Midsummer Dinner

Dinner tonight was good, so I thought I’d share it with the world. I made three dishes. One was a roasted veggie bowl, one was a green bowl and mac ‘n’ cheeze.

 

Roasted veggie bowl: 

1 large eggplant

1 large zucchini

handful of carrots

2 bunches asparagus

 

handful sun-dried  tomatoes

4 large potatoes

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 can chickpeas

1 cup peas

few handfuls spinach

olive oil

handful sunflower seeds

3 large heirloom tomatoes

1 large green onion

salt – to taste

Cut up the eggplant and zucchini into sort of rectangles and roast them and the asparagus and carrot at 180C with salt and olive oil until golden. I did them in batches and just kept turning to make sure they weren’t cooking unevenly. Chop up the potatoes into bite sized pieces and boil in plenty of water until just cooked through, then drain and stir through the garlic powder, onion powder and paprika as well as the peas, chickpeas, olive oil and spinach. I always use frozen peas, these will cook in the residual heat of the pot, so you can take it off the heat.

To assemble, just arrange in a bowl with cubed fresh tomato, sun-dried tomato and sliced green onion and scatter the sunflower seeds on top. I served this with hummus, which I always try to have in the fridge because the creaminess goes really nicely with it. It also adds a nice extra bit of protein from the chickpeas. To be honest this would make a banging dinner by itself, and it’s pretty simple and quick for a midweek dinner as well. It’s a pretty balanced meal and LOOK AT ALL THESE COLOURS.

 

Green bowl

2 heads of broccoli

1 cup brown rice

1.5 large avocados

1 can lentils

1 handful pumpkin seeds

3 handfuls butter lettuce

3 handfuls green beans

1/2 lemon

salt – to taste

Cut broccoli into florets and roast with oil and salt until cooked, but still a bit firm. Cook rice in plenty of boiling water (with brown rice I generally have to top up water part way through because it cooks for so damn long) takes about 45 minutes to an hour, but just keep tasting to see. Top and tail the green beans and cut into abut 4cm lengths and blanch for a few minutes until they’re electric green, then drain and keep in a bowl. Make sure everything has enough salt, I always forget to say this but it’s SO important. Otherwise your food will taste like nothing.

To assemble, wash and shred the butter lettuce and place at the bottom of a large bowl, then mix the broccoli, lentils, green beans and rice together and spoon over the lettuce. Cube avocado and sprinkle over the top, along with pumpkin seeds and green onion. Squirt juice of half a lemon over the top and bam. This just looks so good for you and actually tastes pretty rad too. Leftovers make for an excellent lunch salad.

 

 

Mac’n’cheeze

This was suuuper simple, because not only do I like keeping hummus in my fridge at all times, I also like keeping vegan cheese as well. It’s so easy to just make a big batch and add it to everything. This one was with potato, carrot, cashews, olive oil, nutritional yeast, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and lemon juice. I just boiled the potato and carrot and then blended the rest of the ingredients together until they all balanced. Everything depends on your sense of taste in this, so just use the potatoes and carrots as your base and ass things that make it taste better. The buzzfeed vegan cheese is a great place to start if you’ve never made vegan cheese like this before. Now I’m at a point where I can just kind of make things up as I go. I was never a big cheese person before I went vegan so I don’t like it super cheesy, but there are ways to make it taste more authentic that I don’t bother with because I like the taste of whatever fake cheese thing I make. Anyways, I just cooked up some macaroni and stirred in my cheese concoction and some tomato and green beans from the other dishes, topped with some green onion and called it a day. Always good on its lonesome for those lazy days.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunchboxes

So I’ve decided to stop being so lazy and start updating this more often. Namely because referring back to my instagram feed reminds me of bomb meals I’ve made and inspires me to make them again and make them better. Which makes me sound completely narcissistic, but I like doing that because I usually cook with stuff I normally have around and it’s obviously to my taste, which is handy. Most things I do are very easy and I enjoy eating. Also it pisses me off slightly when I hear people say vegan food is difficult or expensive. It’s some of the cheapest food in the world. And before I went vegan I used to dread cooking meat because it was actually such a pain in the ass. You’d have to defrost meat or make sure it was cooked exactly right or it would, I dunno, poison you or something.

For lunches I’m a bit fussy. I don’t like sandwiches because you can’t really bulk prep them and it’s a bit of a mission to eat one filled with enough veggies. I’m not a fan of a lot of traditional lunch options, so my tactic now is to just make things that I can eat cold and are still delicious. Being a slight math geek I think of them as a bit of an equation. Grain + legume + lots of veggies + spices = lunches fo’ da week.

Also let’s talk about quinoa. I don’t cook it according to the package anymore. I just use a massive excess of water and cook until it’s all absorbed, similar to how you’d cook couscous, but on the stove. I prefer white quinoa because I don’t like the crunch of the other colours, I don’t know why they’re crunchy but this has just been my experience. Maybe I just don’t know how to cook it right, but I’ve tried many a time.

Still on the topic of quinoa, you probably are aware already, but in case you’re not, it’s got some sick levels of protein in it. This meal is very high in protein because of the combo with chickpeas (or any legume). Make sure you get enough lysine, kids!

(This is for 7 portions)

This week we have:

Quinoa – 2 cups

Chickpeas – 2 cans drained and rinsed

Capsicum – handful each of red, yellow and orange chopped

Onion – 1 white, sliced

Garlic – 3 cloves minced

Broccoli – 1 head

Green beans – 2 handfuls

Mushrooms – 2 handfuls

Cumin – 2-3 tbsp

Tahini – 1/3 cup

Chilli – to your taste

Salt – to your taste

Cook your quinoa with lots of boiling water until it’s all absorbed. While this is happening cook the onion in some water, then add the chickpeas, spices, garlic and a little oil. Once that’s all fragrant, add the rest of your veggies. Then combine everything together. Now, I know these aren’t very specific instructions, but that’s the thing. Just go with what you’ve got. This takes almost no skill which is good for a regular occurrence.  I honestly hate buying food out now, especially as a vegan because you normally have to get something lame or unhealthy. This keeps me feeling groovy and because you control how much oil and salt is in it you don’t get dehydrated and gross from it in the afternoon.

PEACE.

PIZZA

Man, oh man. How good is pizza. But vegan pizza, I hear you say. How is this possible? Well, my friend, nutritional yeast. That’s how. It’s this magnificent thing that tastes like cheese but isn’t.

So the pizza dough is a pretty simple one and makes a lot of dough, but the good thing is you can keep it for a few days in the fridge if needed.

Dough:

4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/4 cup olive oil

salt – pinch

sugar – pinch

sachet of yeast

Put the warm water, yeast and sugar into a small bowl and set aside for a few minutes, then add to the flour with the oil and salt. Kneed until it all comes together into a shiny elastic-y ball and put into an oiled bowl and cover with a kitchen towel in a warm place while you prep the toppings.

Toppings:

I like to keep the toppings fairly simple. For this pizza I just made a simple tomato sauce, caramelised onions, broccoli, sweet potato, oyster mushrooms, basil, chilli flakes, nutritional yeast, salt, tahini.

Tomato sauce:

1 can of crushed tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic minced

Simmer on low until quite a thick consistency is reached.

Caramelised Onions:

2 onions sliced

5 cloves of garlic minced

Fry onions and garlic in water until soft, then add some oil to brown them off when they’re translucent.

1 head of broccoli

Cut into small florets and microwave for a minute

1 sweet potato – chopped and baked until soft

Assembly:

Beat down the dough and divide into four balls, then roll out into whatever shape you can get it into that’s about 1cm thick. Spread tomato sauce in a thin layer (if it’s too thick it might make the base soggy, but who am I to tell you how to live your life.) sprinkle with nutritional yeast, put on some caramelised onion mixture, sweet potato, broccoli, and mushroom, then sprinkle with basil, chilli flakes, salt and oil. If you’re feeling cute, swirl some tahini on and bake at 240C until it looks good (mine took between 13-20 minutes), check under the base to see if it’s cooked underneath and you’re good to go.

It can take a while prepping the ingredients, but if you have minions this is an excellent time to put them to use.

Rice Noodles

Rice noodles are awesome. They’re gluten free, super quick and taste delish. It’s a good pantry staple for when you can’t be bothered cooking when you’re tired.

Made this for four people but we didn’t end up eating it all, I think the serving sizes on the rice noodle packets are generally pretty generous, which I like (I’m a big midnight snacker 🙂 )

Rice noodles – 4 portions

Oil – 1 to 2 tbsp

Onion – 1 chopped

Garlic – 7 cloves minced

Capsicum – 1/2 chopped

Carrots – 1 chopped

Button Mushrooms – 2 cups quartered

Broccoli – 1 head cut into florets

Sesame Seeds – 3 tbps

Spinach – few handfuls

Soy sauce

Agave

Sesame seed oil

Sriracha

Chilli flakes

Basil

Salt

Smoked Tofu* – 1 block cut into rectangles

Start by browning the onions and garlic in the oil after a little while add in the capsicum, carrots and broccoli. Add some water if needed, but the aim is to make sure the harder veggies soften up nicely.

While this is happening soak the noodles according to the package.

In a separate pan fry off the tofu in a small amount of oil.

Next add in the mushrooms to the rest of the veggies. When they’re cooked down slightly add in the spinach and stir through the sesame seeds. These noodles need a lot of liquid so that they don’t stick together, so add the soy sauce, agave, sriracha, sesame seed oil, chilli flakes, salt and basil to taste but also until there’s enough liquid to coat the noodles. Stir in the noodles and adjust as needed.

Serve with the tofu and sprinkle with some basil on top.

*Smoked Tofu is something I discovered at Harris Farm, feel free to use plain tofu or even pressing and soaking in a marinade would be great if you can’t find it, but it’s a really delicious way to make tofu a bit different.

Colourful Bowl of Goodness

This came together pretty quickly and has all those good colours you want to see on your plate. What I used: Sweet Potato – 1 large peeled and cut into chunks Baby Potatoes – 5 cut into quarters Red Onion – 1 large peeled and cut into thick slices Button Mushrooms – 10 cut into quarters Asparagus – about half a bunch Broccolini – about half a bunch Olive oil and salt to taste Roast all of the above coated in the olive oil and salt. I put the sweet potato and baby potato on the same tray and everything else on another tray which i pulled out slightly earlier. Fan bake at 200c until fork tender. Kale – small bunch Olive oil and salt I also used a small bunch of kale which I massaged with olive oil and salt, then left to rest for about 10 minutes then wilted in a frying pan really quickly. Pumpkin Seeds – 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds – 1/2 cup Toast the seeds in a dry pan until golden. Pine nuts would also work really well in this. Chickpeas – 1 can drained and rinsed Cherry Tomatoes – 10 quartered Avocado – 1 large cubed Lemon – 1 medium Serve in a massive bowl and dress with a generous squirt of lemon juice. CHOW DOWN, AMIGOS

Daal

This is my mum’s recipe. She’s worked on it for some time and we think she’s perfected it, so use it well 🙂

This is a three step process: 1) boil daal, 2) fry spices separately then 3) combine.

1) Lentil Mix:

1 cup red lentils

2 1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tbsp rock salt

2 cloves garlic

Bring the lentils mix to the boil until lentils are soft and the mixture becomes thickish.

2) Spice mix:

1 tbsp oil

1/2 onion chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 dried red chillies

Fry onions until translucent, then add spices and fry until onions are brown and fragrant.

I suggest frying the spice mix while the lentils are boiling and then adding in when the lentils are soft.

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Chickpeas

This is one of my favourite things to make for lunch. So good and you don’t feel weird and unproductive after eating it. I used tricolour in this, but I think the white one cooks a bit faster and more evenly.

Quinoa – 1/2 cup

Cos – a few leaves shredded

Tomato – 1 large or a handful of little ones deseeded and chopped roughly

Cucumber – 1 handful deseeded and halved lengthways and sliced

Sugar Snap Peas – 1 handful cut into strips

Chickpeas – 1 can drained and dried with paper towels

Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Cinnamon Powder – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Hummus – 2-3 tbsp (I make my own, but store bought with a little extra garlic grated in would work just as well)

Cook the quinoa according to the instructions, making sure that each seed has unraveled. Preheat your oven to 200C. Mix your chickpeas with a small amount of oil, chilli powder, cumin and cinnamon then pop into the oven for around 20 minutes. While these two things are cooking away you can shred your lettuce and cut your tomato and cucumber and sugar snap peas. The chickpeas are done when you shake them around the oven tray and they sound like maracas.

I’m essentially using hummus as a sort of dressing in this recipe which you might think is weird, but seriously, don’t knock it until you try it. I usually make a big batch of hummus at the beginning of the week and just leave it in the fridge so I can use it in wraps and things like this. Dump the quinoa, hummus and salt in with the raw veggies and mix well. I use my hands for this to get a good coating (also just be careful to let the quinoa cool down a little first). Then pop onto a plate and top with as many chickpeas as you can!

The good thing about this dish is that it takes about 20 minutes for the quinoa and chickpeas to do their thing, and while that’s happening you can prep everything else so its nice and quick and super healthy.