"Swedish crackers"

Neither I have had such a vegan cristmas. I was planning on being kind of vegeterian though, but I only get grandma's meatballs once per year after all!
But something very vegan and nice that I ate at several family dinners was a sort of seed-cracker. I ate them til I was about to burst and then I asked for the recipie so I could make them when I got home! I bairly got inside the door before I was invetning our cupboards and started to bake those wonderfull things that can serv as snacks just when the guests arive, but also as sandwishes with vegan butter and some nice vegies (ok, I admit it, I had chees on them, but I bet some peppers and a letus-leaf would be super nice!)

Anyway, here is the recipie:

2 dl Cornstarch

1 dl sesame seeds

1 dl sunflower seeds

0.5 dl flaxseeds

3/4 teaspoon salt

2.5 dl water

0.5 dl oil

salt flakes to sprincle over

First put the oven on 150 degrees, then beguin the baking with placing all the dry ingredients in a bowl(seeds, salt and cornstarch). Boil the water and then add the oil to the water. Pour the water/oil mix over the seed-mix and blend. Now the mix can be either a thick liquid or a batter, both are okay and depend on what oil you are using. I thought mine was way too liquidish so I caled my aunt(from whom I got the recipie) but she said that it's okay, so don't wory if it looks like a weard milk-drink ;)

Now pour the mixture on a baking-sheet and make sure it is not to thick. Sprincle some salt flakes on the top and then the whole thing goes in the oven. Leav it in the oven at 150 degrees for between 1 and 1.5 hours, then alow to cool a bit before you break it into piezes of your choise. Enjoy!

Merry christmas!

I have a confession to make. I have not had a very vegan christmas. At all. For me christmas is all a about traditions, and sadly enough my traditions aren't very vegan friendly. Something to improve for next year. But my mom got the whole family the book Veganist by Kathy Freston. The note on the package said "try it you'll like it". Thumbs up for the attitude. Now the whole family has some interesting vegan reading for the rest of the holiday, and hopefully I'll get a more vegan new year. Looking forward to that.

Sorry we've been so bad about posting what stuff. Hopefully you understand; with school, christmas, work and more, there's not that much time over. But I'm planning on spending the holidays writing for the book, and doing some vegan cooking as well. So little time, so much to do, but I think we'll get all the writing done. When we're back in school we're going to start with layout and design, which is going to be fun.

Just before Christmas, we threw a vegan feast for all our dear friends. Every year we celebrate a kind of mini-christmas together the day before school ends, and this year we went vegan. Everyone actually seemed to think it was really fun, and the food was great. If we're lucky, we managed to crash some vegan-prejudices at least.

That was all for now. Merry christmas to you all!

// Hanna

Logbook 9/12

The vegan era is long gone (although we miss it a bit), and now in the post vegan era we’re focusing on finishing most of the texts for the book. Today we divided up the information texts so that we know who is writing which text. We also brainstormed some layout for the cover of the book and we have some fun ideas.
Now towards the end we have looked into the printing opportunities a bit more. We will probably print 10 copies of the book, they will be in color and it will cost us around 3000 kr. So if you’re interested in one, get in touch!
Today we also interviewed the school nurse on her opinions about veganism. It was very interesting and answered some of our questions.
Our plan now (which doesn’t completely follow the project plan) is to get most texts done before or during Christmas. A lot of work in other words. But when that’s done we can start the really fun part (not that the texts aren't fun); the layout and putting together the book!

Pretty much everything

We decided to write a list of all our recipes to see if we're missing anything for the book. With the list done, we were pretty amazed! It ended up a quite massive collection, at least in our eyes. So we thought we should share it with you, it's a kind of index of everything on the blog. Here it is:

Dinners:
• Risotto with roasted veggies
• Lentil wraps
• Chili sin Carne
• Lentil patties with mashed beets
• Pasta with tomato lentil sauce and crispy celeriac
• Korma
• Red beet patties with quinoa and creamy veggies
• Cannelloni
• Tomato soup
• Mushroom crêpes
• Falafel
• Pizza
• Pumpkin soup
• Tacos
• Ratatouille
• Pasta with broccoli and mushrooms
• Taco wraps (no picture)
• Jambalaya
• Wok
• Bolognese
• Coconut milk soup
• Lentil patties with cherry tomato compote and sweet potato gratin
• Bruschetta
• Black bean enchiladas

Breakfasts:
• Muesli
• Porridge with banana, raisins and poppy seeds
• Raw food porridge
• American pancakes
• Black and blue smoothie
• Agnes’ sandwich
• Oatgurt/soygurt with muesli
• Porridge with apples and lingon berries
• Rye porridge with blackberries and poppy seeds
• Rye porridge with seeds
• Fruit salad
• Porridge with raspberries, cardamom, coconut and banana
• Banana berry smoothie

Desserts and baking:
• Pear and cardamom cake with crumble
• Coconut cookies
• Fruit salad and ice cream
• Raspberry chocolate ice cream
• Apple spice cake
• Berry ice cream

Other:
• Almond butter
• Apricot cranberry marmalade
• Vegan bars

Mmm... Muesli!

All you've got to do is mix everything up and pop it in the oven for a while. Perhaps some chopping as well, but that's so easy so it barely counts. With that minimal amount of work, you get the most amazing muesli. So why would you choose to by it? In my opinion at least, more store-bought muesli tastes like cardboard, with a hint of fake aromas and sugar. Give making your own muesli a chance, it couldn't be simpler, and if you store it in a pretty jar it'll look great. Homemade muesli is a great gift too, either to someone else or to your self! You can also put pretty much anything in it, if you don't like cranberries for example, take something else instead! That's the beauty of making it yourself; it turns out the way you want it. This recipe is one of my favorite.

For a lot of muesli:
2 dl rye flakes
2 dl oats
2 dl spelt flakes
1 1/2 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl flaxseeds
1 1/2 dl shredded coconut
1 1/2 dl pumpkin seeds
2 dl buckwheat
1 1/2 dl sesame seeds (take half black sesame seeds if you can get ahold of them)
3 dl (200 g) chopped almonds (if you're not allergic like me, take different kind of nuts. Then you can probably take around 4 dl instead)
1/2 tbsp. ground cardamon
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 dl vegetable oil (choose on that doesn't taste too much)
1 dl water
1 1/2 dl dried cranberries
1 1/2 dl raisins
1 1/2 chopped dried apricots
1 dl finely chopped dates

Mix all the ingredients, except the dried fruit, in a BIG oven-proof dish and roast in a 225 degree oven. It can take about 25 minutes, but give it a stir every 5 minutes so it doesn't burn. When it's a nice golden brown and muesli is all dry, take it out of the oven. Allow to cool and add the dried fruit. Yum yum!

Risotto and roasted vegetables

I've realized I love risotto. It's creamy, it's tasty, although really putting your heart into it takes a bit of time. Adding water, stirring, more water, more stirring, for like 30-40 minutes. Which I didn't have time for yesterday since I have murderous amounts of physics to study. So, I cheated. I didn't give my risotto all the love and care it deserved, but it turned out any way. Creamy and delicious, and a lot less work. I added some lentils for the proteins sake, and served with some colorful roasted veggies. Yummy!

For two risotto fans:
Roasted vegetables:
1/2 zucchini
1 tomato
1 clove of garlic
1 bell pepper
1 red onion
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. herb salt
Pepper
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tbsp. dried thyme (or fresh for that matter)
The risotto:
1 yellow onion (or two shallots)
1 clove of garlic
1 cube of vegetable bouillon
2 dl risotto rice, e.g. avorio rice
1 dl green lentils
1/2 dl red wine
2 large chunks of vegan butter, about 2 tbsp.
5+3 dl boiling water
Salt and pepper, after taste

Heat the oven to 225 degrees. Chop all the vegetables for the roasting in the kind of pieces you like. Place in an oven proof dish and and the oil, salt, pepper, sugar, thyme and lemon. Toss up a bit and roast in the upper half of the oven for about 30 minutes, opening and tossing some more now and then if needed.
Finely chop the onion and garlic for the risotto. Fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes until soft and slightly golden. Add the rice and fry for about two more minutes and then the wine and let it bubble away a couple of minutes more. Dissolve the bouillon in the first 5 dl boiling water. Add the water to the rice, a little at a time. Cover the pan with a lid and let simmer until all the water has cooked in, about 15 minutes. Add the last 3 dl of water and let it cook under a lid until there's no more water left, about another 15 minutes. Stir the risotto occasionally during the time it's cooking. When it's creamy and the rice is cooked and soft, add the butter and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy your oozy and wonderful risotto and veggies. Top of with some chopped olives if you want to.

Blog news!

Great news! We've now fixed the settings for the blog so that anyone can comment, not only followers. So even though it's great the more followers we get, we'd love to hear from all you readers a bit. So start sharing your opinions, comment away!

Also, you can start following us on Bloglovin. It's super simple to sign up and then you get a notice each time we post something.

At the moment, we're working hard to finish all the texts for the book before Christmas. Writing 28 information texts takes a while. But I think that when we're done, it's going to be great. Our project mentor offered to proof read our text yesterday, so it feels like we'll end up with a great book. And you know what; you'll be able to see for yourself! All you have to do is to buy a book. It will include all of our recipes, loads of interesting vegan facts, everything vegans (and others) should know about nutrition and much more! If you are interested, send and email to veganveganproject@hotmail.com or leave a comment!

Lentil wraps!

It was amazing! I came into the kitchen after hours of studying physics and there's a vegan dinner cooking on the stove. Lentil wraps with a fresh avocado and arugula salad. There are no spices in the wraps except the taco sauce, so feel free to go crazy with the seasoning if you want to. Otherwise, here's the recipe.

For two:
125 g green lentils
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tbsp. oil
5 dl water
1/2 cube of vegetable bouillon
1 potato
1 carrot
1/2 jar hot tacosauce, 120 g
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tortillas
For the salad:
1 tbsp. oil
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
Black pepper
A pinch of sugar
A handful of arugula salad
1-2 avocados

Cut the potatoes in small cubes. Fry the lentils and onion in some oil. Add the water, potatoes and the bouillon and bring to a boil. Let it cook for 30 minutes. Grate the carrots coarsely. While the lentils are cooking, make the salad. Mix oil, lemon, salt, pepper and sugar in a bowl. Add the arugula. With a spoon, remove the avocado from the skin and add to the salad.
Pour out the water and place on the stove again. Add the carrots and taco sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Roll the lentils up in the tortillas and serve with the salad.

Kill that pig!

Haha, take a deep breath, my vegan month has not ended up with me going totally bananas and becoming a brutal pig killer. Or at least not completely. This is really not something you should joke about actually, there are loads of pig that have to suffer a horrible life for us to have ham on our sandwiches. But I can assure you this pig didn't suffer. I was packing marzipan figures with a girl at work today, and this one lost its tail. Since we couldn't sell it, we decided have a bit of a bit science lesson on it and do some dissection. Turned out it was marzipan all the way through. Not so exciting. At least I got a taste, and I bet this is the best way to eat vegan pigs!

Chili SIN carne!

Now I’m back from London, had such an awesome time! Hanna almost prohibited me from being vegan so I finished my vegan challenge a few days earlier than planned. It was really strange to eat cream cheese on the sandwich again ;)
Any way, just before the London trip, I had a very nice chilli sin carne so I wanted to give you the recipe on that! It's super easy and takes no time at all!



It made enough for two big servings:
½ yellow onion
1 small garlic
¼ zucchini
1/2 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp coffee powder (feels weird, tastes good)
Oil for frying
1/2 jar of beens, you can actually take which ever beans you fancy the most. I used half black and half white beens
½ jar of cruched tomatoes, about 200g
Salt, pepper
And then some thyme if you like!
I ate it with rice one day and then pasta the next, so pick and choose!


To begin with, if you are having rice, get it started. Then chop up the onion, garlic and zucchini and fry in the olive oil together with the spices and coffee until everything is golden brown. Add beans and tomatoes and allow to slowly boil for 5 minutes. Flavour with salt and pepper, serve with rice and then place a little thyme on top! Enjoy!
// agnes

Swedish husmanskost for vegans

Just because the vegan challenge is over, we won't stop posting great recipes! Here's a dinner you can make if you happen to have red beets and soy beans at home, mashed red beet and potatoes, soy patties and mushroom sauce. This my version of more traditional food, although I must say I think this version is much more colorful than the original. It's actually really simple, without a whole lot of strange seasoning. I love the color the beets give the mash, a real show-off color that gives the whole dish a lift. Try it out! Read through the recipe before starting to figure out which steps you can do simultaneously, for example you can prepare the patties while the veggies are cooking.

For two people in the mood for a magenta dinner:
Pink mashed potatoes:
2 potatoes
250 g red beets
2 carrots
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp. mushroom soy
1/2-1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. parsley (I took frozen)
Pepper

Soy bean patties:
1 package of soy beans à 400 g
1 tsp. mushroom soy
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 dl oatmeal
1 tbsp. water
Pepper
Oil

Mushroom sauce:
1 onion
A handful of fresh chanterelles (if you use dried instead, make sure to soak them first)
1 tbsp. lingonberry jam
1 tsp. salt (taste first!)
1 tsp. mushroom soy
2 tsp. flour
1 dl vegan cooking cream
1 dl vegan milk
Oil
Pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes, carrots and beets into smaller pieces. Peel the clove of garlic. Put it all in a pot and add enough water to barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and let cook until everything is soft, about 30 minutes but it depends on the size of your pieces. When done add the other ingredients and beat with an electric blender until smooth (there may be some red beet pieces left since they're often harder). Taste for seasoning.

For the patties, mix the onion, garlic and oatmeal in a mixer. Add the other ingredients and mix until an almost smooth paste. Heat a pan with some oil and fry on moderate heat for about 4 minutes per side, until browned and quite firm.

For the sauce, finely chop the onion. Fry in oil until softened, then add the mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the flour and stir. Pour over the cream, bring to a boil and the add the milk. Season with the soy, jam, pepper and salt if needed. Let cook until thickened.

Serve everything together with some lingonberry jam and enjoy!

Let the vegans eat cake!

I must confess I was a bit suspicious towards baking vegan style. Seriously, how could it possible work without eggs and butter. But it actually does, probably thanks to the fact that there is vegan butter (which is probably close to lethal because of all the chemical processes they put that poor vegetable fat through). Here are two great recipes anyway.

Pear and cardamon cake with crumble
240 g flour
1 tsp. baking soda (bikarbonat)
1 tbsp. baking powder
115 g sugar
120 g melted vegan butter
3,25 dl water
2 tsp. vanilla sugar
2 tsp. ground cardamon
2 pears
For the crumble:
1 dl oat meal
35 g vegan butter
2,5 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cardamon

Combine all the ingredients for the crumble. Set aside. Peel and slice the pears. Grease a 24 cm spring form, cover with bread crumbs or shredded coconut. Mix all the dry ingredients for the cake. Add the melted butter and then the water. Pour into the greased pan. Push the pear slices into the batter, evenly distributed over the cake. Sprinkle over the crumbles. Bake in a 190 degree oven for 40-45 minutes, until done.

Coconut cookies - about 20-24 cookies
4 dl flour
200 g vegan margarine
2 dl shredded coconut
1 dl sugar
1 tbsp. oat milk
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. cocoa

Heat the oven to 175 degrees. Beat the sugar and margarine until light. Combine the all the dry ingredient except the cocoa. Add to the butter mixture and mix. Form balls of the cookie dough and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 7 minutes. Take the cookies out and gently press each one with a fork so it gets a pretty striped pattern. Bake for another 11 minutes, or until golden in the edges.Take out and let cool. Dust with the cocoa (I used a tea-strainer, works great and minimizes the mess). Invite a friend over for a vegan cookie party or eat them all yourself.

The last night of The Vegan Challenge...

Wooah... Four weeks as vegans. It feels like time has just flown past. Does time go faster without meat? Tonights the last night that we're officially vegans. But I must say, I'm not in the mood for meat. At all. I opened the fridge to take out something to have on my sandwich tomorrow. I saw the cheese and thought like "njee, I'll go for the tofu spread instead". The tofu spread! I don't even really like tofu spread. I really don't see any point in going meaty again.

If you wonder why we've been so bad about posting stuff here this weekend it's because Agnes has been in London (as you know), and I've been out hiking in the forrest. I spent the weekend in a small cottage with loads of crazy scouts and couldn't have enjoyed it more. They eyed my breakfast a bit though, and a wild discussion about oat milk broke out. I love oat milk, but one of them pulled the argument: "we're not horses" (a typical Vernon Dursley). Come on, does that mean he doesn't eat chocolate balls either? Or crumble pie? Seriously his son was sitting there eating oatmeal. People can be a bit conservative.

Anyway, when I got home today, it was late and I was tired, cold and a bit worn out after a day of hard core studying (even though the vegan cookies helped), my wonderful mom had fixed my a delicious vegan dinner! She'd made lasagna with fried broccoli, pine nuts and olives (Yum!). It was a real celebration, the nice plates and the works. She'd even bought some tofu ice cream (that I turned out to be slightly allergic to, but ate anyway!) which tasted great with some fruit salad. Fruit salad is really handy, super simple and you can make some extra for breakfast the next day. Couldn't be better. Just cut up the fruit, drizzle over some agave syrup and lemon, a dash of coconut and sesame seeds, raisins and a dust of cinnamon. Perfect! So tip of the day, find a great mom who'll fix you vegan dinners. Just kidding. The recipes will be up soon, but until then you can drool over the pictures!

All for now babycakes, enjoy this last post of what is known as the Vegan Era!
Hanna

Save the...

Ooo, what's this? A movie...? How exciting!

What should have been lasagna

My plan was making some great lasagna tonight. I bought the appropriate vegetables (which was quite an adventure considering I had almost no money and had just a couple of minutes to shop before the bus) and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. Then I get home and what do I find in the cupboard? No lasagna pasta anyway! So there went my planing, but I ended up with this instead. Pasta with tomato lentil sauce and crispy celeriac. Which wasn't completely wrong either. While the sauce was cooking I even had time to make the annual christmas trip to IKEA. I must confess I love being at IKEA, but there should seriously be like a celibacy club for IKEA shoppers. You always pick up way too much. Anyway, after that little sidetrack, here's the recipe!

For about 3 people:
Sauce:
1 red onion
1 large clove of garlic
175 g carrots
1 package of crushed tomatoes (400 g)
2 dl water
1 dl red lentils
1 tsp. sambal oelek (more or less, depending on what you like)
1/2 tbsp. chinese soy
2 tbsp. syrup
1/2 cube of vegetable bouillon
1/2 tbsp. basil
1/2 tbsp. majoram
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

400 g celeriac
Italian herb mix
Pepper
Salt
Oil
Lemon juice
300 g pasta

Chop the onion and garlic. Fry gently in oil until soft. Grate the carrots finely. Add all the ingredients for the sauce, bring to a boil and let simmer for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better, or until the lentils are soft. I let mine cook gently like forever, and that works too, just make sure to stir it now and then.
Slice the celeriac into super thin pieces. Place in an ovenproof dish drizzle over some olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt, pepper and italian spices. Toss it all up a bit and roast in the oven at 225 degrees, until golden. It should take about 15-20 minutes.
Boil water for the pasta. Cook you pasta, and while you're waiting make a final check on the seasoning of the sauce.
When it's all done; the pasta's al dente, the celeriac is crispy and the sauce good, serve and enjoy!

Another super-porridge

I could seriously write a book about only porridge. It really health, easy to make, keeps you going for hours, your can vary it to infinity and it's good. That my friends is superfood. I'm really considering writing a text about porridge for the book, like a small info-bubble. So this porridge was made from oatmeal, raisins, poppy seeds and banana. It really feels like a stay-full-forever kind of breakfast, which is great. It'a simply a really Great Gröt!

For one:
1 dl oatmeal
2,5 dl water
A handful of raisins
1/2 tbsp. crushed flax seeds
1/2 tbsp. sesame seeds
2 tsp. blue poppy seeds
1 tbsp. shredded coconut
1/2 banana
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
A pinch of salt

Mash the banana. Bring all the ingredients to a boil and the let cook gently until desired thickness. Enjoy with some vegan milk and banana, seeds and raisins. Couldn't be better!

Not a very exciting evening

Dinner tonight was leftovers; the beet and lentil patties and some quinoa. I fried up some tomatoes to go with it. Not very interesting, but I didn't have time for cooking. That's the kind of thing that happens. Sorry to break it to all you omnis, but vegans don't spend all day cooking (or at least we don't). It served its purpose even though it wasn't freshly cooked though; it took care of the hunger and tasted good.

I'm sitting writing, or rather researching, for the info-text about fats for out book. Nutrition is fascinating! But at twenty past ten my brain starts spinning when I read all of the strange abbreviations for various fatty acids. Alfa and omega here and there, I'm a bit confused. But it's interesting.

Agnes is in London! London!! So I'm sorry to inform you that you'll not be finding any of her cheerful and wonderful posts for a couple of days. I'll have to do, but I promise to do my best and blog away. But right now I'm a but too tired to be funny. I'm planning a yummy breakfast for tomorrow though, so that's something to look forward to!

All for now,
Hanna

A Vegan Challenge for YOU!

Here's the deal. As you probably know, we've soon finished our Vegan Challenge. But we have a small challenge for all you reader's too. Take a deep breath, we're not going to force you to go vegan (although it would be cool if you did). All we're asking from you is to try our recipes and give some feedback. All of these'll go into our book, and it's more fun to know what people think about them before they go to the press. So get cooking! Surprise someone with a vegan, give yourself some me-time in front of the stove or simply try for the fun of it and for the satisfaction of knowing you've helped someone. Truly, the food is good. I know creating a Google account can seem a bit tedious, but it goes really quickly. Then you can follow the blog and post your thoughts and comments. We'd be super grateful!
Thanks!

// Hanna

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Korma!

This is actually a dish my family likes to cook, and for a reason, it's delicious. But I must say, this vegan version, is even better. I felt sorry for my family who sat there eating spaghetti and meat sauce instead. You could probably add pretty much any vegetable you'd like to in this recipe. I accidentally cooked mine too long so the cauliflower kind of boiled into bits, but it didn't matter. It was yummy as can be anyway. I have to say a thanks to Jamie Oliver, it's through his book "Ministry of Food" I learned to cook and like Indian food. Give it a try and enjoy!

Dinner for two:
Korma paste:
1 clove of garlic
10 g ginger
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil + some extra for frying
1/2 red chili (or more if you like it hot)
2 tbsp. shredded coconut
1 tbsp. ground almonds
1/2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. cumin (spiskummin)
1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 onion
1/2 can coconut milk (200 g)
1 bell pepper
150 g chickpeas
1 dl water
200 g cauliflower
Salt and pepper after taste

Mix all the ingredients for the paste together in a mixer. Finely chop the onion. Slice the pepper into small squares and cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Heat a pan with a lug of oil. Gently fry the chopped onion. When soft, add the other ingredients and cook for about 20 minutes. Taste and make sure the vegetables are cooked and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy together with some rice, fried broccoli and roasted coconut and seeds. Just like going to India (or almost)!

Liquid vegan bar

I made a kind of "raw porridge" for breakfast this morning, which was a first for me. For those of you who are unenlightened on the subject, of something is raw, it hasn't been heated up over 42 degrees. This is supposed to preserve all the nutrients. I have no idea if eating raw really makes that big a difference, but I tried some raw porridge (that just sounds strange...) anyway. Basically it's fruit mixed with seeds and nuts. And it tasted exactly like a vegan bar!


For 1 raw breakfast:
1 banana
1 pear
1 dl seeds and nuts of choice
1/2 tbsp. flax seeds
1 tbsp. canola oil

Mix everything with a hand blender. Serve with your favorite vegan milk, cinnamon, cardamon and shredded coconut. Easy as that!

// Hanna

They're pink! (even though they look red)

It's true, no retouching, no color changes; the lentil patties are pink! Even though you all probably think it's my amazing magic skills, I'm going to let you in on the secret. It's from red beets (pretty cool, I know). So, red beet patties, quinoa and creamy roasted veggies; it was colorful and yummy! My plan was to use carrots (which you can of course also do), but we were out and I found beets in the fridge and decided to go for it. Be carful when pealing and grating the beets; they have a tendency to turn everything they touch a gorgeous shade of purple that you perhaps don't want on your kitchen counter.

Two servings (and perhaps some leftovers)
Roasted vegetable gratin:
1/2 eggplant
1/2 zucchini
1/2 red onion
1 red bell pepper
10 cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp. herb salt
2 tsp. thyme
Black pepper
1 tsp. lemon juice
Oil
2 dl vegan cooking cream
2 tbsp. mango chutney
1 1/2 tbsp. chili sauce
1 tbsp. teriyaki sauce
A handful of pumpkin seeds

Lentil & beet patties
1 dl red lentils
2 dl water
1/2 onion
1/3 dl breadcrumbs
1/3 dl roasted salted sunflower seeds
1 clove of garlic
1/2-1 red beet (depending on size)
1/2-1 tsp. herb salt
Pepper

1 dl quinoa
1 tsp. vegetable bouillon

Switch to oven on 200 degrees.
Cook the lentils in the water with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes.
Chop the veggies for the gratin in the kind of pieces you like, not too big though. Place in an ovenproof dish, add a lug of oil, the salt, pepper, thyme and lemon juice. Mix up and pop in the oven for 15 minutes. Mix the cream, chutney, teriyaki and chili sauce.
Chop the onion and garlic for the patties. Peel and coarsely grate the beet. In a mixing bowl, combine the cooked lentils with all of the ingredients for the patties except the grated beet. Quickly zap it a couple of times with a hand blender. Add the beet and stir until well combined.
When the vegetables are done, pour the cream over them and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Put them back into the oven for another 15 minutes.
Cook the quinoa with the bouillon according to the instructions given on the package. Heat a pan with some oil. Form small patties of the lentil batter/mixture/paste and fry in the pan on moderate heat, a couple of minutes on each side.
Serve the patties with the vegetables and the quinoa. Pretty pretty!

Not that far to go...

We've only got one week left until we are no longer vegan, or at least no longer carrying out our Vegan Challenge. Before we started I thought I month would last for ever and now we're nearly done. Or are we? On my part a least, I don't really feel that this is something I'll be done with. Ok, this is getting a bit cliché, but seriously, being vegan is fun! Sometimes I find myself thinking, "oh no, I won't have time to fix all the great vegan dishes that are orbiting around in my brain". And this is of course really stupid, cause seriously, what'll be there to stop me? Anyway, we have a great week in front of us, and hopefully I'll be a bit better at sharing my vegan experiences with you!

Five stars

My present to my dear father on Father's day; a good vegan dinner. I made cannelloni, and if I can say so myself, they were a success. My family actually liked it too (even though my brother asked where the cheese and meat was). Dad gave it five out of five start, although parents have a tendency to be a bit less objective when it come to their kid's creation. Still, I'd give it a shot if I were you. Find someone you like and invite them for a nice dinner. Or you could just make it for you self and eat until you feel like exploding. It's your choice, but do try them.

For 4 lucky people:
The filling:
1 zucchini
Oil
Salt and pepper
70 g sun-dried tomatoes
Loads of basil*2
1/2 dl pumpkin seeds
1/2 package of chickpeas (about 150 g)
3 clove of garlic
1 red onion
1 can of crushed tomatoes (400-500 g)
1 tbsp. syrup
14 cannelloni tubes
30 g pine nuts

Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Slice the zucchini and place in an ovenproof dish with oil, salt and pepper (choose one that will fit all of your cannelloni, that way you minimize the amount of dishes). Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile chop the onion and 2 of the cloves of garlic. Fry gently in a pan for 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and syrup. Let cook for ten minutes. Tear loads of basil into small pieces and add. When the zucchini is done, take is out and with a hand blender mix with, sun-dried tomatoes, a large bunch of basil, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas and the last clove of garlic. Mix until it's a smooth paste. Chop the mushrooms in small pieces, small enough to fit in your cannelloni tubes. Heat a pan with oil until really hot. Add the mushrooms and fry until golden. Mix the mushrooms with the paste and start filling the tubes. Place some tomato sauce in the bottom of the oven-proof dish, and place the tubes on top. Top of with rest of the tomato sauce and the pine nuts. Make sure all the pasta is covered. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Take out, serve and enjoy!

Old favorite, new version

Here's Elin's magical ice cream with in a new great flavor (or at least I though so), raspberry and chocolate! The creaminess the avocado gives is perfect, you can't get closer to ice cream in a simpler way. I served it with hot chocolate sauce, something I really recommend.

For about 3 or 4 people (or two ice cream monsters)
1 avocado
1 banana
3 dl frozen raspberries
1,5 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
For the chocolate sauce:
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
3 tbsp. sugar
5 tbsp. water

Heat the cocoa, sugar and water for the sauce, either on the stove or in the micro wave, until the sugar has dissolved. Mix well. Mix all the ingredients for the ice cream together with a hand blender. Drizzle the sauce over the sauce and eat!

Delicious Dessert!

Now I'm getting pretty tired, but I've got to get up to date with all the recipes I've made. Anyhow, here's the recipe for a great vegan dessert, a pear and cardamon crumble cake served with warm raspberries. I must say I was a bit suspicious when I say you used water in vegan cakes, but apparently it works since this cake really turned out. The non-vegans I served it too took seconds!

1 cake (24 cm)
240 g flour
1 tsp. baking soda (bikarbonat)
1 tbsp. baking powder
115 g sugar
120 g vegan butter, melted
3,25 dl cold water
2 tsp. vanilla sugar
2 tsp. ground cardamon
2 pears
Shredded coconut for the baking mold
Crumble:
1 dl oatmeal
40 g butter
2,5 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cardamon

Combine all the dry ingredients. Add first the butter then the water, a little at a time. Butter a 24 cm spring form and sprinkle with coconut. Peel and slice the pears in thin slices. Pour the batter in the mold. Push the pear slices into the cake in a nice pattern. Mix together all the ingredients for the crumble. Spread the crumble on top of the cake and bake in a 190 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Serve with warm raspberries, sweetened with some sugar. Couldn't be better!

Luxury breakfast

So it was a grey morning, I was the only one up and I was in quite a bad mood as well. Days like that you need something to cheer you up. And what does that better than a family breakfast with freshly made vegan pancakes. American pancakes for breakfast is my definition of luxury. I made both blueberry and regular, and added some flax seeds and wheat germ in the batter (you don't even notice it!). It went really fast actually, so especially if you're only making them for yourself, go for it! You're worth it!

A luxury breakfast for two (6-8 pancakes depending on size)

2 1/3 dl flour
2/3 dl wheat germ
1 tbsp. crushed flax seeds
1,5 tbsp. sugar
1,5 tbsp. baking powder
0,5 tsp. salt
1,5 tbsp. oil
2,25 dl oat milk
1 dl fresh or frozen blueberries (optional)

Combine the dry ingredients. Add the oil and milk and mix well. Heat a pan with some oil. Pour in enough batter to make pancakes in the size you like. Sprinkle over some blueberries. Turn when they start to bubble on the surface or seem done on the other side. Serve, perhaps with some syrup and fruit. Cinnamon is never wrong.

Tasty tomato soup

I must say, it's really nice to come home to a fixed dinner. Which I did Wednesday night. This recipe is a real family favorite when it comes to soups, and it couldn't be simpler. Some frying, some cooking, some mixing and it's done (of course most recipes could be described like that, but seriously it's EASY). My family ate it with chorizo, but that's not necessary at all. What I could recommend though, although I didn't have time to do it, is to fry up some chickpeas with some paprika and chili, then you get some good protein. The recipe didn't call for it, but I had some parsnips (from the crêpes) in the fridge that I topped the soup of with.

For one soup-eater:
1 portion cooked wheat seeds (ok, that's probably the wrong name, it's matvete)
1/2 clove of garlic
Oil
1 can (400g) crushed tomatoes
1-2 roasted bell peppers, in a jar
Salt (or vegetable bouillon)
Pepper
If you want to; herbs of your choice
(Chickpeas)

Cook the wheat. Finely chop the garlic and fry quickly in the oil. Add the tomatoes and let cook gently for a while. Add the bell peppers and mix with a hand blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Top the soup with the wheat and enjoy.

Black and blue smoothie

A great quick breakfast! The oatgurt has quite a strong flavor, so if you want you can take only oatmilk instead. Then the smoothie will be a bit runnier. Anyhow, smoothies are fun, try one!

For two people (about 5 dl smoothie)
1 dl oatgurt
1,5 dl oatmilk
2 tsp. vanilla sugar
2 tsp. agave syrup
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 banana
2,5 dl froze black- and blueberries
1 tbsp. crushed flax seeds

Mix and enjoy!

// Hanna

What to do when you should study math

The evening before a math test, and what du I find myself doing? Cooking risotto. The thing is, risotto requires a lot of tender loving care. A lot. I think I gave it about 45 minutes of "gentle massaging" (they described it like that in a recipe I saw once), but it was all worth it. It was oozy and creamy and totally delicious! I served it with bean patties with sun-dried tomatoes and roasted parsnip chips. The recipe for those you can find below, the rest will be up soon. It still needs some refining (not the risotto but the patties).

2 big parsnips
1/2 red chili
1/2 tbsp. citron
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper
1 tsp. sugar
Oil

Cut the parsnips in thin sticks and finely chop the chili. Mix everything in an ovenproof dish and roast in a 250 degree oven until golden. Yum!

// Hanna

Sand-wish!

A quick and awesome tip for a nice and filling sandwish is to take a ripe avocado and spread it into a slice of bread of your choice (one slice of bread for 1/2 avocado is usualy enough, then you get a nice and thick layer of avocado!). It doesn't matter if there are pieces in the avocado, it's just nice! Then cut a few sundried tomatoes into small pieces. I used tomatoes flavoured with basil and garlic, but nonflavoured works nice as well!
Eat it with a smoothie or a glas of juice!
Avocado contains many important minersls and it is a realy good source of mono-unsaturated fats!
Picture will be up soon!
-agnes

Weird, but good

My plan for lunch was grand; vegetable patties and roasted beets, parsnips and sweet potato. But I got home 13.30, and after starting to boil the lentils, I got realistic; I was way to hungry and it was way to late. So this is what I ended up with. I mashed the lentils with some garlic, lemon and soy, spread it over some whole grain bread and topped it off with some leftover roasted parsnips from Sundays crêpes. After 15 minutes in the oven it was actually pretty good. After a dessert consisting of some oatgurt with muesli and home-made rhubarb jam (Yum!), I was very satisfied. Maybe not a culinary masterpiece, but not completely wrong either.

// Hanna

Porridge with apple and lingonberries

You got to love it, the word lingonberries. That's something Sweden has contributed to the world with. It sound so cute, talk about swenglish. And they taste good too! Here's another great porridge recipe, this time with rye, lingonberries and apple. Enjoy!

For 1 happy breakfast eater:
1 dl rye flakes
2,5 dl water
2 tsp. crushed flax seeds
1 tsp. syrup
1/2 dl lingonberries (frozen works just fine)
1/4 apple
1 krm salt

Mix all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer without a lid until thick. Try to crush the berries a bit if you can; this will give it a nice color.

Serve with some more apple, agave syrup and your favorite vegan milk!

Les crêpes d'un vegan

Hope that french was correct, would be kind of embarrassing otherwise. So, Sunday evening, what's better to make than crêpes! It took a while, so do some planning, start in good time and know that this recipe is worth every minute (at least I thought so). They're really fun to make, but if you want to make it go faster, try preparing the filling in advance, or make a quicker one. Anyway, this is how I made them. They're quite rich, but really yummy.

About 4 crêpes (I ate two and was very satisfied):
Crêpes (makes a couple extra; either fill them or save for later):
1 dl vegan milk
1,25 dl water
80 g milk-free margarine, melted
1,25 dl flour
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. water, to thin if needed

Parsnip & potato filling:
1 parsnip
1 potato
Oil
1/4 tsp. herb salt
Pepper
1/2 tsp. thyme

Sauce:
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. herb salt
1 dl vegan cooking cream
1/2 dl vegan milk
2 tsp. french herbs (Herbe de Provence)
2 tbsp. white wine
1 tsp. lemon juice

Mushroom filling:
Oil
Herb salt
8 big mushrooms

To top with:
A splash of cream
Sesame seeds
Thyme
Pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the crêpes together and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Chop the potatoes and parsnip into 0,5 cm big cubes. Place in an ovenproof dish and drizzle over some oil. Add the salt, pepper and thyme. Toss together and pop in a 250 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

Start the sauce: Finely chop the onion and garlic. Fry on low heat in oil until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the flour and stir. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and let cook slowly until thick.

Chop the mushrooms into quite small pieces, otherwise the crêpe will be hard to roll up. Heat some oil in a pan. When very hot, quickly fry the mushrooms until golden. Salt carefully.

Now the crêpe batter should be done. Take out of the fridge. Heat a medium size frying pan with some oil. When hot start frying the crepes. You shouldn't have to butter the pan in between crêpes since there's so much butter in the batter. But if they start sticking, add some oil.

Time for putting the crêpes together! Place some of the roasted parsnips and potatoes along one edge. Put some mushrooms and a couple of dollops of sauce on it. Roll up and place in a greased ovenproof dish. Continue making the rest of the crêpes. When they're all snug in the dish, drizzle over some cream and sprinkle over thyme, sesame seeds and thyme. Bake for about 15 minutes in a 250 degree oven.
Voilà!

Ok, a bit behind here

I really have to get back on track here, the post are starting to pile up. So this meal is from Sunday. When I started pondering lunch, I realized that we didn't have that much at home. Then I found some chickpeas, leftover tomato sauce from the pizza, pasta and broccoli. So this was what I ended up fixing for me and my family; falafel! It was good! The sesame seeds fell of a bit, but it was still worth to have them on.

For three people:
For the falafel:
1 packade (400 grams) of chickpeas
1 clove of garlic
1/2 onion
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. powdered paprica
1 tbsp. mango chutney
1 tsp. oregano
3 tbsp. roasted salted sunflower seeds
2,5 tbsp. potato starch
Barely 1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper

1 dl sesame seeds
Quite a lot of oil (not olive oil, take a cheap one)
A bouquet of broccoli
1 tsp. chinese soy sauce (light soy)
Salt and pepper
200 g whole grain pasta
Tomato sauce

Chop the garlic and onion roughly. Place all of the ingredients for the falafel in a bowl and mix with a hand held mixer until quite smooth. It should be quite thick. Form balls of the mixture and roll in the sesame seeds. Start boiling the water for the pasta. Heat the tomato sauce. Cook the pasta. Heat two frying pans; one small for the broccoli with a little oil and one larger with a lot of oil (about 1 cm or more) for the falafel. When the small pan is warm, add the broccoli to the small one and fry quickly with salt and pepper. Add the soy sauce. When the large pan is hot, carefully place the falafel in the oil. It may splatter a bit and the oil is hot, so be careful. Make sure the falafel doesn't burn. The sesame seeds may fall and turn them gently so the falafels don't fall apart. Serve the pasta, falafel, broccoli and sauce. Enjoy!

// Hanna

Success!

I love baking. My favorite things to bake are cakes and bread. They are pretty different thing; cakes require precise weighing, a steady hand and patience, whilst bread I usually just improvise but it requires patience as well. Saturday I baked bread and it really turned out! It fills me with just as much joy every time my sourdough bubbles, and a bread raising in the oven is a beautiful sight. My plan was to let the dough raise in the fridge over night, but it went a bit to fast, so I had to bake it in the evening. Anyhow, I had freshly baked apple and oat bread in the morning!

Almost Pizza

Ok, so pizza; bread, tomato sauce and cheese. Preferably some salami or another good kind of meat. Well if you're vegan that's not going to happen is it. Still, this vegan version of pizza was really good, and got pretty close. You can put pretty much anything you want on it, as long as it's not salami of course. I am fortunate enough to own a baking stone to bake the pizza on, so it got a really crispy crust, but of course this is not necessary. I recommend making the dough pretty thick, and of course you can make it from some whole grain flour if you want to. Adding some flax seeds would probably be good too.

Makes two pizzas:
For the dough:
12,5 g yeast
1,5 dl water
2 tbsp. olive oil
0,5 tsp. salt
250 g flour (could be more or less, you never know with dough)

Toppings (I had all of them, but you can pick and choose)

Roasted veggies:
1 bell pepper
1/2 red onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 zucchini
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. thyme
2 tbsp. lemon
Oil
Salt & pepper

Fried mushrooms:
8 mushrooms
Oil
Herb salt and pepper

Cherry tomatoes:
10 cherry tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 tsp. syrup
1 tsp. vinegar
Oil
Salt and pepper

Tomato sauce (I cheated and used pre-made)
Zucchini crème (if you have some at home)
Corn
Sun-dried tomatoes
Olives
Pumpkin seeds
Arugula salad

Mix all the ingredients for the dough together and let rise for an hour. Meanwhile, make the toppings.

Chop ut all the vegetables for the roasted veggies and mix together with the herbs, salt and pepper in a ovenproof dish. Drizzle over oil and fry in the oven for about 15 minutes (225 degrees). If you want to you can also fry all of it in a frying pan.

Slice the mushrooms. Heat up a pan with oil until really hot and then add the mushrooms. Wiggle them around in the pan and let fry until golden brown. Season with some salt.

For the tomatoes, fry all the ingredients in a pan quickly.

When the hour has passed, divide the dough in two and roll or form to two pizzas. They can be quite thick, about 1,5 cm perhaps. Spread some tomato sauce over the dough, top with the veggies, the mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, corn, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, pumpkin seeds and, if you have some, zucchini crème. Bake in 250 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Top with arugula and enjoy!

// Hanna

Pumpkin Soup revisited

Last Saturday, in honor of Allhelgona (All Saints is maybe what call it in English), I made pumpkin soup, even though it's maybe more suitable for Halloween. Anyhow, I had a pumpkin at home and decided to use it. Seasoning it correctly was an intense struggle; it was me, the lemon, the curry and the chutney against the soup. FInally it turned out quite nicely.


For like an army of hungry people (seriously, it makes a lot, but you can always freeze it)
2 kg pumpkin, without seeds and stalk
2 big potatoes
4 carrots
3 onions (or 2 if they're enormous)
4 cloves of garlic
30 g ginger
Oil
2 dl red lentils
2 tsp smoked paprica powder
1 tbsp. regular paprica powder
Herb salt
Pepper
13 dl water (if it's boiling it will go faster)
1 dl mango chutney (spicy if you want the soup a bit hotter)
Salt and pepper for seasoning
2 tbsp. orange or lemon juice
1 tbsp. curry (might be more or less depending on how hot your curry is)
2 dl cooking cream (iMat)

Cut the pumpkin in strips, a couple of centimeters wide. Drizzle some oil over and roast in the oven until it's soft (this will depend on how thick slices you make), in about 225 degrees. When done, use a knife to peel the pumpkin slices and chop them up.
Chop the rest of the veggies; don't waste your time making the pieces super small and beautiful, you're going to mix it later. Start by frying the onion and garlic until they're soft. Then add the potatoes, pumpkin and carrots, fry for a couple of minutes then add the rest of the ingredients, but not the cream. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for about 30-45 minutes until it's all soft and tasty. Mix with a hand blender, season with salt and pepper and add the cream. Taste if anything is needed, otherwise top with some pumpkin seeds and serve to the army at hand.

Tacos!

Made vegan tacos tonight! Fast, easy and very tasty!
Chop up 1/2 yellow onion and fry in some oil. Add 1.5 dl red lentiles and fly for a litle while on low temperature. Add just below 2 dl of water and a quarter of a bag with taco-spices and allow to boil until all the water is gone.
I placed this on taco bread and ate with freshly choped vegetables and nonflavoured soyghurt! The recipie makes just enough for 2 taco breads.
-agnes

Back on track!

I've had some hectic days with loads of traveling, and unfortunatley I have not had time to post on this lovely blog! But I have eaten some awesome vegan food together with a friend of mine who came visiting, so she got to be a vegan as well! After a few days, she toled me that she didn't actually like tomatoes and onion, but she greatly enjoyed the food we made although it was stuffed with both tomatoes and onion!
Tuesday night I we made ratatouille.


It was extreamly delishious and here is what we did:
The recipie makes a big dinner for two!
1 large clove of garlic
1 yellow onion
1/3 zucchini
1 red pepper
1/2 eggplant
oil for frying
1 jar of mushed tomatoes
Cut all the vegies into large pieces. Fry onion and garlic in some oil for a while, and then add the other vegetables and fry untill they are glossy. Now add the tomatoes, and alow to slowly boil under a lid for about 30 minutes, the zucchini, pepper and eggplant should become soft and nice. Taste with salt, sugar(yepp!) and freshly ground black pepper.
We ate it with some nice wholemeal bread and hummus!
Wednesday night we made red lentile patties and vegetable gratin.
You can find the recipie for lentile patties posted earlier on this blog, the only difference is that we now used red lentiles instead of green and they don't need quite as long time to boil.

The vegetable gratain was realy easiy. It makes two big portions.
Heat the oven to 200 degrees.
Cut up and place in an ovenproof dish 1/2 eggplant, 1/2 zucchini, 1/2 red onion, 1 red pepper and a cuple of mini tomatoes. Spice with 1 ½ tsp. salt, 2 tsp. thyme, black pepper and 1 tsp. lemon juice, and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
Mix 2 dl of vegan cream with 1 tbsp. chili sauce and 1 tbsp. soy sauce. Pour over the roasted vegetables and roast for another 15 minutes.
It was a very, very nice dinner, cooked by me and my dear friend. It is loads of fun cooking together, and this dinner was particularly easy to make together since one could make the lentile patties and one the gratin and the food was ready in no time!

Since I traveled alot, I haven't had tome to cook every day, but after last week I had loads of left over which made nice dinners those days I had acces to a microwave-oven. Those days we traveled alot I stuffed my bag full with fruits, vegan bars(I have only one left now! Have to make some more sooon!) bread and a jar of hummus, bottles with smoothies, and raisins.
Friday evening we went to Linköping, and the peole we visited had extreamly kindly bought pizza for us, and I felt quite bad when I couldn't eat it, but I got to make a nice salad instead and it was soo good! Fresh salads with only chopped vegetables and spices should not be under-estimated!
For brunch today I made american pancakes- vegan style.
The recipie makes enough for 1 VERY hungry person, or two not so hungry people!
1.2 dl oat-milk
1.2 dl water
2 dl flour
2 tsp baking-powder
0.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
Mix the dry ingredients, add milk and water and mix to a thick paste. Add oil and allow to swell for 30 minutes(I was hungry and didn't have patience for more then 20 minutes, but that was ok as well). Fry in plenty of vegan butter and serv with sugar and jam!
over and out-agnes

Rye porridge with blackberries and poppy seeds

Yum again! I love porridge (although I don't really like the word porridge). This nice breakfast I made to celebrate having a free Saturday morning a home. It's kind of similar to the raspberry porridge I had a last week; it's fun to have berries in porridge since they give it such a nice color. Anyhow, try it!

For 1 happy breakfast eater:
1 dl rye flakes (I have no idea what it's called in english, it's oat meal made from rye; it's råggryn)
2,5 dl water
2 tsp. poppy seeds
2 tsp. crushed flax seeds
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
1/2 dl black berries (frozen works just fine)
1 krm salt

Mix all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer without a lid until thick. Try to crush the berries a bit if you can; this will give it a nice color.

Serve with sliced pear, some poppy seeds and a vegan milk of your choice!

Yummy picnic dinner

Last night I was invited to a picnic and grill. I know it's November and pretty cold outside, but it was really nice. But obviously their version of a barbecue (loads and loads of meat) wasn't really that vegan. So a made dinner to take with me. My plan was cannelloni, but when I got home I realized we didn't have any suitable pasta. So the improvising began. This is what I ended up with (sadly I had to stuff it in a plastic container, but that wouldn't have looked as nice in a picture):

For 1 person:
1/2 zucchini
1/2 clove of garlic
Oil
6 olives (or more if you want)
2 sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic
1/4 dl roasted sunflower seeds
1/3 dl cooking cream (iMat)
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. dries basil
100 g fusili or some other fun kind of pasta.
A couple of drops of lemon juice
4 mushrooms
A small bouquet of broccoli
1 tsp. tamari soy (or some other light japanese soy sauce)
Herb salt
Pepper

Roast the zucchini and 1/2 clove of garlic with some oil, herb salt and pepper in 225 degrees until it's soft. Chop up the olives (take out the pits) and the sun-dried tomatoes. Heat water for the pasta. Slice the onion and second clove of garlic in small pieces. Fry in oil until slightly golden. When the zucchini is done, mix it with a hand blender together with the cream, sunflower seeds, sage and basil. Add a couple of drops of lemon juice. Quarter the mushrooms and slice the broccoli into smaller pieces. Start cooking the pasta. Heat a frying pan with oil until very hot. Add the mushrooms and broccoli with some salt and pepper (not too much salt!) until golden. Make sure to stir it, or even better just shake the pan, a lot. Take the pan of the heat and pour the soy over the veggies.
Mix the veggies, the onion, the sauce and the pasta and top off with the olive and sun-dried tomato. Enjoy!

Getting paranoid...

Someone has recently hacked both my mail and Facebook account... I'm a bit worried they'll hack the blog too, so if a really weird post suddenly appears, it's not me or Agnes! Just wanted you to know...
// Hanna

Party wraps!

This evening we had a kind of Halloween party for my sister's kids. Whilst everyone ate tacos I made wraps, kind of vegan tacos. It was really really good, spicy and nice.This is what I did.

For about 2 people
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 red chili
Oil for frying
2 carrots
1 bell pepper, choose the kind you like best or mix (to make it really pretty)
1/2 dl tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp. cumin (spiskummin)
1 tsp. dired ground ginger
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp. powdered paprica
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. dark syrup
400 g black beans
Salt and pepper

Chop the onions and garlic. It doesn't have to be super fine, just so you like it. Chop the peppers and chili, and coarsely grate the carrots. Drain the beans and rinse them well. Heat up a frying pan with the oil and add the onion, chili and garlic. Fry until shiny and quite soft. Then add the spices, carrots and peppers. Let fry for a minute or two. Add the soy, tomato paste and syrup. Stir in the beans, and let it fry a bit more. Taste and make sure it's spicy enough.

Serve in tortillas breads with hummus, mango chutney, taco sauce and if your in the mood for it, vegetables. Easy and good!

Eating out

My sister and I ate out today. Since she lives in quite a small town, there aren't loads of places to chose from, and being vegan limits it even more. But there's actually one café with a vegetarian buffet. Only problem is that I'm not super duper fond of salads (believe it or not). So I asked the woman who has the place what they had for vegan alternatives. She was really helpful! She took out some lentil stew especially for me and I could take anything I wanted from the buffet. It was great. Then she brought be a bowl of some kind of mashed sweet corn that was really good too. You got to love helpful people! My tip for being vegan and eating out: ask, people might surprise you!
// Hanna

What's happening

As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting that much on the blog lately. Instead I'm spending about 13 hours a day working at a bakery. It's really fun, and thank god I can at least eat the bread, since the rolls and patisserie stuff looks like way too delicious. Due to all the bread I have also developed a recent fondness for sandwiches with tofu spread and marmalade.

I must say it's really inspiring to be here. My sister is actually quite into the whole vegan/vegetarian business. So even though I'm not really following the menu (although Agnes is doing a great job keeping you up to date on that area), I'm enjoying great vegan food. I'll have to make everything agin when I get home, and then you'll get the recipes with pictures then instead. Loads of fun to look forward to!

One great recipe I can give you now is Parsnip Chips. Actually, they're not really chips, but they're really good, vegan and almost healthy. All you have to do is to cut parsnips into really really thin strips, lay them in a ovenproof dish with some oil, salt and pepper and pop it into a 200 degree oven until they've started to brown. Dip in guacamole, hummus or some other good vegan dip. Wonderful!
// Hanna

I scream, you scream...

...everybody scream for ice-cream! I just have to post some pictures of the desert I made yesterday!
As Hanna said, it is one of the fastest and healthiest desserts you will ever make, and it tastes delicious! One avocado, one banana and mix with frozen berries with a hand blender untill good ice-cream consistency. Whith a small piece of dark chocolate on top, this would suit on a royal dinner! - Agnes

Jaaaa Jambalaya!

Now we have been vegans fon a whole week! That is just crazy, I thought this would be soo much more difficult than it has been up untill now. I celebrated it by making dinner for my whole family, and we all enjoyed it alot.
This was definetley one of my favourite meals soo far!

The recipie makes 4 large portions plus lunch for me tomorrow!

1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
Oil for frying
Pepper & salt, chilli, curry, spiskummin, and lemon
3 dl rice
5 dl water, 1 dice of vegetable boullion
About 0.75 dl green lentils

Fry the garlic, onion and chili peppers in oil for 5 minutes.
Add some curry, lemon, salt, pepper and cumin after taste.
Add rice, water, lentils and the vegetable bullion. Lower the heat and let it cook until rice and lentils are soft.While the rice is cooking, mix ingredients for the sauce...

The recipie for redpepper-sauce makes ALOT! You can probably make half of it, but my father made it and he added a huge amout of spices so he had to add another tomatoe to make it good! We will eat red-pepper sauce for weeks, but it was good so :) (it's the red stuff in the glas top left in the picture)

2 tomatoes
Red Pepper
A little bit basil
Some oregano
Curry, salt, pepper
Some dried chilli
0.5 tsp pepper-powder

Mix red pepper and tomatoes, and then spices according to taste and inspiration, the above is what we used but it can be varied in eternity! Do not miss out on the curry though, it adds an very interesting dimention to the flavour!

75g sugar snaps
0.75 dl mushrooms

Add mushrooms, since mine were dryed I allowed them to swell in some hot water for a while before added to the rice. In the end, chop up the sugar snaps and stir into the rice. Voila!

To finnish of a nice dinner, we all took another snice of the spicy applecake I mentioned yesterday!

We got the recipie from the vegan society, and it goes like this:

1lb (450g) cooking apples, peeled and sliced
4oz (115g) vegan margarine
4oz (115g) raw cane sugar
6oz (170g) sultanas
2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp boiling water
8oz (225g) wholemeal flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground allspice

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4.
Cook the apples in the minimum of water. When they are soft, mash to a puree and drain very well.
Cream together the margarine and sugar, then add the apple purée to make a thick mixture. Stir in the sultanas. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add this to the mix.
Sift together the flour and spices and blend with apple mixture. Pour it into a very well greased cake tin, smooth the top and bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes-1 hour. Makes 8 servings

It's very, very good!

- agnes