Peanut Butter Cups

These were absolutely delicious, and easy to put together! But if you can't temper chocolate.... don't try this!

Make sure you have either a muffin tray or a mini cupcake tray (I used a mini cupcake tray)
You will also need either muffin liners or mini cupcake liners depending on what tray you're using.
Recipe will make about 20 mini peanut butter cups, or 8-10 muffin sized cups

You will need:

Two cups of well chopped Dark Chocolate for tempering

Peanut butter filling:
1 cup of peanut butter - smooth
1 cup of soft icing sugar
2 teaspoons of maple syrup
3 tablespoons of almond milk

 Method:

line trays with liners and set aside
temper a third of the chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water, keep stirring until smooth.
place a small amount of chocolate into the bottom of each liner (just enough to cover the bottom)
gently tap the tray against the kitchen bench a few times to release any bubbles.
Place muffin/cupcake tray in the fridge to set

Cream peanut butter filling ingredients and form into balls just big enough to fit in your liner (with enough of a gap to fill up with chocolate on the sides)
slightly flatten each ball and place in the center of the cupcake liner, then place back in the fridge

temper remaining chocolate and pour into each liner until chocolate reaches the top of the liner
place back into the fridge to completely set

done. Enjoy!

Fluffy Pancakes

Recipe yields about 8 6" pancakes.

2 C Plain Flour
4 TBSP Baking powder
2 C Soy milk
4 TBSP vegetable oil
4 TBSP maple syrup or agave nectar
1 TBSP vanilla essence


In a bowl whisk together the flour and baking powder.
Add wet ingredients and whisk into a paste (Should be thick, but still run off a spoon) If too thick, add more soy milk.
Whisk until combined - do not overwhisk! A few bumps are OK.

Ladle into a buttered(vegan) pan and cook until bubbled through, then flip.

Serve with maple/agave syrup, butter, berries and lemon juice. Or whatever you want to eat them with!

Raw Almond Milk

You will need:
1/2 cup of RAW almonds + water for soaking
1 cup of fresh water
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp of Vanilla
(Optional) Agave nectar for sweetening

Soak almonds for roughly 8 hours in water
Peel the skins off your soaked almonds -  I'm not even sure that this step is necessary because when you strain it at the end it will probably pick all that stuff, but I did it anyway. If you pinch/rub the almond between your index finger and thumb the but basically 'pops' out of the brown skin.
Place almonds with fresh water into a blender and blend on high for 5+ minutes.
To get a smooth milky consistency, you can either drain almond milk through a cheesecloth, or do what I did and throw it in a coffee plunger! Worked a treat.
Add salt and vanilla. Taste - if you find you want it sweeter, add small amounts of agave at a time and keep tasting it until it's how you want it.
If you want more milk, you can add extra water to the mixture, but I like mine nice and creamy.


Enjoy!

Valentines Day Cherry Ripe Bites

I made these for Mr. Monster and myself as a treat on valentines day, the easiest part was the cherry filling..... please take caution when trying to make anything chocolate coated, there will be plenty of mistakes and frustrations!

Cherry ripe filling:
1/2 cup of glace cherries (up to 1 cup if you want it to be more cherryish)
4 cups of Shredded Coconut

Condensed milk:
3/4 cup of soy milk or coconut cream
1 tablespoon of Xantham gum
1 tablespoon of Agar Agar powder
2 tablespoons of cherry(or strawberry) essence
1 teaspoon of red food colouring


Chocolate coating:
700g Dark Vegan Cooking chocolate
2 tablespoons of grated vegetable shortening.

Firstly make your condensed milk:
Gently boil soy milk/coconut cream in a pan over medium heat
once boiling take off heat and whisk in Xantham gum, Agar Powde, Essence and colouring into milk until thick.

Blend 2 cups of shredded coconut and the glace cherries in a food processor until well combined, add this and the remaining shredded coconut to the condensed milk and combine.
Shape into balls (or hearts) and place in the freezer to harden.


Temper chocolate:
break up your cooking chocolate into similar sized pieces and place in a glass or plastic bowl which is sitting over a pot of boiling water, you do not want to cook your chocolate directly in a pan or you will burn it.
Add shortening and keep mixing until melted - do not attempt to add any milk (or get any water in it) or your chocolate will clump up and harden and be completely spoilt!

Take cherry mixture out of the freezer, skewer the ends with toothpick (much like fondue) and coat cherry mixture in chocolate, place on a baking sheet to set, or into the fridge for a quicker setting time.
You can also do up a few fresh strawberries the same way, they taste delicious!!


Enjoy.

Mexican Baked Potatoes

This one is pretty simple, but extremely tasty. It's basically just a fancy baked potato because I was craving something naughty, but needed to put a good twist on it. It's a baked potato stuffed and topped with Mexican 'mince', salsa and avocado.

The easiest way to bake your potatoes is in their skin. Place a small/medium potato on a lined baking tray (one which fits nearly into your hand is ideal size) and spray lightly with soy spray to keep from burning, also prick deeply with a fork so that it cooks better.
Potatoes should be cooked for roughly 1 hour at 180-190C or until a skewer can easily penetrate the potato (You don't want it too soft or it will fall apart)
I only made it through one potato, Mr. Monster made it through 3..... so I'd suggest maybe preparing two per person to be on the safe side. They'd make good leftovers!
Once cooked take out of the oven and leave to the side while you prepare the toppings/fillings for them because they'll stay hot for quite a while.

For the mince, you will need:
1 cup of 4 bean mix
1 tin of refried beans
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, grated
oil for frying
mexican spice (I used a sachet of taco seasoning)

To cook:
Place onion, oil and garlic in a pan, fry until translucent - add spices, 4 mean mix and carrot, cook for a further few minutes.
When ready to be taken off the heat add refried beans and mix until well incorporated
done, set your mince aside.

Salsa:
You can make it yourself, or buy a tin of it like I did

Avocado:
1 mashed avocado with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to keep it lovely and green should feed two people (4-5 potatoes)



To assemble:
gently cut open your potato, take a small amount out of the center to place your bean mix in. I prefer to keep most of the potato to eat, and opt to overload and top it more than fill it, who cares, you're only eating it... right!?
Then add your salsa and avocado. You could add vegan sour cream or cheese if you wanted, but I was trying to opt for lower fat. I also garnished with spring onion as it's super tasty and finishes the dish off.
DELICIOUS!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter/Vanilla frosting and Chocolate Ganache

Made these for a friends birthday, they went down a treat. Must say I had trouble getting through one of them though!
Recipe makes about 12 cupcakes


For the cupcakes:
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the peanut buttercream:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegan margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp soy milk

Vanilla buttercream:
1 cup of vegan margarine
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 tbsp of vanilla
3 tbsp soy milk

Vegan Ganache:
1/2 cup of dark cooking chocolate (vegan)
2 tbsp vege oil
1 tbsp agave nectar
2 tablespoons of soy milk





To prepare Buttercream:
Beat peanut butter and butter until smooth, add vanilla and soy milk, once soft beat in icing sugar until light and fluffy

for vanilla, same concept except without the peanut butter


To prepare cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 180°C and line a muffin pan with liners (I always lightly spray with cooking spray too).
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until no lumps remain (a few small ones are ok)
Pour batter into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.


To prepare ganache:
Temper chocolate in a glass bowl over boiling water, when melted add remaining ingredients. Lightly drizzle over prepared cupcakes.




Assembly:
WHEN CUPCAKES ARE COMPLETELY COOLED, add frosting.
For the two tone effect you need to set up two different piping bags (1 with peanut butter, 1 with vanilla) and then place them both into 1 prepared piping bag with the nozzle you wish to use.
If unsure you can always google great tutorials on how to do this, it's simple once you get the hang of it
Drizzle prepared cupcakes with ganache, this will harden some on cooling.

Enjoy!

Vegan Fridge Items

I thought it would be best to actually discuss the basics of my fridge. I find that I get a lot of messages in regards to how to go about starting a vegan diet, it's not hard by any means, and I guess posting pictures and explanations of the foods which I keep in my Fridge might bring that home for anyone who is curious, my fridge looks pretty similar to what most other peoples should. I should have gotten a photo of my Fridge door also, but it only holds soy milk and water.

Bread
One of the most basic products that a person will have in their house. But many people think this is something vegans cannot eat? Most of them are safe, unless you purchase a 'fancy' type which has added extras like honey, or whey, but this is easily checked by looking at the ingredients.
Want to get this vegan at the shops? Look out for Helgas brand, they're vegan friendly!

Butter
Another basic fridge item, there are additives which will easy make this product unsafe for vegans, such as the obvious - DAIRY.
Want to get this vegan at the shops? Look out for Nuttelex, it's dairy free and safe for vegans!

Fruit
The great thing about fruits is that it's all safe for vegans! You don't have to buy a million different kinds of fruits every week, you can just mix it up week to week depending on what is on special at the time. Some of the fruits I have almost every week in my fridge include Bananas, raspberries, blueberries, and apples. They're a great and quick snack item.

Tofu
Tofu is something which is ALWAYS in my fridge. If I want to add it to stir fry's I stick to extra firm organic tofu's, if I want to add it as a base for cheesecakes, sauces or dips, I will purchase a silken tofu. Trust me... there is a difference!

Mock Meats
I would almost go as far to say this is a must for anyone transitioning from an omnivorous diet to a vegan/vegetarian diet. For us long-time vegans, sometimes it's nice to get them to mix things up a little bit. There is a lot of debate regarding whether vegans should eat anything resembling meat... but that argument is made invalid by the fact that most people don't go vegan/vegetarian because they hate the taste of meat..more-so for their health, or ethical reasons in regards to the slaughter of animals.
It's always good to have some handy for a quick 'meat' and 3 veg style meal. Be careful, there are many mock meats on the market which are not vegan friendly and contain either whey or egg white powder.
Want to get this vegan at the shops? Look for Frys, Eatwell or Linda McCartney. Some of the Sanitarium range is vegan such as their roast and soy sausages.

Vegetables
Pretty Obvious, right? Try and keep a good supply of these in the fridge. Some of my regulars include: Pumpkin, Zuchinni, Carrot, Mushroom, Squash, Eggplant and Corn. Also make sure you have some green leafy vegetables such as Spinach - Very important!

Antipasto
Not a necessary item, but a good one nonetheless. Here in the fridge I have Semi-Dried Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, and chargrilled eggplant. They all make for a mean sandwich, wrap, pizza, or even snack! I like to keep some on hand for all of the above.

Sandwich Spreads
Another which is always popular. I'm just going to go ahead and list some vegan options for these: Kraft Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchy), Sweet Williams Mud, Vegemite, Most preserves (check ingredients to be safe), Most pickled products, Corn Relish, Praise 97% fat Free Mayo......



That's all for now. Keep your eyes peeled for my next blog entry... I'll make my pantry a little more presentable and do a write up on the bare essentials I keep.
Hope you've enjoyed reading, if you have any queries, please comment below and I'll do my best to answer/help out :)

Banana Walnut Cake

Banana Walnut Cake, so simple! This cake is moist and delicious, and a slice would go perfectly warmed up with a little butter smeared on the top to go with your morning coffee.

You will need:
2 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Raw Sugar
1/4 cup Oil
4 ripe Bananas, mashed
1/4 cup Soy Milk (or water)
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 - 1/2 cup of crushed Walnuts or nut of choice (Optional)

Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake tin for a cake, or a loaf pan for bread. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate large bowl add the sugar, oil bananas, soymilk/water and vanilla. Combine this easily in a blender or whisk vigorously, stir in nuts.
Add the flour mixture, stirring just until wet.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy

Lazy Nachos

When most people think of nachos... they think of mounds of grilled cheese over corn chips which are topped with mince, salsa, guacamole and sour cream...

Yeah, I'm WAY too lazy for that most of the time!

This is one of my laziest meals


You will need: (Recipe generously feeds two people)
1 packet of original dorito chips, or corn chip of choice
2 avocados, mashed with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 300g jar of mild/medium/hot salsa

Mince:
Whatever vegetables you have in the fridge, plus a tin of re-fried beans and a packet of taco spice blend
I use -
1 small onion
2 tablespoons of garlic
1/4 cup of broccoli
1/4 cup of carrot
1/4 cup of spinach
1 tin of lentils, drained
1 tin of refried beans
1 packet of taco spice blend

To make the mince:
Add onion, garlic, broccoli, carrot and spinach to a food processor and blend until mince-like
add blended vegetable mixture with a few tablespoons of oil, and packet of taco spice blend to a hot pan and cook until soft (5-10 minutes)
Add lentils and re-fried beans and mix until well incorporated, and your mince is ready!



To assemble:
Organise dorito chips onto a place, top with mince, then top with salsa, and top with fresh mashed avocado, done!

If you want sour cream... and can't be bothered making a tofu one, you could always grab some tofutti sour cream, it's equally as lazy and works a treat.

I don't even miss grilled cheese on my nachos :)

Pumpkin and Tofu pizza

This is a pretty simple pizza which me and Mr. Monster love, if you love pumpkin... and you love tofu... give it a try!

You will need (per pizza):
1 pizza base of choice - I prefer thin
1 cup of bite sized pieces of butternut pumpkin

1 cup of shredded fresh spinach
1/4 cup of extra firm tofu, crumbled
1/4 cup of sliced red onion

Tomato Paste for base (I usually get one with garlic added... or add some minced garlic)
oil for roasting
1 teaspoon of dried mix herbs

Place diced pumpkin in a bowl and lightly drizzle with oil
lay out pumpkin on an oven tray and roast at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until pumpkin is roasted nicely
While pumpkin is roasting, throw crumbled tofu and spinach into the same bowl with mixed herbs - very lightly drizzle with oil and toss to coat - set aside (it should look like the picture below)

Cover pizza base with tomato paste and top with red onion
gently place cooked pumpkin on pizza and throw spinach mixture on top
bake in oven at 180C for roughly 15 minutes or until spinach has wilted.
Crack some sea salt and pepper over the pizza
slice and serve - enjoy!

Savoury Yeast Cheesy Garlic Herb and facon Dog Biscuits

Dodge was less of a fan of these than the peanut butter cookies. In saying that he did still eat them! I personally thought the smell of these baking was incredible, and have been eying them off myself.

Recipe makes about 18 biscuits, depending on the size of your cookie cutter and how thick you make them.

You will need:
1 heaped cup of flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoons Garlic Powder
1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped finely
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons of fake bacon pieces, finely diced
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1/4 - 1/2 cup of Nutritional Yeast flakes

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.
2. Combine all but the water in a bowl and gently whisk together until evenly combined - add water and mix until dough consistency
3. Roll out the dough on a clean, floured work surface to about .5cm thickness. Cut out biscuits with your cookie cutter and place on a lined baking sheet. These biscuits don’t spread/melt much at all so it's fine to place them close together. Bake for 15 - 30 minutes (depending on the size of your biscuit) or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Peanut butter & Carob Dog Biscuits

Hello blog world, it's been a while since I've been on!

I've actually been a pretty busy lady. We recently rescued a 12 month old Great Dane, Dodge - He's just so lovely!

So, for my first post since welcoming him into our little fur family, I decided I'd better blog about some dog treats! He loves carob... and he absolutely loves peanut butter....  he loves treats...so it makes sense that he would love Peanut butter & Carob Dog Biscuits!

These are perfectly safe for people to eat - although you'll probably find they're much less sweet than the kind of cookies you're used to eating - but if grandad or the kids get into them, you don't have to worry!

Recipe makes about 14 biscuits, depending on the size of your cookie cutter and how thick you make them.

You will need:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1 heaped cup of plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of dog chocolate treat buttons, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Cream together the peanut butter, milk and agave syrup, gently fold in carob chunks
2. Add the mixture to the remaining dry ingredients and stir until you form a stiff dough (you may have to use your hands). If you find the dough is a bit too wet you can add flour until the dough is to a cookie consistency.
3. Roll out the dough on a clean, floured work surface to about 1cm thickness. Cut out biscuits with your cookie cutter and place on a lined baking sheet. These biscuits don’t spread/melt much at all so it's fine to place them close together. Bake for 15 - 30 minutes (depending on the size of your biscuit) or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

ta daaa - dodge absolutely loves these!

Creamy vegetable pies

With vegan puff pastry... anything is possible!
These were simple, yet tasty!
For 6 muffin sized pies, you will need:
3 sheets of frozen puff pastry

filling:
2 cups of soy milk
1 cup of diced frozen vegetables
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup of finely diced broccoli
1 clove of garlic
1 cup of fresh spinach leaves, finely chopped
4 tablespoons of vegan butter
4 tablespoons of plain flour
1 teaspoon of mustard
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste (IMPORTANT)
teaspoon of dried mixed herbs

Preheat oven to 200C

To make sauce: melt butter in a pan over medium heat
whisk in flour to form a roux
whisk in soy milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, herbs, salt and pepper and set to the side.

In a pan, fry onion, garlic and broccoli until soft, combine spinach until wilted, add this along with the diced frozen vegetables to the sauce mixture - this will be your filling.
If you would prefer it runnier, add more soy milk.

Pastry shells:
Slice each sheet of thawed puff pastry into square quarters
Place 6 of these squares neatly into a muffin tray to create the bottom of your pie shell (make sure you have greased tray extremely well!) Gently push the center of the pastry into the muffin tray.
With the remaining 6 squares, find a circular object which will fit just inside the square to create the lid of your pie (should be about a cm wider than the muffin cavity) I found a large nesquik tin was PERFECT. Use this as a template to cut out 6 circular pieces of puff pastry.

Place cooled filling inside uncooked puff pastry shell and neatly place lid on top
use a fork to push the lid and base together firmly, and brush with soy milk - top with sesame seeds (optional)

Place in oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy

Vegan MOFO: Last post - HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Well, it's the end of Vegan MOFO, I've had a blast, and found many new blogs which I've enjoyed!
I thought I would use my final post to show you all my pumpkin carving journey!

1: finding a decent pumpkin!

 2: Scooping out it's guts, transferring an image onto the pumpkin, and starting to carve it

 3: Cleaning up the cuts so they're all nice and neat!

 4: Success!

Happy halloween guys, and happy MOFO-ing :)

Vegan MOFO: mini quiches

Another quick dinner! (I'm super lazy)
Recipe makes 6 mini quiches, muffin size.

You will need
2 sheets of vegan puff pastry
250g of firm tofu, drained
3/4 cup of soy milk
4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of mixed herbs
1 teaspoon of mustard
1 1/2 cups of fried vegetables of choice I used onion, garlic, spinach, mushroom and broccoli
4 tablespoons of plain flour

Preheat oven to 180C
thaw puff pastry
oil a muffin tray thoroughly (6 muffin size)
cut each sheet of puff pastry into quarters, square quarters.
Neatly tuck each square of pastry into a muffin tin, be gentle, you don't need to push it right into the corners, when you place the tofu mix in it will drop more. patch up any holes you may have created with the left over puff pastry.

Place everything but the fried vegetables into a blender, and blend until smooth, if the mixture is too hard for the blender to mix properly, add a dash more soy milk (shouldn't really need it though)
fold vegetables into tofu mixture, and spoon into each uncooked puff pastry shell.
Place in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until starting to turn golden brown.
Gently lift out of the muffin tray, and serve hot or cold.

Enjoy

Vegan MOFO: Sushi

Simple concept, tasty food!
Here I have, avocado and mayo rolls, bbq marinated tempeh rolls, edamame pillows and bbq marinated tempeh pillows.

It's pretty simple, and you can use whatever fillings you want

you will need:
2 cups of sushi rice
3 cups of water
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
4 + nori sheets
Filling of choice (tofu, tempeh, salad, avocado... etc)

A bamboo roller

rinse sushi rice until water is clear, and place in a pot with the water - bring to a boil.
Once boiling, turn down heat and simmer for roughly 20 minutes. I take it off the heat to cool once the mixture is gluggy, almost dry but still has some moisture left in it.

Place rice in fridge and wait until completely cooled, season with vinegar and mix through the rice before using it in your rolls.




Place nori sheet down on bamboo sheet, shiny side down. cover sheet with rice (about 1 cm thick), except leave about 2-3 cms clear at the end furthest from you (you will be rolling the sheet away from yourself)
Place a strip of filling in the center down the roll. For mine I used avocado, mayo and bbq tempeh, but you can use anything you want!
slowly start to wrap the sheet up, rolling away from yourself and tightly tucking it up.
Once you get to the empty part of the nori sheet, brush with water, and roll up. place in the fridge for cutting closer to serving time.



For pillows

Cut a nori sheet longways into cm thick pieces, you will use these to wrap up your pillows
Mould small amounts of rice into little ovals (about 3 tablespoons)
Place a topping on the ball of rice
Gently brush a nori sheet with water, and wrap around the pillow to secure your topping, making sure the nori sheet wraps around itself.


Serve with soy sauce and wasabi, or spring rolls.

Vegan MOFO: 'Cheese'burger

Most of us grew up as meat eaters - lets just face it. Most of us also enjoyed on occasion a cheeseburger from McDonalds. My partner, who is not a full time vegan was craving a cheeseburger, and asked if we could have them for dinner. So, I decided to try and make my own, every vegan likes some good junk food!

For the "meat" patty
1 tin of sanitarium nutmeat, minced
1 onion, finely diced
3/4 cup of cooked rice, white or brown (brown will be chewier)
1/2 cup of BBQ sauce or marinade of choice
3 tablespoons of massels supreme gravy powder (of beef style stock)
2 teaspoons of mixed herbs
3 heaped tablespoons of minced or chopped garlic
1 + cups of flour (for binding)

Mix all ingredients apart from flour together and let sit in the fridge for a few hours (if you can) this will let all the ingredients combine better for a good bbq style flavor.
Add flour and combine, if the mixture is not sticking to itself well, add a little more flour, or even breadcrumbs to bind.
Form 'meaty' mixture into patties which mimic a mcdonalds patty, small and thin (or don't... if you want them thicker)
You can cook these up now until browned and crisp over a medium heat pan, or leave them on a plate in the fridge to cook later on.
These patties are really excellent for BBQ's and picnics as a rissole, omnis and vegans alike love them!




For the 'cheeseburger' you will need

1 x premade recipe for cheddar cheese slices
bread rolls
tomato sauce
mustard
finely diced onion
patty recipe above.



To get the cheese all gooey and melting, throw it in a lightly greased pan on medium high heat for 1 minute, you will see the cheese starting to melt, but you should still be able to gently pull it off in one piece and place it onto a 'meat' patty.

Place patty and cheese into a burger bun, top with sauce, mustard and onion.

Eat straight away - the ultimate vegan junk food!

Vegan MOFO: cheddar 'cheese' slices

These.. are so simple to make, they require minimal effort and time to throw together. I made these solely for the purpose of a 'Cheese'burger, which is my next post!

You will need:

1 1/2 cups Water
2 tablespoons of tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of mustard
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon of salt
2 Tablespoons of onion powder.
5 tablespoons of agar flakes.
**(if you want to change up the taste of the mixture before setting it, the below ingredients are completely optional and found in most 'cheeses' I however did not use them!)
1 tablespoon of tahini (optional**)
1/4 cup of miso paste (optional**)


Blend everything but the agar flakes in a food processor/blender until smooth. I was lazy and didn't blend mine for long enough which is why you can still see little lumps of cashew!
taste it at this point. If it's not to your liking - add some more of any of the above ingredients, if you want more colour, add more tomato sauce and mustard, or alternatively, food colouring.
place mixture over medium/high heat until at boiling point - mix this the entire time, you don't want it to burn or you will taste it later on.

Add the agar flakes, and mix into cheese until well incorporated, take off heat and immediately place into a well oiled container. I used a very square container to mimik the cheese slices you get at the supermarket - but any container is fine.
Place in the Fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to set.

Slice or grate.

Enjoy  :)

Vegan MOFO: cheatin' sausage rolls

Another quick and simple treat. I actually made these ones because I was craving something a little more on the unhealthy/indulgent side, but they would be absolutely PERFECT for kids parties, or even catering as finger food.

You will need:
Sanitarium vege sausages. I used the sage and rosemary ones, they come in a 6 pack
1 sheet of vegan puff pastry per two sausages.

Preheat oven to 200 C
Slice each sheet of puff pastry in half lengthwise, this should be long enough to wrap one sausage in.

Wrap each sausage tightly into the puff pastry. If you want them to be a smaller single serve, cut up accordingly.
Lightly baste pastry sausages with soy milk or egg replacer

Place on a greased baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Vegan MOFO: Berry Crush

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I've actually been super sick and hiding from the world with this horrible cough. I thought it would be suiting to blog about something that I was drinking while sick to help me feel better.

Here you have a super tasty berry smoothie! I like to freeze all my berries prior to using them in this drink
You will need:
3/4 cup of frozen raspberries
1/4 cup of frozen strawberries
3 generous scoops of your choice of berry sorbet
1/2 to one cup of your choice of juice, depending how runny you want it (I used blueberry, strawberry, apple, and carrot juice)

Blend together in a blender - done. So quick, easy and delicious!