In The Pink Soup

I've had a few roots sitting in the bottom of the fridge and they were about to go off, so I decided to throw them in a pot and see what happens.

Ingredients:
2 big beetroots
half a red cabbage
5 small potatoes
handful of tomatoes
1 small onion
Tsp olive oil
soya cream
salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, oregano, cinnamon (no, really, it adds a lovely sweet edge)

 Wash tomatoes, put them in a dish with some olive oil, salt and pepper and leave them in the oven for about half an hour at 180° C.

Peel the beetroot and potatoes (or don't. I like my potatoes with the skin on, but then I'm weird) and chop all the vegetables to roughly same size.

Dice the onion and saute with a bit of olive oil until it's golden. Add vegetables, spices and about 1 litre of water. Cook on medium heat for about half an hour. Or a bit longer or not as long depending on the size of your vegetables.

Once all the vegetables are cooked, rev up the hand mixer and make a smooth soup. Or a chunky one, depending on taste and dexterity with the mixer.

Add soya cream to taste and colour preferences.

What I learned: The cabbage totally swamps the beetroot, but it's a nice wintery soup anyways.

PS: I made dessert and it was amazing. Orange slices with melted chocolate.

 

risotto with artichokes and braised tofu

I found this recipe in Die Welt In Meiner Küche as a risotto with artichokes and Italian sausage, so I substituted the tofu for sausage. I've never tried braised tofu before or indeed cooked with artichokes (I'm that much of a kitchen newbie) so it'll be exciting.

Ingredients:
juice of half a lemon
2 artichokes
1 litre vegetable broth (having a bit extra standing by won't hurt)
3 Tsp olive oil
1 small onion
about 80g braised tofu (about half a can)
2 cloves of garlic
a few twigs of thyme and tarragon... or oregano if you like me don't have tarragon.
250 g Arborio rice

I made my own broth for this with carrot, onion, celery and pepper and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Yes, you do need to see this. It's stock! And I made it! Shush, I'm excited.

Next remove the hard outer leaves from the artichokes, cut about a third off the top and cut the stem to about 3cm and peel. Cut the artichokes in half and scrape out the hay, then cut them in 8 to 9 slices. Put the artichoke slices in a bowl of cold water and lemon juice.

Simmer your stock in a pot while you make the risotto.

Heat olive oil in a high skillet on medium heat. Peel and dice the onion and saute until golden.

Add crushed garlic, braised tofu artichokes (sans lemon water) and herbs. Saute the artichokes until they are soft.

Add rice to the pan, stir, salt and pepper then add about 250 ml of stock. Reduce heat and let simmer. When the liquid is nearly gone add more stock. Stir occasionally and continue to add stock until rice is done. Fish out thyme sprigs. Serve.

Lovely.

Things I've learned: Don't be stingy when cutting away hard bits of the artichoke. I had a few tough bits and it's not pleasant. Also and more importantly: braised tofu is disgusting, but the taste is relatively easy to cover with herbs.

That scent

I recently bought a bag of fresh bay leaves and have since added them to absolutely everything. Two or three go into the water when I boil vegetables. They make a lovely addition when I've got some roots grilling in the oven.

Right now I'm making a oven baked potato on a bed of bay leaves. I'm not sure - in fact I doubt - there'll be any quantifiable taste difference, but to have the scent of sizzling bay leaves fill my kitchen for two hours is well worth it.

ETA: I was wrong. It did make a lovely difference.

yellow skull cross stitch

NO YOU F****** CAN'T

Canned tomatoes on home-baked rosemary and thyme bread

 

For the bread:

Ingredients: 

300g flour

200ml soy milk

75ml oil

20g fresh yeast

2tsp rosemary

2tsp thyme 

1/2 tsp salt

Sift together flour and herbs

Stir in milk, yeast and oil

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it sit in a warm place for 30-45 mins

Preheat oven at gas mark 6

Transfer dough into oiled form

Bake 5-10 minutes

Lower the heat to gas mark 3

Bake for another 20-25 minutes

  

Leave to cool in the form for about 5 minutes, 

then transfer onto rack

 

Onto the tomatoes:

Ingredients:

1can of tomatoes

Oregano

Salt

bit of oil if needed

Let simmer in a pan until the tomatoes are hot and the juice is reduced

 

Take two or three slices of bread and toast them

Add tomatoes

  

Enjoy!

Layered peanut butter brownies

Ingredients:

200g soft tofu

200g sugar

40ml oil
2tsp vanilla extract

40g cocoa

160g flour

2tsp baking powder

150g peanut butter

(aproximation - two big spoons full)

2Tsp oil

Sieve flour and baking powder together in a big bowl

In seperate bowl mix tofu, sugar, oil, vanilla and cocoa together until mix is smooth

Add cocoa tofu to flour and mix until dough is smooth

Whisk peanut butter and oil until smooth

Put half the dough into form

Layer on the peanut butter

Now add second half of dough 

(slightly tricky)

Add chocolate chips on top if you like

Bake at gas mark 4 (180°C) 

for about 25-30 minutes

Take out of the oven to cool. 

 

Soy cream on top. 

Enjoy!

Rainbow cake

Ingredients:

130 g flour

1tsp baking powder

100 g soft tofu

70 g sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

food colouring 

Sift together flour and baking powder

In another bowl, mix sugar and tofu

Add flour mix and vanilla extract

Mix until dough is smooth

Devide into four parts and add food colouring.

Chuck the different colours dough in the dish. 

At gas mark 5 bake for 25 to 30 minutes. 

Add frosting if you feel like giving yourself a sugar high. 

Enjoy!

Vegan fat-free rainbow cake full of e numbers. 

I can't decide whether that's the most or least hippie thing I've ever made.

Vegan double chocolate cake with banana surprise

ingredients:

175g flour
1 ts baking soda
1/2 ts salt
45g cocoa powder
90g veg. margarine
150g sugar
2 Ts water
240ml soy milk
1 ts vanilla extract
1/2 ts ground cinnamon
100g dark chocolate
1 banana

Stir together flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder.
In a separate bowl, blend together margarine, sugar and water until fluffy
Add this to flour mixture as well as soy milk and vanilla
Mix gently until the dough is smooth

Pour the dough into a cake form
Chop/break the chocolate into chunks
Peel the banana and together with the chocolate drop it in the cake dough

At gas mark 5, bake for about 30mins or until no dough sticks to a wooden knitting needle that you use to check your cake because your kitchen is massively underequiped.

Let cool and enjoy

Or get impatient and enjoy while still warm. The melted chocolate makes a mess, but tastes lovely.

Crochet panda hat

The wool I used was quite thick, so I used a 6mm hook.

The hat is worked in continuous rounds of double crochets. To finish I brushed the wool with a steel brush to achieve fuzziness.

The ears are eight continuous rounds of single crochets using a 4mm hook. Then fold and sew them on in a half circle.

Old Vienna apple strudel

Dough:

300g flour

125ml warm water

1 egg

1 Tsp oil

1 Tsp vinegar

salt

Throw in a bowl and mix till the dough is smooth. Cover with a cloth and leave for 1-2 hours in a warm spot.

Filling:

4-6 apples (depending on size) I like Bramley or Boscop.

lemon juice

150 g sugar

1 Tsp cinnamon

100 g raisins

50 g chopped almonds

4 Tsp bread crumbs

Also needed: powdered sugar and butter

Peel and cut apples into thin slices and immediately put lemon juice in the bowl. Mix sugar, cinnamon, raisins and almonds in a bowl, then add to apples and mix.

Take a dish cloth (clean, ironed and without seams in the fabric) and sprinkle some flour on it. Roll the dough so it's equal thickness, then pull it on the back of your hands. Lay it on the cloth and pull until it's so thin you can read love letters through the dough. Cut off the thick edges, then brush with warm butter.

First chuck on the breadcrumbs, then the apple/sugar/raisin mix. Fold over the edges of the dough, then lift the cloth from one side and use it to roll the strudel. Lift it on a prepared baking tray, brush with butter and bake at around 200° for 20-30 minutes (depending on the thickness of the strudel and on how thinly you chopped the apples.)

vegan gingerbread cupcakes

dry ingredients:

230gr flour

1tsp ground cinnamon

2tsp ground ginger

1tsp baking powder

1/2tsp baking soda

wet ingredients: 

200ml vegetable oil

150ml soy milk

80ml maple syrup

80ml molasses

whisk dry ingredients into wet ones

add 80gr chopped crystalized ginger and 1tsp chopped lemon zest

pour into paper cases

bake 15-20 mins at 150° overheat until tops are golden brown

Kitchen like a murder scene. 

Frosting:

100 gr veg. margarine

100 gr. veg shortening

800 gr icing sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

whisk margarine and shortening together until smooth

slowly add sugar and vanilla and whist 10 mins until the frosting is fluffy like a sweet cloud. 

Orange food colouring adds that extra touch of... in-joke. 

Addapted from this recipe over at PostPunkKitchen. 

O double click my heart

Sunday breakfast with vegan pancakes.

For two:

200gr flour

250ml soy milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

salt

fry in a pan till golden brown

add veg. margarine and maple syrup

Make coffee and go back to bed.

Summer's here.

Fresh mint and ginger tea with agave nectar.

Extra lovely when iced. 

difficult difficult lemon difficult

First project in nerd crafts: A stitched tree of life. Darwin's handwriting doesn't lend itself to backstitch, but I soldiered on regardless.

It's not exceptionally accurate, but in my defense: I didn't have a pattern, just did it freehand off a picture I've got on my wall.