Mushroom Pâté

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] I made this pâté as part of the Vegan Beef Wellington recipe I made a couple of weeks ago but I liked the pâté so much that I thought I would post it as a separate entry, it’s such a fast and easy recipe and it’s definitely delicious enough to deserve it’s own post. Also it will be much easier for me to find this way! Apologies in advance for the dodgy photo, I know it doesn’t look appetising, but pâté is just one of those things that looks kinda gross, you’ll have to take my word for it that it’s delicious.

Mushroom Pâté

Ingredients:

1 tbs non dairy margarine
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 small leek, chopped
2 cups button mushrooms, chopped
2 tsp tamari
1 tbs vegan mayonnaise
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup soft silken tofu
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp dried thyme

Method:

1. Heat half your margarine a fry pan over medium heat, add your leek, mushrooms, tamari and the thyme. Cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until mushrooms are cooked.

2. Place the mushroom mixture into your blender, add mayonnaise, breadcrumbs, tofu and walnuts and blend until smooth. Place in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

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Mushroom, Pumpkin & Sage Risotto

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] While risotto seems like a lot of work with all the stirring required, it’s actually quite a fast meal that doesn’t require a lot of preparation, and best of all, there is only one pot to clean once you’re finished eating. I personally find risotto quite heavy and that is one of the reasons I like to add tomatoes during the last stages of cooking, I find that they lighten up the dish a little. If you wanted to make the meal without the tomatoes it would work equally well. Enjoy!

Mushroom, Pumpkin & Sage Risotto

Ingredients

1 tbs non dairy butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic minced
1 medium leek, chopped
2 cups button mushrooms, chopped
1 1/2 cups pumpkin, chopped (approx 1.5cm cubes)
3/4 cup zucchini, chopped
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Melt your butter in a heavy based medium saucepan over medium heat. Add your garlic and leek, cook for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin, mushrooms, zucchini, vegetable stock, rice and some freshly ground black pepper.

2. Stir the mixture constantly, until the rice has completely absorbed the stock, this will take approximately 20 minutes. Test the rice at this stage, it will largely depend on the water content of your vegetables whether the rice is completely done, if it is still a bit cruchy, add another 1/2 cup of water or stock to the mixture and continue stirring until the liquid has been absorbed.

3. Stir in your tomatoes and fresh sage and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add extra salt and pepper if required. Serve the risotto, garnished with the chopped walnuts.

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Pumpkin, Sage & Walnut Ravioli

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] Long time readers of Vegan Chickie will remember bare-chested-chef, my lovely husband, who cooked for us on a regular basis during the early days of the Vegan Chickie Blog. Recently, he has been busy being an actual chef out in the real world and hasn’t had much spare time for tinkering in the kitchen at home, but this weekend, due to popular demand, he has come out of retirement and agreed to cook something delicious for us to showcase on the Vegan Chickie blog.

I am going to put the recipe into two posts, the Pumpkin and Sage Ravioli here and the Creamy Capsicum Pasta Sauce in another post to avoid things getting too confusing. Alternatively you could use any pasta sauce with this ravioli recipe. I especially like them with a spicy tomato sauce.

Pumpkin Sage & Walnut Ravioli

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
500g flour
300g water
1tsp salt
2 tbs chia seeds, finely ground (optional)
1tbs olive oil

For the ravioli filling:
1 medium butternut chopped
1 tbs chopped sage
1 tbs nutritional yeast
1/4 cup stock
1/4 cup oil
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees, in a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin in the 1tbs of oil, garlic, salt and pepper, toss until the pumpkin is evenly coated. Place the pumpkin on a baking tray and bake for 45 mins – 1 hr.

2. Meanwhile, make the dough for the pasta. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix well until the mixture forms a dough. cover the dough and set aside for half an hour.

3. Once your pumpkin is roasted, remove it from the oven and mash it, add the sage, walnuts, oil, vegetable stock, and nutritional yeast, mix well to combine. Set aside until your pasta is ready to fill.

6. Once the pasta dough has ‘rested’ roll it out with a rolling pin and then run it through your pasta machine as directed with the machine instructions. Once the pasta is rolled thinly enough place it in rows along a floured surface. Place 1/2 tbs sized portions of the pumpkin mixture about 4cm apart along one edge of the pasta as shown in the pictures below. Fold the sheet of pasta over to cover. You may need to use a small amount of water to seal the pasta around the pumpkin. Cut with a ravioli spindle (or just a knife if you don’t have a cutter).

8. Add your ravioli to a large pot of salted boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes. Strain well.

9. Put the ravioli on a plate, top with your sauce, garnish with parsley and eat!

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Moroccan Vegetable Pie

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] Looking for something delicious to do with your leftover Moroccan Vegetable Stew? Puff pastry is my favourite way to dress up boring leftovers. I always have vegan puff pastry in the freezer ready to go and I’ll give anything a whirl. As far as I’m concerned, EVERYTHING tastes better in puff pastry! In this case I took 1 1/2 cups of leftover Moroccan Vegetable Stew, topped it with a handful of roughly chopped walnuts, a handful of raisins, wrapped it up, brushed it with some non dairy milk and put it in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes. The sweet fruit with the spicy stew and the crunchy nuts was a perfect match!

Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]

While I didn’t use a tagine for this recipe, it could actually be cooked in one easily enough (I don’t have one, or it would have been), I used my slow cooker for this, (you all know how much I love my slow cooker!) but if you don’t have one, it could just as easily be done in a big pot on your stove top at a low temperature.

Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium carrots, chopped roughly
1 medium butternut pumpkin peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
2 potatoes peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes
1 medium leek, chopped
4 large mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon chili flakes
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup couscous, prepared as directed on packaging
Chopped walnuts and raisins for garnish

Method:

1. Turn your slow cooker to LOW heat, add olive oil, leek, carrots, potato, pumpkin, mushrooms, prunes, walnuts, chickpeas, tomatoes, cinnamon stick, cumin, coriander, paprika, chilli flakes and vegetable stock. Stir well, cover and cook for 6 – 8 hours.

2. Prepare the couscous according the directions on the packaging.

3. Before serving, stir parsley into stew and season to taste with salt and pepper, remove the cinnamon stick and serve over hot cooked couscous. Garnish with parsley and a few chopped walnuts and maybe a handful of raisins for some extra sweetness.

NOTE: Almonds are more traditionally used in Moroccan cooking so you could substitute the walnuts for almonds if you like. If you don’t have prunes, raisins would work equally well.

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Vegan Vanilla & Walnut Cookies

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]What started out as a hankering for a midnight snack last night turned into a lovely batch of vanilla cookies. This recipe is so easy and would make a great base for any kind of extras you’d like to add, choc chips, dried fruit, nuts, whatever you can think of. The only problem with me cooking midnight snacks is that I forget to take photos of the whole process, I started off well and ended well but got forgetful somewhere in the middle.. I blame it on the cookie cravings. The cookies themselves were really lovely, not overly sweet which I found quite nice, but if you like your cookies super sweet you might like to add some white sugar to the mix.

Vanilla & Walnut Cookies

Ingredients
150g dairy free margarine
150g brown sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla paste (or extract)
250g all purpose flour (half wholemeal would work as well)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Cream the margarine and sugar together
3. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla paste
4. Add the walnuts, sifted flour and baking powder and mix well (you may need to use your hands)
5. Bake on a greased cookie tray for 10 – 15 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tray

This recipe made approximately 24 cookies.

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Vegan Nut Roast

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]This was my first attempt at a nut roast, before today I hadn’t even eaten one before but decided that I would give it a go for Christmas. I served it with mashed potatoes, glazed carrots with sesame seeds, fresh bread rolls and home made stuffing (recipe to come). Luckily I loved it, because I’m going to be eating it the leftovers for a whole week! I really need to get a smaller loaf tin! It was considerably more crumbly than I expected, but delicious all the same!

Vegan Nut Roast:

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
1 carrot finely chopped
1 leek finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 small red chili finely chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 cup non diary butter melted
200g cashews finely ground
100g walnuts chopped roughly
100g pinenuts
400g firm tofu chopped into 1/2 centimeter cubes
100g button mushrooms chopped finely
1 can brown lentils drained
2 tbs fresh basil chopped finely
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
2 tbs tomato paste
Orgran egg replacer (equiv 3 eggs)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Heat the oil in a medium pan on medium heat, add the leeks, garlic, chili and carrots and cook for 5 minutes to soften the vegetables, add the wine, vegetable stock and additional stock cube and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl combine nuts, mushrooms, tofu, lentils and herbs. Mix thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients (melted butter, egg replacer mix and tomato paste) and mix well to combine. Finally add the garlic and leek mixture from the pan and mix it all through so that your ingredients are evenly mixed through.

4. Pour the mixture into a loaf tin lined with baking paper and bake the roast for 40 minutes. Depending on the size of your pan it may take longer to cook. It is done when a knife to the centre of the roast comes out clean. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes before upending onto a plate to serve.

Mum’s Banana, Date & Walnut loaf

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]This is one of my Mum’s specialties, which I have veganised. It worked out really deliciously well, so I’m hoping that Mum will take note and make it for me this way next time I visit her! *hint hint*

If you are looking for a healthy banana loaf, try this link for a sugar-free, wholemeal version, because this loaf is filled with sugary & (vegan)buttery goodness!

Mum’s Banana, Date and Walnut loaf

Ingredients:

125 g vegan butter/marg (I use olivani)
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped, pitted dates
3/4 cup SR flour
3/4 cup Plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Mash bananas finely with fork (should be about 1 cup of banana).  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add oil, mix well. Add bananas and vanilla, mix until well combined.  Stir in sifted flours and soda in two lots. Mix well. Add walnuts and dates, mix, and then spread mixture into a well-greased loaf tin, bake in moderate oven for 60 – 80 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.  Stand for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

*Mum actually uses a 20cm ring tin to bake this one, and baking time is greatly reduced with the ring tin because you don’t have to wait for the middle to cook through. I don’t have one though so I used a regular tin.

Banana, Date & Walnut Loaf (vegan & sugar-free)

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]This is such an easy recipe! And delicious too. I wasn’t really able to get a good photo of the end product, the loaf tin I used was a bit too wide so my loaf ended up flatter than I would have liked, also, I was too busy eating it to take photos – but rest assured it was very yum!

Banana, Date & Walnut Loaf

Ingredients:

4 large, ripe bananas
200g wholemeal flour
75g oats
100g chopped dates
50g chopped dried cranberries (optional)
50g chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mash the bananas and combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Grease a loaf tin and bake mixture in oven for between 50 – 80 minutes (start checking it after 50 mins and take it out once a skewer or knife to the center comes out clean).

It’s as simple as that! Enjoy!

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

During the week we bought ourselves a little treat: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.
I have been very excited about this cookbook, being a huge Veganomicon fan, today wasn’t the first time we have tried one of these recipes, but it’s the first time trying one of these recipes when we own the book so that is a little special in itself. I am a lover of carrot cake so it was natural that this would be our first mission.. we weren’t disappointed! (I love you Isa & Terry!)

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

Ingredients:
CUPCAKES:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup soy yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins

VEGAN CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1/4 cup nuttelex
1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

FOR THE CAKES: Preheat oven to 180°C. Line muffin time with 12 cupcake liners. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices) and mix until smooth. Fold in carrot, walnuts and raisins.

Spray the cupcake liners with non stick baking spray. Fill the liners 2/3 full. Bake for 26 – 28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool.

FOR THE FROSTING: Cream together nuttelex, and cream cheese until just combined. Use a handheld mixer to whip while adding the confectioners sugar in half cup batches. Mix until smooth and creamy, then mix in the vanilla.

Once cakes are fully cooled top generously with cream cheese frosting and top with a crushed walnuts.