Flourless Sweet Potato Waffles

My potato waffles have been a huge hit amongst the plant based community. They make a great bread replacement for burgers!
But today I bring you a sweet potato waffle that works fantastic as a sweet breakfast treat!
And honestly who wouldn't want a breakfast like this?!?!?

FLOURLESS SWEET POTATO WAFFLES

(To serve 1)

               1 small sweet potato
               1 heaped tablespoon ground flax seeds
               1/4 cup boiling water
               small drop of vanilla essence
               1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 
Preheat your waffle iron.

Place the sweet potato in a microwave and cook for approx 5-6 mins until inside is tender. Note that time will vary in different microwaves. If you don't have a microwave you can cook the sweet potato in the oven. But I don't recommend boiling the sweet potato over a stove top as the consistency will end up different.
Whilst the sweet potato is cooking, prepare the flax mixture. Pour the boiling water over the ground flax seeds and whisk with a fork til thickens. Allow to sit for a few mins.
Remove the sweet potato flesh from the skin, discard the skin & mash the flesh into the flax mixture. Add vanilla & cinnamon, stir until completed combined. The mixture will be quite sticky.
Pour the mixture into the waffle iron & cook on medium for 8-10 mins. You can cook on a higher heat if you'd rather, but the waffle will come out darker. Don't lift the lid while it's cooking or this will pull the waffle apart. It needs to be fully cooked before the lid is lifted. You can wait longer, up to about 15mins on a lower setting and it will be fine. If you are in doubt, they are better to be left a little longer, not shorter!

When your waffle is done, remove & serve with desired toppings!
Shown here with homemade soy yogurt, banana, raspberries & walnuts:

QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Have you experimented with other types of waffles in your waffle iron instead of just flour-based mixtures?

Pumpkin, Tomato and Mixed Bean Soup

Although I usually think of November as weather that is starting to warm up, we are sure still having plenty of cold and rainy days here at the moment. So I figured that's a good enough reason to have soup! I'm sure many of you on the other side of the world appreciate soup for this time of year anyway as you're heading into the cooler months!
Pumpkin soup is always delicious, but this one is made even tastier with the addition of some beans and a hint of curry.

Pumpkin, Tomato and Mixed Bean Soup 

You'll need:

1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
500g pumpkin
1 carrot
1 small sweet potato
2 cups veggie stock
2 tins 400g diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 generous Tablespoon curry powder
2 tins mixed beans



Chop and saute the onion and garlic in a large pot using a little amount of stock.
Chop the veggies (peeling the pumpkin), place into the pot and bring to the boil with the remaining stock. Once boiling, simmer until veggies are soft.
Add tomatoes and use a stick blender to blend til desired consistency, either with a few chunky pieces remaining or til completely smooth - whatever is your preference.
Add the drained beans and spices. Return to heat and simmer til warmed through.
Serve with fresh herbs or croutons.

Question of the day:
Do you only eat soup during the cooler months, or also during the warmer months?

Orange Soup

I must admit that I don't really consider myself a pumpkin fan.....
but I do love pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin pancakes, baked pumpkin and of course, pumpkin soup. I guess that does make me a pumpkin fan then!!!
One thing I have come to learn over the years is that just because a pumpkin soup is called "pumpkin soup", when it contains more than just pumpkin it tastes even better!
Here's a combination I love. All the warmth and fullness of a pumpkin soup with just a hint of curry. 

PUMPKIN & CHICKPEA SOUP

You'll need:
1 onion
1 small sweet potato
1 carrott
1/4 kent pumpkin (or other pumpkin of choice)
1 can chickpeas
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar (can be omitted)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon vegemite (trust me it works!)
Approx. 4 cups of vegetable stock

Chop all the vegetables. Drain the chickpeas. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover with vegetable stock (amount will vary depending on your pot). You can make this soup thicker or thinner depending on how much stock you use.
Cook on low for 8 hours.
Once all vegetable are soft. Blend half with a stick blender.

You can also make this over a stove top. Just bring to the boil & then simmer til all the vegetable and soft.

Submitted for Meatless Monday A-Z: Yams (also known as Sweet Potato)

Slow Cooked Ratatouille with Sweet Potato and Butter Beans

I love ratatouille.... however without any starch I find it doesn't keep me full for very long.
The addition of the beans & sweet potato make this a complete meal.
And using the slow cooker means after a busy day we can come home to a complete meal all ready without having to add anything on the side.

Slow Cooked Ratatouille

1 onion
1 sweet potato
1 eggplant
1 capsicum
1 zucchini
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can butter beans, drained
1 teaspoons each dried thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary & marjoram
800g can diced tomatoes

Chop all the vegetables into reasonably sized chunks.
Add all the ingredients in a slow cooker & fill with enough water to cover (approx 1-2 cups).
Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.

I'm such a fan of simple meals like this! Easy doesn't have to compromise taste! 

 
Question of the day:
Are there any meals that are traditionally cooked in the oven that you've tried in a the slow-cooker?

Layered 2 Potato Bake

Today's Meatless Monday food is Potato.

I was a little undecided about what 'type' of potato I would use, then I decided to use two.
I'm a BIG sweet potato fan, and my husband is a big regular potato fan. So this kept us both happy. And it looks pretty too :-)
Super easy to make, its a great dish to serve when guests come over.

LAYERED 2 POTATO BAKE

Peel your sweet potatoes. Slice white potatoes and sweet potatoes into 1cm thick pieces.
In a large roasting dish pour enough stock on the bottom to cover the base with a thin layer.
Arrange the potatoes in rows of each type. 
Sprinkle with rosemary and bake covered with foil in a 200C oven for 45 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.

Question of the day:
DO you prefer regular white potatoes or sweet potatoes?

Chickpea, rice & sweet potato stew

My husband doesn't like eating rice. 
I missed eating rice.
So this dish came about.
He likes rice when its served actually "in" part of the meal - just not separately.

I have my rice fix. He doesn't eat plain rice. Everyone happy :-)

I love how simple this meal is & yet its wonderfully satisfying. It is also quick to make which means I can get it done no matter what the day has delivered.
It reheats well & since we're a home of leftover lovers it suits us quite nicely.
It could easily be doubled if you need extra.

In a large stock pot combine:

1 chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic (or 2 squashed garlic cloves)
1 chopped green capsicum
1 chopped carrot
1 corn cob, kernels removed
1 tin drained chickpeas
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 chopped medium size sweet potato
800g tin diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon each: thyme, paprika, marjoram, sage

Cover, bring to the boil & then simmer for 15 minutes until the sweet potato is tender but not fallen apart.

Yep, its really that easy!

Serves 6

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?

Chickpea Pie Stew

As you've probably worked out by now I like to be the 'easy queen'.
This is another quick and easy meal that is great for those evenings when you're walking in the door a little later than you might have liked, but still need to get dinner on the table.

This is a bit like a stew and a bit like a pie. That's why its called 'pie stew'.
The bottom half reminds me of a chickpea stew and by adding the sweet potato on the top it reminds me a bit of shepherds pie!
None the less, whatever it is, the simply flavour combination tastes amazing.


Mix together in a large baking dish:

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can drained chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon cumin

Bake 200 for 15 minutes.
While the 'stew' part is baking, peel one large (or 2 small) sweet potatoes and boil til soft (your choice microwave or stove top).

Mash the sweet potatoes and spread them over the top of the chickpea mixture. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Return to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes.

Serve. Goes well with a side of steamed veggies or salad.

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

Colour-warp Roast Veggies

When my husband saw me preparing this dish, he told me it was all mixed up! Potatoes should be white & carrots should be orange! 
That's why I have called it a colour warp roast. But whatever the colours, the flavour mix here is very tasty.
I love sweet potatoes so much more than white potatoes! And purple carrots are just delicious. This roast is a little bit fancy and tastes amazing!

2 purple carrots
3 small sweet potatoes
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup sauerkraut

Chop the carrots and sweet potatoes into bite size pieces.
Spread the bottom of a roasting pan with the sesame oil. Add the vegetable pieces & sprinkle the dried heaps over the top.
Roast in a 200C oven for 40 minutes.
Top the veggies with the sauerkraut and continue to roast for another 20 minutes. 

Serve as part of a roast dinner, on top of a bed of salad leaves, over pasta, or other grain of choice.

Shown here over corn pasta & topped with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast.

Mashed Sweet Potato with Mexican Spiced Black Beans

WARNING: Super yummy dinner recipe below!

Mashed sweet potato:
1 sweet potato per person

Peel and chop the sweet potato. Put in a pot of water & bring to the boil & simmer until potato is soft (approx 15mintes).  
Drain the potato & then return to the pot & mash well.
 
For the bean mix:
(This bean mix will make 4 servings)
1 tin black beans
1 corn cob, kernels cut off
1 red capsicum
1 onion
1 zucchini
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon chili (or to taste)
1 teaspoon each dried herbs: cumin, paprika, oregano, thyme
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
3 Tablespoons water


Chop all the vegetables into small pieces & combine in a frying pan with the crushed garlic. Water saute until they are soft (approx 10 minutes). Drain the beans & add them to the mixture. Add the herbs & stir well. 

An amazing collection of colours!

Add the tomato paste with the water & stir until the sauce has lightly coated all the vegetables. Leave on the heat for 3 more minutes until everything is warmed through.

Serve the bean mix over the mashed sweet potato.

Any leftovers make for a great burrito filling!

WIAW - Unprocessed Tuesday Week 2

I decided to post Tuesday's meals this week for what-i-ate-wednesday! Why post Tuesday instead of Wednesday you may ask?!? Well because Wednesday's meals always seem so boring being my work day! 

Today I experimented a bit, so I thought it would be more fun to share today!
Possibly Wednesday will be full of today's leftovers anyway ;-)


Breakfast -->
Banana Oat Pancakes
Same as my blueberry-choc-oat-pancakes, just omit the blueberries and add one over-ripe mashed banana.

Lunch -->
I experimented with making my own tortillas! :-/
Let's just say... next time I'll stick to store bought ones!
It was a lot of fun but they just weren't so great to roll up into a salad wrap. 
That said, they were still very tasty.
They worked out way better as 'dipping bread' for this pumpkin cheeze-sauce than for wraps!

Dinner -->
More experimenting :-) I love having fun in the kitchen.
What is that quote Nigella Lawson says at the start of her series Kitchen - "If I'm in the kitchen, I'm happy". Well personally, I couldn't agree more.

For this evening's meal I made Cauliflower fried-rice with sweet potato and chick pea burgers.

The cauliflower fried rice but a bit of an experiment but it was soooooo amazingly tasty that I'm going to make it again and then share the recipe soon! 
I did go back for seconds ;-)

The sweet potato and chick pea burgers were really simple. Just steam a small sweet potato and then toss it in a food processor with a drained can of chickpeas, chopped spring onions and enough besan flour to hold the mixture together. Then bake for 30 mins until golden brown. ~Really tasty~

Dessert -->
As always.... banana ice-cream! This time with cherries and cocoa too :-)
mmmmmm black forest flavour soft-serve! Soooooo good!

To see some of my experimenting with the tortillas continue scrolling below!

Letting the dough sit

Rolling out the tortillas - bit sticky :-/

Much better rolling out with flour instead of paper!

Dry-fry the tortilla

Yay a puffed one!!!!!!!
Lucky number 3 ;-)

And making the sweet potato burgers....

Simple Silverbeet & Sweet Potato Stew

Here's a nice quick meal that can be made in under 30minutes, from beginning to end - for those evenings when we're simply exhausted!

Its also great for leftovers, can be warmed in the microwave or stove top.

What you'll need:

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces

1 large brown onion, peeled and chopped

1 bunch silverbeet, bottoms of stems removed and chopped

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger

1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cumin

tahini - to serve

Sautee the onion & garlic in a large pot until the onion is soft. Add the sweet potato, silverbeet and chickpeas.  Pour the stock & soy sauce over the vegetables, sprinkle the cumin on and add just enough water so that the mixture is not floating but so that the complete bottom of the pot has moisture. I found this was about 1/2 cup. Put a lid on and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes until the silverbeet is cooked through & the sweet potato is soft. The stock should thicken and a little bit remaining in the bottom but not so much that the mixture is soggy.

Spoon into bowls & top with a spoonful of tahini.

Optional: Serve over brown rice or noodles.

Sweet Potato Chips with Spicy 5 Bean Mix

To make the sweet potato chips:

Slice 2 sweet potatoes and place in a bowl of water to soak for 40 minutes.

Drain & then coat in paprika.

Bake at 200C for 40-45 minutes until lightly golden - you can bake them for longer if you want them to be more crunchy. Also note that oven times vary a lot & also this will depend on the width that you've cut the potato.

To make the Spicy 5 Bean Mix:

You'll need:

1 can 5 bean mix

1 zucchini

1 corn cob

1 onion

1 red capsicum

1 garlic clove

1/2 teaspoon chilli 

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 heaped Tablespoon tomato paste

Chop all the vegetables into bite size pieces.

Saute the onion and garlic with all the herbs until the onion is soft & lightly golden brown.

Add the vegetables and stir well - cook for 10 minutes.

Add the drained beans, apple cider vinegar and the tomato paste and combine well. Cook for another 5 minutes until mixture begins to gently bubble and thicken.

Serve bean mix over the sweet potato.

YOU'VE GOT TO TRY THIS!

This is so super easy & yet it is divinely tasty!

Wrap a sweet potato in foil & bake for 45-60 mins in oven - til soft.

In a frying pan combine red kidney beans, chopped onion, chopped green capsicum with a generous tablespoon of salsa and a half teaspoon cumin. Fry until all is heated through.

Cut the sweet potato in half and serve the bean mixture on top.

SO TASTY!

Winter Curry & Couscous

For an easy curry on a weeknight you can't go past this.

I don't slave over a mortar and pestle for hours...... to tell you the truth - I just can't be bothered too!
This is a basic curry that tastes delicious & is hassle free.


You'll need:
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
1 small brown onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 cup green lentils
1 1/2 cups boiling water
270ml can of coconut cream
2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 teaspoon curry powder
Cous cous & snow peas to serve

Prepare the couscous per packet directions - add a teaspoon of curry powder and stir to combine.
Pour the lentils into a container with a lid. Add the boiling water & let sit for 15 mins.
Warm a frying pan. Add the onion & lightly brown with a water sautee.
Add the chopped sweet potato & stir for 3 minutes.
Add the lentils WITH the water that was used for soaking.
Add the coconut cream & the curry paste. Stir until all ingredients are well combined.
Bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down to low & simmer with a lid on for 20 mins.
Most of the liquid will be absorbed by then & the sweet potato will be softened, as will the lentils.

Serve over the prepared couscous with steamed snow peas.