Potato-topped, white bean pie

I'm sorry, there simply is no way to photograph this and make it look pretty....
Then again, often the sloppy-messy dinners are the most delicious!
We definitely think this is one of those dinners!!! :-)
This eventuated when a lentil shepherd's pie was on the cards, but no tins of lentils were in the pantry. Alas, potato-topped white bean pie came about :-)
I haven't given this recipe the usual make, try, try again process. However, it's quite a simple dish that is versatile and you basically can't go wrong!

POTATO-TOPPED WHITE BEAN PIE

You'll need:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
1 zucchini
2 carrots
1 green capsicum
120g fresh spinach leaves
2 tins white beans
1/2 large jar of tomato passata
1 Tablespoon mixed Italian herbs

For the potato topping:
6 medium sized potatoes
1/2 cup motherless milk of choice
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 Tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon dried chives

Chop the potatoes into little pieces and place in a microwave safe dish and cover with water. Heat in the microwave for 10 minutes (or until totally soft).
Combine all the vegetables except for the spinach in a food processor and pulse a few times until desired size. 
Put chopped veggies into a frying pan and dry-fry until then begin to soften.
Add the drained white beans, the passata, spinach and herbs.
Stir frequently until warmed through and spinach has wilted.
Transfer to a large lasagne size baking dish and press down evenly.
Drain the potatoes and mash with the other ingredients needed for the topping.
Spread the potatoes over the top of the bean/veggie mix.

Place in a preheated 180C oven for 30minutes until lightly browned on top.
Serve :-)

Another year down - Christmas dinner review

2014 went so quickly for us!
I usually post quite a few pre-Christmas ideas but unfortunately this year I didn't get a chance to - my apologies.
I will however, do my usual wrap-up of our Christmas meal & include a few recipes that you might like to store up for next year (don't you just love pinterest for that reason)!


Pre-dinner nibbles of veggie sticks and baked corn tortillas with refried bean dip (recipe coming soon).

 Dinner included the following:

Beetroot & Green bean Salad (recipe below)

Agave Mustard Baked Veggies

Mini potato bites

Wholemeal Quinoa Loaf

Spinach, sweet potato, corn & mixed bean salad

Red Lentil & Spinach Loaf (recipe below)

And for dessert we enjoyed:

Christmas Chocolate fruit cake

Trifle (directions below)

Red Lentil & Spinach Loaf

375g packet red lentils
2 bay leaves
120grams baby spinach leaves
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
400g can tomatoes
1 1/2 cups oats   **
1 teaspoon each: oregano, cumin, sage
BBQ sauce

Place the lentils and bay leaves in a saucepan & fill with just enough water to cover them.
Bring to the boil and then simmer til lentils are softened but not yet falling apart (approx 15-20 mins).
Pour the cooked lentils into a large mixing bowl, removing the bay leaves.
Stir through the spinach leaves and allow the warmth of the lentils to wilt the leaves.
In a small frying pan, place the chopped onion and crushed garlic - dry fry until golden brown.
Stir the onion/garlic mix into the lentil/spinach mix.
Stir through the tomatoes, oats and herbs.
Place mixture into a lined loaf pan and spread the top with BBQ sauce.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 45 minutes.
This will slice best if you allow it to cool briefly before removing it from the loaf pan.

** For a firmer loaf you can use 2 cups of oats, however this will make a more dense loaf too (pictured below). My husband prefers the loaf with 2 cups of oats, I prefer it with 1 1/2 cups of oats. So take your pick!!!

Beetroot and Green Bean Salad

60grams baby spinach leaves
60grams beetroot leaves
6 baby beets
1 cup green beans
6 walnuts

Dressing:
150g soft tofu
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Combine the leaves in a salad bowl. Chop the baby beets and spread them evenly over the leaves. Remove the ends of the green beans and lightly steam them. Spread over leaves along with the crushed walnuts.
To make the dressing - blend all ingredients until smooth.
Pour dressing over salad to serve.

Trifle

You will need:
basic vanilla cake
custard- I doubled the quantity of the custard in this recipe, but halved the sugar
600grams frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves.

Tear or chop the cake into little pieces.
In a glass serving bowl, layer 1/3 of the pieces of the torn cake, 1/3 of the raspberries and then a final layer using 1/3 of the custard, followed by a sprinkling of torn mint leaves.
Repeat layering process 3 times or until all ingredients are used up.
Refrigerate until time to serve.

I have to admit that I wasn't too disappointed to have some leftovers to enjoy!
I hope you all had a splendid Christmas time.

Happy New Year to all my readers :-)

Look forward to sharing with you in 2015. 

Quinoa Stuffed Eggplants

Here's another post that has sat in my drafts for sometime.
I had taken several photos and for some reason my SD card in my camera decided it would corrupt the pictures. Not happy!
I have since upgraded my SD card and now I bring you these super yummy 

Quinoa Stuffed Eggplants

(Makes 6)

You'll need:

3 large eggplants

2 cubes frozen spinach

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 green capsicum

1 tin lentils

1 Tablespoon mixed Italian herbs

2 cups cooked quinoa

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 cup tomato passata cooking sauce

Bake the eggplants in a preheated 200C oven for 30 minutes until softened. Make sure you have pierced the flesh in several places with a fork so they don't explode. 

Cut the eggplants in half lengthways, and scoop out the softened flesh, leaving a small border (approx 1cm) around the edge of the eggplant.

Lay them out on a baking tray.

Soak the frozen spinach in some boiling water for a few minutes until defrosted. Drain. (Omit if using fresh spinach.)
Chop the onion, garlic, and capsicum.
Stir all the vegetables in a large bowl and combine with the drained lentils, nutritional yeast, herbs, quinoa and passata.  Chop the flesh of the eggplant that was removed and stir this into the mixture too (optional - it also makes a great dip if you don't want to add it to this mixture!).
Scoop the mixture into the cooked eggplants. Fill them quite well as this will give the eggplant case back its shape. Press the mixture down quite firmly. 
Drizzle a line of passata over the quinoa mixture (this is purely for presentation purposes, cause I think it looks better than just the plain mixture, salsa also works fantastic or any other sauce you'd rather).

Reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake the eggplants, now stuffed, for a further 20 minutes until warmed through completely.

A recommendation and a story:

My husband took one bite into these & spat it out, declaring how awful they were!!!

I was chuckling to myself because I realised he had eaten the top of the eggplant! I thought everyone knew you weren't supposed to eat the top of eggplants - clearly not!

So I highly recommend removing the eggplant tops prior to putting these on plates.

After his initial opinion of this meal, he decided they were actually quite delicious!

 
Submitted for Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Add your recipe at:
Rock My Vegan Socks 
Vegan Dollhouse 





Question of the day:
Have you ever accidently eaten the top of an eggplant?

Noodles with Green Sauce

Noodles - my husband hates them.... I love them!
So on the occasions that he doesn't join us for dinner, then I get to indulge!
Here's my favourite way of indulging in them lately:

NOODLES WITH GREEN SAUCE

Serves 4

You'll need:
350g noodles
1 zucchini
1 bunch broccolini
1 cup snow peas
90g baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon minced garlic
juice of half a lemon
150g soft silken tofu
1/2 cup soymilk (or other motherless milk of choice)
1 teaspoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/4 teaspoon allspice


Chop the zucchini, broccolini and snow peas into pieces of desired size. 
 
Place vegetables and noodles into a large pot  with water & bring to the boil. Once boiling simmer for 3-5 minutes. 

Whilst the noodles & veggies are cooking prepare the sauce.
In a blender combine the spinach, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, tofu, soymilk, cornflour & herbs. Blend until smooth.

Drain the noodles & veggies and then return to the pot.
Pour the sauce over the noodles and stir over a medium heat for a few minutes until warmed through & slightly thickened.

Serve.
 

Submitted for Health Vegan Friday


Add your recipe on Rock My Vegan Socks blog each Friday.

WIAW - Dragonfruit & Chia Pudding

To be honest - this is what I ate on Tuesday.... last week! 

I am particularly in love with making 'pizza' like this.
Smoother a piece of lebanese bread with chili flavour hummus, top with piles of fresh baby spinach leaves & pour on a mini can of BBQ flavour baked beans. 
Bake for 15 minutes - OH MY YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

But the real reason I added this to WIAW was really just because I wanted a good excuse to share with you this awesome 

Dragonfruit & Chia Pudding that we had for dessert!

You'll need:

1 pink dragonfruit
165ml lite coconut milk
1 Tablespoon coconut sugar
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla

Remove the flesh from the dragonfruit and place in a blender with all the other ingredients.
Blend til smooth.
Pour into serving dishes and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. 
Sprinkle with coconut if desired.
Store in the fridge til ready to serve.

Makes 4 small servings.

Question of the day -
Have you made a chia pudding before? What is your favourite flavour?

Fallback food: Easy Mexe-Pasta

We all have those days when we walk in the door after work and need dinner on the table in less than half an hour. 
In fact, sometimes that happens more often than not in our busy lives.
Here's a super easy meal to fall back on for those days:

Easy Mexe-Pasta

 

You'll need:
pasta of choice
canned mexican bean mix
bag of baby spinach leaves
salsa spice mix of choice 




 


Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the pasta for the recommended time.
Drain the pasta and return to the pot along with the mexican beans, spinach and spice. 
Stir over low heat until warmed through and spinach has wilted.

Serve sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

You can adjust the quantity of ingredients as needed.
To serve 3, I used 250g pasta, 160g spinach, 1 can mexican beans and 1 teaspoon salsa spice mix.


I have discovered a new range of spice mixes! They are from an Australian Company called "Your Inspiration at Home". They make amazing products that add a wonderful taste to food and are super easy to use. They offer a HUGE range of spice blends, dip mixes, chocolate powders, baking spices, flavoured sugars and salts, along with tea and coffee. All the products have no added preservatives, MSG, gluten, or anti-caking agents. That means no numbers or letters! A big tick in my opinion!
If you'd like more information about these products and how to purchase them contact me on this facebook page.

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.

WIAW - Roasted Stuffed Capsicums

Look at this super yummy salad that I ate today!

 I did end up cooking my mushrooms though, and I smoothered it with hummus prior to eating ;-)

 I have always thought of roasted capsicums as a main meal, however when I saw these adorable little baby capsicums I couldn't help but turn them into lunch...

And this is how:

 

ROASTED STUFFED CAPSICUMS

You'll need:

5-6 mini capsicums

1/2 cup wholemeal couscous

3/4 cup boiling water (plus extra)

1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder

2 cubes frozen spinach

1 teaspooon italian herbs

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

In a bowl combine the couscous and the stock. Pour over the boiling water and cover. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Put the spinach in another bowl and pour over boiling water. Cover and allow to stand til defrosted.

Mix spinach, herbs & tomato paste together with the couscous. Stir well.

Scoop out the core of the capsicums.

Fill the capsicums with the couscous mixture. Press couscous in firmly and make sure the capsicums are well filled.

Place in a preheated 200C oven for 20 minutes until capsicums are softened and skin has blistered.

Mother's Day Breakfast Mushrooms

With this weekend being Mother's Day I started to think about breakfast in bed.....
I started to dread breakfast in bed.....
I HATE CRUMBS IN THE BED.
Thankfully my family know this! 

Back to thinking about breakfast then......

I LOVE mushrooms for breakfast...... but I feel sadden that it is generally considered that the best way to make breakfast mushrooms is to fry them in more butter than there is mushrooms.
Now as a mushroom for breakfast eater, let me assure you that to make them taste good it has nothing to do with the butter and more to do with the herbs and spices that are added.

Let me show you how to please mum's taste buds as well as her thighs ;-)

You'll need:
1 1/2 cups chopped button mushrooms
1 chopped spring onion
1 teaspoon each: minced garlic, paprika, sage, thyme 
1 large handful baby spinach leaves
1 Tablespoon tomato paste



Add the mushrooms, onion and all herbs to a frying pan and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Don't stir. Mushrooms work out best when they aren't stirred! They release more of their own juices then.
You can add a few teaspoons of water if the mushrooms stick to the bottom of the pan too much.
When you can see that the mushrooms are nearly cooked, stir in the spinach and tomato paste.
Stir for 2-3 minutes until the spinach has wilted.

Serve on toast.

Make sure you're hubby sees this before Sunday morning!

Talking about men, I want to share with you all this awesome soon-to-be released book for men:

Preorder it now to get the added bonuses :-)

You can read more about the book on the vegans are cool website.

Do you have anything special planned for mothers day?

Submitted for Healthy Vegan Friday.
You can add your recipe at these blogs:
carrie on vegan 

veggie nook 

greenthickies

Red Lentil & Spinach Sauce

Nervously my husband sat awaiting this meal. 
He wasn't convinced he would like it. 
He reminded me how much he's not a fan of trying "new things".
He took his first bite & I hear a squeal of delight "WOW - that sauce is so yummy!"
Both him & I were overjoyed!
"I'd even take that to work heated up" he said! WOW - it really was a winner in our house!

You'll need:
1 brown onion
1 cup red lentils
3 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon veggie salt
100g baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup tomato paste

Finely chop the onion and place in a dry frying pan. Water sautee for 5 minutes. 
Add the red lentils. Pour over the boiling water and add the veggie salt. Stir. 
Cover with a lid and leave for 15 minutes until all the water is absorbed into the lentils and the lentils have become mushy. Stir in the spinach leaves. Stir well - cover and leave for another 5 minutes. The spinach leaves will wilt.
Stir in the tomato paste until it is well distributed.

Serve over pasta, potatoes or other grain of choice.
Makes 4 serves. 
Shown here over black bean spaghetti.

 

Have you tried this spaghetti?

I believe its fairly new to the market. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago at a health food store. It makes for a great pasta substitute. I didn't think it was too expensive. Just a few dollars for this packet which I felt would comfortably serve 4-5. It seemed to go so much further than regular pasta. It cooked really quickly too. It doesn't really taste like regular pasta at all though. I felt that it tasted quite similar to soba noodles. I enjoyed the taste and will definitely buy them again.