Holy Chocamole ... The Blog

This recipe I have been looking at for a couple of years now, never quite tempted enough or brave enough to really give it a crack.

That all changed yesterday when I finally worked up the courage to not only make it but vlog about it too!!!

Can I just say I couldn't even journal about yesterday. This stuff is dangerous and is certainly NOT fit for children even if they are 24 !!! it must be kept for those 40ish and over... preferably female .. and preferably me !!! In all seriousness though I highly recommend this recipe I also highly recommend you halving the serves. If this dessert was any richer it would make the 1% look like sewer rats !!! Serious richness of flavour going on, amazing texture, made better by almost fully melted chocolate so the odd bite was in there still.

I have to say I think this is the biggest winner ever !!! This is MY take on the recipe, everyone has a similar one and that is ok. The video is below. Please excuse my teeny tiny kitchen and inability to find the right angles ... other than being teeny tiny the ceiling is only 6 foot 4 inches tall so it is making things challenging but no less fun !!!

HOLY CHOCAMOLE 

4 Avocados

100g (ish) Melted Dark Chocolate

1/2 cup Carob Powder

1/2 cup Agave Syrup

Halve and de-stone your avocados. 

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz for a good 5 minutes. 

Pop into pots for serving

This recipe will either serve 4 very greedy people or 8 people reasonably without leaving them feeling ill (which is what you want) 

Here is how I did it !!! 

Now go and make it !!! 

Stuffed Pancakes

The other members of my household are meat heads... literally. I am always finding ways to make their food different and "manly" and I have to admit there have been times I have felt left out and really miffed about it. So when they came up with the idea of cheese and bacon pancakes for breakfast I sat back and thought. "Well... what about me !!!" On this particular day I thought it might be a good idea to do what I did for them but using vegan cheese and mushrooms and I did ... and it was lush so I figured I better share it before i have my arm chewed off by someone!!!! 

Oh and just out of interest.... my son asked me to make him some of these for him too !!! There are some days you winder if you are winning or not !!!! 

STUFFED MUSHROOM AND CHEESE PANCAKES

1 Cup            Gluten free plain flour

1/2 Cup         Buckwheat flour

1 Tabespoon Ground Flaxseed (Xanthum Gum works too) 

1 teaspoon    Baking Powder

1/2 Cup        Almond Milk (or whatever your preference of non dairy milk is)

250g             Mushrooms (sliced)

100g             Cheddar style Vegan Cheese

50g               Vegan butter for greasing the pan 

First off you have to mix up  your first ingredients together to make a fairly thick pancake batter. Leave to rest

Next you need to cook off your mushrooms in maybe some vegan butter and some herbs. Whatever work for you I used thyme and garlic my favourite flavours for mushrooms. Once they are cooked through and browned a little set to one side.

Slice your cheese fairly thinly but thick enough for it to hold its shape. 

Heat up your pan or skillet or griddle for your pancakes and lightly grease. USe a medium heat not a super hot one, you want them to cook through and not burn on contact. 

Once bubbling add a half cup of mix and if very thick smooth it out a bit so the mix is around 3 mm thick. as this slowly cooks add a couple of slices of your cheese to the top.

Add then your mushrooms on top and carefully pour more mix over the top of the mushrooms to cover. 

It is important that the mix completely cover the mushrooms like so... 

When you start seeing bubbles through the top of the mix on the edges and  few on the top you need to flip it fast. Have confidence and get your flipper right underneath it and flip it quickly, don't give it time to fight back !!! 

As you can see it does have a loverly golden brown base and yes those bits on the side are the extra batter poured over the top. 

Of course make as many as you need and keep them warm in the oven on 50C till you have made them all. 

Inside turns into a wonderful cheesy gooey mushroomy goodness ....

I have to admit I made a good half dozen of these. I got 1. Yeap apparently stuffed pancakes are a hit in our house whether they have bacon in them or not !!! 

Banana and Walnut Pixie Pancakes

Oh My Goddess!!! This morning I awoke with a craving, not just any old craving. A craving for something gooey and nutty and fruity and very very norty!!!!

You know the kind of food you bite into and makes you shudder then slide about 4 inches in your chair and you sit there chewing casually with a dopey grin on your face with your eyes shut kinda food.

The answer for me was simple PANCAKES!!! I could do pancakes with a caramel banana topping ... no no that wasn't going to work ... add walnuts !!! .. nooo i want the nuts but too many pans ... it's too early for a kitchen full of washing up!!!

I KNOW I'll chuck it all in together and see what happens!!! that is what I've done ... literally!!! hahaha!!!

Of course you also have a bit of an insight into how my brain works ... gods bless you every one xoxox

So here we go ...

BANANA AND WALNUT PIXIE PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup     Spelt flour

1 Cup     Buckwheat Flour

1 Tbspn Ground Flaxseed (optional)

1/2 Cup  Soft Light Brown Sugar

2 tspns    Gluten Free Baking Powder

2 tspns    Ground Cinnamon

3/4 Cup  Walnuts

1/2 Litre Almond Milk or other dairy free millk 

3             Bananas 

METHOD

1. Add all the dry ingredients except the walnuts in the bowl together.

2. Place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse 4-5 times to get nice small chunky pieces. Add these to the bowl

3. Place the skinned bananas in the same food processor (this helps get the last bits of walnuts out) and blitz until puree. Place in the bow and mix

4. Add Almond Milk and mix until you have a loverly thick batter. 

5. Place spoonfuls of the batter on a really hot greased frypan and turn the temp down. Flip as soon as you can smell they are cooked. For the size I did they are about a minute each side. 

6. Serve warm or cold. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have your ingredients ready to go. 

Pop all your dry ingredients in the bowl. 

Blitz your walnuts to loverly crumbly chunks. 

Add those and you mashed banana to the bowl and mix through

Add your "milk" 

Mix until you have a loverly gloopy batter that drops in blobs

Choose your weapon ... oh oh I mean pan!!! 

Place a spoonful on your pancake pan, if using small pans use smaller spoons. It's common sense really :D Oh and you need your pan really really hot to start but turn it to halfway as soon as you start cooking. These also will not bubble like the other ones to tell you they are ready. you have to keep an eye on them so slower cooler cooking is definitely best!!!

Pile them up and run away and baracade yourself in somewhere!!!! I have to admit though as much as i looooove my food I could only get through 5 of these babies!!!

I may only have been able to eat 5 of them but i got a guard for the rest!!!

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did/am/ going to later!!! 

To be honest this is the kind of recipe i make because I'm told I can't, so I do because I am positive there is a way to make just about anything vegan and gluten free and if I'm lucky one day I might be able to find some help to prove that theory xox 

Now go make some pancakes!!! lol 

Enjoy xox 

Plum and Brazilnut Frangipane Tart

Hello Loverlies!!!

It's been over a year since my last post and I am very very sorry. What I thought I'd do is make it up to you with a very special recipe. the recipe that really kicked me off back writing the blog again. Unfortunately there is only one picture of it and that is the finished product but it is pretty easy and I'm sure you can do it.

I am not a very good pastry girl, in fact pastry tends to terrify me somewhat. What I do like though and works really well with tarts like this is a "non rollout pastry" This is very much like a biscuit base or a cookie dough type base. Makes your heart pound when it first comes out of the oven but honestly it does crisp up just like a good pastry should.

The other awesome thing about it is that you don't have to blind bake it first. If anything it saves a good half hour of waiting around and rolling and other things you have to do with pastry. So yes this kind of base is definitely going to be my go to tart base from now on.

I used Brazils because honestly i was out of almonds. Necessity breeds creativity around here and I never let a little thing like the type of nuts change what I plan on doing ever.

Ok so enough of my rambling time for a recipe right ??? So here we go xox

PLUM AND BRAZILNUT FRANGIPANE TART

BASE 

1 cup       White Spelt Flour

1/2 Cup   Buckwheat Flour

1/2 cup    Vegan Margarine

1/2 Cup   Soft Brown Sugar

FRANGIPANE

2 Cups     Brazilnuts

1/2 Cup   Soft Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup   Coconut Cream

2 Tbspn   Spelt Flour

TOPPING 

6-8           Fresh Plums - Whatever is available - 

METHOD

Before you do anything 

1. Line and grease your tin. I used a 10 inch tin because that's what I have. 

2. Turn your oven onto 190C or 375F

Ok so then we begin with the fun stuff

1. Mix your marg and sugar together very very well until fluffy. 

2. Add Flours to the mix

3. Pour in Coconut Cream to make a thick cookie style dough texture. 

4. Place all mix in the tin and spread it out across the base and as far up the sides as you can make it. No thinner than about 1/4 cm 

NOTE: If you are in a hot climate placing the tin with the base in the fridge at this point is probably a good idea. Noone likes melted oil all over the work top !!!

5. Place the nuts in a processor and pulse until loose crumbs.

6. Add the rest of the ingredients and you should have a lushious thick creamy mix. (with chunks dont worry about the chunky bits) 

7. Add the frangipane to the base.

8. Cut the plums into quarters (or perhaps slices if you have that much time on your hands!). 

9. Place quarters on top of the frangipane and press in gently. Not enough to cover entirely but enough to sit in it well. 

10. Bake for around 1/2 hour or until golden and set. 

I works well with so cream or other alternatives including vegan icecream. However you eat it ... enjoy it. 

I know it's not just me who thinks it's good cos I gave a slab of it to a friend who also didn't tell anyone it was vegan and gluten free and they loved it and her mother asked for the recipe... I have to admit i find syncronicity an amazing thing at times, she was telling this as I had made up my mind to write this blog again. 

So yes for those of you who miss me you can thank syncronicity and a rather loverly Plum and Brazilnut Frangipane Tart xox 

Until Next time!!! 

Cuppa Soup!

It is getting chilly around here, I love autumn, actually I love all seasons, I love the fact we have seasons altogether but September comes around and all of a sudden the temp drops enough to notice.
To me this is soup weather. Running around all day and needing something quick to eat because some of us are very good at forgetting. I put this recipe together today to make sure this wouldn't happen.

I love soup I love thick soups and stoop style soups and creamy soups and cold soups and fruit soups ... but most of all on a day like today when I have loads and loads to do .. all I want is a cuppa soup. Something I can drag room to room with me and drink up like a cuppa tea or coffee... perfick for today ... and being as its the day before payday it generally means there is precious little in the fridge so chucking it all together in the pot sounds about perfick!!!

So here we go ...

CUPPA SOUP 

I wrangled together 

CAULIFLOWER

BROCCOLI (or what was left of one)

ONIONS

GARLIC

CHILL FLAKES

NIGELLA SEEDS

HOMEMADE CELERY SALT

 Me being me I chunk chopped everything and chucked it in the pot with a little vegan spread and some water

 after covering it and simmering it all for about 20 minutes you end up with a mix that looks a little like this.

 Into the blender it goes

 back in the pot and add almond milk

 then straight in my cup ... ready for slurping!!!

 When you are making soup .. use everything .. all the veg.. why waste anything ... unless of course its an icky bit and needs to be cut out... but honestly this was made stalks and all and you can do that with mushrooms and carrots and anything really. 

Waste not want not is a very canny saying and one that quite honestly is a big one in our kitchen. If I can use it somehow I will... 

This of course is me ... researching other recipes and working out modifications for much loved "traditional" recipes. Not alot of time for this at the moment what with Bloo and Perkle Foods being set up and off and running in the next few days ...so taking this moment to get on with things and find some newer yummy bits and bobs is always something I like to do when I can. Cuppa Soup at the ready of course!!!!

"Quiche"

I have to admit this is one recipe that I really really really wanted to work out .... I LOVE quiche and I miss it soooo much. It truly is one of those dishes that is so easy to grab a piece of for a quick munch or make little ones for a party ... To be fair as well the amount of different falvours you can make them is in uncountable so I figured I really really really have to find an alternative I can make because if I don't I am going to go a little insane!!!

So I did .... and here it is ....

BASIC QUICHE RECIPE

Gluten Free Pastry

 So I used HAZELNUT MILK but you can use Soy or Rice or Oat or whatever your preferance is 

VEGAN CREAM CHEESE

VEGAN CHEDDAR

BROCCOLI

COURGETTES

ONIONS

 Chop your veg up into bite sized pieces ....

 Saute them off gently in a pan or pot

 Add your cream cheese to your milk

 and mix well

 grate your "cheddar"

 Make a roux using vegan spread or olive oil and cornflour

 add some of your milky cheesy mix to the roux and mix well until it becomes a paste and then add a bit more ... just like making a white sauce ... only thicker

 Once you have a very very thick sauce in the pot add your grated "cheddar"

 Roll out your pastry and add it to your tin or whatever you are using for your quiche... line the base with your veg ...

 and then pour the sauce over the top ....

 Pop into a 200C oven for around an hour or until the pastry is golden ....

You will need to let it cool ... preferably over night in the fridge.... if you cut it now you will have a plate of goo... thick goo but goo none the less... 

Please remember this is my first attempt and I will try another again in the future.... 

right now though this will fix my raving me thinks even if I have to wait until tomorrow to eat it !!! 

Just as a side note the browny colour is the hazelnut milk ... different milks have different colours and if you want your quiche to look more eggy add some saffron water to the wet mix or a little pinch of turmeric.

Until next time 

Enjoy 

xox Pam xox 

Thai Inspired Salad

I'm not going to call this what it isn't really it is inspired by a Thai Tuna Salad that I used to adore and could eat by the bucket load but having to really think about putting things together that I miss, I thought I really had to do something with this salad.

So here it is ....

THAI INSPIRED SALAD

Ok so my main ingredients are those that I would put in the original salad and a couple of addition
MINT
CORIANDER
RED ONION
CUCUMBER
PEPPER

I decided that due to the lack of protein element in this one that I wanted to bulk it out somewhat.. So I grabbed a bag of mixed crunchy salad .... I like the crunchy freshness of this one It is perfect for this salad.

 I made a dressing out of cider vinegar, olive oil and a Dry Thai Spice Blend that I put together myself and have just in case ....
CHILLI
GARLIC
SHALLOTS
GINGER
LEMONGRASS

 Last minute the decision was to grab the last of the cherry tomatoes and chuck them in with the salad and then dress it with the dressing...

A really fresh and lush salad that if you wanted to add some vegan cheese or sauteed mushrooms too they wouldn't be out of place at all...

It was a bit of a quick fix this one but sometimes thats all you need.

Until next time

xox Pam xox

"Cheesey" Toastie with lots of nommy bits

Ok so I got rather excited finding a Vegan Cheddar in our local wholefoods shop. That very night I decided that i must have a cheese toastie... something I have missed for months and months and really really love and to be fair I'm pretty sure its one of the basic things we all miss when we first walk this path.

So yes I have add ons in mine but these are entirely up to you... I have to say however I have found out that the both the bread I am using and the Quorn bacon strips have reconstituted egg white in them so if you have to be a little more stricter than I do then use what you choose too. I have to admit that eggs seem to be ok at this point for me. Who's to say that wont change later on though ???

So here we go ...

CHEESE TOASTIE

Ok so these were my ingredients ... add your own according to your taste.

 4 slices of bread

 butter your bread .... BUT ... on the wrong side of the bread

 add whatever is less wet as ingredients first against the bread to save it from soggyitis from tomatoes or whatever

 then add your wet ingredients in the middle like these overly quickly sliced tomatoes...

 CHHHEEEEEESSSSSEEEEE GROMIT!!!!

 yeap slices like cheddar, smells a little like feta... but it definitely gives the impression of cheese and that's all i care about right now!!!

 top slice on .... if you wanted to you can add your favourite mustard or whatever on the top slice ... i was far too excited for fripperies!!!

 straight in a pan that you have preheated on a medium temp.. not hot or your bread will burn before anything has time to cook or warm up inside !!!!

 flip your loverly golden nomminess

 I did turn the temp down at this point and popped a lid on as it did appear to be cooking a little too quickly and I wanted the filling to be hot and gooey

 and I did charcoal the other side of my toastie which is why its sitting side up on this one... ready to eat ... I don't mind a bit of charcoal I have to say it stops the "vegan butt ruptures" for a little while at least...

They were utterly yummy but in my haste of wanting a toastie I forgot the A toastie and made the 2 and paid for it ... 

Oh well ... I know we all think it's worth it .. but really really it isn't ... pain isn't a good thing it means we did something bad... in my case my body is desperately trying to cope with solid food and it really isn't. This is a learning curve not just for me but everyone. My lesson today has been 1 is enough!!! 

Until next time 

xox Pam xox