)

Salt and Pepper to season

1 small onion roughly chopped

20 fresh dwarf green beans - ends taken off and cut in half

Half a red pepper, cut into strips

1 small corgette (zucchini) – cut into large chunks

10 button mushrooms (or whatever kind you like) cut in halves or quarters

350ml vegetable stock

½ can coconut milk

4 Tbsp Fresh basil chopped + ½ Tbsp to garnish

2 1/2 Tbsp Fresh Coriander + ¼ Tbsp to garnish

Zest of one lemon

Fry the tofu cubes in a little olive oil on 2 sides, remove from pan and put to one side. In the same pan, fry the garlic, ginger, onions, green beans, and red pepper until the onions become somewhat flaccid. Add the Corgettes (Zucchini), the curry powder, and the salt and pepper, and fry for another minute. Add the mushrooms and fry another 30 seconds or so.

Now add the vegetable stock, followed by the coconut milk. Stir through and allow it to simmer. Add the Basil, coriander and lemon zest and the pre-fried tofu and continue simmering for another 5 minutes or so.

If the sauce is not thick enough for your liking, you can add teaspoon or two of corn flour (mixed with water to avoid any lumps).

Serve with Rice or noodles garnished with the left-over herbs and a bit more lemon zest.
I like to toss some cooked and drained white rice with 1/4 of a can of coconut milk and some chopped coriander.

Serves 3-4

Nutty Edinburgh Weather and Yummy Food

A day's worth of food, and some photos taken of the weather from my flat. Edinburgh can be particularly changeable this time of year.

Action packed morning muesli!!!

Oats, walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, goji berries, cranberries, apricots, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, almond flakes, coconut flakes, and dried banana flakes and soy milk... this is serious stuff and I eat it every morning.

Super yummy Smoked Tofu from The Engine Shed stir-fried with purple kale, purple sprouting broccoli, and spring greens... mmmmm

Fajita Filling - Guacamole in the back

Looking ominous towards Carlton Hill

Big spooky clouds of doom

And then it rained sideways


Wait 5 Minutes...

Athur's Seat and The Crags after the rain, shining in the sun