Chocolate Okara Pie

For those of you who make your own motherless milk, it can often be quite a dilemma what to do with all the leftover pulp. It seems wasteful to throw it away, and yet it isn't always the easiest thing to find uses for, especially if you go through a lot of milk in your home.
Here's a great way to use up some of that pulp.
I have only tried this pie with okara (soy milk pulp) but I see no reason why it wouldn't work with other plant-based milk pulps.

Chocolate Okara Pie

Crust:
1 cup oat flour/bran
1/2 cup okara
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until combined. Mixture will be a wet crumble. 
Press into a 20cm pie dish, making sure to press some of the mixture up onto the sides.
Bake for 12-15 minutes in a preheated 180C oven.

Pie filling:
1/2 cup okara
1 cup motherless milk of choice
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup coconut sugar (or other dry sweetener of choice)
1/4 cup cornflour
2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine all the pie filling ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.
Pour mixture over the baked pie crust.

Cook at 160C for 1 hour. Remove from oven.
The mixture will be slightly wobbly.
Allow to cool prior to slicing.
The mixture will thicken upon cooling.

Serve with frozen berries of choice.

Question of the day:
Do you make your own plant-based milk? If so, what do you do with the pulp?

Mixed Bean Burgers

I am a BIG fan of bean burgers! I'm yet to find a type that I don't like. But these ones were particularly tasty. Even my hubby who is not a bean burger fan thought these ones were ok.
 

Mixed Bean Burgers

You'll need:
2 cans lentils
1 can butter beans
1 batch okara -or other plant milk pulp (approx 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 Tablespoon garlic
1 Tablespoon Italian herbs

Drain all the canned beans & combine in a large mixing bowl.
Mash the beans together and then add the remaining ingredients.
With wet hands shape the mixture into patties and place on a lined baking tray.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 40 mins until golden brown and firm.

These burgers need to cook for longer than other burgers as the okara adds quite a bit of moisture to them. Don't worry they won't dry out being in the oven that long - they will just brown nicely and be cooked through and won't fall apart.

 

Alternatively you can fry them in a frying pan. Approx 7 minutes each side. Be gentle when flipping.

Makes 12 burgers

Christmas Drink #9 - Christmas Time Tea Punch

Drink #9 - Christmas Time Tea Punch

I love punch - and recently I've discovered the amazing taste that adding cold tea can create. Here's a great festive punch that everyone can enjoy.

I suggest brewing the tea the night before & then storing it in the fridge overnight to chill.

 

In a punch bowl combine equal quantities of:

Chilled white tea (any flavour - I used peach -                 1 bag per 250ml water, brew as normal)
Lemonade
Orange juice

Top with ice, torn mint leaves & frozen raspberries.


The red & green on top looks very festive & the raspberries will melt into the punch & make a lovely red colour.

 I know I said that last time would possibly be the last of my Christmas creation pictures but I couldn't resist showing this one either:

They are my fudgey slice (minus the nuts) topped with icing & rapsberries. So easy and yet they look amazing on the Christmas table (even if I must say so myself!!!).

Fudgey Okara Slice

This slice is so tasty! Very easy to make & is a great healthy treat.
You can use any form of plant-milk pulp that you like!

Grind one tablespoon flax seeds and add 4 tablespoons water and set aside in the fridge.


Combine in a bowl:
1 1/2 cups okara (or other plant milk pulp) This is about 2 batches! 
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir until all ingredients are well combined. 
Add the flax egg and stir well. 

You'll need 1/2-3/4 cups wholemeal flour.  This will depend on how moist your pulp is.
Add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the mixture,  add 1/4 cup of the flour at a time, and stir gently between each addition. You want the mixture to hold together but still be quite sticky and thick.

Pour mixture into a lined square baking tin.
Crush 1/3 cup macadamia nuts in a plastic zip lock bag. Shake macadamia crumbs over the slice & press in gently with your hands. 

Bake at 200C for 25 minutes until mixture is cooked through, you can test with a skewer.
Allow to cool before slicing.
Slice into squares and serve.

Chocolate prune cookies

This is my idea of the perfect comfort food!

Cookies..... chocolate..... and mushy fruit!
That is love in bite-form!

These come from yet ~another~ batch of okara leftover from my making my own soymilk! But if you don't intend on making soymilk and therefore will have no leftover okara.... then never fear because it is in my plans to make a chocolate prune cookie that doesn't use okara very soon. You can substitue any leftover plant-milk pulp in these instead too. Or else you can grind some nuts and then add extra soymilk to get the right consistency!

Here's what you'll need:

3/4 cup wet okara

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup prunes, chopped into little pieces

3/4 cup wholemeal flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons soymilk (or other plant milk)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until well mixed.

Put spoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet and bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

Such little effort for something so rewarding! :-)
Enjoy!

Day 2 Unprocessed

My day started out with this:

This is a 'yogurt' made by mixing frozen blueberries and dates with just enough plant-milk to combine it but not to make it too runny. Tastes delicious.

 Who am I kidding - I always mix everything on my plate together!

For lunch I had leftover of last nights green & bean mix with some quinoa:

Of course, I mixed all that together too ;-)











I had a few grapes with lunch too. Grapes are just so pretty aren't they?!?

For dinner I tried a Polenta Pizza from the fat free vegan kitchen.
It worked out really well! I loved the taste of it, even though it didn't really feel like I was eating pizza!

The base - cooked

Not bad for a 'different' type of pizza!

And yes, of course, I didn't forget dessert! ;-)

I used the okara from yesterday & made "banana rock cakes" - well something similar to that anyway! I just mixed the okara with 2 mashed bananas, a bit of maple syrup, a handful of currants & enough spelt flour to make a dough. Baked for 25 minutes = divine! When I'm convinced I've got the recipe right I'll do a blog!

Mini Treat Fruit Puddings

Much more moist than muffins, these mini fruit puddings are sure to cure any chocolate craving! They are guilt free & so delicious.

You simply can't stop at one..... well I can't at least.

Nice afternoon treat, or morning one with coffee, or a dessert! Actually you can just eat them anytime you want to ;-)

You'll need:

1 cup wet okara

3/4 cup dried fruit

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup wholemeal flour

1/4 applesauce

1/4 cup ricemilk (or other nondairy milk of choice).

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Spoon into a mini muffin pan.

Sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar if desired.

Bake for 25 mins at 180C or until cooked through.

Makes 12-20 muffins depending on your tin size. 

Serve warm or cool, nice with coconut cream!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :-)

Mini pudding magic.

My kinda treat :-)

Okara Brownies

Perfect lunchbox snack..... or treat for morning tea..... or afternoon tea...... or really just anytime you want! I did eat half a batch in one sitting :-/ oh dear! But seriously they are soooo moist and tasty & deliciously light & fluffy that I couldn't stop at just one! At least they aren't as unhealthy as regular brownies!

You'll need:
1 cup okara
3/4 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoon applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 180C.
Mix the flours, sugar, cocoa powder & baking powder/soda in a bowl. Stir until well combined.
In a separate bowl combine the okara, soymilk, vinegar, applesauce & vanilla. Mix well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Mix until completely combined but do not over stir.
Pour the batter mixture into a square silicon cake tin.

Optional: Sprinkle with dark chocolate chips.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Cool in the cake tin and then remove and cut into squares (or slabs if required!!!).

You can dust with icing sugar if desired for presentation purposes :-)

Day 12 - Thursday

Berry Oatmeal for breakfast :-)

This is my gorgeous little girl who wanted to make her own lunch today!
Vegemite breadroll she picked!

A very orange lunch day......

Her self-made bread roll! An orange, dried mango & cinnamon nuts.

This afternoons kitchen adventure was baking okara doughnuts :-) mmmmmm, so moist & tasty.

Of course, everything tastes better if it's coated in chocolate!

Take away dinner!

mmmmmm I love a good Chinese meal.
The lovely people up the road asked "you true vegetarian, no fish sauce?"
That's correct!!!!
And then I indulge in super yummy food!

YUMMY!

Banana Okara Muffins

These muffins are so moist & tasty. The smell of them cooking in the oven is so divine!

You'll need:
1 cup of wet okara
3/4 cup soymilk
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup agave nectar

Mix all of these ingredients in a bowl & combine well.

Mash 2 over-ripe bananas.
Add them to the moist mixture.

Add 1 cup wholemeal flour, 3/4 cup white flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder & 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Stir until well combined but do not overmix.

Lightly spray a 12 cup muffin pan. Sprinkle dried banana chips over the top.
Pour mixture into muffin pan & bake at 180C for 25 mins (or until lightly golden).

NB:  I recommend adding the plain flour 1/4 cup at a time. You may only need 1/2 cup depending on how moist your okara is. I have found that 3/4 cup works well for the okara that comes from my soymilk maker machine.


Perfect match = Chocolate soymilk!

Okara burgers

Another recipe created to use up okara after making soymilk!

These burgers are really tasty & very nutritious!
The vegetables can be changed to suit any leftovers you might have hanging around.

You'll need:
1 cup okara
egg replacer to the value of 2 eggs
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon mustard
1/2 grated zucchini
1/2 tin corn, drained
3 tablespoons sunflower kernels
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons wholemeal flour

Prepare the egg replacer first. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl til well combined. Add the egg replacer and stir.
The mixture is quite sticky but this helps the burgers stay moist & not fall apart.
Press the mixture into pattie shapes, even by hand (wet hands with water so mixture does not stick) or alternatively use a burger press.
Place patties onto a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper & bake in a moderately hot oven for 20 minutes turning once during cooking.