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:

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?

Meatless Monday: Vanilla Banana Custard

Today's Meatless Monday food is Vanilla.

I decided to go with Vanilla custard.
I have always enjoyed custard & I have fond memories of my mother making a banana custard for us when we were children which I really liked.

I have used that as inspiration but have made my own custard instead of using a powder for a base.

This is a really simple recipe that is quick to make and doesn't need a huge amount of ingredients. It can be served either hot or cold.

It makes it a perfect mid-week treat when desserts are sometimes overlooked!

VANILLA BANANA CUSTARD

(Serves 4)

You'll need:

300ml soymilk (or other plant milk of choice)

1/4 cup sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar)

2 Tablespoons cornflour

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 banana

Combine the sugar, cornflour and vanilla in a saucepan. Add a few tablespoons of milk and whisk until a paste is formed and the cornflour has completely dissolved. 

Add the remaining milk and stir until well combined. Place over a medium low heat & stir constantly until the custard thickens.

Chop the banana into thin slices and place in the bottom of little serving containers of choice.

Pour the custard over the banana.

Can be served warm, or alternatively store in the fridge until ready to eat. 

The custard will thicken more if kept in the fridge.

Question of the day:
Do you have any childhood dessert memories that you still enjoy eating today?

In My Kitchen - Red & Green

December is often a time when the kitchen, and the whole house really, gets filled with bits and pieces lying everywhere, and the colours red and green seem to be everywhere! My kitchen is just that! 

Let's start with some lovely red and green produce picked from our garden! :-)
Such a delight to finally get to pick a few pieces. 

Our lovely tomato plant is growing strong. Lots of green tomatoes, and a few red ones. I don't actually like fresh tomato, but I'm looking forward to making lots of sauces.

In my kitchen is this packet of red chips! They are a new product available at Woolies. What a great alternative to regular corn chips. We don't regularly buy corn chips and I won't regularly buy these either, however there were a nice treat. Extremely tasty, but a bit salty for my personal taste.

 

When we were doing some Christmas shopping I simply couldn't go past this DIY gingerbread house kit. I love to do Christmas time baking and a gingerbread house is no exception. Often the ready-made kits have dairy &/or egg in them, or if there are vegan options that are full of junk. Will be great to create a gingerbread house that has fresh wholesome ingredients and without the hassle of making a paper template to cute out pieces.

Our kitchen is slowly getting filled with napkins, tissues and various other Christmas supplies.

I've also been going through our storage area and retriving all the Christmas platters!

Also in my kitchen is some new milks. 
I prefer to make my own soymilk for use in sauces, on cereal, in smoothies etc however for my morning coffee I have always favoured store-bought milk.
I have been trying various forms of milk to see if I can find a substitute for my favourite coffee milk that has changed. 
This Pure Harvest brand pictured below is one that I tried. The big red letters grabbed my attention in the store and also for my red & green post!

Very sad that my favourite 'green milk' is no longer available in the same form it was before. Although very similar, the new 'green milk' has no added fibre. Not that I'm worried about getting enough fibre in my diet, but it does mean that this new milk is not as thick. It still taste quite nice. This was my go-to milk for my morning coffee.

The only difference in the ingredients list between the old and new is that dietary fibre.
And of all the milks I've tried I must say that I'll still be sticking with Vitasoy for my regular coffee and fall back milk when I haven't had time to make my own!

What's happening in your kitchen at this time of year? Is it filled with red & green too?

Link your kitchen up on the Fig Jam & Lime Cordial blog.

A Study in "P" Major

For those of you who are musically inclined you may have realised that I'm clearly not talking about playing the piano here...... since there is no musical note "P".
However, I do like to sing while I'm cooking ;-)

Today's study in P major includes:

PLANT MILK AND PASSATA!

2 'major' parts of our cupboard!

 

PLANT MILK

I tend to be someone who tries any new plant milk that comes out. 
I like to use different types of plant milk for different purposes too.

Here's my own assessment of the situation:

I prefer the taste of soymilk and rice milk over any other type of plant milk. I enjoy cooking with almond milk for a bit of a change but I don't particularly like the taste of it for drinking or in smoothies. My daughter LOVES the Sanitarium So Good Almond Milk - probably because it has more sugar than almonds in it and that is a reason that I don't let her have it too often. That said, I did notice just this week in the grocery store that there is now a 'sugar free' version available! Well done Sanitarium I say!!!! :-)

I find oat milk is quite thick and rather bland. Of course it is wonderful on oats but I don't use it for too much other than that. The Australia's Own Organic brand provides a range of organic plant milks with few additives which is always a good thing in my opinion. Note that their oat milk does contain honey so it will not suit people who choose to avoid bee products.

Rice milk is quite sweet - even though it doesn't usually contain any sweetners. I love cooking with ricemilk as I find the amount of sugar in a recipe can easily be reduced then.

Vitasoy wins in my books - easily!
They use whole soybeans instead of soy protein (which I largely try to avoid). All their products are non GMO.
I love the range that Vitasoy offer too.
All my favourites just so happen to be from the Vitasoy range!
                                    My favourites:

I love making my morning coffee with Vitasoy's Organic Soymilk. It is rich and creamy and not watery like some milks can be. It has a delicious flavour and it has low sodium compared to other soymilks too. My coffee simply isn't the same using other milk! Also it contains B12 which is a bonus too - 1ug per 250ml. 

The chocolate flavour soymilk also contains B12 and is delicious. Any evening is complete with a glass in hand ;-)

The Vitasoy ricemilk is my favourite for cooking with for the reasons mentioned above. It also makes for a delicious addition to smoothies. I also must admit that as a plain 'drink' it is my favourite!

With all of that said, I still do tend to make my own soymilk for everyday use! I have had a soy milk machine now for 18 months and it has well and truly paid for itself! 
Of course home made soymilk doesn't last as long as store bought, and it doesn't have quite the same consistency or flavour to it. However, it is completely additive free and has just ONE ingredient! Can't beat that for everyday use! 



Now for another major "P" in my cupboard:

PASSATA - Tomato Cooking Sauce

I have found there is not a huge range of these available. Usually just a generic brand and Val Verde is available in standard grocery stores. 
I cannot get over the MASSIVE range of pasta sauce that the stores now stock!
Personally I don't use pasta sauce. I prefer to use a passata base and make my own 'sauce'. I don't like the amount of addictives and oils that are included in many of the pasta sauces and that is why I prefer to make my own.
(The Sole Natura brand that is shown below is from Costco.)
Of the sauces shown here I was surprised to find that all of them (except Coles brand) had exactly the same amount of sodium and each also included acidity regulator E330. Now even though I consider myself to be a numbers person - I don't like numbers in my food! 

So for those reasons, the winner for me is "Coles" having no "E"s included and with nearly a quarter the amount of sodium of all the others.
(I don't always shop at Coles though so I will buy another brand when I need it! We do use a lot of this sauce!)

Questions of the Day:

 

What is your favourite plant milk?

Do you prefer the make your own pasta sauce or buy a premade one?

Zucchini Pasta with Pumpkin 'Cheeze' Sauce

This meal is so simply and yet really tasty.
Other than cooking the pumpkin it can be prepared in 5 minutes!

You can serve this over regular pasta if you would rather.
But for today's recipe I served it over steamed spiralized zucchini.

 

To make the pumpkin sauce you'll need:


1/8 pumpkin, boiled and mashed to become 1 1/2 cups mashed pumpkin
3/4 cup soymilk
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon cornflour
 crack of pepper (optional)






In a pot combine the soymilk, nutritional yeast and cornflour. Whisk until cornflour and nutritional yeast have dissolved. You must whisk these in while the milk is still cold otherwise they won't dissolve properly.



 



Bring to a boil & add the mashed pumpkin. Simmer for 3 minutes, whisking continuously. 
The sauce will begin to thicken, but will still be pourable.





Pour over your desired 'pasta'.
Sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper.

Strawberry "Ice-cream"

Adding to my collection of frozen desserts.

Its always fun to add more flavours to the collection!

Here's a strawberry version.

You'll need:

2 frozen bananas

1/2 cup chopped frozen strawberries

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup soymilk

Blend together in a high powered blender or mini food processor.

Serve :-)

Yum!

Coconut Apricot Bars

Here's a great idea for a healthy treat for kids lunchbox...... or for adults who enjoy snacks too! (I include myself in that list!)
Bonus: Its so easy to make.

In a food processor combine:
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup almonds

Process until mixture resembles crumbs and then add:
2 Tablespoons brown rice syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla soymilk

Continue to process for a bit longer until mixture holds together. It will be slightly sticky but not too sticky too handle.

Press into a muesli bar maker or roll into balls.
NB: This may work if you press it into a baking tin & then cut it but I haven't personally tried it that way.

This mixture makes enough to perfectly fill the Tupperware T-bar set which is an ultra easy way to make healthy bars at home!

Vegans Eat Yummy Food Too! - Day 1

VEGANS EAT YUMMY FOOD TOO! :D

Breakfast this morning was a tropical fruit bowl - sliced pineapple, rockmelon & banana sprinkled with flaxseeds, sunflower kernels & coconut.

Simple, yet tasty - and surprisingly filling.

LUNCHBOX

Popper, Pumpkin okara burgers with BBQ sauce again. Dried pineapple & sultanas for a snack. Crunch and sip was a banana with some almond & date chocolate dip.

SOYMILK
I made fresh soymilk this afternoon.
I had experimented last year with doing it by hand but over Christmas I got a soymilk machine. It was on special - YAY everyone loves a bargain. I have made at least 2 batches each week & it has well been worth the investment.

I have been experimenting about with how much beans to add & what else to add.
I usually add a ratio of soybeans to barley 4:1. This seems to add a touch of sweetness, keeps the milk a bit thicker & adds a nice flavour. I don't need to add any sugar to the soymilk then. I usually still add a teaspoon of vanilla per litre of milk.
Even though the soymilk machine keeps the beans separate & strains the beans, I still put the finished product through a sieve. It seems to give an extra smoothness & not leave any 'bubbly' bit on the top then.

The soymilk maker having completed its job :-)

The milk will keep for about 7(ish) days however, most batches are consumed well before they are anywhere near going off stage!

Straining the milk

Fresh clear smooth soymilk :-)
YUMMY

This of course makes for a lot of leftover okara - so you're bound to see Okara recipes popping up here and there :-) I find the okara lasts in the fridge for about a week. I try to use it almost straight away though.

Leftover from the soymilk - "Okara"

So this afternoon's exercise in using up our okara was to make banana muffins.

I love these muffins - they are soooo moist.
Great way for using up old bananas too.
Or great way of using up 25c/kg bananas that we scored on the weekend! AMAZING! To think that only 6 months ago we couldn't find them for under $10/kg anywhere!

For dinner my amazing husband bought me an Iku Mini Pie Pumpkin & Tempeh :-)
I served it with some vegetables for a nice simple, quick & easy dinner.
I'm not usually this spolit every night.
They are so tasty. If you haven't had a chance to try one yet - then I definitely recommend trying one :-)