Vegan Mofo Day 9 Creamy without Nuts - Basic Cheese Sauce

Week 2 of Vegan Mofo already!

This week's theme is "Dietary and Lifestyle Restrictions".

Personally I don't consider 'vegan' to be a dietary restriction. In fact I have found it so freeing to be vegan and since going vegan I have definitely broadened my food intake by consuming a much bigger variety of foods than I ever previously tried. Sadly, lots of people do consider being vegan a restriction. Yet within the vegan community there are so many other restrictions as well. Not only are their people who are genuinely celiac, or have anaphylactic allergies there are also those who choose to abstain from various categories of food for other reasons.
Nuts in a popular one that is restricted by those choosing to avoid high fat foods or hoping to lose weight. 

Today's prompt is "Creamy without Nuts". Many creamy recipes and dishes require nuts, and copious amounts of them.
Today I bring you a nut free cheese sauce that is low fat and super easy to make. 

BASIC CHEESE SAUCE

                           You'll need:
                               1/4 teaspoon each:
                                   paprika, turmeric, mustard powder, onion powder
                               1 Tablespoon each:
                                   cornflour, nutritional yeast
                               1 cup reduced fat soymilk

Combine all the dry ingredients in a microwavable glass jug with at least double the capacity. Whisk together and gradually add the milk making sure all the powders dissolve completely.
Microwave on high for 1 minute. It will begin to thicken and you will see a skin forming over the top. Whisk together the thick parts with the runny parts.
Return to the microwave for another minute. Whisk together again as the top is always more thick than the bottom. It will thicken further on standing. 

This is quite thick so it makes a great topping over recipes.

Serve it straight away if you want to be able to pour it or if you want to use it as a 'cheese slice' type substitute, you can allow it to cool more and it will go thicker and then you can gently spread it over your dish. 

If you want it much thinner, you can add another 1/2 cup soymilk or water.

This can also be made over a stove top by stirring constantly over low heat until thickened.

This makes enough sauce to serve 4 people a rather generous amount.....unless, like my family, they totally love it and then you might want to make a bit more ;-)

Shown here over baked mushrooms:

Red, White & Green Pasta

Pasta is an Italian meal right???
So why not make it in Italian colours.....
A quick & easy meal that everyone will love! With the added bonus of minimal washing up!!!!


Serves 3
You'll need:
250g pasta of choice 
3 cubes frozen spinach
1 cup frozen peas
1 can cannellini beans
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup tomato passata cooking sauce

basil leaves 
freshly cracked black pepper

Bring a pot of water to the boil. Add the pasta, spinach & peas. Cook until pasta is al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce.
Combine the drained beans, garlic and passata together in a blender and blend until smooth and thick.

 






Drain the pasta and then return to the pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir til well combined. Return to the stove and gentle heat on low until the sauce has warmed through - approx 5-7 mins.


Serve topped with ripped basil leaves and black pepper.

Baked Eggplant Parmigiana

 

I know tradition Parmigiana calls for deep frying but I have made my version healthier by baking it! And served in single slices they can become a finger food.

BAKED EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

Cut a large eggplant into 1.5cm thick slices.

½ fill a shallow tray with veggie stock. Sit the eggplant slices into the veggie stock, turn after 2 mins and allow the other side to absorb stock for 2 minutes.

Place the soaked eggplant slices on a baking tray & bake in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes until softened.
Spread the tops of the eggplant slices with tomato paste and a sprinkling of Italian herbs.

 

Combine in a microwave safe measuring jug:

1 cup plant milk of choice
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon cornflour

Whisk until cornflour has dissolved and then microwave on high for 2 mins until thickened.

Spread cheese sauce over the top of the tomato paste.

Return the eggplant slices to the oven & bake for a further 20 mins.

Serve while still warm.

Meatless Monday - Eggplant

Welcome to another edition of Meatless Monday A-Z. 

 Today's food is Eggplant.

 I love eggplant. But I must admit that I'm not overly familiar with a variety of ways how to cook it. I find it can either have a great texture & be amazing or else it can be terribly undercooked & taste awful.
And I really like don't like it when eggplant is just completely soaked in oil & you can't really taste the eggplant itself.

So even though my eggplant post is a week late, its something I've cooked up myself that is easy to get the right texture for eggplant so you can actually taste it!

EGGPLANT & SWEET POTATO SIMPLE STACK

 

You'll need:

1 medium eggplant

1 medium sweet potato

1 teaspoon stock powder

1 cup passata cooking sauce

1 teaspoon Italian herb mix

Peel the sweet potato. Slice both the sweet potato and the egplant into 1.5cm thick slices.

Place the stock powder into a flat dish & add a cup of boiling water. Stir well until the powder is dissolved. Soak the eggplant in the stock for 2-3 minutes, turning once.

Place the soaked eggplant and sweet potato slices onto a lined baking tray & bake in a preheated 200C oven for 30 minutes.

Once cooked, alternate slices of eggplant & sweet potato onto plates.

Pour the passata into a microwave safe jug & place in microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir in the herbs.

Pour the tomato passata over the stacked vegetables.

Of course you can roast as many other varieties of vegetables as you wish.

Did you know?
Eggplant contains high amounts of potassium, folate and manganese. It also has a large range of other vitamins in little amounts.

Question of the day:
What's your favourite way to cook eggplant?

Mushroom Gravy

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my American friends :-)

Here in Australia we don't celebrate Thanksgiving day & to be honest I'm not really sure what its about!
But I thought I'd share a recipe with you all anyway! 
I see so many pictures of 'roasts' everywhere as a way of celebrating Thanksgiving so I thought that gravy seems to perfectly compliment a roast! Not that I'm encouraging the consumption of any animals as roast!!!

I love this gravy over mashed potatoes... and well, anything really! :-)

You'll need:
10 button mushrooms
1/4 one small onion
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon cornflour
1 cup cold water
1/2 teaspoon sage
sprinkle of cracked black pepper



Chop the mushrooms and onion as small as you can, or put in a mini chopped so that all the hard work is done for you ;-)

Saute the mushrooms and onion in a pot until the mushrooms have decreased in size and the onion are brown. You may need to add a tablespoon of water to stop them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

In a measuring jug combine the cornflour and the cold water. Mix until the cornflour has dissolved.


Pour the cornflour/water mixture into the pot, add the soysauce, sage & pepper (as much as desired). Stir well to combine & leave to simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.

Pour into a gravy boat for serving.

Pizza Cheeze Sauce

Miss cheese on a pizza?
Don't like non-dairy cheeses?

Here is the ultimate pizza topping!

In a food processor combine:

1/2 cup chickpeas

3 Tablespoons soymilk

1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Drizzle over your pizza and cook!

This makes enough to lightly cover one pizza. 

YUMMO!

Prior to cooking

Baked :-)

Also great in toasted sandwiches, or "fold-over pizzas".

NB: You can also use white beans in place of the chickpeas in this recipe. The 'cheeze' will be whiter in colour and will have a smoother consistency. But I promise you its equally as delicious.