roasted brussel sprouts

Ahh winter! Brussel sprouts, asparagus, artichokes, this is my favourite time of year for produce. Combining my two obsessions, brussel sprouts and tahini here is my current favourite recipe.

ingredients
500 gms of brussel sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
1 tbsp of olive oil
sea salt and pepper
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp of maple syrup (or rice syrup - liquid sweetner of choice)
1 tbsp of sunflower seeds (optional)
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

method
1. Preheat oven to 205 degrees celcius. Toss the brussel sprouts in the olive oil and sprinkles of salt and pepper (I love loads of salt but do it to your taste) and roast for about half an hour, shaking the pan every 5-10 minutes to get even coverage. The brussel sprouts are done when they look like a roast potato (see picture).

2. Remove sprouts from the oven and put into a heat proof bowl. Drizzle the tahini and maple syrup over them, toss to cover sprouts evenly then sprinkle with sunflower seeds and serve.

quinoa porridge

Quinoa, super food. Packed with protein, calcium and iron it should be a part of any vegans regular diet (and anyone really!). As you keeners would be well aware, I loves me some detoxes and different kinds of diets. I've done quite a bit of Ayuerveda in the past and since buying "Eat right for your body type" I'm 100% sold on what to do now, follow Ayuerveda. It's all the food I dont eat naturally (and eat TOO MUCH OF). I've got some time off coming up which I'm going to concentrate on making meal plans and getting all the ingredients in place. One small change but has been significant from my stomachs point of view is changing oats to Quinoa. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Quinoa is not as creamy but has a wonderful chewyniess to it (trust me on this one). Add whatever you like putting in your porridge or follow mine.

Ingredients
40-50gms of Quinoa
100 mls of rice milk
100 mls of water
1 handful of trail mix (make sure all the nuts and seeds are raw), roughly chopped (picking out the prunes and yelling YUCK and throwing them in the bin)
1 tsp of maple syrup
1 tsp of LSA
1 tsp of linseed oil

method
1. Cook the Quinoa in the water and rice milk for about half an hour (or until tender).

2. Stir through the trail mix, maple syrup and linseed oil. Sprinkle the LSA on top.

Pro tip: I cook a big batch of Quinoa in my rice cooker which last for me 3 days then reheat in a saucepan in the morning, adding all the bits and bobs then.

red curry dahl with coconut rice

I cooked. It's true, after having to throw out a vegie drawer of food. I have never thrown out that much food before, I felt so bad. I am doing 3 subjects at school this semester (IT diploma at Vic Uni), doing 5 days worth of work crammed in 4, working on Arbonne and writing for 2 websites. To top it all off the project I've been working on for the past 2 years is down to its final thesis period where we evaluate all we've done and in the next month present our finding and final recommendation to the steering committee. If that wasn't all enough I'm doing school two nights a week in addition to the one day, meditation one night a week have Queer Film Festival just around the corner and a visit from two DEAR friends from the UK in a couple of weeks. EEK! So of course I've been sick, and the cure for sickness is CHILLI!! lots and lots of garlic and curries. This was knocked up from whatever food wasn't rotten in my fridge! It was DAMN good and helped flush out my body. Book mark for the upcoming cold and flu season.

ingredients
400 gm of peeled potatoes, cubed small (floury works well)
2 small onions, diced
4 chillis, thinly sliced
300 gms of firm tofu, rinsed, drained and cubed
1 x 400ml can of coconut cream
3 - 4 tbsp of red curry paste (Thai Gourmet brand is vegan and gluten free)
1/2 cup of yellow split peas
1 bunch of asparagus or green beans cut into 2 cm pieces
1 tbsp of grated palm sugar
2 kaffir lime leaves, crushed
2 tbsp of soy sauce (tamari to make it gluten free)
1-2 tbsp of fresh lime juice

method
1. Sauté the onions in a drizzle of oil (or sesame oil) on medium high until they turn translucent. Add the sliced chillis and sauté for another minute. Stir in the red curry paste until well combined and the spices have started to release flavours (don't stick your head over the pot like I did and almost get maced in the process!). Add the coconut milk and stir until the paste is well combined. You now have your curry sauce.

2. Add the potatoes, split peas, tofu and kaffir lime leaves, reduce heat to low and leave to simmer gently for 20 minutes.

3. Grab 2 tbsps of the curry mixture out of the pot and mix with the stock cube in a small bowl to dissolve it. Add to to the curry mixture. Once the potatoes are tender finish off the curry with the soy sauce, lime juice and asparagus. The asparagus only needs 2 minutes to cook in the hot liquid. Serve over rice (my favourite is coconut rice).

slow cooked chai porridge

This was my first use of my crock pot and it was UHMAZING!! I used brown rice instead of oats and I woke up to the fattest, plumpest rice pudding I've ever eaten. I had mine on for 9 hours (whoops overslept) so there was almost no liquid left. I am upping the liquid and reducing the cooking time. Nom. Inspired from this recipe.

ingredients
1 cup brown rice
5 cups milk of your choice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used rose water)
sweetener to taste
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

method
1. Cook in your slow cooker for 7-8 hours on low. Voila.

black pepper tofu with coconut rice

I have cooked this recipe three times now and in three different ways. I just cant get over how much pepper is prescribed! First time I tried the 5 tbsp and was too much, second time I tried 3 tbsp and was still too much, third time I tried 1 and I felt it was still too much! So go with what you feel. I suggest 2 tsp of bashed up peppercorns but you know what you like.

Also the original recipe says to cube the tofu, dust with cornflour then fry in oil until they start going golden brown. I preferred just straight fresh tofu cubed and then cooked in the sauce. In any event, this recipe however you get it to work for you, is sublime. I have also perfected the art of coconut rice. Rice was my kryptonite, I never could get it to work! I bought a rice cooker last winter and its become my most used appliance! Get one! (especially because I'm trying to be as wheat free as possible, you can just set and forget).

ingredients
800gm firm tofu, drained and cubed 2cm
2 tbsp of oil
12 small shallots, sliced thickly
8 fresh red chillis
12 garlic cloves
3 tbsp fresh ginger
3 tbsp sweet soy
3 tbsp light soy
4 tbsp dark soy
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp black pepper, bashed in a mortar and pestle
16 spring onions, thinly sliced

method
1. Pan fry the shallots, chillies, garlic and ginger on medium high until the shallots start to brown. Add tofu to the pan and fry with the veg until it starts to brown a little.

2. Add all the soy sauces, sugar and pepper and cook on high until it starts to simmer and thicken up a bit. Then add the spring onions and saute for a couple of minutes. Serve over coconut rice.

coconut rice
2 cups Thai jasmine-scented white rice
2 cups good-quality coconut milk
1 3/4 cups water
2 heaping Tbsp. dry shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. coconut oil, OR vegetable oil
1 kaffir lime leaf

optional: 1-2 Tbsp. toasted coconut for garnish, also I've heard a little bit of fresh lemongrass is magic as well.

method
1. Throw all the ingredients in a rice cooker, set to your manufacturers settings. Done! For the stove top instructions please see the original recipe here.

broad beans and garlic - ful bit-tewm

As I've been travelling so much I've barely bought a vegie box for the past couple of months, so I was ecstatic to pick one up last week and find a massive amount of organic broad beans in there! (The Maltese staple food!). Its been my intention ALL YEAR to post more Maltese recipes, but I've only posted one so far! So here is another one! Broad beans are A LOT of work but well worth it in my opinion. My recipe is slightly different to traditional ones but I think better. Enjoy!

ingredients
1.5kgs broad beans (in shells or 3 cups of frozen)
5 cloves of garlic, minced (or more more more!)
1 tbsp chopped parsley or mint
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

method
1. Shell the broad beans and steam for 5 minutes (the outer skin goes all gross and weird and whiteish).

2. Leave the beans to cool enough so you can handle them. Then pinch the outer shells off the beans (theres an art to this, you'll get into a rhythm but until then be prepared for beans to shoot out all over the place! :p). Once all the beans are shelled put them into a huge salad bowl and toss with the other ingredients. YUM.

notes: The traditional way is to boil the beans in 500mls of water with the rest of the ingredients and serve, I like my way better.

cauliflower and caramalised onion tart

I had a 3 week old head of organic cauliflower just blankly looking at me from the fridge every time I opened the door. I FINALLY SNAPPED, Googled cauliflower and found this wonderful recipe. Well, inspiration because the only common ingredients is cauliflower, onions and mustard. This pie was jaw droppingly delicious, as well, we all know how I feel about pie, this is definitely a cookbook contender but I could NOT BE SO SELFISH AS TO NOT SHARE IT WITH YOU IMMEDIATELY. Enjoy.

Ingredients
1 medium head of cauliflower
3 tbsp of olive oil
2 large brown onions
1 tbsp of sugar
1 300gm packet of silken or soft tofu
2 tbsp of nutritional yeast
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 sheet of puff pastry
1/4 cup of cheezly*

method
1. Trim the cauliflower into florets, toss in 2 tbsps of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast at 200 degrees until they go golden (about 20 minutes).

2. While the cauliflower is roasting, slice the onions into thin rings, drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp of oil and cook on medium high heat in a heavy bottom pan, being careful not to brown them too much. Once the onion has wilted, turn the heat onto low, add the sugar, toss and cover the pan with a lid or a heat proof bowl, checking and stiring every 10 minutes or so. The onions should be done around the 30 minute mark, they will be soft, sweet and a deep golden brown.

3. Drain the tofu and whizz in a food processor with the nuritional yeast and 1/2 of the caramalised onions.

4. Line your pie pan (I use a 9 inch) with your pastry, prick the bottom about 10 times, then smear the dijon on the base.

5. Put the onions on the mustard then roughly chop your roasted cauliflower and arrange in the pie shell and smear the tofu mixture over the top, knocking the pie onto your bench a few times to make sure it fills all the little nooks and crannies.

6. Sprinkle with Cheezly and bake at 200 for about 30 minutes or until the top goes golden brown. Pie is best left to sit for about 10 minutes before slicing for the tofu to set.

Notes: Cheezly is optional, if you don’t have access to Cheezly or Sheese don’t bother with any other vegan cheeses. If you find your pie shells go too soggy, blind bake them before you put the filling in. You could sub the nooch for 1 tbsp of light miso paste. This pie is amazing as a warm brunch item and cold at midnight straight out of the fridge.

coconut passionfruit cupcakes

Recipe modified from Veg Web

Here is the first layer for the wedding cake I'm going to make for my friends. I'm very excited and honoured to be giving such a personal gift. Its not without its stress but I'm feeling confident I can make something that’s presentable and professional looking. I've been watching bajillions on you tube videos. Planning on making the coconut passionfruit cake the bottom layer and gluten free blackforest cake the top. This cake was super light and fluffy, tangy with the creaminess of the coconut cream (and the crunchy top from the raw sugar) I actually surprised myself at how delicious this is.

ingredients
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp passionfruit syrup
1/3 cup of light flavoured oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Extra passionfruit syrup and 1 can of prepared whipped coconut cream .

method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl mix all wet ingredients, minus the vinegar. Combine wet and dry ingredients until the batter is smooth then stir through the vinegar.

3. Pour batter into cupcake liners (about 3/4 of the way up) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

4. With a teaspoon, scoop out a bit of the cake on each cupcake and put a teaspoon of passionfruit syrup then a tablespoon of coconut cream. Garnish with flaked coconut (or for extra points fresh coconut!).

corn fritters

There is just something about putting something in batter and frying it on a griddle. As you're all aware I've been travelling TONNES this year, there's something about turning 30 that makes you break your back in trying to get quite a few things ticked off before you turn 31. So most of my cooking lately has been about using up whatever food is in my fridge, what I can freeze etc, wasting food is the worst thing in the WHOLE WORLD to me. So these were knocked up quickly but what a deeeeelight. Enjoy.

Makes 1-2 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp of besan (chickpea flour)
1 tbsp of flour
4 tbsp of water
2 large fresh corn cobs with the kernels cut off
a grind of fresh salt and pepper

1. Mix the flour and water until the batter is smooth and of a pancake consistency (you might have to add some more water). Add the corn kernals and combine well.

2. Heat a heavy bottom fry pan on high (or just regular pan but on a medium heat) and wait until the pan is quite hot (a few drops of water should sizzle when dripped onto the surface). Carefully ladle in mixture to form a couple of fritters. Only flip when completely cooked and browned on the first side (like a pancake, the mixture on the top is almost completely cooked before you flip it over).

3. Smear with vegan mayo and relish of some kind (I used green tomato relish - mm yum!)

Notes: You can you plain flour instead of chickpea, you may just need less water. I used white flour but whole wheat would be nice too. You can you plain flour instead of chickpea, you may just need less water. I used white flour but whole wheat would be nice too.

pumpkin risotto

Ingredients (makes 2 huge servings)
1/2 cup of roasted pumpkin (cut small)
1 brown onion, diced small
1 cup of arborio rice, rinsed
4-6 cups of warm stock (vegie or chicken flavour)
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

method
1. Roast your small pieces of pumpkin on high while you cook the risotto rice.

2. In a deep, non stick pan, sweat the onions with a drizzle of olive oil until they start to turn colour. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes. Then cup by cup add the stock, by shaking* the pan until the liquid combines. Once the cup of stock is absorbed then onto the next cup of stock. Stop adding stock when the rice is cooked and tender. Usually about half an hour.

3. Toast the pine nuts in a pan then add them and the pumpkin to the rice and combine. Season to taste (love LOTS of fresh pepper on risotto) and Bobs your uncle! Poverty food at its best!

notes: I used my WONDERFUL AMAZING new rice cooker and the rice came out perfectly. In a rice cooker you cook it like brown rice, so add 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of stock and leave to cook. Cook the onion on the stove and add to the rice with the pumpkin and pine nuts when its ready. The rice gets a bit of a crust at the bottom so be careful when you're combining it at the end not to get that in the risotto. There's a little bit of waste using the rice cooker with this method, but its SO EASY it should be a crime (and less salt as you use half the amount of stock). I got my rice cooker for $25 at kmart with a steamer plate attachment. Its become my most used kitchen item!

* The school of thinking behind shake and not stir risotto is the stirring releases too much of the starch making it glugy. If you shake it you get more separated rice grains and a better texture.

other rice cooker recipes: black sticky rice and stuffed artichokes

black sticky rice

First things first, I bought my first BRAND NEW kitchen items this week, 6 wine glasses and a rice cooker. I've always had hand-me-downs and second hand items from ebay (I cant stand buying new things when you can recycle - best purchase EVER was my food processor for $50). I still feel guilty, especially the amount of packaging the rice cooker came in but anyway expect a lot of rice recipes from now on! Woo hoo!

Ingredients
250g black sticky rice, soaked in water for 3 hours
pinch of salt
1/3 cup brown sugar sugar
250g dark palm sugar, chopped
1/4 cup of water
1 cup coconut cream

method
1. Soak the sticky rice in water for at least 3 hours but up to 8.

2. Rinse and cook just like brown rice with 1:1.5 rice to water for about 50 minutes. Give it a stir around the halfway mark to see how its going. A wee bit of moisture at the end is fine.

3. Once the rice is cooked throw in the brown sugar and salt. Melt the palm sugar in a small pan over low heat then add the water and the coconut cream and cook a bit to thicken it up. I mixed about half the coconut cream/sugar syrup into the rice then served and drizzled a bit more over the top.

Best.dessert.ever.

lemon olive oil cake with passionfruit icing

This was a hodge podge "oh I dont have anything in the house lets look up olive oil cake recipes" thing. If you eat eggs I suggest making the original recipe here at Epicurious otherwise prepare yourself for a thin, but delicious cake!

Ingredients
3/4 cup olive oil
1 large lemon, juiced + the zest
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
5 egg replacers
3/4 cup sugar

Icing
1 cup of icing sugar
pulp from one passionfruit (or more if you like it super runny)

Combine all the ingredients and bake in an oven heated to 180 degrees for about 30 minutes. (keep an eye on it! mine cooked VERY quickly - but again wonky oven). Drizzle the icing on top! Voila! So sour and tart utter deliciousness.

Notes: I actually ended up using about 1/2 a cup of oil and more lemon juice, tangtastic!

vegan sausage rolls

People foam at the mouth at the announcement that Cindy and Michael have brought their "sausage rolls" to potluck. They are so coveted that I have NEVER been able to manage to get a sample before they are all gone (yeah slow poke, too busy stuffing myself with something else no doubt). So on the weekend I decided to make some (its sausage roll weather no?) and also a good snack to pack for MIFF. I did pretty much ALL substitution as I didn't have ANY of the ingredients on hand, but these turned out UH-MAZING. The original recipe is here.

ingredients
125g pinenuts, toasted
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup of cooked bulghur (I cooked in vegie stock)
1/2 cup of cooked lentils (again in vegie stock)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce
fresh parsley, chopped (to taste)
1 tbsp of liquid smoke
salt and pepper, to taste
3-4 frozen puff pastry sheets, defrosted
non dairy milk or olive oil spray to brush pastry

method
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2. Pulse the ingredients in a food processor until it resembles sausage mince. Place sausage shape amount of filling along the width end of a piece of pastry and roll tightly (spraying the pastry with olive oil spray along the way so it 'seals' together when rolled over). Pack the ends with mince, you might need the end of a wooden spoon or something to get it all in there.

3. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Seriously, its that easy.

notes: Always keep pastry damp, defrost in the packet and don't open until you're ready to use it. If it is already open, put a damp, clean tea towel over the top. If you dont have liquid smoke GET SOME or a sprinkle of smoked paprika would be amazing. My oven is MUNTED, there is only 'low' or 'high' so my temps are always a bit generic you guys are smart enough to figure this all out though.

tiramisu

I've been obsessed with making tiramisu for some time. Look, I cheated with this and used a gluten free cake mix for the sponge base but you forgive me right? It was 9.30pm on Friday night and I just couldn't wait a moment longer. In looking around the web at other recipes (and this is the reason why I write this blog) all the other vegan recipes has so many ingredients in them, I like to keep things simple. This almost made me cry. An old favourite from my childhood, with love to you.

ingredients
1 x lot/packet/recipe of plain cake
1 x cup (250mls) of espresso (I pulled about 3 short blacks)
1 x tub of kingland cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 cup of white sugar
1 x can of coconut cream (refrigerated)
some booze of your choice, I used whiskey as it was all I had but marsala is traditional
dark chocolate shavings for serving

method
1. Spread the cake mix into a large baking/roasting pan and bake until *just* cooked (not browning on top but a knife comes out clean from the centre), leave to cool. The large roasting pan will get the cake just the right height for layering.

2. In the meantime, beat the coconut cream with an electric mixer for 5 minutes, it should thicken up but not like dairy cream. Put it in the fridge to set for at least an hour (preferably two) to thicken up. Combine the sugar into the cream cheese and pull the espressos (flavour the espresso with the booze you want to the level you want).

3. Once the coffee and cake is cooled put a layer of cake onto the bottom of a 6" spring form pan or whatever vessel you want to house your tiramisu and gently pour some of the coffee over the sponge. I always pussy out on the coffee and REGRET IT so if you like it strong you really need to get that sponge WET to the point of soggy/falling apart.

4. Spread ALL the "marscapone" cream cheese on top and repeat another layer of cake and coffee then top with coconut cream and chocolate shavings (of course if you want to make yours sky high in smaller vessels save some of the marscapone for extra layers).

5. Refrigerate for AT LEAST two hours, but the longer you leave this the more amazing it gets. I strongly suggest leaving it over night.

notes: Its an assload of sugar but really, an assload is what it takes to get that slight taste of soy ass out of the cream cheese. Of course if you're going to put it into a 6 inch spring form pan you might as well bake the cake in that and then cut the cake horizontally in two and layer like a layer cake. Again really easy and simple, this totally blew my mind!

green pea soup

I get the craving for this soup every winter. I just love it. So hearty and warm.

ingredients
1 1/2 cups of split peas
2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely slice
1 medium carrot, finely sliced
1 tbsp of ground cumin
1 tbsp of ground coriander
2 tbsp of fresh grated ginger
5 cups of vegie chicken stock
2 cups of frozen green peas
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp of fresh chopped mint

method
1. Soak split peas in cold water for 2 hours then drain.

2. In a stock pot sweat onion, celery and carrot until onion goes translucent. Stir in cumin, coriander and ginger. fry up for a minute.

3. Add split peas and stock to pot, simmer for 1 and a 1/2 hours, stiring occasionally, keep the lid on. Add the frozen peas and let sit off heat until the peas are cooked.

4. Blend the soup then add mint, serve with a dollop of tofu sour cream. Yumm!

banoffee pie

Calm down calm down. Yes this is the most delicious dessert I have ever made (sorry New York Baked Cheesecake and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake) and its ridoinkculously easy.

ingredients
1 x packet of digestives
3 tbsp of marg
1 x 330 soy caramel condensed milk
3 medium ripe bananas
1x can of coconut cream (I think its 400mls)

method
1. Put the coconut cream in the fridge until cold.

2. Scoop out as much of the cream clumps and put into a bowl (the fat should congeal at the top of the can). Thin out the coconut fat with some of the cream until it's a thick cream consistency then beat with an electric beater or whisk until it thickens up and put in the fridge (I also added quite a few pinches of sugar).

3. Make the base by grinding the biscuits into a fine crumble in a food processor. Melt the marg and combine with crumbs. Press the crumb mix into the base of a 9 inch spring form pan and put into the fridge whilst you're making the rest of the pie.

4. Construct the tart by laying the bananas top of the biscuit base. Pour the caramel condensed milk on top and smooth (I had to loosen it up with a bit of soy milk). Then pour the thickened coconut cream (it may have set too thick whip a bit of extra coconut cream into it to thin it out) and refrigerate for at least 2 hours for it all to set. This pie does better as each day goes by. Grate some dark chocolate on top. Voila!

notes: In regards to the coconut cream, the generic coles/safeway brands tend to have waaaay more 'clotted cream' at the top of the cans. Try and drain off any coconut water before you start whipping. It will go into the fridge still quite liquidy but does firm up when you chill and apparently sets (which I was surprised at) when kept longer in the fridge in the pie. My theory about putting coconut cream in a whipped cream canister will more than likely work!

potato bake

Kids this was off the hook. Talk about starchy, carby, garlicky, cheesy, creamy. Potato bake is infinite with what you can put in there. I sliced all my potatoes thinly, added a layer of leek, sliced garlic, salt/pepper, cheezly and cheatin salami and layered on repeat to the top. I then poured enough rice milk in to halfway up the pan, a few globs of marg on the top, baked in a 200 degree oven until cooked/brown on top (I *think* it was about 45 minutes). Anyway its really hard to stuff this up. Go forth and carb coma!

pineapple upside down cake

Seized by nostalgia from Vickis recent post on pineapple upside down cake, I started plotting immediately to make it. I had 5 bananas in the freezer from about 2 months ago, a new batch of bananas in my vegie box and voila! as I remembered in my Womens Weekly Kids Cookbook (that Vegie Bug ALSO swears by) it had bananas in the original recipe. Combine that with gluten free flour really needing a lot of moisture and a delicious cake was born!

ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pineapple juice/water
1/3 cup oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 can pineapple slices
1/4 cup UNPACKED brown sugar

method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

3. Pour juice off can of pineapple into 1 cup measuring cup--it should be about 3/4 cup juice. Add water to make 1 cup*. In a separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar and juice.

4. Place pineapple slices into the bottom of a 12 inch spring form pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Quickly mix wet ingredients into dry, stirring quickly to combine ingredients well and get out the big lumps.Pour into pan on top of the pineapple/brown sugar mix.

5. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and loosen sides of cake from pan. Remove side ring and place serving plate on top. Flip cake over onto serving plate and remove pan bottom.

notes: I used pineapple chunks instead of slices. I used only the juice from the can (no added water) as I added 4 defrosted frozen bananas to the mix. I used Orgran flour mix to make it gluten free. I also didn't use a spring form pan I used silicone and it turned out great. I used demerarra sugar instead of brown and it was great too.

pasta with basil pesto, chilli and fried garlic

A quick winter meal that hits the spot and delivers some much need garlic to my system. I am really loving the Orgran gluten free pasta.

basil pesto
1 cup of pine nuts, toasted
2 packed cups of basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp of barley miso (or in a pinch yellow miso/white miso)
1/4 cup of nooch
1/4 to 1/2 a cup of olive oil (I used chilli oil and grabbed chunks of chilli out of the jar)

method
1. Toast the pinenuts in a pan on high heat until they turn golden brown (they burn quickly so don't stop watching them!).

2. Whizz all the pesto ingredients in a food processor until blended. Slice 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and toast in a pan (I used very little oil for this) until they are crispy and almost burnt. Toss the freshly cooked pasta in a buttload of pesto and sprinkle the garlic on top. This was so good and so much what I needed I almost cried.

notes: Nooch = nutritional yeast or 'savoury yeast flakes' as it is sometimes called. You can buy at any health food store. Is a high source of B vitamins for vegans. It adds a cheesy flavour. You can make the pesto without.

cheese and spinach rolls

I kind of winged it with these and they turned out great! I got the idea from miss Vicki Vegan but tweaked it a little.

ingredients
2 boxes frozen spinach (thawed & drained)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 packet extra firm tofu
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup grated mozzarella cheezly
1 tbsp light miso paste
1 squeeze of fresh lemon
2 sheets pastry

method
1. Drain the tofu then put everything in a food processor and pulse about 5 times. You want to be blended but still chunky.

2. Roll in pastry and bake bake bake. TASTY! Perfect winter food, so yummy.